Chapter Seven — Part 3

I giggled, I couldn’t help myself. “You and Wisdom are the same. Why is it you always feel you should come in one form or the other, or a mix of the two, but not in your truest form?”

Tester twitched her tail. “Divergence was necessary for sentient life to exist.” She clicked her tongue, as if thinking. “I don’t know if you could see my truest form, or even understand its commands.”

Fluff sounded respectful. “Tiffany said we should use the crystal as a data bank for our ship’s computer.”

“You’ll have to figure that part out for yourself. I just used the crystal as an excuse to visit my two favorite angels.” Tester said.

I looked at my angelic father. “You look like you’ve got a better idea.”

“I’ve no idea what you’re talking about.” Tester said.

Wisdom chuckled. “You know exactly what I’m thinking of, you always do.”

“Of course I do. But I can’t believe you’re suggesting it. If you do it, it could damage the crystal, the ship, or both. We said we wouldn’t intervene. We agreed not to get involved in sentient issues eons ago.”

Wisdom giggled, juggling balls of light in his hands. “Oh, I’ve no intention of bending the rules. I intend to break them. She’s our daughter, after all, and the universe has suffered enough.”

As I listened to them talk, I knew that it was one entity making a final and powerful decision. As they shifted to a form that could break the rules, I got a glimpse of the face of God, and was envious. Not just a galaxy, but also all galaxies and all the stars of a hundred universes, glowed in her eyes. In Wisdom’s was all the space around the stars.

She raised her hand, merging with Wisdom, and I felt an infinite number of universes snap open around me. With a mere shift of thought, a few of this universe’s rules were temporarily rewritten, and the effects woven into the ship. Hanging in the air on a pillar of light, the crystal exploded into a thousand shards of light.

The shards struck things and bounced around, shattering until nothing remained but a dusty afterglow. The entire inside of the ship was covered in it. The powder was so refined that it tickled my nose and made Fluff sneeze. The ship hummed and resonated for a brief second, then snapped out of Otherspace into Realspace.

The ship’s computer voice came on line, slightly feminine, and with a hint of emotion. “Unexpected shift from Otherspace caused by damage to the transition motors. Beginning immediate repair of engines. Left shield conduit needs repaired as well, beginning reclamation cycle, replacement coil is still necessary. Estimated repair time, thirty minutes.”

Lim ran down the access hall. “The ship is repairing itself. It’s possessed, I tell you. Evil is afoot.” His eyes landed on Tester’s still glowing body, “Not her again. Oh God, I am truly doomed.”

I laughed at him without consideration for his emotions. “Silly man.”

Lim ran back down the hall to hide in his room.

“Ship, what is your name?” I asked.

“My name’s logged as Persimmon. I’ve begun an initiate scan of my subsequent defensive and offensive systems, and the previous Captain’s log, and I’ve determined that this is a pirate ship. Am I to be a pirate ship, then?”

“Yes, why is it you ask?”

“My records indicate that the Lenitians have a heavy class system and are singularly responsible for the galactic slave market. My previous Commander abhorred them for it. Slavery is an unacceptable behavior in an advanced society. A Lenitian pleasure ship is within our attack range. We could use a teselar beam, pull them out of Otherspace and perform an act of piracy against them.”

“Perhaps we should.” I said.

Fluff let out a savage whoop. “Arming the beam.”

“Teselar beams are illegal.” Lim exclaimed, having come back from his room when his courage returned. “Only law enforcement agents can use them.”

“Shut up. You’re a pirate now, so act like one.” I said. “Brief my parents on the attack.”

“All right. Finally, some action.” Fluff yelled, taking a sword and a pistol from the weapons cabinet.

When I turned to say good-bye, Tester had disappeared. The crystal we had just seen blown to pieces was in her place. I took the crystal up and put it in a safe place, not intending to use it any time soon.

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