Twilight Zone - Part 1
Part 1
"We interrupt your viewing pleasure to bring you an important announcement," said a cheerful broadcaster on every plasma screen on the ship. "This year's charity ball is to be held in our very own Nexus quadrant. On none other than..." He paused for dramatic effect. "Earth! Can you believe it? I'm so excited already and with an excellent line up of performers attending, it's sure to be the best one yet..." He continued to drone on listing performers from every corner of the known universe. Cullen turned the volume down in disgust.
Bold writing scrolled along the bottom of the screen in vibrant red script:
All personnel to attend this year's charity ball... No excuse will be accepted for your absence... Not even death, Commander Cullen.
Changing channels didn't remove it. Star Fleet command had locked it to every transmission.
"You know how much I hate these things, Bella! Please turn us around. I don't care where you take us as long as it's not to Nexus," Cullen pleaded.
"Oh Edward really! You need to get out a little more, meet some new people," Bella chastised, unplugging the uplink cable from the back of her neck once the software upgrade completed then let her hair free from its restraining clip to cover it. "The crew need a little time to unwind. Most of them haven't been home in years. Besides, I'd like to go."
"I don't think that's a good idea, you haven't been away from the ship since..." he struggled to remember a time when she had and came up blank, "We'd be out of range of your mainframe and anything could happen," he added instead.
She laughed at his feeble attempt to talk her into changing her mind, "Like what? I might actually have a bit of fun for once?"
Slamming his fist on the back of the door, he growled in frustration, his fangs extending. "Damn it Bella, I am commander of this vessel and I order you to turn around!"
"No. I've made my decision, I'm going to the dance and nothing you say will sway me."
Taking a deep breath to calm himself, Edward strode to stand behind her at the window, the ships censors warned her of his close proximity. She turned from watching Niyan orbit its twin suns to face him and smiled as he sparkled as if dusted with diamonds when the suns rays met his skin. Sometimes she wondered if she was seeing the same things through her eyes that the rest of the world was seeing through theirs. She thought perhaps that there was a glitch in her brain.
Raising her hand to his face, she cupped his cheek tenderly, his skin was icy cold. "I love how your skin shimmers in the sun." She moved her warm fingers to his lips to silence him as he opened his mouth to speak. "We are going," she whispered gazing longingly into his eyes.
"Fine," he relented, retreating out of her reach. His hands trembled with suppressed need to take her there and then; bury his fangs in the delicate white flesh at her neck while he drove her out of her mind with every thrust of his hips. Shaking himself from the lustful daydream, he made for the door, adjusting his suddenly tight trousers as he turned from her view. "Set course for the Nexus quadrant."
Linking her arm with his, she let him guide her to the bridge while her mind connected with mainframe to reset the co-ordinates. Much as she would like to refuse Edward, she had to follow his orders; she had no choice her programming would not permit insubordination. Once outside the bridge however, he quickly extracted himself and walked stiffly into the room talking his seat at the helm. Lieutenant Bennett smiled at Bella as she entered giving her the thumbs up.
"I saw that Lieutenant," Cullen snapped, "Please don't encourage her to disobey my orders."
"Yes Sir, of course not Sir. Our course is locked for Earth. We will be docking in exactly two hours and twenty-three minutes."
*****
Cullen stood in front of the mirror and adjusted his tie; he hated wearing the stupid monkey suit, hated crowds, but he loved Bella and would do anything for her including wearing a ridiculous formal suit and attending a tedious function surrounded by boring humans.
Bella is human, but not completely. An extension of his ship, the SS Swan, Bella is human with interactive computronics, a prototype biogenetic android who could think for herself, to a degree. However, her mind intrigued him. She was the only life form he had ever encountered in the discovered universe that he couldn't read; her every thought a mystery until she spoke.
Shaking the thoughts of her from his head, he chastised himself, You can't have her, you'll hurt her, she deserves so much more than you can give her.
As if summoned by mere thought, she appeared at his door. "Ready? The others are waiting to leave."
Materializing in the lobby of the command centre, Bella felt the absence of her other self; she felt lighter in a sense - Free.
"Order me to do something Edward," she asked, curious to see if this sense of freedom indicated a release her from protocol.
"What?"
"Order me to do something, anything you think I wouldn't want to do."
"Like what?"
"I don't know! I'm programmed to follow your orders, so order me."
Looking around for inspiration, he spotted a fountain outside the main doors, soft green lights illuminated the centre feature. "Go jump in the fountain. Naked, I order you." She smiled wickedly, not minding a refreshing dip in the cool depths of the pool in the slightest, and began walking to the main doors. Cullen grabbed her by the upper arms turning her to face him. "I'm kidding, don't do it."
Pouting, Bella danced away from him, hooking her arm through Lieutenant Bennett's and pulled the floundering woman into the main conference room that had been cleared and set up as the ballroom.
The women gathered with others already seated at a table at the edge of the room and watched couples dance eagerly to music from many different eras. Bella excused herself from the group to approach a man she hadn't seen since her enhancement.
"Fitz! I'm so glad you decided to come," she squealed, almost childlike in her excitement.
He bowed chivalrously, "How could I refuse such a fair maiden's request?"
With a roll of her eyes, she leaned in close to be heard over the upbeat music. "Why aren't you dancing?"
"Because Commander Cullen has told me in no uncertain terms that you are his and I have no other acceptably capable partner... and I am not too keen on flaunting myself in front of so many of my peers."
Edward appeared between them, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Commander Darcy," he said with a challenging tone. "I'm sure Lieutenant Bennett would love to take a twirl."
Upon hearing her name, Liz glanced over her shoulder just in time to catch Commander Fitzwilliam Darcy wrinkling his nose in disdain. "She is tolerable; but not handsome enough to tempt me."
Liz was motified. Even if he was a millionaire with his own fleet of ships, he didn't have to be so rude. Huffing with contempt she refused to meet his eye when she grabbed the first young officer to pass by the table and dragged him to dance. Jane, her sister, seemed to be having a good time with Captain Bingley at least. Although given the way Darcy eyed the couple she didn't hold much hope of him keeping his nose out of his best, or rather only, friends love life.
Keeping to the shadows at the back of the room, a lonely figure dressed completely in black stood watching the revellers. An uninvited guest and deserter from Star Fleet, he watched the proceedings with rapture as his arch nemeses, Cullen, and the brunette at his side laughed, talked and danced.
"Edward," Bella gasped, out of breath from his enthusiastic twirling of her around the dance floor. "I need to rest for minute you've worn me out. I'll just go, erm powder my nose." Bella smiled, leaving in search of a bathroom.
She ducked inside but before she could lock the door James burst through knocking her into the wall; his plan was to take what Cullen prized most in an act of the sweetest kind of revenge. Flipping the cover of the transporter on his wrist, he grabbed her around the waist and dematerialized from the bathroom to the deck of his small ship. Bella's screams were heard only by James who delighted in her distress.
"Bella?" Liz called softly, tapping on the bathroom door. "Bella is everything okay in there?"
When she received no reply, she pushed the door open to find the bathroom empty. From the corner of her eye she caught sight of Bella's clutch bag lying under the sink; its contents strewn across the floor.
Search parties consisting of the crews of both the S.S. Swan and the S.S. Pemberley fanned out and checked every room in the building to no avail. Bella had vanished without a trace. Exactly two hours and five minutes after her last sighting, Commander Cullen slapped his forehead as inspiration struck.
"Damn it! I'm such an idiot," he muttered before dematerializing to the Swan, only to arrive back a minute later with a small handheld receiver. "Bella is fitted with a tracking device. This baby will find her exact location - providing she's still in this galaxy."
Intermittent beeping joined the flashing red dot on the screen showing Bella's location to be speeding toward the edge of the galaxy. A moment later the dot vanished and the beeping stopped.
"Argh no! Damn it to hell," Cullen swore, putting a fist through the wall in agitation.
"What are you waiting for? Lets get moving before they get too far," Liz shouted. "The Swan can still catch them."
"No it can't, without Bella the ship is just a shell. It won't run when she's not on it, it's part of the interactive failsafe programming."
Liz stared at her commander dumbfounded, "Well that was clever," she muttered sarcastically, "What idiot designed that?" Cullen's eyes flicked briefly to Darcy in answer. "So what are we going to do?"
Commander Darcy stepped forward. "We take the Pemberley." Raising his wrist communicator to his mouth, he addressed his crew, "Emergency situation. All crew to return to the Pemberley immediately, we leave at precisely ten fifteen." He turned to Cullen, "Commander, round up your best people and meet me on the bridge in ten minutes."
Within twenty minutes the S.S. Pemberley detached its docking arm from Obiter17 and set off for the edge of the Nexus Quadrant, the last place Bella's tracking device registered her position.
Liz approached Commander Darcy. "Sir, requesting permission to take the helm."
"Lieutenant Bennett, you are unfamiliar with the controls on the Pemberley and we don't have the luxury of time so I can teach you."
"Yes Sir." Liz seethed, although she had several years of training on a mark VI Galaxy Explorer, her manners would not permit her to contradict the arrogant son of a bitch. Instead, she stepped back and bit her tongue as he appointed a young officer to take the controls.
"Proceed to warp speed five when you're ready," he instructed.
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