Sisterhood: Alienation... Alien Nation?
Jerry Colt: Protagonist Keeper
Karen Colt: Jerry's little sister
Iris Colt: Jerry's mom
Jarael: Jerry's Primary Sentinel and ghost elf
Serenity: Jerry's A.I.
Neko: Cat Girl body slave
Thorn: Lethean Twi'lek heavily tattooed bodyguard
Xo'Dee: Slime Girl Dancer
Naia: Chiss Strategist
Lilith: Jerry's patron
Binary: Machine Goddess
All characters are 18 years old or older. The story continues when things at home get strained in the most unexpected way. Jerry, Keeper of the House of a Thousand Doors, seaches out a solution and his quest takes him to a dying world circling a ringed gas giant. Will he find what he needs or something else entirely?
It had all changed, hadn't it? The other Keeper, hell, the other version of me had warned me. Mortals aren't meant to remember the touch of the divine, it changes you. Too right it did, my entire world was seen through a new lens. Instead of blindly going through life, my mind locked onto the tiniest details, analyzed it, and stored it for future reference. Thank you, Binary for the gift of a photographic memory. Unlike Eidetic memory, I recalled everything. I tried but I couldn't block out what I called the entire sensory spectrum. What was worse that the beauty of the world was drowned out as my mind identified color, brightness, and a myriad of other statistics.
On the positive side, I had access to the World Library that was a hard drive the size of a planetary core. The sad thing is there was so much an I was too limited to know what to ask for. I managed to push out the noise and finish my latest pet project. I took out a clean cloth and wiped down the outer shell and declared it finished.
"Done!" I said as if the masses were watching and a host of voices would go 'ooh' or 'ah'.
"What the hell is it?" Jarael asked placing her hand on my shoulder. "Hold on, it looks familiar."
"It should." Talon remarked picking it up and turned it over in her hands. "Remember that shitty movie we saw a few months back? The one with the Yautja using the cloaking armor?"
"Yautja?" Jarael asked fumbling over the pronunciation. "Wait! I remember now. Oh! That is the forearm thingy the human soldier found."
"Vambrace," Thorn corrected her. "It is the technical term for armor that protects from the wrist to the elbow. So what kind of cool weapons did you load into this bad boy?"
"Weapons! No." I said and they both frowned. "It is for play."
"He means sex." Neko added as she rose from her spot by the heating vent. "I saw the drawings. It has a bunch of sex toys built into it. Oh. It even dispenses condoms."
"Just condoms." Jarael frowned.
"Not just condoms," I corrected Neko. "Those special ones I designed."
"OOH!" They all tittered happily.
"Yeah. I thought that might change your attitudes." I said. "Whose turn is it for play testing?"
"Mine." Naia called from the hall. "What is it this time?" She asked frowning.
"This." I said tossing her a metallic disc with a small bright blue nub protruding from one side. "Pick a hole any hole and touch the flat end."
"TPT?" She said reading the letters on the shiny side.
"The Perfect Toy." I said. "Go on, give it a try."
"Fine." She said in her gloomy voice. "Lined up and press... Whoa! What the hell?!" She cried out as the toy began its work. "UNNNNN!"
"What's going on Naia?" Thorn asked her golden eyes flaring with excitement.
"Can't... talk... MMMMMM!"
"Jerry, what is going on?" The others asked me.
So, I explained it to them. The business end of the toy is loaded with compressed nanotubes. When it is activated the nanotubes expand forming and filling a woman's pussy or ass with a slender tube. The tube extends to the perfect depth and then thickens to the perfect capacity. The last state was the activation state. Naia stood up straight and cried out. The toy, now the perfect shape, began vibrating, undulating, and pulsating. Naia dropped to her knees, thrust her ass high in the air and began moaning uncontrollably.
"I'll mark that as a success." I said.
Serenity appeared and looked excited about something. I told Jarael how to shut off the toy and followed Serenity to the bedroom where the TV was already on.
"Master Nick and Mistress Kat are going to be interviewed." Serenity said bouncing in her seat.
"Do you know what is going on?" I asked but she made the gesture for zipping her lips. "Okay, be like that."
Neko and the others carried a broken Naia in and we settled onto the bed. I gestured and turned up the volume.
"Nick Shaw, President and CEO of Numenor Technology, has called for a press conference. There are rumors that he is bringing online several new technologies, but the details remain a mystery until now. Ladies and gentlemen Nick Shaw." The reporter announced at the young self-made billionaire approached the podium.
He looked to be in his early thirties and was sporting a well-manicured goatee and sunglasses. He removed the glasses and began his speech.
"Thank you for allowing me to speak with you today. You all know my company makes the cutting-edge holographic computer systems powered by a crystalline matrix and maintained by an Artificial Intelligence." He paused as there was applause from the crowd. "I have come here today to make a few announcements. First, you might have noticed the large tarp behind me. There are two of them. One here in New York City, and the other is in London. Bring up the other feed please." He said and the massive holographic display behind him split and a second feed, direct from London, could be seen. "I have fought hard to push through legislation for this cutting-edge technology that will revolutionize travel. Tada!" He said triggering the men pulling off the tarp covering the twelve feet tall ring of metal. "Okay London." They revealed their ring and Nick left the podium and approached the ring. The air between it wavered and distorted and as millions watched he stepped from New York to London in less than the blink of an eye. "Hello London!" The London crowd went crazy.
"Holy shit!" I said my jaw dropping. "I can see why he said fought. The airline industry's death knell just sounded."
"You might remember," Nick continued. "Project Spiderbot. After the successful launch of the first Spiderbot into orbit six more have joined it. For those who don't know what I am talking about let me explain. As you may or may not know there are tons of dead satellites in orbit awaiting a decaying orbit to have them burn up in reentry. That could take decades and it is a threat to future space travel. The Spiderbots seek out those dead satellites, wrap them in a sealed webbing and inject microscopic machines. Those nanites break down the satellites into base materials, materials that can be used by the international space station for 3D printing replacement parts and the like."
The crowd roared and he paused to collect his thoughts.
"The schedule for clearing out the dead satellites is less than three years." Another pause and then he went on. "I have another surprise. My company has been working with other space industries to build a bigger and better space station. Have a look." He gestured as the hologram's feed changed. "You are seeing the interior of a secure launch location. I say launch but as you can see at the far end of the air tight compartment is a much larger ring. Its partner is already in orbit." He said and the feed behind him split. One showed the earthbound lab and the other was clearly a shot from orbit showing the other ring. "The lab is in a perfect vacuum so that it matches the conditions of its twin in space. Launch is a go!"
Lights along the walls began to flash as the floor of the lab split open and the first module of the new space station rose by way of an elevator. Mechanical arms lifted the module and moved it through the ring. As we watched the module appeared in orbit instantaneously until the entirety was pushed through. The crowds in New York and London went wild.
"That is the first of several modules to be launched today. Show 'em the live feed link, feel free to watch to your heart's content. The station carries a cutting edge A.I. that will assemble the entire station once the modules have reached orbit. Once the station is assembled and powered up the crew will pass from the ring you see on the right and using jet packs board the station. Freaking jet packs!"
The next half hour was a Q & A session where most of the questions were about the earthbound rings and how soon would there be other rings and where would they be installed. Kat took over as Nick suddenly left the stage and he looked alarmed. I wonder what was going on? Kat took over and showed an animated map that displayed existing rings that were already in place. I thought there were only the two, but they hadn't done things half ass. Most U.S. and European capital cities already possessed them. There were also rings in Japan, India, and other politically stable areas. The cost was pricey for now but once the entire network was in place the prices would drop. The skies would be empty or only for hobbyists that kept up the sport of flying. On the bright side Numenor was hiring as many employees of the airline industry as they could.
"He doesn't do anything half ass." I commented.
"Master Nick is very detail orientated." Serenity agreed. "I hope he is okay."
"You noticed it too." I said, and she nodded. "He'll handle it."
I crawled under the covers and got comfortable. Jarael and Neko joined me while the others left the room and turned the light off on the way out. I felt them snuggle close as I switched off Lilith's gift that had maintained me for three days straight. The exhaustion hit me like a ton of bricks and sleep claimed me immediately.
The landscape was stark but possessed a primal beauty. It was a stony desert with small outcroppings of blue and violet blooms and tendrils. There was no sound of insects and even the wind seemed to have abandoned this valley. The only light was from a pale crescent moon that was larger than the one I knew so well. I stared up into the night sky and I picked out a faint detail I had missed before. That wasn't a moon, there was a thin line bisecting the equator of the ringed planet. Was this a parallel Earth or someplace different entirely?
'Origin.' The soft voice whispered.
"Symbiote?" I whispered back.
'Yes.' It replied with my own voice. 'Need. Inform. Changes. Complete.'
"You are done modifying me?" I asked.
'Yes.' It said. 'Good as I can make you.' It struggled and then fell silent.
