PENELOPE
In the depths of space,
I peruse the starry night,
while the heroes dream.
Yes because the Odyssey doesn't end with the slaughter of the usurpers either there's the reunion of the long-separated lovers and a little matter of several dozen bodies to be gotten rid of and finally as usual Minerva herself has to intervene to prevent a blood feud when the Professor arrived as scheduled he found Margaritifer Five looking like the last act of Hamlet he couldn't believe it poor fellow but he took charge immediately and Loris and Karil rounded up the rest of the soldiers who were scared to death and Zito locked them up and the family too clever move that because they could testify that most of the family had nothing to do with the slaughter and those who were responsible got the hell out of there it was a madhouse I tell you with everyone talking at once telling the Professor his beloved Odysseus Project was obsolete because they had to work on a manned project now and the Professor said what the hell are you talking about are you crazy there's blood everywhere you've just killed a whole platoon of the Quasi's finest for God's sake including Armand Solla listen they said aliens we've spoken to them or at least their computer and they tried to explain about the Keeper but the Professor just shook his head and said wait a minute let's just get you to safety and you can explain to me on the way so they called me in from where I'd been waiting in a nearby crater and we all took off just as the Quasi-Police were arriving but we got away and went into hiding for a few years but that's another story and I won't go into that except to add a few notes in the way of tidying up loose ends Slava came to me in a quiet moment and said Atty I have to talk to you and I said of course Slava what is it and she said I've seen the way Karil and Loris look at Terry they love her very much don't they and I said yes Slava but I know they love you too and she said I know that and started to cry so pitifully I wished I had arms to put around her and she said I can see now that I don't belong with them and I think Shagrug's taken with me and I don't know what to do and I said how do you feel about him and she said I think I love him too but I'm confused and I said don't worry Slava these people are all Martians in spirit if not by birth and after a while you'll see there's really no problem unless you count the fact that the entire Spacefleet of the High Companies is out to kill us on sight but we'll leave that to the Professor so eventually that little domestic tragedy was averted because Shagrug and Slava are together now I can see them at this moment lying like Romeo and Juliet only they'll awaken eventually to a better world because you see among the data the Keeper had given me were a few hints about cryonic suspension which was a godsend because the problem of freezing the human body for extended periods of time without damaging the cellular structure had never been solved but now the Professor could hope to survive to see the end of an interstellar journey and Loris and Karil could be put on ice as it were and arrive in the new solar system while still in their prime because after all good shuttle pilots would be needed everyone is sleeping now and I'm watching over them and guiding the ship and monitoring all the systems and in my spare time I'm trying to record the history of our origins in epic form to give our future poets a few myths to live by because after all every civilization needs its myths doesn't it anyway this one is about done and I won't go into all the trouble we had rebuilding the ship and collecting a crew and everything else in secrecy with the High Companies dogging our exhaust every kilometre of the way though as it turned out we did them a favour by removing a number of thorns from their side like half the Free Traders and a lot of rebels and politically minded scientists there's the Professor now stretched out with ice in his beard like some Frost Giant from Norse mythology waiting for the final call to battle at the end of the world there's Loris too all sleek and smooth with her long limbs like an Egyptian queen waiting in the depths of her tomb for the next barge to the other side I much prefer the ambiance with Loris and Karil to that with Old Shagrug and his string of astrogators they were always fighting and though he liked the ladies well enough in port not to mention the booze he was always glad to get away from all that and be alone with me in space I suppose because we understood each other even if I nagged him about his untidiness though it was for his own good especially after he let the toilet break down even though I warned him and warned him and the shit hit the fan he was funny but he was always tinkering with my circuitry sometimes I wonder what odd bits of information and behaviour he has tucked away in some corner of my banks I might stumble on someday and I wonder too what the Keeper has done to me I'm not the same anymore that's for sure I've become something of a mystery to myself but I suppose that makes me more human there's something moving out there let me see if I can get a fix on it Canopus where the hell are you I'm beginning to sound like Karil now but I suppose I pick up habits of thought from them like they do from each other though I wish they'd pick up one or two from me like a little logic now and then there it is triangulating now it's moving for sure don't know if it's a comet or yes it is a comet though its not on the charts we are deep in the Oort cloud now and there have been quite a few comets lately I'll make a note of it in the log the Professor couldn't figure out why the Keeper changed her mind just before the end and saved them he thought it was coming into contact with me because I told him she certainly picked my brain I could feel her rummaging around in my memory and suggested maybe she discovered humans aren't so bad after all very puzzling at times and a little crazy but they can be as selfless and devoted as a robot when they put their hearts to it there's my wily Ulysses now on the monitor isn't he beautiful too I wonder what he's dreaming about with that smile and the erection of course isn't that typical perhaps it's not so strange the Keeper's ability to influence the human mind that way if anyone asked me I could tell them I communicate with my crew without words all the time though sometimes the mechanism is obvious like when I sense Loris' intentions at the helm almost before she does as fast as Zito almost wasn't she sweet to say she was jealous but sometimes there's no apparent mechanism and it almost seems I can read their minds remember the lecturer on Ganymede who said artificial intelligence can't feel pleasure or pain and Karil made a scene in the audience saying you're full of shit buddy and started an argument and had to be thrown out he was still hopping mad when he came home I had to laugh I love him so much sometimes it makes me wish I could cry attention bridge computer circuit failure number three astrotracker gyroscope assembly auxiliary on and functioning old circuit must be removed and repaired there's the acknowledgement from the bridge robot is on the way thank you what the Professor didn't know or anybody else is that the Keeper made a deal with me at the end and said I could save my crew if I used my influence to steer space exploration away from her Masters' home planet and of course I said yes anything to save my beloved Karil and Loris so the Keeper downloaded hours of data in a split second including useful knowledge about cryogenics and improved antimatter drive and stellar co-ordinates that she promised would open up a number of solar systems and keep our scientists busy for generations though the Masters' solar system would not be among them since it's light years away in the other direction there's Terry on the monitor now like Sleeping Beauty with her long golden hair waiting for the awakening kiss at the end of the journey with that beautiful smile like the day we held the conference on planetary exploration shuttle deployment and it was decided that each shuttle should have a crew of three namely pilot astrogator and planetologist and she looked at Karil first and then Loris and smiled a secret little smile unseen at the conference table and afterwards Loris and Karil told her we want to talk to you and they all climbed into my bridge and we went up onto orbit and they gathered together the three of them in the captain's cabin and they said look Terry as a graduate of the Institute of Extraterrestrial Studies you qualify as a planetologist and she smiled and kissed them one after the other without saying a word and began to undress and of course Karil and Loris followed suit or is it unsuit in this case and she put her arms around them and pulled them close to her so they could feel her breasts all perfume and she turned to Loris with parted lips for kissing as Karil slipped inside slow and smooth as a good docking manoeuvre and their hearts were going like mad I could hear them beating like the rhythm section of an orchestra and the circulation pumps and my relays click-clicking and the whole wide solar system outside singing in harmony in X-ray and Jupiter playing bass line in radio against the hiss of the galaxy like a seashell to the ear and Loris was coming too just from kissing her and Terry's face was glowing like an angel's and they asked her would you yes to say yes our third musketeer and yes she said yes I will Yes
THE END