The Intergalactic Peddler-Volume 1 by Ronnie Coleinger
Chapter 18 – The Skipper’s Revenge
As Jill’s customers stabilized in the security room of The Empress, Trish greeted the two men and began working on their shopping list. Trish realized that the customer’s shopping list was very large, and very expensive. She continued typing on the computer key board as the monitor screen rolled down to page two. As she questioned the customers about the size of the air compressor they wanted, Jill walked into the secure area of the security room and stood beside Trish.
As Jill looked down at the computer screen reading the list of goods that Trish had typed, she heard one of the customers speak and instantly recognized his voice. Jill looked up and recognized his face as well as his voice. Jill stared into the face of the shorter of the two men, but did not speak to him for a few moments. Jill let the man’s voice and face be mentally compared to the details stored deep in her memory; then devised a plan in her mind to expose the man for who he really was. Trish could see that Jill was very disturbed with the two customers, maybe even angry, but did not understand her reasons. The shorter male customer finally asked Jill if she knew him from somewhere, but Jill just continued to stare deep into his soul.
Jill finally turned to the glass security windows separating her and Trish from the customers, raised her arms over her head, placed both palms on the glass and said, “We have not been formally introduced, but you raped my mother, and left her in a dark room.” The man looked carefully at Jill and asked how she was so certain of a thing like that. Jill considered the question a moment, and then said, “I see your face in my dreams at night just before I wake from the attack you inflicted upon my mother. You see, I dream the same nightmare as my mother Angela. You may remember her as Connie Smith before she changed her name.” The customers face lost all color and he began fidgeting around as if he was at a loss for words, or looking for a place to hide. The man finally spoke and said, “That is absurd, I never attacked your mother.” Jill spoke to the computer and said, “Computer would you teleport the taller of our two customers back to his vessel, and then turn the temperature in the secure room down to zero degrees Celsius for me? Thanks.” The taller customer opened his mouth to protest, but the words never left his lips. He just simply disappeared from the secure room. The shorter customer was now yelling and cursing at Jill, but she knew that given enough time, the man would be quite willing to talk to her sensibly: Man to woman, captive to captor.
Trish was now protesting this treatment of the customer, but Jill screamed at her, “Please, get the fuck out of the security room, and do it now.” Trish quickly stomped out and pressed the button to slide the door shut. Trish had never seen or heard Jill talk or act like this and quickly questioned the computer to explain Jill’s actions. The computer calmly explained to Trish that the man in the secure room was the man who had raped and left a young girl in a dark room for six days before her rescuers found her. The young girl was Jill’s mother, Angela. Angela and her parents hunted this man for many years. Then Angela and Ronnie hunted him for many more years. The skipper has now found the man and will end his life very slowly, probably shivering in the cold, dark, security room. The computer said, “The skipper will not let him live; of that I am certain.” Jill has hated this man since she was born, when the nightmares of her mother transferred to her tiny brain; the same nightmares her mother Angela dreamed. Jill, as did her mother, hates the man that caused so much pain to that young girl, a young girl unable to fight back.
Trish stood up from her chair and told the computer she was going to put a stop to this madness right now, and headed towards the security room. When Trish input her key code to open the door to the security room, it did not work. Trish hit the clear button and punched in the code again, and once again, the door refused to open. Trish screamed at the computer to open the fucking door, but the computer refused. Trish slammed her fists on the door, screamed at Jill to let her in, then backed up so her back was against the hallway wall. She slid down until she was sitting on her butt, with her back against the wall, facing the security room door.
The computer waited until Trish had calmed her emotions for a moment, and then calmly spoke to her. The computer said, “Trish, I cannot allow you to interfere with the punishment the skipper must inflict upon this man. The skipper cannot allow the man in the security room to go unpunished after the physical and mental pain he caused her mother. If you or I interfere with Jill in the completion of this lifelong quest, she will never forgive herself, or us, for allowing her mother’s attacker to walk free. She must kill him, and she must do it without touching him or using any weapons other than her mind. Jill does not believe in directly killing any entity unless that entity is threatening her or someone else’s life; in this instance she must, and she will, allow this man to freeze in the security room, alone, and in total darkness.”
Trish finally got her wits about her and asked the computer if she could enter the security room and sit with Jill until this deed was complete. Trish could hear the computer speaking to the skipper and then the door to the security room opened. Jill stepped into the hallway, and reached out her hand for Trish. When Trish was standing up in the hallway, Jill hugged her and said she did not need to witness this death, and should wait in her room. Trish gently stepped past Jill and walked to the glass security windows. Jill had electronically tinted the security glass completely dark, but the monitor showed an infrared image of the man walking around in the room, shivering, cursing and trying to cope with his impending death. Trish sat down in the chair at the monitor and allowed herself to cry. She did not make any sounds, she did not want Jill to comfort her or talk to her; she just needed to make peace with the fact that she was watching a human slowly freezing to death, and she was unable to prevent the death. Trish made up her mind that she would stay here in this room until the man died: No living entity should die alone without someone present to pray their soul unto their God.
Jill finally spoke to Trish, and asked if they could discuss this man’s impending death, but Trish shook her head, no. Trish finally looked Jill in the eyes and said, “Skipper, I do not want to hear one fucking word from your mouth until this man is dead, and then we will discuss your inability to kill humanely instead of playing with your victim like an animal.” Jill doubled up her fist and stepped towards Trish, intending to punch her stupid face, but Trish quickly stood up and prepared to defend herself if forced into it; Jill relented and sat down in the chair beside the monitor to calm herself. Jill spoke to the computer, looking for reassurance that killing this man was the correct course of action that would revenge the brutality inflicted upon her mother as a young girl.
The computer spoke to Jill, “My friend, I witnessed firsthand the pain and suffering of Angela. I protected her from the nightmares the best I could. I tried to instill in her mind that most human males would defend her, cherish her, and love her; would die to protect her from harm, but the dreams continued, and she was continually haunted. I understand your concern about killing and causing another human to suffer, but you must remember that I am a machine, not mortal, and unable to feel guilt or remorse. I have no right to advise you in this matter of killing, I have no programming to guide this action. If you need guidance in this matter, you must speak to Trish, and let her morality guide you.” Trish looked at Jill, but saw no sign of remorse; instead, she saw a flicker of hate, a hint of determination to complete her quest.
Jill walked to the control console, turned the lights on in the secure room, and then spoke these words to the man standing in front of her as he tried to adjust his eyes to the bright lights. “Let God take pity on your soul, because I do not.” The skipper raised the hinged red switch cover, and pressed the button under it labeled, EJECT.
Instantly, the sound of air escaping filled The Empress, the floor panels opened, and the glass viewing windows turned red with blood and human body matter. Then once again, the sound of moving air filled their ears as the computer pressured the secure roo
As Trish sat in her recliner rocking and crying, trying to get her emotions under control before trying to open a discussion with Jill, she heard the sounds of Jill singing her mother’s comfort song. The sound of the song allowed Trish’s mind to relax and let her feel the deep pain that Jill’s mother, Angela, had felt that day in the dark room, as her attacker repeatedly raped her.
As Jill sang, Trish cried. Trish cried tears for the child locked in the darkness after the rape, and tears for the death of the man that Jill had just killed. Trish now understood the feelings in Angela’s heart, felt the feelings in Jill’s heart, felt the hatred that her Uncle Ronnie felt for the man who had injured the love of his life, the Mother of his child. Trish now felt Jill’s pain, and knew she was also crying, crying hysterical tears of joy for the revenge of her mother’s attacker, but also of remorse for killing a human being. Trish stood up and walked into the ready room where she found Jill sitting on the floor, crying as an injured child would cry. As Trish pulled Jill close, Jill began to sing again, and the words seemed to sooth the hurt they both felt so deep in their souls. The sound of Angela’s comfort song that she had taught to her daughter filled The Empress with love. The song that Jill’s Mother had sung to her from the moment of her birth, filled The Empress with hope, hope that mankind could learn to love one another.
Hush, little darling, don’t you cry
Mama’s going to keep you safe tonight
If that nightmare makes you weep
Mama’s going to hold you, until you sleep
When you find your prince someday
One small child you’ll have I pray
If that child should wake at night
Hold her tight until the light
Hush, little daughter I love you
Mama’s going to have to hug on you
If the hugging can’t still your cries
Mama’s going to have to kiss those eyes
If those kisses don’t work on you
Mama’s going to have to tickle you
If those tickles put a smile on you
Maybe you’ll sleep the whole night through
Hush, tiny dreamer, I love you
If you dream about the dark
Hug me close and calm your heart
Feel my love that mends the fright
Let my love show you that life
Will guide your way to the light
Please my God, please help this child
Don’t let her take her life tonight
Her love you see is dear to me
Show her life is the way to thee
The computer sat a course for planet Quantum, where it felt the girls could heal their souls. The computer would teleport them down to the porch of Janet’s home, where they could spend a few days with their dearest friend, Janet. Janet was now much older, but the wisest person the girls knew: Janet, the Grandmother that could comfort the two cousins, and help heal their pain.
Janet had written a poem that she read to the girls. The poem she wrote was a cry of hope for the future of the universe, of the cosmos.
If all mankind could banish hate
There’d be no need for war
And guns could be used for peaceful things
Instead of killing more
If all mankind could love one God
There’d be no need for war
And men could live with peace at heart
Instead of killing more
If all mankind could cherish life
There’d be no need for war
And God’s children could love and play
Instead of killing more
If all mankind could comfort a crying child
There’d be no need for war
We’d be too busy hugging children
To fight a silly war
Instead of killing more
If all mankind could praise a friend
There’d be no need for war
One new friend you’d reach each day
No need to fight, you’d be my light
Instead of killing more
Chapter 19 – Death of the Matriarch
The woman that had provided the hope and love for this family died six years later in her daughter Frederica’s arms. The woman, who had lost her parents, her husband, her brother and sister in law, was now the one the family would lay to rest this day in the family cemetery. The son of the Minister that had married Angela and Ronnie would assist the family in the burial process, and insure that Janet’s God received her in his home.
As the attendants started lowering the coffin into the grave, Jill began to quietly sing the song that had so comforted her over the years, and had kept her mother’s sanity in check. As she sang, Trish took hold of Jill’s hand and added her voice. As the attendants began to lower the cover on the crypt, Jill threw a red rose on top of the coffin. A rose to symbolize her love for the woman that had allowed her mother Angela to become a part of this family, and had then guided her through the troubled times that her mother’s attack as a child had placed upon her. Jill loved Janet, her grandmother, her mentor, her friend. Jill hoped that she could also be a beacon of life to her family when she was the eldest and wisest of the clan, just as Janet had done. Frederica and Monica would be the ones most to suffer from the loss of their Mother, Jill knew that, but she already missed her grandmother.
When the family returned to Janet’s home, they discussed selling it, but Monica finally asked if she could assume responsibility for the house. She said she would live there and maybe raise a family there if the others had no objection. Frederica took a key from her pocket and said, “Little sister, this loving home now belongs to you. Please care for it, and love it as our mother and father did in the past. All we ask is that you allow us to visit with you, often.”
As Jill and Trish time traveled to the new universe where they planned to trade, Jill stopped at the Open Market and watched Trish’s face as they drew close to the huge tunnel. Then Jill watched the excitement on Trish’s face as the goods transferred into carts in front of The Empress, just as her father (Ronnie) had watched the smile on her face the very first time. When the process was complete and the goods had transferred into the cargo bay of The Empress, Trish felt the spirits of Ronnie and Angela stir within her soul, stir her mind with the wonders of the cosmos. She would follow her uncle’s footsteps, and travel the cosmos in search of the next great adventure, the next great frontier.
(Until we meet again) (Hasta la vista)
Ronnie Coleinger