Beyond Read Online Free PDF Page B

Aimee. She is new to the ship. Can you please watch after her for a little while?"
    The blue head flickered for a second but the black grin remained. "Oh yes, I've heard about her already. I have so many questions."
    Raja turned the monitor around so that it was facing away from them as she whispered, "JOH will spend hours trying to learn from you. He thrives on filling up his data banks, so if you get tired just tap the screen and he'll go away. He's really quite obnoxious after a while," she chuckled.
    Aimee felt her throat tighten. To her utter horror, her eyes started to fill with tears. Everyone was leaving her.
    The woman grew concerned. "Don't worry. We will be safe. The Korons have tried to attack us before. They never succeed. They won't today either."
    To disprove that testimony a muffled explosion clapped overhead. Raja ducked, but rushed an assured look back on her face. "I'll be back to check up on you in a little while. This should all be over soon."
    Oh, how she wished it could all be over.
    Aimee watched Raja's slim silver suit recede down the aisle and then moved over to one of the glass chairs and sat down. She expected it to be cold, but it was remarkably warm, and it felt like it was padded. It honestly looked like she was sitting in a big, inverted football helmet. She stooped over with her elbows on her knees and noticed her jeans and sneakers which looked so out of place. Peeking up from this crouched position she studied the spacious chamber and watched other women like Raja administering to the few patients. The watchers . Hah. A rather simple job. How could you miss a ship that size? It didn't exactly sneak up on you.
    She jolted when a door appeared a few feet away and someone passed through. The barrier quickly dropped closed behind them.
    Well, maybe the ship could sneak up on you.
    Aimee continued to survey the Bio Ward. It was the size of a circus arena, with a dome-shaped, mirror-plated ceiling. If she squinted real hard she could see a distorted image of herself looking down. The floor looked like black marble, but she never heard the tread of Raja’s boots against it. They weren’t really boots. More like footies attached to the bottom of the suit. Footies with heels. Aimee counted nearly twenty patients out of a myriad amount of beds. They were all male, and most of them possessed eye patches. Watchers . If she lived on this ship, she would never be a watcher. She would be a warrior.
    Hah, right. She played the clarinet…she didn’t shoot lasers.
    Sighing, Aimee glanced at the tablet hovering before her. It trembled in the air each time the Horus shook from impact. She reached for it and guided it closer, gently tapping the dark monitor. A blue crystalline head lit up with a black gash that served up a grin.
    “Hello, Aimee.”
    "Hello," she replied, casting a furtive look to see if anyone watched as she spoke to Sesame Street's futuristic cookie monster.
    "Are you going to fill me full of titillating knowledge about your planet now?"
    Boom . JOH flickered and the staff in the Bio Ward ceased their tasks to gape at each other.
    "Don't worry, Aimee. The Horus infrastructure is still intact."
    Aimee noticed a woman nearby staring at another floating monitor. Even from this distance, she could recognize JOH's face on that screen as well. The woman gave a brief nod and tapped off the screen.
    "Are you talking to other people at the same time?" Aimee asked.
    JOH paused and she swore his blue orb wobbled in affirmation. "I am conversing with 3256 people at the moment. 3255 now."
    "How?"
    "How?" The black eyes flattened.
    "How do you speak to 3255 people at the same time?"
    "I—I don't know how to answer that." He regrouped and smiled. "So let's talk about you, then."
    "And your name is Joe?" Aimee persisted. "Everyone around here has funny names. How did you end up with Joe? That name comes from my planet." Oh my God, did she just say her planet? Not her town, or her state, or even