“You’re probably right,” Trae said.
Fergus stood from where he sat on the floor ahead of the control stations. “In the red corner, weighing in at over one hundred and fifty thousand metric tons, Big Red!” Fergus cheered and hooted.
Fergus,” Doug barked.
Fergus groaned a huff. “Fine.”
“The cruise liner is on the move,” Wes reported. Looks like they are...oh shit, never mind, they are just ... um … gone.”
“What about the Red,” Doug asked.
“They are still inbound on our position, heading…and never mind. They just blinked out.” Wes let out an exasperated sigh. “There has to be a way to set up early warning alarms now that we’re tied into the network and we have those energy signatures on file.”
“Go ahead and dig into the SATNET and see what you can figure out,” Doug said. “That network will be invaluable to us later. We have a lot of prep work to do before we can go Earthside. Trae, take Casraownan and finish mapping out all of these tunnels and the upper levels. We need to know what we have available to work with.”
“Really?” Trae turned to Doug with an unblinking grin. “How in the hell is that going to work?”
“It’ll work because you’re a smart cookie and he’ll at least be able to point out where not to step or go where anything else that might want to eat us would be.”
Trae let out a frustrated sigh and started off the bridge. “Good point. Come on kitty face, we’ve got work to do,” he motioned for Cass to follow, then stopped and looked down at Jouqon. He looked up at Cass with a serious stare, then pointed at Cass. “You and me,” he pointed to himself. “Are going to explore,” Trae turned his fingers into a walking stickman on the opposite palm. “But I don’t want to take the boy with us,” he pointed at Jouqon with a shake of his head.
Cass stared at Trae with an unbelieving wide-eyed look, then nodded and muttered something in his native tongue.
“Good, that’s settled then,” Trae said. “Let’s get him home and get to it then.” Trae motioned for them to follow as he marched off the bridge.
cHAPTER 28
Unknown Red Giant System
2nd planet / Alien Starport
Basecamp
July 3rd, 2176 / Lunchtime (Betty Time)
“Y
a see Cap,” Willy said. “I think we’re perfectly fine building another unit. Fabrication of the parts will just be time-consuming since we have the full manufacturing schematics in the database. No researching to figure out what does what. The materials will be easy to pick up back on Earth. I just don’t know about the resonance crystals.” Willy poked at the bits of gravy covered meat on his plate. “I really don’t want to take the thing apart just yet, and that’s exactly what I’d have to do in order to take a sample to do a full analysis on it.”
“Any thoughts on how long it might last or what might happen if it broke down while we were passing through a flux?” Doug pushed his plate away.
“Not the first clue about either, honestly,” Willy said. “My first thought about the flux system breaking down while passing through is that it would be bad. Very bad,” he laughed. “My guess is that we’d just wink out of existence or maybe we’d forever be trapped between the layers of space-time. It’s really hard to say.” Willy pushed his plate away. “Ya know, this stuff wouldn’t be so bad if we had some hot sauce or something to go with it.
Doug grinned. “I know, mystery meat surprise is always better with something that you can identify.”
“Pay attention dipshit,” Fergus shouted. “Hey Cap, where did you want these kegs?”
Doug turned in the direction of the voice. Fergus stood at the bottom of the Betty’s loading ramp as Andy eased a pallet stacked with beer kegs down the ramp.
“How about you actually help instead of standing there like you’re too good to help,” Andy said.
“And if I did that, then how would you ever learn the value of a hard day's work?” Fergus chuckled.
“Fergus,” Doug shouted over his shoulder. “How about you learn the value of a hard day's work and let Andy take a break for supper.”
“Ha!” Andy engaged the parking brake on the pallet jack and walked away.
“But, Cap...”
“Don’t even start, Fergus. Get it stowed,” Doug ordered.
“Shit,” Fergus said, grumbling under his breath as he trudged up the Betty’s loading ramp.
“Now that that’s taken care of,” Doug said then took a sip of sweet tea. “Could you get a material list together so when we get back to Earth, we’ll be able to get what you’ll need to build a second unit or at least to make replacement parts?”
“Oh yeah, Cap. That won’t be a problem at all. I can have that for you by tomorrow, easy.”
Melanie walked up next to Doug and crossed her arms. “Ya know, I can hear y’all over here making all of these wonderful plans and all.”
“Okay…” Doug turned to Melanie. “Why does it sound like you’re about to throw something?”
“Oh, I’m about ready to,” Melanie said with a wide-eyed nod. “If I’m going to set up any kind of proper cafeteria for the number of people you are talking about, I’m gonna need more than two pots and a fire pit. I can barely keep enough cooked at one time to feed everyone before starting the next meal,” she said with knife-hand emphasis. “I really need a good stove set up with a bunch of new pots, pans, utensils and the whole lot. Cooking on board the ship is one thing, but if we’re not relying on ration packs that you run through the hydromaster 3000, then you gotta do something or I’ll just let your asses starve for a few days. I am not going to work my ass off and get bitched at for not having it all done on time.”
Doug stood and took a step back. “Mel, calm down. We’ll get what we need. We just have to make do with what we have for the time being.”
“You say that now,” Melanie growled. “But I’d bet money on the fact that I’ll end up cooking for a crew of thirty or more without an extra hand or a pot barely big enough to piss in.”
“Hey Melanie, are there any more of those little biscuit things you made for breakfast? I never got any of them,” Andy shouted from across the bay.
Melanie gestured toward Andy, “See what I was just fucking saying? I can’t keep enough made at one time!”
“Okay Mel, okay. Duly noted,” Doug said. “We’ll make sure to get what you need.”
Melanie turned and rushed off at the sound of metal lids clattering to the floor. “What in the everloving hell are you doing in my kitchen, Andy! Git! Git out now or I’ll cook your ass next!”
“What? I just wanted to see what was in the pot,” Andy said defensively.
Doug and Willy watched as she stomped away in pursuit of Andy.
“Oh my God she’s on a rampage today,” Doug whispered to Willy as he sat back down at the table.
“I know. I’m not sure if I should feel sorry for Andy or feel sorry for Mel.”
“Right.” Doug flashed a cheesy grin at Willy. “Okay, so where were we?”
“Materials list,” Willy said. “I’ll see what I can come up with. It won’t take me long to put together. With what we have available here in this system and with the foundry equipment on the Betty, I think we could produce most of the raw materials ourselves. The problem will be with that liquid metal in the gyro and then acquiring the crystals themselves.”
Rachel suddenly appeared from nowhere behind Doug. “Hello, my Cappie Cap,” she said cheerfully into his ear, then ruffled his hair. “You are going to love me.” She flashed a wide cheesy smile as she rocked on her heels.
“This had better be good,” he said in an annoyed tone.
She stepped around to the side of the table and leaned against it, then scooped two fingers worth of gravy from Doug’s bowl and slurped the thick goop from her fingers.
“What the hell, Rachel? Really?” Doug looked up at her with annoyed disdain.
“I know where we are... I know
where we are...” She wiggled her hips in an odd shuffling dance to the beat of her sing-song.
“Okay. So where are we then?” Willy interrupted.
“Was I talking to you, Willy,” she snapped a glare at the large engineer then turned back to Doug and smiled.
“If the computer is right and the stars that I identified are also correct, we are in the Eltanin, or Gamma Draconis star system. One hundred and twenty-seven or so light-years from Earth and in the Draco constellation. So that means that we are on Eltanin 2, unless you want to name it something else entirely. And since I was already taking a look around, I sent a few probes out to scope out the rest of the system. There is this super Jovian around 2AU and two other gas giants that are about the size of Neptune. Now, the really cool thing that I found is that the Jovian has its own little system of moons or planets or whatever you want to call it going on. So far, the computer has identified around seventy or so moon-sized or larger objects in orbit. Spectral analysis on three of the moons shows a breathable atmosphere. I went ahead and took the liberty of logging the planetoids as habitable and named them, Auel, Asimov, and Koontz, respectively.”
Willy scratched his head. “Why did you use those names?”
“They are some of my favorite authors,” she said with a shrug. “Ya know, we really should get a bonus for finding habitable planets.”
“But wait…,” Willy said. “What if after closer inspection the planet is too hostile for one reason or another to sustain human life? Now someone has spent a lot of time and effort to only find that it was crap.”
“Adding a hefty fine for filing crap claims would be a good way to deter that sort of wildcatting,” Doug said. “Let me think about it. You did the work, so you’ve got dibs if we decide to work it like that.”
“But that’s pretty cool, hu? Four possibly habitable worlds in one solar system.” She shrugged, scooped another two fingers of gravy from the bowl and happily skipped away toward the Betty.
“Well, okay then. At least we know where we are now,” Doug said.
“Better than not knowing, I’d say,” Willy added.
“Hey Cap,” Tiffany said from over Doug’s shoulder.
Doug laid his head down on the makeshift table and buried his head in his arms and groaned. “Yes Tiff?”
“Hey, I was just wondering. How long do you think Trae will be gone for? It’s been a few hours and I’m starting to get worried.” She nervously picked at a fingernail. “I mean, it’s not just me you know. The pups are whimpering and whining, and they won’t listen to me like they do with him.”
Doug turned slowly to look at her. “He’ll be back when he gets back.”
“But what if something happens to him, Cap? I mean, the last time he went wandering out there in the tunnels he ended up fighting with that great big dirt dog.”
Doug turned around, fully facing her and took her hands into his. “Tiff,” he began, sarcasm slathered thick in his voice. “Trae is a big boy. He knows how to take care of himself. It’ll be alright.”
“Seriously Cap. I don’t know what I’ll do without him. And he’s so much better at handling the pups than I am. I won’t be able to keep them under control. They actually listen to him,” she whined.
“So, we put them down and carry them to Mel to make mystery meat surprise,” Willy said jokingly. “Though at that point would it really be mystery meat?”
“Oh my God, Willy. Seriously now. You’d go and eat my babies?”
Doug took a deep frustrated breath. “Tiff, he’ll be fine. Cass is with him.”
“But Cass doesn’t speak like a regular person. What if he can’t get Trae’s attention in time?”
Doug glared at her.
“I’m just saying, man.” She defensively waved her hands in the air. “You never know what else might be out there. It’s like, literally an alien world that we just unlocked out there and we’ve just barely started to level up and explore any of it.”
“Tiff,” Doug said with a perturbed glare.
“Okay, okay. Just saying, man.”
Doug turned back toward Willy and placed his elbows on the table. “Okay, where were we again?”
“Hey, Cap, um…Are you sure?” She whimpered under her breath.
“He’ll be fine, Tiff. I promise. How about you go see if Mel has anything you can help her with. She was just talking about needed extra hands.”
Tiff lowered her head, her lower lip poking out and on the verge of quivering. “Alright, as long as you think he’ll be fine.”
“Trust me, he’ll be fine, now go on and stay busy so you aren’t thinking about it.”
Reluctant, she slunk away heading toward Mel’s cooking area.
Willy stifled a chuckle. “I’m sorry, I can’t help it,” Willy said holding up an apologetic hand.
“It’s all right. Now where were…” Doug’s comm chimed with an incoming message. He stiffened at the sound and rolled his eyes. He snatched the small Procom personal communicator out of his pocket. “What already? This had better be important because I’m about to keel haul someone.”
“How about the two of you old ladies stop it with all the hem-hawing around and get things in order,” The chief growled over the speaker. “It’s bad enough listening into some of the things coming from those witches of yours, but you two need to seriously learn how to pull rank and tell your subordinates to fuck off, do as your told and move on.”
Doug and Willy stared at each other with confused looks.
“If you would just take the time to read up on the ship’s manual for this new bird, then you’d know what you needed in order to resupply the damned thing. First, you’ll need to find or learn how to grow your own Kyanite crystals for the resonance generator. Second of all, you’ll need to mix up an alloy of primarily steel, manganese and thallium. Now if it were me, I’d toss in a pinch of uranium and arsenic to thin out the mix a bit and help to lubricate the system. If I’d had y’alls attitude back in my day, you damned pups would still be struggling to survive back on Earth. So quit your God damned bickering, quit making bullshit excuses and just get it done already. Chief out!”
“Well alrighty then,” Doug said.
“Ya know, he does have a point, Cap.”
“I know he does. He’s right. I just hate to be that guy, you know.”
cHAPTER 29
Gamma Draconis system
Eltanin 2 / Alien Starport
The Betty / Witches Quarters
July 3rd, 2176 / Afternoon (Betty Time)
“I
seriously don’t know what the hell Doug is thinking sometimes,” Krista said as she forcefully folded a shirt, then placed it in the worn wicker basket that sat on the floor next to her.
“He’s just trying to make a better life for all of us,” Maggie said. “Maybe instead of struggling day to day, we’ll have a chance to thrive. Not only that, we are establishing the first intergalactic human colony. One day someone will write about us in the history books. Just like the original pioneers that established the Moon and Mars colonies.”
“Do you remember any of their names?” Krista glowered toward Maggie as she picked up a stack of folded clothes.
“No, not really.”
“See, that is my point, exactly. No one will remember us.” Krista tucked the clothes away into an ancient wardrobe at the back of the compartment. “I’m going to kick his ass if the only reason he’s putting us through all of this is so that he can leave some sort of a legacy behind.”
Maggie fluffed out a towel and folded it over. “You mean you would rather go work for some big company where your boss wouldn’t even know your name?”
Krista blanched at the thought, scrunching up her nose. “Blegh, hell no, not that. I’d rip out my identification chip before I ever thought about going to that extreme.”
“Then can you blame him?” Maggie looked at her matter of factly. “I think it’s absolutely genuine. He wants to build something here that will be bet
ter for all of us and our children. We’ll be independent and won’t have to rely on what scraps are tossed to us for all of our hard work.”
“Maybe you’re right,” Krista said then sighed. “I’ve known Doug for most of my adult life. He’s never been so gung-ho about anything before. I just don’t know.”
Amanda burst out into hysterical laughter. “That is so classic!”
“What in the hell are you going on about over there?” Krista scowled over at Amanda.
“This book I downloaded from Project Gutenberg before we left Earth. The visual in this one scene is classic Sara Brooke. A hot and steamy sex scene that ends horribly for the character.”
“And you’re holding back on us? What the fuck, man,” Krista said with an exasperated huff. “That’s not cool. So, what’s the name of it?”
“The Bed,” Amanda responded.
“Oh hey, this might be good after all.” Krista tossed the towel she had just picked up back into the basket and quickly trotted over to the ancient sofa. She tucked her skirts and flopped down next to Maggie, who fell over into Krista’s lap from the bounce of the cushions. “Well okay then, I guess if that’s how it’s going to be, we might as well be comfy.” Krista wrapped her arms around Maggie as the two wiggled into snuggle positions.
“Well come on then, spit it out already. Don’t hold back on us,” Maggie urged.
“Alright, hang on,” Amanda said as she sat up and swiped the pages backward on the datapad. “Okay, here, this is the good part,” she said, then took a deep breath.
Opening his eyes, he saw her standing in the center of the living room. She was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen, though he was not normally a fan of redheads. He liked her, because she had sensual lips and dark eyes. Her red hair flowed down her back and her round pert breasts were set perfectly apart. Rosy nipples pointed in his direction, like two mounds of strawberry ice cream. Ted felt his penis throb, harden and lift as she approached him. The sensations running through his body were delicious rivers of melted chocolate that sent sweetened sensations to every nerve ending.
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