The Turret: Starclan Foundation

by James McAlliater

  Sandy closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

  “Dad, my clerking job is too important to spend two hours a day commuting. Besides, you and mom can come out to see me, just call first. I think I’ll be working long hours, from what they tell me.” She plopped onto her unmade bed, fighting the urge to pull the phone from her ear.

  “Sandy, Don and Aggie will be home soon. And, uh, sometimes, you know dear, sometimes, I hear the Academy gives leave after gradu…”

  “STOP! DAD, JUST STOP.”

  “I’m sorry hon. I just… I want you to be happy is all.”

  “I know, Dad.” Sandy swallowed hard. “I will be.” Someday. “I have to go now Dad. I love you.”

  “I love you too, sweetheart. You call if you need anything, okay?”

  “I will, Dad. Bye.”

  “Why does he always do that!” Sandra screamed at the walls around her. She slid down the bed and pulled the covers up over her head.

  “Why do I keep waiting for Jock?” Her sobs were building again, that all too familiar pattern of starting small and rising until they caused her physical pain.

  “Dear God, please take my pain for me. I can’t anymore…”

  Her sobs quieted when sleep came.

  ***

  Mama Rooney’s Bar And Grill

  Cape Canaveral, Florida

  Standard Earth Date June 18 3444

  Mama Rooney’s Bar and Grill sat as close to the Academy campus as the law and the Navy allowed. A modest establishment, it was cleaner and served better food than most bars near military bases. Still, it saw its share of ‘altercations’ each month.

  “Patrick! Jock! C’mon over!” Ensign Angela Soriano somehow made her tiny voice heard over the din of the bar. “I’ve saved you a table!” Damn, she’s with them!

  My mousey little floozy of a roommate is trying to horn in on me again! Damn it! “Hi, Angela! I’m so glad we ran into you here! We’ll be happy to join you for dinner! Are you buying?”

  “Angie! Hi!” Jock exclaimed.

  “Hey, Angie!” She does look good today! “Where are you posted?” Pat asked as gave her a quick kiss while he held her chair as the three sat down around the table.

  “R & D command, Mars City. Isn’t that super?”

  “Isn’t that super?” Gag me, please, Angie! Jock hates that candy talk. But, maybe it’s not aimed at him? “That’s great, Angie!” Sharon beamed.

  “Where are you going, Jocko?” Angie Soriano batted her eyes at the new Lieutenant, JG. Angie was known for two things among the other cadets; her continuous and ineffective flirtation at Jock MacAlister, and her complete and unrivaled mastery of physics.

  “Jock pulled the ADS duty he requested. He’ll be out among the ‘roids for two years!” Pat droned.

  “Jocko! You won’t have any time to come see me? Maybe I can work it out to come see you then!” Yeah, big boy, you and me alone on a deserted asteroid...my perfect dream! Almost… Angie cast a quick glance at Pat.

  “Angie, they don’t allow visitors to ADS sites. They have to be kept secret.” Is she for real? She acts like an airhead, she looks like an airheaded Island Girl, and she has a genius level IQ!

  “Hey, Angie,” Pat injected, “what would you like to eat? My treat!”

  “Oh, Pattsie, you’d buy lil ole me dinner? Why, I’ll have the usual, handsome!” He’s so sweet, and kinda cute. What happens to us after tonight? Why have we never talked about it? Why does the thought of never seeing him again make me want to cry?…

  “Jock, let me buy you dinner!” Sharon pleaded. Let me…pleeeease!

  “OK. But before we order, we all need a drink, and THAT is on me. Hey! Wanda!” OK, this could work. I just hope Angie keeps her eye on Pat. They’re good for each other.

  “Hey, it’s the Four Musketeers! The last time you’ll be in here, kids! What’ll it be, Lieutenant?” Wanda liked these kids; they were fun, good-natured, and tipped well.

  “Four Glenfiddich, neat, with ice in separate glasses. 15-year old stuff, Wanda!”

  “You’ve got it, sugar!” Hope the kid can afford it, he tips well!

  “Jock, have you thought about, well, that this is the last time we’ll see each other for a long time, maybe, well…” I need to know you want to see me after tonight! Please! Please! Please!

  “Yeah, Shar, I have.” Every time I wanted you, but couldn’t get Sandy out of my mind. “And that brings me to this. I have a proposition. The four of us have been together constantly pretty much since we arrived on campus. Pat and I banged heads for a few days, and then became best friends. Angie and Shar butt heads, but you two have been roommates for three years, and you spend holidays at each other’s homes. Each of your fathers has offered Pat and I careers with their companies after our service ends. The four of us were practically all each other’s dates at every formal. And we now face a time when we only have a few hours left. How do we make sure we never forget each other?”

  “Geeze, Jock, I’m gonna cry here.” Angie pouted, as a tear formed in her eye.

  “Yeah, handsome, me too” Shar echoed.

  “What do you have in mind, Sport?” Pat’s quiet voice cracked a little.

  “Well, now, follow me…”

  ***

  Star’s The Limit Body Art

  Cape Canaveral, Florida

  Standard Earth Date June 18 3444

  “Jeepers, Jocko, you didn’t tell me it would HURT!” Angela smiled as she rubbed the circular tattoo on her right shoulder; a ring with ‘FORTITER’ inside it, and a fist thrusting a dagger up through the center.

  “What does this say, anyway?” Pat quizzed. Six drams of Glenfiddich later, his close up vision was just a little blurred.

  “Jock, does this mean we’re engaged?” Shar kidded. She and Jock had gone much lighter on the Scotch than had Angie and Pat.

  “No, Shar, that would take a ring.” This does mean you’re all part of my Clan, Clan MacAlister.” Jock reached into his pocket, but did not take the ring out. Damn it! I can’t! Why not? I’ve got it here, why can’t I? Sandy!

  “Well, it’s sort of a ‘ring’!” Oh, what I’d give for a REAL ring! PLEEEEEASE! “Clan MacAlister, eh?” Sharon looked up at the shop’s sign, a big neon star with “The Limit” inside it, and a small s after the star. “Starclan MacAlister! And anyway, what does ‘FORTITER’ mean, again?”

  “It means, ‘To Go Boldly Forward’. Just like we are. Going boldly forward into the rest of our lives. Starclan! Shar, I like it!” And I love you, even though I’m too much of a coward to tell you!

  “We all have these tattoos. Now what?” Sharon looked at Jock. Say something. Do something. You’re down to three friggin’ hours!

  Angie leaned into Pat and whispered into his ear. Pat’s eyes got wide, and a slight grin spread onto his face.

  “Ah, guys, Angie is a little worn out, and I’m gonna, um, escort her home, for safety’s sake, ya know.”

  “Angie!” Shar stood up and hugged her roommate.

  Angela whispered something to Shar as she hugged her, and then Angie stepped to Jock, tenderly planting a kiss on his cheek.

  “Jocko, you be careful way out there!”

  “I will, Angie. You be good, ya hear?” The two friends hugged for a moment, Angie placing another kiss on his cheek as she stepped back. Pat came over to Sharon and she started crying as she wrapped her arms around his neck. Sharon whispered something to Pat, and he kissed her cheek gently.

  “Jock”, Pat said as he moved to his best friend. “I, um…I don’t know.”

  “Yeah. I know. Look, just stay sharp, and study once in a while, will you?”

  The two friends extended a hand and ended up in a quick hug. Then Pat was off, Angela’s head on Pat’s shoulder as she hugged his arm.

  “That just leaves us then, Jock.”

  “Yeah, um, I, uh, guess it does. Do you want me to walk you back to your room?”

  “No, Jock. I can’t go to my room tonight. It’s…occ
upied.” Sharon said as she turned to look at Pat and Angela walking away.

  “Oh? OH! Um, eh, well!

  “Jock, it’s not that. They’re going to talk about their future. They may or may not end up in bed.”

  “Um, Sharon?”

  “Yes Jock?”

  “Would you, do you wanna come back to my room? I think it’ll be sort of empty tonight if you don’t.” Like it has been for four years.

  Girl, you’ve asked for this for four years, and here it is! What is stopping you? He’s all alone with you now, go for it!

  “Jock,” Sharon looked at Jock with big doe eyes, “I’ll go, if that, if that is how you want to remember me.” Sharon hung her head. I’ve tried to get him to ask THAT question for four years, and I’m turning him down? Yeah, he IS worth more than that! She looked up at Jock again, “Why haven’t we talked about us, Jock, about what happens to US after tonight?”

  “Sharon, that’s not what I meant, not what I wanted to ask you.” Jock swallowed hard. Tell her now, you won’t get another chance. “This is.” Jock’s hand shook as he held out the open ring box. The modest diamond inside shining brightly in the streetlights, it’s twinkle reflected in Sharon’s eyes.

  “Oh! Jock!” Oh my! Oh my! Oh my! Oh my GOD! Her mind raced as her body froze. “Jock, can we do this, being apart for two years? PLEASE tell me you can!” Pleeeease! Pleasepleasepleaseplease! Say we can! Sharon’s eyes pleaded with Jock.

  “I can, Sharon, what about you? Can you wait two years to be my wife?”

  “Yes, Jock, I’ve already waited four!” She exclaimed as she wrapped her arms around his neck, and her legs around his hips as she pulled him closer and pressed her lips to his. As long as SHE doesn’t screw me over again! He’ll be stuck with her until her deployment ends in three months.

  They didn’t go right away to Jock’s room. They held each other close and kissed like they never had before under the clear, star speckled skies of the cool, early summer night. After a time, they walked off holding hands.

  They soon found themselves in front of the Academy chapel. Jock went to lead Sharon inside, but she pulled back.

  “It’s been such a long time, Jock, since I was ten. I, I haven’t been…I’m afraid.” Jock, what does this mean, if we go in there? If we place our love before God, and everything? We can’t back out then….I’ll go! For him! With him! Anywhere!

  “Then now is a good time, Shar. C’mon. You’re with me. You’re always safe when you’re here, and when you’re with me.”

  “This is where you spent all that time alone, after your mom died. We couldn’t find you, and you wouldn’t ever tell us.” You should have let us in, let me in! It hurt us when you didn’t.

  “Yeah.” That was a hard time. I should have let you in. I was too much in shock. I almost…

  “Shar, I’ve tried to tell you so many times, but every time I started to, I saw the day they told me about dad.”

  “Jock...”

  “Sharon, when my dad died, I shut out all of my friends. Sandy was my girlfriend. I just shut her out. I was afraid that if I had another girl, something bad would happen again. I was going to ask you to be my girl the day I got the call that my mom died. It started all over again. But this time I couldn’t leave, I couldn’t run away. I couldn’t shut you out.”

  “Jock, I’m so sorry.”

  “Sorry?”

  “That I couldn’t help you. Promise me, you’ll never keep me out. That’s what this means, Jock,” Sharon held up their engagement ring. “We two as one. In everything.”

  “I promise.”

  The pain Jock had hidden deep in that dark box began to fade a little as they held each other.

  Sharon looked over Jock’s shoulder at the words over the imposing chapel entrance: MacAlister Chapel.

  “Jock, is that…?”

  “My Great-Great Grandfather was Chaplin here for 45 years. The graduates from those years chipped in and built this to remember him.”

  The two never did make it back to Jock’s room. Instead, they walked around the campus for three hours in the cool night, under the stars, holding hands, holding each other, talking in silence as they gazed into each other’s souls to confirm what they already knew. Until the waking birds told them it was time for each of them to pack their things and move away, out to a new life.

  ***

  Skytop Apartment Complex

  Syracuse, New York

  Standard Earth Date June 18 3444

  “This is very good wine.”

  “Shut up and kiss me again.”

  Sandy’s eyes snapped open as she bolted upright in her bed. It took a moment for the dream to register.

  “That was Jock. And me. We were old.”

  She started at her words.

  “I said his name without breaking down. Jock. Jock! JOCK!”

  She looked around the apartment, and then focused on the clock. She picked up her phone.

  “Eleven fifty. Well, he said anytime.” She ran her netsearch and hit the call link.

  “I really have to clean this place up,” she mumbled as she listened to the rings.

  “Yes, Sandra?”

  “Father Champlin, I, can, can I talk with you. Now? Please?”

  ***

  Canaveral Earth/Space Transit Hub

  Cape Canaveral, Florida

  Standard Earth Date June 19 3444

  The last good-byes having been said, the four friends stopped at the Spaceport. Jock was the first scheduled to leave, his shuttle to lunar orbit, and six months of training before blasting out to his Turret.

  Jock grabbed a window seat on the tram to the launch gate. He looked out at the three waving friends, wondering when he would see them again. Angie and Pat would be married soon, and Jock would miss it. Jock and Sharon had to wait for his assignment to finish; there was no leave from an Asteroid Defense Station. Both guys knew why they planned it so poorly; they had never been happier, and planning like that meant this happiness would end.

  Jock smiled and leaned out the window to wave, as the tram started moving. His three best friends stood arm-in-arm on the side of the road, a perfect picture waving at him.

  They never saw the bus that killed them.

  Jock did.

  Deep in that dark little box buried in Jock’s mind, the pain began to grow again.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Lunar Launch Station

  Tsiolkovskiy Crater

  Standard Earth Date July 16 3444

  “Lieutenant, your ride is in here.” Lieutenant Commander Jericho Bucktooth motioned for Jock to follow him through the doors behind the large and intimidating Marine guards. Jock followed him up to the doors, and stopped. Six months of concentrating on his training had kept him busy. Too busy to think about…

  “Go ahead, Mr. MacAlister, open the doors.”

  Jock pushed the doors open and walked into the brightly lit room. A catwalk ran around three of the four walls of the sixty by thirty foot room, bordering the sunken center where the probe was supposed to be.

  Jock did a double take as he looked at the center of the room, for there was nothing there! He walked up the catwalk, and as he came closer, his stomach started flipping. The dizziness grew, the nausea grew; just as Jock was about to double over, the Lieutenant Commander flipped a switch on the wall and the vertigo disappeared. A forty-eight foot long charcoal black needle shape floating in the center of the room replaced it.

  “Wow!” was all Jock could say.

  The center of the probe was about six feet wide and ten feet long. From there, it tapered smoothly into a needle-sharp point on each end. The exterior of the craft was a mirror finish, glass-smooth, without visible variation or seams.

  “OK, Jock, keep your eyes on the probe.” LC Bucktooth flicked the switch to activate the gravity screen again. The charcoal needle shimmered into invisibility as the gravitic field bent the light waves around the pod. Jock felt the dizziness begin until the LC said, “Keep tellin
g yourself it’s still there, Jock. Reach out, touch it.”

  Jock reached a tentative hand out and touched the cold, glass-like surface his eyes told him was not there. As he ran his hand over the smooth surface, the vertigo faded. His hand seemed to leave ripples in the air as he moved it along the probe’s surface. Jock picked his hand up and looked at the space where the probe was, and noticed a slight shimmering effect. If he concentrated very hard, he could see the needle shape in the shimmer. He thought, if this ship was moving at zero-point-three times light speed, it would be undetectable.

  “Lieutenant, may I speak with you a moment?” Jericho Bucktooth brought Jock over to a door off the catwalk, motioning the young officer inside. Jock walked into a small room of bare gray walls, which was nearly filled by one grey metal table and two sparsely padded grey metal chairs. Lieutenant Commander Bucktooth followed Jock, closing the door behind him.

  “Jock, how are you?”

  “Excuse me, LC?”

  “Jock, the recordings are off. This is an “off-the-record” conversation. How are you doing?”

  “Sir, I’ve done pretty well learning the mission profile, flight controls, ADS controls and capabilities…”

  “Stow it, MacAlister! I want to know how you feel! And call me Jeri in this room.”

  “Sir, eh, Jeri, I don’t…”

  “Stop bullshitting around the bush!” Jeri slammed his hand down on the table as he stood up and leaned over Jock. “You watched your fiancé and your two best friends get run over by a bus, and there was nothing you could do about it! How are you dealing with that?”

  Jock took in a deep breath. So many things boiled deep inside him, things he had kept buried under textbooks and equipment manuals for six months; tears, sobs, uncontrolled bawling. He had kept it all neatly boxed up inside. Now his CO was prying the lid off of that box. Mom. Agnes. Don. Sandy. He could shut them all out. He couldn’t shut out his CO.