by Bob Blanton
“Big ship,” Kal said.
“It sure is,” Catie replied. “There’s a big environmental plant above the flight bays. It takes care of air and recycles all the waste.”
“Ugh,” Liz said.
“It’s not that bad,” Catie said. “They basically turn everything into carbon, oxygen, water, and base minerals. The carbon comes out like ceramic disks. Apparently, they use them and the base minerals to manufacture stuff. If they don’t have something, they would go out and mine it from an asteroid or scoop it out of a gas giant.”
“Sounds pretty self-sufficient.”
“It is. Environmental is also set up to grow food. Hydroponics for plants, vats for meat.”
“They grow meat?” Kal asked.
“Yeah,” Catie said. “Kind of cool, animals don’t need to be penned up or killed.”
“Is it any good?” Kal asked.
“Metra says it is. They add different minerals and stuff, so it tastes like the real thing. She says they can make anything from free-range beef to Kobe beef, from catfish to ahi.”
The elevator door swished open into a long aisle with two stories of rooms on each side. “Crew quarters,” Catie said. “There’s a stairwell on each side so they can go up and down without using the elevator. I guess it makes it easy to avoid the officers.”
“Smart thinking,” Kal said. Liz gave him a hard stare.
“The galley, mess deck, and rec area are on the next level up. The stairs give them access to that as well,” Catie continued. “Above that, there’s one level of officer quarters, they’re bigger, but basically the same arrangement.”
“It figures,” Kal said when Catie said the officers had bigger quarters.
Catie laughed. “Above the officer quarters, there’s one deck for sickbay and medical labs. The deck above that is lab space; above that more environmental and a few labs. They use the space that’s weird because of the elliptical shape for environmental and cargo so that the working area is more rectangular.”
Catie led them forward to another airlock. “The bridge is through here, arms locker on the left, captain’s quarters on the right. The captain has a second level, a balcony looking over the bridge where he has his office.”
“Must be nice quarters,” Kal said as he measured the quarters in his head, “Must be something like twenty meters by twenty meters.”
“That’s as big as a house,” Liz said.
“It includes quarters for a couple of guests,” Catie said, “as well as a vast dining area and galley so he can host meals.”
“It is a house,” Blake said. “The second floor allows him to host a party. The wall panel can be made transparent, so they see the bridge, or opaque, so it’s private.”
Catie poked Blake in the ribs, “Who’s giving this tour?”
“Sorry,” Blake said.
“What’s above the arms locker?” Liz asked.
“ADI,” Catie answered.
“The whole space?”
“She’s a big girl.”
“I guess so,” Liz said.
“This is a second airlock that can be sealed if necessary,” Catie said as she led them out of the passage. “The captain’s chair is on the other side of that wall. You have to go right or left around it to enter the bridge.”
“The captain doesn’t want someone sneaking up behind,” Kal said.
“Smart.”
“My god, this is huge,” Liz said.
“No kidding,” Kal added. “Why so big?”
“I don’t know,” Catie replied. “To impress people. They could fit twice as many stations in here and still have lots of room.”
“Maybe they would have more stations if it was a battleship,” Liz said.
“Probably,” Catie said. “Two pilot stations up front; navigation to the left; communication to the right. Then a science station to the left, weapons officer to the right.”
“Wow!”
“The forward hull can be made transparent,” Catie said.
“How can they do that?” Liz asked.
“Hey, diamonds are transparent, and the hull is mostly carbon.”
“Makes sense,” Kal said. “I’ve always wondered why diamonds are clear, and coal is black.”
“Ask Dr. Zelbar,” Catie said. “The deck officers have quarters above the bridge, then there are VIP suites above those.”
“Must be nice,” Kal said.
Everyone spent time wandering around the bridge. After a while, they went through the captain’s quarters and then checked out the quarters for the deck officers.
“What’s next?” Kal asked.
“Do you want to see engineering?” Catie asked. “It’s just a bunch of stuff I don’t understand. Uncle Blake can try to explain it.”
“Hey, I don’t understand it either,” Blake said. “We should be heading back.”
“Dr. Metra is waiting for you in sickbay,” Catie said. “I’ll show them the Foxes while you get your eye fixed.”
Chapter 16
Christmas
Linda waved goodbye to Catie as she grabbed a cab. Marc had given her a ride to Boston since they were going that way. They had landed at Laurence G. Hanscom Field in Bedford. It was about the same distance from her parents’ home as Logan International Airport, but not nearly the zoo to get into and out of. Catie would spend the first two-and-a-half days with Marc and Blake at their parents’ home. Then she would stay with her mother and her grandparents for the rest of Christmas week. Liz would be staying with Catie, and Fred would provide security for Marc while Catie was with her mother.
“Jennie, are you and Susan set?”
“Yes, Susan is going to fly us down to Florida,” Jennie said. “We’ve both had enough cold weather to last a lifetime.”
“I know the feeling,” Blake said. “If we could only convince our parents to move to Florida or Hawaii.”
“Dad likes teaching at Boston College,” Marc said. “So good luck with that.”
“I know it’s hopeless,” Blake said. “Here comes Liz with our ride.”
Liz drove up in a black Expedition. She pulled up next to the jet, got out, and met Fred, who had already unloaded their luggage and was waiting by the back of the plane. After they loaded it in the SUV, Liz walked over and escorted Marc and Catie to the SUV.
“Hey, what am I, chopped liver?” Blake asked.
“Not my fault that ADI says you’re an unlikely target,” Liz said.
“Besides, it traditional in Scottish families to sacrifice the younger brother to protect the heir,” Marc said.
“I’m the spare in case you get whacked, not the sacrificial lamb,” Blake said. He tried to look offended.
“Nobody would ever mistake you for a lamb,” Marc said.
Blake huffed a little to show his annoyance as he followed them to the SUV. “Should I drive?”
“I think that’ll work best,” Liz said. “You’re familiar with the area, and it’ll leave my hands free.”
“I still think you’re taking this security thing too far,” Marc said.
“Says the man who had his daughter kidnapped in Portugal,” Liz said. “Kal and I vote for better safe than sorry. Fred, if you don’t mind, sit in the back.”
“I’m good with that.”
Blake drove them to his and Marc’s childhood home in West Cambridge. The thirty-minute drive was quite pleasant, and the roads were mostly empty on the early Sunday morning just before Christmas.
“Fred, while Catie and Liz are with us, you’ll have to stay at the Sheraton.”
“I’m okay with that,” Fred said. “Since I’m free for the first two days, I thought I’d check out Harvard today, and Boston tomorrow. I haven’t had a chance to really see some of the Revolutionary War sites.”
“Don’t be looking here for company,” Blake said. “I’ve seen them all way too many times.”
“I’m sure.”
Marc’s and Blake’s parents came out of the house as soon as
the Expedition pulled into their driveway. “Wow, nice Victorian house,” Fred said.
“Try spending your childhood restoring it,” Blake said.
Catie jumped out of the car and ran to her grandparents. “Hi, Nanna, hi, Poppa,” she gushed as she reached them.
“Hello, dear,” Mrs. McCormack said as she gave Catie a hug. “I’ve baked cookies.”
“This is my friend, Liz,” Catie said. “She’s staying with me, kind of friend slash bodyguard.”
“Hello, Mr. and Mrs. McCormack,” Liz said.
“Call me Beth,” Mrs. McCormack said as she gave Liz a welcoming hug.
“And call me Walter,” Mr. McCormack said as he reached out and shook Liz’s hand.
Marc and Blake walked up, pulling their luggage under Fred's watchful eye.
Mrs. McCormack gave each of her sons a hug and a kiss. “Welcome home.”
“Hey, Mom,” Blake said. “This is our pilot, Fred. He’ll be at staying at the Sheraton while Catie’s here. Then he’ll come and stay with us when Catie goes over to the McGennises.”
“We could make room for him here,” Mrs. McCormack said.
“Don’t worry,” Fred said. “I’m looking forward to a few days without having to worry about these three. I’ve got some friends meeting me at the hotel tonight, and we have plans until Tuesday afternoon.”
“If you’re sure.”
“I am. And here’s my taxi. I’ll see you on Tuesday,” Fred said as he went back to the Expedition and grabbed his bag.
“Have fun, Fred,” Catie called out.
“Now come on in, and we’ll get everybody settled,” Mrs. McCormack said. She kept hold of Catie’s hand while she walked back into the house. “We’ll have some tea and cookies first, then we have some things to do.”
Blake gave Marc a look, hoping that things to do didn’t include some project fixing up the house. Marc just rolled his eyes and followed his mother into the house.
“Why don’t we go to my study and go over that design you sent me,” Mr. McCormack said as he finished his last sip of tea.
“Sure Pop,” Blake said. “I’m still playing around with several ideas. It’d be good to get your take on them.”
“Go ahead,” Mrs. McCormack said. “Catie and I will stay here. I have a couple of her papers I would like to review.” When Mrs. McCormack learned that Catie was going to be homeschooled, she had demanded that she at least get to review all of her papers. Catie and Marc had agreed to that, after convincing her that she didn’t actually need to run Catie’s education. “I see a tendency she has that I think we should address.”
“I thought this was a vacation,” Catie whined.
“It is, that’s why we’re only going to review two papers. We’ll go over the others via video chat after the break.”
“Hey, don’t look at me,” Marc said. “I had to live with that for eighteen years. She was reviewing all my schoolwork since I was five. She even reviewed my master and doctoral theses before I turned submitted them.”
“A good thing too,” Mrs. McCormack said.
“Mom, they really don’t grade those papers on the English,” Marc said.
“Well, they get published, and other people read them. I would be embarrassed to have people think my son couldn’t write better than that.”
“That’s why I wrote my master’s on some classified tech,” Blake said.
“And just you wait, it should be declassified in another year…”
“Oh brother,” Blake said as he and Marc retreated to their father’s study.
“Sorry about that, but you know your mother,” Mr. McCormack said.
“Hey, it’ll be good for Catie,” Marc said. “She doesn’t focus on her English and writing as much as she does the hard sciences.”
“Well, her grandmother won’t be putting up with that.”
Marc chuckled as he remembered how many times he’d been called to the kitchen table to review some paper. A paper that he thought was ready to submit, only to find out how much work he still had to do on it. “How are you doing, Dad?”
“I’m fine. We both have our health and our jobs. Life is pretty good right now. It was quite an amazing thing, you guys bringing up that ship.”
“That was amazing,” Marc said as he picked up a manuscript that was sitting on his father’s desk.
“What’s this, you taking up writing?”
“No, that’s Seamus O’Callaghan’s book. I’m proofreading the technical details for him. Poor guy is almost blind, so he can’t really do it himself.”
“He is, what’s the problem?” Marc asked as he watched Blake sit down and start to lay out the design his father wanted to discuss.
“Macular Degeneration, and a real shame, he’s just fifty-eight years old. Beth hears from his wife that it’s killing him. Imagine, you dedicate your entire life to architecture and engineering, building all these beautiful structures, and now you can’t see them.”
“Do you think I might talk to him?”
“Sure, but if it was his memory that was giving him trouble, I’d have called you. I know what you did for Garth McGinnis’s parents.”
“We still might be able to help,” Marc said. “I’d like to talk to him.”
“Well, if you can help him, his wife will be eternally grateful. They’ve been married for thirty-five years.”
“We’ll see what we can do,” Marc said. He texted a message to Dr. Metra on his HUD.
◆ ◆ ◆
After watching Blake and his father chat about his project for a while, Marc wandered back to the kitchen. Liz was sitting there, reading the local paper. “Where’s Catie?”
“She’s in your mother’s office, and she is one unhappy girl.”
“Why is she unhappy?”
“You’ll have to ask her yourself,” Liz chuckled. “Something about computers and keyboards.”
Marc went to his mother’s office. Catie was alone typing on his mother’s laptop.
“What’s up?”
“How could you give me up like that?” Catie whined.
“Fixing the structure in your paper isn’t that bad a curse.”
“No, but having to do it on this thing is,” Catie continued to whine.
“What’s wrong with it?”
“The keyboard sucks, I can barely type two words without a typo; the screen is tiny, and I have to sit at this desk to do it.”
Marc laughed, “How would you do it if you were at home?”
“I’d be using my comm and my HUD, ADI would be autocompleting my typing for me; I could be lying on the sofa with a just a flat board to project the keyboard on.”
“Why can’t you do that here? You could at least use your comm.”
“Because Nanna comes wandering in here every few minutes to see how I’m doing.”
“Oh, you do know that she hums while she walks around.”
Catie blinked at her father, and her eyes turned up to the left, “I never noticed it before, I guess you’re right.”
“Sure, and you could close the door if you wanted to.”
“I tried that, she came in and left it open when she went out. It’s not like I could get up and close it again.”
“No, I guess not. I always used the humming.”
“But if she wants to check on my work, it has to be on her laptop.”
“Set up a Bluetooth keyboard for ADI, and she’ll make sure it’s all copied over for you; you just need to move to the desk when you hear the humming.”
“Thanks, Daddy, you’re a lifesaver. I’ll even forgive you for laughing when she brought out my papers.”
“Glad I could help,” Marc said. He gave Catie a peck on the cheek before he wandered back into the kitchen.
“How’s she doing?” Liz asked.
“Better,” Marc said. “I pointed out that my mother hums when she walks around the house. Where is she, by the way?”
“She just went out. She said something about taking a
casserole to a neighbor.”
“Okay, give me the sports section.”
“You’re going to read the paper?”
“No, but I need it for cover when she comes back.” Marc turned the sports section to an inside page and laid it down. Then he turned to his HUD and started reviewing all the paperwork he had piled up.
◆ ◆ ◆
“How is Catie doing?” Mrs. McCormack asked when she came in from the back yard.
“She seems to be okay,” Marc said. “She was working on her paper when I poked my head in.”
“Good, I’ll just go see how she’s doing.”
Marc followed his mother to her office. He coughed in case Catie couldn’t hear his mother humming.
“Hello, dear, how is it going?”
“Fine Nanna, I’m almost done with this one,” Catie said. She was studiously reading the paper on the laptop display.
“Well, let me see what you’ve done.”
Catie moved her chair over as Mrs. McCormack pulled another chair up to the computer and started to read her paper. Catie looked at her father, tilted her head to the right, stuck her tongue out, and held her left hand up like she was hanging herself.
“Catie, don’t make faces, it’s undignified,” Mrs. McCormack said without ever looking up from the laptop.
Marc shrugged at Catie and shook his head.
“I’ve been teaching teenagers for over thirty years,” Mrs. McCormack said. “I can tell what they’re doing by the sound of their chair squeaking. And Marc, don’t be encouraging her.”
Marc waved to Catie and quietly exited the room. “Coward!” Catie messaged him on her HUD.
◆ ◆ ◆
“You two need to go hang out somewhere else while Catie and I prepare dinner,” Mrs. McCormack said. “And Marc, that’s the same page you were reading when I came in here ten minutes ago. So, whatever you’re doing that you don’t want me to know about, go do it in the family room.”
“Now I know where Catie gets it from,” Marc said as he and Liz settled in the family room.
“You mean, you never noticed before?” Liz asked.
“No, I think she was being subtle before, she didn’t want us to know how much she noticed,” Marc said. “Now I think she’s showing off.”
“Or not holding back,” Liz said.