by Gini Koch
“Why are we moving so fast?” Tim asked, clearly reading my mind.
“Cradus gave us a push,” she shared. “It should be enough for us to reach escape velocity easily.”
Wondered for a moment if Mother knew that Cradus and Spehidon were sentient. Realized now wasn’t the time to ask.
“I do,” she said, but as far as I could tell, only in my headset. “We spoke at length.”
Wondered what they’d talked about, and why Mother wasn’t saying this stuff aloud, since everyone on the command deck knew.
“We spoke of many things. Their goals are the same as mine—to protect the life in their charge. Spehidon wants people, as I know you know. I promised to look for those who might live with her in our travels. And I’m not sharing this with the others because they are focused on flying and they already fear me too much.”
Mentioned mentally that Mother reading my mind could indeed be construed as scary.
“Only because you have the helmet on and you’re thinking at me. I understand the programming changes that were made. Privacy is important. Safety is, too. I am doing my best to walk that fine line.”
“Get ready,” Hughes said, breaking up my tête-à-tête with Mother.
“Ready as I’ll ever be,” Tim said.
Hughes and Walker tossed out instructions that pertained more to Tim, Tito, and Jeff than they did to me. However, did get one key order. “Kitty,” Walker said, “be sure that you keep hailing frequencies open. We want to be able to spot the distress call just in case there are any errors in our flight plan.”
“Um . . .” By now I should have remembered which stupid button did what, but a nice vacation on Cradus had pretty much wiped that information from my memory banks. Besides, the button display was starting to remind me of a maze—and I sucked at mazes.
Happily, a button flashed. Thanked Mother mentally as I pushed it down. Then Tim hit the gas and holding a button down seemed like the hardest thing I’d ever done.
Hughes hadn’t been kidding—the pressure on us as we left this little system was intense. Kind of hoped Mother had put the others to sleep but didn’t want to take the focus to ask.
However, the pressure didn’t last all that long. Well, the bad pressure. We still had the warp jump pressure to go. Could not wait. “Can we make sure everyone’s okay from that?” I asked as the guys started doing whatever to get us ready for warp.
“They are fine,” Mother said.
“You put them under, didn’t you?” Jeff asked.
“I did, yes. It is much safer for them, the children especially.”
“Then thank you,” Jeff said. “Because that was really unpleasant.”
“It won’t be like that for most planets,” Hughes said. “Cradus and Spehidon just have very strong gravities, particularly because they’re so close to each other.”
“Get ready,” Tito said. “I think we’re all set for the warp jump.”
“It’s weird to have you guys actually doing the work.”
Tim snorted. “Tell me about it. I think I was happier when Mother was doing everything.”
“I am not in Protection Mode right now,” Mother said. “Do you wish me to move to that, Commander?”
Tim looked at Hughes, who shook his head. “As long as we’re confident that you don’t have more hidden bombs on you, Mother, no, I think we stick with this part of the plan.” Tim looked at me. “Are we sure?”
“We are,” Mother answered. “I ran even more extensive tests and also received some assistance from the planet and moon.”
“The Cradi were really great about helping,” I said quickly, lest the others realize that Mother had been chatting with Cradus and Spehidon.
“Sentient planets and moons are also nice,” Tito said dryly. “We all know, Kitty.”
“Oh, blah, blah, blah. Didn’t want you guys freaking out at Mother for something.”
“We like to save the freaking out for danger situations,” Walker said.
“Because it saves time,” Hughes added. “And we have no more of it. Tim, I think we’re ready. Stations report. Navigation ready.”
“Weapons ready,” Jeff said.
“Systems and Engineering ready,” Tito said.
“Exterior and interior scanning ready,” Walker said.
“Um, I’ve got the button pushed down.” This earned me far too many snide looks. “Sorry to spoil the mood. Communications ready.”
“Command ready,” Tim said. “Let’s rock and roll.”
Everyone other than me pushed buttons. As stated, I was already on top of things. Felt what was now becoming a kind of normal feeling—the pressure of the jump to warp.
Could tell we weren’t going as far as we had prior because the pressures stopped after a pretty short time. “We are in stable warp,” Mother announced.
“Great, can I stop holding the button down?”
“You never needed to hold it past two seconds,” she replied. “That amount of time puts the button onto hold until pressed again.”
“Thanks for mentioning this, oh, before we did two fun jumps.”
“You didn’t ask.”
“Did I say I liked that you’d learned sarcasm already? Because if I did, I was an idiot.”
“Mother,” Hughes said, “the proper response is ‘sorry, not sorry’ but I’ve said it for you, so I’ve got your back.”
“Thank you, Matt,” Mother said. “I was also told to say that you’re my favorite.”
“I did that, bro,” Walker said, “because I’ve got your back. Of course, we know that I’m Mother’s favorite.”
“Actually, I think Tito wins that one,” Tim said.
Tito grinned. “I can’t argue that Mother has good taste.”
“Oh, don’t worry, baby,” Jeff said. “I’m sure Mother still likes you a lot.”
“Everyone’s a comedian today.” At least my arm could rest now. Not that it mattered—our hailing frequencies might have been opened, but no one was trying to get through anyway.
“Should there be this little chatter out here?” Jeff asked after a while.
“Per my data banks, yes, if there are no ships or planets in need,” Mother said. “We can’t pick up regular chatter while in warp. It’s emergency and distress hails only.”
We all agreed this made sense, even though we’d have liked to eavesdrop on whoever we were zooming past. But you couldn’t have everything.
A few more minutes, then Mother felt we could wander and wake up the passengers, meaning she wasn’t planning to have us all sleep through this leg of the journey. Tim and I refrained from making snide sleeping comments because we were still keeping that between us and Team Tinman. Wondered who would make the connection to the fact that the time to Cradus from Kreaving and the time from Cradus to Kreaving were not going to match at all, and hoped no one would, though I didn’t bet on it. Even if the trip was completely uneventful, we had two days’ worth of warp to get back to the area we felt Kreaving was in.
But we were all in pretty good spirits. For once, we kind of knew where we were going and it was our own decision, meaning we had a lot less stress and angst. Mother broke down and allowed us to leave the command deck, seeing as most of us could get back in about two seconds or less. Butler and the Kristie-Bot offered to stay on the command deck just in case and, even though they still weren’t officially allowed to fly the Distant Voyager, Mother allowed this, too, so she wouldn’t have to go into Protection Mode. Tim did have her move to Autopilot Mode, however, just in case.
The hailing channel remained open and Mother could patch it through to wherever we were on the ship as well as coordinate internal communications, so we were essentially free to do whatever until we came out of warp.
While we didn’t have the same activities as we’d had on Cradus, we decided we�
�d try to keep to a similar schedule. And, since we’d left Cradus just before dinnertime, we all had dinner together.
After that, we turned in early, so to speak. Jeff and I were tired enough that we only had sex a few times before sleeping, too. That was us—sacrificing for the cause.
Everyone slept well, at least per the group breakfast chatter. Afterward, and in keeping with the idea that we were still “on vacation” until we arrived at the solar systems we were hoping contained Kreaving and the Eknara somewhere, it was time to do something interesting, fun, or relaxing.
So, Drax gave tours of the ship—teaching everyone where things were, what did what, and so on. Did my best to pay attention, but it all sort of ran together in a few minutes. Besides, I was a lot more interested in what we were planning to do after lunch. Because after lunch, it was time to study the stars.
Chuckie, Brian, Drax, Mossy, and Hacker International had combined all the galaxy maps we had in our possession with what Mother had in her data banks into one big map so that we had the most accurate view, at least so far as we knew. We had every identified star system and celestial body marked—and since we now knew about a lot of inhabited systems, Mossy and Drax knew even more of them, and I actually had a list of every planet and system in the Galactic Council on my phone, the map was quite well covered.
Drax had put in several movie theaters for crew entertainment—because of course he had—and Mother was able to superimpose this combined map of what was known of our galaxy onto a screen. The little kids were interested, the older ones were fascinated, and the adults were all clear that this information was vital to our safety and survival, so we had a fully attentive audience.
The map put into clear perspective how far we’d gone already. Really damned far was the general statement on that.
We were headed toward what, due to map placement, we were calling the underside of the Milky Way’s halo area. Compared to those who’d come to us during Operation Immigration—who were still, for the size of the galaxy, “in our neighborhood”—we were going farther than anyone other than the Z’porrah and Anciannas traveled on a regular basis.
The Cradi maps had added a lot of information on the outer parts of the galaxy, as well as halo areas. But we still had, easily, thousands of stars and other bodies on the maps identified not by their “real names” but by what those who’d made the maps called them.
Because of where Cradus and Spehidon were and where we felt Kreaving was, there weren’t a lot of systems we were passing, relatively speaking, at least as far as we knew, because we were curving through the bottom of the halo.
“We had to figure that, wherever they are, they’re remote,” Chuckie said after we’d done the in-depth viewing, educational updates, and the younger kids, Jamie and Charlie included, had been put to bed. “Because if they weren’t remote, someone other than us should have heard them by now.”
“Presuming they haven’t already been rescued,” Drax added.
“They haven’t.” Everyone looked at me. Heaved a sigh. “Really? Gang, this is our goodwill trip around the galaxy. I’m sure there are other systems in need but, as near as I can tell, wherever we’re going, either planned or unplanned, we’re going there to save the day in a big way. We’re acting like the Shantanu and all the other races that go out to do their version of the Red Cross, only we’re going to the remote planets that aren’t on the main maps. Whatever Powers That Be who are affecting us clearly have their reasons, and those reasons appear to all be the same—save the obscure cheerleaders, save the worlds. So to speak.”
Raj, Len, and Kyle all chuckled. Heard many of Jeff’s Cabinet and relatives whisper to each other that they didn’t understand me. Heard Christopher whisper back that few ever did. Haters. Amy rammed her elbow into Christopher’s ribs while Vance snarled in a whisper that the First Lady should always be respected. Felt better.
“I agree,” Wruck said, interrupting all the whispering and proving that at least more than a handful understood me. “This is similar to what we and the Z’porrah did thousands of years ago. The Anciannas still do this, only not as often as we used to.”
“A big ol’ war with your former BFFs tends to reduce the focus on the do-gooding, yeah. So, my point is that we cannot and should not assume that Wheatles and his folks have been rescued. We’re all they have and that means we need to ensure that we’re bringing our A game.”
Chuckie nodded and pointed to the area we were heading for. “While there’s always a margin of error, we feel pretty confident that we’re going to find the system the Eknara is stranded in within this area. There are known pulsars within a reasonable distance, too, and at least two black nebulas that the Cradi had mapped, which are the only other solid clues we got from Kreaving.”
“Any other good news?” White asked, sounding as if he didn’t expect any, which, once again, proved why he was the best Field agent we had, even if he’d never officially been Field.
Chuckie nodded. “If any one of these suns goes nova, then they won’t affect the others.”
“That’s the good news?” Jeff asked, sounding just this side of pissed.
“It’s about all we’ve got, yeah.” Chuckie shrugged. “You know how it goes.”
“I do,” Tim said. “Let me guess what the bad news is. What if one of them becomes a black hole?”
“Then we’re all in trouble,” Chuckie said. “As per usual.”
“Check, so the sun that’s in Wheatles’ system is going to become a black hole.” Got the looks again. “Really? Okay, I mean, some of you haven’t rolled with me in this kind of situation before, so I guess I can buy you looking confused.” And not understanding me. “But the rest of you? Name a time when our luck runs any other way than the worst possible option. I’ll wait. Oh, and before you offer this one up, Cradus was the exception that proves the rule, not the norm in any way, shape, or form.”
There was a lot of silence in the theater. Jeff heaved a sigh and ran his hand through his hair. “You’re right. We need to assume the worst.”
“And then do everything to ensure it doesn’t happen.”
Gower chuckled and got all the looks. He smiled at me. “In other words, routine.”
CHAPTER 72
AFTER MORE DISCUSSION AND map gazing, we called it a night and headed for bed. Walked out next to Serene but it wasn’t until we all were almost back in our rooms that I remembered something I’d forgotten.
Grabbed Serene before she walked on. “Hey, do you need whatever it was you slipped to me when we were on Nanez?”
She looked blank for a moment. “Oh! You know, I forgot all about that.”
“Me, too. I haven’t even looked for it.”
She laughed. “It’s okay. I’m just glad we didn’t need it. And no, you can hang onto it.”
“What is it, exactly?”
She motioned and I opened up my purse. Jeff and Brian exchanged the “why me?” look and both headed into their respective rooms. Whatever, I didn’t want them for this anyway.
We rummaged around in there—noted that the envelope I’d gotten from the hamper in the White House wasn’t in here. Couldn’t figure out where it had gone, doubted I’d lost a manila envelope, particularly that one. Maybe it was in my rooms. Or maybe the Poofs had been peckish and decided to try out wood pulp.
Just as I decided to fret about this later, Serene came up with a small sphere that looked a lot like a whiffle ball and also like something we’d had used against us. “Gotcha.”
“Is that a Poof Trap?”
“Similar, yes. But it’s under our control and it’s not something the Poofs can’t get out of—I’ve already tested it. However, they’re the only animals of ours that can escape. This can expand to cover something as large as a chocho.”
“Wow. Doesn’t look possible but I’ll trust you on it.” Serene was, after all, our weapons
and miniaturization expert. “How does it work?”
“You need to trigger it,” she pointed to a very small button that I’d never have noticed if she hadn’t pointed it out, “then touch it to whatever you want it to surround. That can be done via any method, as long as the portable cage touches something small enough for it to contain.”
“How can it tell? It’s not sentient, is it?” We had sentient metals in the galaxy and, as our trip to Cradus had proved, some of those metals were high up on the mental evolutionary chain. Just didn’t want to be wandering around with some in my purse, in case the kids got into said purse. Of course, I’d carried some of Cradus and Spehidon around for a bit, and even when Jeff put things high out of reach, that meant nothing to Charlie.
“No, it’s got a surface to weight ratio built into it. Do you want all the scientific details?”
“God no. I just want to be sure it won’t try to cage Charlie.”
“It could. So don’t trigger it and put it against him.”
“Um . . .”
She laughed again. “Kitty, it’s safe. It only cages its capture, it doesn’t harm them.” She looked around. One of Lizzie’s rabbits was in the doorway. Serene picked it up, triggered the trap, put it against the bunny, and voila, the sphere spread out in the blink of an eye and said bunny was caged.
The rabbit looked at me, eyes wide, asking if it was time to freak out or not. “It’s not.” Took the cage from Serene, hit the button, the cage retracted into its former sphere. Nuzzled the bunny. “Your lesson? Don’t wander off.” Handed him to Lizzie, who had come to look for him, accompanied by her other rabbits and the least weasels. “Your rabbit.”
She clutched the bunny to her. “Geez. He was just checking to see where you were.”
“Right here, testing rabbit traps.”
Lizzie looked horrified. “Why do we have rabbit traps?”
“In case we need to hunt them.”
She looked more horrified, and ready to ask Siler to take her and all the rabbits back to her School For Gifted Minors in Portugal.