by Charles Lamb
However, at the fringe of the NeHaw galaxy, those five worlds’ technological production struck at the very heart of NeHaw power. Repulser and faster than light drive manufacturing, a major starship construction and repair yard, and worst of all, the source of the NeHaw interplanetary communication's equipment. All from planets in that sector.
She had every council member scurrying around, searching for answers and quelling the questions among the many subspecies they “protected from outside aggression.” This recklessness was the kind of thing that gave them ideas of independence.
Then there were still those on the council pointing at her, reminding her that all the decisions made to this point had been at her approval. Although she would not admit it, it was not until the need to send the battleship that she remembered even discussing that forsaken planet. She had not recalled anything out of the usual in the reports. These were undesirable incidents for sure, but not without precedent.
Then there were the rumors circulating. Some were saying there was altering of reports and the actual incidents were far more devastating to the NeHaw. Even if untrue, there were far too many ready to believe them. Really, a primitive planet defeating four cruisers and a battleship. How absurd.
With the loss of the battleship, however she had issued an order to upgrade all NeHaw combat vessels insuring no other would fall into inferior hands. It was bad enough to lose the ships, but to have them used against you was beyond insult.
Her challenges of late related to the stupid males she had to deal with on a daily basis. Between the council members, Space Fleet commanders and ships captains, she had her fill of failures. Females were naturally more intelligent than males but these seemed to be denser than usual. Her female friends had never understood her desire to pursue a political career. It was such a useless pursuit for anyone with true intellect. Art, philosophy, and music were the only acceptable callings for the female elite.
MeHak tried to explain the beauty in mass manipulation, or the utter joy of orchestrating a coup over a political opponent. She relayed the sense of accomplishment when you subjugated entire species, bending them to the needs of the NeHaw. None could grasp her motivations for any of these activities. They could not get past the excessive amount of time spent with lesser beings, be they NeHaw males, or subjugate representatives.
Pushing all that from her mind, she set to the task of dealing with the issues at hand and uncovering the truth. She needed to understand what was really occurring and how far this corruption had truly spread. Therefore, she thought she had just the test in mind.
----*----
After leaving his room, Jake headed to the command center to see if Linda, who was the true location commander here, needed anything from him. Checking in there and getting the all clear, he headed to the hanger area to check on their fighters and see what other trouble he could get into. He wasn’t used to all the down time, having been at a run since the last engagement.
While checking out his ship, the overhead doors opened and one of the many heavy lift helicopters dropped in and settled to one side of the large open area inside the hangar. Once it had shut down, the rear door dropped and a group of staff, actual people instead of bots, climbed aboard and started offloading vehicles. Jake wandered over and slid quietly up to the person he figured was overseeing the operation. Standing there for a few seconds, he then quietly asked, “So, what’s up?”
He felt bad after the poor woman almost jumped out of her skin before replying, “Oh, hi, major, this is just a vehicle transfer from the Texas location. When we need special equipment, they just stuff them in a helicopter and fly them here.”
Jake thanked her and continued to watch quietly as they unloaded the rest of the vehicles, and then he walked over to one of the many-parked helicopters on the far side of the floor. After he climbed in, he verified the comm. system was up and functional.
“ALICE, what is the current status of Revenge?” he asked.
“Revenge is still in orbit, just outside of the repair zone surrounding the battleship. Human habitable status is green. All necessary system refits are complete. It is currently acting as a training platform for crew space readiness and with a six person team on board.”
“Is it supporting any of the repair activity?”
“Negative, it was intentionally left off repair duty as crew training was considered a higher priority and its participation would be a marginal impact at best.”
“Good,” Jake replied, “can you have it brought in and refit. I’d like any upgrades that impact faster than light removed, i.e. the rail guns, and have it readied for space trials. Do we have a crew capable of running some faster than light testing?”
“We have completed a significant number of crew rotations, providing a 30 person pool of acceptable crewman.”
“In your estimation, how many would be required for, oh let’s say a 10 day trial?”
“While the NeHaw staffed this particular cruiser at 35 personnel, I would suggest no more than a 10 to 12 human crew. With a 5-person bridge, including a captain, and two in the engineering section, there is sufficient redundancy to allow for both on and off shift periods for all members. Were this to be of extended duration, a larger sampling would be prudent.”
“Yeah, that was my thought as well and let’s be honest, if things don’t go well in testing, I don’t want to risk our entire resource pool,” Jake offered.
“So here’s the million dollar question,” Jake continued, “what do we do about astronavigation? I mean that once this ship leaves the solar system, it’s all on them, no ALICE support. I presume you can pre-program the sequences I am thinking about, but in reality they need a navigator capable of bringing them home.”
ALICE replied, “As you might have assumed, that is not a skill set easily acquired. With the capture of the first cruiser, we began evaluating potential candidates for the initial sleep learning program. At this time we have identified 11 strong candidates and have begun the initial practical training as sleep learning is almost complete.”
Jake asked, “I assume all were included in the spaceship crew training program as well?”
“Yes, one of the criteria was a desire to go to space. Without that, they would be of limited value.”
Jake laughed at the comment. While all the ALICEs currently populated had displayed a certain “humanization,” they all still held a certain clinical attitude about some things.
With that exchange as a kickoff, Jake went into the details on what he was thinking and what testing he desired completed in these trials. He also listed some additional personnel he wanted to include, but warned ALICE to ensure that all personnel selected were to keep quiet on the subject. Like his “Special Project,” if this got out too soon, it would cause disruption amongst the staff.
Once they agreed on a timeline, Jake asked for notification once the ship was ready for return to space. He then climbed out of the helicopter and headed back into the main facility for lunch.
----*----
The following morning Jake awoke alone, an event that somewhat surprised even him. Seeing as there were four of the rotation ladies in residence and Sandy had pretty much removed the stay on those activities, he assumed someone would be knocking on his door last night.
At breakfast, they reinforced his confusion, for as he walked in he found Kathy, Linda, and Sara all at chatting away. Again, grabbing his food first, he took his tray and took a seat with the group.
“Morning all,” he said as he seated himself.
“Morning,” was the unanimous reply.
“What’s with the combat suit?” Jake asked of Sara, she being in full dress, minus her helmet.
“Just prepping for our day, after breakfast you need to get suited up as well,” she replied with a smile.
Both Linda and Kathy just smiled at Sara’s statement, making Jake suspect a conspiracy.
“And we are going where?” he asked, not really expecting to be told.
“Oh it’s a surprise,” Sara replied, “just eat up and then we’ll get you suited up.”
Acknowledging Sara, and knowing he would not get any more out of her, he finished up while the three women continued to chat. Once he finished all four rose and both Kathy and Linda gave him a kiss and wished him good luck with a laugh. Jake then followed Sara to the ready room off the hangar area and gently suited up, his ribs still reminding him of their current state of disrepair.
Once suited up with helmets in hand, the two jumped into one of the smaller helicopters, Sara’s pre-packed bags already loaded. The bags confirmed Jake’s suspicions that Sara was whisking him away, possibly a repeat of their island adventure. The memory of the sand, sun and Sara, gave him a surge of excitement.
Not wanting to ruin her surprise, Jake avoided asking her directly about their destination. Instead, he just enjoyed the ride and her company. They chatted as the trip progressed and as they passed over the LA area, Jake was even more convinced he knew their destination.
Once they were over water, Sara started to strip down, inviting Jake to do the same. She produced two swimsuits, one for each of them. To Jake’s disappointment, hers was not the one he had originally provided her on their first trip. That moment passed quickly though as he remembered how little time she actually wore the suit, spending most of the time completely naked in the water or on the beach.
By the time they reached the island, Jake was in a swimsuit, with a t-shirt covering his wrapped ribs. Sara had a similar t-shirt on over her 2-piece swimsuit. Instead of landing at the beach as they had on the first trip, the helicopter continued up to the airstrip, slightly around and back onto the island.
Once on the ground, the door opened, allowing Jake and Sara to disembark. Jake was shocked at what lay before him. Several more aircraft sat parked along the airstrip, with people moving between the aircraft and the building. The people were working on the structures, clearly making repairs. At this point, one of the many jeep type vehicles pulled up next to the pair. Having come from one of the nearby buildings where it had been stored, Jake assumed it was their ride. Sara grabbed their bags and dropped them in the back, motioning for Jake to climb in.
“Get in,” Sara told the confused Jake.
“What’s going on here?” Jake asked, pointing at all the activity as he got in.
“We are upgrading the island. Wasn’t it your idea for this to be a regular rest and relaxation facility,” Sara replied, “isn’t that what you and ALICE originally planned?”
“Sure,” Jake replied, “I just didn’t think that was in motion yet.”
“Oh no,” Sara answered, “we’ve been working on this place and rotating staff though here for months.”
They had been talking as the jeep passed the construction on the buildings along the way. All the work consisted mostly of human efforts, with the occasional bot or automated construction equipment tossed in. As they turned down the familiar path to the beach, Jake was surprised to see several more people either playing in the water or lounging in the sand and sun.
Pulling up in front of the same container like box he and Sara had occupied before, Jake noted several more identical boxes lined up down the beach, each pushed back next to the bank and all had their awnings out and doors open.
All up and down the beach, he could see mostly women, with the occasional couple, taking full advantage of their down time. He had a bit of a flashback to the pre-disaster California. The only thing missing were the surfers.
As they climbed out of the jeep and grabbed their bags, Jake turned to the sound of someone calling his name. In the surf, waving at him were two immediately recognizable women. Becky was there, having been the one who hailed him. She was wearing the black two-piece bikini ALICE had made up, similar to the one he had made Sara. This one however, Becky had insisted be made smaller, to one up her sister. Standing next to her was Sandy, in a pink with white polka dot suit, far more conservative than Becky’s bikini, but still smaller than most of the other 2-piece suits on the beach.
Jake tended to avoid making comparisons of the different women he was involved with, preferring to think of each of them individually. This however was completely unavoidable while watching the two younger women standing together in their swimsuits. He had always considered Sandy to have the bigger bust line while Becky was just curvy. He now realized Sandy was all boobs, with a slender body beneath while Becky was every bit as busty, just more balanced. Both women were built to entice.
Shaking his head and waving back to both, Jake turned back to Sara with a confused look. Sara just shrugged and turned to take her bag into the housing unit that was their home for the next few days. Jake followed in her wake, but by the time they reached the door, both Sandy and Becky had run to meet them, slipping inside past Jake.
“We already grabbed the back room,” Becky stated, looking sourly at Sara, “per your instructions, we are sharing the bottom bunk and gave you the top bunk,” she finished somewhat darkly.
Jake turned to give Sara a questioning look.
“This trip is for you to rest and relax,” Sara started, “everyone was invited with the understanding that no one is to make demands on you,” Sara said while looking directly at Becky.
Ignoring the exchange Jake asked, “So who else is coming?”
“This is it, the others took a pass claiming mothering issues or nausea,” she finished, clearly meaning Jessie for the last.
“Ok,” Jake replied, not wanting to read too much into that.
“Well, you guys get settled. We are going to go back to the water, this is awesome!” Sandy declared, showing that her mood was evidently brighter than Becky’s current disposition. Kissing Jake and darting for the door, she was quickly gone. Not to be outdone, Becky gave Jake a long, lingering kiss, and them swished her way past Sara, following Sandy out onto the sand and then back into the water.
Sara watched her little sister head off into the water with Sandy and then gave Jake a look that said, “I’m gonna kill her someday.”
“Hey, you invited them,” Jake said, correctly interpreting her face.
“Did you honestly think we could get away a second time without all hell breaking lose,” Sara replied as they both grabbed their bags and headed to their separate rooms.
“Bad news,” Jake called out from his room.
“What?” Sara asked.
“There are no locks on these doors,” Jake replied.
“Use a chair,” Sara answered, knowing that would not work either.
“So what gives with the others?” Jake called out as he slowly unpacked.
Sara stopped and walked to his doorway, “I really don’t know, I get Jessie, she’s still sicker than a dog. Linda, Kathy, and I talked quite a bit and while they were helpful in planning all this, there really wasn’t a spark of enthusiasm. I assume the new baby thing is a huge drain on them right now.”
Pausing before continuing, Sara asked, “When was the last time you went to see Bonnie?”
Jake stopped what he was doing to think, “Well, I talk to her almost daily, or at least try to as I do with Linda and Kathy. She shows me Julie and we talk about her a lot. I guess it’s been close to 3 weeks since I have physically gone there. Why?”
“I’m not sure, maybe it’s a sister thing, but I think something’s up with her,” she said cautiously.
“You think she’s upset about something?” Jake asked, concerned that he might have done something to upset her.
“No, it’s more like she’s distracted. Her focus is elsewhere. Maybe its Julie, but I think a trip to Texas should be in your near future,” was all Sara seems to be willing to commit.
With that, Sara turned and returned to her shared bedroom, squeezing her things in the space left between Becky and Sandy’s personal items. For two small women, they seemed to pack a hell of a lot of stuff.
Once they both had sufficiently settled in, Sara grabbed two beers and Jake’s chair. Together, t
hey headed off to the beach, to bask in the sunshine and watch the others enjoy themselves in the water.
----*----
Burt had been the mayor of Prosperity for several years before Jake had landed at their doorstep and turned their world upside down. He had seen the town struggle for many years in the early days and truly understood the impact of the changes Jake had brought to town. It made their name a reality.
Which was why he was very upset about the report he had on his desk. He had ordered the captain of the patrol to verify the content before he escalated things. If this report were true, it was not something he would sweep under the rug. Its implications were far too grave to underestimate.
His hope was this was just a misunderstanding. Until he knew for sure, he would just have to sit on it.
Chapter 6
After spending the afternoon at the beach, Jake received the royal treatment that evening. With duties spread between the three women, they prepared dinner, cleaned up, and even gathered the wood for the evening’s bonfire. With several offers to scrub his back, he managed to deflect them all, claiming the small shower size and healing ribs as excuses. After cleaning himself up, he found they had laid out his evening attire on his bed.
In the pleasant Southern California evening air, they snacked, drank, talked, and stayed up late into the night. Sitting around the fire, they ended up killing off several bottles of wine in the process. Between the three women and the occasional beach wanderers who stopped by to chat, everyone had a good time and plenty to drink. Jake thought even Sara and Becky enjoyed each other’s company for a change, telling tales of their youth. Both wished Bonnie were there to enjoy things with them.
While this was distinctly different from the trip he had with Sara, the night was enjoyable, everyone seemed to be truly relaxed, and in great spirits, no wine pun intended! Sandy, unmistakably the lightweight of the group, giggled her way through most of the story telling.