by Rick Lakin
“Of course, Mr. Cherry.”
“Call me Chris,” the director said. “Navvy told me that a talented young intern would be coming to my set today and that she would shake things up. In a good way.”
“Navvy has been a good mentor so far.”
“He is that. He grabbed me out of the summer intern crew five years ago. Where do you want to go in filmmaking?"
“I know it's presumptuous, but I want to do it all. I'm already writing. I want to direct,” Jennifer said.
“You do look as if you would be a good friend to the camera. In the meantime, though, why don’t you stick close to me when you aren't helping Nessa, and I'll share some tips and techniques. Or, maybe I'll learn some from you.”
That weekend, Jennifer was left with more questions after her chat with Dr. Ami. She was unable to find answers yet, so she focused on learning.
Along with her MBA, she studied directing techniques through steveLearn until she returned to the set on Monday morning. And, for the next two-and-a-half days, that was how Jennifer began to learn how to direct a television series.
Eighteen
The Meeting
Jennifer came to work on Star Doctor on Wednesday, June twenty-second. At lunch break Sami popped up, “Kathy messaged you to come to an urgent meeting in Navvy’s conference room at one o’clock. You are excused from your duties on set.”
“Respond to confirm.” Jennifer wondered what the fire alarm was about.
Jennifer took one last bite of her sandwich and emptied her tray in the trash. Her thoughts investigated the possibilities. She was being fired? Not likely. Reassigned? Possibly. Writing a new movie? Maybe. Another ride on Brilliant. Definitely not possible.
She entered the conference room and looked around. Navvy stood before the table. Seated alongside were Jack, David,—and her mother??? Omigod, what is going on?
“Take a seat, Jennifer,” Navvy said. Jennifer sat as far from David as the long table would allow.
Sheila spoke up, “What's going on, Navvy? I made it clear that Jennifer and I would have nothing more to do with Brilliant.”
“Sheila, you need to see this,” Navvy said. “Ani, playback the communications with the Hoclarth from last Wednesday.” Navvy stepped aside, and the front of the room became a sizable holo display.
The Mendex commander appeared on the display. “StarCruiser Brilliant, I am Predex Kalim Kone of the Hoclarth Alliance ship Mendex. Heave to and make ready to be boarded. If I’m happy with what you have to offer, I’ll leave you with your lives and your ship,” the bearded pirate said.
During the playback, both Jack and Navvy focused not on the screen but on Sheila’s reaction. Jennifer did the same. Her mother leaned forward, and her eyes got very large. For Jennifer, the room suddenly got very chilly, and she wrapped her arms around her body.
The video finished. “Is this some kind of joke?” Sheila said, more loudly than she probably intended.
“No, Sheila. I sent the communication to our special effects department. They removed the facial hair and smoothed out some wrinkles to reverse the aging,” Navvy said. “Play cut two.”
A much younger, clean-shaven pirate appeared on the screen.
“Anthen Kelrithian?” Sheila said. “You believe he's alive?”
Jennifer’s mind was now very quickly processing the possibilities.
“Yes, Sheila, I believe that my son is alive,” Navvy said.
Jennifer looked at Navvy, opened her mouth, almost said something, then turned to her mother whose eyes were very wet, “Mom, that’s my father?”
Sheila nodded. Jennifer then looked at Navvy, “You’re…my…”
“Yes, Jennifer, I'm your grandfather,” Navvy said.
Jennifer never fainted in her life but now she felt the blood draining from her head.
“Push your chair back, lean down, and put your head between your legs,” Sheila said.
“But…but,” she said as her vision began to tunnel. She pushed back and leaned down, “Omigod, I almost killed my father.”
Now, David looked a bit pale. Jack put his arm on his son’s shoulder.
Sheila looked at Jack and snapped, “Jack, what's she saying?”
He shook his head to Sheila then looked at Jennifer for a moment to let her recover.
Jennifer brought her head up, “Omigod, Omigod….”
All eyes were riveted on Jack now, especially Sheila’s. “Jennifer, I trusted your judgment. I knew you would make the right call,” Jack said. “But, just in case, I had my hand on the override. I had my suspicions.”
Sheila almost shouted, “You people are bat-smack crazy! You take my daughter into space on a two-hundred-year-old spaceship, fly her half-way to Hell, then put her in a position to kill her father or be killed. Then you come back here and hit her with this.” Jennifer had never seen her mother’s face as red as this. “Honey, we are out of here, off this lot, and you are never setting foot on it again.”
Sheila stood to walk out, “Come, Jennifer.”
Jennifer looked around the room as she regained her composure, “No.”
“What? These people almost killed you,” Sheila was shouting now.
“Mom, you're my family. But so are Navvy and Jack and Riley and Tayla and Brilliant and…” She looked at David for an instant and then looked away, “…and Tovar Studios. I need to help my family bring back one of their own, my father, Navvy’s son.”
“But you could get killed. I don’t want to lose my daughter, too,” she said, but there was defeat in her voice and more tears in her eyes.
Jennifer was composed now. “Mom, I need to finish this. I need to find my father.”
“No way…Navvy?” Sheila said.
“Jennifer, your mother may be right,” Navvy said. “We can probably pull this out without…”
“Mother, you have always trusted me to make the right decisions,” Jennifer said. “I need to do this. I need to follow my destiny. I need to find my father.”
“But…I don’t want to lose you, too” Sheila was losing her resolve. “What’s the plan?”
“First, we need to find Mendex,” Navvy said.
“Ani, where's Mendex?” Jennifer said.
“Mendex has completed partial repairs and is one day away from a communications waypoint at the Lagrange point, between Alpha Centauri and Proxima Centauri. The Hoclarth have a robotic repair station in orbit around Naclar,” Ani said. “Mendex can call for help from there.”
“Ani, why did you not tell me where Mendex is?” Navvy asked.
“Sir, you complain that I'm too verbal,” Ani said. “You didn’t ask.”
“More importantly, how do you know where Mendex is?”
“Nav…Grandfather, during the last exchange of fire, I attached a tracker on the hull of the Mendex,” Jennifer said.
Jack smiled, “That’s our Jennifer. Ani, how much time to the waypoint?”
“Eighteen hours at best speed.”
“Okay, how many STALTs do we have on hand?”
“Sir, there are two available in storage.”
“I want to leave with four on board,” Jack said. “What else do we need?”
“Jack, remember that two-person shuttle we had before we came here?” Navvy said.
“Yeah, I always thought that might be a good thing to have.”
“I redesigned a four-person shuttle. We just need to fabricate it,” Navvy said.
“Fabricate? It would take weeks to build something like that,” Sheila said.
“Mom, Brilliant has a fabricator. It’s like a 3D printer on steroids.”
“Ani, how long to fab the shuttle and a full weapons load?” Jack asked. “It may get crowded out there if Mendex gets a message off.”
Ani responded, “I began yesterday, Sir. I need another twenty-four hours.”
“Very well, we raise ship just after sundown tomorrow. Between now and then, we all need rest and some time on the simulator.”
“Jen
nifer, are you coming?”
“Yes, Captain, but I need to run some simulations.”
“You aren't going, Jennifer.” Sheila tried one more time. “You are only seventeen, and I forbid it.”
“Mom, if I wanted to join the Marines, you could sign a permission slip. You need to trust me.”
“I trust you. I don’t trust these crazy space people who think you're the only one who can pull their chestnuts out of the fire.”
“Mom, I rang the bell. I'm one of those people now.”
Sheila was defeated, “Jack Masing, will you bring my daughter back?”
“That's the plan. we'll do our best.”
“You'd better,” Sheila said. “I'm going to wait outside while you people make sausage. The more I hear, the less I like it.”
Sheila walked to the anteroom and ran into Hanna Kelrithian. They hugged. “I've missed you, Sheila. I wish we could have been close all these years,” Hanna said. “Kathy told me I should come down here.”
“Jennifer knows,” Sheila said. “She's in there.”
Hanna’s eyes became moist, “You raised a wonderful daughter, Sheila. Navvy hasn’t been this happy since…. But why are you here? I was told that you weren’t going to let Jennifer near Brilliant.”
“Hanna, they are going after Anthen.”
“My son? But, he’s….”
“Apparently, he's a starship captain for the bad guys and my Jennifer is the only one who can figure out how to get him back.”
In the conference room, Jack said, “Riley, you need to get some sleep and then spend tomorrow on the simulator.”
“Captain?” Jennifer interrupted.
“Yes?”
“Riley is our best engineer, and that's where we need him.”
“Your suggestion?”
“We need the best pilot with the most experience. You need to put David back in the left seat.”
Jack nodded. “Son, can you be the great pilot I know you are, follow my orders, and not say mean and sexist things to your fellow crew members?”
“Yes, Dad.”
“Okay, we follow Jennifer’s suggestion and….”
Navvy interrupted, “Jack, you need the best science officer you know. I need to go. I need to be there when Anthen comes on board.”
“Yes, Pops, I suppose you do,” Jack said. “I wish we had his knowledge of the Hoclarth. Could this be like those others who had a memory suppressor mounted in their brain? Someone call Dr. Ami.”
“Sami, can you call….”
“Calling her, Boss,” Sami said. After a pause. “Connected.”
“This is Dr. Ami. Hello, Jennifer.”
“Doctor, are you able to remove a Hoclarth memory suppressor underway.”
“Jennifer, I have extensive medical knowledge, but I don't have the manual dexterity to remove this device from the brainstem. This surgery requires a human neurosurgeon.”
“That settles it. We have to bring Anthen back here.”
“Sir, I know a neurosurgeon,” Jennifer said.
“Your step-dad? Would he be willing to come along?” Jack asked.
“I guess I could ask?”
Navvy laughed, “Has anyone ever said no to you, Jennifer?”
“Not lately, Grandfather.”
“Okay, we have our assignments. Get rest. Get fed. Get some sim time. And be ready to raise ship at twenty-hundred hours tomorrow.”
“Captain, one more thing. We need a comms officer,” Jennifer said.
“You wanna bring your best friend on this shindig?”
“Yes, Sir.”
“Captain, you saw that she’s qualified,” Riley said.
Jack looked at the three young crew members. “So, you want your whole squad?” Jack said.
“We need each other,” David said.
Jennifer gave David a mean look but the anger softened.
“Jennifer, you may ask her. Dismissed,” Jack said.
The crew of the Brilliant filed out of the Executive Conference Room. Jennifer saw Hanna next to her mom and ran to her and hugged her, “Grandmother.”
“You are a special gift to me, Jennifer. Sheila, thank you for bringing her back to me.”
Jennifer turned to her mom. “I need to ask a favor.”
“I’m guessing I'm not going to like it.”
“You are going to hate it. We need to bring a neurosurgeon along to restore Anthen’s memory. We need Dad.”
“This just keeps getting better and better.” Sheila sighed and dropped her head in defeat. “Go ahead and ask him.”
Riley walked up to the oldest member of the crew, “Navvy, I need one more favor.…”
After the meeting broke up, Jennifer walked to her car and ordered it to drive her home.
“Sami, call Tayla.”
“Hi, Jen,” Tayla answered.
“Hi Tay, I need a favor. It will take a couple of days, and it might be dangerous.”
“Brilliant?”
“Yes, we are going to get my father.”
“Kalim Kone?”
“How did you know?”
“I saw the blue-green eyes and I saw your reaction when he came on screen,” Tayla said. “Don’t you remember?”
“I guess he did make an impression, but I thought it was just the heat of the moment. I was swamped. Tayla, I need you to be there with me. Will you come?”
“Of course. I'm up for a little trip with my bestie. Where are we going?”
“Proxima Centauri.”
“The one in the mountains?”
“No.”
“The one that is four light years away?”
“Yes.”
“Will it have a cell signal? A valley girl’s gotta have her social media?”
“Tayla!”
“You had me at 'Hi'.”
“We raise ship tomorrow night at eight p.m.”
“Love you, Jen.”
“Love you, Tay.”
Jennifer, her mom, and her step-dad sat down to dinner. It was quiet throughout the main course. “You two are very quiet. Are you okay?” Allen said.
“Dad…” Jennifer said.
“Wait until dessert,” Sheila said.
“Suspense, it is,” Allen said.
Jennifer cleared the plates and Sheila brought out three rather small slices of chocolate cheesecake.
“Okay, Jen,” Sheila said.
“Dad, I know you have Friday off. Would you like to take a father-daughter road trip with me?”
“Jennifer!” Sheila interjected.
“Where to?” Allen asked.
“Proxima Centauri.”
“Isn’t that up in the mountains near Yosemite?”
“Dad, we need a neurosurgeon on the Brilliant?”
“Proxima Centauri, as in four light years away?”
“Yes.”
“Brilliant is a ship in a science-fiction movie.”
“No…it isn’t,” Sheila said. “Remember last week when Jennifer came home late from work, and I had to go get her.”
“Yes, we almost missed her birthday dinner reservations.”
“That day, your step-daughter rode the Brilliant beyond Mars and was attacked by space pirates. She saved the ship and got them home late for dinner.”
“You mean like in a movie?”
“No, I mean like in outer friggin' space,” Sheila explained.
“Ok, I'll play along. What do you need me for on this trip?”
“Dad, the captain of the pirate ship is my father and we are going to rescue him.”
“Sheila, your ex? You told me he's dead.”
“I thought so, too,” Sheila said. “It is Anthen.”
“Still playing along…. So, what do you need me for?”
“When my father was kidnapped seventeen-and-a-half years ago, the Hoclarth implanted a memory suppressor. It's wrapped around his brain stem, and we need you to operate on him to remove it.”
“So, let me get this straight: You want me t
o get on a starship, ride four light years from Earth, and perform an intricate neurosurgery that no one on Earth has ever done. Where, on the table in the Galley?”
“In a fully equipped Sick Bay on the Brilliant.”
“Great, I suppose I'll do it alone.”
“Dr. Ami will assist.”
“The holo character in the TV show you're working on?”
“She's the ship’s doctor on the Brilliant. She has about ninety-five percent of the medical knowledge ever known on Earth.”
“I spend five days preparing for a surgery I have never performed.”
“Dr. Ami will be available in Sick Bay tomorrow on the Brilliant to help you prepare.”
“You’re serious?”
“Dead serious,” Jennifer said.
“Allen, this is real. My child, your step-daughter, is flying out in space on a dangerous mission to save her father. Apparently, she needs you.”
“Of course, I'm in.”
Jennifer came around the table and hugged her dad. Sheila joined.
Jennifer went to her room and entered steveLearn. “Hello, Sami.”
“Hello, Boss.”
“Message Dr. Ami, 'My step-father's going to ride aboard Brilliant. He would like to consult with you after two o’clock.' Send.”
She got settled in steveLearn. Again, Dandy Lion diagnosed Jennifer’s stress level and jumped into her lap.
“Dandy, I’m going to get my father,” Jennifer said.
The purring stopped and the tawny cat looked Jennifer in the eye. I told you to be careful. Who is going to give me my treats if you get blown up?
“I’ll be back, Dandy.” She cuddled the cat and the purring resumed. Jennifer took the pause to think about the upcoming mission.
“Ani?” Jennifer asked.
“Ani here,” the Artificial Navigation Intelligence said.
“Have you run the simulations on the Instantaneous Finsler Transform that I requested?”
“Yes, Jennifer. The success rate is seventy-four percent outside of certain parameters. It's ninety-four percent within precise restrictions.”