by J. P. Larson
“Alex, could you use a little help with those?” Elizabeth asked him. He looked at her.
“Sure, Liz. Want a ride?”
She thought about it, then plopped in the chair. “Sure, Alex. I know you’ve been looking for a chance to push me around for a change.”
“Ten minutes, Captain,” Alex said, then headed towards his quarters. Alex took a couple of turns, then pulled up to his door. Elizabeth reached up to palm it open, but it gave an angry beep at her. Alex opened the door and pushed her inside. The door closed automatically behind him. “Security, Liz,” he said.
She climbed out of the chair and helped him stow the chair and his duffel. Alex wasn’t sure if she wanted to talk or was waiting for him. They finished silently and looked at each other. There were tears in the corners of Elizabeth’s eyes.
“Oh, hey, Liz. I’ll bring her back. I absolutely promise you that, and I never, ever break my promises.”
“Alex, what if they just blow you up? My spies say they’ve got another war ship. This one’s bigger than the last one.”
“Really?” Alex got a glint in his eye. “How big?”
“Aren’t you worried?”
“Liz, no one ever overestimates me. Ever. These people are going down. And your daughter is probably going to get rich out of it, to boot. Liz, I will bring her back. Heck, we won’t even fall off schedule more than a few hours.”
“Thank you for this, Alex.”
“Liz, she’s my wife. This is more my responsibility than it is yours, and I take my responsibilities very, very seriously.”
“I bet you do, Alex. Give me a hug, squeeze a tear or two out of me, then I’ll dry my eyes and go smile at my daughter as she admires her beautiful ship.”
Alex hugged her, Liz cried for a moment, then she did indeed dry her eyes. “I have one more thing for you, Alex.” Alex’s eyes grew wide when he saw what she was carrying.
“Liz, I think I’m covered there.”
“These are mine, Alex. You might need them. Call it insurance.” Elizabeth talked to him for another minute, then Alex put the gifts away. “Okay, Alex, where’s the bridge?”
“This way, Liz.” Alex turned right out of his cabin, waited for the door to close behind Elizabeth, then headed down the corridor to the bridge. It was a short walk. As security officer, he rated his own cabin near the Captain’s and not far from the bridge.
“Good. You’re here,” Pamela told them when they arrive. “We launch in twelve minutes. They had a cancel and got us in early. Mother, I’m afraid we’ll have to say goodbye quickly. I have a ship to take care of.”
“My little girl, all grown up with her own ship. I’m so proud of you.”
“Thank you, Mother. I’ll walk you to the ramp.”
“Captain?” Alex said from his station.
“Yes, Mr. Grey?”
“Security detail for the Prime Minister, Captain? Jimbo and Johnson need to stay where they are.”
“It’s just across the tarmac to her vehicle, Mr. Grey.”
“I’ll have an escort standing by, Captain. Can’t have your mother tripping on her way out of the ship.”
“That will be fine, Mr. Grey.” Pamela said.
Alex got on the comm. “Ms. Leider, would you and Ms. Walker meet the Captain and the Prime Minister on their way off the Ghost, please? The Prime Minister needs an escort to her vehicle, then we’re out of here.”
“Yes, Mr. Grey,” came Gina’s voice. “On our way.”
“Weapons, Ms. Leider.”
“Don’t leave home without them.”
Alex used the ships monitors to do a scan around the exterior of the Ghost. Everything looked clear. He kept a screen turned to the airlock, then used another screen to run a set of security diagnostics. As expected, everything was tip top.
Alex saw Pamela and Elizabeth appear on the airlock monitor. She watched them hug, then watch as Elizabeth, Gina, and Ms. Walker exited the ship. Gina sent the Dawson Star crew member out first. Gina walked behind Elizabeth with a hand on her shoulder. Alex watched them on the security cameras, saw Elizabeth get safely into her car, and the crew members returned to the ship. Pamela stayed at the airlock. She called everyone aboard, then pulled the ramp up and closed the doors. She waved briefly to her mother at the last minute.
Alex kept a screen on Elizabeth’s car. Pamela reappeared on the bridge.
“Status?” she asked.
“Helm is green. Atmospheric engines on line. Thruster diagnostics green, hyper drive diagnostics green.” Alex concentrated on the Dawson Star crew member, another Ms. Grey, one of Pamela’s cousins. In fact, there were a lot of Pamela’s cousins on board. There were three Ms. Greys, two Ms. Walkers, Miss Danforth from Jane’s Gift, and a Ms. Prior. Alex couldn’t believe it was going to stay Ms. And Mr. forever. Too crazy.
“Navigation green. Flight path to orbit keyed in. Three hyperspace paths to StarInc available for your choice.” Another Dawson’s Star crew member, Ms. Prior.
“Communications green. Spaceport clears us to leave on schedule in… seven minutes. It sounds like pretty light traffic.” Randy Gilbert, communications expert and long distance runner, was the only other Random Walker on the bridge with Alex.
“Security green. Full diagnostics green, threat board is clear, and your mother is watching us get ready to depart.”
“How do you know that?”
“Coming to your boards, Captain,” Alex said, punching some buttons. A view from the outside monitor appeared on one of the screens in front of Pamela.
“Comm, get me the spaceport, please.”
“On line, Captain.”
Alex punched some buttons, bringing a second camera to rest on the vehicle outside. Then he zoomed in and found Elizabeth. He watched the tears streaming down her cheeks.
“DS Tower, Grey Ghost ready at pad three,” Pamela said to the radio.
“Skies are clear, Ghost. Cleared for take off. Fly heading one-one-zero until contacting departure control, altitude at your discretion.”
“One-one-zero, Tower. Ghost is lifting.” Pamela punched a button cutting the radio.
Pamela looked at him quickly.
Alex hit a button, giving Pamela a quick look at her crying mother. Pamela reached out and touched the screen for a moment.
“Helm, lift and follow one-one-zero. And give us some altitude.”
“Lifting, Captain.”
Alex killed the outside picture, but kept the larger view on the car until it was lost to view.
There was no response.
The Ghost quickly climbed away from the spaceport, then turned to its new heading and accelerated, climbing all the while.
“Grey Ghost, contact DS Departure.”
“Going to Departure, Tower. See you on the return.”
“Good luck, Pamela. Stay safe.”
“Thanks, Karen.” Pamela hit a button. “Comm, give me departure.”
“Already waiting on your number two, Captain.”
“Thank you, Mr. Gilbert.” Pamela keyed a button. “DS Departure, Grey Ghost passing through twelve thousand.”
“We have you on radar, Ghost. Skies are clear. Say destination, Ghost.”
“The stars, Departure. At your soonest, if you please.”
“Cleared to orbit at your discretion, Ghost. Good luck, Pamela.”
“Thanks, Kris. Ghost out.”
Pamela killed the radios again. “How we doing, helm?”
“Still green, Captain. Engines are purring. Do you want us out of here a little faster?”
/> “Please, helm. But be gentle with us. Let’s wait to see who has a weak stomach.”
“Aye-aye, Captain. Gentle but swift it is.”
Alex felt an increase in acceleration.
“Helm, still purring?”
“Idling, Captain. Everything’s green.”
Pamela got on the ship’s intercom. “Miss Danforth, anything you need to tell me?”
“We’re green, Captain.”
Pamela looked down at the altitude numbers rolling out from under her.
Pamela hit the intercoms again. “All hands, report to station chiefs. Anyone feeling woozey, I want to know.”
Alex got his report from Jimbo, Johnson, Gina and Ms. Walker.
“Helm green. No flutters, Captain.”
“Comm green.”
“Navigation green.”
“Security green.”
“Remaining personnel, green,” said the first officer, the other Ms. Walker.
“Helm, give us another twenty five percent. Let’s get out of here.”
“Accelerating the acceleration, Captain.”
Pamela watched the numbers.
“Helm?”
“Engines green. Hull’s warming up a bit.”
Pamela checked a display. “Keep half an eye on it.”
Alex paused, typed some buttons.
The sky slowly darkened as the size of the numbers on Pamela’s screen grew larger. Stars appeared, and the sky grew black.
“Navigation, which route do you prefer?”
“They’re in my order, Captain. We have the straight route, the high route, and the energy saving route.”
“Security prefers the fourth route, Captain.”
“There is no fourth route, Security,” said the navigator.
“It’s in the computer,” Alex replied. “Security strongly prefers this route, Captain.”
“Navigation, we’ll start with the straight route. Please review the fourth route. We’ll discuss it after melt down.”
“Helm, bring the hyper engines to standby.”
“Warming ‘em up, Captain.”
Pamela watched the numbers for a minute. “I have us free of the atmosphere.”
“I concur, Captain,” said the first officer.
“Comm, give me departure.”
“Still on your number two, Captain.”
“DS Departure, Grey Ghost, permission to hyper.”
“See you when you get back, Ghost. Send us a post card.”
“How are the engines, helm?”
“On line, Captain.”
“Status?”
“Helm green. Ready to hyper.”
“Navigation green. Course in and locked. Ready to hyper.”
“Captain green, but ready to fix that.” She got on the intercom. “Hypering in ten seconds.”
“Ten seconds, Captain,” said the helm. “Three, two, one, hypering.”
The ship entered hyperspace. The view outside turned surreal, and Alex killed the screens.
“Status?”
“Helm green, Captain.”
“Navigation green.”
“Congratulations, Captain,” said the first officer.
“Helm, 85%, please. We’ll watch the boards for an hour before melt down.”
Pamela looked at Gilbert and Alex. “Tradition. An hour after first hyper. Everyone introduces themselves. You didn’t think it was going to be Ms. and Mr. for the entire trip, did you?”
“Captain, who is doing deep scan?”
“We’re home, Security. The first officer and I will begin that duty after melt down.”
“First, Security has an itch. Would you please begin deep scan?”
“Standard search pattern, Captain?”
“That’s a cone in front of us, Security.”
“Security is tickled pink with a cone, Captain.”
“First, take your time. Watch for anyone trying to hide.”
“Aye-aye, Captain. I’ll keep you and Security posted.”
“Thank you, Captain, First,” Alex told them.
“Status, Helm?”
“Coming through 67%, Captain. Green and idling.”
“Miss Danforth,” Pamela said over the intercom. “Things warming up back there?”
“Nice and green, Captain. And it’s Ms., ma’am, if you’ll remember.”
“Quite right, Ms. Danforth. We’ll celebrate at melt down.”
“We’re at 85%, Captain,” said helm. “Green.”
“Hold this, helm. Let’s give the engines a gentle run for a while.”
Alex ran another diagnostics test, then started doing his own deep scan. The women of Dawson’s Star may have their very impressive method of looking for lurkers. The Random Walker Navy had its own, which he was sure very few people knew. Mother had been very generous in giving Dad financing for this ship. Alex suddenly wondered just how much his military cutter should have bought for him.
However, Alex didn’t direct his look in front of the ship, he looked behind.
The boards were all still firmly in the green an hour later. Alex checked his scan one more time, but there was nothing interesting in it outside of the traffic they left behind in DS syste
m. First reported no contacts of any sort.
Pamela got on the intercom. “Everyone direct their boards to their personal comms, warnings to ship’s klaxon. It’s melt down! Meet in the galley in five minutes.”
She hung up the intercom. “Everyone out as soon as they’re set up. Remember to run a diagnostic against your comm. Security, make your preparations, but stay here.”
The on-duty officers completed their preparations, then quickly filed out. The first officer was the last to leave, with Alex and Pamela waiting behind.
“All right. Talk to me, Alex.”
“Pamela, I am very impressed. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more professional system departure.”
“Thank you. Do you have some particular reason to expect an ambush?”
Alex knew it was going to come to this. “I’m not sure how to answer that, Pamela.”
“Security, if you have specific knowledge regarding the safety of this ship, I order you to tell me. Now. Completely. Do I need to be more blunt?”
“Captain, the Prime Minister suspects, and I choose that word carefully, but she suspects that a certain person is not done chasing you. I received a direct order from her to be my most paranoid, my most tricky, my most devious self. Given that the Prime Minister is also my mother-in-law, I have no choice but to follow her orders to the best of my capabilities. And I am capable of being very paranoid, very tricky, and very devious when it comes to dealing with terrorists. Captain.”
“Have you been tricky and devious, Alex?”
“Very tricky, Pamela. Very devious.”
“And there’s some reason you don’t want to share any of this with me?”
Alex didn’t say anything, but fingered the gold about his neck.
“Oh, Alex. You seem to be under a misconception. That’s my necklace. It protects you about as well as I can protect myself.”
“Your mother and I have been having a number of discussions lately, Pamela. She’s offered me a little extra protection.”
“Oh?”
“Your mother assures me that you can scan me at will, and that she can, but that no one else can. Surface thoughts, maybe, but not deep. And I’m good at keeping deep thoughts from rising to the surface. You should know that.”
“And how did she do this?”
“A few little exercises is all. She discouraged me from ever telling anyone.”
Pamela was quiet for a moment. “Alex, if she’s taught you what I think she has, you must never, ever tell anyone. It’s very forbidden to share those secrets with men.”