by John Ricks
I calmed down enough to blurt out between snickers, “You should have seen your face, Susan. I got you that time.” Even the president was smiling now. Laughter can be catchy.
Susan said, “I’m sorry, Madam President. Freddy’s sense of humor can be really off the wall at times.”
“I see,” she said, with just enough reproach in her tone to sober me up fairly quick.
Still smiling, I placed my hand on her cheek and closed my eyes. I stopped smiling. “You have breast cancer, and it has spread to the lymph nodes. There is some in your bones too. A little has broken off and is anchored in your brain and has started to grow. It will cut off the blood flow in that vessel soon, and you will have a stroke. You also have a corn.” I was genuinely surprised and said, “I didn’t think the president was allowed to have corns.”
She smiled at me. “I wish, but it seems that we’re still human, Freddy.”
“Okay, so let’s get this completed before the admiral gets worried. Do you want anyone to leave? I need to have you undress.” She looked at me with big eyes. “Oh, don’t give me that kind of look. Think of me as your doctor. Besides, I’ve seen it hundreds of times. When the girls first came here, I took all the peeks I could get. I think they knew, but they let me get away with it. After a while, the novelty wore off. Now, I think they look better with their clothes on. It’s no big thing, now that I know exactly what they’re hiding under there.”
She said, “No, they can stay.” She started getting undressed.
“Please leave your panties on and your stockings, as I don’t need to touch that area.”
“Thank you.”
I talked to Susan about who would fly the shuttle tonight. I was trying to get the president to relax by acting like I wasn’t interested, that this was nothing, and it seemed to be working. Susan knew what I was doing and went along with it. When the president was ready, I nonchalantly walked over and placed my hands, which I had been keeping in my pockets to warm them up, on the parts of her body that I needed to fix. It only took a few seconds at each spot, and then I said, “All done. You can get dressed now … and thanks.”
“Thanks?” she asked.
I looked in her eyes. “Yes, thanks. Thanks for allowing me to heal you. This is not a good time to have you dying on us. I love you, and besides, I don’t want to have to deal with someone else.”
She got dressed while Melanie, Susan, and I talked shop. Melanie was very interested in how I could heal. The president had tears in her eyes the whole time we were talking. When she was finished dressing, she came over to me, got down on her knees to be at my level, and then gave me a big hug, saying, “Thank you, Freddy. I love you too.”
I hugged her back. When she calmed down, we left the office and picked up all the girls, except the one on watch, and headed toward the shop.
“Green!” Yellows bellowed.
Green jumped. That was a weird feeling—a tentacle jumping around in my head.
Everything went black, totally. I don’t like being tickled. Besides, I was working out something else.
Green said, “Yes, Truth Taker.”
Yellows said, “If you find out nothing else, you are to find out how he is doing this healing.”
Green smiled. “I already know, Truth Taker. It is very complicated, and it will be in my reports.”
Blue asked, “Is there a chance that we can learn this wonderful ability?”
Green said, nearly under his breath, acting like he was about to get yelled at again, “No, sire. We have not evolved to that stage yet.”
All eyes were on me again, and they were astounded. Yellows said with threat in their voice, “Green, are you saying that this creature is higher in the evolutionary scale than we are?”
“No, Truth Taker. They are far behind us on the evolutionary scale. They are simply evolving in a different direction. I can only guess as to what they will become.”
“I got it. I can’t play with Yellows, as she, he, it—whatever—is too focused on keeping me unfocused. However, Green is not, and we have tactile contact. Let’s keep this a secret for now.”
Yellows said, “Very well. We look forward to reading your report. Continue.”
Chapter 19
Never Upset a Master Chief Twice in One Day
At the shop entrance I asked, “Everyone ready?” What the commander did not know was after she went to bed last night, I had teleported back to the shop and set up a few surprises.
Petty Officer Henderson said, “We’re ready, Freddy.” Several of the girls laughed.
I smiled at her, saying, “You be careful in there, Patricia. We all know how helpless you females can be.” Laughter spread out across the group. “Shop?”
“Yes, Freddy?”
“Open up fully. I’m going to take everyone on a tour.”
“Password, please?”
“Excuse me?” I said with feigned surprise. “What password?”
“The one that was set using your codes last night from a remote area south of here.”
“Did you monitor the person who set the password?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“Who was it?”
“General Tankman.”
“What password did he use?”
“I am not allowed to say.”
“Thank you. Well, that’s just wonderful.”
The commander asked, “Is there any other way in?”
Betsy, our resident expert in escaping out of or into anyplace, said, “Not a chance.”
“Shop?”
“Yes, Freddy?”
“At what level are the defenses set?”
“1-A1.”
“Please change the level to 1-A2.”
“Password, please?”
“Shop, override all passwords, code 234AD3.”
“Password, please?”
“Sorry, Shop. Thank you. There’s no way in. I can’t reproduce the equipment or the bombs in time. We’re dead without that password.”
The admiral became upset and said, “I’ll flay the skin off them until they talk. I’ll ram that bastard in a tube and suck the atmosphere out slowly until he implodes. I’ll—”
I couldn’t hold it in any longer. I was rolling on the ground with laughter, and so were the girls—after they realized what I had pulled. Even the president was amused, but the master chief was not, and neither was the admiral.
“Freddy,” said the master chief, “I think we need to have a private conversation.” She took my arm and led me off, saying, “We’ll be right back.”
I think the whole assembly could hear my screams. I teleported off her lap when she was done spanking me. I was not stupid enough to do so while she was punishing me because that could cause her to lose count, and she would have to start all over. It took a few moments to get myself together before heading back out.
When I got back to the group, each girl I passed reached down and patted my behind. “Ouch! Stop that! Ouch! Ouch!” I finally got to the door. “Shop?”
“Yes, Freddy?” it answered with an amused tone.
“Please disconnect and discontinue,” I said, interspersing my words with sniffles, “all the things we planned last night under code funny.”
“Good idea, considering the master chief’s mood right now, Freddy. I have disconnected all eighteen traps.”
After she heard “eighteen traps,” I heard the commander tell the master chief, “Good job. Thank you.”
Gray was smiling from ear to ear. “I like this creature.”
All others just stared at Gray incredulously.
Everything stayed completely in focus. Strange sight these creatures have. I was using Green’s eyes to see and his mind to turn the knob down again. The Green watching the knob had gotten busy on something else and left it unattended. Bad Green. Shame on it.
<
br /> Yellows said, “We personally do not like having jokes played on us or anyone else.”
Blue raised a tentacle, confirming it felt the same.
Gray said, “Loosen up a little. The creature is normally boring. That was more entertaining.”
“Boring!” Using Green’s mind, I mentally turned the switch off and took one of Gray’s tentacles and slapped the little Yellows in the head. Pandemonium broke loose.
All were yelling at one another. At the same time, little Yellows dropped me and grabbed Gray, throwing him across the room and into several other Grays. I drifted down. Blue tried to grab me but pulled me in the wrong direction, while Green was trying to snatch me the other way. I turned around, put a hand out, and touched the side of the tank. They went into shock. The bigger Yellows nearly screamed at the little Yellows. Five Grays were seriously injured, and the little guy picked up three more. For the smallest in the room, little Yellows were devastating. I smiled at the Green and Blue, and that panicked them even more, and they dropped me.
Something else came into the room. Something dark and foreboding said one quiet word: “Stop.”
Everything came to a complete stop. Even little Yellows stopped.
Green turned to the new creature, and it was black as night. It was difficult to see and hard to watch. When it moved, it distorted. The new creature said to little Yellows, “Put them down, and resume your place.”
Little Yellows gently set the three Grays down and came to the tank, lifted me up, and held me in the center.
It turned to the bigger Yellow. “You are in charge. What went wrong here?”
“Dark One, Gray slapped my pen mate in the head for no reason. She took great offense and threw Gray against his pen mates and then started tearing them apart. I was just about to join her.”
Black said, “You are wrong. Let me tell you what happened. I have been tapped into the creature for some time. The creature took offense at being called boring by Gray, and so it used Green’s mind to turn off the switch and then to cause Gray to hit your pen mate.”
They all looked at me, upset. Black continued. “The creature is not at fault. It is simply trying to slow you down and is being very successful. Still, it is limited with the tank power on, so it finds ways to turn it off. This would not have happened if that Green had done his job and watched the power switch to this tank. He did not.”
A tentacle shot out and touched the Green. It died instantly and in great pain. Another tentacle motioned toward another Green. “Turn that knob up full, and watch it very closely.”
Black turned to Yellows and said very nicely, “Do not make me come in here again.” It turned to me and said, “Creature, do not cry over that dead Green. He made a mistake that I had noticed earlier and would have punished anyway.” Then it turned in a blur and left.
Not a word was said. The Green motioned for two Purples to remove the dead Green and for Green to continue.
Green said, “I will try, but it is hard while the creature is in such an emotional state.”
Yellows asked, “This creature is sad over the death of one of ours?”
“Very.”
Yellows motioned for the Grays to take away their injured. “Interesting. Please try to continue.”
Chapter 20
The Parking Lot
“Shop, please open the door,” I said with a sniff.
Betsy patted my behind again saying, “Eighteen!”
“Ouch! Quickly, Shop!”
The door opened, and I swear I could hear the shop computer laughing very low. We entered the office area. Everyone looked around, but there was nothing to see here.
I handed the commander a list and asked through my sniffling, “What communication device would you suggest for each person?”
She read it, with the master chief looking over her shoulder.
Dot clear: master communication only.
Dot yellow: one warning and master communication.
Dot green: one warning and a report to a master and communication.
Dot red: continues to warn and report to a master and communication.
Dot blue: continues to warn. If warning is not heeded, it disintegrates and then reports to communication.
Dot black: No warning. Do something it doesn’t like, and it disintegrates and then reports to communication.
“Shop, please upgrade the commander to security class 1-A2,” I instructed, still unable to stop sniffling.
Everyone looked up. The commander said, “Thank you, Freddy.”
“No problem. You deserve it,” I said, sniffling in between every few words. “Now you can get Shop to do things for you.” I sniffled again.
The master chief asked, “Are these dots necessary? Stop that sniffling!”
The commander said, “Yes, they are.”
Colleen added, “The sniffling is a chemical thing that can’t be stopped easily. He’s already calming down, and I’m sure it will stop soon.”
“Shop?”
“Yes, Susan? Nice to have you in control. May I report to you when I think Freddy is getting close to killing himself again? I’m afraid he does it quite often.”
Her eyes widened. “Yes, I would very much like to know.” She gave me a “we’ll stop that right now” look that the president and everyone else mimicked quite well.
“Please supply me with a yellow dot, and the rest of the team with green dots, and red dots for the admiral, the president, and our civilian guests. Freddy already has a clear dot, correct?”
“Yes.”
“Thank you. Please change his to a yellow dot, and have all dots report to me.”
“Give me a break, Commander. It’s my shop,” I whined.
“Yes, and the computer just told on you. I won’t have you getting yourself in trouble. Got that?”
“Yes, ma’am,” I answered humbly. I couldn’t see the dot, but by the looks everyone was getting, including me, I knew a yellow dot was near my right ear. The commander showed them how they were handled and how to communicate with them.
“Shop?”
“Yes, Freddy?”
“Report all emergencies to both the commander and me, and report all issues with the commander to my unit.”
“Completed.”
I smiled up at Susan. “Someone has to cover you.”
“That’s right, Freddy, and thanks.” She raised her voice. “Time to see the main workshop. Shop, please open the doors between here and the construction area.”
“Completed.”
“Thank you. Let’s go,” she said.
We traveled down the hall. I brought up the rear so that the girls couldn’t smack my behind anymore. The door to the construction area was eighteen feet high and forty feet wide. It looked tiny compared to what lay on the other side.
When I caught up with the group, they were all staring at the view. I let Susan guide them. “To our left is the destroyer. We’ll be going through it in just a few minutes. Over to the right is Freddy’s building-mover ship. It’s still in the early stages of assembly, but as you can see, it will be big enough to move some very large buildings.”
Dr. Landers said, “He’s serious.”
Most the team looked at him. Colleen asked, “What did you think? That he’s been working himself to death building paper airplanes?”
“I never imagined … I mean … who could have thought a child could do so much? It would take NASA a decade to build a ship this size.”
The president said, “It would take NASA that long just to decide who was going to work on the project. We need to change all that. Ladies and gentlemen, the government is no longer the leader in space; a little boy is.” She put an arm across my shoulders. “Aren’t we ashamed?”
“Ashamed or not,” said Astronaut Williams, “I can tell you this. A
lmost everyone I know at NASA and throughout the world will want a job with Freddy. The moment this gets out, there won’t be enough jails to arrest all the people who will flock here. And the US Postal Service is going to be swamped.” He smiled at the commander. “You’re going to need your own postal branch.”
I looked up at the commander with a worried look. “Is that true, Susan?”
“Don’t you worry about a thing,” she said. “We can handle it. If it comes to that, you will never see it. The team will take care of everything.”
The admiral added, “Nothing is going to take you away from your playtime unless you want it to.”
I smiled and said, “Okay.”
Betsy said, “Freddy’s taken playing spaceman to a new level, don’t you think?”
Everyone laughed. I looked at her and mouthed, “Thank you.” She winked at me. The girls knew how much I liked it when everyone was happy.
The commander continued. “Over there”—she pointed to the far wall—“is where Freddy stores the little ships. As you can see by the number completed, Freddy’s been very busy.”
Lieutenant Bergman looked down and asked me, “How fast are these ships?”
“I’m not sure, Lieutenant. They’re much faster than the probes, and the bigger the engines, the more powerful they are. If you compare them with the standard set by Star Trek writers, I would guess that the shuttles could achieve speeds exceeding warp seven, the fighters warp eight, and the destroyer can hit warp 9.5—it has very big engines. For some reason, the writers did not think traveling faster than that was possible—perhaps for the show; I have no idea. However, I have ideas that could make traveling between galaxies possible and nearly instantaneous. I have a long way to go before I start developing that, though. Besides, we’ve a perfectly good galaxy to explore right here.”
“I’m sorry, but I don’t understand warp speed,” said the president.
Marian said, “Warp speed is based on multiples of the speed of light. Warp one is one times the speed of light, and warp nine is approximately 1,516 times the speed of light. That means the destroyer can travel to the next star in about one day. In a month, you can check out thirty solar systems. Freddy’s probes have been traveling for five months at 250 times the speed of light, or just a little faster than warp four. If you say that stars are separated by about five light-years on average, then each probe has seen somewhere around sixteen solar systems. He sent out one hundred probes, which would mean we just gave the army the information on 1,600 solar systems.”