The poor guy was trying mightily to follow her logic. “Well then, I believe that I am once again happy. Is that correct?” He was pretty sure that he was but wanted confirmation.
“Yes. You’re happy.” Had he been in the room with her, he would have known from the kiss she would have planted on his face.
“Wonderful. Then, good luck on your mission. If you have the opportunity, and desire, perhaps you can update me from time to time. Out of curiosity, of course – nothing more.”
“I’ll think about it. Benny . . .”
“Yes?”
“Thank you for being man enough to call me back.”
“I actually had no choice.”
She expected him to finish with words of love. “And why is that?”
“You scare me.”
*****
“There she is,” proclaimed Serenity as she turned on the main view screen.
“Beautiful. But which one is the planetoid that we want?” asked Jax’x.
“Actually, those other five in the background are just large moons. The one between us and that ringed gas giant is large enough to be a small planet.”
“Looks like Saturn, one of the planets in my solar system,” observed Egg.
“What is a gas giant? Sorry, am I allowed to ask?”
Egg smiled. “Go ahead Serenity and answer Jax’x - but remember twenty five words or less.”
“It’s a large planet of relatively low density consisting predominantly of hydrogen and helium.”
“That wasn’t so hard, was it? Fourteen words, kudos”.
“You owe me eleven,” came the response.
“Egg, are we just going to land by the wreck?” asked Bree.
“No. Serenity, can you make a quick pass over those other moons?”
“What are we looking for? Signs of life?”
“Yes.”
“Um . . . it’ll take the better part of two days. I can send out a probe to get the telemetry on them. Much quicker and just as informative.”
“Okay. Then let’s circle this planetoid and gather whatever information you can.”
“We do have data from those archeologists.”
“Exactly. They may know about old, buried things but you’re a much brighter candle on the cake when it comes to finding needles in a haystack.” Egg was kind of mixing her metaphors.
Bl’azzz shook her head. “Egg-o, you have to learn to speak dragon or we need to get new translation crystals. What does that mean about candles and needles?”
Egg’s eyes went wide. “That’s it. That’s the answer.”
“What was the question?” asked Bree getting even more confused.
Ignoring the girl, Egg told Serenity “Get me Benny.”
All the girls looked at each other. Serenity shrugged and did as she was told. A minute later, the Prince’s face filled the viewer.
“Prince Ben’Edikk,” began Egg. “I have the answer to your problem.”
Benny was quick with the wit. “Miss Graystone, I have so many problems that I would be forever grateful for any assistance you can render.”
“I assume you have read the many volumes of the ongoing history of the Hameggattic Sisters?”
“Indeed.”
“Did you find them of interest?” Now the girls were really confused. Benny only a little less so.
“A tad dry for my taste. I found the heroine to be a bit one dimensional.”
“Did you now?”
“Personal taste, of course. On the other hand, her green-skinned sister was a very sympathetic character.”
“And beautiful, too.”
“Every man’s fantasy. If I might change the subject, is there some service I can render for you?”
“As I said – I believe I can service you.” As soon as she said it, she realized how that sounded and she blushed scarlet. The blue man on the screen raised an eyebrow. “NO. No, sorry. I meant to say I can offer my services . . .” and her tongue began to get tied in knots. The other girls started to giggle at her embarrassment.
“If I may, you called to offer a solution to one of my many problems. I would be pleased to hear it.” Such a gentleman.
Egg had buried her face in her hands – trying in vain to disappear. “Thank you. If you would look in volume two somewhere around chapter three or four, you will see the solution that I am suggesting.”
“Could you be more specific?”
“Yes I can. But, no I won’t. If you want it, you have to earn it.”
“I see. Of course you are right. I will research the issue at my earliest convenience. If I may, I will report on my findings.”
“That would be satisfactory. Until then, I bid you adieu.”
“Egg, wait,” cried Tee’ka. “You didn’t ask him about his bu….”
“NOOOO,” and Flying Girl slammed the off switch. She looked at BreeZee. “Didn’t you talk to her?”
“I tried. And, I will get even with you.”
“Sorry about that.”
“Alright. Stop and explain what that weird conversation was all about,” demanded Bl’azzz.
“When Meggy went to earth, Dazzle gave her two crystals. The translation crystal like we use and one with earth history and culture. So when I say something like ‘needle in a haystack’, the crystal explains what I mean.”
“I want one,” demanded the dragon.
“Not for you, you toothy carnivore. It’s for Benny so he doesn’t have to keep asking me what I’m talking about.”
“What about us?” asked Bree.
“Suffer. Preferably in silence.”
*****
“Did you see that?”
“Show me again,” requested Serenity.
“There,” and Jax’x pointed at something on her control panel.
“Nice catch.” To Egg she said, “Surprise, you were right.”
“It’s always a shock to me too. What do you have?”
“Gravitational fluctuations.”
“Hah. I’m the one that needs a crystal that can translate techno-babble into something real people can understand.”
“I’ll take that as a question. It means that this planetoid is going to explode.”
“WHAT?”
“That big gas giant is pulling this thing apart. Nothing can stop it.”
“How long?”
“It would take me a half day, at least, to run the calculations. Best guess . . . sooner rather than later.”
“Will we get enough warning to get away?”
“Probably. Well, maybe. Um, I think so. Pretty sure but not positive.”
“That’s comforting.”
“You’re welcome.”
Jax’x had to laugh being new to this kind of jibber jabber. “You’re talking about a planet exploding – maybe while we’re standing on it – and you sound like you’re talking about a bad hair day.”
Bree smiled. “You have bad hair days on Spell ‘Bound?”
“It’s been known to happen.”
“Serenity, let’s go down,” said Egg.
“Really?”
“The sooner the better. The longer we wait, the closer to the explosion we’ll be.”
“Okay. How close do you want to get?”
“Find a nice safe place to land. I can fly to the site so it doesn’t matter.”
“Just for the record, a nice safe place is on Aerianna, not here. So, I’ll just stay in a low orbit.”
*****
“Who’s going with you?” asked Bl’azzz.
“Not you, not Jax’x and not Tee. The three of you haven’t been cleared by the doc yet. Bree and Serenity, let’s go.”
“Hang on. I need to get my eyepiece.”
“What for?” The girl had needed it when she was injured trying to save her mother. However, Spirit had repaired the damaged eye rendering the gizmo unnecessary.
Serenity put the device on. “It allows me to see in other frequencies in the electromagnetic spectrum.”
“Normally we only see the colors of the rainbow. With this, I can see colors like infrared and ultraviolet.”
“Got it. Don’t know why you need it; but now I know what it does.”
“Alien world with ghosts; figure it can’t hurt.”
“There you go. That’s thinking outside of the box.”
“Why would I be in a box?”
“Oh my gosh. I give up. Everyone gets a crystal.”
“Yay,” cheered Bl’azzz.
“Shut up, snaggle-tooth”.
*****
They beamed down onto a smooth plain at the base of the small mountain range where the craft had crashed. The view of the gas giant was beyond spectacular.
“Wow.”
“I can see why this world is doomed. It’s so close to that planet,” added Bree to Egg’s exclamation. “You can almost feel it pulling.”
Serenity fiddled with something on her controls. “Jax’x, are you getting this?”
Over their comm links they heard “That is beyond amazing. It’s so beautiful.”
“Thought you might like it.”
“Thank you.”
Egg smiled at the girl in the chair. “Pretty great sister.”
“She is,” agreed Serenity.
“I was talking about you, not her.”
“In that case I agree,” added Jax’x over the intercom.
“Alright. We’re done. Let’s get going,” demanded Serenity.
As they made their way – Flying Girl flying, BreeZee soaring and Serenity hovering in her chair, Egg started to sing . . .
“If there's something strange in your neighborhood, who you gonna call? Ghostbusters! If there's something weird and it don't look good, who you gonna call? Ghostbusters!”
“What are you saying?” asked Bree.
“First of all, that’s singing. Second, those are the words to a song from a movie called Ghostbusters.”
“I’ve heard people sing,” stated Serenity matter of factly, “and that wasn’t singing.”
“It sounds better in the shower.”
“I’ll take your word for it.”
*****
The crash site was virtually inaccessible by foot. Though the mountains weren’t very high, they were steep and rocky.
“This isn’t good,” observed Serenity.
“How so – besides the obvious?”
“If we get . . . let me rephrase that . . . when we begin to get quakes from the gravitational fluctuations, them thar boulders (and she pointed up) will come a ’visiting.”
“Thar and a’ visiting? What are you, an eighteenth century sailor?”
“From now on I’m going to ignore all your earth references.”
“She read a story called Moby Dick,” tattled Bree.
“Really? Didn’t know you could read,” teased Egg.
Serenity smiled coyly. “I find earth literature fascinating.”
“Why?”
“Because they’re not scientific text books.”
“Ah. Fair enough”.
“Hey guys, over there,” and Bree pointed.
“Looks like a ship.”
“Looks like the wreckage of one,” corrected the girl in the chair.
They landed and approached on foot . . . all the while scanning their surroundings for signs of life. Or the ghostly remains of life.
After circling it from a respectful distance, Egg asked her too smart friend “what do you think?”
“I’d like to beam her aboard for closer analysis. My first impressions – single occupant, short range scout ship. No obvious weapons. The design is like nothing I’ve seen in the Federation. The skin, other than the damage from the crash, isn’t pitted. That means it probably wasn’t floating around space for any length of time. That implies that the Ark passed through this system at some point.”
Egg was always impressed with Serenity’s powers of observation and deduction. “Could the occupant have survived the crash?”
“Easily.”
“Any idea how long it’s been buried here?”
“Maybe when I get the chance to study her with some of my equipment.”
“Want to hazard a guess?”
Serenity scanned the craft one more time. “Pretty recently. This planetoid has an atmosphere and there are signs of erosion. However, the ground around the ship looks to be just like it was when the crash occurred.”
“So the pilot could still be alive.”
“Could be.”
Chapter 8 - Ghostbusters
“What now?” asked Bree.
“Let’s see if we can figure out what’s in her mind.”
“You really think the pilot is female, don’t you?”
“I do. I don’t know why I do, but . . .” and she shrugged.
“If it was me, and strangers came snooping, I would want to scare them off so they wouldn’t do any more damage to my ship. Looking around, it has to be her only source of shelter and probably food.”
“So her basic instinct is to do it peacefully.” Bree was stating a conclusion not asking a question.
Egg didn’t necessarily see it that way. “If she’s injured or if her species isn’t particularly strong, frightening intruders away may be her only choice.”
“Regardless of the reason, I’d say we should be in no physical danger,” concluded Serenity. “At least, not from her.”
“What do you think she needs most?”
“A working ship,” Egg told Bree.
“No. It doesn’t have enough range,” explained Serenity. “She would never catch up to the Ark if that’s where she came from.”
“How about food and water? She might take the bait if she’s desperate.”
“All living organisms need water,” agreed Serenity. “But food . . . we have no idea what her metabolism is like. Anything we give her could be deadly. On the other hand, we could beam her ship up to ours and flush her out.”
Egg shot that down immediately. “Out of the question. Stealing her only means of survival is hardly the act of friends.”
“Then let’s do what you suggested and set out a supply of water and a variety of food stuff? Then we can make camp over there (she pointed to a clearing) and see if she’s interested,” suggested Bree.
“Okay. Sounds reasonable. Serenity, can you come up with a menu with enough variety that we might get lucky?”
“Um . . . sure. We’ll forgo spices and keep it really basic.”
“Like?”
“Algae, protein bars, maybe bread. I’ll do a quick run through the data base and see what other worlds in the Federation call food.”
“Okay. You two beam back up and get the stuff including supplies for us. We may be here for a while.”
*****
After they left, Egg walked over to the ship and looked for an airlock she could enter. None was evident. So she walked to the front where the cockpit glass was broken. As she stood there trying to decide if she should risk the wrath of the ghost by entering, she almost jumped out of her skin when she heard a huge BANG.
Instinctively she stepped back and looked around for the cause of the sound. She relaxed when she saw a baseball size rock coming to rest not far from her feet. Obviously it must have shaken loose from the cliff wall and smashed into the wreckage.
“And BOO to you, too,” she said to the inanimate object that seemed to be mocking her and her fragile nerves. She went back to what she was doing.
BANG.
“Fool me once shame on me, fool me twice shame on . . . me?” Obviously, she got it wrong.
BANG.
She looked up at the cliff face but could see nothing.
BANG.
“Curiouser and Curiouser.” She decided to try a little experiment and stuck her head inside the cockpit carefully avoiding the broken glass.
BANG. BANG.
Egg’s reaction was fairly absurd.
An old Halloween joke came unbidden into her mind. “Knock, knock. Who’s there? Ice Cream. Ice Cream who? Ice cream every time I see a ghost.” Sylvia had told it to her when she was nine. They both had laughed so hard that soda came out their noses.
“Okay, I know you’re here. My name is Egg and my friends and I have come to help you. I promise, I mean you no harm.”
She wasn’t expecting what she received. “OW,” she screamed. Someone or something had pulled her hair. “Hey, that hurt.”
If she had expected an apology, she didn’t get one.
“Listen, I won’t try to get into your ship anymore. Okay?”
Nothing.
Maybe the ghost didn’t understand. So she pointed at herself then at the ship . . . and shook her head no.
The response, again, wasn’t what she expected. The ghost grabbed her arm and pulled her away from the craft. Egg didn’t fight it since she didn’t feel threatened and she was curious to see what was going to happen. The ghost stopped pulling when they had reached twenty or so feet further away from the ship. A second or two later, an unseen hand drew a line in the dirt. Obviously, Egg was being ‘asked’ to stay behind the mark.
“Okay,” and she nodded yes. The ghost patted her on the shoulder. Egg smiled in the direction that she thought her unseen companion might be . . . hoping that a smile meant the same thing to a ghost as it did to a human. Another pat on her shoulder told her that it did. She reached for her communicator. “Jax’x”.
“Yes, Egg.”
“Tell Serenity to bring a translation crystal with her.”
“May I ask why?”
“So I can talk to the ghost.”
“You’ve seen her?”
Egg smiled. “She’s a ghost so the answer is no. But, we did have a conversation of sorts. She doesn’t want me to get too close to her ship.”
“How did you do that?”
“Do what?”
“Make contact with it?” There was awe and appreciation in the girl’s voice.
“I seem to have the knack of talking to the spirits of the dead. Usually it’s in dreams, but . . . “and she left the thought unfinished.
Ark - Box Set #6, Part 1 of Ever After [an Egg and the Hameggattic Sisterhood novel] Page 7