Moons of Jupiter

by V R Tapscott

  “Get in here, quick!”

  Georgia and Bailey almost fell over each other getting inside, then the doors closed, and Olive punched a button.

  Olive had a big grin on her face as the doors opened in the familiar open area in the basement of Jane’s house. “Well, that was fun. But you were right, no red paint. We’ll have to try someplace else.”

  Bailey and Georgia gaped like a couple fish out of water, but there was really nothing for them to say.

  Chapter Seven

  A mother’s work…

  Cai had gotten settled in, taking the last of the rooms that Olive had made. Bailey and Georgia were strangely silent at dinner, although Olive was just as snarky as ever. There was some kind of plotting going on between the three of them, and I was trying to figure out what it was. Finally, though, I just decided to leave it lie. Sooner or later someone would come to ask me about it, or tell me about it. Either way, I’d get the news. I hoped it would be amusing. I was getting better, but it still hurt to do about everything, and amusing would be nice. I had gotten to the point of being able to winch myself up from the toilet and I suppose that was the biggest reason that Dale felt like it would be ok to leave.

  I was considering a move back up to my room upstairs, but decided another night on the couch sounded better than all those stairs. My stitches itched, which I guess is supposed to be a good sign. Tell that to the stitches, to me they just seemed irritated.

  So, there I was, lying on the couch, my mother leaned back comfortably in my old recliner. And no buffers around. No people asking me about something or telling me about something. Just me and mom. I was getting more comfortable thinking of her as mom, too. It had been “Mother” for so long that it was ingrained more than I’m happy about. But, now, mom was beginning to roll off my tongue without much pushing or poking.

  “Retirement, eh? What are you going to do?”

  She gazed at me for a moment, then said, “To be honest, I’m not completely sure. Joe and I both made the conscious decision to get into the Air Force as a way of getting an education without having to pile up student debt or find a way to make enough money in the summer to pay for college in the fall. In those days, though, things were different. Seems almost everyone is college educated now, to the point where it’s pretty much a given that you’ll be spending a big chunk of your life going to school, and then paying for school afterward. The huge piles of debt that people are coming out of college with - it’s daunting. For Joe and me, we were in love and were basking in the idea of being able to be together. Since the Air Force had both men and women in most areas, it seemed like a better option than one of the other military branches. Of course, reality set in just a few months after we got in, and we never got to spend much time together while at work. We spent enough time together off work to wind up with you, though, of course.” She smiled at me.

  “Joe wanted to be a pilot, but his eyesight just wasn’t up to what was needed, so he wound up in intelligence. I headed for intelligence too, thinking once again that it was a given that we could work together. But in those days, women just didn’t have the same opportunities as men. While there was no genuinely open discrimination, there were just enough thoughts and attitudes that colored how everything worked. I drifted into computers, but Joe never truly liked dealing with computers. He was more working in the area that sniffs out where the enemy is, from pictures of the ground - satellite imagery and the like. Computers, but nothing he had to work on himself. People would bring him pictures and he’d tell them what he saw and how they should handle it - and most of the time he was right. He was gifted in so many ways.“

  Her eyes drifted shut and I could tell she was remembering some of his gifts. I smiled, thinking of how happy they were when they were just starting out. I didn’t have that many memories of that, but the few I had were good.

  “I guess I’m not answering the question very well, am I? What do I want to do.” She frowned. “What do YOU want to do, Jane? Are you doing what you want to do?”

  It was my turn to be in the hot seat, but this time I had an idea of what to say. “I’ve been working at the whole archeologist thing, but I’m not sure that’s really for me. I spent the summer on it two years ago, but now that it’s past, I’m not sure that’s what I’m going to pursue.” I looked at her obliquely, “I suppose it helps that I can pretty much do whatever I want to now, doesn’t it?”

  She laughed. “Does this mean I’m going to get the answers I’ve been asking for?

  “You’re still being cagey about what you want, after all. Do even you know what you want, mom? Did you ever really think it would get to this point - to retirement?”

  She looked at the ceiling. “No, I guess not. I suppose I just thought Joe and I would toddle off into the sunset together, holding hands and making each other happy. Does that happen with anyone though, Jane?”

  “I think it does. But I think it takes more than sitting waiting for it to happen. Not to say you just sat and waited, but I think many people do. I did. I expected the toddling sunset myself, but Steve had other plans, I guess. And he implemented his, while I just sat and waited for him to come along and hold my hand.”

  My mom looked a little shocked at this. “I never honestly thought of it that way. You’re right though, I did just sit and wait for Joe to decide where we were going. And meanwhile, I went my own way and maybe he could never find me to put a hand out. Admittedly I never went looking for him, either. For one thing, we had all the time in the world. And now we don’t. We never did, did we, Janey?”

  I sighed a long heartfelt sigh. “No, we never did.”

  She nodded. “Well, then I guess my wish is to spend some time finding out what I want.”

  I looked at her for a while. “It was a spaceship, mom.”

  “I know.”

  “You know? What do you mean, you know?”

  She shrugged. “It was the only logical explanation. For one thing, when I came out here and found nothing. Nothing at all. And yet we had records and nearly visuals of something lifting off from here, and on trajectory to come back here when we lost sight of it. I’ve been hunting ever since.”

  I had a qualm. “Mother. You are retiring, right?”

  She gazed at me for a long moment, then turned away and said, “I suppose I deserved that.”

  “And what does that mean? Are you, or are you not?” I frowned. “Olive?”

  Olive’s voice came immediately, “Yes’m.”

  “Olive, can you check Jeannie Bond’s status to see if she’s retiring, or retired, or what her status actually is?”

  “Jeannie Bond’s current status is showing as on family leave. She has 972 hours of remaining family leave time available in this calendar year. As of 11 days, 19 hours ago, she has shown a “status change update” marker in her file, it shows her as pending retirement. An honorable discharge will be arriving in her JBLM post mail within the next two calendar days.”

  My mother’s face turned white, and I thought she was going to collapse. “How can you know that? Personnel records are the highest-level security.”

  Olive’s voice came back, “Those records are high security, but hardly the highest.”

  Gently, “Mom, I found more than just a spaceship. Olive, please meet my mother. Mother, this is Olive. She’s one of my best friends. She’s also an alien intelligence.”

  For a moment, mother was struck dumb, but then she rallied. “This is the woman … this is Olive? The woman I’ve met?”

  “It’s me, mama Bond. Jane? You want I should come in?

  “Please do, Olive. I’d like mom to meet you in person. Again.”

  Olive took her sweet time getting here, but in a couple minutes she walked in the door and smiled at my mom.

  “Hello there, Jane’s mom.”

  Jeannie looked at Olive. “You look so normal. Are you really ... what she said? Or is this just an elaborate joke?”

  Olive looked at me, giggled and said, �
��Can I? Please?”

  I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, sure. It’s probably your only chance.”

  Olive turned her back, when she turned around again, she had the huge head and bug eyes of the stereotypical TV alien. “Take me to your leader!”

  My mother fainted.

  She passed out. Went unconscious. I couldn’t believe it.

  “Olive, change back, I guess. Maybe that was a little over the top.”

  For once, Olive seemed taken aback by something she’d done. “Yeah, maybe so.” She turned back into the Olive we know and love.

  I got painfully to my feet and sat on the chair arm next to my mom. “Hey, mom. You there? It’s ok. It’s just me.”

  Her eyes fluttered and she jumped back in horror, but there was only me and Olive there. She said, “Oh. What a dream. I must have dozed off.” She frowned. “Jane, why are you up? Go back to the couch, what is it?”

  I carefully got back up and just as carefully sat back on the couch. “No, mom, it’s not a dream. This is Olive, and yes, she is an alien intelligence. Only she thought it would be funny to look like one, and maybe that wasn’t such a great idea.”

  With a brittle politeness, Jeannie said, “It’s nice to meet you, Olive.”

  Olive smiled and said, “It’s nice to meet y’all too, Jeannie. You’re dif’rent than I expected.”

  Faintly, “You’re different than I expected too, Olive.”

  “You’ve been a bitch. Are you gettin’ better?”

  I gasped. “Olive!”

  She shrugged. “Had to be said. She was nasty to you and it was all I could to not take care of it right then. Only reason I din’t was that I knew you be mad at me.”

  Mother’s training came to the fore, and she rose up on her toes and said, “What would you have done against a fully armored Humvee and two armed and armored troops?”

  Olive barked a laugh, “I’d have crumpled that toy and dissolved everything connected to it in ... “

  This time it was an order, “Olive!”

  She looked at me mutinously, but she stopped talking.

  “Mother? Olive? Can we start over again?”

  Like two tigers circling, they glared at each other. Then my mother put out a hand and after some hesitation, Olive took it. They shook, both looking like it pained them.

  I relaxed back on the couch a little. “Thank you. Please sit here, Olive, beside me?”

  With all the grace of a wet cat, she sat down on the edge of the couch, staring at my mom.

  I shook my head. “I’m going to assume it’s just territory you’re both scrabbling at. Mom, Olive is my friend, and a very good friend she is. She also doesn’t bluff. There’s nothing she says she can do - that she can’t do.”

  “You can’t mean that she could literally damage a Humvee?”

  “Mom, she could crush a Humvee faster than you could think about it. But she doesn’t do that sort of thing. She’s just here as my friend, she’s not here to take anything over or even to be ... erm ... taken to anyone’s leader. In fact, her ship has been here for a long ... long ... long time.”

  My mom frowned at me. “How long is that?”

  “About 140 million years.”

  She blinked. “140 million? Like, before the dinosaurs?”

  Olive came back with, “Before most life, sugar. I go almost as far back as dirt.”

  I snorted, “Olive, stop it.”

  She frowned at me, “Well, I do.”

  I laughed. “Actually, YOU don’t.”

  She rolled her eyes. “All right, bring in technicalities.”

  Mother was watching the conversation, looking confused. “What are you two talking about?”

  “The ship has been here, damaged and in stasis, for 140 million years. Olive has only been around for a few months.”

  Like that solved everything, mom said, “Oh, I see.”

  We all sat and stared at each other.

  Olive said, “I doubt it.”

  Mother opened her mouth, and I said, “Oh stoppit you two.”

  They both shut up.

  “Olive, let’s go take a look at the garage, ok?”

  Olive frowned at me. “Are you sure of this? This cat doesn’t go back in the bag very easy. And the more she knows ... the harder it is.”

  I nodded. “I know. But we can’t have her staying here and not tell her about the rest of it. Especially since she’ll be around probably when ... it arrives.”

  Olive looked a little irritated at me, but mom was downright livid. “I’m sitting right here, you know! What is ‘it’ and what about it arriving?

  Olive gave me an “I told you so” look and crossed her arms, waiting.

  I said lamely, “It’s another ship. Or another entity, I should say. It’s the one that nearly killed me. On the moon.”

  “I knew that was you on the moon! And this ship … thing … was what hurt you? How did you get back ... oh.” She looked at Olive. “It’s you, isn’t it? You fly the ship.”

  Olive nodded. “I fly the ship.”

  At that, mother did a very odd thing. She came to attention, and saluted Olive. “You got her home, didn’t you? After whatever happened on the moon, you flew her home, got her to the hospital in time to save her. Right?”

  Olive looked embarrassed. “Yes, I did. But it’s not a big deal. It’s … I’m just the pilot.”

  Jeannie Bond shook her head, the look in her eye very clear. “No, it IS a big deal. I hear this from you pilots all the time, like what you do is just something anyone would do. No, it’s not. I know people like you, Olive. People who go back for their comrades. People who stand up. People who take care. Thank you, Olive. For my daughter.”

  Olive was looking shell-shocked, and got even more so when mom went over and gave her a big hug. I’m sure it must have felt strange to mom, but she never let on, and for once, Olive was completely serious. “Thank you. I love your daughter, Jeannie. She’s about as close to being a mom to me as I’ll ever have.”

  I guess it was time for all of us to feel a little shocked, and we sat there with tears running down our faces. No more thoughts of destroying government property, now we were all moms and daughters.

  We took mom down for the tour, showed her the garage, the media wall, the ship, the suits. But in the end, she took it all in stride. It sure seemed like the new Jeannie Bond was the real one.

  Chapter Eight

  Good Morning, Mister Sunshine.

  It was a beautiful morning. All the more so that since I’d gotten all the exercise the night before, I’d decided to sleep in my own bed for the first time in almost two weeks. I was definitely on the mend, and all of me was feeling so much better. It’s strange how the body works. When you’re hurt, it seems all of you hurts. A toothache can make you walk slowly and agonize over every step. For me, it was down to an occasional jab from my side and chest, but for the most part I wasn’t feeling bad.

  For all that good news, I still went slowly down to breakfast. I planned on having waffles this morning even if I had to make them myself! And I’d been missing Cai, I wanted to have some breakfast time with him. It seemed all my more memorable moments with Cai had been over breakfast.

  Today was no different. In fact, he and Olive had already gotten their friendship back in gear again. They’d gone down to McDonald’s and raided the store, bringing back all kinds of stuff. The gang was all in the kitchen already, but it seemed no one had started doing any real eating yet.

  “We were all waiting on you, Jane! We could hear you banging around in the bathroom, so Cai and I went after breakfast.”

  I smiled around the room and headed for my bench. “Thanks, all of you. Now let’s eat!”

  Bailey and Georgia grabbed their food and passed the sacks around. I got an egg muffin, and there were a couple plates of hotcakes and sausage, one of which I glommed onto.

  “Where is everyone off to today? I kinda feel like I might go someplace, just in case anyone has any interesting
destinations in mind.”

  Georgia, Bailey and Olive exchanged glances. Bailey remarked, “We’re probably going someplace today. We had such an interesting day yesterday that we thought we’d try it again.”

  I glanced at them, but they all looked very innocent. Which had alarm bells going off in my head like no guilty looks would have ever made. “Should I be watching for Las Vegas mobsters showing up? Or the sheriff?”

  Georgia said quickly, “No, no, they didn’t know where we’re from.”

  Bailey bonked her on the head, and Olive rolled her eyes.

  I smirked. “Never mind, I really don’t want to know.”

  Bailey nodded. “I think that’s safest.”

  I looked at Cai. “I guess that leaves you, my main man. Where are you off to?”

  “Your wish is my command, milady. I’ll chauffeur you anywhere you like. But, if I know you, you’re wishing for a simple trip down to the park for a seat by the water and a couple hours of sun and people watching, hm?”

  “Oh, that sounds heavenly.”

  So, that’s how it was. Cai brought Threepio around, assured me he had a valid driver’s license, and we set off in a cloud of dust for the park. It was another perfect Chelan day, full of sunshine, warm breeze and a plethora of people to comment on.

  Cai and I set up our chairs and sat watching nothing in particular.

  “So, did you get your green card for real?”

  “No.”

  “Oh.”

  “Well, I did apply for it, and it’s a pretty sure thing, but these things take time. I suppose it’s also possible that the government on either end may decide it’s not a good idea, too. But I’ll wait and see. Who knows, I may outwit them and die before it comes through.”

  “That means you’ll have to go home after awhile, I suppose.”

  “Yes. But I’m in hopes you’ll be entertaining.”

  I mulled over my thoughts. “It’s liable to be very entertaining soon, Cai. In fact, it may not even be the best place to be.”

  He looked concerned. “What do you mean?”

  I glanced at him. “I guess you don’t really know a lot about what happened to me, do you? You got whisked away before I came out of sedation, and then it was too late to ask questions.”