by Jerry Boyd
Dingus asked, “Speaking of Squirrels, what do you want done with the prisoners we have?”
“Once the ships are in good shape, haul them and their ships back to Oak, and dump them off like before. Your choice if you want to broadcast the movie we made the other day.”
“Do I want to know?”
“Jane can tell you all about it, and whether the fellow in question was useful enough to get out of having it broadcast. Why don’t you think I’m coming back from this one?”
“I didn’t say that. I just wanted to know what to do, if your trip took longer than you thought.”
“At least, you don’t have to wear contacts.”
Dee said, “That’s right, Bob. Chuck Berry was singing about my ‘brown-eyed-handsome-man’.”
I replied, “It’s good to see someone satisfied with their choices in life.”
Dingus said, “Enough of that. Who are you taking with you?”
“You may need Taz, to help Willum, so I better take Shorty. He probably won’t be done taking care of Julie, so I might as well take her along. Maybe Dixie can give her some medbot training, so she has a job to do. I’m guessing that unless Ace has already jumped ship for the Puller, he’ll want to be my pilot. I’ll need a couple of bots to help fix this junkheap, once we get it aboard, Jackie and Bone seem to be friendly with one another, and I’d like to see how well Bone fits into a team. Definitely need a couple of Marines, I’m thinking Abe and Niner-Deuce, since they can fit into tighter spaces. Did I miss anything, Teach?”
“You don’t have to be that way about it, Bob. I just wanted to be sure you had thought it through, and weren’t just running off because it sounded like fun.”
“No, I think I ought to go, because whoever goes is likely to wind up dealing with the Patrol, and I wouldn’t want to put that duty on anyone.”
“I hate it when you make so much sense, Bob. Makes me think you might not need me around anymore, and I’d hate to miss out on all the fun.”
“Stop talking silly, Dingus. I’ll always need a good hand like you.”
“I’ll get with Topper, and see if he needs anything, before I head over to the Armstrong.”
“Good deal. I’ll speak with him, before I ship out.” Dingus and Dee headed out, to get ready for tomorrow. I asked, “Gene, did you get all those personnel assignments as I was rattling them off?”
“I did, Boss. Dixie is helping Julie get ready for her job, and the rest of your crew is aboard the ship Scotti recommended that you take.”
“Good work. Connect me to Topper, please.”
“Yes, Boss?”
“You’re going to get your own ship a little sooner than we expected. I’m going to fly a rescue, so I’ll meet you at Charlie’s, a little later on. Till then, Gene is your ship. Treat her well, and she’ll always bring you home.”
“Gene gave me a heads-up on that a few minutes ago, Boss. Could you do me a favor?”
“Probably. What do you need?”
“You picked a good crew, and all for good reasons. Could Ozzie go with you, just because I know he’ll take care of you?”
“He’s already aboard, isn’t he?”
“Yes, Boss.”
“I dang sure ain’t going to throw him off. Fly safe, Topper.”
“You too, Boss.” I grabbed a transit and headed to the landing bay. A bot I didn’t recognize was there to guide me to the ship. She said, “Jeeves sent some of your personal items, and some changes of clothes. Is there anything else you might need?”
“This ship is stocked with the new style ration bars, I assume?”
“Yes, Boss.”
“I should be fine, then. Hopefully, this won’t take too long.” I climbed aboard and started the ramp up. Then I hit the intercom button and said, “Go, Ace.”
“On it, Boss.” On the way to the cockpit, I felt the tingle that Scotti hadn’t been able to get rid of, in the FTL transition. When I got to the cockpit, I asked, “Wasn’t that kind of close to the ship to go to FTL?”
Ace replied, “No, Boss. They put us on one of those catapults they installed to get rid of the Squirrels in a hurry. We had plenty of separation.”
“Everything working okay?”
“Looks great, Boss. Scotti said this ship has the same drive tech as Ozzie’s Toy, so we should be able to get there pretty quick.”
“How long do you think?”
“Eight hours, give or take.”
“I’m gonna find a cabin, so I can be fresh when we get there.”
“Wake you before we come out of FTL, I’m guessing?”
“Please. Not sure why, but I have a funny feeling about this one.”
“We’ve got a big stunner, and a drive killer, if that makes you feel any better.”
“It surely doesn’t make me feel worse.” I found a cabin and laid down. I must have been more tired than I gave myself credit for, because I dropped right off. It didn’t seem all that long at all, before the smell of coffee woke me up. I looked for Snitz, and then realized he wasn’t there. Neither was Nikki. I got up and did what I needed to, wondering which bot had thought to make coffee. Once I got to the galley, things became clear. Rhonda said, “Morning, Boss. Scrambled okay?”
“Scrambled is fine, but what are you doing on this ship?”
“Making breakfast, isn’t it obvious?”
“Rhonda, you know what I was asking.”
“All the humans were leaving for other ships, except for Janet and Milly. They’re nice, but I really don’t know them all that well. Besides, I came out here to have adventures. Isn’t that what you’re doing?”
“The idea is to have a nice, safe rescue, with no adventure at all. It’s only when things don’t go well that we have adventures.”
“Mom taught me a lot of medical stuff, and I took some training in it on the ship. You can’t tell me that Julie taking some instruction at the last minute is really good enough for a mission where you don’t have a clue what you’re going to find.”
“You have a point, but once again, you should ask before you do things like this.”
“You were in a hurry. You would have let me come, in the end, but the discussion would have slowed down our departure.”
“So, now you ignoring procedure is for the good of the ship? And they say I’m full of it.”
“Look on the bright side. You get a hot breakfast, instead of a ration bar.”
“That would have been a lot more convincing before we got the new ration bars.”
“What, you want a pemmican omelet, instead of scrambled?”
“You’ve already got it going, don’t change what you’re doing, but that does sound good.”
“Sometimes, I just don’t know what to think about you, Boss.”
“Likewise, I’m sure. How long till we come out of FTL?”
“About half an hour. Long enough for you to eat.” I ate and went up to check in with Ace. “Morning, Boss. Sleep well?”
“Better than I expected to. Did you have something to do with that?”
“Scotti set it up, I just turned it on. Something about soothing sounds that aren’t really loud enough to hear, but convince you that you are safe.”
“Whatever it is, it worked well. Anything to report?”
“Your pilot is well pleased with this ship, other than that, I can’t think of anything.”
“Running good, is she?”
“Yes, Boss.”
“How good a location do we have from what the Patrol sent?”
“The ship that reported it got two bearings from a good distance apart. We should be able to find them pretty quick.”
“Do you know that trick Ruth does, where she has an emergency jump set up as soon as we come out of FTL?”
“Yes, Boss. She showed me how to do it before she would agree to me flying this mission.”
“I want you to presume we are jumping into hostile territory, until we see evidence to the contrary. Even then, keep your eyes open.�
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“Understood, Boss.” We sat and waited till time to emerge from FTL. I still wasn’t sure why this rescue had me so wound up, but I didn’t want to ignore it, as far as we were from any help. Suddenly, Ace spoke up. “Boss, I’ve got a beacon trying to pull us out of FTL.”
“Can you resist?”
“Easy, Boss.”
“Can they tell they missed us?”
“Doubt it, but I don’t know for sure.”
“How far are we from where that signal was reported?”
“About two minutes.”
“Drop us out in thirty seconds, quiet as you can.” I got on the intercom. “Shorty, to the cockpit. Shorty, to the cockpit, please.” He poked his head in. “Yes, Boss?”
“I need you on sensors. Something hinky is going on, and I want to know what, before we get caught up in it.” He pulled out a patch cable and plugged into the wall. Ace brought us out of FTL, and Shorty went into a trance.
He came out of it, and said, “There’s a ship, back the way we came, set up for an ambush. There’s a ship ahead of us, that appears to be in trouble, and left as bait. That’s all I see, and these new sensors Scotti copied from the Squirrels are good enough I should be able to see anything in range to help with an ambush.”
“Are the stunner and the drive killer all the weapons we have?”
“Yes, Boss.”
“Ace, how close could you put us to that ship?”
“With that beacon running? 100 feet, give or take.”
“What’s the range on the stunner?”
Shorty said, “Half a mile.”
“Drop us in, 500 feet from them. Shorty, do you have a particular part of the ship you want to be looking at, when we come out?”
“Yes, Boss. I’ll show Ace.”
I got on the intercom. “Abe, Niner Deuce, we’re about to jump in on a hostile. Be ready to board.” I heard “Yes, Boss.” drift up from the back of the ship. Shorty and Ace conferred for a few seconds, and Ace jumped us in. Shorty said, “They all went down, Boss, but there’s one I’m not sure about.” Abe came over the comm. “Boss, there was one of them who thought he was pretty sneaky. He’s having a nap, now.”
“Good work. Nighty-nights all around, and cable ties, too, while you’re at it.”
“On it, Boss.”
“Shorty, how does the bait ship look now?”
“Actually, Boss, if anything they look worse. We need to get over there, if we are going to do them any good.”
I opened the connection to Abe. “How long to get those goons secured?”
“To do it right, Boss? About twenty minutes.”
“Do you have it under control?”
“We do.”
“We’ll be back.”
Suddenly, the screen was full of a tumbling saucer. It looked like a type I had worked on before, but I didn’t place it right then. It was tumbling violently. Ace said, “I know Mrs. Wilson can catch those, but that one is above my pay grade.”
Shorty said, “The pilot is out cold. I don’t think she is going to be any help.”
“Can you crack in? If Ace can’t fly around it, our only chance is to slow the tumble.”
Shorty said, “Let me see. This is good security, Boss. It may take a while. Wait a minute! I recognize that program. Taz built this security. I wonder if he left the same backdoor he always used to. There you go, Boss. Routing control to your console.” I switched over to controlling the saucer. I wasn’t as good a pilot as Nikki, but slowing a rotation is easier than matching it. I got it stopped, relative to us, and Ace slid around it. Ozzie sang out from the back, “Good dock, Boss. Shut it down.” I shut it down and opened the door before I cut off the link to the saucer.
Then, I went back to see what we had. Now that it was stopped, it was easy to recognize Lyla’s saucer. Julie and Rhonda were bringing her out, Julie carrying her, and Rhonda keeping pressure on a wound. Rhonda said, “Get the autodoc ready, Boss. She needs to be in it right now.” I ran ahead and got it open and starting up. The ladies got her into it and got her clothes off. Julie motioned me out of the way, and started programming it. When she had finished, she said, “That was too close. We got her in time, but it was a near thing.”
I said, “So, she’ll be okay?”
“She will, but not soon.” Ozzie poked his head in the door. “What do you want done with the folks in the other ship, Boss?”
“Do we have good ID’s on them?”
“Yes, Boss.”
“Let me call Bill and see if he has the budget to take them off our hands.” I pulled out my comm and called Bill.
“Mr. Wilson! Good news, I hope.”
“As good as it could be, under the circumstances. Did your bounty budget ever get refilled?”
“It has, how much damage are you going to do to it?”
“Not a clue. I’ll text you some ID’s, and you can tell me.” Ozzie shot me the file, and I forwarded it to Bill. Once he had a chance to look it over, he said, “I can cover this bunch, but you better go back to whatever you were doing that was keeping you out of my sky, at least for a while. What were they doing when you caught them?”
“They had done some damage to a saucer, and left it for bait. They had a beacon set up, to bring whoever came to the rescue out of FTL right in the middle of their ambush. Pure luck, the circuit that reacts to beacons is broken on this old tub, so we were able to keep away from them.”
“Tell me again how it is that your eyes aren’t brown?”
“Good genes?”
“How soon will you be here with these fine specimens?”
“Our ship isn’t big enough to bring theirs aboard, so we’ll have to fly them in their own ship. That will take a little longer. Call it about ten hours.”
“Will I see you then?”
“If it’s all the same to you, we’d like to bring their ship in on remote, and be on our merry way. I’m already going to be later getting home than I told Nikki. If I want to sleep indoors again this year, I better get going.”
“You said something about a ship left for bait. Were you able to rescue them?”
“Yep. Everybody’s favorite reporter, Lilacrious Bongwater.”
“Was she alright?”
“Nope, but we got her in the autodoc in time. It won’t tell us how long it needs, yet.”
“Sounds like you folks have it under control. Thanks for the assist.”
“Any time, Bill. Talk to you later.”
“Bye, Bob.” I looked at my crew. “That settles that. We need to go to Earth system before we head back to Charlie’s.”
Ozzie asked, “Do we get to play with the Air Force while we are there?”
“No, Ozzie. We’re just dropping this load of idiots at the Patrol base. We’re not even going home.”
“Oh well, a bot can dream.”
I got on the com with Abe. “Do you have your prisoners well secured?”
“We put on the nighty-nights, cable-tied them, put them in the bunkroom and welded it shut, after we checked it for weapons.”
“The cable ties aren’t tight enough to cut off blood flow, are they?”
“No, Boss. We were careful to make sure they would get to the Patrol in good shape.”
“Excellent! I’ll send Ozzie over to fly you there.”
“See you later, Boss.”
“Later, Abe.” I went back to talk to Ozzie. He said, “I heard, Boss. Anything special you want me to do?”
“Run diagnostics when you get over there. Make sure it will make it to the Patrol base before you leave. We’ll wait, in case you need something. Come out of FTL about a light-year short, so we can bring you guys across before we get to the base. Keep weapons handy in case those prisoners manage to pull something.”
“Yes, Boss, I’ll be careful. You do the same. Taz, Ruth, and Topper will never forgive me if I fail to bring you back.”
“Sure you wouldn’t rather work for Dingus?”
“Mr. Sloan is nic
e, but he’s not our Boss.”
“Get on out of here, and let’s get underway.” It took Ozzie a few minutes to run the diagnostics, and get the drive software updated to let him get a little more speed out of it. Then he called me and said, “Okay, Boss. I’ve got this bucket fit to fly. See you in a few hours.”
“See you. Fly safe.”
“You too, Boss.” He moved away far enough to be safe, and went to FTL. Ace asked, “Are we ready to go with him, Boss?”
“Don’t see why not. Shorty, are you picking up anything on the sensors?”
“Clear space, Boss.”
“Do you have access to all of the systems on that saucer?”
“I do.”
“Any indication of what she was doing out here in the middle of nowhere?”
“Nothing I can find, Boss. There are some sections written in some sort of code, I don’t have any idea what might be in there.”
“Good enough. If we need to know, she can tell us when she gets out of the box. Hit it, Ace.” We slipped into FTL. I went back to see if Rhonda and Julie had figured out any more about Lyla’s condition. Rhonda met me at the door of the medbay. “Boss, it still won’t give us an estimate on how long she’ll be in. Besides the big, obvious leaker, she had a bunch of internal injuries. Looks like the compensator failed, and she took several laps around the cabin.”
“But you still think she will eventually be okay?”
“The machine says she will, and I have no reason to doubt it.”
“Good enough. That woman draws trouble, wherever she goes.”
“That means a lot, coming from you, Boss.”
“You’re not so safe and mellow yourself, stowaway.”
“I have an excuse. I was in chemo for a year. I have a lot of catching up to do.”
“Have you been into my contacts?”
“What? I’m the one full of B.S.?”
“Yes, as a matter of fact.”
“How does Nikki put up with you?”
“Don’t know, but I’m glad she does. You hungry? I think I’ll go start some lunch.”
“Sounds good, Boss, as long as it isn’t chili. I don’t know how good the air recyclers are on this boat.” I headed for the galley and started cooking. Bone wandered in. He asked, “Most of the folks on this crew have a good reason for being here. I’m not sure why you asked for me, Boss.”