by Bob Mauldin
Simon woke up with a headache. “Why did we get warp-drive and not a cure for hangovers?”
Kitty threw a towel at him and grinned evilly. “The cure is to eat first and drink slow, not-so-bright hubby of mine. Remind me, why did I let you marry me?” Easily dodging his lunge, she stepped to the door. “You shower. I’ll go tell Lucy to get Galileo ready to get under way. Courtesy call on Commander Gardner in one hour. Meet me in the transporter room, okay? Okay. Love you! Bye!”
Good-naturedly grumbling something about uppity women, Simon headed to the shower, and an hour later met Kitty and Lucy at the elevator. “Good morning, Commanders. What’s our status?”
This last was directed at Lucy, who promptly answered, “Sir, course for Earth is laid in. Everything and everyone needing transfer has been. All factories report deactivated and locked down. Drive is on-line, all stations manned, all instruments green.”
Simon looked his First Officer up and down. “Very good, Commander. Now, how about you fill me in on these uniform changes.”
While they waited for the elevator, Lucy began to explain. “Sir, this is the result of one of your suggestions to work on ideas for overt recruitment. The uniform is too bland. If we are going to recruit openly, we need to look like a class act. Commanders Miller and Hawke think so, too.”
Simon stared at Kitty, no visible expression on his face. Over the past several days, Simon had seen more and more uniforms with odd patches on the shoulders. He had expected to be informed of the changes at one of the morning briefings, but so far, none had been forthcoming. Now, on the day Galileo was ready to leave for Earth, he could see that every crew-member of Galileo and Gemini were wearing shoulder patches on their uniforms. No one would admit to actually starting the practice, but Simon was sure Gayle had a hand in it somewhere.
“It actually started when we last arrived at Earth. Everyone’s left shoulder has a round patch about two inches across,” Lucy explained. “It has a stylized Earth with an accelerating ship above it, and the words Terran Alliance stitched into the design. On the right shoulders, you will see three different patches, depending on duty station. All of them are the same shape, one reads Galileo, and has an image of a crescent moon, taken from a drawing by Galileo himself. The second reads Gemini and has a pair of twins holding hands. The third says Orion and has the constellation on it. We’ll soon have to start making ones for each ship as it gets commissioned.”
Some few of the right-side patches carried another above them, a partial arch that read “Mamba Pilot.” Finishing up as they arrived at the transporter room, Lucy blurted out, “And I think we need to have baseball caps as part of the uniform, too.” Seeing the patches on the transporter tech, Simon gave in to the inevitable.
Gayle and Stephen were in their respective departments handling last-minute business before departure, so only Simon, Kitty and Lucy beamed into Gemini’s reception area. Adam’s executive officer was there to greet them. “The Commander’s compliments, if you please, and he will be with you momentarily.” Acknowledging the young lieutenant commander, Simon eyed the reception area. His eyes came to rest on the plaque Stephen had handed to Adam the day before. It read:
GEMINI BASE
COMMISSIONED: NOVEMBER 17, 2010
COMMANDER ADAM GARDNER, COMMANDING
As he read the lines, his chest filled with the pride of accomplishment. Then a chill ran down his spine as his vision greyed out for an indeterminate time. He got a glimpse down the long, cold tunnel of history to a caveman stumbling through unfamiliar territory. Forcing the vision down, he got himself back under control and turned from the plaque as Adam entered the room.
“We’ll be back soon, Adam. Or someone else will. We’re heading for the Heinlein’s commissioning by way of Earth to pick up more recruits, so the new ship could be the next vessel you see. She’ll come this way on her trials. You know, as more ships get built, the less we’re going to need Galileo as a taxi service. We may move her into Earth orbit and leave her there as a way-station until we are able to replace her. We also need to keep in mind the fact that by the time we get that first one crewed, we’re going to have to get a crew for the second ship, and your first won’t be far behind that! Possibly in the same month.”
Lucy made her goodbyes as First Officer, then Kitty spoke for herself and delivered Gayle and Stephen’s apologies. Laughing, Adam waved the apologies aside. “It’s not a problem. Everyone knows what a slave driver Simon can be. By the way, boss. Did you wake up with a headache like mine?”
Pain flickered over Simon’s face. Not like yours, I’ll bet. Mine was bad enough to be a phenomenon in its own right!”
Kitty quipped, “I’ll bet you guys are glad you didn’t have to drive the space-ship home last night, huh?”
Adam’s exec appeared outraged at the familiarity, and Adam observed, “Colorado College of Mines turns ‘em out serious, apparently. But don’t worry. I’ll have him trained right by the time you get him back.”
One final round of hand-shakes and Galileo slid into the depths of space, having brought her second child to term.
Rising up out of the plane of the ecliptic, Galileo made her way back to Earth. As soon as she was clear of the sun’s interference, Simon sent word to Daniel that Galileo would dock with Orion in about a month with new recruits and any replacements and supplies they might need, so he should start his wish list. Meanwhile, the crew selected for the first ship was frantically training for their trials right after the commissioning ceremony. Only the officers hadn’t been named yet.
Kitty glared across the suite at Simon as he paced back and forth. A habit newly acquired, she noted, and one that needed to be broken before it totally destroyed her peace and tranquility. Launching a large pillow at his feet and one more at his head, she ... growled. Fending off the attack to his head, he stumbled over the pillow at his feet. Simon turned an astonished gaze onto his assailant. “If you don’t sit down, the road is going to get a lot rougher! What’s bothering you? You’re not a pacer!”
Giving the pillow at his feet a half-hearted kick, Simon sat down on the edge of their bed. “It’s the next phase, Kittyn. It’s as obvious as the nose on my face. I know what I need to do, but I’m having trouble convincing myself.”
Kitty crawled up on the bed and sat cross-legged behind him, starting a slow massage on his shoulders. “It must be a doozy. You don’t call me Kittyn often anymore. All I’ll say is what my grandma used to tell me: If there is right and wrong, choose right. But sometimes the right choice can be painful. Do what you think is right, and I’ll support you. We all will. Now, relax. Or I’ll go sleep in one of the empties. “We’ve got three more nights before we reach Earth. Wanna spend ‘em alone?”
Knowing that he wouldn’t be able to see Galileo didn’t stop Simon from looking up into the clear night sky. Standing in his backyard at one AM, he wondered why he felt so heavy. Stephen assured him that the people who knew about that stuff had long ago re-calibrated Galileo’s artificial gravity to ninety-nine-plus percent of Earth’s gravity. Plodding back inside, he promised himself to test that one someday.
The interior of the Hawke home was back to normal, including the pictures on the walls. “Son of a bitch took pictures, I’ll just bet,” Simon groused as he looked at the note taped to the television asking him to contact the number below. Copying the number and leaving the note where he found it, Simon vowed, “I’m going to teach a class in contact, Agent Daniels, and you are going to be my star pupil.” Looking around the living room one more time, Simon picked up the small suitcase at his feet, nodded at Kitty and pressed the button on his arm that took them back to the Galileo. Stephen dropped in on Victor McCord and Lucy beamed into an empty alley four blocks from the White House. Locating a phone, she dialed a number and counted the rings. On the fourth, a disgruntled voice rumbled in her ear. “At six in the morning, this better be good.”
Biting back her laughter, Lucy said, “This i
s Commander Grimes, Galway. Is that good enough for you?”
“Marginally, Grimes, marginally,” the grumpy voice responded. “I have this line transferred to my home when I’m not in the office. You could have picked a decent hour to call.”
He felt the hair rise on the back of his neck at her next words. “I’m still pissed about our last meeting, Galway.” The tone of her voice brought him wide awake in an instant. “There’s something you need to start figuring into your equations, friend. You never, ever, upset a girl with a spaceship. She might drop a rock on your house. One big enough to make a crater the size of Delaware. Letting her voice settle back to normal, Lucy commented, “Just be glad Mr. and Mrs. Grimes raised their little girl better than that. Now, did you pass on our requests?” Getting an affirmative response, Lucy finished the conversation. “Six days from now. Four people, no weapons. Pack an overnight bag, Galway.” She hung up the phone, looked up and down the street, and beamed out of the phone booth.
Over the course of the next six days, Rob and ‘Chiko, a husband/wife duo from the first batch of volunteers, began sending other volunteers aboard. Their efforts were aided by some other crew members who would beam into a meeting organized by other crew members who had managed to gather a few friends together and take a few volunteers up for a quick look around. Usually after they returned, most of the rest would be anxious for a visit.
Ted and Alice Brandt, twenty-six and twenty-four, respectively. The Brandt’s had two children, a boy, eight, and a girl, seven. Jim Collier, twenty-four, and his wife Barbara, twenty-five, were the proud parents of a six-year-old boy. Rob and ‘Chiko had considered these two couples to be excellent candidates for a clandestine recruiting network. Friends since high school, the three men had attended each other's weddings, and continued their friendships on into adulthood. The wives had known each other almost as long, and now that relationship was about to be tested.
The three couples had often gone to see the first showings of most of the science-fiction movies to come out over the last dozen years or so, but the credulity of their friends was going to be hard to get through in a hurry without help. So Robert and ‘Chiko asked Gayle to come along. “We really believe in these guys, Commander, and we think that if you would beam in during our presentation, it would at least convince them that we aren’t nuts.”
The sextet met on short notice at the Brandt house, it being easier for the Colliers to find a short-notice sitter for one than the Brandt’s for two. Robert and ‘Chiko arrived last, bringing the traditional bottle of wine that the last arrivals were required to bring, a juvenile hold-over from the boisterous college days the three men shared.
Robert stood on the Brandt’s front porch and looked at his wife. “One last chance to back out?” ‘Chiko shook her head, not trusting herself to speak. She had last seen her friends almost a full year ago and had left with virtually no word of goodbye. “Got the tape?”
“In my purse,” ‘Chiko managed to say.
“Yeah,” he sighed.
He held up the bottle, showing Alice the label when she opened the door. “We’re last.”
“That’ll get you in the door,” Alice conceded, inspecting the label. “But it’s going to take a damned good story to get to stay.” She turned away from the door, leaving it open, and Robert and ‘Chiko followed her in, closing the door behind them. Robert followed his wife down the short hall and into the Brandt’s family room. He stopped just inside the room, hand on ‘Chiko’s shoulder, and felt Alice’s cool reception magnified four times over. Tim Brandt sat on the couch with Jim Collier and his wife Barbara. Alice, standing at the end of the couch, was the one to break the silence. “Do you two have any idea how many times we had to answer questions from the police?” She stamped her foot in frustration, a personal quirk ‘Chiko had always found amusing up until now.
“And reporters looking for stories,” Jim put in caustically. “Again! Not to mention private investigators hired by the families of other missing people, not to mention, again, psychics, channelers, and even a weekly tabloid guy from frigging England!”
“Aw, give the Brit a break, Jim,” Barbara said, sarcasm dripping from her words. “The guy was over here doing a story on cattle mutilations and heard about almost a thousand people gone missing from Denver. Of course he tried to see what he could get.”
“Guys,” Robert began, “we know this is going to sound too hard to believe, so we’ll just say that, yeah, we were part of those thousand people. Actually, it was only around eight hundred. And until you see our evidence, all I can say is that it was the most frightening and enlightening time of my life.”
‘Chiko nodded her head in agreement and pulled the tape out of her purse. “We want you to watch this tape. I know we have a rule against that and baby movies, but this isn’t any ordinary home movie. You just watch. No narration, no nothing. We’ll even leave the room.”
“Just watch the video and ask questions later. This ain’t Amway, guys. We need a favor, and the tape will tell you why.” Robert set the tape on top of the VCR and steered ‘Chiko out into the kitchen. “We’ll be on the patio for a bit, guys. Trust us. Just watch the video.”
Robert stopped at the refrigerator on the way out the back door and ‘Chiko scolded, “We shouldn’t be doing that.” It had long been a friendly tradition among the three couples that anyone wanting a drink go get their own.
“Relax,” Robert said, “we are still friends, besides,” he opened the door and pulled out two cold Cokes, “that tape is going to take about twenty minutes.” He handed one can to his wife, opened the patio door, and motioned her out.
The recruiters Simon had counted on had fallen through, so he had put out word that he needed to find others who could be trusted. Robert and ‘Chiko offered to try their hand at a few of their friends and were about to find out the results. Knowing the length of the disc helped. Rob and ‘Chiko walked in just as it was ending. Picking up the remote, he sat down. ‘Chiko set a tray of beers down on the coffee table and sat, as well. “Pretty good special effects,” Jim commented. “But the camera work is kinda cheesy.”
“Reminds me of a low-budget movie that came out not too long back, but no discernible plot,” added Barbara. “You said you needed a favor. You need backing to get better camera work?”
“This could turn out to be a good deal if there’s a plot to go with all the special effects,” came from Ted, ever the entrepreneur. “Could be money in a low-budget sci-fi flick.”
Alice was the one to put the brakes on things. “I don’t think this is some kind of deal to get investment money, guys. They would just ask. Look at their faces. And remember, we’ve known these guys for years. I know, for example, that they don’t have the kind of camera or computer equipment to do some of the things we just saw.” Turning to her guests, Alice confronted them. “One of the things about being friends for years is that you get to be blunt, sometimes. So, point blank. This isn’t a pitch for money, is it? What’s in it for you? And us, by the way, since you came to us with whatever this is.”
For the next hour, Rob and ‘Chiko talked. They used the tape to point to various parts of their story until Jim finally stopped them. “All right. Enough is enough. I like the thought of having a spaceship, too, and I’ve seen some of the stuff that’s been on the news. But are we supposed to buy the idea that you guys really have one?”
‘Chiko spoke up. “Well, we don’t have it. We’re just crew members on it. Senior crew, but still just crew. We don’t get to make the big decisions. But since we are senior crew, I think it won’t be long before we are making some of the big decisions.”
Out of deference to his friend, Jim had waited this long before digging in his heels. “Flights of fancy are one thing, Rob, but this is really going too far, I think. Are you telling us flat-out that you are both… what ... some kind of officers on a super spaceship?” Standing up, fists propped on his hips, Jim challenged Rob. “I say put up
or shut up. I’m sorry, guys,” Jim said, looking over his shoulder for support. He turned back to Robert and ‘Chiko. “This is just too much. Rob, please, either admit this is all a joke or prove it, okay?”
Rob stood up and walked over to his friend. “Here’s part of the story we didn’t tell you.” Holding his wristband up for all to see, he continued. “‘Chiko has one, too. They’re part of Galileo’s transporter technology. Everyone you saw on that tape has one, too. Now, I realize that doesn’t prove anything, but this will.” Turning to ‘Chiko, he said, “You know, I could get used to the expressions on people's faces.”
Turning back to Jim, Rob held the armband on his left wrist up, “Put your finger on the red button and press it, buddy. When you do, you’ll get all the proof you want. And if it isn’t enough, I’ll bring more proof when I come back.”
Jim gave Rob a calculating look. “Come back, huh? You know, I almost hate to do this. It was a good story, Rob, but ... uh?” Standing alone in the center of the room with his finger pointing at empty air, Jim gulped. Quite literally. His friend had disappeared in a cloud of blue sparks. Something in his throat just would not go down. He looked down at the carpet, expecting ... what? As he looked to his friends for some kind of support, his finger still poised in mid-air, something pulled his attention back toward the center of the room. The same blue sparks fountaining out of thin air. Stunned at the sight before him, Jim backpedaled and fell back down onto the couch.
The sight was getting more solid by the second. Right out of Star Trek, for Christ’s sake! There stood Rob where he hadn’t been a few seconds before and where he had stood but seconds before that! And with a blonde. And, oh, what a blonde! Golden blonde hair down past her ass. His eyes went first to ‘Chiko, then to his wife. ‘Chiko seemed to be expecting the woman, and Barbara’s eyes were sparkling. “Okay, Jim,” Robert said exultantly. “Proof enough for ya? If not, have I got a tour for you! Everyone, this is Commander Miller, Communications Officer of the Terran Alliance Ship Galileo.”