Legacy

by Bob Mauldin

  Simon’s comm-link beeped and he turned away from the table for a moment. When he turned back, he said, “McCaffrey just docked. Lucy will be along shortly. And Scan has Heinlein about an hour out.”

  The two of them looked over at Stephen and Kitty said, “Well, we better cut him off, or Gayle will kick both our butts.”

  Simon, feeling the effects of more than one drink himself, said, “She’s not gonna kick my butt, I guarantee you that. I outrank her.”

  Kitty looked up at Simon and replied, “You’ll think outrank, if she gets here and finds him too far gone for her to get anything intelligent out of. Don’t forget, she’s a martial arts champion.”

  Lucy Grimes, accompanied by the Greene’s, arrived in time to ask, “Are we talking about Commander Miller? If we are, I’m in complete agreement with Captain Kitty. She looked around, raised her arm and her voice, and called, “Orderly. Two pots of coffee for the Captain’s Table, please.” Gesturing for the Greene’s to join her, she sat down facing Kitty and Simon. Looking at Kitty she asked, “How are you doing these days?”

  “Fit as a fiddle,” Kitty replied. “I got a clean bill of health a week ago. Would you care for a game of Z-Tag to prove it?”

  Lucy held up both hands. “Oh, no. I’ll take your word for it. Besides, we don’t have the facilities on McCaffrey to keep in practice. To Simon she said, “Our scans showed Heinlein about an hour behind us, so Marsha should be along shortly. And I’m sure Gayle will be with her. Just how is it that Stephen has gotten himself into such a state when he had to know Gayle was getting in?”

  Simon looked at the young captain and said, “Someone let the cat out of the bag about the pool.”

  ‘Chiko spoke up for the first time. “No wonder he’s half tanked! Who blabbed?”

  Kitty confessed, “I did. The poor man’s been hanging long enough. And if he didn’t find out, things would have stayed the same until hell froze over.”

  ‘Chiko looked first at her husband, then at the rest of the group, and said, “Commander Miller will not like this.” To Kitty she said, “Captain, this is not wise.”

  Kitty replied, “Gayle Miller has been my best friend for well over thirty years. I feel relatively certain that I’ll come out of this alive and in one piece. Besides, someone had to move the process along. She wasn’t going to say anything, and he,” gesturing at the gibbering subject of their discussion, “certainly had no idea. Besides, this is just the push the two of them need. They’re likely to be married by the time we leave Earth next.”

  “And just which dates did you have in the pool, Captain?” Robert Greene asked Kitty.

  Kitty pulled herself up to her full height and in her haughtiest voice announced, “I never bet a nickel on anythin date. Please check the pool if you don’t believe me. So I get nothing out of them getting married on any specific date.” An evil grin passed over her face, and she added, “Except for seeing,” at this point, performing a small gyration in her chair, her two fists held together making small circles in front of her chest, she sang, “another one bites the dust, another one bites the dust, uh-huh!” Everyone at the table went into fits of laughter, except, of course, Stephen.

  Two pots of coffee and two unassisted trips to the bathroom later, Stephen’s world seemed quite a bit more stable, the thought of marriage notwithstanding. So Kitty wasn’t too worried when Gayle walked into the room behind Marsha. The two newest arrivals found places to sit at the now-crowded Captain’s Table, Gayle in a seat that magically appeared next to Stephen. Gayle wrapped her arms around him and kissed him until some joker called out, “Get a room!”

  She leaned back in her chair and licked her lips. “Hmm. Beer, for sure, and you got a rum and coke from somewhere. Able to navigate on your own, lover?”

  Stephen, full of pride of self after two successful trips to the bathroom, replied, “I’ll have you know I’m perfectly sober.”

  Gayle, in true form, couldn’t resist. “Of all the things you’re perfect at, being sober isn’t one of them at the moment.”

  Stephen’s blush was seen to go past his collar, but it didn’t stop him from asking, “What do you know about a marriage pool? That seems to be the major topic of discussion this past hour.” And in a wounded voice, “And they’re talking about me like I’m not here.”

  Gayle got a guarded look on her face. “Well, I do know about it. It always seemed like more of a joke to me than anything else.”

  Seeing a chance to get her on the defensive, Stephen asked, “You think a marriage between us is a joke? Am I that bad a catch?” In a louder voice, he asked, “Is there anyone who wants a slightly used astronomer?”

  The same joker who had spoken earlier said, “Slightly is the wrong word to use, but I’ll take ya!”

  Gayle looked around quickly, unable to identify the culprit. “Why don’t you come with me, Stephen. It seems that we have some things to discuss.” She glared at all the innocent faces at the table. “I have an idea who is responsible for this, and I’ll get you back, Simon.”

  Simon choked on his beer as Gayle towed Stephen behind her out of the room. “Why me?” he wailed. “I’m innocent.”

  Kitty laughed. “That is the absolute last word I would use to describe you, husband-mine, even knowing that it was my fault. I’m sure you’ve done something that this will even the scales for.”

  As Stephen was towed out the door, the unknown joker couldn’t resist one more shot. “If he isn’t perfect, send him back. We’ll show him how to get the job done!”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  The morning that Galileo was due to depart Libra space, Simon called all of his officers together. “This is the last time we will be together for a while. I want to thank each of you for your assistance and understanding. I particularly want to thank you, Victor, for sticking it out here.” He rubbed his hands together in anticipation. “There are a couple of things that need to be attended to before we move out, so long as I have some high-powered witnesses present. It has been brought to my attention that we, I, need to get a couple of things straight. So, with no further ado let’s get this done.”

  Gayle stepped forward holding the now-familiar black velvet box. “First, I am officially creating a new staff position: Wing Commander. The job is going to entail keeping track of Mamba production, and the training of pilots, initially, and can have anything tacked on that I see fit. Captain Hawke, step forward.”

  Kitty stepped up in front of Simon, and he took off her old insignia, and pinned on her new ones, showing them to her first. The usual silver comet was central to the design, encircled by a pair of golden wings. “You are authorized to commandeer whomever you need for your office and staff,” he said grinning. “You can thank me later.” He stepped back a pace and saluted her.

  He looked at the assembled officers. “Next, to formalize the promotion I’ve already made, Marsha has already been promoted to Heinlein’s Captaincy. I’ll see to it that you get a proper plaque for your reception room, Marsha. And see me later. We need to talk.”

  Galileo left Libra Base behind. Ahead lay another base to be built. An even more extensive base. One capable of building big ships: destroyers, large freighters, others of Galileo’s class. Its location was already known. A sizable cluster of asteroids was found that would provide material to keep it in operation for decades, possibly longer. Taurus Base was going to take close to a year to build, but first came several trips to Earth. One ship was already finished, and two others would be ready soon enough that starting Taurus wasn’t wise until they were crewed as well. That would put five ships in space, not counting Galileo. And all the Mambas that went with them.

  These ships would be cruising throughout the system patrolling, cataloging the bits and pieces, getting more definitive data on planets and moons, and training their crews. And watching.

  Kitty, who as yet had no staff or specific duties, spent as much time with Simon as possible. Straining to work out
a table of organization for her training squadrons had to be balanced with helping Simon prepare for his meeting. There was only a week left before Galileo moved back into Earth-orbit, so she tried to keep his mind occupied with as much as possible, working hard to keep his mind off the hazards he was going to have to face personally.

  She knew that the upcoming negotiations were going to be not only hectic, but draining as well. And knowing Simon as she did, Kitty was sure that he planned to handle a large part of the negotiations himself. Placing him to deal with those who were expecting to meet the boss, The Captain. Already had, in fact. And she knew that after going after that bogey with Lucy, she wouldn’t have a leg to stand on if she tried to get him to stay on board. So she bit her tongue, kept her peace, and spent as much time with him as she could.

  Galileo, with her escort alongside, finally slid into orbit around Earth and Simon heaved a sigh. “Once more into the breech,” he misquoted. Who, exactly, he was quoting, he wasn’t sure, but it seemed appropriate. The two looked down on Earth from the relative privacy of the observation bubble. “This will be the most important one yet. Crewing another ship and meeting with Vice-President Reese. Damn, buts life is getting complicated.”

  He turned to Kitty and asked, “Do you ever wish for the days when we were stuck on Earth? I realize we’ve only been out here for two years or so, now, but it seems like forever. There are things I miss and I guess there are for you, too.”

  Kitty looked up at the man she had shared almost seventeen years with. A calculating look flickered across her face. “Don’t tell me you’re getting cold feet, man-o-mine. We’re way too deep into this to back out, now.”

  “I wouldn’t call it cold feet, Hon. But I do miss things. Would you believe things like sunsets, snowstorms and moonlit walks? Remember that sleigh ride on our third anniversary or the trip to Old Faithful on our ninth?” He sat there silent for a while. “We never had many friends, and we brought our best friends with us, so this wasn’t too hard to accept at first, but you used to like to shop and go for drives and camping and hunting. Those are things I miss, too. Except for the shopping part. Don’t you?” He waved an expansive hand. Hastily he went on, “I’m not saying give this up. Maybe I’m just being infected with vacation fever. It is hitting quite a few of the crew. Or maybe I’m just worried about this meeting. Things are about to get pretty rarefied, and I’m not the most diplomatic person in the world.”

  Kitty snorted. “First, I agree about your lack of diplomacy. Second, we aren’t in the world.” She hesitated, choosing her words. “At first, I was going to say we were above the world. But I don’t want to sound like I think we’re better than anyone down there. We’re outside the world. That, and this ship, give us a unique perspective. We have a responsibility to our species to continue. We can’t give up now. I’m willing to sacrifice sunsets and shopping trips for all this.” She cuddled against Simon and smiled. “And we are together, you know. That makes a big difference to me.”

  Simon grinned back. “It makes a difference to me, too. Okay. So, how do I handle people who’ve spent their lives manipulating people?”

  Kitty sat up and straightened her uniform. “I do miss colors,” she said musingly. “Black never did do much for my figure.” Turning back to business and moving away from the bench toward the center of the bubble, she continued, “The best way to handle powerful people is to get them on the defensive, keep them there, and don’t ever bluff. I’ll bet that Robert and ‘Chiko are already in Denver, and I’m hoping that they come back with enough for us to get things rolling.” She stepped up to the semi-reflecting inner surface of the dome and inspected herself. “I guess pulling a jailbreak will be enough to let our Mister Galway know that we’re back. Things get sticky from there on in.”

  Jailbreak, it was going to be. And through an odd concatenation of events, it was a member of the very government that had kidnapped his family in the first place, who provided the necessary information to accomplish their task.

  Simon wasn’t pleased to find out that Collier, Senior had effectively taken over control of the underground that had been forming while Libra was being built. At least, not until he met the garrulous old man. Old, ha! Simon thought. He’s not that much older than I am.

  Collier, Senior, mid-sixties, pot-bellied, grey-haired, and pony-tailed, wore wire-rimmed glasses and had a bald spot big enough to rent space on. He also had the sixties-radical mistrust of all that was governmental, disregarding the fact that that same government allowed him to make the protests that he did. Any number of other countries would like to see him someplace light and heat never reached.

  Simon and Kitty waited for the Greene’s report on the situation Earth-side and then followed the couple back to the transporter room. The four beamed into the living room of Collier, Senior and Simon got his first look at the aging hippie. Clad in sweatpants and a tie-dyed t-shirt, the older man pulled himself out of his chair to welcome his visitors. “Robert! I thought it would take you longer to get back,” he said, shaking the younger man’s hand.

  He turned his attention to Simon and Kitty. “You must be the ones my boy talks about so damned much. James Collier,” he said sticking his hand out.

  “Simon Hawke, and this is my wife Katherine,” Simon answered shaking the proffered hand. “Thanks for seeing us on such short notice.”

  “Not a problem,” the older man said, holding the handshake a bit longer than customary. “Somebody’s got to keep the man from getting his fingers into all of the pies. You’ve got a lot of balls, dude.”

  “Just doing what feels right,” Simon demurred. “I seem to say this a lot, but if we gave it to the ‘man,’” Simon dipped into the slang Collier used, “only the military would see any use out of the technology for-bloody-ever. The little guys like us would never get anything out of it in our lifetimes.”

  “Still takes balls, though. Sit down. Something to drink? We have beer, tea and some kind of pop. I’ll be having tea,” Collier said, patting his paunch. “Too much beer and this is where you wind up.”

  “Tea is fine with me,” Simon said looking at Kitty and the other couple questioningly as they all settled on the couch across from their host.

  ‘Chiko stood back up. “Mr. Collier, do you mind if I take care of that for you? I know where everything is.” She moved off into the kitchen without waiting for a reply.

  “You got a good one there, Robert,” Collier said. “Make sure you don’t let her get away.” He turned to Simon. “I asked that you come down here because I have someone I want you to meet and I don’t think I’m gonna let you folks scramble my atoms around like they do on television.”

  “I know how you feel,” Simon said conspiratorially. “I haven’t let myself get on a commercial airplane for years, now. I don’t worry about terrorists as much as I do about the people who inspect and repair the damned things. They fall out of the sky with amazing regularity.”

  “You won’t fly, and you’re willing to travel like that?” the elder Collier sputtered as he waved his hand in the general direction of where the foursome had materialized. “Dude, you have some serious priority issues!” The smile on his face took the sting out of his words.

  “You said you had someone you thought I should meet?” Simon prompted as ‘Chiko passed around a tray with small teacups and a rather large pitcher on it.

  Their host looked at his watch and said, “Jim left the same time Robert did. He only has to drive a couple of miles one way, but he is taking a rather more devious route back. I’m not taking any chances on the man getting wise to our location. I’ve got a couple of people watching his back in case the dude isn’t playing square with us. Shouldn’t be much longer.”

  “Sounds like you’re pretty organized,” Simon observed. “Also, if you don’t mind me saying it, a bit on the paranoid side, too.”

  Collier took a sip of the tea and grimaced. “Don’t talk to me about paranoid. It’s your folks who ar
e still in the hands of the man, dude. Tastes better with sugar,” he said after another sip, “but I can’t have it anymore. Takes a lot of the sparkle out of life. Pretty organized, yeah,” he said in answer to the question. He laughed lightly. “Seems like a real turnaround, though. In the old days, the group was used to get people out of military service, and now you’re using it to recruit into a military organization. But I will say,” the man said, holding up a hand to forestall any response, “that this particular organization just might be worth it. If you don’t let go the way our forefathers did, and keep a tight rein on things, you might have something worth fighting for.” His eyes shifted to a window behind his guests and he said, “I believe my son is back. I see lights coming up the drive.”

  “You never did say how you found this guy,” Simon observed.

  “That’s the bad part,” Collier answered. “He found us. Or more to the point, he found Jim and David. Left word with them that he was the one who leaked word to the Parker girl and wanted to talk to you. Personally. If he can do it, so can others. So I’m taking precautions. Jim can’t be traced to me here, since this place is in my wife’s name and she and I never officially did the thing, you know? We just never believed that a piece of paper made that much difference.”

  Kitty’s arguments about the sanctity of marriage and the need for a formal commitment died on her lips as a younger version of Collier entered the room. He looked at the guests, particularly at Robert, and raised one eyebrow. Kitty watched the interplay and saw Robert nod slightly. The unspoken answer to the unspoken question was that the Captain was willing to meet and he could bring in his guest.

  In his mid-to-late-twenties, Jim Collier showed no trace of the beer belly he was genetically predisposed to. Tall and athletic, Collier the Younger stepped over and offered his hand. “Jim Collier, Captain. I didn’t get to meet you when Robert and ‘Chiko showed us around your ship. It’s a real pleasure. And I wish you would reconsider taking small children aboard Galileo. One of the others, I can agree with, but not the big one! Think about it, okay?”