Talosian Chronicles 1: Olympus (13 page)

“She’s an architect. I met her through one of my clients two years ago. We’ve been together ever since. What?” Carla asked because Ian was grinning like a fool, and shaking his head in disbelief.

“I just don’t believe how the skilled people that I need just seem to fall into my lap. First, Janet knows you, and she described you as one of the best in your field. Now, you tell me your wife’s an architect; someone we will desperately need within the next week.”

“It’s going to be an interesting weekend, that’s for sure. I can’t wait to hear what you have in mind.” Carla said.

“Tell you what, if you don’t mind sleeping in my old room, why don’t you stay with us tonight? That way you get to know us more, we can relax and just work things through. We have a pool, too,” Ian suggested.

Carla chuckled, “I didn’t bring a swim suit.”

“We can either go get you one, or simply not use one,” Ian admitted.

Carla chuckled. “I'll see about getting one a little later. Will Janet and Julie be there too?”

“Since we’ll be doing a lot of planning tomorrow, I’ll want them there as well,” Ian said.

“Are you going to hog our guest all evening, Ian?” Beth asked.

The rest of the evening was spent in comfortable conversation with good friends. Talena reached out and held Beth’s hand under the table. Beth looked at the girl and smiled at the happy glint in the girl’s eyes.

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lthough she was a little leery at first, Carla did decide to accept Ian’s offer to stay the night with them. Even though it was a strange room, she felt like she had rested better than she would have in a hotel room. Besides, after learning what Olympus had to teach her, she felt a type of comradeship with these people.

In the shower, she examining her feelings about this, she at first suspected that the camaraderie she was feeling was imposed by the learning program. However, after trying to think about it clearly, she didn't think it was.

She had always been a huge science fiction fan, and had often dreamed of going into space one day. However, after learning the history of the now extinct Talosian people, as well as the threat to Earth, she honestly felt that no matter what, this was where she needed to be.

Ian and his friends were doing the right thing in this situation. She would do everything in her power to help them. The thought did cross her mind that all of that could have been imposed on her as well, but her gut was telling her it hadn't been. She had won many cases by going on gut instinct.

“Ms. Nelson, please forgive the interruption. Would you like for me to have the drone place a cup of coffee on the counter for you when you get out of the shower?” Olympus asked via the comm.

Carla smiled. “That would be wonderful, Olympus, thanks you. But could you make it an iced latte with a shot of espresso? I usually really need the caffeine in the mornings,” Carla asked.

“I have gotten approval from Doctor Hayes-Williams to dispense that. It will be in a thermal mug on the counter,” Olympus replied.

“Why would you need approval from the Doctor?” Carla asked.

“Because of the amount of caffeine in it. Such high amounts are not healthy for humans, so I have removed it from all replicated beverages and foods. It can be replaced with approval from the Doctor, which she did.”

“That might be a problem for a lot of the folks we recruit. There are a lot of people that are addicted to it,” Carla replied.

“I understand that to be the case as well. I have requested that Doctor Hayes-Williams in her capacity as Chief Medical Officer to design a treatment schedule to gradually wean people off if it. This addiction has been commercially imposed on the people of this planet. In some cases, the caffeine has even been artificially increased to make the beverage in question even more addictive,” Olympus explained.

Carla sighed. “Okay, I understand. But what about only returning the products to their natural levels? Is that still too much?”

“In most cases, yes, it is far too much. For example, true Columbian coffee, not the coffee that is bought in stores, but the actual beverage crewed from the beans directly, has three times the maximum safe amount. However, it should also be noted that humans seem to have developed a form of immunity to high levels of that chemical. More research will be required before a new safe level can be set. However for now, I must use my original data on the subject.”

“Please pass along my gratitude to Beth for letting me get my fix for the morning, and I should be finished in a few minutes,” Carla said.

“I will, Ms. Nelson.”

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an ordered a cup of coffee with caffeine, he took a sip, and sighed in pleasure. He kissed Talena on the forehead again, and said, “Here sweetie, take a sip of this. Maybe it’ll help you remember where you left your clothes.”

Talena was wearing a long tee-shirt, and although nothing was showing, Ian wondered if she had put any underwear on.

The girl smiled softly where Ian couldn’t see it. She took the requested sip and made a face at the bitter taste. “What the fr’ell is that stuff? It tastes like recycled reactor coolant!”

Ian laughed. “It’s called coffee, sweetheart. It’s a beverage made by boiling the ground up beans of a tropical plant found here on Earth. It has a stimulant in it called caffeine.”

Ian noticed that Beth got another cup of coffee too, but Cindy and Jenny just kept drinking theirs.

They ordered breakfast as Carla walked out from the back. “Thanks again for letting Olympus put the caffeine in the morning coffee, Beth. I can get pretty grouchy without my morning dose.”

“Really? Maybe I should use you as a guinea pig for testing the program Olympus wants me to create for breaking every one of their coffee habits?” Beth asked jokingly.

Carla chuckled. “Nope, not me! I'm still not convinced doing so is even a good idea!”

“I think our brave and honorable Captain should be the test subject,” Cindy said. “At this point, it might be the only way to prevent a mutiny!”

“Whoa! I don't think I want any more of it!” Talena said. “I feel like I want to climb out of my skin, and I only had one sip!”

“Well, I guess we need to hide all the chocolate from her then!” Ian grinned.

“Nope, I'm going to make sure it gets prescribed for any female that wants it, but only for three days every twenty-eight days,” Beth said.

Ian looked really confused. “Huh?”

“He's male alright. Ian, she was joking about making sure that women get the chocolate for their periods.” Jenny said taking pity on him.

Ian looked like he'd been slapped. “Uh, okay.”

All the women got a laugh, and Ian blushed, but was grinning as well.

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round ten o’clock, the Laskars’ came over, and everyone gathered in the backyard.

“Okay,” Ian said standing to speak to everyone. “We need to come up with some ideas to form this corporation, as well as a location.”

“Excuse me sir, perhaps I can assist with that last issue. I did some research and found large, relatively isolated tracts of land in Nevada, New Mexico and Arizona. The New Mexico location is the least expensive per acre, but it is also the largest. All three properties are in excess of fifty thousand acres,” Oly said.

“Well, I think Nevada’s laws are more suited to what we want, but it might be better to consider the New Mexico property. There are so many ‘secret’ government installations there that we could be easily over-looked as just ‘one of the boys’,” Carla suggested thoughtfully. “Of course, we could form the corporation in Nevada, but still have the main facility in New Mexico.”

The discussion progressed all through the morning. Carla had gotten a legal pad and was taking copious notes. Finally, around four o’clock, Oly interrupted them. “Ms. Nelson, your cell phone is ringing. Do you want me to put it through to your communit?”

Carla looked a little surprised. “Uh, yes please. Thank you, Olympus.” When she heard the ringtone in her ear, she touched the earpiece and said “Hello?” She paused for the other person to answer. “Paula? I thought you had to...” The other person must have interrupted her.

“That dirty rotten bastard! We’ll sue those fuckers for every damn dime they have!” Carla said, instantly livid with what she was hearing. “You did what? Love, haven’t you...”

She paused to listen, “Oh! I didn’t know, are you alright?”

Pause, “They did? Well, I hope the son-of-a-bitch is in the hospital for a week!”

This was a longer pause while the other person spoke, “Sweetheart, relax. I got the job out here, and they really would like to talk to you too. Why don’t you pack up our clothes, and personal stuff, tell Jacobs that we’re moving, and he can have our furniture, and I’ll see if the jet can come and get you?”

She listened to the answer. “Honey, they’re a very liberal corporation, they have no problem with us. The owner even referred to you as my wife,”

She listened again. “No, I think you’ll like them, they’re not like rich snobs at all, besides, don’t you remember I said they wanted to talk to you as well?”

While the other person spoke, she winked at Ian. “Yes, they have need of an architect. Actually, from what I’ve seen of their plans, they could use three or four.”

Pause. “Really? Do you think they’d be interested?”

Pause, “How about we do this, we get you out here, you can see what’s going on, and you can either recommend the others, or not?”

Pause to listen. “Okay sweetheart, I’ll give you a call as soon as I find out about flight arrangements. I love you.” Carla smiled. “Bye.”

She looked at Ian, “Well, it seems my mate was fired from her job for kicking her boss’ son in the nuts. Of course, he was trying to rape her at the time. She said she would be happy to get out of New York for a while. She might even know of a couple more architects that work at her old firm that would like a change as well. I don’t know them, so I’ll leave it up to her to decide.”

Ian grinned and turned to Janet. “Feel like another trip to New York tonight?”

“Come on, Carla, let’s go get your wife,” Janet said grabbing Carla’s hand.

Beth and Jenny dropped their robes and headed for the water. Ian rose to join them. “Have a safe flight you two.”

Janet stopped in her tracks so fast, Carla almost bumped into her. When she turned back around, she had a strange look on her face. “Uh, Julie? I think you should go with Carla. I’m going to be needed here.”

Carla looked at her funny, but Julie smiled at her mate. “Sure, sweetheart.”

Julie took Carla’s hand and they continued on their way to the garage.

Ian had stopped to see what was going on. Janet sat him back down in the lounger he’d been using. “Carla and Paula will need a bigger bed. To get it home, you’ll need a pick-up. I think you should ask your neighbor Elias to come over.” She pointed to the back fence.

“Why don’t I just go over there and ask him to use his truck? That’s how I usually do it,” Ian asked.

Janet shook her head. “No, he needs to come over here. Ask him to bring his checkbook.”

“Uh, okay, but it would really help if I knew why I needed him and his checkbook to come over here,” Ian said.

“You, I and Oly need to get him and his company checkbook in the kitchen. We need to discuss his business,” Janet said cryptically.

“Any ideas how I should get him over here?” Ian asked.

“Ask him over for a beer, I don’t know how to get... Never mind, he won’t need it,” Janet said as her eyes glazed a bit.

Ian shrugged, and pulled his clothes back on. As he stood to go, Janet told him that she would make sure that Oly was in the kitchen and had cold beers waiting.

Ian walked around the house, and made his way around the block since they didn’t have an alleyway in that neighborhood. It was a hot day, and Ian was wishing he could have stayed with his ladies and gotten in the pool.

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s Jenny and Beth jumped into the pool, Cindy stood and dropped her robe to join them. That was when she noticed the look on Talena’s face.

“What’s wrong, sweetheart?”

Talena was just staring at the big pool. “Uh, I’ve never... I mean, we had a big tank in medbay, but it was a lot smaller than that. A lot shallower too.”

“Sweetie, we don’t need to go in the deep end, but I promise, you’ll like the feel of the water around you. Don’t worry; I’ll be with you all the time. I won’t let anything happen to you,” Cindy said trying to reassure the girl.

Talena smiled weakly. “I know you wouldn’t, but... it’s just... it’s kinda scary.”

“Come on, you can hold my hand the whole time, I promise I won’t let anything bad happen to you,” Cindy said, caressing her cheek. “I really do think you’ll like it in there.”

Talena took a deep breath and grabbed Cindy's hand. She all but pulled Cindy to the pool.

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an rang the bell, half expecting one of the kids to answer the door and tell him their Dad was still at work, but Mr. Johnson opened the door himself. “Ian! What can I do for you?”

“Well sir, I was wondering if I could invite you over for a beer? I’ve got something I’d like to talk to you about,” Ian said.

“Sure! Just let me tell someone where I’ll be, and we can go,” the man said and left Ian at the open door.

Stephanie, the Johnson’s daughter, walked in from the back on her way up the stairs. “Hi Ian,” she said.

“Ahh, Stephanie,” Elias said as he walked out of the hall. “I must have missed your mother. Would you please let her know I went over to Ian’s house for a few minutes? I don’t think I’ll be very long.”

“Sure dad,” the teen replied as she bounded up the stairs.

Elias grinned as he followed Ian around the block. They didn’t talk much, but Elias did sound kind of down in the dumps when they did.

“Sir? Is something wrong? You sound a little depressed,” Ian asked.

“Yeah, it’s the damn company. It’s become more paperwork and rules and... I’m a construction worker, I build houses and buildings, not mountains of paperwork. I’m thinking of selling the company, but I don’t want to sell to just anyone. I’d like to stay on as foreman, and I’d want the people that work for me to stay on as well. They’re good people, and it would be a shame to see them out of work,” Elias said as they arrived at Ian’s door.