Talosian Chronicles 1: Olympus (16 page)

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“Y
ou’ve gotta be shittin’ me!” Barb said as Beth led her, Debbie and Janet up into the shuttle. “How can no one see this big bitch? It has to be as big as a C-130!”

“Actually, Mrs. Reynolds, it is closer to the size of a Boeing 727. Use of the cloaking generator conceals the craft from sight as well as all scanning methods currently in use on this planet,” Oly said from the hatch into the lounge.

Beth stopped the women beside the portable autodoc unit. It looked like a clear topped coffin. “This is a portable autodoc unit. Ideally, I would like to have Debbie in one of the big units up on the ship, but at the moment that section of the ship is in vacuum. This’ll do. It’ll mean curing her will take longer, but it’ll still work,” Beth said as she opened the top of the unit. “You’ll be unconscious for awhile, dear. Before you go to sleep, do you authorize Barbara Reynolds to make decisions for you in your absence?”

“Doctor, Barbara is my wife. It might not be legal, but she is,” Deb explained. “Yes, she can speak on my behalf.”

“You can actually marry her under our laws, though it’s called bonding. Before you climb in, please strip; that’ll make it easier for the equipment to work on you. Also, when you’re done, please put these lenses in your eyes, and this in your ear. While you’re asleep, it’ll give you our history and explain about us a whole lot better,” Beth guided her.

Beth stood off to the side while the woman did as she was asked, then swung her legs up. Beth waved Barb and Stevie up, to give her kisses and hugs.

“I’ll be here for you, Baby. We’re not going anywhere without you!” Barb told her lover.

“I love you both, Barb. Take care of our boy, and I’ll see you in a few days. Trust them, baby. I really don’t think they’ll hurt us in any way. In fact, I get the feeling we’re going to be happier here than we ever were before,” Deb said tiredly. A warning alarm started ringing and the hood to the unit moved to close as Debbie seemed to pass out.

“What’s wrong?!” Barb asked, terrified.

“The blood pressure in her brain has exceeded what the computer considers safe. It’s begun emergency treatment. Please, go with Janet and Olympus while I get to work here,” Beth said and nodded to the two people by the door. She’d pulled a keyboard from the end of the unit, and was typing rapidly on it.

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C
indy helped Ian re-attach the tow-bar to the hummer, and hook it up to the RV. Jenny and Talena climbed inside to make sure the big rig was ready to go when the hummer was hooked-up. It was clear Ian was less than happy with the situation by the scowl on his face. Talena sat on his lap in the front passenger seat while Jenny headed for the interstate.

“Mommy, Daddy is all mad again!” Talena said in a little girl voice, looking at Jenny.

Grinning and trying hard not to laugh, Jenny answered her. “Yes he is, baby-girl; he’s frustrated with the situation.”

Talena got a look of intense concentration on her face. “Should I get him some ice cream? That always cheers me up!” she said in her best 'little girl' voice.

Jenny was turning red trying to keep from laughing, Cindy was laying on the couch laughing, and Ian was fighting to maintain the scowl.

“I don’t know, Baby-girl, would it have chocolate on it?” Jenny replied.

“Of course! You can't have ice cream without chocolate!”

Ian burst out laughing and hugged Talena tighter to him. “You aren’t gonna ever just let me sulk are you?”

“Nope! You’re a Commander now; you can’t sulk, pout, or throw a tantrum – it’s unseemly,” Talena grinned and kissed his cheek before jumping off his lap and heading back by Cindy.

Jenny followed Oly’s instructions, and drove the big RV to a place where they could be picked up by the shuttle. Ian and the girls got out by Beth and her patient.

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B
arb kept glancing at the door back to the cargo area, where Beth was working on her lover. Ian quietly asked Oly to put a view of the happenings in the cargo bay up on one of the monitors so Barb wouldn’t worry so much. He knew it was the right thing to do when she visibly relaxed in her seat.

“Barb? What would you like Stevie to eat for dinner?” Jenny asked.

“Uh, what do you have?” Barb asked.

Jenny smiled at her. “I have a fully functioning replicator. You’ll learn what that is later, but for now, pretty much anything you would like to feed him is available.”

“Half a grilled cheese sandwich, and a few fries with catsup,” Barb replied. “And a small glass of milk.”

Jenny grinned. “Just tell Ian what you’d like, and he can get it for you while he gets his. I bet you he orders a steak!”

“For your information, wife of mine, I was going to order a sixteen ounce Prime Rib with steak fries, and mayo,” Ian replied, trying to get Barb to loosen up, and order what she really wanted.

“I... uh, honestly, my hunger went right out the window as soon as I heard Debbie was sick. Can I just have a grilled cheese like Stevie?” Barb asked.

“Sure, come on, I’ll show you how this works, that way, if you get hungry or thirsty while you learn what you’re now a part of, you can help yourself. Sound good?” Ian asked.

“Okay, but I was right, you guys are aliens, just really nice ones that don’t do all those weird sexual tests, right?” Barb asked. Talena fell off her chair, convulsed in laughter.

Ian grinned at the girl, but spoke to Barb. “Don’t mind her; she actually is what could be called an alien, though she is as human as you and I are. Talena was born thirty-four thousand light years away; four thousand, two hundred, nineteen years ago on a space station orbiting a world whose name translates directly as Alpha-ca. Though it shouldn’t be confused with the star in our northern hemisphere our astronomers have named Alphecca.”

“How old did you just say she was? I swear she doesn’t look a day over a thousand! Ian, I think maybe you should wait until we sit down again; my brain is already starting to overload,” Barb replied.

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A
fter getting the food, Ian led her over to the table that had risen out of the floor. “Okay, I think I’m ready for some more, but I gotta tell ya; I knew Talena had to be an alien or something; there is no way she could be twenty-four, and she’s far too painfully beautiful to be human!”

Talena got up and kissed Barb on the cheek. “Thank you Barb, but the same could be said for you.”

Ian smiled at her, and winked as she sat next to the woman. “Actually, Talena really is twenty-four. She’s still a little naive about our society and the culture here, but she’s learning fast.

“You’ll get her whole story during the explanation of all this, so if you’re ready, let me introduce our artificial intelligence associate; Olympus.”

Oly talked for over an hour. Telling the woman the story of how the ship crashed on the moon, meeting Ian, and his Commander’s current plan to repair the ancient starship, as well as help his planet while recruiting crew.

As the story progressed, Barb stared at the monitor less, and less. Oly finished up, by welcoming her to the crew. Janet sat quietly, off to one side, and watched, grinning.

“That might be a little premature Oly; since I haven’t even asked her if she wants the job,” Ian said winking at Oly.

“What job? What could I possibly be qualified to do on a ship like that?” Barb asked.

“Oly, please display an image of a Hornet, light fighter,” Ian asked. The image appeared in front of them almost immediately, and Barb was instantly transfixed. “This little thing is a fighter?”

“This is a light fighter. Kinda like the interceptors the Air Force has, but far more powerful, and orders of magnitude faster. This ‘little’ ship is trans-atmospheric and capable of a maximum speed eighty percent of the speed of light. It carries two laser cannons, and two fire-and-forget missiles. In a fight between this and an F-22 Raptor... Well, let’s just say I hope the Raptor has a real good ejection system.” Ian grinned. “Talena and Cindy are both learning to fly them; they’d have far more information if you have any questions. The thing is Barb, I have two whole bays full of these, and no one to fix them. I plan on getting more fighter mechanics, but honestly, I’d like someone I can trust in charge of them.”

“It’ll take me years of study to even begin to understand the avionics systems, alone. Do you really have that much time?” Barb asked. “And what about Debbie? Do you have a job for her too?”

“The ship itself has an armory that is responsible for the big ‘ship killer’ missiles, Not to mention it would be the responsibility of the Armory Officer to control access to most of the weapons,” Ian described.

“Officer? Debbie? Oh, she’ll bitch about that, but I think she’d like the job. However, if you put officer’s rank on me, every male in my family will roll over in their graves!” Barb said grinning.

“Uh, I believe the senior deck hand is actually a Master Chief Petty Officer,” Ian said. When Oly looked like he was about to correct his Commander, Ian shook his head slightly to forestall the correction.

“As long as I can stay an NCO, and keep my family I’ll do it. Though I would like to talk it over with Debbie before I make a final decision,” Barb said grinning.

Ian nodded in agreement. “Well, even if you don’t take that job, I would like it if you could begin to learn the flight systems of our smaller craft. Even if you choose to remain a civilian, I’ll need someone that was capable of helping out, at least in the short run.”

“Uh, Ian... We’re talking years of study, here. It’s not like that little shit has much in common with the Model – T’s I’ve been working on,” Barb said.

Cindy knelt in front of the woman, and handed her a ship suit with rank, contacts, and ear piece. She set the boots down beside her. “Master Chief, I think you’ll find that you’ll figure all this out a whole lot faster than you might expect.”

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L
ate that evening, back in Ian’s old home town, residents were awakened by a loud explosion. Four blocks from the William’s house, the Laskar residence was completely destroyed in a large fireball. Inspectors would find that the gas main in the basement had developed an undetectable leak, filling the house with natural gas. Since it was a cool evening, the furnace ignited to warm up the house. The spark from the electronic igniter lit a much bigger fire than it had ever been designed for.

The one fact that puzzled the fire inspectors was that neither of the houses on either side of the explosion had suffered any damage at all.

The remains of three adults were isolated in what remained of the house. Enough remained to positively identify two of the victims as Bill Laskar and his wife, Julie. The third victim was later identified as Janet Foster. Nothing was mentioned about the fact that all three victims were found to have been in the same bed.

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“I
’m really going to miss that house,” Julie said as they safely watched the explosion from one of the shuttles. “We raised our daughter there.”

“We did a damn good job raising her too. I’ll miss it too, my love, but it’s served its purpose. It’s time for all of us to start a new life,” Bill said and kissed the back of his lover’s head.

“Did Janet say when she expected to come back?” Julie asked as she pulled Bill toward one of the staterooms.

“I believe she said she would meet us at the site in the morning,” Bill replied.

“Her loss. Let’s get some baby-makin’ practice in,” Julie said with a steamy look on her face.

Bill, grinning, let her lead him away to his fate.

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B
arb walked out to the cargo hold to see her lover, and found Beth resting in a lounge chair with her eyes closed, and listening to Santana; ‘Smooth’.

Barb’s soft chuckle caused Beth to smile, open her eyes, and ask, “What?”

“It just struck me as odd; Debbie in a glass coffin having her cancer cured, while her doctor sits back and listens to Carlos Santana.”

“You still think we’re all aliens?” Beth asked.

“Well, Ian and Oly did tell me that only Talena wasn’t from this planet, but you have to admit; it’s kinda hard not to view all of you as aliens,” Barb said gesturing to the ship around her. “I figured the music you would listen too would be something alien. It’s... comforting to hear something familiar while surrounded by all this.”

“How are you holding up? All of this has to have taken its toll on you,” Beth asked, seriously.

“To be honest, I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop. In the last few hours, our lives have taken some mighty wild turns. Truth to tell, I’ve wondered if I haven’t gone insane,” Barb replied. Suddenly she shook her head as if trying to dispel her thoughts. “If I’m delusional, there’s not a whole lot I can do about it yet, so let’s just change the subject; how’d you meet your lovers?”

“We were all friends, when Olympus came along we became more,” Beth replied grinning again.

“Aren’t you a medical doctor? I mean, you look the same age os the others, but...” Barb said.

Beth chuckled. “I'm actually twenty-seven. Ian parents were friends of mine, when they died, I tried to look out for Ian, who was about to turn eighteen, and had just started his senior year in high school.

“His friends, Jenny and Cindy became my friends too. We got together just a little while ago after Oly made contact with Ian. Talena became part of our family when we got her out of a malfunctioning Cryo unit on the ship,” Beth explained.

Barb sat, thinking about what Beth had just told her. “This is getting to be too much for one day, I think I need to hit the rack, but I wanted to check on Debbie first, she looks okay.”

“She’s actually in an induced coma. Since we only have this one small unit, it pretty much has to go cell by cell. I’m sorry, but she’s gonna be out for a couple of days,” Beth replied. “She is one tough lady; the pain had to be incredible. I’m new to this technology myself, but I haven’t heard of very many people this bad still surviving.”

“I’d like to know how she hid it from me; I have a pretty good idea why she did it; she didn’t want me to worry about her. Are you sure she’s going to be alright?” Barb asked worriedly.