Talosian Chronicles 1: Olympus (26 page)

Ian exited the cockpit to the applause and whistles of Talena’s ‘students’. Ian blushed but bowed to the kids.

“I’m trying to tell them the importance of teamwork, and trusting your wingman, and you go and blow everything I’ve said out of the water!” Talena said winking at Ian.

“Nope! Lyle shifted the game parameters for a single pilot. If I had tried to play the full version by myself, I wouldn’t have lasted ten seconds. Trust me here, Talena knows what she’s talking about; she and Cindy did the alpha testing on this system. Speaking of which, please let us know what you think of it; we’re planning a whole bunch of installations all over the country if you guys don’t find any problems with it,” Ian said smiling at the kids.

“Where is Cindy? We haven’t seen her in a week,” one young girl asked.

“She had to take a shuttle full of people up to the ship, she’ll be back tonight,” Ian said grinning.

“COOL!” the girl said excitedly.

Talena was looking at Ian like he was insane. Ian winked at her before turning back to the group. “Relax, she only went to check out a couple colleges, but she will be back tonight. I’ll let her know you guys missed her. Have fun!”

As Talena corralled her group, Ian joined Ensign Saunders at the control terminal. “Nice save with the cover story for the uniform, Ensign, but try to remember to change before you come up again.”

“Yessir, I honestly didn’t think about it. It won’t happen again,” the young man replied.

“As soon as you can, get up to the Admin building so you can slip down to the base and change. Those clothes are way too heavy for this climate,” Ian ordered.

With a final ‘Yessir’ from Saunders, Ian headed back to the Admin building.

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“A
rmory to Command.” Debbie Reynolds’ face appeared on Ian’s monitor.

“Williams here; whatcha got, Chief?” Ian replied, accepting the video call.

“Sir, I just got a request from a Lieutenant Anders in Security for a whole bunch of stuff. I didn’t even know we had a security department,”

Ian chuckled. “We do now. They are for down here though, so if you can get the order on the shuttle that’s returning it would be great.”

“Uh, sir, they are asking for a pretty strange mix of stuff. I mean, MP5’s a man-portable mini-gun. A couple of M60’s, ten pulse-rifles, assault team body-armor... Sir, they even want two armed RAVs!” Major Reynolds replied. “I didn’t think you wanted Talosian weapons on the surface?”

A soft knock was quickly followed by Janet Laskar sticking her head in the door.

Ian waved her in, but continued the call. “Well, normally I wouldn’t, but these folks are going to be protecting our people down here. If Ty thinks he might need pulse rifles, and body armor, then I think we should give it to him. He knows we need to maintain a cover, so I doubt he’ll be using those rifles unless the shit really hits the fan.”

“I’ll take that as Command approval then, and get busy with getting the shuttle loaded. Sorry to bother you, Sir,” the Major replied.

Ian chuckled. “You know, I think we should invite the three of you over for dinner when we get up there. I know the ladies would love to see Stevie again.”

A chuckle answered Ian. “Careful, sir, he just might steal them away from you!”

Ian grinned at her reply. “We’ll give you guys a call when we get moved in.”

“We’ll look forward to it, Sir. Talk to you then.”

Ian smiled and winked as the call ended. He turned his attention to Janet. “What can I do for you?

Janet’s sad smile faded a little. “Ian, we need to talk about Talena.”

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“W
hat do you mean, Janet? Is something going to happen to her?” Ian asked, urgently.

“I don’t know, Ian; I haven’t had a premonition about her. But what I have seen in her are the signs of a deep depression. She’s never really grieved the loss of her mother and Starlin has she?”

Ian looked thoughtful as he tried to remember. But he found that, in fact, Talena hadn’t mourned the loss of her loved ones. “No, she hasn’t. She is also acting a little weird. The other night when we were going over to the Johnson’s, we were talking about the group dynamics here. She started to say something about asking someone something, but she stopped. When I asked her if she was alright, she said she was, but I could tell something was bugging her. One minute she’s happily talking away, then the next she clams-up like she’s upset about something.”

“From the sound of it, I think she might have convinced herself that her mother and Starlin aren’t dead after all. In the case of her mother, I can somewhat understand it, since Beth is identical to Marelynn, but I think Cindy has become Starlin to her. The rest of you are close friends. I think the biggest problem she’s having is the fact that she knows she’s having problems, and she’s afraid. We’re going to have to convince her that it’s alright to ask for help, and that help is available to her,” Janet replied. “We need to convince her soon, or this will eat her up inside.”

“I’m supposed to have lunch with her in a few minutes. I was going to see if I could ‘borrow’ an unoccupied apartment down-side. She sounded kinda sad earlier when I talked to her,” Ian said.

“Try to get her to talk about her mother and Starlin. I’m sure she’ll try to shy away from the subject, but try to keep her on it. She’ll have to start dealing with the grief, or admit there’s a problem. But remember, she comes from a society where suicide is acceptable,” Janet replied. “But, I believe Talena would ask you’re permission first since you’re her Guardian.”

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I
an got the dining area ready, before he called Talena. When she arrived, Ian led her to the table. “Sweetheart, I was thinking of holding a memorial service for those lost in Olympus’ last battle. Would you be interested in helping with that project?” Ian felt her stiffen.

“Uh, sure Ian, what would you like me to do?”

Ian crossed his mental fingers. “Well, Olympus is busy with the rebuilding and calculations for getting the ship off the moon, I was wondering if you would be willing to dig up a little information for each of the people we lost. Things like their names, Planet of origin, what department they were in, and their rank at the time of their death. I know there were an awful lot of them, but I’d like to honor them before we lift Olympus off the moon.” Ian paused, “If you’d like to include some additional information about Marelynn and Starlin, that should be fine.”

Talena opened her mouth to say something, but stopped; her brow wrinkled, and a single tear slipped down her cheek. A single tear slipped down her cheek. “I'll do that if you think I need to, Ian.”

“We all care a great deal about you, Little Kitten,” Ian replied as he moved around the table and held the softly crying girl to his chest.

“I think I need to talk to Janet Laskar. I don’t know how to deal with this,” Talena finally admitted. “And I can’t lie to myself anymore.”

“No, you can’t. We are all here for you, Little Kitten. Did anyone ever tell you that the first time Jenny saw you, she had a vision of you as our  wives one day?” Ian asked.

“No, no one told me. I think that would make me happy, Ian. You've all been very careful not to pressure me, or do anything inappropriate. For a while, I didn't even think you liked me like that. However, in many ways, I feel like I already am though. If asked, I’d probably say I was your wife unless I thought about it first,” she said sadly.

“No, no one would push you, or even hint to more of a relationship until we knew you were ready for it. Losing your mother and girlfriend had to be very hard. We just wanted to help you get through that loss, and give you the time you need to heal,” Ian explained.

“Well, you're the first male I've ever been even remotely attracted to, so I'm still a little confused. However, your right, I need to deal with Mother and Starlin first. I'll make an appointment with Janet,” Talena said and kissed Ian's cheek.

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L
uke Belden was due to be released that afternoon, so Ian asked him and his wife to stop by his office before they went home. Ian and Elias were looking over the site layout trying to decide where to put the security shack when Luke and Lara arrived.

Ian had visited Luke daily while Beth kept him down in the clinic, and the two men had become friends. Luke and Lara both now completely understood why Ian was doing the things he was doing, as well as everything that was going on.

Luke could feel the changes taking place inside while the treatment fixed his addiction. He felt the knowledge the old AI was giving him at night was helping as much as Beth’s treatment. The actions of the petty old bastard that was his Father seemed so trivial now that Luke almost laughed whenever he remembered it. It never really occurred to Luke that Olympus might have been acting on the orders of Dr. Williams.

“Luke, do you remember me telling you that the girls and I would be going up to the ship soon?” Ian asked.

“Yeah, a good portion of the folks down stairs are pretty anxious to go too.”

Ian grinned. “Trust me, I know!” he chuckled. “It looks like the girls and I’ll be going up tomorrow night. However, I’m going to need someone to take over for me down here while we finish getting the ship ready. I was wondering if you’d be interested in the job.”

“You want me to take over running this place?” Luke asked, incredulous.

Ian smiled at the look on his and Lara’s faces but nodded his head in confirmation. Elias had had to cover his mouth with one hand as he suddenly became very interested in the hologram hovering over the table. His face was turning red with suppressed laughter.

“Look, I know it seems like awfully short notice, but trust me here; there isn’t that much that you can’t get caught up on. Even if there were, I’ll still only be a call away,” Ian explained.

“I... uh, I’d like to talk it over with Lara if I could?” Luke asked.

“Sure! I really am sorry about the short notice, but until I met you, I didn’t know who I was going to leave in charge here. Elias was adamant that it not be him, and I was afraid I was going to have to just try to do both jobs. I really do have to get up to the ship as soon as I can. We need to start work on getting her off the moon as soon as possible,” Ian said.

“Luke,” Elias said, entering the conversation for the first time. “You’ve been one of my best workers, as well as one of my best friends since I hired you all those years ago. If it hadn’t been for the drinking, I would have asked you to help me with the running of the company. Now, I don’t claim to know everything about all this that Ian does, but I think something like this is what you were meant to do.” He grinned, “But you know I don’t believe in fate!”

The big man looked at his pretty wife, and she nodded at him with a small grin on her face. “We’re where we’re meant to be, doing what we’re meant to do. Tara has found the loves of her life and moved on, now it's time for us to move on as well.”

“Are you sure, Honey? This is going to have longer hours then doing construction,” Luke asked her.

Lara shrugged, “You’re going to need a secretary. I’m pretty sure I can learn to do it. At least now I’ll know for sure if you’re sleeping with your secretary or not!”

“I guess that answers that question. When do you want me to start, Ian?” Luke replied, smiling at Ian and Elias.

“Why don’t you go drop your stuff off at your house, then come back. I can give you a briefing on the stuff that’s active right now, and that’s coming up shortly. Lara can get the low-down from Jenny,” Ian suggested.

Luke nodded his agreement. “I’ll see you in a few minutes then.” Smiling, he took his wife’s hand, and they left the office.

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S
hortly after the Beldens left, Jenny asked Ian if he had time to see Janet Laskar, and also wanted to know if he could spare a few moments for a Dr. Amal Punjab and his wife, Alba.

“Sure sweetie, Elias and I are just about done I think.” Ian said, glancing at a nodding Elias.

“Janet is already here, but the Punjab’s called in. I’ll let them know they can see you right away,” Jenny replied over the intercom.

“Okay sweetheart, by the way, Luke Belden is the new Administrator here, so if he shows up, he can come on in.”

“Excellent, I’ll let the rest of the family know we are definitely leaving tomorrow,” Jenny replied.

“Thanks love. Send Janet in please.” Ian released the button as Janet opened the door, and took a seat at the conference table.

“What can I do for you, sweet lady?” Ian asked.

“I’m here for the meeting you’re going to have in a few minutes. But before they get here, I thought I would tell you that I’ve gotten a few more recruiters going, and we should be getting a lot more people soon. I hope you have some trained shuttle pilots, because, I think you’re going to be needing to make daily flights for a while, especially once the moon base gets up and running,” Janet said.

“Moon base?” Ian asked.

Janet just smiled and winked at Ian as he got her a cup of tea from the replicator.

Ian and Elias finished their discussion of the site layout, and Elias asked if he could stay for what sounded to be a very interesting conversation.

Shortly, Luke opened the door for a couple of Indian descent, allowing the tail end of the couple’s congratulations for Luke’s promotion to be heard.

Smiling, Luke introduced the couple as Dr. and Mrs. Amal Punjab. Ian shook their hands, and offered them places to sit around the conference table. “I’m afraid all I can offer you for refreshment is cold water, soda, coffee, or tea made from a tea bag.”

Amal thanked Ian but declined, but Alba and Luke asked for water. Ian opened a small refrigerator, grabbed the waters, and a root beer for himself.

“Now, Dr. Punjab, what can we do for you today?” Ian asked.

“Well, I’m not sure how or where to begin, Mr. Williams, but I was asked to approach you. We of the scientific community have noticed certain inconsistencies in the flow of people into and out of the village. We have had many wild theories offered for this situation, however, we’ve found that most are based more on imagination than observation,” Amal began. “We would have a very hard time believing anything untoward was occurring, however we are at a loss to explain this observation, and that is a situation that many of us find most uncomfortable. Curiosity, after all, is the driving force behind discovery.”