Chapter 8: From Ashes to the Heavens

Buck sat with Tex and Bear, eating the best venison steak that had ever passed his lips. Damn that little lady can cook! he thought, smiling as he chewed the delicous morsel of meat.

Sasha had overheard Buck talking with Tex about how he couldn't wait to get some of Betsy's cooking again, since their group basically sucked in that department. The sweet little AI quietly went on her way with a plan already developing. Sasha only used 20% of her processing capacity to run the functions of her ship. She was simply bored to death with very little to do with the rest of her time.

The rest of the crew was always busy with either personal training or upgrading their different station assignments. She started looking for various ways to prepare food that the others would enjoy eating.

Sasha was delighted when her data search took her to a section in the database where old earth media was stored. Paydirt! she thought to herself excitedly as she ran through a group of programs entitled the Food Channel. Two hours later, she had analyzed over five thousand recipes and adapted them for the food sources available in their time here.

Her first meal had been a major success, as she enlisted Benny to help to serve the very first bison roast dinner onboard a starship. The group was only told to be ready for lunch at 12:00 hours, with no exceptions.

They were shocked as Benny walked in with a huge roasting pan. The smell that filled the air made all their mouths water. Sasha followed with a combination of fresh baked rolls and the All-American favorite: apple pie. Benny watched as Sasha lifted the lid off the roast. Bear actually whimpered as he licked his huge chops, grinning.

"Benny, you have outdone yourself this time," Buck said, smiling.

"The credit for this meal goes to my beautiful love Sasha. I am but a lowly servant in this matter," Benny replied, bowing to the little chef. Everyone applauded the now embarrassed Sasha.

"Captain, I do have a request of you and the rest of the crew, if you will not mind," Benny said, as he took Sasha's small hand.

"Of course, Benny. You know that you only have to ask and if it is in my power I'll do my best to make it come true," Buck said. "I can't think of a single thing that I'm capable of doing that you are not, but ask away Number One, he finished, with a grin on his face.

Benny looked into his one and only love's eyes. "Sasha, on this planet there is a custom between two people that joins them together in the eyes of others. It is called marriage. I have found that it is indeed a beautiful thing to share with someone you love," he said softly, as he watched her eyes. "Sasha my love, will you marry an old AI? I know that I'm much older than you by thousands of years, but I will do my best to make you happ..."

He didn't get to finish as Sasha pulled him to her lips. She did her best to short his circuits. "YES!" she finally said, when they came up for air. "You dumb hunk of metal. I've been waiting since the day I was activated for you to work up the nerve. My hot little man, yummm..." She mumbled as Benny pulled her into another steamy kiss.

"Ahhaaappmmm..." Buck coughed finally. "Well I guess congradulations are in order for you two, if you can come up for air long enough to receive them that is."

Benny released his gal, grinning, "Buck, you're the Captain of this ship. Will you perform this ceremony for us, both as my friend and Captain?" Benny asked.

Buck stood up and walked to the couple. Kneeling down to eye level, he said, "It would be my greatest honor to join the two of you in matrimony. Do you have a date for this wonderful occasion?" he asked.

Benny hadn't thought that far ahead, so Sasha answered for them. "Would tomorrow at sunrise be alright with you, Buck?" she asked, still in shock herself.

Buck took her sweet little face in his hands and kissed her on the forehead. "That will be a perfect time my friend. It was when my wife and I were married too," he said to her.

"Hey lay off my woman, buckaroo!" said a grinning Benny, as he shook his Captain's hand.

The silence ended then as the rest of the group around the table exploded in excitement, congratulating the two little silver people. Sasha quickly put an end to that since she didn't want her roast to grow cold. "The roast will get cold if you don't hurry up. Poor Bear looks famished, so hurry up and sit down," she ordered.

Buck smiled at the memory of three days ago. Sure enough, the next morning they had a beautiful little wedding ceremony on the open grassy plain. The sun had just started peeking over the treetops. Shera cried, Bear cried, Tex sniffled, Jet smiled, Sarge smiled. Bill grinned and whispered to Razor, who had a slight frown as he realized he was next on the chopping block of matrimony.

A lot has happened in the last few days, Buck thought. Well I guess we need to see if Pop's ship is gonna be the nightmare to get out that he thinks it is.

Bear let out a loud but satisfying belch as he sat back in his chair, grinning.

"So what's on the agenda this afternoon Boss? the big man asked.

Buck looked over at Tex, asking, "You ready to take Father and Benny, to see if you can spot the Dragnot?

"Hell yes, old buddy, I'm raring to go ship huntin," exclaimed Tex.

"Good. You leave in an hour. Take Pebble1, and I expect to hear from you as soon as you find that behemoth." Buck ordered.

Tex let out a whoop and went to find his little redneck partner and his big, hairy, sortof uncle. Father and Tex, it turned out, had become very close friends as Father shared his wisdom with the young human, and Tex cracked the gentle giant up with his antics.

Buck turned back to Bear as he watched his best friend take off whooping.

"That boy just ain't ever gonna grow up, is he Bear?

Bear smiled too. "Hell Buck, would we want him to change that much? If he did, then who could we pick on, Bill or Razor? You know neither of them would be any fun to needle very much," Bear said, laughing.

Buck laughed too, remembering Razor's morning wake up call for Tex a while back, "Yeah, better leave things just as they are for now, at least until we find another grown man that's a boy at heart."

"Now back to the real world, how is the training going with Father's people? Buck asked, serious again.

Bear did a quick count in his head answering. " I've got twenty of them in the combat session with Commander Stone. They're chompin at the bit to get started too. The last twenty are in the station training HUD's as we speak, so I'll switch them around tomorrow till they're all up to speed," reported Bear.

"Let's go see how the Commander is doing with the combat training. I have no desire to just sit and watch the HUD training," Buck said, pushing away from another fantastic meal.

The two passed Bill heading the other way for the bridge to check on the Air Walkers in the HUD training. "Bill how did your flight training on Pebble1 with go Tex. Did he qualify? Buck asked.

"I should say so boss. That boy is just good at anything he puts his mind to. Hell, he's better than me in Rock strikers, and as good as me in the Pebbles. I think he's just a little bored in the Pebble shuttles since they don't have the maneuverability of the Rock Strikers," Bill confided to the two men.

"That figures. If it ain't got a lot of guns on it, then Tex is bored," Bear said, smiling.

"You hit the nail on the head my friend. That boy is just a hell of a shootin machine," Bill laughed and went on his way.

"Again!" they heard Sarge yell, as they entered the training area. Three Air walkers started their attack on the smaller AI, their massive fists swung at the body and head of Sarge only to meet air.

Sarge slipped a blow of one thrown at him and grabbed the extended arm, Sarge swiveled his hips pulling the trainee up and over. The hairy giant went flying over twenty feet, and would have slammed into the wall except for the anti-gravity buffer. He slipped gently down onto the padded floor and stood again returning to the battle with a roar.

"Commander Stone is having way too much fun in there," Bear said to his Captain.

"Maybe he could use a break, ya think?" Buck said, with a knowing smile.

He watched as the three giants were sent flying across the room, only to be gently sent down to the mat. Buck saw a major flaw in his new commander's training method and called a halt to the exercise.

"Bear, take over please. Commander Stone, walk with me." Buck ordered.

Sarge's face was perplexed as he walked with his Captain. The last thing he wanted was to offend his new hero. "Yes my Captain, how may I serve you?" he asked, after a minute of silence from Buck.

By now they were far away from the others so Buck stopped and turned. He chose his words carefully, "Commander Stone, what is your opinion of the Air Walkers. Are they uncoordinated beasts? Or do they whine about an injury if they receive one?" Buck asked.

Sarge was astounded at the cruel description of the gentle giants. "No sir, they are quite graceful for their size. As far as injuries are concerned, I have not heard a single complaint either," Sarge reported curtly.

Buck hated doing this, but it was necessary to get his point across. "Humm, then maybe they are not as intelligent as humans are, is that possible Commander? Are they simply stupid beasts?" Buck asked.

The Commander's rugged face was mottled with rage at the obvious insult to his trainees. "No Sir, they are not dumb animals. They are however better mannered than most humans I've met," he muttered grimly.

Buck saw the righteous anger on his new friend's face. This was what he had been waiting for. Buck's face softened as he looked into the eyes of his combat officer. "Then why are you coddling them Sarge. If it were any of the rest of the crew in there, the med. unit would be working overtime, right? Buck gently asked the angry AI.

Sarge's face slackened with disbelief as the Captain's words sunk in. "I am not worthy of command my Captain. I have let you down terribly," he whispered softly as his eyes fell. He could no longer look at the man who had given him so much.

"Commander, your only fault is your big heart for others," Buck said, lifting the broken man's chin. "But you are not helping the Air Walkers by going easy on them. Soon they will have to fight for their very lives. Are they ready for that?" Buck asked.

Sarge grinned as he realized his Captain was not angry with him, but only wanted to help make him a better officer. "I'll have half of them in the med. unit within the hour sir. Nothing too serious but enough to let them get use to the idea that they need to learn to duck better," Sarge affirmed.

"Just make sure they understand that pain is a very good teacher, my friend, although we can make most of it go away just as quickly," Buck ordered, laughing as he slapped the relieved Commander on the back.

A very different Sarge walked into the training room. He apologized to the Air Walkers for being remiss in their combat training. "I've forgotten the best motivational lesson I can offer you, but we'll take care of that right now," he said, ordering them once again to attack him.

"So how did the talk go?" Bear asked, as they watched the first Air Walker slam into the wall with full force. The perimeter wall actually shook from the impact.

"Let's just say we will need to have Sasha increase the thickness of the training walls as soon as she can," Buck said, grinning as another big giant shook the wall with its body slam.

Bear grinned as they started down the hallway to the bridge, "Well, so much for the gentle giant description. By the time Sarge gets through with them they'll be big, mean, wrecking machines."

Buck agreed he wouldn't want to meet them in the dark woods either, even if he had an army!

Tex moved Pebble1 up to 10,000 feet as Benny scanned the landmass below them. "Anything pard?" he asked the little man.

"Nothin yet. Are you sure this is the location Father?" Benny asked the gray giant.

They were over the western coast of the North American continent that was called California in the Old World. Tex had realized quickly that the maps he had taken from the Beast were useless. The giant tidal waves from the meteor strike had changed so much of the area that he simply could not find a single landmark that matched the California map he held in his hands.

Tex had already spotted a large Inland Sea that he absolutely knew was not on the damn map; in fact according to the map it had been a desert before in the Old World. "It's too bad y'all took old Blain off the ship pard, he'd made it a hell of a lot easier to find your old Dragnot." Tex said to Father.

"Yes it would be a big help if Blain was still on board, but then again I'm not sure the ship has survived after almost one million years." Father replied.

Who are you? Why are you here? shot into the trio's minds.

We are friends. We seek our ship that was lost long ago, Father sent his thoughts in all directions.

What ship? There is only one ship here and it is ours, came the mental reply.

Our ship was called the Dragnot. It was damaged many years ago, and we had to abandon it, Father replied back.

You are an Air Walker? I sense the other two are something different, one is human the other one is like nothing I have sensed before. What is your name Air Walker? asked the thought from somewhere below.

My name many, many years ago was Commander Shadison. I was Number One on the Dragnot to Captain Baksha. That was many years ago. I am simply Father now. What is your name if I may ask? Father thought. There was no reply.

The Pebble shuttle started to shudder a little, What the hell! Tex exclaimed as all forward movement ceased. Tex quickly cut the forward thrusters to keep them from burning up. Pebble1 hovered at 10,000 feet, then started descending slowly.

Please release control of your ship so we can bring you down safely, a different mind requested to Tex.