RoustWriter: Blog

This week with Arlene and Jeff:

...Arlene came to her feet. “We have MREs that will do for now and plenty of water.” Then turning to Karl. “Could we borrow your map? It’s better than the one we brought.”

“Certainly,” he hastily replied. “Just take the whole map book. There are more maps of the area in there.”

“Do you have room for me to go with you?” Mia asked.

“All the seats are taken, and there is only a small open space between them. If we took someone with us, there would be no place for Phillip and Dessie. Even so, they’ll be practically stuffed in there.”

“Look,” Glenda said, “is there any way to contact us when you find them? Our cell phones don’t work, but…”

Arlene glanced at her partner before she turned back to the others. As she took a small object from the collar of her uniform, “We each have a personal communicator. I’ll leave mine here. Ann will call you when we know something.”

Mia frowned as she stared at the button-sized object in her hand. “Are you saying that this is a radio?”

“Radio? No, but Ann will be able to communicate with you by using it. Should you wish to talk to us, just hold the communicator and say my name or Ann’s. It will contact us.”

Mia tore her eyes away from the tiny object. “Just keep us posted. We’re all about to go crazy with worry about them. Please let us know as soon as you find them. And when you get back, I want to know where your… interceptor came from and that,” she finished as she nodded to the communicator...

Have a goodun;

Roust

This week with Arlene and Jeff:

...Sophia came back pushing a cart bearing refreshments, including freshly made coffee and a pitcher of iced tea. After thanking her, Selina casually selected coffee, putting a half dozen spoons of sugar and some cream in it while never pausing with the conversation, her mannerisms those of an adult.

At one point, a question from Selina startled Mia, which caused Arlene to break in. “I know that her parents must have told you that she is a genius, but she truly is and probably beyond. I don’t think there is a word for it.” With a grin, she said, “Just assume that she’s a brilliant adult whose body has somehow shrunk.”

“Arlene, you’re embarrassing me. You are talking about me as if I had gone with Karl and Fischer,” Selina complained, a blush creeping across her countenance.

There was a “sssssswhap” sound as static electricity found its way to ground, accompanied by a startled yelp from one of the men who had gone to inspect Arlene and Ann’s interceptor.

The women tensed, and Mia came to her feet, but Arlene and Ann were chuckling. “Looks like someone forgot what I said about not touching the interceptor. Don’t worry about them, though. It’s just a static charge similar to what you sometimes get when you walk across a carpet and touch a metal doorknob – well, a wee bit stronger, perhaps.”...

Have a goodun;

Roust

This week with Arlene and Jeff:

...“In an emergency, the jump seat can be used as a second gunner’s position. Your screens are active, but the weapon controls are not.” As soon as Selina sat, the seat turned back to the console and adjusted to her height. Arlene spent a couple of moments showing the child the various views from the cameras and how to use them, but she stopped before her short lecture was complete because Selina had already mastered the controls.

As Arlene went about her computer checklist, Selina, who had long since studied Ship’s information pages on the interceptors, sat looking about the cockpit. When Ann came in, the AI retracted the stairway and sealed the hatch. Ann, Arlene and the AI conferred for a few seconds before declaring the checklists complete and the craft ready to launch.

“Ready, Selina?” Arlene asked from her position as primary pilot.

“I’ve been ready,” Selina returned while barely suppressing a giggle in her nervousness.

“Remember, we have an inertialess drive. This is an interceptor capable of three-quarters light if I push it, and it can cruise at a half-light all day, so I refuse to fly it as if it were a bus.”...

Have a goodun;

Roust

This week with Arlene and Jeff:

...“Where is this castle? Show me on a map,” Jeff said while wondering if this was a wild goose chase.

“Ship…” Arlene started, but a map of Germany was on the table before she had completed the sentence.

Arlene’s feet hit the floor as she leaned forward to reach for the map, but Ann beat her to it. The young wife’s finger moved over the area, then stopped and circled a dark green area with a faint lighter spot in its center. “Here, I think,” she said as her fingernail tapped the map. “The scale is too small, but it is in this general area.”

“Ship,” Jeff began, but before he could ask, she had already put the map on a wall screen – the now large map showing much more detail.

“Because of the Miadax’ destruction of Earth’s satellites, this was the latest map of the area that I could find,” Ship commented.

“Thank you. This should be sufficient,” Jeff assured her.

Ann and Arlene walked over to the screen, and Arlene tapped the image of a huge building that fit the description of what they thought a castle should look like. It sat in the middle of a large, mostly open space. “This is the place we were talking about.”

“Do you think it’s the castle?” Jeff asked...

Have a goodun;

Roust

This week with Arlene and Jeff:

...“Your hair is clean, and so is the wound. We’ve eaten breakfast, and there’s no reason to put this off any longer. Are you ready?”

She could swear he chuckled. “Okay, sit tight, and I’ll be back.”

To be safe, she swabbed alcohol over the wound area. With a tiny pair of scissors in hand, as well as the tiny forceps that she had used to force the needle through the skin when she put the stitches in, she sat him against a tree and knelt beside him in full sunlight. She had left an ample length of the thread hanging out so it would be easy to find the stitches when it came time to remove them; however, swelling had pulled the knots below skin level. To clip the stitch so it would pull out, she had to work the scissor tips far enough below skin level to reach the knot. That required digging around with the end of the sharp-nosed scissors. Once she had snipped the main part of the thread, she easily pulled the stitch free. He only flinched slightly during the process. Thirteen more to go.

Phillip occasionally made a slight hissing sound as she dug the stitches out, and she kept apologizing as sweat beaded her forehead while she searched for the knots. Finally, “That’s number fourteen, Baby,” she said as she dabbed the few drops of blood from the wound and applied antibiotic cream to the whole area. “I’m sorry, Baby. I know that stung like crazy, but the swelling had pulled the thread so deeply into the flesh that I had to dig some of the stitches out – as you well know,” she added.

His body was shaking, and it took a second for her to realize that he was chuckling. He had been relaxed throughout the whole process, while she had sweat beading her forehead. “Oh, You,” she said as she gently whacked him on the shoulder. “I think it was harder on me to take the stitches out than it was on you. Of course, when I stitched you up, there was blood everywhere, and it was scaring me half to death. I suppose that kept my mind off the stitching. But… amateur or not, those were some very nice stitches. In six months, your scar will be barely detectible,” she bragged...

Have a goodun;

Roust