Chapter 74: Time with Erica

The meetings that Hank Swift and Kelsey White had requested proved to be much less stressful than the first two I had. Hank wanted to ensure that he was not going to be exiled from Crucible. From what I could decipher from his almost incoherent pleas, his concubines had made it clear that he needed to straighten up and fly right.

I knew that they could not just walk away from him, but refrained from saying anything to the penitent man. It was clear that he needed their approval. Instead I suggested that he take the time to apologize to Sergeant Bruce and his son and then spend most of the leave getting to know the rest of the crew.

Kelsey’s meeting with me also went over the fight from the previous day. She was a bit more worried that I would take official notice of the fight and punish Sergeant Bruce. I kept quiet about that. Sergeant Bruce was one of the few crew that everyone appeared to respect and I did not want to find out how punishing him might affect the crew. I did agree with her that we needed to look at some formal system designed to bring the crew together.

We came up with little during the short meeting. Both of us were tired and in the end we left without resolving the problem of how to prevent future incidents and fights. I found that I wanted to see Sergeant Bruce and Crystal in the hopes that they might have ideas.

My mind was still trying to come up with ideas after Kelsey had headed out saying that her concubine, Ruth had found a surprisingly interesting valley about an hour’s walk to the northwest of our town. She wanted to see the place and was going to hike out there and have a picnic lunch.

The grumbling of my stomach reminded me that I had not had much to eat for breakfast. I took Angelique’s hand and stood up.

“Where are we going daddy?” Angelique asked me. Her voice was sweet enough that I momentarily worried about cavities. Instead, I looked down at the black-haired cherub.

“We need to go and get something to eat,” I said.

“Today was fun,” Angelique said. She released my hand and hugged me around the waist. “I love you daddy.”

Tears caused my vision to blur. I looked over at Lenore and my eldest concubine was smiling happily. “We all do,” she said softly.

“Oh gag me,” Erica said sarcastically. We looked up to see her standing in the doorway.

“Erica!” Angelique said. She ran over to hug the ten-year-old.

I smiled. “Erica, it’s good to see you. Have you been enjoying living here?”

“The adults mope when Corsica isn’t in port,” Erica said with a smile. “But Baldwin, Carla and Sapphire are always willing to get out and run around. We’ve played a lot of ball and tag.”

“What about your studies?” I asked as I walked over and hugged the young girl.

“Lenore and Miki won’t let me skip them,” Erica mock complained. “Lenore even had me taking water and soil samples during our hike yesterday.”

“And what have you found?” I asked.

“The water is clean. I think there are some small colonies of bacteria near some of the hot springs, but they are just getting started. The rock is almost all igneous in origin. Rainfall and wind has eroded it and softened it, but I have found almost no major outcroppings of metamorphic stone,” Erica said. “I’ve also found that I don’t want to be a geologist.”

“Too much work?” I asked.

“Too boring. I want excitement. I want to be doing something to help everyone. Right now this planet is too young to have lots of interesting rock formations to look at.”

“Kelsey said her concubine found something,” I said.

“She did. It’s a network of old lava tubes. The volcano that created them must have been massive. Some of the tubes are large enough that you can walk in the remnants. I don’t recommend doing that through. Many are eroding away. The ceilings will collapse sometime in the future,” Erica said.

“Well, we could look at that, or you can show me the waterfall you found. I’m guessing that is why you are here,” I said.

“Have you had something to eat?” Erica asked knowingly. “I heard a bear in here, and then realized there are no animals and it had to be your empty stomach.”

I glanced over at Lenore. She had a smirk on her face, but it faded as she noticed she had my attention. “That’s what I have concubines for. They are supposed to anticipate such situations and provide for my every need,” I said haughtily.

Erica and Angelique burst out laughing. Lenore glared at me for a moment, but I could see that her lips were twitching as she fought not to join in the merriment. “What would my master desire,” she answered.

I looked over at Erica. “How far do we have to walk to get to the waterfall you found?” I asked.

“Miles,” Erica said. “We have to hike north and circle the lake. There are four streams we have to cross to get to the waterfall.”

“AI? Can the replicators make some kind of kayak?” I asked.

“What?” Erica asked.

“There is a kayak design in the archives. According to the data tag, it is a specialty model originally designed for fishing,” the AI said.

“Who put that into the database?” Lenore asked.

“I can’t say, but that might work. Can I have two kayaks with the required paddles, replicated by the outdoor replicator that made the lounge chairs my concubines use outside our home?” I asked.

“They will be ready for use in ten minutes,” the AI said.

“Mark?” Erica asked.

“This will be faster. We can paddle across the lake to look at the waterfall and then return in time to eat dinner as a family,” I said.

“What about lunch?” Erica asked.

“I’m thinking just a cheesesteak sandwich and some water. We’ll probably have to work hard to paddle over to the waterfall,” I said. “Why don’t you run ahead and change into a swimsuit. I’ll get there in a moment.”

Lenore had run over to the food replicator in the administration building. Erica took off out of the building as I stood and looked down at Angelique.

“Can I come?” she asked.

“Not today, but I promise to give you a swimming lesson tomorrow,” I said. “Once you can swim well, I’ll take you on a kayak ride.”

Angelique smiled. “Promise?”

“When has Mark not kept his promises to us,” Lenore asked as she brought over a cheesesteak sandwich. It was wrapped in some paper.

I unwrapped the sandwich and took a bite out of it as I walked through the doorway and out into the late morning air. The fog had burned off, but not many people were out in the open area.

“Quiet,” Lenore said as she moved to walk alongside me. “And thanks for the morning with Angelique.”

“Where is your daughter?” I asked. I had just noticed that Angelique had not followed us through the doorway.

Lenore ran back to the administration building. I enjoyed another bite of the sandwich. It was not the best I had ever tried, but the bread was still fluffy and the steak filling was warm enough to make the sandwich a hearty treat. I began walking and eating.

An out of breath Lenore joined me a moment later. She had Angelique in her arms. The four-year-old girl’s head was laying against Lenore’s shoulder.

“She fell asleep,” Lenore told me needlessly.

“We did get up early,” I said.

“I’ll put her down for a nap and take one myself,” Lenore said. “You should finish your sandwich and then change for the trip.”

“That I can do,” I said with a laugh as I began walking towards the back door to our home pod. Part of me thought we should consider it the front door since it faced the rest of the village. I took a bite from the sandwich every few steps. I was licking the last crumbs from my fingers when I arrived at the door and stepped into my home.

Constance was kneeling just inside the door. She looked at the floor as I entered.

“Master?” she whispered. “Are you happy with me?”

“Very,” I replied.

“Can I join you for your trip to the waterfall? I made the walk yesterday,” she asked.

“Erica and I are going to take kayaks across the lake to get there,” I said.

“Can I join?” Constance asked.

I groaned. “I only asked the replicator to make two kayaks and from what it said these aren’t built for two. The kayaks take time to make, so we can’t exactly wait to make some for everyone. How about you watch us and if you are interested, I’ll have a few more made so we’re ready next time.”

Constance looked up at me. “Thank you,” she whispered.

I nodded as I rushed to the bedroom. Once I was inside I stripped off my uniform and put on a pair of swimming trunks I had the replicator make. I added a light t-shirt and baseball cap before I headed for the main door to the pod.

Ashley caught me in the middle of the living room. “I love the fact you’re taking Erica out. Talk to her.”

“I will,” I promised as I exited the pod.

Once I was outside, I looked around. Erica had put on a one-piece swimsuit that looked functional rather than sexy. She was unstacking the two kayaks. I moved to help her, taking the top one and lifting it up. The craft was light. I put it on my right shoulder and held my left hand out. “I can carry the paddles.”

Erica smiled as she handled the paddles to me. She lifted the second kayak to her right shoulder and then backed away a couple of steps so she could turn. “I can lead the way,” she said.

To my surprise she walked almost directly away from our home. I had expected her to head south and find a gentle slope down, but she stepped onto a path and turned left before starting to descend down the hill side.

I followed, watching where I was placing my feet. It looked like the formerly steep drop had a trail carved out of it.

“How?” I asked.

“Everyone likes to head down to the water,” Erica said. “Constance was the one to suggest that we build a shorter route down. The AI was willing to create the tools we needed, but we had to turn them in every night. Jaden and Maurice helped with a lot of the heavy stuff.”

“Maurice I can understand. I expected he’d visit whenever Milli and Kathy visited Matti. But why Jaden?” I asked.

“He’s a bit desperate,” Erica said. “I don’t know what happened to him, but he wants someone to talk to Morgause for him. I get a feeling he’s hoping one of us talk to you about him.”

“What has he been like?” I asked.

“He’s a jerk. He’s harmless,” Erica said. “Clarissa clearly has him under control, but the man spends a lot of time bragging about things.”

We reached the bottom. Erica was trying to get her kayak to float. I waded out until I was knee deep in the clear water. It was a bit cool, but not freezing. I held out the paddles to her. “Are you ready?” I asked.

“I can’t get my kayak to float,” Erica complained.

“Get on this one,” I said. “I’ll put that one in the water once you are ready to go.”

Erica waded out to the kayak I had placed in the water. She took one of the paddles from me as she carefully climbed onto the seat and put her feet against the molded footrests. I could see that her short legs were having to stretch for her feet to touch the rests.

“Get up and I’ll slide the seat forward,” I said.