Chapter 9: Pick Them All Up

Mark and Andy were given the full treatment and spent a few hours sleeping while the Biotes did their thing. When they woke up, Blaze gave them the basic pilot knowledge and sent them to the simulators to get their ratings for the Transport Shuttles and the Stingers. Bill, feeling the need to stretch his wings, so to speak, took TS-1 out for a test drive and dropped Andy and Mark back at their vehicles in the parking lot in Cold Lake before first light and before anyone realized they were missing. The plan was to pick them up the following day after allowing them some time to pack whatever belongings they would need and offer their explanations and goodbyes to whomever required them so that their moving away would not be questioned. They did tell their commanding officers that they had accepted positions as test pilots with a new company but were not at liberty to provide any more details. Their explanations appeared to be readily accepted and their fellow pilots congratulated them on their move. Some even asked them to see if anything might be available for them too. Mark took a list of names and numbers in order to stay in touch with some of the guys.

George woke up that morning feeling better than he could ever recall feeling in his entire life. He was very happy with his new quarters onboard Blazing Star. His health was back, he had an interesting future ahead of him, he had met a few very good people and now he was going to bring his other friends into the fold. He had decided that he would sell off his shares in his company or close it down. His house was paid for, so he would arrange for a local Real Estate firm that he did considerable business with to become ‘property managers’ of his house, rent it out and take care of all maintenance. His friends, he could simply pack them up and bring them here. He did not anticipate any problems there. Hank White, on the other hand, had become rather stubborn over the last few months and might take some talking to.

Simon suggested that George and Blaze should take a shuttle to George’s home where they could collect Dave and Shauna. George suggested that perhaps he could get Hank to visit him at his home about the same time if he explained a little about his recent heart attack. Together they worked out the schedule, made the necessary calls and waited for Blaze to prep TS-1 after Bill’s trip to Cold Lake.

Helen had been busy as well. She had gone to work at her clinic that morning and informed everyone that she was taking no appointments for the day. She told them that the clinic was, as of now, accepting no new appointments and that she wanted to see everyone in the staff room immediately. Most of the staff was in that morning and gathered in the staff room.

Helen explained that she had had a very interesting day yesterday and had come to some startling conclusions. One of them was that running this clinic was not what she wanted to do for the rest of her life. She suggested that she was going to start doing something completely different, also in the Medical field, but it would require relocation. She explained that anyone on her staff that wanted to join her would be considered. Those that wanted to remain in their current positions and continue to do what they were doing now would likely stay with the clinic. There was going to be changes out of necessity, but she was not going to simply close down the clinic. All members of the staff were encouraged to think about it over the day and if they were interested in hearing more with the intention of joining her, to come to her home for dinner that evening at 6:00 PM. Those that were not interested in joining her, she asked to let her know before 3:00 PM that afternoon, so that she could begin to restructure the clinic to accommodate staff changes.

She was also leaving for the day at 3:00 PM. It was a good concept she felt, realizing that not all would be prepared to simply pack up and leave. She also had some concerns about a few of the staff not being of the same mindset as her.

During the day several people had let her know that they really liked working there and could not see starting somewhere new so would prefer to stay at the clinic. A plan began to form in her mind. Two of the Doctors and four other staff were not interested in leaving, so these six would be the basis for the restructured clinic. She wondered how many would actually want to join her. She realized that she needed Blaze there that evening to help explain things. Grant may be handy to have as well, since a few of her staff would remember him from their days in the military. She also figured on simply ordering in Chinese Food for dinner after she knew how many people were going to be there.

Blaze shuttled George home to Edmonton, landing carefully in George’s back yard. George had mentioned that Dave might be a bit irritated if any of his nice gardens were disturbed so she was careful to land on the grass only. Blaze left the cloak engaged while she and George left the shuttle, walked over to the rear sliding glass doors and stepped into the house. Dave and Shauna were there waiting for them. George made introductions all around.

“I didn’t hear you drive in!” said Shauna as she walked over and gave Blaze a hug.

Blaze looked surprised, but otherwise did not react. George just smiled and watched the reactions.

Dave offered his hand in greeting to Blaze and turned to George saying “So what is this all about, George? Hank just called and said that he was on his way and he should be here in a few minutes. He also said to make sure you were feeling okay and not to stress you out any. Are you okay George?”

George replied “Dave, my friend, I have never felt better in my entire life! I am not the one we should be worrying about. It is Hank that we have to be careful with. Don’t worry. We’ll explain it all when Hank arrives.

Hearing their doorbell ring, Shauna said “That will be Hank now. I’ll answer it!”

Hank walked into the room followed by Shauna and stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Blaze. Then he saw George, standing beside her.

“George, sit down, relax.” said Hank. “You shouldn’t be stressing yourself. How are you feeling?”

“I’m great Hank, how are you feeling my friend?” replied George.

“I’ve been better.” blustered Hank. “So who is this young lady?”

“This young lady is Blaze.” replied George. “Say hello to Hank, Blaze.”

Blaze said “Hello Hank.”

“Gorgeous, and she talks.” said Hank rather grumpily.

“It gets better.” said George. “You should consider Blaze to be one of the most important people in the world right about now.”

“How so?” asked Hank.

“Because she is going to cure you!” replied George.

“What are you talking about George. There is no cure for AIDS.” replied Hank. “The best we have been able to accomplish so far is just to slow it down.”

“Did you know that I had a malignant tumor on my left lung and cancerous lesions on my kidneys, Hank?” asked George.

“No, I didn’t. You haven’t been in for a checkup for almost a year now. When did you find this out and how?” Hank asked. “We’ve got to get you in for confirmation and possible surgery.”

“Not necessary, Hank.” said George. “This young lady, and her friends cured me completely.”

“You’ve already had the surgery?” asked Hank. “You shouldn’t be out of bed yet.”

“Let me tell all of you the full story of my vacation. Then Blaze will tell you another story.” said George.

“Wait just a bit.” said Shauna grinning. “If you are going to tell stories, I’m going to bring us some refreshments and snacks. I’ve heard some of your stories and you do tend to go on!”

“I’m just going to grab a comfy chair and listen. This should be interesting!” commented Dave.

Shauna returned with snacks and drinks. She had whipped up a bunch of small bite sized sandwiches to go with the ice cold lemonade. Everyone except Blaze helped themselves to sandwiches and lemonade. Shauna didn’t comment on Blaze’s lack of appetite, but noticed.

George began his narration with a quick summary of his prospecting and got quickly to the visit at Simon’s cabin. He described the people there and sitting down to breakfast, then passing out. He described waking up in a strange medical facility and being greeted by a Doctor Helen Barker. He informed everyone that he had almost died and these people had saved his life. In fact, they more than saved his life, they cured him of his heart problem and all the other medical problems. He made a point of saying that Blaze had told him he had only been in their facility for four hours and twenty two minutes. George then described in vague terms being asked to join the Star Project and his somewhat conditional acceptance. He also added that he was telling the absolute truth about the whole thing and that after Blaze’s story, they would show them proof.

Blaze went next. She rose and placed a small box on the table in the middle of the room. She activated it with a soft click. Gasps of surprise came from Dave, Shauna and Hank.

The presentation began with Aurora and ended with Blaze. By then they were all staring at her, letting the implications sink in.

Hank was the first to speak. “So you mean to tell us that Blaze, here, is an android and that you have been on a space ship for your vacation?”

Hank was chuckling. Shauna was still staring at Blaze. So was Dave.

“So where is it parked?” asked Hank.

“Well, that was going to be the proof, and I guess I did promise you that, so, everyone, grab your gear and follow us!” said George.

Shauna and Dave had been prepared and had packed clothes for about a week or so, as George had asked. Hank had brought his medical kit. They all grabbed their possessions and filed out the back door. George locked it securely and walked into the middle of the manicured rear lawn. He told Blaze to drop the cloak, open the bay door and ushered everyone into the shuttle. Blaze sat at the pilot’s seat. George told Hank to sit at the other pilot’s seat, which he did, but not to touch anything, which he didn’t. George, Shauna and Dave sat on a side bench near the back. As Blaze recloaked and rose into the sky with her passengers, her passengers started asking the usual questions.

By the time Simon’s cabin came into view, they were comfortable. George pointed out his ATV still parked in front of the cabin.

Hank finally leaned over to Blaze and asked “Can you really cure me?”

“We will find out very soon.” replied Blaze.

TS-1 headed straight for the ground and appeared as if it was going to crash into the earth, but suddenly popped into a huge underground cavern and stopped. After a couple of minutes, lights began to come on all over the cavern, revealing Blazing Star to the shuttle passengers. Tonya and Bill had put their heads together over the problem of opening the huge bay doors in daylight hours. They might be detectable or the cavern might be detectable while they were open. They came up with the idea of using large holographic projectors to project the ‘usual’ image over the opening any time it was opened. It was also adding a bit of additional security at night. The only remaining problem was cavern lighting escaping so the cavern lights were shut down during any open door event.

“TS-1 requesting permission to dock.” said Blaze.

“You are cleared to Command Bay. Relinquish controls now.” replied Blazing Star.

TS-1 moved towards the opening in the side of Blazing Star and settled down in the bay.

George said to Hank as they got out of the shuttle “Do you believe us now, Hank?”

Since Helen was still in Ottawa, Blaze had everyone follow her to Medical where all the necessary scans, Biote treatments and introductions were made.

Arriving home at 3:30 that afternoon, Helen walked into her living room and said out loud “Simon, can you hear me?”

Simon replied through the RAVP “Yes, Helen, I can hear you quite well. What’s up?”

Blaze was, of course, listening on the RAVP frequency and instantly relayed the communication request to whomever it was addressed to with a very small delay. Helen explained to Simon what plan she had come up with for her staff and asked if Blaze and Grant would be available to assist her that evening.

Simon replied “Give me a minute while I check on availability.”

Simon made a cutting motion across his throat as he looked toward Grant and Blaze.

[Blaze, cut connection with RAVP]

(Connection disabled, Captain.)

Grant and Blaze had been summoned initially and Simon asked their opinion on Helen’s plans.

Grant considered a few things before replying “It is workable. We would have to arrive well before the guests, and Blaze would have to do her trick on the security systems. I see no problems until the guests arrive. After they arrive, DND is going to know there is something going on, especially if most of her staff show up. How they will react will be determined by how much of a threat they perceive. Unless there is a LOT Helen is not telling us, they will probably just be very curious. In any case, I do agree that Blaze and I should be there and that DND should not be made aware of our presence if we can help it.”

“TS-1 will be prepped and available for that mission.” said Blaze.

“Grant, make sure that when you go there that you are in full field gear. Assume the worst and hope for the best.” said Simon. “Blaze, you too, and take whatever equipment you feel you might need in the shuttle.”

“Understood” replied Blaze and Grant simultaneously.

“Blaze, re-enable RAVP connection.” said Simon.

(Connection enabled, Captain.)

“Okay Helen, Blaze and Grant will be there. Oh, and if there is any leftover Chinese, send it back with them.” replied Simon with a grin.

“You have a deal Simon. Thanks and goodbye for now!” replied Helen.

“Goodbye Helen.” said Simon. “You two better get equipped and on your way. You have to be there ahead of those guests.”

Simon strolled down to Medical. He wanted to check on the three new recruits George had brought back with him. As he walked into medical, he noted a single security guard at the door and three beds with sleeping patients. George was sitting in a chair watching his friends.

“Hi George, how are they doing?” asked Simon.

“I can’t tell, Simon. All this equipment is so foreign to me. I’m a chemical engineer, not a doctor!” replied George. “Blaze says they are doing fine and I should quit worrying. Say, I’ve been meaning to ask you, what can we do around here to help out?”

“You know, George, I have been giving that some thought myself recently too. The short answer is ‘Anything You Want!’ We have training devices for almost any profession, I am told that you could brush up on your chemistry or any other subject you wish for that matter. Have you checked out Food Services yet? The food is palatable and certainly nourishing but it isn’t what I would consider high quality. Perhaps Shauna can become our Food Services Chief and help improve on that situation. Dave will likely be called upon to help out a lot more when we leave earth so maybe he could start by seeing what the Daandrusians knew about alien flora and fauna. Also in sticking with a Food Services theme, you can possibly help out quite a bit very soon. Two things have been suggested to me that make sense. We should grow our own produce and we should get food of all kinds from all over Earth. Dave could certainly help with the growing part. We may have to do some shopping, for seeds or finished crops. That is going to cost money or barter. We will need to have something to trade other than cash and a secure method of doing it. Nate and Grant can cover the security part, but can you give some thought to how we can go about bartering for food. At the moment, we don’t need all that much, but Blazing Star can accommodate several thousand people and that will require major resources that we do not have at present.”

“Those are all good ideas, Simon. I can see where we can all be helpful. I noticed when we came in that Blazing Star was sitting in a huge almost empty cavern. Where did all the material go that you are digging out?” asked George.

“Some of it was reprocessed into materials to repair Blazing Star. Most was used to construct the hardened dome over us and hardened walls to support the dome. A lot was converted to its basic chemical elements and stored within Blazing Star for future use. I just thought of something.” said Simon. “Blaze?”

Blaze popped into the room in her usual spot.

“Yes Captain?” she said.

Simon asked, “Can you provide a list of all the chemical elements we have dug out of the ground and any additional resources detected still in the area below or around us?”

“Yes, Captain, where would you like it displayed?” asked Blaze.

“Command Conference Room. Come with me George. Your friends will be fine. Keep an eye on them Blaze.” said Simon as he left Medical.

George followed him to the Command Conference room and in. There in the middle of the room a huge holographic display listed all the chemicals by element number and quantities in various categories including ‘Mined’, ‘Utilized’, ‘Stored’, ‘Future’. They sat down and looked at the display.

“This will mean more to you than I, George. What is this telling you?” asked Simon.