Chapter 10: A friend

While being transported back to Hawaii and Jeff’s house, I gave Helen, Sydney’s gofer, a call.

“Is this the Hero of the day, month, and year?” she answered the phone.

“Hi, Helen. I was thinking-”

“Always dangerous,” she joked.

Someone was in a good mood. “Did something happen today?” I asked instead of stating what I wanted.

She sighed happily into the phone. “Syd and I went to a show and Dominated!” I heard Helen’s contentedness clearly across my end of the Comm. “Then she took me back to the hotel and fucked me to death.”

“You sound good for a dead woman,” I joked.

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you. You’ve never lived until you had a set of vibrators keyed to your body rhythms by a Master Device maker, used on you.”

“I’ll take your word for it.” I had a sudden flashback of Helen, in a ponygirl outfit, ridden hard and put away wet by Sydney on the return from Mars while I pretended not to watch.

I’d let that subject drop.

“So, what can I do for you, Captain Hero Galaxy Explorer Man?”

“I have a ship with an empty cargo hold. Do you think she has anything to fill it with and save the powers-that-be a boxcar run?”

“Fuck!” I thought Helen just came on the other end of the phone. I didn’t ask.

“I think everyone missed that. Syd hasn’t said anything.” With a sudden mischievous sounding and deepthroated laugh, Helen had me promise not to say anything for twenty-four hours.

“By the way, Captain Hero...” she sang out.

“Yes, Helen?”

“I heard you like bondage girls. I know a few that are for sale,” she grinned on the other end of the phone.

“Maybe later,” I put off that thought. “The middle cargo hold I am reserving for me. Don’t let her put anything inside. Hmm ... You can drive Syd’s motorhome, right?”

“What are you thinking, Captain Hero?”

“Can her motorhome move a tractor trailer full of goods? Up to the Legacy, I mean?”

“As long as it isn’t too heavy.”

We discussed the particulars while I flipped through an online catalog. Since I was on autopilot, it let me pass the time. And as much as Helen teased, she was fun to talk to. Even if she belonged to Sydney Thomas.

“Bye, Captain Hero. I’ll remember you didn’t say no.” Click.

That’s not good...

Later that evening – all of those time zone changes in one day was getting to me – I collapsed once again on the deck at Jeff’s house to watch the sunset. Yet this time, I wasn’t alone. Dozens of teens, mostly of the scantily clad female variety, gathered for a bonfire.

I was too tired to move or care and the watermelon beverage that Nina handed to me was stronger than the one that Shelly made. Which further increased my apathy levels and drowsiness.

When three of the kids stopped and stared, I placed my finger to my lips and shushed them keeping my eyes mostly closed. I wasn’t in any condition to hear more screaming. My picture was taken and they scurried off to do whatever they were about to do. Soon everyone in attendance came up with a reason to find their way to the porch, pretend that they just recognized me, clicked, and then moved on.

Thankfully respecting my eardrums.

I woke well before dawn with a blanket over my lap and the lights off. It may have been four in the morning, but I was working off of UF Mountain Time. (Two hours earlier than NYC time)

The only cereal in the pantry was plain shredded wheat. What the hell? And all three boxes were unopened. So it wasn’t for Jeff or his friends. Was it for his Aunt? And was his Aunt Clarissa in her eighties? Plain! Shredded wheat! I didn’t want to make a racket this early so I opened a box, cut some fruit, and ate outside, enjoying the fresh air.

My Comm went off at 06:01 local, or 09:01 Mountain time, the home of bloody L&S. I didn’t even have to look at the name on the screen to know who was calling this early.

I even considered not answering for a brief heartbeat or three.

“Yeah?”

“Geoffrey.” Sydney’s icy tones rang clearly across the Pacific. I hadn’t forgotten that ‘yeah’ was one of the verboten words and used it intentionally, she knew that I knew and did so ... yada. Yada.

“I only had four hours of sleep and it’s six in the morning here. What do you want, Sydney?”

“What did you say to Master Smith?” she asked. Completely flooring me. Of all the possible questions she could ask, that wasn’t even on my list.

“I asked him to make me a Device. And that L&S would pay him instead of me for it.”

“What Device?” she sounded pissed. And I had no clue as to why.

“That is personal, Miss Thomas. Is there anything else I can help you with or can I return to my bed?”

“Click.” I blinked. Sydney Thomas actually hung up on me. I couldn’t think of anything more out of character that she could ever do.

I knew that wasn’t the end of it.

Fifteen minutes later, Jeff called.

“Did you order a Device from Master for the Project?”

“Project?” I asked. I wasn’t thinking too clearly right then as my eyes were shut and my breathing had slowed enough for most people to call it sleep.

“The Legacy. Did you order something very expensive for it from Master,” Jeff clarified slowly.

“Oh, that. I did.”

“Care to share?”

“I didn’t expect anyone to go nuclear over an escape pod. I thought they might even be happy that they didn’t have to design and build one themselves.”

Jeff groaned. “An escape pod. Thanks for telling me. I’ll deal with Syd and Aunt Cat.”

“Did I step on someone’s toes?” Not that I cared right then.

“We are all overworked. Don’t worry about it. I’ll talk to you later, okay?”

“Sure. I’ll try and go back to sleep.” Which I didn’t do, but it was my first sunrise over the Pacific.

Helen texted me an address to have my goods delivered to that morning along with a weight and volume limit. I thanked her and went to work spending a good chunk of my hard-earned Mars bonus check that I had saved on this.

Over the next two days I learned, poorly, how to surf, but had fun doing so.

“What’cha doin’, Captain Geoff?” Nina leaned over my shoulder while I was scanning through Amazon, looking for ideas on what to bring back to Hope and what I might want to bring with me on the Legacy.

“Shopping.”

“I rock at shopping, let me help.”

“Sure.”

“What are you shoppin’ for?”

“Things to sell on Hope station. Or give to my friends there.” Not that I had any. Mostly I was looking to aid the general stores by buying things that weren’t considered necessities and donating them.

“That and for stuff to bring with me when I visit new systems.”

“Wow.”

Without even taking a breath she began rattling off lists, “Music, books, movies, clothes, shoes, exercise equipment, fish tanks-”

“Wait. Fish tanks?” I interrupted her list.

“They are in all the games and movies. Every starship has fish tanks in the Captain’s cabin.”

I noted that down.

“Continue.”

“Waffle makers, sheets, pillows, sunglasses, cameras...”

Although her list was odd, I saw a pattern and some sense behind her suggestions.

“What are you two doing?” Shelly, along with two of her girlfriends, each carrying a surfboard and a towel, stopped by my extra-large beach umbrella where the two of us were seemingly rattling off odd items.

“Captain Geoff is making a shopping list for his ship. Want to help?”

They were game. Soon four girls were naming things I had never even considered bringing along to the stars and some I already had.

...

“Does anyone know how to set up a fish tank? It has to fit in Jeff’s trunk.”

“Pete’s dad has like five of them. We can ask him,” one of the visiting girls suggested.

“That works, I’ll take some measurements. Let’s see what our options are. The rest of the list I’ll send to Helen to get.”

As per Pete’s dad’s recommendations, I ended up with four mid-sized freshwater tanks. And hardy, yet still decently colorful fish along with plenty of plants and what-not. I also received a long lesson on how to care for my new fish. With a long list of dos and don’ts, and a few books, including ‘Aquariums for Dummies’ on top.

After six days of fun in the sun, I returned to the Legacy to swap places with Jeff.

Walking along the beach that one last time, I was very tempted to quit the spacefaring life right then.

I knew in my heart that I wasn’t ready to settle down. And boarded Jeff’s flying car, waving good bye to the girls. I never figured out if he slept with them or just kept them around to make his life better. In his shoes, either was likely.

Not that I cared of their living arrangements beyond idle curiosity. If they were all happy then that was more than I needed to know. And those were some happy girls.

With the aid of the aquarium store, and lots of cautions, my new fish tanks were double packed for insulation against the coldness of space. I calculated the time I’d have from opening Jeff’s trunk to transferring them into the airlock before our makeshift vacuum protection failed and found it to be sufficient, unless something unforeseen happened. Which it always did, but I wanted to try.

With Jeff’s android Eve’s help, the transferal worked, the aquariums survived and so did the fish. After situating the tanks along the perimeter of my room, Jeff received my full attention.

He had only looked at my tanks without comment. I didn’t know what he thought about them, nor did I ask.

Once I had a coffee in hand, Jeff went over the long list of changes he and his Android, Eve, accomplished since arriving on the Legacy.

“When Master finalizes the dimensions of your escape pod, Moria will have her constructors alter the Legacy to prepare for its installation. We believe that the lower-level starboard Hydroponics area is the best place for its location. Do you disagree?”

“Sounds fine to me.”

“On to the coffeemaker. Without removing and completely rewriting one of the pilot AIs, you are stuck with it as it is. We agreed to install the EVA camera port in the rear cargo hold...”

“Sounds good and thanks for trying with the coffeemaker.” Even if I didn’t understand why it was connected to a pilot AI program in the first place.

Jeff packed up his gear and computers. With his back to me, he said quietly, “We missed your escape pod. That and some creature comforts which we are now realizing the extent of.”

“Jeff, the first three Legacies were unmanned and experimental,” I replied. “They were supposed to be bereft of comforts. And this one has only had two runs under its belt-”

“But you weren’t asked for your input,” he interrupted me. “You are just the ‘Guide’.” A new term and probably a hidden one, such as Sacrifice when referring to the crew.

“I spoke with Michele,” Shelly from his house, “and she told me of your kibitz sessions with the local teens. I’m putting my next project on hold and create a focus group to see how we can improve your life aboard our ship,” Jeff continued.

“Thanks.”

“The rear cargo bay is fully loaded with boxcars. You’ll have to account for that extra mass when maneuvering to dock at Hope.”

“I’ll be careful.”

“Syd’s assistant brought up two trailers and they unloaded them into the mid-hold.”

They?

“Why did you not ask Sydney for that?”

I just noticed that his back was still to me and he was fiddling with his equipment. With the normal speed and precision that I had seen Jeff move with, he didn’t need anywhere near this much time for that.

“I thought Helen would be doing all the labor. Asking her seemed normal to me,” I responded mostly truthfully.

Noticing that he had been caught, Jeff turned to face me. “Do you dislike Sydney?”

“Not really. It’s more that sometimes she is hard to deal with.”

“She can be. Syd told me that she hung up on you.”

“She did,” I verified, if that was what he was searching for.

“Geoff, you are the second person that she has done that to in her whole life. I was the first.”

“I’ll give her a call later.”

“She needs more friends. I hope you don’t blow it.” Closing his case, he took one last look around the bridge and exited the Legacy.

I liked Jeff; he, by far, way too far, seemed the most normal of Smith’s disciples.

Now I had to call Sydney Thomas and play nice.

...

“Hi, this is Geoff.”

“Hello, Geoffrey,” Sydney replied icily.

“Look Sydney, I’m sorry that I didn’t ask you about helping me with the boxcars. I didn’t think my actions through.”

“Are you sure it was because you didn’t want do ‘deal with the Wicked Witch of the West’?”

I went for broke. “A little of that too,” my Comm frosted over. “You can be a bit intimidating.”

“Do you want me to assign Helen to be your permanent contact? Is she less intimidating to you?”

“I’d miss out from hearing you plot my latest doom that way,” I teased.

“DOOM!” she yelled into the phone. “Do you know how hard I had to work to keep the world off your front door while you were in Hawaii?!”

“Thank you, Syd,” I said, not reacting to her explosion.

“Go to hell. Next time you can rot in a Gulag while Vacheski roasts your balls to get every iota of information out of you.”

“I heard you play chess.”

“I’m going to kill Jeff.”

“I was thinking. Maybe not this next trip. But if what I was told Wednesday was true, maybe you would accompany me on a trip somewhere warm?”