Chapter 47: Charlotte’s Coochie

I was pleasantly surprised to find Charlotte had taken her sister’s watch. So we talked as she finished up her watch and I got ready to begin mine. I’m not sure if anyone else had noticed yet, but I could sense a new confidence in Charlotte and this made her an absolute joy to be around and talk to. I asked her about her plans for after the cruise, but outside of going to Disney World, it was back to the same old routine of school, study, and home.

She stayed on the couch petting Maggie and talking about what kind of dog she was going to get her folks to get her when they got back until about 5:30am when she suddenly disappeared. I had stepped out on the port wing and when I came back, she was gone.

“Oh, well. She must have gotten tired,” I thought to myself.

“I guess it’s just you and me, Maggie,” I said as I ruffled her fur.

Right at 6:00am, she showed back up with her mom and a breakfast tray of scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, some melon, and coffee.

“Wow! This is great! I told her as I sat down to eat. Archara had come up to take the watch for Alfred and told us he would be here soon. I sent her back down to the galley and told her we’d watch out for things until the Captain got here.

Charlotte was telling me about how she prepared my breakfast all by herself, and I was questioning her on what her mom would say if I kidnapped her and held her for ransom at my home in Georgia so she could continue to cook for me when an alarm went off on the bridge console. I jumped up to look at it, then grabbed my life vest and the binoculars and stepped out on the starboard bridge wing. I couldn’t see it. But something was on the radar.

“It appears to be a small plane,” said Captain Alfred who had suddenly appeared on the bridge. Then I remembered he has a duplicate set of screens in his cabin. “It’s not supersonic, so give it a minute and see if you can spot it again.”

“It’s a drone,” I reported. When I failed to find it visually, I had reached out with my mind until I felt the concentration of energy. When the captain had said it was a plane, I figured that since it was unmanned, it must be a drone.

“Ah ... but whose? Captain Alfred queried.

“I could cause it to crash before it gets here,” I suggested. “Or possibly just cut the links back to its handlers. But I don’t know if that would make it crash.”

“If I remember correctly, that would cause it to automatically return to its base,” he said.

“Do we want to let it get here so we can see whose it is?”

“We probably wouldn’t be able to tell. Go ahead and cut the links and lets see what happens,” he instructed.

I did as he instructed and we both watched the radar to see what happened next. The drone faltered and slowed significantly before it reversed course and began flying back the way it came. As an added gift for the senders, I fried what I thought was the flight data recorder.

“Why would they send that thing?” Charlotte asked.

“Good question, Charlotte, is it?” Cynthiana said. I didn’t know she had come up.

“When they do their testing at school this spring, I think everyone will find that Charlotte is a very intelligent person,” I told Cynthiana. Captain Alfred looked at me, surprised.

“Drones are either about gathering information or to deliver payloads remotely. Usually a bomb of some type,” the captain offered. “The French navy has been using them for a few years, but I personally don’t have much experience with them. Those things are expensive and require specialized handling.”

“If it’s the US Navy, then that might indicate that they are madder than we thought and they might be waiting for us somewhere ahead,” Cynthiana observed.

“Daniel, do you sense anything?” he asked. Then added, “Sorry. I meant Alex. I’m just so used to thinking of you as Daniel.”

“It’s okay and I don’t sense anything else close by. When I traced the link from the drone, it bounced off a satellite and went back to a bunch of ... something, way up north of us and pretty far away.”

“Probably a satellite receiver up at the Naval Submarine Base - New London. That’s where they have big transmitters to issue radio orders to the fleet when they’re at sea.”

“So what do we do?” Charlotte asked.

“Well, my dear, I’m going down for some breakfast and you are going to take over and keep us on course for Nassau. Just let me adjust the jib slightly first,” he told his daughter. “Would you care for some breakfast, Cynthiana?” he asked as he headed down the stairs to the salon.

They returned an hour or so later. Walt and Roland were with them.

“Everything still clear?” the captain asked me.

“All clear, sir,” I replied.

“Okay, you two, off to bed with you. Your mom said you all could use our room as it’s empty now.”

“Aye-aye, skipper,” I called out as we hurried down the stairs. When we got to her parents cabin, the black out shades were drawn and the bed was turned down.

“Oh, goody!” Charlotte cried. “My little coochie was afraid she wouldn’t get any more loving from you this trip.”