Chapter 176

THE RETREAT

Once again, Jeff sat in the primary command chair of the Ship. The conversation between the Prime and the Ship happened in seconds and was mental, but it went something like this:

"You didn't tell me that you were going to teach Selina to teleport."

"Commander, I did not teach Selina to teleport ... I did, however, install the necessary fail-safes to keep her from materializing inside a solid object, should she learn to teleport. Since her animal could teleport, and because of her intelligence, I determined that the probability of Selina learning to teleport within the next ten cycles to be..."

"So you knew," the Prime interrupted. Jeff could swear the Ship was holding back a snigger.

"No, my Prime, I did not know. The probability did exist, however. Do you wish for me to install fail-safes in your mind as well?"

"Uh, no," Jeff stumbled out, taken aback. "Uh, at least not right now." He knew the Ship wasn't lying to him. He had accepted the kitten's teleporting as a fluke of nature influenced by the Healer's enhancement, but Selina, too? No way. That would be pushing coincidence too far. And what did the Ship mean about installing fail-safes in him? He didn't want to know right now.

When Jeff's mind merged with the Ship's, there was no possibility that she could lie to him – at least he didn't think there was – but he could feel an underlying ... smugness. She was amused by his memory of Selina chasing her kitten.

Before he realized he was doing it, "Does your question imply that you think I know how to do it, too?"

There was a hesitation from the Ship. She might not be able to lie to him, but Jeff felt she might be holding something back.

The Ship seemed at first to sidestep his question as she answered, "As we previously discussed, Primes have abilities other Alpha's do not possess. I prefer that you discover those abilities for yourself. I began the rudiments of your enhancement process in my birthplace under the mountain, but at that time you were a new and unknown species, and ... a Prime. Logic dictated that I should proceed slowly. Little One, as you refer to the Prime healer, has continued the enhancement process in the last few of your months. Your brain is continuing to grow new pathways that are both more efficient and much more variable than the originals. Remember, you are not the species that Little One and I were designed to care for, and the abilities your species once possessed have diminished significantly from their origins.

"The child's brain is, in many ways, significantly different from what appears to be the norm for your species. In addition to her intellect, she has an ... almost all-consuming drive to learn. She refers to this drive as curiosity. In addition, she has an ability to focus her intellect that is well beyond her age, at least as far as I am able to determine through my connections to your species' data bases. She also has attributes reminiscent of a Prime's. It will be interesting to observe her as she matures."

Jeff thought about pushing the Ship for details, but her thoughts came back before he could proceed. "I will, of course, answer your questions to the best of my ability, should you insist, but again, I believe it would be counterproductive at this point. You are becoming more and more aware of your capabilities, despite your continuing to have doubts that you are a Prime. I feel it is best to allow your brain to proceed at its own pace."

"I believe that circumstances..." Jeff began to deny yet again that he was anything special.

"You, your team and I would still be in my birth place under that mountain, if you were not a Prime. Unless you dictate it, I can not be commanded by anyone else. Even then, it would be a shallow command at best. We have already discussed those circumstances.

"Obviously, you are not the Prime I had been waiting for, but just as obviously, he was not coming. Because of that, I was able to accept you as my commander. Once that decision was made, it can not be changed. You are a Prime. You are my Prime, and therefore my Commander. Nothing will change that. There was no other Prime on that planet, nor am I aware of others on this planet. But even if there were, nothing would change the fact that you are my commander – nothing.

"Your mind is changing as emerging abilities are enhanced and some atrophied abilities redevelop. It is best we leave those processes to mature on their own.

"I am aware that your General and his technicians strive to understand the craft I reside in and am a part of, and I have allowed them some trivial information in return for my studies of them, but they are, at most, capable solely of a rudimentary understanding of my systems. Of course, they are not certain that I am studying them. However, several of the smarter ones suspect it.

"As much as they have tried, they have absolutely no understanding of how my shields function. Indeed, they are not even aware of my hull and equipment shields – instead, they think I am composed of some exotic material that defeats analysis and turns away their drills and lasers. To some slight degree, they are correct, at least concerning the makeup of my structure. But they will never circumvent the shields to even begin to examine what they think is probably some type of metal. They have no concept of how shields operate, let alone know anything of my primary war shields, and certainly not anything of my offensive weapons."

When Jeff had walked out of the living room, Diana turned to Selina, who was still standing with her kitten clutched to her chest. "Are you okay?" the Queen asked.

"I am ... fine," Selina answered, the look of shock still on her face just before the tears started. As Diana took a step toward her, Selina turned and rushed out of the room.

When Diana walked out in the hallway to follow Selina, she met Arlene. "What's wrong with Selina, Mom? She's crying, but she just ran down the hall when I tried to ask her what was wrong."

Diana hesitated, then said, "I think she accidentally teleported in an effort to catch Billy. And I think your dad has decided that the Ship taught her how to teleport when she sat in one of the command chairs. At any rate, he's gone to talk to the Ship. I'm not exactly sure why Selina is upset. Maybe it's just the shock of realizing she teleported. She was aggravated with Billy for some reason. Please tell the others I may not be available to help prepare lunch. I think Selina needs someone to talk to just now."

That Selina had teleported got Arlene's full attention. "She teleported? Oh, crap. I'm jealous. Did you see her? Are you sure? How did she do it?"

But Diana was shaking her head. "I have no idea other than she must have been chasing Billy. I'll let you know what I find out, but I need to go and be with her now."

Arlene briefly hugged her mother. "We'll bring the two of you plates. Tell her we all love her."

Shortly, Diana knocked on the outside door of Selina's suite, but there was no answer. Letting herself in, she knocked on the bedroom door, then slowly pushed it open and went on in. Selina was lying on her side on the bed, her kitten tucked under her arms, the child silently crying.

Diana toed her shoes off, leaving hers beside Selina's, then slid into bed and snuggled the child to her, the kitten between them. There was a muffled "Mmeeow," from Billy as he worked his way from between the two, then crawled to Diana's shoulder, his tiny purr audible.

After just holding Selina for a while, the Queen kissed the six-year-old's forehead and quietly said, "You have done nothing wrong."

"But our Prime is angry with me," Selina whined.

"What?" the Queen said, pushing back a little to look into Selina's red and swollen eyes. "Whatever made you think that? He is not mad at you. You did nothing wrong," she repeated.

"But ... he stated he was going to talk to the Ship, and he said it in reference to my teleporting. It was instantly apparent that he assumed the Ship had taught me to teleport, and he was displeased in regard to that."

"So? That doesn't mean that he is mad at you. I'm sure he is concerned for your safety and wants to know why the Ship taught you to teleport without first asking his permission to do so."

"But the Ship did not teach me to teleport. I am not even certain I know how. I do not think..." But even before the words could form, she realized she did know how. All she had to do was ... She cancelled the thought before she could complete it.

"Selina?" the Queen said as she watched the expressions chase each other across the little genius' face.

Instantly, Selina sat up to look down at her Queen. "It is as if you had instructed yourself not to think of something. It would be impossible to refrain from it. I could return to the living room by mentally picturing it, but I must not do that or... KaPOP," and Selina was gone.

Diana sat up. "Oh, great." She had just stood, then stooped to pick up her shoes when Selina appeared beside her, the child's faced flushed as she rubbed her butt.

"I shall have to contemplate this," the child asserted. "I materialized in the living room ... sitting approximately two and one half feet above the floor. Then gravity exerted its normal influence. I am exceedingly thankful that floor is carpeted."

Selina sat back on the bed, looking up at Diana. "Are you certain that My Prime is not angry with me?"

Diana stepped over and hugged the six-year-old to her again. "Jeff is not that easy to anger, well not at us, anyway. Someone who threatens us will receive his instant ire, though."

"Yes," Selina interrupted. "I was forced to observe the video at one tenth its normal speed in order to see My Prime's knife move through that man."

"You watched that in slow motion?" Diana got out.

"It was rather gory," Selina admitted. "Was that evidence of his anger? I could ascertain no observable reaction at all."

"Trust me. He was pissed. Look, Baby, Jeff isn't mad at you. He's just concerned because he loves you. However, it would probably be advisable to let him know that the Ship didn't teach you how to do this. I'm sure he is worried about the inherent dangers associated with your ability."

"I will quickly learn to control this new ability, My Queen. I do not wish to cause concern for you or our Prime."

Diana hugged Selina to her. "Jeff will be back soon. We'll see what he thinks."

There was a knock and the door opened. Arlene came in pushing a serving cart with Jeff following the young wife.

SHERIFF TATE'S HOME

Quinton Tate walked in the back door of his house. Since Virginia's car was gone, he knew his wife, sister-in-law and his nieces had already left for the Retreat. About ten last night, they had kissed him as they headed for bed, and Virginia reminded him they would not see him until the wedding. He had gone to the guest room as ordered, but he wasn't pleased with the situation. Having decided to eat at the diner, he had gotten up early this morning and left without seeing any of his women.

I haven't had any pussy since Sunday night, he grumbled to himself. I was really getting used to Virginia and Elizabeth meeting me nude and on their knees at the back door when I come home from work. A great welcome home. Damn, that was sexy, but they all decided that our wedding night would be better if I had to wait a couple of days before having them again. I wonder whose big idea that was? Then, Virginia forbade me from jerking off. They keep forgetting that Little One has enhanced us. I've fought an erection all day at work and I feel like I have enough come built up to fill all four of them. Hell, maybe that's the idea. We haven't discussed kids. Surely they haven't decided to all have babies at the same time. Oh, shit. I need to think about something else.

After a moment, "All day," he snarled quietly. I had planned to get off at noon and take the rest of the week off as vacation. I certainly have enough of it built up, and I've worked enough extra hours that no one at the department would even think about complaining that I'm not doing my part. I would have made it out the door on the dot of noon if Maxwell hadn't stopped me in the hall to talk. Then that bitch came in to complain about her husband, two brothers and one of her sisters being arrested last night, and all of them being Tasered. I took her into my office and read the arrest reports to her, and pointed out that one of my deputies received a broken nose, and another a sprained back as he was pushed down the front porch steps.

The bitch got louder and louder, then came across my desk after me. It must run in the damn family. Well, at least she now knows what the others felt like when my deputies Tasered them. That whole fucking family is nuts. My Taser damn sure changed her attitude, though. Then I had to spend more time booking the bitch, writing up the incident and filling out an arrest report. I should have taken the whole day off and not gone in at all.

Unconsciously shaking his head, I need to forget all that crap. I'm marrying my sister-in-law and my nieces today. Well, actually, I'm remarrying my wife as well. I guess I won't be able to bitch any longer about Virginia and Elizabeth having made love to each other, and Virginia basically cutting me off during that time. But Elizabeth was mourning her husband's death, and Virginia was consoling her the only way she knew how. But I'm still a little pissed at Virginia for basically cutting my sex off while she made love to her sister during that time. Shit, all that's behind us. I need to forget about it. All marriages have a bump now and then. I sure can't complain about the way Virginia and Elizabeth treat me now, not to mention the girls. If it hadn't been for Jeff's Healer, the four of them would have fucked me to death by now.