Chapter 206

Shortly after Jeff entered the bridge, sat on the left command couch and became one with the Ship's vast mind, Arlene slipped into the second couch. After waiting a moment for her to settle in, "So, to what do I owe this honor?" Jeff sent to his daughter via the Ship's mind.

"That's ... eerie," she responded in kind.

"But much faster than speech," he returned. "Besides, a ship's Master and his Number One should be able to speak privately to each other, right?"

"My sister-wives are already teasing me about the Number One thing. Don't you start kidding me, too, Husband."

"Who's kidding? Protocol aboard Ship would certainly dictate your having a title. I think that Number One will do just fine. I never did particularly like the XO thing." Then after a second, "It's not as if there is a lot of precedent about command structure and titles on a starship – well, at least a starship from Earth, anyway."

With her mental voice a bit strained, "You are kidding, right?"

"Wrong, Number One. Get used to it."

Arlene tried to sit up straight, but that wasn't easy until the seat released her. Then slumping back a moment later, she sighed audibly and continued via the Ship, "But I'm..."

" ... just sixteen," Jeff quickly responded, anticipating her. "Yeah, I know. We've gone this route before, but you're also a genius, and..."

"I am not, Daddy. Well, just barely, maybe, if you're talking about IQ scores," she admitted, "But Ann is just as smart as I am..."

"As I've just said, we've already covered this," he admonished. "You two are different from each other, and you know it. Yes, indeed, Ann is very intelligent, but this isn't her field. You, on the other hand, are a natural born leader, and the Ship knows that. Don't forget, she's the one who chose you, but I totally agree with her. I haven't forgotten what you did on that intelligence mission..."

"But Daddy, that was only a simulation."

"Was it? Prove it to me. Show me one bit of concrete evidence that you didn't go on that mission."

"I'm back in one piece. That's proof. Those energy weapons caught up with my little ship. I ceased to exist. The simulation shut down."

"So, how do you know that the mother ship didn't snatch you out of there a millisecond before the beams destroyed you, hmmm? Think about it."

Arlene twisted her body to look directly at her father. "You know it was a simulation."

"I know my daughter completed an impossible mission..."

" ... and came back to tell about it only because it was a simulation. If the mission had been real, I would be dead, but you, on the other hand, completed it and survived. Why are you trying to mess with my mind? It was a simulation."

"My point is that it's virtually impossible to detect any difference between a simulation by the Ship and the real thing. You have the intelligence and the innate skills of command. Sixteen isn't a drawback, indeed, the opposite; it's an advantage. You have a longer time to learn."

"But," she blustered, "nobody is going to take orders from a sixteen-year-old. Not serious orders, anyway."

"I didn't say it would be easy, but I suspect our crew will acknowledge truth. And the truth will be that you will know more about the Ship than anyone else, except me – far more. The rest will come with time – as you earn their respect and trust."

"But what if the Ship finds someone who is better at what she needs than I am?"

"So ask her? She hears everything we say, anyway."

Before Arlene could even form the thought, the Ship spoke in her mind, "I have made my decision. That decision will not change. Your training awaits you. I must warn you, however, it will be an ongoing experience and rigorous. If you were not capable, I would not have chosen you. The training will be long and occasionally ... painful, both mentally and physically."

Arlene shifted strategies. "But what about the college courses I'm taking?"

"Oh, woe is me," Jeff teased as he reached over and poked her in the ribs.

"Daddeee," she hissed out, "I'm serious."

"Your high school curriculum is finished, right?" At Arlene's nod, he went on. "Helen tells me you and Ann are just waiting until Jennie and Melissa finish up, so you will all 'graduate' together, but the fact is that both you and Ann have technically graduated, already. Am I wrong?"

"Uh, no," the young Queen admitted.

"And you and Ann are already taking a full load of college courses. Am I right?"

"Well, yeah. And that's my point..."

"Answer me this before you go on. Are there any of your text books that you have not already read – and memorized – from cover to cover?"

"Daddy that's..."

" ... pertinent to our conversation," he finished for her.

"That's not what I was going to say," she grumbled. "You're putting words in my mouth – or mind, or whatever," she finished, trying to hold back a giggle.

"And you're coasting along," he said, sobering her instantly. "With that gift of genius comes a packsaddle load of responsibilities."

"I'm not a mule," she tried to indignantly insert, but he paid no attention. "And besides, I spend a good bit of time helping Nat, Nicki and Whitney, and I do other things for Helen. Plus, I'm helping Helen, Laura and Ann write our AI's program," she admitted with a blush.

"Which is coming along fabulously, if you discount how uppity the thing is getting," he groused, but he couldn't hold back a grin as he said it.

"And I'm not just 'coasting' along, Daddy. You hurt my feelings..."

"I apologize for that, Sweetie. I was just trying to get my point across. Your college courses aren't going to hold you back as far as time is concerned. I'll see to it that Nat, Nicki and Whitney aren't slighted, and I know they need help to catch up, no matter how smart they are. I think you'll still have time to help Helen, Laura and Ann on occasion, and as far as that goes, exposure to the Ship's logic might very well help with your programming."

Arlene rose from her couch and sat on her husband's lap, his couch bringing him to a full sitting position as she did so. As soon as she could, she grabbed him in a fierce hug. "I'll try, Daddy, but I'm ... scared that I don't have whatever the Ship needs," she said directly to the Prime.

"How about when you out-shot that smartass with the rifle? You shut his mouth without stooping to his level. When he attacked you physically, you made a fool of him. You took out that mercenary, and in the process, turned the tide of battle in our favor. We would have been sitting ducks in the hallway with Helen in my arms and the guy with a submachine gun. He would probably have killed all of us right there.

"Do you think for one moment that I, or Diana for that matter, haven't noticed how you have assumed 'second in command' to run the Retreat? Oh, Diana is the undisputed Queen of our clan, but you take up much of the slack in the day-to-day running of the place and make her life a much easier one. My younger wives come to you, and on most things, so do the wives of the other Alphas, at least on a lot of the everyday decisions that have to be made. But you don't just make decisions, you cook, clean, take out the trash, everything, just like all my wives do. And ... you don't try to boss anyone around, nor try to take over in our bedroom."

"Other than sleeping on your shoulder," she corrected him. "Mom and I have told every wife before you married her that the two of us would sleep there most nights. I won't give that up."

"The two of you were first," he agreed, leaning in to touch his lips to hers for a second, and staring into her eyes. "I love you, you know."

"And I love you too, Husband," she responded, kissing his chin for a second. "But I'm gonna need help." Motioning around her, "She scares me." Arlene went quickly on before Jeff could comment, "Oh, I know she won't hurt me, but this ... this ship itself. Daddy, do you know how ... vast it is – she is? How can she be that way? From the outside, she looks like she's maybe a couple of hundred yards long – well when you can see her at all – but inside ... there are hallways – alleyways – whatever you call them on a ship, that look as if they go on forever. And those machines, whatever they do, just seem to go on as far as you can see. There seems to be endless ... rooms full of equipment, and I have no conception of their purpose. All of this scares the crap out of me. How can she have what seems like an infinite space within her? How can she do that?"

"And you think I know?" Jeff chuckled. "All I can say is that I told you she was a dimensional ship. When I tried to ask, what I got in response was ... well, a library of information. Unfortunately, I understood little to none of what she was trying to tell me. I'm not sure our human brains can understand how she constructed herself, let alone how she moves from one place to another. And for that matter, are you sure the passageways go on forever? Ever thought that we might be looking down through the dimensions to see the Ship, her passageways and machines repeated over and over again?

"I'm not sure she's even anchored primarily in this dimension. If she isn't, then it makes more sense to think that we see things repeated in other dimensions. I do understand that the dimensions have something to do with her shields, and I'm not just talking about a power source, either. I'm almost certain that she's surrounded herself with, for lack of a better term, another dimension – maybe a layer of another dimension.

"Something directed at her goes into that dimension, or is reflected by it. Hell, I don't know, but the scientists studying her seem to think that's a plausible hypothesis. She's absorbed every type of energy they have directed at her, yet she reflects any physical object like drills or rams."

"How will we ever understand her?" Arlene fretted.

Jeff grinned at his young wife. "How many people understand what goes on inside their televisions, or cell phones, hmmm? They still don't have any problem using them, well, unless you count overusing them," he finished, his grin getting bigger.

"You understand how they work, though," Arlene teased.

"Yeah, and I'm supposed to; after all, I am an engineer. But I can't use the end product any better than anyone else. We may never fully understand the Ship, though. I seriously doubt that the race that 'built' her could understand everything about her. They left their most advanced AI with a directive to build the most powerful warship that she – the AI – could imagine. They left her the equipment and means of developing that ship as well as expanding herself, then departed to go fight their battles, never to return. She had all the knowledge of that race and others to use as her starting point, and an awful long time to think, research and expand herself. She expanded her own capabilities until she was vastly more advanced than when her creators left her. She has built and refined this ... body that she resides in, with that directive pushing her to be better – always better.

"She has developed her own science. Science so far beyond what her creators imagined that there is no comparison. And you wonder why you don't understand her? I'm very afraid that mankind isn't, and will never be, capable of understanding exactly how she functions, but ... we can all still watch that television or use that cell, right? So you just need to learn how to do that with her. I suspect the rest will take care of itself, or at least, the Ship will take care of the rest. Whichever makes you feel better about it," he finished as his daughter laid her head on his shoulder.

"I'll try."

"No, My Wife. Remember, 'try' is a negative word. If I said I would try to walk across this room, it would sound ridiculous, right? 'Try' is negative."