Chapter 247

In the chalet, Lieutenant Richardson walked through the house, carefully inspecting each room. The house now appeared as if no one had been there. The only difference was some of the food that the diplomat had ordered was gone, and several towels and two sets of sheets would be missing when they left, but there were more towels and sheets in the closet. The beds were remade and the bathrooms were put in perfect order. It was doubtful that anyone would notice the absence of a few linens in a rental. Apparently the girls had been locked in the attic bedroom of the chalet, and one of the kidnappers had used a ground floor bedroom while the other two had slept on the couches in the living room.

Richardson's team had been wearing gloves, of course, and they had painstakingly cleaned every surface in the house that was capable of bearing fingerprints and/or DNA. Finally, Richardson approved the house. They expanded the folding stretchers, strapped two of the kidnappers onto one of them, and put the other one by himself on the second stretcher, then picked up the bags of trash and linens. "We need to have some blankets made out of the camouflage," Richardson commented. "If we had them, we could cover the stretchers, but as dark as it is, we shouldn't be seen, anyway. We'll stay in the woods, and take our time as we walk out."

Carter and Jones, both big men, took the double stretcher, while two others of the team got the single one. Richardson put the fourteen-year-old, snuggled in a blanket, over his shoulder, while another team member took the twelve-year-old.

House locked, the door key under the flower pot, the unlocked van's key in the ignition, a tracker left on its roof to facilitate the vehicle's retrieval, they walked around the house and began their slow trek down the mountain. The two team members who had remained outside came behind them with equipment that obliterated tracks. There were no nearby neighbors, but Richardson cautioned the rescue team to remain quiet, anyway. Nothing was left to chance that didn't have to be.

Back in the Ship, Gomez and the part of the team that had gone with Jeff sat in the ready room watching a holo that showed a three-dimensional view of the burning limo. There wasn't an outside surface that wasn't dented, warped or burned, the bodies inside little more than skeletons after the gasoline fire. There were some scuff marks on the road and a badly dented guard rail where the fast-moving limo struck the barrier. A wreck caused by a dangerous, unfamiliar road and a vehicle that was moving too fast. The wreck wouldn't be found until morning. Because the driver had used an assumed identity when he rented the limo, it would take several days for the limo to be tied to the missing diplomat and thus, the bodies to be identified.

The team sat in the lounge, but everyone remained alert as they waited for the rescue team to reach the rendezvous point. After a silent message from Jeff, Arlene moved the Ship. Invisible, quiet as a falling leaf, the Ship drifted into the clearing to hover a few inches above the ground as the rescue team made its way into the clearing. The ramp appeared and was easily visible with their night vision. Richardson stood back, the girl over his shoulder, and ushered his team aboard, before taking one last look around and ascending the ramp himself. Once he was through the hatch, the ramp snapped out of existence and the invisible Ship rose above the trees.

Inside, the Ship provided a comfortable surface for the sleeping girls, and Richardson and the other team member gently put them on it. At Jeff's direction, the stretcher bearers dumped the kidnappers, along with their bags of trash and linens, in another room. As the stretcher bearers and Jeff turned to leave, there was a "whap" of displaced air and the kidnappers were gone, along with the bags of refuse. "Ship sent everything to a dimension that doesn't allow any matter, and the dimension is rather violent about it," he understated. "The kidnappers don't exist anymore."

"Too good for them," one of the women growled out. "They didn't even know they were going to die."

"I agree, but my orders were to execute the kidnappers, not torture them," the Prime responded. "They've been executed."

In seconds, the Ship was high over the clearing, but Arlene waited for her father. When he entered the bridge, Selina glanced at him, but then locked her eyes on her console. His voice flat, Jeff addressed Selina, "Navigator, plot us a course for the girls' home."

Of course, the Ship could do it from the information Jeff had given her – had, in fact already done so, but Jeff wanted Selina to do it.

Selina, having anticipated, said, "Course entered, Captain."

Suddenly, Terri, the fourteen-year-old, crashed onto the bridge, Richardson and two of the team a step or two behind her.

As the girl skidded to a halt, grinning from ear to ear, Richardson quietly said, "Sir, we have a problem."

"No shit," Arlene whispered as Richardson motioned his people to return to their duties.

Selina just stared. Kayla, sitting near Selina, let a smile touch her lips.

The girl looked around her, obviously enthralled with what she was seeing. Her eyes locked on the big holo screen in the front of the bridge as it showed the road and mountain far below as if it were daylight. "Wow! That's a holographic screen isn't it?" she blurted. Not waiting for a response, she went on. "This is a spaceship just like I heard those people say. I knew it was when we went up that ramp and there was nothing there until we got inside. But I didn't even feel us move. Now we're high up. I heard one of those men talking. It, the spaceship, uh, is a she, and she's sentient. That means she's conscious like us. That's impossible, too, just like that holographic screen, isn't it?"

Before anyone could answer, she turned her attention from the screen to Jeff. "I'm Terri. My sister and I were kidnapped by those evil men. She's Alice. They grabbed us and put us in that van. We tried to fight, but they gave us a shot that made us go to sleep. Alice and I almost escaped, but it was so dark that we couldn't see to run very well. They had a flashlight and caught us when we tried to hide. When they first took us to that house, I thought they would rape us, but they didn't. Two of them wanted to, but the other one said we had to be kept 'pristine.' I never thought about being pristine. But they were holding us for another evil man to come get us. I'm glad he didn't come. The next night while we were watching television, I saw a little dart hit one of those men in his forehead. He looked all funny, then just collapsed. Then one of those darts hit me. It stung and made me feel tingly all over, and very sleepy. I guess I slept for a little while, but I woke up in time to see people suddenly appear in the room. They all had on uniforms with helmets, and I couldn't see their faces until they made their visors go away. I knew that they thought I should be asleep, so I pretended to be – sometimes I was. My sister was sleeping, too."

Jeff was hard put to keep the grin off his face as the girl continued with her rambling, rapid speech, the words tumbling out of her mouth, as she jumped from one subject to another.

"You have found out how to become invisible, haven't you? That's supposed to be impossible. Are you aliens? You don't look like aliens. I heard those people who rescued us talking. Those are really odd-looking helmets. But I knew they are nice people because they came to rescue us, and this man," she said, turning to point at Richardson, "tried to make sure we were comfortable, and he was worried about us. The man they called 'Doc' took our blood pressure and checked our pulse, then said we were okay. That made me feel better." She pointed at Lieutenant Richardson again, "He's a nice man. He carried me on his shoulder through the woods and kept tucking the blanket tight around me so I wouldn't get cold. They took really good care of my sister, too. I almost giggled once when he stumbled and went to his knees, but he made sure not to drop me."

Turning fully back to Jeff, "You're the Captain, aren't you? You're sitting in that big seat like a Captain would. My sister and I read science fiction all the time, and we have some sci-fi games, too. My teachers say I read really fast. I've been double promoted and my sister has, too. The school principal talked to Daddy about promoting us again. I heard enough to know that you rescued us and executed those bad men. And I heard some things about this Ship that we're in, and I see that holographic screen. That's impossible, too, or it's supposed to be. I want to know everything, and you need to wake my sister so she can learn about things, too. She's really smart, just like me."

"Sir, this is all my fault..." Lieutenant Richardson said as the girl hesitated and looked around again.

"I think not, Lieutenant," the Prime replied with a grin he just couldn't quite conquer. "Sometimes things can't be prevented. I can see nothing that you did wrong. I've never heard of a nerve tranq dart not working properly. Perhaps the young lady has a metabolism that is a bit different, or the dart wasn't manufactured properly. Whatever. It appears that she's intelligent enough to fake sleep quite successfully. But you're definitely correct in one respect, we do have a problem – a big problem."

The girl turned to Richardson. "I don't like that stuff you shot me with. I still feel tingly and somewhat groggy."

"Give her the antidote. She's awake anyway."

Richardson reached in a pocket of his uniform, took out a patch, peeled the covering from it, and put the patch on the girl's neck as she held her hair aside. After a moment, she smiled at him. "That's better. It was you who shot me with that thing, wasn't it?"

At Richardson's bemused nod, she put her hands on her hips. "You shouldn't have shot me. That thing made me feel odd. If you wanted me to be quiet, all you had to do was ask. You need to hurry up and wake my sister. She needs to see everything. She likes scientific things as much as I do." Then turning back to Jeff, "She did blow up the chemistry lab, though. Daddy was really upset about that, and she almost got expelled from school, but Daddy bought some extra equipment for the lab and everything is fine now."

Arlene turned away, clapping a hand over her mouth to keep from giggling. Then, her face red, she turned back to the girl, but before she could say anything, Terri nodded at Arlene. "She's sitting in the only other seat like yours on this ... uh, bridge, so she must have command status, too. I think that's what they called it on Star Trek." Then pointing to Selina, "She's only six or seven, but she's working at that, uh, station, and she's wearing a uniform, too." Selina froze. Terri, turned back and looked hard at Jeff. "Captain, I want to be part of your bridge crew, like on Star Trek: The Next Generation. I've watched all the old series on Netflix. I could be an acting Ensign just like Westley Crusher was in the series. Oh, that was fiction, but I could study hard and be a real part of your crew. My sister is smart, too, but she's only twelve. I'm feeling a lot better now, but I'm hungry and I need to go to the bathroom."

"Daddy..." Arlene said, coming to her feet, forgetting to be professional.

"Yeah," Jeff responded, absently, then glancing at his daughter, "Uh, take care of her, Number One. I need to think..."

As the girls went out the door, "I'll go with them, Captain," Kayla said to her husband.

Jeff grinned at her. "Good idea. See if you can keep that girl from taking over the Ship while I try to come up with a solution."

"No promises, Husband," she said with a giggle as she hurried to catch up with Arlene and Terri.

When Terri was out of earshot, Richardson looked at his commander. "Manning was in the room with the girls, and I was almost to the door when she blazed past me. Manning yelled to me that the kid just suddenly bolted. I can't believe how fast that girl can run. She was almost to the bridge when we finally caught up with her, but I was afraid I would hurt her if I tackled her. What in the world are we going to do? She's obviously been awake most of the time – and listening. Plus, she's smart – damn smart. She played me for a fool. I had no idea – no idea at all – that she wasn't fully under. She's seen everything. Can we use the blocks on the two of them?"

Jeff leaned back on the command couch and put his hands behind his head, lacing his fingers as he thought. "Not without her parents' permission? Make that her father's permission. According to the police report, her mother is deceased."