Chapter 278

The Retreat

At breakfast, Jeff brought up the subject of Ann having taken one of the scouts out in search of whatever was making the anomaly. That opened the floodgates, and almost everyone had questions, many of which Jeff was not able to answer.

Angie took a sip of orange juice before turning to Jeff and hesitantly asking, "But, aren't you worried about her being out there all alone? What if there is a ship out there? What if she's discovered and attacked?"

"Hon..." Eric began as he put a hand on hers, worried that she might have overstepped her bounds.

"No," Jeff said, smiling as he addressed Eric. "We're all family. Angie has every right to ask questions." Turning back to her, he continued, "As I've already said, I had this idea that I would crew the Ship with family – mainly because of the power involved. Power that I can not risk getting out of our hands. I know each and every one of you. Know you in ways you're probably not even aware of. I feel something from every member here at this table, not to mention Arlene and Laura who are on the Ship waiting for Ann's return. I trust my team with my life, but I can't feel them, and consequently I can't know if one of them decides that he or she would like to be the master of this world. Maybe that's a bit overly dramatic, but remember, nothing on this Earth could even mark Ship. There could be no defense against her.

"Theoretically, Ship will only respond to commands from Arlene or me, and possibly Diana under certain circumstances. But a crew will eventually know Ship ... intimately. The old adage about absolute power comes to mind. I trust family because I can feel them – know them. I made Ann second to Arlene because my daughter wanted me to, and Ann has the qualifications. In addition, Ship thought that Ann would fit the position.

"Ann's progress through the simulator's academy has been quite similar to Arlene's, even though the Ship started Ann out a week or two behind the other 'students' in her class. In other words, she studied her ass off to catch up with the rest of her class, then blew past the other students. Those students were Ship's imagination based on the race who built her – the AI, I mean. But to Ann, the students were just as real as you and me."

Jeff was quiet for a moment as he gathered his thoughts. "Before you ask, Ann has not violated any order or anything of that nature. True, she didn't tell me what she was going to do, or ask, and obviously she didn't do that for fear that I would have said no."

"And would you have?" Evie asked.

Jeff let out a soft sigh. "I would not have wanted her to go, but the fact remains, it was, and still is, something that desperately needs to be done. As it has been pointed out to me, I would not have hesitated to send one of my team out if he or she had been trained to operate the scout. The only thing that kept me from sending Ann out was her relationship with me – my spouse. And yeah, it scares the crap out of me to think about her being out there with whatever has caused the ripples. Logic dictates that it's a ship. Will they be friendly? Many races aren't.

"What I wanted to do was go myself. But what if this ripple were a diversion to draw Ship away from Earth for some reason? We 'heard' this ship, if it is a ship, but could that have been intentional? Ship says a warp pulse can only be detected for approximately a light minute in distance. To give you a little perspective, the sun is roughly eight and a half light minutes from Earth. But by Ship's latest estimate, the source of the ripple could be between four and eight light years from Earth – one hell of a lot of difference.

"Ship has hypothesized that the ripple could have been caused by a warp engine exploding while in warp. But she has other hypotheses that are equally bizarre. And she has detected another of these ripples, but it wasn't exactly the same as the first one. Whatever it was, it would be pushing credibility to think it was a natural phenomenon. Something or someone is out there doing something. Possibly they're in trouble and need help. Possibly they are aggressive. Ann went out there to find out. In the meantime, her mother is worried sick about her, and I'm not far behind. Ship says Ann can do it, and so does Arlene. There might come a time when I have to send a member of my family out on a mission similar to this, but I can hope that it never happens. Now, I just pray that she'll return unharmed – and with the information we need."

Jeff sat staring at his empty coffee cup, unaware of the conversations going on around him. The meal over, he went to his basement lab thinking he would get some work done and hopefully get his mind off worrying about Ann. Thirty minutes later, he realized that he had spent most of that time staring at the white board, his mind far from his invention.

Disgusted, he went back upstairs to find Dave and Evie dressed in work clothes and wearing tool belts. They had already taken down one of the sheets of thick paneling from the wall near the door to the living room in preparation for the instillation of the new gun safe lying a short distance away. The carpet was covered with a big sheet of plastic to protect it from their work.

"How's it coming?" Jeff asked, "and how come you're doing this, Evie?"

Evie grinned at him. "If only the family knows about the gun safes and their locations, then those locations will always be kept secret."

Jeff knew that, of course. Dave turned to look at his Prime. "Can't get your mind off Ann, huh?"

The Prime shrugged. "I thought about working on my invention, but ... you're right."

Dave pointed to a stack of two by tens. "Take the one I've already cut for a pattern and cut me three more just like it. This is a weight bearing wall, so we're going to have to put in enough headers to enable us to take out parts of several studs to make room for the gun safes. Thank goodness the walls are thick. We'll have plenty of room to hide the safes. And keep your mind on your work while that saw is running so Little One doesn't have to put a couple fingers back on."

"I'm not..."

Evie grabbed his neck and pulled him down to kiss his cheek. "You're walking around like a zombie. Ann will be back when she finishes her mission. Now hurry, we're gonna need some of those headers shortly."

Jeff looked at the contractor/project manager and his assistant/wife – Evie. Their construction company was now probably the biggest of its type around, at least in the number of employees, because of all the people they had to hire for the Midville project. While other construction companies cut back because of cold weather, snow and rain, Dave and Evie had gone on a hiring spree, and were still at it.

With Martha's new restaurant nearing completion, the two would have had to find something for those crews to do, but Jeff had bought the new, not-quite-completed ski lodge. In addition to finishing the buildings, he had decided on upgrading what had been built so far, and also building a dwelling for Jesse and Alesha. Not only would the crews have something to keep them busy for months, now Dave and Evie needed to hire even more personnel to get the lodge completed in a reasonable period of time. A lot of construction workers who would have been laid off this winter would, instead, be very busy, indeed. To keep the gun safes a secret, the Alpha and his mate were personally installing them.

"I brought an extra tool belt," Evie said, pointing. "We thought you might want to help in order to get some of the worry off your mind."

Damn. Am I that easy to predict? the Prime wondered. "Thanks. I guess you're right."

The piece they were using for a pattern was clearly marked as such and was lying across the saw horses. Putting three more on the horses, he used the pattern to mark the others, then cut the headers to length. While Jeff was doing that, Dave and Evie were nailing into place the uprights that would support the headers.

As the Prime set the two by tens down next to Dave and Evie, he asked Dave, "Why aren't you with the rest of the guys learning to shoot the pulse rifles this morning?"

Before Dave could answer, Evie, proud of her husband, responded. "As you know, my hubby was a sniper. After he fired on the range yesterday, the Sergeant told him not to bother coming back unless he just wanted to shoot some. Dave's skills are a little bit ahead of the other guys when it comes to firing a rifle, pulse or not."

"Shit, I should have thought of that..."

Dave let out a chuckle. "Oh, don't start, Boss. Firing the rifle was a nice break."

"He was probably giving the other guys a complex," Evie said, trying not to giggle.

The couple installed the headers on the uprights that they had just nailed into place. With the addition of the new headers, the wall would be just as strong as it was before they took out part of the studs to make room for the safes. What they were doing was similar to putting in an opening for a window, but the safe would go where the window normally would, and the paneling would cover it with a spring loaded and hidden latch to open the paneling on hidden hinges to reveal the safe.

As work progressed, both Dave and Evie kept watch on the Prime. Each time it became obvious he was worrying, they would "need" help with something. Of course it didn't take Jeff long to recognize what they were doing, but it made him realize, yet again, how close their relationship was and how much they cared for him.

Near Winter Park

On Hwy 40, Robertson followed a snowplow down the mountain toward Winter Park. He had been very careful to obey the traffic laws on the trip so as not to draw attention to themselves. He had a court date coming up next month for an arson charge that Mr. Mazarella said he would make go away if they were successful today. He glanced at his snoring partner. Morales had served nine years for a second degree murder conviction, and was out on parole. If he was caught out of state, he would go back for the rest of his sentence. And if I'm caught on a second charge of arson with one already waiting in the wings, I'm fucked. But the money is good. Even better than good, and besides, I don't dare tell Mazarella no, Robertson thought as he glanced in his mirror at the line of vehicles behind them. Shit, will we ever get there? I hate these mountain roads.

The snowplow driver braked as he negotiated a hairpin curve on the mountain, and Robertson almost rear-ended the big dump truck. "Shit," he muttered. "You think this son-of-a-bitch can drive any fucking slower?"

Morales awakened and sat up straighter. "Shit. You almost hit that thing, didn't you?"

"'You almost hit that thing, didn't you, '" Robertson mimicked in a high voice. "All you have done is sit there and sleep – and gripe. So shut the fuck up."

"I told you I'd drive, but you wouldn't let me."

"Hell no; I'm not gonna let you drive." Knowing he probably hadn't, Robertson asked, anyway. "Did you even try to get your license reinstated after you got out on probation?"

"Yeah. I called them. But they wanted proof that I have this special, very expensive insurance, then I would have to go to a driving class, or some bullshit, because I had three DUI's. Plus I have to have a clear drug test before they'll let me go to the school. Fuck their asses."

"If I let you drive, sure as shit, the fucking cops will have a driver's license check out here in the fucking sticks. That's all we need. Now sit up for a while. I'm tired of hearing your damn snoring."

"I don't snore," Morales objected.

"'I don't snore, '" Robertson mimicked. "Maybe you don't. Maybe there's just a sick moose in the back seat making that racket."

"I'm hungry," Morales griped. "We need to stop and get a hamburger."

"Well, you just jump right out and get us one," Robertson snarled. "Just which one of these damn trees we've been passing for the last thirty minutes do you think has a hamburger joint hidden behind it, huh?"

"Well, it can't be that far to Winter Park, can it?"

"GPS says 8.7 miles to the motel. Bound to be something around there. Now shut the fuck up before you piss me off again."

A little later, Robertson checked them in at the motel using the credit card that Mazarella's crony had provided, and he wasn't asked for proof of his identity, so he didn't have to use the fake driver's license Mazarella's people had also provided. He made sure to use his own pen to sign in, and was careful to not touch anything with his fingertips other than the room keycard, and he planned to wipe that clean before they left. He had fucked up once. He was going to be a lot more careful this time.