Chapter 284

"I'll be back in a minute," the Prime said, rising to his feet and quickly walking out the door. A moment later, he stepped through the hatch, and using his military cell, called the Retreat. When he had Joyce on the phone, he said, "Art, Jeremy, Van, Dave, and Jesse are starting their training in the simulator, and Arlene and Ann are finishing up their training on the interceptor. Since Jesse volunteered..."

Joyce, anticipating what her husband was going to ask, broke in before he could finish. "Yes! I'll be right there."

"I'll tell Ship to hold up beginning until you get here." But he was talking to himself because Joyce had already shut the phone off, tossed it on the coffee table and had burst out of their suite at a dead run.

Jeff remained just outside the hatch waiting. Within moments, the people door of the garage crashed open, then slammed shut as Joyce, not bothering with a coat, sprinted toward the Ship.

When she ran up the ramp, he grabbed his deputy wife, walked through the hatch as she tried to kiss him, then pointed to the pulsing light and said, "Ship will show you the way. Everyone is waiting for you."

"Thanks, Baby," she said, torn between wanting to really thank him for remembering her, but also wanting to be with the others. She smashed her mouth to his for an instant and was gone at a run.

When he walked back into the lounge, Diana smirked at him. "I assume she wanted to train?"

"Yeah. She was a bit reluctant, but I talked her into it," he said, deadpan.

Diana frowned at him, wondering, but turned back to the others without saying anything.

Jeff, Diana, Fred, Matt, Quinton and Ship were all that were left around the big table. "We'll continue with our planning session. I've instructed Ship to bring them all out of their simulations in two hours. While they take a break from training, we'll bring them up to speed on what we've tentatively decided, and get their input."

"I feel guilty for not volunteering," Matt started even as Quinton and Fred also began to say something similar.

Jeff knew that Fred had been in the process of volunteering with the others when Jeff had almost imperceptibly shaken his head at his longtime friend. "For now, I need the three of you right here, and you two," he said, focusing on Matt and Quinton, "have positions that need to be maintained should Earth actually be attacked by these aliens. No telling how people will react, but panic is bound to be high on the list of probabilities. Sooner or later, there will be time for all my Alphas to train, but I don't want everyone tied up at the same time, and I need some level heads to continue to help me plan."

"What did the General have to say about the possible attack?" Diana asked.

"I briefed him and gave him a copy of the vids. He had a meeting with Lieutenant Mayfield, and is on the way back to begin preparing the base. In essence, I told him that the base's weapons would probably be useless against the alien assault craft, since Ship says they are protected with shields, and the base certainly has no way to protect itself against being bombarded by asteroids. There are deep caverns under the base. His intention is to move non-defensive personnel and families to those caverns when I give him word of the impending attack. As a first step, he is to begin moving food and sanitary facilities to those caverns and to initiate procedures to move personnel at a moment's notice. Everyone is blocked, so he can give them the facts without worry of it getting out to the public."

There was quiet for a minute as they all took in what Jeff had just said. "Well, to state the obvious, we need to maintain constant surveillance of that ship," Matt offered. "Too bad we can't let the public in on what's going on, but as we all know, there would be worldwide panic as soon as the announcement went out. I doubt if the politicians will allow the public to know, panic or no panic. Politicians will first think of the votes they would lose, since they basically killed our space program and thus any hope of defense from any attack from space."

"And..." Quinton inserted, "it galls my butt to think I have to act like a politician to get reelected to..."

Fred's laughter overrode the Sheriff. "Quint, after what you did with that DA, you will go back in office for the next twenty years without even trying to campaign – and you know it. I don't think there's anyone out there dumb enough to waste money on a campaign against you."

"Maybe you're right," the Sheriff admitted, "but I can't chance it. I still have to meet with all those ladies' auxiliaries and such like, just in case. Hell, those people have gone to bat for me, and I can't let them down, but ... dammit, it gets boring."

Jeff grinned at Quinton, but went on. "Like we've mentioned before, we particularly need to remain undetected in our surveillance. We surely don't need the aliens sending for additional ships before they attack. Ship says she can take that monster..."

"I am fully confident," Ship interrupted to say, "but there is no sense in having to fight an armada."

"How do we know that they haven't already sent for help?" Fred asked, reasonably.

Jeff glanced at his friend. "We don't. And that brings up another point. We need to be particularly observant of any communications in either direction. Ship?"

"Message torps are easily detectable when they enter or leave warp. Ann left pickets within range of the alien ship. When we return, the pickets will update our scout on what they have observed."

"What are these 'pickets'? Aren't you afraid the aliens will notice them and give us away?" Fred wanted to know.

Jeff let out a chuckle. "Not much chance of that. They're about the size and thickness of your thumbnail and they're using only passive methods of surveillance. Even so, if one of the alien vessels comes within a critical distance, the picket will dissolve into a faint mist of atoms. Remember, we're not talking about Earth technology here, but Ship's. When our scout returns within range, the pickets will tight-beam what they have learned, then reset and continue to watch."

Diana reached over to place her hand on her husband's. "So, who are you going to send out there? You know Ann will want to go back."

"Arlene," he replied, quietly.

"Hmmm. I thought she didn't get to go because she's second in command?" Diana said as a question.

Jeff shifted uncomfortably. "You know there's going to be trouble if our daughter doesn't get to go out there, particularly considering how much training she has ... endured. To understate, that training isn't a bed of roses. Besides, she needs the experience."

"She's our daughter, Jeff," the Queen responded.

"So, is she more important than Ann?"

"What? No. I didn't mean that, I..."

"I'm sending Arlene..."

"Not in that interceptor," Diana insisted. "I know my daughter. She's spoiling for a fight with these beings..."

"And I am too, Baby. But she's not stupid. She knows how important it is to not warn these aliens that we're aware of them. Also, Ann has taken the risks to learn as much as she could about their mining operations. We've come to an educated guess about what the aliens are doing. For now, we'll go with that until, and unless, something comes up to change that theory. Gut feeling – they're going to attack Earth. We have no other choice but to operate under that assumption and prepare as best we can. That means that Dave and Evie need to keep pushing this rock boring company."

"And with Dave now training..." Matt injected.

"He'll be back in a couple of hours, but ... we need to get Evie in here and part of this."

"Give me your phone," the Queen said, "and I'll call her."

The Retreat

Selina paced back and forth in her bedroom as Billy sleepily watched from his position curled up on his mistresses' pillow on the bed. Although the little genius wasn't aware of it, her mannerisms as she paced were that of an adult – a pissed-off adult. She knew that a meeting concerning the aliens was going on, and she had not been invited. At first, she wasn't too concerned, since it was a meeting of the Alphas, but she had come to realize that Diana, Arlene and Ann were a part of it, too. She had recently seen Evie hurrying toward the back, and there was little doubt that she was also headed for the Ship.

She wondered why they would not take advantage of her intellect, and thought about going out to the Ship, but remembered that Helen had not been part of the meeting, either. If they had not used an adult genius, then there was no valid argument she could envision to insinuate herself into the meeting. During her contemplations, the phone had rung with a call from Meg Kimbrel, the lady who sold the Matthews the two puppies.

Well, the call wasn't exactly for Selina. Meg had wanted to talk to Jeff or Diana, then when told they weren't available, she had asked for Arlene, but Laura, who had answered the phone, had finally directed her to Selina.

The gist of the call was that Mrs. Kimbrel had two kittens that she had been unable to find a suitable home for. Although she had received several offers from potential pet owners, she had felt uncomfortable with the people and refused to sell a kitten to any of them. She had remembered the Matthews and decided to give them a call. While talking to her on the phone, Selina had gone online to view the kittens on Mrs. Kimbrel's website, and had immediately fallen in love with the tiny felines. One was a fairly rare snow white, female Himalayan with gold markings on her face, ears, feet and tail. The other was a beautiful cinnamon (with typical ticked, tabby hair) Abyssinian with a white blaze on her throat. In addition, the Himalayan had the brightest blue eyes Selina had ever seen in any picture of a cat, and the Abyssinian, was equally as beautiful in Selina's opinion, and had very intense green eyes. One was nine weeks old and the other ten, both healthy according to Mrs. Kimbrel's vet. After becoming frustrated that she could not find a suitable home for the kittens, Mrs. Kimbrel had remembered the Matthews and decided to call them. As soon as the little genius saw the short video of the kittens playing, she was sold on the idea. After determining the price for each, Selina convinced Meg to hold the kittens for up to a week until she (Selina) could obtain permission to take one.

(Note: The Abyssinian is a breed of domestic shorthaired cat with a distinctive "ticked" tabby coat, in which individual hairs are banded with different colors.)

Thanking the lady profusely for thinking of them, she hung up the phone. Now to convince the Matthews. She knew that her best approach would be that Billy was lonesome. Spike and Sugar had each other to play with, but Billy had no other feline to associate with, and was constantly getting into trouble. She realized there were holes in her logic, but she still felt this approach would be the optimal route to use in obtaining a kitten. She weighed the pros and cons (not many cons) of the two kittens. Which should she pick? Then an idea struck. Now she knew. But how best to approach the Matthews.

Hand on hip, and back to pacing. She needed to talk to Jeff and Diana, but knew that interrupting a meeting to talk about a new kitten would scarcely be seen as a responsible adult act. Her mind bounced back to the subject of that meeting. Why had they not included her in any discussion about the aliens? She was a navigator in training. Their meeting must necessarily involve the Ship, and she was part of Ship's crew. True, she was an honorary part, but only because she was six. If she had been an adult, she would have full respect just as Arlene and Ann had. Not fair. But fair or not, she was a child, and the adults would continue to protect her "vulnerabilities." She almost cursed in her frustration, but remembered Diana's discussion with her concerning corporal punishment. In the beginning, Diana had made it clear that misbehavior would result in discipline, genius or not, and that physical punishment would not be off the table, should it become necessary. Selina had never cursed, anyway – at least not since she began living with the Matthews. Starting cursing now, frustration or not, would be self-destructive. Most of the time, everyone that lived in the Retreat treated her as an adult. She realized that was a compliment and didn't intend spoiling it.