Chapter 289

Deep Space

"The alien ship is moving," the scout's AI said, waking Arlene from a deep sleep. Naked, she came off her bunk at a run, grabbed the edge of her door, spun right, then ran down the short hallway to the bridge. "Brief me," she said, wiggling into her seat as the AI brought her forward screen on line.

"They are operating on a type of gravity drive. Compared to ours, it is inefficient," the AI said, smugly. "Even as we are conversing, they have again matched velocities with the asteroid belt and are shutting down their drive. I surmise that they are moving to another location to facilitate their mining operations, or at least to diminish the distance the tenders have to travel."

Arlene manually brought her ship out near the edge of the belt, but kept some of it between her and her AI's assumed position of the alien ship. She didn't want to do anything in haste that would give her position away and consequently allow the aliens to suspect she was from a nearby planet. Her AI assured her that she was on the same path the alien ship had taken, and fifteen minutes later as she closed the distance, it brought the alien ship's image up on her screen.

Breathing a sigh of relief, she settled in to watch again.

"If you wish to return to your quarters and continue your rest, I will notify you of any changes as soon as they occur."

Arlene looked at her reflected image in one of her inactive screens. Here I am talking to what sounds like a male while I'm totally nude, she thought. Then laughing to herself because she knew the AI wasn't self-aware, she nevertheless thanked him – it – and returned to her quarters. A few minutes later, she was back in dreamland.

The AI, having little to occupy itself, again ran Arlene's nude dash from her quarters to the bridge through its mind in an effort to determine just what it was that made the female of the human species attractive to the male. Bored, and unable to understand, he began plotting various courses to distant stars. That was much more interesting.

The Retreat

Jeff and Dave stood in the back near the new fence watching the flying cranes bring in the buildings and trailers. So far, they hadn't brought in any of the borers, but the electricians were already stringing wires, for both the borers and the various small buildings on the job site.

"Your crew put that chain-link fence up so fast yesterday that they made it look like magic," the Prime commented. "What did you use to push the posts into the ground so easily?"

Dave glanced at his Prime. "Make that crews; not crew. And they have done it enough that they have it down to a fine art."

"But I thought that the frozen ground would be a bitch to get those steel posts into."

Dave let out a chuckle. "Oh, trust me, it can be a hassle this high up in the mountains in winter, but we've learned to use a drastically downsized version of what is used to drive steel 'I' beams twenty or thirty feet into the ground to build highway bridge abutments on the Interstates, to mention just one example. The machines are called diesel hammers, or pile drivers. There are several variations of them. The way this machine is constructed, it's basically a diesel engine. When the piston fires, its forces are transferred to the post, and that has a hardened end that easily cuts through the frozen ground. Beats swinging a sledgehammer to drive a post in like they had to do many years ago, and some of the little gas rigs that are made for the job these days just don't work well up here where the ground is frozen so hard. Since the job had to be done in a hurry, we used three of the rigs to stay ahead of the crews that strung the fence. When the fortress is completed and these people are gone, I'll bring in a small crane to snatch the posts out of the ground as we take down the fence."

"I'm impressed," the Prime said.

"My job; your money," Dave teased.

Jeff nodded toward the top of the mountain. "Oh, shit. Here comes one of the big borers."

Dave was shaking his head. "Nope. That's one of the small ones. The big guy arrives in pieces. The helicopters can't pick up that much weight. Don't forget what I told you about the schedule, Boss. This is not going to be a fast process. I just hope the whole world doesn't know about it before it's finished."

"Word of mouth is all we have to worry about. Ship assures me that the satellites won't see a thing that we don't want them to see."

Dave frowned as he thought. "What about a little misinformation? We could let out a story about the rich guy on the mountain deciding to sell some of the granite he's sitting on. Everybody that knows anything about mining granite will know it's bullshit, but reality has never stopped the Federal Government from putting out their version of information. Might work for us, at least to muddy the waters a bit."

Jeff looked at his friend and chuckled. "Hell, do it. I imagine that it will fit right in with all the other rumors that are going on."

"You wouldn't believe what some of my people have told me they've heard."

"I don't even want to hear it," Jeff said with a laugh. "I have enough problems without worrying about rumors."

"I don't know. Some of them were pretty hot," Dave replied with a grin. "See you in a bit. I've got to check on something," the Project Manager finished as he hurried toward the gate in the fence.

Jeff and Lieutenant Mayfield stepped on board the Ship. A few moments later, Jeff ushered Mayfield to a seat on the bridge. Even as the Prime sat on one of the command couches, the forward screen showed an image of the Retreat as the Ship rapidly ascended. Several of the borer crew looked up at the sound of rolling thunder out of a clear sky. The Ship had translated.

Alice, Terri, Eric and Angie were in their sitting room, the two adults on one of the couches as they watched the sisters playing with the new kitten on the floor. The kitten chased a mesh ball with a bell inside it that the girls kept going for her. When Alice stifled a yawn for the third time in a few minutes, Angie and Eric looked at each other. "Did you two stay up late playing with the kitten last night?" Eric questioned his daughters with a frown.

Both girls shook their heads, but Terri answered for them. "Not the way you think. We had barely gotten to sleep when we heard this bloodcurdling scream. Honest, Daddy, it made chills go up and down my spine."

"Yeah," Alice agreed with feeling.

"Kitten missed her mother, hmmm?" Angie asked with a smile.

"Boy, did she," Terri agreed. "We had put her on the pillow between us, but she was on the floor when she woke us up. We warmed up a little milk and let her drink it. When she was done, we tucked her under the sheet with us and she went right to sleep, or at least, we thought she had. Same thing an hour or so later. I didn't know a kitten could make a sound like that. Anyway, that went on for most of the night, but when it was time to get up, she was sound asleep."

"Terri, you now have a vague inkling of an idea how your mom felt when you were a baby. For the first six months of your life, you must have had a button on your back. Oh, you were fine in the daytime. Come night, we could easily get you to sleep, but minutes after we put you in your bed, that button must have gotten pushed, those pretty eyes popped open and the yowling began. Your mom passed on when you were born, Alice, but you must have had a button too. Only this time it was Angie and I who had to deal with it, but then again, I guess the two of you were worth it," he finished with a grin.

After a chuckle or smile from everyone, "Are babies always like that?" Alice quietly asked.

Angie laughed. "I think that most new mothers would think so, but I've had friends whose new babies slept all night. Maybe our baby will too," she finished as she looked longingly at her brother.

Eric cleared his throat, realizing that he just might be walking through a mine field. "Uh, Jeff told me that he has asked all the Alphas to wait about having kids."

"Oh, I know. Diana talked to me about it, too, and she says that Little One will have to 'turn on' our ability to mature our eggs before we can become pregnant. But I want a baby," Angie said as she took her brother's hand. "I want your baby."

"It's getting mushy in here," Alice snorted. Terri said nothing, but had an odd expression on her face.

"So," Angie said, turning back to the sisters and changing the subject, "have you named your kitten yet?"

"Princess," both girls answered as one.

Eric opened his mouth to respond, thinking the name wasn't very original, but a sharp nudge in his side from Angie's elbow changed his response to a grunt.

"See, she looks like a Princess," Alice said, running her hand down the kitten's back, the fuzzy little feline arching up in response.

Eric had to admit that the snow-white ball of fluff with gold markings on her nose, ears, feet and tail was about the cutest kitten he had ever seen. If any animal ever looked like a princess, she surely was the one.

Alice picked the kitten up and both girls stood. "Mom, okay if we go find Selina? We want to see how she and her new kitten are getting along."

With a lump in her throat, Angie managed a strangled, "Sure."

As soon as the girls were out of the suite, Angie buried her face against her brother's shoulder, sniffing back tears. "Oh, I've wanted them to call me that for so long, and they're doing it. I was hoping it wasn't just a one-time thing." Suddenly, she sat up. "You don't mind, do you? I know you said you didn't, but are you sure? I mean your wife was my closest friend. I..."

Eric grabbed her hand and pulled her to him. "Hush. Naomi would be pleased that her girls now have a mother. You've filled that bill since Alice was an infant. Now, you're finally getting the recognition for it."

"Oh, I hope you're right. Naomi was such a good person. I don't want to replace her in their minds. I talk about Naomi all the time so they won't forget her, but I've wanted babies for so long, and I've loved those girls from the time they were born. Oh, I'm so mixed up. I loved my husband, and I know you loved Naomi, but they're gone and..."

"We're still here," he finished for her. "I've made my mental peace. I'll always love Naomi's memory, but you're my love now. And like I've told you over and over lately, I've always loved you. You've consented to be my wife, and Jeff and Diana say they'll marry us. So when do we do it?"

Angie smiled at him. "Diana asked if we could have both weddings on the same night. One right after the other. I need to talk with Bridget. I think I would rather wait until after Christmas, but I don't know what Bridget is thinking. An anniversary right before a big holiday just doesn't seem to be the best idea, but she may see it differently. Diana said if Bridget and I didn't agree on the time, it would be no trouble to have the weddings on different days. Have you talked to Matt about it?"

"We chatted during pulse rifle training, of course, but other than a mention of the weddings, we didn't go in to any details. Neither of us is dumb enough to get involved in the planning," he finished with a grin.

"I knew you were smart," Angie replied, then kissed him.

Eric made a production of looking around them. "Hmmm, seems like we're totally alone, and I think we have time for a quickie before you have to leave for pulse rifle training..."

"Race you to the bedroom," Angie said as she bolted off the couch.

Alice and Terri found Selina in her suite, and if they didn't know better, they would have thought she was sulking.

When Selina had answered their knock, she just opened the door, told them to come in, then turned to walk back to the couch where she had been sitting with her kittens.

Alice put Princess on the couch with the other kittens. Billy immediately bounced over to smell Princess, but he didn't stick his nose up her rear as he had Selina's new kitten.

"So, what did you name her?" Alice asked as she plopped down on the couch by the kittens, and Terri pulled up a seat.

"Isis," Selina responded as she sat on the other side of the kittens.

"Isis?" Terri asked with a frown.

"Yes. Isis was the ancient Egyptian goddess of magic, marriage, healing, and motherhood. Isis is so fast, it's almost like magic."

Terri stared at the little Abyssinian kitten who immediately sat up straight, her head held high, almost as if she knew the girls were scrutinizing her.

While the girls were talking, Billy walked a circle around Princess, inadvertently coming close to Isis, who let out a short hiss and slapped his rear.

Startled, Billy teleported to one of the seats across the room to sit and stare at Isis.

"Why did she do that?" Alice wanted to know. "He was just checking out Princess."

Selina looked at Billy, then Isis. "In lieu of any evidence to the contrary, I would surmise that Isis is jealous of Princess."

"Why do you talk like that?" Alice bluntly questioned.

Selina opened her mouth to send back a harsh retort, but hesitated.

"We know you're smarter than we are, but you don't have to rub it in," Alice continued matter-of-factly as she reached out to pet Princess.

Selina's face flushed. "My intentions were not..." But her almost-always confident voice faltered. "You would not..." she began again, only to stop a second time, having meant to say, "You would not understand," but under the circumstances, she knew that would only make matters worse.

With a whap of displaced air again, Billy was back on the couch. Isis immediately hissed at him, then stretched out on her stomach to continue staring at Billy.