Chapter 615

Jeff and the General sat at a table in Ship’s lounge. Whitworth took a sip of his stim and grimaced. “I don’t see how they drink this ... stuff. It’s bitter as the devil,” he grumbled.

“I can easily replace it with coffee,” Ship offered.

“No,” Whitworth said after a slight hesitation. “I keep expecting to get used to it, but it hasn’t happened so far. Maybe I will eventually.”

“It is, indeed, bitter,” Jeff agreed, “but Ship assures me that Stim has approximately the same concentration of caffeine as coffee, although it seems to have a bit more kick – at least to me. Maybe I’ve had more of it than you have, because I’m getting somewhat accustomed to the bitterness. First says the same thing about our coffee, though. I’ve offered sugar and creamer, but he won’t have them, since they don’t normally use anything in their stim, I suppose.”

The two sat quietly for a moment, but just as the silence was becoming embarrassing, the General growled out, “Are you going to ask whatever it is you wanted to see me about, or do I have to start guessing?”

Jeff grimaced but looked Whitworth in the eye. “I had my little speech all thought out, but now I have no frickin’ idea what the hell I was going to say. Ah, shit, here goes. I want Morales and his women to go with us on our trip. I can’t defend my idea other than to say that it’s been bugging me, and I... know that he’ll be needed at some point. Look, you said that you would never let him come back to Earth, but maybe we could stop by 2214 and pick him up as we start on our trip. That way, he would never touch Earth...”

Whitworth sat staring at his Colonel before, “Hell, if it means that much to you and it will make you happy, I’ll commute his fucking sentence.”

Jeff just sat there staring at the General. He said that Morales would never set foot on Earth again, and I’ve never seen him change his mind when he was that definite. Shit, I don’t know what to say.

As if reading his mind, Whitworth said, “Thank you would be an acceptable response. And he better damn well not get into trouble while he’s on Earth.”

Jeff mumbled a thank you, his mind obviously distracted, but the General sighed and went on. “Because of your earlier comments about him, I’ve, yet again, gone over his statements concerning his killing of those two guys. If Morales had been an upstanding citizen, I might have given what he said more credence, but he, to put it bluntly, associated with people who were not exactly the height of society, and his boss damn sure wasn’t a stellar citizen, either – to understate grossly.” Realizing that Jeff was going to break in with a comment, Whitworth waved him quiet. “Just as all of you, though, I have watched the videos from 2214, and I realize that Morales has indeed changed. And granted, even I have done pretty much the same thing that he did while I was on missions. Hell, there is a military term for it. Two terms, actually – preemptive strike and ambush. However, in a civilized society, the law calls them by another name – premeditated murder. He got word they were coming, laid in wait and killed them – before they could kill him. As you have not so subtly pointed out on more than one occasion, both you and I have done the same thing.” The General hesitated for a second. “Fuck it. If you think he will be an asset on your ... mission, then take him with you. Just make damn sure that if he does kill someone, it won’t happen on Earth.”

“I uh ... yes, Sir.”

“Okay, I assume that his women are going too?” When Jeff nodded, “What about the animals?”

“I think Lobo and Lila will turn out to be assets as well. The chickens have been enhanced, too, and they’re smart. We can’t leave them to be food for predators while we’re gone. Ship says she will provide a safe place for them on one of her pocket planets.”

“What about the portal communications thing?”

“One half of it – but even saying that is wrong because Selina insists that the portal is only one thing that can be in two places at once – anyway, one half will stay at Security Headquarters. Well, I think that’s what she means. Whatever. It will be continuously monitored by them – subject to your having a different plan,” Jeff quickly added.

Whitworth shook his head. “The fewer who know about the thing, the better. Leave it with Security. If I need to contact you after you leave Earth, I’ll know where it is.”

“There’s something else, Sir.” Jeff went on to describe Selina’s dream/vision to the General.

“And what the fuck does that mean?”

“I ... don’t know, Sir. She doesn’t know, either, but she’s afraid of whatever the thing was that crossed that galaxy and jumped to ours. She has a very logical mind, and she was genuinely shaken after the dream, or whatever it was. She’s worried that the thing she saw coming toward us is real.”

Whitworth sat for a moment without commenting. “If it were anyone else, I would say it was just a dream, but Selina has always been one-hundred percent accurate in anything she has ever told me. If she thinks it’s real – whatever it is – I suggest you watch your ass, Colonel.”

“Damned straight,” Jeff said under his breath.

“So, I imagine Morales is champing at the bit to get back to Earth?”

Jeff was shaking his head. “Far from it, Sir. He has obviously come to love his home, and the women have certainly added to that. With all the things you gave him, he and his women have planted a huge garden in the area your people originally seeded. He wants me to wait for him and his family to gather and preserve their produce before we leave on the trip. I hadn’t planned to leave until fall anyway, and fall on 2214 basically coincides with our fall here this year, but with the longer year on 2214, that won’t be the case next year.”

“Do you actually think he will be of help on your trip?”

“It’s just a feeling ... but yes, Sir, I do. I really think he needs to go.”

Whitworth sat staring at Jeff. “How many times have those... feelings saved your life or those of your team?” he asked with an odd expression on his face.

Jeff hesitated.

“Truth, Colonel.”

“Uh, sometimes I was certain, other times I was ... Well, let’s just stick with probably several times, Sir.”

“That’s what your Sergeant said, too. By all means, take Morales, and his women, of course.”

“I appreciate it, Sir.”

“What you mean is that you appreciate not having to lie to me. I suspect that you had decided to take him with you long before you walked in here.” Then with a grin, “Don’t bother answering that, Colonel. I know you better than you think I do.”

The men sat quietly sipping their stim for a moment before, “I assume that Morales and his women don’t have the time, and it would be too much hassle for them to come here to train, but if they’re going with you, they should at least be up to speed on the pulse rifles and handguns. I seriously doubt that the two engineers, being city girls, know anything about handling a handgun, right?”

“Just another of my problems, Sir.”

“I could have them picked up and returned with the chamber, but they would still have to have transportation from the base to here and back every day. Ship could do that just as she often provides transportation for me. Still, the whole thing seems cumbersome.”

“I could teach them on 2214, or Arlene, Ann, or Diana could or Kayla when she gets back, but Diana already has many things to do, and the same goes for Arlene and Ann. The Prison Planet isn’t exactly the best place to go for a jog, so I have no idea how they could practice for the obstacle course, but I wish that everyone who goes with us could be held to that same standard. Shit, now we’re back to the weakest link in the chain. Selina is the smallest of us, but she’s far from the weakest link. She passed the course at Ship’s training academy. I won’t let her run for real with that big pack on her back, but she darn sure has qualified. She has to use her telekinesis to assist her small hands in holding the rifle and handgun, as she did with that pack, but who cares? She gets the job done.”

“You said ‘everybody’. What about the alien men?”

“Not until I trust them fully. Neither Ship nor I can detect any lies in what they say, but neither am I an idiot. I’ll see how they do as a crew for a while before I’ll consider arming them. If I decide that they’re absolutely trustworthy while we’re on our trip, I can always have Ship provide an obstacle course for them to practice on...

The General smirked at him and waited.

“ ... and she could do the same for Morales and his women,” Jeff finished with a sigh. “Shit, sometimes I’m so dumb I scare myself.”

Whitworth chuckled. “Something about not being able to see the forest for the trees, I assume. Hell, I didn’t think of it either. You or one of your people could do the classroom part with the pulse rifles and handguns. Surely Ship could devise a range and obstacle course on one of the pocket planets they could practice on. From what I’ve seen and from what you say, Jasmine is a great shot, and she’s already teaching Ashley and Christine to fire a 30.06. After you have them certified on the pulse rifles and sidearms, one of your women could take them through the obstacle course. Improvise, adapt and overcome.”

“That should work as long as I can spend some time each day with the aliens. Are you certain that you don’t want to come with us on our trip?”

“Oh, hell, yes, I want to come with you. Unfortunately, it’s not a matter of want, but a matter of can’t. I have too many irons in the fire, to use an outdated expression, to take off and go cruising around the galaxy for months, or maybe even years.”

“Well, once we see if Ship’s idea works about jumping back, we could return and take you with us, at least for a few days.”

“Maybe I can work that in,” he said with a sigh. “I damn sure want to go, and my wives are hinting at it. If they don’t get to go for at least a short time, I’m going to be in trouble.”

Dave and Evie were on a job site solving a problem when Jeff contacted Dave on the phone. After the amenities... “Are you two going to be back at the Retreat tonight?”

“I just put the phone on speaker so Evie can hear,” Dave said. “Yeah. I think we have the problem solved here. The truck brought too much concrete, and the driver was an obnoxious bastard. Evie had the original paperwork, though, so the concrete company will have to eat the overload or take it elsewhere. What can we do you for, Boss?” Dave said, obviously in a great mood.

“I need to talk to you two about another job. I was just checking to see if you would be back at the Retreat tonight.”

“With bells on,” Dave responded. “We missed lunch, and we darn sure aren’t going to miss supper.”

“Good. I’ll see you then...”

“Is something wrong?” Evie broke in to ask.

“No. Not at all. Everything has been going so smoothly the last couple of days that I’m getting nervous.”

Evie chuckled and said, “See you at six,” before breaking the connection.

After supper at the Retreat, Dave, Evie, Kim and Linda met in the living room where Jeff had already linked his phone to the big TV above the fireplace.

“So, what’s up, Boss?” Evie asked as Jeff motioned to the TV. Dave dropped onto a couch, and Evie plopped down in his lap with Kim and Linda snuggling to his sides. “Where is this?” Evie asked as she nodded to the picture on the screen.

“Just above the cave on 2214,” Jeff replied as he zoomed the picture in to show the stream and the small dam Morales had made to facilitate their getting water.

Jeff continued to show pictures he had taken as he and Morales made their way up the hillside. The last images were of the area they had cleared where the stream was coming out of the ground.

“We didn’t have a good way to measure the flow without doing some digging, but Morales thinks it will be plenty for them. Here, I shot a short video of the stream, hoping to give you a better idea of how much water is coming out of the ground.”