Chapter 618

Jeff and Dave released the tie-downs from the big tractor that was equipped with a backhoe. As Dave started to extend the ramp so he could back the tractor off the trailer, Jeff touched his shoulder. “Ship just asked us to stand clear. She can retrieve the equipment from the trailer just as easily as she could if it were sitting on the ground. Let’s see,” he said as he pulled out a list, “she loaded the eight by eight prefab spring house that will sit over the spring. She also loaded all the piping and fittings for the water system. For the bathroom, she loaded the septic tank, the shower enclosure, commode, vanity with built-in sink, medicine cabinet, mirror, drain piping, fittings, plywood, lumber, paint, floor and wall tile, glue and grout, and several boxes of tools you left here yesterday – all with no problem at all. And, oh yes, the extra gas and diesel for the equipment, as well.”

“This rig is probably heavier than all of that put together,” Dave began but stopped when they noticed the springs of the heavy trailer shift as the weight of the big rig slowly lifted off. Once clear of the trailer, the tractor and backhoe glided toward Ship and disappeared as the rig passed through the invisibility field. Minutes later, all the equipment sitting near the fake building or in the big truck was aboard Ship, leaving only the empty truck and trailer sitting there.

“Well,” Evie said, “that was a lot easier than I expected.”

Jeff frowned. “The question is: what did we forget?”

“Nothing of consequence,” Evie assured him. “It isn’t unusual for us to have a jobsite at a remote location. We have a list for just about any such project we have ever done or probably will do.”

“But will Morales’ women agree with your choices about tile, colors and...”

“Oh, Diana had taken color charts, magazines and sample boards with her weeks ago. Jasmine and her sister-wives selected everything we have. In case you’re wondering, Morales said he wanted nothing to do with choosing. He said he would be pleased with whatever his women wanted. He’s a smart man,” Evie said with a smile.

“Everyone else is aboard, so shall we?” Jeff asked.

If anyone had been watching, they would have seen only a blur as Jeff, Evie, Dave and the girls plus everyone’s overnight cases were transported aboard via Ship’s inertialess tractor beam.

“That ... was...” Evie stammered out.

“Yeah,” Dave agreed.

“Can we do it again?” Linda asked as Kim grinned.

“You will get to do it again when we get to 2214, remember?”

Evie interrupted them as she looked at the equipment while they all stood in one of Ship’s massive cargo holds. “I know that Ship uses her inertialess drive, and consequently, we don’t feel any acceleration, but shouldn’t the tractor be tied down, anyway – just in case?”

Before Jeff could answer, Ship spoke up. “It is secured. It is gravity locked to the deck. My inertialess drive has never failed and never will fail, but if it did fail, somehow, the equipment would not be affected in the slightest.”

“Sorry,” Evie said. “We’re accustomed to securing everything to the truck or trailer to keep it from moving around while we’re on the road.”

“All of my movable equipment aboard, when not in use, is gravity locked to the deck. Should my internal gravity or inertialess drive fail, nothing will drift around or crash into anything else,” Ship assured her.

As Jeff ushered them out of the cargo hold, Evie, thinking maybe she should have kept her mouth shut, looked at her husband and blushed while he chuckled, but she decided to try again, anyway. “Well,” she said, “what would happen to humans if your gravity or inertialess drive failed ... Eep,” she gasped out as her feet suddenly seemed to be glued to the deck mid-step.

“Human beings are fragile; therefore, I would protect them from crashing into something,” Ship smugly said as Evie was suddenly able to walk again.

“Point taken,” Evie said. “I should have kept my mouth shut.”

“Not at all,” Ship returned. “You have logical concerns, and I had just those concerns and many others as I constructed myself – primarily, the protection of my Prime above all else. As an extension of that, his mates and any other being that he permits aboard are equally protected – after him, of course.”

“I want my wives protected before me,” Jeff growled out, but Ship didn’t answer.

“I think you lost that one,” Dave quietly said.

“Ship?” Jeff asked, although he and Ship had argued over this before.

“I must follow my prime directive, and that is to protect my Prime above all else,” she quietly said. “I cannot change that, even should I want to.”

Jeff sighed but didn’t comment further.

When they arrived at the lounge, Diana and Tosha came over to them. “Arlene, Ann, Selina and Kayla are on the bridge and are ready to go when you are,” Diana told her husband. “I invited Aiko to go with us, but she said she would rather remain at the Retreat and continue her training.”

Jeff winked at his Clan Queen. “That attitude just might get her through the obstacle course if she continues, but she won’t have Little One to relieve the soreness in the mornings for the next couple of days.”

“I reminded her of that and suggested that she not push quite as hard until we get back.”

“Arlene advises that the course is plotted and laid in,” Ship broke in to say.

“Tell her to launch at her convenience,” Jeff responded.

A couple of seconds later, the holo showed the Earth below them, and a short time after that, they felt the usual disorientation for a second as the view changed to that of 2214 from orbit. Moments later, Ship was hovering above the giant trees near the cave.

When those on the bridge had been transported to the lounge, Jeff said, “Let’s go check in with the Moraleses and see how they’re coming with the plumbing. When we’re ready, Ship can unload the equipment for us.”

Ship put the group down near the cave, but before they could walk the short distance down the entranceway to the door and knock, Lobo and Lila came bounding out, wanting to be petted.

Kim and Linda, Dave’s other wives, having made friends with the wolves when they visited for the wedding, were soon hugging and making over the animals despite the wolves’ ferocious-appearing grins.

Lila hunkered down for Selina to climb onto her back as the Morales family greeted the group with hugs all around before inviting them inside.

Diana set a stasis chamber on the table as she asked, “Have you eaten yet?”

“A couple of hours ago,” Christine assured them, “but what’s in the chamber?”

“Sweet rolls freshly baked this morning,” the Clan Queen responded, “and thanks to the chamber, they’re just as they were when they came out of the oven.”

“Well,” Ashley said with a giggle, “we don’t have to ask our man if he wants some. He’s always hungry.”

“Yeah, Jeff is the same way,” Diana agreed.

“We brought paper plates, so we don’t have to worry about washing dishes,” Arlene commented as she put them on the table along with plastic utensils.

Dave, Evie and Jeff were already discussing their water system plans as the women began serving coffee and sweet rolls.

“We also brought everything we need to install and build your bathroom,” Dave told Morales.

“You what?” Morales questioned incredulously.

“Yeah, we brought the materials to build a bathroom in accordance with what your wives wanted – everything, walls, ceiling, floor, a big shower wall – the works. And before you say anything, we did something similar a few weeks ago in a cabin that only had an outhouse. Can you guys put up with us for two or three days?”

Jasmine had tears in her eyes as she hugged Dave until it almost became embarrassing, only to shift to Evie before turning to his younger wives.

After things settled down and the men were served, the women took their food and chose seats a short distance away. Evie turned to Jasmine. “Jeff told us that the cave goes well back into the mountain and said that Morales could faintly hear a river from time to time, or at least the sound of water rushing from far down the main passageway. How far have you explored?”

Jasmine, still excited about her bathroom, hurriedly swallowed the bite of sweet roll. “I’ve been to the ice cave and on a little way past until the ice starts to slope more steeply downward. Morales thinks it’s too dangerous to go farther without ropes and steps cut into the ice to keep us from sliding on down the slope to who knows where. With all the reflections and the weird sounds, I have no intention of ever going farther.”

“What about that way?” Evie said while pointing on down the central passageway in the direction of the little cathedral-like area where the weddings had been held.

“Yeah, I was getting around to that. When Morales was first here, he made his way down the main passage, mostly in the dark with just a makeshift torch that did little to relieve the darkness. With the poor light, he was basically just stumbling in the darkness with his imagination trying to tell him he was nearing a major drop-off where he would fall to his death,” she said with a grin. “He said he became tired of being terrified and turned back. Now that we have lights, we’ve talked about exploring, but my husband is still a bit shy about the trip, and I am too. After meeting the ice cave entity, Morales is even less interested in going deeper into the cave. He says that the faint sound of rushing water he has heard several times, ‘scares the crap’ out of him. There’s a part of me that wants to see what’s back there, but there’s another part of me that wonders if there could be more weird things hidden in the depths of the cave. Weird things that I do not want to encounter. Just thinking about that entity makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up, and what if there is an underground river back there with a precipice above it?”

They sat silently for a moment before Jasmine let out a sigh, “But,” she went on, “the scientist in me wants to explore, so I imagine one of these days, we will do just that.”

“What about you two?” Evie asked as she turned to Ashley and Christine.

The two young women locked eyes for a moment before Christine answered for both of them. “The trip sounds exciting, and if Morales and Jasmine go, we’ll certainly go with them. We’re a family, and we all love the cave. It’s the neatest home we could ever think of, and it feels ... safe,” she added after passing another glance with Ashley, who spoke up.

“Our apartment wasn’t in the best area. We were always afraid we would return home to find they had burglarized us of what few possessions we owned. Frequently, people were hanging out on the street corner with nothing to do but sell drugs, I suppose.”

“You say that you feel safe here, but there are ferocious animals in the area,” Evie commented.

“We have Morales and Jasmine to protect us, and we’re becoming proficient with our rifles,” Christine offered. “We are no travel agency, and we certainly haven’t done a lot of traveling on Earth, but to us, it is beyond beautiful here. The sunsets are gorgeous, and the gigantic trees here are mind-boggling.”

“And about being safe, don’t forget Lobo and Lila,” Ashley inserted. “They are always checking around us for danger. And nothing can get to us here in the cave. We have to be careful outside, but with the cameras, the wolves, Jasmine and Morales, and our rifles, we feel a lot safer here than we did back at our apartment where we had nothing to protect us.”

“Another thing is thunderstorms,” Christine offered. “We are both terrified of them, but here, there is nothing that the worst storm can do to harm us as long as we’re in our cave. Even the thunder is only a muffled rumble most of the time.”

Lila, apparently understanding, snuggled close to Christine. “Yeah, you don’t like storms either, do you, Girl?”

“So, you guys seem enthusiastic about the trip,” Diana commented.

“We certainly are,” Jasmine answered for all three. “The trip is the absolute ultimate for an anthropologist, and Ashley and Christine seem to be as enthusiastic as I am about it. I hope to get to see and interact with new civilizations that I can hardly imagine. I’ve read several papers the General’s other anthropologists have written about races they have encountered through the chamber. There seems to be an unlimited number of races and civilizations out there, and I want to learn about as many of them as is feasible.”