Chapter 644

Earlier that same morning.

Just after breakfast and prior to her starting out with the Morales family, Diana had called Selina aside. “I’m going to be tied up with the Moraleses for much of the day as we start them out with running, calisthenics and the beginning of pulse rifle training. The wolves need to be introduced to the puppies and kittens. Would you do that for me? Maybe supervise their being together for a few hours to make sure they get along well enough for it to be safe to leave them together without supervision?”

While she listened, the little genius stood relaxed, hands locked behind her in an unconscious version of the Parade Rest stance from Ship’s Academy training. “Certainly,” the seven-year-old responded, her smile radiant. “Any suggestions or instructions?”

Diana, already beginning to turn away, stopped to consider, then with a smile, responded, “Certainly not. If anyone can make it work, that person is standing before me. And we very much need it to work. It would be a catastrophe for them to dislike each other while being forced to be together during the trip. Oh, yes, call on anyone who isn’t already tied up should you need assistance. At the very least, I fully expect the kittens and puppies to be excited when they see the wolves. I just don’t know what direction that excitement will take.”

As soon as Diana left, Selina approached Alice and Terri. Both girls had been enthralled with the wolves and had spent their breakfast time trying to converse with their new four-footed friends.

“I have been assigned what I hope to be the very interesting project of introducing our pets to the wolves. For our initial meeting, we shall use the second-floor living room, if that would be convenient for you two. I assume you would like to participate?”

“Wow. Sure. It should be great fun,” Alice expounded.

“Different, for sure,” Terri returned with a smirk.

Selina raised her voice slightly. “AI, would you please contact Hope and ask if she is free to meet with us in the living room on the second floor. Also, ask her to bring Sugar with her because we are going to introduce all our pets to the wolves.”

“I will, indeed, Ma’am,” the computer returned with its sometimes unfathomable reasoning.

Occasionally, it refers to Jeff and Diana by their first names, yet it just called me, a seven-year-old, Ma’am. Could that be its version of a joke? Oh, well. I have no time to reason it out now.

In the living room a few minutes later, the girls and their animals waited for Hope. Eventually, the beautiful, but obviously frustrated young woman entered with her puppy firmly grasped in her hands.

“She wanted to play hide-and-seek, and well, you know what that entails. With her teleportation, she can be in more places in ten seconds than I can be in ten minutes.”

Sugar, an obviously happy puppy, barked a greeting to the other animals, all of whom were being held onto for much the same reason, i.e., so they couldn’t teleport.

“Well,” Selina said as she looked at the puppies that refused to grow up. “On occasion, we have to speak harshly to them to get them to calm down, but overall, they never do anything really destructive...”

“Except for the six dozen freshly baked doughnuts that time...” Terri offered. “Or the chocolate syrup.”

They all flinched.

Terri grinned and offered, “Or the wedding cake...” she inserted, now giggling as Selina too recalled the mishaps.

“Then the biggie,” Alice said. “The box of a thousand decorative marbles. That shop-vac still doesn’t sound exactly right, but it did pick up most of them.”

“The operative term being most,” Selina said with a giggle.

“We had better not remind Jeff. He wasn’t too pleased when he stepped on them,” Alice gasped out.

Selina chuckled out loud. “It was not stepping on them that was the problem, but rather his landing.”

“At least there was carpet to land on. It would have probably hurt if it had been on a hardwood floor,” Terri broke in to say.

“So, where are we going to do this?” Alice asked.

“Here in the living room should work,” Terry replied.

Selina frowned. “I disagree. There will be too many people in and out. But what about the living room on the second floor? It’s only slightly smaller than this one, so there should be sufficient room for play.”

A look passed between the three, and they instantly agreed.

Shortly, on the second floor, the girls grouped several comfortable seats into a circle. When Hope was seated, Selina came to her feet. “Although what we are about to do may not sound important when first contemplated — it most certainly is. Our pets must interact properly with the wolves. There are too many things that could go wrong aboard Ship, and I don’t want to even mention some of them for fear they might happen.”

Proud of herself, she thought, I remembered to insert a contraction. Did anyone notice? Oh, well, maybe they will next time. Why is such a simple thing so difficult for me to remember?

Selina continued. ”We are all aware of the Chihuahuas’ massive ego. They seem to think they are the — to quote Arlene — ‘biggest and baddest’ dogs ever. However, we also know them to be loving little creatures who will gladly try to protect their master — whether said master needs protecting or not, or whether the Chihuahua is even capable of fighting what he or she decides is the opponent.”

“Yeah,” Hope said, “Spike was going to fight to the death when he first saw one of the riding vacuums. If it hadn’t been for Arlene’s reflexes, she would have run over him as he attacked from the front when she came down the hallway.”

Selina smiled. “Precisely. Somehow, we must make certain the Chihuahuas do not go on the offensive and decide to ‘protect’ us when they see the wolves. Do you have any ideas, suggestions — guesses?” she finished with a smile.

“A firm grip,” Hope suggested, making the statement sound like a joke, but she wasn’t joking.

Selina chuckled. “Good point. We need to hold them firmly to keep them from teleporting themselves into trouble when they first see the wolves. We also need to keep that active awareness until we are confident of their general state of mind concerning what will probably appear to them as terrible monsters.

“The wolves are highly intelligent, as we all know, and Mr. Morales has coached them concerning the Chihuahuas’ personalities. I feel confident that Lobo and Lila will not harm the Chihuahuas; however, I worry that the wrong precedent could be set this morning. We must be careful that the Chihuahuas see the wolves as friends from the outset.”

“Yes,” Hope said, “Remember what Arlene told us about Spike? She opened the door to a broom closet just off their bedroom when he was first here. Before she could turn the light on, he ran inside to check it out, took one look and decided the closet was full of evil things that were trying to kill him — well, something like that, I suppose. Arlene said he still barks anytime the closet door is opened, even after all this time. I suspect he is deathly afraid of the closet and its contents but covers his terror with aggressive barking. It’s not as if the little guys are stupid. In fact, they are sharp as can be for little dogs, but they can get what Jeff calls a mindset about certain things, and changing their minds isn’t going to happen with ease.”

Selina was nodding her head in agreement. “We certainly don’t want something of that nature to happen when the little guys meet Lobo and Lila in a few minutes. The kittens usually take a nap after breakfast, so we won’t have to contend with their being here to encounter the wolves at the same time the dogs do.”

Selina stood waiting, but when no one said anything, “If there are no further comments, shall we have Melissa bring the wolves up?”

When everyone agreed, Selina had the AI tell Melissa, who had volunteer to stay with the wolves, to bring them to the second-floor living room.

“I would suggest using the interval before they arrive in attempting to send mental pictures of the wolves, perhaps playing with the puppies and all of us as well,” Alice suggested, sounding yet again much older than her true age.

“Yeah, that should work,” her older sister agreed.

“I suppose it couldn’t hurt, and it will, at least, keep me from spending time worrying,” Hope commented with a weak grin.

Selina found herself also agreeing and dutifully tried to project happy play between the Chihuahuas and what she worried the puppies would view as monsters. She knew that the Chihuahuas could often — at least to some extent — understand what the humans were thinking or trying to project, but it seemed to be hit or miss. From what she had seen and indeed heard from the Morales family, there seemed to be an ever-increasing bond between the family and the wolves, and the wolves seemed to include Jeff as if they understand him completely.

There were a couple of sharp raps on the door a second before Melissa held the door open for Lobo and Lila to file past, but she hurried to lead them into the circle of humans a little farther into the big room.

Melissa, now standing by the wolves, knelt between the two massive bodies while draping an arm over each. The wolves quickly slumped to their bellies, with Melissa now on her knees between them, her arms still around the huge beasts. Lobo turned his massive head to nuzzle her neck, resulting in a squeal of faked protest from the young woman. Contrived or not, it sounded real as she giggled and commented about his breath tickling. Soon, they were wrestling with the big wolf rolling around on the carpet as if he were a puppy. In moments, Lila had joined the melee. Contrived, it still looked as if it were real play to the puppies.

Terri, after making sure that Selina had a firm grip on Spike, went over to join in the play with the wolves. Spike and Sugar barked simultaneously but were quickly scolded by the girl holding each puppy. “Wait your turn,” they told them at almost the same instant.

After a few moments, Melissa turned her attention to Spike, and holding out her hands, said, “Come on, Big Guy. Come on, Spike. Come play with Lila and me.”

Despite second thoughts, Selina relaxed her hold on Spike, who looked at Melissa, then as if he knew who Lila was, locked eyes with her. In seconds, he had jumped from Selina’s arms, and in the air, had teleported to stand beside a kneeling Melissa while still staring up at what was to him a towering giant, even though said giant was again lying on her belly.

Lila reached down and licked the pseudo puppy, her tongue almost knocking him off his feet, but astonishing everyone, he didn’t appear to be the least bit afraid. Melissa wasn’t afraid and was having a good time, which made him want to join in.

An instant later, Sugar was standing beside Spike, seemingly totally unafraid as well, and even better, not inclined to try to be aggressive, as a Chihuahua would sometimes do when meeting a giant dog for the first time. Past those first meetings, Chihuahuas and large breed dogs frequently become lifelong friends of the highest order, often with the Chihuahua bossing the bigger dog around and with it willing to protect its tiny friend at all costs. On cold nights, many sleep on their larger friend.

Lobo eased a little closer to Spike and Sugar, nuzzling each and giving them a lick. Neither wolf had reacted when the Chihuahuas teleported, and given the circumstance and positioning, they might not have noticed. But now, playtime was on. With that, the Chihuahuas began to “show off,” chasing each other in circles and ... each teleporting to the furniture with the second dog a half-second behind, the sounds of muffled pops of displaced air repeatedly sounding throughout the room.

Both Lobo and Lila noticed, and play stopped instantly.

Selina immediately sat in front of the wolves as they continued to remain on their bellies. Recalling Morales’ comments about Jasmine and Morales putting their hands on the wolves’ heads as they tried to talk to them, Selina did the same before calling the puppies to her. “I wish Mr. Morales were here to explain this to you,” she said as she realized just how much these animals only faintly resembled earth wolves. She forced herself not to shiver as they smiled at her with those rows of vicious-looking teeth, but she was going to continue with her plan. She had brought a folding chair to the room and motioned for Terri to bring it to her. Selina placed the chair just in front of the two wolves. After seating herself, she leaned forward with an arm around each beast’s head as she sandwiched their heads against hers.

Expecting nothing but hoping for a lot, Selina began to tell the wolves how the puppies became part of the Matthews family. She had no idea how much of the language they understood — if any — but the little genius tried her best to project what she could see in her mind as she spoke. She also told them an abbreviated story about how she became part of the family and about her discovery that she could teleport as well. The seven-year-old also shared her frustration about her inability to describe the process well enough so Jeff could understand — the man she loved and intended to marry when she was old enough — as she continued trying to push her thoughts to the animals.

She also shared her worry about all of them — the animals — getting along on the trip. She explained that she wasn’t worried about the cats since they would just avoid anyone they didn’t like, but the little dogs probably didn’t understand the importance of everyone being friends, since much of their day was just playing and having a good time. “But,” she tried to tell the wolves mentally as well as saying it aloud, “they can teleport almost anywhere in this building, and that could mean big trouble for them while aboard a starship. Ship says there are sealed areas to prevent someone entering that was not familiar with the equipment, but that wouldn’t stop the Chihuahuas from teleporting into those same areas. Other concerns were visiting other planets and interacting with other beings they had never seen before.” Then in a sudden burst of insight, “Please, I really need your help — both of you. We — all of us here at the Retreat — love the Chihuahuas as much as we do anything or anyone. Please accept their constant play and endlessly teleporting to have fun. Will the two of you help us while we are on the trip, please?”

To Selina’s astonishment, she felt love wash over her, and although there were no words just yet, she could feel the wolves’ acceptance and agreement accompanied by a certain amount of — amusement.

Stunned, the little genius released the wolves’ heads and sat back with the distinct and equally disturbing impression that the wolves had understood everything she had said.

Selina and the girls rounded up the cats and put them in the hall of the second floor just outside the living room. As soon as the door was open, the three marched in, Isis and Princess walking with their tails held high, Billy, oblivious, prancing along behind them — until they all realized what awaited them. The tails fell, and all three hissed. Princess immediately teleported to Terri a heartbeat before Billy and Isis ported to Selina. The hair of Billy’s tail was furled out to twice its size. A moment later, all three cats (kittens) were standing on shoulders hissing at the nightmares (to them) lying on the floor not far away.

Selina was kneeling in front of the two wolves who were still lying on their bellies. She only had to rise up a little for the height of her head to match theirs. Now, how do I describe teleportation?

Looking Lobo in the eye, then Lila, she tried to explain what teleportation was and demonstrated by moving back and forth in the room. The wolves had been interested when the puppies had teleported, but now the intensity of their interest peaked, to put it mildly.

It didn’t appear that the wolves were soon to become the cats’ best friends, though, but feline curiosity did finally exert itself and, the cats cautiously began to check out the wolves. Whether they would ever become friends or not...

Jeff and Diana continue their conversation from before.

“Back to the subject at hand. You have to remember, the race that built Ship’s brain had, according to her, already had many generations of space exploration before she was tasked with the project of building the better battleship — make that the best battleship possible. And... she was given the project because her race was steadily losing a war whose aggressor seemed bent on the extinction of her race. Among other things, the battleship had to be able to rebuild herself, especially from damage incurred in battle, but all things have a limit, so we need to learn how to step in if she is unable, or too swamped with critical repairs to get around to everything quickly.”

“Yeah, we know that, but how do you know the race even survived?”

Jeff sighed as he absently massaged his wife’s shoulders. “I don’t. She doesn’t either, but she was given a task to perform, and she thinks she has accomplished her mission — at least to the best of her abilities. As you know, unfortunately, the race that built her brain and gave her the orders never came back to review her accomplishments, bring her the Prime they promised, or even provide her an assignment in the war. I strongly suspect, had it not been so long since her brain had been left in that cavern complex, she would never have chosen me, especially after she realized I was not part of her master race and was also a non-telepath.

“When she chose me, Ship already knew she couldn’t choose her Prime from the few races she had observed over the eons — they just weren’t intelligent enough. Ah, crap. That didn’t come out the way I meant it. Anyway, I assume that when she chose me, I was second best or maybe farther down the line than that, but I still must have rated a little higher than what few races she had come in contact with over the eons. She had to settle for me even though I wasn’t a telepath — a major restriction — but ... how many more eons would she have to wait until another candidate stumbled into that cavern complex — if ever?