Chapter 695

The Retreat

... The young wives looked at each other before Arlene turned to her husband. “As per your orders, I’m continuing to schedule crews for patrol missions. Of course...”

“But that’s not where you just came from,” Jeff interrupted to say.

The two young women exchanged a look. “We might as well tell him and get it over with,” Ann said.

Arlene stared at her partner, then with a sigh, agreed, but as she opened her mouth, Ann began to speak.

“We know that the General has made every effort that he could to try to locate Selina’s parents, but Arlene and I think that he and the people he sent to help in Germany have decided that Selina’s Mom and Dad are dead. Besides, from what we hear, the German military, as well as the other countries that are volunteering personnel to assist there, are more interested in feeding people and providing shelter for the populace rather than trying to find two people who are missing, possibly on a backpacking trip. There are thousands listed as missing, and to be fair, this far along, most of them are probably dead and possibly even disintegrated by the Miadax beams.

“There is an unbelievable number of people homeless, and there are temporary shelters set up practically everywhere, but with public communications down, there just isn’t any efficient way to account for everyone just yet. The person you are looking for could be in the next block, and you might not know it. Regardless of what the General has been told, we seriously doubt that any really detailed search has been done for Selina’s parents. Without what we have, there just isn’t any logical way to carry out a search for two out-of-country visitors. And if her parents were actually backpacking when this happened...”

“So, what have you two done?” Jeff asked, afraid that their interceptor would be noticed and the people, thinking it was the Miadax, might panic.

“With our shields up, we become invisible,” Arlene said as she took over the conversation.

“But you can’t land and leave the interceptor with its shields on...” Jeff began.

“True,” Arlene agreed, “but we can hover just above the treetops and scan. They were going to a castle, and presumably, they were going backpacking from there. We know the castle was secluded and didn’t have any direct access other than hiking in or else via helicopter. Unfortunately for our search, that end of Germany has many areas for hiking and backpacking and many secluded castles, and hotels that refer to themselves as castles. Sometimes because of the dense forests, it’s even difficult to tell from the air whether or not there is a road to one of these secluded buildings.”

Ann took over the next part because she was afraid that Jeff would come down hard on Arlene when he realized what they had been doing. “Uh, there was no way to get the information we needed from the air. When we found an area that looked promising, we put down in a secluded spot and walked to the castle. With our uniforms and with us speaking English, the people seemed to think that we were just part of the rescue operation. Indeed, we have brought several people food and water — taken from here,” she said as she blushed. “We were afraid to go back to one of the food distribution centers even though we had done it successfully a few times before. Unfortunately, one of the officials recognized our uniforms from the Miadax war and the publicity the General insisted on. That started him asking questions.

“The General was working through official channels and has also sent personnel to look for Selina’s parents,” Jeff said, his voice tight. “Your interceptor could have been noticed by people who had lost loved ones, panicked and overreacted. You cannot use logic with a crowd, especially with thousands of people who have been on the receiving end of the Miadax beams. Herd mentality could get you killed in a situation like that,” he grimly said. “All it would take would be one person to see your interceptor and scream ‘Miadax,’ and you would be in dire trouble if you were there on foot.”

Arlene spoke up. “Daddy, haven’t you noticed Selina? We have to find her parents. She’s acting as if everything is okay, but we know her. Why do you think that Mom is always around her? As you well know, Selena is a genius — and beyond. No telling what she’s thinking, particularly when she can’t do anything to help the situation. She’s under a tremendous amount of stress. This is Selina. She has to know so she can solve the problem. It’s the way she’s built. She has to solve it — one way or the other. And I’m not talking about the Miadax. Adding to all that, she’s blaming what happened with her parents on herself. All the spying she did, and then they found the videos she had recorded. All that led to her parents allowing you and Mom to adopt her. She has to know what happened to them. She has to. We just hope beyond hope that they are alive. With her blaming herself, there’s no telling what will happen to her if this continues to go on.”

Ann took over. “We think we’re getting close. We finally found a castle that was off by itself, and there were obviously no roads in the area, but we couldn’t find a place to put down that was secluded and would still be within easy walking distance. There is forest for miles. Oh, there are beautiful grounds all around the castle itself, and it has a heliport, but how do we hide our interceptor after the shields are turned off? If we leave them active, we can’t leave the ship.”

“Where is this castle? Show me on a map,” Jeff said while wondering if this was a wild goose chase.

“Ship...” Arlene started, but a map of Germany was on the table before she had completed the sentence.

Arlene’s feet hit the floor as she leaned forward to reach for the map, but Ann beat her to it. The young wife’s finger moved over the area, then stopped and circled a dark green area with a faint lighter spot in its center. “Here, I think,” she said as her fingernail tapped the map. “The scale is too small, but it is in this general area.”

“Ship,” Jeff began, but before he could ask, she had already put the map on a wall screen — the now large map showing much more detail.

“Because of the Miadax’ destruction of Earth’s satellites, this was the latest map of the area that I could find,” Ship commented.

“Thank you. This should be sufficient,” Jeff assured her.

Ann and Arlene walked over to the screen, and Arlene tapped the image of a huge building that fit the description of what they thought a castle should look like. It sat in the middle of a large, mostly open space. “This is the place we were talking about.”

“Do you think it’s the castle?” Jeff asked.

The two young women looked at each other before Ann spoke, “We don’t know. We’ve had other places that fit most of the criteria, but they didn’t pan out. But yes, everything seems to fit, and we definitely want to check it out.”

Jeff thought for a second. “We could have Ship put you down on the ground near that building, but it will have to wait because the General’s portal has had problems and is inoperative for who knows how long. Just before it failed, one of the archeology teams asked for an emergency resupply because of having lost almost everything due to a cave-in of the cavern where they were working. The team escaped, but most of their supplies were lost. The General has requested the use of Ship to re-supply them. Of course, that means that I will have to go too.”

“What about the Miadax crew and the women?” Arlene asked.

“Well, I thought this might give the crew a chance to see how much they have learned about Ship. As far as the Miadax women are concerned, they can just stay on the pocket planet and won’t even know unless we tell them. On second thought, after the supplies are delivered, we could set up more training for them with Ship’s point defense weapons.”

“If there is going to be trouble, we’re going with you,” Arlene blurted.

“What trouble? According to the General, the archeology team was studying the remains of an ancient civilization that had at one time lived in a massive underground cavern. Something happened, possibly an earthquake, and there was a cave-in. The team escaped unharmed, but they lost almost all their supplies. The world is only one dimension, and maybe a day or two’s warp away, so it won’t take us long to get there. They should be able to set up a beacon, so we should easily find their campsite. The planet has breathable air, which is definitely a plus for the stranded team. I’m waiting for the General to tell me that the supplies are ready to be picked up so we can leave.”

“You’re going to leave tonight?” Ann asked.

“As soon as the General finishes what he’s doing and gets here. If you two want to wait a couple of days, I’ll be back, and Ship can put you down wherever you need.”

When the girls frowned, he continued, “Look, it’s already been a little over six weeks since the Miadax attacked Earth. Another couple of days shouldn’t make any difference to Selina’s Mom and Dad, but I can’t tell the General no.

“I don’t know anything about the planet except what I just told you. Those people could die without their supplies. We know that they have water, but we don’t know anything about their food or shelter. From personal experience protecting them, I do know that scientists digging through ancient artifacts tend to pay little attention to security, and more than one team has gotten into trouble because they didn’t have weapons ready to hand. Now, the team is suddenly out on the planet’s surface, and we don’t know how much time they had to prepare. Did they manage to bring food out with them? Do they have shelter? We can assume that the temperature was survivable inside the caverns where they were working, but I don’t know anything about what the surface temperature is like.

“Hopefully, they can get by until we arrive, but we need to hurry just in case. The techs aren’t sure how long it will take to repair the portal. We have to make a supply run and check on the science team ASAP, so there just isn’t any way to put you down at that castle just now.”

While they had been talking, Ship had dressed her Prime in fatigues. When they had entered the lounge, Ann and Arlene had noticed his weapons already on a nearby table.

Kayla and Helen walked in dressed in their fatigues and carrying their pulse rifles. “Are you two going with us?” Kayla asked Arlene.

“No,” Arlene responded after a glance toward her partner. “We have a good lead on Selina’s parents. Everything considered, we feel we should follow up on it.”

Jeff turned to Helen. “I thought you said you were tied up with something and couldn’t spare the time to come?”

“I rearranged some things. My assistant isn’t ready to solo yet.”

“Then welcome aboard,” Jeff told Helen as he kissed her before turning to kiss Kayla.

“I’ll see you on the Bridge, but I’m going to stop by the engine room first,” Helen said as she left in one direction and Kayla turned toward the Bridge.

The girls looked at each other as they both shrugged, but a frown crossed Arlene’s face. “Uh, Husband, we just thought of something. If you take Little One with you, what are we going to do if something happens here?” Before he could respond, she went on, “Little one will stay with me if you ask her to. She’s done it before. Also, we think there is a good chance that the castle we saw on the map is the one that Selina’s Mom was talking about, and there is always the chance that someone is sick or hurt there.”

Jeff’s face blanked as he spoke inwardly to Little One, who, of course, had heard everything that her master had heard. I should only be gone for three or four days — tops. I would feel much better about leaving if I knew you were here to take care of any injuries that might happen. Will you do this for me?

{{{ My life has been pleasant, indeed, since you have permitted me to totally merge my mind with yours while I am on your back. Again, I thank you for sharing your innermost thoughts and secrets with me. I would not be pleased to leave you, but I merge well with Arlene. If she will accept me, I will remain with her while you are gone. Just please return as soon as possible. }}}

You have taught me a lot, my little lover, and I could not love you any more if you were flesh and blood.

{{{ Your wives might not appreciate how close we have become, should they know. }}}

Jeff allowed a mental chuckle to slip past. Who says they don’t know already?

{{{ I seriously doubt they have realized that I "piggyback" along with them when you and your women make love. }}}

I don’t know about that. Remember, they can sense each other when they piggyback, so logically they would realize that you, who can share my thoughts, would be part of the daisy chain. They might well realize that you would be embarrassed about them knowing and pretend not to know.

{{{ Oh, surely not, }}} Little One said, but there was a touch of worry in her mental voice. After a couple of seconds, she went on, {{{ I suppose it is time then? }}}

I love you, and I’ll be back as soon as I can.

A moment later, Little One flowed out of Jeff’s collar, and he handed her to Arlene, who opened the neck of her top and held the little alien so she could enter. The young wife sat straight in her seat so her back wasn’t against anything while Little One flowed into position. In moments, she had spread out across the teenager’s back.

When Little One had been on Arlene’s back before, she had not or could not make any real mental contact, but things had changed as Little One had developed. Although she didn’t merge with Arlene’s mind the way she did Jeff’s, she did merge enough so that they could communicate.

{{{ Relax. You may lean back as need be and otherwise act normally, for I am the farthest thing from fragile that you could ever imagine. }}}

Arlene tentatively leaned back in her seat, at first well aware of the alien, but after a moment, the feeling seemed to fade away. If she thought about Little One, she knew that the alien was there, but unless she focused, she couldn’t feel her at all.