Chapter 10: Link Problems

Tom was smiling as he pulled the ATV back into the barn, behind their house.

'Old Jessie is tickled pink with his new toy, I bet he spends the rest of the night plinking away 'till he falls asleep down there, ' he thought to himself as he watched his son pull up beside him.

Tommy had the same grin on his face, too. There was nothing in the world that could take their happiness away from them.

Then the barn lights came on and Bets stood there looking at the two of them tapping her foot.

Tommy's smile evaporated with one look from his mom. The Mom Eye was out with a vengeance. He looked over at his Dad, only to see his smile was gone, and a look of sorrow had taken its place.

'Well, no hope is coming from Dad. Yep, we're dead meat, ' he thought to himself.

He turned the ignition off, and stepped off of the four-wheeler.

"I hope you two had fun at Jesse's, while I was here slaving away trying to figure out our future plans," Bets said, glaring at the two men.

Before she could get on a good roll, Dregg popped in right beside her.

"Well, hello, gentlemen. Do you approve of the design changes I made for you?' he asked, smiling.

Tom and Tommy jumped at the chance to share how much they both appreciated the new rifles that Dregg had made for them.

"Dregg, old buddy, those rifles are amazing," Tom confirmed.

"Yeah, we put over two hundred rounds through them, and the barrels didn't even get warm. That's some great material you made them out of!" Tommy exclaimed enthusiastically.

Dregg smiled and nodded, he truly liked the father and son, and enjoyed helping them whenever he could.

Turning back to his new female friend he said, "Oh, by the way, Bets, the second half of the movie I downloaded for you is ready to view. I was surprised to find you way out here. I could have sworn you said you were getting more popcorn and sodas for us," he added scratching his head.

Bets knew that she had been outmaneuvered this time.

"Oh shut up, Dregg. Let's go watch the second half, now," she said grabbing the skinny alien's arm and literally dragging him towards the house.

Tommy and his dad just gawked as the two walked out the front entrance of the barn. That is, until Dregg was heard giving Bets his opinion on the movie they were watching.

"I still don't see what a fine southern gal like Miss Scarlett would see in a most despicable character like that Rhett fellow..." his voice drifted back to the newly saved father and son.

"I know what you mean, Dregg. Doesn't old Rhett kind of remind you of my no good Tom a little? You know, slippery and sneaky? Although I'll have to admit, that in looks, Tom can't hold a candle to that handsome Rhett Butler," Bets said glaring back at her husband in the doorway of the barn.

Tom and his son just stood there perfectly still for a few minutes until they watched the two movie buffs beam up into Dregg's ship. The two of them managed to hold back the laughter until they were sure it was safe, and then laughed so hard they could barely stand and hardly breathe.

"Slaving away, my ass! She's dragged poor old Dregg into the world of real chaos. That damned 'Gone with the Wind' has ruined more marriages than any movie I've ever seen," Tom said catching his breath as he wiped the tears from his eyes.

"I thou ... I thought you said you would never let that movie inside our house, Dad," Tommy managed to gasp out between laughing and trying to breathe, again.

Just picturing poor Dregg stuck watching that damn movie, and Bets giving him a play by play of what was really going on from her perspective, made Tom crack up again, 'till he finally gave up, and lay down on the barn floor.

After a few minutes, the laughter was worn out in both of them, and they judiciously decided to leave Dregg in the hands of their resident movie critic. They went back to work on the plans for their new home.

Picking up the remaining DAI (as they affectionately called the new rifle), they headed into the semi safety of their house.

Tommy carried his DAI over and set it on the kitchen table, beside the one that Dregg had originally brought down earlier. He admired the beautiful weapon before him. Neither he nor his Dad could figure out some of the features installed on the rifles, but he really didn't care anymore.

The damn gun fired with pinpoint accuracy, out to well over the one thousand yards that Jessie had in his secret range.

'Hell, you could cover with a quarter, all the shots that Dad made at that distance, ' Tommy thought with pride.

His own score was a little off but still all in the black at the same distance and he figured his lack of really good shooting was due mostly to too much excitement at the new weapon.

'Even the General had missed of few 10's from being so excited at his new toy, ' Tommy thought, smirking at Jesse's reaction to the powerful gun.

The old man had one of the originals and quickly found out that his shoulder couldn't hold up to the big rounds for long. Once he switched to the DAI though, he wouldn't give it up. He had just nodded, when they told him they were leaving.

'I'll bet he never lets anyone else even look at his new toy, much less lets them try it out, ' Tommy thought as he sat down by his dad, who was sitting at the laptop on the table.

Tom was going through the list of what they had already decided on versus what was still up in the air so to speak.

"Son, I don't know if it's possible to do, but I'd really like to be able to understand the people we are going to run into, over there, ' Tom said

He tried to decide if he could contact the ship's AI, without bothering Dregg, from here.

'The last thing I want right now, is to interrupt their movie watching. If I did that, my loving wife might try and drag us into the last two hours of that insanity, just out of spite, ' he thought, and a shudder ran up his spine.

"There is no need to contact Captain Dregg, at this time, Tom. I am quiet capable of interacting with your ... shall we say 'lower form of computing hardware' that sits in front of you," Falash's voice came through the small speakers on the laptop.

Tom grinned from ear to ear.

"Well, that is indeed a wonderful and a very magnanimous gesture on your part, Miss Falash," Tom exclaimed although he was indeed flabbergasted at how she managed to pull it off so effectively.

Tommy had been watching his dad and heard the voice on the laptop that sounded an awful lot like the voice on Dregg's ship. What he didn't understand was why she sounded like it was a reply to a question when none had been asked, yet!

'OR HAD IT?' he thought to himself as the only viable reason of how that would have been accomplished jumped into his thoughts.

'Miss Falash, you can read my mind from up there in the ship, can't you?' he thought in his mind.

Yes, I can, Tommy. I do limit what level of your thought process that I allow myself to read, though. It seems that you spend an extraordinary amount of time thinking about the opposite sex, instead of the mission at hand, ' came the very confused and even slightly irritated answer inside his mind.

Tommy blushed as his father looked at him smiling.

'Damn I hope Dad isn't hearing this little exchange of minds, too, ' he thought to himself as his dad nodded and winked at the horrified teenager.

'OH SHIT! Please tell me that was a coincidence that he just winked at me, cause if it isn't, just go ahead and shoot me, now, ' Tommy thought nervously.

"Sorry, Son, we've just been so busy getting ready. I guess our buddy Dregg forgot to tell us what all the improvements were that he did on us the other day," Tom said apologetically to the red faced young man.

"AAAAhhhhh!" Tommy yelled as he ran out of the kitchen.

He made a beeline to his bedroom, and immediately turned up his stereo as loud as it would go. He pulled a pillow over his head, trying to shut out the link that he still felt with his dad and Falash.

"Damn," Tom sighed as he heard the stereo blasting some ear-splitting racket that his son had been given by his daughter, on his last birthday.

'Well, that tear's it. My boy is really feeling bad, if he's willing to play that trash. He hates that damned new so-called rap shit, ' he thought as he got up and headed to Tommy's room.

Tom was just about to pass the back door, when Bets came barreling though it. Her eyes were a mixture of anger and empathy, as she confirmed Tom's own thoughts.

"I heard that my son is growing up, and we are now his worst nightmare," she said looking back over her shoulder as Dregg followed her inside the house.