First Contact (Galactic Axia Adventure) (24 page)

Garret was just about to ask another question when Captain Taver spoke up. “We’re approaching the mothership, Commander.”

“This is something I rarely see,” Commander Tess confessed to their guest. “I spend most of my time inside. I hope you enjoy the view.”

Commander Tess and the scientist looked out the front windows. The gigantic mothership blocked their view of the stars. Several smaller ships entered or exited various docking bays. Commander Tess noted the man’s shocked expression at the enormous sight.

“That’s my ship,” Tess announced proudly. The man remained speechless and continued to stare until they were swallowed by one of the docking bays.

∞∞∞

The mood of the little group standing around the hospital bed had improved considerably from a few short days ago. Sherry was now fully awake and her progress was nothing short of amazing. She looked at her friends and husband. Her visitors could still see Sherry shining out through her bruises and bandages. But most of all they tried to convey their love and support for her long recovery ahead.

In spite of her improvement, her doctor would still only allow them all to see her for a few minutes. “All right folks,” the doctor said as she stuck her head into the room. “Sherry’s got a lot of work to do. Except for Jake, the rest of you can come back this evening.”

She looks awful good for a woman knocking at death’s door,
thought Robert. Awful was just the word for it too, because between her clear casts and the bruises on her face, she was still quite a sight. In any case, Jake behaved as if she were a beauty queen. Robert stood back while the others showered her with love and praise. Taking his cue from the doctor, he helped shepherd them out into the hallway.

Sherry herself had said very little but it was obvious the compliments were good medicine. Robert noticed that she’d even received a get-well card from the driver of the cargo carrier that had hit her. He understood that the man, though uninjured, had tried to help with Sherry’s rescue and then later kept in touch with the nurses about her condition.

The hospital room door opened and Jake appeared to speak to his friends before they left for the day. “I want to thank you for all your support in this crisis,” he said softly.

“It wasn’t much,” Agnes said for all of them. “That’s what family is for.” The others voiced their agreement.

“I know, but thank you anyway,” answered Jake. “I better be getting back now. I’ll contact you this evening.”

Jake returned to the hospital room while the others went outside. Leatha suddenly realized that she’d just been adopted by this odd grouping of people. She glanced sideways at Stan, Delmar, and the Hassels and decided that she was in good company.
Never hurts to have a little more family,
she thought.
Especially when you have a choice in the matter
.

Chapter Sixteen

After watching the
Windrunner
slip silently through the pre-dawn atmosphere on its return flight to space, Tim Errel spoke. “What’s next?” he said while others shut down the hanger and returned it to their pre-visit appearance.

The chairman of the Maranar Space Agency and most of his staff had already left, again using different means to depart the remote island a couple hours before.

“Here comes our ride,” their host announced as a turboprop aircraft taxied out of another hanger.

“Where are we going?” Tim asked.

“The plan is to take you to the mainland,” their host replied after the plane stopped nearby. “We thought you might enjoy seeing a bit more of Maranar than you can via the media. I hate to think what your opinion of us might be. I’m sure you understand.”

“Good point,” Diane noted. “Frankly, what you broadcast for entertainment leaves something to be desired.”

“I’ve been saying that for years. Glad someone else agrees.”

With the engines of the aircraft shut down he, opened the door and swung down the step. “Go ahead and climb in and we’ll stow your bags in the back. We can take off in a few minutes. We have a narrow window when this area is not under satellite surveillance.”

Reluctantly, the couple squeezed into the passenger compartment of what to them seemed to be a flimsy mode of transportation. They could tell by its design the craft could not reach the speed of light or travel outside of the planet’s atmosphere. They doubted if it could even travel at sonic speed, and were absolutely certain it could not travel under water, a minimum requirement for any craft in the Axia fleet.

Shortly after taking their seats, their host and a subordinate climbed into adjoining seats opposite them.

“I’m amazed we get to use one of these babies!” their host exclaimed excitedly as they all strapped in. “I’ve been looking forward to finally getting a ride in one of the latest aircraft in our fleet!”

Tim and Diane looked at each other knowingly but said nothing.

For several hours the aircraft flew over vast stretches of ocean peppered with small islands covered with scrub. Finally, the main coast appeared on the horizon. To Tim and Diane’s surprise, it was also somewhat desolate and sparsely populated. Evidently, their hosts were taking a roundabout way back to the launch facility.

Another hour passed before they landed at a remote airstrip where they were transferred to ground transportation. No doubt of high quality by Maranar standards, the rectangular box on wheels was even more flimsy than the flying contraption they had just suffered. But their hosts seemed proud of their vessels and were honestly concerned for their guest’s comfort and safety – especially safety from the regular citizens of the planet whom the authorities seemed to fear.

Already Tim and Diane were becoming exasperated with the paranoia that necessitated all of these changes. Both made notes for later comparison. Their hosts continued to chatter about all that this society had accomplished and its hopes for the future.

∞∞∞

The afternoon was just turning to evening when their high speed mode of travel brought them to the main complex of the Maranar Space Agency. Entering a tunnel leading deep under the buildings, their vehicle passed through yet another security gate into the VIP parking zone. Tim and Diane were happy the roundabout journey was finally over. A journey that would have taken less than an hour in an Axia ship, even in the atmosphere, had taken a full day and a half.  Once safely inside, their host escorted them to the guest quarters deep under the building. “I know you’ve had a long trip and may want to turn in. We’ll go see the chairman tomorrow.”

The couple viewed the facilities and then Tim cleared his throat. “Could we have separate sleeping facilities?” the he asked carefully. “We’re close but we’re not married.”

Their guide paused at the unexpected request. “I think that can be arranged, sir.”

“And another thing,” Diane added, “let’s keep this informal. Feel free to call us by our first names, Diane and Tim.” Her companion nodded his agreement.

“We can work with that,” the man said. “And you call me Tomas. Give me a minute while I arrange separate quarters.”

While Tomas made a number of hurried calls, Tim and Diane stepped out onto an observation balcony just off the visitor quarters. Below them spread out the main control center for the launch facility and the ongoing mission. They could see different parts of the launch facility along with the staff working in the main control room. A large monitor showed the flight progress of the manned moon mission as it headed for home. The monitor next to it was off but was labeled as being for the direct feed from the orbiter.

“I’ll have an extra room for you in few minutes,” Tomas announced. “The chairman is going to let Tim use his personal quarters while you’re here. He’s not using it now anyway.”

“We apologize for the inconvenience,” Tim offered.

“No apology needed,” answered Tomas. “It’s just that we expected you to be a more liberal civilization.”

Diane made a mental note of what that comment indicated about the general society of Maranar. “Would either of you care for a snack or something to drink?” Tomas asked.

“That would be very nice,” Diane replied for them. “It has been a while since we last ate. It might help settle us for the night.”

Surveying their civilian attire, Tomas decided that their presence would not cause a stir in the executive lunchroom. He handed them two visitor badges.

“Put these on and we’ll go down to the lunchroom. We keep it open around the clock, and they serve excellent food, even if I say so myself.”

∞∞∞

Life for everyone had settled down somewhat now that Sherry was on the mend. At Sherry’s insistence, Jake left her side for a while and Agnes took over keeping her company through a series of treatments and therapy. Jake was wondering what he was going to do with himself but he needn’t have worried.

“So what do you want to do?” Robert asked him as the group ambled down the hall toward the entrance of the hospital.

“I haven’t given it much thought.”

“I have,” Delmar volunteered. “I want to show you my new ship.” Jake hesitated for a moment when Robert clapped his friend on his shoulder.

“Of course you want to see it,” Robert encouraged. “It’ll get you some fresh air to boot.”

“What about Stan and Leatha?” Jake asked, glancing at the couple.

“Oh, we’re fine,” Stan said. “I’m going to take Leatha over to see the science museum and then to the Institute to meet Ert.” Leatha smiled and nodded her agreement.

“You two have fun,” Robert said. “We’ll see you back at the house sometime this evening.”

The group split up after reaching the lobby. While Delmar stopped at the service desk to arrange transit to the spacefield, Jake and Robert watched Stan and Leatha walk out the doors together to secure ground transportation to the museum.

“Do you see what I see?” Robert asked his old friend when he saw the way they looked standing side by side. Before Jake could answer Delmar returned from his call.

“They’ll have a service flitter here in a couple of minutes. It’ll land on the roof pad.”

“We better get up there,” Robert said. The three turned back toward the hospital elevators. A short ride took them up to the landing pad just as the flitter swung in for a landing.

Minutes later they were high over the city on their way to Port Mulvey.
The city hasn’t changed that much
, Delmar thought as he looked out the window. Many memories flooded back for him as they raced over the capital of Mica. He remembered the first time he’d flown over the city in the freighter
Malibu
when he’d escaped from his brother Dorn. Now here it was almost three years later and so much had changed. Glancing toward the castle of the Grand Duke of Mica, he marveled at how it still had that magical look in the morning sunlight.

Arriving at the spaceport, Delmar had the flitter operator drop them off in front of
Cabbage Patch
. Robert and Delmar watched Jake’s wide-eyed reaction to the sleek craft. Neither said a word while Jake drank in its lines. “I like it!” he said with clear enthusiasm. “Where can I get me one?”

“Wait till you see inside,” Robert said as Delmar activated the hatch. The three men went inside and Robert watched Jake’s reactions to all of the changes and improvements in ship technology. What Jake found most fascinating was the improved communications equipment.

“This sure beats what I had to play with when I was in the service! You say this baby has a full computer interface?”

“Yep,” Delmar answered. “Here let me show you.” He sat down at the console and activated the equipment. He noticed the indicator telling him that a computer message had come in while he’d been at the hospital. A glance at its code told him that it was another letter from his old pen pal Thena from his time at Mica Computer Institute.

Within moments Delmar accessed the computer net and put a call in to Ert. As a further demonstration, he also activated the vocal interface.

“Hello, Delmar,” Ert said.
His bio-mechanical voice is still improving
, Delmar thought.
Even from our conversations during the flight here to Mica
.

“Hello, Ert,” Delmar answered. “I was just showing some friends what my new comm equipment can do. You know Jake Sender and my dad.”

“Sure I do. And you came to the right place,” Ert said. “What kind of demonstration would you like?”

“Can you interact with any computer?” Jake asked.

“Of course,” Ert replied through the speaker. “Do you have something in mind, Reverend Sender?”

“Yes I do,” Jake replied with a wicked grin. “I’m having trouble with my home computer. It runs slow and loses files.”

“Can you enter the comm number you have the unit hooked up to? It would save a few minutes looking it up.”

At a nod from Jake, Delmar entered Jake’s address and comm number into the keyboard. A moment later the comm signaled that they were connected.

“What do you think, Ert?” asked Delmar.

“It has some serious programming deficiencies,” Ert replied. “With Jake’s permission, I can do something about it.”

“Go ahead,” Jake answered. “It can’t hurt.” The comm went silent for a moment while Ert accessed Jake’s home machine.

“Okay, it’s fixed,” Ert announced after a couple of minutes. “I took the liberty of reprogramming its processing system and repaired the files. I also tripled its speed and upgraded its capabilities.”

“Wow!” Jake exclaimed when he heard the news. “You did that remotely from the computer school?”

“How else would I do it? If you have any more trouble, just call me.”

“Thank you.” Jake said.

“I just request one favor,” Ert continued. “Please don’t let your local technicians try to do anything with it. They’re well-meaning but it pains me the way they make these simple machines suffer.” The men laughed as Jake nodded his compliance.

“Understood, Ert. And again, thank you!”

“If there’s nothing else, Delmar, I have to deal with another dream project of Professor Angle’s.” Delmar chuckled at the thought.