Morning Song: A Seeders Universe Novel (13 page)

Maria sat back and just stared at Ray.

They had known about Seeder Mother Ships. She couldn’t believe that. Why hadn’t they said something?

“They have not had time for the history of the Seeders,” Tacita said, touching her husband’s arm gently. “They do not understand, but they will. They have much to learn, as I am sure
Morning Song
told them.”

Ray nodded. “You are right, we have a more pressing problem to deal with first.”

Maria just sat there, staring at Ray.

Again it was Roscoe who seemed to find his footing a little faster than she did. “We need to save millions.”

Now it was Ray’s turn to look puzzled. Then he laughed. “You already did that.”

Roscoe looked at Fisher, then at Maria.

Maria sat forward. “And just how did we do that?”

“By taking control of the ship, stopping the malfunction, turning the ship around, and starting to brake,” Ray said.

Suddenly Maria understood. “We are not letting the ship jump to one-hundred-light-year trans-tunnel flights.”

It took a moment, but Roscoe started to laugh and then Fisher followed.

“It’s going to take a few hundred years or more at this sub-light speed,” Ray said, “for that ship to even reach the edge of the Milky Way, even without braking.”

“Oh, thank the heavens,” Maria said, leaning back and staring at the ceiling. She couldn’t believe how completely relieved she felt. And she could sense Roscoe beside her feeling relieved and happy as well.

They had accomplished their mission.

“So what’s the pressing problem we need to face now?”

Ray started to speak, but Tacita touched his arm and shook her head.

Then Tacita sat forward and looked directly at Maria with a dark intensity that Maria had never seen before.

“You need to go back to
Morning Song
and continue your education. Then we can talk.”

“Can we at least get help manning the big ship?”

“In four weeks,” Ray said, “your speed will be slow enough for us to match with our normal ships and start sending crew aboard. And you will need to pick most of them and a command crew. Until then, I’m afraid it’s just the fifteen of you. You will do fine.
Morning Song
is a very good ship.”

Then Ray and Tacita stood and bowed slightly to her and Roscoe.

“Please excuse us,” Ray said. “Time is short and we have a lot to do.”

With that, they both vanished, leaving Fisher, Roscoe, and Maria half out of their chairs.

Maria had no idea at all what just happened.

None.

TWENTY-EIGHT

ROSCOE JUMPED THEM back on board
Morning Song
and into Fisher’s ship inside the big scanning room. He instantly felt better.

“That’s amazing,” Maria said. “I feel like I’m home.”

“I think we are,” Roscoe said, smiling at her.

“So either of you have any idea what just happened?” Fisher asked. “If you do, you can explain it to me as I get us something to eat.”

They followed Fisher into the kitchen and Roscoe sat down at the dining table and Maria sat beside him, her hand resting on his leg, keeping the connection between them. That connection seemed to be growing stronger by the moment and Roscoe liked that more than he wanted to admit.

He wanted her to be a part of him. And he had a hunch that if she wasn’t close, he would no longer feel whole.

Just as being away from
Morning Song
didn’t feel right.

“I think that Ray and Tacita knew right from the start what the big ship was,” Maria said.

“I agree,” Roscoe said. “But I have no idea why they didn’t tell us.”

“And how do they know?” Maria asked. “My sense is that they have sat in a joint command chair at some point in the past.”

“Could they really be that old?” Fisher asked as he pulled out bread and some cut turkey to make sandwiches with.

“Nothing stopping any of us from getting very, very old,” Maria said. “
Morning Song
promised us history and far more education. Seems we need that.”

“I agree completely,” Roscoe said. “Maybe after that we will understand why they didn’t tell us what this ship was in the first place. And what they were in such a hurry to go do.”

Then he sat back enjoying the feel of Maria beside him as they planned crew rotation onto the
Morning Song
Command Center.

About halfway through the quick lunch, Roscoe suddenly had a thought. “You can’t count Maria and me as part of that rotation.”

She looked at him and then nodded, clearly understanding.

“We’re going to be in school,” Roscoe said.

“And at times we might not actually be on board,” Maria said.

“That’s possible as well,” he said, nodding. “It’s up to you to just keep this big ship braking and stable while we learn what we can about what we are up against and what comes next.”

Fisher just shook his head and said, “I’ll do my best.”

Roscoe smiled at Fisher. “She’s a good ship. She’ll help you.”

“I hope so,” Fisher said.

After they finished, Roscoe took Maria’s hand, enjoying the feel and the energy running through it to him.

“Ready to go to class?”

“As I’ll ever be,” she said, smiling at him and then quickly kissing him.

This kiss surprised them both because even more energy flowed between them and a lot more caring and feeling.

It was so passionate in just a slight kiss, it took his breath away.

“Well, that’s going to be interesting,” she said, touching her lips and then smiling at him.

She was flushed and breathing hard.

“And that’s an understatement,” he said.

“What just happened there?” Fisher asked, frowning at them.

Maria laughed. “More information than you want to know.”

Fisher blushed and turned away to clean up the dishes. “Meet you in the Command Center.”

Roscoe and Maria both laughed, then holding hands, jumped back to the heart and soul and brains of
Morning Song
.

TWENTY-NINE

MARIA STOOD IN front of the two command chairs, holding hands with Roscoe. A tiny part of her was worried about sitting down again, but honestly, she felt excited about the learning she knew was coming.

“How did it go with Chairman Ray?” Callie asked.

“Interesting describes it,” Roscoe said. “Fisher will explain. He’ll be here in a moment.”

She nodded.

Maria pulled Roscoe toward the two chairs. “We have some lessons to learn.”

“Looking forward to it,” he said, squeezing her hand.

Then they turned and sat down, scooting back into the form-fitting chairs and making sure they had a solid hold of each other’s hands.

Again the blue heads-up screen came up in front of them and Maria could again feel her mind expanding even more.

She and Roscoe both did a quick check of all the ship’s major systems.

“Everything seems to functioning fine,” Maria said.

“Better than can be expected after such a long trip,” Roscoe said. “
Morning Song
, you have done a great job over the long voyage.”

Words appeared on the translucent blue screen in front of them.

Thank you, Chairmen.

Are you ready for the next stage?

“We are,” Maria said.

The form of the chairs shifted and encased them quickly in a tight but comfortable shell. She still held Roscoe’s hand, but could see nothing at all.

There was no sense of movement at all, but within just a few seconds the big chairs opened back up.

They were now sitting in a large circular room, their two chairs on a higher level looking out over what looked like a comfortable living room. Five steps led down into the round center of the room.

Long couches, large overstuffed chairs, coffee tables, all formed in groups in the large room like a lounge, or a very comfortable waiting area. The floor seemed to have a carpet of some sort on it and everything was in brown tones.

Maria guessed that the room might hold a hundred people without trouble, and there were enough couches and chairs for more than that. It was an immense round room. But at the same time it had numbers of areas where just a few people could talk and feel private.

The ceiling was far overhead and the light indirect. The only thing she could smell was a faint scent of bread cooking.

Maria knew that they were supposed to stand and just make themselves at home. So they both did stand, looking around, but keeping their hands together.

Maria was amazed. The huge room, even for its size, felt very, very comfortable.

Maria had a sense where they were, but she didn’t want to think about that being possible.

Roscoe pointed at the wide area where their two chairs sat. “Landing areas for a good fifty sets of chairs around the room. See the marks on the floor?”

She did and she agreed. This is where the Chairmen came.

At that moment another set of command chairs shimmered into existence about a quarter turn around the circle away from them.

Maria remained holding Roscoe’s hand as the new command chairs opened and Chairman Ray and Tacita stood, smiling.

Of all the people she had expected to see here for their training, it was not them. Not after the way they had acted on their ship just a short time ago.

Chairman Ray, his long gray hair flowing behind him, stepped down into the main part of the room with Tacita at his side.

Roscoe glanced at her, then led them down the five steps.

“Where are we?” Maria asked as they got near Chairman Ray.

“Earth,” Ray said, smiling.

“All human cultures name their home world Earth,” Roscoe said, annoyed at the dance of an answer.

But Maria knew what Ray meant. She had to just let him say it.

“The first Earth,” Ray said, still smiling and indicating they should sit on a comfortable-looking couch. “This is the home world of all the Seeders.”

Maria just couldn’t breathe.

It felt like something heavy was on her chest.

It wasn’t possible.

She knew that the Seeder home world was just a myth. She never expected to be here.

Yet she knew, with her connection to
Morning Song
, that Ray was telling the truth.

She was on Earth.

Not her Earth or Roscoe’s Earth.

The first Earth.

THIRTY

ROSCOE COULD SENSE how upset Maria was and squeezed her hand some and guided her to sit down beside him on one of the soft-looking couches.

As they sat, the couch shifted slightly and molded perfectly to their forms.

Ray and Tacita sat across from them, both smiling.

“We are sorry about our deception on my ship,” Ray said. “We knew you were going to go back to the
Morning Song
and immediately jump here for your training and we needed to get to our ship to get here as well to greet you and help you get started and answer questions we couldn’t answer with Chairman Fisher present.”

“Where is your Mother Ship located?” Maria asked.

“In the spiral galaxy that is named The Sevens by the residents there,” Tacita said, her voice soft for the first time that Maria had ever heard. “It’s the same spiral galaxy that
Morning Song
originated from.”

“It is our base,” Ray said. “Our ship is called
Warm Night
. We built the
Morning Song
there along with her sister ship,
Morning Breeze,
who is coming into the Milky Way in about forty thousand years on the same path.”

“You built them?” Maria asked, trying to wrap her head around how old the two sitting across from them really were.

“We did,” Tacita said, nodding.

“Maria and I are the first Chairmen of the
Morning Song
?” Roscoe asked, clearly as surprised as Maria felt.

“The only ones there will ever be unless there is an accident or you have a desire to step down,” Ray said. “She is your ship and your companion from the moment you sat down and she accepted you.”

Maria had nothing to say.

Neither did Roscoe it seemed.

Ray smiled. “I assume since you had just gotten here you have eaten before coming?”

“We did,” Maria managed to say.