Peggy Sue (The T'aafhal Inheritance) (6 page)

Captain’s Cabin, Peggy Sue

Jack was gazing out one of the large cabin viewports as Ludmilla finished getting dressed after showering. Among the nice things about the Peggy Sue’s guest cabins were the private showers. And this cabin was the largest and most luxuriously appointed of all, intended as the owner’s stateroom. Jack requisitioned it for his own use when TK Parker was not on board for the inaugural cruise.

The extra space made sharing the cabin with Ludmilla easy, though Jack would have gladly shared a storage closet with the ash blond ship’s doctor. It had been a blissful month of cohabitation since they overcame their initial animosity and fell into each other’s arms. At least it had been up till now.

I can’t believe that we are having our first fight over this,
Jack fumed.
She of all people should understand the danger in delivering one’s self to government agents. But she is dead set on this, probably because Yuki is going back to Japan in a few days. But Japan isn’t Russia. I’m not going back to the U.S. Not that I trust the American government either, but Russia! They have gone from being a communist dictatorship to a kleptocracy run by thugs.
 

The computer display in his desk beeped and flashed a status update. Jack sighed. “Lt. Curtis is docking the shuttle now, Luda. It will be well after dark in Australia when we arrive, but we shouldn’t delay.”

“Yes, Jack,” Ludmilla replied, brushing her hair in front of the vanity mirror. Overall, Jack considered Ludmilla pretty low maintenance—a quick shower, throw on a new jumpsuit and pass a brush through her hair and she was ready to go anywhere. As far as Jack was concerned, Luda was the perfect woman: smart, witty, beautiful, and libidinous. “Are the new scientists going to be there when we arrive?” she asked.

“Lt. McKennitt should have collected them a few hours ago and flown them to Parker’s Station. Last I heard, Prof. Gunderson brought an aid, a young, female graduate student.”

“Why that old goat!” Ludmilla said with a smile. “I’m sure that it is all very proper and aboveboard, but wait until I see Olaf. He is such a serious and proper gentleman, I can tease him for months.”

“I’ve never seen this side of you before, Luda. How could I have fallen in love with such a sadist?”

“Pfagh! A little good natured kidding between colleagues is a good thing,” she shot back unrepentantly. “Besides, it will keep him quiet about our sleeping arrangements. Trust me, Olaf would be scandalized to know that the ship’s captain was sleeping with one of the crew.” Ludmilla threw her hairbrush into the case on the bed and walked over to where Jack was standing.

“I’m somewhat scandalized myself,” Jack said with a chuckle. He turned to find Ludmilla standing next to him. “You know how much I am going to miss you when…”

“Shhh,” she said, placing a finger on his lips, “we said we would not talk about that anymore.” Then she kissed him. A long lingering kiss.

“If they try to hold you, no power in the Universe will stop me from coming for you,” he said in a raspy voice. “You are more to me than the entire planet.”

“Trust me, my Captain, nothing will prevent me from coming back to you.” Then she added with Russian practicality, “of course, if we do not leave I can’t come back, so let us go to the shuttle.”

“Yes, Dr. Tropsha,” Jack replied, recovering his composure, “let’s go to Australia and meet the new crew members.”

Cessna Caravan, Somewhere Over South Australia

Sandy McKennitt, recently designated a Lieutenant Junior Grade attached to the Earth Space Ship Peggy Sue, was starting a descent to Willawog Station. Willawog was about two thirds of the way from Adelaide to Parker’s Station and Sandy had promised to pick up some items for Mrs. Reilly, wife of the station manager.

Sitting next to her in the front of the big, single engined turboprop was Professor Olaf Gunderson. In the two rows of passenger seats behind them were Dr. Lucrezia Piscopia, Dr. Rajiv Gupta and Miss Kimberly Lawson, one of Gunderson’s student assistants. It was still a bit of a mystery how Miss Lawson had gotten to Australia. How she came to be on the plane was less of a mystery.

A few hours ago, Sandy had parked the rental car and hustled Professor Gunderson into the Outback Air FBO at Adelaide International Airport. The small terminal, serving general aviation and a number of bush pilot outfits, was located about 100 meters west of the main International Terminal. Both Gunderson and Sandy were carrying bags of groceries, with Olaf having to juggle both the sacks of food and his own suitcase. “Come on, mates! We need to load the Caravan so grab your bags,” Sandy called to Doctors Piscopia and Gupta, who were seated in the lounge area. “No bludgers allowed here!”

Elena leaned close to Rajiv and asked in a soft voice, “what is a bludger?” To which the equally flummoxed Rajiv replied, “My dear Elena, I haven’t the foggiest idea. My ears tell me that the young lady is speaking English but my mind cannot decode the words.”

The talkative Aussie pilot led her charges out the front of the terminal to a large high-winged airplane sitting near by. The airplane was a Cessna Grand Caravan, a big fixed gear craft with a single propeller in its nose. Normally, a Caravan is powered by a single 675-horsepower Pratt & Whitney turbine engine. This one, however, was propelled by a 900 HP flat rated Honeywell TPE331-12JR engine. It also boasted an aftermarket co-pilot’s door and 14 inch wingtip extensions. Sandy walked over to the big Cessna and opened a wide cargo door behind the wing, swinging it up like the hatchback on a car.

This was no luxury corporate aircraft. The interior was laid out with a combination of high density passenger seating forward and a sizable rear cargo area. Up front, behind the seats for the pilot and copilot, there were two rows of 2-1 split passenger seats. After storing their few pieces of luggage in compartments built into the large conformal belly pod under the plane, the pilot turned to her passengers and said “Go on, step up Dr. Gupta. We’ll pass the groceries up to you. Just stack them all neatly in the center against the rear bulkhead.”

When they were done loading the cargo, Sandy went on board and with Rajiv’s help, secured the grocery bags with snug netting. “All right, in you go,” the pilot beamed, hopping back down to the concrete apron. “Just work your way forward and take a seat. Prof. Gunderson, give Dr. Piscopia a hand up. Then you come up front with me.”

Sandy turned to Olaf before closing the cargo door saying, “I’ve got to do a quick pre-flight. You can climb in the front through the door on the other side.” Then she paused as something over the Professor’s shoulder caught her eye. “What have we here?”

Running across the aircraft parking area was a young woman, frantically waiving one arm and clutching a small valise with the other. Behind her, several of the FBO’s personnel were in hot pursuit. “Wait! Please, Professor! Please wait for me!” came the woman’s plaintive cries.

“What? That looks like Kim,” said a stunned Dr. Gunderson.

“And who is Kim, Professor?” Sandy asked, in a what-are-you-trying-to-pull tone of voice.

“Kim, my teaching assistant. But she didn’t come with me on this trip, she should be back in Chicago.”

“Well, it would appear that your little sheila followed you here, Professor,” Sandy commented as Kim practically ran into Olaf with the airport personnel just steps behind.

“Oh please, please, Professor Gunderson!” the out of breath fugitive pleaded. “Please let me come with you. Don’t let them arrest me, Daddy would never understand.”

Seeing that Gunderson was dithering Sandy made a command decision.
After all,
she reasoned,
I’m the ranking officer on this little outing.
“It’s all right mates,” she shouted to the airport men who were just pulling up at the plane. “Young lady almost missed her flight is all.”

“She weren’t on the passenger list, Sandy. I ought to give you a gobful,” the lead pursuer said with considerable heat. “Bloody seppo wacker making us run our arses off. I say we call the divvy van.”

“Come on, Jimmy, she’ll be right. Be a cobber.” Sandy looked at the man with a mixture of innocence and pleading.

“Oh, All right,” the man relented. “But just this once, and only because its you. OK, mates, false alarm, back to the terminal.”

As the winded pursuers turned and started back to the FBO at a much slower pace than when they arrived, Sandy turned to her newest charge and in a much less friendly voice said, “Get on board Miss. I’ll let Mr. Parker and the Captain settle you when we get to the Station.”

With that she practically pushed the young woman inside the plane and slammed the cargo door. Turning to the still befuddled Dr. Gunderson she said, “You too, Professor. Climb on board and no more surprises.”

That was more than an hour ago and things went much more smoothly once they were in the air. The big Cessna was a docile beast and the Garmin G1000 glass cockpit was state of the art for aircraft of this class—after takeoff, it quite literally flew itself. A quick exchange with Willawog Station to say she was landing and Sandy turned on approach to the Station’s dirt strip.

* * * * *

Twenty minutes later they were back in the air and headed for Parker’s Station. All but one of the bags of groceries had been off loaded at the last stop. While the other passengers were content to fly in silence, it was not in Elena’s nature to remain quiet for long.

“If you don’t mind me asking, Miss McKennitt, what was that last stop all about?”

“Well, Doctor, in the Outback every thing is a long way away, and when you’re making a trip to the city it’s only neighborly to ask folks on your route if they need anything. In this case Mrs. Reilly asked for some fresh vedgies. In fact, they looked so good I got some avos and rockmelons for us as well.”

“Avos and rockmelons?”

“Avocados and cantaloupes,” the pilot explained. “We try to keep a low profile at the Station, but out here not helping the neighbors would attract more attention than being sociable.”

“I think that is very nice, neighbor helping neighbor,” the Italian astronomer said. “The world could use more of that kind of thinking.”

“Well I don’t know about that, it’s just the way I was brought up.”

“Such a spirit of cooperation has all but disappeared in modern urban society. You should be proud of your upbringing,” Elena replied. “Have you been flying in the Outback long?”

“My Da had me behind the controls of an old Luscombe 8A Silvair before my 12
^th
birthday. I was flying long before he’d let me drive.” Those memories brought a momentary smile to her face. “Anyway, we should be landing at Parker’s Station in another 15 minutes. Check your seat-belts, please.”

Chapter 3

Station House, Parker’s Station

The band of travelers from Adelaide were standing in the main room of the station owner’s house, each clutching a drink and all trying to talk at once. They had been joined by Yuki Saito and Dieter Schmidt. Also present were JT and Billy Ray, who were shadowed by a trio of muscular men with short haircuts and tight fitting tee-shirts. They were standing in a separate group, talking with Sandy and another young man with decidedly military bearing.

“Although it is very good to see you, Dr. Saito, I’m still wondering where Dr. Tropsha is?” said Olaf. Seeing one of the astronauts who supposedly died on the ISS a few months back did make him more confident that Ludmilla was alive. Still, he would not be satisfied until he talked with her face to face.

“Do not worry, Dr. Gunderson,” the Japanese physicist replied, “Dr. Tropsha and the Captain are in transit from the ship and will be with us soon.”

“They are coming from the spaceship, the Peggy Sue?” asked Elena. “I still find it hard to believe that there is a large spaceship orbiting the planet and nobody has reported it.”

“Vell, I imagine that you will be invited on board after meeting the Captain,” Dieter Schmidt said, in his pronounced German accent. “Zat assumes you accept our offer to join the project.”

“And you are telling us that you have walked on other planets and traveled to another star system?” Elena asked the three project scientists. “
Per favore mi perdoni,
but I am still having a hard time accepting that you can travel faster than the speed of light.”

“Oh believe me, Elena, both Yuki and I were skeptical as well, and we were on board!” replied Rajiv. “Sadly, I did not get the chance to leave the ship. Somehow Yuki managed to both walk on the surface of the Moon and then visit the interior of the alien space station.”

“Alien space station?” asked Kim, no longer able to stand quietly by. “What alien space station? What aliens?”

“Do not worry, Miss,” Rajiv said, “the Captain will explain everything when he arrives.”

“I do hope so,” replied Olaf, “I’m as anxious to hear this story as Elena and Kim are.”

There was a soft chime from the hall, signaling that the elevator from the underground facility was arriving. All eyes in the room focused on the hallway entrance as the murmur of conversation faded to silence. There, side by side, appeared a tall, well built man with a neatly trimmed beard and a beautiful woman with ash blond hair. The man was dressed in a black jumpsuit devoid of decoration with the exception of a small pip on his left lapel. The woman also wore a jumpsuit, which highlighted her stunning figure, though her suit was pure white. Her left lapel also bore a pip and from the way they stood, their body language made it clear that they were a couple.

“Well, don’t stop the party on our account,” the man said, “we just dropped by because we heard there were free drinks to be had.” He smiled and the woman playfully swatted him on the arm.

“Do not listen to him, his is just having a joke,” the woman in white said, with a noticeable Russian accent, “he knows that, since he is the captain, everyone will laugh.” At that everyone did laugh. Recognition lit in the woman’s eyes and she headed for Dr. Gunderson, extending her hand, “Olaf, so good of you to come!”