Authors: Chris Hechtl

Princess Rescue Inc (130 page)

BOOK: Princess Rescue Inc

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Doc
cocked an eyebrow up at him. “And what makes you think you can't do all that
and more here?” she asked. She waved her hands. “An entire planet to explore!”
She pointed out the window to the factories. “Infrastructure galore to set up.
And if we play our cards right, who knows? We just might see a space program in
our life time. Stranger things have happened.”

She
snorted after a thoughtful pause. “We're living proof,” she said with a
sardonic grin. He chuckled at that. “And it doesn't mean we're trapped here.
This works out we can go back and forth. Or if things don't work out with
Deidra over the long haul, you can always go back. Bridge isn't burnt, at least
not that one. At least not yet.”

He
nodded as he caught sight of her golden locks in the courtyard. She was wearing
a yellow dress, her crown in her silky hair. He smiled, dazzled by the vision
of loveliness all over again. Doc caught his look. “Hell, we all talk about our
prince charming or rescuing a princess and living happily ever after. Here's
your chance bucko! Don’t blow it!” she urged him with a shove in the right
direction. He snorted as they walked out into the sunlight.

<==={}------------>

He
stood out the next morning, watching the two suns rise. He felt Deidra's hands
behind him and he turned, lips puckering in a slight smile as she ducked under
his arm so it rested on her shoulders. She hugged herself to his side, silky
soft and together they watched the suns rise. His eyes drifted to the castle
and the people below, already moving about on their business. He smiled,
feeling her warmth. He'd finally made up his mind.

<==={}------------>

Perry
led the team back a week later. Months ago they had set up a series of wind
turbines along the coast. Electrical lines from the turbines and from the
reactor ran to the giant electromagnets at the lode stone cliffs. They could
see the effects of the singularity as it rippled the air and water. Space and
time were bending around it.

When
the last electromagnets came on they hoped and prayed fervently it would work.
Max and Sydney cranked up the juice to the maximum. Finally the vortex moved
into an orbit and then oscillated slower and slower before stabilizing between
the electromagnets. The others came on, caging the beast.

Perry
sent the recovered MALP through just to be sure. They made contact with Terra
so he sent a loaded MALP with their samples through. They left all the gear and
their spare clothes behind. Charlie, Max the machinist, the biologist Nate, Sue
the Doc, Mary the botanist and Ryans remained behind, watching from far back.

<==={}------------>

“We've
got about five minutes before the copper wire melts folks, so best make your
good byes while you can or you're here for the duration,” Max cautioned. The
others nodded.

Wanda
frowned. “How come?”

“'Cause
the Earth's got that fancy smancy superconductor stuff that can take the load.
We've got copper. Now git a move on filly!” Max ordered waving. She snorted and
walked off toward the royal family.

Wanda
told them she would visit as she hugged Deidra. Her lead lined suit crinkled as
she moved. She asked for permission to emigrate. Deidra told her of course.
“All of you,” she tearfully told them. She had Perry and the other military men
kneel. She knighted each in a brief ceremony. She informed them that any that
returned would be granted a title and lands.

Several
of the spectators were amazed by that. Lisa, Waters, and Ginger all expressed
interest. They were all up on their contracts. Waters was near retirement. Lisa
was really interested; here she would be starting a media company. “If that's
okay,” she said after looking at Deidra who smiled and nodded. Zara hugged her,
dashing tears. They both cried briefly. The men rolled their eyes but subsided
in the griping when the women who were watching gave them dirty looks.
Sheepishly they shrugged to each other.

Fred
the geologist asked to come back, he'd like to explore more. “Cartography isn't
my thing, maybe we could bring one back?” he asked looking to the royal couple.
Ryans nodded.

“And
a dentist,” Doc said with a smile. Ryans gave her a look. “Just a suggestion?”
she teased. He rubbed his jaw.

He
snorted. “You'll find a list of candidate positions on file. Run it by Britney
and the government people for the follow up if you’re interested.”

“Not
too late to get cold feet?” Perry teased.

“Don't
start,” Ryans deadpanned.

“You're
just staying to get out of the endless debriefs and media circus, admit it,”
Perry grinned. Ryans chuckled.

“No,
just the medical scans, quarantine, blood samples, exams, and such,” Ryans
replied. Perry's face fell.

“That's
evil,” Perry growled and then winced. Waters had a sour look, as did most of
the other returning people.

Doc
nodded. “I knew I had a good reason to stay,” she murmured smiling.

“They
do say doctors make the worst patients,” Ryans teased. She poked him.

“Don't
be a stranger,” Wanda tearfully said, hugging each of them. “I'll be back
soon.” She grinned to Ryans. “Eugene behave,” she admonished him with a finger.

“Eugene?”
Perry drawled, clearly amused, turning on Ryans with a teasing grin.

“Don't
start,” Ryans mock growled rolling his eyes. Perry chuckled. Ryans hid a sigh.
He was really going to miss the lieutenant, miss him and the others a lot. But
one thing he'd learned coming here, life was about change. Here they had change
a plenty now.

“Once
we're sure things are stable on both ends, I suppose we'll be back and forth,”
Ryans said gruffly, hugging the Lieutenant and thumping his back.

Perry
chuckled. “You do that. I may too,” Perry said voice husky before he grinned.
“But first I've got a lot of back pay to spend.”

Ryans
laughed with the others at that. Some of the military personnel in earshot
cheered. “Get outta here then. Have fun,” he chuckled and made shooing motions.
“Stay safe all of you,” he said. The Gunny, Master Sergeant and both
Lieutenants turned about face as they prepared to leave and saluted. Ryans came
to attention and returned the salute. They did a perfect turnabout and then
climbed onto their LAV's. “Damn I'm going to miss them,” Ryans sighed watching
the vehicles disappear into the vortex. “All right, shut it down,” he ordered.
Max nodded and flipped the off switch. They could hear the thrums turn to
whines as the equipment wound down. The vortex sparkled and then shifted back
out to sea.

“Happily
ever after?” Deidra asked, arm around his hip. He kissed her hair.

“Where
did you get that from, Doc?” he asked as they walked away. Doc and the others
were already ahead of them, making their ways to the waiting Stryker’s.

“Yes,”
she said looking up to him, eyes sparkling. He kissed her nose, making her
smile.

“I
don't know about happy endings, but this isn't one of them,” he said and then
waved. “This is just a new beginning.” Her lips curved into a smile as she
pulled his head down for a lingering kiss.

“My
sentiments exactly,” she murmured.

The End

Author's
afterward:

This
is one of those books where you go huh? Right? No, just kidding. It is a little
weird though, I have to admit. I started writing it as a short story exercise a
while back. Back in oh, 2007. I sat on it since I was working on other more
important projects at the time. But another scene came along, and then another
and I tied them together.

It
was supposed to be a short, just a one off to get out of my system, a writing
exercise to stretch a bit. A learning exercise, whatever you want to call it.
But one thing led to another and a short time later I had a rough draft. I had
started to experiment with alternative viewpoints around that time and decided
this book needed more than one primary view. But to do that I'd have to do a
rewrite, something I'm not altogether fond of for obvious reasons. I tucked a
few things in here and there... and then... I sat on it. LOL I threw it onto a
back burner and forgot about it.

Part
of the reason was because I was a little embarrassed by the adult scenes in the
book. There are a few, and I apologize if I got a little too graphic for your
tastes. Sorry, that's just how the scene played out.

I
had already submitted my first 3 books to Baen and was knee deep working on
others you see. One, a Terminator Salvation book I submitted to Titan
Publishing but never heard back from them. Shrug, that's how things are in the
business sometimes.

I
sat on this book for so long for another reason, I broke down and put my books
out on B&N and started getting back feedback. I was vexed with myself over
my horrible editing. I took another fresher look after talking things over with
Mechmaster and started to see one mistake after another in this book. The
dialog for instance was just one long run on sentence. That's annoying and a
problem.

Sooo...
I sat on it, shoved it to a back burner again and worked on other things. I can
write a book five times faster than I can edit it.

But
it didn't go away completely. In between other books I dusted out cover art
ideas and the critters and worked on them. One thing led to another and last
year I finished the cover art for this book.

Recently
(summer 2012) I finished book 4 of the Wandering Engineer and decided to take a
quick stab at cleaning this manuscript up. One thing led to another and I was
knee deep, and then neck deep in a rewrite with no end in sight. A quick one
week projected deadline came and passed several times over. But finally I
started to make progress and I'm glad to say here I am at the end of it.

September
5, 2013 Side Note: It has been suggested that this book should be split into
two parts, with the climax of the first book being the battle, and the return as
the other climax. I'm not into that. First, because we see the prep for war,
but rarely the aftermath. It's like murder, premeditation leads up to the
murder, sometimes chorographed and carefully thought out, but rarely does a
killer think of what to do afterward. (Thank you CSI)

I
wanted to show that, and that the political intrigue and issues didn't dry up
overnight into a happily ever after. Indeed, this may not be the only adventure
for Eugene Ryans and his crew. I may write a messy sequel sometimes. Who knows,
anything is possible. :)

For
those of you wondering more or if you want to see the critters I sculpted check
out my blog:

http://cyberforge3d.blogspot.com/

http://cyberforge3d.blogspot.com/2012/08/princess-rescue-inc.html

Appendix:

Here are just a few references I
used in the writing of this book. All errors are of course mine.

My blog:

http://cyberforge3d.blogspot.com/

http://cyberforge3d.blogspot.com/2012/08/princess-rescue-inc.html

General things:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brownie_(folklore)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imp

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle