“No!” Nadie reached out to where her family was. “I don’t wanna go! I wanna stay with them! Let me at least say goodbye!”
“Are you feeling all right?”
Nadie shot out of the chair in a panic and buffeted into the cold, hard instrument dashboard. Zachary Gorman spoke to her. She was back in the Anvil’s cockpit, ejecting the co-pilot’s chair.
“The hatch,” she frantically checked the readings from Cargo Bay B. “Closed? Are the reindeer still there?”
“There are no reindeer on the ship,” the automaton kept his cool in the face of the XO’s strange behaviour.
“The Christmas tree. It’s giving an energy signature!” Nadie checked the kitchen. All systems normal. No sign of anything unusual. “Where is it? Where’s the Christmas music?” The speakers were completely silent.
“May I suggest a visit to the autodoc?”
“I’m not sick. I know what I saw.”
Nadie played with the instruments. There had to be something there. Some residue. Some way she could find Nick and persuade him to take her back again.
“You must have fallen asleep or daydreamed. Humans do that sometimes.” The android diagnosed what he saw. Then he closed his eyes and returned to scanning the wavelengths in search of a personal message.
Nadie blinked a couple of times. What was Zachary referring to? Her head felt like it was wrapped in a warm wool. She had a sensation like something important was slipping away from her forever. It was the memory of Saint Nick and the short journey he took her on. It quietly left her. But she wasn’t sad at all. Instead, she experienced unusual calm and optimism, with a touch of misplaced hope for the future.
“Everything is going to turn out fine,” she said. Then she explored her feelings, “I’m feeling happy? I’m filled with anticipation and can’t wait to taste the food and watch the movie Rhys has got for us? I think I may be sick, after all. I am becoming as ridiculous as everyone else.”
Zachary lifted his eyelids in time to see a flash speed past their windshield. “Did you observe that as well?”
“Yes. It almost looked like a man driving a sleigh guided by a slew of reindeer.”
“It was a man driving a sleigh. And he was waving at us.”
Nadie shrugged. If the automaton thought he saw what he said, who was she to deny his extraordinarily acute senses? The vision of Santa made perfect sense. It was, after all, Christmas Eve.
The communications array beeped twice. They heard the message delivered by a deep voice:
“Ho, ho, ho! Merry Christmas to all! And to all a good night!”
Afterword
The End of CHRISTMAS ON THE ANVIL
Before you look for the next story, if you would be so kind as to leave a review for this book in a place of your choice (Amazon, Goodreads, Bookbub, your grocery store’s notice board…), that would be great. I appreciate the feedback and support.
Reviews are the boosters of my creativity.
Don’t stop now! Check out the wacky New Year continuation story or delve into my ‘serious’ books. Keep turning the pages to find out what awaits you in the Science Consortium Universe.
Also by Michael Penmore
In the Science Consortium Universe
Prelude to War – a space opera short story
Jane Poole Genesis – this series
Her Last Run – a science fiction space opera
Fall of the Space Marine – a military science fiction space opera
Spin-offs.
On the Anvil –humorous space opera stories for Christmas and New Year
Christmas on the Anvil Page 5
