by Ward Wagher
Franklin sat at the head of the table in his dining room and looked at the department heads arrayed around the table. Daphne had taken over the logistics functions since Signe had remained with her parents down on the planet. They were reviewing the ship's status and putting together a shopping list.
"Are you sure we need all of that stuff?" Franklin asked. "There has got to be 100,000 Centaurans worth in this list. We will be on our way home shortly, folks."
Daphne looked disgusted. "Once we get home, Skipper, we probably won't be taking Canopus to the grocery store anytime soon. This seemed like a good time to stock up."
"The Woogie occurs," Louie said.
"Concurs," Simmons corrected.
"That too. Cannot find many parts on Hepplewhite. A good time to buy."
Franklin grimaced and shook his head. "A good time to buy before the Margrave is completely broke, you mean."
"In for a Centime, in for a Centauran, they always say," Daphne said.
"Who is they? We’re talking about my money here, and I don't see much chance of ever getting it back. When Dad finds out about this, he will absolutely freak."
"It's only money, Franklin," Daphne said with a grin.
"Will you shut up?"
Louie began making a rumbling noise in his insides that Franklin interpreted as laughter. "You're not helping things any, CHENG."
"No fears," the Woogie said. "I have job security."
"Right up to the point you go out the airlock without a vac suit," Franklin shook his finger at Louie.
Louie waved all five tentacles in the air and rocked back and forth as he stood next to the table. Franklin groaned and rested his head in his hands. "Is nobody on the ship on my side?"
"Cheer up, Franklin," Daphne said. "You know you've got to do this."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Everybody keeps telling me that. Okay, Simmons, can you keep an eye on the ship? I've got to take Daphne down to the grocery store."
"Not to worry, Skipper. Between Louie and me, we will take care of everything.”
“Oh, good heavens!”
Daphne jumped to her feet. “Come on, Skipper. Let’s get going before you change your mind.”
“At this stage in the game any change of my mind would be an improvement.”
“At least you are learning,” Daphne laughed.
# # #
Another trip past Kingston Kennerley’s office produced a rental car for Franklin and Daphne. They cruised into Braxton again along the same empty, dusty highway.
“Kennerley seemed happy to see you,” Daphne said.
“It’s because he’s yet another recipient of my money. Everybody has their hand out.”
“It costs money to run a Navy, Franklin. Surely you knew that.”
“Only in the abstract. This is getting personal.”
“So what are you going to do when the League is gone and we’re on our own?”
He shook his head. “I really don’t know. We don’t have the tax base to support a Navy. We can’t even finance this one ship.”
“So what do you do about that?”
“We had a good start with the tourism business until Higginbotham shot up our planet. If we keep running off the customers, they eventually won’t come back.”
“So we therefore have to get him out of the pirate business first,” she said.
“That was what I had in mind and everybody started telling me to just go home.”
Daphne looked over at him. “Listen to what they are trying to tell you. We can’t afford an all out war with the pirates. We’ve got to be smarter than they.”
“We’ve done pretty well so far. I was hoping he would bull his way into the system here where we would have the Navy to help us dispatch him.”
"So why hasn't our pirate shown up here yet?" Daphne asked. She leaned back in the seat and looked over at Franklin as she steered the car.
"Clearly, he is not stupid. I am very concerned he changed his mind and headed over to Hepplewhite. If he has done that, they'll be on a tobaggon ride, for sure."
"That really worries me, Skipper. If he is as insane as you think, he is liable to nuke the whole planet."
"Tell me about it. He does not have the firepower to take out the whole planet, but he could hit all of the major population centers."
"That amounts to the same thing, doesn't it?"
"Yep." They had come to a stop sign,and Franklin leaned back in his seat and stretched his arms behind his head. "I have been having nightmares about that. In fact, just as soon as you get your vittles, we need to break orbit and head for home. If he hasn't popped into the gravity well around Panoz yet, he will sooner or later. I suspect he hasn't come in here because the Navy usually has something in the neighborhood, and no pirate really wants to mess with the Navy."
"We're ready to go anytime you are, Skipper," Daphne said.
"I appreciate that, Exec. Let's swing by the hospital first. I want to see how the Foxworths are doing."
"You want to see how Signe is doing."
"And I want to see how Signe is doing," Franklin nodded.
"Are you going to marry her?"
"Probably."
"Poor girl."
"Give it a rest, Daphne. I could say the same thing about Alex."
"Poor girl?"
Franklin just groaned and put his hand over his face. "Somehow I don't think you treated my dad this way."
"There's a reason for that, Franklin."
"There certainly is. If you talked to him this way, you wouldn't have a job, sooner or later."
"I never needed to talk to him this way."
"I'll tell you what: why don't you let me out at the hospital and you go run your errands?"
"Yes, why don't I?"
Daphne pulled up to the front door of the Braxton Medical Center. Without a word Franklin got out of the car and slammed the door. He stepped into the building without a backward glance. Daphne watched him go, then snorted as she slid over behind the wheel.
The antiseptic smell of hospitals was the same everywhere man had gone in the settled part of the galaxy, Franklin thought. He hoped he never ended up in a place like this. Seeing the people he loved in here was bad enough.
"Still malingering, Glenn?" Franklin said as he eased open the door to the Prime Minister's room.
Foxworth was sitting up in bed reading a handheld comp. "I seem to be getting better, but I don't feel it."
Franklin walked over and sat down in the chair next to the bed. "Just don't get in a rush to get out of here. Signe is here to take care of you, and I suspect Carlo or one of his people will be here just as soon as they find out about what happened."
Foxworth nodded as he scanned the screen in his lap. The bruising was beginning to disappear from his face, but the haunted look remained. He said nothing further.
"The Pirates never showed up here at Vance. I'm getting concerned they might have decided to head for Hepplewhite. Canopus is headed for home just as soon as Daphne finishes victualing. I guess we will be on our way before the end of the day."
Foxworth looked up at Franklin. "You can't let them hit Cambridge again, Franklin."
"I don't intend to."
"See that you don't." Foxworth seemed to lose interest in the conversation and then to look at his screen again.
Signe eased into the room. Franklin once again marveled at the stately brunette. He had never met anyone that affected him quite like she did.
"Franklin." She said quietly. "I did not know you were here."
"I needed to see how everyone was doing. You three are my closest friends and I'm concerned."
"I'm just about back on an even keel again," she said.
"How's your mother?" Franklin said softly.
Signe sighed and shook her head. "The doctors say she will recover completely; at least physically."
Glenn looked up at the two of them. "Why can't they help Monica?" He started to shake and tears ran down his cheeks.
S
igne quickly slipped over to his side and put her arms around him. "The doctors are doing everything they can do, Daddy. We just need some time for you and Mummy to get yourselves back together."
He stared up at her for a few moments and then went back to his reading. She stepped away from him and then grabbed Franklin's hand, pulling him towards the door. They moved into the hallway and she pulled the door shut.
She had tears in her eyes as she turned to face Franklin. "They've got a good psychiatric staff here at the hospital. They tell me Daddy is doing better than he appears to be. They are very concerned about Mummy, though."
"Signe, I am so sorry. I feel so helpless."
“I think Mummy would like to see you.”
“Is it okay? I mean, if she’s that fragile…”
The docs think getting her around people she is familiar with and comfortable with is helpful.”
“If you think so, I’d be glad to help,” Franklin said.
They eased into the private room where Monica lay in bed. “Mummy, I brought a friend to see you.”
Monica Foxworth brightened around the mass of bruises still marring her face. “Oh, Margrave, how good of you to stop by.” She waved a hand to him. “I wanted to ask you about Louie. He hasn’t been to see me. How is my Woogie?”
Franklin was a little nervous around the drug induced brightness. “Um. Well, Louie is doing well. We bought him a new Vocoder.”
“Oh, how wonderful! Louie is such a swell guy, isn’t he, Signe?”
“Yes, Mummy. We all love Louie.”
“We were just talking about Signe’s second grade teacher. Mrs. Lowe is just wonderful and Signe loves her, don’t you, Signe?”
“Yes, Mummy.”
“I must bake something for Signe to take to school for her.” She stopped and touched her lip with an index finger. “I don’t know if I will have time to bake. My job at the shoe store takes up so much of my day. Perhaps Mr. Bryce will let me take a day off to do some baking. He’s such a wonderful man.”
Signe glanced at Franklin. Her lower lip was trembling. “That would be fine, Mummy.”
Monica looked up at Signe. “Why so sad, dear. We’ll have some time together. And aren’t you glad Franklin is in your class? He is just the nicest boy.”
“I’m very glad I got to see you, Mrs. Foxworth,” Franklin said. “Is there anything you need?”
“Just tell that naughty Woogie to behave himself. I can’t believe you had to buy him a new Vocoder. What did he do to the old one?”
“He broke it,” Franklin said. “We tried making him one, but it didn’t work very well.”
Monica tittered. “Oh, that silly Woogie. Always having trouble with the language. I sometimes thought he did it on purpose. He kept getting his tentacles mixed up with his testicles.”
Signe and Franklin laughed politely as Monica burst into gales of laughter. She continued laughing harder. Signe reached out to put her hand on Monica’s shoulder. “That’s okay, Mummy.”
The laughter continued and became maniacal, then Monica began screaming. The sound was deafening in the small room.
“Mother, it’s okay!” Signe was holding her with both hands. “You are safe here. Nobody will hurt you.”
The screaming grew even more frenzied. A nurse trotted in with an ampoule, which she inserted into the IV. “You should probably leave for a bit,” the nurse said to Franklin and Signe.
“I just feel terrible about this,” Franklin said as they stood in the hall.
"How do you think I feel? Mummy seems to be doing fine, but then she will suddenly just start screaming like that. It's almost more than I can handle."
“I think it will take a lot of time, but it looks like your parents are getting good care here. How is the little girl doing?”
“Physically she will recover. The doctors said she will never have children. But she has withdrawn into herself.”
“What do you mean?”
“She doesn't talk or respond. Just gazes at the wall.”
“Poor child,” he said. It's one thing when this happens to adults, but can you imagine the terror she felt.” He shivered.
Signe slipped her arm into his and squeezed. “I’m so glad you’re here with me.”
"I've got to leave, Signe."
"So soon? You just got here.”
"I mean the ship is leaving."
"When?"
"We're leaving for Hepplewhite within the day."
“Can’t you send Daphne with the ship? I don’t know if I can handle this by myself.”
“You know better than that.”
She stepped away and then turned to face him. “You don’t sound very caring.”
Franklin sighed. “I’m trying to keep from breaking down myself. I need to be here, but I have a job to do.”
"When will you be back?" she said.
"Not anytime soon. As soon as you think it wise, you can book passage for you and your parents, on a liner. I'm concerned Higginbotham will try another raid on Hepplewhite. The Navy gave us Canopus to protect our planet. I need to get her home."
"I understand. I hate it, but I understand. When will I see you again?"
Franklin shrugged and shook his head. "I hate leaving you here, but you are probably safer. And your parents need help. I guess you've been following up about the little girl.”
“No ID as yet. We may have to send the DNA tag to Earth.”
“And meanwhile she's stateless?”
Signe smiled. “No. She is legally attached to Canopus. That makes her Hepplewhite's responsibility.”
“Oh man, I never thought about that.”
“What Franklin, you never thought about raising an orphan? I think it would be darling.”
He glared at her. “Come on, Signe, that's really not funny. Can you imagine her growing up in the menagerie we call Montora Village?”
“Not to worry, Franklin. Daddy told me there is actually a mechanism on Hepplewhite to take care of situations such as this.”
“Then I'm delighted to leave it in your capable hands. Honestly, I'm concerned about the girl, but I just don't have a way to work on that right now. I have my hands full with the ship and the margraviate.”
“And me.”
“And you.” He grinned. “Definitely you.”
They stood looking at each other for a few moments.
“I guess I'll see you again when you get Glenn and Monica home."
Signe stared at him for a few moments then threw her arms around him. "I'll miss you."
He felt tears blur his eyes as he hugged her in return.
chapter twenty-eight
Franklin and Daphne walked through Kingston Kennerley's lobby after dropping off the car, and came to a sudden stop.
"What are you doing here?" Franklin said.
"So he does know you," Kennerley said. "We've been sitting here passing the time, but I wasn't quite sure whether to believe him."
"He doesn't have a lot of credibility," Daphne said.
With a slow grin, Hai Ciera got up out of the sofa. “I was waiting for you two. I figured you would be coming back to the starport sooner or later."
"Right, Commander," Daphne said. "What are you doing on Harcourt?"
"Honestly, I was looking for you. I arrived back in Montora Village after all the excitement. Major Boodles gave me the story and I came along to see if you needed help."
"A bit late for that, Commander," Daphne said. "All the heavy lifting has been done. And, where have you been?"
"You rescued the Foxworths? That's great news."
Franklin shook his head. "Such as it was. We put a team down on Victor, and pulled the Foxworths out. We got away with only minor damage to Canopus, but we did suffer two deaths. And, unfortunately, the Foxworths are in rough shape. We rescued another couple of hostages – a woman and her child."
Ciera's grin vanished. "What do you mean in rough shape?"
"They were badly beaten and raped repeatedly. I thi
nk Glenn is going to be all right. We don't know about Monica yet."
“What about the others?”
“The woman died. The child will recover, at least physically.”
“They abused a child?”
Ciera dropped back into the sofa and rested his head in his hands. "Did those vermin not know Carlo would've paid a handsome sum to spring them? We are going to have to go back in and clean them out, now. We simply cannot allow that sort of thing to stand.”
"You were aware the pirate was Manfred Higginbotham?" Franklin asked.
"I have heard of him, and that he is particularly vicious. That's about it."
"Well, he followed us into FTL. We lost him but we are concerned he may be headed for Hepplewhite."
"Then you'd better get back to Hepplewhite pretty darned quick," Ciera said.
"We'll be on our way as soon as we load the provisions Daphne just bought," Franklin said. "Can we give you a lift?"
Ciera scratched his head and grimaced. "No, I think I'm going to try to slip into Victor. We need to get a better appreciation of what these pirates are capable of. If you are right about Higginbotham, they won't stop with a single raid. You don't have the resources to fight off an entire pirate squadron."
"We're not sure we have the resources to fight off Manfred's cruiser," Daphne said. "It's a good sized ship."
"I can't help you there," Ciera said. "But don't underrate yourselves."
"Do you have contacts in Victor?" Franklin said.
"No. Do you?"
"Louie does. Let me get him on the horn, and he can fill you in."
"The Woogie?" Ciera looked incredulous.
"Yes," Daphne said. "He's our Chief Engineer."
"You're kidding me, right? You mean to tell me you don't know how many ships Woogies have blown up over the past couple hundred years?"
"But Louie's a natural engineer. He's really very bright," Daphne retorted.
Ciera rolled his eyes. "All Woogies are very bright, Daphne. That's why they get themselves into trouble. Ask Louie. He'll tell you. What ever else you can say about them, they are honest."
