by Jerry Boyd
I opened the door to get Gene’s attention. He asked, “Yes, Boss?”
“Rikki is still aboard, isn’t he?”
“Yes, Boss. His ship won’t be ready for another day or so.”
“Page him to the ready room, please.”
“On it, Boss.” Gene must have given him priority, because it wasn’t long before he came out of the transit.
He asked, “What’s up, Boss?”
“Change of plan. Come on in, and we’ll get you up to speed.” He stepped into the ready room, and I said, “Gene, tile the lodge again, please.”
“Bye, Boss.”
Rikki asked, “What’s so secret?”
“The Emperor unlocked some memories for my good friend Ozzie here. We need you to go see what you can find out about what he remembered, before you start on your planet search.”
“I still get to fly the cool new ship Tikki built me?”
“Depends. Is it big enough to haul a saucer back?”
“No, I don’t suppose it is.”
“Then you’ll have to wait till you get back to fly your new toy. Don’t worry, they’ve got enough planets for you to check out, you’ll have a good long time to fly the new ship.”
“This is one of those ‘other duties as assigned’ you people talk about, isn’t it?”
“Afraid so. You’re the best qualified for the mission, so you’re elected, unless you have a good reason I should pick someone else.”
“No, I just thought I was finally going to get to go exploring.”
Ozzie spoke up. “Well, Mr. Natti, where you’ll be going isn’t exactly well explored, either. No telling what you might find.”
Rikki said, “This is sounding better all the time. What am I looking for, anyhow?”
I said, “Derelict saucers, of a type we don’t know much about. Everything we have is in Ozzie’s memory.”
“Will he be going with me?”
Ozzie said, “Thanks, but, no thanks. I’ll give you a download of everything I have, I could even set it up as a training machine course, if you like.”
“That sounds like it might be the best option, Ozzie, was it?”
“Yes.” Ozzie froze for a few seconds, and said, “I sent it to your comm. Just ask if you need anything else.”
“Thank you. I’m guessing I shouldn’t tell Tikki where I’m headed?”
I said, “I’d rather you didn’t, but if you feel you have to, please ask her to keep it to herself.”
“That’s generous, Commodore. Thank you.”
“I trust both of you. I just don’t want word of this getting around until we know more about what we’re looking at.”
“I understand. Do you know anything about the people who built the saucer I’m looking for?”
“Only that the Commonwealth has had even fewer interactions with them, than with you Squirrels, so that they know almost nothing at all. Our planet finding team deduced their existence by a few reports that didn’t sound like one of your craft. That, and Ozzie’s memories of working at a lab that had one of their craft to study, are all we have.”
“How do you know that the two things are connected?”
“We don’t know for sure. Ozzie says the craft he saw and took readings on was found in the same region the unexplained reports came from. One mystery in that part of space makes more sense than two that happen to be together.”
“I see. So, we really don’t have a lot to go on, do we?”
“Nope, we don’t. Sound too speculative for you?”
“Sounds like fun, is what it sounds like.”
“Draw a freighter, with the newest version of the sensors that can pick up a ship from FTL. You’ll never find anything if you have to search the whole time in normal space.”
“How soon do you need it?”
“We don’t need it, but it sure would be nice to have another technology improvement. If nothing else, it would keep your fellow Squirrels wondering. I’d say go look for a month, if you don’t find anything, come on back, and we’ll try something different, and you can go planet hunting.”
“How soon do you want me in the black?”
“How quick can you load your gear and find some bots to crew for you?”
“I’ll have to ask Scotti which ship she thinks I should take, but my crew is already picked, and the gear I was planning on taking is ready to load. Give me an hour, I think.”
I looked at Ozzie. “Do I have bad breath? He wants to get away from me, quick-like.”
“Well, Boss, we’ve been trying to keep from mentioning it, but now that you ask...”
Rikki said, “I will never get used to mechanical people with a sense of humor. I do enjoy being part of your crew, Commodore.”
“Yeah, yeah. Your hour is burning. You better get to work. Fly safe.”
“You too, Commodore.” Rikki headed out. I turned to Ozzie. “You just got a new job. I doubt you were the only bot in the whole fleet who remembered something after the Emperor unlocked everyone. Get in touch with all the bots who were unlocked, and find out if they remembered anything I need to be aware of.”
“On it, Boss. That’s a lot of bots. I should have you a report by morning.”
“Good. Find me then.” We left the ready room, and I realized it was past time to eat. I headed to the galley. Janet was just leaving. She said, “Mom told me to tell you that she had gotten tired and headed to bed early.”
“Thanks. Where are you headed?”
“Milly and I have a few things we wanted to finish up before we called it a day. Is that okay?”
“Sounds fine. More plotting against Charlie?”
“Nope. Scotti has some mods she wants made on some of the power runs. We’re almost finished with the section we’re working on.”
“I thought she had all that the way she wanted it?”
“She did too. Then the Emperor unlocked some plans she had stored for making the whole system better. She was mad. I hope she doesn’t take it out on Tikki.”
“Me too. I prefer when Engineering runs without me having to stick my nose in. Scotti knows what she is doing. I would just slow things down. Can’t have her mistreating Tikki, though, especially now that her Dad is going to be away from the ship.”
“I thought his new ship wasn’t ready yet?”
“Something came up, and I needed him to fly a different ship for a while.”
“What kind of something?”
“Sorry. Need to know, and you don’t.”
“Aww, Dad!”
“You can pout all you want, I don’t want Rikki’s mission getting around.”
“Meany!”
“Indeed. Have you seen Snitz lately?”
“Nope. He can’t be too far gone, though.”
“Gene can call him, when I get ready to head to the cabin. See you in the morning.”
“Night, Dad.” She headed out, and it struck me how quickly she had settled in to being family. It seemed odd, but I sure didn’t know enough about kids to tell if it was a problem or not. I went into the galley, and Stella said, “You finally decide to come eat, Boss?”
“Yep. You trying to tell me I need to be more regular about my eating habits?”
“Just want you in good shape, Boss. Never can tell when Murphy is gonna come around and show us the error in our ways.”
“Ain’t that the truth. What’s good?”
“People have been bragging on the meatloaf special.”
“Let’s do that.”
“Tea to drink?”
“Yes, please.”
I sat down, and waited for my food to come out. My comm rang. “Commodore Wilson.”
Topper said, “Thought you might want to know, Boss. Rikki just left the ship.”
“Good deal. Be sure that any messages he sends back are routed to me, please.”
“Sure, Boss. What’s the big secret?”
“I’ll tell you the next time we’re in the ready room together.”
&nb
sp; “Okay. You don’t want it distributed through the fleet?”
“Not yet. It remains to be seen if it is going to amount to anything, or not.”
“Good enough. Any special instructions?”
“Wake me if the Squirrels do anything odd, or we get other ships in the system. Other than that, I can’t think of anything.”
“See you in the morning, Boss.”
“See you then, Topper.” By that time, Stella was bringing out my meal. I dug in, and tried not to think about having to start negotiating with Natti again in the morning. I finished up, and Snitz was waiting on me when I left the galley. I said, “Nicely done, Gene.”
“Thanks, Boss.” We went to the grass room, and Snitz took care of business. Bill wasn’t there, so I guessed Gene thought I was doing alright. We headed to the cabin. Nikki didn’t wake up when I got in bed. I fell right to sleep myself. All too soon, Snitz was licking my ear, and it was time to start a whole new day. I got cleaned up, and we headed for the grass room. Bill was waiting, this time. He asked, “I hear you have a new mystery mission going. What is it this time?”
“Need to know, for now, you nosy old fart.”
“Did you at least tell your wife what’s going on?”
“Haven’t had the chance. She was asleep when I got home last night.”
“You are going to, though, aren’t you?”
“I’m hoping to read her and Topper in before the Ambassador gets here to start negotiations again.”
We headed off to the galley for eggs and the elixir of life. Stella brought us out some coffee, and I said, “Bless you. Just what I need.”
“We try to please, Boss.”
After breakfast, Snitz stayed with me. It seemed a little odd, but I figured he had a reason. I headed to the ready room, to train. Jeeves met me there. “What’s up, Jeeves?”
“Gene saw you headed here, by yourself, and you didn’t have him page anyone to meet you here. He assumed you wanted to train. Was he wrong?”
“No, but I think I can manage, without help, if you have something else to do.”
“Sally told us that you should have supervision when you train, so that you don’t get in trouble one way or another.”
“She did, did she? Well, no harm in a little extra safety, I suppose.”
Snitz decided he needed to sit in my lap, while I trained. I still hadn’t figured out why he felt the need to watch over me so closely. When I came out of it, Jeeves asked, “Feel okay, Boss?”
“Feel fine, I just hope that course helps me get the hang of negotiating with the Squirrels. So far it’s just plain hard work, and I’m not sure why.”
“Couldn’t tell you, Boss.”
Gene asked, “Boss, Mrs. Wilson has finished her breakfast. Would you like her to join you?”
“Yes, please. Could you ask Topper to come in as well?”
“Yes, Boss.”
“Jeeves, do you have the ability to scan for recording and transmitting devices?”
“I do, Boss. What would you like scanned?”
“Scan Snitz. He seems to want to be with me today, and I want to make sure he’s not carrying anything.”
Jeeves took a look, and said, “All clean, Boss. Do you need anything else?”
“While you’re scanning, take a look at me, just for fun.”
I stood, and he went over me. “You’re clean, too, Boss.”
“Go ahead and take off, then. Thanks for everything.”
“You’re welcome, Boss. I’m guessing you need your dress uniform for meeting the Ambassador?”
“Probably best. Give it a scan, too, while you’re at it.”
“Okay, Boss. Any particular reason you’re being more cautious today?”
“Nope. Just a feeling.”
“Should I inform Topper? I’ve heard about your feelings.”
“Go right ahead, I don’t think this one will amount to much, but if it makes you feel better, go right ahead.”
Jeeves took off, and met Topper on his way in. They stopped to exchange data, and Topper came on in. He said, “You’ve got a feeling, Boss?”
“Yep. I think it’s just because Snitz is acting odd.” I reached down and gave him a pet.
“How do you mean, odd?”
“Usually, he wanders off and finds something to do during the day. Today, he’s sticking with me.”
Nikki came in. “What’s the matter with Snitz?”
“Nothing, that I know of. He’s just hanging out with me today, instead of wandering off like usual.”
“Is that what you called the meeting about?”
“Nope. Gene, tile the lodge, and make yourself scarce.”
“Okay, Boss.”
“Gene, where is Janet?” No answer. “Okay, I called you both here because I need to tell you about what Ozzie told me, and what I did in response. When the Emperor unlocked him, he remembered working in a research lab that was tasked with trying to figure out how Squirrel drives worked. He said Scotti and Frank have already made more progress than what they were able to, back in the day. The thing that had him wound up though, was what he called the ‘oddball’. It was a saucer that he didn’t think was Squirrel at all, but he couldn’t get the humans he worked with to believe him. They thought it was just the Squirrels’ new hotness, and that was why it wasn’t like any of the other craft they had. Ozzie ran all the tests he could, without tearing it apart, but they wouldn’t give him permission to go any farther. The Squirrels raided the lab, killed all the human researchers, and locked down the bots. When Ozzie got his memory back, he looked through the fleet’s records, and found that the ‘oddball’ had come from the same region of space that Rangolus and Mingus found unexplained sightings in. I sent Rikki to go see if he could find us another ‘oddball’. Any questions?”
Nikki said, “Lots and lots, but I don’t think you would have answers for any of them.”
Topper said, “Likewise, Boss. I’m guessing you don’t want this getting around the fleet just yet?”
“I think it would be better to keep it under wraps for now. Especially the part about the Squirrel raid on a Commonwealth research facility. That’s an act of war, by any standard.”
Nikki said, “You’re more worried about that, than the fact we’ve got evidence of another sentient race?”
“I look at it this way. This new race has been seen even less than the Squirrels. They obviously have the technology to make themselves known if they wanted to. They don’t want to be a problem for us, or we’d be up to our armpits in them. The problem in front of us right now, is making peace with the Squirrels. If word gets around that they have, in the past, felt free to commit acts of war on the Commonwealth, it’s going to make it much harder to justify that peace agreement. I’m in favor of letting that stay in the past, unless we have no other choice. Eventually, we’ll have to deal with the new race, but that’s a problem for another day. We need to take care of the problem in front of us, first.”
Nikki replied, “That makes sense, Caveman. I hadn’t thought it through that far.”
Topper said, “That part does make sense, Boss. Now we need to talk about the real problem.”
Nikki asked, “What do you mean, Topper?”
“Jeeves said the Boss had a bad feeling about today.”
“Snagfart!! Caveman, do you have any idea what about?”
I said, “No, Space Cadet, I do not. All I have to go on is the fact that Snitz hasn’t left my side since I woke up.”
“That is odd. He hasn’t had any reactions to anything?”
“Not yet.”
Topper asked, “Do you want any extra precautions?”
“Turn out Andre and his boys for when the Ambassador shows up. Other than that, I can’t think of anything. Do you have something, Sweetheart?”
“No, I can’t come up with anything extra that would help.”
“Okay, then. I think that brings you two up to speed. Anything you want to bring up?”
; Topper said, “No, Boss. I better get back, though.”
Nikki said, “I don’t have anything, either.” I walked over and opened the door. Gene said, “The Ambassador would like to know if you’re ready to begin negotiations again, Boss.”
“Tell him to come ahead. We can’t get finished until we get started.” Topper went back to the bridge, and Nikki and I caught a transit. I said, “I need to run by the cabin and get my dress uniform, I suppose.”
Nikki said, “It might be a good idea. Wouldn’t want to give the impression that you don’t take the negotiations seriously. I think I have something that might pass for a business suit.”
“Is it vacuum-rated? I’m not in a mood to take chances.”
“It is. I’m not either. I’ve seen how your feelings turn out.”
We got to the cabin, and Jeeves helped us into our dress clothes. Snitz did his best to stay out of the way, but there is only so much a little dog can do. Soon enough, we were back on the transit, and headed for the landing bay. Andre met us at the entry to the bay. “Sorry, Boss. Word has gotten around that you had a feeling. You’re not going in that bay until we determine it to be safe.”
Nikki said, “Isn’t he still your Boss?”
Andre said, “Nanny protocol, Ma’am. By the way, you’re not going in, either.”
It’s so seldom I see Nikki speechless, I have to savor the moments. That was one of the better ones. The Ambassador’s ship settled into the bay, and then he and Snappi stepped down. Andre let us into the bay. Natti asked, “New security procedure?”
“Nope. I just let it slip that I woke up with a bad feeling this morning. They seem to think that my feelings are worth taking extra precautions for.”
“Why is that?”
Nikki said, “Because he’s usually right, when he has one. We’ve seen it work too many times, to ignore it.”
It was then I noticed Snitz. He was focused on Natti’s briefcase, growling very quietly. I asked, “Andre, do you have high-frequency acoustic sensors?”
“How high, Boss?”
“If he can make it out, it can’t be much more than 50 kilohertz.”
“Mine go to about a hundred in your units, Boss. That should be enough.” Andre stood still for a moment, scanning. He said, “The little guy is right. Something in the Ambassador’s case is putting out a signal at about 35 kilohertz. Not real loud, but enough to be annoying if you were exposed to it all day, Boss.”
