The Silver Ships
Page 22
When she did ask permission, her ruse was exposed, and a family conference quickly ensued. Christie was about to be comm restricted, when Renée sent to Alex,
For the next few moments, Alex, Renée, and Étienne discussed the pros and cons of an interview. Alex and Renée could not decide either way.
Étienne offered the deciding opinion.
Alex made a mental note to forewarn the President and the Team prior to the interview. Finishing their exchange, they returned their focus to the family, who were staring at them with bewildered expressions.
“Alex, you have one of those things in your head!” Christie exclaimed.
Alex ignored her statement and said pointedly, “Étienne will participate in the interview with you.” As Christie smiled, he continued, “But not because you deserve it,” which instantly deflated her. “We’ve discussed the matter, and we believe it’s too important to cancel. We can’t afford any negative press about the Méridiens.”
“Alex, we apologize,” Duggan said. “Christie made it sound as if you had approved it and Étienne had volunteered.” All eyes turned to Christie, who shrank into her chair, guilt written all over her face.
“This might be a case of too much attention having gone to someone’s head,” Alex suggested. “After the interview tomorrow, you can handle her punishment.” He turned to stare at his sister. “But before the interview, sister of mine, Étienne de Long of House de Guirnon, wishes to express certain sentiments to you, Ser Christie.”
Christie had watched Étienne stand as Alex announced him. He stood beside her and gave her a slight bow of his head. She knew her mouth was hanging open. Somehow the fun of having her own alien interview had morphed into a hard life-lesson, of that she was sure. She stood, took the arm he offered, and walked with him through the double doors leading to her father’s study.
In the living room, the others watched as the two talked, Christie seated in a broad armchair and Étienne on the chair’s ottoman. Christie’s legs were tucked under her and her arms were crossed tightly against her chest. She was frowning, but she was listening intently to Étienne.
Renée watched the parents as they glanced back and forth between Christie and Étienne and her and Alex. She commed Alex,
“Wait, wait,” his mother demanded, having forgotten to worry about her daughter for the moment, “You two have been talking.”
“Yes, you did it before, the three of you, didn’t you?” Duggan jumped in.
“Yes,” Alex admitted, “I have a Méridien implant that allows me to communicate directly with my crew and Julien.”
His parents stared at him, concern written all over their faces. “It didn’t hurt, did it?” his mother asked.
“No, Mom, I barely felt the entire operation, which was very quick.”
Renée sought to deflect their concerns. “Méridien youths take years to master the implant programs. Your son has mastered much of this same material in only twenty-six days.”
“He was always a quick study,” his father admitted.
Soon after, Christie and Étienne emerged from the study. Christie apologized to her parents, Alex, and Renée for her subterfuge and to Étienne for not treating him with the respect he was due as a visitor to their world. Then she walked upstairs to her room.
His parents stared agape at the stairs Christie had just vacated. Then they turned to look at Étienne, warm welcoming smiles spreading across their faces.
“Étienne, how would you like to stay with us forever?” Katie asked.
* * *
The interview turned out to be a resounding success. The producer had brought a veteran news anchor out of retirement to guide the vid comm with Étienne and Christie. Alex and Renée had coached Christie on appropriate questions to ask, and midway through the allotted time, the anchor had lapsed into silence, allowing Christie to conduct the remainder of the interview. The result was a net hit. A favorite excerpt, displayed on almost every reader, was the manner in which Christie ended the interview. She had placed her right hand over her heart and tilted her head slightly, saying, “Étienne de Long of House de Guirnon, you have honored the House of Racine with this interview, and it is well and truly appreciated.”
Christie was ecstatic that she had found her calling. She planned to become a media personality—much to her parent’s dismay.
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Once back onboard the Rêveur, Alex found the construction prep complete. Installation of the new frames for both the FTL engine and the port bay had begun. Assembly was proceeding quickly as it was a simple matter of placing a frame, confirming its alignment, and sealing it in place with nanites. The EVA crew used portable hoods to surround the joints, trapping the oxy-torch heat to energize the nanites.
Three days after Alex’s return aboard ship, Tatia and her three Méridien companions arrived from their visit to Barren Island. Terese, Pia, and Geneviève had charmed the entire base. Their recordings were uploaded to Julien, and he compiled the vids, remarks, and recommendations for Alex, Tatia, and the new Second Mate, Edouard Manet, the Méridien navigation specialist.
When Tatia joined Alex on the bridge, she observed a patchwork of vids on the screens chronicling the ongoing construction work. The view would often rotate to follow crew and enlarge for more detail. Then the frames would change.
The extent of the image manipulation was astounding. She had assumed only Julien could manage that degree of complexity.
Tatia had not been receptive to the idea of an implant in her head, but she’d refused to relent to her fear. She accepted it as the price to pay to be with Alain and a journey to the stars. Watching Alex manipulate the vids, it struck her how much she’d resisted adopting it. That would change today, she vowed, and left for Medical.
* * *
Life aboard the Rêveur was a cramped affair. The crowded cabins might have become intolerable, but everyone was too busy day and night to notice. After their work shift, they filed through a pair of tiny meal prep compartments, which were converted storage lockers, to collect food to eat in their cabins. Then they played implant games. It was a Tatia-Terese invention.
In Medical, only moments after her witnessing Alex’s control of the monitors and vids cams, Tatia had explained to Terese her reluctance to embrace the implant, suggesting others might be having similar issues despite Alex’s easy success. “These training regiments are too tedious.” she had said. “We need something our people might enjoy. They need to learn without realizing they’re learning.”
Now the crew played games at night. It started out slow and simple. One Méridien held an image in his or her mind with open access, while the other Méridiens held theirs in privacy mode. On Julien’s signal, since his duties now included referee and score keeper, the New Terrans raced to contact each Méridien to discover the image.
The first night they had played for barely an hour before the New Terrans became mentally exhausted. By the time the landing bays were completed and the engines were being installed, they were playing for hours, and Julien was calling a halt to the games to allow everyone sufficient time to sleep.
The games progressed until the Méridiens were using their full capabilities to compe
te with the New Terrans. At that point, mixed teams were formed.
An interesting side effect of the games was the transference of New Terran word and image associations that initially baffled the Méridiens. The Méridiens reciprocated or, as the New Terrans termed it, retaliated, by using images of animals and fruit from Confederation colonies. This required the mixed teams to share background information quickly—an unintentional, though very valuable, exercise in bonding.
The game increased in complexity as New Terrans employed satire and witticisms in game play and the Méridiens adopted these techniques as well. One team would pose a riddle then divide clues to the answer between several minds. The other side would assemble the clues before posing a guess. The winning team was the one that solved the riddle the quickest.
One evening, Tatia’s team cried foul, frustrated after not finding a critical clue.
Renée, who had observed the games, enjoying the fun but never taking part, commed Tatia’s entire team,
Tatia sent her a player’s list. She’d highlighted her team’s players in one color and the others in another color, with each clue that had been discovered beside the relevant opponent’s name.
Then Renée dropped the final point.
The only response was the Captain’s laughter, long and loud.
* * *
Widespread use of the implants did not come without pitfalls. Images of Pia, writhing in ecstasy beneath him, woke Alex one night. But it wasn’t a dream. It was an implant stream from Pia’s partner, Mickey. Alex immediately blocked Mickey’s signal and erased the vid.
First thing the next morning, Alex received an abject apology from Mickey. In his excitement, Mickey had broadcast the event to the entire crew. He walked around the entire morning with a face flushed with embarrassment. Pia, on the other hand, was in a joyous mood.
After the games were well underway, Alex had Julien monitor and rate the crews’ implant adoption, using a scale from one to a hundred. Daily frequency and complexity of an implant’s use added points; use of the voice deducted points. The first time Alex reviewed the daily summary, he was surprised to discover he headed the list, especially since the Méridiens were included.
Terese, who had been copied on the list to monitor stragglers, had remarked,
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It took a moment for Alex to figure out what he meant.
Alex experienced a sinking sensation. He’d hoped they were dealing with an isolated incident, but now he feared otherwise.
Once again, there was a quiet moment before Julien continued.
Besides being the buyer of his family’s first g-sling efforts, Samuel B. Hunsader, the CEO of Purity Ores, was a powerful supporter of none other than Assemblyman Clayton Downing. Alex sat down on the edge of his bed and attempted to parse the news.
* * *
All the Rêveur’s repairs were finished. Crew members who had endured the confined spaces were thrilled to move into their new cabins, now restored to Méridien passenger liner quality.
To prepare for launch, specifically for the transition from station power to ship’s power, all supplies, equipment, and personnel were restrained. When station power was cut, they would be in zero-gravity. The engines needed to be online before power could be returned to the grav-plates and inertia compensators.
At precisely 5.95 hours, Alex walked on to the bridge, where Edouard waited. As the Navigation Specialist, his experience, along with Julien, would ensure a successful launch, or so Alex hoped. They seated themselves in the command chairs, and body restraints formed over them.
Alex eyed the four empty seats at the bridge’s cont
rol panels.
Alex sat wondering how either of those two possibilities could come to pass and was only reminded how much more he still had to learn about his cousins and their world.
Julien confirmed that all bay doors and hatches were sealed and maneuvering thrusters were operational. He announced their impending departure to the crew and reduced or cut power to unnecessary items to save the drain on the energy banks.
Alex commed the crew boss and ordered all service lines released. After confirmation, he ordered the release of the massive docking bay clamps. The crew boss confirmed all clear, but Alex waited for Julien’s affirmation that the Rêveur was free of all attachments and their path was clear before he ordered them out of the bay on thrusters. A Little Shove stood by in case assistance was required.
When the ship cleared the bay by several hundred meters, Alex ordered the engines on line at minimum power.