by Saxon Andrew
Jillian moved into Chris’ arms and pulled him close to her. He stared into her eyes, amazed by the beauty of this strong, intelligent woman. He closed his eyes and they danced and danced.
Dolly saw Jillian come in and sit by Chris, and she was astounded at just how beautiful she was. She glanced at Jeff, expecting him to be staring at Jillian, but he glanced at her and turned his eyes back to her. Dolly smiled. This was proof he loved her. She danced and saw that Jillian was not as tense as she normally appeared. Maybe she was learning to relax.
Chris lost himself in Jillian’s embrace. He floated over the floor and became a part of the music. He had no fears, he had no worries, and the Moet did not exist anymore. There was only the beautiful woman in his arms. He felt his soul heal.
Jillian was also lost. Her heart was hammering in her chest, and desire for Chris flooded her consciousness. He was being the perfect gentleman, but she wished he wouldn’t. She had no idea what was happening to her. Finally the music stopped, and Chris stepped back. Jillian saw something in his eyes.
“Jillian, I was thinking about my life before you came in, and was realizing that I have been blessed. I was feeling that I wouldn’t change anything if it meant changing all that has happened. Dancing with you tonight has made me certain, even if I could bring my family back to life. If it meant that tonight wouldn’t happen, I’d change nothing. Thank you.”
Jillian felt her heart in her throat. He wasn’t coming on to her. He was truly thankful for her time. He leaned forward and kissed her lightly on the cheek, then turned and went to turn the lights back on. She turned and ran from the room.
Chris watched her leave and turned to Dolly, “Was it something I said?”
Dolly smiled, knowing that Jillian could run from Chris, but not from herself, “Probably, but don’t worry about it. She most likely had to go to the ladies room.”
Chris stared at the door she had exited and shrugged, “She must have really had to go.”
Dolly looked at Jeff and smiled, “Looks like it.” She knew that once Jillian and Chris were on board the Cheops, there was nowhere Jillian could run.
Chapter Six
The dark grey being saw an alarm go off on his control board. It focused one of its eye stalks on the readout while watching a message from a ship that had fought off six attackers in the central region. The secondary part of his brain analyzed the data from the alarm as his left arm pulled up the original history of the event. The primary part of his brain was deciding whether or not to send four ships to assist the one being attacked although it didn’t appear the ship would need any help.
Simultaneously, the secondary brain examined a reminder alarm showing the destruction of the Sheera Cruiser long ago in a distant star system out in the galaxy’s periphery. It quickly downloaded data from the remote scanner still there and saw that the Sheera had not returned after the cruiser’s destruction. It reflected a moment and decided that they must not have gotten off a distress signal.
As the secondary part of the brain analyzed the data, the primary brain decided to send two more ships to make sure none of the attackers escaped. It focused on another screen and saw the ships that were available to go. It began sending the information to them.
The secondary brain checked on the timetable for the third planet’s destruction and saw there were still two rotations before it arrived. Perhaps if the primary brain had not been preoccupied, it would have scanned the third planet and realized that it had achieved space travel. However, it was the secondary brain that received the alarm and it set a schedule for a reminder alarm to send a ship to arrive in one rotation to assist the device. Secondary brains are good, but not as good as the primary. Another alarm went off, and it turned its attention to the new issue.
The primary brain had heard the first alarm and was going to see what it was about, but ran into trouble with one of the two ships not being able to assist the ship being attacked. It had to go back to the list and choose another. It knew that the first alarm was simply a scheduled reminder and not something serious, so it forgot about looking into it. The Moet Watcher missed seeing the rapid development of a primitive planet. This would not be forgiven once discovered by a Master.
Chris and Dolly were adjusting the gravity control on the Cheops’s flight board, and Chris was arguing with her about the control, “Dolly, why do you have the beam focused in on the ship and not out?”
“Chris, the field produced by the stardrive may be affected by the gravity field. If it’s focused inward, it will not interfere with it.”
“Do you know for a fact it will interfere?”
“NO, Chris! However, if it does, it will require you to come back and rebuild the system. Why don’t you tell me what bothers you about this?”
Chris sighed, “The field focusing in on the ship will affect the gravity inside the ship. If we go weightless, we’ll be forced to work in a difficult environment.”
Dolly put her hands on her hips, “Chris, you’ll have a personal gravity device that will allow you to set your weight. However, you will want to remain weightless during high acceleration.”
Chris thought about it and decided that she was probably right. He took a deep breath and said, “All right, we’ll do it your way.”
Dolly smiled, “Trust me, I’m a scientist.”
Chris laughed, and then said on a serious note, “Dolly, are you ever going home?”
Dolly’s smile disappeared, “I doubt it.”
“Why not? You love Australia. I can still hear the accent in your voice. It’s such a large part of your upbringing.”
Dolly sighed, “I choose to keep the accent. I can turn it off if I want.”
“I’ve seen you do it.”
“Chris, if the prediction is true, there’s not much time left. I can do more here than there. Besides, my Mum has never forgiven me for leaving to attend Cal Poly. I don’t want to fight with her about it.”
Chris stared at her, not saying anything.
“It’s not about my father.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, he died a year ago from cirrhosis of the liver. His drinking finally did him in. He tried to sober up, but it was a fight he was doomed to lose.”
“You can’t blame yourself for what happened.”
Dolly sighed, “I don’t anymore, but I’ll always wonder if my pent up anger at him caused me to use more force than necessary when he attacked Mum.”
‘No one could have anticipated he would land like he did on that step.”
“Well, even so, fifteen years in a wheelchair is more than I would have wanted him to endure. Mum still loved him, even after all of his abuses. I know in my heart she doesn’t blame me, but I can see it in her face.”
“If we survive this, I want you to promise me you’ll go home. Family is important, never forget that.”
Dolly smiled, “I promise; besides I need to take Jeff to meet her.”
“Oh boy; that should prove interesting.”
“She’s not that bad…is she?”
“She gave me the what for when she came here. I’ll wish him luck.”
“Don’t you dare; I want it to be a surprise.”
“I could tell him and it would still be a surprise. Let’s go over the control panel again. I need to get a feel for how to regulate our speed.”
“I’ve made it simple. Just turn the dial to how fast you want to go.”
“I notice the display is digital.”
“It has to be. Your speed can go from a crawl to light speed. No dial could have that many numbers on it. If you want to stop, just turn the dial back to zero.”
“What about steering?”
“That is controlled with the steering wheel on the board. The gravity on the nose of the ship will raise the weight of the nose slightly and the gravity field will go negative and push that weight in the direction you want to go. Trust me; you’ll have the ability to turn a hundred and eighty degrees almost instantaneousl
y. We’ll trial it so you can get a feel for it once we launch, but that will be the easiest thing to master. It’ll be like driving a high performance skimmer.”
“When is launch?”
“In five days. We have to get the Ninja updated, and then we’ll be ready to go.”
Chris frowned and said, “What’s going on with the Ninja?”
Dolly shook her head, “I really don’t know. That ship is being built by Lockheed, and I’ve not seen any of its plans. I do know it’s not very big and should fit in the landing bay.” Dolly looked around and asked, “Where’s Jillian?”
Chris tilted his head and looked around before answering, “She’s avoided me like the plague since last Thursday. I don’t know what I did that ticked her off, but it must have been serious.”
Dolly looked around again and said where only Chris could hear, “I don’t think it’s you.”
“What do you mean?”
Dolly got up and went to the port and looked down the corridor, “I looked her up in the government’s data base.”
Chris sat back, “Which one?”
“The one that deals with security clearances. Did you know that Jillian has a PhD in Egyptology?”
“No, I didn’t.”
“It was her first one. She and her fiancé did their field study in Egypt. He was murdered in Giza near the pyramids. She would have also died, but he held the attackers off long enough for her to escape. The extremists took every opportunity to kill westerners back then. They shouldn’t have gone.”
“Well how can you get a PhD in Egyptology without going to Egypt?”
“They were dumb. They went out without taking a security team. They should have known better.”
Chris smiled, “When you’re young, you think you’re ten feet tall and indestructible.”
Chris thought about what Dolly was saying. Then she said something that jerked him back to the conversation, “I suspect she is starting to fall for you, and it reopens wounds that she doesn’t want to deal with. I also suspect that she thinks that to care for anyone else would be a betrayal to her lost love. Like you, she still mourns his death.”
Chris shook his head, “That explains a lot, Dolly. I’ll honor her distance. I understand what losing a loved one means.”
“If you want to act that stupid, go right ahead.”
Chris did a double take.
“Chris, what do you think that leads to? It leads to a life of loneliness. If you really care about her, you’ll try to rescue her from that nightmare. Do you really care about her?”
Chris lowered his head, “I don’t know, Dolly.”
“That’s because both of you live in splendid isolation. You’re so strong and can handle everything alone. You need rescuing as much as she does and I’m amazed that neither of you see it.” Dolly looked at her watch and said, “Oops gotta go. Jeff and I have a lunch engagement and I don’t want to miss the kissing. See ya.” Dolly stood and left leaving Chris without having the last word. This time he didn’t mind; he didn’t know what to say.
Dolly stuck her head back in the room and said, “If I were you; I’d go to Romeo’s bar and dance tonight. Some of the Tutors have asked if they were ever going to see you again.”
Chris raised his hand to respond, but she was gone. He thought about it, and had almost decided not to go when Dolly stuck her head back in and said, “You don’t need a dance partner. The ladies will be lined up to dance with you. Now go and have a good time.”
Chris raised his hand again, but she was gone. He stood and walked over to the corridor, but this time she really was gone. He started smiling, “Why not?”
That evening Dolly and Jeff were sitting at the terminal staring at the tablet when Jillian walked in and saw them, “Oh, I didn’t know anyone was here. I left my computer tablet.”
Dolly picked it up off the console and handed it to her, “I was going to bring it to you later.”
“Thanks, but I need some of the data on it.” Jillian looked around and said, “Is Dr. Connor around?”
Dolly smiled sweetly and said, “Noooo, I suggested he go to Romeo’s tonight and do some serious dancing. It’s his last night before launch and I know a lot of the coeds who want to have a last chance to dance with him. Several called and asked if I could get him to go tonight.”
Jillian stared at her and Jeff and asked, “When did he leave?”
Dolly looked at her watch, “About an hour ago; he borrowed one of the military skimmers to get there. I must say he looked really handsome in his v-neck silk shirt.” Jeff nodded.
“He shouldn’t be drinking this close to liftoff.”
Dolly smiled and said, “He doesn’t drink anymore. I thought he told you that he has come to terms with his life. He’s finally seen that he’s made a huge difference in so many student’s lives, that where he is now is worth all the pain he endured over the loss of his family. He now can remember them without the pain. I’m quite sure he’s sober and enjoying himself. You know how he likes a good party and this one should be a doooooozy.” Dolly lowered her head and said with a wink, “You know how those coeds are…”
Jillian turned and ran out of the building.
Jeff looked at Dolly and raised his eyebrows. Dolly said, “Sometimes you have to give a little push.”
“How did you know it’d work?”
“A woman always wants what another woman has. It’s how we’re made. Right now she’s visualizing Chris in some young coed’s arms. I don’t care how brilliant you are, that’s bound to get your attention.”
Jeff smiled at her and Dolly shook her finger in front of his face, “Don’t even think about going there. You don’t need to do anything to have me. All you’d do is make me angry if you tried it.”
Jeff tilted his head to the right, “And it wouldn’t be good to make Dolly angry.”
She smiled and kissed him, “Who says you’re not trainable?”
Jeff laughed, and kissed her again.
Chris arrived at Romeo’s and was greeted by the crowd. There were numerous slaps on the back, and Jamal escorted him to his usual place at the bar to order a drink. Chris looked at the bartender and said, “I’ll just have a diet Pepsi.”
Jamal looked at Chris with shock on his face, “Are you sick?”
“No, Jamal, I’m fine. How are things at the center?”
Jamal smiled, “They’re great. The Tutors stepped in and have made a huge difference. The children do miss you, though.”
“I miss them, too. Some of them are going to make a difference in the future.”
A young coed dressed in a micro-minidress tapped him on the shoulder, “Dr. Connor, will you dance with me?”
Chris smiled, “I’m sorry, dear, I don’t dance with my students.”
She smiled at him and said, “You are no longer an employee of the university.”
Chris looked at Jamal, then back at the young woman and said, “You’re right. I’m not.”
“Well, what are you waiting on?”
Chris started to stand up, but then sat back down. “I’m sorry. I’m just not up to dancing tonight. Thank you for asking.”
Jamal watched her walk away and did a slow whistle, “How could you say no to her? She is hot! Someone turn up the AC.”
Chris took a deep breath, “I just don’t want to remember my last dance happening here.”
Jamal looked at him, “Last dance? Are you going somewhere?”
“You might say I’m being reassigned.”
A young man walked up with four others behind him and slapped Chris on the back. He turned around and jumped up to hug James Logan, “Jimmy, it’s so good to see you.”
“Are you coming back, Dr. Connor?”
“I hope so, but it may be a while. Tell me how things are going.”
The four Tutors started telling him all the things they had done in his absence. Chris was excited by the initiative they had shown to take up the slack at the project center.
J
illian arrived at Romeo’s and walked quickly inside. She had to use her badge to get by the doorman. The place was standing room only. She had on her knit green coverall, and worked her way around the bar until she was standing next to the dance floor. She searched, but couldn’t find Chris. She stopped a young coed as she left the floor, “Have you seen Dr. Connor?”
The young woman smiled, “You’re wasting your time.”
“Why is that?”
“He’s not dancing with anyone tonight.”
“Why not?”
“Rumor has it that he wants to remember a dance he had with someone else as his last dance. We’ve all tried, but he says no. You might as well go home or find another partner.”
Jillian felt the tears, but wiped them away. If he wasn’t on the dance floor, she knew where he’d be. She turned and worked her way through the crowd toward his place at the bar. She broke through the crowd and saw him surrounded by students with white berets that were listening to him. She heard, “I’m not going to be here for a while. I need all of you to give back to our community what you’ve been given. You may not believe this, but it’s giving that makes your life worthwhile. I’m proud of the way you’ve taken on my responsibility with the children at the center, and I don’t know how I can ever thank you enough.”
A young man said, “I think their smiles are reward enough.”
Chris smiled and hugged the young man.
Jillian stepped forward and tapped Chris on the shoulder, “Will you dance with me?”
Chris turned and said, “I’m sorry, but…..” then he saw Jillian and stopped talking. The students saw his expression, and then they looked at Jillian. Chris smiled and said, “I’d love to dance with you.”
Jillian took off her coverall and the students were stunned. Jillian had on a strapless, black mini-dress that fit her like a second skin. A number of the coeds elbowed their partners that were staring open-mouthed at the woman with Dr. Connor. Jillian took his hand, and he led her to the dance floor. “What are you doing here?”
“It’s Thursday.”
