by Chris Hechtl
When the song ended, they were almost to the far wall. She looked up and then pulled his head down for a kiss. His eyes closed, and his head tilted to one side instinctively. “Wow,” he murmured. “Powerful stuff.”
“Don't tell me you haven't been …” His deepening blush gave him away. She giggled then patted his shoulder. “Kid, you are something else. Any other teen would have been soaked in hormones and humping every female or male leg they could. But not you, huh? You put your incredible mind and energy to work on this project. That's incredible,” she murmured.
“Um, thanks,” he said as she pushed herself away so she could reach up and catch Alec's hand. Alec's catch made Jamey's suddenly raging hormones back down slightly. He was instantly jealous but fought the feeling.
“I think I need to be going. Alcohol and null G aren't a good combo for me,” Kathy said with a slight lisps.
“I'll um, escort you home,” Jamey mumbled. He waved a goodbye to the group and then escorted her to the waiting cutter. She giggled as he let her take the first seat, then made as if she couldn't handle the restraints. His awakening chivalry prodded him to help her, and of course accidentally touch her curvy body as he buckled her in. When he was finished, she nodded her chin for him to sit beside her.
Once he was buckled in, the hatch closed and the shuttle moved off. But the sudden acceleration gave them a moment of gravity … which did awful things with their stomachs. Suddenly hormones and other thoughts were the last things on their minds as they wrestled with bodily function control.
The bump a few minutes later let them know they'd made it to their station. The LED over the airlock went from red to green. Once it did they each released their restraints and floated up with the others in the small cutter.
Jamey floated to one side to let her precede him. She smiled her thanks with a small smile as he helped her move from floating to stepping as she moved into the airlock and its artificial gravity. Both of them were tipsy as he escorted her to her room. They occasionally giggled or made small talk. She leaned into him, holding one arm for support.
When they reached her corridor, they slowed and then lingered, each unsure where the moment would lead but unwilling to just walk away. Other people, colleagues and friends in the corridor interrupted any thoughts of going further however. The embarrassment of being the topic of local gossip was like a splash of sobering cold water to Kathy. She smiled softly and gave him a peck then went to bed. He stumbled back to his room, cheek tingling. His mind whirled. For the first time, he didn't see Kathy as just a colleague and possible friend. She was a woman, a beautiful woman. Somehow he'd overlooked that. For his entire life, he'd kept his intense focus on the hyperdrive. Now, with the project moving into its next phase he was left adrift. Perhaps now was the time to let nature catch up? To explore that side of his … he let the thought hang as he climbed into bed. It was an intriguing idea though, as he drifted off into unconsciousness.
-*-*-^-*-*-
“No way,” Amelia breathed, watching the news broadcast as she stroked the coonie cat in her lap. The red and yellow striped gene engineered animal was a loving addition to the household. He purred, happy at getting attention. She looked over to Isley who was also staring at the vid screen. “Are we really seeing this?” Amelia breathed, shocked.
“Apparently so,” Isley said slowly, thoughts bucking as she came to grips with the Earth shattering news. The idea of a starship had been a pipe dream for centuries. Now it was apparently about to become a reality. She was pretty sure the Irons family had something to do with it. She wasn't sure exactly how yet, but they were long time supporters of Jack Lagroose. Her grandfather Luigi had given Jack part of his seed money to get the company started.
She began to think furiously as things slid into place. It explained why Lagroose had backed off from building sublight ships and let the other companies overshadow it. Even why Jack Lagroose had sold off some tech; he probably wanted the money to fund the starships she reasoned. Yard space rentals … it all made sense now.
She shook her head. It also explained her parents’ preoccupation with the latest generation of fusion reactors. She'd thought they'd been insane to include force emitters into it; after all, to her it was unproven technology. Barely credible, but apparently they'd known a lot more than she had. Nor had they clued her in on it.
It also explained Sylvia Irons partnership with Smythe and why he'd let Lagroose buy him out. Obviously he'd cut some sort of deal with them. She'd thought he'd let Lagroose buy him out to keep his new fusion drive designs away from Pavilion industry. She shook her head. He could have gone to Star Reach with them but they were only interested in antimatter engines and engineering … she nodded curtly.
“Thinking deep thoughts?” Amelia asked, eying her cousin.
“A bit.”
“What about? This?” Amelia said, waving a hand then shaking it to get the fur off. She picked at the fur in disgust. A small robot vacuum cleaner came out and sucked up the hair as it drifted in the air currents.
“Oh this and that. I think I have come to a decision,” Isley said, sitting back deeper into the chair. “I think I am going to go to Earth to university.”
“Why? We've got several here just as good!”
“Yeah, but the one I want to go to is a favorite of Lagroose Industries,” Isley said, remembering all the homework she'd done on Earth colleges. “If I play my cards right, I'll be able to get in on the ground floor with them. Once I do, I might get an in,” she said slowly. And if that didn't work another company might snap her up to keep her away from Lagroose Industries. That was okay with her too, as long as it wasn't Pavilion she mused. Muffins jumped off Amelia's lap when the cat heard little Kelsie warble in annoyance.
Amelia wrinkled her nose as she stood and brushed cat hair off her lap. “My turn,” she said, sounding disgusted.
“Yup,” Isley said, smelling the dirty diaper from where she was sitting. She was glad her cousin was with her to babysit, technically she was her understudy. That meant she could give the kid the shitty, pun intended, jobs. She smiled and then coughed when Amelia cooed to the little girl and opened the diaper. “Phewee! What are they feeding that kid?” she demanded as Amelia coughed.
-*-*-^-*-*-
Aurelia had felt a bit under the weather to attend the ceremony. She watched it virtually however, and was amused that her son took that distraction as an opportunity to play soccer. That amusement faded when pain stabbed through her. Involuntarily she groaned.
“Are you okay, Mrs. Lagroose? Your vital signs have just fluctuated,” Athena said from the overhead.
“I'm not …” she hissed as another pain hit her, sharp like a knife. “No, I'd say I'm not. Tell medical I'm having contractions, and they are pretty close together. Page Jack. Tell him to shag his ass back here or he's going to miss the birth,” she said.
“Medical has been alerted. I am screening their call now. Do you wish to speak with the dispatcher?”
“I'm a doctor, I think I can do this,” Aurelia said, struggling to get to her feet. She clutched at the chair, almost doubling over in pain as another contraction cut through her. “Okay, that was a little too close for comfort.”
“Mr. Lagroose has asked if this is a possible false alarm. He reminded me you ate chile last night …”
“Nope. Hell no,” Aurelia breathed, beginning to sweat just as the door to their suite opened and a medic hustled through. “What's his 10-20?” She asked.
“Still in the yard but on his way to the nearest shuttle. It will be at least an hour before he can arrive.”
“Well, hopefully he gets here soon, because Junior doesn't seem to be messing around here,” Aurelia said, biting her lip in pain as she tried to move. The female medic tried to get her to sit but she shook her head.
“Stealing the show?” a familiar and very much missed voice asked from the overhead. Aurelia looked up and around, but his image wasn't on any of the screens.
“Not me. Our impish child has your sense of timing,” she replied.
“So I'm finally going to find out if it's a boy or girl?” Jack quipped. Aurelia had been all mysterious about the sex of the baby. She'd even made him promise … under threat of tickling no less, that he not cheat and look it up. Which wasn't fair, after all, she knew. But he'd taken the restriction with the best grace he could.
“If you don't get here soon you might want to wait until the kid's about to graduate. Jack, these are close, and I'm not sure I can hold out,” she said, voice straining as the medics eased her onto a stretcher.
“I'm coming, honey. Just try to relax and stay calm,” Jack said. “I'm with you in spirit,” he said.
“Definitely,” Aurelia breathed as they strapped her in and hustled her out.
-*-*-^-*-*-
United Earth, One Earth, and other organizations staged protests on the ground. The protests quickly overshadowed and soured the coverage on Lagroose Industry's first starship since they were worldwide and closer to home. Jamey was unhappy but unsurprised when he heard the news of the so called peaceful protests turning to riots and arson.
“So what?” Levare said, shaking his head. “We're up here. They are down there. Small, close-minded individuals who can't see past their noses. I say screw ‘em all,” he growled. A few of the design board nodded grimly in agreement.
“It's still not right. People are getting hurt down there,” Jamey grumbled, sounding upset. His haunted eyes turned to see a group of people overturning a car. Someone was inside it too from the looks of the arms and legs frantically trying to climb out the window. The car rolled again, and he winced, imagining the crushed limbs. When the car rolled upright, he scowled. Despite it being filthy and battered, it had a Lagroose Industries label on the car door. Someone crawled out of the passenger side, but the mob descended on them while others torched the car.
“Kid, take it from me, this is normal. They've been looking for an excuse for a while now, and we just gave them one. People do the stupidest things for the dumbest of reasons. Some just like anarchy; they like to go out, break stuff and rob people. They think they can get away with it. But you know kid, cameras are everywhere. They'll be busted. Maybe not right away, but they will eventually,” Charlie said, clapping his hand on his shoulder. Jamey nodded, but his eyes didn't leave the image of the man getting beaten until the news channel cut to other coverage.
-*-*-^-*-*-
Hannah and Bret were caught up in a traffic jam caused by a protest. Eight-year-old Hannah was scared; she cringed in her seat when the protestors and police passed by rocking their truck. “What the hell was that about?” Bret demanded, swearing under his breath. The one time he decided to come into the city all hell broke loose. It figured he thought. At least the truck was unmarked. If he'd taken the company vehicle, he was pretty sure it would have turned ugly.
“I don't know, and I don't want to know. I just want to be someplace else. Anywhere else,” Hannah replied, looking over her shoulder. She yelped in dismay as a young man in a dark hoody and wearing a red hockey mask climbed up on the hood, bounced on the roof a few times, then climbed over the truck.
“Amen,” Bret rumbled, watching warily as the hooligan departed. He looked around, but there were no openings to escape. They were locked in and trapped just like everyone else on the street. “But unfortunately, kiddo, we're not going anywhere, anytime soon,” he said. “And I'm in no hurry to strike out on foot.”
“Great,” Hannah drawled, hunching her shoulders in dismay. She clutched her tablet in her lap to her chest. “No use calling for help either?” she asked.
“Nope. Just got to ride it out honey. Like a storm I suppose,” Bret rumbled.
“Lovely,” Hannah sighed. “So, did you give any more thought to that transfer? I heard you and Jamey talking about it last night.”
“Well …” Bret frowned thoughtfully. Hannah hadn't been eavesdropping, she'd been in the living room working on her homework on the floor when Jamey had called. He'd just thought she hadn't been paying attention. Apparently she had or the family memory had let her replay the conversation when she had brain cells to spare. “I'm not so sure I want it. I mean, on the one hand it's interesting, it'd be a change. Working at a microwave station would do my resume good. It'd keep my skills fresh; I am getting bored.”
“But …?” Hannah asked.
“It'd mean we'd have to move, pumpkin. I've gotten used to living out in the country. Security is tighter around the microwave antennas too. That's a pain in the rump. There are also a lot of protestors. The ironic thing is they protest the radiation saying it causes cancer and crap, but they are right there at the gates or trying to climb over the fences to sabotage things. But when the electric grid has a hiccup, the public has a fit.”
“Which isn't the company's fault,” Hannah said loyally, eyes still warily scanning the horizon. Fortunately the crest of the rioters had left the area. A few lingered here and there, but most were just looking for loot. They occasionally looked in a car, but the occupants and cameras on the dashes and streets seemed to remind them to mind their manners and hands. One guy went so far as to climb out of his vehicle to point a shiny pistol at a group of teens. The teens scattered.
“I don't know. I'm curious about the microwave thing. I can look into it, Daddy,” Hannah suggested.
“Why don't you do that. We both can look into it. Though fighting my way through this crap every day trying to get to and leave work isn't very appealing to me.”
“Me neither,” Hannah muttered as she used her laptop to look up the public information on the microwave receiver stations.
-*-*-^-*-*-
The first renders and general design blueprints of the Daedalus were released to the public and media through the company's public affairs office as well as a series of websites. They included a crew compliment and a general cutaway of the ship with a deck plan. Hundreds of thousands of parents and children copied the images and made posters.
Lagroose legal tried to stamp out independent people making T-shirts, posters, and other things. They did allow licensed companies to use the images. Jack Lagroose stepped in and told them to back off. He did, however, have them refocus their efforts on fraud and scam artists offering trips on the ship or other things.
The media brought in expert engineers to pick the design of the ship apart. Some of the professors and so called experts pointed out that the small ship couldn't carry much, and the lack of a boat bay was disturbing. Having only three shuttle craft docked externally was borrowing trouble a talking head said.
After five weeks of furor and consternation, Reginald Pruitt, CEO of Star Reach, Inc., called Jack Lagroose to float the idea of their two companies doing a joint starship project. Jack was amused by the idea but didn't commit to anything. Star Reach had good ideas, but they were mainly idea people. They were turtle slow, focusing on one system and then researching and developing it for years. If something failed they spent years going over the results and then more years simulating fixes before they committed to hardware. It was maddening. They harkened back to the ancient days of NASA. They had good scruples and were honest, but they were also transparent, releasing their designs to the public periodically.
Jack had been half expecting the call. Pavilion's CEO Lynn Raye had yet to call and congratulate him. The Chinese too hadn't made a peep, but that was expected. Raye had her hands full according to his spies. From what they reported, there were major shake-ups going on in the company, mainly due to the surprise Lagroose had arranged. Apparently politics were getting quite cutthroat in Pavilion, and Raye was doing everything she could just to hold onto her seat and possibly her life.
Besides, he'd screened his calls last week to have alone time with his new family, but old Reg was one person that he made sure could call him anytime. The older man was getting bigger; he definitely needed to work out more. A lot of the mountain of muscle he'd once had over the past eight decades was turnin
g to flab. Obviously too much desk time and too little in the gym Jack thought, but he noted Reg's green eyes were still bright, clear, and lively. He needed to take a fat burner. Jack shook his head at his train of thought. He'd used them when he was younger; he hadn't been into working up a sweat and had been intently focused on using up every minute of his time growing and expanding his business. When he'd married Aurelia, that practice had come to an abrupt end. She liked muscles, so he'd tried to use a shortcut with stem cell injections until she'd cut him off and forced him to go to the gym. Now he had to admit, the burn of a good workout felt good. Tiring, but good. It also helped him to burn off excess energy and distracted him when he was flustered or frustrated.
The competing CEO skipped the small talk and went right to business. “I admit you have us. Our design is quite different. It seems we're going in a different direction,” he rumbled.
“To each his or her own, there are a lot of paths to the stars,” Jack said. He heard a hint of age in that bass rumble. It saddened him a bit. They had ways to maintain the health of a person until they were well into their fifteenth decade. One good example was Mario Irons. But if you didn't put out the effort to take care of yourself … he wondered if Sheila was doing okay. He wasn't sure if he should come right out and ask. Reg could be prickly about his family when someone asked an uninvited question.
“Yes, well, you have proven so far that you have the best chance of success,” Reg continued, oblivious to Jack's mental distraction.
