“The ramp is down, Sir,” Matt said, several minutes after he had shut down the engines, and the General unbuckled and led King Alfred and his sister to the top of the ramp.
“Well, should we go and meet your faithful subjects?” The General asked with a smirk on his face.
“Yah, tis good to be home,” the King answered, feeling as if he had been gone weeks, though it had been just less than a day. “Twas a trip beyond anything....” he started but could not finish, slowly he turned and headed down the ramp into the open air. The cheers from the crowd grew more intense as he appeared, but at first he did not even acknowledge that the crowd was there. Instead he stared at the wet, green grass on the ground before him, then raised his face and felt the cool rain as it fell onto his cheeks. He raised both his arms to the heavens and opened his eyes and settled them on his people.
“Home!” He yelled above their cheers, which continued on and on and on.
Chapter Nineteen
The Lady Ellyn spent the next two weeks practically secluded from the rest of the world, including Matt, as she received concentrated training from Lieutenant Turnbull, Doctor Rice and others. As they fed her more and more information she began to have her first doubts about leaving this nice safe planet that was her home, but she continued on, spurred by her love and desire to be with Matt.
Ellyn however, was the least of the Americans worries, for they still had not found a suitable match for Captain Giles, and he for once, was not helping. Selby Conner, the maid from Athelney, would have filled in nicely had she not been killed, and the Captain was still mourning her loss. He was no help whatsoever in finding another woman, though Matt suspected that his copilot did have someone in mind. Even so, he remained steadfastly mute and would not name her. The trip was going to be dangerous, and whoever volunteered would never see their family and friends again. It was not a decision to be made lightly and Giles wanted no part in coaxing anyone along. In any case, Murphy flatly refused to offer up any names, so the search went on.
“We could still fall back on the option of sending Lieutenant Wells along,” Lemay piped in, but even he didn’t think it was a good idea, and was not surprised when Rice shook his head.
“We cannot send along one woman and three men!” He replied emphatically, his back to the balcony, facing into the room where he’d first met King Alfred. “It would cause all kinds of problems on a long mission. I doubt that any of them would even survive the trip.
“So what are our other options?” The General asked.
“Mayhap we could round up the willin’ maids and put yor Captain in a room with them all until the time that he decides on one,” Alfred suggested, trying to be helpful.
Rice laughed. “That may be our only option.”
“Na as like he’d survive that,” Sir Wulfhere quipped and this time they all laughed, Americans and English alike.
“But if we just force someone on him, no matter the good intentions,” Lemay argued, “it’ll be a disaster. If there are no real feelings between the two, they’ll tire of each other in time. Not a good situation in space, millions of miles and years from other women...except for Ellyn. We all know of Murphy’s past. He’s never been shy around the ladies.”
“He does have a soft spot for the fairer sex,” Rice agreed with concern, “but he’s no lecher. I don’t think trouble would be very likely, not with Major Thane in close proximity. For the most part, Murphy’s a gentleman, he just has trouble focusing on a single goal, but he’s always respected the ties of others. It’s going to be a long voyage...an unknown, with unknown pressures. We’ve never sent men and women out together on something of this magnitude. But such interrelations between the sexes were studied extensively on the International Space Station, and different sex long term missions were always less stressful and more successful than long term same sex missions.”
“Well, we have to find someone,” Peebles added, exasperated. “Ellyn is progressing rather nicely in her training and Lieutenant Turnbull...” he stopped when there was a knock at the door, and smiled as the Lady Ealhswith and her daughter Giffu entered. Ealhswith smiled back, but Æthelgifu’s expression was very serious.
King Alfred stared at his daughter intensely for several long moments, long enough for the General to realize that there was still tension between the two. Finally however, the girl stepped forward and performed a quick but elegant curtsy for her father and another for the General, who bowed deeply in return.
“Father, I’d na marry Charles,” Giffu said flatly, referring to Charles the Fat of France to whom her father had promised her.
Alfred immediately turned a bright shade of red as he prepared to explode all over his daughter. “Then tis the Shaftesbury Abbey for ye!” He yelled, embarrassed to be defied in front of the Americans. “If’n ye’ll na do yor duty to yor father, ye’ll na have a man.”
Ealhswith moved slowly over to her daughter and placed a supporting hand on her arm but Giffu remained unfazed by the outburst.
“Na trickery!” Alfred shouted accusatorily to his wife. Ealhswith smiled but said nothing.
“Father, I’d go with the Ammericaans into the heavens,” Giffu suddenly said and all of Alfred’s bluster quickly came to an end.
Giffu turned from him and turned shyly toward General Peebles. “Ye belookin’ for another woman to travel to the stars with Captain Giles,” she said, her confidence returning. She’d discussed her decision extensively with both her mother Ealhswith and her sister Flæd. “I wish to go with...I whilst be a good and faithful companion to the Captain.”
Both the General and Colonel Lemay were speechless, but Doctor Rice stepped forward.
“Why do you wish to leave this land? You have a family; you’re a Princess of Wessex.”
Æthelgifu bowed her head, but then lifted her chin proudly and stared at her father while she answered. “Tis the Fat or the abbey for me here in Wessex…and I na have either. I wold go to the heavens and fight yor…our enemies.
Rice nodded and smiled at her, and she smiled back and then they all glanced to Alfred.
The King frowned, trying to consider all aspects of the possible union quickly. Charles the Fat of France was a good ally and friend, and not someone Alfred wanted to disappoint. But with the arrival of the Americans, the alliance between the two nation states lost some of its importance.
If it was not already part of Alfred’s overall plan to marry his daughter Æthelflæd with the General…if he’d have her old and widowed as she was…then the union between Æthelgifu and Captain Giles might have some strategic merit. Even still it might strengthen the ties with the Americans, gain their gratitude by helping them solve a problem. Still he loved Giffu and to just banish her to space, never to see her again…though if she married Charles and sailed off to Frankish lands, he’d likely see no less of her.
“Please Da,” the girl pleaded and looked up at him with hopeful eyes. Alfred melted.
“I said na trickery,” he said softly. “Ye be sure daughter?”
Giffu nodded; her eyes suddenly moist. “Yah da, I be sure. Murphy tis a fine, handsome man…a large man…tis an exciting man,” she admitted and blushed furiously.
Alfred nodded to her. “Verily well,” he told her then turned to General Peebles. “Ye think Murphy Giles wold object? By all accounts me daughter be fertile and wold service him well and good,” he assured the Americans and both Æthelgifu and Peebles flushed. Rice chuckled but said nothing.
“She be comely enough for yor Captain eh?” Alfred asked and Giffu’s cheeks went a shade darker. This time Colonel Lemay and Peebles joined the good doctor in laughing, which for a moment terrified the young princess.
“She’s a beautiful young woman,” the General confirmed, feeling uncomfortable.
“Hell she’s radiant,” Doctor Rice insisted.
“Stunning,” added Lemay and both Rice and Peebles looked at the stoic Colonel with amusement.
“What? She’s gorgeous!” Le
may insisted.
“Yes…yes she is.” Peebles added, thinking how much she looked like her older sister, Æthelflæd.
“We’ll have to run the idea by the Captain, but somehow I don’t believe he’ll object. I’m sure you will do nicely, Giles doesn’t strike me as overly picky,” the General explained but then realized how this could be taken and moved closer to the young woman. “But even if he was, you are truly a lovely and intelligent woman. He would be a fool to turn away one such as you.”
Giffu did not actually blush at the rain of compliments, but she did look to the ground, and curtsied ever so slightly.
“But tell me,” Rice continued, “why do you want to go? You’ll never see your friends again, your family,” he added nodding toward the King and Queen.
Æthelgifu raised her eyes to look at him. “I want to go...to see wot tis out there. And though I do na understand all that ye tell me, I want to return and see this land, the children of me people, so many years after. Tis a remarkable thing, and before ye came remarkable things were saved for menfolk only. I want to do and see remarkable things.”
No one argued with her.
She looked and caught the eye of the General, who nodded at her, and then turned to Colonel Lemay. “Have someone bring Captain Giles here,” he said simply.
“Now we have two weddings to arrange,” Ealhswith spouted happily. All the American men stopped suddenly and stared at the Queen. They’d not necessarily entertained the idea of marriage between the chosen couples.
“If they agree,” Peebles said.
Ealhswith frowned. “We will arrange it.”
“Very fitting considering the day and age we’re in,” the Colonel quipped as he left the room.
“We will need to do some further testing on you,” Rice said to Giffu, who just smiled and nodded, then walked over and hugged her sister, her dearest friend in the world.
§
Once again the day to the final lift-off was pushed back while they tested and studied the psychological make-up of the Princess Æthelgifu. Captain Giles did not object to the selection of the young lady, in fact, he had her in mind all along, though he was much too honorable to put forth her name for such a dangerous mission. But he was very pleased and somewhat relieved. Selby, as much as she meant to him, was uneducated even for the times and largely ignorant, and though she carried a certain fascination for him, her main attraction had always been physical. Giffu, though exceedingly backwards in her beliefs, could at least read and had some basic education. She was beautiful, intelligent and driven and over the long voyage ahead of him, he immediately realized she would be much more suited for him in the years to come. True, he did not love her…yet, and she did not love him, but if they were both very lucky, even that would come in time. It was enough for now that the Lady Æthelgifu shared his deep desire to see the stars and she was more than willing to do her part to avenge the mass of humanity that was yet to come.
Yes, the Princess Æthelgifu was a strong noblewoman and very accustomed to speaking her mind. She was young but she knew what she was about, and was not afraid to press an issue if she felt it was important. Selby, a servant all her life, had developed a servant’s attitude. Independence would be just as hard to teach her as mathematics. Giffu was completely different. Promised at the tender age of four to Charles the Fat, a great grandson of Charlemagne, she’d managed through wily persuasion, stubbornness and sheer good fortune, to put off her nuptials for longer than she dared thought possible. When her father finally put his foot down, she threatened to kill herself rather than be forced into a marriage so far from home, and to a complete stranger. Alfred insisted, demanded and then finally threatened her with a life in the Shaftesbury Abbey if she did not capitulate and marry. In the end, Æthelgifu resigned herself to live out her life in the arms of God. But then, as if answering her prayers, the Americans arrived with Captain Murphy Giles. She wanted to go to the stars as much or more than any of them, and plunged headlong into learning all there was to know. She showed remarkable intelligence and an intense willingness to learn, and in that she was very much like her young nephew Leoforic, who was quickly becoming the chief expert on the Americans and their ways.
No, Murphy did not object to the Princess, she was bright, intelligent, and surprisingly witty, and the fact that she was stunningly beautiful did not hurt one bit. Murphy always had a soft spot in his heart for beautiful women, and while up to this point he’d never been able to settle on just one, the Princess seemed very willing to give him a chance. For her part Æthelgifu found the Captain wildly exotic…brilliant beyond measure, and exceedingly handsome. If she suspected his wayward habits she did not let on, and though relatively young at nineteen, she was confident in her ability to keep the attention of any man.
Æthelgifu learned all about the ship very quickly. Leoforic helped a great deal; he translated hitherto unknown concepts and was able to help her grasp many new ideas much faster than her American teachers. Leoforic was already very astute with the computer and could look up anything his heart desired, and he spent nearly every waking moment with Matt Thane and Murphy Giles, helping them prepare his aunt for the journey. Leoforic’s mind was on fire with a myriad of new ideas, impossible ideas. He could not get enough and Giffu found his enthusiasm catching. Leoforic grew quickly close to his aunt and was surprised to find that he was not entirely behind the idea of her leaving. He would miss her greatly.
The weddings took place on Wednesday, August 1st, in the year 893. It was an enormous affair, filled with all the pomp and pageantry the royalty of the day could muster. Ribbons hung from every tree, as well as from the very tops of the castle walls, along with flowers of all kinds, and other pieces of greenery such as holly and mistletoe. People came from all throughout lower Angland wearing their best and brightest clothing. All the maidens wore their finest dresses and sported ribbons or flowers in their hair. Many a young girl pretended jealously that it was to be their wedding, and after they would fly off to the heavens with the handsome and mysterious Americans.
The noblemen were also decked out in their best, with colorful vestments and fur lined mantles. All the women were stunning and all the men were handsome, for it was a very happy time. The soldiers from America had not thought to bring along their dress uniforms, but they made do with what they had, and cleaned up quite nicely.
Father Asser, the King’s own priest, presided over the double ceremony, and all the while both Matt and Murphy fidgeted under all the attention they were getting. The Major handled the excitement a might better than his counterpart however, since this was his second marriage. Murphy, up to this point, had always been a hardened bachelor.
The day was fair and warm, a bit gusty, but that just whipped the ribbons and banners about, adding to the gaiety.
The strong breeze did nothing to inhibit the people of the land from celebrating and setting up a great feast both in and out of the castle walls. The entire population of Winchester attended, as did most of the citizens of nearby Wilton.
Nobles and Governors came from all across the land. Some came from as near as Berkshire, while others trekked from distant London and even beyond. A great many traveled from Cornwall on the Lizard, where the Ammericaans were already renowned. There were also great crowds from Mercia, and of course the people of Athelney and Somerset flocked to the celebration. The entire population of Bridgwater also traveled to court to witness the wedding of the Lady Ellyn, including her Aunt Eldreena. The old maid spent most of her time either smiling or crying, helped out greatly by Trudy, who had no wish to see her mistress leave. There were many, many people that the Americans had met over the months who put aside their personal affairs to come to the celebration. Hester Manning and her two boys were present, which greatly pleased Captain Hersey, and it was easy for all to see that the weddings got both to thinking about their own future.
Sir Eadwig, the Earl of Sussex and father of Sir Ordmere, was also in Winchester. The Earl was very g
rateful to the Americans for saving his son’s life. Ordmere was healing rapidly and could even walk again with the help of a cane, though he did so with a slight stoop.
Nearly half the population of Rochester called a holiday and made the journey to Winchester. The town had gratefully adopted the Americans as their own, and we’re already seeing immense benefits. The celebration was a splendid affair and lasted all week, though the double wedding itself was wonderfully brief, only taking up part of the first morning.
Before the wedding nuptials however, another brief and private ceremony took place; Alfred hastily arranged for the two grooms to be knighted. The King was aghast that both men, and in fact all of the Americans, lacked the honor and were for all practical purposes, commoners. Sir Oldalf knighted Matt, though with no easy buffet, the traditional blow to the shoulders, rather the old knight whacked him hard enough to set him off balance. The King administered much the same punishment on Murphy, and afterwards each was presented with the sword of his dubbing. Matt took his, unable to speak, feeling great pride.
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