Talosian Chronicles 1: Olympus

by Ben Winston

  Ian grinned and turned to Janet. “Feel like another trip to New York tonight?”

  “Come on, Carla, let’s go get your wife,” Janet said grabbing Carla’s hand.

  Beth and Jenny dropped their robes and headed for the water. Ian rose to join them. “Have a safe flight you two.”

  Janet stopped in her tracks so fast, Carla almost bumped into her. When she turned back around, she had a strange look on her face. “Uh, Julie? I think you should go with Carla. I’m going to be needed here.”

  Carla looked at her funny, but Julie smiled at her mate. “Sure, sweetheart.”

  Julie took Carla’s hand and they continued on their way to the garage.

  Ian had stopped to see what was going on. Janet sat him back down in the lounger he’d been using. “Carla and Paula will need a bigger bed. To get it home, you’ll need a pick-up. I think you should ask your neighbor Elias to come over.” She pointed to the back fence.

  “Why don’t I just go over there and ask him to use his truck? That’s how I usually do it,” Ian asked.

  Janet shook her head. “No, he needs to come over here. Ask him to bring his checkbook.”

  “Uh, okay, but it would really help if I knew why I needed him and his checkbook to come over here,” Ian said.

  “You, I and Oly need to get him and his company checkbook in the kitchen. We need to discuss his business,” Janet said cryptically.

  “Any ideas how I should get him over here?” Ian asked.

  “Ask him over for a beer, I don’t know how to get... Never mind, he won’t need it,” Janet said as her eyes glazed a bit.

  Ian shrugged, and pulled his clothes back on. As he stood to go, Janet told him that she would make sure that Oly was in the kitchen and had cold beers waiting.

  Ian walked around the house, and made his way around the block since they didn’t have an alleyway in that neighborhood. It was a hot day, and Ian was wishing he could have stayed with his ladies and gotten in the pool.

  As Jenny and Beth jumped into the pool, Cindy stood and dropped her robe to join them. That was when she noticed the look on Talena’s face.

  “What’s wrong, sweetheart?”

  Talena was just staring at the big pool. “Uh, I’ve never... I mean, we had a big tank in medbay, but it was a lot smaller than that. A lot shallower too.”

  “Sweetie, we don’t need to go in the deep end, but I promise, you’ll like the feel of the water around you. Don’t worry; I’ll be with you all the time. I won’t let anything happen to you,” Cindy said trying to reassure the girl.

  Talena smiled weakly. “I know you wouldn’t, but... it’s just... it’s kinda scary.”

  “Come on, you can hold my hand the whole time, I promise I won’t let anything bad happen to you,” Cindy said, caressing her cheek. “I really do think you’ll like it in there.”

  Talena took a deep breath and grabbed Cindy's hand. She all but pulled Cindy to the pool.

  Ian rang the bell, half expecting one of the kids to answer the door and tell him their Dad was still at work, but Mr. Johnson opened the door himself. “Ian! What can I do for you?”

  “Well sir, I was wondering if I could invite you over for a beer? I’ve got something I’d like to talk to you about,” Ian said.

  “Sure! Just let me tell someone where I’ll be, and we can go,” the man said and left Ian at the open door.

  Stephanie, the Johnson’s daughter, walked in from the back on her way up the stairs. “Hi Ian,” she said.

  “Ahh, Stephanie,” Elias said as he walked out of the hall. “I must have missed your mother. Would you please let her know I went over to Ian’s house for a few minutes? I don’t think I’ll be very long.”

  “Sure dad,” the teen replied as she bounded up the stairs.

  Elias grinned as he followed Ian around the block. They didn’t talk much, but Elias did sound kind of down in the dumps when they did.

  “Sir? Is something wrong? You sound a little depressed,” Ian asked.

  “Yeah, it’s the damn company. It’s become more paperwork and rules and... I’m a construction worker, I build houses and buildings, not mountains of paperwork. I’m thinking of selling the company, but I don’t want to sell to just anyone. I’d like to stay on as foreman, and I’d want the people that work for me to stay on as well. They’re good people, and it would be a shame to see them out of work,” Elias said as they arrived at Ian’s door.

  Ian was thinking rapidly, trying to remember exactly how big the company was, and wondering if Janet hadn’t already known about this. “Sir, I might know of someone that could help you, but there’s a story involved that you’ll laugh at. Would you be willing to listen?”

  “Ian, if nothing else, it might cheer me up. That and a cold beer would do me wonders.”

  “Cold beer and a fantastic story, coming up!” Ian said as he led the other man into the kitchen. Janet was already there, waiting. As Ian opened the fridge to get the cold beers, he introduced them. “Actually, I’ll let Janet tell you the story. She’s much better at it than I am.” Ian then introduced them to each other.

  Janet smiled at Ian sarcastically. “He’s just being lazy,” she said, then told Elias the story of Olympus. By the time she’d finished, Elias had drunk two beers, and was looking confused.

  “Okay, that was a good story, but what’s that got to do with my company?”

  “Well, we’re going to need to build a small town out in the desert for our people, as well as places to do research and stuff. To do that, we’re gonna need a construction company,” Ian said.

  “Are you trying to tell me that bit of Science Fiction is real? No way. The government would be all over that,” Elias replied.

  “The government doesn’t know anything about it, Elias. We want to keep it that way. If they get involved, it’ll make our job just that much harder,” Janet said.

  Ian grinned. “So, how much do you want for the company?”

  “I’m not totally convinced you’re for real yet, Ian, I mean no offense, but you’re an eighteen year old kid. This is all a little hard to accept.” Elias said. “I like you, and trust you, son, but this...”

  “What the Commander, and Mrs. Laskar have told you is correct, sir,” Oly said appearing before him.

  Elias jumped off the stool he was sitting on, spilling his beer. The domestic drone came around the corner from the bedrooms and started cleaning it up.

  “Holy Shit! Jesus, Mary and Joseph!” Elias almost shouted. He caught sight of the small drone and watched it for a second. “You really aren’t shittin’ me are you?” He asked Ian and Janet.

  “No sir, we’re not. We really do need a construction company. I’d feel more comfortable with one that was run by someone I knew and trusted,” Ian said.

  “Okay, Ian, I’ll need to speak to my people to let them know that I’m selling the company, but nothing’s going to change for them,” Elias said after taking a deep breath. “We’re just finishing up a job in Aurora so we can start shifting equipment to where you’ll need us.”

  “Okay, our lawyer and Julie are going to get our architect right now, so as soon as she gets back, we can get the legal stuff taken care of. Do you need any money right now?”

  “Uh, no, I’m going to be making a deposit later. That’ll hold everything for a little while. This is a little hard to accept you know?” Elias said.

  Ian chuckled. “Yeah, I imagine it is. Look, we can’t actually tell your people the whole truth yet, but if it will help them, let them know the first things I want built are the houses for their families. We will also have a first rate educational system and the best medical plan on the planet... or should I say, off the planet.” Ian grinned mischievously. “Just because they can’t know the whole truth yet, doesn’t mean we can’t take care of them.”

  “I appreciate that, Ian. I’m sure they will too, once they find out the truth. What about moving costs? I’m assuming that you’re going to be moving them and their families
down to the project site?” Elias asked.

  “Yeah, I think that would be best, don’t you? That way none of the guys’ll be away from their families for an extended period of time. Well, except for at first, so we can get the initial stuff done. We’ll need to get a whole bunch of trailer houses to use for temporary housing, and all the utilities for them, for the folks to live in, until their real homes are finished,” Ian said.

  “It sounds like you’ve thought this out some,” Elias asked.

  “Mr. Johnson, we’re going to be using the facility for two things; first, to do research on more efficient ways to use our fossil fuels, or alternative energy sources, and for a recruiting center for the ship. The people we recruit will have to go somewhere.

  “I’ve seen the way employers, especially big corporations treat the people that work for them, and I believe it’s wrong. I believe that if you treat your people like people instead of numbers, you won’t have issues with things like employee loyalty, or a high turnover rate. Take care of your people, and they’ll take care of you,” Ian explained.

  “Ian, I think you should call me Elias from now on, after all I work for you now. I’ll get my people together this next weekend for a barbecue and explain everything to them. I’d like you to be there as well, so I can introduce you,” Elias said.

  Ian nodded. “Just let me know when and where. I’ll be relying on you a lot, Elias. I don’t know a damn thing about running a business, or your people. If I’m about to make a mistake, I’ll expect you to say something. That goes for everything, if you don’t understand something, feel free to ask; however, there might be some things I can’t answer, and I hope you can understand that.”

  “Oh, no problem with that. I do understand matters of security and all that. Well, I suppose I should be getting back before they send out a search party,” Elias said chuckling.

  After checking with Oly, Ian handed Elias a communit and a set of lenses. “These will help you by teaching you about our history and pretty much anything else you’ll want to learn. One other thing... can I borrow your truck? I need to go get a king sized bed for some house guests.”

  Elias raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, you could borrow it, but I don’t think you’re going to find a furniture store still open.” He pulled out his cell phone and dialed a number.

  He put it to his ear to wait for someone to answer. “Hello Sammi? Yeah, it’s Elias. Say, I need a king size bed, ready to sleep in, at thirty-two forty-six Graywind drive, tonight. Can you do it?” He listened to the other person for a moment. “That’ll be fine, throw in the sheets, comforter and four pillows.” He listened again. “Great! Just a sec. – lemme ask.” He looked at Ian, “Ian, will they need to haul the other bed away?”

  “Uh, yeah, if they could. It’s a full size,” Ian replied.

  “Hey, Sammi? Yes, they said they have a full size that can go. Yeah, put it on my account. I’ll settle up with the guy later.” He paused again. “Great, thanks Sammi. I’ll tell them to look for you in about fifteen minutes. Thanks! See ya later.” He hung up.

  “That was a friend of mine. She and her partners have a warehouse here in town that has all sorts of household stuff in it. They make their living by providing last minute deliveries of forgotten or miss-delivered items to houses that are supposed to be ready, on short notice. It helps that their prices aren’t radically higher then what you’d normally pay. They’ll be over in a few minutes with the new bed.”

  Ian grinned and shook his head. “Amazing. How come no one else knows about these folks?”

  Elias grinned. “They don’t want them to know. They get plenty of business from contractors like me, and frankly, they don’t want to do business with the general public. Now, I really do need to get home... uh, how much of this can I tell Laura?”

  Ian smiled. “I think you should tell her as much as you feel comfortable with. I don’t want to be responsible for putting you in the doghouse with your wife. But for now, I’d ask that Stephanie be left in the dark.”

  Elias chuckled as Ian walked him to the door. “Three forms of mass communication; Telephone, Telegraph, and tell-a-teenager. Don’t worry, Ian. I’ll make sure she don’t overhear this one.”

  “Okay. That earpiece is a communit. If you touch the little stud right there and ask for me, it’ll call me. Also, if you tell it a phone number, it will call it. When you’re ready for the money, call Olympus and he’ll do the transaction. I’ll have the architect and lawyer give you a call probably tomorrow. Until then, if you have any questions, feel free to ask me, or any of the others,” Ian said.

  “Okay, uh, what others? Who else knows?” Elias asked.

  “My family, and the Laskars, plus the lawyer and her wife. Be sure no one sees you use the communit though; it’ll be hard to explain.” Ian went on to tell him about the lenses and communit.

  “Wow, it’ll be nice not having to worry about that hateful ‘no signal’ when we’re out in the desert,” Elias said.

  Ian chuckled. “Just wait until you wake up tomorrow morning. It’ll seem like a whole new world.”

  Elias smiled, shook Ian’s hand, and left for home. Janet had warned the girls that there would be a delivery in a few minutes.

  No sooner than Ian had gotten the food on the grill then the doorbell rang. Ian went to answer the door, and found a plain-looking woman standing there smiling at him. “Good evening, I’m Sammi, is this the place Elias wanted us to bring the bed?”

  “Hi Sammi, yes it is. You guys are sure fast, I thought it would take you more time to get loaded and get over here, I’m Ian by the way.” Ian held out his hand to greet her.

  She shook his hand. “Well, one of the reasons business is so good is because we’re usually pretty fast. Could you show me where we can put this, and I’ll get the boys busy.”

  “Sure! Right this way. If you need something moved, just let us know, and we’ll get it out of your way,” Ian said.

  “Thanks,” Sammi answered. Ian showed her his old room, and she looked around, then nodded and headed back out the front door. Two really big men followed her back in and she led them to the room.

  She stripped the blankets and sheets off the mattress and the guys made short work of getting it out of the room. Ian took the sheets and blankets from her and took them to the laundry room.

  When he got back, the only thing left of the old bed was the frame. Ian noted with a smirk that Oly must have gotten the drone to clean under the bed, because it looked freshly cleaned.

  “Is this your last stop tonight?” Janet asked. She had come back in the house to watch the proceedings.

  “Yeah, construction has slowed down a lot lately, and we’re not very busy right now,” Sammi answered.

  “Well, why don’t you three come on out back when you get done? We’ve plenty of food, and drink, and there’s a pool,” Janet offered. Ian looked at her funny and she winked at him.

  “That sounds wonderful, but we don’t have bathing suits with us,” Sammi replied wistfully.

  Janet snorted, “Half the time this bunch doesn't wear them anyway. I'm sure we could find something for you to wear though. You don’t have to, but if you don’t mind seeing a little skin, you’re still welcome to join us.”

  The guys grinned and nodded at Sammi, who couldn’t resist a chuckle. “With an offer like that, I don’t think I could get these two out of here with a crow-bar; food and naked, wet women? I’ll have a hell of a time getting them to come home!”

  Janet led Sammi out to the backyard, while Ian stayed with the men. When they brought in the new bed, Ian helped as much as he could and they shortly had the new bed set up and made.

  Ian grinned and nodded his head over his shoulder. “Come on; let’s get some of that food and something to drink.”

  The three men walked out to find four scantily clad women talking to Sammi, who now also wore a bikini, while they ate. Ian chuckled and showed the two guys the plates, and the food. He asked for their orders, and got the
ir drinks. He fixed his own plate and sat down to join in the animated conversation, and Janet’s artful recruitment of three new people at once.

  Things went smoothly for Ian and his family. Beth managed to get her patients all settled with other physicians, and even got old Doc Myers to hire her receptionist.

  Three days later, a hologram of Ian drove a holographic truck, loaded with holographic furniture out of town followed by Beth, Talena and Cindy in the Hummer. Ian and Jenny were actually laying on the rear-most seat, kissing and generally playing slap and tickle.

  The family planned to drive to the construction site out in the New Mexico desert, stopping along the way to buy a new motor home for them to live in for the next few months. They stopped at a shopping mall to buy some more clothes for Talena of course, and a few things needed for the new motorhome.

  Because Talena had the body of a fouteen-year-old girl, Ian had the drone fabricate a driver’s license for her listing her real age, just to cover their asses if anyone got too curious. It was a valid license and would check out as such with the DMV computers if a cop ever checked.

  At the shopping mall, in a popular lingerie store, Ian’s girls befriended the young woman helping them shop. The poor thing got flustered when Talena, not knowing any better, walked out into the store to show everyone a very sheer outfit that Jenny had picked out.

  Of course, Jenny and Cindy saw that as a challenge and the game was on. Beth and Ian were the only ones not to get involved in the ever-increasing exhibitions the three younger women were giving. However, it looked like Beth really wanted to join in on the fun.

  After they had all picked out their favorite outfits, and spent a lot of money, they took pity on Ian and decided to take a break for lunch. Ian took all the bags out to the RV while the girls headed for the food court.

  When he returned, the girl from the lingerie store was sitting and talking with Beth.

  “...so it looks like I get to find another job; fucking prudes.”

  “Honey, I’m so sorry, we didn’t mean to get you fired!” Beth said to the slightly pissed-off young woman.