Talosian Chronicles 1: Olympus

by Ben Winston

“Why don’t you give them a call and you and Janet can interview them. I’ll want Janet’s folks to interview all their employees as well. It would be really easy for the government or anyone else to slip a spy in here,” Ian said.

  Elias nodded and Janet smiled ruefully. “I think I’m going to need more people, Ian. As it stands now, there are only five of us, and three of them are out recruiting people. If I’m going to need to do that many interviews, I’ll need more people myself.”

  “Just how many people are we talking about here Elias?” Ian asked.

  “A couple hundred if they bring their whole crew. I don’t know that much about civil engineering, but what I do know tells me they’ll probably want as many of their folks as possible,” Elias answered. “If they stay, we’ll be almost doubling our population on the surface.”

  “While I agree that recruiting them would be a great idea, once the job we’re hiring them for is done, we’ll have to retrain most of them for more useful jobs. That’ll require letting them in on more of the secret than we have for our existing people,” Ian said.

  “Well, I think the time is rapidly approaching when we’re going to have to tell all of them. We already have a lot of bored housewives. If we could give them an alternative, I think morale would go through the roof,” Elias said.

  “Let me walk through and get a general feeling about how that news might affect them. If we just dump the truth on them, we’ll probably lose most of them,” Janet said. “Perhaps we can go about it a different way. Ian, I’ll need you to make a video presentation with our people in mind as the intended audience. Start at the beginning, and tell them everything. I’ll get them ready to accept the information in a positive way. When the time comes, we can play the recording, and that’ll be that.”

  “Well, I don’t think we should tell them about the mental abilities some of the folks have. People tend to really freak out about that kind of thing. At least we only have a very few people that actually have them,” Ian said.

  “We have more than you might think. Olympus has told me that the occurrence of abilities is far above what was normal for the Talosian people of four thousand years ago,” Janet said. “The curious part is a lot of those that have them don’t seem to even be aware of them. Like yours for example.”

  “Huh? I don’t have any abilities. I’m just a normal eighteen-year-old,” Ian said.

  Both Elias and Janet laughed. “You are far from a ‘normal’ anything, Ian. I don’t think there’s an eighteen-year-old on this planet that can handle the responsibility that you do. I sure-as-hell know I wouldn’t trust any of them to the degree I trust you!” Elias said.

  “You do have an ability, Ian. You just don’t use it all that often, and when you do, you don’t notice that you’re doing it,” Janet said. “I want you to order me to undress; which is something I would never do in front of either of you. I want you to think about the command, and concentrate on it as you say it. Please, just remember to stop me before I actually do it. I will be doing my best not to do what you tell me.”

  “Janet! I would never order you to do something like that! I would never order anyone to do that! What am I supposed to do if I can’t stop you in time? If this works, that is,” Ian asked.

  “Enjoy the show, and I’ll help you explain it to our families,” Janet said, grinning. “I trust you, Ian. But you need to see this in action. Even if you can’t stop me in time, it’ll have been worth it to show you, and I’m sure the worst we’ll get from our families is teased. Go ahead, whenever you’re ready.”

  Ian did as she asked and concentrated on the command then gave her the order, “*Janet, Take all of your clothes off.*” Ian felt something strange in his head, but it was so faint he thought he might have imagined it until he saw Janet’s hands undoing her top. “*Janet, stop.*”

  A panting Janet stopped and put her arms back down to her sides. “Damn! That’s stronger than I thought it’d be. There was no way I could have not done it. Hell, I wanted to do it!”

  Ian glanced over to the awe struck Elias. Elias looked at him and held up his hands. “No! I am not going to strip my clothes off!” He chuckled. “Seriously Ian, that’s one very dangerous ability. You’re going to have to be extra careful in how you use it.”

  “Careful? Until a few minutes ago, I didn’t even know I had it!” Ian exclaimed.

  “Well, now that you’re aware of it, you can keep an eye on it. Now, all we need to do is get Talena aware of hers, so she can try not to use it. Though, in her case, that might be like asking her not to breathe,” Janet said.

  “What is her ability?” Ian asked.

  “It’s kind of like yours, except it is less of a control. She has the ability to charm people. Ask yourself when was the last time you told her ‘no’ when she asked you for something,” Janet said.

  Ian thought hard, but couldn’t remember ever telling Talena no on something she really wanted to do. “As I understand it, these abilities we have are not supposed to work on others with abilities. How come I could do that to you, and Talena can influence those around her?”

  “I don’t know the answer to that, Ian. The original Talosian study on this did say that there was no apparent effect on those with their own abilities, but the information seems to not apply to us for some reason,” Janet replied. “Perhaps Talena would be the better one to research this, since she’s the social scientist of our group. Speaking of abilities, do you think I can borrow Jenny for the upcoming interviews? She’d be a great help.”

  “I have no problem with it, but she was working on some weather project or something,” Ian said. “Okay, so Elias will call those two companies to set up a meeting, and Janet will work on our people as well as try to recruit more people for the recruiting team. Would you be able to talk to Talena about her ability as well, Janet?”

  “Sure, it shouldn’t take that long, and she is a really sweet girl,” Janet said.

  “What about security around here? You said you had a couple of ideas about that?” Elias asked.

  “Yes, I do. I took your advice and I’ve got a meeting for right after lunch to find out if John Harris might know of someone we could hire. I’ve got another idea as well, but I need to talk that over with Olympus and Engineering before I can consider it an option,” Ian said. “What do you think of Luke Belden taking over as administrator here when I move up to the ship?”

  “I think that’d be an excellent idea! I was worried you’d try to saddle me with the job,” Elias said. “He knows much more about admin stuff than I do; hell! That’s the reason I sold out to you in the first place!”

  “Great, I’ll talk to him about it in the next couple of days. I think once the engineers get things fixed up on the ship, we’ll be going aboard to help finish the repairs and so I can get a feel for my new command,” Ian said.

  “Once you get the old girl fixed up, I’d like a tour. From what I’ve seen she’s quite a ship,” Elias said.

  “You’ll get one, Elias. I promise. I think maybe we should offer that to everyone down here that might like to see her, but we do have a long way to go before she’ll be ready for it,” Ian said thoughtfully.

  “Well, I think we should go so you have time to eat before your meeting. Talk to you later, Ian,” Janet said and rose to leave. Elias did as well, and Ian bid them farewell.

  Chapter Eighteen

  “Hi sweetheart, you ready to eat lunch?” Jenny asked when she poked her head in the door.

  “Absolutely, especially if you’re on the menu!” Ian replied, grinning.

  “My, aren’t we frisky today! I’d have thought you’d need to rest up after what Cindy and I did to you last night!”

  Ian chuckled at her, but kissed her lovingly before leading her to the replicator.

  “Mind if we join you two?” Beth asked from Ian’s door; Talena was standing beside her.

  “Not at all! Now, I have the three most beautiful women on the planet to eat lunch with!” Ian replied.
>
  “Only three? Cindy’s going to be pissed.” Jenny asked, teasing.

  “Ah, but you see, she isn’t actually on the planet at the moment,” Ian replied smoothly.

  The lovers and Talena sat down at the conference table to eat lunch and talk about how each of their days was going.

  Jenny had been working to get some real data on global warming, and was finding that the officially released data was far from the truth.

  “Ian, before I forget again, I’d like your permission to launch a couple of geostationary satellites for the weather project I’m working on; the existing ones just aren’t equipped the way I need them, and are in the wrong position anyway. I need them to monitor the Arctic and Antarctic weather patterns and conditions. I can have them strap a cloaking generator on them, and they’ll be over the magnetic poles, so they’d be really hard to detect anyway,” Jenny asked.

  “Okay, but only the two of them for now. How were you planning on getting them up there?” Ian asked.

  “Well, I was thinking about taking them up in a shuttle and just kicking them out the back door,” Jenny said. “I think I need the practice flying.”

  Ian nodded. “I wish I could ride along, but I think I’m going to be too busy down here for awhile. However, why don’t you ask the flight school if they’d like the current class of trainees to go for a ride? That way, you can have them help you deploy the satellites.”

  “Good idea,” Jenny said and made a note on her ever-present pad.

  “How go the repairs?” Ian asked.

  “Main Medbay is finally repaired and powered up, but the cryo-sleep facility is still offline. We’re having to replace most of the chambers and the entire control suite. “The engineer reports that they’ve started on the main reactor, and it should be ready to go back online in about a week.” She touched her screen, then read a little of what was displayed.

  “Flight control systems crashed during diagnostics, but Daddy, uh, Chief Laskar has just about finished rewriting them. Beta flight deck launch systems also completely failed during power up, but Alpha only needed some minor repairs. The deck crews fixed Alpha, and are now working on getting Beta ready. Barb is really kicking ass and taking names; their goal is to have Beta operational before the power-up at the end of the week.

  “The Maglev transit system, and all weapons systems aft of section ninety-two have been replaced, to include the inboard missile tubes. All repairs should be finished in just under two weeks, though Olympus is adding a few days to that estimate due to the Murphy factor,” Jenny took a sip of her green tea and grinned. “Cindy will graduate from high school Thursday night. We should plan a graduation party for her.”

  “The only problem with that is not being able to tell anyone the reason for the party. We can’t just have it aboard ship, since half her friends are down here,” Beth replied wistfully. “I look forward to the day when we won’t have to hide the truth from our people here.”

  “Why don’t we tell them the truth? That it’s a graduation party for Cindy. We can always say that she’s been home schooling for the last year or so, because she was frustrated with the slow pace the school system forced her to adhere to,” Ian offered.

  “...and not any of that’s a lie, just the truth given in a misleading way. That might work pretty well. Now, I know why you’re the Commander!” Jenny teased.

  Ian winked at Jenny, but turned to Beth. “Beth, how is Luke Belden doing?”

  “Pretty well, actually. His treatment is right on schedule,” Beth replied, but had a suspicious look on her face. “Why? What do you have up your sleeve?”

  Ian grinned. “Well, I was thinking about offering Luke the position of Administrator here, so we can move up to the ship this Thursday. We need to get to work on our real jobs.”

  “Thursday? Hmm, I might need to commute for a couple of weeks until Andrea gets certified. That is if she still wants the job once she gets the whole story,” Beth replied.

  “I’m pretty sure Elias has told her just about everything there is to know. She doesn’t have contacts yet, but I’m sure she’ll have them by tonight,” Ian said.

  “Excuse me, but my communit is beeping at me,” Beth said and touched the stud. “Dr. Williams.”

  From her half of the conversation, it was clear she was speaking to Andrea Johnson, PA. “Well,” Beth said after she’d broken contact. “I guess I’ll know soon, Andrea wanted to meet with me right after lunch. I told her I’d meet her in the lobby.”

  “Well, let me know if the Thursday idea is doable, so I can plan for it. I know we all just ate, but how do hamburgers sound for dinner tonight?” Ian asked.

  “Are you sure you want to grill as hot as it is out there?” Jenny asked. No one seemed to notice that Talena wasn’t saying anything, and had gone a little pale at the mention of going back aboard ship.

  “Hmm, maybe not. I’ll have to think about that some. I’m really starting to wish I hadn’t forbid the use of replicators in homes.”

  Beth chuckled at her husband. “Yeah, and if you tried to walk home carrying a bucket of the Colonel’s Extra-Crispy, everyone on the compound would want to know how you got it!”

  “So, like I was saying; how do salads sound for dinner?” Ian chuckled.

  Right after the women left, John Harris arrived. “You needed to see me, sir?”

  “Have a seat, Major. Can I get you anything before we get started?” Ian asked.

  “No thank you, sir. Food here’s better than on the Ronald Reagan, I’m afraid I stuffed myself sir,” Harris replied grinning.

  “Well, I was led to believe that you were recruited right off the ship.” When John nodded in agreement Ian continued. “I was hoping you might be able to make a few suggestions to help in a couple of problems that we’re running into.”

  “I’d be happy to help any way I can sir,”

  “Great! Do you know anyone that could handle security out here? Keep in mind they’d have to have full disclosure, know exactly what we’re trying to do, and roughly what we’re facing,” Ian asked. “I’d also like for you to keep in mind, that we need more pilots, as well as marines for the ship.”

  “I’d be happy to make up a list of suggestions for Mrs. Laskar and her people for the pilots and marines. I think it would be best if I asked some friends of mine if they might be interested in the security job. They are all members of a SEAL team that got tired of being used to blackmail other countries. It’d probably be best if I talked to them myself,” John said. “They don’t trust easily.”

  “That might be exactly what we need out here. With any luck at all, all they’ll have to worry about are the occasional prowler.” Ian went on to tell him about Ms. Pritchard.

  “We can hope that’s all, sir. But if Oly’s right, and the enemy is here covertly, then there might be more than just some cactus hugger to worry about. With your permission sir, I’ll get this handled right away,” John asked, rising.

  “If it’ll help, I’ll figure out a way to get a shuttle put at your disposal. If you need anything else, just let me or Colonel Williams know,” Ian answered nodding his agreement.

  “Thank you, sir. I might need that shuttle. I’ll give Mrs. Laskar a call too,” He said as he left the office.

  On a nearby hill, two men in desert camouflage watched the small settlement through a telescope.

  “Jesus Baxter, let’s head back in. These idiots are obviously doing exactly what they said on the paperwork. We’ve been watching them for three days, so what if they kicked Abby out; maybe they just don’t want anyone getting in the way of the construction,” one of the men said.

  “Willis, you’re an idiot. You’re correct about reporting in, though you are not correct in your findings. Something here isn’t right, I just can’t put my finger on it,” the one called Baxter replied.

  Willis kept his mouth shut. He knew that if given a reason, Baxter would just kill him and that would be it. He was an odd fucker, scary as hell too. Briefly Wil
lis wondered just were the NSA recruited people like Baxter from.

  Willis silently followed Baxter down the hill to the ground-affect, hover-car, and shot off to the south. Since they were technically still in White Sands, Willis just thought the vehicle to be some kind of top secret gadget; he also believed he worked for the National Security Agency. Willis really was an idiot.

  Since Ian had allowed teams up to the ship to finish repairs, Julie Laskar suddenly found herself swamped with work. As ship’s steward, it was her job to make sure that all the living quarters were clean and ready for occupancy. It was also her job to make sure that the personal items that were in storage got to the quarters that would be assigned to the different crewmen. Eventually, she’d have a couple of assistants, but for now, all she had were five maintenance drones, and a fleet of domestic drones.

  As she assigned tasks for the little droids, she remembered the first time she encountered one of the little machines. She’d thought them creepy; now she thought they were Godsends. They worked like mad, and never really complained. Of course, they were aboard ship, and Julie was in her home office.

  Although Olympus as well as the engineers had vetted the living quarters, Julie had the drones double-check the utilities for all the residential ‘quads’, then she set them to work reconfiguring the different resident blocks for the people that would be assigned there.

  She made sure that appropriate amenities would be available and near the different areas. Ian’s request for a pool was implemented by converting Cargo-Two. The big bay had been large enough that it had been converted into a small volcanic looking ‘lagoon’. A large pool took up most of the lower deck, while smaller ‘hot springs’ and even a mud bath occupied a ‘cliff’ mezzanine. Holographic generators installed in the top of the bay simulated ‘Day’ and ‘Night’ skies.

  When she went to ensure the command quarters were ready, she found that Olympus had three maintenance drones working on it, and she was blocked from seeing what they were doing.

  “There was something special I wanted to do for the Commander and his family. You can, of course, look anyway, but I would ask that you allow it to be a surprise for The Commander and his family,” Oly replied when Julie inquired. Once she saw what he was doing, she grinned like a fool, and thought it was a grand idea.