“Pretty fast there, lieutenant,” she had said, smiling up and him and then kissing him.
Then she had eased back and looked at the man she had completely fallen in love with and that she felt she now knew better than any person she had ever met.
“On one condition,” she had said.
He smiled and had said, “Name it.”
“That we only have one huge bed in this place, so we can always sleep together.”
He had laughed. “Deal.”
Now, as all eight of them sat having a wonderful dinner turkey and dressings and some side dishes after the last learning session, the mood was excited and even Carrie and Matt were feeling completely confident.
Angie loved the food. After the learning sessions, she always felt so hungry. And she flat couldn’t believe her mind had been able to grasp everything that had gone into it. Yet it had.
“I have one question that seems to be nagging in the background,” Benny said.
“Fire away,” Ray said.
“There seems to be a fear of this alien race,” Benny asked. “Is that because human cultures become so passive over time?”
“Exactly why,” Tacita said. “There are entire galaxy-spanning human civilizations that have existed for hundreds of thousands of years that have no military ships or even would think that way. Most human cultures would have no way to resist an aggressive alien culture if attacked. Too many centuries of breeding that nature out.”
“Again why the youthful leadership of this mission,” Matt said. “Makes sense.”
Angie nodded to that. It made complete sense now.
“So why do Seeders have no historical memory?” Gina asked. “Why are entire galaxies just left on their own to have the fact that they were seeded fall into myth and legend?”
“Human nature,” Ray said, shrugging. “When there is no threat, humans don’t care about where they came from, what is on the other side of the same galaxy, or even on the other side of their own planet.”
That was so true Angie didn’t want to think about it.
“We tried to maintain a cultural memory for the first few hundred galaxies we helped start with human life,” Tacita said. “But it never held and no one seemed to care and we eventually dropped the idea.”
“Do all the chairmen meet at one point or another?” Gage asked.
Angie realized that wasn’t in the information they had been fed either.
“They do,” Ray said. “Every year. We meet here and have dinner and talk about the future and how everyone’s projects are progressing. Next meeting is in about two hundred days. We will let you all know ahead of time, I promise.”
“We do it on the anniversary of the launch of the first mother ship to seed another galaxy,” Tacita said.
“When was that?” Angie asked, again wondering why that information wasn’t in the rest of what they had learned.
“About six million years ago,” Ray said.
“Wow,” Angie said and the others seemed just as impressed.
Seeders had been moving from galaxy to galaxy for over six million years. How had she become so lucky as to get to be a part of all this?
“Whose ship was that?” Benny asked, taking a second helping of the fantastic smelling turkey.
“It was our ship,” Ray said, smiling at Tacita.
Tacita nodded. “We took it out and I can remember the fear like it was yesterday.”
Ray gently rubbed Tacita’s shoulder with affection before both of them went back to eating.
Angie and everyone else at the table just stared at Ray and Tacita.
And it took a moment before anyone else took a bite of anything.
TWENTY-FOUR
OVER THE NEXT six months after training, it surprised Gage of how much needed to be done. And the five who lived in Portland had to come up with reasons for leaving the city for an extended period of time so that no one would notice that they had vanished.
Angie had moved her two cats into their apartment on Star Mist and the two cats took to it without a problem, clearly enjoying the extra room to run and not seeming to miss the lack of windows.
Angie and Gage had spent one day furnishing the apartment and stocking the kitchen with dishes and everything else they would need.
Gage loved living with Angie every day as well, and it felt at times they could almost read each other’s minds. Not quite, but they clearly knew what each other was thinking most of the time.
And every time they sat in their command chairs, that feeling grew stronger.
They spent a vast amount of time for the first two months overseeing the last of the construction and learning every detail of the moon-sized ship. They knew it from their training, but both of them wanted to see everything firsthand as well, from the storerooms to the hanger decks.
And Star Mist helped them make sure they didn’t miss a detail.
Gage really loved being so close to Star Mist as well.
And Angie had learned quickly how to teleport, which had been a fun day of practice and excitement.
For the next four months, they also worked on putting together a bridge crew. Actually they needed three shifts of a bridge crew, the main shift and second shift and third shift.
Both Angie and Gage agreed that Gage’s second-in-command, Drake, should be on the bridge in the main bridge crew and in charge of the entire military side of things for the ship.
Ray and Tacita agreed, so when Angie and Gage explained the mission and offered Drake the job, with the original team helping him in various positions, Drake just damn near lost it.
After he pulled himself together, he had said simply, “Hell yes.”
But their best find was their second-in-command of the entire ship, which they put into place five months before launch. They had asked Ray if Chairman Soma would be insulted at the offer and Ray had just laughed. “I doubt it, but you would have to ask him.”
So they had talked to Soma and offered him the second-in-command position if Star Mist approved him and Soma had said yes instantly.
And Star Mist had loved him.
So with Soma working with them and all of his knowledge of what was needed in a bridge crew, the first main bridge crew formed within two months.
And then each bridge crew member suggested others on down below them, and a second shift and third shift bridge crew took shape.
By the time the entire bridge crew was staffed, there was still two months until launch, so they had lots of time to run drills and make sure everything on board was ready. And both Angie and Gage liked everyone on all three shifts on the bridge.
Even though many of the crew members were far older than even Gage, they showed Angie and Gage immense respect. Often more than both wanted.
Gage very much appreciated that.
All three ships’ crews came together at about the same pace.
And what Gage found amazing was that the bridge crews of each ship were from fifteen to twenty different galaxies in this area. And many had had hundreds of years at positions with other bridge crews. But it seemed, to be on a bridge crew of a Seeder mother ship that was to be sent on a very special mission was a real honor.
Not one person turned down the offer.
Almost from the first week after the learning sessions, the six chairmen had made it a habit to meet once a week for dinner in one of the chairman’s apartments to talk and plan.
And laugh.
They did a lot of laughing.
Often Ray or Tacita or both would join those dinners.
Those dinners had helped them all get closer. And by the time the week before launch, they knew each other and trusted each other completely.
Gage could not have imagined a better group to take such a risky mission with.
All of them knew the path they would be taking to the target galaxy and had studied it, but what they did along the way had been a matter of discussion.
That was finally settled out during the last dinne
r before launch.
Gage and Benny as military men had put the plan together and presented it to everyone including Ray and Tacita after a yummy meal of fresh fish and salad prepared by Angie and Matt.
They were in Angie and Gage’s apartment, sitting around the large wooden dining table. It was mostly square and Ray and Tacita sat at the end of the table with their backs to the wall, Angie and Gage sat with their backs to the kitchen, Benny and Gina with their backs to the living room, and Carrie and Matt with their backs to the bedrooms.
“Here’s Gage and my suggestion for a plan,” Benny said. “All three mother ships would head out at near top speed past the range that Seeder scout ships have already explored.”
Gage was stunned at how far they were going to go outside of Seeder areas. The distance already explored was less than one percent of the total distance they planned to travel.
“Then in all galaxies near the intended path after that,” Benny said, “all three mother ships will stand off the outer edge of the galaxy and launch one-hundred-and-fifty of the two-hundred scout ships to do fast scans of the galaxy looking for alien life and also looking for any signs of the aliens that we are headed toward.”
“A military ship will go with each scout ship,” Gage said, “for protection and also to help with the scans.”
“So the three mother ships would pause near a galaxy,” Ray said, “then launch nine hundred ships total to cover the galaxy, leaving one hundred ships in reserve in each mother ship. Correct?”
“Exactly,” Benny said.
Gage nodded and went on. “Since all the scout ships and military ships are equipped with the new trans-tunnel drive, the surveys of an entire Milky Way-sized galaxy should take around a week from what we have figured out after talking to experienced survey ship chairmen.”
“They wouldn’t do as deep a survey as scout ships normally do that takes decades to complete,” Benny said, “but they would make sure no aliens existed at any level in the galaxy.”
“And if there are aliens?” Angie asked.
“If we find an alien race at a lower level,” Gage said, smiling at her, “we go ahead and still survey the entire galaxy and then move on. If we find a more advanced race, then we stand off and take data, but not do a full survey.”
“Very good thinking on that,” Tacita said, nodding.
“As we have discussed,” Benny said, “every bit of data would be returned to the home base now being constructed on the edge of the Milky Way galaxy to track and monitor the mission.”
“But by doing it this way, taking our time to get to the target, we get a lot of data collected along the route of the alien ship.”
“How many galaxies are you talking about doing a fast survey of?” Ray asked.
“Seven hundred and ninety galaxies of various sizes before reaching the target galaxy,” Benny said, “so the trip to target should take around sixteen years, counting the time in transit between galaxies.”
Gage was very happy to see everyone around the table nodding at the idea.
“Would all the ships reload back on board the mother ships after each stop?” Gina asked.
Gage glanced at Benny.
“If the distance between galaxies is close, no,” Benny said. “But on the longer distances, yes.”
Gage took a deep breath and went with the next idea he and Benny had. Neither liked it much, but they could see no choice.
“We also want to send ten scout ships and ten military ships from each mother ship ahead to the next galaxy,” Gage said.
“Even with the arms and shield on these three wonderful mother ships,” Benny said, “we don’t want to drop into the middle of an advanced and armed civilization.”
Silence filled the dining area. Gage flat hated this idea, but no military person wanted to go into a possible combat area without knowing what they were walking into. So he completely agreed with Benny.
Finally Ray nodded. “That makes sense.”
“A suggestion,” Tacita said.
Everyone turned to look at her.
“The scout ships hold upwards of thirty thousand lives, including crew families. Correct?”
Everyone nodded.
“And the military ships we have built hold around twenty thousand crew and family,” Tacita said.
“That’s right,” Benny said.
Ray nodded, clearly understanding where Tacita was going.
“What would be the bare minimum crew that each ship could function with completely?”
Again silence.
“I honestly never asked that question,” Benny said.
Gage hadn’t either, but he liked where this was going.
“So are you suggesting,” Carrie asked, “that the ten scout and ten military ships from each ship set up residences for their crew’s families on board the mother ships?”
“Not permanent homes,” Tacita said. “Rotate a different ten scout and military ships each time to scout ahead, so each family would only be displaced for a few days every six months or so.”
Gage glanced at Benny who was smiling.
“We both hated this idea,” Gage said, “because of the great risk of life. This will hold the risk to reasonable levels and we are not asking spouses and children to be in harm’s way.”
“All know the risks of this mission,” Ray said.
“But managing the risks this way for many is a good plan,” Gina said.
“I agree,” Angie said. “And I like the overall plan of taking our time getting to the target.”
“Agreed,” Ray said.
“Agreed,” Tacita said.
“Then we have a plan,” Benny said, smiling.
Gage was smiling as well.
It was time to get moving. And that had him excited, more than he wanted to admit, considering they might be flying into a mess.
A mess that might cost the over a million people on each mother ship their lives.
SECTION THREE
The Journey
TWENTY-FIVE
(Thirteen Years Later)
THE CALL CAME in from the scout ships working ahead on the 614th galaxy that they had found a problem.
Angie had been working on dinner and Gage was in the command center, making sure everything was in good order with the most recent galaxy survey before he came back to their apartment for the evening.
They tended to work all the time, often in their own offices, checking every detail of everything on board the ship. During the day they had made it a habit to get out to either the military area or the scout area to talk with people.
Those on board liked the fact that the chairmen had made themselves open to talk with. It didn’t reduce the respect, but actually increased it.
The thirteen years since launch had gone smoothly in all the surveys so far. Out of the six hundred plus galaxies they had surveyed, two had sentient alien life at planetary levels. One was a race of large ant-like creatures with massive heads. The second one was a form of ape-like creatures, very different from humans, but clearly working to build a civilization.
The three ships had quickly surveyed the galaxy and moved on.
“Angie, to Command,” Gage said, his voice almost echoing through their apartment. In thirteen years, that had never happened.
She wiped off her hands, took off her apron, and jumped to his side in the command center.
“We have a problem up ahead,” he said, taking her hand as they sat down in their command chair.
The familiar feel of the chair wrapped them and the heads-up display appeared.
“We are here,” Gage said.
“We are linked in as well,” Benny said.
“Standing by,” Carrie said.
Angie was stunned. They had all practiced linking the ships a few times, but nothing had come up that needed it until now.
“Go ahead, Chairman LeAnne,” Gage said.
Chairman LeAnne’s face filled the screen for a moment and Star Mist fed Angie th
e fact that she was the chairman of Blue Bay, the lead scout ship exploring the next galaxy ahead.
Chairman LeAnne was thin, with very short brown hair and a deep frown on her face.
“We have found a dead galaxy,” LeAnne said. “We have only been here and taking preliminary readings from the edge, but something really nasty tore an advanced civilization that had thrived here apart.”
“You’re going to need to explain more, Chairman,” Benny said.
“From our initial scans the moment we dropped out of trans-tunnel drive,” Chairman LeAnne said, “we thought we were facing an advanced, galaxy-spanning civilization. All signs were in place, from orbiting stations around thousands of planets. So we all remained completely shielded and made sure no scans could be traced. All our ships spread out around the outer edge of the galaxy to get a clear picture of what was happening.”
Angie knew that was all standard procedure.
“Here are some of the scenes we found,” Chairman LeAnne said.
An image of a former large city smashed to nothing. Blackness and ruins. There wasn’t even any plant life.
Another quick series of images appeared, all about the same showing total destruction.
“All of these images were taken on planets scattered around the galaxy,” Chairman LeAnne said.
“What kind of power could do this?” Carrie asked softly, not really as a question, but saying out loud what all of them were thinking.
Looking at the ruins, Angie knew the signs of what she was seeing from what had happened back home.
“This didn’t happen that long ago,” Angie said.
“You are right,” Benny said.
“About fifty standard years ago,” Chairman LeAnne said, “from our initial scans. And pretty much to all planets at about the same general time.”
“Any idea what this race looked like?” Matt asked.
Chairman LeAnne nodded and then said softly, “They were from our target race.”
Angie felt her stomach cramp down into a knot that she had a hunch wouldn’t clear for some time to come.
TWENTY-SIX
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