by Dave Lemel
“There,” Todd pointed out the windshield of the cruiser. “It looked like the blue backup cruiser from the Henrietta . It was barreling straight down toward the surface ahead there.”
“Something just flew in the small service hatch!” yelled Jack. “Is that you guys?”
“No,” replied Simon, “but I think you should open your door.”
Li flew out of the passenger side of the cockpit and through the opening to the living quarters. As the side door of Ol’ Gertie opened, along with the intense heat came a wave of song lyrics blasting in from outside.
“I like mine with lettuce and tomato! ”
Jack looked relieved, confused, and slightly terrified all at the same time. “I don’t…I…What is that?”
“’Cheeseburger in Paradise,’” boomed the gravelly voice of Ben Thurston. “Bit of a poser track, but ‘Volcano’ seemed too obvious, and all this charred rock and lava got me thinking of grilling out, and I just couldn’t resist.”
“Don’t just sit there,” yelled Simon. “Get out of that seat!”
Jack tripped and fell flat on his face, pushed himself back up, and crawled through the opening out of the cockpit. Li was already in the back of the blue and white cruiser. Jack ran to the door and stopped suddenly. He turned, ran back to the cockpit opening, and jumped up and through with his long arm outstretched. He ran back to the door clutching Happy the stuffed smiley face that had hung from the cockpit ceiling and dove into the cruiser.
The scissor door closed behind Jack, and Ben steered the cruiser back up and out the small opening he had arrived through moments before. The black and chrome cruiser containing Todd and Simon was just arriving as the blue and white one rose from the surface and took off vertically for the orbiting Henrietta above. Todd pulled up and followed right behind in their path as they went.
Chapter 29
Simon had sent the message to Sasha the minute they had safely parked the cruisers on board the Henrietta . “Please get Penny and hol-call me as soon as you can. I need to see your faces.”
As he dressed after a quick shower, Todd called down to his quarters. “Hol-call coming in for you now, buddy. I’ll tell her you’ll be right there.”
“Thanks, Todd,” replied Simon. “Tell her two seconds.”
Simon yanked his suit up in such a rush he caught his right foot, hopped on his left a few times trying to correct the situation, failed, and flew forward, hitting his head on the small nightstand next to his bed. He rubbed his forehead as he got back up, looked at his hand, and sure enough, it was red. He pulled his suit the rest of the way up, washed his hands and head, and checked himself in the mirror. “Good enough,” he said before zipping the suit up and running out to the hol-call room.
Simon entered the room, closed the door, and there they were. A huge smile spread across his face as he watched Penny climb Sasha’s shirt while she tried to keep a hold on their wriggling little girl.
“You are the absolute worst at estimating time,” started Sasha. “Two seconds? Seriously? That was like five minutes. And why are you bleeding? And…” Sasha squinted and moved closer to get a better look at her husband’s face. “What the heck happened to your nose? ”
Simon laughed. “It’s nice to see you too.”
“Don’t do that,” Sasha responded. “It’s not funny. What happened to your face?”
“The blood’s fresh. I got so excited when I heard you had called that I fell rushing to get dressed. That’s also why my time estimate was off, by the way.”
“And the nose?” asked Sasha before tilting her head and slowly opening her mouth into a shocked gape. “Are you missing a tooth?”
“Let’s focus on what’s important here,” replied Simon. “It could’ve been a lot worse. For a few moments back there, I really didn’t think I was coming home.”
“Well, yeah, I know; I mean, you’re right, but geez.” Sasha tilted her head the other way. “I’m the one who has to look at you all the time once you do.”
Simon laughed again. “Oh, don’t you worry; I am getting this fixed.” Simon waved his hand over his face. “This was too pretty to leave busted like this. It would be a crime against humanity.”
“Yeah, well you better. I didn’t marry you for your brains or sparkling personality.”
“You said Penny crawls now. Put her down. I want to see.” Sasha squatted and placed Penny gently down on the floor. Penny pushed herself up, and off she went backwards with a look of fierce concentration on her face. “That’s great!” Simon’s eyes welled with tears over an ear-to-ear grin. “Can she go forward?”
“Not yet. She’s trying and she’s close, but right as she is on the verge of doing it, she gets frustrated and either decides to go backwards or lays down and starts crying.”
“Well, I’m still impressed. Maybe I’ll make it home in time to see her go forward for the first time.”
“You better hurry. I think it’s going to be any day now,” replied Sasha.
“I’ll tell Todd not to take the scenic route,” said Simon.
Sasha’s brow furrowed. “Speaking of Todd, we heard some of what Dow said about his father. How is he?”
“He hasn’t said anything to me yet. Hasn’t really had a chance. I’m going to talk to him about it as soon as we’re done. As long as he isn’t giving into temptation and running down to wake up Jay right now, that is.”
“Yeah, it may be a good idea to keep a close eye on him the whole way home. What do you think? Do you think Dow knew who Todd was and was just trying to get in his head?”
“I don’t know. I mean, I haven’t had a chance to think about it much, but it seems unlikely he knew Todd was Doug’s son. It didn’t seem to me like Dow was lying, either. I don’t know why he would’ve. What would his motivation have been? Wouldn’t he be much more likely to brag about how great the Vikards are if they figured it out on their own? Seems much more his style than making up a story about stealing the technology from the Bopecans. How did Lombargnor react when he was hearing all this?”
“I got the sense he knew more than he was letting on. Possibly even that he had a hunch about this and Dow was confirming it. I’m definitely asking him when I get back to work today.”
“You’re heading in today, huh?”
“You better believe it,” replied Sasha. “Gotta make sure my crew makes it home safe from assignment. Now say good-bye to your daughter. I need to get out of here and get ready for work.”
Sasha corralled Penny and brought her over to Simon. “Say good-bye to Dada, Penny.” Simon smiled and bent down by Penny’s chubby cheek. “I love you sweetie. I’ll be home soon. You at least wait to start walking until after I get back, okay?” Simon straightened back up and leaned into Sasha this time. “I love you, honey. I can’t wait to hold you both.”
“We love you too,” replied Sasha.
Simon took a deep breath and a long look at his wife and daughter before turning to walk for the door. He stopped suddenly. “Wait!” He turned around and hurried back over to them. He leaned down by Penny’s ear this time. “I wanna tell you a secret,” he whispered. “You’re the cutest baby ever.” Penny grinned. “Da,” she said. Simon looked into her eyes and teared up again. “I’ll be home soon, sweetie.” He turned and headed for the door once again. He stopped before opening it, turned, and blew them a kiss, then pulled open the door ending the call.
Chapter 30
Penny’s little face was still front and center in Simon’s mind when he arrived at the lounge on the upper deck. Her big eyes, those cheeks, that smile. She was going to be able to get anything she wanted from daddy forever. He was totally screwed; he knew it and he couldn’t care less.
He arrived at the lounge with a huge smile on his face and found himself alone. He turned on his favorite album from one of his favorite groups. Not many albums did he enjoy listening to all the way through, but this one had always been an exception. He wandered over to a transparent part of the wall and
leaned into it. He peered out and thought about all the incredible things he had seen out on assignments since becoming a marshal. There would certainly be a lot that he would miss when he gave up O.E.A.s.
Just as Simon pulled his head off the wall and headed for the pantry to come up with something to make for dinner, the door to the lounge opened. Jack and Li walked in discussing the logistics of Li living with Jack once they got to Callisto. Simon chuckled when Li declared that he should probably get the bedroom since he had saved them when they were pinned down by Vikards on Io.
“I hate to interrupt,” said Simon, “but either of you seen Todd lately? I need to ask him something.”
“Not since he gave us our little tour,” replied Jack. “At the end, as he left us, he mumbled something about questions that needed answering himself. Maybe he went looking for you.”
Simon pulled a box of spaghetti off the shelf in front of him and grabbed a jar of sauce, an onion, and a head of garlic. He placed his pantry items on the counter and made his way to the walk-in freezer. If there’s some ground beef left, we could have a meat sauce, he thought to himself. Do we have anymore frozen garlic bread or did Ben eat it all again? Simon walked into the freezer, started looking for the bread, and suddenly it hit him.
What if Jay was the one Todd had a few questions for?
Simon slammed the freezer door as he ran out and bolted out of the lounge into the hallway. The nearest stairwell was just outside the door to the lounge. Simon flew down two flights and took off down the hall. He raced to the final corner and ejected his wand into his hand, not sure what he may find as he rounded the corner. He shortened his steps as he closed in on the edge and carefully turned with wand held at the ready.
Simon stopped and pushed the wand back into its chamber. “Don’t worry,” said Todd, “I’m not offended you raced down here expecting the worst.” He was standing at the door to the containment chambers gazing through the small circular window. “I did come down here intending to wake him up for a little chat. Hell, if it wasn’t for some of the things Dow said, my intentions would likely have been more sinister than that.”
Todd turned and looked at Simon. “What do you think? I mean, I just don’t know which end is up right now. I’ve been living my entire adult life with this huge thing weighing on me, and now I find out it may have all been a big lie! Everything was clear before. It was a horrible thing that happened to me, but it was clear. My dad was murdered. That guy did it,” Todd pointed to the containment room, “and he was out there for me to grab one day and bring to justice. Now…I have no idea what to think.”
Todd stepped backwards into the wall, pressed his back into it, and slid down to sit on the floor. He stared at the door and began gnawing on the cuticles of his left hand. Simon walked over and sat down across from him.
“Look, man,” Simon started before taking a deep breath and reconsidering. “I’m not even going to pretend to have any clue how you feel. This is messed up.”
Simon stared at the wall next to Todd, wishing maybe it had some comforting words for his friend because he was completely drawing a blank. “You know,” Simon said to break the silence before being sure he had the rest of a statement to follow those words with. “Answers are coming at least.”
Todd turned his head to look at Simon. “What do you mean?”
“I’m sure it’s hard to be patient right now. Especially with all the new questions bouncing around in that thick as a brick skull of yours, but soon many of them will be answered. There’s no way Lombargnor will just keep you in the dark when we get home. It’s not his style.”
Todd nodded and turned back towards the door before responding. “I’m sure you’re right. And I probably shouldn’t just sit down here staring at the door the whole trip home either, huh?” Todd turned back to face Simon now. “It’s the kind of behavior people tend to find odd, right? Little bit creepy?” Todd stood up. “Besides, my butt’s already getting sore sitting on that floor, and we got a long way to go.”
“Atta boy,” said Simon as he stood up and patted Todd on the arm. “Let’s see if we can find Ben. Maybe he’s got a little something left we can toast our new guests with at dinner tonight.”
“What are we having?” asked Todd.
“Spaghetti and meat sauce,” replied Simon.
Todd raised an eyebrow, “garlic bread?”
“Only if Ben didn’t eat it all while we were off the ship. I could slap together some makeshift from a loaf of sliced bread. That’s more like garlic toast, though.”
Todd smirked. “Sounds like a lot of our evening is riding on how bored Ben got while we were busy down on the moons. I’m not liking our chances.”
Chapter 31
With the two extra passengers on board, the trip back to Callisto seemed to fly by. Todd in particular was surprised by how sad he felt as the moon grew in the windshield before they settled into orbit. He was leaning toward it having to do with not wanting to spend too much time alone with his thoughts rather than admit Jack had grown on him a little.
“Everybody in the garage for departure to Callisto,” Todd announced through the ship-wide intercom. “Target departure time is in fifteen minutes.”
Todd rose from his seat on the bridge and headed out for the garage. Maybe I’m not looking forward to dropping Jack and Li off because it’s one step closer to the end of my final assignment with Simon, Todd thought as he wound his way down through the ship to the garage. “Okay…enough is enough,” he stated firmly to himself. This is not like you, he thought. Time to snap out of it and enjoy the trip home. You will be getting answers soon about Dad. As for this being Simon’s last O.E.A., well, good for him. It’s just a new phase for us both. Transitions are always a little uncomfortable and awkward. I mean, it’s not the end of the world . Todd smiled, “Although we did just prevent that, didn’t we?”
Todd entered the garage to find Ben alone and inspecting the engine compartment at the front of the cruiser. “How’s my ride looking, old man?”
“Better than Simon’s face, that’s for sure,” replied Ben as he shut the hood and turned around. “At least the swelling finally went down, but we gotta get him to a dentist. It looks like he got hit in the mouth with a tire iron.” Ben walked over to a wall lined with equipment and slid the toolbox he had been using under a long shelf with about a half dozen other toolboxes under and on it. “Actually, I have a story about that if you’re interested,” Ben continued as he sat in a black folding chair to take a load off while they waited for the others.
“On our way home,” replied Todd. “Lord knows we’ll have time to kill, and I do love your stories.”
Foggen and Simon arrived next followed seconds later by Jack and Li. “You two ready?” Todd directed at Jack and Li.
“I suppose,” replied Jack. “You would think considering what we just went through your boss would have been more receptive to commuting my sentence out here. I was really kind of hoping to head back home early. No last second change of heart, huh?” Jack asked disappointedly.
“No. No change of heart,” replied Todd. “He did, however, authorize a substantial credit transfer into your account to procure a replacement for Ol’ Gertie.”
“Really?” said a noticeably more upbeat Jack. “I’ll never find another one just like her, but man, that is still awesome news. Since we left Io, I’ve been trying to figure out what I was going to do without a ship. Oh, man, that is a serious pick me up. I’m stoked.”
Li looked up at him. “Geez, I wish you were half that excited about your new roommate. You sure know how to make a guy feel special.”
“Oh, Li, I’m pumped you’re moving in with me too. It’s just rough out here, and it’s even rougher without a ship.”
“I am just messing with you,” said Li with a big grin. “I know you are excited about living with me. Everybody wanna live with Li.”
“You coming with for the drop-off?” Todd asked Simon.
“Of course,” Si
mon replied. “Trying to soak in as much as I can on the way home. Plus, I thought we could stop at Tindell’s before heading back up. One more bowl of neon green goodness.”
“I can always go for a stop at Tindell’s,” Todd responded.
“Bring me up a to-go bowl, would you guys?” said Ben from his chair.
“And me,” added Foggen.
“What is this place?” asked Jack. “It’s down on Callisto?”
“He doesn’t know Tindell’s?” Todd said while looking at Simon in disbelief. Simon shook his head. “Okay, you guys are coming too. You’re going to reconsider ever coming back to Earth after you eat at this place, my friend.” Simon smacked Jack on the shoulder as he finished, “Now say your good-byes and let’s head down.”
Jack and Li took turns saying good-bye to Ben and Foggen. They climbed into the back of the cruiser, and Todd and Simon slid into the front after them. Ben and Foggen waved as the cruiser penetrated the pass-through gel and out of the hangar. The black and chrome cruiser zipped out of sight as the hangar door closed behind it.
Chapter 32
The blue dot had been revealing more and more detail since they passed Mars just after breakfast. Simon was staring at it out the windshield of the bridge. Soon the Great Lakes would show themselves, and he would see the Lake Michigan shoreline define itself. There along the western edge of the lake was a little town with a nice little house on a quiet little street. In that house was his wife and his little girl, and he would be home with them soon.
The door to the bridge opened behind Simon, and Todd walked in. “What’s that look for?” asked Simon as he turned to greet him.
“What look?” replied Todd as he sat in his seat and gazed out the windshield at the steadily enlarging Earth.
“The mischievous one on your face when you walked in. What were you just doing? Or thinking? ’Fess up.”
“Man, you really do know me well,” replied Todd. “I didn’t even do it, but I was tempted.”
