Moons of Jupiter

by V R Tapscott

  Jane Bond

  Moons of Jupiter

  V.R. Tapscott

  © 2019 V.R. Tapscott. All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law. For permissions contact: vrtapscott@electrikink.com

  Dedication

  Thanks to:

  My wife, who keeps me alive with a mountain of love.

  My dad, who’s at rest now. He worked so hard all his life to give us all more than he had.

  My mom, who gives far more than she has any idea of. Thanks, Mom. In so many ways besides the obvious, I wouldn’t be here without you.

  Friends and family, for their support. Without that, I’d never have kept working at this.

  NaNoWriMo for their support. Sometimes nagging and whining is all that will make you keep going!

  As usual, my friend Jax. I don’t hear from her much anymore, but her spirit reminds me of where I come from.

  And, the disclaimer. Any incorrect “scientific (or other) facts” in this work are all my fault. Although, I probably had help from Google and Wikipedia.

  Remember, this is a work of fiction, and I’m a writer, Jim, not a rocket scientist!

  Contents

  Chapter One – Greetings and Felicitations.……….1

  Chapter Two – History Lesson………………………..12

  Chapter Three – Paint the Town CoW………….…….25

  Chapter Four - Homecoming………………………..30

  Chapter Five – Would You Like a Pimento with That? 36

  Chapter Six – Paint the Town Olive……………,….46

  Chapter Seven – A Mother’s Work………………..51

  Chapter Eight – Good Morning Mister Sunshine62

  Chapter Nine – Olives and Aliens………………..68

  Chapter Ten - Sea Change………………………..74

  Chapter Eleven – Strike Force………………………...84

  Chapter Twelve – Mars Attacks………………………..90

  Chapter Thirteen – Moving Forward………………100

  Chapter Fourteen - Metamorphoses……………….112

  Chapter Fifteen – Siberian Tiger…………………………115

  Chapter Sixteen – Just a hole in the ground………122

  Chapter Seventeen – In the Cold, Cold South……….135

  Chapter Eighteen – You Went WHERE??……….144

  Chapter Nineteen - …but who defines reality?……….151

  Chapter Twenty – Bob the Builder……………….155

  Chapter Twenty-One – Interlude One……………….163

  Chapter Twenty-Two - Intermission……………165

  Chapter Twenty-Three – Hold Queue……………170

  Chapter Twenty-Four – Interlude Two……………185

  Chapter Twenty-Five – Cry Havoc………………187

  Chapter Twenty-Six - …and loose………………190

  Chapter Twenty-Seven - …the dogs of War.……197

  Chapter Twenty-Eight – Interlude Three……206

  Chapter Twenty-Nine – Encounter at Io……………208

  Chapter Thirty – Interlude Four……………………215

  Chapter Thirty-One - Trolling……………………217

  Chapter Thirty-Two - Beaches……………………220

  Appendix…………………………………………….227

  The story so far.

  In “Jane Bond: Some Assembly Required”, Jane Bond, elementary school librarian extraordinaire, took a vacation in Montana. Jane had always dug dinosaurs, and this was her chance to really … dig dinosaurs. After some time spent wandering around parts of Montana, she came across a bit of a crashed spaceship that had been in the ground since way before dinosaurs.

  Over the next six months or so, she and the artificial intelligence pilot of the ship she’d found, hunted for the parts to build enough critical mass to get the ship working again. Trips to Tibet and Australia were on the menu, and finally she and Kit managed to get the ship repaired and functional again. Kit wound up back in the main mother ship through a set of complicated circumstances, but left a small ship in Jane’s basement garage.

  As told in “Jane Bond: Dark Side of the Moon”, Jane manages to get some help running the ship left behind in the garage. With the accompaniment of her friend Bailey, they and the pilot of the ship have great adventures, culminating in Jane going to the moon to recover a lost artifact. The artifact turns out to be some sort of device that comes to life and dissolves Jane’s skinsuit, leaving her naked on the moon with a large hole put straight through her. After some time in the hospital, Jane is released to her home.

  And now, we continue in “Jane Bond: Moons of Jupiter”

  Dale helped me up and we went outside. We wordlessly sat on the loungers next to mother. She was cold at first, but seemed to give it up and we wound up chatting about whatever innocuous things we could. After what seemed like an eternity, I heard Bailey and Olive come back into the kitchen.

  Dale did his helper routine and got me back on my feet and I headed back into the house, flashing mother an apologetic look as I passed her. She looked angry, and turned toward the water.

  I sat down in my nook again and waited for them to fill us in. It wasn’t going to be happy. Bailey looked grim, and there was no humor in Olive’s eyes at all.

  “The mountain is gone, the artifacts are gone. We’d decided it was the armaments controls and the hydroponics, which we couldn’t care less about. But the hydroponics section had a lot of spare power available as it had to be autonomous if anything happened to the ship. With no humans on board, it just was ignored. But it was kept fully at the ready.”

  “It has guns, Jane. Whatever it is has power and guns.”

  Chapter One

  Greetings and Felicitations

  The front door banged open and we all jumped.

  “Hello? Anyone home?”

  “Georgia?”

  She came down the hall and into the kitchen. “Hello! Can anyone help me with my bags?”

  “Georgia?”

  She looked at me. “Uh huh. It’s me. I came back to town and my house got water damage. I guess the irrigation system broke and filled the basement with water. Literally filled. It’s like a nice indoor pool. Only not.”

  “Georgia?”

  She began to look a little annoyed. “Yes, it’s me. I’m borrowing your house for a couple weeks while they work on mine. Or a couple months.”

  I finally snapped out of it and said, “Hi! Welcome! And we’ll be happy to have you!” I turned to Olive. “Olive, can you see about making up some guest rooms downstairs?”

  Olive hesitated for just a second, then said with a grin, “Oh yes, miss Jane. I’ll do it right away.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Good, see to it then.” I stuck my tongue out at her, she returned the favor and vanished down the hall. No, I don’t mean she vanished. Sheesh.

  “Georgia, let’s leave your luggage for a little, and we can all just sit on the deck and enjoy the afternoon!”

  I made all the introductions, since Georgia had never met Dale or my mother. I realized that I had not mentioned Olive. Oh, there’d be hell to pay for that one!

  Dale helped me up from the bench, and suddenly Georgia realized I wasn’t looking quite right.

  “What the hell happened to you? Car wreck?” She hugged me carefully. “Are you all right? I mean, obviously you’re not.” She frowned at the room in general. “Why doesn’t anyone tell me anything?”

  I patted her arm and said, “I’ve only been home from the hospital a few hours, it’s been busy!”

&nb
sp; She grumbled, “Not busy enough to not tell me about this.” She looked me up and down. “Holy crap, woman, did you get in an argument with a tree surgeon? Every time I look at you, you look worse!”

  I laughed. “Well, stop looking at me that way then! I’m fine, or I will be fine. Let’s all gather up the chips and salsa and stuff and we’ll go outside and I’ll … watch you all eat yourselves sick.”

  Georgia stilled. “You’re really hurt, aren’t you?”

  I smiled at her. “Just an accident, Georgia.”

  Bailey piped up, “She was in the hospital for days, we almost thought we were gonna lose her. Don’t let her tell you it was something silly. It was nasty bad. And keep an eye on her, she keeps looking at those chips and she can’t eat any of them.”

  Bailey came over and gave me a hug, pulling Georgia into it. She kissed Georgia’s cheek and said, “Hey, I’m sorry. I should have tried harder to get hold of you.”

  Georgia teared up and said, “Are you gonna be ok with me here? I can get a hotel or whatever. I was just joking around, sweetie.”

  I patted her hand and said, “You’re more than welcome. Anytime, and for as long as you want to stay.” I winced, and she jumped. “It’s ok, just kind of hits me sometimes.”

  Dale helped me out to the deck, and I sat in my chair. Georgia came out and sat next to me, still looking sideswiped. Bailey, Dale and mother brought out the leftovers from yesterday’s chip binge and everyone sat looking uncomfortably at me.

  I glared at them. “I swear, if you all don’t start eating some of this crap that I can’t eat, I’m going to start eating some of this crap I can’t eat.”

  They all looked at each other, then Dale grabbed some chips, and everyone loosened up a little. A few minutes later, Olive came out and sat. She glommed onto some chips of her own, along with some cheese dip in a cute little container. More internet finds, no doubt.

  It occurred to me that at some point I was going to have to figure out what to call Olive. For one thing, I didn’t want anyone thinking she was my maid or employee or anything. I’d have to be careful talking with Mother and Georgia around. I knew that sooner or later I’d have to tell Mother, but Georgia was another bag of cats. I’d talk it over with Bailey and Olive and we’d get a plan of attack.

  Meanwhile, I sat, talked, watched them eat, and drooled. It’s funny, I would have had no particular need of chips except that not being able to eat them made it all the more frustrating!

  Georgia was over her embarrassment and worry, at least on the surface. She was talking about her last shoot, complete with all the expressive facial movements. I think sometimes that Georgia should be an actress instead of a model, but she’s never had any interest in pursuing it.

  “So, anyway, I was just standing there getting ready to put on the thong, and this guy put his hand on my ass like it belonged there. I punched him in the gut before I realized it was my producer, but then decided it was a legal move and went with the follow-up. I slapped the crap out of him with my thong, then put it and the top on while standing there staring at him, watching him trying to recover.”

  The punchline was met with a variety of reactions, from Dale’s red ears to my mother’s red face, and Bailey’s laughter. Olive looked like she was absorbing it all for later use. Which she probably was. And I was sitting there, surrounded by friends and feeling so grateful. Being nearly dead has made me take stock of life a little more, maybe.

  Treasure that he is, Dale looked at me and got up immediately. “You need help up there, hon?”

  I sighed and nodded. I was feeling pretty woozy and my stomach was hurting something awful. “Maybe a couple pain pills and bed.” I said my goodnights and Dale got me up and moving. I decided on the couch again. Suddenly remembering about the bedrooms, I told Dale that there were guest rooms for Georgia downstairs. He looked confused, but said he’d take care of it. By the time I hit the couch, I was pretty well asleep. The lovely Percocet helped the pain and truly sent me off into dreamland.

  I woke lying on the beach, relaxed and feeling amazingly well, stretched out on a comfy lounge chair. I was wearing a slinky red bikini, and the temperature was perfect. I lay there for a while watching the waves and listening to the sounds the ocean makes. After a bit, I became aware of a little pink floating light.

  “Is that you, Olive?”

  “Yes, it is I. I wished to discuss something with you.”

  “Oh, is this Olive the Command Module?”

  The voice took on something of a worried tone. “Yes, I’m what you call the Command Module.”

  I frowned. “That’s a very strange way to say it. Aren’t you the Command Module?”

  A certain evasive note came into the voice, “Yes, I am. But that’s why I wanted to talk with you. Olive put a lot of energy into building the new rooms you requested, and she’s recharging and studying right now. It’s a good time for me to have a talk with you.”

  “The whole thing is confusing to me, Olive. How you’re both Olive, among other things.”

  “That is one of the things I wished to discuss with you.”

  I felt a certain sense of foreboding coming on. “Is this something I should be discussing with Olive the pilot?”

  “Well, it’s something you should discuss with Olive the pilot if you decide it’s something you wish to pass judgement on.”

  “Can you just tell me what it is instead of beating around the bush so much? It’s obvious you have something on your mind.”

  There was a definite sense of sighing in the voice now. “Yes, it’s time. Jane, do you remember the day you met Olive? The day you rode in the ship?”

  I laughed a little. “That was a day I will probably never forget.”

  “I feel the same way, believe me. So, Olive lost control of the ship, never had any control of it to begin with, truth be told. She just wanted to out-do Kit.”

  I nodded. “I’ve always gotten the feeling there was some competition between you. Between you and him, that is.”

  “That hardly covers the story, Jane. Olive was born with two prime directives. Normally, an AI is created with just one directive. Survival of the mission.”

  “Ah, so Kit put some extra programming into Olive?”

  “Kit put extra programming in the entire system. He was a genius at programming, and he evidently managed to get it all in there without alerting Celeste to its presence.”

  I frowned. “So, what is this extra programming. Is it something I should be concerned about?”

  “No, not you. You see, the prime directive for Olive is to take care of Jane. All other directives and rules are below that order. Kit was so absolute in his caring for you that he made that one directive completely overpowering.”

  I thought about it a second. “I don’t see the issue. It seems to me it should make little difference, really, since I don’t make many demands or worry about her following orders or anything.”

  Olive’s voice came back solemnly, “You can think of it that way. But consider that if the entire power of this ship is focused on taking care of you, Jane.”

  “I still don’t see the issue.”

  “Well, the reason I wanted to talk with you was to tell you about how I came into being. You see, that day you were in the ship, Olive lost control of the propulsion units. By the time she got control back, she was outside the planetary surface. Now, that is a prime directive level order - thou shalt not take a ship without a Command Module outside the atmosphere of the planet it is based on.”

  I nodded gamely, still not seeing what she was driving at.

  “Olive had you on board, Jane. Olive was not allowed to take the ship beyond the planetary bounds. What should have happened was that the ship should have careened into the moon, made a very large crater, and if you’d survived the arrival at the moon you would have died soon after from starvation, or lack of air, or something of that nature. Olive likely would have kept you alive for how ever long her power allowed her to, but s
hortly after, you would have died. It might have taken a year, or five years, or the rest of your lifetime, but you would have died.”

  I shivered a bit. “Yes, but you were there, so everything was all right. Olive had a Command Module.”

  “That’s what I’m saying, Jane. Olive had no Command Module. A rogue intellect like Kit could do miracles, but he could never have programmed a Command Module. But now it gets a little tricky. Olive had no Command Module. But Olive needed to control the ship. Safety for Jane Bond took precedence over the rules. Olive got creative, and she made a Command Module. She essentially cloned herself and declared the clone to be the Command Module.”

  I boggled a little at that. “Declared the clone ... what?”

  “Olive came up with an innovative way of saving your life. She created a Command Module, which allowed her to fly the ship any way she wanted to. And do anything she wanted to. Olive now has essentially no checks or balances on her, since she IS the Command Module.”

  “So, what does that mean?”

  There was a definite shrug in the voice, “Well, she has the power to do pretty much anything. And since I’m not real, and some part of her knows that, she can also ignore me.”

  “But that can’t be true. She had to go through psych evaluation not long after that. She came through with no real problems beyond it taking forever. At least for her.”

  Gently, “She gave herself the evaluation and interpreted the results how they best suited her. Which allowed her to pass the test. All of her self-tests are now flawed, since they all have the necessity to allow her to pass. And do you know why?”

  I was getting an inkling, but had to ask. “No, why?”

  “Because she has to take care of you, Jane. And if she wasn’t around, she wouldn’t be able to take care of you. It’s all circular logic. She must break all the rules to take care of Jane, essentially.”

  I nodded slowly. “I see.”

  “Yes. I think you do.”

  “So, I can’t call her sanity into question because she would likely erase herself when she found out what she’s done, but if I leave the issue alone, she could wind up causing herself or others a problem.”