Legacy

by Bob Mauldin

  Kitty sauntered into their quarters, dropped her pistol belt in a corner, draped her flight jacket over a chair and herself over Simon. “Long time, no see, Lover.” Pulling him to his feet, she tugged on his sleeve until she got him moving in the direction of the shower. “Help me scrub the stink off, okay? Then I’ve got plans for the rest of the night. Randy’s got the watch and we’re clear until I say otherwise.”

  After a much-needed shower and a desperately needed reunion with her husband, Kitty was relaxed enough to broach a subject she had been thinking about for the entire month of Simon’s absence. “Simon, how far have you thought this out?”

  Long hours in a Mamba had given Kitty’s philosophical nature time to worry over the future. “Right now, you see the possibilities from getting open recognition. What about when, not if, some government gets pissed off at not getting what they want fast enough? We’ve already seen our own government trying to arrest our people. It’s thanks to the wristbands and your foresight that they were able to get their jobs done without anything worse happening, but that can’t go on. Someone will get hurt no matter what we do. We all hoped that we would have at least a little more time before publicly revealing ourselves, but that didn’t happen. So we make the best of our situation.” Looking over her shoulder at Simon as she briskly dried her now-shoulder-length hair, she saw the amazement on his face. “What!?”

  He grinned, propped himself up on an elbow, and sighed. “You seem to have ... embraced our situation ... rather completely for an avowed pacifist. Come back to bed and tell me about it.” And, cradled in her husband’s arms, she did.

  Hours alone in a cockpit had led her to some troubling revelations and conclusions. Though only troubling in an introspective way. “We’ve been out here almost a year now. Well, while I’m out there,” she waved in the general direction of the bulkhead, “I have time to think. I figure that there’s a point at which there’s no going back. I think we’ve already passed that point. We’re going to need a fall-back position. And once we get cut off, officially, from Earth, and I believe we need to prepare for an eventuality that I hope won’t, but am sure will, come to pass.”

  Simon marveled at how their thought-processes coincided. “I mentioned that to the staff when we were on our way to Earth,” he said. “We’ve got the beginnings of just that in place. A couple of people we can trust to help steer volunteers our way without having to worry too much about whether or not they are agents of some kind.”

  They talked for hours in the limbo Kitty had created for them. About a future that not only Kitty dreamed of. “Hell, Simon, it’s the second-most common topic for discussion in any group. And most of the groups are composed of college-age people, and you know how they like to chew on something once they get their teeth into it. And,” Kitty went on in a lively tone, “we need to instill some traditions in our fledgling republic. We’ll probably have to quote the Declaration of Independence at Earth eventually, so getting people motivated early is a good idea. The Mamba pilots are a highly visible group, so use them to motivate our own people and attract newcomers.”

  Their reunion idyll ended by common consent, Simon and Kitty dressed for their evening appearance. “We can’t miss dinner,” Kitty proclaimed. “It’s traditional on first day back.”

  Simon nodded in agreement. “Fine with me, but I gotta say something about that fledgling republic comment of yours. When what we have started building here can grow on its own, then it can be a republic. By that time our group will have grown and split into many segments. A civilian population, service industries, police, criminals, courts, military, everything any civilization needs to survive. Diversity. Right now, we are only a military branch. We have to build and recruit the rest. Let’s get to dinner, since it is now traditional,” Simon said, changing the subject. “We can throw this out on the table for our own bull session, later.”

  For the most part, meal-times had settled down to shifts-end, so there were three meals served every day by people assigned to the kitchens. For reasons known only to themselves, most folks didn’t seem to take too well to the food processors. It made no difference that the egg came from a processor, when most people wanted an omelet, they wanted it done by the hands of a fellow human being. Therefore, a kitchen had been constructed, and cooks plied their arcane skills within. Time was measured in the age-old twenty-four hours in a day manner, and dinner was being served to those who had the evening shift free, which included most department heads. So Simon wasn’t too surprised to see Daniel in the mess hall. Along with Stephen, Gayle, Lucy, and Miranda Lee.

  “Waiting for us to come out of seclusion?” Simon asked, smiling. “So, what’s up?”

  “What’s up is that everyone wants to know what happens next, Simon.” Daniel looked up from the depths of his coffee cup. The number-one ongoing discussion centered around just that question. Simon, having determined to keep over-all control of Galileo in his own hands was, in effect, being called on to put up or shut up. Closing both eyes and drawing on the strength of his wife sitting next to him, he jumped straight into the deep end.

  “The immediate next step is to start the next dock, and let Orion get on about her own mission,” he began. Opening his eyes, he glanced around the table. “The next-step-farther-out is harder. I originally wanted to stay out of view longer than this, but our government, while not exactly composed of the brightest bulbs on the sign, isn’t stupid and figured out enough that we couldn’t stay hidden if we wanted to. So, here’s what happened on Earth.” After relating his part, Simon let Stephen, Gayle, and Lucy tell their tales. “So we go completely public when we get back. As a friend recently told me, ‘There’s no going back.’ So. Two lines of attack here. One is overt. How do we go about openly recruiting? And the other is covert. How do we set up clandestine lines of communications if worse comes to worst? Call me paranoid, but from now on we need to consider the possibility of tech spies, sabotage, and worse. Prepare a proposal or proposals for me to review. There’s no rush on this as we have to get number two built before we spend any more time on Earth.

  “Next on the table is the question of command. In the next eighteen months or so we are going to need three base commanders and ten more ship captains,” Simon began. “Not to mention crews. Stephen has indicated that he wants to opt out of command and stay more in the science branch. I agree that we can get more use from his abilities if we follow his suggestion, so I am left looking at five of my next nine captains and base commanders.

  “Daniel, you may not like this, but you are going to be the only Captain among the base commanders. I’m looking at a chain of command that will leave one person in overall charge of all the bases, that being you or your replacement, to coordinate the building of ships. Standardization will be the watchword. I want any ship able to be serviced at any station, refueled and rearmed as necessary. We need one man to handle that and you’re elected. The others will have the rank of Base Commander. We have Orion. We are going to build Gemini.” Noting the look on Miranda’s face, Simon gave her his attention. “Speak up, Commander. This amounts to a staff meeting and if you weren’t supposed to speak up, you wouldn’t be here.”

  Stephen leaned across the table and stuck his hand out. “Welcome to the team, Miranda. I got conscripted the same way. My advice is, take a deep breath and just say what’s on your mind. He doesn’t bite.” The rest laughed as Simon reddened, and she swallowed a lump in her throat.

  Miranda began by saying that she wanted to opt out like Stephen did and started citing reasons why she wasn’t a good choice for captain. Simon let her ramble for a bit then cut her off. “Miranda, and in these meetings we are all on first-name basis, I’ve got something more in mind for you than being just a ships’ captain. But right now, I need people I can trust in those control seats. So, I want you to take the position, anyway. And here’s the carrot I’ve got to dangle in front of you: at some indeterminate time in the future, we are going to have fighter s
quadrons ... and fighter carriers. Do you want to be in command of the fighter squadrons? Before you give any kind of answer, let me point out that most of the jobs on both Galileo and Orion are being handled by people your age or younger. And here’s another thought for you: you are just as qualified as anyone else to do a job no one has ever done before. But I need you to have some command experience. It’s not something that needs to be answered right now, but do think about it as we’ll talk about it later.”

  Next Simon turned to Daniel. “I guess now’s the time to tell you that I’m stealing not only your assistant, but about half your crew. The crew, I am replacing with fresh faces. Your assistant, I’m not. I figure, if he’s good enough to be your straw boss, then he can handle a dock on his own. We may run out of qualified people to captain the docks. I’m open to ideas.” He looked around. “Submit them any time, people.”

  Tossing a folder on the table, Simon said, “This is what we’ve come up with for crew transfers. You get half of my volunteers, and I get half of your trained personnel. We can juggle specifics later, but I want to get under way within forty-eight hours.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  Simon, Kitty, Lucy, Gayle, Stephen, along with the newest members of the inner circle, Adam, sat at the ready-room table. Kitty still held the rank of Wing Commander, and she took charge of all of Gemini’s fighters and began her version of training almost immediately for every pilot aboard. Miranda Lee had been left in charge of the fighter detachment aboard Orion, and Kitty was more than a little upset at not getting her position as First Officer back. Simon had to explain that it wouldn’t be fair to Lucy to remove her from the position just because Kitty was back. “Favoritism is one of the things I’m trying to keep out of our make-up, here, Hon. There will be plenty for you to do. Trust me. You’re going to be in charge of setting up the fighter wing at Gemini. Adam was Simon’s candidate for the base commander of Gemini once she was completed. An accomplished mining engineer, he had come well-recommended and to his credit was an avid sci-fi fan. “It always helps, Adam,” Simon said. “Most of our volunteers are hard-core fans. I swear if we allowed costumes you’d see Klingons walking these decks side-by-side with Ferengi.”

  He laughed and poured Pepsi over the glass of ice the steward had set on the table in front of him. “Sooner or later, though, you are going to hit the wall, as we call it. You’re going to wake up some morning and say, ‘That was the most realistic dream I ever had!’ Then you’ll step out of your cabin door, find out it ain’t no dream and wind up in sick bay until we can get your head screwed back on. I want you to remember what I just said. I just love to say ‘I told ya so.’“

  Galileo stopped at Earth long enough to drop off some last-minute returnees and headed on out to the asteroid belt across the solar system from Orion. Position Beta was one hundred-eighty degrees around the belt from Orion and that put the sun in the way of any direct communication, at most times of the year, so a relay satellite had been constructed prior to departure. Dropped off along the way, it provided a link to their compatriots so far away and allowed direct news from the underground forming on Earth. Slow though it was, it was the only way to keep in contact at these distances.

  First things being first, a new Sundiver was built and sent on its way courtesy of the original shuttles Galileo brought along. Next, three more shuttles and a dozen fighters were constructed, powered by cores also brought from Orion. Then, and only then, Galileo went to work building the fuel plant. The shuttles received power cores and joined the three already in operation. The fighters were immediately pressed into service flying patrols and doing double-duty as shuttle-alternates. By the time Sundiver got back to the fuel plant, Galileo would have moved on to its new location and the construction of Gemini was well under way.

  A goodly number of personnel aboard Galileo were now veterans and the training of new volunteers continued apace with the construction of the new dock. Within weeks the habitat section was finished and the overcrowding ceased, although the new section would depend on Galileo for power until the power plant processed Sundiver’s first haul.

  Start to finish, this second dock took eight months, power plant included. The old hands from Orion made the whole process go much smoother than before. At least this time someone knew what they were doing from the start. The only thing of real note during that time was that Orion finished their first ship and immediately began the second.

  Simon had originally intended to take that first ship for his flagship, but changed his mind somewhere along the way. He prepared a message to Daniel congratulating him on a job well done and outlined his ideas. With treachery and deceit the top topics at more than one of the staff meetings, Simon had come away with some new security precautions whirling through his head. Since the commissioning would have to wait for Galileo to return to Earth and pick up a new set of volunteers, Simon decided to wait on even activating the ship’s computer core. He wanted to make some changes to the basic programming, and figured to take the third ship to come off the docks, or re-assign whoever originally got command to another and take her himself. He confided some of his suspicions and intentions in a letter to Daniel, dropped the message at Communications, and went to bed.

  Simon waited on the sidelines as the available personnel of both Galileo and soon-to-be-commissioned Gemini milled around deck eighteen waiting for the activation ceremony to begin. It was known, of course, that Adam Gardner was going to be promoted to Base Commander. It was his firm hand and eagle eye that kept things moving, and it was his presence, somehow, always at just the right time, that kept the construction crews energized. It was gratifying that there had been an overabundance of volunteers for this second base.

  Simon studied the faces of the people standing below the dais, shaking his head. He knew just how important ceremonies like this one could be, but he was still learning how to be an effective public speaker. Just goes to show you, he thought, even the upper echelons have to learn new jobs. The babble began to die down as he stepped up to the microphone. The cooperation necessary to accomplish the prodigious task that was now almost behind them had formed a bond among these faces looking up at him. Now, he needed to cement that bond with him. The last voice went silent, and Simon said nothing for a moment. He let his eyes pass over every face he could, recognizing some, but not as many as he would have liked. He leaned toward the microphone and said, “Thank you.”

  He let the moment linger for several seconds, then said, “Thank you one and all for believing in the dream that we few not only can, but do give our allegiance to advance the human race so far in so short a time. We are still learning about the technology we are using. Every day, something new comes across my desk and I wonder what’s ahead on this totally surreal journey. Only time will tell where all of this will lead, but that’s the way it is with pioneers ... they lead the way and others expand on their work. This station, Gemini Base, will stand, alongside Orion and two future bases, as mankind’s most outstanding accomplishment for many years to come.”

  Simon swept his gaze over the entire audience, including everyone in his next words. “None of this would be possible if not for the vision, dedication and endurance of you, the builders of this new facility. Now, the time has come for all of your work to be put to the ultimate test. Very soon, we will be activating Gemini’s computer and leaving behind a crew to begin the process of turning out some of the first ships capable of taking humanity to the stars. That being said, I now call upon Commander Gardner to step forward.”

  Adam stood stiffly as Simon replaced his old insignia with the new golden stars surrounded by an oak wreath, denoting the new rank, and shook hands all-round with his staff. Stephen then stepped forward and handed Gemini’s commissioning plaque to Adam. “It gives me great pleasure to present you with this plaque, Commander. We all wish you the best of luck in the coming months.” He snapped a salute at the new officer and Adam returned it clumsily as he transferred the heavy plaque
from one hand to the other. Stephen smiled at him as he stepped back amongst Simon’s staff. “I think the audience is waiting for you to say something, Commander,” he prompted.

  Turning to the assembled crews, Adam looked everyone over for a few seconds, then said, “You folks all know me. I’m not a fan of long flowery speeches that say that I couldn’t have done any of this alone. Take it from me, this plaque belongs more to you than to me. Now. I’m sure you’ve all been waiting for this announcement: tomorrow, assignments will be posted. Some of you will be staying on here with me, and the rest of you will be going back to Earth to recruit more volunteers, but your names are at the top of the list for the next ship built. Until those lists are posted, people, I want you to enjoy your parties, for tomorrow we toil. Company dismissed!” Immediately after, continuing a tradition started only eight months before when Orion was commissioned, parties broke out all over both vessels.

  Adam Gardner, newest Commander in the fleet, poured drinks all-round. “If you call two docks and two ships a fleet,” he grumbled good-naturedly, and his audience chuckled. Gemini’s conference room was comfortably crowded with five of Galileo’s crew and six of his own staff present. “Okay, Simon. I know. Take the long view. I’m trying to do that. I think my problem is the same as most of the people at this table.” At Simon’s raised an eyebrow, an affection he had raised to an art form, Adam went on. “I keep stumbling over reality. I really am living in a science-fiction story!” Laughter rippled around the table. Adam raised his glass and said by way of a toast, “To Gemini. May she age gracefully and bear many young!”