Josie looked at the others as the door opened. Alicia’s A was a no brainer. Laura’s

dove fitted with her ability to fly and to push things. The other kids and Elaine were

still deep in the catalogues. She stood, hand on her watch as she walked across the

living room.

She kept her neutral expression as the siblings entered the foyer leading to the dining

room. Neither looked happy about what they had talked about while on their walk.

“Do we have some spare blankets?,” asked Jack. “June is going to bed down at the

Hangar. I am going to show her how to get back and forth, get her some water and

biscuits, set up a place she can sleep without worrying about someone trying to get

at her with the ring of fear around the Hangar.”

“Water and biscuits?,” said Josie. “She’s not a dog.”

“We don’t have an ice box to keep sandwiches and stuff in out at the Hangar,” said

Jack. “I thought about putting a ready room out there, but it slipped my mind after I

covered up the quinjet.”

Josie looked at the siblings. They weren’t quite mad at each other, but they weren’t

getting along like she thought they would. Something was going on, but neither

wanted to talk to her about it.

“What am I missing?,” she finally asked after a few moments of frowning at them.

“Nothing,” said June. “The space is smaller than I thought, and Jack has offered me

a spot. He promised to get me a room if I want to visit after my fight. I’ll be retired

and at loose ends.”

“Is this something I am going to have to fix with a hammer?,” asked Josie. She could

feel an ache where her teeth were grinding together. “Because the both of you know

better, and the both of you know what will happen if it comes to that.”

“We’re fine,” said Jack. He held up his hands to protect his face. “June wants to move

here after her retirement. I told her I would look for a house for her.”

“Lie to me one more time, and we’re fighting,” said Josie. She knew it was a half-

truth by the way he was acting. In her opinion, it was better to call the whole thing a

lie and let him show her what the real truth was.

“It’s the truth,” said June. “I was hoping to move here, maybe get some superpowers

too.”

Josie frowned as she studied the older Lee. She squinted as she thought about the

proposed situation.

“No,” said Josie. “It’s too much of a risk.”

“Really, Jo-jo?,” said June. “I can do it.”

“I don’t care if your mother vouches for you,” said Josie. “The answer is no. One Lee

building a starship to lord it over the planet is one too many. A visit is okay, but

getting yourself killed isn’t.”

“I would like a shot,” said June. “And Jack needs someone to look over his shoulder.”

“That’s what we got the lizard for,” said Josie. She shook her head. “It’s bad enough

that Jack could get killed and I will have to explain to your folks what happened. I’m

sorry, Mrs. Lee. Your son died to a flock of killer sheep. Oh yeah, while we’re

talking, I got your eldest daughter’s legs ripped off by a jackalope. How do you think

that looks?”

“You’re giving the kids superpowers,” pointed out June. She waved at the other

room.

“They live here and need them because of what we’re doing,” said Josie. “You don’t.

Don’t try that with me. It didn’t work when we were kids, it won’t work now.”

“Come on, Juni,” said Jack. He waved his sister to follow him. “Let’s get you out to

the Hangar. Then we will get you some snacks and bedding.”

Josie frowned at the two of them. There was something wrong with them. Jack didn’t

want his sister around, and June wanted to stay. That was the opposite of how they

usually acted.

She rubbed her face. She needed to pry into this. They were both keeping things back

because they didn’t want her to know what was going on with them.

She decided the least she could do was put together the case files. June could read

them while she considered the attempt to throw herself in front of a bullet.

Elaine appeared at the door to the dining room. She looked over her shoulder. She

still wore her date night dress.

“Is something wrong?,” she asked.

“I have no idea,” said Josie. “Juni wants to hunt monsters with us. I turned her down

flat. Something is up, but I have no way to pry them open without force.”

“I understand,” said Elaine. “They are good with obfuscating their motives, much like

Aviras.”

“I’m starting to like him more and more,” said Josie. She rubbed her face. “I need to

get the case files together so we can show June what she is getting into.”

“You think she is hiding from something back in your world?,” said Elaine.

“Maybe,” said Josie. “We have to get ready for tomorrow. We have to think about the

process we want to use to get the Goblin Tree victims out of the Enterprise

transportation buffer, and get to work on that.”

“I’ll get the spare quilts and blankets from my room,” said Elaine. “We’ll get her

settled in.”

“Don’t take any crap from them,” said Josie. “I’ll get the case files together and then

help you out.”

She went up to the office and looked around the room. Former work had been put

away on shelves. The model still marked Montrose workers wandering around. She

planned to do something about those red dots sooner or later. They were marking

borrowed time as far as she was concerned.

Josie pulled on Zatanna. She concentrated on the desk. She wished for paper and

pictures to appear and bind everything into seven notebooks. She looked through the

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

books and nodded that they were as accurate as she could remember.

She let the persona go and picked the notebooks up. She paused and put the books

down. She called up Zatanna again and duplicated the books twice more. June could

keep one set to take home, one set could go with Mister Warner if he asked for them,

the last could go on a shelf for Jack and her to look back on when they needed to

review their procedures.

She let the persona go and grabbed one set of books. She left the office and headed

back down to the living room.

Elaine and the kids had folded blankets and a couple of thick quilts gathered in front

of the gate. Melanie had pillows in her hands. Angelica had a covered plate and a

covered cup for June to snack on while she was getting ready for bed.

Jack stepped through the gate and smiled when he saw the gathered supplies. He

looked around and seemed to be gathering his thoughts for what he wanted to carry

through to the Hangar first.

“Take these,” said Josie. She handed the set over. “These are the case books for all

the official quests we have completed. June can take these home to your folks when

she goes home.”

“All right,” said Jack. He flipped through the pages. “This is nice.”

“I have another set for Mister Warner if he returns our letter,” said Josie. She looked

around and nodded.

“All right,” said Jack. “I took a moment to make a room off the main hangar deck. It

should be okay for the next three days. Let’s get things going.”

Josie urged the girls through first. She hoped Jack hadn’t performed some kind of

shenanigans. He had probably built a room inside of a closet to try to get around her

no liminal spaces for the girls’ rooms. She stepped through the gate door before it

closed.

Jack had hollowed out a space in the wall. It was under the steps leading to the surface.

It looked as big as her own room so she couldn’t complain about the size of it.

“All right,” said Elaine. She dropped the blankets on the floor. She dropped more

blankets and quilts on top of that. She propped the pillows against the wall at one end

of the room. June stepped back to let her work. Her bag went against the wall against

the door in case she had to pick it up in a hurry.

“There is a lever to open the roof,” said Jack. He pointed across the room. “I

wouldn’t, but if you want to look around at a bunch of trees, it’s there. These are the

quests we’ve completed for the Society. Personal stuff is still personal.”

“We have a tray full of sandwiches for you,” said Angelica. She looked around for

a place to put it.

“I got it,” said June. She took the tray in her hands and put it next to the pillow. She

smiled at them.

“If you have to go, and you don’t want to go outside,” said Jack. “Go back to the gate,

bathroom is next to the living room. Shower, toilet, the usual. Casebook for you to

read.”

“If you want to retire here, June,” said Josie. “That would be fine. We have enough

to set you a house somewhere in the city, or pay passage for you to another city, or

help you get an adventurer’s license if you can pass the test. If you want to do what

we do, you are going to have to take that up with the Society. I don’t want to explain

how you were ripped to pieces by something from beyond to your mother. We don’t

know how cold the Hangar gets, but I’ll check to make sure the air is toasty for you.”

“How bad could it be?,” asked June.

“Fish people, Juni,” said Jack. “Fish people who now hate us for making it where

their fish god can’t show up and eat everything in sight.”

“All right,” said Josie. “We have to get turned in. We still have obligations to take

care of, and Jack and I will have to do something about the infected people on the

Enterprise. Is there anything else before we call it a day?”

“Jack has to tell us what the show was about,” said Beatrice. She smiled at his

expression.

“Didn’t Elaine tell you?,” said Jack. He looked at his beloved.

“She said that you had some ideas on how to make the show bigger and better with

fake monsters,” said Laura.

“Break that down for us, Jack,” said June. She sipped from the covered cup. “This is

some good hot chocolate.”

“If you do start living here in your retirement, you are not allowed to put me on

the spot,” said Jack. He frowned at his sister. “Okay?”

“I’ll think about it,” said June. She smiled.

“All right,” said Jack. “I’m going to cheat a little. Get ready to take notes.”

Jack pulled on Mister Fantastic, gold overall gleaming in the light from the overhead

light. He broke into a long speech about where they sat, who he could see, began

performing for each player as they entered the scene, inserting notes he had thought

of to make the fake monsters more real as the main star performing as Hurley went

about his business of monster hunting with his enormous strength and good cheer.

He was a cool Hercules type hero, just doing his thing. And then the last act of Hurley

being betrayed out of nowhere and dying with his friend at the top of the Mountain

of the Heavens, home of the gods. His watch ran out of power and he reverted back.

“That was crazy,” said June.

“Does that show that Elaine and I did watch the play and we did not get up to

things?,” asked Jack. “Which I wanted to do, but Elaine said I was too loud for the

theater.”

“Don’t put me on the spot,” said Elaine. Her face flushed red.

“I agree,” said Josie as June tried to stifle a laugh. “Don’t put Elaine on the spot.”

“The folks will welcome you with open arms, Elaine,” said June.

“Is there anything else?,” Jack asked the assemblage. He scratched his head. “I’m

feeling rundown and cranky.”

“I think that will be all,” said Josie. “Shall we leave our guest?”

“Fish people, Jack?,” asked Juni. She sat down next to the tray of sandwiches and

the notebooks.

“It’s all in there,” said Jack. “Josie somehow even got pictures for you to look at

while you read. I’ll see you in the morning. There’s no much entertainment around,

but maybe we can do some stickball out in the street or something.”

“We can take everyone up to the Enterprise tomorrow night,” said Josie. “Maybe

show them how the holodecks work.”

“There’s no furniture,” said Jack. “It’s pretty empty right now.”

“We can show them what everything is supposed to be,” said Josie. “Then if we

ever put together a small population that wants to solve problems away from the

planet, we will be able to do that.”

“The Enterprise should be able to replicate the Federation’s tech so we can build

colonies on any of the moons, or other planets,” said Jack. “I kind of like that as

a goal.”

“Also June is going to need a band,” said Josie. “We don’t want her causing trouble

and not be able to call for help.”

“I would never do that,” said June, looking up from her reading.

“Okay,” said Josie. She wasn’t convinced that June wouldn’t pick up some guy

and use him up when she was supposed to be watching the girls at practice.

“Remember you have to take the girls to practice the next three days. Don’t get

into a punching match down at the Hall because some guys said something.”

“I am in training,” said June. “I can’t risk anything until after the fight.”

“I’ll get you a com band in the morning, June,” said Jack. “You will be able to call

us in case of emergency. As soon as we get done, we’ll look things over on the

Enterprise and try out one of the holodecks. The girls will have to practice their

reading and numbers when we are done with that.”

“Would it be okay if I looked for a spot to settle in if I come back?,” asked June.

“Yes,” said Josie. “We actually don’t know any of the dangerous spots around town.

It would be better if you found some place where you didn’t have thieves breaking

in all the time. We were warned the local police don’t really solve crimes.”

“That’s nothing new,” said Juni. “Bog hound?”

“I will introduce you before we send you home,” said Josie. “I have to check on the

treasure I put out there as bait anyway.”

“The light switch is over by the gate home,” said Jack. “Are you going to be okay

out here?”

“I’ll be fine,” said Juni. “My clock is off, so I might still be up by the time you guys

get up.”

“I think that’s everything,” said Josie. “Let’s get to bed. Tomorrow will be long.

Hopefully there will be no quests while we try to fix the rest of this for good.”

Josie waved her children, and friends back through the gate. She called on Zatanna

one more time to make sure the Hangar remained at a steady seventy degrees despite

what the outside did. She let the persona go, and waved to Juni before she

stepped through the gate herself.

“I’m beat,” said Jack. He checked his watch. “Thank you for taking me out to the

show, Elaine.”

“Thank you for taking me,” said Elaine. She kissed him on the cheek.

“You two get a room,” said Josie, as she headed for her own room at the back of the

second floor.