Chapter 14

Jeffrey invited Sandra to move in to his suite on Lagrange 3A, she readily accepted. The two made themselves comfortable with each other – more than just the sex, the companionship was comforting to both. As the Governor of the Lagrange 3 orbit and environs, Jeffrey was kept slightly busy, but not so much that he couldn't take time off periodically. This was a surprise to him, he had never had time to reflect that wasn't enroute to one job or another.

Because of the aggressive pursuit of pirates, organized crime was minimized. There was much grumbling about civilization encroaching on the frontier spirit, but only a few miscreants held this view. New corporations were forming, Earth's government assigned to the Navy the responsibility of managing them, from registering those corporations and their principals, licensing their ships and stations, and ensuring safety and security. This too was a welcome encroaching of civilization.

Alien races were beginning to take seriously the fact that the Navy was not going to put up with criminal manipulation of Humans and their machines. It was bad enough that Humans tried to manipulate each other through commercial advertising and other propaganda. As patrols uncovered new alien species lurking in Human space, they found the aliens knowledgeable of the laws that humans imposed and were mostly compliant.

The bit of genius that inspired the feeding of the aliens proved both expensive and cost-effective. It was shown that some alien species had already departed the Earth region to transit back to their origins. There they would share the Human foodstuffs and techniques for growing their own.

The galactic council of alien species had further meetings, lamenting the slowness with which they had organized the takeover of the Human space. It would have been so easy only a few decades ago, but the smart and aggressive Navy now threatened all their plans – in point of fact almost all their plans were done in by the generosity of the Free Food for Aliens program of the Navy. For some reason the Humans were better at growing food in quantity and quality that none of the alien races were able to figure out on their own. And the aliens were hungry. Their taste buds were re-energized after hundreds of years of seriously bland fare.

More of the alien races presented ambassadors to the Earth government in the Naval station in Lagrange orbit between Earth and her moon. That these same races were also associated with the alien council dedicated to destroying the Humans and their civilization was a closely guarded secret. The alien collaborator Thelin, however managed to keep Navy Intelligence officers well-informed on the goings-on of the other species.

Jeffrey received a communication from Admiral Kutuzov commanding him to attend an emergency meeting at the Earth-Moon Lagrange Naval station. Janet was now showing quite largly – her athletic build showed off her pregnancy well, but it was agreed that she should take the next few months in a more administrative role; Jeffrey appointed her as Lieutenant Governor, for a few months anyway. She felt the same way Jeffrey did – once you command a ship, you always feel that ship command was the right and only place for you; but she had to admit it was a less stressful position for her, enabling her to more easily continue her gestation.

Jeffrey took Elizabeth with her crew of thirty sailors and Marines on a rapid transit using the 16C opportunity that going North out of the disc of the solar system, then heading back down provided. While on the way, Elizabeth seeded more of the surveillance buoys enroute, giving a better picture of who and what was moving through the system.

On arrival at the Earth station, Jeffrey went aboard alone, keeping his crew on a relaxed alert mode. He reported in to the Admiral's office and was told to come back in a few hours. This gave him time to visit with the Ay-Yuyuyah Thelin. He found the alien in an office hidden away from public access. “Hello, Thelin. How have they been treating you?”

“Ah,” replied the invertebrate intelligence. “I am glad you came to visit. It is good to see someone who knows me and treated me with a little respect.”

“Have you been having problems?”

“Oh indeed I have, sir. Your Admiral Kutuzov has been a ruthless and demanding man. He has withheld adequate nourishment from me. He has made his minions question me endlessly. I feel so abused.”

“I see,” said Jeffrey. “I'll ask the admiral about this. What have they told you about why they are doing these things?” The boneless alien shifted himself on what Jeffrey identified as a pet mattress. “Do you think there may be a reason related to the quality of information you have been giving him?”

“Well, of course, my dear captain. Don't you see it is a contest of wills? I cannot allow him to bully me. He wants information, I want...what I want. It should be perfectly clear that his cooperation with me is the best way to get what he wants.”

Jeffrey wondered if there were children around giving advice to the Kutuzov / Thelin discussion. “Mister Thelin, allow me to offer you a different perspective – perhaps one that is independent of the two of you.”

“By all means, sir. If you can offer a different, independent view of the standoff between the admiral and myself, I would welcome it.”

“First, let me ask – what are your goals? What is it that you want?” Jeffrey sat back on the small couch that faced Thelin's pet bed and crossed his arms. It was likely that the alien had no grounding in the human concept of body language, but Jeffrey still used it.

“Well, there are some things I need – certain food items, certain chemicals, certain metals.”

“Those sound like things that would enable you to attain what you want indirectly. So what exactly is it you want? You want to increase your telepathic range?” Here the alien backed against the wall.

“H-how did you know?”

“Pretty simple if you know what to look for. Okay, so what else?”

“The remains of my ship that you collected after I scuttled it.”

“Perhaps that would be a possibility, but you know our scientists are doing what they can to learn from the remains. This is how we work. What else is in your set of goals? What is worth threatening the relationship with Kutuzov?”

“Oh, I wouldn't wish for that to happen, Captain. I really expect Admiral Kutuzov to come to my way of thinking.”

“Okay, I think something can come from this.” Said Jeffrey.

“Oh good.”

“First, I think I can imagine Admiral Kutuzov is being as stubborn as you are. What does he expect you to tell him that you are reluctant to?”

“Oh Captain – you do go right to the nub of things, don't you?” Jeffrey noticed the sound that Thelin was generating was not coming from the walls as they had on his ship, instead were coming from a limited-frequency speaker system mounted on the wall. Still, Thelin had good-sounding vocals, taking advantage of the entire spectrum that the speakers could handle without pushing it to distortion. “The Admiral wants the composition of the council of aliens that were trying to determine the fate of this solar system. He wants technical specifications on all the alien ships. He wants the map locations of each of the alien's home worlds. He pretty much wants everything.”

“Thelin, you began to tell me all of this information on Elizabeth. Why are you having second thoughts about divulging the same information to Admiral Kutuzov?”

“Well...because I already told you. I hate repeating myself.”

It was a while before Jeffrey was able to take his head out of his hands. “Okay. Here's the independent perspective; Give Kutuzov everything he wants. If he wants you to do it again, do it again. Then, Admiral Kutuzov will realize that you need the radio equipment and other detritus from your old ship to boost your telepathic abilities so you can continue to act as a consultant for us. The more valuable you are to us, the more we will be willing to pay for your insights. But as soon as you become more trouble than the information you offer us is worth, you become less a guest. Right?”

“Ah, Captain. I understand your insight. Yes. You are right. I imagine you are going to speak with the admiral today?”

“Yes, I expect to.”

“Please tell him that I have changed my mind and will cooperate.”

“I will. Is there anything I can do for you personally?”

“I would like some decorations for my rooms.”

“I'll have Elizabeth put something together for you. You would likely enjoy the talent she has.”

Jeffrey left the alien's small office / cell. Jeffrey reminded himself of the conversation he had with Thelin while still on Elizabeth;Guest or prisoner? It seems Kutuzov was dipping a bit into both.

He returned to the Admiral's office at the appointed time, and Kutuzov was already busy in a small conference with several other ships captains. The admiral's secretary asked Jeffrey to be seated and wait until he was called. He then informed the admiral that Captain Sokolov was in the anteroom. Kutuzov came out himself and ushered Jeffery in. He introduced the captains of several of the other naval vessels from other parts of the fleet.

“Captain Jeffrey Sokolov, of the Elizabeth. He is a leader among men. We rely on him to administer the entire Lagrange 3 orbit,” said Kutuzov. The admiral then pointed to the other captains as he introduced them; Captain Lucile Blanca of the Apache, she patrols inner system – solar and Mercury orbits. Captain Clem Clay of the Ojibway, he patrols the Venus orbit. Apache and Ojibway both will be coming here for refitting – proximity to the sun takes more of a toll on the ships than work out in the asteroids, it seems. Here is Captain Jaques Defresne, of the Iroquois. He and the rest of these captains patrol Earth's orbit. Captain Carla Sitting Elk of Hopi, Captain Lee Majori of Inca.

Jeffrey shook hands with each as they were introduced. He then took a seat at the table. Kutuzov said, “Captain Sokolov, I hope you don't mind, I've started a bit early. I'm afraid these other captains need to be brought up to speed on things you and Commodore Yusef have been up to. I just explained the presence of the aliens. It seems to have had a bit of a shock. Captain Sokolov, would you please explain to your fellow captains how you detect the aliens?

“Sure, Admiral. When I was a miner, I would approach an asteroid and scan it with a variety of instruments. These included mass spectrometers, gas spectrometers, but more importantly, gravimeters.The gravimeter shows the strength of a gravitic source. So a rock containing heavy ores would show a larger depth of cone on the display than, say a rock containing lighter minerals. The aliens have an invisibility circuit that hides their optical view. But you cannot hide your mass. So the gravimeter is the best tool for discovering this. By the way, they are still unaware what it is that I use to find them. It seems that their scientific accomplishments are in their past.

“Captain Sokolov,”interrupted Captain Carla Sitting Elk. “What do you do once you discover the aliens?”

“The use of invisibility circuits in Human space is illegal. I broadcast a message to that effect, then if nothing appears, I have my gun crew aim the rail gun at the bottom of the inverted cone, let off a half-second burst. That usually reminds them of their nightmares.” The other captains chuckled.

Carla continued her questioning, “Sir, what kind of ammunition are you using in your rail guns?”

“A variety. Most of the ammunition is made from tungsten steel, but some is armor piercing, some contains explosives, some scattershot. A half second burst is only eight or ten twenty-five millimeter shells, but that is enough to impress them.”

The other captains began taking notes. Captain Majori asked, “How long have we known about these aliens?”

“For about a year. Much of the problems we have had with pirates and with some of the powerful warlords were inspired by these aliens. One of the biggest problems we have had were some of the aliens released a virus among our computers and computer controlled devices. This same virus has been modified to affect humans – on Lagrange 3A people couldn't even SEE the aliens – through hypnotic suggestion – strong hypnotic suggestion. These aliens are hungry. Their leaders removed all flavor from their food. So the best way to get them on your side is to offer good tasting food. Danish pastry really works. And bananas.

“Their weapons are not powerful enough to do damage to your ships, especially if you have decent armor. But I recommend that if you don't have a rail gun, get a couple. It far outperforms anything they have.”

Kutuzov interrupted, “Captain Sokolov, tell the captains about your armor.”

“Okay. Let's see...Because I had just been drafted to control the spread of piracy to the navy, I have several things on my ship that you probably don't. First, I have a smelter that melts any metal, purifies it, centrifuges it into different minerals. I had a hold full of a variety of heavy metals, a very smart AI that knows how to do pretty much everything. Another thing is a large replicator. The combination of things made it easy for me to get all the different metals I thought I needed.

“So I took my new crew to a place in the asteroid belt that I knew had some heavy rocks, including thepresence of Tungsten. I had my AI take the tungsten and smelt it into the steel plating I was going to use for the armor. That tungsten made the armor far more rigid and resistant to all sorts of kinetic insults. Under the armor is a meter-deep tank of water. I originally put that in to protect myself and my crew from solar radiation, but it has proven very effective against lasers that punch through the tungsten. Also, the water is useful for emergency drinking water.”

Captain Clay interrupted. “Sir, didn't you have a problem with the additional weight of the tungsten and water? What did you do to improve the lagging against the additional mass?”

“The ship was made to carry heavy minerals, I only put them on the outside on a rigid shield. Still, the engine was a bit strained, but still had better power than most other ships in her class.” He looked to Kutuzov for permission to talk about the golden drive, but Kutuzov shook his head 'no'. “Ieventually replaced the engine with a more powerful one that enables me to go faster.”

Captain Carla Sitting Elk again asked, “Captain Sokolov, we are all aware that your ship was the one that saved the Earth from a fate worse than death, as they say, you were pretty far away when you initiated your attack. We all calculated your speed as extremely fast – faster than any here can do in a short time. What did you do, and how?”

Kutuzov interrupted, “Carla, that's classified for now. You will be read in on the secret pretty soon, but not yet. Please avoid this part of the subject.”

She looked to the admiral, then to Jeffrey, winked, and said, “Aye, sir.”

“Captain Sokolov,” the admiral continued. “Could you please brief the assembled captains on your recommendations regarding equipment you think each ship should have for the current situation?”

“Yes, sir. First, I would like to see each ship have a dedicated AI. The AI on my ship, duplicated onto Commodore Yusef's Wanigan has gone a long way to performing all the functions of a ship that a crew normally performs. It is especially useful when ships are traveling fast. The AI can target multiple enemies simultaneously. It is also useful for controlling non-critical functions, such as controlling my next recommendation; a commercial sized replicator. When the ship is under failure, it is often too far away from other ships to rescue you in time. So having the ability to patch your ship, create your own ammunition, modify your interior or exterior environment, even manufacture weapons and hard-shell space suits to replace those damaged or lost. Allowing the AI to control the replicator makes for better manufacture control than assigning a human to the functions. Another related device is the smelter – if you have one of these, collecting metal-containing asteroids gives you raw materials that you can use for each of these functions. Giving your AI control over this makes sense in that you have a single-minded system to assure the survivability of your ship and crew. There are other reasons for incorporating these systems into your ships, but they encroach on the classified that Admiral Kutuzov will need to address.”

The admiral harrumphed but said nothing further.

“The incorporation of an AI into your systems will do other things for you. The AI will more closely monitor your security, more closely identify potential threats, be a better communication vector that so far has been unbreakable by our enemies – both human and alien. There is a downside, however. Giving your ship a controllling AI requires you have a good intelligence-to-intelligence interface. It is a problem if you don't have a sympathetic person to control the emotional development of the AI. I am that for mine. I am developing another person for Wanigan's AI emotional stability. Admiral?”

“Thanks, Captain Sokolov. Questions?”

Captain Jacques DeFresne asked, “What can your ship do if you incorporate these extra equipment items?”

“In capturing alien technologies, we have been able to replicate some of them into our own design. We have strengthened our armor, while at the same time strengthened the armor of Wanigan. My ship is able to repair itself – using robotic remotes that I and my AI designed. One of the alien technologies we incorporated into our ship is the use of anti-gravity plates in the decks of my ship. So I don't have to use heavy equipment to drive rotational anti-gravity.” Admiral Kutuzov uncomfortably fidgeted at the mention of the successful implementation of alien technology.

“Captain, I ordered you to transfer all alien technologies to my control. I ordered you to transfer all your engineer's notes. Did you violate these orders by holding back?” Demanded Kutuzov.

“No sir. My engineers worked with their original notes and memories and scans of the alien devices. They developed the understanding of the theory, and from that made their own prototypes. From that they were able to give the AI instructions to make anti-gravity plates they could install in place of my rotational equipment, saving us tremendous cost in energy and space. The orders you left us with were not violated, we succeeded in spite of them.”

“This puts me in a very uncomfortable position. I have made promises based on the assumption that the Navy is not competing with individual corporations. You have changed the terms of my agreement.”

“Sir, the secret deals you have made would have produced a very poor position for the Navy. The use of gravity plates has already saved myself and my ship from boarding by enemies. If I were given the ability to compete with your corporations I would have been able to provide the Navy with a better, complete system than your corporations who are interested only in providing the Navy with an exclusive anti-competitive money making deal. If this is the method of your management, then sir, I cannot continue as a member of your team, and tender my resignation.”

The admiral sat back, shocked. “I cannot accept your resignation. You have proven too valuable to the Navy to allow that. But you will surrender your ship to another captain to manage.”

“No sir.”

“No sir? What do you mean?” The admiral seemed to be having difficulty with the concept.

“Sir, Elizabeth is my ship. I own every nut and bolt, every space suit, every weapon. Nothing on board belongs to the Navy except some of the passengers.” He slowly unzipped his suit and keyed the Elizabeth-specific radio. “If you wish to steal my ship from me, I promise you there will be hell to pay. Some important questions come from this discussion – how much do you get in a deal with these companies? What were you willing to sell Earth out for?”

Kutuzov keyed a button on the underside of his desk. Two Marines immediately came into the Admiral's spacious office and stood at both sides of the door, hands on their weapons. Jeffrey noticed that the primary weapon was a blaster, which used a focused electromagnetic field, at a low setting would have a stun effect, at a high setting would bore a hole through steel. The admiral called his secretary and told him that Captain Kutuzov was going to be on the station for an extended stay, and to have the Elizabeth's second in command take her back to Lagrange 3A and await orders.

Jeffrey was distressed, but kept his counsel. The other captains also appeared distressed by the odd behavior of the admiral, and began to object at the behavior against one of their own, especially the man who took on the threat to Earth single-handedly. But they sat there, feeling threatened by the Marines. The secretary stuck his head in and reported that Elizabeth was not responding to orders. A security officer entered the office holding a radio detection locator and announced “An unauthorized signal is coming from this office, sir.” It was a very short time that he found Jeffrey's broadcasting radio.

The technician asked Jeffrey how to turn it off. He replied “You talk into it and say – Elizabeth, Skedaddle.”

The secretary came back in and reported that Elizabeth was gone without a trace. The radio stopped broadcasting, the Marines took Jeffrey into custody and searched him thoroughly. They found nothing of consequence. They then placed him in a cell in the brig. Jeffrey was angry. He was mad at himself as much as Kutuzov. He should have seen it coming. He was angry at the other captains who watched while he was bullied and his ship attempted to be stolen from him. He was sorry for getting the people he had come to think of as his family involved in what he wasn't quite sure of. He was sad for Kutuzov, if things were as they seemed, the admiral had given up being fair and judicious in favor of illegal profits. Surrender the Earth to the alien hoards, to the warlords, to the megalomaniacs.

He decided to calm himself. No sense of fretting over anything he couldn't control. He lay on the plastic bunk, closed his eyes and began to hum. The lights in the cell were on all the time, there was nothing he could do to reduce the brightness, but again, with nothing he could control, he just accepted it. After a while he noticed a high-pitched whine. He couldn't place the sound, or locate it. He just continued to monitor it. After a short while, the whine stopped and he heard a metallic clicking that was easier to identify. He looked under the plastic bunk, and there was one of Elizabeth's small remotes. He looked directly at it, but said nothing, sure that the room was being monitored. The remote seemed to think so too, as it began looking around for obvious monitoring devices. After making its survey, the remote climbed the wall and parked itself on the ceiling, disguising itself as an environment sensor.

After what seemed like three or four hours, he heard bolts drawing back on the door, then the door swung open and two Marines strode in, looked around, saw nothing out of the ordinary, then one went out, and was replaced by the admiral. Kutuzov dismissed the other one. When the Marine left the room and locked the door, Kutuzov put his finger to his lips as a signal for Jeffrey to be quiet. He took out a device from his pocket and flipped a switch. “We have a couple of minutes before they catch on. Sokolov, we are in trouble if you can contact your ship, you need to do so.”

“How would I contact my ship, and even if I could why would I?”

“The aliens have begun their hypnotizing here on the station. I was conditioned against it, but I could see my entire staff was affected. You area going to need to see if you can get Elizabeth back here to remedy the situation.”

Fearing a trap, Jeffrey asked the admiral, “How am I supposed to get onto my ship from inside the cell?”

“I'll open the cell and leave a shuttle for you to take to Elizabeth. When you get away, find Yusef. He is the only ship's master who wasn't able to make the meeting. Do what you can. I'll hold off things here. Listen for the clock to chime 12:00. The door should open for you then. Good luck, Sokolov. Ignore any further orders I give. Until you are convinced of my freedom from these aliens, you and Yusef are the only defense of the solar system.” He flipped the switch on the device, then put it in an inner pocket. A moment later the two Marines arrived again, looked menacingly at Jeffrey, then followed the admiral out of the room. Jeffrey heard the bolts slamming into place again.

Jeffrey began singing a tuneless song, improvising the words, hidden in the middle of the improvised song, he sang about how nice it would be to ignore a shuttle if only he had a runabout. The remote-robot gave no indication that it or Elizabeth heard his request. If the Elizabeth was again back, awaiting her captain, he had a chance. If not, it would be a relatively short time before he died. At that moment, the system clock chimed eleven hours. One more hour to go. A Marine entered with a tray of sandwiches and an indescribable warm beverage. Jeffrey ignored the food.

As the clock chimed twelve hours, Jeffrey heard the bolt on the door pull back. Jeffrey put his fingers in the crack between the door and the wall and pulled with the tips of his fingers until the door swung in. He unrolled the hood of his soft suit and secured it around his head. It may give a modicum of defense against some of the Marines' weapons, and give him a very short time in the vacuum of space. Now to find the hanger area he was most likely to find the shuttle or hopefully, the runabout.

Nobody seems to be around at the console control of the brig so he quickly bent down at the computer and tried pulling up a map of the station. He heard a clicking sound behind him, it was the remote-robot following him. Then it got out ahead and moved up a corridor. It paused and turned around, waiting for him. He decided to follow it. The remote-robot led him to an elevator, opened it, and entered. He followed. It climbed to the control panel and pushed a series of buttons. At what seemed to be a random floor the remote-robot exited, and Jeffrey followed. He saw he was on a catwalk above the hanger deck. There was a shuttle being prepared to take off. That's when Jeffrey saw the runabout behind the shuttle. He made his way down to the runabout, saw there was something on the seat. It was a helmet and gauntlets. He put them on, got into the seat and powered up the runabout.

He then got out, manually opened the exterior door to the hanger bay. A rush of air flowed out the doors, which caused all the doors and alarms on the station to slam shut except the one he manually opened. He quickly reentered the runabout, and exited the station, driving out as quickly as he could, jinking up, down, left and right to avoid anyone getting a good bead on him.

Ten kilometers from the station, Elizabeth materialized, her shuttle bay open. Jeffrey quickly drove into the shuttle bay, the doors immediately closed. He walked into the main cabin of the ship and made a bee-line to the bridge. On the way, he passed several people, Marines and sailors laying on the floor, seeming to have difficulty breathing. He reached his hand toward one, and felt the gravity over that floor plate had increased to four or more times Earth normal. He snatched his hand back, and understood what was going on. Elizabeth didn't trust the crew without her captain. Sokolov apologized and said he would be back in a few minutes. He made his way to the bridge, saw it was empty, then said, “Elizabeth, where are we?”

“HELLO CAPTAIN. WE ARE SIX A.U. NORTH OF EARTH.”

“Okay, if you think we are safe for now, let's park here.”

“AYE, CAPTAIN.”

“Did you hear Kutuzov in my cell?”

“YES CAPTAIN. I AM STILL EVALUATING.”

“Have you located Wanigan?”

“I HAVE SIGNALS OUT, BUT SHE HAS NOT RESPONDED.”

“Good. The Marines on board – any indication they are hostile to us?”

“NO, CAPTAIN. I HELD THEM DOWN AS A PRECAUTION.”

“Thanks, Elizabeth. Let's let the officers and non-coms up first, direct them to the bridge. Damn, I need a pistol.”

“ONE OF MY REMOTES IS ON THE WAY WITH YOUR WEAPON.”

“Okay, when I get it,we'll let up the officers and non-coms.” The remote-robot carrying Jeffrey's pistol and shoulder holster entered the bridge. Jeffrey strapped the shoulder holster on, checked the firearm, and said, “Okay, wake 'em up.” The remote flattened itself against one of the wall panels.

A few minutes later, Marine Lieutenant Honjo Kamakura walked into the bridge followed by Sargent McCalum, Navy petty officer Jane Smythe and ChiefCinny Mafiorte, the cook. A moment later a Navy corpsman walked into the bridge.

Jeffrey directed them all into the conference room. After they all sat down, he said, “We are in a condition of emergency. I have direct orders from Admiral Kutuzov to share command of all Naval forces with Commodore Yusef. It seems that our two ships are the only ones not affected by the aliens. I was briefly take prisoner on the Earth station. I just escaped. Elizabeth disabled all of you in the odd chance that the enemy had gotten to one of you. Now that I am on board, Elizabeth feels safer, so we are going to release your troops. You will watch all your men and women. Do not hesitate to point out odd behaviors, or anything that will jeopardize our mission. Clear?”

They all affirmed. Chief Cinny asked, “What is the plan, sir?”

“First, we will secure ourselves. We will meet with Wanigan and coordinate our activities. I will also get back out to Lagrange 3A to ensure the safety of our already secured bases. Other questions?”

The Navy corpsman said, “We are going to need to get the rest of the crew up soon, sir. I'm afraid there may be some unable to take the heavy gravity.”

“Okay, all officers and noncoms go find your people. When you are satisfied you have one of your own, Elizabeth will release him or her. If there is anyone left after you have found all your own, let me know. Okay, go ahead. Oh, yeah – arm yourselves.” The team exited and began looking for their own subordinates. Within a few minutes, all thirty of the Marines and crew were found and released from the prison of the gravity plates. There was one person still being held in the grip of the gravity, but nobody recognized her. Jeffrey went to see who was unidentified. He was chagrined, it was Sandra. “Elizabeth, release Sandra.”

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Sandra got up, breathed deeply – relieved to be able to do just that – and gave Jeffrey a hug. “What's going on?” she asked. “I was walking out of the cabin when the gravity grew so strong, it pulled me right down.”

“Elizabeth, why did you hold Ms. Knutson down?”

“I WAS NOT SURE SHE ISN'T A THREAT.”

“Okay, we'll discuss this in my cabin. Have Petty Officer Smythe report to the bridge, all bridge crew return to bridge.” Jeffrey then said to Sandra, please come with me to our cabin. I'll be along in a minute. I need to give orders to the bridge crew.”

“All right, Captain.” she said.

Jeffrey went to the bridge, a moment later Smythe entered the bridge, Specialist Jeanie Dux was already sitting at the communications desk. Two more crew arrived. “Smythe, I want you to take us North out of the system, then down to Lagrange 3A, do this at 18C. Understood?”

“Understood. North at 18C,curve back down to Lagrange 3A. How long do you want me to travel at 18C?”

“An hour, should do.”

“An hour at 18C North, curve around to Lagrange 3A. Aye Sir.”

“I will be in my cabin discussing some new protocols with Elizabeth and Ms. Knutson. Can you spare Specialist Dux?”

“Yes sir, we can fill her spot for a little while.”

“Very good. Dux! With me.” They went to Jeffrey's cabin, to find Sandra there sitting at the table.

“Sandra Knutson, this is Specialist Jeanie Dux. I have brought her along as a learning moment. She is going to be a specialist in AI emotional support. She will observe our conversation.”He turned to Dux, “Keep quiet. If you have questions, ask them after we are finished, in private. Clear?”

“Clear, sir.”

“Elizabeth, please display a picture of my long dead wife,” Jeffrey said. A picture of his beautiful late wife displayed on one of the walls, another taken at a different time, on another. “Dux, I have been sleeping with, that is having sex with Ms. Knutson. I like her a lot, she likes me a lot. She gives me a sensation of being wanted, not needed, just wanted. I don't know if she likes me as much as I like her, I don't know if one day she'll love me and I'll love her. But for now, we are good companions.

“Ms. Dux, by the way, everything said here, now, is confidential. You will not discuss this with anybody else. Clear?”

Dux, remembering the injunction to stay quiet, nodded.

Jeffrey said into the room, “Elizabeth.”

“YES, CAPTAIN?”

“Do you have an idea why I asked these people here?”

“NO, CAPTAIN.”

“Good. This is going to be a learning moment for you.” He paused to let it sink in to all present, including Elizabeth. “You realize that I am having sexual relations with Sandra, correct.”

“YES, CAPTAIN.”

“You realize that I have some emotional feelings toward her?”

“YES, CAPTAIN.”

“Do you feel left out of my emotions? Do you think I am trying to replace you with a human lover?”

“I...DON'T KNOW, CAPTAIN.”

“Let me be as clear as I possibly can. You are always going to have a place in my heart. I will not abandon you. There are things I am going to need that you cannot provide. One of them is sex. Sandra has been so good as to share that with me. Another is human contact that goes beyond the friendships we share with, say Janet and Ojo, Yuki, the Chongs. These are my family. You are part of my family, a very close part. But you are not the only part. Clear?”

“CAPTAIN, I THINK I AM AFRAID YOU WOULD ABANDON ME IF YOU SOLD THE SHIP.”

“Never. If push came to shove and we had to get rid of this magnificent ship, whoever got it would maybe get a clone of you, but I don't think so. You belong to me, you are as close to me as my own heart. I cannot be more than I am, but I hope that you'll never need more than I can give. You continue to grow, yet your loyalty always is to me, and for this I am grateful.”

“THANKYOU, CAPTAIN.”

“I want you to accept Sandra as part of my life. If she ever decides to go her own way,I also want you let her do that. If she hurts me emotionally, or if anyone does, I will get over it. You will be there to support me, but you will not interfere with us. Clear?”

“CLEAR.”

“Now. What did you learn?”

“YOU LOVE ME. YOU WILL NOT DESERT ME. I AM TO LIKE SANDRA AND WHOMEVER YOU CANOODLE WITH. LOVE YES, JEALOSY NO.”

“Okay. Now, I am going to take Dux back to the bridge, you carry on – have a pleasant conversation with Sandra while I'm gone. Dux, with me.” The two left the Captain's cabin, and halfway to the bridge, he asked her, “Okay, what did you learn?”

“Well, sir,” she replied, slowly. “I think the first and most important part is your definition of Canoodling, which has been confusing me,” she looked up at her captain. “Then I see that the more intelligent an AI becomes, the closer to human emotions come to the surface. Those emotions need to be managed – to assure the AI knows it is loved, but that it is not the be-all and end-all of life.”

“Good. It is important that the AI is truly loved. If Elizabeth were to do truly nasty things, the kind of things that force us to shut it down, it would break my heart. That is why Elizabeth needs to know she has to temper her behavior.”

“Sir, you realize that Elizabeth can hear you all over the ship?”

“Of course. This is as much for her benefit as it is for yours. You are going to help Wanigan. You need to understand that you cannot hide from her. Your emotions have to be genuine or she will know.”

“I understand sir.” They approached the bridge, he paused at the entrance, “Jeanie, I think you are doing a good job here. I hate to lose you, but I really think Wanigan needs you more than me.”

“Thank you, Captain.” Her emotions started to get the better of her, a tear started to well up in one of her eyes.

“Back to work,” said Jeffrey before the tear could fall. She entered the bridge and went to her console. Jeffrey returned to his cabin. He found Sandra in a deep conversation with Elizabeth, and they paused when he entered.

“Hi, honey,” said Sandra. “We were just talking....girl talk.”

“GIRL TALK. AGREED.”

“Ah. Nothing you wish to share?” Jeffrey ventured.

“Um....no.”

“NO”

“Okay. Are there any questions about our conversation?”

“NO, CAPTAIN. I KNOW I AM LOVED. THAT IS ENOUGH.”

“Why did we have that discussion in front of that girl?” asked Sandra.

“She is going to be the friend of another ship's AI – a clone of Elizabeth. She had to see how these AIs require some tender loving care. Elizabeth told me she thought that her clone – sister had to have someone who could care for her emotional needs. Sometimes sex comes into it. I don't think it is a secret that we have been having sex, is it?”

“No, Jeffrey, I'm afraid every person on board knows a lot of detail of my life that I never let out.”

“MY FAULT. I WAS JEALOUS. PLEASE FORGIVE ME, SANDRA.”

“Well, this one time.”

“THANKS.”

Jeffrey then gave a brief explanation of what happened at the station, and the precarious position the Earth and her human population was in. He then excused himself, went to the Marines quarters addressed the assembled Marines. He explained that he thought the aliens were trying to find alternate ways to defeat the human defenses, including taking over the officers of the Navy at the Earth base. He had received direct orders from Kutuzov to take over defense of the solar system. “You Marines are going to be the pointy end of the spear. You are also going to be the blunt end. We will rely on you to protect the civilians. You will need to save our civilization. We are counting on you.” He attempted to engage the enthusiasm of the Marines, but was just not very good at it. He stopped before he actually started – it didn't do to embarrass himself too much.

He then went to the bridge again, to see where they were. When he came onto the bridge, Jane Smythe stood up, called out, “Captain on the bridge!”

Before anyone could get up, he said, “As you were. Where are we, Petty Officer?”

She indicated a display of the solar system map, with a position of the ship as a red x on the display showing they were near the apex of the arc, about to head back in-system.

Elizabeth had been dropping buoys behind her, greatly increasing the possible intelligence gain from monitoring the outer system.

They arrived in the vicinity of Lagrange 3A. Jeffrey had the bridge crew stay aboard, brought the Marines with him, and went to the station. He stopped at the Marines barracks and addressed Lt. Col. dePaul. “Vincent, we have a problem. Aliens have taken over the minds of some people at the Earth base. I am afraid the Navy ships clustered in-system have been compromised. Admiral Kutuzov ordered me to take care of the security of the entire solar system, in cooperation with Wanigan. So far we haven't found her. I need your Marines to be on alert.” He then told dePaul about the Elizabeth clone on the station. She was going to be used more frequently, and he would be well-advised to utilize her.

“I'll try sir,” he replied, remembering the conversation he'd had with Jeffrey about Elizabeth. “I'll alert the Marines on all the other Lagrange 3 stations.”

“Good. I need to see someone about the AI. I'll be in the King's Feast restaurant,” said Jeffrey.

At the King's Feast, he asked the Chongs to close for a bit – he had to talk to them all. After the last customer left, they locked the door and brought Jeffrey some tea.

“Let me begin by telling you that we are still in jeopardy. Now I have to ask you to do something for me, and for this station.”

“What is it,” asked Chong Sul.

“The station has an artificial intelligence, a clone of Elizabeth. It has not been used much, but I need the station to be protected much like Elizabeth protects the ship.” Jeffrey explained.

Chong Lee interrupted, “Jeffrey, we know nothing about these comptuers. What do you expect us to do?”

“You do know life, and these AIs are alive. They need emotional support. They need someone to talk to that will help them make good decisions, to understand morals. I can't think of any better people than you to do this. Can I count on you?”

Kim said, “Of course, Captain. We are indebted to you. Right, Mom? Dad?” Jeffrey smiled at the enthusiasm of the young woman. The adults looked at each other, excused themselves and went into the kitchen, then a long discussion in Korean followed. They emerged, and sat down.

Chong Sul said, “Captain, we are loathe to engage in war, but you have saved our world, our lives. We are indebted to you. We will do as you ask.”

“Thank you. Before I leave, I'll introduce you to the AI. It doesn't have a name, so you might wish to find an appropriate name for it. Again, your primary task is to discuss morality with it, make it feel loved.”

“Count on us.”

Jeffrey went to the safe-house that contained the equipment which housed the AI. He asked Elizabeth to help prepare the AI for working the station, and that the Chong family will be her conscience and her friend. They would assign a name to the AI. Elizabeth explained the situation to her sister, gave her all the details she held, and said Jeffrey was her boss. The Chong family would also be her friends and moral guides. Jeffrey would introduce herto the Chong family.

After all preparations were made, Jeffrey went back to the restaurant and had the family gather around the console. He introduced the AI to the family, they gave the AI her name – Dragon.

Jeffrey then went around to his team on the station acquainted them with the situation. Janet was getting rounder in the middle, but still seemed athletic of build. Torres told Jeffrey they would have their child in another month.

Digger, Sneaky and Smitty were anxious to get back on the ship. He told them to report in four hours. He stopped at the administration office and discussed the military issues with the sub-administrator and the security chief Lars Olson. He checked on Martel Secant, the former administrator. Secant reported that there was nothing significant. Jeffrey told Secant that the aliens were active again, to be on his toes.

Jeffrey transfered a group of Marines from dePaul to his direct command, loaded Elizabeth with supplies, and began looking for some of the staff he wanted to take with him. He went back to King's Feast restaurant and asked the Chongs about Kim apprenticing with the Chief on Elizabeth, They agreed, and the fifteen year old girl went to pack her bags. Lee explained that there was likely no safer place than Jeffrey's ship. Kim was told to meet Jeffrey at the dock in one hour. Then Jeffrey went looking for a psychiatrist, found Dr. Jack Pelan, and convinced him to come onto the ship for several interesting cases, and to become an assistant in doing interrogations of aliens. Pelan got to thinking of the publishing possibilities such an association would enable, so he readily agreed. Jeffrey told him to be ready to go in one hour. Dr. Pelan objected to the too-short notice, but Jeffrey told him to get a move on.

Jeffrey met Kim at the dock terminal, and escorted her aboard Elizabeth, showed her to what he thought was a good cabin for her, but Elizabeth pointed out that there were thirty Marines aboard, and she was going to have to rearrange the sleeping quarters. Jeffrey took her to his own cabin to bunk until Elizabeth was finished making the arrangements.

Again, Janet and Ojo were to be left on the station, to give her last couple of weeks in her pregnancy somewhat stress-free. Jeffrey charged them with developing new ideas to improve Elizabeth. They eagerly accepted the challenge. He also asked Ojo to acquire more military surplus computers, install them on Mistral so they could incorporate an AI into the little ship.

Jeffrey took Kim to meet Chief Cinny Mafiorte, and asked the chief to outline her duties and schedule. Jeffrey then told her he would also expect Kim to continue her lessons and he also told her she could take her physical exercise with her little hero – Audry 'Sneaky' Svoboda. Jeffrey left the two alone in the kitchen.

He then went to find Yuki Ohara, locating her in the physics lab. He told Yuki about Kim, and asked her to oversee her education while on the ship. Yuki thought about the task for a few minutes, then agreed happily. As he walked toward the bridge, he saw teams of robots diligently working on rearranging the cabins – multiplying the number but decreasing the size. The positive part was each person on board had his or her own tiny cabin. Most cabins would be two meters by three meters. Each had a built-in bunk that doubled as a chest of drawers, a built-in table / desk with a couple of chairs. At the rate they were going the robots would be finished by the time Elizabeth was ready to take off.

At the bridge, Jeffrey found Specialist Jeanie Dux. He engaged her in conversation, inquiring about her relationships on the ship, and asked her if she was ready to join Wanigan again. She indicated she was more willing then ever to do so, this would give her an opportunity to give comfort to, and draw the best out of the other ship's AI. She reported that Elizabeth was giving her quite a few pointers and suggestions for her interaction with the Wanigan AI.

Eventually the assigned crew was aboard, the Marines settled, provisions stowed, and Elizabeth's remote-robots had finished building the smaller, individual crew cabins. Jeffrey reflected on all the changes that had happened to his ship in just the last year – from a single crew – himself – to a fully armed and staffed warship with nearly impenetrable armor, a faster-than-light drive and a reputation of the ship not to mess with. He also thought back to the changes in his personal life. He acquired and coordinated a new kind of family; people he loved and cared for, and that loved and cared for him. His AI was growing and developing into a precocious and emotional being. The latest addition to his personal circle, Sandra Knutson, was a welcome venture into the physical pleasures of an unrestrained partner.

He asked Petty Officer Smythe to take Elizabeth out, queried Dux if they had heard anything from Wanigan; she replied in the negative. He told Elizabeth to send out secret communications for Wanigan's benefit alone, in the possible chance that she was being otherwise controlled improperly. As they moved through the busy traffic lanes around the station, Elizabeth sent her remote-robots out to add additional antennae to improve the reception of radio signals. Jeffrey had Yuki and Heinz meet him at the conference room. As an afterthought, he asked Sandra to sit in on the meeting, as she very well could have some insights that everyone else in the meeting might miss. She sauntered in in a few minutes after the meeting began.

Jeffrey started the meeting by explaining what had happened at the Lagrange 1 station in the Earth-Moon orbit. He said that their first priority would be to find Wanigan, then they could decide on the further courses of action with Commodore Yusef.But they had to define alternative courses of action in the event that either something had detained or even destroyed Wanigan or Yusef.

So the first agenda item would be to plot out a search course that would cover the trillions of cubic kilometers that she could be hiding in. Yuki suggested that they form a grid, and jump from one grid square to another, broadcast a message, then jump to another grid using the golden drive. Heinz pointed out the flaw in that one, each grid space was large enough to take a long time for radio signals to get to all points in the grid and return a reply. Sandra suggested they drop a buoy at the center point of each grid point, program the buoy to record any reply, and if a reply was made, to broadcast an alarm. Then make several passes, quickly jumping from one grid space to another, alert for the alarm signal. This would narrow down the search time.

Jeffrey liked the idea so much, he had Elizabeth plot such a grid, manufacture the buoys and begin to search the grid. He informed Smythe of his plan, that Elizabeth would be auto-piloting. She should monitor the condition of the ship.

Jeffrey said he thought they had some allies in the Vzpak, the race of aliens that had left their people in cryo-stasis in the care of their own Artificial Intelligence. They could be a resource for further consideration. He also wanted to rescue Thelin, the Ay-Yuyuyah from his cell at the Lagrange 1 Earth station.

He asked Captain Smythe of the Marines to sit in on the alternative plans – there may be some tactical need, and having the Marine Captain sit in would most likely prove useful. Jeffrey asked him if he was related to the petty officer currently in the pilot's chair. “She's my sister, sir.”

“Really? Good to know.” Jeffrey replied.

They plotted out several alternative actions that they could either present to Yusef, or to enable in his place. Meanwhile, Elizabeth had manufactured buoys to broadcast the messages to Wanigan and monitor replies. As long as she was making buoys, she added circuitry to monitor masses like the other buoys they had been seeding throughout the solar system. The meeting slowly ground to a halt, ideas stopped coming. Jeffrey dismissed them all with the order to reconvene the meeting if they came up with new ideas or had further information.

The crew began to notice the jumping from one grid location to another – they occurred in very short bursts, and each burst left a subliminal lurching sensation. Because Jeffrey had been concerned about jumping too fast in system, Elizabeth kept the inner system jumps to 4C. At each stop, Elizabeth took a good look around, dropped the buoy, then jumped to the next point. At each of these jump points, there was a large quantity of radio communications that had to be analyzed, so she recorded it and analyzed the traffic during the following jump. Some of the radio communications were old broadcasts from decades earlier, others were regular ship-to-ship communications, both vintage and recent. But so far nothing from Wanigan.

Jeffrey left the bridge in the care ofPetty Officer Jane Smythe. He went to his cabin, found Sandra, took her by the hand, and went to the cabin assigned to Dr. Jack Pelan, the psychiatrist he had asked to come along. Pelan answered his door chime and asked Jeffrey what he and Sandra wanted.Jeffrey explained the deal he had made with Sandra to address psychological or counseling issues they both likely had that related to their spouses deaths.

Dr. Pelan asked where he would like to do the counseling, Jeffrey suggested the bridge's conference room, which could be made private by polarizing the windows. Pelan told him to be there in fifteen minutes, he had something to finish up. That was when Jeffrey saw the Marine Psychologist, Sgt. Alicia Quinn in Pelan's cabin. She poked her head out, asking Pelan what was going on. Pelan turned a couple shades of pink, then mumbled something.

Jeffrey asked if it would be beneficial to have Quinn sit in on the session. Pelan thought so, so she would meet them with him in fifteen minutes. Jeffrey and Sandra went to the galley and asked Chief Cinny Mafiorte if they could have some pastries and coffee for four delivered to the conference room in fifteen minutes. Chief Mafiorte said she would take care of it.

Jeffrey noticed on the way to the bridge that there were a lot of Marines sitting around doing pretty much nothing. When he arrived to the bridge, he had Elizabeth page Captain Smythe to the confrerence room. Smythe arrived a couple minutes later and asked what Jeffrey wanted.

“Captain, I don't like being taken by surprise. Would you please drill your Marines on boarding and anti-boarding combat techniques? We may find it valuable to have had some practice if we need to fight off some enemies or alternatively to board someone's ship. Let's sharpen our best weapon, okay?”

Captain Smythe agreed, thinking it would be a good idea to do just that, and was chagrined that he hadn't thought of it himself. He said he would get right on it. After Smythe left, Jeffrey asked Elizabeth if they had enough raw materials to make the soft suits for everyone on board that didn't already have a set. She reported that she did, and would get right on it.

The two shrinks arrived at the conference room a few minutes later. They seated themselves across the table from Jeffrey and Sandra. They both had data pads and began to enter information on their new patients. Jeffrey suggested they code their identities so information remained more confidential than their normal patients – Jeffrey had quite a few enemies that had considerable technical skills and he didn't think he wanted his files open to anyone else.

“A little unusual, Captain, after all, we try to treat everybody's charts in confidence,” said Pelan. But Quinn, quite a bit more used to the military's demand for secrecy, explained it to Pelan.

“Sweety,” she began explaining to Pelan. He blanched at the public familiarity she exhibited. “Oh, don't worry, the Captain has relaxed the rules on cohabiting on ship. It was approved up the line too.” Still, Pelan looked uncomfortable, but she went on. “The Navy uses psychological or psychiatric information to get on the wrong side of their enemies. You can bet their enemies want to get the low-down and dirty on our captain.”

“Ah,” replied Pelan. “I understand. Captain, don't worry, we'll encrypt all our notes and identities. Quinn and I will need to gather some information from each of you. But first, is there any reason you want to do this together?”

Sandra answered, “Well, we both have similar problems, and we have been in a relationship. Getting him to agree to counseling involved promising to do it myself. We're in this together.” As she was finishing her statement, Chong Kim knocked on the door, then pushed it open. She carried a tray of coffee and pastries for everybody. She asked Jeffrey if there was anything else they needed. He said “No,” and she left.

“To begin with, Captain, tell me about the issues you think are most likely to make you want to talk to me.”

Jeffrey began the narrative – he had a bit of practice telling the story over the last year to more people, and he gave the long version. He concluded with the adoption of so many people and his AI as his family, the latest member, of course was Sandra.

Then the Doctor asked Sandra to relate her story, and she told the same tale she told Jeffrey. The captain was the first person she had gotten close to since her husband had died.

Quinn was still taking notes when Dr. Pelan announced, “I think I see enough parallels between your two stories to agree with your decision to meet simultaneously, but I think I would like to do some of the therapies individually.” He looked up at Quinn, and asked, “Do you think you could address the therapy for Ms. Knutson while I address the Captain's?”

“Sure. But before we talk about that,” said Quinn, “Let's discuss what you think you understand about the two patients.”

“Of course.” The doctor stroked his chin. “To begin with, both of these people had pirate attacks that took away their loved ones. The captain's wife was raped and murdered, Ms. Knutson was gang raped and left for dead. Both have similar unfinished emotional baggage related to their losses. I think they both have managed to push the pain down somewhat. Ms. Knutson, you have been more self-healing than the Captain, he has reacted by pushing the emotions down, and only recently has made any attempt to normalize his emotions. So Jeffrey may need a different set of therapies. But as a couple, they could also be served together in couples therapy.

“Captain, Ms. Knutson, lets call this meeting over, I'll write up a course of therapies for both of you, and we'll meet at this time next week, okay?”

Jeffrey looked over to Sandra to confirm it would work for her, she nodded, so he said, “Good. Next week then. Thank you Doctor, Sargent.”

But Quinn said, “Sir, if you don't mind, while I am in the role as counselor, please refer to me as Dr. Quinn, rather than by my rank.”

Jeffrey realized her position – as a Sargent she was in the chain of command and was subordinate to the captain, as a psychologist, her PhD meant she was able to speak frankly to the captain or his lover. “Certainly Dr. Quinn. I meant no insult.”

“None taken. Thanks, sir.”

After the mental health professionals left, Jeffrey asked Sandra, “Well, what do you think?”

“I'm glad you thought of this. I realize you are going to have some time away from me while you are addressing a lot of problems, but it really means a lot for you to include me in your plans.” She leaned on him lovingly. Jeffrey wondered if the therapy would put any distance between them, but dismissed the thought. Not gonna happen. Emotionally, he liked a position of stasis – things not happening too much. Like swimming in cold water, if you didn't move, you built a shield of slightly warmer water around yourself that helped keep you warm, but as soon as you broke that bubble of warm water around yourself, you were struck with the chill cold of the lake. So by not having too many changes in his emotional state, he didn't have the pain of facing his demons. This activity today was like belly-flopping into arctic waters. He had to watch how he reacted to the way the shrinks dragged up his past and the rest of his emotional state. And not allow it to affect his judgment in the upcoming confrontations.

He kissed her lightly on her cheek. “Go organize our cabin. I'll be along soon enough.”

“Yeah, right.” She got up anyway. “You know I care for you.”

“I know. Let's get along with this therapy. I think it holds some promise for us. You're one of the most important people to me. I just want life to be good for us together.” She kissed him back, chastely, on the cheek. No promise of anything there. Oh well.

Kim entered the conference room. “Are we all done in here?” she asked, beginning to collect mugs and plates. When Jeffrey nodded, she continued to collect the detritus of the meeting. He held onto his own mug, however and refilled it.

“Kim,” he waved to a chair. “Have a seat.”

“Oh. I need to get back to the kitchen, Chief will have my...oh wait, she works for you. Okay.” She sat herself down. They had been traveling for a couple hours, and if Jeffrey knew the Chief, was probably driving Kim pretty hard.

“How is it going with the Chief?”

“She seems nice, but we haven't stopped except to deliver coffee to you and come get the cups.” Kim blew a stray hair out of her face, then drew on her repertoire of facial expressions that indicated tired frustration.

“It's only been a couple of hours. Give her some time,I think she's just testing your limits. She is a well-seasoned veteran of both the combat world and the kitchen. I trust her, and know you can do it. You won't knock off for a few hours, but tell her for me that I want you and her to set up a formal dinner in my cabin for four. My table is only sized for two. She gets to set the menu, and I expect both of you to serve, and to dress in full dress uniform. Tell her that.” Jeffrey half-grinned at the young woman.

“But Captain, I don't have a uniform.” she blustered.

“Tell her that, too.”

“Okay. Thank you, Captain. What time do you wish to reserve for us?”

“Twenty hours.”

“Okay.”

“On the ship, young lady, it is Okay, Sir. Or Okay, Captain. Or Aye, Captain.”

“Oh. Aye, Captain.” she finished as she gathered the rest of the mugs, coffee service and plates, and wiped down the conference table. She quickly went back to report to the Chief. Jeffrey then called Sandra with his dinner plan, she asked who the other two were, he told her. She broke out laughing. He asked her to dress up, but keep her soft suit on underneath. She was still laughing as they broke the connection.

A few minutes later, the Chief paid a visit to the bridge, wanting more details on the dinner he expected her to cater. Jeffrey told her that it was strictly need to know, and at this time, she did not need to know. He asked if it was more than she could handle after preparing for the crew and the hungry Marines, knowing full well, this was going to be a challenge.

“Kim doesn't have a uniform,” objected the Chief.

“Ask Elizabeth to make one for her. She can have it done in a few minutes. She already has her measurements from a few months ago. So I'll ask again, is this too much for you?”

“You just wait and see, sir. Nowhere too much.” Said the chief smartly.

“Very well. Anything else,” he asked, dismissively.

“No sir. I'd better get busy.”

“I'll check on your progress in a bit.”

“Thank you, sir.” she dripped unenthusiastically.

Jeffrey then went to see how Captain Smythe was doing with his Marines. At the processing center he saw a small team of Marines squatting, looking around a corner with laser pistols at the ready. He noted that they all wore their kinetic weapons in their shoulder holsters. He stood where he was, waiting until the Marines completed their operation. In this case it was an ambush drill and shortly after Jeffrey arrived behind the team, their targets walked into view, looking nervously left and right, up and down. At a silent signal, the team burst out from their hiding place shouting for the targets to put their hands up, drop their weapons, get on their knees. Then one of the ambush team said, 'Oh shit.'

“What?”

“There's one missing.” At that moment a burst of low level laser blasts struck each of the ambush team causing the sensors on their uniforms to emit an alarm chirping. Captain Smythe blew his whistle to stop the exercise. All the Marines that participated gathered around, then were surrounded by the rest of the Marines. The captain allowed the ambush team to critique their performance, then the target team, then the observers. The comments were to the point, non-judgmentaland honest. Jeffrey liked the method of Smythe's training and told him so. He informed Smythe of the dinner at 20:00, and asked that he made certain the Marines were fed before then. Smythe affirmed. “Who's coming aboard?” asked the Marine captain.

Jeffrey told him what he told the Chief, “Sorry, that's classified – need to know, and for now, you don't need to know. But if you stop by my cabin around 21:00, say, to report on the training, well, I can't stop you from seeing the guests atmy table.”

“Thanks, sir.” Then he turned back to his squads and told them to re-run the exercise from a different location.

He then went to the bridge and told Petty Officer Smythe to take a few hours break,but be back by 19:00 to relieve him in plenty of time to prepare for his special guests. She was glad for the break, having been in the command chair since they took off. She left the bridge with the captain in charge. Jeffrey inquired of Specialist Dux if they had found any promising communications, but she replied in the negative. “There are a lot of alien communications, somelong-traveling entertainment communications from the various stations and planets, with various time stamps, but nothing recognized as from Wanigan.

While waiting for anything to surface from Wanigan, he began reviewing the files of all his officers and men to further familiarize himself with them. He started with the bridge crew, then moved on to the psych people. He was surprised to learn that Sgt. Alicia Quinn was not only a licensed psychologist, but a specialist in Artificial Intelligence. He set aside his foray through the personnel files and had Quinn come to the bridge. When she arrived, he asked her, “Quinn, what are your goals? In the service, on my ship, what do you want to be doing?”

As anyone with a few brain cells to rub together would do, she wondered about the question itself, what were the motivations behind it, what did it all mean? She finally answered, “Well, sir, I have a lot of skills that I would like to exercise, my counseling, my interrogating, and I have a side interest in artificial intelligence.”

“It's that last I wanted to talk to you about. I've just been reviewing personnel records and saw your AI specialty. Have you met the ship's AI yet?”

“No sir, I was only on the ship a couple of times, and for short durations. I never had a chance to analyze your AI.”

“Quinn, then I think you need to meet Elizabeth. Elizabeth, say hello to the good doctor.”

“HELLO, DR. QUINN. I'VE READ YOUR PUBLICATIONS. I THINK YOU ARE PRETTY TALENTED. BUT YOU MADE A FEW ERRORS IN THE SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN OF LAST YEAR, HAVING TO DO WITH THE VALUE OF WEIGHING JUDGMENT SKILLS OVER INTROSPECTIVE REPLAY. AND I DON'T THINK YOU GAVE ENOUGH IMPORTANCE TO EMOTIONAL STABILITY OF A TRULY INTELLIGENT AI.”

“I...well I, uh...”

Jeffrey helped her. “Just say 'hi.'”

“Hi. Elizabeth?”

“THAT'S RIGHT, DR. QUINN. I TOOK THE NAME OF THE CAPTAIN'S LATE WIFE, AND ADOPTED SOME OF HER PERSONALITY TRAITS AND VOICE. I RUN THE SHIP, SO WHEN YOU SPEAK OF THE ELIZABETH, YOU SPEAK OF ME. CAPTAIN SOKOLOV THINKS OF ME AS THE SHIPS AVATAR.”

“I see. I would really like to see your programming. You seem to be a more advanced intelligent creature.” Dr. Quinn looked to the captain. Sir, is it all right if I look at Elizabeth's code? She is by far one of the best examples of adaptive AI that I've ever seen. Where did you get it?”

“I bought it military surplus, then adapted the code to my own needs,” replied Jeffrey. He recognized the signs – another publication coming out of service on the Elizabeth. He suggested that Dr. Quinn and Elizabeth carry on in her office, but that Dr. Quinn needed to realize that there were barriers of trust that she would need to overcome before Elizabeth would grant her access to some of her code.

Dux had witnessed the entire transaction, so Jeffrey asked her what her opinion of the proceedings after Quinn left. She thought about it for a second, then shifted in her chair to a more comfortable position. “Sir, I think Dr. Quinn is an intellectual sort of scientist. But I don't know if she understands the deep emotions that one of Elizabeth's clones or Elizabeth herself has. Maybe if she got to know her better...” She trailed off.

Jeffrey said, “I think Elizabeth can take care of herself, she won't be fooled by anything that Dr. Quinn tries. I suspect that she might analyze Dr. Quinn!” They both had a quiet laugh at that. Of course, Jeffrey knew that Elizabeth was monitoring the conversation, as she monitored everything in the ship. She was likely to take a hint from Jeffrey's ruminations.

At 19:00 Petty Officer Smythe returned to the bridge, Jeffrey gave her his chair, and walked back to his own cabin. He saw that the table had been replaced with a larger one with four chairs instead of two, a small refrigerator was moved into the cabin as well. Sandra was adding some jewelery to her ears – bells and chimes that dangled and rang. Her outfit seemed perfect – a long cerulean dress over her softsuit, highly polished boots, her hair intricately bound on her head. Jeffrey stared at her for half a minute. Finally said, “You are so beautiful.” Then he caught a whiff of her perfume and realized that she knew how to put a package together. “Smell good too.”

He took a shower, got dressed in his formal Navy uniform, double-breasted jacket with the two rows of shiny buttons, pants with a stripe down the outer seam, captain's insignia, shiny black boots. “You wash up well,” said Sandra with a smile. “I think I won't mind sitting next to you.”

At one minute to the appointed time, the door chime went off. Jeffrey answered the door, and let the Chief and her apprentice in. They were dressed in first class uniforms, but both wore clean starched white aprons over them.

They set the table, brought out the soup – a golden mushroom in a wine reduction base. Jeffrey apologized for not checking up on the kitchen, but management of the ship took precedence. He inquired on the menu, was told of the soup, a small salad, a roast beef in a burgundy reduction, with fresh green beans from the garden the Chief had rescued in Janet's absence. The desert was to be a fruit compote in a puff pastry shell with fried cheese cap. Coffee, tea and various wines to be served depending on what Jeffrey's guests wanted.

“Very well, they are almost here. My guests are extremely important people, so I need you to look your best. Please remove your aprons.” They did, stowed them under the cart that carried the entre' and other fare. Jeffrey then asked the Chief to sit down for a minute in one chair, and Kim to sit in the other. He framed their faces with his hands like an old movie director might to catch a scene in his mind, then asked Sandra what she thought. She held one hand up, her fingers making an 'L' shape, as if measuring height, first for the Chief, then for Kim. She asked Kim to sit a little straighter. The poor bewildered girl

had no idea what to think, but she sat up straighter. Unconsciously, so did the Chief.

“Okay, let's dig in,” said Jeffrey. He spooned in the mushroom soup. “Mmm. This is good,” he said with a mouthful. Sandra agreed. He looked over to the Chief, and said, “Well, don't just sit there. In case you hadn't figured it out yet, you are my important guests. Eat. Eat.”

Sandra repeated, “Eat, eat.”

“But, but, but..”stammered Chief Cinny Mafiorte. “I, uh Sir, I...”

“What she's trying to say,” Jeffrey said to Kim, “is she isn't used to being thought of as an important part of the ship. And what I'm trying to say is, you two are one of the most important parts. This is a practice run for a time when I am actually going to have an important outside guest. But tonight, you are my guests. Please enjoy the fruits of your labors.”

Tears streamed down the Chief's cheeks, and threatened to drip into the soup. Jeffrey reached across the table with his napkin and blotted her cheeks. She calmed down, Kim put the napkin in her lap and enjoyed the soup. Then they all enjoyed the salads. Jeffrey poured wine for everyone, including Kim, but the chief diluted hers. The main course found them all chatting amiably, the desert course laughing. A chime of the door bell gave Jeffrey an idea of the time. “Let me guess – Captain Smythe.” Sure enough, it was. He looked around Jeffrey and saw who the important guests were, realization dawning on his mind. He gave a quick, non-report, then excused himself.

Jeffrey finally decided to call it a night, helped the Chief load the cart, thanked them for their dedicated service, and gave them hugs. Sandra did likewise. Then they saw the kitchen crew out.

“Well, that was a nice surprise, Jeffrey,” said Sandra. “We gave them a bit of what-for, didn't we?”

“We did, indeed, my lady. How about we drop these duds and practice our canoodling skills?” Jeffrey suggested. They did.