◆ ◆ ◆
“How can I help you, Dr. Teltar?” Marc asked. Dr. Teltar had asked for an urgent appointment, and Marc was very curious as to what could be so urgent.
“I’m here on behalf of myself and the other Paraxeans who accompanied Captain Blake on the exploration mission,” Dr. Teltar said. “We would all like to accompany you on your mission to Artemis.”
“What about Governor Paratar’s mission?”
“He has other specialists available to cover what we do,” Dr. Teltar said.
“Interesting, but I still don’t understand?”
“We all find Artemis more interesting. You’ll be doing more serious terraforming, and also will likely introduce more plants and animals from Earth than will be done on Mangkatar. We think there will be more to learn.”
“Have you talked to the governor yet?”
“No. We didn’t want to antagonize him until we were sure you would take us.”
“I don’t have an objection as long as it doesn’t jeopardize the mission to Mangkatar,” Marc said. “Is there another reason?”
“Only that we enjoy interacting with you humans,” Dr. Teltar said. “We find you more impulsive and exciting. We’d like to see what else we can learn from you.”
◆ ◆ ◆
It had been a hectic week. Liz was reviewing her checklist on the datapad her aide had given her. She regretted for the umpteenth time not having the nanite treatment like Catie so she could handle these checklists without having to carry a pad around.
“I don’t care if the Paraxeans want more space, we are not going to fly with our one flight bay packed with other crap. We have to be able to conduct operations from there, and we need room to conduct any necessary repairs. Tell them to stack their stuff tighter, triple bunk, or leave the stuff for the StarMerchant to bring later,” Liz told her loadmaster.
“Yes, Ma’am,” the loadmaster said with a big smile. She had obviously wanted to tell the Paraxeans the same thing.
Liz stepped off the lift and into the converted flight bay. She was here to inspect the rec space. With the pressure building on the cargo space, she wanted to make sure the Paraxeans hadn’t started using this space, too. She was not interested in finding out how two thousand Paraxeans interacted with the two hundred Delphinean crew after a few weeks of forced confinement. They each needed to have their own space that they could retreat to if things got tense.
“You cannot stack that here!” Liz ordered.
“But we need this,” the Paraxean loader said.
“I don’t care. You have to leave this space open, so it’s available during our voyage.”
“But it’s so much space.”
“I don’t think you’re going to think that after having to go three weeks or so with this being the only space you can relax in.”
“But the trip is only supposed to take two weeks.”
“Yes, and we’ll be spending the next three weeks after that unloading all the stuff from the Sakira. And during most of that time, you’ll still be living up here.”
“But . . .”
“I don’t care, get it out of here!” Liz ordered.
“Yes, Ma’am.”
“Chief, are these cabins secure?”
“Yes, Ma’am. We’ve inspected them and done a few tests. They’ll handle up to six Gs.”
“How about our spaceplanes?”
“They’re all tied down, so they’ll stay in place. Just don’t go flipping her around willy-nilly like, and they’ll be fine,” the chief replied.
“I think I can manage that,” Liz said as she headed back to the lift with her aide rushing to keep up.
◆ ◆ ◆
On Saturday, August 21st, at 2340, the Sakira and the Roebuck headed out on their trip to Mangkatar. It would take two weeks to reach the planet, and most of the time, the crew and passengers would be under restrictions due to the high acceleration they would be experiencing. Liz felt the time pressure; they needed to complete this mission on time so that they could get the mission to Artemis underway. Everyone wanted to make sure that the colony was well established before the aliens showed up in the spring.
◆ ◆ ◆
“Hey, Catie. How are things at the Academy?” Liz asked. She and Catie were trying to talk at least twice a week, which usually ended up being during one of Catie’s two self-study sessions. The study sessions were really time set aside when Catie could freely use her Comm to catch up with her projects; one of them had been set so it coincided with the board meetings.
“It’s going fine. I like my new roommate. We’re going to visit her family in France during the fall break.”
“That’s over your birthday, right?”
“Yes.”
“Are you keeping up with the coursework?”
“Sure, it’s not that hard.”
“How are you and Baker getting along?”
“He’s fine. After Guatemala, we seem to be on the same page a lot more.”
“Good. Is Morgan looking after you?”
“She is. For someone who’s supposed to be the volleyball coach, she sure manages to be in the same place as me a lot. And I’m not even on the volleyball team.”
“She was always clever,” Liz said. “How are you doing with the leadership training?”
“It’s okay. I am getting tired of rifle drills, though.”
“That stuff should start slacking off now.”
“I hope,” Catie said. “How’s your mission going, Captain?”
Liz laughed a bit. “It’s going fine. We’re making the jumps now, so we’re under reduced acceleration for a while. Everyone’s enjoying the ability to get up and around. We should make the last jump tomorrow, then we have six days of high deceleration before we make orbit.”
“Sounds good. Are you dropping a Lynx off on the way?”
“No, why would we do that?”
“It would save a week getting the asteroids you need for the colony. The crew can do a really hard decel in the Lynx and then grab the asteroids while you’re still heading to the planet.”
“I’ll check with Chief Hopkins and see if he can set that up,” Liz said. “Anything to keep this schedule.”
“How are you guys doing syncing up the jumps between the Sakira and the Roebuck?”
“That’s gone smoothly.
