“You’ve seen Pete, and these two have been around at least as long as he has. I wouldn’t risk any money against them, that’s for sure. Different subject, do you have Random’s comm code?”
“I do. You want me to let her know that Lyla got hurt?”
“That would be great. Is the Gene still in the system?”
“I think so, why?”
“I thought I would call Willum and give him the news. Did you pass along the coordinates from Phonelia?”
“I did, as soon as Commodore Grandpa came out of FTL.”
“He must be loving that name.”
“I haven’t had the guts to say it to his face, yet.”
“I better let you go, I just called because I hadn’t checked in for a while, and I missed hearing your voice. I love you, and the kids, too.”
“You don’t love Snitz?”
“I do, but I’m a little disappointed. He didn’t figure out a way to sneak aboard and keep me company.”
“I’m sure he’ll try harder next time. Love you too, Caveman. Bye.” She was gone again, and that wasn’t my favorite feeling. I called Willum. “Delicious! Are you back among us?”
“Nope. I’m at Earth, more or less. I have some news you probably could do without.”
“One of the girls got hurt? Which one?”
“Lyla. The ‘doc says we got her in quick enough, but it still won’t tell us how long she’s going to need.”
“What happened?”
“I’m hoping she can clear that up when she gets out of the box. We found some baddies, using her tumbling saucer for bait. By the time we got done explaining things to them, she was in no shape to talk. Compensator failed on her saucer, and tossed her around pretty good.”
“Sounds nasty. You say she’s going to be alright?”
“That’s what the autodoc tells us, we don’t have John with us, of course.”
“Will you let me know, when you find out more?”
“We’re going back into FTL in a couple of hours, and by the time we get to Charlie’s, you’ll probably have pulled out for other places. I’ll get the news to you as soon as I can.”
“I better call her sister and tell her.”
“Nikki is taking care of that. Talk to you later, Willum.”
“Later, Bob. Thanks for calling.”
“You’re welcome.” I felt the need for a little fun, so I decided to comm Dingus.
“Hey, Bob.”
“Hey, Commodore. How are things going?”
“Going fine, getting things sorted out for the jump to that other system.”
“Is Nikki going with you?”
“She’s planning to wait for you, last I heard.”
“Good, she knows where you’re going.”
“I could send it to you.”
“Thanks, but I’d rather keep that address off the comms, even if we think we have them secure. The last thing we need is somebody catching us with all our ships torn down for maintenance.”
“Sally wants to put out a sensor net as soon as we get there, and keep at least one ship ready to react to whatever comes our way, so that won’t be a big issue, but I see your point. It would be better to avoid trouble if we could.”
“I was hoping we could use this system, without having to keep a guard there all the time. We don’t have enough resources to be tying them up like that.”
“That’s true, but who do you expect to come after us?”
“Nebulous unknown enemy number two. Or three, if you count the pirates.”
“You’re saying you think there is someone out there who will take exception to us, that we haven’t even met yet?”
“Would you be willing to risk an ounce that there isn’t?”
“No, I would not. We need to be ready, whether they exist or not, is that what you mean?”
“Yessir, it is. So far, we’ve never had more resources than we needed. All of a sudden, we have a great big fleet. I have to think that means Murphy is going to find us a use for it.”
“I truly wish that didn’t sound so logical, Bob.”
“You’re not the only one. I’d love to think we could convert all the carriers into colony ships, like the Gene used to be, and plant happy little colonies of shaved apes all over the galaxy.”
“Where would we find that many people, Bob?”
“I dunno. Turn Shady Oaks into a franchise?”
“That sounds tricky. You can’t exactly advertise, ‘Come to our old folks home. If you pass a simple test, we’ll knock forty years off your age and send you to the stars’, now can you?”
“You’re right, that wouldn’t fly. If the need comes up, we’ll think of something, we always do.”
“On more pressing business, Steve checked in when his fleet came out in the Dinosaur system. He found another one of those junkers Earth had captured.”
“Was he able to rescue the crew?”
“Barely. They had made a landing, and nearly gotten eaten, before he got there. He says their ship got stomped to smithereens.”
“That’s impressive, against hull metal.”
“That’s what he said. He’s trying to get the people collected, and get out of Dodge before his Marines have to deal with whatever did it.”
“Wise plan. Is he having more problems than we expected?”
“No, I don’t think so. He’s just having to get used to command, but Bucky is helping him figure that out.”
“That’s good. I don’t know what I would do without Nikki.”
“You need anything else, Bob?”
“I don’t think so. Just needed a break from delivering bad news.”
“Oh? Who was in the saucer you rescued?”
“Lyla. And no, I don’t know how she got herself in such a predicament, or how soon she’ll wake up and tell us. Bunch of idiots was using her for bait, though. According to Bill, the company accounts will appreciate their contribution.”
“More pirates?”
“Sure what it looks like, but I don’t know much
