“Thanks. Could I ask you a question, Ace?”
“Sure, Boss. What do you need?”
“I expected you to transfer to the Puller, the way you talked the other day, and yet, here you are. Mind explaining that?”
“Like I said then, I flew one of the Puller’s sister ships. They were nearly the same, but all ships have their own quirks. Flying the Puller would remind me of all the things I miss, without really being the same.”
“Better watch that, Ace. You go making emotional decisions like that, somebody will accuse you of being organic.”
“You think there’s any chance of finding the rest of the Navy, Boss?”
“After all this time, I seriously doubt we could find every ship. Some of them are bound to have been scrapped or lost by now. But the Navy built ships tough, I’m sure there are still a lot of them flying, if we can find them. You want to get back to your old ship?”
“That would be nice, but I guess it wouldn’t be the same without all the Marines we used to carry.”
“You know we’re buying Marines as fast as we can find them, right?”
“Our boys were special. They didn’t get sold. I don’t know where they went, or whether they got scrapped.”
“You mean there is a whole unit of Marines, unaccounted for?”
“I saw them leave the Navy yard, on a transport, but I never was able to find out where they took them.”
“Maybe Sally knows something about it. We’ll ask her when we get back.”
“Thanks, Boss. Those boys meant a lot. Not knowing what happened has always bothered me.”
“I’ll do what I can to help you figure it out, but you know I can’t promise you anything, after all this time.”
“I know that, Boss, but it means a lot that you’re willing to try.” We sat and talked, until Julie stuck her head in and said, “Time for another course, Boss. Rhonda says she is going to start some lunch.”
“What about Lyla?”
“The autodoc has finally decided she is out of danger. It thinks she will be ready to come out about the time we come out of FTL.”
“That’s good news. So much for trying to keep her from knowing where Charlie’s Planet is.”
“We could keep her asleep, and drop her off somewhere else, Boss.”
“No, I’ll just make her silence part of the price of her rescue. She’ll be mad, but she’ll get over it.”
“If you’re sure. It wouldn’t be any trouble to keep her in the box.”
“No, we need to get her out, and find out how she got herself in that mess in the first place.”
I went and got my training. When I woke up, fleet maneuvers were beginning to make sense. I went back to the galley, following my nose. Whatever Rhonda was working on smelled wonderful. I said, “Okay, what else do you need?”
“What do you mean, Boss?”
“If you’re making me something that smells that good, you must still be trying to get me to do something.”
“Couldn’t I just be thanking you for agreeing to try and get my friend approved to talk to?”
“You could, but somehow I don’t think that’s the case.”
“Okay, so I was wondering if I could learn to fly?”
“I would think you probably could, the saucers aren’t that tough, and you’re not a moron.”
She looked like she wanted to slap me, but didn’t. “No, silly, I was asking permission.”
I thought on that for a second. “You’re asking permission from me, not Zoom or Scotti, and you’re doing it while I can’t check in with them to see what they think about it. That makes me suspicious that they have a good reason to make you wait, and you’re trying to get around that.”
“How do you figure things out so quick? I thought I was being subtle.”
“You were. I’ve never seen you act that way before, so I assumed something was up.”
“Dangit, Boss!”
“What’s wrong? Don’t like a challenge?”
“Zoom wants me to learn a bunch of other stuff, before she lets me take the course for piloting.”
“You don’t see why those courses are important, and think you should skip to the ones you actually want to take, right?”
“Well, yes.”
“You know Zoom. Do you really think she wants you to take those courses just to be mean to you?”
“No, she just wants me to have the background, in case something goes wrong, while I’m flying.”
“We’ve got some time, before we get back. If you got to work on what she wants you to take, you could be ready for the pilot course by the time we got back. Or, you can keep griping about how it isn’t fair, and still be right where you are, when we get there. Your choice.”
“Dang you, and dang your logic! I’ll get started after we eat, Boss.”
“That’s the way to get what you want. A wise man once said, ‘Whatever the hard thing is, do that. It’s most likely the right thing.’”
“What movie is that from?”
“No movie, that I know of, the Travis McGee books. I do read, you know.”
“Never heard of them.”
“You probably wouldn’t like them. The girl always dies, in the end.”
“Why?”
“I guess it was the easiest way to keep Travis from having a bunch of attachments, that would complicate the story.”
“Strange.”
“I suppose. What are you making that smells so good, anyhow?”
“Mom’s spaghetti recipe.”
We ate spaghetti, and I helped her clean up. Then I hooked her up for the first of the courses Zoom had said were prerequisites for pilot training. Once she was started, I went to the cockpit. “How’s it going, Ace?”
“Smooth, Boss. You might want to check in with Shorty, though. I think you sent him
