Peace of
Mind Peace of
Mind It was one of those quick waking dreams. He was strapped into an Eagle lifting off, just feeling the pressure of acceleration against his chest when he woke with a start. Helena stood in front of him with a smile on her face and the weight of acceleration turned into two warm sleeping bodies huddled against his chest.
“Part of putting them to sleep is actually getting them into bed,” Helena teased softly, reaching down to lift the deeply asleep two-year-old from his lap. David’s head lolled limply as his mother turned him and settled him against her own shoulder.
John gathered up Stephen who was straddled across his left leg, head tucked against John’s chest, mouth slightly open. John’s shirt was damp where the sleeping child had drooled against him. He stood and followed his wife to the boys’ bedroom. Helena gently laid the younger boy on his side of the bed and John quickly followed suit with his eldest son. Helena pulled up the sheet with gentle care despite the fact that neither boy had stirred at all. From experience John knew that at this point a marching band could make their way through the room and the boys would sleep through it.
He moved to the other side of the bed and put his arm around Helena. Together they watched their sons for a moment. Stephen had a slight smile on his face. His hair was the color of milk chocolate, straight and silky. David’s was an unruly cap of jet black curls. Without waking David turned and curled toward his brother with a sigh. The parents exchanged a smile and moved out of the bedroom.
“What time is it?” John asked with a yawn.
“A little after midnight. What time did you three fall asleep?”
“Some time after nine, I guess. Stephen dropped off around then, and David begged me to finish the story.”
“Did you?”
John picked up the discarded book from the floor, a battered paperback copy of “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.” “I don’t think so.” He carefully set the book on the table. “You know, these things are going to wear out.”
“Maybe they can be digitized somehow.”
“I’ll ask Sandra about that. We’d need some kind of reader too, I guess. That would be awkward, having two kids on your lap and balancing a reader. It’s hard enough with a book.” John sat down on the sofa and held his arm out.
Helena settled next to him and rested her head on his shoulder. He kissed her silky blonde hair, a match for Stephen’s brown version.
“How would you feel about reading to three kids?” Helena asked quietly.
“Three?” John smiled. “Perhaps a pretty little girl who looks like her mother this time?”
“Well, I’ll be happy with a healthy little anything.”
“True,” John pulled Helena closer. “Well count me in. I’ll be happy to cooperate in any way.”
Helena turned and met his eyes. “I was thinking that this next one… we should be setting an example.”
John felt a touch of frost blow through his heart. “We did say two children for each married couple.”
“And we both know that we kind of cheated on the first one. Not everyone has that luxury. John, I’m not sure I can manage a fourth…”
She didn’t finish the sentence with the usual ‘at my age.’ She knew he hated it when she said that. But it was still clearly implied. He really wanted to say no. He wanted to tell her he didn’t think he could handle this, and he didn’t want to share his wife, even in some symbolic way. He really wanted to stand up and pace around the room and forbid her to do this. And he knew he couldn’t do any of those things. So he simply said, “With whom?”
“I’m planning to ask Alan. We already share child care duties with the Carters, so it would be easy to add another child into the mix.”
“When would,” he thought carefully about how to word this. “This happen?”
“Within the next month, or two. I’ll need to check Alan’s chart and mine. Take us both off the birth control we’re using. We could use IVF, but I didn’t have a problem conceiving and we could just as easily go with AI like we did for Stephen.”
John had helped with Stephen. They had done it together here in their quarters. It had been very simple, if a bit clinical, while the aftereffects of Magus had made it necessary for David to be conceived with in vitro fertilization. But their two beautiful sons were worth it. He knew how much this meant to Helena, and to all of Alpha. Any reservations would be kept to himself.
Trying to distract himself, he ran a suggestive hand down her side. He leaned over and kissed the back of her neck. “Would any of that preclude purely recreational activities tonight?”
Helena turned and brushed her lips against his. “I can’t see why it would.” She smiled at him and the two stood together and headed for their bedroom.
John remained awake long after Helena fell asleep. She lay close and he could feel her breath warm against his bare shoulder. His thoughts boiled in a useless pattern no matter which way he tried to direct them. It always came back to the fact that Alpha needed him to let Helena do this her way, no matter what his personal views were. When he finally drifted off to sleep it was a restless and unsatisfying kind of sleep with strange disjointed dreams.
He awoke several hours later with a need so great he could barely control himself. He turned to Helena. Her bare back was turned toward him and he reached out, drawing his hand along her bare skin, the burn inside him increasing as he felt her skin against the palm of his hand. She rolled toward him and he bent down and kissed her, trying to keep the kiss soft and light, but failing miserably. He wanted her, and the gentle tenderness of earlier in the evening was long gone. He kissed her roughly and pressed against her, rolling on top of her.
Fortunately, Helena always had the knack of reading his moods and meshing with him. It was one of the things that he loved about her. Without a word, she responded and John lost himself in the moment, Helena’s encouragement all he needed. He unleashed his arousal and rode it to its wild conclusion. They finished breathless, sweaty and satisfied. He held her tight until her breathing became slow and even.
“Does Mommy have a tummy ache?” said a tiny voice at his ear.
“What!?” John jumped as if he’d been shot. Helena lay still beside him.
“Does Mommy have a tummy ache?” Stephen repeated. “She sounded like it.”
“Son, what are you doing up?” John tried to avoid the issue of the noises Helena had recently been making.
“I gotta go potty,” Stephen said. John could now see the little boy was jumping from one foot to the other. That spurred John to action. He sat up, reached for the pants discarded on the floor beside the bed earlier in the evening was soon pulling the boy by the hand to the bathroom.
Necessities attended to, John made sure small hands were washed and dried, and picked up his son and carried him back to bed. Stephens’s head had already dropped to John’s shoulder and he was sound asleep by the time John put him back in bed.
As he returned to his own bed he thought he heard his wife give a small giggle, but she lay still and he decided not to disturb her again, but he cuddled close and was soon sound asleep.
The next day brought welcome distraction. They had been passing close to a star system that had seemed to consist of a star slightly larger than Earth’s sun and two gas giants with assorted rocky moons. Now a terrestrial planet had come into view. It was at extreme Eagle range, but would remain within reach for about seventy days. It had an atmosphere, and a fairly high average temperature. A survey Eagle was sent out with a small diverse crew to see if there was any possibility of obtaining needed minerals or perhaps even colonizing the planet.
Over the next several days telemetry came in indicating the planet had little water and was very hot. By the third day John met with Maya and representatives from several science divisions and the command staff for a full report.
“The planet would not be habitable,” Maya reported. It was obvious to John that she had something positive to report, but it was not to declare that they had found a new home. “Both lack of water and distance to the sun preclude that, but there was life on the planet in the distant past.”
The astrophysicist at the table took over at this point. “It’s the age of the star. Six to eight hundred million years or so ago, this place would have been a garden spot. But the star has been expanding slowly, and has been heating up the place to its current temperature of around forty to fifty degrees C in the temperate zones. A bit cooler near the poles, of course. And very little precipitation.”
Dave Reilly had been sitting at one end of the table, engrossed in plastic printouts on the table in front of him, but he interrupted at this point. “The thing is, Commander,” he said with impatience. “We’re getting spectral analysis that indicates organics.”
“Nothing currently living,” Helena added, looking through her own data.
“No, but there was an awful lot of matter that is formerly living,” Dave replied. “Commander, I think there’s an excellent chance to find petroleum on the planet.”
“Petroleum?”
“We’d have to do some drilling, but I have the experience to choose the most likely places.”
“It is on our list of ‘most needed’ substances,” Maya said. It was obvious that she was a bit miffed with Dave for not letting her tell it in her own way.
“We use petroleum products for so many things,” Helena said, already looking eager. “Pharmeceuticals, disposable supplies…”
“Not to mention seals and lubricants of all kinds,” Alan added. He was already pulling a plastic notepad to him and beginning to make notes.
“Do we have the equipment to mine for it?” John asked.
“Standard drilling equipment is no problem,” Dave said.
“Transport will be the biggest issue,” Alan added without looking up from his notepad. “It’s a heavy liquid. We might be able to modify some fuel tanks to be carried by the Eagles…” He drifted off, lost in thought.
“Dave, an estimate of the time needed to find oil and begin pumping?”
“How many Eagles can you spare? The more teams I have looking, the quicker it’ll be. I’m that sure it’s out there.”
“John,” Helena said softly. “The more people who have the chance to breathe fresh air, the better.”
John nodded. “Alan? How many Eagles can you spare for a search?”
“How about five?” Alan asked. “Send out five teams to search and get things started while I modify tanks for at least that many more? Depending how many tanks I can outfit, we might be able to ferry them back and forth fairly quickly. I’ll need everyone who's pilot trained in the rotation.”
Tony cleared his throat. “Where are we going to put the stuff?”
“What?” Alan asked.
“Where are we going to put it? If you’re planning to ferry those tanks back and forth, where are we going to put gallons upon gallons of crude oil?”
John looked around the table. “Suggestions?”
Helena spoke up first. “It’s too flammable to keep anywhere near our air supply. We can’t take any chances.”
“Crude oil isn’t all that flammable,” Dave said. “But your point is taken. It’s a big moon. Why not just seal over a small crater and pour it in there?”
“Alan? Could technical do something like that?” John asked.
“Possibly. I’ll have to check.” He added to his other notes and glanced up. “I need some time to get some answers.”
John nodded. “We’ll meet back here in four hours.” He assigned something for each person at the table to investigate, everything from rosters for teams, materials needed to begin the procedure, and a timeline for having everything completed. People wouldn’t have left the room any quicker if he shouted ‘fire’, but there were smiles on their faces as they left. John watched them go with his own smile. Back on Earth an operation like this would have taken years of careful planning, and that before negotiations could begin on funding. His team would do the same thing in hours.
Answers abounded at the next meeting. An Eagle was already being loaded to set up a base camp at a latitude where the temperature would be livable, and a site had been tentatively chosen. A crater had been located that could be sealed with a silicon-based sealant – organics were rare on the moon, but silicon was not. Technical assured that the job could be done in the time allotted using an idea they had come up with and tested for storing excess water, using a huge bag made of a silicon polymer then covered with mylar to insulate and keep the liquid from boiling off in a vacuum. In fact they had already started production of similar smaller bags that would be used to line the tanks they were making to bring petroleum to the moon. The surrounding structure had to be rigid to accommodate lift in the Eagle, and these large tanks were also now under construction. By the time Reilly’s team struck oil, there would be a transportation and storage system in place. John placed Tony in charge of getting the long-term storage in place.
A duty roster had been submitted for mining, technical, support personnel, and pilots by various departments and coordinated by Helena who wanted as many people as possible – everyone if she could manage it – to have a chance to breathe fresh air. That had been factored in to the lists of how much food and water would need to be maintained at the base camp.
A timeline had been setup with deadlines for each section of the operation, and an overall deadline of when the last Eagle must lift from the planet to return to Alpha before the planet passed out of range.
John looked around the table at his staff. “Everything seems to be in order. I’m sure there will be things that come up and we’ll deal with them as they occur. Any questions?”
Dave Reilly stirred at the other end of the table. “Commander, Carol and I will both be on the planet for the duration. We’ll be wanting to take Todd with us.”
There was immediately silence around the table. Alan was the first to speak up. “Think that’s a good idea, Dave?”
“He’s only two years old, Alan. He can’t be away from his mam and dad for two months.”
John looked over at Helena for her opinion. “Of course it’s better for him to be with his parents. But we don’t know exactly what kind of environment we’re facing. Perhaps you could go ahead and someone scheduled to come down a few days later could bring him.”
Maya looked through her transportation schedule. “Carol will be in charge of setting up Food Service at base camp and will be one of the first down. The Bennetts will be joining her in three days. By then, we should have an idea of what the planet is like.”
Dave nodded. “We trade child duty with them. Their Cherie is only a few weeks younger than Todd. I can talk to them about watching him while we go down ahead.”
“Helena,” John said, looking through his notes. “Perhaps you can find some volunteers for child care duty. I’m guessing the Bennetts will feel similarly. It’s also a chance to rotate a few more people down to the planet.”
“I’m sure I can find some volunteers,” Helena said. “Can we get them in the transport schedule?”
“Send me your names and schedule as soon as you have it and I’ll fit them in,” Alan said. He looked at John. “I want all Petrol transport with two experienced pilots and no passengers. There’ll be no room for supercargo.”
John nodded. “That only makes sense.” He looked around the room. “Any further questions? If not, then I declare operation OPEC to be underway.”
If he thought his people burst into action at the end of the last meeting, this time is was like an explosion had occurred. Screens on every communications post on the base flashed with an overall countdown. Everyone had some place to go and a very short time to get things done. Announcements were made regarding departing Eagles and teams gathering for this meeting or that. People ran through the halls of Alpha rather than walking, and the activity continued far into the night.
By the second week Alpha had settled into a faster pace, but not the frantic action of the first few days. Base camp had been established. Teams were working on the craters and the system for transporting petroleum. Every mining and survey crew they had was down on the planet, spread out and searching diligently for oil. Helena rotated down to man the small first aid station set up at base camp. They took the necessary equipment to stabilize any victims of accidents so they could be safely transported to Alpha for treatment. John was scheduled to fly a series of petrol eagles once they were up and running, so he was home with the two boys.
Once Helena was settled at base camp she went to the communications post, an Eagle module fitted with their widest bandwith of data transmission. She knew it should be just about bed time for the boys and she could say goodnight. It was the first time she had been away from the two of them since their birth.
She called Alpha and was quickly patched through to her quarters.
“Mommy!” a jubilant voice cried after a short delay. The pickup showed only a small boy’s bare belly.
“Stevie? Did you climb on the desk?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Where’s your daddy?”
“In the shower with Davy.”
“Climb down to the chair, sweetheart, I can’t see you.”
The pickup nearly when dark as the little boy twisted around to climb down. Then he stood in the desk chair smiling at his mother. All he wore was a towel knotted around his neck and flapping behind him like a superman cape. His hair was wet and sticking out in all directions like St. Exupery’s Little Prince.
“Everything’s all right now, so we don’t have to tell you anything about it.” The boy made patting motions with his hands spread wide.
Helena raised her eyebrow. Stephen was undoubtedly quoting his father, hand motions included. “Tell me about what, sweetheart?”
“Davy was crying and he wanted you but Daddy told him you were a long way away and couldn’t come.”
Helena’s heart wrenched. “Why was he crying?”
“It was all gooey and mushy, but Daddy said it would be okay.”
“Stephen, go get your daddy.” Helena ordered in a voice not to be disobeyed, her imagination picturing all sorts of mayhem.
Before he could do more than turn, John was there, his robe on, and David bundled in a towel, still looking dripping wet. “See, I told you I heard Mommy’s voice. She’s right there.”
“Mommy?” David looked a bit distressed, with his mop of black hair dripping wet, and his eyes still red.
John took Stephen by the hand and lifted the boy off the chair, swinging him around and making him giggle. “Go find your pajamas and you can say goodnight to Mommy in a minute.”
Stephen ran off, cape waving behind him.
John sat in the vacated chair and smiled at his wife. “How was the trip down.”
“Less eventful than your day obviously. What was Stephen not supposed to tell me about?”
“Oh, we had an incident in the cafeteria.”
“An incident?”
“David wasn’t hurt, but he was a bit scared. While we were getting dinner he spotted Juanita and ran around the counter to give her a hug. She had just turned to pick up a pan of creamed peas and didn’t see him. She tripped and dropped the entire pan of peas over the two of them.” John cuddled his son as the little boy nodded and began to tear up again. “But no one got burned, just gooey, right? And now it’s all washed out.”
David nodded and pressed against his father. He tugged at his towel and sat up. “Daddy, supa towel.”
“Okay, sport. A super towel for you too.” He unwrapped the boy from the towel and quickly rubbed the boy’s hair dry, then tied the towel around his neck and stood him on the floor. “Get your brother to find your jammies too.”
“Okay!” David ran off at full speed, arms spread out, towel flapping.
“Not planning to tell me about that?” Helena asked with a smile.
“I was planning to break it to you gently. It caused quite a stir in the cafeteria, but other than a little mess, and a lot of crying on Davy’s part, there was no harm done.”
“I thought the boys would be safer there…”
“They’re fine,” he assured her. “I’m scheduled to use that simulator program Alan has wired up. Any sign they’ve found the oil?”
“Not yet, but everyone here seems extremely optimistic.” They exchanged a look that needed no words. Both hoped they did find the oil. The let down would be very disappointing for everyone.
“The boys and I are going to be just fine, although we do miss you.” It was easier to turn to personal matters. A conversation about base-wide moral was something they couldn’t have over the open airwaves.
“I wish I could have been there tonight.”
“You’ll be back next week, and I’ll be on the schedule for transport. Enjoy your fresh air. I just wish I could be there with you.”
“I do too. There are four children down here and they seem to be having a fine time.”
”I’m not ready to bring the boys down, and neither are you, I don’t think.”
She shook her head. “No, not really. And I better let someone else have the chance to call home. Kiss the boys goodnight for me.”
John touched his finger to his lips and blew her a kiss. “That’s from all of us. See you soon.”
Helena nodded and closed the connection. She smiled and shook her head. Creamed peas. By the time John had the baby calmed down and washed off, it must have been like washing glue off of him. That must have been some uproar. She had the feeling she was glad she hadn’t been there and John had dealt with that crisis on his own.
The next afternoon John arrived at the Eagle bat in tine to see Bill climb out of the command module used as a flight simulator. This particular module had been beaten up in one too many crashes and could no longer be made airtight without a complete rebuild. So Alan had rigged it in a cradle of hydraulics and hooked it all to a computer and made it into a simulator. His reputation for creating fiendish simulations had resulted in the name painted on the side: “Good Ship Puke”. And true to form, Bill looked fairly green as he hung on to the doorjam.
“I take it this is one of his masterpieces.”
Bill started to nod, then decided better. “It sways. Something about the liquid in the tank. I haven’t been this seasick since college.” He sat down on the steps and took deep breaths.
“Should I find a bucket?”
“No. I’ll be okay in a minute. Just as soon as the room stops moving. You know, there’s a reason I joined the air force and not the navy.”
“Any advice?” John asked.
“Keep an eye on the space debris. Alan seems to be real concerned that the tank not be holed. The explosions are spectacular.”
“Thanks.”
“Hey, want me and Annette to take the boys tonight? I should be recovered by supper. You may need some time before you’re ready to wrangle pre-schoolers.”
“I’ll come get them at bed time. Can’t have Helena think I’m pawning them off on you the minute she leaves.”
“No, we’ll trade. Annie’s working the data shack next week, and I’m scheduled for a shuttle run next Tuesday. You take Vicki and Tienne next week?”
“Sounds like a plan.” John gave Bill a hand up. “I’ll meet you guys for breakfast.”
“I should be able to keep food down by then.” Bill headed for the travel tube.
John took a deep breath and headed aboard.
Helena returned home at the end of the week. John, Stephen and David formed a welcoming committee in the visitors lounge at the boarding tube. The boys were beside themselves with excitement. When John got the chance to hold her in his arms he breathed in her scent gratefully. “You smell like sunshine.”
“It was sunny. And hot. And looked a lot like the pictures from the Mars Rover: flat, rocky and red.”
“Everybody doing okay?”
“No problems. Everyone seems to be enjoying the chance to stretch their legs. And Dave says to tell you that he’s certain they’re close.”
“That’s good to hear. I’m glad you’re home.”
Helena smiled at her husband, and looked over at their two little boys, crowding at the small window in the reception room to peer out at the Eagle.
“It’s good to be back.”
Within two days, oil had been found, and things really moved into high gear. John quickly found himself on the schedule to pilot down several of the empty tanks that had been created to carry the petroleum. Tony Verdeschi was practically living out by the crater they had sealed to store the oil. He assured John it would be ready when the first Eagle oil tanker arrived.
While traveling through space, three empty tanks could be transported. Two Eagles, carrying three tanks apiece headed out. One Eagle would remain in high orbit above the planet to keep an eye on the extra tanks while two other Eagles ferried tanks one-by-one down to the surface. John and Sandra drew the same Eagle, and they would be waiting in orbit while Alan and Bill Fraser, each with co-pilots of their own, docked with the extra tanks and took them down.
“Why don’t I fix us some lunch while we wait?” John offered.
“I can do that.”
“I want to stretch my legs anyway,” John said, unstrapping and standing up. They only had the cockpit and the small walkway just aft since there was no passenger module attached. There was stowage space on either side of the walkway with enough room for their pressure suits, a few pieces of emergency gear, and a stack of trays with ready-to-eat meals. John chose two trays, and set them in the warmer, then pulled out a thermos of coffee. He poured two cups and returned to the cockpit with them.
Sandra accepted hers with thanks. John stood and sipped at his coffee, waiting for the meals to heat, then settled back into the pilot’s seat.
As he finished up the small and rather unsatisfying meal he said. “Helena is thinking about having another baby.”
“She told me that.”
“Rather than go through harvesting the eggs and all the things she needs for in vitro fertilization, she’d like to use artificial insemination this time. Did she tell you that?”
“Yes, we talked quite a bit, and Alan and I discussed her ideas.”
Both were silent for a while. Sandra collected the trays and returned them to the storage area. She knelt beside John with the thermos and poured him a fresh cup. The she set the Thermos on the floor in front of her and remained kneeling next to him.
“John, you know she’s doing this for the good of Alpha.”
John leaned his head against the headrest and looked out at the planet hanging just ahead of them. “Sandra, there are times when I get tired of doing what’s best for Alpha.”
“Sometimes we all do.”
John shook his head. “I just don’t think I’m up to this. You and Alan and Tony and Maya seem to keep things so normal for Lysee and Roberto. Alan seems to just love them all.”
“Alan was meant to be a father. He is very good at it. It seems to me that Stephen and David are with them a lot of the time as well. And you are very fond of Danae and Lysee and are good with them. And a good father to all of them.”
“How can you not love Danae and Lysee? They’re adorable.” John said with a grin. “And this new baby. Who would she call Daddy?”
“Most likely you, since that’s what her older brothers call you. The girls call Alan, ‘papa’, as I called my father. It wouldn’t hurt this new child, boy or girl, to have both a ‘papa’ and a ‘daddy’.”
“I suppose it wouldn’t.”
There was little time for reflection after that. Once the tanks were on the ground, each attached to an Eagle superstructure in the proper manner, pilots were in high demand. Arriving at Alpha or the nameless red planet and staying only long enough to eat, sleep, and climb aboard again for a return trip.
It swayed -- just as Alan’s simulation had predicted. A full tank seemed to have the roll of a small sail boat in high seas. None of the pilots wanted to fly with Bill on a flight back to Alpha. Helena did her best with anti-nausea drugs, but Bill was usually green by the time he arrived at Alpha and his co-pilot was generally quite tired of the smell.
In between pilot runs, and running Alpha, John tried to spend at least some time with his sons. He tried to help out in the crèche as often as possible, but couldn’t necessicarily schedule specific times as most of the other parents did. Having returned home from a run to the planet at nearly midnight the previous night, he spent the night in his own bed, the morning catching up on things in Command Center, and then headed to the crèche toward the end of the boys’ regular nap time.
As usual, Stephen was awake. Even as a baby he had required little sleep. Most of the other children were lying on palettes on the floor in the darkened room. Although nap time after lunch was required for everyone, Helena knew her son truly suffered through this forced inactivity. She finally left instructions for those managing the crèche that Stephen was required to lie still as the others fell asleep, then he could pick a very quiet activity and amuse himself until the others woke.
Today he sat at a small table with lumps of play dough in front of him of various colors. He looked up and positively glowed to see his father entering. John sat on the floor beside his son and looked at the tiny cubes and strips the boy was forming and distributing around the table. Stephen had built a maze of short lines and was now placing little colored cubes at the intersections
“Look, Daddy,” Stephen said, pointing at the intersections which started one strip near him and branched all over the table. “1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55.”
“So they do, Stevie. What comes next?”
“Eighty nine, but that’s going to take another color.” The little boy touched each branch as they fanned out across the table.
“Very pretty.” He wondered who had been teaching his three-year-old Fibonacci numbers or had the little boy discovered them on his own? Alpha’s next generation amazed him.
Just then, the door opened again and Alan walked in with Danae perched on his arm. She put her finger to his lips to shush him, knowing the lowered lights meant that the others were napping. They moved to the corner of the room where John and Stephen sat together under a bit more light. Alan sat on the floor and Danae settled comfortably in his lap.
Alan recognized the pattern Stephen was making and looked at John who shrugged in return. He kissed the top of his daughter’s head, “Don’t get too comfortable little love, I have to go shortly.”
“You’re leaving again?” John asked.
“I’m scheduled to take a tanker back this afternoon.”
“Why can’t I go with you?” Danae looked up at him, wide eyes brimming.
“Sweetheart, we’ve already talked about this. You got to stay with me all morning. Your mum will come get you as soon as she’s through in Command Center. And Uncle John’s right here.”
Danae twisted and stood in her father’s lap. She flung her arms around his neck. “I want to go with you! I want to see the planet too.”
Stephen was watching his friend carefully.
“Danae,” her father said firmly. “We’ve told you, the next time your mum flies one of the regular transports, you can go with her. That’s not for five more days.” Alan held up his fingers.
When will you be back?”
“Day after tomorrow. I’ll fly down, get some rest while they’re filling the tank, then fly right back.”
Danae was blinking back tears, and Alan was looking restless. John knew what a tight schedule they were on and decided a diversion was called for. “Danae, while Stevie is finishing his project, how about helping me make a horse?” Danae loved horses.
Alan lifted the tiny child over the table with ease. “Here, why don’t you sit in Uncle John’s lap?”
John took her in his arms and settled her in his lap. “What color should our horse be?”
“Purple?” Danae asked, reaching for a clear canister on the table with purple clay.
“I think that would be good. You make the legs for me. How many does a horse have again?”
“Four,” the little girl said firmly.
“Not five?” John teased.
Danae giggled. “No, Uncle John.”
“Then what’s that down the back of a horse?”
“That’s his tail!” Danae’s volume increased, forgetting it was nap time.
John whispered, “Oh, of course, I forgot. Why don’t we make its tail yellow? Stevie can we use some of your yellow?”
“Sure!” Stephen pulled some yellow off a lump he was holding in his hand. “Danae, can I go too when you go to the planet?”
Danae was now involved in making the horses legs. “Sure, Stevie. You and David and Lysee, Roberto and Vicki and Etienne can all come. Even Richard. We’ll have fun.”
“Yeah! Daddy, you want to come too?”
John rolled his eyes and looked over at Alan who was grinning at him. “Perhaps your papa can rearrange the schedule so I co-pilot that transport.”
“He can do that, can’t you Papa?” Danae said with the kind of faith little girls reserve only for their fathers.
Alan saw his chance to escape. “I probably can, if I have the time. But I’ll have to leave right now to do that before I go.”
“Okay,” Danae said with perfect ease. “Bye-bye, Papa.”
“Bye, sweetheart,” Alan said, standing now that he had been summarily dismissed. “I’ll send you a revised schedule, John.”
John sent him a black look and said, “You do that.” Then Danae ordered him to begin making the horse’s head and Alan slipped out.
Five days later John arrived at the Eagle ready to pilot with Stephen, David and Helena in tow. Sandra and Annette were already there with their children. Richard and Etienne were both strapped into carry seats and Danae was showing Vicki how to fasten her seat belt. There were boxes of supplies strapped across the back of the passenger module, mostly fresh foods being sent to base camp. Other than that, the Eagle had taken on the appearance of a school bus on a pre-schooler’s field trip. Tony and Maya showed up with Lysee and Roberto.
“You owe me,” Tony said quietly as their kids joined the crowd and Maya and Sandra exchanged some last minute information.
“Why is that?” John asked.
“I’ve got your tanker trip you were scheduled to take tomorrow. With Bill.”
John gave a sly grin. “Well, you did such a good job with that crater, I wanted to make sure you got a chance at some fresh air on the planet.”
“So I’m being sent down with the airsick wonder.”
“He won’t be sick on the way down. It’s only with a full load,” John assured him. “I thought Kevin Taylor was on the schedule with me.”
“Bill switched with him since Annie and the kids were going on this little outing.”
The children were amazingly good on the trip down. Helena and Annette kept them entertained, and John could tell when he went aft for coffee that Helena was thoroughly enjoying some exclusive time with the children and no chance to be called away or distracted. It was still a long trip, despite the fact that Alpha was at its closest to the planet right now. All the children were soundly asleep by the time they arrived, just after sundown at base camp, even Danae and Stephen, the oldest of the group and both determined to see the landing.
John and Helena carried the boys to the temporary bunk house and deposited them on one of the beds brought down from Alpha. It had been a long day for everyone. They exchanged tired glances and lay down on either side of the boys, asleep themselves in moments. John still had this fear of something happening to the boys here despite the fact that the planet had been as tame as possible. They could still wander off and be unable to find the base camp again, and the sun was hot enough even at this high latitude so that an unprotected day outdoors could be disastrous.
When Stephen stirred, John came fully awake. It was still dark outside, but John’s commlock next to the bed showed that sunrise would be soon.
“Stevie. Let’s go watch the sunrise.”
Always a morning person, waking cheery and ready for action, Stephen nodded enthusiastically. The headed outside and John could hear Helena stirring behind them. She had commented on the beautiful sunrises here, and John knew she would probably be right behind them.
There was a small rise just to the east of the base camp. John swung Stephen up to his shoulders and headed toward an already brightening sky. They settled on a rock at the top of the little rise, and John was not surprised when Helena settled against his side, a sleepy David in her arms. They were only there for a few moments, enjoying the stars still above them and the brightening line of blue on the horizon when Sandra arrived quietly and sat on the other side of him, Danae in her lap. The line of midnight blue changed through the spectrum to purple then red then orange before the huge red ball of a sun slowly appeared over the horizon. There were no clouds. This was too dry a world for that, but the red sun slowly rose into an orange sky which seemed to chase the stars right out of the sky. Once it was completely above the horizon the dome of sky above them seemed to magically change to the brilliant deep blue of standard issue Alphan pajamas. Danae was holding her mother’s hand, eyes wide. Stephen leaped out of his father’s lap, full of energy and ready to greet the day.
“Wow!” Stephen declared. “Wow!” He leaped out of his father’s lap and turned around, looking all around him at the rocky landscape. “It’s so… so… big!” He spread out his hands and looked around.
Danae peered more cautiously from her mother’s lap. They were really the only two of the children old enough to notice their surroundings much. Even David was yawning and more interested in breakfast than looking around.
After breakfast, John left the children with Helena and headed out with Dave to look over the three mining sites that were being used. Dave declared they could mine this planet for years, but they didn’t have years. There was barely a month left before Alpha moved on. They looked over an area which had a concentration of heavy metals and agreed to get Alan to alter his carefully balanced schedule once again to haul the raw ore from a surface mine back to Alpha. There would be no time at all to try to refine anything here.
After the children napped, they played on the field a bunch of the Alphans had cleared off for a football field. John wasn’t surprised that someone had brought a football along. There were usually a dozen or so people out kicking the ball around after supper. Tony landed around that time and joined the kids, kicking the ball with them and showing them how to run down the field to the goal. When Stephen, a head taller than the others and with longer legs, reached the goal first and kicked the ball through Tony swung him into the air and called out GOOOOOAAAAAAAALLLLL!!! In the best tradition of an enthusiastic announcer. Then all the others wanted a turn at kicking a goal and John found himself laughing with the others as the children lined up to kick the ball and be swung around in the air.
All too soon, the time came for John to leave with one of the tanker Eagles. Alan would be here the next morning and once he had rested he would return to Alpha on the transport Eagle with Sandra, leaving Tony to return with the next tanker. Although John would rather stay and pilot his family himself, there was no one in the galaxy he trusted in an Eagle more than Alan. So he knew the children were in good hands.
There were more Eagles to fly, and more petroleum, and now other minerals to get back to Alpha before time ran out and the next few weeks flew by. The clocks continued their inevitable countdown until with time running out, the Alphans packed up and headed home. All of the adults and nearly all the children had a brief taste of hot but fresh air.
John found himself flying one last tank of oil paired with Alan as his co-pilot. Amidst the gossip that Alan seemed to always collect from all corners of Alpha John asked him, “Has Helena talked to you about her having another baby?”
“Sahn told me about it, yeah. I think our wives have put a lot of thought into this.”
“Really?”
“Maybe that’s the best way to deal with it John. Just let the wives make the arrangements. As long as the women approve, it should work out.” Alan said with a philosophic shrug.
“That’s probably true.”
“Sahn also mentioned that Annette is looking to have another soon as well and she was planning to talk to Helena about you being the father.”
John gave him a shocked look. He’d been so focused on Helena having some other man’s baby he hadn’t considered it from the other side.
“After all, the kids are together so often, what’s throwing a few more into the mix.” Alan loved the party atmosphere and high energy level of having all the kids together.
They were too busy for conversation after that, landing at the storage site for the tank to be pumped. Once they were back on Alpha, Helena was there to meet them with the boys as well as the Fraser’s two. Bill had arrived just ahead and Helena felt that he needed a bit of quiet without Victoria and Etienne around.
With or without a new planet to call home, Alpha’s future had just become a little brighter. John swung Victoria into the air and settled her on his shoulders and reached for his two wild boys, tucking one under each arm. Another daughter… or two, wouldn’t be such a bad thing after all.
ECL
January, 2006