The Forgotten Planet
Chapter 39 – Square Trade

“You’ve been eating sandwiches this whole time?” Adan asked with a mouth half-full of roast beef on sourdough.

We were at a large wooden conference desk in an open room filled with electronic clearboards with scribbled equations and shorthand in blue and red text. Two large windows had a view of the hallway, and random people kept walking by and staring at us like we were zoo animals.

“Just for the last hour or so,” I answered. There were sandwiches made from various cuts of non-green meat, fresh fruit and carafes of coffee and a few flavors of carbonated sugar-water that the locals called soft drinks. “Me and the other scientists started getting hungry part-way through the meeting.”

That meeting had been the highest-level theoretical physics discussion I’d ever been involved in. To be fair, I’d never participated in any discussions quite like this. One-sided conversations with Adan while he nodded absently and ate chips didn’t really count. Anyway, these guys actually understood the words coming out of my mouth. They asked intelligent questions, and eventually agreed with the answers I gave them.

We just went into theory, without touching on specific engineering specs. Sure, they could now figure out the process without me at this point, but they would still need years of trial and error, and then probably years more for beta testing and refining the design. I was also very clear that any attempts to breach the ship would end with the same result as my slagged ’Seven. The threat was unnecessary though. I’d done enough to convince them all that what I had to trade was real, and that it was fantastic.

“I got a slice of dry white bread and glass of water in a tiny cup,” Adan replied.

“Well, you probably shouldn’t have punched Jenkins,” Max said.

“Totally worth it,” he said, before taking another bite.

“After my interrogation,” Max continued, “I had lunch with the woman that used to receive the coded transmissions from my parents. We ate something called Crab Louie and had a good cry.”

“What did your folks do?” Adan asked.

She smiled, but looked more sad than happy. “They were infiltrating the local pirate community. Funny how Russ seemed to know all the major players.”

“I wonder why he kept it from you?” Adan said.

“To keep me from doing anything stupid probably,” Max said. “The man knew me pretty well.”

I heard Vee’s laughter, and looked up as she passed in front of the window. She was walking with a man in a white uniform with a lot of banners and doodads on his left breast. Vee and I locked eyes and she gave me that toothy, predatory grin that is always a promise of things to come.

“Bro, I’ve never seen you look at anyone like that,” Adan said with his mouth half full, “except maybe Betty. I’ve certainly never seen anyone look at you that way. You should probably marry that fuzzy blue girl.”

I nodded absently, not taking my eyes off her. I’d thought the same thing since the first time she used a vertigo bomb on us.

“Galen, this is Admiral Kato,” Vee said. “He was friends with Uncle Taketa.”

“Well, he was more of a mentor in the beginning. I met him over a century ago when I was fresh out of the Academy.”

“Ok, I’m going to call bullshit on that one,” Adan said. He had pear in his hand that was little more than stem and core at this point. “You look like you just got out of the Academy last week.”

He didn’t look old enough to shave. Hell, the skin on his cheeks actually looked as smooth as a baby’s butt. Everyone we’d met so far looked like this, but unlike Adan, I actually listened when people spoke.

The Admiral chuckled, as did Vee. “Son, I was likely born before your grandparents.” His voice was deeper than what seemed would go with the boyish face. Adan squinted at him, and Kato continued, “Anyone that serves in the military has access to the best life-extension technology.”

“What about the facial hair?” I asked.

He rubbed his chin and said, “The hairless look is in, and it’s easy enough to reprogram a few genes. Styles change though. A decade ago, the brass all looked like a bunch of yeti’s with our long hair and beards.” The Admiral’s hair was short now, except on the top, and that part was combed back and held in place with product.

Vee did a round of introductions, while a couple ensigns served up tea in fancy cups that had their own little plates underneath. When everyone was seated with their drinks, the Admiral said, “First, let me apologize for your initial treatment. It’s rare for Earth to get visitors these days, and it’s possible we’ve forgotten how to receive them.” He looked down at his datapad for a moment and furrowed his brow. “That said, it appears that you’ve brought a whole bunch of trouble to our doorstep.”

“It’s my fault sir.” Vee answered with a frown and a hint of regret in her voice. “I was supposed to disappear a relic that my people learned was being sold on the black market – just like we have for the last century.” Her frown deepened and she stared down at the table. “I chose to disobey those orders. I didn’t think this would happen.”

“Then the Salarians know the truth?” Kato asked.

“Enough of it anyway.” Poor Vee looked crestfallen, and I took her hand in mine, not caring what Admiral Kato thought about it. She squeezed my hand and continued, “Please Admiral, you have to help my people. They’ve been warned, but prepared or not, they can’t stand alone against the Empire.”

Kato took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Of course we’ll help Commander. We started putting the jump gate back together the moment you arrived. As soon as it’s operational again, we’ll contact High Command and begin to reinforce the Servine Navy in key systems. The problem is our invasion fleet is currently at only eighty-percent of what we projected as the minimum requirements for success.”

“Why are you so far behind? Vee asked. “We were expecting your help decades ago.

He sighed before answering. “A small but vocal portion of our population didn’t want any part of another war,” the Admiral replied. “The group broke off from us and went rimward with a sizable portion of our fleet. It almost came down to a civil war, but in the end, we felt it would have been counterproductive to fight our own people. In any event, we fell hopelessly behind our projections because of it.”

“How would those projections look if each of your ships had their own wormhole generator?” I asked.

That brought a twinkle to his eye, and he allowed himself a brief smile. “That could make all the difference in the world, son,” Kato said. He leaned back in his chair and gazed at the ceiling. “We could attack any system at will. There wouldn’t be any need to capture and hold key jump gates. Hell, we could blow all the gates for that matter and leave the lizards stranded.” Now he was smiling. He leaned forward in his chair and looked me in the eye. “I understand this new technology is for sale? My scientists are falling all over themselves to get their hands on that machine of yours.”

“I’m not worried about the price Admiral-” I started. Adan loudly cleared his throat. I sighed. “Okay, I’m not that worried about the price,” I turned and looked at Adan and he smiled and nodded, “but I have a sort of proposal that I think could make all of us happy.”

Epilogue – And we Lived Happily Ever After… for a While

The new norm for Veesil and I was to begin our day with a brisk walk through Tokyo’s Shibuya Shopping District before starting our workday at the lab. Usually, we would meander somewhat aimlessly through the Imperial Gardens or Yoyogi Park, taking in the beautiful scenery, the chirping birds and the early morning Tai Chi practitioners.

Today however, we actually had a rather important meeting at the Meiji shrine, so we were walking a bit faster than usual. It was spring in the city, and the cherry trees were in full pink and white bloom. The air was fragrant with the sweet smells of floral copulation. Vee snuggled close as we strolled hand-in-hand beneath the colorful branches. Both of our Soulmates® implants were synced and were playing Vampire Weekend’s Step a little louder than a whisper.

I’d been right about the music I had missed. There were literally centuries of artists and songs to sift through, and so I started in the era I was familiar with and decided I would slowly work my way forward. And since I now had access to life extension technology, I basically had all the time in the world. Well, as long as we won the war. I tried to stay cautiously optimistic on that one.

I was in my usual lab-approved garb of slacks and a band t-shirt (this one was The Smith’s), while Vee was in full Mori-girl attire – a baggy floral-patterned dress and cardigan and a pair clunky brown boots. She’d even braided her short blue hair into mini-pigtails. I preferred the Ganguru outfit she’d sported yesterday, but after seeing how poor the productivity of male scientists had been that day, we decided the short skirt and tank top combo would be an at-home outfit going forward.

“Don’t worry,” Vee said. “We’re not that late.” She’d become pretty good at reading my moods. Maybe my palm was sweaty. I let my sympathetic nervous system do what it wants to do at this point, and generally the results have been okay.

“I knew we didn’t have time for two rounds of trust building this morning,” I said, but with very little actual feeling. Trust building had become our favorite euphemism. It’s almost always worth being late if the reason for the lateness is quality time with Vee, but I didn’t want to miss seeing Adan off.

“Yeah, like I really had to twist your arm,” she replied with a predatory grin. Well, she had me there. She didn’t have to twist anything. She gave me a solid smack on the butt before throwing her arms around my waist. I couldn’t help but smile.

“There they are,” Vee said, pointing out my brother and Maxine. I couldn’t quite make them out yet, but I took her word for it. She’s the one with the cat’s eyes after all. My appointment for those wasn’t until next week.

As we got closer, Adan said mildly, “It’s about damn time. You’re holding up official Navy business.” They were both in their Navy dress uniforms – the grey ones with the fancy gold trim – and Adan had Poochy on a leash. I gave the dog a scratch on his head. Vee knelt down and threw her arms around Poochy’s neck, and the dog’s tail beat like an aggressive bass line.

“It’s not like they’ll leave without their Captain,” I answered.

“Sorry, it’s my fault. We were building more trust,” Vee said, then arched her eyebrows and added, “in new positions.”

“Damn boy,” Adan answered. Maxine rolled her eyes as Adan and Vee did a little jig and bumped rear-ends. This had become their common means of making me uncomfortable.

“Oh Vee,” Adan said, excitement showing on his face. “Let me tell you about what Max did last night with her–”

“Adan Castell,” Max warned, “Zip it.”

“What?” Adan said disappointedly. “Galen wants to hear it.”

“I really don’t,” I answered honestly. “And besides, you shouldn’t question your commanding officer’s orders.”

“Yeah, I still can’t believe they put her in charge instead of me.” Max didn’t bother concealing her smile. Vee had a puzzled look on her face. Adan continued, “When you worked out the deal, I assumed I would be the one in command of the ship.”

“But Max is the responsible and levelheaded one. You’re, well...” Vee searched for the right word before adding, “Well, you’ve got a sturdy build.”

When I set up the conditions of the deal, I specifically said that Maxine needed to be in command. I wanted Adan to come back alive after all.

“I suppose that’s all true,” Adan admitted. “It just sounds really rude the way you say it.”

“You’ll make a fine Captain’s pet,” Max said.

“Hey, I’m head of security, baby,” Adan said, with poorly attempted indignation.

Max shrugged, “Whatever. As far as I’m concerned, your job is bed-warmer.” Adan looked like he agreed with that assessment. Maxine turned her attention to Vee and I and asked, “Are the two of you enjoying your new jobs.”

“Absolutely,” I answered. “I get to run my own lab with a hand-picked team and a practically unlimited budget.”

“And we have a private office, so we can go in there and fool around whenever we want to,” Vee said.

“Vee!” I said. I’d barely blushed though. She was having to try much harder to embarrass me now.

“The working part is fine too,” she added indifferently.

“I’m glad you’re happy,” Max said. She turned to Adan and said, “Well big boy – I think it’s about time we got a move-on. We’ve got a ship to christen.” Adan’s eyes lit up and Max must have recognized the look. “No dummy, the official ceremony where I break the bottle of champagne against the hull.” The twinkle in his eyes died and he sighed audibly. I couldn’t help but smile.

“You’re going with the name I recommended?” I asked Max. It may have come out more of a statement.

She rolled her eyes before answering. “Yeah, Galahad – just like you wanted.”

“It’s symbiotic,” I said. Galahad found the Holy Grail after all. Max and Adan’s mission could end up being far more important that any shot fired in the ongoing conflict with the Salarians – though in this case, the quest had less to do with being worthy and more to do with being lucky.

Max shook her head. “Whatever.”

“You’re taking Poochy with you I assume?” I asked, hoping for the affirmative. I was prepared to house the mutt, but I didn’t have to be happy about it.

“He’s got a bed in the captain’s suite and an ensign to walk him twice a day,” Adan replied, and I exhaled a breath I didn’t know I was holding.

Adan pulled me in and enveloped me in a hug. I hugged him back. “Don’t do anything stupid,” I said softly.

“What, me?” he replied. “I’ll be back safe and sound in a few months.”

It suddenly hit me that I might not ever see him again. I knew their mission likely wouldn’t take them anywhere near the front lines, so the odds of combat were slim. The Kaldonians were neutral – and for some reason allowed by the Salarians to remain so – and finding out why was the point of the whole mission. Earth brass had ideas, but nothing solid. Still...

“Keep him safe Max,” I said seriously.

“Always kid,” she answered.

Vee and Max knocked fists in what had quickly become my favorite handshake replacement. No commingling of sweaty palms and skin bacteria. “Call me tonight around nine,” Max said. “We can chat while I’m on the treadmill.”

After that they drifted away to start their adventure. Vee and I watched the two officers walk down the curving pathway and out of site before we began the short walk back to our office. We walked in silence for a while, just holding hands and listening to Are you Mine? by the Arctic Monkeys. At least I knew the answer to that particular question.

“He’ll be fine,” Vee said as the silence stretched. “It’s a milk run to the quiet side of the galaxy.” She was 100% right, but anxiety isn’t always swayed by logic.

“I know.” A gust of wind blew through the cherry trees, and a sprinkling of pink blossoms fell around us. A woman walked past us pushing a small baby in a carriage. We smiled and exchanged greetings with her. I couldn’t have wished for a better landing spot. Only one thing was missing, and it was my big brother. “I’ve never been away from him before, Vee.” I’d seen his face very day for almost eighteen years.

“I get it,” she said. She kissed my cheek. “I guess I’ll just have to find some way to keep you distracted, Tiger.” She smacked on the butt with a bit more gusto than usual, and then took both my hands in hers. “Let’s go christen some more office furniture. I think there’s a leather chair on wheels that we missed.”

I smiled and nodded. Who was I to argue with an incredible woman like this?

The End?

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