In Its Place

The midwinter sun was shining brightly into the bedroom.  It was chilly in the bedroom this morning, with a north wind blowing against the window.  The sun shining in the open window in the south provided plenty of light but little warmth.  The king-size bed was covered with a thick eyelet comforter, and there were two lumps indicating the inhabitants of the bed. When the phone began to ring, both lumps moved in response.

At the head of the bed, Melissa’s hand slid out from under the covers and reached for the cordless phone beside the bed.  At the same time Alan threw the covers off from the foot of the bed and reached out for the nearest item, Melissa’s right foot.  Without opening his eyes he pulled her foot to his ear and mumbled, “hello.”

Melissa’s manicured toes caressed his cheek as she answered the phone.  “Hello?”

“Melissa?  Where’s that husband of yours?”

“Not far,” Melissa smiled.  Alan’s hand moved to her ankle, calf and thigh.

“Let me speak to him.”

She settled comfortably, giving her husband better access to her inner thigh.  “It’s Tony Verdeschi.  Don’t take too long.”  She handed Alan the phone.

“This better be good, mate.”  Alan growled.

“Are you still in bed?”  Tony asked.  “It’s nearly noon.”

“This is the kids’ annual weekend at Disney with their grandparents.  I’m spending quality time with my wife.”

Melissa sighed with pleasure. 

“Don’t you guys ever answer your doorbell?”

“It doesn’t work.  Mel’s been on to me about fixing it.”

“Pilots!  Come on Alan.  This is important.  It’s about the moon.”

“We don’t have one of those any more.  Remember mate?  We lost it.”

“Well, Maya and I have found it.  And we want to put it back.”

Alan sat up exposing Melissa’s bare legs.  She yelped at the chill air and pulled her legs back under the covers.  “What do you mean, put it back?”

“I’d rather tell you face to face.  Are you going to let me in or leave me to freeze on your doorstep?”

“I’m coming.  I’m coming.”  He touched the button to disconnect and gave Melissa’s thigh a final squeeze as he rolled out of bed.  “Tony’s downstairs.  I think he’s gone nuts.  Want some coffee?”

“Mmm, yes please.  It’s cold in here!”

“A cold front must have come through last night.  I’ll turn up the heat.  Are you coming down?”

“I’ll be there shortly,” Melissa replied.

Alan closed the window and glanced back at the bed with regret.  He rubbed his hand across his thinning hair and headed for the closet and a pair of jeans.  He wore his hair cut close to his head nowadays.  He’d had a hard time dealing with thinning hair, but Melissa had made it clear that she was just as attracted to him now as she had been when he still had plenty of long blond hair.  Lately he had just kept the remaining graying hair cut short and ignored the issue.  Melissa laughingly called it the ‘Captain Picard’ look and told him how sexy she thought it was.

He pulled on jeans and a long sleeved t-shirt and headed down the stairs, pausing at the thermostat to turn on the heat.  He opened the door to let Tony in, allowing entry to a burst of cold air at the same time. 

“Damn that’s cold!”  He exclaimed.

“Tell me about it,” Tony grumbled.  “I thought Florida was always warm.”

“Not always mate,” Alan took his hand as he shut the door.  “I’ll put some coffee on.  It’s good to see you, Tony.”

Alan ushered his friend back to the kitchen.  “Now what’s this about the Moon?”

“Well, we’ve been exchanging some information with the Croton Federation”

“Sahalla’s people?”

“That’s right.”

“I didn’t think they took to Psychons.”

“Not usually.  But we met up with Sahalla about a year ago and she put in a good word, and we’ve been doing some trading of information.  They have these field amplifiers that could be hooked together with our warp generators to generate a field large enough to move the moon.”

“Move the moon?”  Melissa asked as she walked into the kitchen.  She had pulled her blonde hair up with an enameled comb and was wearing a red satin gown cut chinese style with gold piping and gold pagodas embroidered on it.  She leaned over and kissed Tony Verdeschi quickly on the lips.  “Always good to see one of the Verdeschi boys,” she said with a smile. 

Tony grinned at her.  She was so different from her sister.  In all the years Tony had known Helena, she had never touched him, much less kissed him.  “Good to see you too, Mel.”

“Now what’s this about the Moon?”  She asked, opening the refrigerator and leaning down to look inside.  In doing so she revealed an enticing view of tanned bare leg through a slit down the side of the gown from hip to ankle.

“We want to bring it back,” Tony explained.  He pulled out his palm pilot and handed Alan a memory wafer from it.  “This should alleviate some of the environmental problems that have been occurring and worsening.”  He couldn’t keep himself from watching Melissa’s legs.

Alan noticed Tony’s wandering attention and grinned.  He had long since gotten over being jealous where Mel was concerned.  Melissa soaked up attention from any male within her influence like a sponge.  It turned her on.  And Alan was the one who reaped the rewards.  He reached for his laptop which had been sitting on the kitchen counter and settled down at the breakfast nook.

“Why don’t you have something smaller?” Tony asked.

“I like something more substantial,” Alan replied as he opened up the information.  “Tried one of those, but the kids were always running off with it.”

Melissa pulled a carton of eggs out of the refrigerator.  Then she pulled out a gallon jug and shook it.  “Who did this?” She looked over at Alan.

They grinned at each other and said at the same time, “Geoff.”

Alan glanced at Tony.  “He just can’t get enough milk.  But I wish he wouldn’t put the empty carton back in the fridge.”

Tony grinned.

Melissa took three coffee mugs from the cupboard.  “So, can you do it?”

“We can.  It will take Earth’s best pilots, but it can be done.  And we have government backing as well as corporate backing.  Not only will we be helping the environment by simply bringing back the moon and restarting the tides and other cyclical phenomena, think of all the real estate up there where we can move the worst of the polluting industries.”

Melissa nodded.  “And KCI will be in a good position to build those factories.  We’re the ones with the experience.”

“I knew you would see the advantage to it,” Tony said with a smile.

“So what do you want us to do?”  Alan asked.  He was skimming through an overview file and noting the very thorough technical files that Maya had provided.

“I want to borrow you and John.”

“I’m not sure I can spare my top people,” Melissa said.

Tony indicated the laptop, “You’ll find adequate compensation, plus we’re willing to pay any penalties incurred by deadlines not met.”

Melissa raised an eyebrow and walked over to lean against Alan’s shoulder and read the screen he was looking at. 

“We also want you two to convince John to head this up.”

“Have you talked to him yet?”  Alan asked.

“Not yet.”

Melissa reached over and picked up the phone.   She touched a speed dial button. 

“Hey.  You up yet?”

She waited for a reply.

“I need a doctor.  Tony Verdeschi is over here and I swear he’s gone stark raving mad.  I want your professional opinion.”  She listened again.  “Yeah.  Pick up a gallon of milk on your way over and I’ll make omelets for everyone.  John will want to hear this too.  Bye.”

Melissa turned back to the ‘fridge and pulled out peppers, onions, and a block of cheese.  “They’ll be here in a few minutes.”

“Thanks Mel.”

Within a half hour the five of them were sitting at the table with coffee and plates full of hot omelets.  John was looking over the data on his palm handheld, with Helena looking on.  Alan and Melissa were looking at the laptop. 

“I can’t believe you’re really going to try this,” Helena said quietly with a bit of awe.

“The odds of succeeding go up with John and Alan on board.  They’re the best.”

“How long will it take?”  Melissa asked.

“No more than three months.  We want to get this started immediately.”

“Is that why Maya isn’t here?”  Helena asked.

“She’s on the Rock getting everything ready.”

“Three months…” Helena mused.  She looked at John. 

He nodded and put his arm around her.  “We can do this and be back in time.  I’m sure of it.”

“In time for what?” Tony asked.

“Helena and John are planning a big anniversary celebration and renewing their wedding vows,” Melissa explained. 

“We’ve also got reservations for a second honeymoon,” Helena said, eyeing John.  “Are you sure you can do this in time?”

“You go ahead with the plans.  I’ll be back in time to marry you again, I promise,” John said leaning over to kiss her.

“We could use a medic along,” Tony said.

Helena and Melissa shook their heads in unison.  Helena said, “I don’t think Mel wants to be left with all five of the children for that length of time.”

“I’d be the one nuts if you did that,” Melissa assured them. 

Planning continued, packing ensued and by evening Helena and Melissa were alone, their men headed for the Rock, and then to Alpha to put the Moon back in its place.

Alan opened the door to his quarters.  They looked smaller than he remembered.  He’d spent five years of his life living in this room.  Five very lonely years.  Then there had been a couple of very happy months while they equipped the Eagles with the new interstellar jump engines.  Mel had been here with him then.  Now the place looked small and very, very lonely again.  He put his jump bag on the sofa with a sigh.  This wouldn’t take that long.  They were waiting for the Crotons to rendezvous with the amplifiers they would need.  Once those were installed in the two dozen small ships they had flown here in, they would generate a field large enough to move the moon through hyperspace, and they’d be on their way home—with the moon. 

He thought about lying on the beach with Melissa watching a full moon rise.  That was certainly a worthy goal in his eyes.  He opened his bag and pulled out his laptop.  A spot of color in the bottom of the compartment caught his eye and he pulled out a pair of Mel’s panties.  Pinned to them was a perfumed note, telling him not to take too long.  How had she managed to do that?    He stuffed the panties in the pocket of his jacket and took the laptop over to the desk.  He could charge it with the power source, but wouldn’t be able to interface with the main computer.  A decade of changes in technology had made most of Alpha’s systems obsolete.  He plugged it in and settled in to look over the schematics Maya had provided him once again. 

When the door buzzed, he assumed it was John and touched the commlock to open the door without looking at the monitor.  There were only about seventy people here on Alpha, most of them now settling in for a few hours rest before diving into this project.

“Alan?” a woman’s voice said.

He looked up in surprise.  Sahalla stood in the doorway.  She was wearing a long flowing white gown, just as he remembered her.  Her hair was still a shining golden blonde.  She looked exactly as she had when he had last seen her a decade ago. 

“Sahalla!”  Alan stood.  “Come in!  It’s been a long time.  You look great!”  He walked forward and took her hands in his, ushering her to a chair.

“We just arrived.  I wanted a chance to see you before we began working together.”

“You look exactly as you did when we met before!”  He resisted the urge to run his hand over his short thin hair.  He was acutely aware that he had changed a good deal more.

“I have been in stasis much of the time.  I accomplished our task of transporting Dorzak, and I was assigned another crew.  I have made five additional trips since then, all extreme range, with most time spent in stasis.”

“Transporting prisoners?”

She shook her head.  “No, more pleasant things, mostly.  A load of colonists for a newly terraformed planet, all in stasis as we were; and technical supplies for two other worlds.  Nothing as dangerous as Dorzak.”

“Maya said that you helped her and Tony make contact with the people to help us move the Moon.”

“Yes, I was surprised to meet up with them.  And your jump drives are quite an improvement over our photon drives.  Journeys in stasis will not be needed as often.  There is much our people can exchange with each other.”

“Good.  I’m glad you were willing to give our people another chance.”

“You, and your people, gave me assistance when I most needed it.  Without your help, Dorzak would have broken free.  I was in your debt.”  She leaned forward and took his hand.  Her eyes met his.

Alan had always found Sahalla attractive—very attractive.  She leaned forward, and he felt himself responding to her, but he pulled back. 

“I wanted to thank you.  In the manner of your people.”

Alan grinned, embarassed.  He was very aware of Melissa’s underwear in his pocket.  “Um, there’s something I should tell you about.”

“Tony Verdeschi explained that you are mated now, and that under the mores of your people, you are unable to say goodbye or thank you in the same manner.” 

Good old Tony, Alan thought.  That must have been one interesting conversation.  “Yes, I am.  My wife and I are very close, and it would be a breech of trust between us.”

“Tell me of your family.  Because of our prolonged absences, those of our profession do not make any mating commitments.”

“You… don’t?”

“No.  To leave for so long, for one to age while the other remains young, would place too much of a strain on the commitments.”

“I understand.  That’s one of the reasons Melissa and I weren’t married before.  But when we returned, we wanted to start a family.  Melissa was the one to put together the mission to bring us the jump drives so we could go home.”

“She must have been very devoted to you.”

“To me, and Helena as well.  You remember Dr. Russell?”

Sahalla nodded. 

“Melissa is her sister.  They’re very close.  So Melissa had two people here that she cared about.  Would you like to see a picture of her and our kids?”

“Yes, very much.”

Alan stood and led Sahalla to the desk.  He gestured for her to sit, and he stood behind her, opening the file that contained pictures he had taken with the digital camera at Susie’s last soccer game, and Robbie’s last birthday at the beach.  There was also one of Melissa standing at the wheel of the boat, hair blowing in the breeze, a smile on her face, and one of him and Mel together on the boat that Geoff had taken.  He had plenty of enthusiasm for telling her about each of the children and Melissa. 

He was surprised when the commlock on the desk beeped.  He picked it up to see John’s face staring at him from the small screen.

“Yes, John.”

“Are you available?  The Croton ship just arrived and Maya wants to begin distributing the field amplifiers as soon as possible.”

Alan nodded.  “I’ll meet you in command center.  Maya and I have already set up a grid pattern.” 

John nodded and ended the transmission.

“That is your Commander Koenig?”  Sahalla asked. 

“Yeah, that’s him.  And he’s also my brother-in-law now.  He married—is mated to-- Helena, my mate’s sister.”

“He seems very …intense.”

“Always,” Alan said with a laugh.  He stood.  “And it’s best not to keep him waiting.”  He took Sahalla’s elbow and they headed out.

Deploying the generators was a time consuming endeavor, and the teams worked round the clock to get everything in place.  Alan found himself paired with Sahalla to disburse and set up the generators assigned to their team.  He liked the pretty young Croton every bit as much as he had liked her in their last encounter.  She didn’t even mind his singing.  He sang almost unconsciously when he concentrated on something.  Only Melissa and his daughter tolerated his admittedly tuneless crooning on a regular basis. 

John was pushing everyone to get the project accomplished and the moon headed toward home.  Alan knew that a part of this was John’s typical hyperactive work drive, but another part was his desire to return home in time to keep his promise to Helena. 

Tony was the one who noticed that Alan was spending a great deal of time with Sahalla.  He sought Alan out between flights one day.  Alan was just finishing a hasty lunch when Tony slid into the seat beside him.

“Hey, Cobber.  How goes the project?”

“We’re on schedule and doing fine. How are you doing?”

“A bit tired, but doing okay.  We’ll have fifty percent of the generators in place by the end of the day.”

“Excellent.  Maya has been activating them sequentially for short tests.  She says everything is operation as planned.”

“Good to hear it.  I’m already homesick.”

“The great space explorer?  Homesick?”

Alan laughed and shook his head.  “You’re the one who’s been the explorer lately, not me.  I like being home for dinner every night, making sure the kids get to football practice on time and crawling into bed with my wife on a regular basis.”

“I… ah… noticed you and Sahalla work together quite well.”

Alan looked at him in surprise.  “Yeah, we do get on well.  But believe me, it’s Mel I’m missing right now.”

“I wasn’t implying…”

“Yes you were, cobber.”  Alan sighed.  “And I suppose that is how it looks to someone else.  Sahalla and I just ‘clicked’ the last time we met up.  It still feels that way, but there’s nothing romantic going on between us.”

“I’m sorry, Alan.  I just know how happy you and Melissa are together.  I just don’t want something to go wrong with that.”

“Thanks Tony, but I’m an old man to Sahalla now.”

Tony shook his head.  “That’s not what I’m seeing.  She really goes for you Alan.”

Alan laughed.  “We’re friends Tony, that’s all it’ll ever be.  I’m well aware of how precious Mel is.  I have no intention of blowing it.”

Tony clapped him on the shoulder.  Alan’s commlock sounded just then, calling him back to duty and he thought no more of it.

They had been on Alpha for two full months by the time the generators were all in place and tested to the satisfaction of Maya and Sahalla.  Each generator on board the fleet of Eagles and other spacecraft was attached by a line-of-sight laser to the amplifier on the surface of the moon below.  Each spaceship was further linked to two other spaceships by laser communications to ensure that all generators and amplifiers were activated precisely in unison.  The survival of each small ship as would rely on that synchronization as they passed through the dozen jumps they would need to make to return to Earth. 

The main aim of the project was to return to moon to Earth orbit.  No one was sure whether Alpha would survive the journey intact.  It had not been designed to withstand the stresses of the jump drive.  Alan had the feeling it would be fine, after all, it had kept them alive through five years, naturally occurring space warps and Breakaway itself, but he understood John’s caution. Everyone was assigned to one of the ships spread around the small planet.  Alan and Sahalla drew the same ship.  That was fine with Alan, but John was the one to seek him out this time and ask about the amount he had been spending with Sahalla.  Alan assured him that it was strictly business, but it annoyed him that John would even ask the question.  John shrugged it off and they headed for their respective ships. 

Tension was in the air aboard each ship.  Sahalla smiled at Alan from her co-pilot’s seat and Alan gave her a thumbs up sign.  Maya’s face appeared on the screen as she began the count-down to the first jump.  They would first move the Moon the small distance of one light minute, enough to easily check their progress without stressing the system.  Alan switched the controls to automatic.  The computer would initiate the jump drive on all ships simultaneously.  Alan leaned back and prepared for the discomfort of the jump.  The countdown continued.  He gripped the arms of his chair and noticed Sahalla doing the same.  He had a moment to be glad that Mel wasn’t here.  He knew how much she hated these jumps.  They had given her nightmares for years afterward.  Then the jump occurred.

It somehow seemed more intense, and maybe even longer.  Jump time was difficult to gauge.  It was a subjective eternity of gut twisting disorientation.  Freefall was nothing compared to jumping.  In fact, with Melissa around, freefall was a hell of a lot of fun.  With one final nauseating twist, the jump ended.  Alan took a deep breath and checked his instruments.  Everything looked good and he sent a green message off to Maya who was coordinating the effort.  He listened as the other ships began reporting in one by one.  All the pilots were experienced with jump drives.  All could suppress the effects of the jump and continue to function as soon as they returned to normal space.

When he didn’t hear John’s report, he didn’t worry at first, thinking that John was just waiting and watching the others report in first.  John’s ship was a quarter of the way around the planetoid from Alan.  He called up the charts from the computer to find the exact location.  Sahalla noticed what he was doing and began using her own instruments. 

She frowned.  “Alan, I am detecting a disturbance in sector 42.”

Alan nodded.  “John’s area.”  He opened a channel to Maya.  “Maya, we’re detecting a problem in sector 42.  We’re going to check it out.”

“Affirmative,” came the reply. 

Alan pulled the Eagle around and accelerated.  Sahalla continued to monitor the instruments.  As they approached she indicated the area ahead of them.  It appeared to be flickering.  The ship was tiny, but the surface of the moon in a wide area around the ship was also flickering. 

“The area does not appear to have successfully exited hyperspace,” Sahalla said softly.

“Yeah, but what can we do about it?”

“I do not know of anything we can do about it.  I estimate the surface will explode if it is not stabilized within the next quarter hour.”

“And the ship?” Alan asked.

“I am not certain why it has survived this long.”

Alan called over the communications net.  “Maya?  Do you copy our readings?”

“We copy, Alan,” came the tense reply.

“Suggestions?”

“If you could synchronize your jump drive to John’s, you might be able to dock with the ship, shut down that drive and use your own drive to move the ships and everything within their field into normal space.”

“Then let’s go.”

“We do not have time,” Sahalla said softly.

Alan turned and looked at her.  “We don’t have time to argue.  We have to do this now.”

“It is unlikely that we will succeed.”

Alan turned back to his instruments.  “He’s been like a brother to me for years.  I won’t go home without him.”

Sahalla sighed and turned to her own instruments.  “Or we will die trying,” she said calmly.

“Alan,” Maya called.  “We don’t recommend this.”

“Maya, either help or shut up,” Alan answered.

Maya began calling instructions.  She also warned that once they synchronized drives with John’s—if they could manage that—everything they did would be under the disorienting influence of jumpspace.

Within two minutes they were in jumpspace.  With Sahalla adjusting their drive to synch with John’s ship, Alan moved the Eagle into docking position.  They were working against the clock in disorienting and nauseating conditions.  Alan was drenched with sweat, but too busy to notice.  As soon as he docked, he dashed back through the Eagle, opening the door to John’s ship manually.  There were only minutes left.  He rushed to the command section.  Both John and his co-pilot were unconscious.  Alan grabbed John under the arms and dragged him out of his seat, dumping him unceremoniously on the walkway.  Alan took his place in the pilot’s seat and opened a communications channel back to Sahalla.  Together they shut down first the defective drive, then the one from their own ship. 

Return to normal space was such an intense relief he thought he might pass out himself.  Calling for Sahalla to keep the ships stable, he moved to John and looked him over.  There was a trickle of blood from one ear and from his nose, and Alan felt a moment of terror, but when he placed his hand against John’s neck he felt a strong pulse.  That was even more of a relief than coming out of the influence of the jump drive.  The co-pilot was also alive and Alan and Sahalla flew them back to Alpha as quickly as possible.

An hour later, Alan was pacing nervously outside Medical Center while Bob Mathias examined John.  It seemed forever before Bob came out.

“I want to see you next.”

“Me?  I’m fine.”

“I want to make sure.  John’s blood pressure skyrocketed during that prolonged exposure to jumpspace.  I intend to check you out too.”

“His blood pressure?”

Bob nodded.  “Fortunately he hemorrhaged.  It could have caused a stroke, or heart attack.”

Alan suddenly felt ill himself.  “But he’ll be okay?”

“He should be.  What caused the problem?”

“Maya and Tony are checking over that now.  The jump itself worked, but there seemed to be a malfunction in the drive on his ship.”

“So we will be able to get the moon back home?”

“Yeah.  We will.  If we can move it a few light-seconds, we can move it light-years.”

Bob nodded and ushered him into the examining area.  Alan glanced over to see John, now sleeping, in one of Medical Center’s beds.  Alan settled into the exam chair and succumbed to Bob’s concern.

They were a dozen jumps from home.  And a dozen days away from John’s deadline.  John’s ship was fixed and he was determined to continue.  Jumps were stressful for everyone and John wanted to make sure everyone was as fresh as possible for the difficult and highly coordinated jumps.  He decreed no more than one jump per day.  There were no more malfunctions and everything was going according to plan.  The final jump was the shortest, but the most crucial. It required them to place the moon precisely and delicately into orbit around the Earth. 

For the final jump, John requested that Alan be his co-pilot.  Like many other flights over the years, they prepared together with consummate teamwork.  Maya coordinated this final jump as she had all the others.  As she counted down John and Alan exchanged cautious glances and prepared mentally for the jump. 

The disorientation occurred and was over swiftly.  They waited nervously as everyone reported in and Maya and Sahalla took the readings to check the progress of the jump.  The report came back positive.  They were in orbit and placed there gently enough to avoid stressing the Earth-Moon system.  They listened to the cheers of the team and John checked the chronometer in front of him. 

“We have four hours to get home.  Can we make it?”

“We can make it,” Alan said stoutly with a grin.

“Then let’s go.”

Maureen J. Long