x
"Arrowprize! Stretching time by a factor of 25, this ship will keep its crew young while it voyages into space, the final frontier! Soon now, that crew will enter a Cochran Gate and exist in Limbo for two years before emerging on the ship, traveling at the speed of light. It's so hard to imagine...."
Leaving the commentator on the seatback screen to mouth his propaganda to lip-readers, Jacqueline Sisko silenced her audio; again the muted shuddering rush of the metallozoomer, half whistle, and half roar, vied for her attention. She thought: why couldn't those people do their homework? 72 light-years weren't exactly the farthest stars. And even a child should know the speed of light was a limit, not something you could truly reach; at the age of almost 12, Jacqueline resented being spoken down to. But with the screen silenced, she didn't have its drivel to keep her mind off her mess. 550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhDySONSA3w
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqLGt0AXDkb
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIcX1riUQW4
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwkFBpqwWlo
She tried to like Arthur Vinson, and she did. Even though it was likely his idea, when he and Mama first started dating, that Jacqueline should always call her Dolores. "It does sound younger, you know," Mama had said, brushing her newly brightened raven hair. "So if you would please, dear...."
"All right----Dolores." It didn't sound right to Jacqueline, then or ever. But after some time passed, it was the only way she could think of her mother.
As for Arthur, there was more. It wasn't only that he took up so much of Dolores's time; her men always did, even the ones who hung around years ago when daddy was off training or working on some project, and poor little Jacqueline had no idea why they did. That was before Daddy was assigned to ride Jupiter, the first Warp Drive spaceship, on its second and more exhaustive mission to its namesake's lunar family. Browsing the asteroid belt en route, of course.
He was gone for more than 1 year, Daddy was, and when he returned he didn't; something awful happened out there, something nobody would explain to Jacqueline, and Dolores got the divorce. She was so worked up over it that she barely remembered to buy a chocolate cake for Jacqueline's 6th birthday. There wasn't any party, but Dolores wouldn't have let Daddy come anyway.
After that, Jacqueline knew why the men came around; nobody bothered to pretend they and Dolores slept in different rooms.
Jacqueline never said anything to Daddy about any of this, on the rare short visits Dolores grudgingly permitted them. She thought about it, true, but then decided he probably knew that already.
Besides, she didn't want to pester him. It wasn't as though he could do anything about---whatever.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEw2M5mzGax
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwzHNM9mtKF
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzd3ZkROhMn
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrXRijSi1UG
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYRLWxMcPkm
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcq1lAvDD5J
Particularly she'd kept her own counsel during their previous get-together----because it was the very final time they'd ever see each other, and she didn't want to risk spoiling it.
By then, everything had taken a turn for the worse. After Dolores and Arthur had been dating for about 6 months and were doping up together nearly every weekend, Dolores quit her job with NetIntel gave up the apartment, and moved herself and Jacqueline into Arthur's big gloomy old house with the creaky floors and loose doorknobs. The place was a mansion, yes it was, but for all Arthur's money, he was too cheap to get anything repaired.
Or else he liked it the way it was, for sentimental reasons.
The move came two weeks before school was out, but Dolores paid cab fare every day so Jacqueline could finish 8th grade and graduate with her class, and her friends.
That was about the final break Jacqueline got. Arthur had what Daddy called "Old Money" and he lived in an "Old Money" suburb. What kids Jacqueline had med, one way or another, who were anywhere near her age ---or school class, which wasn't necessarily the same thing----seemed to be snobbish types. Adjusting to high school in a strange area, with no friends at all to support her, wasn't Jacqueline's idea of a great future. And even under the Accelerated Study Program, it would be 3 more years before she could use the scholarship from Daddy's Cosmonaut's Benefits to go to Columbus Conservatory. That was the only way she could see, to get away from home, and it couldn't happen too soon to suit her.
Because the present was no box of candy, either. It wasn't long until Dolores's occasional bouts with fun dope got a lot more frequent; Arthur's stashes seemed inexhaustible. Before, usually, she'd done nothing worse than sniff a little ash; now, though, she and Arthur were popping stuff Jacqueline didn't even know the names of!
And Arthur got bossier----if Jacqueline didn't do what he said, fast enough to please him, he'd snap a finger against her cheek or forehead, rap her knuckles with a spoon, stuff like that. And after once or twice, Dolores never said anything; she just let him. Did she think it was already because right away Arthur would come on with a pat or a hug to "make up" with? Could she be so foolish as to think that any kind of reassurance?
Jacqueline didn't say much either; in private she'd asked Dolores for help, and been told, "Arthur's going to be your new daddy; you have to mind him and learn to get along with him."
So Jacqueline was about as much as fins on a horse. That was one of Daddy's sayings, and it sure fit here to a T. But Jacqueline couldn't feed it back to him, the last time they met, because pretty soon he'd be gone, so what could he do anyway?550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnU0q0jiVHl
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZPcQBKhESk
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfGc7IqxKgG
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqhsgG5NRts
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbMPDF8rxB5
Daddy's feelings were wired for high voltage; at the Greek restaurant where they had dinner when he wasn't sad he was bubbly and when he wasn't bubbly he was sad. A little sunburned on his lean, black face, under coal-black hair shortened to not much more than stubble, suddenly he grinned. "I still can't believe it, Jacqueline. Benjamin Sisko, exec on Arrowprize. And not just for a year's hitch like on Yamato or Stargazer. This ship rides time 25 to 1; the launch crew goes all the way!"
She tried not to let her face rat her out, but it must've; he went sober too. "I know, honey, and I wish things could be different. If we were all still one big happy family----or even if you and I had the chance to see each other than twice a year when Dolores decides to feel generous...."
Yes, come to that, with any kind of family prospects he likely would have given up his ambitions. But now the way things were. Dolores said, "I know, Daddy; this is it, So..." She brightened. "Tell me what you do next."
It sounded strange. "Tonight, take the early metallozoomer to WASA's (World Aeronautics and Space Administration) starship crewing center, way down south at Bolt Park. First, a few days' briefing. Then, with the rest of Arrowprize's personnel, enter the Cochrane Gate that in two years would spit them out inside Arrowprize. At that point, the ship would be only 90 days out (".....a bit over seventy, ship's time") but, after driving uncrewed at 5 Gs, already up to speed: ".....point-nine-nine-nine-two c, honey, and running time dilation at 25." Which it would do for 2-3 years, whatever, until time to slow down at the far end.
"But that's more like 70 years Terran time, isn't it, Daddy?"
He nodded. After that, she couldn't find much more to say. They finished dinner, and then he saw her off at the shuttlebus station.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLkL0kpqfz6
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoCq2yasa12
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDYJVFHR9pa
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDjtmRe8aEK
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCiM4UPL3wv
When she arrived at the big living room of Arthur's house, Dolores and Arthur had been smoking some garbage they called misty; it smelled, she thought like frying cat shit might smell, but at least it put them quiet rather than noisy.
It was too hot for a fire but they had one going anyway; before the hearth Dolores lay sweating, her robe open. Except for ebony skin and the bags under her eyes, she didn't look too old; in front, she sagged a little but not much, and lying down like this the growing potbelly hardly even showed. Her black rainforest crotch made a liar out of her blond hairdo; maybe she didn't care about that anymore. Or else Arthur didn't. Either way, Jacqueline wished her mother would not sprawl around looking like such a tart; it embarrassed Jacqueline.
Coming in from the kitchen hallway with the incongruously catlike walk he had when he was squorked on something, big Arthur Vinson wore a deceptively serene look. Jacqueline knew how easily and for no apparent reason that mood could shatter into a thousand violent fragments; carefully she said, "I got home all right, and I'm so bushed. G'night; see you in the morning."
She tried to leave fast without seeming to hurry and was around the corner and almost to the stairs when Arthur's drawly, carrying voice reached her. "I'll come say goodnight later."
Oh shit!550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPykpI7rJQe
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8yi4SFaqXq
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvuSqA6hQXX
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQhkhjb5A5C
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrpK6mL2rJV
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUmrUHoNX7o
Jacqueline wasn't sure how long anxiety kept her awake; she was sleeping solidly when a hand on her shoulder shook her and Arthur's giggling voice said, "I'll bet our little girl forgot to have her bath. Come on, get up, let's go."
There was no point in yelling. If Dolores wasn't calcified by now she'd pretend to be; after two beatings from Arthur, really scary ones, she wouldn't tempt a third. Down the hall, he took Jacqueline, to the main bathroom where the loose doorknob rattled when he closed the door.
This was a setup, not mere impulse; in the outsized room, the steaming tub was already run half-full. There was no escaping: nightie pulled off, tearing a little in the process, Arthur's robe on the floor, ploosh they were both in the tub.
He was too big to fight. And she couldn't think of anything to say to stop him, even if he'd shut up long enough to let her try. "You've seen my wang, haven't you?" Stupid giggle!
Yes, two times, and it looked just about like the pictures in the texts at school. But never this close, never before.
If she could have caught up with her breath, maybe she'd have been able to think better. But gasp and gasp, it still wasn't enough. All he did then, though, was soap up a washrag and wash off the parts of him he was making much ado about. Then some more soap and he began swiping it all over her! The water stopped rising when the tub got full to the mark.
Jacqueline cringed. Down the arms and back wasn't too bad but across her chest, he lingered and she shuddered. Then he dunked the rag again and swabbed it down her belly. Way down!
And pushed it there. And squeezed!
This time it wasn't Arthur who shattered, blew up all over everybody. What he did was scream.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYG0mzyPUuz
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUm1a7S604Z
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEZiBPat9sq
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfFpcBK6t9n
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0vMjYxjpH6
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNZoQe6IqH1
She wasn't quite sure what had happened. The Rape Countermeasures lectures at school told you where to grab and hit, so she did. And he was hooting, all doubled over, and she tried to get up and out but he caught her by the ankle and then slipped flat in the tub so she came down on his head and couldn't get loose right away but when she did he rose, retching and coughing, lunged out of the tub and she saw she couldn't beat him to the door.
Jacqueline backed away. Wearing his mean-man face now, big pudgy Arthur stalked her, keeping the angle on her and the door.
Behind her stood the washbasin counter with the cabinets under. The cabinets with all the containers labeled "Caution!"
She whirled and stopped, opened and reached inside, grabbed a spray can and turned back in time to fire it into Arthur's looming face. He gave a grating cry; one big hand knuckled at his streaming, screwed-shut eyes but the other tangled in her hair and twisted.
His mouth squared in a snarl; desperately she thrust the spray can at it and fired and fired and....
Pain ripped at her scalp; she landed half-rolling on the floor and scrambled up to see Arthur's hand, strands of her hair trailing from the fingers, clawing at his throat as if to stop the roaring wheeze.
Now, the door. But she jerked too fast; the loose knob came away in her hand. The one outside hit the hall floor; hers held the little square bare so she stuck it back in the hole, turned it, and took it all with her as she went out past the door and pulled its edge hard, her hand barely clearing its slam.
Now what? Arthur's bulk jarred the door twice, and then he stopped. No, he wasn't going to break through; it opened the other way. All right, don't leave the knob for Dolores to let him out with; reeling along the hall she held onto it.
She still had the can, too. She looked: tile spray; it killed mildew and fungus. Too bad Arthur wasn't a true fungus. Well, he sure as hell wouldn't have to worry about Athlete's Throat!
Then she had to fight hard, to stop herself from laughing while she still could.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdI446ZykXm
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNU6W88ZngA
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHna9sne44E
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBh11m4fWat
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdHwRGVbhke
One little part of her mind made perfect sense; she didn't even have to pay too much attention. Back in her room, moving faster than anybody should be able to, she dried herself some and put on fresh clothes. Her scalp hurt so bad she thought he'd torn the skin loose, but when she felt it there wasn't any blood.
She switched dirty clothes for clean in the travel bag she hadn't unpacked before, and grabbed stuff out of drawers: her diary, the tiny box with the matched opal earrings and pendant left her by Ben's mother, her science project medal.....
A few more items, then she stopped; there wasn't time! Had it been 1 hour already? Or only mere minutes?
Her little store of reserve cash didn't strain her wallet.
She looked around, on her bed, desk, chairs, dresser, the closet shelf, lay the things that defined her life. Sighing, she closed the bag and walked away from practically all of her childhood.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAB0kJL7MM6
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiuDqxonHRz
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrD80pCoYGB
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyexpjZgTAi
She went out and down along the hall, past the bathroom door; from within came sounds but she couldn't tell exactly what they meant. Was Arthur dying? In a rush she carried her bag downstairs, to the big room where Dolores lay spraddled out staring into some unseen drug-induced Heaven, one hand beating time to music nobody but her could hear.
She searched her mother's big pursebag. Jacqueline's junior grade credit card had limits Dolores's adult version didn't. So switch. And ".....goodbye mama, it's not all your fault." But this was Dolores, not Mama; it was too late for goodbyes.
The walk down to the highway and then to the transit stop was long enough to make the travel bag heavy. Riding into the city she got almost to sleep but never quite. Arthur....
Transit went right past a metallozoomer depot in the nearest suburb, but Jacqueline didn't get off there. From what Daddy had said, Bolt Park was a smallish operation, with no family quarters; a kid alone, wanting a ticket to go there---which would have to include a change of metallozoomers at the central depot anyway ---could draw questions. So she rode on into that one. She and Dolores had seen Daddy off there more than a few times, before Jupiter and the divorce, so she knew where it was.
Transit ran within 2 to 3 blocks of it; not a bad walk. And here she knew the ticket sales were automated: credit card in the slot, punch out the destination, ticket pops out. She booked passage for the next major city past Bolt Park; she'd get off at the smaller place, of course, but no point in leaving a clear computer-recorded trail for Arthur and Dolores. And for this transaction, Jacqueline's card would not have worked, period!
Quickstepping to board the metallozoomer, she came close to grinning. So far, so good.
Settled down in coach, though, thirty minutes out of town, and the refreshments cart already come and gone, nothing but the seatback screen left to provide any distraction. Jacqueline Sisko was stuck with herself. Fighting tears; as surely as if death had struck, mama was gone. A little at a time, while Jacqueline hadn't noticed. And if she had, what could she have done?
She refused to think about Arthur, dead or alive.
But what in the world was she going to tell Daddy?550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw4WFdPsjOv
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHZGcTIXcEf
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2pLfmmquP6
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHImVWnY4j3
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0jzvdv79cI
Ben Sisko felt great. Ever since basic training, starting with the Army hitch that got him the GI Bill to help with college, he could sleep any time they let him hold still; the metallozoomer was no exception. And it had reached Bolt Park early enough that after he caught the minicab to the small WASA C-Gating center and checked into quarters, he logged another 2 hours before breakfast.
Now, full of eggs, toast, juice, and coffee, he came back to his room to fetch his briefing kit. As he opened the door, only one thing haunted his mood: was Jacqueline going to be okay?
Then he stopped cold dead. If she were, she surely didn't look it.
It wasn't only the new pudginess, afflicting all his family line for a year or so to announce puberty, but putting a sulky look on her normally clear-cut features. Or that her shortish black hair stuck out in all the wrong directions. Riding down here on the metallozoomer---how else could she have made it so fast?---could account for the tired look, and if she'd only just got here, maybe she hadn't had time to rinse the grit off her face. The grit that so clearly outlined the tear tracks.
"Jacqueline!" He moved to hug her; she met him halfway.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ07MdqwLVu2
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyoVsF6rI6J
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHJZcTfLtXj
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnWzhlajd5o
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1QWNvUmd3h
Her crying came fierce but was (thankfully) short-lived. Haltingly, she tried to answer his questions. Ben shook his head; it wasn't that he disbelieved her, but what she said didn't make sense. "Do you think you killed Vinson?"
"I---I don't know. There wasn't anything on the news before I got off the metallozoomer. But I didn't try to. I just wanted to get the hell away from him is all. He caught me and....." She told it as best she could. "I couldn't help it!"
No, she probably couldn't. Dammit, he should go back up there, and if Vinson were still alive which was more likely than desirable, bring criminal charges against him. Except that it'd be Arthur's word against Jacqueline's, and the man's family still had a lot of clout in that state. Plus, Ben couldn't possibly get away from here long enough to do any such thing.
She was getting heavy on his lap. Still trying to stroke her hair smooth, he said, "Jackie, you don't know that he's dead. If he is, I'm not sure of the penalty for fungicide."
The attempted light touch wasn't working; for that matter, it didn't do much for his worries. What would be good, Ben decided, would be to go barging into that Munsters homestead and punch out blubber boy's teeth. Sigh. He said. "We need to learn the score, okay?" He looked at his watch. "Now, I've got me a briefing session to hit. Have you had your breakfast?"
She shook her head. "I took the minicab from the station. At the gate, there was just one guard. I said I was here to see you, and she looked at my ID card and told me how to get to this room. But not how to find anything to eat."
"I'll bring a tray from the canteen at my first break. And make some phone calls then, too. For now, you stay right here, and don't let anyone see you. At least not until I can think of some way to explain you to the top brass."
"But the guard...."
"Took for granted you had authorization or you wouldn't be here. The bigwigs won't, so stay out of sight."
"Okay."
"And get some sleep; you look like you haven't had much."
"No." Meaning she hadn't, not that she wouldn't....."
One final hug, and he left her. Good thing he already knew this morning's material backwards and forwards, because trying to listen to the young officer tell it, Ben had no luck at all.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5aQsaiGfnV
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrY4X9EfspE
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5CgMcLZAhB
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQIf7fmEfBN
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡceKzJ13qf5
Dolores didn't know her ass from 3rd base. Coming partly awake and still booged to the follicles, at first she didn't recognize Arthur at all. She thought he was a bad misty dream, weaving around with no clothes on, brandishing a big screwdriver like he was going to stab her with it, his eyes swollen nearly shut and the slits showing red, mouth puffed out and splotched with sores, no voice except the rasping grunts.
The second dousing with ice-cold water brought her down; after a while, she could even make out some of what he tried to say. "Damn little cunt," she decided, was Jacqueline---but what she'd done or where she'd gone, Dolores had no idea. Except that somehow Jacqueline locked Arthur in the bathroom, and until he found the screwdriver in the cabinet beneath the washbasin, he couldn't get out. At least that's how Dolores understood it.
But where was Jacqueline? Was she all right? And what had Arthur done to to cause whatever had happened? Something, for damn sure.....
He made her get dressed and do something about her hair before he put some clothes on, too. Ice cubes applied to his face brought some of the swelling down, but he still looked like the malicious alien in a Late-Nite Movie. And sounded worse.
But he got it across that there was something they had to do, and by now she was less shaky and could drive. Sort of.
She was shocked at where he directed her to go, and what they did when they got there.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ05rO31kGYj
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5rKiRi8QIE
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgcwdcyEaTW
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbGRO4MIj0k
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfdxoGntYeR
Ben Sisko wasn't Arrowprize's original executive officer. Come in now as a last-minute replacement, to a multinational UN crew that had worked and studied together for several months, he felt distinctly under the gun if not behind the 8 Ball. He hadn't been told the personal reasons for his predecessor's pullout; now he tried not to feel that the others saw him as an interloper.
Did they? Could it be that he just lacked confidence? Well, it didn't help matters that when the break came at 0956 he couldn't hang around and chat with the group because he had to bring Jacqueline something to eat. He vowed to do better at lunchtime.
Cutting across behind the C-Gate building he got to the canteen ahead of the rest, quickly loaded a tray, and got out with his booty before they arrived. Nothing like avoiding explanations he didn't have on tap!550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRMAb0t4tpf
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡukHuAiYt6n
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWwzA9Sy3RZ
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBNMqbjeOML
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDufTdMqJvy
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8Xda2IiEZm
Jacqueline needed a shower before she lay down. She was glad there was only a stall; she didn't even want to see a tub. It seemed no time at all until Daddy woke her, but she felt a lot better rested and ate two of the big sandwiches he'd brought, while he made slower work of only one.
There were still several left; he put them away in the room's little countertop fridge. "Why so many?"
"Some for your lunch," Daddy said. "I can't get away with ducking out on the crew all the time."
He reached for the phone and switched on only its audio function, not the computer screen. At her inquiring look, he said, "One of our PR guys I've had a couple of drinks with; he has newsroom connections. Maybe even up where you came from."
She'd never yet made sense of one end of a phone call, so she went to the bathroom for a little while. When she came out, her father was off the phone. He smiled. "You can quit worrying about one thing; there's nobody dead up there named Vinson."
It did help a little bit.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3TlyqSlEYE
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT95EB6m3u0
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4YLksKAhj6
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1n1v2NhbBq
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyXMbQiZadV
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfs7Vmb7zFh
He hurried back to the canteen, but the crew was already starting to leave their big table. J.M. Colt, the tall second officer from somewhere in western Canada, gave him a deadpan stare. "Sisko, is it? Nice of you to find time to join us." And skulked away.
Eh, indeed. Ben didn't know all fifteen names yet and could keep straight only half of those he did. He had no idea which ones were paired off and which weren't (if any). Come to that, he didn't even know if his predecessor had left a shipside "widow"---let alone who she might be.
Besides being introduced, he hadn't traded more than a dozen words with Jonathan Archer, Arrowprize's captain. Ruddy face, bulky like a down lineman on the junior college scale, Archer was prone to occasional bursts of goshwow enthusiasm. Otherwise, he went by the book and showed little of his inner feelings. As Sisko nodded to him, muttering, "Captain," the man flashed a brief, noncommittal grin. "If your trip gave you the trots, I've got some pills for that."
A fine excuse for ducking out at the break, but one trouble with it: Benjamin Lafayette Sisko had always found lying such hard work that he'd never really learned how. "Thanks, sir, but I'm all right." Resisting the urge to add, "and was, all along"; by now he could prevent himself from telling everything he knew.
He followed the others into the briefing room. The only convenient area available seat was on the group's outskirts.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1Z4pdkWXO7
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoH9htWkAU1
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7MhWnM7DYF
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs04MpgMP9x
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0SFWeCypD0
Lunchtime: stuck at the table between 2nd Officer Colt to his left and a youngish, balding man whose entire attention went to the striking red-haired woman sitting opposite, Ben ate silently. He'd tried an opening remark on Colt, to the effect that this voyage was certainly a new approach. "......and opens up a lot of interesting possibilities."
In dead-level tones, the tall brunette said "It does?" As she looked away, wavy hair swung forward of her shoulder and hid her expression from him.
Well, up yours, too. Whatever bothered her, he couldn't know. Ben turned to his right, to the man gabbing at the redhead. "Tell me something, Dudley Do-Right. Are you beautiful people always this snotty to everyone, or is it just me?"
The man gaped; all around the table, the chatter died. There from its far end came a raucous laugh. "Jesus T.T. Coriolis, citizens. The man is alive!550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQyrGve0XCk
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVWOaoZLHGn
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAzNJKFowed
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡImT3doutSJ
"Where are you from, anyway?" said J.M. Colt.
"Well, I...." Then Ben could talk. It didn't come easy in this bunch, but he made a start. The man to his right was Paul Stamets, drive specialist; the redhead sitting across, but the one who held most of Stamets's interests, was chief instrument technician and answered to Beverly Crusher. Once she addressed Paul as "Dudley," they all three laughed.
By the meal's end, Ben had three more names solidly attached to bodies. The short part-Japanese man in navigation was Hikaru Sulu. The lanky backup pilot, Charles Tucker, who had laughed at Ben's needling of Paul Stamets, sat, for the most part, like a darkly sallow sphinx, saying little. Unlike the slim, very black Kenyan woman, Nyota Uhura, who would command and pilot the Deployment Module when that unit emerged from Arrowprize's nose like lead from a mechanical pencil, to scout the destination planet before landing personnel and supplies. That one spoke freely.
Her surname sounded familiar, and when Ben asked, she smiled. "Yes. My cousins Mobutu and Chata served on Stargazer. With the launch crew, group A; they've been back nearly three years now."
Some odds rumors circulated about that launch crew: two had been C-Gated home dead and at least one in handcuffs to face charges. But so far as Ben knew, Nyota's cousins weren't implicated. Compulsively his mind checked out the timing: yes, 15 months for Stargazer to hit cruising speed plus 2 years C-Gate plus 3 since returning---it did add up to right about now.....
The captain stood Time to key into student mode.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ14NIH0d6YI
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC4ByGdCMSF
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6T02QV0zrL
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmg265bJUu9
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd653pxYWVX
Ben Sisko's space career went back a way, from when Jupiter returned from its first mission and was retrofitted with C-Gate fuel-and-supply facilities to go with its Warp Drive. No "crew-exchange" C-Gates, though; there wasn't room in the design.
It was the Cochran matter transmission Gates, naturally, that made starships possible: crew rotation, continuous replacement of fuel and life-support and supplies in general. The 2-year transit lag was not a problem if you started Gating-in everything beforehand, including the first relief group.
The next time Jupiter went out, Ben was the chief pilot. It was a sweet trip, lasting more than a year. He had a little trouble with his hormones, maintaining monogamous celibacy against the efforts of Tasha Yar who made an otherwise clean sweep of the ship's male personnel, but he managed. Of course, this all happened before ships' crews entered into group marriage as a matter of policy; Dolores wouldn't have held still for that!
But as it happened, Tasha was keyboarding a book: Sex Slaves in Space or something like that, and truth had little to no part in it. WASA managed to block publication, but somehow Dolores got hold of the rumors and blew her stack, as yet unbleached. Stuck with the name but lacking the game, Ben caught the dirtier end of a singularly nasty divorce. He wasn't even sure which neck he'd wring first: Tasha's or Dolores's lawyer's. Lucius, somebody...
His next space-oriented assignment, two years earlier, had been 1st male alternate on Stargazer's relief group 1-B under Captain Kathryn Janeway---a group that would be Gating-out on that ship just about the time this gang here went into its C-Gate. From what he'd heard about "Old Iron Boobs" when she'd ridden Jupiter II as a UN observer, he felt lucky he hadn't been tagged for that tour. Be that as it may, he'd been offered the same slot on relief 1-B for the second ship, Ganges, due up two years from now. Always a bridesmaid, these days.....
Except that for some reason nobody ever got around to tell him, he'd been hauled in to replace James Kirk on Arrowprize----or rather, asked most politely if he'd accept the post. And under the circumstances, damn right he would!
The catch was that after all this time and study his thinking was solidly at home in the Stargazer-class ships. But Arrowprize was different; most of the numbers he knew so well and thoroughly were wrong.
Not all, thank God. The circular segment that comprised the living areas still lay at the ship's outer 25-meter radius, rotated to provide a centrifugal equivalent of .3 gee, and was accessed utilizing an unpowered transfer ring which was braked magnetically, either to rest concerning the main structure or to match spin with the rotating section.
Some of the layout, the placement of functions, was also similar---but different enough that he couldn't take anything for granted without looking it up. The smaller auxiliary rotating segment behind the living quarters, which could be revved up to provide a 1G exercise area, was new to him. The .3G off-duty environment of the earlier ship had been deemed adequate to maintain crewmembers' health for their 1-year tours until they C-Gated home again, but Arrowprize's people were going all the way. Better safe than sorry...
With a cross-sectional sketch of the ship at hand for reference, Ben paid heed to what this afternoon's lecturer had to say.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡovr5Di0UtC
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmI0hSZSp17
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXfhNAoP82M
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfsJWNl07HD
"....treated for toxic burns on his face and in his mouth and throat. Vinson was released without hospitalization. Sought for questioning in the assault is his stepdaughter, Jacqueline Sisko, age twelve, missing since sometime during the night. Authorities are trying to reach the girl's father, Benjamin Sisko, in case he may know her whereabouts."
On the screen, the announcer cleared his throat. "In sports today...."
At the sound of her name, Jacqueline had pushed the Record button; Daddy would need to see this. Now she hit Stop. Automatically she picked the Arrowprize familiarization brochure off the floor where she'd dropped it. "Stepdaughter!" She shook her head; what were Arthur and Dolores trying to pull here?
She checked her watch. Daddy wouldn't be free for at least another hour; maybe he'd have some good ideas.
Turning the screen off, Jacqueline went back to studying the brochure, trying to get the feel of this ship that would take him away from her forever. And had herself another sandwich.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3TDxHzGVFr
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSxgCtNi1ug
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoNqICThaSW
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxTvzAts0rk
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjBvxyzX5Uj
The briefing and related social stress had put Jacqueline's crisis on Ben's back burner. What she told him in a rush as soon as he came in, plus the replayed news snippet, caught him off guard and stopped his thinking cold. One point stuck out. "Stepdaughter?! I didn't know Dolores married the bastard!"
"Neither did I. I don't see when they could have."
"Ummm. The news should be on again by now. Half over with." He turned it on, and they sat through over twelve brief items of interest to either before. "This afternoon the mother of Jacqueline Sisko, a fugitive in the assault on well-known sportsman and shipping heir Arthur Vinson, made a dramatic plea for her daughter to come home. Here, at the aging but still stately Vinson home, Dolores Vinson spoke."
Comb and compact, garb and grooming, a good stabilizer for the twitches, Dolores made a fine appearance. Her pitch wasn't bad either, Ben thought. ".....see my little girl again. I realize you've been under stress, Jacqueline dear, and I want you to know that no charges will be filed. You need help, darling, and that's all I want for you. Then when you're ready, we'll be home again, all of us together."
Between clenched teeth, Jacqueline's answer came out. "Like all hell, we will!" She turned. "Daddy, I can't ever go back there!"
"I know. Ssh, listen." The announcer was saying that there had been no luck contacting the father at this time, but within the next few hours, the government red tape notwithstanding.....
Ben turned it off and reached for the photo, shushing Jacqueline again. "Wait! This needs to come first."
He'd met Senator Rick Berman, chairman of the space committee, two years ago when Ben almost but not quite wound up on the relief group of the Stargazer. His tricorder still held two phone numbers that might reach Berman, and the second one did. "Senator?" Ben gave his name. "Remember me? Good. Well sir I need a huge favor. Has it been announced yet that I'm filling in on Arrowprize?"
"Oh, no. Not yet. There's a press conference tonight, so that's...."
"No! I mean, please don't. Hold the word another day --two, three, even, if you can. It's...."
"Sisko?" Ben could visualize the friendly, puzzled smile on the senator's freckle-pocked face. "You're not behind on your alimony or anything?" Pause. "I mean, if you are, sure, I'll keep you covered, and authorize advance pay to take care of it. As long as it's nothing worse."
What could he say? He wouldn't like it, and surely not to this man. "I'm not in hock to anybody, sir. It's a family problem, a matter of protection, and I need a little time to take the needed steps without a spotlight on me. Okay?"
After a pause, Berman said, "That's good enough for me. And I hope I can shake loose and come say goodbye to your gang before you hit the C-Gate."
"Me too. And thanks a lot, Senator."
Hanging up, he turned to Jacqueline. "That buys us some time. Now where's a good safe place to hide you?"550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHEmEBF9937
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYLSHiPwUe3
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnrLgDKoBRF
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUwpFHauIxG
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ92zTVZaPpo
But there wasn't any. Daddy had no blood family of his own---well, two 3rd or 4th generation cousins he hadn't seen in years and didn't even know where they lived now. And friends? Hell yeah, lots of them, but none to the degree that he could expect them to take her in and fight Arthur and Dolores for her---even if any nonrelative stood a chance against a mother's claim.
"If only there was time!" Daddy gritted his teeth. "Time for a hearing, to have a guardian appointed or something. But that could take weeks---and all I've got is two goddamn days!"
He frowned. "Looks like I'll have to pull out of Arrowprize. I just can't have you going back to that---that monster!"
Jacqueline moved to hug him hard. "No! Don't do that, Daddy!"
"I thought you didn't want me to go in the first place."
"I don't want to lose you. But I don't want you to lose....." Everything that you've always worked for and always wanted, she couldn't get it all said, but maybe he understood.
Because he stood up. "Ooh-kay. I guess it's time for Plan B." He grinned. "Always did want to say that."
Picking up a paper from his briefing kit, he scowled. "It's close, dammit. But I see no other way. How, though....."550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0Pi2nf6GRM
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUDMp5A8oQK
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZXUIMp6Vew
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡydtr2sU385
Once they had all Jacqueline's stuff together, everything in the bag but what she wore, Ben added a few items: the remaining sandwiches, and two plastic flasks of juice. Now he was ready; it was dinnertime when all but duty personnel would be in the cafeteria.
He had her make a last-minute visit to the bathroom, then, "All right, let's go." Jacqueline looked at the 3 eggs he carried in one hand but asked no questions as they left the quarters and crossed closely moved turf to the C-Gate building. Just outside it he paused and carefully dropped the eggs to splatter on the concrete sidewalk. He paid no heed to Jacqueline's questioning look; he was concentrating on his lines.
The young woman who sat at the duty desk looked serious, but not especially hard-nosed. Ben smiled. "My daughter's about ready to leave. I wonder if I could show her the C-Gates first?"
"Yes, I suppose so."
As she stood, Ben said, "Oh, by the way, there's kind of a mess on the walk outside. Nothing big, but if you'd like to, while I'm here to mind the store, you might want to clean it up before any brass sees it. I can do the showing around."
"Uh---why yes; that's a good idea. Thank you."550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqaQRaOzbUH
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6sX54WivOo
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRGNv6exbEg
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdv0cE0PLPj
When she came back in, wadding some dripping paper towels into a plastic bag, she said, "If your daughter hasn't left yet, maybe I could show her some more about the C-Gates."
"Well, thanks very much. But she did have to go."550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡomCSwsY1Yv
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0gQ4E3GiTI
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuPcWE6coGT
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcFPSxkC2lw
550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGnsDDTzKyf
When Dolores finally got a hold of Ben, he stuck to his story. "She was here, yes. But right now I have no idea where she is."
Because when it came to C-Gates, nobody did.550Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuWsD7CbBNp
