Homesick

Ian walked into Sally’s quarters as she beckoned him through the open door. He was out of breath.

“Ian, good! I was just about to fetch you. You look tired. Everything okay?”

“Yeah. I was just limbering up. Climbed up and down the gyro rod a few times.”

“I should probably do the same.” She patted her hips. “It’s good you’re getting ready. Who knows what kinds of stunts those guests of ours might try.”

“Well, we’ve got a few tricks of our own.” He managed a smile. Then he handed Sally the canvas-wrapped package he’d been carrying. She opened it to reveal four neatly wrapped cylinders connected to a small, plastic box by color-coded wires.

“The bomb?”

“Good ole fashioned dynamite. They packed it along for our geological survey.”

“We’d have been doing that next week, wouldn’t we?” She laughed. “Maybe we should thank the Masters. At least we get out of some of the hard work!” Then she thought for a moment. “I’m sorry, I guess that wasn’t very funny.”

She looked at the bomb. “Dynamite, you say. Had you considered using one of the plutonium batteries?”

Ian looked surprised. “Plutonium batteries? No I hadn’t, actually. I know we have some, but that might be overkill.”

Sally looked confused. “How much are we talking about?”

“Well, the objective here is to destroy the shuttlepod’s components and make the technology completely useless to them from now on.” Ian pointed to the bomb. “This will more than do that. On the other hand, anything bomb-like we’d make with a plutonium battery would most probably create a crater the size of a football field and release a huge amount of toxins into the environment. Real dirty. And, much as I don’t care for the Masters, I don’t see as that’s necessary.”

“No, of course not,” Sally agreed, her expression growing more contemplative.

“To be honest, I barely knew we had plutonium batteries. They’re part of the auxiliary power grid. Rather rare to use those even now. Where did you get the idea to __”

“Vlad. He mentioned plutonium batteries. They’re the ignition point for the auxiliary fusion reactors.”

“And he suggested them for this?”

“No . . . That was back when he was talking about nuking the masters entirely. I didn’t realize the battery itself would . . .”

“Well, he’s quite the absent-minded professor, isn’t he then?” Ian chuckled. “I guess we should mind what toys he plays with, now shouldn’t we? Fortunately, in this case, TNT is far easier to use and it makes more than enough of a bang.”

“How do we detonate?” Sally asked, turning her attention back to the bundle.

“Two ways.” Ian pointed to the plastic box. “Either we send a signal through the com channel or there’s a timer set to start as soon as the exterior door opens. It’ll prime automatically after we open the chutes.”

“Sounds good” Sally said, turning the devise over in her hands. “Can Vlad handle the installation?”

“I briefed him.”

“That’s not what I asked.”

“Yes, I think so. And it’s starting to sound like he knows more about these sorts of things than we do. Mind you, I’ll check his work if I can.”

She nodded, satisfied, and re-bagged the device. Ian took it and turned to the door. But then he hesitated. “Captain, I’ve got to ask you something.”

“Go ahead.”

“This idea to bring the Masters onboard. Did it make sense to you?”

“If it didn’t, they wouldn’t be coming.”

“I know, but did my reasoning seem sound?”

“Are you having second thoughts?”

“I’m not sure. I just got the notion that, if the aliens’ original intentions were to come onboard, they might be doing us up like a couple of kippers. Maybe they know we want the pod back, and maybe that was the whole idea and __”

“Earth agreed with you, Ian. What are you getting at?” She stepped closer.

“Captain, could they have somehow affected us without our knowing? Maybe we didn’t really escape like we thought. It did seem too easy.”

“You made it look easy, Ian, but you were right. We did have some luck.”

“But, what if what they really wanted was the ship? What if all this business with their learning the com system was to trick us into inviting them onboard?”

“If that’s all they wanted, then letting us go would be pretty dumb, wouldn’t it? They could have conditioned us just as easily and we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”

He thought for a moment. “Yeah, I suppose so.”

“Ian.” She grasped his shoulders. “Dr. Poole checked us out. We weren’t influenced. Now, I can understand why you feel that way. After what we saw down there and after what Poole told us this morning, anybody could become paranoid. But Earth Command confirmed everything you said. If you’re influenced, so are they.”

Ian shook his head.

“Ian, what’s this about?” she asked, looking into his eyes. “What happened?”

“Oh, it’s nothing, really,” he said with a hint of embarrassment. “My wife only thinks I’ve become some sort of a turncoat. When they told her what happened to us she must have taken it to heart.” He shrugged. “She’s got the idea I’m working for our enemies. Maybe that sort of thinking rubbed off on me. I don’t mean to trouble you with it, Captain.”

“Oh, Ian, I’m so sorry. I’ll have a talk with her if you’d like.”

“Hell no, that’d only make things worse!” He laughed. “She’d be saying you’re in on the conspiracy, too!”

“I suppose so.” She nodded, seeing his logic. “And I know she doesn’t much approve of me either.”

“Oh, that’s not true, Captain.” He waved his hand. “Really, she just __”

“It’s okay, Ian,” she said, not wanting to open another issue. “I’m more concerned about you now, anyway.”

“I’ll be all right,” he said, mentally pulling himself up. “We can’t afford this now anyway. She’ll come ’round. I guess I just got to thinking is all.”

“Well, that’s probably what they would want.” She faced him again. “Ian, from now on we can’t afford to be off guard. Now, maybe this will help and maybe it won’t, but you’ve got to convince yourself right here and right now that you’re the same man you were when we left this ship. No surgery was done to either of us and our implants showed no signs of being altered. Let’s proceed under the assumption that all our ideas are our own.” She paused for emphasis. “I need your creativity now more than ever. I’m going to give you some things to work out and I need to know you’re up for the task.”

“Yes,” Ian said, standing upright, almost at attention.

“Good. Now, to show how much I trust you, I’ll need you to be ready with that gun again.”

“I got it out of quarantine this morning. I cleaned it up and put in the new mag.”

“Any bullets left in the old one?”

“Only a few. I have them ready, too.”

“Good. Next thing I need you to do is get a damn good look at the ship’s design. Shooting a gun in the open air is very different than firing one inside a controlled environment like this. I’m not just talking about windows and walls. We need to know the makeup of every room. I’m thinking power conduits, air ducts, hydraulic lines, fiber optics, and everything else! Find at least one spot in every room where we could afford to take a hit from that gun. And, whenever we and our guests are in that room, I want you to assume an optimum firing position to hit that spot with one of them in the way. We’re playing for keeps here and I need us to be ready!”

“I’ll do what I have to.”

“Good, because you’re the only one on this hulk I can trust with that thing and you’ve proven you can use it. Where is it, by the way?”

He reached behind his back and wrenched the pistol from inside his pants, holding it for her inspection.

“Good. Don’t set it down anywhere, not even for a moment.”

He put it back silently.

Then she smiled a crafty smile. “Now, let me show you my little surprise.”

She reached inside her uniform jacket and pulled out a long, shiny knife with a black handle. Ian could see that the blade had been housed in an old, leather sheath she had somehow stitched to the inside of her jacket.

“This was Jackie’s. It’s called an athame. Normally it’s harmless. She’s into those metaphysical things, you know?”

“Yes, I remember you saying something about that.”

“She’s not into pyramid power, but she does the candles and the crystals.” She held up the blade for him to see. “It has something to do with ‘directing energy,’ though I confess I really don’t know much about it. They point it at things or draw shapes in the air. She gave me this before we left. I’m not sure if it was supposed to be a keepsake or if she thought I’d try it. It cost her over £100. She got it in Salisbury, near Stonehenge.” She looked off into space for a moment, dreaming herself back.

“I’ve been there. And I’ve seen those things, now that you mention it. I guess I always thought they were letter openers, though that one’s a bit larger. I didn’t know they were that dear, though. That’s over $200.00 American.”

“It’s handmade, antique, and was probably once owned by somebody important. Of course I’ve ruined it now.”

“How?”

“They’re not supposed to be sharp. They’re for pointing, not cutting. I took this one down to our shop and gave it the once-over with the laser cutter.” She gingerly felt the edge. “I’ll bet you could shave with this now.”

Ian studied the edge and nodded.

“Not as effective as your gun, but it’s the best I could do. I couldn’t make another taser or anything like that.”

“Just as well. Even without the builders, my gut tells me the more basic weapons would still be more trustworthy.”

Sally looked pensively at the blade and then tucked it back into its sheath. “Ian, I’ve got to ask you for something. It’s important.”

He stood waiting.

“We’ve known each other a while and I’m speaking now as your friend. What I’m asking for is something only a friend would do.”

“By all means,” he said without hesitation.

“Ian, I want to go home to Jackie. Almost nothing else matters to me now. But I want to go back as me.”

He nodded, trying to guess her next words.

“Neither of us really knows what happened to Scott. We don’t know how they did it, what they used, or how long it took. Ian, if something gets by us . . . If you think they did to me what they did to Scott . . .”

Ian’s face took on more understanding.

She motioned to his belt. “I want you to . . . you know.”

“You want me to shoot you,” he said, more as a statement than a question.

She nodded, her eyes burning into his. “And I’m serious about that.”

Ian nodded, shouldering the burden.

“In the head if you can manage it, and more than once. Right about here . . .” She drew a circle around her forehead, but then stopped when she saw Ian’s shocked reaction. “I’m sorry. Just make sure. Now, let’s not talk about this anymore.”

“Wait,” Ian said with a somber expression of his own. “What about me?”

She gestured to the knife within her jacket and shrugged with an apologetic smile. “That’s the best I can do.”

Ian swallowed hard and nodded. “You’re a doctor. You’d know where to . . .” His voice trailed off. “You’re right, this is a touchy subject.”

She took his hand. “You won’t feel a thing,” she promised. And for a brief, comfortable moment they embraced tightly, shivering in each other’s arms.