Morning Song: A Seeders Universe Novel Read online

“And we’ll take you both up on that,” Callie said, laughing.

  Suddenly Roscoe wasn’t sure what he had gotten himself into. But he liked the idea of spending a little more time with Maria.

  If he could manage to not break any dishes.

  SEVEN

  MARIA REALLY ENJOYED the short time she had standing beside Roscoe at the sink in the old lodge. Every so often their hands would touch as he handed her a plate, and each time it felt like a small shock.

  He kept glancing at her the entire time as well.

  He was so damned good-looking, and it had been so long since she had even allowed herself to look at another man. She didn’t dare look at her crew as the Chairman of the ship, and she hadn’t spent much time away from her ship in some time.

  So maybe she was just desperate. But she didn’t think so. Roscoe was handsome and funny and clearly very, very smart.

  Callie had excused herself and transported to their ship and Fisher had stayed in the kitchen to clean up the grill, and bring them the remains of the dishes from the counter.

  Roscoe had quizzed Fisher on the lodge and then got both of them laughing with his incredible sense of humor.

  In a moment when Fisher had gone back into the diner area to make sure they hadn’t missed a dish, Roscoe turned to her. “So how far out were you when Chairman Ray recalled you to help with this?”

  She laughed. “Far out describes it,” she said. “We had gone through three seeded galaxies and were on the other side of the third headed toward a small group of stars at the edge of the Local Group.”

  “Wow,” he said, shaking his head, causing his long brown hair to swirl back and forth on his collar which took her a moment to pull her attention away from and back to the plate in her hand.

  “I can’t even imagine that,” he said, focusing on scrubbing out a pot in the sink like an expert, “yet from what you were talking about, it’s a small distance compared to what that huge ship has crossed.”

  “A very small part,” she said. “And it still took us two full weeks at full drive to get back.”

  “Were the human populations of those galaxies you went through extremely advanced?” Roscoe asked her.

  “They were, and very peaceful,” she said, remembering some of the encounters. “But we really didn’t introduce ourselves as Seeders and none of them had speeds of ships high enough to cross the distances between galaxies. And we didn’t tell them we could.”

  “Wow, sort of trapped in their own galaxy,” Roscoe said. “How strange that sounds.”

  Maria had to admit, it did sound strange. “What was weird was that none of them much cared about the Seeders. They had just come to accept thousands and thousands of years before that Seeders had all moved on and that Seeders couldn’t be followed. In fact, the farther out we went, the more Seeders were just myths relegated to deep archives of past religions.”

  “I don’t feel like a religion, do you?” Roscoe asked.

  “Honestly wouldn’t know what a religion would feel like,” she said, laughing.

  “I don’t either,” he said, taking a towel to dry off his hands as he looked at her with a sly smile. “But I’m betting sort of soft and squishy.”

  She laughed and said, “And slick and hard to hold onto.”

  He managed to keep a straight face on that handsome face for a moment before breaking into laughter that, if she had her way, she would listen to a lot more of over time.

  EIGHT

  ROSCOE SPENT THE next two weeks mostly with Jonas, working with staffing and training the crew for The Huntington.

  They had decided to mostly stay with Seeders and not recruit too many new humans right out of the blue. In fact, of the two hundred they picked, only ten were non-Seeders. Five couples.

  One such couple was the most famous couple in all of Sector Justice, Mattie Silks and Red Kenney. Red owned another organization that worked closely with Sector Justice called Innocence Inc. Mattie was rumored to be the most deadly enforcer in all of Sector Justice and had taken the job as liaison between the two organizations when she and Red were married.

  He and Jonas both knew them and had approached them on their private ship. It didn’t take long to convince them after showing them the big ship and telling them about the threat they were trying to stop.

  Roscoe’s highlights of each day had been the morning meetings with Chairman Ray, Tacita, Fisher, Callie, and Maria. Each morning Fisher cooked them a wonderful breakfast and then after updating on progress and planning the first boarding, he and Maria did dishes.

  He was starting to feel more and more attracted to her every day, and more comfortable with her.

  And she clearly liked him as well and was flirting back with him. At some point, he hoped to spend a lot more time with her every day besides twenty minutes doing dishes.

  It was finally, on the first day of the third week, that Fisher dropped a bombshell on the meeting.

  “I think we can board the big ship in trans-tunnel flight.”

  The statement sort of hung there in the dining room air like a bad odor that no one wanted to comment on. Roscoe just couldn’t even image anything like that being possible.

  Chairman Ray smiled and motioned for Fisher to go on, then went back to finishing up his eggs.

  “The ship’s screens won’t be active during trans-tunnel flight,” Fisher said. “The ship is in the trans-tunnel for only about two hours, so it will be tight, but possible.”

  Maria shook her head and Roscoe didn’t blame her.

  “I didn’t think it was possible to leave the confines of a ship in trans-tunnel flight,” he said.

  “It’s not,” Fisher said. “But we can attach my ship to the big ship near where we think a port is and then board after we come out of trans-tunnel flight. When it drops out, if our drives are off, it will take us out with it.”

  Again silence.

  Tacita looked at Maria. “Chairman, has your team ascertained where the ports might be?”

  “Yes,” Maria said, nodding. “I believe that Chairman Fisher’s option of attachment might not be necessary. We might be able to get the ship to open a port large enough for his ship to enter while in tunnel flight. The ship should have a very large landing deck if the design of this ship matches what we know of older Seeder designs.”

  “How about we scout this first?” Roscoe suggested, not liking at all what he was hearing. Far too many things could go completely wrong.

  “How do you suggest we do that?” Fisher asked.

  “You said the shields are off when in trans-tunnel flight?” Roscoe said.

  “Scan it then,” Maria said at the same time he did.

  He smiled at her and her smile made it to her wonderful golden eyes just fine.

  “Is that possible for you to do?” Chairman Ray asked Fisher and Callie. “It has been my understanding that scans in trans-tunnel flight are impossible at the moment.”

  Both Fisher and Callie looked at each other in silence for a moment, then Fisher turned to Chairman Ray. “They have been because no one has had a need until now to do that. Let us talk with our team and we’ll have an answer to that in the morning.”

  Ray pushed his finished plate away and stood. Tacita did the same beside him.

  “We are getting close,” he said. “Good work, everyone.”

  With that they vanished.

  Callie looked at Roscoe, smiling. “Great idea.”

  “If we can figure out how to make it work,” Fisher said, staring at his wife clearly in deep thought.

  “Go get to it,” Roscoe said. “We’ll handle the dishes and clean up.”

  “Thank you,” Callie said, and an instant later they were gone.

  Roscoe stood and started to gather up dishes, not really knowing what to say. For the first time he and Maria were really alone.

  And suddenly he felt like he was back about four hundred years in school with a girl he liked and not knowing what to say.

  She was ga
thering plates and cups and silverware on her side of the counter as well when he looked up at her.

  She felt him staring at her and looked up, smiling at him with a twinkle in her golden eyes. “This time I’ll wash.”

  He had no idea what that meant.

  NINE

  MARIA KNEW THAT both she and Roscoe had a lot to do, but she was in no hurry to leave and clearly he wasn’t either.

  She washed the dishes he gathered up and they talked about the mission. At one point he asked about her home planet and she told him about it, finishing with the fact that it had been a few hundred years since she had been back.

  “That would be fun to see,” he said. ‘Sounds beautiful and cold.”

  “Cold describes it,” she said.

  Then she asked him where he was from and he described a standard seeded planet that had gotten into space a little ahead of others in the area. He had gotten a degree in astronomy and physics before joining his planet’s military to get out into space. He had been recruited into the Seeders about ten years later.

  “Two degrees?” she asked, looking at him, stunned.

  “Only way I could get off the planet,” he said, laughing.

  The more she learned about this guy, the more she was liking.

  After a far too short time period, they were done.

  They both wiped down the counters last, talking about how great it would be to have a home base like this one.

  “Tomorrow morning then,” he said, smiling at her and holding her gaze.

  She stepped up to him and kissed him for just an instant. Then she stepped back.

  She could feel her breath short and she knew she was blushing, but she didn’t care. It had been wonderful, even though she completely surprised him.

  He also had the decency to be blushing as well.

  “What was that, Chairman Boone?” he asked, smiling slightly.

  “A promise for the future,” she said, smiling back. “Until tomorrow.”

  And she transported back to her ship before she couldn’t hold herself back and jumped him.

  Or before he made a move to kiss her.

  She had a hunch that neither of them would get anything done if that happened.

  It took her a good half hour in the gym working off the excitement of being with Roscoe before she went back to a meeting with her team.

  Two hours later they had worked out a computer generated list of a few million standard entrance codes that an old Seeder ship might use for its landing deck, if there was a landing deck.

  They were all convinced there was, and that it would be large enough to hold just about any ship.

  After that she had a small lunch and then went back to the gym to try to get Roscoe from her mind. Even a hard workout didn’t do it.

  It had been just too damned long since she had been with a man. And she had a hunch, the way she was feeling, she had never been with anyone like Roscoe.

  Ever.

  TEN

  THE NEXT MORNING at breakfast, Maria was cheerful and smiling. He had worried about her kiss and how she would react today. All fine in that department. He had worried for nothing. She was as stunning and alluring as ever.

  And even more friendly.

  He had thought about her the entire day yesterday, trying to keep as busy as he could to cut down the time daydreaming of her.

  It had worked a little, but not much. He pretty much had everything in place and ready to go.

  About halfway through breakfast, Chairman Ray asked them about all their progress.

  Maria told him how her crew had come up with a few million codes that might open the docking area if there was one like most Seeder ships. Then she said she and her crew were as ready as they ever would be.

  Roscoe reported that The Huntington was ready and the other four warships were also in position and standing by. He was ready as well.

  Callie and Fisher then reported that their team had figured out a way to get limited scans inside trans-tunnel flight, and had worked out exactly how to match the speed inside the trans-tunnel of the big ship.

  The ship would only be in trans-tunnel flight for two hours starting tomorrow, then be in regular flight for fourteen days.

  Fisher looked at Chairman Ray. “We’re ready now if you want us to try to get a scan.”

  Chairman Ray nodded. Then he turned to Roscoe. “I want you and four of your best team on Chairman Fisher’s ship.”

  Roscoe nodded, surprised, but it made sense in case something went wrong.

  Ray turned to Maria. “I need you and four of your best scientists on the ship as well.”

  She nodded and said nothing, clearly understanding what Ray was doing.

  Ray then turned to Fisher. “Only take the crew you need to get the scans. Leave all your data and most of your crew in one of the other science ships.”

  Fisher nodded as well. “We’ll just need five also.”

  Roscoe was impressed. Chairman Ray had decided to move, but had reduced the risk down to painful, but not disastrous levels if something went wrong.

  “We’ll need to depart in one hour,” Fisher said, “to be in position and at speed for the big ship’s jump.”

  Roscoe nodded to Ray and stood. “Thanks once again for the great breakfast,” he said to Fisher. “I’ll be glad to do the dishes when we get back.”

  Ray laughed. “You all go. Tacita and I are not too old to do dishes.”

  “Thank you, dear,” Tacita said, smiling at her husband.

  They all laughed.

  “My people will be ready and on board your ship in forty-five minutes,” Maria said to Fisher.

  Then she vanished.

  “As will my people,” Roscoe said.

  Then he left, jumping back to his ship to get to Jonas and his command crew. He planned on taking the four of his top command crew, leaving The Huntington in the hands of Red and Mattie until they got back.

  They were going to scan a very old and very advanced ship. There was going to be no telling what they would find or trigger.

  And that had him both scared to death and excited at the same time.

  ELEVEN

  MARIA LIKED WORKING with Roscoe and felt comfortable with him. He and his top command crew were in a secondary control room on Fisher’s small ship called The Lady.

  His crew stood against the back bulkhead, armed and ready to go. The room was a high-ceilinged room that Fisher said had been used as an exercise room. He had converted it for this mission, along with other rooms.

  His ship had a very comfortable feel and she had liked it the moment she stepped on board. The carpet in the hallways and rooms was soft, but not thick. Colors were tan and all chairs were form-fitting.

  Fisher and Callie had decorated the hallway walls with various paintings and images from different planets. Often the images were changing, showing fantastic beauty from varied worlds. Maria bet that if she asked Fisher and Callie, each image and painting would have a story from the last three hundred years they had been together.

  Fisher had said that most of the time the ship was on one of the big landing decks of his large Seeder research science ship. But he and Callie lived on this ship as their own personal apartment and always kept it at the top performance and with top equipment for all tasks.

  Maria’s crew stood near her on her right, watching the big image screen on the wall and the heads-up displays in front of Fisher’s three crew members.

  She and Roscoe stood side-by-side. At one point she had moved so that he almost touched her left arm. She wanted him a lot closer than that at some point.

  They had talked a bit while boarding about how excited they were for the coming mission. Now, as they waited in the last few seconds, she shifted from foot to foot, but he stood rock still. How he could do that was impossible for her to grasp in this situation. This was too exciting to not move.

  The large screen on the wall kept them all informed as to what Callie and Fisher were doing in the
small ship’s Command Center.

  The big screen also showed the huge old Seeder ship flashing through space at near light speed.

  The big Seeder ship was so large, no perspective was possible. It was impossible for her to grasp that someone had built something that big.

  “Matching speed now,” Fisher said.

  She also found it hard to believe that this ship could move this fast. Nothing she knew of had near-light speed.

  “Jump to trans-tunnel flight with the big ship in ten seconds,” Callie reported.

  “Here we go,” Roscoe said, glancing at her and smiling.

  She smiled at him. He seemed so cool under pressure situations. She wanted to just clutch something. She liked more and more about him, she had to admit. She forced herself to go back to watching the monitors. She couldn’t let herself get distracted at this moment by his incredible looks and dark eyes. She was tempted to reach out and hold his hand, but she didn’t.

  “Two, one,” Fisher said from the control room and the small ship jumped to trans-tunnel.

  The stars streaked and everything on the screen went from clear to gray as it always did in fast trans-tunnel flight.

  The big ship was right beside them, also in trans-tunnel flight.

  Fisher had matched the jump perfectly. Amazing. She didn’t know this was possible either, for two ships to be inside the same trans-tunnel flight.

  Wow, Fisher and his team were really something.

  “Ready for scans,” Callie said.

  In front of Maria, the three crew members from Fisher’s team worked their boards quickly. On the big screen, and on the heads-up displays, was where they all hoped the scan results would start appearing.

  “Nothing seeming to block the scans,” Fisher reported from the Command Center.

  Maria now wanted to jump up and down she was so excited. She was about to see inside a million-year-old Seeder ship. Beside her Roscoe didn’t even move. He had some amazing control.

  “Ready,” Fisher said.