Hughes and Walker tossed out instructions that pertained more to Tim, Tito, and Jeff than they did to me. However, did get one key order. “Kitty,” Walker said, “be sure that you keep hailing frequencies open. We want to be able to spot the distress call just in case there are any errors in our flight plan.”
“Um . . .” By now I should have remembered which stupid button did what, but a nice vacation on Cradus had pretty much wiped that information from my memory banks. Besides, the button display was starting to remind me of a maze—and I sucked at mazes.
Happily, a button flashed. Thanked Mother mentally as I pushed it down. Then Tim hit the gas and holding a button down seemed like the hardest thing I’d ever done.
Hughes hadn’t been kidding—the pressure on us as we left this little system was intense. Kind of hoped Mother had put the others to sleep but didn’t want to take the focus to ask.
However, the pressure didn’t last all that long. Well, the bad pressure. We still had the warp jump pressure to go. Could not wait. “Can we make sure everyone’s okay from that?” I asked as the guys started doing whatever to get us ready for warp.
“They are fine,” Mother said.
“You put them under, didn’t you?” Jeff asked.
“I did, yes. It is much safer for them, the children especially.”
“Then thank you,” Jeff said. “Because that was really unpleasant.”
“It won’t be like that for most planets,” Hughes said. “Cradus and Spehidon just have very strong gravities, particularly because they’re so close to each other.”
“Get ready,” Tito said. “I think we’re all set for the warp jump.”
“It’s weird to have you guys actually doing the work.”
Tim snorted. “Tell me about it. I think I was happier when Mother was doing everything.”
“I am not in Protection Mode right now,” Mother said. “Do you wish me to move to that, Commander?”
Tim looked at Hughes, who shook his head. “As long as we’re confident that you don’t have more hidden bombs on you, Mother, no, I think we stick with this part of the plan.” Tim looked at me. “Are we sure?”
“We are,” Mother answered. “I ran even more extensive tests and also received some assistance from the planet and moon.”
“The Cradi were really great about helping,” I said quickly, lest the others realize that Mother had been chatting with Cradus and Spehidon.
“Sentient planets and moons are also nice,” Tito said dryly. “We all know, Kitty.”
“Oh, blah, blah, blah. Didn’t want you guys freaking out at Mother for something.”
“We like to save the freaking out for danger situations,” Walker said.
“Because it saves time,” Hughes added. “And we have no more of it. Tim, I think we’re ready. Stations report. Navigation ready.”
“Weapons ready,” Jeff said.
“Systems and Engineering ready,” Tito said.
“Exterior and interior scanning ready,” Walker said.
“Um, I’ve got the button pushed down.” This earned me far too many snide looks. “Sorry to spoil the mood. Communications ready.”
“Command ready,” Tim said. “Let’s rock and roll.”
Everyone other than me pushed buttons. As stated, I was already on top of things. Felt what was now becoming a kind of normal feeling—the pressure of the jump to warp.
Could tell we weren’t going as far as we had prior because the pressures stopped after a pretty short time. “We are in stable warp,” Mother announced.
“Great, can I stop holding the button down?”
“You never needed to hold it past two seconds,” she replied. “That amount of time puts the button onto hold until pressed again.”
“Thanks for mentioning this, oh, before we did two fun jumps.”
“You didn’t ask.”
“Did I say I liked that you’d learned sarcasm already? Because if I did, I was an idiot.”
“Mother,” Hughes said, “the proper response is ‘sorry, not sorry’ but I’ve said it for you, so I’ve got your back.”
“Thank you, Matt,” Mother said. “I was also told to say that you’re my favorite.”
“I did that, bro,” Walker said, “because I’ve got your back. Of course, we know that I’m Mother’s favorite.”
“Actually, I think Tito wins that one,” Tim said.
Tito grinned. “I can’t argue that Mother has good taste.”
“Oh, don’t worry, baby,” Jeff said. “I’m sure Mother still likes you a lot.”
“Everyone’s a comedian today.” At least my arm could rest now. Not that it mattered—our hailing frequencies might have been opened, but no one was trying to get through anyway.
“Should there be this little chatter out here?” Jeff asked after a while.
“Per my data banks, yes, if there are no ships or planets in need,” Mother said. “We can’t pick up regular chatter while in warp. It’s emergency and distress hails only.”
We all agreed this made sense, even though we’d have liked to eavesdrop on whoever we were zooming past. But you couldn’t have everything.
A few more minutes, then Mother felt we could wander and wake up the passengers, meaning she wasn’t planning to have us all sleep through this leg of the journey. Tim and I refrained from making snide sleeping comments because we were still keeping that between us and Team Tinman. Wondered who would make the connection to the fact that the time to Cradus from Kreaving and the time from Cradus to Kreaving were not going to match at all, and hoped no one would, though I didn’t bet on it. Even if the trip was completely uneventful, we had two days’ worth of warp to get back to the area we felt Kreaving was in.
But we were all in pretty good spirits. For once, we kind of knew where we were going and it was our own decision, meaning we had a lot less stress and angst. Mother broke down and allowed us to leave the command deck, seeing as most of us could get back in about two seconds or less. Butler and the Kristie-Bot offered to stay on the command deck just in case and, even though they still weren’t officially allowed to fly the Distant Voyager, Mother allowed this, too, so she wouldn’t have to go into Protection Mode. Tim did have her move to Autopilot Mode, however, just in case.
The hailing channel remained open and Mother could patch it through to wherever we were on the ship as well as coordinate internal communications, so we were essentially free to do whatever until we came out of warp.
While we didn’t have the same activities as we’d had on Cradus, we decided we’d try to keep to a similar schedule. And, since we’d left Cradus just before dinnertime, we all had dinner together.
After that, we turned in early, so to speak. Jeff and I were tired enough that we only had sex a few times before sleeping, too. That was us—sacrificing for the cause.
Everyone slept well, at least per the group breakfast chatter. Afterward, and in keeping with the idea that we were still “on vacation” until we arrived at the solar systems we were hoping contained Kreaving and the Eknara somewhere, it was time to do something interesting, fun, or relaxing.