“Yeah, she is.” Felt ridiculously proud.
Chuckie laughed softly. “Now you know how your mother feels.”
“What do you mean?”
He shrugged. “I’ve known Angela as long as I’ve known you, but for most of that time, in a very different way than you or the rest of your friends did. She was always proud of you, but once you joined Centaurion? She was just bursting with pride. It’s nice for parents to see the best parts of themselves reflected in their children.”
“Yeah?” Felt even better and missed Mom like crazy.
“Yeah. Let’s get the Anti-Mother contained. I’ll call you SuperMom if you want.”
Snorted. “No, trust me, that moniker is not going to fly.” Looked into the container. “It’s hella roomy in here, isn’t it?”
“It is, and I know what you’re thinking and I’m thinking the same thing—we can’t just leave the trap loose in here. The lid’s heavy but it’s not that heavy.”
“We can fill it. I think the mercury will be the easiest to get into this. But will it kill the Anti-Mother?”
He rubbed the back of his neck. “Maybe is the best I have for you. But if it’s her or us, you know my vote, and it’s the same as everyone’s on board.”
“True enough. Just hope we’re strong enough to lift the container ourselves.”
“Me, too. But if not, we’ll just call the young adults back to help.”
“Oh, man, dude, let’s definitely be strong enough.”
CHAPTER 89
FORTUNATELY, strong enough we were. But first we shoved it next to the lead container. “I have no idea if I should stress to Charlie that he leave this alone or never mention it in the hopes that he isn’t aware that it’s here.”
Chuckie nodded as we took the lid of the mercury container off—it was a lot easier to lift than the other had been. “I just want to say that, despite him being named for me, I was never this much work as a kid.”
Snorted again. “Yeah? Talk to your mother about that. I think she’d view having a child genius to raise differently than you do. And I say that with full confidence.”
He eyed the containers. “You know, I think the mercury vat will fit inside the lead container. Which, while it will be heavy, will still be a lot easier than pouring. And, when did my mother whine to you about me?”
Did some hand measurements. Unsurprisingly, Chuckie was right. “All the time, dude. Usually when I was in trouble with my parents. I think to prove to me that every kid gets in trouble. Your mom’s great that way.”
“She is.” He put the lid back on the mercury container. “Remember to lift with your thighs.”
“Trust me, I remember.” We hefted the mercury. Heavier than the lead but we managed without calling The Young Mouthy Adults back. “Have they met Nathalie?”
“Yeah, they have.”
“Good. Um, sorry to ask this at this time, and please don’t drop your side of this heavy, dangerous object, but when are you popping the question?”
He sighed. “I was planning to do it right after the Distant Voyager launched. Now? Who knows.” We got the mercury container into the lead one. Perfect fit, with room on top to lock the lead lid.
“Do you have the ring on you?” Pulled the Anti-Mother Trap out of my purse.
“I do, as a matter of fact. I carried it with me in case something happened during Jeff’s speech or the tour of the ship that would make proposing then more romantic.”
Dropped the trap into the mercury. “I think you should propose as soon as possible.”
“Why so? Is there someone macking on my girl that I’m missing?” The trap floated for a minute, then started to submerge.
“Not that I’ve seen. But you’re on a space aged vacation and, in terms of romance, it probably doesn’t get any better than this.”
“Maybe. If we can figure out where we’re going after Ignotforsta, maybe. Otherwise, I’ll be too busy staring at star charts to be romantic.”
The trap was finally covered by mercury. We put the mercury lid on and locked it down, then did the same with the lead one. Then we shoved the lead container into a dark corner of the hold. Dug through my purse for a marker, found one, and put all the usual warnings all over the container, including a skull and crossbones that Chuckie said was some of my best artwork.
Through all this, tried to figure out how to show him what I’d gotten in that envelope without having to explain how I’d gotten it and from whom. If Lilith weren’t continuing on with us, could have said they were from her, but that lie would be caught out immediately since she was going to hang out. And we needed her, so her staying was a good thing.
We headed out of the cargo hold. “Where to now?” Chuckie asked.
“Observation Lounge or command deck, I guess. You pick.”
“You want to see the kids or figure out what we’re doing?”
“Ugh. Both. But if the kids are ‘in school’ with Denise, leaving them alone is probably the wisest course of Bad Mommy action.”
“You’re not a bad mother,” Chuckie said gently. “You’re a working mother who has an incredibly demanding set of jobs that affect, literally, the fate of the entire world and, as we’re learning, the entire galaxy. Cut yourself some slack. Little kids would like their parents with them twenty-four-seven but that doesn’t mean it’s possible. Do the best you can, like your mother did, and it’ll all work out.”
Hugged him as we reached the elevators. “Thanks, I needed that.”
“So, command deck it is,” he said as we got in and headed back up. “That’ll be an exercise in calm stress. And yes, everyone’s stressed because we don’t know where we’re heading after Ignotforsta and yes, Jeff has his blocks up.”
Needed to show Chuckie what I had. And needed to be able to not say how I’d gotten it. As we rode up, occurred to me that he was the one who’d always said that the best lies told as much of the truth as possible. “Actually . . . we need to go to a supply closet.”
“Excuse me?” We stepped out and I headed us for the Closet of Secrecy.
Didn’t say anything until we were inside. “Okay, look. I found something in my purse, and I don’t know who gave it to me.” My only lie. I assumed that Algar had given it to me, but I didn’t know. I’d indeed found the envelope in my purse. And elsewhere. But finding it in my purse wasn’t a lie at all. “My guess would be one of the Superconsciousness Society, but I don’t think it’s from ACE or Lilith because I think they’d have told me, versus being sneaky.” Was sure it wasn’t from ACE or Lilith, but couldn’t know that it wasn’t from, say, Sandy.
“Okay,” Chuckie said slowly. “So, what is it? And why are we in here?”
“We’re in here because Mother can’t monitor us in here. I don’t think we need to hide this from her, but until you and I go over what I have, I don’t want to share with anyone else.”