Thusly attired to take on the galaxy, flung my purse over my neck, and we headed to the mess hall. True to form, all the A-Cs were in the Armani Fatigues and anyone who wasn’t an A-C was in some form of color. Even Reader, Chuckie, and Tim had branched out and weren’t going for their standard “blend in with our alien friends” sartorial choices. Truly a red-letter day.
Had to give Drax and Mother this—eating was not an issue on the Distant Voyager. We all scarfed down the plentiful and delicious food and drink as if we hadn’t been fed and watered for days versus hours. A suspicion niggled. Considered the best place to pose my question and decided the mess hall probably wasn’t it.
Sped up so I’d finish eating before the others, excused myself, told Jeff to stay with the kids, grabbed another cinnamon roll for the road, made eye contact with Tim, and left the room.
Tim caught up to me. “What’s going on? And why did you want the others to stay in the mess hall? At least, I assume that’s what you wanted, and I hope it is, because I told James and Chuck to stay put.”
“It is, good call. I have a question that needs asking and I think it’s likely that only you and I are going to get the answer.” Headed for the command deck. Butler and Maurer were there, both awake and functioning, which was a relief. The Kristie-Bot was there, too, however, which was not, though it pretty much confirmed my suspicions.
“Okay,” Tim said, “I’ll bite. What question?”
“Mother, how long were we all sleeping?”
Silence.
Looked at Butler. “I expect an answer. From her or from one of you three.”
“I will answer,” Mother said. “You have all been asleep for the human equivalent of two days.”
“Perfect,” Tim muttered.
“In that time I was able to update the Universal Translator and install the languages the others have learned into those of you who were awake or were not on board when we first left Earth. You will all be able to speak to a wider variety of life in the galaxy with ease now.”
“So that makes it all better?” Tim shook his head. “You taught the rabbits new languages, and that’s supposed to make us not upset? How’d you figure it out, Kitty?”
“We were all too damned hungry. Why do this? Or, more importantly, why did you risk us in that way? And don’t say to merely teach us whatever languages we might need. JR is still a baby who can’t go two hours without care, let alone days.” Looked at Maurer, who was not looking at me. “Oh, he didn’t, did he? Uncle Cameron took care of diapers and feedings and such, didn’t he?”
“I have two children,” Maurer replied.
“I’m good with kids, too,” the Kristie-Bot said somewhat defensively.
“I’m sure you are,” I lied. Examined my arms. Sure enough, was pretty sure I saw a needle mark in my forearm. “You guys came in and put the rest of us under, didn’t you?”
“The ship is equipped to put passengers into suspended animation in times of need,” Mother said. “So, yes, that was done. It was made easier by the others’ help, but I could have done it without them if the situation had demanded it.”
“You gassed us all, then put the needles in, is that about it?” Which mean the gas was shipwide, not just in the crash couch rooms.
“Yes,” Mother said. “Younger children were woken, tended to, and put back into suspended animation during the suspended animation period.”
“How can you be sure it didn’t hurt them? Or any of us?”
“This was created by Drax,” Maurer said. “With the idea that humans, A-Cs, and hybrids would be on board. Everything was tested, Kitty, including the possibility for people to be and become pregnant and also to give birth. Tests were done, many times over.”
“I remind you that my prime directive is that I preserve life,” Mother said. “I will never do anything to harm any of you.”
“Of course you won’t, but, just to be sure, should we start calling you HAL?” Tim asked, easily as snidely as I would have.
“No,” Butler said. “This wasn’t done to create problems—Cameron and I never would have allowed that. This was done because there was nothing going on.”
“So?”
The Kristie-Bot heaved a sigh. “I get why they don’t get it, John, let me take this one. Kitty, for some of you the trip has been action-packed and all of you needed to rest, a lot. But, and this is the key point, the rest of the adults are already dangerously bored. And I’m talking the politicians in particular, but not just them. No one’s gotten to do anything, and wandering the ship was great for a few hours, but not long-term. Their restlessness was starting to rub off on the kids.”
“Again, so?” Tim asked.
The Kristie-Bot rolled her eyes. “You have a lot of people on board who can create problems if they’re left unattended. You have a small press corps with you, you have powerful politicians, you have parents, and you have a lot of kids. You know what people do when they’re bored?”
“Things we don’t want them to. I get it. Tim, just imagine what Hacker International could be up to if they weren’t needed to assist Drax and Mother.”
“Exactly,” Butler said. “It was deemed safer to have you all stay in suspended animation until we felt that we were close to our destination.”
“And, are we?” Tim asked. “And if we are, where is this magic destination?”
“Based on how long we have been moving at warp speed,” Mother replied, “I estimate us to be coming out of warp within the next hour. Hence why we woke everyone up two hours ago, so you could bathe, dress, and eat.”
Tim and I looked at each other. “It makes sense,” Tim admitted. “But what do we tell the others?”
“Nothing.” Looked around. Yep, that’s what Team Tinman thought was the right course, could tell by their expressions and body language. “If Chuckie or one of the others asks, then we tell them, in private. But for the others, we don’t say anything.”
“Why do you want us to lie to the crew and passengers?” Tim asked. “Not to mention our spouses.”
“Because we can. And I mean that you and I can lie. It’s the same as when Nightcrawler didn’t want us sharing that they were on board. Think about how upset you and I were when we realized what had happened. Now multiply that by everyone else. We don’t have time for mutiny or infighting. We have a galaxy to save.”
“You think no one else will notice?” Tim asked. “I mean that seriously. You noticed, Kitty, right away.”
“I did, but no one else seemed even remotely curious about why we were all so hungry.” Presumed that was probably due to an assist from Algar, but could have been from other reasons. An assist from ACE, for example. “And ACE is with us—if he felt that this was a bad plan, he’d have kept Jamie awake or warned me.” At least, I hoped. “But what about the animals? Were they aware or cared for?”
“The animals spent most of the time sleeping,” Mother said. “When they awoke we took care of their needs.”
Thought about this. “Most of them are predators, and predators sleep a lot. But they’re also protectors. You’re saying they were okay with this plan of yours?”