The Begining (The Navigator Book 1) (6 page)

"Glad you could make it, Mark. Laura's pretty tore up," Jed said by way of greeting.

The two men shook hands. "I imagine she is. They were everything to each other."

Jed nodded agreement. "Come on, I'll take you to her."

That night after the guests had left. Jed was going through all the notes of condolence and small donations for Laura. Toward the bottom, he came across one that was very odd. It included a plane ticket and was printed on very expensive stock, but that he didn't notice until later.

Mrs. Anderson,

Your husband was a good man. I knew him very well in the days before. Even in retirement, he was a good man and I can honestly say that the world is a more dark and dangerous place now. In his previous life, he had many people that loved him, even those of us that knew who he really was. Although I am sure I cannot imagine how you must feel now, I can say that I share your loss.

During his life with you, Joe had been afraid of making himself visible to our old agency. I don't know if he knew it, but he, and more importantly to him, you, were safe. As such, he never tried to access anything from his old life. Might I suggest you take a vacation and try to accept his last gift to you.

Once you find it, I will be watching over you, to make sure you remain safe. It's the least I could do for him.

My warmest regards,

Sharon

There were two series of numbers printed below the message and nothing else. Opening the plane ticket, Jed saw that it was for a two-person vacation package to Zurich, Switzerland.

Although Jed had no idea what the message had been about, he did know who it had been from. Which meant that it hadn't been the 'Agency' that took Joe. He quickly refolded the message and put it back in the envelope as the hair on the back of his neck stood up.

His adult daughter, Brianna, who had been helping him and making a list for thank you letters, saw her father suddenly go white.

“Daddy? What's wrong?”

“Nothing, Sweetheart. Just missing Joe. I had no idea he had this many people that cared for him,” Jed replied trying to cover his reaction to the letter.

The young woman nodded. “Yeah, I always thought he was a bit of a flake, but maybe I was wrong and just didn't understand him.”

“I know you never liked him. He had a very eventful life, Sweetheart. He served our country with honor, saw a lot of places, and met a lot of people. He was the kind of man that left a good impression on folks,” Jed replied.

“I would say so; did you know that he was friends with three US senators and at least six other people in high government office? I mean from the looks of this, he should have been living a lot better than he and Laura lived,” Brianna replied.

“Well, I won't argue that he should have had a better life, but then again, look at how many people cared about him? I'd say he had a pretty good life just from that.”

Brianna frowned. “You know what I mean. He was always struggling to pay his bills. Before he started working for you here at the park, how far behind was he? That's what I mean. I can't imagine someone that knows all these important people living like… like trailer park trash."

“That just goes to show you that you can't judge a book by its cover. Did you know he had two college degrees?” Jed said. "He held a security clearance so high he couldn't even admit to having one. I know how you feel about the people that live here, but Joe was a man that deserved everyone's respect."

“No way. That would make even less sense,” the girl replied.

“He got an associate degree in Computer Electronics, back when an AS degree actually meant something, and a master's degree in English. I've never read any of his books, but someone must have liked them, because that's what they lived on when Laura wasn't working,” Jed explained.

Brianna raised an eyebrow. “I knew he was writing, but I didn't think he had anything published. Why were they so short on money all the time?”

“He wasn't published in the traditional sense. All of his work was published on the Internet. Most of it was free, and they lived off of the donations made from his web site.”

“Do you know where? I'd like to check it out,” she asked.

Jed smiled softly at his daughter. “I don't think you'd like anything he wrote. It was mostly science fiction, but it had a lot of graphic sex in it. He told me once that he used a few sex scenes to get the reader hooked on the plot, then slowly phased out the sex.

“I don't mind reading about sex. I'd still like to read some of it.”

“Well, he said there was a lot of incest, underage sex, and polygamous relationships. He said it got pretty graphic, which is why I didn't read any of it.” He opened the major social networking site that everyone was a part of, then clicked onto his friend's page. After a short time looking, he found what he was looking for. He wrote down the URL and handed it to his daughter.

“Thanks, I'll let you know what I find,” she said, stuffing the paper into her jeans pocket.

Jed smiled. “It's getting late, Sweetheart. I appreciate your help with this today, but I think I'll go check on Laura, then go watch TV with your Mom. Besides, won't your boyfriend be home soon?”

“Alex got home a couple of hours ago. He knew I was going to be over here helping you. He's probably sound asleep on the couch by now,” Brianna replied.

Becka explained how she set out the variables and how to work through the equations to plot a hyperspace jump. Joe watched what she did and listened to what she told him. It surprised him that he actually understood what she was telling him.

Instead of the weird warping she'd described to him, he heard - very softly - what sounded like a choir warming up, but the throbbing from the engines was interfering with it. Slowly, as she worked through each equation, the choir seemed to get closer to harmony with the powerful engines in the shuttle. It struck him as odd that she stopped before she had the harmony correct.

He knew that she had done this hundreds of times, so he didn't say anything since he hadn't even been trained yet. She told him to go grab a seat because they were about to jump.

He didn't know what he expected, but when they jumped he felt... almost right. He could feel the warped space around him and it sang to him, but it sounded to him like it was singing slightly out of tune.

When Becka came back out of her little closet, she had a worried look on her face until she saw he was grinning. She came over and sat on his lap. “So, how do you like it?”

“It's fine, but I wanted to ask you; does it sing to you?” Joe asked.

“Does what sing to me?” Becka asked.

“Hyperspace. Can't you hear it?” Joe asked.

Becka listened for a moment, then shook her head. “No, I don't hear anything but the engines and I can barely hear those. What's it sound like?”

Joe nodded. “Yeah, I can hear the engines too, but this is different. It's almost like a whale song, but it's like they are trying to sing in harmony with the engines, but can't quite do it. There's this dissonance... I don't really know how to describe it, it's like listening to angels singing, but they're out of tune with the orchestra." He paused. “It's beautiful, but almost annoying, because of the dissonance.”

She grinned at him. “You're a hard core music buff aren't you?”

“Oh yeah. For me, music is very powerful. I use it when I meditate to help control my mood as well as my sanity. Then later, all I have to do is hear a certain song, or even part of a song, and it'll bring me back to my center. It helps me remember things I don't want to forget," Joe explained.

Instead of asking him what kind of memories, she asked him what kinds of music he liked.

“Just about anything really, except for rap, country, and country rap. To me; that stuff just sounds like a beatnik with a synthesizer that's been smoking crack,” Joe explained.

“Country sounds like that?” Becka asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Well, no, the reason I don't care for country is that most of it's depressing. I mean, do you remember that old joke that goes; what do you get if you play country music backwards?”

“No, I've never heard that one. What do you get?” she asked.

“You get your wife back, your dog comes back to life, the bank returns your pickup truck, your mother gets out of jail, and you get your job back,” Joe explained.

Becka laughed. “Oh come on, it's not that bad!”

Joe chuckled too. “Well, the older stuff is. Some of the newer stuff is up beat enough to listen to, as long as you don't listen to the words too closely. Mostly I like oldies rock with a dash of more modern stuff. I also like instrumental bluegrass and classical, as well as some techno and dance. Techno and dance are great for working out."

About that time the door to the bridge slid open and Shana came out. “Well, we are on course and hauling ass. ETA is forty-six hours, twenty-two minutes to the Centauri system. Then another twenty hours sub-light to the Citadel.”

“That's ship time, right? But relative to the rest of the galaxy?” Joe asked.

Becka frowned. “About a week, give or take. I told you I had trouble with the temporals.”

“Okay, so if Jarad did the navigating, how long would it be relatively?” Joe asked.

“He can get it close to the actual time; like within a couple of hours. He may be completely insane, but he's a really good navigator,” Becka admitted.

Joe dug in his pocket and pulled out a fifty, which he handed to Shana. “I'll bet you that fifty, that you'll be within an hour this time.”

Becka looked at him like he was insane. “Why don't you just give me the money? I've never been that close... ever.”

“Because I honestly think you plotted this very closely,” Joe said, grinning. “Hey, what have you got to lose? You've never been able to get it that close and I have no idea how to plot hyperspace. So this should be a sure bet.”

Becka got up and pulled out the money and handed it to Shana. “You're on!”

Shana just shook her head. “Something tells me you just lost fifty bucks, Becky!”

“You know something I don't, Shana?” the smiling redhead asked.

Shana just shook her head. “Just a gut feeling is all.”

“So, ladies, how about we get something to eat before we relax?” Joe asked.

Becka chuckled. “Yeah, you're gonna need all the protein you can get, Old Man!”

The three friends took breaks for meals, bathroom visits, and the exit from hyperspace. Shana broke the rules and left the cockpit door open for the exit. Becka did as well since she also plotted the real space course to the Citadel.

Joe felt the song close like a mournful requiem and he knew they had slowed to sublight speeds. Shana turned the craft in the general direction they needed to go, while Becka figured out when and exactly where they were.

Shana and Joe were talking about flying in space when they heard Becka swear like a sailor. Shana's console beeped at her, and she started typing commands into her console.

“Becky finished the course. I think she's swearing because she lost the bet. How close do you think she really came?”

“I honestly don't know for certain, since I truly have no idea how I knew she'd be this close. But if had to make another guess, I'd put the time at...” He thought for a moment. "Plus forty-one minutes.”

“Very close, Asshole! How did you know?” Becka asked as she stuck her head out of her door.

“Remember how I described what I was hearing?” Joe said.

“That harmony thing?” Becka asked.

Joe nodded. “That's how I knew. The dissonance wasn't that bad, so I know you couldn't have been that far off. I know I had nothing to base it on but my gut, but that's the way it felt to me.”

“Joe, you're gonna have to be careful at the Citadel. Jarad rules that place like his own castle and he's not going to take too well to there being a new king,” Shana said.

“No shit!” Becka said. “Especially if you can already navigate that well and you haven't even been taught how yet!”

Joe shrugged. “I was meaning to ask you, why didn't we jump closer to the Citadel? Not that I don't enjoy the company...”

“Simple, for the same reason the Citadel doesn't move around anymore; the massive gravity well between the two stars,” Becka said.

“Can I try? I mean can I see if I can get a lock on your computer without actually jumping us?” Joe asked.

“Sure if you want. The ship won't jump unless Shana accepts the plot and tells the ship to jump,” Becka said. Getting out of the way.

Joe slid into the seat in front of the navigation console, and began pulling positional data from the computer like Becka had done. Then he began working the equations just like Becka had done.

Once he got going, he found it was extremely easy for him to work the navigation plot through the computer. When he began working, he started to hear the songs again, and kept working the equations until it was in harmony. The computer ruled the new course 'optimal'.