Roo the Day, page 30
part #13 of Bob and Nikki Series
“Yes, Boss.”
It dawned on me that I hadn’t eaten since breakfast, so I led my little parade to the galley. Stella brought me out a glass of tea, and the special. She said, “Here you go, Boss.”
“Thanks. Long day.”
“Only the one incident, though. The crew thinks you did well.”
“I just hope the unloading goes as well. I think there are a lot of these people who have no idea what they’re getting into.”
“That isn’t our problem, is it, Boss?”
“It isn’t. I have no doubt they will see it differently, though.”
“You have some of the best Marines around to convince them to see reason. It will all work out, Boss.”
“Thanks, Stella. I worry too much.”
“No, Boss. That’s your job. You worry, so the rest of us don’t have to.”
“Good to have a job I’m so naturally skilled at, then.”
“All I know is that I’m glad you’re the Boss.”
“Thanks. I better get this eaten, and get to bed. Who knows what will happen tomorrow.”
“See you in the morning, then.”
“See you then.”
After supper, I headed for the cabin. Snitz was confused, having the bots go to the grass room with us. He kept sniffing, and looking. I think he thought we were going to play Frisbee. Jim was there, waiting on me. “How did today go for you, Captain?”
“As well as could be expected, I think. Only had to put one Roo in his place, I say that was a good day, as many as we loaded.”
“The way I heard it, after you took care of the first one, they just showed them the video, if they thought they wanted to start something. Had a miraculous effect, they say.”
“How’s that?”
“Something about that convincing look you had on your face. None of them wanted to see that in person.”
“Maybe I should watch it myself. I didn’t realize I had done anything special.”
“I’ve seen it, and let’s just say any sane being would lay down his weapons and wet himself.”
“Maybe I need to dial it back a fuzz, then. Didn’t really mean to go that far.”
“Nope. You were right on the money, Boss. Don’t change a thing.”
“If you say so. What did you think of that fellow I had to face down?”
“You’re thinking of hiring him, aren’t you?”
“The thought had crossed my mind. Bad idea?”
“I don’t think so. He had sense enough to back down when he saw you weren’t foolin’. He did look pretty serious about pioneering, though.”
“That he did. I don’t think he’ll last too long, with this bunch, do you?”
“Now that you mention it, no, I doubt he will.”
“I figured to leave him a comm, in case he changes his mind.”
“Sounds reasonable. Anything else come up today?”
“Nope. Sally thinks I need babysitters, until we get these folks unloaded, but I can’t say I’m opposed to the idea. This whole thing has me a little on edge.”
“George and Ringo are good help. You could do a lot worse, Boss.”
“Ain’t that the truth. I better get back. See you in the morning, Jim.”
“See you, Bob.”
We went back to the cabin, and I went to bed. Nikki roused up, and told me I had been neglecting my practice. Some time later, we got to sleep. That didn’t stop Snitz from licking my ear at the crack of dawn. At least he didn’t bring his crew this time. I did what I needed to, and headed out to the grass room. Jim wasn’t there. He must have figured he had gotten me squared away last night. Snitz headed out to do dog things, and I went to the galley. After breakfast, I went to the bridge. I headed to the bridge, I should say. About halfway there, I saw a Lilly-sized tail disappear around a corner. The Marines and I gave chase, and found a small Roo I didn’t recognize. I knelt down, and play boxed with him. After he decided the weird-looking person wasn’t going to hurt him, I asked, “I’m Captain Wilson. Who are you?”
He gave me some long, drawn out Roo name. I asked, “Would it be alright if I just called you Willy? My mouth won’t make the right noises to say your name.”
He replied, “Willy would be fine, I guess.”
“How is it that you’re not asleep, like all the rest of your folks?”
“I slipped out, when they were giving us bunks to lay on.”
“I see. Have you had anything to eat, since then?”
“Yep, I have snacks.” He showed me his bag full of goodies.
I asked, “Didn’t you want to sleep through the trip, like the rest of them?”
“Nope. I have bad dreams, sometimes.”
“Why is that?”
“My Mommy crashed an aircar. I was in the back seat, and saw everything.”
“That would give you bad dreams. Was your Mommy okay?”
“She had to be in the ought-to-doc for a long time.”
“But she’s okay now?”
“Yep. But she’s sleeping, right now.”
“Well, she would be. She wasn’t little enough to sneak off, was she?”
“No, she didn’t even see me. I think she was worried about the new place to live.”
“That’s understandable. Moving to a whole new place is a lot to worry about.”
“They said there will be a lot less people there. Does that mean there won’t be any bullies?”
“Sorry. There are bullies everywhere. That’s just how people are. You have a lot of trouble with bullies, do you?”
“I do. I’m smaller than the other boys, so they push me around.”
“That’s no good. You need to figure out how to stand up for yourself, or you’re always going to get pushed around.”
“Really?”
“That seems to be the way it works for my kind of people. I can’t imagine it’s all that much different for people like you.”
“I thought I was doing something wrong, and I just didn’t know what it was.”
“Nope. So, where are you headed?”
“No place special, just looking around.”
“You want to see where we drive the ship?”
“Could I?”
“Why not? I’m the Captain, I get to make the rules.”
We all started back toward the bridge. Wasn’t long before Willy said, “I don’t think I want to go to the bridge after all. I’m getting tired.”
I held out my arm, and said, “Hop up here.”
He did, and we went on. I said, “Gene, do a search for anyone else who missed going to sleep, please. And page Ellie to the bridge, if you would.”
“On it, Boss.”
Willy asked, “Who’s Gene?”
“He’s the computer that runs the ship. He’s my friend. He helps me a lot.”
“He listens wherever you go?”
“Pretty much. There are a few places I ask him not to listen.”
We got to the bridge, and George nodded to the Marines guarding the door. They let me in, even though I was carrying an alien who hadn’t been approved for bridge access. Saucy said, “Captain, ah, Captain and guest on the bridge.”
“As you were.”
Willy caught on quick. He also said, “As you were.”
Topper must have been talking to Gene. He said, “Yes, Sir, Captain Willy, Sir.”
Willy looked at me and said, “He’s silly.”
“No, he’s Topper. We don’t have a bot named Silly, that I know of.”
I looked at Topper. “Ellie on her way?”
“She is.”
“Did Gene find anybody else who thought sleep was optional?”
“He’s having a bit of trouble, since there are so many Roos aboard, but he hasn’t found anyone yet. The most efficient detector so far seems to be a good, old-fashioned, Murphy walk.”
“Glad I wore my comfortable shoes.”
“No, Boss, I didn’t mean you needed to go out and look for them.”
“Gotcha!”
Willy looked at me and said, “You’re sneaky.”
“No, I’m Bob. I thought we already had this straightened out.”
He just laughed. “Are all humans as funny as you?”
“I guess not. Would you rather I was mean?”
“No, I like it when you’re funny. What’s going to happen to me? Am I in trouble for not going to sleep?”
“Nope. You had a good reason. You maybe should have said something, instead of just slipping away, but you were in a strange place, and didn’t know what to do. You figured to sneak back in, just like you sneaked out, didn’t you?”
“Yes.”
“There’s a lady coming to get you, who will be able to take care of you, until your Mom wakes up. Does that sound alright?”
“Why can’t I stay with you?”
“Mostly because I just met people like you, and I don’t know what a little Roo boy needs. The lady who is coming is a Roo, so she’ll know how to take care of you.”
“It’s not just because you’re busy, and you don’t have time to take care of me?”
“If I was that busy, would I have brought you to the bridge, and spent all this time talking to you? I would have called somebody to take care of you, as soon as I found you, wouldn’t I?”
He studied on that a minute. “I guess you’re right. You did take a lot of time to take care of me. Does that mean you’re my friend?”
“Well, I hope so. I don’t want to have to fight with you.”
I gave him a Dutch rub, being careful of his ears. “Hey, what’s that about?”
“Just something grown-ups do to kids, where I come from. Keeps you from getting too uppity.”
He looked at me, like he was trying to figure out what to say, and the door opened, letting Ellie onto the bridge.
I said, “There you are. Did you have trouble getting here?”
“I had to get Lilly squared away before I could leave. Sorry if I kept you waiting, Boss.”
“No problem. Willy and I were just having a chat.”
She noticed Willy sitting in my lap. “Oh, I see. Where did you find him?”
“He was out, exploring. Seems he has bad dreams, and didn’t want to sleep all the way, so he slipped out.”
“That sounds like something a little boy would do, alright. I’m guessing this comes under ‘other duties as assigned’?”
“Unless there’s a good reason it shouldn’t. He’s good company, but I do have a few other things to get done.”
“Velma will be calling for reinforcements, but other than that, it shouldn’t be a problem.”
“Is Velma having any better luck, keeping up with Lilly?”
“She’s beginning to learn Lilly’s tricks, but she still has her hands full.”
I picked up Willy, and handed him to Ellie. I looked him in the eye. “This is Ellie. She’s going to take care of you, until your mom wakes up. Be a good little Roo, understand?”
“Yes, Captain.” Then he gave me a little Roo salute. I giggled, and said, “That’s the spirit.”
They left the bridge. I turned to Topper. “If a little boy beat our security, you can almost bet somebody else did, too. If the internal scanners can’t tell sleeping Roos from ones that are awake, get anybody who has a few spare cycles looking at video feeds, to see if we can find anyone moving around, who shouldn’t be.”
“On it, Boss. I started that as soon as you two came on the bridge.”
“Best crew in the galaxy, no doubt about that.”
Saucy said, “Comm for you, Captain. Your daughter.”
“Yes, Janet?”
“I thought you should know, Dad. Scotti sent me out to look at a trouble report, and what I found looks like sabotage.”
“Did they get anything important?”
“No, but sooner or later, they will.”
“Gene, show me the record of Janet’s location, and run it back until there is activity by someone else.”
The video came up on the main screen. A Roo was digging in the access panel, appearing to just be trying to cause trouble, without any idea of how to make things truly bad. “Follow that individual, Gene.” The video continued, at high speed, as the individual made a few more stops, tearing things up, and then went to a compartment where several other Roos were congregated. “Gene, are all those individuals still in that compartment?”
“They are, Boss.”
“Topper, have Andre hit them hard, and be sure to take them all. Throw them in the brig, and weld the door.”
“Aye, Captain.”
“Thanks for the heads-up, Janet. Who knows what those idiots would have gotten up to, if you hadn’t said something.”
“You’re welcome, Dad. Do you think Gene could track them back, and make sure we’ve found all the things they messed with?”
“I don’t see why not. You want him to send a list to your watch?”
“That would be great.”
“You get all that, Gene?”
“On it, Boss.”
“Talk to you later, Janet.”
“Bye, Dad.”
Topper said, “Andre reports one of the Roos was burned on the hand, when he attempted to throw back a flashbang.”
“Tell him to send two Marines with him to medbay, and have Dixie give him first aid, only. No autodoc for these turkeys. Page Majel to the bridge, please.”
“Yes, Boss.”
Saucy said, “Janet again, Boss.”
“I’m guessing you found something serious?”
“It would have been, if we didn’t get the tipoff. It wouldn’t have shown up, until it was too late to fix it while we were in FTL. We would have had to drop out to normal space, and it might have taken some time to repair.”
“You caught it in time, though?”
“Scotti did, from the files Gene sent. She has bots putting it right.”
“Good to hear. Keep me updated, if you would.”
“Sure Dad. Talk to you when I know more.”
“Bye.”
I looked at Topper. “That was too close for comfort. If we can’t find loose Roos on the internal scanners, do we have an accurate count of how many we brought aboard?”
“We do.”
“Do we have a way to count how many sleepers we have?”
“We can do that, too.” He froze for a second. “Boss, Willy and that bunch we just caught account for all the discrepancies.”
“Do we have scanner logs of the bays where the Roo ships are parked?”
“We do.”
“Sue, can you look those over, and see if anyone managed to stay aboard one of those ships?”
“On it, Boss.”
Majel came onto the bridge. She asked, “Yes, Captain?”
I said, “Saucy, could you put the video of those saboteurs on the main screen, please?”
“Happy to, Boss.”
I asked Majel, “Are these your people, or did someone else try to sabotage the Gene?”
I must have dropped into Captain voice, because she swallowed hard, and looked intently at the screen. She said, “Captain, I had nothing to do with these people trying to sabotage your ship. The way they are organized, I think they are from the military, back home. If I had to guess, they were sent to capture the ship for one of the factions in the struggle to form a new government.”
“That makes sense, I suppose. Whatever faction controlled the Gene, could easily overwhelm the other factions, and form a new government. Why just try to get us to drop out of FTL, though?”
“I would have to assume they have what they believe to be a sufficient boarding party, waiting for them to call.”
“It would be nice to be able to call them in, and show them the error in their ways, but we’re loaded heavy, and we have deliveries to make. Perhaps Andre will find whatever they were going to use to call in their boarding party, when he searches them. Maybe we can call them to Deadbot. Four carriers, and a bunch of destroyers, ought to change their mind about who the big dog is.”
