Wanted

That night Josh brought her old suit to her quarters. She kept it inside for an hour. When she dumped it outside, a robot came to pick it up and hauled it to the cargo bay. Lemmy didn't say a word about what she needed from it.

  Two weeks went by before Lemmy could get into her new spacesuit. She worked long hours from inside her room. Her robots sealed up the second level of the ship and Belle pressurized it. Lemmy made a startling discovery on this level.

  She called Josh one evening. "Josh, come see this."

  When he stepped into her quarters, she had a 3D projector ready. When he sat down, she turned it on to show a large room in their spaceship. The room rose two stories. Catwalks ran along the second story with pipes that ran along the walls and under the catwalks. The deck was covered in what looked like dirt.

  In the dirt, skeletons of trees and bushes covered much of it. Some battle damage had punched a hole through one side of the room and twisted catwalk and pipes drooped down the wall. A big crater in the dirt showed the metal deck underneath.

  Josh asked, "What is that? Is it here on this ship?"

  "Yes. I think it's a conservatory. I think they grew a lot of their food in there. See the pipes? I think they were for hydroponics. I don't know about the trees and bushes."

  "Could they have been there just for scenery?"

  "Maybe or even to help with air purification. Seems like a pretty inefficient use of space though."

  "If it was me, I'd have fruit trees and berry bushes. They could provide color as well as food. I'd plant a few flowers, too."

  "Well, it's your ship. You can do what you want with it."

  Josh laughed, "I guess you're right. Leave it for now. We need to get the rest of Belle air tight and then get the outside ready to fly. Cherry has the computer meshing with Naca. He also has about all of the wiring done on the lower level and the second level."

  "I wish you had some of those fruit trees and berry bushes planted in there now. I'm already tired of that stuff the replicators call food."

  "Me, too, but you're getting better with the proper nutrients. Besides, we should be ready to fly in a month or so. Then we can head to that planet to stock up."

  "I'm all for that. Have you got plenty of credits to get what we need? I've still got quite a list of things you haven't found in the repair depot."

  Josh rubbed his face, "I know. So does Cherry. We'll work something out."

  He walked out of her room to go find Cherry. Belle had to tell him where the android was working. Cherry had his head in a wall directing some of the smaller bots redoing the wiring. Josh cleared his throat, "Cherry, I need to talk to you for a few minutes."

  Cherry stood, "What's up, Josh?"

  "Lemmy brought up something we talked about when we first hit here. What are we going to do for money?"

  "We have credits – uh, no we don't. We have a little bit of gold and silver on Naca, but it won't cover anywhere close to what we need for the rest of our parts. Have you found anything in the warehouses or the city that might help?"

  "You mean like a room full of gold coins or silver bullion? No."

  "Then we'll have to take some of the merchandise and trade it."

  "That sounds good, but do you know how old some of that stuff must be? Lemmy made fun of the clothes I brought back. I have no idea how old some of the technology, spacesuits, weapons or other goods are. No one may want it."

  "If it's very old, we can sell it as antiques. Maybe even some of those old spaceship parts. You remember Rohak? He always had an old spaceship that he was restoring. Paid very good money for some of those parts."

  Josh grinned, "Yeah, then he sold those same restored ships for a pretty credit or two profit. Hey, maybe some of those robots would still be valuable to someone on a frontier planet – like that one in this system."

  "Maybe that's what our cover can be. We can be salvage dealers. Surely that won't upset our timeline any."

  "Maybe. I'll start bringing stuff back to the cargo bay. Where do we go from here? We need to get food from that planet, but I don't think they'll have much that we need in the way of parts."

  "I don't know. We'll just have to take it one day at a time. Maybe we could check out Lemmy's old ship. If the Nagini got it, did they leave anything worthwhile?"

  The two talked for a few more minutes about their plans then went back to work. Over the next few days, as Josh searched for parts and materials to fix the ship, he started piling extra items under Naca's shield to put in the cargo bay when they had Belle repaired.

  Cherry and Lemmy stopped sniping at each other so much and even started eating together again. Lemmy got out of her spacesuit each night and wore the clothes that Josh had found. She wore garish colors and combinations. Cherry held his tongue until she would leave, then he'd make comments about her wild selections.

  One day Josh came across a hat store while hunting parts. The store had all shapes, colors and sizes of hats. As a joke, he grabbed several dozen of the wildest ones for Lemmy. When he gave them to her that night, she squealed in delight. Jumping up and down, she tried to put them on over her spacesuit helmet.

  Josh chuckled, "Lemmy, you have to wait until you're out of that suit. Those are supposed to be worn with your street clothes."

  Lemmy didn't even hear him as she carried the hats to her quarters. She kept up a lively conversation with her imaginary friend Demmy the entire time. That evening when Josh called her and Cherry for supper, Cherry came right away. Strangely, Lemmy was late.

  Josh and Cherry sat down and started eating. Cherry said, "What did you do to the little fur ball? She's never late for a meal."

  "Maybe it's this food. I still can't get the replicator to make this feel and taste like real food. If those manufacturers were still in business, I'd sue them for false advertising."

  "Yeah, just be glad…"

  Cherry's eyes widened as his mouth flew open. He dropped his fork and stared at the door. Josh turned and dropped his fork at the sight. Lemmy stood there in a wide-brimmed bright pink hat. She had it tipped back until the brim brushed her shoulders.

  Her shirt was a glaring yellow with large vivid blue polka dots. She wore neon purple slacks with lime green flowers printed on them. The legs flared to a huge bell bottom that looked like it would fit her waist. She grinned at the two as she sauntered in the door.

  Cherry muttered just loud enough for Josh to hear, "I've got to get my eye circuits fixed. The glare of the light off that outfit has strained them. I've got to get a pair of sunglasses before I go blind."

  In a voice that would carry to her, Josh said, "Wow. I've never seen anything like that."

  Lemmy grinned broadly, "Nice, huhh. I'll be the envy of all the girls back home. Guess what. These clothes have a setting where I can change the colors."

  As Josh and Cherry watched, the shirt, pants and even the hat changed to even more garish colors. Over the next several minutes, Lemmy twirled around for them to see her colors change. Cherry pushed his plate away and muttered, "I've got to go."

  He strode rapidly out the door. Lemmy asked, "Where's he going? Is he jealous of my clothes?"

  Josh coughed to cover the laugh that tried to come out. He said, "I guess so. Maybe he's going to go find himself a hat."

  The next day Josh went back to the hat store and loaded up an armload of outlandish hats. He snuck them into Cherry's quarters and left them on his bed. That evening he came into the galley wearing sunglasses. He took them off long enough to glare at Josh.

  Lemmy sashayed in with her wild outfit. Cherry put the sunglasses on. She said, "I see you can't stand to look at my finery without some enhancement. I feel sorry for you. I'll loan you a hat or two to dress up your dreary outfit."

  Cherry grunted, "I have my own hats, thank you."

  "Then why don't you wear them?"

  Cherry stood up and left. In a few minutes, he came back with a hat that ha
d a long feather stuck in the hat band. Lemmy's mouth flew open and she craned her neck to see it better. She said, "Oh, I need a feather like that. It needs to be purple – no, maybe peach."

  Josh, taking a drink, spewed it across the table. Cherry stated, "Only good looking men can wear feathers like this."

  Lemmy said, "That's not fair. Hey, wait a minute. You're not a man, you're an android."

  "Then only good looking androids can wear feathers."

  Josh stepped in, "I'll see if I can find you some feathers, Lemmy."

  They ate with Lemmy staring at the feather in Cherry's hat. She dribbled food on her clothes because her eyes stayed glued to it. Cherry kept turning his head to make the feather move. Josh watched the two of them with a grin.

  Cherry said, "I've got the computers hooked up and checked out. I'll be moving outside to start installing weapons."

  Lemmy's eyes grew, "Weapons! What for?"

  Cherry stared at her, "Have you ever heard of pirates? We most likely won't ever use them, but if we do need them, I want everything I can get."

  Josh said, "I've found four different warehouses full of ship weapons. You'll have to take a look at them to see which will work the best."

  Lemmy said, "Demmy, these crazies are going after pirates. We've got to transfer to another ship."

  Josh laughed, "Then where will you get your fine clothes and feathers for your hats?"

  "I don't know but I don't want pirates shooting at me."

  Cherry just shook his head. He said, "I'll go look tomorrow. Lemmy, how long until you have the inside sealed up?"

  "It already is. I have a little more wiring to complete then I need to check engines, shield nodes, hyperspace drive and sensors."

  Josh said, "It sounds like we're getting close. I'm itching to feel this thing flying."

  Cherry said, "Me, too."

  Lemmy said, "Not me, if we're going anywhere close to pirates."

  Over the next three days, Josh hauled the weapons that Cherry picked out. Each time he returned to Belle, he saw Lemmy climbing around the outside of the spaceship with her robots. Each evening she gave him a list of parts to look for.

  That evening at supper, they compared notes. Cherry said, "I've got places for all the weapons we found. Each will be hidden when not in use. I thought this might have been a military ship when we started, but now I'm not so sure."

  Lemmy said, "Those weapons you're getting ready to put in aren't as good as the originals."

  Josh asked, "How can you tell? They look newer than the ones in here."

  Cherry said, "Yeah and they aren't warped."

  Lemmy said, "I'd look for Alcantaran replacements if I were you."

  Cherry said, "But you're not. I'll go with what I have."

  Josh said, "Could we move some from Naca? They might be better than these."

  "I'll look tomorrow before I start installing."

  Lemmy said, "I found something interesting today. There's some holes in both wings. They have rockets in them."

  Josh asked, "What kind of warheads do they have?"

  "None. They're basically an empty frame."

  "What? Did you ask Belle what they're used for?"

  "Yes. They are refueling rockets. I don't know where you get the fuel but they carry it into those tubes in the wing and it's transferred to the fuel storage."

  Cherry said, "Why would they do that? Just land at a spaceport and pay for the fuelers to fill you up."

  Lemmy glared at him, "Don't ask me. Ask your computers."

  "I will – right after supper."

  Josh asked, "What about the engines? And the hyper-drive?"

  Lemmy answered, "I'll get to them in the next three or four days. So far, a quick visual says they look OK."

  Cherry finished eating and rushed out to ask about the rockets. In a half hour he came back. He said, "Josh, this ship will be dirt cheap to run. Those rockets skim a star for fuel. The computer says blue super giants are the best. Kind of like a premium fuel but any of them will work."

  "Hey, that's great. We can go anywhere we want. We just need to get this old girl flying."

  "Soon."

  Nervous excitement filled the air as Belle's testing day came closer. The three, without discussing it, worked longer hours. The empty holes on the outside filled in and Belle looked more like a space-worthy ship. Up closer, the patches still looked like scabs left over from a sore, but from a distance she looked like a predator waiting to strike.

  One morning, Cherry announced, "It's time to pressure test everything and fire up the engines."

  Josh said, "I'll do it. You two can wait here."

  "Not on your life. I'm going to be sitting right there in the co-pilot's seat beside you."

  Lemmy piped up, "I have to be down in the engine room in case I have to make adjustments."

  Josh said, "In that case, I guess we all go. Let's get started. Everyone in spacesuits."

  After everyone had suited up, Josh sat down in the pilot's seat. Cherry stood by in the computer room next to the AI. He plugged into the slot to 'feel' how the computer was working. Lemmy wandered the cargo bays with her robots searching for leaks and irregularities.

  Josh's hands trembled as he started his checklist. As he read each step, Cherry or Lemmy would call out OK. The farther down the list he went the steadier his hands became. He announced, "I'm going to fire up the engines."

  Touching a button brought the slight whisper of power. A distinct vibration shook the pilot's seat. Josh excitedly called, "We've got power. Lemmy, how does it look back there?"

  "Everything's OK."

  Cherry said, "Steady. All my readings are in the green. Ease it up a little."

  Josh moved the throttle and felt Belle respond. A big grin split his face as the old ship responded to his touch. Nudging the throttle, he felt the ship lift slightly. His eyes swept across gauges and dials.

  As he moved Belle around a little, he glanced at the view screens. Nagini swarmed around the spaceship. Josh lost his concentration and bounced the spaceship off the ground. Cherry's yell brought him back into focus.

  Cherry asked, "What happened? Is something wrong with the controls or the engines?"

  "No, our friendly snakes just came out to see what we were doing. I lost my concentration when I saw them."

  "What are they doing now?"

  "Just swimming around. They're not attacking or anything."

  "That's good. I'm ready to try out these weapons to see how they'd handle them."

  Lemmy said, "I don't think that would be a good idea. What if the big ones came to help?"

  Cherry said, "They would just make bigger targets. Josh, set her down and shut off the engines. We need to check everything now."

  "Don't you want me to take her out for a spin?"

  "Not yet. Wait until we check everything. It won't take long."

  Josh gently lowered Belle back to the ground. He shut off the engines and checked all of his readouts again. Finding nothing, he called Cherry, "How's it look from your end?"

  "Everything looks good. Lemmy, go out and check the engines."

  Lemmy pulled up a view from outside on her tablet. The swarms of Nagini curled around the shield. She stated, "You don't have enough money or guns to get me out there. Twinkles, if you want someone to look at the engines, do it yourself."

  Josh heard Cherry mutter something about feeding a certain deadbeat to the snakes as an offering. Josh said, "I'll go. They've been escorting me about every trip into the city. I think I can push my luck one more time."

  As Josh walked out to check the engines, the snakes swirled outside the shield everywhere he went. Josh muttered to himself, "I was wrong. There's not enough luck in the universe to justify spending one extra minute out here with those monsters.

  Cherry ran a computer check on the rest of the spaceship, while Lemmy found places to check the hull patches from
the inside. When they finished, Josh made his way back to the pilot's seat.

  Cherry said, "Alright, Josh. Take us out easy. I'll keep an eye out for the big Nagini. You just concentrate on getting us out of the asteroid field."

  Josh asked, "Do we have to worry about somebody on the planet seeing us?"

  "I don't think so. They are on the opposite side of the sun from us. If they had remote detectors out, I'd be worried. I don't see a frontier planet having spare cash to spread detectors around."

  "Here we go. I'm heading away from the sun to give us a good shakedown cruise."

  Josh eased the spaceship up off the ground and out from under the bridge. The swirl of Nagini grew even more excited. He ignored them and zigzagged out of the asteroids. When he hit clear space, he stepped up the speed.

  The Nagini followed for a short distance then flew back to the asteroid. Josh looked for the big ones but didn't see any movement to give away their position. Taking Belle up to hyper-jump speed, he said, "So far so good. The controls are a little heavier than Naca."

  Cherry said, "That's normal, considering we could put Naca in the cargo bay. Try some maneuvers. Let's see how things hold together."

  Josh's first few turns were a little erratic. Once he got the feel of the controls, he tried more difficult maneuvers. After a sharp left turn, Lemmy yelled, "We have an air leak. Take it easy for a few minutes while I try to seal it off."

  Ten minutes later she said, "There, I've got it. Try some more of those maneuvers. I need to go to the other levels to see how they're doing."

  Cherry said, "Belle is monitoring air pressure all over the ship. I'll let you know if we have a problem."

  The next hour of turns and twists didn't loosen anything else. Cherry had Josh run up the speed. Josh said, "Wow, this old girl has some get up and go. I'm going to have to read up on her to see just how far I can push it."

  Cherry said, "For now, everything looks good. Let's head back to the asteroid and load some trade goods. I'd like to have something we can get spare parts with before we go hyper. I don't know for sure if we can make it back."

  Josh landed back in the same spot and the three of them spent the next two days double-checking the repairs. It took three more days to get the pile of trade goods inside the top two cargo bays. Josh and Cherry scoured the city and repair depot for more goods until the two bays were full. They left the bottom for the repair robots and spare parts. Those barely made a dent in the space.

  The last night on the asteroid, Josh and Cherry talked in Josh's quarters. Josh asked, "Cherry, do you think we'll be coming back here?"

  "We have to. Remember a certain chunk of asteroid? We need to get a sample to take with us."

  "Hey, that's right. We're rich. You know, I don't remember anything about a big rare earth strike in any of my history classes."

  Cherry chuckled, "They don't put stuff like that in there. If you did a search on the history of rare earth minerals, you might find something then. We don't even know for sure which galaxy we're in. Lemmy thinks it's the Andeana galaxy, but I'm not sure the dizzy little twerp knows this is a spaceship."

  Josh frowned at him, but he continued, "If it is the Andeana galaxy, I didn't study anything about it, did you?"

  "No. I guess that means we could have struck it rich here and no one would know the difference. Do you think our finding that or trading it will upset our timeline?"

  "I have no idea and I've never heard of time travel so I don't think we can find anyone to get a definitive answer. Any expert can only give us their theory."

  Josh chuckled, "Well, let's go get rich and see if we disappear. I'm tired of sitting on this rock. I'm ready for real food."

  "Tomorrow, partner. We'll grab a sample and head to that planet to get some answers."

  Chapter 16