GUNS OF WAR - Chapter 3

Chapter 3

         Alaina was at her computer when she received an e-mail from Braddock Sheffield.  He apologized that he would be unable to keep their date as expected, but wanted to keep it for following week.  He cited business obligations.

         Alaina agreed to the new date, and went online to get the shopping done she had started before she found herself in the fallout shelter.  She found a very lovely backless teal formal floor length dress that flowed from waist to foot and glittered as the model moved.  She set up her avatar according to her exact measurements, weight, skin, eye, and hair color for the perfect fit and color for her.  She liked the teal, and asked for that color preference.  The company advised the dress would arrive in time for her date.

         With a smile on her lips and her account almost depleted, she went back to work.  It would take a long time to build up her account to where it was before she bought the dress, but it was worth it.

         For the rest of the day she was in a good mood and even her workload for the day finished in record time.  The company sent back a time deduction for the time they noted her logged off the site, another reason why she wanted to relocate.  There were no job opportunities outside Data Entry.  Any job that counted she had to know someone on the inside.

         She thought about Braddock Sheffield.  Since her conversation with Lynneayia, she had looked him up and found out a lot more than expected.  He had business awards as well as community achievement awards.  Why would he put himself out on the line for a wife?

********

         In the penthouse suite of BioTech Engineering and Space Technology, a 102 story starscraper, built of granite and steel with unbreakable glass, Braddock Sheffield sat at his desk in the middle of a room surrounded on all sides by windows overlooking Sunderland.  From his position, he could see the stark mountains and valleys on the horizon.  What drew his attention was the report on Alaina Magarain.  He rubbed the back of his neck as he read over the report.

         He had put his profile on the site for a wife so long ago, he couldn’t remember when anymore.  He had occasionally gotten notices from interested parties, but he was never interested.  He had too many obligations and several times thought about pulling his profile.  It didn’t have his name on it, so no one knew it belonged to him.  However, with the case of Alaina Magarain he felt compelled to answer it and give it a shot.

         He reached into his drawer and pulled out the bottle of painkillers he kept there and downed a couple with a glass of water from the carafe on his desk.  He had talked to Dr. Wilson many times about his headaches, but they had never found an answer.

         He looked over Miss Magarain’s qualifications as a biotech engineer and astrophysicist.  She had been top in her class five years before, but had been unable to land a job anywhere, and had to settle for online Data Entry Clerk.  A nowhere position with a nowhere paycheck.  He had commandeered her accounts, and had seen that until he notified her about their upcoming date she had a mediocre balance.  She had depleted it quite a bit.  He could only imagine why with the prospect of where he would take her.  He was accustomed to the best, and only the best would do for him.

         Since he became head of BioTech Engineering and Space Technology when his father had stepped down, he had dated numerous young women who had paled after the first or subsequent date, he never saw the woman again.  He wondered if the same thing would occur with Alaina Magarain.

         He was intrigued that she didn’t come back with an effusive reply once she found out who he was.  Every female seemed drawn to his name if not him, but she had simply acknowledged her date, and said nothing more.  The depletion of her account showed she realized either who he was, or knew the dress code for the Lamplighter Dinner Club.  His guess was the latter, since even his last request to change the date didn’t issue back a protest.  He knew he was cynical.  He had yet to meet a real woman with nothing more on her mind than what she signed up for, in this case, marriage.  Yes, he did know that much, since it was the marriage site the application came from.

         Memories returned of the dare by several of his college classmates who told him they had put their bid on the marriage site.  He had told them he would have nothing to do with their scheme, but a dare was a dare, and taking a photo from his high school day’s he had set up his file.  He would present the photo on request.  He looked at it and smiled at the wild rogue look he sported back then.  Nothing like the trim look he had since his militia days.

         Alaina Magarain’s militia status – decorated war hero also intrigued him.  She had saved most of her battalion and destroyed the enemy in her last battle of many on Sheliak.  The report indicated she had more victories in her tour of Sheliak than any other commander did before or since.  The report didn’t go into any further details, but it was enough to grab his attention that here was a woman with a head on her shoulders, and not afraid to use it.  He was tired of glamour and glitz.

         He had done his duty, came out of it with his skin, but barely at times.  His uniform hung in the back of his closet, which he had to bring out on All Militia Day and join the other war weary veterans.  The only thing that made the war positive for him was the reason behind it.  He would gladly do battle for Adonai and Vega.  Otherwise, there was no purpose.  One day the war would end and there would be peace.

         He brought up a schematic of the apartment complex she lived in, and located her apartment.  He knew they were all the same, but wondered if she had done anything to change the atmosphere of her living space.  The women he knew were in one of two categories.  A – They left their surroundings alone, or B – they did everything they could to bring life to a sterile existence.  If he were to guess just from her profile, she was in the latter group.

         He deplored sterility, though he knew it had its purpose in the testing labs, but not where he worked.  He liked living things around him.  Plants either hung from his twelve-foot high ceiling, or stood around the windows.  His desk was solid cherry oak.  He had blended the two trees and came up with a new harder wood that stood up to any kind of weather.

         She didn’t say anything about the sports he ascribed to, but she did mention she also mountain climbed, one thing in common, besides their work and militia experience.  Yes, she did intrigue him, but for how long?  He knew the perfect place to go mountain climbing, and it wasn’t on Vega.  Maybe he would challenge her if this first date worked to his advantage.

         In the meantime, he had to make a trip off world.  An attack on Calypso had destroyed the engineering plant.

         Braddock looked over the data sheet for the engineering plant.  The metals found on the star proved to be of better quality than expected.  Uranium, tin, copper, aluminum, zinc, they were all there, all of them from the periodic tables.  As he read the numbers next to each his excitement grew.  He wondered what Alaina Magarain would think of the data he had in front of him.

         He flipped the page and looked at the vegetation and mineral wealth the star offered.  He had not seen such figures since well, never.  He had hoped to find some degree of mineral wealth with each star he visited, but nothing came close to what he looked at.  He needed to get there.  He wondered what he would find, and if the entire plant had taken the hit, or just part of it, and what about the people?  He also wondered why the force field hadn’t worked.  So many questions without answers.  Still he could make a turnaround if he could get the plant rebuilt.  He had a hunch as he turned to his computer and brought up Alaina Magarain’s e-mail address and sent her a quick request to join him on an off world expedition.

********

         Alaina was bored with all the data entry when she received an e-mail from Braddock Sheffield.  She almost wondered if he would cancel altogether and was afraid to look, but she would be plagued to wonder what he had contacted her about this time.  She finished up her entry, and grabbed the e-mail.

         She stared in shock at what he wrote understanding why he had canceled their date until the following week.  Would she want to go with him off world to a metal rich planet?  Would she be interested?  She would be nuts to turn down such an invitation.  She could feel life flowing back in her veins as she sent him a quick reply.  It didn’t take long for him to send back a message.

         “I will be outside your building in one hour.  We will be back in a week.  It’s summer on the star where we are going.”

         Alaina sent back the reply that she would be ready, and then sent a quick e-mail to Lynneayia about the impromptu trip.  Her reply back was envious and cautious, and she expected a full report when she got back.

         She also sent a message to her employer that she had an unexpected situation come up and would be unable to work for a couple days.  They sent a reply terminating her position.

         Alaina smiled, as she got ready for her unexpected trip off world.  She considered a dress for the evening, but as she looked over her selection, she decided on the only dress that would come close to what he was used to, the one she had worn for her parent’s funerals a couple years before.  She was on the platform when a private transport arrived for her.  Braddock Sheffield met her, took her case, and ushered her onboard.

         It was one thing to see a picture of him with only his facial features, which Alaina could see did not do justice to the picture.  He was alluringly handsome.  As for his six feet something, he easily towered over her by almost a foot, and she was 5’5” tall.  He wore a blue suit with a blue striped white shirt, and blue tie.  He looked impeccable, and not anything like his picture, which she realized was much younger than his trim athletic physique and dark wavy militia-regulation length hair.

         “We’re going to Calypso.  I want you to see something when we get on the transport.  I think you’ll be as excited as I am, or I miss my guess.”

         “Why would you think I would be excited?  You don’t know me.”

         “But I do know you are a top rate biotech engineer and astrophysicist, and have not had the opportunity to work in her field, and I know I’m excited, and I do work in the field.”

         She buckled into her seat beside Braddock Sheffield, declined an offer for food and drink, and watched as the transport lifted off the platform, something she was afraid would never happen.

         “You’re going to want something to eat.  We won’t arrive on Calypso until sometime tomorrow.”

         “All right, something light then, I’ve never done well with food when I’ve traveled off world.”

         “I’ll keep that in mind for the future.”  He turned to his cabin steward.  “Soup and salad for both of us.”

         “Yes, Mr. Sheffield.”

         Alaina watched him leave the cabin and turned her attention back to Braddock Sheffield as he opened his briefcase.

         “Now, I would like you to see this.”  He handed her the spreadsheets he had received about the star.

         Alaina took the sheets from him.  She knew he watched her, but what she saw made her eyes light up and a smile formed on her face.  She had questions as she turned to him.

         “I thought you would be as excited by those figures as I am.  We’ll know soon enough how accurate they are, but by all indications this is a very rich star.”

         “I can see that.  I can also see why you want to get there and check it out.  So other than this news, why now?”

         The steward returned with their food, as Braddock put the papers back in his briefcase, set their food on the table in front of them, and left.

         “Calypso was hit hard in the last attack and knocked out the plant I have there.  I need to find out how bad the damage is and how soon it can be up and running again.”

         “I hope for your sake the damage isn’t very bad.”

         “I’m afraid it’s very bad.  Here’s the damage report, which is why I’m making this impromptu trip and had to cancel our date.”  He reached into his briefcase and handed her the report of the damage.

         Alaina ignored the food as she looked it over and became grave when she read the extent of the damage.  “Where will you land?  This talks about crater sized holes.”

         “Yes, and one of them hit the plant.  I thought you might want to go along on this expedition to see the metal and mineral rich star I’m dealing with.”

         “Oh I do.  I can’t wait to see the readouts and see how they match up with the report.”

         Braddock Sheffield watched everything she said and did.  She already was far above the other women he had dated.  She didn’t even hint at the fact their date might be another bust.  “Say listen, with the situation, it doesn’t look like we’ll get back in time for that date I invited you on.”

         She stared at him wide-eyed for a moment.  “You have got to be kidding.  After this, I wouldn’t expect it.  With the report, I don’t know if we’ll even be back in time, let alone have time to get ready.”

         “The dress you bought will go to waste.”

         She looked confused for a moment.  “You know about that?”

         “It was a guess.”

         “You looked at my account.”  It was more a statement than an accusation.

         “I was interested to know what kind of person you are.  I’m sure you checked on me as well.”

         “No as a matter of fact.  I didn’t know anything about you until a friend of mine told me, and then accused me of doing something stupid like applying at an online marriage site.  She was also surprised you were on the site.  She knew more about you than I did.”

         “Do you know about BioTech Engineering and Space Technology?”

         “Of course.  I applied there right after I graduated.  I didn’t even get an interest response.”

         Intrigued, Braddock asked, “You didn’t look up who I was when you saw my name?”

         “No.  I had other more important things to think about at the time.  We had a missile attack that threw everyone into the underground fallout shelter.  I looked up information about you after my friend told me about you.”

         “And what did you find?”

         “You have a lot of community awards, things like that, and you’re a war hero.”

         “I understand you’re a decorated war hero, yourself.  Where did you see action?"

         “Didn’t the background check reveal that?”

         He could tell he had made her angry by her tone, as her eyes snapped green fire.  “I only know you’re a highly decorated war hero, for action on Sheliak.  Other than that, there wasn’t anything more related to your militia service.  I know my stats showed you the same.”

         “Yes, they did.”

         “I’ve been on Sheliak.  That’s where I saw my last objective.  It didn’t go very well.”

         “What happened?”

         “Our convoy was ambushed.  There were a dozen of us.  I lost seven good men, the rest of us, me included got some serious injuries.  We were in a prison camp for a time, but we managed to escape and find our way back to a battalion.  We were honorably discharged soon after for medical.”

         Alaina finished with her soup and salad without realizing she had eaten and looked up at him.  “I’m sorry.  You don’t look like you have any injuries.”

         “That’s what top ranked doctors are for.  I spent a lot of time getting put back together along with therapy.  My injuries aren’t noticeable anymore for the most part.”  After a short pause he asked, “What made you go on the website looking for a marriage partner?”

         She was quiet for a long time, and he wondered if she would answer him.

         “Tell me why you did, and I might tell you why I did.”

         “I guess that’s fair, though I did ask first.  I was young.  It was a dare between college students.  I also knew that if I put my name and picture on the site it would go bad for my family and me so I left it anonymous.  That way I could filter the requests, if I got any.”

         “Did you?”

         “A fair amount.  None of them interested me, so I never pursued any of them, and then my father stepped down and there was no time to pursue thoughts of marriage.”

         “The picture doesn’t look anything like you.”

         “One of my high school pictures before I joined the militia.

         “I see.”  Again, she was quiet for a long time.

         “It’s your turn.”

         “If you never answered any of the queries before, why mine?”

         “I really can’t answer that except to say that something about your query interested me enough to answer, and here we are.”

         She looked up at him.  “I know that there are some things that a person can get into a lot of trouble for, even thinking about it, and I don’t want to get into any trouble.  I know you’re militia, so am I.”

         “What kind of trouble are you talking about?  I didn’t see anything in your background check that even hinted of anything but a stellar background.”

         “Is that what you’re looking for, someone who has impeccable records, thoughts, and bearing?  Lynneayia did say you were hard to please, rarely saw the same person a second time.”

         It was his turn to be quiet.  “Nobody is perfect, though the women I have dated in the past seemed to have one thought on her mind – how to get her hands on my money.  Her eyes always seemed to light up with money marks in them, so blame me for being cynical about the opposite sex, but there is a lot more than money that interests me.  Intelligence for one.”

         “Money is a nice commodity, but just in case you’re wondering, I’m not like your average date.  Obviously, I had an ulterior motive when I went on the matrimony site.”  Again, she was quiet.

         “Oh don’t stop there, I’m interested in what would make a woman of your obvious beauty and intelligence, want to search out a marriage partner.  I would think you wouldn’t have any trouble getting a date.”

         “For your information it takes money to go on a date, and since you looked into my account information, you are aware that I don’t have the kind of income that would interest a man into seeking a date with me.”

         “Put that together with your job description and I can see the problem, still, with your looks, you shouldn’t have had a problem.”

         “I don’t go out with just anyone, in fact, I haven’t been on a date in quite some time.”

         “I’m sorry.  We’ve gotten off topic.  You were going to tell me what kind of trouble you have gotten yourself into that didn’t show up on your investigation sheet.”

         She looked at him her thoughts roiling as she seethed with anger at what his casual observance of her showed.  “Nothing is sacred on Vega.”

         “How about we start again.  I’m sorry that the fact I did a background check on you makes you so angry.  Most people do that, especially people in my line of work and family connections.  I want to know what kind of person wants a part of me.”

         “I know Lynneayia told me you are quite wealthy, and have your picture on the cover of Science Technology magazine.”

         “Along with Scientific Quarterly.  So why the interest in a husband and why do you think you’re in some trouble?”

         “I was looking for someone who worked in the same field I am interested in and got my degree in when I got out of college.”

         “There is nothing wrong in going on a matrimony site.  It does help if you can talk about what interests you.  What do you think you did that could lead to trouble?”

         She hesitated.  He seemed genuine enough, would the truth put him off, or would he laugh at her, and her worst fears materialize before she returned home.  She had told Lynneayia she would never tell him the real reason, yet it stared her in the face, she had to tell him, and then wait for the consequences.  “I want to get married because I want to relocate off world.  I know other stars look for couples to start families, and with an occupation they need, the probability of being accepted would increase.  I went on the Relocation site, and realized when I spoke to Lynneayia that I could get in trouble for accessing it.”

         “I’m aware other stars are looking for couples to relocate to build up their population, and that they need certain occupations to fill their needs when they arise.  You don’t have to get married to relocate if you have a good occupational background and a vested interest in Vega.”

         “But with the fact that the government monitors everything we do, I thought I would get in trouble being on the site.”

         “I know when Vega set up the constitution after we arrived here from Old Earth, modeled a great deal on the Constitution of the United States of America, that they wanted a better government than the one left behind.  We got just the opposite.  Vega is fashioned more after the Socialist countries.  There isn’t any privacy in anything on Vega.  I know I did a background check on you.  Frankly, I expected you to do one on me as well.  Big Government and anyone who wishes can find out anything about a person, anytime and anywhere.  From your finances, to the time you went to bed last night.  Nothing is hidden.  That can also be an advantage.  For instance, though anyone can look at your banking information no one can do anything with it.  There also isn’t any kind of crime involving stolen accounts.  The banking system might be able to let anybody look at someone’s account, but without pre-authorization and a specific code linked to the account, nobody can access it.  I can’t tell you the last time there was an actual crime wave on Vega.  I know if you want to go anywhere or do anything, you have to have government approval.  My position offers me opportunities to go wherever I like, and I don’t have big government looking over my shoulder as long as I fill out the proper paperwork.

         “Do I want impeccable records, thoughts, and bearing?  That doesn’t exist.  Do I want someone who’s real and has some kind of personality?  Yes.”

         “So if I tell you why I went on the site, you won’t turn me in?”

         “Other than the fact you’re looking for a husband, what could be so serious?  You really have nothing to fear from me.  The one thing that’s good about my position is that this transport isn’t even bugged, so nobody will know, not even the pilot.  If it were, I would be in trouble for voicing what I did just now.  You know as well as I do you don’t say anything about the government.”

         She hesitated for a bit longer, and then took the plunge.  “I want to get off world.  Relocate.  I want away from the war.”

         “And you thought marriage was the answer?”

         “My best friend applied for relocation and was turned down, and sent to a work camp.  She’s a biotech engineer just like I am and like I was she’s also a Data Entry Clerk.  I did not want to end up in a work camp.  I knew that they also need couples to populate the new worlds, so I thought marriage would be the answer, but only with the right person.  I wanted someone from at least my own field.  When I saw your profile, I thought it was perfect.  We also had some things in common.”

         He looked at her a surprised look on his face.  “You’re not a Data Entry Clerk anymore?”

         “Not when I told the company I had a situation come up and would be unable to work for a couple days.  I’m also worried because when I was on the site looking for a husband, I also looked up the requirements for relocation.  The company I worked for could turn me in.”

         “The website is out there to let people with specific job skills look for work in their field.  Sometimes the only way to get a job is to relocate.  There is nothing wrong with looking at the website, as long as you have the necessary skills.”

         “How will anyone know unless they look?”

         “Yes, that’s the hard part.  There is always a risk in everything you do.  Obviously, your friend is no longer in the work camp.”

         “No.  That’s how I found out a little bit about you.  They let her out and told her she would know about her application within twenty hours.  She hasn’t let me know yet one way or the other.”

         “What is your friend’s name?”

         “Why?”

         “Don’t worry.  I appreciate your honesty, and I’m going to follow through with something that has taken me a long time to do.  I’m also going to hire your friend, on your recommendation.”

         “You’re going to follow through?”

         “If you will still have me, and you still want to get joined, I will join with you.”

         She sat in stunned silence.  She opened her mouth and closed it several times.

         His eyes laughed as his lips turned up in a genuine smile.  “It’s a simple answer.  Yes or no.”

         “Yes.  Yes, I will join with you.”

         “Why?”

         “Why?”

         “Yes, why?”

         “I feel I can trust you, and no, I don’t know anything about you, really.”

         “How soon do you want to be joined?”

         “How soon?”

         He almost laughed.  “It looks like my fiancée has trouble thinking at the moment.”

         She smiled in return.  “It’s so sudden.  We haven’t even had our first date yet.”

         “Haven’t we?  We’ve already been together longer than we would on a regular date.  We’ve discussed the star.  You’ve looked over the data sheets for the metals and minerals for the star.  You share the same enthusiasm for your work as I do.”

         “That’s true.  It looks like the dress I bought will go to waste.”

         “Nothing ever goes to waste.  We’ll go back to Vega long enough to get joined, in your dress, it doesn’t have to be white, and we’ll leave immediately for any star you want for our honeymoon.”

         “How do you know the dress isn’t white?”

         “From what I’ve already learned about you, you wouldn’t choose white for a first date; you would reserve that for your joining.”

         “Would Vega allow us to relocate to another star?”

         “I don’t see why not.  I have interests on at least five of them, and looking at another.”

         “And Calypso?”

         “Is a new proposition.  I built a plant there about a year ago.  The soil looked promising and the star had a lot of possibilities with its position in the constellation.”

         “Will there be a lot to do to relocate to another star?”

         “What you might not realize is that in relocating you have to keep a vested interest in the home star.  Does your friend have a vested interest in Vega?”

         “Only her militia career and education.”

         “That unfortunately is not vested interest.  I have two plants on Vega.  I also have plants on outlying stars.  I have vested interest because I have given something back to the star in the way of employment opportunities to others.”

         “So then she could still be rejected because she has nothing tying her to Vega.”

         “Yes, but it will not put her back in the work camp.  With the fact they released her, they are probably going to keep her on a list and when she meets the other criteria, then they will allow her to relocate.”

         “So then, my wanting to find a husband would work in my favor for relocation.”

         “As long as the man you joined had a vested interest in Vega.”

         “And you do.”

         “Yes, I do.”

         “And I won’t get into any trouble for looking at the Relocation website?”

         “None.”  He looked at his watch.  “It’s late.  We’ll arrive on Calypso in another twelve hours.  Let me show you to your quarters, and we’ll talk more in the morning.”

         “So soon, I expected it would take longer.”

         “Let me show you on the star map.  Here is Vega, over here Sheliak, and here is Calypso, with a distance of 430 light years from Old Earth and half the distance as Sheliak, so we can make it in half the time.”

         “So it’s sixteen hours from Vega.”

         “Using the star drive.  This transport is equipped with star drive, which means we can move through space at excessive speeds.  What used to take three days on Old Earth to get to the moon which is 239,000 miles would be half that now without star drive.  With star drive it would take hours to reach the moon from Old Earth.  Calypso is in the opposite direction from Sheliak, and closer.”

         “Still you did say we would be gone for a week.  I assumed we would be longer getting there.”

         “Given thirty-two hours for travel, and then taking into account the work I need to do in determining the extent of the damage, organizing cleanup and work crews, and any other contingencies we will run into when we get there, it will easily be one week or longer before we get back to Vega.”

         “I packed for one week, but my wardrobe isn’t that extensive.”  She blushed to admit her status to a complete stranger, even though he had proposed and she had accepted, which still through her mind sideways.

         “Don’t worry about anything.  I expect we’ll return in a week, as I said when I asked you to accompany me, but I’ll know more when I see the amount of damage the plant sustained.”

         He led her to a bedroom at the back of the transport.  “There’s a bath through that door.  Will you be all right?”

         She looked at the lavish accommodations for a transport, and turned to him.  “Yes, of course.  Thank you.”

         “Then I will see you in the morning.”

         “In the morning.  Good night.”

         She closed the door and he went to his own quarters where he stared out at the darkness of space for quite some time.  What had he done?  He had actually proposed to the woman.  A woman he only had facts and figures about, but knew nothing else about her.  Nothing except they shared the same excitement about a mineral rich star, nothing except that she was intelligent, had some acceptable fears, and yes, he had to admit it, she was beautiful.  He felt a twinge of pain at the back of his neck as he rubbed it and thought it was just from the stress of the situation.

         He shed his clothes and slid into bed.  In a couple weeks, he would be joined.  He was the oldest of four children born to Mary and Sherman Sheffield, yet the only one not joined.  His sister, Adreanna, married Eugene Montgomery.  His other sister, Lindsey, married Gavan Brentwood.  His brother, Danny, was married to Falita Harrison.  It was his turn, and he couldn’t deny how he felt about joining his life to another.

         He woke several hours later to find Alaina looking over the papers from the day before.  “Can’t keep away from it can you?”

         “I just had to see those figures again.  I thought of nothing else last night after I went to bed.  It’s so intriguing.”

         “Yes, it is.”

         “Mr. Sheffield we are getting landing instructions from Calypso,” a voice said over the intercom.

         “Very good.  Give them our authorization codes.”  He turned his attention back to Alaina.  “We’re about to land.  If the hotel is still standing we’ll check in there before we go to the plant site.”

         “You wanted my friend’s name.  It’s Lynneayia Reilly.”

         “When we get back tell her she’s invited to your joining and has a job with BioTech Engineering and Space Technology.”

         Excitement ran through her veins like wildfire.  She never thought he would ask her to join him after the way things had started out, and now.  She looked up at him, “I’ll do that.”