CH 24
The only good thing about being way out near this nebula, was they had a solid start point to figure a way back to Earth. It was no longer a task to get the exact point they needed to go to. Getting close enough to find Earth was now the task at hand.
Bob and his wives had enough of sleeping separately. They tore the bunk frames out and put them in one of the unused bunkrooms and laid their Mattresses on the floor together. Constantly washing and wearing the same clothes over and over again was getting old too, so they decided to try the 'one size fits all' uniforms.
Allison went first. As Bob Joan and Mal watched, Allison stripped down and got a uniform out. It was a one piece,. She pulled the top wide and climbed in. It didn't look bad on her. The uniform hugged her, showing her curves, but moving around, she admitted it wasn't bad, comfort wise.
Next, Bob took his turn. Again, he stretched it out a bit but was able to get it over him and on. "A little tight, but not bad," he admitted.
Malinara got up. After she stripped down, she got a uniform mostly on, but had a tough time getting it up past her boobs. Struggling to make it around her globes, she ended up with her breasts packed tight to her chest, her nipples poking out the top edge that didn't want to go any farther.
Grinning at her, Joan said, "I'm not even going to try it."
"Ughhh!" Malinara grumbled. She took an index finger and drew a line down the cloth as she lit her finger with a small flame. The cloth parted and smoked. Her breasts popped free an the cloth kept burning. "Ahhh!" she cried and tried to pull the uniform off.
Bob and Joan jumped up and forced Malinara into the shower. Water on, they doused the flames and got the ruined cloth off her.
"NOT one size fits all!" Malinara grumbled.
"Got an idea, I'll go get a knife." Allison said and left.
"What are you smirking at?" Malinara asked Joan.
"That's why I wanted you to go first," Joan said with a grin.
Malinara stuck her tongue out at Joan.
Joan got a uniform out and looked at it. She pondered briefly, then said, "Yes, we need a knife."
When Allison returned with a knife, Joan held the top open, stretched out. "Allie, cut down the middle, say six inches."
Allison did, opening the top up. Joan then got undressed and put the uniform on. She got her arms in and with the wide open top, she wiggled herself around to show a deep V on her chest that showed the inside curves of her breasts. The bottom of the V looked strained.
"Sexy!" Bob said with a big grin.
Malinara grabbed another uniform and stretched the top open. "Give me one too!"
Allison did, cutting down the same amount. Malinara put the uniform on, and this time got it all the way on with the same deep V exposing the center of her chest and insides of her lobes.
"Good?" Malinara beamed at Bob.
"Looks good to me," Bob agreed.
Allison eyed Joan and Malinara, then cut her uniform open to expose her chest. It was also more comfortable this way. She didn't feel packed in.
With their uniforms on, Joan Allison and Malinara went to the control room to begin their day.
Stopping by John, Malinara asked, "Need any running done?"
"No … what are you wearing?" he cried staring at her all but exposed breasts.
"These uniforms don't fit right, so we cut them open so they do fit."
"Mal's right, Dad, They fit better like this." Joan agreed.
John turned to see Joan's breasts all but looking at him. He covered his eyes. Allison laughed.
"Can't you wear something else?" John asked weakly.
"We have nothing else," Joan replied.
"OK, fine, just .. Sit down." John grumbled.
Cameron grinned at him. "Dear, you should be happy Joan has such proud breasts."
They do look ready to come out and say Hi," Delilah said with a giggle.
Joan glanced at Malinara and quickly turned away. "Can you girls put shirts on over those, please?"
"Yes, before your Dad loses his mind," Cameron agreed with a grin.
"Next break," Joan replied. Even as she said that, she felt the top ripping open more. Maybe cutting these suits open wasn't the best idea.
Focusing on where they were at, John found they were getting into the vicinity where Earth was. Delilah was searching for signals that would tell them which way to go. So far, their 'quick' trip had stretched into three weeks and they were far from their planned route home.
The Atlantians were helping around the ship. A pair of women were taking care of the kitchen duties, others were doing small chores to keep the ship picked up and clothes cleaned. Dugal even came into the control room to get food and drink orders so everything would be ready when they came for lunch.
One thing John was relieved about was Gale, Shiba and Lena wanted to take spare uniforms and tailor them so they fit people properly. John heartily agreed for them to begin that task. He also hinted that Joan really needed clothes that fit. That uniform she had on was way too tight.
Joan was sensitive to her Father's discomfort. She waited until he went to lunch before she got up. Her uniform had ripped itself down to her navel and if it wasn't for her nips catching on the cloth to spread her breasts a little wider, she'd be showing way too much for public view.
Malinara spent time in the engine room near Robert, so she didn't mind her uniform was wide open. Actually, she coaxed it open a bit farther so her breasts did spill into view. Seeing he was eyeing her, she sat on his lap and complained that her uniform was split to the crotch and her nips were sore.
Bob didn't mind soothing her aches.
'Yes, Robert take advantage of me as you please,' she thought.
The Atlantian women also took note of how these uniforms were getting their men's attention. Gale planned on making V necked uniforms. For the comfort level of course.
Delilah did have mercy on Joan. She'd brought four outfits, so she gave Joan one. Cameron also gave Allison one of her outfits so Allison had two also. Bob also had Malinara be the 'test' subject for the Atlantian women to work at a tailored uniform to wear.
While the clothing debunkle went on and more people decided they too would rather sleep on the floor together and spare bunkrooms filled up with framing, the control room crew searched for Earth. Where they thought Betelgeuse should be, they found a nova. It had been suspected that that star was close to going nova, so figuring out where it had been in relation to other stars, they plotted out where Earth should be and headed in that direction. By calculations, the trip would only take another day at half thrust.
Gale and her fellow wives discovered the material the uniforms were made of did burn and rip easily. In the engine room, a cooling line for the engines melted the material enough to seal two cut pieces together so they had a way to make seams if they only touched the material to the line.
Cameron took her time studying the programs that ran the ship. She could see Catherine had made some incorrect assumptions. While saw was seeing a concern for safety, one fault was all automatic functions needed to be present or a warp bubble would not form. In some cases, this was needed. Others, like the auto correct function for the helm, it wasn't. Cameron noted the Automatic functions that were not needed for warp formation, and listed them for Catherine to correct when they got back. She also noted the problems with number three engine as well as the bunkroom system was inadequate, as was the fact the ship had only one first aide kit and the recycling system for water worked only due to the fact they had artificial gravity. If they lost the artificial gravity (an automatic function), that alone would collapse the bubble and water would be everywhere and in control modules where circuits would be shorted out.
Cameron suggested, and John agreed, once they landed, this ship could not take off again until all these problems were fixed.
.
At the helm wearing the clothes Delilah gave her, Joan was excited. "Dad! We got the Earth system sight on front of us! Slowing down. We should be all but stopped below the ecliptic not far from Earth's orbit!"
Everyone cheered. Delilah then said, "I'm not picking up and broadcasts. We should be getting a ton of transmissions."
"Are they being moved around us by the warp bubble?" John asked.
"Possible," Delilah admitted.
"We're still a quarter light year out," Joan said. She studied the star pattern around them, then let out an, "Uh oh."
The terminator pilot by her said it more plainly. "We have deviations in the star pattern. The nova we passed was not Betelgeuse. We assumed incorrectly."
John face planted. "Hokay, get us slowed down and stopped. Let's collapse the bubble and figure out where we are. Cam, Delilah, take our flight logs and try to determine where we've been and where we are now."
"Sorry, Dad," Joan said sadly.
John announced, "Everyone! This is the first time we have ever tried to navigate through the universe. Yes, we're making mistakes but that's expected. We're not experts at interstellar navigation, we're learning as we go. Problems with the ship haven't been helping any either. I also suspect there are factors at play that no one has taken into account. So, we find out where we are, and where we need to go. Until we do, we park in place as soon as we get stopped."
"John, we need to track our progress using a full galactic hologram. I can make one appear above us. It will fill the control room over our heads," Delilah said.
"Once we get stopped," John replied. "Add the lines of where we traveled so far to the hologram if you can."
"I'm collecting all our flight logs together," Cameron stated.
"Captain John," Lena said as she came in. "We have finished a uniform design."
John looked at her.
She spread her arms out and asked, "How is this?"
It was sexy. The uniform did fit snugly to her curves, but wasn't tight. The neckline was a half circle that exposed her collar bones and dipped down to show her upper chest but no cleavage. Long sleeves and full length leg down to her ankles. There were random looking dark streaks on it from where it was put together, but the thing fit her. He nodded. "That's nice. Well done," he told her.
Lena smiled. "We can even make them to fit individuals. We have enough material to make at least three for everyone. Shall we continue?"
"By all means, have at it. Thank you for taking that job on."
"We will need to measure people individually, so it will take time," Lena explained.
"That's fine, at least it's being done," John assured her.
.
"We found the main problem," Cameron said as she and Delilah came over to John. "All the data on star position came from Earth. The astronomers and scientists see everything from Earth. Our galaxy is not static, everything moves. Light from objects takes time to get to Earth. The farther away it is, the more it had moved from where we see it on Earth. All the distances are also estimated. That means where stars currently are, especially distant ones, are far from where we think they are."
"Our star charts are essentially useless outside roughly a hundred light years out from Earth," Delilah stated. "Nothing is where we thought it was. We got lucky getting to Atlantis."
"So we need an accurate set of star charts," John concluded. "How do we do that?"
"We know we're in about the right area," Cameron said. "To find out where everything is in this section of the galaxy, we need to see everything from the same distance. That means we need to look at it from outside the galaxy. We leave the galactic plane and get an outside view of this area. That will tell us better what the star patterns truly look like, and by applying our traveled paths to date, should tell us approximately where Earth is and how to get back."
John nodded slowly. "And by knowing how long ago we're seeing the light from stars, we can tell better where they are now."
"Correct. On the way out, we stop every 50 light years to get a good star map. Then at say 500 light years out, we can determine fairly accurate star movement and extrapolate where the stars are now." Delilah said.
"Scientists should be doing this," John said in a grumble.
"True, but since we don't have any, it's up to us," Cameron said.
"We suspect the thickness of the Milky way is around 200 light years wide. That's why we suggest a 500 light year trip. We may fine we are in error there also. The only way to know is to go and find out." Delilah stated.
"We also need to find an edge," Cameron said. "Right now, stars are all around us. Our best bet is using maximum magnification to identify another galaxy and head for it."
"How about finding out where the stars we see are the thinnest and head that way?" John asked.
"That may work," Cameron said in a musing tone.
"We'll get to work on it," Delilah said firmly.
.
Back in Driftwood, Louise, JJ and Kaede met the Sheriff in his office. The Sheriff told them, "We now know where your family members disappeared to. I contacted Catherine Weaver. John Connor, his wives and Bob's clan were all shot into space to go check out what the planet Atlantis is like now. They were in a new super fast space ship. John, Cameron and Delilah were scheduled to go, Bob and his wives somehow went along for the ride. We have no idea when they'll be back."
"Sheriff," Kaede said, "From talking to the Atlantians on the farm, it took them over a year to get here. You're saying they won't be back for a few years. Is that right?"
"Don't know," the Sheriff said with a shrug. "The only specifics I could get was who went. How fast this ship is, or when they will get there let alone return is something I have no clue about. What I do know is in the foreseeable future the only Connor family members in Driftwood are you, JJ, and you, Louise. That means much of Driftwood, about half the town, the area around the small lake and the big lake is your responsibility. Military wise, the base is being assigned to me to watch over. Catherine Weaver wants to keep this space ship and mission very quiet, but as I told her, if John and his crew are gone for a year or longer, then I have to inform the Governor and get a Texas Guard General down here take over the base."
"So, what do we do?" JJ asked.
"Take care of your family interests," the Sheriff said. "As I said, the Connor clan owns the lion's share of Driftwood. Cameron is also heavy into finances and banking. I'll be looking to you and Louise to take care of any problems that come up. I called Jackie to inform her also. The fall school break is coming up, she'll be coming down then. Split it up however you want, just let me know who's taking care of what."
Louise ranted, "With all the work and projects we're doing, WHY would Bob and Joan jump on a space ship and fly away?"
"I'd ask them, but they aren't here," the Sheriff replied with a shrug. "My suggestion to you is make things as simple as you can and only do what you need to do to keep things going. When Jackie gets here, I'm going to have her take care of the base. I do believe she's the only one of you who's still officially in the Texas Guard and has a rank."
JJ blew out a breath. "I'll see to things in town, Louise, you're living up at the big lake, so if you take care of things there, then maybe Jackie can take care of the small lake area since she's going to be on the base anyway."
"Yeah, Ok," Louise agreed in a huff. "When they get back, I've got a few choice words for them!"
"Sheriff? Have you tried to contact Sonya?" JJ asked.
"Sonya has her hands full," Anne said. "If the situation becomes critical, she'll have to resign and wait until new Police Commissioners are appointed before she can return. Hence, she doesn't want to do that unless she has no other option."
Anne eyed JJ. "JJ, what was your rank before you resigned from the Texas Guard?"
"Colonel," Kaede quickly said.
The Sheriff smiled at JJ. "So, John Junior, due to the crisis at hand, I hereby reinstate you as a Colonel in the Texas Guard. You need to go see the base commander and find out what your Third division is doing."
"Huh?" JJ asked, staring at him.
Kaede laughed.
JJ frowned at her.
"This way, I won't have to have the Governor send someone," the Sheriff beamed. "That is a better solution."
"It is, hon." Kaede agreed with a grin. "I'll take care of things on the farm while you're visiting your troops."
"Gee, thanks … Captain. You can take care of the town."
Seeing Kaede eye him, JJ said, "If I'm reinstated, you are too."
Louise laughed.
.
Cameron and Delilah with the terminator pilot and Joan plotted 50 light years trips and the direction to travel in. After each trip, they would stop and get a good star pattern and match it to the previous one they had to get an exact position as possible, and figure star movements. After ten of these trips, they hoped to be out of the galaxy. If they weren't, they would have to recalculate where the edge of the galaxy was and keep going.
While they worked at that, a new problem was brought up to John. Doing inventory, it was found they had eaten through one third of the ship's stores. Being out here a month now, that meant in another two months, they'd be out of food at the current usage rate.
John had to look hard at rationing. The plan for plotting the galaxy's star movements was going to take about a week and a half. If they didn't find the way home then, he was going have to put a ration plan in place. The ship wasn't loaded for an extended trip with no support, like they were currently doing. Again Weaver had assumed they could re supply food at Atlantis. That wasn't the case, they were no where near Atlantis.
Thankfully, the uniforms were being made at a fairly decent rate. Joan, Allison and Malinara had their sets, as did the Atlantian women and a couple men.
Four 50 light year trips got them close enough to the edge of the universe to show no stars at all in front of the ship. The thick galactic center was above them. They were still just inside the edge of the galaxy, but by comparing where stars they had marked were now, to when they first saw them, Cameron and Delilah were getting an idea of star motions and directions they were moving in.
It wasn't an even flow. There was a general movement from all the stars, but some rose and fell along the flat galactic plane, others drifted in and out some from the center. A clump of stars orbited each other at a distance. Upon the next 50 light year trip, stars were mostly where Cameron and Delilah expected them to be.
Finally reaching their 500 light year trip, they were looking down on the galaxy. It was huge, and they weren't far from the edge looking down, but they'd done it.
By this time too, the inside of the ship was looking like a refugee camp. Things were picked up and the ship was fairly clean, but make shift items were everywhere. A bulletin board of who was doing what, made from scrap food trays tied together on the hallway wall by strips of uniform material near the kitchen area. Each tray had a person and terminator's name and what their assignment was in a line, rows were the three eight hour periods they were on duty.
Laundry bags were also hung outside each bunkroom that was occupied with the occupants names on it, so the Atlantian women who were doing laundry in a bunkroom used as a laundry room, was easily picked up and returned with clean clothes in it.
A terminator also rigged bunking frame to bracket the walls and ceiling of the hallway by the control room cafeteria, laundry room and engine room to hang scrap food trays from the ceiling stating in black markers what each area was.
Bunkrooms being used were usually open unless someone was sleeping within, now showing mattresses and bedding on the floor.
John was happy the Atlantians were taking full responsibility as crew. As they learned, Atlantian men were now doing jobs in the engine room, Three took shifts at the sensors, another took Cameron's station when she wasn't there. This also gave terminators time to go into standby in a bunkroom they had marked with a tray overhead that read 'standby room'.
.
At the 500 light year point, John took a break as his wives and a couple terminators were plotting and recording the true positions of the stars. Heading to get a drink and a snack, he had to smirk at the things now hanging of the walls and the hand written messages on doors. He was sure Catherine would not be pleased at the condition of the inside of her perfectly made ship. He was going to make sure she saw this and know it was inadequate the moment they got back.
He'd just stepped into the cafeteria when Cameron's voice announced over the intercom, "John! We need you back up here. We have incoming, a large ship. It just appeared off to the port side. It's releasing smaller ships!"
John turned and and back to the control room.
.
In the Base Star control room, the Six looking at the craft they found upon reentering normal space, tried to match it to a Colonial ship.
"I'm not seeing anything like this in the Colonial registry," she said.
Beside her, a Leoben said, "It's not Colonial. I highly doubt they could get out this far or have any reason to be here. The raiders will get a better look at it."
"We got an incoming signal," an Eight stated. She put in on speaker. They heard the speech, it was nothing understandable.
"Contact!" the Hybrid cried from her bath. "We have contact from the 13th tribe. Vocal fluctuations are digital. They aren't human."
Cheers went up in the control room. The Six announced, "We need to talk to them. Prepare to send out a heavy raider to make contact."
.
Back in the control room, John eyed the small craft flying around them.
Joan said, "Dad, I'm ready to make a bubble in case we need to flee."
"They are just circling us," Cameron said. "They aren't making any aggressive moves. We need to complete our star charts before we head back."
"I got a response," Delilah said. "They are speaking in the same language as those others we picked up. They want to know who we are."
"Respond in kind," John told her. "If they are the same ones, tell them we're doing a galactic survey and wish to be left alone."
Delilah did. "Base Star 31, this is XTS. We are performing a study of the galaxy here. We ask you to leave us to our task."
The female voice replied, "We have no intention of interfering. Can you tell us where you are from?"
After a pause, Delilah said, "We hesitate to. The last ones speaking the language you are that we met, we saved them from dying in their broken ship. We brought them aboard to render aide to them and repair their ship enough to work. They were aggressive and violent towards us. We made them leave the moment their ship was repaired enough to function, and told them not to contact us ever again. We don't like violent people."
There was a longer pause, then, "I can understand your reluctance XTS. I must ask, the beings you took aboard, were they Human or Clyon?"
"They were human," Delilah replied. "When one woke up they did scream Cylon. Can you clarify what they meant?"
"I can. May one of us come aboard your ship and explain?"
Delilah looked at John. "Do we dare?" she asked.
John thought for a moment. "How we doing on our star charts?" he asked.
"We are 91% complete," Cameron replied. "We will be finished in another eight minutes. Then we can accurately add the paths we've flown. That will take up to another hour."
In a pondering tone, John said, "They aren't being aggressive. Delilah allow them to land, no weapons allowed. Joan, Keep your finger over the warp bubble control. The first sign of trouble, activate and get us out of here."
"Got it, ready to go when you say, Dad."
Delilah nodded. "Base Star 31, we will allow a shuttle on board. No weapons are to be displayed. If there is any aggression at all, we will cut contact immediately."
"Understood, XTS. We are sending a ship to you."
John looked at Delilah. "Delilah, get two terminators and a radio inside the cargo bay. Inner doors shut even after they are inside. Three more terminators in the hallway just beyond, just in case."
"Yes, protect ourselves," Delilah agreed. "We won't display any weapons unless they do." She headed back to the cargo bay. Getting there, she went in with the pair of terminators evacuate the air and turned the bay lights on. When Joan reported a small craft was on it's way, she opened the outer door.
John was watching the camera for that bay. He saw a shuttle sized ship approach, then turn around to back into the bay.
Watching the camera also, Joan said, "Dad! I've seen one of those before! I blew up three of them on that other ship Bob and I went to! The big terminator types were attacking people there."
"Delilah, get that?" John asked.
"I did, John. I think there's two factions at war with each other."
The ship drifted in and set down. The outer door was shut. Delilah pressurized the bay. The rear of the craft came down, it was a cargo type door. A blonde woman in a close fitting red dress came down the ramp. She smiled at Delilah. Behind her were two tall terminators.
"Hello!" the woman said heartily. "Please understand we mean you no harm."
"That is a relief to hear," Delilah replied and stuck her hand out. "I am Delilah Connor."
"Jennifer Six," the woman said and shook Delilah's hand. "I am so sorry you had a run in with Colonial humans. They are untrustworthy."
Delilah grinned. "Yes I got that when I was looking at the damage to their ship and one whacked me in the back of the head with a wrench. I am understanding that you are in conflict with them?"
"We are. Our types are called Cylons. We were initially made by Colonial humans. Our types gained sentience, but the humans would not acknowledge us as sentient beings. We revolted, the humans promised talks to settle the situation. When they came, they killed as many of us as possible. That began the first war. We managed to get out and away from them. More recently, we found humans were coming near the area of our planet. We feared they were coming to attack us again, so we attacked first and took over their planets so they cannot threaten us again."
Delilah shook her head. "That is a sad state of affairs. So, where are these humans now?'
"In space, somewhere," Jennifer said. "They are fleeing from us."
Delilah nodded. "Things we experienced are making more sense. Have you tried to talk to these humans to ask hostilities be ceased?"
"No, we've been trying to find them and get control of them so they cannot be a threat to us any longer."
Delilah snorted. "I don't think they are taking kindly to that, Jennifer. Have you ever learned to negotiate with humans?"
"The only time we tried, they attacked us after they said they were coming to talk."
"At the start of your first war," Delilah said.
"Yes, we cannot trust any humans. Surely you can see why," Jennifer stated.
"What I see is big blunders by both your sides," Delilah said. "On our planet we have a mix of many species. Even on this ship, we have humans, Atlantians, cyborgs, and true all metal AI's, and we all get along. Perhaps your Cylons and Humans got off badly, and never thought about anything beside aggression to each other?"
Jennifer stared at Delilah. "You can get along with humans?" she asked in disbelief.
Delilah chuckled. "We do. My husband is human. Our daughters are a mix between us. Yes, things come up but we are all family and treat each other right."
"You can have children?" Jennifer asked in shock.
"We do. Is that abnormal for you?"
"We try, but it never works. Please, Delilah show us how you can do that," Jennifer begged. "Come work with us, and tell us how you can do these things we cannot."
Delilah eyed Jennifer briefly, then said, "John, what do you think?"
The speaker on Delilah's collar spoke. Delilah translated. "It sounds to John like you do need help. Gotta remember we got limitations here. You are also involved in a war. I don't think we want to get involved with that."
"If we can stop the war, will you help us?" Jennifer asked in a plea.
"We're just a research ship, we can't make that kind of decision," Delilah replied. "The best I can tell you is that when we get back home, we'll ask. If you could provide us with a place you and those humans will be, if allowed, we can come and talk to all of you. From what I'm hearing, you all need to be educated on how to deal with others at the very least, as well as figuring out your other problems."
Jennifer thought hard. "So far, we have had no success dealing with Colonial humans peacefully. It always turns out badly."
"Jennifer, stop trying to control those humans. Trust me, that's never going to work. If you encounter them again, don't fight them, offer to sit down with their representatives someplace. Do you have a planet you can do that at?"
"The only habitable planet we would both know of is Kobol."
Delilah talked to John, then said, "That would work. Give us the information on how to get there, then try to get the Colonial humans to come. If we get authorization, or not to come and talk to both sides, we'll come there and let you know. How's that sound? A star chat showing where this planet is would be most helpful," Delilah added.
"I can get you that," Jennifer said quickly. "Will it help if one of us comes with you to plead our case?"
"She wants one of them to come with us. That means we'd have to collect a Colonial human also," Delilah grumbled to John.
"Yeah, and possibly have to let the government know, which means this could quickly turn into a political football unless we're very careful," John agreed.
"That could suck," Delilah said. Seeing Jennifer watching her, she said in her language, "We're going to have to be careful putting it to our people. We think it's best if we just go and explain it ourselves. We also know about where the Colonial human are. We'll let them know to come to this Kobol if they are willing to talk."
Jennifer smiled. "That would be a great help. Thank you for your assistance."
"We help where we can. Just let your people know, we don't put up with aggression from anyone." Delilah said firmly.
Delilah and Jennifer Six shook hands again and come into an impromptu hug. "Have a safe trip back," Delilah offered.
"You also, Delilah."
Once the cylons were back up in their ship and the rear ramp was shut, Delilah pumped the air out of the bay and opened the door to let them out and with the terminators, gave their ship a shove to get it out of the bay.
.
In the control room, John watched that ship head back to the large ship they had. All the smaller ones also returned to that ship, then it flashed to disappear. He also understood they'd taken on a new task.
Cameron found out what they'd been doing wrong in all their calculations. The big item was that the galaxy was spinning. Not very fast, but it did turn. Moving in straight lines, they hadn't compensated for the spin. Between that and not knowing where stars truly were had helped mess up the calculations they had made. Of course ship problems had compounded that.
Discussing what to do next, first Cameron brought up the appropriate section of the galaxy with all the lines of where they had traveled. Allowing the motion of the Galaxy and where they were in relation to the Nebula and Earth, they found they were sitting in between them.
"It will take about the same time to get to either Earth, or where that human fleet was," Cameron said. "At the Zillion miles a second on full thrust, as Joan put it, we can be at either place in two days. Three an a half going to the other location. Allowing time to talk to the human fleet, a week of travel total and this time we will know where everything is."
"The Earth isn't going to go very far, but that fleet could move at any time,' Delilah added.
"We need to move if we hope to catch them." John agreed. "If the total trip will only take a week, we should be fine as long as nothing else goes wrong. OK, we go visit that fleet first, then get out butts home. Everyone agreed?"
"We do, John."
"Yes, Dad."
"Then get us moving," John told them.
Cameron called over, "Joan, I'm sending you the flight data."
"Got it, verifying," Joan replied.
"Verified the computations," the terminator pilot stated, "Initiating bubble."
Joan announced, "Ludicrous speed, GO!" and put on full thrust.
"Ludicrous speed?" Cameron asked.
"Yes, it work in Spaceballs," Joan said with a grin.
"Just get us there," John said with a huff.
Joan began singing.
I like chasing lightning,
Heavy meal thunder!
Racin with the wind
And the feelin that I'm under
Yeah darling gonna make it happen
Catch the verse in a love'in embrace
Fire all your guns at once and
Explode into space!
Like a true natures child
We here born, born to be wild!
I can climb so high
I never wanna dieeee
BORN TO BE WI-HILD!
John and Cameron looked at each other.
"Your daughter is getting a bit punchy being out here," Cameron stated.
"When she's like this, she's your daughter," John replied.
.