Not certain yet but when this story is posted, the next one to appear will probably be a short in the Berk: Year One series. I've got the first chapter done and there should only be three-ish.
Chapter 86
Sneaky Sister II: The Surprisening
Blue did just as his sister had asked and waited half an hour before going to talk to his parents, and was surprised to see Abigail and Calla were already in the common room waiting for him.
"We understand you intend to stay on Earth when we get back there" April said, looking very disappointed.
"Ah... so my plan to break the news to you tactfully while explaining my reasons has just flown out the window" Blue scowled at his sister.
"Don't be too upset with Abby" Luis said "It seems she had a very good reason to talk with us first."
"Yeah to give you time to come up with arguments against the idea" Blue continued scowling.
"No; because I want to go too" Abigail replied.
"You're not serious!" Blue gasped.
"I'm very serious" Abigail argued. "The last time we orbited Earth, I spent many hours staring down at the surface through the telephoto lens, dreaming about what it would feel like to walk outside without a pressure suit; to breathe the air and feel a genuine breeze on my face, and not just fan blow recirculated air."
"It was never part of our plan to see you leave and your father and I firmly believe it is far too dangerous" April insisted "That is why we are working so hard to bring more people off planet where it's safe."
"And you'll be able to achieve that goal much quicker if I do leave" Blue argued.
"Same here" Abigail added.
"Yes your sister told us of your plan to replace you with a few engineers, but I really don't think it is worth the risk of sending you into such danger" Luis said.
"The Earth still gets hit by meteorites on a regular basis; and it's only a matter of time before the big one hits" April noted.
"Blue knows the Earth won't be destroyed for a long time yet" Abigail butted in "And he won't get killed by a smaller one either."
"How can anyone know when...?" Luis began.
"Tell 'em Blue; tell 'em about the book" Abigail insisted.
"What book?" April wondered.
"A man named Maximilian DeGroot arrived in Sumatra on the same fleet as Calla and her family; I was surprised to find out he was actively looking for me" Blue revealed. "He had a number of really old books with him including one called The Book of Gothi."
"Gothi" April gasped.
"You've heard of her?" Blue asked.
"When Abigail and Saffy were younger, I used to tell them stories about the Dragon Riders" April admitted "these were the stories my Grandfather used to tell me when I was a little girl; he said they had been passed down from generation to generation. I only told the girls some of my favourites, like the one about the Dragon Master and how he was the first Viking to catch and ride a dragon, but Grandpa Gerwin told me many more stories and one of the characters in these tales, was a wise woman named... Gothi. I always remembered it because it was such an odd name; I even named my cat after her."
"Did he ever tell you about the time she took the Dragon Master to a mystical cave when he was just a boy?" Blue asked.
"No... I don't remember that, but it sounds like the sort of thing Gothi would have done... based on my limited knowledge."
"I read about it in the Book of Gothi" Blue revealed "It says she took him to the cave intending to show him what kind of man he would grow up to be, because he lacked confidence in himself; but when this was happening, Gothi says he also had a vision of his descendants. The book says he spoke to someone who said his name was... Blue Dias."
There was a silent pause for just a moment, till it was broken by Luis.
"Oh that just can't be true" he said.
"I'm not lying Dad; I really did see it in the book."
"But I mean... it must be a trick of some kind" Luis added.
"The book is over a thousand years old Dad" Blue tried to convince him "Its pages are some kind of animal skin and it's written in runes not used for centuries. While I admit it could be faked, I have more than enough doubts in my mind to know if I don't at least investigate it further, not knowing would eventually drive me crazy."
"Surely we can't let them go" Luis said to his wife.
April looked down and put her hand on her belly, thinking about the baby growing inside her.
"I wonder if we should even try" she said "Blue is only here because of the desperate need to save you and Abby, and although I don't like the thought of seeing him go, taking this young man, our son of whom I could not be prouder, and making him a prisoner of his own family upsets me even more. I always thought the safest place for any of my children was right here with me, but each one of them had to be born when the time was right; and in the same way I know they can't stay with us one hundred percent of the time. This was how I felt when I found out Abby had been promoted and going into space with her father. I complained and I didn't want it to happen, but I also knew it was right and I shouldn't try to stop it."
"Does that mean I can go too?" Abigail asked.
"I'm not sure I feel confident about you going to Earth when you're only fourteen" April argued "At least when you became a cadet pilot you were with your father, who had a lot of experience in what you'd be doing."
"But I'll be with my brother who has years of experience living on Earth."
"The gravity will be very strong" April argued.
"And unlike Saffy, I spent much of my time on Mars wearing weighted clothing; and until you insisted Dad slow the wheels rotation, I spent the last few months in an Earth level of gravity right here."
"I'm still not sure" April pondered "You'd be alright with Sarah at the Railgun, but if you go off with your brother to look for this cave..."
"How about if Calla comes too? She's my age and knows all about surviving in the outside world; she's done it her whole life."
Calla's eyebrows lifted so high, she almost ran out of forehead. So this was it; this was the way Abigail intended to help Calla change her mind without embarrassing herself in front of Blue.
"If you really need me to go with you..." Calla took a deep breath and nodded "I'd be happy to help."
"You'd give up your life in space for us" Blue smiled.
"I still intend to come back here someday, but I must admit; asteroid settlement construction would go even faster with three specialist engineers, meaning the rest of my family could get off Earth much quicker, and I like that idea!"
"I don't believe it" April gasped "I'm losing two of my children already."
As the distance between Earth and the MTV lessened, the conversation delay time lowered to just under twenty seconds, giving April and Luis the chance to communicate with Sarah Spencer at the Railgun directly.
"Don't you worry April, we'll take good care of Abigail" Sarah said reassuringly "I know the Linwoods will be pleased to hear about Calla coming home, and I'm over the moon about seeing Blue again."
"Will you be able to send up a few replacements for them?" Luis asked.
"Oh yes; the work on the Railgun has gone ahead with only a few delays so we'll be ready to launch crewed capsules in only a few more days. And we've got a fresh set of pods ready to send up when you reach orbit. There are new machines, parts for the ones already in use and a liberal amount of food supplies."
"I really want some hydroponic systems" April asked.
"You've only got half a pod full coming this trip, but the additive manufacturing units we send will allow you to make as many as you need in the long term" Sarah noted before turning serious. "So how big do you think the risk is that Redding will really send an armed force to take over down here?"
"We've got no way of knowing just if or when it would happen, but you've got to take precautions" April insisted.
"This is definitely beyond my level of expertise" Sarah noted "I think I'm going to have to ask around amongst the people from Captain Branson's fleet and find who has military experience. I know Jack Sumner does but he's away on the One and All."
"We'll do some visual scans of the Pacific when we make orbit and let you know if we see anything" Luis offered.
"And we've still got the satellites we were working on to track incoming meteors; maybe before we launch them, we could make them dual purpose to keep an eye on the surrounding area when they pass overhead" Sarah added.
As soon as the conversation had ended, Sarah leaned back in her chair and thought about what she had been told. Once a plan had been formed, she had Willow Pascal called to her office.
"What's up Chief?" Willow asked when she arrived.
"I'm breaking up your team" Sarah answered "Instead of leading one group, I need you oversee all the team leaders. We have to organise a priority list of what has to be done for continued Railgun construction, Human and cargo space launch readiness, along with area defence."
"Defence; are you expecting trouble?" Willow asked.
"More than you know" She replied.
"Do you want me to assign my people to other engineering teams?"
"I want you to tell them to brush up on their microgravity skills" Sarah revealed "When the MTV makes orbit, Amos, Jeana and Sid will be heading off to 16 Psyche."
Willow smiled in a way that made Sarah shiver a little.
"Oh I can hardly wait to tell Sidney where he's going" she smirked.
There is no doubt in my mind, I can learn a lot from the mistakes I made in this story. It has all the major parts in it that I wanted to include, but there were so many characters we could have had fun with if I hadn't tried to put this whole plot in the first book. Now I have to be sure to finish a story before posting, so each one will have to be shorter and this should fix the problem.
As you get nearer the end, you may notice a few side tracks taken just for the fun of it, and I hope to continue along those lines in the future.
Thanks for giving me so much of your time everyone, Marty :)