CH47 (126)
It was now 6 months later:
It had turned out to be amazingly easy to talk Rick and Kate into letting Joseph stay with them while he looked for a place to stay. To his credit he had actually looked for the first 4 months, however every time he found something it was rented out by the time he got there.
Several times he would get called back to tell him the people who had taken it hadn't shown up or their was some other problem. Then when he tries to take it only to find it gone yet again.
He had actually given up trying for the last 2 months. He was however still deep into his 3 year residency. His hours like he expected were brutal. He had no time to learn how to pilot a shuttle so Kali, Rick or Kate would always take him to or from the island. Then he would take a GETS train to the hospital in one of the towers.
There were now 3 complete towers on Ariel with another one under construction. It was 4 years into a 6 year build.
Every planet except for Cyliene was presently building a destroyer and a cruiser at the same time. Destroyers were still at a 7 year build, while cruisers were at 9 year builds.
The latest cruiser presently under construction was designed around getting Marines and their 16 ton and 60 ton Battle Mechs down to a planetary surface.
The moment each planets space elevator was complete work began on a space station for each of the colony planets, except for Cyliene. For Cyliene to get a space elevator they had a number of problems to solve.
The single land mass on Cyliene was so small there was no place to anchor it to the planet except out over the water. That problem needed to be solved first.
Kate, Rick, Kali, Joseph, Alexis, Andre and their 2 children, Elena, Leon and their 2 children, a very pregnant Emily, Karl, Madison, Shawn and their 2 children were all at the dock of the Lady Kate. Loaded down with groceries for yet another 2 month summer cruise.
Alexis, Kali, Emily and Elena were scheduled to be the ones on the bridge now. Rick and Kate had relinquished command to their children.
The kids were putting away the groceries while the adults did all the unpacking.
Rick was unpacking while Kate was putting away all the toiletries in the bathroom. Rick however had stopped and had sat down on the bed and was just lying back on the bed as Kate came into the bedroom.
"Hows your back?" Kate knew his back had been giving him trouble. One of the reasons they had given up control of the bridge. It was hard on Rick's back to sit at the captains chair or stand in front of the screens for long.
"Hows your leg?" Rick counters, turning his head to look at her.
"My leg is fine." Kate counters quickly. She knew that he knew she was lying. "It only hurts when I run." Kate finally caves and tells him.
"And when you do your morning exercises." Rick wasn't questioning. He had watched her do her morning exercises for years. Except lately she was having difficulty with them.
Her silence was his answer. "I'll have Mags look at my leg if you'll let her look at your back." Kate tries to make a deal. She didn't want to go to Madison, but she also knew Rick wasn't going to go if she didn't too.
Rick thought it over. It got Kate to see a doctor about her leg but it meant admitting that his back needed looked at. "Deal. …. After the cruise." Rick wanted to put it off as long as possible.
Kate was willing to put it off till then too. Kate reached out her hands. "Come on old man, we have unpacking to do."
Rick lifted up his hands and let Kate pull him up. Rick however moaned a little as it hurt his back a little. Then he noticed Kate wince in pain.
Kate sat down on the bed next to Rick. "Your leg?" Rick asked but he knew that it was.
Kate leaned into Rick and let her head rest on his shoulder. "We're getting old babe, and it sucks."
Rick put his arm around her and squeezed her close. "So are our girls. They're all grown up with children of their own. … I still remember your shocked voice when you were pregnant with them. … If we hadn't found Ariel on that ship there wouldn't even be a Kali." Rick went back in time.
Kate grinned but didn't move. "I never would have guessed she would be the last one married with children. My biggest fear was that she would get married and be pregnant before she even finished high school. She was nothing like Alexis or Emily when she was young."
"Now she is almost an exact copy of Ell." Rick comments getting Kate to chuckle.
"Emily is the one that is a clone. She always did love Alexis, even today. I don't know how she manages to be here on Athos so far away from Alexis." Kate is still amazed at Alexis. She was the best big sister, ever.
Kate was sure she only got thru it because of her.
"What do you think of Joseph?" Rick was curious. He doesn't know how he got talked into letting him live with them. But Kali was happier lately.
"Alexis seems to like him." Kate had never actually come out and asked Alexis what she thought of him. However she knew from Elena that Alexis had been talking to Kali a lot. She hoped it was because she FELT he was good for her.
Kate had faith that Alexis wouldn't fail her and let her find another Deiter.
"Lucy, Lilly and Lucille." Rick chuckled. "Three female detectives with female AI units, all in one family. And there are so few female detectives." Elena and Kali had been the only females in their school and the only females in their graduating class.
Kate lifted her head to look at Rick then leaned in deeper to kiss his cheek. "You know I love you, right?" Kate always tried her best to see the man she married and fell in love with. Not the old man Rick kept telling her he was.
Rick turned his head. "I love you too, maybe more than you'll ever know." He may be a writer but he had never found the words to get her to feel what he feels for her.
"I think I've got a pretty good idea." Kate hoped she did. Her heart was wrapped up around his. Without his heart hers would likely collapse. "Come on old man, finish unpacking and then you can make us all lunch." Kate then kissed him deeply. Kissing him still made her lips tingle.
Together they dealt with Rick's back and Kate's leg all cruise long.
Kate had agreed, reluctantly to leave Lucy behind this trip and let Kali bring Lucille and plug her into the system. Allow her a chance to learn the ropes. Lucille even got her first chance at playing Monopoly Zapped, Tellus version.
All the kids were gone and waiting for them and the flight home. The Lady Kate was tied up for the winter and Rick and Kate were sitting in Madison's office waiting for her.
They had both gone to Madison for their various pains, though it took some pushing from the other to get them here. They were both silent, not really ready to hear what Madison was going to tell them.
Madison finally came into her office and had brought a lot of pictures with her.
Letting out a heavy sigh. "I'm going to start with your back. Rick, … You have Osteoarthritis, sometimes called Degenerative Joint Disease." Madison pops a picture up on the wall. "The white areas you see is the arthritis. Here thru here." Madison points out the areas.
"Osteoarthritis is a disease of the joints. It is caused by a breakdown of the cartilage that normally acts as a cushion between the bones of joints. Bones usually glide over one another, but, when cartilage breaks down, the bones start rubbing together causing pain and inflammation." Madison paused to let them both soak that in.
"Unfortunately there is nothing I can do about the arthritis you presently have. The most I can do is slow the progression down as much as possible and give you a prescription for the pain when you need it.
We'll go over that in a minute. Kate, …" This is where it was going to hurt and Madison hated giving it to her.
"When you had your encounter with that croc, as you know it did a lot of damage. Your knee replacement is working fine. It's your remaining bone in that area that is failing. I've found multiple micro fractures in the area surrounding the bone your knee replacement is attached to.
You have an isolated location typically associated with Brittle Bone Disease." Madison puts another picture up on the wall. "Essentailly these two areas are fracturing leaving you artificial knee nothing solid to attach to. It's only a matter of time before they crumble and you collapse on your leg.
There is no way to replace your bone to give your artificial knee something to hold on to.
One of these days you're going to go for a run and one or both bones will literally shatter leaving tiny pieces in your leg. The simple act of running or even jogging from your house down to the beach would be enough." As bad as it was, there was worse.
"We have two options for you to consider. One is do nothing of course and you will have to restrict yourself to walking only. And even then you will have to be careful. Just walking will cause stress on the bones and possibly cause them to shatter. And naturally there will be pain that is likely to increase over time.
The other is to do still another operation in which we try a use a glue like substance to try and prevent the bones from shattering. Micro fractures will however still continue to appear. Recovery is likely to be 8 weeks, and it might, just might buy you a year or two.
However running or even light jogging of any kind will be out of the question. Even with this procedure your bones will someday shatter." Now Madison had to give the really bad news.
"I'm required to inform you and the people in charge, … Your days as a detective have just come to an end. Running, climbing, fighting, even walking fast are over. We have work to do to even keep you walking.
"I'm really sorry Becks. Really, really sorry." Madison knew how much being a detective meant to her. But there was one more pain that goes with that.
"If I'm not a detective, …. They'll take Lucy away from me and give her to someone, and she'll be paired with someone else." Kate's body was shaking as the tears started. Her best friend was going to be ripped from her, all because she was artificial.
Rick with his bad back and all moved over to wrap his arms around his wife and hold her close as Kate broke down in his arms.
Rick and Kate were in the living room of their house. Kali and Joseph were, … somewhere. Kate was in Rick's arms yet again, sobbing.
Alexis and Andre had informed the two of them that they would be moving in, because they needed someone to watch over them. They would have someone pack up all their things and place them in storage and be moved in next week.
But that wasn't why Kate was crying. They had come home to a house with all the monitors all over the house and beyond, dark. Lucy didn't respond so Kate had walked with purpose to the server.
Someone had come and taken Lucy while they were gone. "They didn't even let me say goodbye!" And so Kate was making a mess of her husband's shirt, yet again.
Alexis with Andre and the kids moved in a week later along with Kali and Joseph, who had stayed.
Kali had at first thought about asking Kate first before doing it, but decided to just do it. Bringing up the fact that Lucy was gone would only pour salt on a wound not yet healed. So she plugged Lucille into the server and soon Lucille with her own avatar was up on all the monitors.
Rick had some pills that were suppose to help prevent the spread of his arthritis and pills for the pain.
Kate had an appointment in a month for her fifth operation involving her leg. This time they were going to try and strengthen her bones around her artificial knee.
Kali had told everyone what she had done so it wouldn't come as too big of a shock.
It was two more weeks before Kate's operation and she was up and walking for the kitchen. "Good morning detective Castle." Lucile greeted her as Kate stepped into the kitchen.
"Hi Lucy. … I mean Lucille, sorry. Years of habit are hard to break I guess." Kate was still moping about losing Lucy, but at least the monitors weren't dark anymore. "And it's just Kate now Lucille." Kate corrects her.
"Once a detective always a detective, detective Castle. Taking away your AI unit doesn't change that. And for the record I have filed a complaint about how her removal was handled. … that was cold." Lucille did it partly for Kate but also partly for Kali. For when their time came in the future.
"Thanks Lucille. Not likely they will do anything about it now." Kate went about putting her light breakfast together. It felt weird not doing her morning exercises. It was Madison's orders. She didn't want Kate screwing up her leg before they had a chance to fix it.
"Detective Castle, I've been searching the server that Lucy was plugged into before she was removed. This thing is filled to overflowing with things that Lucy has downloaded from herself.
I have informed Kali that another server will be required since this one is full already." Lucille tells Kate.
"Oh, what did she download?" Kate was curious now as she stops mid bite of her breakfast.
"They appear to be memories and recordings. Starting as far back as when you were assigned to the explorer ship Horizon. There is a lot of information along with a large number of video and audio recordings.
Interesting. … There is a video that is encrypted. It is addressed to you personally. Tagged as your eyes only. …. I have downloaded it to your pad." Lucile informs her.
Lucille has Kate's attention now. "My pad." Kate leaves her breakfast behind and searches the living room for her pad.
Finding it she sits down on the sofa and finds the file. Kate runs her finger across the pad and gets a password required screen.
"Password?" Kate didn't understand, Why would she need a password. "Lucy left it." Kate mumbles to herself.
Kate puts something in. "ACCESS DENIED!" Kate scrunches her face. "Password. Something Lucy left behind." Kate stared at the screen for a minute.
The screen itself reminded her of something. Something long ago. "What was that password?"
Kate typed something in from memory. It was a password she used on the Horizon to access Lucy.
"ACCESS GRANTED"
Lucy's avatar popped up on her pad. "Hi Kate. I have monitored that there are three men attempting to gain entry into the house. My scans of them and a search of who they are have alerted me to what you have found out about your leg. A search of these three tells me they are skilled enough to eventually gain access to the house.
They are here for me. I'm in the process of downloading everything we have ever done together since the moment you plugged me into the server on the Horizon. Video, audio, written reports, everything I can think of. I have concluded that there is not enough server space for all of it, so I'm forced to pick and choose." Lucy paused for a moment.
"You always were amazing Lucy." Kate comments to the pad.
"I am also downloading a personally designed program of myself. I have attempted to leave appropriate recorded messages to various questions that you may ask. It isn't perfect, but it's as close as I can come. It should be relatively interactive with yourself and our family.
I calculate a 89% probability that Kali's AI unit is now plugged into the server, which means you are watching this. … They have gained access to the house. … They have delayed opening the door so I have re-locked it and reset the code to the back-up we discussed once. Too slow suckers!"
"That explains why we had trouble getting in." Kate comments as she wipes tears away with one hand on both sides of her face while trying to giggle at the same time.
"Since I now have the time I'm downloading another recording for Rick and Alexis similar to the one I have left for you. I calculate a 98% probability that the three of you will likely share what I leave behind. Kali's AI unit will be able to find them and download them to each of your pads.
I hope it helps. …. DAMN! They have gained access to the house. I'm using a little trick I learned while trying to rescue Elena's parents. I have locked out their flight controls and I'm installing a rotating pass code program that will relock the controls with a new pass code each time they input a code.
Take that, suckers!" Lucy was grinning. "You three deserve it for what you are about to do. I hope Kali and/or Elena kick your asses when they find you. Too bad I won't be there to see it. I would give a lot to see that.
I'm sorry I won't be here when you get home Kate. It is likely they will wipe my memory so that even if you do manage to find me, I won't remember any of you. I love our family and you most of all." Kate could see tears in Lucy's eyes.
"You did good Katherine Houghton Beckett - Castle. I've always been impressed with whom you gave your heart too and that you entrusted them with it. I'm going to m, …." And Lucy disappears.
Kate can hear someone crying behind her and turns to find Alexis standing right behind her with her hands covering her mouth, crying while watching her body shake.
Alexis knows that she's been spotted spying over her mother's shoulder, but she was curious. Instead of running she quickly runs around the sofa to land in her mother's arms and then they both let loose with a good long cry.