Jupiter Fleet 1: Werewolves Don't Purr (47 page)

“The werewolves communicate by telepathy! Maybe these ones really are here to save us.”

Thor went to the eleven members of the “red” group of responders and found that all of them could understand him. The eleven all wanted to ask a host of questions, but Thor held up his hand in a “stop” gesture.

Thor turned to three of his wolves and gestured to them, so that the crowd could see.

“Spread out through the prison and see if you can find some of that telepathic booster juice that the Supes had,” Thor told the wolves.

While Thor was waiting, the guy who had yelled “purple” came up to him and looked into his eyes.

“If you’re from Texas, how come you are a werewolf?”

Thor held up his hand and waited for the guy to put his head under it. The guy moved his head in contact with Thor’s paw. Thor meant to just talk with him, but instead, to Thor’s surprise, they were locked in a memory transfer.

They both stood there transfixed for a moment, and then they fell back from each other. Thor had sent almost all his active memories. At the same time, he had shared almost all the man’s active memories. His name was Darrieus Montgomery. He had gotten the name Darrieus because his dad was a big fan of wind power. The type of wind turbine was spelled differently from the name Darrius, but people tended to think it was a parental choice of spelling. He was a New York City detective, but he lived in Hoboken, New Jersey. He thought the pizza there was the best in the world. He loved the Jets and tolerated the Giants. He was a US Army Ranger before being a cop, and still woke up in a panic, unable to breathe some nights because of it. So many thoughts—it took Thor a minute to regain his sense of himself.

Darrieus shook his head. “Shit, man! That is some serious crap that you have been through. How are you still sane after all that?”

Then Darrieus turned to the crowd, many of whom were watching closely.

“Everything he told us is true. He really is a Texan who was changed to a werewolf by the aliens. The werewolves that are here are from a spaceship that was taken over by humans and werewolves, and they really are here to help us.”

Darrieus passed his hand over his forehead, as if still overcome by the enormity of what he had seen.

“We need to get organized so that we can get the hell out of this brokenass wreck of a ship and get ourselves home. You guys need to start by lining up at this machine and putting your hand right on that shiny glass plate. Then state your name and place of residence. After that, follow one of these wolves and they will lead you in groups of sixty to the tube that will take you to their ship. After we are all loaded safely they will take us home.”

Thor knew that message would have to be repeated over and over until all six thousand of the survivors heard it. He tried to communicate telepathically without touching Darrieus, like he could with his telepath friends like O’Neil, and found that he could.

“Thank you for getting that organized, you and I will work well together.”

“After what we just shared, I hope so. Now don’t you be telling some of those things that you saw to my girl when you meet her. She is over there,” said Darrieus, nodding to a tall chocolate-colored woman in the crowd.

“Darrieus, I think you can relax. You’re the only human in the room that can hear me right now.”

“Oh, yeah. Good point. Now there are some people over here that you need to meet. My fellow rangers have been keeping her as protected as we could.”

He led Thor to the back of the hall and then into a separate cell. One of the rangers saw them approaching, and took a martial arts stance.

“Montgomery! Why are you bringing that wolf back here? Have you gone nuts?”

“It’s OK, he’s cool. Back here you didn’t see and hear what just happened in the other room. This wolf here is an American like us. He is an engineer from Texas and the aliens took him and his family up into their ship. He was converted into a werewolf back in November.”

“And you know this, how?”

“I can talk with him,” Darrieus said.

The ranger looked confused; Thor made his best nonthreatening happy face—which, as it turned out, didn’t look either nonthreatening or happy. However, despite that, the ranger relaxed and stepped aside.

“OK, go in.”

Then the ranger turned to the other rangers as if he were in command of them.

“Boys, keep an eye on the wolf and stop him if he gets frisky.”

Thor was wondering what they thought they could do against a werewolf unarmed, but he stopped thinking that when Darrieus gave him a look.

Thor went into the room and stopped short when he saw the woman and her kids. After that, he walked over to the ship’s computer console, shaking his head bemusedly. The communication system was mostly knocked out from the latest asteroid strike. However, the telepathic comm system still worked, even if the voice translation didn’t.

“Hello,
Semper Fi
! Ashley, it’s Thor here. Is O’Neil there?”

“I don’t think he wants to talk with you right now, Thor.”

“Fine, just tell him to get in the shuttle and get to Air Lock Fifty-one over here, ASAP. I will have some wolves meet him there. I have met some people here among the survivors that he is going to want to see with his own eyes. Pronto!”

Thor stepped away from the console. Everyone in the room was looking at him anxiously. Thor stepped out of the cell to get line of sight with one of his wolves and give him instructions.

After Thor returned, Darrieus said to Thor, “What’s going on?”

“I have summoned the captain of the
Semper Fi
to meet our guest here. You’ll like him, he was a marine.”

Darrieus shook his head with a wry smile.

“Hey, wolf! What makes you think a one hundred percent Grade-A All-American US Airborne Ranger like me would like a
marine
?”

Once Mergnot and Leona saw the news report about Sarah, all Leona could think about was getting back to Earth. Mergnot had immediately offered his ship, the
Vengeance,
for her to use. He also volunteered to stay with the
Space Dog
and make sure that it got safely back to Jupiter Station for repairs.

She had left within the hour, and had traded pilots with Mergnot so that Will was flying the
Vengeance
.

Leona had taken the time before she left to collect some crew who wanted to get back to Earth. About two hundred people were now working passengers. These included some people that had been liberated from the Supe ships in the recent engagement.

Because of the quick departure, the werewolves on board were mainly Mergnot’s “non-Supe alien” werewolves. (Most of Leona’s follower “reclaimed and freed human” werewolves were still on board the
Semper Fi
.) Leona acknowledged the temporary nature of her command of the vessel and werewolves in a telepathic broadcast to the crew. She promised that she and Mergnot would trade places as soon as the present emergency was handled. Maybe it was a good thing that she was, apparently, their “queen.”

Will was wasting no time getting to Earth.

“Mom, this ship is even more amazing than the
Space Dog
. It’s newer, and it has four accelerators compared to two on the
Dog
. The magnetic collection field is way bigger than the
Dog
’s too. We have no problem getting all the solar particles that I need for full drive. We just got up to zero-point-seven-five light-speed twenty minutes ago and already I have enough particles for a full power deceleration.”

Will looked like a young man that had fallen in love with the newest car rolling out of the designer’s fabbing shop.

“There is no way we’d be able to do that in the
Dog
. We just wouldn’t have enough time to collect enough particles while in system to brake.”

“So I take it you’d like to see some upgrades done to the
Space Dog
?” asked Leona.

“That would be great!”

“I’ll ask Mergnot and Frosty to see what they can do.”

Will had turned on the television feed on the Command Deck of the
Vengeance
, and they were watching continuing coverage of the heroics involved with saving Earth from the asteroid fragments.

Some of the experts had taken the time to calculate how many people would have been killed if the six asteroid fragments had been permitted to hit the planet, and how many would have died if just the biggest piece had landed. The figure of one hundred twenty million people dead with just the biggest piece landing caught the world’s attention.

Following that analysis, there was an item about a report coming up concerning the captured pilots.

“Captured pilots?” said Leona. She got up and moved closer to the TV. “William, turn that up, please.”

He did so, noting that his mother only called him William when seriously upset.

A British-sounding announcer identified himself and his network, and then launched into his report.

“The United States drew worldwide condemnation today as it formally arrested four of the surviving pilots from the asteroid strike. Four of the pilots are still in the hospital at Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA. Consequently the arrest was largely symbolic, but federal agents have been posted at the hospitals to take them into custody when they are fit to be moved. Ahem… the fifth and sixth pilots remain free because of flying the other damaged Jupiter Fleet shuttle to India, where it now is undergoing repairs.”

There was a close-up map of southern Ontario, Canada, and the Midwestern states of the United States.

“Canada, whose citizens took the brunt of the damage from the asteroid, had this to say.”

The image cut away to a middle-aged man in a suit, over a scrolling banner that read: “Jim McKnight, Prime Minister of Canada.”

“Canada considers the pilots and crew of the shuttles to be true heroes. We ask the United States, our friend and neighbour, to release those brave people into Canada’s custody, so that we can give them the recognition they deserve. Surely their self-sacrifice deserves no less. I am also proud to announce that a memorial will be built by Canada for the three shuttle crews that laid down their lives, and for the seven hundred fifty-five thousand Canadians who were killed in this tragic event,” the prime minister said.

Leona was furious that her daughter had almost been killed saving Americans—and the world!—and the US had arrested her, and her fellows. Something was seriously wrong with the president.

She switched to another news channel, where the anchors and commentators were going ballistic over the news that the pilots had been arrested. Leona became aware that her hands were clenched and she was hyperventilating.

Will interrupted her slow burn.

“I am going to start deceleration now, Mom, so you may want to take a seat and buckle up. The gravity drives might cause some bumps, and I wouldn’t want to see you tossed against the ceiling like Dad was.”

She buckled up and Will sounded the “brace for collision” audible and telepathic alarms. Leona gave her son a quizzical look at the precautions.

“This is the first time I am doing this from this speed, so better safe than sorry. Wouldn’t want to get any scratches on Mergnot’s ship, or his wolves! Can you believe how fast we got here? This baby can really move.”

Will started the deceleration process and, contrary to his warnings, the braking went totally smoothly. Less than an hour later they approached Earth orbit.

“The
Semper Fi
is approaching Earth orbit as well. Captain O’Neil is asking if we want to adopt a Pacific Polar orbit to avoid the continental United States.”

“No, tell him to adopt a low orbit right over Washington. Take the
Vengeance
over Green Bay. Return fire on anything stupid enough to shoot at us.”

“OK, will do.”

Will was on the radio for a minute. She heard O’Neil’s voice laughing, but not what he was saying.

“Captain O’Neil says that the other cranky parent is on his way over in a shuttle to pick you up. He has a very special passenger. He also asks to borrow some shuttles to keep our new space station from crashing into the moon.”

“Give him what he needs. I am going to be in the Shuttle Bay to greet you father and his mystery guest.”

Leona unbuckled from the captain’s chair and left the Command Deck. Her trio of bodyguards joined her at the door as she exited toward the elevator.

They got to the Shuttle Bay just as Thor was getting off the shuttle. Leona ran up to him and gave him a big hug. He returned the hug by lifting her off the ground and twirling her around a little. When he put her down she looked at him with affection for a moment and then she hit him so hard that her fist and wrist hurt.

“What was that for, you crazy woman?”

“What were you thinking, letting our daughter go out on such a dangerous mission?”

“Well…”

“Are you kidding me? That’s what you have to say?” Leona said.

“Well…”

“I mean, in this entire ship you couldn’t find someone else who could have led the shuttles?”

“Well…”

“Well what?

Thor looked at her and refused to form a telepathic thought until Leona calmed down some. One werewolf eyebrow was raised in an ironic manner.