From the Earth to the Moon Ch. 04

"I believe I would be the scalawag in question, James," a baritone voice said from behind James.

James spun around, his eyes gong wide. Belatedly, his brain advised him that one of the figures who had been waiting in the outer room was that of his old commander, Colonel John Patterson. Scratch that, James reminded himself. The last he had heard, it was General John Patterson, and the man had been transferred back to Washington to work in the War Department. "General, sir, I--"

John Patterson laughed at the discomfort his old subordinate was showing. "It's Director Patterson, James. The President convinced me to retire from my commission and take this position. Especially since I have practice keeping you in line."

James shook his head ruefully. "Permission to extract my foot from my mouth, sir?"

Patterson laughed again. "Permission granted. And you remember this young lady, don't you?"

James took notice of the young lady who stepped out from behind his new Director. She was a striking young woman, petite, green eyes and strawberry blonde hair, a lovely figure, and...

"Scarecrow?"

The young lady in question giggled. "Nobody calls me that anymore, James. Nobody but you ever called me that. It's Kimberly, or Kimmy to my friends."

"Scarecrow," James repeated, shaking his head. Four years ago, when he had last seen Kimberly, she was all bones and angles, and constantly following him around, trying to watch whatever experiment he was conducting for the Army and her father. Finally, her father, a widower, had decided that Kimberly needed to be sent back East for "finishing."

"Father, I think I'm going to be very cross with James," Kimberly Patterson said, with more than a hint of humor in her voice.

"Be kind to him, daughter of mine," her father replied. "He's had more than a few shocks to his system today, and is due one or two more. Besides, all things considered, you should probably address him as Mr. Davidson."

That last sentence caught James' full attention.

"Sir?"

"I've had a talk with your current director," Patterson began.

Not good, James thought to himself.

"He's told me that you're an open-minded and progressive thinking young man," Patterson continued.

Even worse, James decided.

"That's good," Patterson pronounced. "My daughter has advised me she would like to attempt to become an ethernaut. As director of the ethernaut corps, I want you to give her an audition of sorts. The decision will be entirely yours, and whatever it is, I will still hold you in the highest esteem."

James looked over Scarecrow---No, she wasn't a little girl anymore, it would be Miss Patterson now. And Miss Patterson was giving him a very determined look, without an ounce of playfulness that had been in her eyes earlier.

Rubbing his eyes, James could only think, Why can't they just stick to trying to vote for President?

-----

Simultaneity may be the bane of theoretical physicists, but for the narrator, it has its uses.

While a moon princess pondered her fate, two foreign beauties pondered an ethernaut, and an ethernaut pondered what to do with an ambitious suffragist who also happened to be his once and future commander's only child, one Geoffrey Dallas, Governor-General of the island of St. Lucia, pondered the HMS Oceania, sitting in the harbor and clearly visible from the balcony of his office. The Oceania had brought in a number of parcels and persons, including no less a personage than Countess Harriet Leslie Brent, wife of Reginald William Brent, Ninth Earl of Devon and recognized savior of the Honorable East Indian Company. From what Geoffrey understood (and being the Governor-General of St. Lucia, he understood quite a bit), the Countess was here to chaperone the future wife of her son, as well as to commiserate with the younger Lady Brent's trials and tribulations in keeping her brother in check. Geoffrey was trying to remember the name of the young lady the Countess Devon had in tow for her son to marry. He had been introduced to her once at one of those dreadful affairs that no one wishes to attend and so everyone must. A tall, blond wisp of a thing, if he remembered correctly. Well, undoubtedly Geoffrey would be reintroduced to the young lady again at the affair at India House tonight.

Geoffrey, though, was more interested in the HMS Oceania. In a few days, he would be taking a trip home to England. Theoretically, it was to meet with the Colonial Minister, exchange notes, and then return to St. Lucia. But Geoffrey had other ideas. He was going to press for a replacement, a younger man, so that Geoffrey could retire to the green fields surrounding his manor. Geoffrey was proud of the foundation he had helped build on St. Lucia for a thriving center of commerce and scientific study, but now he wished to pass on that torch to another man, and return to his English home. Geoffrey had some thoughts of what to do with his leisure time. He had always considered himself something of a naturalist, and had even had a few monographs published in the leading journals of the day.

But in the back of his mind, Geoffrey had an experiment planned, with beans...