Mother, Mother Ocean, Father Father Sky

The Freya insisted on Jimmy Buffet and so they say “A Pirate looks at 40.” as they crossed the top of Alabama and made for the coast. Vanessa sang with gusto since her dad’s favorite singer had been Jimmy since she was a girl and he would serenade them to and from football games as a girl.

            “Mother, mother Ocean. I have heard your call.”

            Flynt almost cracked up, when they got to being a pirate 200 years too late.

            Then Flynt began singing “Changes in Latitudes, changes in Attitudes.” They all sang that as the Freya climbed above the clouds and skimmed their tops. Flynt sang the lines about needing to laugh or go insane with gusto until Michelle broke down into giggles. StoneGrim harrumphed and went below shaking his head.

            Kat and Flynt went down to the galley to prepare lunch, while Michelle pulled down a beaten straw cowboy hat from above her chair. She tossed her customary cap off to her right, leaned back her pilots seat, droped the hat on her head and propped her feet up. Quest walked over and haded her a stem of long grass. She grinned up at him accepting it and stuck it in her mouth. Looking very relaxed in full hick mode she leaned back and appeared to doze off.

            Quest crossed over to Vanessa and offered his hand. Curious she took it and he lead her back to the rear of the flight deck to a short ladder and led her up into the dome on the top of the Freya. He said it was the spotter’s dome. It was called other things by the original crew of the plane but Michelle called it the crow’s nest which pleased this crew.

            Vanessa sat in the chair which was mounted so that it could spin a full 360 degrees around. Right below the glass and metal of the bubble was a series of instruments. She peered at them intrigued until Quest asked if she would like to try a few. Their closeness at this moment struck her as comfortable rather than intimate or unwelcome. She wondered if it was the bond they had formed when she was a child.

            She tried out a pair of glasses with scopes on it that turned out to be some kind of steam-punk version of binoculars. Quest attached a cable to them and she found herself with great increased vision. After she had a good look around with them, Quest showed her that the cord allowed her to see through a turreted telescope system about the middle of the plane. There were several similar cords next to the one he had used. He said that they were connected to other sensory equipment in different parts of the Freya. She was about to ask a question when the bell for lunch came through. She promised herself she would be back to learn what the rest of those cable led to later.

yes, Vanessa that was Memphis

They sang “Walking in Memphis” all the way down to the runway.

“Put on my blue suede shoes
And I boarded the plane
Touched down in the land of the Delta Blues
In the middle of the pouring rain.”

This was all fine except it was a sunny clear day. 

            As soon as the plane came to a stop, Flynt jogged off to file a new flight plan to the Bahamas and to make declarations for customs. As the minutes passed, Vanessa sat and reflected on all the strangeness her life had uncovered since Quest had walked into it. She looked over at this man, this mysterious man who was taking her to a home she had no idea where. She considered the implications of going off to the farthest reaches of the known universe with a man who was all but a complete stranger.

            Quest grinned at her and she wondered again how it was he could know what she was thinking. Kat twirled around in her chair and said suddenly.

            “Luke, come with me to Alderaan and learn the ways of the Force.”

Quest sighed and shook his head.

            “No? Draggards!” Kat hung her head in mock disappointment.

            “You must learn the ways of the Force if you're to come with me to Alderaan.” Quest intoned in a knowing voice.

Vanessa wished she had an inkling what they were going on about. She shot a glance at Michelle who rolled her eyes.

            “I have got to get home. It’s late I am in for it as it is.” Michelle said a moment later.

            “I need you help Vanessa,” Quest said. “They need your help, I’m getting to old for this sort of thing.”

            “What sort of thing?” Vanessa cursed herself for missing whatever movie they were going on about.

            “Are they back to Star Wars again?” Flynt said as he came into the cabin.

            “Always.” Kat said.

            “You started it.” Michelle said laughing as she took the papers that Flynt proffered her.

            “This bunch will fall into quoting a lot of movies given sufficient chance, in particular Star Wars and The Princess Bride- so watch out.”

            “No problems?” Michelle asked as she started flipping switches.

            “Nothing my winning personality couldn’t solve.” Flynt answered all smiles.

            “Aw crap.” Kat said and stuck out her tongue at the man.

            “You and Lando are always so sure that you know what you are doing.” Quest said.

            “I do know what I am doing.” Flynt said as he slid into his chair and fired up his position.

            “Uh-huh.”

            “You know how I said I wanted to be around when you make a mistake?” Michelle quipped.

            “Dammit, this isn’t Star Wars, Michelle-“ Flynt shot back.

            “Better strap in your highness, this is going to be a bumpy ride.” Michelle told Vanessa.

            “Dammit, Michelle it was a good bribe.” Flynt said.

            “Really Flynt?” Michelle said.

            “Really.” Flynt answered his smile slipping back into place.

            “Oh, what did you bribe them with?” Quest asked.

            “Gold. Why?” Flynt said.

            “Nothing really.” Quest said.

            “Gold!” Michelle all but yelled.

            Flynt smile slid away as fast as it arrived.

            “Oops.”

            “Oops!” Michelle mimicked “That is rich.”

            “So I made a little mistake. Just one little mistake.”

            “How much gold Flynt?” Michelle asked too sweetly. Vanessa felt like the woman was going to pull out a really big gun.            

            “Enough, about 4 pieces of the Empire’s finest.”

            “This right after he told Customs we had nothing to declare.” Michelle said through clenched teeth. “Quest? I need a fast one.”

            “No worries.”

            “Tower? This is B-17G-“ Michelle started the clearance routine. Quest spoke a word so softly that Vanessa could not hear what it was but the room thrummed like a plucked string. Michelle got the clearance she needed and soon they were off.

            “How long before they realize?” Flynt said hands on his controls as the Freya gave lift.

            “Seven Minutes.” Quest said. “Better say farewell to Memphis.” He told Vanessa.

            “Goodbye Memphis.” She said softly as the Freya began to accelerate into the midmorning sky.

If not Plan A or B then Maybe C

Vanessa and Michelle joined the others in the galley for a quick breakfast of something Stonegrim called Al Paka but looked like egg and bacon wraps and tasted delicious despite the Taco Bell look of the meal. They ate in companionable silence until the Freya informed them that they were coming to the end of the flight plan.

            “Where are we now?” Vanessa asked as she followed Flynt and Michelle up to the flight deck.

            “Our flight plan puts us down in Memphis, Tennessee where we will “refuel” and take on food.” Flynt said. “As soon as we can file a new flight plan, we will be flying out of these United States for our destination in the Atlantic.”

            “You mean the Ship-stone needs to recharge?” Vanessa asked as they climbed into their respective seats. Michelle was already radioing the tower asking directions to their designated runway.

            “Actually, The Freya can give us a good 5K on distance but since the Freya is not like other planes we try not to draw that much attention when we fly around this place. So we land, act normal, keep the kids in doors until we are reasonably sure that we haven’t drawn much attention then we fly for the coast and wait for a chance to slip across the international boundaries without alerting the Coast Guard or the Military.”

            “Why is that?” Vanessa asked. Flynt sighed, Michele chuckled and Quest who had just come up laughed. “What?”

            “The last time the Freya was in the US- that was a few years ago wasn’t it.” Quest said.

            “1982.” Michelle said turning back to them. “We were booking out of country to catch our ride home and we pull a wing of MD F-4 Phantom jets.”

            Flynt laughed. “What a Fravic-Storm that was.”

            “Don’t worry, Van.” Quest interrupted. “Flynt will tell you what a Kravic is another time- just think small, furry, extremely irritable and with many many claws.”

            “Anyway.” Michelle continued. “They had us surrounded just out of the Everglades and began to insist that we come back to the US with them.”

            “What did you do?” Vanessa asked

            “Well we had a quick discussion amongst the crew and decided that fighting was out of the question so we ran full speed.”

            “Full speed in this baby is 293 miles per hour.” Flynt said. “Not fast enough.”

            “Not even close when you have 6 US Airforce Jets capable of going Mach 2.23” Michelle said. “So we took option B.”

            “Option B?” Vanessa said then could feel the punch line ripple through each of them.

            “Well we did what Quest suggested.” Michelle said with a chuckle and a shrug.

            “What?” Vanessa leaned forward. “What did you have the Freya do?”

            “They told me to stop.” The Freya said, “Which I did gradually.”

            “Good thing too, because we were pushing 300 miles per hour.” Michelle said

            “I still lost all of my coffee.” Grumbled Stonegrim as he came up to sit in his chair.

            “At least you weren’t wearing it like me.” Flynt quipped back.

            “You never looked better.” Stonegrim toasted him with his mug.

            “I don’t get it.” Vanessa said looking at each of them in turn.

            “The Freya decelerated from 293 miles per hour to zero in about 5 minutes.” Quest said. “Since the Ship-stone provides lift she can float in place whereas-“

            “F-4 Phantom jets cannot stop at all in the air.” Michelle finished.

            “Well they almost can but they tend to fall out of the sky under those circumstances” Quest said.

            “By the time, the pilots had reacted they had overshot us by at least 40 miles.” Michelle said.

“And by the time they came back looking for us we had gone to plan C.”

            “I know I am expected to ask.” Vanessa said. “What is plan C?”

            “Have the wizard turn us invisible, of course, milady.” Severin said as he came up. To her incredulous stare he said. “Well not me. I didn’t join this crew until this trip.”

            “Plan C- the Wizard.” Flynt said. “Was what Quest called it. The wizard on the journey was Michelle’s old love interest.... what?” Flynt scowled at Michelle. “Well he was.”

            Michelle sighed and shook her head. “Okay maybe he was. His name was Vhurress and he was a wizard of sorts. But he could cast invisibility better than just about any wizard I have ever met.”

            “Oh.” Vanessa said trying to take this all in. Magic was real- right?

            Quest sensing her shock said. “Vhurress used a trick of magic which can be done even here by bending the light around the Freya, to make it appear that we were no longer there. By the time they had radioed it in and been informed that our blip was still on the Radar we were out in international waters and dropping out of radar range.”

            “Magic.” Vanessa said in wonder.

            “Something that is very complex and works in ways most do not understand.” Stonegrim said quietly.

            “Nor can they conceive that it is but rather judge it from its results.” Severin concluded.

            “The thing is-“ Flynt said into the new silence. “We don’t have a Plan C on board this time and the Americans have planes now that can come to a full stop in the air.”

            “Time to work on plan D.” Quest said.

mornings

When she awoke, it was morning, light streamed in through many small windows in a round room that was more like a globe than a room. The bed sat in the center of a dias that was surrounded on three sides by the round windows. She yawned and looked around at the brilliant sky and the clouds that keep passing through her field of vision. Her mind connected the dots and she realized she was in the lower room of the Freya- the Bombay? No it was called something else. But she was pretty sure it was the tiny room was the bomber would sit and sight down to drop the plane’s bombs. The room was to big to be inside the bomber’s nose. Vanessa wondered about this as she turned over and stretched out to yawn and came face to face with Michelle.

            She managed to smile sleepily at the other woman who smiled back. Vanessa’s mind strained to reach back into the last nights events leading up to this moment. She came up with nothing but an echo of a Katie Perry song and she blinked.

            “Good Morning.” Michelle said and winked.

            “Good Morning.” Vanessa managed, her throat suddenly dry- she would not look under the covers- she would not! “Did we- I mean, did I-?”

            “Not exactly.” Michelle murmured as she reached out to push a lock of Vanessa hair back. “Well, you did insist that I sleep with you, that I-“ She paused at the sudden look of shock in Vanessa’s eyes. Michelle dropped her hand as a giggle dug its way out of her throat.

            Vanessa blew out a sigh of relief then laughed as Michelle broke down into strangled laughter.  She watched the woman laugh before giving her a curious look.

            “I have this sneaking feeling that this cabin is larger than it looks on the outside.” She said staring around at it again.

            “It’s an effect of the Ship-stone plus apparently the Freya herself. Flynt calls it the “Pocket in a pocket effect.” Michelle said as she sat up. She wore a Night Ranger Tee Shirt.  “The Freya can bend the space immediately around the Ship-stone to allow for more room. So right now she makes this cabin bigger than it is by shrinking the flight deck back down to size. When we are on the flight deck this cabin goes back to it’s original size. Of course, she waits until I stow the bed and dress. (Well she better anyway).”

            “Wow.” Vanessa managed as she sat up as well, she wore a Cyndi Lauper Tee Shirt that was not her own. She looked down at it and then back up at Michelle’s pleasure. “Let me guess-”

            “Girls just wanna have fun.” Michelle finished for her.
Girls do!

Into the night

They flew into the deepening darkness. The Freya lifting them above the cloud cover into the star filled sky. Vanessa gazed up into night in wonder feeling a joy she had never felt before. There were so many stars.

            After a time she looked down to find Quest considering her from where he still stood to her right. She smiled up at him feeling the weight of the day pushing a yawn from somewhere deep down inside of her. She blinked back specks of sleep that threatened to engulf her, struggling to stay awake for one more hour. But the exhaustion would not wait and she felt herself fading away.

            Quest chuckled and nodded at Flynt who in turn tapped Michelle gently on the shoulder and took over the flight controls as Michelle got up.  Michelle came back to where Vanessa still struggled to stay alert- she was losing ground fast. Michelle looked a question (in her Hazel brown eyes) nodded as Vanessa smiled back at her wearily.

            Michelle came back over to the Ship-stone, crouched down and placed one hand on Vanessa’s arm.

            “Shall I show you to your cabin, milady?” She asked softly.

            “It’s Van.” Vanessa said. “Call me Van.”