NOVEL SIMPLE 56. On Rainbow Bridges
To say that my girlfriend and I were surprised would be to criminally understate the obvious, but the old man wasn’t waiting around for us to pick our jaws off the floor. Rather unlike my own had been, Jose’s mobility chair had some zip and I found myself having to lengthen my gait to keep up with him and the rest of the group. Echo, on the other hand, seemed to have lost the battle with her own surprise, but excitement about the possibilities held the controls now and the woman was eagerly following our host like a child being led to a candy shop.
The current Erickson CEO chuckled at our reaction and the other assembled elders smiled humorously. “It's still a surprise for these two, Jose, and none of us have seen what changes our friendly shipwright advisors have made. May as well give us the whole spiel.”
It immediately became obvious why Jay and this man had become friends as I watched Jose’s eyes light up. Marcus, whether by accident or very much on purpose, had engaged the excitable mind of what seemed to be a career engineer. It was a familiar look, one I had worn on more than one occasion myself.
“Well, that Victoria woman you brought in had some interesting thoughts about what to add,” Jose began. “We would have finished more than a week ago if we’d stuck to the original plans, but some of her suggestions were inspired! Routing the comms like that extended communications range considerably and the reworked reactor core safeties let my boys pull a lot more power from it than usual. Estimates are saying that we’ll see almost a full ten percent increase in efficiency! Between her and Cody, this thing could be the one that puts us in the big leagues.”
“Well,” said Conrad Erickson, “we all knew that Cody could be a gamechanger. Victoria is a new name to me, though. I would guess that would be your doing, son?” The eldest of the Ericksons glanced over to the other Erickson male with a raised eyebrow. Marcus opened his mouth to speak, but Jay beat him to the punch.
My father figure and former captain grimaced and bowed his head slightly. His voice was thick with conspiracy. “My doing, actually. Victoria is Cody’s daughter.” I was entirely unfamiliar with anyone by those names, so the slight regret on my mentor’s face was concerning to say the least.
I watched on as understanding dawned on the faces of both Jose and Conrad and the entire procession suddenly ground to a halt within the small hallway. Both of them turned to look at my mentor with incredulous stares. “Easy,” said the subject of their gazes. “We can discuss it later.” Even as I started to raise my hand to ask exactly what was going on, Jay dismissed me with a wave of the hand. “Old war stories, Adresta. Not stuff we ought to be discussing publicly.”
Of those of us that weren’t war veterans, only Marcus looked like he had any clue what was going on. Everyone was a bit wary of whatever it was, but Jose just nodded and started moving again. Unhappy as I was with the answer I’d been given, I also understood that I wasn’t going to be getting answers until the veterans were ready to give them.
Perhaps for the best, the man we’d come to meet wasn’t easily stopped and soon was talking up a storm, and it was difficult not to pay attention after the reveal of what exactly he was speaking of.
“Like I was saying, Victoria had some excellent suggestions for changes to the original design for your new ship, Mister Marcus. As we discussed some months ago, we started with a light carrier design. Union thought it was a bit too big for corporate ‘defense’ use and the plans sat in our archives for a couple years. I always figured there would either be another war break out or we’d convert it to a cargo hauler; guess I’m pretty glad it was the latter. War may be good for business, but I’ve had my fill of it. Anyways, federal inspectors cleared the final fit-out plans last month. All of the primary and secondary structure is complete, we just need to finish up subsystems and furnishings.”
While he talked, our group continued through several corridors until we arrived in a large room with a large set of shielded windows. From his chair, Jose reached up and tapped at a computer panel on one wall.
“I hope you’ll forgive me for not giving you the in person tour right away, but I still have a hundred workers on-board trying to get this beauty ready; so you will have to make do with a good view for now. I’ll have the boys let you on after the evening shift clears out.”
With another tap at the panel, the shutters over the windows rotated open before pulling up and away completely, revealing the source of all of the excitement. Echo and I both suddenly found ourselves glued to the windows, trying to get the best possible view of the vessel we would soon call ours.
Sitting stately in its cradle, our ship-to-be looked to be nearly completed, just as Jose had said. Although some bits were still unfinished, namely some missing hull plating and some notable gaps in the fore sensor and communications array, the ship was something to behold. The central hull was of similar size to the Ratatosk, with the aft widening slightly compared to the forward end in order to accommodate not only the primary engines but also a pair of stocky nacelles. Likely owing to its original design purpose being that of a light carrier, access to the internal cargo areas was facilitated by three large doors, one nestled in each of the aft nacelle pylons and a third, larger door that took up almost the entirety of the forward end of the ship. Sub-light propulsion looked to be handled by three massive thrusters that were integrated into the aft hull while what appeared to be the bridge was located in a large, squat hump about a third of the way back on the dorsal hull superstructure.
“Look, Dad!” pointed out Echo. “It almost looks like your Mjolnir!” Marcus nodded in agreement, as did his father.
Obviously familiar with the strange word, Jose smiled and replied. “It was Cody’s idea, actually. Wanted to honor your family tradition.” Conrad suddenly seemed a bit misty-eyed and I respectfully turned back to the window after having turned previously when the others were talking. My girlfriend must have seen the curiosity in my eyes at the comparison and further drew my attention from the others.
“Mjolnir was the name of a legendary hammer wielded by the Norse god of thunder, Thor. My great-grandfather was a lifelong Norse Pagan back on Earth, following traditions going back centuries. When he left Earth trying to find a new life for his young family, he brought with him a hand-forged Mjolnir pendant as a symbol of protection. Grandpa carried that pendant through the war and when he got out, decided to honor his father by naming his first ship the Mjolnir. I don’t personally follow the religion, but we still keep some of the traditions in the family.”
Echo’s words were kept quiet and respectful and I was stricken by humility. This ship was to be Echo’s and, by extension, mine, but this vessel was also a continuation of the dreams of a war veteran. My girlfriend marked the third generation of the family to take to the stars under the banner of Erickson Enterprises. For a man who had known the horrors of war, this peaceful enterprise was the way he had seen to ensure prosperity for his family; and now his granddaughter was going to be taking up the torch to continue that dream with the intent to carry on traditions passed down by his father before him. I couldn’t fathom the kinds of things Conrad must have been feeling in that moment.
Fully aware of my surroundings, I could only say “It’s perfect, Jose,” in response. What else could be said?
Evidently, quite a lot, as it turned out. Jose didn’t really like what I’d said and huffed. “Far from it, actually, but we will get her there. Of course, she still needs a name, too. Bad luck to launch without one, y’know.”
“Have you thought of one yet, my dearest granddaughter?” Conrad’s voice was thick and a bit broken, not that I could judge him for that. I watched as first Marcus and then Jay put a hand on the old man’s shoulders. Conrad looked unable to respond except to pull his son and oldest friend close as the weight of everything seemed to age him instantly.
Echo, nearly as affected by all of this as the rest of her family, nodded simply. “I always dreamed of calling my first ship the Valkyrie, delivering the chosen few to the great beyond, but… Looking at this ship now? I never met my great-grandfather, but I know that he is still with us. We keep his traditions, we follow the same stars towards new horizons.” I felt her hand squeeze mine tightly. “We Ericksons don’t give up our dead, we hold them in our hearts.”
The woman nodded, a sense of humble assuredness settling over her like a blanket. “I name this ship Bifrost, because no matter what new realms we find ourselves in, we always know where the bridge to home is. We will always remember where we came from, because even our ships bear witness to who we are.”
Not an eye in the room was still dry after Echo spoke and not even Jose could argue when the eldest of the Erickson family wrapped his arms around the youngest member and said “Now it's perfect.” My heart clenched at the sight.
Unfortunately, the familial feelings were all just a bit too much for me and I felt the need to step out. I was happy for Echo, I was happy for her family, but shaking that particular pain had always been a struggle. Unobtrusively as I could with the walls closing in around me, I started trying to slowly back away from the group. I’d almost made it to the door when a large, calloused hand took hold of my arm.
“You don’t have to leave, Adresta.” Jay’s voice was quiet, the man obviously just as unwilling to disturb the family during their moment of unity.
Embarrassed at having been caught, I slumped and mumbled a hasty excuse. “Just have to use the washroom, I’ll only be gone a moment.”
One eyebrow rose before the engineer spoke again, a twinge of disappointment in his tone. “You don’t need to lie about it either. I’ve known you for long enough to have a pretty good idea about what's going through your head right now. I won’t say that I understand, because I don’t.”
His words, as it seemed they always did, managed to cut to the heart of the matter in a way that felt like a hot knife to the gut but soothed like a balm. I’d not managed to stop the tears from the beautiful dedication Echo had made and now those tears were just coming even more freely as the pain in my heart fed into them. For once, it wasn’t me who initiated the hug between myself and the man I’d grown to love and respect as a mentor. Jay’s arms held none of the hesitation seen previously and I felt them wrap around me tightly. In them, I found safety against the storm. Grabbing onto him in return, I breathed deeply.
As the therapist had said during our last session, the feelings were real, I had every right to feel them. The trick was to challenge them. In that moment, I defied the trauma and embraced the healing.
“Now come, my protege. How about we give you a distraction?”