Casey and Peggy led PO Lee up the ramp and into the cargo hold. Rather than putting her body away, Peggy led the way through the airlock and into the common room. Pointing to the door past the couch on the far side of the room, she sallied forth and into one of the crew quarters.

  ‘You will stay here.” she declared as she dropped one of his bags onto one of the two beds. Casey tossed another onto the bed next to it. Bruce set the third down more deliberately.

  “Am I OK to tell my family about this?” He asked.

  “Yes, but on that note; while we have a lot to cover before we hit the road, I would like to invite you and your family out to dinner. She’s paying.” Casey pointed at Peggy who grinned wryly.

  “She learns so fast! I am so proud.” Peggy practically beamed.

  “I'll just be down the gangway then.” Bruce pulled a phone out of his pocket and headed back the way they came. Peggy again sprawled out over the couch, like a surprisingly glamorous potato. Casey leaned against the table.

  “Have you figured out a workable methodology for the nano?” Casey asked.

  “Injection with anesthetic. Primitive but effective.”

  Do you have everything prepped?

  “The necessary materials are in a vacuum sealed case in my closet.”

  “Speaking of, how long was all this hiding in there?” Casey inquired, motioning vaguely in Peggy’s direction.

  “The whole time.”

  “Are there any more secret compartments I should know about?”

  “Just the one next to it. It's empty right now, but likewise equipped for a drone body like this one.” Peggy sighed.

  “So the eventual plan was to have two of you with… five to nine of us?”

  “Yes, but since we were hand picking the six we were going to take our time with it. Also, once we get several more crew we are going to switch up to a new prototype anyway. The current strategic thinking is to keep platforms like this one for initial training prior to your educational systems catching up to the galactic baseline. They will be phased out in a generation or two.”

  “Education is something we haven’t even touched on yet.”

  “Yes, and that is going to end up being a sensitive subject for a lot of your population. To meet higher educational standards you are going to need completed augmentations so that you can do things like higher order math in your head. For most of the Galaxy it isn’t an issue since most beings have started the mods in earlier life stages.”

  “How are we doing on my augs?”

  “Your network hardware is complete. I can’t see anything other than that because the default configuration at this stage is to reject all handshakes. By now the firewall should be complete, and we are waiting for the core processor to finalize and connect to your backup input hardware and firewall. According to my projections that should be done within the day. Then the system builds in the primary Input hardware, which is another few days at current rate.”

  “Fun stuff.”

  “Say that again when it is building the primary interface. You will likely be disoriented for several days, which is why I intend to delay the process for Lt. Anderson and not start on the process at all for PO Lee until it is completed for you.”

  “Wait, so how much time does that give us?” Casey asked, alarmed.

  “After dinner tonight we are going to check you in to medical for observation.” Assured Peggy.

  “I would prefer not to spend a week straight getting my head scanned in an MRI at Walter Reed.” Casey whined. “Those things are loud, and I am sure you have better med tech than that anyway.”

  “Yes. We can scan whole rooms and just point the image processors at the coordinates we want. Can scan multiple people at the same time that way too.” Peggy preened.

  “Well, let's get through dinner and you can record my brain in 4k later.”

  “Deal. I’m sending a car to pick up Missus And Miss Lee.”

  “Have you reserved something for us at the rental counter?”

  “A van. While I could fit into a smaller car with this frame, it isn’t dignified.”

  Once they all trooped through the arrivals terminal, Casey tossed the keys to Bruce.

  “Is this OK?” he asked

  “Officer enlisted dynamic aside.” Casey countered. “I think it best to have the Canadian who lives in Nova Scotia drive in Halifax.”

  “There is that, yes, but I was referring more to if I am on the insurance.”

  The ride to the restaurant was lively. In order to make Bruce feel included, Peggy kept up a running story about some events that happened in the nineteen-sixties. When they reached the restaurant they were met by a short woman and a young girl. Bruce and the woman exchanged kisses and he scooped up the girl, who was making wide eyes at Peggy.

  Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  “You’re so big!” She exclaimed.

  “Usually you have to eat your vegetables to get this big, but I cheated.” Explained Peggy.

  “Julia” the woman introduced herself to Casey, who was relieved she wasn’t the shortest person in the group.

  “I’m Casey, and the big chaos monster is Peggy.”

  “And my name is Helen!” The little girl shared.

  “Chaos monster?” asked Julia.

  “I’ll give you the whole story once we sit down and order food…”

  “So you’re telling me that this one” Julia pointed at Peggy who was supervising Helen with some crayons “is an alien octopus princess stuffed into a computer and driving a body made for the wrong side of a confessional booth like she was playing Barbie dolls, and you are a for real Navy officer who flies in space for her day job and not a college co-ed and I’m not being punked.”

  “I mean when you put it like that it does seem outrageous doesn't it?” Peggy snarked.

  “Excuse us, love.” Julia said as an aside to Bruce before physically dragged Casey to the washroom. Once inside she wheeled around on her. “I need assurances.”

  A spark of outraged rebellion lit in Casey.

  “Well first, I don’t owe you anything. If you think Bruce is cheating on you and we are his latest conquests, we’re not, I don’t know if he is or not and I don’t care to be your marriage counselor.”

  She ran right over an outraged sputter from Julia.

  “No, hush. You are trying to make it work with a man who has a tough and dangerous career, which tells me that regardless of the difficulties there is still something there. Because I respect that, I’ll tell you this: I have a loving couple back home in Chicago who would love to scratch my itch whenever I want, and they are very good at it. As for Peggy, I would put even odds on whether the body she had custom built to psy-op the unwary is even equipped for extreme sports.”

  Julia tried again to interrupt, but Casey plowed on.

  “We’re not the bad guys here.” she sighed, feeling suddenly drained. “You are likely feeling even more vulnerable than you were before, and all I can give you are platitudes. We will bring him back to Earth as often as possible, since this is the only place in the cosmos where humans keep their stuff. Then, he can explain to you what he will be doing, once he learns it himself.”

  “Yeah, okay.” Julia bit a knuckle to keep from biting her nail. “You can see why I thought”

  “With Peggy, sure.” Casey interrupted. “I’m not that hot.”

  “Like that matters to a horny man.”

  “I don’t think you are giving enough credit where it is due, and counterpoint: you think sex appeal doesn’t matter when standing next to Peggy? I would be completely invisible. It’s a good thing for me that I have my guys back home.”

  “What was that about credit?”

  “You know what? I don’t care. We can argue about who I could pull another time. I think that I could grow to like you, so while at this moment I don’t care if you think I am hiding your husband away in a hotel to see how many embarrassing sprains I could inflict upon him, going forward I think I would like that perception to not stand between us.”

  “What do you have in mind?” Asked Julia.

  “If I don’t miss my guess, Peggy is going to send some communications equipment to your place. Use it to get in touch with Carlos and Devin. They will set you as straight as they can.”

  Peggy took the opportunity to walk in.

  “Have we reached an understanding?”

  Julia stood her ground.

  “I don’t like you. The jury is still out on her.” She jerked her thumb at Casey.

  “That’s a fair reaction.” Agreed Peggy. “I am a bit much. Casey, can you head back out to the table while I clear the air with Julia?”

  Casey was glad for the opportunity to skedaddle.

  “I think the waitress is worried for her tip.” Joked Bruce as she got back to the table. Helen was trying to find her way through a maze on the back of the placemat.

  “Yeah, well…” Casey glanced at Helen “Julia has concerns, and while I know her concerns are without merit, she at least thinks she came by them honestly.”

  “I haven’t given her a reason to think I am straying, but it's been a hard life for her.”

  “Like I told Julia, you should probably talk to someone about that.”

  “I just regret that we couldn’t go a full day without the drama, Ma’am.”

  “This probably would have happened had I offered to take a pastor into space. People are going to people.”

  Julia walked back to the table with Peggy gliding behind her in an easy stride. She looked a little pale.

  “Honey, I apologize for doubting you.”

  Casey looked at Peggy, who seemed smug.

  “You didn’t threaten her, did you?”

  “No, but I certainly shocked her so badly she couldn’t even shriek properly. That was the most adorable little squeak I‘ve heard in the last thirty years.”

  Julia dabbed at her face with a napkin with a nervous glance at Peggy.

  “And I apologize to you two for causing a scene.”

  “What did you do?” Casey demanded.

  “Just detached my head.” That got Helen’s attention.

  “You’re so silly.”

  “Sometimes, yes.”

  Casey and Peggy took the three home for the night with a promise to send a car in the morning and headed back to the ship.

  “Tonight I am leaving you with Tempo and coming back later for PO Lee.” Peggy told her.

  “That’s good, because I am ready for this part of the process to be over. Do I need to take anything?”

  “All you will need is the helmet for your suit, otherwise Tempo will provide everything that you need. My sisters are getting the other pilots assembled now.”

  “Oh, we’re all going to be there? This is going to be so much fun.”

  “I’m sorry Casey, but your country made its bed, and now you get to lay in it for a few days. The goal of building this Navy and introducing your people to new ways of doing things is to get you all past this.”

  The flight up to the space station was uneventful, and even the space bus with all the windows was starting to seem routine to Casey.

  “All of you have your own rooms in this pod, Ensign Trainor.” Tempo informed her when she arrived. “Some of your nations are ill disposed towards mixed living accommodations.”

  “It’s just as well.” remarked Casey. “The way my government has comported itself since World War Two has won us no favors with almost any of the countries represented here.”

  Casey stepped out of the airlock and into a common area. There were a number of other people there already.

  “Ensign, may I introduce the pilots from Russia, Iran, Japan, South Korea, Turkiye and Greece.