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  Angie looked surprised. “I know and like all four of them. Did any of them know about this ship being here?”

  She glanced at Gage who only shrugged.

  Soma nodded. “Benny and Gina knew. But Carrie and Matt will be having a similar reaction to yours.”

  “But because of the special gene, they will also remember the rescue,” Ray said.

  “I would suggest,” Ray said, standing, “that the two of you get some rest and talk about this. And we will meet with the others and make the same offer. Then the six of you might want to get together tomorrow.”

  Gage glanced at Angie as they both stood.

  Then Gage turned back to Ray. “Just so I am clear, could you summarize this offer one more time?”

  “We have built three of the most modern and fastest Seeder ships of all time,” Ray said. “We will give the two of you as a team the chairmanship of one of those ships. Your first assignment will be to travel with the other two ships to a very distant galaxy to explore and discover what is there.”

  “Chairmen?” Gage asked.

  “Chairmen,” Ray said.

  Soma laughed. “Trust me, you will want to take this offer. This is a great job.”

  All Gage could do was nod. In four hundred years it had never occurred to him that he would ever be the chairman of his own ship.

  Not once.

  THIRTEEN

  ANGIE FELT LIKE everything since she met Gage at the restaurant has been a dream. She half expected to wake up in her bed cuddled with her two cats.

  The wonderful dinner full of laughs, the fantastic sex, the promise of honesty which led her back to the spaceship she remembered after the event.

  That ship hadn’t been a dream, but then the offer to basically be the captain with Gage of a massive ship full of people just made her shake her head. She had a slightly different gene. She doubted that qualified her for such a task.

  They promised they would talk with Chairmen Ray and Soma in the morning and he teleported them back to the large empty observation lounge overlooking Earth below. It was beautiful, with half the planet in night and the stars beyond it.

  Gage put the two chairs side-by-side and they both sat down and then he took her hand and they sat there, staring out into space, just thinking.

  His touch felt right in her hand and she really, really wanted to spend a lot more time with him. But working together on a vast trip together seemed a little much for someone she had only met this morning.

  And the knowledge she had been given about the Seeders and their mission and how they did it in general was stunning. And logical. And massive on a scale she couldn’t begin to yet imagine.

  And what it took to seed a human world was flat amazing.

  An advance Seeder ship would basically wipe out any lower level life on a planet deemed to be in the right orbit around the right kind of star in the right area of the galaxy. They would do that by smashing a large asteroid into the planet.

  Then they would return in a few hundred years and start seeding plant and some lower level animal life. And over ten thousand years they would eventually seed a population of humans on the planet as well.

  Then Seeders would watch over each planet, sometimes calling in full ships to help a civilization get to the next level. She found it interesting that all Seeder cultures became capitalistic and democracies.

  Except for the Seeders themselves. They were pure capitalism, with every Seeder on every ship and on every planet drawing a wage. But Seeders themselves had no government. They basically just kept moving, doing the same thing from galaxy to galaxy and when decisions needed to be made, there seemed to be a number of elder Seeders who just made them.

  It was the cause that kept Seeders moving and interested. Helping new cultures come to life on millions and millions of planets.

  She glanced at Gage who seemed to just be staring off past the planet into the stars, lost in his thoughts.

  “Does it worry you that we haven’t known each other very long?” she asked.

  He glanced at her and smiled, which made her feel instantly better for some reason. “Actually, a little. But remember I’ve been following you on your missions out of Portland now for six months. I know how smart and brave you are.”

  “And foolhardy,” she said.

  He laughed, which seemed to almost fill the empty ballroom with light, it sounded so perfect to her ears. “A little of that as well.”

  Then he seemed to think of something and shook his head. “Now I get it.”

  “Get what?” she asked.

  He laughed again, this time to something he was thinking about.

  Then he turned to her. “I’ve been wondering why us, the six of us? Besides the surface element that we have the right genes, why us.”

  “I wondered the same thing,” she said. “Clearly the special gene develops in every galaxy.”

  “Foolhardy is the answer,” he said, smiling at her and squeezing her hand.

  Then he turned and faced her completely. “There is something that basic teaching program about Seeders doesn’t talk about. That is that, when all the planets in a galaxy that survive expand out into space, they form this fantastic community. But from galaxy to galaxy, the human populations of a galaxy eventually just find a balance and stay in that balance.”

  “They stop expanding and exploring?” she asked, feeling very surprised that humans would ever do that.

  “Exactly,” he said. “My small galaxy has already reached that point and no one much does anything about thinking of getting to this larger galaxy so close.”

  “So to do a major risky mission as Chairman Ray made it sound,” she said, “he needs young blood.”

  “And military training,” Gage said, pointing a finger to himself. “Since there are no aliens and all humans eventually learn to get along from planet to planet, the Seeders have never needed much of a military force. And on most planets in my small galaxy, any military has been disbanded a thousand years before I was born.”

  “Now that makes more sense,” she said, nodding. It really did. And the idea that Chairman Ray was looking for someone with experience in being brave and exploring made her feel a lot better. She was damn good at that.

  He looked at her, smiling and shaking his head.

  “What?” she asked after a moment.

  “This morning you were trying to help tell people about the rebuilding going on,” Gage said. “Now you are thinking of exploring space with an almost total stranger at your side.”

  She laughed and reached over and kissed him, which felt flat wonderful.

  Then she asked, “What did you say about foolhardy?”

  “Not your middle name I hope?” he said, smiling at her. “Angie Foolhardy Park just doesn’t have a ring to it.”

  She kissed him again and then said, “I kind of like it, actually.”

  “After that kiss,” he said, “so do I.”

  FOURTEEN

  HE JUMPED THEM both back to her apartment on the surface and after a snack of cold chicken and an attempt to watch a movie in her book-filled living room, she fell asleep.

  Once again he sat on her couch with her head on his lap, just staring at her. She was so beautiful with her long black hair and her wonderfully smooth skin, he could just watch her for hours.

  At one point he noticed the movie was halfway over and he hadn’t taken his gaze from her. But they both needed some sleep. They had major things to talk about tomorrow.

  He eased out from under her and then picked her up in his arms, surprised at how light she felt. He wouldn’t mind carrying her to bed every night.

  She managed to wake up as he put her on the bed enough to mutter that she needed to use the bathroom.

  He just sat there waiting for her, studying her bedroom and all the books and knickknacks in it that made it hers. When she came out of the bathroom she was naked. And the sight took his breath away.

  It was like someone punched him in the g
ut.

  She crawled into bed, then said, “Get undressed, silly. And turn off the light.”

  Then she gave him a sleepy smile before closing her eyes and going back to sleep.

  She was clearly very comfortable with him being there with her. Just as comfortable as he was being there.

  So he got undressed and joined her and the next thing he realized sun was peeking around the blinds on the window and she was laying in bed facing him and petting one of her two cats.

  When she noticed he was awake, she said, “Do you think I can take my cats?”

  He laughed. “You will be in charge of the entire ship. You can take anything or anyone you want.”

  “Will your team come along?” she asked.

  “I sure hope so,” he said. “But it will be up to them. I’m betting they will.”

  He moved over and cuddled beside her and she moved the cat to a position on top of her hip.

  Touching her felt fantastic. Just the feel of her skin sent electric shocks through his body.

  “What are you thinking about all this?” he asked after a moment.

  “If you weren’t here looking handsome beside me,” she said, “I would have thought yesterday all a dream just like the first time on that ship.”

  “Very real,” he said.

  She touched his arm and said, “Yup, very real.”

  He stroked her side and shoulder.

  “I know it’s real,” she said after a moment of thinking. “And honestly, I woke up thinking we should take the job.”

  He looked up into her wonderful dark eyes. “Even if we end up not getting along?”

  “I hope that never happens,” she said. “But if it does, we’ll work it out I’m sure.”

  “I hope it never happens either,” he said, kissing her. “But you know I have never been great at long-term relationships.”

  “That makes two of us,” she said. “So we figure it out together.”

  She pressed into him and the cat left the bed in a hurry, and the next thirty minutes were amazing.

  FIFTEEN

  ANGIE COOKED A quick breakfast and she showered and got dressed in fresh clothes. This morning she put on a white blouse with a sports bra under it and jeans and clean tennis shoes. She put on two small pearl earrings as well.

  Then he jumped them to his apartment and she sat on the couch in his living room and looked at his books on his coffee table while he showered and got ready as well.

  She loved how comfortable she felt in his place. Except for the cats, it felt just like her apartment. And they even had been reading some of the same books.

  When he came out of his bedroom and she glanced up, her breath again caught in her chest for a moment. He had to be the most handsome man she had ever seen. He had on jeans, a light T-shirt that didn’t hide any muscles, and his short dark hair still looked damp. He smiled when he saw her and the smile reached his wonderful green eyes.

  “You are just stunning,” he said, coming up to her as she stood.

  “I was thinking the exact same thing about you,” she said. Then she kissed him long and hard.

  “Start that and we’ll never get out of this apartment today,” he said, laughing as the kiss finally broke.

  “And what would be wrong with that?” she asked, smiling at him.

  “Absolutely nothing,” he said. Then he kissed her back, long and equally as hard.

  Finally, breathless, she pushed him away and said, “Can I take that for a promise for later?”

  “For any time,” he said, smiling at her.

  “All right, then,” she said, adjusting her clothes. “Let’s go find out what this new job is really all about.”

  He nodded, then touched something in his ear she would have to remember to ask him about and said, “Chairman Soma, do you have a few minutes for Gage Teal and Angie Park?”

  A moment later Soma’s voice came back clear to Angie. “It would be an honor. In my office.”

  “Is this honor thing normal?” she asked Gage just before he jumped them there.

  “Not in the slightest,” he said.

  Chairman Soma stood from behind a huge wooden desk and came around to shake both their hands.

  Chairman Ray had been sitting on the couch and he stood and also shook their hands, smiling.

  “I just finished speaking with the other two couples again this morning,” Ray said, “and it seems they are all very interested in hearing more about the job. Have you decided to join us as well?”

  Angie was surprised at that, but only slightly. She glanced up at Gage who was looking at her with those wonderful green eyes.

  “Well?” she asked.

  “I’m game if you are,” he said.

  “I am if you are,” she said.

  Then she turned back to Ray. “It seems we also are interested in hearing more.”

  “Wonderful,” Ray said, smiling.

  Chairman Soma seemed to be beaming like a proud grandparent watching his grandkids grow up.

  “So what is the next step?” Gage asked.

  “We need to give you both advanced Seeder training,” Ray said. “We will need to do that on my ship. It will take about twenty minutes and another hour to answer your basic questions.”

  “And this training is different from what I took originally,” Gage asked.

  “It is,” Ray said. “It will activate the special gene both of you have and answer so many questions.”

  Angie nodded. “At any point, Chairman. Before I get cold feet.”

  Gage had told her it had taken only a few minutes for him to go through the basic training and learn how to be a Seeder and understand Seeders at a base level. But she really had no idea what she was about to learn or experience, even after the short introduction program last night.

  Gage laughed. “Ready as I’ll ever be considering I have very little idea what this is really all about.”

  Ray smiled and then turned to Soma. “We will return here in just over an hour.”

  Soma nodded and a moment later the three of them were in a conference room with a large wooden table surrounded by leather chairs.

  A beautiful woman with short black hair stood facing them. She had on a black silk pants suit and pearls around her neck in a choke-collar fashion. Angie felt she radiated not only incredible beauty, but a depth of knowledge and age, even though she didn’t look much over forty.

  “This is my wife and co-chairman, Tacita,” Ray said.

  Gage bowed slightly and said he was honored.

  Angie did the same, feeling stunned.

  Tacita smiled at both of them. “The honor is mine, I assure you.”

  “We have one more jump to make to our ship,” Ray said.

  He moved over beside Tacita and as they touched, the four of them appeared at the top level of a massive room.

  Angie had no sense about how far they had jumped, but she had a suspicion it was a great distance. At some point she hoped to really deeply understand the distances and even how large a galaxy really was.

  A good dozen people were working around the room at stations on three levels. A huge screen filled one wall and two massive chairs sat in the lower level facing the screen. The two chairs looked like they were molded together.

  This was clearly a command center of a massively large ship.

  “Wow,” Gage said, looking around. “Is this a mother ship?”

  “It is,” Ray said. He indicated they should come over to the left of the room and sit in two chairs side-by-side.

  “Well,” Gage said to her as they sat down. “Here we go.”

  “Together,” she said, smiling at him.

  He nodded and smiled back. “I like that part.”

  “So do I,” she said as they both placed their hands where Ray told them to.

  And around her the massive control room just vanished.

  SIXTEEN

  GAGE PUSHED BACK from the console when the machine released them.

  He f
elt as if an entire library had been downloaded into his mind and sorted and stored. He knew it was there and knew he could access it all with a thought.

  He was amazed he didn’t have a headache.

  And now he understood far more about what being a Seeder really was. He knew the entire history, everything, about them, and what fantastic work they did making sure humanity got a start in as many galaxies and on as many planets as they could.

  It made him very proud of the work he had done in a small way over the last four hundred years.

  He knew that, barring an accident, he would now live basically forever. He had sort of realized that before, but never given it much thought and now was not the time either. Living forever and not aging had never been a consideration for him.

  He stood and helped Angie to her feet. Her eyes looked sharp, focused.

  She turned with him and both of them bowed to Ray and Tacita.

  Gage knew that Ray and Tacita were the first chairmen of the very first mother ship and that right now they were thirty or more galaxies away from the Milky Way Galaxy.

  Gage turned to Angie. “Are you all right?”

  “I am filled with awe and amazement and thankfulness and wondering why I was given this honor,” she said, softly.

  “We can explain it all,” Ray said. “Let’s go sit and talk.”

  A moment later the four of them were back in the comfortable meeting room where they had met Tacita. Different forms of drinks and snacks were aligned along one wall. Gage was surprised he felt hungry, but he did, so he made himself an iced tea and took a large, fresh-feeling glazed doughnut.

  Angie got herself a cup of hot tea and three peanut butter cookies.

  Then all four of them sat at the end of the large table and just talked.

  Angie had the most questions, but she clearly knew the answers almost before she asked them. And he knew the answers the moment she did as well.

  They really had been picked because of the special gene they both had been born with. And that gene allowed them many things. It allowed them to remember things and details over centuries of time. It allowed them to teleport vast distances, far more than any regular Seeder. And it allowed them to co-chair a mother ship.