Chapter Eleven
“Never assume your mother doesn’t need to know.” - Maggie Lowry
THEY FOUND THE OTHERS TWO LEVELS up from where they’d come into the ship. They had found the ships’ auxiliary control room and were busily trying to look at everything in sight.
Maggie and Rachel were examining one instrument panel in particular, while Sparrow and Morgan were at opposite sides of the area, looking at various pieces of equipment. There was no sign of Alex and Ro, or of Tally or Dots. Maggie face was screwed up into a frown, while Rachel’s brow was raised in a look of puzzlement.
“Mom? Is there a problem?” asked Jade.
Maggie started at her voice, and turned to her and Kendis.
“Kendis, thank you for making sure Jade got safely into the ship. Could you please excuse us for a moment? I need to speak with her.”
Rachel moved off a ways and judiciously studied another panel. She looked just a tiny bit amused but turned so Maggie and Jade wouldn’t see her face.
Kendis smiled and gave a small bow, releasing Jade’s hand which was still tucked under his arm.
“Yes, Ma’am, I need to speak with Sparrow anyway.” He moved off across the room.
Uh-oh, thought Jade. She knew what was coming and groaned inwardly. “Um, Mom, now don’t get excited, it was nothing and I’m fi --”
“Jadewyn Elizabeth Lowry! Why did you not tell me you had fallen off a bridge?” Maggie, face gone dark, was practically hissing. She stopped for a moment, closed her eyes and took a deep breath trying to calm down. She went on in a more reasonable tone.
“Listen, I know you’re an independent predult, and you don’t have to tell me everything, but don’t you think that, as your mother, I should at least know when you’ve almost been killed?” Her normally light hazel eyes had darkened as she glowered at Jade, nostrils flared, hands on hips.
Jade had opened her mouth to give one of the smart rejoinders she usually had for her mother, when she suddenly realized Maggie wasn’t really angry with her. Oddly, she could feel that instead, she was, in fact, feeling sick about the fall and relieved she hadn’t been hurt.
Surprised, she shut her mouth. It wasn’t that her mother had allowed her shields to slip, she wasn’t hearing her thoughts. No, she was feeling what Maggie was feeling, a sort of oh-mother-earth-she-could-have-been-killed-I’m-going-to-kill-her-for-not-telling-me feeling. This had never happened to her before. The intensity of the emotion took her breath away.
She was contrite and abashed so she said, “You’re absolutely right, Mom. It was stupid of me not to tell you. Since I didn’t get hurt it didn’t occur to me that you needed to know. I sincerely regret not having done so.” She looked around; everyone was studiously ignoring them.
She spotted an open door off to the right. She pointed. “Maybe we can go in there and talk? I’ll tell you exactly what happened. And I didn’t fall off the bridge - I fell through the bridge.”
Maggie’s brows shot up with surprise. She had been prepared for a smart remark and an argument. This was different.
“Er, sure.” She deflated and looked to where Jade was pointing. “That’ll be fine, it appears to be some kind of office.” She took Jade’s hand and led her in.
Jade told her what happened, and how she’d felt about heights since then.
Maggie, shaking her head slowly, said, “Sweetie, if only you had told me. You weren’t hurt physically, but psychologically it was a different matter. You needed some mental therapy after a thing like that.”
She regarded her daughter. “Had I known about this, I would have sent you straight to Sparrow. It is especially adept at helping people with this kind of problem. Please, please, promise me never to withhold something like this from me again!” She reached out and caught Jade in her arms, hugging her tightly.
Jade hugged her back, sorry she’d never mentioned the fall. She really hadn’t thought it was that big of a deal at the time. She could see - now - that had been an error in judgment. She needed to have considered her mother’s feelings.
She sighed, “Well, it’s too late now, huh? I guess nothing can be done about my… acrophobia,” she said with regret, finally deciding to name her fear. It felt nice being hugged by her mother.
Maggie shifted and looked at Jade in astonishment.
“Of course it’s not too late, dear. Sparrow can still help you. But you have to want the help, it won’t do anything unless you ask. If you want, I’ll fill it in on the details of what happened and if you feel you need to, just ask and it will be thrilled to help you. Sparrow is really fond of you, you know. It was awfully upset when we started catching some of your thoughts while you were on the ladder. Once we realized you were having trouble, we all tried to figure out a way to help you, but since Kendis was following you, Sparrow decided we shouldn‘t interfere. It also felt it would be better for you if we weren’t all standing around gawking at you once you made it into the ship.”
She smiled crookedly, “It especially didn’t think it would be a good idea if I waited for you, so it suggested we leave and find the auxiliary control room.”
Jade thought about that. She was glad they hadn’t all been standing around waiting when she finally made it to the top, and was grateful to Sparrow for its insight on how she would feel about that. She had thought she’d never want Sparrow rummaging around in her mind, however, she didn’t want to spend the rest of her life being afraid to climb a ladder either.
As long as it didn’t involve scanning…so she sighed. “Okay, Mom. If I can’t resolve this on my own, I’ll ask Sparrow for help.” Although she still felt embarrassed, she was grateful Kendis had been with her. She remembered his arms around her and felt her face grow a little warm as she felt those feelings again.
To hide her flushed face, she turned from Maggie and asked, as they headed back into the control room, “What were you and Aunt Rachel frowning about out there?”
“She and I are trying to figure out how to access the ships’ archives. We got into the computer but we haven’t had time yet to get around the security for some of the files. Morgan was about to come over and take a look at it when you and Kendis came in. He has a little more expertise with ancient systems than Rachel or I do.”
She gave a wistful sigh, “I wish Daniel were here. He was an absolute genius at this.” She let that thought go as it brought too much sadness with it. “I’m sure we’ll work it out. We have a lot to do and this is a big ship.”
She scanned the room. “Do you know all the lights and systems came on automatically when we entered? And the doors work automatically, too. It’s as if the ship has been in stasis all this time. We can likely get the lifts to work, now. I just wish we could have gotten the outside one to work before we had to make that climb.”
She sighed again. “We’re going to work on that. I sure don’t want to have to come up that ladder every time we come here. I know you don’t either.”
Morgan walked up.
“I’m going to take a look at the computer. I’ll do the best I can with it. Sparrow said it will have a go at it, also. Between us, we might be able to figure it out.” He smiled warmly at Jade.
“Perhaps you and Kendis would like to go and look around. Not that we think there’s any real danger in here but if you do, please stay together as we want everyone to go at least in pairs, just in case. Alex and Ro are on the next level, I think, and Tally and Dots wanted to go see what’s down below.”
He grinned. “Us old folk will stay here for now.”
Kendis and Sparrow approached.
“Please keep us posted on where you are. We don’t want anyone getting lost,” Morgan added as he followed Sparrow over to the computer console.
He, Maggie, Rachel, and Sparrow, pulled up chairs and settled themselves around the computer. He turned back to Jade and Kendis briefly. “Please get back here in a couple of hours so we can all leave for camp together. H
ave fun and remember: don’t get lost.”
Jade laughed. “Oh, I never get lost,” she said, taking it as a joke, “and if we do, I can find you.”
She smiled happily as she and Kendis headed out, not noticing the odd looks she got at that statement. She had no problems being paired with Kendis, even if it was just to explore the ship.
She felt…she didn’t know quite what it was…she just knew she felt better when she was with him. And tingly.
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