Chapter 2.8

It was afternoon, and we had just got back to our apartment after spending what I found to be an exhausting time with our counselor. I wanted to relax, so John put on an old television show that we had found in my archives. It was a British show, called Doctor Who.

This particular episode had a handsome man playing the Doctor and a beautiful, dark-skinned woman who reminded me of Kari. Every time I watched one of the episodes with Martha, (the woman’s name) I felt tears bubbling up. This particular episode had another effect on me, however.

It was about time-locked beings that were the origin of the statues of angels that covered their eyes, from that time period. They couldn’t move if you were looking at them. When they got an evil expression, I always jumped and buried my face in John’s shoulder. It was one of his favorite episodes. I always had a sneaking hunch that it wasn’t the episode itself, but my reaction to it.

This time, however, I was so exhausted that I fell asleep against John’s shoulder, and woke up with my head on his lap. I looked at our screen and saw the closing credits of the show.

“Sorry I fell asleep,” I murmured.

“I can rewind if you’d like,” he told me.

“You’d like that, wouldn’t you? Me curling up, begging for protection.”

“I’d be lying if I said no.”

“Uh-huh.” I sat up. “Listen, buster. Scaring me for your own gratification isn’t very nice.”

“For you or me?”

“Oh, what I will do to you tonight… You are going to regret that, my dear,” I threatened.

“I certainly hope so.”

Well, I didn’t regret it. I don’t think he did either.

I sat down with several friends to play some music. I felt I had no ability to teach, but these were people who had read some of my books and had applied the ideas in them to their own instrument of choice.

We were practicing music for a concert. Much of what we were getting ready was ancient band music. I was handling keyboards, Vernon Wang was playing drums, Carla had taken up lead guitar, and had gotten quite good. We also had a bass guitar player named Phillip Troy.

I was singing lead and the others were singing backup.

We did okay but not as good as we could have been. Practices had gone better, which scared me. I knew that a bad dress rehearsal means a good performance and vice versa. The best part of the concert, as far as I was concerned, was when I dedicated a song to John. It was an old song called You Belong to Me, that was covered by many people, but my favorite version of the song was by a woman named Patsy Cline.

It was a few nights later that John and I went to the outer ring. I had mentioned to him that I was sorry we really had no way to view the stars. We viewed them from the ship-side of the rings, but there was too much light. We went to the other side, where Fred and Paula had sat on the rock, viewing so much. It was nice to view things there, but we felt like we were taking advantage of Fred’s absence.

It was a friend who came up with an interesting idea. He had been one of the pioneers of the holographic technology with which we had made our parks on N21, so when John asked him to produce a birthday gift for, he was glad to show it off. Amazingly, Neo22 had nothing like it.

Trent Carr had been working on his holographic technology for a long time, and he had come up with some interesting applications for using it. He had an idea of mixing the ability to make a hologram with the fields used in various aspects of the ship’s systems to make a hologram seem solid.

Of course, I knew nothing of this at the time. I knew what Trent had done on John and my ship, but I had no idea what he was going to do on this one.

On my birthday, I went up to Heaven’s Rose as I usually did. I always found the building nice, but it had always bugged me that it appeared to be in a giant hanger, even though the ‘town’ around looked nice. The ceiling overhead just seemed out of place, as did the walls around. Granted, the ceiling was nearly a quarter-mile above, but it looked like a ceiling.

I was very busy making about a thousand different things in my kitchen (a slight exaggeration, but only slight) when I realized John wasn’t by my side as he always was. He was always there, but that time, I turned to speak to him, and no John! I turned around to see him walk into the kitchen with a huge smile on his face.

"Where were you, and what are you so chipper about?" I couldn't stay mad at him for long, but he was going to feel this for as long as I could make him. I didn't have him to help me when I needed it, and I had lost a dessert in an oven. Happy, I was not!

"Come here, Rose. I want to show you something."

"Now?!!?"

He looked around and seemed to realize that I had been very busy. His smile was replaced by a look of concern. "You needed my help, didn't you? I'm sorry, Honey."

I looked around the kitchen. A few things would require starting again, but I could see what he wanted to show me right quick. "What do you want me to see?" I asked with a sigh.

"It can wait. Let's get this fixed first."

We got going, and I didn't have time to think about it until we were finished cleaning up after dinner. "I'm sorry I was upset earlier, John." I turned as I was taking off an apron.

He had specified that he wanted me dressed up for the evening. I needed to change, so I went into my office and took a shower, then put on the dress I had brought and fixed my makeup. I went out into the kitchen again and saw John closing what looked like a picnic basket. I looked down at my dress and again felt rather overdressed, however, he went into my office and a few minutes later, came out in a suit.

"A picnic?" I asked. "It's dark out there, and look how we're dressed."

"Do you trust me?" He asked.

"I did until I had to make a second cake this afternoon, " I told him.

He was looking at something but glanced up when I said that. He saw my smile, however, so he said with his own grin and a pretend sigh, "I suppose I deserve dire consequences tonight."

I raised an eyebrow as I told him, "That remains to be seen."

He touched a button on what he had been looking at before, then picked up the basket and held out his other arm for me to take. Even in heels, I was still a bit shorter, but he knew what I wanted when I tipped my head back. He kissed me and I pulled his head closer afterward so I could whisper, "I trust you completely."

I took his arm and we walked out of the building.

I gasped at the sight! In front of me was the town, but instead of a steel ceiling, it was a night sky! There were stars everywhere! I looked around, and I couldn't even see the walls. It was as if we were standing in a small town with just the occasional streetlight shining in the night.

"Happy birthday, Rose," he told me.

"Birthday? This isn't just for me, John."

"No, but I helped Trent get it ready so we could turn it on tonight."

"What were you going to show me this afternoon?"

"It will show a blue sky during the day, and you still won't see the walls."

I felt like giving him another kiss, and I wasn't one to go against feelings like that, so I did. "Thank you, John! It's beautiful!"

We walked out into the park where the memorial for Fred was. From there, the stars looked incredible. I was absolutely thrilled. I hadn't seen a sky like that in so long. Sure, we could see it out the viewports, but it was not the same as seeing the town around us.

I leaned into his side, and he obligingly put his arm around me. I know the temperature was as it always was, but I imagined I could feel a breeze, and his arm felt all the more wonderful wrapped around me.

He led me to a table on the other side of the park and we sat down. He pulled some champagne out along with two glasses. Next, he pulled out two dinners as well as the cutlery to eat with. The dinner was from the steakhouse, and I gave him a curious eye.

"Well I didn't think you should have to cook your own dinner," he told me with a smile.

I had to admit that it made sense and the steak was excellent.

He had one more thing to show me, so I picked up the basket. He took it from me, and when I started to object because I was perfectly able to carry it, he just held out his arm for me to take. Damn it! He knows I love chivalry! Okay. It was my birthday.

We walked through the town and onto a dirt path. I was very glad for his arm which I now clutched with both hands as I was wearing heels. We came into a clearing, and I could see the outline of a building in front of us. None of the lights from the town showed through the trees here, so it was hard to see what the building was. John stopped and he switched the basket to the arm I was holding, then reached into his pocket. Suddenly, lights came on both in the building and outside.

It was a house! An honest to goodness house! We walked up to the door and inside.

We entered a living room that was decorated with our things. My instruments we're hanging on one wall and my grand piano was in a corner. Another wall had a bookcase full of books that had been in both of our old collections. We had replaced them as soon as we could.

He led me to the kitchen, and I found everything that had been in my kitchen in our apartment.

Down a hall, he showed me a bedroom door. There was the sound of music I didn't like coming from within. I opened the door and saw my twelve year old daughter laying on the bed, her comm playing the horrendous music at high volume, and she was playing some kind of game.

Apparently, she had good hearing, because she rolled to where she could see us and removed the VR helmet from her head. "Hi, Mom! Dad! Isn't this place great? Our own house! I guess everyone who has a shop in Fredriksburg gets their own house!"

I turned to stare at my husband. He had known and not told me! He defused my anger in a way only he could. He hugged me hard and told me, "Happy birthday!"

I didn't tell him he had said that before. I just looked around in awe. He teased me by pushing up on my chin, closing my mouth. We turned and walked down the hallway the other direction. We passed three closed doors, one on the side that Frieda's room was on, and two on the other side.

When we entered the living room, John led me toward a hall on the other side. In that hall, we found a music studio for me and a workshop for John. We started for the last door and Frieda ran around us, opening the door.

It was our bedroom, and it was wonderful. There was a large bed in the center. I had a vanity on one wall. There were windows on two sides and a door that looked as if it led to an ensuite. There was another door on the same wall as the restroom, and I opened it to find a huge closet with my clothes taking up most of the space. I turned to John and asked, "What were the other rooms by Frieda's room? I'm assuming one was a restroom?"

"There's a restroom at the end of the hall for guests. Frieda has her own restroom too."

"So what are the other rooms?"

"Unoccupied."

"Any ideas for occupying them?"

"One or two," he told me.

I didn't look away from his face as I said, "Frieda, would you leave us? Your father and I need to discuss something."

"Uh-huh," she said in a way only a pre-teen can and walked out. She paused at the door and turned back. "You want this door shut?"

"Yes please," I said, still looking at John.

"Locked?"

"Sure."

"Want me to put on some loud music so I can't hear your 'discussion'?"

This time I turned and gave her my mother glare. "Would you just go?!!?"

She snickered as she shut the door. I could hear her running down the hall toward her own room. A moment later, her awful music came on, very loud.

I turned back to John. "Couldn't you have soundproofed our door?"

He laughed. "Have I earned your dire consequences?"

I cocked my head at him. "With that music playing?"

"She won't hear us."

"But I'll hear it!"

"I've got some earplugs in my shop."

I started to laugh. "What am I going to do with you?" I asked.

"Well… We could always fill those extra rooms."

"Oh. Is that why you built this? So we can populate the ship?"

"I didn't build it. As Frieda said, everyone who has a shop in town gets a house."

"They followed your specs. This is what we talked about for when and if we ever get to a planet. By the way, you didn't answer me."

"Uh, no. This isn't just to populate the ship." He paused for a moment for effect. "I'd like to populate those three rooms, however."

"Do you really think you've earned my wrath?" I tried to sound fierce, but I couldn't carry it off. Not while I was so happy with him.

"I'm hoping I have."

I grabbed his lapels and pulled him to me. I gave him a kiss and told him, "For several days."

I turned and went into the bathroom kicking off my shoes on the way. When I saw the interior, I called out sweetly, "I'm gonna need someone to wash my back".

He was beside me in a heartbeat.