Three Square Meals Ch. 044

Dana listened attentively, then gently nudged Calara affectionately with her shoulder. "I know. I built them for you, remember," she said teasingly.

Calara laughed and blushed faintly with embarrassment. She smiled at the redhead apologetically, and said, "Sorry, I got a bit carried away there."

Dana grinned back at her and replied, "You looked cute getting all excited like that, no need to apologise."

The Latina was about to reply when a gasp of amazement drew their attention back to Rachel. The lovely young doctor had been studiously examining the instructions for the Psi-detector, and she was now trying it out for the first time.

***

Rachel had found Dana's instructions to be clearly written and informative, and learning how to operate the device, had been relatively quick and painless. The inventive Chief Engineer had made a smaller and more compact version of the Psychic sensor, which had been built into the base of the broken Ashanath Psi-shaper. She had constructed a device that looked like a futuristic gun, which flared out into a sensor at the end. Floating above the hand grip was a holographic display, that translated the psionic energy picked up by the sensor, turning it into a visual representation of Psionic energy waves.

She had picked up the Psi-detector once she was confident on how to operate it, and then pointed it across the room, swinging the sensor in a slow and careful arc as she stared at the display. She had not seen anything unusual in the holographic image until she passed it over Dana and Calara, and what she saw made her gasp with surprise.

They looked at her curiously, and Dana asked, "It sounds like you've found something. Anything interesting?"

Rachel nodded excitedly, and then walked over to join them, and said, "You two are giving off some kind of faint aura, and a softly glowing white line kind of snakes out from you through the ceiling."

They both took it in turns to be scanned by the Psi-detector, so that they could each see what she was referring to. Dana then requested the device, and once Rachel had handed it over, the redhead pointed it at her, and confirmed the same thing.

"I wonder what that line is meant to be," Calara said curiously.

Rachel shrugged, then looked thoughtful as she said, "I'm not sure, but I have a hunch where it leads."

Dana glanced upwards and then grinned as she nodded. "I think you might be right!"

Rachel waved the two of them goodbye, as they began preparations to head up to the Bridge to upgrade the Tactical Station, and she walked out of the Engineering Bay with the Psi-detector in her hand. Now that she knew what to look for, she could see the faintly glowing white line leaving her body and heading up diagonally towards the ceiling. She strolled over to the grav-tube, then stepped inside the blue side, noticing that the glowing line began to flatten out as she rose, until it plateaued out at Deck Two.

She grinned as her hypothesis was proved correct, and she followed the long white line as it led along the corridor and then into the Commander's Quarters at the end. Walking along at a brisk pace, she covered the distance in no time, before striding eagerly into the bedroom following the line with the Psi-detector.

John was lying down in the middle of the bed, with Jade and Alyssa flanking him. They looked up at him adoringly as he gently caressed their swollen bellies, whispering loving words to the pair of them. When he noticed Rachel barge into the room, he smiled at her with amusement and raised his hands in the air.

"We surrender," he said, looking at the futuristic looking ray-gun shape of the Psi-detector that Rachel was pointing in their direction.

She flushed with embarrassment, immediately pointing it away from them, and walked over to join them on the bed. Alyssa and Jade smiled at her welcomingly as she sat down, and she felt her embarrassment disappear immediately.

"Is that the new Psi-detector?" Alyssa asked her, looking at the device curiously.

Rachel nodded eagerly. "I found out something pretty interesting. Here, take it, and point it at me," she requested, handing it over to the blonde.

Alyssa nodded and did as she asked, then stared in fascination at the white line that was trailing out of the brunette. "What is that?" she asked entranced.

"I'm not completely sure, but I followed the trail up here," Rachel said, throwing an inquisitive glance John's way.

Jade was watching curiously, so Alyssa handed over the Psi-detector to her, so that she could take a look at the mysterious white line too. She took it eagerly and then began to experiment, waving it around with interest.

"Did Dana and Calara have these lines too?" Alyssa asked Rachel.

Rachel nodded immediately. "All three lines were pointing at the ceiling down on Deck Seven in Dana's workshop. I guessed where they might lead," she said, looking at John pointedly.

"Unfortunately you were wrong," Jade said to her gently, and they all turned to look at the Nymph.

Jade had climbed off the bed, and moved to the other side of the room, so that she could more easily see the glowing white line coming from Rachel. She had followed that line, and winced at the bright white glare coming from its destination. When her eyes had adjusted and could just about make out the white line against the blinding flare of light, she had spoken up.

"The thin faint line from Rachel leads to you Alyssa, not to John," Jade explained carefully. "There's also three other lines converging on you, too. One I can see is from me, and the other two are coming from below us."

"Really?" Rachel asked in surprise. "Could I take a look please?" she asked politely.

Jade nodded, so Rachel climbed off the bed to join her and had a look through the Psi-Detector once Jade had handed it over. She could see the line coming from Jade, and when she swung the Psi-detector around to follow it to Alyssa, she covered her eyes against the glare from the detector.

"She's absolutely right," Rachel confirmed with a nod, "but there's so much psionic energy pouring off Alyssa, that it gets hard to see."

John looked at her curiously and asked, "How about me? Do you see any lines coming from me as well?"

"I'll move out the way so you can see better," Alyssa said enthusiastically, and she climbed off the bed, and walked over to the other side of the room, to get well clear.

Rachel pointed the Psi-detector at John, then frowned in confusion. "All the girls seemed to have faint white auras, apart from Alyssa's, which is blindingly bright. You don't seem to have an aura at all, though," she said with surprise. She then studied him some more, then said, "but there's a massive glowing white cable linking you and Alyssa together."

He looked surprised at that, sharing glances with Alyssa as he asked, "What do you think that means?"

Rachel shrugged helplessly, then said happily, "I'm not sure, but I love the idea that we're all linked together like that!"

Rachel handed over the Psi-detector to Jade, and stroked her chin thoughtfully. "We could do an experiment to test it, but we'd need a big room and all of us there," she said mysteriously.

John nodded, looking interested, then frowned for a moment. "We'll have to test this later. I've got a training session with Yamamoto, and both Dana and Calara are busy now too, upgrading the Tactical Station."

Alyssa had strolled back to the bed, and opened her arms invitingly. "You can always come and have a cuddle though, while we wait," she said to the brunette playfully.

Rachel grinned and gave John a big kiss as he passed her on the way to the bathroom. She quickly stripped off her clothes, and then joined Alyssa and Jade in bed, who hugged her lovingly. She let out a huge sigh of contentment, and kissed them both as they snuggled together under the covers.

***

"Give the money to orphans," the brooding figure snorted, shaking his head in disbelief.

The disused processing plant was gloomy and unlit, with only a few shards of light from the holes in the ceiling overhead providing any illumination. The man had finished carefully cleaning his tools, and they were spotless, gleaming brightly once more. As he examined each razor sharp, or wickedly barbed implement in turn, he slotted them back into the slots in the black velvet roll of cloth, which was spread out on the grubby table. When they were all back in their place, he flipped over the velvet top, and then carefully rolled up the cloth, before tucking it under his arm.

"Your story is so absurd, I'm inclined to believe you, Mr Koeman," he said, addressing the man in restraints, who was slumped in a chair.

Peter Koeman remained silent, as a dark red pool began to spread out across the dusty floor beneath his feet.

The man in black turned to look at him one last time, and shook his head. "If you hadn't tried to run, it might not have taken you so long to convince me you were telling me the truth," he lamented, before his mouth twisted up in an evil grin. "Still, you'll be a valuable lesson to the others," he added with satisfaction.

The brooding figure strode away purposefully, without a second glance in Mr Koeman's direction, a new course of action already in mind. After his many years in this line of business, he had learned that you just needed to prepare a trap with the right kind of bait.