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  Starfoot

  by Jerry Boyd

  This book is a work of fiction. All the people, events, and organizations in this book are products of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to anything in the real world is purely coincidental

  Copyright©2019 Jerry Boyd

  All rights reserved.

  This book may not be reproduced, stored, or transmitted, whole or in part, by any means whatsoever without prior written consent of the author and publisher.

  Dedicated to my long suffering wife, Donna, and my beta readers, Mary, Bernard, Karen, and James.

  ‘Steve’s Machine Shop’, even after all this time, I still get a tingle when I come in to work and see that sign. I’ve never had enough business to hire anybody, and some years I’m doing good to keep the shop cat fed, but it’s all mine. I’m Steve Mason, and I saved enough in the service to buy the building and some second hand machine tools. I do small jobs that the bigger shops can’t afford to fool with, and try to bring in enough to keep the doors open. I do most of my business over the internet, just because I need to supplement what comes in through the door. I take pretty much any job that gets input into my website, unless it’s obviously weapon parts. Too many legal issues with that. Not saying I wouldn’t make them, but you better show up in person, with cash. Since I was needing work just then, it hurt when I found a job in my inbox I couldn’t make heads or tails of. The tolerances were all over the map, specced out to ten-thousandths of an inch in spots, other places plus or minus a quarter inch. The shape was weird, but it seemed to be just an odd shaped pipe, with a flange on each end. The alloy to make it out of was called out in percentages of different elements, not a standard alloy number. I sent back an email asking them to clarify some of the dimensions, and set to work researching their alloy request. The closest thing I could find was an aerospace alloy, priced high and notoriously hard to machine. This was getting weirder by the minute. When the reply to my email came back, a couple things jumped out at me. Whoever was trying to get this part built had no idea of how to tolerance a part, or what standard machine tools were able to do. They didn’t seem to get the idea that I couldn’t just call up a mill and get a short run of their exact alloy. Most important, at least to me, was the fact they didn’t seem to be native English speakers. I was seriously worried I was being asked to build some sort of bomb parts for a terrorist outfit. Just the thought of that made my stump itch. Not sure what to do, I thought on things for a little bit. Marcelle, the nasty old tom with a cheesy mustache, came and rubbed my leg. Mice must have been in short supply last night. I got up and fed him, while I was at it, dealt with the litter box. By the time I got back to the desk, I had decided I needed more mental horsepower on this before I made up my mind. I didn’t want to call the cops, all I had was just a hinky feeling, nothing I could pin down. I decided to get in touch with my old drinking buddy, John Branham, from my days in the Army. He had always known how to find out more about things without sending up red flags. I dug out the contact info he had given me the last time we talked. I logged on to Yahoo mail, and opened the draft with his current burner number. It was all a little cloak and dagger, but John didn’t get civilian medical credentials for all the stuff he learned patching people up in the Army. He wasn’t able to advertise his practice. He had made sure I kept my knee, and I would always be grateful for that. I pulled out my burner, and dialed him up. It rang a few times before he picked up. “This is John. May I ask who is calling?”

  “Pegleg Steve.”

  “Hey Steve! How you been?”

  “Good, John. I have some weirdness I was hoping you could help me with.”

  “How time critical is it, Steve?”

  “Close of business would be great, if you could look at it that fast.”

  “No sweat. Could you write it all up and send it to my dark web mailbox? I’ll look at it as soon as I can. I need to get a couple things settled, first.”

  “No problem. Talk to you later, then.”

  “Bye, Steve.”

  I got the feeling he was busy with a patient. I had some shop maintenance to catch up on, so I decided to take care of that while I waited to hear from him.

  Meanwhile, back at the ranch. . .

  “You can’t find Molly? Did the snake get her, too?”

  Taz said, “No, Boss. I’m sure of that. I saw her run this way when Topper came aboard.”

  The light dawned on me like one of Wiley Coyote’s anvils right between the eyes. I hadn’t been looking when I closed the ‘doc. I turned and looked into the window on the hatch. Sure enough, I could see the top of her head, where she had snuggled up to Jim. “I found her, Taz.”

  “Where, Boss?”

  “She’s cuddled up to Jim.”

  I got out my comm and dialed John. “John Branham.”

  “John, it’s Bob. Something’s come up, and I need advice.”

  “Did you get Jim in the ‘doc quick enough?”

  “Yes, but I was looking at the control board to make sure I got the programming right, and Molly jumped in with him before I closed the lid.”

  “You’re saying she’s in the autodoc with him, while it’s working on him? I don’t have a clue, Bob. Get back over here as soon as you can. I’ll talk to Dingus, see what he knows.”

  “See you soon.”

  I turned to Topper. “Are you okay to go back to work?”

  “You still want me on your team, after I let Mr. Bailey get hurt?”

  “We’ve been over this, Topper. If anybody let Mr. Bailey get hurt, it was me. Get your ass up, and do what you do so well.”

  “Thanks, Boss, I needed that.”

  “Any time. Call if you need anything. I’ll let you know what I find out about Mr. Bailey and Molly.”

  Topper stood up, and got off the saucer. I closed the hatch behind him, and got airborne. The barn door was open, so I flew in and shut down. John and Dingus came aboard as soon as the stealth went off. They were looking at readouts on the autodoc, and mumbling to one another for a few minutes. I was sure I had killed Jim, or Molly, or both. Finally, Dingus saw how distressed I was. He said, “Don’t worry, Bob. The machine figured out it had two organisms aboard. It was able to tell Molly hadn’t been snakebit, so it was just holding her until it got further instructions. We told it to go ahead and make her younger and fix her health issues.”

  “So it’s going to be okay?”

  “Jim had some other things wrong we might as well fix while he’s in. Molly is an old dog. She’ll have a lot more pep when she comes out. So yes, it’s going to be okay. What, you thought you killed them both by letting Molly in the ‘doc?”

  “I was afraid of that, yeah.”

  “There’s a safety built into the machine. If it had gotten confused enough it didn’t understand what to do, it would have popped open and told you.”

  “Something else I need to train on.”

  “Be a good idea, if you’re going to start flying off to the rescue, without waiting for backup.”

  “Bob the idiot strikes again.”

  “More like Bob, who cares about his crew, saves the day in spite of himself. That baby didn’t have any venom control. Gave Jim everything it had. You did the right thing. You just need more knowledge, so you can do better next time.”

  “Thanks, Dingus. I better call Topper.”

  I commed Topper. “Topper. Good news. Jim and Molly are both going to be fine. They’re both going to get a few problems fixed while they’re inside anyway. Do you need any advice on how to proceed with the rest of the work on the house?”

  “No, Boss. Mr. Bailey went over everything with us before he stopped to eat.”

  “Talk to you later then. Call if you need anything.”

  I hung up, and John said, “I g
ot a call while you were gone. Old Army buddy has wandered into a mess of some kind, wants my help. I need to go look at the files he sent. If anything here changes, give me a call. I already told the ‘doc to call me if it has trouble.”

  “Okay. Let us know if there’s something we can do to help.”

  “Will do.”

  He took off, and went in the house. Dingus said, “Guess we might as well go in the house. It’ll tell John if it needs help with them.”

  “Dangit, Dingus, why did I take that turkey’s word that she hadn’t had any babies in the truck? Why didn’t I listen when Snitz and Molly tried to tell me? I gotta do better. I’m gonna get somebody killed.”

  “You had that saucer in the air as quick as I’ve ever seen. Jim’s going to be fine. You wouldn’t let Topper take the blame, and I won’t let you. You can’t get ahead of everything, Bob. Sometimes bad things are going to happen, not because you let them happen, just because they do. Come on.”

  We went in the house. Phonelia asked, “Is your man alright?”

  “He will be. I got him in the autodoc in time. We had a little scare, though, his dog jumped in with him when I wasn’t looking. Turns out the machine is smart enough to handle that.”

  “That would give you a fright, if you didn’t know the machine would be able to deal with it. We’ve been talking while you were gone, Mr. Wilson. We think the best way to smooth over the feuding between the Rottums and the Slongums is for me to go looking for lost Slongums. I need a vehicle to do that, however.”

  “Do you want me to fix up that museum piece we got you out of, or do you want to fly one of our spares?”

  “As you say, my saucer is outdated. A newer vehicle might be in order, since it seems I have a lot of space to cover.”

  “If you don’t mind waiting a day or two to get started, I can have my boys put some bigger emitters in one, so you can make better time.”

  Nikki spoke up. “You want that! You really want that.”

  “Your wife has a strong opinion. What do you think Mr. Wilson?”

  “First, call me Bob. At least till you get to know me better. Then you can call me asshole like everybody else. Those big emitters just cut a two day trip down to a day and a quarter for my wife, so she knows what she’s talking about.”

  “Sounds like I can make up the difference in the first trip or two. I’ll take it. I don’t know how I can pay you, however. I’m sure I’ve been declared dead and my accounts closed long ago.”

  “A saucer and some emitters is worth it to me, if you can shut down this feud we’ve gotten stuck in the middle of.”

  “There may be rewards for finding some of these folks. I can pay you out of that.”

  “If you come into the money, that’s fine. If you don’t, that’s fine too. If you find yourself in need of a job, I’m sure we can find something for you to do around here.”

  “Thank you, Bob.”

  Dingus spoke up. “Don’t thank him till you’ve worked with him for a while. Middle-of-the-night call outs, deadly booby traps, you name it, our Bob can find it.”

  My comm rang, saving me further stories about how bad working for Bob was. “Bob Wilson.”

  “Bob, it’s John. I think you need to come look at what my buddy sent me.”

  “On my way, then.”

  I looked at Nikki. “John’s got something I need to help with. We’ll be in the office if you need us.”

  I started out, and Dingus said, “Mind if I tag along?”

  “Nope. How about you Max?”

  “Might as well. The excitement seems to be over for now.”

  When we found John, he was still on the computer. He had printed out a couple of poorly made engineering drawings. He handed them to me. I looked at the tolerancing, and the way the alloy was called out, and the fact that whoever generated this mess wasn’t a native English speaker. “No wonder your buddy got a funny feeling. If I hadn’t seen this part before, I’d swear it was terrorists trying to get a bomb part.”

  “He’d be more sensitive to that than most. Left part of one leg in the Sandbox.”

  “We need to get in direct contact with these idiots. Can your man set that up?”

  “He’s only been in email contact with them so far. Sounds like they’re trying to be all ‘Secret Squirrel’ about the whole thing.”

  “That’s not helping the whole terrorist vibe, I bet.”

  “Not at all. Especially combined with the arrogant attitude.”

  “Do you think our friend who wasn’t there could find out where these bozos are emailing from?”

  “He should be back to work by now. He took some time off to enjoy having his legs back.”

  “I’m sure he’d say I didn’t need to know that.”

  “You’re probably right. I won’t tell him I said anything.”

  “We’ll leave so you can get in touch with him.”

  When we got out in the hall, Dingus asked, “I missed a step or two there. Can you bring me up to speed, easy like?”

  “John’s Army buddy runs a machine shop. He got a request to build a part over the internet. The drawings and specifications were, uh, less than professional. He tried to get some clarification, and the people trying to get the part made got huffy with him. During all this, it became obvious they weren’t native English speakers. That made John’s friend, who lost part of a leg to a terrorist bomb, think he was being asked to help some terrorist plot. He didn’t have anything stronger than a gut feeling, so he didn’t go to the authorities. He got hold of John to help him sort it out. Turns out the part they want made is the same coolant pipe that failed on Nikki’s saucer. So out there somewhere, there’s a marooned Galactic, who doesn’t know enough to call us. John’s getting his computer hacker friend to see if he can trace where the emails are coming from.”

  “What do you figure to do if you find them?”

  “I’d like to get them to come to us, but I doubt that will work. Maybe Max has some scanner magic that will show them to us.”

  Max spoke up. “I get lucky once, and now I have magic? I see why people call you asshole.”

  “Please, Max, just think about how you could find them? You know this tech really well.”

  “Well, assuming they shut down their power core. it’s going to be a pretty faint signal. On the other hand, this guy doesn’t act smart enough to turn off his comm. I might be able to run a check of who has an active comm within range, and where they are located.”

  “Worth a shot. I’m not impressed with his mental horsepower either.”

  John came out of his office. “Steve says if you can come up with the part, he may be able to set up a face to face meeting to deliver it. The other fella we didn’t talk about is on the trace.”

  “Sounds good. Max thinks he might be able to trace their comm, if they didn’t think to turn it off. I’ll get with Topper about that part.”

  I commed Topper. “Hey Boss, any news?”

  “Not yet. The autodoc is still working on them. If there was a problem, John would have gotten a call. I called about something else. Do we have a saucer in the junkyard like the one that Nikki is flying for those grad students?”

  “Nope. Which part do you need?”

  “There’s an ugly crooked coolant pipe, that winds through number three bay.”

  “I know the one. It’s a known weak point on that model. Subject to metal fatigue.”

  “Could you run one off on the printer?”

  “I’ll send it the file as soon as we’re done talking. Should be done by sundown. Speaking of sundown, how do you want us to get home?”

  “I figured you could drive my truck. Careful of your camo on the road, but give Nikki the Arnold show when you pull in.”

  “Sounds like fun, Boss. What about the flatbed?”

  “Can Taz or Ozzie drive it?”

  “No problem. Could we borrow your truck tonight, Boss?”

  “You headed into to town to see if you can score a date
with an ATM?”

  “No, we just wanted to patch some of the rust spots, and freshen up the paint.”

  “Go right ahead. I’ll talk to you later on, Topper.”

  “Bye, Boss.”

  I turned to John. “Topper and the boys are on the case. He’s going to print out a new pipe. Says it should be done by dark.”

  John spoke up. “You’re giving Nikki the Arnold show?”

  “It’s something everyone should see, don’t you think?”

  “You’re a sick man, Charlie Brown.”

  “When do they play that one, Mardi Gras?”

  “Do you think your buddy will be able to rope this fellow into meeting to get his part?”

  “Don’t know if Steve can pull it off or not. This guy is squirrellier than forty acres of oaks.”

  “How do you know Steve?”

  “I was the medic in his unit for one tour.”

  “Oh. He pretty squared away, then?”

  “When everybody else was drinking up their paycheck, Steve was saving for his own machine shop. Doesn’t get a lot more squared away than that.”

  “He’s gonna need to pass Allowable Contact before this is over, isn’t he?”

  “More than likely. I don’t think that will be an issue.”

  “I gotta trust you. You and Jane have brought in good people so far.”

  “Jane more than me, I think.”

  “Her folks are motivated. Getting your sick relative patched up is a big deal.”

  “What precisely are you saying, Robert?”

  “Oops, what did I stumble into?”

  “You gave me an idea. I’m not sure we can make it work, but if we can it would be a good thing.”

  “Whatever it is, I’m gonna get blamed for it, so you might as well tell me.”

  “Give me a day or two to check some things out.”

  I saw a business card laying on the end table. “What’s this?”

  “That fella’s card from the other night.”

  “Electronic and Semiconductor Research. Sounds like a one man shop, but he could come in handy if we go for citizenship.”