Earth Ship Protectress: Book Two in the Freddy Anderson Chronicles Read Free

The voice said, “Rise, and get on with it. Blue, you will report to me at the end of this session. Green, you will protect this creature with your life. If anything happens to it, all three of you will answer to my displeasure.”
    Blue stood up saying, “Yes, Majesty. As you wish, Majesty.”
    I sensed that the disembodied voice was not there anymore.
    Gray let out a telepathic sigh. “I wish I could sense him. It is very unnerving to have him talk only inches from my receptors.”
    Green said, “He visits here often. We are use to it.”
    Blue said, “Go slowly, Green. Do not harm the creature.”

Chapter 3Party Time

    A fter breakfast I moved all the supplies inside my workshop and started correcting my design for the shuttle. I came out four nights later, around two in the morning. The watch came out and walked me inside. I cleaned up and went to bed.
    The next morning I checked in with Shop to make sure things were coming along well and then told Home I would be outside most of the day, getting some rest and making plans. It was very busy inside my workshop. I had made several robots and attached them into the shop computer for control. I needed some things completed by these new robots before I could go any further.
    The idea of making robots was a good one. At first, it was frustratingly slow, but after I created the first three or four, they did the work I would do and did it better. After that, every robot I made sped up the processes. I made the robots adjustable so that they could accomplish a lot of things. My main shop computer is good enough to run about five hundred robots at a time, all doing different tasks. With them receiving orders from her, I can change the orders, and she can stop the work when she recognizes a design problem. She is actually my best work. She can take in anything I say or do and reason out exactly what I need. That programming took me years to develop, but I started it while I was in college. Home was my first attempt at the design, and it could do more than almost any computer in the world. Shop was the next level, and it runs rings around Home. Luckily, there’s no animosity between computers, just facts and programming. I thought about making a computer based on an organic brain, but a bad feeling came over me, and I quickly decided that I could do without it.
    I spent the rest of the day talking with the lieutenant, making decisions on a new cook, inventing, talking to Becky on the cell phone, and just resting. I was going to go for a swim, but it was getting very cold outside.
    The routine of working and resting went on for the next two months. There were breaks for installing a power and scanner system at the radar site and at the navy base. In addition, we installed a power source in one of the helicopters. They’ve been running it nearly constantly for a month, and the power still reads full.
    One day I was sitting at my workbench in the shop, reading a letter from Becky for the umpteenth time. I had been trying to figure out why everyone was so sad. Their emotions were depressing me, and this wasn’t like them. Something Becky had written broke through my work tenaciousness and into my consciousness.
    Dear Freddy,
    I miss you, and I hope you will come see me soon. At least for Christmas.
    “Shop?”
    “ Yes, Fr eddy?”
    “ What date is it?”
    “ Decembe r 10.”
    I thought about that and realized that I hadn’t seen a tree, decorations, or anything. Time to close up shop for a while. I didn’t want to miss Christmas. I needed to go shopping, get presents, and see some shows. I sat for a minute longer, thinking out loud. “My family had traditions at Christmas that I think I should continue.”
    “ That sounds good, Freddy. I have enough to keep me working through this time next month. Go have some fun, and get some rest.”
    “ Good idea, Shop, and thanks.”
    I left the shop and was met by the commander. Susan had received her promotion and was now a