For those of you who keep up with the short story anthologies, you should recognize this...
Chapter 3
Antigua
Jethro couldn't help but grin as he stretched. It was
Oh dark something on Christmas day on Antigua. Bast had woke him up with a
special Christmas present. "Are we really doing this?" he asked, eyes
wide before a yawn escaped him
"This gift is more for you than them in many
ways," Captain Sprite stated.
"I know ma'am. Thank you. I just can't thank you
enough for putting this together," he said. "I'm still in wonder at
the how," he said.
"Bandwidth. The image will be small. You'll have
a limited frame rate. Consider this an experiment," Enki stated. She
didn't mention that Admiral Irons and others sometimes used the ability to
attend events in other star systems. Usually the captain managed the bot and it
was mostly a facade.
Jethro stretched again and rolled his neck.
"Nervous?" Captain Sprite asked.
"A bit. I think I need to pee again."
"Too late," Captain Sprite said maliciously.
"You'll have to hold it until we're done."
"Sadist," Jethro laughed.
Bast nodded, smiling and flicking her ears in humor.
"Remember chief, we have limited bandwidth. I'll
do what I can," Enki stated.
"Thank you for doing it at all."
"No problem chief. Consider it a Christmas gift
to you and your family. Keep it short."
"Roger that."
"And chief?"
"Ma'am?"
"Merry Christmas," she said as an icon
blinked. "Oops! They've put the chip in, here we go!" she said as
Jethro came to attention.
He saw an image of the living room appear. It was
tiny, but Bast took it and used her files to create a virtual walk around of it
for him on his HUD. Icons appeared placing the various people in the room based
on the visual image.
"Hey," he said dumbly, waving his hand.
One of White's kittens waved back at him.
"It's just a hologram dear," White said.
He smiled slightly and knelt. "Well hello, you
must be one of White's brood..."
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