Mitchell's Revenge

Sibil’s atelier was a short walk from her apartment in Covington. She re-organised the space to deal with the ballroom costumes. Grabb made a home for himself in the spare room at the atelier. It had a small kitchenette where he could make breakfast and a separate bathroom that was just big enough. Sibil had another key made for him so that he could come and go as he wished.

Grabb’s biggest problem was finding a space with a timber floor where he could practice his choreography. As he hadn’t competed in many years he knew that he had to practice to improve his skills. If he didn’t, it would be immediately obvious to Natasha who he was, even with a disguise. He knew that as the director of the arena she would put in an appearance at the championship over the course of the five day event. And she was a dancer herself. She would not be able to stay away.

Tim came to Grabb’s rescue. He offered the use of an empty warehouse owned by Universal Starship Enterprises. The floor was pitted and slippery in places, but it would do. He could listen to music through his headset and practice the steps on his own until he was confident again. Then he would somehow have to persuade Lucy to join him for at least a few sessions. She would have to come down to the planet to be fitted for her costume before they travelled to Tiberion.

It took Sibil some time to grasp exactly what she had to do with the costumes. It wasn’t until Grabb found some recent vid link footage of a competition on Menageron that Sibil began to understand what he meant. She had never seen ballroom dancing before. She became immediately fascinated with the holographic projections surrounding the dancers and the way they moved. She decided it was very graceful when it was done well.

She and Grabb researched together how to make the costumes. Understanding the programming that would project Sibil’s designs was their greatest challenge. The technology was very new. And Grabb worried about how he would deal with the changing patterns for each dance whilst he was on the floor.

As far as the design was concerned, Grabb’s experience as a competitor gave Sibil a good background for what worked on the dance floor. She thought long and hard about what would suit Lucy best without attracting too much attention. The last thing Grabb needed was for anybody to remember that he and Lucy had even been there.

They decided to make Grabb’s costume first. It was a standard design used by all the male partners. Grabb was available to be fitted for the lycra bodysuit between practice sessions and Sibil made good time with it. The programming was another matter. She was not a programmer. Neither was Grabb. The project ground to a halt.

That evening Sibil sat in the apartment sipping a drink while she waited for Tim to come home. The costume project had kept her well occupied up until now. She remembered why she was doing it and tears began to trickle down her face. She thought about Anja and how tall she must be getting. She would no longer be the little girl who was stolen from her twelve months ago.

The door chimed as Tim came in. He kissed his wife, then poured himself a drink and sat next to Sibil on the sofa. He gently touched her cheek to wipe away the tears. She smiled weakly at him.

“We’ve hit a bit of a roadblock,” she said.

“What do you mean,” he asked, looking concerned.

“I’ve got Grabb’s lycra suit made with the fine wiring in it,” she said. “It fits perfectly and he’s comfortable in it. But neither of us knows how to do the programming that creates the hologram. Nor can we find any instructions anywhere that would help us. It’s like some secret society of costume designers, playing things close to their chests. So we’re stuck. And if we don’t use the current technology Grabb and Lucy’ll be a dead giveaway at the championship.”

Tim took a large swallow of his drink. He leaned back on the sofa and put his feet up on the ottoman.

“I could lend you Matt Hiljainen from Mitchell’s Revenge if you like,” he suggested.

“Don’t you need him to travel with Jake?”

“No, not necessarily. Bolter Carthigan’s joining the crew to help with fixing the two outstanding FTL drives. So I could release Matt if you think it would help. He’s an excellent programmer. If anyone can figure it out, Matt can.”

“From what I’ve heard from Grabb, it would seem that Bolter’s the one that we want,” said Sibil. Tim screwed up his face.

“I’m afraid that the cost involved in repairing faulty ships far outweighs making a ballroom costume,” he said gently. “Matt’s the best I can do under the circumstances.”

“Alright,” Sibil sighed. “An aeronautical programmer is better than no programmer at all. Let’s give it a try. Ask him to come planet side as soon as possible.” She took a gulp of her drink. She looked at her husband. “Thank you.”

“If Anja is returning with the Orlovs she won’t be the little girl we knew,” mused Tim aloud.

“Funny you should say that. I was thinking the exact same thing just before you came home.”

“If she’s survived this long she will have grown up in all sorts of ways. Not just physically. I really hope we’ve understood all this correctly. That we’re on the right track.”

“So what if we’re not? At least we’re making a plan. Not sitting on our hands waiting for something to happen.” She chuckled. “And the worst that can happen if we’ve misunderstood is that I have a new design career in the obscure sport of ballroom dancing, and Lucy learns to dance.”

Tim laughed. “I feel sorry for Grabb on that score. He’s going to have a tough time getting Lucy to learn anything with him!”

Sibil laughed too. They sat comfortably together on the sofa watching the evening creep over the city below them.