Tales From the Hunter Legacy Universe 1: Jane's Christmas Read Online Free

crystals change
shape to match the energy of our word, and our water becomes love, and we drink
love." I sipped from the glass, and so did everyone else.
    "What do you call your
champagne?" asked BA, and everyone laughed.
    I put down my water glass, and picked up my
champagne flute. Everyone did the same.
    "Absent friends," I toasted, took
a mouth full of the bubbly liquid, and swallowed.
    Again, everyone followed my gesture with
the glass, and drank.
    "Jane?" I said.
    "Jon?" she said through ship
coms.
    "Will you have the last word before we
eat please?"
    "If I must."
    "You must."
    "Two, Four, Six, Eight, Bog in, don’t
wait."
    Everyone laughed, and we began heaping food
on our plates.
    Somewhere during the meal, Angel plopped
down on my lap. She and Nut had been fed turkey and chicken as well, but even
though her bowl was empty, she seemed to think what was on my plate should be
in her bowl as well. I idly wondered what Jeeves had been feeding her of late,
since I thought she only ate tuna. Maybe it was eating with Nut changing her
preferences. At one point I noticed Nut on Grace's lap as well, and she was
having the same battle as I was getting food into her mouth past waving paws.
The twins offering Angel titbits wasn’t helping.
    Main course morphed into dessert, with the
table now loaded down with traditional Christmas pudding, brandy butter,
Australian style full whipped cream, and a big assortment of cakes and other sweet
things.
    Coffee followed for everyone except me, and
Jeeves brought me a ginger ale instead.
    I sat there listening to the conversations
around the table. I felt content. Happy even. My first December 25th away from
home, and I’d lucked out with an incredibly wonderful group of people to spend
it with.
    "Jon?" came through my PC.
    "Yes Jane?" I sub-vocalized.
    "When everyone has finished eating,
ask them to come next door, and settle in the Rec Room."
    "What's next?"
    "Come in and find out."
    I chuckled quietly to myself.
    It was midafternoon now, and I waited while
people finished up eating. But Annabelle beat me to making the next
announcement. She rose, and talk died.
    "Jon, thank you for this wonderful
meal. It's been years since most of us have celebrated Christmas like
this." There were nods from almost everyone. "But you could have
simply told us there was a feast being prepared for us, and we would have
stayed out of the way." There were a number of grins now. "Anyway,
could everyone raise their glasses please?"
    I could see where this was going.
    "Don’t toast me," I said
hurriedly. "None of this is my doing."
    I don’t think anyone believed me.
    "Really. I was as much in the dark
about what was going on as everyone else."
    "So who organized all this?"
asked BA.
    "Santa," came from ship coms.
    "To Santa," toasted Annabelle.
    Everyone raised their glasses, parroted the
words, and drank.
    I rose.
    "If everyone is finished eating, Jane
has suggested moving into more comfortable chairs next door."
    I led them through.

Six
     
    Comfortably ensconced in a lounge chair,
Angel jumped up onto my lap, curled up, and went to sleep. Jeeves filled up my
ginger ale glass. Between too much food, several glasses of champagne, and
brandy butter, I was quite ready for an afternoon nap as well.
    When everyone was seated, Jane entered,
causing quite a stir.
    She was dressed up in the red costume she'd
tried to get me to wear.
    She had long white whiskers.
    She had a red nose.
    She was carrying a large sack.
    Behind her trooped in a dozen little people
dressed mainly in green.
    "Are those elves?" asked Alana.
    "Gee I hope so," said Amanda with
a laugh. "If they're not, it means I'm a lot drunker than I think I
am."
    We all laughed.
    "Small cargo droids," said Jane
through my PC.
    The elves went over to the larger of the
packages.
    "Santa left a few gifts," said
Jane.
    "Santa?" asked Agatha.
    The only part of the walls which wasn’t
draped, popped up a screen. We watched a vid of a sleigh being pulled by