Discovering Alien Technology Part Two
Copyright© 2026 by GMet
Chapter 1
It was Monday, August fifth, and the entire Addler-Owens team was congregated at the observation point near the runway at Cape Canaveral for the first test flight of AddlerOne. AddlerTwo had already flown out over the ocean as we wanted a rescue ship handy if AddlerOne got in trouble, but we did that test in relative obscurity. It was positioned just off the runway, idling outside the hanger in case it was needed.
In the month after we flew down from Dryden, we had produced a few more pilot robots with P designations in front of their numbers. So P1 and P2 were on the bridge of AddlerOne while P3 and P4 were in the AddlerTwo cockpit, waiting for instructions from me via a headset radio, and via Base through my sub-vocalization with him. All testing was finally completed and we had certifications of flight worthiness from both NASA and CSA for both ships. It had been a grueling month for all with everyone’s patience tested on all sides.
Along with our crew, we had a bunch of NASA and CSA people watching as well as politicians and representatives from other space agencies from around the world. Reece, along with the NASA and CSA media coordinators, were keeping them away from dad and I, with the ladies as a further buffer between us and them. Dad and I had our laptops open along with a couple monitors each, showing the overall bridge, the readings the pilots had of all the gauges, and the six exterior cameras to show the view from the front, back, top and bottom and the two sides of the ship. There were monitors for the crowd to see the exterior views of the ship as well as views from the ground and from the fighter jets acting as support aircraft. We knew we were much faster than those jets after AddlerTwo’s first test flight, so they were split up along the first route and then would turn around and get in position for the return flight. The NASA flight coordinator, Jeff Nelson, was in their control room and in my ear of my headset.
“Addler Control, this is NASA control, we show green across the board, what is the status of AddlerOne?” Asked Jeff.
“NASA control, this is Addler Control, AddlerOne is also green across the board and in position, we are a go for takeoff,” I replied after quickly checking with Base sub-vocally, P1 and P2 on the second channel and looking at all of the gauges on the screen.
“Acknowledged, Addler Control, commencing countdown from T minus sixty seconds,” Jeff responded as another screen flashed the numbers decreasing from 60 for all to see.
“P1 and P2, start the main thrust sequence when the countdown hits zero please,” I stated for the record. “Main AIPS at seventy percent with all course correction AIPS at standby to help with the lift and any course corrections. Throttle down to thirty percent when you reach 50,000 ft altitude over the ocean.”
“Addler Control, this is P1, acknowledged and ready to lift off and follow course one as specified,” P1 responded on the open channel.
Our first course was to take off, bank towards the east to quickly get over the ocean and then flying between the Bahamas and Bermuda towards the African continent. After a minute at 70% to get to correct altitude, AddlerOne would throttle back to 30% for another two minutes before turning around and heading back. It would land for a quick check before a second run would get the craft up to 70,000 ft altitude and stay at 80% throttle as they continued to travel around the world. That course was different as we would have it dip down south to cross Africa in the middle and continue on from there, avoiding mainland China, India as well as Australia as we flew between them. The countdown continued as everyone scanned their screens and Base monitored everything faster than the humans could.
“Three, Two, One, we have ignition,” droned the man in the control room.
A long flume of ions exited the back of AddlerOne as the brakes were released and it started rolling. It quickly picked up speed and lifted off the ground only half way down the 15,000 ft runway. As it took off from the Northwest to the Southeast, it banked to the left using the smaller thrusters in unison to alter the direction to directly east, still climbing fast.
“AddlerOne has altered direction to the east and climbing past 30,000 ft,” P2 announced.
A few seconds later it was out of sight but we watched the cameras as it blew by two of the jets as if they were standing still.
“Chase One, AddlerOne just blew by us,” the pilot announced. “From what little we saw of it, it looked good.”
“Acknowledged,” Jeff said dryly.
“Altitude 50,000 ft, reducing thrust to 30%, all systems green,” P2 announced a few seconds later.
“Acknowledged,” I said.
“T+30 seconds, all systems green, AddlerOne is approaching the African coast,” the NASA voice spoke up next.
“Let’s start the turn now rather than over the Indian ocean,” I suggested.
“NASA control concurs,” Jeff quickly added.
“P1, start your 180% bank, slowing as necessary,” I commanded.
“AddlerOne acknowledges and is commencing turn to the south, slowing down to 15% thrust and activating other AIPS to assist,” P1 spoke up.
“Addler Control acknowledges,” I replied.
The chase jets, keeping to the north, showed the quick turn of AddlerOne, much smoother than my first couple of times in the simulator.
“AddlerOne heading west, thrust back up to 30%, altitude 50,000 ft and all systems green,” P2 stated.
“Addler Control acknowledges,” I said.
“NASA Control acknowledges,” Jeff added.
The chase jets turned and were quickly lost to sight in the back cameras of AddlerOne.
“AddlerOne aligning with the runway from the southeast,” P2 announced. “Slowing thrust to 5%, estimate landing in one minute.”
“Addler control acknowledges,” I said.
“NASA control acknowledges,” Jeff stated.
“Firing front AIPS, slowing speed, lowering landing gear,” P2 stated. “Landing in thirty seconds. All systems green.”
“Acknowledged,” I stated.
“Landing gear down and locked, correcting course, altitude 10,000ft,” P2 informed us.
“Acknowledged,” I responded.
We saw the emergency equipment waiting just off the runway in case something happened.
“Applying further front thrust, slowing to 300 mph, altitude 1,000 ft,” P2 spoke up.
“Acknowledged,” I replied.
We all watched as it came into view, it’s nose slightly up as the front AIPS was firing ions out while the back AIPS was doing the same. The side AIPS were firing on and off to correct the course as it lined up with the runway.
“Speed 250, altitude 500 ft, 400, 300, 200, over the runway, 100, touchdown,” P2 informed us.
“Firing front AIPS, back AIPS at a half percent, slowing to 150, 100, stopped,” P1 said. “AddlerOne has landed, all systems green, first flight completed.”
“Acknowledged and excellent work everyone,” I spoked up.
“Congratulations AddlerOne and the entire team,” Jeff added.
“Thank you,” P1 and P2 said in unison, making everyone chuckle.
“Alright, this is Addler control,” I spoke after a few seconds. “AddlerOne, please proceed to the hanger for a quick inspection before we commence our second run.”
“This is AddlerOne, we acknowledge and are commencing our turn to the hanger,” P2 responded.
“I’ll go and supervise the inspection while you and the ladies deal with them,” dad said, angling his head towards the politicians.
“Coward,” I mumbled to him, making him grin back at me.
I turned towards the ladies who were beaming at me.
“Congratulations Ben,” Riley said, giving me a hug and a kiss.
“Thanks dear,” I said with a smile.
I received the same from the moms before Reece pulled me to front of the observation stand.
“Hello everyone, as you can see, we’ve just completed the first test flight of the AddlerOne,” Reese said with a smile. “Addler Enterprises would like to thank NASA and the CSA for all their help getting to this stage. I’ll let Ben Addler discuss the flight.”
I spoke up, “The flight was a success; we took off on our own power, banked east, climbed to 50,000 ft, flew almost to Africa, slowed, turned around and came back to land under our power, using the AIPS to slow the craft down on it’s own without having to flip the craft over to use the back AIPS as a brake. All systems were green the entire flight and we’re commencing a short inspection of AddlerOne before we commence the second flight, this time to 70,000 ft and around the world once. Please relax and get yourself something to drink or eat as it will be between a half hour and an hour before we go again.”
“How fast did it go?” someone asked in a shout.
“We only used thirty percent of the thrust available and got to the African coast in about a minute so let’s say 4,000 miles a minute or 240,000 miles an hour,” I said. “I’m pretty sure that’s a new record and we’ll break that in the next run.”
“So, what you’ve claimed that the moon is an hour away is a true statement,” marveled another.
“Approximately, once we’re out of orbit and pointed in the right direction,” I responded. “We will need a minute to get out of the atmosphere, a few minutes to get to the right location to commence the flight to the moon. We’ll probably do that flight sometime this month after we do a few earth to orbit flights, a few just orbiting the earth and then shorter space flights. This is all predicated on having green results after each test flight.”
“Amazing,” was the response.
“Will you land on the moon with AddlerOne?” asked another.
“No, it will orbit the moon, take detailed scans of the surface but will not land,” I answered. “Both AddlerOne and AddlerTwo do not carry landing craft or vehicles to drive on the moon. We built them to test out the Addler Ion Propulsion Systems and our design concepts and so far so good. AddlerThree will be built as a much bigger space craft and will either have AIPS situated to lift or lower itself onto the moon or will carry a craft to fly down to the moon.”
“How long before that will be built?” the Canadian Prime Minister asked.
“We have the designs finished, though they might need a few tweaks after these test runs, then we need to find a base of operations close to a long runway to build and test it properly,” I responded. “I will say that the runway length needed is shorter than we all assumed after these test flights. I hope to see the AddlerThree built before the end of the year and others at the same time or shortly after that.”
“So, you might land on the moon in January of 2026?” the prime minister continued.
“Perhaps, we’d have to work out a lot of details in the meantime,” I responded. “We’re also pondering a space station in the coming year to launch directly from there to wherever we or others want to go. Strictly space ships can be designed a bit differently than atmospheric to space ships. There are a lot of moving parts in play.”
“And Mars?” asked someone else.
“Theoretically, it can be visited early next year as well, but would take about a week to reach,” I answered. “I’m afraid that’s all the time I have, I’d like to review AddlerOne prior to the next flight. Reece can take your questions and I can answer them later if she cannot provide the answers right away.”
I smiled and left the stand, with Riley beside me as we walked over to the AddlerOne.
“How you doing?” I asked her.
“Good, how about you?” she inquired.
“So far so good,” I replied. “You look gorgeous by the way.”
“Thank you, you look handsome,” she responded with a grin.
“Thank you,” I said with a grin. “So, no issues on the first flight, and I don’t anticipate any ship issues with the next one.”
“Hopefully no political issues in the South Pacific or the Indian Ocean,” Riley stated. “After this flight, maybe we’ll get traction on a new base of operations from one of the two governments.”
“If not, we will need to move on with another location while building the space station to remove countries from the equation,” I told her.
“It appears so,” she agreed as we approached the group around the ship.
“So, how is it going?” I asked dad as I watched the robots and humans surrounding the ship, looking at everything.
“So far no issues found,” dad replied as the head tech from NASA nodded in agreement.
“Almost no Addlerium depletion on the short flight, all readings are nominal and no wear to the coating or the tires so we’re just inspecting the AIPS thrusters from the outside and then we’re done,” the man stated. “Your pilots are doing the same inside and checking on any leaks or stress issues and we should be good in another fifteen minutes.”
“Excellent, I’ll leave you to it and we’ll get ready for the second flight,” I responded and had dad and Riley follow me back to the observation stand.
“They all seem to make work for themselves,” dad remarked after we were out of hearing range.
“It’s good to have a standardized way of doing things but it certainly borders on obsessive and overkill,” I agreed. “We’ll have to adopt some of their procedures that we agree are beneficial.”
“And we’ll have to hire a team to handle any testing and overall project management as soon as we have a base of operations,” Riley added. “I’m getting tired of living out of a suitcase as is everyone else.”
Everyone had gone back and forth to Dryden a couple times over the last month but we all missed being at home and in our own beds and houses.
“We will head back at the end of next week after we do a few space flights and then fly to the moon and orbit,” I told her. “I need to start the build of Three, a few cargo ship Fours and some of the smaller Fives. Once we have a couple Fours, we can carry the space station modules up and start that build at L1 or L2.”
“And here we all hoped being down here in Florida would slow you down,” dad said, shaking his head.
“It has, I’d have one of them already built if we had the base ready,” I told him.
We took the stairs up and I informed Jeff about the fifteen minutes until taxiing back onto the runway.
“Affirmative, Addler Control, we’ll be ready,” Jeff replied. “Team, second launch in fifteen minutes.”
A big fifteen minutes appeared on the monitor for the countdown and everyone found their seats while dad and I, with Riley watching, got set up again. This time we wouldn’t have chase jets but would monitor the flight using satellites and the feedback from the onboard telemetry and cameras. NASA put out the flight plan to the world but few planes would be impacted after we climbed to 70,000 feet. We had a no-flight zone for the area around the Cape for the next hour for the takeoff, turn to the east and then the landing.
The time went by quickly as they finished their inspection and P1 and P2 got the AddlerOne into position at the end of the runway. We went through the same checks and the one-minute countdown before P1 took off, again at seventy percent thrust. A quick turn to the east at 30% thrust and then we powered up to eighty percent thrust as we quickly pushed up to 70,000 feet and stayed at that altitude and thrust.
“AddlerOne is at 80% thrust with altitude of 70,000 ft with green systems across the board,” P2 announced.
“Acknowledged, AddlerOne,” I replied. “Alter direction as necessary to pass between Asia and Australia as per our course projection for this test.”
“Affirmative, Addler Control,” P2 acknowledged. “Altering course to the south now. Crossing over Africa at the Western Sahara Desert in a southeast heading.”
“Acknowledged, AddlerOne,” I again replied. “I have green on the guidance and collision avoidance systems. NASA control, are there any issues via satellite at this time?”
“Addler Control, this is NASA control, we see no issues on all satellites monitoring the route at this time,” Jeff informed me.
“Acknowledged, NASA control,” I responded.
A half a minute later, P2, spoke, “AddlerOne has just passed over the east coast of Africa over Kenya and is proceeding east to cross over Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines. All systems are green.”
“Acknowledged, AddlerOne,” I replied.
“How fast will it do the entire circumference?” dad asked.
“Six and a quarter minutes,” I told him.
“Wow, that’s really fast,” he said.
I nodded and grinned at him.
“We have bogies lifting off from Asia,” P2 informed us.
“Acknowledged,” I said. “Take evasive action if necessary but you should outrun any plane or missile. NASA control, what do you have?”
“Addler Control, we have launches from North Korea as well as China,” Jeff informed everyone. “Six Missiles from North Korea and a flight of ten jets from China.”
‘Base, any cause for concern?” I subvocalized.
‘Less than a one percent chance either can intercept,’ Base replied.
‘Increase altitude and speed to avoid?’ I suggested.
‘Yes, it will show the capabilities to the world,’ he agreed.
“NASA Control and AddlerOne, Addler Control is suggesting climbing to 85,000 ft and increase thrust to 90%,” I said.
“NASA Control concurs,” Jeff replied.
“AddlerOne concurs and is performing the climb as the thrust is being increased,” P2 stated.
A few seconds later he let us know, “Addler Control, AddlerOne is now at 85,000 ft and thrust is at 90%. Collision avoidance is now green. All systems are green. Starting our pass over Indonesia now.”
We all waited as the NASA satellite images showed the AddlerOne, the Chinese planes and North Korean missiles converging east of the Philippines. A half minute later and the AddlerOne continued eastward while the Chinese jets had to turn around and scatter to avoid the missiles.
“This is AddlerOne, all missiles and jets are behind us with no need for course corrections as they could not reach the altitude required,” P2 informed everyone. We are passing over Guam and heading towards North America.”
“Acknowledged AddlerOne, good work,” I replied.
They soon passed Hawaii and then took another minute or two to cross the rest of the Pacific at Baja Peninsula and then Mexico. It was over the Gulf of Mexico for a half minute as they lowered their speed and altitude. Seven minutes after taking off, AddlerOne landed on the runway with no issues.
“AddlerOne has landed with no issues and is pulling off the runway to the hanger,” P2 stated the obvious.
“Addler Control acknowledges and congratulates everyone on a successful test of AddlerOne and the AIPS,” I said.
“NASA Control acknowledges and also congratulates everyone involved,” Jeff added. “This is NASA Control signing off.”
“Addler Control signing off,” I stated.
“AddlerOne signing off,” P2 was the last one to talk.
Dad and I shook hands and then hugged our ladies before I moved to the podium.
“We had another successful test flight, this time circumnavigating the earth in seven minutes from take-off to landing,” I announced. “We flew at 70,000 ft until we had to avoid traffic around the east coast of the Philippines where we sped up and rose to 85,000 ft. At no time was there any issues and all systems were green. This concludes our flights for today. We will do extensive inspection of the craft and then start our space flight testing soon. Thank you for coming to see our tests and we’ll keep everyone in the loop on the timetable for next flights. Have a good day.”
I avoided all the questions by simply waving and walking away, with the team joining me as we left the observation stand. Reece was listening to her phone and caught up to me at the bottom of the steps.
“Ben, the Canadian Prime Minister and the CSA wishes a meeting today before he goes back up north,” Reece informed me. “Donna is saying that it is to discuss a base in Canada in detail.”
I took a breath to calm down as it had been a month of talking and little results on a base location anywhere.
“Fine, but it better result in something or we go on our own,” I threatened, knowing Donna could hear my answer, as Reece and I had planned.
She spoke softly into the phone and then hung up.
“Ten minutes in one of the conference rooms inside,” Reece informed everyone.
We changed directions a tad from the parking lot to the back of the building and found the room. Everyone sat down on one of the long sides of the table and just had to wait a couple of minutes before the Prime Minister, his small entourage and several CSA people came in and sat down. Donna and Reece made the introductions on both sides and then we got down to business.
“Ben, I’m aware that negotiations for a permanent base for your space operations have been slow but after your test flights today, I feel we need to proceed with supporting your plan to expand the Dryden airport facility by lengthening the runway and adding several buildings for your space ship building, testing and space flights.”
Prime Minister, that is good news,” I replied. “I hope this means immediately and not in normal government project timing.”
He smiled and replied, “I’ve been made aware of the accelerated timing that you work under and both the Federal government and the CSA will ensure that the red tape and other normal obstacles to a swift resolution are kept to a minimum. Provincial and the town’s approval will also be needed and my team will work on that as soon as we get back home. The politicians will want to have their name associated with the first Space port facility in the world so as long as it doesn’t cause them any financial hardship, I’m sure they will jump at the chance to come aboard.”
“So, I fund the expansion and put up the buildings, you get all the authorizations and minimize the red tape, and we can start flying out of there with no issues as soon as the runway is ready?” I asked.
Donna spoke up, “The control tower of the airport will have to be upgraded to a control building as we will have to install new radar and flight control systems to handle all of your atmospheric and space flights. Additional parking and other buildings may be necessary as flights increase. Extra emergency equipment will be needed and I’m sure you’re going to put up a maintenance hanger for your space ships as well the various buildings needed to build all your ships. The land will have to be purchased and deeded over to the airport and you would lease the land from the airport.”
“So, I’m supposed to buy the land, and then give it to you to charge me to build on it?” I asked. “This is starting to sound like I should just buy my own land and put up my own facility to run myself.”
“I think you will find that getting approval for such an undertaking will be a much longer process,” Donna stated.
I stared at her and then looked at the Prime Minister who just looked back at me without commenting.
I turned to my parents and said, “Looks like we go with the next proposal.”
Mom sighed and nodded while dad frowned.
“You realize that you just lost millions or even billions in revenue,” dad told them. “Hundreds of jobs created to manage a space port, taxes on our space flight revenue, access to space, recognition that Addler Enterprises was a Canadian company, all of it gone with one sentence.”
I stood up as did my team.
“Hold up everyone,” Jean Giguere spoke up. “This is too important for everyone to just walk away. Both sides are playing hardball when compromise will get us to where both sides want to be. Canada wants and needs Addler Enterprises to have a base in Canada. Addler wants a base in Canada but doesn’t necessarily need a base in Canada. They are willing to put up their own base and it is probably a better solution than trying to expand the Dryden Airport. They are the only one with ties to the Dryden area so it’s a familiar and close place for them. Addler will need bases around the world so rather than them just flying out of the US, lets have one of their bases. Let’s be part of the solution and partner with them now and hopefully in the future.”
The Prime Minister looked at Jean and then at us before speaking, “Where would you put a base if not in Dryden?”
“Away from any major population to avoid noise and flyover complaints,” I responded. “It would still need road access and at least a town fairly close for supplies and employees for the airport and space port. A large, flat piece of land with little forests or mountains nearby if possible. Room to grow and control of how we laid out the base would be needed, as long as it meets regulations and all building codes of course. Some security and perhaps restrictions on access may be needed to stop unwanted incursions.”
“All valid points but it doesn’t tell me where,” he commented. “Anywhere we put it will reap the benefits financially and economically. It’s a political coup for some region that we have to manage, while also not showing favouritism or spending too much tax dollars. Then we have to actually find enough land for your airport and have air clearance all around it. I assume you have several places already picked out as potential sites.”
“Yes, we have another one in Northern Ontario, and then one in each Western province, so Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta. We could even do one in the territories but those are long shots with supply and access issues.”
“How about in the east?” the Prime Minister asked. “Newfoundland and Labrador is right on the Atlantic coast so flights can take off over the coast with little disruption to others.”
“True, we’ll have to explore that further but the terrain might be a bit rough,” I said. “Let’s go back to Dryden. Here is our offer. Addler buys the land beside the runway to the north with the Federal Government helping with the red tape to expedite the purchase and all permits. We build a separate runway close to the current one but with enough space to put up all your buildings between the runways. We pay for all of your buildings that will be needed to service the runway, like the new control tower, a CSA building and the emergency response building. The town, the province, or the country can own the land under the buildings as well as the buildings themselves.”
“Good so far,” Donna said.
Everyone looked at her and she blushed.
“That is more than fair,” Jean stated, looking over at the Prime Minister.
“Yes it is,” he agreed.
“I thought so,” I said dryly. “On the other side of the runway, away from the airport, Addler will have all their buildings built. Addler owns that land, the buildings and the runway. We will agree to the runway being used in emergencies but it’s normal sole use is for the testing and then the actual flights of our space craft. The new tower and CSA will control the air traffic for all aircraft, both civilian and Addler owned. Schedules will be given to the CSA on our flights, whether they be test flights or otherwise, so that the normal air traffic is properly warned. In rare cases, if we had unscheduled flights, we would warn the CSA and expect cooperation and coordination to fit it in, especially if it is an emergency rescue or emergency landing. The Addler Spaceport would be taxable revenue for the locals as well as the provincial and Federal governments, though at a rate we agree on as we will be providing employment opportunities and new revenue for all.”
Both the Prime Minister and Jean glared at Donna and she wisely kept quiet.
The Prime Minister spoke, “At a first glance, I think that everything you are proposing is doable and agreeable, but I will need to get the Ontario Government and the Dryden Airport, which is owned by the city of Dryden, to agree. My team, as well as the CSA, will discuss this proposal on the way back to Ottawa and in the coming days. We will not delay on this as we know you will move on if it takes too long. We want you in Canada and want to partner with you.”
“Excellent, we will write up this proposal and get it to you via email this morning so you can use it in your discussions,” I replied. “Thank you for coming here to see our test flights and for working with us to establish the world’s first spaceport in Canada.”
We stood up and shook hands and I did the same with Jean and the others. Each team left the conference room and the Canadian group headed to their vehicles.
“That went better than expected,” mom said as we walked to the hanger.
“Yes, you’ve turned out to be a good negotiator,” dad agreed.
I shrugged and replied, “We pay a bit more but have control of our spaceport while not having to set up a flight control team yet. In a year, we’ll be in our space station and control off world flights from there. At least we don’t have to move for a bit.”
“And that is a good thing!” Riley spoke up.
We all laughed at that as we watched the two space ships being pushed into the hanger. Dad and I coordinated with the NASA and CSA team as well as P1 through P4 robots on inspection of AddlerOne and then we left for the hotel. We changed and congregated in our suite’s living room to discuss next steps.