Chapter 9: Space our last frontier

Once the speed neared light the lid to the little black box was lifted. The ship rose and felt like it was going over the Milky Way instead of through it. Stars were flashing by reminding John and Jenny of being back on earth watching falling stars from the sky on a clear night.

Willy had brought his box of Legos. The kids had them over in the corner and were having a ball. They would put something together then look at the screen for a minute.

Ben and Chuck went over to Iceman (Bill Humphreys) and asked, “Sir any idea how fast we are going?”

“No. Patricia do you have any idea how fast we are going?” Iceman asked.

“I’ve done a triangulation on many of the stars we are passing, and it appears we are moving at about 15,000 light years per hour. We should be at our destination in 5.93 hours sir.”

John looked at the faces around the control room. Some had mouths open, some had big eyes. Even the kids had stopped and looked at the screen in respect for something awe-inspiring, “We will be there before midnight our time.” John picked up the mic next to his chair, “Attention, Patricia has estimated our speed of travel to be 15,000 light years per hour. Our time to Gunnex is estimated to be 5.93 hours. This should put us in site of the planet just before eleven PM our time. Thank you!”

Iceman stood up, “I ask permission to move around Sir.”

“You okay?” John asked.

“Little stiff. More just overwhelmed. My entire flying life has been to do something no one else has done. We all joke about flying with our hair on fire. I can’t even compute MPH, it would be beyond my comprehension. If we do nothing else, we have done this. Wow.” Iceman looked around control. The kids were still staring at the monitor, “Lieutenant Eagle.”

“Yes Sir.” Ben said.

“Keep my seat warm. I’m going to wash my face, get a cup of coffee then come back.” Iceman said.

“Yes Sir!” Ben sat in the driver’s seat. He looked at all the green buttons then he looked up at the screen. He could see way off in the top of the screen the center of the Milky Way coming closer. The stars were very close, and it appeared to be one continues light like a circular bulb or a donut of lights, “Patricia is there a map of the Milky Way you can put up on the screen?”

“Yes.”

“Xmon, where is your home?” John asked when the map appeared.

Xmon went over to the screen and pointed straight up from the N on Nucleus to a very bright white star. It was on the far distinct arm of the galaxy, “My home is there.”

“How are we doing?” John asked Xmon.

“Your ship is much faster than mine. We will be home soon.” Xmon said.

Iceman came back and reclaimed his seat with a cup of coffee.

Willy went over to Iceman, “Captain Ice, we have black box ... will we need faster ships ... future?”

Iceman turned around to John, “Sir, Willy asked a really good question. If we have the black box will we need to build faster ships in the future?”

“That’s like asking if we are the best in the world, do we need to work to get better.” John said, “Yes Willy. There may be someone out there that is twice as fast and twice as tough as we are already. If or when we run into each other, we might be on the short end of the stick without knowing it.”

“Okay!” Willy said.

“I have something for you Willy.” Iceman reached into his satchel and brought out a Lego Kit for the Patricia. He handed it to Willy. On the cover of the box, Iceman had written “Willy”. “Willy, tell your friends I have something for them too.” Iceman said.

“Thank you.” Willy said while giving Iceman a hug. He then ran grabbing Skut’s hand and walked with him to Iceman. Skut and Iceman started conversing in Russian. Iceman rummaged around until he said, “Got it!” In Russian. He handed Skut an exact same model only it had Galina on it with Skut’s name at the bottom. Iceman looked up to see Vid standing there, “Mr. President, your son may need some help Sir.”

“It looks like something a father and his son would enjoy working on together for an hour or two. Thank you, Iceman, “This is a wonderful idea.”

“Your welcome sir.” Iceman said with a big smile on his face.

“Willy said you had something for us?” Ben asked.

Iceman handed Ben a Lego Model of the Enterprise. Ben gasped when he saw what was coming at him. He looked Iceman in the eyes and nodded, “This is your dream isn’t it?” Iceman asked, “Make it happen Lieutenant.”

“Yes Sir!” Ben took the box, “Thank you sir.”

The twins got a big space station, “You may need your mom or big sister to help with this.”

Chuck and Beth also got a big space station. Sally got another 775 kit with the name Zeus with the Russian flag after Zeus. Sally took it over and showed Vid then did the same with Demetri. Bobby, Brien, and Lucy all got 775 Kits. With Thor, Jupiter and Pluto on the front cover, “These are being built guys. Some of them will show up on Monday.” Iceman got up and handed John a model of Patricia, “For your desk sir to remember this trip.”

“Thank you very much. Where did you get these?” John asked.

“A dear college friend went into toys. He is working his way up the ladder with Legos.” Iceman said.

“Legos teaches eye hand skills and problem solving. I would love to have our stores in Omak handle Legos.” John said.

“I’ll get you the information Sir.” Iceman returned to his station.

They crossed the center of the galaxy. All seemed quiet. Iceman just had a check on all systems when a star about the size of our sun popped up in front of the ship. They entered and went through somewhere in the left half of it. Everyone stopped breathing while they were in the star. They saw space again on the other side and everyone yelled “Yahhhhh.” They had just started to relax when a big planet about the size of Jupiter was in their way. Iceman took control of the steering and eased the ship around the big planet. For the first time John felt the sensation of movement by the big ship. On the other side they almost hit one of the moons of the planet, “Patricia report.” Iceman ordered. It was almost too much to fly between this great big planet and one of its moons.

“The ship is normal on the inside; the outside skin temperature has reached four hundred thirty-three degrees above normal but is returning to normal. It is now at 420, now at 410, now at 400.”

“Thank you, Patricia. Let me know when we get below 200 and again at normal.” Iceman looked around, “Is everybody okay?” Everyone was relieved.

“2nd Lieutenant Inga.” Iceman had everyone smiling again, “First Lady Tripp, please try to contact Lockheed.”

“Yes Sir, Captain.” Inga pushed the mic button in, Lockheed, this is the Spaceship Patricia calling. Lockheed, this is the Spaceship Patricia calling. Please respond.” Inga kept trying for twenty minutes then heard a mic click on with music in the background.

“Spaceship Patricia? This is Roscur at Lockheed. My boss has been calling in here every hour. Where are you?”

John picked up his mic and clicked on, “Roscur, this is John Taylor on the Spaceship Patricia. We have just passed the center of our Galaxy. We are traveling at about 15,000 Lightyears an hour so we must be about 50,000 lightyears away from home.” John said, “We have about 40,000 lightyears still to travel.”

“Sir, you said you are traveling at 15,000 Light years per hour and you are 50,000 lightyears from home Mr. President?” Roscur asked.

“That is correct Roscur.”

“Mr. President, I will pass this onto Kevin Humphrey’s sir. He’s been calling in every hour to know if you all have checked in. This is amazing. Tell everybody there we are all praying for you. God Bless. Bye, Bye.”

“Ben?” Iceman called and Ben got there on the double.

“Yes, Sir.”

“I have two boxes left. One goes to Vid for his desk and the other goes to Xmon for his children.”

Ben went to Vid and gave him the message and the box. They had just completed their ship and Skut was showing everybody going “Rore, Rore” as he flew the Lego ship around. John and Willy were also finished. The two boys were wired and still going strong. Ben went to Xmon and gave him the box of Legos with the picture of the ship on it for his kids from Iceman.

“We need to get presents for people back home.” Jenny told John.

“Make a list, we will work on it. We are going to a planet that Xmon describes as a giant flea market for the galaxy. That is where we will find the black boxes.

George showed up with four of the Marines. He had bowls of fruit for the kids and ladies and many hot pastrami sandwiches for the men. The Marines had coffee, tea, juices and water in the perfect cups that would fit into the cup holders that seemed to be everywhere. John took a half of one of the pastrami sandwiches.

All was quiet again.

Willy and Skut gave up and were put to bed around 10:00 pm. Lucy soon followed them.

The ship slowed as it came upon Gunnex.

“Cloak on. Xmon, please take the helm.” Iceman directed.

We could see a War Ship off in the distance. Xmon brought Patricia through the protective layer like our Van Allen belt. Things flared for a bit as we descended to the planet. We got down to as close as possible to the ground. We started on the Night side of the planet and as we circled, we moved into daylight. Patricia was handling beautifully as we got close to Xmon’s home. We could see another small ship. About the size of our 335s. We stopped about 300 yards from his home, “Xmon, me and two Marines with pistols. Let’s go.” John directed, “He handed Xmon one of the two phasors he had on him.

The four excited the ship. John transported them to the side of the house. Two aliens excited with Xmon’s wife and children locked in some sort of force field. John looked to Xmon and nodded. John whispered, “Shields up!”

“Where are you going with my family?” Xmon was angry.

One of the Aliens fired at Xmon. The blast made him take a step back, but he was still standing. The other man fired and Xmon stood solid to that blast. The two Marines fired their 9mms at the two aliens. John hit them with the phasor he had. The second man aimed a device and pressed a button. John and the two Marines were frozen where they stood. Willy and Skut both came out of the bedrooms when John and his team exited Patricia. Now they were on the steps to the ground watching the action.

“Ben, come with me.” Jenny directed, “You too Willy.” They got on the ground and Skut was there too, “We need to transport by that building.” Jenny didn’t know who did it, but they were there.

Jenny threw a shield, hitting one of the men just above his knees. The terrifying scream indicated he didn’t enjoy that. Willy and Ben hit the other guy as he was turning on his personal shield on his belt. He went flying into what looked like a tree. He was caught in the tree like a bug on the windshield when you are going 70 MPH down the road. The four rushed over and picked up the weapons and other devices of the Aliens. Skut pointed one of the devices and pushed a button at John and the Marines. Nothing happed so he pushed another button. John and the two Marines were released from the force field. Skut turned and did the same for the women and children. They too became free. The women started screaming at Xmon. Xmon yelled what sounded like “STOP.” He told his wife she and the kids were in danger and they had to leave. Three-time units then they needed to leave. “NOW!” He had spoken in a language no-one, but they understood. The women went into the house and started throwing things out the door.

“These things going?” Jenny asked Xmon.

“Yes!” Xmon said, “Please forgive me for screaming at my wife. I have never done that before.”

“How many times have you had a battleship over your head wanting to kill you?” Jenny asked, “Boys do you know where room 14 is?”

“Yes.”

“Let’s transport these things into Room 14.”

Iceman had come out with two Marines and they checked out the Spacecraft. Out came a little Black Box carried by one of the Marines towards the Patricia. Iceman had his tool box with him, and he pulled the complete AI unit from the machine. The second Marine carried that to Patricia.

“Iceman, we are pushing six minutes.” John said.

“I want this power box. Need one more, minute boss.” Iceman said, “Got it. Marines, it will take two of you.” It was handled. Xmon with the woman and five children were moving towards the Patricia. When the women saw the ship, she stopped. That is beautiful. Your friends have this?”

John and Jenny were walking behind. Willy and Skut were running to the steps and helped Xmon’s children two girls and three boys enter the Patricia. John glanced at his phone, they were running 12 minutes since landing. Iceman was inside already. As the Marine stepped into the ship John yelled, “LET’s GET OUT OF HERE ICEMAN!” The ship started moving as the steps closed sealing the door.

John made his way to the captain’s chair.

“John another little ship just landed.” Iceman said, “Shields up, cloak on. Patricia take us to Funston at best speed.”

“Yes Sir.” Patricia acknowledged.

“What do you think, three-minute head start?” John said.

“Mr. President, three minutes will take us 750 lightyears away.” Iceman shared.

When they got near light speed Iceman took the lid off and once again the stars all became lines on the night sky.

John was watching the time. When it got to thirty minutes into the flight, he took a deep breath.

Jenny was looking at John when she said, “Look at that.”

John looked. There was a young lady with Xmon. The lady could be Miss Universe. What came on board was a 90-year-old Wicked Witch of the North. “Xmon’s married to a Changeling.” John had turned his head towards Jenny and whispered.