Chapter 10

“Oh Mick. THAT was a doozy!”

“It was. Angel, regardless of how this ends, I want you to know that I do trust you and I do love you. And I hope I always do.”

“You hope you do?”

“Well how many more little truth bombs are you going to drop on me?”

“Actually?”

I looked at her with a “What now?” expression on my face.

“Nope, this one has to wait until after. Time to cuddle and sleep.”

It was another dark and stormy night when the ship took off. At the same time, the other seven ships rose out of their resting places around the northern hemisphere. Angel accompanied me to Ship’s flight deck. I sat in the captain’s chair and for the first time a huge TV screen lit up in front of me. The screen was split into eight sections and I could see through the view screens of all eight ships as we rose into the sky.

We rose through various weather conditions until we finally broke out into the pitch blackness of airless space. I followed the procedures I’d learned and watch as the ships joined together and began to spin like a big wheel.

“Mick, we are ready to fire.”

“Thank you, Ship.”

Angel appeared and stood next to me.

“Mick, are you ready?”

“Yes.”

“Take the trigger in your hand, it’s a pistol grip with a trigger like a pistol.”

I gripped it with my right hand and when I did a cross-hair appeared on the big screen. I moved the pistol grip and the cross-hair moved. I moved the cross-hair and placed it over the asteroid.

“I’m ready to fire Ship.”

“Ready?”

“Yes, Ship.”

“Prepare to fire.”

I was starting to squeeze the trigger when the cross-hair flew across the screen and centered on my farm.

“The cross-hairs moved!”

“I know, Mick,” Angel said. “Pull the trigger.”

“No, it is aimed at the farm.”

“Pull the trigger!”

“No!”

“PULL THE TRIGGER!!!” Angel was shaking my shoulder.

“NO!!!!!!!!!!!”

But I couldn’t stop myself and I pulled the trigger. A bright beam of light shot out and my farm vaporized in a blinding flash that expanded and began to engulf the whole planet. I screamed.

“AAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!”

“Mick! Wake up. You’re having a nightmare!” Angel was shaking my shoulder.

“What?” I was panting and breathing fast and hard.

“You were screaming. You were having a nightmare.”

“A nightmare?” I was still breathing hard.

“Calm down, my love. Breathe deeply and relax.”

I looked around and the sun was shining into my eyes. We must have left the curtains open last night when we went to bed.

“Are you OK?”

“Yeah. That was a bad one,” I said.

“A doozy?”

“Yes.”

I laughed remembering our discussion of the concept last night while we were making love. I took Angel in my arms and kissed her.

“I dreamed that I blew up the Earth. I turned the weapon on the farm and pulled the trigger.”

“What?” Angel brought both of her hands to her mouth.

“And you were screaming at me to pull the trigger and I couldn’t stop myself.”

“WHAT?”

“Yeah. Crazy, huh?”

“Maybe.”

“What!?”

Angel laughed at the look of horror on my face.

“I like joking with you. It’s fun. Come on and I’ll wash your back in the shower.”

After a long and loving shower Angel got out, quickly dressing and ran downstairs to the kitchen. I had shaved, dressed, and walked into the kitchen to find, my Angel, my faerie, true to her word, making breakfast. With a kiss each time she set a plate in front of me, Angel loaded me up with waffles, eggs over easy, and coffee and love.

As we ate breakfast, I had a lot of questions going through my head, not the least of which, especially after my nightmare, was how to aim and shoot the weapon. I had assumed that the ship would do all that, but what if something went wrong? What if one of the ships was buried and couldn’t launch? What if there was a misfire?

While still sitting at the kitchen table, I must have looked worried, because as I was sipping my last cup of coffee, my loving little faerie, walked behind me.

“My love, you look like the weight of the world is on your shoulders.”

“I guess, in a way it is, isn’t it, Angel?”

“What are you worried about?” She wrapped her arms around my shoulders and kissed the back of my neck.

“Oh, I don’t know. How about, what to do if the whole thing doesn’t work?”

“Mick, why would you think that?”

“Because I haven’t had a hand in all this, therefore, I don’t have any faith that it will work.”

She looked at me strangely.

“Really?”

“Yes. What if the trip caused a malfunction in one of the ships? What if one is buried too deep and can’t take off? What if the targeting is off by just a few degrees and the shot misses? I mean the whole mechanism is 150 years old!”

“Mick, everything is going to work. Any of the ships could dig themselves out if need be, even if they were buried under a mountain. The targeting is simple. It’s straight line of sight. The beam travels so fast that, if it is pointing at the rock, it will hit the rock. And our ship has been running diagnostics since it landed, and all seven ships are running at full capacity and all software has been update.”

“Angel, I’m a farmer. Yes, I understand physics and quantum mechanics but at the core of it, I’m a little, old, country farmer. We are genetically predisposed to expect the worst. It comes from years of no rain or too much rain. I’m always happy when the crops are gone to market, and the money is in the bank and nothing can go wrong at that point. I get a few weeks of no worries and then it starts all over again.”

“Mick let me put it in words that you will get, as far as all your worries are concerned, the hay is in the barn. Come on, let’s head down to the ship.”

“OK.”

She kissed the back of my neck again before she unwrapped her arms, allowing me to stand, and as I looked out the living room window, on the way to the basement door, I saw a crowd gathered outside.

“Angel, what is this?” I pointed at the window.

“I don’t know. They must have recognized you from the TV and figure that one of the ships will go up from here and want to watch.”

“Are they going to be in danger? Falling rocks, blast heat, anything?”

“No. They should be OK, except for the flash” she said thoughtfully.

“If we have time, I want to talk to them, OK?” I looked at Angel with concern.

“OK. But before you go out, let me do something, alright?”

“Alright.”

“Ship?”

“Yes, Angel.” The voice came out of the air. It still made unsettled me the way it did that.

“Mick is going to go out to talk to the crowd outside. Are there any weapons on any of the people out there?”

“Define weapon, please.”

“Guns, arrows, spears, rocks. Anything that could put Mick in danger.”

“No Angel. There are no projectile weapons. There are a few pocketknives like Mick carries. The people seem to be calm and have low anxiety. Three have elevated body temperatures and could be ill.”

“OK, Mick, but be careful please.”

I kissed Angel and patted her on her tiny butt. Grabbing my SOL cap off of the coat rack by the door, I walked out to speak with the assembled crowd.“Good morning!” I said as I walked to the white picket fence along the front of the house.There was a general “Good morning” in return.

“Can I help you with something?” I tried to sound as calm as possible.

Someone stepped forward from the crowd.

“Is this where one of the ships is going to be launched from?”“What? No!”

I stopped and looked at their faces. I saw hope and hopelessness and fear. Some of the women were holding babies. I couldn’t lie to them.

“Wait, I’m sorry,” I took a deep breath. “Yes, it is.”

“Are you the guy that was speaking on the TV and radio?” A male voice from the crowd called out.

“Yes. I am.”“Where are you from?” Another male voice.

“I’m from here. I was born here on this very property. My name is Mick O’Dell. Why?”“You can’t be from here and have a spaceship.” A female voice spoke this time.

“Well, first, I don’t have a spaceship. I was living here when the ship landed, so I guess you could say that the ship has me,” I smiled and chuckled. “Second, I am just as amazed as any of you. This whole situation is way beyond me. Now that I know what is going on, I’m feeling better.”

“You are our savior! God sent you!” The shout was from a woman in the crowd.

“Whoa! I’m not your savior. And if God sent me, he sure didn’t tell me ahead of time. I’m just a local farmer, like many of you, and fate decided to point and laugh at me.”

“Why did the ship land here?”

“It has been explained to me that there are eight ships and they are placed around the northern hemisphere in a ring. The ship for this area landed here. It was random chance.”

“But your wife’s name is Angel and so was your mothers and your grandmother. Isn’t that a little strange?”

“It is one of our great family mysteries. Did you know that my great, great grandmother was named Angel as well? Crazy, right?”

“Can we see the ship?” A boy’s voice called out. Boys!

“I don’t want any of you to be injured so let me suggest that you don’t stand too close. Try to stay clear of the immediate area when the ship takes off. I don’t know if there will be falling rocks or a lot of noise. Please be careful, especially with your children. I mean it wouldn’t be too good if we saved the Earth and if some of you got hurt or blinded by the flash. OK?”

The crowd generally nodded and began to move off the property. I waved as I turned and walked back into the house.

“That was a very kind thing to do. You really do care about the people of Earth. I love you, Mick O’Dell the Seventh.”

“I love you too, Angel O’Dell, the Seventh.”

That caused Angel to freeze in her tracks. Slowly she turned and with her head tilted just a little to one side she smiled and said, “My goodness! That’s right, isn’t it? I’m the seventh Angel O’Dell.”

“You just figured that out?”

“Yeah. I mean at home, I was Angel G. I guess ‘G’ is the seventh letter though, isn’t it?”

“Yup. Shall we go?”

“Yes, those people need to be saved.”

“I guess that most people are worth saving, even though we’re saving them for war and destruction.”

“The big war won’t come for generations, Mick. A lot of good things will happen to good people before that time. People will fall in love and have babies and create wonderful things. Let’s go save the Earths, new and old.”

We embraced and kissed and opened the secure panel that led to our hidden basement and the computer room. We walked towards the tunnel to the ship, past the crew of now dormant androids.

“Are the androids asleep?”

“No Mick. Their work is done. They have everything set up and ready to go. So, if there is nothing to do, they shut down.”

“When will they get on the ship for the trip home?”

“Not for a while yet.”

“I just thought of that. Is the ship going to go back right after we shoot down the asteroid?”

“No. The ship is going to come back and land here and let us out before burying itself until later.”

“Later?”

“Yes. Later. Don’t ask.”

“Oh boy, another secret.”

“Yup. One of more that will be revealed, as the old folks used to say, in the fullness of time.”

“The old folks? Would that be the ones from the 30th century, Angel?”

“The one and the same!” She kissed me on the cheek.

We walked into the ship holding hands and made our way to the bridge. I took my seat and took a deep breath and slowly let it out. Angel stood behind me and placed a hand on my shoulder.

“Ship?” I spoke.

“Yes, Mick.”

“I’m ready if you are.”

“Very well. Prepare for take-off.”

The lights dimmed and the 3d wall lit up in front of me. Then it expanded to a 360-degree globe around me and I seemed to float in the air. I looked around and saw only blackness.

“Mick, I’m going to go over to that other chair and sit. It is a bit disorienting to stand in space with no points of reference.”

“You won’t go too far will you?”

“No, of course not. You can see me sitting right over here.”

I turned my head to see my faerie sitting a few feet to my right. The area above me began to lighten. It got brighter and then the dirt above the ship fell away and the ship rose into the air, giving me a view of the farm and the land below as it slowly fell away. I looked down beneath my Captain’s chair to see the crowd waving up at the ship as we continued to rise. I looked around and saw aircraft approaching from behind us.

“It looks like we have visitors. Ship are they going to pose a danger?”

“No and they seem to be just observing and collecting data.”

“Mick, are you ready for another fantastic bit of news?”

“Really? We are rising from a hole in the ground, in a 150 year old spaceship, from the future, to destroy an asteroid, with an alien super weapon and you’re asking me if I want another surprise?” I laughed as I looked at her. “Sure! Go for it.”

“Ship?”

“Yes, Angel.”

“Give us the all-ship view please.”

“Horizontal or vertical?”

“I think horizontal will be less disorienting for Mick.”

“Mick.”