Chapter 6

As two college buddies looked over the morning campus news, Kelso shouted to Jason, "Check this out! Space duo seeks males - blood characteristics required, probably need to be Aryan - get to mess with the Prez, travel, meet ladies. Two out of thousands will qualify, but they must already be friends, when applying. Blah, blah, blah..."

"This would make a perfect sabbatical, dude!" continued Kelso.

Jason said, "It's probably bullshit, some frat prank. Why would they advertise?"

Kelso came back, "Wait. It could be legit. This is Berkeley. What if they only advertise at hip colleges? They didn't say they were looking for the highest IQs, just smart friends! I'll bet they want us to impersonate them! We could do that... and still prove we are us, and not them!"

When the two finally pursued this ad, they went to a local bank and opened a safty deposit box, while filming their visit to the bank, up to the point when they were stopped by security.

Kelso told the security officer that they planned on placing a piece of pyrex with their fingerprints on it into the safety deposit box, as well as this tape recording because they expected to be accused of being others from another jurisdiction.

The security officer shook his head, saying, "At least you thought it out well, whatever the hell you're doing, so finish here, but no camera allowed beyond the security door."

Done deal.

Now came the hard part: waiting for the call back.

When the call came, it was clear that there was interference on the line, either a government tap or some sort of cell phone static, or both. Also, it was 4:00 AM!

"You must be at the quad and ready to go. You have one hour," said Enoch.

"Can't you just beam us up?" Asked Jason, who had answered the phone.

"There's no such thing. Get a grip!" replied Enoch. "If your blood tests are not suitable, your candidacy is over, but I'm sure you will be happy with the consolation gift. Remember: one hour!"

<Click>

The boys showered and headed for the quad, constantly looking around to see if they were being tailed.

At precisely 5:00 AM, as they stayed in the shadows of early morning, there appeared the craft, extending a blueish white light ramp like the one they saw on TV from Ellis Island.

They were running for it, even as Enoch extended his hand for them to attend.

Sirens were now wailing. Helicopters were getting close, as the government was just a fraction late. The craft and its new passengers disappeared in a flash.

Acting businesslike and keeping on the reflective material helmets, Eli piloted while Enoch took blood samples and placed them in the analyzer.

Jason was drinking in as much as he could of the experience, thankful that this hadn't been some monumental prank that they had fallen into, while Kelso had a million questions for Enoch.

"Sorry, but unless you qualify, we must keep information to a minimum," stated Enoch.

Thirty minutes later, while the two young men were being fitted with space suits, Enoch nodded affirmatively to Eli that they had found suitable blood.

This was not lost on Kelso, who asked, "How many people do we have to beat out before we know if... ?"

"None!" Enoch cut him off. "We tested only until we found compatibility. You are it, but we assume you would still like to experience the consolation prize. You are going to set foot on the surface of the moon."

Kelso asked, "Where are the oxygen packs?"

"You don't get any," replied Enoch. "We can't have you go bounding around like some recalcitrant teenagers. Your suits contain enough oxygen for five minutes, before you begin to succumb, so don't dawdle."

The two posed for pictures and read the plaque, but Kelso couldn't help himself and he leaped up to do a somersault.

He would've landed wrong had not Eli caught him, but the five minutes were just about up, anyway, so back to the ship everyone went.