Chapter 8

The incident at Yankee Stadium produced gales of laughter at the Stewart household when the news reports begin to come in. Nobody could explain the sudden appearance of 67 naked people on the playing field during the 7th inning stretch. The majority of reporters assumed that it was another bizarre demonstration by members of PETA, who had taken to appearing nude in various places around New York City to protest the wearing of fur coats, etc. Jase was afraid that he had blundered and would be forced to "out" the team and the ETs, but everybody was so surprised and amused by the fact of the appearance that they did not dwell on how the people had gotten onto the baseball field. Jase resolved not to be so theatrical in the future.

Seven arrived to congratulate the team on the joke and to point out that their galactic TV ratings continued to rise faster than any other show in history. People throughout the galaxy were speculating on what wonder the team would pull next. Sponsors were fighting for advertising time bracketing the reports of the team's escapades, and galactic TV had a truly interspecies hit on its hands. There was backstage talk that some other shows wanted their time moved away from opposite the team's viewing time because they had practically lost their entire audience. Jase was even approached, through Seven, with offers to be a "creative consultant" for other adventure shows that could use a ratings boost; he was flattered, but politely turned them down.

The mob was scared to death by the abrupt closing of their gambling casino. They simply had no idea what had happened and were wildly casting about looking for the cause of their problem. At one point, a gang war came close to erupting until the rivals convinced the first group that they had no access to the technology required for such a feat. The mob bosses decided to lie low for a while, in case their other operations might be struck. Major crime ceased to exist in the city for several months as a result of this caper until the mobs assumed that the heat had blown over. The team was back fighting petty crime for a while until Seven could come up with a mission for them.

Seven came through before boredom raised its ugly head. This was an odd assignment for the team, since it was to take place on a "water" planet. They were back to rescuing kidnapping victims, but this time they would need special equipment. The kidnapped person was being held at a depth of nearly 600 feet, way too deep for the humans to venture without added protection against the ambient pressure.

M'rth's engineers had been hard at work on a pressure suit modification for the armor the team now wore. They were able to solve some of the problems by removing some of the features that had been added to the armor as the team had evolved, but the pressure armor was going to take some practice to be useful enough to take into battle. They transported to M'rth's laboratory and picked up the new armor. They then transported to Oslen, the water planet where the kidnapped person was being held.

The team spent nearly two weeks becoming familiar with the new armor and the problems of maneuvering under water under that much pressure. At first, they felt like they were swimming in cold molasses because they had so much trouble moving, even with their augmented body strength. After a couple of days of poor performance, they transported back to M'rth's lab for a power-boost to be added to the armor. This fixed most of the problems, but they still were not as agile as the Oslen natives. The power-boost was a kind of exoskeleton which got its movement orders by sensors placed against the muscles they were supposed to help. This exoskeleton fixed most of their problems, so they felt that they were ready to move after the next 11 days of practice.

The natives of Oslen closely resembled the jellyfish of Earth, but with much stronger tentacles that were under precise voluntary control. They moved about by swimming with an undulating motion of their body if they were traveling for short distances, but they used a device something like a hollow torpedo to travel long distances.

Their main weapon was a device similar to the spear fishing gun used by humans under water, but the spear was much more sophisticated. There was a power source similar to that which drove their torpedo transporter, and the weapon was guided over short distances by a type of laser aiming device. The warhead was either explosive or solid, depending on the nature of the target and how much damage they wanted to inflict. This was the weapon issued to the humans, but they hoped they would not have to use it.

The kidnapped victim was being held in a cave about half way up a nearly shear wall at an entrance mean depth of 603 feet. The cave branched many times and the echoes from their sonar devices were not specific enough to show which branch contained the victim. There was enough lead in the ground to dim their X-ray vision, so that was not much help, either. As a starting point, they were going to have to go into the cave and search it the old fashioned way. They would be able to use their X-ray vision when they got closer to the victim, but it was hardly more useful than conventional sight at this early stage in the rescue.

Jase led the way into the cave with the rest of the team strung out behind him. They all had their invisibility turned on, but their general location could be detected by the Oslen natives from the pressure ripples as they moved. Their weapons and some other stuff were carried in an invisible kit bag trailed a short distance behind them on a rope. Very soon, they came to a branch in the cave, and Judy, Jeff, and Ann went down that channel as Jase, Jack, Mary, and Shirley continued down the original route.

They continued to split up as they came to more branches in the cave until they were all operating on their own. When they came to more branches, now, there wasn't much else to do but to pick a channel at random and follow it to its end. They had been searching for over 2 hours and were getting very frustrated when Jack said, over his implanted radio, <BINGO! I have found what looks like the main hiding place. I'll turn on my beacon for you to find me. I'll wait here until everyone shows up.>

The cave complex was so large that it took another 40 minutes for everyone to gather at Jack's location. They looked around for Oslen natives, but did not see anybody. They swam slowly into the large cavern that was being used as a meeting place, and that was when Mary spotted a native close to the wall.

This person was enclosed by a sturdy net-like structure. The weave of the net was too fine for even someone with the bodily flexibility of an Oslen native to squeeze through the pores of the net. Judy swam to the location of the person in the net and said, aloud, "You cannot see me, but I am here to rescue you. Please remain calm and we will have you safe in a few moments." Just as she said this, Ann jumped in front of a spear with an explosive warhead which was seen to be driving toward the captive. Ann was not hurt when the warhead exploded because her armor absorbed the shock. However, for a moment, she did flicker into visibility.

Jase ordered, <Judy, you concentrate on freeing the captive and getting the two of you back to GPD headquarters. We'll distract the bad guys. Visibility, everybody! We'll look like ninjas!>

Judy tried to cut the net, but it was made of material much too strong to be cut by her knife; however, she was able to remove the rope holding the net to an eyebolt set into the wall. Judy said to the captive, "We're leaving now!" She tightly grasped the net and triggered her retrieval signal. The two of them were immediately transported into a pressurized chamber full of Oslen water back at GPD headquarters.

There was a screech of shock from the captive, who was not expecting this mode of transportation. She calmed down, immediately, and said, "Thank you very much for rescuing me. Where are we, now?"