Chapter 52

Sitting in the pilot's chair with the door behind me open, I could hear the footsteps of people anywhere close to the bridge. Now I could hear someone approaching and all I needed to do to see them was look into the heads-up display that after some cleaning gave me a clear view of the doorway as well as the passageway. The footsteps I was hearing right then, were attached to Sven, who called out, asking, "You coming to dinner?"

Looking back to the controls I was working on memorizing, I offered, "I think I will pass on dinner. There is still so much I need to learn before tomorrow."

"I seriously doubt there is a control here you could not find in the dark. You say the controls are similar to those of a helicopter and you have spent the last couple of months working on both sets of controls as well as everything the computer team produced. I have been around you long enough to know that means you have memorized all there is to know on those pages.

"Now you need a break to let your mind relax. Your wife has been a good sport letting you go off to flight school, now she wants your company and I can't blame her, as she has had Thor around her for that time."

Working at the controls, I offered, "We both know that is not the truth, I may seem to be distracted but I know she has been busy with both her charity work as well as showing the artifacts as well as the documentary. If anything, Antonia has been busier than I have so pleading the case she has been stuck here doing nothing does not hold water."

Sven shot back. "True but at the same time you are not the one who is pregnant stuck in the heat of the Middle East for months. So for now come have dinner with your wife and friends, drink a beer, and relax. Tomorrow as you have said is nothing more than an engine test."

Looking around the bridge at the controls, I knew Sven was right. "Okay, I guess dinner and something to drink would be a nice break before tomorrow's test."

Climbing out of the chair, I let Sven take the lead out of the ship as we both knew if I was in front I would stop and look at various parts. What he could not stop upon exiting ship was my viewing of not only the security surrounding the ship which there was plenty; but I was also looking at the faces of the scientists and engineers who were cleared to not only get inside the hanger but were permitted to work on the ship. For the time they had they worked exhaustively running tests on everything they could going so far as requesting permission to remove parts of the hull for further analysis.

In the past months the results of the select few external panel tests that were allowed to be preformed, by the engineers and others, were showing that the panels were made up of composite materials though their exact composition was being questioned. One other feat of reverse engineering prowess, was in the engine room, as there was not one large engine but a total of three with the power plant being the largest providing power for not only the internal portions of the ship but also supplying power to what was being called the maneuver drive which was not so much a drive system itself but a number of plates that so far defied composition analysis. We were planning on testing those plates at a later time.

The last drive was the strangest as the engineers were arguing about its purpose as the ship's logs and other reports were calling it a Star Drive or Jump Drive. The engineers were debating the use of the different words used to describe the engine. Not knowing their solution was to propose taking the entire engine "drive" apart to figure out how it worked.

When that suggestion came down I squashed that recommendation immediately and suggested to anyone trying to take anything off of the ship I did not authorize would be leaving the island via the ocean without the assistance of a boat. The engineers having been warned of my volatile personality let the matter drop and no one suggested taking anything from the ship again.

Seeing nothing out of place, Sven and I took the golf cart we had brought to the island over to the dining facility the base had installed before we took over feeding over three hundred people we had brought in or hired locally to work on the project. Now everyone ate together with my guards joining with Antonia and myself on more than one occasion.

Entering the room tonight though I could see that people had been talking as the normal noise level someone would get use too with so many people eating together dropped to almost nothing when I entered the room, tray in hand. Thankfully the drop in volume did not last too long once I sat down with Antonia and the rest of our staff.

The conversation of course was about all the speculation on what would happen with the power plant and how it would work after being submerged for nearly twenty-five hundred years as well as what had the muck done. No one knew of course and all of us sat around enjoying each others company for most of the evening with the end being a series of old movies.

The following morning, I saw the problem as did Thor and Sven who were standing with me looking at nearly a hundred people who had gathered nearby in small groups to view the testing of the engines of the alien space ship. I was still not calling it a starship because I had no idea if the ship would make it to the stars. Right then all I was interested in was finding out if the engines worked.

Looking at all the interested parties, I wondered if the various spectators were looking and or possibly hoping for a spectacular failure with the ship exploding right where it sat. Truth is, I was wondering the same thing, was I along with the three men who stated they could start up the power plant soon to join the ranks of dead who thought they could reach out and touch the stars? Continuing my walk around, it was easy to spot the fuel trucks nearby, ready to start pumping in the liquid hydrogen the logs stated were used for fuel for the power plant

Once inside the ship I did another look around with my first stop in the engine room where I spoke with the three men who were confident they would be able to start the engines once I was on the bridge and gave them permission. Their confidence was infectious and the butterflies I had in the pit of my stomach right them did not seem so bad. The rest of my tour of the ship did not take as much time and soon I was on the bridge looking at the pilot's chair I had sat in not more than ten hours before.

Sitting down in the chair further lowered my apprehension to the point that putting on the safety harness had me feeling pretty good having put on the harness every time I had taken the controls before. Swiveling the chair into the forward position I inserted my headpiece and after turning on the batteries though it was not necessary as the ship had power from the base, I called up the lead engineer saying I was ready.

Sitting there I had no idea what I was really expecting as starting a space ship was nothing like starting a car. There was no rumble of the engine though I felt a slight tremor through the ship but once the tremor ended, I felt nothing. Checking my gauges I knew the power plant was working as gauges sitting blank before were now showing readings, sure they were low but the engines were working. Calling the chief engineer, I could tell by his voice he was excited, thankfully in a good way as he reported the power plant was functioning normally.

Picking up the walkie-talkie Sven had given me, I asked him if there was anything he could see from the outside. All I got back was the engines had blown out yet more muck along with some smoke but now there was nothing showing.

I had the engineers running the power plant for nearly fifteen minutes before I asked him if he wanted to test the power plant to see what its power output was. He of course liked the idea and as I sat in my chair I could see the available power indicator climbing. His test went on for several minutes before I called him telling him to take the setting down to half as I had my own test I wanted to run.

What my test entailed was engaging the maneuver plates. Thinking the controls operated the same as a helicopter's, I did the same only here there was an indicator bar that operated like the screen of a smart phone that once I put my finger on the display and moved the indicator did the vibrations start and soon I could feel the change. The walkie-talkie also came alive with Sven saying the ground was vibrating. He repeated his call seconds later as he reported he could see the landing gear starting to extend meaning the ship had the power to take off. It was not until he reported the ship was airborne that I finally reversed the motion on the indicator bar and brought the ship down right back to the spot as it should have since I had not touched the flight controls.

By the time the engineers had the power plant shut down and I had exited the pilot's chair, the four of us exited the ship to a crowd that had grown as the word of our successful power plant test was superseded by word the ship actually lifted off the ground. The meetings afterwards would have been impressive enough if that was all that occurred but word of how the ship actually lifted off spread farther as the Prime Minister arrived before lunch and stayed until after dinner.

After lunch was over, eight of us went out to sit on the patio and although it was seldom used it was there along with a number of tables and chairs which we set up for the eight of us with Sven, Thor, Antonia, and I as well as our two new assistants. For the meeting the PM only brought one aide out with her which told me there was some bad news coming my way.

The PM did not waste any time, offering once we sat down, "I have some good news and some not so good news for all of us.

"First I would like to thank you for your support of Israel without you this embargo could have gone on for a very long time. Even still the months it has been in place would have been devastating without the financial support you have graciously given through your charity work and additional financial aid.

"I and all of Israel thank you; though some will always claim otherwise. For those of us who know the truth, your actions will never be forgotten by your friends. The reason I am here today is to congratulate you as well as thank you because in coming to Israel with what is out in the hanger as well as out other joint technology work, I have received word the embargo is all but over. The Americans are stating they are withdrawing from challenging both ships and aircraft in addition to once again not blocking Internet traffic. Other NATO countries are said to be studying the American withdrawal and considering withdrawing themselves. Leaving the Arab countries to maintain what is an empty embargo with both Lebanon and Egypt refusing to participate."

I couldn't resist, adding, "I wonder who paid for them to look the other way?"

"That is true; they are making money even before you visited them. They were not participating in the embargo though their participation has been enhanced bringing all of us to this table today.

"One of the points agreed upon was Israel would not fight the implementation of the embargo as the provisions as written gave you a shield in which to protect what you found from any number of prying eyes. When I received word of what was going to happen, I did not want you to be the last to find out the embargo was being lifted."

Seeing how everyone was watching me, I answered, "This is not a problem as the reason I brought my family and my business interests to Israel was in protest to how you were being treated, so the lifting of the embargo is not something to be dread. On the contrary, the end of the embargo is to be celebrated, as the end of a vindictive former president's attempt to brow beat a country to bend to his will. Instead he is the one who lost and lost big as even his own country is no longer supporting him though I will caution until the embargo is officially lifted, we should do nothing different, just because they talk about ending it does not make it so. More important to me are the other items we agreed upon such as the purchase of this island?"

"As far as this island is concerned or anything else, nothing has changed, we came to an agreement and you have more than paid what we have agreed to. So the land is yours along with your share of the tech companies your technology has spawned. The only change will be the number of eyes around you as the travel ban is lifted."

Raising my glass, I offered, "Well then the only thing left to do is celebrate the end of the embargo with a toast. May cooler and wiser adults lead the nations of the world instead of children pretending to be adults."

There were several more toasts proposed and accepted by those of us around the table until we got back to the question of when the next flight was being scheduled to take place. The question was a good one with the previous schedule agreed upon went out the window with my "flight." My premature flight required other tests in the future to be modified but in being truthful I did not care as the ship flew and I did not crash it.

As we were talking, a point was made about how the ship was now capable of flight it needed a name or it would be plagued with bad luck. As corny as it sounds, my grandfather watched Star Trek nearly every night as he had collections of all the series and the movies, so the name that came to mind when the PM asked what I was planning on calling her, the name was simply the first one to come to me.

Looking at everyone sitting around the table, I answered, "Enterprise". Seeing the humorous looks from around the table I added, "The first ship to bear the name Enterprise was an English merchant ship, not a warship.

"Since this one only carries a few weapons, I would guess they are defensive in nature meaning the ship was probably a merchant ship. So I think the name Enterprise would be appropriate for a spaceship from this world."

There were more questions along with suggestions of other names that might be better but in honor of my grandfather I decided to stay with the name Enterprise. After lunch, I had planned on talking to the engineers about resetting the schedule for testing but never made it back to them as the eight of us sat there talking and dinner was upon us before we knew it. Without some foreknowledge dinner was nothing special as no one had an idea the Prime Minister was going to be in attendance. Thankfully she did not mind sitting among everyone having dinner though her security people did take up the tables around us.

The hour was late when the PM and her party departed using helicopters instead of the motorcade they arrived in. Watching them leave I was wondering if there was not another issue bugging the PM as I realized each if her visits seemed to last much longer than they were planned for. Mentioning my thought to Antonia she seconded my thoughts, suggesting as a possibility we were safer as far as friends went as we were not political and had no designs on her or her country beyond living here and doing charity work. Adding afterwards the technology we gave them to develop was just icing on the cake.

The next morning I was out in the hanger along with the engineers who were with me the previous day. Greeting them I could tell they were excited about their brief flight and were wondering when we were going to go up again. I laughed as I told them I was thinking the same type of thoughts and if they wanted, we could go right then as the ship was mine and they were my engineers. To say all four of us were ready to try again would have been an understatement and in less than a minute we decided we could go for a flight. Agreeing we broke apart with each of us taking part of the improvised pre-flight inspection then without a word we all climbed aboard, heading for our respective stations. On the bridge the senior engineer joined me at the engineering station while the other monitored the power plant from engineering.

Following the same start up procedure we used the previous day I watched as the power plant went through its start up and the lights switched from battery to power plant. I was still watching my gauges when the engineer behind me stated everything was ready for me to take the ship out. Looking at him behind me in the HUD I could see he was no longer paying attention to his gauges and was looking out of the window as I used the controls to move us forward out of the hanger. Making sure we were clear of the hanger I was putting up different views on the HUD from cameras mounted at various points on the hull using the controls I was feeling better about all the time.

Moving the slider for altitude I watched out the window as the ship, or I should say the Enterprise, began to rise and continued to do so straight up until I eased back on the sliding control eventually finding the equilibrium I needed. The other controls took even more time to get the feel of them while still working with the first one.

By the time I was ready to take the ship back down I realized we were actually over the Mediterranean and land was nowhere to be seen on the horizon. Finding the compass I turned to the east to fly that way. I also made a radio call which was answered by Thor who informed me my wife was upset as the flight was not authorized and no one knew why I was taking the ship out when I had done it. We talked for a while longer and by the time Thor was done talking I could see land to the east. A few more minutes flying east I could make out the island and flew the four of us right back to the island, even flying the ship back into the hanger and turning her around, landing within a couple of feet of where we had taken off from.

Meeting us when we opened the door was my wife of course as well as everyone who had joined our circle of advisers and friends with everyone showing concern about the flight. Explaining to the group I stated I felt like it and would be doing it again in the near future. Their collective reaction to my statement caught me off guard because instead of concern and worry, Antonia expressed a desire to come on the next flight. Others did not want to be left behind either though I did insist on someone staying behind in case there was some sort of accident. Antonia's PA stated she would stay behind turning to leave the ship. I shocked everyone else saying to take a seat as we would be leaving shortly. The engineers left to return to their stations after saying, "yes sir," the chief engineer said nothing while following behind me to the bridge.

I wanted Antonia to take the co-pilot's seat but as she was already in her eight month of pregnancy the seat would have been very uncomfortable for her; instead the seat she took was for the weapons station while Thor got the seat up front grinning like a kid with an ice cream cone. With the engines still hot from the previous flight it was only seconds to get the ship off the ground and moving out the doors.

Once we were clear of the hanger I took her up a little faster than before practicing using the controls as we went. The four of us talked as we flew though I could tell the conversation was strained, thinking they did not want to distract me from flying the ship. What they did not know as I had not told anyone the ship nearly flew itself, as the controls could be calibrated to be more responsive or less depending on the pilot at the time.

As far as a place to fly we stayed out over the Mediterranean as there was plenty of room to fly staying away from the airspace of other nations whether they were friendly or not. One limitation to the ship was a lack of ability to jam or confuse radar. We did know when there was radar around as the system was sensitive but for whatever reason no one bothered putting in a way to counter radar and I did not like the idea we could be attacked and never know it until it was too late.

Landing back on the island was just as easy as before only now people who had been slow to turn up at the hanger before were now there. Walking out of the craft there were way too many questions to answer standing there and after saying so and a break for lunch, all fifty of us went and had our meeting in one of the conference room.

All I will say about the meeting was that I was thinking there were several more people who might suffer a heart attack as they as a group thought the ship was theirs and I was only the pilot. Where they got the idea I had no clue and I did not tolerate their making demands on the ship and me. What did happen were two of the more vocal individuals were let go with guards and none of their notes as they refused to recognize I was the boss and they worked for me. Once they were booted off of the island the other for the most part settled down and we got back to the work of understanding the Enterprise.

A couple of days later after several more flights around the Med, I took the Enterprise to what was called low orbit. For the first space flight I had Thor with his Cheshire cat smile along for the ride. The flight revealed something I had not considered before as I had always had a harness on when I was flying, we had normal gravity as the engineers spent a lot of time rotating through sitting in the engineering chair and once we were in orbit nothing changed as everyone walked between their stations without a second thought wondering when we would make orbit. Something else I noted was that the controls were not as responsive as they were back on earth.

Returning the island there were a number of messages of congratulations from around the world from a number of countries. This was due to the lifting of the embargo as well as the Enterprise being the worst kept secret on the planet at the time. In addition to the congratulatory messages there were also invitations for interviews both in Israel as well as around the world which I was happy to turn down since I did not like the press when I was younger and nothing had changed over the years.

There were other requests for meetings with others who were involved in multiple space endeavors. This of course created new problems I was happy to make worse as I told them I was willing to meet with them but it would be done in Israel. The reason this was an issue at all was due to their support of the embargo and several of them publicly stating they would never step foot in Israel until the Palestinians had their own nation. Several tried to get me to meet then elsewhere but I not willing to break with my friends so those were left high and dry. Life was good.

Dr. Atwater also made his long delayed appearance and as I had promised he got access to mot only me to answer questions about what I could do and how I did what I did but he was also there for the birth of my son, who Antonia and I agreed to name David. Contrary to anyone's expectations especially Dr. Atwater's, he was born totally normal crying out complete with all his fingers and toes right where they should be, making Antonia and I very proud parents. In celebration of David's birth, I gave most everyone a week off to go visit their families, only I was not going anywhere without my ship, so Antonia went home with David to introduce him to her family.