by Jim Laughter
“Mother!” hissed Myra with mock seriousness. “I’m just trying to remember my manners and show respect like a lady should.”
Myra’s mother held it in for a few seconds and then laughter leaked out. Soon they were both laughing until tears ran down their faces.
When they recovered, they finished their breakfast and cleaned up. While Myra put away the clean dishes, her mother packed the knapsack with their picnic lunch. Little did Myra realize the sandwiches were more of a decoy for the surprise waiting for them in the mountains. Mrs. Alor kept her secret hidden behind a smile as they skipped out the door and walked hand-in-hand to the cab she had reserved to take them to the train station.
Arriving at the station, Myra and her mother were delighted to see they were in time to watch the crew assemble the train for the trip. The men switched and coupled the cars together with practiced ease.
Soon the train was assembled and spotted at the loading platform. By this time, other patrons had also arrived and loading soon began. Myra thought it was like stepping back in time to travel in these well-preserved but ancient cars.
How different from space travel.
The conductor soon came down the aisle, collecting tickets on his way. Mrs. Alor was surprised to see that he was a trooper-first whom she knew from work. Fortunately, Myra did not recognize him, and with a wink at her mother, he continued through the car.
Minutes later the shriek of the steam whistle pierced the air and the train began its laborious journey into the hills. Myra was almost beside herself with delight at the sight, sound, and feel of the train.
The train, especially the engine, seemed almost alive with sound and motion. The panting of the exhaust was like that of a strong and healthy stallion in command of its charge and confident of the task ahead. As the grade steepened, the exhaust slowed and deepened but still spoke of power to spare as they climbed the sinuous grade.
Soon the engine whistled and the train slowed, stopping at an intermediate station for water. The passengers all disembarked to watch the fireman fill the water tank on the tender. Several passengers got slightly wet from the over-splash of water cascading down off the now full tender.
The fireman laughed at their surprise and it was then Mrs. Alor realized she knew him as well. Apparently, several of the troopers worked on the rail line as volunteers in their time off, and from the looks of things, thoroughly enjoyed themselves.
Again, the whistle shrieked, and in time-honored tradition, the conductor called, “All aboard!”
With a hiss of steam from the cylinder cocks, the engineer eased the train out of the station to resume their climb into the mountains.
Up here the air felt sharper in the lungs, and the changing colors of the aspen trees signaled the approach of autumn in the high country. Although the weather was controlled for the populated areas, this mountainous preserve enjoyed completely natural weather. The changing seasons were very popular with visitors, and as a result, the rail line offered year-round service.
As they climbed, the scenery unfolded with new delights at every turn. The conductor pointed out different points of interest and seemed especially to enjoy the questions of the children. Myra’s mother noticed that her daughter was entranced with the bright autumn colors and gasped in surprise as they rounded a bend, there to see oaks so brilliantly red they appeared to be on fire. Wildlife was easily visible through the underbrush, hiding behind evergreens here or standing proudly out in an open meadow there.
All too soon, the engine whistled again and the engineer eased the train to a stop at the mountain station. On one side of the train was a replica of a western town populated by history enthusiasts dressed in period costumes. On the other side was a large mountain meadow with picnic areas here and there among the trees and flowers.
Myra and her mother decided to visit the town center first and went from store to stable to blacksmith shop, each stop more fascinating than the last. At the general store, they found period clothing for sale and decided to purchase rustic dresses to wear. When Myra came out of the changing room wearing a yellow gingham frock, Mrs. Alor thought she looked like a wholesome country maid right out of the history books.
Their modern clothes packed away and their sunbonnets on straight, the two women ventured into the park to set up and enjoy their picnic.
As they moved further into the meadow, Myra noticed the atmosphere seemed to grow quieter but marked it off to the dampening effect of the numerous trees dividing various picnic areas from one another. Mrs. Alor noticed it too but held her peace. She unobtrusively steered her daughter around the next corpus of trees.
“SURPRISE!!!” screamed the hiding crowd.
Myra dropped her basket and covered her open mouth with both hands. That she was very surprised was evident to everyone by her wide-eyed expression. Well-wishers all dressed in period costumes, all laughing and smiling surrounded her.
A banner hung from the trees reading HAPPY BIRTHDAY MYRA. Suddenly, a metallic form rose from behind the banner and there was Baby wearing a giant sunbonnet. Myra sat down and laughed at the incongruous sight.
When she regained her breath, she called out to Baby, “I thought you were chasing wires with your mother today? How come you’re here?”
“Mama and I are going to do that this afternoon after she finishes with that new computer. She’s still busy, so I had time to sneak up here and be in on the surprise,” replied Baby. “How do you like my sunbonnet?”
“It’s most becoming,” said Mrs. Alor before Myra could answer. Just then, the Empress appeared wearing a blue gingham dress.
“I just heard you were going to start calling me ma’am,” Ane said. “You better reconsider unless you want me to turn you over to Mary.”
“Oh no!” said Myra with a gasp. “I sure wouldn’t want that!”
“You most certainly wouldn’t,” said Betty as she joined the conversation. “She’s still planning her revenge for the last practical joke you and Baby played on her.”
“Oh, but we were just having some fun!” wailed Baby who had just taken up station behind Myra.
“You two better be good, or when Mary comes off restriction, you better be scarce,” Ane added. “You two are going to give Mary and me a case of premature gray hair.”
With a laugh from those knowledgeable about Mary being grounded, the group broke up and scattered to visit with the other friends and guests. Myra’s eyes were wide and shining, and this did not go unnoticed by the mothers or the bachelors present.
The festivities continued with a cookout of hamburgers and hotdogs. Potato salad was in abundance, along with the other necessary ingredients for a successful picnic.
Baby got into the act by officiating both the starting and the finish flags for the races. After a while, desserts were brought out, and in the center of the table was the traditional birthday cake for Myra. Her eyes brimming with tears of happiness, Myra managed to blow out the candles amid the cheers of everyone.
All in all, the surprise party was a complete success. Ane and Mrs. Alor thought Myra had never looked happier. Baby excused herself to go back to chase wires with her mama, and the party began to wind down. Everyone pitched in to pack up and get ready to catch the late train chartered to return them to the city.
Myra was given the special honor of riding in the cab of the locomotive on the trip down the mountain, and was even allowed to sound the whistle for the crossings and stations. At the city, everyone disembarked, and with the goodbyes of friends, Myra and Mrs. Alor went with Ane to the palace for a quiet time of coffee and tea.
∞∞∞
The children were just settling down as bedtime approached, and the adults were all relaxing in the living room. Betty and her family had arrived, and everyone was tired from the day’s activities.
“Did you see Baby before you came over?” asked Myra when Betty finally put her feet up.
“No, I didn’t,” Betty replied. “I figured she was well in hand w
ith her mother so I left them to their fun.”
“I don’t know why, but the way you put it leaves me with an uneasy feeling,” said Moe. Mophesto, Empress Ane’s husband, sat behind her and gently massaged her tired neck and shoulders. His proper title was Mophesto of Shalimar, Protector of the Faith. But to his wife and closest friends, he was simply Moe.
“You’re just being paranoid,” quipped Ane. “By the way, Betty, how does Mary like the new computer?”
“When I left, she was just getting started. A message from the university this evening said she was still at it.”
“Wow!” exclaimed Myra. “It must be some puzzle to keep Mary busy this long.”
“Yes,” said Betty with a smile. “Her old record was seven or eight minutes.”
“How did you trick her, Betty?” asked Mrs. Alor.
“I designed the program to use Mary’s speed against her. The faster she goes, the faster it loops back on her. The only way she’ll solve it is to do each step slowly one at a time,” Betty said with obvious amusement.
“Sounds like you finally out-foxed her,” Ane said with delight. “That sassy girl has had it coming for a long time.”
Just then, they heard a commotion outside the window in the courtyard. Someone began pounding on the outer door and the security bolts slid into place, activated by the emergency security system. Moe went to the intercom to ask what was going on. Over the speaker he could hear the voices of the troopers and the plaintive wailing voice of Baby.
“Open up! Open up!” cried Baby, her mechanical arms continuing to pound on the door. “I need boss lady and Myra right now!”
Ane and Myra ran to the door just as Moe released the security locks. Out in the courtyard, the troopers were trying to calm Baby and keep her from damaging the door any further. As soon as she saw Ane and Myra, Baby rose over the heads of the troopers and headed directly for the two women.
“What’s going on here, Baby?” asked Ane, her voice filled with compassion and command at the same time.
“Yes, Baby,” echoed Myra. “What’s the matter?”
“Mama won’t wake up, and the bundle is gone!” wailed Baby.
Coming up behind Ane, Betty was the first to speak, “It sounds like trouble with a capital T. Mary has never been completely incoherent. If the bundle is gone, we have a mess on our hands.”
While one trooper called security at the institute, Ane came to a quick decision.
“Baby, open up and take Myra, Betty, and me over there as fast as you can.”
While the hatch was being opened, Moe called out from the window.
“I’ll contact the university and see if Mary is still busy there. I’ll let you know as soon as I can.”
“Right!” answered Ane as the women finished boarding and prepared to close the hatch. Mrs. Alor stuck her head out of the window and advised them to go ahead and that she’d take care of the children.
With a whoosh that stirred dust around the courtyard, Baby zipped down the side passageway and up through an open sky port. Once airborne, it only took a moment to reach the institute, the sonic boom from their passing still echoing as the hatch opened.
Chapter Four
Betty and Ane were the first out while Myra unstrapped from her now permanently anchored wheelchair. Mary lay still and quiet like an abandoned hulk. Troopers surrounded the ramp and the still open cargo hatch. Dangling out of the opening was the disconnected umbilical cable, and on the hanger floor lay the tarp that had covered the bundle.
Troopers began to report in to Ane. All of the doors were still sealed and locked just as they had been the night before. No one had come or gone with the exception of Baby, who used the open skylight. A thorough search of the entire building turned up no sign of the missing bundle.
“It’s obvious the bundle isn’t here,” said Ane to no one in particular. “Someone must have gotten in and flown it out.”
“That isn’t possible,” remarked Betty. “The only opening is through the skylight we left open for Baby, and anyone trying to enter through that would have first run afoul of the troopers on guard duty outside.”
“Not to mention the drop to the floor would have been too far to climb down and fatal if they jumped,” added Myra. “Have you had any luck with Mary?”
“It would take more than luck right now,” answered Betty. “I can’t get her to respond to anything.”
“Excuse me, ma’am, but we have a call for you from your husband,” reported a trooper to Empress Ane.
“I’ll take it on the speakerphone,” said Ane, punching a button on the communications console.
“Have you had any luck with Mary?” asked Moe as soon as he heard Ane’s voice on the line.
“No,” answered the empress. “We’ve tried everything and get absolutely no response.”
“Well, I’m here at the university now and they report the computer is still tied up. Mary must still be in there. The problem is that she’s so involved with the program, all input stations are off-line and we can’t get in to look for her,” he continued with exasperation.
“What if you cut all power to the computer?” asked Betty as she walked up behind Ane. “That would cause the program to crash and Mary would have to come out.”
“It would work, but I don’t envy the headache it’ll give Mary,” Moe answered.
“It won’t be half as bad as the headache we’ll have with a missing ship,” replied Betty. “Go ahead and cut the power. We’ll send someone to help the university pick up the pieces later.”
“Okay, here goes,” answered Moe.
They heard him call out instructions to the computer technicians at the university. Betty could hear the hum of the computer diminish in the background until it grew silent.
Moe came back on. “There. It’s done,” he reported. “If that doesn’t wake our girl, nothing will.”
Betty heard Ane whoop from the open hatch of the Mary Belle where she had gone to monitor progress with waking Mary.
“She’s back!” yelled Ane as a painful moan issued from the speakers of the Mary Belle. Betty, on sudden inspiration, ordered the troopers to either get aboard or stand clear. With dispatch, they divided themselves between the two orders. At the nose of the Mary Belle, Baby was looking in through the windows crying,
“Mama, Mama.”
Betty could see Myra again at the controls of Baby.
A sudden cry of anguish and rage roared from the speakers of the Mary Belle.
“WHERE’S MY BAAAAABY!?!”
The ship rose off the hanger floor and spun around in a circle, a desperate mother searching for a missing child.
Ane tried to keep Mary from doing anything rash. The ship resettled to the floor, but it was obvious the enraged mother wanted to be out of there as soon as possible.
To be safe, Betty ordered the hanger doors opened in case Mary should try to exit through the roof. That Ane had some control over the situation was evident because Mary did not take off immediately through the now open doors. How long Ane could hold Mary back was pure conjecture as the ship still trembled to fly free.
“Mama, Mama!” Baby continued to wail at Mary’s nose. “You’re back, you’re back!” she cried. The sound of Baby’s voice seemed to calm Mary.
Ane’s voice emitted from an external speaker. “Betty? Have you determined what happened to the bundle?”
“We haven’t found a trace of it anywhere in the building,” answered Betty. “As far as we can determine, it had to have been flown out.”
Baby flew up to the still open skylight.
“It occurred to me that we hadn’t checked the skylight yet,” sounded Myra’s voice from Baby’s speakers. “There might be a clue up here.”
Betty watched while Baby hovered close to the skylight, inspecting it with her optical sensors. The hanger became silent except for the hum of Baby and a quiet cry emitting from Mary’s speakers.
“I found it!” Baby cried.
Myra’s
voice came on also, reflecting excitement. “We found one paint scrape that matches the bundle,” reported Myra.
“Yeah,” echoed Baby. “We found blue paint and I’ve never been blue. I’m a girl!”
The hanger grew silent again as the implication sank in. Somewhere out there in the dark and dangerous universe was a baby spaceship, lost and alone.
The silence dragged on, broken only by the heartbroken sobs of Mary.
∞∞∞
The air was tense as the meeting was called to order at the institute. Present were all of the major participants in the current crisis. One of Mary’s remote boxes was on the table and the indicator on a monitor showed that Firstas was also connected. While she watched, another monitor came to life with the signal pattern particular to Baby. Betty called the meeting to order.
“Let’s start by establishing the facts as we know them,” Betty began. “First and foremost, we have a missing spaceship.”
A sniff sounded from Mary’s remote speaker. Betty continued, “What else do we have?”
“We know no one came in or out of the hanger from the time you left to the time you returned with the Empress and Captain Myra Alor in Baby,” the head of security at the institute began. “The only access to the hanger was the skylight that was left open for Baby. Anyone trying to gain access through that skylight would have to pass through both human guards and a detector system provided by our aura detectors.”
Another trooper spoke up.
“We’re still checking with both ground and air approach controls in case either saw the ship.”
“What about orbit control, or the ships parked in holding patterns?” Ane asked.
“We’ll check with them as soon as we get the reports from the other two controls,” the trooper answered. “I don’t relish the thought of asking each ship individually, but if we have to, we will.”
Myra’s voice sounded through the extra monitor, “When Baby and I inspected the frame of the skylight we discovered and later retrieved flecks of blue paint.”
“Our labs analyzed those flecks and they exactly match the paint from the missing ship,” Dean Joakum, the chief lab technician added.
