by Jim Laughter
“My Lady, we have something here that might help us find the little ship,” he began. “Here, look at these.”
He handed the pictures to the empress. Ane looked through the pile until she came to a certain picture.
The empress puzzled over the print for a minute before her chief of security spoke up.
“That is a negative print of a pattern of pebbles. I believe it is a star map, and according to Gary here, it’s of recent origin.”
“Where did you photograph these pebbles, Mr. Gary?” she asked.
“In a cavern up in the mountains, My Lady.”
“I was thinking that we may be able to determine where the creator of the pattern was when he made the design,” the chief interjected. “I’m going over to the institute with these and I thought you’d be interested.”
“I most certainly am,” said Ane as she rose and came around the desk. “The pattern makes me think of some of the drawings Baby used to do when she was first learning to fly.”
“My thoughts exactly,” answered the chief. With that the three headed out the door.
The secretary, anticipating her boss, called for ground transportation. Soon Gary, Ane, and the chief were speeding to the institute.
∞∞∞
Slowly, the blue thing extended one of its mechanical arms and pointed a finger-like appendage at the now terrified boy.
“Man you,” it said in a child-like voice.
“Ship a am I,” it continued after a moment.
Bobby understood it, but it was speaking backwards. After the terrifying silence had dragged on for another minute, he finally worked up the courage to speak.
“I-I-I’m Bobby,” he said hesitantly. “You say you’re a ship?”
At this the ship bobbed up and down. The boy was scared that he was about to be hurt.
“Ship a am I yes!” it said excitedly.
It whirled and grabbed the magazine from where it had dropped it when it came after Bobby. Turning to the article and picture of Baby, it pointed at the picture and then at itself.
“Ship a am I!” it cried.
Bobby stared at the picture and then at the huge blue shape hovering over him. Realization dawned on him and he slowly got to his feet and stared at the little blue ship.
“WOW!” he finally exclaimed.
∞∞∞
At the institute, Betty mulled over the photographs. She questioned Gary about where the cavern was and he pointed out the location of the old Zahab mine on a map. Betty had some doubts about the pattern being a clue. She felt that it was possible the old man had found some old design someone had made a millennia ago that had escaped his attention when he’d inspected the cavern last fall. She reached for a phone and called for one of her assistants.
When the assistant arrived, she gave the photographs to him and told him to research the origin of the pattern. Ane and the two men were obviously crestfallen, but Betty felt it necessary to nip this one in the bud. She’d seen how Ane tended to get her hopes up and she didn’t relish the disappointment her friend was going to experience if the mystery of the pebbles turned out to be a hoax.
Ane and the two men returned to the palace and the chief arranged transportation to take Gary back to the station. Both men were a little glum, but didn’t give voice to their shared feelings.
At the station, Gary found he was going to have to spend the night in town since the afternoon train had already departed. He accessed a comm line and called Jack to give him the news about the pictures. Jack didn’t like the idea that someone considered Gary the perpetuator of a hoax, especially since he’d developed the pictures personally.
Gary placed a second call to the village station master to inform him that he would not be on the evening train and asked the man to inform Bobby when he returned from his hike, and for the boy to spend the night with Jack at the general store. The stationmaster assured him that it would be all taken care of and not to worry about Bobby.
Dejectedly, Gary crossed the street to the row of hotels located near the station.
∞∞∞
Slowly, the little ship flew out of the side chamber and into the main cavern. Bobby followed as the little ship set down on its nest. Bobby sat down in the glare of its lights and stared at it.
“Why do you talk so funny?” he asked.
“Funny talk not me,” said the little ship. “Book from learn me!”
It reached out for the book in Bobby’s hand.
“You learned from this book?” Bobby asked excitedly.
“Yes!” it said back. “Read can me!”
Bobby puzzled over this and then had an idea.
“Show me,” he said, passing the book over to the little ship.
Taking the book in its mechanical hand, the little ship turned to the back of the book and began to read.
“End The!” it said proudly. “Mine Zahab the of history the concludes this And.”
“Hey!” Bobby giggled, “you’re reading it backwards! Here, let me show you.”
He took the book from the ship, turned to the front and began to read aloud.
“The History of the Zahab Mine and Vicinity,” he said. Turning the page he read, “Table of Contents.”
The little ship seemed puzzled and Bobby wondered what would happen. The little ship blurted out. “Hi, Bobby! I am a ship!”
“You got it!” Bobby exclaimed. “How did you get here?”
“I flew here from a dark place,” the little ship replied. “When I came in there was a loud noise and something scratched me.”
That, thought Bobby, explains the cave-in at the entrance of the mine and the blue paint on the timber spike.
Then another thought occurred to him.
“Open up so I can meet you,” he said.
Obviously the pilot was hiding inside and was enjoying himself teasing Bobby.
“Open up?” replied the little ship in a quizzical voice. “What is open up?”
“Open up here!” said Bobby.
He walked around and pounded on the hatch. He was starting to get mad at the pilot for making a fool of him.
“Oh,” answered the little ship.
After a moment the hatch slowly opened. Bobby looked inside and was astonished to see no one sitting in the pilot’s chair.
“May I come in?” Bobby asked, hoping for a response so he could trace the voice.
“Come in?” said the voice from the speakers in front, puzzlement in its tone. There was a brief silence and then the voice “moved” into the cabin.
“Come in!” the child-like voice said.
Slowly, Bobby entered the cabin. He recognized from the article in the magazine that this ship was like the one they called Baby. Why the pilot hid it in the old mine was more than Bobby could figure out.
He looked around the control cabin and spotted the doors to the facilities and a door to what must be a small cabin in the back. The door to the facility was open and Bobby could see that no one was hiding there, so he approached the other door. Bobby wanted to know why the pilot would keep on teasing him.
Yanking the door open, Bobby was surprised to find the small cabin empty. A bunk over to one side and a small desk were the only furnishings. An empty closet and dresser, along with some empty bookshelves completed the inventory of the cabin.
“Where are you?” Bobby called.
“I am here,” came back the child-like voice from the front. Bobby reentered the control cabin and found it still empty as before. Very bewildered by the situation, he sat down in the control chair.
“Who are you?” he quietly asked.
“I am me,” came back the voice. “I am a ship.”
Through the front view screen, Bobby saw the arms raise the magazine to the window and point at the picture of the ship called Baby. Then it pointed at the picture of Captain Myra standing beside the ship. The hatch snapped shut and the ship began to rise.
Before Bobby could cry out, the voice spoke again.
∞∞∞
At the institute, Betty’s assistant, Dean puzzled over the negative picture. He’d gone over all of the files they had of ancient artifacts found on Shalimar. Nothing matched. He’d been briefed about the old man and thought there must be more to it than Betty had given him credit for. That the old man was a retired trooper was obvious by his bearing. Dean had known too many troopers to simply believe this one was perpetrating a hoax.
Pulling out the negative picture Jack had prepared, Dean considered it again. He agreed with the chief of security that it definitely looked like a star map. Taking down the correct reference book, Dean looked up a picture of the stars as seen from the surface of Shalimar. He compared the two and it was obvious that the pattern of pebbles was fairly close, but not exactly right. Somehow the angle of view was different.
Well, thought Dean, it’ll just have to wait till tomorrow. He laid the pictures back on his desk and closed up shop. Tomorrow he would consult with a few of the pilots that frequented the institute and see if one of them could figure out the discrepancy.
∞∞∞
Back at the mine, the little blue ship Mee and Bobby were flying slowly around the cavern.
“Wheeee!” squealed Bobby as they moved about. He was now strapped into the control chair. Mee turned sideways once and Bobby nearly tumbled onto the floor.
Feeling safer with the straps on, Bobby was now enjoying the ride. He hadn’t touched the controls yet and didn’t know how the ship was able to fly, but that didn’t dampen his enthusiasm. As Mee brought them back to the nest, Bobby glanced at his watch.
“Uh oh,” he said anxiously. “I have to get back home. Let me out!”
“Okay,” Mee replied sadly and the hatch opened.
“You go away?” the little ship asked.
“I’ve got to get home!” Bobby said. “But I’ll come back as soon as I can.”
He shouldered his way into the straps of the backpack and then reached for the magazine, book, and thermos.
“No,” said the little ship, grabbing for the items.
“You can’t have the book and thermos,” said Bobby, “they belong to my grandfather.”
“Okay,” said the little ship sadly.
Bobby felt sorry for Mee, but he had to take the stuff back. Then he had an inspiration.
“Here!” he said offering his new magazine. “You can borrow this till I come back.”
“Thanks!” said Mee happily. He took the magazine from Bobby’s hand and started to read it from front to back.
Bobby started up the ledge when he felt Mee float up behind him.
“Mee help,” the ship said.
Before Bobby could protest, Mee grabbed the boy in his mechanical arms and lifted him gently to the lip of the tunnel above.
“Whee!” sang Bobby, yet relieved to be on his feet again. He much preferred to ride inside the little ship than outside.
“I’ll be back!” he called and made his way out of the mine.
Back at the station, Bobby learned what was going on with Grandpa Gary. The message from his grandfather told him to go spend the night with Jack at the general store. Thanking the stationmaster, Bobby turned up the road and skipped to the general store.
Chapter Fourteen
Gary arrived on the morning train and went immediately to the general store. The train had been crowded with late winter tourists tightly packed together.
Like little fish in a can, thought Gary.
Fortunately a friend of his was one of the engineers that morning and had taken pity on him. It wasn’t often that Gary got to ride in the cab of the locomotive but it was always welcome. Sure it wasn’t as comfortable as the passenger cars, but it wasn’t crowded either.
Getting to the general store before the throng of visitors, Gary spotted Jack.
“I sure didn’t get much of a reception at the institute yesterday,” Gary began. “That woman in charge treated me like I was some kind’a nut.”
“I wasn’t too thrilled about it either,” replied Jack.
“I’m still convinced the pattern of those pebbles mean something,” Gary said.
“You aren’t alone in that.”
“Where’s Bobby?” asked Gary, noticing the boy wasn’t over at the bookrack.
“I sent him to the post office to mail off some parcels for me,” Jack said. “He’ll be back soon.”
The flood of visitors who burst in through the door prevented further conversation. Soon the store was alive with people handling everything in sight. Gary grabbed an extra shop apron and pitched in to help Jack. Both men kept busy helping customers with their purchases and trying to prevent the children from dismantling the place. Bobby soon arrived and Gary put him to work bringing up more merchandise from the back room. All in all, the store stayed busy enough until the morning down train whistled its impending departure.
∞∞∞
Dean was having another hectic morning at the institute. He’d been overseeing the repairs of the experimental courier ship, which had taken more effort than they’d first anticipated. The drive had been damaged by the hard push to get here, and the shop had to fabricate new mounts for the converters.
Taking a break from the morning hassles, Dean hid in his office so he could sit down for a minute. Looking up from his cup of coffee, he spied a familiar person go past in the hall.
“Hey Myra!” he called. “Got a minute?”
Sticking her head in through the doorway she scowled at him.
“What do you want?” she asked, her voice gruff, but friendly. He gestured for her to come in and sit down.
“I want to show you something and get your opinion,” Dean said. He dug through a pile of papers, searching for the photos buried somewhere on his desk.
“Here, look at these,” he said, handing the stack of pictures over to the woman. Myra slowly went through the pictures, smiling as she enjoyed the design of the pebbles. She stopped when she came to the negative and studied it intently for a minute.
“This looks like a star map,” she said. “What’s it of?”
“As far as I’ve been able to surmise, it’s the night sky as seen from Shalimar,” he answered. “But when I tried to compare it with our references, it didn’t quite match.” He pulled out the reference book and showed Myra the picture.
“I see what you mean,” she said. “Could the difference be from the design of pebbles being done thousands of years ago when the stars looked different?”
“I don’t think so,” Dean said. “As far as I can determine, the pebbles were set in this pattern by someone in the last three months.”
“Are you sure?” Myra asked, thinking Dean was pulling her leg. “You’re kidding me, right?”
“Yes, I’m sure, and no, I’m not kidding,” came back Dean seriously. “A retired trooper discovered the pebbles in a mine and took the photographs. He’s sure they weren’t there three months ago. I believe him.”
“Okay,” answered Myra, “let’s assume you’re right. How do you account for the shift between the reference and the design of the pebbles?”
“All I can come up with is that the person who arranged the pebbles saw them from a different angle, let’s say higher up or something,” Dean offered. “The problem is, I have no way to test my theory.”
Myra, lost in thought, didn’t immediately respond. Finally she spoke,.
”What if you, Baby, and I tested your idea tonight when you get off work?”
“Why didn’t I think of that?” Dean replied coyly.
“Good,” Myra said, realizing that Dean had tricked her into offering her help. “What time should we meet you here?”
“With my schedule and all, I’d say it’ll be midnight at least before I’m really free,” he answered. “How about one in the morning?”
“Fine,” Myra said. “There’s less air traffic then, so it’ll be easier.”
; “Great!” said Dean. “See you then!”
Dean returned to the problems with the courier ship and Myra went to tell Baby about their plans.
∞∞∞
Down in the cavern, Mee waited a long time for Bobby to come back. It had been fun flying and talking with him yesterday. While he waited, the little ship read and reread the magazine from cover to cover.
Mee was surprised at all the things the ships did and found himself growing excited when he read about battling the Red-tails. He didn’t know how he understood all the new words, but he didn’t let that dampen his enjoyment of the articles. The one he especially liked was the one about Baby and Myra and all the things they could do. Bobby had told him he looked a lot like Baby, but Mee couldn’t tell because he couldn’t see himself.
The time past that Bobby had left yesterday and Mee decided he wouldn’t be coming back today. He stored the precious magazine back in its nest and glided up to the opening into the mine tunnels. He moved along the passageways until he came to the vent shaft. Getting his optical sensors as close to the shaft as possible, he hovered there and watched the light outside turn from blue to red to black.
∞∞∞
The last of the tourists finally left for the station and the store returned to some semblance of order. Jack, Gary, and Bobby were finally able to take a breather. It had been one of those non-stop days that seemed to last forever. Bobby thought about the little ship all day but realized he wouldn’t have a chance to go see him until tomorrow.
“Well, that’s it troopers,” said Jack with a sigh of relief. “Thanks for all the help.”
“Glad to,” answered Gary, speaking for both of them. They hung up their aprons and got ready to leave.
“Jack, why don’t you come over to our place for dinner?” invited Gary. “I’ll fix up some stew and we can swap tales until we turn blue.”
“Sure, why not?” Jack said. “I get tired of eating alone.”
The three locked up and started out along the trail and over the ridge toward the cabin.
∞∞∞
Far above the surface of Shalimar, Baby drifted along, hovering here and there as Myra and Dean took readings from the sensors and compared them with the negative photograph.
