Learning To Fly

by DeMaris, Charles

  “Glad you could make it,” Jack said, “Would you like a drink? None of that Earth junk either. I know how that affects you.”

  “I believe I will have something from home. It’s been so long.”

  Jack poured a couple glasses and motioned for Mike to have a seat.

  “I had forgotten about the reduced gravity here. It feels somewhat unsettling.”

  “We never got around to installing artificial gravity. Too much expense for the nature of the facility, and how long we will need it. The trick is to not spend too much time here, or to keep up a good exercise regimen. The reduced gravity is not good for the muscles.”

  “If you wanted to talk here, I gather it’s to avoid any unwanted eavesdropping?”

  “Precisely. There are times where you don’t mind someone listening in, but this is not one of them.”

  “I take it the other day was one of those times. You could have told me in advance.”

  “I wanted the conversation to be believable.”

  “We were speaking our language.”

  “Yes, we were, and I left some sets of ear buds there for them to find. A look at the video shows that they found them and used them. The kid recorded everything on his phone, thinking he was so slick, and now he’s no doubt told Walter.”

  “And what exactly is the advantage to telling them? They wouldn’t figure out our plans.”

  “I have reason to believe that the girl has contacted them. With her help, they’ll figure it out sooner or later.”

  “But why go ahead and tell them?”

  “Because what they have been told is not what we’re planning. You haven’t heard from home?”

  “No, I haven’t.”

  “Then let me be the first to tell you that our war against the Draxians is over. The planet capitulated last week and is in our complete control. We have no need for further deployments there and can now focus our attention elsewhere.”

  “That is certainly good news. Where is the unfortunate planet to be our next target?”

  “Why, you just took off from it to come here.”

  “I thought Earth was not on our list. Their combined military strength is formidable.”

  “Yes, it is, but the American military has just developed something that might sow the seeds of their own destruction, and our blonde friend has been kind enough to steal some of them for us.”

  “Would this be the device she used on the airplanes?”

  “It would be. I have made some modifications and equipped it on our cruisers and a smaller version on the mechanized soldier suits. Their planes and tanks will be useless. One hit and we can either disable them or take control of them and use them for our own purposes. You might have noticed that we have a good number of soldiers ready to deploy as soon as the new suits get here, which should be on the next transport.”

  “When is that?”

  “They’ve already left. They should be here within a couple days. They’re bringing more soldiers, two million suits, and a fleet of cruisers to provide air support if needed.”

  “Is that enough troops to take all the capitals? You remember that this planet is made up of several sovereign governments.”

  “We will start with smaller cities. Take them over and show the rest of the world how futile resisting us would be, and the capitals should surrender without much more fighting, if they value the lives of their people. We will start with cities like Cincinnati and Milwaukee, and similar cities in other countries. Those cities will fall easily and when the rest of the world sees our strength, I expect total surrender within days.”

  “Why has this planet all of a sudden become a valued target?”

  “Look at the resources. We will be set up well for a long time, and their population will supply us with manpower for future needs. This is a rich planet. There’s no reason it shouldn’t belong to us.”

  “Okay, that’s fine, but what’s my role in all of this? I doubt I can go back to Walter now. He knows of our conversation.”

  “No, that job is done. You can keep him distracted, though, if our friend Catherine doesn’t manage that herself. Stir up the local riff raff to continue in their mis-deeds and he won’t have time to mess with us.”

  “I think I can manage that. What about that business about the prisons?”

  “I don’t think we need more troops now. You can check on our facility in Africa and make sure everything is good to go there. I’ll let you know when we’re ready to activate them. There are already enough suits there for deployment.”

  “Sounds good to me. I’ll head there right away.”

  “Give it another couple hours and show up in the middle of the night. No need to attract any unwanted attention.”

  24

  Catherine Mixon brought the armored car down the freight elevator, after depositing the driver on the side of the road about twenty miles away, and set it next to the pallets of yet to be laundered money against the far wall.

  “You know, you really ought to clean what you have before adding more to the pile,” a voice said from a few feet away.

  She whirled around to see Walter sitting in a recliner, sipping a beer.

  “How in the hell did you get in here?” she asked

  “Through the door, down the stairs. It wasn’t that hard to figure out. You really do need to stock the fridge. I had to bring my own beer. Didn’t your mother teach you anything about hospitality?”

  “Didn’t yours teach you anything about knocking first?”

  “Couldn’t find the doorbell.”

  “So you just barge in unannounced.”

  “Come on lady, you forfeited any right to be incensed the minute you started your little crime spree. Do you know how many charges you could be brought up on right now? Murder, theft…hell, the murder charges alone would do the trick.”

  “And how exactly do you suppose that will happen? Are you gonna take me in?”

  “You think this is some comic book movie where have the big super fight and tear up half the city? That’s what it would take, I imagine, and my daddy had a few things to say about men hitting ladies.”

  “I have news for you. I’m not much of a lady.”

  “Tell me something I don’t know. Lady or not, I didn’t come here to fight you. I doubt we could do much damage to one another. I came here to reason with you.”

  “Now that’s the funniest thing I’ve heard in a while,” she said leaning back and laughing.

  “It wasn’t meant to be funny. You’re being used. The guy who gave you your powers…the guy who gave me mine…they’re working together.”

  “Now that doesn't make a hell of a lot of sense.”

  “Hear me out. Mine were a mistake, then the other guy gave you yours to…even the odds…so to speak.”

  “Come again.”

  “I wasn’t supposed to be zapped, but it happened. Then you were given your powers to keep me busy so I wouldn’t mess up whatever they’re planning.”

  “Do you know how that all sounds?”

  Walter removed a thumb drive from his pocket and handed it to her.

  “Just take a look at this and see what you think. Then decide if you want to keep listening to that guy.”

  “Is this where you try to play the hero and convince me to abandon my wicked ways?”

  “I can’t say the thought didn’t cross my mind, but I was never much of a persuasive man. Whatever is going on is bigger than you and me. I’d just like you to see that.”

  “If you wanted to change me, you’re about twenty years too late.”

  “Maybe so, just look at what’s on the drive. If you still want to go down the same path, that’s on you. Just know that I’ll be there every step of the way, making things difficult for you.”

  “You haven’t been able to stop me yet.”

  “Give me time. I’m still new to this whole hero thing. Apparently, you have a few more years with the villain part. I’m playing catch up.”

 
“You know the problem with your kind. It’s not that I have more practice. It’s that you’re good. You actually give a damn about others. That’s not a weakness I have. It will be your undoing. Every hero has a weakness, and since kryptonite doesn’t exist, that is yours. You don’t have the guts to do what it takes.”

  “I never thought of compassion as a weakness.”

  “Oh, Walter, you have a lot to learn.”

  “Just watch the video. Then do whatever you darn well please.”

  “I have a mind to throw you out of here right now.”

  He handed her a card. “No need to. I can see myself out. Here’s my cell, just in case you want to talk about what you see on there.”

  “You know I can track a cell, right?”

  “Not if I keep it off and only check it a couple times a day from a remote location. I’m not that stupid. See you around.”

  Walter arrived at the house in Seaman, carrying his recliner through the door and setting it down, before sitting down in it himself.

  “Where have you been?” Franklin asked.

  “Trying to reason with our female friend.”

  “How did that go?”

  “She doesn’t seem receptive, but I gave her a copy of the video. Who knows if she’ll watch it?”

  “Did you manage to plant the camera?” Christy asked.

  “Check the feed yourself,” Walter said.

  “Follow me,” Christy said, “Everything is set up downstairs.”

  Walter, Franklin, and Kendra followed Christy to a bookshelf on the far wall of the living room.

  “Let me guess,” Franklin said, “You move a book and the secret room appears.”

  “Nothing so low tech,” Christy said.

  When she got within a foot of the front of the bookshelf, it slid aside and an elevator door opened behind it. They entered the elevator, and the door shut a couple seconds later. There were no buttons on the inside of the elevator. It simply started moving, descending for what seemed like more than a couple stories, and then opened up on a scene out of a science fiction film.

  “Let me give you the grand tour,” Christy said.

  “First question,” Kendra asked, “How did the elevator and the bookshelf work? You didn’t do anything.”

  “Biometric scanners. If I’m there, it knows I want to come down here. Simple.”

  “And if someone is forcing you against your will?”

  “If anyone is in the room who isn’t already in the computer, it won’t work. I uploaded you all to the database when you first arrived. It only took a few seconds. Now, let me show you around.”

  She showed them several rooms that were each set up like a hotel suite, each with a private bath and all the amenities. There was a gym, a pool, a kitchen, a computer lab more advanced than anything on earth, and a large hangar filled with various spacecraft and automobiles.

  “Whoa…are those…” Franklin said, his jaw dropping.

  “Yes, there are autos for normal transportation here. Those smaller ships are short range craft, limited hyperspace jump range. You can fit extra fuel cells to get more range but you don’t want to venture more than ten light years in those. The medium ones are shuttles, much like the ones our friends will try to use to deploy troops to wherever they choose to attack. The larger one is a long range craft. You can go across the galaxy in that one, provided you have the time, and it can refuel the cells from stars.”

  “How does that work?”

  “The ship doesn’t go that close to the star. There is…I don’t know your word for it, something like a drone…that can get close enough to harvest hydrogen and bring it back to replenish the fuel cells.”

  “The ships just run on hydrogen?”

  “It’s a bit more complicated than that. I don’t even understand it completely.”

  “You don’t?”

  “Do you understand everything about a car engine?”

  “Well…no.”

  “But you can drive one?”

  “I get your point.”

  “Anyway, let’s head to the kitchen. I don’t know about you, but I’m somewhat hungry.”

  They ate a hasty dinner and moved to the computer lab, but nothing in there looked even remotely familiar to Franklin.

  “What kind of computers are these?” Kendra asked.

  “These are systems I built myself, a bit more powerful than anything you can buy around here,” Christy said.

  “Any way we can get on your network?” Franklin asked, “My phone’s got nothing down here.”

  “We don’t want to use our phones here anyway,” Walter said, “The lady can track them if she wants.”

  “I got you covered,” Christy said, “Put your phones on these little pads on the desk. It will charge your phone and run it off my own network, which can’t be traced.”

  “That's all fine, but what’s our next step?”

  “We need to go to the moon.”

  “Come again?”

  “Well, you need to stick around here in case anything big happens, just do your thing like you’ve been doing. I need to snoop around that moon base, and I might need an extra set of eyes to join me.”

  “Won’t that be a bit dangerous?”

  “Of course, but I don’t see how we have any other choice. We need to know exactly what they’re up to so we can formulate a plan to stop them. The intel is most likely there.”

  “You mean I can go to the moon?” Franklin asked.

  “Of course, you and Kendra both.”

  “Cool.”

  “Don’t be so flippant, young man. This could be a dangerous mission. The fate of your world could be at stake.”

  “Since you word it that way, when do we start?”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Look lady, I’m not sure of much, but saving the world seems pretty cool. I might not get another chance to do something like that.”

  “We’re not even sure which world we’re trying to save, or if we’ll be able to.”

  “What if you fly up there and those guys are there?” Kendra asked, “Won’t that get a little dicey?”

  “That’s where this comes in,” Christy said, bringing up the video feed from the hidden camera, “They hang out where you were taken sometimes. We might get an idea when they’re going to be here, and we can sneak in and get whatever intel we can. We’ll have to make it quick, though. The moon isn’t any great distance away.”

  “No great distance?” Walter said.

  “Not for the ships they have access to. The small ones I have in the hangar can make the trip in fifteen minutes.”

  25

  Christy, Franklin, and Kendra were strapped in and ready to take off, but were watching the video feed from the hidden camera in Mixon’s lair, since they wouldn’t take off until they were sure Mike and his friend were there and not on the moon base. The ship was one of the smaller ones she had, maybe forty feet long at the most.

  “This is cool. It reminds me of the jets in the Marvel movies,” Franklin said.

  “I suppose it’s pretty close, except this one can do a bit more,” Christy replied, “You’ll find the controls fairly close to your aircraft, though.”

  “I wouldn’t really know. I’ve never flown anything for real, except in video games.”

  “That stick works much the same as in your planes, except that there are no actual control surfaces that move when you move the stick. Everything is done by thrusters that control the roll and pitch, and there are no rudder pedals for the yaw.”

  “Come again?”

  “You know how in an airplane, you pull the stick back to lift the nose and push it forward to lower the nose, and you pull left to roll left and right to roll right?”

  “Yeah, I guess.”

  “It’s the same, except if you need to yaw, or turn the nose left or right without pitching or rolling, you simply slide the bottom of the stick left or right instead of pushing the rudder pedals.”

  “I get
it,” Kendra replied, “the whole stick slides back and forth, but if you want to pitch, you pull the top of the stick over instead of sliding the bottom across.”

  “You’ve got it. If all goes well, I’ll let you try it out.”

  “Whoa...that would be way cool,” Franklin replied.

  “Well, will you look at that? Both of our friends are where we want them,” Christy said, pointing to the video feed, “Shall we be off?”

  She pulled a small lever, and the ship rose a couple feet into a hover, and then she moved the same lever forward and the ship started moving forward.

  “This lever controls directional thrust. Up or down, or forward and backward,” she explained as she maneuvered out of the garage and into the yard behind the house.

  “You two might want to hold on,” she said, lifting up a few more feet before pointing the nose upward and pushing the throttle forward. They were thrown back in their seats as the small ship rapidly picked up speed and before they knew it, they were out of the atmosphere and the movement became smoother. She pulled up a small touch screen, typed a few characters, and sat back.

  “Course is set for the moon. At this speed, we should be in orbit in a few minutes. Open that cabinet behind your chair, Franklin, and remove what’s in there. I hope we don’t need them, but we can’t be too careful.”

  Franklin opened the cabinet and removed three guns like nothing he had ever seen before. They looked like rifles, but there was no magazine and the trigger appeared to be a small button on the side.

  “How do these work? Is that the trigger?”

  “The button on the side is the trigger. You hold your hand underneath and use your thumb for the trigger,” Christy replied, “The button on the other side will cycle through lethal or non-lethal modes.”

  “Where do you put the ammo?”

  “It’s an energy weapon. There is no ammo.”

  “Like lasers?”

  “Not exactly. Anyway, it fires much the same. The first time you depress the trigger, it will turn on, then you can select the firing mode and then you’re live. We will each wear a small transponder as well. They’re programmed not to fire on anyone wearing one, so we won’t be able to shoot each other.”