by J. Naomi Ay
The Two Moons of Rehnor
Book 10
Space Chase
By
J. Naomi Ay
Published by Ayzenberg, Inc.
Copyright 2012 -2016 Ayzenberg, Inc.
230116
Cover Art by Amy Jambor
Also by J. Naomi Ay
The Two Moons of Rehnor series
The Boy who Lit up the Sky (Book 1)
My Enemy's Son (Book 2)
Of Blood and Angels (Book 3)
Firestone Rings (Book 4)
The Days of the Golden Moons (Book 5)
Golden's Quest (Book 6)
Metamorphosis (Book 7)
The Choice (Book 8)
Treasure Hunt (Book 9)
Space Chase (Book 10)
Imperial Masquerade (Book 11)
Rivalry, (Book 12)
Thirteen (Book 13)
Betrayal (Book 14)
Fairy Tales (Book 15)
Gone for a Spin (Book 16)
The Firesetter series
A Thread of Time
Amyr’s Command
Three Kings
Exceeding Expectations
To Gert,
My inspiration,
My hero,
My grandma who could shoot a gun.
Chapter 1
Jerry Waldman-Moonbeam wanted to go home.
"Are you nuts?" His wife Janet snapped. "Who in the hell would ever want to go home to New Jersey when they could be here?" She waved her hand at the white sand and crystal clear blue water in front of their small, square, beach cabin, where year round the temperature remained a perfect eighty-five degrees.
"I don't know."
Maybe Jerry was nuts. Maybe he was missing something that a perfect climate and a perfect landscape couldn’t provide. Maybe Jerry missed the occasional hurricane, or a sky full of smog to shake up his far too peaceful existence.
"You never should have retired."
Janet, growing impatient with the dirty coffee service still piled on the table, picked up Jerry's mug and walked away with it, even though, there was still at least a quarter of a cup in the bottom.
"Hey," he called. "I wasn't done."
"It was cold. Besides that, it was making a water stain on the wood."
The door to the dishwasher swung open, followed by the tinkling music of clattering china as Janet slammed the cup inside. A moment later, the grinding sound of the ancient machine cranking water into the chamber erupted into what had previously been a somewhat quiet morning.
Jerry considered that the dishwasher was only half full, a terrible waste of energy and water. This was one of the things that particularly annoyed him about Janet. She never made an effort to conserve anything.
"Why should I?" She always asked. "There's plenty of water and electricity, and we've got plenty of money to pay for it."
True. Jerry and Janet were fairly well off, both of them living on healthy pensions from their years of service at SdK Medical. Jerry also had a small pension from the Allied Spaceforce, although sometimes the money didn't show up. This was because the Waldman-Moonbeams resided on Darius II, a planet within the Empire of Rehnor, which was still considered an enemy state to the Alliance of Planets. Therefore, Spaceforce had a reason to avoid paying him his due.
When Jerry's pension funds mysteriously detoured from the otherwise direct deposit to his bank account, he was forced to spend endless hours speaking with a mechanical representative of the Spaceforce Veteran's Fund reconfirming his address, social security, and former Spaceforce ID numbers. Hopefully, the trickle of dollars would resume, allowing Jerry to once again afford his round-the-clock, year round, sports vid package.
Janet, in retirement, found herself obsessively-compulsively cleaning everything and anything. This might have been due to the lack of anything better to occupy her time, or to stimulate her active and opinionated mind. Unlike Jerry who avoided anything political or newsworthy, burying himself in sports or the gardening channel, Janet religiously followed the decline of the former Alliance and applauded everything her one-time boss, the Emperor did.
"Did you hear that, Jerry?" Janet would shout from the kitchen, her voice echoing from inside the oven. "The radio just said that Ron is removing the president of Lumineria IV. You know, the one that was caught cheating with the vice president's wife?"
"Good," Jerry responded, staring at Janet's ample backside as it emerged from the oven along with the dirty rags.
Jerry wasn't sure why he should care about Lumineria IV or what their old friend Ron, the Emperor, did or didn't do to his minions. As long as the sun came up and he could afford food for their table, Jerry stayed out of politics altogether. He also avoided watching Ron unless, for some reason, he showed up on the Sports Channel.
This was because the Emperor was usually accompanied by the Empress. Still, after all these years and all the water under the proverbial bridge, Katie still managed to trip Jerry's heart whenever she appeared on the vid.
"You know, Janet," Jerry remarked, turning the volume down on the radio and opening the refrigerator to study the contents. Unfortunately, this included precious few items besides cold tofu and brown rice. "We don't live in a hospital. Our house doesn't have to be maintained at Level Five Cleanliness."
"Says you," Janet snapped, now spraying disinfectant across the kitchen counters, sanitizing them against any and all germs Jerry might have brought in from the breakfast table outside. "Look at those tracks you just made on the kitchen floor!"
Lately, no matter what Jerry did, he managed to mess up something that had just been cleaned. If he stood in the living room, he disturbed the newly vacuumed rug. If he walked in the kitchen, he made tracks on the freshly mopped floor. God forbid, he used the toilet which had just been disinfected.
"Who are you cleaning all this for anyway?" Jerry asked, stomping back outside with a cold rice ball and glass of unsweetened almond milk. They never had any guests except for the neighbors, which was their sum total circle of friends.
"You never know who might drop in," Janet called, her voice following Jerry out on to the patio where once again, he sat at his small table munching his rice ball and surveying his tiny expanse of brown beach grass and weeds.
While Jerry sipped at his almond milk, inside the house the broom closet door open and the wheels of the vacuum cleaner rolled across the hardwood floor en route to Janet's bedroom for her morning carpet cleaning.
Janet and Jerry had separate bedrooms now for at least a dozen years. She claimed it was because of his snoring. He claimed it was because of hers. Despite all this, they had been married for more than thirty years and neither of them had any inclination to break up an arrangement that really wasn't all that bad.
As the vacuum cleaner roared through Janet's room and on to Jerry's, sucking up every macrobiotic particle that might have become entrapped in the rug's Olefin fibers, Jerry contemplated the ocean and considered his malaise. Having been a doctor for nearly a half century, he naturally recounted all the symptoms that came to mind, and of course a million fatal diseases that could trigger his aches and pains. Having been a doctor for nearly a half century, he also knew that most of them were due to his age, and in reality, it was his mind that was controlling everything.
Jerry's mind was telling him, he was bored. He was also missing something, perhaps even as ridiculous as his family. Inexplicably, he longed to speak with his Grandpa Lou. Of course, Grandpa Lou had been dead for more than forty years. If he hadn't died, he'd be pushing one hundred and thirty. Jerry's parents were long gone, leaving only his brother, Kevin remaining of is blood relatives.
Michael wasn't sure why he had been included and frankly, Jerry hadn't a clue either. Michael had never worked for SdK, or ever met Katie. As far as being prominent and distinguished, he was a good doctor, but by no means, great. Jerry and Michael had a civil conversation then, and even talked about getting together sometime soon. They didn't, of course, and for the next twenty years, they hadn't spoken to each other.
"You don't have to come with me," Jerry yelled into the house as soon as the vacuum quieted and the sound of wheels once again rolled across the kitchen floor.
"Where?"
"New Jersey. Remember, we were talking about me going home."
"You couldn't pay me to go back to New Jersey."
Now, a bucket was being filled with water. "Don't come in with your dirty feet. I'm mopping the kitchen floor."
Resolved to take this vacation, this nostalgic trip to his former home, Jerry walked around the side of his house to go in through the front door. While this served to keep the wet kitchen floor clean, unfortunately, it tracked in a fair bit of sand and dusty beach dirt onto the newly vacuumed hall rug. Knowing that Janet would discover this only momentarily, Jerry bolted into his bedroom and sat down at his desk. Turning on the vid, Jerry pulled up the Cheap SpaceFlight Site to check spacefares.
"Why not go back for a quick visit?" Jerry asked himself. He hadn't been to Earth longer than he could recall, and at his age, maybe there wouldn’t be a whole lot of time left.
"It was affordable," Jerry assured himself. In fact, the fare was really cheap. There was a Winter-Summer special, or maybe a Fall-Spring fling going on, depending on where one was and where one was heading.
"Why shouldn't I spend my money?" Jerry agreed with himself, feeling only marginally guilty as he clicked on Buy Now.
He had no one to leave it to and couldn’t take it to the grave with him. However, he resolved to cut corners in other ways, especially since he had indulged in the unnecessary extravagance of flying in First Class. Granted, he could have easily sat in the back and packed his food, but no, Jerry wanted to enjoy this vacation.
"Have fun with that," Janet called, passing by his room, now dressed her garden jumper as she headed out to obsessively-compulsively pull weeds. "When are you going to mow?"
Fortunately, she had not yet noticed the tracks of dirt on the hall carpet, but instead had turned her attention to making the barren beach landscape as immaculate as the house.
"Coming," Jerry replied. "And going." Jerry whistled a little bit. "I'm going home to Earth."
"Morning, neighbors!" Lester Nussbaum, retired shoe salesman from Philadelphia, peered over the white picket fence that separated the two yards.
Both Janet and Jerry hated that fence, she because of the weeds and grass which tended to cluster beneath it. Jerry despised the fence because it sat too low. At three feet tall, it allowed Les to not only peer over and watch whatever activities went on in the neighboring yard, but interrupt and contribute to all conversations.
"I see you're wearing those Doc Martin's, Janet. How's that new insulated sole feel in this heat?"
Janet pretended she didn't hear Les. That was a secret trick of hers, to feign deafness whenever she wanted to avoid a conversation.
"And you, Jerry, there you are walking around in those darn flip flops again. Don't you know that alone can cause your fallen arches?"
"My arches collapsed long before I wore flip flops,” Jerry said, and proceeded to run the mower.
On the other side of the Moonbeams lived Gladys Barnes, who was originally from Poughkeepsie, NY.
"This place is just like Florida," she announced the first time she leaned over into the Moonbeams’ yard. "I'm so glad Norman, and I decided to build here instead of Fort Walton Beach."
Unfortunately for Norman or maybe, it was actually a choice on his part, he died while their house was still under construction. That didn’t stop Gladys from packing up and moving alone.
"I like the Empire," Gladys said, when explaining why she left her kids and family back in New York. "That Emperor is one hot potato of a man. If he was here, I'd plant kisses all over his face."
"Not likely," Janet had muttered. "Unless you want your brain fried inside your head, or your liver extracted and gnawed to bits. And, that's just what Katie would do to you."
"I don't care who's in charge here," Les remarked, reaching across Janet for the guacamole dip, as the neighbors were all sitting on the Moonbeam's deck enjoying the setting sun. "Show me a politician and I'll show you a fool. On the other hand, that Empress gal is one foxy babe, hubba hubba. Pass me the chips, Jer."
"She's a senior citizen," Jerry reminded, trying to keep his ire under wraps while considering whether he ought to dump all those chips in Lester's lap.
Instead, he calmly swallowed the rest of his beer and wondered why, after all this time, did he still rush to defend Katie, as if her honor depended on him? Why, after all these years, did he even care what people said?
"And so?" Les had asked. "Do I look like a teenager myself? I still got it though, Jer, and I don't need any of your fancy pills."
"I don't have any pills for you, Les." In fact, Jerry considered it might be dangerous for Les to walk too fast. Hooking up with a girl might just about knock him dead.
"Well Lester," Gladys had interrupted. "I'd love to see what you've got hiding."
"Nothing," Les responded. "Nothing you would like."
"I've still got it too, baby," Gladys insisted.
"Take it somewhere else," Janet had snapped, standing up and ending the party on the porch.
On the morning in which Jerry had purchased his spaceplane tickets, Gladys peered over the fence from the opposite side.
"Good morning, neighbors!" Gladys called. "I've made fresh cinnamon rolls today. Who wants some? Lester? Jerry? Janet? Why don't you all come over?"
"Sorry, Gladys." Janet sat back on her heels, all weeds extract from the one foot square beneath the fence. "You know I'm on a strictly gluten free diet."
"I'm watching carbs." Jerry patted his stomach. "Seriously, my blood sugar's way too high."
"Me too," Les agreed, studying his own yard which had neither weeds nor grass nor anything else alive. "Can't eat carbs or gluten things. Can't eat cinnamon which makes me choke. Can't eat roll. Nope, can't eat any part of that."
"I didn't add carbs," Gladys snapped. "And you do so eat gluten, Lester. After Bridge last week, I saw you eating chocolate cake."
"Me?" Lester frowned. "Chocolate cake? No, couldn't have been that. Wasn't that a brown tofu, carob mousse that Janet made?”
In truth, none of the neighbors could stomach Gladys’s creations as inevitably she forgot some key ingredients, like sugar, or flour.
“So, what's the good news, Jerry?" Les lifted one leg up and over the white fence, deciding it was time to make a move. Gladys was safely ensconced on her porch, allowing him to invade invade the Moonbeams' space without encouraging Gladys to follow suit. For a brief moment, Les found himself impaled upon the pickets until he could slide a bit and raise his other leg.
"Careful there, Les," Janet called. "You're about to lose what little you still have."
"I've got it. Oooph." Les flipped into the Moonbeam's yard. Dusting off the stray strands of grass from his bare and hairy legs, Les joined Jerry gazing into the garden shed. "Nice looking rototiller you've got there, Jer. Lovely pitchfork and edger, too. That's an awesome chain saw, you've got. Is it new?"
"Nope. It's the same one I picked up at that garage sale last year," Jerry replied, choosing to leave the edging for later. A game was coming on, and he wanted to watch the pregame show, so he shut and locked the shed door, securing his tools.
"Jerry's g
oing to Jersey." Janet decided her weeding was done as well, so she stood up and brushed the tiny wisps of grass off her shorts. As there were some stray particles still residing in her hair, Janet needed a shower. When Janet showered it had to be sterilizing hot, following which, she'd clean the bathroom again, regardless how recently it had been cleaned before.
"Jersey?" Les asked, following Jerry inside his house, which if Janet had seen, would have sent her into a cleaning frenzy.
"Yes, New Jersey. I'm going home to visit my brother and cousin who I haven't seen for years and years."
"Sounds nice," Lester said wistfully seating himself upon Jerry's wicker couch. "Maybe I should go with you? What do you think, Jer? Ya want some company to tag along?"
Not really, Jerry considered, although what he said was, "I'm traveling in First Class. It's probably way too expensive for you on your fixed income pension."
"Who else have I got to leave it to?" Lester shrugged. "Like you, no one would care if tomorrow I dropped dead. I can't take it with me, Jer, so I might as well spend it on myself. I wouldn't mind flying in First Class for once in my life. I'd like to be treated like royalty. What do you say, neighbor? You and me shake up the town back there in Jersey?"
"Yes, go, Lester!" Janet shouted from her bedroom where she had turned on the morning talk shows. Someone was discussing the Empress's latest hair style, and whether it made her look younger or older.
"Oh, it's expensive," Jerry cautioned, shaking his head while hoping Les would go home before the game started. With Lester jabbering, Jerry couldn't concentrate on the scores or analyze the plays. Jerry kept a notepad by his side just to jot down important things such as when a player fouled or dropped a ball. He would use all this data to compile a fantasy team which had kept him entertained throughout his retirement.
