by Jeff Sims
Victor yawned and looked at the time on the bedside clock. It showed 3:00 am. Victor said, “You set your alarm for the wrong time.”
“It’s not my alarm. And I didn’t program my clock wrong.” Crista replied, stressing the word my.
Victor answered, “Well, it isn’t my alarm.” He sat up in bed and sighed. They were leaving Earth today and Victor had really wanted a good night’s rest. Oh well, he thought, he was not going to get it.
The alarm sounded again. This time Victor recognized that it was his other alarm. He said, “Computer, acknowledge.”
…You have an in-coming emergency message from the Alliance Senate…
Victor rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and said, “Computer, play the message.”
…Victor Bullpeep. The Alliance Senate had decided to expand the human experiment yet again. Please proceed immediately to Earth and obtain 6 replacement pilots, 4 engineers, and 6 crewmembers. This is the final recruiting mission to Earth…
Victor groaned and lay back down in bed. He knew that the Sunflower had gone on a mission, but he hadn’t seen any newscasts about the results. Of course, the news was a little spotty on Earth. He briefly wondered if it would be a violation of the directive from Advranki Prime to broadcast just one 24 hour Alliance news show.
Crista rolled over, took his hand, and said, “Great, there is really nothing I can imagine that would be more fun than staying on Earth even longer than necessary and completely missing the Solarian celebration.”
Crista paused for a moment and said, “Correction. I can think of something.” She grabbed her communication pad and made a show of creating a profile for an on-line human dating site.
Victor opened his palm and showed Crista the controller to her shock collar. He pretended to press it and said, “Why would you want another man when I have your heart in the palm of my hand?”
Crista rewarded Victor with an inappropriate hand gesture and a suggestion as to where he could shove the controller.
Victor smiled and got out of bed. He had promised Crista that they would be home in time to see the celebration, but it now appeared that he was going to have to renege on that promise.
Victor, Crista, and the then 20 human pilots from the Sunflower returned to Earth approximately 3 months ago to recruit a 2nd set of pilots and a full crew. Victor decided to stay on Earth after the Sunflower left because he felt that leaving before the launch of their newest products, the super-cooling and super-heating devices, would look suspicious.
So, they had stayed on the planet for the launch. Then they decided to stay for the Victory Games world pilot championship. Now it seemed they would be delayed again.
Victor said, “It’s only 16 humans this time, if we hurry and recruit them perhaps we can still catch the hindquarters of the celebration.”
Crista replied, “We don’t have the scientists to create false covers or orders. The humans will notice they are missing. Besides, how are we going to corral 16 humans by ourselves?”
Victor said, “Don’t worry, I have a plan.”
“Care you share your epiphany with me?” asked Crista.
“Victor: “Well, it involves going to Walmart®. As you know, they are open 24 hours a day.”
Crista feigned delight and replied, “Ooh, count me in. You know there is nothing on this lousy planet that I like better than to go shopping at Walmart®.” She paused for a moment and added, “Especially at 3:00 am.”
They snuck out of the dirigible hangar and over to the shipping and receiving area. There were several large supply trucks parked there. They grabbed the keys and hopped into the one on the far left. Victor chose it because it was parked in a convenient location. He pulled the truck out of the spot and drove through the parking lot.
The place looked strange at this hour. The plant and corporate offices were dark and the parking lot was virtually empty. The addition of the super-cooling and super-heating units had forced them to grow the facility from one building to a rather large manufacturing and research campus.
As a result, space, or a lack thereof, had become an issue. Amy Weisman, the CEO of Victory Games, asked Victor if they could build a facility in nearby Canton or Medina or possibly tear down the hangar.
Victor responded instead by purchasing the company next to him for an astronomical price. For some unknown reason, Victor really wanted the entire company located in the same general area. Victor argued at the time that he had made a commitment to Akron and wanted to be a good corporate citizen. However, the real reason was that he didn’t want to travel anywhere.
Now, his hesitancy to expand his company’s borders was going to be a huge benefit.
They reached the supercenter and went shopping. They purchased enough bedding, clothing, toiletries, entertainment consoles, furniture, food, drinks, and beds to comfortably house 16 people for the 11 day journey to Conron.
At the last moment, Crista put a large mirror into one of the shopping carts. Victor looked at it and said, “Why do you need that? You can simply order any of the monitors on the ship to simply create a reflective surface. Plus, those can magnify several times. This one cannot.”
Crista gave him a look in response that implied that she understood the limitations of the human mirror. It also implied something else.
Victor recognized her look and replied, “You know, I changed my mind. I think the mirror will be a great conversation starter. It will look great in our apartment.”
They loaded everything into the truck, then waited rather impatiently for the store employees to load the 10 sets of mattresses and box springs into the vehicle. Victor wanted to purchase 16 sets, but there were only 10 in inventory. He figured that the humans would have to share beds or take turns sleeping or something.
Victor was rather scared that they would be caught and questioned for such a large purchase, but the employees didn’t question them at all. However, just as he was closing the doors, one enterprising employee asked, “What are you going to do with all of the beds?”
Crista replied, “We are going to test their firmness in outer space.”
That seemed to mollify the employee, so they locked the doors and got into the truck.
Crista said, “Wait, we forgot towels.”
They walked back into the store and purchased 2 towels for everyone. Towels were a critical item during close quarter space travel. They certainly didn’t want the new recruits to wander around the ship without their towels.
Fortunately, an employee found 6 more mattresses. They were a different size, but would work. Victor thanked the employee and indicated that he needed help getting them into the truck.
They drove the truck back to Victory Games. Instead of parking the truck back in its spot, Victor pulled it into the hangar and directly into the main hold of the Vista. Victor carefully parked it against the bulkhead. This effectively blocked the doorway leading from the main hold to the control room. Victor set the parking brake and chocked each wheel.
They didn’t have the time or the desire to unload the truck and set up the sleeping area. They were simply going to take the truck with them to Solaria. However, Crista did take the mirror out of the truck and put it in their cabin.
Victor imagined that an actual truck from Earth would make an excellent attraction in Human Town. They could park it next to their archery range and charge people admission to sit in the driver’s seat. Victor locked the doors to the cab and grabbed the keys.
They walked through the secret passageway linking the hangar to Victor’s office. Victor sat at his workstation and linked his communication pad to it. He said, “Computer, list all employees of Victory Games that are single and have scored a minimum of 10,000 points in the fighter pilot simulation.
…Calculating. There are exactly 16 Victory Games employees that meet the requisites…
Wow, 16 candidates. That was far more that Victor was expecting. He realized that he had forgotten to request their relative world ranking, so he sa
id, “Computer, show the list again, this time with the pilot’s rankings. Limit the list to the top 6 by ranking.”
The rankings were higher than Victor expected. They had numbers 24, 199, 420, 1,222, 1,963, and 3,044. Good enough, Victor thought. He was certain that they could improve their rankings if they practiced more. Victor sent each of the 6 employees an email requesting that they come to his office at precisely 8:30 am.
He said, “Computer, create a list of employees that are single and have qualified as an engineer or crew member in the simulation.”
…Listing. There are 358 employees that fit the description…
Victor realized that he had set the parameters too broad. He started over and only asked for people with technical or mechanical ability. He found two factory maintenance workers that met all of the requirements. The two mechanics also received emails. He was below goal on crew members, so he would have to make up the difference with engineers.
He requested a list of employees that had an engineering or science degree, were single, and had qualified as an engineer in the simulation. His list now contained only 92 names. He then broke the list of engineers down by function.
He scanned the list and picked candidates in different fields of engineering. He chose 3 electrical engineers, 2 computer science engineers, 2 mechanical engineers, and 1 industrial engineer. These individuals also received emails.
Thirty minutes passed. Victor couldn’t believe how nervous he was. It was now 8:27 am and a group of people were approaching. Apparently, they had collected in an office down the hall because all 16 entered his office at the exact same time. Victor couldn’t believe the stroke of luck. This was going to be easier than he expected.
Victor introduced himself and shook everyone’s hand. He hadn’t realized it at the time, but he had chosen 8 males and 8 females. Oddly enough, all of the fighter pilots were male.
He said, “I know that you are all wondering why I invited you here. Your job performance the last few months has been exemplary. I have selected you to join me for a special recognition breakfast.”
Crista opened the secret panel and revealed the corridor to the hangar. Victor said, “The passageway leads to my private dining area. Please, follow me.”
Victor led the way down the corridor and to the ship. He stood at the entrance to the ship and waved each of them into the main hold. As soon as the last one entered, Victor closed the hold and activated the sleeping gas canisters.
Crista locked the door to Victor’s office. She turned off his work station and office lights. Finally, she entered the secret passageway and closed the door behind her. She walked down the corridor and joined Victor. Together, they entered the mini-freighter via the personnel gangway.
Crista entered the secondary hold and then walked to the adjoining passageway to the main hold. She peeked through the doorway to verify that everyone was still asleep. Then she activated the kitchen and restroom units and left.
She locked the doors to both the primary and secondary holds and activated the force field. Unlike last time, they no longer had the steel cages to block the doors. Crista ran her hand against the field and watched the red shimmer. It didn’t feel very strong to her. She hoped that the humans wouldn’t try to break through.
Victor went to the control room and began preparing the mini-freighter for flight. Once ready, he switched to blimp mode. Specifically, he activated a special electronics package that made the mini-freighter look like a blimp on all human electronic tracking systems.
If someone were visually looking in correct spot at the correct moment, they would be able to see that it didn’t look like a blimp. However, the odds of visual detection were low and Victor really didn’t want to wait 11 hours to leave.
Crista reentered the control room and activated the electronic jamming package. There were 6 settings and Crista chose setting number 4. This was much higher than they had used previously, but they thought it was best to err on the side of caution.
Victor opened the hangar doors, engaged the sub-light engines, and launched. Once they exited the Earth’s atmosphere, Victor increased the freighter’s speed to .07 light and set a course for the edge of Earth’s gravity field. The computer indicated that the trip would last 13 hours.
Normally, they would micro-jump from the back-side of the moon to the edge of the system. However, during their last trip they had been detected by Earth’s fledgling monitoring system.
Victor didn’t want to risk getting detected because he didn’t want the Earth police to link the disappearance of 16 more humans to an extra-solar sighting. There are enough conspiracies about the other 70 they had kidnapped. He didn’t want to add polonium to the reaction.
During their first visit to Earth, Lorano had configured a portion of the Victory Games email server as secretmission.gov. He programmed the hyperspace communicator located near Mars to send and receive emails on a weekly basis using that email address.
Victor spent the next couple of hours creating email accounts for the 16 new recruits and composing emails to the next of kin listed for each employee. He may not be able to create as intricate a cover story as Lorano, but he could at a minimum say something to explain their disappearance.
Victor created Solarian websphere accounts for the 16 humans and then linked them to their .gov email accounts. This would allow them to send and receive emails. Next he created a form letter and sent it to the next of kin listed for each employee. It read:
Dear (Insert Next of Kin),
I have decided to participate in an experiment to study the effects of outer space on a human body. I will be traveling to the jungles of France for several months. I won’t be able to talk you, but I can send and receive email.
My email account is (insert name)@secretmission.gov. I am sorry that I couldn’t discuss it in advance, but it is a secret mission.
Love,
(Insert name here)
Finally, he wrote a goodbye email to Amy Weisman. Crista demanded to proof read it. After reading, she declared it ready to go. It read:
Dear Amy Weisman,
Crista and I have decided to take another extended vacation. I understand that the timing is rather sudden and I apologize for not saying goodbye in person.
I want you to know that I remain comfortable leaving the company under your capable guidance. As before, please continue sending your weekly email update.
Sincerely,
Victor and Crista Tyrano
They reached the edge of Earth’s gravity. Crista programmed the hyperspace navigational computer, double checked the coordinates, and ran a simulation. She looked over at Victor and said, “I am ready, I guess.”
Victor slapped his ears. Crista’s control collar activated and she winced in pain and grabbed her ears. Victor slapped the top of his head and Crista winced again. After the pain subsided she verified that the control collar had indeed activated and sent the hidden coordinates to the navigational system.
Crista said, “Ready to go.”
Victor replied, “Launch.”
Crista moved her finger toward the button and suddenly stopped. She looked at Victor and said, “Uh oh. I forgot the electro cart in your office.”
Victor shook his head and said, “Don’t worry about it. The Humans will never find it. Even if they do, they won’t be able to figure out what it is.”
Crista replied, “Well, the user manual shows 4 languages.”
Victor said, “Computer, can you connect to my workstation on Earth, then link to the electro cart?”
…Connection established, but there is a considerable delay from this distance...
Victor said, “Now, change the default language to Alliance basic.”
…Language default setting has been set…
Victor said, “Problem solved.”
Crista pressed the button and the ship jumped into hyperspace.
Chapter 6
“They are ready for you,” stated the guard.
&n
bsp; Supreme Admiral Fruid’la didn’t like to be kept waiting, even by the High Council. Someday, he thought, he wouldn’t have to report to this outdated group of nitwits. Someday, he would be in charge and they would be irrelevant. But unfortunately, that day was not today.
Fruid’la mentally reviewed his plan for the meeting – accept full credit for everything that went well and deflect blame for everything that did not. This process had served him well in the past and he saw little reason why it wouldn’t work now.
Fruid’la entered the chamber and gave the traditional Hiriculan greeting. He over exaggerated the final two moves. This was supposed to convey humility and respect, but Fruid’la was literally going through the motions.
“We read your initial report, please tell us what happened in your own words.”
Fruid’la squinted to see which of the 12 council members had spoken. However, he was unable to tell; primarily because the council sat on a raised dais about 1 meter above the rest of the floor. Further, there was a ray of light shining from an overhead skylight. It entered behind the council and was directed toward him.
The effect was supposed to awe and intimidate visitors, but Fruid’la thought it was silly and made the council look weak. When he seized power and disbanded the council, he would remove the dais from the chamber and close the skylight. He wanted his subjects to be able to clearly see him. On second thought, maybe he would leave the dais. It couldn’t hurt to have his subjects looking up at him.
Fruid’la replied, “Is there any particular subject for which you seek my enlightenment?”
“Let’s start with Influenla.”
Fruid’la knew what the council was really asking. They wanted to know how the Alliance prisoners escaped and also how they only needed one ship to do so. Fruid’la decided that he wasn’t going to give them the satisfaction of a straight forward response.
He replied, “My plan worked brilliantly. I started by repurposing an asteroid into an ion cannon base and placing a space station next to it. I then leaked to the Alliance that there was a new space station in Influenla. They sent a cruiser to investigate and I sent a Hiriculan cruiser to stop them. This made the Alliance think that there was something of value on the station. ”
