Jenny In Space: Chasing The Killer Comet

by Michael Coles

  ***

  Obos brought the Traveler in with barely a whisper, and hovered over the lake, utilizing the ship's gravity displacement technology. The Traveler was a sleek vessel, circular in shape, which enabled the ship to turn around in order to decelerate from the astonishing speed it was capable of achieving. The computer attempted to release the water collection tubes into the lake.

  "Born, the release mechanism is malfunctioning. The tubes will not release," informed Obos.

  "This ship's falling apart," Born stated in frustration.

  "Set us down on the shore. I'll have to go out and manually release the tubes and pull them to the lake. Just what I need, a delay when a huge comet is about to collide with this planet," Born complained.

  While Obos scanned the area for a suitable landing spot, Born walked to the closet door and projected his thought energy towards a sensor. The door immediately slid silently open. The Soilans had long ago developed the technology capable of sensing the signal of a projected thought. Born reached into the small closet, and pulled out a gravity displacement suit.

  In an attempt at camouflage, the Soilans manufactured the suit to match a form of Earth clothing, a common everyday black sweat suit, black baseball cap and white running shoes. The Soilans thought they would be less conspicuous if they were dressed in traditional Earth style clothing, if ever they accidentally encountered an Earth human.

  Obos selected a large open area suitable for landing near the shore, and slowly moved the Traveler into position. The dirt and rock beneath the Traveler floated freely, while under the influence of the ship's anti-gravity technology, creating a murky, dusty skirt under the vessel.

  The Traveler touched down on the ground with its support legs extended. Obos then deactivated the gravity displacement device in order to allow Born controlled access to the bottom of the ship. All of the rock and debris that had been floating freely suddenly fell to the ground.

  Born put on his anti-gravity suit and reached into the breast pocket to the power pack and control. Earth's gravitational pull was five times stronger than Born's home planet, Soilanglobe. The suit counteracted Earth's strong gravitational pull to match what Born was accustomed to. Without the suit, a Soilan would find it exhausting to function in Earth's environment. He pushed a small button on the controller and the suit energized. Born instantly had control over the forces of gravity. He clipped a tiny sensor to his collar and inserted a receiver into each ear so he would have voice contact with Obos. Walking to the Traveler's outside access door, Born projected a thought towards the sensor beside it. The door slid open, and a set of stairs extended to the ground. Born knew as soon as he walked beyond the Traveler's door, he would be under the influence of Earth's gravitational pull. Stepping out onto the platform, Born immediately felt five times heavier. He quickly turned the dial on the control module.

  Earth's gravitational pull on him decreased more and more the further Born rotated the dial. Executing a tiny little test jump on the platform and with little effort, Born jumped about three feet into the air. Satisfied with the level of gravity achieved, he jumped and landed lightly on the Earth's surface.

  "Who needs stairs," he joked to himself.

  Adjusting the suit again, Born provided a little more gravitational influence for control while walking about. He continued to the jammed water collection tubes and tried to free them.

  "Obos, try to release the tubes again," he requested.

  Born heard the mechanism grinding, but nothing happened. Taking some tools out of his tool kit, Born worked diligently. The tubes freed before long, rewarding his efforts. He stowed the tools into a storage cavity in the Traveler, and manually pulled the two tubes towards the lake. The tubes were so big; a 7-foot basketball player could comfortably walk through them if he wanted, without ducking and unable to touch the walls with outstretched arms. However, Born could manage them because they were also equipped with anti-gravity technology.

  "Start the collector, Obos," Born ordered. He heard the device within the ship engage and the water surging through the collection tubes. His thoughts were distracted towards the tranquil lake, and he looked longingly at the water. Water was in such short supply back home that he could not wash or bathe with water. He cleansed himself (as all Soilans did) with a dry chemical compound. Born had two hours to kill before the water collection process was completed, and the lake looked so cool and refreshing, he could not resist.

  "Obos, I'm going into the water to bathe. Keep me up to date on the progress of the water collection."

  Born's focus was on the water, so he didn't notice that he had not received a reply from Obos. His receiver was malfunctioning.

  On board the Traveler, Obos registered something on its sensors. "Born, there is a human life form heading towards us. It will reach this location in approximately twenty minutes," the computer warned. Again, Born did not receive the message. He could send a message to the ship, but he could not receive a message back from Obos.

  Born turned off his gravity displacement suit, and his body instantly felt very heavy and sluggish. Moving very slowly, Born struggled to remove the suit. His body and bone structure was just not strong enough to cope with Earth's gravitational pull for very long. He knew the water was close by, and it would support his body weight. Dressed only in his baggy underwear now, Born slipped into the cool refreshing water, and relaxed in the shallows. He thought how wonderful it must be to have such an excess of water, and what a shame it would be to lose this planet as their primary source. Now he would have to travel an additional two light years to reach the next closest water rich planet. Born was distracted by the water collection tubes being dragged out of the lake and retracted into the ship.

  "Obos, what's happening? Is the mechanism malfunctioning again?"

  No response.

  "Obos, do you hear me?" he asked, a little more urgently this time.

  Still no response.

  Obos had been trying to reach Born for almost twenty minutes to warn him of the approaching human, with no success. Obos' programming was to take action under such circumstances, so it pulled in the collection tubes and lifted off the Traveler, in order to avoid detection by the fast approaching life form.

  "Obos! Where are you going?" Born shouted.

  He realized something was wrong, but could not figure out what. His heart jumped when he heard the sound of approaching hoofbeats.

  "Obos! What was that?" he whispered urgently.

  Born finally realized his communicator was malfunctioning. He knew he could not move fast enough to get back to shore and get his suit back on in time, so he frantically looked around for a place to hide. There were some reeds close by, so he crawled and floated his way through the shallow water, and nestled himself amongst them. He hoped anyone who found his gravity displacement suit would dismiss it as some articles of Earth clothing left behind by mistake.

  As Jenny and Polka approached the lake, she saw a gleam or a flash in the sky, but figured it was just an airplane, although the sound was different. The lake was calm with barely a ripple on it. Jenny noticed an unfamiliar sight close to the water's edge, on the little beach she always used. It looked like a small bundle of clothing. She approached cautiously, because no one but her family and friends ever visited the remote lake. Polka seemed uncharacteristically shy and skittish.

  "Anybody here?" Jenny called out, but no one answered.

  Looking around, Jenny could not find a sign of anyone, other than some impressions and shallow footprints in the soft ground. Satisfied all was safe, Jenny dismounted and went in for a swim. All the time she was swimming, her attention kept going back to the pile of clothes on the beach. After only a few minutes in the water, curiosity finally got the best of her. She dried herself off, and went over to investigate the clothing.

  It appeared to be a black sweat suit, running shoes and a baseball cap. Jenny leaned over to pick up the baseball cap, and was surprised to find it attached to the collar of the
sweat suit by two thin cords. She lifted the cap and the jacket together. The jacket's material felt soft, but thick and heavy and attached to the pants at the back, again by two thin cords. It felt quite dense as she held it bundled up in her arms.

  "Whoa, this material feels like its lead lined," Jenny said, as she turned to Polka and smiled. As she turned, the shoes came with her. "What, they're attached too?"

  Sure enough, she found the shoes attached to the cuff of each pant leg by the same type of thin cord.

  "What a bizarre tracksuit Polka. It's all attached."

  Polka still moved skittishly.

  "Maybe there is some I.D. in one of the pockets and we can return it."

  Feeling something in the jacket pocket, Jenny reached in and fingered a solid object with rounded corners, and what felt like a couple of buttons and a dial on it. A radio or a cell phone she guessed. She tried to remove it from the pocket, but it was attached. After pressing a button, Jenny listened for a sound. The entire suit moved in her arms, and suddenly felt much lighter, almost weightless in comparison. "What the," Jenny whispered to herself.

  As she hefted the suit, Jenny marveled at how light it had suddenly become. Pressing the button a second time, deactivated the suit, and it sagged in her arms and became heavier again.

  "This thing is amazing!" she said aloud.

  Jenny pushed the other button, which released the object from its attachment within the front pocket. Removing it from the pocket, revealed a small black controller that fit in the palm of Jenny's hand.

  Turning it in her hand, Jenny examined the item, and pushed the button that had just released it. The control whipped out of Jenny's hand, and flew back into the front pocket, re-attaching itself to its original spot.

  "Whoa, this thing is full of tricks."

  She reached in and gave the controller a tug. It was stuck fast. "It's like a super strong magnet," she said to herself as she pushed the button, and again released the controller. Holding it in her hand, Jenny pushed the first button again, and the suit nudged in her arms and became at least ten pounds lighter. She turned the dial now, curious to find out if it would affect the suit in any way, and as she rotated it slowly, the suit began to feel slightly heavier. The more she turned the dial, the heavier the suit became, until she could barely hold it up any longer. Rotating the dial in the opposite direction caused the suit to become lighter, until it was weightless, and would have floated away in the slight breeze had Jenny not had a hold on it.

  "Unbelievable! Who could have made such an incredible thing?"

  She looked around, suddenly getting the feeling somebody or some thing may be watching her. Reattaching the control module, Jenny carefully stuffed the gravity displacement suit into her saddlebag, and jumped up onto Polka's back. As soon as her butt hit the saddle, Polka was off like a shot towards home, and both of them were glad to be away from the area.

  Born heard Jenny ride off and came out of hiding. He noticed the suit was gone and groaned. On board the Traveler, Obos's sensors picked up Jenny's departure and landed the Traveler close to the water's edge. It took all of the strength Born could muster to make his way to the Traveler, dressed only in his soggy underwear now. Struggling up the ship's steps, he collapsed in an exhausted heap on the floor of the spacecraft.

  "Obos, what happened?" he panted.

  "Your receiver is out of order," the computer answered. "I was unable to warn you of the human life form approaching."

  "Now what am I going to do? How am I going to get that suit back? I'll be fined, and fired if I return home without it, and I can't afford one of those suits. They're worth a fortune," lamented Born.

  "There is another gravity displacement suit on board, but it is designed after the garments of planet 93 in G sector," informed Obos.

  Planet 93/G was another planet rich in water that the Soilans sometimes used as a collection site. The native life forms on this planet liked to dress extravagantly. They favored clothes with many different bright colors.

  "You could use this suit to try and retrieve the one taken," suggested the computer.

  Born was not very happy about the possibility of making contact with an Earth human.

  "Set the translator device to four, for the language of these people. If confronted you can communicate with them. You can fabricate a story if this should happen," suggested the computer.

  "It will have to be a very imaginative fabrication if I'm discovered in this suit," Born said, as he pulled the other gravity displacement suit from the closet. There were decorative multi-colored balls of various sizes hanging from the hood by thin cables. Streamers and tassels of every color imaginable ornamented the rest of the suit.

  "This one looks even more ridiculous than the one I just lost. Do you still have the Earth human on your sensors?"

  "Yes, she has almost reached her dwelling," replied Obos.

  "Follow at a safe distance, and keep me informed."

  Obos activated the ship's gravity displacement device, and gently fired some of the bottom-side secondary thrusters. The Traveler slowly lifted straight off the ground, and the landing gear retracted back into the belly of the spaceship. The dirt and surface debris floated in mid air for a few seconds, and then dropped back to the Earth. The ship rose very slowly and cautiously, until it was well clear of the treetops, and then crept silently in the direction of Jenny's home.