Alec's Dream
Page 22
* * * *
From his vantage point on the mezzanine, Alec studied the ship. It was a simple 50 foot long fuselage with stubby wings and tail. It looked like a fat bullet train, wheel-less and tapered at the nose. Its shimmering silver appearance was amazing to look at. He could see ribbons of color rippling deep within the shimmers of the ships hull. Its skin was formed by reversing the polarity of two bonded gravity blankets that created an extremely dense and nearly impenetrable layer of space; making them stronger than any known hull material. Using a similar technique with the gravity inductors made its bubble impenetrable. So with a few slight modifications, the bubble not only gave them artificial gravity, it provided another, even stronger layer of shielding.
All in all, the ships design was simple. In addition to the hull systems there was life support, communications and navigation. Small generators made from the gravity blankets were used to power each system independently. The main power generator was also made from the gravity blankets. Alec felt comfortable that no matter what problems might be encountered, it wouldn’t be with any of the ships systems.
He saw Jessie and Sofie waving at him from the nose cone windows. He smiled as he waved back. “Looks like everything’s a go” Alec turned to see Clay coming from the circle of control consoles. Jodi and Dolores followed.
“I see they let them out of the storage box.” Alec pointed to the kids still waving at them through the ships windows as the ALEC’S DREAM slowly rose.
They lined up against the railing of the floating mezzanine to watch. Clay was a few inches taller than Alec, handsome with large brown eyes and thinning curly hair graying near the temples. His wife Dolores was the shortest. Her ageless oriental features were framed by jet black hair. Her worried expression mirrored how they all felt. Jodi was nearly as tall as Alec and a spitting image of Jessie, she clutched Alec's arm as the ship floated even with them.
They could see Leland sitting in his pilots chair through its nose cone windows. He gave them a ‘thumbs up’ before returning his attention to his console. Jessie and Sofie unbuckled and ran to the windows as the ship turned toward the hangers open 3 story high doors. Clay elbowed Alec pointing to Larry who was arguing with Eugene near a blue ‘Big Sky’ pickup that seemed to have backed into the doors controls. They could see sparks flying.
“Let’s see what’s going on.” Clay turned from the railing. Alec followed him down the floating stairs. By the time they hit the floor Eugene was back in the driver’s seat pulling away from the broken control box; still looking back apologizing and not paying attention to where he was driving.
“Watch out!” Clay was the first to notice the ALEC’S DREAM drifting in front of the pickup. The sound of the crash reverberated through the hanger leaving Eugene dazed with the passenger side of the truck smashed flat. Clay reached Eugene first and began pulling him out while the emergency crew covered the truck in flame retardant. Meanwhile technicians scrutinized the bottom of the ALEC’S DREAM
“I sorry Meester MeeCuf. It look like I ruined your flight.” Eugene looked at them... dazed.
“Nonsense, the hull could handle a brush with the sun. That little bump didn’t leave a scratch.” Alec pointed to the ALEC’S DREAM where the technicians had already finished with their evaluations. One of them gave Alec an OK sign before jogging off. There wasn’t even a paint mark on the bottom of the ship
They were interrupted as Olivia showed up on a floating platform coordinating the cleanup; her arms waving and pointing while yelling into a bullhorn.
“I... I... are you sure?” Eugene stammered. “Shouldn’t you check eet out? I worry about the girls. I don’t want my accident to make the trip unsafe.”
“Don’t worry about that.” Alec shook his head.
“How did you know the girls were on board?” Clay cut in.
“I, uh…”
“Eugene! Get over here!” With the truck now being towed away by another flying platform, Olivia was free to concentrate on Eugene.
“I, I sorry Miss Olivia.” He jumped to his feet running towards her.
“It looks like she has everything under control here.” Clay chuckled. “Let’s get back to the control center.”
“You missed the take-off.” Dolores pointed to one of the monitors floating above the control consoles. It showed the ALEC’S DREAM shrinking away against the blue sky.
“Can we talk to the kid’s?” Clay tapped one of the operators on the shoulder. A few seconds later their faces beamed at them.
“Hey dad; thanks a bunch for letting us stay cramped up in that box for two hours.” Jessie couldn’t help but snort at Sofie’s glare. “Phyllis told us you knew all along that we were planning this.”
“All you had to do was ask.”
“Why aren’t you guys coming along?” Jessie asked. She really did want them to come.
“I’m sorry honey. It was a hard decision; we just thought that if there was any trouble, we’d be in better position to help from here.”
“Jessie, be careful and we love you!” Jodi pushed Alec aside.
“I love you too.” Jessie said as Sofie elbowed in front of her. “Hey mom, dad, are you there?” She leaned her head to the side as though trying to see around Jodi’s image.
Jodi stepped aside for Clay. “Hey kiddo, you should thank Olivia for talking me in to letting you go on this ride. I was ready to ground you for life when I found out about this plan of yours.”
“I know, I should have asked... sorry.”
“You know we love you. See you when you get back.” Dolores squeezed in.
“I know, I love you too.” She replied as her image was replaced by Leland’s.
“Sorry to interrupt, but I thought you might like to know we’re just about to leave the atmosphere.” He said. “And in case anyone is interested, we’re setting course for the moon. We’ll be starting our acceleration in 30 seconds.”
They switched their attention to a monitor displaying a view from the ALEC’S DREAM nose cone camera showing Earths horizon sliding across the screen. Soon a half moon worked its way from the left to settle in the screens center.
“It looks so far away.” Dolores leaned against Clay.
“It is… it’s almost a quarter million miles from Earth.” Jodi’s fact was rewarded with 3 surprised looks.
“I’ve done some research. I wanted to know where our daughters are off to.” She answered their unasked question. “Look!” She pointed back to the monitor. The surface of the Earth began streaking past and in a matter of seconds, the ground dropped from sight leaving only an image of the half moon against a black background. A second monitor displayed the Earth shrinking away behind them. The scene was eerily familiar to Alec reminding him of his strangely realistic dream many months ago with Shaun, the 4D man.
Clay checked the time. “Well, it’ll be another 4 hours before they reach the moon. Let’s let them enjoy their adventure. How about some breakfast, I’ll buy.”