"No truce," She said. "We aren't even yet. I'll let you know when we're even."
With that, she took back his hand.
Chapter 17–Experience
When the last shuttle for Mars excursions returned to the Gilead, Jason and Vickie were in the landing bay waiting for the group to disembark. The shuttle held about 50 people, so Jason was able to see most of them as they came off. Many came over to meet him. All in all, they were a handsome people who seemed to be in good shape. And they were extremely friendly.
One young man said to him, "Captain Hotson. What an honor to meet you, sir."
And again another came up to him, "Captain Hotson. I’m so pleased to meet you!"
He got a lot of this attention as they passed by. He was quite taken aback by their friendliness. He shook hands and thanked them for their kindness, as they came up to him.
One of the older ones stopped, shook his hand and said, "I'm Dan Croft, Captain. I've been following your career from the articles written about the NASA astronaut corps. After we found out you made it on the Apollo 6, it was easy to do more research. You were quite a pilot, it says. Those F4 Phantom 2 jets look like fun to fly. Do you miss it?"
"Well, Mr. Croft, it was a lot of fun. The G-force alone will rattle your cage, as we say. But the tight turns and breaking the sound barrier is still quite a thrill. Are you a pilot?"
"Well, I was. It's a young man's game, I'm afraid. And our type of flying is not the same as yours. I'm afraid we've gotten too soft. Just once I would love to try your brand of flying. Just once."
"Who knows, Mr. Croft? Maybe you will someday?"
"Well, I don't know, but it is a dream of mine. And by the way, it isn't much, but you will notice we call each other brother and sister around here, if we aren't close friends. It is our custom. But for close friends and family, we use first names or nicknames. Please call me Dan. I think we are friends already."
"Thank you Dan. It will be a little hard to do that brother and sister thing, but I'm sure as time goes by maybe it will become more natural."
"I see you know our pretty young doctor, Sister Vickie. I wanted to court her myself, but she said my heart wouldn't stand the strain. I guess that's another thing left for the young. But if things don’t work out, let me know first. I might like to see if she was telling me the truth or not about my heart."
"You got it, Dan. But you might want to give up on that dream. Jason glanced at Vickie and winked. I don't think I could ever get tired of her. Maybe tired of her poking me in the ribs, but then again, I think I can hold my own. Eventually."
"See you later, young feller. I think I got that idiom right. Take care, son."
And he was gone.
"Nice guy, Dan."
"Yes, I know. He was my flight instructor."
"You fly?"
"Of course. What kind of little green Martian would I be if I couldn't fly a spaceship? Most of us can fly these things. The problem is getting someone to clean the toilets."
"Really?"
"No. Gotcha again!” She shook her head and rolled her eyes.
As Jason met more of the crew, he became more increasingly impressed with the quality of the people. They were smart, courteous, and confident. He wondered if everyone on Enoch was the same.
When the last person got off the shuttle, she told Jason to wait there. And she went to the shuttle bay door and talked with someone. The man looked at Jason and nodded. Vickie called out, “Jason! Come and meet someone!”
Jason walked briskly over to the shuttle. “Jason, this is Captain Landon Ward. He flies the crew back and forth to our Mars base. Would you like to go down and see a little bit of Mars?”
Jason almost fainted. “Really? I can go down to the surface?”
“Well, if you like. I was just going to have him take you half way and then dump you into space. Of course we would take you to the surface, silly boy!” She laughed and shook her head.
“Oh, that would be a dream come true!” Jason exclaimed excitedly.
“OK, Landon. Can we be back in less than a couple of hours? We have to have dinner, or this poor Earthling will faint for lack of food.”
“Sure Doctor. I just need to go back and pick up a few stragglers, and then we’ll be on our way back,” the pilot said.
“Perfect!” Vickie said. “OK, Navy Pilot Hotson, let’s get on board!”
The take-off was exciting. The trip down was exciting. The landing was exciting. Jason was like a kid in a candy store with a twenty-dollar bill! He asked so many questions that Vickie finally had to ask him to give Landon some breathing room, so that they didn’t end up on Jupiter!
As they came in for a landing the shuttle bay doors opened, and Landon brought the ship in for a perfect, gentle touchdown.
“I hope you were impressed with the landing, Landon said. It is the first time I’ve landed without crashing into something.” Landon tried to look sincere.
“I’ve actually crash-landed on an aircraft carrier for real!” Jason volunteered. “I know a good pilot, and I bet you are one of the best. So don’t try to out-Vickie, Vickie. It won’t work.” Jason gave him a knowing smile.
Vickie murmured not too softly, “Out-Vickie, Vickie, huh? I’m going to have to think about this for a while to figure out whether or not I’ve been insulted. But for the time being, you’re in the clear, Jason.” Vickie gave him a pensive look.
They didn’t have much time, so Vickie took him by the hand and started to pull him toward the door to the base. But she suddenly stopped, and told him to wait there. She quickly ran back inside the shuttle and came back out quickly with her glass jar.
“What’s that for?” Jason asked.
“I just need to take a few samples before we head back,” she said.
Vickie led him toward the base doorway and they went inside. There were just a few people there, and he assumed they were base staff. A few of them came over and shook Jason’s hand. They were all quite friendly.
“Come over here. We don’t have much time, before we have to go back,” Vickie said.
They walked over another door and went into what seemed to be a control room. There were large monitors everywhere.
“We have cameras all over Mars,” a man said while sitting at a keyboard.
Jason hadn’t seen him, as he couldn’t keep his eyes off the monitors.
“I am so sorry,” Jason said. “I didn’t see you there. This is amazing!” What do you do here?”
“We do extensive studies and analysis of certain planets. We have been careful with Mars, as you Earthlings aren’t supposed to know we are here. But hopefully that will change in the near future. We suspect that Mars was once a much friendlier place to lifeforms. Heavenly Father is certainly creative with His creations. By the way, my name is Harry.”
Harry stood up and shook Jason’s hand. “Hi, Doctor Vickie. How’s your old boyfriend, Dan Croft?” He tried to look serious.
“Oh we broke up yesterday,” she said sincerely. “It just didn’t work out. He said that I was too old for him. It nearly broke my heart, until Jason came into my life. I was tired of trying to keep him a secret, anyway.”
“Does everybody on the Gilead, and now Mars, think I’m the most gullible person on Earth?” Jason asked.
“Yes!” they both said simultaneously.
They all laughed.
“Come with me, Sailor. We’re running out of time.”
Vickie grabbed him by the hand and started running. They ended up at what was obviously an airlock. A man in a space suit was just coming through.
He removed his helmet and said, “Hi Dr. Vickie! So, is this the victim?”
“Shh. Not so loud,” she said.
Jason said, “Really?” He just shook his head.
“Oh well, we had to try,” the man said. “Vickie has arranged something for you,” he said. “Got the glass jar Dr. Vickie?”
“Right here,” she said as she handed it to him.
“I’ll be right back,” the man said as he put his helmet back on. He took the jar and walked back to the airlock.
“Come with me,” Vickie said, as she walked him to a viewport. They watched the man walk outside to what looked like a sand dune. He bent down and was obviously doing something, but Jason couldn’t see what it was.”
Finally, the man turned around and came back to the airlock.
“Let’s go see what he has,” Vickie said.
When he came through the airlock, he handed the glass jar to Vickie. “Thanks, Omar,” she said. Then she turned around to Jason and handed him the jar.
Visibly moved, Jason looked at it and said, “Is this what I think it is?”
“I thought you might enjoy a memento from your time orbiting Mars,” she said.
“Martian soil? Really? You’ve got to be kidding!” Jason was so excited he could hardly stand it!
On the flight back to the Gilead, Jason just stared at the jar. He finally turned to Vickie and simply said, “Thank you.” There were tears in his eyes.
Vickie just kissed him on the cheek. Nothing else needed to be said.
After they landed Jason thanked Harry, and they left the shuttle area.
Vickie said, "Would you like dinner? It's on me."
"Sure. If we can split the check."
"We don't have checks. We have credits."
"Credits?"
"Yes. It's like your dollars or pesos, or whatever you use."
"We use dollars in the U.S., pesos are used in Mexico, and a few other countries, I think."
"Well, we each get an allotment of credits to spend for our needs. I was kidding about paying for dinner, but if you need to purchase anything, you will need some credits. I will ask the Bishop tomorrow about setting up an account for you. If you will be here for a while, you will also need a job."
"I would like a job in any case. I don't think I would like standing around looking pretty for very much longer," he said with a grin.
"Oh, you aren't pretty now. Do you plan on changing soon? I would be interested to know,” Vickie said with a straight face.
"No. I am done morphing. This is as good as it gets. Well, maybe this and about fifty more pounds of lean, mean muscle."
"Muscle? Umm. We'll see. And by the way, you start an extensive exercise program tomorrow. I want you to put on muscle and not fat. Sit around here doing nothing, and it will be fat. I don't want a fat boyfriend."
"Boyfriend?" Jason asked.
Vickie said nothing, but blushed and looked down bashfully.
They followed the crowd to the cafeteria and found a booth. Jason grabbed the menu like a pro and asked her for suggestions. She suggested something he had never heard of before and he selected that choice. She entered the same and they talked until the food came.
The food was interesting. There was a combination of vegetables and a meat dish. He didn’t recognize some of the vegetables, except for the carrots. But they were delicious! He couldn’t identify the spices in the sauce, but it was superb! The meat had a large bone, which was obvious, but it did resemble lamb. He was going to have to ask her about that some time.
Fortunately Jason’s mother had taught him good table manners growing up, so he was not afraid to eat in front of Vickie. He knew several officers who really embarrassed themselves in the Officer’s Mess, and that actually limited their careers in the Navy. If they were supposed to be Officers and Gentlemen, then they needed decent manners. He felt fortunate that his mother was always correcting him at the table. He was especially grateful, now!
Several times they were interrupted by curious crewmen. Jason didn't mind and was happy to talk to each one. After dinner they walked out of the cafeteria hand in hand. As they passed the crew each gave them a big smile. Evidently they approved.
Jason and Vickie walked in silence for a while. Then she stopped.
"What?" he queried.
"I'm home."
"Oh. Then I guess this is good night."
"It has been a wonderful day, hasn't it?"
"It has. The food was really good," he said with a grin.
"I can see I have my work cut out with you. Would you like to kiss me goodnight," she whispered?
Jason gladly obliged. He gave her a quick kiss, and then held her at arm’s length and said, "I have to ask you a question that has been on my mind, but I have been too polite to ask."
"OK,” she said.
"How is it that everyone speaks English? I didn't expect that."
"So, you noticed? I thought you would have questioned that right away. But it is simple."
"Simple?"
"Yes, actually. We spoke the original Adamic language for over four millennia. Remember, Enoch was taken about 500 to 1000 years or so after Adam was placed on the Earth. The common language at that time was still Adamic. It wasn't until after the Tower of Babel that the languages were scrambled. Since we were gone before that, our language didn't get scrambled."
"Do you speak Adamic?"
"A little. The problem was that languages change over time. It became obvious that we needed to standardize our language with that of Earth, as we would be returning there someday. Technically speaking, we will become Americans when we are returned to our origin in the Gulf. We decided upon English about three hundred of your years ago. We brought back books, then reel-to-reel tapes, then computer disks in order to make the transition. English is taught in our schools, and English is used in all parts of our society."
"Why English and not French, or Spanish, or Chinese? More people on Earth speak Chinese and Hindi than any other language."
"We considered that as the criteria, but English has become a universal language. Every country on Earth uses English for their communications with aircraft. The language of science is English. The United States is arguably the most powerful country in the world, and their semi-official language is English. It just seemed natural that we should learn English. But we also learned several other languages from your planet. Spanish, for example, since we will be part of Mexico, as well. It has become a hobby of ours to learn your languages, and it has been useful in dealing with other countries on your planet. Besides, there are more words in the English language than in any other. It became more of a challenge than anything else. I, myself, speak ten languages."
"Ten? Wow! So the whole planet speaks English?"
"Yes, actually. It took a while to make the change, but we did it willingly. We are excited about someday returning to the Earth. Like I said, we will become part of the United States and Mexico, when we are returned to Earth. But we don't know exactly when that day will be."
”Also,” she added, “About 150 years ago we started taking more American names. Our names from the time of Enoch just would not fit in today’s earthly society.”
With that, she gave him a final goodnight kiss, and then she turned and went into her cabin.
As Jason left, he had a spring in his step. It didn't take long before he found the clinic. It was nearly empty and the bed was made but it didn't seem ready for him. Just as he was thinking about what to do, Ben came in.
"Captain Hotson, good evening. You won't be sleeping here anymore. Your doctor has released you. She said she would handle your case, personally. You’ve been assigned a cabin. Come with me and I will show you how it works."
He noticed Cris’s bed was also empty. He felt a little sad that Cris was taking so long to recover. They left the clinic and walked down the opposite hallway from Vickie's cabin.
"The single men are on the port side of the ship and the single women on the starboard side. I think I have those nautical terms down correctly. I'm never sure which is port and starboard, left and right. Maybe you can help me?"
"Sure! Port and left both have four letters. That leaves right to starboard."
"Wow! That make sense! Thank you. Here we are–cabin 42A. Put your palm on the panel for the first time and it will register your print. In the future, just put your palm the
re and it will let you in."
Jason did as Ben requested. The door hesitated then it opened. They walked in.
"There isn't much room, but you don't need much, really. The sink is there. Just wave your hand in front of the soap dispenser and soap will come out. Do the same at the faucet and it will give you water. Turn the knob on top to adjust the temperature to your liking. It’s just like the one you first got cleaned up in. The toilet is in there. You know how that works. If you forget how to use it, then just go in the corner. Someone will come in tomorrow and clean it up." Ben smiled.
Enoch's Challenge Page 18
