Cover Artwork is copyrighted by the author, who for some odd reason seems to feel the undying need

to create his own illustrations and designs. 2010. All rights reserved. 1

T.O.A.D.
Volume 4

The Push
By Keegan Hennis

I love my family. My sweet wife supports me, My smart son and daughter inspire me, On to excellence.

This book is part of a series, written in chronological order. Pick them up out of order and you may become confused or frustrated by the story. T.O.A.D. The Fall The Rise The Run The Push The Reach The Grasp The Pull

There are many other series and single books by Keegan Hennis.

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Lenny woke before his alarm would have sounded. The funny thing was his eyes werent drowsy. He simply opened his eyes as if he had blinked. Looking around his room helped him to understand the reason for his present condition. His experiment had worked. The night before, he had set up what he called his Sub-sonic Alert System. Basically it was a large speaker designed to work in the infrasonic range, and controlled by a timer that he had set to 8 hours and thirty minutes. At the end of the timer countdown, the speaker gave a few heavy pulses of air pressure, which his body could then detect, but not with his ears. He felt it in his chest, which was just like every other humans chest, little more than a bonearmored diaphragm detection sensor. The subsonic pulses disrupted his breathing patterns and caused him to wake up without the

fright that normal alarm clocks use their sharp sounds to produce. Lenny decided that a few more trials would be warranted in his room as well as those of others, and if his invention worked consistently, he would put it in line for patent with the rest of his companys present docket of applications. He had personally invented it with no input from the rest of his creative team, but he decided it didnt really matter who got the credit as long as he could help people wake more easily in the mornings. After his shower, he dressed himself casually in a t-shirt and jeans. Then he left his small bedroom and walked the metal-clad hallway toward the cafeteria where he would find his breakfast waiting for him in the fridge. Today was cold-pizza-day and none of his coworkers complained. Cold-pizza-day came the morning after pizza-night, a special night when Mrs. Duval showed one facet of her range of skill in the culinary arts. As he pulled a few slices of cold pizza from the fridge and put them on his plate, he also glanced at a few of the small glass bottles on the top shelf. They came from a small town dairy delivery company in Colorado and were flown in weekly by one team member or another. Really it was whoever got to Starlas keys first that would make the three-hour flight to Colorado, California, Idaho and a few other stops to pick up supplies and groceries for the week. 10

In an effort to bring about more equality among the gendered names of their common use vehicles, the TOAD team decided to let Red name their new runabout. She took the entire production time to carefully come up with a name that would be as equally unique as the other named vehicles, and yet would also match the style and imposed personality with which they had imbued the vehicle. When she told the guys that their sporty new class of flyer would be christened Starla, the boys were less than impressed. But it quickly grew on them and soon they were all happily calling the thing by its given name. Lenny chose to pour himself a glass of orange juice and then shut the fridge. He found a place to sit in the mostly empty dining hall and made himself comfortable. A few minutes would not be too long to wait for the others of his team to make their way to breakfast with him. His pizza this morning tasted as good cold as it had hot the evening before. Sausage and pepperoni with a thick layer of cheese covered the custom-spiced tomato sauce. It tickled his taste buds and made him smile. Half way through the second slice of pizza the cafeteria door opened and in walked Hank followed closely by Josh. Lenny had coincidentally just cleared his mouth for a new bite, but spoke instead, Morning Hank, Josh. Good morning boss, said Hank cheerily.

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But Josh seemed more groggy that morning and only grunted, Hey. Lenny took another big bite of pizza, the crust making a pleasant cracking sound in his teeth. Hank took his normal mug of morning brew, a few slices of whole wheat toast and several slices of pizza to his normal eating seat. Though the room had enough seats and tables to feed the entire population of the island at a time, should the need arise, the employees of TOAD, Inc. generally kept to the same table they habitually used. The subterranean complex had been designed to accommodate much more than it needed comfortably in the off chance that a heavy storm besieged the island surface and its dwellers had to take shelter underground. They hadnt had any storms that bad to date, but they were ready just the same. Beneath their feet the hinged floor panels could be unlocked and lifted up off their rests to reveal softer pads for sleeping. The floor panels would then slide down into cavities out of the way. As well, like many other cafeterias most often found in schools, the tables and chairs folded up and recessed neatly into pockets in the walls to free up floor space. They had a desalinizer array hidden near the cafeteria that provided more than enough drinking water for their needs. And large underwater turbines out in the sea provided the island with all the power they could use. They had chosen an 12

island with subsurface currents nearby for just such a purpose. Josh spoke after his first slice of pizza had disappeared, So, whats on the agenda today? Lenny answered, I was thinking we could take a day off from fun and do a solid day of schooling. We seem to be a little lazy about that lately and I dont want to get into the habit. Hank nodded, That might be a good idea. You people are smart, but learning doesnt have to end when you have a job. Josh spoke, Hank, when are you going to need the information you get out of your law library? Its not like were going to go to court again. Well, right now Im brushing up on patent and trademark law, as well as international relations and practices. You never know when you might need a good patent attorney.

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Lenny, Red and Josh finished their breakfasts and found their way up to the surface to attend the small schoolhouse that serviced the island children. It was little more than a building with a few small classrooms in it. There were three teachers who each taught several grade levels at once. Because there were only a dozen and a half students on the island, each child got the attention they deserved. The teacher for the teenage children was a very patient and creative woman named Mrs. Armstrong. She had been hired out of a school in Idaho with a strong background in teaching gifted students. She also won Teacher of the Year in southeast Idaho several times. Her skill with the young budding minds seemed unparalleled. As they walked along the footpath that trailed from the entrance to the underground complex toward the small village of their residents, 15

Josh spied ahead of them, and walking in their direction, one of their engineers. He had been hired from a large firm in California, and had truly found his place in their employ. Josh spoke softly to his friends, Uh-oh, guys. Gary-Carl is coming this way. The problem wasnt with their employees work, or his personality, or anything else he could change, for that matter. The reason they dreaded his approach was because not one of the three teens could remember his first name. They knew it was Gary, or Carl. As embarrassed as they were to admit it, they couldnt recall which name he had signed on his contract, but they also couldnt let anyone know that they had forgotten his name and found themselves in this singular predicament. So they worked very hard to make sure that no one would ever suspect that they didnt know it. But in private, only between the three of them, they referred to him as Gary-Carl, because they knew it was either Gary, or Carl. Josh would use playful nicknames when addressing him, names like chief and sport and bigguy. Lenny called him Mr. Thompson, because they were all sure that was his last name, and he had never corrected them on that one. Plus, whenever Lenny referred to him in that way to the other complex employees, they understood that that was his name. And Red simply called him sir, more out of respect than their overwhelming embarrassment.

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Good morning Mr. Thompson, said Lenny. Josh quickly added, Morning chief. And as he shook their hands Red said, Sir. Good morning, friends, said the always cheerful Mr. Thompson. How was your collective weekend? As they passed him and continued on their path to the school, Josh answered, Just like every weekend, and he emphasized the word, fantastic. Good to hear, said Gary-Carl. See you later. Once he was out of earshot and then some, the teens shared a giggle of uneasy relief. One more meeting with him had passed without him knowing they had no idea what name he signed before Thompson on his checks. After all, Ms. Milner handled the payroll, and she knew his name. That was enough for them for the time being. On this morning, the teens welcomed their teacher to the room with smiles. In her hand she carried a small basket with chocolaty delights, the product of skilled labor by her husband who specialized in delicious treats with fruit and nuts. He also had skills in making ice-cream, which the tropical inhabitants enjoyed often. Oh, you are the best teacher ever, said Red as she eyed a precious berry cordial the size of a golf ball.

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Id like to think my skills go far beyond my attempts to give you guys cavities in your teeth, but thanks anyway, said Mrs. Armstrong. She placed the basket on her desk and then faced the handful of students that she taught and spoke, Thats for later. Everyone put your books on the floor and stand on top of your desks. The students nervously did so, a few needing balance support from other students, primarily because the desk surface was just a little bit slanted for ease of use. Once they were all up, Mrs. Armstrong addressed them, Now close your eyes. They cautiously did as they were asked. Then Mrs. Armstrong asked, What do you see? Lenny answered, I see the dark orange of the inside of my eyelids. And what do you hear? Josh answered, I hear your voice, and now mine. Red answered, I hear a bird chirping outside the window. Mrs. Armstrong then asked, Who hears the wall clock? A few hands went up, because it was indeed ticking loudly. Then Mrs. Armstrong asked, As you see, there are many things happening around us all the time, some of which we can hear, see, smell. As she spoke, she pulled a small object from her pocket and prepared herself to open it. And all the time we notice things, most of the time 18

these sensations and records of input are simply forgotten unless they are important. But what really happens to the memories that are forgotten, that we dont think well need again? She silently opened the small bottle and waved it around in front of the students. The immediate reaction came from nearly all of them at once, a shocked and horrified expression on each of their faces. And then she said, What did I say that day? Red answered, while plugging her nose, You yelled at Josh for throwing a book across the room and hitting the trophy shelf. I told you it was an accident, defended Josh. Lenny also answered, You taught us about your husbands favorite team, the San Francisco Something-or-others. It was a lesson on statistical analysis as applied in sporting events. Mrs. Armstrong then asked, Josh, what number did I say? Twenty-one hundred, Josh replied. You may open your eyes, said their teacher. And safely get down from your desks. Yes, thats roughly what I was talking about. But how did you know what day I was talking about? You each pulled an event from that one specific day, without any conversation between you about which day I meant. Lenny answered, My guess is that strong stimulus of any of the senses can be a reference tag 19

for the retrieval of pertinent information learned at the same time. Not just any stimulus, said Mrs. Armstrong. The sense of smell is the most reliable and powerful method of triggering memories in the human mind. Ive been waiting a while to do this lesson, hoping youd not discuss it beforehand. But you proved my point well. So, said Red, it was you who made that smell on that day way back when? Just to be able to teach us this point? Yeah, said Mrs. Armstrong. And it worked well, wouldnt you say? The students nodded, it had worked well. The aroma of the chemical mix in her small bottle was indeed pungent, and it would not be easily forgotten again. After putting the bottle back in her desk drawer, Mrs. Armstrong again picked up the basket of goodies and spoke, Today, were going to have a contest. The first person to answer me has an option to receive a reward for correct responses, but after that there will be no rewards for second place. You must answer correctly the first time I hear an answer. And I must get a correct answer before we move on to the next question. Got it? The teens nodded and awaited the morning quiz. Casually Mrs. Armstrong sat on the stool near the white dry-erase board at the front of the room. She squinted her eyes briefly and then shot out a

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question, Which civilization borrowed from the other, the Etruscans or Macedonia? Carefully the teens considered their responses before Josh raised his hand the fastest. He gingerly answered, Macedonia borrowed from the Etruscans? Mrs. Armstrong spoke jovially, Is that a question or an answer? Before Josh could reply, a siren sounded across the island. A slowly modulating wail resounded from several air horns atop towers. The majority of the residents simply assumed that the storm warning system was being tested but the teens knew otherwise. It told them that an incoming vessel had been detected and would land on their island within a few hours. Apologizing for the disruption, the teens ran from the classroom and entered the concealed passageway that led into their command center underground. The run took only a few minutes but by the time they reached the operations room Hank looked nervous. The radio operator, previously an emergency dispatcher from Idaho, reported, Small aircraft on a direct course for us. Itll be here in 45 minutes. How did they get so close before the siren sounded? asked Lenny. DaNell, the radio operator, answered, It appears as if they were trying to literally fly under our radar floor. The system only spotted them when they ascended a few hundred feet to pass over a 21

commercial shipping boat a hundred miles out. They dropped below our detection again but their extrapolated course says theyre headed here. Well be able to see them better, said Red as she typed on a computer terminal, if they enter the range of the more advanced Doppler net at thirty miles out. Josh asked, Are they transmitting a squawk? Not that I could tell, answered DaNell. Theyre flying in silent and low. It could be a military surgical strike or outlaws." Hank spoke, "Either way, we need to be ready to defend ourselves and our friends. We also need to be ready to launch the Drive modules into space. The kids were already running about the room preparing for the arrival of their uninvited guest. But one of them stopped and thought. Red turned and spoke, Wait. Its too slow to be a jet, were too far from land for it to be a helicopter and pirates dont usually fly planes. Maybe we should radio them from the old shack when they get closer and ask them what they want. Red, we could- began Josh. Red interrupted, This just doesnt feel like an attack to me. Something just doesnt add up. I mean, they went over that ship and not around it. If they knew they were flying under our radar, they would try to stay below it, not buzz a cargo ship. Please say you see my point. 22

The boys and DaNell looked to Hank who thought for a second. Then he spoke, Still get ready to launch the Hatching Drives into space. Josh, you get Gretta through preflight and ready to liftoff. We wont be caught with our trousers down after two years of peace. Gretta was built alongside Starla, but it had a very different mode of service to the island dwellers than the cargo runabout. Gretta had been built with an armored drive module, stubby winglets and a hidden weapons bay. Within the armaments compartment behind the cockpit they had installed a handful of air-to-air rockets and half a dozen 30mm Gatling guns. The stubby winglets were thick and strong enough to defend against impacts, as well as act as landing skids for the aircraft. The small bubble that Josh sat in was made of three inch thick transparent polycarbonate and could stop bullets smaller than 50 caliber, as well as protect the pilot from pressures up to several hundred feet under water and the vacuum of space. Though the team hadnt yet needed to use Gretta to defend their peace, they kept her ready to do so on a moments notice. Josh sighed relief as he found the batteries still plugged in to the island grid. Full power would be at his beck and call. He climbed up into the clear half-bubble and belted himself into the seat. As the upper half lowered and the shell sealed, his ears clicked, signaling to him that his compartment was pressurized. He switched on the computers and 23

waited for the launch order from the command center. Hank waited patiently in the command center for any word from the other two teens, which were at that moment making their way to what they had called the old shack. Really it looked like a weathered and worn shack with a radio tower near to it. Though it was less than two years old, they had built it to look over thirty. Lenny waited until the aircraft would be within range and then he depressed the talk button on his corded mike, Unidentified aircraft, this is island approach. We have no runway, so be prepared to make a water-landing. If you need assistance, we can send out a boat or two to help you. Over. The radio only hissed back at them as the aircraft moved in closer to their shores. Lenny keyed his mic again, Unidentified aircraft, this is island approach. If you copy me, be warned, we have a reef surrounding our island and at this time of day it is partially breaking the surface. Steer clear of white caps. Red went to the window and looked through binoculars in the direction from which the aircraft would be approaching. She scanned the horizon left and right, hoping to spot the small craft. Lenny softly spoke, even though he hadnt keyed his mic, Doppler shows them still inbound at a hundred and twenty knots. You should see them pretty soon.

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The small two-way radio on the desk startled them with DaNells question, Do you have a visual on them yet? Lenny keyed the handheld, Nothing yet, Command. Stand by to dispatch Gretta. Acknowledged, came her reply. Lenny kept an eye on the computer screen next to him, showing him the aerial view of their island and the approaching aircraft in the Doppler net. Red still scanned the horizon and at last said, Ive got it. Its a twin-engine high-wing airplane, amphibious by the shape of the nose and the pontoons under the wings. Boy hes daring, skimming the waves like that. He cant be more than fifteen feet off the water. Lenny resisted the temptation to join her at the window. He kept his eyes on the display and watched the planes course veer to the south a few degrees. He guessed they were going to make a close flyby and then land and idle right up to the beach. But to his surprise, he heard the engines slow their hum and then Red announced, Theyre touching down off the cargo ship dock, look to be aiming for it as a goal. DaNell called again, Theyve slowed their approach, are they down? Lenny keyed the handheld, Amphibious sea plane. Theyre floating up to Bobbys dock. Stand down Gretta for now, but well need a welcoming committee to the dock, post haste.

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Copy, came DaNells reply. "Alerting the welcoming committee." Lenny and Red stayed in the shack but the posse had been called. Within minutes, several of the tougher looking men from the island, including Bobby Gouse and his brother, and Mrs. Armstrong's husband the ice-cream man, approached the end of the pier. They had also heard the plane's approach and were already making themselves ready to greet the visitor. As they sauntered closer, the pilot of the seaplane looked unworried while he tossed a rope unto the thick wooden planks and then jumped across the gap himself to tie his vehicle down. When he seemed satisfied with his double halfhitch, he turned and addressed the waiting posse in a nonthreatening manor. The teens in the shack watched the pilot shake hands with a few of the men and say a few things pointing to his plane over his shoulder. He waved his hands a few times, evidently thinking it helped to convince the men of his story, and then Bobby raised his handheld radio. They all heard his transmission, This boy says his radios busted and he couldnt reply back to yall, but he heard every word of it. He thanks you for warning him about the reef and wants to know if we have some fuel to sell him. The teens in the shack visibly relaxed as it appeared as if this was not an attack. But then came a last statement from Bobbys radio, Also he asked

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if anyone knew a fellah by the name of Lenny Hatching.

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Lenny closed his eyes and sighed heavily. He waited through the ensuing radio chatter from various parties and only after half an hour of silence over the waves did he and Red make their way from the old shack back down into the subterranean fortress complex. Their new guest would be staying with them for a while, in the lap of luxury, of course. Although the island residents wanted him to think he would be their prisoner, they wouldnt stop him from leaving their care. Lenny found his way to the conference room that would host his interview. A few of the more burly looking gentlemen had stayed behind to keep their guest company, but it was all for show. They had no intention of assaulting the pilot that had found their hiding place. Upon finding his seat across from the pilot, Lenny began his interview. I am obligated to inform you that this interview will be recorded, both 29

video and audio. Full name, rank and serial number. And speak up, please. The pilot answered with a sober expression and tone, David James Winston. I never served in the military, though I respect those that do. Lenny continued, Your birth date and occupation. The pilot replied, July 7, 1977. I am employed by the University of Southern Idaho as a physics professor. But as a hobby I am an astronomer. Professor or Doctor? Excuse me? Your title as a university professor, the one you request your students call you. Does it matter? It does if we want to offer you the respect of your education, said Lenny soberly. Then its Doctor, replied the pilot. Dr. Winston, how did you hear my name? The professor sat back now to answer, Thats a long story. Lenny sat back also, I have time. The professor eyed his interviewer for a few seconds and then spoke, in probably the same way he would lecture his students at the university, I became aware of you and your company a few years ago at a professional conference. I thought it only partially interesting that such a company arrangement would exist in America. A relatively small and yet ubiquitous parent company with 30

subsidiaries in such a wide spectrum of commerce. Yet your incorporated company seemed to make no efforts to grow itself beyond the state you were in. This was a stark contrast compared with other companies of your size. You became a hobby to me, though no one else seemed to care either way which steps you took. Lenny listened, growing more curious by the minute. Dr. Winston continued, I attended most of the fights at the competition your company hosted, noticing the recording equipment around the arenas. But again, no one thought it was worth their time to notice. I did a little research and found that you inherited your company and its government funding from your grandfather and became even more obsessed with meeting you. But then within a short span you let your subsidiaries sell shares in the public markets and then you picked up your site and disappeared with no forwarding address. You still appear to have control over your subsidiaries through online activity, but I couldnt find your new home office anywhere in the world. Lenny asked, And how did you find us here? I searched for other anomalous activity in the area and found that one of the residents in your previous hometown came in to a substantial amount of money all of a sudden and made an unusual land purchase at roughly the same time that you traded your companies publicly. I tried to contact the SEC, but received several stern phone calls from 31

my congressmen asking me to stop looking for your company. Why do you think that is? Lenny shrugged casually, I dont know why your congressmen phoned you. Until now Ive never heard your name. Why do you think they wanted you to stop looking for us? The rumor mill hasnt been silent since you left Alabama. A few crackpots have gotten together and formed a club. Really its the normal conspiracy theories that scare foil-hatters. But one small, almost forgotten point made me curious. You and your employees seem to be able to be in two places at once. Hows that possible? asked Lenny. I dont have a clue, answered the pilot. But I was able to track down security camera footage from several different cities in the US with sightings of one of three teens faces. They are seen on camera in Idaho Falls. Twenty minutes later they are on camera in Denver. An hour later, they are seen again in Boston. And unless you have a lease on a modified SR-71, theres something fishy going on whenever you go to town for groceries. Lenny spoke after the professor paused, As I told you over the radio, we have no runway on this island. The average Blackbird requires no less than a mile and a half to take off from the ground and a specially designed KC-135 to refuel it for supersonic flights. Every time a Blackbird takes off, its a million dollars in fuel and maintenance costs. You think we have the kind of money to do 32

that weekly? Besides, all the existing SR-71s were decommissioned years ago. Theyre all accounted for in museums. I dont know, that was just an example. What Im saying is that you guys are doing some next level stuff here and people are noticing. A few people, said Lenny. But as youve said, no one believes you and the government seems to want you to not talk about it. I think you should just drop it and go back home. Well sell you the gas, but you are no longer welcome on this island. You cant hurt me, said the pilot. We can defend ourselves from harassment by an unwelcome intruder, but I think the bigger problem would be, how you would get back home if we were to drop you off in the middle of the Amazon rainforest, or on a raft in the center of the Pacific Ocean, or in a tent in the heart of the Sahara. Think about that as you fill your plane. Think about the possibilities if we seem to be able to be in Denver and then Boston an hour later. What couldnt we do to you? With that, Lenny stood from his seat and opened the door to the conference room, waiting expectantly. But the professor remained seated. Im not here to bandy threats back and forth. We need your help. Lenny waited by the door, "We?" The pilot continued, As an astronomy hobbyist, I also became aware of a large space rock near Earth. 33

Lenny interrupted, One among millions? How very observant of you. This rock is different. A few of my professor friends and I have come up with an accurate model on a projected path for this rock and the outcome isnt pretty. Were talking global cataclysm. Lenny stood still at the door to the conference room. He couldnt tell if the professor was lying or not. I have proof of my findings. Do you have a computer on this island? Lenny replied, rather put off, Were simplistic, not Luddites.

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Lennys entire team watched the scene unfold on the screen before them. The images were projected onto a wall so that no grim detail could be missed. They saw a projected timetable accelerated to days passing in seconds. Within a months time, a meteor the size of Delaware would fall from stable orbit and land on the surface of the Earth. Their projected timetable had a variance of four hours either way, and pointed to the rock crashing anywhere on a line from the central Atlantic to Eastern Brazil. Even if it burned away three quarters of its mass in entry and landed in the ocean, the resulting impact would still have the force of a billion nuclear warheads. The ocean would be vaporized for a thousand miles in minutes, and every fish that used to live there would be turned to ash almost instantly. The humans on Earth that survived the blast wave from the initial impact would either burn up in the 35

liquefied stone that used to be the surface rock, or freeze to death in the following ice age. The atmosphere would gain miles of thickness with all the steam and poisonous gas given off by the impact. The visible light from the sun would be blocked completely and perpetual night would cover the land for thousands of years until the planet could recover in its own extended schedule. But though it would be night, the other bands of radiation from the sun would still heat the planet. For millennia it would be pitch black and as hot as an oven, literally. But by then, there would be no survivors. Even the extremophiles, the organisms that live in boiling acid pools in caves, the bacteria that live at volcanic vents under the oceans, and every other species evolved to withstand environmental torture, would be no match for the impending turmoil. Lenny felt skeptical, So, if this were true, why havent we heard of it yet? Youre projecting an extinction-level strike. This is arguably pretty big news. We tried to have our work peer-reviewed, but again, very convincing phone calls let us know that inciting mass-panic would be bad for our continued existence. And what makes you think we can do anything to help? asked an engineer. The professor answered, If you people have tools or technologies more advanced than the government, and operate outside their purview, 36

maybe you could do something to stop or redirect that rock. My hope was that you had discovered the secrets to teleportation and could just place a nuke in its path. The room laughed. Teleportation? Are you serious? Another operator scoffed, Beam me up. But the professor wasnt laughing. Nor were the teens that had secretly visited the moon. Lenny spoke after the laughter died down, Im sorry to disappoint, but we dont have teleporters. We might be able to send a rocket up to that asteroid, but nuclear payloads are outside our purchasing power. And realistically were talking about changing the orbital path of millions of tons of assumedly solid rock. What did you really think a nuclear warhead would do? Unless one could somehow channel the entire blast power in one direction, it would have little measurable effect on such a mass. The professor lowered his head, I was afraid youd say something like that. Lenny continued, If your findings are correct, I suggest you make the best of what little time we have left on Earth. This isnt a high-budget Hollywood script. To do damage to a rock that size would take a force equally as powerful as or more powerful than itself, and we dont stock that kind of artillery. And then to his escort, Make him comfortable for the night in guest quarters.

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After Dr. Winston had left the room, Hank turned to his employer, Please tell me theres something we can do. Lenny thought for a second, At the very least, we can take Clarence up and see if theres a rock where he says. We should be able to reach those coordinates in a few hours time and then well know for sure. Josh spoke up, Just because theres a rock there, doesnt mean it will do as he says. Wed need to confirm its orbital path and recalculate the degradation spiral. Im on it, said an engineer. Keep stable position in relation to the asteroid for a while and we can use that data to infer a flight path. Lenny and Josh led a team of smart people down to the launching bay in the complex. They loaded a few extra pieces of equipment into the ceramic balloon and then unplugged the batteries from the charge cable. Just before Josh closed the top hatch, Lenny stood from his seat and said, Wait, we might need Dr. Winston. And then to a handheld radio, Please hood Dr. Winston and bring him to the launch bay. Josh looked nervously toward his friend, but he knew better than to question Lennys judgment. Too many times he had been right against all odds. In a few minutes, they helped their guest down the ladder in a black hood, which looked an awful lot like a guest room pillowcase. They fastened his 38

seatbelts, but had his hands bound down to the armrests at his sides. The doctor didnt complain. Rather he was silently excited for what he thought was coming. The teens whispered on the upper level. Lenny asked, Is everyone ready? Nods all around and he pressed the command to open the inner doors to the launch bay. Clarence gently floated, in a way few other craft could, into the chamber lock. The inner doors closed and then locked and the outer doors opened allowing an influx of seawater to fill the lock chamber. It scuttled quickly. Clarence then traveled forward at a hundred miles per hour beneath the surface. Little inertia could be felt by the passengers as they rose to breach the surface at around mid-day on their island. The surface turbulence they caused looked horrific and would do severe damage to small and mid-sized boats in the area, but there wouldnt be any. They flew due south for half an hour before they began to climb to their accustomed two hundred foot altitude. Then Josh pushed the throttle forward and they rocketed past mach 6 over the southern Pacific Ocean. Since no boats they had found would be tall enough to impede their travel they did so casually. Soon they reached the Antarctic ice and then turned their course to glide above the bergs and glaciers. When they found the magnetic South Pole they turned sharply upward, attempting to mask 39

their ascent in the planets magnetic field. As they climbed, they accelerated. The sky became dimmer and the stars appeared. Still faster they pushed their little starcraft as they left the majority of the atmosphere behind. When they cruised at their maximum safe speed, Lenny unbuckled himself from his chair and climbed down the ladder into the lower section. He saw that his pals were setting up their equipment around the hooded guest. Lenny pulled the hood off Dr. Winstons head and let his eyes adjust to the darkness they saw outside. The doctor looked down at his watch on his wrist, which Lenny graciously twisted into view. His clock said still before noon, but the stars outside the sapphire windows made him pause. And then the Earth began to peek into his view through the high-visibility front of the vessel and he froze before speaking. Lenny knelt next to him and spoke softly, We are in high earth orbit, preparing to make our way toward the asteroid you warned us about. Dont worry; youre safe in your seat here. This craft has been tested at higher altitudes than this. In a few hours well be close enough to get an idea about the danger were in. Dr. Winston never questioned how he still had gravity, nor how they had made it into space without a rocket and a lot of shaking of the capsule. He simply took his view at face value, accepting the truth that they were in fact flying through space at

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faster than escape velocity. All he said was, I just knew you had something like this. But the other men working around him made no effort to reply to the doctors statement.

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The time passed quickly until they neared the location in question. Just as Dr. Winston had claimed, they found a massive space rock floating serenely in the blackness. A hundred miles from end to end, it looked more like a short femur bone than a rock. It had a thinner waistline in the middle and bulbous ends. It toppled gracefully through the void as if it were dancing in a water ballet. Just as they said, said Dr. Winston softly. An engineer spoke on an intercom from the lower level, Based on its size, it shouldnt have much measurable gravity. It didnt coalesce like this from smaller bits, it had to have been broken off a much larger rock in a collision. This was a recent event, maybe a few thousand years ago, based on its temperature and rough-hewn shape. Not many more centuries longer and impacts from smaller asteroids would have rounded off most of those jagged bits. 43

Lenny asked, Do we have a reading on its orbital path yet? The engineer replied, Not yet. But we should have it before the PSR. Dr. Winston asked, Whats the PSR? The engineer answered him, The PSR is the point of safe return. We have limited power and air. We have to carefully plan our trips to make sure we dont run out of either before we can safely land back on Earth. Dr. Winston nodded a few times, looked as if he was about to say something else and then shut his mouth. He could wait to ask it later. He did however notice perhaps for the first time that the engineers around him were easily standing on the floor as if they were still on the ground. He noted this, but said nothing about it at the time. Half an hour after they found the toppling rock and began keeping close range to it, they had ascertained a projected orbital path for it. The programs they were using to crunch their numbers took into account all the major masses in the solar system and most of the minor ones to calculate the rocks path as it passed them. Within a margin of .01% they had nailed down the exact path it would take and the image didnt look pretty. In 27 days and six hours, the asteroid would make contact with the Earths atmosphere. At its present speed it would make landfall after only two tenths of a second in the air. It would lose less than a millionth of one percent of its mass to friction 44

burn in the sky before it made a crater the size of Greenland where Mongolia, China and most of Russia used to be. Unless some other force entered into the equation, the end of humanity was less than a month away. And they stared at it, looking as innocuous as a rubber duck floating in a bathtub. If the computers hadn't confirmed the timetable, they would simply think it was nothing more than a turning space rock, virtually indistinguishable from the countless other Near Earth Objects identified up to that date. For a half hour longer, they stayed close to the rock. They flew in to get a better look at it and discovered it had small holes riddling its surface. Unlike a sponge whose entire structure is webbed with holes and tunnels, the rock had only incidental holes in its structure, like swiss cheese. It was more rock than emptiness by a long way. An engineer commented as he stood near the transparent front on the upper level, These here look like veins of hematite and cobalt. And that over there could be iron or a ferrous ore. Based on the jagged cleave lines Id say the impact that cracked the asteroid here was a slower one. It just broke off without transferring much energy into heat. Lenny asked, What are the chances that those holes go deeper into the mass of the rock? Another engineer answered, From my geology research, Id say the chances are high. They look like leftover gas pockets from volcanic 45

activity or cooled magma tubes like some caves on Earth. Some of the tubes will be pretty shallow, but others will go for miles. Josh spoke up, brainstorming, If we could get a Hatching Drive module lodged in one of those tubes, we might be able to do a little to redirect the rock. I mean, a little is all we need, right? Slight changes in the asteroids path and it may miss the Earth entirely. But how will we fasten it into the cavity? asked Lenny. Steel cables wont be strong enough and the rock looks brittle enough to just crack apart and let the module fly out the other end of the tube. An engineer spoke up, Wed need a bonding material that has lots of surface area, lots of adhesion and a fair amount of elastic resilience. It needs to cushion the movements of the module but not give way to them entirely. Josh interjected, Like that expanding foam stuff? They use it to fill air gaps in construction jobs. It bonds pretty good, and doesnt need oxygen to cure. Its a recipe that dries on its own. If we put a large enough payload of that stuff on a module and then set it off remotely, it could make a good plug in the tube and help the module to stay inside when we try to adjust the rocks course. An engineer spoke up, Thats another thing. Youre still talking about interfering with the momentum of a space rock that weighs in excess of millions of tons. That inertia is going to be hard to adjust. You wont be able to fly it around like this 46

Clarence craft. The most youll be able to do is slight changes in its path or speed. Do it wrong and it could hit the Earth sooner and harder. Lenny replied, Right, but were only talking about changing its trajectory by a few degrees on the whole. Just a fraction one way or another and it will follow a different orbit entirely. But were also talking about applying a directional force to a space rock in excess of billions of newtons. Can a Hatching Drive module dish out that kind of pressure without destroying itself? I mean, this is going to stress the very molecular structure of the materials its made of, especially if theres a point of contact with the rock wall. Josh spoke up as he read from a computer display, Hey, guys? The system is picking up an active ping on an unusual frequency coming from inside Clarences hull. Are we hauling a tracking device?

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Im sorry, said Dr Winston. They gave me no choice. After a close inspection of the guts of the professors smartphone, Lenny found an aftermarket addition to the radio board. With his head lowered, the professor continued softly, Please dont kill me. Josh snorted slightly but kept his mouth closed. Lenny thought about destroying the phone tracker, smashing it into pieces, but then he just set it in Dr Winstons lap. He asked, Name, rank and serial number. As Clarence floated a few thousand miles above the planets surface the professor answered, I really am who I said. But when I tried to have our findings on the asteroid peer-reviewed, they contracted me to do this. Whos they? asked Josh.

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Hes with the military. Some air force general back east threatened me with eternal imprisonment in Cuba with no trial. He said that if I could get you guys to help fix the meteor problem I would be set free and rewarded for my service to the planet. Josh spoke, Personally I wouldnt trust the monetary promises of a guy that threatened to unjustly lock me up forever. Dr. Winston defended, Im not in it for the money! I just didnt want to go to a terrorist prison and never see my family again. Does the military know the location of our island? asked Lenny calmly. I have to assume so. They told me to fly out on that heading and land there. They gave me that phone and told me not to lose it. If they were tracking it the whole time, you can bet theres an armada of ships heading toward your little paradise as we speak. All they needed was proof that you had a way to get a payload out to that rock and fast. They probably tracked our ascent and path as far as they could. Beyond that, I have no idea. Lenny stood quietly thinking for a few minutes. Then he climbed back up to the control level of Clarence and took his seat. He switched on the fasten seatbelts sign and then made ready to descend into the atmosphere. He keyed the intercom and spoke into his mic. Folks, the conversation we just had never happened. We are to pretend that we have no knowledge of an 50

approaching military threat. When they land on the island, we are to cooperate with their every command and make no efforts to fight them. As soon as the intercom clicked off, Josh asked softly, Are we losing Clarence today? Lenny answered as the wind began to warm their front windows, Not if I can help it. As soon as we have a stable link with the command center, forward them the conversation highlights and tell them to seal off all access ways into the fortress but our ingress tunnel. Prepare the surface residents for company and make sure no one gives the soldiers any reason to escalate their tactics. And what about the drive modules we still have in storage? asked Josh. If we can keep the soldiers out of the fortress, we shouldnt have to worry about them finding the other drives. But we also need to start working as fast as we can on the thing were going to put into that space rock. Thats still a clear and present danger that must be dealt with.

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Once the digital link with their command center registered as stable, Josh sent the files as he had been told. But Lenny didnt take them directly home yet. He flew high over the ocean searching for any ships that were heading for his island. For minutes they hunted until their sensory array picked up active radar pinging from below them. A quick glance showed only a single wake trail on the swelling ocean. From its size they guessed it to be a large ship. They flew around in a smooth pattern, trying to see what kind of tricks the Navy would pull. Not many minutes into their circling above the ocean and they picked up a radio signal on the broad spectrum antenna. Unidentified craft, you are hereby ordered to descend to a landing on the US Navy carrier below us. Any attempt to flee will be met with pursuit. Any attempts to attack your escort will be

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met with lethal retaliation. For your own good, comply with these orders. At the same time that they heard the message, they picked up several approaching jets. They flew in a tight formation, generally toward Clarence, but were not acting aggressively at that moment. Lenny and Josh exchanged glances. And then they exchanged seats. Though they both spent equally the time they sat in the pilots seat, Josh had more experience with evasive tactics. But the only person to speak was Red, who asserted, Punch it. With no more convincing necessary, Josh pushed his throttle control forward a few notches, rocketing them forward. They jumped from two hundred miles per hour to four hundred miles per hour in what seemed to be an instant. They felt little change in the room environment, but outside the ship, their wake disrupted not a small area of sky. Again the radio spoke, Unidentified craft. You are defying the US Navy in international waters. Any actions you choose to take could be misunderstood as threats to the sovereignty of the United States. Comply with your orders. Descend to two hundred feet and slow to one hundred-eighty miles per hour on approach to the carrier. Joshs lips pursed as he concentrated on his flying. He pushed Clarence to six hundred miles per hour on a gradually circuitous path over the pacific. Not many minutes passed before their 54

sensory array detected a radar lock on their ceramic hull, most likely from the pursuing jets. Josh muttered a quick, Crap. Hold on, before pushing their throttle forward a few more ticks. The acceleration from six hundred miles per hour to a thousand passed unnoticeably for the passengers of the flying submarine, but the eddies caused by their maneuver played havoc on the pursuing jets. The Navy lost its target lock on their hide, but they knew it wouldnt be for long. Josh spoke up, Ideas? Red shouted, Full stop. Lenny shouted, Crazy Ivan. But Josh had an idea of his own. Stand by for a Triton Orbit. With them following us? Are you nuts? Well killem! said Red. Josh spoke up, calmly, Lenny, prepare to drop us a hundred feet on my command. In seconds, Lenny had the auxiliary control board up in front of his seat. The touchscreen displayed a few dozen options ready for his choosing. Ready, Lenny reported. Red held her armrests tightly, though they were moderately sure they wouldnt feel much inertia in the maneuver. Josh made himself ready to change their path much faster than the fighter pilots reflexes could match. Just as the alarm sounded telling them that the jets had again acquired a target lock on them, Josh shouted, Now! 55

In half a second, Clarence lost a hundred feet of altitude, not dangerous at thousands of feet above the ocean, but still not a safe trick. At roughly the same time the jets began their own dives, trying to catch the flying ball. But before they could again take up position behind Clarence, Josh completely reversed their flight path, flying back the way they had come, barely missing the Navy jets, but missing them still. Josh turned Clarence to fly forward again, knowing they had little time left before their pursuers could again paint them with a target. He enacted the dangerous but as he saw it necessary programmed maneuver that would finally rid them of the chase, as well as bring them in for a closer look at the carrier. The Hatching Drive module shut down and they fell out of the sky with growing speed. They fell from a few thousand feet up toward a growing blue ocean. Only a few dozen feet above the water, Clarence detected the approaching ground and reenergized the drive module while continuing their fall for six feet. Then it slowed them to a gentler 10 miles per hour and they sank controlled beneath the waves. Because they had been falling when the drive again powered up, the environment inside Clarence kept its relative gravity situation. They experienced no weight inside the ceramic bubble. No one knew why this was a byproduct of their drive principles, they just knew it worked.

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They sank to a few dozen feet below the waves and then leveled off. To anyone watching them from the air or monitoring their flight on a radar scope, they would appear to simply crash and then vanish as they hit the water. And since they moved without engine noise, they could sneak up on sonar nets without being heard. Josh whispered, Now what? Lenny answered, Now we wait. Josh whispered again, Wait for what? Lennys answer surprised Josh as he too unbuckled from his restraints, For them to send out divers and find us drowned. Get everyone out of their seats and floating through the air as if they are dead. Theyll look in the windows and see us and assume were all dead. They wont notice that there is no water in the cabin, which would be clear anyway. All lights and electronic displays need to be shut off to make it look like they shorted out in the water. Josh whispered back, Theyll try to hoist Clarence back out of the water and up onto their deck. Lenny replied in a whisper, But the drive is still energized, holding us here no matter how much lift they put on the cables. They wont want to damage the rest of the ship so theyll leave us here after a while and go to the island. This is just to stall them to give our people the time they need to make ready for the navys landing.

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In three minutes flat they were ready for the show to begin. They saw out the window the surface of the water becoming very disturbed, most likely from the wind generated by a helicopter hovering over their position. In a few more minutes they saw lights shining in the front lenses. Lenny kept his eyes open, but focused on a bolt on the floor. They wouldnt see his eyes moving anyway. A quick glance around the windows and they would assume that the seal had failed on impact and the crew hadnt had time to get out before all their air was gone. It took measurable control of their bodies not to flinch when one diver banged a few times on the front lenses. He was looking for reactions but not one person in the ceramic bubble responded. The lights left the windows and Lenny had a chance to whisper to his companions, You guys are doing good. A few more minutes and we can be on our way. A loud clanking sound came as a chain set fell across the shell. Some rubbing sounds as the divers linked it together and they braced for the next events. They heard the chain slipping on the ceramic, but the ocean surface got no closer. They waited and waited and waited silently more until a dark shape loomed in the distance. It was the keel of the carrier. The massive ship turned to the side to barely miss hitting Clarence. Lenny sighed as he knew that the carrier would crush them like egg shell if 58

they had collided. When the carrier stopped moving, they waited a few more minutes and then heard some more sounds from the chain net that surrounded Clarences shell. They were leveraging the power of the carrier to try to lift Clarence out of the water. But after a few torturous minutes of the chain grinding against the ceramic Josh noticed the water line on the carriers hull dipping below the surface. Wow, whispered Josh. Lenny whispered back from where he floated near him, I know, right? But their depth stayed the same no matter what the navy tried. They were lucky that the seamen assumed Clarence was just too heavy and released the chain net from around them. The divers all retreated to their helicopter and the carrier slowly began to move away from Clarence. They assumed that the navy believed they could come back and pick up the shell later, after they had taken the island. Josh found his way to Lenny and whispered, Your plan worked. Lets hope we gave Hank the time they needed to make ready to entertain guests. Lenny nodded and then found his way down to the lower level. He whispered, The coast is clear, but they may still be listening to us. Keep noises at a minimum. All nodded and then began to quietly secure the equipment that had floated up from the floor.

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Dr. Winston asked before Lenny left them, How is it done? Lenny answered truthfully, Really, we have no idea. We noticed on our first flight into space that we still had the same gravity that we had on the ground. Not until months later did we discover that we could sustain a weightless condition also. And that maneuver, the Triton Orbit. Whats that about? Dr Winston, as an astronomer you should already know that of all the planets and moons in our solar system Triton is the only one to orbit backwards in relation to the rest. I didnt claim to know everything, he said as Lenny again left him. For minutes they floated in silence, hoping that they could gain enough distance from the carrier to have any of their movements go unnoticed, but also to be able to do as they planned. They knew that cautious military sonar operators would keep listening for any signs of danger. And they knew that if there were any automated systems listening to the sonar readings, they would be alerted immediately to dangers, no matter the direction or assumed state of the ceramic ball as the humans saw it. For minutes they spoke only in whispers to keep their chances of being overheard to a minimum, but what they didnt plan on was a visit from another mammal outside of Clarences skin. The large gray swimmer closed on them, but 60

curiously paused a dozen feet away. It looked like a humpback or blue whale, but they couldnt tell from that distance. The point was that it was massive. And it seemed to be watching them as intently as they were watching it. Josh felt the need to move Clarence, but he didnt want to harm the whale, not certainly knowing if simply moving near it would hurt it. At last, the whale moved off and disappeared in the murky blue, assumedly continuing on its migration. They didnt know that their island in fact rested so near a whale migratory path. Though they didnt have time to investigate it further right then, Lenny decided that he would safely try to do so at some other time.

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Lenny keyed up the link with their island. He hoped the ship would continue on and not detect their communications. At once a call came in. It was the voice of DaNell, their dispatch operator, Repeat. This is island control calling Clarence. Do you copy? Lenny keyed his mic, This is Clarence. I read you five by five. No casualties. Prepare for a beach and air assault. Incoming US Navy aircraft carrier. Make no efforts to obstruct the landing soldiers. Cooperate but do not open the mountain. Well be there shortly. Clarence clear. Lenny piloted them under the water for miles until they reached their safe harbor. The tunnel into the mountain remained open. Once they were in, the doors locked on the sea-side. The bayside doors opened and the water from the lock chamber rushed into the vents in the floor on the 63

other side. Clarence flew gracefully to his cradle and set down gently on the springed pads that he called his bed. But Lenny didnt shut down the drive module yet. He thought he might need it still to sustain the weightlessness within the shell. They did, however, take the time to plug in their batteries to the long power cord near the pads. Josh helped Dr. Winston down the ladder once he had been unbelted from his seat. He looked a little dizzy from the weightlessness they had experienced. But that wasnt anything with which to be concerned, it would pass quickly. Out of the craft the crew and passengers climbed quickly. They had a job to do and not much time to play around. The engineers ran to their areas of work and began to collect the things they might need. Lenny pulled his phone from his pocket and dialed control. Please tell me they havent landed yet. DaNell replied over the line, Theyre holding position thirteen miles out. As of yet there have been no communications from them, nor any launches of boats or aircraft. Thanks, said Lenny and he hung up his phone. In the supply warehouse, several decks down from the highest level in the subterranean fortress, he found the section marked for adhesive storage and sighed relief. They had stocked up on the expanding foam in industrial canisters, just in case of water leaks through the stone walls that 64

surrounded their submarine cavern. There looked to be enough for their purposes. He began to load cases of the large canisters onto a pallet for transport. When he had cleaned their supply from the floor he lifted the load with a pallet jack and pushed the heavy stack out into a hall. The freight elevator lifted him to the launch bay and before he could get the rolling load moving again, his phone rang. This is Lenny. DaNells voice came on the line, This is control. Several small barges have launched from the carrier and are making their way toward the eastern beach. Be advised also that magnified optics have registered deck activity on the carrier as we speak. Acknowledged, said Lenny. Keep me informed. He put his phone away and started the pallet jack rolling toward Clarence. Another few people were working at removing the drive module from their cargo hauler Starla. It was positioned above the payload container, housed in an armored casing, which they were actively dismantling with drills and wrenches. Lenny called to them, It doesnt have to look pretty, just dont damage it. A machinist brought in some dive tanks from storage on the next level down. He wheeled them in a little trolley, because they too were heavy in large numbers. Josh went to work as soon as he had climbed out of Clarence. He was trying to 65

make an adapter fitting that would allow the contents of the smaller canisters of foam to be transferred into the larger dive tanks. An announcement over the intercom let them all know their time was running out. Naval choppers have landed on the island. Do not resist their commands. Everyone redoubled their speed assembling their makeshift equipment. Lenny called, No time to transfer the foam, just band the canisters together to the skeleton of the drive module. And make sure that battery is charged. Yes, sir, said the workers in unison. Lenny pulled Josh aside and spoke to him. "When the canisters are all in place and banded together, wrap them with det-cord. Set the detonator for a remote activated timer. Make sure the navigation computer is shielded against both the det-cord and the foam, and that we can pilot the module from here as long as its within range. Josh nodded and ran to retrieve their explosive supplies. Lenny then ran from the bay to the personnel elevators and pushed the button for the control center. The ride was short but agonizing. Once in the command center, he found a place to sit and wait. He watched the screens showing them the activity on the surface. The sight wasnt pretty. Most of the people on the island were being rounded up at gunpoint and congregated at a central location. The schoolhouse served as the temporary jail. Lenny 66

again felt relief that none of his residents were fighting the soldiers. The last thing he needed right then was a complicated situation. DaNell spoke to Lenny softly, Can you guarantee the safety of those people? Lenny opened his mouth to speak, but she interrupted him by asking more sternly, Can you GUARANTEE the safety of my family? Lenny carefully answered, Were doing what we can. As long as they are not hostile, they will be treated well. DaNell nodded and turned back to the computer screen before her. Lenny silently hoped he was right. He was playing a dangerous game of chess with a lot of lives.

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Lenny found that his mind had begun to wander as it was called briskly back to the subject at hand. A call came in on a service line from the schoolhouse. I hope I am talking to Leonardo Hatching from Alabama. My name is Brigadier General Samuel Kastora. I am here to commandeer your control center and any equipment I feel necessary to the mission Ive been given, which is to protect our planet from doom by meteor. If you comply with my orders, I give you my word that we will leave you and your citizens peacefully once we have accomplished our mission. You have ten minutes to comply. The line went dead as Lenny watched by security camera the uniformed man put the phone back down. But within seconds, a marine in combat attire stood in front of the camera and worked his hands out of its view. The screen then showed a

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simple message that the camera no longer functioned. Lenny wrote on a sheet of paper, one security camera. He was making a list of items to bill the Navy for replacing. He keyed his intercom control and spoke on the general announcement channel, Message to the commander of the invading military forces. You have trespassed upon privately owned United States soil. If you cease and desist now, I will overlook the illegal treatment of our people and the intentional damage to our property. You are working outside the rights of your position and are asked to leave now peacefully before a permanent entry is made in your service record. And FYI, if it strikes the earth, it isn't called a meteor, it's called a meteorite. DaNell spoke softly, Dont anger them. They may have permission to do this. Before Lenny could reassure her, the phone line spoke again, I have landed on this island by order of the Commander in Chief, and as such I am within my authority to take this island and its residents and properties into custody by force. I ask you to surrender your post peacefully, though you and I both know I have the men and tools to take it aggressively. We have more than enough firepower to breach your defenses violently, but we wish a quiet and orderly handoff of command. Lenny doubted the intentions of his adversary, but he also had to think of his friends and 70

family. He keyed his mic and spoke, I will allow you to use our equipment and facilities for your purposes on the condition that you remove all your armed soldiers from the schoolhouse and simply guard it from the outside. You will gain no honor by holding unarmed civilian men, women and children at gunpoint. And FYI, if you had asked nicely, I would have worked with you gladly. DaNell again mildly chastised her boss, Better than the last one, but still antagonistic. Make the situation better, not worse. My apologies, said Lenny, but Im trying to do just that. Maybe next invasion you can handle the communication. DaNell spoke, I might just take you up on that one, if this ever happens again. The general called in again, as they saw from an outside view that soldiers were exiting the schoolhouse, Ill make my men guard the outside of the schoolhouse, but if your civilians try anything Ill take them all aboard my carrier and hold them in real jail cells. Thank you General Kastora, said Lenny. My people and I will open the door and be waiting for you at the access tunnel to this fortress. We have nearly finished refitting a module of our design to approach the meteor with a payload. Well be bringing it up with us. The access port to this fortress is due west of the schoolhouse half a mile. We await your appearance.

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DaNell spoke when Lenny had set his mic down on the table, Do you really think hell honor your agreement? Lenny shrugged, It doesnt matter anyway. Im just stalling him so that our engineers can finish their tasks. With luck we should have an official apology from Washington by dinnertime. DaNell spoke, Sometimes I dont like the games you play, but you always seem to have the whole thing planned out. One of these days your luck will run out, and when it does, I hope Im not there to see it. I hope Im not there either, said Lenny as he left the command center. Up flights of stairs he raced to the launch bay. The freight elevator had the ability to lift equipment and personnel all the way to ground level through the opening of a heavy cement cover over the elevator shaft. But once it lifted to the surface, security protocols cut off power to the controls on the lift platform itself. Lowering the platform again could only be done from the command center. And since Lenny neglected to mention any other access points into the fortress, he doubted that the soldiers would find their way inside. In the launch bay, Lenny found that his team had finished their task. The object they had assembled looked very unprofessional, but it didnt need to look good, just work good. Josh approached him as he neared the assembly.

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Handing Lenny a small black case, Josh spoke, The guys wired this up to set off the timer on the foam poppers. But we still need to set the timer to a specific delay. Was there a number you had in mind? Lenny thought a few seconds and then answered, Set it for five minutes. And then can we fly it remotely? An engineer answered, It uses the same tech we normally use. Small memory for a few programmed maneuvers plus remote access from either here or from Clarences control board. We figured it would be easier to get into place if you were up there with it. Besides, the satellite link has a limited range anyway. Good, said Lenny. Now, were going to turn it over to the Navy and explain it to them. Maybe seeing this theyll let us launch it and then just leave. Josh asked softly, Do you really believe that? Lenny quietly replied, Given that theyre one of the several branches of military that defend our nation from threats, I certainly hope they dont give up that easy. Would you want them defending your freedom if thats how they operated? Josh shook his head a few times, Not in this universe. So, cellmates then? No way, said Lenny. You snore too loud.

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Slowly the freight elevator reached the top level, ground level on the island. Upon it rested the modified drive module, Clarence, a few other worthless bits of technology and equipment, and Lenny and Josh and a few engineers. They found when they reached the surface that a party awaited them. About a dozen well-armed marines waited patiently for the lift to stop before they raised the business ends of their rifles to bear on the people standing on the lift. Josh piloted Clarence, as they still retained the weightless environment within its hull. When they reached the top, Josh made no attempt to escape in the likely bullet-proof submarine. In fact he did the opposite. He popped the top hatch and tossed a rope ladder down the side of the shell inviting any who wanted a ride to climb aboard. A few soldiers climbed the ladder quickly and could soon be seen through the sapphire lenses. 75

Lenny recognized the person in charge and spoke to him in a nonthreatening way. Weve finished building what we think will help get rid of the asteroid in space before it hits Earth. If youll let us launch it- The General interrupted, Can that ball be piloted by one of my men? Lenny answered respectfully, With just a minute of training from Josh. Do it, said the grizzled officer. Lenny put the two-way to his mouth, as the shell was too thick to translate much spoken noise, Josh, show the soldiers how to fly Clarence. The General then spoke, as if for the first time recognizing that Lenny was the person in charge, Im taking over this operation. Lenny felt a few hands gripping his arms, intending to lead them from that place. He walked where they led him, not fighting or giving them any reason to use any force against him or those loyal to him. As they made their way from the clearing Lenny heard several of the people talking at the lift, Im trying, but the control isnt responding. Another soldier spoke, Are you sure youre doing it right? The directions are plainly marked here. Nothing works. I think they cut the power to the controls. I know I would. Well, open it up, then. Get this lift working and fast. 76

Lenny smiled. He knew they wouldnt be able to use those controls anytime soon. The separation relay that disconnected that panel from the rest of the network was located down in the command center. Nothing they tried from ground level would do them any good. Through the cleared terrain they walked and Lenny realized only too late that the General had no intention to uphold his end of the deal. They led him to a waiting helicopter and up into its side. One soldier bound his hands with zip-ties while another strapped his body down tightly for transport. The chopper lifted from the fertile island dirt and pointed its nose toward the sea. Looking around him he saw a few other men and women he recognized. They looked at him frightened, not knowing what to expect. Lenny tried to put on his most brave expression, hoping it would reassure his friends. But in the back of his mind he had a feeling that his expression would do little to help alleviate their fears. They were being ferried by helicopter, bound at the wrists, toward unjust imprisonment in international waters. Lenny tried to prepare himself for what would follow. They would use extreme methods to interview him, working their hardest to get the secrets from him that they felt they needed. They would keep him from sleeping, giving him food and water only to keep him from passing out. They would shout at him and threaten him with all manner of punishments and horrible things. 77

He knew they couldnt hurt him, but then again, his was a special case. Hed have no lawyer assigned to him, would probably never again see the light of day. Theyd threaten him with harming his friends, anything they could do to get his lips moving. But he knew that no matter what they said, no matter how they lied to him, promised him riches and glory and prison cells and torture, the world would be better off if he kept his mouth shut. He hoped his friends knew this also. But would his team and the engineers that knew his secrets also have the fortitude that he wanted to show? Only time would tell. The helicopter touched down on the deck of the carrier and immediately Lenny received a hood over his head. They helped him roughly climb out of the side and walked him across the windy pavement. The hood he knew would keep him from being able to find his way out of the ship should he escape his captors, but he had no intention of running. Through hallways and doorways they marched him, on what would most likely be a very circuitous route to his destination. Every few seconds they told him to step over a doorway casement. A few times he climbed down steep ladders and twice he climbed up sets to higher levels. It all washed together for Lenny as they traveled. He had no longer any idea which way he headed as they kept him moving and turning often.

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When at last they found a place for him to sit, they told him so, Theres a chair behind you. Sit down. Lenny bent his knees, but found no pad behind his legs. He fell a foot and a half to the hard floor, bruising his thigh as he landed to the side. He heard a few men laughing at him as they stood around his body. Someone began to rifle through his pants pockets, removing anything they could find. Another set of hands unlaced his shoes and briskly removed them from his feet. His socks soon followed. Then his pants were taken down his legs and his t-shirt cut from his shoulders. They left his wrists bound so the shirt had to come off in a more creative way. Thankfully they left him his underwear, but it was of little comfort on the cold floor. The hood remained on his head and the ties on his sore wrists as the people left him alone. A heavy door closed and squeaky locks slid into place. Taking the opportunity to remove the hood gave him no joy. He sat presumably alone in pitch blackness. Not even a crack of light around the door to his cell let him know which way he had entered. Startling him a voice came out of the darkness, but it was just an intercom, Youll find a jumpsuit near you on the floor. You may put it on if you want. Lenny groped around the floor looking for fabric and found it after a minute. He worked it in 79

his hands until he had an idea of the arrangement of its bits. It had buttons on its chest seam. Lenny closed his eyes realizing that a way to shock him would be to suddenly turn on lights around him and mess with his vision. He closed his eyes tightly, not wanting to give his captors any more concessions than they had already taken. Out of habit, he felt for the stitch lines in the fabric of his new clothing. He felt the direction of the pattern and noticed that they had given him the jumpsuit turned inside out. Probably something that happened in laundering it. He pulled the legs and arms the right way and then started to slide his legs into the lower section. But his hands were still bound, making it impossible to get his arms into the sleeves of the suit. Lenny buttoned the front seam as far as he could and then took the sleeves of his attire and tied them around his waist. Not an easy thing to do with no sight and fettered hands but he managed just the same. His next priority became finding the door to his cell. He felt along the walls for a while before he found that he was in a room no more than ten feet on the edge. The doorway sat centered on one wall. Lenny found a corner to sit in, to the side of the doorway. There he would wait. He knew a little about these things from his studies in school. He knew they werent allowed to hurt him legally, they couldnt deprive him of lifesustaining requirements such as food and water. But they could keep him awake for days, lying to 80

him about everything under the sun. They could confuse him and try bribery and forms of neuroprogramming such as punishing incorrect answers and rewarding correct ones. They would try to trip him up, get him to doubt his memory. But in the end, Lenny knew, he would win. Good always won in the end, didnt it?

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Youll find a jumpsuit on the floor near you, said the speaker in the darkness. Red found it quickly and then put it on. Thankfully the soldiers had removed the ties from her wrists before leaving her alone and almost completely disrobed. She fumbled with the buttons on the seam, but in less than a minute she felt more modest. The suit was larger than her body, and baggy. Obviously they had never had any prisoners her size. Rolling the leg cuffs helped her not trip over her own feet, but the cold floor seemed to be an unfair trade. With her back against the wall, she didnt know which one, she sang a song in her head. Distantly she began to hear other noises. One sounded like footsteps outside the door. Another noise she became aware of sounded like a small computer fan with a noisy bearing.

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She also heard a soft tick with a moderately regular tempo. Just about five seconds of gap passed between each tick, it held constant. It could have been the sound of water dripping, or linear expansion of metals due to temperature change. But then again, it could have been from a speaker, produced electronically either on purpose or on accident. Red found herself with her eyes closed, but with no real reason to open them again she kept her eyelids down. After all, what was there to see?

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Josh heard nothing in the darkened room. His wrists hurt him, but he kept this information from anyone who could hear him. He knew if it were he designing the cells, hed have included a night vision camera to still be able to watch the actions he would take in the dark. Such simple security measures were probably not outside the imagination of the designers of the cell in which he found himself. So, knowing he was at that moment likely being watched and recorded, he decided to make a good show for the men or women. He began to make faces at the darkness. He stuck his tongue out, rolled it side to side and then curled it into a flesh burrito. He stuck his finders in his nose and then remembered one of their early projects on the island before the fortress had been finished. Luckily for him those that had taken his clothing had left him his ring on his finger. Though, tight as it was on his finger, it was hard to take off anyway. He found the little notch in the side of the seemingly innocuous band and jammed his fingernail into it, turning it on. Then, with his hands cupping his face, he sighed heavily. He waited and waited for so long that he feared his 85

friends had been relieved of their rings. But a soft hissing came from his hands letting him know that at least one person had retained their part. As quietly as he could speak he did so into his hands. He knew the mic in the ring could hear him, but he didnt want the mic on the camera to also hear him. This is Trixy. Just as softly he heard his hands speak to him. A male voice came, This is Betty. And then a smaller female voice came, This is Roger. Josh asked, Describe environment Betty. Lenny replied, Dark and cold. Still bound hands. Josh then said, Roger. Red answered, Dark and cold. Hands freed. Josh sighed relief, just as he knew Lenny would also. Their friend had been given the ability to close up her jumpsuit, for no doubt they were all being treated the same otherwise. Josh asked, Ideas, Betty? In his cell, Lenny thought for a moment. He couldnt have anyone getting punished for his actions, no more than they already were. He softly whispered, Standby. Watch for the signal, but remain calm. Josh and Red both shut off their rings. There was no sense in anyone finding them using them and subsequently taking the rings from them. Lenny waited for minutes which felt like hours. He 86

knew they would ask him questions at some point and he had to prepare to answer them how he thought best. Obviously they were all being held close enough together that their rings found each others signals. But beyond that he had no idea. Gradually Lenny became aware of warmth in his room. He thought it slightly funny because he believed that they would start with some cold treatment. But before long, the temperature in the room let him know that this would be no laughing matter. The air became so warm that Lenny started to sweat in his jumpsuit. His back he pulled away from the wall that soon was too warm to comfortably touch. Perhaps they had the walls lined with hot water lines for radiant heat. Or maybe, though unlikely, the room he sat in was mobile and had been moved into direct sunlight. Lenny chuckled at this idea, but it gave him an idea of his own for easier climate control of a leisure area. The room grew hotter until he had trouble breathing the stiff air. And just before he felt the need to bang on the walls, he noticed the ambient air temperature dropping again. In not many minutes it was colder than before, and he felt like the sweat on his skin would freeze into ice. Though he couldnt see, he knew that if the lights were on, hed be able to see his own breath. The air felt colder and colder and he had to wonder how they were changing it so quickly without much air movement. He couldnt feel 87

anything like a breeze, be it hot or cold. In the face of the present torture techniques, he found himself more distracted with curiosity as to how they were doing it, than fearful of their next moves. The air grew so cold that Lennys body temperature began to fall. He felt his muscles shivering and exerted authority over them to relax. He knew hed need the energy later. He also knew he wouldnt die of cold, not in the custody of the Navy anyway. And just before Lenny felt the need to breathe steam on his hands to warm them, he felt the air warming. Lenny rolled his eyes behind his eyelids. Obviously the person in charge of softening them up had little imagination for technique, though the processes were creative. At last he chanced a bated statement in his growing boredom, When you guys stop fighting over the thermostat and decide to actually torture me, let me know. Or you could quit farting off and skip to the interrogation portion of the schedule. That would be fine too. The room burst with light from above his head, and Lenny felt glad he had kept his eyes closed. With his head down, he kept one closed tightly and opened the other. He tried to allow one eye to adjust to the light, while the other did its best to retain its night-vision. He also got a good look at the room he sat in, the layout and features. Sure enough there was a security camera near the ceiling in a corner with what he knew to be IR lights 88

around the lens. They were watching him in the darkness, using a bandwidth of light that human eyes couldnt detect. They had his whole room lit up with invisible light and he still sat in darkness. He saw no chairs or table or mirrored windows or anything like what the movies portrayed. But he knew better than to expect the movies to be that close to reality. The walls were painted gray, a light gray that hurt his eyes. As he had guessed they would, the lights went out all of a sudden, leaving him again in darkness. But Lennys closed eye opened and helped him to see the door to his cell opening. He saw through one eye, a rather disconcerting view if one has never tried it before, the dimly lit hallway outside the door. He watched people silently moving things into his room and it surprised him how they made no noise dispite their movements. Obviously they had been trained to do just as they were. Lenny spoke, You think you guys could bring in a bed while youre at it? Maybe a little fridge and a microwave? But after they paused to listen to him, they continued to work in silence. They left him alone again and closed the door. It also moved quietly, no doubt the noises hed heard before were simulated for his benefit, to make him think that the furniture had appeared magically. Lenny remembered where the objects were in relation to his position and when he was again 89

alone, he closed his dark-adjusted eye tightly and found his way to the chair that would make him face the camera. He sat at a small table with his tied hands resting on its surface. He would wait for them. But he would do so comfortably.

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The majority of the island residents were detained in the schoolhouse on the island, but a few of them had been taken back aboard the carrier some miles out to sea. DaNell watched from monitors in the command center the actions of some of the soldiers. A few of them had found a vertical access shaft hidden in the shrubbery on a hillside. The ladder led them down to a heavy metal hatch that generally remained locked except for annual repair and maintenance. They looked to be setting up a small bomb of sorts and DaNell couldnt let them breach their security in that way. She triggered the intruder alarm in that area which quickly filled the pit with seawater. Though the men had time to get out safely, they managed to leave a few supply bags at the bottom of the hole. And because the hatch sat situated fifty feet below the ground level, they had no chance to go get it without divers. 91

She heard the radio chatter on the channels, decoded by sophisticated and expensive equipment. They were reporting to their leaders about the failure at that access point. DaNell also saw that the men working on the freight elevator had dismantled the control box and were fiddling with the wiring. No danger of breach there. She also noticed that a small boat had parked in the ocean roughly above their subsurface access tunnel. A quick check of the monitor to her left told her that the heavy outer doors were locked also and were in no danger of breach. It would take more C-4 than the soldiers carried to break open that pathway. And it would take the divers days to cut through them with an oxygen lance under the water. For the moment, she felt safe, but it didnt stop her from double checking the hallway sensors for movement. No alarms had been tripped; she still remained safe in the fortress. A quick few bites of her sandwich and she turned her attention back to the monitors, listening to the chatter over the radio frequencies. Though she thought that the marines would assume she was listening and censor any sensitive statements, she also hoped that they would make some mistake and give up a clue to the puzzle they faced. Who had ordered the assault, and on what grounds? Why were they trying their tactics? Did they really believe that they would win over the teens by treating them in that way? Hadnt they ever been teenagers and fought the establishment? 92

They had to have some kind of training that told them to expect the prisoners to resist interrogation. And then a scary thought occurred to DaNell. Would their position in international waters give them the right to treat the teens badly, simply because they were outside the jurisdiction of the land-based governments? She hoped against their lives that the Navy would abide its own rules and the treaties in place that dealt with that sort of situation.

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Lenny saw the door open again with his night-adjusted eye. A man walked silently in and sat down across from him at the little table. Lenny chose to speak once the door closed. Its about time you get here. I was beginning to think you forgot about me. The man didnt speak, but Lenny could almost feel the disdain he felt for the teen, possibly because he had addressed the visitor before he could surprise Lenny first. Lenny spoke again, I was kind of thinking that you guys were inexperienced at the whole softening up part of the interrogation. You know, the whole too hot/too cold bit was pretty weak if you ask me. Lenny kept one of his eyes closed because he felt certain that they would turn the lights on any second again. But when it didnt happen in short order, he spoke up to his silent roommate, Dude, did I mess up the trick? Im sorry. Look, you can 95

go out and come back in again and Ill pretend to be surprised. But again no sound came from his visitor. Lenny began to feel somewhat confused about the purpose of this tactic. He spoke softly, The way this works is, you ask me a question expecting me to lie to you. Then I answer you truthfully because I have nothing to hide. Then we trade insults a bit and then you threaten me with unjust imprisonment and I give up because Im dumb and believe that youll do what you claim. Then we part as unlikely friends. A pause of a few seconds and then he added, Its your turn. Andgo. The lights turned on quickly and left one of his eyes hurting. But the other remained closed tightly. The man across the table from Lenny turned out to be a woman which truthfully did surprise Lenny. She spoke to him in a low voice with very intentional words. Everything she said, she meant to say. Leonardo Hatching. Emancipated teen with his own company and island. He is a playful yet insecure individual with a superiority complex. Lenny interrupted, Its not a complex. My toys really are superior to yours. And youre jealous and trying to take them for your own. But you have no idea what and who youre dealing with here. As far as Ive been briefed, you are withholding properties and equipment that belongs to the government. 96

Youve been lied to. I have nothing that belongs to you. And I can prove it legally. You are facing theft and treason charges and according to our mission brief, we are well within our rights to drop you down a hole and bury you over. No you arent, you still answer to the people you serve, the American people. And you are obligated to follow the Geneva Conventions which deal with the fair treatment of adversary detainees. The woman seemed to be unshaken by Lennys words, We have already breached your fortress and are presently emptying it of technologies and equipment. How you cooperate from here out determines how your residents will be treated. You havent breached my fortress. I know because youd be asking me about radioactive objects within the storage areas. Nor have you demanded to know the deactivation codes for the islands self-destruct systems, which you would have triggered if you had forcefully breached the fortress. Try again. Tell me about the radioactive objects in the storage areas and how to bypass the demolition charges we found in the hallways. Lenny laughed in his heart. He knew by her responses that they were still unable to break in. There were no bombs in his building, nor were there any radioactive devices, no more so than a medical 97

x-ray machine, that is. The radiation is only dangerous with prolonged exposure. The nodes are shielded to precise levels. If your men stay more than twenty feet from the access points except to quickly enter and exit, they will be just fine. And dont worry about the demo charges. They wont be triggered unless you actually succeed in breaching the fortress doorways forcefully. The woman spoke again, Tell us about the device you built. Is it nuclear? Lenny felt confused and then he realized what she was speaking about, Oh, no, it shouldnt melt down as long as you dont try to disarm it. We built it to divert the meteor in space, you know, the one thats going to impact the Earth in 28 days? The questioner showed a genuine flash of shock. Obviously she hadnt been briefed completely on the situation. Divert the meteor? Yeah, continued Lenny. You see, a mass as big as Delaware isnt so easily destroyed as the movies want you to believe. Were talking about millions of tons of rock here, possibly billions. And if it isnt diverted in the next few hours, its path will take it directly here. Well, not here, more over by Mongolia. And at that size, all life on the earth will either burn in the next month or freeze in the thousands of years to follow. He furrowed his brow, You didnt know about that? The woman shifted in her seat before speaking, Tell us how to disarm the device you built. 98

Oh, thats an easy one, answered Lenny. You need to hit it with a radio burst. It has to be from a transmitter exactly twenty-three feet away from the center of the orb at the heart of the device. The burst needs to be for exactly three seconds at eighty-eight watts on the frequencyare you going to write this down? The woman shuddered and spoke The engineers are listening. Whats the frequency? Lenny answered, One point twenty-one jiggahertz. Gigahertz? asked the woman. Lenny looked confused, though he wasnt really, Oh is that how you pronounce it? This whole time I was saying it wrong. Yes, gigahertz. One point twenty-one gigahertz exactly.

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Again the woman spoke to Lenny, Tell me how you were going to launch the payload toward the space rock. Lenny casually glanced around the room as he spoke That information is above your paygrade. Do you have rocket launch facilities on the island? That information is above your paygrade, said Lenny again. How do you sustain weightlessness in the flying ball while its on Earth? That information is above your paygrade, said Lenny. How do you sustain gravity in the flying ball while in space? For once Lenny paused before answering. He was thinking about something he hadnt thought of before. Could it work? Why not? It had 101

happened before. But he again answered how he had before, That information is above your paygrade. Before the woman could ask another question, the door burst open and in walked the man from the schoolhouse, General Kastora. He shouted, You tricked us into arming that warhead! The countdown has started on a little clock on it! How do we shut it down? Lenny sat still for a few seconds before the General slammed his hands on the table, startling the woman but not phasing Lenny. He blinked slowly and then spoke, You might want to take this time to get your men off the boat. The General stormed out of the room and a klaxon siren began sounding throughout the entire ship. The woman didnt wait around for the order. She jumped from her seat and ran out of the cell leaving the door open. But Lenny wasnt afraid of the siren. He sat patiently in his room though the door had been left open. In seconds the General rushed back in with a small pouch and dumped it out on the table. It was the items they had taken from all three teens. I know you brought the remote with you. Youre smart enough to know that things can go wrong and you made certain that if it started early you could cancel the count. Now tell me how to shut it off! Lenny raised his arms between them suggestively. The General paused only for a second before drawing a rather dangerous looking knife 102

from his belt. He sliced through the plastic ties like thread. Lenny rummaged through the things on the table and then reported, The remote isnt here. Did your men get everything out of Clarence? Who? Lenny answered as he put everything back in the bag and tied it shut, Clarence is the flying ball ship. Did they find anything inside it? The General responded by grabbing Lenny by the arm and dragging him from the room. They raced through a few doorways and then entered a large bay with vehicles and boxes. Lenny saw that they had parked Clarence about a hundred feet from the asteroid module that Lennys team had assembled. But they hadnt figured out how to turn it off because it still floated above the deck, tied down with a few straps to anchors on the floor. The other teens came into the room with their own escorts. They arrived in time to watch the canisters around the Hatching drive module burst. Their contents splashed outward and piled high and expanded where it could. The module had encased itself in a shell of foam thirty feet thick around the sides and going from floor to ceiling. The General stood shocked, but not for long. Can it still be disarmed? asked General Kastora. Lenny answered, Not anymore. The only way to shut it off was through direct keypad input. Now well be lucky to get out of here alive. I hope

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your men are all in the water because if not, theyre about to become permanent residents. The General grabbed Lenny by both shoulders and shook him, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE! Lenny shouted back, not caring if he spit while he did so, YOU TURNED IT ON! YOU CAME HERE AND BROUGHT IT ABOARD THE SHIP! AND YOURE GOING TO BE THE ONE WHO EXPLAINS TO THE NAVY WHY THEY LOST A NUCLEAR CARRIER! The General glared at Lenny and then let him go roughly, You have an escape plan. Im going with you. Be our guest, said Red as she ran toward Clarence. The men and women climbed up the ladder and floated down into the weightlessness inside the ceramic shell of the flying ship. Josh took the pilots seat as Lenny made certain the hatch locked tightly. Everyone found a seat somewhere in Clarence and buckled themselves in tight. Lenny turned on the security system that had originally been meant to keep children from unbuckling themselves before it was safe. All seatbelts locked magnetically and would remain such until Lenny let them open. Get us out of here! shouted the General. But Lenny wanted to teach him a lesson in respect. He hadnt yet belted himself in to his seat. He found the knife on the Generals belt and 104

removed it. Tossing it to float off to the side Lenny spoke calmly, You took us prisoner unlawfully and violated federal law by raiding and attempting to breach a civilian facility on United States soil. From here out you will answer for your crimes. The older man shouted angrily, Get us out of here! I dont think we will, said Josh. We need time to make sure the foam cures properly before we leave. Also, I want you to apologize to us for your illegal actions. Is there a bomb on that ship? asked General Kastora. Yes, answered Lenny, Lots of them, but theyre all yours. Nuclear material is outside our purchasing power. But that doesnt mean were not in danger here. Whats the danger if you dont have any ordinance? asked another officer. Were about to see how aerodynamic this carrier can get, answered Red.

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Come again? said an officer. This aircraft carrier is about to become airborne, said Josh. Impossible! snapped the General. Impossible is what we do best, said Josh as he worked at his console. Lenny asked, You got it linked yet? Yeah, I think so, said Josh. Then lets get out of here, said Red. Clarence began to move slowly in the bay. It broke the straps that held it down like they were noodles. They flew between the piles of boxes and vehicles until they spotted a way out. It was the back of the ship, a large gaping hole in the stern just below the flight deck. Josh flew them through it and then turned around to see boats strewn about the ocean around the carrier. There were rafts and barges and launches filled with men in life jackets. A few dozen men also floated in the tropical water 107

without any boat to ride. Nearly all the sailors in the water and the boats were watching the flying ball with no engine seeming to defy gravity. But at that moment, Lenny had to tell his friends his plan. Its really simply when you think about it. I hope youre right, said Red. We may not get another shot at this. Itll work, said Lenny. Josh turned his seat to face forward. Operation Were So Getting Busted For This is ready to commence. Go, said Lenny. Because Josh had to fly Clarence on his own, and that job took all of ones concentration, Red had to work on the other half of the plan at her station. Lifting now, reported Red. Outside the windows the viewers witnessed something no one ever thought they would see. The carrier ever so slowly began to rise higher in the water. Were anyone to ride it, they would no doubt hear bulkheads and beams creaking and complaining under stresses they werent meant to take. Before long, the bow of the boat lifted out of the water and didnt stop going upward. Only going a foot per second it gained altitude slowly until Lenny felt it could handle a little more. Red, lets see if it can go a little faster. Push it to ten miles per hour. Red breathed loudly and then worked the controls to comply with Lennys request. The 108

newly airworthy Navy ship accelerated upward and Clarence followed right behind it. Up and up they went until they chanced a little more speed. Lenny asked, Red, can you push it to thirty miles per hour, please? A few ticks on the touchscreen before her and the aircraft carrier sped up again. But Lenny felt an urgency and asked, Can you push it to a hundred miles per hour? Red looked nervously toward her boss and friend. But she turned to her console again and did as he asked accelerating the carrier of thousands of tons displacement upward at a hundred miles per hour. Josh piloted their little bubble up after the carriers path. The General spoke with salty words, You have no idea what youre doing to yourselves. This is grand theft of a ship costing over a billion dollars. Do you have any idea how long theyll lock you up for? Hey idiot, said Red over her shoulder. Youre not supposed to end a sentence with a preposition. Didnt you go to school? Josh chimed in, The sentence should go Do you have any idea for how long theyll lock you up? Lenny spoke up, Or you could rephrase it into two statements like this. Theyll lock you up. For how long you have no idea. Josh put in his bit, No, he wasnt saying that we had no idea how long wed be locked up. 109

He was asking us if we had any idea concerning the length of our jail time. It would go like this: Theyll lock you up. Have you any idea for how long? The General growled, It doesnt matter how youd say it. You kids are going to be locked up for hundreds of years! Wow, said Lenny. So after we die, theyll waste a cell holding our corpses until our sentences are up? The Navy is hardcore in their jails. Are you sure it doesnt mean that theyll keep us alive on life support until the end of our sentences? asked Josh. Cause that would be cool too. Red spoke as they flew higher into the sky, Ooh! Do you think theyll have flying cars when we get out of prison? That seems like hundreds of years away. General Kastora sat fuming in his seat. If looks could kill, hed have murdered all three teens a thousand times over by the time they reached a dozen miles up. Lenny spoke to Red, Lets see what that ship can take. Please push it to five hundred miles per hour. Red complied with the request. She slowly accelerated the aircraft carrier up to five hundred miles per hour. Before they reached it, they saw out their front windshield that the air pressure was too much for the windows on the command decks of the 110

tower. They blew out littering the deck with broken window fragments and other debris. Its a good thing this ship will never launch planes again, said Josh. All that junk on the deck would be a real hazard to pilots and crews.

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Within half an hour the blue sky had turned to night and still they climbed higher. After an hour of ascension they knew it would be safe to push faster and farther. Lenny spoke, Red, please accelerate the carrier to our maximum safe following speed. The teen complied with the requested speed change and they pushed both ships onward faster. Lenny tried to console the commander of the carrier, who had also made it to Clarence before they left, Look at it this way. Your ship is breaking records left and right. What records? asked the sullen Captain. Well, for starters, began Lenny, yours was the first aircraft carrier to be stolen right out from under you. Second, it was the first flying aircraft carrier. Third, it was the first to travel faster than fifty miles per hour in any travel medium. Forth, it was the first to travel faster than a hundred 113

miles per hour. Fifth, it was the first to leave the Earths atmosphere. Sixth, it was the first to travel faster than sound. Seventh, it is now officially the largest manmade object to leave earth orbit. Eighth, it was the first to cruise at a million miles per hour. Ninth, it was the first to be intentionally used for a purpose in interplanetary space. General Kastora interrupted, He gets it. Youre going to be famous. Let it go already. Lenny looked disapprovingly at the General. No, sir, thats not true. I wont be famous. Even if the public knew about the asteroid out there, and I know they never will, I would die before my name was attached to this incident in the public view. I am not doing this for fame or glory. Im doing this because were the only ones able to get to it in time, and were the only ones with the tools able to get the job done. And because its the right thing to do. I hope to never hear of this event again, and youd better hope I never see you again, either. Because if me and my teenage friends can steal an aircraft carrier and fly it into space at a million miles per hour, what cant we do to you? We can get real creative when we need to defend ourselves. We flew to the moon a few years ago with your bosses. And if this tech youre flying in is a few years old, just imagine whats on our cutting edge. Whats on the cusp in our labs and what will it do to you? The General sat quietly stewing on Lennys words. He didnt want to argue with a teen in space

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while that teen could just dump him out into the blackness. Lenny sat himself in his seat and then asked, How long until we reach the asteroid? Josh replied, Its looking like another hour. Im thinking the batteries on the foam module should be pretty low by now. Think we should line up the carrier for one big toss? Red spoke up, The foam modules batteries read eighty-eight percent. Were good as long as we need to be. Then we press on with the plan, said Lenny. Well call throwing the carrier at the rock plan B.

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Just as it had before, the gigantic space rock looked ominous as it approached. Though this was the second time the teens saw it, it was the first time anyone else had seen it so close. They were careful to stop a good distance short of the asteroid before they moved in to begin working on plan A. With the carrier rotated so that its flight deck looked away from the asteroid, the teens went over their plan again. Thatll never work, said General Kastora from his seat. And why not, Mr. Im-gonna-steal-yourisland? asked Red. The General ignored her insult and continued I may be no science genius, Obviously, interrupted Josh. The General continued, But I do know that the carrier is far too small to have gravity of its

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own. Youre just going to leave it there and waste our chance at saving Earth. Youre right about the carrier being too small to cause its own measurable gravity, but that doesnt mean it has no pull. I still dont get it, said an officer from his seat. How are you going to induce the carrier to exert its own gravity field? We already are, said Lenny. He further explained, An unforeseen byproduct of the method of our locomotion is that the matter connected to the drive module retains its gravity environment through change. When we are on the ground and start it up, we sustain that same gravity orientation no matter where we go, even into space. And when we fall from the sky and then energize the drive while falling, it retains some kind of memory of that simulated weightlessness inside the shell. Josh continued, We dont know how it works, and frankly, right now, it doesnt matter. The point is, it works and we can use it to our advantage. Lenny continued, We dont have materials strong enough to apply direct pressure on that asteroid and hope to change its path, but by moving a gravity inducing object near it, one that wasnt there before, we can apply that pull on the rock and gradually make a change in its path. But your floors are too small on this ship, and besides we arent experiencing gravity.

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Lenny answered the carriers Captain, But your ship was in a normal earth gravity situation when that drive was activated within it. The entire flight deck of your carrier is now exerting gravity in space. If we point that toward the asteroid, the constant gravity field it has will slowly have an effect on the rock. But will it be enough to move the rock enough to save the Earth? asked the Captain. Josh spoke up, It doesnt have to be much of a change in the end, just enough to adjust its path a few degrees, if that. Were still millions of miles from Earth, with several gravity wells near its path. If we adjust it even a few feet one way or another, we could do enough to make it bypass the Earth, or fall short of it toward the Sun. Red added, And besides, even if it doesnt do enough, well know in enough time to have another go at it. We still have an object at our control that weighs thousands of tons if we need something to throw. We can launch it toward the rock at half light speed. Lenny wished Red had left the last part off her statement. He knew it would put ideas into the Generals head. He silently hoped that they would take it as an exaggeration. The last thing he needed was to have another assault on their privacy looking for more weapons. The teens made ready to set their plan into motion. They pulled up the remote program for the carrier and then flew it over toward the rock with its 119

keel pointing toward their target. When it was just a few miles from the surface, Red turned its flight deck to face the rock. It still had to fly with the path of the asteroid so that the pull would be constant on the same area. Josh coded up a small program that they could load remotely into the memory of the drive module in the carrier. It would keep the asteroid less than a mile from the pavement of the flight deck, even as the two made their new orbital paths as the computers had calculated them. And then, when they felt the carrier had been positioned properly and set in the right path, they waited. They would wait for a few more hours before a proper reading could be taken on the asteroids path. With all eyes pointed out Clarences front lenses, no one noticed a small freefloating object enter the grabbing range of general Kastoras arms. But the General saw it.

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Quick slices of fabric restraints were not noticed, nor was the change in location of one of the military men. But a cold steel blade set to the neck of one of the teens did catch someones attention. As she spoke softly, everyone listened, Josh, Lenny. Help me. Please. Both boys turned quickly to see the General freed from his seatbelts and holding a knife to Reds throat. A tiny drop of blood had been drawn by the edge pressed against the skin of her neck. He meant business. The general spoke, I value life differently than you do. I see an acceptable loss as a means to an end. Ive had to kill in defense of my life and my country before, and the thing you should know right now is that I am working with the goal of defending my world from doom. Now, you will carefully bring that carrier out there back here and were going to go back to Earth. 121

Joshs eyed welled up with tears, but Lenny kept his emotions in check, knowing hed need a cool head in the next few seconds. Lenny spoke calmly, What specifically are you asking me to do, so that you are not surprised by my actions. The General nodded over his shoulder, You get in the pilots seat. Turn us about and aim us toward the asteroid so that I can watch you bring the Carrier back here. Lenny complied, Brace for rotation. Lenny knew that they wouldnt need to brace for any movements, and he knew that Josh and Red knew it also. They nodded and would be ready for his stunt. Lenny carefully rotated Clarence around so that their front aimed toward the asteroid, but so that their bottom faced toward the Sun. Lenny knew that very few people fully understood the dynamics and principles of spaceflight in relation to near gravity sources. So when he did what he planned, the shock of it would be enough to throw the General off his guard. Lenny readied the controls as General Kastora used a chair to turn himself toward the front lenses. Lenny spoke, Im starting to bring the carrier over here in three, two, one. The moment he touched the power command on his control board, the drive module in Clarence shut down and then energized again only moments later. They had no forward motion, or any orbital path for that matter, and so when the drive 122

shut down, the occupants of Clarences cabin were instantly exposed to the Suns gravity well. Though it was close to a hundred million miles away, their home star had enough draw to hold planets in position, let alone a small ceramic ball. Everything not already touching the floor was pulled down as if they set on the ground, everything including the General and Red. Red was already mostly standing on the floor, so she simply touched down as if she had jumped a few inches upward. But the General had been in a horizontal position with his chest toward the floor when the gravity came back to him. He fell four feet to the floor, landing with a loud thud and grunt. But to his horror, the plan hadnt gone as Lenny had intended. Lenny had hoped that Josh could get the knife from the General when he was surprised. But the knife never left the Generals hand. As he had fallen, he instinctively put his arms down to catch himself. The knife in his left hand, sticking out like his thumb, hit the floor and pushed into his chest under his own weight. Lenny immediately shut down the seatbelt security system and shouted, Someone get up here! The General has fallen on his own knife! The Captain of the carrier ran to his side and stooped to roll the General over. In the growing pool of blood on the floor, the angry man lie gurgling curses for only a few seconds. But then he grew still and the Captain closed his eyes with his hand. 123

When the Captain turned to the shocked Lenny, he spoke, Ill witness that this was an accident in defense of the girl. You had no idea how he would fall and you had no way of knowing hed have the knife positioned there perfectly to stab his own heart. Lenny nodded, but didnt really hear the words. He spoke distantly, I didnt know. Red walked in tears to Lenny and hugged him tightly. She wept silently but grateful for his quick thinking. Lenny hugged her back, perhaps for the first time noticing that she was out of danger. But for the most part, his mind was numb. The Captain took Josh by the shoulders and spoke face to face with him, Can you fly this ship? Josh paused and then nodded his head, Yeah. Im good.

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Josh took the helm and navigated their little ceramic bubble closer to the asteroid. He kept them close to it for several hours, marking their own trajectory as that of the rock. Just before their need to return to Earth would climax into a life and death sprint, Josh reported, The asteroid has made a measurable course change. It isnt much, but I think itll be enough to get the job done. The carrier Captain nodded, Good work. Is it safe to leave this scene how it stands? After checking his displays, Yes. The carriers drive module has 54% battery left. At present draw, it should have the power to keep on keeping on for another eight to ten hours. When it reaches five percent battery level, Ive set it to go into a geostationary orbit around Earth, so that it doesnt get lost or burn up over the Earth. Good, said the Captain, who had stepped in to take command when the General met his end. 125

Lets get back to your island. We have a mess to clean up. Josh nodded and turned them toward Earth. In their previous path, they had made not a small amount of headway toward their home planet. They cruised for an hour more before the front lenses began to heat up from wind friction and Josh had to slow their travel to only a few thousand miles per hour. Their path took them in lower over South America, as the world had continued to turn while they were away. And since they didnt need the atmosphere to slow their fall, Josh chose to fly them directly toward their island, instead of arcing around the planet toward the east the way NASA would have. As the Atlantic raced below their hot ceramic hull, the Captain approached Lenny. Lenny, who had seated himself quietly and had remained in a state of shock since his maneuver, didnt notice the officers approach. I dont know what you must be feeling, but I can tell you one thing. From my experience with other young soldiers, youll never forget this. As time goes on and other things become more and less important to you, the feelings youre feeling can do one of two things. First, they can turn you inside out with guilt and sadness and anger until you turn into someone else entirely. Lenny seemed to acknowledge the Captains presence for the first time, And second? 126

Second, said the Captain as he put a hand on Lennys shoulder. You can put your experience to work for you and use it to change into a stronger person. Lenny nodded slowly, though he never took his eyes off their view out the front windshields. After a few moments he spoke up, How can I move on, knowing I just killed someone? The captain patted Lennys shoulder about to step away, You seem to be a very smart kid. Understand that he put himself into a position where he had to be defended against. He chose to threaten a teenage girls life and he chose to keep the knife instead of letting it go as he fell. He pushed you to make the best decision you could. The only thing youre ultimately responsible for is saving that girls life, along with everyone else on Earth. It was your idea that repurposed my aircraft carrier into an asteroid magnet. Who else would have done that? Not him, I can promise you that. Lenny nodded again, but kept his mouth shut as the wheels worked in his head. Though he was a smart kid, could win awards for it, he generally chose not to dwell on his considerable honorificabilitudinitatibus. The Captain climbed back up to the command deck and unbuttoned his shirt. He took it off and laid it across the head and back of the General, both hiding it from view and offering it the respect of privacy. The Captain stood in his undershirt, not seeming to care.

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Josh tried not to look at that area of the floor. It sickened him, but he knew he would never understand the feelings Lenny must have been feeling at that moment. Though he seemed mature for his age, Josh had an insight into the life of his friend that few others ever would. Yes he had a sober mind, but he also had only lived and experienced as many years as Josh. Therefore, Josh had the option to act just as mature as Lenny and vice versa. Josh had even seen his friend act immature at times when no one else seemed to notice. But then, even the elderly had their moments of childishness, so maybe that wasnt anything to celebrate. Lenny would be okay, Josh knew. He would get over this event, and even use it as a stone to sharpen the blade of his mind. But until he had fully dealt with the emotions that he was at that moment feeling, he couldnt truly get past it.

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When they neared their island, their system registered a stable link with their command center. Among the information that changed hands between the computers aboard Clarence and those in the bunker were bits of news. It appeared as if a few more ships were on their way toward their tropical hideout. But the nature of their travel was as yet unknown to the residents. As Josh flew them into the water and then through the tunnel that led into the launch bay, the Captain promised, Youre in no danger. We will act as guests, not as invaders. Landing on the springed pads, Clarence finally had a chance to rest its drive when Josh shut down the power to it. One at a time, the sailors from the carrier climbed the ladder out of the sub and congregated at its base. Red tossed a heavy electrical cord up to Josh, who plugged it into the charge system and then left it. 129

When they were all standing around, neither group knowing how to proceed, Hank entered the bay. He cautiously approached the people and asked, How were the rabbit guts? With most of the other people showing confused and sickened expressions, Josh answered, They were squished. Hank looked to the other two teens, Lenny a bit pale and Red with a little dried blood on her neck. They nodded the affirmative. Then Hank spoke, while offering his hand to the Captain, Well then, welcome to our fortress of creativity. On behalf of the United States Navy, began the Captain, Id like to officially apologize to you and your residents for the actions we took. General Kastora felt he had the best option and I was bound by orders to comply with his plans. Hindsight is perfect vision. We should have asked for your help, instead of trying to take over your facility. As their hands broke, Hank asked, I trust we wont have to worry about invasion again? Not by me, said the Captain. And Ill do my best to discourage such attempts in the future. Im going to propose to the Secretary of the Navy that he assign ships to defend your paradise. Lenny spoke up, With due respect, Captain, I wish you wouldnt. Were here because we were trying to avoid such protection before, when stone walls and armed guards turned our shop in Alabama into a prison. 130

Then ask what you will of me, said the Captain with genuine humility. After a minute, Lenny answered, In a few days, Im going to have a meeting in Washington. I want you there with me. Try to stop me, said the Captain. And please, call me Andy. I think youve earned it.

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Three days later, after the sailors and marines had been evacuated from the island in the Pacific, a few young people addressed a room full or older men and women. But it wasnt a public meeting. The guest list included the President and several members of his Cabinet. Present were members of congress, from both parties and from both the House and the Senate, as well as a handful of Secret Service agents. Lenny began, Ladies and gentlemen, this will not stand. Four days ago, I and my colleagues were accosted by members of the military with express instructions to invade our homes and steal our equipment for the purposes of executing an illconceived plan to defend our world from a credible threat posed by an asteroid in space. Letting this statement sink in for only a moment Lenny continued, Let me repeat the important points. Our homes were invaded, our 133

lives threatened, our property stolen, all under specific orders from above the rank of Brigadier General Kastora. Our people were taken from their homes at gunpoint, and held in a small schoolhouse under guard. And why? Because someone high up in the government assumed that we would rather not help protect our planet from an extinction-level meteorite strike. How dare you! This blatant disregard for our rights as both Americans and humans is appalling at best. Hank picked up the address, As minors, these three youth were taken, as terrorists without rights, aboard a US Navy ship and interrogated in international waters, without due process, proper adult legal representation and without regard for their age and gender. They, both male and female, were hooded and stripped of their clothing, required to wear prisoner attire. They were intentionally exposed to extreme cold and heat in pitch blackness in their cells while being watched on camera. This is a violation of their rights as underage youth and as unlawfully detained US citizens, as well as violations of the Geneva Accords which govern the fair treatment of prisoners, no matter if they are a threat to freedom or not. We are well within our constitutional rights to press charges against all those who had foreknowledge of these events, not excluding the impeachment of government officials for the purposes of criminal trials. A uniformed officer with many medals and ribbons on his chest spoke, Just as we may charge 134

you for the loss of a very large and expensive ship from our pacific fleet. The Captain of the carrier in question spoke up, Let me assure you that the ship you refer to, my ship, was used with the continued existence of our race in mind, with my approval and informed consent. And I am told that it is at present in fully restorable condition. An older woman in a pants suit spoke, We owe you a debt of gratitude, I am told. Our Near Earth Object tracking specialists have informed us that the asteroid in question has shifted orbit and will miss Earth by more than fifty thousand miles. And it will fall into the sun after it passes us. This is in no small way due to the efforts of you, your team and company. We are grateful for your efforts, notwithstanding the loss of the ship. I can have it safely down from space within three hours, if it matters, Lenny offered. But it was necessary to use it how we did to save YOUR lives. We kept a rock the size of Delaware from landing on YOUR planet, keeping YOUR families from being burned alive. Forgive me if I didnt fill out the proper request form to borrow a boat to protect YOUR paychecks from ending. Hank put a hand on Lennys shoulder to calm him. Lenny continued, But were not here to point fingers. Were more than willing to overlook all actions taken against us. But we are not going to do so lightly. What will happen the next time a rock is heading toward Earth, or some other disaster 135

occurs that someone feels we can help with? Were here to discuss how we can prevent all this from happening in the future. What are you going to do to prevent these things from happening again? Hank spoke, before the congressmen could reply, We want actions taken, not words spoken. No committees, no inquisitions, no hearings of discovery. What are you personally going to do to keep this from happening again? One man answered, This issue will take time. Lenny shrugged, Ive made time. Ill order a few pizzas and we can talk about it until we figure it out. Because no one is leaving this room until the issue is settled. You cant hold us here, said a gray-haired man. No, said Lenny. But I can go to the presses with evidence, proof that these events took place, proof that a decorated officer put a knife to a teenage girls throat. Now who wants their name up in lights attached to this story? I promise you that no amount of campaign funding will make this one go away. A few people shifted nervously in their seats at the thought of such public accountability. But Lenny didnt give them much time to think, We will get this figured out today. Men loosen your ties, women take off your shoes, get comfortable people. I have a free schedule for weeks, and I suggest you do the same to your planners, because 136

anyone leaving now is going to have to do a lot of interviews in the coming days. One man spoke, Let me make some calls. Ill have my secretary cancel my afternoon. Thats the spirit, said Josh.

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It took hours, but in the end, the room cleared with real tangible plans in the works. Lenny and his colleagues agreed to keep a line of communication with a few offices of government, with the express purpose of calls for help in both directions. In return, Lenny and his team promised that they would keep themselves ready to offer aid that only they could supply. They also promised to retrieve a large object from orbit and remove from it any bits of their equipment. As they drove in a car from the meeting, Hank spoke, Im proud of you guys. You showed you are better people than many. Others would try to use those events to get undue money or favors out of the government. You used it, but in a good way. Would you expect anything less from us? asked Red. I guess not, said Hank. 139

Im just happy its over with and we can forget about it, said Josh. You can forget about it, said Lenny, but theres things I can never forget. For a few minutes there was nothing but silence in the car. And then Lenny spoke to the Captain, Id like to reward you for your actions today. Duty is its own reward. Doing the right thing was never a question for me, said the Captain. Still, Id like to show my appreciation to you. Is there somewhere you want to go? Is there anywhere you have always wanted to visit but never could? After a moment or two, their new friend answered, As a Navy Captain, I often get to go places I wanted to visit. But my wife has always wanted to see the moon up close. Josh answered, Is that all? I thought youd ask for something hard. The moon isnt hard enough? Red replied Literally everyone in this car has been there but you. Youve walked on the moon? asked the Captain. Weve not walked on it yet, said Lenny. But we looked out our windows at Apollo artifacts just feet separated from us. I think with a few modifications to our ships design we could afford you and your wife that honor. Give us a week? 140

Josh spoke excitedly, Yes! Space suits! Red calmed him with her statement, You do know that astronauts where diapers right? Josh replied, To walk on the moon? Id put up with that.

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