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Book TwoChapter One They spotted their Dad’s car in the
driveway. It was unusual for him to be home early. They pedaled
their bikes faster, anxious to see their Father. After a brief hello to
their Mother, they stopped at their Father’s room to say hi and then
proceeded to play for an hour, do their homework, eat supper and get ready
for bed. It was just another normal day in the Howell household. That evening as they sat in their Dad’s lap,
cuddled in his big chair, the children made a discovery that changed their
lives forever. Talking to their Dad they discovered the secret of his
chair. They were startled to find that his chair could travel in space,
through time and just about anywhere else they could imagine. Their
father’s chair was a technological marvel that he and their mother had
constructed over the years. The real surprise came when their father
offered to take them on a trip to the Moon where they discovered an ancient
spaceship, picked up a few alien artifacts, returned to Earth, only to splash
into the sea, and discovered a sunken ship graveyard and a long lost
city. From there they entered an underwater cave where the inhabitants
of the city buried their dead and where they almost became trapped when the
cave entrance collapsed. They managed to escape and returned home and
after a well-earned meal and good scrubbing down, the Howell children and
their father and mother headed off to bed. It had been an exciting time
and Paul could hardly wait to examine the strange artifacts they found on the
spaceship and in the sunken city and to place a salvage claim on the
tremendous treasure they stumbled upon As Paul poured himself a glass of ice water,
the doorbell rang. He thought it strange that someone one would visit
so late at night but he went to answer the door nonetheless. He took a
drink of the water, placed the glass on the kitchen counter and went to
answer the door. When he opened the door he almost dropped the
rod. There, silhouetted in the doorway, was a large mechanical
man. Paul took a step back as the giant creature snaked out one of its
flexible steel arms and with its mechanical hand took the rod from his hand
and said, “I must speak to Mr. Howell.” Paul was so shocked by the creature that the
only thing he could manage to say was, “Dad, it’s for you.” After several minutes Paul’s father had
still not arrived. The robot stood with arm extended, holding the rainbow-ringed
rod and continued to repeat its request, “I must speak with Mr.
Howell.” It never moved, its giant shape filled most of the doorway as
the light from the streetlights glistened around its edges, leaving most of
the robot in shadow, with only the occasional blinking light periodically
lighting a section here and there. Paul turned around again and with some
desperation in his voice he yelled, “Dad! You really need to come down
here! It’s important! Hurry!” A moment later Paul heard his
father’s voice, “What is it Paul, your mother and I were almost asleep.
Can’t it wait until morning?” “No, I need you now. There’s some one
here to see you!” “Someone’s visiting at this late hour?” Paul
heard his mother say. “I’m coming,” said Mr. Howell. As Paul nervously stood in front of the
giant mechanical man it took a ponderous step forward into the room. As
it did so it straightened itself and Paul could see that the figure was at
least seven feet tall, perhaps taller. Just at that moment Mr. Howell
stepped into the room and immediately stopped causing Mrs. Howell and Lyn to
bump into him. “What? Who? How did?” was all
that Mr. Howell could mutter. Mrs. Howell and Lyn were so startled by
the sight of the hulking metal man that they were speechless. Once more
the robot spoke, “Mr. Howell? I must speak to you.” It moved
forward, rod still in its right hand while with its left hand it pressed to
its chest. For once tense moment the Howell’s and the
robot stood still and silent and then there was a whirring noise. As
the Howells stood in awe, the front of the large robot’s chest opened up on
hinges. There was a slight hiss as if air escaping and then the cavity
of the robot’s chest was revealed. It wasn’t empty. A large metallic
oval slide out from the cavity, on a conclave shelf. As the shelf
clicked into place, the globe sprouted four appendages, two on the bottom and
one on each side. The top of the globe separated itself from the lower
part creating a disk. Under the disk was a shaft that supported
it. To red orbs blinked into view. At that same time a circular
section on the front slide back into the egg revealing three vertical
slits. From these slits a voice emerged, “Forgive my rather ponderous
friend. We didn’t mean to frighten you. The rod he holds in his
hand is a homing Chapter Rwo No one said anything. Mr. and Mrs.
Howell held the children close to them as the large robot stood motionless
with the rod still in its hand, its arm extended. The small robot
turned its head side to side looking at the Howells as if waiting for a
response. Before Mr. and Mrs. Howell could stop her Lyn stepped forward
and looked at the small robot said, “Who are you? Why did you follow
us? Why did you hide from us? Are you going to make us your space
slaves or something?” The small robot stopped tuning its head and
looked at Lyn. A strange noise came from the robot, almost sounding
like a laugh. Bringing its arm to its chest the small robot said, “My
name is Giga. I am the brain of the outfit. My large friend is
Mega. He’s the muscle. Please don’t be afraid he won’t hurt you,
nor will I. The reason we followed you is because we need your
help. We’ve been stranded on your Moon for a very long time with no way
to return to our home. Our crew is dead, our ship is ruined. When
you entered our ship we monitored you hoping you could rescue us. We
hid from you because we didn’t want to scare you away. We followed you
home and (looking at Lyn) no we won’t make you space slaves. We need
your help.” Mr. Howell stepped forward. It was
your weight that threw the trajectory of my chair off and caused us to splash
into the ocean.” “I apologize for that. We didn’t mean
for it to happen,” said the robot. “You must have been the ones responsible for
getting us out of the cave. I didn’t think the cave opening cleared itself.” “Yes, we did.” “You said you needed our help. What
can we do?” “With your help I believe we can modify your
chair to transport us back to our planet. I’m afraid our people
stopped looking for us long ago. We need to report back.” “Report back what? What happened to
you?” asked Paul. “We were on our way to your planet one
hundred and fifty years ago to observe your culture in order to determine if
you were advanced enough to be contacted. On our way to Earth we
encountered a meteor shower. The ship was damaged and we crashed on
your Moon. Our crew survived, but after several weeks our food, water
and air supply ran out and the crew died. You saw the pilot and copilot
on board. The other crewmembers’ bodies were stowed away. Our
communication system was damaged. Chapter Three It was Mrs. Howell’s turn to speak, “How is it
you speak English so well?” “I can speak many languages. Although
our long distance communication system was damaged the ship could still
receive broadcasts from Earth. We’ve been monitoring your radio and TV
broadcasts. I am programmed to interact with different cultures.
It wasn’t difficult to learn your language. Most of you languages were in our
database. This isn’t the first time we’ve visited Earth.” Paul said, “That would explain a lot of the
UFO sightings over the centuries.” Looking at the Giga he continued,
“Wouldn’t your people come looking for you? I mean, they must have
known you were heading to Earth. After a while they must have figured
you were in some kind of trouble when you didn’t report back.” Giga replied, “That’s true. After
several months no one arrived to rescue us. The months soon turned into
years. Something must have happened. Perhaps our flight plan was
lost. That’s why it’s important that we get back.” To everyone’s surprise Mega spoke up, “We
must return home.” “I think we should help them,” said Mr.
Howell. “I can modify the chair for their additional weight and I have
just the thing we need for extra passengers.” Looking at the robot pair
and his family he continued, “Mega, Giga, please come inside. Everyone
follow me to the basement.” Mega slowly floated forward, his massive
body moving smoothly and cautiously as he navigated his way through the
Howell’s house. Giga had lowered himself to the floor and glided behind
his large comrade. With Mr. Howell in the lead, the children, Mrs.
Howell and the two robots made their way to the kitchen and to the basement
door. One by one they descended the basement stairs. Mega had to
crouch in order for his head not to hit the ceiling. Mr. Howell switched on the lights and walked
over to a large shape covered with a tarp. He pulled the tarp back
revealing a trailer with two seats in the front and a carrying area in the
back. The trailer rested on four large wheels. Located on the
front of the trailer was a hitch. Mr. Howell walked over to the
trailer, sat in one of the seats and pressed a button on the seat’s
arms. Just like his chair the trailer extended a large metallic rod
behind from the back. When Mr. Howell pushed another button, the
crystal sphere on the end of the rod split and expanded. Soon the
entire trailer was enclosed in a large plastic bubble. Mr. Howell spoke, “I designed this
trailer to be pulled by the chair in case we needed some extra passenger and
storage space. I think it will do quite nicely to transport our new
friends home.” Chapter Four Giga spoke, “I’m impressed.” He walked
over to the trailer and touched its transparent bubble and looked back at the
Howell family, “Thank you, it is kind of you to help us considering how
strange we must appear to you. Most humans would flee in fright.
When may we leave?” Inside the trailer Mr. Howell pressed a
button and the transparent bubble folded back into its compartment. He
got out and walked over to his family. “Everyone needs their rest, especially after
the adventure they just went through,” said Mrs. Howell. “After a good
night’s sleep and a day of preparation I don’t see why you can’t leave
tomorrow night. What do you think dear?” Mrs. Howell looked at Mr.
Howell. “Tomorrow night should be fine. It
will give me the opportunity to run a few more tests on the trailer and check
over my chair. We can pack up what supplies we’ll need. It might
be a long and difficult trip. Fortunately the kids don’t have school
next week because it’s Spring Break.” Looking at Lyn and Paul he said,
“ What do you think kids? Are you ready for another trip in my chair?” The kids answered together, “You bet!” Looking at the two robots Mrs. Howell said,
“You two can stay down here. No one will bother you. Will that be
OK?” “These quarters will be fine. We
require no sleep. However after our space trip and plunge into the
ocean I feel we should run a diagnosis of our systems. It wouldn’t do
to get rusty,” said Giga. “You can rust?” said Lyn. “Forgive me, it was my first attempt at what
you call humor,” replied Giga. “Needs some work, “ said Paul. “Undoubtedly,” replied Giga. Looking
at the Howells as they stood together by the basement stairs he said, “Thank
you once again from both of us.” He pointed to Mega. As he did so the huge robot slowly walked
toward the Howells and bent over until he was face-to-face with Lyn and
Paul. His voice was deep and surprisingly tender. He touched
Lyn’s forehead and said, “Thank you. Mega has not seen his home in so
very long.” He straightened, walked back to the wall and stood
motionless. Lyn spoke, “You’re welcome Mega. I
hope we find your people.” Mr. Howell said, “OK everyone,
tomorrow is going to be a big day. We all need our sleep, so everyone
up to bed.” He looked at the robots and said, “Do you need anything?” “Thank you, no, we’ll be fine. It is
pleasant being able to hear sounds again, smell aromas and sense the
atmosphere around us. Good night.” “Good night Mega. Good night Giga,”
said Lyn and then she and her family went up the stairs and off to bed. After they left Giga turned to Mega and
said, “Let us hope our newfound friends do not regret their decision to help
us.” Mega replied, “I like them, especially the
little one.” With that Mega reached down and picked up Giga.
Mega’s chest opened once more and he gently placed his small counterpart on
the sliding shelf. A few seconds later the shelf slide back into his
chest with Giga in place. His chest closed, his eyes dimmed and all
that could be heard was the gentle whir and click as the two robots placed
themselves into diagnosis mode. Chapter Five The next day was a busy one as Mrs. Howell
and Lyn prepared the supplies that Mr. Howell, Lyn and Paul would need on their
journey. Mrs. Howell volunteered to stay behind and monitor the
communications station. Mr. Howell rigged up her cell phone to allow
her to patch into the system when she wasn’t home. She knew she would
be out because she had a few homes to show to buyers and she really needed to
make the sales. Mrs. Howell ran her own small real estate company out
of their home and over the past several months’ sales had increased. Paul and Mr. Howell checked over their Dad’s
chair to make sure all the systems were up and running. Mr. Howell
installed a hitch so that they could pull the “trailer” as Paul like to call
it, behind the chair. The hitch was secured on the trailer along with
communication and power lines. The full test would come when they
brought it out of the basement through the exterior basement entrance door. The Howell’s home was one of the oldest in The Howells had learned that having a
multi-purpose, flying chair is not something the neighbors would understand,
so they decided to keep it a secret. Mr. Howell had put up a large
fence that encircled the entire back yard. Mr. and Mrs. Howell kept
their work on the chair confined to the inside where no one could see
them. Now that the two robots had arrived it was more important than
ever to make sure they weren’t discovered. What they didn’t realize was that their
nosey neighbor, Mr. Murphy, had spotted their first trip into space and had
videotaped the entire event, including their return and the arrival of the
Mega. Even now he was waiting for someone to return his earlier phone
call. Giga and Mega had finished their diagnostic
shutdown and pronounced themselves fit for the trip. Following Paul’s
instructions they sat in the trailer’s chair. Paul activated the
transparent bubble from a remote on the chair’s control panel and was pleased
to see that the robots fit nicely into the trailer, with room to spare.
The entire day was spent readying for the
flight. That evening they all gathered together and determined how long
the trip would take to the Moon to pick up few items from the crashed ship,
then to the robot’s home planet, with the help if a few interstellar
shortcuts they robots knew of, and their return to Earth. After a few
last minute adjustments on the chair Paul and Mr. Howell went to the basement
where they and the two robots rolled the trailer out into the back yard and
positioned it so the chair could be fastened to it. Coming back upstairs Mr. Howell said to Mrs.
Howell, “If all goes as planned we should be back in about four days.
We’ve got plenty of supplies and Giga and Mega assured me that we should run
into no trouble. I’ll be sure to keep in touch twice a day to let you
know our progress.” Looking at her children and husband Mrs.
Howell said, “Please be careful, you’ve never taken such a long trip into the
chair before. Space is a large place containing many mysteries and
dangers.” Looking at the robots she said, “I’m depending on you to
watch over my family. Can I trust you to bring them home safely?” “Most assuredly,” said Giga. “I promise to protect them,” boomed out the
voice of Mega. “All right then,” said Mr. Howell.
“Let’s bring the chair outside and prepare for our next adventure.” Chapter Six The Howell’s and the robots entered the
house through the basement doors and went upstairs to the living room.
Mr. Howell walked over to his chair, sat in it and said, “Chair, voice
identification verification. Al Howell, code-name Big Daddy. Proceed
The chair responded to Mr. Howell’s voice by
replying, “Voice print confirmed. All security lockdowns have been
deactivated. Hello, Big Daddy.” Mr. Howell reached over and
located a small switch under the left arm of the chair. He pushed
it. The chair whirred and clicked a few times and a low rumble sounded
as if an engine were activating. The chair shuttered and slowly lifted
off the floor. Mr. Howell leaned over and pushed a button
hidden under the other arm of the chair. Something amazing
happened. Where there had been room for only one person to sit in the
chair there now was room for three as the chair widened itself and in the
process produced three sets of seatbelts. From under the chair slid a
floor panel that unfolded revealing a control panel with lights and switches
that swung into place in front of Mr. Howell. From the sides of the
floor panel popped up two control rods, each with their own switches and
buttons. From the floor panel popped up three pedals that had been
flush with the floor. These were used for acceleration, braking and
maneuvering. From behind the chair rose a large metal rod with a clear
plastic globe attached to it. Although both children had seen their father’s
chair do this before they have never seen it from outside the chair.
Both were amazed by what they saw and watched in silence. Giga however
could not contain his curiosity and said, “Most impressive, a simple family
chair transformed into a multi-purpose vehicle.” “Nice set of wheels, “ said Mega. Giga looked at his large robotic companion,
“Evidently you’ve picked up some Earth vernacular I was not aware of.
However it is an appropriate observation.” The Howell children giggled and Mr. and Mrs.
Howell couldn’t help but smile. The Howell’s, Giga and Mega placed the
supplies they would need in the chair’s dimensional storage pouches, a handy
invention Mrs. Howell came up with in order to store a lot of items in a
small space, and Mr. Howell steered the chair toward the living room
wall. Mr. Howell pushed a button on one of the chair’s arms causing the
living room wall to slide up and rest on the roof of the house. “That looks so cool!” said Paul Mr. Howell maneuvered the chair out of the
house, closed the wall and then steered the chair around to the
backyard. “Meet me in the backyard,” he said. He was unaware that
their neighbor Mr. Murphy was watching and videotaping what was
happening. Once Mr. Howell had the chair where he wanted he landed it
on the ground and got out. Mr. Murphy took the video camera away from
his eye, hardly believing what he saw next. From the basement doors the
Howell’s pulled the trailer into view and with them were the two mechanical
men. As he watched the two robots maneuvered the trailer to the back of
the chair, attached it to a hitch and fastened to the chair what looked to be
a power line. After they finished, they climbed into the trailer.
The smaller robot leaned forward and pushed something and from the back of
the trailer a large metal rod pushed up. At its tip was a clear plastic
globe that split, expanded and soon enclosed the trailer in a clear plastic
bubble. By that time Mr. Murphy was reaching for the telephone on his
nightstand. Thinking to himself, “No one will ever
believe what is happening. I’m not sure I do if I hadn’t seen it with
my own eyes. But these videotapes are proof.” He dialed in a
number on his phone and after a few rings someone answered. “Yes, this
is Mr. Murphy in Refusing ot give up he called again and this time he talked to someone, "This is Jim Murphy. I sent a package to you earlier containing a video tape. Did you view it yet?" After finishing his phone call Mr. Murphy
decided to get a closer look at what his neighbors were up to. Turning
off his bedroom light he crept downstairs and cautiously opened his back
door. He snuck across his backyard to the fence that separated his house from
the Howell’s. Walking around the fence he kept to the shadows and
entered the Howells’ backyard where he hid behind a large oak tree and
watched what happened next. Chapter Seven Once the robots were situated Mr. Howell, Paul
and Lyn strapped themselves into the chair . Like the trailer’s rod and
plastic sphere it split and enclosed the entire chair within a clear protective
plastic bubble-except for the bottom of the chair, leaving the propulsion
units free to function. Speaking into a microphone Mr. Howell said,
“Can you hear me?” to Mrs. Howell who was looking out the kitchen window. From the portable communication console she
had sitting on the sink counter she could hear his voice loud and
clear. She picked up her microphone and replied, “You’re coming in
fine. Remember to check in twice a day. Please be careful and
don’t take any unnecessary chances. As she watched, Mr. Howell placed
the microphone back in place and flipped a few switches. The chair
slowly rose off the ground and hovered at the top of the trees. It was
then that she noticed a slight movement in the shadows of one of the trees.
In the shadows was their neighbor Mr. Murphy, with a video camera! She
rushed outside just as the chair and its passengers rose out of sight in the
darkness. She said, “Mr. Murphy what are you doing in our back yard?” Mr. Murphy almost dropped his camera when he
heard Mrs. Howells’ voice. He stood there for a moment and didn’t know
what to say. Mustering his courage he said, “I’ve videotaped everything
that happened this evening and the other night. I don’t know what
you’re up to but I plan on stopping you.” He defiantly walked away,
heading back to his house. Mrs. Howell place her hands to her mouth and
said, “Oh no!” Running after Mr. Murphy she said, “Please let me
explain. It’s not what you think! Please listen to me!” Mr.
Murphy quickened his pace and entered his home where he shut and locked the
door. Mrs. Murphy said, “I’ve got to stop him from
telling any one. We’re not ready to share our secrets yet, especially
about the robots.” Chapter Eight Unaware what was happening the Howells and
the robots gazed at world below them as the chair and the trailer picked up
speed. Within a few minutes they left the Earth’s atmosphere and were
in outer space. The chair and trailer’s artificial gravity kicked
in. Mr. Howell reached for the microphone and said, “Giga, Mega are you
alright back there?” The Howell children leaned over and looked
behind the chair where they could see the trailer being pulled a few feet
behind them. Mega waved and they saw Giga pick up the trailer’s
microphone. From the console in front of them they heard, “We are
fine. When will we arrive on the Moon?” Mr. Howell said, “At this speed, less than
two hours. I’ll set the chair down close to your spaceship. We
can suit up and help you with any recovery of objects once we arrive.” “That would be most helpful. I’m afraid the ship itself is beyond salvage. We’ll need to destroy it once we retrieve certain objects. “Destroy it!” said Paul. Won’t that
draw attention back on Earth?” “No need to worry. The ship has a
built in self destruct mechanism that is subtler than explosives. I’ll
show you once we arrive.” Two hours later the Howells and robots
approached the Moon. Mr. Howell spoke into his microphone; “We’ll
be entering the Moon’s orbit in just a few minutes. Please make sure your
seatbelts are secure and that nothing is loose in the compartment. I’ll
be switching off the artificial gravity as soon as we enter orbit,” he said
to the robots and his children “All secure,” said Paul. “My seatbelt is tight,” said Lyn. From the trailer Giga said, “We are secure,
you may turn off the artificial gravity.” “OK then,” said Mr. Howell. He reached
over and flipped off the gravity switch. Paul and Lyn were momentarily
startled at being weightless. It made their stomachs tingle and they got
a little dizzy. Both sensations passed quickly. Mr. Howell spoke up, “Kids, get out the
spacesuits and prepare to leave orbit for landing. Giga, Mega, I’ve
never landed with the trailer hooked up before. It might get a little
bumpy. But, the wheels and shocks on it should make the landing fairly
smooth.” “Understood,” said Giga. Looking at
his huge partner he said, “Hold on Mega. Things might get bumpy.” “I like bumpy,” said Mega. Paul and Lyn had removed the spacesuits from
the storage pouches and they, along with their father, had put them on,
checking each other’s air supply and the integrity of the suits.
Satisfied that the suits were secure, Mr. Howell began the descent
sequence. He spoke, “I’ll set the chair and trailer down close to your
ship Giga. Then we can begin retrieving the objects you need and
destroy the ship. Are you sure there is no way we can fix it?
What about the crew?” Giga answered, “Unfortunately no, the ship
is far beyond repair. The drive is melted and the entire computer
system is down except for rudimentary monitoring programs. We will
leave the crew on the ship. They would have wanted it that way.” As the chair and trailer descended toward
the Moon Mr. Howell navigated to the same spot they had visited earlier in a
clearing amidst a series of small lunar hills. The propulsion unit
began braking their descent and with a dusty and satisfying ‘thump’ the chair
and trailer landed on the Moon’s surface, bounced slightly and settled into
the lunar dust. “Excellent landing Mr. Howell,” said Giga. “I liked the bump,” said Mega. With a satisfied grin Mr. Howell said, “Not
bad if I do say so myself considering this is only the second time I’ve ever
landed on the Moon.” “You did great Dad,” said Lyn and she leaned
over and gave him a clumsy huge in her spacesuit. “Way to go Dad,” said Paul. “Let’s get
out and get to work. I’m anxious to see how Giga plans to destroy their
ship.” Mr. Howell deactivated the clear bubble that
surrounded them. The plastic contracted, folded into the clear sphere
atop the rod. At the same time Giga deactivated their sphere and the
foursome were now out in the open vacuum of the Moon’s atmosphere. Giga and Mega stepped out of the
trailer. Mega removed the rainbow-ringed rod from his chest cavity and
carried it in his right hand. As they and the Howells rounded a small
hill the crashed spaceship came into view. The rod began to blink. Giga looked at the Howells and said, “Let’s
get to work,” and walked toward the ship. Chapter Nine The ship was just as they had left it. Large pieces of insulation,
electronics and various pieces of the ship’s hull were scattered about the
ground around it Giga glided slowly, almost reverently,
toward the crumpled hull and moved up the incline into the open dark doorway
of the ship. Mega followed behind, then the Howells. When they
entered both Mr. Howell and Paul flipped on their flashlights. Levitating
over to a nearby panel Giga pressed a pad and dim lights flicked on,
illuminating the interior of the ship with a dull, weak light. In
the shadows they could see the outline of various storage compartments and
the stairs that went up to the pilot’s cockpit along with the large open
hatch with its ladder leading below ship. It was there that the Howells
saw the ruined engines of the ship and where Giga and Mega had placed
themselves on standby mode in a storage niche. It was only when the
Howells had entered the ship and came below deck that the two robots were
reactivated. From there they had secretly followed the Howells home,
hitching a ride on the end of a tether attached to the Howell’s chair. Megamoved slowly, his massive form following
the contour of the ship. He and Giga stopped at various compartments,
opened them and removed various unrecognizable objects. Some they
carried, smaller ones they placed in Mega’s chest cavity. The entire
time Mega held the rainbow ringed rod. Walking toward the pilot’s
cockpit Giga said, “I want to retrieve the ship’s logs and a few other items
from the cockpit. Could you give us a moment alone?” Mr. Howell shook his head and he and the
children watched as Giga and Mega made their way up to the cockpit. In
the shadows sat the two corpses of the alien pilot and copilot. Their
desiccated bodies were slumped over in their seats. Tenderly Giga turned
each of the chairs around and he and Mega looked at their fallen
comrades. Giga spoke, “Sirs, I am sorry that you lost your lives Lyn looked at Mega, “Are you OK?” It
was impossible to tell if the robot was affected by returning to the ship and
his dead alien crew. No expression showed on either robot’s ‘face’ nor
did their metallic bodies indicate any signs of remorse. Still Lyn,
Paul and Mr. Howell knew that the two metallic men were affected by their
return to the ship. Neither robot said anything for several
minutes and then Giga spoke, “There is one more item we must retrieve in the
engine room. It is the weapons stash. “Weapons!” said Mr. Howell. “I thought
you said your trip to Earth was a peaceful one.” “It was and we are a peaceful race.
But there are dangers in outer space that you can only begin to
imagine. Has it not occurred to you why there are two of us robots on
this trip? I am the information gatherer-the brains if you will.
Mega is more than my storage area and means of transport, he is my protector
and of that of the ship and crew. His purpose is to protect the
crew. Unfortunately he could not protect my former crew from the crash,
but he can protect all of us on our trip back to our home world. He has
many built-in defense mechanisms and is proficient with the weapons we have
stored in the weapons’ cache. Let us hope we will not have to use them
on our trip.” With that he and Mega walked to the hatchway leading to
the bowels of the ship. They descended and after a few moments returned
with a large metal rectangular box. “Quickly, I have set the ship’s auto-destruct
sequence to destroy the ship in five minutes.” The Howells and robots quickly exited the
ship. All carried some sort of device. Outside the ship the group
turned back toward the crashed spaceship. The minutes ticked down and
nothing appeared to happen. “I thought you set the auto-destruct,” said
Paul. “Patience,” said Giga. As the travelers watched the ship began to
emit a dull sickly green glow. The glow soon brightened from a dull
green, to bright green to brilliant yellow. Soon it became too bright
to watch. Suddenly it dulled and where the ship had once stood was an
empty crater with no trace of the ship left. “Wow!” said Lyn. Awesome!” said Paul. “Unbelievable! There’s nothing left,”
said Mr. Howell. Giga looked up at Mega and then to the
Howells and said, “Come, there is nothing left for us here,” and began to move
toward the chair and trailer. To Lyn, Paul and Mr. Howell it looked as
if his movement was slower, almost as if the robot was reluctant to
leave. Mega too seemed to have slowed his movememt. Perhaps
robots have hearts after all. Chapter Ten As the Howells watched the two robots carefully unloaded an odd assortment of objects into the storage area of the trailer. Strange electronic components, small rectangles of various colors, orbs and other objects of unknown purpose were laid side-by-side into the storage compartment. After the robots were satisfied with the arrangements the lid to the compartment was secured. Giga spoke, “Much of what we recovered was recording equipment, computer components, personal effects of the crew and weaponry. Please do not handle any of the pieces unless Mega or myself supervise you. You may damage some of the equipment or worse, injure yourselves.” Mr. Howell looked at Giga and then his children
and nodded his head, “We understand. Will you explain the purpose of
the pieces to us?” “If it becomes necessary,” replied
Giga. Looking about he said, “I suggest we leave. The sooner the
better.” Both robots secured themselves into the
trailer’s seats and Giga activated the plastic bubble that sealed them
inside. The Howells boarded the chair; belted themselves in and Mr.
Howell activated the bubble and readied the chair for take-off. “Get
ready everyone. We’ll be on our way in five-four-three-two-one!”
Mr. Howell pushed the accelerator and the chair lifted off the Moon’s
surface, pulling the trailer behind it. Because of no atmosphere on the
Moon and a weaker gravity, the launch from its surface was smooth. In
moments they were back in the Moon’s orbit. Once in orbit Mr. Howell
activated a small viewer screen so that he and the children could see Giga
and Mega in the trailer. Mr. Howell said, “According to the
navigation information you gave me your home planet lies in the direction of
the Big Dipper. Does it circle one of the stars that make up the
Dipper?” he asked Giga. “It is the uppermost star in the big
Dipper’s handle. I’ve given you the coordinates. Punch them into
you navigation console and we can be on our way.” Mr. Howell said, “I’m entering the
coordinates I now.” As soon as he was finished the chair and trailer
slowly pivoted toward the star. “Here goes then,” he pushed the
accelerator and the chair picked up speed zipping across space toward the
distant star. Paul said, “Dad, that’s an awful long way to
go. I know your chair is fast but it will take us months or years to
get there. You told Mom it would be only a few days. How
can we get there that fast?” “I can answer that question," said
Giga. One of the pieces of equipment we brought onboard is a spatial
distortion device. With it we can create our own ‘shortcuts’ through
space. We must be far enough from Earth to activate it however as it
creates a small black hole that we enter on this side of space that allows us
to skip to another part of space light years away.” “There’s nothing to worry about children,”
said Giga. “The spatial distortion device creates a small black hole
just large enough for us to enter. Once we come out on the other side I
will deactivate it. The device will also create a protective bubble
around the chair and trailer that will keep us safe from the effects of the
hole’s gravity.” Holding up a small circular device with
buttons and a readout screen on one side Giga said, “All I need do is enter
the proper programming and the black hole and protective gravity bubble will
be formed simultaneously. It’s quite safe.” “Mega said, “Don’t worry little one, Mega
will protect you.” “Thanks Mega,” said
Lyn. “Let’s do it,” said Paul. “OK Giga, activate the device. We’re
far enough from Earth,” said Mr. Howell. “I’m programming the device now,” said
Giga. The first thing the Howells noticed was that a shimmering light
enveloped the chair and trailer. No sooner had the light formed that
directly in front of them a deep purple and indigo light show began to swirl
as the two colors intertwined growing darker then lighter as they formed a
tunnel in the space around them. Mr. Howell steered the chair and
trailer directly into the swirling light show and then everything went crazy. The chair and trailer began to spin as if
they were in water being pulled down a giant drain. The spinning wasn’t
violent but it was enough to make the Howell’s dizzy and a little sick to their
stomachs. After a few moments the spinning stopped. When their
heads cleared they looked around them and were mesmerized by what they
saw. The chair and trailer were traveling along a
long circular corridor made up of pulsating lights of every hue. Here
and there stars could be seen twinkling and blinking as they rushed by.
It was like being drawn down a long transparent straw with the outside
visible, but blurred by speed. At the far end of the tunnel they could
see a swirling display of purple and magenta light just like at the
entrance. The chair and trailer slowed and slid through the cascading
lights. With a slight ‘pop’ they were suddenly back into regular space. “Wow!” was all that Lyn could say. “Fantastic!” said Paul. “That has to be the most amazing thing I
have ever experienced,” said Mr. Howell. From the trailer Giga said, “I’m pleased you
enjoyed the ride. I’m deactivating the device.” He did so and the
glow faded from around the chair and trailer, as did the swirling light show
that was the black hole. Once the glow faded the Howells could see
clearly the space around them. From behind and on both sides stars
could be seen clearly. “Why don’t they twinkle?” asked Lyn. “There’s no atmosphere in space. The
air around the Earth distorts light so it makes the stars to appear to
blink,” said Mr. Howell. Paul pointed I front of the chair and said,
“What is that?” Directly in front of the chair spots came
into view. As the travelers drew closer the spots changed into small
and large rocks. There were millions of them all clustered
together. The entire mass of rocks was in motion as they traveled
through space. “That would be the Sargasso Asteroid
Belt. We must be very careful entering it. Many spacecraft have
become lost or destroyed entering the belt. We need to avoid asteroids
and watch for marauders,” said Giga. “Marauders!” said Lyn. “What are
marauders?” “They are a group of beings who prowl the
asteroid belt and attack other ships, usually single ships, and capture their
crews to sell into slavery and rob them of any valuables they have.
They also cannibalize the captured ships and sell the parts,” said Giga. “They’re pirates; space pirates,” said Paul. “That would be an appropriate description,”
said Giga. Mr. Howell spoke, “You told us that this
would be a safe trip. Why didn’t you warn us of these pirates?” “I felt it was unnecessary. The chance
that we might encounter them is very slim. Beside, if I had mentioned
them, would you have agreed to help us?” said Giga. “It’s not a question of helping you or
not. The point is we trusted you. I insist that you warn us of
any dangers or obstacles that puts my family and I at risk. Do I make
myself clear?” “I apologize, it will not happen again,”
said Giga. “Mega is sorry too. I will protest you
if anything should happen.” “Thank you Mega,” said Lyn. “How much further to your home planet?”
asked Paul. “Once we clear the asteroid field we can
make another jump that will take us to the rim of our solar system. Once
there we need only travel to the fourth planet from the sun.” “What’s the name of your planet? Asked Lyn. “We refer to it as Boog,” said Giga. Suddenly both children began to
giggle. Soon Mr. Howell was joining them. Giga spoke, “What is so funny?” Paul answered, “Boog, your planet’s name is
Boog.” “Yes. But I still fail to see the
humor in its name,” said Giga. “Don’t you see?” said Lyn. “If your
planet is named Boog that means that who ever is from your planet is a
Booger.” Lyn giggled again. After a few moments the Howells
stopped their laughing. “Boogers,” said Mega. Deep within his
massive chest a low rumble could be heard. To everyone’s surprise,
including Giga’s, Mega let loose with the robot equivalent of a laugh.
“Boogers, Giga and I are Boogers,” said Mega. Slowly his rumbling
subsided and he sat there as if nothing had happened. “Giga said, “Are you finished?” “Yes I am, fellow Booger,” he said. And with
that the Howells and Mega once more began to laugh. Several more
minutes passed and they stopped. Giga seemed completely puzzled by all
that had happened and said, “As I was saying, we must clear the asteroid belt
and then we can engage the spacial distortion device that will take us on the
last leg of our journey.” Mr. Howell said, “Giga, I’m going to need
your help navigating the asteroid belt. Kids, you keep an eye out for
pirates. Mega, you better activate your weapons, just in case. “I fed the asteroid navigational course into
your onboard computer before we left,” said Giga. Simply pull it up on
your screen. “We’ll watch for pirates,” said Paul. “Aye, Aye sir!” said Lyn. “Armed and ready,” said Mega. “OK then,” said Mr. Howell. I’ve pulled up
the coordinates, let’s go.” With that Mr. Howell slowly edged the chair
and trailer into the asteroid belt. Low, so no one could hear, Giga whispered,
“Boogers, we’re Boogers.” A robotic giggle came from his voice box. Chapter Eleven Travel through the asteroid belt was
slow. Mr. Howell watched his screen and cautiously steered the chair
around the large boulders and rocks that made up the belt. Occasionally
they would come across large asteroids, some as large as a small
island. It was tricky going as the asteroids rotated and spun
constantly. Once in a while a small rock would bounce off the
protective bubbles around the chair and trailer causing them to shake
slightly. The small asteroids would careen off on their altered course
and soon be lost in the dark. About halfway through the field the
travelers rounded a large asteroid, larger than any they had seen
before. As they did so a strange sight came into view. On the
opposite side of the asteroid, lights could be seen neatly arranged in two
rows along the surface leading into a large natural cave. Mr. Howell
stopped the chair and trailer and they stood motionless in space. “What is it?” asked Mr. Howell. “I’m not sure,” said Giga. It looks
like some kind of base. Looking at his screen he continued, “It’s not
shown on my charts. I suggest we keep our distance and avoid it.
It could be marauders.” “You mean pirates!” exclaimed Lyn. “Precisely.” “I’ll back the chair up and try to stay to
the shadows of the surrounding asteroids,” said Mr. Howell. No sooner did he begin nudging the chair in
reverse than the chair was shook by a small explosion. The chair and
trailer were thrown backwards by the blast. The passengers were slung
back and forth. Fortunately no one was injured because they all had
their seatbelts on. After several moments Mr. Howell managed to
stabilize the chair and trailer by using the maneuvering thrusters. “What was that? Is everyone OK?” asked
Mr. Howell. “I’m afraid that the pirates have seen
us. I suggest we flee,” said Giga. “Mega and I are fine, although
our circuits are a bit shook up.” “I’m OK,” said Paul. “I’ve got a nose bleed,” said Lyn. “Lyn is hurt,” said Mega. “I will protect
her.”
“I agree,” said Giga. Looking at the
Howells via the view screen he said, “I am deactivating our protective
bubble. This will allow Mega to deploy his weaponry. Stand by.” With that Giga deactivated the bubble and
Mega unfastened his seatbelt and to the surprise of the Howell activated twin
rockets on his massive back. He positioned himself between the Howells
and a large, sleek black spaceship approaching fast from the asteroid. Everything seemed to happen at once.
From the pirate ship twin beams of light lanced out and barely missed Mega
and the others. Mega brought one of his arms up and as he did so his
hand changed itself into a single, sharp cone. His hand began to glow
and from it a deep red beam of light shot out, hitting the pirate ship close
to where the deadly beams had came from. Bits of debris and black
greasy smoke came from the ship, mingled with sparks and flashes of
light. The ship stopped its forward motion and shot out other beams
from lower in its bulk. Only Mega’s quick movements stopped him from
being hit. The beam passes harmlessly above his head and struck a small
asteroid behind him destroying its completely. “Quickly, head out of the asteroid belt,”
said Giga. “Mega will follow and provide defense,” said Giga. “You don’t have to tell me twice,” said Mr.
Howell. “Hold on everyone, things might get bumpy.” Mr. Howell accelerated the chair and trailer
and began a zig zag course through the asteroid belt. Mega followed
from behind and traded shots with the pursuing pirate ship. Several times the
chair, trailer and Mega were almost hit. Because the pirate ship was
larger than the Chair and trailer it could not maneuver as easily among the
asteroids. This allowed the Howells and robots to pull ahead. Up ahead they could see the asteroid field
thinning out. Giga punched in the programming to open the black hole,
holding off just long enough for Mega to reenter the trailer, secured himself
and sealed the trailer in the protective bubble. The space in front of
the travelers began to shimmer, as did the outside of the chair and
trailer. As the pirate ship cleared the asteroid belt it picked up
speed and sped toward them. Just as the black hole formed, Lyn, Paul,
Mr. Howell and the two robots looked back to see the silhouettes of the
pirates visible through the front windows of the massive pirate ship. A
section below the ship opened and a small craft zipped from the bowels of the
ship. “Boarding vessel,” said Giga. “Enter
the hole quickly.” Barely 200 yards separated the chair,
trailer and alien vessel when the Howells and robots shot into the black
hole. Too late the pirates watched as the hole closed. The
travelers had barely escaped. Chapter Eleven The trip through the black hole corridor was
quick. Exiting the black hole corridor the protective shimmer around
the chair and trailer disappeared, along with the exit from the tunnel.
The travelers found themselves on the outskirts of a solar system. In
the “That is Cei, the furthest planet from the
sun in our solar system,” said Giga. Three more planets are between us
and our home planet Boog.” “Where the Boogers live,” said Paul. “Yes, precisely,” said Giga. “From
here we can travel in normal space. The journey shouldn’t take
long. Mega and I will keep close watch just in case there are pirates
in the vicinity.” Mr. Howell said, “OK kids, while I’m
checking out the chair’s systems for damage from our run-in with the pirates
you two can break out something to eat and drink.” “I have to go to the bathroom,” said Lyn. “Can’t you hold it?” said Paul. “No!” said Lyn. I have to go bad!” “Bathroom facilities are one thing I didn’t
consider. I just always assumed that we would take short enough trips
so it wouldn’t matter,” said Mr. Howell. Looking at Giga on his screen
Mr. Howell asked, “How much further?” “Perhaps 15 minutes,” said Giga. “Can you hold it that long?” asked Mr.
Howell. “I..I think so.” Said Lyn. “I’ll hurry,” said Mr. Howell. As the travelers drew closer to Boog," Giga
said, “That’s odd, I’m not detecting any planet communications.” “Maybe you’re too far away for your
equipment to work,” said Mr. Howell. “I assure you that my sending and receiving
equipment is in proper working order,” said Giga. “We’ll be coming up
on Boog shortly. A reception ship will be contacting us soon.”
Several more minutes passed and there was no sign of any ship. “This is impossible,” said Giga. “We
should see Boog by now. But there’s nothing there.” “Are you sure we’re at the right location,”
asked Paul. “Positive,” said Giga. “We’re close to
where Boog should be. Look to your right. There is the small moon
of Boog, called Mun. But where is Boog?” “How could a whole planet disappear?” said
Lyn. “What about the people?” “Boog is gone,” said Mega. “Yes, the only question is, where?” said Giga. Chapter Twelve “A whole planet doesn’t just disappear,”
said Mr. Howell. “There has to be some kind of explanation. It
couldn’t have exploded or there would be pieces of it floating in
space. Is Mun inhabited?” said Mr. Howell. “No, but it does have a breathable
atmosphere and an automated surveillance facility,” said Giga. “Does it have a bathroom,” said Lyn.
“I really have to go!” “Me too,” said Paul. “I think we all need to have a pit
stop. Giga, give me the coordinates for surveillance facility and I’ll
land the chair and trailer close to it. May be we can get some answers
there. Besides, we need to rest and figure out what to do next,” said
Mr. Howell. “I’ve fed the coordinates into your
computer,” said Giga. “Once we land you won’t need your
spacesuits. It’s a little cool but livable.” “Next stop Mun,” said Mr. Howell.
Following the coordinates on his screen Mr. Howell began the descent to the
surface. Mun was roughly the same size as Earth’s
Moon. However, Mun had an atmosphere and about one-half of Earth’s
gravity. Bringing the chair and trailer down through the atmosphere Mr.
Howell carefully touched down a short distance from a low flat building.
Scattered equipment could be seen around the building but no vehicles of any
sort. He checked all the chair’s systems, tested the atmosphere and
then deactivated the protective bubbles around the chair and trailer.
The air was slightly chilly and there was a gentle breeze coming from the
valley below the hill the building sat upon. “Everyone, get your
jackets on. Paul, you and Lyn break out some supplies.” Looking
at Lyn who now had her legs crossed he said, “On second thought, Giga are
there bathroom facilities in that building?” “Certainly. Children follow me.”
Giga set off toward the building with the children right behind him.
Mr. Howell looked over the chair and trailer while Mega secured the trailer’s
contents. He also did an inspection of his own systems including his
weapons. Satisfied that his systems were operational Mega said, “I will
stand guard if you wish to use the bathroom.” “Thanks Mega, I believe I will. I’ll
be right back.” Mr. Howell walked to the building and
entered the doorway he had seen Giga and the children enter. Just as he
entered he saw Giga looking at a lit monitor. Just then the children
came out of adjacent room and walked over to Giga. “What’s that?” asked Lyn. “It’s the station log. I’m trying to
determine what happened to Boog. So far I’m unable to find any
reference to the disappearance of Boog.” “While you try to find some information I’m
going to the little boys’ room. Paul, show me the way,” said Mr. Howell. “Sure Dad. It’s this way.” Chapter Thirteen “Mr. Murphy, let me in,” said Mrs. Howell. She had followed Mr. Murphy back to his home
and was standing at his front door. First she rang the doorbell and
after he didn’t answer she knocked.” “Please let me explain. It’s not what
you think. We’re not spies or aliens. Please, it’s important I
speak to you.” From inside Mrs. Howell could hear Mr.
Murphy moving about. The sound of his footsteps approached the door and
the door slowly opened a crack, allowing Mr. Murphy to look out just enough
so that Mrs. Howell could see his face. “Go away! People think I’m crazy, but
I’ve got the videotapes to prove I was right. You’re spies or
something! Now go away before I call the police.” “Mr. Murphy. Jim,” said Mrs. Howell.
“We’ve been neighbors for a long time. You’ve even been over to our
house. You know our kids. Do you really believe that we’re spies
or aliens? I know you’ve seen some strange things. I don’t blame
you for being suspicious, but I can explain if you just give me the chance.” He eyed her suspiciously and finally said,
“OK, we’ll talk.” He opened the door and motioned her inside.
“But we’ll do it on my turf where I can keep an eye on you.” “Thank you Jim. I promise I have a
good explanation as to what you’ve seen.” “Flying chairs! Robots! I bet
you do. This should be interesting,” said Mr. Murphy. Mrs. Howell entered into the old man’s
house. The place was neat and tidy but definitely lived in. The
TV was on in the living room and Mrs. Howell could see newspapers, magazines,
DVDs and videotapes strewn across the
floor close to a large overstuffed chair with a tray beside it. The
house looked almost exactly as I had when Mrs. Murphy had still been
alive. She had passed away three years ago and it had changed Mr.
Murphy. He no longer went out much and tended to stay to himself.
The Murphy’s had always been good neighbors. Mrs. Murphy treated the
Howell children like they were her own grandchildren. She was
constantly bringing over cookies and goodies for them to eat and even had
them over to spend the night when their parents After Mrs. Murphy died the Howells tried to
get him to come over to eat or attend church with them. He would always
politely decline until the Howells stopped asking. He spent most of his
days sitting in his living room, thinking about Mrs. Murphy and watching TV
or reading. He liked to tinker in his garage and keep his lawn
up. It was the only time the Howells saw him outside. His trips
to town for groceries and supplies were quick. He never stopped to chat
with any of his old friends. He was a tired old man that felt his life
was coming to an end. The first time he spotted the Howells and
their chair he couldn’t believe his eyes. When the chair flew from the
Howells’ back yard with Mr. Howell and the children inside its protective
bubble he ran and got his video camera. Because it was night the
lighting wasn’t very good. Still the tape was clear enough that anyone
who watched it would see what was happening. Mrs. Howell sat in one of the living room
chairs and Mr. Murphy sat across from her. She began telling him about
how she and her husband had invented the chair, how they shared their secret
with their children and about their going to the moon and the about finding
the spaceship and the two robots. She told him everything. She
had little choice. It was best to give the whole story and not hide
anything. She hoped by doing so Mr. Murphy would understand. When she finished she said, “You can see why
we don’t want anyone to know about what we’re doing. At least not
yet. When Al and the kids return from their trip we’ll all sit down and
discuss what’s happened. Jim, it’s important no one discovers our
secret.” Mr. Murphy sat silently scratching his
chin. He looked at the video camera in his hand, then the room around
him until his eyes focused on a picture of his late wife. He thought
for a moment and then looked at Mrs. Howell and said, “I believe you
Sue. I don’t know what got into me. Since my wife’s death I
haven’t been able to think right. I felt as if the whole world were
against me and when I saw what was happening in your backyard I figured it
was a way to get back at the world and stop the pain. But, I realize
now that causing pain to others won’t stop my own. Can you ever forgive
me? Your secret is safe with me, but only on one condition.” Mrs. Howell squirmed nervously in her chair
and said, “What would that be Jim?” “Would you take me on a ride in it sometime?” Mrs. Howell laughed and said, “Of
course I will. Now, can I have that tape and the other one from the
other night? We don’t want them to be seen by anyone.” Suddenly Mr. Murphy’s face became
pale. “Oh no!” I mailed a copy of the first tape to the
FBI. In fact I talked to them earlier today asking if anyone had had
the chance to look at it. Someone had and they were interested in its
contents. Skeptical, but interested. They said someone would be
coming over later. What are we going to do?” “I don’t know,” said Mrs. Howell. “I
wish Al and the children were here. This is serious.” She
looked out of the nearby window in the night sky and said, “Where are you and
when are you coming back?” Chapter Fourteen Mega, Paul and Lyn joined Giga and Mr. Howell around the console screen. Paul said, “Any luck finding out what happened to Boog?” Giga looked up from the screen and said,
“None whatsoever. I’ve accessed past observations from the files and
there is no indication of any trouble up until approximately 150 years
ago. Just after we left to visit Earth.” He turned a small knob and pointed to the
screen and said, “Watch this. This is the last visual
surveillance shot of Boog.” On the screen a large blue and green planet
came into view. It looked like Earth, except the continents weren’t the
same. It slowly spun in space. The nearby sun lit one side.
Everything looked normal. Suddenly it wasn’t there. One moment it
hung in space, the next there was an empty void where it had been. No
explosion, no gradual disappearance-it simply vanished! “Amazing,” was the only thing Mr. Howell could
manage to say. “Boog is gone,” said Mega. Lyn placed her hand on the large robot’s arm
and said, “It’s OK Mega. We’ll find out what happened.” Looking
at her father she continued, “Won’t we Dad?” “We’ll certainly try.” Mr. Howell
looked at Giga who was still looking at the screen and said, “Giga, is there
any indication of and kind of debris or energy residue?” “None. I’ve analyzed what data was
available and there is nothing to indicate why the planet would simply
disappear.” “Maybe it’s still there,” said Lyn.
Like on one of those science fiction shows. The planet is still there
but in a different dimension or something.” “Is that such a good idea?” asked Mr.
Howell. What if it should suddenly reappear or we get caught up in
whatever caused it to disappear in the first place?” “Whatever happened will likely not strike
again. Remember, Boog’s disappearance occurred 150 years ago.
Observations from this station indicate nothing unusual happened since then.” “I say we do it,” said Paul. “We’ve
come this far. If it were Earth that disappeared I’d want to find out
what happened.” “Mega wants to go home,” said the large
metallic man. “I’m willing if you are,” said Mr.
Howell. Let’s get some rest and we’ll head out in a few hours.
Giga, make your calculations. Mega, prepare your weapons. There’s
no telling what we might encounter. Kids, say a prayer and start
packing.” Looking into the night sky Mr. Howell said, “I wonder what
your Mother’s doing?” Chapter Fifteen Mr. Murphy and Mrs. Howell had stayed up and
talked through most of the night. The old man was grateful to share the
last three years of his life with someone. In some ways he reminded
Mrs. Howell of her own father who had passed away over ten years ago.
She missed him. In Mr. Murphy she saw some of the same qualities that
she admired so much about her father. He was soft-spoken, kind and
listened to what she had to say. Before Mrs. Murphy had died the
Murphy’s and Howells had been close friends, almost family. But when
Mrs. Murphy died Mr. Murphy withdrew into a shell and kept to himself. His loneliness had caused him to become
bitter and the result was he became wary and distrustful of people. He
kept people at arm’s length because he didn’t want to be hurt again. As they sat in his living room the morning
sun peeked through the blinds making bright rectangles of sunlight on the
wall. Mr. Murphy poured out his heart to Mrs. Howell. All the pain and
hurt he had felt over the last three years came to the surface. Mrs.
Howell listened patiently as the old man told how much he missed his wife and
how sorry he was for spying on them and making the videotape. “I guess I wanted to take my hurt out on
someone. When I saw what was happening in your back yard I made myself
believe you were a threat. I’m an old army soldier and I used my
patriotism to justify spying on you.” He handed Mrs. Howell the second
tape and said, “I can’t do anything about the first tape but I can give you
this. Destroy it.” “Maybe there is something we can do about
the first tape.” Looking at Mr. Murphy she continued, “Are you willing
to go along with me.” “It depends on what it is,” said Mr. Murphy. “Nothing bad. Just a little misdirection.” “Sure, I’ll do what ever I can.” “Great!” Just then the front doorbell rang.
“Who could that be at so early in the morning?” said Mr. Murphy. He
walked over to the front door and peered out the side window. “Uh oh!” “What? Who is it?” said Mrs. Howell. “It looks like a government car. You
don’t suppose they already sent someone over to investigate do you?” said Mr.
Murphy. “Let’s hope not. You better open the
door. If it is a government agent, follow my lead should he ask about
the tape.” “Yes, I’m Mr. Murphy. Can I help you?” “I’m Agent Troy from the F.B.I. My
superiors sent me here to ask you a few questions about the video tape you
sent us. Do you have a few moments?” Mr. Murphy looked at Mrs. Howell. She
nodded her head. “Certainly, won’t you come in?” said Mr.
Murphy. Mrs. Howell reached out her right hand to
Agent Troy and said, “Hello, I’m Susan Howell from next door.
It’s funny you should show up. We were just talking about the
tape. There’s been a terrible mistake.” She shook Agent Troy’s hand, after he
shifted the pen to his pocket. “I was just explaining to Mr. Murphy
about what he thought he saw on the tape.” “Exactly what did he ‘think’ he saw?” said Agent Troy. She said, “My husband, Al, and my son Paul
are big science fiction movie fans. They’re also amateur
moviemakers. They concocted an idea to film their own science fiction
show. They can be quite ingenious. My husband and son made an old
chair look like some wild invention and tied it to a second hand weather
balloon Mr. Howell bought at an Army/Navy store. They waited to dark,
when the light was dim, so the balloon couldn’t be seen while filming.
They were testing the chair. Once airborne they let the air out of the
balloon so it would land. Mr. Murphy didn’t film long enough to see
them land. It’s quite understandable why he would assume the worse.” “They must have gone up and back down after
I put my camera away and called your office,” said Mr. Murphy. “Uh huh. Where’s the chair now?” said
Agent Troy. “Uh, the landing didn’t go so well and the
chair was broken. My husband took it and the balloon to a
landfill. Both were total losses. Fortunately neither he nor the
children were hurt. Thank God they had their seatbelts on. I was
very upset and made them promise they would never do anything so dangerous
again.” “Yes, that’s right,” said Mrs. Howell.
“You know how easily it is to do things on computers nowadays. It
really is amazing. Why just the other day my son took my head from a
photograph and placed it on a giraffe photo using Photoshop. If I
didn’t know better I would swear that I was a human giraffe.” “Yes, it appears that your whole family is
very clever. Such imaginations,” said Agent Troy. He looked at
Mr. Murphy, “So, you’re saying that this was all a misunderstanding.
That you didn’t see a flying chair?” “Oh I saw a flying chair alright. It turns
out it was all just a misunderstanding,” said Mr. Murphy. Agent “Do you suppose he bought it?” said Mr.
Murphy. “You heard him. We’re going to have to
be very careful,” said Mrs. Howell. “I’ll do whatever I can to help. I’m sorry I got you into this mess,” said Mr. Murphy. “Me too. But it’s too late to worry
about it now.” Mrs. Howell touched his shoulder and said, “You thought
you were doing the right thing. I would have been suspicious too if I
had seen what you had. The important thing is we’re still
friends. When Al and the children get home we’ll figure out what to
do. I wonder where they are?”
Chapter Sixteen. The Howells and the robots had packed up everything,
taken one last visit to the bathroom and strapped themselves and prepared for
take-off. “It’s best we be prepared for anything,”
said Mr. Howell. There’s no telling what we might encounter once we’re
where Boog used to be.” “Everything is put away and secure,” said
Paul. “We’re secure back here,” said Giga.
“I’ll monitor our trip with equipment from our ship. Mega is armed and
ready should we get into any type of trouble.” “Here goes,” said Mr. Howell. He
activated the chair’s propulsion unit and it, and the trailer, slowly rose
into the air meeting little resistance from the moon’s gravity and
atmosphere. As they rose through the sky the travelers looked back at
the moon as it spun in space still following its orbital path, even though there
was no planet for it to orbit. It seemed odd that it would do so
considering that there was no gravitational force to hold it in place.
Or was there? That was just one of the mysteries the travelers had to
answer if they had any chance of finding the robots' lost planet, Boog. The chair and trailer traveled in the
emptiness of space for several minutes until Giga said, “According to my
calculations we are exactly in the middle of Boog if it were still
here. Rotating his head back and forth and studying a small instrument
in his hands he continued, “I’m finding no indications of any type of
disturbance. No residue from an explosion and no indication of
radiation of any sort.” He stopped talking for a moment and looked once
again at his instrument and said, “That’s odd, I should be picking up
background energy readings from other planet’s gravitational pulls and
radiation from the sun. In fact, I’m picking up no indications of any
debris or energy source. Nothing at all. It’s as if the area of
space that Boog existed in doesn’t exist at all and yet we’re here.” “Mr. Howell said, “Let’s try moving out of
the area of where Boog should be and see if the readings are different.” “Excellent suggestion,” said Giga. The Howell children watched as their father
moved the control handles, causing the chair and trailer to veer to the right
toward the direction of the moon. “I’m picking up readings now,” said Giga. “Right when we entered the space around the
missing planet. It can’t be a coincidence,” said Mr. Howell. Lyn said, “What happened. Will we be
able to find Boog? Are we going to stay around much longer? I
miss Mom and I want to go home.” “There’s not much more we can do here.
Giga, I suggest we head back home and analyze the data you’ve collected.
If we find anything we can come back and explore more. Is that OK with
you,” said Mr. Howell. “Regrettably I must agree. There is no
point remaining any longer. I’ll activate the black hole once we get to
the edge of our solar system and we can make our first jump. I must
remind you to be careful as the ‘space pirates’ as Paul refers to them, may
be close to the jumping point.” Looking at Mega he said, “Mega, please
keep all of your weapons online and be prepared to use them should we encounter
the pirates.” “Dad, do you think we’ll ever find Boog?”
Asked Paul. “I hope so for, Giga and Mega’s sakes.
Even though they are robots, they have feelings. They’ve proved
themselves to be good friends and I’d like to see them reunited with their
people. Until then they can stay at our house while we can sort things
out.” Mr. Howell maneuvered the chair and trailer back in the direction
of their entry point in the solar system and accelerated. Chapter Seventeen The trip back through the black hole was
uneventful. Once on the other side the travelers surveyed the
asteroid field in front of them. “There doesn’t appear to be any pirates
about,” said Mr. Howell. “I’m picking up nothing but asteroids on my
sensors. However, I suggest we proceed cautiously as we make our way
back to through the asteroid belt. I’ll deactivate the protective
bubble around our trailer. Mega will bring his weapons online, just in
case there is any trouble,” said Giga. “Good idea,” said Mr. Howell. “Kids, I
want you to keep a careful eye out for any pirates. I’ll be taking the
chair through the field slowly. Call out if you see anything
suspicious.” “Will do Dad, said Paul. “I’ll watch real good,” said Lyn. Both children leaned forward in their seats and
began looking back and forth. Mr. Howell steered the chair toward the
asteroid belt and entered. Mega stood up in the trailer having released
himself from his seatbelt. His metallic feet held him in place
magnetically to the trailer. His massive frame swerved effortless at
his waist and his huge coiled arms glowed red as his hands fashioned
themselves into weapons. Giga continued to look at various instruments
that he had retrieved from the spaceship. The asteroid field seemed almost alive as
rocks of all sizes twirled and spun in the void of space. Occasionally
asteroids would collide with each other causing them to careen in opposite
directions. As the asteroids began to thin out Giga said, “I’m
activating the black hole. Once we’re close enough Mega will seat
himself and I’ll reseal the trailer bubble.” Giga activated the black hole device and in
front of the travelers the swirling, twisting mass of the hole began to
form. Just as it shutting his weapons. Crippled, he managed to make it
back to the trailer, seat himself as Giga resealed the bubble. Another
blast struck the chair and all the power systems went offline save for the
protective bubble around the chair’s occupants. Lights flickered on and off and sparks
sputtered and flew inside the enclosed chair. Mr. Howell shouted, “Paul, Lyn get out the
spacesuits and get them on. We can loose the protective bubble at
anytime and we’ll die in open space. The children reached into the
storage pouches, retrieved the suits and all three Howells quickly donned the
suits. No sooner had they done so than the protective bubble punctured
and fell on them. Its weigh forced them into their seats where they
were unable to move. The bubble around the robots also
collapsed.. Paul and Lyn were both crying and
frightened. Mr. Howell tried to reach out to his children but the
collapsed bubble prevented him from moving his arms. He spoke into his
suit’s microphone, “Stay calm, and don’t panic.” “I want Mommy!” cried Lyn. “We’re trapped!” said Paul. As the Howells looked the same large ship
that had attacked them earlier flew straight toward them from a nearby
asteroid. Horrified the Howells watched as the underbelly of the ship
opened and a smaller ship dropped into space. It maneuvered itself toward
them and when it was in position it expelled a large metal mesh net that
enveloped the chair and trailer. Slowly the net drew the Howells, Giga
and Mega toward the larger ship. Mr. Howell said, “They caught us completely
by surprise. I didn’t have time to send out a distress call to your
Mother. “We’re trapped!” “Trapped, but not without resources,” said
Giga. From one of the instrument panels he extracted a small metallic
sphere. He extended his arm until it poked out of the restraining
net. “This is a distress probe. It contains our coordinates and a
log of the events of our trip. The black hole is still active and will
close shortly. It’s programmed to return to Earth and contact Mrs.
Howell. I’m releasing it now.” Giga let his fingers release the
probe and it floated in front of him. Two small red dots appeared on
the underbelly of the probe, flashed briefly and the egg rocketed off toward
the rapidly closing black hole that would take it back to Earth. In an
instant it was gone and the black hole winked out behind it. “The probe will return to Earth and contact
Mrs. Howell. Does she have a means to come to us?” asked Giga. “Yes, but she’s going to need help,” said
Mr. Howell. “Let us hope the probe reaches her in time
and that Mrs. Howell can come to our rescue,” said Giga. “Is Mommy coming to save us?” asked Lyn. “I hope so,” said Mr. Howell. As the
travelers watched helplessly the small ship reached the large ship and began
pulling them inside. Spot light emanated form the small ship,
illuminating the chair and trailer. In the shadows of the larger ship’s cargo
hold the Howells could see shapes moving about. The chair and trailer
were drawn into the ship, the door closed and the ship turned and headed back
to the asteroid base from which it came. Chapter Eighteen Mrs. Howell and Mr. Murphy had walked over
to the Howell’s home. Once there, Mrs. Howell gave Mr. Murphy a tour of
the house, showing his the various inventions she and her husband had worked
on. As they walked she said, “I’m worried, I haven’t heard from Al and
the kids since they left. I hope nothing has happened.” “Perhaps they’re too far away to make
contact. From what you’ve told me the two robots will look after them,”
said Mr. Murphy. As they walked into the kitchen toward the
communication equipment they both heard a high-pitched squeal and suddenly
through the open kitchen window a small metal sphere flew inside. It
zipped past Mrs. Murphy and positioned itself in front of her. Before
either of them could react the sphere projected a picture of Mr. Howell,
Paul, Lyn and the robots showing them being drawn toward the alien
ship. The egg lowered itself until it rested upon the kitchen counter. “What is it?” asked Mr. Murphy. “It some kind of probe. It’s must be from
Al and the kids." said Mrs. Howell. She picked the probe up and brought it over
to the kitchen table. “It recorded their trip, like the log of a ship,”
she said. After several minutes of watching the probe’s recorded
account she turned to Mr. Murphy. “They’re in trouble. But how do I find
out where they are?” As if responding to her question the probe
projected an image on the nearby wall. It beamed numbers and
symbols. The probe was providing the navigational information that Mrs.
Howell would need if she had any hope of finding her family. “I’ve got to find them! They’re in big
trouble!” But how do expect to get to them,” asked Mr.
Murphy. “Always have a back-up plan,” said Mrs.
Howell. She picked up the probe and began walking toward the cellar
door. Mr. Murphy followed her as she quickly went down the stairs and
into a small room just off the main room of the cellar. She turned on a
light revealing an object draped over by a canvas tarp. She pulled the tarp back and illuminated by
the dim basement light stood a smaller chair. She walked to the chair
and spoke, “This is Mrs. Howell. Code name, Sweet Mama. Deactivate all
security lockdowns.” The chair quivered slightly and a female voice
spoke, “Security lockdown deactivated. Voice print identified.
Welcome Sweet Mama.” “Another chair? You have another
chair?” said Mr. Murphy. “You didn’t think that Mr. Howell was the
only one with a chair? Toys for girls I always say,” said Mrs.
Howell. “Help me load it up with supplies will you?” “You don’t plan on going by yourself do
you?” said Mr. Murphy. “What choice do I have?” she said. “I’ll go with you. I would never
forgive myself if anything happened to you, Al or the kids. I’ve caused
enough trouble videotaping your chair. I want to help,” he said. “Are you sure? It could be dangerous.” “Show me what to do,” he said. “Let me show you how to operate the chair
and where things are stored,” she said. Mrs. Howell placed her hand on
the old man’s shoulder and guided him toward the chair. For over an
hour she turned on the chair’s various devices explaining their purpose to
the wide-eyed Mr. Murphy. After the run-through they packed the chair
with supplies, manuevered it up the basement ramp and into the back yard and
after making sure the house was secure, sealed themselves inside the
protective bubble. Mrs. Howell “I’m fine. It just that I wasn’t
expecting to get my ride in one of your marvelous chairs so soon.” He
looked up into space, smiled and said, “Well, what are you waiting
for. We’ve got your family to save.” Mrs. Howell turned the chair’s power up and they shot into space. They raced toward the Moon, passed it, activated the probe’s black hole device previously installed by the robots and entered the swirling black hole.. |
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