Punishment
A gleaming wooden table and large window dominated the ESA conference room on the space station high above earth. Daniel stared out the window as the stars drifted by. The construction of a new spaceship was visible outside as drones, ships, and people in spacesuits all worked together around the construction grid. To his left sat Ernie and Ani, and to his right sat Nathan.
Daniel felt a mixture of anxiousness and sadness. He knew how much trouble they were in, but he had never meant to get his father in trouble, too.
On the three-day trip home, Dad did not seem even a little bit angry. He laughed and joked with the kids and his crew. For their part, the crew treated the kids as heroes. They took them everywhere on the ship and answered every question. Daniel had made the most of his time in space, but he did not enjoy it. He knew that back at the space station, people were upset with him and his brothers for sneaking onto the ship. They were upset with his Dad for not discovering that they were onboard and upset at what the Ambassador had almost done. Every time Dad left for another video call on their trip home, Daniel was reminded of how much trouble they had caused and amazed that Dad seemed to be okay with everything that had happened.
Mom was another story. On every video call they’d had during the trip home, she just cried and cried. Daniel was not sure if she was mad or relieved until they got back to the station. There, Mom met them when they stepped off of Dad's ship, and she cried some more and went back-and-forth hugging Daniel and his brothers for what seemed like hours. She also brought their wrist comps, demanded that they put them on and forbid them to take them off ever again.
Daniel added up the time in his head. After arresting the ambassador and the aliens that had been helping him, Dad had spent two days traveling between the ship and Kappaquilla, attending meetings as the ESA and the planetary government on Kappaquilla tried to understand exactly what had happened. Both sides were embarrassed by the actions of a few of their populations and eagerly put the incident behind them.
That took almost three days, then another three days traveling back across the galaxy for Earth, then two more days here on the ESA's main space station, where people were not nearly as friendly as the crew had been. Spring break was over, and instead of enjoying the time off, Daniel now sat nervously, hoping he and his brothers would not be thrown in jail. Hoping that his father would not be in any serious trouble. Hoping that he could go back to seventh-grade biology and strange Dr. Camberly.
Instead, he sat in a line of chairs in the ESA conference room. Dad and Mom were there too, and Ani's Mom. Nobody talked, except an occasional whisper among the adults. A young officer stood near the door, although Daniel couldn't tell if he was guarding them or helping them.
Occasionally, the conference room door would open and the young officer would exchange whispered conversations with whoever was on the other side -- Daniel could not see that from his seat. Daniel, his brothers, and Ani answered questions over and over again during the trip home and then again after they docked on LEOSE-Upper. In a room nearby, a panel of ESA Admirals was now reviewing all of the details of the trip and the confrontation with the Ambassador. Daniel did not care what happened to him now. He knew he would never be allowed to join the ESA after what he and his brothers had done. They selected the best scientists and leaders, but only those with clean records. He was sure he would never be allowed to join, and he had resigned himself to that fate. He had no one to blame but himself.
The door to the conference room opened, and Admiral Ortega walked briskly to the conference table. Daniel's father stood at attention, but only for a second before the Admiral spoke.
"Carry-on," the Admiral said. It was obvious to Daniel, that the Admiral was not as fit as his father. His stomach pushed out against his ESA uniform and he lowered himself into a chair with a grunt. The man's gray hair was still sprinkled with black, but it became almost completely white as it neared his temples. "Please have a seat everyone. The children, too."
Dad waved his boys and Ani up to the table as the adults sat down. The children moved cautiously from their chairs near the wall to the larger chairs at the table. Mom sat next to Dad, with Ani's Mother on the other side.
The Admiral looked down at the table as if gathering his thoughts. He cleared his throat. Daniel could not contain his anxiety and he shifted back and forth in his seat.
"First off, I am sorry to keep you all waiting. As you can imagine, there are a lot of details to go through in a situation like this. And there is certainly no record of any stowaways aboard a spacecraft in the entire history of Earth."
Daniel looked sheepishly over at his brothers; they looked back at him solemnly.
"To get the formal part out of the way, Captain Parker, the board of inquiry cleared you of any charges in the matter and thanks you for stopping Dr. Lineus' experiment before it could do any real damage."
Dad nodded seriously. Daniel and his brothers exchanged relieved smiles. Their faces soon turned serious again as the Admiral rotated his chair to face them.
"Before I get too far, let me be clear on a couple of things. First of all, what you children did... That is... Sneaking aboard your father's shuttle... that was wrong. You trespassed on government property that did not belong to you. The normal punishment for trespassing on ESA property is one year in the penitentiary. That would be one year for each of you." The Admiral looked directly at the children as he spoke.
"Even worse, it was dangerous. Space travel normally requires years of training, and knowledge of your environment. You can't just hop aboard a shuttle for fun. The four of you are lucky to be alive!"
Daniel looked down at the table. He knew the Admiral was right. They had no idea what they were getting into when they snuck onto the shuttle.
"You also did some things," the Admiral said not waiting for a response. "That are frankly, amazing: surviving in the mechanical room of a star schooner; learning about this diabolical experiment; impersonating Kappaquillians. Not to mention, building a bridge, rescuing your father and Lieutenant Commander Hondak, and quite likely saving your mother's life, and a whole lot of other people, too. I mean the story is....is....unbelievable!"
The Admiral leaned back in his chair and paused.
"Quite honestly, if you four children were in the ESA, I would give you medals."
Daniel looked up. He had not expected to hear anything nice from the Admiral. It surprised him, and he smiled hesitantly.
The Admiral got up from his seat and walked over to the large window. Men and machines swarmed over the spacecraft in the construction grid. He considered the activity for a long time.
"So what do we do about all of this?" the Admiral asked turning his back to the window. He looked around the room. "For starters, we are upgrading the security and surveillance system on all of our star schooners, and the shuttles."
The Admiral seemed to look directly at Nathan as he said that, but he quickly shifted his gaze to Dad. "Captain Parker, what do you know about our new ship out here?"
Dad cleared his throat, evidently unprepared for this line of questioning.
"Well, Admiral, I have certainly heard the rumors. The ESAS Dauntless is designed for extremely deep space exploration. A small crew. It contains the most advanced systems in the world for navigation, science, security, exploration…”
"Not only is the most advanced in the world," the Admiral replied. "It will be the most advanced spacecraft in the known galaxy."
"It is also rumored to have a small fleet of ships, probes, and satellites," Dad continued.
"Correct. In fact, almost two dozen manned and unmanned exploration probes, shuttles and so forth. This ship will be taking humans into other galaxies…into parts of space where our probes have not traveled before."
Daniel, Ernie, Nathan, and Ani all looked at each other. Just hearing about the ship's new mission was exciting to them and fueled their imaginations.
The Admiral returned to his seat. Some folders ap
peared on the screen in front of him, which he opened with a swipe of his wrist. Daniel craned his neck, but he could not see what the Admiral was reading.
"Captain Parker, are you familiar with The Fairfax Report?"
Dad appeared to think for a moment before he shook his head. "No, sir. I'm afraid I'm not."
"It's a study that has analyzed the ideal capabilities of deep space explorers. Problem-solving. Analysis. Interpretation of worlds, alien beings, and sciences that we cannot even define yet. The report concluded that our ships are manned with the most intelligent, brave, dedicated adults from around the Earth. But what we really need are children."
"Children, sir?"
"Yes. For some reason, at least according to the study, children are better able to assimilate concepts and ideas that they have never been exposed to before. Better able to understand the inexplicable. To imagine the unimaginable. You see, something happens by the time we are adults, our thinking becomes rigid, unable to adapt. Something about brain formation that I don't understand. That's what the so-called experts say anyway."
Daniel watched his Dad carefully. His father glanced at him briefly before his eyes returned to the Admiral. Daniel was on the edge of his seat waiting to hear what the Admiral would say next.
"So for the last year or so, I have been arguing with the operations director, training director, and head of recruitment over what we should do about this dilemma."
"I don't follow you, sir," Dad said.
"Well, we can't just start recruiting children, can we? Even if we could, we would be overwhelmed with applications. What child doesn't want to travel around space, after all? Then, there would be pressure from various politicians to select their children...other people would say the job is too dangerous for children...they would try to stop us...it would drag us down for years!"
The Admiral got up from his chair and returned to the window. He watched the construction happening in the space dock.
"The ESA cannot wait for years. That ship will be as perfect as we can make it. And when it's ready, it will begin its mission. But this...incident...has given us an opportunity," the Admiral said looking squarely at Daniel and his brothers. "We suddenly have children with real space experience. Children who have demonstrated bravery, determination, leadership, and teamwork –the same traits we expect in any ESA recruit."
"You mean..." Nathan asked out loud.
"You four just qualified to be deep space explorers," the Admiral said with a smile. It was the first time he smiled since walking into the conference room.
"You want us to join the ESA?" Daniel said, a smile stretching from ear to ear.
"Just hold on a minute," Mom said.
"I don't think that's such a good idea," Ani's Mom added.
"I understand," the Admiral said to the shocked moms. "It is a lot to ask. We will not proceed without your permission, of course."
The four children looked pleadingly at their parents.
The Admiral watched the eager children for a moment, before adding: "It is the safest ship we've ever built. The ship will be fully automated with the most advanced computer intelligence ever developed. And plenty of bots and drones to help with the work."
The boys could not contain themselves any longer. They ran around the table and hugged their parents.
"Can we, Dad?"
"A whole year?" Mom asked.
"C'mon, Mom!?"
"Pleeeease?"
"I guess if you are trained well enough," Dad said smiling. He looked at Mom.
"Umm...I guess...if it's only a year...and your schoolwork doesn't suffer for it," Mom finally said.
"Can I go too, Mom?" Ani begged as she ran around the table to her mother.
"Please, Dr. Belewa," Daniel said.
"We need Ani, too!" Ernie said.
"I guess we can't have these boys wandering around space without you," Ani's Mom said with a cautious shrug and a weary smile.
The children hugged one another in celebration.
"Okay, okay," the Admiral smiled. He pressed a button on his wrist comp and a three-dimensional display of stars and planets appeared above the conference room table. "Let's talk about your mission."
The End
Stowaways Page 13