Once the second round of patients was teleported to the Galileo’s cargo bay, the commander quickly began the flight towards planet Earth. Fourteen of the patients were badly injured. The rescuers found them buried under rubble after five days. They were in very sad shape and needed all the help the medical teams could provide. The IFTT authorized hyper-flight for the Galileo and moved all of the normal traffic to outer flight paths, hoping to get the critically ill patients to trauma room hospitals as quickly as possible. With the Galileo flying at such a high rate of speed, the trip to planet Earth would only take sixteen hours. During the flight, no one slept. The crew of the Galileo brought in water and finger food trays into the cargo bay to keep the doctors and nurses fed and hydrated. The surgeons rotated in and out of the four surgical rooms to give each other a break when needed. Even with the incredible speed of the Galileo, four of the patients died in surgery. One patient died from loss of body fluids after surgery even after receiving large quantities of blood and fluids. The woman’s body had simply suffered too much damage to thrive.
During the last hour of the flight to planet Earth, Tom received a message from the IFTT that the Galileo would not be required to fly back to planet Quantum. With all of the support from hundreds of starships, the injured on the planet had all received the care they required. Tom then took the time to spread the word to the medical teams. They were all happy to know they could get off the Galileo, none of the doctors or nurses like time travel.
When the Galileo settled to the tarmac for the second time and assisted the medical teams to move their patients into the hospital emergency rooms, the crew took a few minutes to thank the medical teams for helping the people of Quantum. Once the crew returned to the Galileo and began the arduous task of returning the vessel to its original state, they moved the medical supplies and medical equipment that were unused into the cargo bay and teleported them into a waiting warehouse. The IFTT would arrange for the redistribution of the equipment later. Once the Galileo was relatively empty, the crew began teleporting the equipment and trees from the warehouse where they had stored them back into the cargo bay. Once they had retrieved all of their belongings from the warehouse, they downloaded a flight plan from the IFTT and moved out into a stable orbit over planet Earth. They would need a couple days to put their vessel back in order before they could begin the original mission statement assigned to them by the designers of the Galileo.
Once the Time Travel Computer teleported the fruit trees that cluttered the cargo bay into the recreational area, Addalyne took some time to water and care for the trees. The leaves on the trees had wilted somewhat and the fruit that had earlier been almost ready to harvest was now ruined. Addalyne picked all of the rotting fruit from the trees and then turned on the grow lights. She hoped the trees would survive. She would check to see if the trees needed more water in the morning. Having fresh fruit on their mission would provide a nice treat after eating from the Food Replicators.
As the crew began to get the Galileo back in working order, the commander posted a summary of the mission statement for the Galileo. He hoped to get the crew’s minds back on the reason the demordian engineers originally created the vessel. The statement on all the monitors throughout the Galileo read:
The Starship Galileo went into service in the Earth year of 21,286 AD, stardate (18963482.3). The Demords engineers designed, assembled and commissioned the vessel at their military facility on the home planet of Rowkin in the Andromeda Galaxy (M13) in Universe Number Two.
The mission assigned to the starship and crew by the Demords is to seek out new life forms and do scientific research within Universe Number Two, the universe where the Andromeda and Milky Way Galaxies reside. There are millions of galaxies within Universe Number Two, which the Demords have never visited. This mission is not the first time the Demords have done such research within this universe; however, this mission will be the most extensive ever undertaken. The Galileo’s mission statement instructs the commander of the vessel to take the Starship Galileo and crew back millions of years into the past to document the changes that have taken place in the universe. The vessel will then time travel many millions of years into the future in an attempt to predict what events in the cosmos will influence the Andromeda Galaxy in coming centuries.
When Timothy and Addalyne stepped into their quarters after the evening meal, they took a shower together and then crawled into bed. As they snuggled up close, Addalyne whispered into Timothy’s ear. She said, “I think you have managed without Bob’s help.” Timothy really did not understand her words for a moment or two before he suddenly understood her meaning. He rolled over on his side to face Addalyne and then asked, “Are you certain?” Addalyne said, “Not certain, but I have been sick when I wake for the last two mornings and my period is late. I will wait a few more days and then talk with Chris to see if she has a test kit available.” Timothy said, “Maybe you should talk to her before we leave planet Earth. Chris could have a test kit sent up with the next medical supply order. I also heard that the commander plans to make a stop at the Open Market II before we begin or mission.”
When Timothy was asleep, Addalyne communicated with the Time Travel Computer and asked if Chris was asleep. The computer told Addalyne that Chris was in the kitchen fixing a late night snack with her mate, Bob. Addalyne quickly slipped into her flight suit and headed off to the kitchen. When she stepped into the kitchen, Bob smiled and opened his mouth to speak. Addalyne quickly held up her hand and said, “If you have a comment to make about my sex life, keep it to yourself. You will only embarrass yourself.” Bob looked into Addalyne’s eyes and said, “I have apologized to you and Timothy for my comments and actions. I had hoped you would forgive me.” Addalyne took a deep breath and slowly let it out. Then she sat down beside Bob and said, “I have forgiven you for your comments and actions, however, every time you open your mouth, I fear you will anger me with your insensitive comments. From this moment forward, I promise not to second-guess what you will say to me. Instead, I will listen to your words and consider them coming from a friend, not a wise ass whose only intent is to ridicule me.” Bob held up his hand and said, “Let’s shake on it. I have enjoyed your presence on this vessel and I do not want for us to remain hostile towards each other.”
Addalyne then turned her attention to Chris. Addalyne said, “I believe that Timothy and I are pregnant and wondered if you have a pregnancy test kit aboard?” Chris giggled and said, “I hope you are pregnant. The presence of a baby aboard this vessel during our trip would be wonderful. To answer your question, I do not have a test kit aboard. I will order some tomorrow when I place the final medical supply order.” When Addalyne stood up to leave, Chris reached out and took hold of her hand. Then she said, “I hope this works out for you and Timothy. You will rock his world if you gave him a child to love along with the love he already has for you.”
The following morning, the crew of the Galileo visited the Open Market II and purchased the last of the medical supplies they needed. Timothy and Addalyne had ordered six hens and two roosters, two male and two female rabbits along with fifty small fish. The crew quickly moved the chickens and rabbits into their new homes in the inventory control room. They had built cages along the outside walls, very similar to the ones Addalyne had seen aboard the Yutaka III. Then they filled the underfloor fish tank with water and slowly poured the fish and the remaining water from the shipping container into the fish tank. Once Timothy fed the fish, he covered the tank and replaced the floorboards. The Time Travel Computer would carefully control the water temperature and turn on a small light a few times each day. Addalyne giggled as she thought about the lights turning on every time the fish tried to made babies. She wondered why the fish needed light at all, but decided not to ask.
Bob and Chris were in charge of the growing room. They had ordered seeds to begin growing vegetables in the raised beds. They had also ordered twenty bags of fresh black dirt to mix in with the dirt originally plac
ed in the growing beds by the Galileo design team. That dirt held little nutrients and the new black dirt would help quickly sprout the seeds. The plan was to use the waste products from the chickens, rabbits and the fish tank to help fertilize the growing garden and the trees and then use the waste materials from the fruit trees and vegetable garden to feed the animals. There should be adequate carrot greens, fruit byproducts and vegetable trimmings to supplement the normal feed of the chickens and rabbits. Once Bob had finished building the wooden composting bin, Addalyne carried the rotting fruit from the trees she had picked and dumped it into the bin. She would have fed some of it to the rabbits, but the fruit was beginning to grow mold and she feared that it would have made the animals sick.
The lighting for the trees in the recreational area worked well and they had plenty of spare light bulbs and parts for them. The lights in the growing room did not produce much light and seemed to be of low quality. When Tom walked into the growing room to see how well his crew had done with the growing beds, Bob spoke up and asked, “Commander, would it be possible to replace these low level lights with better ones, like the ones in the recreational area. I fear these will certainly fail us after a short time. Then we will struggle producing enough fresh vegetables for our hungry crew and animals.” Tom looked at the lights and said, “Yes. Will you get me some part numbers from the good lights? I will contact the IFTT and see if they stock the better lights.”
Later that day when Tom contacted the IFTT, they referred him to Jill Yutaka or Trish Wilson for information on high quality grow lights. When Tom contacted Jill, she passed along the name and location of the vendor they used. When Bob and Chris teleported down to the surface of planet Earth, it only took a few minutes for the vendor to fill a plastic tote with the lights, poles, spare bulbs and power cords to run the lights. Tom teleported the proper amount of Galax gold coin down to the vendor to pay for the purchases, and then the Time Travel Computer aboard the Galileo transferred the tote up to the cargo bay.
Once the lights were set up and working, Tom activated the IFTT flight plan. He maneuvered his starship out of the Milky Way Galaxy and set a course for a distant Oort cloud. Within that cloud existed a long period comet that had not been seen in 4000 Earth years. The Demord astronomers called the comet, Hale-Bopp. The crew planned to scan the comet to determine the contents of its core with the latest generation Starmate Model 73 – Core Scanning Sonar.
***
Eight months later, when Timothy stepped up behind Addalyne, he put his hands on her shoulders, then leaned down and kissed her neck. She squirmed around in her chair and giggled. She reached up, pulled him down to her and kissed him hard on the lips. When she let go of him, he stood back up and asked, “What are you working on?” She said, “I started writing a book back when I first set foot on the Yutaka III. I titled it, The Chronicles of Addalyne Yutaka. I intend to finish that book this week.”
Timothy said, “This book title is not what you just said, have you changed the name?” Addalyne said, “No. As I said before, I will finish the first book this week. Now I have started another book. I have titled it, Star Travelers – The Promise Land. It will deal with my travels aboard the Starship Galileo. My mother wrote an entire six-volume accounting of the Yutaka fleet and my brother’s life. She ended volume six around the year 21,289 AD after returning The Empress to him. I intend for my work to begin where Mother’s writings left off.”
As she stood up from the worktable, Timothy stepped up close to Addalyne and put his hand on her stomach. Then he asked, “Boy or Girl?” Addalyne snuggled up close to her mate, as close as her huge belly would allow. Then she said, “It is most certainly a boy. My hormone levels are raging from the influx of male testosterone. Shall we retire to our quarters and begin practicing for the conception of our second child?”
The End
Ronnie Coleinger
The Chronicles of Addalyne Yutaka Page 16