by Dan Kelly
Pulsar smiles and replies, “He never fails to amaze us, does he?”
The air of contemplation is shattered when Queen Quester claps her hands and says, “Enough of this. You’re all here to relax and enjoy our hospitality. You can get back to plotting the downfall of this tyrant when you’re heading back to Proton.” With that, the two Queens rise and leave the atrium to do whatever it is queens do after having lunch with a pack of precocious teenagers. The King prepares to return to the parliament building for some afternoon meetings he must attend and Pulsar leads the Pack back to the athletic field for a game of rocketball.
Chapter 29
Rocketball is not a team sport. It tests an individual’s reaction time, eye-foot co-ordination, ability to play the angles and stamina. The game starts with the player standing in front of a chute that delivers a hard leather ball when a remote control attached to the player’s belt is pressed. The player wears knee high boots with metal linings to protect his feet and legs from injury. There are twenty two spring loaded bumpers arranged in x, y and z patterns with additional stand-alone bumpers in the four corners of the playing field. Each bumper has a point value, the more difficult it is to hit, the higher the point value. Every time a bumper is hit by a rocketball it transmits a signal to a monitor which shows the accumulating score.
There are two x patterns at the far end of the playing field, a y pattern in the middle and two z patterns in the ball catcher end of the field. Initially, the player stands between the ball chute and ball catcher and when the ball is propelled out of the chute it is the goal of the player to kick it into as many of the bumpers as he can before it careens into the catcher or into one of the return chutes along each side of the playing field which have conveyor belts that will carry it back to the catcher. There is no limit to how many times a single bumper can be hit. Each player gets five balls, their play ending when all five balls have wound up in the catcher.
The playing field is 70 Yards long and 35 yards wide, the ends slightly curved, and a four foot fence goes all the way around its perimeter. The rocketball is propelled out of the chute and by the bumpers at a very fast pace, hence the name, and a player doesn’t get too much chance to rest until the ball is in the catcher. If a bumper hasn’t been hit within 30 seconds, the player loses that ball. Whoever has the highest score wins.
The Pack quickly finds out that this is not an easy game to play. They all go through their turns quickly and with really low scores, even Pulsar because he hasn’t played for quite awhile. At the end of the first game, each one of them has had his turn lying on the ground gasping for breath. Belinda had the highest score with Mickey a close second and the guys weren’t too thrilled to be beaten by a girl. After they’ve all had a rest, Pulsar asks if they want to have a go at it again and they all jump at the chance to prove themselves. These kids don’t give up easily on anything.
As they all draw numbers to see who goes first, second, third and so forth, Mickey draws the number twelve and slyly thinks, “Well, well, well. This is a perfect opportunity to turn the tables on the pranksters in this motley crew. Will they be surprised? Oh yeah!”
This time around the kids begin to get the hang of it and the scores are much better with Gracie ahead of Pulsar by one point. Mickey’s thinking, “What is it with Gracie? She’s a lot more athletic than I would have given her credit for.”
Finally, it’s Mickey’s turn. With a grin he hits his remote, a rocketball zooms forth, rapid thuds of bumpers being hit echo throughout the playing area and the speed of all this quickly overloads
the monitor which explodes with a loud poof and a puff of smoke. This all takes place in less than a few seconds. No one moves or says anything. Mickey is still standing in front of the chute, but he’s laughing like an idiot. Then it hits the Pack all at once. Mickey used his special power. Gracie starts yelling, “You cheated! You cheated!”
“Yeah, I cheated, but it was worth it to see the looks on your faces.” He’s still laughing uncontrollably.
Gracie explodes with, “Well, let’s see you laugh your way through explaining to the club house manager what happened to his monitor. The Pack gives him the same punishment they gave Tommy and he has to turn in the gear all by himself. “Oh, oh”, thinks Mickey. What explanation can I use that the club house manager will buy?” He’s starting to sweat as he’s carrying the gear back to the club house. The sweat’s not from exertion, but from sheer panic because his mind’s a blank. He can’t come up with anything that sounds plausible. “I definitely can’t tell the truth.”
As he’s about to enter the club house, Casey catches him at the door and says, “I’ll save your butt. I’ll tell the club house manager that I accidentally knocked it off the bench and it exploded, but that I can fix it if he’ll let me.”
“Gee, Casey, thanks a lot. I couldn’t come up with anything believable.”
When the club house manager sees the monitor and hears the explanation he says, “What is it with you kids and sports gear? You’ve got to be more careful or I’ll have to ban you from the gym”. He turns to Casey and says, “Do you really think you can fix this?”
“Yes sir”, Casey replies. “Just take me to your repair shop and let me have a look. It shouldn’t take long if you have the parts on hand.” It takes Casey about five minutes to find out what’s wrong with the monitor and another five to get it fixed. The monitor has fuse circuitry that protects it from sudden surges of current and Mickey fried it. Fortunately, the Club house manager keeps a complete inventory of spare parts for all his equipment, so it was no big deal. The club house manager thanks Casey for fixing the monitor and he and Mickey split before he thinks to resume his threat of banishment.
Pulsar fleetingly thinks about introducing his pack mates to the game of carry the mail, but thinks that would be pushing it with the club house manager and instead leads them to a local luncheonette that he and his friends used to frequent for lunch and to hang out at for an hour or so after school.
Pulsar treats the Pack to his favorite sweet drink, Hermil, served iced cold, and tells them about the game of carry the mail. “It’s based on an ancient game they used to play on Earth called football. There are two teams of ten players each and the object of the game is to deliver the mail to the opposing team’s post office, represented by a rubber box ten feet high, six feet wide with a
door seven feet high and three feet wide. The mail has to be thrown through the door to score. Each score is worth one point.
“The mail is represented by a large pouch with a handle on it. The pouch can be carried down to the opponent’s post office by a player and thrown in, if he isn’t tackled in the process, or it can be tossed from one team member to another, working their way down towards the opponent’s post office and then be thrown in. Each team gets three chances to score. If they don’t, the other team gets the pouch at the spot the pouch was advanced to. A pouch can be taken away from a team by intercepting a pass between players.
“The playing field is 100 yards long and forty yards wide. There are two 30 minute play periods with a fifteen minute rest period between them. The highest score wins. Before any action takes place, the team who wins the toss of a coin stands along a line in front of their post office with a selected player holding the pouch. The opposing team stands in a line 60 yards down field. A whistle is blown and the fun begins. After a score, the team scored against gets the pouch, they stand along the line in front of their post office, a whistle is blown and then they try to score. It can get rough and the players wear special gear to protect themselves from injury.”
The girls aren’t wild about the game, but the guys, even Norman Nebula, are intrigued by it and would like to take a crack at carrying the mail. Unfortunately, Pulsar doesn’t want to push his luck with the club house manager and get into trouble with his dad, so he nixes the idea and instead offers to continue his role as tour guide and show them around other parts of the city he thinks they’ll enjoy seeing. They take h
im up on his offer and off they go.
Returning to Castle Cassini at dusk, the Pack is exhausted. It has been a full day. After dinner, they all head for bed, all but Pulsar who stays up to challenge his brother to a game of chess. No one knows the true origin of chess. It’s been around for millennia in one form or another all over the known universe. Phaser taught Pulsar how to play and for a long time Phaser always won. Just before Pulsar left home for Stellar, Pulsar beat Phaser for the first time and wants to see if he can do it again.
After two hours of very aggressive play, neither one is getting the best of the other and the day’s activities are catching up to Pulsar as he is falling asleep between moves. Phaser decides to have some fun with his brother by making some ridiculous moves with both his and his brother’s pieces every time he falls asleep. Each time Pulsar wakes up, the board looks nothing like it did before he fell asleep. Pulsar is completely baffled by what is happening, attributing his losing track of the moves being made to drowsiness.
As he is about to succumb to another lapse in awareness, just before he slips into the sedimentary slumber that will sink him slowly down to dreamland, he catches his brother moving the chess pieces all over the board in a haphazard fashion. As quick as a wink he’s wide awake, but he keeps his eyes closed, letting his brother think that he’s fallen asleep again. “You stinker! Well, two can play that game, mister.”
As Phaser reaches out to move Pulsar’s queen to an exposed position, Pulsar lets loose with two small bolts of electricity that hit his brother in his knees, causing his legs to jerk upward, knocking the chess board off the table and hurling the chess pieces all over the room. Pulsar jumps up and yells, “Gotcha!” Phaser quickly recovers from the shock and they both fall to the floor, rolling in fits of laughter.
Queen Quester comes into the room wanting to know what all the commotion is about and, seeing the chess boards and pieces in such disarray, seriously asks if this is a new way to play chess. This puts the brothers into another fit of laughter and the Queen beats a hasty retreat. She knows laughter is contagious and if she’s going to laugh she wants to know why. Knowing her boys, they’ll never tell her even under threat of a royal decree. That would only make them laugh harder because it would be so ludicrous. Until this moment, she didn’t realize how much she has missed the jovial camaraderie between the two.
The rest of the visit is filled with family gatherings of aunts, uncles, cousins and their spouses; sightseeing tours of the numerous parks, museums and art galleries that surround the castle; strolling through the unique boutique shops, game and musical gardens that are an integral part of the parks; listening to the Royal Orchestra perform seated in the Royal Box at Castle Cassini’s Theater of Performing Arts; and swimming and fishing in the many lakes that are found in the mountains not far from the castle. Artie caught the biggest fish, a 23 pound galder, and it was the best tasting fish the kids ever ate.
Sadly, the day arrives for their departure and no one wants to leave. Even Queen Quasar would like to spend more time with her sister, but duty calls and the Pack has to get back to their studies. This has been a real vacation for Headmaster Herby because the kids have managed to behave themselves and stay out of trouble, so he’s been able to sit back and relax. The thank yous and good byes are said, the supersonic bullet train takes them back to Cape Cosmos and they board Discus I to return to Proton. In less than an hour, they’re on their way.
Chapter 30
When they are three plus days into their flight back home and have just passed the point of no return, the copilot’s voice comes over the spaceship’s intercom in the Queen’s private quarters requesting her to come to the flight deck. There’s a sense of urgency in the copilot’s voice, so the Queen wastes no time in getting there. The Pack has picked up on the tension emanating from the Queen as she quickly walks through the lounge area where they’ve been sitting reading, playing games, listening to music or watching pre-recorded sensorscope shows. After she’s out of the lounge, the Pack gathers around Pulsar and they all have questioning looks on their faces. Sally says, “Something’s up. Queen Quasar looks concerned and she’s headed for the flight deck. What do you think could be wrong, Pulsar?”
“I haven’t a clue, Sally. I’m as much in the dark as the rest of you, but I agree. Something is definitely up.”
When the Queen joins the crew in the flight deck, the pilot gives her a full report on what he and his crew have observed. “Your highness, we’ve sighted some unidentifiable spacecraft on our Triple M Scanner and they’re heading our way. What’s alarming me is that the spacecraft are in violation of the inter-galactic treaty requiring identifying insignias and registered serial numbers and, therefore, could be pirate spaceships.”
“Is there any chance your scanner might not be picking up all the details of the spacecraft, including the required identification, due to a malfunction or space warp distortion?”
“No chance whatsoever, Your Majesty.” Pointing to the center of his console he continues, “This device is a self-maintaining multi-mega magnifying scanner, hence the name Triple M, and our electronics technician has checked it out for any defects and has found none. We’ve also reduced our flight speed to eliminate any possibility of space warp distortion.”
“Have you tried to communicate with them using universal galactic code?”
“Yes, Your Highness, we have, but with no response.”
“Have you been in communication with the commander of our escort?”
“Yes, Your Highness. They spotted them about the same time we did. The commander has asked to speak with you as soon as I finished briefing you on the situation.”
“Very well, call him for me.”
The voice that comes out of the speakers in the flight deck surprises her. “Commander Caitlin, yours is the last voice I expected to hear. Isn’t escort duty usually assigned to a captain?”
“Yes it is, Your Highness, but with the increased incidents of space piracy I wanted to make sure I was on top of things in case someone should try to attack your ship. Your Coat of Arms emblazoned on the top and bottom of your spacecraft makes it a mighty tempting target.”
“Well, thank you for your concern, Commander. It looks like you might not only be on the top of things, but also smack dab in the middle. What’s your assessment of the situation and how do you plan to address it?”
“Your highness, for the moment we will do nothing. You will continue on your present course as though you haven’t seen them. Our Triple M scanners are highly sophisticated pieces of equipment, but only a select few on Proton know of their existence. They are too far away to see your spaceship and might alter their course before you can be picked up on their scanning equipment. There’s a chance that they might never see you. If they stay on course and spot you, we’ll have a surprise waiting for them if they try anything.”
The escorting warship has been traveling in stealth mode, impossible to see due to a shield surrounding it that absorbs all detection signals and any light coming from stars, planets or meteorites. Another day goes by without any new developments, but Commander Caitlin takes no comfort from this as he’s assuming the Queen’s spacecraft hasn’t been spotted yet. As a combat conditioned veteran of many interstellar conflicts, he’s used to waiting and makes use of the time by reviewing his plans for any contingency that might occur. His crew is on full alert and all battle stations are manned with the best of Proton’s warriors.
In late morning of the fifth day of their journey home, the unidentified spacecraft accelerate to a warp speed of 2.5 and are still heading straight for them. Commander Caitlin figures that the Queen’s ship has been spotted and by late evening he’ll know what’s up. Queen Quasar figures that it’s now time to let the Pack know what’s going on. Not wanting to unnecessarily alarm them, she has held off telling them about the concerns surrounding the discovery of the unidentified spacecraft heading their way.
She gathers the Pack around her in the lounge a
nd informs them of the potential danger that lies ahead. When she’s finished Pulsar speaks up and says, “We knew something was up, Aunt Cue, but space piracy never crossed our minds. Who would be dumb enough to attack a royal spaceship?”
“Well, Pulsar, it looks like we’re about to find out. You know the drill. You’ve practiced it enough. If I give the order, you will encase yourselves in the escape pods and stay there until I give the all clear. If our spaceship is seriously disabled or destroyed, all occupied pods will be automatically ejected and the pre-programmed guidance systems will bring you safely back to Proton. Discus I has eight four man pods with enough rations and oxygen on board to last for a week, so everybody will have a safe ride home if disaster strikes.