by John Ricks
“Interesting,” the captain said, She turned to me and asked, “Do you happen to have the rest of that set?”
“Yes, I do.”
“Did you know your set has a name and history?”
“Really?”
She handed me the printout Maggie had showed her and said, “Those earrings are priceless. Please take them off, and put them away.”
“But—”
“No ‘buts,’ young man. They do go well with the suit, but they would bring unwanted attention to you and your home. That set belongs in a museum.”
“Oh man,” I whined, but I traipsed upstairs and put them away. I put in my favorite pair of earrings, the ones with the bells that Becky gave me.
“That’s much better,” Susan said when I came back downstairs. “Is everyone ready?” She received affirmatives around the room. “Then let’s go.” We headed outside where we climbed into one of the shuttles and took off, followed by six Stingers.
“Where’s the other shuttle?” I asked.
“Picking up the president. She should already be there.”
“Nice. Why the escorts?”
“For show.”
It took only two minutes to get to Crescent City, which is south of my home. We landed in the parking lot of the Del Norte County fairgrounds. Time to put on my sad face. Everyone else put on their “if looks could kill” faces, and out we went. When the crowd saw us getting out, they started pushing in, and then they saw our faces and backed up quickly.
I slowly walked into the main building and up to the makeshift stage. I sat down, still looking sad and hurt. I was, so it wasn’t hard to look that way. The president came over to me and tried to wipe tears from my eyes, but I pulled my face away. She looked scared.
The president approached the podium and said, “Ladies and gentlemen, Freddy has something to say.” She stepped down, looking worried, and I stepped up.
I looked out at the audience and at the cameras and said, “Why do you persecute me? What have I done to deserve all the hate mail you send me? My hair is long for two reasons: One, I can heal with my mind, and the energy in my hair allows me to heal more people. If I cut it short, I would possibly take away some of my ability to help others in an emergency. Believe me, if I could cut it short, I would. It’s a mess to take care of. Two, my mother and father, God rest their souls, had long hair, and both wore earrings. I just like to be the way I want. The way my mother and father were. And again I say, so what? I don’t see the problem. Why do you hate me?” Tears were streaming down my cheeks.
I turned to the captain and, in such a way that the microphones could pick it up, I said very sadly, “I want to go home now.” I stepped off the podium and started to walk away. The president took hold of me and pulled me to her. She talked to me for a few seconds, saying things like, “Sweetheart, they don’t all hate you. It’s only a few people. Everyone knows people who are like that. It can’t be helped.” The microphones were picking up her comments really well.
I kept playing along. “I know, but it hurts so much. I don’t hate people just because they don’t do what I would do. That’s so silly and sad.”
The entire crowd of thousands was silent as they listened.
“Look, sweetheart,” the president went on. “I love you, and these girls love you.”
I threw my arms around her and hugged her, saying, “I love you too. I’m so glad you’re the president.”
She said, “We all love you, dear. Now let’s dry those tears. I’ll bet the crowd here loves you too.” A cheer of thousands of voices of praise and love came up in an instant. I turned slightly toward the crowd, and the president said, “Freddy, they need your help. They’re all going to die if you don’t help.”
I think it was the first time that had been said publicly. The entire crowd—and as I was told later, nearly the entire world—was quiet for that minute between what she said and my next words.
“I don’t want anyone to be hurt. I’ll help. I have just the thing to do that,” I said with a solemn, slow nodding of my head.
“I know, dear, but they need to know so they can sleep at night.”
“I hate it when I can’t sleep. I get up and work instead. Don’t they?”
“Some do, dear, but not like you.” She took my hand, and we went back to the podium. “I want everyone to know what this child has been doing. He goes to work for three and four days straight—no sleep, no food. When he comes out of his workshop, he gets a quick meal and then goes to bed. After catching a little sleep, he starts all over. He’s been on this schedule for years. He found out about the ‘rock,’ as he calls it, and decided to dedicate his life to catching and destroying it, and now he’s just about ready. I’ve promised him a trip to Disney World after that rock is destroyed.”
I looked at her and asked, “Can I see the Smithsonian too, please?”
“I think that can be arranged, sweetheart,” she said with a smile.
The lieutenant stepped in and added, “He has something he wants to donate to a good museum.”
The president turned back to the audience and said, “He’s tired, worn out, his nerves are on edge, he’s had no playtime or childhood to speak of, and thinks only of protecting you so that no one gets hurt. He gets no pay for this but does it out of the kindness of his heart. I am totally disgusted with anyone who would dare send hate mail to a child, especially a child who is trying to save the world from total destruction. With the help of this child, the United States will save the world, and we will do so while protecting our own natural resources. Freddy is one of our most precious resources, as are all of our children.” She said this with so much emotion I was astonished to feel that she truly believed everything she said.
The crowd nearly went wild with cheers. It took a lot of time to calm them down. Finally, they did quiet down so that questions could be asked. The first question came from a pretty girl who was a reporter.
“We have been told that all the nuclear missiles in the entire world cannot stop this ‘rock,’ so how can you?”
“Oh, it was very hard. I wanted to invent ships to take me to the moon and Mars to set up stop-off places to new planets. I made them military-style ships so that they could help me bust up the rock and send it away.”
The same reporter continued. “They say that what we’ve seen so far of your ships, even though they are wonderful and beyond anything we could have dreamed possible, do not have the power at this time to destroy the rock. Is this right?”
“Oh, those are only toys. I’ve just finished the real ship. Want to see it? As soon as I get back home, we’re taking it out on a trial run.” That caused a lot of murmurs, and the crowd had to be quieted down again.
“Yes. We’d love to see it. Are you inviting us to come to your home?”
“After the captain has screened you. Sure. My friends have told me that you’ve been very helpful and that I should be nice in return. Want to come over for lunch? My cook is really great. We could have a party.” I looked at the captain, and she nodded her head before walking up to the podium.
“We’ll take Freddy back home and then return in the shuttle with the equipment to scan the minds of anyone who wants to come home with us. Be ready to answer some very personal questions, and be very truthful, as we will evict anyone who even slightly shows up as hiding something. Your equipment will be scanned, and any weapons will be destroyed—along with anyone trying to bring them in. Make sure you know your camera crew very well. Your life depends on it.”
“That sounds a little severe, Captain,” said someone from the crowd.
“It is. If you had to protect the only chance for the survival of the human race, I think you’d be doing the same or more.”
“Just to let you know,” said the president, “every time I visit Freddy’s home, I get the same treatment, as do all of my people. I
almost lost two generals because I did not tell the captain’s team that they were coming along. Freddy’s guards do not like surprises. Every one of us had guns pointed at our heads, with fingers on the triggers. The security is tight, and it stays that way. The orders are simple: anyone trying to do anything even the least bit suspicious will die. In this situation, we have no choice. I fall under those orders, and so will any reporters.”
“Are you taking any other countries’ personnel up with you on this flight?” a reporter asked.
“There will be plenty of time for politics and letting the world in on the fun of going to other worlds, but in this case, no one not already cleared by NASA and the NSA will come close to this ship. No special rides, no free rides, no politics. The success of this mission is too important.”
I leaned in as if I wanted to speak, and the president let me. “I do think we need a couple of good, honest reporting firms to go along. Someone needs to document what is done and that the rock is definitely destroyed. The captain will look into that. Right, Captain?”
“Yes, I will.”
Another reporter asked, “Then there’s room for reporting teams?”
“Wait ’til you see her,” I said. “She can hold a crew of five hundred or so.”
Another murmur went through the crowd.
The captain said, “Last question.”
The lady reporter asked, “What is the name of the ship?”
The president answered. “They named her Earth ship Protectress.”
We left after a lengthy standing ovation.
Gray said, “Did we not destroy a ship called Protectress?”
I said through little Yellows, “Yes, you did, you murderer!”
Everyone was shocked, even little Yellows. They said, “We told you to hurry up. He is very strong.”
Blue started to say something, but Green cut in. “I know. Continue.”
Chapter 33
Playing Ball
We quickly came back to the base with the president. She received a call saying her polls had gone through the roof. The election was next month, and all of a sudden she was very popular, even more so now that the world knew that she and I got along really well.
At home, everyone was waiting. I changed into something a bit more proper for the mission and a television appearance. It took an hour for the two press crews to arrive. While I waited, I went inside my workshop and fetched my new ball. Then I came out and familiarized myself with the people who were going to pilot the Protectress. They were a good lot. Almost all of them had come off an aircraft carrier called the America. The captain and the crew had received training from our girls. A few were from NASA, including the navigator and the science officer. The admiral was coming with us as Admiral of the Fleet. It was all exciting and fun. I took them into the workshop and down into the construction area. They were astounded but did everything I asked of them and went right to work in the Protectress. They were nice enough to leave everything else alone.
I mentioned to the admiral and the president, “It sure will be nice when I can get some help with my building-mover.”
The admiral said, “Freddy, all the help you could ever want is waiting for you to just say the word.”
The camera crew arrived. It was a completely mixed group from the “Big Five.” Some reporters did not make the cut, and some camera people didn’t either, so they combined those who did into one group. Helping each other was new to them, but they were enjoying it. I tossed the ball back and forth with a couple of the reporters. The one who had the ball was allowed to ask a question. They enjoyed that too.
We had a good lunch, and there were hundreds more questions. Enough equipment was brought in to make it a live broadcast, and I added some abilities to help them stay live, even in space. The first question was, “Why did you change your clothes?”
I answered, “Lack of gravity can make clothes ride way up, and I didn’t want to have my tie in my face if the antigravity units faulted.”
Two of the ladies on the media crews, including one butter-fingered reporter who’d dropped the ball, asked the captain if there were any extra coveralls they could use. Susan sent them into one of the small homes and let them change.
When it was time to depart, I went back into the workshop with the admiral, the president, Susan, two guards who flanked me (of course), and the media. They were allowed to take pictures and did so quietly. When they were aboard and in their seats on the bridge, I checked a few things and then took the security clamps off the computer.
Blue said, “Nice of him to help the president that way.”
Little Yellows said, “He is a nice creature.”
I said, “Thank you.”
Green panicked and said, “Everyone, shut up, please!”
Chapter 34
Maiden Flight of the Protectress
I said, “The Protectress’s computer is named Gal.”
In a nice second soprano voice, Gal said, “Good afternoon, Freddy.”
“Good afternoon, Gal. How are you doing?”
“I have run a class-one diagnostics, and I am working at 100 percent across the board.”
“Good, Gal. Please inform me if there is any change that will require my attention. As you can see, you now have a crew.”
“Yes. Good afternoon, President Kabe. It’s nice to have you aboard. I will take good care of you.”
“Thank you, Gal.”
“Good afternoon, Fleet Admiral Pinn. Welcome aboard.”
“Hello, Gal. It’s nice to be here.”
“Hi, Captain Rex. Nice to see you again.”
“Nice to be on board at last.”
“Gal, as set up before, I am turning over control to Captain Rex. Please give him all the information and control he needs to run the Protectress.”
“Control exchange completed. Orders, Captain?”
“Gal, I know you can probably do this better than we can, and please keep training the crew, but I want the crew to have hands-on practice running your systems, so please give over control to the people on this list as stated.” He held up a crystal and put it in the slot in his chair-side console.
“Information downloaded, and personnel recognized and confirmed in position.”
“Gal, warn us if we’re making any mistakes in navigation or protocol.”
“Confirmed.”
“Good. Engineering?”
Over the speakers, we heard, “On line, Captain.”
“Power her up.”
“Coming up to full power in five, four, three, two … at full power, Captain. Everything’s green.”
“Navigator, take us out into the open.”
“Aye-aye, Captain. Shop, please open the bay doors.”
“Bay doors opened.”
“Science confirms the bay doors are open, Captain.”
“Navigation, shields up.”
“Shields up and working.”
“Captain, scans show eight ships waiting to accompany us.”
“Understood.”
I placed my ball next to me at just above head level. It floated there on its own power. I drifted off for a while, thinking of several improvements I could make.
“Take us out, Navigator.”
“Antigravity on. Bringing her up two feet and leveling off. Gal, report please.”
“All systems normal. No abnormal structural stresses.”
I broke in. “Gal, please send all reports to my console. I would like to analyze them.”
“Compliance, Freddy.”
I studied the readouts while the rest of the crew flew the ship. Science was watching the reports too, but they had other jobs to do, and I wanted the reports closely watched. I hoped that there would be no major mistakes.
“Bring her up to forty feet and turn her over.”
We could watch what was happening on the screen, and we raised up and did a 360. The camera crew was astonished, saying things like, “I felt nothing, not even in my stomach,” and “The gravity stayed the same. This is amazing.” Susan told them to hold it down.
“Maneuver completed.”
“Forward antigravity engaged at twenty feet per minute.”
We were moving forward slowly but still forward. One of the reporters asked the president, “Why are we moving so slowly?”
She whispered to him, “They’re testing out the controls and getting a feel for her. In addition, since she’s never been flown, they’re checking her out. Everything must work and work correctly before she can be used for FTL flight. Testing a new ship is probably more dangerous than anything you could ever imagine.”
I interjected, “Wanna bet?”
She frowned at me and continued. “Any one thing goes wrong, and this whole ship could smash us all to pulp.”
The reporter nervously asked, “Has Freddy been putting his life on the line like this a lot?”
“Every hour of every day. Gal, please contact Shop.”
“Completed.”
“Shop?”
“Yes, Madam President.”
“How many times has Freddy come close to death while working on this project?”
“Eighteen thousand four hundred five times, not counting what he’s doing now.”
“Shop!” I said as a warning.
“My goodness!” exclaimed the reporter.
The president said, “You don’t think this kind of technology comes without risks, do you? Freddy loves people, and he hates to think of people being harmed. He wants to go to the moon and then Mars and build a home in outer space. He figures that he could safely have the first ship built in about five years, but the rock and our peril has been his first priority. He has spent the last few years building this ship, and it came with costs. For instance, no childhood, loss of his first love, continuous heartbreaking work, and nearly killing himself to complete every part of the project.”