Titan Stand

by Max Jager

  Chapter 51

  Titan Stand Chapter 51

  Matt and Slavek had returned to their "man cave's" to take naps. Not long after he awoke to the feeling of being kicked.

  "Wake up idiot!" Snapped Kaitlyn, "You sure did it now!"

  "Stop kicking me Kaitlyn, what did I do now?"

  "You got everyone thinking the damn Chinese were attacking, that's what!"

  "What the hell are you talking about?" he snarled.

  "Tiag and I were playing around with the communications receiver and started picking up some radio station out of Salt Lake. Seems the whole country is in an uproar over all that joyriding we did." Matt shrugged,

  "So what!"

  "So what!" She snarled back, "We've got the whole goddamned Air Force out looking for us. It seems plenty of people got some nice pictures of us, but there seems to a lot of people who think we were some sort of secret Air Force plane."

  "Well hell, if that's all, no sweat, I'm not worried, why are you so upset?"

  "Because I want to go home and see mom!" She cried. "How can we do that if there's a million jets up there looking for us?" Suddenly it dawned on Slavek they really might be in a lot of trouble.

  "What's this about everyone looking for us?" Kaitlyn then gave him a quick rundown on what their joyriding had caused.

  "Oh Matt, what have we caused?"

  "Don't get your panties in a knot," replied Matt, "People just aren't used to seeing strange looking aircraft flying about a million miles an hour. Like Kaitlyn says most think it's the Air Force testing some new spy plane, the rest really don't know what to think unless their friends on Facebook tell them. I really wouldn't worry about it. Hell! We're in cloak mode."

  He could see that both Kaitlyn and Slavek weren't buying it,

  "Come on, we'd better get going its six 0'clock right now."

  He knew he had really screwed things up this time, but Matt knew he wasn't fooling the others with his false bravado they were in trouble, and he knew it. True to Kaitlyn's predictions, the scanner picked up dozens of aircraft all over their area,

  "See I told you asshole!" Snapped Kaitlyn, "Look at all those planes, there's too many to be just passenger liners heading for Denver." Keeping their speed way down, Slavek "dogged it," so they were able to come into the area near the cell tower at around ten to seven. Sure enough, there were four or five cars down there. Matt studied the scanner, as they slowly hovered near the tower.

  "Well there's mom and dad," he pointed out, "I see our car. What's your mom's car look like?" He asked Kaitlyn.

  "A 2010 Jeep Cherokee, red," she replied.

  "Uh nope, don't see it."

  "That's funny," she added, "You did tell your folks to call her didn't you?"

  "Well not exactly," he slowly replied, "Dad just said they'd explain when we got here." He had been closely studying the cars and trucks below; no one could see them while they were in cloak mode, although Slavek hinted that if the sun's reflection was right it might be possible for people to pick out an image.

  "Shit! Goddamn! "He blurted out,

  "What's wrong?" Asked Slavek, pointing to the screen he growled,

  "Fucking cop car, I told dad no fucking cops, damn him!"

  "Calm down Matt," replied Kaitlyn, "Just because there's a police car down there doesn't mean trouble probably the mayor's security detail."

  "Well maybe," he replied, then turning to Slavek and his sister, he added.

  "When we land, you might as well shut off the cloaking device. Let Kaitlyn and I go first, if it looks like there might be trouble you two get the hell out of here. Go back to Ireland and pick the others up and forget you ever knew us, we'll be screwed no sense in you two being taken as well."

  "I can't do that," replied Slavek you and Kaitlyn are our friends."

  "Well I certainly appreciate that," he replied, but I don't want you two taking any chances." Slavek remained silent as he began to bring the spacecraft down away from the tower and the cars.

  "Well if they didn't know we were here before they do now," observed Tiag, the engine noise and all the debris they are undoubtedly stirring up will alert those people." Tiag deployed the landing gear, as the ship settled on the ground with Slavek shutting down the engines, as well as the cloaking device. Everyone looked at each other with Matt sighing,

  "Well Kaitlyn, shall we go and face the music?" Just before Tiag lowered the ramp, Matt turned and said,

  "Remember you two stay where you are, be ready to bring that ramp up immediately, and don't come down until I call and give you an "all clear."

  Both he and Kaitlyn stood at the top of the ramp for a moment studying the scene before them. Everyone was standing near their vehicles,

  "Yep, there's mom and dad," he thought to himself, "And that must be the mayor, but who's that other guy with him? Well I see Liam, that looks like Dustin, oh shit! He even got that stupid Patricia to come that must be one of her slut girlfriends standing next to her, oh this ought to be fun!"

  Then turning to Kaitlyn, he asked,

  "See anyone you know, how about your mom?" She shook her head,

  "No, and I'm really worried Matt, we never really got along but mom should be here."

  "Well let's do it," he said.

  Slowly starting down the ramp he saw his parents rushing towards him, with his friends starting to come forward as well, the next thing he knew was practically being suffocated by his mom's arms.

  "Oh God! My Matt, you're safe, where have you been, we thought you were dead!" Forcing himself out of her arms, he stepped back and snapped at her.

  "Damn it mom…Dad, I told you I was OK. You know, we can just get back on that ship and be out of here and you'll never see us again!" This only started his mother crying.

  "Pleas son, I know what you told us, but do you realize what a stretch it is to believe what you told us?" Matt waved his hand back towards the ship,

  "Do you believe me now, that's no damn movie prop!"

  "Watch the swearing son," replied his father. I brought mayor Kensington, and that's Ed Bruce from the paper."

  "What's that cop doing over there?" Demanded Matt. The mayor then spoke up,

  "Frank's just my security," son, what is it you want me to see?" Matt looked at him a moment then waved his hand in the air, shouting.

  "Liam! Bring everyone up here, got someone I'd like you guys to meet."

  Matt's father then said,

  "Uh son, hold up a moment," he waived the cop over then looked at Kaitlyn.

  "I'm afraid we've got some bad news Kaitlyn. Uh officer…" The police man stepped forward, and looked at her.

  "Are you Kaitlyn Parkinson?" Kaitlyn turned to him and replied,

  "Y-y-es."

  "I'm sorry to tell you that your mother is dead, when she failed to show up at work we were called to investigate. It seems her uh, boyfriend had beaten her and strangled her to death, he's in the county jail awaiting trial, which is scheduled to begin next week, we might need a statement from you but there's no hurry."

  Matt immediately stepped up to her, and put his arms around her as she began to sob.

  What he had hoped would be a happy occasion had now become a tragedy. He then looked at the mayor,

  "Well sir, I had dad bring you here to…Well uh, welcome the Ruddorian ambassador to earth."

  As Kaitlyn continued to cry, Matt did what he could to comfort her without much luck.

  His mother tried to comfort Kaitlyn as well,

  "We're so sorry," she added, "We didn't know her, but Dave and I attended the funeral since we knew you had gone with Matt. It was a very nice service, quite a few people attended." Matt grimaced, as he knew his mother's feeble attempt to comfort Kaitlyn was futile. Suddenly Kaitlyn stopped crying, and sniffed,

  "Thank you Mr. and Mrs. Grainger, that was nice of you." Then looking around she realized everyone was staring at her.

  "I'm fine, look at me, I'm making a spectacle of myself, where are Slavek and Tiag?
We should be welcoming them."

  "Are you sure you're going to be alright?" Asked Matt,

  "Yes, yes, I'll be fine," she sniffed.

  "You got those translators?" He asked.

  "Oh shit! I almost forgot, wait one sec everyone!" She then quickly ran back up the ramp returning with Slavek and Tiag following behind her. There was a collective gasp, as the three decended the ramp. Kaitlyn started waving a couple devices that looked like Bluetooth earpieces she had pulled from a small bag.

  "Uh Mr. mayor, Mr. Grainger, uh you too , here's one for you, just put them in your ear, doesn't matter which one, this way you can understand what Slavek and his sister are saying, they can understand you as well." She passed out a couple more, one to Liam and one to the policeman.

  As she was doing this, Matt turned to Liam and said.

  "Hey Liam, thanks for bringing everyone, Dustin, Mike, Allison, you too Karen, Patricia, thanks for coming. Liam then asked,

  "Is that really a spaceship?" Matt nodded,

  "The genuine article."

  "Everyone, listen up!" Announced Matt, "I want you to meet our friends Slavek and Tiag Slykhor from the planet of Ruddoria. Their father is the Ruddorian foreign minister, while their mother is the Ruddorian ambassador to the planet Golia of which we've been to." The mayor, along with the reporter moved close to Matt, with the mayor saying.

  "Uh son, I'm just the mayor of Durango, wouldn't it be more appropriate for the president of the United States to greet them?" Matt shook his head,

  "No sir, we already discussed this, they don't want to meet with him, we don't want to make a big spectical of this. Besides, after what we did today I don't think the president would want to meet with them." The mayor gave him a puzzled look, while the reporter asked.

  "The whole country is in a frenzy thinking the North Koreans or Chinese are attacking, the military is on full alert, everyone wants to know what caused all those sonic booms, and you're telling us that was you?" With a grimace on his face, Matt replied,

  "Sorry!" Everyone more or less just stood frozen in their tracks as Slavek and his sister held up their hands and performed their ambassadorial greetings.

  "Hello everybody, my name is Slavek Slykhor, and this is my sister Tiag. It's our understanding that our flyover has caused much consternation we deeply apologize for this, it was not our intention to upset everyone." Matt then quickly spoke up,

  "It's my fault, Slavek simply wanted to have a little fun, and so did I, he's pretty good at flying through canyons and the only good one I knew of was the Grand Canyon. Then I thought it might be fun to buzz area 51."

  Both the mayor and the reporter were giving him the "stink eye,"

  "Son you caused a lot of trouble today," growled Bruce.

  "We can only hope no one died or were injured as a result of your carelessness." He then looked at Slavek,

  "We are not blaming you Mr. Slykhor, you had no idea, however these two live on this planet and should have known the sort of problems your little "joyride" might cause." Matt knew they were right, admitting to himself that he did know but just didn't give a damn,

  "Fuck them!" He thought, this whole thing was turning sour, "Maybe we should just leave? Turning to Slavek, he said,

  "This isn't what I thought it would be, let's just go, Mom…Dad, OK so we screwed up, I'm sorry, Slavek and his sister are sorry, Kaitlyn is sorry, OK? Maybe we should just leave?

  "No…Please stay son, but you do realize that you upset a lot of people today, there are people out there who think we are at war."

  "Too bad for them," he thought. Then glaring at the mayor, he said,

  "Put us in jail then…All of us, then when their parents find out it will look like the film "Independence Day" when a combined Ruddorian, Golian naval attack force shows up, there really will be a war!" Suddenly the Slykhor's realized what Matt was saying and started to correct him but Kaitlyn quickly put her finger to her lips, and flashed her eyes. Matt knew he was running a poorly conceived bluff with adults, and he prayed they didn't call it, but "Goddamnit! Big fucking deal, so what if people are upset," he thought.

  "Nobody is going to get locked up," the mayor quickly replied, "Just calm down." He then turned to Slavek and offered his hand,

  "I'm so sorry for this misunderstanding, welcome to earth, welcome to Colorado."

  "Well once again my sister and I apologize," then glaring at Matt, he added,

  "Had we only known, I would have refrained from my wild actions."

  "You don't do this sort of thing on your own planet do you?" Asked the reporter.

  Slavek grinned,

  "Sometimes, but mostly we go to the neighboring planet of Cratak and stir them up. You see, Cratak is made up mostly of vast canyons, quite similar to this Grand Canyon of yours. Because of the proximity of our sun to that planet the planet's surface is rather uncomfortable; hence its inhabitants all live in the canyons." Matt noticed that everyone was hanging on the Ruddorian's every word, he also noticed Tiag trying to hold back a grin.

  "So what do these people do when you do that?" Asked the mayor. Slavek chuckled,

  "They find out when our leaders or important people are holding outdoor joinings or parties, and cause it to rain."

  "They can do that?" Replied the reporter. Slavek shrugged,

  "Absolutely, can't you?" This only added to the confusion, but he saw Tiag give him a wink.

  "Obviously we humans aren't the only ones who can "bullshit" people," he thought.

  Chapter 52

  Titan Stand Chapter 52

  Matt steered the reporter, as well as the mayor over to Slavek and his sister allowing him time to speak to his folks.

  "Mom, dad, I'm sorry for just running off like that, but I knew that if I didn't go right then, I never would."

  "We were absolutely heartbroken son," exclaimed his dad, all this talk about robots…"

  "Androids dad," he injected, "You just make them mad calling them robots."

  "Sorry son, er…Androids. By the way, where is this Amber you spoke of?"

  "She and her friend Gandric are involved with a project on Ussen Ommo; we'll get back with them later. I've got a ton of pictures to show you guys, things you just won't believe."

  "So what are you doing out there son?" continued his father.

  "Kaitlyn and I are learning dad, we've made a lot of friends, I've got pictures of them. Kaitlyn and I are learning how to fly spaceships dad, we're also sorta representing earth, a lota people out there know about us, and I've run into two or three that have actually been here. There's a guy on Denedra named Roy VonDran who is actually from earth."

  "Goodness!" exclaimed his mother, "How did he end up there?" Matt shrugged,

  "He said he was in the marines and was driving back to California and got picked up by the Uwan."

  "They abducted him?"

  "Apparently," he replied. "Anyway, he ended up working for them for awhile then they let him go. I've got a letter he wrote to his family, so maybe you could mail it for me."

  "Are you heading back out there?" Asked his father. Matt pursed his lips.

  "'Fraid so…You know dad, I would think that you two would be proud of me. Here I am one of the first people to travel into deep space, meet aliens, and return. In the few months I've been gone, I've done more than NASA has done since it began."

  "What if something happened to you Matt?" Injected his mother, "How would we know? We would never see you again." He looked at her and frowned.

  "Believe me, I've thought of that too mom, but I would find some way to let you two know, if nothing else, Amber would come back here and tell you." This didn't make his parents feel any better, but they now realized they weren't going to change his mind either. He then added,

  "Mom, dad, I was thinking, we seem to be pretty well hidden from the road by that hill the tower sits on, how about we have a picnic? Kaitlyn and I haven't had pizza in months, maybe if we took up a collection?"