Adventure to Destiny: The Unity Objective Series

by Sandra Golden

  “Sorry, here’s Granddad now. You think while mine is in the shop, I can practice on yours.”

  “That’s a definite No! Get a license, then I will think about it,” Mason replied.

  “That means maybe, right?” J.R pushed.

  “No, my friend, that’s a big NO on all levels.”

  “Hey guys that was sure cool,” commented Mark, who was now approaching the two motorcycles with William and Dylan.

  “Sure was, and she didn’t sputter once. She is sure going to be cool after that custom paint job she’s going to get.”

  “Let’s get her on the trailer; I need to get this to the shop then get to the office. I have some business to do this afternoon,” William instructed them.

  After helping get the motorcycle onto the trailer Mason took his bike and went back to the house, having some work to do himself on the yacht. Since they were in town anyway, William dropped Mark and Dylan off at their home, then went to the office with J.R. J.R watched as William made the calls that would begin construction on the Waterfall Dome, then made arrangements for the Jewel Machine Arms to be stored at a warehouse they owned in Seattle until the building was completed. J.R and William even had a conference call with his dad and Uncle David. The big discussion was about the plans he and Helaina had made. They were a high priority. This made him feel like an adult, like he was a part of something big and that what he and Helaina wanted to build was something very important. Which it was. This was serious business, J.R and Helaina knew this. With plans made and assignments given out J.R and William returned home for lunch.

  With the motorcycle being painted and the Waterfall Dome project in the proper hands J.R. found himself with some time on his hands. He remembered the box of gadgets that he was given when he was down in Station One. He hadn’t had any time in which to investigate its contents, so he decided that now was the time to do that.

  He found some interesting looking things; an odd-looking scale, a bunch of gears, and wires, a machine that was supposed to cut metal with a laser and something that looked like a water pistol. He also found tools of all sorts, a plasma cutter for cutting metal and glass, screw drivers, and wrenches of all sizes, a mallet, and hammer, a brand-new socket set, and a chisels set that looked like it had never been used, there was even a soldering iron, an electric screw driver and drill. No wonder the box was so heavy. The big box was almost completely empty when he discovered something interesting on the bottom. A few operating manuals to the gadgets he was given. He also found what looked like two pen lights hiding under the operating manuals.

  These caught J.R’s attention in a big way. Taking a closer look, he discovered that the silver pen sized tube, had what looked like a light on either end. One end was marked with positive, the other negative. Taking the operating manuals out of the box, he shuffled through them until he found the one that belonged to the odd pen lights; their picture was on the cover.

  In large letters across the top it read, ANTIGRAVITY.

  For two hours, he studied the diagrams and compared them to the gadgets he held in his hand. Setting down the manual, he picked up some paper and a pencil then began drawing. When finished, he compared the manual with the drawing, then started making adjustments, making the same adjustment to both pens, but something was missing. He looked at his watch to see the time, then an idea came to him. If a drop of his blood made the gene meter in his watch work, maybe it might work for the Antigravity pens? With his pocket knife he stabbed his finger, pinching it until a nice sized droplet of blood appeared. Taking some cotton swabs he carefully placed some of the blood on the two odd looking batteries, in one of the antigravity pens. Waiting until the blood had dried he closed the casing of both pens. Thinking he would keep one of the pens and give the other to Helaina, but he would use her blood to give hers power, like his. Each pen therefore could only be used by the one who had given it power. That is if it worked, he wasn‘t sure if it worked like that, but he was going to give it a try.

  Pushing down on the positive symbol he felt it move into the instrument, then returning to its original state. Feeling a warmth come from within the pen J.R just knew he figured out how to make the pens work. When a light beam appeared he pointed it at a washer which was lying on the work bench, when the light touched the object J.R moved the beam up. With it came the washer but it fell back to the bench a few seconds later. J.R was a bit disappointed with the results but not discouraged. Hearing William calling him for dinner he placed his pen in his shirt pocket, along with the one he wanted to give his cousin.

  “Maybe if I put a drop of both our blood inside it would become stronger,” he thought as he went in for dinner. He hoped they were having his favorite, Mexican food, he especially loved Quesada’s.

  Helaina was already in the kitchen telling William and Jennifer about her shopping trip to the mall that afternoon. Little Peanut was sticking her head out of her shirt pocket, waiting for a treat; she was hoping to get a nice juicy grape tomato. When seeing that they indeed where having taco’s and Quesada’s J.R fully forgot about the antigravity pens in his pockets and enjoyed his dinner. That is until Helaina noticed the one sticking out of his shirt pocket and asked him about it.

  “Is that a laser pointer,” she asked.

  “Much cooler, there're antigravity pens.” When William heard this, he dropped his taco on his plate. He listened, because that is all he could do considering he had his mouth full of the taco, as J.R. and Helaina talked.

  “Where did you get those?” Jennifer asked.

  “They were in the bottom of the box I brought back from Station One.”

  “I thought that was just filled with some tools they gave you.”

  “There were tools, but they put some other stuff in there. It was just a few things that they couldn’t get to work. I was taking the pens apart but then I made a drawing. Someone made it all wrong, so I fixed them,” J.R explained quickly.

  “You got them to work?” Helaina asked.

  “Yes! But they aren’t very strong, I got one for you too but I need your blood.”

  William felt alarmed with this statement.

  “Did you use your blood to make it work like the Gene meter on your watch?” he asked J.R.

  “Sure, I figured if it worked once it might work again. I was going to use Helaina’s blood in this one, to see if that works.”

  “How powerful is that thing?” William continued questioning him very concerned at what he was hearing.

  “Not very, I was thinking that maybe if I mixed my blood with Helaina’s I might be able to make it more powerful.”

  “I don’t think that is a good idea.”

  “Want to see it work?” J.R ignored William’s last statement.

  “Can you pick me up?” his cousin wanted to know.

  “No, it has to be something small.”

  J.R looked around to find something small to use in his demonstration, he found it when little Peanut jumped on the table to get a piece of tomato. Being that she only weighed three ounces Peanut was the perfect test subject.

  “Watch this!”

  J.R pointed the antigravity light at little Peanut, then moved it up. Up came Peanut. She didn’t like it one bit. She started fussing, complaining that something had taken her away from her dinner. Higher and higher she went, just hanging there above the kitchen table.

  “Put her down!” demanded Helaina as she tried reaching for Peanut. J.R had her suspended just inches from the ceiling and Peanut was out of her reach.

  “Oh alright!”

  J.R returned the frazzled Peanut to her dinner. She wasn’t going to take any chances that she would be taken away again before she finished, so Peanut snatched up the piece of tomato and took it to Helaina's pocket to eat it in peace.

  “You made me one; let’s see if my blood will make it work.” Helaina was excited about getting a new toy.

  “Not now and not unless we are in a controlled environment.” William now took control o
f the situation. “I think we will have our scientists do that little experiment next time we visit Station One. Now please hand me both of those gadgets. Please!”

  J.R’s notion of mixing his and Helaina’s blood put William on high alert, he didn’t know why but he had to act on it.

  “But Granddad these are harmless fun. Next time Peanut won’t get down from somewhere, I could use it to get her down,” J.R protested.

  “I will give them back as soon as I know they are safe. I’m sorry but what if it gets to strong, then you point it at Peanut or at someone else and it hurts them?”

  “Your Granddad is right, so give them to him now and then we can have some dessert. Remember he always keeps his promises,” Jennifer stepped in to give William some support.

  “J.R, just one more thing. Whatever you do, don’t mix your blood with Helaina’s.”

  “You think something awful might happen?” asked Helaina.

  “I feel that it might be dangerous.”

  “Don’t worry; I won’t let him take my blood, that’s gross anyway.”

  J.R then handed both the antigravity pens to his Granddad, then accepted a big piece of chocolate cake from his Jennifer. William was very grateful for Jennifer’s support as he took the pens, thinking that locking them up in his safe might be best for now. Later he would send them down to the scientists. Right now he was just relieved that such a potentially powerful device was out of J.R’s hands. He was sure glad that J.R showed him the pens before he was able to mix both his and Helaina’s blood together. He really did believe that mixing their blood wouldn’t be a very good idea.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

  SCHOOL STARTS

  What a beautiful day to start the new school year. The day began with a warm 85 degrees; a gentle breeze was blowing off the ocean and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. It was to bad that the students had to spend most of their day indoors. Because she was starting a new school, Helaina didn’t know what to expect and was so nervous she had changed clothes five times that morning. Finally, Jennifer told her she looked beautiful and if they waited for her to change clothes again they would be late for their first day. J.R on the other hand was relaxed, dressed in jeans and a tee shirt that read, “Scuba’s Cool.”. He couldn’t wait to get to his beginner Mechanical Engineering class, too bad it was his last class of the day. Their class schedules had been sent to them a few days in advance, along with the school rules, dress codes, and a book that gave them descriptions of their classes and an introduction to each and every teacher at the school. Of course, a complete list of supplies that they would need was right on top. The package even included the books they would be expected to read, all brand new of course. Students kept their books when they completed the class, just in case they needed them for future reference.

  Helaina had discovered that Jennifer would be teaching Home Economics three times a week. She was also happy that she would have Beginning Ethology (Animal Behavior Science), and she would be able to bring Peanut or any other animal companion with her on the days she was in that class. After all they were going to study the behavior of animals so it made since that they needed animals. Geography would be a big class filled with all her friends and J.R for it was a required subject.

  The first day at Hope Island Progressive School was like that of any other school. You find your classes, learn your schedule, meet the teachers, get your locker, meet your new class mates, and discover what the food is like in the cafeteria. Helaina and J.R had the normal everyday classes like English, History, Algebra, and Gym but it was their extra classes they were most excited about and the teachers in those classes, well they thought that we were cool. Teachers at HPS preferred a more relaxed and informal atmosphere in their classrooms, so they preferred you just called them by their first names.

  J.R bonded with his Mechanical Engineer teacher Eli Carpenter immediately. Eli showed the class some of his cool inventions, then let his students tell him what they would like to do in class and the kind of things they would like to get their hands on. Eli was impressed on the kinds of things they were interested in and what they wanted to accomplish. He wrote everything down, of course adding a few ideas of his own, so he can build an effective lesson plan. One young man brought a sketch pad of machines; Eli believed them not to be feasible and much too unrealistic. However, he was impressed by the boy’s skill at drawing, none the less. J.R just thought it cool that the students could tell the teacher what they wanted to do.

  Helaina, who was not comfortable with new people or places, spent the first day of classes quietly sitting in her seat following instructions and taking notes. It was her last class of the day when she met Spring Rockford. In Spring’s class, Helaina found a collection of small animals, a box turtle, mice, two rabbits, an aquarium filled with sea horses, four iguanas, and sitting on Spring’s shoulders was a sugar glider. Having left Peanut home that day, she was instantly drawn to the little animal. She didn’t say much, not yet, and Spring didn’t push her, but this small thing gave the student and the teacher a connection, and that was a beginning.

  While J.R and Helaina were at their first day of school, something more interesting was happening on Hope Island. At the Nature Park, that very day they had begun construction on the Waterfall Dome. The measurements were completed, checked for accuracy and the markers had been staked out earlier that morning. Now the digging began, all according to J.R’s precisely detailed drawing. William was watching from a distance. He wondered if they would find any evidence of that Waterfall. When he became bored he took his fishing pole and headed to the lake to do some fishing, after all he was retired, and wasn’t that what retired folk did.

  The week progressed slowly. J.R and Helaina were getting used to their new schedule. Jennifer kept busy with her charities and teaching Home Economics, William was busy with an few interest of his own that included fishing, and working on his new antique cars. Right now, he was rebuilding, a 1929 Ford.

  Every afternoon when the kids arrived home they would hop on the ATV’s and check on the progress of the Waterfall Dome. Everyone would always come together for dinner, Sophia and Jennifer taking turns cooking. Helaina was getting more interested in cooking herself, getting more confident with her skills, and would always have her hands working on a new recipe she wanted to try on the family.

  One afternoon, during that first week, needing to get out of his apartment Eli Carpenter, J.R's new teacher, went to explore the Nature Park. He hiked for about five miles, enjoying watching the wildlife, especially the Bison, and marking out possible places to try his hand at fishing. Eli also wanted to try out the different hiking trails available. Eli always liked to explore, and didn’t always like to take the trails that had been marked by the rangers. That’s how he ended up finding the construction site.

  While hiking through some trees he came upon the site where they were building the Waterfall Dome. Being a Mechanical Engineer he took interest straight away because the way they were constructing it was truly unconventional. Without being seen he took pictures on his digital camera then shoved it back into his pocket, planning to study them later that evening. Before he could advance towards the strange building he heard the sound of two ATV’s and remained where he was, completely unseen. The ATV’s drove right past him, and he got a clear view of the two teen-agers driving the vehicle. He recognized J.R Black and Helaina Unity immediately.

  He wondered, “Why is my student at this construction site?”

  Eli watched as the construction Forman welcomed the two teens and showed them around the site. They were there for half an hour before they left to return home, it was then that Eli decided to take a closer look. But before he could get closer he was stopped by security guards.

  “Sir, can we see your security pass please?”

  “I don’t think I have one, I was just hiking. What are they building?

  “I am afraid you will have to leave. That’s a secured Unity project.”

  “
I’m a Mechanical Engineer teaching at HPS, maybe I can be of some help.”

  “Sir, leave right now. Or you shall be put in lock up.”

  “Alright I’m leaving.”

  “Sir, before you leave may I see your phone, and that camera in your pocket, along with your identification please?” It was more of an order than a request.

  Eli handed over what the two security personnel asked for. They removed the memory cards and returned his phone and camera to him without them. They wrote down his name, address, and driver license number then returned that also. Lucky for him he had a photogenic memory, and the moment he returned to his apartment he would draw what he had seen. Unfortunately he only could see very little of the project. With all the security, the project had piqued his interest, now he was determined to see what they were trying to hide. He would have to sneak over one afternoon or evening to get a closer look without interference, he decided. But for now two security personnel escorted him away from the area, even going so far as to drive him out of the park to where his car was. They watched as he left the park and then returned to their duties.

  This experience also left him curious about the two teen-agers. Why were they at the odd construction site? Why the security? Eli decided that tomorrow he would definitely take a closer look at the detailed drawings of J.R Black, maybe even photograph them. He knew of someone who might be interested in such a unique building and the boy’s unusual imagination. But first he needed to get home and do some drawing himself.

  The next day was Friday, the last day of the first week of school, and there would be a pep rally. That was the opportunity Eli waited for. He told the students to leave their back packs in the room then dismissed them to the rally; telling them that they could return for their back packs after the rally. Staying behind in the room he waited until the rally started before finding J.R’s sketch book, neatly stored in his back pack. He quickly took photos of every page, then returned it to the back pack. Spring came in while he was taking the photographs.