The Last Place to Stand (20 page)

After the meeting, Samuel went to the Command Center to find out how things were going and to give the new destination. Along with him, Samuel brought along D1298 so that he could bounce some thoughts off of him. Having spent a couple of days with him on their mission, he had begun to value his opinion and he thought him a man who was wiser than he let on. “D1298, I have been wondering something and wanted to see what you might make of it.”

“Alright,” he said, “shoot.”

“It has to do with our escape from the planet. A116 told me earlier that they have had air combat missiles for some time now and that the Experiment should have had full control of them. They were hooked up to the grid, unlike this ship, and they were not difficult to operate.” They looked at the screen that showed the retreating image of Earth.

He continued, “If that is the case, why were we allowed to not only escape the atmosphere, but to circle much of the planet, even over major cities, which I'm told would have had these missiles, and then finally to leave unharmed?”

“Hmm,” said D1298. “Curiouser and curiouser.”

“A line from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland,” said Samuel. “How did you know that quote? It would not be a normal part of your education in the city?”

“Lucy, you know, Odysseus' daughter, was reading portions of it to me the night before we went out.”

“So what are your thoughts?” Samuel posed again.

“I think this: that if the Experiment had full capability to shoot us down, then either he was preoccupied at the time with something more important, or we were let go on purpose.”

“I thought about the second one, but the first had not occurred to me,” said Samuel. “Preoccupied or let go, hmmm? If we were let go, then why?”

“Good question,” said D1298. “I don't know the answer. And now, we may never find out.”

That night they had their first dinner together. Everyone assembled in a room that looked like it might have been designed for it. There were sinks to wash up and long tables placed end to end to make a large dining area. There was another taller table that was perfect for placing food items for people to serve themselves.

The first night they used food that had been found in storage areas near the garden. These foods were odd beyond understanding. There were tubular purple vegetables what were rubbery, but filled with a blue liquid at the center. They were pleasant to the taste, but the texture was so odd that only a few could finish what they took. Another food looked so much like soil that they joked about it at first. After trying it, however, it ended up being one of the most appetizing options available. It was much like beef with potatoes, but again, the texture was much different: dry and rough. Most stayed with this for the meal and then joked with each other saying, “Here, have another helping of dirt!”

One question that A116 brought up during the meal was the question of gravity. “How is it that we don't float away?” he asked.

No one had an answer to that. Even Hamlet and Prometheus didn't have a clue and they were in awe of the capabilities of the ship.

“But didn't our own people make this ship?” said Odysseus.

“No,” said Prometheus. “You might not have figured it out, because you are not trying to navigate, but the instructions in the Command Center are all in some language that Hamlet here says is a lot like ancient Greek. No, I don't think we made it, nor could we ever.”

As dinner was being taken away, an old man entered the room. Zosimus was just clearing his table when the old man approached him. “Do you think you might trouble an old man for a little of that food?”

“Methuselah!” said Zosimus. “I thought you were dead.”

“That makes two of us,” he replied. “And that was what I expected, but I climbed that mountain to gaze on the beauty of the world before the robots came for me. I did not expect you to land your ship there, but I am not disappointed. I guess the master has me here for a little longer.

Zosimus gave the old man a hug, and Methuselah shed a few tears before sitting down to eat. They chatted quietly for a few minutes and both of them talked about the future that might be.

That evening, or so they decided they would call it according to the time, Prometheus sent an emergency message to Hamlet. The two had agreed that someone should be in the Command Center at all times, even though once the programming was entered, there would probably be little oversight needed for the ship to do its job.

Hamlet was sleeping in a room assigned to him. He no longer would sleep with his family. He was old enough to be on his own, his parents said, and because of his new responsibilities he would need to be disturbed at odd hours. An inconvenience his family did not want to enter into. Prometheus came in his room without knocking. “Hamlet, you've got to help me.”

A few minutes later the men, having both witnessed the same thing, ran to Samuel's room, who was also sleeping.

“Captain!” They were both panting. “The ship,” said Prometheus. “We've lost control. We can't steer it, or stop it or anything else. It’s being directed somewhere else!”

Samuel was still groggy, but muttered, “Is it headed back to Earth? Has the Experiment the power to bring us back, to finish us off?”

“No Captain,” said Hamlet, “We are being taken in some other direction. It is no known planet and it is certainly not in our solar system. It's completely unknown.”

“Ah,” said Samuel, “Then, as you say, there is nothing we can do about it, right?”

“That's right, Captain,” said Prometheus.

“And will it take quite a while to get there at the present speed?” said Samuel.

Prometheus said, “Well, I think so, but. . .”

“Then, I think I would rather not disturb the rest of the ship,” said Samuel. “I'm sure you are both tired as well. Why don't we get some sleep and let tomorrow worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

If you have enjoyed this book, please leave me a review on Amazon.com. As an independently published author, I have no advertising agency telling others about my products, so I rely on word of mouth and the positive reviews of my books to get the word out. Having a review from you will help me more than just about anything you can do.

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This is the first book in this series. To follow the story of Susan (X214), Samuel, Odysseus, Poke, and to find out more about what happens with the “experiment” on earth, read the sequel which should be released sometime next year. If you sign up for my
newsletter
, I will let you know when it is available.

If you like science fiction, then you may also like
The Gifted
,
and the second book in the series,
Assault from Space
.

For a long time I didn’t even want to talk about it, or think about it. Then Dr. Denay said if I wrote down the whole story, I might recover better. Then I could make sense of the fire, and the city disaster, and all those men who were after me.

This is how Tracy begins her story, and how her special power labeled her as one of the gifted.

10-Year-old Andy, along with a few others his age, have magical gifts no one can explain. But when someone bombs his school and kidnaps him, he soon learns that the reason for all of this is his unusual gift. There are other gifted kids that have appeared in recent days and now there is a heated war between two sides to see who will have control over The Gifted.

Now Andy, Han, Tracy, and Guido have been sent on a mission to a small island to investigate what has happened to the other kidnapped children. This leads them into a world of magic and machines, and finally to the secret mission of this island training facility. In the end, it's not what's on the island that is the most dangerous, but what's underneath it!

Han, Tracy, Andy, and Guido have been called upon again because of their special gifts. This time the threat comes from a space station that has control of a weapon that can destroy any city at the press of a button, and the city up next is Han's home. They race the clock as they hurl through space to try to stop this weapon and those who control it.

It all started out on a vacation, but when a tsunami ravages their tropical island, Tracy, Guido, Andy, and Han must do anything they can to survive, and in so doing, discover that this natural disaster isn't so natural after all.

To unravel the mystery behind these occurrences, they will travel to the deepest parts of the ocean, facing enemies at every turn, both human and non-human, facing some of their deepest fears.

I would like to thank my wife who has been my support and encouragement through all of my writing, and my children who inspired me to write my first book.

I appreciate the help of my beta readers from Independence High School, where I teach, who helped to smooth out this book: Brandon Quan, Chouly Neang, Ralph Magday, Tiffany Nguyen, Nardos Mekuriaw, Christian Pichay, Hanna Childers, Ryan Ngo, Dominic Hollins, Kevin Banh, and Mimi Nguyen.

Aaron K. Redshaw was born in rain-soaked Oregon, but later moved to California. He is much dryer now where he can frolic under the warm sun. He likes to write, teach, play his guitar, and read. He is also fond of his beautiful wife, and his two gifted children. You can find out more about him at
aaronkredshaw.com
.