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Cover Artwork is copyrighted by the author,who for some odd reason seems to feel the
undying need to create his own illustrations and
designs. 2012. All rights reserved.
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T.O.A.D.Volume 7
The Pull
By Keegan Hennis
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I love my family.
My sweet wife supports me,
My smart son and daughter inspire
me,
On to excellence.
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This book is part of a series, written in
chronological order. Pick them up out of orderand you may become confused or frustrated by
the story.
T.O.A.D.
The Fall
The RiseThe Run
The Push
The ReachThe Grasp
The Pull
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There are many other series and single
books by Keegan Hennis.
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1Lenny woke before his alarm would
have sounded. He gingerly reached over and
turned it off. No sense interrupting thedreaming of his better half if he didnt need to.
He looked back at her and smiled. She lookedso peaceful as she lay there in the blankets. Onewould never guess by her present appearance
that it had taken hours of fitful tossing to get her
into that state. But it wasnt her fault, it was thebabies.
Every time they kicked or turned or
punched her guts, they woke her. But that
previous night, it seemed they had made somekind of truce, some treaty to pause their
wrestling and let their mother sleep.
As carefully and quietly as he could,Lenny climbed out of bed. He walked to his
bathroom and shut the door without a sound.
Once inside, he turned the lights on to their
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dimmest level, knowing that the crack at the
bottom of the bathroom door would let somelight through to the bedroom. He then climbed
into the shower stall and turned on the water. It
was such a shocking thing to his body, that he
almost squealed like a girl, but the water soonturned from its frigid state warmer.
Once in a while he did this, to buffer thesounds from the shower. The water hitting the
wall and floor of the stall would make
unnecessary noise, noise that could wake hisslumbering wife. It was a sacrifice to start his
morning with a blast of artic water on his back
or chest, but not too large a one to take for her
comfort.As he moved to rinse his hair, he heard a
soft sound in the room and he paused. His earshad become keenly attuned to hear her noises,recently. He heard her small feet padding
across the tile floor to the small toilet room. In
his mind he relaxed somewhat, knowing that itwasnt he that had woke her, but the pressure
the twins were placing on her other organs. It
wasnt their fault, they didnt know any better.
He resumed his rinsing and then tookanother minute longer in the hot spray before
moving to turn it off. But the glass door to the
stall spoke to him before he could turn the waterhandle, Just leave it on, Ill be getting in after
you.
His usual response came, Yes dear.
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Only a slight change to his routine
would have to be made. Generally, he wouldturn off the water and towel off in the stall
before stepping out into the room. But on days
like this, he would have to step out onto the
floor mat and towel off in the open room. Theslight chill he would face from air-drying would
be combatted by the heat fan set into the ceilingimmediately outside the shower stall.
He dried himself as his very pregnant
wife slipped past him into the stall. Then hewalked on the cold tile floor into the dressing
room, little more than a larger walk-in closet
with a few places to sit while dressing. He
picked his clothing for the day, including a shirtfrom the hanger rod, some clean jeans from the
stack on their shelf, and some socks rolledtightly into a bundle to keep them together.That day he would be wearing sock pair
number seventeen. Not that it mattered which
pair he wore in which order, but he liked tokeep the socks wearing in a consistent
progression. To do this, he had marked all his
socks with black marker near the toes. They
each had a number, in this case seventeen, and aletter to signify which foot they went on, right
or left.
Due to his marking, he always knewwhich sock had come up missing after the
laundry had been finished, if any had that time.
Once, he had been missing sock thirteen S for
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four weeks. It finally turned up in the folds of
his gym bag. S stood for starboard, and thosewith a P on them went on his port foot, or left.
It made sense to him, even if his wife thought it
funny.
After he had dressed himself and stoodshaving in front of the mirror, he heard the
water turn off in the stall. He picked her towelfrom the bar and handed it to her quickly, so
that she could towel off in the stall instead of
the colder air in the room. After she hadfinished, his wife stepped from the shower and
handed him her towel, which he held up in the
air. He held it up at the perfect height to block
her from seeing herself in the wide mirror as shepassed it on her way to the dressing room. She
kissed him on his freshly shaved cheek as shewalked by. Once she was in the closet, hefolded the towel, put it back on the bar to dry
and began working on the other cheek with his
shaver.He didnt understand her not liking to
see her present physical state reflected for her
view, but he had his own eccentricities and she
let him have those. He figured it was only fairhe would let her have her own quirks. When
the razor was cleaned and set back on its
charging dock, he stood brushing his teeth, stillin front of the mirror. He didnt need to be
there, but it seemed like as good a place as any
to brush his teeth.
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After his teeth, came his hair, which just
meant making sure the mass looked uniform.He combed it a little, then tipped his head
forward to make sure he had no rogue sprigs of
hair at the crown of his head. As he turned to
leave the bathroom, his wife came from thedressing room and kissed him again. He put his
hands under her arms and lifted her with a quickmovement, popping a few of her back vertebrae.
Thanks dear, she said lovingly.
No problem, cutie, Lenny said inreturn.
What have you got planned for the
day?
Well, theres some work that needs tobe done in seasonal maintenance, began
Lenny. And I guess a few people need to havetheir annual reviews performed.Be safe, said Alicia, mocking his
administrative duties, knowing he was itching to
get back up in the air again.
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2As he sat in his office, a room he used
about once a month on average, he thumbed
through the paperwork he had received fromHR department. As much as he liked to get out
and work with his hands, he also understood theneed to keep up the office duties his positionentailed.
The first person ready for their review
sat in a chair in the hall, waiting patiently forLenny to be ready to proceed. When his door
opened and Lenny stood in the doorway, Red
stood up from her chair. She walked past him
and sat in one of the seats across his desk fromwhere he would sit.
Lenny walked in and shut his door.
Then once he sat in his chair, he began theinterview, So, hows things?
Red answered calmly, They're fine.
And you?
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I'm good, said Lenny. So, as you
were informed, this is an annual performancereview. And you are welcome to have an
attorney present if you choose.
Red nodded, I know, but I dont think
well need one.As per our employee policy, you are
also entitled to have a fountain drink present ora box of popcorn. Do you think youll be
wanting any of those?
Nah, said Red. I'm fine.Suit yourself, said Lenny.
After taking a draw from the straw in his
own fountain drink and setting it back on the
coaster on his desk, Lenny continued to thumbthrough the paperwork in his hands.
Red noticed the waste of her time andspoke up, You dont remember what happensnext, do you?
Nope, said Lenny as he put the
paperwork down. I dont have to do this thatoften, and I think its been like ten months since
the last review. I know were supposed to have
time to discuss any issues we may be having, so
lets skip to that.Alright, said Red. Well, I dont have
any problems with this place or its people. And
I'm not too reserved about my opinions when Ihave them, so anything I have wanted to say
before now, I already have. You?
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I dont have any problems with your
performance up until now. Are you happyhere? I mean, given the opportunity to leave the
island, would you prefer to go or stay?
Do you want me to leave? asked Red.
No, of course not, said Lenny quickly.But I just realize that some people may feel the
need to return to the states and if they do, theyare welcome to with my best wishes. I dont
want anyone staying here if they dont want to.
Like if you wanted to just go take a drive in acar, youd have a hard time doing that here.
Well, now that you talk about it, I have
been feeling a little cramped here, but I wasnt
really sure if it would go away soon. Wouldyou mind if I took some time off here in the
next while, to clear my head?I wouldnt mind a bit, said Lenny.Take the time you need. Just please keep me
in the loop. Like keep your phone on you or
something.That sounds reasonable, said Red.
And then she looked a little sheepish, but asked,
Would you mind if Kyle came with me on this
trip also?Lenny shrugged, Hes your husband. I
have less claim in his time than you do. Take
him with you.Red stood from her chair and said,
You're a great boss, no matter what everyone
else says.
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Lenny looked a little surprised, What?
Everyone else? What are they saying? Arethey saying I'm not nice?
Red smirked and said, Dude, take a
joke. It wont kill you.
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3One down, said Lenny to himself.
Two to go.
His office door opened and he stood toreceive his next guest. Please shut the door
behind you.Pete walked into the room and sat acrossfrom Lenny. Lenny began, Zachery Stuart,
AKA Pete.
Yes, sir.According to the company employee
policy, you are entitled to have an attorney
present. As well, you are entitled to have a
fountain drink and or a box of popcorn. Wouldyou like any of these?
No sir, said Pete.
After another draw from his ownfountain drink, Lenny asked, So, hows
things?
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I think, began Pete, that things are
going pretty good. I mean, do you have anycomplaints against me?
Not a one, said Lenny. But this is a
two way thing, you know. If you have any
issues with me or the company as a whole, youare welcome to mention them in this meeting
without fear of reprisal or retaliation.Pete shrugged and said, Im not having
any problems.
Well, I dont have any issues with yourperformance up until now. In fact, I was
wondering if youd be willing to take on a little
more responsibility. But no pressure though.
Like what? asked Pete.Like, being a team lead, said Lenny.
If you want, we could move you into a leadposition, giving you authority over your ownengineering team, if you wanted. I can see a lot
of potential leadership ability in you and I dont
want to waste it. But I also dont want to pushyou into anything you wont be comfortable
with. This is entirely your option, I'm just
offering it to you.
Pete remained quiet for a short time, butLenny could see he was thinking hard. Would
you like time to think it over?
Yes, sir.Lenny sighed and said, Look, if you're
going to keep calling me Sir, then I'm going to
have to invoke the grievance avoidance clause,
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and neither of us will like that. I still have
nightmares about the slime bucket and foam-padded weapons.
Pete laughed, but he also remembered
the last grievance filed against Lenny. The
whole island turned up to watch theproceedings, and the video nearly ended up on
the web but for some quick thinking by Lennyand some clever network activity by DaNell.
Pete said, Alright. Ill stop calling you
sir, but I still think the monkey deserved it.Lenny shuddered, recalling the final
state of the papier-mch monkey. He brought
he conversation back to the room as he said,
Good then. As we were saying. Are youhappy hear? I mean, if you need to take some
time off to visit people in the states, yourewelcome to, you know.Im doing ok, I think, said Pete.
I've looked over your files and you
have taken a total of three vacation days in thelast year. Am I going to have to make taking
vacations mandatory?
Look, is it my fault that I dont feel the
desire to take a vacation from a dream job in atropical paradise locale?
Actually, began Lenny. I think that
would fall in under things that are your fault.But I guess I do make it all too fun to live and
work here. I've been thinking lately about
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taking down Roaring Chunder because it makes
the island too fun. Thoughts?Both knew Lenny wouldnt actually do
such a thing, but it felt good to laugh about it.
Lenny sometimes felt like he didnt get the time
he wanted with each of his employees, gettingto know them on a personal level like he had
with Josh and Red and Hank when they wereyounger.
Thats up to you, said Pete. But if
you're willing to risk a full-on rebellion of themasses, then by all means shut down Roaring
Chunder.
Seriously, though, said Lenny. If
theres anything you need from me, please letme know?
I think I could move into a leadposition, said Pete. It took me a minute to getused to it, but I'm good now.
Are you sure?
Yeah, I'm good now, said Pete.All right then, Ill let people know
about it tomorrow morning. For the first little
while, youll be my number one go-to guy. If
people have any problems while I'm gone, orbusy, they can come to you. Is that
acceptable?
Pete nodded, Yeah, thats fine. I cando it.
Both men stood up and Lenny shook
Petes hand. As he walked around his desk,
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Lenny said, I think this will be good for you.
And I think in not long, everyone else will seeyou as a leader and someone they can look to if
they need.
Pete smiled and said, Bring it on.
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4His third and final interview for the
morning came into his office and sat casually
while Lenny was out refilling his soda cup.When he returned, with Hank in tow, he made
sure that everything was on the level. No pointlooking like he was showing nepotism if hewasnt planning on it.
Good morning, said Hank, shaking her
hand.Good morning, Hank, said Alicia.
Lenny sat in his seat and took a swallow
from his soda cup. Then he began, As per our
employee policy, you realize that you areentitled to have an attorney present in this
meeting. Would you like to bring one in?
No thank you, said Alicia.And also per the employee policy,
continued Lenny, you are entitled to have a
fountain drink and a box of popcorn in this
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meeting. Would you like either of those
items?Actually, yes, said Alicia. I would
like a soda and a box of popcorn. But Im
already down, could you please get them for
me? Lenny stood and said, Not a problem,
which soda would you like?The strawberry one, please. And extra
butter on the popcorn, if you dont mind.
Lenny walked out of his office anddown the hall to the left. He picked a box from
the popcorn area of the copier room and
scooped it full from the popper basin. Then he
doused the top of the fluffy white treat with theyellow syrup from the butter machine.
Then Lenny took from the dispenser a32 ounce paper cup and filled it half way withice and then the rest of the way with the
strawberry soda, and then snapped a lid on it,
making sure to also pick his wife a straw formthe small box near the lids. He carried the
popcorn and soda back to his office and handed
them respectfully to Alicia, seated in the chair
where he had left her.She graciously took them from him and
smiled, Thanks dear.
Lenny sat down at his seat again andasked, Well, should we get this show on the
road?
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Alicia took a handful of popcorn and
said, Sure.Lenny looked over his paperwork and
then put it down. Do you have any issues with
me as a supervisor? And please be honest.
Alicia thought hard about it and thenanswered, I think to a limited extent, you have
issues with appearances. Meaning I think youput a little too much importance on how others
perceive your performance as a supervisor.
Theres being a good boss, and then theresbeing too scared that youll mess up. It shows.
I think if you relaxed a bit more, things would
still be fine around here.
Hank and Lenny both scribbled in theirnotebooks as she spoke. And then Hank asked,
Are you saying this as a wife to her husband inrelation to how he performs his duties? Or isthis coming from an employee?
Alicia looked a little reluctant to speak,
but then she did so, Look, I know weve beentrying to make this work, and for a while now, it
just hasnt done so effectively. But we gave it a
good run. As of tonight, I am resigning my
position here with TOAD, Inc.Both Hank and Lenny tried to speak,
both obviously trying to stop her resignation.
But Alicia put up her hands and silenced them.she added, I know. You dont want me to feel
like I have to leave, and I'm not really. Ill still
help out with engineering and things when I
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can, when I have the time, but really, I need to
be a mother now. I dont know if you noticed,but I'm about ready to pop here. And my first
few months are going to be taken up solely with
bringing new babies into the world, and taking
care of them.Hank wrote it all down in his legal
shorthand, but Lenny spoke, If this is what youreally want, we can put you on a maternity leave
or an extended leave of absence.
And if I never make it back to being afull-time employee again? How would that
look in my file? No, this is for the best. Until I
can make the decision later to come back, I
should be free to not worry about lingeringpaperwork and policy headaches. Were a
government contractor. We need to make sureeverything is on the level and that includes forthe bosss wife.
Lenny paused and then said, Well
respect your wishes, then. Hank can have thepaperwork draw up pretty quick, I think, to
cancel your contract or amend it, whichever you
choose.
Hank spoke up, I can have it ready inan hour, if this is really what you want.
Just try to stop her, said Lenny
jokingly. When she makes up her mind aboutsomething, not even pesky laws of the universe
can stop her. Trust me, I know.
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Alicia tried valiantly to stand from her
chair, but in the end, Lenny helped her to herfeet, Thanks for understanding dear. And
dont worry, your people trust you, so you
should trust them also. Now go get me a few
new pillows from the commissary, please. Theones in the bed are crap.
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5Lenny had her new pillows to her
bedside before she was ready to lie down. He
helped her position them just right, and thenkissed her on the cheek, Ill be back for lunch.
And what have you planned for the restof today?Nothing but fun for the teams,
reported Lenny. Its Thursday, you know.
Yeah, I forgot. Why is it we doThursday-fun-days again?
Because, explained Lenny, Thursday
is the day before Friday, the last day of the
week. We need to celebrate the last day of thework week, with a party the previous day. That
way, the teams power through the last day and
can relax on Saturdays. It all makes sense to usguys.
Of course it does, said Alicia.
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Lenny kissed her again and then left his
apartment. He walked the halls and found hisway to the NASA offices in his fortress. Upon
entering, he found that he had missed an
announcement or memo, or whatever. There in
bright blue letters on the dry-erase board he sawscribbled, Still have an opening for someone to
deadhead the supply run.Nearly jumping for excitement, Lenny
found the first person he could reach and
begged, Please tell me that opening is stillthere?
Nobody took it yet, said the secretary.
Lenny bounced a few times and then
Ill take it. Its tomorrow morning, right?Yes, sir. But have the flight medical
team check you out before going up there,please. The last thing we need is to spread theflu or some other bacteria around our moon
base.
Youve got a deal! said Lenny.Even a shot in the arm couldnt stop him
from making this trip. Though he hated needles
with a passion to rival his love for flying, his
first visit to the moon base run by NASA wouldbe payment enough for the blood-screening they
needed to do on him.
No amount of distraction could take hismind off the impending trip, but the only thing
that could stop him at that point would be denial
of permission from his wife. How to ask her?
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Its not like he needed her permission,
but he felt like he needed her approval for thetrip, because she was after all carrying his
children in her belly. She had a say in what he
did, anything that might be dangerous or time-
consuming would require her approval.Generally, she didnt deny him his
adventures, but once in a while, she advocatedcaution over ambition, just until more
information could be received about whatever
situation.All throughout the day, Lenny wondered
how he would put it to her, how he could
convince her to let him go up. At long last, he
decided around dinner time that he would justask her nonchalantly, as if it were no big deal.
Maybe she would let him go if she thought itwas as routine as walking to the dining hall.That night, he had normal dreams, as
normal as any he had remembered before. And
in the morning, after his shower and dressingroutine, he spoke to his wife, Any plans for
today?
I thought I would just relax and wait for
the babies to pop out, you?Making an effort to sound as casual as
he could, Lenny spoke to his wife as if it were
no different than any other morning.I thought Id go on a supply run this
morning, said Lenny. Alpha Base is
scheduled to receive a shipment of dry food
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stuffs and water tanks this afternoon. I figured I
could hitch a ride in the command module.Just be safe dear, said Alicia.
Always, said Lenny. This will be as
quick and painless as getting the mail from the
post office.
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6He entered the large dining hall and
walked up toward the larger assortment of
breakfast foods under the warmers. As he stoodin line, not a normal thing for him to do, he
decided he would depart from his usual morningmeal and get another plate array. Whereas heusually had a bowl of rice with cinnamon, sugar
and milk on it, this morning he instead scooped
some scrambled eggs onto his plate.These eggs werent the normal blend
either, but had little bits of peppers and onion in
them, along with gooey cheddar cheese melted
throughout the batch. Along with his eggs, hepicked two strips of turkey bacon from the stack
and a warm flakey biscuit from another tray.
He also took a slice of wheat bread toastfrom a basket and set it near his eggs.
Collecting his silverware and a tall glass of
orange juice from the beverage area, he looked
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around and decided he would sit at a different
seat than his usual. Picking one out, he walkedtoward it and placed his tray of food and glass
of juice on the table.
As he sat down, preparing to eat from
his chosen breakfast, an uncommonly energeticvoice seemed to shout near him, What the
CRAP? Help! Someones replaced Lenny withan alien! Hes doing something different this
morning.
Lenny paused and waited for Darcy tosit down, which she did do near him. He spoke
calmly, Good morning Darcy.
Hey, you know I was just pulling your
beard, right?Of course, said Lenny as he picked up
some egg from his plate.So, really, though. Whats up with thenew dish?
After he had cleared his mouth, Lenny
answered, It so happens that I am tryingsomething new this morning. Its not the first
time I've eaten eggs in my life you know.
I get that, said Darcy as she sipped
from her normal mug of coffee, but if you areanything, Leonardo, you are a creature of habit.
And to see a man like yourself changing it up in
such a way, begs the question, what else isgoing on in his life? I mean, you sat at a new
seat, you got different foods, and if I'm not
mistaken, you changed up your aftershave.
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Lenny smiled, I know this may come as
a shock to you, but I dont wear aftershave. Iuse an electric razor and so dont need to
condition my skin afterwards. I did however
change my underarm deodorant this morning, if
it matters that much to you.Whoa! Too much information, big
dog. I was just being conversational. Butreally, its good to see you branching out from
your routines.
I'm glad you approve of my choicesthis morning, said Lenny before a long drink
from his orange juice.
So, whats on the docket this morning,
asked Darcy, more calm after half her mug hadbeen emptied.
I'm not sure, answered Lenny. Ihavent gotten to it yet. As you can see, I'm stilleating my breakfast. I dont have it all
memorized.
Yeah, I didnt think you did, saidDarcy looking around. Hey, wheres your
wife?
Shell be along in a while, said Lenny.
Its just that I was helping her withsome stuff and we kind of left some questions
unanswered last night.
As I said, shell be along shortly, saidLenny before another bite of eggs.
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Sure thing, chief, said Darcy as she
stood from the table. Hey, have her call mewhen you see her next. Comprende?
Sure, said Lenny as Darcy walked off,
not waiting for his answer.
He continued to eat his breakfast until itwas gone, looking around at his workers and
villagers eating and enjoying their lives. In hismind, he felt a little like he had done this for
them, but he also had an unmistakable feeling
that something was missing. There was a holein his head, and he needed to fill it with
something. But he couldnt figure out what was
missing.
And then the idea came to him, ofcourse, that was it. He hadnt worked on
anything world-changing in months, andanything exciting in even longer. He had triedto tone down his companys efforts and risks
since they had lost Bruce. He felt like they
couldnt take another risk like that again.Especially not after their third Military
occupation had passed as a temporary one.
Lenny gathered his dishes and stood
from his table. He walked over to the dirty dishwindow and slid his load through the small slot.
The sounds of a few dishes clinking and
bumping could be heard through the slot, aswhoever they were took them to be rinsed and
sanitized. He turned again and made his way
over to where they had their usual morning
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meetings. He knew it would be a few minutes
more before anyone noticed him there, but hedidnt mind waiting.
In his mind, he jumped for joy knowing
what he was about to do. He was actually really
sure-enough going to visit a real moon base, andnot even in the sci-fi story he was writing. It
was for real.
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7When he had made sure his teams were
ready for their day, he informed them that he
would be out the rest of his. And I may not beback by the end of the shift, depending on how
long it takes for me to get unloaded and backhere. If you have any questions or concerns, Illbe on the radio, but if you need immediate help,
get with Pete.
After a short open forum discussion,Lenny found himself walking the halls on his
way to the launch bay. It felt exciting and
frightening at once, to finally take the
opportunity to take a ride in their restockingvessel. Little more than a few long girders with
cargo canisters securely fastened to them and a
computerized command module, it representedalmost four months of labor in its final
completion. It had been in service for a few
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months to that point, and had suffered no
problems yet.His heart raced as he fastened his safety
belts. He would really be doing it this time.
Telling the autopilot that he was ready for it to
continue its program, he readied himself forflight. His space suit hindered his movements
greatly, but he wasnt really planning on doingmuch while in the cockpit anyway. The thing
pretty much flew itself.
Lidia, their name for the cargo hauler,lifted carefully from the floor and entered the
launch tunnel. The heavy doors closed behind
it, and then the lock chamber filled with water
quickly as the ocean-side doors openedunceremoniously. Out into the water he rode
the shuttle, and then felt himself rising towardthe waves.Once they broke the surface and Lidia
pointed her nose skyward, Lenny felt the slight
acceleration as they rocket to several hundredmiles per hour. It felt exhilarating as he hadnt
flown in months, hadnt had the time or need.
But the stars had aligned for this trip and he
jumped at the chance when it came.Up and up he flew as the sky darkened
gradually. The blue faded to black with points
of light showing brightly around his view. Hisgoal became more visible also, as a large bright
gray disk in front of Lidias path.
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TOAD, Inc. wasnt moving its
operations to the moon, nor were they buildinga place to play. They were in fact doing their
part to further NASAs plans toward
colonization. In order to help them, Lenny had
agreed to allow the agency limited use of traveland transportation equipment and technologies,
in helping them to build their first off-planetbase. For the most part, few people knew about
the initiative, in relation to the number of people
who could have, but to Lenny and his team, thenumber was very high.
Still, he jumped at the chance to help
them develop technologies and practices that
they could use in building other bases andoutposts around the solar system. In return for
their shuttle services, TOAD, Inc. receivedabout a tenth of the cost of conventional rocketlaunches. Yes it was a steep price, he knew, but
Lenny didnt want them to think it was an easy
thing he gave to them, though it really was.The radio squawked at Lenny, Supply
shuttle, this is Alpha Base. We have you on
radar and show a proper vectoring for approach.
Hold course and enjoy the ride. We estimatelunar gravitational acquisition in under two
hours.
Lenny keyed his mic and responded,Acknowledged, Alpha Base. Say, hows the
weather up there today?
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The reply came back, As always, cold
and vacuous.The channel went quiet and Lenny
settled in to wait. He listened to his music
playlist, piped into his helmet from the onboard
computer system. He listened as he read froman ereader his favorite story. It was a book,
written by an engineering technician of allpeople, about a not too probable present.
The story told of a secret military
organization protecting earth from space threats,while interweaving interpersonal struggles into
the space junk also. It gave him ideas on how
he wanted his group to work in space, except for
a few changes hed make. For starters, they hadbuilt a massive starship for their uses, whereas
Lenny liked things to be smaller.The starship had a sentient AI mindcontrolling it, but it wasnt very believable
because it talked too much like a human. It
spoke of feelings and things like that, whereasLenny knew from first-hand experience that
computers could only simulate emotion, not
truly feel it themselves.
His reading ended abruptly as he openedhis eyes. A searing pain in his head told him
that he hadnt just fallen asleep, but had been
knocked unconscious. His blurry vision sooncleared and told him very little more than he
knew before.
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He remembered almost nothing, except
for a siren and then the lights going out. As helooked around, he saw mostly nothing, and then
something. It was a large rock about the size of
a football, and it seemed to be floating near the
top of his canopy. Another handful of smallerones also turned near it in his view. But where
had they come from?He looked around his console and saw
that it was dead. No lights anywhere. And then
he realized something else very nerve-wracking.As Lenny sat in his seat, he felt no gravity. In
an instant, he knew what had happened. Or
what could have happened. The Hatching drive
had cut out, returning his gravity from normalearth level to none. But how had that anything
to do with the rocks?Were they asteroids? The answer came,Of course, you nimrod. In his mind he spoke
to himself, Youre in space, and you came
from high speed flight on earth. Where elsecould the rocks have come from?
He put together in his mind a possible
timeline of events that would explain his
situation. As he had been flying along, mindinghis own business, his path had crossed that of a
space rock, and he had hit it at just the exact
moment that it was in his path. The rock haddamaged at least the control systems that drove
his small ship, if not the module itself as well.
When it went offline, he must have been tossed
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forward or to the side, or something. He hit his
head with enough force to render himunconscious but not kill him.
Well, he said out loud, Maybe I
should have installed some airbags in this thing.
Note to self.He looked around himself closely and
saw that the canopy seemed to have remainedintact. But there was no telling how long it
would remain so. He checked his gages on his
arm and saw that his suit still registered fullpressure. Ok, he thought to himself, Im still
safe for now. But I need to decompress the
canopy safely if I want to guarantee safe exit.
Who knows if these suits are designed towithstand explosive decompression?
He found the cabin depress valve nearhis reach and slowly turned it just a little. Hedidnt want to overdo it, just let it out slowly.
As he let the air out into space, he also hoped
that it didnt change his course of flight. Butwith so much mass as he had in his cargo
compartments, chances of that happening were
slim. But he acted defensively just in case.
The gage on his arm showed no pressurearound him in a short time. Again, he watched
his internal pressure gage and felt relieved to
see that it hadnt moved. So his suit seal stillhad integrity. That was another thing to be
grateful for. But when he had finished with his
gage checks, he knew he still wasnt any closer
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to being saved. He had to act quickly to get it
done in his allotted time remaining. Once hefelt comfortable with that, he tried to key his
mic, Alpha Base, come in please.
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8The speaker in his helmet remained
silent, but not from damage. It simply hadnt
the range to reach the moon without theshuttles radio repeating his signal. He hadnt
really expected that to work, but unless he triedit, hed never know if that was all it took to alertthe bases of his condition.
Calm down, he said out loud. Youre
still fine. Just keep calm and youll make itthere safely.
And then another fact hit him squarely
in the jaw, Wait, no you wont. Without the
autopilot, this thing will just either crash intothe surface or bypass the moon into deep space.
But theyll notice the transponder out and send a
rescue for you in short order.But he couldnt lie to himself for long.
The reality of his situation set in and he knew he
wouldnt be fine. Space is vast, he said to
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himself. Im flying at thousands of miles per
hour, though I have no idea what the impact didto my speed and course. Even a few miles away
from me and Ill be invisible in the blackness
and lost to whatever rescue my people will
send. And without a means of communicatingwith them, I have no idea if theyll find me at
all. Even if I were on course, Im not aimed forgravitational acquisition and orbit, like the older
moon missions were. Im aimed, or I WAS
aimed at a calculated approach vector, planningto use the drive module as an engine up until I
landed. And the chances that I would have been
bumped perfectly onto an orbital insertion angle
by that rock are infinitesimally small. No, if Iplan to get home, its going to be my doing.
At once, Lenny set to work making amental accounting of his tools and equipment.There wasnt much. Up until that time, they
had enjoyed relative success with their drive
modules, to the point of laziness in the areas ofalternate plans. He resolved right then to
change that when he got back homeif he got
back home.
Tools and supplies, said Lenny. Ihave my ereader, and whatever is stuffed in the
pockets of this suit. He looked around himself,
and discovered something else, I dont haveany pockets? What idiot designs a space suit
without pockets?
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As he sat back in his seat, calming
himself, he decided to think it over. What didhe have? He had a system that was offline, a
battery supply, which may have been damaged
by the impact, and a drive module, which also
could have been damaged, depending on thearea and force of impact. Was he sure it was an
impact? Yes, the rocks and state of his vesselpretty much guaranteed the fact that he was hit
by a space rock, or that he had hit one.
I have experience in making electronicsdo what I want, he said aloud. I can do this.
Slowly, and ever-so-carefully, Lenny
opened the canopy on the cockpit and made his
way safely from it along the outside of hisvessel, to assess the damage to the other
systems outside the cockpit. He always keptone hand on the ship at all times, knowing thatif he let it go, for even a second, he could be
really lost in space, and permanently without
hope.His gages told him that he had still a few
hours of air, and if he carefully monitored his
breathing, he might make it last longer, but not
much. The sight he saw when he found his wayto the drive module wasnt a good one. The
thing had been decimated by the impact. It
looked like it had barely managed to not fall offthe supports that held it in place. A large
section of the resin ball had been blown off,
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with bits of its innards hanging loose here and
there.Upon reaching the battery compartment,
he felt a little better. At least that had remained
undamaged. But the compartment that housed
the brains of the ship left him saddened again.A hole large enough for him to stick his hand
through had been punched in the lid plate.Behind it, he saw the computer tower had
suffered the same fate. And the holes lined up
with the impact area on the drive module.So, he said to himself. No system to
control the module, battery is good, but mostly
no module itself. Even if I am able to hack the
remaining functional guts of the drive into aworking order with nothing but my bare gloved
hands, I have nothing with which to control it.Lenny mentally kicked himself for nothaving a backup system in place, knowing that
this possibility existed in real outer space. It
would have been just a few pounds and a fewcubic feet to have the extra tower near the
battery box.
Trying not to dip into depression at
every turn, he shook his head and thoughtpositively, I can do this. The remaining bits of
controller boards in the drive module housing
can be reworked. The wires can be tied togetherand I can use
His voice trailed off as he realized that
he would have to somehow figure out how to
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fly his ship, literally manually. Hed have to
charge the uranium rice grains that he could useby touching wires together in his gloved fingers,
while floating in space next to the drive,
somehow not falling away the whole time.
Positive, positive, I can do this, hesaid to himself. I just wish I had finished that
chapter before-He shook himself when he realized he
did in fact have a computer with him still. He
had his ereader. It was a simple system, andwould have to be heavily reworked for the
purpose, but he could do it. Hed done harder
things before with less. But not with less time,
he realized. In just a few short hours, if hehadnt found a way to get either back to earth or
forward to the moon base, hed be sunk anyway,no matter how close he got.No, he said again. Positive, positive,
positive. I can do this.
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9Work went quickly, but as carefully as
he could. The unusable wiring he could
scavenge from the damaged control boards inthe drive module he tied into a long pair of
leads. He twisted the ends together as tight ashe could with his gloves and hoped they wouldwork. He laced them through holes in the
cockpit firewall, the barrier that separated his
area from the battery compartment and that ofthe computer tower that had flown it.
Lenny plugged the wires into the holes
in the wiring where he knew the commands
went to the drive module. The adapter plug thatused to fit snugly into the tower now hung
freely. In his cockpit, Lenny worked with his
ereader, luckily he had the model with a basickeyboard on it. He had rooted it, or hacked the
programming more usable, weeks before so that
he could let himself load unapproved content
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onto it like PDFs and other unsupported file
types. He had no idea that hed use the sameprogramming backdoor to save his life.
As he typed slowly the code lines into
the ereader, he began to feel like he would be
okay after all. The wires fit snugly into theexpansion slot plug he found in the back casing
of his toy, again realizing that things were liningup to save his life. He knew that if one thing
had gone differently all those weeks and months
ago, he wouldnt be able to get out of hispredicament. Of course, if he had simply stayed
behind and let Lidia fly herself there on her
own, no one would have been endangered when
the rock had hit her. It would just have been aloss of hardware, not a potential loss of life.
Finally, after hours of coding andrecoding, he felt ready to test his system out.He closed his eyes and pressed the enter button
on the ereader. He knew at once that it had
worked, if well enough. He felt a small amountof inertia pushing him back in his seat. The
back half of the drive module still worked
almost as good as the thing in one piece. He
turned his ship about and then noticed that theearth looked much farther than he had hoped.
Which way would be safest for him?
Should he return to earth? Or should he chancethe shorter distance and continue on toward the
moon base? Knowing he was wasting precious
seconds with indecision, Lenny pushed his
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signature. But once he came into view, theyd
recognize his shape and know it was him.He came in slowly, unthreateningly, and
set down on the soft dirt near the exposed
cement ceiling of the launch bay. He powered
down the system once down and then climbedout of the cockpit and manually unplugged the
battery wiring from the battery.Then as he turned around, he saw a few
people approaching him. Lenny unlocked and
removed his helmet and addressed them, Itsokay, its just me.
The guards lowered their weapons and
Pete spoke, Why didnt you respond on the
radio-ooohwhat happened to the shuttle?Lenny guessed Pete noticed for the first
time the damage he had taken. I got a flat tire,had to limp it back home.And the supply drop?
They have enough to last them another
month up there. Theyll be safe for now, untilwe can get Lidia back up and running. But call
them and let them know this trip had a mishap.
Pete nodded and went back toward the
complex entrance speaking on his phone.Lenny took the opportunity to pull out his own
cell phone and dial in to command. DaNell
answered, This is Command.This is Lenny. I'm fine, but there was
an accident en route to the moon. I apologize
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about not following radio protocols. My system
was literally smashed to pieces, though.Were just glad youre back safe. And
this is coming from a woman and a wife, you
might want to tell your wife about this in
person, not on the phone. Trust me.Lenny cringed at the thought of telling
his wife anything about the trip. He wasntabout to lie to her, but he just didnt want to
upset her in her condition. The doctor had
warned her not to have any stress if she couldhelp it.
But firmly he walked back toward the
complex, making his way as carefully as he
would try to speak to his wife.
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10The disappointing news spread through
the community like a plague, and before
nightfall, not a single person wouldnt haveheard of his ingenious work in getting back
home with a broken drive module, some sparewiring and an ereader.But of the whole island, there were a
few people that were less than pleased with his
story. Alicia sat quietly, trying to remain calmas he explained it all to her. But he continued
nervously, I didnt plan on it, and I know its a
miracle that I made it back safely. And were
changing the procedures from here out as aresult of thisincident.
Alicia sat quietly, trying to remain calm.
Lenny asked, Can you say something?What do you want me to say? Good
job? Welcome home? Lenny, our children
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almost lost their father today before they ever
met him. How do you want me to respond?I dont know, defended Lenny. But
as long as you know that it wasnt on purpose
and it wont happen again, I guess I dont care
how you respond.Alicia sat stewing before she spoke up,
I get that you didnt plan this, but theres onlyone way to perfectly guarantee that itll never
happen again.
No way, said Lenny. Thats notgoing to happen. You cant clip my wings.
Youre not a bird, she said. You're a
man, and my husband. And if I ask you to stay
grounded for a while, its because I love you.Lenny glared at the floor. It didnt seem
fair. She was punishing him for something thatwasnt his fault. And in his mind he knew thathe would submit to her will, out of love. He
didnt agree with her request, but he didnt need
to. In time his days and nights would be so fullof other distractions that he wouldnt have time
to daydream, let alone run off on adventures.
Things like diapers and crying and midnight
feedings would soon fill his waking andsleeping thoughts.
Upset about it, but defeated, Lenny said
softly, Fine. Ill stay grounded for a while.But not permanently.
Im not asking for this plan to be
permanently, said Alicia, rubbing his leg,
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trying to reassure him. I just need to know that
youre calming it down for a while. I still needyou here even though our children arent born
yet. And Ill need you even more so when they
ARE here. Tell me you understand this?
Lenny nodded forlornly. Flight hadbeen such a large part of his life up until then, it
felt like he was losing an arm to let it go. Buthe would do it for her, for his family. He loved
his family more then he loved to fly.
As he prepared his dinner that night, anidea came to him. That isnt to say that ideas
didnt come to him often, but this one seemed to
come unnoticed in the beginning. But before
long, he had stopped working in the kitchen.He stood still contemplating the idea. Could it
work? Possibly, but hed have to figure it outfully before proposing it to his people.And then when the prototype had been
finishedbut he stopped himself. His idea
dealt with flight, or flight propulsion morespecifically. Would it be cheating on his
promise to develop a flight technology if he
himself didnt go up in it? Of course it
wouldnt, he told himself.Immediately he picked up his slate PC
and started drawing up some specs for his
design. The numbers were coming togethernicely when a scent in his nose made him pause.
It was unpleasant, like wood burning. But not
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the kind of wood that smells good when it
burns.He looked around him and quickly
found the cause of the smell. As fast as he
could, he grabbed a pair of tongs from the
cooking tool rack and grabbed the woodenspoon from the gas stovetop. He dropped it in
the sink and turned the faucet on full power onthe burning wood.
Then he turned off the stove flame and
picked up his slate again. He minimized thedrawing application and opened the protocols
for the fortress venting systems. Calling up his
residence, he ordered the system to purge his
residence with no thought for his dinner.The vent above the stove began to draw
in air at an alarming rate, so much so that thesalad greens in the bowl beside the stove gotsucked up with the smoke from the burning
wood. The cool air in the air conditioning
system turned on at a high rate and acted as thebypass supply for the vent suction.
Just two minutes later the system
detected no more smoke in the purge stream and
it slowed the intake of air to nearly stopped.Lenny stood in shock, knowing he had nearly
caused a disaster by setting the wood spoon too
close to the flame under the pot he had beenheating. If it had spread to far, it could have
quickly compromised the safety of his section,
his floor, or the entire complex.
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Vowing to never again cook absent-
mindedly, Lenny turned the purge protocol backoff and adjusted the room thermostat to
compensate for the frigid air that got pumped in
from levels below him. He knew his wife
would notice the smell; her nose had becomemore sensitive with the growth of her
pregnancy. Hopefully she would think he hadburned some food. He wouldnt lie to her about
it, but he wouldnt volunteer the fact that he had
very well almost cost them their home.
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11This is fantastic, said Lenny as he
retooled the design on his slate PC.
His stylus had become an extension ofhis hand again, marking down figures and
dimensions in his notes about his design. Healmost didnt notice the baby finish drinkingfrom the bottle near him, but on instinct he
saved his work and put the tablet down for a
minute. Now came the burping.Gently Lenny picked up his daughter
from her seat. Although most babies are able to
effectively burp themselves at four months old,
he and Alicia had yet to see young Kayla do so.It could have been laziness, or insufficient
development, but whatever the reason, they still
found themselves burping her over theirshoulders after her eight month mark.
Cory slept in his bassinette a few feet
from them, and it seemed that he could do so
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with is sister crying, too. Generally, it was her
that Lenny and Alicia heard in the middle of thenight, and not him. Cory cried once in a while,
but generally they assumed that he had learned
to rely on his sisters cries to get what he
wanted.As he fed them and burped them and
cleaned their diapered behinds and put themback down for their sleeping, Lenny knew that
his time was quickly approaching. He said as
much to his wife lying near him with her eyesopen. Its coming up quick, you know.
What is dear?
The blink. You know, the big one.
Remember how parents always say that theyhad babies and in the space of a blink those
babies grew up into adults? That blink iscoming up quick.Not for me, said Alicia. I'm too busy
enjoying their infancy.
Im not enjoying changing theirdiapers, said Lenny. I think Corys getting
his teeth in, with all that that implies.
Oh, said Alicia as she stretched and
then relaxed, I just overlook the messes andconcentrate on the beauty.
Here it comes, said Lenny comically
as he exaggerated a blink. When he opened hiseyes again, he spoke, Nope. Theyre still
babies. Huh. Well, I guess I get to enjoy our
time together also.
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Are you mocking me, Mr. Hatching?
asked Alicia with fake offense.No, maam, answered Lenny. Id be
too scared to mock you.
Kayla burped big and both her parents
cheered for her. Then Lenny gently lay herback down in her own bassinette and rubbed her
back for a few seconds. Good night littlelamb.
So what were you working on over
there while she was eating?Lenny answered coyly, Just something
new and exciting. Im working on a new
arrangement for the grains of rice in a Hatching
Drive module. It may give usgive a pilotbetter agility during high speed maneuvers.
Alicia noticed his correction and ignoredit. She saw no sense bringing up old decisionsbefore it was time to readdress them. Okay,
well, dont stay up too late. Its after ten
already.Im going to sleep now, said Lenny.
I read that when your baby sleeps, youre
supposed to sleep.
Just remember, said Alicia. Yourestill on deck until two in the morning if they
stir.
I remember, sweetie, said Lenny as hecurled up in the blankets and promptly fell
asleep.
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12As time often does, it marched on by
those that slept and worked. It flew by in
moments as fun times and sad times set like thesun. It vanished into the night as those that
dreamt did so of the future and how they couldmake it better.And in the morning one day, years had
passed and Lenny found himself wishing he
hadnt blinked that one time, whichever one itwas that stole away the youth of his children
and gave him instead a pair of well-behaved yet
difficult to reign in teens. He woke that
morning, wishing he could hide the batteries tohis daughters music player, but also knowing it
wouldnt be fair to her.
Rolling over, he hugged his wife andwhispered, Honey, Kaylas awake. Its your
turn to change her.
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headphones had been plugged into her stereo
and she would again be absorbed in whatevershe was working on that morning. Back to his
bed he trudged groggily noting that his sons
room was as quiet as a stone box. He walked
into his bedroom and then climbed back into hisbed, his wife snuggling up to his back quickly
thereafter.Thanks, dear, said Alicia without
opening her eyes.
No problem, mumbled Lenny, afterwhich he promptly began snoring again.
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13The family sat in the dining room, eating
softly. The breakfast spread seemed about the
same as it had been every other morning for thepast fifteen years. There were fruits and breads
and eggs prepared several ways. One mightfind cold cereals and hot cereals and biscuitsand gravy. But what a perspective diner
wouldnt find when looking over the spread was
an answer to why Lenny seemed so happy.His normal somber mood had been
replaced that morning by an almost giddy air
about him. In fact, he found it hard to sit still
with as exciting a bit of news he held inside.And before he had finished his meal, it
exploded out of him.
Im going to take you three up in the airwith me today.
Both teens looked at their father not
quite believing what they had heard, not sure if
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they had heard right. From beneath raised
eyebrows, Alicia asked, And how shall we beflying?
Lenny answered after another bite of
rice, Shes finished, actually has been for a
while now. But we had to be sure that thetesting finished its proper course before we sent
people up in her. Yesterday, I receivedconfirmation from the testing team. Shes
ready.
Alicia nodded and smiled, And doesthis mystery vehicle have a name?
Lenny smiled, Yeah.
After a few minutes of waiting, Kayla
asked, Are you going to tell us what it is?Sure, but not yet. Ill make the
introductions this afternoon. First, I need youkids to pack small bags for a trip.Where are we going? asked Alicia.
Were going on vacation, said Lenny
mysteriously. Pack for two days after today.After their breakfast, and as the teens
were packing their bags, Alicia pulled Lenny
aside and spoke, Are you sure this thing is
safe?Lenny answered, So sure that I would
bring my family up in it. After thousands of
hours of automated test-flights, we are onehundred percent confident that its as safe as
sitting in a chair.
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Alicia nodded and then said, Okay,
then. As long as your people have put itthrough its paces a few hundred times without
incident, then I'm convinced. So where are you
taking us?
Lenny smiled again and only replied hissame answer, On vacation.
Half an hour later, as Lenny sat in asatellite teleconference meeting with a few other
people, he spoke just as confidently,
Gentlemen, let me assure you. Your moneyhas not been wasted. As of this afternoon, we
have finished our testing on your new
Supersonic Reconnaissance Fighters, ahead of
schedule and under budget. As a condition ofour contract, you will be receiving your first
delivery of SRFs today. Three models havebeen finished and put through as many tests aswe could manage with our equipment. The
combat testing is up to you.
One man asked, And you can guaranteethat this new stealth technology is absolute?
I cant promise that theyll never get
shot down, or that your enemies wont
eventually come up with a way of tracking yoursquadrons. But I can give you my personal
guarantee that for the foreseeable future, these
planes are invisible to monitoring. Theyre asloud as a diesel pickup idling next to you and
their engines create no thermal exhaust
whatsoever. Whatever radar-proofing treatment
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you apply to their hull is on you, but weve
done what we could to minimize the radarcross-section on our end.
Another man asked, How long until we
can receive the deliveries?
Lenny looked at his watch. Well, Illbe flying the three prototypes out to Nellis Air
Force Base in Nevada this afternoon. Withtakeoff at 2:00, we should be flying over your
areas before 2:15.
A slight chaotic event took place at eachof the several locations where Lennys partners
were sitting. One spoke up, You promised us a
plane, not a rocket. How can you achieve such
speeds?Lenny put up his hands, Gentlemen
please. At top cruising velocity, the prototypeplanes can in fact get from my island to Nellisin less time, but I had to figure time for taking
off and landing. The six hundred miles between
the two points could be accomplished in fiveminutes flat at their cruising velocity of Mach
twelve, but theyre not going to land at Mach
twelve, now are they?
Again the men became clamorous andLenny had to calm them, Look. You wanted a
fast jet. You wanted something agile and
invisible to radar. Are you really complainingabout getting more than you wanted? Because I
could just rip the guts out of these birds and
hand you the generic turbojet engines in them.
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But my team and I have gone above and beyond
the requirements here to give you the besthardware on the planet. And yeah, youre right,
these planes will only be bested in speed races
by rockets sprinting for orbit. But when was the
last time terrorists shot one of those at you?Now, Ill be leaving here at two this afternoon.
Well be landing at Nellis shortly thereafterwith four planes, delivering three to your test
facility. Any questions?
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14Hank sat patiently in the command
center of the underground fortress. He waited
in a comfortable seat watching the largemonitors on the wall before him. On the screen
one could make out several different dials andsimulated gages, which displayed informationgiven to them from a vehicle in the launching
bay.
DaNell spoke when she had keyed hermic, Lenny, this is command. I show on my
board full function in all drones. You are clear
to signal their liftoff.
Lenny spoke to his phone, Understood,Command. Im lighting the candles now.
Standby to open the hanger door. Open it now,
please.The large cement slab that generally
rested above the ceiling opening on the launch
bay slowly slid back and away, revealing a
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bright blue sky above. Lenny gave the
commands on his control console to the planes,all of which were small enough to fit on the lift
at once, but only barely.
One by one, they taxied carefully onto
the lift platform in the only way they knew how.Though they were unmanned at that moment,
that ability would be removed from them beforeLenny handed the keys over to the officers who
would receive them. The only reason they still
had it was to allow unmanned testing and easydelivery.
Once all were on the platform, Lenny
stepped up onto it also, huddling under one of
the wings. He had his remote control slate withhim, which would also not be handed over to
the new owners. The lift began to rise up out ofthe hangar, on command from Lennys controlslate.
Up they rose the thirty feet to the end of
the line for the lift. When it rested locked in theup position, Lenny walked a distance away from
the planes and then sent the programs to the first
Mako to spin up its engines. In a minute flat, it
hummed on the platform ready to take off.Once it signaled Lennys tablet that it had
finished its spin-up, he told it to execute the
VTOL program in its buffer.Large ductwork changed orientation
within the engines, and vents opened in several
places along the bottom of the plane. The jet-
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wash from the engines almost blew Lenny off
his feet, so close was he standing right then. Hehad been a distance away, but too close it turned
out. He walked a good distance from the
platform as the first Mako lifted gracefully from
its surface. When it had lifted a hundred feetup, the engines adjusted and began to draw
power off the vertical ducts and blow it out therear exhaust ports. The result was that the jet
began to move forward gradually, and then
accelerate into a holding pattern around theisland.
Lenny repeated the process for each of
the remaining two Makos, until all three were
circling the island at a thousand feet up andthree miles out. They flew a mere few hundred
miles per hour, less than a twentieth of theirtested maximum speed.Another thing that the new owners
wouldnt learn was that Lenny and his team had
intentionally blocked the engines from pumpingout their maximum thrust with governors. They
would cruise at Mach twelve, but the hardware
and software could safely handle up to a
theoretical Mach sixteen speed limit. Becauseof the dangers of losing an expensive prototype
at those speeds, Lenny and his teams felt scared
to test out what would happen if they tried for it.The complication of their engines and
other systems suggested that a catastrophic
failure at cruising speed would do a large
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amount of damage to the plane, and probably
the pilot. If the pilot survived the ejectionprocess at speeds of seven thousand miles per
hour or more, it would be a long fall back to an
altitude where they would be able to breathe
without a mask.The military suggested they would use
the plane for high-altitude reconnaissance athypersonic speeds. Lenny assumed they would
require their pilots to wear space-suits in case of
a punch-out at that ceiling.But not only had he designed the Makos
to work well at high altitude and speeds, but
they were agile fighters as well. In simulated
dogfights, the planes held their own wellenough to make even the most experienced
pilots jealous of the prototypes.As the platform lowered him again backinto the launch bay, upon his request, Lenny
looked on at his private model of the plane. He
traced its smooth lines and followed its curvesas an artist might on a nude muse. The lift
reached the launch bay floor which roused him
from his staring. He tuned and left the bay in
search of his family.Is everyone ready? asked Lenny when
he entered his apartment.
A few voices all spoke up, Ready!Ok, let me get my bag and we can get
going, he said as he picked up his duffel.
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Two teenage children followed him out
as his wife walked by his side. Are you goingto tell me where were going sweetie?
Lenny smiled and said only, Were
going somewhere special, with a quick stop on
the way.
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15Once the door opened, the two teens
mouths dropped open. They stood with their
eyes glued to what looked to them to be afighter-jet. Lenny walked forward, and spoke in
a loud enough voice, Let me introduce you twoto a friend of mine. Your mom has already mether, actually helped to design her. This is
Harmony.
The teens stepped slowly forward. Theyhad seen Gretta and Clarence, two other
vehicles flown out of that bay, but precious few
other people had seen Harmonys curves. And
that was by design. All testing had been done atnight up to that point, in fact, not even the sun
had seen any of the Makos before the delivery
date. This was to ensure that no other peopleexcept those on the list would see them. Not
that Lenny distrusted any of his islands
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residents, but the decision had been made by his
customers without his input.Lenny continued to introduce, This is
our modified prototype of the YF-62 Makos
design. It has four seats in the cockpit, instead
of the usual two. It has a higher cruising speedthan the military variant, and it also has two
other propulsion types that the military flavorwill never possess. Her top cruising speed is
Mach 14 with the Funnel-jet engines, two
million miles per hours with the Hatching Drivemodule, and believe it or not even faster with
the Slingshot Drive.
The teens werent listening to most of it,
but Alicia was. Lenny continued, It runs on amodified lithium gel battery pack, similar to
what powers electric cars in the States. It has aliquid nitrogen cooling jacket beneath theceramic hull, to keep the skin a constant
temperature, even with supreme wind friction
on the skin when flying at fourteen times thespeed of sound.
Cory, Lennys son interrupted, Wait,
I'm sorry. Did you say two million miles per
hour? How is that even possible?Lenny explained, When I was your age,
I built a device capable of driving an object at
what we calculated to be just over one millionmiles per hour. But that limit was imposed by
the placement of the engine and the material of
the hull of the vehicle. Before we put that drive
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technology on any other vehicle, we exhausted
our supply of tests numerous times before weever sent people up in them. All the other
testing was done with unmanned scenarios.
Wait, said Kayla. A million miles
per hour?! That means you could go around theworld in like a minute and a half! Why would
you need to fly that fast anywhere on earth?Lenny smiled warmly, Its not meant
for use within an atmosphere.
Cory had walked up close to engineintake and was peeking his nose over the edge,
Hey dad, jet engines have impellor fans. Did
you forget to install them in this thing?
Lenny walked up behind his son andreached into the hole in the plane to point, You
see those seams in the ductwork? Those arecounter-rotating ringlets with complicated solid-state parts behind them. The science behind it
would take a long time to explain, but suffice it
to say, these arent your average turbojetengines. Theyre a new design developed here
on our island called funnel-jets, patent-pending.
They use both electromotive field insertion and
static resonance band manipulation, coupledwith our own brand of-
Alicia interrupted, Youre tossing some
mighty big words at that fifteen-year-old. Areyou realistically expecting him to understand
any of it?
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Lenny summed his explanation up
quickly as he walked back toward his wife,The engines have no fans, but they still draw
air in the intake and blow it out the exhaust
applying thrust to the area behind the plane.
So, what you're saying is, beganKayla, If a bird gets sucked through that
engine, itll just get tossed out the other side alittle dizzy but no worse for wear?
Pretty much, said Lenny. And as
long as the battery back has a charge, theengines will turn. Harmony has about the same
range as some other planes her size, but the
difference is you can charge her off an electric
dryer plug, instead of trying to find a jet fueltanker.
How much does it cost in electricity tocharge it? asked Kayla.Lenny answered, I guess depending on
where you plug it in, and your local rates, it
could be around fifty or so dollars in electricity,give or take.
Fifty bucks to recharge it? said Kayla
shocked.
Give or take. Your average dieselpickup truck costs more than that to fill with
fuel at the station, defended Lenny. The only
difference is that youll be paying for it on themonthly bill with the AC, fridge and TV costs.
In the long run, its the same for us average
people. But the jets the military flies cost
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between a thousand and two thousand dollars to
fill with fuel each and every time they go up.Thats the big selling point Im betting theyll
like. Upkeep and running is a fraction of what
their other planes cost. Who knows, they may
order more from us.
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16They let his words sink in for a minute
before Cory spoke up, I call shotgun!
Lenny chuckled and answered, Sorry,but that space is reserved for your mother. But
you can place your bags on that plate therehanging under the belly. Itll go back up inside,air-sealing the compartment. And dont worry,
the cargo box is pressurized which means your
bottle of shampoo wont burst all over yourclothes.
The twins and their mother placed their
luggage on the thick plate suspended down from
the plane by an armature on each side. Oncethere bags were in, Lenny put his own bag on
the shelf and then stepped back and hit the
command on his tablet to close the bay. Theplate rose up and sealed flush with the rest of
the skin in a few seconds, impressing the kids
and their mother.
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Then Lenny climbed up the yellow
ladder near the fuselage and opened the canopy.It swung up in a way that suggested it had
counterbalance methods in its hinges. He
stepped down into the cockpit and then offered
his hand to those that would need it to climbinside near him. One by one, the two teens
found their places in the rear seats. And thenAlicia sat in the other front seat. Lenny helped
his kids to buckle themselves down safely, and
then after checking his wifes belts, buckledhimself down to his seat.
Once in, Lenny pressed the button on the
console that made the canopy go down over
them. As it touched down, their ears popped,letting them know that the cabin pressure had
been regulated properly. Lenny turned thesystems on one by one and then pushed histhrottle up just a touch. The plane began to
move forward, and then stopped on the
platform.Command, this is Harmony. Please lift
the platform.
The radio responded DaNells voice,
Harmony, this is Command. Lifting now.They felt themselves begin to go up, like
the normal feeling of being in an elevator. They
went up until the lift rested level with theground outside, when it stopped. Lenny put on
a pair of sunglasses and again keyed his mic,
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Command, this is Harmony. Requesting
clearance for takeoff.The radio spoke in the cockpit,
Harmony, I read you clear and ready for liftoff,
you have clear skies above you and are wished
good luck and a following wind.Acknowledged, said Lenny, as he
moved some controls here and there. Liftingoff now.
The kids both gasped involuntarily as
they felt themselves rising off the ground. In afew seconds, they were no longer in ground
effect, when the downward thrust from the
vertical vents was pushing on the ground. They
had lifted high enough that the thrust waspushing on the air itself. Soon they were
beginning to move forward, and picking upspeed.The radio spoke again, Be advised that
the other Makos are in a holding pattern at one
thousand feet altitude. Theyre circling theisland at three miles out, running at two hundred
and thirty miles per hour.
Acknowledged, Command, said
Lenny as he began to pull his small yet agileflying sedan into a tight sweeping turn.
He slowly and carefully merged his path
with the pattern held by the other planes. Eventhe smallest course corrections at those speeds
made noticeable changes in their position in
relation to the drones.
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Lenny kept his hands on the controls as
he spoke to his wife, Sweetie, could you pleasesend the drones the program for following my
lead?
Alicia took the tablet and sent the
requested program to the other planes. Shewatched in a few seconds that each signaled
their acceptance of the program and were in factthen following Lennys lead.
She spoke, Its all you now, honey.
Lenny spoke to the ambient radio,Command, this is Harmony. Breaking for the
mainland in threetwoone.
Lenny pulled his plane around to flying
flat again, aimed toward California. Theydidnt see the other three planes following suit
behind them as goslings following a goose.When he felt he had lined himself up properlywith his heading, he pushed the throttle up
farther than he ever had before in that plane.
The passengers felt themselves pushedback into their seat with the acceleration,
another thing he hadnt felt so pronounced in a
while. The kids saw over his shoulder the
airspeed increasing like milliseconds ticking ona clock. The wind outside grew a little louder,
but not by much. The waves below them
moved faster and passed them by quicker by thesecond until their acceleration ceased and they
cruised at roughly seven thousand miles per
hour over the Pacific.
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Lenny set his controls to hold their state
and he let them go. He turned to look at hiskids and said, Well, what do you think so far?
This is your first time flying faster than the
speed of sound, but not your last. Any
thoughts?Kayla spoke excitedly, This is so cool!
I bet no other kids get to do this!Only the really rich ones with jets in
their families, answered Lenny.
Cory spoke, So, how were you able tomake one for us if the other three were
contracted by the military? Isnt this stealing?
Lenny answered, Nope. We built theirs
with their money. This bird we built solely withour own income from our other subsidiary
companies. Its all ours legally. The skys thelimit, but not for long.
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17When it came time, Lenny turned back
to the controls and gave flying his plane the full
attention it needed. He pulled his plane slowerand lower as they passed over a massive desert
of small hills.When in range, the radio spoke to them,Unidentified aircraft, you have entered military
controlled airspace. Identify yourselves.
Lenny spoke up, This is an aircraftdelivery direct from the production site owned
by TOAD, Incorporated. We are expected.
The channel sat silent for a while before
the woman spoke again, TOAD aircraft, youare cleared for landing on runway zero-three
from the south-west. When youve landed,
remain in your aircraft until your escorts reachyou. Do you understand?
Lenny answered respectfully, I fully
understand and will comply.
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Lenny brought them lower and lower
until he had lined up on the tarmac he had beenassigned. When he had lowered enough, he put
his gear down and approached the ground
carefully. His jet training paid off well as he
executed a perfect landing. He raised hisairbrake panels and felt the plane jerking back
against them. In under a minute they hadslowed enough to use their wheel brakes.
Lenny kept the engines blowing,
pushing them forward at about twenty miles perhour to the end of the runway. When he
reached it, he turned his nose around gently and
then stopped his plane. The engines slowed and
quieted, but they hadnt been very loud beforeanyway.
Turning to his kids, he spoke, This isimportant. Please stay belted in. This shouldnttake long.
Both kids nodded agreement. They
knew very little about the military, like mostpeople, but they did know enough to understand
that the armed forces protected their assets well.
They looked out the canopy at the other
hardware resting on the pavement a mile ormore from them. They had seen it better while
on approach and knew some of the models from
the news and movies.They recognized a few wings of F-16s
and F-22s lined up. They saw a few C-130s
parked here and there, and hundreds of other
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have to learn about before using. Until the
presentation, theyll be locked down, as per ourcontract. Please show us to their secure storage
area.
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18The men lead the way, as Lenny worked
on his tablet before them. The planes began to
move again, rolling forward using the air thrustout their engines, and steering by turning their
nose wheel. Alicia sat in a sedan while Lennyrode in the back of an open-top hummer. Therest of the cars followed the jets. A few soldiers
remained behind to guard Lennys family in
Harmony. They said it was to protect the plane,but Lenny knew it was really to protect the base
from those left in the plane.
The convoy drove up to a waiting
hangar and Lenny guided his birds inside it. Henavigated each one separately into the building,
making sure they were parked securely and
safely. Once each stopped, Alicia opened theircanopies and removed from them a tangled bit
of hardware from each console. She tossed
each of them down to Lenny, who tucked them
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all into a small bag. These were the autopilot
harnesses, which followed the orders given byLenny on his tablet. After closing each plane
down and locking them, they chirped in turn
letting Lenny know their security systems had
activated.Lenny spoke to the men around him,
Anyone touches these planes before I get backhere and alarms will sound for one minute.
After which theyll all blow up. Its a self-
defense mechanism that youll get control overwhen you take possession next week. If you
want it removed at that point, Ill do so.
You have nothing to worry about, Sir,
said an armed soldier with many stripes on hisshoulders. No one will be in this building until
you get back.Lenny and Alicia shook each of theirhands again and walked out of the hangar. The
large doors closed slowly and they watched the
guards lock it down. Then they gave the couplea lift again back to their plane, eyeing it closely.
And then the escorts stood