Wishing On A Star

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

I felt a sudden lurch as we entered hyperspace, the stars on the screen in front of us blurred together, and for a couple of seconds then we entered what Morkai said was hyperspace. It was a surrealistic world of swirling clouds and stars, blues, and reds combined to form a scene I could only gape at.

Patting me on the leg, Morkai's voice came over my comm set, "You can take your helmet off now, and settle back, I had visions of us spending a lot of time together, but not exactly in this manor." I looked at him and said, 'I'll never be able to thank you enough for what you're doing for me Morkai." He chuckled, "I haven't done anything really crazy in a long time, I'm overdue." Morkai then perked up and looked at me smiling, the flight lessons will come later, but for right now Holly Bickford, I want to know everything there is about you. Where you grew up, your parents, your friends, your schooling, everything!" Looking at him, I could tell he was serious; I sighed, took a deep breath, and launched into my life story.

I related every little detail I could think of, Morkai never lost his look of interest, just when I was sure he was becoming bored, he would pop a question on me requiring my story to take off in another direction.

Finally, I could tell no more, we took a break with Morkai producing two plastic packets for each of us. "Since there's no gravity in this craft, don't let go of those, they'll drift into some corner of this craft and we won't be able to retrieve them, or the liquid will escape and make things even worse." The larger packet held a beverage while the smaller one contained a fruit and cereal bar, which was rather bland. After eating, the empty packages were placed in a receptacle between our seats. I had to admit semi reclining in my seat was very comfortable, the temperature inside of the craft was around 40 degrees Fahrenheit or about 10 degrees Jevlin in the Falthian unit of measurement. "The life support on this craft isn't the greatest," remarked Morkai, that's why we must remain in our suits, adjust your comfort level using your suit controls."

After a few moments of silence, I turned to Morkai and asked, "What can you tell me about Gitel?" Morkai turned and gave me a funny look, "Why do you want to know about him?" "Ann and Pricilla are giving Weeko a hard time, I intend to help and befriend her, I don't like Ann's attitude much, perhaps if I knew a little bit more about Gitel, I could find a proper approach." Morkai thought a moment then said matter-o-factly, "What can I say, Gitel is…Gitel. He is his own man; he makes his own ruled and follows his own heart. In the navy, he was always before commander's review, for infractions, petty or otherwise. He had them on the spot, because he was and is quite simply the best pilot they ever had or ever will have. Every one of us has nothing but the highest respect for him; I believe you know about his early pod racing days. That man you met yesterday, Dully Amro, used to be his teammate, and up until the sport was banned, Dully was Gitel's chief mechanic. I simply cannot say enough about Gitel Tergis, he can make spacecraft do things they simply were not designed to do, and make them work, the man is a living legend." "Someone told me that he was teaching Weeko to fly, do you know if that is true?" Morkai sighed, "Gitel is an intensely private individual, most of what I just told you comes from other sources, but every word is true, if you want to know anymore about him, you'll have to speak to him yourself, but good luck, I'll be quite surprised if he says anything to you." Morkai paused for a few moments, then chuckled, "If the rumor is true and he is teaching Weeko to fly she will indeed be the best. Everyone's always reminding me of what a remarkable teacher I am, in fact, they're always after me to join the faculty at the academy to teach engineering, but compared to me Gitel has a gift, a true gift, of instruction. If indeed he is instructing her, upon completion of her flight training on his signature alone…She could write her own ticket, name her own salary his reputation is just that good."

Morkai allowed me to take a short nap before he began his instruction, he would point things out such as various instrument panels, data monitors, and the like, name them, with a brief description of their function, then ask me to repeat what he had just told me. It was hard at first, but he kept at it, encouraging me, and offering small hints. Gradually I started picking up the information, and answering with the correct information. We would then take short breaks, then begin the process all over again. The first time I had to "go" I kept trying to hold "it" in Morkai grinned as he realized what I was doing" Just relax and let it come, after awhile you won't give it a second thought." The effort took a little more courage on my part, but eventually I got over the feeling that I was "soiling" myself, almost to the point that I formed a wicked smile on my face whenever nature "called."

Morkai then related his life's story, of growing up in the small town of Akdor, where his father was a fisherman and owned two fishing boats. "He's pretty much retired now, having sold his boats several dorns ago, however he still goes out once in awhile with a friend of his. When we get back I'll take you there, and introduce you to my parents, I know they'll like you very much. Well walk on the beach and stare up at the twin moons…" "Solis and Syria," I blurted out. Morkai smiled, "See, you know. I never told you, yes, Solis and Syria, the lover's moons. When we sit on the beach and stare up at them you'll know why." He continued to tell me of his life, his hitch in the navy, of his friends and the close bond they all share. "We're all rather unique Holly," continued Morkai. "Nargra, Jaerka, Ambor, Gitel and Karuk. We've all been sort of different, Gitel started it all by returning with Weeko, don't ask me why, but you Kagorian women have an appeal we simply find lacking in our own women. The point is Holly, all of us love our women very much, none more than Gitel and Weeko. Perhaps it's because we're the first to actually be allowed to travel to your world and experience you up close, it's certainly got the whole planet talking that's for sure."

"What do you think the Falthian women think of us, are their attitudes like that Juko woman?" Morkai shook his head and laughed, "Juko is a bit of the cutthroat, don't get me wrong, a great many women are just like her, but you Kagorian women are too few in number to cause much lasting concern, you're a curiosity and that's all. I think as you meet more and more women on this planet they'll realize you're nothing like the Amulins, it won't really surprise me if the university takes notice in you, they certainly know there are off-worlders on Falth besides the few Amulins that are here." For some reason I seemed to know a little about the Amulins, their skin was a very light grey in color, their eyes were like those of us from earth, however both sexes all had dark to black eyes, with very dark shading around the eye sockets. The men all had raven colored hair, while the female's hair tended towards a light grey to an almost silver colored hair, both sexes wore their hair very short, the men more so than the women did.

"It must be from the memory upgrade I experienced," I said to Morkai, "I seem to know a little something of these people but perhaps you can provide me with a little more detail of this reclusive race." Morkai chuckled, I cannot really tell you a whole lot more than you probably now know, in some ways they are a race of "Gitel's" in fact Gitel is sometimes compared to an Amulin because of the way he keeps to himself. I take it you can form a picture in your mind as to their appearance?" I nodded, "They tend to keep to themselves, we trade with them, and maintain embassies, we don't bother them or infringe on their end of the galaxy there used to be a mutual defense pact with them but I couldn't really say anymore." "Are they many of Falth?" I asked. Morkai shrugged, "Mostly embassy people and trade representatives, I think I read of a small group of scholars over at the university but as far as I know, that's about it." "Are there any more races besides the Amulins out there?" "Rumor has it there is, however the Amulins are keeping a pretty tight lid on things, they will neither confirm nor deny the existence of any more races out there, but if there are, they are at the extreme end of the galaxy and definitely in the Amulins sphere of influence."

"Sounds very confusing to me," I said. "Think of the universe as one long string," replied Morkai. "At the present, you Kagorians occupy the extreme of one end, then there's us, then a whole bunch of uninhabited worlds we and the Amulins share, mainly farming, and mining, I think the Amulins have some sort of holy planet that's very sacred to them somewhere out there, but then you have their home world, and finally at the opposite end you have this mystery race or races the Amulins are sitting on." "Think they pose any danger?" I asked. Morkai laughed, "If they were any kind of threat, the Amulins would have shown up at our door demanding we do something about it, things have been pretty quiet out that way for over a hundred dorns now, obviously they must all be getting along out there." "Do the Amulins ever visit earth?" "Other than their initial surveys, no. We have an agreement that makes it clear we don't go into their territory, they don't bother you Kagorians, it seems to be working out anyway. Say!" said Morkai as if having a sudden thought. "Are you Kagorians aware of any other races out past you?" Now it was my turn to laugh, "Are you joking? People on earth aren't even aware of you Nuel many think the moon is made of green cheese, perhaps there may be people living on Mars, some of our more imaginative authors have speculated on the possibility."

Morkai looked at me, "What is this Mars?" "As we come into our galaxy I'll point it out, it's the next planet out from earth, before you get to Saturn, the planet with the rings around it." Morkai seemed to consider this, then said, "The Amulins reported no other planets with life on them in this galaxy, we've been close enough to them in our previous trips to your planet that our sensors would have picked something up, unless life is so primitive there it just isn't showing up on the scanners." Morkai then showed me essential instruments and monitors to watch so he could catch a short nap. He set the flight control on automatic, and told me to wake him immediately if any of the readings changed even in the slightest. I sat there frozen in fear at first, but then I started paying closer attention to the instruments and soon realized that I "understood" them. I began to sort things out in my mind, realizing the knowledge was there, the engineering program Morkai included in the memory upgrade must be working. I found it remarkable that arcane knowledge was coming forth. I began to relax, and simply accept it, taking Morkai's advice; I established a pattern of checking the data monitors and high priority instruments. Almost two hours had passed since Morkai went to sleep, I was confident now in my abilities, comfortable in my newfound knowledge that I could perform my assigned task. Morkai awoke with a start, and immediately reached for his control yoke, and scanning the instruments.

He then thought to look my way his eyes settling on a confident and smiling face. "How long was I asleep?" he gasped. "Almost two shon's," I replied, don't worry Morkai, as I sat here the information all came to me, it's truly incredible, that memory upgrade, as you can see everything is as it should be." He did a thorough visual check and saw that I was telling the truth. Giving me a funny look, Morkai said, "Unlock your control yoke, I think it's time for your first flying lesson." For the next two days, He taught, cajoled, praised and corrected, never raising his voice, finally he allowed me to take the control for a full shon watching my every move. I was actually flying when we entered my home galaxy, Morkai then took over the control, "All these planets as well as your sun exert subtle influences on the instruments as well as flying, I want you to pay very close attention to even the most minute changes, it's what marks a good pilot, those readings will alert you to things well before they happen." I then began to read off every instrument reading until we entered my galaxy, and Morkai kicked us out of hyper drive. Passing Mars, which Morkai called Hyach 3 he merely said, "No life on that one, your race is mistaken." Once over earth I couldn't help but admire the incredible sight below us, it reminded me of a marble. We then began to make plans for landing, my suggestion of the Black Hills area in the Dakota Territory would place all my correspondence coming from the proper area.