Wishing On A Star

Chapter 12

Chapter 12

We left in the morning, with an agreed to rendezvous in earth orbit, I was at the controls at take off, with Morkai hovering over me like a mother hen. I made a couple of mistakes, but he stepped in and immediately corrected them without admonishment. Once we left Falthian orbit, Nargra put Hanna in the co-pilot's seat, and together he and Morkai walked us through proper procedures. We were on our way at last, a return home and as a yet unfinished plan concerning the best way to break the news about our current "situations" to our families. About all we could agree to was sending more letters, Morkai and I had a major discussion concerning the best way to contact not only Andy, but my parents as well. "Jaerka told me about a hidden place near this Johnstown Pricilla is from, she claims it's an abandoned rock quarry, or something like that," commented Morkai. "That might work for later," I replied, "But I want to get someplace well away form that whole area, my parents might be tempted to send a Pinkerton man if they notice the postmark is Johnstown."

After a lot of debate, I started looking at someplace that was on the main line yet a considerable distance from Pittsburgh. Morkai showed me how to access and check the scanner archives in relation to areas that were near a good-sized town and yet offered places a craft such as the Na'Vas could "hide" in. That criteria pretty much excluded Nebraska, Dakota Territory wound put me in the right area, but there were as yet no rail lines into that area as yet. "How about there," said Hanna. She had been helping me to locate likely places we could set down and remain hidden. "Look at this area a little east of Laramie; she had brought the scanner resolution way up revealing a large rocky area that held potential. Morkai then took a look and said, Nargra and I did the initial scans on this area a couple dorns ago, and dismissed it out of hand, no trees, and rather arid. He casually looked over the terrain map and pointed to a small spot a little east of Laramie. "What about this spot, look see that,?" I wasn't as well trained, as he was to spot certain terrain features, so I wasn't seeing it.

"The resolution was as high as it would go, so Morkai traced his finger around a detail of the map. "It looks like a bowl, but there doesn't seem to be a way in, however that could be easily remedied. He then typed something into the scanner's computer and a small red silhouette of our ship appeared, he entered some more commands and it centered over the area in question. "Well, that bowl appears to be large enough for the Na'Vas with plenty of room to spare, so far, so good." "But how would we get in and out?" asked Hanna. Morkai grinned, there's a feature of this ship you ladies haven't really seen yet, mainly because we've never had to use them." Indicating a panel next to his right arm on the console Morkai said. "This is the ships fire control." I had seen the small panel many times but never thought to ask of its purpose. "This ship has six plasma cannons, as well as an automatic turret mounting a single plasma cannon. It can be operated right from here, or manually. Looking at Hanna, Morkai added, "once you learn your basics, I think Nargra was planning on training you to operate the gun from the turret. Anyway, the concentrated fire from these cannons can actually melt solid rock. However, it's tricky; you can only fire in short bursts, as the drain on the power supply is incredible, plus the cooling factor. Moving, and firing in the dead of space keeps the weapons cool, sitting on a planets surface will overheat the cannons in a very short period of time."

The area met with everyone's approval, should it prove to be practical, and we could "hide" there, it would mean a long train trip for Andy, but even that had certain advantages, and if Sara's brother was out in the west, somewhere Laramie would be handy in that way as well. Once we cleared the jump gate and were operating in hyperspace the ships routine settled into more training and periods of study, Hanna's poker games, listening to music coming over the ship's intercom and drinking coffee. The supply I had purchased in Deadwood was now practically gone, I cut down the serving size which made the beverage weak, something that nobody cared for, clearly, once we landed near Laramie, more coffee would be on the list.

Just before we left Falth Hanna and I visited a shop located in Drolugi's called the "Slop Chest." Morkai and Nargra bought all their clothes there; admittedly, the clothing was simple but functional. They catered to pilots and flight crews, Hanna and I now wore heeled brown leather boots that were incredible, devices which were called "zippers" for the sound they made when you pulled them that fastened the boot, plus a leather strap that wound around the shank of the boot to help keep it on. Tan cargo pants with two bellows pockets on each leg a short-sleeved flight vest that closed only half way up with snaps. The vest was of a medium grey color and also had smaller bellows pockets closed with these zippers and a bellows pocket at breast level closed with snaps.

These were very comfortable clothes, very functional, and designed just for spaceship crews; the four of us started wearing these outfits as sort of an unofficial uniform. Besides the vests, we all wore what were termed, T-shirts, tight fitting cotton pullover short sleeved, as well as long-sleeved shirts sometimes with logos on them sometimes not. For those of us from the 19th century they were rather daring and scandalous, but they were certainly more comfortable than what we were forced to wear back on earth. I tended towards black, or tan, sometimes a light green, in the long-sleeved version. Hanna liked pink or yellow, black or oftentimes light blue. Needless to say, we had to be very careful wearing our "uniforms" on earth lest we draw very unwanted attention.

Arriving in earth orbit, we held a general meeting over the ship's comm's, Pricilla would not only send letters to Sara's parents as well as Ann's folks but make initial contact by telegraph, as I would be doing from out west.

Because of the curvature of the planet, we would have to relay messages to each other through Ambor, Karuk, or Gitel who would remain in earth orbit, judging from their comments I suspected that they weren't too eager to be performing this duty, but being that it was for their wives, that's the way it would stay. Before we headed down, Morkai familiarized us with the ship's cloaking device, and the drain it caused on the main power supply. "It's only used for short periods of time," instructed Morkai. We'll activate it once we are ready to drop below the cloud cover. One of the side effects of this is that once activated, all that energy coursing over the ship has a habit of creating electrical magnetic discharges, lightening to you. Depending on what the cloud situation is, moisture content and several other factors, we can really whip up some incredible electrical storms, and whatever goes along with that. When we made our first trip here Karuk claims he created a storm that developed into an incredible whirling wind storm…" "Karuk started a tornado?" I asked incredibly. "Is that what you call them," replied Morkai. "Well we don't have them on Falth, except large water spouts out on the seas."

"I suppose it might be a good thing," added Morkai. "All that lightening and rain will keep the curious away, but it makes our life harder, when we land, we have to make sure we make a good ground with the planet, otherwise you can get a very nasty shock just touching the outside of the ship." Sure enough, we created a small storm, as we dropped towards earth. Morkai showed me how to operate the cloaking device as I carefully watched the instruments. "I'm bringing us right down into the pit area you see on the screen," said Morkai. "Watch carefully, the scanner indicates the ground is very uneven, so I'm making sure the landing leg compensator is on automatic, you can set it to manual, but only in special circumstances." Nargra made some corrections from his seat reading off altitude figures as we came ever closer to the ground. "I'm also bringing us around, so that our cannons are pointed directly towards the narrowest pat of the rock wall. Nargra turned us a little using the ship's yaw control lining up our guns towards the rock face. Morkai then activated the fire control, located on his control yoke and fired a burst lasting several seconds or ocks in the Falthian language.

Firing only one cannon, the rock in front of us simply blew apart leaving a narrow passage to the outside. "That should be enough to squeeze through," remarked Morkai, "Although I might build a door if the opening is too large." Together, he and Nargra finished shutting down the ship, "Scanner shows no life forms moving around outside," announced Nargra. "Dropping cargo ramp." "It looks like the hull charge has dissipated," said Morkai, "So you shouldn't get a nasty bite should you accidentally brush up against the hull upon exiting. We went downstairs to the cargo bay where the rain was blowing in and the thunder and lightening were flashing outside. "Shouldn't we close the door?" asked Hanna, "It's fine," replied Nargra, feels kid of good after that long flight, besides, the storm is dissipating , should be over pretty soon." According to the ships clock (which compensated for local time) it was around one in the morning here, "I think I'll just have a seat near the door here," said Morkai, I'm not very tired, the rest of you can go get some sleep if you want."

Hanna and Nargra looked at each other and smiled, heading back upstairs for their bedroom, I decided to sit with Morkai for a little bit. Dimming the cargo bay lights, we sat next to each other in metal and fabric chairs we kept on board for just this purpose. We sat in silence for a few moments; the only sounds were the clicking and small motor noises coming from the ships life support system making adjustments to the oxygen coming in from the outside. "Any thoughts on being back home?" asked Morkai. Shrugging, I replied, "Technically I'm really not at home, home's off to the east, well over fifteen hundred miles. As for being back on earth…Perhaps a little, don't forget, I'm a citizen of Falth now, I'm not sure if it's possible to hold duel citizenship, that of the United States and Falth, the prime directive will preclude finding that out."

"Any regrets?" I looked at Morkai, "None," I replied, "Coming with you was the best decision I've ever made, in a way it's like traveling in time. I've no doubt that some day all the wonders on Falth will come to earth as well, we Americans are a rather inventive bunch, I've no doubt whatsoever Americans as well as other nations on this planet will someday travel in space, now when that might come to pass I cannot say, but sure as God made little green apples, I know in my heart it will happen. My long winded point is that I feel as though I've jumped ahead in time and am merely getting a preview of life in this country perhaps a hundred years into the future, when I'm on Falth." Morkai studied me and seemed to be considering what I had just said. "I knew from the moment I laid eyes on you Holly you were the one for me, in a way Nargra and I as well as the others were looking for something different, just as you women were looking for adventure, and a different way of life we were looking for life mates, women who could really appreciate life on Falth. Don't ask me to explain it; God knows the rest of us have spent many a night at Drolugi's asking ourselves that very question."

"Are Falthian women so objectionable you would travel millions of lightdorns to find the perfect wife?" I asked. Looking at me in surprise, Morkai responded with, "It will be hard to explain it to you, but the women on Falth have changed, that's all I can tell you, perhaps upon closer examination you might be able to see this for yourself. Even though you ladies all come from a technologically deficient planet, you have qualities not found in Falthian females for quite sometime now. With that, he got up reached out to me and gently pulled me up. "I love you with all my heart Holly Draaka, we can build an incredible life together, I want you to be happy, I want you to be at ease with your family so anything I can do to further that situation I will do all I can in my power to make it so." We stood there as the rain fell outside and kissed passionately lost in each other's love.

Knowing that I had a big day in the morning, I retired to our bedroom to get some sleep. Morkai remained up, and was sitting at the galley table drinking the last of our coffee, minus the cup he saved for me. "So what's your plan Holly," he asked. "Hanna and I will walk into town, can't be more than a mile or so, I've got several of these gold rings. I guess the first place we visit is an assayer's office, and get the gold assayed, then over to a bank set up a small account, then send off my correspondence as well as telegrams. Now you realize that we may have to wait for a day or two, possibly several before I get reply's." Morkai nodded, "Well you've got your wrist comm, I we detect anybody snooping around our landing site I may be forced to move or go into an orbit over this planet. Are you taking your weapons?"

"Most certainly," I replied, "Both my pistol and rifle, and yes, even that boot knife you gave me, don't worry, this is my home, I know what to watch out for, we'll be safe." "Are those gold rings going to be enough," continued Morkai. "Oh I think they'll be plenty, after all, they're 24 carat gold, I shall open a small account here should the need arise to return and we need money." Morkai then gave me a funny look and guffawed, "Bet you're going to love getting back into your old clothes." I gave him a dirty look. "Don't rub it in," I replied, "Getting back into those stuffy old clothes will seem like torture, but sad to say, we'd be arrested wearing these outfits," Hanna and Nargra then joined us, "Well I suppose we'd better get dressed and get into town," I said. Hanna groaned, at the prospect of wearing her old clothes again, but we knew it had to be done.

After dressing in what we were now, calling our "disguise's" Hanna and I collected our weapons, and made sure we had plenty of ammunition. I was taking a chance bringing my Andara flight bag, but I might have to purchase a simple carpetbag to avoid questions. "Don't forget the coffee;" announced Morkai, "Otherwise you two might have a hard time getting back on board." "You wouldn't do that?" snapped Hanna. Morkai grinned, "Try me." "Come on Hanna," I replied, "Let's go," Carrying my Spencer over my shoulder along with the cartridge box and flight bag we walked down the ramp, the sun was just above the horizon, and the air smelled fresh after the previous nights storm. The opening we had blasted in the rock was narrow, but we managed to squeeze through the opening. Morkai mentioned that if it was too hard to get through he might be able to enlarge it a bit with some special explosive he had.

Hanna and I began our trek towards town, keeping a sharp eye out for interlopers snooping around. We found a trail of sorts heading in the general direction of town, and began to follow it, as we got closer; a couple cowboys passed us, and although they stared at us continued on. Our first stop was the post office, where I mailed out a letter to my parents, letting them know I was here in Laramie and doing fine. I also mailed a letter to my Uncle hinting at the fact that there was a group of people interested in harvesting black walnuts from his trees. I made it very clear that they didn't want to cut the trees, but simply harvest the fruit, and he would be compensated. We then moved on to the assay office where we caused quite a stir with our gold rings. I passed the story that the gold was from Colorado, and that it was melted into these rings for easier transport. The fact that they were 24 caret gold drew speculation of a major gold strike, but I insisted that was not the case. The going rate was $18.95 per ounce and with 20 rings in my possession, Three hundred and seventy-five dollars made a tidy sum. That however was for the First national bank of Laramie to declare. I opened an account with them retaining around one hundred dollars, which I used to pay for our rooms and meals at the hotel, as well as general supplies.

Hanna and I took a room at the railroad hotel, making contact with Morkai once we were safely in our room. Afterwards we went downstairs, and sent a telegram to my parents letting them know I was fine and here in Laramie, and that I needed Andy to contact me by wire. All we could do now was wait, the telegraph operator told me that my telegram would probably go out later this evening, and that my father wouldn't get it until morning. Hanna and I then retired to the lobby to relax for a bit. I happened to be daydreaming about the telegraph, and how widespread and intricate the telegraph was, yet it paled in comparison to the planet net computer system on Falth. Every computer was connected to a planet-wide system, which allowed you to contact, and receive information from anyone else on the planet. Corporations, businesses, as well as individuals all had a coded address, but unlike the telegraph, you didn't need wires, and unlike the telegraph, you could send and receive pictures, and videos, as well as order things from businesses. I thought to myself, "Perhaps the telegraph I'm now using here on earth would evolve into something like the system we had on Falth sometime in the future. I was still musing about it when I happened to read of a Karl Benz in Germany unveiling something he called a "motor wagon," a vehicle propelled by a motor rather than being pulled by horses, maybe things were starting to change.

The big news however was the tragic earthquake that hit Charleston South Carolina last week. The story in the paper suggested half the city destroyed, along with over a hundred causalities, I wondered if Ann had any relatives living there. As I was passing Hanna the paper, I noticed a couple of rake's studying Hanna and I. In a low voice, I alerted Hanna, "We're being watched by a couple of gentlemen sitting by the door, I think they're trying to figure out how to approach us without appearing to be mashers." Hanna then lifted up the paper and held it in such a way as to be able to see them while appearing to be reading the paper. "Just what we needed," she muttered.