"Life in the Stars"

"The Beginning of a Vacation" Chapter 20 XX

After everyone had finished dining, Max invited the new guests up to the observatory for a "most unusual" view. As the last of the guests arrived in the observatory, Max asked them what they saw. The guests looked…

"I don't see anything out there but blackness," said Andrew. "Did it get dark already? It seems too early still."

Max smiled, "Well… it is night I guess where we are… Check out the horizon."

Everyone looked toward the horizon and saw light breaking, then the crest of a large orb -a large blue orb- rose over the horizon… It was the earth! For just a moment, they were confused, but Andrew realized their situation…

"We're behind the moon… We're passing behind the dark side of the moon, and earth is rising over the horizon!"

Max nodded, "Just before everyone was seated for dinner, Michael brought the new granilith here behind the moon where it would be completely hidden… just to be safe. Even though the ship has excellent stealth technologies, including a very excellent invisibility factor, we are still safest when we are concealed in a secluded place where nothing can accidentally collide with us because they can't see us."

Andrew nodded, "Yeah, I guess a small plane or something could fly right into you and never see you. Do birds ever fly into the ship?"

Max shook his head, "It hasn't happened yet. We think that they can sense our presence or see us somehow. On our way here, we even picked up a flock of pelicans that escorted us along the coast."

As the new granilith emerged completely from behind the moon, the dark sky shone brightly with the beautiful blue orb that was the earth, leaving the guests breathless.

"It's so much more beautiful from out here," said Andrea. "I've seen pictures and all, but they don't compare! This is incredible! This is just awesome!"

The group agreed.

"I can see the atmosphere like a thin shell around the earth," Lisa noted.

Max nodded, "That's what the Commander of Skylab IV, Gerry Carr, said when he looked at the earth from space… he compared earth's atmosphere to the skin on an apple."

The new granilith glided back toward the earth as the earth seemingly grew larger and larger. Twelve minutes and thirty-two seconds later, the new granilith skipped on the top of the atmosphere like a flat rock skipping along the top of a calm pond. Then like the rock, which sinks into the water, the new granilith glided into the atmosphere, heading towards Florida. Coming in from the north this time, the ship passed over Canada then shortly over New York, where Lisa tried to spot the general area where her home might be, but they were still pretty high up.

The ship glided down along the east coast then in across the Orlando area, stopping above Lake Apopka… it settled into the waters of the lake and sank to the bottom.

Michael, who was currently in control of the ship, looked at Varec. Varec nodded and passed his own hand over a console from which arose a small sonar-like monitor. With the help of this device, Varec guided Michael and the new granilith beneath the waters of the lake to the entrance of an underground river that they had scanned long before arriving at earth.

Now the new granilith cruised beneath the ground following the coursing underground river for several miles. Arriving at a good-sized spring, the ship settled on the bottom.

"Well guys," said Max to the new guests and to the children and their parents who had come from Antar… "Our vacation begins here."

"Where is here?" asked some of the guests.

Max smiled… "Disney World."

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The guests and passengers of the new granilith spent the night onboard, as it was already by this time a bit late and nightfall had arrived. In the morning, they awoke to find breakfast ready and a four-day Disney World pass at each of their places at the table.

"Where did you get these?" asked Andrew.

"Wow! These look so real!" said Nina, who had seen plenty of Disney World tickets and knew what they looked like.

Max grinned… "They are real. Michael and I went out this morning very early and waited for them to open so we could buy them. But we won't need them to get into the park, only maybe to travel between the parks… we are already inside the park."

Indeed, during the night, the new granilith had moved from the bottom of the spring to a secluded and fairly well-hidden area behind the MGM Movie lot from which the guests and passengers would be able to come and go without being readily seen.

The ship didn't actually sit on the ground. It had an anti-gravity lock system that allowed it to remain "locked" securely in a floating position while hovering above the ground at a variable altitude. The normal "parking" altitude was fifteen feet, and Max felt that this was sufficient in this case. The ship would remain invisible as long as the invisibility factor remained on.

The guests and passengers were all led to the transportation room, which was rather crowded. Max moved his hand over a console, and a handprint appeared. He laid his hand on top of the handprint and placed a small crystal into the recessed area to the side of the handprint. The room brightened for a moment then was empty…

The guests and passengers of the new granilith were on the ground.

If anyone had been there to see it, the guests would have seemed to simply appear out of thin air. However, on this day, no one had seen the new guests arrive… And thirteen eager children were raring to go!

--------------------------End of Chapter 20

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Gerry Carr, member of Skylab 4 crew, on viewing earth from outer space:

I would look at the earth's horizon and see the earth's atmosphere. It is very beautiful. It is blue and white and gold and orange. And it is so thin and fragil. That atmosphere is all that keeps earth habitable, but it's no thicker than the skin on an orange - no, thinner than that, like the skin on an apple. There's no way to explain how clearly you can see the fragility of the earth. You have to have been there.

(No, it's not me, of course! Just my namesake! Skylab IV was aloft from November of 1973 to February of 1974. Gerald P. Carr was Mission Commander. But my Dad had a signed and remarqued picture of him.)