Altered Time - Destiny in the Stars
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The Golden Planet… Antar
Chapter 25
XXV
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It was just after 5 AM, Roswell time, when Michael first spotted it with his remote vision goggles, glimmering like a tiny gold nugget hanging in space about 1.2 light years away.
"Max, take a look!"
Max flipped his RV Goggles down over his eyes and looked in the direction Michael pointed. He saw it, too… Antar! The Golden Planet, planet of the Golden Sea, planet of peace and prosperity… at least since Zan had returned with his second in command at his side!
Max flipped his RV goggles back up and smiled. "Almost there, Michael! What is it… um… about six hours?"
"Yeah, that's about right."
"We'll tell everyone at breakfast… I imagine some of them will want to come up to the control room, and others may want to go up to the observatory… so they can watch as we draw nearer to Antar."
By 6 AM, guests were beginning to arrive in the dining room and take their seats, and the little diner droid was serving before-breakfast coffees to them and taking their requests as they arrived. Since the galley had run out of blue hen eggs six days before, everyone had been getting used to the Aluzian golden eggs. Actually, most of the guests found that they preferred the golden eggs… they were larger and had a stronger taste; but it was a delicious stronger taste, particularly once one had become accustomed to it.
Max and Liz arrived in the dining room at 6:05, and Michael and Maria arrived right behind them. The conversation quickly turned to everyone's expectation that today was the day they would be arriving at their destination… Antar.
Isabel was the first one to ask the question that was on everyone's mind…
"Max… how long till we get there? What's the word?"
Max smiled a slight smile and nodded, setting his coffee down… "About five hours. We should be there before noon… by our onboard time, that is… Roswell time. I'm really not sure what time it will be on Antar. Do you know, Michael?"
"Nope! Haven't got a clue."
"Max," Jim Valenti asked, swallowing another sip of coffee down, "When we get there, I was just wondering… since you and Michael went back in time and then returned forward in time again, how long will you have been gone… from Antar, I mean?"
Max nodded. "That's actually an excellent question, Sheriff! If I remember, I told my staff that I would probably be back before they even missed me; but Michael and I decided that… well, just so it wouldn't feel too weird… we would set our return for two days after we left. That would kind of allow everyone there to feel like we had actually left and returned."
"So on Antar, you guys have only been gone for two days? Whoa! Cool," said Kyle. "Weird! But cool!"
"We expect to be approaching Antar very soon," said Michael. "Within the next hour or so, it will probably become visible to the eye. We all want to invite anyone who would like to to come up to the control room or go up to the observatory and watch as we enter our solar system and approach the 'beautiful golden planet.' It will be a unique experience, I promise!"
Everyone was nodding in enthusiastic agreement.
At 8:15, the first guests arrived on the bridge to watch from the control room. It was Jim Valenti, his son, Kyle, and Isabel. Max and Liz were already there. Michael and Maria had gone up to the observation deck to "host" the guests who might go there and to explain anything to them that they might have questions about as they arrived at Antar.
From the large fore window of the new granolith, the planet Antar had already become visible to the naked eye. Although at this distance, Antar still only appeared about one fourth the size of a dime, it was already beautiful, hanging there in space ahead of them like a small, shining gold nugget dangling at the end of a chain in the darkness of space.
On the observation deck, Phillip and Diane Evans, Amy DeLuca, and Liz's Mom and Dad, along with Michael and Maria, also saw it. Diane gasped…
"It's beautiful! It's just beautiful, Michael! It looks like a sparkling golden rose just hanging out there far, far away and yet… I feel like I want to reach out and touch it!"
Several of the guests were nodding their agreement.
As the ship drew nearer, over the next two hours, the planet grew from smaller than a dime into a beautiful golden orb the size of an orange… then to the size of a grapefruit. Everyone onboard was genuinely in awe as they watched Antar floating weightlessly in space, growing larger and larger with each passing minute. The Golden Sea could be seen clearly now; it shimmered, giving the planet a uniquely in-motion appearance.
By 10:45 AM, they were entering the atmosphere over Antar. Max had slowed the ship considerably, but now he slowed it yet again. They dropped down to 5,000 feet, then to 3,000 feet, skimming along high over the Golden Sea. Suddenly, the new granolith was surrounded by subatmospheric, ram-propulsion slipstream ships similar to Earth fighter jets. The 'slipstreams' rose up from below them and assumed an honor escort formation along each side of the ship. The pilot of the nearest 'slipstream' pulled in front and just to the side of the new granolith. He saluted Max in the control room, and Max returned the salute. It was Garandev. Seeing Michael above on the observation level, Garandev looked up and saluted to Michael as well; then Michael, too, returned the salute.
On the observation level, the thrilled guests were waving and cheering at the 'slipstream' pilots who were escorting them. And in the control room, Jim and Kyle Valenti, as well as Isabel, waved at the pilots whenever they would come into sight. Max, too, found the moment emotional… he was impressed every time the 'slipstream' pilots provided him with an honor escort. No matter how many times he experienced it, it would always be new and inspiring to him.
Half way across the Golden Sea, the 'slipstream' pilots got a surprise of their own, a surprise that raised a collective gasp from the guests watching from the new granolith. Taking up an outside position, as though they were part of the escort, were five of the largest birds anyone on the new granolith had ever seen or could ever have imagined. In fact, the sixty-foot wingspans of the huge birds dwarfed the smaller 'slipstreams.' Two of the birds assumed positions to the outside of the 'slipstreams' on each side of the new granolith. The fifth bird flew ahead of the ship, giving the entire formation a "V" shape.
At first, the surprised slipstream pilots were a bit unsure what they should do, but they had all been there when the Jah-ee had returned from their island with Max riding on the back of one of the huge birds. The pilots knew that these birds somehow had a special and unique bond with Max. They sensed his presence and read his thoughts, just as Max, too, sensed their thoughts. It was something that was unparalleled in Antarian history, and it wasn't easy for Antarians to lose their fear of the birds… or the feeling of impending doom that overcame anyone who saw the incredible Jah-ee… but they were learning.
For the next twenty-five minutes, the new granolith skimmed over the Golden Sea accompanied by its six slipstream honor escorts and five immense birds right out of the pages of Antarian mythology. Then they came in over the coast of CoruzAntar, the capitol city and location of Zan's royal palace. Max took the new granolith once around the city, escorted by his most unusual entourage, then directed the ship toward Shebblefieldtree Lane and the Jantoo-Bandy science lab, the home of the new granolith. As the new granolith slowed to a hover above the open roof of the science lab, the 'slipstream' escorts gave their returning king and his guests a final salute, turning on their afterburners and pulling back on their control yokes, roaring straight up into the Antarian sky then breaking in different directions like exploding fireworks before returning to base. The five Jah-ee circled the Jantoo-Bandy lab until the new granolith had safely landed inside the building and turned off its propulsion drives. Then the Jah-ee let out a long, piercing, "Jaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee," before turning and heading back out over the Golden Sea towards home.
Once the new granolith had settled on the ground on its anti-grav repulsor locks, Max and Michael escorted everyone to the cargo bay. Michael checked to make sure that everyone was accounted for then activated the off-boarding systems. The bay doors of the new granolith opened slowly, and the ramp extended outward to the ground. The passengers walked down the ramp then through a room full of smiling faces. If any of the newcomers had thought that they might be coming to a planet that was hostile and alien, that notion was quickly dispelled. The smiling faces were perhaps exotic, but the newcomers had seen odder things on Earth: bald chickens, pygmies, sumo wrestlers… Carrot-top!
The Antarians were not nearly as alien-looking as they had expected. In some ways, they even looked like very light-skinned Polynesians with just slightly larger than average eyes. The Antarians, full-blooded Antarians, at least, did have a jet-black inner eyelid, a nictitating membrane, as scientists would call it, that could be closed over the eyes while the regular eyelids remained open, but this would not be noticeable unless the individual closed the inner eyelid while the outer one was open. It is likely that this eyelid was responsible for the reports of aliens with large black eyes on Earth, especially if the ones seen were dead.
Some Antarians had unusual powers: molecular displacement, energy blasting, precognition, mindwarp… some had no special powers at all. In fact, Max, Michael, Isabel, and Tess had been biologically engineered to possess more than the average number of unusual abilities each. There were many different special abilities on Antar. What was unusual in Antarian society was for any one individual to possess more than one or two of them… occasionally three or four, but rarely more.
As for the stereotype that aliens are thin, small, and delicate, this group certainly did not support that. As on Earth, there were all body types here… a couple of the guys in this group might even have rivaled Max for his physique. Amy DeLuca, in particular, did not fail to notice one of these, a handsome individual named Varec.
Each of the scientists attempted to welcome the guests in the best English that he or she had been able to master in two days… which is all it had been to them since Max had left.
"Well-coom to are play net! Wee are ferry hippy to have your hair! Wee want you to feel well-coom! You are air guesses."
It was perhaps too emotional a moment for some of the passengers. Diane Evans and Amy DeLuca began to cry… not because they were unhappy… quite the opposite. After the way they had been treated by the Special Unit back on Earth for an entire month, they found these sincere men and women to be just too overwhelmingly and disarmingly wonderful.
Jim Valenti stepped forward and offered his hand to one of the smiling scientists. He squeezed his hand and smiled, started to say something, but found it unexpectedly hard to speak. After a moment, Jim regained his voice…
"Thank you! Thank you all! From all of us, I thank you from the bottom of our hearts. We hope to become very good citizens of your planet… of Antar. I… I know I speak for all of us here… we're a bit overwhelmed right now by all the hospitality you've shown us. It's something that we'll always… I mean, always… remember and appreciate more than you can ever know!"
The scientists smiled, but clearly they had not understood much of what Jim had said. Max, or Zan as he was known here, explained it to them.
"Jim Valenti iter gojugo Roswell… Yed deretis, "Caporji yelsik! Iz ej yelsik, jodo gar caporji iz verulnad jereestel. Eje ojala ger yu hart chohartel Antar… Eje hri yu bexeledersinoju iz jivo jolizee. Jivo jolizee her disto eje vo yubo uqawee jin caporetoz!"
Every man and woman among the scientists was smiling. They nodded, and each one took the hand of each guest momentarily in his or her own hand to say welcome.
At that moment, the passengers of the new granolith realized that they hadn't left home… they had finally come home.
-------------------------End of Chapter 25