Chapter 51

It's about time our luck changed…

The tray she carried was loaded with Styrofoam cups of coffee as Maureen approached Mark West and Lee Ann. They had received an unexpected message from Red. The rescue team had not been successful. Not only had Red been unable to rescue Judy and Don, Tom had also placed himself in danger. He had no choice than to return to the mother-ship and hope that they would be able to escape yet a second time. Jan West took the last two cups that were left on the tray, and held one out to Maureen. "What I don't understand," Colonel Holbrook said as he blew over the top of his cup, "is why Judy would have left the ship after she had been rescued."

"Don must have been furious with her," John commented. Maureen and Jan glanced at each other. They would have done the same thing.

Maureen was about to speak when Will, Penny and Robert ran into the room. "Dad!" Will exclaimed. "We were monitoring the radio and we're starting to get messages from everywhere!"

"Everywhere?" John asked.

"Yeah!"

"We heard from Washington," Penny said.

"D.C.?" Mark asked.

Robert nodded. "And Balitmore and Philadelphia too."

Lee Ann looked at the others. "What's happening?" she asked.

Mark's face broke into a proud smile. "I believe my son has accomplished his mission."

"You think the energy source has been destroyed?" Maureen asked.

Mark nodded.

"I hope you're right, Mark, but let's not celebrate until we're sure," John told him.

"And they still have to get back to us," Jan added.

"They will," Lee Ann told them. "Red's going back for them. He won't leave anyone behind this time."

"I hope you're right," John said more to himself than the others.

Maureen grasped his arm and looked up at him. "They'll rescue Judy, John. She'll be fine."

Jan took her husbands hand and squeezed it. She agreed with Maureen. Judy would be fine. She just wished she felt as confident about her son's fate…

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The security chief peered into the hole after the smoke had cleared. A carpet of fading embers covered the floor of the lower deck. He sent a man to inform the commander that the energy source for the crystals that ran the blackout machines had been destroyed. It would only be a matter of time before those machines that had been planted on Earth would cease functioning, and the Saticons would lose whatever control that they had over the populace.

The commander waddled towards the chief. "It cannot be true!" the commander shouted. "That crystal was indestructible."

The chief moved away and waved a hand towards the hole. "See for yourself. Our mission is a failure."

The commander stuck his head into the hole and saw two Saticons looking up at him, waiting for their orders. He stood up and scowled at the chief. "And you are happy with that result, are you not?"

The chief had no reply for the commander. He understood that the commander was setting him up as a scapegoat. The failure of the mission would have to be blamed on someone, and, in taking a sojourn during a delicate mission, the chief had handed the commander his own head on a silver platter. He had no one to blame but himself. The chief leaned into the hole and asked, "What of the Earth men?"

"They are buried in the rubble."

"Alive or dead?"

"We do not know."

'Useless… they are all useless,' the chief thought to himself. "Find out. If they are alive, place them in the prisoner cages. I will descend… shortly."

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Judy hadn't moved from her hiding place. Her fingers, curled around a pole, had turned white from the strength of their grip. She heard the tinkling of crystals and took the chance to look down the hallway towards Don and Tom. She saw Tom's hand emerge from the pile of debris. A Saticon grabbed it and pulled him to a standing position. She was sure Tom had no idea what was happening as the Saticon led him like a drunken donkey to a cage and pushed him in, slamming the cage door shut.

As Tom was being led away, another Saticon used the butt of his rifle to clear debris away from Don. His companion returned and asked. "Is he alive?"

The Saticon shrugged. "How do we tell?"

His companion also shrugged. "I say we put him in a cage anyway." They each grabbed an arm and dragged Don across the floor to a cage and stuffed him inside.

Judy bit her lower lip and squeezed her eyes shut. She leaned her head on her hands. She had said a lot of prayers in the past year, but none had been as desperate as the one she now said. "Please…" she whispered, "Please let him be alive... He just saved our world… Don't let him die…"

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The mother-ship was in sight. Mike sat in the co-pilot's seat and observed, "There she is."

Rebecca stood behind the two men. "What do we do now?" she asked.

"Find a way to open the landing bay doors," Red replied. "Any ideas?"

"Maybe the Saticons reengaged the tractor beam," Rebecca offered.

"Not likely," Red replied. "If I know my buddies they created a lot of mayhem to destroy that crystal. Since they don't know we're coming back, I'm sure no one thought to turn the damn thing back on."

"Why not establish contact with the mother-ship and demand that the doors be opened?" Mike asked.

Red turned to Mike. "Sure. Just say, 'Open those doors, or else!' Or else what?"

"Wait a minute," Rebecca said. "Does Judy still have the communicator?"

"I don't know," Mike said. "She just tore out of here."

"Sure, Rebecca… We'll just call her and tell her to reconnect the tractor beam. Great idea – if she isn't a prisoner, and if she has the communicator on her," Red commented.

"Do you have any other ideas?" Rebecca asked.

Red sighed. "No… Mike, try to establish communication with her."

Mike nodded and said, "You know, if we're lucky, we might be able to just sail right in like before."

"Yeah," Red replied. "Maybe it's about time our luck changed."

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Tom shook his head and came back to reality. The mask he wore over his scarred face irritated him. He felt like a clam that couldn't expel the grain of sand stuck in its shell. He removed the mask and brushed the tiny pieces of crystal that had lodged under it away from his skin. He wished he had a styptic pencil to close up the tiny cuts on his face. He did a mental check of his body and, other than the many cuts that were clotting over – and aching bruises – he was fine. He wondered about Don. The sound of crystals scraping along the floor as something, or - rather - someone, was dragged over them caught his attention. He watched as Don was stuffed into the cage beside him like a sack of potatoes.

"You," the Saticon who had imprisoned him called. "Is he alive?"

Tom turned to his observe his friend. "Don!" he called. "Don!" He turned to the Saticon. "I can't tell from here. Let me out and I'll examine him."

The Saticon laughed. "Stupidity does not run in Saticon blood, as it does in humans. I will examine him."

Tom didn't expect his ruse to work, but he thought it was worth a try. "Feel his chest. Is it moving?" The Saticon placed a hand on Don and waited… He nodded. Tom closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the bars of the cage. "He's alive."

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