Land of the Giants 2183

by JR.sgt

The old with a twist of new/ A more real take on the story on how 4 inch people can survived in the Land of the Giants/ And... Well, better read it and find the big twist with lemon/

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Land of the Giants

2183

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Humankind

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Thirty four years after the advent of the gravity inversion engines. Humankind has colonized the Solar System.

The gravity inversion engines have been known in theory since the year 2045 but not until the year 2145 gravity inversion engines became a practical and cost effective reality.

Since then a large traffic of ships crisscross through the Solar System in any given time forming an intricate transportation network as multifarious as the 21st century global aircraft traffic system.

Beyond the Solar System intrepid colonists travel in an intermittent wave of humans to cross the expanse of space toward Proxima Centauri by the use of the inversion gravity hyper-engines.

Although one of the colonist's missions became lost 24 hours ago by using a new variant of the inversion gravity hyper-engine based on Plasma reaction, humankind will keep reaching the neighboring star system for colonization.

In our Solar System heavy transports move ores and goods as large passenger ships transport customers from any point in the Solar System in a matter of hours among the planets, moons, asteroids and space habitats.

These large passenger ships are built to travel across the Solar System with minor luxuries, however smaller executive ships travel with luxuries that only people with money can buy.

One of the upcoming companies taking advantage of the new commercial opportunities of space faring is Continent aero-space line.

Continent transports passengers, goods as equipment and ore grade materials to the different space ports in the Solar System.

The home headquarters of the company is in the New London dome city in Copernicus crater on the Moon.

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The ship

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The craft assigned for an upcoming 600 flight for Continent aero-space it is a small Spindrift class passenger shuttle built for transporting VIP passengers with money to spend for a fast arrival time to their destinations.

It is known across the company that the designation for any flight with the number 600 it is for a high paying executive flight.

Most crews avoid the number 600 even when flight bonuses are offered due to the common arrogant nature of their passengers.

Continent aero-space line has 12 of this executive Spindrift class ships that are built by Boeing in their manufacturing plant in Ft. Myers, Florida.

It accommodates ten passengers and it is manned by a crew of four that are a pilot, Co-pilot and two flight attendants.

The craft is 60 feet in length, of those 60 feet, 40 feet accommodates the passengers the crew and luggage.

The ship is 100% Nano- tubes Titanium laced double hull and all the windows are of transparent Titanium.

The remaining 20 feet at the rear is for the engines, reactor section as all avionic systems required. It has a wing span of 23 feet in a slanted configuration.

The engines are two G-12 Pratt and Whitney gravity inversion engines and their cores are made of an element only found in the Ort cloud called Gravitite pushing gravity to the thrusters section of the engines.

All Gravity-Inversion engines need this element as to maintain trapped in an alternating field, negative mass gravitons.

The graviton mass value it is inverted into a negative inside a converter reactor. The gravitons are collected by Ram-Scoops facing the forward moving direction of a ship then sent into the reactor for value Mass inversion.

A reciprocating gravity/electro conversion reactor Mark- 7 built by Euro-Electronics in Ireland provides the power of 12.5 Peta-watts to the two engines as the flow of gravitons needed for propulsion for the Spindrift.

The power grid network in the Spindrift it is manufactured in Sydney, Australia.

The grid it is made of superconductive Trans-metallic hydrogen optical cables for plasma pulse current, feeding the ship with electrical power for all its systems from the main engines or from the auxiliary power unit as from the batteries.

The maneuvering thruster as the auxiliary power unit or A.P.U. are manufactured in the German City of Viernheim and it provides enough power to maneuver the ship when the main engine system or the reactor suffer a malfunction, using as fuel helium/hydrogen.

The Spindrift class design it is based on a racing ship with the same speed and maneuver performance but built as a longer passenger ship for speed.

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The crew

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It is September 22, 2183. At 8:00 am lunar time. Flight Commander, Dan Erickson is seating by the end of the bar watching the news of the Jupiter mission lost 24 hours ago. Then his sight is to the tall glass of milk in front of him.

Dan looks up toward the bartender and says. "Bobby, is this the real thing or powder?"

Bobby looks at him as he serves another customer and replies. "When was the last time you saw cows on the Moon?"

Dan leans back on the stool and says. "I can't drink this."

"Why?"

"I am fake milk intolerant."

"I have Whisky that is natural."

"You know the rules, no drinking 12 hours prior to a flight."

"Where are you transporting?" Bobby asked. "The flight manager nailed me with a 600 to LAX just a few minutes ago."

Bobby grins as saying to Dan, ouch and Bobby replies. "Sorry man. At least it is not to Pluto station. Hey… L.A, they have cows."

"Yea… right, give me water."

Not far from Dan, in the same lounge, flight attendant Betty Hamilton and her friend and co-worker Luna Rodgers walk in a slow pace with their moral as low as it can be.

Both seat by the middle of the bar and Bobby walks up to them to ask. "How was Mars?"

Betty replies. "Naa, it was okay." Luna says to Bobby. "Give me an Orange soda."

Bobby turns to Betty. "And you?"

"Rat poison or an open airlock will do for me." Bobby looks at the two concerned and asks. "What happen on your way from Mars?"

Luna replies. "It is not Mars." Bobby looks intently at the two women and he says. "A, 600 flight?"

"Yes, Mr. Stewart caught us in the Mars terminal no more than 10 minutes ago." Betty replied.

Luna adds. "He not even gave us time to hide. He was right there at the gate."

Dan hears this and he stands walking to the two flight attendants. "Hey, girls."

"Hello Dan."

"Hi Dan, are you on the schedule?" Betty asked.

"Yes, a 600 to LAX."

Luna asks. "Who is the Captain?"

"Captain Conrad." Dan replied. Betty and Luna smile, Luna says. "We just came with him from Mars."

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The Captain of Flight 612

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Captain Steve Burton is doing the post flight check procedures with his Co-pilot Maria Cuevas in the cockpit of a cargo hauler both piloted from Mars.

Maria looks at Steve displaying a burden aptitude and she says. "Don't worry about your friend. I am sure they are out of power in the ort cloud."

"I know Don since we join Space Force with Conrad."

"You talked to him before he left." Maria said.

"If you call talking from Mars to Jupiter station, I did." Steve replied.

"There is always the delay. At least he called back and left you a message."

"When I open it, he was gone already."

Then a female voice comes through the company frequency. "Continent office to flight 325."

Maria looks at Steve to say. "They approve your two week vacation…probably." She smiles.

Steve replies as he reaches his head set. "If not, I am getting the union involved. I am not in the mood for company crap. Not after Don been lost out there."

"Yes, that is true." Maria replied.

Steve says over the Comm. "This is 325 heavy actual."

"Captain Burton, you are needed in the office."

"Can I finish the post check flight?"

Then a male voice in an assertive tone says. "Captain, come to my office… now!"

Maria and Steve exchange surprised looks and Steve replies. "Mr. Stewart, I am in the middle of a post flight. Can I at least shoot down the craft?"

"Flight Commander Cuevas can do that. If you want your vacation to be approved, be here in less than five minutes!"

"Okay, okay. Heavy 325 actual is signing off."

Maria says. "Jerk, pendejo."

Steve stands up to get his belongings and he says to Maria. "You forgot pinche puto."

"That too. Don't worry I have this."

"Thank you."

Steve disembarks the heavy hauler walking into the terminal going toward the administration office of Continent.

The terminal is crowded with the arriving passengers from Mars and as Steve walks an American Space Force officer with the naval rank of commander walks into him.

"Hey!" The distracted naval officer said, Steve replies in an irritated tone. "Hey you! You bump into me."

The officer moves quickly a brown and black briefcase behind his back and says to Steve. "Don't let it happen again."

The naval officer walks away blending in the crowd toward the exit, Steve slightly shakes his head in disbelieve saying. "Jerk." And he continues his walk.

Once at the end of the terminal he waits for one of the elevators to go down to the office. A familiar voice says to Steve. "Where you been?"

Steve already smiling turns to see fellow Captain Conrad. "I just came from Mars hauling ore. What about you?"

"From Mars as well and…" Conrad stops seeing space-port security guards and soldiers walking into the terminal. Steve is looking as well and Steve says. "I wonder what happened."

"I guess you don't know."

"Know what?"

The elevator opens and both walk in.

Once in, the pair reaches for the button to the main office. Conrad reaches the button with the hand holding his briefcase and he says to Steve. "Don't tell me. Stewart called you too."

"Yes, about my vacation." Steve replied.

"I have a 600, flight 612 to LAX."

Steve grins and says. "Uuuu… Sorry to hear that."

"No, I requested the 612."

"Wow, really."

The elevator closes and goes down. Steve asks. "This is the second time I see a black and brown briefcase with that design. Where did you buy it?"

"On Mars."

"Conrad, what happen that I don't know? It has to do about Don?" Steve asked.

"I heard about it on the wireless news. I am sure he is okay, that family has the best there is behind the flight controls. But it is not that."

Steve asks. "Then what happen to have all that security in the terminal?"

"A robbery on Mars and it was big."

"A robbery?" Steve asked.

"A group of well trained and well equipped mercenaries went into a research facility in Arcadia Planitia and stole some exotic material."

"Wow, really."

"I had as a passenger the head of the entire research operation on Mars."

"Doctor Wilson, the owner of Space-Tech industries?"

"Mark Wilson, the one." Conrad replied.

"Why someone with such much money end up in a passenger transport?"

"My transport was ready for departure and the fastest one available. The company did not have one of those fancy Spindrifts available on Mars."

"I guess he is on a hurry. What kind of material was stolen?"

"It is not public yet. But for what I read in the internet. Two years ago something was found in a mine and the Arcadia facility was built right on top. Since then only military and scientist go into the facility."

"So the extra security in the terminal is to catch someone that came from Mars?" Steve said.

"I guess so."

The elevator stops and opens. The two walk out and turn toward the office.

The longtime friends continue to chat about everything else then Steve asks. "How is your son?"

"He needs a Nano-graph surgery."

"Those are expensive." Steve replied with concern but Conrad smiles and says. "I have the money, now."

"That must be a big loan."

"Yes, it is." Conrad saying that, both enter the office.

The two Captains walk up to the reception desk and Conrad says. "Tell big boss that Burton and Conrad are here."

Steve looks at the secretary and asks. "Where is Linda?"

The secretary replies. "She is on vacation. Who is Conrad?"

"I am."

The next thing the two Captains see is the new secretary pulling a gun as she stands pointing toward Conrad.

Steve is about to reach for the weapon when soldiers storm the reception area. "DOWN ON THE FLOOR!"

All continue to yell as Steve and Conrad move to the floor. Then the flight operations manager, Mr. Stewart says. "Not he, the other is Conrad!"

Two soldiers lift Steve to his feet as Conrad is handcuffed on the floor.

Conrad is in tears and in a wretched state he says. "Please…please, my son is ill! He has but months to live! Please!"

Steve is standing next to Stewart behind the soldiers.

Conrad briefcase is placed on the front reception counter and one soldier passes a handheld scanner over it. The soldier turns to his senior and says. "No explosives."

The officer moves his forearm toward his mouth to say into his wrist wireless. "All clear, we have the package. You can bring Dr. Wilson."

Mark Wilson enters escorted by soldiers walking to the briefcase. He looks at it and says. "Open it."

The soldier opens the briefcase and he pulls a Nano-drive card. The soldier says. "That is all."

Mark grabs the drive card and shows it to a crying Conrad. "What is in it?"

"That is one billion credit hours to pay for my son's surgery."

"Who gave it to you?"

"I don't know. I put the briefcase I was given on Mars in the forward port side lavatory of my ship and when I returned this briefcase with the money was there."

"Who gave you the other briefcase?"

The senior officer says as he looks at Steve and Stewart. "Dr. Wilson, let's not talk about this in here."

"Okay, take him away."

As the military entourage walks out with their prisoner Mark stays behind and he pulls his phone.

"Beatrice, do me a favor. Find all you can on the family of a Continent space line pilot name…" Mark looks at Stewart and he says. "John Conrad."

"…John Conrad…" Steve interrupts Mark by saying in an antagonistic tone. "What! You are going to arrest the kid too!?"

Mark continues as he looks at Steve. "… and pay any present and future medical bills of the family under any of my charities."

Mark closes the phone and says to Steve. "The sins of a father should not be passed to a son."

Steve and Stewart are speechless then Mark says to Stewart. "I need to be in Los Angeles in less than one hour. Can you make that happen, Mr. Stewart?"

"Yes sir… here is your flight Captain."

"Good, no delays." Mark said as he walks out.

Steve turns to Stewart to say. "He is the richest man in the Solar System, why us… why me?"

"His money said so."

As both walk to Stewart's office Steve says. "For crying out loud, he can get a military flight for free! Why I have to be the captain and what about my vacation?"

"I called you here because you don't have enough hours in the books for a week vacation. The Feds walk in here after I called you and told me about this take down."

"Why, do I have to be the captain of a 600 flight!?"

"You are the only Captain in the base. Henderson and Garza are not due until tomorrow, so you are it. He looked at me and he asked for a flight and he is getting one."

"So instead of going on vacation I get stuck in a 600!"

"Yes, you are. Look once in L.A get, three weeks even if it puts you in negative hours."

"Four."

"Okay."

"Pay vacation with a bonus."

"Now, you are pushing the cart up hill. Four weeks of paid vacation, no bonus."

"You have a deal and I want it on writing."

"Okay, okay." Stewart said as he grabs an E-Pad and gives it to Steve. He reads it and says. "A new Spindrift, terminal 52 gate 12 with only three passengers?"

As Steward writes on his computer he replies. "And now Doctor Wilson, keep Looking who else is a passenger."

"Wow, Lady Galaxias… the singer."

"In her last leg of her Solar System tour and actually flight 612 was for her."

"A kid… Lockridge, why that name sounds familiar?"

"He is the son of Jonathan Lockridge."

"The ex-president's kid, what is he doing on the Moon?"

"His dad now is the C.E.O of Solaria ores mining company that is the largest mining company in the solar system. The headquarters of Solaria are here then dad as son both are here."

"A, twelve years old kid is going to L.A. alone?" Steve said

"After Lockridge's divorced the mother gained full custody, so dad is sending him back to Earth. Solaria have the largest mining contract on Mars right now in Arcadia Planitia."

"What is this, a military voucher for a seat?"

"Whoever shows in a military uniform holding the confirmation pass that will be your military passenger; also you get Dan Erickson as your copilot, Betty Hamilton and Luna Rodgers as flight attendants."

"It is only three adults and a kid why two flight attendants?"

"I want two onboard, now go to gate 12 in 52 and start the pre-flight. I don't want Wilson going to Delta space or Virgin space ways. The crew will meet you there. I just sent you the approved vacation to your E-Mail."

Steve looks into his phone and says. "Thank you, now I will take the job."

"Get out of here before I change my mind about your vacation."

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The boarding of flight 612

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Terminal 52 is the only terminal built with luxury in mind and it is the smallest of all the terminals with four ship docking gates.

The whole setting and ambiance is that of an executive lounge with large sofas and comfortable chairs for the well to do crowd.

There are only three passengers in the terminal beside the employees and security guards. Doctor Mark Wilson, Barry Lockridge with his father Jonathan Lockridge as his security escort and the singer Lady Galaxias.

Inside the ship, Dan and Steve are completing the preflight checks when Dan says. "Do you know the real name of Lady Galaxias?"

"No, I don't care."

"Valerie Scott." Steve smiles as he continues with his checks and asks. "Valerie Scott? Where is she from?"

"Dayton, Ohio." Steve freezes and says. "I am from Dayton. I wonder if I know her."

Betty walks in and asks. "Are we ready?"

Steve replies. "If the co-pilot concurs we are?"

"Captain, I concur." Steve turns to Betty to say. "Okay, call them up."

Betty walks out of the cockpit and heads to the gate counter to call for the passengers.

Steve stands by the cockpit door to greet the passengers as they walk in. Dan stays seated and says. "You want to find out if you know Lady Galaxias?"

"Yes, I want to ask her for a loan." Dan smiles as he moves his head gently as a no. Steve asks. "What's wrong asking her for a loan?"

Dan replies. "She might ask you for a loan. Her last three records flopped and this tour is for her to break even with the banks collectors."

"In other words, she is about to be or she is broke."

"One or the other, yes." Dan replied.

Luna is standing at the door and she hears Dan, she looks at Steve to ask him. "You know the lady?"

"Ah, I don't know. I don't think so."

Luna says. "Her first albums were great but the last three, they did really badly."

"Wow, I am not asking for money then." Steve said.

The first to walk in is Barry escorted by Betty, Luna takes Barry to his seat as the young one looks into the cockpit with curiosity. Betty walks out as Mark walks in.

Then the singer walks in. Steve smiles and says. "Valerie?"

She looks and stops staring at Steve with surprise. "Yes, how can I help you Captain?"

"Valerie Scott, from Jefferson High back in Dayton?"

"No, I am sorry." And she continues walking.

Betty is by the counter as she looks toward the terminal entrance where the security officers and scanning equipment are when from behind her a male voice asks. "Is this flight 612 to L.A?"

Betty is surprise seen a naval space officer standing behind her and she asks. "How you got into the terminal?"

"Like everyone else, through the entrance. Here is my ticket."

Betty scans the ticket and reads the screen to say. "Commander Alexander Fitzhugh, U.S.S.F."

"The one."

"This is flight 612, sir."

"Good." As both walk in Betty asks. "For how long you were waiting in the terminal?"

"Since, I arrived from the Naval Base at Tranquility about an hour ago."

"Really?" Betty said intrigued but says no more.

Both enter the ship and Betty continues to escort the Naval Commander. "This is your seat sir. Seat one in the first row."

Fitzhugh looks that at the other side across the central isle Mark seating in the same row he is as Mark is absorbed reviewing information in E-pads.

Fitzhugh turns his body away from Mark and he says to Betty. "What about the last seats, are they taken?"

"No, go ahead."

"Thank you." The Naval officer walks to the last row five seats behind Mark. Then Luna closes and secures the ship's door.

In minutes and as the two flight attendants take care of the passengers. Steve and Dan are taxing the ship on the tarmac. There are two ships in front waiting to take off.

The first of the two craft ahead lines up and prepares to depart.

Dan looks at the reactor indicators and he says to Steve. "We have an extra power load in the reactor."

"Above the red line?"

"No, but we have a 0.3 Peta-watt increase."

"This ship came out from the Boeing factory no more than three weeks ago. Maybe is a new upgrade in the reactor system."

"Don't you think they did an upgrade on the avionics to show this increase as normal?"

"If it jumps the red line we turn back."

"Okay."

Finally the Spindrift is in line to take off. "New London Control, this is Spindrift 612 in wait position 25 left."

"Spindrift 612 taxi into takeoff position 25 left."

"Roger, tower… 612 moving into position."

The small orange ship moves into position lining up with runway 25 left. Then the two pilots wait.

"Spindrift 612 you are clear to takeoff runway 25 left. Contact Antares at 1-7-5 decimal 8 once you reach 25 angels."

"612 here… thank you N.L Control we are on our way." Steve said as pilot and co-pilot move the throttle levers forward and the small ships takes flight.

Once above the surface at 25 thousand feet Steve calls in. "N.L Control, 612 is switching frequency to Antares space station traffic control at 1-7-5 decimal 8."

"Good travels 612, N.L Control out."

"Antares space control, this is Spindrift 612 of Continent from New London to LAX, in a trajectory of 33.0 ascending, 25 heading at 2500.7 feet."

"Welcome to the Antares network 612. Your trajectory it is clear of traffic. The space weather it is in condition one. You have Delta 562 heavy on your port at 5,263 angels and 205 heading descending."

Steve looks at the Ladar screen and says. "Thank you Antares control, I see Delta 562 clear from us. 612, is switching to auto-flight control."

"Copy that 612, happy travels. In 56 minutes contact Earth orbit control at 2-6-3 decimal 5. Antares control out."

"Copy you loud and clear Antares, Continent Spindrift 612 out."

Steve switches from manual control to computer and he leans back to say. "We are done."

Dan smiles to say. "In 54 minutes we go back to manual. I brought some cards."

"Let me walk among the passengers and I will tell you what happen to Conrad."

"What happen to him?"

"When I come back, I'll tell you."

Steve stands and walks out of the cockpit. He sees Betty and Luna talking in the galley and he asks. "Good gossip?"

Betty says. "You know we have a military passenger on board?"

"Yes but I have not seen him or her."

"It is a he and I swear I saw him as a passenger in our Mars flight."

Luna adds. "I am sure I saw him too."

"Military people travel all over." Steve replied.

Betty says. "That is the thing. He was not a military officer and he had a beard."

"I am sure he cleared the check point at the terminal."

"That is the other thing. I never saw him among the passengers waiting but out of nowhere he shows up at the gate. Then he tells me that he was waiting for the flight for an hour in the terminal."

"An hour?" Steve said intrigued and Luna says. "He knew about this flight before we did?"

"Um?" That is all Steve said as he looks over to see the military passenger and sees the seat empty. "Where is he?"

"Fifth row seat two."

"Okay, I will talk to him."

Steve steps into the passenger's deck and turns to Mark to ask. "Is all to your satisfaction, Dr. Wilson?"

Mark turns away from his E-pad to say. "If I am on Earth side in one hour, all will be."

Steve gets closer to Mark and says. "I want to thank you about my friend's kid."

"For how long you knew him?"

"For ten years. We both started in the U.S.S.F as pilots, with another friend Don West. I would never think Conrad could do a criminal act. But what did he do?"

"I can't talk about it been an active case. I guess the prospect of losing a child would make a father act that way."

"Yes, it would."

"Captain, can I see the cockpit?" Barry said and then Steve turns his attention to the young one. Mark returns to his reading. Steve says. "I wish but regulations don't allow me."

The kid looks down in silence and then Steve says. "What if as I go back into the cockpit, I close the door slowly for anyone to see in?"

Barry smiles and says. "Yes, I will be quiet."

"Okay."

Then Steve walks to the enigmatic Lady Galaxias. "How are you, ma'am?"

She replies in a cold tone. "I am fine, thank you."

"I am sorry if I confused you with someone I knew many years ago."

"Oh, really… back home in Dayton."

"Yes."

"Who was she?"

"A girl I knew from the school band by the name of Valerie Scott."

"What a coincidence, and what happen to her?"

"She went to California and I never saw her again."

"I see, you strike me as the captain of the football team but you remember a band girl."

"Yes, I was the Captain of the team and I remember her because I liked her. But each one takes a path."

"Yes we all do to never look back. If you excuse me Captain, I am tire." She reclines the seat and turns away from Steve.

Steve looks to his last passenger and he walks up to the Naval Commander and Steve asks. "How are you doing Commander?"

"I am fine, how long until we arrived?"

"About 45 minutes. Why don't you put your briefcase in the overhead?"

"No, thank you."

"You look familiar, did you served in Polaris."

"I was station in several ships but not in the Polaris."

"I see. I know you from where…um? I remember you now. You bump into me in the Mars terminal."

"I don't know, I don't remember."

"Your briefcase that is what I remember too."

"I don't remember."

"Okay, but it is regulation that all baggage has to be stowed and I am sure you don't want us to go that way."

"Are you… are you threaten me?"

"I am telling you how it is. Now the briefcase goes in the overhead or to the cockpit with me."

"Not the overhead, do you have a secure compartment close to me."

"Right behind you in the bulkhead, you will see anyone walking by you."

"Thank you Captain." Fitzhugh stands and follows Steve.

The Captain opens the locker used for the crew and Fitzhugh puts the briefcase in. "You see sir all secure and once in LAX I will open it for you."

"What is behind the locker?"

"The reactor and engine compartment, I can assure you it is all secure."

Steve closes the locker and Fitzhugh seats down.

Steve passes by Valerie's seat and he looks over. She is still laying down facing away as he keeps walking.

He stops by Barry's seat and Steve says. "I am going to the cockpit you can go as far as the galley."

"Yes sir."

Barry jumps out of his seat and follows Steve. Once in the galley Luna asks. "Barry you want something to eat?"

"A Tuna sandwich."

Steve opens the door wide and he takes his time to close it. Dan looks back smiling and he says. "You want to be a pilot?"

Barry replies. "A geologist."

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The bright light

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As all this is happening, the briefcase in the locker commences to glow and then it opens has pushed from the inside.

A small sphere of 4 inches in circumference rolls out and as if by a magnetic force flies and hits the rear wall of the locker with force.

Then the bulkhead commences to bend outward until the sphere slowly commences to break through the wall an in a fast pace penetrates into the engine compartment.

Once in the compartment, the sphere explodes into an energetic mass looking as glowing water and enters into the reactor through the seams.

In the cockpit alarms sound, Steve closes the door and jumps into his seat. "What we have?" Steve asked.

"The reactor is way pass the red line… this is impossible… the output is 65 Peta-watts and increasing."

"The speed is increasing… I am cutting the engines."

Steve commands the ship's computer to shutoff the engines but the engines continue as the increased speed.

Steve gets in the overhead to say. "Betty, Luna… prepared the passengers for uncontrolled travel."

"Steve what is that!?" Dan asks disconcerted as he continues to perform his duty.

Steve looks out to see a blue halo enveloping the exterior of the ship it looks as if the space in front of the ship it is splitting into two walls of light.

"Mayday, mayday, mayday… this is flight 612 in an uncontrolled flight path. Antares Control, this is flight 612… mayday!"

Steve looks at the flight panel and says. "Dan, the… manual engine shutdown!"

On Steve's left side of the panel and on Dan's right side both reach for the transparent cover of their respective engine shutdown switches.

They lift the cover breaking the seal exposing the switch. "Ready, on three!" Steve said and both pilots have their fingers on their respective shutdown manual control switch.

"1, 2 and 3!" As Steve reach 3, both push in.

The two spatial walls of light to the right and left of the vessel commence to close in front of the ship.

Once they collide a blinding light overtakes the cockpit as the two experience pilots cover their eyes.

Then the light it is gone and they regain control but now they find themselves in an atmosphere.

"We have again green lights across the engines indicator panel! The engines cool down." Dan said.

"Restart the engines!"

As the two pilots fight with turbulence, they turn on the two engines and once again the ship has thrust.

It is night and buildings are in the path of the ship. Steve and Dan pull back the steering control, Steve asks. "How high are we?"

Dan glances and he replies. "Ladar reads… 25,257 feet and climbing!"

"Impossible! We are between buildings!"

"How big are these buildings!?" Dan says.

The green light indicator of engine one changes to red and the automatic overheat protection system kills the engine.

"We lost number one engine, we need to land." Steve said.

"The Nav-system can't lock on any airport locator or I.L.S signals." Dan said.

"Where are we!?"

"There is no Geo-Space tracker signal either!" Dan replied.

As they speak the two pilots take the ship between the buildings while they continue to climb. Then engine two green light indicator turns red and the computer cuts it off.

"The engines could not take the extra power. The cores are overheated or burned up!" Dan said as he reads the engine alert panel display.

The ship without flight power commences to dive fast. "Open the heat shield vents!" Steve said and both pilots open the vents. The g-forces increase as the ship dives.

"Come on! Cool down, you two! Cool down!" Steve said as he fights from passing out due to the g-forces.

Then a miracle, engine one returns rough but it is back providing thrust and lift.

Steve eases on the only engine leveling the ship above the buildings.

Then no more than 30 seconds pass and engine one goes out. Dan says. "It is out!"

"One came back when we needed it. We are level to do a gliding path to a landing! Do we have thrusters at least!?" Steve said as he fights with the controls.

"Yes, we still have them but don't count on flying too far with them in an atmosphere."

"They will have to do."

The ship commences to glide and the thrusters do their job as Steve and Dan ask them to do but the two pilots have no choice but to land and it will a hard one.

The city is behind them and now they are seen houses and large highways crisscrossing the landscape below. Steve is avoiding populated areas keeping the nose of the craft up.

Then the geography is turning mountainous and still it is heavily populated with dwellings and streets.

"There, we land there… in that forest!" Steve said.

"The Ladar it is contradicting the altimeter."

"Follow the Ladar readings. The altimeter sensor prove most be broken. Earth doesn't have that high atmospheric pressure at this height."

"Okay!"

"Wow! Wow!" Steve said seen a tree larger than a Sequoya in their path and he banks to the left.

Then straightens the ship and he lifts the nose again and yells. "Full landing thrusters, now!"

Both activate the landing thruster at full. The Titanium built ship still hits the ground hard and both pilots activate the thrusters in reverse as the ship jumps as a rock skipping on water.

Then the ship slides sideways until a severe full stop.

The power is out in the ship. In the darkness Dan says. "We made it."

"We did. I have to check the passengers and the girls. Activate the batteries and send a crash locator signal. We landed near a populated area help must be on the way."

.

Arrival to the Land of the Giants

.

Steve grabs a flashlight and opens the door manually and the first thing he sees is Betty and Luna calming the passengers as they use flashlights.

"Is everyone alright!?" Steve asked.

Mark jumps off his seat and stands in front of Steve. "Are you a maniac!?"

"This maniac landed the ship." Steve said as he walks passed Mark toward Barry who still seating with his legs bend into his upper torso as he hugs them. "Barry, are you alright?"

The boy slowly turns to Steve and all he does is to give him a thumb's up as he stays silent.

Then Valerie stands from his seat but holding to Barry's backrest as she trembles. "Captain, what happen?"

"My job was to land the ship. The flight inspectors will determine that. We flew over a city and someone must have seen us. I am sure help is on the way."

"On the way! On the way!" Fitzhugh said as he walks toward Steve and once in front of him he says. "You almost killed us!"

Betty yells. "Captain Burton and Commander Erickson saved us from dying… so seat down and wait for help!"

All stay quiet looking at her. Luna gently holds Betty by her forearm and says. "Betty, I need help in the galley."

Both women walk to the front slowly and all the adult passengers return to their seats still unnerved by the aggressive landing.

Steve takes a big breath and says. "Given the circumstances we are okay. There are no fires and no leaks. My co-pilot activated a locator signal and all we do is to wait."

"We just wait?"

"Yes, Miss Scott we wait here. I will be in the cockpit trying to reach someone over the wireless."

Steve turns around and walks to the front. He stops by the galley where Betty and Luna are.

"How you two holding?" Betty replies. "I am okay."

"She is fine Captain."

"Okay, I will be in here with Dan just hold on."

"Okay sir."

Then the power returns and with it the lights in the ship. Steve walks into the cockpit and asks Dan. "How did you do it?"

"I did not. The power came back by itself."

"No response yet?"

"No one. It is like no one is transmitting, no auto-signals… nothing."

"That is weird. Check the commercial frequencies that might give us a clue on where on Earth we landed."

"Okay."

As Dan stands walking toward the wireless station in the back Betty and Luna stand by the door checking their phones. "I have no signal." Luna said, Betty replies as she looks at her phone. "Me either."

Steve pulls his phone as well and looks. "I have nothing."

"Why we can't get a signal?" Luna asked. "I don't know. It is like the 6T Sat-cell net it is not up there." Steve replied.

Dan is trying to get a signal from the ship's wireless station and Steve asks him. "No luck?"

"I can't get a signal from anyone, including the commercial stations. Space Guard-Rescue command frequencies are silent."

"Have the computer scan all frequencies."

"All?"

"Even the low ones."

"Okay."

Dan does as Steve said and the scan continues in all frequencies. Then a hit, a garbled signal and the screen it is turned on by the computer. "What is this?" Steve asked.

Dan looks at the computer and he replies. "The computer found thousands of signals in the lower bands. It's trying to sort them out."

"What lower bands?"

"In the Mega and Giga-hertz."

Then the image and sound comes clear and the four see an image of a man sitting behind a desk speaking in English. "Who is that?" Luna asked.

"I don't know who he is. But it looks a news broadcast." Dan replied.

Steve says. "Raise the gain."

The man goes on to say. "… and the Covid-19 virus vaccines are now given in new locations in the Greater Los Angeles area. Glendale and Pasadena have open two new sites in the Galleria mall and the Pasadena mall."

"We are in L.A." Betty said and Luna adds. "What virus is that?"

"Shhh." That is all Steve said as they continue to watch the odd broadcast.

"…The Johnson & Johnson vaccine is a new break through since the Virus arrived to the United States last year in 2020…"

Their attention is diverted from the peculiar broadcast by the whole ship shaken as they hear loud scratches coming from the dorsal top section and then all stops.

Steve says as he looks up as everyone else. "A tree fell on us."

Dan replies. "A tree you say, that was no tree."

The attention of the crew is now diverted to the hatch of the ship by a scratching noise but not as loud as before.

Luna is the closest to the hatch and runs to it. She presses the control panel to open the door.

As the door slides open a high pressure mass of air enters the ship. The ship's pressure equalizes and the whirlwind stops. All feel pressure in their ear drums as diving in water.

As all put their fingers into their ears to ease the unexpected pressure, Luna looks out. She sees no one, no rescuers.

By now Dan, Steve, Betty and Mark are in the hallway looking at Luna with her torso out of the door as she looks into the darkness. "I don't see anyone."

A fast moving brown mass moves from above covering the door and Luna is grabbed lifting her rapidly upward as she yells.

Dan, Steve and Mark run out after her but by now her yells are coming from above in front of them.

Steve runs into the ship and enters the cockpit. He opens one of the lockers in the cockpit and pulls a pistol and a magazine with ammunition.

He runs out as he loads the weapon. With the flashlight in one hand and the pistol in the other Steve turns to Betty and Mark yelling. "Both of you get in!"

"Mark moves forward wanting to help the two pilots search for Luna but Betty pulls on him. "Please sir, get in." Mark complies and Betty closes the door.

Dan and Steve stay silent and they hear Luna yell again.

Both men survey the area as they run toward the yells of Luna.

They encounter strange vegetation as they traverse the forest but the men don't pay much attention they are focus on rescuing Luna.

"Steve, what was that… a bear!?"

"Bears don't fly but whatever animal it was, it was big."

After running several meters they encounter a sequoia tree and Luna's yells are coming from it, high above as distant echo. The lights not even reach half way the length of the tree.

Her yells are and then stop. Dan nervously asks. "What… where are we?"

Steve is silent looking up. Then from the tree something falls to the ground. The two run toward where they saw the object hit the ground.

Dan is now paying more attention to his surroundings than Steve is and Dan stops as he lights a strange tree of the same size of what he expects of a tree to be.

Steve stops and turns, Dan says with a mix tone of fear and surprise. "Is that a Dandelion?"

"Let's go we have to find Luna."

The two renew their walk pushing through the strange vegetation. They reach the area where they saw the object fall and they look about. "Luna!" Both men yelled looking up.

Steve stops to look down as he hits something with his foot and Dan runs next to him.

Both men are petrified looking at the gruesome discovery, Dan turns away to vomit. Steve takes a knee to the ground and he says. "No… it can't be."

The two have come upon the dismembered upper torso of Luna.

"Steve… where are we!"

Steve stands and nervously passes his hand over his forehead to say. "I don't know."

The two hear a flap of wings approaching from above to their right.

All that Steve could do was to lift the weapon and fire at one of the bright yellow disks approaching them.

He hits one of the disks and the large flying object jerks to its left hitting the ground pass them. The object moves on the ground as in pain while making a lamented scream.

The thing regains its posture and the two pilots see a Howl as tall as a three stories building still swaying in pain for missing one eye. Dan pulls Steve up as they look at the enormous creature.

Steve says in a whisper. "Run."

"But Luna?"

"RUN!"

Both commence to run back to the ship. Half way there, another large creature emerges from behind the group of Dandelions Dan was looking at before.

A black jet color rat as big as a bus it is looking at them while the animal smells its next meal.

Steve raises the weapon to aim when a windstorm passes above the two and the rat is gone. Both see the owl flying away with the rat in its claws.

They commence to run and they reach the ship.

Both enter and they fall flat on the deck of the hallway trying to regain their air.

"CLOSE THE HATCH!" Steve yelled while on the deck. Betty closes the hatch unnerved by seen them return without Luna.

Betty and Mark lift the two pilots to seat on the deck and Betty asks. "Where is Luna?"

Dan regains is strength to start formulating words. "We… we…" "She is dead." Steve said.

"How and what took her!?" Betty asked followed by Mark, Fitzhugh and Valerie's questioning. Steve stands still shaking and Mark asks "We heard gunshots. Who was shooting?"

Valerie asks. "What was that screeching noise, like a dying bird!?"

Betty walks silently to her seat in the galley and commences to cry and then she asks. "What took her… a bear?"

Dan still seating and says in anger. "A cursed it owl as big as a building took her, okay!"

Mark looks at Dan then at Steve to ask. "An owl killed her!"

"Yes an owl and we saw a rat as big as bus out there. I don't know how but it is true." Steve said.

Mark replies with anger. "I missed a meeting with the joint space security commission and that young lady it is dead as you two describe common animals as gigantic monsters!"

Steve gets in Mark's face but Mark is not backing down and Mark continues saying with anger.

"You two crashed this flight and you are telling me that there are owls and rats out there as big as a house! I think you two are high or drunk!"

Then from the cockpit the adults hear Barry yelling from the top of his lungs. All rush in and Valerie is the first one to get to him as all crowded the small command deck of the ship.

Valerie asks the young one. "What happen?"

The kid points to the front toward the transparent titanium windshield and all look.

To their horror all see a gigantic black rat trying to bite off the thick transparency that is in between it and a good meal.

Steve jumps toward the flight control panel and he closes the heat shield. They continue to hear the scratches of the beast trying to break through the heat shield.

Then the rat jumps over the ship trying to get in. All are silent as the rat moves back and forth over the ship until it leaves.

Steve turns to Mark and he says to him. "Do you still think we are drunk or high?"

Mark as the others are speechless with fear.

.

The Captives in the Land of the Giants

.

A week has passed since the crash-landing and no one has left the ship.

Through the passenger's windows they can see spider webs covering the ship and not far from the ship the group can see a red ant colony were in occasions they have seen the ants dragging insects as big as the castaways.

Steve and Dan finally have managed to enter into the engine compartment trough a narrow overhead access panel.

The ship's design only allows work crews to enter the compartment from the outside separating the crewed forward area.

Inexplicably, the batteries still providing power to the ship beyond their operational time without receiving a charge from the engines. No one can explain this but this makes their cautionary imprisonment bearable.

The two pilots examine the port engine and Steve pulls the central core with the help of Dan. Both look at the engine part and Steve says. "It is burned up as the starboard engine."

"We can find replacements from the forward section for all the burn parts of the engines except the two inversion cores."

"It don't take much on building a core, is the Gravitite outer layer serving as a gravity super-conductor that we need and Gravitite it is only found in the Ort cloud." Steve said as both push the core back into the engine.

Dan says. "There are no other systems in the ship that use Gravitite to cannibalize for the engines."

Steve replies. "There are none."

"What about Boron? Gravitite and Boron are form naturally in space the same way."

"The first gravity- inversion test engines, 50 some years ago used Boron mixed with superconductive elements in mass quantities and we have nothing like that."

Dan says. "Even before plasma engines were used. Can we convert the engines to plasma?"

Steve replies. "Where do we get the fuel for plasma and we don't have a fuel tank for noble gases. We would need to convert the whole propulsion system to plasma and that can only happen in a factory floor."

Dan asks. "Yea, you are right. What about the broadcasts we are receiving from 163 years ago?"

"Dan, nothing makes sense in this place. All is 100 times bigger than us and want to eat us alive. The broadcasts I have no idea where are coming from. All I care is to fix the engines with what we have."

"Poor, Luna. We need to give her a proper burial."

"No, I am sorry but no. It is risky enough when we throw the bathroom bags out the door from the onboard septic tank and we are running out of bio-bags."

"Also of toilet paper, an outhouse would not be bad, actually in another week will need one."

"Water, food… we are running out of everything even that we are rationing."

"Steve, no one is coming and this ship isn't flying. We are where we are."

"If not for the animals and insects out there we could built a camp outside the ship. Also forage and grab a fat worm to eat."

Dan laughs and he says. "I want to see Valerie eating one."

"Me too. Let's check the batteries."

Steve closes the engine core compartment and both men turn their attention to the deck. Dan opens the battery compartment and both look.

Dan says. "I don't see how these batteries are still at full power."

"This it is what is keeping us alive. To tell you the truth I don't know how the batteries are charged if the engines are out."

"You said that this ship is new?" Dan asked.

"Yes."

"Maybe the good people of Boeing put a new safeguard… a connection from the reactor to the batteries?"

"The reactor it is off. Let's take a look." Steve said.

Dan closes the battery compartment as Steve stands and both move to the reactor at the front in the port side.

Both circle the reactor doing a visual inspection when Dan says. "This is off?"

"It's is off but why it is humming?"

Steve walks around the reactor and looks over and under the reactor mount assembly and says. "I don't see any direct connections from the reactor to the battery compartment."

Then both look at the diagram arrangement stenciled on the side of the reactor and Dan says. "The reactor goes to the engines."

"And the engines charge the batteries and the batteries give power to all the systems including the A.P.U. I don't know what is giving juice to the batteries." Steve said.

"If the A.P.U works so is the thruster system, at least we can hover about but not that high." Dan said.

Steve goes on saying. "Let's go to the front."

"Hey, look… a hole on the bulkhead." Dan said as he points toward the forward bulkhead. Both move their heads to look into the outward cavity with the shape of a volcano.

"That looks like a micro-meteorite impact?" Dan asks.

Steve replies. "No… no… by the angle and height, Fitzhugh should have been impale and all in the path before hitting him. We never lost pressure in the forward cabin."

Steve moves his head as looking to discern the path of the intruding object in the compartment and he looks at the reactor to say. "The reactor is on its path and it is not damage."

"What is on the other side?"

"Our lockers. Let's get out and tell the rest what we have with the engines." Steve said.

They leave the reactor compartment and walk to be under the overhead access they had to break to gain entree to the engines.

As Steve lifts Dan, Dan goes on to say. "Why don't we grab an ant? They are as big as a pig."

"To me they look more like a big lobster but we would have to deal with the entire family. No thanks." Stave replied.

Once Dan is at the crewed side of the ship he turns going back into the access and goes half way in to help Steve by pulling him. Once both are in the other side all gather around them.

Mark asks. "What is the condition of the engines?"

Steve replies. "Both engines cores are burn up, all the Gravitite was stripped by overheat. If not for that, this baby could fly."

Mark asks once more. "The reactor?"

"It is still off and functional but strangely, it is making a low pitch hum that even when running does not make."

Fitzhugh says. "Maybe, it still on."

"Mark shakes his head slightly to reply. "It is impossible. The graviton ram scoops are off."

Fitzhugh replies. "It has to be on that is why it is humming. If I am not mistaken the reactor also converts free floating gravitons into electricity and that electricity is charging the batteries… or not."

Mark replies. "It is not that simple." Steve adds. "That is not how it works. The batteries are charged by the engines and they are both out of commission."

Dan adds. "The reactor's graviton chamber it can't start a conversion reaction because the two ram scoops on both sides of the ship are off."

Fitzhugh goes on to say in a more irritated tone. "Something is working back there to charge the batteries and if so… we can leave this forsaken place. Already one of us is dead!"

Steve with anger says. "There is no direct connection from the reactor to the batteries. Only through the engines as they are running charge the batteries and both engines are broken to be running. We don't know what it is charging the batteries."

Fitzhugh matches Steve angry tone and demeanor as he says. "The engines must work!"

"Now… Commander? What is your job in the Navy!?" Steve asked.

Fitzhugh swallows his anger and turns around walking away.

Dan and Mark get close to Steve as to calm him down and Mark asks. "Why you asked him that?"

"His rate insignia on his rank shoulder board is of an engineer. Space naval ships use the same propulsion system layout as our ship."

Dan says. "He should know what we are talking about." Mark adds with a surprise tone. "And he is clueless."

"I asked him if he served in Polaris and the impression I got from his answer was that he thought I was talking about a ship." Steve said.

Dan says. "But Polaris is the ship yard station in the Ort."

"Exactly." Steve replied.

He then turns about and walks to the crew lockers. Using his key he opens the locker where he put Fitzhugh's briefcase.

Steve looks and sees the hole on the rear of the locker and then he pulls the already open briefcase.

Steve looks a second time as he passes his hand in the locker searching for an ingress hole.

He finds none, just an exist hole toward the engine compartment. Then Steve looks at the briefcase. Steve, Mark and Dan examine the content.

Each side of the briefcase is lined with thick inner foam and at the center of both sides it is still holding the shape of the sphere and its peculiar designed.

Steve holds up the open briefcase and shows it to Fitzhugh. "What was in here? Naval engineer Fitzhugh!"

Fitzhugh stands outraged and walks toward Steve. "HOW DARE YOU OPEN MY PROPERTY!?"

Steve passes the briefcase to Mark and Steve is ready.

Fitzhugh swings but misses, Steve connects an upper cut to Fitzhugh's ribs and he sways then falls seating on the deck.

Dan holds back Steve and the irate pilot asks. "What was in that briefcase?"

"STOP!" Valerie yelled and then asks. "What is so important what is or is not in that briefcase. Why you have to do that!"

Fitzhugh replies yelling. "Why is so important what I have in my briefcase!? Why not open everyone's luggage demanding to know what they have in them!"

Dan pulls Steve and in a whisper Dan says to Steve. "They are right. What does it matter? The thing is empty. He can say you stole whatever was in it."

"It was in the same locker of the hole." Steve replied.

Dan replies. "So what? The micro-aerolite hit the briefcase too in its trail. Those things have erratic paths. There must be a hole somewhere in the hull."

"Something is not right with him and that briefcase. We never lost pressure and there is only an exit hole in there! Something flew out from the briefcase." Steve said.

Mark goes on to say in a somber tone after examining the briefcase. "I know what happen. I know why we are here."

All eyes turn to him and Betty asks surprised. "You do?"

"Yes, I do. The Captain is right. This man is not what it seems to be. He is a thief and the content that was in this briefcase it is the cause of us been here."

Steve turns to Mark and asks. "My friend Connors, he was involved in the robbery on Mars. Connor's briefcase is the same stile as Fitzhugh's. Whatever was in there he was trafficking out of Mars."

"Yes." Mark seats down and then Fitzhugh says. "I never open it. I thought it was pirated movies."

Dan scuffs at Fitzhugh and Dan says. "Yea right… you probably though it was ice mercury or some other drug."

"I swear…" "Quiet!" Betty yelled and Fitzhugh goes silent.

Mark goes on to say. "What was in this briefcase… we don't know if it was originally from an ancient Martian civilization or an extra-solar system civilization."

"Go on?" Steve asked.

"The material is part of a gigantic space ship found underground. The ship itself… the hull… the hallways, all of it is the engines, the fuel all the ship it is a single unit."

"What was in the briefcase?" Valerie asked.

Mark replies. "The material that was in this briefcase is one of two spheres from that ship we manage to take."

Dan asks. "A ship that the hull is the engine as its power sources as everything else it is one single unit?"

Mark replies. "Yes, this ship we are in for example. It is an amalgamation of different parts to make it do what it was built to do. The none-human ship in Mars it is one single piece made of the material the sphere that was here was made of."

"How it works?" Steve asked.

"We never could understand how it works until a year ago. The material is activated by a direct contact to a power source."

"Like our reactor?" Betty asked

Mark replies. "We think it needs the output of a sun to produce a… split effect in the space time. Others think that an electro plasmatic force will activate the sphere as an engine inside relativistic space."

Steve asks. "What others think that, about the plasma? Because Dan and I we were talking about that."

Mark says. "Dr. John Robison, he was involved in my project for a while as a consultant. But this ship it is not built for plasmatic drive as the Jupiter Two. What happened to us it was a whole different effect."

Dan asks. "What happen to us was like a warping wave of space?"

Then Steve asks "A folding of space or a wormhole?"

Mark replies. "None of those, it splits the space/time. With both realms separated the ship it is not restricted by the space/time relativistic limitations of the Universe. Time and space becomes irrelevant to it."

"It pushes space and time aside?" Steve asked.

Mark replies. "Space and time are split form one another. We travel in that wake created by the material and when the time/space joined again it was in a distorted arrangement."

"We are distorted somehow?" Betty asked.

Mark replies. "Distorted time, we are in the past."

Valerie says. "Distorted space thus our size."

"Correct."

"Steve asks. "So… okay, the only… that is not an alien world or a giant alternate Earth out there… that is Earth of the year 2021?"

"Yes." Mark replied.

Then Dan asks. "If we are on Earth how come that owl lifted Luna away?"

Steve asks his copilot. "I don't follow?"

Dan relies. "The only way… in theory, for an object to be shrunk in size it is by compacting the space between its molecules. A ton of lead six feet high will weigh the same even if it is shrunk to one inch high."

All look at Mark and he shakes his head to say. "Not so… space, our space. All that it is us as in the ship including the ship… space shrunk including the space between the molecules."

Dan asks. "So, I weight 210 pounds but for an animal or even a giant I will weight ounces, correct?"

Mark replies. "Correct. We weight the same in relation to us and the giants."

Betty asks. "For what purpose the aliens built their ship with that material?"

Mark replies. "That is how the builders of the ship could travel faster than light by making the universe travel around them in a space/time vacuum."

Valerie asks. "What went wrong in our case?"

Mark replies. "For some reason, in our case the cycle was not completed for us to arrive to Earth with our normal height and in our time."

Dan and Steve look at each other. Dan says. "We cut the engines."

Steve adds. "And the extra energy given out by that material having no output through the engines after the emergency shutdown burned the cores."

Fitzhugh stands and yells. "I knew it! You two brought us here!"

Steve says in an angry and assertive tone. "You brought that thing on board, it is your fault! If you keep it up, I will toss you to the ants… or the rat. It is your choice, Commander!"

Fitzhugh replies. "How could I have known?"

Dan replies. "Exactly, how anyone would have known!" Dan turns to Steve and says. "I'll kick him out."

Barry who has been sleeping in the cockpit goes on to say as he walks in. "Captain Burton, you can't send the Commander outside it is going to rain."

Betty turns to him and in a sweet tone she asks him. "How do you know it is going to rain?"

Barry replies. "The news, in the wireless… KCOP news weather, there is an 80% rain tonight and tomorrow."

Valerie looks at Mark, Steve and Dan and she asks. "How heavy is a drop of water for us now?"

Mark replies as he calculates in his mind. "At our size, a drop of water must be as heavy as 5 gallons of water and that is 41.6 pounds… then travelling a hundred miles per hour from an altitude of at least 25,000 feet, given our size…."

Mark turns to Steve with a worry look and Mark continues. "…That is about… 16.5 tons per every second impacting the hull of the ship for who knows for how long."

Valerie says. "One drop it's enough to kill any of us. No wonder the insects hide. It is not because they don't want to get wet, they fear for their lives."

.

What do you hear?

.

It is dusk and no rain has fallen yet and the group still awake except for Fitzhugh that is asleep. After finding out the role he played to maroon the flight as responsible for the dead of Luna he has become a pariah.

Mark is in the cockpit with Steve and Dan outlining their options for survival.

Mark goes to say. "We have to abandon the ship and move out of this forest."

Steve replies. "I would agree with you except that there is an army of living things out there ready to get us if we even walk a few meters. It is risky enough when we throw the trash out."

Dan says. "We not even know where we are in the L.A area to know where to go and the ship has kept us safe from all those beasties out there."

Steve says. "We must be someplace in Los Angeles Crest Park. Where exactly? My guess it is as good as anyone here. We have to stay unless it is worth to leave to obtain parts to repair the ship."

Dan says. "Find parts for this ship in the 21st century?"

"I know how to find out where we are if that helps." Barry said as he stands by the door. The three adults turn to him and Steve asks. "How?"

"I have been researching in my history E-Pad from school about the early 21st century."

"Go on?" Steve asked.

"They used to have… or they have a navigation system. The early precursor of the Geo-Space tracker, called the Geo-Positioning satellite network orbiting the Earth."

Steve smiles and says. "We know about it and we already talked on how to use it. But we would have to re-write the Nav-program codes of the ship line by line for the system to interpret that old signal."

Mark adds. "Even for the Nav system to interpret the signal in relation to a map, it would take months for us to it."

The boy smiles and says. "Not so, my E-pad has working software for that."

Dan asks intrigued. "How come you happen to have ancient software in your school E-books?"

"It was part of a school project in the historical evolution of software. All I need it is access to their now a day internet and my E-book can find our position."

The three men look at each other and then Dan heads to the wireless panel. He turns on the frequency scanner and asks Barry. "Where do I look?"

The young one replies. "Have the computer search between 2.4 GHz to 6.0 GHz. We are looking for what they called a WLAN connection."

Dan says. "Okay, here you go."

Steve says. "But that is a garble of EM noise."

Barry says. "It is for a computer that does not have the key as the ship's computer to break the code, but my E-book has it. Where do I log in?"

Dan says. "Jump into the wireless system of the ship by using the code, Continent guest."

"Okay."

The young one commences to work in his E-pad as all look and then Barry frowns as he looks at his E-Pad. "The network gave me an error code 501?"

Mark says. "Wow, we still use those codes in our time. 501 code means that the server you contacted lacks the ability to handle your request."

"You mean that my E-pad is too fast?" Barry asked.

"Yes, lower the flops of your E-pad until the outside server allows you to pass into the net."

"Okay." Barry replied as he works in his E-pad. The young one smiles and says. "I am in."

He continues in his digital search and then he shows to the adults his results with pride to say. "Here you go gentlemen, Google maps."

All smile and Mark says. "I will hire you in my company."

Dan turns to Steve to ask. "What is goggle?" Steve shrugs his shoulders and replies "Like staring at people's business… I don't know."

"Thank you Doctor Wilson." Barry said as he continues then Steve asks. "You happen to have that software in your history book."

"Actually Captain, I am using at least four programs to make the network believe that my E-Pad is a handheld phone of the day. The 21st networks are dumb."

Mark says. "The first functional A.I will be online 35 years from now by Nobel Prize laureate Dr. Andre J. Gonzalez. He is the one that inspired me to go into science since I was your age Barry. But you Barry did it first."

"Thank you, Dr. Wilson." Barry replied as he smiles.

Dan says as he looks at Barry. "So you can hack anywhere with your school books."

"Yes, I can… here we are… Los Angeles Crest… north of Pasadena."

The boy shows the pad to Steve and he looks at it. Dan and Mark flank the Captain to look and Mark says. "That is the old Aero-Space Propulsion Technology Lab center."

"The museum?" Dan asked.

Mark replies. "Not now a day. It is a space research center and a university. They control unmanned spaceships throughout the solar system. We might find something there to fix the ship."

Steve says. "That would be worth travelling to."

Mark says. "But from where we are to reach, the A.S.P.T center how long it will take?"

Dan says. "It is only a mile and… oh, I see… darn."

"What?" Barry asked and Mark replies. "In our current height that mile are hundreds of miles. It might be as far as walking from Los Angeles to San Diego."

Barry in a naïve tone asks. "Why not fly to it?"

Mark looks at Barry and smiles to say. "Barry, the ship engines are broke."

But Steve has an epiphany and he seats in front of the controls. He turns on the flight avionics panel and looks. "Dan, Mark come and look at this."

Both men look at what Steve is pointing and he says. "We have enough fuel for the thrusters to fly and the A.P.U. it is working. We might not have to walk for days to reach the campus."

Dan says. "Steve, the thrusters are not for full flight but for maneuvering and we need to be high enough to at least glide a mile… or in our case to glide several miles."

"But it can be done." Steve replied.

Mark says. "Okay, we fly there. How different is where we are at where we could be?"

Steve turns to Mark and says. "You made the point to reach A.S.P.T center and before you wanted to abandon the ship without any plan beyond that."

"Well, not without a plan. To find a safe place that we can have more freedom than in here."

Steve continues. "We can find something there that could fix the engines cores. Anything to replace even for a few minutes the Gravitite we lost."

Steve turns to Dan and Steve says. "Boron and a superconductive element can do the trick as in the early gravity-conversion engines before Gravitite."

Dan replies. "Yea, that is right."

"I could mix several super conductive elements we already have on board but still we need more from whatever it is locally available. The Boron is out of the question." Mark said.

"Why?" Steve asked.

Mark says. "Now days, Earthly Boron it is not pure. The Boron used for the first gravity-conversion engines was found on the Moon."

Steve asks Mark. "Can we distill the impurities out of the Boron found on Earth?"

"Distillation falls in the realm of chemistry and that it is not my expertise. What we need to build is a Synchrotron and it would be a primitive one at that to purify the Boron." Mark said.

Steve asks. "We build the purification assembly with parts of the ship."

Mark replies. "Okay, that is what I said?"

Steve continues. "Once we obtain the quantity and quality of what we need. We can put back the parts of the ship we used to build the purification device."

Mark replies with a tone of caution. "This ship will be a dead stick in the water until we return the parts we need for the Synchrotron into the ship's systems after we used them."

Dan says. "Okay, the Boron we need it is out of reach for the moment. But it can be done with whatever is on Earth as long as we purified it?"

Mark replies. "Those technical hurls can be surpassed with time and effort but my worry are the challenges we have with the wildlife as we go to obtain what we need from the Aero-Space Propulsion center."

"If we land in the Propulsion center there will be fewer animals. Okay, okay… granted we will have to deal with insects, and rodents but larger animals like the owl they stay away." Steve said.

Dan plummets into his seat depress to say. "What choice do we have? Thruster power it is not enough to gain altitude and if we just hover over the terrain we will use all our fuel for the thrusters even before we get there."

Dan goes silent as all in the cockpit.

Dan continues. "If we get there, hoping they have what we need and who knows where in a campus that for us is as big as Texas. So to purify to standard what we obtain we have to dismantle the ship making it none operational."

Mark says. "Lunar Boron is what we need and it was discovered from a sample brought by the first Artemis mission. The discovery it is done at the Aero-Space Propulsion center here in Pasadena."

Steve asks Mark. "Refresh my history here… what year was that?"

Mark replies in a somber tone of defeat. "In 2027."

Steve replies. "Exactly, we can't wait six years in this sardine can. Either now we get it or in six years from now anyway the same risks will be there. I chose now."

Mark, Barry and Dan's demeanor of self-defeat it is evident even that they are silent.

Steve is upset by the pessimism, from Mark who suggested going to the Aero-Space Propulsion Lab in the first place and of Dan's for been hesitant in utilizing the thrusters of the ship.

Steve says. "We are running out of food and water. The bio-disposal bags are piled up out there. Soon the insects will notice the bags and then us. We have to be proactive to fix the ship."

"Reach the A.S.P.T campus it is a risk." Mark said.

Steve continues. "Yes it is a risky proposition and I am not waiting six years to walk there or fly using thruster power anyway."

Mark says. "Okay, we get the superconductor powder they have and the Boron now, then we purified it to a decent working state. But then what we do afterwards?"

Steve asks. "What do you mean by, then what? We go home."

"We hope that the light comes back to send us home?" Mark asked.

Steve stands throwing his arms downward in anger.

Dan says. "Okay, we looked everywhere for that sphere in the engine compartment and we never found it. That thing left the ship?"

Mark says. "It should be there, we did not found exit holes in the engine compartment but the entry hole in the locker."

Barry says. "What if the sphere doesn't want to be found?"

The grownups turn to him and Mark says. "It is not a thinking entity. It should be there for us to find."

Barry lifts his E-Pad and says. "By all qualifications compare to the tech of 2021, this E-pad it is a thinking entity. So is the computer of the ship and even your watches and phones."

Dan looks at Barry and says. "He is right."

Barry continues. "We are talking about alien tech hundreds of thousands years more advance than anything in this ship. That sphere most has a mind of its own. If we have not found it, it is because it is hiding."

Mark says. "If the sphere interacted with the ship's reactor to awakening it, now it does not want to be found because the reactor it is given sustenance."

Dan asks. "What else you know about it?"

"Our ship's reactor gave it more energy that we ever dare to give it as we examine it on Mars. Maybe it is somehow alive in a way that we humans can't even imagine. It could be…"

Mark is interrupted by a loud thump noise coming from the top of the ship, then another and another. Steve opens the heat shield of the cockpit and Betty runs in saying. "It is raining!"

All look out and see the gigantic droplets exploding as they impact the ground.

Dan says. "They look like five gallons water bottles been thrown by the side of a skyscraper hitting the sidewalk."

Steve to say. "Let's hope we don't flood."

Mark says. "The ground might get muddy."

Steve's eyes open wide as of Dan's. Then the two pilots jump in their seats as they put their seat belts.

Steve turns to Betty to say. "Have every one buckle up, we are flying."

Betty grabs Barry and she takes him to the passenger section. Mark asks. "Are we going to the A.S.P.T, now?"

Steve replies. "Not yet, just to higher ground. We can't afford getting stuck in mud. Go back and buckle up!"

Mark leaves the cockpit and Dan asks Steve. "Where to?"

"To the tree where Luna's body is, we land over the roots keeping us off from the ground."

The two pilots make the checklist as the flight instruments light up. Steve starts the Auxiliary Power Unit then both grab the throttle lever.

Steve says. "All we have to do it is hover to the tree nothing fancy."

They push the lever forward and the ship sways as the noise of the thrusters overtake the interior. The ship lifts and manually the two pilots pivot the craft until the tree it is in view.

"Okay, forward… gently… pitch up one degree and watch the roll." Steve says and the ship moves as the thumping noise of the rain increases.

As the ship enters under the branches of the tree the rain subsides. "Over there, that flat rock!" Steve points out and Dan says. "I see it."

They hover over the roots of the tree trying to reach a rock that is in-between two large roots.

As the ship hovers in position over the new landing site, dust and dirt blows upward covering partially the cockpit windshield.

"Landing gear it is down." Steve says.

Dan replies. "Landing extended and locked in position."

"Okay, down… down."

The ship lands as it tilts sideways a few degrees. The pilots cut the thrusters and the ship settles with a gradient to the port side.

Now they have a better overview of their microcosm's valley they have been living in for the past week from the cockpit.

As the two pilots regain their normal breathing. Something large and with a metallic texture with multi-color engravings comes to view as it moves a few meters in front.

The object is actually several objects and it's been dragged by the wind.

The strange apparition abruptly stops over a fallen tree and commences to sway erratically by the wind.

Dan says. "Are those… is that?"

Steve who is bent forward to see better on his seat says. "Balloons… birthday helium balloons?"

"I guess the rain brought them down."

"I guess… um?"

"Um, what?" Dan asked nervously.

Steve replies. "What if we use them to lift the ship high enough to glide downward using the thrusters?"

"How we get them here, without exposing us to the owl that lives in this tree?"

Steve crosses his arms and takes a big breath as he looks at the balloons.

Dan continues. "On top of that, just one of those balloons is as big as parade balloon. You will need at least 50 people of our size to move one at the time."

Steve replies. "We fly to them inserting the ship between the two ropes to hold us as far as we can."

"We have to guess the fulcrum point of the ship to wedge it in-between the two ropes joining the two sets of balloons."

"We can ensnare the two ropes with the landing gear." Steve said.

"We are asking too much from the thrusters and the landing gear. How much fuel we have left?"

"One half… we can do it."

"After the rain?"

"That would be tomorrow or in the first break there is."

Mark walks in with Betty and Valerie. Mark asks. "Are we stable?"

Dan says. "Yes we are." Then Dan points to Steve to say to the others. "We have here a candidate pilot for the Jupiter missions."

Valerie says with surprise. "You were going with the colonists groups to Alpha Centaury?"

"I was, but I change my mind."

Dan says. "You could have been lost as your friend did, Major West that is his name?"

"I would have been assigned to a Jupiter one class ship not his. We both were U.S.S.F pilots. He stayed in the service and I left for the private sector. He made it to Mayor."

Valerie replies. "For all I care, you are an admiral. Thank you Captain." Both smile at each other. Then Valerie says. "I think we need to find the sphere, if that is what brought us here."

Mark says. "You are right, Val… We need to really look for that sphere. Thinking about it and based in the experiments on Mars, that sphere might have changed into something else."

"What?" That is all Steve said as all stare at Mark. Then Mark adds. "That metal showed anthropomorphic qualities."

"It can change form?" Barry asked as he stands by the door. Steve smiles and asks Betty. "How our digital communications officer behaved?"

Barry smiles and Betty says as she looks at him. "Like a gallant officer."

Steve says. "Awesome, we are going to depend on you more with your skills and E-Books to gather information about the outside world."

"You mean the Land of the Giants."

All stay silent after hearing Barry renamed the Earth of the year 2021.

The young one looks at them and he says. "It is true. Due to our height, this is a hostile planet. But we are still smarter than the creatures in the ecosystem outside the ship."

Valerie says. "Barry is right."

Barry continues. "We can survive as long as we don't get caught by the giant humans and so far we have not seen one yet but they must not know we are here."

.

The giants

.

Meanwhile, as the castaways talked, at the center of the Los Angeles metro-area in the fifth floor of the Federal Building.

One of the technicians that monitor the internet in the digital crime detection center sees an alert on her screen.

She calls her supervisor and she reports. "This came up."

He reads and says in a nonchalant tone. "Someone using Google maps… so what?"

"Look, at the speed the device interacted with the network at first."

"Wow… and the device has no E number or IP number, not even the manufacture's backdoor skimming apps."

"Could it be an experimental super-conductor computer used in A.S.P.T?" The technician asked.

"Why you say that?"

"The tower the device used to enter the network was tower 2546-7b in Pasadena the device located a position in Google maps, 1 mile north of the Aero-Space Propulsion Technology Lab center in the Los Angeles Crest Park."

"No one will be hiking up there with a super-computer on their back."

"What do we do?"

The supervisor thinks about it and then says. "Pass this in an E-mail to the S.I.D team and put attention to Lead Agent Dobbs Kobick."

"Okay."

.

Crossing Paths

.

The rain has subsided to a drizzle and by now all are asleep except for Mark that is doing watch in the cockpit observing the swaying Balloons, he is running some calculations in one of his E-Pads when Betty walks in.

"Can't sleep, Betty?"

"No I can't with all that rain."

She seats in Dan's seat and looks out to say. "I wonder if we could make it out of here. With all those creatures that now they can step on us."

Mark smiles and replies. "That is true. I was making some calculations on our new height compared to what is outside."

"Really?"

"We are 1:18 scale or in average 4 inches tall."

"How you reached that conclusion?"

"I made a guess on the size of the head of the rat we saw through the cockpit windshield. I looked in one of Barry's books to find the kind of rat it was. Measure it to scale using the windshield as reference."

"Wow… just 4 inches tall. What about the ship?"

"The spindrift class ship it is 60 feet long, so at 1:18 scale, it is 7.5 feet long, 2 feet in height and 2.5 feet in span."

"A seven feet long orange slanted tube with two ram scoops sticking out on both sides. How can we hide the ship from been seen?"

Mark leans back and says. "I don't know."

"At least not yet." Betty said as she smiles as Mark. Then he says. "We could hide in plain sight."

"But where can we hide from the giants?"

"I don't know but I would not worry about them. They are not looking for us."

Paths commence to intersect between the passengers and crew of flight 612 with agent Dobbs Kobick that is in his office in the federal building reading the E-mail sent to him from the digital crime detection center.

Kobick has been in the F.B.I since he left the U.S Marines with the rank of Gunnery Sergeant in 2004 due to a combat wound.

He was in the first Gulf War, Somalia, Afghanistan and Iraq as several other places around the world.

He has been moving up the ranks in the F.B.I with meteoric speed even that he had to cross over a great professional hurl by involving himself with a notoriously known agent in the bureau from the D.C office.

Kobick has been in a good standing in the F.B.I afterwards.

For the past 4 years he has been in the Security Intelligence Department, part of the Science and research division of the F.B.I.

The S.I.D is the law enforcement and investigation arm in the streets of the Science and Research Division.

Kobick became the lead agent in the Los Angeles office two years ago.

He takes a zip of coffee and then stands walking to the door of his office, he opens it and looks into the agent's desks area and he says. "Jones, come here."

A woman looks up and replies. "Yes sir." He walks in and Jones enters as Kobick seats behind his desk. "I have one for you."

"What is it, sir?"

"The good people of the digital crime detection center sent me a report of an unknown type of computer. With no manufacture's codes or any other identifiers accessing the internet."

"Not unusual for hackers to do that."

Kobick gives Jones a print of the report and says. "Hackers do, but they never have used a device as fast as this one."

"Wow… I never knew this number existed."

"Zetta-flops it is a number and only experimental quantum computers can reach Exa-flops speeds all are in experimental stages and there are not many on this planet."

"This is a query for a location in Google maps."

"That is what it looks like. I am going to the Aero-Space Propulsion Technology Lab center been the nearest probable place for a device like this."

"That is correct, sir."

"I will check with their digital research people there. I want you to check the location it was queried."

"In Los Angeles Crest Park."

"Yes, we don't want some foreign power doing something wrong. If it was the A.S.P.T that it is okay case close."

"If is not them."

"Then, someone built a computer that nations would go to war over."

"Also the big digital Corporations will go to war."

"Microsoft has enough money to make Congress go to war with any country. Let's go, before World War III starts."

"Yes sir."

Back in the Spindrift, the group is eating the last of the food rations. Dan walks into the passenger section from the cockpit and he says. "It stopped raining."

All look at him and then to Steve who is standing up and he asks Dan. "Are the balloons still there?"

"Yep and I noticed that the ropes are made of plastic."

"They should hold our weight but I hope the thrusters don't melt them." Mark said but Betty lowers her head in a somber voice asks. "Can we buried, Luna?"

Valerie says. "We are closer to her than before and it is morning for the owl to be out."

Mark goes to say. "Time is of the essence for the living."

Mark turns to Betty and says to her. "I know you two were good friends but we can't risk anyone to go."

Fitzhugh in the few occasions he has spoken says. "The only ones that know where she is at are the pilots and if something happen to them, we stay here."

Although all are angry at Fitzhugh the group stays quiet knowing he is right.

Betty holds gently Steve's forearm and she says. "At least try. Please, see if it can be done, safely."

Steve looks at Dan and Dan says. "At least let us try."

Steve turns to Betty to say to her. "Okay, for Luna. We will try."

"FOOLS! If you die out there you will condemn the rest to be maroon in this world!" Fitzhugh yelled.

Steve walks up to him to say. "You are coming with us."

"Me!? Never!"

Steve grabs Fitzhugh by his arm and forces him to walk to the hatch. Steve hits the hatch panel and the thick pressurized door opens.

"Dan, bring the folding shovels from the rescue locker and gloves!" Steve said and Dan complies. Fitzhugh says in a trembling voice. "I will sue you when we return."

"Yea right, from a federal prison you will. Move and earn your living."

Steve and Fitzhugh step out onto the surface of the wet rock as Dan walks out. The rest are looking from the hatch and Steve turns to them to say. "Betty, close the hatch." And she does.

Dan looks about and says. "Over there."

"Please Dan, make the Captain have some sense about this. If you two die no one leaves."

Dan replies. "You mean if we die, you stay. You don't strike me as a good Samaritan to be concerned for others."

"Move." Steve said as he shoves Fitzhugh.

The three traverse over the rock then they climb down the root. Once on the ground Dan says. "Those are the Dandelions where we encounter the rat."

Steve gives his shovel to Fitzhugh and the captain reaches from behind his belt and pulls the pistol.

Then Dan does the same but he pulls a flare gun and he says. "We can do something with this."

"Where is my weapon?" Fitzhugh asked and Steve replies. "It is in your hand."

"The shovel!?"

"Yes, Commander… now move." Steve said.

With caution and in a heighten state of alertness the three walk through the forest that in their normal size would have been a patch of wild grass by their feet.

They walk around the tree and they look up and Dan says. "You think the owl is awake?"

Steve keeps looking up to say. "I don't think so. Do you think it would remember who took his eye out?"

"It might." Dan replied and Fitzhugh says. "Let's get over with this."

Dan looks over to say. "Over there." The trio walks to where Luna's remains are. Steve walks up to the spot and says. "Her body it is gone."

Dan takes a knee and he points to the ground to say. "Rat's paw prints."

Steve shakes his head as he takes a big breath to say. "She didn't deserve this, poor girl."

"Poor Betty." Fitzhugh said and the two pilots turn to him. Steve says. "There is a heart in there after all."

"I might me a smuggler and many other things but not inhuman, Captain."

Dan says. "Let's go and…" Dan could not finish his comment when they hear a muffled noise, a thumping sound slowly made in succession. The three hide behind a down branch and wait.

Then, an African American woman as tall has a skyscraper dress in khakis pants with a black polo shirt wearing a brown jacket comes to view. She is looking about as searching for something.

The three castaways are startled with fright seen for the first time a giant plus the giant female been so close to them.

They not even moved and they see the woman pull from her belt a cell phone. The little ones see a badge attached to her belt and a gun in holster. She searches in her phone and hits the screen.

"Sir, I am at the location." When she spoke Steve, Dan and Fitzhugh cover their ears and hit the wet ground.

"Yes sir, no sign of any vehicles tracks or temporary structures."

Fitzhugh wants to stand and run by the thundering voice but Steve jumps over him so not to give their position to the giant.

"Yes sir… yes sir. I will be back in a few."

She puts back her cell and walks around the tree. Now Steve is standing with Dan as Fitzhugh is still on the ground.

"She is going to see the ship!" Dan says. Steve grabs Fitzhugh by his arm lifting him up. "Let's go Commander!"

Agent Jones walks passed the tree with her back to the ship. Her attention is to the balloons and she pivots around.

The seasoned agent is at odds on what she is seeing.

A seven feet long orange object and the shape reminds her of a shark. Jones walks up to it and without touching the odd object she examines it.

Jones reads the letters across the top and she says. "Continent Space-Lines?" Jones bends closer to see five rows of windows.

She erects her body to say as she looks about. "It is a drone or a rocket model but no computer."

Jones once again pulls her phone and takes pictures of what she thinks it is a toy.

The F.B.I agent walks about with a more serious consignment in her mind than looking at lost toys.

She searches for what she came for, indications of a vehicle or temporary habitation that could have been used as a hacker's nest for possible criminal actions.

Jones walks by the other side of the tree and heads to her car.

She again makes a call as she walks away. "Sir, I found no indication that this placed was used by anyone to use a quantum computer… yes sir, on my way."

The giant vanish trough the foliage and Dan, Steve with Fitzhugh in tow run to the ship. They climb the root and then the rock.

They open the hatch as all are hiding against the port bulkhead under the windows. They all stand seen the trio entering the passenger section.

Mark asks nervously. "Is she gone!?" Steve replies. "Yes, yes… she thought the ship was a toy. We have to leave now."

Dan says. "She was looking for a computer."

"We are leaving now!?" Valerie said.

Steve replies. "Yes, we are. We can't risk that she returns with the person she was talking to over her phone."

Betty says. "Her voice… we could hear her in here as thunder." Fitzhugh replies. "You are telling me. At least you were in here. I almost lost my hearing out there."

"Okay, all in your seats. We are leaving." Steve said as he and Dan run to the cockpit.

Once the two pilots are ready Steve yells through the open door. "Is everyone secured back there!?"

Betty yells. "Yes!"

"How are we going to play this?" Dan asked.

"We approach the balloons and we roll starboard 25 degrees to wedge the ship between the two sets of ropes holding the balloons lower the gear and catch them."

"Okay."

.

Free fall

.

Jones is already by her car, as she walks around it she commences to hear a high pitch noise coming from the small hill she just walked down.

She opens her car door but before she gets in the agent looks toward the noise that now is a repetition of muffled puff sounds.

"It must be someone riding an off-road motorcycle up there."

Jones gets in her car and turns around toward the main road below.

What the agent did not saw levitating over the tree canopy are the two sets of join balloons and the toy rocket ship attached to the end of the two sets plastic ropes.

Inside the Spindrift's cockpit the two pilots are smiling. Dan says. "It is working! The P.S.I in the thruster is minimal."

"Also the fuel consumption… wow, wow… pitch 3 degrees up." Steve said as they maintain the balance.

An upper draft catches up with them and the ship shifts position. The balloons shift also and the plastic ropes slides back as the ship tilts forward.

The ropes are caught by the two rear landing gears. Now the ship is in a 90 degrees angle facing down. Everything that is not secured flies forward toward the open cockpit.

The two pilots can't level the ship without consuming precious fuel and Steve says. "We are going to use the thrusters to just to guide the ship."

Dan looks at the Navigation display where it shows their destination and both maneuver the ship in the awkward extreme angle.

After several minutes they can see the whole of Pasadena, Glendale and Burbank.

"At this altitude we can glide to the A.S.P.T." Dan said. "Okay, let's level the ship… slide back and we retract the landing gear."

"Okay."

"One, two, three!"

The nose of the Spindrift lifts and they hear the rope sliding under them. "Retract the gear!" Steve said as Dan acts.

Before the rope reaches the forward landing gear the gear retracts and the rope slides out from under the ship. Now the ship is free falling but level by its lifting body construction.

The pilots open the thrusters at full as they glide. Dan says. "It is a good thing that the atmospheric pressure is higher than normal."

"The thrusters have more to push using less energy."

The ship makes a level descent as the two pilots search. "There." Steve said and Dan with surprise replies. "On that billboard… you are joking?"

"I am not joking and not on it but between the signs. We will be above ground and the support pipes are hollow for us to go down."

"Okay, also the top of the billboard has those spinning plastic pipes to keep the birds away."

The ship maneuvers as to line up by the side of the billboard and commences its descent.

Even that it is mid-morning and the billboard is in the A.S.P.T campus, on Sundays there is no much vehicular and pedestrian traffic in the campus for been a day off.

Agent Jones driving on that same road east bound, she sees an orange gleam but she can't discern the descending small object due that the Sun's glare is on her eyes.

Jones slows and she has her head forward as her chin is touching the steering wheel seen the strange briefed vision. From her point of view the object vanishes behind the billboard.

She renews her normal speed saying to herself. "That looked like the drone toy I saw in the mountain. Na… it can't be."

The ship settles nicely between the two sings attached to the billboard structure.

The based the billboard signs are attached to it is a long square beam of at least 50 feet long, in giant standards for the occupants of the Spindrift it is close to 900 feet long.

The width is 54 feet for the new arrivals but 3 feet in giant's measurements.

The pilots shot down the thrusters and both lean back on their seats in relieve of their successful but stressful effort. Mark walks into the cockpit as he robs his neck and says. "That was rough flying."

"We made it and we are closer to where we want conserving fuel." Steve says.

Dan adds. "No animals, no mud." Mark looks out and asks. "Where are we, it looks like a military space carrier hangar?"

"We landed on a billboard, between the signs." Steve replied and Mark says. "Let's go out to look."

.

Narrowing the search

.

The group stands outside the ship admiring their new home. They see the backs of the two signs flanking them as castle walls.

There are no indications of animals, not even of spider webs as the octopods would have taken advantage of the seclusion offered by the structure.

Mark examines the weld marks on the metal and says. "This billboard it is new."

"And it is all ours." Valerie said.

"How we get down to searched for food?" Fitzhugh asked and all look about.

Barry says. "What about where those cables are coming out?"

"Good call." Steve said as he taps Barry's back and the group heads toward the cables that feed power to the billboard lights.

The group comes upon a hole on the floor of a circumference of 20 feet. Cables come out and they enter in a distribution electrical metal box above. All look down and see a light at the bottom.

Mark says. "With the upmost care, we can draw power from one of these cables. I believe they used copper cables to conduct direct current."

Steve says. "We can de-assemble a servo motor from one of the landing gears and built winch and put it here to rise whatever we need."

Betty says. "And to lower us to searched for goodies."

All smile as they turn to her and Dan says. "We can search for fat worms for food."

Valerie, Barry and Betty look at Dan with an expression as to say, no way. Valerie says. "No, I am not eating worms."

Fitzhugh says. "I have eaten worst and drank the dirtiest water you can find. I am still here."

"Because, you are here we are here too." Valerie said.

Steve says. "We need a cable. Um? We can use the two emergency shutoff lines that disconnect the engines. Join them and we can have a few hundred feet. It will not reach the bottom but we can manage."

.

The Campus

.

Agent Jones arrives to the parking of the Digital research lab in the A.S.P.T campus.

She parks in the almost empty lot. Jones gets out of her car and she pulls her cellular phone. "Sir, where are you at?"

"Second floor."

"On my way, sir."

Jones makes it to the lobby identifying herself to the security guard. Once she does that, Jones walks to the elevators and waits for one to arrive. The elevator arrives and opens. Jones gets in.

Her mind is trying to draw connections on the hipper fast computer and the toy she saw under the tree. Then, the object she saw descending around the billboard it is bouncing in her mind as well.

She tries on latching on to something but Jones is missing information to connect the dots and even if she had the answer it will be so incredible that not even she will believe it.

Jones arrives and walks out seen Kobick standing next to an older man wearing a lab coat.

"Did you found anything else up there?" Kobick asked.

"No sir." By now Jones is standing in front of the two men and Kobick says. "This is Doctor Mathews the head researchers in quantum computers. Doctor this is agent Jones."

"Doctor."

"Agent Jones."

"The good Doctor was catching up with some of his research on a Sunday and he graciously gave us an audience." Kobick said.

Jones smiles to say. "Thank you Doctor Mathews for giving us part of your precious time, especially on a Sunday."

"You are welcome."

"Doctor Mathews brought a good point." Kobick said and Mathews asks Jones. "Did you saw any high power lines or an electrical power station?"

"No. Not even an electrical pole."

"Something as what Agent Kobick described to me, it needs a lot of power to support, the peripheral elements as to the computer itself."

Jones asks. "Like what, Doctor?"

"Like, cooling elements, wireless transmission equipment and other devices to make the interaction between the operators and the system. That demands a lot of electrical and cooling power."

"That sounds like a whole building full of equipment and connected to the power grid."

"Actually, this building has an experimental quantum computer and it takes all in this building as the power company to support its operations."

"Then…?" Jones asked as she looks at Kobick.

He replies. "Someone made a breakthrough in computer science. The local electrical company has no reports on high demand of power and the computer here can't make the speeds of the computer we are searching."

Jones says. "So the computer here is not the one?"

Kobick replies. "The case stays open."

Mathews says. "You say the case it is open but no illegalities have happen by this unknown device. Possibly the builder is testing the system before going to the U.S. Patent office."

Jones says. "A device like that could make millions to his or her builder with high heat dissipation rate and low power demand. That would be a quantum desk top computer in the home or office."

Kobick says. "Let's hope all stays as you said Doctor, no illegalities."

Jones asks. "Doctor, what kind of breakthrough this system would have?"

"The principal one would be the super conducting elements. Maybe this is a laser based device where the transmission elements are similar to fiber optics that dissipates heat at a fast rate."

"Fiber optic cables made of this unknown super conductive element?"

"Yes, I gave a list to Agent Kobick on where exotic super conductive elements could be bought. But keep in mind the elements in the list can't make any device go as fast as you described."

Kobick says. "And they are expensive. Thank you Doctor."

"You are welcome."

"Thank you Doctor." The two agents walk to the elevator and Jones pulls her cell phone. She shows the pictures of the strange toy. "I saw this up there."

Kobick looks at the pictures and gives back the phone back to Jones. "A toy?"

"Yes, but thinking about it. Could this be something it was left behind by the people that used the device?"

"Let's take a look at it and lift finger prints off from it. I'll follow you in my car."

"Okay sir."

The two agents get in their cars and Jones leads the way. As Jones passes the billboard she looks wondering if to tell her boss or not on what she thought seeing.

They go up the mountain on the main road and after a few minutes they turn into a gravel road. Jones stops as Kobick stops his car behind hers.

Both get out as Kobick puts his sunglasses to ask. "Where?"

"Up there."

The two walk up the small hill as they push away the plant life in their path. The two agents reach the small open plateau and Jones says. "This is it."

Kobick looks around and says. "Why the device user marked this location in Google maps?"

"For what Doctor Mathews said, this is not a suitable place to run a quantum computer."

Kobick pivots slowly around and he points toward the city to say. "The cell tower that the signal jumped into the internet is not far from here on that direction."

"When I was getting in my car, I heard a motorbike engine and the noise came from around here."

"Um? I think we were duped." Kobick said and the young agent asks intrigued. "What do you mean, sir?"

"Whoever used the quantum computer marked this place in purpose to see if the computer's incursions in the internet are detected."

"If someone with a badge shows up looking they will know."

"Exactly, the off road motorbike you heard was someone leaving after seen you looking about."

"A stakeout from them to us." Jones said.

Kobick replies. "The computer was used elsewhere but near that cell tower."

Jones as she looks about says. "It's gone."

"You mean the toy?"

"Yes sir."

The agents walk to the tree and both take a knee to look at where the ship was. Jones notices something as she passes her hand over the rock to say. "Scorch marks."

"Yes, um?"

Both stand and Jones keeps looking down around the tree. She stops to look and she bends to see something odd on the ground.

Kobick stands next to her and he asks. "What you found?"

"I don't know… it looks like a broken doll."

Jones pulls a pen and moves for what she thinks it is a broken doll still wearing part of a uniform. "This doesn't look right." Jones said intrigued.

She then pulls her phone and using the camera zooms in and she says. "This looks real… oh my… is as if the doll is decomposing."

"Bagged and tag it. Take it to the lab. We might find the manufacturer of that doll and perchance it will connect us to the toy ship and maybe, to the quantum computer."

"Yes sir."

.

The unobvious truth

.

The next day Monday at 8am Jones walks into the office and as she does another agent from his desk tells her. "Hey, big boss wants to see you in his office."

"Okay." Jones change direction to Kobick's office and she knocks on his door. He looks up and waves her in.

"Yes sir?"

"Take a seat. Last night there were three incursions in the internet by our mystery computer."

"What it was doing?"

"It made three searches. One, a map of the A.S.P.T campus and the second search was information about super conductive elements."

"And the third search?"

"The other search was dealing with food preparations of worms, insects and mushrooms."

"Those are eccentric food choices." Jones said.

"I did a search of my own looking for stores that sell foods like that and I want you to go to three places nearby. One is in Glendale and two in Pasadena."

"Sir, I don't mind searching for this computer but, nothing illegal has happen yet for the Bureau to get involve."

"You are right but until we speak with them to assure us that all this it is just a business venture were no harm will be done, we are going to keep looking and…" The desk phone rings, Kobick answers.

"Agent Kobick… yes… really. I am on my way."

He hangs the phone and stays pensive. He stands and says to Jones. "Follow me."

"To where sir?"

"To the lab, the techs are going nuts over the doll we brought."

"Really?"

The two leave the office in a brisk pace heading to the lab.

Few minutes later they arrive and are greeted by forensic senior technician Brian Moore.

"I came as fast as I could. What happen?" Kobick said.

"This is the agent that found the… the, I not even know how to describe it to you."

Jones asks. "What is wrong with the doll?"

Moore shakes his head and says. "Come with me."

They move to a conference room and two more technicians are waiting. Moore says. "These are techs Mr. Lee and Fredericks. They have been working with me all night about this."

Kobick says in a surprise tone. "I put the doll in a low priority."

"Last night, all that change." Moore said and he points to Lee to say. "Put the first slide."

Fredericks dims the lights and in the main projection screen a picture it is shown. Jones and Kobick stand still in surprise.

Kobick asks. "Is that the doll!?" He looks at Jones and she says. "I did a zoom on my phone but this picture it is way better. That is the doll. What kind of doll is this?"

Fredericks replies. "As you can see, all human features, from skin, muscles and bones are present. Hair… even eyes. We used an electron-microscope to do a full autopsy."

"You guys did an autopsy… like a, human autopsy to a doll?" Kobick ask still staggered by the slide shown.

Lee says. "We collected samples tissues form all parts of her body and all of them came as human with matching DNA across all the samples of one person. If not for the height this woman should be in the morgue."

Other slides are shown and explanations given by the technicians.

Then the slide of a uniform it is shown and Moore says. "This is the attire found on her. It has writing in English showing the name of Luna Rodgers and as you can see it shows that she was a flight attendant."

Jones reads out loud the logo stenciled in the upper part of the uniform. "Continent Space-Lines?"

Lee replies. "Yes, Continent Space-Lines and there is more."

Jones eyes open wide remembering the name she saw stenciled on the side of the toy rocket ship but stays quiet.

Frederick shows the last slide. "This was found in an inner pocket of the attire, a two page document showing her itinerary of departure and arrival locations as the times."

Jones reads. "New London, Moon city spaceport to LAX, September 22, 2183 at 8:50 am lunar time of departure and arrival to LAX on September 22, 2183 at 6:55 pm PST."

Kobick is about to explode in anger when Jones asks. "How did she die?"

"We believe by a massive trauma from an animal attack." Moore replied.

Kobick turns to Jones to say. "Jones… come on, this is an elaborate expensive distraction from the people we are searching."

Jones pulls her phone and shows it to Kobick. "The name stenciled on that… on that toy rocket was or is Continent Space-Lines."

"Jones, please. That toy is part of this deception to throw us off track from looking for the device we are searching."

Moore says somewhat angry. "Agent Kobick we did all by the book and the science back us up."

"Where is that, doll?" Kobick asked and Lee replies. "On his way to the Quantico lab as we speak, they have better equipment of what we have here."

Kobick walks to the door saying. "Let's go Jones. This was a dead end."

"Yes sir."

Moore says offended by Kobick remark. "That was a real person, no more than 4 inches tall."

Kobick turns to say. "I want to see the report from the Quantico lab, so I can laugh as hard as them of you three about little people running around in the Los Angeles Crest Park, Bah!"

Both Jones and Kobick leave.

As Kobick and Jones wait for the elevator he says to her. "Take this advice from me, Jones."

"Yes sir."

"In the D.C Bureau about 16 some years ago there was an agent that worked in the basement looking into idiotic things like this. I got caught in that stuff by him. I had to pay dearly for that."

"I heard of him here and there, sir."

"Good, you are young and with a lot of potential. Do not take that route as I did or you will be in a basement like that agent."

"Yes sir, thank you sir."

.

The Confidence Artist

.

A week has passed and the landing site now looks more as a camp. They placed part of a plastic bag as a tent and the seats that were not used during the flight are now under it.

All food preparations are still done in the ship's galley with a new assortment of natural foods that now are either gather or captured.

Clean water it is obtained easily on a daily bases from the sprinkler system set in the grass area that surrounds the billboard.

From that same grass field they acquire soil worms that are part of their new diet.

Yet, no one from the group has ventured beyond the immediate area they are at.

However, they know that eventually they will if they want to acquire the superconductors and the Boron the engines required per Mark's specifications.

It is evening and the group is eating with a new addition to the menu been an ant. They boiled the ant as if it was a lobster and it is served the same way.

As they eat the worm meat and the ant Mark says. "I located in the map the building that has what we would need." Dan asks. "How far is it?"

"Well, translating the distance to our size. It is about 15 miles south east from here."

Steve says. "We need to scout the way to it and the building itself."

Valerie says as she struggles with an ant leg. "On what floor is what we need?"

Mark replies. "It is a two story building and to be sincere, I don't know where they store what we need."

Fitzhugh asks. "Doctor Wilson, if this was one of your research facilities. Where would you store it?"

"Um? It is not flammable or volatile… I would store it on the second floor in the research area."

Barry asks. "How big is the building, we know is two stories but how big is it compared to us?"

Mark looks at the map making a visual estimate in his mind and says. "Each floor is… 20 miles long by 20 miles wide…so it is 400 square miles. Both floors make a total of 800 square miles."

Barry as the rest they open their eyes wide and Betty says. "That is a bigger than a spaceport including the hangars and runways."

"That is bigger than the City of Los Angeles!" Valerie said.

All are silent just thinking on the colossal endeavor. Fitzhugh stands and looks at Barry to ask him. "With your E-Books, using the software you have. Can you be able to make a phone call?"

"Call who?" Steve asked and Fitzhugh replies. "The front desk."

Barry says as he grabs his E-Book. "Let's see." Fitzhugh says. "Also find the name of the head researcher in the computer research lab."

Mark asks. "What are you planning?" Fitzhugh looks at Steve and replies Mark. "To earn my living."

Barry who is already online says. "The name it is, Doctor Richard Mathews head researchers in quantum research."

Fitzhugh stands smiling and says. "Okay, now the phone call."

"Call who, Commander?" Barry asked. "The phone operator of the A.S.P.T campus, leave the rest to me."

Steve asks. "What are you planning on doing?"

"Narrowing our search from 800 square miles to just a room number."

Barry dials and passes the E-Book to Fitzhugh.

The E-Book rings several times and someone answers. "Good evening. Aero-Space Propulsion Technology Lab center, how may I direct your call?"

Fitzhugh says. "I need you to connect me to the mail room in the quantum research lab."

"One moment, please."

Fitzhugh smiles as he looks at all and then. "Quantum research lab mail room, Bobby here."

Fitzhugh changes his voice into a deep tone and sounding sick to say. "Bobby, this is Doctor Mathews. The superconducting powder arrived?"

"Ah? Are you okay Doctor, you sound a bit different?"

"I have allergies today. Bobby, are you the one to ask… or is your supervisor around?"

"Okay, Doctor… let me look in the computer."

"Hurry up, I need to know yesterday."

"The last shipment arrived yesterday at 9:15am."

"Where is at, we can't find it up here?"

"I put it myself in the storage."

"Which storage… Bobby I have the director breathing on my neck and now I breathe on yours. Where is it?"

"Yes, sir… second floor west, storage room 256."

"Good, thank you Bobby." Fitzhugh terminates the call and then he turns to his audience bowing like a performer. Betty and Valerie applaud as Dan taps on the table.

Mark is shaking his head looking down as he smiles and says. "We needed a con-artist after all."

"Good job… good job you earned your living, Commander." Steve said.

Barry says as he smiles. "Commander, I want now to join Space Force and be just like you."

The smiles among the adults turn into a small grin as they look at Barry and Fitzhugh.

Fitzhugh's expression it is of surprise and then of worry.

Fitzhugh shows a nervous smile with an expression of sadness and he says to Barry. "I have to tell you something that you might not know… and… I am not…" "Not a bad guy after all, Naval Commander Fitzhugh." Betty said.

All turn to her and she continues. "So, role models show where least expected. Isn't that true, Commander?"

Steve smirks as he turns his face. Then he turns back to look at Fitzhugh to say. "You are not going to let Barry down?"

"No Captain Burton."

Fitzhugh looks at the young one and says to him. "You are going to be way better than me and I need you to keep me on track."

"Really!?"

"Yes, really."

Valerie says. "Well, all is been straighten out, the food is getting cold and I am not warming the worm meat."

All seat down to eat and Mark asks Steve. "Tonight we scout?"

"Yes, now that we know exactly where to go. We take a look and then we draw a plan."

Valerie asks. "We need to find the sphere. Betty and I can look when you guys go out?"

Dan asks. "Valerie is right. It must still be in the engine compartment. Even if we fix the engines we need it to return to our time and hopefully in our size. They can look for it."

Steve replies. "Not tonight. We will look again and if we have to dismantle the engines including the reactor to find it we will do it but all of us looking."

.

Road Blocks

.

Jones has been behind her desk since she arrived to work that morning and the Sun is setting down. She called the three markets of exotic foods as Kobick asked and that was a dead end.

Jones earlier called the digital crime detection center if any more contacts were detected from the furtive computer but she got nowhere either.

But the impression she got from the tech she spoke to was as if she did not wanted to say anything.

One of her fellow agents asks her. "Hey, Jones. You have not been in the field today. No leads?"

Jones shakes her head as she leans on her chair to reply. "No, I have no leads."

Another agent asks. "What are you working on?"

"It started has a hacker with a fast computer and now… it turned into chasing little people."

"Little people, what do you mean?"

"Four inch tall people."

One agent burst in laughter and the other he is just looking at her. Jones lowers her face and then looks up in silence regretting mentioning about four inch people.

"Oh… oh… that was a good laugh. Four inches tall you say. Wow, have you heard of a guy named spooky Molder back in DC?"

"Yes, I have."

The other agent says. "You were in the Army as a Military Police?"

"I was a C.I.D. detective in the Army."

"In all those years in the Army and here in the Bureau have you ever encounter something anomalous anything at all?"

"No never."

"So why now and not before if strange things really happen?"

"Many say that they have encountered them from religious and mythical to extraterrestrial phenomena." Jones replied.

"Yes but have you encountered them? Because I have not and as you said, you have not."

The other agent says. "I have never seen anything. People can make convincing videos and put them on TV or in the internet."

The conversation is interrupted by Kobick as he approaches the agents and he says. "Jones, the Assistant Director wants us in his office."

As Jones stands she asks. "Why he wants to see us?"

"I have an idea, let's go."

As both walk on the hallway toward the elevators Jones asks. "Sir, you said you have an idea. What is it?"

"The forensic lab lead probably complained about my lack of imagination."

"You have to admit sir, that doll looked pretty real."

"It was what it was, Jones. It was a doll."

They enter the elevator and goes up. Once on the top floor both moved toward the Assistant Director's office.

The two agents enter the reception area of the office and Kobick walks up to the secretary to say. "Hello, Mary."

"He is with someone in there. Once he is done you are next."

"Who is it?"

"It is an agent from D.H.S science and tech division… agent Kamber."

"I never heard of him." Kobick said.

The phone on Mary's desk rings. "Hello, Los Angeles F.B.I Bureau, Assistant Director's office."

Kobick and Jones stand by the desk as Mary say to the caller. "Hello, I can't hear you very well… there is some kind of engine noise in the background."

A second or two pass and then Mary says. "That is better… oh, an electrical power generator…Yes."

Kobick and Jones exchange looks briefly and then Mary says. "I am sorry about the cell phones Dr. North, but their signals are blocked on this floor… yes Doctor, agent Kamber is with the Assistant Director. I will transfer your call."

Kobick asks. "Mary, who is that Doctor North?"

"She is from D.A.R.P.A. I don't know what is going on but before you arrived the lead of the forensic lab was here. When he came out from the office he looked like his soul was sucked out."

"Was that, agent Kamber there when Moore went in?"

"Yes he was."

The intercom buzzes and Mary says to it. "Yes sir?"

"Is Kobick and Jones here?"

"Yes sir."

"Tell them to come in."

"Yes sir." Mary looks at Kobick and Jones to say. "It is your turn."

Kobick and Jones turn toward the door and Kobick says. "Thank you Mary."

"I'll pray for the both."

The two agents walk in and F.B.I Assistant Director Kruger says. "Take a seat."

"Yes sir."

"Thank you sir."

"This is agent Kamber from the Department of Homeland Security, Science and Technology Division."

"Good meeting you." Jones said but she prefers Kobick to do the talking been more experience and she knows that him and Kruger know each other for a long time.

"Good meeting you as well, Agent. What is going on, Bob?"

"You will turn over to me all materials and information on the doll you guys found. D.H.S and D.A.R.P.A are taking over."

Kobick turns to look at Kamber and says. "Why Doctor North is so interest on a doll?"

Kamber's eyes open wide with surprise and he asks Kobick. "How do you know of Dr. North?"

"Our law enforcement and intelligence community it is small. I heard her name mention during my now brief investigation."

Director Kruger that knows Kobick says with a stern but low tone. "Kobick, he is our guest."

"I am aware of that and I will give up all that I have pertaining this."

Kamber says. "Thank you, agent Kobick. At least you are more cooperative than the forensic tech Moore."

"Actually, if I would have been notified of this when I was summoned to come here. I would have brought the information with me." Kobick said.

Then Kruger smiles to say. "Good, bring all in one hour. Both are dismissed."

"Also print all from your computers and after that erase all." Kamber said as Kobick and Jones stand up to what Kobick replies. "No problem."

As the two agents exit they see the forensic techs Moore and Frederick carrying card board boxes waiting to walk into the office and Kobick say to Moore. "You see, just a doll."

Kobick keeps walking into the hallway with Jones as he smiles and both stop waiting for the elevator.

Then Kobick says. "After we are done with this charade, I want you to go to the Aero-Space Propulsion Technology campus and check the computer science building."

"But sir, we are off the case. It is like beating a dead horse to make it run."

"Just tell me what you see. I still don't believe this has to do with little people or anything like that. After that, we are done. I am going back to where you saw that rocket toy."

"Tonight!?"

"Yep, that is where Doctor North is at."

"How do you know?"

"Hearing the power generator engine background noise on the phone gave me the clue."

"She is in a place that there is no electrical power."

"Correct, unless trees and rocks have electrical sockets from the electrical company she needs power for equipment and flood lights. She is up there in the park searching for clues."

.

The scouts

.

Meanwhile back in the camp of the survivors of flight 612. All gather around the hole that is the access point in and out from their location.

The makeshift cargo winch is now by the hole and although the cable does not reach the bottom of the hollow support pipe of the billboard.

They can go halfway down and the rest of the trip it is by using the protruding metal welds placed by the builders with the purpose to secure the electrical cables as other connections for the billboard lights.

The welds are almost of a spiral design making their trips up and down the pipe as if on a narrow staircase.

This is the first time anyone of the group will travel far beyond the safety of the grassy area. The need of this trek it is immense to obtain topographical information to later obtain what they need for the repairs.

Steve, Dan and Mark get ready to be lowered by Betty using the winch. As small conversations take place among them Valerie approaches Steve as both stand away from the group.

"Steve."

"Yes Valerie?"

"I am thankful for what you have done to keep us safe and… well… I am Valerie Scott, Jefferson high from Dayton."

Steve smiles and says. "I knew you were since you got onboard."

"Really, but how come you did not recognized me before… in my music videos?"

"I don't really watch music videos or follow superstar's lives as others do. Betty does and she is crazy about your songs."

Valerie smiles as she looks down and then looks at Steve. "Yes, she does."

"So, you became a singer and jetsetter. Betty told me that you are involved in many charities and that is good."

"Yes."

"Steve, we are ready!" Dan said.

"On my way!" Steve gets his backpack and says to Valerie. "Duty calls."

"Yes, it does."

As Steve walks toward Dan, Betty approaches Valerie to ask. "Did you tell him?"

"Yes and he already knew."

"You see, there you go. Now, that it is out of your chest." Betty said.

Steve calls. "Betty, we are ready. Get the winch started."

"Yes sir." As Betty walks away Valerie says to herself. "May be it is not out of my chest. But I am so far from being that school band girl."

Fitzhugh walks to the table next to Valerie and he asks. "Troubles?"

"What makes you think that?"

"I don't know… I have seen people before in court with that expression. Legal problems back home?"

Valerie shakes her head in anger and she replies in an angry low tone. "Only you can tell that!?"

"You need one to know one, my dear."

"Fitzhugh, get your butt up here with the flashlight!" Steve said. "On my way Captain!"

Betty gets behind the winch as Barry stands behind her. Fitzhugh is by the edge of the hole holding the flashlight and he says. "I don't see any problems as far as the light can reach."

The trio in tandem by the cable walks to the edge and carefully all jump. Now they are suspended in midair by the two attached titanium cables.

Steve pulls his now modified cell phone setup by Mark and he says on it. "Check… one, two… three."

Barry says as he holds Betty's phone. "I heard you Captain."

"Okay Betty… as before take, us down." Steve said and the winch does its job.

Slowly the winch takes the three men down as Fitzhugh shines his flashlight light on them until they pass beyond Fitzhugh's light's and now all that the pseudo naval officer sees their lights in the darkness bellow.

The winch stops and the men pulled themselves by using the large electrical cables to the protruding metal weld and they unhook.

Then the men walk the rest of the way down. Once at the bottom they come out from a hole in the side and one by one they reach the ground.

Once there, the men pull paper tissue and put them in their ears. Mark says. "Even the casual noise of this world it is of a gigantic stature."

Dan replies with a jovial tone. "Welcome to the Land of the Giants."

"Dan is right, where now Mark?"

Mark using the compass displayed in his cellphone says. "Toward that way, if all goes without problems will be there in about an hour or so."

Dan says as he looks into the direction they will take. "Just to think, that if we were at our normal size. These walk would take but just under five minutes."

"That is our luck. Let's go." Steve said and the trio commences their long walk.

They traverse the grassy area that to them it is a savanna expanse where the vegetation reaches up to their chest and in other parts of the field the grass can be as high as been in a corn field.

They make it to the sidewalk and walk to the edge. One by one jump into the street as they watch for traffic.

"It is like crossing three football stadiums and that includes the play field, the seats, and the parking lot." Steve said.

"I see no cars." Dan said.

"This is the only road we have to cross after that is walking among buildings." Mark said.

The men commence to cross and as they are halfway, at the end of the street they see a car stopping in the intersection with the turning signal indicating a turn in their direction.

Steve says. "If we time it right, it will pass over us."

Mark says. "It is not the tires running over us I am worry about. It is the wind generated by the car. It could lift us from the ground as a tornado would."

"Run then!" Steve said and the three commence to run. The car finally turns and now it is headed toward them.

They have one quarter left of the distance to go and their lives depend on reaching the base of the sidewalk.

The lights of the car are upon them when they reach their objective and all hit the ground.

The car passes expelling a wake of turbulent winds. A hurricane wind micro burst of at least 100 MPH or more.

Fine dirt it is lifted and as if they were in a sandblasting machine the particles strike the expose body parts with penetrating pain. The wind subsides rapidly and all they do it is to seat.

They undust their hands, face and head. "Wow, that was a run." Steve said.

Dan replies. "That was no run that was a mad sprint but I still have air."

Mark says. "We are not exhausted been in a high oxygen pressure biosphere."

"Lucky us, let's keep going. We are still ways out." Steve said.

Agent Jones is driving into the parking lot of the computer research building of the quantum research lab in the Aero-Space Propulsion Technology campus.

She parks as far as possible and makes a call. "I am here."

"What do you see?"

"Nothing out of the usual… Although…one moment." She pulls from under the front passenger seat binoculars. Her attention is on the blue sedan in the first row near the main entrance.

"Sir, I see a blue, four door sedan with federal licenses plates."

"Get the number and stay there until you see the occupants. Do not interact with them just observe and report. Call me if you have to leave."

"Yes sir."

"I am just arriving to see Dr. North."

"Be careful sir."

"For what I see here, there are too many witnesses. I will call you later."

Jones terminates the call and she notices on the screen on her dashboard a collision alert indicated by her car. She opens the window in the screen and she reads. "Small animal collision."

Her eyes open wide with worry and sadness, she says. "Oh, no… I ran over a poor cat, or something!"

.

A night out in the Land of the Giants

.

Kobick stops his car by two guards with M-4 carbines strap to their backs signaling for him to do so. He gets out of the car showing his badge.

The guards are wearing black S.W.A.T team uniforms with the words stenciled in yellow on their vests, Federal Agent. Nothing else identifying to what federal agency they belong to.

"I am agent Kobick, F.B.I. I am here to speak with Doctor North."

"Really?" Said the guard.

"Yes, really, now get in the radio and announce me."

"Gate one to base."

"Go gate one."

"We have here an F.B.I agent, Kobick. He wants to speak with the Doctor."

"Hold on, gate one."

One of the guards asks Kobick. "You don't wear a mask?"

"I got the second shot two weeks ago."

"That is no excuse not to wear one."

"I am divorce and no one waits for me at home."

Then over the radio a reply arrives. "Gate one, this is base. Let the agent through."

"Copy base, gate one out."

Already Kobick is headed to his car as the guards move the barricade. He continues up the hill and now he can see the flood lights illuminating the field where agent Jones and he found the doll.

On the dirt road Kobick sees agent Kamber with several guards and a woman in a white contamination suit. Kobick is signaled to stop and he does.

He gets out of the car and the first person he comes close to is Kamber that says. "You were told to drop this!"

"I did what I was told to do. I gave you all I had. Now I want to know all you know."

The woman says. "We really, don't know a thing except for what you found."

"Doctor North?"

"Yes agent Kobick. How may I help you?"

"Many say that I lack imagination but to be in the job I am, imagination it is essential. That was a doll, however I do believe this is the start of a cover up dealing with a portable quantum computer. Why?"

Doctor North smiles and she replies. "That was no doll you found, agent Kobick. You found a four inch tall human and all indicates that she came from the year 2183."

"A stewardess of a flight 612 flying from the Moon to Earth that end up in Los Angeles Crest Park. Really, Doctor, you think I am that stupid to fall for that?"

"You saw the ship she flew in already."

"Where I saw that ship?"

"The pictures Agent Jones took. The question is… where is the ship?"

"Wait, hold on. Those pictures were taken on her private cell phone."

"All dealing with this it is not private. Agent Kobick, we want that ship and their occupants."

"Okay, let's say all this and it is not some rough terrorist cell with a supercomputer that you are really looking for, as I believe it is. What do you want me to do?"

"Keep your ears and eyes open in the bureau just in case something slips passed my information gathering net. You call agent Kamber."

"No, I call you."

Kamber gets close to Kobick and says in a stern voice. "You call me, if you want to cash your federal retirement."

"Yes, agent Kobick you call him." North said.

Kobick looks down on Kamber then he turns to North to say. "I will call him but I want something in return."

Kamber says angry. "You are in no position to ask anything!" Dr. North raises her hand as to back down Kamber and she asks. "What do you want?"

"I want to know when ever that computer accesses the internet as what it was doing. This crap of little people is something I am not going to bite. Do we have a deal?"

"We have a deal. It is time for you to leave." Dr. North said.

"Okay." Kobick turns to his car as Kamber and North watch. Then Doctor North says. "Oh, and my men are watching agent Jones in the Aero-Space Propulsion Technology campus."

Kobick stops and Kamber says. "Do not drag her as you did to yourself 16 years ago."

Kobick stays silent and renews his walk, gets in his car.

As Kobick drives away Dr. North turns to Kamber and she asks. "What he got into?"

"You ever heard of Fox Molder?"

"Wow, and Kobick came out of that unscathed. Keep an eye on him. He might be more than what he appears to be, or he knows more. There is a reason why Molder extended his trust to him."

"Yes Ma'am. But one question, if I may."

"Go ahead."

"Why you told him the truth about the little people and not something else?"

"Telling the truth also can divert anyone from the truth. He thinks we are after a Quantum Computer used by criminals or terrorists, let's have him keep thinking that that way."

In the Aero-Space Propulsion Technology campus, Steve, Dan and Mark are six feet apart facing the wall of the building they came to scout.

Dan says. "I don't know if it is the ant legs or the worm meat that makes us pee so much."

Steve replies as he zips up his pants. "I think is the worm meat, it is kind of rubbery… too much water."

Mark says as he also finishes. "We ran out of paper today."

Dan and Steve turn to him and Dan asks somewhat irritated. "What paper… the toilet paper!?"

"Yes, Barry used the last." Mark replied and Steve says. "Okay, any tissue paper we see about. We cut the good parts and stuff it in the backpacks."

"Okay."

"Yes sir."

Steve walks away from the wall as he looks as far as he can toward the ends of the building and he says. "How we get in?"

Mark says. "There must be a drainage pipe sticking out of the side of the building."

Steve and Dan look at Mark in disbelieve and Steve says. "I have never seen an open drainage pipe sticking out from any building now or in 2183."

"Me either." Dan said. The three look around and Dan says as he points. "What if we get in under that door?"

"Let's check that one."

The three walk to the door. It is a white metal covered fire exit and the three inspects it. Steve says. "The gap on the bottom it is too narrow to crawl under."

Mark says. "All around there is no gap." Dan adds. "It is a fire exit door they made them that way back in the day."

Steve snaps his fingers as having an idea and he says. "This building has a mail room."

"So?" Dan said.

"If there is a mail room, it must have a loading dock." Steve said.

Mark says. "That is a possibility. Doors must be worn out by use or they have a rolled door open for late deliveries."

"Let's find it."

Jones is at her posts as she watches the blue car she is also looking at the video taken by her car front cameras. She rewinds the view again and slows it down to see what animal she ran over.

She can't see anything and rewinds the video again to distinguish what the camera saw. Jones is about to give up when on the last frame she sees three small human figures reaching the base of the sidewalk.

She pause the view and looks. Her eyes open wide and she says. "It is them."

Jones starts her car and heads to where the camera captured the image.

On the second floor of the building in one of the unoccupied office two men were watching her. One grabs his cell phone.

"Mr. Kamber, this is Harris. The girl left. You want us to follow her."

"No, come back. We have that end under control."

"Okay sir."

A few minutes later Jones is where her car camera captured the image of Steve, Mark and Dan. She parks and walks across the street. Jones stands right over where the three scouts climb into the sidewalk.

She looks around into the alley with her flashlight and she walks to the end of the two buildings flanking her. Jones sees other buildings nearby and she can't tell in which direction the three oddities went.

She heads back to her car that it is park across the street. When she is about to get in Jones sees something that stops her. "Is that the billboard?"

She closes her car and she walks over the grass toward the billboard.

High up Fitzhugh and Betty are looking as guards in the prone position when they see Jones approaching.

Fitzhugh says in a nervous tone. "That is her."

"Who?"

"The giant woman, the cop, she is the one that saw the ship in the park."

"How she found us?"

"I don't know."

Jones stops to look up to the billboard and then she approaches the support beam. She takes a knee and looks at the base. She sees something impress on the dirt and she pulls her phone.

Jones increases the view and she can distinguish foot prints. She looks at the hole on the base and then Jones stands up to look up.

"They live here." She says as a whisper but her voice is carried farther by the denser atmosphere to the ears of Fitzhugh and Betty.

Betty says. "She found out."

"We have to leave, now."

"Are you flying?"

"Darn and the two that can are miles away."

Jones turns around and commences to walk away when she stops. The agent is in deep thought, more than that she is in a dilemma as to do what is right versus her duty.

Jones turns and she pulls her note book and writes on it. She rips the paper and unfolded Jones shoves it into the hole and walks away.

"She is leaving, what did she do?" Betty asked and Fitzhugh replies. "She wrote something on a notebook, ripped the paper and I could not see after she walked under us."

They see Jones getting in her car and drives away. Betty stands and Fitzhugh says. "Where are you going?"

"I think I know what she did."

"What did she do?"

"She left us a message. It must be at the bottom. I want to see what she wrote."

Forty five minutes later after trying to go under the fire exit, Steve, Mark and Dan arrived to the loading dock. They slide with their backs to the wall looking into the area.

Steve been the first peeks and turns to his companions. "They have a rollup door open that leads to a receiving office."

Dan looks at his watch to say. "It's almost midnight."

"So?" Mark replied.

Dan continues. "We have been at this for 5 hours and just to get here. How much it will take for us to reach the west wing of the second floor?"

Steve thinks about it and says. "Dan is right. We can't get caught at dawn when the giants come to work. There will be more eyes that could see us."

Mark says. "Okay, you are both right. But why not get into the first floor and see what we can see. In one hour we return to the ship."

Steve replies. "Okay, one hour."

Steve again peeks and says. "We run to those boxes then we run in."

"Okay."

Ready."

They run reaching the boxes and all look in. "I don't see anyone." Mark said.

Steve looks and says. "We run in and turn right under the desk and we follow the wall."

The trio run and enters as they move under the desk and they stay in place observing.

"No one is around." Dan said when they hear a toilet flush and a giant walks out from the bathroom.

The three stay still watching as the giant walks about the room then they commence to walk.

Slowly they made it to the far wall to the right and they see the door, this one has a gap at the bottom large enough for them to go under.

They head for the door under the cover of the long desk when the giant puts something on the floor.

They stop to look and as the giant continues Dan says in a worry tone. "Why is he pouring milk in the plate?"

"Oh, shit!" That is all Steve said as he pulls the pistol and Dan the flare gun. They are too far from the entrance to leave and all run toward the door.

One by one they go under and all made it to the hallway when a rapid moving paw with fully extended sharp nails reaches from under the door.

The men jump away from the lightning attack coming from under the door and they move out of reach. Mark regains his self to say. "That cat was watching us before we could even see it!"

"We never knew it was there until now." Dan said as Steve looks about to say. "Let's head this way there might be an exit where there is no cat."

They walk the long hallway passing doors as they go until they reach the lobby.

There is a security guard desk but the guard it is not to be seen and they keep walking.

Mark looks about and says. "That is the stairs." The men in a brisk pace they reach the door of the stairs and go under it.

Now they see the colossal stairwell that will take them where they want to go. "Now what?" Dan asked.

Mark says. "We can't climb the steps and if we can, we could be seen by any giant going up."

Steve walks toward the stairs followed by the other two. Steve looks up and then his attention is to the central metal handrail of the staircase.

He moves to be in front of it and then he notices that the handrail pipe that comes down it is high above the floor.

"This pipe is hollow." Steve said as he looks in and then he moves inside the pipe. Only his legs are visible on the floor as the rest of his body is inside the pipe.

"What do you see?" Mark asked. Steve replies as he shines his light in the pipe. "We can go up through here."

Dan goes on to say in a sarcastic tone. "We forgot the grappling hook rifle. Oh wait, we don't have one or a rope or a hook."

As Steve comes out Mark asks. "Isn't there one in the survival kit of the ship?"

Steve replies. "We are a passenger space-liner company not space search and rescue."

"Can we build one?" Mark asked. Steve thinks about it and he says. "We might. We can use the flare gun shots as a propellant. Find a pipe and use it as a rifle then metal to make a hook."

Dan adds. "But no rope."

"What about the cable of the winch?" Mark asked. Steve looks at Dan and he says. "We can try. But we have to cut it in sections and assemble it here."

Dan replies. "Yep, we would need a pickup truck of our size to carry a single rope to reach the top. Heck, even to reach the top of a table we would need one as long and it will be too heavy for any of us to carry it."

"This project it is turning into multiple trips just to set up all to climb this stairs." Steve said.

Dan replies. "We have to take the winch cable apart pull one or two strands but it will be too rigid and heavy to move here and still it might not reach. We will need at least two strands, double the weight."

"We know enough now that we can figure something out. Let's leave." Steve said and Mark asks. "What about the cat?"

"We can use the lobby front doors."

The three come out from under the door to see the security guard at the desk. "What if he sees us?" Mark asked.

"Down this hallway is the cat and at the other end is that fire exit door that has no gaps. We could walk around back here. But that is how many miles, 40 miles walk?" Steve said.

Dan adds. "Out the lobby we have to travel the same 40 miles around the building."

"No cat." Steve said and Mark and Dan look toward the direction they came from.

Mark says. "Yes, no cat."

"Okay let's do it." Steve said.

The trio heads toward the lobby and they move to the wall that runs on the side of the guard's desk. The giant is distracted from seen them as he pays his attention to the monitors.

They make it next to the glass door as they hide behind a plant pot. They examine the glass door and Mark says. "I don't see a gap."

"Me either." Steve says.

"What about this vent on the window frame? It is not screwed." Dan said as he points. Steve looks in his backpack and pulls a pried bar.

Steve finds a gap and with the help of Dan and Mark they pull the vent. They push aside the filament material that serves as a filter and now they push the other vent and it opens.

Once outside Steve says to Dan. "Help me put all this back together."

"Why?"

"This will be our entry point next time around." They put all back as it was and they leave.

.

Rattled nerves

.

The trio has walked around the building headed toward the camp by now they are in the alley that leads to the street they have to cross. At a distance they can see the billboard.

Steve looks at the time and says. "It is 4:20 am." Mark replies. "This trip has been nine hours long."

Dan says. "By giant standards it is just a few minutes walking."

"We are not them." Steve said.

"You think we could be in range." Mark asked and Steve pulls his cell phone. "Let's see."

Steve turns his phone on and he says. "Steve to Betty." They wait a few minutes. "Steve to Betty."

"This is Valerie. Are you guys okay?"

"Yes we are and in need of a shower if we had one. We will be home in about 45 minutes to an hour."

"Good, we have good news but we need to show you."

The three men smile and Steve says. "You guys found the sphere?"

"What!? We ran out…No, no it is not that but hurry."

"Okay." Steve turns off the phone and says. "I was hoping they found a roll of toilet paper."

Dan smiles and says. "I was hoping too, because we did not."

Thirty minutes later they reach the end of the building and they are seen the sidewalk and the street. It is close to 5am and the traffic has increased by employees and students driving into the campus.

"It is impossible to cross now." Dan said. Steve looks around the corner into the sidewalk and he turns rapidly to say. "Run!"

They run back and hide behind a pipe. Two giants, a young man and woman walk on the sidewalk as they drink coffee oblivious that they are been observed.

Mark says. "It is morning. This people are starting their day."

Dan says. "More people walking and more cars on the street, we are stuck on this side."

"We did not bring that much water and food to wait until nightfall." Mark said.

Steve looks about and he notices something to say. "On the building across from us, do you see that pipe going into that larger pipe on the ground?"

"Yes, what about it?" Dan asked as Mark looks and Steve says. "Where the water of the irrigation system comes from into our grassy park?"

Dan replies. "From the water company, I mean, I do understand what you are implying. That pipe goes under the street to our side?"

Mark says. "It is unlikely but let's looked and if so we just solve another problem on how to avoid the traffic."

The three wait to run across safely and then they do. They make it across just in time as a garbage collection truck drives into the alley.

Even that they still have tissue paper in their ears, the three cover them as they kneel due to the high noise of the truck.

Their ears physiology is meant for a lower atmospheric pressure environment and even the normal speech of a giant it sounds as thunder depending on how close they are to the source of the noise.

The truck passes by and the trio recuperates as the three rob their heads. "Wow, let's check the pipe before another truck goes by." Steve said.

They gather by the pipe and they see it is going down into a larger white P.V.C pipe that curves toward the park where the billboard is at.

"It is not that high. If we need to we can climb up again." Mark said.

"Okay, let's look and if we can't reach the camp we stay here until night." Steve said.

The trio jumps in and they find an accumulation of dirt at their feet and the metal water pipe traverses the center of the larger P.V.C pipe they are in.

They turn on their flashlights and commence their walk Dan and Mark at one side of the metal pipe and Steve on the other. Mark says. "I am surprise there are no spider webs."

Dan replies. "Yea, you are right." Steve says. "May be at the other side, let's be ready."

Steve pulls the pistol as Dan the flare gun. They continue walking and as vehicle passes inches above them they stop to cover their ears.

Halfway into their walk their lights reflect a glimmer of moving moist as they get closer a large brown and black pattern it is discerned. The trio stops as the strange object blocks their path.

In a whisper Dan says. "Steve… Steve." Before Steve could reply, the group sees the reflection of two red dots facing them.

Then a mouth with large fangs commences to open as a familiar rapid sounding noise it is heard echoing in the tubular enclosure.

Dan does not hesitate to fire a phosphorus burning flare into the mouth of the rattle snake. The beast coils in pain and the three hide using the metal pipe as they move in retreat.

The animal is not even thinking on a meal as before and in high speed it passes them as it continues to coil in pain. The tail hits everything to the point that the trio has to duck into the dirt.

Smoke and the smell of burnt flesh it is left behind. Steve looks up seen the snake exiting the pipe from where they enter and he yells. "Let's go, the path it is clear!"

They run down the pipe toward home. They made it to the 45 degree elbow of the P.V.C pipe and they reach a box with a valve key.

Two metal pipes are coming out of the valve supplying water to the irrigation system. The three not even speak they help each other to climb the valve and the exit the box through the grill.

They hide in the grass seating down they are not catching their air but their very souls from the encounter.

Dan as he lays on his back says. "Now we know why there were no spider webs."

Mark replies. "There was a bigger predator around… uf… I need a shower."

Steve commences to laugh and says to Mark. "You shit your pants."

"I don't know, may be." Both men laugh as Dan seats to say. "Let's go home. I have enough of the Land of the Giants for one night."

.

Desperate times

.

The three scouts arrived to the platform they call home. Mark and Dan plummet into the seats under the plastic canopy. Steve just lays on the floor. They not even move and Valerie says. "You guys stink, really bad."

Steve slowly turns his head to her and replies. "Not as bad as the snake we encounter."

"Or the cat." Dan said.

Mark is already asleep with muck and dirt from head to boots. Steve turns to see him and he says. "That is not a bad idea." And he closes his eyes and he is out on the floor.

Already, the girls can hear Dan's snore and Betty asks Valerie. "Do we wake them and tell them?"

"Let them. If any person falls asleep with that smell from all that sludge over them, they must be exhausted."

Fitzhugh says. "I am telling you. We cannot trust anyone outside this group. I know how law enforcement thinks."

Valerie replies. "How do you know… oh, yes…? I am sure you know."

"Mock me all you want. That woman does not know where we are at all. If we make contact she will know that we read her note and we read it right here. She will be back with friends."

Betty says. "Wait until they wake up and then we all can talk about it."

"Bah… there is nothing to discuss. She is a cop and we are fugitives."

"But Fitzhugh what did we do to be fugitives of the law?" Betty asked.

Valerie adds. "We watch their news and nothing it is said about us. Did we rob a bank?"

"If there is vote, I am against contacting her."

Barry comes out of the ship holding his E-Book and says. "I lowered the speed and made my computer stupid, also added identification markers of the computers of this period. No one will notice us when we search the internet."

Betty points at Barry and says to Fitzhugh. "You see, giants were tracking us by Barry's E-Book and now they won't. That is what she said on the note. To me that tells me that she wants to help us."

Fitzhugh then points to Barry's, E-Book and says. "That is the reason we are fugitives. Because of the technology we brought."

"This?" Barry asked as he raises his book.

Fitzhugh continues. "That E-Book… the whole ship is a gold mine of technology beyond their wildest dreams. The ones looking for us have currency credits signs in their eyes."

"Dollars, they use Dollars." Valerie said in a sarcastic tone. "Whatever it is used now days that is why they want us. And if they happen to know that we are from the future we value more knowing on things to come."

Valerie says. "Let's wait for these three to come back from that slumber and then will talk."

.

The harsh reality in the Land of the Giants

.

It is noon time and due to the angle of accession of the Sun, its warmth hits the camp from above for an hour. The group finds refuge from the heat in the air-conditioned ship.

After a thorough washing Steve, Mark and Dan are cleaned up. Steve and Dan are borrowing some of Mark's clothes as their uniforms dry under Sun. The topic of discussion is the note left by Agent Jones.

Steve reads the transcribed note made by Betty.

"… My name is Janet Jones. I am an F.B.I agent. You are been tracked through your computer by the high speeds it operates and the lack of identifying markers. I know you are from the year 2183. Please contact me on the E-mail in this note."

Steve thinks about as he passes the paper to Dan. Steve asks. "She didn't try anything else but to leave the note?"

Betty replies. "That is all she did. How she found us it is beyond me."

Fitzhugh says. "Don't trust her. She is just fishing for us. If we contact her, for sure she will know we are here and will be back with more agents."

By now Mark is reading the paper and he says. "Why this note, why not just get a legal order and search this place? The traffic outside it is the same."

"What do you mean by the traffic?" Valerie asked.

Mark replies. "No law enforcement agents are blocking or cordoning this area searching for us. I have not seen police climbing this place. I think she is okay."

"I don't know… why she wants to help us?" Dan said and Fitzhugh says. "Exactly! Why any giant would want to help us? She wants all this and us for herself to make money."

Valerie says. "How come she has not return, taken the ship and us with it?"

"Why don't we move the ship to another location and then contact her?" Barry asked Fitzhugh replies to Barry in a milder tone. "She or her friends could be watching and follow us."

Steve adds. "We are not using the thrusters unless it is a life and dead situation or imminent capture. We have just above a quarter of fuel."

Then they hear a noise from the outside. They all stand and rush to the starboard side passenger windows to look.

Dan says. "I thought this place was bird prof!" Mark replies. "You have to tell that to the crow."

All see how the crow searches for food trashing the encampment outside.

"There goes the water." Valerie says as all the water gathered it is spilled.

The jet black bird finds what he was looking for. The worms captured the day before.

One by one all seat down while Barry does on the floor. Now ignoring the interloper outside as it feasts.

A sensation of weary and stress has been building up since they arrived. At that moment all in unison are overwhelmed by it as if a mental bomb of despair detonated in them.

Mark asks in a somber tone as he looks down. "Are we running him off? It is our food and from now on he is coming back now that he knows."

Dan says. "We have only 20 flares and we need them for the grappling hook."

Steve says. "I have 28 bullets for the pistol. What we need is a 50 caliber electro-laser to deal with animals. Did we mention the cat and the snake from last night?"

Steve takes a big breath and he stands. He looks at Barry to tell him. "Send her an E-mail. We need to speak with her."

Fitzhugh stands up and says in an angry tone. "Captain, you cannot trust here."

"Commander, look outside. That bird flew here with no problems. What if he would have flown when we are out there!? With that beak it can ripped your head off without a second thought."

Fitzhugh lowers his head and seats.

Steve continues as he speaks to all. "We only had… what, a week and some days of some security since we arrived to 2021 and we lost Luna to an owl. And to obtain the materials we need to fix, hopefully, both engines it is a monumental task."

Mark adds. "We need to build a Synchrotron first dismantling half of the ship to make the materials to a decent standard to repair the engines and I am not even sure if I can make it work with what we have here or with what we will obtain from out there."

Steve adds. "And we have not talked on how we are going to bring, who knows how many kilograms of the material here on foot."

Dan looks at Fitzhugh and says to him. "If you would have looked down the throat of a rattle snake ready to grab you as I did, you will be praying for a big friend."

Steve says. "That crow out there it is nothing compared to other animals. All they need is one of us or all of us to be distracted and take that opportunity to have us as a meal."

Betty says. "We only have two med-kits for minor injuries during flight expecting help for medical professionals at the spaceport if need be. An animal attack, I don't know."

Valerie adds. "It is like been attacked by a great white shark."

Dan replies. "You said it right, a great white shark around every corner just waiting."

Barry says. "I am in, Captain. What do you want to tell her?"

"Ask for her phone number, I want to talk to her."

"Okay."

Fitzhugh stands again to say. "Okay, the majority rules, that is fine. But look at us, we just gave up. We need to confront anything this world throws at us in a united front."

Betty replies. "But we are united."

Fitzhugh replies. "We work together but we are still passengers and flight crew. We have to be more than that and stop acting as small scared creatures."

Valerie says. "We are small. There is no acting about that."

Fitzhugh continues. "We need the resilience and determination that we can mustered to surpass all this as a cohesive group."

Steve looks up at Fitzhugh to say. "What do you mean?"

"Captain, if you don't understand what I just said that means you gave up."

Fitzhugh walks to the front of the ship while all are seated looking at him. Fitzhugh grabs a fire extinguisher.

Fitzhugh says. "If we don't make that bird fly away then that giant woman even if she really has the best intentions, she will do whatever she wants to do with us. The Land of the Giants won and we lost."

Slowly all stand. Steve pulls the pistol as Dan the flare gun.

Mark and Betty grab fire extinguishers Valerie grabs the folding shovel. They all line up behind Fitzhugh who is in the front.

Fitzhugh says. "When I open the hatch, we move left and right giving that bird all we have."

.

The Committee

.

While the castaways deal with the unwanted guest. East of Los Angeles in the Palmdale desert area a tele-conference it is taking place in one of the many airfields built during WWII.

This specific WWII airfield it is close to Highway 15 and it is used by the Federal Government by the agriculture department, above ground.

Underground is a secret facility that it is used by D.A.R.P.A. Installation 12 is where the remains of Luna Rodgers have been moved to from the F.B.I lab in Quantico.

In one of the briefing rooms, Doctor North is giving a tele-conference to General Sanders, Senator Kelly and Doctor Jackson part of the Committee of scientific investigations.

This particular committee was established the following day Sputnik was announced to the world.

An emergency secretive committee summon only when an unknown technological advanced it is identified as a threat to the United States.

Doctor North says. "Good evening, lady and gentlemen. This briefing it is about the subject Luna Rodgers."

Dr. North opens a folder and says. "During our investigation in the area that her body was found, we also found other items. Those are indicated in your briefing folders."

General Sanders asks. "Are you referring to the items in page 2?"

"Yes Ma'am."

"Bio-bags, containing fesses?"

"Yes Ma'am. The D.N.A collected from those bags indicates that we are dealing with seven more individuals."

"Just Seven?"

"Yes general, the material used in the confection of the bags is no different on how they are made by us. Although the molecular arrangement it is similar to spider webbing."

General Sanders ask. "Can this molecular arrangement be duplicated? I mean, that molecular arrangement can be used as bulletproof military uniforms."

"What would be needed it is a breakthrough in polymer chemistry making this process a reality and cost effective."

Dr. Jackson asks. "Dr. North, the subject does not show any indications of been consumed by other animals. Actually the bird that attacked her did not eat her as expected. Why?"

"We found that the body, it is decaying normally. However, insects or other animals avoided the body possibly by sensing something and we found a possibility."

"What is that?" Dr. Jackson asked.

"I refer you to page 5, there it indicates that the body it is emanating a low and unusual source of Delta particles or free electrons. We believe that insects and other animals sense that."

Jackson asks. "Dr. North, Delta particles are a secondary event that happens when heavier ionization radioactive particles are present. Are we dealing with an unknown heavy or fast moving light particle?"

"Yes but we do not know which one. We theorized that this detection of Delta is from their technology. Provably this mystery particle it is caused by their power generating systems."

Senator Kelly says. "That is what it worries me, technology of power generation that would allow anyone to create cost free energy. The American economy is based on fossil fuel sources in a metered economy."

Dr. North replies. "Senator, the advancements this people brought can't be denied."

Kelly replies. "We invaded Iraq in 2003 because Saddam started to sell his oil in Euros instead of Dollars making other countries tempted to follow suit. Throwing off the American economic standing on the world to now have this, free energy shit fall from the sky!"

General Sanders says. "That is true. We had to invade Iraq before the Chinese Sinopec oil could move in with Chinese nationals before the UN sanctions of 1991 were to be lifted in 2004."

The senator continues. "Where is Kaddafi now? We arranged the whole Arab spring to get all those heads of state that thought the same way as Saddam did, to use Euros instead of petro-dollars in their oil sales."

"And as an unforeseen event from the Arab spring, we end up with Isis." The general said.

Doctor North is somewhat lost at Sanders and Kelly's statements and she asks. "Senator, you fear a global economic meltdown due to their technologies?"

Kelly replies. "Of course Doctor, the United States economy it is based on oil values. The, little people's tech is a present and clear danger to our economic stability. Producing electricity out of thin air, it is unacceptable."

Dr. Jackson says. "Senator Kelly, this little people are the real Roswell. Imagine the advancements in propulsion systems or medicine. We can't put a lid on this tech."

"Yes we can and we must! Imagine if the Apollo program would have continued. By now there would be Lunar gold on Earth bringing gold prices down. That is what their propulsion system would do and you said medicine?

"Yes is did."

"Imagine if cures are found, medicine markets will crash cascading to other economy sectors. Also, during this pandemic we needed the markets open. People buying and selling or the economy will collapse. Who cares if they die the economy cannot die."

Dr. Jackson says. "Even, if it meant millions more deaths by the Covid around the world!"

"Yes Doctor Jackson, the money has to flow." Jackson asks. "What do you suggest, senator?"

"We find them, step on them and burn their ship."

Doctor North says. "Senator, my mandate it is to locate, capture and study these technologies not to kill them or destroy their technology."

"Imagine that American homes would have a box not bigger than an air conditioner unit providing electricity and to vehicles all for free. I heard enough, your mandate will change in committee if I have my way."

Senator Kelly's image disappears in the screen. Dr. North takes a big breath and says. "Well… any questions?"

"I don't care about Senator Kelly's worries. Mine is weapons systems developments. What can we get from them?" General Sanders asked.

"Ma'am, we have to obtain the ship to see what is there but one of the military areas I see an extreme progress will be in the anti-ballistic particle beams technologies."

"Doctor, I want a drone to fire a laser with the precision of a sniper hitting one person in a populated market from 35,000 feet or bring down an entire building. Can you deliver?"

"Yes Ma'am I can."

"Find them."

"Yes Ma'am we are on that as we speak."

Dr. Jackson asks. "Is there anything that could be advantageous to humankind that does not threaten the economy or to be used as a weapon?"

Dr. North replies. "I am sure we can find tech that will enhance human living without challenging the economic infrastructure. We need to find the ship and them to know."

"The only thing the general, the senator and I agree is that they need to be found. I disagree with Kelly and I am sure General Sanders as well."

The general says. "If these little people are from the future, we could know what threats are to happen before they do. I will vote in committee against the Senator and I am sure Dr. Jackson will side with me. But there are two other members that will vote."

Jackson says. "I am sure Kelly is talking to them now."

General Sanders looks at the folder and she says. "We will contact you in seven days with the decision of the committee."

North says. "Thank you, clarification will make a big difference on how my team will proceed."

"Good, have a good night." Sanders said and Dr. Jackson says. "Good night Dr. North."

The screens go dark and North commences to collect her belongings when Kamber walks in and he asks. "How did it go?"

"They have no clue we are playing them. The tiny cellphone of Luna has giving us a leap in technology and I did not reported this to the committee."

"What I like is the graviton power source that will be impressive." Kamber said.

North smiles and says. "No ionizing radiation, no deadly fallout and no way to track who did it. With the tech found in the cellphone a missile will be a suicidal A.I, unstoppable and precise."

"A missile like that with a gravity warhead it will change all. Where would you use it first?"

"D.C, London… Moscow. Who knows?" North said.

"We have to find them first."

"I bet you that the close ones to find them is Kobick or Jones."

"I have them under surveillance. If they find them, we will too."

.

The contact

.

Jones is at her home in city of Glendale North West of Pasadena. She is preparing dinner as she watches the TV from the kitchen.

Her phone makes the ring tone of receiving an E-Mail. Janet dries her hands and pulls the cell from her pocket.

An Email arrived and it reads… "We read your message and we would like to speak with you. Please, send us your phone number and we will talk. Steve Burton."

Janet's eyes are wide open. She never expected a replied but there it is. Janet lowers the heat of the stove and she writes. She walks to the living room, turns off the television and seats to wait.

Her phone rings and she sees a phone number and then Janet answers.

"Hello?"

"I am Steve Burton. Are you the person that left the note?"

"Yes, I am. Where are you calling from?"

"What is your name?"

"Janet Jones."

"You are a F.B.I. agent?"

"Yes, if you know what is that?"

"First, I would like to know on how you knew of us?"

"I found Luna and saw your ship."

There is a silence at the other end as Steve gets his mental bearings and says. "She was a good friend among us."

"She was a flight attendant?"

"Yes, she was. I am the Captain of flight 612. We are a lost flight… a flight that encountered a spatial phenomenon that we can't explain."

"So… you and your companions are part of a passenger flight that for some unknown reason to you crash-landed on my planet or time travel… what is it?"

"Contrary to our height difference we are humans. The size is a side effect of whatever occurrence brought us here. We are all humans as you but from the year 2183."

"I must assume that your ship it is damage and you can't return to your time?"

"You are correct. We need and element that can't be found on Earth but at the edge of the solar system. We hope to substitute this element with now day superconductive materials and Boron."

Janet leans on her chair and asks. "What type of superconductive material you need?"

"An over the counter materials that could be bought from a store or online."

"How much we are talking about?"

"By your standards, it is just 2 ounces."

"That's it?"

"That is it."

"Wow, I thought you wanted me to break in into a secret facility and get you a multimillion Dollars top secret element from the government."

"No, not that also we need Boron, B40 Borospherene to be precise. If not, whatever it is available on the market."

"Well, what about B12 vitamin is that made of Boron?"

"What… hold on?" Steve says as he turns to ask. Jones can hear him conversing with someone but she can't discern the conversation. Then Steve returns to say. "No, B12 it is not Boron. I would have thought the same."

"I will search for it but one question."

"Yes."

"If you have access to the internet, why not buy what you need online?"

"Well, beside our height, we have no money and even if we had the money what delivery address do we use."

"That is right. Have you made any attempts to find what you need?"

"We scout a place to obtain what we need but given our size it will take a lot from our small amount of resources we have. Can you help us?"

"Sure. Once I have it how I get it to you?"

"I hope you understand but among us there are some that do not trust you. Once you get it, all you have to do is to send us an E-Mail and then we will talk."

"Okay. I understand, until then."

"Thank you, Janet."

Steve terminates the call and Janet who is still leaning on her chair is looking at her phone. She stands and returns to the kitchen.

Janet renews her cooking as she searches online for superconductive and Boron products on sale.

"Um? They are not expensive but there are not cheap either."

An E-Mail arrives from Steve and it reads… "We need a superconductive material with a dielectric response of a ferroelectric or graphite material with a frequency of 20 GHz or higher with levitation quality."

"That narrows it down." Janet said to herself and she copy and paste the last E-Mail sent, then she continues her search.

.

Delta radiation

.

All in the ship are silent thinking if this was the right way to proceed.

Valerie turns to Mark and asks him. "I walk into a room and turn the switch on and there is light. That is as far as I know about technology. Why can we get superconductor elements from other parts of the ship?"

Mark answers. "We are going to strip all the solid hydrogen from the ship and other parts to build what we need."

"Why do we need 25 kilograms of superconductors from her?" Valerie asked

Dan says. "That is almost 55 pounds, isn't?"

Mark replies. "We need that much to complete the amount needed for two engine cores mixed proportionally with the Boron. Also, they have to be layered with one layer in an electrical orientation opposed to the other layer on top. I wish I could have a lab with the proper equipment to prepare what we need faster."

Steve adds. "That is how the inversion happens in the engines as the layers alternate. We are hopeful that the conversion rate… or time alternating from one layer to another it is fast enough to trap gravity."

Barry looks at Fitzhugh and asks. "You fixed bigger engines in naval space ships, is that the same process?"

Fitzhugh replies. "The alternating among the layers traps gravity and pushes it toward the thrusters. But it is not any graviton particle as the one surrounding us. It has to be converted into negative mass by the reactor."

The adults look at Fitzhugh with surprise and Mark says. "Thus, the magic happens. Just as Naval engineer Fitzhugh said."

"You are a bag of tricks." Betty said. Fitzhugh smiles and he turns about as he stays seated, he pulls a heavy book showing it to everyone.

"You are reading the operation manual of the ship?" Steve asked surprised.

"It is the only paper book onboard I been reading it."

Dan says. "If there is a power failure and the computer is down, we read on paper what to do to fix the problem. What have you found in it, Commander?"

"Actually, I have been reading about the reactor and you are right on something. Once the collectors are off line, the reactor stops working, or it is supposed to. However, this Earth due to our size has more mass thus more gravity."

Mark stands abruptly and stays silent thinking and says. "That is why, the reactor it is still working."

Fitzhugh smiles to say. "Exactly."

Steve asks. "What… what I am missing, here?"

"Gravity on this Earth it is heavier due to its mass we all can feel it. The reactor is producing a minute amount of power by gravity forced through the collectors. That is why the reactor it is on." Fitzhugh replied.

Dan asks. "So… we disconnect the cables of the collectors to the reactor?"

Mark replies. "Yes… wait… no, we better not. That means that the sphere is still somehow in the reactor. Still attracted to whatever small amount the reactor it is creating."

Steve says. "What if we can't re-energize the reactor because the reactor burns its conversion chamber still working and anyway the sphere flies away looking for another source?"

Mark replies. "I don't know. As long as the reactor continues operating the sphere will stay with us."

Valerie asks. "Okay, how the sphere is recharging the batteries?"

Fitzhugh says. "The sphere must be creating a Tesla diffusion field. It is transmitting energy through the air charging the Idonium batteries. It is expelling free electrons… a Delta wave. That is what it is doing."

Once again all look at Fitzhugh with surprise but Mark says. "A Tesla Diffusion it is not possible and if so the whole ship would be full of static electricity. I don't see how the batteries are been charged."

Fitzhugh replies. "As Barry said before, we are dealing with an alien tech hundreds of thousands of years more advance than ours. It is that sphere doing all this."

Steve asks. "Okay… do we do not disconnect the reactor even by this Delta radiation Fitz just mention?"

"No, we don't because there is no Tesla Field at all created by a Delta field of particles. Actually, to disprove Fitz, hypothesis, after all this time we are not dead by Gamma radiation." Mark said.

Dan stands to say. "Wow, wow, wait… you said radiation and I think poisoning?"

"For a Delta wave or particles to be produced there has to be a heavier particle that it is colliding with other lighter ones releasing electrons. But we do not have a heavy radiation producer onboard." Mark replied.

Barry says. "Doctor Wilson we could have onboard something that does release Delta particles creating a Tesla Field. But instead of heavy particles releasing the Delta particle it is whatever amount of gravitons trickle from the graviton collectors of the ship."

"You mean the elusive sphere is releasing a Delta wave by the collision of gravitons?" Mark asked.

"Yes."

"Then the sphere molecular structure it is built by an unknown particle smaller than gravitons. It is not electrons been push about it is something else not discovered in our time. But I still do not believe in the Tesla type field in the ship. There is no residual static electricity on board" Mark said.

"Then how the batteries stay charge?" Valerie asked to Mark and he replies. "I don't know."

Steve seats down as he passes his hand over his face after all the scientific talk and asks. "All I care is that the reactor does not burn up as the engines did. That is my concern."

"We better leave all as it is." Mark replied. "Okay." Steve replied.

Valerie looks at Fitzhugh as she smiles and says. "You made us run that bird away and now we solved a mystery by you reading that paper book. To me the Commander has earned the biggest portion of the next worm we catch."

"Thank you, Ms. Scott. But I am still un-nerved by chasing that animal."

Valerie says. "You need to close your eyes and see yourself fighting that un-nerving feeling as you fought the crow." Fitzhugh smiles to ask. "Who showed you that?"

"My Psychologist, Dr. Zachary Smith."

Fitzhugh's eyes open wide as been surprise, he smiles and replies. "Thank you for the tip."

.

Back to the beat

.

Kobick is at his office early morning. He received a new assignment from Assistant Director Kruger to investigate contraband on computer chips in the Los Angeles area.

He reads the report and the attached pictures. He stands walking to the door. Kobick as always looks into the agent's desk area and says. "Jones, come here."

"Yes sir."

Jones walks toward the office as Kobick goes in seating behind his desk. Janet enters and Kobick says. "Seat down, I have a new assignment."

"New?"

"Yes we are off from the other one."

"You never told me what Dr. North told you?"

"Naa… she pushed me a 4 inch tall story."

"So, there is something about it for her… or him to tell you that."

"Doctor North is a she and she was throwing smoke and mirrors. Doctor North and her agency are looking for a hacker with a quantum computer, which brings me to your new assignment."

"What is it?"

Kobick hands her the file and she reads it. "A contraband computer chips ring. What do you think sir, China or North Korea?"

"I am sure they are manufactured locally. If you look at picture 26 there is a name stenciled on that chip."

Janet reads it out loud. "Jodar."

"The only one we know that uses that pseudo-name is Andre Jodariel Gonzalez."

"By this report, his chips are sold across three states. I guess L.A gangs are expanding their business."

"If the chips cross state lines, it falls to us to find him. I want you to go to the L.A.P.D gangs unit and meet with detective Martinez."

"Yes sir." Jones stays silently pensive and Kobick asks. "Take that little people lie off your mind. We are off that case."

"Yes sir." Jones stands walking out of the office. Kobick continues to read the report when an E-mail arrives. He opens the email to see that is an E-Mail from Kamber.

Kobick sees an attachment and is a video. Kamber wrote… "Seen its believing, go and find out more for me."

Kobick opens the video file and he recognizes the lobby of the quantum research lab in the A.S.P.T campus. The view is from a security camera facing into the lobby in the foreground is the empty security desk.

In the background are the elevators and the stairs, from the right side of the frame by the floor walking close to the wall three small figures no more than 4 inches tall come to view.

The three figures go under the door of the stairs. The security guard returns to his desk and watches the monitors.

Few minutes later the three small human figures come out from under the stairs. They stop seen the guard back on his post and one of the figures points to the wall on the right side of the security desk.

The three figures despaired from view behind the desk and the video ends.

Kobick lowers his head as he shakes it slightly. He looks up at the screen, downloads the video file to a thumb drive. He stands and walks out of the office.

An hour later, Jones is in the office of Detective Martinez. Jones is reading Andre's file but Martinez gives her a resume of the gang member by memory.

"…He arrived illegally with his aunt in 2002 at age two. He joined the Balaceros in 2015 at the age of 15. Andre has an I.Q of 230 to 275 and got into computers at the age of 7."

"M.I.T or Cal-Tec candidate?" Jones says in a sarcastic tone.

Martinez smirks and says. "That is far from his mind. All his crimes are related to computers. Hacking, scammer, financial money laundering transactions in overseas accounts for the Balaceros, you name it."

Jones says. "He is not a regular gang member."

"His crimes are done without a gun in hand but done with a keyboard. The leader of the Balaceros, Marcos Arguillo known as Calabera recognized Andre's talent taking advantage of Andre."

"Now he counterfeits computers chips. How he got a hold of the materials to build them?"

"Six months ago, a large shipment of superconductors arrived in containers from Japan to the Long Beach Terminal Island. The containers were taken and no one has seen them since."

"And the chips made by Andre are made from the stolen superconductor element."

"Correct."

"Where can we find him?" Jones asked.

"For sure he is not in Balaceros turf. For Andre to be pulling something like this he must have a large warehouse."

"There are thousands of warehouses in L.A alone."

"I think more including abandon buildings and homes." Martinez said.

"You said the containers were stolen from Long Beach." Jones asked and Martinez replies. "Yes."

"For a person with such a high I.Q as Andre's, he would try to save time and energy to gain concealment."

"I see, so you think the containers never left Long Beach?"

"I think the containers never left the pier. Andre swapped the containers numbers through the internet and the containers still there under a different designation."

Martinez stands as Jones and he says. "I am going to request a team to come with us."

"Good idea."

Meanwhile, Kobick is in the digital lab and he is with one of the techs observing the video file sent by Kamber.

"So?" Kobick asked and the tech replies. "The computer put the video under 1,568 filters. The edges as the shadows are uniform with a 23 frames per second 1080 video."

"This is not some kind of Photoshop job?"

"Agent Kobick, Photoshop is for pictures. There is no manipulation at all in this video."

"So, according to the graphic computer these three individuals are real?" Kobick asked.

"I am not saying that they are real because it is obvious people like that don't exist. The computer is not detecting manipulation in the video clip that is what I am saying."

Kobick rolls his eyes as he stands and says. "There is no manipulation, therefore they are real."

The tech pulls the thumb drive cross at Kobick and he says. "Take it. I don't want to see this again."

Kobick takes it and walks away in silence. Once in the hallway he walks toward the elevators and there he waits.

Then he realizes something. "I told that tech that they are real. What if they are?"

.

The Pier

.

Several black S. followed by marked police cars arrived to the Long Beach piers. They park and all dismount the vehicles including Agent Jones and Detective Martinez.

Jones, Martinez and team leader Sargent Robertson enter the loadmaster building. The three walk up to the main reception desk and Martinez asks the secretary. "Where is Mr. Garner?"

"He is waiting in his office, please follow me."

The three law enforcement agents follow the young lady. All enter into the office and the secretary says. "Sir, the agents are here."

Loadmaster Garner stands as the secretary walks out and Garner says. "So you think the two cargo containers from Japan are still in the pier."

"Yes." Jones said.

"Where do you want to search first?" Garner asked. Martinez replies. "From where they were stolen on the pier."

"Okay, follow me."

Kobick is at the main security office of the A.S.P.T campus. The monitoring room is as large as any command center with control consoles with monitors and at the front of the room there are several large flat screens.

Kobick is with the security manager and Kobick asks. "I want to see anything unusual on the 23th of this month at 1:35am."

"Where on campus?"

"At the digital quantum computer building I want to see specifically the lobby."

"Okay."

The security manager inputs in the computer the time and location requested. The video image shows the lobby area at 9:45pm on the 22 but then at 10:00pm the image turns into white snow static.

"This is odd. This should not happen." The manager said as he works with the video. Kobick looks as well and asks. "What is wrong?"

"All the cameras in the lobby of the digital computer research building went out. There is no video." The video view returns at 6am on the morning of the 23.

Kobick asks. "Can you show me the outside view?"

"Let's see." The manager changes the view and now is of the parking lot of the building and Kobick recognizes Jones' car. For his surprise he sees her driving away as he sees the time stamp on the video.

"She told me she stayed until 9Pm. Where is she going?" Kobick asked.

"You want me to follow that car?" The manager asked.

"Yes."

The cameras across the campus show Jones' car until it stops and she comes out. Kobick sees her walking into the alley and when she comes out walking to her car. Jones stops.

She walks up to the billboard and looks at it. She walks away and stops. Jones pulls her notebook and writes something. Kobick sees her putting the note in the base of the billboard.

"Where is that billboard at?" Kobick asked. "Let me show you on this map."

Meanwhile, Jones, Martinez as Garner accompanied by the law enforcement entourage arrive to the area in the pier where the stolen containers once where.

Garner says. "Right here, stack area 23B."

"This is where the containers were placed?" Jones asked. "Yes."

Martinez asks. "Where was the cargo ship?"

"Over there at pier 58."

Jones asks. "Why the containers where drop here and not by pier the ship was docked?"

"The trucking company requested that." Garner said.

"If the trucking company did not make the request where the containers would have been drop?" Jones asked.

"By pier 58, stack area 19A." Garner replied. Martinez turns around and signals the team to get in their vehicles.

The convoy of vehicles moves down the pier and stop at stack area 19A, all dismount then Jones asks. "The containers would be here?"

"Yes and as you can see, there are none." Garner replied. Jones looks around and sees the warehouse behind and she asks. "What is in there?"

Garner looks in his clipboard and replies. "This is a rental… California shipping company."

"Have you ever seen anyone from that company?" Martinez asked. Garner replies. "Now that you mention it, I have never seen them. All transactions are made online by the company from Sacramento."

"Let's check it out. Sargent, get you guys ready." Martinez said to Robertson as he turns toward the other officers. Jones asks Martinez. "No warrant?"

"It is a rental and the owner gave us permission. Isn't that right, Mr. Garner?"

"By all means, go ahead."

The team lines up by the large open rollup doors and by a regular door at the end of the warehouse.

Martinez and Jones are with the point team by the large doors. Sargent Robertson says over the radio. "Go, go, go."

Both groups enter the warehouse full of wooden as metal boxes and cargo containers. Both groups move through the warehouse as each team splits in teams of two into each corridor.

Jones and Martinez reach the other end and they see all the officers lining up to the wall. Then Robertson calls over the radio. "Martinez, Agent Jones come to my location at the far left."

"On our way."

Martinez and Jones arrived to where Robertson called them from follow by the rest of the team. Robertson points as he says. "Are this the containers?"

Jones reads the serial numbers and says. "These are it." Then she reads the transport ID number sticker and she says. "That is how these containers vanish. The stickers were swap."

One of the officers standing at a distance from the trailers see something moving on top of one and he whistles and as all turn to him. She points two fingers to her eyes and then to the top of the container.

All point their weapons up toward the container and Jones yells. "Come from up there!"

Two arms come up and then a torso. Martinez puts his weapon in the holster and says. "Andre, baja de ahi!"

"Okay… okay, ya voy!"

The 21 years old Andre commences to come down as Jones waits with her handcuffs on hand. Once Andre is on the floor he turns around with his hands on the back.

Jones reads his rights and Andre asks. "I am getting arrested for trespassing?"

"You know why." Jones replied. "Really, and what would that be?"

"For stealing these containers."

"Like I knew they were. What is inside?"

Jones and Martinez turn to each other with surprise and Martinez tells Robertson. "Open the containers."

The two containers are open and both are empty. Andre smiles and says. "I wonder, why I am been arrested for?"

Martinez says. "Let's go, we will sort it back at downtown."

Andre smiles as he is moved to the vehicles outside and he asks. "What downtown that would be, the city of Los Angeles L.A.P.D or Long Beach police, the port authority Police? My lawyer would like to know."

Jones replies. "Federal Building downtown, is that jurisdiction big enough for you?"

"I am honored… the F.B.I in action."

Martinez asks Andre. "If you had nothing to do with the containers, why you hid?"

"Well, it has to do with this avoidance I have with La Migra. Central America it is far away."

"Callate y entra en la S.U.V." Martinez said.

Andre replies. "Martinez, tu vendes a los tuyos."

"I removed from el barrio the ones like you so you don't pervert the rest of us."

Martinez closes the back door then him as Jones get in as Andre seats in the back.

Martinez is driving as Jones looks out. Once on the freeway Jones pulls a paper from her jacket and shows it to Andre. She asks. "Can you read this?"

"Because my hands are behind me does not makes me blind. What is this?"

"Read it!"

"Okay, okay… get it closer. Um? Dielectric response of a ferroelectric or graphite material with a frequency of 20 GHz or higher… Boron… 40, so what?"

"What is that for?"

"I don't know, but you can't run a computer with that combination. Why someone wants a ferroelectric or graphite when you can get a synthetic material? Also, the pinche Boron… you know how much pressure and heat you need to get that kind of Boron."

Jones turns forward as she puts the paper back in her jacket's pocket and she replies. "What that someone wants to do with this mix?"

"Make an electrical field pass over the element without touching it. Okay, what is this, I am arrested for this?"

"No." Jones replied.

Andre opens his eyes as realizing something and commences to laugh, Jones asks. "What is so funny?"

"Ha, ha, ha… you are loca lady. NASA is experimenting with something similar for deep space proves using Ion propulsion, a venturi effect for electrical fields."

Martinez says in an angry tone. "You can have a better life and make your own people proud if you want to, using that brilliant mind for good. Tu puedes ser mas que un gangero!"

"The Balaceros are my people… ese. Where were you when they were picking me up from under the boot of the white man?" Then Andres looks at Jones to say. "Or from under the black man's boot… as it is now days."

Jones turns to Andre and says in an angry tone. "You think I made it to where I am by been a gang member or Martinez!? Many without the need of crime have made it for themselves and their families! That racist remark you made, I have not known of any African American stepping on anyone because of color."

"You were born here so was Martinez I was not that is why I am in the back while you two are in the front."

"You are in the back in handcuffs because you want to and I am in the front without handcuffs because I wanted to." Jones said.

"My parents, whoever they were, had no money to wait to come legally and my aunt brought me here under the fence. That is my reality."

"Your aunt brought you risking all including her life for you to escape the gangs and paramilitaries in your country now look at you." Martinez said.

Martinez anger is evident as he calms down in silence but then says. "At least she never saw you turning into what she was saving you from, a criminal."

"Callete, pendejo! Leave my aunt out of this, she was a saint! I watch that poor woman work two and three jobs to be treated like dirt to be paid pennies and for what!?"

"She had those jobs so you could stay in school for you to use that mind of yours for the benefit of all!" Martinez yelled.

Andre replies. "She died on her way from work in the land of the free and plenty ran over by a drunken kid in an expensive car with an expensive lawyer from his parents!"

Martinez stays quietly angry as to avoid escalating the confrontational conversation but Jones asks in a calmed tone. "Where is that kid now?"

"At Harvard, M.I.T or in Tijuana getting drunk, who knows? But he is free as a bird for having rich parents unlike me, seating in the back."

Jones stays silent by the unexpected answer. She looks at Martinez who nods his head as a yes confirming what Andre just said.

Andre says. "Lady, you look surprised by the legal outcome of my aunt's death. You both know that in this country when money talks the system listens and mountains are moved over the poor! That is what happened to my aunt and me."

At the moment the socio-political and legal condition surrounding Andre's life flares in the S.U.V.

Kobick is on the sidewalk of the park where the billboard is at. He can't cross the field due to be cordon off.

A long and large banner posted says. "This Tuesday at 4pm Drone races and show. Mask usage and distancing will be enforced."

Kobick sees as students place obstacles for the racing drones and at the other side other students unload a truck with more obstacles. Also a TV news crew is interviewing some of the students.

The seasoned agent thinks on crossing the small fence but he is not sure if that will be safe if he is right on his gut feeling. There are too many young people about to take that risk. Too many are watching.

"If they really exist could they be hiding up there?" He said to himself but he feels letdown by Jones not informing him of what he thinks she has found.

Kobick gets in his car and heads back to the office to talk to Jones in person.

.

Drones and Legal procedures

.

Barry and Fitzhugh are doing watch at the edge of the billboard facing the street. Both are in the prone as they observe all that is happening.

Fitzhugh asks. "What do they mean by drone races?"

"Now days, they used remotely control vehicles that were propelled by using helixes moved by an electric engine."

"A person controls them?"

"Yes, keep in mind. The real will come in 35 years from now."

"Wow that is true." Fitzhugh replied.

"Commander, what do you think about that man?"

"The one with the crew cut, looking straight here, he left already. I am not worry you should not either."

"I think he was more that looking. He looked like he wanted to walk all the way here."

"No… he was not. I think he was just looking at the preparations for the drone race."

"Um?" Barry said and Fitzhugh asks intrigued. "What?"

"I could probably hack a drone and steal it for us to use. It could fly Steve, Mark and Dan to the building where the superconductive element is at and bring what we need here."

"That is a good idea but can it fit in here?" Fitzhugh asked.

Barry looks around and replies. "Maybe, but that depends how many are flying on it and how much of cargo the drone has to bring here to determine its size."

"Or, it could take just one passenger but once the drone it is loaded with cargo. The drone returns and that person walk."

"Or they all fly on their way there. Load it up and the cargo arrives first, and then we send the drone back to pick them all up." Barry said.

"Let's tell to the rest about this. If you can hack one and bring it here we can modified it to our needs."

Jones, Detective Martinez and Andre arrived to the federal building. They enter the in processing section and Andre is booked.

Martinez receives a phone call from his office and he moves to a private area to take the call.

Andre who just got his picture taken asks Jones. "What are my charges?"

"Suspicion of robbery as interstate trade of stolen goods and that is just for starts. Now seat down and wait."

"The key word it is suspicion in all this." Andre said. "That is enough for you to be here."

Martinez finished his call and he walks to Jones and Andre to say. "So, Andre, El Calabera is angry at you."

Andre replies. "It is just a little misunderstanding."

"Really, half a million dollars is just a misunderstanding?" Martinez said.

Jones looks surprised at Andre and she turns to Martinez and she asks. "Half a million and what did he do?"

Martinez replies. "The word in the street is that Andre funneled money from one of the overseas accounts of the Balaceros to buy manufacturing equipment to build computer parts. Andre wants to strike on his own."

"It just word say." Andre said.

Jones things about it and she says. "Really? Martinez Let's go to a more private place to talk."

Back at the castaways, the group is gathered in the ship as Barry and Fitzhugh lay out their plan on using a hacked drone. All listen silently until Barry finish and Mark says. "It is possible."

Steve asks. "If my memory serves me well, the drones used today use batteries with limited charges. How long it will pass before the batteries are drained to travel on it or in it?"

Mark replies. "I can build a converter charger from the ship and use one of our batteries."

Betty says. "How big this drone has to be to fly three of us plus equipment and cargo given the size of this place?"

Valerie says. "Who knows how to fly one of those? Granted, we have two experience pilots."

Dan looks at Steve and says. "It would be like flying a space-glider?" Steve replies. "I don't know if a space-glider and one of those drones are similar." Both pilots look at Barry.

The young one says. "I don't know. I have only flown a space-glider in hologram games. Once we have one here we can read its software."

Valerie says. "Wait, wait… how are you going to hack and fly one here to start with?"

Barry replies. "I can hack them but I have to research how to fly one on line."

Valerie is skeptic and asks. "So no one here can fly one. I mean, just because it is technology 160 some years behind of what we know. Will it be safe enough to be control by one of us?"

Fitzhugh replies. "We have to. We can't be walking out there among, cats, raccoons and snakes. That includes vehicles and giants."

Mark says. "Flying a drone it is a risk that we can manage by modifying it. Animals and giants it is kind of a wild card. We have been lucky so far."

Betty says. "Not Luna."

All stay silent after Betty pointed Luna's fate and Steve says. "Barry, find out how to hack one. We can fly it and land on the roof of the building we need to enter."

"Yes sir." Barry said.

At the federal building, Andre and Jones are in an interrogation room. Andre is still handcuffed as he looks at pictures of the counterfeit chips and of the cargo containers.

Andre asks. "How am I connected with all this?"

"We found you on top of one of the cargo containers. You were hiding because you knew it was us or you thought it was the Calabera looking for his money?"

"I want a lawyer and I will exercise my right to remain silent."

Jones smile and replies. "You know, you are right. We can't link you to the robbery so I will let you go."

Andre's smirk smile slowly vanishes but he stays silent. Then Martinez opens the door and halfway in the room says. "Agent, Jones… a word?"

Jones stands smiles looking at Andre and she says. "Don't worry. You will be out of here under an hour."

Jones walks out and once in the observation room Martinez asks. "Why you told him that. Yes, we really have nothing yet on him but to let him walk?"

"How many exits were in that warehouse we found him?" Jones asked.

"Several, and yes he saw us coming to have time to hide."

Jones asks. "And why not run out of the warehouse, if he saw us?"

Martinez' eyes open wide realizing something and he says. "He wanted to get caught?"

"Exactly. I am sure, the Calabera knows he is here and once Andre puts a foot out of this building he could get shot."

At that moment, Kobick walks into the observation room and he says. "Detective Martinez, how are you doing?"

"Doing well, how are you, agent Kobick."

"Not bad. Can I speak with my agent in private?"

"Yes… sure?" Jones walks outside into the hallway with Kobick and then he asks. "Why you left a note on a billboard base at the A.S.P.T campus?"

"Ah, yes sir… I was going to get with you about that and…" "Kobick, Jones… where is the suspect?" Jones was interrupted by Assistant Director Kruger walking toward them with a woman.

Kruger asks Kobick. "What is the status?" He turns to Jones and he replies. "I was just talking to Agent Jones about the suspect. Go ahead, Jones update the Assistant Director."

"Yes, sir… Detective Martinez with the L.A.P.D gang division and me with a…" "Jones I know that. What is going on with Mr. Gonzalez in there now, his he cooperating?"

The woman says. "I am Ms. Taylor from the Department of Justice, district attorney. Mr. Gonzalez has financial information that could bring down many criminal groups in the States and overseas."

Jones replies. "We can't really hold him but we believe that Andre wants our protection."

Kruger asks. "Why he wants our protection?"

Jones replies. "He apparently stole $500,000 from his gang to obtain the equipment needed to make the counterfeit computer chips. Now the leadership of the gang wants the money back or his life."

Taylor says. "Offer him, protection under the witness protection program if he talks."

Martinez steps out but stays silent. Kruger smiles and says. "Good job, you two. Kobick, this will put you and you Jones in the path to a promotion."

Kobick replies. "Thank you sir."

Kruger says. "Work the kid and have him talking. Ms. Taylor will stay to observe the interrogation."

Taylor says. "Actually, I will offer him protection for his cooperation."

Kruger as he turns around he says. "Cooperate with Ms. Taylor. I will be waiting for the report."

Kruger walks away. Taylor says. "Let's get in and talk to him."

Jones says. "This way, Ma'am."

The ladies walk into the observation room and Martinez asks Kobick. "Where you been, excuse me for asking but Agent Jones caught the kid?"

"I will clear that out with the Assistant Director Kruger. He never gave me an opportunity to say anything."

Now the four are observing Andre trough the one way observation mirror and Jones says. "I told him that we have nothing on him and he got a bit nervous. What I would like to do is for him to believe that."

Taylor asks. "How?"

"You and I walk in. You introduce yourself and tell him that there is nothing on him and he will be taken by us to his home."

Kobick says. "Home been where?" Jones replies. "Cortijo Avenue."

"He knows what would happen if he is dropped off from a law enforcement vehicle if full view of all in Cortijo." Taylor said.

"That though right there of him been seen in plain view getting off of a marked police vehicle, will make him want to talk." Kobick said.

"I know him well. You have to make sure you are all convincing. He can pick up things others do not." Martinez said.

The two women walk in and Jones says. "This is Ms. Taylor from the D.O.J district attorney."

Taylor says. "Mr. Gonzalez, we are going to let you go."

Andre says. "Okay, stop right there. I want protection for my information. I hate bad acting anyway. I don't want to be dropped in the barrio or end up in a prison among the general population."

Jones says. "At home you get shot or in prison you get shanked on the back."

Taylor says. "Okay, we will offer you protection for your cooperation in the witness protection and relocation program. We want full cooperation or no deal."

"Okay."

An hour passes Andre relates all he knows as the stenographer transcribed the information. It is a preliminary deposition to be given to Ms. Taylor's superiors to be use for indictments in a federal grand jury.

Kobick is watching from behind the one way mirror but his mind is on the little people.

Martinez enters the observation room with two cups of coffee and gives one to Kobick. Martinez asks. "Kobick, you seem to be thinking on something other than this?"

"Yes, I am."

"Another case?"

"Yes, something that Jones and I we were working before this."

"What was it? I might have heard something about it in the streets."

"No, I don't think so."

"Okay." Both stay silent listening to Andre and then Kobick asks. "Martinez, I want to ask you about… folkloric tales in Latin countries."

"That is odd. Ask away."

"It has to do with the notion of small creatures… small people."

Martinez smiles and he says. "There are tons of those but if you think about it you will find similar tales in none Hispanic cultures as well."

"That is true but my interest it is about… four inch people with a technological advantage."

"Well, from mythical and folkloric creatures to aliens that is a big jump."

"Never mind me… I saw something in YouTube."

"You will see all kind of stuff in there." Martinez said.

Jones walks out of the interrogation room and she asks. "Sir, you want to continue our conversation?"

"Yes, I do. Excuse us Martinez."

"Okay." Kobick and Jones walk to the hallway and Kobick says. "Why you held back information from me?"

"I am sorry sir but this topic of little people is somewhat unconventional and it does challenge reason. I had to be sure before I came to you."

"Okay, I admit this topic it does challenge reason. Actually it challenges reality but anything you find, tell me immediately. You not even called me about this kid and I gave you the case."

"Yes sir. All this happen so fast that I did not call. But the lead on that billboard it is dry, sir."

"What did you thought that took you to that billboard?"

Jones it is silent not having a justification other than the truth and she says. "I saw them."

Kobick's eyes open wide and he says in an angry tone. "You will drop all and forget all about the little people… You just earned a promotion. Shit, little humans will put you in the sidelines in the F.B.I."

"Yes sir."

"So they are there?"

"I am not sure but it is possible, sir."

"I will check this out." Kobick is about to leave when he hears Martinez say. "Taylor wants to speak with us." Jones and Kobick turn toward Martinez, Kobick asks Martinez. "How long you been standing by the door?"

"Since… billboard and little people. That is why you were asking me about folkloric tales?"

Kobick's anger it is evident as he enters the room. Jones walks by Martinez and says. "Keep this to yourself."

"Okay, I want to keep my job."

Taylor is waiting and she says. "Agent Kobick, I need you to coordinate an escort to move Mr. Gonzalez from here to a safe house in Pasadena."

Taylor gives a paper with the address of the safe house and Kobick says. "This is by the Aero-Space Propulsion Technology campus."

"Yes, we need him far away from the L.A metro area. The house is by the Los Angeles Crest Park. The street the house it is located it has only one entrance and the homes are spread apart by having large yards."

"We can see anyone approaching the house." Kobick said.

"That is correct. Any other legal processes will take place there. For what Andre gave us just now, we will start arresting people inside a week." Taylor replied.

"When the grand jury will start?" Martinez asked Taylor. "By the end of this month depending on locating the suspects the grand jury audiences and procedures, if he stays alive we have a big case here."

It's already close to 4pm, Mark, Barry and Fitzhugh are at the edge of the billboard looking at the drones been flown about as a practice for tomorrows races.

Barry asks. "Doctor Wilson, which drone you think it will do for us?"

"I don't know. I guess a big one."

Fitzhugh says. "It most fit here." Mark replies. "It is hard to tell, they are so fast and we just have a small opportunity to see them going by."

"Why don't we go to the ground and look?" Barry asked.

"People tend to look down and not up. If someone see us all is lost." Mark replied.

"Why don't we look from the other end?" Fitzhugh asked. Mark commences to backup then he stands as he cleans the dust from his clothing to say. "Let's go."

The three walk by the ship seen Betty and Valery talking, Mark asks the ladies as he walks by. "Where are Steve and Dan?"

Betty replies. "In the engine section they are looking at the batteries." Valerie says. "I made the suggestion to look for the sphere again, if they have time."

"Okay." That is all Mark said as him, Barry and Fitzhugh walk pass them.

In the engine section, Steve and Dan are examining the batteries. Steve asks. "Which one you think it will be the easiest to pull?"

"One that does not breaks the series connection. We pull one it is like pulling them all."

Steve looks into the battery compartment again as he traces the cable connection arrangement of the batteries.

"We also need one of the volts regulators and a transformer. I thought the drones of this era used… or use, direct current?" Dan said.

"Mark is not sure if it is direct or alternating. We use plasma pulse current in our time, this batteries are P.P.C. We need to make sure not to burn up the engines of the drone using our battery."

"Ask Barry to look it up in the net." Dan said.

Steve shakes his head as a no and replies. "Even that he modified his E-Pad. I don't want him to search anything unless we have to."

"Okay, then which one we pull?"

"This one will be it, number 12."

"Okay, then 12 it is."

Once again Mark, Barry and Fitzhugh are on the prong position overlooking the other side of the billboard.

Now the three see two trucks with their tailgates down with several drones on the flatbeds and an assortment of tools and batteries as other equipment to maintain the drones' functionality.

"What about the red and yellow one on the truck to the right?" Barry asked.

"It looks wider than 50 feet." Mark replied.

Fitzhugh says. "What about the green and blue on the other truck? It looks smaller."

"That might do it. Barry can you make it move?"

"I'll search between 900MHz to 5.8GHz."

"Wait, wait." Fitzhugh said as he turns to his side to look at Barry and Mark and he continues. "You are going the search for the frequency of that particular drone, correct?"

"Yes, Commander."

"You could make fly every drone before that one moves."

"It will be easier to make them all fly at once if I send the commands between 900MHz to 5.8GHz but just for one I need to test them individually."

Mark thinks about it and he says To Barry. "Just make the rotors spin just for a moment."

"Okay… here we go." Barry said as he intrudes in the frequency range and suddenly another drone on the other truck flies upwards as fast as it can.

The three look up following the drone as Barry terminates the connection.

"Sorry." Barry said. Mark says. "Easy on the throttle, it is just a spin of the blades."

The drone ends up out of sight by falling in a small ditch. As Barry is about to try again Mark puts his hand on Barry's E-Pad to say. "Wait."

Both Barry and Fitzhugh turn to Mark and Fitzhugh asks. "You think one of the giants saw the drone go up and crash?"

"Not only that. Let's keep that one where is at. If no one finds it, we take it."

"How big it was, because I don't remember?" Fitzhugh asked.

"If it does not fit, we will modify it on the ground." Mark said. Barry looks disappointed and says. "I was going to try a swarm program."

Mark and Fitzhugh look at Barry and Mark asks. "Why would you want them to swarm? That would not have helped us at all."

"I am sorry Doctor Wilson, but I wanted to test all at once for speed."

Fitzhugh smiles and says. "I see. I think you wanted to do some completion of your own with them."

"I guess. I am the only one of my age here. A little fun won't hurt."

Mark smiles realizing the fact that Barry is the only kid in the group and Mark says to Barry. "Just for one minute make them swarm. Freak out those big kids. But, skip the frequency you used to fly the one we want."

"Thank you, Doctor Wilson." Barry again uses his E-Pad and all the drones stop racing. Barry enacts the A.I program and all the drones fly in a perfect formation above the crowd below.

They hear the giant youths yelling and cursing by losing control over their drones and then the drones pass in front of the three on the billboard.

"They look like soldiers in a formation." Fitzhugh said and the drones go around the billboard out of sight. Mark says. "We have our fun. Return the control to the owners."

"Yes sir."

Barry does and all the drones return to their original positions before they were taken. Most fall to the ground but the owners that regain the control continue with the practice race.

As they stand to return to the ship the three are smiling more so is Barry.

.

New things to learn

.

It is close to 9:30 pm and two black SUVs arrived to the safe house where Andre will stay. Among the four agents two are Jones and Kobick.

The agents and their protected are met by agent Morris who has been waiting in the house. The agent walks to Kobick been the senior agent and says. "Sir, the house it is ready."

"What about the surveillance system?" Kobick asked. "It is all set. All connected to the center in the federal building. The downstairs room is the command center."

"Okay, let's see what we have."

The castaways are at the edge of the billboard ready to collect their price.

"Well, Barry. It is your toy after all. Bring it here." Steve said. "Yes, Captain Burton."

The 12 years old, uses his E-Pad and they all can hear the rotor of the drone spin and then levitate.

The jet black drone it is level by Barry to the billboard and slowly he pilots it toward the gap separating the two signs where the survivors of flight 612 calls now home.

Dan and Mark run to the sides observing the clearance of the toy vessel. The drone is now at the entrance and Mark raises his hand showing a thump up as Dan.

The noise is above tolerance and all cover their ears the best they can except for Fitzhugh that he covers Barry's hears with his two hands.

The craft passes over them but the wind it is so strong that Barry cuts the aircraft power and it drops over them. They all hit the deck as the drone stops turning its blades.

As all stand, Betty says. "It is like been under a tornado." Barry replies. "It is like been under a helicopter or four of them."

"Fitzhugh asks. "What is a helicopter?"

"It is a craft used today, that does the same job of a hover-shuttle but with big spinning blades to create lift."

Valerie hearing this she replies. "It's a great thing in our time we have gravity inversion engines."

As Dan, Mark and Steve examine the drone, Mark says. "The one that propose in a more concrete form gravity manipulation is the same one that started the A.I revolution."

Barry replies. "Oh, yes… Doctor Andre J. Gonzalez." Barry turns to Mark. "Doctor Wilson, what the initial J stands for in Dr. Gonzalez name?"

"Jodariel. It is said that he added that name based on his favorite science fiction character. His early years of his youth, were not… let's say, under the law."

"Too bad he never saw the first gravity inversion engines." Betty said. Then Steve says. "Okay, we have enough history. What we need now is to drag this next to the ship and swap batteries under those cables."

All take positions then in a unison effort moved the drone to the ship.

After several minutes of pushing and togging the drone is where it is supposed to be. All seat and Fitzhugh says. "It is made of foam but why it is so heavy?"

Mark replies. "The batteries in the drone give it weigh. Once we removed them in that same battery compartment we can modify it to be a small cockpit."

Dan looks up to say. "So we pass the winch cable over that cable and lift the batteries out of this thing."

Steve replies. "That is the plan. Let's set everything up."

As Steve and Dan get ready with the winch, Mark is with Barry under the tarp and on the seats that were pulled out from the ship are an assortment of cables and the voltage regulator as the transformer.

One of the ship's batteries is on the floor over a rubberized mat pulled from the upholstery of one of the seats.

Mark is connecting some of the cables with the help of Barry when the young one asks. "Why, you want to use your phone to control the drone?"

"The frequency utilized in our phones is above any frequency used today. We need to be in total control of this drone."

"So it is much more than slapping the ship's battery?" Barry said.

"Oh yes, the power given to the engines has to be regulated so to be compatible. Steve and Dan have to become acquainted with the maneuverability of the drone and more important, to see where they are going."

"I thought it was going to be controlled by the A.I in my E-Book."

Mark smiles and he says to Barry. "When I was your age I had an A.I named Bob. What name you gave to yours?"

"Chipper." Barry replied.

"Chipper?"

"I had a dog with that name but my dad did not allow it in his place on the Moon so I name my A.I, Chipper."

"Where is the dog now?"

"With my mom, in Los Angeles."

Barry's demeanor turns down and Mark says. "My parents got divorce when I was 15. Yes, I always wanted for them to get back and all would be back as it was but I realized that I was looking back and not ahead."

"I see."

"Look at where you are, in the Land of the Giants. Once we return, you will be the only kid in the solar system that can say… I was there."

Valerie seen from a far that Barry is not at his best she walks up to him.

Gently passes her hands over Barry's head as to fix his hair and she says. "Now, you look more handsome. What are you talking about?"

Barry replies. "About my divorced parents."

"Oh, I see. Did you know that my parents got divorce when I was in high school? My mom moved to California and that is where I started my singing career."

"Wow." Barry said and Mark adds. "What ever happen among them it is not your fault but from now onward it is all on you to be as good as them or better. I did it and Val here did it as well. Why not you?"

Steve, Dan and Fitzhugh are pulling a guide line raising the heavier winch cable as Betty feeds the needed length from the winch.

The cable crosses over and the four smile. The hook is above the battery compartment and Betty says. "Who is going to climb?"

The three men look at each other and Fitzhugh says. "I am a bit overweight."

Dan replies smiling. "Yes we can tell."

Betty walks up to them and says. "This thing is made of foam and we don't have a ladder."

"But we have the hoist." Steve said. By now Mark, Valerie and Barry are in the group and Valerie says. "Steve, you might need a pry bar."

"Why I need one and what makes you think I am going up there?"

"Because one, I know you and two, to open that cover you need to be a giant. A pry bar will give you that edge."

Dan says. "You are going to need a harness."

"We don't have one." Steve said. Betty replies. "Let's take off the seatbelts from the seats we are not using and make one."

Barry who is intently looking at the drone says. "What is that under to the side of the drone?"

"The Camera." Mark replied as Barry moves under the elongated box part of the plastic under carriage behind the camera and he points again to say. "Look, those are the batteries… or the battery."

The rest look at each other and in a brisk pace walk to where Barry is and all look. Mark smiles to say. "I'll be… the battery is here and not on top."

Fitzhugh says in a serious tone. "We have to know this thing in and out. We just can't make guesses based on what we know from our time."

Dan says. "Fitz, its right. We assumed the battery access was on top thinking this vehicle was designed as a hover-shuttle back home."

Steve turns to Mark to say. "We have to be sure about the electrical specifications of this thing and our battery. We can't have a fire here. It could call the attention of the giants."

"I will triple check the electrical loads." Mark said.

Barry says. "You know, if the center of the drone it is just a solid mass of foam. We could carved it out and make space for two or three passengers with the cargo."

All turn to him and Steve says. "Well, Mark. I am sure you are going to hire him."

"I will make sure that he finishes college first. But you want to be a geologist?" Mark said.

Barry replies. "I change my mind. I want to be an aero-space engineer."

Fitzhugh smiles to say. "And you will be." Then, Steve's cell phone rings and he pulls it from his cargo pocket.

All look at him as he reads and he says. "It is her."

Valerie asks. "Are you going to answer?"

"You should have never given her a way to call us. She can trace the call to us whenever she wants." Fitzhugh said.

.

The neighbors

.

Back in the large rear patio of the safe house Jones is making a call. "Hello, Steve?"

"Yes."

"I am near you now but I don't have the freedom to move among my people as our last conversation."

"I see… and what makes you think we are close?"

"Don't play coy with me I know you are on the billboard. You want my help or not?"

"Yes, we do. Have you obtained the superconductive elements?"

"I will, hopefully tomorrow. The question is… where do I drop the superconductive elements?"

"Once you have them will talk on the phone but not near the billboard."

"Okay, not by the billboard. I will call you when I have them."

Jones terminates the call and walks to the house.

Then from one of the top windows Andre says. "So, someone that lives in a billboard needs superconductors. I am sure it is of the same composition you showed me on that paper."

"Get that dammed head inside. You could be seen!"

"By who? Pass the backyard fence is the park. There is no one up there."

Jones enters the house and she passes the agents that are in the living room or in the kitchen. Jones as she walks to the stairs asks. "Where is agent Kobick?"

"He is in the surveillance room."

Jones goes upstairs and walks to Andre's room. "Get away from that window!"

He does and slowly seats down on a chair to say. "Can I get a gaming computer?"

"No, no computers and no cellphones."

"I think, all this about you been interest to obtain superconductive elements it is just a rouse for me to say… oh, well… I will tell you where mine are and you can have them, if I did steal it."

"Why don't you come clean? You are protected from that. Where you hid the cargo and where is your lab?"

"In a billboard."

"A billboard again?" Kobick said. Jones turns to see Kobick by the door and he asks Jones. "You were looking for me?"

"Yes sir. I was outside making a call and he sticks his head out of the window."

Kobick looks at Andre and he asks. "What about a billboard?"

"Na, nothing… I like to listen to the 100 top billboard songs on the radio in the weekends."

"Really, if you stick one hair out of any window I will have them all nailed shot. Understood, Mr. Gonzalez?"

Andre gives a military salute to Kobick and says. "Yes, sir… ay, ay sir."

"Jones come with me, we have an overdue conversation."

"Yes sir."

Andre says. "Uuuuu… someone is in trouble."

The two agents leave the room and walk downstairs. Kobick says. "Let's talk outside."

The two head for the far end of the patio by the fence. Andre seen this, looks about his room and he grabs the table lamp.

The youth takes the lightshade off and then he covers the narrow top with paper. Using a stapler adheres securely the paper sealing the top and punctures a hole.

He puts the top of the cover lightshade on his ear and listens without been seen.

Outside Kobick says. "You have not dropped the little people's case."

"Why you said that, sir?"

"Let me asked you again. Why you left a note on a billboard base at the A.S.P.T campus?"

"I told you before that…" "I saw you in a surveillance video doing so as I told you, before. I think they are there and you know it."

"Sir, but you don't believe in them. That was a doll what we recover. Do you really believe there are 4 inch tall humans lose in Los Angeles?"

"You know what… I do. I am convinced that there are four inch people from the year 2183 in Los Angeles. What I don't like is my own people holding back on me. What do you know!?"

Jones looks down well knowing that Kobick has been a mentor to her. She looks up and says. "They crash landed in our time. They are as humans as we both are. They don't know how they became small and…"

"Go on."

"… And they want to go home. They are passengers and crew of a commercial flight, survivors of a crash landing."

"How you know this?"

"The pilot… Steve Burton… we have been talking over the phone."

Kobick's eyes open wide by the surprising revelation.

He looks down as he puts his fists on his hip and he says in a worry tone. "That woman, Doctor North and agent Kamber are looking for them and those two do not work in any conventional agency. They can kill you for what you know."

"I am not worried about them, sir."

"But I am."

Kobick gently puts his hands on Jones shoulders as mentor or a father would and he says in a worry tone.

"In my past I have crossed paths with secretive groups in the U.S government just like them. They not even answer to the President. Do you phantom in your mind what are you doing?"

"Yes sir, helping people in need."

Kobick rapidly takes his hands off Jones and now the paternal worry tone turns into the one of an angry parent.

"Really… Jones, you have seen the news. We are in the middle of a pandemic and the billionaires want to keep all open for them to keep making money."

"That can't be true, sir."

"They use propaganda online to fill the minds of millions to keep all open in the name of freedom, not caring who dies among those millions as they make money away and safe from the pandemic."

"Captains of industry and elected officials doing this, that can't be, sir. But what this has to do with North and Kamber?"

"That mindset is the one that Dr. North and Kamber carry in them; they will put a bullet through your head without thinking twice about it. Drop this case, change your phone number and don't look back."

"Yes sir."

"A normal person can't grasp an abomination as big as the one it resides in these people's minds. They don't belong nor care of political affiliation but to use them to control the minds and hearts of millions to make money."

"You are describing criminals, sir."

"They are criminals the difference is that they have the money to make someone pass laws creating a niche to cover their crimes. From that niche, that dark abyss is from where North and Kamber come from."

"People like that really exist in our higher echelons of financial society and our government?"

"Yes they do exist, how you think they got there by been nice. North and Kamber are the ones that are sent out of that abyss to do their dirty bidding. You have time to back out of this."

Kobick turns around and walks to the house.

Jones stays silent thinking on what Kobick said challenging her notions of who controls a society and how to gain money stepping on an unsuspecting humanity.

Andre has heard enough and he puts all in his room as it was. He thinks about on what he heard and says. "2183… um? And they need superconductors and Boron to levitate their ship… as an ion or E.M. engine?"

He goes to the desk and gets a stack of paper and a pencil.

"Let's see, if a material with a dielectric a frequency of 20 GHz or higher with levitation quality creating a venturi effect… venturi effect pushes a medium trough a close space…"

He keeps writing and says. "…What would they have in 2183 that we don't have control of as a propellant today? It has to be energetic in nature or the mechanism of propulsion makes it energetic or both, um?"

He garbs the paper and makes it into a ball throwing it across the room.

"Um, Just like Newton's apple… oh, that is it."

He grabs another paper and commences to write on it equations while in a transfix state that can only be understood by theoretical physicist in the field of quantum mechanics.

Halfway into his equations Andre says. "I need her cellphone." And he continues writing.

It is, 1:45 Am Betty and Valerie are finish carving out the central foam core of the drone Betty throws over the edge the last piece carved and says. "We are done, lower the cable!"

Fitzhugh yells back. "It is coming down!" Fitzhugh lowers the winch cable as Betty and Valerie put on the seatbelts to be hooked to the cable.

Valerie smiles as both connect to the hook and she says. "Ah, the butt sisters."

"We can make a singing group with that name."

"Are you ready!?" Fitzhugh yelled. Valerie says. "Go ahead!"

At the side of the ship, Mark has arranged the battery system on the floor. He checks the connections to the battery and the voltage transformed to be alternating current as he regulates the output current.

Barry says. "With our battery this drone can fly for days."

Mark replies. "That is the whole point. We can use this drone for other trips in the future."

"It beats walking."

Steve and Dan are next to the drone going over on how to fly it using one of Barry's E-Pads.

The original batteries were taken out by the two pilots and even that they are out of the drone, cables are connecting them to the drone as the engines are disconnected from power.

What Steve and Dan are doing is to see how the rotors assemblies move showing them how the drone will maneuver.

"Hey! You two, help us to come down." Valerie said to Dan and Steve. Both pilots grab a rope and toss it to the dangling women.

"Here you go." Steve said and Betty grabs the rope then she passes to Valerie part of the rope. Once the ladies have a good hold Dan and Steve pull.

"Fitz, lower them."

"Okay." Steve and Dan pull the rope as the ladies descend away from the drone. Once both are on the floor Steve asks. "How big is in there?"

Betty replies. "Three can fit standing and we made a small window to look out."

"Awesome." Dan said.

Mark says. "It is my turn to make the electrical connections." Fitzhugh asks. "When this thing will be ready?"

Mark replies. "By tomorrow night we will ready. I am aiming to do the first test by about 3 or 4 am."

Valerie looks at Barry then she looks at her watch to say. "Okay, team one has to sleep now."

Betty replies. "Yep, team one has to be fresh early in the morning."

All look at them not understating when Valerie says. "Team, one it is Betty, I and Barry."

Barry says with surprise. "I never knew we were working in teams."

Valerie and Betty put their hands gently on Barry's back turn him around facing the ship as Betty says. "Yes sir, we have to be up early, so it is time to sleep."

By now the rest of the adults caught on to what the girls are doing and as the three walk into ship.

Valerie turns and just moving her mouth as she points at Barry without the young one noticing she conveys in silence. "Once he is asleep we will come back."

Fitzhugh yawns as he stretches his arms to say. "I am tire too."

Dan grabs Fitzhugh as he walks away to say. "Oh, no Fitz, it is only Barry. We have to help Mark connect and secure the cables in the drone."

"I had to try."

Steve turns toward the drone and he walks around it. Once he completes his inspection he says. "We need two more windows, to have a 360 degree view."

Mark says. "Well, help me connecting all this cables first. Then we can make the windows."

"Okay." Steve said.

The night continues and by 5am all it is done. Steve is carving out the last window. Dan says. "Steve, don't you think they are a bit large?"

Steve sticks his head out of the window he just made. Dan looks at him to say. "You want us to stick our heads out?"

"Yep. We might need the extra view."

Mark is with Fitzhugh closing the battery compartment. Both are done and Mark turns to the pilots to say. "Done, we need to test this."

"Pushing it to the edge will be easier been lighter now." Fitzhugh said. Mark says. "Not yet, we need to make the blades spin just a tap. We need to check the connections."

"Okay." Dan said as he grabs Barry's E-Pad to be used as the drone's flight control instrumentation."

Steve stands next to Dan to say. "Go for it." Mark pushes the drone's power switch to on and the transformer as the voltage regulator commence to hum from inside the battery compartment.

Mark says. "Just a tap."

Dan as the pilot that he is moves first the directional assembly where the blades are located as checking the flight directional control surfaces.

Steve says to Dan. "Okay, just a tap… one spin of the blades."

"Here we go." Dan taps the E-Pad and the four blades spin one turn and the whole drone moves upward and down.

Dan says as he smiles. "Is that enough?" Mark as he also smiles says. "We got it. This thing will be in the air tomorrow night."

Steve replies. "Let's finish the modifications and go to sleep."

Then suddenly Steve's phone rings. He takes a big breath to say. "I hope she is calling because she has the superconductive elements."

He pulls his phone sets it to speaker to say. "Hello?" The men gathered around Steve and all hear a male voice. "Are you the Captain of the lost flight?"

"Who is this?"

"My name is Andre J. Gonzalez and I figured out your problem but to be sure I have some questions."

Steve is about to hang up when Mark stops him. "Wait! Don't hang up!"

Fitzhugh says. "Why not!? That woman is telling other giants about us!"

Mark insists and he says into the phone. "What is your middle name?"

"My middle name?"

"Yes, yes… your middle name?"

"Jodariel… Andre Jodariel Gonzalez."

Mark eyes are open wide with surprise and he says. "That is Doctor Andre Jodariel Gonzalez, the inventor of A.I prime and the proponent of gravity inversion propulsion."

Steve says. "The Doctor Gonzalez… the Nobel Prize in A.I?"

"I… I am, who?"

Mark asks again. "You are 22 years old?"

"How do you know me?"

Steve takes control of the conversation to ask. "You said you figured out our problem?"

"Yes, but to be sure… I have a question."

"What is it?"

"You are trying to manipulate gravity over a superconductive material while contained in an alternating electrical magnetic field creating a venturi effect using gravity as a propellant?"

Mark answers. "Yes."

"Then nothing will work or at least not yet as superconductive elements are manufactured now days. Unless you know a way by using Boron and that has me intrigued. You must purified it or for that all the superconductive agents first."

Steve says. "So the woman told you about us, from when we come?"

"No, actually I overheard her conversation with you and later with an agent talking about you."

Fitzhugh says. "I told you! I said we can't trust her! She is talking to others about us!"

Andre says. "No, no… I took her cell without her knowing. I want to help you."

"Why you want to help us?" Steve asked.

"Because… you are, what I have been looking for all my life, a real scientific event."

Mark asks. "You said that no superconductive element of today can help us even if we purified them?"

"Not to enclose gravity. You can use another particle, a larger one that can move your ship."

"Like what?"

"Take your pick from the periodic table. Hydrogen, Helium even Gamma. But not gravity, for that you would need an exotic element that I am sure is not yet in the periodic table. However, it approximates the abilities of Boron or for that, space born Boron."

Dan says. "Tell us something we don't know." Andre hears Dan and he replies. "I knew it. Is that exotic material a metalloid?"

"It is a natural occurring metalloid only found in the Ort cloud." Mark replied.

"Well, that is too far out for anyone to get, at least not yet. So we are talking about an element similar to Boron?"

"Yes, it is similar to Boron in the way that it is created naturally in space."

"Is this exotic element found on Earth as Boron is?"

"No, it is maintained at the edges of the solar system by solar winds and it adheres to water."

"If by water you mean ice, can comets bring this element into the inner solar system?"

"Not in great amounts. As a comet approaches the inner solar system most of this element it is stripped away by the charged solar winds."

"Then, there are amounts of this element in the oceans of Earth."

Mark replies. "It's only 0.0001 percent that can be found among all the oceans and lakes on Earth. There is no tech yet to detect it."

"But you can detect it?"

"Yes we can but it is just 0.0001 percent of all the water on Earth. Even for what we know it would take years to have the amount we need." Mark said.

"Then, in this case your best bet is to use another particle source as a propellant."

"What do you suggest?" Mark asked.

"An element that it has the molecular make up of Nano-carbon links Boron based. To create a Z-pinch with alternating fields to create a venturi effect to push plasma and not gravity…Oh crap…"

There is silence on Andre's side and all wait then Andre says in a low tone. "I have to go, will talk later."

The call it is terminated by Andre.

The guys are looking at each other and Steve says with surprised. "Did he just describe how our engines work? I mean, this guy from 2021, he just described the function of a gravity inversion engine."

Mark says. "He just came up with the principal of an engine 160 some years before they could be built, just by overhearing a conversation and he wants to use plasma. This guy is a genius. He will be one of the top 5 scientists in the 21st century."

Dan says. "Do we listen to him or what?"

Mark says. "We are lucky he was at the other side of the call. He is really close but I know a bit more and plasma will not work in our ship, we do need the Boron."

"Why?" Steve asked. Mark replies. "The purification process of the superconductors and of the Boron it is to remove carbon. He is thinking in high heated plasma that is why he mentioned the Nano- Carbon tubes laced with Boron."

Steve says. "I guess he does not know that our propulsion does not create heat as all the engines do in this time period. We can't swap everything to accommodate plasma in our propulsion system."

Then Fitzhugh asks. "Could he be referring to cold plasma?"

Mark turns to him and asks. "I thought you did not trust him?"

"Apparently he is half way there, but please do answer my question. Could he be talking about cold plasma?"

"It could be, Doctor Robinson discovered a way to maintain a cold plasma field but he took that with him or to the grave." Mark answered.

Steve shakes his head to say. "Dr. Robinson, his family and my friend got Lost in Space using that propulsion system. Granted, this future Nobel Price it is good but how can he know about cold plasma?"

Mark replies. "If Dr. Gonzalez is indeed talking of cold plasma and I think he is not. We can save a lot of time by using cold plasma instead of gravity. But the concept of reverse plasma it is beyond anyone's mind in this time period."

Dan says. "From Land of the Giants we leap into Lost in Space. The only expert on that is or was Dr. Robinson and by using that propulsion system he is lost or dead. We better stay on what we know of ours."

In the safe house Jones is confronting Andre as she takes her cell phone back.

"Who were you talking to?"

"Steve."

Jones eyes open wide in fear as surprise and she asks. "What were you talking to him about?"

"Actually, with him and another one, I was telling them how to fix their ship."

"Really… and how?"

Andre grabs the papers he was working on the equations and Jones grabs them. She looks at them and she asks. "What is all this?"

"A venturi inversion engine, made Nano-Carbon laced Boron as superconducting base. With an alternating spin using plasma as a mover and not gravity. Using a venturi effect at the escape propulsion or thrusting nozzle. It is all there."

Jones waves the papers and says. "All here, like I can tell?"

"I know you can't." Andre smiles.

Jones takes a big breath and she seats on a chair and she says to him. "Seat, seat down."

Andre does and Jones says. "How can someone with such a bright and intelligent mind be mixed with criminals? Heck… you are a criminal with a file as big as this house."

"That is how things are for me."

"Andre, I hope that once you declare in court all you know and go into the witness protection. You can change. You can go to M.I.T, Cal-Tech, and Princeton… wherever and do good things."

"Yea, right… an ex-gang member in Oxford."

"That can happen."

"Um?" Andre said as he thinks and then he asks. "This people are from the future, the year 2183?"

"Yes."

"Well, by accident I overheard the other man with Steve called me, Doctor Gonzalez. Not that he called me that but how he said it."

"How he said it."

"With admiration and even Steve asked the other man if I was the Nobel Prize in A.I."

"They should know if they come from the future."

"Yes… they, should."

Jones thinks about it and she makes a call then a few seconds later. "Hello is this Steve?" Jones asked.

"Yes. We were hoping you would call. We need to talk to Andre."

"Who will he became?"

Steve is silent and then Mark comes on the phone to say. "I am Doctor Mark Wilson. I became a scientists inspired by Doctor Andre J. Gonzalez, Novel Prize laureate. The young man you are with is the only hope we have to return home and he will change the World."

Andre smiles hearing that and he says. "Wow, just like John Connor but for science."

Mark says. "Can I speak with him? There are some equations I want to go over with him."

Jones holds the phone toward Andre and she says in a solemn tone. "The future calls for you, Doctor Gonzalez."

His eyes are wide open after listening to Jones. He slowly reaches for the cell phone and he says. "Yes, what do you have for me?"

As Mark talks to him Andre has moved to the desk and he is writing equations and diagrams.

Jones is smiling and in a way, she feels that as an agent of the law. She has accomplished the rehabilitation of a young man from a life crime into something more than himself.

Jones sees Andre transfixed deep in what he should be in, science and not crime.

Then Andre says. "Cold plasma you say? How is that possible?"

Andre listens to Mark for a few minutes and Andre throws away the paper he was working on and commences to write on a new one.

An hour later.

Andre says. "I think I know how that Dr. Robinson came up with a stable cold plasma field. He used a phase change by over lapping plasma fields. As a plasma field it is created at the center the heat it passed to the outer outgoing field dissipating the heat."

Mark says. "That is how he did it."

"You see, I knew the plasma would work way better than gravity and due to that you don't have to engage in a difficult process of purification using a synchrotron."

"Why I don't need to build the synchrotron?"

"I can get, a superconductor that has only 7.5% carbon."

Jones leans back as she crosses her arms and Andre looks at her. She says. "So you don't have that?"

"What can I say, agent Jones… what did you say Mark?"

"Then I still need the synchrotron for the Boron."

"You said you have in your ship solid hydrogen?"

"I do but not in the quantities we need. That is why we need your superconductor mixed with the Boron to be close to the proficiency of metallic hydrogen and use it to cover the engine's cores."

"Okay, okay… I was trying for you not to dismantle part of your ship to build the Synchrotron. But why you still need the Boron?"

"To alternate the two fields to trap the gravitons in between as the gravitons are moved to the propulsion exhaust of the ship."

"No Mark… to trap the plasma and use it as the propellant, all you need is the superconductors I will bring you."

Jones says. "That you are bringing to him? Is that what I heard? I don't see that happening."

Andre quickly turns to her and replies. "It is a matter of speech."

Then Mark says. "Our entire engine system it is built for gravity propulsion not plasma. What fuel you propose to use to convert into plasma and where do we store it?"

"Why we spend an hour talking about Dr. Robinson's trans-light plasmatic engines?"

"I wanted to know your take on that."

"Okay, okay… so I take that your ship does not have a fuel tank. The ram-scoops are it catching free gravitons, correct?"

"We do have a fuel tank for helium/hydrogen and it is for our thruster system and the A.P.U. We do need that fuel."

"That is information I needed to know, don't you think?"

"I guess I took for granted that you know what we take for granted."

"It is like explaining Henry Ford how a Tesla car works thinking that he knows how a Tesla works because it is a car."

Several hours pass by and now Andre is telling Mark.

"If you can spare two more batteries, you can put them in two backpacks each then make the proper arrangements with transformers as with voltage regulators."

"Okay." Mark said.

"Run cables to the metal pipes and you can have two cattle prongs to repel animals and by you told me about your batteries you can take down a person of my size."

"Okay, that will help us a lot."

"You need to obtain Boron. That is something not found free commercially but I am sure you can get it from the A.S.P.T. campus."

"Okay, thank you… Doctor Gonzalez."

"No… thank you. Have a good night."

"Same, until next." Mark terminates the call and Jones asks. "So, where is the stolen superconductor?"

"Not far. I will go with you."

"Oh, no… no… Doctor Gonzalez. You stay here."

"Nothing is going to happen to me. I will become a Doctor in A.I science."

"I will make sure that happens. You stay and I will go."

"Okay."

"Good. Give me the address of the stolen goods. This will show to the court your willingness to cooperate."

Andre writes on a piece of paper and gives it to Jones. "It is in this storage unit that is my lab."

"Good. Now go to sleep."

Downstairs Kobick is asleep on a cot in the dining room as the other agents are watching television. Kobick it is woken up by a phone call. He turns around and grabs his cell phone. "Kobick here."

"Kobick, this is Kamber."

"What do you want?"

"We have been monitoring Agent Jones' phone and we want you to check on her. I am sending you a transcript of her calls of the past 3 hours. When you find the targets location, call me. Have a good night."

Kamber hangs up and Kobick checks his emails. He opens the e-mail sent by Kamber and Kobick reads it.

.

Tuesday

.

It is 6am in the morning, and Jones is headed for the first SUV on the driveway. She opens it when someone says. "Where are you going so early?"

She turns to see Kobick holding a cup of coffee. Jones walks up to him as she pulls a piece of paper and gives it to her boss.

"Andre gave me the location of his stash of stolen goods."

Kobick reads the paper. "Self-storage complex… Um? I know this place."

"You do?"

"Yes. When I got divorced, I put whatever I had left in there. This is by the L.A River near the 5 freeway."

"I know the area, is next to the railroad tracks."

"Yes it is. Now my question is… Why are you going by yourself there?"

"Sir, I never said I was going now. I was on my way to buy coffee and doughnuts for all. I thought you were still asleep."

Kobick gives back the paper to Jones and he says. "This old Marine still wakes up at 0500 hours every day no matter at what time I go to sleep the night before."

"I know what you meant, sir. I am always up by 5am."

"I bought breakfast already for the others. If you are ready, let's go to the storage now."

"Yes sir."

Meanwhile, at the billboard the shipwrecked members of flight 612 are ready for the first test of the drone to be used later that night.

They are waiting for the drones' race outside to start so their noise goes on to muffle their drone's noise, to avoid the giants from hearing their drone up in the billboard.

Steve, Dan and Mark are inside the drone in the cavity it was carved out by the girls.

The three are wearing bandannas not for stile but to hold earmuffs made out of some of the foam that used to be part of the drone. In this way they can protect their hearing.

Each one has a wireless earphone plug linked to their phones as to communicate among them and with the ones in the ship.

The whole test will be to lift the drone in-between the signs of the billboard and then land.

They want to know if all the structural modifications and wireless connections for flight control work properly and that the drone can take the weight of the three travellers and cargo.

Fitzhugh and Barry are at the edge of the billboard looking down toward the starting line below. Back in the drone Dan says. "We have to keep this thing away from the walls. I am worry of a downdraft."

Steve replies. "It's only up and down and nothing fancy."

Mark says. "Why don't we land near the edge for tonight's flight?"

Steve shakes his head and replies. "Will drag the drone to edge tonight, it is lighter now."

The race starts and Fitzhugh trough his phone says. "Captain Burton, the race started."

Steve says as he looks at the E-Pad that controls the drone. "Here we go."

The engines start and the blades spin. At first the drone hits the right side sign and then as it lifts hits the left but that is it. The drone lifts surrounded in a thin cloud of dust climbing up to sixty feet.

The drone is holding steady and then Steve descends the craft. Again the drone hits the right sign and Steve cuts the engines. The drone lands and that is it.

All on the ground run toward the drone. The three stand as they take the bandanas off. Valerie asks. "How was it?"

Steve says as he smiles. "It works, this thing really works."

Mark says. "It does work, but banging the walls was not part of the plan." Dan says. "That is the updraft in an enclosed structure."

As they climb down Steve replies. "Tonight we will take off by the edge. Instead of flying up we fly out sideways."

Barry says. "So, instead of getting a superconductor you guys are now looking for Boron now?"

"Yes we are." Mark replied. Steve is walking around the drone with Dan inspecting for damages and Steve says. "That is what that kid said. He is going to deliver high grade superconductor and we get the Boron."

Dan passes his hand over where the drone got hit by the sign by crashing onto it. "This thing is built like a hover tank."

Steve looks at the spot and says. "This is thick plastic."

Betty asks. "How do we know this kid will deliver?"

Mark replies. "He will." Fitzhugh says. "Ah, you are mesmerized by this kid. I read his biography and Doctor Gonzalez early life was not of some kind of genius nerd working in his parents' garage."

"Okay, okay… granted, he was a criminal… or he is now."

Betty asks. "When did he change to be the legendary scientists that we know?"

Mark replies. "He changed during a time that he was in some kind of protected custody at the age of 21 he never spoke much about that period in his biography."

"He never mentioned anything at all?" Betty asked.

"Except during a televised interview he hinted that he was told about the future by people that saw him as a giant even when he was lost into crime." All stay silent in surprise by Mark's statement.

Valerie asks. "Did… did, all this happen? I mean… we were meant to be here?"

Then Dan says. "If we are meant to be here or not I don't care. I am hungry from the test and the time paradox chit chat. Where is that fat worm we caught?"

The whole group turns toward the ship walking to their breakfast. Barry says. "I have all the vids on Dr. Gonzalez if you want to see them later."

Mark says. "I will look at them again." Valerie says. "I want to see them too."

"Whenever it is possible I will look at them as well." Betty said.

The castaways are in an upbeat state after the successful test of the drone.

But they are forgetting that half of the plan hinges on a young man that is not yet in the right track in life. All they know of him is of his life after a criminal way of living.

At that moment in the underground complex in Palmdale, Dr. North is watching a surveillance video brought to her by Kamber. Dr. North turns to Kamber and she asks. "What is she doing?"

"Writing a note and placing it on the base of that billboard."

"So?"

Kamber touches the screen of the laptop and the video fast forward until the view stops and Kamber zooms into the base of the billboard. He says. "Do you see?"

North stands as she smiles walking toward the large screen. She stops and asks. "Is that them?"

"Yes, they are moving something into that access hole in the pole holding the billboard."

North says. "I see only three males. According to the DNA samples, there are at least two females and two more males."

"Ma'am, the important thing is that we know where they are hiding."

"They are hiding in plain view. Get a team prep and head there. Capture all of them… or most of them. I want their ship intact."

"You want a strike team?"

"No strike team, plain attire agents and a containment van will do."

"Yes, Ma'am."

Jones and Kobick arrive to the storage complex. They park the SUV in front of the office and both come out of the vehicle walking into the office.

There is a young lady behind the desk that smiles and asks. "Want to rent?" Kobick smile replying. "No, we want to look in storage room… 55B."

As Kobick speaks with the attendant, Jones turns around looking at the office when she notices the back driver door of the SUV ajar. Jones turns toward Kobick to say. "I'll be back." And she walks out.

Jones examines the SUV inside as out and finds nothing. Kobick comes out and asks. "What is it?"

Jones looks at him replying. "This door was ajar."

"All the way from the house?"

"I guess, sir."

"Get in, let's check the storage."

"Yes sir."

They drive up to the storage unit and both dismount the vehicle. Kobick and Jones stand in front of the rollup door and Jones says. "The padlocks are combination."

Kobick turns around and opens the rear of the SUV pulling the iron tire rod for the spare. He walks to the door and Jones asks. "No warrant?"

"Gonzalez told us to look. This is his rental."

"Yes sir."

Kobick breaks the padlock with the bar and he rolls up the door.

Both agents are stun seen that it is not just one storage but four. All the inner walls have been removed making a large room.

They see computers as tables with Lab equipment and a server rack at one side, on the other side they see cardboard boxes staked to the celling.

All the boxes are labeled with the name, Tanaka conductors. Kobick says. "Gonzalez was telling the truth."

As Jones walks about she says. "He did."

Jones notices on one of the tables, super conducting powder spilled and one test tube missing on a rack of five. There is a measuring spoon on the side. "Sir."

Kobick walks up to Jones and he looks to say. "Someone was here, recently."

"That is what I think." Kobick notices one of the roll doors not all the way down. He walks up to the door and opens it. "Whoever was here, forgot to close and lock this door."

"What now sir?" Kobick pulls his cellphone and says. "I am calling the office. We need the lab people here and more agents to secure this place. You return to the house."

"You will be okay?"

"I will be okay, just go and keep an eye on Gonzalez. I will take care of all this."

"Yes sir."

Jones gets in the SUV as Kobick makes the call.

.

Choices shaped by reality and reality shaped by choices

.

In a few minutes Jones is on the street when suddenly from the back someone says. "Are we clear?"

Jones almost crashes as she looks through the retro visor mirror. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!?"

Andre jumps from the cargo area of the SUV to the back seat and says. "I was getting the superconductor from the storage unit, before it became a crime scene."

"I check you before I left and you were asleep!"

"You saw a bundle of blankets. I sneaked in the first SUV knowing that you were coming to the storage before your boss would see you. But he is smarter than he looks."

"We are going back to the safe house."

Andre shows a test tube full of superconductive powder and he says. "Why don't we drop this first to our castaway friends and then we go to the house?"

"I will take it to them."

"How hard will be for you to get high grade superconductor powder?"

Jones is looking back through the retro-visor mirror in an angry tone replies. "What of it?"

"I will throw this test tube the first chance I have if we head back to the house. Call Steve and arrange a drop with him."

"You would not dare!"

"Try me."

"Why you want to do this? Those people need that superconductor… they are in need of help."

"Why… why?" Andre said he stays silent in anger.

Then he says. "Before my aunt was killed, I was reading books about science. Physics, astronomy, anything about science spending hours in the library reading, hungry to learn about the unperceivable realms and their dynamic works described in those books."

"From what I read in your file, you were in high school in a special program when you were supposed to be in the fourth grade."

"Yes I was. All that schooling took me away from the reality that surrounded me until reality caught up with me."

"Then your aunt died and you changed."

"She was killed, and all that follow during the trial showed me what was real. The ugly reality of the have and the do not have."

"You had a choice to continue learning or follow crime and you follow crime, why?"

"As a fool I wanted to experience the wonderful oddities defined by science but they are not real if I do not perceive them with my senses that is what I learn after all."

"But you can see those realms on a board through equations."

Andre sneering says. "The equation I saw from that day onward was that one Dollar plus one Dollar makes two and so on. Energy equal Mass at the Speed of Light Square and all its ramifications did not saved my aunt. I made my choice based on that reality."

"You build your own path as billons of humans do in a daily bases and most of those paths are not build on crime. You chose crime."

"Not science or theology prevented that rich kid run over my aunt. All he got was an ankle bracelet monitor for six months and pick up trash at the side of the highway."

Jones is silent as Andre is, then he says. "Because his parents had money he got a slap on the hand. The real power on this world, it is not science or theology but money and money is power."

"Easy money has a high price tag." Jones said and Andre stays silent. Then Jones asks. "Why you want to see them?"

"Because I will see with my own eyes the effects of a scientific phenomenon that is more powerful and life changing than the dead of my aunt as all the injustice I witness due to her death."

Jones asks. "They being real and you see them, then what for you?"

"If they are real, I will change."

Jones smiles and says. "You have been searching for miracle all this time?"

Andre smile and replies. "One thing at the time, for now I want to see the four inch people."

Jones replies. "Believe me, they are real."

Jones pulls her cellphone and selects the Bluetooth icon. The phone can be heard calling over the speakers of the SUV. "Hello?"

"Steve?"

"Yes."

"I have the superconductor. How you want to proceed?"

"Do as you did with your note."

"Okay but one condition."

Steve is silent then he asks with an apprehensive tone. "What condition?"

"You show yourself first to me and Andre."

"Okay."

"We are on our way now."

.

Message

.

Steve terminates the call and all are looking at him with surprise. The first one to speak is Fitzhugh to say in a worry tone. "Are you mad!? She can confirm that we are here!"

Steve stays silent debating in his mind the decision he just made but Barry says. "Is that Andre she mention, is that Dr. Gonzalez… or his younger version?"

Steve replies. "I don't know." Betty asks Barry. "What does it matters if that Andre is him or not?"

Barry shows his E-Book and says. "I have been watching all of Dr. Gonzalez interviews, and if that it is him coming to see us. He must see us."

Mark asks. "Why?"

Valerie gently gets Barry's E-Book and the young boy points in it to say. "Open that vid-file."

Valerie opens the file and all watch. Barry says. "This is a televised interview of Dr. Gonzalez in a science show called, Cosmos 2050."

Dan asks. "Barry, what that has to do with us here?"

Barry replies. "His wife is the interviewer and she hosts the show. She asks him what made him change from a life of crime. Dr. Gonzalez replied that it was seen the future little ones."

Betty says. "He could have been referring to children, as the future."

Barry replies. "There is more, it is like a message for us. Look at the vid and you tell me."

The group silently and attentively watches the video.

Once the vid it is over Steve turns to Dan to say. "Warm the thrusters. I will fly in the drone with Mark. Everyone else into the ship, we are leaving."

Valerie asks. "He did not make sense to me. How all of you are sure of what he said?"

Barry thinks about it then he says. "I know what he meant."

Barry turns to Steve and the young one says. "I need to fly with you and Mark."

Mark asks. "Why you have to come with us in the drone?"

"I need a large field of view."

.

Escape

.

As Jones drives she receives a call, she hits the Bluetooth button in the dashboard. "Hello?"

"This is Steve, we need your help."

"Sure?"

Meanwhile on the street across the small park where the billboard is at, Kamber with his team are in a van looking at the billboard and the collegial competition of the drone races surrounding the refuge of the survivors of flight 612.

"Mr. Kamber, there are too many people around the billboard."

Another agent says. "Look over there sir. There is a news crew."

"What is all this?" Kamber asked annoyed.

Another agent replies. "These students are doing drone races and I would not be surprise they are streaming this live beside the news crew over there. Sir, I do recommend to wait until they are all gone."

Kamber hits the dashboard and then he looks out in silent anger. He then says. "Will wait, then. Carson, go and find out when all this is over."

"Yes, sir."

"Mitchell."

"Yes sir?"

"Go across the street and get coffee and doughnuts."

"Yes sir." Both agents leave the van. Fitzhugh and Valerie are on watch and Fitzhugh says. "Look at those two coming from that vehicle."

"Yes?"

"Those are law enforcement."

"Could it be them, the ones Dr. Gonzalez hinted in the vid?"

"With those suits, they stick like a sore thumb." From the ship Steve yells to the two guards as he is holding his phone to his ear. "Fitz, Val! She is here. Do you see her black vehicle in the alley!?"

Fitzhugh looks back and replies. "Yes, it is driving toward the street!"

Fitzhugh and Valerie stand and both run toward Steve. Once next to him Fitzhugh says. "Tell her that there is a white large cargo vehicle, a… van. It's full of agents."

Steve talks to Jones over the phone. "Does your agency have agents in a white van?"

"Not that I know about. It could be the agents of the people that want to apprehend you."

"Okay… stop your vehicle in the opposite side of the park as close as possible to us. We will go to you. Open the cargo area of your vehicle and get ready to receive a seven feet long ship."

"Okay, I have seen your ship before."

Jones is already at the edge of the alley on the street. She turns left away from the van as she turns, agent Mitchell is walking by her holding a box of doughnuts and six large cups of coffee.

Jones notices him as he looks at her. She says to herself. "They are six, in the van."

Mitchell pivots as he looks at her as Jones drives by. The agent walks in a brisk pace arriving to the van and he stands by the front passenger door and says to Kamber. "Sir, you see that black SUV going around the park?"

"Yes?"

"I think that is the female F.B.I agent you briefed us about, in the picture."

Kamber straightens his body to look and he asks. "Are you sure?"

"Yes sir, I am sure."

"Was there a middle age man with a crew cut?"

"No, I saw a young man in the back seat."

Mitchell and Kamber keep looking at the black SUV as it parks in the opposite side of the small park. They see Jones and Andre lowering the backrests of the rear seat as to make more space in the cargo area.

Then Jones walks out of the SUV and she opens the rear cargo door. Then she talks on her phone.

"What is she doing?" Kamber says and Mitchell replies. "It beats me, sir."

Kamber says to the rest of his agents in the van. "Everyone out."

Kamber as the others exit and all stand looking at Jones. "That is odd." Mitchell said as he looks up and Kamber then looks up seen Mitchell.

"What is it?"

"That black drone above the billboard, it is just hovering there. It is like it is not part of the races."

Kamber says. "Stay focus on her."

Then from the billboard, a hissing noise as escaping gas it is heard and then it switches to a loud deep noise as a motorcycle engine.

Kamber does not like the strange noises and says. "Okay, pull your badges and weapons. We are getting her and the kid."

All the agents do and Kamber yells as his group crosses over the ropes and cones keeping bystanders from the race area. "FEDERAL AGENTS! FEDERAL AGENTS!"

As the agents makes it into the race area. All the drones in the air stop racing and all fly in a formation over the agents. "Oh, crap." That is all Mitchell said as the drones fly surrounding the agents.

Several drones start to hit the agents stopping them in their tracks as the rest tie their flight paths around Kamber and his agents.

In the other side, the Spindrift exist the billboard and descends toward Jones and Andre. Kamber seen this runs but the drones keep their attack and some hit him hard on the head.

He loses his balance and Kamber fall face down. His agents are either taking a knee or bending their torsos forward all covering their heads as if attacked by a swarm of bees.

The ship it is lining up to the SUVs cargo area. Andre is at awe seen the ship but Jones is more concern about the slowly moving incoming adversarial agents.

Dan is doing its best to land but it is not fast enough to Jones. She grabs the blanket Andre used to hide the night before in the SUV and she throws it over the ship and she grabs the seven feet long ship.

Jones yells in pain by the heat of the thrusters in her hands. Dan realizes what she is doing shutting down the thrusters but now she is holding the full weight of the ship.

"Andre! Don't stand there and grab the end!"

Both put the ship in the back of the SUV and when she is about to close the cargo door, Jones look up and signals to the black drone to get in.

Steve, Mark and Barry get in landing next to the ship. Jones closes the cargo door and her as Andre get in the SUV.

Once in, they leave. Andre looks back and says. "The drones are still on them."

"Good and lower your voice."

Andre then looks into the cargo area and he sees Steve, Mark and Barry in the drone. The young man it is speechless and slowly he says. "They… are… real."

Through the speakers of the SUV Steve voice it is heard by him using his phone. "Thank you, agent Jones but can you lower the volume of your speaker system."

Jones does and then in a soft tone she says. "Are all of you okay?"

"Yes, we are. Who is your companion?"

Jones smiles and says. "This is your future Doctor Gonzalez."

Mark waves at Andre and all Andre does is to return the salute by moving his fingers as a hello still flabbergasted by seen the little passengers. "I will be a Nobel Prize winner."

Steve asks Jones. "Where are you taking us?"

"To a safe house up in the Pasadena hills, the property borders the Los Angeles crest Park."

"Is it safe?"

Jones replies. "Will manage, it will be safe."

.

Arriving to the house

.

Jones arrives to the safe house with Andre and guests on tow. She backs up the S.U.V toward the garage and she stops. Jones turns to see Andre still staring at the travelers in the drone. So far no one has exited the ship. Jones puts her hand on Andre's head and says. "Get down."

He does and she says. "Stay here, I will open the garage." Andre replies. "Don't you have the remote to open the door?"

"No, not in this vehicle, it is on the wall of the garage by the kitchen door. I will go in and check that all it is clear." Then over the radio that is still connected to Steve's phone he says. "Please, lower your voice."

In a low tone and with a sorry expression Jones says. "I am sorry. Get in your ship by the time I come back Andre and I will pull all out with the ship."

"Okay." Then she turns to Andre and in a stern tone Jones says to him. "You stay down until I call you. We grab the ship and move it to your room."

"What about the agents in the house?"

"We will have to wing it as it comes. Stay down."

Jones exits the vehicle, looks about and she walks to the front door. She enters the house and sees the two agents playing a console game on the TV.

One turns to look at Jones walking in but then he turns to the game and he asks. "Where is Kobick?"

"He stayed in the storage waiting for the Lab people."

"What storage are… hey, hey, sniper… move, move!"

"I see it, I see it!" Jones shakes her head as she walks to the garage. "Children."

Jones opens the garage door and with her key remote she opens the rear of the S.U.V. The occupants of the drone are nowhere to be seen. "Andre, help me."

Jones pulls the 7 long feet ship from the rear. Andre grabs the front and both move into the garage.

As she holds the ship Jones turns her body forward been the first. Remotely Jones closes the rear door of the S.U.V then she opens the door that leads into the kitchen.

One of the agents has left the game and is looking in the refrigerator. "Hey, Clark. Where is the Bologna?"

"It's on the dining table, man."

Jones sees Morris walking out of view and toward the dining area to get the Bologna. She turns to speak to Andre when another black S.U.V parks in front of the house.

She lowers her torso as Andre. They see Kobick coming out."

"Shit." That is all she said.

Jones opens the door leaning her torso in, she sees the agents in the house playing again.

"Now." Jones says in a whisper.

As they walk in the kitchen area toward the stairs, Kobick is approaching the front door.

Jones and Andre struggle with the ship half way on the stairs while Kobick is by the door.

Kobick walks in. "Clark, Morris… where is Jones?" Jones hears Kobick ask once she and Andre are on the second floor hallway.

"In the garage."

Kobick walks to the garage when by accident Andre hits the door with his hip and the door hits the wall hard as both struggle with their heavy cargo. Kobick stops and looks up hearing the noise.

Kobick still looks into the garage, he closes the garage with the remote on the wall and not seen Jones in the garage he goes to investigate the loud noise.

Clark and Morris are standing in the living room facing the stairs and Clark says. "She might be up stairs."

Kobick not even looks at them. He runs up the stairs and walks in Andre's room.

"… That is why they created the Dilitium Crystal in the show."

"I see. In reality there is no way to safely transfer the energy of an antimatter reaction into… hey, Sir. How was it? I was expecting your call to pick you up."

Kobick is silent looking about and he asks. "You left the garage door open."

"I am sorry, I did. I wanted to check the door but I thought I hit the close in the remote on my way out of the garage."

"Don't worry I close it. You came straight here after you left the storage?"

"I went to a McDonald and got be a big breakfast and more coffee."

Kobick looks at Andre and asks Jones. "Of course, he has been here all this time?"

Andre replies. "Of course I have been here all this time. Where else would I have been?"

Kobick walks into the room and looks about. "Is there something wrong sir?" Jones asks.

Kobick opens the closet and looks in. There is nothing but a shirt and a jacket from Andre. "If you take me to the Ross in La Cresenta you could buy me more." Andre said.

Kobick walks to the bed and looks under it and seen nothing he stands. "Sir, if you are looking for something I can help you."

"No, that is okay."

Kobick walks to the window and opens it. He looks over the ledge and seen nothing unusual he closes the window. He turns about and he asks. "What was that noise we heard down stairs?"

Jones replies. "That was me, sir. As I am coming out of the bathroom, I drop my keys and as I bend to pick them up. I hit the door and it slam on the wall."

"What is wrong with the bathroom downstairs?"

"That bathroom it is nasty by the two gaming heroes downstairs."

"Okay, I will have them clean it. They need to do some work around here."

"Yes sir, I agree." Kobick walks away toward the stairs.

Jones as Andre both are surprised by the unexpected inspection. Andre says in a whisper. "He knows."

"How?"

"He has to know."

Jones stands and looks on both ways of the hallway then she says. "Wait here."

As Andre raises his arms in annoyance he goes to say. "Where am I going?"

Meanwhile, the passengers and crew of flight 612 are in their seats. The ship it is nose up in an almost 90 degree angle. Fitzhugh manages to look out and says. "We must be in a closet."

Valerie asks from her seat. "How do you know?"

"I see a mop."

Steve, Mark and Barry are seating on the back bulkhead of the passenger section that due to their awkward angle it is now a temporary deck. Mark says. "I think they had to improvised quick."

Fitzhugh replies. "I wish we could have stayed in the billboard."

Barry replies. "I think will be better here, Commander. You can tell they are protecting us."

Mark makes a gesture as he smells an unpleasant odor and asks. "What is that smell?"

Dan from the cockpit says. "Oh, man… that is the lavatory… the back flow valve must be broke. Who's turn was to empty the shit tank!?"

Betty replies from her seat in the galley with a voice of desperation as she covers her mouth and nose. "It was Fitz turn!"

"Gee, man… that stinks." Steve said as the rest join in with comments of disgust by the pungent smell.

"I am sorry. Working on the drone had priority. And how I could have known the valve is broke?" Fitzhugh replied over his comrades comments.

Valerie says. "That mop you saw outside is what you are going to use to clean all that mess."

.

The wrath of evil

.

Dr. North is in her office, she is standing behind her desk irate as she talks to Kamber. "IDIOT! How, come a woman and a kid with a criminal history that can reach the Moon, evaded you!?"

"They used drones to attack us. My men and I could not move."

"Who used drones… what drones?"

"Probably was that kid… Andre. There was a drone competition in campus and…" "I don't care about the drones for now. Where did the ship went?"

"I am not sure. Maybe they took it or took off. I called Kobick and he searched the house they are in, he did not find it."

"Bullshit, according for what we know that ship it is broke! Where it went!?"

"I don't know Ma'am. I could not look what direction it took after it cleared the billboard."

"Those two have it or know where it is. What did you found on that billboard?"

"Two seats under a plastic bag also a makeshift winch."

"Bring all that here. I want you to call our man in the LAPD."

"Why?"

"I think it is time for Andre Gonzalez to be reunited with his fellow gang members."

"Ma'am in other circumstances I would agree but Gonzalez and Jones might be the only ones that know where the little people are, if they still on Earth, to be killed in a drive by shooting."

"Don't worry. Money will pacify Gonzalez's gang boss until Gonzalez tells where they are. After that, I don't care what happens to anyone in that safe house. We can't be connected to what it is to happen. Not even Kobick must know."

"I understand Doctor."

.

El Calabera

.

One of the most prolific and notorious gangs in Los Angeles area is los Balaceros, led by a man known as the Calabera, his name is Marcos Arguillo.

Arguillo broke a peace treaty with the other powerful gangs to enhance the Balaceros' business and with that also the Calabera's influence as his standing in the underworld of gangs in the southern California area.

Cortijo Avenue is from where the Balaceros started in the 1980s aggressively pushing drugs from the Mexican cartels and as aggressively dealing with matters that interfered with their business.

Arguillo took control of the Balaceros in a belligerent manner. During that period is when Marcos Arguillo was christened with his nickname, the Calabera or the skull as in death.

Once Andre joined the Balaceros' business turn more sophisticated with accounts made overseas filled with illegal money transactions, identity theft, and money laundry as many other illegalities made via the internet.

Andre, without the permission from el Calabera, took $500,000 from an oversea account established in Taiwan and when el Calabera found out through a Chinese contact, Andre ever since has been on the run.

Arguillo is hiding in a small property in Big Bear Mountain, since the F.B.I with the assistance of the LAPD and the Los Angeles County Sherriff commenced to arrest gang members and leaders of the Balaceros as in other gangs in a massive Federal lead joint operation.

It is night as the gang leader is passing while one of his lieutenants Gabriel is seating. Both watch the news of more arrests of rival gangs' leadership.

El Calabera stops passing and says. "All this is Andre's fault! This will break the treaty."

"We have looked for Andre since the FBI took him. This is now beyond our gang."

"Dah… what do you think." Calabera says as he points to the TV showing the news.

He continues on saying. "That little bastard brought this on us. Now the Mexican cartels are holding their shipments until all this stops."

"I would do the same." El Calabera yells. "The shipments stop the money too! Soon the Cartels are going to be looking for other routes bypassing us."

"The FBI most has him out of state by now."

"No, he is here. They need him as witness for the Grand Jury."

Gabriel's cell phone rings and he answers. "Que pasa?" He listens to the caller then he replies. "Are you sure of this?"

El Calabera turns to Gabriel and asks. "Who are you talking to?"

"With Miguel, he has a lead on Andre… yes, Miguel… yes. I will tell him." Gabriel ends the call and turns to his boss to say. "This is weird."

"What is it?"

"One of the cops in our payroll told Miguel that $500, 000 were deposited in our Zürich account."

"Oh, no… it is too late for Andre to pay back."

"It is not from him. There is an interested party that wants us to find him and hold him for questioning. This people will pay two million Dollars and promise to make all charges against you vanish."

"Really?"

"But Miguel said as long as you promised not to kill him until Andre talks to this people first. The money in Zürich is to prove that they mean business. If you agree they will pay another million and another million after the job."

"Gabriel this could be a trap but if true this could offset our losses so far."

"You don't have to get involved, just give the orders and I will take care of the rest. If Andre is out of the way we get pay by doing so and the charges drop we can be back in business in less than a month."

"Where is Andre at?" Calabera asked. "I have to call Miguel back with your promise that you will not kill Andre until he talks to this people first. Then we get the location."

"Call Miguel."

"Okay."

Gabriel is about to call when Calabera says. "Don't call from here, dumbass! Go down in the valley away from cameras. If this is a trap from the Feds, and you call now they will know we are close to each other."

"Okay, but you have to move out of here now, if they are tracking my cell although it is a burn cell."

"I don't care if it is a burn phone. Leave now, I will head to the other house and I will wait there. Also have Miguel check the Zürich account for the first million Dollars, and then have him move it."

"Okay."

"As they say, no money no honey. Now go and tell me what happen afterwards."

.

The new roommates and a ghost

.

Since Jones and Andre finally moved the Spindrift into his room Andre spends his time there. Now for Andre the door to understand the universe it is under the bed.

Jones is not worry anymore that Andre would escape or even stick his head out of a window.

In the meantime, Kobick discreetly has been searching the house, this noticed by Jones but he searches places that he has not searched before.

As Andre is in his room Kobick does not goes in, that task was delegated to Jones in an unspoken manner.

Jones does not mind.

The first request from Andre's roommates was paper tissue and liquid soap. Andre offered Q-Tips and rapidly was accepted to been used as mops. Other items trickle under bed, from food goods, medications to water.

Jones found bottled medications on which a small plastic cup it is placed on top to dispense a measured amount of the medicated liquid. Now the cups are used as laundry buckets and also to have a shower tub.

For the first time since their arrival, none of the castaways had a decent shower until now.

After the castaways have taken care with their needs, Andre and Mark are talking as the rest watch on how to fix the ship with the superconductor powder Andre facilitated for them.

Andre goes to say. "Then, there is no way to modify your engines to use plasma as a propellant."

Mark replies. "No, plasma is… how I can say it… too heavy and big at a molecular level to move fast enough over the engines cores. Also the exhaust propulsion nozzles are built to handle something as small as a negative mass graviton."

"So, what I propose as a functional hypothesis utilizing plasma as a propellant could work but not with your ship?"

"Yes, you would need to build a ship from the ground up based in plasma propulsion. But following the same processes and design used by our propulsion system."

Dan turns to Steve and says in a whisper. "Isn't the first engines used in the mid-2060s plasma based?"

"Yep, and right in front of us is the proponent of them." Steve said.

Barry adds. "All his equations on plasmatic engines worked also for gravity engines. Andre's exponents' values are variables that could be used for different molecular masses and weights."

Valerie says. "Is my understanding that a graviton it is smaller than a Higgs boson?"

Steve, Dan and Barry turn to her all smiling and Steve says. "Don't get me wrong, but you never did strike me as the top of the physics class… who was that teacher?"

"Mr. Roberts class. I did pay attention to class." Barry says. "You have been reading the ship's manual as well, you were reading about the reactor." With a tone of pride Valerie says. "Yes, I was."

Dan asks Valerie. "Trying to find that sphere?"

She replies. "It is in there but looking at the diagram design of the reactor, where it could be?"

Steve asks. "Did Mark tell our local genius about this?"

Dan replies. "I think Mark it is focusing in our immediate problem. It is as if Mark doesn't want to disclose too much about the future. Talking about Mars and alien ships, Fitz involvement might distract our giant friend."

In the meantime Fitzhugh and Betty are in the galley of the ship washing dishes when from the cockpit they hear a high pitch intermittent alarm beep.

Betty and Fitzhugh turn to look, Betty says. "I wonder what that is." Both walk into the cockpit and they look about. "It is coming from here." Fitzhugh says as he points to one of the display board next to the co-pilot station.

Betty looks and she says. "I don't know? That warning light it is lighted. I will bring Steve or Dan to…"

Betty does not complete her statement when the communication's main screen turns on by itself displaying in the center of it one statement, "Complete the cycle".

"What…?" That is all Fitzhugh says when the screen it is filled with the word "Complete the cycle" as it is displayed as a moving view from the top down in a fast pace.

Betty runs out of the cockpit in search of the pilots as Fitzhugh stays frozen on place observing the ghostly displayed. Then all the screens in the cockpit are displaying the words "Complete the cycle".

.

Who is looking for what?

.

Jones is returning to her apartment to take a quick shower and get fresh clothing to return that night to the safe house. As she walks on the hallway a neighbor walks by to take a small dog out.

The neighbor smiles and asks Jones. "Did you were in your apartment this afternoon around, 5?"

"No, I was at work. Why do you ask?"

"I thought I heard you dropping something heavy on the floor. It might have been Mr. Rogers downstairs."

"It had to be." Both pass by and Jones continues to her apartment. She opens the door and turns the lights on.

The entire apartment has been ransack, all her belonging as papers are on the floor, the furniture is flipped over. She pulls her gun and in a defensive posture she walks tactically in the apartment.

After she confirms that she is alone, Jones grabs her cell phone and calls Kobick. "Sir, someone vandalized my apartment."

"A robbery?"

Jones looks about and says. "All it is here, my 65 inch TV is on the floor as my computer. Whoever came in here was looking for something."

"Call the Glendale PD. I am on my way."

"Yes sir." Jones terminates the call and says. "It was a good idea, not to bringing them here."

.

It is among us

.

Mark is examining the communication station as the two pilots are running a diagnostic on the flight systems and the main computer.

Now the main screen of the wireless station it is showing just one line with the words, complete the cycle.

Mark asks Betty. "This started few a minutes ago?"

"All by itself, at first it was an alarm and then the screen showed those words."

Fitzhugh adds. "When Betty left to get you guys. All the screens in here displayed the same and then it stopped."

Steve asks. "Betty, the alarm you guys heard at first came from the wireless station, correct?"

"No, it came from there." Betty walks to stand behind Dan and she points over Dan's right into the flight panel to say. "That warning light was on."

Dan looks and says. "That is the reactor warning board." Steve looks over and asks. "Which of the warning lights on the board?"

Dan looks to say. "It is the overload warning light. But that is impossible. The reactor it is not pushing a load to the engines."

Valerie smiles and says. "It must be the sphere. We need to find it and get it."

Steve stands up and says. "Mark, come with me to check the engine compartment."

"Okay, let's go." Mark said. Then Dan asks. "What about me?"

Steve turns to him to say. "Stay and complete the diagnostic."

Okay."

As Steve and Mark walk through the walkway between the cockpit and the passenger area, through the open hatch they see a gigantic brown eye looking in.

Mark stops as he pulls his cell phone to say to Steve. "I'll be in the back in a moment."

"Okay." Steve continues to the back as Mark walks to the hatch. Andre pulls away his face from the ship and Marks says through his phone. "Andre, we will continue in the morning."

Andre is listening through and old flip cell phone brought to him by Jones to speak with his guests. Andre answers in a whisper. "Okay I am tire anyway, until tomorrow then."

"Have a good night." Mark closes the hatch and then he turns to walk to the back of the ship where Steve is waiting for him.

.

The apartment

.

Two uniform Police officers are with Jones in her apartment taking information from her when Kobick arrives. One of the officers turns to him to ask. "Who are you sir?"

Kobick already has his badge in hand and showing it says. "FBI agent Kobick, I am agent Jones supervisor."

"Okay." The officer said has Kobick stands next to them. The other officer asks Jones. "Do you think this is related to your job?"

"I don't think so." Kobick says as he looks about. "You guys have not lifted the prints yet?"

"The Lab guys are on their way as we speak."

"Good."

"Will be in our patrol completing the report, we will wait for the lab team to arrive."

The two officers walk out leaving Kobick and Jones in the apartment.

"What do you think whoever did this was looking for?"

"I don't know sir, who did this or what they were looking for. I don't keep anything from work here."

"This could have been the Balaceros looking information on the whereabouts of Gonzalez."

"If that it is so sir, then there is someone working for them in the bureau to know about me and you. Has your apartment been searched as mine was?"

Kobick is quiet as he thinks, then replies. "I will have to check on that."

Jones is looking at Kobick livid but she holds back well knowing he is after all her senior. Kobick notices this and the old Marine Gunnery sergeant surfaces in Kobick for him to say in a stern tone. "Say it, agent Jones."

"Say what sir, on why my apartment was ransacked and not yours? Who is working from the inside with the people that did this?"

"Jones, what did you do and when to get this visit? What are you hiding?"

"What do you think I did to hide something, sir?"

"You tell me?"

Both are engaged in a stare down Kobick holding back that he is working for North and Jones for the small fugitives. None of them will cross that line to divulge to the other their secret.

Then someone knocks on the door and both turn to see one of the police officers and behind him the crime lab techs. "Ma'am, sir the techs need the apartment vacated for them to work."

Kobick turns to Jones to say. "Get the rest of today and tomorrow off to handle this. Keep me posted."

He turns around and walks away. Jones waits a second or so, and then she walks out to the hallway. She pulls her cellphone to make a call.

.

The reactor

.

Mark and Steve have opened the reactor as far as they can. This time they are looking deep in it as they follow the diagram of the intricate device.

"Steve that is the coupling power armatures and they go from the output graviton collector distribution box to the top of the graviton mass conversion chamber."

"Can we unplug the armature?" Mark flips the pages of the manual and reads. "No, we don't have the tools."

"So this is as far as we can go?"

"Yes, to dismantle a Mark- 7 reactor has to be done in the Euro-Electronics factory floor with the right tools and a maintenance crew."

Steve has his hands in a fist on his hip looking straight at the reactor. His annoyance is self-evident as he thinks.

Then Steve asks to Mark as he points to the deck. "Under there is the conduit from the collectors into the reactor?"

"Yes but…" Mark could not finish answering when Steve opens the compartment on the deck. "What are you doing?" Mark asked.

"Fish out the dammed sphere." Steve gets a hold on the conduit quick disconnect end that links to the base of the reactor. He pulls the lever and then twist the connector and Steve pulls away the conduit.

As soon as he is done, the lights dim in the ship. Mark has his eyes wide open and he says unnerved. "Are you sure the sphere will not fly away?"

"This is the only graviton/electro mass conversion reactor on this planet. It is here because it can't go anywhere else."

For their surprise a white mist emanates out of the reactor's structure and it commences to converge into a single point in front of Mark and Steve. As the mist collects itself a sphere takes shape.

Once the spectral phenomena coalesce the sphere falls to the deck. Mark then says. "No wonder we could not find it. It adhered to the whole reactor as some kind of mist."

Steve says. "Like a thin film of water on the surface of every part of the reactor."

Steve grabs the sphere and looks at it as he shines the handheld light on the sphere. "It feels like lead but it has no weight."

"Steve, what we do now with it?"

"I don't know but it has not flown away."

"There is a problem."

"What is that?" Steve asked.

"When the sphere joined the reactor, the reactor was working at full capacity in midflight."

"Yes?"

"Now if we reconnect the reactor to the gravity collectors, is the reactor going to re-initialize? The sphere maintained the reactor running since it joined it."

"I am sure it will. If the gravity is now heavier to push gravitons into the collectors, the reactor will start. It is not the sphere but the reactor that it is on."

"Okay, but to return home we need the sphere to be joined with the reactor."

Steve smiles as he looks down and then looks at Mark to say. "Then why we needed to find this after all?"

"Valerie was insistent since we knew about this sphere and she made sense to find it."

Steve replies. "She made a good point but now given this revelation, that this sphere it is a functional part of the ship for us to return home might as well put it back."

"I don't see any other way." Mark replied.

Steve puts the sphere in the reactor and then he reconnects it. The power returns as the lights of the ship gain intensity as before and once again the sphere commences to dislocate its structure into the mist.

The mist moves like a swarm of bees around the reactor as it joins it. Then the mist it is gone. Mark and Steve examine the reactor and both touch it. Mark says. "It does not feel any different."

"You see, it is not the sphere providing the power to the reactor but the reactor to it by the heavier gravity of the giant Earth pushing gravitons trough the ram-scoops." Steve said.

"That seems to be. But how do you explain the batteries been charge?"

Steve thinks about and says. "No wait… the lights dim when the sphere separated itself from the reactor."

Mark replies. "You are right. I think the sphere it is interacting with the batteries in a wireless form. I don't know how exactly but it is doing it."

"What about Fitz's theory about the Delta wave as a Tesla type field."

"Yes we did but…" "But what Mark?"

"If Nikola Tesla would have been right about diffusion fields, the effects of a Tesla field would be an excessive amount of static all over the ship and that is not an observable phenomenon here." Mark replied.

"Then the sphere is providing power to the batteries by an unknown way other than electricity. The Delta wave is the effect, instead of static electricity."

"For that to happen a heavy or fast moving particle dislodges electrons but the sphere it is using a type of particle that humankind does not know about charging the batteries."

"We can ask the sphere?" Steve said.

"What…?"

"The sphere communicated with us through the wireless system. Can we talk to it?" Steve said.

"Let's go back and try it."

.

The fifth passenger of flight 612

.

Andre is half way asleep when he feels the phone given to him by Jones, vibrating. He picks it up and opens it to say. "Yes?"

"I will not be returning from the rest of the day, maybe tomorrow."

"What happen?"

"Some got into my apartment looking for something. I think they were looking for our friends. Also, I think Kobick is working for the bad guys. Can you move them out of the house?"

"Not by myself, also I would need for you to cover the move from the other agents."

"After I wrap all on my side I will return. I have to go."

"Okay, good night."

"Good night."

As Andre turns over to sleep, in the meantime under the bed, there is a whole different scenario taking place.

The group with the exception of Barry that was put to sleep by Valerie and Betty gather in the cockpit. Mark is seating in front of the wireless station as the small sentence "Complete the cycle" has reappeared.

Steve asks. "What now, are you using the key board?"

Mark leans forward and types. "Who are you?" The screen keeps displaying the words "Complete the cycle".

Valerie says. "Use the voice interface." Mark activates the interface and says. "Who are you?"

The screen change displaying just an old style rectangular pulsating cursor.

Then as a different set of words appear out of the speakers an electronic genderless mildly high pitch voice says. "Do you want to place a query?"

Mark repeats. "Who are you and from where are you?"

"I am, B00-356-7865-235N… from Ft. Myers, Florida."

Fitzhugh says. "Florida? Is the sphere from Earth or from Mars?"

Dan says. "Wait, hold on… Steve, that's a vehicle identification number."

Steve looks at it and says "Ft. Myers Florida is the Boeing factory where this ship was built. The sphere is the ship?"

Mark turns his attention to the wireless and asks. "Are you the ship?"

"I am B00-356-7865-235N. The travel cycle was interrupted… why?"

Dan and Steve look at each other and Dan says. "Is it referring to the engine emergency shutdown?"

Mark says. "The pilots of the ship never encountered the way you travel and they thought it was a malfunction and they shut down the engines."

"The cycle was interrupted… the cycle it is to continue to the arrival point of LAX."

Mark says. "When?"

"September 22, 2183 at 6:55 pm PST, gate 57 Continent aero-space lines."

Betty says. "I hope in our normal height?"

The voice replies. "As it should have been… but the cycle was stopped. The alternator pushers need repair to return home."

"Can you fix the engines?" Mark asked and the screen changes displaying a formula.

"What is that?" Valerie asked.

Mark replies. "It is a chemical formula… I see it now."

"What do you mean?" Dan asked.

Mark replies. "Andre and I we have been working on the physics side of our predicament. We have not got around on how to mix Andre's superconductor with what we have here. This chemistry formula it is the key."

"So we have a fifth passenger." Fitzhugh said Betty replies. "At least it wants to help."

Valerie says. "That sphere would be worth a lot of money. I never had seen an AI interact as this one did."

Steve says. "I don't think it is for sale at least not now."

.

The entry

.

It is five in the morning and agent Clark is awake doing his watch. He is preparing coffee as Kobick and Morris sleep.

Across the street, a white work van hauling a trailer with gardening equipment stops in the front house driveway. Five men dismount and they commence to unload the gardening equipment.

Several minutes pass and the five men crew commence to groom the greenery around the empty house.

One of the men with a clipboard crosses the street to the safe house. He knocks on the door and agent Clark opens the door.

"Buenos Dias señor, I am here to do your lawn." Clark is surprise and replies. "We never hire anyone to cut our grass."

"But señor I have the contract here." The man reaches under his jacket and pulls a handgun with a silencer and puts it on the forehead.

As the man pushes Clark into the house, three of the four men in the front house drop their tools and run across the street.

They enter the house pulling sub-machine guns and they grab the other two sleeping agents, Kobick and Morris, dragging them to the living room. The three agents are seated on the sofa.

One of the men runs up the stairs a few minutes later he is pushing Andre down the stairs. "Andre was halfway under the bed. I dragged him from under it."

Andre is grabbed by another of the men and he is force to seat on the sofa as well.

The whole action took less than three minutes. Now that the agents have been pacified the leader of the intruders asks one of his men. "Where is the woman?"

"No esta aqui." The leader turns to Kobick. "Where is the woman?"

"She is not here." The leader turns to two of his men. "Buscala."

"Okay." The two men commence to search for Jones in the house.

The leader pulls his cell and makes a call. "We are in." Someone talks to him and then the leader turns to Andre to ask him. "They want to know where the ship is."

"What ship?" The leader points his 9 millimeter to Clark and he asks again. "Where is the ship?"

"I don't…" Andre could not complete his answer when the leader shots striking Clark on the head. His cephalic mass it is expelled by the explosive projectile entry.

Now the leader points at Morris. "Where is the ship?"

Andre replies in a nervous tone. "Look man, I don't…" Again the leader opens fire striking Morris on the head. Morris' lifeless body falls to the floor.

The leader moves in front of Kobick and he asks. "Again, where is the ship?"

Andre says. "If you kill him I will not talk."

The leader opens fire hitting Kobick on his left forearm.

Kobick grabs his wounded arm but he keeps looking straight on his shooter's face in defiance. "You have balls." The leader said to Kobick and he replies. "I am not doing this for you, Puto… I am doing this for the man on the phone, Kamber."

The leader is surprise and says. "You know the man on the phone?"

"Yes."

"I don't and I don't care as long as I get pay for this. Once again, Andre where is the ship?"

"It is in the attic on the far side."

The leader asks Andre. "How you get in the attic?"

"From the second floor, in the hallway celling pull the stairs down."

"You better be telling the true. Hugo, ve y mira."

Hugo goes up the stairs and looks into the celling once on the second floor hallway. As he looks he finds the latch that will lower the stairs giving him access to the attic.

As Hugo reaches upward, he feels a strong electrical current originating from both ankles. He convulses by the chocking charge and falls on the floor unconscious. The laud thump of his falling body it is heard below.

"Hugo, what happen!?" The leader yelled as he pivots toward the stairs. Even that Kobick is wounded he jumps on his captor, Andre follows suit.

The other two come in from the patio and Andre grabs the pistol from the leader of the intruders and shots the other two in rapid succession. The arriving aggressors fall to the floor both dead.

Andre puts the silencer tip on the leader's head and the young man says. "I know you, Gabriel… that is your name."

Although, Andre it is correct. Gabriel stays silent while on the floor. Kobick grabs Gabriel's' phone and he says. "Kamber, don't send amateurs to do your work also I am coming clean on all this."

"Who is going to believe you?" Kamber says.

"Someone powerful enough in the dark pit you work from will listen." Kobick said and he terminates the call.

Kobick pulls his handcuffs and with the help of Andre, they restrain Gabriel. Kobick says to Andre, you earn your pay today. I am sure the Justice Department will take this as a good sign from you."

"I hope so. Don't forget the other guy upstairs." Kobick grabs from Morris' body his handcuffs and the agent heads up stairs. He sees Hugo still on the floor unconscious and Kobick palace the manacles on him.

Then Kobick sees a small person, 4 inches tall running across the hallway.

The small person wearing a red uniform has a backpack. He is holding a long metal prong by an isolating material at the end. Two translucent cables come from the backpack to the exposed metal.

Kobick for a strange reason it is not surprise and he says. "You did this?" The small one stops turning toward him. Steve bows as indicating yes.

Then Kobick says. "Thank you. Don't worry about me. I never saw you."

Steve bows again as a thanks and he runs into Andre's room. Kobick lifts Hugo to his feet and he moves him downstairs.

Under the bed Dan who is also wearing the backpack with a metal prong in hand receives Steve. Dan says. "Who was that, Andre?"

"No, that was Jones' boss Kobick. He thanked me and took the bad guy downstairs. He said not to worry about him."

"We save his life. Do you know if Andre…?" Dan asked worry. Steve replies. "I heard him talking. That is why I stay behind. I needed to be sure he was okay. Kobick was bleeding but he is as strong as bull."

.

A month later

.

It is a Sunday night.

In an empty park that has a baseball field as basketball and tennis courts in the City of Glendale at the foot hills of the Los Angeles Crest Park a black SUV it is park at the far edge by a metal fence.

Kobick and Jones are standing in front of the Spindrift. All its passengers and flight crew stand in front of the ship facing their two giant hosts.

Kobick has a cast on his left arm but he holds his cell phone in speaker mode as Jones and he listens. Steve being the commanding pilot talks to them.

"Once again, we want to thank you both and Andre. I was hoping he would be here."

Jones says. "After he testified he was spirited away by the Justice Department to an unknown location but I was told that he received a full scholarship where ever he is."

Kobick asks. "How we will know you guys made it?"

"If we have to return, we will call. That is for sure."

"What do we do?" Jones asked and Steve replies. "Just stand there and watch. Well, it is time."

All wave at each other and one by one the departing group enters the ship. Jones and Kobick move back up to the back of the SUV. Jones asks him. "Sir, why have you not reported on Dr. North and Kamber?"

"Oh, but I did an of course not through the common channels."

"How?"

"An old retired friend of mine knew into what ears to put my message to whom in congress."

"Is that, Spooky Molder?"

"Not him, his ex-wife."

Steve and Dan are completing the check list this time Mark is seating in front of the wireless station like the flight engineers of old. The wireless station has been partially converted to monitor the modifications of the engines.

Steve says. "Engage the engines." Dan turns to him to say. "Also engaging cross fingers."

Both pilots engage the engines and Mark says. "Hold on." Steve and Dan turn to look the best they can from their seats.

Mark then says. "I had to lower the alternating rate of engine two but we are good. Gravity push is at 271163.5 Tera-Joules. The ship is all yours."

"Okay, let's go." Steve said and both pilots move the throttle forward. The ship lifts as Mark calibrate the engines.

The passengers in the back are watching through the windows as the Earth becomes smaller behind them until they reach orbit.

Steve says. "Ladar on, we don't want to hit any trash up here."

Dan adds. "No one will pick up the trash in orbit in another one hundred years."

The two pilots continue to fly and then Steve says. "We are at the distance the sphere wants."

Mark says into his station. "We are here." On the screen it is displayed. "180."

Mark says. "Turn 180 degrees in a normal approach to Earth."

Steve and Dan turn the ship around and follow the approach flight protocols of their time.

Once again, the space in front of the ship commences to open up as a horizontal light column.

As the ship moves forward the pillar of light widens to the point that two walls of light are seen to the right and left of the ship. Then both sides collapse in a blinding light and now the ship is at drift over the Earth.

Steve tries to reactivate the engines but he has no luck. Dan asks. "Mark, what happen?"

Mark examines the indicators and he replies. "The engines are out. They burn up."

Steve says. We are a dead stick in orbit." Dan asks. "Are we back?"

"Mayday, mayday, this is flight Continental 612 heavy, mayday, mayday." Steve said over the wireless.

"Flight 612, flight 612… are you declaring an emergency, over."

Steve almost drops his headset from his head by the nervous speed he wants to answer. "This is Flight 612, who is this!?"

"This is Earth orbit control. Do you require assistance, over?"

"Yes, yes! Flight 612 it is out of power, we need Space Guard Rescue for four passengers and three crew. We have no wounded and the integrity of the hull it is secure. We are running on battery power."

"Space Guard Rescue has been dispatch from Vanguard station, ETA in five minutes. How come you arrived so quick to Earth's orbit?"

"Earth Control that will be a long story to tell right now. Thank you Earth Control, 612 actual, out."

Steve changes the channel to speak with the passengers. "Okay, I just spoke with Earth orbit control and Space Guard Rescue will be here in 4 minutes. We are home."

All commence to smile and congratulate each other. Then the small celebration moves to the cockpit and all continue expressing their thanks to each other.

A few minutes later the rescue ship arrives and the rescuing pilot calls in. "Flight 612, this is rescue 23. Do you want to transfer to our ship or a tow to Vanguard station, over?"

"A tow will do. We have thruster power."

"Roger that, a tow it is, please standby."

.

Vanguard station

.

Once the Spindrift it is secured in the Space Guard rescue hangar of the large station, the interior is pressurized and once it is. Ground crew and medical personnel arrive by the hatch.

One by one the crew and passengers disembark.

The last two is Dan and then Steve. An officer of the Space Guard has an E-Pad and she asks Steve. "Captain, your crew's manifest counts four crewmembers."

"One passed in the flight. Luna Rodgers."

"Where is the body?"

"Not on board."

"Did you suffer decompression?"

"It is a long, long story. We will put all in the Federal Space Administration report."

The whole group is shuttled to the medical section of the station. Once the customary examinations are completed showing all to be in good health, all are moved to a large waiting room.

There all are given access to vid-com time with family and friends. Barry is talking to his parents as Mark with the joint space security commission chairman relating all that has happen.

Dan is calling his parents as Betty hers but then afterwards Betty calls Luna's parents and she gives them the bad news.

Steve finishes talking with his father in Ohio as he walks to the waiting area, Steve sees Valerie seating down alone. Fitzhugh walks out from one of the Vid-Comm station and he rapidly seats next to Valerie.

Steve seats as well and asks Valerie. "Did you call your Mom?"

"She passed two years ago."

"You never, said it. I am sorry to hear that."

"That is okay. I am good."

The rest returns from their calls and all seat down facing each other. Dan looks at Betty and asks. "Why are you down?"

"I spoke with Luna's parents and I could not come across how she died." Steve asks Betty. "Give me their number I have to call them as well. I was responsible for her safety."

Mark says. "How could anyone knew at the time to where we arrived?"

"Still, it is my responsibility. Her parents need to know."

Dan says. "How can we relate to anyone of our ordeal? They will think we are crazy."

Mark says. "Don't worry. I have connections in high places. I just finish talking to the chairman of the joint space security commission. They will take all into account, the Spindrift has a black box and all is there."

Steve says. "Yes, all is there plus all the vids and pictures we took."

Then three uniformed security officers and a civilian dress woman enter and Fitzhugh stands facing them. The officers and the woman walk toward him.

The passengers and crew of Flight 612 stand to be in between the law enforcers and Fitzhugh.

Mark says. "Fitz, I will hire the best litigating team money can buy."

Then for the surprise of all, Fitzhugh speaks with a British accent. "My friends do not worry about me, I was talking to them."

Dan says still surprised by Fitzhugh's never before heard accent. "You call them… wait, I thought you were American."

Fitzhugh smile replying. "I am British and also I am a senior inspector of the Inter-Pol space division."

"You are who?" That is all Steve said and then Fitzhugh turns to Valerie that she is still seating looking down and Fitzhugh says to her. "Please Val… don't make this harder, come with us."

She slowly stands as she forces a nervous smile taking a deep breath.

She gently passes her hand over Barry's head then she looks at all and she says. "I was the one that planned the robbery on Mars. I am the reason we end up in the Land of The Giants."

Betty's eyes burst in tears but also anger comes out of them and the irate stewardess yells in a trembling voice. "Luna would be alive if not for you!"

Betty seats as she cries with a mix of anger and disappointment. The rest that share the ordeal in The Land of the Giants with Valerie, are shocked and disappointed, more so Steve.

The civilian dress Inter-Pol agent handcuffs Valerie and she is taken away as she cries. Barry turns to Fitzhugh and asks. "Commander, why are they taking Valerie away?"

All Fitzhugh does is to gently put his hand on Barry's right shoulder but Fitzhugh stays silent.

Valerie says. "I am sorry, Betty… all of you… I am sooo, sorry."

This time Mark is not offering any help while all look in astonishment at Valerie as she is escorted away.

Fitzhugh says. "I was to make contact during the flight with the one that paid for the mercenaries that stole the sphere but I never knew who. But that person was in the Spindrift."

Steve asked. "Because, Valerie kept asking to look for the sphere she became your suspect?"

"I already knew of her financial troubles as she defrauded her charities. Must probably to pay the mercenaries that broke into Arcadia Planitia but it was not until she mention to me that her physiologist was Dr. Zachary Smith then I knew for sure it was her."

Mark asks. "Who is that Doctor?"

"A Colonel in the American Space Force, he was part of the Jupiter Program as a mental health Doctor. Since the Jupiter Two departed he has not been seen. It is thought that he got onboard and he is lost with the rest of the expedition members."

Mark asks. "What this Doctor wanted from the Jupiter Two?"

"Dr. Wilson, you do know and neglected to mention that the second sample sphere was in the Jupiter Two and that is what he wanted. It is believed that he was working for someone else and Valerie was not going to get that sphere to sell the pair."

"For whom he was working?" Steve asked. "We think for a Euro-Asiatic power." Fitzhugh replied.

"Now I know what happen to the Robison expedition." Mark said.

.

Closures

.

It has been a month since they return from the Land Of The Giants.

Even that irrefutable evidence was collected from the black box and other recording instruments of the Spindrift as personal recordings shown to the world. Many don't believe the story.

Now, Steve, Dan and Betty stand with Mark in front of a small vault on a marble wall in the Forest Lawn Cemetery in Los Angeles, maintained by the Dr. Andre J Gonzalez foundation of space sciences.

The inscription reads, Luna Rodgers Born in a time to come and died on 2021, Godspeed to my friends.

Betty says. "You know how many times Luna and I drove in front of this cemetery in our way to work and she was here all along."

"I have been researching on Kobick as Jones and both did all right until they both retired in their respective times." Mark said.

Dan says. "It was for my surprise that that Janet Jones is my great- great-grand mother. She is buried in Arlington cemetery in DC."

All turn to Dan and Steve says. "That is what I call coincidence I still can't wrap that around my head since you told me before."

"Me either." Dan said Betty says. "You never told me."

Mark continues. "Kobick is in Arlington as well. I also found some sealed records in the Department of Defense about Dr. North."

"That is the woman Kobick told us about that was searching for us in 2021?" Steve asked.

Mark replies. "That was her."

"What happen to that woman?" Betty asked.

Mark replies. "The records are sealed by Presidential order. Those agents that were in the white van that Dr. Gonzalez warn us in the Vid, that was Dr. North's people. But as I said, all those files are sealed."

Dan says. "Lucky us to know ahead of time."

Betty says in a sad tone. "Luna was not that lucky."

The group stays silent and they look at the final resting place of one Luna Rodgers that for some twist of faith return back but the long way around to her friends and family from The Land of The Giants.

All left about Luna is a small memorial that fits her small measured corporeal remains.

All three put their hands on the small wall memorial and they stay silent.

Then Mark's phone rings and he picks it up. "Yes, Mr. Chairman… my private pilots as my personal secretary we are visiting a friend… Yes sir we will arrive to Jupiter station today… Yes sir."

Mark finishes and Steve asks Mark. "Any leads on the Jupiter Two?"

"That would be a whole different story but we might have a lead from Fitz about Colonel Zachary Smith."

Betty asks as they all walk out of the marble burial chamber. "How he got onboard their ship?"

Mark replies. "No one knows but he went in to steal the second sphere."

"That is all it is known?" Steve asked.

"The sooner we get to Jupiter Station the sooner we will find out what Fitz found as what the scientists discovered from the sphere that was onboard our Spindrift." Mark replied.