Suzee dragged herself out of bed. Entering the lavatory, she took a
shower, leaving some hot water for Rosie later on, put on a new uniform,
and straightened her hair. As she exited, she nearly ran into Elmira.
" Oh, sorry," she said.
" It's all right. I was just on my way to talk with Thelma. Commander Goddard believes I may be able to help her understand some of the Spung ship movements," Elmira said.
" There are Spung on our scanners?" Suzee asked.
" No. However, Thelma has informed me that the Christa has reformed one of the storage bays into a large room with a map of explored space, complete with Spung ship movements," Elmira said.
" This is why I never worked with semi-sentient ships back home. They tend to redesign themselves with no warning," Suzee muttered.
" Uh, when did the Christa get a giant starmap?" were the first words out of Terrien's mouth as he arrived at the new space lab.
" Approximately 0327 last night," Thelma said, appearing out of no where.
" I'm still not used to that," he said, motioning to the direction that Thelma had appeared from.
" What do we call this room?" Harlan asked.
" At the moment, we call it the room with the star map. We'll start up a pool to figure out what to call it," Goddard said.
" Involving the students in naming this room, Commander?" Davenport asked.
" That's right."
" Then I suggest a few rules. No inappropriate names, Mr. Band."
" That was just once!"
" With my family tree project," Cat muttered as she walked past. Davenport smiled smugly and Terrien hid a grin.
" And anything unpronounceable in Standard will be very difficult for the humans in dangerous situations," Davenport continued.
" Smart. For example if it was named 'Map' in Rigellian, we'd spend an hour just getting out the first half," Terrien said.
" And of course, nothing that is... how shall I put this...?"
" Stupid?" Goddard suggested.
" I'd say that's as good as anything," Bova muttered.
" So, Harlan. Looks like you won't be participating in the pool," Suzee said.
" Commander Goddard, the engines are performing at a rate that, from the records, is incredible. It's pretty impressive. If this were the regular story, I'd say we'd be home about a year sooner," Frankie said.
" Too bad it's unlikely that we'll stay on course, not be attacked by an energy sucking creature or the Spung during our return trip," Goddard sighed.
" Eh. Anyway, this engine control is very user friendly," Frankie said.
" Really?"
" Yeah. Look," Frankie said, and lifted and pushed a few crystals, activating a training video.
" You got the crystals to move for you?"
" Yeah. Why?"
" Never mind," Goddard muttered.
" Drawing for the name in five minutes!" Tierra cried.
" I put in the name 'Star Lab,'" Suzee said.
" I found an interesting name in the old database. It's from some old television show. 'Astrometrics,'" Terrien said.
" You're all going down," Harlan chuckled. " Why? What are you suggesting Harlan?" Cat asked, with sarcasm dripping through every word.
" I'm going with 'Space Lab,'" Harlan said. The others waited about five seconds before bursting with laughter. Harlan glared and walked off.
" Okay, now who's with me in saying he's going down?" Terrien asked. Cat and Suzee instantly agreed, while Rosie took a little goading from Cat and Suzee.
" Commander, there's something appearing at the extreme of our long- range sensors," Thelma reported.
" Thelma, head down to the Map Room and get an image," Goddard ordered. Thelma glanced at him. Goddard sighed. " The newly created room, Thelma," he sighed. Thelma nodded and walked out. In a few minutes, a picture appeared on the screen.
" All hands to the Command Post. Stat," Goddard ordered.
" A portal back to the Starcademy?" Davenport gasped.
" That's what it appears to be," Goddard said. All were in awe.
" We... we're going home?" Harlan asked.
" Home," Cat gasped.
" Well, what's the catch? There has to be a catch," Bova said.
" Bova's right. The odds on us finding a portal like this are." Terrien turned to Thelma.
" Seven trillion, four thousand nine hundred and two billion, nine hundred and ten billion, five hundred thousand, nine hundred ninety-four to one," Thelma said.
" What she said," Terrien closed.
" Terrien. Are you going to insist on becoming a human Bova?" Suzee asked.
" Hey!" Bova cried.
" Nevertheless, this is a chance that may not come again. We have to try," Goddard said.
" Okay, this may seem a little redundant since we're almost back, but we're about to draw for the name of our new room," Tierra announced. She put all the named that had been suggested into a compupad. " Now, the Christa will randomly pick one and." As she said this, the image of a wheel with each name appeared on her compupad and spun until it stopped. The name flashed on her screen. " The winner is 'Astrometrics!'" she cried.
" Yes!" Terrien shouted to himself.
" Tough luck, Harlan," Cat smiled.
" Yeah, yeah," Harlan said, getting up. He walked over to Terrien. " Way to go, Terrien," he said.
" Thanks, Harlan," Terrien said. They shook hands.
A few hours later, in Astrometrics, Terrien and Thelma were continuing scans of the portals.
" Thelma, there are a few odd power spikes coming from a location about six meters away from the portal. Can you increase the magnification in that area?" Terrien asked.
" Increasing magnification now," Thelma nodded. Terrien squinted his eyes to get a better look.
" I think it's some kind of station, but it's too small to be manned. There's not enough space to have a version of the biosphere," he said.
" Perhaps it is a probe, monitoring the portal," Thelma suggested.
" It could be, but it doesn't seem to have the necessary engines to return to its mother ship or home world. And there's nothing from what I can tell that would give it its own power to get home," Terrien sighed.
" We should inform Commander Goddard," Thelma said.
" Yeah. Good idea," Terrien said. Thelma walked off, and Terrien continued looking over the data. As Goddard entered, he wheeled around.
" Commander! Commander, I found something you've got to see," Terrien said.
" What is it?" Goddard asked.
" This. I was looking over things for the portal, and... Well, look," he said, pointing at his readings.
" There's another portal?" Cat asked.
" That's right," Goddard said.
" It reminds me of a species I read about once, who created portals at will. I believe they called themselves... Iconians," Davenport said.
" Regardless, this second portal also appears to lead back to the Starcademy," Goddard said.
" Why would there be two portals to the same location?" Rosie asked.
" There shouldn't be. Which is what makes me think that one of them is real, and another is a phony," Terrien said.
" And according to the Christa's own scans, the object appears to be generating both portals," Thelma said.
" And you didn't bring this up before... Why?"
" You did not ask," Thelma smiled. Goddard and Terrien sighed.
" What else do the scans say," Goddard tried.
" The Christa has scanned the portal generator, and has concluded that it is malfunctioning, and it is losing power at a rate of approximately 9% per hour. At this rate, there will only be enough power for a journey through the portals for the next... ten hours," Thelma said.
" Ten hours? That should be more than enough time,"
" And there appears to be another problem. The power required for a return trip would be double the power it takes to send a ship through," Thelma said.
" One way trip," Harlan said.
" And I bet we'll end up going through the wrong one," Bova said.
" Bova!" The others said.
" Look, let's just analyze the situation and make sure that we go through the right portal," Goddard said.
" Why would some aliens build a portal that leads to the Starcademy, anyway?" Tierra asked.
" Don't look at me. I just report these findings to the lower decks," Frankie said.
" We're not the 'lower decks.' We've just the only crew members on the Christa who aren't that perky-" Tierra mimicked a cheerleader pose, "- about returning to the Sol system," Tierra said.
" But everyone else is. They are so excited. And who wouldn't be? I mean a six year journey back to friendly space? That's harsh," Frankie said.
" Space is harsh. But let's just get through this together. Okay?" Tierra asked.
" Yeah," Frankie said.
" Okay, now. Band, turn the Nobi dial just a little," Goddard ordered. Harlan complied.
" Commander, why are we still working on tweaking the Christa? I mean, we're going home," Harlan said.
" No, we might be going home. We have no idea which portal is the right one, and there is only nine hours left for us to scan the portals. Therefore, if we go through the wrong portal, I want this ship to be in tip- top condition for whatever length of journey we have left," Goddard said. As Harlan walked off, Goddard muttered, " Six more years with that ego..."
" Now, people, settle down. I realize that we are almost home, but it is still, for the time being, my job to teach you. Therefore, activate your compupads and access file Davenport-Underscore-Six," Davenport commanded her students. " Screen on," she ordered the Christa. " Now, for the past year, Mr. Band, Mr. Radu, Mr. Bova, and Miss Ianni have all been recording their journal entries. Perhaps now would be a good time to share these feelings. Don't worry, you may skip anything too personal. But I am doing this for the learning opportunity it will have for some of our other students, such as Mr. Walker, who has spent most of his life on a colony ship," Davenport said.
" Six years hardly qualifies as most of my life," Terrien muttered.
" Or Miss Elmira," Davenport continued as if Terrien hadn't said anything, " who has spend the vast majority of her life around Spung. Or Mr. Thomas and Miss Arussa, who grew up on refugee ships. Or Suzee, who has only spent the past half year in space."
" I was on ships back on Yensid, just never stuck on them," Suzee muttered.
" So, are there any volunteers?" Davenport asked. Harlan, Radu, Bova and even Rosie's hands remained down.
" Oh, come now. Surely one of you would be willing to show your journals," Davenport said. When still no hands were raised, she sighed. " All right, then. I'll go first," she said, grabbing her compupad and turning to the screen. If she had turned back, she would have seen the sly smirk that started to creep onto Harlan's face. She pressed the button on her Compupad to send the data to the screen.
" This is the journal of Theresa James Davenport. Or at least that's what the students here think. I am actually Stellerna, the Ruler of the Universe!" Davenport's image said. The class began to laugh.
" Harlan Band! Ten demerits!" Davenport cried as she slammed the compupad to her table.
" Nice farewell prank, Harlan," Terrien said, putting his palm out for Harlan to five him. Harlan quickly slapped his hand down to greet Terrien's.
" Okay, Commander, the engine room checks out," Frankie reported.
" So do the engines themselves," Suzee added.
" My cooking supplies are ready if you want to have a return banquet in the galley," Tierra piped in.
" MedLab secured," Rosie reported.
" Engineering station ready," Cat stated.
" Astrometrics ready," Terrien said.
" Tactical ready," Bova said.
" Navigation ready," Radu reported.
" Sensors ready," Elmira said.
" And helm and helmsman are ready for our journey through the portal," Harlan reported.
" Excellent," Goddard said.
" Commander, there are approximately fifty-nine minutes until the portal generator has lost enough power for it to be impossible for us to travel through the portals," Thelma reported.
" All right, team. This is it. After hours at Astrometrics, I have reviewed the data we've got on the portal generator and the portals themselves. And, after careful consideration, I believe that the Starcademy is through the portal we discovered first. Mr. Band?" Goddard said, motioning to the portal. Harlan steered the ship towards the first portal, just as the generator suddenly shook and the second portal vanished.
" What happened?" Goddard asked.
" The second portal became too much of a drain on the generator. There must be working safety protocols on the generator, and it forced the second portal to close," Elmira reported.
" Well, good thing we were going to go through the first portal, then. Band," Goddard said, confident in the fact that now, even if this was the wrong portal, at least it would no longer be his fault, and he wouldn't have to beat himself up over it at night.
Harlan was careful as he coaxed the ship into the portal. As soon as the ship was fully in the portal, everything he could see through the screen was black, except for a white sphere, which the ship seemed to be flying towards. As he suddenly seemed to be knocked unconscious, he couldn't help remembering Elmira's prediction from almost a year ago. A hole in space that glows with light will take you all away tonight.
Goddard awoke from unconsciousness on the Command Post of the Christa.
" Radu," he moaned, seeing the Andromedan was conscious, " What's our position?"
" Uh. we're. We're not at the Starcademy," Radu said. Goddard heard the sadness in his voice. The others were soon up. Suzee, Terrien, Frankie, Tierra, Rosie, and Miss Davenport arrived on the Command Post.
" We didn't make it?" Rosie asked.
" No," Goddard sighed. " Thelma, what's our time to the Starcademy?" Goddard asked.
" Our journey back to the Starcademy will take. eleven years, ten months, one week, and five days," Thelma said, with her smile on her face. After this statement, a pin drop could have been heard by everyone.
" Eleven years? You mean we added years to our journey, not subtracted?" Cat asked, holding back tears.
" Yes," Thelma nodded. For the next five minutes, it was a time where they all took comfort from each other. Terrien and Cat hugged. Rosie cried on Bova's shoulder, and he let her. Radu wiped a few tears from his eyes as Elmira gave him a peck on the cheek. Goddard and Davenport hung back in the entryway, and Davenport grabbed Goddard's arm. Harlan grabbed Suzee, and held her. Frankie sat and Tierra hugged him. After five minutes, Goddard went to the front of the Command Post.
" Team, I know this is heartbreaking. But we need to remember, that while this is now an even longer journey home, we still have a duty to ourselves. We are sworn to get home, and, though it will take even longer than we originally hoped, we will get home. Never doubt that," Goddard said. One by one, the students and Miss Davenport nodded and returned to their individual stations. And Harlan, tired of the whole journey now, turned to Goddard.
" Ready, Commander," he said.
" Good, Mr. Band. Set course for. home," Goddard sighed.
" Oh, sorry," she said.
" It's all right. I was just on my way to talk with Thelma. Commander Goddard believes I may be able to help her understand some of the Spung ship movements," Elmira said.
" There are Spung on our scanners?" Suzee asked.
" No. However, Thelma has informed me that the Christa has reformed one of the storage bays into a large room with a map of explored space, complete with Spung ship movements," Elmira said.
" This is why I never worked with semi-sentient ships back home. They tend to redesign themselves with no warning," Suzee muttered.
" Uh, when did the Christa get a giant starmap?" were the first words out of Terrien's mouth as he arrived at the new space lab.
" Approximately 0327 last night," Thelma said, appearing out of no where.
" I'm still not used to that," he said, motioning to the direction that Thelma had appeared from.
" What do we call this room?" Harlan asked.
" At the moment, we call it the room with the star map. We'll start up a pool to figure out what to call it," Goddard said.
" Involving the students in naming this room, Commander?" Davenport asked.
" That's right."
" Then I suggest a few rules. No inappropriate names, Mr. Band."
" That was just once!"
" With my family tree project," Cat muttered as she walked past. Davenport smiled smugly and Terrien hid a grin.
" And anything unpronounceable in Standard will be very difficult for the humans in dangerous situations," Davenport continued.
" Smart. For example if it was named 'Map' in Rigellian, we'd spend an hour just getting out the first half," Terrien said.
" And of course, nothing that is... how shall I put this...?"
" Stupid?" Goddard suggested.
" I'd say that's as good as anything," Bova muttered.
" So, Harlan. Looks like you won't be participating in the pool," Suzee said.
" Commander Goddard, the engines are performing at a rate that, from the records, is incredible. It's pretty impressive. If this were the regular story, I'd say we'd be home about a year sooner," Frankie said.
" Too bad it's unlikely that we'll stay on course, not be attacked by an energy sucking creature or the Spung during our return trip," Goddard sighed.
" Eh. Anyway, this engine control is very user friendly," Frankie said.
" Really?"
" Yeah. Look," Frankie said, and lifted and pushed a few crystals, activating a training video.
" You got the crystals to move for you?"
" Yeah. Why?"
" Never mind," Goddard muttered.
" Drawing for the name in five minutes!" Tierra cried.
" I put in the name 'Star Lab,'" Suzee said.
" I found an interesting name in the old database. It's from some old television show. 'Astrometrics,'" Terrien said.
" You're all going down," Harlan chuckled. " Why? What are you suggesting Harlan?" Cat asked, with sarcasm dripping through every word.
" I'm going with 'Space Lab,'" Harlan said. The others waited about five seconds before bursting with laughter. Harlan glared and walked off.
" Okay, now who's with me in saying he's going down?" Terrien asked. Cat and Suzee instantly agreed, while Rosie took a little goading from Cat and Suzee.
" Commander, there's something appearing at the extreme of our long- range sensors," Thelma reported.
" Thelma, head down to the Map Room and get an image," Goddard ordered. Thelma glanced at him. Goddard sighed. " The newly created room, Thelma," he sighed. Thelma nodded and walked out. In a few minutes, a picture appeared on the screen.
" All hands to the Command Post. Stat," Goddard ordered.
" A portal back to the Starcademy?" Davenport gasped.
" That's what it appears to be," Goddard said. All were in awe.
" We... we're going home?" Harlan asked.
" Home," Cat gasped.
" Well, what's the catch? There has to be a catch," Bova said.
" Bova's right. The odds on us finding a portal like this are." Terrien turned to Thelma.
" Seven trillion, four thousand nine hundred and two billion, nine hundred and ten billion, five hundred thousand, nine hundred ninety-four to one," Thelma said.
" What she said," Terrien closed.
" Terrien. Are you going to insist on becoming a human Bova?" Suzee asked.
" Hey!" Bova cried.
" Nevertheless, this is a chance that may not come again. We have to try," Goddard said.
" Okay, this may seem a little redundant since we're almost back, but we're about to draw for the name of our new room," Tierra announced. She put all the named that had been suggested into a compupad. " Now, the Christa will randomly pick one and." As she said this, the image of a wheel with each name appeared on her compupad and spun until it stopped. The name flashed on her screen. " The winner is 'Astrometrics!'" she cried.
" Yes!" Terrien shouted to himself.
" Tough luck, Harlan," Cat smiled.
" Yeah, yeah," Harlan said, getting up. He walked over to Terrien. " Way to go, Terrien," he said.
" Thanks, Harlan," Terrien said. They shook hands.
A few hours later, in Astrometrics, Terrien and Thelma were continuing scans of the portals.
" Thelma, there are a few odd power spikes coming from a location about six meters away from the portal. Can you increase the magnification in that area?" Terrien asked.
" Increasing magnification now," Thelma nodded. Terrien squinted his eyes to get a better look.
" I think it's some kind of station, but it's too small to be manned. There's not enough space to have a version of the biosphere," he said.
" Perhaps it is a probe, monitoring the portal," Thelma suggested.
" It could be, but it doesn't seem to have the necessary engines to return to its mother ship or home world. And there's nothing from what I can tell that would give it its own power to get home," Terrien sighed.
" We should inform Commander Goddard," Thelma said.
" Yeah. Good idea," Terrien said. Thelma walked off, and Terrien continued looking over the data. As Goddard entered, he wheeled around.
" Commander! Commander, I found something you've got to see," Terrien said.
" What is it?" Goddard asked.
" This. I was looking over things for the portal, and... Well, look," he said, pointing at his readings.
" There's another portal?" Cat asked.
" That's right," Goddard said.
" It reminds me of a species I read about once, who created portals at will. I believe they called themselves... Iconians," Davenport said.
" Regardless, this second portal also appears to lead back to the Starcademy," Goddard said.
" Why would there be two portals to the same location?" Rosie asked.
" There shouldn't be. Which is what makes me think that one of them is real, and another is a phony," Terrien said.
" And according to the Christa's own scans, the object appears to be generating both portals," Thelma said.
" And you didn't bring this up before... Why?"
" You did not ask," Thelma smiled. Goddard and Terrien sighed.
" What else do the scans say," Goddard tried.
" The Christa has scanned the portal generator, and has concluded that it is malfunctioning, and it is losing power at a rate of approximately 9% per hour. At this rate, there will only be enough power for a journey through the portals for the next... ten hours," Thelma said.
" Ten hours? That should be more than enough time,"
" And there appears to be another problem. The power required for a return trip would be double the power it takes to send a ship through," Thelma said.
" One way trip," Harlan said.
" And I bet we'll end up going through the wrong one," Bova said.
" Bova!" The others said.
" Look, let's just analyze the situation and make sure that we go through the right portal," Goddard said.
" Why would some aliens build a portal that leads to the Starcademy, anyway?" Tierra asked.
" Don't look at me. I just report these findings to the lower decks," Frankie said.
" We're not the 'lower decks.' We've just the only crew members on the Christa who aren't that perky-" Tierra mimicked a cheerleader pose, "- about returning to the Sol system," Tierra said.
" But everyone else is. They are so excited. And who wouldn't be? I mean a six year journey back to friendly space? That's harsh," Frankie said.
" Space is harsh. But let's just get through this together. Okay?" Tierra asked.
" Yeah," Frankie said.
" Okay, now. Band, turn the Nobi dial just a little," Goddard ordered. Harlan complied.
" Commander, why are we still working on tweaking the Christa? I mean, we're going home," Harlan said.
" No, we might be going home. We have no idea which portal is the right one, and there is only nine hours left for us to scan the portals. Therefore, if we go through the wrong portal, I want this ship to be in tip- top condition for whatever length of journey we have left," Goddard said. As Harlan walked off, Goddard muttered, " Six more years with that ego..."
" Now, people, settle down. I realize that we are almost home, but it is still, for the time being, my job to teach you. Therefore, activate your compupads and access file Davenport-Underscore-Six," Davenport commanded her students. " Screen on," she ordered the Christa. " Now, for the past year, Mr. Band, Mr. Radu, Mr. Bova, and Miss Ianni have all been recording their journal entries. Perhaps now would be a good time to share these feelings. Don't worry, you may skip anything too personal. But I am doing this for the learning opportunity it will have for some of our other students, such as Mr. Walker, who has spent most of his life on a colony ship," Davenport said.
" Six years hardly qualifies as most of my life," Terrien muttered.
" Or Miss Elmira," Davenport continued as if Terrien hadn't said anything, " who has spend the vast majority of her life around Spung. Or Mr. Thomas and Miss Arussa, who grew up on refugee ships. Or Suzee, who has only spent the past half year in space."
" I was on ships back on Yensid, just never stuck on them," Suzee muttered.
" So, are there any volunteers?" Davenport asked. Harlan, Radu, Bova and even Rosie's hands remained down.
" Oh, come now. Surely one of you would be willing to show your journals," Davenport said. When still no hands were raised, she sighed. " All right, then. I'll go first," she said, grabbing her compupad and turning to the screen. If she had turned back, she would have seen the sly smirk that started to creep onto Harlan's face. She pressed the button on her Compupad to send the data to the screen.
" This is the journal of Theresa James Davenport. Or at least that's what the students here think. I am actually Stellerna, the Ruler of the Universe!" Davenport's image said. The class began to laugh.
" Harlan Band! Ten demerits!" Davenport cried as she slammed the compupad to her table.
" Nice farewell prank, Harlan," Terrien said, putting his palm out for Harlan to five him. Harlan quickly slapped his hand down to greet Terrien's.
" Okay, Commander, the engine room checks out," Frankie reported.
" So do the engines themselves," Suzee added.
" My cooking supplies are ready if you want to have a return banquet in the galley," Tierra piped in.
" MedLab secured," Rosie reported.
" Engineering station ready," Cat stated.
" Astrometrics ready," Terrien said.
" Tactical ready," Bova said.
" Navigation ready," Radu reported.
" Sensors ready," Elmira said.
" And helm and helmsman are ready for our journey through the portal," Harlan reported.
" Excellent," Goddard said.
" Commander, there are approximately fifty-nine minutes until the portal generator has lost enough power for it to be impossible for us to travel through the portals," Thelma reported.
" All right, team. This is it. After hours at Astrometrics, I have reviewed the data we've got on the portal generator and the portals themselves. And, after careful consideration, I believe that the Starcademy is through the portal we discovered first. Mr. Band?" Goddard said, motioning to the portal. Harlan steered the ship towards the first portal, just as the generator suddenly shook and the second portal vanished.
" What happened?" Goddard asked.
" The second portal became too much of a drain on the generator. There must be working safety protocols on the generator, and it forced the second portal to close," Elmira reported.
" Well, good thing we were going to go through the first portal, then. Band," Goddard said, confident in the fact that now, even if this was the wrong portal, at least it would no longer be his fault, and he wouldn't have to beat himself up over it at night.
Harlan was careful as he coaxed the ship into the portal. As soon as the ship was fully in the portal, everything he could see through the screen was black, except for a white sphere, which the ship seemed to be flying towards. As he suddenly seemed to be knocked unconscious, he couldn't help remembering Elmira's prediction from almost a year ago. A hole in space that glows with light will take you all away tonight.
Goddard awoke from unconsciousness on the Command Post of the Christa.
" Radu," he moaned, seeing the Andromedan was conscious, " What's our position?"
" Uh. we're. We're not at the Starcademy," Radu said. Goddard heard the sadness in his voice. The others were soon up. Suzee, Terrien, Frankie, Tierra, Rosie, and Miss Davenport arrived on the Command Post.
" We didn't make it?" Rosie asked.
" No," Goddard sighed. " Thelma, what's our time to the Starcademy?" Goddard asked.
" Our journey back to the Starcademy will take. eleven years, ten months, one week, and five days," Thelma said, with her smile on her face. After this statement, a pin drop could have been heard by everyone.
" Eleven years? You mean we added years to our journey, not subtracted?" Cat asked, holding back tears.
" Yes," Thelma nodded. For the next five minutes, it was a time where they all took comfort from each other. Terrien and Cat hugged. Rosie cried on Bova's shoulder, and he let her. Radu wiped a few tears from his eyes as Elmira gave him a peck on the cheek. Goddard and Davenport hung back in the entryway, and Davenport grabbed Goddard's arm. Harlan grabbed Suzee, and held her. Frankie sat and Tierra hugged him. After five minutes, Goddard went to the front of the Command Post.
" Team, I know this is heartbreaking. But we need to remember, that while this is now an even longer journey home, we still have a duty to ourselves. We are sworn to get home, and, though it will take even longer than we originally hoped, we will get home. Never doubt that," Goddard said. One by one, the students and Miss Davenport nodded and returned to their individual stations. And Harlan, tired of the whole journey now, turned to Goddard.
" Ready, Commander," he said.
" Good, Mr. Band. Set course for. home," Goddard sighed.