Chapter 7
" Jake, maybe we should wake him up now." Chance said as he hovered over Fox.
" Well, the dimensional transporter is done. And we made a probe that we can use to see if it goes where it's supposed to. I guess we should." Jake said.
" Hey Fox, it's time to wake up." Chance said as he shook Fox.
Fox opened his eye's and looked up. He saw Chance leaning over him. Fox rubbed his eye's then stretched as he tried to fully awaken. Fox rubbed the back of his neck, it was a little sore from sleeping in his Arwing. That's when Fox notice, his bandana was gone. Fox took a minute to think, then his dream with Krystal came to mind. He didn't say any thing about it. Fox didn't feel like drawing any unnecessary attention to himself. Fox looked over at Jake who was messing with a machine. Fox climbed out of his Arwing. Chance and Fox walked over to Jake. Fox looked over the device.
" I hope this works." Fox said.
" Me too." Jake said. " The probe can send signals back, and we can send signals to it. That way if some one picks it we can find out what system it wound up in. The signals have audio and visuals. So if no one picks it up, we can see the area and see if you recognize any thing."
" Ok, now what are the coordinates you need to get back to?" Chance asked.
" Well, it might be best to send it back to where I disappeared from. The space may still be unstable and it may be easier for the dimensional transporter to reach." Fox said.
" That might be the best idea." Jake said.
" There may be a problem though." Fox said in a low vioice.
" What?" Chance asked.
" In order for it to work, we may need to set the devices in the very spot I arrived in. And right now that spot is in space. But if we're lucky, there may have been some radiation of some form that I could track. My Arwing's sensors should be able to pick it up if there is any." Fox said.
" Wow. You've got a point." Jake said.
" My ship should be capable of going into space." Fox said as he ran his fingers through his hair.
" Should?" Jake said in a questioning tone.
" Yeah, there's about a 85 percent chance it will." Fox said.
" And the other 15 percent?" Chance said as he watched Fox.
" The ship's hull gives way as it attempts to leave the atmosphere and I crash; it malfuntions as I'm in the sky or space; or it blows up due to the fact it now has an unstable energy core." Fox said.
" I don't like those alternatives." Chance said.
" Neither do I. But the sooner we get these things launched, the closer I get to going home." Fox said. " The longer we take, the less of a chance I have."
" Alright, you can try to launch tonight. Jake and I will follow in the Turbokat in case any thing goes wrong." Chance said.
Fox nodded, then the three made a few final checks of Fox's Arwing. Fox set the coordinates on the dimensional transporter. Jake and Chance returned to the garage to get a little work done. Fox sat by his Arwing. He was nervous of the out come of his test flight of the Arwing after it's repairs. He hoped luck was with him. Fox closed his eye's as he tried to think about all he had been through since he had docked on that space station. He opened his eye's and stared at the ceiling. Fox suddenly felt an overwhelming feeling of sadness in his heart. Like something terrible just happened. Fox closed his eye's and tried to clear his head. He opened his eye's again and looked at his hand's. After a moment Fox noticed his hands were getting wet. He could feel warm tears running down his face. Fox didn't understand, nothing had happened. Why was he crying all of a sudden? Fox shook his head and wiped the tears way. He took a couple of deep breaths to calm himself. Fox tried to think logically about it. He thought maybe he just missed his team. Fox pulled the picture of his team out and looked at it. He sighed as he ran his fingers over the faces of his freinds.
" I'm trying to come back guys." Fox said.
He sat there for a few minutes. Then he put the photo away. He stretched and walked around a little. His leg's were a little stiff. Jake returned to the hanger to check on Fox.
" Hey Fox. Do you need anything?" Jake asked as he approached Fox.
" No, not really." Fox said while walking around.
" You look a little stiff." Jake said with a smile on his face.
" Yeah, I need to stretch out some." Fox said.
" How about a quick spar match?" Jake asked.
" Sounds like fun." Fox said with a smile.
The two streched some before they began. They exchanged several blows, not really aiming to hit each other. They began to get serious after several blows. Fox managed to land a few blows but it didn't do much. Jake had managed to knock Fox off his feet a few times. Fox landed a good kick and knocked Jake back. Jake knocked Fox down one more time before Chance came down.
" What are you two doing?" Chance asked, laughing to himself.
" Just a quick sparing match, that's all." Jake said as he pulled Fox to his feet.
" Whatever, well it's about ten. I think it's safe to try and get that probe into space now." Chance said.
" Alright, lets get ready." Jake said.
" It would probably be best if I launched both the dimensional transporter and the probe, I can launch them safely." Fox said.
" If you think you can do it." Jake said.
" Yeah, I can do it." Fox said.
" Ok, lets get ready and get everything loaded." Chance said as he was putting on his flight suit.
Jake quickly got his flight suit on. Fox and T-bone loaded up the two devices. Fox did a quick systems check on his Arwing. Everything was running smoothly and he was ready to launch. Fox launched first, followed by the Turbokat. They some how made it out of Megakat city without anyone noticing them. Fox made one final systems check before he attempted to make it through the atmosphere. Fox kept his eye's on all his systems conditions. Fox was hoping his Arwing would hold together. Fox held his breath as he broke through into space. Fox released a sigh of relief as his Arwing held together. Fox looked off to his left and saw the Turbokat.
" Well, it looks like you and Razor did a good job of fixing your ship up." T-bone said.
" Yeah." Fox said.
" I've picked up a strange radiation signal. It's pretty weak, but I got a lock on it." Razor said. " I'll send you the coordinates."
" Alright, send me the data of the radiation. I'll run the data through my system, if it's the same as Stalkers ship gave off it may be what we're looking for." Fox said.
Razor sent him the data and Fox sent it through his systems data banks. He hoped it was what they were looking for. Fox was soon disappointed. It didn't match the radiation from Stalkers ship.
" Forget about it. It's not a match." Fox said.
They continued to search. Fox kept an eye on his scanners. They had been searching for a couple hours, with nothing to show for it. Fox couldn't believe it. He had come so far, he wasn't ready to give up. But there didn't seem to be any thing he could do.
" I'm sorry Fox. Maybe the radiation didn't stay in space that long." Razor said. He waited for a response from Fox, but only received silence." Fox?"
" You alright Fox?" T-bone asked.
" I won't stop searching. I swear that I will find a way home. I have to." Fox said in a low voice.
Fox's scanners picked up a very light radiation trail. Fox sent it through his data banks. He didn't expect any thing though. Fox was surprised when his ship read it as a match.
" I think I've found it." Fox said, locking onto the coordinates.
There was no doubt in his heart that he had found it. Fox got as close to the coordidnates as he could. Fox checked all systems for the launch of the two devices. Everything was set perfectly. Fox hoped it was where he had come in at.
" Ok Fox, ready when you are." Razor said after he did a systems check.
" Alright, I'm launching the devices. After one minute the dementional transporter will activate." Fox said as he set everything up.
Once everything was in place Fox launched the two devices. They watched as the dimentional transporter activated and soon was gone. Fox waited a moment for Razor to send him the signal. Soon a picture poped up on his screen.
" Is the signal coming trough clear?" Razor asked.
" Yeah." Fox replied.
" Good, do you recognize any thing?" Razor asked as while Fox looked at the picture.
" Yeah, I do. That's the space station that we were hired to protect." Fox shouted in excitement.
" Whoa there, calm down a bit Fox." T-bone said. " I still need to be able to hear."
" Sorry T-bone." Fox said as he tried to calm down some.
" Alright, now we just need to send Fox home." T-bone said.
" Oops." Razor said.
" Oops? I don't like oops." Fox said.
" We should have built a second dimentional transporter. We might loose the signal, then it will be harder to send Fox back." Razor said.
" Oh no." Fox said. " Is there a way to get me there now?"
" Not unless some one can send the the dimentional transporter back." Razor said. " Sorry."
" It's ok Razor. We'll just have to try and keep tabs on this location." Fox said as he looked at the picture on his screen. Then he saw some thing that made his heart jump. " Or maybe not."
" What do you mean?" T-bone asked.
" I just saw the team ship, the GreatFox. If we can get a siganl to them, Slippy can set it and send it back." Fox said.
" If you can do it, then go right ahead." T-bone said.
" I think they already noticed it." Fox said.
" What makes you say that?" Razor asked.
" An Arwing just picked it up." Fox said, obviously excited.
They adjusted their settings so that they could communicate clearly. Before Fox could say any thing, they heard talking from the radio. And it didn't belong to any of them.
" Who's do you think it is? It's awfully small for a long range probe." Said a familiar voice.
" I've checked the systems. No reported launches of probes or satellites at all." Said another familiar voice.
" Falco, Slippy?" Fox said.
" Fox!" Both voices said in shock.