Hello everyone; it's composition time. Who will be the first to spot the very subtle Simpsons reference in this weeks chapter?

Chapter 65

Have You Had All Your Shots?

As another truck rolled into the outer warehouse of the Railgun complex, Amos Hooke moved the overhead crane into position over the shipping container it carried. The equipment inside would enable the construction of two new Additive Manufacturing Units and increase their production of composite frames for space structures. With the container placed near the side wall and the truck already on its way back out, Amos checked the task list on his tablet.

Everyone on base worked with a new impetus and feeling of optimism knowing Blue and Calla had succeeded in their rescue mission and were now on their way towards Mars with a full load of asteroid processing equipment. None of them had really expected to see Sarah's plan come together so soon.

"Put that away for now" Willow Pascal called out "I've got a new job for ya."

"Can't I finish my old job first?"

"No; follow me" she stated.

They left the warehouse together and headed to one of the drafting offices while Willow outlined what she wanted.

"Because we were able to make use of the MTV to send more equipment to the asteroid belt, Queen Sarah has had yet another idea."

"You know she hates it when you call her that" Amos frowned.

"What she doesn't know won't hurt me" Willow grinned.

"Until I tell her" Amos threatened "So what is it this time? Sarah seems to change her mind more often than I change my underwear."

It wasn't long before Amos realised Willow wasn't walking beside him anymore; he turned back to see her staring at him with a stern look on her face.

"You need to start changing your underwear more often" she scolded.

"I wasn't serious" Amos protested "Now what's the latest plan from Queen... I mean Doctor Spencer?"

"With so much processing and construction equipment already on its way, Sarah has decided we should start working on our own Interplanetary Ship built in orbit."

"Is she crazy?" Amos gasped.

"I've often thought so" Willow smiled.

"If we start constructing something in orbit, it's a foregone conclusion it will be smashed to pieces before it's even finished; I refuse to have anything to do with it."

"Who's a little rebel then" Willow pinched Amos's cheek as if he were a baby.

"Please... don't do that" he protested.

"Well I've got some good news for you" Willow smirked "I'm not telling you to build a spaceship; I need you to help the rest of the team, to design and build four tracking satellites."

"What are we going to keep track of?"

"Anything that could smash an Interplanetary Spaceship to pieces before we finish building it" Willow said plainly.

When Reed and Cid finally arrived in San Diego, they found the One and All crew all wondering if they should just let the captives go because no one really knew what to do with them. Cid had wanted to question them about who they were and where they had come from, but they all refused to tell him anything useful.

As Cid had promised, he and Reed left soon after and arrived back at El Centro by truck while the Bull Ant was still a few kilometres away, travelling slowly. A small farming community due east of San Diego was not the best place to keep prisoners, but they had to go somewhere and so they had been soon put to work in the fields for the time being. The prisoners didn't like the idea at first but were told if they didn't help out, then they wouldn't get fed.

"I know I shouldn't joke about it, but I did enjoy seeing the shocked look on your face when that Raider guy called you EFA scum" Reed smirked.

"Why would he say something like that?" Cid wondered.

The two entered a small but very solid looking building, followed closely by Shifty and Haley.

"I'm beginning to think everyone on Earth suspects everyone else of being an EFA sympathiser" Reed nodded "You accused Professor Adisa recently, and he in turn was worried about me and my crew back when we first met; the worlds gone crazy."

The group walked down a short passage passed a few empty offices and a radio room, to a small kitchen with very old furniture. Reed sat at the battered old dining table, on a battered old chair and considered how much the furniture reminded him of himself.

"All things considered, I really feel sorry now for taking you friends to the bunker and handing them over" Shifty hung his head "But at the time, I really thought I was doing the right thing."

"I think what annoys me the most, is knowing there were only a few of you with one rifle" Reed admitted.

"And I don't think I would have tried my bluff if I'd known about those guns you had onboard your ship" Shifty replied.

"The thing I don't understand is why you are so short of ammunition cant you make more?" Reed asked.

"We do, but the equipment and tooling we'd need is inside the bunker and we rarely get the opportunity to use it" Cid revealed.

"I don't understand" Reed looked a little confused.

"It's like this" Cid explained "At one time they made parts for rocket motors down there as part of the Mars Project. When that was all finished, we were offered the chance to make some use of the facility; both to house everything we'd need to rebuild if there was a catastrophic meteor event close by, and also to store food there so we could survive until the crops get going again. All the tools and machinery used to maintain our equipment are kept safe there as well."

"So all your machining is done underground like..."

Reed Branson stopped himself as he suddenly realised he should probably not talk about the Railgun Project to anyone just yet.

"...like... so... why not make what you need to defend yourselves?"

"We do but there is always so much to do" Cid explained "As you know, we all take turns living in the bunker. During my months on the surface, it's all about food production and defence, as well as a few running repairs to the farm machinery. But during the week I spend underground, it's non-stop fabricating parts for harvesters, refurbishing engines and gearboxes, and all that kind of stuff. I'll mill out a couple of shell casings if I've got the time, but there are more important things to do."

"So how do I get into this bunker and how do I get Henry and Linton out?" Reed asked

"Putting it plainly, you don't" Cid declared "The bunker has always been heavy on security considering its past role in the construction of rocket engines. About the only thing we could do is to tell the Security Guards that you have joined us and will be taking your turn inside some day."

"Tell me Shifty; when you overheard the guards say Professor Adisa was not with the EFA, did they know you overheard?" Reed gave a sly smile.

"Well... no; they always clam up when I'm close by so I kept out of sight behind the truck."

"Good I think I know how to make this work to my advantage" Reeds smile grew.

The artificial sunlight provided in the underground village gave all the comfort and benefits needed, but without any of the more dangerous Ultra Violet rays. The other residences were pleasant enough to Henry and the Professor, but it was plain to see they were suspicious of the newcomers. The small town was unlike Redding's personal garden; it had several cobblestone streets with quaint cottages along each one. Professor Adisa now lived halfway down Hibiscus Avenue while Henry Dias had a dwelling on the corner of Rose Terrace and Scarborough Way and when they weren't at the beck and call of the former Prime Governor Redding, the two men just strolled around looking for trouble; like the elderly delinquents they were.

"Can I ask why you are happy to just stay here and settle down?" Henry asked as they nodded a polite hello to a worried looking neighbour.

"You can ask" Linton replied with a wry smile.

Although there was no obvious sign, it was almost certain the two men were being observed and recorded at all times.

"I figure there is no point going back home because there is nothing more I can do there, since I have nothing left to work with" the Professor added.

Henry nodded in agreement. It was not only what the Professor had said, but also what he did not say where the clues all lay. It was true Linton had nothing to work with because everything had been handed over to Sarah Spencer's control. By using his words carefully, Linton could pass information to Henry without giving the game away to anyone eavesdropping on them. He would certainly prefer Redding continued to believe the ship was lost and all space launches had ceased.

"And you're happy not to go to the all places we'd planned for?" Henry continued.

"Maybe we still can someday, but I was only looking for information about what had happened in the world after we had gone into lockdown and this is as good a place as any to fish for clues. I'm sure Redding wouldn't mind us talking to people about the last fifteen years."

"I'm sure he wouldn't be shy about putting you straight if he did object" Henry noted.

Early the next morning, the truck from El Centro pulled up at the security gate near the bunker and two men alighted from the cab. When the guards on duty saw Shifty was with a stranger, they looked at each other in a kind of 'Are you thinking what I'm thinking?' kind of way.

"Who's the new guy?" the first guard asked as they both unshouldered their weapons.

"It's alright guys" Shifty smiled "He's a friend."

"You don't have any friends" the second guard noted and they both laughed.

Shifty had been dealing with people like these for most of his life and one definite way he knew would help put them at ease, was to feed them a straight line and let them feel superior.

"Yeah yeah, funny guys; real funny. This is Reed Branson and he is the leader of a small group of people who will be joining our community."

"Is this the guy who brought Adisa here?" the first guard asked suspiciously.

"Yeah he was a passenger on my ship" Reed admitted "You can just imagine how we felt when Shifty told us he was the head of the EFA."

"You expect me to believe that you didn't know who he was?"

"Honestly we didn't" Reed tried to look innocent; not an easy thing to do when you're built like a linebacker.

"Well what was he doing on your ship then?"

"We came across the Professor and Henry Dias on the other side of the Pacific" Reed admitted "He and his friends helped repair our ship and gave us all the supplies we could carry in exchange for passage to the USA. I thought it was a good deal at the time."

"So why are you two here anyway?" the guard asked as he walked around the back of the truck.

"We've got a load of food supplies for the bunker, along with some machinery that needs a little tender loving care" Shifty replied, throwing the back tarp open for inspection

"What kind of things?" the guard asked for no other reason but to prove he was in charge.

"There's a transmission from a harvester and a few boxes of smaller things" Shifty pointed them out.

"And why is this new guy here?"

"When I take my turn inside the bunker, Dad will be staying on the farm to find work for all the new arrivals while Reed will be taking Dad's place inside; so I brought him along to show what to expect.

"All right; you know the routine" the guard said as he stepped back.

Shifty signalled Branson to get back in the truck as the second guard pushed the button to open the gate. The trucks motor restarted under protest and the music of old grinding gears filled the air before the late 20th century relic bounced off on its way inside.

"That was reasonably painless" Reed noted.

"And now you've been introduced, they shouldn't get too upset when you come back in a few days" Shifty nodded.

Luis Dias leaned back in his seat and put his feet on the console. He knew he shouldn't put them up there but right now he just didn't care; the officials on Mars be damned. As he waited somewhat impatiently for them to contact him again, Luis smiled as he watched the main screen and saw three young people floating through the main body of the ship.

"We're moving through to sector 7G Dad" Abigail's voice informed Luis via the internal intercom.

"Confirmed" he replied "I've got you all on the monitor Sweetie."

"Dad... don't call me sweetie when I'm working" Abigail complained not realising she had stopped referring to her father as Major some time ago.

"Sorry Cadet" Luis smirked.

Watching his daughter as she ran over the ships systems with Blue and Calla, gave him a feeling of great peace in spite of all the trouble they had been through recently. He was also feeling quite proud of his son, listening intently and learning about the ship from his younger sister. He knew there was a great debt owed to Doctor Spencer and the others in the Railgun complex who had taken such good care of Blue, but it was a debt he could never repay. Perhaps the biggest surprise for Luis was Calla; he had never met anyone quite like her, but he would often see similarities between the young lady and April back when she was in her late teens.

Luis thought back to those early days when he had the biggest crush on his plant biology instructor, and he was merely one of her trainees. He would constantly ask her very basic questions in class just to get her to look at him, which often annoyed her as she considered him to be nothing more than a dumb pilot. Luis knew her assessment was unfair but he was sure he would win her over.

He remembered the time when she finally agreed to have dinner and drinks with him and so he had gone shopping to buy April a gift that would warm her heart. '

'Shops; did the Earth even have shops anymore?' he thought to himself.

As Luis searched for the perfect item, one of his classmates called him over and said he had found just the right thing. When Luis turned to acknowledge see what it was, he saw some of his friends holding up a T-shirt with a picture of the comic book hero The Incredible Hulk. On the bottom were the words "Don't make me angry; You wouldn't like me when I'm angry." He could not deny the T-shirt summed up April perfectly, but he also knew she would not get the joke.

In the end Luis purchased a small metal pin of a brightly coloured flower to give April. It did not contain any precious stones and was instead encrusted with colourful ground glass, but it reminded Luis of the girl he desired because of her love for botany. When he had given it to her, after what he thought was the perfect dinner date, April had looked at it with the same level of mild surprise the average person would reserve for seeing a tree that looked just like a big piece of broccoli.

'Hmm... will you look at that" she had stated, unaware the Stormy Petrel of Mild Surprise was pecking at the leftovers on her plate.

She put it back in its small cloth wrap and placed it into the pocket of her jacket and to this day, Luis had never seen her wear this small token of his affection.

"Mars Base One calling MTV" the comms system came to life unexpectedly.

"Finally... about time too" Luis mumbled as he slipped on his headset "MTV receiving Mars Base."

"Marshal Barron here Luis; sorry we took so long to get back to you but you would not believe the meetings and discussions that have been going on since discovering what really happened to you."

"I should have been a part of those conversations you know" Luis declared.

"You're probably right but it was hard enough organising things down with no time delays, but what's done is done."

"So when can I talk to April?" Luis asked.

"Soon Luis; very soon" Barron replied "But first I have some very important things to tell you... and I'm afraid you are not going to like it."

"Don't beat around the bush Marshal" Luis huffed.

"Alright then... here goes; after we took a vote, it was decided by a slim majority that you should not be permitted to return to Mars."

Even across the void of interplanetary space, the silence that followed was truly deafening.

School holidays started today and go for the next two weeks, so should get a heap of writing done (does writing come in heaps or piles?)