Episode 65

The Fishing Net

Next day after the big encounter at CERN, April was stretching outside, in the bright morning daylight. Jesse sneaked behind her and suddenly grabbed her in his arms. She screamed in a playful panic, as he lifted her up.

"Yess, I caught you! Good morning, April!" Jesse laughed.

"Goood morning..." she turned around and blew him a long kiss. He closed his eyes and held her up. The sky was spinning.

"Ahem...", someone cleared his throat behind them.

"Colt!" April gasped and jumped out of Jesse's arms..

He was leaning against one of the landing gear wheels, under Ramrod II. Of course, in his trademark pose, he was holding his hat over his eyes.

"Why are you up so early?" April asked, making a few steps away from Jesse.

"Well, I'm just awake. Anything wrong with that?" he replied. Colt was notoriously late at waking up.

"Couldn't sleep?" April asked.

"Yeah... I kinda' had a white night..., so I figured I'd just get up early anyway," Colt yawned. He had a concerned look in his eyes.

"You miss them, don't you...?" April whispered.

He didn't say anything for a few moments, then he answered: "I think they deserve to see me... Now that we've solved all the mysteries of the Universe, I can finally go meet my parents..." Again he paused for a few seconds, then he continued: "They even have tombstones. I have to go and dismantle them."

"They must be extremely worried, now that you are gone missing," said Jesse.

Colt lifted his eyes from the ground and looked back at Jesse. It was the first time since they buried the hatchet that he actually looked him straight in the eyes again. He used to see two cutting swords on Jesse's face. All he could see now was a friendly look.

"That's right, amigo..." said Colt, sighing. "And I can't wait to see them..."

"Colt, you were awake. I've been looking for you..." Robin showed up.

"Ready to go, darling?" Colt wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

"Yes, Colt, let's go home!" said Robin decidedly.

One by one, everybody was waking up. Prince Roland came out also. Princess Marleine showed up a little later, along with Sincia and Claudia. They were talking in a mix of Star Sheriffs language, old English and Italian. Somehow they were understanding each other. They were laughing and gesturing with their hands to mimic the words they could not translate. Princess Marleine was nodding in "aha" every time the girls were explaining something.

Some of the people from CERN were there also; they came to talk with princess Marleine, before her departure. She went over to them and they started talking about her trip and what she needed to discuss with the leaders of the New Frontier.

Colt had a pair of sunglasses on his hat. He put them on and softly touched the right side hinge of the glasses. He had a micro camera mounted on the glasses. He started looking around and filming... Mountains with white tops in the distance..., a beautiful lake reflecting the soft light from the sky... people around, talking and laughing. What a Paradise... He breathed deeply... One day he would come back and visit Texas... and everything else there was to see there.

"See you soon, lad!" Saber Rider shook Colt's hand. "Please tell everyone that we are all safe here, and that we are waiting for the convoys to arrive, as soon as they can. In the meantime, we are helping the survivors accommodate here."

"Will do, Top Sword," Colt shook back his hand and pointed at his filming camera.

Saber Rider nodded: '"Good idea, cowboy!" he winked and he friendly waved into it.

"Safe travels, buddy!" Fireball shook his hand. "Watch out for bushwackers..." and he mimicked boxing an invisible enemy.

"Will do, pard!" said Colt, with a nostalgic laugh.

"Do you have enough fuel, Prince Roland?" April asked worriedly.

"Yes, Miss Eagle. Last night, Saber Rider and I went and transferred some from Ramrod 1. We are going to be fine. We'll take the short route, the one that Mr and Mrs Blue took. They gave us their coordinate tracks. Once we get home, we'll send more fuel with the convoys. See you soon!" Prince Roland was waving to everyone. "Let's hit the road!"

Princess Marleine hugged her friends and graciously followed him. He took her hand and helped her climb the stairs to get on board his ship. Colt and Robin followed them, holding hands.

Everyone was waving at them from behind.

In a few minutes, the Royal ship was taking off.


"Are you alright, Princess?" Colt, Robin and the Prince were gathered around her. They had just passed through the inter-dimensional wormhole. She seemed to have passed out.

"Mmmm...ugh..." she opened her eyes, slowly.

"Hey, we knew you were going to be alright! Great to see you back!" Colt was joyous.

She smiled. The Prince brought her some water. She leaned on the chair's backseat and looked out into the starry sky, through the ship's window... A new sky, a new day in her life...

After a good one more hour, they were crossing into the New Frontier.

The Prince started saying: "In a couple of hours, we will reach planet Alamo. My father will be so..."

Suddenly, the comm-link blinked. A New Frontier patrol was paging them.

"Prince Roland here. I repeat, this is Prince Roland", he opened the communication with the star patrol.

"Welcome back, Prince. We were not expecting you to arrive through here. You came from the exact opposite direction than where you left from."

"Yes, gentlemen. And we have big news, a new Universe has opened up for everyone. Please tell this to the Cavalry Command, tell everyone that we are all safe. Announce all New Frontier leadership and gather everyone on Alamo, at the Cavalry Command Center. We will land there."

"Aye aye sir, will do. What about the two Ramrod units..., are they coming behind you?" the patrol asked.

"They are all safe, we'll discuss about this as soon as we land," the Prince answered, with a confident voice.

After a few more minutes, Prince Roland tapped a few buttons and opened another channel:

"This is Prince Roland, paging the Royal Tower on Alamo, please respond..."

Static sounds in the background... Then suddenly, King Jarray's face popped on a screen.

"My son! The Cavalry Command just informed me... I was just about to page you... when..." but the King saw the beautiful blonde girl sitting next to Roland and paused in confusion.

"Dad, she..."

But Colt impolitely interrupted them: "She's the Princess of Liechtenstein, her name is..."

"Mein Name ist Princess Marleine... ich bin..." but then she stopped, because she realized that they were not understanding her language ... So she took a little device from her pocket and turned it on. (before leaving Earth, Dr Hassim gave her a little translation tool. He inferred all the vocabulary of the New Frontier language, just by talking with the Star Sheriffs!). As soon as she activated the device, the voice of Dr Hassim started translating.

"I am the descendant of the Royal Family of Liechtenstein and..."

"Liechtenstein? I have never heard of this place? Where are you coming from? What language is she speaking? Son, where did you go? Is she an Outrider?"

"Father, we have a lot to discuss. Please be patient. What I am about to tell you will revolutionize your entire concept about the Universe."

"Are you trying to teach me what the Universe is, my son? Ha! What a silly idea!" the King was feeling affronted.

"No offense, your Highness, but your son is right! We are coming with big news, and this lady here is the living proof!" Colt cut in.

"That is right, King Jarray, we are not lying to you!" Robin came from behind Colt.

"Well, let's see what my brave son is bringing to me!" the King was a little doubtful.

"I will not disappoint you, father!" said the prince.

Time was flying fast and soon they were descending into planet Alamo's atmosphere. All the Cavalry Commanders were there, aligned to salute the returning people. King Jarray came, also. He was standing next to Commander Eagle.

"Was my daughter on board of the ship?" Eagle asked the king.

"I did not see her."

"Hmmm..." Eagle was worried.

As soon as the hatch opened, the ladder came down and the prince emerged, giving a helping hand to a blonde gracious young woman. A ripple of applause came from below. Following them, Colt and Robin were descending, also. Eagle's heart was beating fast... Where was April... and the rest of the team? And the other girls...? If Robin is safe, then the other girls must be somewhere too... And Jesse also... And...

"Commander Eagle..., Father..." Prince Roland's voice interrupted Eagle's thoughts. "I present to you Princess Marleine, from planet Earth..."


On Earth, a big crowd of people was bustling around, outside a forest, next to a lake. It was Lake Lemain. There were a few that were cheering in joy, others were tired and sitting down on the grass, and some other ones were running around, gathering wood from the forest. Then, there were people who were standing around some camp fires, carefully cooking the fish that was being brought in. Behind them, through the forest, there were long lines of people, patiently waiting to get a little piece of the fish that was being cooked.

"Ugh.. this is not going to work too well..." April was frustrated.

The fishing nets from Travis and Sylvia were too small. Way too small for catching fish for three thousand people... Jesse and Saber Rider were trying hard: they were flying with their jet packs above the water, holding a small cast net and pulling it up from time to time. It was coming up loaded with trout and pike fish. Sylvia and Travis launched a little canoe on the water, and they were using some rods and nets to catch more fish.

"Where the heck are the other nets, that Colt was talking about? He said he brought some fishing nets and fishing rods... Where did he hide them? Ugh... Colt, your closet is so cluttered!" April was desperately trying to find something in Colt's monumental pile of personal belongings. Now that Ramrod II was bigger, Colt took the liberty of bringing much more stuff. More than he needed, for sure. But, of course, Colt left Earth in a rush and didn't bother to take the nets out from his closet.

"I think I see something... Look, under this pair of jeans..." Fireball leaned over and pulled something... "Yes, this looks like a fishing net..." he started pulling... and pulling... and the net started coming out, mixed in with clothes, wires, lassoes...

"Hold on, let me untangle it..." April began to pull apart some belts and pistol holders that were hanging from the net...

Suddenly, she realized they were alone the room... As she kept pulling the net out of the pile, she felt that her life was still tangled with his, just like that fishing net..., and that they both still had clinging emotions, hanging in there, deep in their hearts... Feelings of sorrow, friendship, jealousy, fear... all mixed up and confused... So she figured that, the same way she was disembroiling the net, she should attempt to clear the clutter inside her heart, and possibly, inside his...

"Ahem..." she started. "So, Fireball... I just wanted to let you know that... I... I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings in any way... which maybe, I mean..., most probably I did..." She paused for a few seconds... then she continued: "Anyways... I... I'm glad we have a moment to talk about this, just the two of us..." she took a deep breath and looked at him... He did not answer... He was pretending to focus on unknotting some wires...

"Fireball..." she insisted. She touched his hand, in a friendly gesture... "Can we talk about this...? Please...?" she whispered. "I really want to talk... I know I've probably been dishonest about a few things with you... and I'm really sorry..."

"Probably?" he raised his eyes. "Most likely, I would say! Both of us were dishonest... And that's where it all cracked... In dishonesty..." and he wiped his forehead... He was so tense about this conversation, that he felt a knot in his stomach and sweat coming down on his face.

"I did not plan anything, Fireball... I did not intend to lie to you..."

"Neither did I... I'm sorry, April. I really am..."

They stood there, for a few minutes, working on disentangling the fishing net... They didn't know what else to say.

While he was looking down and unscrambling the net, he started saying: "I didn't plan to lie to you about Claudia either... But I did have my eyes on her at the All-Galaxy Grand Prix, before you and I started going out... I can't find any explanation about how this all happened... but it just did, and it happened so fast..." he shrugged his shoulders.

"I guess I lied to you and to myself, too..." said April. "I tried to bury away all my feelings for Jesse, all these years... After all, he was the enemy, the bad guy... But I did fall for him at first sight... just like he did too... All these years, I didn't want to believe my heart, and I tried to silence it. I tried to listen to the voice of my reason, which kept telling me: "he's a villain, don't even think about it." But, somehow, that made me be aloof with you. I kept things between us at a platonic relationship. I never even let you... kiss me..."

"That's when I started being suspicious on you... Because you were sometimes frosty with me..., especially when I tried to get closer to you... I didn't know what to make of it... Maybe that's why I found my way to Claudia, because she offered me that warmth that you hid away from me..."

April felt that he was right. The fact that she lost Fireball to Claudia was not his fault, but hers...

"You're right, I'm to blame..." she said in sorrow.

"Hey, don't blame it all on yourself. We both had our part of guilt," Fireball smiled.

"Yes..., you're right..." she sighed.

Fireball laughed and continued: "Do you remember how you were so eager to go on that mission to reach Trista...? I guess you were truly jealous on her..."

She looked down in embarrassment: "I was, indeed... When I heard that Jesse had a girlfriend, I couldn't believe it... Especially because I knew how obsessed he was about me."

"Yeah, I remember you gasped when you heard about her... Do you know what happened to her afterwards?" asked Fireball.

"I met her afterwards... I secretly went back to Wichita and met her up..." whispered April, with a guilty look.

"Wow, you did, didn't you?" Fireball was amazed.

"At first she didn't want to see me... She thought we came to arrest her. She was so devastated... From what I've heard from her family, she almost wanted to kill herself... I showed up at a critical moment in her life. She was so embarrassed; at first, when I started talking to her..., she didn't say a word for an hour... She was still in a state of shock. She had invested a lot of feelings in him. But the way Jesse was, at that moment, with the virus and all that, he was definitely not the right choice, for any of us. In the end, Trista thanked me for pulling her out of a deadly situation..."

"Oh, wow, how is she now?" Fireball asked.

"She moved on... She is with a Cavalry Command officer on Wichita. I think they will get married soon."

"Does Jesse know about this?"

"Yes, I told him... He had serious guilty trips about what he did to her. He also told me something that shocked me: when he pulled the gun from Trista, he actually did it to save me," April replied.

"But he was pointing the gun at you. How did that change the equation?"

"He had turned the gun on stun mode," said April.

"Aaah... what a sly move..." Fireball

"Yeah, and he told me other interesting things that he did in his twisted little world, when he was infected."

"Like what?"

"Like when he captured you..." April whispered.

"What about it?..." Fireball squinted.

"Apparently he knew that Saber Rider and Colt were behind him, disguised as Outriders, and when he left the room he knew they were going to save you," she giggled.

"Whattt? So, why all the trouble…? I mean, why did he catch me in the first place? I thought he wanted me dead. He just wanted to play with me like a cat with the mouse?"

"Sort of... All he wanted was to prove to me that he was better than all the other boys around me, and the only way he knew how to do that was by trying to defeat you, guys, through different schemes and fights..." said April, with an amused look.

"Oh goodness gracious, what a twisted logic!" Fireball exclaimed, while pulling hard on a tangled knot in the fishing net.

"That's what he said, too!" she chuckled.

"Oh, so now he admits it!" Fireball laughed.

"Of course! Don't worry, he won't cause any more trouble, I promise," she said, laughing.

"Ha ha, I believe you. I do have one more question, though... When I first met Claudia, you were very, I mean very jealous on her. That means you must have cared about me... So...did we have something together..., or what?" Fireball's heart was pounding hard.

"Of course we had, Fireball... Remember what you told me? You said... "you know how these feelings are: they hit you out of nowhere!" I guess our hearts are hard to comprehend... aren't they? You were also very jealous on Jesse, all the time. Am I right?"

"Right...!" he laughed.

"So... no more hard feelings... okay...?" and she stretched her hand out to shake his hand.

"No more," he replied, and he pulled his hand out of the tangled net, to meet her handshake.

"I am grateful for having you as my friend, Fireball! I am glad you found a real girlfriend in Claudia, and I think she is the one meant for you. I really do!"

"Thanks..., April! I feel so good that we talked!" and he sighed in relief. "Oh, what time is it? Oops, I left Claudia by herself out there. Gotta go! See you around!" and Fireball ran out in a rush.

"Hey, you haven't finished helping me untangle this! Uh, boys! Never completing their chores!" April sighed and continued pulling the fishing net out of the closet.

Outside, Saber Rider and Jesse were working hard to catch more fish. Lake Lemain was very generous, but the nets were not large enough. And the people were still very hungry. Some were even looking for plants or mushrooms in the forest, hoping to find something reasonably chewable.

A group of people on the shore had been very handy. They had built a little wooden raft and they had started floating it on the water. They shouted out at Saber Rider and Jesse, who were sweating hard above the water, flying their jet packs around and pulling out the net from time to time.

"Hey, hello! Over here! Come, let us take over!"

Saber Rider and Jesse figured out from their gestures that they wanted to help out.

"What do you say, Jesse, shall we pass the relay baton to the next team?"

"I think I need some rest, man! Let's pass it on!"

The new fishermen gladly took over. Jesse and Saber Rider flew over to the shore and sat on a boulder, by the water. In front of them, a gorgeous landscape was projecting against the sky: a lake and tall blue mountains with snow on their tops.

"Oh, what a day..." Jesse threw himself on his back.

"Indeed! Can you believe all this? I'm still amazed... Planet Earth... another dimension... humans, our ancestors... Your parents here..." said Saber Rider.

"I agree... But most of all, I'm glad you guys don't hate me anymore. Waking up from that virus nightmare was a shock in itself. And then... to see that you guys detested me... what a slap on my face! Do you think Fireball still has a grudge against me?"

"He'll come around. He's fine, it's just that..." and Saber Rider stopped.

"Just that... what?..." Jesse was curious.

"He probably still has some issues because of April..." concluded Saber Rider.

"He shouldn't be angry at me... He chose to go out with Claudia before April made her mind up about me," said Jesse, squinting his eyes.

"Yeah, it's true, but you know how these things are... It takes some time to heal the wounds... You touched a weak chord in his pride," Saber Rider said in a pensive voice.

"I used to be very jealous on you, too, Saber Rider," said Jesse, looking at him through the corner of his eyes.

"Yes, I know," the Star Sheriff replied.

"You do?"

"Well, Jesse, you are pretty easy to read, when it comes to loving April. Do you think I didn't notice how you were looking at her, at the Cavalry Command? I could spot your sparkling eyes from any corner of the room."

"Did you... ever like her?" Jesse raised his eyebrows.

"Ha! Everyone likes her, she's the shining star of the Cavalry Command! But to answer your real question..., I never had any romantic feelings for her. She's not quite my type," said Saber Rider, looking straight at Jesse.

"Good!" said Jesse, dryly.

"Ha ha ha haaaa!" Saber Rider bursted into a contagious laugh... "Good, I'm glad we are on the same page, chum!"

"Ha ha!" Jesse started laughing along... "Good, then we're officially at peace, my friend!"

"Oh, boys!..., look what I found!" April showed up on her horse, Nova. She was all geared up, in her Star Sheriff suit, holding the fishing net and some fishing rods in her hand. On the other side of the lake, a group of children were pointing at her and her horse. Among the children, Sincia and Claudia were also waving at her. April waved back and made the horse loop up in the air. Cheers of joy came from everywhere on the shore.

"Oh, boys, have you become lazy? Don't sit there, let's go get more fish! I found Colt's fishing pack! This net is pretty big! I think this will make a difference!" April was very excited.

"We're not lazy, April, we just needed some rest. Plus, look at the view from here, isn't it pretty?" said Jesse, reclining on the boulder.

She turned around and admired the view.

"And this is just a piece of this planet. Mom and dad told me there are tons of places that are just as beautiful or even more breathtaking," said Jesse.

"So, when do we plan a vacation?" April giggled.

"As soon as we're done fishing," interrupted Saber Rider. "Let's see what Colt has left us here..."

April got off her horse and handed him the nets.

"Oh, this net is pretty big. April, let me call my horse and we'll both throw this net above the water," said Saber Rider.

"I'll go help my mom and dad," said Jesse, and he flew away.

"He has really come around..., completely..." said Saber Rider, after Jesse left. His horse was arriving, following his call.

"I told you, guys, that he's back for good," April replied.

"I believed you, April. I think I'm one of the few ones that trusted your intuition," said Saber Rider, mounting on his horse.

"Thank you, Saber! I knew I could count on you, you've always used justly both your heart and your mind! That's why you're the leader!" and she jutted out into the sky, on her horse. "Ready for another round of fishing?"

"Ready! Let's go!" and they both jumped up, holding a big net in between them. The children on the shore were extremely excited to see the mechanical horses flying up into the sky.

"Hold it, boys, don't get too close to the water, the shore is too abrupt here!" Sincia demanded, while trying to manage the big group of kids. She was doing exactly what she loved: taking care of children.

"Hehe...!" they were all laughing around her. They couldn't understand a word of her language, but the tone of her voice was telling them all they had to know.

"Claudia, will you help the group on your left with the food? The kids are very hungry. Let's start feeding them."

"Of course! Oh, Fireball, thanks for coming! We need your help, let's separate the kids in several groups. Help those people bring the food faster, okay?" said Claudia to Fireball.

"Alright, sweetie, will do!" he blew her a kiss and flew with his jet pack to the cooking point, where the designated chefs were pulling a new batch of fried fish out of the hot coals.

"Here, I'll take this basket!" and Fireball took off with a big basket of cooked fish, to the place where the children were waiting.

"Save some for the hungry adult in me!" shouted a young man from behind. He was Steve, the MIT student, rubbing his belly in hunger.

"Fish incoming!" April's voice resonated above the bay.

"Watch out, chums!" Saber Rider announced, while they both lowered the heavy net, bursting with fish.

"Yaaay!" sounds of joy came from out of the forest.

"Mom, let me pull this to the shore" Jesse was dragging his parents' canoe.

The canoe was so heavy it was about to tip over.

"Take it easy, son, don't flip us over, okay?" Sylvia warned Jesse.

A few people jumped in to help. They took several baskets filled with fish from inside the canoe, and Jesse pulled a net filled with fish on the shore.

April was right above them, flying on Nova. She waved at Jesse, giggled and took off to another round of fishing.

"She's an awesome gal, isn't she?" Travis proudly looked at his son.

Jesse looked up at her and nodded. Fireball was next to him, lifting another basket. He winked at Jesse and flew away to the group of kids.

"So that's how you got treated..." Travis chuckled, as he was getting out of the canoe.

"Yeah, dad, like in a fairy tale..." Jesse scratched his head.

Travis patted him o his back: "You're a lucky son of a..."

"Of a Blue family!" Sylvia cut his last words. All three of them laughed out loud.

Now there were not enough fire pits to cook the more abundant fish that was coming into the bay. Jesse had pretty good leadership skills: in a few minutes he gathered a new group of people and started more cooking points. Productivity was increased. In half an hour, people were finally getting food.

Professor Gustave's little robot was moving around from group to group, making sure that everyone is doing alright.

Jesse and his mother were now helping pass over the food to the people in one of the lines. As the people were moving along, Jesse noticed they were all staring at them...

"Is there something wrong? Why is everyone looking at us?" asked Jesse.

"They are commenting about your hair..." explained Gustave.

"Ha ha ha! Is that so? I didn't know my hair color would be such a fascinating subject!"

"Well, it wouldn't, if it were dyed blue. But your hair is growing blue naturally, which is totally unseen on Earth. You basically remind everyone that you are an alien, even if you have branched out of the human race."

"Mom, did you hear that? We're aliens! Ha ha ha!" Everyone in the line started laughing. Fireball came over, curious why all the rumor.

"I'm an alien, Fireball. Did you know that?"

Fireball started laughing out loud: "Bud, these people really like you, so don't make April too jealous. Better be careful..."

April was just walking towards them, from behind.

"I heard my name. Are you talking behind my back?" she glanced at the two guys, in suspicion.

"Um... no, we're just... um..." Fireball scratched his head.

"He said I have a lot of admirers, and that might trigger your jealousy," Jesse smiled.

"Admirers? Where?" she frowned.

"Here..., there..., everywhere..." and Jesse pointed at the big line of people. They were all smiling back at them.

"Well, that's absurd! They actually like ME! That's why they are all staring at us!" April lifted her chin up and winked at them...

Everyone started laughing... Even the fish in the baskets seemed to laugh back at them. Oh, what a day!


One more episode left! The Star Sheriffs are thanking all of you for reading my story and are waiting for you to follow them in the final adventure!