Lost Flight:
While most of the family was outside, Penny helped her mother in the galley. When they were finished, Penny turned to her mother, "Mom, can I talk to you about something?"
Although she loved all of her children equally, Maureen was closest to Penny, where Judy and Will seemed to favor her husband. Penny was also the most outspoken of the three, a trait she shared with her mother, although Maureen had mellowed considerably over the years.
"Of course, Penny, why don't we sit down?"
Mother and daughter sat across from each other at the table and Maureen could sense that her daughter was pensive about what was bothering her, and she was already sure she knew the reason.
"Now, dear, what seems to be troubling you?" she asked.
"Mom, when did you first realize that you were in love with Dad?"
I was right, she thought to herself. Maureen considered her words carefully.
"Well, let's see. As you know, I met your father when we were in college, so we both had dated other people, but to be honest, I knew we were going to be together when our eyes first met. We hadn't even been introduced."
Penny seemed to weigh what she had been told.
"Does this have anything to do with T'lan? Your father and I saw him kiss you last night."
"I'm very confused," she said. "I really like him a lot, and I feel comfortable around him, yet I'm scared at the same time. I mean…I know he would never hurt me. It doesn't make any sense. I'm still trying to figure it out."
Oh, yes, Penny, it makes perfect sense, Maureen thought.
"Penny, you, and Will, have had to grow up much quicker than you would have had we stayed on Earth. But in matters of the heart, neither of you have had the benefit of interacting with children…no…with young adults in your age group. With our decision to settle here, that's going to change, but the Lamotia's pairing customs are somewhat different than ours. The women are often married when they turn sixteen. How do you feel about that?"
"T'lan already told me about that. Don't worry, Mom. I'm not ready to take a big step like marriage even though I know he already loves me."
"How do you know that, Penny? Did he tell you?" asked Maureen, careful to hide the concern that she felt.
"No, not in so many words, it's more like…a feeling. Kind of like the feeling I had when Will found that robitoid, or how I felt about Mr. Keema."
Maureen remembered that Penny didn't leave her room the week Will had activated the alien robot and she hadn't been taken in by the charm of the golden alien they had encountered a year later. Over the years, she had learned to listen to her daughter's insight. It had saved their lives on more than one occasion.
"I see," said Maureen. "You always have had good intuition." She paused for a moment. "Penny, even though your father and I knew we were going to be together, it was almost eight months before he proposed, and we were married a year after we met. I was nineteen by then."
"Like I said, Mom, I know I'm not ready to take that step, but, a year from now, I might feel differently."
"Penny, you'll only be sixteen. Don't you think that is way too young?"
"Yes, if we were on Earth. But we are not on Earth, Mom. Every girl in the Lamotia Clan, close to my age, is pre-joined as T'lan called it. It's kind of like an engagement." Penny paused to collect her thoughts. "Mom, I'm still not sure where I'm at with all this, but when I do figure it out, I'd like to discuss it with you, if you'll promise me that you'll keep an open mind."
The last thing that Maureen wanted to do was close the line of communications with her daughter although she knew convincing her husband was going to be an uphill battle. Still, she had to admit that Penny had raised a valid point.
"I'll be honest, Penny, I'm not keen on the idea, and convincing your father is going to be a problem, but, I am willing to discuss it with you, without prejudice."
A set of boots clicked on the ladder drawing Maureen's attention.
"Here comes Will. We can talk about this later, all right?"
"Sure, thanks Mom."
"Mom," began Will. "Jarrock is here with Teral and Selana. T'lan and Brina are here as well. Dad is getting ready to leave."
"All right, come along," Maureen said to her children. "Let's go say goodbye to your father."
...
Just before he boarded the chariot, John took his wife in his arms.
"How long do you think you'll be gone, John?"
Robinson looked to the north, "It depends on what we find. We'll be back as soon as we can, darling. Don't worry."
"I spoke to Penny, this morning, or what I should say is she spoke with me."
John looked at his wife, knowingly, "About T'lan?"
Maureen nodded, "About T'lan. I don't think we have anything to worry about right now, Penny has a good head on her shoulders, but I do need to discuss this with you later."
"She takes after her mother," said John. "We'll talk about it tonight, after the children are asleep."
"All right…John…be careful."
"I will, darling, I love you."
He kissed her tenderly and jumped into the waiting vehicle. As they drove off, T'lan approached Maureen.
"Mrs. Robinson?"
"Oh, yes, T'lan?"
"My father instructed me to remain here to help keep watch on your camp. I was going to patrol the perimeter of the field. Would you mind if Penny accompanies me?"
Maureen could not help but smile as she remembered Judy's first boyfriend, a stark contrast to the young gentleman who stood before her.
"I still have chores to finish, T'lan," interjected Penny, who had just joined them.
"That's all right, dear. Why don't you go ahead? I can finish up here. Just make sure you take your laser pistol."
"Thanks, Mom," said Penny. She quickly ducked into the ship to retrieve a weapon.
"T'lan," said Maureen, turning back to face him. "Will you be staying within sight of the camp?"
She had worded it as a question, but T'lan deliberately took it as a directive.
"Of course, Mrs. Robinson, it will be as you say."
I like this young man, thought Maureen.
Penny joined them and T'lan helped her onto the horse's back. He climbed up behind her and they took off towards the field.
...
By mid morning, the chariot had reached the northern part of the ridge and was descending the slope. The northern exposure was covered with crevasses and punctuated by a large ravine.
"I glad we waited," said John, as he struggled to maintain control of the vehicle. "This is much worse than I thought it would be."
The rocky ledge was barely wide enough for the chariot to traverse and the ravine was several hundred feet deep.
"Look, there," said Jarrock, pointing to an object a few hundred yards beyond.
The saucer shaped craft had crashed just beyond the base of the ravine in another shallow valley. Unlike the Jupiter 2, the hull of this craft was severely scorched from the heat of reentry.
Don leaned forward to speak, "John, is that what I think it is…"
"Whatever it is, it looks like they had a rough ride down."
"Do you think it is another Earth ship, Professor Robinson?" asked Jarrock.
"It certainly seems to be. By the way, my friends call me John."
"I am honored by your friendship, John."
In the second row, Don and Judy were also watching the saucer like craft.
"Don, do you think that the Jupiter Project was continued?" asked Judy. "There could be another whole family down there."
"It's possible, Judy. I guess we'll find out shortly."
...
Twenty minutes later the chariot pulled up to a craft that, externally, resembled the Jupiter 2 in every aspect. Before they disembarked, John ordered the Robot to run a radiation scan.
"My sensors indicate a slightly elevated level of radiation emanating from the spacecraft, but the levels are well within safe limits. I show no indication of deutronium leakage."
"Life signs?" asked Don.
"Life signs are indeterminate, Major West."
As they exited the chariot, Jarrock spoke to Teral and Selana, "Scout out the surrounding area, but stay within sight of the ship."
"Yes, Jarrock," said Teral. He and his wife disappeared around the back of the space vehicle.
While Judy grabbed the first aid kit, Don and John went to work on getting the hatch open.
"Either the APUs are out, or the hatch is jammed," said Don. He shouted over his shoulder, "Judy, would you grab me the manual release tool?"
"Alright, Don."
She reached into the chariot and removed the equipment and joined the three men at the hatch. Don had already opened the lock release keypad and had already tried several release codes, to no avail.
"The combinations must have been changed. The code for this year isn't working. Come to think of it, this panel seems to have some defective digits. It's flashing 2010, instead of 2000."
Professor Robinson thought for a moment, "Don, do we have the code for 2010?"
"Yeah, I'll have to get the book," said Don, as he jogged back to the chariot.
"Robot, scan this vessel for tachyon radiation," ordered Robinson.
"My sensors indicate significantly elevated levels of tachyon radiation, consistent with a vessel that has experienced travel at superluminal speeds without the protection of an Anti-Time Dilation Field."
Don had just rejoined the group, "Did I just hear right? This thing came from the future?"
"It's very possible, Major West. We'll find out once we open it."
Don found the emergency access code for 2010 and punched it into the keypad. The lock indicator went from red to green and they all heard the lock latch snap open. West inserted the hatch tool and extended the handle to crank the outer hatch open. A few minutes later he repeated the procedure for the inner hatch.
With the main viewport closed, the interior was pitch-black and even the emergency lights were dark. Don rushed over to the power sub panel and tried to engage the emergency lighting. While similar to the Jupiter 2, this ship's instrumentation was much more modern than he had seen.
"Any luck?" asked John.
"No. This sub panel is dead. I'll have to go down to the power core and check the mains."
"I'm surprised that the locking mechanism was still working."
"It has its own power supply," said West. "The battery has a shelf life of twenty years."
...
While her fiancé and her father were trying to get power to the ship, Judy looked around the flight deck. The layout was the same as she was used to on the Jupiter, but the controls had all been modernized with glass cockpit displays of the type she had seen on the training jets they had all flown in. Judy knew that older technology had been utilized in the design and construction of the Jupiter 2 because of its reliability. That means that this technology is already out of date, she thought.
She came upon the freezing tubes and shined the flashlight into one of them. A silver spacesuit filled the tube but what she saw when the light illuminated the head caused her throat to close up. When she found her voice she shrieked, "Don!"
Both West and her father were by her side in a second. She clung to her fiancé and buried her head in his shoulder.
"The freezing tubes," she said her voice just above a whisper.
Don brought his light up to the tube to illuminate its contents. When the beam reached the head, he saw the decomposing remains of one of the crew, a woman with pale blonde hair.