Mike's prediction came true. The group decided to head over to the museum to slow down their adrenaline and gather their thoughts. Tom especially wanted to look at the wall of "The Fallen" that Roger had been looking at intently, hoping it would give him some clue to his roommate's animosity. But he didn't get to search for long as the group was called to the center of the room by three men in suits.
"If it had been just two, I would have thought it was the Men in Black," Linda quipped to Dot and Tom, who snickered softly. But they returned to seriousness when they stopped in front of the three men.
"Which one of you is Mike Samson?" asked the man in the middle.
Mike stepped forward. "I am, sir."
The man held out his hand. "Good to meet you, cadet. I am Commander Walters, I am leading this investigation. Helping me are Captain Strong and Lieutenant Wolcheck, one of whom may become your unit commander."
Mike shook hands with each of them. "Pleasure to meet you sir." He proceeded to introduce the others.
"So, this is the fellow with the sharp eyes, eh?" said Walters as he shook Tom's hand.
"I, uh, yes sir," stammered Tom.
"I'm glad you're trying out for the space program, we could use more eyes like that in space." He turned to the three military transfers. "Something I hope the military honed in you."
"Uh, yes sir, it did, it's just, we weren't exactly expecting to have to deal with kamikaze pilots on campus … sir."
Walters sighed. "No, you did not, which is why we are here. We will take you three at a time …" He paused and seemed to be counting them. "Wait, who's roommate isn't here?"
Tom cleared his throat when Astro let out a soft hiss. "Ours, sir, Roger Manning was not present with us at the airfield. He's been … off doing his own thing."
Walters raised an eyebrow. "Really? I would like to know why, but we can get that information from you after we get your statement." He turned to Mike. "I assume that Johnny Bluehawk and Orin McMahan are your roommates?"
"Yes sir."
"Then we'll start with you three, then the ladies, and then Tom Corbett and Astro." He turned to Strong and Wolcheck. "Captain, if you will interview Bluehawk, and Lieutenant, if you will interview McMahan, I will interview Samson." He turned back to the group. "The rest of you are free to do whatever you want, but stay on campus. Ladies, return here in two hours and we will interview you. Corbett and Astro, be here in four hours."
"Really?" asked Astro. "Just two hours for each of us?"
Walters shrugged. "I don't see why you would need more than that to tell us everything you know about the incident, probably half an hour at most. The rest of the time will be us asking questions that need asking and if there is anything else we might want to look into."
"Um, ok," began Astro slowly. "Six hours …" He broke into a grin. "We can make the party tonight!"
"No," said Walters firmly but gently.
Astro's face fell. "What, why not?"
"Since we have just begun the investigation, we require you to stay on the campus for a full twenty-fours after we have interviewed you, just in case we need to speak to you about anything else."
"But wouldn't telling you where we are going work just as well?" asked Astro.
"It could, but for security reasons, you are to stay here tonight."
"Aww," moaned Astro.
Walters clapped his shoulder. "Just tonight, Astro, just for tonight. Your twenty-four hours should be over by," he paused to glance at his watch, "four o'clock, which should give you plenty of time to get ready and head over to Pixie's." The group looked at him in shock.
"We, we didn't mention where the party would be," said Mike slowly.
Walters laughed. "Oh that, that was easy. It's the only party going on this whole week, and it's an old tradition. I do believe Aramon bought the place to make sure the tradition kept going."
"Oh, uh, that's nice," said Mike.
"Yes it is. Well, shall we begin, gentlemen?"
Mike stood at attention. "Ready, sir."
"Good, let's get this over with." They led Mike, Johnny, and Orin out of the building. The others glanced at each other and let out breaths.
"Well, now what?" Dot asked.
Tom shrugged. "Explore the campus some more and be sure to be back here in two hours?"
Martie shook her head. "I would rather not take that chance. If we walk too far away from the museum, say, an hour, it's going to take us an hour to get back."
"So we keep an eye on the time," said Astro with a shrug.
"Yeah, but," began Martie, but Tom interrupted her with a raise of his hand.
"How's this? We do keep an eye on the time, we just walk in one direction for half an hour, and then come right back. We can wander around the museum the rest of the time."
"Besides, if Astro and Tom wanted to explore more, they can. The three of us have to be back here in two hours," remarked Linda.
"True," said Martie. "Alright Tom, let's do your idea."
Tom smiled. "Alright, let's go." The group left and went off in one direction. They ended up staying out for more than half an hour, in which time they saw the outside of the pool, the outside of the rocket lab, and found one of the Space and Tech buildings. Tom and Astro decided to go back with the girls to the museum with ample time to spare. Tom went right back to the wall where Roger had been eyeing. He paused in his search when the Commander returned with Mike, Johnny, and Orin. The girls went with him as Tom and Astro honed in on the other three.
"How was it? Was it bad? Did they ask a lot of questions?" blurted Astro.
"They didn't ask them as fast as you did," quipped Orin. Astro shot him an annoyed look.
Mike chuckled. "If you're worried when they get to you, don't be. The Commander had me tell him everything I could remember about the incident, then asked whatever questions he needed to ask to make sure he had all the information he needed." He shrugged. "That was all to it, nothing major."
"Yeah, well, you're military, you're kind of used to dealing with guys like him," mumbled Astro.
Orin patted him on his shoulder. "Hey, it'll be alright. The Lieutenant was pretty nice with me, let me take my time remembering everything."
Astro let out a huff. "Well, maybe I'm overthinking things …"
"And worrying too much. Take a breath and calm down. Retrieving your memories will be easier when you're calmer," said Johnny.
"Like telling me that helps any," mumbled Astro.
Tom laughed. "Don't worry, Astro, you have two hours to calm your nerves."
"But it won't do any good as they'll just go back up when the Commander shows up!"
"Wait, just the Commander?" asked Tom.
"Uh, yeah, I guess."
"Well, that's an easy fix then, just ask to be interviewed by the Captain or the Lieutenant," said Johnny with a shrug.
Astro blinked. "Really?"
"Yeah, I don't think he cares who interviews you, as long as they get the information," stated Mike. "So, yeah, you should be fine."
"Well then … I guess that helped a lot." Astro grinned at each of them. "Thanks guys."
"No problem. Now, did you guys just wander the museum fifty times, or did you explore some of Sanford?" asked Mike.
Tom and Astro laughed and explained where they went. They then showed Mike, Johnny, and Orin exactly where they went. They explored just a bit more and found both the biology building and the oceanography building. Before they knew it, they were right back at the museum, this time all five were looking at the wall of "The Fallen". Mike and Johnny started pointing out several names and explaining to Orin and Astro their importance. Tom sort of listened, but his focus was finding that name. Finally, he found it. He let out a soft gasp when he did. Kenneth Roger Manning, Captain of the Solar Guard, killed in line of duty saving his team. Based on the dates, it was approximately fifteen years since his death. Roger Manning was starting to make more sense. He wanted to be on the best team when he graduated, it would have made his father proud. And his mother too, no doubt.
A slight feeling of guilt began to wash over Tom. He shouldn't have searched out this information so determinedly, he should have let Roger come to him with it when he was ready. He let out a soft breath and shook his head. While that might have been true, it wasn't like Roger could avoid this for long. His father's name was listed among the Fallen in a very public museum. A wall that Tom and his friends were now looking at. All they had to do was look and connect the dots. It wasn't that hard. After all, he just did it. But, would Roger want them to?
Thankfully he didn't have to think about it much further as the Captain returned with the girls. Mike was the one who noticed their arrival and alerted the others. They went to meet with them.
"Alright, round three," quipped Strong.
"Um," began Astro as he slowly raised his hand.
"Yes Astro?"
"May I, uh, make a request?"
Strong raised an eyebrow. "Which is?"
"Um, can I be interviewed by you or the Lieutenant?"
Strong smirked. "Does the Commander make you nervous?"
"Y-yes sir."
"Don't be, he's a good chap. But don't worry, I'm not going to force you into an interview with him. He in fact wants to interview Tom, so you are getting interviewed by the Lieutenant."
Astro sighed. "Thank you."
"You are welcome. Now, if you will follow me, we'll get this taken care of quickly."
"Yes sir!" chorused Tom and Astro.
"Don't rough them up too much!" quipped Mike as they were leaving.
Strong shot him a grin as they walked away. "No guarantees!"
"Wh-what?" asked Astro.
Strong laughed. "Ignore him, he's just teasing you."
"You're able to laugh during a serious investigation?" asked Tom.
"Not every moment is going to be serious. Besides, laughter helps ease the nerves. And being nervous causes you to focus on the wrong thing a good deal of the time."
"I suppose so," muttered Tom.
"Easing the nerves will certainly help the brain function effectively."
"Hey, Johnny said something similar!" exclaimed Astro.
"He's right." Strong opened the door to the museum, but paused and glanced at them. "And how are your nerves?"
"I guess they're alright, they've definitely calmed down a bit," replied Astro.
Strong nodded. "Good, the ride over should help even further. Come on." Tom and Astro glanced at each other before following the Captain out of the museum.
(Author's Note: Hello rosy readers! Yes, I have not forgotten these, I am trying to figure out a good routine to get these finished, this one, the Sprite Society, Nancy Drew, and Hardy boys ... which I know I haven't touched in a while, but I think I need to clear my plate of as many as possible. I have too many going on, I think. I mean, I do need more than one going at a time, but now I think I have too many going, lol. Plus having started recently on the new Lord of the Rings fanfic ... yeah, but be taking on too much. But, since I am working on ch 15 of Treasure Box, I should hurry up and finish that one. Working on Ch 10 for this one and Sprite Society, and, yes, the next chapters of both Lord of the Rings fanfics, now that I got past my writer's block on the Daisy Took mystery. My original stories have taken a back seat in the meantime as the writer's block has not lifted yet ... but working on them bit by bit. Check out LogoSophia Magazine and Fellowship & Fairydust Magazine to see some of my shorter ones! Though, Fellowship & Fairydust had to do a site overhaul as the old site crashed, so now we're slowly rebuilding our site over at . So, did anyone see the eclipse on April 8, if you were in the path? I did! It was cool! I was at work, but everyone, and I mean everyone, working at the college and the students went out to watch, so I closed the store and joined them. It was cool! There were clouds, but the eclipse gave them a cool ring look, almost like a mini rainbow. It was neat! It didn't get super dark at the college, but it was dark enough that we could see Venus for a bit. Really cool. Was reading Out of the Silent Planet by C. S. Lewis in preparation, haven't finished it, but working my way through fairly quick. It's a shorter read than I expected, for which I am grateful. And I was hoping to have this chapter uploaded then, but we have had three days of storms which was giving us internet problems, so couldn't publish it when I wanted at first. I then just waited until I finished the next chapter in Secret in the Old Forest and, well, here we are! Hope you enjoy! Thanks for reading and hope you have a great day! God bless!)