The Earthrise Trilogy Part 24

The Thomases went to bed, but the others stayed up, enjoying each other's company, much too excited to sleep.

"Blue you say, OK Jake, I'll pa.s.s it on. It's about time we did a survey up here anyway."

Bill told Steve what he had heard over the radio.

"Blue?" Steve was puzzled. "Just when I'd got used to everything being green too!"

Bill laughed. "We need to do a survey Steve, how about it?"

"I guess so Bill, but Clare and I have other plans, why don't you organise it after we get the prodigals back?"

"OK I will, I could do with a change of scene to be honest, and it'll be fun."

The two would have chatted further but were interrupted by a low flying s.h.i.+p.

"Tris must have got it working," Steve shouted, over the roar of the engines.

"YEAH," Bill screamed just as the s.h.i.+p suddenly went totally silent. "Don't you just hate it when that happens?" he said.

Steve just laughed. The s.h.i.+p landed in total silence.

Tris climbed out grinning from ear to ear. "It works!" he said, "Isn't she a beauty."

"So it's rocket powered magnetism?" Steve asked.

"Got it in one, it's a souped-up Keracraft. We just need to see how it handles a payload and we're ready to go."

"Excellent Tris," Steve said, enthusiastically, "this really is excellent, come on let's go for a ride."

"Sorry Bill, it's only got two seats."

"Never mind, I'll walk," Bill said, smiling, "go, and have some fun."

Steve and Tris jumped into the new s.h.i.+p and took off. "The magnetism is good for about a thousand feet," Tris said, "after that we need the rockets. We can fit bigger motors for orbital flight, but these small ones are fine for atmospheric travel."

They rose to the limit of the magnetics and Tris fired up the rockets. The s.h.i.+p tore away from the settlement.

"Head South Tris, there's something I want to take a look at."

They flew south for almost an hour when the Blue appeared over the horizon. Tris descended and went back to the magnetic drive. "It's awful big Steve," Tris said, "looks like one of the bigger craters has flooded."

What they were looking at was the beginnings of the first sea on the moon.

"Water must be seeping up to the surface," Steve said. "You know what this means Tris...Rain!"

"Oh no, really?"

"Afraid so. Once it starts evaporating we'll get clouds, and where there's clouds there's rain."

They did a rough survey of the new sea, it was already well over one hundred miles wide, and looked set to expand much further. They set course for home and arrived an hour or so later. Steve asked Tris to fit the bigger motors ready for the trip to earth. They determined to set off as soon as this was done.

"Hi Hun," Clare called as Steve entered the house.

"Is she home yet?" Steve asked.

"Yes, she's in her room, shall we do it now?"

"May as well, let's go in together."

Steve and Clare went to Hope's room and knocked.

"Come in daddy, I've been expecting you."

Steve and Clare entered and closed the door behind them. They all sat on the bed to talk. Hope could see that this was not going to be an ordinary talk, so she waited quietly for them to begin. Steve spoke first.

"Sweetie, you're a big girl now and we feel that you are old enough to make this decision for yourself."

Now they really had her attention.

"Your mom and I are going to retire, like John and Lisa have done. We're thinking of taking a trip...Erm...A long trip, and we wondered if you wanted to come with us. We will be gone for a long time Hops, so think about it carefully."

"I'll come," she said, straight out, "somehow I knew what you were going to say, I've known for a few days. I want to come with you, OK?"

"Sure it's OK sweetie," Clare said, with a few tears in her eyes, "We just wanted you to have the chance to make your own mind up, that's all."

"I couldn't imagine life without you Hops," Steve said, touching her arm, "if you'd have said no, we wouldn't have gone."

"Oh daddy, you are wonderful, you to mommy, I'm so blessed to have such wonderful parents."

The whole thing ended up a soggy, but happy huddle.

"That settles it then," Steve said, a while later, "I'll start making the arrangements first thing tomorrow."

There was a scratching at the door, it opened, and in fell Rufus.

"Yap yap."

"OK fellah, you can come too."

"I think that's everything Dave," Mary said, handing him yet another box.

"I'm sure it is," he replied, "I didn't know we had so much stuff, I hope it can all fit in the s.h.i.+p."

Jake walked in at this precise moment.

"What do you think Jake, will we be able to get this lot in the s.h.i.+p?"

"In the main s.h.i.+p certainly, but I don't know what size the smaller s.h.i.+p will be. We may have to leave some of it behind, but don't fret, there's plenty of everything in Eden, you won't lack any good thing."

"It sounds so wonderful," Mary said, "I can't wait to get there."

"Is Danny about," Jake asked, "I've got some news for him."

"Yes, I'll fetch him for you...DANNY," she called. He was outside at the back of the cabin playing.

"What is it mom?" He said, on entering. It was Jake who answered him.

"Danny, I've discovered what that blue patch is. It's the beginnings of the first sea on the Moon, and in accordance with time honoured tradition, we're going to name it after the person who discovered it...The Daniel Thomas Sea, congratulations."

Danny blushed bright red, but it didn't stop him from jumping up and down and shouting a lot. Dave and Mary joined in, well, it's not every day that your son gets a sea named after him.

When the noise had died down enough so he could be heard, Jake also said, "By the way folks, they're leaving Eden today to come and get us, they should be here in a couple of hours."

"OK Steve," Tris said, "everything is ready, we can leave whenever you like."

"I'll be right with you, just give me time to say goodbye to this gorgeous young woman."

He hugged his daughter and left the house with Clare in tow. They jumped into the Keracraft and took off for the launch-pad.

As they were going, Steve said, "Tris, I invited you along on this trip so that you could cast a designer's eye over the main s.h.i.+p. I have some very special modifications I want you to make to her insides, and I would also like you to look at the Trion drive. I reckon you could make it go even faster."

Tris just nodded as he brought the small craft in to land.

"Plus," Steve went on, "it'll be good for you to get to see Earth."

Tris smiled at this. Having only known the Moon, he didn't have any nostalgic feelings for Earth, as the older ones did, but he was certainly curious about the place.

They met Jimmy and Sh.e.l.ley at the launch-pad.

"Nice to have you along guys," Steve said, greeting them, "all set?"

They boarded the big s.h.i.+p where Phil and Roy, the pilots, were waiting for them. Nancy and Mary, the original stewardesses, were there too.

"Just like old times," Nancy said, as Steve entered the cabin.

"Not quite Nancy, this time, we are the rescuers."

She smiled warmly at him and helped him into his seat. A few moments later the hatch closed and they could feel the vibration as the motors started. The intercom came to life.

"Hi folks, you'll be glad to know that we won't be pus.h.i.+ng the s.h.i.+p so hard this time. We learned a lot from the last take off!"

There were chuckles from those who had been aboard the last time, when Jimmy's juice had taken them all by surprise.

"Hold on, here we go."

The great s.h.i.+p eased itself up off the launch-pad and accelerated away and up into the sky with little effort. A few minutes later they were in orbit around the Moon waiting for the coordinates for Earth to come into line.

"Get ready folks, Trion in three, two, one..." The mighty Trion drive kicked in and the s.h.i.+p left orbit and headed out across s.p.a.ce towards earth.

"We'll be entering earth orbit in just over an hour folks, so sit back and enjoy the ride."

Phil had gotten the measure of the s.h.i.+p now, so acceleration was much smoother than it had been before.

"So, Tris, what do you think?"

"It's a big s.h.i.+p Steve so I guess it's possible, it's the Trion that intrigues me though, when you say, 'make it go faster', just how fast are we talking about?"

"I'm talking light speed Tris, do you think it's possible?"

Tris didn't answer, but Steve could see his thinking cogs start to turn. He was confident that Tris would do it, if anyone could, it was just a matter of time.

Jimmy was sitting behind Steve and Clare and had tapped Steve on the shoulder.

"What's this I hear about you two retiring?"

"It's true Jimmy, the old folks are retiring and going on a trip."

"Hey, less of the old!" Clare said, looking anything but old.

She had positively blossomed since taking the first berry, and now she looked, 'as good as new,' according to Steve, who was definitely biased.

"What trip?" Jimmy asked.

"Ah, now that would be telling, I'll let you know when I know, OK?"

Jimmy accepted the answer, but was more than a little intrigued by the whole thing. He turned to Sh.e.l.ley and said, "Do you know what he's going on about?"

"Not a clue Jims, I'm not privy to the family gossip since I married you!"

"Nice," he said, laughing. "I'll bet that Hope knows, we'll grill her when we get back."

They all settled back for the rest of the trip, which seemed to take no time at all. Steve and Clare had just managed to dose off when the intercom gave them a rude awakening.

"Right folks, we're in earth orbit, and it took just over an hour. I trust that there were no nasty surprises for you this time. Do say hi to Roy as he floats through on his way to the rescue s.h.i.+p."

The intercom went quiet and the hatch opened. Roy was greeted by a small round of applause as he exited the c.o.c.kpit and floated, very professionally, through the pa.s.senger cabin en-route to the rear cargo bay, where the new s.h.i.+p was. It had been deemed wiser for one of the experienced pilots to fly the rescue mission rather than Tris, who was good, but inexperienced. Once through the cabin, all hatches were closed ready for the launch. It seemed like just a few moments before the small jolt came as the new s.h.i.+p left the cargo bay. The intercom opened up again, "He's away Steve, better start preparing to receive our guests."

No one knew for sure how long it would take to locate the prodigals and bring them up, so it had been planned to occupy this waiting time by allowing Tris to survey the s.h.i.+p and main drive, whilst the other pa.s.sengers prepared to make the new arrivals welcome.

Tris had never been weightless before, so he was even more ungainly than Steve, who was not the best exponent of the art either. It caused a few t.i.tters as they tried to manoeuvre themselves around the cabin, taking measurements and talking quietly between them- selves. This accomplished, they moved into the cargo bay to access the Trion systems. The other pa.s.sengers waited until the hatch had closed before getting up out of their seats to begin their preparations.