Space Chronicles The Beginning

Chapter 19

I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.

            - Jesus -

General Wilson appeared more agitated than usual. He even smiled a few times, an emotion unfitting for an old warrior.

"You two are simply amazing. Not only did you find and bring back the X-3001, you managed to bag an alien hostile along with its weapon and its ship."

"Unfortunately, we have no idea where this new alien came from," Marty said. "George doesn't think it's from a planet in the Alpha Mensae system."

"Perhaps, this species is allied with the Roswell aliens."

"If so, why didn't it destroy the X-3001? From what we saw, this alien was trying to take control, not destroy."

Wilson set his jaw, a sign that he had no desire to debate the issue. "I'm sure we'll learn the answers to our questions in due time. In the meantime we can investigate its technology."

"When are we going out again?" Angie asked.

"I'm not sure. Arthur will discuss your next mission. The X-3002 is being fitted with weapon upgrades. The engineers promised a four week completion."

That relaxed Angie and put a subtle smile on Marty's face.

###

George, Karl and Tyler were surprised to see Marty enter the Black Hole, the new name of the Space Port bar.

"Hey, stranger," George said with his signature sly grin. "We heard that you and the commander were out fighting scary aliens."

"More like one ugly alien," Marty said as he claimed a stool next to George. "It looked like a dinosaur. It's hard to imagine something like that being intelligent."

"Look at the Mehens," George said. "They look like flat-faced geckos. The fact is that intelligent life on Earth could have evolved from large brained dinosaurs if it hadn't been for that asteroid collision in the Yucatan sixty-five million years ago."

"That would have been okay as long as we would still have beer, speaking of which I need one."

Their laughter caught the attention of Brian, who came over.

"I didn't get a chance to thank you personally," he said to Marty. "No telling what that alien would have done to us if you hadn't have happened along."

"Indeed. We were sent out to find you. Let me ask you this: how did the alien sneak on board without the computer noticing?"

"Evidently, it was able to activate the hangar controls and fool the computer into thinking it was normal. Nobody had thought of that trick. Needless to say, all ships are being fitted with protocols to prevent that."

"Good. Why don't you join us for a brew."

"Sorry, but I'm not allowed to drink any alcohol for at least three weeks."

Marty frowned. "Shit! Don't let that alien near me."

Brian laughed and was joined by the others.

###

Marty stood near a window port and watched a beautiful blue world wrapped in white clouds slowly glide like an endless procession past his view. The Space Port was not in synchronous orbit, providing anyone who cared to gaze through the ports facing Earth the pleasure of a kaleidoscopic view of the human home world.

It’s not that he hadn't indulged himself in such an astronaut's visual delight before this, but it's just that he had an astronaut's yearning to set foot on Terra Firma again after being in space for months.