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  “I agree, Mister Wilkes. We have seen too often what happens when people get a taste of technology when they are not ready for it. Let’s not forget that if it weren’t for our intervention, this would be a dead world right now. So the task before us is to figure out a way to get someone down there, get in, and get the boy out using technology at least on the same level as theirs.”

  “That cuts out my idea of using shuttlecraft,” Thompson said. “They have them, but it isn’t within their technology level.”

  “And we have to be able to get in and out quickly. I doubt he will give us all the time in the world for me to get down there to him once he sends me his instructions,” Mike said.

  “You know, it would be nice to get ahead of this guy for once,” Mister Ramey said, his fingers rubbing his chin. “He thinks he has the upper hand. We can’t see him, we can’t find him and he is sitting in a fortress. How can we bushwhack that son of a bitch?” he asked.

  They thought a moment. Then Thompson spoke up. “We do the unexpected. We put people on the ground at his doorstep. We find a way in, and then when Mike does show up, he’s not alone,” Thompson said.

  “A good idea, but there are a bunch of questions, like how do we get there?” asked Ramey.

  “Well streaming in is out. If he can pick up our streaming signal, he can simply hunt us down or take it out on my son,” Mike said. “We need some sort of base camp to operate from and the ability to bring things in to operate for a few days.”

  Ramey had a change of expression on his face as he looked up from the display. He turned to the others. “We fly them in,” he said. “It’s the only way to accomplish the task within a reasonable period of time. The boats and ships available are too slow. It would take a week just to get there. But if we fly them in, we can do it in one or two days.”

  Mike looked at him. “I appreciate your thought, but these people know nothing about aircraft or what flight is. The closest thing they have is rockets,” he said.

  Mister Ramey looked at him. “Oh yes, and those shuttlecraft he’s using aren’t flying.”

  “They are a part of a problem we are still trying to solve. I can’t do it,” Mike said.

  Captain Dickson walked over and placed his hand on Mike’s shoulder. “Mike, I agree with your father-in-law. That seems the only way to do this. Are you certain that you cannot do it the way he proposes?” he asked quietly.

  Thompson could see that Mike was not ready to make snap decisions. He looked bone tired and the added pressures of the situation were tough on him. He needed to prolong the decision. “Maybe we should let this sit for a while,” said Thompson stretching his arms. “I know I’m beat from this all night session, and I know Mike is tired. If we think about this until tomorrow morning it will allow us to gather more information and make some firm decisions. Who knows, we might just think of another way to do this,” he said.

  “Agreed,” said the Captain, catching Thompson’s hint. “Mike, I want you to think this over and talk to some others about this. If you change your mind, let me know,” he said with a smile. In the meantime get some rest. We need all our wits about us when we start this,” he said.

  Mike smiled and nodded his head. His shoulders were slumped over from a night full of activities. He started out the door, then stopped and turned to the Captain. “Captain, may I see my father before I go home?”

  Thompson shook his head. “Can it wait till later? I have to deal with this matter and I need time to talk to him. This afternoon maybe?”

  Mike nodded. “That’s okay, I don’t think I would know what to say anyway,” he said as he left the room with Mr. Ramey.

  Dickson turned to Thompson. “How are you going to handle it, Number One? I would rather not get involved in this one at my level.”

  “Well first of all I put him in hack for a while. I know he’s upset about his grandson, but at some time he has to think about the consequences of his actions. And I don’t plan on letting him in on this unless his son asks me to.”

  “That alone might be a good lesson in itself, Number One,” Dickson said grinning as they left the room.

  Jo was sleeping peacefully in the bed. Little Mary woke up hungry three times in the night, the last time being just an hour before. Jo was doing her best to catch up before Mary woke up again. Jo had been a little bit upset that Mike had not been there to help her, but she wasn’t particularly worried. The lack of sleep was more annoying.

  Mike eased the door open and stepped silently into the room. He padded his way to the bed and looked at his wife. It never failed to amaze him at how beautiful she looked in the morning, especially after having a baby. She seemed to glow in the early morning sunlight. More than once he found himself staring at her in the morning for up to an hour at a time. He wondered at how lucky he was to have her as his wife.

  He bent down and gave her a slight kiss on the cheek. Jo’s eyes fluttered open and she stretched in the bed looking at him.

  “Where have you been?” she asked in a yawn.

  “We got a call last night and I had to take care of business,” he said off handedly, sitting on the side of the bed and stroking her hair.

  Jo sat up quickly. “About Timothy?”

  Mike nodded. His smile left his face. “It’s not good news,” he said.

  Jo’s eyes filled with apprehension. “Who has him?”

  “You remember Colonel Brana?”

  Jo gasped. “No, not Brana,” she sighed. The image of Brana and his men beating Mike senseless still burned in her mind. She could imagine poor little Timothy being beaten in the same way. Jo’s eyes filled with tears again as Mike pulled her into his embrace. He held her for several minutes as she sobbed into his shoulder. Finally she pulled away, her eyes red and filled with tears. “What can we do?” she asked.

  Mike rubbed her eyes with his fingers and kissed her gently. “Don’t worry, Mom,” he said. “We’ll get him back. I spent the evening on the Lexington finding out where he is,” he said gently.

  “You know where he is?” she said excitedly. “We can get him back?” she pleaded.

  “In time,” he said. “We are going to figure out a way to do it and I will get him,” he said. “We just have to figure out a way without harming the people,” he said.

  She pulled back. “You mean you aren’t going to use everything we can to get my son back?” she cried. “You would give up our son for the sake of some Alliance principals?” she said. “Michael?”

  Mike looked back into her eyes. “And maybe have thousands be hurt because we acted hastily?” he asked. “You remember what we promised when we decided to stay here. And you know I want him back as badly as you do,” he said. “Don’t worry, I will find a way, and I will get him back.”

  “What does the Captain want to do?” she asked.

  “They want me to fly down there in some sort of plane with some other people and get ahead of Brana,” he said. “He’s located in a country called Guilama, a fairly large place on the southern hemisphere. We looked at it this morning and are gathering information. We’ll make some decisions tomorrow,” he said.

  Jo thought a moment. She was getting over her anxiety and starting to think about the problem. “That would be the quickest way to get there. I don’t even recall a road that goes all the way there,” she said.

  “There’s not one, really,” he said. “And I have to admit they’re right about it being convenient as hell, but still...” he said, “I can’t take the chance,”

  “Take a chance?” came a voice from the doorway. Rokka and Shala stepped into the room. Rokka looked at both of them. “You are saying that we, the people of my world are going to be the blame for your son not having every chance in the world to come home?” Rokka said sternly. He placed his hands on his hips. “That makes me very angry,” he said.

  “Rokka, I just can’t...” Mike started to say.

  Rokka cut him off. “Michael, we have known each other a long while. I have been pri
vileged to see and know many things in all that time. Do I look stricken? Do I look like I am about to upset the world?” he asked indignantly. He pointed out the window. “Right now there are a few million people out there who would gladly take up arms to get your son back to you. We are all upset by this. If we found out that you didn’t use everything you could to get him back because of us, it would be more than twice as bad for us. The entire northern hemisphere is angry at what has happened,” he said throwing up his hands.

  “Michael, understand me now,” Shala added. “We are much stronger than you imagine. We all know that you and your people have technology and power far greater than we could imagine. Even I have seen some of it and can’t even imagine how it works,” she said. “Don’t forget, I have seen you lift into the air in your machine. If something like that can help us get Timothy back, I urge you to use it. We will all understand,” she said smiling.

  Mike smiled at her and took her hand. “I just don’t want people to get hurt because of something I do,” he said.

  “We know that, you duff,” she said smiling. “Keep in mind, there will always be people who try to get an advantage over others. But you work so hard at being careful that you overlook how good most people are. We’ll work out how we all respond to things and the good people will win,” she said.

  “Even against Brana?” Mike asked.

  Shala stepped back as if she had been poked with a stick. “Brana!” she almost spit.

  “He has taken Timothy to his base in Guilama,” he said. “The others think I should fly there with a team of people.”

  Rokka nodded and thought for a moment. “Then it’s very important that you do Michael. Brana needs to be weeded out. Does he have some of that Levid’s technology?”

  Mike nodded his head.

  “Then Michael he is more dangerous to us than you or any momentary lapse in your principals. He has to be destroyed, totally, or we will all pay dearly later on,” Rokka said.

  “He’s right Mike,” Jo said. “Brana is the most dangerous man I could imagine, and if he has superior technology, some of the same thing we are trying to prevent from hurting these people, then we must do everything we can to stop the influence now,” she said taking his hand.

  Mike lowered his head. He couldn’t fight all of them. And the more he thought he knew that Mr. Ramey was correct. Now how to do it?

  On the Lexington Jim Ramey was sitting beside Ashley Wilkes. Wilkes looked like a beaten man. He sat with his head in his hands while Ramey glared at him.

  “You have gotten into some pigheaded situations before,” he said, “But this takes them all,” he said angrily. “You couldn’t listen. You had to keep on and do something stupid. Now look at you,” he said waving his hands at him. “When you could be helping your own son and grandson, you are stuck here in this brig doing nothing!” he almost shouted.

  “I just wanted to do something,” he said with a sorrowful sigh.

  “I know that, Ash,” he said. “But couldn’t you, for once, just listen to someone else for a change? Couldn’t you step back and let someone else be in charge?”

  “But they want to sit back and...” he said.

  “Think about it some?” Jim said angrily. “Well I expected that. You never have taken the time to think through anything! You just plow ahead and bully your way through everything. No wonder your people don’t like working for you. You bark orders and take all the credit for what they do. Not once have I ever seen you say ‘good work,’ or ‘thank you’ for anything they do. And you even do it to your own son,” he said winding down. “Well, now when he really needs help you aren’t there. He found where they are keeping your grandson and we are making plans to get him, but you are in the brig. I hope you’re happy. Did you see the look on his face last night?” he asked.

  Wilkes shook his head.

  “Well, I have never seen such a look of disappointment in my life. You let him down Ash. When he needed you, you let him down.”

  Wilkes looked up. “I know that, Jim. There’s nothing I can say,” he said.

  “You got that right,” Mary Wilkes said entering the room. “For twenty five years I have put up with your bullying me and our son. But I never believed you would do something like this. I am so ashamed I can’t even say it,” she said.

  Ashley Wilkes seemed to sag. He had been doing a pretty good job of berating himself as it was, but he never could stand the real wrath of his wife. Despite his demeanor, he still loved Mary dearly and was very proud of his son. To have them ashamed of him cut through him like a sword. He began to sob in his hands.

  Mary looked at Jim. “Can you excuse us a minute, Jim?” she asked.

  Ramey smiled at her. Mary was a strong, fine woman, and he and his wife Sharon thought the world of her. He smiled and nodded. “I’ll talk to you later,” he said with a wink, then turned and left the room.

  When he left, Mary placed her hands on Asley’s head. “Oh Ash, whatever possessed you to do something so stupid?” she asked gently rubbing his head and shoulders.

  Wilkes reached up and pulled his wife to him. He buried his face in her stomach and held her tightly, sobbing. “I don’t know, Mary,” he sobbed. “I wanted to do something so bad. I just didn’t think,” he said holding her tight.

  “Mike came home this morning and wouldn’t even tell me what happened. He just said I needed to see you on the ship,” she said. “Damn it Ash! You let me down. You let us down again!”

  He looked up at her. “What do you want me to say?” he asked in tears.

  Tears were in her eyes now. The magnitude of what had happened weighing on her. She smacked him on the side of the head. “Well say something, damnit! Say something!”

  Then for the first time in a long time she saw Ashley Wilkes look at her with forlorn eyes. She suddenly realized he was like a little boy that had done something terrible and was truly sorry for what he had done. He was already torturing himself far more than she ever had and needed someone to hold him and say it was alright.

  He cried out to her, “I’m sorry, Mary. I am so sorry,” he said with the tears flowing freely. “I didn’t mean to. I never meant to. Mary, I am so sorry,” he said collapsing into her arms again.

  Mary clung to her husband and began to stroke his head. She had never seen him like this, and she knew he had changed in that one instant. Then she remembered what had drawn her to him twenty five years before. That boyish face, the look in his eyes when he was with her. She had watched that look disappear over the years as he tried, but failed to move up in the Space Fleet. But now that look was back, and she was going to help him keep it.

  “It’s okay, Ash,” she said softly. “We’ve been through bad times before,” she said. “Now we need to get through this and help Michael,” she said.

  “Why would he ask me for help,” he asked with his face buried in her arms.

  “Because he is your son, dearest. And even if he doesn’t ask, he needs it,” she said. “It’s up to us to find what he needs and make sure he gets it,” she said, taking his head and lifting it up.

  Ashley Wilkes nodded in understanding. “I promise I’ll never do anything like this again, Mary,” he said.

  “We’ll see,” she said. “But first we need to see about getting you out of here,” she said.

  Jim Ramey sat down at his computer console. He had checked in on Ashley Wilkes and had called his wife to tell her not to worry. Now to work, he thought.

  “Computer, I want to research aircraft between the years 1920 and 1960 on the planet Earth,” he said.

  “There are seven hundred forty seven aircraft types registered, please specify additional requirements,” the computer said back.

  “It needs to be a propeller driven aircraft that can also land and take off on water,” he said.

  “There are twenty three aircraft that fit that description. Would you like them displayed on your monitor?”

  “Yes,” he said. Suddenly a multi-engine biplane
appeared on the screen. It was an open cockpit craft made from fabric. Ramey scrolled through several aircraft. The earlier ones were fabric and fragile. These changed to all metal monoplanes. After a few more planes that clearly didn’t meet the demand, he came upon a twin engine military aircraft that could hold several men in relative comfort. The speed was not that great, but it also had armaments that could prove handy. After looking through the rest of the list, he decided that this was the one to use. Sitting back after nearly an hour of study, he spoke again. “Computer transfer the specifications and building prints to the manufacturing replicator. Can this aircraft be manufactured using onboard facilities?” he asked.

  “Affirmative. It would take twenty three point five hours to complete the aircraft.”

  “Can a vehicle of that size be streamed to the planet’s surface?”

  “Affirmative.”

  “Then task the industrial replicator to begin manufacturing,” he said.

  “Unable to comply. The task requested requires approval from the commanding officer,” the computer replied.

  “Then hold the request. Approval will come as soon as I talk to him,” he said getting up from his station and quickly exiting the door.

  The motorcade entered through the gate in front of Mike’s house and made its way up the drive to the front door. A servant got out of the front and ran around to open the door. King Raterc of Nacerium and President Raphelli of Orupe exited with Ambassador Prentiss. They made their way indoors. Rokka met them and escorted them to the living room while Shala called Mike and Jo. Jo came down with Mary in her hands. Both were extremely surprised to see the men.