Captain Derek said, “Go, but from what I understand it’s a long cold walk home.”
Tommy stood up and said that he had not signed up to go clear across the universe on some adventure. Then he suggested that they all take a vote. It was great to have some momentous drama on a spaceship.
Captain Derek stood up and said, “First of all, nobody asked you, and secondly there is only one captain on this ship. He held up two fingers. That’s us,” and he pointed at himself and Austen. “Thirdly, there is no voting on this ship … ever. This isn’t a democracy”
Tommy was angry and stormed out of the large room. As he went Derek said, “Don’t go away mad, just go away.” A few people were giggling, and Derek asked if anybody else in the room wanted to go home. He reminded the room that they couldn’t get back if they wanted to without Qworn’s people’s help. The One-Oh-One was hooked up to an alien ship, low on fuel, and didn’t have a star drive that would enable them to cross intergalactic space. They didn’t have food or water and were low on breathable air. Derek was pretty sure that no one else wanted to go home yet. So far they were living a dream, flying through the stars from one adventure to the next one. Sure there were risks, but they had been lucky. They were also the first humans to ever make it out this far.
Tommy was an engineer specialist working under Dale Hawkins. Derek told Austen that he would have Dale talk with him, but Austen said, “No, he’s part of my crew, and he could be a problem, so I’ll have JR have a talk with him.”
Derek felt sorry for Tommy. Derek said, “That’ll do it. Just make sure JR doesn’t kill him; we might need him later on.”
The captains took some time to say hello to their crew members, and sit down and talk awhile. With the ennui and frustration of intergalactic space travel, everybody needed a little camaraderie and laughter. Captain Derek was the latter.
Chapter 7
PLANET SIDE
Twenty-four hours later, Austen, Derek, Kirk, Qworn, and his father, SSSaa, were discussing the separation of the two ships. Translating for SSSaa was Qworn, and then Kirk with his laptop. SSSaa told the humans that his short range sensors were picking up blips just on the edge within range. He thought it would be prudent to keep his ship in high orbit to watch for possible trouble. He stated his opinion with his usual conservatism, and the captains agreed with the old lizard. He was, after all, the ranking space-naut.
Shortly after the meeting with the captains and back on the earth ship, Austen said, “Well, it looks like our ship is about to get heavy.” Qworn had in a roundabout way given him a message about having company.
Derek asked him what he meant, and Austen said,”A hunting party from our allies will be joining us planet side. At least they have been to this planet before.” Derek said that he felt safer already.
Will said,”At least they don’t bite … us.”
Derek responded, "Let’s hope not anyway."
JR entered the bridge eating a hamburger and asked, “Are we there yet?”
Austen said, “Almost. When we separate from the other ship, please make sure that everything is secure and everybody is strapped in. It’s our first landing in this massive ship, JR.”
JR’s mouth was full so he just nodded. Deep down he was wondering if this ship had ever landed before.
JR’s room, the infirmary, was the largest room where anyone had taken up residence. It was connected to the main bridge. He had claimed the room for himself when they took the ship. He was also not a cadet. He was bigger than anybody else. Enough said - he was just an all-around bully.
Their old ship had been blown up fighting space pirates at Deep Space Station Jupiter. The old ship was like a giant bus with no rooms, just a lot of seats. The new ship was a space luxury liner, much bigger than a yacht. There was no doubt the cadets liked their new ship better with all the rooms, running water, bathrooms, etc., etc.
The Houston Boys were looking at each other and Austen decided to speak up first. He stuck out his chest and said that he would be the one landing the bird on the planet. Derek said, “Good, I don’t have any mistakes to learn from, so I’ll watch you land us.”
Austen said, “What’s that supposed to mean? I’ve landed lots of birds!”
JR threatened that nobody had better make a mistake landing, flying or launching the ship while he was on it or else! It sounded like a joke, but both his brothers knew better. Derek said, “Don’t look at me in that tone of voice. My more than capable brother is taking us down, and I trust him with your life.” JR gave his little brother "the look."
Six hours later, eight lizard-hunters came through the hatch to the human’s ship and closed the hatch behind them. They stayed in a huddle and acted like they smelled something awful or rotten. The biggest lizard that was the size of JR and was SSSaa’s new second. He walked over to JR and got in his face. He was talking in his own language so nobody but the lizards could understand him.
All the humans looked to Kirk and Qworn to translate what he said to JR, but JR wasn’t going to wait. He told the big lizard that he didn’t speak ‘S’ineese. JR said he hoped he was praying to his god; that he had better get out of his face before JR made him, and sent him to meet his god.
Kirk said with Qworn’s help that the Second wanted to know if JR would be joining the hunting party. All of the hunters would be honored. JR took a couple of steps back and said, “Maybe some other time. I have a date with Kim when we land on the planet to go on a picnic.” He smiled at Derek hoping to push his button knowing how much Kim liked him. He flexed his muscles and said to Derek, “You don’t want that because side-effects include me kicking your skinny butt.” His sarcasm had a sort of edge of affection and maybe respect in it.
Qworn told Shlizz what JR had said to him. Shlizz said, “Bros before Does,” in his language.
JR glared. Will said that separation of the ships was about to begin, which was JR’s cue to leave and check on the crew and make sure everything was secure. JR put his pique fully on display before he left. No one acted the "Alpha" like JR did. He always resorted to black humor.
On the bridge, all was secure except for the lizard men. They formed a lizard chain from one side of the bridge to the other side. The two lizards on each end of the chain used their free hands to hold onto the ship support beams. Even if the ship crashed, those lizards weren’t going anywhere.
Will’s mounting tension about landing felt almost cathartic. He said from the science consoles that he had gone over the probes' findings, and the air was a lot like Earth’s only without the smog and pollution. It was seventy-three percent oxygen, seventeen percent nitrogen, and eight percent carbon dioxide with two percent methane. Also there were all kinds of animal life, vegetable life signs, minerals and metal compositions. Will was very excited as he included the last tidbit. “No ice polar caps either, but no sign of civilization anywhere.”
It was pretty sure that everybody was excited. This was something new, exploring another planet. It was the first time in mankind’s history that humans were about to set foot on a planet in another galaxy. Sure astronauts had been to five moons and colonized Mars and the moon, but this was new! It was more exciting than man’s first space flight.
Will sounded off the countdown to separation. When it came there were a few sounds, but other than that, nothing. The humans were amazed and in awe of the lizards' ship. A starship, not just a spaceship, and with much more advanced tech than any Earth or Martian vessel.
Austen took the stick and entered orbit around the planet. Enthusiastically he said, “Everyone hold on … We’re going in.” Once they broke atmo they could see that it was a very beautiful planet.
As they came