There was an unexpected knock on the door. Before he could get to it, the impatient triple knock sounded again.

  Drath pulled the door open as a third knock started. He found George at the doorway hand up in mid-knock. “Yes George, what is it?”

  “Get your shoes on we got the opportunity of a lifetime!”

  “What?” Drath asked. “What’s going on?”

  “I was talking to glass and was telling him you were catching on nicely, and he asked if it would help you to have an extended flight in mother.”

  “I told him yes. We checked, and it is a moonless night. He said we could go out after dark!”

  “Fly Mother outside?” Drath asked dumbfounded.

  “Yes, this doesn’t happen a lot. He must really have a good feeling about you.” George was visibly excited. “I’ve already got the meters disconnected, and the control cable reattached. Mother’s ready to go.”

  Drath was slipping on his sneakers as they talked. He grabbed his ID badge and clipped it onto his shirt pocket. “I’m ready too. Let’s go!”

  By the time they arrived at the hanger the sun was just below the horizon. Glass was there with two of his security men.

  “We were lucky it’s a moonlit night,” Glass said as they approached. “I have had reports that there has been some corporate surveillance of our complex. If it weren't going to be pitch black out there in an hour, I wouldn’t allow this.”

  “We’ll take it easy, and stay close,” George said. “We’ll just go over the basics and give him a chance at the controls.”

  Drath was unaware of that turn of events. He had not expected to have a chance to control the craft.

  “Be sure to take control if anything unexpected occurs. I’ve notified the tower to keep any traffic clear for fifty miles. I don’t want anything to happen to either of you or Mother,” Glass said. “This was your idea. It’s your neck.”

  “Everything will be fine sir,” George replied already starting to walk toward Mother. He seemed in a rush to get to the craft.

  Drath caught up to him as he opened up the hatch. “You told me this was Glass’s idea.”

  “Well Geeze, I may have suggested it to him, but he agreed,” George answered with a smile. “You do need to get a complete understanding of the ship.”

  “Still he didn’t sound too thrilled about it.”

  “He almost never lets us fly it out of the hanger. He’s too worried about someone seeing it.” George paused. “I may have used you as an opportunity to give us this chance, but you’ll thank me later.”

  “Right,” Drath said. “We’ll see.”

  George had slipped into the far seat, and Drath sat in the second seat. The hatch closed remotely as they took their seats and the interior lights dimmed. With a swipe of his hand on the dash screen, George had the controls up and the front monitor on. They could see the entire end of the hanger in more than a clear view. Even the darkest corners of the hanger again showed fine details.

  This monitor is a sure high resolution,” Drath commented.

  “Ya’, the video dept is trying to replicate it, but they’re not having much luck. It’s got something to do with the camera, not the screen,” he added. “The photo sensor is completely different from what was developed by Kodak.”

  “Better resolution?” Drath asked.

  “Better everything. Over the years, other companies upgraded the original Kodak technology, but Mother has a completely different architecture in capturing an image. When they get Mothers technology figured out, it’s going to send the camera companies into fits. It’s that much better.” George added.

  “I can see that.” Drath agreed.

  He saw through the view screen that the ship was rising. It rose about ten feet off the floor, and then George stopped the lift. Drath watched his hand movements, and George explained that he just swiped the screen in the direction he wanted to go and tapped it when he wanted the action to stop. “It couldn’t be much simpler. It’s like it was developed by Apple,” he laughed.

  Outside the ship the two security men were pulling the giant doors of the hanger open. The sun had set, and the sky was a deep blue, almost black. Stars were beginning to shine, like diamonds scattered on black velvet.

  George fingered the control screen, and the ship started to descend toward the wide doors. Drath again noticed that the dampening systems in the craft somehow covered the feeling of tipping and dropping. But the ship was moving. The screen showed that Mother had indeed passed through the open doors and was again about two feet off the concrete tarmac that led to the runways of the airfield. It coasted to a stop several feet out of the hanger.

  George slid his finger up the left side of the control screen in a moderately fast movement. Drath instinctively held on to the dashboard but the precaution wasn’t needed. He didn’t feel a thing, but the ship shot upward. Within only a few seconds the scene on the monitor before them changed drastically from showing the distant control tower and housing on the other side of the runway, to a wide black vista only defined by the starlit sky in front of the ship. Below the horizon, it was nearly pitch black.

  “How high are we?” Drath asked.

  “Pretty high this time,” George said.

  He slid his finger on the screen and directed the ship into a slight dive and turn. As the craft slowly rotated, it turned into the sunset. Through the viewer, Drath could see the curvature of the planet and the sun peeking from behind the Earth. “I’d say we are close to orbital altitude.”

  “What?” Drath exclaimed!

  “It’s a little higher than I planned, but it’s no problem,” George said. “It’ll give us more time to descend, and you can control a bit longer too.”

  Drath heard what George was saying but didn’t listen. The excitement of being nearly in orbit and the view in front of him took all his attention. The distant arc of the Earth was lit by the setting sun. The brightly lit sea on the horizon kissed the sun goodnight. They could see the last pale shades of light fade and cast the continent below them into darkness. It was night in Australia.

  “Incredible!” Drath gasped.

  “No doubt,” George said. He reached over and tapped the control screen on the dashboard in front of Drath. “And it’s all controlled with your finger.” He tapped a line of glyphs on the screen, and a new image appeared. It was roughly an outline of the shape of the ship and a glowing vertical bar to the left of it. “The bar on the left is altitude. You can slide it up or down to move vertically.”

  Drath was amused on how little impact the glorious scene before them affected George. He was an engineer, through and through. The ship held more fascination.

  “You steer with position and pressure on the outline of the ship. A little finger slide on the screen will help,” he said. “As you descend, the bar will reflect your altitude loss.”

  Drath looked at him for a few seconds, waiting for more details.

  “Well, are you going to drive?” George asked.

  “That’s all of your flying instructions?”

  “I believe in hands-on learning,” he smiled.

  Drath pointed his finger and cautiously stroked the screen, sliding to the right and lightly pressed. The image on the large view screen showed mother had turned away from the last sun rays outlining the globe. With the bright sun gone, the detail of the screen improved. Even though it was dark outside Mother’s magic camera picked up details in the night. It wasn’t the green night viewing images that Drath had seen before. He saw full colors in subdued hues. It was a perpetual dusk. There was just enough light to see. The ship took a mild dive and raced toward the northern coast. Half a continent away they could see the land break into water, and they were moving fast in that direction.

  George scratched his chin when he saw the speed and flight path they were taking. “It may take us a while to find our way back,” he commented.

  Drath smiled, he understood the concern in George’s voice, but just looked out the window-like screen and watched the approaching coastline. They were still very high. Some cities sparkled, and there was a phosphorescent glow in the sea from the barrier reef. Roads and structures were not quite visible.

  “Go ahead and tap the center of the screen,” George said.

  Drath followed his command. The ship seemed to stop instantly in mid-air. He was amazed again that there was no sensation of movement or G-forces as they rocketed around the sky.

  “Try to turn around 180 degrees, a little slower this time,” George said. “Just slide your finger lightly from the nose of mother to the tail inside the ship’s outline.”

  Drath fingered the screen, barely touching it and directed the ship to rotate around what he expected was a full turn. “Do we have a compass?” Drath asked.

  “I tried that. It doesn’t work in here.”

  “Is there one in the ship's controls?” he asked again.

  “Probably, but I haven’t found it yet.”

  Drath looked at the altitude bar that glowed on the control screen. They had dropped about one-third of their original altitude.

  “Let’s go forward,” George said. “Try to use the same finger pressure that you did before.”

  Drath controlled the ship into a dive about the same speed and angle that he had the first time. He figured that there was no way they would end up anyplace close to the research complex. He was right.

  “Hold it! Tap the screen!” George said, startling him only a moment later.

  Drath tapped the screen, stopping the ship. There were lights of a city ahead of them and to their left. It was on the coastline again. They could see the glow of the reef in the distance.

  “Slide the altitude down about in half,” George said, and Drath did as was asked. The ship dropped vertically. As the altitude dropped the city and the coastline defined itself. You could see the lights of the city that followed the geography of the coast. The outline of harbors and seaways cut into the city lights. “That’s Sydney!” He exclaimed. “I can see the inter-coastal, and there is Botany Bay.” Sydney was on the east coast of the continent, but at least they were still in the state of Queensland. “I’d know Sydney anywhere!”

  “Can we get home from here?” Drath asked.

  “Sure, just go west,” George said. “The complex is over there somewhere.”

  “That doesn’t sound too promising.”

  “I should have thought to explain that the screen is super sensitive,” George said.

  “That may have helped,” Drath said. “Then, maybe we wouldn’t have ended up on the other side of the country.”

  “It’s ok.”

  “You told Glass, we’d stay close,” Drath reminded him.

  “We didn’t leave the planet.”

  Drath looked at George with raised eyebrows.

  “Well geeze, maybe a little,” George confessed. “But we’ll get back. Just go west a little, away from the coast and a bit to the left.”

  Drath looked at George skeptically. He knew that finding the research complex would be like finding a needle in a haystack. “Ok,” he said, “here goes.” He lightly touched the screen directing the ship away from the coast and a little to the left. His pressure increased just a little as he swiped the screen. The ship smoothly followed the commands. They were moving fast, but they could see the terrain beneath them. It was mostly pasture and scrub, empty land and hills.

  After a few minutes of flight Drath commented. “It really is an easy craft to fly.”

  “Yes, it’s fast and silent,” George agreed. “It’s also invisible to radar.”

  “Oh, that’s good.” Drath was glad to hear that. “I’d hate to catch the attention of the National Air Force.”

  “I think may we better try to zig-zag back and forth until we see the research complex. It’s out here someplace.” There was a hint of concern in George’s voice.

  Drath tapped the controls and stopped the ship. He did another 180-degree turn and started to head back in the other direction banking a little to his right.

  “There is a lot of nothing out here,” Drath said.

  “Yes, but that’s a good thing. If you see any lights, it’s more likely to be what we’re looking for.”

  Before too long, they were back at the eastern coast of the country. “Let’s try it again,” George said. “Turn around and bank to the left, and we’ll do another run.”

  They made two more passes, slowly crisscrossing half the continent. It was beginning to look fruitless to Drath, but they had no choice but to keep looking. He was about to say something when George pointed at the viewscreen. “That looks like Lake Eyre.” A huge lake loomed ahead of them. “It’s about the only inland lake that would be that large,” he added.

  “Which way from here?” Drath asked.

  “Tap us to a stop and do an 180 turn,” George said. “We are way too far south.” Drath followed his navigator’s instructions,

  “Now keep an eye for some lights. There should be the city of Marree down there someplace.

  In a few seconds, they located the city lights looming in the distance. They had lost more altitude, and they could make out roadways lit by streetlamps and fencelines separating crops from pastureland. The view screen was still displaying in subdued colors even though the sun was completely gone.

  “We need to get some altitude now,” George commented. Drath slid his finger up the bar on the left. He did it slowly and lightly. They didn’t go into orbit. “Nicely done, you’re getting the hang of it.”

  Drath nodded in agreement. “Now where to?” he asked.

  Follow that faint line of lights in that direction. It should lead towards Birdsville. We are over the Birdsville track now. From there we can follow Route 25 up to the complex. “George patted Drath on the back. “We’re practically home.”

  They followed the faint road until it turned to dirt and faded away. Continuing in that direction they scanned the barren outback for the small town of Birdsville. In the distance, one or two lights twinkled. The small town had a landing strip and a small control tower that had a blinking light.

  “That’s got to be it,” George guessed.

  “It’s not much of a town,” Drath said.

  “If there is a paved road heading to our left, that’s Route 25. It will lead to Glass Research.” Sure enough, as they approached the desert town, they saw a paved road trail off to the left, north, toward the complex. Drath swung the ship into a bank to followed Route 25.

  “Nice navigating, Captain Hanlon,” Drath saluted.

  “It’s just part of a day’s work,” George said, but both of them knew they were very lucky to have found their way back.

  “How long have we been away?” Drath asked.

  “About two and a half hours. Glass is probably pulling his hair out,” George said, “We better pick up the dive speed. Just press the nose of the outline.”

  The angle of dive increased, and the speed picked up. Following the lazy turns of Route 25 was actually fun. It gave Drath even more experience controlling the ship. Before too long they were above the main hanger’s entrance. Drath tapped the ship to a stop and fingered the altitude slider down slowly.

  “It won’t touch the ground,” George reminded him. “There is a proximity sensor.”

  Drath nodded but stopped the descent at about ten feet above the tarmac. He rotated the craft to face the hanger doors. They were still open, and then nosed Mother into the building. Glass and the two security men were standing watch, and pulled the hanger doors closed as they entered.

  “You’ve been gone a long time,” Glass said as the two of them exited Mother. “I was worried.” He had a look on his face that Drath couldn’t quite put a finger on. Was he upset, angry or truly concerned?

  “I gave Drath a good shakedown on the flight systems.” George said, “We circled the complex a few extra times to get him used to it.”

  Glass ran his hand through his hair. “I was about to send out a search plane.”

  Drath wondered what Glass was thinking. Was he worried about them, or was he worried about Mother? He figured that Mother was more important to him.

  “Glass looked over to Drath, “Do you understand the craft a little better now?”

  “Yes, it’s incredibly complicated and simple at the same time,” Drath said. “It was definitely designed for the ease of the pilot.”

  “Anything else?” Glass asked, perhaps expecting some new revelation on the ship.

  Drath searched for the words to say what he was thinking. “My gut feeling is that all the systems were designed for ease of the pilot. If that’s the case, we may be over thinking how to operate the warp and navigation systems.”

  “That’s an interesting observation,” Glass said. “Did you get enough fly time circling the complex?” The way he said circling the complex made him wonder if Glass had suspicions that they gone joy riding.

  Drath considered how to answer. “Yes, George is a good teacher. I think he covered everything.”

  “The truth is,” George said. “Drath did most of the flying. He’s a natural pilot,”

  He didn’t lie, Drath thought. That was the truth, but not the whole truth.

  “Good. I hope it helps you both in preparing for whatever comes next. We’ll eventually need to test drive one of the ships at warp speeds.”

  “Every experience flying Mother helps,” George said. “She’s just like a woman, no matter how well you get to know her, there are always more secrets!”

  Glass tried to smile at the remark, but it looked a little sour. Drath figured Glass wouldn’t allow any more flights in Mother.

  The next morning The Warp Team met in the office to review the data that George’s computer was converting to spreadsheet readable data.

  “How was your night?” Helen asked. “I was wondering if you’d call to review that pulser folder that I gave you.”

  “Oh, I never got to that,” Drath said. “George talked Glass into letting him take mother out of the hanger.”

  Helen's eyebrows rose in disbelief, “How’d he manage that?” she asked.

  “He used me,” Drath said. “He told Glass I needed experience behind the wheel.”

 

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