Greg Scopes eyes opened, he shot up in his bed. He looked to his alarm clock. It took a few moments for his vision to clear, far more than it did when he was younger.  8:29, that’s what the clock read, one minute before it was set to go off. He reached over and shut off the clock. He did not like the shrill nose it made, even if it was what woke him up. Today he needed no reason to wake up. Today was the last test fire of his life’s work. The Sarah J was to be test launched, for the last time. Soon the ship would join with the drive section. Then, the biggest adventure in human history would begin. Greg often worked hard to not feel the gravity if his labors, he just wrote it off as another piece of work.  The reality was he and 4300 other individuals were about to leave earth, and venture into the unknown. The other funny part was than he always had a hard time going to sleep before a big day. Last night, he drifted off in no time.  It was to be a day of precedence, he hoped.  

Greg swung his legs over the edge of the bed and glanced around. The room was almost completely bare. All that was left in his bedroom was a briefcase and a small duffle bag. Most of his stuff had already been moved to the Sarah J, as well as most of his daughters’ things. He stretched and stood up, he grabbed the jumpsuit folded over the duffle and headed for the bathroom for his shower. He dropped the jumpsuit on the sink and turned on the shower.  As he climbed in the hot water brought a welcome sense of relief to his sore and tight mussels. For several minutes he just stood under the shower head, and then a sound caught his attention.  He opened his eyes; did he just hear his phone? He closed his eyes and listened intently. There it was a again, he could not quite tell over the shower noise, but it sounded like the emergency alert tone on his phone.  “it’s probably a drill” he thought. Greg reached down and shut off the shower and grabbed the towel.  He decided to check it anyway. He walked into the living room where he left his phone most of the time, sitting on the coffee table. He dried his hands and picked up the phone. Greg caught his reflection in the living room mirror. He looked at his body. “well, I may not be the man I used to be but, still pretty good for 46.” He stood at six feet tall and was quite stocky but always maintained a steady workout routine.  He had a little more grey in his hair than he like but, all things considered, he was far healthier than he was in his twenties. The phone beeped again. He looked down and read the text on the screen.

        *Emergency code: 233*

        “What the heck is code 233?” he mumbled. Greg keyed in a request for conformation, it would buy him enough time to finish his shower, confirms took several minutes to get. He dropped the phone and headed back to the bathroom. Before he could get to the door, the phone went off again. An uneasy feeling began to creep into his mind. He turned to look at the phone on the coffee table. Greg walked over to the phone and read the picked it up.

        *General Capps order confirmed*

        At that moment the phone lit up showing an incoming call. The only thing on the screen was a call by a blocked number. “You can’t have a blocked number on this system, it was a closed network.” He said to himself. He hit answer and held the phone to his ear. “Hello?” A rough voice answered “Greg, thank god!” “Cappy? How did you get a non-networked phone on the---“.  “Shut up and listen!” Cappy interrupted.  “ I ordered a 233.” “yeah, I read that, which one is that again?” there was a deep sigh from the other end of the phone. “I should have known better than to think you would read the code manual.” General Douglas Capps, or Cappy as far as Greg was concerned, had a tension level in his voice that Greg had never heard before and it made him very nervous.  They had been friends for 22 years and been together on the Sarah J since the beginning. “the 233 is an emergency launch.” The blood drained from Greg’s face. “what? That’s impossible. We don’t launch till Friday, it’s Monday Cappy!” Cappy interrupted again. “I don’t have time to explain, I have sent a car to collect you and transport you to the Moby hanger, there you will launch immediately and join with the Sarah J in orbit.” Greg’s head was spinning. The doorbell rang. “is that them?” Cappy asked. “yeah” Greg answered. “Cappy, what about Kara and Benny?” .  “ I sent a car for them too, they have already picked them up and are headed to the hanger.”  At this point Greg was pulling on his jump suit when the doorbell rang again. “Ok, I will launch and come pick you up at launch command.” Said Greg. “NO! You launch and proceed directly to orbit, the Sarah J has already began its 10 minuet countdown, it won’t be stopped.” “but Cappy----“ the line clicked off. The doorbell rang again. “Crap! I’m coming!” he yelled. Greg scrambled to get his shoes on and then grabbed his brief case and duffle. Greg set them down by the front door then opened it to two soldiers in uniform. “sir, we have orders---“ “I know why you are here, now take these to the car, I have to get my daughters stuff.”  The solders looked at each other and each grabbed a piece of luggage. Greg ran to his daughter’s room, he swung open the door hoping and praying that Kara had listened to him for once.

        “thank God” he said, there was one bag next to the bed, other than that the room looked very much like his, bare except for a bed and a nightstand.  He grabbed the pink duffle with a Darth Vader patch sewn to the side and headed for the door. As he stepped outside the sunlight shocked his eyes.  Waiting at the end of the driveway was a black S.U.V. A soldier stood by the back passenger door with it open. He threw the bag in and climbed inside. The solder closed the door and then the vehicle suddenly accelerated. The driver was clearly in a hurry. He turned on a siren and flashing lights. Greg looked around at the neighborhood, not unlike the one he grew up in. it was full of small two or three bedroom houses, all that looked very much the same. This was a military base after all. The thing was, the neighborhood was, abandoned.  Not a soul walked the streets. Normally, at this time of the morning, the streets were full of people, parents walking their kids’ to school, people walking dogs or folks cutting the grass. “Hey, soldier! Where is everyone?”  The soldier answered over his shoulder as he drove, very fast. “They are all being evacuated to the shelters sir.” “Shelter? What shelter?” Greg asked as he held on to the handle during a tight turn. “We are almost there, sir.” And that was a polite military brush off, either he didn’t know, or he figured Greg did not need to know. The SUV came to a screeching halt in front of a huge hanger. The thing looked like it could hold an entire football stadium. The red painted wall loomed into the sky. Another soldier appeared by the door and opened it before Greg had a chance. “this way sir.” Greg handed him both duffels and grabbed his briefcase. “I know the way son.”  They walked and half jogged to a small white door at the front of the massive building. Now came the long process of I.D. check in. There were at least five points where he would need to show his I.D. and give either a code response, a hand print scan, a rental scan, a signature scan or a voice I.D. the combination changed daily. Cappys’ security protocols were renowned for their efficiency.  The door opened and they stepped in the building. Instead of a check station there was another open door.  They headed through several more stationed that were un- manned.  This was making Greg more and more nervous. Soon they approached a large grey door. Two armed guards stood next to the door, in full combat armor. This was the main entrance to the Moby’s’ hanger. As they approached one of the guards stepped over and opened the door. “good luck doctor” he said. Greg recognized the guard. His name was Fitz. A young solier who had been at the hanger for two years. “Fitz, what’s going on man?” Fitz looked at the escort who look back at him sternly. “I am not sure Doc. I just know you need to launch immediately. Kara and benny are waiting for you.”  Greg nodded and slapped him on the shoulder. “okay, thanks Fitz.”  He stepped through the door behind his escort.

        They entered a huge open space onto a catwalk suspended above a concrete floor. Below them are as many as a dozen offices made of partitions. There were no windows and the only source of light were massive florescent light fixtures suspended high in the ceiling. Past the offices was a large open floor where the Moby sat. The area was completely abandoned except for Greg and his escort and three people standing next to the Moby.  The Moby was Greg’s pet project.  Big and white, it was named for Moby Dick, as in the great white whale.  His first attempt at the D.G.D. (Dump charge gravity drive) Ultimately, it was decided that the DGD was too inefficient for a large space vessel. The TGD ( Trickle charge gravity drive) was decided to be better for the Sarah J.  The Moby, however, was a perfect candidate for the DGD.  It was the sive a a large SUV. Fitted for space travel, it was built on a Ford excursion chassis, with advanced electronics and flight computers as well as a Heads up display. From the running board up, the Moby looked like a typical Excursion, from the running board down however, it looked like nothing else. The Moby had no wheels, instead it sat atop to cylindrical tubes that ran the length of the craft. Below that, were two landing struts and thruster ports stuck out in several directions.  As Greg approached the Moby his daughter looked up and saw him coming. “DAD!” she ran towards him and jumped into his arms. “Hi honey.” “Dad, what’s  going on?” He looked at her shrugged his shoulders “I don’t know honey, but I do need we need to go, I brought your bag” he pointed to the pink bag under the escorts arm. She looked at it and then back at her dad. Greg hoped the worry did not show through his expressions, but he knew Kara was pretty good at reading him, even at ten years old.  The escort handed the bag to Kara and she headed for the Moby. “climb in the back passenger side Kara.” Greg said. “okay dad.” Benny strolled up next to Greg. He shook Greg’s hand and looked at him in the eye. “dude, what’s up.” Benny was Greg’s friend and Kara’s baby sitter. His job was to follow Kara around everywhere she went. At Kara’s age, it was not a big deal but Greg knew it was going to be harder on her as she got older. Still Cappy insited on it. At first Greg was adamantly opposed to it, But Cappy would not back off. Over the three years that Benny  had been in his employ and ha had become part of the family. “I don’t know Benny. But we need to launch now.” He took the bag from the escort and handed it to him. “did you get your bag?” Benny smiled and responded “yeah, it took some convincing but the driver was kind enough to stop by my place.” “Sirs, yall need to leave.” Chimed in the Soldier. “okay, Benny climb in the passenger side. I will need you to co-pilot.” Benny nodded and headed for the Moby. Greg looked at the young soldier and then to the other one who brought Kara and Benny. “thank you, and good luck” he shook their hands and stepped up to the Moby. He stepped up and opened the door to the ship and climbed in. The cockpit was very similar to the original desighn. Of course the dashboard was replaced by a bank of gauges and switches. The seats had been replaced with bucket seats and five point harnesses. The glass and doors had been replaced by reinforced titanium and transparent aluminum, as well as the body being reinforced completely. The rear seats had also been replaced with appropriate hardware.  As he began the start-up sequences , his mind raced, why or what would prompt such a panic, it did not make any sense. What on Gods green earth would drive Cappy to abandon all his protocols, stuff he adhered to religiously! There was only one way to find out. “dad where are we going?” he turned to look at his daughter and smiled. “We are going to get uncle Cappy.” He turned back to the controls and flipped a few switches. “All power levels are in the green” Said Benny. “okay, everyone buckled in?” “yes” they said in unison. Greg grabbed the yoke and power lever. He pulled up on the lever and the craft began slowly and silently ascending. “isn’t Cappy in the command center?” Benny asked. “and isn’t that a no fly zone?” Greg looked at the instrument cluster and said “not today”. Greg typed in the code to open the roof door, before he could finish the code, the door began opening. He applied power to the aft thrusters. The craft shot forward and left the structure.

        The radio came to life as they flew. “T-minus five minuets, mark.” Said a voice.  “Is that the test launch they are talking about?” benny asked. “No, that the real deal.”  Responded Greg. “but, I thought that was Friday. Dude, what’s the deal, they were bussing kids out of the school to a “shelter” when the car showed up to get us.”  Greg looked at Benny. “Did you find anything else?”  Benny shook his head no. “something about a drill.” At the mention of a drill put a tiny bit of hope in Greg’s mind as he maneuvered the craft towards the command center. It suddenly  occurred to Greg that he never cleared his flight with flight control. That small bit of hope suddenly disappeared when he realized flight control was not barking at him for forgetting to check in, again. “check the flight control channel” said Greg.  Benny flipped a switch and started listening for com traffic. Benny face suddenly twisted into a look Greg knew was confusion. “what?” Benny looked at Greg. “Nothing”  “what do mean nothing?” “I mean nothing, no com traffic at all. Greg, what’s going on?” Greg did not answer. “stand by for landing.” He saw the command center and his landing spot.

        The command center was an old air traffic control building. Now however, there were missile placments and AA guns on the roof. The landing platform was at the base of the tower, made for helicopters, it was a perfect place for the Moby. When the craft touched down on the pad and  he switched off the drive thrusters. He turned and pointed at Benny and Kara. “you two, will stay here. Am I clear? I mean it!” “yeah, sure dad. This is, after all my first ride in the Moby.” It occurred to Greg that it was. “well we have to make it memorable.” He smiled as best he could. Greg unhooked his belts and opened the door then climbed out. Kara watched his dad walk towards the main door. She knew something was wrong, she did not know what but she knew her daddy. “Benny? What’s  the deal, seriously .”she was giving him the look. Benny knew this look. It was the “I don’t want a line of crap” look. He forced a laugh and said “I don’t know, but I am sure its nothing.” “I don’t buy that.” She retorted and looked away out the window with that sour face she would take when she was being given a “kids answer” as she put it. “she is was too smart for  ten year old” he thought. Took after her father he guessed.

        Greg walked towards the main door. Normally there were a host of guards here but today, there was only one. He headed to the door when the guard stepped in front of him. “I’m sorry sir, you are not allowed in.” Greg stood back and was surprised that this was the only closed door he had come across all day. “Do you know who I am?” he asked. “Yes, that why you’re not allowed sir.”  “Me, not allowed?  “yes sir, the general was very specific.”  The soldiers face showed signs of worry, almost fear. “if I just walk though you and go up anyway, are you going to shoot me?” “sir?” “look son, I am going up there and you are going to have to shoot me to stop me, understand?” “I, uh, I, no sir.” Greg put his hand his shoulder. “look kid, things are falling apart around here and I need to talk to Cappy.” The soldiers brow furrowed. “The general.”  Just then the door opened. The guard turned to see Col. Nathan Wilson. “Sir!” the young guard stood at attention.  “At ease Sargent” he responded. Nathan turned to Greg. “Doctor.” He said plainly. “Nathan” He always used his first name because it bothered him. Greg and Nathan had a history of not getting along. Greg often wondered why Cappy insisted that the major was his second in command.  Greg always thought that he was an uptight squared away jarhead. His only emotion was protocol. On the other side of the argument, Nathan had a very low opinion of Greg. He felt he was an undisciplined slacker that rarely lived up to his potential. To soft was the comment he used most, to the General. “I suppose you here to defy the Generals orders and try and get him out of here.” Greg shot back. “Look, I am not military and I don’t follow orders, so move or I will move you. I am talking to Cappy.”  The Col. Stared for a moment. Greg almost thought he saw a smile. “as much as I would like to see that, I happen to agree, the General needs to evacuate.” Greg was stumped. Him and the Col. Agreeing on something, something was definitely wrong. The Col.  Stepped aside and held out his hand, gesturing to Greg to step on. Greg reluctantly did. As the doors closed Greg finally broke the silence. “what’s going on?” Nathan stiffened and said “I don’t know.” “don’t feed me that crap, your second in command, now spill it.”  “The General  had me attending the start the test launch when the 233 was ordered. He contacted me to remain and supervise the actual launch, made it an order and then cut the com line.” Greg stared at the button panel. “Wow, he froze both of us out. We need to know what’s going.” The Col. Turned to Greg  “in three minutes the ship launches.” It struck Greg like a ton of bricks. In three minuets his life’s work was about to take to space. “ my Crew knows their job, they will get her in the air. My goal is to make sure Cappy is the military leader of our expedition.” Greg instantly felt bad, that was a little unnecessary. “Well, if it comforts you any I agree” retorted Nathan. They rode the rest of the way up in silence. The door opened to chaos.

        The room a hectic mess of activity. People were shouting and running from monitor to monitor.  The conversations were almost impossible to discern. Both Greg and Nathan were visibly shaken. Nobody even noticed their arrival. There were several banks of computer monitors and work stations, all faced the big open window that faced the lunch dome. The dome loomed in the distance, a massive structure built solely for the launch of the Sarah J. At the main monitor a large burly man stood watching graphics on the screen. His face was wracked with worry. His bald head was drench with sweat. He was a product a Cajun cooking, being born in New Orleans he never could turn down a plate of Cajun goodness, hence his thick appearance. He suddenly turned and saw both men standing by the door. He placed his hand on his large forehead and sighed deeply. He should have known they would not listen. Cappy pointed to both of them and then pointed at his office then said in a loud voice, loud enough the stop the whole room. “My office now!”  The two walked into the Generals office followed by the man himself. Cappy slammed the door hard enough to almost break the glass. “What the hell are you two doing here!” Cappy yelled. “Sir, we are to get you to the Moby.”  Replied Nathan.  “Cappy” Greg said “Please, tell us what’s going on?” the generals angered face softened a bit. “Alright, but then you two are going to go right back to the Moby and get the hell off this planet. Is that clear?!” there was silence from both of them. “Ugh, like you two would listen.” The General sat his large frame into his chair behind the desk. Clearly fatigued by the days events. He sighed and then began. “Two hours ago the Federalists sent a communication to the republic council. Either they destroy this facility and every one in it or they would launch a nuclear strike against us.” The silence was deafening. “The council decided they had no other choice, they activated the self-destruction protocols. They chose not to tell us anything. When we discovered it, we were able to deactivate the system.  Somehow, the federalist found out and launched the strike. The council panicked. They contacted us and explained the situation. It was then decided to launch a retaliation strike, A full strike. The interceptors were able to knock down the first wave but the damage was done. A full nuclear strike was started. The council ordered me to get the Sarah J off the planet.”  A voice chimed in over the intercom. “t-minus 1 minuet, mark.” Both men stood, clearly shaken. “in essence gentlemen, the Sarah J is our last hope for our continued survival.” Greg spoke up first. “that does not explain why you are not coming.”  “I can’t stay, Greg.  It’s going to take all my know how and contacts to make sure you get off earth and away.” Nathan spoke up next. “I can stay General.” Cappy looked at his young officer. “No you can’t, you have neither the experience nor the contact to make this happen. Besides I need you to command the military attachment of the expedition.”  At this point, Greg would have made a scene of an objection. But he was too stunned. Nathan was a stone wall. “I understand sir.” “now  Col. I know you well enough to know you object passionately. However you will follow my orders.” Cappy opened a drawr and reached inside. He pulled out a small black box, about the size of a VHS casset tape. He stood and handed it to Greg. “Don’t open that till you are clear of the solar system, then only together, understood?” they both nodded in agreement. The ICBMs are still 32 minutes out for first detonation. We will take shelter in the bunkers but, who’s to say how that will play out. The Russian federation and the European Union have launched devises as well, so, we shall see. We may yet pull though this. I take comfort in knowing the Sarah J will start it’s journey. Now let’s watch your babies launch. They left the office in silence. The shock of the information was surreal. They walked over to the window, in time to hear the intercom counting down. “9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1, launch!” there was a rumbling in the ground, fire began pouring from the vent ports around the dome. A silver point began rising from the caldera of the dome. The mighty vessel slowly began rising form its superstructure. Despite all they had learned, the view was hypnotic. The Sarah J was climbing. Soon her booster rockets revealed themselves. The vessel continued to climb. Several moments later, the General turned to the men. “now go, please.”  Greg looked at his friend of 22 years, tears in his eyes. “Cappy.” Cappy grabbed his friend and wrapped his meaty arms around him. “take care my friend, and save the human race, and tell Kara I love her.” Greg stood back. “I will.” The General turned to Nathan. “Remember what I taught you, and be better than us.”  He said. The Col. Stood stone faced. He snapped to attention and saluted. “Sir, yes sir!” suddenly the whole room stood and saluted. The old man stood and squared his shoulders. He raised a thick hand to his brow. “Dismissed!  Now Sargent, see these men to the Moby.” They looked at each other and then turned to the to the elevator doors. A soldier followed them. As they stepped on to the elevator they turned to get one more look and their friend. The General was busy giving orders and watching monitors. As the doors closed Nathan overheard one of the techs. “Sir, two missiles have made it through the defenses, 21 minutes to impact.” The doors closed. Cappy looked to the elevator doors. “Understood lieutenant. What’s the Sarah J’s progress?” A man at a computer console looked up. “Sir, Five by five.” The General looked around the room. “All right! I want this room cleared, all down to the shelter, now! We will monitor them from there.”

        The doors opened and Greg and Nathan stepped out on to the landing platform.  “Good luck sirs’’ said the Sargent. He stepped back and pushed a button. The doors closed. “We need to go.” Said Nathan. “yeah, I know.” Replied Greg. They made their way to the Moby, At the sight of his daughters face, Greg felt a strange sense of hope. Greg climbed in the driver seat and Nathan took his position in the driver side rear seat. “Nathan, do you need anything before we take off?” Greg asked. “No, let’s just get the hell out of here.” The doors closed and Greg started the engines. He pointed the nose of the Moby towards the sky, the trail of the Sarah J still visible. Greg grabbed the throttle and pushed it forward. The craft shot upwards following the space craft.

Cappy stood in the control room as he watched the Moby shoot towards the heavens. “Good luck Greg, my dear friend.” There were only four people left in the control room. “Sir, we are ready to leave for the shelter.” Said a young lieutenant.  “Go soldier, I will stay here and make sure the Sarah J makes orbit.” The three other people in the room looked at each other and then retook their positions.  “I believe I told you to go for the shelters.”  The lieutenant looked quickly at the two others and responded. “Sir, you are going to need all the help you can get, so, no sir.” The old general looked at the three officers and sighed. “You know, with as well as people listen to me it’s a wonder I ever got anywhere. Very well, let’s make sure Sarah gets to where she needs to be. ““Sir!” one of the officers clearly had something to say. “Go ahead Captain.”  “I have picked up three more ICBMs.”  The General turned to the soldier and smiled. “Well, one is all they need captain.”  “No sir, that’s not what I mean, there are three missiles headed away from earth.” “What? Explain!” “Well I am not sure sir but they are headed away from the planet, at great speed.” “Headed where?” asked the general. “I am not sure sir, but if I had to guess, I would have to say….” “Come on Captain, spit it out.” “Well, sir I think it’s headed for Planet X.”  The General seemed like he was hit by something. “dear God, do they know?”

Gregg had his hands on the yoke and had not said a word since they took off. “Dad, are you okay?” Gregg quickly changed his face expression from a stern look to a smile and turned to look at his daughter. “of course baby, just nervous about the Sarah J.” It occurred to him that they had been flying in silence for almost ten minutes and in this group that was bound to unsettle Kara. Normally she would not be able to a word in edgewise. An electronic beeping started from Benny’s console. Gregg looked over at Benny and he was staring into space, a worried look was pasted to his face. “Benny, Benny!”  Benny jumped “Huh, what? Sorry boss, was drifting.” “I noticed, what’s with the alert?”  Benny began typing on the console. “Proximity alert, the radar has picked something entering orbit. Make that two objects entering orbit.” Gregg could hear confusion in Bennie’s voice. Gregg knew what they were, there could be only on possible explanation. “what are they?” Gregg asked. “I don’t know, I have never seen an approach profile like it.” Gregg looked in the rearview mirror. “Nate, have you seen that approach before?” Nathan pulled down a keyboard that was built into the back of Gregg’s seat. It also exposed a screen which Nathan began studding closely. He typed on the keyboard for a few moments. As soom as he read the data he sighed. “Yes, I am afraid I have, ICBM.” Benny immediately turned around and looked at Nathan.” Did you just say ICBM?!” Nathan made eye contact and nodded towards Kara, who was listening intently. “Dad, what’s a ICBM?” Benny, realizing what Nathan was getting at, turned and looked back at his screen and tried to regain some composure. “Nothing sweetie, just something we need to keep an eye on, while we leave orbit.” Responded Gregg. “We, are leaving orbit? I thought we weren’t supposed to leave for another week. I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye to Cindy and Toby.”  “I know baby and I am sorry, I promise I will explain everything but for now you need to trust me, please?” he could see tears welling up in Kara’s eyes and he hurt his heart.  She sniffled and nodded her head. “okay.” She mumbled.

Gregg smiled and looked back to the HUD. An idea stuck Nathan. “Gregg, what would happen if we fired the grav-drive in atmosphere?”  Gregg looked in the mirror. “what?” “the grav-drive, what would happen if we turned it on before we left atmosphere?” Benny turned and looked at Nathan with the unmistakable look of confusion. “Our acceleration would increase exponentially, the resulting G-forces would overtake the inertial dampeners and we would be squished like…..” he stopped himself, remembering Kara was listening. “Well, it would not be great.” Nathan thought for a moment. “I don’t mean full power, Maybe half charge on the capacitors.”  Gregg shook his head. “No, 30% would be the most we could safely dump into the core.” “Okay, what would happen at 30%?” Gregg sighed. “Well, the same thing, except we would probably only lose consciousness for a few moments, but the computer would be driving so we would wake up rocketing through space.” “what else?” Gregg looked in the mirror. “what are you driving at Nathan?”  “what else?” Nathan continued. “Well nothing except for a massive electromagnetic pulse that would wipe out any and all things electronic for at least….” His voice trailed off. What Nathan was driving at suddenly made sense.

 Gregg turned to Benny. “charge the capacitors to 30%. Benny looked at Gregg like he had grown a second head. “have you lost your mind?” Gregg looked at Benny again. “All electronics.”  Then it clicked and benny understood, he turned to Nathan. “I Thought ICBM’s were hardened against that kind of thing. Nathan nodded. “they are to a point, but even they have a threshold limit. From my understanding, it’s well below what the DCD produces.” Gregg flipped several switches and began the DCD startup sequence. “Benny we need to plot a profile in the direction of the drive section.” “I’m on it boss.” He began typing on his keyboard. “Nathan I need you to track our two friends, we need to fire the drive the second after we pass them.” He looked in the mirror back at Nathan. “You do realize if they are armed, there is a possibility of, well you know.” He was trying to not upset Kara any more than she already was.  “They won’t do that till one thousand feet, entry is rough on them so, well, you know.” Gregg looked to benny. “Benny?” He was busy typing so he did not look up. “Almost there boss.” Gregg then turned to his daughter and smiled. “We are going for a little ride sweetie. I know it may be a little scary but it won’t last long, I promise.” She nodded. Nathan was watching the screen. “we will pass them in one minuet and thirty seconds.”  In the distance Gregg could make out two objects, just specs at the moment but soon they would get much bigger. He flipped a switch and the windows began to black out.

 Now they were flying only by the HUD. “The profile is locked in and the capacitors are charged.” Said Benny. “Thirty second count at your command.”  Nathan spoke up. “One minuet to contact.  Go on my count.” Everybody was checking their harness and readying themselves for the coming event.  Gregg turned and looked at Kara. “Hold on tight sweetie.” He smiled. He wished he could find some way to comfort her but the reality was this was the only way to save Cappy and the rest of the facility. There was no guarantee that the Federalist would not launch another salvo but at least these two would be out of commission. Nathan began counting. “Activate profile on my mark, three, two, mark.” Gregg flipped a switch cover up and then flipped the switch under it. “Profile activated.” He took his hands off the yoke as the computer took over. Him and Benny closed their eyes and braced themselves for the sudden acceleration that would most likely render them unconscious. Nathan glanced over at the little girl in the seat next to him. It was clear she was scared, kids were not really his thing but he wondered if there was something he could do. Kara looked up at him and whispered something to him. “Would you hold my hand?” Nathan reluctantly took her small hand and squeezed it reassuringly. She smiled and closed her eyes. He looked back at the screen as the counter reached zero. The ships capacitor dumped its charge into the drive and the craft took off with tremendous acceleration. There was surprisingly little noise when it happened, all you could really hear was shuddering of the ship as it absorbed the strain of the velocity. Gregg felt the G-forces pushing against him as it became hard to breathe. Before he lost consciousness, he prayed. “Please God, keep us safe and please let my math be right, so that we wake up in a few moments.” It all went black.

A soft beeping could be heard as the haze of unconsciousness began to fade. Gregg opened his eyes to the dark interior of the Moby. The only light was that produced by the instrument clusters. “Kara.” He said “Kara, baby, are you okay?” he heard retching and switched on the interior light and looked around. Kara was throwing up, into a small sack. She spit a couple of times and looked at her father weakly. “I threw up.” She said on the verge of tears He smiled “it’s okay Baby, I did that the first time I made a jump, in fact the first several time we tested the drive in atmo. How do you feel?” he reached back and took her hand. “A little dizzy, but okay I guess” She closed the bag and put it on the floor, it began to float. “there is a little door in the back of benny’s seat put it in there. We have no gravity. Do you remember what that means?” she put the bag in the small compartment. “yes, gravity keeps everything down, now everything will float.” “That’s right, if you feel sick again, close your eyes, it will help.” Nathan grunted as he reached up and put his hand on his face. “ugh, that was rough.” Gregg leaned forward and looked in the mirror. “Feeling sick?” “No, I have been exposed to high G’s before, but it been awhile.”  Gregg nodded and looked over at Benny, who was still out cold. He grabbed a barf bag and put it in front of Benny. Benny’s eyes shot open and he put his hand over his mouth, then he noticed the bag and grabbed for it. He began throwing up, a lot. After a few moments he looked to Gregg. “ugh, that sucked. I feel weird.” Gregg pushed a button and the window began to clear. “It’s because you’re weightless.” They were suddenly surrounded by a vast blanket of stars, millions more that can be seen from the earths surface. The majesty of the view kept them in silence for several moments. Gregg had seen it before but it still was awe inspiring. “Velocity is good, so is out profile. We should reach the drive section by tomorrow morning.” Said Gregg. “until then there are rations under your seat if you get hungry. For now we let inertia do it thing and sit tight.”

        Nathan looked behind them and could just make out the earth’s surface.  “Did it work?” Benny was checking his screens. “I can’t tell, there is too much interference.”  Gregg focused on the HUD. “I’m sure it did, but either way, there is nothing we can do for them anyway, we must carry on. “God be with you my friend, you and the rest of humanity” he thought. He was right about one thing, they must carry on. Directly ahead was a giant white globe, the moon. Still more than 13 hours away. Soon they would enter lunar orbit and dock with the drive section. With a little luck, they would meet up with the Sarah J and begin their 100 year journey. Hopefully the way the trip began would not mark the tone for the whole mission. Hopefully, things would be much smoother.

Greg watched his sensor screen carfully, he wanted to make Damn sure the object the Moby was approaching was the Sarah J. He searched diligently for a transponder other than the drive section.