Chapter 10: All Alone?

Rowland with Delilah by his side watched as Fifth Division lifted off. For a moment Rowland thought he might cry. He shook his head, told himself “Everything will be all right!” He giggled. The Fifth Division was meeting with the other divisions from Earth just to the Right of the moon. Rowland could hear from behind about 40 feet away an excited Jeffrey talking on the radio with Paul. They were on time and had all the 280 ships full.

The two hundred eighty ships had been taken to Guymon and left there with forty cadets from the Watchers on Monday night a week ago. The word went out for volunteers to help put on a recruiting show in Guymon a hundred miles north of Amarillo Texas. The plan was to meet at Prairie Elementary at 6:00 PM Central Daylight Time on July 31, 2023.

Two hundred and forty-seven Cadets showed up at the 5th Division a little after 4 PM. Many of these were from the 1st Division and WO 4 Jerry Taylor along with his team of twelve also came by in his new supertanker, “Rowland what if we left some trainers in Guymon along with the 280 ships.” Delilah suggested. They were looking at the listing of ships. It was heavy on 336s (210) and 446s (74) with eighty 885s and forty 995s. Two 775s-Ds and a Dozen new 667s and a dozen 556s along with fourteen 226s. (Each of the 885s and 775s came with two 336s onboard.) For a total of 444 ships.

Rowland stood before the 1,500 possible Cadets and had Jacob, Delilah, Tom, Jerry, and his four brothers standing up before the Guymon crowd. There were bleachers on the sides of the gymnasium then another set above them on the sides and ends. The double basketball court was covered with chairs. Rowland wondered if this building was the largest one in Guymon.

“Welcome. I would like to introduce the reason it looks like we have been invaded. Stand up Bill, Pete, Quin, Susie, Brad, and Sam. Who wants to do a little public speaking? Both Sam and Susie raised their hands. The principal motioned the two to come to him. “You’re on.” Principle Gage said.

Susie took the mic first, “There are about twenty of us that play baseball over in Veteran’s Park where the diamond is. We were playing one day, and Sam here hit a foul ball. When Bill went after it, he found the ball and said, come see this. So, we went into the bushes and there was a black box. We checked it out and I figured out how to open the door. Two engineers from Lockheed have learned from me how to open the Black Boxes. They told me they think there are around two hundred all over the world. The six of us have a job, but we need some help to retrieve them and bring them to the 5th Division Headquarters in Amarillo and take some to Lockheed.” She handed the mic to Sam.

Susie, our baseball queen figured out how to open the door. We guys all got our baseball bats or a club and we went into the ship to make sure it was safe. Quin figured out how to turn things on. Brad and Pete figured out how to get the screens on, Quin hit a big button and the door shut, the lights inside came on, and we were off the ground turning around to move out of the trees.

“Weren’t you scared?” Someone asked.

“No not at that time. Scared comes later.” Sam said. The audience laughed.

So, we flew around the park, and Pete and Quin asked, “Where do, we want to go?”

Someone said, “How about Amarillo?”

“To tell you the truth, I think we got lost and we were a mile up almost instantly.”

“That’s when we heard General Rowland tell someone to blow the black box out of the sky.”

“I noticed a thing that looks like a TV Remote. Then First Lieutenant Ronny Taylor gave us 5 seconds to answer.”

Bill grabbed the mic, “That’s when I said, “Don’t shoot, we are from Earth, out for a joy ride. That’s when we were SCARED.” The audience laughed again.

Rowland grabbed the mic and waited for the applause to die down, “In six years we have had 3 or 4 close calls with Friendly Fire. I’m happy to say to date we have not lost a Cadet or other humans in any of our actions. My brother Ronny Taylor, please stand. When a Cadet saves another human, we often reward them. Lieutenant Ronny Taylor, you saved six humans today and will be awarded by being allowed to sit for the test of Captain’s Rank. The six kids from Guymon stood and shouted and cheered. Ronny’s face was smiles from ear to ear. The place wanted to make some noise and they did. It took Rowland many minutes to get control again.

Principle Sam Gage looked towards Rowland and smiled, nodding his agreement.

“Let’s start with some questions. How many of you have seen 10 or more hours of stuff on TV regarding the Space Cadets? Raise your hands please.” Almost everyone in the gymnasium raised their hands. “Fifty or more hours?” Rowland got almost 90%. At the last school, they were at, someone complained that they knew everything because of what they had seen on TV.

“How many have been to the Space Cadets Web Site?” Again, into the 90%. Rowland was amazed.

Above and behind him were all the Cadets that he had brought. He looked to Tom and showed Tom ten fingers. Tom looked up to Paul and showed him the ten fingers.

“Questions? Please stand and speak so everyone can hear you.

A girl stood and raised her arm. Rowland looked at her and pointed, “Yes?”

“I’m Dalene Simmons, I’m ten years old. Can I become a Cadet?”

“Question: I’m ten years old, can I become a cadet? With your two parents or parents’ permission, YES!”

Rowland pointed to another, “I have to have glasses to see 20/20. I’m 11, can I?” Rowland nodded and spoke loudly, “Need Glasses: YES, you can become a Cadet!”

“I want to play sports; can I be a Cadet also?”

“YES! We give school and education top priority second only if Earth is being threatened.”

“I’m a 9-year-old girl and I want to go to College. Can I be an officer?” Rowland smiled, “YES!”

“Girls, if you have been to our website, look up Generals Lucy Taylor, Mona Jackson, and Ceca Yellow hair. Also, look up Colonels Teri and Fannie Wilcox. We only have about 25% of our Cadets female. Of our officer corps, they comprise 31%. Of our Full Bird Colonels and Generals, they comprise 45%. If you love math and science, maybe you belong in Space.

A young man maybe 17 stood up, “Do Cadets get Paid?”

“I’m a one-star General, I make more than a general or admiral in the other three services. You will find on our website a pay schedule. If you promise to go to college, we will make you an officer. When you have two years of service, we will pay for tuition, reimburse you for books and supplies, and give you a housing and food allowance. We will also work with you to become part-time enabling you to work swing or graveyard shifts. I will be entering the University of Washington in the fall. We have dominated an Aerospace Program there and many of our Upperclassmen are building a big Spaceship for their Ph.Ds. Think of an Enterprise size ship that will hold 400 and go around to other Galaxies’.”

“Principal Gage.”

“Yes General?”

Tom took over answering questions.

Rowland faced Mr. Gage, “I plan to leave forty volunteers here for a week to ten days to get this base up to speed. Can we use this gym as a base until we find something here in Guymon?”

The president of the school board is here, let me ask him. The principal returned with a man, “General Rowland this is Archibald Lewis the President of our School board.”

Rowland stood up and offered his hand to, “Mr. Lewis.”

“General Taylor.” The two men shook hands with Mr. Lewis smiling. The day after midterms or finals, Rowland would exercise by squeezing a tennis ball. Sometimes when he studied, he also would squeeze the ball. He got to a point where he could crush an apple with either hand.

“Sir, you will find out the Space Cadets are not as stuffy as other military organizations. The Commandant has set the standard by asking others to call him General Frank. Please call me General Rowland or in a sit-down meeting such as today, Rowland is fine, Sir.”

“I appreciate what you said to the girls. I have a boy who is 14, and twin girls who are 12. My wife and I started out wanting four but after the twins were born, her attitude changed to me carrying the next one to term.” Mr. Lewis chuckled.

Both the Principal and Rowland also chuckled.

“Have you married General Rowland?” Mr. Lewis asked

“Yes, sir. I asked my childhood sweetheart to marry me over a thousand times starting when we were five. She said yes, a thousand times. We both graduated in the top five in our class. We have married a few weeks ago.”

“Is she a Cadet, General Rowland?” Mr. Lewis asked.

“Captain Delilah please join us.” Rowland said, When Delilah neared the table, “Gentlemen, this is my wife, Captain Delilah Taylor. Delilah, this is the Principal Samuel Gage, and this is Mr. Archibald Lewis the President of the School Board.”

Delilah reached out and shook both hands then sat next to Rowland, “Very nice to meet you, gentlemen.”

“Captain, do we have a count on the number here?”

“At least 3,000, Sir.” Delilah watched Rowland’s face, “Sir, we have General Ceca coming with twelve brand new 775-Es. She should be here any minute Sir. She is training 12 new pilots for the Galactic run. She also has five thousand blank applications.”

“Gentlemen, do you have anybody else that might want to go around the moon today?”

Both gentlemen reached into their pockets and pulled out phones. The school board, the city council, the Mayer, and Fire Chief, and Fire House Four. During the next hour, almost two thousand people showed up at the school.

Delilah handed Rowland one of a hundred small radio devices, “Listen up. This is Rowland, let’s go around the moon. Start loading up when we have seats full on a ship then have them take off. Please have a new cadet in every pilot seat. Any questions give me a call.”

“One more thing, General Ceca is coming with 12 new 775Es with pilots in training. We should have room for over five thousand cadets, parents, relatives, and friends.”

“General Rowland, I see her on the horizon to the NW.” Chief Jacob said.

“Thank you, Chief. 10/4.”

At Nine PM the moon had been seen by an additional 5,000 (to be exact 5,143) moms, dads, and in a few cases grandparents, along with 2,967 potential cadets, “Mr. Lewis Sir, can we use this room until we find a suitable place for the Special Operations Battalion of the Fourth Division?”

“Yes, I talked with the school board. You have until January 1, 2024. I do have a warehouse/storefront that might work. A Farm equipment company was in there and they built the building and owned the land. I pay the bank $1,700 a month, cover that and you can have it for 20 years. It’s on a ten-acre lot and I know the owner of the ten acres next door.”

“How much is this going to affect our economy?” The principal asked. He looked at another board member that was still at the table.

“We estimate at a thousand dollars a cadet. 3,000 cadets would mean three million dollars a month.” Rowland said. The other Board member had been introduced as Stew. When Rowland said three million Stew had coffee come out of his nose.

Delilah handed Stew three paper napkins, “Thank you!” He spoke.

The Cadets had put the bleachers on the lower level away. All chairs had been put on racks and moved behind the bleachers. The room had been swept and everything put back to the clean normal when they had arrived.

“What’s the plan Tom, Jacob?” Rowland asked.

We are going to head back to the 5th Division and crash. Tomorrow we will be back at 7:00 AM to carry on Sir.”

“Before you leave get some Cadets to remove the rest of the blank applications from Heidy. Do you know where they are?”

“Yes, Sir I do.” Tom smiled.

“Anything else Captain Tom?” Rowland asked.

“Yes, what role will the Special Operations play.”

“They will have only one day a week or two days a month as watchers. They will be our reserve. When they are called to the battle, then we all will know we are in deep dodo.”

“Who’s after them?” Stew asked.

“The Russians, the Chinese, and the Indians. Those three will make up another ten to thirty thousand.”

“VOLUNTEERS, Thank you. I know we all feel like we just completed a marathon. What we did accomplish was the birth of the Special Operations Battalion of the 4th Division. If you were old enough to smoke, I’d give you all a cigar to celebrate this birth.” Rowland made it like he was smoking a cigar. We did Great. Thank you again.” Rowland sat down.

“Your welcome Boss!”

“Chief, can I help you?”

“Sir, I thank you. That has been the most fun I’ve had in a long time?”

“Not bad for day one.” Rowland laughed, “Gentlemen this is Chief Jacob Forrester he is an honored Veteran of the Navy, flying helicopters for 15 years, and was recommended to give the Space Cadets a try. So Chief, what do you think of a 775-D?”

“Greatest machine in the world. I can’t wait until I’m going 18,000 light-years per hour. Those kids, sorry, young men and women are making this world a different place. My God. I have never laughed so much or so hard in a long time. The 775 is a dream. The AIs are as smart as we are.”

“Their IQs are around 200 plus or minus. They still make mistakes once in a while but don’t we all.

“What’s the plan General?” Tom asked.

“Step one, get each cadet fully trained and Certified. Let them become the teacher. As soon as you have time start by going through all these applications. Make sure they are signed by both parents. If only one, then call them up. As the other volunteers pass their ships off to pilots and they join you finish the applications. Tomorrow is day one, by day four all four hundred and forty-four ships are training others. The second target is for all cadets to have a certification. Shoot for all cadets having three certifications before the end of August. Also, have everyone once certified take a ship home overnight and or the weekend and take their families around the moon or the world. Have them teach their family members or best friends how to fly.”