Chapter 15: Spacecraft?

A little side trip to a spaceship manufacturer.

Sam and Mary Kennady walked into the mess hall. There at the big table were John and Jenny with their family. The Admiral and Eddie along with the captain were sitting with them. Sam noticed two of the Marines standing guard as the other two had breakfast. The time was 7:35 AM and the place was about half full. There was a different feeling from the mourning before. This mourning felt more like Joy and happiness, “Sir, may we join you?” Sam asked.

“Yes, go grab some breakfast you two. We just got started.” John was almost laughing. The two were a couple. Mary had some excitement and adrenaline to wear off. Sam got a little sleep.

“Yes, sir!” Sam and Mary both responded.

When Sam and Mary sat down at the table, “The question for this morning is who allowed the ISIS group to get ahold of 144 F-35’s?” John shared.

“Langley, sir!” Sam stated.

“Homeland Security?” The Admiral asked.

“No, sir. The CIA created ISIS and took some of the profits from Afghanistan Drug Sales to fund it. They started by having all the Army Guys and Marines leave their weapons when they were pulled out of Iraq. As soon as they were on the planes, ISIS stepped in with detailed maps and simply dug them up.” Sam reported, “The early pictures of ISIS had them waving US military M-16’s.”

“How could you stomach knowing all this was going on and still do your job?” The captain asked.

“I took assignments that had to do with kidnapping, bank-robbing, and saving fair maidens of the land.” Sam looked at the First Lady.

“Thank you again, Sam, thank you for my life.” Jenny had a big grin on her face.

Sally also said, “Thank you for our mom!”

“I don’t know this story.” Mary Kennady said.

“There was a meeting with my parents and the men they sold me to at a Roadside Motel in Southern Oregon. Sam and three other agents got wind of the meeting. There was a gunfight and Sam, and the other agents were all hit. I was on the floor with another girl. Sam was shot and fell to the floor and pushed his gun to me. I picked it up and killed two of the bad men. He pushed his phone to me, and I figured out how to dial 911.” Jenny looked at John when he squeezed her hand.

“Saved my life and another agent’s life. She never shot a gun and she had never used a phone as we carried before. That day she figured out both. Thank you, First Lady, for saving my life.” Sam shared.

“This family never ceases to amaze me.” Mary said for only Sam to hear, “Thank you, First Lady, I am honored to know you.”

“Were you hurt mom?” Sally asked. She had heard parts of the story, but not so much all at once.

“No, I was the only one that did not get hurt. The four bad guys died, my stepmom and dad died. Two of the FBI agents and the other girl all died. Sam and one other agent were shot so bad they were both unconscious. Sam put me in protective custody then he passed out.” Jenny giggled.

“You boys better watch out, us girls will take over if you don’t do your best and bring heaven to earth,” Eddie said with a big smile.

“Jenny keeps me on the straight and narrow. God willing, we will get there.” John kissed Jenny.

“Here, here! Eddie, you contributed greatly to the win yesterday. All these pilots that stopped rockets, you taught. Our people manning the shield, you taught them too. Thank you from your husband, and the Admiral of this fleet.”

“We will add to that Eddie. Thank you.” John laughed as Eddie wiped a tear away.

Jenny reached over and took one of Eddie’s hands, “With our help, we will see heaven on earth.”

“Mr. President, we have time enough if you want to go visit Lockheed?” The Admiral asked.

“Let’s do that. Who wants to come?” John asked.

“I want to stick with the ship, sir. We have repairs going on all over.” The captain shared.

Willy and Ben traded looks nodding their heads, “We’ll go with you, daddy.” Ben said for both.

“We’ll stay with mom,” Sally said to the girls after a quick discussion.

“I think I am supposed to go with you. But I need to get Lily.” Mary said, “Can Tin Man have my F/N 223?” Mary looked to the Admiral and the Captain. They looked at each other and nodded.

“I’m with you sir,” Sam added.

Mary stood up, looked around until she spotted Tin Man. She walked over to him and whispered into his ear. Tin Man jumped up and hugged Bull Dog. Wash also stood and grabbed the breakfast dishes and headed for the collection point. The three along with all those that were going for a visit to Lockheed followed behind.

On the lower deck where the F/N 223s were parked:

“Lily, I’m going to pull you out. I’m hearing you will have a new home soon.” Bull Dog said.

“All right Commander, I’m ready,” Lily responded.

Mary yanked as hard as she could and was pleased to see the control box that Lily was in had been released. She looked at it and showed it to Tin Man. He aligned up his control box in the same way and stuck his head and shoulders into his new cockpit. He made the final alignment of his box and pushed. It snapped into place and waited a few minutes for his AI to reboot, “Tin Man, you will need the seat adjusted for you to fit.” The AI advised.

“Thank you, Hal, it is good to hear your voice again.” Tin Man said. He turned to Mary, “Are you sure about this?”

“God says I get a new plane today. So, it will happen.” Mary advised.

Tin Man turned to the Captain and Admiral, coming to attention, and saluting smartly, “Thank you, sir!”

“Tin Man the “Ace”, you deserve it.” The captain said saluting back.

The Admiral looked to John, “Are we ready?” John said.

“I’m ready!” Willy said causing everyone to laugh.

The next stop is Lockheed’s offices in Fort Worth, Texas. Transport took place.

The group stood on the sidewalk in front of the big offices that had Lockheed in big letters over the front door. Sam and Ben raced up the steps and tried all the doors. They were locked. The Admiral looked at the empty parking lot, “It looks like no one is here.” He spoke.

“Sam, pound on the door. Let’s see if anyone responds to our knocking.” John suggested.

All could hear Sam’s efforts, “BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM.”

Willy disappeared. One of the doors to the office building opened. Willy was pushing for all he was worth. Sam was there quick to relieve Willy from pushing on the door.

Mary Kennady was beside Sam gathering up Willy in a hug.

The Admiral was laughing so hard he was hanging onto his knees. John looked at the scene and remembered back to Thanksgiving in Mexico when Poncho gave Willy the two stars. When the Admiral stood up, he reached into his pocket and handed John a little box, “These did not get done until this morning. I’d like to give them to the General.” The Admiral shared. In the box were three sets of three stars.

John showed Ben then closed the box and gave the box back to the Admiral, “There are going to be two more just like him. My son Bert and my grandson Matt.”

“He is going to make three stars,” Ben asked with a big grin on his face when his dad showed him the open box.

“Ben, how would you like to pilot the Abraham Lincoln this afternoon when we get back?” The Admiral asked.

“Oh YAH!” Ben exclaimed.

“Then we will see to it.” The Admiral said as he and Ben were doing a high five. They had reached the open door and went through it.

They walked a long way to a waiting area. An older man was sitting in one of the lounges asleep. Ben walked up to him and said, “Hi Mister.”

One eye opened, “Who are you?” The man asked.

“I’m Benjamin Taylor. I am the President’s son.”

“How did you get in?” The man asked.

Ben giggled, “My little brother transported inside and pushed the door open.”

“That would do it. What do you want?” The man asked.

“To see the Boss!” Ben said.

“Is that your father the President over there?” The man asked.

“Yep, that’s him, he’s a good man.” Ben had turned to look at his dad.

“I know, I voted for him. He got us going again. Plus, I have been cured of several things that were killing me.” The man said in a louder voice, “I’m Rocky and this will take a minute to get the “Boss” here. You’re welcome to sit down.” The man stood and punched in a number in his smartphone, “This is Rocky, and they’re here. I’m looking at the President now sir. He has two sons with him and two naval officers, Two Marine Guards and another man with a tie and a suit.” There was a pause in the conversation, “Yes, sir. There is plenty of room.”

A man transported in with a woman and a young boy, “Hi, I am Kevin Humphreys, and this is my wife Karen and our son Boyd.” He turned to his son, “Boyd, we will be in the conference room can you escort Ben? And Willy? Into the game room to see if they are interested. Our game room was designed by many of our young men and women that are sons and daughters of our top engineers.” Kevin looked at his wife, “Many times we end up here because Boyd wants to come and play. We all will look at the latest movie about how a bunch of 223’s shot down a whole lot of our F-35’s. He laughed this time.

“Do we have to go?” Ben asked.

“Go check it out, we will be in the...?” John looked at Kevin.

“Right next door in the conference room.” Kevin filled in, “Boys, you are welcome to join us.” Kevin continued, “There are bottles of water and fruit juice in the ice chest. There are protein bars, and someone made some fresh chocolate chip cookies.”

Boyd was introducing himself to Willy and Ben when he heard fresh chocolate chip cookies, he said, “YAHHHHHH!” The three boys headed down the hall disappearing into one of the rooms.

“I might want to go with them.” The Admiral said aloud.

“My wife made two batches; the second batch is in the conference room. I was afraid I might lose many to the first batch.” Everyone laughed, “This way ladies and gentlemen.” Mr. and Mrs. Humphreys lead the way.

When they walked into the conference room, “How many people will this hold?” John asked.

“Fifty-two at the table and over a hundred in the room,” Kevin answered.

“Mr. President, we have to get you one of these.” The Admiral said, meaning the giant table and big room.

“Bill, it is in the plans for the new capital buildings. Although I like the idea of having a fun center next door.” John and everyone laughed. Everyone was in a good mood. God had made them expected, and everyone knew no question was going unanswered today.

There was a table at the back that was covered decoratively with hot coffee along with water to make cocoa or tea. Then besides that were water bottles, fruit juices, sports drinks all chilled resting in a big insulated stainless-steel tub half full of ice. To the left were all kinds of snacks with an exceptionally large plate with a small mountain of chocolate chip cookies on it. Napkins along with plates are made from ceramic.

“Sam, are you taking notes, so we can tell the designers back home?” John asked.

“Yes Sir, it does look like we made a step up in the world.” Sam smiled as he filled his plate.

“Thank you, Mr. President and Sam. Our goal was to have a fun day.” Karen Humphreys had been hearing the comments.

I’m going to start with a movie clip that I found on the internet. Most of you will recognize the action.” Kevin hit play and up in big titles was “Biggest Air Battle in the History of the World!” The action lasted for twenty minutes and even Ben and Willy were attracted to the sounds of war. This brought their new friend Boyd with them. Mary Kennedy was sitting next to Sam and every time she saw her plane, she squeezed Sam’s hand. The movie was from a dozen or more cameras and even several of the cameras on the planes. Near the end showed the President and everyone being knocked down. Then John goes over and helps Sam. In the end, there was a tally sheet listing the pilots and individuals who had gotten credit with knocking down the F-35’s. Kevin paused the movie at that point, “Sir, it is hard to tell with the helmets, but that had to be you and the boys involved with this battle, and is this Lady today with you, Commander Mary Kennady?”

John stood up and realized the room was full. He had not been paying attention while the movie was on, “God is telling us that Mary Kennady becomes the pilot for the President today. Please stand-up Commander Mary Kennady.” The room was filled with clapping and shouts from the dozen or so women of “Way to GO!” and “Show the BOYS!” and other encouraging comments, “Share a few words, Mary.” John asked.

“My Heroes are Benjamin Taylor and William Taylor; we call them Ben and Willy. They are the ones that saved the ship. The Abraham Lincoln Aircraft Carrier. Within minutes of the action starts, my wingman got shot up with our automatics. They were not correctly attuned to the new 223s. Before being shot up, my wingman downed the first F-35. The Admiral turned the auto’s off. The first F-35 I shot a rocket at I missed. The pilot of the F-35 did a 3 or 4 gee turn straight up. I followed him up and almost lost my breakfast. I locked on, fired, and got out of the way. I flipped over onto my back and Lily my AI hit the afterburners and in seconds we were miles away. I had dozens of rockets fired at me, my shield stopped them all.”

One of the women engineers asked, “How big was your shield?”

“Thirty Feet wide, 8 to 10 feet high, and only an inch or so thick.” Mary answered, “When my computer told me I was locked on, I would create the shield 4 to 6 feet behind my tail. It worked really sweet. The enemy expected me to be blown away. Often, I would hit the brakes and then come up after the F-35 flew over me and take him out.

Somebody in the audience said, “Like Top Gun!”

“I am Top Gun. Graduated at the top of my class.” Mary smiled.

“Where did you learn to do this shield?” One of the other engineers asked.

Mary looked towards the President. John nodded in defeat.

“Where else, our President John Taylor. Willy was involved and both Ben and Sam helped teach the other pilots.” Mary looked around at the amazing faces, “We had about 16 hours to learn and then make it automatic. When my computer announced I had an enemy targeting system locked onto my ship, my mind automatically formed the shield. When I heard the noise of the rocket exploding, I dissolved the shield.”

“Commander, have you had enough?” Kevin asked.

“Why do you ask sir?” Mary asked.

“You are here for other reasons. Let me touch upon them now.” Kevin had upon the exceptionally large TV screen a picture of two planes, “On the left is the standard F-35 that you came up against in North Korea. The plane on the right is a spacecraft. It is very much the big brother of the F-35.”

“How fast will it go?” Ben asked.

“At the equator, ten miles up, the F-335 circled the earth a few seconds over one hour.” Kevin shared.

“Twenty-Four Thousand miles per hour?” Ben asked.

“Yes!”

“How many seats?” Willy asked. Ben helped him stand so he could be heard, “How many seats?” Willy asked again.

“The one we are configuring for your father if he accepts will have seating for sixteen,” Kevin answered.

“One for me?” Willy asked.

Kevin looked at John Taylor, John answered, “Yes, Willy there will be a seat for you.” John then asked Mary, “Your AI?”

Mary stood up, “Mr. Humphreys, I have my AI from my F-223 is it possible that it will fit into the F-335?”

Kevin looked at a man. He jumped up and was beside Mary in an instance, “I’m George, and I am the Director of Computer Sciences here. Give me your AI and I will make sure it is installed and updated. We have a super Wi-Fi connection that will download the 100’s of gigabits of information your AI will need.”

Mary had a worried look on her face. She looked at John. He was looking in the direction of the two Marines. In seconds the Lance Corporal was standing next to her, “Commander, I will accompany your AI. My hobby is building computers for many of the sailors on the Lincoln. I’ll watch out for your AI.”

Mary looked at the nameplate, Lance Corporal Wood, my brother is a Marine. Thank you for doing this. She reached into her bag and pulled out Lily and handed her to the Marine.

“Think of it as a big computer chip. Don’t touch the connectors. It is insulated, but just the same let’s be safe.” George instructed and continued quietly, “When you are done here everyone will be led outside to see your new baby and 143 of its brothers and sisters.” George and the Lance Corporal Wood walked out of the conference room and turned right.

Ben and Willy got some more cookies and drinks and went next door with Boyd.

John looked back at the Sergeant and motioned for him to come close. The Sergeant did as he was asked.

John whispered, “I could have sworn that we shared a foxhole yesterday. Go get some coffee and some of those cookies and sit down. I don’t feel any threats here, do you?”

The Sergeant whispered, “No sir. I’ll do as you ask.”

“Good, like yesterday there may be more times ahead when I’ll need you at 100%,” John whispered.

“Mr. Humphreys, what kind of weapons does the F-335 carry?” Mary Kennady asked.

“Please Commander, call me Kevin.” Kevin paused, “The F-335 has a Large Laser on the front and one each on both sides. It also has a small Laser on the rear. The small Laser will take out any known Rocket that has been made to date. The Large Laser will sink a battleship from ten or more miles away. If the F-335 is faced with multiple targets, like the F-223 or the F-35 or similar plane it would only need to send out a half-second pulse to totally disable the target. For multiple targets coming from different directions, the 335 can fire all four Lasers within 2 seconds and continue to do so every 2 seconds until all targets are removed.”