Chapter 16: Space Age Begins!

“Ships sir. These are ships.”

Coming Home:

“How are you doing Mary?” John asked.

“We are doing fine sir.” The seating was something you would find on a first-class commercial jet. Headrest and the ability to stretch out. Sam went to sleep first, then the boys. They had done their jobs. The boys had gotten Mary her coffee and cookies from the replicator. Complete with napkins. When plates and napkins were done, they went back into the replicator, and with the door closed and a pink button pushed, all the refuse disappeared being stored inside a collector to be used again later for other things. John had ordered six hundred replicators. Kevin had promised to get them to him before Thanksgiving. Lockheed was making about 100 per day and so far, had not needed to advertise to keep their factory busy. John was thinking at $34 each they could sell them at Herb’s hardware store for $50. Herb would need the sales as the replicators could make many of the do-dads and thingies he sold every day.

“What are you thinking about sir?” Mary asked.

“The boys were pretty smart. They asked for a dozen Chocolate chip cookies and the machine didn’t know what they were. They had taken the last cookie and set it in the replicator. They pulled out their sample and pushed the “make” button, hit 12, and out comes a dozen cookies on a plate with a half dozen napkins.”

John was also thinking about the Trillions Lockheed had received over the years that Kevin had acknowledged. Before becoming President of Lockheed, Kevin held the position of VP of the Computer Division for ten years. That division also ran the computers of our old government in Washington DC. Kevin had given John a thumb drive with every invoice that had been given to the old USA. As he agreed with John, there is and should never be no such thing as an “Unsupported Adjustment!” as an expense item in our government’s expenses.

“They were warm just like they came out of the oven.” Mary giggled.

“Are there any cookies left?” Sam asked waking up.

“No, but there is a little coffee left.” Mary giggled, “Lily can you send to the replicator for another order of twelve chocolate chip cookies on a plate with 6 napkins on the side?” Mary asked.

“Yes, Captain!” Lily responded. 20 seconds later a little ding went off.

“Way cool,” Sam said as he unbuckled his seat harness, getting up to get the cookies and another coffee.

“What is your plan, John?” The Admiral asked.

“We park the planes...”

“Ships sir. These are ships.” Mary giggled.

“So, corrected. We park these “ships” in the center of town. We will let the Minute Men and Women guard them.” John laughed, “I will buy all of you the best steak in the country.” John looked behind and saw that Ben and Willy were still sleeping, “After the steak, we will take a dozen with us to give you Admiral and your best pilots a chance to learn some strategies ... if we have another battle.”

“Sir we just crossed into Washington and are about 200 miles from Omak and I’m picking up a plane at about 22,000 feet just ahead of us and about a quarter-mile to our west.”

John and the Admiral both looked at each other and said, “Bomber!”

“All ships go to cloak.” Mary said, “Rise to 22,000 feet and slow to the speed of the plane on our radar.”

John pulled out his phone and dialed 911, “Control here Mr. President. This is Vince Goodall; how can I help you.”

“We are bringing our 144 Spaceships into the center of town. I plan on parking them where the RV’s and the cars from Seattle first parked when we came into Omak.” John said.

“We have an unidentified plane at around 23,000 feet.” Vince informed, “We do not see you on the radar.”

“Vince, we see it and are going up to match its flight altitude. How are you able to see the plane?”

“Sir, we moved Wally’s radar into town and now have it fed into control,” Vince reported.

“You guys have been busy.” John said back, “Just to answer your question, the 144 spaceships are cloaked.”

“OMG, thank you, sir. The Rader sir, about 40 of us with no family to celebrate Thanksgiving with got together and had a great time at Sou’s. Someone suggested it needed to be done and we all agreed. We worked 24 hours a day for three days and it seems to be working fine. It needs final adjustments.”

“Vince, we don’t know what is going to happen, but we feel that plane is carrying a big bomb. We can stop the plane, but we would like to know who is behind this.”

“Mr. President, sorry to interrupt, we have the plane on visual.” Mary shared.

“What is that?” John asked, “Vince, we have the plane on visual. I will get back to you.”

“10-4”

“Mr. President, it is a Convair B-58 Hustler strategic bomber. Retired in 1970.” Lily responded.

The Admiral said, “It’s a f___ing antic. Sorry, Mary. Lily when did that plane first get manufactured?

“It’s alright sir, that thing retired before my grandfather made captain.” Mary said, “Speed is at around 600 miles per hour. We should be over Omak in twenty minutes.” Mary had her game face on. This certainly appeared to be another bogie.

“Admiral, The B-58 was first introduced on March 15, 1960. Max speed is listed as Mach 2.” Lily shared.

“Was there any mention of the type of radar it carried?” The Admiral asked.

“No sir!” Lily answered.

The time seemed to slow way down. It seemed forever to get to Omak. A few miles out the Convair slowed to 500 miles per hour.

“Attention all ships,” Mary said into the mic. When a very large bomb attached to the fuselage dropped from the plane, Mary announced, “All ships fire at that bomb, now!”

There was a lot of smoke and a big flash of light as 144 lasers disintegrated whatever that canister contained. The pilot of the B-58 was turning to a south heading increasing speed to 1,000 miles per hour.

“Shall we follow it?” The Admiral asked John.

“Mary send two ships so one can stay out of radar range and charge its batteries,” John suggested.

“Good idea sir.” Mary keyed the mic, “Zelda?”

“Yes, Commander.” The response was heard.

“Who is your wing mate?” Mary asked.

“Yama sir,” Zelda replied.

“You and your wing mate follow that plane and report back when and where it lands. One of you stays back far enough to recharge the batteries then take the lead position while the other drops back to recharge.”

“Understood sir!” Zelda and Yama both replied, “We will maintain stealth.”

“10-4 Zelda and Yama!” Mary passed over the mic.

“It didn’t blow up. We’re still alive.” Sam said as if he was still in a daze.

“That much laser power disintegrated everything before the trigger could fire the bomb.” Mary shared, “Lily is there any increase in radiation?”

“414% increase Captain.” Lily reported, “The ship’s shields are disintegrating the radiation now.”

“Sir it will be minor. I suggest all personal shower before eating and or bed tonight.” Lily advised.

“What if we transport out of here without even opening the hatch, Lily?” John asked.

“That would be ideal sir. Then we can continue to work with the shields to neutralize all radiation from all the ships.” Lily answered.

“We need to put all ships on quarantine until Lily tells us it is safe. The children are going to be all over these ships. Let’s Park them in the valley until they are safe.” John suggested.

“Valley sir?” Sam asked as John nodded and reached for his phone.

John made a phone call, “Vince the bomb is no longer a major threat. We are dealing with a minor radiation problem now from disintegrating the bomb. We got a bit of radiation on the outside of the ships. We are going to park them in the valley where the mercenaries were held up until the radiation is lessened or neutralized.”

“How can we help Mr. President?” Vince asked.

“We are going to transport into town. I’m hungry for a good steak at Sou’s. Can you get hold of Governor John Nation and his brother County Executive Billy Nation? Ask them to bring their families and I will buy them lunch at Sou’s.” John said, “General Frank and his family too.”

“Will do Mr. President. I’m glad you’re home. I’ll make the calls now.” Vince added.

“Lily, what is your best estimate to neutralize the radiation?” John asked.

“One to two hours sir at full shielding,” Lily responded.

“Lily, will we do any harm to the planet if we land?” John asked.

“That is a possibility, sir.” Lily paused, “Recommend we stay at 10,000 feet sir until radiation is clear.”

“Will the radiation be neutralized, or will it be shed and fall to the ground?”

“It will be neutralized, becoming safe for all plants and animals Mr. President,” Lily answered.

“We can transport from 10,000 feet. Take us to a hover over Omak in that case.” John directed, “All agreed!”

“Daddy, I need to pee,” Willy said. He and Ben had awakened with the shooting.

“See you guys at Sou’s. Sam, get them there, okay?” John said as he and the boys were transported to the sidewalk outside of Sou’s Family Restaurant.

When they walked into Sou’s a man yelled, “The President is here!” Sou’s was full for the noon lunch crowd.

Willy and Ben ran to the “Men’s” room. John started calling people by name as he shook their hands. The greetings were happy and proud. The questions were, “We saw the U-Tube video. That was you and the boys fighting those ISIS folks?” Another question was, “We heard we have Spaceships now?” He was slowly making his way to his big table. At the table was a black box that was plugged into the wall outlet and Sou’s son George handed John a mic. There was also a little 3’ X 3’ platform that would allow John to be 18” higher for all to see.

“Thought you might want to give us an update sir?” George pleaded.

“Thank you, George. This is great.” John stepped up onto the platform and realized his head was 6” from the ceiling. He looked at George and gave him a thumb’s up sign that it was perfect. He turned back to the lunch crowd, “Is Seth here?” When John recognized Seth, he said, “Can you join us? I think you would like some good news?” Everybody laughed.

“I’m coming now sir,” Seth answered.

“For a summary of what Seth is going to report. With the help of the Russians and Chinese, there is no more ISIS in the Korean Arena. The threat has been eliminated. On another matter, we have just received 144 F-335’s that are indeed Spaceships. They will fly at 24,000 miles per hour. They will circle the moon and the earth and one of them has gone to Mars and Pluto and back. On that Pluto trip, the pilot said he averaged 76,000 miles per hour in space.”

“Aside note, as we were flying in, we stopped an exceptionally large bomb from being dropped on our homes.” Many of the people were alarmed at this news. John waited until it quieted again, “From this point forward, I will have a fleet of these spaceships on guard 24/7 to make sure that will never happen in the future. We are just stopping in to have a nice meal and then going to meet with the President of Russia in Hawaii for a few days. We will be back. I hate to say this, but I do miss the snow. Seeing it again makes me homesick.” Another laugh from the lunch-goers. John had seen Willy and Ben come up beside him.

Sam and the gang were coming in the front doors, “I am immensely proud of my sons. I am here today because of their actions. They saved the Abraham Lincoln Aircraft Carrier. Because of their new abilities and with the use of those abilities we stopped another Suicide Fanatic with a plane with another bomb from landing on the flight deck and blowing all of us up.” John waited again for some quiet, “With us today is Mary Kennady.

She is one of the best if not the best pilot in the world. Give her a hero’s welcome.” John waited a bit before continuing. “Let me tell Seth more of the stories so he can sell some papers.” John got down from the little platform and the applause was loud enough for Willy to cover his ears. When the crowd saw Sam and Mary Kennady, they stood and clapped again. The Marines and Mary Kennady were amazed at the love they felt as they moved through the restaurant, following Sam and the Admiral.

When they were seated a man with red hair came up to the table. He pulled out of his pocket many big fat cigars, “Gentlemen, I would like to offer you a cigar to share in the news about the arrival of my new son. I’ve called him John.”

“Willis, how are your wife and new son doing?” John asked.

“I was concerned when she went into labor without the First Lady here. Virginia was called, and she came and handled everything. The birth was simply fine. I got me a little carrot top man. He doesn’t cry, but he sure has a set of lungs for him to let us know when he needs attention.” Everybody laughed.

“You didn’t make him a junior?” John asked.

“Oh, yes sir. John Willis MacGregor is his name.” Willis MacGregor sounded every bit like a true Scotsman.

“Admiral, Sam, Mary, and Marines, this is our county Sheriff Mac and he better call me John. We are home Mac, I’m here with friends for a good steak after one hell of a battle.” John shared.

“Yes sir, John!” Mac laughed, “I’ve seen the U-Tube. Man, for a couple of hours that had to be hot!”

“Thank you, Mac.” John smiled as he held up the cigar, “It was just a bit intense. Tell your wife to bring the baby to the clinic as soon as we get back home in a few days. Jenny delivered another little boy while in Mexico.”

“I’ll do that for the First Lady.” Mac turned to the President, “John are these new Marines any good?” Mac was giving the 4 Marines that were assigned to the President a bad time.

“You saw the U-Tube video. They know which end of the gun to point and where to stand when they pull the trigger. They make us old-timers proud to be Marines.” John laughed when two of the Marines acted like they had not seen his hat until just now.

“Good, to see you with an Honor Guard. We are heading in a good direction. My new son has a future! Be safe John! Tell the First Lady Hi!” Mac waved goodbye and moved off towards the door.

“Is it, like this every time you come in here?” Mary asked. The food was arriving.

“This is happening more often.” Ben giggled, “In other places too. People love daddy. Mommy too!”

“The world needed somebody to step up and kick it hard like the old car starters use to find a dead spot. Give them a good whack and they would start working again.” John laughed, “Anybody could have done it.”

“With all the respects in the world, I disagree John.” Admiral Bill Wiggins said from his heart, “I think you were meant to be here as President.”

The table was quiet as everyone ate their lunch and thought about what the Admiral shared. Mary’s phone rang, “Hello, this is Mary?” Pause, “That is great news, Lily. Let me have you speak to the President.” Mary handed the phone to John.

“Yes, Lily. Radiation is down 65%. Zelda and Yama have returned. The B-58 flew to an airport on the Nevada – California border. Thank you, Zelda. Send the location to Lily. 10-4.” John closed the phone and handed it back to Mary. He turned to the Admiral, “Bill, can I have seven of your best pilots? One of the seven is Mary here. I don’t want to wake some morning to the sound of a Nuclear Explosion destroying all that we love.”

“Top Gun’s?” Bill asked.

“Yes. I’m thinking to place six F/N – 335s on each of your carriers. I would think those with Top Gun Experience should be given the first choice.” John shared, “But I would also like to have a force of six here at Omak.”

“I get six 335’s per carrier, and I get to keep the eleven 223s and you get protected a whole lot better. What if we create a training school here in Omak? Much like what we had with The Top Gun School in El Toro. We cycle 6 to 12 pilots through the school for 30 to 60-day periods. When Captain Mary here is not flying you around, she is running the school.” Bill suggested.

Mary had been listening in on the conversation between the President and the Admiral. She turned to Sam, “Honey, I need to talk with John and Bill for a few seconds. Oh, by the way, do you like kids?”

“Five?” Sam asked.

Mary stopped turning. She took a hard look at the two Taylor boys. She turned back to Sam and pulled his head down and kissed him hard. When she came up for air, “Okay. I need just a minute.”

“Gentlemen, I would love to be the Commandant of your Top Gun School.” Mary said just loud enough for John and Bill, “Please excuse me, I have a good man I need to talk to.”

John and Bill looked at each other, then burst into laughter. John looked at his kids and realized their sleep patterns were all screwed up. He looked over at George, the son of Sou who had been waiting on them. George came towards John, “Anything else sir?”

“Just the bill, George,” John said.

“Sir, your lunch for your party has been paid for many times and we have turned down a dozen other offers.” George laughed, “Before anyone paid for your lunch, dad told me to comp your meals. We are going to pass the other payments on to the People’s Trust. Mr. President, the people love you! I get to hear a lot. It is all good!”

John went to give George a tip, “Sir, I love my life, you just saved it again. I thank God for being able to serve you. Someday I will be able to tell my children a lot of good stories.” George got a hug from John.

“Thank you, George. How would you like a trip around the moon and back? Maybe take a special girl on a date?” John asked, “We have some spaceships. That young lady next to Sam is the best pilot in the world. I think you will see a lot of her. If she comes in let her use the table.

“Absolutely sir. That would be so boss to go around the moon and back!” George giggled, “Can I bring some of my family?”

“You can bring all of your family; we will take two or more ships if we need to.” John smiled and winked at him.

“Thank you, John. I don’t know if I’ll be able to sleep. This is so COOL!” George laughed as he bussed the table.

“George, we will be back in a few days. I’m hearing Tony, Willa, Peter, Patty and the other 26 volunteers are going to be awarded some gifts from General Poncho Bautista of Mexico.”

“Are they going to become a state?” George asked.

“It sure looks that way. They seem to be pretty accepting of us and happy beyond belief to have a personal relationship with God! The drugs are gone, the children of Mexico have a very bright future. Many believe Mexico is Paradise!”

George came to stand at military attention. He saluted John, “Good job Mr. President.”

John also came to attention. He started to shake his head no but had to allow his body’s demand to nod yes, “Thank you, George.” John saluted George back.

As they were walking to the door, Chief John (Governor of the State of Washington) and the new County Executive Billy Nation his brother along with Steven Nation met them, “John, I’m so very sorry for us being late.” Chief John said, “Mom slipped and broke her leg and we had to get her healed and, on her feet, again.”

“Is mom, okay?” John Taylor loved Madam Nation as an adopted mother.

The Chief looked at his brother and son before turning back to John, “John, the day you showed up in our lives keeps paying dividends. We thank you; this accident could have been the beginning of the end of her life. Ma is on her feet and back-ordering everyone around her again.” The Chief, Billy, and Steven all had great big smiles on their faces.

“Have you eaten?” John asked.

“Mom has it on the stove and we need to get back to it,” Billy informed.

Steven, Ben, and Willy were in conversation bringing Steven up to date. Steven said in a loud voice, “Spaceships?”

Lily had called Mary Kennady again. John turned to listen to Mary’s conversation. Mary repeated, “The ships are all clean of radiation.”

“How can that be?” The Admiral asked.

“Sir, the ship’s shields are designed to do exactly what they did when on full power.” Mary smiled, “There is a lot of radiation out there in space.”

“Governor, County Exec, and Steven, this is Admiral Wiggins and Captain Kennady. Admiral and Captain, these three gentlemen are also related to my family and are always invited to my family gatherings. Gentlemen, Captain Kennady is going to be the Commandant of a Top Gun School located in Omak.”

“I heard about the plane that was overhead.” Billy Nation said.