10

-00:21:04

"34 years ago, scientists from the Force for Freedom were experimenting with technology that could shrink our people to the size of the Earthlings. They wanted to send a scout team to Earth using a ship they had captured. They were having issues keeping the subjects a miniaturized. They kidnapped a physicist doing cloning experimentation, Dr. Arno, and they succeeded in cloning the miniaturized subjects. The cloned miniatures were stable and could maintain their size. The cloning process froze the genetic structure of the miniaturized beings."

"They sent 24 miniaturized clones and 4 Earthling guides to Earth to collect information for a future planned invasion. They weren't heard from again. Until just last year. Our radios had been too weak to detect signals beyond our atmosphere. Last year one of our scientists developed a receiver that could detect signals from very far away. And…we started to receive radio messages from Earth. It was the same clones and their descendants that left here 34 years ago. The only thing was…they had found the planet completely devoid of humans or their technology. They weren't on Earth. The Earthlings they took with them said they were on Mars. Jody…that dimension lock, the space warp that the Earthlings have been coming through for over 1,000 years…they say it's a gateway to something called a wormhole. It connects spacetime in ways we can't even understand. All this time what we thought was Earth was Mars. The Earth…is the planet we're about to collide with".

"The Earthlings are from over 4 billion years in our future. In this time, in our time, Mars has an atmosphere, water, life. That's why we thought it was Earth. Earth today is a barren proto planet, covered in molten rock, devoid of water or life. The Earth scientists say in their time, Mars is the barren world. There's a high likelihood that descendants of those cloned miniatures and the Earth guides made their way to Earth before Mars became uninhabitable".

"We need this ship and her crew to return from where they came from and bring our DNA samples and recorded history with them so our existence will have meaning".

"Jody, did you know Earthlings from 900 years ago gave our planet its name? Theia. Did you ever wonder what it meant? Theia was a goddess in Earth mythology. Her daughter was Selene, Goddess of the Moon. After the collision of Theia and Earth, their Moon will be formed. If our history is able to cross through that portal, and future civilizations learn about us, they will be reminded of us every time they see their Moon".

-00:17:01

"Everyone buckle up", Steve instructed. "Let's see if this is going to work. Fire up the batteries Dan". Dan flipped 4 switches in deliberate succession…"Bat 1, 2, 3, 4, check". The front dash control lights lit up first, followed by the inertial guidance and navigation control lights on the port side. Then, the reactor control systems on the starboard side lit up. A thick layer of dust covered all of the control surfaces, dimming the lights and gauges. Steve moistened his finger and wiped across the face of the ships clock, which was powered by the atomic reserves. The clock had kept Earth time all these years.

September 25, 2019 16:42 GMT

The Giant's planet had slightly shorter day and year lengths. Steve had lost track of Earth time. 36 years…It felt like it had been much longer. His reflection was interrupted by a severe tremor. The ground below was beginning to crack open. The façade of the Science Institute fell to the ground.

Steve: "Activate inertial confinement …"

Dan: "Magnetic field Check"

Steve: "Initiate reactor ignition procedure…"

Dan pressed the button to initiate the deuterium fuel flow… "D2 Check"

A second button activated the ion propellant laser… "Laser Check"

The final button would focus the laser array on the fuel stream and activate nuclear fusion. Dan hesitated as his finger approached the red button. "Cross your fingers". Dan depressed the button. A faint red light shone through the aged button face…after a long 3 seconds, a low rumble was felt as the fusion reaction ignited. It was a sound Steve and Dan knew well, but had not heard in over 36 years. "It's working!" Dan excitedly yelled. Soon the smell of the engine core drifted into the passenger cabin. This was the last smell from Earth that they remembered. It was reminiscent of the air right after a thunderstorm. It rarely rained on this planet, but when it did, the air was more stale than fresh afterward. Everyone's spirits were lifted. "We're going to make it" Valerie stated confidently.

Steve picked up the microphone…" We're ready to lift off…Everyone hold on. We're going to encounter significant turbulence up there."

Steve and Dan looked at each other. Steve had his hands firmly on the control yoke handles. "Lift off" he said calmly. Dan pressed the lift button and the Spindrift's bow tilted up toward the gray sky as the ship gradually rose from the crumbling surface. Spindrift was airborne under her own power for the first time in over three decades. Dan called out…"500 feet…1,000 feet….1,500 feet….2,000 feet, ready for drive". Steve advanced the drive lever forward. The ship darted into the churning stratosphere, its plasma exhaust igniting the volcanic ash in its wake, leaving behind a trail of light glowing in the leaden sky. "Godspeed" Kobick said as he and Jody gazed upon the tempest.

The thick ash was pummeling the ship like a desert sandstorm. Dan continued to call out "10,000 feet….20,000 feet…." In the distance, out of the starboard viewport, Valerie observed a frightening sight. "The rocket…it's taking off!" Steve and Dan glanced over to see the rebel rocket rising from the sea riding a column of fire straight up toward the portal. Being a larger, faster vehicle than the Spindrift, it was catching up quickly. Mark yelled out "I programmed a virus in the software, their ship computer will shut down any minute and they'll lose control!"

"Engage maximum speed" Steve directed Dan. Dan advanced the throttle lever forward into maximum drive. "Max speed engaged". Everyone was pushed back into their seats experiencing 5 g's of acceleration. The volcanic ash was now clogging the ships cooling intake vents, causing the engine core to overheat. Alarms rang and warning lights flashed on the main control panel. As both ships raced toward the portal, the Earth was closing in on the planet. Impact was seconds away. The sky behind them appeared as if on fire. The gravitational forces were pulling the seas over the continents below. "40,000 feet…45,000 feet". They were at the edge of the atmosphere. Stars began to appear in the haze.

"I see it!" Steve called out. Straight ahead was a spherical blur, distorting the stars behind it. Steve adjusted the yoke and pointed the bow of the ship straight at the portal. At this time, the capsule broke away from rocket and was hurtling toward the anomaly. Both ships were now being pulled toward the portal. "I thought you said they'd lose control after separation!" Dan yelled to Mark. "They have lost control, their computer is down and they have no power…it's pulling them in like a tractor beam. If they make it through, they won't have any power or control". The ship was now shaking violently in the dense atmosphere…if not for the seat restraints, the occupants would be smashed against the walls of the cabin. The cooling intake vents were now completely choked and engine core temperature was reaching critical. A few more seconds and the magnetic containment system would fail and the ship would explode in a burst of plasma.

00:00:00

The Spindrift entered the portal first, followed by the capsule. In an instant, the sky went from ash gray dusk to pitch black. Steve and Dan struggled to maintain control of the ship as it pitched and yawed. The speed indicator and magnetic compass were giving bizarre readings, hull temperature was pegged at absolute zero…Steve could feel the ship rolling but the controls were non responsive.

Suddenly, the ship emerged in a flash of brilliant sunshine against the deep black backdrop of cold space. It took a few seconds for their eyes to adjust to the bright glare. Straight ahead, the curvature of the planet presented itself…the blackness of space met the crystal clear azure atmosphere. The ship stabilized and the horizon indicator leveled out. Far below them lay a blanket of white stratiform clouds. The giant capsule that came across behind them was continuing on its forward trajectory due to momentum, but was losing altitude rapidly. As the Spindrift descended, Steve could see a coastline in the distance beyond the cloud line. He recognized the geographic features immediately. "That's the North Channel…and there's Isle of Man. It's Earth! Steve surveyed the landscape with wide eyes. There are roads so it's at least the 20th century. "Look!" yelled Alexander as everyone peered out of the viewport…the giant capsule continued to tumble end over end below them, through the clouds below and into the Irish Sea at 1,730 miles per hour.

"It's Earth!" Steve yelled to the passengers through the cabin doorway, forgoing the cabin mike. There was quiet relief, almost disbelief. As the passengers looked at each other, they knew that their achievement had come at a cost. They thought of Jody, Leeda, and Pamela…Andros and Fitzhugh. Everyone they knew and loved over the last 36 years. It was bittersweet. But they knew they were the custodians of an entire civilizations' history and legacy. Mark took Valerie's hand. They both smiled as they looked upon Angela and Alexander.

The radio broke the solemn silence. "Flight 6-1-2...do you read?" A polite British controller asked. Steve and Dan looked at each other as Steve picked up the microphone.

"Flight 6-1-2, this is London Control A, please respond" the voice pleaded.

"This is 6-1-2, is this Earth?" Steve asked with hesitation.

"I beg your pardon Captain; did you ask if this was Earth?"

"What year is this?"

"Year sir? It's 1983 Captain, 12 June".

Steve looked down at the ship's clock:

June 12, 1983 13:31:09 GMT

"We lost you on radar for a second but we have you now. You are clear to land on pad B-23". "Lost us for a second", Steve thought to himself. He and the others had just lived over 36 years in that second. It was hard to wrap his mind around. The passengers heard the radio call and were looking at each other in stunned silence. There were no words. "Confirm…6-1-2 inbound, clear to land, pad Bravo 2-3". Steve responded. The Spindrift continued to descend over Birmingham, Oxfordshire and the picturesque Chiltern Hills. A few minutes later, the ship slowly approached London Spaceport and Steve gently brought the Spindrift down into bay B23. On time.

The ground crew gathered around the Spindrift and could not comprehend the scene in front of them. The essentially brand new Spindrift, with barely 2,000 flight hours logged, looked like a derelict shipwreck freshly pulled from the scrap heap. The hull was faded and heavily scratched. The livery was barely discernable. They had to double check the registration plate, which was severely damaged to confirm they were, in fact, looking at the U.S.S. Spindrift.

The passengers and crew disembarked the ship into the brisk London air. The smell of jet fuel and tarmac snapped Steve and Dan into reality…they had made it. Mark found his chauffeur holding a sign with his name in tall, bold letters. Another man was holding a sign Mercury Holidays UK Adventure Tours Ltd: Miss Valerie Scott. Barry embraced his cousins, whom he had never met. Two representatives from Interpol were standing by an unmarked government vehicle. Today, they would leave the spaceport without their quarry. Angela and Alexander felt like they were now giants on another world. "Everything is so small! I'm in Lilliput!" Alexander looked around the spaceport in amazement. Betty assisted the 3 passengers and Gril in exiting the cargo hold and escorted everyone into the VIP lounge.

- Epilogue -

Goodbye, For Now

+316:05:17

Almost two weeks had passed since the intrepid travelers returned to Earth. It was the night before they were all to go their separate ways. The group met for dinner on the banks of the Thames in downtown London. They discussed their future plans. Steve was asked to return to Intra-Space Airlines to train young pilots. Betty planned to complete the nursing program she started before they left. Dan was going back to the states to fulfill a lifelong dream of coaching track at his alma mater. Barry had developed a love for music on the giants' planet and planned to stay in London and play with the local bands. Mark retained his leadership position in his company, but planned to retire with Valerie to France. Angela and Alexander were now in an alien land. They were still trying to get acclimated to the "giant dollhouse" they were staying in. They planned to return to Los Angeles with Steve and Betty and stay with them.

As dinner was being served, they reminisced about their time in the land of giants. They shared stories of Alexander B. Fitzhugh, Andros, Leeda and Pamela…even Gril and Alice. It's so beautiful here, Angela said softly, as she gazed at the setting sun. I could get used to this, she said with a grin. Alexander was finishing up his first milkshake. "I'm having this for dinner every day!" Everyone united in laughter. After dinner, as everyone was saying their goodbyes, "for now" Valerie firmly stated, a brilliant full moon rose from the clouds behind them. "What's that!?" Alexander pointed curiously. Everyone turned and faced the dazzling view. "Let me tell you the story of Theia and Selene..." Mark took Alexander's hand as they all strolled along the Queen's Walk.

The End