Scouts Out 1st Fleet Story in the Outfitters Universe

By A.A. Forringer

Of the billions that have ever lived on Earth, 29,755 have been chosen.

Slaves of the Roman Empire, store clerks from Shakespearean England, American College students avoiding the Vietnam draft, and blacksmiths from feudal Japan; all removed from different times, places, and circumstances of Earth’s history. Each selected by a mysterious, seemingly omnipotent, alien race called the Outfitters because they had ‘no discernible impact on Earth’s history’. These diverse individuals are given a choice to join a fleet in order to fight a power hungry race called the Alarians who threaten Earth or simply strike out on their own.

Leo was in his sophomore year in college due to graduate in 1989 when the Outfitters took him. Now he finds himself thrust into command of a Reconnaissance ship with a crew of 13 including a Samoan mechanic, an Irish Miller, and an American frontiersman from 1767.

• Language: English
• Publisher: A.A. Forringer
• Release date: Nov 30, 2013
• ISBN: 9781310155130

A.A. Forringer

Retired Law Enforcement, country boy who has been around the world, here, there, everywhere.Favorite Quote: All America lies at the end of the wilderness road, and our past is not a dead past, but still lives in us. Our forefathers had civilization inside themselves, the wild outside. We live in the civilization they created, but within us the wilderness still lingers. What they dreamed, we live, and what they lived, we dream.”― T.K. Whipple

Book preview

Thanks to Mom and Dad for buying the World Book Encyclopedia and Mom for showing me where the library was. For the Penn Trafford School District who saw fit to send me to Special Reading class in 2nd grade, they flipped a switch and I have been a reader ever since. To my daughter my favorite person to hang out with. To my brothers Mike and Kevin who keep me from slacking off. To Marshal and Scott my first readers, thanks for the kindness and to Ken my backpacking partner and sounding board.

PROLOGUE

Leo slide between the vegetation as softly as he could keeping the muzzle of his weapon pointed forward as much as possible. He fought the urge to wipe the sweat off his face, it would just reappear in a few minutes after he wiped it off so what was the point. He had only moved fifty meters from where he had hid the parachute and already his uniform was soaked through with sweat. He ducked underneath a fern type bush when he heard the whistle, he knew what it was before it arrived, artillery. Somehow they had seen been detected and instead of sending in troops to root them out of this jungle the enemy had made the decision just to kill them with artillery. Leo hugged the ground and just felt the ground shake and roll, followed by another explosion which caused tremors and the ground to quiver. No round landed particularly close but it was enough to make Leo shudder as dirt flew and trees were blown apart around him. Dirt coated him and some flew into his mouth which he quickly spit out.

He laid there and wondered why him. What did he do to deserve this. He had not signed up for this, no one asked him to join up, he had not been talked into this by a buddy who wanted to see the world or in this case the universe. No he had been chosen and woke up to this. Well not this exactly this had taken some steps himself to end up here; lying face down on a smelly jungle floor. The shelling had moved away from his position, was about to get up and press on with the mission but now he realized something was crawling across his legs.

Chapter 1

The final phase of this operation was almost complete. This fleet and the selected ones would be awakening soon. Then it would be onto the next species, and a little bit closer to home. The lessons learned would be categorized and retained for possible future use. This species had not been all that much different than the others they had dealt with before, a few differences in biology, sociology and psychology, but they had been able to comprehend and overcome such differences with enough planning and patience. After the initial shock and confusion the selected ones would make their choice, and then they would see whether or not they had been right in both their selection of this species and their training of them. The probability was in the positive range that this species would make the choice that they had been hoping for; take the tools they had been given and attempt the task laid out before them. It was the most logical and emotionally correct thing to do according to the studies. There would be a few of this species who would choose another path, but that was also expected and taken into account. Less than one percent would choose the less desirable direction, but that was the selected ones’ choice and the Outfitters could not take away that choice any more than they could stop the universe from expanding or two bodies having an attraction to each other. Their thoughts would not dwell on the ones chosen of this species they had outfitted. Which is what they would give as their name, the Outfitters, more or less suitable for what they had done and would continue to do as they moved toward home.

The awakening was beginning.

Leo woke up without a hangover. Which was a miracle in his way of thinking, considering how much he had drank last night. Not that it had been in excess, but he did not drink very often and when he did he always seemed to have at least a good headache the next morning. Oh well, time to wake the machine. Leo reached over to his desk and flipped the switch on the power pack that his computer was hooked up to. As it began its slow starting hum he got up and put on his robe. He walked around his room searching for clean clothes to wear and began to formulate his plans for the day.

First, he wanted to review what he had to do on his term paper and work on putting his outline down on paper for a few hours. Then he was supposed to play some racquetball with Scott (who he hoped woke up with a hangover, because he had talked Leo into going out last night when he should have been studying) then make some plans with him to see what they planned on doing this evening; all in all a good plan for a Saturday.

He opened the fridge and got out some chocolate doughnuts and a pint of milk. He took these to his desk and sat down putting the milk and the pastries down next to the computer, ignoring the sign that said no food or drinks. He had put up the sign himself for the benefit of his roommate. Leo looked at the screen, reached for his mouse and brought up the word processing program. He got into the file that held his research paper. Just as he started to read the first line there was a knock on the door. Leo checked the clock in the corner of the screen, 0953, too early for a lot of his friends to be up and around, probably someone looking for his roommate, or one of his dorm neighbors wanting to borrow something. Leo got up to open the door putting on his glasses as he walked. At first he thought the glasses were extremely dirty then he thought maybe someone had switched his glasses because everything became blurrier as soon as he put them on. He did not have any more time to think about it because the knocking on the door started again.

Opening the door, he was greeted by a guy about forty-five, in jeans and a green polo shirt, about 5’10’’ with short brown hair.

You won’t be needing those glasses anymore Leo. The guy said, extending his hand in a friendly manner. Ten minutes later, Leo knew the guy wasn’t any friend of Dave’s or anyone else from his dorm for that matter.

The guy was actually a very advanced form of a hologram, created by the Outfitters to brief Leo and the 29,754 other potential members of the fleet that were awakening. The Outfitters had found in the study of the psychology of this species that they reacted more favorable to shocking information when it was given by one person who was non-threatening; which meant in most cases a slightly older member of the same sex in a familiar setting, allowing the person to mull over the information in private and deal with their new reality. This was a general rule for this species but not one that was totally correct in all cases. But the Outfitters had not been able to do a deep psychological study of all the individuals from this species, just a mass survey. Therefore they had chosen the most effective, efficient solution available to them. A short personal briefing from a friendly face in familiar surrounding was how this fleet would receive their initial briefings.

The guy walked out of the room and the door closed and locked with a final click. Leo just sat on his bed in disbelief, shock and some horror. He thought he was handling the news very well considering; after all it wasn’t everyday a person woke up and was told that he had been asleep for about a hundred and fifty years, he wasn’t on Earth anymore and that a blood thirsty extraterrestrial fleet was headed towards Earth and he was invited to join a fleet that had a fifty/fifty chance of stopping that invasion. Yea, all in all, Leo thought he was handling the information well as he curdled up in a ball and hoped it was all a dream.

At the same time Leo was trying to come to grips with the new circumstances he had been thrust into, the fleet was awakening, not just the personnel which was going from highest rank to lowest but the ships themselves. Each ship had at least one positornic brain, the larger the ship the more complex the computer/brain. The first brain to awaken was flagship the most complex and temperamental, it would take the longest to finish all steps of its startup process, flex its muscles to find out its own boundaries. The smallest ships would start up last according to the schedule going from largest to smallest. Any ship that traveled through hyper-space needed a positornic brain, to compute the exact size, mass and relative density of each ship and the precise computations that were needed to bend the space in such a manner around a ship for it to enter into hyperspace.

After about an hour Leo got up from the fetal position and sat on the edge of his bed. It still didn’t feel real, but the hologram had showed him enough to suspend his disbelief. The fact that the window of his dorm room which had formerly held a view of a cold Pennsylvania morning, suddenly transformed into a large viewing screen through which he had been briefed on where he was and how he had gotten there. The hologram, named Bob, had told him that his computer contained the answers to any of the questions that he might have. As Leo turned to the desk and sat down he looked around the room and recalled what Bob had told him about his life not having a substantial impact on the history of the world and his influence being more important in this time and place than in any other time period. When Leo asked him if he could go back home and to the way things were Bob explained he could not. This was due to the basic nature of time; the fact that it flowed in only one direction. There was a choice to be made, Leo could choose not to join the fleet and make his own way back to Earth (or anywhere else in the universe for that matter), or he could join the fleet.

Leo needed to know more about the situation. He particularly needed to know how he fit into the whole scheme of things, and then maybe, just maybe, he would feel better. So as Bob had suggested he turned to the computer and the large viewing screen for some answers.

The Outfitters watched. So far there were no anomalies in the reactions of the selected ones. Their behavior fell into the parameters expected shock, outrage, mourning, disbelief, fear and even a few incidents of attempted violence on the holographic images which resulted in a few items being broken in the safe habitats set up for the selected ones. The monitoring of the time flow of Earth had noticed no discernible ripples in the continuum and therefore there was no need to put into action any of the safeguards.

Chapter 2

Leo woke feeling achy all over. Weird dream he thought to himself. Then he woke up fully when he realized it hadn’t been a dream. The hologram, the way his eyes had been fixed so he didn’t need glasses anymore, and the bathroom in what had previously been his roommate’s closet, they were all real. Looking at his watch he realized it was almost eleven o’clock, he only had an hour till his commanding officer showed. At least that is what the itinerary had said when he clicked on the new icon flashing on his computer screen.

The computer now that was a change, it had originally been a rather slow 286 computer, with a tiny speaker that made very soft beeps and bongs that he had bought from his uncle who had used it for accounting purposes. Now Leo didn’t even know what speed it was but it responded to voice commands as well as keyboard and mouse prompts. And fast, well Leo would barely say the words before the computer would display all the information it had, enough to fill a library if the initial time Leo had spent on it had been correct. He had skimmed through Earth history in a little over hour learning about the wars, scientific advances, diseases and other great events since he had taken from Earth by the Outfitters. Then he had gotten more specific looking up his family seeing what had become of them after he disappeared. The newspapers had stated that he had died in his sleep from an undiagnosed brain tumor. His obituary was not much being only twenty one at the time. Then he read his families obituaries but it didn’t really faze him, well it did somewhat, but he didn’t feel anything, he was numb. Everything felt unreal, artificial, and illusionary.

Then he studied where he was in the universe and how far he was from home, and how long it would take him to get home. How to get back to Earth was the question that took the most time. This lead to what type of spaceship he might be assigned to.

And most importantly why? Why was he here? Why had he been picked?

Asking why lead him to ask who had done this to him. The answer was the Outfitters, which was vague and didn’t get much clearer the more he studied. This lead him to study the Outfitters whose creed scrolled across the bottom of each screen on his computer. To prepare, to equip, to allow the ones to choose. The information on his computer was limited to say the least: To prepare (To get a species ready to protect itself from the Horde that was heading towards their home world.) To equip. (To provide the species with the means to fight the Horde.) To allow the ones too chose. (The ones were whichever species the Outfitters felt were threatened by the Horde, and to allow them a free will choice to decide whether or not to fight for their home world.) The Outfitters information further stated that they did not fight themselves, the last bit of information stated that to do so would be against their basic nature and thus they would stop being who they were.

That was all the information provided the by Outfitters on themselves, nothing on where they were from, nothing on why they had developed this creed and done any of these things.

After an hour of attempting to find different avenues of study to learn more about the Outfitters, Leo had moved on to the Horde. Leo had read once a government was not only defined by what they did but also by who their enemies were.

What Leo found out about the Horde had made him become very devoted to the Outfitters. The Horde was an alliance of three different alien races, the Kalukans, the Stetonians, and the Alarians. This did not include the races and worlds that were forced into slavery and heavy taxation by the Horde. The primary enemies that would, according to the Outfitters attack Earth, would be the Alarians.

The Alarians were the originators of the collaboration that was the Horde; they brought the other two races together in one moving force. The Alarians had developed star travel and had then discovered and exploited the other two races. The Alarians were directed by a guiding philosophy of good old fashion greed and lust for power achieved by conquest, dictatorships, and raping a planet of its resources whether they were animal, vegetable or mineral.

And unfortunately the Horde with all their nastiness was expanding towards Earth, one solar system at a time.

This naturally led him to a study of where he was in comparison to Earth, which led his computer to put on a very interesting light show. Projected throughout his entire room was a three dimensional star map with the Earth being a small blinking blue dot on the far end of his room about midway between the floor and ceiling. Meanwhile the position of the planet he was on was midway between the front wall and the back wall and very close to the ceiling. Meanwhile the Horde space was a large red mass located where he was sitting and reaching out from the floor and halfway up the wall. Oddly shaped with bulges and indentations along its border, part of the Horde Empire seemed like a large tentacle reaching towards Earth. Getting up he walked around the room, passing through star systems and looking at the distances and trying to gauge just where he was. Asking questions but not understanding the answers, the huge number of miles, the astronomical units of distance meant absolutely nothing to Leo so he figured a way to make it relative to him. He asked how long it would take to get home, the answer: If a ship traveled at top speed and made no stops it could reach Earth in six months.

But after assessing the big picture he moved on to where he fit into it, like what was expected of him and what would he do in the fleet.

The basic structure of the fleet was triangular like most militaries, with one person in charge; an Admiral in this case, and progressively more lesser commanders till it came to the level of private. Leo was expected to assume the role of a Junior Captain in charge of a Long Range Reconnaissance ship.

Studying more he learned that it was just one of seventy-five in the entire fleet. It seemed that the ships were designed to be the eyes and ears of the fleet and to be able to move independently, always in advance of the fleet, scouting territory. Mapping star systems and planets, explore the surface of the planets, with the capability to enter and exit atmospheres and even to operate under water if necessary. The ship was also able to be an effective fighting force for the fleet, if the need should arise, with both energy torpedoes and twin main guns along with several ball turret lasers.

Asking question after question he eventually fell asleep watching a video like presentation on the intricacies of food preparation and production.

Now Leo climbed out of bed and opened what was once his roommate’s closet door and walked into a bathroom.

Chapter 3

Sitting down in his chair Leo went through his bag one more time, checking to make sure the picture with frame of his family was wrapped up so in case it got bumped around it wouldn’t get broke. His Bible which his parents had given him when he was confirmed was next to the picture, he hadn’t read it that much but they had written some nice things in the cover and he wanted to keep it around. Then there was his college sweatshirt and Pittsburgh Steeler's jersey with Jack Lamberts number. Then in the exterior pockets he had put his toothbrush and other hygiene items.

Bang, Bang. Leo jumped in his seat then looked at the door. The knob twisted slowly and then started to push in.

Captain Grant? A deep voice called out.

Leo didn’t know what to say.

Leo Grant? The voice came again.

That’s me. Leo responded this time still sitting down.

A hand showed around the door and then the top of someone’s head slightly above the door handle. Then the rest of the head popped into view, Leo’s initial thought was a child had opened the door after a slower look Leo recognized the man as a midget, or maybe the term was dwarf. Captain Grant you aren’t going to throw anything or take a poke at me, are you? The small man said haltingly.

No I’m not, should I? Leo responded.

No, not at all, it is just that I have already had one of your peers throw a stack of books at me and one ambushed me as a walked into his room and wrestled me to the ground, until Captain De Cluny grabbed him off me.

Well I won’t do anything like that so please come on. Leo said gesturing from his chair.

The small man opened the door and walked into the room. He was only about four feet tall, short brown hair and brown eyes and was wearing a plain black outfit with black boots. He walked across the room and extended his hand. My name is Farlow, Jonathan Farlow, Senior Lieutenant. The last part he said hesitantly.

Leo stood now and shook his hand. Leo, Leo Grant.

After retracting his hand the man pulled out what looked like a hand held computer. Glad to meet you Leo. Oh and by the way. And after touching the computer screen he looked up. You now are a Captain, Junior Grade that means you outrank me.

Huh how about that. Leo said surprised.

But if you would please follow me our commanding officer, Senior Captain De Cluny would like to meet you now.

Leo looked around the room one more time trying to remember if he had forgotten anything, deciding he hadn’t he picked up his bag. Okay I’m ready to go.

The small man turned around and opened the door; Leo followed a step or two behind.

They worked their way down a short hallway that was gray in color and lit every few feet with recessed lighting. Leo felt a wall at one point and noted it was a very smooth rock type of surface, dry and cold. They came to the end of the hallway and entered a much larger area that looked like a tunnel that could easily have fit a dozen or so tractor trailer trucks side by side. Leo looked left and right and saw nothing but tunnel. Following Farlow he looked ahead to the direction they were moving, about a hundred yards down the tunnel he could see a group of people around what looked like a vehicle. As they crossed the distance Leo could see that there were actually several groups of three or four people talking. Standing on the vehicle all alone was a very thin man, dressed all in black like Farlow working at the hand held computer intently. As they got closer the talking in the groups ceased and everyone turned to look at Leo and the midget.

Leo looked over the groups, they were made up of men, no women present, all of them dressed in different styles and fashion. In fact one man looked like he was wearing a kilt, another wore a three piece suit, and another a woolly fur cap with a cloth parka draped over his arm. Leo saw this all as he steadily followed Farlow closer to the vehicle, then he did a double take on the vehicle. It didn’t have any wheels, when he initially saw it he had assumed it had wheels, now he saw it was hovering about six inches off the ground. He didn’t have any more time to look at the vehicle because Farlow stopped a few paces away from the vehicle and waited. Leo stopped behind him and looked at the man who was still intently looking at his computer screen. He was tall easily six feet tall, late twenties, jet black hair combed back from his face and thin. But Leo could tell the man was muscular. The man suddenly hit a button on the computer and turned to face them.

Any problems Lieutenant Farlow? The man said looking down at the midget.

No sir, this is Captain Grant. The smaller man said gesturing towards Leo.

The tall man stepped down from the vehicle and walked over to Leo and looked him over. Leo had never been in the military but he kinda thought this is what it would be like to be inspected.

Captain Leo David Grant, civilian, no military experience, age twenty years, citizenship United States, taken from Earth October 20, 1987, formerly a student of Criminology and Psychology. The man said coming to a standstill in front of Leo.

Ah that’s right, can I ask who you are? Leo said starting to feel a little uncomfortable around this man.

The man smiled which made Leo even more uncomfortable. Senior Captain De Cluny, formerly of the French Foreign Legion, formerly holding the rank of Sergeant, age twenty-eight, citizenship French, taken from Earth July 28, 1959. The man said extending his hand.

Leo took it and realized his initial assessment that the man was muscular had been correct.

Welcome to Sanctuary, Captain Grant, and also to the year 2150.

Sanctuary?

Yes, that is the name of the planet you are on.

Leo felt really dumb; he had a thousand questions but no idea where to start so he responded as best he could. Uh huh.

Well Captain Grant if you would be so patient until Lieutenant Farlow retrieves three more of your peers we will then have a briefing and perhaps some more of your questions will be answered, if you would excuse us please.

Leo got the hint and turned and walked a few feet away from the only two people he knew on the planet. Not knowing what else to do he did what came naturally, he joined a herd. Walking over to a group he began to listen in. The group was a mixed bunch, an Asian guy dressed similarly to Leo in a red T-shirt and blue jeans, another in what appeared to be a suit but of a cut Leo wasn’t familiar with, one guy in sort of brown rough cut cloth outfit that was made up of a baggy ill shaped shirt and a pair of pants that were too long on one leg and shorter on the other leg. The group noticed Leo immediately and acknowledged him by opening up their circle a little bit.

Hi.

The group just nodded back at him.

Leo could sense some tension and was immediately sorry he had picked this group to walk into.

Sorry for the cold shoulder friend you just walked in on us while the discussion we were having was at an impasse. The guy in the strange suit stated extending his hand.

Oh what was the discussion about? Leo asked immediately hoping he wasn’t being too noisy.

Well our friend here from England 1252 motioning towards the man in brown seems to think he is bewitched or he is in hell and we were trying to explain to him otherwise.

Chapter 4

The stars are very beautiful are they not my friend?

Leo turned around it was Charles the Frenchman from 1863. Yea but I don’t recognize any of the constellations, I used to be able to look up at the night sky and find Orion, both Ursa Major and Minor and a few others but now I don’t see anything I recognize.

Yes, but I do see Trianus, Grenita, Houtia, and a few other stars. Charles replied sitting down on the grass beside Leo.

I recognized those too but they don’t really mean that much to me, I mean sure I know their names but I don’t know if there are any myths or stories to go with them.

True enough my American friend but soon, if what De Cluny states is true all this will become very meaningful. Charles said not really sounding as though he believed it either.

Leo sighed and then yawned. It had been a very long day. After leaving his ‘dorm room’ which was really just a very complex but exact holographic image of his room then being introduced to his commanding officer Captain De Cluny then slowly meeting the other captains in his reconnaissance unit. They had been brought out of the tunnel by hovercraft to this area which from what Leo could see was miles and miles of grassy fields with occasional hills, valleys and small streams. They had set up a camp area, really just a few tables and some sleeping mats and bags then they had gotten down to one long session of lectures, questions and answers.

The initial briefing was provided by Captain De Cluny who had stood at the front of the area while Leo and his peers had sat on the picnic tables listening. He had recapped what Leo had learned the previous day. They were on a planet halfway across the universe from Earth, an alien group called the Horde was probably going to discover Earth in the next two years and if they acted according to their own history and tradition they would probably enslave Earth within three years.

Then he gave a lecture on the additional education that had been placed into their brains, knowledge about space travel, high mathematics needed to comprehend the way hyperspace worked, repair skills so they could fix the space ships they were assigned to and language skills. That was when Leo realized all the talking he had been doing, all the reading he had been doing, and for that matter all the thinking he had been doing since waking up had been in Alarian Common, the language of the Horde. De Cluny explained that while they had been asleep the Outfitters had taught information directly to their brains. His explanation was that the knowledge was like bubbles of air coming up through water. When the knowledge was called upon or needed parts of it would rise to the conscious parts of the brain and could then be used. He further explained that the entire next year would be one of training and exercises so that they would become confident in their new skills and knowledge.

Then a briefing was given by Lieutenant Farlow on the plans for the next day. First each Captain would be issued a hovercraft and report to his ship and activate the general purpose droid assigned to that ship. After that was completed they would greet each of their officers and then their assigned enlisted personnel and then await further instructions from Captain De Cluny

During these briefings hands would be raised by different people with questions which took time to be answered. Then Farlow and De Cluny would try to get back to the initial point of the lecture. By the time both of them were finished it was beginning to get dark and the smell of food was coming from the far side of the camp area. De Cluny dismissed the men and directed them to get some food. The dinner consisted of large bowls of hot, thick, steamy beef stew accompanied by large pieces of bread with generous portions of butter, and to wash it all down were large glasses of either ice cold milk or water.

When the meal was over it was almost pitch black De Cluny light a fire in the small fire circle that the picnic tables surrounded. Leo and the others were drawn to the fire and took up positions around it. De Cluny finally sat down as well after walking off with Farlow for ten minutes. When De Cluny finally found a place at the fire it was a good ten minutes before a question was asked, then the whole q and a period started again.

Leo was amazed at how much De Cluny knew every time he was asked he either knew it or had an idea about the answer. Someone, Leo wasn’t sure whom because the person’s face was masked in shadows, finally called De Cluny on it.

How do you know so much De Cluny? Are you one of the so-called Outfitters we have heard so much but so little about at the same time? Maybe this whole thing is just some sort of hoax, why should we believe any of this stuff you are telling us?

Leo was sitting a few feet from De Cluny and immediately saw a several changes in his facial expression, first anger, then just as quickly exasperation, then finally resolve. De Cluny responded firmly and with a great deal of passion. The reason I know so much is because I have been awake for two days already, asking these same questions in similar type briefings with my peers. Secondly there is no way to prove to you I am who I say I am, a former Sergeant from the French Foreign Legion. De Cluny held up three fingers. Thirdly, as for this being a hoax well it could be but what an elaborate hoax it is and I have been fooled by it as well, and finally why should you believe any of this? I think it comes down to a basic question ‘what choice do you have’; you could disbelieve and try to wake yourself from this dream, you could think that you are dead and this is heaven or hell, or you could choose to play along and hope that it comes out for the best. De Cluny stared at the fire for a few seconds and no one spoke. That is what I am doing playing along the best way I know how and hope and pray that everything works out for the best. This last part was said softly but Leo was sure everyone heard it because the area was completely still.

That was a half an hour ago. Now Leo was laying on his back staring up at a strange bunch of stars and talking to a guy that had been born about a hundred years before his own birthday and an intergalactic common language which happened to be the major language of the an empire that would enslave Earth if Leo and this eclectic group of people could not pull together.

Chapter 5

Of the fourteen other Captains, Leo had not really gotten to know many of them. He had only really talked to a few. He had been able to get on the good side of Clarence, the clergyman from 1252 England, the one who believed everyone was a demon. Leo had ended up next to him at breakfast this morning, the man was still grumbling about demons when Leo had an idea. Reaching into his backpack which he always kept close by, he pulled out his Bible, and ripped out the two pages with his parent’s notes. Leo then turned and offered it to him without a word; the man took it like it was a glass of water in a desert. He had flipped through the pages and read what looked to Leo like passages at random. Then after flipping to the back cover he bowed his head quickly then he looked up at Leo and smiled and Leo thought he saw a tear in his eye. Clarence stood up quickly and said thanks softly and walked away to the top of a nearby hill and sat down to read. Leo watched him for a few minutes, it was then he realized that someone was staring at him; he turned and caught the gaze of De Cluny who was standing across the table. De Cluny nodded approvingly, Leo responded with a small smile and a shrug. De Cluny then turned and walked away without a word.

A few minutes later the captains were dismissed with strict orders to begin getting his crew working together and follow the training outline and each was given a hovercraft to take them to their ships.

The wind felt good. He felt freer and better than he had since he had first come awake and found himself here. Maybe he felt so good because he was controlling a hovercraft across the plains of this planet all alone. He felt just like he did the first time his parents had let him take the family car out for the evening by himself, like anything and everything was possible. But the scenery, the hills and valleys of knee deep green grass that he floated over reminded him that he wasn’t on Earth and if everything was true that he had heard it might be a long time before he ever saw Earth again.

The vehicle gave a small bump and Leo