The Race Through Space Trilogy

By David Hawk

Neil Webb is a nerdy, brilliant kid from a small town in the heart of the Colorado Rocky Mountains. The only thing that is on Neil's mind is how is he and his best friend Marie are going to spend their summer vacation. His life is upended when he receives a mysterious message from his scientist father. Now, he must decide whether to save his father or change the course of human evolution.

RACE THROUGH SPACE is a kid-centered sci-fi series that pays homage to the adventure movies from the 1980's and to the real life scientists that have expanded our understanding of the universe.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Books To Go Now
• Release date: Jun 11, 2019
• ISBN: 9781393749035

Book preview

Chapter 1

S he blinded me with science. Science! shouted Thomas Dolby in his classic song She Blinded me with Science .

The song blared out of Neil’s smart phone on the table next to his bed. He poked his hand out from underneath his rocket ship patterned comforter, turned off the alarm and slowly sat up straight. He threw back the covers, jumped out of bed and changed from his NASA pajamas to his black Space-X T-shirt and a pair of jorts.

After several minutes, Neil bounded down the stairs and turned toward the kitchen. He rounded the staircase and saw his mother cooking eggs. She wore a grey sweatshirt that read High Plains Storm Chasers. She turned toward him. Good morning. You’re up early, she said, with a spatula in her hand.

Yeah, I’m really excited about today. I need to pick up Marie before we go to the museum, Neil said.

Are you all packed up for tonight? his mother asked.

Yep, I can’t wait, Neil replied.

The first day of summer vacation was always a treasured one for him. That’s when he and his father, took their annual camping trip. The two of them would go to a quiet lake near their home in the heart of the Colorado Rocky Mountains. He loved to camp and fish, but the highlight of the trip was when his father brought out his hi-tech telescope. The two of them would spend hours at night looking at the stars, planets and galaxies that populated the night sky.

Anyway, love, I have some errands to run in Denver today, said his mother. I may not see you before you guys leave. Have so much fun and stay near your dad. There’s a lot of hungry bears out there.

Neil left the house and biked through town on the way to meet his best friend, Marie. She lived with her mother in their tidy double-wide trailer on the opposite side of town.

When he got there, Marie was standing impatiently next to her bike, wearing a green hoodie that read Mysteries of the Universe written across the chest. Her long black, curly hair was braided into pigtails. Neil noticed that she was wearing a new pair of glasses. They were black and round. Neil thought they looked kind of looked like Harry Potter glasses. The two of them have been best friends since the first day of school and he secretly wished he was as smart as she was.

Chapter 2

Neil and Marie had set their sights on this day months ago—the day that their hero, Dr. William Lowell, would premiere his new planetarium show at the Mountain View Earth and Space Museum. Neil loved him because he loved learning about space. Marie adored him because he was an African-American and a nerd, just like she was. Dr. Lowell was the most famous scientist on Earth. His show, Mysteries of the Universe, was a smash hit and his books were top sellers. He was also an old friend and classmate of Neil’s father, who ran the museum. If it wasn’t for his dad’s words of encouragement, Dr. Lowell would be slinging lattes at a Starbucks somewhere. Years later, when Neil’s dad reached out for help, Dr. Lowell gave him a helping hand.

Several years ago, Neil’s dad had self-published a book where he claimed that he not only proved the existence of wormholes, (bridges that connect the vast distances in space), but that he stabilized them and used them to visit alien worlds across the universe. The most fantastic claim was that he lived with and studied several different alien civilizations. He claimed to have spent most of those years living amongst the population of an ape-like species called the Wychu, who lived on a jungle world named Simia. Neil’s father also claimed that the Wychu had built massive cities of silver in the jungle canopy of their world and their cities were supported by enormous trees. The Wychu were the most advanced species on Simia, but they were not the only ones.

Simia had four distinct species, and each one was on a different rung of the evolutionary ladder. The Wychu had colonized the jungle canopy. A civilization named the Tryan built vast cities just under the Simian surface and the Ison lived in the mountains. The least evolved intelligent species on Simia was also the most feared. They were the Daro, a species that splintered from the Tryan thousands of years ago and were banished to the dark interiors of the jungle. The only reason the other Simian civilizations managed to flourish was because the Daro were highly sensitive to sunlight. Massive light arrays called starlights were built thousands of years ago to protect the great Simian cities and resources from the Daro.

Neil’s dad spent many years living with the Wychu as the guest of one of their leaders, a creature named Yyma, and developed sophisticated software that translated the Simian language in real-time. That enabled him to learn all he could about Simia and its history. He also lived with the Tryan for several months before leaving Simia on his quest to visit other worlds.

In all, Neil’s father claimed to have visited five different worlds strewn throughout the universe. The final world he visited was a hyper-advanced planet called Varillam. It was home to a race of beings millions of years old, called the Teva. They were the beings that created the wormhole that Neil’s father used to traverse the universe. Their knowledge of physics was so advanced that they could manipulate space and time in order to visit any of the trillions of planets throughout the universe. Because wormholes were bridges through space and time, Neil’s father discovered that when he returned from his extended excursions, only seconds had elapsed on Earth. Nobody believed his story.

After hearing the story directly from his friend, Dr. Lowell couldn’t believe it. His brain told him that it was a great work of sci-fi. But his gut, his gut told him that everything his old friend claimed, was absolutely true. The two men agreed to stay in contact and one-day, Dr. Lowell would visit sleepy, little Mountain View and see the wormhole device for himself.

Two years passed, and Dr. Lowell’s fame continued to grow. The men eventually lost touch until Neil’s father received a message from Varillam. The Teva had observed a quasar erupting from a pair of colliding black holes and the jets of energy, travelling a nearly the speed of light, was heading directly toward their solar system. Their world would be annihilated back into pure energy. The Teva could escape using their own wormholes, but instead they had chosen to spend the remainder of their existence dispersing their millions of years of accumulated knowledge to the worthiest of beings. They had invited Neil’s father to come to Varillam to receive their knowledge.

Neil’s father called Dr. Lowell and they came up with an ingenious idea. Dr. Lowell would come to Mountain View to premiere his new planetarium show at the museum. They would leave in the middle of the show and run to Neil’s father’s office. There, they would travel through the wormhole to Varillam and return with the information. When they arrived back on Earth, only a few seconds would have elapsed, and they would return to the show before it was over.

Neil’s father pre-recorded several messages that would automatically be sent to his family in case of an emergency.

Chapter 3

As Neil’s father recorded his messages, Neil and Marie arrived at the museum. Dr. Lowell’s visit to Mountain View was the biggest event to happen in the town, ever. Neil and Marie took their seats just as the lights dimmed and a spotlight illuminated his father at the front of the audience. The crowd roared in excitement.

Welcome to beautiful Mountain View, Colorado and to our gorgeous museum, said Neil’s father, and was greeted by a loud round of applause. We are very honored to welcome America's favorite scientist as he presents his newest, most technologically advanced planetarium experience, ‘Mysteries of the Universe-Exoplanets.’ Ladies and gentlemen, without further ado, Dr. William Lowell.

The crowd erupted in cheers and applause. There were some hoots and hollers peppered throughout the auditorium. Dr. Lowell ran down the steps, shaking hands with adults and fist bumping kids. He was an African-American man in his late thirties with dark hair and a puffy beard. He wore a black T-shirt resembling the Wu-Tang logo but it said Hawking. He took his spot at the front of the planetarium, standing next to Neil’s dad.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you! You’re too kind. Please take your seats, Dr. Lowell said as he pointed and waved to various members of the audience. First, I want to thank my dear friend Dr. Stephen Webb for inviting me to this beautiful museum in one of the most beautiful places on Earth.

There was another loud round of cheers and applause.

In 2009, NASA launched a revolutionary telescope into space. It was called the Kepler Space Telescope and its mission was to find new planets in outer space. To date, the telescope has found thousands of alien planets. My friend Stephen and I even found a few of them ourselves, Dr. Lowell said to more applause. What's even more exciting is that we’ve found over a dozen planets that are roughly the same size as Earth and just close enough to their home star to support liquid water. Where there's water, there's life. We call this the Goldilocks Zone.

Dr. Lowell walked to the side of the auditorium.

Of course, the planets are so far away that we’ll never visit them. My team has been researching these Goldilocks planets for a few years and this planetarium experience is the culmination of our work. For the first time ever, we will be using state-of-the-art hologram technology to show you these distant worlds. Ladies and gentlemen of Mountain View, let’s explore, Dr. Lowell said.

The lights blinked out. Neil laid his head back as the show began. The projector flashed on and millions of holographic stars spilled over the audience. A large red ball of fire grew larger as if the crowd approached it on a rocket ship.

Dr. Lowell’s voice spilled from the speakers Welcome to Proxima Centauri, the closest star to Earth.

His pre-recorded voice described the many planets that orbit Proxima Centauri. Neil looked down at his father standing at the front of the auditorium. Dr. Lowell stood beside him. Neil’s father whispered something into Dr. Lowell’s ear, and they exited the auditorium, the light from the open door silhouetting them as they left. Neil’s attention lingered at the now-dark exit. Something just didn’t sit right about them leaving. Marie tapped Neil’s shoulder, so she could grab some of his Red Vines and his focus went back to the planetarium experience.

When the show ended Neil still had an uneasy feeling, which was worsened when old Ms. Hershel, the museum docent, walked to the front of the audience.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but Dr. Lowell was called out on an emergency and we will have to postpone the autograph ceremony, she said to a round of boos. She shrugged. Neil Webb, please meet me at the front of the auditorium. Thank you.

Neil looked at Marie and they walked down the staircase, once most of the audience had left. Ms. Herschel stood against the wall of the auditorium, waiting for him. Neil thought she looked concerned.

It was the oddest thing. You father called me in the middle of the show from his cell phone and he said that Dr. Lowell had an emergency. He wants you to wait for him in his office. Do you know where it is? Ms. Herschel asked.

Neil nodded. He and Marie headed out the exit and down a brightly lit hallway. Neil pointed to a door that read, Administration. The office was dark but thousands of glow-in-the-dark stars glowed on the walls and the ceiling. Neil pushed a button on the wall and the lights came to life. Posters of the world’s greatest scientists ran the length of the wall. The first was the iconic photo of Albert Einstein sticking his tongue out. There were posters of Carl Sagan, Stephen Hawking and Neil DeGrasse Tyson. There was a long bookshelf crammed with science novels by Hawking, Bill Nye the Science Guy and Michio Kaku. He had numerous science books and journals and there were dozens of novels by Arthur C. Clarke, Gene Rodenberry, Michael Crichton and Stephen King. Inside the door, was a globe of Mars next to a pair of leather chairs that sat in front of an oak desk. On the desk was a sleek laptop and a piece of notebook paper. Neil moved to the desk and saw his name written on top of a paper. He picked up the paper, unfolded it and read aloud, Neil. Had to run. Meet me at the lab, Dad.

Your dad has a lab? Marie asked.

Yeah, nobody knows about it. My grandpa Al bought it a while back, Neil told her.

Why does your dad want you to meet him at his lab? Marie asked.

We’re supposed to go fishing later, maybe that’s it, Neil said. Why don’t you come to the lab with me? It’s really cool. We can drop you off at home on our way out of town.

Let’s roll, Marie said.

Neil and Marie jumped on their bikes and peddled furiously past a line of cars on their way out of the parking lot and onto the highway. They rode north through Mountain View and several miles down the highway. They stopped at a crossroad, then turned left down a dirt road that led them past wide-open fields, grazing cows and the occasional antelope. They reached a signpost that read Rancho Costa Plenty. Neil and Marie stopped at the post and turned their bikes down the driveway.

They peddled down a curved drive along a pair of buildings. There was a large ranch on the right and an identical, albeit smaller, ranch on the left. In-between the two buildings was an immaculate view of tan colored fields bordered by snow-covered peaks and a small lake. The ranches had the same light-wood siding and green shingles. Both buildings had the same red door. Neil and Marie dropped their bikes and ran to the larger ranch.

They stopped in front of a thick, oak door painted red. Next to the door was a keypad. Neil hit a series of numbers and then he scanned his right index finger on the keypad. The locks of the door disengaged. Neil turned a silver doorknob and opened the door. The room was dark, lit only by glowing screensavers coming from several large computer screens that sat on top of a pair of desks. There was blinking computer servers set throughout the large room. On the other side of the lab, a large flat-screen television had been mounted to the wall above a fireplace and in front of a black leather couch. Neil took two steps into the lab and the lights blinked on. Two sets of wooden steps lead upstairs where there were three rooms, all with their doors closed. In the corner upstairs, was a canon-like, black telescope. It was attached to a rotating platform and there were thick wires that led from the telescope to a computer. Above the telescope, was a covered dome. There were four cylindrical tubes at each corner of the platform.

Marie pointed toward the telescope apparatus. What are those for? she asked.

At night the roof opens, and the telescope lifts up. The computer controls the platform, so the telescope rotates with the Earth, Neil said.

Pretty cool, dude, Marie said.

They moved toward the pair of desks. The first desk was cluttered with books and papers. Neil picked up a silver frame containing an old, faded photograph of a young woman in horn-rimmed glasses and a Betty Rubble-type hairdo.

This is my grandma Sally, Neil said, holding the picture up so Marie could see.

Marie walked around to the other desk and plopped down into a rolling leather chair. When she did, a blue laser shot out of a computer screen and it was followed by a loud buzz. The voice of Gandalf howled from the computer speakers. You shall not pass!

The voice startled Marie.

Neil whipped his head toward her. What’d you do? he asked her.

Dude, I’m exhausted. All I did was sit down and the computer shot me with a laser, then yelled at me, Marie replied in a snarky voice.

Neil motioned for Marie to get out of the chair and he sat down behind her. The laser shot from the computer once again. This time they were presented with Flavor Flav yelling, Yeahhhhh, boyyyyyyy.

Neil’s father appeared on the computer screen and a video message