Banished to Earth

By David J. Wighton

Hodge Podge's leaders thought the planet was perfect because they got wealthier while their citizens worked to exhaustion and didn't complain. Until a teenager was caught in a radar trap and sent off planet to die. When she fought back, a busy body from Heaven poked her nose into their affairs. When the busy body also fought back, there was no other recourse. She had to learn her lesson.

• Language: English
• Publisher: David J. Wighton
• Release date: Nov 10, 2022
• ISBN: 9781005345280

David J. Wighton

David Wighton is a retired educator who enjoys writing youth novels when he's not on a basketball court coaching middle-school girls. The books in his Wilizy series peek at how people lived after the word's governments collapsed in the chaos that followed the catastrophic rise in ocean levels and the disappearance of the world's last deposits of oil. Luckily today, in the 2080s, the citizens of Alberta are safe because their It's Only Fair society uses brain-bands to zap people whenever they break a rule. That way, all children grow up knowing the difference between right and wrong. Unfortunately, they're also taught that women's ankles need to be covered so that men can't see them and turn into perverts. Plus, no-one in Alberta can have babies any more because the government manufactures them in a way that ensures that no child has an unfair advantage over any other child. All of this makes sense to Alberta's dictator, but not to Will and Izzy – two teenagers who are decidedly different from everyone else.Wighton's novels have strong teenage characters driving the plot and facing challenges that, in many respects, are no different from what teenagers face today. His novels are intended to entertain and readers will find adventure, romance, suspense, humour, a strong focus on family, plus a touch of whimsy. Wighton also writes to provoke a little thought about life in today's societies and what the future might bring. Teachers may find the series useful in the classroom and the novels are priced with that intent in mind.

Book preview

Chapter 1

It's difficult to know if Sewage Breath's decision to use space ships for confidential meetings with his new Secretary of the Cosmos was because of a suspicion that his meetings with the now dead Underarm Stench had been bugged. Certainly, he knew that Underarm's heart attack was not a heart attack. Sewage was also wearing a cauldron pendant around his neck, which would kill him if the warlock controlling that pendant thought that discovery and interrogation under the truth ray were imminent. Whatever the reason, Sewage Breath and Rabid Skunk were now in their own Cosmos executive spaceships (armed scout class ships) and were airlock to airlock somewhere in the Cosmos. If Winnie wanted to continue to listen to their conversations, that wasn't going to happen.

I remind my readers that the translation software employed throughout the Cosmos was not always perfect. Rabid Skunk's name probably wasn't Rabid Skunk where he came from, but that is his name for the purposes of this book. It's fitting. The now dead Underarm Stench had been a crook through and through, but he wasn't the aggressive type. Rabid Skunk thought that being safe from detection was guaranteed if his enemies were too busy trying to survive to think about regime change. Hence, the name Rabid.

I can't say for sure what the two executives discussed in this meeting. Certainly, it was a planning meeting. Call it a regrouping meeting. Rancid Potato (former justice minister), Diaper Stink (former treasurer), and now Underarm Stench (former secretary) were gone. The plan of the corrupt members of the Cosmos executive to take over the board of directors had failed miserably, but they still had a deadlock in the executive suite. The power of their positions was still intact.

Undoubtedly, preserving Sewage Breath's position as president would be their top priority. His future employment would be decided in about twelve months and his prospects for remaining president were not looking good right now. The sight of armed guards hauling a struggling Underarm Stench into a truth ray environment would remain in directors' minds for a long time. Moreover, an upstart lawyer (Hamish) was thrashing Sewage Breath in legal arguments, the president's previously unassailable strength. Still, he had a year to regroup. How he would do that was obvious, at least in terms of strategy. What Rabid Skunk would do as part of the new strategy was not yet determined. Rabid Skunk would be the perfect replacement for Underarm Stench. He was crooked and smart.

The issue of the contents of the secret cave on a pre-civilization planet must have been high in Sewage's mind too. The question that he had yet to answer was: Is anybody watching that cave? He had already sent one set of observers and they had found nothing. Another check would be smart.

Meanwhile, Resolute was blissfully intent on restoring the Cosmos inspectors. Justice was itching to return to work after a stint of regal service and Winnie had nothing to do right now. She decided to research Rabid Skunk's planet, Hodge Podge, to see what kind of CEO he had been before moving into the secretary position.

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Chapter 2

Rabid Skunk had been the President of Planet Hodge Podge for the last twenty odd years. He had assigned himself to be the planet's representative on the board of directors. Now, as Secretary, he would have to work full time in a Cosmos office. After the election, he had appointed his deputy to the role of Interim President.

As Winnie surveyed the planet from above, she concluded that Planet Hodge Podge was well named, at least in terms of its economy. Some planets lived off one main industry: Mirage's Blue Skies and its lumber, for example. However, Hodge Podge had multiple industries and businesses, thus making their future economic prospects more secure. Some industries had volatile swings in their exports; others had steady gains. Hodge Podge had a mish-mash of bits and pieces of everything, thereby qualifying as a hodge podge. They had only four transports clustered around a space hub. Presumably, the planets wanting any of their exports came to Hodge Podge to collect them, dropping off their own exports on the way.

As Winnie wandered through offices and factories as a shoulder demon, she didn't see any signs of militaristic tendencies. Adult hodgie-podgies didn't show much aggression in their work or in the play. It was the same on the school playgrounds. They seemed quite content with their life. They had a police force, but not a secret police force.

The planet's work environment satisfied Cosmos guidelines for gender equality. This was something that Winnie checked early because Hodge Podge had been a hold out against recognizing extradition requests. With an unaggressive population, it would be unlikely that some hodgie-podgie was on the lam from another planet. If they were opposed to having Cosmos investigators enter the planet, it wouldn't be for concerns about misogyny or suppression of the population. As noted above, people appeared content.

Hodge Podge was the only habitable planet in this sector of the Cosmos. They did have a sister planet further away from the sun, but it was classified in the Planetary Guide as uninhabitable. Hodge Podge was orbiting rather close to the sun, but they did have climate controls that explained their well-bronzed skins. Their closeness also meant that they lived in a high gravity environment. The people were somewhat short, but not to the extremes of the Wiffle-Waffles.

The planet had large landmasses with small oceans separating them. Winnie didn't see many rivers or lakes, but she did see artificial reservoirs. The climate controls would serve to keep the agriculture lands watered, but they would have to be careful with other water consumption. Being so close to a sun would make that necessary.

# # # # # # # #

It was the end of November, so let's check in with Maddy's basketball team now. With more universities now fielding teams, the Western Conference was made up of six teams: University of Arizona in Tucson, University of Hawaii in Honolulu, University of Washington in Seattle, Arizona State University in Phoenix, University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, and University of Texas in Austin. Games were played in mid-week. The first was on a Tuesday evening and the second was on a Wednesday afternoon. This allowed visiting teams to have quick turnarounds. The Wildcats had ended the month with a perfect record: 10 - 0. Hawaii was the second best team. Arizona State the third. The other three teams had beginning programs and weren't expecting to be competitive for a few years.

The first two months had not been without some drama. You'll recall that Coach Konrad had formed two lines, one of sophomores and the other of freshmen. The younger team had three solid players with Maddy, Patina, and Clarice. The other two on the team, Louisa and Nancy, played solid defense but had limited offensive skills. They were supposed to work on their shooting and dribbling on their own time with guidance from Assistant Coach Kimberly. When they showed up in September, Louisa had done the work; Nancy had not.

Coach Konrad was not impressed and began asking Nancy questions. When he found out that she had been too busy hanging out with friends all summer to practice basketball, he reminded her that she had been told to work on her skills over the summer. Since she had not done that, she did not have the skills to play at a university level.

You can't tell me what to do over the summer, she argued.

I told you that you didn't have the skills and how to fix that. You chose not to. That's your decision and you're entitled to make it. I also can make a decision on your ability to play at a competitive level with this team. My decision is that you aren't able to do that. You have failed the try out. End of story!

In some regards, Coach's decision to drop Nancy from the second line up would make the team stronger. Some girls on the first line up would receive more playing time. He might face some challenges next season with only four girls to play as sophomores, but that would better than having a girl on the team who didn't want to work hard. He made a note of their conversation and forgot about her.

A week later, the official tryouts for the junior varsity team began. Nine experienced girls showed up and one walk-on. A walk-on is a player who wishes to try out for the team even though she had not been invited.

Allowing walk-ons is actually a smart move. This player was from Flagstaff and Coach Konrad had not seen her play. Sometimes, small town coaches tell the university coaches that they have a good player, sometimes they don't. The Flagstaff coach had not done that for reasons we do not know. We do know that the Flagstaff Senior Girls team consisted of seven players and they had a perfect record because of their star player. Perhaps she was a star because the competition was so weak, a frequent occurrence with small high schools. The girl's name was Chooli Yazzie, which is a Navajo name.

[A little history may be in order. In 2085, the Navajos invited the Zuni, Hopi, and Apache tribes to join with them to form the new Navajo Nation. This Nation was a Native American territory occupying portions of northeastern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico and southeastern Utah. This was the largest land area retained by a Native American nation in the former United States. The tribes amalgamated so that they could pressure the governments of those areas to renegotiate the terms of the treaty through which the Navajo Nation could charge fees to any non-Navajos using their land. That treaty had been signed in 1800s and land values were considerably different now. The white governments of the area had refused to re-negotiate, saying the treaty was fine the way it was. In spite of the Navajo amalgamation, the white governments still saw no need to change the treaty.]

Coach Konrad was impressed with what he saw. In English, the girl's name, Chooli, meant Mountain. Are you getting a sense of why Coach Konrad was impressed? Chooli was taller and wider than Patina. Her high school team won because they could pass her the ball by simply heaving it up in the air. Chooli would catch it, turn and flip it into the basket. Even triple teaming couldn't stop her from scoring. On defense, she prevented anybody from shooting inside the key. Long shots produced long rebounds that Chooli's long arms could reach if she moved a few steps.

Chooli did have some weaknesses though. Rebounding and shooting in tight was all she could do with a basketball. Not to worry. Coach Konrad knew how to give her the skills that would allow her to play university ball. When he asked her if she were willing to do extra practices, she asked him what a practice was. Her eyes lit up when she found out that she could play basketball every day.

Small high schools find it difficult to give their students the academic rigor that they would need to handle university courses. The university's registrar office looked at her straight A grades, frowned at her Navajo background, and decided that some testing would be needed. The registrar's office didn't know that Chooli had no friends in her high school. Her