12 One: Great Seal of the Galatic Federation

By Jack Herbert Fletcher

These are the adventures of lovers traveling to numerous moons, advancing to travel spiritually to planets while being chased by flying dragons spitting fire. Both humans and dragons evolve as a large city is built. The end is a surprise leading to 12 Two. During the hundreds of years (a lifetime), families become extremely large. The evolution of all allows them to get along.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Newman Springs Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Feb 20, 2023
• ISBN: 9798887632148

Book preview

Table of Contents

Title

Copyright

To Dorothy Erin Fletcher

The Escape

Hotel Dinner

Escape to Big City

The Fatal Accident

Big City

Hilda

Illuminatus

Planet Big City

Illuminatus

Hilda Continued Linda Illuminatus

Dragon Terrotpru Illuminatus Continued

Illsileous Begins with the Voyage

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12 One

Jack Herbert Fletcher

Copyright © 2023 Jack Herbert Fletcher

All rights reserved

First Edition

NEWMAN SPRINGS PUBLISHING

320 Broad Street

Red Bank, NJ 07701

First originally published by Newman Springs Publishing 2023

ISBN 979-8-88763-213-1 (Paperback)

ISBN 979-8-88763-214-8 (Digital)

Printed in the United States of America

To Dorothy Erin Fletcher

The Escape

I had just come out of the restroom, hair wet and freshly dyed. I looked around briefly and hurriedly walked to the corner.

Two men came running across the street and approached me, asking, Did you see any of those escaped kids?

I shrugged and said no and acted as if I had no idea what they were talking about.

They responded, We had a call that they had been seen in this area fifteen or twenty minutes ago.

Sorry, I have not been here that long, I replied.

Well, if you do, make sure that you give us a call. There is a big reward out for them.

Okay. Acting like I was late, I found my chance to cross the street and get away.

Boy that was close. I had no idea that they would be on my tail so fast. But amazingly, I fooled them with the hair dye. As I turned, they were headed to the men's room. Surely, they would see the remainder of my sloppy mess of hair dye and know it could be me with the wet hair dye all over the sink.

I looked for the closest door across the street and entered. Just as I did, I could see the two men coming out of the restroom, looking ferociously around. Hopefully, they didn't see me. I kept moving.

Keep moving, I thought. Keep moving…but where?

An elevator door opened. I ducked inside and pushed the Close Door button. The door closed. I felt safe, thinking how glad I was that nobody was eyeballing me the way they had when I first entered town, buying hair dye. The druggist knew. He had smiled and winked his eye, and he probably informed on me as soon as I left.

I had hair, bleached white blond hair of convict, or freshly escaped one. That was ridiculous. I was the farthest thing from a convict. I had also gotten a pack of razor blades at the drugstore and took off my three-day beard.

Freshly shaved, I felt good. And my hair was colored again, even though it was artificial. I did have a real mustache. Again, It felt good.

The adrenalin rush was starting to wear off, and I realized that the elevator was going nowhere. Other people entered, a tall thin man and a very finely dressed gentleman.

They pushed a floor number, turned, and asked me, Which floor?

We were on our way up when the elevator stopped to pick up more passengers.

I had been about to answer. My mouth was open, and my mind was spinning for an answer.

Just at that moment, two men entering the elevator drew electric pistols and electrocuted one of the gentlemen. He tightly dropped to the floor. As quickly as they entered, they left.

The elevator door closed, and we were still on our way up. I could not believe it, but my surprise was not as great as the other gentleman's.

He looked like he was ready to cry. He was in shock.

I had always tried to stay out of trouble. One day, an escaped convict; the next day, I could be falsely charged with murder. I wondered, had it been a mistake to come to the great city?

I thought the best thing to do was to act as if I had not noticed anything.

Briefly, I glanced at the other person. He pushed the door close. Then he pushed the Stop button.

I wondered, Am I a witness? Will I be next?

He said, Sir, you look like an intelligent person.

I answered, A perfect gentleman, sir.

Good, good, he replied. I desperately need someone to fill this man's shoes. I've come a long way. You are the same build as he. I can give you $12,000 if you only do just this one little thing for me. Come to this meeting. You don't have to say a word.

That's $12,000, I thought. Wow. That was more than my father had made in a whole year on the farm.

I smiled slowly and looked at the shoe size and said, Looks like the shoes will fit. I will accompany you.

We stripped the dead man down. I put on his clothes. I was now dressed in an elegant suit, which was brand-new. The shoes were just a little too tight.

I then asked the man, What do you plan to do with this body? Certainly, if anyone comes into this elevator, they will think that we had something to do with this killing.

Don't worry about it. I own the next floor up, and no one is there. We shall take him out and throw him into the mail chute. The mail chutes there are quite large, big enough for large boxes. He will be found in the morning, and there will be no way to tell what happened to him. At least, they will never suspect us.

Likely prospect, I thought. The undercover men were only a couple of steps behind me. At least, the body would not be found until morning.

I could just picture the news: Convict Comes to Town. Is Spotted. The body would be spotted twenty minutes after I had been spotted. Boy, if this guy only knew. I had to keep my cool!

The gentleman looked at his watch and gasped. Oh, we are almost late. They are about to lock the door. The meeting will begin, and it will all be over if we do not get there. We will have to hurry.

I said, What am I supposed to do? Just to stand there and say nothing doesn't seem right. Tell me a little bit more about all of this.

Well, I am an investor. I put up half of the money to save the company. Now I will have to put up the other half of the money.

I said, Wow. Is that what you are doing now?

"Well, I actually had the other part of the money. I didn't want to gamble all of it on this outfit. It's the Big City Magnet."

"And what is the Big City Magnet?" I asked.

The guy gave me a queer look and said, You are from out of town, aren't you? Very far out of town if you do not know what the Big City Magnet is.

I replied, Yes. I just arrived here.

"Well, sir, the Magnet is the largest newspaper. You must be from the other side of the planet if you don't know this. Queer though, you don't speak another language."

There was no more time to talk. We were at the doors. We entered. No one quite seemed to believe that I was there, but in their eyes, I could see their relief. The possibility of a new investor was their obvious thought.

I was introduced as Bill Barnaby. I was assured that my money would be well invested.

The meeting came to order abruptly. There were charts on the wall with figures going up and down. I learned less from listening to the garble that these guys were going through than what the charts were telling me. They didn't look good.

I tried to pay attention. At first, a lot of the words I did not understand, but halfway through the meeting, I started to catch the gist of what was going on. It all seemed quite simple to me, being from the farm and being acquainted with low-income people