One day the group awoke weary eyed and worn out. They did what they had become accustomed to doing every morning for the past six months. Everyone working to get into a bathroom so they could get to breakfast then head to the training facility.
Throughout the morning this is what could be seen by anyone who passed by. The main door was left wide open. Rose was sitting on one of the couches reading a Bible that she’d managed get someone to find for her. Marian had started joining her in the morning and they’d talk about what they’d read on the way to the facility if the got a chance. Most of the times John could be found studying until the last possible minute. Then he'd rush around to finish dressing. Everyone else was usually in a blur of motion. Occasionally someone could be heard yelling at a bathroom door. Servants would come and go to make sure everyone had everything they needed for the day. Daniel would cry out that he’d lost his notebook. Someone else might stop to help him look for it. JoAnna could be seen hunting around for a missing shoe or jacket or electronic gadget she’d lost during her studying the night before. No one ever saw a person move about so while they studied. Rodger carried around another electronic gadget that most people couldn’t figure out if he was studying or had built himself, all the while brushing his teeth and pulling on socks.
Mornings were a bit chaotic for everyone. On several occasions it led to several people being upset with someone. This proved difficult to handle during training. Everyone needed to be on good terms and cooperating with one another. Training not only helped them to learn about each other but it also gave them each a level of respect. Everyone seemed to notice when someone failed. However they were quick to notice when someone succeeded. Everyone did their best to encourage and help each other. They were all reliant upon each other. There wasn’t anyone better to understand what they were going through then the people who were going through the same things.
Most of the times their homework was based on an individual basis yet there were alway projects that needed to be worked on with a partner. The original break up of the group was what they usually were set together with. The instructors still liked to mix things up that way they could see who and how the group worked together.
Anyway the group didn’t know it but this day was different from all the others. There wasn't to be any training. All the studying they’d done was the last they’d do. Whatever they had been working on wouldn’t be important any more. When they showed up at the training facility they were brought together as a group to do one last thing.
“Today,” an instructor began, “We want to see how far you’ve progressed. Today you are going to release the AstroShip into space. I hope to see your dedication, determination, and open mindedness put to the limit. This should be the best take off ever.”
Now the group had gotten so used to training that simulations had become a part of them. The closest they’d come to actually doing the work was the piloting they’d been doing on the AstroStars. So when they got everything ready down to the last itty bitty detail to set the AstroStar into space, they had no idea that they’d actually done it for real.
The look of their faces when they felt the ground rumble beneath them. They gathered together to watch the take off of the ship they’d soon be taking through space. After the AstroStar had been launched the instructors brought the group outside. There they found a group of people had gathered. Everyone was setting things up for a party.
King ShaHarn greeted them from behind. “All these people are here for you. Their hope for this world rests in your hands. Let them celebrate this successful day. Oh and by the way, I guess someone should tell you that your training is over.” The king walked out and conversed with his people. Grabbing a glass of whatever was being served near him. It looked like fruit juice but it could have been wine or some such beverage.
For the group it seemed strange to be celebrating. They thought they still had training to do. They thought they was still training they NEEDED to do. None of them was sure about feeling comfortable or ready to set off looking for a madman.
“Well, you can all stand around and stare at each other but I’m going to find something to get rid of the crater hole in my stomach. All that stressing about whether I was going to remember everything really made me hungry.”
“We get up on that ship and I don’t know how we are going to keep him fed.” Joshua said and everyone chuckled a little before they were surrounded by people.
All day people shared their excitement with members of the group. Everyone wanted to know what they called themselves. Which of course they didn’t have an answer for. It wasn’t something they had talked about. There was music and quite a wide variety of it. The food was all around in different varieties and quantities. Anna kept after Daniel to make sure he didn’t indulge himself on more than he ought.
There was food that they hadn’t seen before. The king had tried to keep their meals as close to what they were used to as was possible. At the party though he didn’t have quite the same amount of control as he did in the castle. Marian wondered what was from space and what had been created on earth. There was always new food being made here even from back when she was at home. Of course the only way to find out was to ask someone their. She did so occasionally.
That night when the air chilled, the people began to disperse. The bone fire still blazed. The music ended. The dancing continued in the hearts of the people as they made their way home. When the group returned to the castle it was with a smile on their face. Homesickness crept into the pits of their stomachs as the got around for bed. It wasn’t long before they were all nursing warm cups of cocoa, tea, or coffee as they sat together in the sitting area.
“Well this is exciting.” Marian broke the silence.
James laughed but it was more of a sad nervous sound that escaped past his lips. “Am I the only one was doesn’t feel like they're ready for this?”
There was a common look past around and a few who only stared into the depths of the rugged carpet.
“It has been a while since we’ve been here. When we were doing all those things it felt like time past by so fast. I hardly noticed when a day started and ended. Now I can’t help but wonder if we are even a tad bit closer to being home.”
“Like you keep asking yourself if this was even a step in the path toward home.”
“We still agree that this was the best move for us to make though right?” James watched as everyone replied that it was what they agreed. “We can try to turn back now but I think after this we won’t have a choice but to move forward.”
Julie slightly changed the subject bring it more around to the belief that they weren’t all mentally crazy. “Did anyone else get asked what they call ourselves?”
Yawning Daniel tried to nod, “Yeah they kept asking me. What did they mean?”
“Well, you know like a group name. Like AstroVallians or some such thing that would help make us sound like a team.”
“What do you all think? Should we come up with a name? Any ideas on what we might use?”
Marian stifled a yawn, “I like having a group name. Although I think Astro anything would be a little like overkill.”
“I think so too,” agreed Anna. “Something to do with earth might be good.”
“I t-t-think somet-t-thing like R-r-rangers w-w-would be g-g-good because it w-w-would be like the T-t-texas R-r-rangers." John managed to finished after suffering through his stutter.
His black leathery cloak billowed out behind him as he stormed through the heavy double doors. “WHAT am I hearing?”
The three men sitting at the table stood. One of them knocked over the chair he was sitting in, another clutched his hands together tight against his waist.
A girl, with hair the color of ripe strawberries that knit together in tight curls in a tight skimpy piece of dress, stepped up close to him. “Let them have a chance to explain, my sweet Sleek. I’m sure they can have some good reason for causing you so much distress.”
His eyes seemed to bore into the man standing closest to him. The man spoke as he studied his dark colored shoes.
“When the missile launch failed...”
“I KNOW what failed tell me what is happening now!”
Eyes wide the man stumbled over his words. “Task force they created sir.”
“WHAT?”
“Wha-What he meant to say sir was that the Earthlings have created a task force.”
“Their purpose?”
“ShaHarn is sending them to find you, sir.”
“HA! Ha, ha! He’s what?”
“They are a group of teenagers sir, recently trained to use the spaceship they have created. Their mission is to hunt you down and bring you to Earth. They call themselves the Rangers, something about the first law keepers of the old Earth days.”
“Study your history and know your enemy, Klitar.”
“Sir you should know,” the only man who hadn’t spoken was the one standing farthest away from the moody cloaked man. “There is a bit of news that didn’t make it through the lines to us. It was interrupted.”
“Is the hole patched?” He gritted the words out through his teeth.
“It is happening as we speak, sir.”
“Very well don’t let it happen again. I want to know everything you can tell me about that force field. I think I have an idea how to deal with earth before they try to deal with us.”
“Do you want information on the Rangers sir?”
“If my plan works we won’t need any of that. They’ll never make it out of Earth’s orbit. Now get me that information!”
It was their last day on Earth. They, of course, hoped to see it again one day soon but it wasn’t likely to be as soon as they wished. Daniel sighed, “It feels like I’m going to be going on a diet. What are we going to eat out there?”
Anna laughed, “Didn’t you read about the food simulators?”
“Are you serious? I thought they were joking. You mean we are going to have to eat that green mush stuff that taste like real food but definitely doesn’t hold up for consistency?”
“No, Daniel,” Peter patted in on the back, “That part was the joke. The food simulators work to produce real looking food. Besides we are carrying enough stuff to make a few meals. We’ll also be stopping at planets along the way so I’m sure you can pick up a thing or two to eat.”
“I think what I’m going to miss the most is everything we’ve always loved about this place. Sure it is going to be fantastic to see all these new worlds and all the things in space that we’ve always read about. However imagine not waking up to the sun rising. No blue sky, no wind rattling the windows, no green grass or trees, no giant expanse of water, imagine not waking up and smelling or breathing in this beautiful place.”
John looked to James as though he was seeing the man in a different light. Then he turned and viewed the whole group. Capturing the image of them all in his mind. He caught Rose’s eye, he smiled and blushed. Turning away again he breathed in a deep breath of air and walked off toward the transport that was waiting to take them to the port up in Earths orbit.
As they left Earth they could see people all over the globe preparing to celebrate the beginning of their mission. It made them happy to be the cause of such hope but with it came the realization of how many people they’d be letting down if they failed.
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