Escaping the Cradle

by Karen Page

(follows on from Aurora)

---

Earth is the cradle of humanity, but one cannot remain in the cradle forever.
- Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, 1912.

Prelude

Out in the deepest depths of space, an alien race received communications by their secure comms unit, in an area where a race of beings lived on the third planet from the star. Something that should not have, had indeed happened just outside the planet's atmosphere, within the blink of an eye, their intelligence operative noticed a portal open then immediately close, a short while later it happened again.

In their guttural language on the alien's planet, they immediately conferred and decided to send a craft to try and find out what caused the portal to open and close and to see if it was still in the area.

That species was not supposed to have this type of technology for decades, so who or what managed to open a portal twice. If it was the inhabitants, how did they come across this technology so fast, they had been watching this little blue dot for decades, and the latest intelligence from their planetary assets did mention some little blips on their scanning equipment but was not sure, as it lasted milliseconds and so small it was hard to detect.

They had to find out if their enemies were encroaching on their own plans for that species and the planet. They didn't need that specific atmosphere for their species to live, but there were not many planets that also had oxygen and a large body of surface water, which was vital for their species to not only live but thrive.

The small blue dot was in their region of space, but could they get to it first before their enemies? They immediately despatched five of their own portal-based scout ships. One to make contact while the other four searched the solar system for signs of their enemy. They had to know one way or the other.

Part 1

"Yes?" mumbled Tim Harper sleepily as he answered his mobile. The number was withheld, which wasn't that unusual. A lot of his contacts didn't like their number to show.

"It's Tom", the voice identified himself. "Just thought you would like to know; the Prime Minister is back early.

"What?!" exclaimed Tim, suddenly very awake. Tom Harrison worked in the Downing Street press office and was one of Tim's old friends from university. The Prime Minister had been at Davos and wasn't due back for a few more days. "What happened? Why's she back early?"

"I know no more than that. I just got a phone call to tell me my holiday was cancelled and get into the office ASAP. When I got there, I saw Georgina Harries rushing into her office."

"Okay, thank for the tip. If you hear anything, let me know."

Tim Harper couldn't believe that he'd been caught on the hop. The Prime Minister's plane had touched down from Switzerland without anybody knowing she was flying back. He did a quick search on the wires, and internet, but nobody was talking about it. If it hadn't been Tom, he would now have been thinking it was a windup, but he knew that Tom was ultra-reliable.

"What's up?" Andrea, his wife asked sitting up in bed.

"I'm not sure yet," he responded. "Let me check something, but I might need to go into the office. Sorry for waking you."

"Let me make you a coffee."

Tim scratched his stubble in deep thought. Something was up, but what? He thought about ringing his boss, but he wanted more information. If the Prime Minister isn't in Davos, had anybody else left?

Ruby, their economics correspondent, answered her phone within two rings. "Hi," she answered. "Isn't a bit early for you?"

"A bit, but always good to talk to you," responded Tim. "How is the conference going?"

"Missing the Prime Minister?" she laughed back. "I know she's always doing sit downs with you. I'm hoping to get fifteen minutes with her before she leaves."

"So, nothing juicy for me?"

Tim made some small talk but didn't hang around for long. He wanted to get into the office. Something was up, and he wanted to make sure he got the story before Sky.

As he got himself shaved and ready for the day, Andrea appeared with a coffee in a travel mug.

"Oh perfect. Thank you." He kissed his wife and was soon out of the door.

Thirty minutes later he arrived at the office, all clean and ready for the day. Stubble might be a modern designer thing, but it was frowned upon by the owners. All presenters had to look the part. He'd spent the taxi journey calling contacts he knew would be awake, but everyone he spoke to talked as if the Prime Minister was still in Switzerland.

Even at five in the morning, the newsroom wasn't quiet. It wasn't as busy as it would get, but there was always a background hum. News didn't sleep just because most of the United Kingdom was in slumberland.

Tim didn't bother going to his desk but went straight to Robyn, the news editor.

"You're in early," she commented as he saddled up.

"The Prime Minister is back in Downing Street," he murmured. Robyn had been a political reporter when she was younger and instantly understood the gravity.

"Are you sure? I've not heard anything."

"A source I have in Downing Street saw her an hour ago. He is reliable, but I've had no confirmation from elsewhere. Ruby thinks she's still at the WEC, as do two MP's and a minister."

"Keep at it," Robyn urged. "We can't go live with this until we have confirmation and understand what it means. Just saying the Prime Minister snuck into the country isn't a story. If she is here, something is up, but what?"

Tim sloped of to his desk and booted up his computer. Time to check the wires to see if anything else stood out. He didn't get chance to finish booting up before he saw Larry stand up. "CNN has just announced that there been mass mobilisation of the American National Guard."

Tim continued his digging. Something was happening, but things were just individual events. Over the next hour, Russia and then China went on alert. Yet other indications didn't seem to indicate an issue. There were no press briefings of issues. In fact, the press offices in the major governments were a lot quieter than normal.

All the foreign correspondents were pressing their contacts for details, but they were coming up blank. Nobody was talking or didn't know what was happening. It was too late for any White House briefings, and their correspondent stated that there wasn't any more movement that normal. Yet there had been the National Guard mobilization.

It was early in Russia, and there were troops on the corners of their main streets, but there didn't appear to be any military planes flying which might have indicated war. In fact, there was a distinct lack of any military flights on the popular tracking apps. Were they all flying with transponders off or was it unusually quiet.

The ping of his phone distracted his trawl of the wires. He looked at it was Tom. "PM to make historic announcement from the dispatch box. Will be announced in fifteen minutes."

"How historic?"

"White House, Kremlin and major governments will be advising their media to cover it."

"Thanks for the heads-up. Any idea on the subject."

"No."

There was certainly something happening. He could sense that. There were too many things wrong. Little things, but when it was added up, it amounted to something major. Tom had used the word 'historic'. Perhaps a cure for cancer. Perhaps an historic peace agreement; after all, the three major powers appeared to be colluding. But why was the PM making the statement and not one of the superpowers?

Tim grabbed his phone and rushed to tell Robyn, the news editor.

* * *

Unusually for a late Wednesday morning, the Prime Minister was at the dispatch box for 11:30am. This was a time normally for regional or international development questions, but not today.

After morning prayers, the speaker took his position and rose. "Order. As a change to the order paper, we have an urgent statement by the Prime Minister. She has asked that questions wait until the end of the statement. Prime Minister."

The speaker took his seat, and the Prime Minister, Georgina Harries, rose her eyes flickered across the full house. She always wanted his life to have meaning. She'd always wanted to serve. She got a first at Cambridge and had a life planned out when she got the calling for negotiation. It wasn't until after the fateful transformation that she got into politics.

"Thank you, Mr Speaker. With your permission, I would like to update the house on some quite extraordinary events that took place yesterday. These events have the potential to have a significant impact on society. I'm going to split this statement into two parts. The first covers a simple statement about what occurred yesterday. The second part outlines the response."

The Prime Minister was dressed immaculately. Her hair had just the right amount of wave that it looked stylish, but still professional. She knew this speech wouldn't just be seen on UK television but in other countries. It would be a speech that would become one of the defining moments.

The chamber was normally a raucous, but if it was the grave nature of the Prime Ministers statement, or something else, the chamber was quiet.

"At 7pm UK time, while I was in conference with some other leaders at the World Economic Conference, two alien lifeforms projected their images and made an offer to us."

The stillness in the chamber was broken by several exclamations of incredulity, but before the speaker could chastise the house, it was again silent.

"Confirmation that this wasn't a hoax was made via a secure connection with the Space Station. They confirmed the existence of a spacecraft in orbit. It wasn't visible on any trackers. We were approached as our technology level means we could soon start to reach beyond our solar system. Humanity has been invited to join an alliance of worlds, but part of that stipulation is a unified representation covering the entire world. This has never been an issue as nations came to arrangements between each other and there were forums like the United Nations. If somebody had suggested a world government before this, I would have laughed. Yet now this is something that doesn't sound so ridiculous."

There was some muttering while the Prime Minister took a sip of water.

"It was reported this morning that some countries raised their defence levels. This was purely a cautionary measure, due to worry on how people might take this news. I have faith that after the initial shock, most people will understand that this is an opportunity. We are being recognized for our achievements."

"The UN Secretary-General was the first person to be told, as per plans in place. I was the representative asked to break the news to the public. This statement isn't just for parliament, nor just the people of the United Kingdom, but the world. There will be regional meetings of leaders across the world and in parliaments. If we are going to take up the invitation, we need to work out a way to unite. We are one species. We have more in common now that we've ever had.

"There will be some people who will think we should shoot first and kill any aliens we find. This has often been the history of humans. Kill those that are different. Protect from any perceived risk. Our history is full of this. Kill those who are from the wrong country, the wrong faith, the wrong skin colour, or even the wrong sexuality.

"Our recent history is full of television shows and films with lifeforms from other planets. Could it be like Star Trek, where it brings prosperity and good? Or could it be like Independence Day, where we send a welcome wagon, and they are blown out of the sky? Perhaps it could be like Babylon 5, where a sign of respect could be misinterpreted and cause a war? Just remember, those examples are fiction. This contact is real life.

"We should be cautious. They have technology that is way beyond what we have. There are two main questions. Are they benevolent? If so, would joining this pack help humanity, or would it rush us too fast and cause us more trouble. There will be some who think we should have nothing to do with aliens and put Earth first, or their country first.

"This is a topic I never thought I'd be discussing, and the ramifications are huge. We can't put the genie back in the bottle. We now know we aren't alone. There is no denying this. No matter what happens from now on, we know that our world is no longer the centre of the universe. This will change who we are, and what we feel about life. We have a choice. Do we stay on our own, with our internal bickering and strife, or do we look out and seize this opportunity to reach for the stars?"

The prime minster sat, and the speaker immediately indicated the leader of the opposition, Paul Smythe.

"I thank the Prime Minister for the prior copy of her statement. As she stated at the beginning of her statement, this wasn't something I thought would ever be discussed in this place. I feel much more information is needed before a true discussion can take place. So, I will keep my remarks short. I will leave aside if this is a good for the UK or the world.

"Mr Speaker, is this something that is truly possible? We left the European Union, so this place was again supreme for making our laws. The SNP still want Scotland to leave the United Kingdom and there are factions in Wales that want to leave too. Those desires for separation are just what's happening here and is quite civil. There are struggles around the world where areas want to have more autonomy and more regional power. This proposition is for a world government, which seems to be the opposite of what some countries desire. I beg that time is given to fully understand the ramifications before any decisions are made."

As Paul sat, Justin Petterson, the government chief whip, stood. "A point of order, Mr Speaker. I beg to move that this House do now sit in private."

"Order. Order," bellowed the speaker over the uproar of the house. As they quietened down, he continued. "Order. The question is that this House sit in private. As many of that opinion say aye."

There was a cry of "aye" from the government benches, as they followed the instruction they'd been handed before coming into the chamber.

"The contrary no."

A large cry of "no" rang out.

"Division! Clear the lobbies!"

The division bell rang across the parliamentary estate, but it signalled to nobody. There wasn't an MP that wasn't in the main chamber.

"This is extremely rare," said the commentator on parliamentary television. "The house hasn't sat in private since 2001 and prior to that it was 1958. If this passes, there will be no broadcast coverage of what they debate, and nothing reported in Hansard."

Tim closed the app he was watching on. He could have watched it on any channel; they were all covering the speech. His phone pinged. He glanced at it and saw it was an old friend from school wanting to meet up. He responded that he couldn't at the moment, too busy. He wanted to arrange an interview with the Prime Minister.

* * *

"Hey David, it's been some day today," said Tim Harper, joining David at one of the tables in the small corner café. It took Tim a few minutes to spot David. It wasn't a big café, but David wasn't looking like Tim remembered, and that was only a year previously. David waving helped.

Tim had received a message for a meeting. At first, he'd said he was too busy. When David had said it was relevant to today's announcement, he decided to accept. He knew some of what David did, and when they'd talked once previously, David had provided some astounding but highly accurate information. The type of information that nobody should have, but that when followed up unlocked the type of story you got awards for.

"You think it's crazy now. It's going to get a whole lot crazier."

"Really?"

"Really. I have a favour to ask. I'd do it myself, but I don't have the contacts you do."

"Oh, you have contacts, just different ones. You've never asked for anything before, so what favour do you need?"

"When you get to interview the PM, I'd like you to ask her a question. What race were the aliens?"

David took out a slip of paper and handed it to his old school friend. On it were two words. Tim didn't deny that there were discussions between his editor and the PM's office to try and get an interview. He took the paper that David had offered him and glanced at two words.

"What's this?"

"Those are the two prominent alien races."

"I don't have time for jokes. "

"This isn't a joke. This is deadly serious. Also, if the name matches, the PM might open up more to you."

"If she gets an interview arranged. I need a bit more than something from an old school friend. How did you know about this?"

"You can't use me as a source. If my name gets out, I won't be able to continue to do my job."

David half expected a query about what he did do, but a muted nod was the only response. Tim folded the paper and placed into his coat pocket before saying, "I came across the code you said to look out for on the wires. I wouldn't do anything to stop the work you do. Was Turkey you?"

"Not me personally, but I know who it was. Totally messed them up for a while, but I saw them briefly a few months ago and they were recovering well. One other titbit. When the PM said that we were about to reach out of the solar system, that is what caused this reveal. A test of a new spaceship happened. If she asks, you can tell him that."

David continued, "Now something for you. Be careful with this though. I presume your science correspondent is going to be overwhelmed but ask them about the space station Pudsey Bear incident and the NASA investigation."

"That was just a stunt, wasn't it?"

"I thought you were a better journalist than that," said David sadly. "There were two other things, but if you start digging into that, you might get some very unwanted attention. And I don't want you or Andrea to get into trouble."

"But that's my job."

David paused and then said, "Find out what I gave you, I'll then give you some inside scoop. Your editor is going to want more than I can give you though."

* * *

"Hi Storm, how're you doing?" asked Tim to the science correspondent.

"What do you think!" she retorted. "Every news report wants me on explaining the science of how aliens could get here, and how they used holograms. Please don't ask me something else I can't help with!"

"You have contacts at NASA, don't you?"

"Oh sure, but they don't have a clue what's going on either."

"Go back to November. The teddy bear on the space station. Did Huston find out who smuggled it?"

"It was just a stunt," said Storm.

Tim just shook his head.

A conversation like this, she knew he was giving her a major tip. Tim never joked around with things like that. She grabbed her phone and scrolled through her extensive list of contacts. She checked the current time and mentally subtracted six hours before ringing.

"Jim, it's Storm Daniels. Yes, I know the time, but I wanted to talk to you before you got to the office. I wanted to talk privately."

"I don't know anything about aliens."

"It isn't that. Just a quick question. Are NASA going to fire the astronaut who smuggled that bear onboard the space station."

He sighed and eventually said, "No."

"Why not? Isn't that the NASA policy?"

"That's the policy."

"Was the bear authorised?"

"No."

"Then you aren't making sense."

Jim sighed and said softly, "Look, you didn't hear this from me. There was an investigation. No astronaut admitted their involvement. NASA reviewed the last six months videos of everything that was sent. It wasn't there."

"So how did it get there?"

"Nobody knows."

"Has that ever happened before?" asked Storm in shock. What got sent into space was tightly controlled. They didn't want anything that could cause a fire, cause some allergic reaction or disintegrate and have bits all around them.

Another pause. "No, not before."

That evasive answer sparked alarm bells in Storm's head. "Since?

"Look, I'd get fired. Make a request on the health of Randy Rowlins."

Jim hung up before Storm could ask something else. She turned to Tim. "What the f–?"

"I have a contact who implied the bear was not a stunt. Somehow it got to space, and nobody knows how. Don't ask anybody about Randy but do some digging. Was he supposed to do any events, but they got rescheduled etc?"

His editor, Robyn, came rushing across. "Tim, I've just had the call. They are asking for you in person to do a one-on-one interview. They want it to go out live."

"I'll get Aaron on it," said Storm the smirked. "Go talk with your friend."

Tim ignored Storm's friend comment. Tim interviewed lots of politicians, but for some reason the Prime Minister seemed to favour Tim for interviews than any other journalist. He didn't know why, and he didn't really want to ask the PM. That would just be awkward.

"Why live?" Tim asked Robyn, as they made their way back to her desk.

"She feels that it is such an important topic and doesn't want any of it edited."

* * *

The Prime Minister, ever wanting the backdrop to be relevant decided that they would give an interview to Tim Harper at the old Royal Observatory at Greenwich. January wasn't a time to be sat outside, so it was staged with one of the eighteenth-century telescopes behind them.

All that people would see on the screen were Tim and the Prime Minister talking. In reality, there was an entourage on both sides. For Tim there was sound, makeup, lighting, camera people, let alone the producer who organised everything. This would be a nice cosy discussion, with twenty close observers and a few million watching live.

After Tim made his opening remarks, recapping today's announcement, he moved onto the actual conversation.

"Prime Minister, there are two parts to the announcement you made. You talked a bit about the encounter, and then you talked a bit about proposals. I have some simple fill in the gap questions, before some more detailed ones. It feels wrong to call them The Aliens. Like saying, that black guy, or that white woman. Do the alien race have a name?"

"Yes, they call themselves the Reginaddes. It seems they are part of a larger community of different aliens."

Tim paused for a second. That was one of the two names on David's list. Now he was really glad that he'd gone for a coffee. What else did David know and how?

"And why did they make contact now? In your speech you mentioned about us going beyond our solar system. I didn't think we'd sent people much beyond The Moon with some ambition to get to Mars. Sure, we've sent satellites all across the solar system and two have left that, but they are centuries from going to another star system."

"The Human race is full of ingenuity. Look how much we've grown over the last century. The rate of progress keeps growing. We should be proud that we've got to a position that they think we can take part in something like that. We've always thought about ourselves as the country we lived in, or the religion we believed in. Now we can think what a great species we are. We have reached a level where other species have noted us and are interested enough to make contact."

"I went for a walk earlier, and it is all that people are talking about. I didn't see any mass hysteria. Are the countries that sent troops on the street overly paranoid?"

"They did what felt right for them. A lot of countries have discovered it hasn't led to mass riots or panic. There have been a few emergency calls where people thought aliens had landed in the back gardens, but mostly the British have been very British. We keep calm and carry on. I'm sure there are people nervous out there. I'm nervous myself. It is something new. It's something different. It's the unknown."

The prime minister paused for a moment, and Tim let her gather her thoughts. She continued, "But the only difference is our knowledge. We aren't alone. We never were, but we just didn't know it. We now do. The situation hasn't changed, just what we know. There aren't alien spaceships floating around the planet. They stated they would leave us alone to make our decision."

"Have they been here before?"

She gave a small shrug, "They probably have. They know our languages. They have made an assessment on our progress. They couldn't have done that without visiting Earth before."

"These aliens, the Reginaddes, introduced themselves and invited us to join their club. Just like that?"

"Just like that. Rather a surprise to everyone in that room."

"I bet. And the only stipulation to us joining their club is having a world government? What if we don't join? Do they ban us from exploring the galaxy?"

"No. There were no threats. They have technology far superior to ours. Perhaps they've got past the need for war. At the moment we know little about them. What we do know is that we aren't alone. We can't continue to fight over limited resources. There are more opportunities for metals and minerals in our solar system. When the great explorations like Marco Polo, Christopher Columbus and James Cook set sail to discover new lands they brought discoveries we had no idea about."

"Isn't that a bit simplistic?" challenged Tim.

The PM smirked a bit. "Not really. There have already been probes looking at the makeup of asteroids. And we now know it is possible to travel between the stars. Think of how this will encourage science and research. We know something is possible, just not how. Instead of wondering if something is possible, they just need to work out what to do."

"You mentioned about a world government. What form is this going to be in and do you think it is feasible?"

"There was no request on the form it should take, just that there was a single rule for the planet. It would be Earth that got admitted, not individual countries. It's less than twenty-four hours since we met them. If the public accept a world government, the format will need to be agreed. So, let's not get ahead of ourselves looking at specifics. At the moment it is coming to terms with our new reality."

Tim decided to play devil's advocate. "There are some out there that are saying we should just stay on Earth. Put Earth first and not expand. Space travel is a waste of money and resources."

"We could do that, but as I said, there is finite resources on Earth. I'm not talking about going to Mars and setting up a big drilling operation there. I'm talking about asteroids. A new frontier. I mentioned names earlier like Columbus, the explorers of our history books. This will be the time for new explorers and new hope. We aren't alone, but it doesn't mean we have to cower."

"The Moon Treaty of 1979 has only 18 signatures and even one country that withdrew. Even the UK never signed it. Is that a good starting position?"

"I'm sure, just like you, there have been a lot of reading on the status of space law. For a lot of countries, it was never relevant. Yet back in 1967 the Outer Space Treaty was warmly received and is signed by over a hundred countries. That is the more fundamental principles that bind us together. That and the treaty on mutual rescue. We are one species. Gender, Religion, Sexuality, Race, Creed. They shouldn't matter."

Tim couldn't agree more. Where he'd gone to school those were the type of virtues that were instilled in them. But he was a journalist, and he couldn't let his personal judgement cloud his job. Well not too much.

"That's a nice sentiment–" started Tim.

The prime minister didn't let him go further than that. "No, that isn't a sentiment. That is how I feel. I'm sure there are people out there that don't feel that, but I can only express my personal feelings. It is my job to lead, not to tell others how to live their lives or how they should feel."

"One final question. Does a world government mean a world currency and a single language? "

"I'm not going to be drawn on the technicalities. As I stated earlier, this is something that isn't even been discussed yet. I'm not wanting to pre-empt those types of discussions."

"You mentioned this morning in your speech to parliament that you wanted the population to have their say. If they don't know what is being suggested, or the options, how can they make an informed choice? "

"And informed they will be. This process has only just begun. I've spent this afternoon talking with other world leaders, just has the other people that was in that room. This isn't something that has been planned for. But it does have our full attention. I challenge the viewers to start to think where they want our species to be, not just on this planet, but beyond."

"Thank you, Prime Minister," said Tim, wrapping up the interview. "Today has been a momentous day which Holly Preston is going to discuss with her guests."

The red, 'live' light winked out. When the sound equipment has been disconnected, Tim offered his hand. "Thank you for giving us your time."

They shook hands. "Tim, please walk with me."

"Certainly," he responded, glancing across at his producer. He just nodded.

They went down the corridor and when they were out of earshot, the Prime Minister said, "You didn't seem surprised with the name of the aliens."

"I obviously didn't spend enough time playing poker while at uni. No wonder why Tom always took my money," responded Tim, taking the slip of paper from his pocket and handed it to the PM.

"What's the other name on here?" she asked after glancing at it.

"I was told those were to two prominent aliens in this region. Even though my source is top notch, I thought this was a bit unlikely. You proved me wrong."

"That's one heck of a source," the Prime Minister agreed, handing the paper back. "Anything else this source can share."

"They said that a new type of spaceship was tested. I've no idea who tested it, or where it was tested or how it is different from any other spacecraft. Anyway, they think this test is why you were approached."

"Two alien species. Did your contact say anything else about them?"

"No. Just it was important to know which one you met."

"That makes it sound like one is better than the other. This concerns me. I'm itching to know more about your contact, but I've learnt that sometimes it isn't a good idea to know where some information comes from. You have Tom's number if your contact thinks there's something I need to know."

"You want me as a conduit?"

"If you want to put it like that; yes. We don't want to make a bad mistake in this. To be honest, we are very much out of our depth. They seem to know about us, but nobody I or any of the heads of government I've talked to have any idea about aliens. All those rumours about area 51 and Roswell seem to now show to be just that; rumours."

"Okay, if I find out more, I'll contact you via Tom. In the meantime, may I suggest you keep that second name to yourself for now."

"Yes, it's always good to have a few cards up our sleeves. This, I think, is our first."

Escaping the Cradle

by Karen Page

Part 2

---

Part 2

"Is barn three still empty?" asked Tina over the phone.

"Yes. Why?"

"Can I store something big in it for a bit?"

"Of course," Emma said without hesitation. There was no question about what it was.

"Thank you. I'll see you soon."

As Tina made her call, the ship was loaded with spare parts and vital equipment. Once she finished, she helped with the loading. The area was deserted except for the activity around the ship.

"You're getting your ride in Aurora without your ma," said Tina to Jenny.

"She will be okay, won't she?"

"She better be. I should have gone with them, to protect them."

Jessica laughed, "You don't go with someone while they're on a date."

Evan and Henry had composed themselves but were not entirely focused on their duties. Liam was assigned a seat and instructed to ensure everything was prepared. That stopped his panic. Sam, Jessica, James, Tina, and Jenny were fully engaged in their tasks.

"What about the guards?" asked Sam, as they shut the ships door.

"I sent them off as soon as you got here," said Tina. "It was pointless them hanging around with armed mercenaries on the way. Their job was to stop casual intruders, not determined teams. The automatic building security will cause them some issues. If they get too far into the building, then there is a failsafe."

"Tina, do you have the coordinates?" asked James.

"I have what I hope are what we need. If I'm a bit out, we're going to materialise within the frame of a barn. Any idea what would happen?"

"It should push it out, " said Evan. "But that is theory, we've never tried it."

Tina's phone pinged. The message read, 'Ten minutes'.

"Everybody, please switch off their phones and watches. They must stay off where we are going. We don't want to be tracked."

When everybody had complied, she said, "Let's go."

Tina fed in the coordinates. James raised the Perspex cover and pressed the indented button underneath. The ship disappeared from within the underground ship factory and reappeared elsewhere. The screen in front went from a wall five meters away, to blackness.

"I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore," quipped Sam.

James flicked on the external lights and whistled. "That looks close. Let's hope the barn was clear."

"Open up," requested Tina. "I'll go say hi and then come back for you. Keep the ship shut just in case you must leave without me. It's a ten-minute walk to the farmhouse, so I'll not be back quickly."

She grabbed one of the walkie-talkies and gave the other to James. A cold winter evening in rural Wales wasn't the place to hang about outside, so Tina rushed down the path. At least there was a moon, or finding the way would have been difficult without a torch. Without her phone, she couldn't use the torch facility.

As per previous instructions, she slipped through the back door and into the house. There was no need to ring the front doorbell. If the house was locked, she had a key.

"Hey hey," called out Tina.

There was a clatter of footsteps and Paula appeared. "Blimey Tina, you look a bit windswept. I didn't hear the gate. Did Emma let you in?"

"No, I didn't come by car. I have a few people who might need a place to stay for a few days. They're still up in your barn. Is it okay to bring them down?"

"Sure. Two questions. One, how did you get here and two, how many?"

"Four single men, Sam and Jessica, a seven-year-old girl and me."

"And my first question?" asked Paula, as Emma came into the room with their adoptive son Jay.

Tina sighed. "We came by spaceship. We'll tell you about it later."

"It's a good job someone paid to put in a few holiday homes for us. Strange how that happened. Let me grab a few torches. Do you need night clothes?"

"Please."

"Jay, can you grab night kits for four men, three women and see what you can find for a seven-year-old girl."

"Yes mum. Do you want me to meet you at the cottages with the keys too?"

"Sounds good. We'll be at least twenty minutes, probably a bit longer."

Tina thought they probably thought she was being sarcastic when she said she'd come via spaceship. Either that or they'd heard so many tales at Christmas gatherings that they didn't get phased. Since they were accompanying her to the barn, they would soon find out the reason.

"It's me," called out Tina into the handheld radio as they approached.

"I thought you were teasing," said Paula in awe at the sight of Aurora. Emma just gawped.

"Sam!" called out Emma when the ship doors opened, and she saw her old school friend at the entrance.

"Are you okay with us staying a few days?" asked Sam.

"Of course. Come on out and we'll show you where you're staying."

"Leave your tech in Aurora," instructed Tina. "That way they can't be turned on by accident."

When everybody was out, Liam secured the ship.

"Where's your mummy?" Emma asked Jenny.

"Her ma is with my sister," quickly said Tina before Jenny could retort that her mother was dead. In a hushed voice she whispered, "Her mummy was Hilda."

"Oh," said Emma, now fully understanding the foot-in-mouth situation she'd almost got into. "Let's get down to where you'll stay. You can then tell me how you managed to put a spaceship in our barn without damaging the roof!"

"It's magic," said Jessica.

"No, it isn't," protested Jenny. "It's science."

"Oh, and one bit of good news for you Jenny. You'll have additional people to practice your French with."

"I think it's only Evan, Liam and Henry that can't speak French," said Jessica.

"Can we use Aurora to go and get Ma and Miss Thompson?" asked Jenny.

"We don't know where they are. Your ma has a predefined rendezvous to meet up with assistance. You shouldn't worry. She also has my sister helping."

"Miss Thompson doesn't have training like you," responded Jenny, not taking Tina's reassurance for granted.

"I'm worried about my sister too," said Tina. "But they were after the ship tech. They probably didn't know where your ma and my sister were."

"This is the farmhouse," introduced Paula. "You're all welcome to come and go there. Just stay on the ground floor. We have some holiday homes where you will be staying."

They continued for another few minutes, and there they were. A group of four small buildings. "Each have three bedrooms, a small kitchenette and lounge. They are all linked via rear passages to a shared entertainment area behind them. There are settees, books etc. People on holiday can relax on their own or relax with others."

Jay was waiting for them when they got to the first building. Silently he handed out the bags until he got to Tina. "I missed you this Christmas, Mrs Poop."

"It wasn't the same, not being here. But sometimes it isn't possible. Oh, and Jay, please don't tell your friends from school that we're here."

"Of course not," he said indignantly. "I'll also stay away from the barn."

Jenny was looking in the bag she'd been given and then glanced up at Jay and gave a small. "Thank you."

It was decided that Evan, Liam and Henry would share one chalet. Sam and Jessica would take one of the rooms in the second along with James. Tina took the third with Jenny.

"Are you guarding me?" she asked Tina as they went into their holiday home.

"A little. But more of an aunt for now. You are too young to be on your own.

"You've been here before?"

"A few times," smiled Tina. "Let's sit on the settee for a few minutes and I'll tell you a bit more about things."

When they were seated, Tina continued. "You know I'm an investigator, right?"

"Right."

"Well sometimes we can't be home for the holidays. Just like this year, Luke was away."

"Okay."

"Well, those of us that are on our own normally gather here. Emma and Paula are farmers. This is their farm. They were in the same year as David and Helen at Hayfield. Only a few train as investigators and the other pupils aren't told about it. They know some do additional things, but not what or why. Anyway, because something happened while they were in their first year, all the pupils in David and Helen's year found out what they did. Emma and Paula decided that if they ever got a farm, they would allow Investigators there to hide if needed. It gradually became more."

"And we're in hiding now? What happened to the factory?"

"I'll find out later what happened to it. But yes, we are hiding. This is the first jump the ship has done since the first test. I think Evan will insist it is checked out. Make sure that the fix they did worked."

"What'll we do for clothing?"

"They have some stashed for emergencies, but I've no idea if they will have anything your size. We'll work that out tomorrow. In the meantime, I want to show you something. Come on, leave your night things there."

Tina guided Jenny through a door at the back of the room. It was a passageway. They walked a short distance. The other chalets connected to it, and they proceeded through the door at the end.

Jenny gasped. "That's a huge piano."

"You can use it," said Tina. "Why don't you go try it out."

The shiny black grand piano was totally different from the old battered upright that she normally practiced on in the pub, or the slightly newer one that Becky had installed in their house. The lid was up, and after peering inside tentatively pressed a few keys to see how it sounded. Convinced that even though it was bigger than her normal piano, it was still a piano. She sat down on the piano bench and started to play.

While she did, Tina went to the bookcase on the left-hand wall. It would be out of Tina's sight. She removed a few books from the third shelf and pressed a hidden switch. It swung out revealing a secure door. After entering the access code, it opened. The shelves were covered with instruments. Another security keypad was on the far wall which Tina started to put in the code but had second thoughts and turned away. She took three instruments from the room and closed it all behind her. The books she'd removed put safely back on the shelf.

"This is my spare clarinet," explained Tina as she went to Jenny who was still trying out the piano.

"Did you enjoy going to Hayfield?" enquired Jenny, stopping playing.

"Yes. At first it was hard. I was away from everything I knew. But it was somewhere that gave me the freedom to learn and grow. At some schools they pick on people who are good at learning. At Hayfield you are expected to learn. It is respected and cherished."

"It sounds perfect."

"It's far from that," said Tina seriously. "You are away from family. You don't go home in the school holidays. You wouldn't see your ma while you were there."

"No Ma at all? "

"You can write or email. They don't know where the school is, so can't visit. It is like a bubble. You learn there, not just academic things but about yourself, life, how to look out for others. The first thing is learning how to learn and how to take personal responsibility."

"Before Christmas, I was told I was being selfish about Hayfield. Do you think that?"

"It depends. If you demanded to go, because your mother used to work there, then I would agree. However, if you take the test, and you pass the interview then you have earned the place and aren't being selfish. You haven't stolen someone else's place, but they deem you a good fit and that the school will help you."

"You have a lot to learn before you even think about that," added Tina.

"Learning the piano?"

Tina laughed. "No. Courtesy and respect. You already have the respect down, and you are learning about courtesy. You are learning about social norms. For instance, you ask how people are. When you are a bit older, you will be able to offer them a drink when they visit. Here is something you can do to help. There is a bigger dynamic of people in a stressful situation. Why don't you watch and observe them. You'll then see how that is different to normal."

"You don't seem stressed."

"I'm a lot less stressed than a few hours ago. The difference was I didn't panic. Panic blinds you and stops you working efficiently. Actually, you didn't seem to panic. Why not?"

"Mummy taught me that panicking didn't change the problem. She said I was to use my energy to work on a solution, rather than worrying about what I couldn't change."

Tina smiled. "She might have told you that but doing it in practice is something else. Well done."

There discussions were interrupted by James, the ex-RAF and ex-ESA employee, coming into the room. "Wow, look at this."

He walked further into the large open room and slowly looked around. "I bet the view out of that large window is fantastic. It looks so stylish yet relaxing. Like it would be used by people who live the good life. Yet I bet you are so far from London that you wouldn't get that many out here."

Tina shrugged. "It surprisingly has very good internet and phone signal. In summer, it is a place the jet-set like to use to get away and commune with nature. It's winter – not much call for that then."

"Did you go to a military school?"

Tina laughed. "No. It was a music school. Why?"

"I know that you, Sam and Jessica went to the same school. I expected Sam to be good under an attack, but you and Jessica didn't panic. Henry, Liam and Evan reacted more like I expected."

"Jenny, why don't you get the others?" suggested Tina. "We need to plan."

Jenny disappeared.

"Do you play an instrument?" Tina asked James.

"Many years ago, I played the trombone."

"Nice. Were you good?"

"It wasn't something I'd have managed to do for a career. I enjoyed it. I was more a jazz trombonist than classical or big band. You said you went to a music school. How good were they?"

"We played concerts around the world, though mostly in Europe. I remember when I was in year three and we played in Strasbourg. Most of the top EU officials came to that concert. When we played in Bangkok, the king was in the audience."

"Okay," James drew out slowly. This wasn't what he'd expected to hear.

"The school was also very academic. I completed my A-Levels when I was sixteen. I finished my first degree by eighteen."

"Yet you are a part time teaching assistant and hanging around your sister in a frankly secret science project. Am I missing something?"

Before Tina could respond, Evan, Liam and Henry entered and gazed in amazement.

"I thought our rooms were plush, but this. Wow."

"Wait until you see the view," said Tina.

Sam and Jessica were followed the scientists in. Tina indicated the instruments to them, and they beamed.

"Where's Jenny?" asked Tina, putting her clarinet back on the sideboard next to Sam and Jessica's. She knew she wasn't going to get to play it yet.

"She told us to come up here," said Liam. She then shot off.

"She can't have got far, " said Jessica. "We're in the middle of nowhere."

Before anybody could react, Emma and Paula came in. Jenny in tow. Jay wasn't with them.

"You are so unfit," grouched Emma to Jenny.

Tina laughed. "Have her help you with the sheep. A few days of that will help."

"You have sheep here?" asked Jenny. "My friend at school has cows."

"Did you know that sheep have shorter front legs?" said James. "It's so they can walk up the hills easier."

After a few seconds, Jenny said, "Are you teasing? Because they'd fall over coming down.

"Yes, I was teasing. I should have known you wouldn't fall for it."

That lightened the mood a bit, and then all took seats.

"Okay, some practicalities," said Emma. "By the looks of it, you left wherever you were in a hurry. We've provided things for tonight. Does anybody have clothes with them, apart from what you are wearing?"

Everybody shook their heads. Emma took out a small book and passed it to Liam, who was closest. "Put your name, and size. I'll see what I can do. It'll be underwear, socks, jeans, t-shirts and pullovers. All very generic. It's surprising what guests need. The groups that come up from London sometimes don't pack very sensibly for the raw countryside. They want to get away, but don't have appropriate clothes."

The little book got passed from person to person and ended up back with Emma.

"Our first booking isn't until June, so there is no rush if you need to be here that long. If you're still here by March, we can cancel them if you need longer."

A few mouths opened in surprised, though that wasn't any of the ex-Hayfield students. If someone was in need, they always took precedence.

"I hope we're not in your way that long," said Evan. "Tina?"

"I haven't called anybody yet. I was waiting for the situation to become clear. I think it all boils down to today's announcement."

There was no need to say more. The Prime Ministers commons speech and the interview later with Tim Harper was all that was being talked about.

"The PM said the aliens had made contact because we might soon leave the solar system," said Paula. "Is this your ship that caused this?"

"Probably," said Evan. "I'm not aware of another spaceship capable of that."

"Why did you bail?"

"I got a call that a team of mercenaries were on the way. The best way to get out was to take the ship. It protected the personnel and stop the ship falling into the wrong hands. The ship can be rebuilt. Life can't be."

"Anything else?" asked Emma.

"We have three people that will be trying to find us but can't."

"Three?"

"Becky, Ashleigh and Luke."

"Luke?" asked James, puzzled.

"Her husband," filled in Sam. "He's been away and was due back tomorrow."

Paula dug into her bag and pulled out a phone. "When we moved here, David left me this. He said to save it for an emergency. He said would be untraceable for ten minutes. How, I don't know."

"Yeah. If he said it's untraceable, then it will be. Okay. Let me make two calls."

Tina moved away from everybody else and made the first. "Emergency connection to Bravo Bravo Niner."

Nothing more was said at the other end before she heard a, "Hello?"

"It's me. We bugged out. Can you tell me anything else?"

"They made a mess, but whoever installed the defences did a top job. When they attacked a comms blanket came down, and they were deaf to the outside world. They didn't manage to penetrate more than the ground floor. It isn't safe to go back until the bodies have been removed."

The phone started beeping. Tina had a glance at the screen. It showed 'Backtrack in progress. Step 1 of 30'.

"Are you tracing me?" asked Tina.

"No. You know I wouldn't."

"Someone is. I've not long. Can you contact my other half, inform him of the situation."

"Will do. The two that weren't there, are in the wind. No sign. They followed protocol and have disappeared."

"Thanks. Don't search, just in case. I'll contact you again when I can."

"Good luck."

Tina hung up. The tracking had got no further than 'Step 3 of 30'. She wanted to make connection with Luke, but if that emergency connection was being tracked, she didn't want to take the risk. She removed the phone battery. When Tina got back to the group, Paula handed her a signal blocking box, which Tina placed it all into.

"You really have stocked up with essentials, haven't you?" murmured Tina to Paula.

"And?" asked Henry.

"The assault of the factory wasn't successful, but apparently it is a mess. We can't go back there until it is cleared. Someone tried to trace that call. I don't know who or why."

"A mess?"

"The team that built the structure of the building added a level of security. The stairwells have shutters to stop easy migration to other floors. The one to the basement is shielded the most. That barrier would have taken them hours to get through. There were also some armaments and electronic defence."

"So can we go back?" asked Jenny hopefully.

"As I said, not until it's cleared. I'm sure an investigation team is already on the way to check on the bodies before the police get called."

"Dead bodies?" croaked Jenny. "Like mummy and Ryan?"

Jenny was suddenly surrounded by the three scientists and Tina. Evan had lifted her onto his knee, and Tina was knelt in front."

"No," said Liam. "Not like Ryan and not like mummy. Ryan and mummy were good people. The people that were coming today wanted to take. They had guns, not to defend themselves, but to hurt us all.

"But they shouldn't die. Just because they were doing bad things."

"It's one of those things, Jenny. People die. They die when they get too old for their body. They die from disease or illness. People die due to accidents. They die in wars. You can't stop everybody dying. If nobody died, the planet would be full of people, and not enough food to feed them."

"But we're not doing anything to help that, " said Jenny. "We've built a spaceship. Why didn't we do something to stop people dying?"

"It will," said James from across the room. "Some people go to war because they're egotistical. They want more people under them. They feel they have a right to something. However, for most of history, it has been about getting access to limited resources. They need more land for food or want access to minerals that they don't have. This spaceship will introduce energy for people, giving heat and light to people who don't have that. It will also introduce new areas for people to get minerals, such as asteroids. They don't need to squabble over land anymore."

"Thank you," muttered Jenny, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand.

"You are all quite something," said James in wonder. "Jenny had an issue, and you all rally around. Such a display of unconditional love."

Tina looked across at him. He looked uncomfortable and she wondered if he wasn't used to this type of support.

"Are you okay now?" Tina asked Jenny.

Jenny nodded and got off Evan's knee. "Thank you all."

She then tottered across to James. "And thank you for explaining how we're doing good."

James was surprised when she led him towards the main group. "Please don't sit away from everyone else."

"But I'm just the pilot."

"You were just the pilot," said Henry. "Now it looks like you are part of this team."

"So, what now?" asked Jessica.

All but James looked at Tina.

"Why me?" complained Tina.

"You're the investigator," said Paula. "Why are you reluctant?"

"I'm supposed to be recovering from Turkey," said Tina quietly. She was sat next to Paula, so only she heard.

Paula understood the reference, as the abuse scandal had been all over the news. She leaned across and gave Tina a hug. "I'd have shot them."

"Okay," said Tina, looking around. "This is going to be quick as Jenny needs to get to bed. I'm sure Emma and Paula will want to get back to Jay. And as my sister reminds me, 'Rest is a weapon'. So, nothing else is going to happen tonight. Tomorrow, after breakfast, can Henry and Sam check out the ship. Make sure the fix held, and our move here didn't cause any issues. If we need to move again, I don't want to wait. Everybody else, relax and if you want to help with the farm, I'm sure your help will be welcome. Any questions?"

There wasn't, so Tina and Jenny walked back through the corridor to their cottage.

"It's really helpful that when it splits there is a sign for which passage goes to which cottage," said Jenny.

"Yes, or we might go to the wrong one," agreed Tina. "It could be really embarrassing if we wander into the wrong bedroom."

Tina was hoping for a giggle, but Jenny just nodded solemnly.

"Okay, grab your night pack, and let's find you a bedroom."

They went upstairs. There were five doors. "Those are the three bedrooms. The other two link to the neighbouring cottages in case of a fire. Which bedroom do you want?"

"Where's the bathroom?"

"Each room has its own."

Jenny looked in each room. They were basically the same. "Can I have the middle one?"

"Sure."

"Which one are you taking?"

"The one closest to the stairs. I'll leave you to get ready. Shall I come back in say ten minutes?"

"Thanks."

While Tina waited for Jenny, she went downstairs and put on the television. Emma or Paula must have enabled the security menu, as it was there when Tina looked. She was able to see the area in front of the cottages, and the main drive from the road.

She wanted to go back to the entertainment room and play on her clarinet for a bit, but she put that thought out of her mind. The others might hang about together for a bit, but Jenny needed someone to be with her. She'd lost Becky and Ashleigh. None of them were part of her instructions. She was there to keep an eye on things. There had been no indication of trouble but when the warning came, they had very little time to get out.

After she'd made sure that Jenny was settled for the night, she grabbed a blanket from the top of the wardrobe and took it downstairs. She wanted to be close to the front door. If someone wanted to grab Jenny, they would have to get past her.

Escaping the Cradle

by Karen Page

Part 3

---

Part 3

Their phones had been off while watching the film. As the titles rolled, Becky and Ashleigh turned on their phones, just like most of the audience. The ping of messages being received echoed through the auditorium.

"That was fantastic," said Becky. "Thanks for this."

"My pleasure," said Ashleigh, leaning across and giving Becky a chaste kiss. "You got the last film. It was only fair."

Becky swore when she read her message. Ashleigh had just started reading hers and she swore too.

"Let's go," said Ashleigh and they made their way slowly out. A hundred people in front of them slowing them down.

"Switch off your phone," said Becky quietly. "We don't know if they'll track it."

"Do we go to the factory?"

"No. Tina said they were using Aurora to get out of there. There is a protocol for this. Let's go to the toilet. It's going to be a long night."

When they eventually left the cinema, the temperature had plummeted. A late evening in January wasn't the time to hang around. Ashleigh was looking forward to getting in the car into the warmth, but Becky had another twist to the evening's entertainment.

When they got to the car, she got into the passenger seat. She didn't just open the glovebox but pulled it out and placed it onto the car floor. Using a small torch, that she retrieved from the glovebox, she shone it over the now exposed electronics.

"Ah, there it is," she muttered, and using a small pin, removed the sim card.

"Cars track you," she said, putting the glovebox back. "There is a constant stream of data being sent to the car manufacturer. Your location, your speed, how erratic you're driving, the contacts on your phone etc. They sell that data to others. I don't want to chance someone tracking the car that way."

For the first time on this project, Ashleigh felt shocked. Becky was talking about things she'd never considered. To her, a car was just something that you used to drive from one location to another. What Becky was talking about would have been something someone wearing a tinfoil hat would proclaim. Yet this was something she was now hearing. Paranoid or not, someone had or was raiding the factory. She didn't want to think what it was like at her home.

"How's your map reading skills?" asked Becky, as she signalled Ashleigh could now get into the car.

"Rusty. Ah, no satnav."

Becky passed her an old-fashioned roadmap. On it there were routes highlighted. "Those are routes without ANPR or cameras. A lot of country lanes."

"It never rains but it pours," sighed Ashleigh. "Okay, you tell me where we're going, and I'll try my best to get you there. It looks like you were prepared for this circumstance."

"Laura sent someone to see us about two years ago. I thought they were being paranoid but reluctantly listened. I wish I'd been more attentive."

"You seem to remember the basics."

The journey was slow, but they gradually made it along the backroads. There was no music in the car. For some reason, without the sim card the entertainment system just showed an error screen. At first the conversation was slow with nothing more than Ashleigh giving directions and Becky following. Gradually though the chatter picked up and their ease at talking together won through their adversity.

After nearly two hours of driving, they pulled into a delipidated pub car park. There were more weeds that cars, but the pub looked open. Not knowing if they'd need to move to the alternative meeting point, Becky plugged the car into a highspeed charger but used an emergency prepaid card rather than her normal debit card.

"This is our first attempted rendezvous," said Becky. "Let's go in and get a drink. I could do with the toilet."

The walked in and the subdued chatter stopped and everybody stared. It was a local's pub and someone not local was a surprise. After a few moments, their conversations resumed. While the inside was a setup like a traditional British Pub it was clean and bright. It was like the outside was a way to keep visitors away.

"Two glasses of red wine," requested Ashleigh. Becky had spotted the toilet sign and went to use the facilities.

"Are you driving?"

"Yes."

The barman put a packet of 'Drive Safe' onto the bar, next to the two glasses. Ethanolase was a mandatory drug provided free with any alcoholic purchase, but nobody called it the drug name. It was known everywhere by the brand name.

"A whole packet?" gasped Ashleigh. Normally a sealed pill would be provided for each person.

"This is a locals bar," said the barman. "I rarely have to give it out, but head office sends boxes of the stuff with each purchase."

"You don't have Drive Safe Plus, do you?"

He laughed. "No. It hasn't made its way to us yet."

The plus version included an anti-tiredness formula. There was no excuse for drink driving, and soon there would be no excuse for falling asleep at the wheel.

"That announcement was something," the barman said, trying to strike up a friendly conversation as he prepared the drinks.

There was no need to ask which announcement. There was only one that everyone was talking about. The announcement was the Prime Minister announcing that aliens existed.

"Aliens, who knew," said Ashleigh, eyeing up the bottle the barman was pouring out of. It looked like it had been open for weeks, if not longer. She began to wish she'd ordered something else.

"Not just that," he said. "The bit about us soon leaving the solar system. Just imagine that, exploring the galaxy."

"An intergalactic barman?"

"Who knows. It's like a new avenue has opened. New possibilities."

"Yes, I hadn't thought of it like that," said Ashleigh, looking at things in a different light. It was hard when you'd seen the ship with her own eyes and knew that what the barman was talking about was more of a possibility that he could imagine.

Ashleigh took a sip of her wine and was surprised to find it tasted fresh. After paying, she went and took a seat. The little round tables were slightly unsteady, but she placed Becky's on it, while nursing hers.

Becky wasn't long and joined her. "Any sign?"

"No. I've got a feeling we're being watched, but I've no idea if that's just my imagination. Not an ideal third date."

"I don't know," mused Becky. "I get to spend extra time with you."

"Tina's going to be mad," said Ashleigh. "She'll be blaming herself."

"Jenny is going to be worried. She's very clingy since–"

She tailed off. Not wanting to mention Hilda's name. This had been a date.

"Hilda isn't a name to dance around," said Ashleigh putting down her glass, and looking Becky directly in her eyes and holding one of her hands. "You can't change your past. I'm just glad that we found each other after all these years. To be honest, it might not have worked out back then. We were both finding ourselves. Now we know who we are, it will be easier. When we find this contact, they might know where Jenny is. We will find her."

A woman wearing a thick coat came across from where she'd been playing cards. She sat down next to them and asked, "Are you two love birds lost?"

Instantly Ashleigh let go of Becky's hand.

"We're just having a quiet drink," said Becky.

"Since you normally spend your days in a pub, it's not much of a change. Well, I suppose this one still serves drinks."

Ashleigh looked at the person in front of her. There was something about her that was familiar, but she couldn't place them.

"Are you here for us?" whispered Ashleigh.

"Yes. I'll tell you about it on the way."

"Where are we going?"

"Somewhere safe. Drink up and let's go. Both of you go empty your bladders, we have a long journey, and I don't want to stop. I know the way, so will drive."

Ashleigh was on her guard. This mysterious woman seemed to be waiting for them. It was unlikely on the of mercenaries would have had someone at a remote country pub, on the off chance they would stop there. But she wasn't taking any chances.

"How do we know you aren't a baddy?" asked Ashleigh and then frowned at using the word 'baddy' in a normal conversation.

Becky had started to get up but quickly sat down again. She'd assumed that because the woman was there, she must be their contact. Ashleigh was being more cautious that she was.

"You don't even recognise your own brother-in-law?"

Ashleigh quickly put her hand over Becky's and shook her head not to respond. Ashleigh then asked, "What was the fourth gift you opened at your wedding?"

"It was a gift from Caroline, and I'm not going to explain what it was."

"Luke," she breathed.

"I prefer Lisa when dressed like this."

"When did you get back?" asked Becky.

"A few days ago. I had some things to do before I could come up. I was supposed to arrive tomorrow. Now go to the toilets, we have a long journey ahead of us."

Becky joined Ashleigh at the toilets, even though she'd just been. All too soon, they were leaving. Lisa put a rucksack into the boot, then walked slowly around the car, checking for anything unexpected. Finally, she was happy and got into the driving seat.

As they made their way down another set of country roads, Ashleigh asked "So why Lisa? Even if you were en-femme on your investigation, wouldn't you have changed when you got back?"

"I was male on my investigation. However, in that pub this is how I'm known and not as Lisa."

"Have you heard about Tina and her issues?"

"Yes. Thank you for being there for her. When I heard, I was upset that I couldn't have been there."

Ashleigh noticed that there was no regret about not being called. It was part of the life they lived. And she knew Tina would have been very upset if her husband had to leave an investigation.

"Have you been told more about the project?" asked Becky.

"No. Just that a group of mercenaries planned on attacking the factory. Last I heard, they attacked but they only succeeded in becoming target practice. Did you know it had defences?"

"The team that built it was one of the sister companies, so I'm not surprised. I knew the stairs between floors had shutters, but that was it."

"Anyway, I was told that Tina and the project team, including your daughter, bugged out. The person who contacted me didn't know where they'd gone. It was only a few hours ago, but I know where they will probably go. We are on the way there. I've no idea if we'll get there first, or them."

Becky laughed. "They'll be there first by a long shot."

"Okay. Then I better make sure my approach is obvious, and signal that it's us. Tina will be on the defence."

"I bet Sam is too."

"Sam? Is there someone new on your team?"

"Sam Hood. Two years older than you at Hayfield, transferred to an American school. I think the word was Study Partner to Jessica. We also have a James Partridge ex RAF."

"Oh, that Sam and Jessica. Yeah, we never met but I'm aware of them both. It's interesting they're around. I thought Sam was in the US Navy."

"US Navy retired was on the résumé. So where are we going?"

"Hopefully somewhere safe."

The sound of the car against the tarmac lulled the two passengers to sleep. Even though Becky was used to working late, that was when her mind was active. This monotonous journey even impacted her, and it was soon just Lisa who was used to driving alone. Solitary journeys were nothing new for the investigator, but there was normally the radio for company.

As they neared their destination, Lisa called "Becky."

Becky stirred but mumbled that she wanted her sleep. Ashleigh woke and looked across at Becky. "Becky!"

Becky instantly woke and sat up straight. "What?!"

"We are nearly there," said Lisa. "Let's take this very slowly. If the gate is shut, then I will put in the code. It will alert everybody there, but the code will identify me. We drive in and get out of the car. The camera there will identify you to anybody watching."

"You think there will be?"

"Definitely. They bugged out. They will be on alert."

The gate was shut, as Lisa had predicted. It wasn't one of the standard farm wooden gates, but an elaborate metal gate with spiked tips at the top. A three-meter wall ran in each direction.

"This looks rather formidable," remarked Ashleigh.

"I don't see any cameras," said Becky.

"Oh, they're there," responded Lisa. "Let me put in my code."

Lisa lowered her car window, leaned out and tapped in her code. The gates stayed shut.

"Okay, they are really being careful. Get out and look at the brick post, just to the right of the gate."

"Huh?" said Ashleigh, her brain not having fully awoken.

Becky was awake quicker than Ashleigh. She got out of the car and stared where requested. She even gave a little wave.

Ashleigh shrugged and followed suit. The crisp clean air wasn't like where she'd lived the last several months. There was no tang of water. It was clean, so she knew she wasn't in the city, but where she had no idea. Wherever they were, it was cold but looking up she saw the most dazzling view. When she lived in the city, she saw no more than a dozen stars. Near the lab, she saw perhaps fifty. Now, there were so many. Wow.

There was a slight creak and groan as the gates protested at being opened. Then they smoothly opened the rest of the way.

"I'll drive just inside the gates," said Lisa. "We will walk slowly to the house."

When they all were inside, the gates swung shut. Ashleigh felt like they were being watched. When she put her hands inside her coat pocket for warmth, Lisa quickly told her to keep her hands visible.

"This is some driveway," said Ashleigh.

"STOP!" was called from the dark.

They all froze. Becky had taken the torch from the car and shone it into her face. She then passed the torch to Ashleigh who did the same.

"It is Becky and Ashleigh," came the voice of Sam.

"I vouch that the person next to me is Lisa," said Ashleigh.

There was the sound of running feet, and next thing Tina appeared with Jenny.

"Ma," Jenny squealed and flung herself at her remaining parent.

Tina rushed to Lisa. "You gave us all a scare, appearing like that."

Lisa didn't respond but just took Tina into her arms and they kissed.

"Okay, the funs over," said Sam. "I'm going back to bed."

"It looks like everybody's flown in the ship apart from us two," said Becky, lifting her daughter into her arm. "How was it, Jenny?"

She shrugged. "It was okay. Nothing to it really. One second, we were there, and next here. I thought it might have been more exciting."

"And safe?"

"They are going to check Aurora over in the morning," said Jenny, stifling a yawn.

"Let's get you back to bed," said Becky.

Ashleigh looked around and saw that James was stood with two women she didn't recognise, but she concluded they probably owned the place. The only ones not there were Evan, Liam and Henry.

James was staring at Tina and Lisa. He looked confused.

"Hey James, do you want to introduce me to our hosts?"

"Ah, sure," he said, averting has gaze. "This is Emma and Paula. They live with their son at this farm. They have some holiday cottages they're letting us stay in."

"Don't tell me, you went to school with Tina," said Ashleigh.

"Well, we were a few years above them, but yes."

"Thank you for having us at short notice. I'm Tina's sister."

"The hockey player?"

"No, that's the other one."

"Well, we're back to bed," said Emma, putting her arm around Paula. "When Tina has put down Lisa, I'm sure they'll show you where to go. See you in the morning."

"What's up, James?" asked Ashleigh, now they were alone. "You seem distracted."

"I thought Tina was married to a Luke."

"You're an officer, right? So, a gentleman and someone that has seen a lot of different things?"

"Yes. I was RAF. We are the best there is. Why?"

"That's Luke," said Ashleigh, softly. "Or Lisa when dressed like that."

"Oh."

"Do you have an issue with that?" asked Ashleigh with a firmer tone.

"No, Ma'am. I was just a bit confused. I've known Tina over the last few months and Luke was mentioned earlier. Jenny was very worried about Becky."

"Becky was also very worried about Jenny." Ashleigh then called out, "Tina, can you put Lisa down and show me where I'm sleeping."

Tina didn't break away but removed her right hand from Lisa's back and raised her middle finger.

James laughed. "Come on, I'll show you where they are. Let's leave those two to freeze."

They made the way to the four buildings where the evacuees were staying. "Each have three bedrooms. Liam, Evan and Henry are in one. I'm in another with Sam and Jessica. There is a spare room in that one."

James, then pointed to the third cottage. "Jenny is in that one, with Tina. Though by the looks of it, Tina was using the couch. When the alert sounded, she was already ready. She stayed back to protect Jenny."

Ashleigh smiled. This was her sister. In her eyes, a hero.

"Someone mentioned the word Investigator in conjunction with your sister. I don't understand. I thought she was a teaching assistant. Yet she handles herself like she's been in the military."

"No, she's never been in the military," said Ashleigh. "Anyway, good night."

Ashleigh went in, the door unlocked. The downstairs light was on dim. There was a blanket on one of the three large settees, with the television showing video outside the cottages. On it she saw her sister on the way in. Lisa appeared a few moments later, driving the car up.

She went upstairs. The first door was open, and she spied an unoccupied room, but the duvet was missing. The next door down, she opened and the light from the hallway shone in. Jenny was in there, with Becky lying next to her. Ashleigh quietly shut the door. The next bedroom was also unoccupied.

She went in and slid the door shut. This has been a long day. 'Rest is a weapon' she reminded herself and got ready for bed. As she slipped under the duvet, it reminded her of her university days. Sleeping in just her knickers. They were safe. For now.

Escaping the Cradle

by Karen Page

Part 4

---

Part 4
DATE:FC+1

Tim had only just got into the office when Storm accosted him.

"Something is off," said Storm.

"And good morning to you," responded Tim. "Hey, aren't you wearing what you wore yesterday? Haven't you been home?"

"Not yet. Aaron did some initial digging and what he found made no sense. We've managed to put some of it together."

"Okay, walk with me," said Tim, guiding her towards his desk.

"Well from what we can gather, it looks like one of the astronauts on the space station got ill. He did some media events but didn't look his normal self. Then they stopped."

"Right, and how does this not make sense? I'm sure they get ill sometimes."

"Sure, though not as often as you'd think. Astronauts are quarantined before they go up to make sure they don't take any viruses with them. Anyway, a cargo launch was supposed to go up a few days later, but it got delayed. Rumour is they wanted to add something extra to the cargo."

"Okay, so you suspect some medication?"

Storm shrugged. "Let's go with that premiss. Anyway, the rocket failed to launch. One of the engines had an issue and it was de-stacked. Then the weather closed in."

"Okay, so whatever they were sending up got delayed. When did it go up?"

"Ten days later. However, by that time Randy Rollins was back looking better."

"I'm sure they have medication up there for all sorts of illnesses. Perhaps one of those worked on him."

"Logon to your computer and look at the video I've sent you."

Tim did. It was of the space station. There was a school Q&A with some of the astronauts. While that was going on, another of them was going past carrying a bottle. The video paused and zoomed in.

"That has a shelf life of thirty days from manufacture. It isn't one of the standard medications on board. It is normally only used when other antibiotics have failed. There have been no deliveries to the space station thirty days prior to that."

Tim leaned back in his chair. "Okay, to summarise. We've had two occurrences where things have gone to the space station, but nobody knows how. The first is a Pudsey Bear, which is very much a British item. The second some medication which appears to have been sent up to cure one of the crew there. Since the illness wasn't broadcast, how they knew is another question."

"Do you think this has anything to do with the aliens?"

Tim pondered on this. "Not directly. I certainly don't think they've been sending teddy bears to the space station. I think NASA is very twitchy about this and until we know more, I think we shouldn't mention it. We can't report speculation."

"Okay. Anyway, we have our morning briefing with Robyn."

"Blimey," said Tim looking at his watch. "Let's go"

They were the last two into the meeting. They weren't late but were just in time.

"Yesterday we spent most of the afternoon and evening analysing the announcement. We need to move on. I want two work teams in each department. Business as usual – what is happening in the world apart from this. Second, how does the announcement impact your area of responsibility."

Robyn paused looking around at the editorial team. "The rest I want as discussion points that we can air during the next few days. Specials as it were. Economics, what is the impact of a single currency? What happens to trade, housing etc? Can states still set their own interest rates? What is the impact on tourism? How many job losses when there aren't any currency traders etc? "

"If there is a single government, will this mean no borders? What will happen to migration? Will there be floods of cheap labour until economies equalise?"

"What about religion. One for you Dave. Has there been any comments from the Vatican, from Canterbury or the Muslim council of Britain?"

"Not yet. There have been enquiries, but silence. We can do a panel with several religions and theologists."

"Great idea. Now science. Let's have some speculation where these aliens–"

"Reginaddes" called out a few people.

"–have come from," continued Robyn. "What might the ship look like. What propulsion might they use."

"We discussed that thoroughly yesterday. Many experts admit it's beyond our understanding."

"What about the bit where the PM said we were at the cusp of leaving the solar system. Do you have anything on that?"

"We've only just got back to The Moon and had humans land on Mars once. The return to Mars project keeps getting put back. There's no new spaceship to do that. Not even a test–"

Storm and Tim looked at each other. "A TEST," they cried out in unison.

"Do you want to share this with the rest of us?" asked Robyn, a bit impatient at being interrupted.

"Just some speculation we've been trying to validate," responded Tim. "A source gave me two tips yesterday. They both seemed improbable. The first I validated and I'm working on the second with Storm's help."

"The PM's media guy?" scoffed Robyn.

"No, not him. A different source. The first tip was the name of the alien race. Confirmation was obtained from the Prime Minister when he answered my question during the interview."

"You got that name, and you didn't say anything?"

"Of course not. You would never let a rumour like that go out without corroboration. I got the PM to say it, on screen, with our logo on the top right. Every news agency in the world has picked it up and are replaying it; with our logo in full view."

Robyn didn't look pleased at that. He was right, but she didn't like things being planned without her knowledge. It was her job to know.

"And the second thing that you and Storm seem excited about?"

"This is about the reason the Reginaddes gave for making contact. That the human race would soon venture outside the solar system. I heard the teddy bear on the space station during Children in Need wasn't staged. Everybody seemed to think someone got NASA to do it. NASA was always quiet about it, so that rumour stuck. It seems they were quiet because they didn't know how it got there."

"I don't follow," said Dave, the religious editor. "Surely it went up with one of the cargo runs."

"Not that they can find," said Storm.

"But it isn't the first time someone has smuggled something aboard. Look at that time on the ISS with the gorilla suit."

"That wasn't smuggled. NASA knew about it and authorised it. It was just the other crew members that didn't know. NASA have a standing policy about smuggling items. If you smuggle, you get fired."

"That sounds a bit harsh," said Herby.

"In one of the early launches, an astronauts took a sandwich on the flight. It crumbled and bits could have got into vital equipment. It's a safety thing. On Earth, gravity would have made the bits fall to the floor. In space, they just float around and get where you really don't want."

"So how does this relate to the announcement?"

"This tip was given at the same time as the name of the alien race. We aren't aware of any spaceship capable of taking humans out of the solar system. Yet the Reginaddes seem to think we soon will. So, is there something in development that we aren't aware of? We think the teddy bear might have been a test disguised as a stunt."

"And a very clever test," added Storm. "It isn't something NASA would ever talk about. Their assumption would be that it was a prank one of the crew had pulled. Which is what happened. They had a huge investigation and found no answers."

Robyn gasped. "They're British. They could have sent anything, but they sent a Pudsey Bear on Children in Need Day. Okay everyone, keep quiet about this. No talking about it with anyone. We don't want Sky getting this. Tim, are you angling to interview them?"

"No. If we do find out who they are, it should be Storm who does that."

"Okay, moving on. Heidi. What's the latest from America?"

When the meeting finished, Robyn asked Tim to stay behind.

"I don't like being kept in the dark like that," she said. "Yes, it is good that you use your initiative, but it isn't good when the others think they can go behind my back."

"Okay, okay," said Tim. "To keep you in the loop, I'm going to meet an MP. I want to find out what happened in The Commons yesterday, when they sat in private. See what the mood is."

* * *

"Thanks for coming," said Laura Taylor as she entered the room to find Stacy, Andy, David and Helen waiting for her.

There was a general shrug from the four investigators. A call to see their boss was unusual, but not unheard of.

"We might have more of these over the next few weeks. You four, along with Tina and Luke have been our primary investigators for several years. I think you will bring some perspective on what's going on."

"I've just talked with a contact I have in the Reginaddes camp."

"Poppy?"

"Yes. They have as much contact as we have with the aliens. None since initial contact. They were given facts showing what would happen if Earth stagnated. How they should stop that from happening, they weren't told. Just as you weren't told how we should protect Earth or find The One."

"And Becky is The One?" asked Andy.

"Yes. Hilda confirmed that. But Becky isn't aware of the fact," said Laura. "I had the opportunity to tell her last November, but it didn't seem right. How do you tell someone that your wife initially met up because you were someone they were looking for. Hilda fell in love, and I think telling the back story might diminish that. On the other hand, I don't want to seem to be lying. If she found out another way, it might be upsetting. She might feel used."

"In some ways, she was used," said Stacy. "You might even say that we were used. Both races have got humans dancing to their tune. Yet even if the Reginaddes hadn't done what they did, bad people would have still done bad things. I bet not every company or government we've investigated has been driven by those Reginadde sympathisers."

"I gave up trying to work out which ones were," admitted Laura. "You were sent were you needed to be. You've done so much good."

"The team at the factory upped sticks and left in their ship," said Helen. "How far can it go?"

"We don't know. Testing had only just started. They did a single hop to 350km into space. They had an issue which they fixed. That was the longest time in my life. I was so relieved when the crew came back in one piece."

"Who went up?" asked Helen. "All four of the project team?"

"No. I didn't want to risk them. I got in a test pilot and engineer. You might know of the engineer – Sam Hood. The pilot was ex RAF and ex ESA."

"SAM?"

"Yes. I was surprised to see that name on the list of possible engineers for the job. When there was an issue, it was Sam that did most of the hard work to get them home. I couldn't have asked for a better test engineer. They'd been working on a resolution to the issue and were going to start testing when Tina got a call that mercenaries were on the way. Mary Beth was on the ball with that one. I got a call from one of the guards. Tina had told them to scram. I presume they took the ship somewhere."

"So, it could be anywhere on Earth or somewhere in orbit?"

"The ship is called Aurora. They could be at the other end of the galaxy," responded Laura.

Andy's jaw dropped at that.

A message beeped on Laura's phone. She had a look and sighed.

"Luke sent a delayed message. He is off grid."

"Good," said Stacy. "He is following the plan. He'll pick up and look after Becky and Ashleigh."

"What?!"

"You had security give some training to Becky on how to disappear if needed. While we were there, we gave a few rendezvous points."

"This is so out of control," moaned Laura.

"No, it isn't. Don't try to find them. That will just cause others who will be watching to take note. Trust that Luke will do his job."

"I do trust Luke. I just want them all safe. I shouldn't get like this, but to me you are all family. That project is so important."

"If they have overcome the issue that happened in the test, perhaps you should get Aurora demonstrated in public. It might take the pressure off them."

"It might," mused Laura. "I'll bring it up with them when they resurface. I'm sure you have an idea where they might go."

Andy winked and Laura relaxed. Her primary teams were being cautious. She wasn't surprised. Some of the investigators were very close and they trusted each other more than they trusted her.

"This situation is rather fluid," said Laura. "I don't plan to send any of you four on an investigation until things are a bit clearer. Tina is still recovering, and Luke is AWOL."

"I wouldn't say AWOL," said David. "I'd say he is doing exactly what you want him to do. He's just keeping the exposure low."

"Okay, you're all up to speed with the background. The Reginaddes coming out like that was so
unexpected."

"Yes, but looking back, perhaps not. They were as caught up in the prophecy as everybody else. Now it has come to pass, they probably feel emboldened. And stipulating a world government is going to cause chaos. All the major countries are going to want to have their philosophy as the one that wins."

"Perhaps that's the answer," said Helen. "Nobody should win. Perhaps they need to find a new world point of view rather than what is currently there."

"But in the meantime, will it cause conflict?" mused Andy.

"Oh God, I hope not," said Laura.

"That's another thing," said Helen. "I bet all the religions are panicking about this too."

"I spoke with Tim," said David. "He came through with the name of the aliens. I've given him another hint. Unless we're unlucky, give that a few days and he should piece together the test in November."

"Great," said Laura. "Get it out in drips. So, when it's shown to the public, it shouldn't be too much of a surprise. The hull of the second ship is already under construction at a site near Bristol. When the project team are back, and finish the tests, it will be good for that to be fitted out. It is larger and has an airlock."

"Does Becky know about it?"

"No. The shell of the ship isn't important. The drive and the power are the important bits. Hopefully Becky will be happy to see it."

* * *

Ashleigh awoke feeling strange. The bed wasn't hers, and the smell wasn't right. There was no tang of the river. Her brain kicked in, and she remembered what had occurred the previous night. She felt a pang of disappointment that Becky hadn't joined her but quickly pulled herself together. Now wasn't the time for things like that.

Knowing she had no clean clothes, she didn't bother showering. There would be time for that later. She just put on the clothes she'd had on the previous evening. Downstairs she saw that Becky and Jenny were sat at the kitchen table with Luke, eating breakfast. Becky had on jeans and a top. It certainly wasn't the things she'd had on for their night out.

"Where did you get those clothes from?" enquired Ashleigh, as she joined them.

"I had a go bag in the boot. A few days clothes for me and Jenny."

Jenny looked lovingly at her ma.

"You didn't happen to have any of my clothes in there, did you?"

Becky gave an impish grin. "No, but I'd be glad to have your go bag next to mine."

Ashleigh raised her eyebrows and said rather tartly. "I hope we don't need it again."

Becky's grin widened.

Jenny looked between her ma and Ashleigh. She knew something was going on, but not what.

Luke said to Jenny, "Why don't you let me hear you on the piano."

"Is that okay?" Jenny asked her ma.

"There's a piano here?" asked Becky.

"Yes, there is a big room in the back. Mrs Poop even found a clarinet."

"Okay, I'll keep Miss Thompson company while she has something to eat. We'll come and find you when we're finished."

When they were alone, Ashleigh said, "Not an ideal first time away together."

"It isn't that we don't know each other," replied Becky. "You are so strong though. All the time we were running, you didn't break down in tears."

"Nor did you. You were so capable. You remembered what you'd been shown and kept us both safe."

They sat there, looking at each other. They were interrupted by a knock on the front door. Ashleigh jumped.

The television was still on, tuned to the security cameras. It showed one of the ladies they'd met the previous night. Knowing it was safe; they went to the door together.

"Hi," smiled Becky, as she opened the door. "Thank you for having us."

"I'm just dropping off some clothes. I have sizes for Tina and Jenny. If you give me your sizes, I'll see what we have."

"I'm okay, I had a few things in the car," said Becky. "Though I think Ashleigh might need something. We fled just after a night out."

"Ah. Hence why you were found by Lisa. I think Sam and a few of the others are up in the barn checking your ship, making sure there aren't any issues. Something about wanting to be ready if you need to move again."

"I hope it doesn't get to that," replied Becky. "I don't want you in trouble."

"Don't worry, we know what we got ourselves into when we offered this place as a bolt hole. It's become quite the place for a few of them to come each Christmas but has been just used as holiday cottages most of the other times. There's nobody wanted to holiday here during the winter."

"Where exactly are we?" asked Ashleigh.

"In the mountains of Mid Wales. You're surrounded by sheep and open hills."

"Ooh, good to know. It was dark and mostly we were in country lanes. I fell asleep at some stage. You say a few of the investigators used to come here for Christmas? I take it Tina and Luke came?"

"Oh yes, one or both of them come most years. Both Tina and Luke were on assignment this year. So, where's Tina?"

'Tina on assignment?' thought Ashleigh and then it dawned on her. Tina hadn't just stayed for recovery. When she'd recovered enough, instead of going home, she stayed as protection. Just in case something happened. Which it had.

Ashleigh answered, slightly reeling from her thoughts. "Asleep. She kept watch most of the night and Luke then swapped. I think they're happy that for now we are safe. Jenny is showing Luke her piano skills."

"Listen to her and Luke. They are very good at what they do. "

"I know. They protected us in the middle of last year. They rushed me to a panic room when unwanted people were approaching."

"You've certainly been having fun. Give me your size, and I'll see what we have. These tourists coming from London never pack correctly."

For the first time since getting there, Ashleigh laughed at the exasperated tone. She gladly gave her sizes wanting something a lot more comfortable than the dress she had on.

"I'll drop them off soon," she promised. "One final thing, don't panic if you see a teenage boy. That's our son Jay. He's at school at the moment, but I don't want you worrying that there are strangers around."

When Ashleigh had finished breakfast, they went exploring. They followed where they'd seen Luke and Jenny go.

"Wow, look at this," said Ashleigh to Becky as they walked into the room. It wasn't the well-furnished room, or shelves of books that caught her eye, but the view from the window.

Her eyes then moved to the grand piano, with Jenny looking small on the large bench seat. It was large enough to seat two adults. From somewhere, Luke had a French Horn, and he and Jenny were playing something together.

Ashleigh and Becky stood by the door, watching Jenny play. She hadn't heard them enter, though Luke had spotted them as soon as they entered but continued playing without missing a beat. When Jenny and Luke came to the end of what they were playing, Ashleigh and Becky applauded.

Jenny whirled around and saw them standing by the door. "It's my first time playing with someone," she exclaimed.

"How was it?" asked Becky.

"It was great," enthused Jenny. "It's totally different than playing on your own. I found it hard to listen and play, but Mr Poop gave me some great tips."

"She's a fast learner," admitted Luke. "Jenny, would you like to play with the others too?"

"Perhaps Tina," responded Jenny after a moment of thought. "I think she wanted to play last night but never got the chance. That French Horn has a lovely sound. Is it easy to play?"

Luke looked over at Becky, who gave a nod of acceptance. "Okay, Jenny, let's find a better chair than the piano stool for this test. I know, why don't we do this in the unused cottage."

"See you later," said Becky brightly, and Jenny followed Luke back towards the holiday homes.

"Why are you upset?" Ashleigh asked Becky, when they were alone.

"I'm not upset."

Ashleigh raised an eyebrow at that.

"I'm not. I'm a bit worried. I don't want to be split from her again if there's another issue."

"Is that why you slept in the same room last night?"

"No. I lay on the bed and was going to get up when she was asleep. I fell asleep too. It was quite strange when I woke up this morning by her opening the curtains."

"I'm surprised she isn't upset about not being at school."

"She was. Luke set me up with a method of sending an untraceable message to her school. If we are here for more than a few days, I will do some lessons with her. I'm sure some of the others will help too."

"Count me in," said Ashleigh with no hesitation.

"This is some place," said Becky, walking towards the large window. The landscape beyond them showed they were on the edge of a hill. The hill opposite could be seen, with a large valley between them.

"What now?" asked Ashleigh, siding up to her girlfriend.

"We wait for news. I've been pondering what Laura said back in November. Is this what she meant that more information would be revealed. Did she know about the aliens?"

"Does it matter if she did?"

Becky shrugged. "I've no idea. But if Aurora sparked this outcome, were we used?"

"Again, does it matter? You have invented a ship that can go places no human has ever gone before. It was your idea, not Laura's. She just funded the development and protected you back in July and again now. It will help humanity. The human race could be extinguished in a single war. If Aurora, and ships like her, help humanity reach out to other planets and stars, isn't that a good thing?

"Do you remember my school friend Robert?"

"Wasn't he your friend on the football team?"

"Yes, that was him. Anyway, his cousin is gay. He applied to GCHQ for a job. It wasn't an issue, because he'd been open about his sexuality. They didn't like people who were 'in the closet'. That makes them open to blackmail."

"Okay, and?" queried Ashleigh, wondering where this was going.

"Is the lure of Aurora because she is secret. Are we only in danger because she is an unknown?"

"How long would it take to build more?"

Becky scratched her nose as she thought. "A year. Factory is probably not a good word. It is where the ship was made, but it isn't a production line. I'm sure one could be created that built versions of her. The shell itself isn't complex, nor is a lot of the equipment. For that, it is making sure it is fit for space and isn't going to leak. The secret sauce is the drive and the energy cell. I'm sure people will want to get their hands on those too."

"I'm surprised they got everybody in the ship. I thought it only had four seats."

"I'm sure a lot of them were standing. They wouldn't have felt anything, or so I'm told. I've yet to have a ride yet."

Ashleigh laughed. "Jenny beat you to it."

"The minx."

"Do you know where the ship is?" asked Ashleigh.

"Not exactly. Jenny said it was in a barn at the other side of the farmhouse."

They wandered back to the cottage to grab their coats just as a few pairs of jeans were being dropped off.

"Oh, thanks," said Ashleigh. "Sorry if this is stopping you with your farm work. Is there anything I can do to help you?"

"Perhaps tomorrow. Jessica helped me check on the sheep this morning while Paula took Jay to school. Life starts early on the farm."

"Can you tell us where the barn that Aurora is in?"

"Ooh, the ship has a name. I like it. Aurora is in barn three. I'll show you."

"She was named by Sam and James. Can I just change. I want to get out of this dress."

Ashleigh wasn't long and they set off. As they went outside, a border collie got up and came to stand next to Emma. They were just setting off when Jessica came out. "Anything else I can do, Emma?"

'Emma', thought Ashleigh. 'Emma, Paula and Jay.'

"No thanks Jessica, but thanks for the offer," she called back.

The collie kept at Emma's heals as they made their way along the driveway to the farmhouse. "You weren't around yesterday. This is our house. Feel free to come into the downstairs. Upstairs is our personal area and would appreciate you respecting that."

"Sure," said Ashleigh and Becky together.

They continued and she stopped outside a brick barn. "Eugene, stay." Emma called and the dog sat, looking patiently at his master.

"An interesting name for a sheep dog," said Becky.

"It's in remembrance of someone who died while we were at school."

"Did you go to the same school as Tina?" asked Becky, her voice sounding a bit odd.

"Yes."

It then dawned on Ashleigh what was being said. Eugene was the other person that Hilda had tried to help but he had still died.

"A fine name," said Becky, her voice slightly choked, before wandering into the barn.

Inside, there was more activity than Ashleigh had expected. There was a pile of items in the corner of the barn, with even more being taken out.

"It looks like they brought a lot of spares," mused Becky. "I suppose they didn't want to risk anything falling into the wrong hands."

"You arrive just as we finish emptying," puffed Liam as he and Sam carried a large item.

"And you didn't have to put up with hours of dark country lanes," responded Becky, rushing to help.

"Can I look inside?" asked Emma.

"Sure," said Becky. "Just be careful though. I've no idea of the state inside."

"Henry has already started to pull up some panels," said Sam. "Might be better to wait until tonight or tomorrow. She should be back straight by then."

"Oh, no rush. It's just my first flying saucer."

"She isn't a flying saucer," said Becky horrified. "She is so much more than that. Anyway, she isn't round."

There was laughter from the others in the team. Emma wasn't the first person to call Aurora a flying saucer. Emma left to get on with her work with Eugene beside her.

The day went quickly. While the ship was checked, Becky, Evan and Ashleigh catalogued what they'd brought.

"The only thing we don't have is anything for telemetry or communication," said Evan.

"Of course not," said Becky. "That was on the other floor. You didn't have time to grab things like that. Anyway, we couldn't connect to the cloud system for ship tracking and voice. Anything like that could show where we are."

"I'm glad you're thinking about security," said a voice from the door. They whirled round to see Tina there.

"Hey sis," said Ashleigh looking warmly at her sister.

"I found Luke giving a French Horn lesson to Jenny," said Tina going to her sister, and Becky. "He's got the patience of a priest."

"I'm sorry," said Becky, slightly mortified.

"Nothing to be sorry about," smiled Tina. "We've all started with an instrument and have someone go through the basics. Once she gets the hang of it, she'll be fine. At least she can read music already."

This brought back a memory for Ashleigh. Back when Dr Ruiz had helped Tina, there had been a mention of Sarah Smith when encouraging Jenny and her music. Again, there seemed to be extra encouragement, and Ashleigh began to wonder if there was a connection. Sarah Smith was a popular name, so took some digging, but Ashleigh was confident she'd found out who Sarah Smith was. The bit about going to the same school as Luke helped. But the reference made no sense, and she'd forgotten to ask Tina about it.

"Sarah Smith," murmured Ashleigh, when Becky and Evan had moved away to check something out.

"I'd hoped you hadn't remembered that name," responded Tina.

"You aren't planning on using Jenny to catch a serial killer, are you?"

Tina blanched and tugged her sister's arm to get her to follow her. When they were outside, she continued a bit away from the barn. "No. And Sarah Smith wasn't used either. She was going to join Hayfield but was killed."

"But she died before taking the test."

"Sometimes you are so annoying," sighed Tina. "Can't you just let it go?"

"Would you?" retorted Ashleigh. "If it was to do with your job, I wouldn't be asking. However, this is Jenny we're talking about. Becky's child."

Tina looked stricken and debated what to do. With a sigh she said, "This is for you only. Not for Jenny, and not for Becky. Do you really want that burden?"

"If I feel they need to know because it might be dangerous for them, then I'll tell them. Otherwise, I will keep it to myself."

Tina nodded in acceptance. "Now and again, maybe once every two or three years, the school spot a student before they take the test. The test just confirms what they've already discovered. David was one. Sarah Smith was another. The student or parents can always say that they don't want to go to the school. I know that this happened for one potential student a few years younger than me."

"Are you saying that Rachel told you, in some type of code, that they are interested in Jenny going there?"

"Yes, and not due to influence."

"But she would be pleased to know this."

"She can't know that there is a preselection for some students. Luke found out by accident. Jenny might not pass the test, or the interview. Hence, she can't know. And Becky can't know. And now you have the burden of knowing and not being able to act any different."

Ashleigh swore, and Tina laughed. "Welcome to my world."

"Becky slept in the same room as Jenny, as she didn't want to be apart. There are quite a number of years before Jenny takes the test, but it might come down to Becky not wanting to be apart from her remaining child."

"As you said, many years to go before that."

Later that evening, they were all gathered in the second cottage. The dining table had been extended, and everyone was sat around it. Even Emma, Paula and Jay had joined them. There was no talk about the project or the farm. It was just like Ashleigh remembered family meals when she was younger. A group of people sitting around, sharing food and enjoying each other's company.

"That was fantastic," said James as they all cleared the table. "I don't think I've had a meal like that in years."

When the table had been cleared, and the dishwasher was processing its first load, Emma, Paula and Jay left. Ashleigh wasted no time in moving things back to work.

"How many of the tests have been done on Aurora?"

"All," said James. He was captain of the ship. "She's ship shape and Bristol fashion."

"So, if we needed to bug out, we could?" asked Tina.

"Exactly," confirmed Henry.

"Would you be happy to take this ship out and back here? Say if I wanted to make a call, which I know would be traced. I would want to do that somewhere else and then zip back here."

"As long as it's not in space, then we should be good. Sam put in some sensors into the ship. We should know if there is a problem when we get to the destination. If so, don't make the call. As long as it isn't somewhere populated, we should be good."

"At the moment we are safe here. But until we can find out what is happening, we can't move forward. There should be minimal risk, unless the ship breaks down."

"I'd go just by myself, but I don't know how to fly it," stated Tina.

"I'll take you," said James.

"And I'll go too," added Sam. Jessica didn't object but nodded in acceptance. "We've already put the emergency spare parts back in. I'd say to leave the rest in the barn. It is out of the way. Since we're not going to space, do we need to take Liam or Evan? It would minimise the risk if they didn't go."

"I'd say the science is proven," said Becky. "Evan? Liam?"

"I'd be happy to go," said Liam. "But I think Sam has got a very good understanding. It would have to be something catastrophic with the drive, outside known parameters, for Sam not to be able to fix."

"Same," said Evan.

"Then just the three of us," said Tina. "James, you'll have to teach me how to fly Aurora sometime."

"Oh, what we're doing is easy enough. It is punch in the destination and press the button. It's when you're flying in space that things are a lot different. No atmospheric drag. Have you ever flown a plane?"

"No."

"Then you won't have the comparison. It might be easier. Less to unlearn."

"Are you trying to make Andy and Helen jealous?" laughed Luke.

"No. Just interested," retorted Tina. "I just thought it would be good in case James got ill due to your cooking."

They all laughed at that. They knew that the ex-Hayfield students could all cook really well."

Jessica asked, "While Tina is off making safe contact, can the rest of us talk about communications? Becky, you said you had some ideas."

"Well yes, we can talk about it I suppose, but we can't do any experiments. I'd want that done in the lab. The issue comes down to the tunnel only being one way. It makes it easier for the ship, but not two-way communications. I suppose for data dumps and email it would be fine, but not for real-time communication or telemetry."

"You don't need to do all the hard work yourselves," pointed out Jessica. "There are the CCSDS standards. This will just be a different transport layer within that."

Ashleigh zoned out at that. Tina grabbed her rucksack and went through the door at the back of the cottage towards the communal lounge. Ashleigh went to follow but Luke held up arm which stopped her. He said, "She'll be back in a few minutes."

"Okay," shrugged Ashleigh, wondering what was going on. She didn't have to wait long before Tina returned, the rucksack over her right shoulder.

Tina turned to Sam and James. "Are you sure you're okay with this?"

"Let's go," said James, ignoring the question. Sam just followed, after grabbing a torch from near the door.

Ashleigh also grabbed a torch and followed them. Luke stayed behind which didn't surprise Ashleigh. His job was to protect Becky and Jenny, though they weren't as attentive as they had been at The Anchor. Perhaps they knew this site was better protected than when they lived just off the road. How well protected she didn't know, but the glimpse of the security she'd had, it seemed a lot more secure than a common farm.

When they got to the barn, Sam said, "If you're going to wait for us, don't go anywhere near where the ship is. When we return, we don't want to squish you."

"Is that likely? "

"Liam doesn't think so, but I wouldn't want to chance it. Tina would be upset, and Becky heartbroken."

"I'll stand by the door, to make sure Jay doesn't come in."

"Good idea," beamed Tina. "Hopefully we won't be long. If for some reason we don't come back, follow Luke's lead."

Ashleigh swallowed, trying to reign in her emotions. She wanted to hug her sister, but knew they had to get going. As Sam opened the ship, Ashleigh rushed across and hugged her sister. "See you soon."

"Thanks," said Tina. "Be safe too."

Ashleigh stepped back and stood by the barn entrance as they closed Aurora's door. She waited, and a few minutes later, she became the first person to witness the ship disappear without watching via a monitor.

There was no sound, and no rush of air. Just one second it was there and the next, the barn was empty.

"Hello," a voice called out from behind her.

Ashleigh whirled around to see Paula approaching.

"I saw a light up here and came to investigate," said Paula. When she got as far as Ashleigh, she spotted the barn was empty. "The ships gone!"

"Yes, Tina, Sam and James have gone somewhere. Tina is going to call someone, but she didn't want to do it here."

"I suppose that makes sense. When are they due back?"

Ashleigh shrugged. "If they just go somewhere, and ring it might be a few minutes. I supose it depends on how long the call takes."

"So why are you stood by the door, and not inside?"

"I was warned not to be inside when the ship comes back. I stood by the door just in case you, Emma or Jay came up here."

"Jay has been told not to come into the barn. He knows not to disobey an instruction like that."

"He seems a fine boy."

"We think so, but perhaps we're biased."

"So, what got you into farming?"

"Before we went to Hayfield, Emma lived on a farm. Her parents were farmers. It was in her soul. There was a farm just next to the school, and we were invited to see their lambing. It was obvious to everyone that Emma came alive in that environment. It was also plain that she knew what she was talking about with farm life. We did work experience there while at school. I got to love it as much has Emma."

"So, the school helped you become what you wanted?

"Oh yes. Just because we'd finished our A-Levels when we were fifteen to sixteen didn't stop us learning. Some did an Open University course, others other type of learning. We also had to learn how to look after ourselves. Cooking and things like that which we might have learnt at home, but not something you'd learn at a boarding school. After we finished, we went to agricultural college. It was then that we really realised how more advanced we were and how much preparation that Hayfield had given us."

"If Jay had been selected for Hayfield, would you have let him go?"

"That is a difficult one. He'd only been living with us for a few years when he took the test. I'd like to think we'd do what was best for him, but when Jay came to live with us it changed our lives."

"Sorry, I thought he was yours or Emma's."

"That didn't work out. Jay's parents were ex-investigators. They stopped when Jay's mother became pregnant. Unfortunately, they were in the wrong place, at the wrong time and someone killed them along with a group of others. Jay was at school when it happened."

"Oh no."

"We were named legal guardians in their will."

"Wow, that shows some trust."

"The alumni are quite a tight group. I know we are named in other's wills. We aren't the only ones named either. Anyway, back to your question. Would we have allowed Jay to go. I really don't know. He would have done well at the school. It would have pushed him. But if he'd have felt pushed away, since he hadn't lived with us long, would also have been a major factor."

"I see."

"Are you thinking about Jenny? There is such a small chance of her being accepted, I wouldn't worry."

Before they could discuss further, Aurora reappeared.

"Wow," said Paula. "If I hadn't seen it."

"You and I are the only ones to have ever seen her reappear with their naked eyes. When the tests were run, it was in a secure underground room. We all watched via large televisions."

It wasn't long before the door opened and the three of them came out.

"Any issues?" asked Ashleigh.

"No. She behaved. James and Sam took us there. I made the call which took longer than expected, and we came straight back. No side tours to look at Saturn up close."

Paula gasped. She knew the ship could go into space but hadn't thought more about it than that.

"I'll tell you all about it when we're with the others. Paula, can we stay a bit longer?"

"Of course," she responded without hesitation. "As long as you need. I'll let Emma know there weren't burglars in the barn."

Paula rushed off, leaving the four of them to trudge back to their temporary accommodation. Sam and James rushed ahead.

"They saw the torch lights and Paula came to investigate," explained Ashleigh.

"Don't let them fool you in thinking it was just Paula there. When they're checking things out, the other is normally hidden away. Probably with Eugene."

"Did you know the pupil that Eugene was named after?"

"He was three years younger than me. The whole school was devastated when he died."

"What happened to his, what did you call it? Ah yes, study partner?"

"After the funeral, Ben asked if a new one could be found. Rather ironic really. Jennifer was supposed to be his study partner originally, but their parents didn't let her go through to the interview stage. She was Eugene's cousin. Her parent's circumstances had changed, and they were researching a boarding school, so they let Jennifer join Hayfield. They were Jay's parents."

"What the–" gasped Ashleigh in shock. What a tangled web.

"I know. They were such a nice couple. But Jay was lucky that Emma and Paula were able to take him in."

"It's like you're all a larger family. Always there for each other."

"Yes, it is a bit like that," mused Tina. "I'm so glad that Mum and Dad let me go there."

"I think they'd both have heart attacks if they knew what you get up to."

"I'm surprised you've been so good about it. I think you would have fitted in well there."

Ashleigh shrugged. "I've no idea, but there are limited places. If I'd gone, someone else wouldn't have. I also wouldn't have met Becky."

"True."

They'd gone past the farmhouse and were approaching the holiday cottages. "Oh, one thing before we go in. I don't want you to confirm or deny, because it deals with Hayfield. This is just me, telling you, my thoughts. I think you transitioned at school. I also think you probably had your final surgery there. If that was the case, good."

Not waiting for a response, Ashleigh went into the cottage, leaving a stunned Tina on her own outside. She felt good as she went inside; glad to get it off her chest. Where she expected the others to be waiting, it was empty. Smiling, she went through the door at the back of the cottage. She held it open as her youngest sister quickly caught up.

In the communal lounge, they found everybody. Jenny was having a piano lesson from Luke. Sam and James were both looking over at the bookshelves, and the others were huddled around in deep conversation.

Jenny stopped her playing and rushed to see Tina. "Where did you go?"

"Jenny, stopping in the middle of a lesson like that is rude," said Ashleigh.

"I'll tell you in a few," said Tina. "Now finish your lesson. I'm not saying anything else until everyone can take part in the conversation."

Jenny turned back and apologised to Luke. He just nodded in acceptance and patted the piano stool to signal the lesson would continue.

"You really know how to make life difficult for me," said Tina quietly to her sister.

"I mentioned my thoughts. I asked you not to confirm or deny. Why is that making life difficult?"

"Because it is. I don't think anybody expected so much interaction between us two. I'm used to working in projects where I disappear afterwards. I'm used to my life being segmented. Family not knowing what I do. You're different. You not only know what I do, but you are starting to patch together other things. It's ... unsettling."

Ashleigh hugged her sister. "I'm sorry. I did it to get my thoughts of my chest. I didn't think how it would impact you."

"Look, several years ago there was a security breach, and the school had to move. This had happened a few decades previously at a sister school, so they'd got a plan just in case it happened again. The move caused so many issues and made some of the pupils very upset. At least they had somewhere to move to, which lessened the drama. I don't want to cause any other issues."

"Understood," said Ashleigh full of remorse. "Who found them?"

"The same team that came to investigate the Lab. You know, the time you sheltered in the panic room."

Ashleigh gulped. "What am I involved in?"

"We'll come to that in a minute. Let Jenny finish. What I've got to tell you is going to blow your mind. Make sure you're sat next to Becky."

"That doesn't sound good."

"It is mostly historic stuff, though you already had a taster when I saw Rachel last November."

"Oh?"

"Why Hilda died."

"Oh no! You aren't bringing that up, are you?"

"I'm afraid so. It is important for the discussion. The only one I'm really concerned about is James. Is he staying on the project?"

"Ask. I think it might be hard to exclude him though. It would make it really awkward. He is our only pilot for space."

When Jenny finished her lesson, they made their way towards the group discussing distant communications. They must have heard the piano going quiet, as they all looked across.

"Nicely played," said Liam. He played the piano and had been the one who started giving Jenny lessons. He'd been busy with communication conversation, so Luke had offered to stand in.

"Thanks," beamed Jenny. "It's a really nice piano to play."

"Don't get too used to it," said Becky. "I don't think we'll live here forever, and we've no room for a piano like that at home."

She didn't want to mention the cost of a piano like that either. How a pair of farmers had been able to afford a grand piano, or four luxury holiday cottages, was beyond her comprehension too.

Ashleigh sat next to Becky and looped her arm through Becky's. "Tina mentioned that some of what she learned overlaps with what Laura told you in November about Hilda."

"I knew there was more," sighed Becky. "I just hope it isn't bad."

"I doubt it will be. But no matter what, I'm here for you and Jenny."

"I know. Thank you."

When they were all seated, Tina started. "James, Laura brought you on as the test pilot. You've stayed on with us as there are more test flights to be done. Are you okay to stay with all the danger you're facing?"

"The RAF never back down. Its motto is, Per Ardua ad Astra. Through Adversity to the Stars. I think that's rather fitting to this situation. I don't think I'll find a sweeter ride than Aurora. Well, the alien ship that also has holographic technology might be, but I doubt I'll get access to that. So, if you'll have me, I plan on staying. Anyway, none of you know how to fly in space."

That got a chuckle.

"Okay. Some of what I'm going to say might be difficult. It was for me to hear but often facts are hard to come to terms with. Anyway, we flew back to the factory. The basement is sealed, so we knew we would be safe. It was also somewhere we knew coordinates for and knew nobody would be there. We didn't leave the ship. I called one of the other investigators –"

"You were called that yesterday," said James. "I thought you were a teaching assistant?"

"I'm an investigator. I go undercover. I'd been on an investigation abroad which screwed me up a bit. I'm also a trained and qualified teaching assistant. It helped ground me after my last tasking."

James looked confused and Tina mentally sighed. She said, "Look, let me tell you what I've been told is happening. I was also given some background. Some of which impacts you all and some of you more than others."

Evan who was sat next to James said to him, "She saved our butts last summer. She saved them yesterday. Give her a break."

"You've all heard the news about a race of aliens making contact?"

There were generally grunts and nods with a few verbal 'yes'.

"That isn't the first contact between humans and aliens. There was an encounter in 1923 in a Swiss village with a race from a planet called Alfare. They made a prophecy that on the current path, humans wouldn't reach the 22nd century. Since humans are naturally territorial, the only way to guarantee the survival of the human race is to develop space travel and setup roots on difference planets. We weren't ready for that tech. If they gave it to us, we would kill ourselves quicker."

Tina paused and bit her lip. Nervously, she continued, "A drawing was made. It showed a woman with her daughter, stood in front of a spaceship. The woman would create the tech needed. Laura compared it. The drawing matched the photograph Ashleigh took."

"You mean this was destined," said Becky. "I had no free will?"

"No," said Evan, surprising everyone when he jumped in. "Think of time as a tree. There will be thousands or millions of time branches where you didn't create the ship. You are sitting in a timeline where everything came together."

"There's more," said Becky. "I didn't always look like I do now. How did Laura know?"

"I'll come to that in a minute," squirmed Tina. "Anyway, I was mentioning about the meeting in the 1920's. They warned that there was a second race of aliens that might interfere from a planet called Reginadde."

"Wasn't that the one the Prime Minister mentioned last night?"

"Yes."

Jessica gave a low whistle.

"Back to how they found me," said Becky.

"The aliens didn't want this all to be left to chance. They said it was such a slim possibility of you doing this. They gifted sixty gold necklaces with a blue thread running through them. It would help the wearers find you. For some it also gave extra gifts. For Hilda, that extra gift helped her help Ryan and Eugene."

"How?" asked Liam.

"How what?"

"How did Hilda help Ryan and who is Eugene?"

"I found out in November that Hilda had a gift to help heal others by giving some of her lifeforce. I've no idea how, but it seemed it was that damned neckless she never took off. Anyway, Ryan was born with a terminal illness. When he died the doctors were amazed that he'd survived more than a few months."

Henry broke the silence. "Are you saying that Hilda gave a bit of herself to Ryan? Hilda basically died giving her life to Ryan and with Ryan getting no more, he died too?"

"You're okay with this mumbo jumbo?" said James.

"James. You've sat in and guided a spaceship through an interdimensional passage," said Sam. "I bet if some had told you six months ago that you would take a ship into orbit in under a second, you would have said it was mumbo jumbo."

James laughed. "Fair point. It's a bit of a mind fuck."

"Language," called out Jenny, who'd been listening carefully. She'd heard a lot of this back in November.

"Sorry," apologised James, turning a bit red.

"Ma, remember it was you who went to mummy's talk. It was you who took her to a bar and talked to her for hours about space travel. You found her, not the other way round."

"Do you know when she knew?" Becky asked Tina.

"I hear it was on the helicopter. She'd had her first kiss with you. She knew after that kiss you were trans, and it didn't upset her. She was thinking about it and realised the meaning. You then bumped into her months later."

"Literally," giggled Jenny having often heard the tale of how her parents had met, lost touch and found each other.

"Helicopter?" asked James. "I thought they were all grounded post the oil crisis."

"ETP," said Ashleigh. "Armed ETP."

James's mouth dropped open. There had only been a few ETP flights, and only one armed one. They were replaced with full electric when that technology improved. "I was the pilot who took her from Cheltenham to London. That was your wife? Wow, she was so brave. ETP weren't for the faint hearted."

"It's a small world," said Sam.

"You know who she went to help, don't you?" continued James.

"Yes," said Tina. "She went to save the person who is now our Prime Minister. The person who the Reginadde's have reached out to."

"So did your contact have a plan?"

"I believe so. Some information has been deliberately leaked. Hopefully the press will start putting things together. It will probably take a few days. They hope we might be able to do a public landing. There is one fly in the ointment. The people who came to invade the factory aren't from any known group. How they found the factory is unknown and if they will be able to find us here, is also unknown."

"What's happening at the factory?" asked Evan.

"The police are there, conducting their investigations. They only have access to the ground floor and are being chaperoned by the two security guards, Jim and George."

"The guards are fine then?" asked Ashleigh.

"Yes, Tina sent them away before the mercenaries turned up."

Becky and Ashleigh breathed a sigh of relief. The others were aware of that.

"When can we go back?" asked Jenny, eager to get back to school.

"Probably when the police have finished. If we rock up now and unseal the basement, there might be a few enquiries we don't want. Staying here a few more days will also give time for the investigation into who hired the mercenaries and why. Laura doesn't know where we are. The person I spoke with didn't ask but probably has an idea. The number of people that know of this place is limited. If anybody traced the call, it would have gone back to the factory, which is why I went there."

As the meeting broke up, Ashleigh turned to Becky. "Are you okay?"

"It wasn't really a surprise. In some respects, knowing it was the necklace that gave her that gift helps. I was worried she wasn't human, and what that might have done for Jenny."

"Mummy was so brave and selfless," said Jenny. "She was always helping others and now we found that she was also helping save the human race."

"Yes, but I wish she hadn't died."

Escaping the Cradle

by Karen Page

Part 5

---

Part 5
DATE:FC+5

Over the weekend, some protests had started. A new movement had developed out of India. Earth First. There was even a splinter movement that wanted to ban all travel in space, though that didn't have much traction. No more trips to the moon or even the space station.

Other things had changed. There were queues at the old Royal Observatory at Greenwich as people wanted to become familiar with the night sky again. This was repeated over the world. The night sky had been something of a background that nobody really cared about. In the cities it wasn't really visible, the light pollution blocking it out. But now people were going outside to look at the night sky and the dark sites that remained were getting crowded. Nobody saw the alien ship, but that wasn't due to the lack of observers.

Some television stations started scheduling reruns of old programs such as Carl Sagan's Cosmos, or The Sky at Night. Stores were doing brisk trade of telescopes and something that had been niche was becoming more mainstream. Something that wasn't of interest, because it had no impact on them, was now more interesting due to the current events.

Today's debate on the rolling news channel was the impact on religions.

"Remember our bible," crowed the preacher. "Genesis 1:27. So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. We are created in God's image not these aliens. They are inferior to us. Don't listen to them. They should be answering to us."

The Prime Minister snorted and turned down the volume on her television. She was finding the television debates more enlightening that the discussions with other world leaders. Most thought it was an opportunity for the world to turn to their view of how things should be run. This was just Monday and there was a whole schedule being posted on upcoming discussion points.

"Prime Minister. Is now a good time?"

Stood to one side, were two of the aliens. They looked the same species as last time, but the Prime Minister couldn't distinguish if they were the same two as previous.

"Of course," the Prime Minister said magnanimously. "I'd offer you a seat, but you aren't physically here."

The two aliens thought for a second, before one of them responded. "Sometimes your phrases take us a little to understand. That was a nice thought, something to sit on. Yes, when we visit in person that would be kind."

"Is our atmosphere compatible for you?"

"It is. We don't have precisely the same mixture of gasses, but we wouldn't be hurt. You would also be able to breathe in most of the planets occupied by council members. How are your discussions going with other world leaders?"

"Slowly. Your arrival has caused much debate. Humanity now knows we aren't alone. I've been told that there were some that already know of your existence."

"You have many different forms of government. We know this must be hard. I'm glad no wars have been caused over this. We know it takes time. We can wait. We only ask for knowledge that if you do join our council, that you speak as one with us. You speak for all your planet, not a single country. How your planet is run is still your business."

"Thank you, you phrased it slightly differently. That clarification helps. Can you tell me more about your council? If we can find a single representative, would it be possible for them to visit your council to get first-hand experience. It might help us to decide."

"The Rohastin Council is a body where the different races meet. It is where we decide the rules on how we coexist. It is where we work out issues if they arise. It is also a place where ideas are shared."

"Do you trade between each other?"

"Some, but not as much as you might think. Each of us occupy more than one star system. As you expand, you will find your resources aren't as much of an issue as you think. Trade is different from how you think about it now. As for visiting us, that is fine. I believe you only have one ship capable for that journey. We will make sure they know where to go."

"Do you know them?" asked the Prime Minister, eager to know more about who on Earth had created a spaceship without anybody knowing.

"We know of them. We don't know where they are or their designations."

"Why me? There are other leaders in the world, but I haven't heard you've visited them."

"As we said the other day, we will deal through you. You are special. You have a drive that most don't have. You have an internal conflict but have never given up. You had your life changed but didn't look back."

"How do you know about that?"

"To us, you standout like a pulsar in a sea of stars. You have strength of character to persevere. We know your life changed, but not how. Can you explain it?"

The prime minister shrugged. "I used to be a peace negotiator. I would try to resolve wars where people are killing each other. Do you have wars?"

"We have conflict, but we don't kill each other. We think that a species can't grow if they are fully at peace. They don't have the same push to expand. They generally wither as nothing changes. Wars kill the body. The body is a temple. It should be respected. You were saying how you changed."

"Yes. Several years ago, I contracted a virus. It was a manufactured virus that targeted individuals. A scientist had been paid to try to stop me negotiating an end to a conflict that had been going on for a long time. The virus changed my body. Transformed it from one gender to another. I wasn't the first, but I was the last. They sent a psychiatrist, which is a doctor of the mind, to help me. When I awoke from the transformation, she spent time with me. If it wasn't for her, I wouldn't have survived."

The two aliens chatted away excitedly before asking. "Can we have a biopsy?"

"Why?"

"We want to see if there is any trace of the virus."

After a moment of consideration, Georgina gave a nod. She wanted to show trust. "Okay."

"Stay still ... done."

Georgina blinked. She hadn't felt a thing, and there had been no sign of a device to take a specimen.

"And?"

"You still had some in your bones. Please wait a moment."

The two aliens shimmered, and faded, but didn't fully disappear. It was like she was put on hold, without the awful music. After a minute they were back. "One of our scientists just analysed it. How did you survive that?"

"How do you mean?" asked Georgina, marvelling at how quickly it was analysed and understood. A biopsy on Earth would take hours to just get a basic outline."

"They say it would have been very painful, and it would have broken your mind."

"It made me unconscious. I was rushed to hospital and was in a coma until the transformation finished. As I said, a psychiatrist then helped me to not lose my mind."

"Will you please wait a few minutes. I want to bring someone else to hear this."

The image of the Reginaddes shimmered and this time fully disappeared. The Prime Minister got up and went to refill her glass of water. She wasn't enjoying the trip down memory lane, but it seemed to be building a rapport. For the first time in years, she desired to drink something stronger, but she knew that alcohol wasn't the answer. Hilda Saunders had been very firm about that. Now and again, she'd been tempted to have a drink, but she'd resisted. She'd not had a drink of alcohol in just over nine years.

When the aliens reappeared, there was a third alien with them. The new alien looked very different, and Georgina knew in her heart that this was a different race.

"Hello. I'm Georgina Harris," said the Prime Minister in greeting.

The new alien bent their head slightly in greeting. "If I were to translate, my name would be Bob. I'm from the planet Alfare and we are often called Alphonian. I'm one of the senior council members."

'A name,' thought the Prime Minister. This was the first alien to give a name, and it was Bob! And here was the second race that Tim had mentioned.

Bob continued. "I have just been shown a sample of the virus that infected you. It has all the hallmarks of a minor race in the council. Would you be willing to give witness to the Rohastin Council?"

She swallowed. "How far is the council? A human was charged with the crime. Are you saying they didn't do it?"

"In your terms, the council base is 150 light years away. The base recipe might have been given to them. They decided what they were going to do with it but were aided to achieve those goals."

"Have your two races influenced the humans?"

"Yes," said Bob with no remorse.

"I'm sorry?" asked Georgina with incredulity.

Bob gave what must have been an alien sigh.

"When a race gets to a certain level of development they often wither or die. They either get to a level of peace and stop growing, or they get too violent and destroy themselves. There is a very narrow path to reaching space and spreading before it is too late. We've seen too many races die out because they couldn't make that leap. We have implemented two subtle tactics to help. The Reginaddes show an influential person what would happen through stagnation in peace. They cause mayhem. We show someone would happen if there were too much chaos, and they calm things down. Activity and flourishment occur, but without destruction."

"So, there are two groups running around the planet dancing to your tune?"

"Not big groups. They can't get too big, or they risk discovery. At one stage there was some concern if there was too much mayhem, but the group calming things down appeared to do their job well and no intervention was required."

"Do the Reginaddes have names?"

"Yes," replied one of the Reginaddes, but offered no more.

Bob made a strange noise. "You have a lot to learn," he said. "The Reginaddes have names, but they never voice them. They are a private thing that they reserve for their mates."

"You were telling us about the person who healed your mind," said one of the Reginaddes.

"She was an expert in gender issues. She'd been consulted on the previous transformation attacks and was brought in when I succumbed. Hilda was kind. She was the kindest, most understanding person I've known. When I got angry, or upset, she sat there and helped. She wasn't afraid of what we call tough love. She told me the truth, even when I didn't want to hear it. She wasn't afraid to call me out, when I moaned or got depressed."

"Do you have an image of her?"

Georgina went to her computer and did a search. "Oh, she died last year. I wasn't told. If you can see my computer, you should be able to see what she looked like when she saved me, and one that looks like it was taken a few years ago. I've no idea who the person is with her on the newer picture."

The Prime Minister felt a stab of pain that she'd not kept in contact with Hilda. She was a wise lady, and Georgina knew she wouldn't be alive if it wasn't for Hilda.

The three aliens suddenly started talking in a language that Georgina didn't recognize. When they stopped, it was Bob who talked. "She not only saved you. She found humanities saviour. Without her, it is doubtful that humanity would survive another hundred years."

'A saviour?' thought Georgina. She had too much to think about than ask about that. She stored that thought away for another chat.

"This race that you want me to give witness about. Do they have a name?"

"Yes. They are called Yvestigans. They are the nearest race in the council to this star system. Do not underestimate them."

"Are they dangerous? I thought civilisations like yours would be beyond war."

"We normally are, but they are expansionists. They would love to have your fertile planet."

"Thank you," said Georgina.

They nodded and vanished.

The background talk from the TV news channel filtered back into the Prime Ministers hearing. Strange how she'd not noticed its absence while the guests were there. Did they mute it or had they been in some sort of bubble. She didn't know, and in some respects she didn't care. This was beyond anything she thought she'd ever have to deal with.

She buzzed her principle private secretary.

"Prime Minister."

"Rupert, can you get me Tom. Then I need Craig."

Craig was an old colleague from her time as a negotiator. He was now her chief of staff. He made sure Number 10 danced to her tune.

It wasn't long before Tom came in. Rupert came in to take notes. "Sorry Rupert, can you leave us."

"Prime Minister, notes should be taken."

"I know, but not this."

"Yes, Prime Minister."

When they were alone, Georgina said, "Tom. I hate to use you as a conduit, but I need you to have a discrete word with Tim."

"Oh?"

"Can you get a message to him in person?"

"Sure. But why?"

"He has a contact that he needs to pass the message to."

The Prime Minister took a scrap of paper and scribbled on it. 'The third is called Yvestigans.'

Tom took it and pocketed it without looking. "He mentioned he was going to a concert tonight at the Royal Albert Hall."

"Good to know. I've not been for a bit and might be a nice change."

"It'll be delivered," said Tom, knowing that he was being dismissed.

As Tom left, Craig came in. "Prime Minister."

"I wish you'd call me Georgina," she said. It was a ritual. He was her friend. Heck, she went to his wedding. Yet he was always respectful, especially when in her office.

"I've just had a visit."

"Yes, I saw Tom leaving."

Georgina smiled. "No. I've just had the aliens visit."

"Oh," he said, his eyes widening. "Anything new?"

"I met a second race today. This one gave his name. Bob."

"Bob?" laughed Craig. "Are you serious?!"

"He said it was the nearest translation to his name. I need some discrete research. Is there someone you can get two files without blabbing?"

"What do you need?"

"It's something one of the aliens said. They seemed concerned about the virus that changed me. Can you get me two files. One on Malachai Ben-Aviv, and one on Hilda Saunders."

"The person behind the virus, and the shrink who looked after you after?"

"Yes. I want full histories, movements from before to after. I saw on the system that Hilda died last year."

"I bumped into her a few times in London after you were well enough for her to leave. She then moved away, and I never really thought about her after that."

"Nor me."

Craig thought a moment on who best to do this research. Only one name came to mind. "Okay, I will get Jamie onto this. How urgent is it?"

Georgina shrugged. "I might not need it for a week, or I might need it in a day. I've no idea."

Discussions then moved onto other items. When they had finished, Georgina followed Craig out and went to the private office. "Rupert. My private box at the Royal Albert Hall. There should be tickets available for tonight's performance."

"Yes, Prime Minister. Are you attending?"

"That is the aim. I'd like the car ready for seven."

"Of course. Will anybody be accompanying you?"

"No. It will just be me."

"Do you want your usual interval drink?"

"Yes. Thank you, Rupert. Oh, and can you see if the Prince of Wales room is available in case I need to make any calls?"

"Of course, Prime Minister," said Rupert. It wasn't an issue. It was always part of the security setup. The Prime Minister was always on call and a place where discrete calls could be made in an emergency was part of the deal.

The Prime Minister visiting anywhere was never a simple affair. Even though this was a private visit, she always had her police protection with her. It wasn't her first concert that she'd been to since she'd become Prime Minister, but she often had guests with her. This was the first time she'd be going solo and not in an official capacity. She was going as Georgina, not the Prime Minister.

It was the middle of the afternoon that she got chance to look at the link Jamie had sent. It was just a confidential document store secured for just the two of them. There were a few documents in there, but not much to go on. Malachia's file was mostly from the inquiry after he'd jumped from a bridge while being pursued by Italian police. The authorities from Gan Ha'Or hadn't been able to provide much detail. A lot was lost in the awful destruction of that area of the world. Major oil reserves destroyed because it was used a lot by people they didn't like. Three countries that wouldn't be habitable for a century, even with the ongoing cleanup. Millions of dead and many more millions severely injured. The initial damage and strife caused by radical groups, but then when the governments got involved, they wanted to make sure it was the last war, and the destruction became absolute.

Georgina wept for those that were involved. The fact that euthanasia centres were opened in the refugee camps was even worse. It was a mercy for some people. Their pain was beyond what they could continue with. For years she had wished that she'd been brought in to negotiate a peace treaty before that event, but neither side were ready or willing. It was only with the scale of their hubris that they realised they had more to gain in peace, than in war. Even then there were some that branded their leaders as traitors.

Georgia picked her phone and dialled her UN ambassador. It was time for him to start getting agreement for someone to visit the alien council. There were several names she had in mind. Most from smaller, more neutral countries that might be less disagreeable to the four superpowers. As with all these things, it wasn't always the best person, but the best person who someone couldn't object to. If they couldn't find someone to investigate what was being offered, how would they be able to put their differences behind them.

Driving was one thing she didn't miss and having a driver was a perk she'd come to love. It did mean she never went anywhere on her own, but her driver was much better behind the wheel that she had been. It also meant that she didn't have to contend with The Tube. Though the Royal Albert Hall was easily walkable, security would have had a fit if she'd said she was taking an evening stroll. It was also never an issue with traffic as her vehicle was always escorted, with traffic held where needed.

The Prime Minister wasn't making a grand entrance; the driver took them underground into the bowels of the hall. There she was greeted and escorted through the labyrinth to her box. There was only a small route where she was exposed to the public and that was temporarily closed. It didn't matter that this wasn't an official engagement.

When they got to her box, there was a lady waiting.

"This is Hope," introduced the venue manager. "She will be looking after you."

"Is there anything I can get you?" enquired Hope.

"A program?" asked Georgina.

"Already in your box," replied Hope smoothly.

"Thank you," smiled Georgina and went in, the door being closed by her protection team.

She always like to have a glance through, even though half of it would be adverts. She half wondered if there would be a note in it, but there wasn't. She hated being in a box, but there was no way that she could have sat in the stalls. It wasn't possible when she was in the public eye when she was a peace negotiator. There was no possibility when she was Prime Minister. Her security was more important.

When the lights dimmed, the Prime Minister forgot all about things. The playing was spectacular and for the first time since aliens had appeared, she relaxed. This wasn't one of the main London orchestras, but they were rather niche. They played abroad more times that they played locally and not just in major places. Their outreach program was also very high on their activities.

At the interval, there was a gentle knock on the door, and a waitress appeared, carrying the drink that Rupert had requested. It wasn't Hope though.

"Thank you. What happened to Hope?"

"She was taken ill. I'm Sally."

The PM knew that Sally would have been checked, so didn't really worry. "Thank you, Sally."

As Sally placed the drink on the small table, she said quietly. "And thank you for the third name. Seven tomorrow morning."

Georgina's heart skipped a beat, but before she could say anything, Sally had straightened up and had gone. Feeling disappointed, Georgina took her seat. She'd hoped to find out more, but she'd just got a thank you. As she stretched out her feet, they knocked against something. She looked down and saw an object. She reached down, and there was a phone with a yellow sticky note on it saying "Secret".

It hadn't been there earlier, and she hadn't seen Sally place it there. It could be a bomb. Taking a risk, she put it in her handbag. If security knew, she would get another lecture about her safety. They would try to track where it came from, and that might expose a source. A source. It made her sound like a detective. She was many things, but that wasn't one of them.

After the interval concluded, the concert continued, but even the music wasn't able to distract the Prime Minister. Her mind swirled with thoughts about Sally. How had she managed to drop the phone, or was it there earlier and she hadn't noticed it? What would they tell her? How did Sally manage to get on the crew with that short notice or was she a standard worker that they got to do her bidding. From a security perspective, it was unconscionable. Yet there were two groups that had been operating for decades and had managed to stay hidden from all security services. How?

"Bob", she said quietly while there was applause. She'd had a crazy thought that he might be listening. She looked around, but there was nobody there. She didn't know the Reginaddes names, so Bob was her only call. She sighed. "If you are there but not showing yourself, this is what on Earth we call music. Or one of the types of music. It is a way of expressing ourselves."

The singing grabbed her attention. She'd flicked through the program but hadn't really taken note on what was to be played. The singers voice ached, and the sad tone tugged at her heart. She knew the music. It had been popular when she was younger. Symphony number three from a Polish composer called Górecki. She flicked through the booklet at found the singer. An American called Monica Miller. She'd never heard of her, but that voice sounded so haunting.

Escaping the Cradle

by Karen Page

Part 6

---

Part 6
DATE:FC+6

At exactly seven the next morning, the phone rang. The Prime Minister had debated if to take this in her study or up in the residence. She decided this was better upstairs away from her office.

"Hello?" answered the Prime Minister.

"Prime Minister."

"Who am I speaking to?"

"You can call me Sally."

Georgina knew that the name was likely fake, but it served its purpose. It was the name used the previous night. Sally also seemed unphased that she was talking with the elected leader of the country. That made her stand out from the crowd.

"Fair enough. Thank you for the risk you took making contact last night."

"A more direct method of communication was needed. Are you able to tell us more of your conversations with the aliens?"

"Yes, but then I have a few queries for you."

"I'll give you what I can."

Georgina knew that Sally was being cagy. She didn't know what was going to be asked. But relaying information received wouldn't cost her anything, so decided to.

"I had another visit from them yesterday. Two of the Reginaddes at first. They were interested in the virus that transformed me, and I let them take a biopsy. The virus originated from that third species. An Alphonian was asked to join. He gave his name as Bob. I was asked to give testimony at their council. They said they work together to keep maturing planets from either stagnating or destroying each other."

The Prime Minister then outlined what Bob had said about them preventing planets from stagnating or getting too violent. How the two teams played against each other to thrive.

"Do the two Reginaddes you've been dealing with have names?"

"Apparently, they are reserved for their mates. They never speak them at other times."

"Good to know. I suppose someone should create a book on interstellar etiquette. Anything else?"

"Yes, two things. Firstly, they asked about how I stayed sane after the virus changed me. I mentioned the psychiatrist who looked after me, Dr Hilda Saunders. They got excited when I showed a photograph from a few years ago of her with another woman. They said the other person was humanities saviour."

"And the second thing?" prompted Sally when the Prime Minister paused.

The Prime Minister had expected some reaction about humanities saviour. Either it was something Sally already knew, or she was very good at not giving anything away.

"They said that there had been a ship designed that could take me to give testimony. Do you know anything about this?"

Sally paused before replying. "Yes. I know about the ship. The crew have only done one test flight, and then their factory was attacked. They fled and are in hiding."

"Is this in the UK?"

"Yes."

"This happened on my watch, and I've heard nothing about an attack like that."

"I'm sure you're much too busy to hear about every crime. It hasn't reached the press, and the police are being careful not to panic people. Having thirty-armed mercenaries attacking somewhere might cause people concern."

"Is everybody okay?"

"The mercenaries were the only ones physically injured. Everybody on the project got out. Some were sent away, but the main people took the ship and hid. To say they are skittish is an understatement."

"I was told the Yvestigans are expansionists."

Sally paused. "That doesn't sound good, but we've had invalid impressions regarding the aliens before. We thought the Alphonians and Reginaddes were enemies, but it doesn't appear to be the case. I don't think we can assume that the Yvestigans are behind this without more knowledge. When you next speak with Bob or the Reginaddes, can you ask them if there is a method the Yvestigans can track the ship? That is the only way I can think they were found."

"Okay. Is there anything I can do to help secure the crew and the ship? Would an army unit help?"

"Are you offering? At the moment it was secured by obscurity. If others know where it is, then that has gone. But it is private development. For some it is a science experiment. For others, it is their dream. Hilda gave her life to make sure that dream came true."

"Gave her life?"

"Yes. Look, leave it at that. It isn't fair on others to delve into that and there is a child involved."

"If there is only one ship, would it be better to build more? Share the knowledge so someone can't stop it?"

"That has been discussed, but it causes other issues. At the moment there is one. It forces the single Earth situation. If every country had them before there was a single representative, would there be the same impetus?"

"That is a high-risk strategy."

"We know," sighed Sally. "When they call in again, I will let them know they need to taxi you to the alien council. Do you know how far it is?"

"150 light years. I've no idea the location. They said they would notify them."

"Okay. I will ask."

"We've not even gone past Mars, and you don't seem phased by a journey that far. Hang on, I've not heard of any rocket launches from the UK."

"You wouldn't have. It has a unique propulsion. One final question. If it is agreed, do you want to go quietly, or in a blaze of publicity?"

"How do you mean? "

"It needs to be in a controlled area where we know we aren't going to land on someone. We could land in say Horse Guards Parade. The public would see. We could land in the courtyard at the Foreign Office. You might get a few excited workers, but it would be hidden from the public. Or we could meet in a remote field."

"That is something for me to think about," pondered Georgina. "Can I ask you where you fit into this? You seem to know a lot about what is going on."

"I'm an investigator. I'm part of a team that is tasked with trying to keep things stable. We are sent to companies, or governments, where there are issues which aren't being resolved through normal means. This may or may not be caused by the Reginaddes."

"That sounds very generic. Can you give me any examples? Obviously without compromising any individuals."

"The most recent one that you may have heard about is Turkey, back in October last year. Going much further back, there was the disclosure of nuclear technology being sold to Iran."

"How do I know that was you though?"

Sally said, "We work in the background and pass information to others. We don't advertise what we do. There are a few people who have some ideas, but it wouldn't be fair on us, or them, to mention their names."

Georgina considered that. It made sense. They wouldn't have stayed in the shadows if they published what they did. They wouldn't be able to continue their work if people knew they existed.

"I get it," said Georgina with a tinge of frustration. "Thank you for the information. I hope what I've told you helps."

"It does help. Are you okay if I ring the same time on Wednesday? It should give time for the crew of the ship to make contact again."

"Yes. Thank you. I feel bad asking for a lift in the ship."

"It's the only one around and I think they'll find it pushes them."

The call ended and Georgina got up and went down to work.

* * *

"I think we need to create a team handling non-Earth matters," stated the Prime Minister. She was having one of her regular meetings with Craig, her chief of staff, and the cabinet secretary, Sir John Jones. Rupert, was sat at the side, taking notes.

"Is there that much work?" asked Craig.

"Not yet, and there might not be if this is handled at a world stage. But I've noticed there are things that aren't covered in other areas.

"Perhaps someone from the Foreign Office?" suggested Sir John.

"Why them?"

"They deal with non-UK issues. They are used to different languages, cultures. They have protocols for learning how we should interact. They also are our interface with the UN."

"Craig?"

"Yes, though I think it needs to be a dedicated team there. It is something so new, you don't want that job being passed around."

"There are also some things that I'm still keeping to myself. The two races I've met are wanting to go through me."

"You can't keep doing that forever," responded Craig calmly. "You are the UK Prime Minister, not the envoy to the stars."

"There are reasons. There is another thing. I've been asked to attend their council."

"You're going to go?" asked Sir John, slightly agog. This was unusual for the country's top civil servant. It took a lot to surprise him.

"How?" asked Craig, sounding a bit pissed.

"I don't think I'll be away for long, but there needs to be things put in place. It's no different than when I went to Davos."

"It's a lot different," snapped Craig. "You were contactable. You could be home in a few hours. If you're out of touch, it needs to be treated like you were unconscious having an operation. Have you talked to Lewis about this?"

"Not yet. I wanted to discuss it with you two first."

"You have responsibilities here," said Craig.

"I know, and I do them. I'm glad I'm Prime Minister," said Georgina. "However, sometimes there is a bigger picture. This is important for the UK. Also, this is important for me. I've been asked to give testimony regarding the virus that infected me. That is why I have to go."

"Do you want me to book an appointment with Lewis?" asked Rupert, speaking for the first time since the meeting had started.

"Please. Later today would be great. After we finish this conversation, I'd like you to get the Foreign Secretary on the phone."

"Yes, Prime Minister. I think I should accompany you on your trip," said Rupert.

"Great. When I find out when, and for how long, I'll let you all know. John, I think you need to organise a cabinet meeting for tomorrow morning. They need to know what's happening."

"You didn't answer me earlier," said Craig, slightly less crabby. "How are you getting there?"

"I presume it will be by spaceship," said Georgina. She was glad that Craig was often a voice of reason, but he was pressing all her buttons today. "I'm waiting for confirmation. I don't really have them on instant messenger."

"Intergalactic email," mused Sir John.

"I suspect their system is totally different. How planets communicate is another unknown to add to the list. In some ways, it makes me feel like a child, trying to understand why my parents did certain things. It's all shiny and new and strange. Yet I'm sure there are wonders and perils that we can't even imagine."

It was early afternoon that Lewis arrived. His easy swagger always made the PM smile. Him being gay made some in government uncomfortable, but he never stopped. His hard work and natural skill had made his rise assured. Being Home Secretary and Deputy Prime-Minister was an accomplishment. She knew there was more to Lewis. His history was there if someone looked. But since nobody had questioned that part of him, they'd not looked. Either the press didn't know, or they'd never had a reason to blab.

The Prime Minister took Lewis towards her discussion area, which was two three-seater settees. She had a single seater at the end. Rupert was also there, but he stood to her side.

"Did you enjoy the concert?" asked Lewis.

"Yes," Georgina replied. "How did you know I went?"

"Security stopped me attending. With all that is happening, they didn't want us at the same place in public."

"Oh. I'm sorry."

Lewis waved it away. "I'll go to the next one and I've heard Monica sing before. So, what can I do for you Prime Minister?"

"I've been invited to visit the alien council meeting. I'm going to announce this in cabinet tomorrow, but I thought you should know before."

"You're planning on going then?"

"Yes. Rupert offered to come with me."

Lewis looked across at Rupert, got up and shook his hand. "You're a brave man."

"I'm just doing my job," stammered Rupert, surprised at Lewis's reaction.

"Offering to go to an alien world is never 'just doing your job'," said Georgina.

"How long will the two of you be away?" enquired Lewis.

"Unknown. I'm told we will be travelling 150 light years. I've no idea how long that will take."

"I hope the spaceship can travel faster than light, or you'll be gone a long time."

"I had the Chief Scientific Adviser see me on Saturday. He's in a total dither. He said that speed of light was an absolute. His theory is the aliens might live for a lot longer than us or have hibernation. I asked him to consult with experts and come back to me when they had more ideas. I've not seen him since."

"Ouch."

"His background is more biology and genes. I'm sure he would be interested in the actual aliens rather than how they move. But his job is to know the experts and come to a consensus."

"So how do you want me to run things while you are away?"

"I want you to shadow me for the next few days. We can then discuss specifics as we move forward. This is if the cabinet agree. I'm also going to see His Majesty to discuss. Now, let's discuss what we think the reaction of each member of cabinet will be."

Rupert gave a small cough. "Do you want me to step out now?"

Things were moving from a government discussion to a party discussion. Rupert knew that Georgina didn't like him being involved with things like that. A separation between party and government.

"Yes, thank you."

The conversation was wrapping up when there was a knock, and Rupert came in. "Prime Minister, sorry to interrupt."

"What is it?"

"The press office have just notified us that a news item has just been shown discussing the Earth ship. They have announced that it is British. The first test was the Pudsey Bear that went to the space station."

"Okay, thank you for letting me know. Get them to send me an email with the recording. I'll review it when it comes through."

"Yes, Prime Minister. Anything else?"

"No, that's all for now. Oh, who announced it?"

"Storm Daniels."

"Thanks Rupert," said Georgina, and Rupert departed once more, closing the door behind him.

"Do you want to see it?" Georgina asked Lewis.

"Sure."

They went across to the Prime Minister's desk. The video from her watching the security footage of Sally was still on her screen. Lewis blanched. Georgina found the waiting email but didn't run it yet.

"You know her?" asked Georgina. It had been impossible not to notice Lewis's reaction.

"She looks like someone I know," he responded cautiously, mentally castigating himself.

"Oh?"

"I'd rather not discuss her," said Lewis carefully. "And I'd rather you didn't ask questions to others about her either."

"I haven't, but why are you so nervous? Is she bad news?"

"No, but she is ... a rather private person. How do you know her?"

"She managed to get to see me while at the Albert Hall. I came across one occurrence of her after reviewing the concert replay on the orchestra's website. She was on her own."

"So, you didn't get security or anybody else to look into her?"

"No. She left me a phone. She called me this morning, and we swapped information about the aliens. She seems to know the people behind the ship that can go beyond our solar system. The aliens have suggested they take me to the meeting. Can I trust her?"

"Yes," he said with utter conviction.

"Fine. If we mention her, she used the name Sally, which I'm sure isn't her real name. You seemed to be right about Tim Harper. He seems a solid journalist. I asked Sally for references. She gave me two that the group she works with have been involved. A recent one and an older one. The recent one was the child ring in Turkey. The older one the Iran nuclear parts scandal."

"I can confirm Iran. Turkey sounded like them, but I have no proof."

"So why did they risk exposure? They could have given you the phone to give to me."

"They could, but they probably didn't want you thinking I worked for anybody but the government."

"And do you just work here?"

"Yes. I swore my oath when I became an MP, and I take that very seriously. I have no side jobs, and all my interests are noted. We never talk business if we meet for a meal. Just life."

"Just asking," said Georgina putting up her hands in surrender. "You do seem to have a rather eclectic group of friends."

"You know where I went to school, don't you?"

"Sure. I was fortunate to see one of their concerts before I got into politics. Why?"

"It wasn't just a great music school. It brought out the best in everybody that went there. We were encouraged and helped to grow. We were never belittled but taught how to take personal responsibility and help others. Tim was a few years older than me."

"You and Brian appear to have done equally well. Didn't I see somewhere that Brian has been promoted?"

"Yes," smiled Lewis fondly. "He seems to be doing okay."

"Doing okay. He's now a senior director in one of the biggest accounting firms in the country."

Georgina clicked the emailed link, and they watched the announcement, including a replay of the video from the previous November. "This is the first test we can find of the new propulsion system in the spaceship the Prime Minister mentioned. I explained it to a few eminent scientists, and they are trying to work out how it works."

The Prime Minister looked through her contacts on her computer and sent the link to Martyn Miller, her Chief Scientific Adviser. She asked him for his thoughts for 8am the following morning.

"Do you have any school friends that want the job of Chief Scientific Adviser?" she asked Lewis.

Lewis laughed. "No. I could give you a professional billiards player, a travel writer, farmers, oboist and logistics."

"Oboist?"

"You saw her last night at the concert. Well, she was quite well hidden behind the strings, but I went to school with the principal oboist."

"A music school, and only one that went into music?"

Lewis shrugged. "Music was what bound us, but we all had our own passions. I was probably one of the last in our year to decide what I wanted to do."

"So, is there anything I need to be aware of in the land of the Home Office. Say a potential terrorist attack and thirty dead mercenaries?"

Lewis gaped. "Yes, but we've kept it very hushed, so not to panic people. Two security guards from there are assisting the police. MI5 have the bodies, and things are wrapping up on site. The investigations are ongoing into who they were and why they were attacking. I've been kept informed, and at the moment doesn't appear to be a wider issue that requires ramping up the Threat Level."

"Good. When will the police be finished onsite?" asked the PM. She wanted to ask where it was, but she didn't feel she really needed or wanted to know.

"Later today. Can I ask how you know about this?" asked Lewis, puzzled. This incident had been discreetly handled to not cause panic. For the PM to know, there was a leak.

"Sally told me."

Lewis chuckled, no longer concerned. "Oh, what a tangled web."

"I presume you have a discrete method of letting Sally know when the police have finished."

Lewis didn't feel comfortable with that query, but when he glanced up at Georgina's face, he saw it wasn't a request. He said the only thing he could, "Yes, Prime Minister."

Escaping the Cradle

by Karen Page

Part 7

---

Part 7
DATE:FC+6

For the project staff, a routine developed. The daytime was a mixture of work, music and walking in the grounds. They all tried to pitch in with the farm, but Emma told them to relax. In the evening, Tina, James and Sam would take the ship back to the factory so Tina could contact David.

Tuesday's evenings call though was different. When Tina got off the call, James and Sam noticed her demeanour wasn't the same as usual. She looked more resolute.

"What's up?" asked James, looking away from gazing around the ship room. It never changed as the room was still sealed from the rest of the factory.

"There have been developments."

"Good developments or bad developments?"

"Developments. I'm not going to explain to you and then everybody else," huffed Tina.

Sam laughed. Every trip they tried to needle some information. James punched in the coordinates for the farm, and they vanished.

When they got to the communal lounge, the team were waiting. Jenny always made sure she'd finished her piano lesson before they went, so she was prepared for them coming back.

"Tina has news," said Sam, as they sat down with the rest of the team.

"Two things. The second part, I may need to relay the answer."

"Okay," said Becky. "Start with the first part."

"The bodies have been removed, and the police have finished on the site. We can go back. The cars that were in the car park have all been damaged and are being repaired. Temporary cars are in the car park, with keys at the security hut."

There was a general feeling of relief that they could go home.

"And the other bit?" asked Ashleigh.

"The Prime Minister has had an invite to the alien council. They said she should come on the Earth spaceship. Are you okay ferrying her? It is 150 light years."

"We've only done a single jump into space, and we had an issue," said Evan. "We've only done small hops since. I think we should do some further tests before we take someone."

"We won't have communication. Heck, the furthest we may get a comms signal would be High Earth Orbit," pointed Liam.

"I think even that would be sketchy," said Evan.

"What about the new communications ideas you've been discussing?" asked Ashleigh.

"It's very early days," responded Evan. "We have been thrashing out some theories, but we don't have the equipment to experiment here. We won't have anything for months."

"So, if we agree to this, we won't be in touch while we are away," concluded James.

"And we've only done that single jump in space," reiterated Sam, reminding them what Evan had said, just in case they'd forgotten.

"How long will the jump take?" asked James.

"We've no idea," said Evan. "Liam did the previous space test. I'll do this one."

"We need to make sure we have plenty of spares," added Sam. "We've no idea if their tech is compatible."

Ashleigh smiled. It was just like them. They saw the issues, but they also seemed excited, seeing this as an opportunity for a long-distance test.

"Miss Thompson, if Ma goes to space, will you look after me?" suddenly blurted out Jenny.

"Of course," Ashleigh responded, surprised. "I thought you didn't want your Ma to go without you."

"I didn't. But I've travelled in Aurora, and it seems safe. It doesn't seem fair for her not to experience her dream because of me."

"It isn't a big ship," smiled Becky. "After all it is only the test article. With James, Sam or Henry, and either Evan or Liam, in the ship, plus the PM; that is going to be four people. There are four seats."

"Let's hope that's all that is going," said Luke.

"Well, if there is anybody else, they'll have to stand," said James rather tartly. That caused some laughter.

"Let me get this right, you are willing to do this trip?" asked Tina. In some ways she was surprised. They were scientists, not explorers. Yet they'd been through so much and never backed down.

"I have some conditions," said Becky. "We will need the coordinates where this council meeting is taking place. Also, a few days for us to do some space trials locally. I don't want us breaking down with a VIP on board."

"And that's it?" said Jessica, slightly surprised at them all. "You agree to take someone to a place that's about 1400 trillion kilometres away. No plan. No worry. You just agree to it?"

"Well, I did state some conditions," said Becky. "I think some extra testing is needed, but yes. Who else would take them?"

"I worry that you might be gone months or years," said Jessica, not ashamed of her feelings.

"I've been away for long periods before. Why are you worried now?" asked Sam, taking Jessica's hands.

"Even though you've been away, and sometimes out of touch, there were people that knew where you were. If something happened, I would be told. You are going away and if something happened, I would never know. I wouldn't know if it was just a long journey, if you'd been attacked or just got lost."

"So that we can get some timings, when we do our tests, why don't we do some going further out in the solar system. We can then see how much time gets added based on the distance," suggested Liam.

"Yes, but always from the base. It's pointless going out from our previous destination as each would be just small hops," added Evan.

"Doesn't your physics show how long the tunnel is?" enquired Luke.

"No. We know how to open the hole into the dimension and use it. At the moment we don't have a good understanding on what that looks like or how to calculate the length. And before you say we're being reckless; we are a bit. We know that. But rather like how countries went to space for fifty years without fully understanding the build-up of plasma. They knew the causes and mitigated risks, but they didn't really understand how to harness that until a few years ago."

Luke looked aghast, but the other scientist just nodded.

"It is the reason we spent so long testing the drive," said Liam. "We wanted to make sure it was predictable."

"And not set things on fire," added Jenny.

"Hey, we only had that one fire," protested Becky.

"We might have had another on the first space test," said Sam gravely. "That showed you haven't got it all perfect."

"That was a ship build issue, not an understanding issue," said Henry.

"Tina, no earlier than Friday," said Becky. "The crew will be James, Sam and Evan."

"When can we go home?" asked Jenny, snuggling up to her Ma.

"We have the ship to pack. That will take about an hour. It's going to be longer if Tina's zips back to relay the message. We could go tonight, or in the morning."

"It'll give me chance to strip the beds and put on some washing," said Ashleigh.

"If we leave tonight, I'll wait until we go back to let my contact know," responded Tina. "They have a cleaning service, so leave the bedding. I'll go let Emma and Paula know we're leaving. Jenny, do you want to say bye to Jay?"

"Yes," said Jenny, jumping up. "Perhaps they'll have some bags for our clothes."

"The bottom draw under the television unit should have some," responded Luke, having had many happy Christmas's in these holiday homes.

"It'll take me a while to drive back," said Becky.

"No chance," said Luke. "You'll fly back in Aurora. The mercenaries might be gone, but the people behind them are still around."

"Oh, how I love your reassurance," said Ashleigh sarcastically.

Tina's eyes travelled over the assembled people. They seemed to be ready to go home. "There will be two investigators joining us for a few weeks. I don't know who. It seems there is need of a teaching assistant at Jenny's school."

* * *

It was late when they got back. Tina was the first out of the ship and surveyed the shiproom. The lights were still on, as they'd been when they'd departed several days previously. It was the same as when they'd left. The exit was still sealed.

"I'm going to check out upstairs. Stay in the ship with the door closed," ordered Tina. "If you need to, leave. I'm going to be at least twenty minutes, may be more. If I've not returned in an hour, leave."

When she saw the ship was closed up, she undid the shutter. Slowly she made her way up the stairs. The door above was also shuttered. Carefully she opened it and made her way out.

The building was dark. Being remote, there were no streetlights, though she expected to see the car park lights, but it was dark. Tina pulled out her phone and turned on its torch. It lit up the area in front of her. The windows by the entrance were gone, with it boarded up. The glazier hadn't been yet to put that right. This was why she couldn't see any light. She looked around and saw bullet holes peppered across the walls. The floors were littered with debris, but no bodies.

Not wanting to cause alarm when she left the building, she phoned Jim. He was the head of nighttime security, and she knew he would be manning the booth.

"Hi Tina," he said, answering his phone.

"Hi. Just so you are aware, I've arrived back. I didn't want to cause you or George any worry when I exit the building. Is it safe?"

"Before you step out, I've been told to ask, 'What is the scariest place in the UK?'"

"Hyde Park," responded Tina. She had various places she could give, and they would denote different meanings. If she'd responded with 'Alton Towers', it would have meant she was compromised.

"Good to know," responded Jim cheerfully.

Tina went to the door and paused. To be asked a question like that meant there were other investigators there. She'd been told two were coming, but not who. They must be there already.

She pocketed her phone and made her way out of the door slowly. She made sure her hands were visible. Half expecting to be dragged out of the door, she was surprised to find there was nobody there.

She paused, looking carefully around. They'd obviously predicted what she thought they would do, and they didn't do it. Don't do the obvious. This was almost the opposite of what had happened when Lisa had turned up with Ash and Becky. Everybody was being cautious.

Tina slipped back inside. She wasn't happy. It could be colleagues, or it could be someone else. The code request was theirs, but could someone have overheard it and be relaying parrot fashion?

There was nothing special upstairs apart from the offices. The building security had sealed it, but there was no reason apart from stopping movement. She unsealed the door and made her way upstairs. She continued to the offices, and up through to the roof. This was an entrance that hadn't been sealed, and Tina made a mental note to get that upgraded for future.

She crawled to the edge of the roof, and taking her binoculars, looked out. The driveway had been cleared, though there was a pile of rubble to one side. She spotted the old gate flung over it. There was a new gate, and a new security hut. In it was George and Jim. Just outside she saw Alberto and Luca having a discussion. There was nobody else visible.

She took out her phone and dialled the office system. "Connect me to India-Six-Two" she said.

In a second, Luca took out his phone. "Si?"

"It's a good job I'm not a sniper," said Tina. "I'd have a very good shot. Since you two are having a chat by the gate, is all secure?"

"Why did you go back in?"

"I didn't see anybody, and I was a little spooked. I'll see you in a minute."

She made her way back downstairs, switching on the lights as she went. When she exited the front door, the two Italian men were waiting.

"What's your tasking?" she asked bluntly.

"To back up you and Luke. We've no idea what else. We were told that you would tell us."

"Fair enough. We are on babysitting duty."

They groaned. "Stop joking."

"Look around. Do you think I'm joking. Thirty armed mercenaries stormed this building, and I took the scientists somewhere safe. Luke swept up two that weren't here."

"Okay, so what's so damned important? We never get tasks like this."

"You saw the news about aliens?"

"Yes."

"You saw the bit about a spaceship capable of leaving the solar system? Well, that is what you're protecting. There are two bases. Here and a bit further north. Come with me. I'll introduce you, and they'll explain where they live. Two of the people went to the Manor but aren't investigators. When did you get here?"

"About thirty minutes before you rocked up. We just started getting the low down on the place from George."

They went back to the basement. The ship was there all closed up. Tina waved, and Sam opened the door.

"Who are the two new guys?" asked Sam.

"Oh, them. You'll love them," laughed Tina. "Everyone. I'd like you to meet Alberto and Luca. They are going to be stationed here to help with your security. Treat them nice, they are away from their other halves."

Tina waved Becky to follow her. "What's up?" she asked Tina.

"Come with me. I want to show you something."

Jenny went to follow her ma, but Sam asked her something which she went to help with.

When they got to the top of the stairs, Becky gasped at the sight. "I was thinking about getting Aurora to drop you and Jenny off at the business park."

Becky looked around and moved towards the entrance to look elsewhere. "No. She needs to see this. She needs to understand what happened. She needs to walk into her future with eyes open."

"Are you sure?" gaped Tina.

"Very. Like it or not, the next year is going to be unpredictable. We've already been in a panic room and had to run from mercenaries. She wants to go to Hayfield, and you and Luke seem to be preparing her, just in case she gets in."

"What I'm doing is preparing her for life. Playing an instrument isn't for Hayfield, but to give her a mechanism to channel her emotions. Languages are so she has a method to interact with more people than just in the UK. Again, nothing to do with Hayfield but something that will benefit her in future."

Tina continued, "She will take the test in a few years. If she gets accepted, will you allow her to go? As a parent, it is your decision. Someone two years below me got a different study partner, because the one the tests indicated had parents that refused."

"That's a lot to take in," said Becky. "Okay, let's go get everybody home. We have a busy few days preparing to be a taxi service."

They went back down to find everybody was out of the ship. The ship door was closed and locked.

"Be careful when you are upstairs," said Becky. "It is still messy with debris around."

Jenny skipped to Becky's side, and they went up the stairs. When they got to the top, the mess was evident. Jenny didn't scream but went to look a bit closer at the bullet holes.

"Are those from the attackers, or the building's guns?"

Becky was shocked how matter of fact Jenny was. Tina responded, "Mostly theirs. The bullets from the building system would have been still embedded in the bodies or have lost momentum as they exited."

"They made a real mess," she said, as if discussing someone spilling some ketchup.

"Are you okay? I mean with all this?"

"Not really. People died," she said sadly. "But I already knew that. I'm getting tired. Can we go home now?"

Since tests were happening over the next few days, Liam, Evan and Henry decided to stay at the house near the factory. Therefore, it was just Becky, Jenny and Ashleigh that got into Tina's car.

After dropping Becky and Jenny off, Tina went with Ashleigh to her house.

"What's wrong?" Tina asked Ashleigh when it was just the two of them. "You've seemed down."

Tina pulled out her anti-eavesdropping device.

"It's nothing," said Ashleigh, glad to be back.

"Don't pull that one on me."

"I don't think the relationship with Becky's going anywhere."

"It's still early. You've only just started dating," reassured Tina.

"I know, but I thought something might have happened while we were away."

"You were hoping she'd sleep with you?"

Ashleigh blushed. "Perhaps. I–" she trailed off.

"I get it. But didn't you think she might have been concerned about Jenny? Just as you were there for me when I had nightmares, Becky was there for Jenny."

"I didn't think Jenny had nightmares."

"And perhaps some of that might have been due to the reassurance that her ma was there. I know she asked Luke some things while she was having music lessons. The situation was certainly playing on her mind."

"I now feel like a total idiot. I was just thinking about myself and not how others were feeling."

"At first I was quite surprised how relaxed Becky was, letting Jenny see the bullet holes," said Ashleigh.

"That is why I took Becky upstairs before you all came up. I was going to suggest James took the ship to the industrial unit. However, Becky wanted Jenny to see it."

"But when I've thought about it, it is no different from how she's treated Jenny for anything else. Don't hide the facts. Don't shield. Don't let the imagination of what could be. Put it straight out in front and deal with any ramifications as a family or a group."

"Yes," agreed Tina. "Also, nobody had a total meltdown. A few had issues before we got to the destination, but that was because there was an imminent threat. Once they knew they were relatively safe, things were a lot better. For some it was almost a holiday."

"How soon before Luke gets here?"

"It depends on how much of a detour he makes. I'd say at least four or five hours."

"Did you contact Laura and whoever you were talking with?" asked Ashleigh

"Yes. Laura is glad we're back. It seems Helen managed to get a phone to the PM, so conversations could be had directly. Just in case it comes up, she is using the name Sally. Three meet up points were suggested, including one very public. Seems David has been dropping hints to the press. The ship might be going public."

"How's Laura taking all of this?"

"She's attempting to guide the situation in order to maintain progress. She is also trying to find out why the factory was attacked. Since that attack there has been no further attempt. It doesn't compute."

"The next few days are going to be very intense at the factory," said Ashleigh. "I doubt anybody wants to travel 150 light years without doing some more tests. Especially with a VIP on board."

"Yet again, I'm going to be missing out on it," said Tina. "I'll be at school with Jenny."

"I'm sure she is conflicted. I bet she'd love to watch the tests, but I know she's missed school too."

"Ah, the hard life of an almost eight-year-old."

Escaping the Cradle

by Karen Page

Part 8

---

Part 8
DATE:FC+7

"Nothing has changed," Becky reassured her daughter. "I will still take you to school and either myself or Miss Thompson will collect you. Mrs Poop will make her own way to school and back."

"Yes Ma."

"Good girl."

"Are you going to do one of the tests in the ship?" she asked.

"No, I'd just be in the way. I'll either be on the console, or in discussion about communications. I'm sure Mr Poop will be making sure all is okay with me."

"Too right," said Luke. "Don't worry about your Ma. You need to concentrate on your schoolwork. You missed a few days."

"I'm not going to be in trouble, am I?"

"No. You were away due to a family emergency. I didn't outline the emergency. As long as you don't say where you were, then all is good."

"It was an emergency," agreed Jenny.

"The word is paltering," said Luke. "It's still the truth but shaped to fit the boundary of what they asked. It isn't lying; it was a family emergency. You just aren't telling them the nature of the emergency. It isn't likely they would ask."

Jenny frowned. "Isn't it still deceit?"

"It's restraint. You aren't lying. You are answering their question with the truth. It is just giving them enough information that they will be happy with."

"Ma isn't going to be happy with you," said Jenny, climbing into the car. It was still complaining about the lack of a sim card. It obviously hadn't been put back together.

"I know," said Luke, glancing at the fuming Becky. "I'm not asking you to lie. I'm just suggesting you limit how much you tell them. Becky, when someone asks you what you do, what do you tell them?"

Becky sighed, knowing where Luke was going. He wasn't wrong but she hated to admit it, especially in front of Jenny. "I tell them I work on designing computer systems for control electronics."

"Which is the truth," said Luke. "Why didn't you tell them exactly what you're working on."

"Because they didn't need to know. To protect the project and the people in it." Becky looked out of the window and said almost to herself. "How long have I thought like this?"

"You still told them the truth," said Jenny, looking at her Ma. "You didn't lie."

Ashleigh, who was sat at the front next to Luke, reached across and stroked Becky's leg.

When they got to the school, Jenny grabbed her bag and jumped out, eager to be back. Ashleigh got in the back with Becky.

"Have I lost my moral compass?"

"No. You only think you have," said Ashleigh. "I remember when we knew each other when younger, you hid certain things then. You can only try to make Jenny better than we are, but she has to live in the real world."

"And what type of world is that?"

"One that she can reach her full potential. You have instilled such goodness into her."

"And you have too," said Becky. "She knows she can always go to you, and you'll help her. She told me off last night for not spending more time with you."

"We do spend time together," protested Ashleigh.

"I'll tell you later," she said, indicating Luke, who had been very quiet throughout the conversation.

When they got to the factory, Luke turned to them. "Go and have a walk and discuss things. You two aren't talking and letting each other know how you feel. You get confusion when that happens. When I did that at school, Tina and I got a rather large telling off from Dr Ruiz. You either are in a relationship, or not. Don't let it drift."

Before the two women could respond, Luke got out of the car and left them to it.

"I–" started Ashleigh and Becky at the same time.

They both paused to let the other person speak. The silence was replaced by nervous giggles. They then started to talk again at the same time, which caused even more laughter.

Becky, her upbringing still engrained, indicated that Ashleigh should talk.

"I'm worried," said Ashleigh nervously. "I worry if things don't work between us, it could cause issues at work. I worry you aren't ready for a relationship. I worry if I'm the right person for you."

There was silence for far too long, and Ashleigh looked across at Becky and whispered, "I love you."

"I know," said Becky with a rueful smile. "I worry I'm not good enough for you. You are full of spirit. Full of adventure. I'm just a computer nerd who has got this project. I have feelings for you, but I still have all these other emotions regarding Hilda, and then what Tina mentioned about the prophecy. I just don't know if I can go much further until I get my head around it."

"You want to break up?" asked Ashleigh, forgetting to breathe.

"No!" exclaimed Becky and Ashleigh started to breathe again. "I want to keep dating, but I don't think I'm ready to sleep with you. Not yet. I think you wanted me to sleep with you while we were on the run. Sorry."

Ashleigh thought about it and nodded. She thought a bit of humour might help. "We're going to slow down, and when you're comfortable, that's when it's going to happen."

To her credit, Becky got the film reference and gave a smile. "I don't think my legs can compete with Annette Bennings."

"Becky, to me you can. Anyway, what is here." Ashleigh placed her hand on Becky's heart. "And here." She moved her hand to Becky's head. "Is far more important. I love you for you."

Becky looked at Ashliegh in disbelief.

Ashleigh continued, "I've been in a few relationships over the years, but there has always been something that stopped them going forward. I just didn't feel the same as the one when I first knew you. It wasn't the love I felt then. And now that feeling is back. I now understand why. There may have been a spark with them, but it was never the flame I have with you. You are my soul mate. You are the one I want to be with forever and I will wait until eternity to wake up beside you."

This was too much for Becky, who started to cry. She hadn't heard words like that. Ever. She'd loved Hilda and she knew Hilda had loved her, but this was confusing. She didn't know why, but she leaned across just as Ashleigh leaned across and their lips gently touched. And like adding fuel to a fire, their embrace ignited into something more primeval. They were all tongues, and hands.

Slowly, they parted. Both panting to drawn in oxygen into their deprived lungs. They'd kissed before. They'd made out before. But it had always been slow and tender. This was something new. Something raw. It hadn't been initiated by just one of them, but it was a desire that had exploded in both of them at the same time.

"Wow," uttered Becky, trying to catch her breath

"Wow indeed," responded Ashleigh, wiping a tear from her eye.

The moment was disturbed by Becky's phone ringing. It was Evan.

"Hi," panted Becky.

"Hey Becky," he said, with a tinge of humour in his voice. "I just wondered if you were going to give us a hand with the test planning, or going to make out with Ashleigh all day?"

Becky blushed. They must have noticed. Luke said to take a walk, but they were still sat in the factory car park. Other cars had arrived. They must have been seen.

"We're on our way," Becky replied, and finished the call.

"Work calls?" asked Ashleigh as they got out of the car.

"This is going to be so embarrassing."

They stepped into the lobby and conversation stuttered. A few grins, a couple of thumbs-up. Becky flushed.

"Right," she said, grateful for the bullet holes as a distraction. "Let's get the glass booked and the rubble out."

Evan coughed, trying to hide his laughter.

"If we get the front glass replaced, and the holes repaired, we might be okay for the rest of the office staff to return," thought Ashleigh aloud. "I'll organise that today."

"I can fill the holes," offered Jessica. "That way it won't look too bad for the decorators. I can't do painting. I think the rest of you are going to be pretty busy with other things."

"We can help," said the two Italian investigators at the same time. Luca continued, "If you get the glazier here tomorrow, they won't see anything amiss."

"Luca did an investigation as a decorator," said Alberto. "It will look real nice."

"Thank you," said Becky. "I believe it will. So, Ashleigh, the rest of the staff can return tomorrow. See if you can find a company that can remove the rubble that's outside. The rest of us, let's go see the plan that Evan created last night."

"Who blabbed?" Evan pretended to be mad.

"Just an educated guess," laughed Becky and Evan joined in.

Ashleigh went off to deal with the logistics, while the scientist and ship crew crammed into a meeting room. Evan pulled up the list of tests onto the large screen.

"It looks quite comprehensive. How long do you expect it to take?"

"We've no idea, as longer jumps may take a long time."

"I've got a question I've been mulling over," said Sam. "How's this going to be impacted by time dilation. Does the tunnel connect to a point in space, or a point in spacetime. Say it takes us an hour to travel a light year. When we jump back it will have taken us two hours. But will it be two hours on Earth, or two years?"

"This is a big unknown. Hopefully we will find out today. Our longest test is to Pluto. The worst-case scenario would be a ten-hour gap for you."

"So, if it is the worst-case scenario, then the trip to the council could mean you would be gone one hundred and fifty years?" asked Henry.

"Three hundred years," corrected Evan. "One hundred and fifty each way."

"We'd be long dead," pointed out Becky.

"If that is the case, then I'll go," said Henry. "It wouldn't be fair on Sam and Jessica."

"Let's not jump to any conclusions," said Evan. "We are scientists. We work on facts."

"Let's unload the ship and make sure we have everything we might need," said Sam.

"And do a comms check to make sure all is good before we start these tests," added James.

"Becky, if you work on the coordinates for the first three tests, this will give us chance to do the unloading," said Liam.

When they left the room, Ashleigh was coming down the corridor. "What's up?" she asked Becky. "You all looked very grim coming out of there."

"Come to the control room, and I'll explain. I've got to work out the coordinates for the first jumps. They are going to prep the ship."

"Okay."

When they got there, Ashleigh closed the door behind them. If there was some bad news, she didn't want it spreading. She then remembered there was hardly anybody there.

"Sam asked a question that a lot of us have been avoiding asking. You sort of touched on it back at The Anchor. How would time change over a jump."

"Yes, when you did the test there wasn't any noticeable difference. I remember getting a stopwatch."

"We don't know what will happen over longer distances. Basically, Einstein's theory of relativity comes into it. Speed makes time slow down compared to a person not moving. We don't know if this is going to have an impact on us or not. Is the jump really quick for the people in the ship but takes years for those on Earth. Henry offered to go instead of Sam. Sam didn't object."

"That's heavy."

"Actually, gravity can also distort time, too."

"So, Becky, what is your thoughts?"

"The idea I had was a connection over space, not spacetime. Yet it is all theory. Today we will know the answer."

Ashleigh got up and gave her a hug. She felt the tension in Becky.

"Is there anything I can get you?"

"No. Will you be in here when the tests are run?"

"Of course," replied Ashleigh. She would have been anyway. These were her friends, and she wanted to know immediately if there was an issue. "Oh, the glazier for the front door will be here at 8am tomorrow and someone to collect the rubble this afternoon."

"As efficient as ever."

"You're biased."

"Not when it comes to work. When we are working, I leave personal stuff behind."

"No, you don't. Sam is the much better ship engineer. Henry is much better in the lab. Yet you made no intervention when Henry suggested taking Sam's place."

"It wouldn't be fair on Jessica."

"I know. But it shows you have a good heart, as does Henry."

"It might all be academic. We don't know if there is an issue with time dilation. Heck, we don't even have the coordinates yet."

Ashleigh turned on the large monitor, so they could watch the activity in the basement. Becky started work on the calculations. The first was easy. A short hop 350km away, replicating the first space test.

"Laura called me this morning," remarked Becky as she worked away.

"Oh?"

"She's glad we're back safely. She had no idea where we were. I thought she'd paid for those cottages, but perhaps not."

"Anything else?"

"Yes, when these tests are done, she wants Henry and me to visit somewhere. She sounded very mysterious about it."

"Am I sacked yet? If the project is finished, will I be needed?"

"We've the communications to work on. I don't what you need to do ending soon. It will change, which is what I suspect Laura wants to talk about."

An hour later, all was ready for the first test. The ships clock was synchronized. James, Sam and Evan had suited up. This was a flight into space. Luke was stationed by the entrance to the stairs to the basement. His job was to make sure nobody went down during the test. The front door was locked, and the guards at the gate were instructed that during the tests nobody was permitted onto the site.

"Take a seat," said Becky to Alberto and Luca, pointing to the guest chairs. "I thought you'd like to see what is going on here. There are headphones on each chair, so you can listen in to what's being said."

The visitor headsets had no microphone. Ashleigh noticed that hers and Jessica's now did.

"Thanks. How do you get the ship out of there?" asked Luca, taking his headphones before sitting down.

"You'll see," responded Liam, a knowing grin on his face. It was a question that most asked the first time. Well, if they did a landing and launch in public, then that would stop the same question. It was Liam's first time watching the ship disappear. The previous times it had gone from here he'd either been in it or safely hidden in Wales.

"Aurora," called Becky over the radio. "Are you ready?"

"Affirmative. Coordinates are entered and she is shipshape."

"Ships clocks are synchronised with base," confirmed Henry.

"The board is clear here. Go when ready."

"Mamma Mia!" exclaimed Alberto as the ship disappeared.

"Base, we're at coordinates," said James.

"Confirmed," said Liam. "Tracking has you exactly where you should be. How's the ship?"

"No issues with the ship," responded James. "Give us a minute to confirm everything, and we'll return."

"Where are they?" Alberto asked Jessica.

"350km in space. That's about the same altitude as the Space Station, though it is doubtful they will cross orbits. They are trying to stay hidden at the moment."

"350km?! But rockets take about eight minutes to reach space and then longer to get to the space station. You were there in seconds."

"In less than a second, but it took time for tracking to confirm and for the radio to connect to one of the satellites."

"All systems are showing green on telemetry," said Henry.

"Acknowledged," responded James calmly. "We are just giving time for some acclimatisation."

"Understood," responded Liam.

He changed to a private channel and updated Henry and Becky with what was happening.

Ashleigh suddenly heard a lower beep on her headset before she heard Liam speak. "This is a private channel. Can you order some paper bags. Like they have on aeroplanes."

"Oh," responded Ashleigh, now understanding the issue on the ship. "They are on the shelf in the stores. Sam asked me to get them after the first test flight. James put some in Aurora this morning."

"Great," responded Liam. "Thank you."

After a few minutes silence, James spoke again. "Sam has concluded testing the new restraints. They appear to do the trick. Ready to return."

Becky glanced at the monitor to double check the basement was clear. If was unnecessary, is if someone had got past Luke then the door opening would have triggered an alarm.

"We are ready to receive you when you're ready," responded Becky.

The ship blinked back on the monitors. "Status?" asked Becky immediately.

"Ship and crew are all good," came the response. "The clocks are still in sync. We are ready for test two."

The coordinates were given. "Do a radio check when there, but I think this will be beyond the limit."

"We'll try. We will spend ninety seconds there and then transition back. Is that an acceptable wait time?"

"Sure. Make the wait time whatever you're comfortable with. Just let us know before each jump. That way we have expectations."

"Okay, coordinates are dialled in. We will jump, take several pictures over a ninety second period and jump back. We can repeat for each jump going forward."

"Agreed. Jump, ninety seconds and jump. Clear to go when you are ready."

When the ship jumped, a countdown clock started on the screen counting from the time it left. The second jump was fifteen hundred kilometres.

"Thank you for letting us see this?" said Luca, as the ship returned ninety seconds later. "We will get on with the work downstairs."

Luca paused and then asked. "Is this a connection in space or spacetime?"

"A good question. You've obviously been thinking about the science," said Liam. He was no longer surprised by the investigators. He knew they'd all been schooled well.

"And?" asked Jessica, suddenly realising the implications of what Luca had asked.

"We think space," replied Becky. "But we will know as today's tests go further. We are checking clock synchronisation between jumps. The small jumps might have shown something small, but it hasn't. As the jumps become longer, we will see if that shows drift. If there is a large drift, Henry offered to go instead of Sam. If there is too much difference in time, then it wouldn't be practical for Friday's jump."

"Sorry if I seem selfish," said Jessica, feeling slightly ashamed.

"No, not selfish. You're used to Sam being away at times, but not where he might have aged one day, and you thirty years. That isn't acceptable to anybody here. I wouldn't allow it."

Becky turned and went to her console. "How has it been so far?"

James responded. "All systems appear to be working as expected. Ship is still airtight. Do we need to still use spacesuits?"

"Let's keep using them for now. Are you ready for a longer jump? Say to Mars?"

There was quiet for a second, and then, "Yes."

Becky fed them the coordinates, and they disappeared once again.

"This will tell us a lot," she responded. "Mars is not in a good position relative to Earth. It is fifteen light minutes away. So that is a half hour there and back at the speed of light. It won't take them that long. But it might seem that way to us."

Ninety seconds later, the ship reappeared.

"YES!" screamed Liam and Becky, jumping up and high fiving each other.

"Aurora. Can you confirm you went to Mars?"

"Yes. It was an instantaneous jump. We waited ninety seconds and returned. How long were we gone?"

"Ninety seconds."

"Really?" they heard Evan in the background.

"Yes. We are quite relieved over here," said Liam.

"Have you ever wanted to see Saturn?" asked Becky.

"Sure, but not too close to the rings," said James. "I heard they are beautiful, but you get the best view from afar."

Liam looked over the location Becky suggested, and he nodded. "That's great."

"Aurora. This should be more towards the moon Enceladus. Any photos of that as well as Saturn would be great."

"You keep getting further away," remarked Jessica when the ship had disappeared. "How far is this?"

"Just under ninety light minutes. So yes, this is another large leap."

After ninety seconds, there was no ship. Ashleigh's heart picked up speed. This was the first time today that the ship hadn't returned after ninety seconds.

When it reached the two-minute mark, Ashleigh got up to stand looking directly at the large monitor of the ship room. It didn't alter the situation. There was still no ship.

Liam, Henry and Becky were silent. They had screens up trying to pick up the ship telemetry. Just in case the ship had come back to the wrong place. Nothing. The screens showed no connection.

Jessica sat where she'd sat since the tests had begun that morning. She was as calm as ever. She sat with her legs not crossed, and her hands in her lap. She was watching the screen intently.

Ashleigh stood, gazing at the screen. Willing herself to not blink. In a blink the ship might appear, and she didn't want to miss it. The first trip into space, a few weeks ago, had a delayed return while a problem with the electronics was fixed. The crew of the ship had the advice and expertise of the control room. This time they were alone. There was nobody to help. There was nobody to talk with.

They could be in trouble. They could have been destroyed. They could have been kidnapped by evil alien creatures in much larger ships. No matter how any of them willed, the ship room stayed empty.

At almost three minutes, the ship reappeared. Ashleigh looked across at the others in the room to make sure it wasn't just her seeing it.

"Aurora," said Becky. "What's your status."

"Sorry about the delayed return. The clocks are still in sync."

"Roger that Aurora. We'll stop testing for a bit if you want to disembark. We need to assess the readings."

"Understood."

Becky removed her headset. "Jessica, shall we go down and berate them together? Since the clocks are still in sync, the issue of their delayed return wasn't the science. They stayed 176 seconds instead of 90."

At the door, beyond which there were the stairs leading down to the basement, stood Luke. "Thanks Luke," said Becky. "We're stopping for a little bit."

"How did the tests go?"

"We've done four tests. It looks like Friday is a go. Do you want to let your contact know? We don't have the coordinates yet. We need to know the pickup point."

"I'll let you know," said Luke standing aside.

Jessica and Becky went into the ship room, as the team were disembarking. There was excited chatter.

"What happened," said Becky with a tinge of anger. "You knew we would be worried. What caused you to delay?"

"We were visited by an alien and provided the coordinates for Friday," said James smoothly. "It ... distracted us."

With that all the anger dissolved out of Becky's body.

"Do we know that it is the right alien race? Could it have been the one that's tried to kill us?" asked Jessica

"It is something that they said," said Sam. "It was an Alphonian."

"Great news. It looks like everything is set for Friday. Sam, based on the results so far today, are you happy to do the larger jump of 150 light years?"

Sam glanced across at Jessica. "Sure. As long as the tests we do later today give the same results, then I'd be honoured to be part of that crew. It does prove one thing though. The aliens must be able to track the jumps. If it is all jumps or just larger ones, I don't know, but we were there over thirty seconds before they appeared."

Escaping the Cradle

by Karen Page

Part 9

---

Part 9
DATE:FC+9

"Good morning, Prime Minister," said Rupert. He was dressed immaculately. His hair styled to perfection.

"Hi Rupert," said Georgina, as he walked into her office. "Are we ready?"

"Yes," he responded, not showing the fear that he was feeling. He'd slept fitfully and thought about calling in sick. However, when his morning alarm went off, he jumped in the shower. Duty called.

"Excellent. Then let's do this."

She turned to look at her deputy. "Lewis, look after the country while I'm away. You have the full backing of the Cabinet."

"Safe travels," he responded.

Rupert led them through the corridors, and they exited through the west door of Number 12. This door hadn't been used for decades, but Rupert had it prepared for this occasion.

"Good job," said Georgina. Her protection team was waiting for them, and they went unseen along the passage next to the statue of Earl Mountbatten. At the end there was a security hut, with a team of police. This was one of the entrances to the secured area of Downing Street and was always protected.

"They aren't here yet," said Georgina.

Rupert glanced at his watch. "We are a few minutes early. There are security fences along Horse Guards Road, but I didn't feel it was a good idea for the ship to be on the ground too long. It might cause panic."

Dawn was upon them, and the dark of the winter night started to fade. It wouldn't gleam directly onto the parade ground for another few hours. There were people jogging around St James's Park, with some coming up to the nearby road. There was a scenic route between The Mall and Birdcage Walk. A mobile outside broadcast unit was at the corner, a single tip given to one of the TV channels. Georgina felt bad it wasn't to Tim, but she didn't want complaints about favouritism.

The police suddenly jumped in front of the Prime Minister. She'd been looking across at the people out towards the park and wondered why security had got into a protective position. She then saw the ship parked in Horse Guards parade. She hadn't heard it approach.

"It's what we were waiting for," said the PM, a bit annoyed at the reaction of the people around her.

"Yes, but it just appeared," said the Sergeant. "It didn't land or approach. One second it wasn't there, and then it was."

"Let's go meet them," said the PM in her authoritative voice.

"We should check it out," said one of the Senior Protection Unit.

"You can come with me if you want," she replied, "But we have asked them for this ride. I'm not going to offend them like that."

A crowd had gathered at the fence. A gleaming metal ship suddenly appearing in Horse Guards Parade was something that seemed to draw the crowds. It was at a slight angle, with the front of the ship pointing towards the corner of the road and the statue.

A door opened, which would not be visible from the road. The Prime Minister and her entourage made their way through the security gates and onto the parade grounds. Her hair blew slightly in the gentle breeze, and she walked with purpose towards the ship.

There were three people visible at the door. "Hi, do you want to come onboard?"

One of her protection-detail went in and came out a few seconds later. "It's just the three crew," he informed her.

Georgina wanted to roll her eyes, but they were just doing their job. She turned to the police and said, "Thank you for your protection duty. I will notify you on my return. Remember, you have all signed the acknowledgement of the Official Secrets Act. You will not speak about what is in this ship or the crew. If asked, you will say you accompanied me and Rupert and checked out the ship. That is it."

"Yes, Ma'am."

They were still angry that they weren't being allowed to do their job. Protocol said that her close protection team should go with her, but there wasn't the room. They tried to veto it, but she overruled them.

Rupert followed the PM on board and the door closed.

"I'm James, the captain of Aurora. Prime Minister and Rupert, please get seated, we will be departing soon."

"Aurora," murmured Georgina in fascination, as she took the seat James pointed to and Rupert took, the other. Rupert and Georgina were sat facing each other. James and Sam were positioned looking out of the front window.

Sam and Evan introduced themselves, giving first names only. Sam took position next to James. Evan stood at the back but grabbed onto a handle on the side.

"This is a test ship," explained Evan, as Georgina looked surprised at him being stood up. "Only limited space."

"We're doing this in two jumps," said Sam. "Are you all strapped in? Here is a bag each, just in case you need to be sick."

"Sick?"

"A good percentage of people get sick when initially in space. Some are just nauseous, others actually vomit. If you do, don't be embarrassed. We've all got our bags, though we have been in space the last few days, so our bodies remember the feeling."

Sam looked around, and said, "We're all good. Let's go."

James raised the cover and pressed the inset button. They vanished from London.

"Where are we?" asked Georgina, trying to get her hair under control.

"Look out front," suggested James.

Rupert and Georgina looked across and saw a planet. It was Rupert who reacted first. He belched and was sick into the paper bag. He so wished he'd stayed home.

"That's Earth," Georgina said, her voice full of wonder. "It looks so small up here."

"We have ten minutes," said James. "You can unstrap if you want to float a bit."

"I'm good," responded Georgina. "I doubt this will be my last time in space."

"Not today," mumbled Rupert, between heaves.

Evan floated to him. "Don't worry, I was like this on Wednesday. It was my first time in space then. Before that, my colleague was up here."

"What happened to him?" asked the PM, slightly worried.

"We take it in turns. I can't let him have all the fun."

"What do you do? Sorry, that didn't come out nicely. I mean James is the captain and seems to be piloting Aurora. What are your roles, Sam and Evan?"

"I'm one of the two scientists. Sam is an engineer. We have another engineer back at base, but Sam hasn't let him have fun yet."

"Was this ship your idea, Evan?"

"Oh no. I'm just one of the scientists working out the details. The concept and ideas came from another person."

"One of the Aliens said Hilda Saunders had been involved?"

"She married the person behind the concept. Actually, they met for the first time the night she was called away. It was luck they found each other again."

"How are you feeling?" Evan asked Rupert kindly.

"I'll survive," he said, slightly embarrassed.

"Your body gets used to it. However, we aren't spending hours weightless, we have places to go," said James. "Evan, thirty seconds."

Evan pushed away and floated back to where he'd stood previously. "I'm good."

Sam gave a countdown, and when they reached zero, the ship once again disappeared. The screen was blank for three seconds and then suddenly they were in a brightly lit room. They became heavy again. There was gravity. Looking out of the window, they seemed to be in some sort of massive hangar, with several ships of different designs visible. Some were larger, but there were other smaller ships.

"Analysing the atmosphere," said Evan at the rear of the ship. "We have 22% oxygen, so slightly higher than back home, but in safe limits. Pressure is also good for us to open the door."

"You've travelled 150 light years?" said Rupert amazed. He'd started to feel better.

"Yes. She is a quick ship," said James, a hint of pride in his voice.

"Have you any idea where we are?" asked Georgina, unbuckling her restraint.

"We matched the coordinates to star system HD 34445. The stars are catalogued how they are seen from Earth, not where they actually are. At least motion and velocity are also part of the catalogue, so we were able to calculate real positions, not where they were when seen."

"Huh?" said Georgina.

"The light from HD 34445 took 150 years to reach Earth," explained Sam. "The relative position of the star has moved over those 150 years. Since we are able to travel so quickly, we needed to calculate the position it is now, not where it was."

"You've created a warp drive?" asked Rupert.

"No," smiled Evan, glad that Liam wasn't there to rebuke them. "This has an interdimensional drive. If this had been Star Trek, it would have taken 53 days to get here at warp 8. We did it in seconds."

"Can you let them know we've arrived safely?"

"No. We don't have communications yet. We started discussions but the concepts are harder. The ship jumps and we have a starting and ending position. The tunnel is one-way. Proper communication needs two-way."

"Am I okay to open the door?" asked Evan.

"Yes. Good to go," said James, looking at one of the readouts.

Evan opened the door. On a ship that travels in space, it has to be airtight, which meant it wasn't something as flimsy as a house door. The whole ship was multiple layers of metal and other materials. This not only kept the atmosphere in but stop heat leaking out and radiation getting in too quickly.

"This ship doesn't have an airlock?" noted Rupert as he disembarked.

"No. It is a test ship. It wasn't supposed to be used like this. Anyway, it can go from planet to planet without going into space."

"You went into space today."

"Yes, because that was the starting coordinates given to us. I suppose it made it easier not being on a rotating planet. Our onboard ship computer can compensate. We also weren't hanging around where people might get inquisitive. Anyway, you got a great view of the planet."

Rupert scowled.

"Ah, we have someone coming to us," remarked Sam, seeming relaxed.

"That's an Alphonian," Georgina stated.

Rupert had stiffened. This was his first glimpse of an alien. Evan, James and Sam had seen one a few days previously, when they'd been given the coordinates.

"Hello," said Georgina, hoping the alien spoke English as well as Bob did.

"Greetings," the alien responded. "I'm an aide to the council. I've been tasked to your needs."

"Thank you. My name is Georgina. The council asked me to give testimony. This is my aide, Rupert."

"Give witness, not testimony," said the alien. "My name would translate as Jim."

"What is your untranslated name?" asked Georgina.

"I don't understand," said Jim rather uncertainly. "Why would you want to know that?"

"Perhaps it is a difference of culture. To me a name is important. It is who they are. I have a given name, Georgina and a surname or family name, Harries. Therefore, my name is Georgina Harries."

"My name is Vost'am. We don't have family names like I heard about in Earth research."

"Well, Vost'am, I'm pleased to meet you."

"Who are your other three companions?" asked Vost'am.

"They are the part of the team that created this ship. We have James, Sam and Evan. I'm sorry, I don't know their surnames."

"We need to verify the ship," said Sam. "It hasn't been on such a long journey before. Vost'am, do you know how long our Prime Minister will be?"

Vost'am paused and after a moment looked stricken. "I'm having difficulty translating to your time. She shouldn't be too long."

Evan and Sam looked intrigued. "How are things different?" asked Evan.

"You count to ten. We count to eight."

They all looked at the Alphonian's hands. They had ten digits, just like humans.

"We weren't the species that created the standard. As you surmised, they have two less digits."

"Octal," said Evan, sounding excited, his eye's gleaming.

"And how you divide your day is also different. You might have questions for the council, and I'm sure they will have questions for you. Sam, would you come to the council too?"

"Perhaps next time," replied Sam, surprised to be singled out to join them. "It is important that I help check the ship."

"I will ask one of our other aides to come. You are new here, and most won't understand you. We are part of the council that assists new members."

"Thank you," said James.

Vost'am paused and turned to them. "Names seem important to you. The aide that is coming is a Reginadde. Please don't ask them their name. They are private things they only share with their life partner."

"Yeah, I did that," said Georgina, turning a bit red. "Not my best diplomacy."

Vost'am led Georgina and Rupert out of the hangar and into a corridor. Georgina had expected it to be busy, but there was nobody to be seen. Rather like the hangar, the walls were white. They weren't polished but seemed to gleam. There were no panels showing information, or switches. Just plain white walls.

"It isn't very busy," she commented, only having seen one other individual walking in the corridor.

"This is the council area. It is restricted to those that have a purpose with the council."

"You said you deal with new members. How often does that occur?"

Vost'am responded with what sounded like pain in his voice. "Not often. A lot don't make the leap."

They went through a set of doors which automatically slid open as they approached. It was what looked like a waiting room. There were various seats but no visible area of work. On the far side was a large window. Interested in where they were, Georgina went to have a look. Outside she saw a gas giant below.

"We're in space? On a space station?"

Rupert sat down on one of the seats, going nowhere near the window. He'd thought he was on a planet. Knowing he was in space made his stomach churn a bit.

"I believe that is what you call them," responded Vosh'am.

"I thought we were on a planet. You have gravity."

"A space station gives control for how much gravity, or the composition of the atmosphere. Not all members of the council are oxygen breathers. It is a lot harder to do that on a planet, especially that one. It is also a reminder to the council that not all sentient life is on planets like yours or mine."

"There's life in there?"

"Yes, very much so."

A movement caught Georgina's eye, and she turned to see someone coming into the waiting room. It was another species, which she'd not seen before. She came across to Vost'am and spoke in a language she didn't know. She gave him a box and departed.

"All business in the council chamber is conducted in Hytuna. That is a language that is spoken by all species in the council. When children grow up, they are taught their local language and also Hytuna."

Vost'am opened the box and removed two small cases. He ushered Georgina back to where Rupert sat. "Since you don't know the language, inside these cases are two translation devices. I'm told they should fit your ears. There will be a small delay as the proceedings are translated. If you need to speak, I will translate your words for the others. However, I caution you not to interrupt the proceedings. You are a witness, in these proceedings, not to give testimony."

"I don't understand."

"The council aren't interested in what you say. They are interested in the remnants of the virus you carry. They are letting you stay, and giving you a method of following along, because you might join the council. I will see what the status of the council is."

"You're very quiet," Georgina said to Rupert when Vost'am moved away. "Are you okay?"

"I feel a bit like a child, unsure of the world around me. A week ago, I knew my place and what was happening. The last week has been different from my last ten years working in the civil service. Today has been like nothing I've prepared for and I'm not sure of my role."

"Do what you normally do. Keep track on what's going on. I'm so glad you've made this journey with me."

"Really?"

"Yes. Now we have to be brave. We don't know what other races are in there, and what they look like. Try your best to keep calm and unphased. I'm lucky that I've met some before and have had time to get used to the idea. I presume things will be said, some of which might be upsetting to us. You must not be provoked, especially not to defend me. We don't want to appear uncontrolled in this setting."

"Yes, Prime Minister."

"You are a professional," she said as her last bit of advice before they were called into the council room.

"What protocols are there?" hissed Georgina to Vost'am, suddenly feeling ill equipped and not at all professional.

"I'll point things out. But just remember, you are a witness so don't say anything unless asked. You will take part later when your role changes."

"Okay."

They walked through a set of doors and into a room beyond. What surprised Georgina was the simplicity of the room. If this were a western debating chamber or even a government building, it would be grand. This was different. It was stark. The waiting room was more anointed than this room. The walls were bare, and the floor was the same utilitarian flooring as used in the hallways. At the rear of the room was a single large window, with a view not pointing to the planet but out towards the stars. By the windows there was a seal, and to the right of it was some writing in a language she didn't know.

Eight aliens, each of a different species, stood loosely around, forming a rough circle. There were no markings on the ground to indicate where they should stand, but a circle was how they were.

"Stand in the centre," instructed Vost'am. "Rupert and I will be stood by the wall. We will join you when you are no longer a witness."

"You are representing Earth," said Rupert. "Make us proud."

That was like a switch. She stood up straight and squared her shoulders. She walked with a steady and deliberate pace to the centre and stood there. After a few seconds, she slowly turned, looking at each of the eight council members. When she'd done a full turn, she clasped her hands and cast her eyes down. She'd recognised two members. One was 'Bob' and the other one of the Reginaddes she'd spoken with. He had what on a human would be called a scar on the left side of his face. It was only small, but it was one way she knew of recognising which Reginadde she was dealing with.

Bob started speaking. A few seconds later, Georgina heard the translation in her ears. "We are gathered to investigate a breach of the rules. I log the sample taken from the witness. If the witness agrees for members to take an independent sample, please raise your right arm."

She raised her arm. A second later she felt two pricks, but it was minor. She was soon instructed they'd finished, and she should lower her arm. She waited, as the results were analysed by members.

"Why?" came a voice that broke the silence. Georgina looked up and saw some of them had turned to face one of the other members.

"That planet shouldn't be allowed to join the council," came a response from the member they were facing. "That planet is in our sphere."

"They are a sentient species. The rules state you can't occupy that system," another voice clamoured.

"But why this person?" asked another.

"Because they had two points of impact. It stopped the meeting with the Alphonian Prophecy. We had an additional prophecy that this person would be involved with their promotion to the council. You can't let them join. Within two cycles they will be the most technically advanced species. I won't let you."

Georgina's head suddenly went fuzzy, and she collapsed onto the floor.

Escaping the Cradle

by Karen Page

Part 10

---

Part 10
DATE:FC+9

The dim light, and warm comfortable bed were welcome. Her brain relaxed and she lay there in bliss. Realisation crept upon her that this wasn't her bed. Her bed was never this comfortable and she opened her eyes with a start.

A soothing voice, she couldn't understand said something to her. She turned and saw it was a Reginadde. She put her hand to her ear, but the translation device was gone.

"Prime Minister," a voice filtered through. "Are you okay?"

"Rupert!" she responded, glad to hear a voice she recognised.

She tried to sit up, but the gentle hands of the Reginadde stopped her.

"Not yet," said Vost'am, coming to her bedside. "Relax for another few minutes. Let the nanites finish getting the poison out of your body."

"You aren't going to do anything else to me, are you?" she asked, concerned by their technology.

"No. We would never do anything without your permission," said Vost'am. "I heard that one of the Reginaddes offered to help with your conflict, but you refused. We don't understand why for some that duality is so important. You were changed without your permission. For a doctor, it would be like someone fixing a broken bone."

"I gave permission for them to give you the nanite treatment," said Rupert. "I hope I did the right thing."

"I'd probably be dead if you hadn't. Thank you all for saving me. As for not wanting treatment to reverse the virus that changed me. It is a difficult thing. I've come to regard that duality as part of me. It drives me. Yes, you might be fixing my body and putting it back, but then I'd miss some of it. Then there is a human issue as part of my job. Perception is just as important as reality. If you change me, to some I wouldn't be the same person. I have a job to do. It is my duty. I swore that when I took my job. I don't want anything to risk me doing my job. Who poisoned me and why?"

"That was Trposin, a Yvestigan. She tried to finish the job they failed to do when you got that virus."

"Am I safe?"

"Yes. She has been expelled as their representative on the council and sent back to their homeworld. It will take them a while. Their drives can't take them all the way in one go. They travel about thirty of your light years at a time."

"What is stopping one of the other Yvestigans trying to kill me?"

"They can't. Don't worry about that for now."

"So, what was this about a prophecy?"

"I don't know," said Vost'am. "It is something that only the council know about. I'm just an aide."

Georgina doubted that but decided to ask the council when she got chance. "How long was I unconscious?"

"Only twenty minutes," replied Rupert.

"Am I allowed to get up?"

Vost'am asked the doctor and a few moments later, she was being escorted to the council. A question nagged at her, and as Vost'am led them down the corridor, she asked, "How long will the nanites stay in me?"

Rupert paused, nervous about telling Georgina. She glanced at him and her sighed. "Until you die. They made that clear to me before I gave permission."

"And what will they do to me?"

"I'm told, nothing. They won't stop you aging or dying. If someone poisons you, they will attack the poison. It won't change your body, like that virus did. I'm so sorry if I did the wrong thing."

"Stop saying sorry. You saved my life. It's good they asked someone's permission first. But as with my private medical information, it is private. Understood?"

"Yes, Ma'am. No telling the tabloids."

"Blimey, they'd love to have that story."

As they went into the council chamber, Vost'am handed her the translation device. "You will need this. I will act as your voice."

"Thank you."

"Now go stand at the vacant place alongside the other council members."

There was a gap in the ring, and she went and stood there. Rupert stood just behind her on the left, and Vost'am stood behind her to her right.

"We apologise for how one of the Council treated you," said Bob, the Reginadde member. "They were more interested in their planet, than the council."

"I wish to thank you all for the prompt medical treatment. It saved my life."

"Is there anything we can help you with for your discussions back on your planet?"

"Are you able to provide information on the rules that Earth would have to follow? Also, are you able to provide information on your common language? I think it was called Hytuna. The first would allow us to understand better what we are agreeing to. The second would allow us to start to prepare for our future."

"Certainly. When you leave you will be provided with information. There isn't computer compatibility, so information will be provided on something similar to your paper."

"I believe the team that created the ship that brought me here are working on some form of communication via the interdimensional tunnel."

"How long did your journey take?"

"Three seconds," responded Georgina.

Vost'am said, "I don't understand the time interval to translate."

Georgina counted. "One second … Two seconds … Three seconds."

That started a large discussion which didn't seem to translate through the earpiece. "What's happened?" she asked Vost'am bewildered.

"They are trying to make sense of what you said. They have communications across space quickly, but normal travel isn't as quick as you have it."

The discussion lasted another thirty minutes where the council members found out a bit more about Earth, and Georgina learnt more about the other members. As they left, a case was handed to Rupert. "This contains the information you requested," was translated.

Georgina had forgotten about the translator that was in her ear. "Do you want these back?" she asked.

Vost'am responded, "That is probably a good idea. It might be unseemly for you to have non-human technology when you've not joined the council."

This was the first time that she'd removed it herself. The previous time it had either fallen out or had been removed by someone. She reached up and felt it had moulded to the ear. She felt a small inset and put her nail under it. As she tugged, it shrank and came away without an issue.

"That was easy," said Georgina, placing it into the case and handing it to Vost'am. It might have been easy to remove, but she now felt isolated. She had been able to understand all what was going on around her. The only ones she could talk with were Rupert and Vost'am. All other talk around her she was now excluded from.

The walk back to the hangar was the reverse of their arrival. What the rest of the space station was like would have to wait for another time.

"Hello," said Evan as they got to the ship. "All good?"

"It is now."

"Vost'am. Thank you for your help today. It was really kind of you."

"It was enlightening. Seeing a first interaction. You aren't a species that fears easily."

"Oh, we do. It's just that some have been trained not to always dwell on the worst. There are some on Earth that are worried that spaceships are going to arrive and kidnap us."

"Why would anybody want to kidnap them?"

Georgina thought about films and sensationalist media which reported stories about people having been kidnapped by aliens but didn't know how she could describe them. Instead, she went with simplicity. "They fear the unknown. They fear those that aren't like us. Anything that is different is wrong. It will take time for those people to get comfortable. Humans are a very emotional species. What will happen to the Yvestigans since they broke the rules?"

"It is very serious. If it was an individual, the Yvestigans would be expected to handle any local punishment. But this was their council member. It is as if the government of the Yvestigans broke the rules. They have been removed as council members and will need to prove that this won't happen again before they can rejoin. During that time there will be no technology sharing or assistance unless there was a major catastrophe."

"But if they don't rejoin, could they just continue to attack others?"

"That would be ... unwise," Vost'am said, sounding a bit mysterious, or it could just be his stilted English.

"Prime Minister," interjected Rupert and handed her a letter with nothing on the envelope.

"Ah, thank you." She turned to Vost'am. "Are you able to tell me Bob's name?"

"Vers'am."

Georgina took a pen handed to her from Rupert and wrote it on the envelope after getting confirmation of the spelling. "Please pass this to Vers'am. It is a formal offer to him and other council members to visit, either physically or via hologram. There is a group on Earth called the United Nations. The offer is for them to use that forum to explain more about your group."

Vost'am looked surprised. "I will pass it on. Real human paper – wow." He held it like it was a precious gift to be preserved. "Why are you giving this now? You had an opportunity in council."

"I didn't want to make a show of it in front of everybody. Are you able to deliver it?"

"Yes," he said vigorously. "It will be delivered as soon as you are gone."

"Until next time."

They all climbed in, and Evan sealed the ship. As they were strapping themselves in, Georgina said, "Is there somewhere we can go without causing disruptions. I don't want somewhere cameras will catch the ship. I want to update you with what happened."

"On Earth or in space?"

"If Earth, not where you are based, or where you hid. Just in case we are being tracked. I don't want you exposed."

"I will survive if in space," said Rupert.

"I have a compromise," said Sam. "We worked out some coordinates as we tested a few days ago. Not all were used, but this one was interesting."

"Let's go then."

Sam punched in the details and the computer worked out the new position based on celestial movements. James laughed when he saw the location. "I like it."

A few seconds later, they materialised at the destination.

"Are you okay?" Sam asked Rupert.

"Yes. Where are we?"

"Ganymede. That is a natural satellite around Jupiter. It has weak gravity."

"We're on Jupiter?"

"On a moon around it. You're the first humans to touch down on Ganymede. This ship has no airlock, so we won't be going outside, so you can't get a title of first human to set foot on this body."

"What happened?" asked Evan. "A group of aliens ran ... yes ran, into the hangar and formed a perimeter around the ship. About ten minutes later, they left. The Reginadde that was with us said it was a precaution, but the situation had been resolved. Soon after, a few aliens were escorted into the hangar and departed in their ship."

"A member of the council tried to assassinate me. They were the inventors of the virus that transformed me. It seems they did that to try to stop Hilda from meeting someone."

"That would be Becky, the person behind this ship," said Evan. "So why did they try to kill you today?"

"The Yvestigans had a prophecy. That I would help the humans join the council. They want Earth. They didn't want us to survive so they could have the planet. When I was given the Malachi virus, they hoped to stop both the prophecies coming true."

"And in doing so, probably made them both possible," said James thoughtfully.

"Anything else?" asked Sam.

"I was given some documents on their language. They speak their local tongues but have a shared language across species. I'll get some copies made. I think it is important that you know it as you are our only method of getting to them."

"Henry will never get to ride on this ship," said James.

"He has every opportunity to learn the new language," retorted Sam.

"True, but you speak about a dozen languages already. He speaks some sort of English and lots of strange electronic lingo."

Georgina smiled at the banter. She was sure it went on in her office, but it never seemed to get to her. "Oh, one final bit of information. They were very surprised how quick this ship got there. The Yvestigans can only go thirty light years at a time. I also got the impression that they were surprised our jump only lasted three seconds."

"Interesting. I wonder what causes the limit?" thought Evan aloud.

"Something to discuss later," said James. "Also, if the Yvestigans can only do smaller jumps, and others can go quicker, what are the limits on technology sharing?"

"A good thought to raise in my next meeting with them," pondered Georgina.

James glanced once more that the gas giant before asking, "Prime Minister, will the area in the Parade Grounds still be clear?"

"I ordered it to be kept closed off."

"Excellent. You good Evan?"

With Evan's acknowledgement, James pushed the button and then arrived back in London.

"No time lost," said Evan, as he checked the local time against the ship time.

"Fantastic," replied James and with a grin said to the PM. "Thank you for flying Aurora. I hope you have a comfortable onward journey. Ooh, we have soldiers with guns approaching."

The PM swore and pulled out her phone. "Ron. Why are there troops rushing about in London? Has there been a terrorist threat I wasn't aware of when I left a few hours ago?"

"You're back," her defence minister stated in shock. He gathered himself. "It is just a precaution."

"Well, they better not be pointing at me when I get off the ship. If so, I will be wanting you in my office with the responsible officer, explaining themselves."

"Give me a few minutes," he begged before she terminated the call.

"We will wait a few minutes," the PM said to the crew. "Thank you all so much for today. I hope you got to learn some things too and weren't just a taxi ride."

"Oh, we got to learn," said Evan. "I'm sure it won't be the last journey."

"Probably not," she replied.

"Perhaps skip the orbit bit next time," said Rupert as he unbuckled his straps.

"And miss that view?" responded James. "You are part of a small group of people that have seen that with their own eyes. You were much further away than the space station. Only people who've gone to the Moon have seen Earth much smaller."

"Does your ship have an external camera?"

"Yes," responded Sam, wondering why the Prime Minister was asking.

"If you have a high-resolution picture from our orbit earlier, can you send a copy to Rupert. I'd like to get a large print put into my office."

Rupert dug into his wallet and removed a business card. It contained his email address. He handed a copy to Sam.

"When we've stepped out, I suggest you shut the ship and vamoose," said Georgina.

"Vamoose?" asked Evan at her words.

"Get out pronto," clarified Sam.

"Exactly," the PM agreed.

The Prime Minister used her phone again. "Ron. Is it clear?"

"I'll patch you through to the commander on station."

"Okay."

There was a strange beeping sound, and the call was connected. "This is Major Hilliard."

"And this is the Prime Minister. I'm about to step off that spaceship. I'd be very upset if you shot me or my aide."

Evan slowly opened the door, and the Prime Minister pushed Rupert to one side. She wasn't having him risk himself by going first. She stepped out and saw a line of armed soldiers. No sooner had the Prime Minister stepped off, and Rupert followed, the door to the ship closed and it departed.

The Prime Minister ignored the soldiers and walked briskly towards Downing Street with Rupert rushing to catch up. The checkpoint leading from the parade grounds had opened the gate and they went through without incident.

Instead of going through the side entrance, she stormed into Downing Street. She wanted the Downing Street cameras to see her. The door to number 10 swung open as she approached it. The person on duty was attentive as ever.

When they were inside, she stated. "Find out if there has been a coup while I've been away. I don't like guns pointed at us. I'd like to see Sir John, Craig and Lewis."

"Yes, Prime Minister."

Back in her office, she took out the documents from the bag and flicked through them. She saw one for the ship crew. Oops. She put it in her drawer out of the way. She would find a way of sending that later.

Lewis was the furthest away but arrived first. "You weren't long," was his opening remark.

"Sorry I stopped your fun at the top. Any idea why I had guns pointed at me?"

"The police had guns at you?"

"No. Troops. I rang Ron and I'm sure he needed clean underwear when he found out I was back."

"It wasn't discussed. It goes against everything this government stands for. I'm surprised you're back. Everybody thought you would be a lot longer."

"That is a very fast ship. Time to travel 150 light years is about three seconds. I then was a witness, someone tried to assassinate me, and then I had a meeting before coming back."

"Someone tried to kill you?"

"It seems they were behind the Malachi virus and hoped I'd have died or out of the picture. It didn't work, so today was a last-ditch attempt. The other aliens saved me. Oh, you speak a few languages?"

"Yes. Why?"

She handed him a copy of the primer on the alien language.

"Wow. This is great," he said, flicking though it. "What material is this though? It isn't paper."

"They said it was similar to paper. It isn't though. It's a lot stronger. I also have a list of their rules. A nice bit of bedtime reading. I'll get the language document digitised. Something else for people to learn."

Lewis chortled. "I look forward to learning it."

"Coming back to the main topic. Security is handled by the police, not the army. I will be saying the same to Ron."

With that finished, she went to see Rupert.

"Recovered from this morning's excitement?" she asked.

"It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be."

"Yes. I have some documents that need digitising. However, I don't want them being ruined or split from the current bindings."

"There is someone in the Cabinet office trained for digitising historic government documents. I'll see what I can do."

"Great. Let me have it back as soon as possible. Can you reach out to the Foreign Secretary. I want to brief him and his alien division. Then see if you can get a video meeting scheduled with the US, Russian, Chinese, and French leaders. I know it is late in China."

Craig and Sir John arrived together. They'd been in a meeting discussing the implementation of the alien taskforce. Georgina ushered them into her office and shut the door.

"How long was I gone?" she snapped as they sat down.

"Just under four hours," replied Sir John guardedly. He didn't yet understand her apparent anger.

"Under four hours. Yet I come back to find my standing orders have been reversed."

"Sorry? We only just found out you were back."

"When I landed, I had troops with guns being brandished around. The days of those drug laws are gone. Troops on the street are gone unless there is a terrorist attack. Has there been a terrorist attack?"

"No."

"Then I want to find out why Ron authorised this. Who requested troops? Who was this discussed with, and why wasn't Lewis or yourselves aware?"

"I'll look into it," said Sir John hurriedly. He would also want to know why the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Defence hadn't warned him.

"I want this done quickly and thoroughly. I can't have ministers breaking the rules as soon as I disappear. Since we know that the trip doesn't take long, hopefully there won't be as much worry if I have to do it again. Now tell me what else happened while I was away."

Escaping the Cradle

by Karen Page

Part 11

---

Part 11
DATE:FC+26

The rules and a primer for Hytuna were soon distributed to every government. They hadn't been in just one language, but in five different languages. The UN had taken the responsibility of translating it for everybody. There was even an appendix highlighting the standards for counting, time, dimensions, weight and various additional standards. Websites soon started popping up with the details.

The rules were quite an eye opener. They were all about respecting other territories and not encroaching on developing species. There was nothing about how a planet should be governed. For some countries, this was a major win. Worries about being told what to do by aliens seemed to be forgotten by many. There were minor groups that grouched that we should follow no rules that other species created. They were a minority but seemed to be able to scream the loudest.

Then there were the benefits if Earth joined. The technology sharing, the knowledge of this local section of the galaxy and a bit beyond. The scientists were enthusiastic about that, but there was mostly a shrug from the rest of the population. What was in it for them?

Applications and websites that dealt with teaching languages took the Hytuna information and created learning. It had become a race between them on not only which was going to be first, but the first that passed the language course certification that the UN had created. They weren't to release it until it had been proved accurate. Nobody wanted a mistake while dealing with any group of aliens.

As the days went on, it was a language that all the project team took to learning. They felt it would be important as their ship was the only one that could go beyond the solar system.

After a few weeks finishing off checks and tests, they finished at The Factory. The admin staff there would continue to work there, but the scientists were back at the Anchor. Aurora safely stored and the basement door locked. With nothing to do, James took the week off to visit his old friend in America, who was due back from the space station.

* * *

"We're back," called out Henry jovially as he made his way into The Anchor. He'd been out with Becky for a meeting with Laura Taylor.

"What news?" asked Liam. Jessica had been working with them, reviewing the paper that Evan and Liam were planning to submit on interdimensional travel. It had enough information to further science, but not too much to ruin their trade secrets. There was no paper on the power technology.

"They've been building another ship. It is slightly bigger." Henry paused and then said with awe. "It has an airlock."

"Who's built it?" asked Ashleigh, slightly confused.

"Miss T got it built in one of her construction companies near Bristol," said Henry, having picked up the way of talking about her from Tina. "She knew we would need a bigger one after Aurora had been tested but didn't want to distract us with it until now. It is just a shell. It has no electronics yet. It certainly has no drive, nor power plant. We'd got plans for larger ships but hadn't thought about when to build them. She took those plans and built the next size up."

"Will it fit in the basement at The Factory? What about Aurora?"

"Both will fit," said Becky. "The basement was designed for three ships and the testing chamber. Henry will work with the fitting team that did Aurora, to get the drive and power installed. He will be asking you to get some replacement stock for some items. We then can jump it back to the factory for the main work. I am more worried about communications and the implication of this."

She brandished a letter.

"Oh?"

"It's from the aliens. It contains information on how to interface our communication system with theirs. It's in Hytuna. The PM managed to get it to 'Sally' who passed it on. Laura gave it to us today."

"Can I have a look?" asked Jessica, excited about seeing some Hytuna that wasn't the primer and also the thought of communicating with another species.

The document was handed across and she scanned it. "Oh. I see. This is quite technical, isn't it. There are words in here that I can't remember in the primer. We need more advanced words and phrases. However, I think we might be able to make some educated guesses based on what we are trying to achieve. It's almost like a test. Can we elaborate on what we have and what we were given. It's also a backdoor into their technology. They say they won't share it yet, but give hints based on protocols to give us a hand."

"Go on," encouraged Evan.

"We were thinking about how to do this with only single direction. There was an old network protocol called FTP. There was a control request, and a data channel would be opened up from the other side. If I remember correctly, David talked about how it used to cause all sorts of issues with firewalls. Anyway, this sort of reminds me of that. If we work out the concept on transport and linkage. We then can work out the higher layers later."

"Let's go one way, and then work out how we return," said Liam. "Let's start on opening a very small tunnel between two areas and keeping it open. We then can see about sending light through. A laser perhaps?"

"I'll create a list of parts with Henry," said Jessica. "There are infrared communications on the LEO satellites. That might be an easy, almost off the shelf method. Once it's working, we then can optimise it for the ship and office."

"Yay, more shopping," said Ashleigh.

"I have the items to create the link," said Henry. "It will take me a few days to assemble that. We're back in science mode! Becky, will your program from the early tests be able to do a small opening?"

"Yes. It should be good."

"If we get the parts in, we should be able to confirm the rest of the setup with direct infrared transmitters and receivers," said Jessica. "Sam could do that while Henry works on the rest. We might need to change things around when we've worked out the frequency they transmit the data, and how it is packaged."

"Liam and I can discuss the details of the tunnel while you do that," said Evan.

For Ashleigh, it reminded her of her early days at the project. She was working upstairs, and science was happening downstairs. Apart from Jessica being there, it brought back memories of easier times.

In the afternoon, Becky was able to go and get Jenny. When they came back, Jenny bounded up the stairs to see Ashleigh.

"Miss Thompson," squealed Jenny. "It's great you're back up here."

"I know, right. So close to home."

"And not so far from school. Mrs Hayburn is back from maternity leave, which means Mrs Poop won't be needed there.

"Tina said it was her last week," confirmed Ashleigh.

"Ma was telling me there is a bigger ship being built. Do you know if it has a name yet?"

"I've no idea if the ship has a name yet. I only found out about it this morning when your Ma came back. It is just a shell at the moment. It needs the drive, power and all the wiring added. I've ordered some parts for a test. Most should be here tomorrow."

"Can I do my homework in here?" asked Jenny.

"Sure. I hope I don't disturb you."

"Oh, it's not hard homework."

They both worked away in silence. After about thirty minutes, Jenny said, "Done."

"Do you want me to check it?"

"Thanks." She passed her book to Ashleigh, who went through it. "I'm looking forward to next year when we're allowed to do this online. It's only school stuff that's pen and paper."

"I think they don't want the youth to forget how to write," replied Ashleigh.

"I suppose that makes sense to someone," sighed Jenny. She paused and then said quickly, "Do you love Ma?"

"Yes. Are you okay with that?"

Jenny sighed with relief. "Oh yes. I was thinking. Mummy was Mummy. Will you be Mum? Mummy, Ma and Mum."

Ashleigh was silent. This wasn't a question she'd ever expected to be asked. "Is your Ma okay with this?"

"I've not told her. I wanted to see how you felt and how it sounded."

"I'm happy, but please be careful with Ma. She is still coming to terms with your Mummy's death."

"But Mummy is gone," said Jenny as simply as saying the sun rose in the morning.

"How do you feel about mummy?"

"I remember good times with her. I sometimes get jolts of memory when I do certain things. I then remember she taught me how to do them. I have pictures of her and me on my phone, but I sometimes don't remember where they were taken."

"You are young. I don't remember a lot of my time when I was your age."

Jenny yelled in anguish, "But I don't want to forget mummy! I don't want to forget Ryan!"

"They will always be part of you in your heart. You have pictures of them and reminders of them."

"But I won't create new memories."

"If you close your eyes, can you see your brother and mummy?"

"Yes."

"Can you draw?"

"A little."

"Why don't you draw a picture of your brother and mummy. It will help you remember them better."

"I can try," she said doubtfully. "I should have asked Alberto or Luca to teach me while they were around."

"What about music. Did Ryan like music?"

"Yes. I remember when he was little, he used to love something mummy sometimes streamed on her phone. I don't know what it was though."

"Can you sing it, or hum it?"

"Yes."

Ashleigh grabbed her phone and found the app she wanted. "Go ahead and sing it."

Jenny did, and Ashleigh realised it was the first time she'd heard some music come from her mouth. It was just her la-la-ing, but it was clear.

"I don't need the phone for that one. That is Eine Kleine Nachtmusik by Mozart. That is German. It means, A Little Night Music."

"I don't know German," said Jenny.

Ashleigh smiled and did a web search. "Do you talk with your Ma about your fears about forgetting Mummy?"

"No," said Jenny, shaking her head. "Ma has enough worries about Mummy. I don't want to make her sad."

"Well, you can always talk to me," said Ashleigh. "And don't forget people like Mr and Mrs Poop knew your Mummy too, though not in the same way as you did."

A minute later, her printer started. "Let's go and disturb them downstairs."

Ashleigh grabbed the paper from her printer and passed it to Jenny. "Why don't you give it a go. This is an easy arrangement."

"Okay," said Jenny, perking up a bit.

When they went into the discussion area, Becky, Evan, Liam and Jessica were having a conversation. Henry was in the lab section, starting to assemble the devices for the interdimensional tunnel.

"Let's have a break," said Liam spotting the sheet music in Jenny's hands.

"Sounds an idea," said Jessica when she saw where Jenny was heading. "Is this something you've not played before?"

"I know the tune, but I've not played it."

"Then take it slowly," advised Jessica. "Do you want us to move next door so you to practice a bit."

Ashleigh saw the enquiring eyes of Becky and moved to her. Ashleigh said quietly, "She was a bit worried about not remembering her Mummy or Ryan. She said this piece was something that she remembered for both of them."

Becky sighed. "She never comes to me about anything like that. When I ask how she is, she says she is fine."

"I'm sure she is most of the time. I think it just sneaks up on her now and again. I'm sure it was just because I was there that she told me."

"It's okay," said Jenny, lifting the lid to expose the keys. "You lot carry on and let me play a little."

Becky moved back to the table where Evan, Liam and Jessica were, and they continued a muted discussion. Ashleigh continued to watch as Jenny looked over the music, and her fingers traced over the keys, as if she was getting an understanding of what she was going to play.

When Jenny started it was slow, and uncertain. However, Jenny soon gained confidence, and the tempo increased slightly. It was half-way through the third play that she suddenly stopped. Her hands paused over the keys for a second before she gave a small sob. She wiped away a few tears with the back of her hand before rushing out into the back garden.

"Give her a few minutes," said Evan. "Give her chance to process it."

Evan had worked with Becky long enough to know what that piece was, and its connection to Hilda and Ryan. Jessica was the only one in the room that didn't have that knowledge, but seeing what had happened, she had a very big clue.

"Are you okay?" Ashleigh asked Becky, gently rubbing her arm.

"I'm worried about Jenny."

"I know, but apart from that."

Becky thought for a few seconds, trying to work out how she did feel. "Yes. Surprisingly I am. It brought back memories, but good memories. Come on Ashleigh, let's go find her and make sure she's okay."

"Are you sure you want me with you?" whispered Ashleigh.

"Very. I'm sure you gave her the idea. You therefore have to be there."

Ashleigh laughed and together they went out, hand in hand.

Jenny was stood at the wall, her arms on it, looking at the river. The tide was coming in, and the water was funnelling the wrong way. Becky and Ashleigh stood next to her and waited for Jenny to talk when she was ready.

"You're not upset with me playing that, were you?" she asked eventually.

"Not at all," replied Becky. "It was what Mummy often played to Ryan. He loved it and he got all excited when she played it. It was their song. It made me remember happy times."

"I don't want to forget them."

"I don't want to forget them either," said Becky. "We haven't taken down pictures of them at home, have we?"

"No," said Jenny, putting her head against her Ma's arm. "But perhaps you need to put up some newer ones too. I don't want to forget, but I don't want to live in the past either. I think we should put up the one of us in front of the ship."

"Do I live in the past?"

Jenny thought for a moment. "Sometimes."

"I don't know how to let go," confessed Becky.

"Perhaps Mum can help?" At a confused response from her Ma, she continued, "I decided I should call Miss Thompson Mum. Mummy, Ma and Mum. I asked Miss Thompson if that was okay, and she said only if you were."

Becky gave a wry smile. "Mum it is then. You are becoming quite the schemer."

"I'm not scheming. I'm just helping you both."

"You're sort of scheming," said Ashleigh. "If it is deliberate, or natural, we shall see over time."

"Will you move in with us now?" blurted out Jenny.

"And there it is," responded Ashleigh. "I will move in when we are both ready. My not moving in isn't to do with you calling me Mum or not. It is to do with Ma and me being ready. Less than a hundred years ago, most couples didn't live together until they were married. Times have changed, but it is a serious thing."

"We love each other," said Becky. "But we aren't ready for that step. Though if you want to call Miss Thompson Mum, then you must treat her so. Agreed."

The huge grin was enough to light up the area, but she responded and said so too.

"Great, now that's sorted, let's get to work."

"Can I sit in on your discussion?" Jenny asked her Ma as they went back in.

"Sure, though you missed some of it. I'll catch you up when we get home later."

There wasn't anything they could do for the test until the parts came in, so the discussion moved back to the letter in Hytuna. Jessica went to the whiteboard and started to jot the translation down. Leaving the bits in the alien language they couldn't yet translate. She placed it in blocks based on the expected processes.

"Perhaps seeing it like this might help us fill the gaps," she said as she scribbled away.

When it was structured, it became clearer. "These areas they've used simple Hytuna to explain the concepts. However, in these two areas, the language is a lot more complex and not something we can understand."

"So, it looks like there is the structure of the tunnel. That's fine, we've got that. And this is the location to open. That's useful. But this, what is this?"

"The frequency? We call things in the electromagnetic spectrum specific names. We've been doing it all day. Radio waves, infrared, microwave. Also, the frequency would be in their octal. There are these numbers here. Could that be a frequency?"

Liam translated base 8 to base 10 and scribbled on the board next to it.

"That doesn't make sense," said Jessica.

"To us it doesn't," said Liam. "We measure the frequency based on the number of peaks the wave passes per second. What if they measure it differently."

"How?"

"I've no idea, but we are basing it on our concepts. Theirs might be different. Ah. Their measurement of time is different. We measure per second. But a second is just a fraction of Earth time. They measure intervals differently. And it might be numbers of waves per time, or they might measure say the amount of time per interval. The inverse of how we do it."

"What a pain," said Evan, his eyes glinting with excitement. He wasn't upset at all. It was raw science. It was what excited him about the whole project.

"I'm sure our time system must seem very strange to them. Twenty-four hours a day, sixty minutes in an hour and sixty seconds in a minute. We grew up with it, so it seems second nature, but I'm sure it doesn't convert well for the aliens."

"Do you know why our time is measured like that?" Becky asked her daughter.

"There's a reason?" asked Jenny.

"Ancient Egypt used base 12. Being close to the equator, they had twelve hours daylight and twelve hours night. Hence twenty-four hours a day."

"So where does sixty minutes come from?" asked Jenny, her curiosity peaked.

"The Sumerians. They used base 60. They actually had sixty different symbols for each number. They took the hours from the Ancient Egyptians and divided twice. Hence sixty minutes and sixty seconds. It was also used in the creation of angles. There are sixty arc minutes in a degree and six lots of sixty, or 360 degrees, in a circle.

"When they moved to base 10, why didn't they change time?"

"Look how America can't move their measurements from feet and inches. They are comfortable. Look how long it took the UK to move from miles to kilometres? Things like clocks and time are something across the whole planet. Imagine trying to change something like that. People don't like change."

Escaping the Cradle

by Karen Page

Part 12

---

Part 12
DATE:FC+31

"Keep sharp," said Tina. "This could all go wrong."

"You're always the pessimist," responded Sam. "The coordinates are ready."

"Thanks. This is my first solo. I'm so glad James taught us both how to fly Aurora while we were in hiding."

"The Earth jumps aren't difficult," said Sam. "It is the space ones that are tricky. You only got a few attempts at that and I've yet to have firsthand experience using the thrusters. So, why are we doing this?"

"I'm not fully certain," responded Tina thoughtfully. "But to hazard a guess, I'd suspect it was something requested by Miss T. A bit of ship exposure. I'm sure James won't be unhappy not having an eight-hour transatlantic flight."

"It was in the press that some cities in the UK and abroad had started closing off certain areas, just in case we wanted to land there. Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow. Even the Space Centre at Leicester has an area coned off. Mostly the foreign ones are near heads of state offices. Perhaps they all want to meet the aliens in person. I've not heard of one at NASA Houston though."

"I've just had the call," said Becky over the communications. "It's a go."

"Acknowledged," responded Tina and pressed the button. They disappeared from the factory.

"Cameras look clear," said Sam as soon as they'd arrived at their destination. "Home coordinates are in. I'll prepare the door."

"There's James," said Tina, pointing.

James was stood with two men. One was his age, the other looked older, but smartly dressed in a business suit. James said something to the older man who shook his hand politely before handing over a bag to James. James then turned to the other and after giving a more vigorous handshake gave a friendly slap on the back. His goodbyes done, he grabbed his travel bag and rushed towards Aurora. Sam completed the unlatching and opened the airtight door for James to board. There was no sound of sirens, nor people with guns.

"Door closed," said Sam.

Tina pressed the button, and they traversed the interdimensional tunnel back to the ship's home.

"Nicely driven," remarked Captain James Partridge to Tina.

There was slight irony in his voice. The jumps on planet were easy. Put in the coordinates and go. It was if they ever had to abort to space that things got tricky and why James was normally the one flying her.

"Well, if you go swanning off on vacations, you lose your pilots slot," teased Sam.

"Is Becky upstairs?"

"Sure, why?"

"I have something for her."

"Don't you have gifts for the rest of us?" asked Tina, with a slight teasing manner.

"This is something special."

They locked up the ship and made their way to the top floor where the small control room was. Inside was Becky, Evan, Ashleigh and Jenny.

"Thanks for the collection," said James as he went in. "Especially on a Saturday."

"Laura thought it might help."

"It did. Here."

James handed a bag to Becky who looked inside. She took out a white box, and after opening it she gasped.

"What is it?" asked Jenny, jumping up to have a look. Becky removed a Pudsey Bear with the tag 'Becky' on it.

Jenny squealed with delight and turned over the tag to see a small splat of ink that she'd caused when younger. It was the real thing.

"The Space Flight director thanks you for the emergency medication you sent. But he requests that you don't shock the astronauts again. The ship appearing was proof to them that I was able to hand the bear back to his rightful owner."

"Did you talk with some of your old colleagues?"

"Yes, though I didn't tell them that I was piloting Aurora. They are still in awe that there are aliens and that there is a ship that can travel outside the solar system. They are a mixture of explorers and scientists at heart, and this is something that is exciting to them. They see so many possibilities."

"While you were gone, we found that Laura had instructed one of her factories to make another ship. I'm sure it won't be the last one it produces either. Just the shell. We provide the power and engine. It is bigger than Aurora and has an airlock."

"Does it have couplings for the space station?"

"Yes, there is the International Docking System on it. That is separate to the airlock, on the other side of the ship."

"Good. It will help if there is ever an issue. I'm sure there will be more ships built. When the other ship is concluded, I think Aurora should be removed from space service. Without an airlock, or docking adaptor, it is an unnecessary risk. It can still be used when going somewhere on Earth or even to that alien space station."

"She is the prototype," said Evan. "The test ship. She was a simple design to prove the technology. I think she's more than done her job. The Space Shuttle Enterprise only flew test flights. She never went to space but was dropped from a 747 to prove gliding and landing. She had no engines, so the test pilots had to get it right. They did five free-flight tests like that."

"With no engines?" asked Jenny aghast.

"Ah, it was part of my youth," said Rebecca. "Not the test flights, but later shuttle missions. If I remember right, they came in like a glider."

"Now, they were pilots," said James, his voice full of admiration. "They don't make spaceships like that anymore."

"Ours is better," said Jenny.

"Ours is different," responded James. "Different doesn't equate to better. It is good for jumping long distances and going to specific places. Traditional rocket ships have more engines for longer distance cruising. Aurora has some thrusters, but is for minor movements, not massive orbit changes."

"But if you wanted to go somewhere else, you'd just jump, wouldn't you?" said Jenny, not giving up on Aurora.

"Of course. And not having to worry about the g-forces for taking off and landing. Plus, no re-entry challenges."

"Oh?"

"Some research for you," Evan said to Jenny, a twinkle in his eyes. "Look at the issues of having a vehicle that is going faster than the speed of sound, re-entering the Earth's atmosphere. It was a major issue years ago before scientists understood how to control and harness the heat when entering Earth's atmosphere."

"Thank you again for doing this," said James.

"It was good to fly the flag. Who knows, it might inspire some of the current astronaut program to want to fly one of Aurora's sister ships."

"Perhaps we should do visits to the ESA, Roscosmos and CNSA," thought Sam aloud.

"Don't forget JAXA," said Jenny, showing off her knowledge of space agencies.

"No stepping off Aurora though. Otherwise, Ashleigh will have so many forms to fill in and get authorisation. It's good the UK General Aviation Report system can authorise within hours now. How soon before the other ship is ready?" asked James.

"A few weeks," said Becky. "Henry and Sam will be supervising it. As they say, the second one is always easier than the first. Henry has created a mobile power unit and drive. They should be able to transport it here where it can be tested and fitted.

"You can do that?" said James, surprised.

"Liam and Henry say so," said Evan.

"You're unsure?"

"The theory is sound. The power isn't my worry. It is the drive. It has to become part of the ship frame to bind it to the interdimensional opening. We don't want to take half the factory with us."

"Are you still okay to look after Jenny?" asked Becky to Tina as they wandered down the stairs to go home.

"Sure," grinned Tina. "We are going to have so much fun."

"What are we doing, Aunty Tina?" asked Jenny, getting excited.

"Aunty?"

"Yes. I've decided to refer to Miss Thompson as Mum, so you'll be Aunty."

Tina stopped and Sam almost bumped into her.

"Are you okay?" Jenny asked, concerned to see a tear trickle down Tina's cheek.

"You caught me by surprise," responded Tina, leaning down and giving Jenny a hug. "I'm honoured to be your aunt. As for tonight, I don't want to spoil the surprise."

With that, Tina straightened up, and they all carried on down the stairs.

"You know you shouldn't dally on the stairs like that," said Sam in mock admonishment. "Didn't you learn anything at school?"

They all laughed as they continued down the stairs and out of the main entrance.

"Get back inside," said Tina spying an unknown car pulling to the security hut.

She went back in too and took out her phone to ring the security hut. "I was just about to ring you," said Lucy, who was the guard on duty at the front. I have a Tim Harper and Storm Daniels."

"Ask them to wait," said Tina and muted her phone.

"We have the press at the gate," she said to the others. "Tim Harper and Storm Daniels."

"A few days longer than Laura thought," mused Becky. "Okay. This will be just Evan and me. The rest of you, why don't you go sit in the control room. If they ask for a ride, will you James and Sam be happy to do that?"

"Sure, as long as we aren't going to be on camera."

Becky pulled out her phone and instigated the communications blanket. "Nobody is going to be on camera. I'm going to discuss things, but no interview. Not today. We'll have a chat in the meeting room, and then I'll bring them down to see Aurora."

Tina unmuted her phone. "Let them in. Becky will meet with them."

"Now scarper," said Becky when Tina had hung up. Becky passed the bag containing the Pudsey Bear to Ashleigh. "Will you put this into the meeting room on the way past. I think that should be a good opener."

It was just Becky and Evan left. They went outside and watched the car pull up.

Evan said, "I bet Liam's glad he wasn't around today."

"Do you want me to do this alone?" asked Becky. "I thought as chief scientist you should be here."

"Oh joy," said Evan with a grin. "Throw that back at me at each stage. I knew I should never have accepted that job title."

"You did get the bigger house than Liam, a slightly bigger salary and a bigger share in the company Laura Taylor setup for us."

"I suppose I better live with it," capitulated Evan, their shared smile highlighting the constant teasing between them.

Storm finished parking the car, and the two journalists got out.

"Hi," said Tim, stretching out his hand. "I'm Tim Harper."

Becky and Evan shook his hand.

"And I'm Storm Daniels," said Storm, and they repeated the greeting.

"Shall we go in," said Becky, not having introduced herself. "It's certainly a cold day."

"Indeed," agreed Storm.

They went upstairs to the meeting room. Storm immediately spotted the bear.

"It came back with the recent flight. The NASA Flight Director handed it to our pilot earlier."

"You're Becky?"

"I'm Becky," she acknowledged.

"I don't want to give you my name yet," said Evan. "I want to know why you are here. This is a private company. You are two different reporters, a political editor and a science editor. We aren't political."

"You gave a lift to the Prime Minister so she could attend the alien council. Your ship was mentioned in dispatches as being the reason the aliens made contact. That covers the political situation," responded Tim. "The science is what the ship does and how it does it."

"We were asked if we could assist. I'm sure others have helped the government and not been hounded."

"We aren't hounding. We aren't recording this. We would like to interview you."

"And then be hounded by everybody else. We've already had thirty armed mercenaries storm the building and we had to flee."

"We could do it where you're blacked out. We wouldn't expose who you are."

"We don't think it's wise at the moment to give full information about how the ship moves. It has huge implications."

"Such as?"

"It took three seconds for the ship to travel 150 light years. We can basically jump anywhere on the planet in under a second. Imagine the implications for borders. We can send things without the ship."

"Like the bear or the medication?"

"Yes. Someone could just as easily send a bomb. Or send an assassin to the room where a politician is. Until there is security, is that wise to give that to everybody?"

Tim glanced at Storm. This wasn't something they'd thought about.

"Three seconds?" Storm enquired. "It only took three seconds to travel that far? What about relativity? Was there not time dilation?"

"You've seen the Prime Minister. You saw when she went and when she came back. She didn't come back 300 years later."

"But you can't go faster than the speed of light," said Tim, and explained further.

Becky had heard that way of talking a few times. Sam, Tina, Jessica and Luke had that way of querying.

"All very good points," said Becky. She opened up her file and pulled out two sheets of paper and two pens. She slid them across the table to the two journalists. "No conferring. Draw the line an aeroplane would travel from London to Anchorage. Both places are marked on the map."

Storm looked at the map and frowned. She suspected there was more to this than a simple line, but geography had never been her forte. She was tempted to look across to see what Tim had done but felt that would be cheating. She'd not got where she was today by cheating. With a small sigh, she drew a straight line. She suspected it was wrong, but no idea why.

Tim on the other hand had smiled and quickly drawn his answer. When Storm had finished torturing herself, Becky leaned across and smiled at what she'd saw.

"Tim, do you want to explain your answer?" said Becky.

Storm glanced across at Tim's drawing and frowned.

"It's a two-dimensional representation of a three-dimensional object," said Tim. "Earth is curved. Therefore, the shortest line is curved."

"Tim's plane would have got from London to Anchorage quicker and with less fuel than Storm's," concluded Evan.

Storm cottoned on quickly and her eyes widened. "You didn't break the speed of light. You didn't even create an Alcubierre Drive. You created a way to travel via a different dimension! Now things make sense. The tests. You didn't create a transporter. You sent it through some sort of tunnel and the medication popped out in the space station."

Becky was please that Storm had said Alcubierre Drive and not Warp Drive. She knew her science, even if she wasn't that good at geography.

"The medication wasn't a test. The teddy bear was the test. The medication was because we heard someone needed it. There was an issue getting it there in a timely manner, so we sent it. Unfortunately, neither time was expected, and caused a few surprises to the astronauts."

"Though your Pudsey Bear test did bring in quite a bit of money for Children in Need."

"A worthy cause," said Becky. "Now we aren't going into how things work. It isn't time for this to be replicated."

"Who are you to say that?" retorted Tim.

"The creators of the technology," responded Evan curtly. "We will be publishing a paper in a journal, but that isn't a quick process. It will give the science behind it, but it won't be enough information for others to easily duplicate it."

"We outlined earlier the security risks. There is also the impact on the single representative vote."

"You're pushing to join the alien group?" asked Tim. They were now straying into his side of the job.

"That isn't for me to say," replied Becky. "However, even if we don't join the council, when the technology is produced, it will have an impact on governments. The ship has no concept of borders. I could live in Tokyo, work in London and go for a nice evening meal in Nassau."

"Do you need the ship? You didn't seem to require a ship when you sent the two items to the space station."

"In theory, no. Like you can walk to the office or catch a taxi. A taxi is much more convenient if you've got a lot of luggage to take with you. So far, we've only done small tests without the ship. But yes, we could build something for just a person. We did transport a mouse via the test unit. It was alive and ran off when it got to its destination."

"Did you meet any of the aliens when you took the PM?"

"I didn't go. It's only a test ship with limited space."

"I went," added Evan, still not having revealed his name. "We fly with a pilot, one of the engineers and one of the scientists. That was the furthest we'd ever travelled so wanted to make sure we could fix any issues. There weren't any problems, and when we got there only the Prime Minister and her aide Rupert met the council. We stayed with the ship and checked it for the return journey."

"So, what do you want from us?" asked Becky.

"Information, and an interview," said Storm.

"How did you find this place? Does your boss know where you are?"

"I got a tip," said Tim.

"We nearly went somewhere else," said Storm. "There was an old rumour of some strange activity about twenty miles north of here. Tim's tip was more dependable."

"This is where the ship was built and is stored. Tell me about the other place."

Storm shrugged. "An old pub in a small village called Epney. I heard the rumour for a few weeks last summer. It then went dead, like a lot of rumours do. It was the only thing we had to go on. I'm glad Tim found a better contact."

"There is one other area this impacts people, but you've not thought about it yet. Do you want to see Aurora?"

"The ship?" said Storm, her eyes wide with excitement. "Please."

"And you Tim?"

"If you're going to show Storm, I might as well tag along."

They went back downstairs, and then into the basement. Evan was ahead with Storm, and Becky walked next to Tim.

As Storm and Evan went around a corner, Becky tapped Tim on the arm, and they stopped. "I need to ask you this without Storm or Evan around. Did you go to a special music school?"

Tim frowned. "Why are you asking where I went to school?"

"If you saw someone here that went to that school, they might not want you to acknowledge it. Also, it might cause Storm to ask questions."

"Why do you think I went to a music school?"

"It's your attitude, and some of the things you said. I've come across a few people from that school and you seemed the type. If I'm wrong then you won't recognise anybody, and it will be irrelevant."

"Let's see this ship of yours," said Tim, and they rushed to catch up with the others.

"Wow, look at her," said Storm in awe. "How do you get her out?"

"It doesn't need an exit," Evan reminded her.

"Doh!" she responded, in her best Homor Simpson impression.

Becky opened the door. "Have a look inside, if you want. Remember, this is just the test ship, so rather functional."

Storm went in and gasped. "No, she's beautiful. You say the ship is called Aurora?"

"Yes."

Tim climbed aboard and gave a low whistle. "She really goes to space?"

"Are you after a ride?" responded Becky.

"Do you mind?" responded Tim, thinking how Andrea would respond that evening.

"I don't mind, but it is up to the three that would go with you," said Becky, all serious.

"I'm good to help," said Evan.

"I'll leave you to chat. I'll go to the control room and see if the other two will join."

Becky left them and went up the two floors. When she went in, there were anxious gazes.

"They are wondering if we'd give them a sample ride. James and Sam, are you up for that?"

They responded they were.

James went out of the door, but Becky held Sam back. "I think he might have gone to the school here."

"He did. He was slightly older, and I was only there for six months, so if he recognises me or not, we shall see. I won't say anything, and he shouldn't either."

Sam left to catch up with James.

The three computers responsible for monitoring the ship were operational. However, in the absence of Liam and Henry, Becky was solely overseeing everything. Evan had been present when Tina and Sam executed the jump earlier.

"Can you give me a hand?" asked Becky to the room.

"Who?" asked Ashleigh.

"Tina, take that one, and Ashleigh this one. Jenny, sit with whoever you want to."

When they were seated, Becky continued, "I want you to watch these screens. You don't need to do anything, but if one of the numbers turns red, shout. Don't panic but let me know. I can then pull up the details on my side. This will only be for a short while, until the ship is gone. You'll have no telemetry then."

"I'm not comfortable with this," said Ashleigh sitting down on the centre console, and gazed at dials, graphs, and numbers. "If you need people for this, then we have people for this. I've seen space launches on television. They have banks of desks with people who understand what's happening."

"They have a lot more systems to watch and a lot more can go wrong. Aurora is a lot less complex, and Sam will be monitoring inside the ship."

"Not Evan?"

"There is no secondary console. Evan is there just in case they come across something strange that hasn't been accounted for. Sam is there to look after the ship. James is there to fly if manual flight is required. He is also responsible for the ship and the people inside. If a difficult choice has to be made, it falls on his shoulders."

"Tina, don't tell me you've done this before,” Ashleigh quipped, keeping watch on the screen.

"Not a space vehicle, but I did do monitoring at a chocolate factory. The output might be different, but the concepts aren't alien to me."

"Ooh, did you get to sample the chocolate?" asked Jenny, sat in between her Mum and Aunt.

"No, but they did have a nice staff shop where we did get it rather cheap."

Evan came over the radio. "We've had an incident. Becky, can you come down."

They all looked at the main screen and saw Storm leaving the ship. James was just behind, his arms moving wildly as if he was very upset.

"Oh boy," muttered Becky and rushed downstairs to find out what was happening.

The two reporters had got to the entrance by the time Becky had got downstairs. James was with them, clearly very angry. Storm had a haughty look, and Tim was looking at her with disgust.

"What's going on?" enquired Becky.

"Storm was abusing one of the crew," said James.

"I wasn't."

"You called Sam, 'it' and other snide remarks," said James. "I asked you to apologise, and you ranted."

"You've been warned about that type of attitude," said Tim. "Sam was going out the way to help you and that is the way you repay. Don't you feel you should treat people with respect? You do realise for this you may be sacked."

"I treat people with respect when they deserve it. I bet it is just here because of some equal opportunity rubbish."

"Sam is here because Sam is the best Ship Engineer," said Becky. "On our initial test flight there was an issue which not only did Sam help diagnose but fixed while floating weightless in orbit. Sam is a hero, and we are honoured to have Sam on our team. Sam was part of the crew that took the Prime Minister."

"I'm disappointed in you," Tim said to Storm. "You had the opportunity of a lifetime, and you threw it away."

Tina came down the stairs. "I'll escort our guest out."

Tim was going to follow too, but Tina put up her hand to stop him. It wasn't long before Storm was in the car and making her way out of the carpark. When she was gone, Tina came back in, a small smile on her face.

"What did you do?" asked Becky, seeing the smile.

"Her phone seems to have been wiped, and all her contacts gone. The cloud backup will have gone too."

"That's awful," said James, smiling too.

"Hey Tina," said Tim. "Long time no see. But you've left me with no ride back to London."

"Do you want a flight back?" asked James.

"If Sam is okay," said Tim. "I need to ring the office first."

Tim pulled out his phone but saw that there was no signal.

Becky pulled out her phone and pressed a few buttons. "Try again. I'll send the footage as proof."

"Nice security," responded Tim. He wasn't on the phone long. His report to HR was concise. Becky's email came through and he forwarded it to HR. Their response was swift to maintain their reputation as being one of the top LGBTQ companies in the country. Storm Daniels would no longer be employed by the company.

Tina sighed. "There's nothing stopping her selling this location on the market."

"The Yvestigans already know where we are," said Becky. "The only ones we have to worry about is the press and spies, corporate or other."

"I must apologise again," said Tim. "What Storm said is never acceptable in my eyes. Can I go down to see Sam? I would like to apologise directly."

James moved aside and let Tim go down the stairs. They all followed. Sam was sat at the entrance to the ship looking morose, but there was no sign of tears. Without any signal, Tim rushed forward.

"Thanks James," said Becky as they watched Tim and Sam embrace. "You did the right thing. I've not known someone like that for years."

"The UK does appear to be a lot more tolerant than ten years ago," mused James. "I doubt the Prime Minister would have got in back then. I think having a government like we have sets standards for all of us. I'm honoured to work with Sam."

Escaping the Cradle

by Karen Page

Part 13

---

Part 13
DATE:FC+31

"What's your plan with Jenny?" Becky asked Tina.

"We're going to share a bottle of wine, and talk lecherously about men," said Tina with a straight face.

"Sounds ideal if Jenny were several years older."

"We're going to play monopoly," said Tina, not wanting Becky to really think she was going to corrupt her daughter.

"What's that?" asked Jenny.

"An old board game. I got us a modern updated French version. Nobody wanted to deal with paper money anymore. We will try to play the game using just French."

"Paper money?" queried Jenny, slightly confused. "Money hasn't been paper or coin for years. I remember it being talked about in history."

There was no query or panic about them playing just talking in French.

"When the game was created, it was paper. Electronic money didn't exist back then. But as I said, this is an updated version. Now say bye to your Ma and Mum. They need to get going or they will miss their meal reservation."

"Bye Ma," said Jenny, giving her a goodbye kiss and hug. She then repeated the process with Ashleigh.

"Now listen to Aunt Tina," said Becky.

"Yes Ma."

They were going in Becky's car and Ashleigh settled into the passenger seat.

"What a day," remarked Ashleigh as they set off. "I mean, who would have thought someone would be so nasty to Sam. Sam had done nothing to her."

"I think some people must still live in the time of dinosaurs. It never hurts to treat anybody with respect."

Ashleigh thought about asking Becky if she'd ever been treated like that but didn't want to bring up any bad memories.

Becky made that leap herself. "I've been lucky that I haven't been treated like that since I was small. Some thought I was gay. I remember how Tina was treated, and I tried hard for that not to happen to me."

Ashleigh got a lump in her throat, remembering that horrid time. She gently stroked Becky's leg, hoping it didn't disturb her driving. Roll on the days of driverless cars. They'd been promised for over a decade, but they just hadn't been able to perfect the technology, especially on UK country roads.

"And when I did transition, the people I was working with didn't seem to care. I worked from home a lot and then got involved in this project. People like Evan, Liam and Henry were more interested in the science."

There was a small gap in the conversation. Then very quietly Ashleigh asked, "Was it painful?"

"Was what painful?"

Ashleigh squirmed a bit, frightened to say the words. "The operation."

"What operation?" asked Becky, just getting over the canal bridge before the gates started to close.

"You know, your GRS," responded Ashleigh now getting a bit frustrated. She felt that Becky was toying with her.

"I ... I," stuttered Becky.

Realisation dawned on her. Shocked, she whispered, "You haven't had it?"

"I was too busy with the project. Hilda said I should make time, but I got scared."

"It's your choice," said Ashleigh, still reeling from that revelation. What an assumption she'd made. "If you stay as you are, that is just as valid as if you have that operation. I love you for you, not what is in your knickers."

"My knickers?" squeaked Becky. "Nobody says knickers anymore."

"Knickers," repeated Ashleigh, with a smile. Gently she asked, "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I was scared it might make you hate me. Sort of someone that's in-between. And it makes no difference in our relationship unless we—"

'Slept together,' concluded Ashleigh in her mind.

"You are you. I think I've told you before that I love you for who you are. The love you give, and the life you've lived. If you've not had the final operation, it makes no difference to me. If you have, the same. You are still you; the woman I love. Just so you know, I would have no issues in bed if you've had the op or not. You are still Becky, the woman I love."

Gentle tears rolled delicately down Becky's cheeks. The worry and fear masked by the love she felt for Ashleigh. She didn't flinch as Ashleigh's fingers gently skated across her cheek, catching the tears.

"You're a siren," whispered Becky.

Ashleigh grinned. "Your siren."

"So, are you keeping any secrets from me?" teased Becky.

Ashleigh stilled and her heart sank. "Yes," she replied, all the happiness draining from her heart. "But I have a promise to keep. If it was bad, I would tell you. But—"

"A promise to Tina?" asked Becky after thinking long about who it might be.

"Yes. I worked something out and confronted her. I said I would tell you if I thought the details she gave me was bad, otherwise I'd keep it quiet. She told me, and it wasn't awful. I confronted her about something else too, something about her she explained why what I was asking could impact a lot of people, not just her. The things she has dealt with are huge, and I wouldn't want to impact what she can do."

"I'm sorry I've dragged you into this project. I thought it was a simple science question. I was surprised when the idea was taken seriously. It made me feel wanted and able to do something fantastic in my life. Be extraordinary. Don't get me wrong, I've loved every minute of it. We have achieved something wonderful, but at what cost? Hilda and Ryan are dead. We've been under attack twice. What is this doing to Jenny?"

"Jenny doesn't know any different. She's been brought up in a life where she's treated almost as an adult. You never stop her listening or trying to help. You all give her extra lessons, and she pushes herself. I've never heard her complain once about her life. She never moaned while we were on the run apart from missing school. The only issues she really seems to have, is her missing Hilda and Ryan, which is perfectly understandable for anybody. You've been a model mother to her."

They drove slowly down a side street in the Montpelier area of Cheltenham. There were little restaurants, down the street that ran parallel to the main road into the centre. It had always been full of quaint establishments, and that still continued. They were unfortunate there weren't any free spaces, so they carried on towards the centre before finding a spare space.

"It's like everybody has come to Cheltenham," said Ashleigh as they got out of the car.

"I know. We still have time before our reservation," said Becky, looking at her watch. "I remember what Gold Cup week used to be like. Yikes. Cheltenham became so crowded."

The evening was pleasant. The restaurant small and appealing, with gentle music playing in the background. A Saturday night experience that for many was a treat. There was no talk of work, just the things they'd done over the years. Becky was most intrigued to know what Ashleigh had done since her childhood.

It was while they were waiting for their pudding to arrive, that Becky suddenly said, "Ashleigh, since you've arrived, you've made me look at life again. You have given me a new zest in life. You make me look forward to waking up so I can see your smile and the way you look at me. You've become so much a part of my life. Not just for the project, but in life as a whole. I could never imagine us not being together. It would be like the sun setting and never rising again."

Ashleigh was stunned at this declaration. This wasn't something she thought she would hear.

"I don't want to ask you to marry me," added Becky.

Ashleigh couldn't believe that last bit. How could Becky say that after such romantic words? If that wasn't a declaration of love, Ashleigh didn't know what was. Her heart had gone from soaring to the pits of her stomach.

"Asking you to marry me sounds so possessive. I would like us to marry."

Ashleigh just stared at Becky, dumfounded. This was such a rollercoaster of emotions. There were those words. Those sweet and delicious words. Then not wanting to ask her for marriage. That devastation after those words. Oh, those words. And now this. The mutual way she phrased it. She'd never thought of it like that. A marriage of equals.

"You'd like us to marry?" eventually asked Ashleigh, wanting to confirm. She still couldn't believe this.

"Yes. I want us to be partners in life. Forever together."

Ashleigh wanted to scream "YES" at the top of her voice, but something stopped her. "If Jenny agrees, then yes."

They both leaned up across the table and they kissed. It wasn't a long deep kiss, but a gentle kiss that spoke of desire. They broke apart by the sound of applause from neighbouring tables.

Their romantic meal had turned into something a lot more and other patrons in the restaurant had noticed.

"Congratulations," said their waiter, a big grin on his face. "A gift from the restaurant. It isn't often we see proposals like that."

He produced a bottle of champagne and opened it up. A waitress appeared with two champagne flutes and two sealed Drive Safe pills.

"This was wonderful," said Ashleigh as they walked arm in arm back towards the car.

"I've not been out like this for years. Thank you for encouraging me."

"We're fortunate that Tina is still around to look after Jenny. Though I'm sure one of the others would have been willing to do so."

"Do you think she is going back on investigations?" asked Becky.

"I don't know. She doesn't appear to be suffering like she was. She's finished at the school, so is available. Perhaps you need to organise some permanent increase in security for the factory and at the lab. Storm knows where we are."

Becky stopped walking and rubbed her forehead. "Storm knows the location of the factory. If she will spill that information or not, I don't know. I'm sure there are lots of people who want to know Aurora's secrets. The Yvestigans already know where the factory is. Governments will want to know. I'm surprised they haven't got in."

"Will they be able to get it if they do?" asked Ashleigh, stroking Becky's cheek.

"The drive is part of the ship. They might try to fly the ship off, but it would be dangerous without knowing how the coordinates work. They could get that from the computer systems. Nothing is impossible. The physical drive will give them some clues, but a lot is in how the commands are sent to the drive. They would need the control software too."

They started walking again. A slight sprinkle of snow started to fall. It wasn't heavy and wasn't settling, but it made a picturesque sight. It made a magical end to a perfect night out.

* * *

Becky and Ashleigh crept quietly into the house, so not to disturb Jenny, who would be in bed. Instead, they found Tina and Jenny still playing monopoly.

"Ma," said Jenny, with no concern at being caught stopping up way past her normal bedtime. "This is a really fun game. We've still not finished it."

"Who's winning?" asked Becky, no rancour for them still being up.

"Aunt Tina nearly won but then landed in jail and came out and got assessed for street repairs."

"Ouch," laughed Ashleigh.

"But then I got stronger, and now it's a draw."

Tina was gazing at her sister, with a puzzled expression. Ashleigh caught sight of it and gave her sister a wink.

"Jenny, before you go off to bed, we have a question for you," said Becky, sitting on the settee, and patting the seat next to her.

Jenny scooted across, sat down and looked at her ma expectantly.

"I asked Miss Thompson if we could marry. She said you needed to be involved since you are family."

"YES!" called out Jenny with delight.

"Then I say yes too," added Ashleigh, her eyes sparkling with joy.

"Will you be my bridesmaid?" Ashleigh asked Tina.

"I might not be around," said Tina sadly. "I got a call while you were having your meal. Luke and I have an investigation."

Ashleigh's heart sank. She'd enjoyed the time with her sister, but then mentally pulled herself together and told herself not to be selfish.

"You have your job to do," said Ashleigh, giving her sister a hug. "When do you leave?"

"First thing Monday."

"It will be a few months for us to arrange everything," said Becky. "By the time we've sorted it, you'll probably be back."

"I hope you have a great birthday," said Tina to Jenny. "I'd have loved to have been here for it, but work calls."

"Can we have a birthday party tomorrow?" Jenny asked her Ma.

"I think we might be able to do something," smiled Becky. "Now, off to bed. I wouldn't have been happy with you staying up this late if there had been school the next day."

Jenny jumped up, gave Tina and Ashleigh a hug and rushed upstairs.

"I better be going," said Tina. "Again, congratulations on your engagement."

"I better be off too," said Ashleigh seeing no sign that Becky was going to invite her to spend the night.

"You can stay," said Becky, after a moment's hesitation. "If you want to."

"I'd love to," said Ashleigh. "But not tonight. You are only asking me to stay because you think you should."

"I'm sorry," whispered Becky, not knowing what else to say.

"There's nothing to be sorry about," said Ashleigh, folding Becky into her arms. "Take it slowly. When we're both ready, it will happen. I know you love me, but you aren't ready to share a bed with me. You've got to work through your demons first. Remember, I love you for you. I don't care what's beneath, but you do."

"I'll see you tomorrow?" asked Becky hopefully.

"Count on it," said Ashleigh fiercely, and they kissed. And then they kissed some more.

When they eventually separated, Becky saw her to the door, their hands clasped together. "Dream of us."

A tingle went through Ashleigh as she heard those words. She donned her coat and went home. Ashleigh had thought Tina would have been waiting, but she'd quietly slipped out, leaving her to have some privacy. When she got to her house, she found Tina and Luke waiting in the lounge.

"I hear congratulations are in order," said Luke as Ashleigh came in, and hung up her coat.

Ashleigh was glowing with happiness. She'd never felt like this before. It was like her world had realigned on a different axis. The future seemed to open in front of her, giving her possibilities she'd never entertained.

"We went for a meal at 'La Lumière Douce' in Cheltenham. She said—"

Ashleigh tailed off in sobs of delight as the event replayed in her mind. It had been an amazing day.

Tina came across and sat next to her while Luke said, "Let me go make some hot chocolates."

Tina listened as Ashleigh recounted the proposal. Luke arrived with the drinks quickly, and perched himself at the edge of his seat, listening in rapture to the tail.

"What a magical evening," said Tina. "Is tomorrow ring shopping?"

"A ring?" said Ashleigh, getting giddy again. "I'd not thought of that."

"Perhaps matching rings?" suggested Luke.

"Does Lisa have a ring?" asked Ashleigh, a little curious.

"Of course," said Luke, sounding rather indignant.

Tina just smiled.

"Tuesday isn't just Jenny's birthday, it is also her friend Kelly's. Kelly is having a party, so Jenny is invited. Kelly's parents are hosting it," explained Ashleigh. "So, tomorrow is a way for us all to wish her a Happy Birthday. Perhaps we should go shopping for a ring on Monday."

"Leave it to us," said Tina. "You can join in the preparation when you're back."

"Aunt Tina and Uncle Luke to the rescue," said Luke. "It will be nice for us to do something like this rather than thinking about the next few weeks."

Ashleigh wanted to ask about where they were going but knew they wouldn't tell her. Where they were going, and what they would be doing is something that she knew they had to keep to themselves. Heck, Tina wouldn't even talk to her about it when she got back from her last investigation and she had no clue about where Luke had been.

"I'm going up," said Ashleigh, getting up to take the empty mugs back to the kitchen. "See you tomorrow."

Ashleigh hadn't been in her room long, when there was a gentle tap on her bedroom door.

"Come in," called Ashleigh.

It was Tina. There was a fifty/fifty chance it was going to be her. Well, it was almost certainly going to be her sister, concluded Ashleigh. It wasn't likely that Luke, even when dressed as Lisa, would do that unless it was an emergency.

"What an evening you've had," said Tina, shutting the door behind her.

"I'm going to get married," squealed Ashleigh.

"I'm worried," said Tina in a voice that sobered Ashleigh.

"About?"

"There is a big elephant in the room. You haven't resolved your issue with Becky."

"She offered for me to spend the night. You probably had slipped out when that happened."

"So, why are you here?" enquired Tina, not backing down.

"Because she isn't ready. She offered because she thought it was the right thing to do. I didn't want her to regret it."

"Don't you think it would get her over the hump, if you had spent the night?"

"It might, but it might cause more issues," stated Ashleigh, flopping down on the bed. "And I'd prefer to wait rather than lose her. At least I know what the issue is. I just don't know what to do to help."

"Can I help?" asked Tina.

"Help Becky? Er, no."

"No, you nit. Help you. Give you some of my sage advice."

Ashleigh sat there a moment, and then asked, "When you had your GRS, did it hurt? How long did it take to recover?"

"Yes, there is pain afterwards, but it is managed by ..." Tina trailed off, realisation dawning on her. She then whispered almost theatrically "She's preop?"

"Shush," said Ashleigh. "I didn't say that. I don't care if she is preop or postop. She does though."

"You didn't tell me anything," said Tina. "And if you had told me something, you know I wouldn't say anything. But to answer your theoretical question. Someone having the op will need a few months recovery."

"Thanks."

"Now go to bed. Sleep if you can. You've certainly had a day to remember."

Escaping the Cradle

by Karen Page

Part 14

---

Part 14
DATE:FC+41

Georgina Harries, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom leaned back in her chair. It was two days after the meeting at the UN, and the calls about it had started to slow down. If it wasn't discussions with world leaders, there was the catching up with home issues. Lewis had stepped up and had handled some of her work, but there was a lot that only she had authority.

"Prime Minister," said Rupert, over the intercom. "I have the Chief Scientific Adviser."

"Put him through," she answered.

"No, Prime Minister. Professor Martyn Miller is here. You have thirty minutes before your next meeting."

"Okay, bring him in," the PM responded, getting up from her desk, and moving towards her discussion area.

A minute later, the biologist and Government Chief Scientific Officer, was sat opposite her. Rupert had drawn up a seat to take notes.

"Professor Miller. This is an unexpected visit."

"Yes, Prime Minister. I thought it was important you know. The scientists behind the spaceship have published a paper. ISAAC met last night to discuss it. The journal website will have it up in an hour. As per agreements long established, certain governments were given a prerelease so we could discuss."

Georgina scowled. She was sure there was someone in the government that just spent their time coming up with these acronyms. ISAAC was the Interstellar Studies and Alien Advisory Council. It was better than GALAXY, which was the Group for Alien Liaison, Analysis and Xenology.

"And?"

"Their scientists are either mad, geniuses or both."

"Does the journal have the names of the scientists?"

"Yes. There are two authors named in the paper. Dr Evan Lancaster, and Dr Laim Mann. They are both known and are reputable. It isn't likely to be a hoax. I spent all night with some scientists working through the paper. It might not be my field, but it is theirs."

She'd met Evan but now had his full name. She didn't want to mention she'd met one of them, so moved the conversation on. "So, do they now understand how it works?"

She was very specific not to say you. After all it wasn't Martyn Miller's field.

"The theory, but not how it is implemented. You didn't go faster than the speed of light. You transitioned via a different dimension. They created a shortcut. There is some relief that they haven't blown the basis of physics. Einstein still stands."

"You said there was no information on how it's implemented. What do you mean?"

"There is no information about how they are opening or targeting the tunnel. Scientists understand what they are doing, just not how."

"When we were visiting the council, we were in a space station orbiting a gas giant. I was told there was life in it."

"In the gas?"

"I'm not sure if it was in the top part, or what is lower down. But they were adamant that there was life. I was told that not all members of the council breathe oxygen."

"Fascinating. I wonder if I'll be able to get specimens."

Georgina was shocked that someone would be thinking about cutting open an intelligent and thinking being. Yes, they weren't human, but that didn't matter. They think and are sentient. Perhaps this is how people thought a hundred years ago about different races in the world. They weren't the same, so they had to be inferior.

"They are sentient beings. In some ways more advanced than us. These aren't bugs on Earth where you can dissect. If you try to do that with one of the aliens, you will cause a diplomatic incident. I don't think you'd want them trying to cut you up to find out how you work."

"But—" he tailed off. "You're right. I've been so excited about them that I didn't think how I should treat them. I wouldn't do that to a human and shouldn't think like that for any alien either."

"Exactly. They have doctors, and medicine, just like we do. I'm sure that there will be research that you can share with them about humans that you can exchange for information about them."

"Such possibilities," he murmured. "Anyway, back to this report. There are some nervous people that are worried that it might be used as a weapon."

"Oh?"

"Just like the test they did, sending the bear to the space station. They opened a passage without issue. They could have sent a bomb through. We have no protection against something like this."

"Noted," the Prime Minister said rather tersely. "Why are you bringing this up? This isn't your remit."

"One of the scientists on ISAAC is the scientific advisor to the Defence Department. It seems the minister thinks this should be under his control."

"Thank you for the update," said Georgina rising. "Please get your teams to continue working on the details. Now you have information about how they are going across space; can you please get them working on a defence. As you say, we don't want it being misused. By the sound of it, the scientists behind this also seem to realise it can be misused, so are being cautious."

"Yes, Prime Minister."

Rupert showed him out but wasn't gone for long. "Prime Minister, while you were in conference with the Chief Scientific Officer, the Home Secretary has been trying to get hold of you. He left two messages for you to get back to him urgently."

"Anything else?"

"No, Prime Minister."

"Okay, Rupert, get Lewis on the phone."

Rupert rang back within a minute. "Prime Minister, I spoke with Lewis's private office. He is already on the way and should be here soon. Apparently, it is something that couldn't be discussed on the phone."

"Oh joy. It's going to be one of those days," she responded. "Okay. Hold all meetings until he gets here."

She didn't have to wait long. With all the congestion policies in place, London was still a nightmare to drive in, yet within two minutes, he was being ushered into her office.

"Lewis," she said in welcome. "What can't be said over secure communications that needs you in person?"

"Defence Intelligence decided to raid a building last night in the South Gloucestershire area. MI5 had been there a few weeks ago when thirty mercenaries had been killed trying to infiltrate it."

"Okay," said the PM, being careful what she said as Rupert was taking notes. "How do you know about this?"

"I've just been briefed. MI5 were keeping a discrete eye on the place, just in case there was another terrorist attack."

"And why the urgent call. Shouldn't you be taking this up with Ron? Defence Intelligence is part of his portfolio."

"Another group went in about an hour later. It looks like it was from a foreign country."

"Do you know which one?"

"Not exactly," said Lewis. "We have a few ideas based on their style, but not enough to complain, even in private. That's not the big issue though."

"It isn't?" responded the Prime Minister, slightly surprised. She thought having a foreign government operating on UK soil was a big issue.

"Rupert, don't write this down," said Lewis.

Rupert looked at his boss, who gave a small nod.

"Standard practice would be that the DI would have put some spyware onto the PC's they hacked. It might have been picked up by the second team."

"Rupert, I think you better leave this conversation," the PM said.

"Yes, Prime Minister, " he said, getting up. "The minutes will be a standard security minute that the Home Secretary discussed matters of national security with the Prime Minister."

"That sounds perfect. Thank you, Rupert."

When he'd gone, Lewis said, "I wish my PS was as good as yours."

The Prime Minister just smiled. She knew how good Rupert was.

"What's Ron playing at?" she asked Lewis. "First the military when I returned from visiting the aliens. And now this."

Lewis pondered, and carefully responded, "Ron has a lot of people under him from the old era. He has been told there is a threat, and he probably thought it was justified. Defence of the Realm. Yes, it might have made your job awkward, but you can't say he isn't wrong. How he went about it might be questionable."

"I've no idea if there is a defence for this interdimensional drive. I'd sleep better knowing someone couldn't send an assassin through it, or worse. Yet we always worry about new technology. Most things can be used as a weapon. A few decades ago, someone realised they could drive cars into a crowd. We didn't ban cars but put up barriers to make it impractical. There is nothing evil or wrong with the car. It's just someone misusing it in a destructive way."

"Has things settled down from your trip to the UN?"

The PM sighed, "Yes. At last. I didn't think the calls and discussions were going to end. Some of the implications came to light with the crew of Aurora taking it for a tour to various space agencies. I've no idea if they are trying to recruit additional pilots, but it certainly has highlighted a few things. They deliberately didn't step off the craft, so not to cause immigration issues, but if this becomes common technology, it's going to change the world. Alien pact or no alien pact."

"How do you mean?"

"Well, take this UN discussion. I was driven to the airport, took a six-hour plane journey and then another hour battling traffic. When I went to the alien council, which was a lot further away, I walked around the corner, climbed abord the ship and a few seconds later I was there. I had my meeting and was back here in less time than it took me to fly to New York."

Lewis nodded. "That puts it into perspective. At the moment, we have borders. We have watchlists. We can watch for undesirables trying to enter the country. We have control of immigration. Ships like that will take that away. I'm not sure that's a good thing."

"The internet meant there was no control over information. Some countries spent years trying to control that. They failed and after spending a lot of money and resources, they gave up. Is this inevitable?"

"I worry that Ron's next step is that because only one group understands this technology, it would be easy to stop it."

This was what she liked about Lewis. He was a good person to talk through issues with. He saw the bigger picture and was compassionate. He might be Home Secretary, but he also was the Deputy Prime Minister. "That might work in the short term. But people have seen it. You can't put that genie back. Scientists know it is possible; just not how. The hard thing is coming up with the ideas and having the perseverance to see it through. To not give up. Today there is just one team with that technology. Next year there could be ten."

"Why haven't they patented the idea?" queried Lewis.

"I suppose because to patent something you have to describe it in detail. Others would copy it and be damned. Coca Cola still keep their recipe a secret with no patent. Since their drive isn't disclosed, it means that people can't misuse is."

"People like Sally will have explained this," said Lewis. "I've every confidence that they understand the implications."

"Are you sure. You seem to have a lot of faith in Sally."

"They took on a life that not many would. They knew what they were getting into. From what I can gather, most who do that job stay for up to ten years. It burns them out. Some, like Sally keep at it. They know what they do protects – in some cases, the world. You worked as a peace envoy. You strove to make the world a safer and better place. They just do the same, but at a lower level."

"You know a lot about them."

"I know some, because I saw one of the things when I was young and I know a few people who are part of that world. But I've no idea of their current 'projects', nor who is in the hierarchy. All I ask is you leave them to it and don't try to find out who they are."

"I've not seen them do anything nefarious, so I'm going to leave it at that. For now. I've been thinking, we protect our nuclear power plants because if terrorists got onsite, it would be very bad. If terrorists got hold of that technology, it would be equally as bad."

"They're a private company."

"True, but our nuclear power stations are built and run by a private company. It doesn't stop them having armed protection."

"Fair point. I will look into it."

"Great and thank you for the information about what happened."

Taking that as his cue, Lewis went back to his office, leaving the Prime Minister wondering about Ron.

After a few seconds she went back to her desk and contacted Rupert. "What meetings did I miss, and what's next?"

"You missed a discussion with Sir John regarding the delays to the Sizewell C power plant. He said he'd pick it up with you this afternoon."

'Power', suddenly thought Georgina, wondering how the ship was powered. It must take quite a bit of energy. She'd not heard of any nuclear reactors being authorised, and anyway, it wouldn't fit in the ship. Could it be batteries? Probably not, even though they'd improved a lot over the years.

"Now would be a good time."

"You have a meeting with the Chief Whip and then you are going to parliament."

Georgina inwardly sighed. It was like her working day was planned in diaries and there was no room when things came up.

"Okay, can you see if Sir John can ride with me. Has Justin arrived yet?"

"He's just walked in Prime Minister. We'll be through."

They were soon sat in the room and Justin was quick off the mark. "There has been some rumblings of descent in the back benchers."

"Oh?"

"There is a feeling in some quarters that you are concentrating too much on the alien issue and not the country."

"Is this just back benchers, or does it include Cabinet ministers?"

"At the moment it is just talk in the restaurants and bars. There isn't anything concrete yet, but that is where things sometimes start."

"Noted. Can I ask a favour?"

"Sure."

"Find me one of our MPs on the order paper for tomorrow PMQ's. If there is a disgruntled backbencher, then so much the better. Prompt them to ask me the question about alien issues. Send me a message about who you've chosen."

PMQ's were Prime Minister Questions. It was a weekly event where other MPs could ask the Prime Minister a question. It was one of the most unpredictable events she took part in as she could be asked anything. There were too many MP's that wanted to ask questions that a weekly ballet took place just after the last PMQ's. The successful ones were listed on the order paper.

"Really?" Justin was surprised.

"Yes," said Georgina, a glint in her eyes. "Get ahead of the issue. Don't sweep it under the carpet as it just festers and the smell of mould is rather off putting. PMQ's are tomorrow, can you sort it for that?"

"Of course," he responded.

When he was gone, she sent an email to Craig. "Can you get someone to find out if there has been any new requests for power connection. I'm looking for something put forward late last year onwards. A large-scale connection request. Something probably odd."

She'd no idea where this information would be, but she knew that information would be somewhere. When she'd first started as a minister, she tried to learn everything she could, but quickly realised it was an impossible task. She'd learnt to ask what she needed, and her officials would find it. Then when she was Prime Minister, her job changed again. Her job was even more removed. Her job was now to set policy and try to steer a ship which often seemed to have no rudder.

Parliament wasn't far away, but the safety of the Prime Minister meant that security got very upset if she dared talk about walking there. She tried discussing it soon after becoming PM, and Sir John had described her as incredibly brave. The tone he used meant ‘Incredibly stupid and idiotic'. When she was younger, she'd read the books Dune and Foundation. Both were set in the future and described personal shields. Perhaps that's what she needed. A personal shield so close protection officers weren't always having to put their lives on the line for her.

Therefore, she was taking her bullet proof car. When she got in the back, Sir John was already in it, and Rupert followed after her getting in.

"Prime Minister, " Sir John said smoothly. "You wanted to talk?"

"Yes. What is the status of the investigation into troops greeting me when I got back from the alien council?"

He nodded curtly, not giving any feelings away. "I got a preliminary report, but I wasn't happy. I've asked them to dig more."

"Give me what you have."

"There was concerns that when you came back, there might be an alien with you, or they could be coming back in your ship as some sort of invasion. There was a high-level meeting between the SCO-39 and Border Force. The police were saying it was a border issue. Border Force were saying that it sounded like a hijack situation and therefore should be the army."

"Why wasn't Lewis informed? He is Home Secretary."

"That is what I'm endeavouring to find out. I mean, the aliens already have the capacity to get here. They could land anywhere, and we wouldn't know. There is no way they would have gone to all that trouble."

"Panic makes us all idiots," muttered Rupert.

"I'm afraid you might be onto something," agreed Georgina. "Find out why Lewis wasn't informed, and I want a plan so there is a set procedure. The scientists have published in a journal the science behind the ship. I've asked Martyn to have ISAAC look into ways to protect areas from the interdimensional tunnel. Now, tell me about Sizewell C."

"Safety checks have revealed some issues. They are working out a plan, but I think it's going to be at least a six-month delay, if not longer."

"This was supposed to be a duplicate of the Hinkley reactor," Georgina grumbled. "How can this one have issues, and the other not?"

"We should have a full report at the end of the week."

"Everything is ready when the safety issues have been resolved?"

"I believe so."

"The power lines connecting it to the grid are there?"

"Yes. Why?"

"Just pondering. Rupert, can you organise a copy of the construction contract and a summary. What we would be liable for if we didn't open it etc."

Sir John looked stunned. "You might not open it? You'd waste all that money?"

Georgina gave a small shrug. "I need to see the details. What is the use of committing to wasting more money, just because you've wasted some already. Sometimes it's better to draw a line in the sand. Anyway, this is something for later, but good to know."

Sir John thought he'd heard all the different forms of back sliding, but this was the biggest slide he'd ever heard. "You do realise that without that generation, there will be deficiencies when other stations close. The government wants to increase data centre capacity in the UK, but without power it would put too much demand on a creaking system."

"I understand. Hopefully when you give me the contract details later, you will be able to provide me details of how long the delay will be."

That night, when she settled down to review her Redbox, she saw the document on the Sizewell C contract as well as plenty more to read. She was so glad she didn't have to deal with the paperwork like her predecessors. The fancy electronic version of her homework was really quite stunning.

When finished, she went into the folder that had the research she'd had done weeks ago. It seemed much longer, with all the excitement. She found the information on Hilda and dug into it some more. She created a private workspace and started assembling information.

Evan and Liam she'd got today. The information on Hilda mentioned she'd married Richard Head.

'Unfortunate name', she thought.

Oh, and was now Rebecca. Interesting. That was the Becky that had been mentioned. The person behind the project. They had two children though one had died the day after Hilda. The words of Sally came to mind where she mentioned there was a child involved.

There were three other names she knew. Sam, James and another, just mentioned in passing. She closed her eyes for a moment, trying to remember that day. 'Henry'.

Clicking on the microphone, she instructed her tablet, "Find me RAF pilots called James that have also served at NASA or a space agency."

There was a single result. She was surprised that her first enquiry to the government AI agent had worked. The picture was Captain James Partridge. She glanced over his file and one thing stood out. "Operation Fire Dance". She knew what that was. That was the ETP flight when she'd been infected by the Malachi virus. The flight that brought Hilda.

Some were destined for greatness. James was one of those. He never mentioned it on the flight to the alien base or back. He would have known who she was. Now she knew who he was. A hero.

There was a way to find them. Their tax records would show who they all worked for, but that was restricted. They were on a need-to-know basis, and she didn't need to know. She was surprised she'd been given clearance to view the military records.

She picked up her official phone and pressed a button. "I'd like you to connect me to a Rebecca Head. I've just shared her file with you – well, what I have."

"I've got the file," said the woman on the other end of the phone. She had a personal assistant every hour of the day. "I'll connect you when I have her."

Georgina had no idea how they would find her, but she had every confidence they would. She'd thought about just asking them to give her the number and make the call herself, but after some consideration, she'd decided she should treat this like any other activity. No shortcuts just because the military had violated their company and no shortcuts because they'd kindly given her a lift to the council.

She tried to read more, but her thoughts kept straying to the upcoming call. They seemed to be taking their time finding Becky. Pacing around her office didn't help, so she went into her kitchen and made herself a cup of tea.

After twenty minutes, she then wished she hadn't had that extra cup of tea. She needed the toilet but didn't want to go just in case the call got connected. She just got up to move her cup back to the kitchen when her phone rang.

It was Craig, not the call she'd been waiting for. "Hey Craig."

"Prime Minister," he responded politely. She'd known him and his wife for years. He used to work for her when she was a peace envoy, yet he wouldn't call her Georgina unless it was just them alone and not on work time. "I've got the results back about electrical grid connections."

It was perfect timing, and Georgina grinned. "And?"

"There was a strange request about two weeks ago. There was a preliminary feel about a 400MW connection in the southwest, with it potentially rising if required to 1GW. They'd said if successful, they would be able to put similar generation elsewhere. The scale they were talking about raised a few eyebrows."

"I bet. Do you have the name of the company?"

"Star Bright Science. Two of the directors are the two scientists who published the paper on interdimensional travel."

"And the others?"

"Rebecca Head and also Laura Taylor, from GWPP Services."

"Oh, now that is interesting. Great work. Please keep that to yourself."

"Sure," he responded. She was sure he was grinning.

Laura Taylor. This was the surprise of the day. No, this was the surprise of the week. She was one of the richest people in the country yet was either apolitical or non-political. Georgina just didn't know. She did know that government contracts had been awarded to Laura's company, as they were very good at what they did. Yet, Laura or GWPP didn't seem to use that to further their goals. She'd never seen them lobby for changes but just got on with the hand they were dealt.

She was pulled out of her thoughts by the pressure of her bladder. She rushed to the toilet, leaving her thoughts behind.

Eventually her phone rang, and she was connected to Rebecca Head.

"Rebecca. Thank you for taking my call," opened the Prime Minister.

"My pleasure," Rebecca responded, sounding rather nervous.

"Just to be open, all my calls are logged and notes created. Are you okay for us to continue?"

There was a small laugh. "Sure. When you phrase it like that, it makes you sound like one of those call centres. And please call me Becky."

"Becky," the Prime Minister repeated. "Firstly, I'd like to thank you and your team for taking me to the council. It was very much a journey of the unknown for us all."

"We were the only ones that were capable of doing that. Are you asking for us to take you again?"

"Not at the moment, but would you be willing if the need arises?"

"I don't have an issue with that, but it would be up to the others. It wouldn't be right for me to speak for them."

"Can I discuss the power that drives—"

The Prime Minister broke off as there was a knock on the door, and Sir John came in. "Yes?" she enquired.

"Sorry to disturb you," Sir John said, and then when he saw she was on the phone continued, "The chef has burnt the sausages."

She sighed. That was code that there was a situation close to war.

"I'm sorry Becky, I'll have to ring you back another time. Something pressing has come up."

"What's happening?" the Prime Minister asked, when the call was terminated.

"A general in the Pakistan Military has taken control of one of their nuclear silos. He has managed to keep control even after a unit tried to retake it. SitCen is monitoring. You are needed in COBR."

"Just one silo? Didn't I read that they only have two missiles per silo?"

"Yes. Their Foreign Minister and Prime Minister have been calling all the major powers asking them for help and not to retaliate. His target is the UK."

It didn't take them long to get to the Cabinet briefing room. This was one of the most secure rooms in the building. There was a guard that once he had confirmation that they had no electronics with them, opened the door. Even the Prime Minister wasn't able to enter that room with unauthorised equipment.

In the centre of the room was a long table, with several people sat around it. At the front was a large screen with several smaller ones around the side, giving information relevant to the situation. There was a large countdown that was gradually ticking down.

The Prime Minister stood at the head of the table and looked at those already there. "At the moment, I don't care how this occurred. Are you sure that the UK is the target? If so, where?"

She sat down, waiting for a response.

It came from Sir Nicholas White, the Chief of the Defence staff. He'd been the Air Chief Marshall before taking on this position a year previous. "Yes, the UK is the target, but we don't know anything more specific at this point. We might not know until they launch and track."

"And can they be intercepted?"

"We will try. We are more hopeful with these, as they don't have the masking technology that some other countries have."

As this was being discussed, Ron, the defence minister came in.

"Any idea why this is happening?" the PM asked him.

"He is worried about the end of Pakistan," said Ron. "He thinks some of the items discussed at the UN will mean the country won't exist the way it currently does, and that he is saving his country."

"If he thinks he's doing this for the good of his country, then he will never give up. Why hasn't he launched yet?"

"There are three groups of locks," explained Sir Nicholas. "He has managed to by-pass two. There is a central lockout code. He bypassed that by cutting the line. The system then thinks the central system has been destroyed, so goes into local mode. There is a two key failsafe system, which we are thinking he will not have an issue with."

"That's two items. What about the last?"

"There are two safes with codes on a timer. They can't be opened for sixty minutes of the central system going offline, unless overridden by a base commander and a deputy. They were both killed. This is part of the safety system."

"Safety system? A madman has still got into the silo and going to launch the missiles."

"Sure, but they have to have some system that can override if there is war. I'm surprised the safes are sixty minutes and not shorter. That is what the countdown is. When he should be able to access the code safes."

"And what are the Pakistan government doing to resolve the situation?"

"They attempted to send in a unit to retake the silo but were defeated. The silo is well secured. Another unit is trying to enter via a ventilation duct, but it is protected. They will keep going, but it might take them more than an hour. In the meantime, the Pakistan government are trying to talk to him, but it is radio silent. JTAC are recommending escalating the threat level to Critical and will be briefing Lewis shortly."

"Let them know I agree and get Lewis to announce it."

"Could we get the team behind that spaceship to send in a bomb?" asked General Roberts, the current head of Defence Intelligence.

"That needs accurate coordinates of the base. Do you have that?" responded Ron. "And if a bomb did go off there, what would that do to the missiles?"

"They should be shielded from that," the General said. "Well, ours are."

"Ours might be," said Ron. "But are theirs?"

There was no answer to that.

Ron continued, "So let's leave trying to get an external party involved to solve something that they wouldn't be able to help with."

Georgina asked, "If it is launched, how long would we have for evacuations?"

"Less than thirty minutes. Operation Albion Vault has been initiated, and The King and his children are already being evacuated. We are on standby for other essential staff. All military are on full recall. Phase one of Operation Nightcrawl has been activated."

"Understood."

The Prime Minister bowed her head slightly. The memories of her first security briefing after becoming Prime Minister flooded back. The plans she was told for situations like this or worse. The skirmish that made three countries uninhabitable had supposed to be the end to humanities stupidity. Leaders had stated they'd learnt the lessons but had insisted that they needed weapons as a deterrent. And now this. She raised her head and looked at the expectant faces.

"I'm not ready to move to Pindar quite yet, but someone should get Lewis to High Wycombe. I don't think the PM and Deputy should be in the same city. Ron, do you want to be here or at the AHQ?"

Pindar was a secure command centre in a bunker underneath Whitehall.

"I'd like to stay with you," responded Ron without hesitation.

"Lewis was already in his car, on the way here," said Sir John. "He is being diverted."

"NBC news in America have just reported that a Pakistan General has taken control of a missile silo," said Liam, one of the Number 10 aides.

"Any mention about the UK being the target?"

"No, but they did mention that America wasn't the target."

Time dragged. Reports came in, but the situation didn't fundamentally change. She talked with the Pakistan leader who grovelled that all was being done, and a team were trying to enter via a ventilation shaft. The fright of retaliation was obvious to all in the room.

America, Russia and China had raised their threat levels slightly but weren't on the verge of launching. A rapport had developed between those leaders. Instead of the normal squabbles, they'd all been in discussions about the alien council. Land grabs and Earth politics had taken a strange turn.

The countdown on the wall eventually reached zero.

"Are the Pakistan forces through the ventilation shaft?"

"Not yet," responded Sir Nicholas, looking at his operational lists. "They are still working to get through."

"They could launch anytime. Instigate phase two of Nightcrawl. Let's move to Pindar."

The underground bunker that was under them was kept at a constant state of readiness. Over the years the equipment had been updated and changed as the threat landscape changed. Some outlying bunkers located hundreds of miles away had been sold off, as they were no longer required. Yet if people thought the government had no shelter, they weren't aware of what was below.

There had been a few whispers over the years. Requests for new tunnels on the London underground were vetted and on a few occasions were told they couldn't go certain ways. There had been a few leaks. Even one of the prime ministers had allowed a dozen or so photographs of Pindar. They were just shown a small section. It made people think they knew what was happening and were happy there was preparedness. But the public were never fully aware how many times the UK could have been obliterated. How many times the world had walked to the edge of the cliff and nearly walked off into the abyss.

Moving to the underground nerve centre gave them something to do. When they were all seated around the large conference table the situation hadn't changed. It had a similar setup to the Cabinet Office Briefing Room where they'd been before. Now though, there was a real-time satellite video of the silo site on the screen.

"How is Nightcrawl progressing?" asked the PM.

"The Cabinet are all on the way. Juliet Ingles was in her constituency and might not make it to a shelter. The Royal Navy, RAF and Army are following shelter plans for the aftermath."

"Juliet's constituency is in northern England," remarked Sir John. "She might be better off up there. The chances are they will aim for London."

"I hope you're right. What's keeping them?"

"Whom?" enquired Sir Nicholas.

"The general that's taken over the silo. Why haven't they launched the missiles?"

"We don't know, Ma'am," Sir Nicholas responded. "We would have expected them to launch as soon as they could. They could be having issues, or the information provided to us was in some ways faulty. RAF planes are circling close to the silo, ready to try to take out the missiles before they get too fast."

"It makes it sound like you're eager for the deaths of millions of people," said Sir John quietly to the Prime Minister.

"That's not it, and you know that. I'm just wanting to understand what's happening."

"I know, I was just putting forward how some might have seen it. While we wait, did you manage to review the Sizewell C details?"

"Yes," said the PM, gazing between the live video from rural Pakistan and the scrolling names of people arriving in the bunker. "I noticed power demand expectations for the next five-years were old. I'm sure there are newer projections based on the more efficient AI models not requiring as much power.""

"I'll see what projections there are. You've also got to consider it is having the right generation in the right areas. It's no good having extra generation in Scotland if the demand is in the south. The grid interconnections are better than they were, but there are limits."

"Great. I look forward to that. When this crisis is over, get the Department of Energy looped in. Things seem to have degenerated into 'this is how it's always been done'."

"Review is good but remember big infrastructure takes a long time to develop. It doesn't help investors if there is constant change. The country would have benefited with having something like Sizewell C online a decade ago, but there was constant uncertainty that stopped its development when it was needed."

"You can't blame me for that!"

"Not that, but questioning if Sizewell C should be abandoned might make investors nervous about other investments."

"I understand that. Most of the money has already been spent so what savings would it give? From what I saw, not much. At least we can say we are going in with our eyes open. What concerns me the most is it doesn't seem the DoE has a grip on the situation."

There was sudden movement on the screen. People started coming out of the bunker entrance. They were quickly being grabbed and moved away. Another team went through the entrance before it could close.

"Their government are confirming on channels that the silo has been retaken," said an aide linked to SitCen.

"Good, but I want confirmation that the silo missiles aren't going to launch," said Sir Nicholas.

"Any ideas why they came out?" asked Georgina, shocked that it had ended so suddenly.

"Not yet. We might not know for a while."

Ten minutes later, confirmation was received.

"Permission to end Nightcrawl?" asked Ron, the defence minister.

"Yes. Get everybody home. Ron, Sir John, Sir Nicholas and General Roberts, a quick word in my office upstairs."

When Georgina left the room, she went to the main corridor to peak. She saw a stream of people leaving the bunker towards the main exit. There were looks of relief. Most would never know what happened. They might hear about the situation in Pakistan, but few would ever know that the missiles had been aimed at the UK.

It was twenty minutes later that the meeting took place. The Prime Minister was sat behind her desk, and there were four chairs with the four people she requested looking at her.

"Could this occur in the UK?" was her opening statement.

"No," was the clear and straightforward answer from Sir Nicholas. "We have chain of command that would not permit it. The general had gone rogue. This would be noticed in the UK military."

"When I arrived back from the alien council, there was military on the ground. So far, I've heard only tenuous excuses for why that occurred. However, on what grounds was last night's caper authorised?"

"Caper?" asked Ron.

"Defence Intelligence decided to break into a building in South Gloucestershire."

"General, is that true?" asked Ron angrily.

"That technology is a risk to national security."

"Oh, so you went in to destroy the technology?" queried Ron. "Did you also try to kill the scientists?"

"Of course we didn't try to kill them. That would be wrong."

"And did you destroy anything?" asked the Prime Minister.

"No, we tried to get the details."

"So that you could implement it yourself?" asked Sir Nicholas, getting red in the face. As Chief of the Defence Staff, General Roberts reported to him.

"No," said the General.

"You said that you went to destroy the technology, but then you said you didn't. Which is it?" asked Ron.

The General didn't answer.

"Did you put spyware onto their computers?" asked the Prime Minister, leaning forward to stare at the general.

"That's standard practice," he said in his defence. "See how it is being used."

"MI5 was watching that building ever since a team of thirty mercenaries tried to kill the occupants. Another team went in after yours. So, they will also have your spyware. Doesn't that now make whatever you have defunct?"

Sir John quietly got up and left the room. When he came back a few moments later, he was accompanied by two members of the Military Police who had been downstairs in the bunker. The general's actions were outlined.

"General Roberts, under Section 67 of the Armed Forces Act, you are being placed under arrest. Additional charges may be levied as the investigation progresses."

The general rose, straightening his back. "I'm a General. You can't arrest me like a common crook."

"There are no exceptions in the law," stated Sir Nicholas. "You broke the law. Tonight, you saw what a Pakistan General did, thinking he was protecting his country. You might not have tried to take over a nuclear silo, but you are just like him with no regard for the law and no regard for the chain of command. You are a disgrace to the service."

"You're selling this country to a dream of life in the stars," shouted the General. "Mark my words, this will be the ruin of the country and the planet."

"Sergeant," said Sir Nicholas to the senior of the Military Police in attendance. "Please get the Defence Serious Crime Unit to find the unit involved last night. They received an illegal command but followed it when they should have reported the issue."

The Prime Minister's office was soon cleared, and she trod a weary path back to her apartment upstairs. The commute was the simplest she'd ever had, but being constantly available was sometimes a bit draining. She thought about a weekend away in Chequers.

As she pottered around, her messages pinged. It was a letter from Ron. A resignation letter. She quickly responded. "Denied. You saw how well the military did this evening. Yes, the actions of one member of the military that come under your department, but the only person I know who won't let that happen again is you."

She looked at the time. It was far too late to try to get in touch with Becky again. That would have to wait until tomorrow. Well, later on today.

Escaping the Cradle

by Karen Page

Part 15

---

Part 15
DATE:FC+42

"The Prime Minster rang last night," said Becky as she sat down in the lab.

"That's nice," said Liam as if Becky got calls from the Prime Minister every other day. He'd not looking up from the checks he was performing. "What did she want? Another lift to the alien council?"

"No, she started asking about the ship's power but was called away."

"There was something on the news about a Pakistan general who was attempting to launch a nuclear missile," said Jessica. "Perhaps it was that."

"I didn't hear about that," frowned Liam, looking up.

"Perhaps it was just the American news that had it. No idea."

"You still watch American news?" asked Becky.

Jessica shrugged. "I watch a bit of both. It's hard to let go when you've lived it for so long. It's no longer being reported, just rumours on message boards. It must have either been nothing, or something so major that nobody wants to cause a panic."

Becky's phone rang, and she saw the phone number was the same as the previous night. "I think this is the return call," she said and rushed up the stairs to have the call in private.

"Hello again," said Becky when connected to the Prime Minister. She'd received the call at 9am precisely.

"I'm sorry our conversation got disrupted last night."

"If what isn't being reported is true, you had much larger issues to deal with," said Becky, wanting to see how she reacted. Was it nothing or something major.

In some respects, the Prime Minister wasn't surprised that Becky knew more about last nights events. The internet had some wild speculation, but with no real substance apart from the NBC report, there was nothing much to go on. There was nothing in the mainstream media.

"I could do without fun like that. Anyway, why I was ringing was about your ship and the power plant. Is the power as unique as the drive?"

Becky smiled. "Yes. The ship needed its own power plant and needed to fit in the space we had. It couldn't be a battery as it would just deplete."

"An application for grid connectivity is in the system. Tell me what you can create, and what timescale."

"The technology is proved. However, implementing on the grid isn't easy. There are rules to keep the grid stable. It needs to be controllable and be able to be turned off if there isn't enough demand to keep up the grid frequency."

"Could it replace a power station?"

"Yes and no. It can supplement what you have but it isn't for everything. It produces DC and not AC. It doesn't produce inertia."

"You've lost me."

"I'm not the best person to talk to about it and certainly not to explain. Just that traditional power stations such as nuclear, gas, coal and hydroelectric are all based on something driving a turbine. That rotational inertia helps smooth out frequency fluctuations, which keeps the supply stable. Without that stability, the whole national grid can wobble, and nobody wants their lights flickering. This power generation is more like a solar farm, or a battery. The current produced is different. It would need to go via an inverter to convert it to AC and then a transformer to step up the voltage for transmission into the grid."

"Okay," said Georgina, scribbling some notes onto her tablet.

"The biggest new electricity demands are the huge data centres. They are used to taking Direct Current from backup batteries. It might be an easier process to build for them. Take the load off the grid. We plan to supplement the grid, which is why we made the request. I'm surprised you would get involved though."

"I've other decisions to make, and I got thinking. Your discussions with data centres are your business, and I'm sure you will get good business advice from your financial backer. In the meantime, I will leave you to go through the hoops for energy connection. There is still a backlog, so it won't be quick."

Becky nodded and then realised this wasn't a video call. "We're aware, that is why we put in the application now. We would be good to go whenever but we know there will be vetting required since the design is different. Our kit doesn't take much space, but the inverters and transformers are major items."

"Thank you. You've given me a lot to think about."

Becky said quickly, before the call could be terminated, "Prime Minister, I have a question for you, if I may."

"Sure. Ask away."

"You had some meetings at the UN with several members of the Rohastin Council. I wondered if any of it was in Hytuna that was translated into English or any other language. You were given a document for us which detailed connecting to their communications, but some of the words we can't translate. I was hoping that they might have used non-Primer words that were translated."

"Ah, I see," said Georgina. "That's a good thought. We have a team in the Foreign Office that is dealing with such matters. I will get them onto this. It is something that should be released for everyone. The more Hytuna we all know, the better."

"How are you getting on with learning it."

"Not too bad. I was able to have a simple conversation with Vers'am in it, but I've got a long way to go. It doesn't seem to have a lot of the idiosyncrasies that English does."

* * *

When Becky walked back into the main lab, everyone looked up at her.

"That was the Prime Minister," said Becky as she joined Liam, Jessica and Henry for the next test.

"So, what did she want?" asked Liam.

"She was asking more about the power. I know the plan was to commercialise it, but she seemed more interested than I thought. I mean, wouldn't this conversation normally be with NESO, or one of the parliamentary under-secretaries? Why is the PM asking these questions?"

"She is the only one who knows of us. Anyway, I bet that nuclear power station is delayed again," laughed Henry.

"We can't replace that," said Becky, horrified.

"Well, we could but it would be crazy. We're not geared up for that size of deployment."

"We won't be geared up for anything if we spend all our time on this communication problem," said Becky.

"We did some tests locally, which worked," said Jessica. "This is proving things to the factory. It's no longer just the network layer which we had to rebuild the architecture on for the return data. It also now has standard messaging going across it. I think this is good work for so little time."

"And we had to alter how the tunnel worked," reminded Liam. "It can't just open and close like we had for transitioning an object. We can keep a communication tunnel open for five minutes and have tracking to seamlessly open another tunnel to keep the conversation flowing."

"What if there are multiple conversations? Will those open independent tunnels?" asked Becky, suddenly thinking of that.

"No," smiled Jessica. "They will all go through the same connection."

"Aurora 2 is nearly ready," said Henry. "If this test works, then we build the communication equipment into her."

"The sooner we come up with a name, the better," said Becky. "She is nothing like Aurora and needs her own name."

"Enterprise?" suggested Jessica, with a small grin.

"NO!" shouted Liam and Becky at the same time.

"And not The Millennium Falcon, or Spacey McShipface either," added Henry.

"What about Eos?" mused Jessica. "Eos was the Greek goddess of dawn, where Aurora was the Roman goddess of dawn."

There was silence and they all looked at Becky, who nodded. "I like it. Eos it is. Now let's get this communication working and we can send this as our first message."

"Evan says they are ready," said Liam, looking at the messages on his phone. "Let's try."

Becky, Liam, Henry and Jessica were at the Lab in the old Anchor pub. Evan had gone down to the factory and was with Sam having setup the test at that side.

The screen on the workbench next to them had a monitor showing their side of the connection. Becky opened up the app on her laptop and made the connection to the test machine at the other side. In just over a second, they saw on the monitor the network interface connect and a response path return. A standard Earth TCP/IP network had been extended via an interdimensional tunnel.

Becky saw the audio connection open, and with a twist of history said, "Mr Watson, come here – I want to see you."

Evan at the other end laughed. "No Mr Watson here, but I like your sense of history."

Becky then did a remote desktop across the network and was soon viewing the contents of the test computer.

"It seems responsive," she said.

Liam shrugged and Evan at the other side said, "In essence it's like the two ends are a few millimetres apart. It should be responsive. The latency will be low. This is using a 100 Gbps transceiver so I wouldn't think bandwidth will be an issue for us."

"Let's run some more tests. Try to find limits. This is a very simple first test where we are in a stable position relative to each other. We need to do orbital tests, tests around another planet and further away. We are going to need to track location very precisely if we are going to direct end-to-end connections."

"At the moment we are doing this because we want a route back," pondered Sam. "Earth rotates, so it makes any direct connection problematic. When we went to the alien council, our starting position was in orbit, so we didn't have to worry about a rotating Earth. Perhaps we need a space-based gateway. The location of that will be relative to Earth, not within a rotating Earth."

"I've no idea how we'll do a satellite," said Liam. "That really isn't our thing."

"It's mine," reminded Jessica. "I have some money from the previous company I worked for. Would that be a conflict of interest if I set up my own company?"

"If that is the way you want to do it, we could do a licensing agreement," said Becky. "Or if you want it to be a subdivision of Star Bright, then that is also good. Have a think, and we can discuss with our other partner."

Jessica paused for a few seconds, trying to think who Becky might mean. "Laura?"

"Yes."

"Okay, I'll have a think about it."

"You are probably right though. We are just testing the theory, so we can work out how to connect to the alien system. But we do need something more productised. I'm sure there will be a lot of data going through it."

"More than you probably think. Even for Earth communication it is quicker than transatlantic links. Think how much something like UK to Australia is, or America to India. There is a lot of cable connecting the world, but there are some companies, such as stock market traders, that getting data even a little bit quicker can be worth millions, if not more."

"Would Eos be able to drop a satellite?" asked Jessica.

"Eos?" asked Evan, sounding confused. "Ah, the Greek goddess of Dawn. Nice. In theory, but we shouldn't need to. Why don't we extend what we did for the early tests. If we put the satellite in a container, we could open the tunnel and place it straight to orbit. The container would have to be bigger, but the principle is the same. The would be no vibration that you get for a launch. A much bigger success rate. You know, like we did with the ping pong balls, and the teddy."

"You're going to put rockets out of business."

"The best part is no part," said Henry, parroting a space CEO. "No ship is the best ship."

Becky paused and sighed. They kept coming across areas where the invention would mean existing companies no longer existed. They weren't the first invention to change society and probably not the most radical, but it was there. Personal Computers had meant typists, manual recordkeeping etc had disappeared. Development of vehicles had led to the demise of horsedrawn carriages. The horse population in America reduced by 90%. Jobs such as blacksmiths and stable hands were no longer needed. What would this do to not just jobs, but the way people lived and believed.

"Are you okay?" Liam asked Becky.

"Yes," Becky replied, getting out of her thoughts. "Just another industry we're going to impact. Thousands out of jobs."

"Things change, they always do," said Jessica. "You can't look back with rose tinted glasses. Hopefully the change will be for the best. It will change how communication occurs. It will change the space industry. But space flight is hard and dangerous. If this keeps people safe, so much the better."

"But the jobs!"

"Space jobs have always changed. Look how the monolithic companies were swept aside as new more nimble ones came in. An industry that had mostly been the purview of government funding suddenly became a private industry. Costs came down and older companies that didn't change with the times went under. The same happened with aeroplane companies. The companies that are around now aren't the same ones when we were younger."

'And probably won't be around in a year', thought Becky. Well not in their current format.

"Okay, back to the tests. We have it working on a planet where the two locations aren't moving. Can we try from Aurora?"

"Sure. James is standing by. With the way the tests are going on Eos, it might be one of the final flights of Aurora. You are a fixed point from us. So, we will instigate the call."

"How long before you're ready?"

"Thirty minutes," responded Evan.

"Excellent. It'll give me chance to setup monitoring from here."

They cut the connection and Becky brought up the ship telemetry.

"Would the connection sustain while going through the tunnel?" Jessica thought aloud.

"I doubt it," responded Liam. "The tunnel for communication will break as we won't be there anymore. The return communication won't follow us as we move."

"Even if it is with the ship?" she continued.

Liam paused and furrowed his brow as he thought. "You're thinking it might get dragged through too?"

Jessica shrugged. "Everything else does. Why wouldn't that?"

"The tunnel from the Aurora to base is a quandary. While traversing the tunnel, I don't know if that connection would stay open. A tunnel within a tunnel. We don't understand enough about it yet. The return tunnel from base to Aurora will probably not stay open. The opening is to a specific place in space. That place will no longer be there."

"A test to setup later," said Becky. "It might answer a few questions."

"How are you keeping track of where everything is?" asked Ashleigh.

Becky smiled, seeing her girlfriend coming in with mugs of tea and coffee. When Ashleigh saw the smile, her heart picked up and she almost dropped the tray. That smile was something she'd noticed a few times recently, and it reminded her of the proposal.

"We know our solar system quite well. We know the orbits of the planets around the sun, and the rotation of each moon around the planets. No matter where we are in the solar system, we know where the factory is. This isn't new. JPL were creating ephemerides since the 1960s. That is tables where celestial object will be, not just their current location, but were they will be in the future. These are used in their space missions so they could always know where Earth is, to send back results."

"What about beyond our solar system?"

"Gaia mission spent years plotting stars and their motions. That's why we knew what star we were going to. We don't have orbits for planets. Just as cartographers created maps on Earth, there will be people mapping other star systems. We are at the cusp for new adventurers."

"But only you create the craft."

"For now. We're still getting the bugs out of the systems. Aurora is to prove the technology. Eos will be our first generation. We don't want people using it in space when they won't know where to go, or how to communicate."

"I think a lot just want it for quick transport around Earth," said Ashleigh. "I'd love a retrofit module in the car so I can go on holiday without hours on a plane."

"Strange you say that," said Liam. "Becky said the same last week. But you're out of luck at the moment as it would make it too heavy for the tyres. We could make the EV battery a lot nicer, but we can only do so much."

"Our job is the ship," said Becky, pointing to the telemetry screen. "And Evan should be ready soon for that test."

Indeed, they'd watched Aurora being prepared, the systems powered up.

"We're ready for launch," said James over the internal system. "We're just going to go into orbit. I hear there are teams of people with telescopes, looking in the night sky for us or aliens."

"You'll make their day, or night if seen. Telemetry shows all green. Go when ready."

James pressed the button, and the interdimensional tunnel took them into orbit over Australia."

"There are really people watching out for Aurora?" asked Jessica.

"Oh yes," said Liam. "It's quite a thing. There's a reddit group for them. Nobody has seen anything yet. Probably because we've not been doing close orbit work recently."

Jessica took out her phone and found it. She was going to bounce through her old company's satellite system to mask her location but thought better of it. Instead, she decide to just watch to see if someone reported a sighting.

"We have a network connection," suddenly said Becky and a second later the phone app was ringing on her laptop.

"Are you receiving us?" asked Evan.

"Yes," replied Becky. "You sound clear. Like you were next to us."

Becky sent a ping through the connected network. It was just as quick as when they'd been in the factory. Fantastic.

"We'll move out towards Mars and do another test," said Evan.

"Okay, but give it a few minutes. Jessica is monitoring that reddit group. It might be fun to see if they spot you."

"Sure," laughed Evan. "I don't want to spoil any one's fun."

"We've got two sightings," shrieked Jessica with excitement.

"Any pictures yet."

"Not yet. I'm sure there will be, as others are saying no pic not happened ... and there is a pic and coordinates."

Liam glanced across and looked at the telemetry screen. The coordinates matched.

"Wow, I've never had internet in space as quick as this," said James. "We've got it open and watching here. We'll hang around for ten minutes. Someone else has spotted us. This is quite fun."

After relaxing and letting people gawp at them through telescopes, they eventually decided to move on. They had tests to do.

"We're going to drop this link. It's been good to do a longer test to see how the connection stayed up. It's doing really well. Next stop Mars. That currently doesn't allow real-time communication using traditional methods. It should be great to see how this new setup works."

James had mostly stayed in the pilot seat. He was enjoying looking out at the stars. It reminded him of his free time on the space station where he was able to look out and admire the vast openness of space.

He spotted a movement out of the corner of his eye and looked across.

"We've lost connection back to base," stated Evan.

"Alien ship," James called out.

Escaping the Cradle

by Karen Page

Part 16

---

Part 16
DATE:FC+42

"We lost the link," said Becky with a frown.

"We aren't reconnecting," added Liam.

"Perhaps they've moved to the next destination," suggested Jessica. "They said they were going to."

"But they didn't drop the link," said Liam, looking at the logs. "It was torn."

Ashleigh had been enjoying her time with the group. She had been finding the social media reports fascinating. "That reddit group is saying another ship has appeared where Aurora was. Aurora was moved."

Liam looked across at Ashleigh. "We did wonder if something opening at the exact spot would cause it to shift."

"I still have telemetry," said Becky, looking at that system. "That goes via the satellites."

She donned her headset for the old voice link to the ship. "Aurora?"

"We're glad to hear you," said Sam. "Exact coordinates are being calculated. We've got an alien ship in front of us."

"So the gossip site mentioned. Are you in danger? Can you use the drive to move elsewhere?"

"We don't want to move until we know where we are. We don't want to get lost. We're still triangulating."

"Understood. Did you see any other ships while you were at the council meeting? Do you recognise it?"

"It doesn't match anything I saw on the alien space station, but Eos looks different to Aurora. I'm sure different races have different designs."

"Could it be Yvestigans?"

"We hope not," said Sam. "James says we've finished triangulating. Nothing seems to be happening with that ship. They aren't shooting. They're just sitting there."

"Do you want to move away or are you going to wait to see what they do? Could they be here to just talk?" asked Becky.

There was a pause and James answered. "Another ship has just turned up. They're about half a kilometre away. Same ship design."

"Acknowledged," said Becky. "Use your judgement. No quarterbacking from here. We'll listen in. Good luck Aurora."

It dawned on Sam that Evan had been very quiet. Sam glanced around and saw Evan sat still as a statue.

"I think we should move," Sam said to James, indicating Evan.

James looked back at the scientist. "Okay, but not to base. I'm not happy for us to lead them there."

The hologram of an alien appeared which startled James, who was looking towards Evan. The alien said something in a language that James didn't understand. Sam did though and translated. "We're being asked to wait."

"What the hell is happening?" swore James.

Sam's Hytuna must have been good enough, as a small dialog started with the alien. It didn't last long, and the team were soon alone again.

"And?" asked James.

"These were the nearest and quickest ships that could get here in time. An Yvestigan ship is jumping here."

"Coming here?" croaked Evan.

"Yes. They want us to stay so the Yvestigans don't abort. The council aren't happy with them."

Evan's curiosity overcame his fear. He unbuckled and moved to the back of the ship to check the stored spares and analysis tools. After a few attempts, he found what he was looking for. It was a small box, which he plugged into an auxiliary port near where he'd sat and another cable which he connected to another port.

"Sam," Evan said, sounding more himself. "Can you ask Becky if she can get the feed from Auxiliary two."

"What is it?" asked James, after Sam had relayed the request.

"After the incident during the first jump, few antennas were added next to our normal communications link. It was just in case we hadn't solved the issue; external interference would be the next checks. It was to be analysed onboard but that second cable has linked it to the telemetry system. It won't be a big range but might be interesting. Especially if you can orient the ship so it is facing one of the spaceships."

"Ooh, some proper flying," said James. A flick of cold gas thruster moved the angle of the ship, and a few seconds later, a touch of opposite thrust brought them back to a stationary position.

Earth below them continued to rotate. James asked. "Evan, a question for that fabulous brain of yours. We are at 200km altitude. How long before we aren't visible from Australia?"

Evan mumbled to himself. "Okay. Rotation at equator is 1670km/h. We are further south, so say about 1500km/h. It depends where the people watching are, but say we were overhead, probably forty-five minutes or so."

"So, the world probably is still watching."

A third ship arrived. This one they recognised as being Yvestigan. It appeared between the other two ships, which then shone some type of light on it. Seconds later, all three vanished.

"Wow," said Sam in awe. "It's like they picked it up and marched off with it."

"That's one way to put it," said Evan.

"Evan, how are you doing?" asked James. "Sam and I have both been in the military. You haven't."

"I'm okay," he responded. "Well, I am now. I panicked a bit earlier, but I got over it."

"Good job," came Becky's voice over the link back to base.

"It looks like someone's watching out for us," said Sam. "Did the data Evan sent tell you anything?"

"We got the data, but until we analyse it, we won't know."

Evan leaned across and unplugged the device and then said, "Are we good to continue the test?"

"Are you sure?" asked James, concerned.

Since Aurora had been built, Evan's feelings had been in such turmoil. There was the thrill and excitement seeing the science in action. What had been such a mad idea by Becky had come to fruition. The cutting edge of knowledge pushed. It was rare for a scientist to get out of the lab. To see their creation in action. Yet, he'd never felt such fright. He'd never had his life in danger. Nobody had ever attempted to stop him doing his work.

But the exhilaration. The joy. The feeling of freedom. The feeling of worthiness. He and Liam had done something no other human had ever done. Cracked interstellar space travel. This wasn't star trek. This wasn't some fantasy. This was real life. He'd travelled over a hundred light years and met different alien species.

"Yes. Aurora has recalculated the new coordinates based on our current position and time."

"We're transitioning to Mars," informed James to base, and pressed the button before Becky or anybody else could reply.

The weak gravity of Mars was a jolt. It wasn't as much as Earth, but it felt strange, even after just a short time in space. Evan looked down at his watch. It had been just under twenty minutes since they'd left the factory, but it seemed like hours. So much had happened.

"Opening communication tunnel," said Evan. "Base, do you receive us?"

"Yes, we hear you," came the response from Becky. "How are you three? I thought you might have come home."

"I asked if we could continue," said Evan. "Why wait to do the test, when we know at the moment it is relatively safe. The Yvestigan ship was removed."

"There might be more of them," pointed out Becky.

"It seems to take them a while to detect us," said Evan. "As long as we stay for only a few moments, we should stay ahead of them. This call is coming through from Mars. So rotating planet to rotating planet. Liam really nailed those calculations."

"That's great. Okay, do you want to do a longer distance test?"

"How much further out?" asked James.

"Not out of the solar system," suggested Liam. "The Prime Minister mentioned that the Yvestigans thought of this area as in their sphere of influence. Perhaps other systems close by are occupied by them."

"I'm making a note to ask for a map of who claims what regions of space," noted Becky.

Arura was taken just beyond Neptune's orbit. There was still no lag. It was an amazing difference. This was ground-breaking for future exploration. Satellites would be able to be deployed and observe planets around the solar system. Science that had only been dreamed of would become possible. Long journeys to get there would be gone. The propulsion system to stay in orbit would now no longer be diminished by the requirements to get there.

"Let's go home," said Evan. "The tests show success, and now we need to build this into Eos."

"Home James," said Sam.

James groaned. "How long have you been holding that one in?"

"Just now when Evan said home."

They all laughed as they opened up the drive. The familiar sight of the basement was something that almost brought tears to Evan's eyes. At one stage earlier, he thought he would never see it again.

As they climbed out, Evan said, "Back home, and it's not even lunchtime. Do you two have a few minutes?"

James and Sam shared a glance and shrugged. "Sure. What's up?"

"How do you stay sane during things like that? You managed to get us to safety when the factory was attacked. Today we had alien vessels a few hundred meters from us, and you didn't seem at all worried about it. Just how do you not end up a bubbling mess."

"You weren't a bubbling mess," said James. "You kept yourself together."

"I was taught that in the military," said James. "When I'm flying a plane, if something goes wrong then panicking is the worst thing you can do. You need to keep your head in the game and resolve the issue."

"I learnt that while at school. But the first time I really had it in practice was when I learnt to scuba dive. One of the early things they teach you is what to do if your mask comes off. How to keep your head while replacing it. A lot of learners panic at that, even when in a swimming pool."

"How old were you when you dived?" asked James.

"In a swimming pool, I was fourteen. I was fifteen before I got a chance to dive in the Bahamas."

"Nice," nodded James. "I love scuba diving. My first was in Australia. Anyway, when I was in training, the mantra was: Things will go wrong. If something does go wrong, accept it, and work out what you're going to do about it. When you did your a-levels or uni exams, did you panic then?"

"No. Well, I might have been a bit nervous with my first one, but when I realised how easy they were, I actually had fun."

"I bet others weren't as comfortable as you were," said James. "Knowing you could do something gave you a different attitude than those who was worried they would fail."

"Ah," said Evan, realisation dawning.

"When mercenaries came here, we had warning and was able to escape. Today, we could have opened a tunnel and gone elsewhere. It was easier for me, as I had my hand on the button."

"Why didn't you get us out of there then?" asked Evan. He wasn't angry or screaming. He was calm and seemed genuinely intrigued to know.

"We didn't seem in immediate danger. There was an alien spacecraft there and I wanted to see what it was doing. I suppose they could have suddenly fired missiles at us or used some sort of laser beam to cut us in half. However, my gut told me they didn't seem to be in an aggressive posture."

"I never imagined I'd be involved with something with danger. "

"How did you get involved?" asked Sam as they made their way out of the basement.

"Becky came to see me. She outlined the project and what she thought I could bring to it. I was so scared then, worried what I'd do if it all fell through. We met up with Laura who outlined the financial security of the company." Evan bowed his head slightly in shame. "I suggested Liam. If anything happened to him, it would be my fault."

"Nonsense," said Sam. "You suggested Liam. He signed up on his own accord. He could have said no."

"And has the project been what Becky said it was going to be?"

"And more. We've done so much. We've pushed the boundaries. I've done research that I never thought I would. I've achieved so much more than I thought I would."

"Would you prefer Liam in the ship?"

"We take it in turns. He's had his own scares in Aurora during the first tests."

"With your hard work, we now have communications with base no matter where we go. Well, within the solar system. We need to do mappings for further afield."

"We will probably work out some star references, so we always know where we are to Sol, or the nearest communications satellite. This is going to take time."

Since they were now back, the basement was unsealed, and the team working on Eos got back to work. They were testing all the components in the ship. Tomorrow, Evan would be back to get the new communications system installed. There was a slot waiting for it, so no fundamental changes. Just installing and testing.

* * *

Becky waited at the school for the end of day. She nodded hello to Grace Brown, Kelly's mother who was waiting.

"How's it going?" she asked Becky, coming across.

"Busy days, but at least I've been able to collect Jenny. It helps."

She didn't have to wait long before the pupils came streaming out to be met by those waiting. Some children lived in the little village the school was in. However, because the area was so rural, there were a lot of pupils from neighbouring villages, and there were always a few cars parked outside the gates.

Kelly and Jenny came out together, busy chatting.

When Jenny got to Becky, she said, "Ma, Mr Carpenter wants to see you."

Mr Carpenter was the headmaster. A summons to see him wasn't something that happened often.

"Okay, lead on."

Jenny waved bye to Kelly and took her Ma towards the school. "Any idea what this is about?"

"We'd been in maths when someone got an alert that an alien ship was close to Aurora in orbit. I got a bit worried about them."

"They're all okay."

"I know. I sent a message to Mum."

"How? You aren't supposed to have your phone with you in school."

"We were doing computer studies and was on one of the laptops."

"But they are not supposed to get out of the classroom."

"Oh."

They'd got to the headmaster's office, so Becky wasn't able to ask more questions.

"Come in," he called when he saw them approaching.

"You asked to see me," said Becky, sitting on the seats that the headmaster pointed to. Jenny took a spare seat from the wall and moved it to sit next to her Ma.

"This might be best if Jenny waits outside. Discussions between parents and the school usually don't include the child."

"I disagree," said Becky. "Jenny is very intelligent. I have found it best to be fully open with her. Let her know exactly what is happening. That way she knows that I know that she knows."

Mr Carpenter paused for a few seconds, digesting what Becky had said. "That is a lot of knowing. As I said, it isn't usual but as a parent, it is your decision. There were two things I wanted to discuss. First, I was just wanting to make sure all was okay. There was a family emergency recently and so soon after the death of your wife and young son. I just wanted to check if Jenny needed more recovery time or if the school could help in any other way."

"Thank you, but the two events were unrelated. Jenny, do you feel you need more time off school to recover?"

"Sitting at home will not bring them back," said Jenny plainly. "And then I'd miss out on school."

"Jenny got unexpectedly upset during class today."

"If you knew the full circumstance, then it wouldn't have been unexpected at all," said Becky, briskly. "Do you expect all your pupils to be unfeeling?"

"No, but—"

"Did Jenny calm down?"

"Yes, but it caused disruption to the lesson."

"And telling pupils events happening around the world, unrelated to their lesson, wasn't a disruption?" retorted Becky.

"That wasn't the teacher, but one of the pupils got an alert on the laptop during Computer Studies."

"It sounds like you've got a firewall issue. If I remember correctly, the Department of Education stipulated that lessons should not be connected to the internet, unless required by the lesson plan and agreed by the governors."

Jenny looked enquiringly at her Ma. This was a side she rarely saw. This wasn't the normally mild-mannered person she normally was. The collaborative person she saw when in the office. This was combative.

Mr Carpenter looked surprised too. "Well, yes–"

He didn't get further before Becky said, "There is a Parent Teachers Association meeting in two weeks. It would be helpful if you could confirm at that time that the teaching environment is safe and pupils aren't able to be distracted by visiting unauthorised sites."

Mr Carpenter gaped.

"Perhaps an official compliance certificate," Becky added, piling on the pressure. "Now, you said there was a second item you wanted to discuss."

"Ah, yes," he flustered. "Jenny is ahead of her peers for mathematics, science and languages. We are already giving her some differentiated work during those lessons, as she seems to be able to handle self-learning. The only areas where she seems on par with the rest of the class are humanities, though her geography seems to have been picking up over the last few weeks."

"And your point?"

Becky was beginning to wonder if the headmaster had gone off his trolley. Was he going to criticise her for letting Jenny learn beyond her years? His job was to make sure the pupils got the best education, not cripple it.

"We are looking to bring in some additional help. We don't want her to lose out. We would like her to take some tests, so we know her current academic level. That will help us guide her better."

Becky began to reevaluate the headmaster. He'd taken over the previous September. This was the first time that someone had suggested help pushing her even further.

"School isn't just about learning from books. It is also about learning how to interact with others. Social things. She misses out on that a lot, so I wouldn't be willing for her to be isolated."

"Agreed. Social interaction is very important. Some gifted children don't know how to interact. Jenny seems to have a good group of friends, and I wouldn't want that to change. And the testing?"

"That is a decision I will leave to Jenny. What I do want to know is, where is the funding coming from for this additional teacher. I thought schools were always in need of extra money."

"They are, but there are trusts and companies that we can make requests to. The first stage is to have evidence, which is where the tests come in."

Both the headmaster and Becky turned to Jenny.

"What do you think?" asked Becky gently.

"I'm happy to do the tests. Even if no additional support can be found, at least everyone will know what I know and don't know."

When they were in the car, going back to the old Anchor pub, Jenny asked, "Ma, you seemed a bit upset with the headmaster. You aren't normally like that."

"It put him on the defensive. He was no longer asking why you got upset but worried about the school and if I'd make a fuss at the PTA meeting."

"Oh," responded Jenny, sounding intrigued.

"Oh no. This worked because I had authority as a parent. If you tried something like that at school, you would get suspended. I'm sorry you got roped into this. It's not fair on you having to keep our secret."

When they got to The Anchor, Jenny saw that Evan, Sam and even James was there. She rushed to them and gave each a hug.

"I'm so glad you're safe," she said. "I was so worried about you."

"It was an interesting time," said Sam with a small smile. "It even got a mention in parliament."

"How?!"

"It was all over the news. People actually keep watch to see if they can spot Aurora in the sky, or one of the aliens. You'd think they would have better things to do, but there you go. We were testing the comms link, with Aurora over Australia. People spotted Aurora, and the news agencies started streaming it. So, there were quite a few watching when the alien ship arrived."

"We were showing off a bit," said James a bit shamefully. "We heard people were watching, so we hung around. The Yvestigans decided to pay a visit, and a different council race sent two ships to protect us. Thank goodness the Yvestigans have the slowest ships."

"Did you have a red flashing light and the ship go ‘red-alert, red-alert'?"

"No," laughed James. "Though perhaps add to the list for future versions and proximity alert."

"I never thought we would need something like that," said Becky. "We already have a list of future enhancements. I'm sure we will be licensing the technology and better designers will fill it with things we can't even think about."

Escaping the Cradle

by Karen Page

Part 17

---

Part 17
DATE:FC+42

"We now have Questions for the Prime Minister," stated Austin Charwick, Speaker of the House of Commons. "Colin Hood."

"Will she list her engagements for today?" asked Colin.

This was a long-standing gambit to ensure the Prime Minister must answer the question directly before the real question is revealed. It was a hangover from when Prime Ministers would routinely deflect to cabinet colleagues.

The Prime Minister rose and with her professional smile, answered with the usual, "This morning I had meetings with ministerial colleagues and others. In addition to my duties in this House I shall have further such meetings later today."

There was no preamble, no congratulating herself. She didn't like that fluff. She tolerated the traditional parliamentary dance but treated Prime Minister's Questions as a forum for honesty, not theatre. Now the formality was out of the way, she could get the real question.

"Prime Minister, do you feel that you're spending too much time talking about aliens, and not enough about this country?"

There was a deathly silence. A member of the Prime Ministers party questioning her leadership. The Prime Minister mentally shifted her focus to the Speaker. All speeches were directed to the Speaker. Colin Hood might have asked the question, but the response had to be directed to the Speaker.

"My duty is to this country and that is where my focus is. I am making sure our people are ready for any changes this revelation might bring. That means speaking with our scientists, our strategists and yes, at times, with the aliens themselves. Understanding where we are going is key to having the right plans in place.

"In the coming days, every department will outline its plans for steering us through this new era. Education will be first. Tomorrow my honourable friend, the Member for Perry Barr, will outline the integration of Hytuna into the national curriculum. Teachers will learn it first, so they can pass it to our children alongside an expanded science syllabus shaped by our new understanding of space.

"Just before entering this chamber, I was briefed on alien vessels sighted over Australia, before vanishing. This is a challenge no single country can meet alone. The Rohastin Council offer was to humanity, not the UK alone. But we will protect our country. This means designing weapons for this new era ensuring that we are not left unprotected.

"New industries will emerge. Trade will extend beyond our skies. We must equip our workforce with the skills to build, to adapt, and to avoid costly missteps in alien commerce. The Foreign Office already maintains an intercultural protocols unit. This has been extended. Their task is to prevent the kind of inadvertent offence I myself once caused. That lesson was accepted with good grace. Others might not be so lucky.

"We have all witnessed Aurora's speed. This British built spaceship is capable of being anywhere in the world in seconds. This will reshape border, migration and employment. Education is changing. Science is changing. Trade, jobs, transport, defence; all changing. Under my leadership we will go forward with eyes on the future, not stumble by clinging to the past."

There were calls of 'Hear, Hear' from across the House. Even members of the opposition seemed to be nodding in acceptance.

The speaker called them to order, and then called on the leader of the opposition, Paul Smythe.

"Yesterday, a general in the British Army was arrested. He was in charge of one of the sensitive areas of the military. What does this say about your leadership when things like this occur?"

The Prime Minister stood up and gave a small sad shake of her head. "Mr Speaker, that sounded more like an accusation rather than a question, but I'll talk about what happened without impacting future prosecutions. The General was arrested by military police in my office. The defence secretary was there, as was Sir Nicholas the Chief of the Defence Staff. Even though this House is supreme and we could discuss what occurred, I don't want to prejudice the trial for both civil and military crimes.

"So, what does this say about my leadership. It says I expect high standards, not impossible ones. I expect people, no matter their role or rank, to follow the rule of law. I've not swept it under the carpet. He wasn't given a slap on the wrist and told to go his merry way. He should have set an example for those beneath him. Yes, humanity is at a turning point. Some might fear change. Some might be frightened what a ship like Aurora can do, but we can't let fear drive us. Yet a General was driven by fear, or may be greed, or may be a bit of both. Perhaps even he doesn't know. But we are British and hopefully this leadership will show more backbone than that General did."

There was no jeering of one party to another. MPs on both side of the aisle seemed to approve of her sentiment. The backbenchers that the chief whip had discussed seemed to be as happy as the rest.

The rest of the session seemed to go as smoothly. It was a time she often found annoying. Questions were given for show, or to try to put her on the spot. They weren't fruitful questions which moved the narrative. Today seemed to be different. If others would take note, she was unsure. After she'd finished, she slipped from the debating chamber and went to her Parliamentary Office. A home from home. She was there at least once a week, and it was always nice to see familiar faces from Downing Street.

"Rupert, thank you," she said as she went in. "How is the rest of today's schedule?"

"No worse than usual. I've got one of the staff to get Colin."

"Perfect, this will probably take fifteen minutes or so. Then back to base. Can you get someone to analyse the UN sessions we had with the aliens. Some of them were in Hytuna and translated. I want them to look for words not in the primer. Can we extend what we have before we get to the intermediate level Hytuna."

"I'll make some enquiries. Tom would like a word after you've seen Colin."

Tom was in the communications office. He always liked to debrief her after PMQ's, to let her know how it had been perceived. She was just in the middle of a refreshed document from the employment secretary when Rupert buzzed her via the intercom that Colin was there.

"Can you wait five minutes and then bring him in."

She was ready when Colin was ushered in. This was the first time he'd been in a one-to-one with the Prime Minister. He'd met her in group parliamentary meetings, but never alone. This was nothing like his office. His backbench office was in the neighbouring building, and it was a bright modern building. This had rich wooden panelling and thick curtains, tastefully tied back. The swing of the pendulum from a grandfather clock caught his attention. When she was at her desk, it would have been in her direct line of sight.

"You're not in trouble," she said, when she saw his fear. "If you were, you'd be in the Whips Office, not mine."

He sat down where she indicated. He still looked uncomfortable but no longer looked like he was going to be sick or spoil his underwear. He'd been in meetings with top CEO's and company shareholders, but it didn't prepare him for state grandeur rather than pure wealth.

"That question—" he started, his apology.

"Was perfect," she responded. "I hope I managed to assuage you and your colleagues."

Colin swallowed and sat up straighter. "You gave a good answer, but it really depends on if you follow through with your promises."

"Hold my feet to the coals?" she smirked, trying to tease him a bit. See if he would cave.

His heart skipped a beat. Had he gone too far? He looked up to see what her eyes told him. That was normally a good indicator, but she looked impassive. "I wouldn't have phrased it like that," he responded calmly, but didn't back down.

He was growing on her. He seemed awed and nervous when he came in, but he seemed to be finding his feet. Good.

"Let's see. You went to Pate's Grammar and then went off to become a barrister. You then decided to work in industry as a 'corporate henchman' in London. Five years ago, you became an MP covering where you grew up. Like a return home. But apart from some backbench committees, you've not done anything apart from being a constituency MP. Why? Do you have no ambition?"

"Ambition isn't measured by the number of committees you're on," he retorted, not raising his voice. "Prime Minister, I've never been a henchman. I was there to make sure the company stayed legal. I am here to represent my constituents and give them better representation than they got previously. They had a very poor MP before me who seemed to be more interested in the gravy train. They deserve better."

"What drove you to leave chambers to work for industry?"

"This sounds like an interview. The company I went to work for made me an offer I couldn't refuse and I'm not talking about pay. I'm talking about what the company did. It was good to give back."

"How's your Hytuna?"

"It's coming along," he said, frowning slightly. This wasn't a question he thought he would be asked. In fact, none of this conversation seemed to be like he thought it would be. "My father always said languages would help me in life, and Pate's encouraged it too. Hytuna is a lot easier to learn than German was."

"As I mentioned in parliament, life is changing. We can't put the genie back. We know there are aliens, and even if we don't join the council there is going to be so many other things that do change. We need to be on top of this. We need the country to be ready. I want you to help me do that."

This threw him. He couldn't think how she would want his help. He was just a backbencher. He didn't have contacts. He might have been a fantastic barrister, but he couldn't imagine what legal help did she want.

"What about my job as an MP?" he asked lamely.

"You'll still be doing that. You will still be looking after your constituency. You will just be helping the others in the country too. Each department is coming up with plans, as I mentioned in parliament, but they have the day-to-day running of their department. I need you to take the ideas and make sure they join up across departments."

"That's a lot of work."

"I thought you weren't afraid of hard work. Is this too much?"

She was needling him, and he didn't like it, but that was too vague to commit. "What timescale are you looking at?"

"The high-level is going to be announced over the next few weeks. Some, like education will be enacted the quickest. The meat of the plans will be coming from the individual departments. Your job is pull it all into a coherent plan. You said you wanted something for this country. This is it and I want you to help make it happen."

This was nothing like the methodical work on the back benches. This was more like his time in industry where things were turned around at a much quicker pace. And that carrot she was dangling. He knew what she was doing. She was very good, but he should have expected that. She was a negotiator by trade and had become a bit more scheming since she'd got into politics.

"You're making it hard to say no."

"I have one more area for you, but in reading your file, I'm not sure if it is a good idea. There might be a conflict of interest."

"Oh?"

"To make sure that the strategy is correct, you need to understand the technology behind Aurora. I talked with one of them the other day because their ship has a unique power source. It might help with the grid etc. Where they see creation of new ships might impact transport, space mining or exploration."

"I see, but why would that be a conflict?"

The Prime Minister pulled up the owners of the company Star Bright on her tablet and passed it to Colin. "That is the company behind Aurora."

He glanced over at it. "I see. I left on good terms and don't see that would be an issue in dealing with Laura Taylor."

He leaned to hand back her tablet. She sat back, not to take it. She said, "Move to the next page. That is the people I've managed to work out based on my interactions."

He did, and after scrolling through a few names and photographs, he came across the one the PM meant. Colin's mouth dropped open and he closed he eyes briefly in pain. What had Sam got into now? He'd seen Sam only once in uniform and had taken a picture for sentimental reasons. He used an AI to analyse the service ribbon and then wished he hadn't. It told him that Sam wasn't a Navy Engineer in the yards. Sam was deployed at the highest level and was probably at the spearhead of any action.

"I saw Sam at Christmas. Nothing like this was mentioned. I knew Sam had retired from the US Navy and thought that Jessica would encourage a quieter life."

"Sam was the engineer onboard Aurora when I went to the council. A fine person. It must run in the family."

Colin gave a small grin. "I'm in awe of Sam. If Sam is engineer on that ship, you couldn't be in safer hands. You've not mentioned Sam's gender once."

"I'd no idea of Sam's gender until I managed to get their file. It took a lot of digging. Sam appeared quite androgenous, and no member of the crew gave anything away. I suspect then that Sam was non-binary, and if that is how Sam feels, then why shouldn't I respect that."

"As long as I'm not dealing with contracts, or providing them work, then I don't see a conflict of interest. Anyway, I feel I will be dealing with Becky."

"There is one special task involving them. You need to liaise with the Home Office and sort out some sort of better procedure for borders."

"Have they broken the law?"

"I'll leave that and your legal brain to work out. But they might not have. When they did their trips to other space companies, they never left the ship. When they went to the alien space station, they never left the ship. It's like a long-haul flight where the only country they've technically entered is the UK. The only ones that have got on or off has been me, Rupert and their pilot James. From press reports he was given a lift back to the UK via Aurora. I'm sure the border systems will need updating. I doubt 'alien space station 150 light years away' will work as the departing location."

"So, what now? Pardon my ignorance, but I've only been a backbencher and have no idea about this process."

"Understood. Well first thing, do you accept the job? I'll appoint you as Minister without Portfolio, and you will be working from the Cabinet Office. If you want time to discuss it with your wife and children, that's fine."

He smiled. "My son keeps asking when I'm going to be a Minister. Actually, he keeps asking when I'm going to be Prime Minister. So, I accept."

"Hey, no going after my job yet!" teased the Prime Minister. She leaned across and pressed an intercom switch. A few seconds later Rupert came in.

"Rupert, Colin has accepted. Please get the ball rolling."

"Yes, Prime Minister. His car will be outside in twenty minutes. Julie will accompany him to his office."

"My office?" asked Colin, slightly agog at how quickly things were moving. "Already?"

"Yes. A member of your staff will move your items from Portcullis House. Rupert, when will Colin be sworn in?"

"3pm was the schedule and his office was still talking of that. He was due to depart Sandringham about ten minutes ago."

"Sworn in?" asked Colin, not daring to mention Sandringham. The implication being a meeting with the King.

"Your role is cabinet level. So, you need to be sworn into the Privy Council."

All the high-level meetings. All the court cases, in some of the highest courts in the land. All the people he'd seen. Nothing had prepared him for today. A one-to-one with the Prime Minister. Getting promoted not just to a minister, but a cabinet minister. He'd seen the King from a distance. All MP's had during the state opening of parliament. But he knew this would be a handful of people in the room with the King.

"But I was just a backbencher. I thought this was a junior minister role. It is quite a jump."

"Yes, but the work you do needs to have that seniority. You need to be in cabinet when these things are discussed. You will be making sure we fulfil what I said in parliament."

"Gosh," was the only word that barely left his lips.

"Thank you, Rupert," said the PM. "We'll be finished in a few minutes."

When Rupert had left the office, the PM said. "Are you still up for this job? It isn't a small role."

"So I see. I'll do it."

"Good. Now one final thing, and this is just for my curiosity. How did your older sibling end up in the US Navy and not the Royal Navy?"

Colin relaxed a bit. This was safer ground. This was about Sam.

"I don't remember much of Sam. Sam was seven years older than me. But my parents talked about what happened. Sam got offered a place at a music school. They played at a concert in Russia with a sister school from America, and Sam went off there as part of a school exchange. My parents were surprised when Sam went into the Navy. I hear it was tough at first, but Sam excelled. You probably have more access to what happened during that time than I've been told."

"Not really. Operational security. Yes, both UK and America are in NATO, but these things are need-to-know. I don't need to know, so don't ask. It also stops Sam's name cropping up elsewhere. As I said, not many know who is behind the ship and I want to keep it that way. Thirty mercenaries attacked their factory several weeks ago. We don't want nut jobs trying to get to it too, thinking there's an alien in the basement. Anyway, I'm sure we will be talking more as you settle in, and I'll see you in cabinet tomorrow morning."

Colin took that as his cue. He got up. "Thank you for this opportunity, Prime Minister."

"Oh, I will delay the press release until tomorrow. This will give you time to tell your family."

She smiled and bid him a good afternoon. As he left, Tom came in. He was exuberant about how the press were reporting PMQ's.

"What is being reported?" she asked.

"Headlines range from 'Beam Me Up Boss!', 'We'll Arm Britain in the Alien Age' to the rather solid 'Prime Minister Sets Out Calm, Detailed Course in Post-Contact Era'. Most of the TV channels are replaying the clip 'Under my leadership, we will go forward'. It seems to have gone down well."

"Good. The people of this country have been very stoic. I hope that holds. We have a new minister, so you might want to prepare the website and draft a press release. I don't want any word of it going out until tomorrow lunchtime."

---
Footnotes:

Will she list her engagements for today?	This is a traditional opening question at Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs). It obliges the PM to respond formally before the real question is posed. It's a holdover from earlier eras when PMs might deflect to other ministers.
Portcullis House	A modern office building adjacent to the Palace of Westminster. Most MPs have their working offices here, in contrast to the historic grandeur of the main parliamentary estate
Sworn into the Privy Council	Senior ministers are formally sworn into the Privy Council; a centuries-old advisory body to the monarch. This grants access to classified briefings and ceremonial privileges.
Sandringham	One of the royal residences.
Hear, hear	A traditional expression of agreement in the House of Commons. MPs call it out to show support for a speaker's remarks

Escaping the Cradle

by Karen Page

Part 18

---

Part 18
DATE:FC+42

No sooner had Colin finished with the Privy Council than he was in his car driving out of town. He'd been given three addresses for this surprise visit. He expected it to take about three hours, depending on the traffic. His navigation system said it was clear, and the enhanced speed limits meant he was making better time than expected.

It would have been a lot quicker in Aurora, he mused. As he got closer, he worried a bit about what Sam would say or if Sam would actually be there. Then whether any of them would be there.

At least his wife was understanding. She was used to him being away during the week in London and only getting home on a Thursday night. He would get to see her tonight, but it would mean a very early start the next day.

Luck was on his side. When he got to The Anchor pub, there were cars in the car park, and the lights were on. March wasn't too bad a month. The risk of major snow had gone, and some days were even quite pleasant. The drive today had been one of the better ones.

The door to the pub opened as he approached it. He recognised Becky from the file the Prime Minister had shown him.

"This is no longer a pub," she said politely.

"I know, Becky. I'm here because the Prime Minister sent me."

"How do I know that? Do you have a letter of recommendation?"

Colin looked pained. He thought it would be so easy. Short of calling the Prime Minister, there was only one thing he could think of. "Sam knows me, if Sam's here and not at your ship location."

"One minute," she said before shutting the door in his face. Colin was just glad it wasn't shut on his face.

The day was shifting into dusk, and he felt a slight chill. The wind from the river added an extra bite. He was sure it was lovely in the summer. Cheltenham was only twenty miles away, but he'd never been. He preferred city life to places like this.

The door opened. "Come on in," said Becky. "You're lucky we are here. We were about to finish for the day."

"Oh. I'm sorry," apologised Colin, but didn't suggest leaving.

They walked into the discussion room, and Colin was met by expectant gazes.

Sam came across and gave Colin the kind of hug reserved for family you didn't see often. "This is unexpected."

"How do you think it was for me finding out you'd taken the Prime Minister to the alien council? Sheesh. How are you all after what happened in orbit? Are you all okay?"

"They're fine," said Jessica, giving Colin a hug too. "So, is this some kind of punishment for asking that question?"

He smiled warmly at Jessica. He liked his almost sister-in-law. "Probably. Dressed up as promotion. I take it you heard the Prime Minister's response?"

There were nods all around.

"Well, I've got to coordinate it all to make sure it's consistent across departments. And to make sure I understand the impact of your invention, where better to start than with the people behind it?"

"Can you stay over, and we can go through it tomorrow?" suggested Becky.

"I've got to be back in London first thing. My first time at Cabinet."

"Hang on," said Jessica. "Don't you get sworn into the Privy Council if you're in Cabinet?"

Colin nodded, blushing slightly.

"Wow, have you told Mum and Dad?" asked Sam.

"Not yet. Jan knows, and I'm sure she's told the kids."

"Sounds like several large pizzas," said Ashleigh. "Is everyone staying?"

"If you lot are going to talk mumbo jumbo for a few hours, I'm definitely staying," said James. "I have to make sure you get it right. Anyway, who am I to run out when there's pizza on the way?"

The gentle banter brought a warmth to Colin's stomach. It looked like Sam had fallen in with a great group of people. Colin was introduced to everyone. Ashleigh and Jessica weren't on the Prime Minister's list. Henry's name was, but there wasn't enough on him to track him down.

The evening went quickly. They told him about what had happened today, but then got into the main discussion. It didn't go into the depths of the science, as Colin didn't need to know that. For him it was a basic understanding of what had been produced, and then discussions on implications. Jenny even added some things to the conversation, which he was surprised about. She seemed to have no qualms dealing with adults, or the subject.

"This is more than I ever thought," he said when they finished. "Even without aliens, this is going to change the world. At least I've got a good background now. Thank you for that. Now I have something for you. This hit my inbox just as I arrived."

Colin forwarded the email to Becky, who looked at it. She gasped in wonder. "Wow, thank you. It's extra Hytuna translation distilled from the UN summit."

Sam and Jessica jumped to their feet. "Can we see?"

"In the morning," said Ashleigh, recognising the early signs. "There is no need for an all-nighter."

"But are there any of the words we're missing included?" asked Jessica, her eyes sparkling.

Becky carefully scrolled through the email and went to the board where Jessica had outlined the different sections for communication with the aliens. On the right side was a list of missing words or phrases. Taking a red marker, Becky put a small red mark next to one word, then another and another. She then drew a red line around a complete phrase.

"I'm not looking at anything else," said Becky. "If I do, I'll want to stop all night myself."

Jessica pointed to one of the words that Becky had ticked. "But what does that one mean? So many things hinge on that."

Becky sighed. "It means oscillations. I've no idea how they got that into the UN discussion. Boggles my mind."

"Hang on. We already have a word for oscillations. So, what is the difference?"

"That will be part of tomorrow's puzzle," said Ashleigh firmly. "No more."

"One final request," said Colin. "Can you please refrain from breaking border rules. After the arrest of that General, we don't want to seem hypocritical in allowing some people to break the law."

"We haven't broken any, though I suppose we've come close. Ashleigh completed an online form when I came back from America. When we flew to other countries, nobody got off the ship. Our feet haven't touched foreign soil."

"James, did you go through US exit procedures?"

"Yes. NASA has a procedure with US border authorities for astronauts leaving US soil on a spaceship. I was stamped out."

"I'm told border systems will be looked at for enhancement, but that won't be quick. A private air terminal will probably give you adequate privacy. Don't make it local to here. There is no need for that. I'd suggest Luton or Farnborough. Both have fantastic service. I'm sure one or both of them would be willing to reserve a landing spot for a fee. I see you've tried to do everything above board, so please be careful on the foreign side. We don't want you getting a bad reputation."

Sam showed Colin out and the rest gave them space for the two siblings to talk in peace.

"I'm surprised how interested he was in what happened today," said Evan. "I know it was mentioned in Parliament, but they seemed genuinely concerned."

"It is still being discussed in the news cycle," said Ashleigh.

"I've got the number for that reporter, Tim," said Becky. "I think I'll give him a call. Not an on-air interview, but a quote for them. You know, some details to stop speculation."

"Sounds a plan. I look forward to seeing it on the news later," said Evan, grabbing his coat.

Becky, Ashleigh and Jenny were the last ones out of The Anchor. They locked up and made the short walk to Becky's. Ashleigh spent most of her evenings there, before making her way home to sleep. Becky lived in a three-bedroom house. She had one, Jenny another. The third used to be Ryan's. It wasn't a shrine or anything like that, but Ashleigh didn't think that anybody would be happy if she was in there. She didn't want to be sleeping in a room where she wanted to be in the neighbouring room with Becky.

For some it might have seemed a very strange relationship. Yet they made it work because being apart would be worse. It was what Becky could manage, and Ashleigh just hoped that one day she would be accepted.

"I've just got to make this call," said Becky, fishing out the card from her bag.

"Jenny and I are going to check on her room," said Ashleigh.

Jenny looked like she was going to protest, but when she looked at her mum, she saw her determined look. She knew that Ashleigh meant business and scarpered up the stairs.

"Why are we leaving Ma alone?" asked Jenny when she was perched on the side of her bed.

Ashleigh, who'd sat on Jenny's desk chair, said, "You know Ma doesn't like calls like this. She gets all self-conscious. She moved away last night when she took the call, and she scarpered upstairs this morning when the Prime Minister rang her back. She's fine when it's people she knows, but she doesn't know the person she's ringing very well."

"Who is he?"

"Tim Harper. He is a reporter."

"The one that keeps interviewing the Prime Minister?" asked Jenny.

"Yes, that's him. She just wants to get word out that the crew of Aurora are fine. He is the only reporter who knows who we are. Well, I suppose there was Storm, but she was sacked and doesn't appear to have been picked up by any other news agency."

"You should set up your own website. You can post details when you might be visible in space. You'd have been able to publish that you're okay."

"We have enough to do without managing a website. You heard the impact of what's been created. The biggest priority is the communicating with the aliens."

"But nothing is happening with that. And when we got the best clues for ages, we came home."

"We should have finished hours ago. We only stayed to help Mr Hood. Remember what happened before when people overworked. You've been warned about that."

"I know, but ..." she tailed off with a sigh. "I just want to help, and I'll be at school tomorrow. I miss out on all the fun."

"Tomorrow will not be fun. Tomorrow is going to be like a jigsaw puzzle. Filling in gaps and seeing if the picture makes sense. We are going to have to go through each word and see if there is a match and translate. Translation isn't often a one-to-one match. You have to understand the context and the words around it."

"I suppose," she muttered.

"Hey, none of that. How many of your school friends help out on a top-secret project? How many school friends have jumped through an interdimensional tunnel?"

"Some of the boys look like they've come through something backwards."

Ashleigh laughed. "Now Ma was trying to tell me about your headmaster wanting to help you learn more at school. But Mr Hood turned up and we got busy. So, what happened?"

"The headmaster wants me to take some tests. Find out what I know and what I don't. He mentioned that they might get a teacher to help me learn more. But Ma is worried that I might lose friends if I have lessons with just the teacher."

"We've been going through what a lot of companies call Soft Skills. That is things like Communication, Teamwork, Emotions. Some call them People Skills. You are gradually getting better at them. You have some of that at school. How to play and be kind to others in the playground. Seeing how people react in lessons. When someone struggles, do they get frustrated or work on the problem more? These are great things to see and will help you in life."

"And Ma is worried I might miss out on this?"

"Exactly. School is not just about learning facts from books. It is about learning how to do other things. How to relate to others. About how to help each other. Teamwork. How to share your emotions. Some schools might try to skip that. They just concentrate on getting people ready for exams. You have to also get ready to live life."

"You and Ma are so wonderful," Jenny blurted out and rushed over to Ashleigh and gave her a hug.

"Do these tests and find out what you know. We can then all decide together what to do next. Just like when Ma is coding. She has to understand an issue before she solves it. We need to know your situation before we can plan."

"It seems a lot of fuss."

"Most pupils at school fit within given boundaries. You'll see this more when you go to secondary school. Instead of twenty in your year, there might be a hundred. These classes may be streamed by ability. That is some pupils might be in one class, and those that need it explained in a different way, in a different class. There might only be one or two pupils who struggle a lot, and they might have their own lessons to help bring them on. It's rare for schools to have someone like you. Someone with a thirst for knowledge and an ability to process that."

"So why are they having to do something like getting in an extra teacher."

"Because it is rare. It might happen once every few years. And what that pupil needs is often different. So, they need to make sure they understand how to teach you that works for you. In the meantime, just carry on. You learn a lot with the scientists, and you've got a level of understanding now that you don't just listen."

"What about you? Will you continue to help me?"

"Of course. Duh. As will Ma. It's a parent's job to help. And now the weather is improving a bit, we might start looking at other bits of geography a bit further away. Are you okay with that?"

Jenny started to get excited. "Like where?"

"You'll see."

"Sounds interesting. Can I come along too?" asked Becky from the door.

"Ma!" shrieked Jenny, not having seen her standing at the door.

"How was the call?" asked Ashleigh.

"It's done. Tim was understanding and has passed the statement to the news desk."

Jenny pulled out her phone and looked at the news sites. There wasn't anything there.

"Give it a few minutes," laughed Becky. "They don't just put it on the website and broadcast it on television that instant. It will have to go through several people and Tim will be questioned to make sure it is real."

Ashleigh's phone rang. She wondered who was ringing at this time of night. She glanced at the screen and smiled. "Hi Caroline. How's it going?"

"This is one frustrating baby," she grouched. "I had a show a few hours ago, but nothing since."

"A show?"

Caroline explained, "The cervix softens just prior to labour, and sometimes the mucus plug comes out. They call it a show, as it is a visible sign that labour is imminent."

"You're in labour? Contractions and all of that?"

"I wish. The midwife said that sometimes the body takes a few hours rest. But I'll soon be a mummy."

"Let me know and I'll visit."

"It looks like I'm going to be an Aunty," said Ashleigh, after she'd finished on the phone. "Boss, can I have a few days off?"

"Of course. I'd come with you, but I think I'm going to be tied up here."

Jenny bounced up and down, rather excited at the thought of a baby. In her excitement she pressed the refresh button, and she gave another squeal. "There's something here. Oh, just Breaking News – Aurora safe – more to follow. Why do they do that?"

"It's a hook. People will get notifications on their phones. They will now spend the next few minutes excitedly refreshing. Hoping to be the first with the details. It will also drive people to their news site and away from their competitors."

Jenny nodded, taking it all in. She refreshed a few minutes later and it was there. It described what had been witnessed from the ground, and then a quote from 'Aurora Project Lead'.

Today, while the crew of Aurora were testing updated communications over Australia, a few alien ships stop by. They are aware that humans are at early stage in this development. One of our crew had spent time learning Hytuna and they had a brief conversation. The aliens left shortly after. The crew of Aurora then visited Mars and the outer edges of the solar system to conclude the planned tests.

Testing of the new science is still continuing. Aurora is the test ship used to prove the technology. A slightly larger ship is in internal testing which we've decided to called Eos.

"It has surprised us how many people were interested and concerned about today's testing. There will be more opportunities to see us in the future. Keep looking up; you might spot one of our ships, one of the aliens or one of the existing spaceships piloted by brave astronauts from around the world.

Escaping the Cradle

by Karen Page

Part 19

---

Part 19
DATE:FC+44

For two days the scientists Evan and Liam, helped by Becky and Jessica, had pored over the original letter from the aliens. They'd not managed to fully translate it, but they were close. There were lines of time-based formula to locate the communications beacon. There was a section on the communication tunnel mechanisms. Then there was the section on what went through the tunnel. That was the area that there were still a few gaps and the bit that was the most important. They knew how to create a tunnel. It was knowing what to send was the important knowledge. Without it, data may be sent but not received or understood.

Henry and Sam were finalising the ground tests of Eos. It was the first 'production' ship. While sending it to the factory with the remote unit, Henry had spotted the start of another one. He wasn't surprised, but they would need somewhere else to store the fitted-out ones, as they would quickly run out of space. A problem he hadn't even contemplated, but hoped other people had. He might work closely with Becky, Evan and Liam, but he wasn't a company owner like them. It wasn't something he wanted to be.

"So, oscillations," said Becky. "Any ideas why there are two Hytuna words for the same English word?"

There was silence and nobody wanted to look at Becky.

"I was thinking," said Jessica slowly. "A silly idea."

"I'm up for even silly ideas," said Liam.

"In English we might say 'river', but in France they have two different words. 'Fleuve', which is a river that flows into the sea, and 'rivière', which is a river which flows into another river."

"Ah, so what looks like a generic term might actually have several specific meanings."

"Exactly. The other thing is that their Earth language might not be up to scratch. They will only know what they've heard or seen used. We've been assuming it is perfect. What if oscillation is referring to Electromagnetic Waves. Instead of frequency or wavelength, what if they measure in the number of oscillations in their time. Frequency is the number of complete oscillations in an Earth second. One hundred oscillations in two seconds is 50Hz. What is their time reference? Could it be where we might talk Hz, MHz, GHz and they have these words as a way to describe the banding."

"And this is just the primer," sighed Evan. "Imagine what fun we'll have with the next instalment."

"This is like one of those intelligence tests where you're given so much information and you have to work out the rest," complained Liam. "I hated them."

"Yet you are in this country's top ten," retorted Evan.

"Stalker," laughed Liam. "I didn't think you knew!"

They gave each other fist bumps. Becky rolled her eyes.

"Okay, back to this. Superficially, what Jessica is suggesting makes sense. How do we test it?"

"The sensor recording," said Evan. "We haven't had chance to look at it. If they were communicating, would we have picked up anything?"

"Doubtful," said Liam. "If it was via a tunnel, which wouldn't have been visible. But if they were trying to communicate with Aurora, they would have used their bands."

Becky nodded. "Okay, we seem to have some communication protocol information which we have deciphered. Why don't I work with Jessica on this while you two crawl through the data."

"Any news from Ashleigh?" asked Jessica, as they started assembling the information in a way that Becky would be able to program the logic required.

Becky smiled, a genuine grin. "Yes. Her sister had a baby boy. 3.2kg. Ashleigh's mother was due to arrive this morning and was going to be staying a few weeks to help out. It seems Caroline's husband, Aaron, has stepped up and Ashleigh feels she is just getting in the way. She will be back tonight."

"Do you remember Caroline from when you were younger?"

"A little. She played hockey, which is how I met Ashleigh."

"You've got the patience of a saint," said Jessica.

"How do you mean?" asked Becky, puzzled.

"Ashleigh going home each night. I see how you've been missing her while she's gone to see her nephew. You love her so much. Is she not wanting to move in until you're married?"

Becky gasped. "That's a bit personal."

"Sorry, I didn't mean to intrude. It's just you two seem so wonderful together."

Becky frowned and looked to make sure that Liam and Evan weren't in earshot. She didn't want people thinking Ashleigh was leading her on. "It's me who is pulling back, not Ashleigh. You know I'm trans, don't you?"

Jessica shrugged. "You don't look it, but you've never made it a secret to anybody on the team. It's nothing to be worried about. I was born male."

Becky gaped. "You were? Sorry."

Jessica gave a small carefree giggle. "People are more likely to wonder about Sam than me. You pass, and I pass. It isn't something anybody on the street know. Anyway, I don't think Ashleigh is put off. She knew you when you were young."

"She's the one that gave me the name Becky. Anyway, I don't want her staying the night, because I'm not ready."

"Not ready?" queried Jessica, not understanding. "You can't cope because she would be in the same bed Hilda was in?"

Becky glanced around and whispered, "I'm pre-op."

"And? Doesn't she know?"

"Of course she knows."

"So, what's the issue? I think she loves you for you, not what's in your underwear. Isn't it more how you feel about yourself? What does your shrink say?"

"Hilda used to be my gender psychiatrist."

Jessica paused, wondering how someone so smart could be so stupid. "Idiot. You're not supposed to have medical treatment from family. So why haven't you been referred to someone else?"

"This project took my time."

"No, it didn't. There's always time for medical treatment. And now you have a super-duper fast ship that could get you to London for an appointment and back without missing anything."

"I saw my GP. He's sent a referral but there is a waiting list," said Becky tired of this. "I've gone well over the two years Real Life Test."

"Have you not thought about private, rather than NHS?"

"Yeah, I've just been letting it slide. It hasn't been an issue until now. And I'm a little scared. I've never had surgery before."

"I get that. And the recovery can be a pain, but you get over it. I'm sure Ashleigh will support you through it."

While they'd been talking, they'd still been working, and had the basic protocol structure laid out.

"Perhaps the aliens have more advanced doctors that could help," said Jessica jokingly.

Becky knew that Jessica was teasing, but it was an interesting idea. One that she'd not considered.

"They may but would they know the human body as well?" answered Becky, automatically. "And how would I pay for it? It probably wouldn't be done free of charge."

"You never know. Their economy might be beyond individual wealth. If energy and goods are abundant, why charge."

"And now we're back into Star Trek thoughts."

"Not really. What happened when phone calls became so cheap? They stopped charging per call. Just a monthly fee for using them. There are economic theories. In 1930 John Maynard Keynes wrote an essay Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren also called his Vision of Utopia."

"You certainly got a broad education."

She laughed. "You've no idea."

"Do you regret getting chosen to go to that school?"

"No," she said with passion. "It taught me so much about myself and the world. It taught me how to succeed which I wouldn't have got from my previous school. It was a school that listened to their pupils and did everything in their power to make sure the pupil got the most from their time there. My older sister also went there, though she didn't do the school exchange."

"She runs a homelessness project in Glasgow. Her wife is a therapist at a Special Needs school in the area."

"Did you speak with Laura about setting up a satellite company?"

"Yes. She is willing to help me start a satellite company, but she said a license agreement would need a discussion between her, you, Evan and Liam. She said if it was a sister company of Star Bright with a new holding company over it, then that might be easier as the technology would stay in-house. I think you mentioned those options the other day. But setting up a satellite company from scratch takes time. It might not fit in the timescales you want."

"The tooling and setting up clean rooms?"

"Yes. Then getting a parts flow, the system programming, and a prototype test regime. There is another option. The company I used to be a co-owner in. The contracts she thought were going to happen didn't. The value of the company is a lot less than it was. If she doesn't get more work, they will start having to lay off staff. I could rescue it and turn it into building gateway 1. If the slot for the tunnel is modularised, we can keep that secure. Create the satellite in America, you add the tunnel and place it into orbit."

"What does Sam think about it."

"We haven't discussed yet. I won't need to be in America often. It has a good General Manager. Leadership seemed to disappear when I went."

"I was going to suggest Aurora going to a museum. Perhaps Sam can use it to taxi you to the office when needed. It isn't in the middle of a busy street, is it?"

Jessica didn't get chance to answer, as Evan called from across the room. "Do you two have a minute?"

"What's up?" asked Becky going across to see the issue.

"We've got some reading from the ship, but the values are weird."

"How do you mean?"

"All in the THz frequency we have 256, 288, 320, 352. I suppose the 320 isn't too bad, but 288?" said Evan.

"They're jumping in blocks of 32," added Liam.

"And?" said Becky. "If they want to, why not?"

"Technically there's no reason," said Evan. "It's just odd. Why choose those frequencies to transmit on."

"The numbers seem familiar," said Jessica. "I've no idea why, but they do."

"Okay, write them on the board we've reserved for things to think about later. Mark it as 'weird stuff to come back to'. At the end of the day, it doesn't really matter what frequency they use."

"At those frequencies, it is a very precise beam," mused Jessica. "Did you look at frequencies VHF, UHF, L-band or even S-band?"

"You wouldn't get much throughput on those," said Liam.

They might be scientists, thought Jessica, but they certainly weren't communications specialists. "No, but they are much more 'spray-and-pray' frequencies that someone contacting someone in space might use. Heck, remember when you were younger the old Wi-Fi units used to use 2.4 GHz, which is on the low end of the S-band. You didn't need to be facing the router or even be in the same room."

"Ah, so you are thinking two different types of communication. The ship-to-ship type when they find someone they've never seen before. And the communication via tunnel where the endpoint is very much known."

"Probably," said Jessica. "It's just a theory, but it is what I would do, from a communications perspective."

"We did analyse those ranges and others," said Evan. "But we've been concentrating on analysing the data on the ranges we expected tunnel communications on. That way we could use that to map against the document. We can come back to the other analysis later for a larger understanding."

"It's going to take me several hours to code these protocols and make sure data tracing is going to cope with this traffic. If we do connect, we've no idea what we're going to get back. We will need to review before testing again."

"While you have fun coding, why don't we nip down to the factory. See how Eos testing is going," suggested Evan.

"I hope the testing is more refined," said Liam. "We did tighten down a lot based on what we learnt putting Aurora together."

"I never thought the testing on Aurora was ever going to end. We fixed one thing and found another issue. I'm so glad we didn't just jump into space. That would have been a really bad idea."

"All this going to the factory and back," said Jessica. "And if I'm going to be working some of the time in America. Could we build one for humans to use? Walk into a box, dial in the destination and you arrive. You could have one at the factory, and one here. It saves that driving."

"It would be okay between here and the factory. You heard the warning Colin gave when he visited. Be mindful of borders. We've gone out of our way to be careful. We don't want to cause more attention than needed. We have enough of that."

Jessica sighed and nodded. "I know. If I get too enthusiastic, please reign me in."

* * *

The alarm going off broke Becky from her coding. She blinked a few times, stretched and sighed. She'd got most of it done. Another five minutes. But she didn't go back to her coding. She backed out and locked up. She'd gone down the "just five minutes" hole once and had a worried call from the school. Five minutes had turned into more than thirty. The thought of a terrified Jenny was enough to get her moving. That bad experience had only been a month after losing Hilda and Ryan. Jenny had thought something had happened to her ma.

The drive to the school was the same as normal. There never seemed to be a tractor on the road at this time of day, and she wondered if it was just coincidence, or if the farmers did it out of consideration.

"Hi," Becky said to Grace Brown. "How's things going?"

"Not bad. A mad rush to get Kelly to her studies. I thought she would have given up, but she seems to be loving it."

"Good, as long as she loves it. Jenny often joins me to see what we're up to. So, what brought on Kelly's sudden desire?"

"She's been reading about this thing with the aliens, and it got her interested in science and space. She decided that she needed to be better at science and maths and asked if we could help. I'm hopeless at it, but we found a tutor three nights a week."

"Isn't the school giving them good science lessons?"

"Oh sure, but nothing to do with space. She looks out of her window at night with a telescope. She hasn't spotted Aurora yet, or any aliens, but she is in hope."

"At least you are away from the lights of the city," said Becky. "She sees more stars than others. Though with all the clouds today, not a good chance for star gazing."

"No. Tomorrow's looking better. At least it isn't as cold for her now that winter has gone."

"True. Ah, here they come."

Jenny and Kelly came out, chattering away to each other without a care in the world. Becky smiled to see her daughter so happy.

"Ma," she shrieked pleased to see Becky. She rushed across like she'd not seen her for days. "Bye Kelly."

Becky smiled, glad her daughter still appreciated seeing her.

"So, how was school?" Becky asked her daughter when they were both in the car.

"It was fun. I got to do these tests."

"Now I know you're having me on. Tests are never fun."

Jenny giggled. "No, two different things. School was fun. I did some of the tests. I've more to do. I did an English one, a Maths one and a science one."

"Did you manage to do them all?"

"No, but they told me I wouldn't be able to. They seemed to start easy but got harder as I went on."

"I suppose they wanted to see what you knew and didn't know."

"I've more on Monday," informed Jenny without concern. "They are only doing the tests in lessons I'm ahead on."

"Good. Were there any subjective tests? Questions asking how you feel about things or what you would do in certain situations?"

"No. Why?"

"Just curious," said Becky. "Oh, and Mum is on the way home."

"Great. I've missed her."

They got back to The Anchor, and when Becky had unlocked, Jenny followed her in. "Can I do my homework downstairs?"

"Sure. I'll be coding. The others are down at the factory."

Jenny spied the new queries on the wall. "Why are those flagged as weird?"

"Those are frequencies we found the aliens transmitting. Sorry to just refer to them as aliens, but we don't know what race that was."

"Those are all numbers listed in the primer appendix," said Jenny. "Where they talk about decimal to octal translation."

"Oh, aren't we silly. We never thought of that. Jessica said they seemed familiar. She and Sam have studied that primer more than the rest of us."

Jenny went up to the board and wrote the octal translation. '256=400, 288=440, 320=500, 352=540'

"That's better," she said, grabbing her homework from her school bag.

Escaping the Cradle

by Karen Page

Part 20

---

Part 20
DATE:FC+45

As predicted the day was better than the previous two. There were still broken clouds, but the weather forecast speculated it would be cloudless by the end of the day. Typical British weather, cloudy during the day and then clear in the evenings when you can't enjoy the time outside.

It was a Saturday, and Ashleigh had taken Jenny for her swimming lesson. Jenny had wanted to stay behind to help in the lab, but Becky was having none of that. "No skipping lessons. That is school or swimming. I'm sure you'll be back for the actual test. We've got to finalise the setup."

"Greetings," stated James, as he sauntered in with Sam and Jessica.

"It didn't take you long to get here," frowned Becky. "You were at the factory ten minutes ago."

"We were naughty," said Sam. "We decided to take Eos for a test spin, since she cleared all system checks. We thought a test jump on planet was a safer first jump. We've parked her in the industrial unit across the road."

"Not outside?" asked Evan, leaning forward over the table.

"No, in the one where the server equipment is," said James. "Ashleigh gave me a key just in case we moved Aurora here for any reason."

"How was she? Any issues?"

"None that we know of. Sam and I are going to check things out while Jessica helps you with the test."

"If things are good, do you fancy a test tonight?" asked Becky, trying to sound casual.

"That doesn't sound like your usual MO. What gives?"

"Yesterday, I was collecting Jenny from school. I was talking to one of the mothers, and her daughter has started taking extra maths and science lessons. She wants to go to space and wants great grades. Anyway, it seems she has a telescope and looks out but has never seen a spaceship. I thought it might be a nice treat. We orbited over Australia, but not our home turf."

"I'm up for it," said James. "Let's hope we don't attract any Yvestigan ships."

"No, that wouldn't be good," responded Liam after looking at Evan.

Nobody said they shouldn't go. But the risk was something they'd all thought about but not voiced. Now it was out, they just looked at each other to make sure they were fine.

"I'll go if you want," said Liam to Evan. "It's my turn anyway."

"You're not both going," said Becky.

"We'll discuss it later," said Evan. "In the meantime, let's go through this. Jessica, I'm not sure if you've noticed Jenny's handiwork?"

Evan was pointing to the board that Jenny had converted from human frequencies to Hytuna based frequencies.

"Ah. Yes, it was in the primer. That's where I'd seen those numbers. Strange they put those specific ones in there. It was like a hidden clue."

"Yes, one that you only understand once you've got the answer. Grrr."

"Henry built a small Faraday cage," said Liam. "The sending and receiving sides will go in there. We might not get a response. It depends on whether we got it right."

"I'm setup to do the sending," said Becky. "I've got another device to record what we receive back."

"Great, so what are you sending?" asked Sam.

Evan responded, "Nothing. Step one is to confirm connection. Can we connect to them and get them to open up a return connection. I don't think we can do much more than that at the moment."

"It's no different when we're creating a program that calls a remote API," said Becky. "The first question is, can we connect. Then we get down to authentication and then real data."

"The same when we've launched a satellite," said Jessica. "Once its launched, the first thing we do is make sure we can connect to it. We have a whole commissioning process."

"Before we start though, I'd like to walk through each item," said Becky. "Make sure we have everything perfect."

As they walked through the process and checked each component, Ashleigh arrived with Jenny. Seeing that the team was engrossed in the work, they sat at the back and watched.

"It's like Ma has a checklist," whispered Jenny to Ashleigh.

"She does; I saw her working on it last night. Sometimes she can be quite methodical."

"Is everybody happy?" asked Becky. Her list completed. When everyone agreed, she continued. "Our first test is going to be at 256 THz ... Test underway."

"Destination address calculated," said Liam, watching the telemetry monitor. It was pointless watching the actual unit. You couldn't see the tunnel or what was being fed into it. Unless the box caught fire, it would just look like a box."

"Tunnel open and message sent," added Becky. "This is the structure the aliens specified in the documentation. I hope we did it right. No return tunnel yet. The response destination algorithm is quite complex, so give it a moment."

The room was quiet. Jenny jumped up and moved so she could look at the monitor. The clock on the top of the screen was the only sign that the computer hadn't frozen.

Waiting was one of those skills that had been one of the harder things for Jenny to learn. She'd wanted things to be instant. Cakes to be ready as soon as she'd baked them with her Mummy was the first sign of this. Queues to go into a show or waiting to pay at the shop. Yet with Ryan she had been so patient. When he'd started to babble, she was there, talking to him and encouraging him as he tried to pull himself up.

"We have an inbound tunnel," called out Henry.

It had been pointless to say it. Everybody had been watching the monitor. They received data for a few seconds, and it stopped.

"What do we have?" asked Liam excitedly.

Becky tapped a few buttons on her keyboard, and both tunnels collapsed. Another few clicks brought up a screen with zeroes and ones. "That is the raw data. I've now got to analyse it and see if we can break this into something that makes sense. I presume some of this is Hytuna. We know how we were asked to send the request, so that will help a little. But they don't packet data like we do. You will have seen what Hytuna characters look like from the Primer, and we've learnt how to speak it, based on the localised phonetic translation."

"So how are you going to translate it?"

"Thanks to Jessica's help, we already have the response digitised. That is a major win. Now it is making sense of it. It isn't like we have a codepage for Hytuna. I presume they do have something like that, otherwise their systems will be totally illogical to us. At the end of the day, our data can be broken down to binary. It is how we convert that to something legible. If we sent them a Word document, it would be meaningless. It is compressed and has all sorts of control characters. We also send things in packets, and blocks. It is doubtful theirs are the same."

"The Prime Minister did say that our computers are not compatible. But surely, they will have come across this issue before. I can only hope we have something that makes this easier. A Computer Translation Primer."

"So how long do you think this will take?"

"I've no idea," sighed Becky, the sudden reality dawning on her. It was one thing to follow instructions to send a request via an interdimensional tunnel. It was another thing understanding the response. "I'm certainly not going to be taking after David Levinson.”

"And we've moved into really bad territory if you're bringing him up," laughed Evan. "No Jolly Roger?"

Jenny looked at her ma, and then across to Evan. She got a lot of their banter, but none of this made sense to her.

"They're talking about an old film," Ashleigh whispered in her ear. "Don't worry, we'll watch it later, then you'll understand."

"Jessica, you're very quiet," said Henry. "What's up?"

She bit her top lip pondering how to explain this. "How long do you think it took them before they opened the tunnel?"

Becky consulted the logs. "Forty-two seconds."

"Impressive. I didn't really think it would work. We followed the specification of the underlying handshake, but the spec didn't describe how we modulated the wave or handled error correction. This is all done by the transmitter and receiver. We just used off the shelf units. The aliens took what we sent and somehow managed to process it, understand the structure, and translate it to something they could handle. Not only that, but the data also came back in the same modulation that we sent."

"When you put it like that," said Liam.

"It would have helped that we had a very specific thing to send. The handshake described in that document," considered Becky, in deep thought. "It must have been some automated process, which is even more amazing."

"So, what now?"

"We analyse the data. See what we can make of it. I can send copies to your workstations."

"Pull it up on the main screen," said Jessica. "A few things we can discuss. At the beginning, we have a type of mirror of what we sent. It's not quite the same, but this bit is what we sent at the beginning. It looks like what we would call a preamble. A sort of identifier, and make sure there is some indication of what is being sent."

Becky moved the data into a text editor and put in a carriage return after the end of the preamble.

"I was also thinking about the data. It was something Sam mentioned. We encode data in bytes, which are eight bits. We do that because if represents up to FF in hex or 255 in decimal. And when put into Unicode, it might be double byte, or larger based on the definition."

"Yes," said Becky, wondering where Jessica was going.

"Well, they are octal. That is zero to seven. They get seven in three bits. Human system goes to Hex for efficiency of data storage. Decimal is too inefficient. For them, they can stay in octal.

"Okay, let me work on splitting the data like that, convert it to octal and see what we have. See if there are any patterns. It's going to take me a few hours to do this. Why don't you all go and check to see how James and Sam are getting on with Eos?"

"Eos is ready?" asked Jenny, excited. "I've not been in her yet."

"She's across the road," said Becky.

"Who is?" queried Jenny, not understanding.

"Eos is. James parked her in the business park across the street."

Jenny jumped up, grabbed her coat, and was heading out before anybody could react.

"She's eager," laughed Liam. "Okay, see you in a little bit. Good luck with your code change."

"It isn't too bad," replied Becky. "I have a whole suite of octal code. I just never thought about three bits. My whole life has been binary, decimal and hexadecimal. Octal seems a little alien to me. It's a whole new world. Now go join the others and I can get on with this. It won't be the full solution, but it might make the analysis easier."

Liam followed the rest of the team out, leaving Becky to get on with her work. The first time she realised she wasn't alone was when Ashleigh brought down a cup of tea.

"Thanks," said Becky, surprised. "I thought you would have gone to admire the new ship."

"There will be time again. I've not seen you for a few days. I missed you."

"You saw me last night," responded Becky, sipping her tea slowly and deliberately. Ashleigh being there didn't help her get on with her work, but it was a nice distraction.

A shimmer behind Becky caught Ashleigh's eye. "Becky, behind you."

Becky turned to find holograms of two aliens in her office. She closed her eyes briefly to regain composure. Although she could not identify their species, it was clear they were not the same. They talked between themselves in what Becky assumed was excited chatter, though she had no idea if that was their normal way of talking. She caught a few words, but the Hytuna was too fast for her.

"Ashleigh, please ring Sam to come now, just in case translation is needed. Only Sam. Tell them the others must not come back until we say so," said Becky, before saying to the aliens in stilted Hytuna. "Hello, I'm Becky. This is Ashleigh. My Hytuna isn't good. We're getting a friend to join who speaks it well."

The alien on the left gave a nod and then in perfect English. "I am Vers'am. It is a pleasure to meet you."

Vers'am and the other alien moved closer to Becky, looking her over. "A spectrum of light."

The second one said something, and Vers'am looked alarmed. Ashleigh moved to be next to Becky and when she put her hand on Becky's arm, Vers'am seemed to calm.

Becky asked, "I don't want to sound blunt, but why visit us? I thought you were dealing with Georgina Harries."

"Yes, but it is your team that made the communication link. It is your team that built the ship that brought your Prime Minister."

"You didn't make it easy. There were a lot of words in the letter you sent that didn't exist in the Primer. I presume that was deliberate?"

"Yes. You seemed to manage the task."

"Well, thanks to the translation when you talked at the UN. That filled in some elements we were missing."

The second alien spoke directly to Becky for the first time. "Fantastic. You do amaze us. For a world fragmented, you do seem to pull together. There is hope."

Sam came in, alone, which is what Becky had asked.

"Vost'am mentioned you," said Vers'am to Sam. "Amazing. Such a group of fighters against the dark."

"What do you mean?" asked Ashleigh, pleased they were still speaking English.

"The darkness of decay," said the second alien and then said some words in Hytuna, Vers'am nodded. "Without the work you've been doing, your planet would either wither with stagnation or kill each other in war. You are continuing the path that Becky started. The path of hope and a journey where humanity prospers."

"There are then those that have internal turmoil but succeed beyond all expectations. That duality of despair and strength stands out to our two races. The light differs for each. Sam has a steady pulse of light, and almost balance. Your Prime Minister is very similar, but less equilibrium than Sam. Becky, be careful as your light and turmoil are not in balance, but for some reason Ashleigh seems to help. Her presence seems to stabilise. We've never seen anything like it."

Becky was having a hard time with that. She wasn't sure whether they were talking about her gender issues, the prophecy or something else entirely. Ashleigh stroked her arm gently, and she refocused. Trying to steer the conversation toward something she could cope with, she asked, "Why visit us now?"

"You made the communications link. We didn't know where you were until then. Do you mind if we look around as we talk?"

"Go ahead," said Becky.

The two aliens walked slowly around the room, and into the lab. If they understood what they were looking at, Becky had no idea. "We didn't expect communications to be established until after your world visits us the second time. You've done better than expected."

"Thank you," said Becky following the two holographs.

"What you have received is a digitised version of the Primer. This should give you enough to unravel our format."

"Thank you for your help with the Yvestigans. We aren't sure how you are tracking our ship. Is it safe for us to continue our testing?"

"Jumps of a certain length are visible when you know what to look for. One of the Yvestigan ships broke quarantine and was removed. The ship contained Trposin. We aren't sure if the issue is just him or the government. We are debating what to do about them, as we have never had a species that caused so much conflict."

"Do you have a chart showing what systems are safe for us to visit?" asked Sam. "We don't want to end up in an Yvestigan system or cause an issue with one of the other species thinking we're invading."

"Something can be produced. When you have communication working well, we can give you the details. Or if your Prime Minister visits before that, we can provide it then."

"You are both council members. Why are you getting involved so much?" asked Becky. "I thought you would have others that did this interaction."

"It is important to us. Species that make it to this level are rare. It makes us sad when species die out. Each species brings something different to the Council. Each has their own joy, knowledge and culture. Hopefully one day you will get to see the way each of us expresses ourselves. Are you happy to transport your Prime Minister again?"

"Yes," said Becky. "We are testing a bigger ship, so we shouldn't be as cramped as last time. We are happy to transport her. It helps having backing like that at home. I'd also ask her if she could provide a linguist to help you with your translations. You have multiple Hytuna words translating to the same English word. That happens sometimes between Earth languages, but we then describe the differences. It stops confusion."

"You're jumping ahead," said Vers'am. "Relationships are not at that stage yet and you don't speak for the world."

"Hello," said a breathless Jenny, rushing into the room.

At the same time there was a small scream of terror from Jessica, who'd been rushing after the young girl. Jessica had run back outside, and Sam rushed to check on her.

"Jenny, you shouldn't be here," said Becky, with a slight rebuke.

"I just wanted to say hello," she said sullenly and then turned to the surprised aliens and said in Hytuna. "Hello, I'm Jenny. I'm pleased to see you."

She held out her hand to shake theirs but when she reached it out, it passed through. "Oh, hologram!" she exclaimed, sticking to Hytuna. "What are the children like on your worlds?"

"A mixture," said the Reginadde, solemnly. "Some are shy. Some inquisitive."

"Do they go to schools? What are your houses like? Do you have cars?" ploughed on Jenny.

"Those are big questions," said the Reginadde, giving Jenny's queries as much importance as others. "But ones I can't answer as you don't know the Hytuna for me to describe them."

Jessica came back with Sam. She didn't enter the room but stood by the door watching and holding onto Sam for protection. "Sorry, " she said in Hytuna. "I got scared. Sorry."

"It is okay," said the Reginadde. "I'm very surprised that more of you are not like that. When we visited your United Nations, most were frightened with some not even able to come into the room. We were holograms then. There has only been five humans who have met us in person, and they must have been very brave."

"Humans have a device called television," said Jessica in English. "It can show broadcast images. Televisions here show sixty frames per second, which is quicker than the human eye can process so instead of being a series of images, it looks real. Some of the things shown are factual, but some are stories. One of the types of stories that have been around for over fifty years are of Aliens invading Earth. In fact, the first time was not even television. There was a radio play of The War of the Worlds in 1938. Some listeners thought that Martians were actually invading Earth."

"Ah, so much to fear," said Vers'am in English.

"Not all shows were like that, but enough to install a level of irrational fear."

"It certainly gives a bit more insight to what Georgina Harries said. Thank you. Now we must go, but I'm sure it won't be the last we see of you."

"Do you have the concept of Pen Friends?" quickly blurted out Jenny before they could disappear.

Becky's heart sank. What was Jenny up to now?

"I don't understand your reference," puzzled the Reginadde.

"It is an old concept. It is where you write to someone from a different part of the world. You never meet, but you write letters or emails to each other. It is a way that children used to discover people unlike them. I remember being told my Great Granny had a long-standing Pen Friend in Australia, which is the other side of the world. They kept it up all their lives and actually met when they were very old."

Vers'am looked at his colleague before turning back to Jenny. "We still don't understand."

"What Jenny is asking is if you have the concept of email. Where a message is sent electronically to a person. Let me demonstrate. In this program, I have a to address, that is where the email is going. I have a subject and a body. I'm sending this message to Jenny."

A second later, Jenny's phone made a ping sound, and she showed the aliens the message.

"We now understand. Yes, we have something similar but inter species messaging isn't as big as you think. Some trade, some security, but most messages are within their own systems."

When the two members of the alien council disappeared, Becky turned to Jessica. "Are you okay? Is there anything I can do to help?"

"I just feel a bit foolish," she replied, her head down a bit. "Even Jenny feared less than me."

"Head up," snapped Sam. "You aren't foolish. You reacted as most will. It showed them what they are up against. At least your heart rate is coming down. Remember how frightened you were when we went to Disneyland Paris and how quickly you recovered?"

Jessica laughed, remembering that time with fondness. "Ah yes, and I just started to relax when my parents appeared, and they didn't even recognise me."

"Jenny, let's go and talk," said Ashleigh. "Leave your ma to finish her coding."

Conversion of three-bit binary to octal didn't take Becky long. While the conversion process went through the data stream, she started creating pattern matching logic based on the Primers first twenty words. She hoped she would be able to find the human characters and could then use them as boundaries for the Hytuna.

She looked at the progress. It was a large amount of data, but her computer was quick. With about thirty minutes to wait, she locked her machine and decided to venture across the road. The output would be horrible as the Unicode Consortium hadn't yet made any decision on incorporating Hytuna characters and glyphs into the character encoding standard. There were a few early fonts published based on the private use area, but it was all hit and miss.

When she went to the front door of the building, Jenny and Ashleigh were waiting.

"I'm sorry Ma. I didn't mean to disappoint you."

Becky crouched down and opened her arms. Jenny rushed in and they hugged. "I know it was exciting to see the aliens, but it wasn't an arbitrary choice to keep everyone out. I was trying to keep the conversation on the communications. Work out what we had and see if I could work out what next."

"Mum said if I did that again, she would ban me from joining in downstairs."

"Good, that saves me saying it," responded Becky making sure they were on a united platform. She didn't want Jenny playing off between them.

"But I learn so much," complained Jenny.

"Yes, but I need you to do it safely. You rushed in because you were excited. Jessica said no, and you didn't listen. She came across and got frightened."

"But there wasn't anything to be frightened of."

"To you, no, but Jessica was. Just like I heard that Evan and Liam got scared when the mercenaries were coming. People get frightened. Jessica said her fear was irrational, but sometimes it happens.

* * *

"Eos, are you ready?" asked Becky. The sun had set thirty minutes ago, and twilight was upon them. This would be an opportunity where the sun would still glint upon the ship making it easier to see.

"Yes. All systems powered on," responded James. "After all the checks today, it will be good to take her into her first orbit."

"The systems are green," said Evan, sitting next to Becky.

"Go when ready," ordered Becky, not taking her eyes off the telemetry.

There was no countdown. No tension. The ship was ready, and it would open the interdimensional tunnel at the press of a button. It was a bit like driving a car. You turn it on. Green lights, and off you went.

"We're going in three … two ... one."

A second later, over the relay they heard. "In orbit."

"They're coming in via the tunnel communications," said Evan looking at the relay.

"It's great to be in space again," said Liam over the communications.

"Roger that," growled Evan which provoked a chorus of laughter.

"Nobody has reported seeing you," said Ashleigh.

"Give them chance," said Becky playfully. "Anyway, let's get down to the actual business. How is she doing? Any system issues?"

"None," said Henry, glad they'd given him chance to find his space legs before they'd involved him. "All systems humming as they should."

"Do you want to fire thrusters and do some movement?" suggested Evan.

They'd spent the afternoon confirming the checks they wanted to do. They'd got the original list when they'd tested Aurora, and it was just a modification of that.

"There is a sighting," said Ashleigh. "Someone in rural Oxfordshire has noticed you."

A minute later someone had posted an image. Their zoom was quite impressive. Several replies that it wasn't Aurora sparked more interest.

Jenny took out her phone and sent a message to Kelly, saying she'd seen on the groups that there was a spaceship over England. Her response was instant. Not only had she seen the posts, but she'd seen the ship.

After an hour testing, all seemed good. They'd done a few small jumps so they could be seen over different parts of the UK and even went over the Channel Islands. They stayed at each location for ten minutes. There had been no sign of aliens.

"Are the sites clear for the small tour?" asked James, knowing the window of twilight glint had gone.

"These are the places confirmed," said Ashleigh, having spent the last two days making calls anonymously to places that had advertised as safe Aurora landing sites. "The coordinates will be uploaded in a moment. Start in Leicester. Then Birmingham, Hull, Glasgow, Inverness, Caernarfon and finally Armagh. If you feel in danger, leave."

It seemed fitting that the first public display of Eos was at the National Space Centre. The museum had a huge planetarium, showing details of space, and displays on planets and previous rockets. The demand for space knowledge had grown, and they had been holding events in the evening. The only other place in the country that might have been as fitting would have been outside the Science Museum in London.

"Coordinates for National Space Centre applied. Departing."

Jenny was watching social media for the site, and soon there were photographs of Eos. As soon as the ship had arrived, the word had spread, and the visitors had streamed out, eager to view the ship. This was a sight nobody had expected, but it inspired them. There had been conflict and strife. There had been job losses and problems with the economy. The sight of Eos was giving them hope.

Escaping the Cradle

by Karen Page

Part 21

---

Part 21
DATE:FC+70

Craig slipped into the Prime Minister's office. As her Chief of Staff, he was the only one, apart from Rupert, who were allowed in unintroduced, if she wasn't in a meeting. The sight though wasn't what he expected. She was sitting there with her head in her hands.

"Prime Minister," he said gently. "What's wrong?"

She looked up and smiled seeing her friend. "The secretariat of CARICOM has requested that Tobago be the seat of a world government. This is the sixth request from different countries or bodies in two days."

"I see," he said, and when she indicated, sat down on the chair opposite her. "I didn't think this was something you were dealing with."

"It is currently being managed by a committee established by the United Nations. Some countries and regions believe that I have influence over the matter."

"You are the public face with all things alien and by extension all the things about a world government. They think you have a sway."

"And there was me thinking being the Prime Minister was going to be a cushy job! When I was a peace negotiator, there were normally two main sides to a conflict. If I was unlucky, there were a few more involved in the sidelines, throwing in a few curveballs. For this, there are two hundred countries wanting their piece of cake."

This he understood. Having been one of her peace negotiation team, he knew what those days were like. Now being in the heart of government he had an inkling what she was going through. He would never truly know some of the decisions and choices she had to make.

"You can't fool me. You would love to be handling it."

She laughed. "You know me well. But in this case, I'm just steering this ship, and hope everything goes in the same direction. Anyway, I'm sure that's not why you came to see me."

"I wanted to see you about the strategy you'd got Colin working on."

"Is it completed?" she asked, surprised.

"A significant proportion. There are some questions on implementation that impact how it should be presented. I've gone through it earlier, and it is what you wanted. A complete joined-up strategy. A copy will be in your Redbox tonight."

"Anything else?"

"Seems Star Bright have a contract with Farnborough, so it seems they've taken staying legal to heart. Our American Ambassador is still trying to smooth things over after they complained about Aurora violating their airspace when they collected their pilot. The fact they didn't travel via air didn't seem to impress them and they aren't welcome at the moment."

"They've only themselves to blame for that mess," said the Prime Minister without compassion.

"Indeed, though it seems they did follow the current NASA regulations for spaceships. That doesn't seem to have curried any relief from the FAA. I think they're more upset that the spaceship isn't theirs and they're sulking a bit."

"Okay, what about UK border regulations?"

"There is now a manual mechanism for them to log inbound flights. If they go via the FBO, things shouldn't be an issue. We've got a few companies that are thinking about space activities, but they aren't alone. It seems existing mining companies are starting to contemplate future asteroid operations."

"Good. Then I hope our plans help. But how will they be impacted if there is a vote to join the alien council?"

Craig smiled. "That is what you will read about tonight."

"Tease. I have our esteemed Chief Scientific Advisor in a few."

"I better leave you to it."

As he walked out, Georgina pressed the intercom. "Rupert, has Martyn arrived?"

"Not yet, Prime Minister."

"Okay, let me know. What's after?"

"A call with the French, German, Dutch and Italian leaders regarding the currency."

Georgina rolled her eyes. More positioning.

"Not something that can be brought forward. Okay, see if anybody has seen Martyn. I doubt he would have got that lost," concluded the Prime Minister, and ended the call.

The Prime Minister continued to go through her correspondence. Just because her meeting was cancelled didn't mean she had nothing to do. It just meant she'd have less that night.

"Still no sign of our Chief Scientific Advisor?" she asked later.

"No, Prime Minister. I'll reschedule him when I get hold of him. Your diary is full for today."

"Okay. It's strange, he was very insistent for this meeting. So, what's next on the agenda?"

"In about ten minutes, a meeting with the Chancellor regarding the upcoming budget. You're slightly ahead of schedule."

"Amazing. That doesn't happen often. Is everything ready for the trip to the alien council tomorrow?"

"Yes, Prime Minister. The others going with us will be here first thing."

"Great. It's a good job Eos is a larger ship. Enough seats for everybody."

It was early afternoon that Rupert mentioned to the Prime Minister that Sir John needed an urgent meeting.

"Send him in."

Sir John, the Cabinet Secretary, came in. His face a mask.

"Prime Minister," he said, as he took the seat opposite her desk. "I have some grave news."

"Oh?"

"This morning someone collapsed, after just coming out of the Westminster Tube station. Paramedics attended and found him dead. Identification upon him indicated it was Martyn."

"Oh no. How did he die?"

"They suspected a heart attack. However, they are now reassessing. Professor Lucas, one of the members of the ISAAC committee, was discovered dead. He and his family had been tortured. SO15 are investigating. All the other members are fine and are getting security until more is known."

"Since ISAAC is to do with the alien issue, is there any danger for tomorrow?"

"They are trying to find that out now. It is early in the investigation."

* * *

It had been a week since the last overnight frost, and Ashleigh was glad her morning walk to the office hadn't been slippery. Early April was upon them and spring felt like it might have arrived. From the office kitchen, she could see the sun glinting on the river. It was a view she'd grown to love.

She'd been worried that as the project had stabilised, they might have moved elsewhere, but there was still much the scientists were learning, and more tests they needed to run. That was the official reason. In reality, they were waiting for the communications satellite that Jessica's company was building. Well altering might have been a better phrase. The company had been building a research satellite, but the client had filed for bankruptcy leaving an almost finished satellite behind.

Ashleigh sighed. She missed Jessica, but Sam was still around so she knew that Jessica would always be back. Sam and Jessica missed each other, but their life had been full of distance during Sam's deployments in the US Navy. It was now Jessica's time to be away.

Her phone ringing disturbed her thoughts, and she answered it without looking who it was. "Hello?"

"Ashleigh, it's Stacy. Are you all okay there? I tried to ring Becky, but she sent it to voice mail."

"I think so," said Ashleigh cautiously. "All the team are busy downstairs. Why?"

The call was totally out of the blue and Ashleigh was caught a bit off guard. It was unusual for Stacy to ring, and it wasn't like she was ringing for a chat. She sounded all business.

"Two people in the government scientific advisory committee on the aliens died today. I just wanted to make sure you were aware. Be cautious."

"I'll let the others know. Thanks for the update."

Stacy terminated the call, and Ashleigh held her phone as if the conversation was going to continue. Two people dead linked to the alien issue. Star Bright were also involved and that sent a small shudder down her spine. This was like the mercenary issue all over again.

She pulled herself together and scarpered down the stairs to the discussion area. The team were in conference about the following days trip.

Becky noticed Ashleigh enter the room, and the anxiety on her face. "What's wrong?"

"I've just had a call from Stacy. It seems two members of the ISAAC committee are dead. Stacy was just making sure we were all okay and told us to be careful."

"Do you think Jenny will be safe?" asked Becky.

"I think the school would have rung us if there was a problem," responded Ashleigh, now worrying about Jenny herself. "But I can check."

She didn't get out of the room before Becky's phone rang. This one didn't give a number. She answered it this time. Before Becky could say anything, the person said, "This is Overwatch. Stacy had us keeping an eye on your perimeter. We've got a whole line of emergency vehicles heading over the canal bridge, and one of my guys just picked up that they're going to your daughter's school

Ashleigh had already been moving towards the door, and Becky was joining her, grabbing her coat which was by the door. "We're going there now."

"It might be coincidence," the female voice said. "We haven't seen anything else untoward."

"Can you ring me back in ten minutes. We will know more then."

"Sure. There is an app on your home screen if you need to contact me."

Becky was too worried to be angry that they'd hacked into her phone and installed an app. "You drive," she said to Ashleigh. "I'm too worried."

Ashleigh didn't say anything but scrambled into the driver's seat. Once they were out of the car park, and round the bend, she put her foot down, ignoring the speed limit.

The school was a mile away, down the country lane that went towards the canal. As they drew close, there were police cars already in attendance. A paramedic first responder was pulling up as they pulled into the side. The school carpark entrance was blocked.

"Move along," said a policeman approaching as they got out of the car.

"My daughter is in there," said Becky. "Jenny Head."

"Stay there." The policeman walked a few steps away, and radioed in. He continued to patrol, stopping anybody entering the school carpark, or playground at the front.

They weren't the only parents turning up. This was a local school in a rural area. The emergency services turning up en masse wasn't going to go unnoticed. Parents from the village walked up, and calls were being made to friends to let them know. This was a benefit of a close-knit community.

Becky's phone rang. "It's me," said the American woman that had called earlier.

"I'm at Jenny's school," replied Becky. "What can you tell me?"

"We don't know what's happened, or if it involves Jenny. However, you are in quite a contained area between the canal and the river. All roads have to go over a canal bridge. Each one has been raised, effectively sealing the area off. Police are heading to each one. More police are coming in from Cheltenham and Stroud."

"It sounds like a manhunt," said Becky.

The policeman she'd spoken with earlier started to come back towards them, and Becky ended the call.

"Any parents, can you gather in the school carpark," he called out. "Any parents to the school carpark."

The policeman continued shouting that out, moving along the crowd. Ashleigh and Becky shuffled along with the others. Now they were in a crowd, Becky knew she wouldn't be able to ring back the American who'd called.

It was nearly the school finishing time, so the majority of the parents were there. Ashleigh saw Grace, Kelly's mum, and gave a small wave.

"What's going on? I've just got here."

"We've not been told."

"Can I have your attention," a voice boomed above the noise of the crowd. When things got a bit quieter, he continued. "I'm inspector Johnson. In a minute, the children are going to come out. This will be in small groups. When you see your child, we will need to confirm identity, and you will be on your way. Are the parents or guardians of Kelly Brown and Jenny Head in the crowd. If so, can you please come through."

Ashleigh's heart sank. This was like an American TV show, where there'd been a school shooting. They always called the parents of the pupils that were impacted. Holding hands with Becky, they made their way to the front.

When the three of them were on one side, the inspector told them, "A group of armed people stormed the school. Everybody was moved to the gym, and they asked for Jenny by name. Pupils pointed towards them, but both girls claimed to be Jenny. They were in a rush and took both of them. We've closed the bridges over the canal, so they should be trapped."

"This isn't to do with the body they found in your office basement?" asked Grace, with a sly grin at Becky.

"The body found in the basement was from before we took over The Anchor," said Becky.

"Ah, that was you," said the Inspector, a small nod. That case had become legendary for the number of cases it cleared up or gave clues for.

"But it might be due to my job," added Becky reluctantly.

"So, you're to blame for Kelly being kidnapped?" snapped Grace.

"No," said Ashleigh. "It is the kidnappers to blame."

"Why do you think your job might be to do with this?" asked the Inspector, ignoring the glares between Ashleigh and Grace.

"Probably because thirty mercenaries tried to attack my factory in January. And earlier today two members of the science committee advising the government on the aliens were killed. My company works in the same area."

The inspector paled. "This isn't a joking matter."

"Am I laughing?"

He moved away to call someone, leaving Grace glowering at them. "Is this when Jenny didn't attend school for a few days?"

"Yes," said Becky plainly. "She was upset at not being able to attend."

Becky pulled out her phone and dialled James. "Hey James. Bit of an issue. Seems Jenny and Kelly have been kidnapped."

"What the —" he started before catching himself. "What can we do to help?"

"Something mad. There is a field just behind the school carpark. I need for the police inspector here to get the severity of the issue without saying things."

"A touchdown for a few minutes?" confirmed James. "It will be about five minutes."

"Sounds perfect. Thanks."

The children were gradually coming out. A few at a time, reuniting them with their parents. Each were checked to make sure they were going to the right people, and another kidnapping wasn't in progress. Tears and hugs were in abundance.

"Is it wise getting James to do that?" Ashleigh asked Becky, when she'd come off the phone.

She shrugged. "I think it rams home the situation. And Grace knows better than to blab. One more call."

This time she was glad to see the app on her main screen. 'Overwatch' was the icon. She'd heard mention of Overwatch previously. She pressed it. It didn't even ring, but she was connected instantly.

"Jenny and her friend were kidnapped," said Becky. "Do you have a way to let Stacy know?"

"On it. Police are crawling over the area. They have search drones scanning for unexplained heat signatures. You might want to get James to take the ship back to the factory. If they start searching properties, you don't want it found. Was the friend Kelly?"

"Yes."

"Ouch. Be careful with open communications. You know where her father works in Cheltenham?"

"Yes, but not how senior."

"Senior enough for it to be an issue. And then there is her great aunt who was SIS. She is retired but she still has contacts. Be very careful."

Before Becky could respond, the call was gone. It sounded a bit more ominous than expected. Becky had no idea who Kelly's great aunt was.

Eos suddenly blinked into view, sitting in the field adjacent to the school. Becky saw the Inspector, who'd migrated from his radio to his phone, notice. Grace noticed too and looked sharply at Becky.

Becky quickly sent James a message. It was supposed to be end-to-end encrypted. "Hey. That was quick. Great job. The bridges over the canal are shut and they are searching buildings in the area. It might be best to go back to the factory. BTW, the walls have ears."

"It's just Sam with me. So, we're good to go. Understood. I will tell the others."

"Thanks, you've got the attention I needed. Safe trip."

Eos disappeared, the interdimensional drive taking her away, leaving those that had briefly glimpsed her, wondering why the ship had been there.

The inspector came back, scowling. "SO15 have linked this to London. They're taking charge."

"I don't care who's in charge," snapped Ashleigh. "I want Jenny and Kelly back. What's happening?"

"Units are covering the area, trying to locate them. There was a small gap between it happening and the police being notified, but it wasn't enough time for them to have got to the canal."

Inspector Johnson turned to Grace. "Your husbands employer got looped in. You should have said. You lot really know how to make my life difficult." He paused pulling himself together. "Do you have any idea why your daughter would have claimed to be Jenny?"

"Jenny is her best friend. Knowing her, she was trying to protect Jenny or confuse the kidnappers."

"CCTV shows them acting up as they're taken outside the school. It slowed them down. Perhaps enough so that the staff could get out of the locked gym and raise the alarm before they got too far. It's a shame it didn't show the vehicle." The inspector shook his head in wonder. "Okay. Go home. Mrs Brown, a security officer from your husband's work will be there soon. Mrs Head, a family liaison officer is probably at your house already."

"Can we get our children's bags?" asked Grace.

"Sorry, no. Forensics have to sweep the area. We don't want any contamination."

The road, which had been filled with cars driven by anxious parents, had cleared. The police cars were still filling the carpark, and along one side of the street, but that was it.

"Grace, is there anything you need?" asked Becky, kindly. "Do you want to come back to ours for a bit until Clive gets home?"

Grace gave a wan smile. "Sorry I was a bit of a bitch earlier. Thanks for the offer, but I better get home. I think it's going to be a long night for all of us."

As they were driving back, Becky's phone rang. It came through the car speakers. It was James. "I've had a call. I've been asked to make some long-distance pickups. Are you okay for that?"

"Sure. Don't forget about the notifications for the return journey."

"Understood."

"It seems Laura's bringing in reinforcements," mused Ashleigh. "If they've kidnapped Jenny, why haven't we heard from them?"

"It's too early," said Becky. "They have to get to their destination. If they're hidden close by, they're going to be radio silent. As Grace said, it's going to be a long night."

---

Footnote:

SO15	The Metropolitan Police Counter Terrorism Command. Sounds London‑based, but in practice they have operational hubs across the UK.

Escaping the Cradle

by Karen Page

Part 22

---

Part 22
DATE:FC+70

"Okay, who does Clive work for?" asked Ashleigh as they entered Becky's house.

"GCHQ."

"Oh. Security services are going to be all over this."

Becky snorted. "With two dead committee members in London, they already are."

"What about Kelly's great aunt?"

"You heard that? I've no idea who she is, but overwatch seems to. I've other worries at the moment."

"Yes, Jenny."

"I wonder how much of a coincidence it is that we're supposed to be flying out to the Rohastin Council in the morning. It is important so the world knows what choice to make. Without our ship, they can't go. Is the kidnapping to try and get us to abort or do something else?"

Becky had sat on the settee, perched on the edge. Ashleigh joined her and put her head on Becky's shoulder. Becky leaned in.

"She's my only remaining child," whispered Becky in agony.

Ashleigh didn't know what to say. Her stomach was churning. She might have only known Jenny for under a year, and this was tearing her up. She couldn't imagine what it was doing to Becky.

The ringing of the doorbell startled them both, and they went together to the front door. There were two people standing there. A woman who looked to be in her thirties, and an older male.

"We're Counter Terrorism officers," stated the man kindly. They both produced warrant cards.

Ashleigh leaned forward and took them. "Wait here," she said and shut the door.

"What are you doing?" asked Becky bewildered.

"Checking."

Ashleigh took out her phone and with shaking fingers dialled 101. She explained the situation before being put through to the control room.

"Sorry, but my daughter's been kidnapped. I've got two people out of uniform at the door. I want to make sure they are who they say they are."

"No problem," the man said. "Give me their names and badge numbers." Ashleigh read them out.

A moment later he responded, his tone more serious than before. "We've nobody with those names. There is a team of three Counter Terrorism officers on the way to you, but they are ten minutes away. Please don't open the door but do stay on the phone. There are still units at the school. I'm putting you on hold for a minute while I contact them."

Becky had her head next to Ashleigh's and heard what was happening. Her fear was dissipating, being replaced by a growing anger.

The control room officer came back. "Inspector Johnson who you met earlier is enroute with five other officers. Stay on the phone with me. I'll let you know when they get there, so you can open the door safely."

Becky and Ashleigh shared a glance. Becky breathed a sigh of relief that someone they'd met was coming. Ashleigh went to the door and put the safety chain on before peering through the peephole.

"The imposters seem to have gone," said Ashleigh to the control room.

"They probably went as soon as you rang us. Don't open the door just in case. Wait for the police. You probably can hear the sirens already."

Not only could they hear them, but the flashing lights were soon visible. Four vehicles came to a screeching halt in front of their house, and police bailed out. Two of them were ARV, and two armed officers rushed around towards the back of the house to make sure it was all clear.

"Inspector Johnson is approaching your door. You can open it safely. Can you confirm you're happy it is the person you met earlier?"

"It is," said Ashleigh after Becky had looked through the peephole. "Thank you so much."

"Glad to help. I hope they find your daughter soon."

They opened the door to Inspector Johnson. "There's no sign of them. We're going to stay around until the Counter Terrorism team arrive. I notice you've got a few CCTV cameras. Do you have photographs of them? Perhaps what car they drove?"

"This was the warrant badges they gave," said Ashleigh, handing them across. "Their likeness seems accurate."

"Impressive," the inspector murmured to himself as he looked them over. "So realistic."

Becky pulled a section of the recording from the front of the house and created an MP4. "I've created an MP4 with the timeframe. Where do you want it?"

"If you go to the police.uk website, you'll find a link to upload digital evidence. It will ask you to provide an incident number."

He showed his phone with a code on it and in a few deft movements of her finger, the data was uploaded.

"So, what now?" asked Becky.

"We will patrol the area, until SO15 arrive. This is a lot bigger than a normal kidnapping with links to governmental agencies. We have the local manpower, and are searching the area for your daughter, but any answers to questions will come from others. Local police are focused on finding Jenny and Kelly safe and well."

Becky nodded. That is what she wanted too.

"All that is being reported is that two children have been kidnapped. Nothing more. Police in the area who were not scheduled to be working have been turning up at police headquarters demanding to help. Nothing like this has happened since the Cromwell Street killings."

Tears welled up in Becky's eyes. She wasn't aware how seriously the locals were taking the kidnapping. To hear that police were volunteering like that was something else.

The inspectors radio spat to life, and he listened to the message via his earpiece. "It seems Counter Terrorism has arrived. I'll leave you in their capable hands and get back to searching for your daughter."

The two men and a woman came in, and Inspector Johnson gave one of them a high five, before walking out. The resemblance made it obvious that they were related. The woman carried a large case.

"I'm DI Steve Johnson," said the man, holding out his hand to shake Becky's and then Ashleigh's. "With me is DC Raj Singh and DS Amy Ellis."

"I'm Becky Head," said Becky. "And this is my fiancée, Ashleigh Thompson. Jenny is my daughter from my first marriage."

"And the location of your ex?" asked DI Johnson.

"She and my son died a few years ago."

"Ah. Okay. Well, the first thing to get going is to scan your phone for anything untoward that might give us some clues. It's surprising what traces criminals leave on victim's phones."

"It won't damage my phone, will it?" asked Becky, nervously fiddling with her phone. "It has photographs of my son and dead wife on it."

"No, Ma'am," said DS Ellis. She opened up the case she'd carried in. "You unlock your device, and we connect it to the machine. It then can search for relevant information. It is self-contained. The device is shielded, so there is no chance of interference with it during the scan."

"I work on a project. When my boss gave it to me, she said it was secured."

"Our device bypasses that," said DS Ellis with a reassuring smile.

Becky unlocked the phone and handed it across.

"Thank you," she said connecting it and lowering the shield unit. "It will take about five minutes."

"While it processes, lets discuss what's happened," said DI Johnson. "Your daughter was at school and was removed by armed individuals. A pair of people pretended to be us turned up at your door. What do you think they wanted?"

An expletive came from DS Ellis, followed by some rapid typing on her laptop. Everybody looked at her, but she was too busy on the laptop to notice. She stopped typing and dropped her head. A few more expletives were uttered, mostly under her breath.

"My phone?" asked Becky sharply.

"It wiped itself."

"That's —" DI Johnson paused and refocused. Trying to assign blame wouldn't help. "Unfortunate."

"I understand you're doing your job," said Becky. "Just please don't make me feel like I'm the one who caused this."

"I'm so sorry," said DS Ellis, biting her lip. "We'll do everything we can to recover the data."

"Knowing the security team who gave me the phone, I doubt you will get anything," said Becky sadly.

"We'll still get the logs from the network operator," said the detective constable, speaking for the first time. "I should have them soon. Was your device backed up to the cloud?"

"No. I was working on a confidential project. I'm not going to backup to the public internet. Can I have my sim-card back?"

Becky took it, and went to her office, where she took a shrink-wrapped simple Nokia device. It was a dumb device, so she was quickly back ready to receive a call from the kidnappers.

"You were asking why?" asked Becky, trying to get things back on track.

"Yes," said DI Johnson, brightening up a bit that the confrontation appeared no longer to be the focus.

"I don't know. Why was the factory attacked in January? Nobody has been able to explain that either."

"Just for completeness, so there is no confusion. Can you confirm the location of your factory?"

"Just past Berkeley towards the river. Not quite as far as the old power station."

"DC Singh was one of the people who attended that. Can you confirm, again just for completeness, what you make at the factory."

"We built the spaceship Aurora there and recently finished on Eos."

DC Singh passed his tablet to his boss. "This is the call log from the network operator."

"I see a few calls between you and the Prime Minister's office."

"Yes. We are supposed to be shuttling the Prime Minister to meet with the aliens tomorrow."

"Do you think it could be something to do with that?"

"Probably, based on the two deaths in London earlier today."

"How do you know about that? It hasn't been reported."

"A phone call. Look, we are just making the ship. It's a leap in technology. We've kept ourselves out of the way and quiet. You are making it sound like we're to blame for Jenny's disappearance."

"Not at all. You aren't to blame. We are just trying to understand the picture. Yes, your project has been very discrete, but some people have got to know where you are. You have assisted the government, so either you reached out or they found you. Either way, you aren't as hidden as you hoped."

"I hoped it wouldn't come to this. I just wanted Jenny to live as normal a life as she could. Make friends and have some normalcy. I didn't want to live behind security walls, and guards constantly patrolling."

The doorbell rang, and Ashleigh went to answer it, with DC Singh following alongside. It was Laura Taylor at the door.

"Laura!" cried Ashleigh, so glad to see her. If anybody could steer this, it was her. She wasn't alone. She never really was. Two of her bodyguards positioned themselves outside the front of the house.

"Who's this?" asked the DC.

"Laura Taylor," she said introducing herself and walking straight through to the lounge as if she owned the place.

"Laura, how did you get here?" asked Becky, incredulously. Genuinely pleased to see her.

"James dropped me off."

She said as she sat down in a spare seat and said to the DI, "Have you found Jenny and Kelly yet?"

"Who are you?" he asked.

"Laura Taylor. I told that to your colleague. And if you don't know who I am, then you haven't done your homework on the way here. I'd have expected more from someone educated at Eaton and Oxford."

"Like you, I never like to show my hand," said DI Johnson, smoothly. "Sometimes asking someone is a nice way to break the ice and move things forward. You are a co-director of Star Bright, with Becky and the two scientists who published the paper the other month. You are also the owner and CEO of GWPP."

"Fantastic. So, you know who I am, and that I'm linked to the situation, so you can carry on. It saves one of your colleagues coming to my house."

"It basically comes down to waiting for the call. See what they want. The search is progressing methodically."

She rummaged in her bag and pulled out a tablet. She clicked a few screens and passed it to the DI. "I have foreign contacts you won't have access to and got my team to access some satellite data that was useful. It's all legitimate."

He pressed play, and his two colleagues crowded around to watch. It showed a 4x4 approaching the canal. The bridge was closed. The vehicle paused for a second, and the door flung open, and the two girls were seen bailing out. Two men jumped after them. Kelly turned and gave one of them a good kick between his legs. He bent in pain but held onto her. They were both dragged back into the vehicle. It went through a gate and down the path that ran alongside. The picture switched to showing it getting to the next bridge, which was down, and they left the area.

The DI didn't hesitate; he took out his phone and dialled his control centre. "I've just been shown confidential evidence. They are in a white SUV which went down the towpath and crossed at Splatt Swing Bridge. They are outside the quarantine zone at 15:11."

He listened for a few before hanging up. "They have them on camera and their reg. Head Office are tracking. Thank you for that."

Due to the introduction of pay-as-you-go road pricing, even minor streets had licence plate recognition. It was very difficult and tedious to get anywhere and not be tracked. Becky and Ashleigh knew this from experience when they'd gone into hiding two months previous.

"Raj," said DI Johnson. "Can you please brief Mrs Head on what to expect when the call comes through."

DC Singh turned to Becky, "When they ring, do not let on what we know. Knowing something they don't is always an advantage. The people ringing will probably not be the ones with your daughter."

"Okay, but what do I say? Do I agree with them?"

"Try to remain calm and try to be non-committal. They will have demands, and you will probably not like them. We will be tracing the call as soon as it comes through. You won't see it, as it is a process between the security services and the network operator."

"What's your higher priority?" suddenly asked Laura, leaning forward. "Is it the rescue of the children, or the apprehension of the gang?"

"What do you mean?" asked the DI.

"Are you planning on tracking the vehicle, so you can find out where they are going, and potentially securing extra information. Or are you planning on stopping the vehicle as soon as you have resources in position?"

"We are just liaison officers," complained DI Johnson. "We feed important information to the centre, where those decisions are made."

"Raj and Amy are liaison. You aren't. You are here just in case important decisions are needed on the ground."

Becky sat there, her eyes screwed up in pain.

"Look at those pictures behind you," said Ashleigh, standing up and glaring. "Go on, turn around. The girl on the right is Jenny. That bright, bubbly, ever curious girl. The boy to her left was her brother, who has already died. Take a good look at them."

Becky's phone rang and the room went quiet. Ashleigh sat down next to her girlfriend and put her arm gently around her waist. "I'm here," she whispered.

The three members of SO15 immediately changed stance. Stiff defensive postures changed. DS Ellis had her tablet out, checking that the systems had picked up the call. She nodded that all was good.

Becky looked at Raj who gave her a thumbs up. Taking a deep breath, she answered, "This is Becky."

"Ah, the famous creator of Aurora," sneered a foreign sounding male voice. "We have your daughter, and if you don't do as we say she will be buried next to your son."

"How do I know that you have her?" said Becky, trying to place the accent, and failing.

"Perhaps I'll have some fun with her before killing her," he added, the thought making him excited.

Raj made a calming motion, and Becky took a deep breath.

Amy whispered, "VPN. We need them to call again."

Becky nodded and winked at Raj before bursting out, "That's just sick. I don't think you have her."

Becky hung up and breathed heavily, wondering what made her do that.

"That was great," said Raj.

"What if he doesn't ring back?"

"He will. They want something. Not him. He's just a messenger. A guy who they know who gets kicks from making sick calls. It will be a minute before he rings back. Either because he has to get instructions, or you've confused him."

After a painful few minutes, the phone rang again. "This is Becky."

"We have your daughter," he stated. It was the same guy as last time.

"How do I know?"

He played a message. "Mum, we're good. My tummy is rumbling though." It was Kelly's voice, not Jenny's.

Ashleigh mouthed "Kelly" to the Counter Terrorism officers.

Raj showed his tablet. It had 'Ask what they want'.

"What do you want?" asked Becky, sounding anxious.

"You cancel tomorrow's trip," he demanded.

"Is that it?" asked Becky, failing to hide the incredulity in her voice. "You want me to stay home tomorrow, and you will give her back? You take my daughter because you want me to play hooky for the day?"

"Simple isn't it," and this time it was him who hung up.

"Great job," said Raj. "You kept him talking. A foreign VoIP service via a single hop VPN."

"That was Kelly," said Becky, her voice trembling as she realised what she'd just done. "It sounded like a prearranged code."

"I already sent it to them," reassured DI Johnson. "Now you have the difficult bit. Waiting."

Becky got up quickly and rushed to the toilet. She mustn't have shut the door, as the sound of retching filtered into the room.

"You go look after Becky," suggested Laura to Ashleigh.

When they came back down, the smell of cheese toasties filled the room. Laura, one of the top CEOs in the country was busy in the kitchen.

"There you go," she said, putting plates down in front of Becky and Ashleigh. A few minutes later, a second batch was being served to the three officers. A third batch was for her and the two bodyguards outside.

"Something's happening," said Ashleigh quietly, as she finished off her snack.

"Ah, you noticed?" said Laura, taking note.

DI Johnson had changed position. The other two were talking in low voices, but DI Johnson had his tablet perched on a stand and was listening to something via a discrete earpiece.

They stayed busy. Ashleigh gathered up the used plates, while Becky made cups of tea.

Raj, the lowly detective constable came across. "He's in a meeting. Amy and I aren't authorised for that level of discussion."

"Amy is giving him some items," pointed out Ashleigh.

"Things he needs, but she isn't in the meeting. She won't know what's happening for operational reasons."

There was a minute's silence as everyone tried to hear what was happening, but they couldn't. Raj, being a trained negotiator, and family liaison officer, decided to move things away from what was happening.

"These two ships you've built. Aurora and Eos? How have you done it? At school we were told you couldn't travel faster than the speed of light, but the PM said she'd gone to a space station 150 light years from Earth."

Becky pulled up a world map on Ashleigh's phone. "This is a two-dimensional map of a three-dimensional object."

"Sure, and it's distorted because of that."

"Good, you're ahead of the curve. So, a shortest distance plotted in two-dimensions won't be accurate, as you aren't taking into consideration the curve of the planet."

"Like when you see plane journeys on Flight Radar, it doesn't show them going in straight lines when crossing the Atlantic."

"Exactly. It is a similar thing for what we do. We go via another dimension and take a shortcut. The space station might be 150 light years away, but we don't travel 150 light years to get to it. It appears we're travelling faster than the speed of light, but we aren't."

"So how long did it take them to travel that far?"

"Three seconds," responded Becky casually. This conversation was her thing. All this negotiating and manoeuvring was unsettling.

Raj spat out a mouthful of tea. "Sorry," he said trying to wipe the spillage up. "But that's crazy."

"Never say that word in this house," said Ashleigh instinctively and for the first time that evening Becky smiled.

"Sorry?" asked Raj bewildered.

"Jenny's really gotten to you, hasn't she?" Becky asked Ashleigh. Becky turned to Raj. "It's something Jenny says. Hilda was a psychiatrist. Crazy wasn't a word we were ever allowed to use."

"So, what does Jenny call you? Are you both Mum?"

"Hilda was Mummy. She died before Jenny got to shortening it to Mum. I'm Ma and a few months ago Jenny decided that Ashleigh was Mum."

DI Johnson had got up and was now looking out of the window, or pacing. Raj went across and said something to him. He nodded and went back to sitting down and Raj came back.

"What's going on?" asked Becky.

"The biggest pain in our job. Waiting. I told DI Johnson his pacing was making us anxious. It was making me anxious, so I'm sure it wasn't doing you any good."

DI Johnson signalled to Amy, who took a box out of her case and came across to the others. "Take a headphone each and put it on."

They did. "Jenny parents on channel five," they heard DI Johnson say.

They heard over the earphones. "You're safe now. You're safe. I'm Ellie. Jenny, you're safe ... Put on these. Your Ma and Mum are on the other end."

Ashleigh realised that Raj had passed details of what Jenny called them. An instant comfort for her.

"Ma," she screamed into the headphones.

"Hi baby," choked out Becky between sobs.

"I'm not a baby," responded Jenny indignantly.

"We'll see you soon," said Becky.

"We love you," added Ashleigh.

Laura tore off her headphones, she hadn't said anything, but she was deeply upset. "Is there space near where they are? Room for Eos to land."

"Yes, but—"

"No buts. Jenny wants to see her parents, and I'm sure Kelly wants to see hers. Make sure the road is clear near Willow cottage. I will need the coordinates where they are. Sam will translate that to the ship vectors."

"Yes, Ma'am," he uttered. He didn't want to mess with a woman like her, not when she was radiating power like a star about to go supernova.

"James, we're ready now," she said via her phone.

Becky and Ashleigh followed her to the door. "You three come along. You've helped too and you might not often see a reunion."

As they went through the door, Eos was there. But there was also ten other people. They joined them at the door and formed a defensive shield as they were ushered to the ship.

"Flip," muttered Amy as she was swept along, having never been in a position like this before.

Two of the security team stayed behind to keep the house safe.

The ship didn't wait, once the doors were closed, they transitioned to outside Willow House. Grace and Clive were in shock as they went into the ship. They'd barely sat down when they were underway again. Sam's fingers deftly putting in the next set of coordinates as soon as they arrived somewhere.

When they arrived, the scene was a sea of flashing blue lights. Hastily arranged floodlights were bathing the area making it look brighter than daylight. The onsite squads had been informed they were on the way, as there was no sign of guns being pointed at them.

"With me," said DI Johnson, having received instructions via his earpiece.

To the left was the white SUV, but to the right was the sea of flashing lights, and that is where they headed. As they got closer, they were able to make out an ambulance and Becky took off. The other three parents got the hint and were racing along.

Becky saw her before she heard her. A small figure wrapped in a police-issued blanket. Eos had landed in the shadows, so Jenny would have had no inkling that she was coming. The movement of running figures must have caught her eye as she saw the two most important people in her life running towards her.

"Ma," squealed Jenny, as she saw them. Jumping off the ambulance she rushed to shorten the distance.

"Ma!"

Becky's legs wobbled and she dropped to her knees as Jenny collided with her, them both falling into an embrace. And then Ashleigh was there too, joining them on the dirty, greasy road.

"You're safe," said Becky. "We're here."

"I knew you'd come," said Jenny. "I told Kelly you'd come."

Ashleigh didn't say anything but just rocked along and occasionally kissed Jenny's forehead. Becky's heart lightened for the first time.

Raj, Amy and Steve watched on. "You did that," said Laura quietly. "You brought them back together."

"It was too easy," said DI Steve Johnson, watching on. "This is far from over. The kidnappers' demands were nonsensical. It's like it was a test to see how we'd react. The two people impersonating police officers got away. The two gunmen in the car were probably just paid to do this. Probably the same for the person who made the call. We'll see as they're interviewed. But I doubt this is the end. It was just too well planned for the outcome."

Laura just nodded. She was glad someone else had the same thoughts she had. But at the moment, she couldn't take her eyes off the two reunions. That was the main thing.

Escaping the Cradle

by Karen Page

Part 23

---

Part 23
DATE:FC+71

As Becky lay in her bed, she thought about what today would bring. Eos was scheduled to take the Prime Minister and some international diplomats to the alien space station. She'd planned on going along, hoping to get to see one of the alien doctors, but that was now out of the question. Jenny needed her close. At least things should be calmer than the previous evening. The police were gone, after questioning everyone in detail, and then Laura went, leaving them all to sleep.

Popping her head around Jenny's door, she saw her daughter was sat up, looking nervous.

"Hey," said Becky to her daughter.

"I'm not feeling too good," said Jenny.

"Oh? What's wrong?"

"My stomach is aching."

Becky came in and sat at the edge of Jenny's bed. She gently pushed back Jenny's fringe and felt her forehead with the back of her hand.

"Am I unwell?" asked Jenny.

"I hope not. You were checked over quite thoroughly yesterday by the paramedics, and then last night by the doctor Miss T flew in."

"Oh."

"Tell me about this aching in your stomach. Is it a sharp stabbing pain?"

"No."

"Mmm. Okay. Stay sat up. I'll be back in a minute."

Becky returned carrying a small black bag. "Let's do some quick checks. Just to be sure."

Temperature, blood oxygen saturation, blood pressure and even her heart rate. They looked at the readings together, and Jenny carefully registered the results in her 'stats' book. It was a good record of her benchmarks, so she could always see if something was off. This was something her Mummy had started, and Jenny had continued.

"So, what does this tell us about your situation?" asked Becky. A learning experience for Jenny.

"I have a slightly elevated pulse, and my blood pressure is up a touch, but nothing much different from normal."

"Okay, get up and dressed. We can discuss over breakfast. Be quiet though, I don't think Mum is awake yet."

"Mum stayed the night?" squealed Jenny in excitement.

"Yes. She wanted to stay close. She's asleep on the settee downstairs."

"That wasn't very nice of you," said Jenny indignantly. "Making her sleep downstairs like that."

"I'm not ready."

"We have a spare bedroom."

"I offered, but she said no. I'm not sure why, but it was late, so I just went with what she asked."

Like a shot, Jenny was out of bed. Becky just plodded back to her room and went into her shower. Showering, she'd found, was a great time to think about things. She suspected what was up with Jenny but had no idea the right course of action. When she checked her phone, she had a message. At first, she was upset, but as she read on, she realised what was being offered. She sent details of the test needed to Ashleigh, hoping it wouldn't wake her.

The smell of toast filtered up the stairs. Ashleigh was up and sorting out breakfast, which spurred them into action. Jenny, who was normally so full of energy for the day just picked at it. Hardly touching the cereal and just staring as if nothing were in front of her.

Ashleigh mentally braced herself. She didn't like to do what she was going to do, but they needed to know how Jenny was. "Ooh, gunman," shouted out Ashleigh, her voice filled with fake fear.

Jenny screamed and dropped onto the floor, curling up into a protective ball.

Becky was next to her in an instant, stroking her back. "There's no gunman. You're safe in the kitchen," she said reassuringly. She repeated it, and as Jenny calmed down a bit, said, "Mum was just confirming your issue. There is no gunman."

Jenny didn't say anything for a bit but just wept. Becky didn't leave her side and continued to gently stroke her back, murmuring words of comfort. Ashleigh worried that she'd gone too far, was nervous of Jenny's reaction, but joined Becky kneeling on the floor.

"I'm sorry I frightened you," said Ashleigh full of remorse.

"It proved what was wrong, didn't it," sniffled Jenny, calming down.

"You and Kelly might have been the ones taken, but the rest of the school was impacted too, " said Becky. "They had guns pointed at them, and they also feared for their lives. So, the school has people coming in to help.

"A special assembly?" asked Jenny, setting up and rolling her eyes a bit.

"Probably," agreed Becky, trying not to smirk.

School assemblies were where the whole school got together for prayer, singing and a way for the staff to impart information to the entire school at once. They happened on a weekly basis. Jenny thought they were a waste, when she could be in lessons learning. Special ones were where a specific topic was covered.

"You make it seem so appealing. If I've had breakfast, I won't be going to school early for breakfast club."

"No, there is no breakfast club today," said Becky. "But there is something else. Sam knew someone who had trouble with a gun being pointed at them. They were a bit older than you but still had issues. Anyway, they are in America and stayed up late to talk with you. If you go to your bedroom, you should have an invite in your email."

"Ma," she whined.

"None of that. The first stage of any recovery is to recognise there is an issue. Mummy told us both that many times. Look, go talk with them. If they help, great. If not, nothing has been lost, and we find someone who can help. I'll come up with you, but they probably won't want me staying."

"Why?"

"Because you might want to say things you know I won't like. This is for you to vent and get help. I'll be getting help too, from someone else, so I know how to help you."

Becky trotted behind her daughter as she went to her room. Jenny didn't say anything, but she didn't rush around like she normally did. The email was waiting for her, and she went into the meeting. The person she was going to chat with was waiting patiently for her.

She was a kind looking woman, who looked like she was in her sixties. She had grey hair, and a kind look. She smiled when she saw them both.

"Hello. Let me introduce myself. I'm Edith Covington. I take it you are Jenny, and this is your Ma?"

"Hi," said Jenny tentatively.

"And this is where I disappear. I'll be downstairs if you need me, Jenny."

"Excellent, thank you Becky."

Edith noticed Jenny was tense, so as Becky closed the door, Edith decided a bit of an ice breaker was needed. "So, you're Jenny. You're a popular woman. Did you know I had four different people contact me about talking with you?"

"Four?"

"A few things first. Everything you say is confidential. I will be letting your Ma and Mum know how we are getting on, but not what you say."

"And if you think I'm a danger to myself, please will you tell them too?"

"That's a great request. It shows you care about yourself. It also tells me you are very unsure about what happened. Just so you know how much you can tell me. People who told me to contact you in order I was asked. Sam Hood, my daughter, Stacy Haynes, and Rachel Ruiz."

"Dr Ruiz worked with my Mummy. Did you work with her? "

"I worked at a school similar to the one your mummy worked at, but in America. I'm retired now, but when I get that many pleas for help, who am I to refuse."

"Do I know your daughter?"

"Not personally, though she knows of you. I'm told the group she works for is called Overwatch."

Jenny shook her head, having never heard of that group.

"Don't worry. I've no idea what she does, just she does it well. You know Stacy though, don't you?"

"Yes. I met her and Mr Haynes, with Mr and Mrs Grant."

"Many years ago, someone tried to shoot David and Stacy. They got scared too and I helped them get past it. Anyway, we're not here to talk about them. We're here to talk about what happened and more importantly what you're going to do about it. Before we start, you seem quite a smart thing. I'm going to ask a quiz question. A teaser. It helps me know how to pitch this talk. You ready?"

"Sure," she said doubtfully.

"An American built aeroplane is being flown by a British company from France to Brazil, but it crashes on the border of Spain and Portugal. Where do they bury the survivors?"

"That's silly. They don't bury survivors."

"They don't bury survivors," repeated Edith, and paused to let that sink in. "I think this conversation will go better if you call me Edith, rather than Mrs Covington. It's far too much of a mouthful. And I think it will be a barrier. Just for these talks. Are you okay with that?"

"Yes."

"Yes, what?"

"Yes, Edith."

"Great. Now where to start. You've had so much happen. Not just yesterday, but before. I'd like to ask one thing. You and your family went into hiding when someone tried to attack in January, but reports were that you didn't panic. Afterwards, you weren't frightened. What was different yesterday?"

"I thought you would have asked me to retell it."

"I'm sure I will, but not yet. We need other things first. Did you panic yesterday?"

"I don't think so. I don't think Kelly did either. She kept calm enough to kick one of the kidnappers in the balls. He used some very naughty words."

"Yes, it hurts being kicked there. She did well to remember to do it. So, what was different about yesterday than in January."

She thought about it, and said, "The baddies. Well, the people who tried to hurt us are still around. In January, the building killed them all."

"The building killed the people that were sent. It didn't kill the people behind it. Yet nobody came for you when you got back. What's made you so scared that you will be attacked again?"

"He didn't know which of us was Jenny. As we drove down the A38, he said that when they get caught, his friends would get me. His friends wouldn't kill us, but our friends and family slowly. They would make us both watch."

"Did you tell this to the police?" asked Edith.

"No. I tried to forget it."

"I'm sure you did, but you can't stop thinking about it, can you?"

"No. And Kelly texted me. She had nightmares. It's my fault."

Edith gave a sad smile. How many times had she heard children use that same logic. "She decided to pretend to be Jenny. Not you. She made that choice."

"I know, but if we weren't friends, then she wouldn't have done it."

"And what would you have done if she was being kidnapped? Would you have done the same?"

She shrugged. "I dunno."

"Are you responsible for her actions? Did you tell her to come with you?"

"No."

"She has freedom to make her own choices. Just like you do. She chose to stick with you. I think that is a really good friend."

Jenny smiled.

"Is Kelly getting her own help?"

"She said someone from her dad's company was going to sit with her, though I don't know where that is. She doesn't talk about her dad's job. Ever."

"I bet you didn't tell her about your ma's job."

"Of course not. Ma was working on a secret project."

"Now we need to deal with what the kidnapper told you. Do you have the phone number of the police lady who rescued you from the car?"

"Yes. She made sure I had her card, just in case I remembered something."

"Good. Now go get your ma and bring her up to your room. You can ring her with all of us together with her on speaker phone. I want to make sure she gets the message."

"You think it's important?" asked Jenny, not understanding what bit was important.

"Yes. Now go get your ma."

Jenny didn't go far. She opened her bedroom door and hollered really loudly, "Ma, can you come up."

When Becky arrived, she was surprised to still see Edith there. "Your daughter has to make a call to the police," said Edith. "The kidnapper said something, and I think it's important she tells them. I've asked her to put it on speakerphone so we can all hear."

Jenny pulled out her phone and dialled the number she'd been given. She was surprised when it was answered quite quickly. "Hi. It's Jenny, isn't it?"

Edith frowned. And large text appeared on the screen "Just thank her and hang up."

Jenny saw the message and nodded. "Yes. I found your card and wanted to say thank you. You were very kind."

Becky wanted to grab the phone and just hang up but stopped when the lady asked. "Are you okay? Are you able to go back to school today?"

"I'm frightened of going back," said Jenny, being unintentionally honest.

"Yes. Well, if you remember anything, you have my number."

When Jenny had hung up, Becky said angrily. "That didn't sound like the same person I heard last night."

"Be a darling and put that number into the chat," said Edith. "I think my daughter would love to have it."

"Your daughter?" asked Becky surprised.

"She mentioned her earlier," said Jenny. "She said Overwatch."

"If your daughter works in Overwatch, then please pass my eternal gratitude."

Edith grinned. "Oh, seems they have a reputation. I will do. Becky, do you have a contact from yesterday?"

Becky went through her items and rang. "DI Johnson," was the gruff answer.

Edith nodded. This was the type of response she'd expected.

"This is Becky Head from yesterday."

"Becky. Yes. What can I do for you? Have you remembered something additional?"

"Not me, but Jenny has. We're on speaker. When she's told you, there is one other development."

"Jenny," he said, a lot gentler than his original tone.

"One of the kidnappers said something. I was talking to a psychiatrist, and they said I should ring you. One of the kidnappers. Not the driver one, said 'When they get caught, his friends would get me. His friends wouldn't kill us, but our friends and family slowly. They would make us both watch'."

"Thank you. It is great your remembered this. Did he say anything else?"

"No, but the driver muttered some things that made no sense. Something about going a certain way because of ARPN. No, not that. Sorry."

"ANPR?" asked Becky.

"YES!" almost screamed Jenny in delight. "That was it. ANPR. What's that?"

"That's the number plate cameras," said Becky, proud of what her daughter had remembered.

"Now, you said there was something else?" asked DI Johnson, bringing them back on topic.

"Yes. I was given a card by the policewoman who rescued me. I rang the number on the card to tell her, but when she answered it didn't sound right. I don't think she was a policewoman. She seemed more interested if I was going back to school."

"Do you have the number that you dialled?"

Jenny gave it.

"Perfect. Please don't touch the card. DC Singh will stop by to get it. We will want to dust for prints and DNA. Please don't mention this to Kelly. When I'm authorised to talk to her, I will want her to verify."

"What now?" asked Jenny when they'd ended the call with DI Johnson.

"You need some therapy, but you're stable. You know you have some issues and are working on it. The best thing you can do now is do what you are scared of doing. You need to go to school. Jump that hurdle. Your ma will take you. Knowing some of the people who rang me, you will find it is a lot more secure than yesterday."

"Thank you," said Jenny, feeling a bit more hopeful.

Edith noticed the slight change of attitude. She knew that Jenny had some way to go but today was a start. Get some important facts out there, which should lighten the load a bit. The hard work was yet to come.

The drive to school was difficult for Jenny. The closer they got, the more nervous she was. Instead of just dropping her off, they drove into the school carpark.

"You don't have to take me in," said Jenny, surprised.

"I've got a meeting with Mr Carpenter."

As they walked towards the school, Jenny stopped in surprise. The open entrance from the car park was gone. A quickly erected barrier was there, manned by one of the staff. In the playground, Jenny noticed other children were being accompanied by their parents to the school. Even children who lived in the village, who always came on their own, were being chaperoned.

"It's not just you affected. You might have been taken, but all the parents are worried it could have been their child."

There were a few gasps of surprise as Jenny walked into school. They knew she'd been found. The community was too small for that not to happen. There were wild rumours that one of the spaceships had been seen, but it seemed that was too fanciful for most people. When she got to her form room, she took her usual seat, the one next to her that usually sat Kelly, was empty.

* * *

The meeting with the headmaster didn't take long. He went through a list of measures that the academy trust had authorised in a late-night meeting. It was a small country school set in an area that was quite idyllic. The thought that inner city issues would plague them had been unthinkable. Now they knew they needed to act and they were doing so. Outer levels would happen over the weekend. Retaining the open view, but extra deterrents. The walls would be raised, and spikes added at the top to stop climbers. The looped fences at the front would be supplemented by thorny bushes. The school gate would auto lock during school time. Inner security was also coming under scrutiny so if they did get to the school, they wouldn't be able to easily get past reception.

* * *

Becky walked into the office at the old Anchor pub. Ashleigh was there, but Evan and Henry were down at the factory, keeping an eye on Eos. They were taking the Prime Minister and a group of delegates to discuss what it would actually mean to join the council. What the humans would give, and what they would expect in return. This mattered, as it impacted the discussions back at home and what politicians would tell their constituents.

"How's it going?" asked Becky, getting on communications.

"We're here," came back James. "How's Jenny?"

"Shaken. She was reluctant to go to school. Thank you for all your running around last night. It was really helpful. This communications link is impressive. Instant communications over150 light years."

"Our pleasure," responded James after a beat, "There is a slight lag but not the three seconds the ship takes. It's too much to play World of Warcraft though."

"If Jenny didn't want to go to school, then she is really scared," added Evan from the factory.

"I heard something about some explosions in London. Did that impact you?"

"Slightly," said Evan. "Someone tried to disrupt by firing mortars at the Horse Guard Parade grounds. We were diverted to an alternative landing location, actually in Downing Street."

"I'll watch the news later," said Becky. "I bet the cameras loved that."

"Ooh, I've not thought of trying that," said James. "Can I get BBC News out here."

"Call one of your friends on the Space Station," added Henry.

"I like that one," grinned James. "It'll make them so jealous."

"What are the other two doing?"

"They're working with one of the transition alien representatives, documenting different ship designs and what races they belong to. I've found they have a pilot lounge, but we've not got to that level of authorisation yet."

"I wonder what they'd think of human beer," mused Henry.

Becky selected a different channel. "Evan. Any ideas why communications has less of a lag than the ship? I know the aliens said their ships were slower than comms, but they implied there was a bigger differential."

"It's all down to tunnel structure. We had to structure it differently for communications. We can't use the same design though for the ships. It is something I've been discussing with Liam, but we've no idea yet."

Becky's phone beeped with a breaking news headline:
'Earth First denounces splinter group Earth Fist. They say that murder, kidnapping and bombs are not the solution.'

* * *

Becky was unsure what she would find, but Willow House looked the same as normal. There was an extra car there, but that was it. However, the door was answered by a stranger. Security. Either the Browns were taking no chances, or it was from Clive's job. Becky thought it unwise to ask.

"I wanted to just see if there was anything I could do to help," said Becky, when she was welcomed into the house. Kelly was sandwiched between her two parents on a lounge settee.

"How's Jenny doing?" asked Grace.

"Anxious. Worried the gunmen are coming to get her. She had a web call with a psychiatrist, which helped enough that she went to school."

"She's at school?" said Kelly shocked. "But isn't she scared?"

"Yes, but she's also scared of missing lessons. I think she got a lot off her mind when she talked to someone. She remembered something, and the psychiatrist got her to ring the police with that information."

"Yes, I was asked about it earlier. Seems it confirmed what Jenny had said."

"You were very brave going with Jenny like that," said Becky. "But remember, it was Jenny they were after. They aren't going to come after you. But it seems people are beginning to work out who is behind the spaceships and where we are. Jenny is aware of that, and worries you might get pulled in. She blamed herself for you being kidnapped with her."

"That's silly," said Kelly. "I went because I didn't want her on her own. She is my friend."

Grace and Clive were nodding. Grace said, "And we don't give up on friends, just because their parents work on dangerous projects."

"School have put in some new measures so that this type of issue can't happen again. I was quite surprised what was done already, with more going in this weekend."

"Can I go to school?" asked Kelly.

A look of terror crossed Grace's face, and a Colin pursed his lips. They were frightened for their daughter, but how could they say they didn't want her going to school.

"Are you sure?" asked Grace, when she'd regained the ability to talk.

Kelly hesitated. "Yes. Please take me before I change my mind. I don't want to give in."

"Don't let the terrorists win?" asked Clive with a bit of sarcasm.

"Yes, like the PM said on the television earlier about not giving in. She still went to deal with the aliens even though the terrorists tried to stop her. I've been sat here worrying and nothing has changed. Worrying isn't going to make things better. Jenny is my best friend, and I don't want her to have to slow down for me."

Escaping the Cradle

by Karen Page

Part 24

---

Part 24
DATE:FC+98

Weeks had passed. No more murders, kidnapping or explosions of anything linked to the aliens. All the investigations had led to dead ends. The group Earth Fist, the splinter group from Earth First had claimed responsibilities, but who they were was still a mystery. Their demands though were plainly announced. Stop all contact with the aliens. Stop expansion beyond Earth. The idea of stopping satellites from being launched was being quietly dropped. Too many people were put off by the idea of not having communications everywhere. It was a safety thing. If you were up a mountain, or in the middle of the desert, you should always be able to call for help if needed.

Instead of Jenny sometimes getting collected by Kelly's mother, it was now more the other way round. Kelly was being collected by Becky or Ashleigh, alongside Jenny. They would do their homework upstairs, supervised by Ashleigh. Afterwards, instead of Kelly going for private help with her science, the two scientists had offered to tutor. Not only was she being taught by two highly respected scientists, but she was also getting knowledge for what she wanted in the future.

"School will start teaching us Hytuna tomorrow," said Jenny as they came into the office to do their homework, after Becky had collected them.

"Oh dear," said Ashleigh. "I hope they realise that most of the students have probably been actively learning it themselves. It seems very popular. I've heard a few parents speaking it at the school gates while we wait. It's the latest craze. One set of parents wanted to do it as practice, and other parents soon joined in. They were doing quite well."

"You need to brush up yours," said Jenny.

"I know. I know. I try, but I'm not as good at languages as you."

As the two children did their homework, an email came through to Ashleigh, which greatly upset her. "Idiots."

"What's wrong?" asked Jenny. Kelly wondered too but didn't want to say anything. It took quite a lot to frustrate Miss Thompson.

"Our lawyers have responded about our satellite launch licence request."

"You need a licence for that?" asked Jenny, surprised.

"Yes, you have to provide details to the Civil Aviation Authority who issue the licence. Things have to be proved to be safe. They had questions, which we answered, and now they have more questions. They keep asking what will happen with the rocket and what the re-entry debris pattern will be. They don't seem to have grasped the fact we aren't using a rocket, but it seems they have boxes to fill in, and we aren't providing them with the data the form says they need."

"Didn't you have to do it for the teddy bear test?" asked Kelly, puzzled.

"We didn't know," said Ashleigh, guiltily. "We could have got in very big trouble for that, but nobody has asked that question. We still might get into trouble for it. I've no idea what the fine would be."

"Oh."

"Now we know, we are trying to do things right. We have a licence to operate Eos and Aurora. It's like they have forms and processes, and don't know how to vary from that. We have submitted via the novel method so we thought it might be cleaner, but it seems not. If they don't have a process or a form, they dither."

"What are you going to do?" asked Jenny.

"Our lawyers are going to arrange a meeting with the CAA Executive Board. Put the process to them. They need to sign off novel licences."

"There's nothing novel about it," said Jenny, indignantly.

Kelly smiled and continued her homework. She liked how Jenny saw the world.

"To them it is. It isn't like any other route to orbit. Also, don't forget the UK hasn't launched its own satellites since the 1970's. They are used to satellites, but not spaceships and putting things into orbit from the UK."

"Is there always so much paperwork in life?" asked Jenny.

"For some things. The rules are there to make sure we do it safely. There is enough debris in orbit without them letting others add to it. It's also an international thing. We don't want to be accidentally destroying someone else's satellite."

Henry had come up the stairs and heard the discussion. "Look up Kessler syndrome. That might help you understand why there is so much paperwork."

The two young girls did that, and then there was a heated discussion between them. Jenny drew a diagram and Kelly looked puzzled.

"What's wrong?" asked Ashleigh.

"Kelly understands gravity but not much more on physics. It's just not taught at school until we're older."

Henry said, "I'll tell Liam. Newton 101 coming up when you've finished your homework."

"It will be a good refresher," said Jenny, indicating she would sit in with Kelly. "But no dropping apples on my head this time."

"Huh?"

"Newton started work on gravity when he saw an apple fall in an orchard," explained Jenny. "It's probably one of those fake stories that it fell on his head. Makes it more memorable."

"Or the one about Archimedes working out theory of displacement when he got in the bath. That is true. Probably him running naked down the street, shouting 'Eureka!' isn't," laughed Ashleigh dryly.

"Yuck," said Kelly making a face.

The sound of laughter came from the hall. It was a type that Jenny and Ashleigh recognised, and they both jumped up. In came Tina.

"Aunt Tina!" screamed Jenny with joy, wrapping her arms around Tina.

Kelly watched on, bemused. She then realised who it was. "Mrs Poop?!"

"Hi Kelly," said Tina, breaking free from Jenny. "I hear you were very brave the other week."

"Mrs Poop is your aunt?" asked Kelly, puzzled and slightly put out.

"Ashleigh is my sister," explained Tina. "I worked at the school to protect Jenny when there were threats against the project."

"Another secret?" asked Kelly. "Jenny, is there anything else you've been hiding from me?"

"Yes, but they aren't my secrets to tell. Like I've not asked how you learnt to kick a kidnapper like that." Jenny turned to her aunt and asked nervously, "You're not here because I'm in danger again, are you?"

"No kiddo, I'm back from assignment and came to see you all. Luke and I are planning to see Caroline, but The Anchor was our first port of call. Now go learn about why apples fall on people's heads, while I have a chat with my sister."

"Where's Uncle Luke?"

"Downstairs. I was wondering if we could stop the night. He wants to cook something."

"Of course you can, " said Ashleigh pulling out her house key. "What's he making?"

"I've no idea and I didn't want to ask. A nice surprise. He's not been able to cook like this for months and I think he's missed it."

The two young girls went downstairs to have their lesson, leaving Ashleigh to talk with Tina in peace.

"I feel such a fool," muttered Kelly as they went downstairs.

"Why?" asked Jenny, perplexed.

"Because I didn't realise. You keep everything locked inside. I know you worry about saying some things, but I thought you might trust me."

"I do," said Jenny, not knowing what else to say.

Kelly gave a sharp huff and stalked downstairs leaving Jenny behind, not understanding what had upset Kelly. Surely, she must understand that she couldn't tell her everything.

When they got to the discussion area, Liam was chatting to Luke. Henry and Evan had moved into the lab to perform some tests.

"So, Newton," started Liam. "We're going back to the 1660's. He developed the basis of calculus, but today we're going to start talking about his laws of motion and gravity. This will take a several lessons."

Luke had seen the conflict between the two girls but watched as they seemed to put it to one side. Liam got their entire attention. Even when they did an exercise together, they got on with it, talking about what they saw.

After an hour, Liam drew the lesson to an end. "So, we've looked at forces and what they are. We've then looked at his first law of motion. His law of inertia."

"A body stays at rest, or in motion until some other force acts on it," said Kelly.

"Nearly," said Liam. "It stays in motion at a constant speed and direction until another force acts upon it. You got the stay at rest, which a lot of people forget. Well done."

"Let the force be with you," called Henry from the lab and everyone in the room groaned.

"Your mum is talking to Miss Thompson," said Luke to Kelly. "The weather is nice, so why don't you two go outside and talk about your argument."

"We weren't arguing," insisted Jenny. "We just had a disagreement."

Kelly looked like she was unsure if to laugh or cry. In the end she looked mortified.

"Let's go out back," said Luke again. "Let's see if we can talk this through."

"I don't know you," uttered Kelly, not budging.

"That's fair," said Luke. "My name is Mr Poop. I'm Tina's husband."

"I still don't know you," said Kelly. She looked at Jenny.

"I trust him," said Jenny. "And not because he's sort of related, but because of what he's done."

Kelly looked at him, "I'm having difficulty trusting people I don't know. Home and here is somewhere I feel safe. I still worry at school, even though it's more secure than it was."

"I'm glad you have places you feel safe. I have a friend called David. He told me it took a while to get over being kidnapped and he had been thirteen. Where would you like to talk? If you aren't comfortable outside, where is good for you?"

"The back is fenced in," reminded Jenny. "Nobody can get to us."

"Face my fear," said Kelly, almost to herself. She took a deep breath and seemed to stand up straighter. She grabbed Jenny's hand and pulled her along. "Come on then. Let's talk."

They went and sat on one of the picnic tables Jenny and Kelly on one side, and Luke on the other.

"So, catch me up," said Luke. "When I went away, Kelly didn't know what went on here. I come back and in my reintegration session I found out that you two had been taken at gun point."

"Didn't they tell you?" asked Jenny, puzzled.

"We didn't wait. We left the meeting and came straight here. I don't think Miss T will be pleased with us. We weren't away that long, but so much has changed."

Between them, Kelly and Jenny filled in the details of what happened. Luke just sat there impassive, watching them as much as listening to what they said. For someone who got scared, Kelly seemed to have spunk.

"How did you feel when you found out you were going back in Eos?" asked Luke.

"Surprised. I didn't think how my parents could have got there that quickly. I was just so glad to see them. But then I wasn't allowed to talk with Jenny until after everybody had asked questions."

"How many were about the kidnapping and how many were about how you felt?" asked Luke.

"They were all about the kidnapping, and a few about what I knew about the spaceship. None were really about me. Not until I got to chat with someone a week later. "

"That's—" words failed him.

"Dad's company arranged it," she said, giving a shrug of hopelessness. "It's so strange. They wouldn't let me talk to the police and then after, arranged all the follow-up. Mrs Head suggested someone that Jenny had talked to, but Dad said they had to go through theirs."

"Kelly was having extra lessons after school," explained Jenny. "Since we had experts here, and she knew what we were basically doing, Ma offered if Kelly could do her homework here."

"So, what were you two arguing about?"

"We just had a disagreement about secrets," said Kelly. "I thought we'd got past that, and it upset me."

Luke nodded and rubbed his chin as he contemplated what to say. "Sometimes secrets are a necessity and that can be a burden. Kelly, you have secrets about here, which you don't tell anybody else at school. Jenny, you have other secrets. Ones where you would find it hard to mention. For instance, about Ryan."

Jenny nodded, looking like she was about to cry. Kelly reached across and put her hand on Jenny's arm.

"It's not that I don't trust you. I wouldn't know how to tell you," said Jenny.

"Oh," said Kelly, not knowing what to say.

"Kelly, let me tell you some of my youth. I went to a music school. It wasn't just very good at music; it was very good at helping students be better than they would have been. We all did our exams early. But the time there was intense. We worked hard and played even harder. To stop us getting overwhelmed we were given a school buddy. You do nearly everything at the school together. They become someone you can depend on. Someone you can trust. The one person at school you should have no secrets from. The school encouraged that openness. Yet the whole basis of the school was shrouded in secrecy, even down to where the school was. Even the parents of the pupils didn't know where it was."

"And how does this relate to Jenny and me?" asked Kelly, sounding lost and bewildered.

"I'm saying that even where there is secrecy, there should be someone you trust. But one thing I do know, that doesn't happen overnight. It is something that crept up on you. Constantly doing everything together meant that they knew more about you than you realised."

"I bet you'd love to go there," said Kelly.

"It isn't a school you request to go to. It is a school where they choose the pupils. I wasn't a first choice. Someone else was chosen for my slot, but they died before the start of the year."

"Oh," said Kelly.

"Okay Jenny, why don't you tell Kelly something you've not told her."

Jenny considered, trying to think what she might tell Kelly. "I met two of the aliens."

Luke's mouth dropped open in surprise. Jenny had said it as if things like that happened all the time.

Kelly on the other hand squealed in delight. "What were they like? Which race? Did you use Hytuna?"

"It was only a hologram," sighed Jenny.

"There are only a dozen that have met them face to face," said Kelly. "There aren't many more that have even met them via holograms."

"There was an Alphorian and a Reginadde. I asked a few questions in Hytuna about what things were like, but they said we didn't have the vocabulary to understand their answer."

"Why didn't you say?" asked Kelly. "Was that a big secret?"

"It wasn't a secret," confirmed Jenny. "It's just something I didn't tell you. I got into trouble, so was too ashamed to mention it. When I heard there was an alien, I rushed back, even though I was told not to. One of the others had to run to try and stop me. The sight of the alien caused them to scream in fright."

"Why did you get into trouble?"

"Because I disobeyed them. Ma could have been running an experiment, and it could have been dangerous. It isn't often I'm told not to do something, and I ignored it. They're opening tunnels through other dimensions. It might seem fun, but it's real science and they're doing things that might go wrong."

"Does it?"

"I remember one of the first times they tried to open a tunnel. I was upstairs with Mum. We were filming where they hoped a tunnel would exit. It didn't work, and the unit caught fire. That's the worst I'm aware of."

Kelly turned to Luke. "Do you know why my mum was here?"

Luke nodded. "She was just checking on how you were doing. Part of the agreement of you coming here is you don't tell them what you see or learn. Your parents insisted as much as Mrs Head did."

"Dad was very weird about it," frowned Kelly. "He said he couldn't tell what he didn't know."

"That's very wise words," agreed Luke. "Perhaps remember that when you're trying to get Jenny to tell you more than she can."

---

Footnote:

CAA	The UK Civil Aviation Authority. While best known as the aviation regulator, it also licenses and oversees spaceflight and satellite launches under the UK Space Industry Act.

Escaping the Cradle

by Karen Page

Part 25

---

Part 25
DATE:FC+118

"The stars are aligning," said Ashleigh, as her computer updated. "We've now got Hytuna support on both our Mac and Windows machines."

"But the Unicode decision was only last week," said Becky, amazed.

"I presume companies felt pressure from governments to get it done. They're fed up with garbled briefing papers."

"Do people still print?" asked Jenny.

"We still have a printer here," said Ashleigh, pointing to the rarely used box in the corner. "The paperless office is still a dream, like fully driverless cars. We get closer each decade, and companies say it is just around the corner."

"You said the stars were aligning," pointed out Becky. "What else has happened?"

"We've got the go ahead to deploy a satellite."

"Surely not Earth-1? I know NASA is so excited since Jessica did that presentation."

"Oh, and your trip last week just sent them over the edge. Real time observation data being sent back to JPL from Saturn. The scientists on the ship talking back to those at base. I think that was a major turning point. It was no longer theory. You sold them Jessica's plan."

"Jessica did all the hard work," said Becky. "The ability to receive and tunnel existing space communications meant they could get an instant upgrade on all their current projects."

"They might have been sold, but the CAA are still being cautious. They want a test box first. Something that can be tracked into a solar impact trajectory. That way if something doesn't work, it won't be near something else. They seem to have confidence in our ability to place it at the right coordinates, so I don't know what's going on."

"Probably pressure from some existing space companies. Without satellite launches where would some companies be? SpaceX were the cheapest for a long time because they had reusability. We are even cheaper. Heck, I heard someone refer to them as Old Space when they were complaining that Aurora was not to be trusted as we had no pedigree."

"Are you sure that's what's happening?"

"No, but look how they've all suddenly increased the number of launches. They're trying to get through the backlog as quickly as possible and get the money in before the work dries up."

"Why? Won't they already have contracts in place?"

"Yes, but on a launch that say costs fifty million dollars, the last twenty percent might only be payable on a successful launch. That's ten million dollars. As long as they are six months from launch, it might be cheaper for them to cancel and come to us."

"But we haven't published anything yet," stated Ashleigh, bewildered.

"But we have put a request to the CAA to launch a satellite. I'm sure the FAA in America will have been told," said Becky. She then turned to her daughter. "Jenny, let me start the conversion now we have full Unicode. We then can compare the primer and make sure the communication translation works correctly. I'll be taking you to school in ten minutes."

When Jenny was alone with Ashleigh, she said, "Mum, do you know about today?"

Ashleigh looked puzzled. "Is there something I should know?"

"It was the date when Mummy and Ma got married."

"Their wedding anniversary? Oh. I didn't realise. Thank you for telling me," said Ashleigh, going across to Jenny and giving her a hug. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, but it was a very special day for Ma."

"I'm sure it was. I've seen their wedding pictures. It looked very beautiful."

"Ma showed you the wedding photos?" said Jenny, surprised.

"I insisted. I said there is nothing in her past she needs to hide from me. She just never mentioned the date and I never thought to ask. Mummy is never something to be hidden away."

"I think you'd have liked her," added Jenny.

"I probably would," answered Ashleigh, though internally wondered if that would have been the case. Would they have been rivals and fought over the person they loved? Just the sight of Becky on the first day working there had rekindled old memories and feelings. And she often wondered if she'd ever fallen out of love.

Jenny smiled, glad. She went downstairs, ready to go to school. Ashleigh followed her down and noticed that Becky was 'in the zone'. Glad that Becky wasn't brooding, she decided to take Jenny herself, but things were never that simple. A delivery turned up, but then so did Henry.

"Oh Henry, would you be happy to take Jenny to school?" asked Ashleigh.

"No problem," he said without hesitation. He turned to Jenny. "Come on, let's see if I can remember where it is."

Jenny giggled and happily skipped along to Henry.

It was about ten minutes later when Becky stopped what she'd been doing and looked around. "Where's Jenny?"

"At school," said Henry, walking into the room. "I just dropped her off."

Becky muttered a small expletive to herself, before thanking Henry. It had been a while since she'd been so engrossed in her work that she'd missed taking Jenny to school. "Oh, Ashleigh said that permission for the test satellite has been given. She's got details."

"Fantastic. It will be good to get past that hurdle. How is this going to work in the future?"

"Let's prove it, but I know Ashleigh has been working with Laura about expansion. It looks like we might soon no longer be a research company."

"I came here to escape industry," said Henry bleakly. "I don't want to wear a suit."

"I don't think we'll be like that," said Becky, trying to reassure him. "I doubt Laura does either. She has a good corporate head on her shoulders, and she also knows how to get the most out of people. I doubt she'd try to get you to do something you didn't want."

"Really?"

"Really. Quick question. Why did you take Jenny and not Ashleigh?"

"I think she was going to, but a delivery arrived."

"Oh, thank you."

"Are you okay?" asked Henry. "You seem distracted."

"I've a few things on my mind," admitted Becky. "And then I couldn't get the Unicode update on the conversion machine. I wanted to see how it looked. You know, the back page which has the complete character list. At least the server isn't displaying anything, so didn't need the update. I don't think Linux has the update yet."

"And?"

"A few issues where I'd got some characters converting badly. It's now corrected and I'm rerunning the job."

Ashleigh walked in, carrying a tray of teas and a coffee for Henry. "Thanks for that Henry," she said, giving him a warm smile.

He smiled, "My pleasure. It's been a while since I've taken her. It was fun."

"How long will the conversion take?" Ashleigh asked Becky.

"About four or five hours. Why?"

"Because you have that appointment in Cheltenham."

"I was going to postpone. I want to check the results when they come in."

"As you said, it's going to take at least four hours. Your appointment is in an hour. You will be back when it finishes. I was planning on going with you."

"Make sure I get there?" Becky smirked.

"No, for moral support," replied Ashleigh, not wanting to remind Becky how she'd been sabotaging her own transition. "In fact, Henry, do you need us for your prep work? The date is Friday at their production centre on the outskirts of Manchester."

"Liam and I will be working on configuring the extra tunnelled communications unit. So go. It will stop us getting distracted."

Leaving their tea only partly drunk, they made their way to Becky's car. "Don't you trust me?" she asked.

"Of course. It's just I read that some of these psychiatry visits can be a bit emotional. I didn't want you to be alone."

"Thanks," said Becky with a weak smile. "Are you driving then?"

"Why not!" laughed Ashleigh with a grin.

Neither of them had been to Cheltenham since their engagement, and it brought back happy memories to Ashleigh. She had no idea how Becky felt, but she didn't seem distressed.

When they got there, Ashleigh was surprised. She thought they would be going to the hospital, but it was a purpose-built mental health unit on the Bath Road. An old office building that had stood empty for years had a new role.

Ashleigh didn't know what to expect, but it wasn't that. It wasn't drab and dreary, but a clean airy place. The rear of the building was a large garden, where some were sat out. A place of refuge, or a place to unwind, she didn't know. Perhaps it had multiple roles.

As they entered, the receptionist greeted them with a welcoming smile. Becky scanned her finger so the system would identify her and was directed to the waiting area.

"This appointment didn't take as long to get as I thought it would," said Ashleigh as they sat down in the waiting room. There weren't many others waiting.

"I presume there was more money put into the service when the government decided that mental health was just as important as physical health. It helps prevent crisis points that could lead to self-harm, which can place additional demands on physical health resources."

They sat there in silence for a bit. Becky nervously stroked Ashleigh's hand and watched the traffic go by out of the window to their left.

"I feel so nervous," said Becky. "What if they don't help me. What if they say I should go back to being Richard?"

"After living five years in role? I doubt it," said Ashleigh. "Why the self-doubt?"

"The only professional I really talked to about this was Hilda. I don't know what to say."

"Just be yourself," reassured Ashleigh. "You are you."

"Rebecca Head?" asked a young man, coming into the waiting room.

Becky rose and Ashleigh uttered, "I'll see you soon."

Ashleigh took her tablet out of her bag, to do some work while waiting. She didn't get too far. After reading the same email three times, she decided to put it away. Her mind was on Becky, and the missive just wasn't sinking in.

People came into the waiting room, and people went into appointments, but it was a good forty-five minutes later than Becky appeared. Her face looked as lovely as when she'd gone in. There weren't any tear stains, which was a positive sign.

"Are you okay?" asked Ashleigh, getting up to meet her.

"They want me to wait to see someone else," Becky responded. "I've no idea why though."

"You could ask when you see the next person," suggested Ashleigh, giving a simple answer. As they both sat down, Ashleigh asked, "Did Hilda come up?"

"Some, but just background. It was more about me, and about how I felt."

"So, nothing about today being your wedding anniversary?"

"You know about that?" asked Becky, surprised.

"Yes. It's an important date, isn't it?"

"To me it is."

"And what's important to you is important to me. I've sure I've mentioned this before. Hilda isn't something to hide from me. I really don't know how you feel about it though. Is it a day to still celebrate? Is it a sad day, because you remember the happy wedding day but she's no longer here?"

"I suppose a bit of both," said Becky, her eyes beginning to fill with tears. "It was too soon after her death for it to be separate last year. Now, it has just crept up and I've no idea. I remembered the day like it was yesterday."

"She was important. In some ways she still is. Love her. Cherish her." Ashleigh leaned across and gave Becky a hug. "Never hide her or yourself from me."

When they parted, Becky dried her eyes and blew her nose. It was only then that both Becky and Ashleigh noticed they were being watched by a middle-aged woman.

"Rebecca Head?" she asked.

Becky stood and wiped her eyes. "That's me."

"Excellent. Zane asked if I wouldn't mind having a chat for a second recommendation."

"Second recommendation?" parroted Becky.

"For referral to the GIC. It looks like you've got good support, so let's have a small chat."

Becky followed, like a lost lamb. Ashleigh sat there, watching them go, surprised at how the day had been progressing. What had started off as a single session had potentially turned into a referral. Wow.

This was Becky's journey, yet Ashleigh felt excited and apprehensive. It was a big step for Becky, but it was one that Becky had taken. Ashleigh hadn't pushed Becky. It was always something that was in Becky's hands. Personally, she didn't care what was in Becky's underwear. She cared for Becky. She really loved her.

Glancing out, she saw it had started to rain. The traffic silently went past, with a slight whoosh as the water sprayed from the tyres. It was so different from when she'd first met Becky. It wasn't the external changes, such as all the fossil fuel cars having gone, that was the biggest impact but the way society had changed. Behaviour that had been acceptable when she was young was now deemed abhorrent.

Then there was how she'd changed. The way Tina had changed. The only one that hadn't really changed that much was Caroline, her older sister. When she'd first met Becky, it had been such a shock, and her own feelings had been a surprise. Becky had been the first person who had excited her. She'd never felt like that before then.

It had been a time of wonder, where Becky and she had started to learn more about themselves, but also more about each other. Then it had been wrenched away. The shouting. The tears. The anger. The fear. The whole household had disintegrated from a happy family to a war site where any wrong word might get you sentenced to another month of purgatory.

It wasn't until she saw Becky again last summer that she realised what she'd been missing. She'd not felt this way since she'd last saw Becky. The world seemed to have righted itself. The tick of her heart felt correct. Life was how it should have been. Just a look across the discussion room on that first day of her new job set her reeling.

It had been Becky, but not the Becky she remembered. It was a grown up Becky. A mature Becky. Someone in control of a project that she hadn't even begun to understand. She'd missed so much. No longer was Becky finding herself, she was there. She'd transitioned and as far as Ashleigh had known, had concluded the transition with her final op.

Yet as they'd gradually got to know each other, Ashleigh had realised that Becky wasn't as secure as she first seemed. Oh, she was secure in her job, and life, but there was still something off. At first Ashleigh had thought it was due to the death of Hilda. It was only recently, on the day they got engaged, that she'd found the real issue.

Ashleigh gave a small smile. She would be able to help Becky become fully Becky. If that was what Becky really wanted.

When Becky came out, Ashleigh knew that she'd been crying. There were more tearstains than when she'd gone in. But there was a look of joy in her eyes.

"I'm just going to the toilet. I'm sure my face looks a mess. See you in a minute."

Ashleigh hadn't had chance to ask anything. Becky had disappeared almost as quickly as she'd appeared.

"Are you okay, ma'am?" asked one of the staff members. She had a big badge over her left breast saying, 'Can I Help?'

"I'm fine. Just waiting for my girlfriend who's gone to the toilet."

Ashleigh was surprised. Over the years, she'd been out with both men and women. She'd always found it hard saying girlfriend if someone asked. Yet with Becky it hadn't been difficult. Perhaps because a mental health centre is more supportive, or had she become so comfortable with Becky that it wasn't an issue.

"If you come again with your girlfriend, there is an ad hoc support group that runs in the green room. Often partners of those requiring help need support themselves."

"Good to know. Thank you," responded Ashleigh, giving a small smile of gratitude. This was so different from the psychiatrist office she'd been in when she'd been at university.

"Just spreading the word," she responded happily. "These new support centres are such a big improvement. Not everybody is aware what they offer."

And she was off going to make sure someone else was informed.

Ashleigh stifled a laugh, feeling cheered up. Becky was soon with her, and they walked outside, into the now drizzly day.

"How was it?" asked Ashleigh, as Becky steered them into a coffee shop.

"Good, I think. I'll tell you when we've got our drinks."

Being a weekday, it didn't take them long to be served. Becky used her phone to check the status of her conversion and seemed happy with progress.

"Both psychiatrists were happy to refer me. The second one talked a bit about Hilda's death and the impact but was happy this wasn't the cause of my dysphoria. They act as a gateway so the GIC doesn't get overrun by cases that should be seen locally. Since I've been living as Becky for so long, it was more a formality. Hence why I was asked to see the other shrink today. It gets my case closed on their books and they can move onto patients that need them."

"Sorry, I don't know the process now. When do you get seen next? And where?"

Becky pulled out her phone and pulled up the NHS app. "Ooh, the referral is already there. I get to choose which GIC I go to. There are now over a dozen in England alone. All part of the Mental Health Welfare. The closest is in Oxford or Birmingham."

"Distance doesn't really matter," said Ashleigh, snuggling up to peer at Becky's phone. "Best outcomes are more important."

"Okay. Milton Keynes GIC has the top marks, but their queue is one of the longest. A two month wait. I've waited this long, two months seems no time. Back in the day, it could have been a two year wait."

"Thank goodness they treat it more seriously today."

Becky pressed a few buttons, and her referral had gone to the MK GIC.

"How did you know today was my wedding anniversary?" asked Becky in between sips of her coffee.

"Jenny told me. She cares about you and worries."

"I know," smiled Becky. "She's a good kid."

"Happy anniversary," Ashleigh whispered to Becky, and then leaned across and gave her a kiss.

Escaping the Cradle

by Karen Page

Part 26

---

Part 26
DATE:FC+119

"This doesn't make sense," sighed Evan. "A new round of understanding alien file formats."

They'd successfully parsed the two Hytuna documents, but this one was different. This was star information and who claimed which one. They'd converted it into human format, but it was still just a file full of text and numbers.

"We don't even know if it's Sol based," said Becky. "It could be centred on any number of stars, including the galaxy centre."

Liam highlighted a section of text. "This looks like a formula. Why would they put a formula in a star map?"

"Because stars move," said Evan, his frown turning into a smile. "That is going to be our key. Stars move relative to each other, so the chart isn't just now, it is long term. And since mathematics is universal, we should be able to use that. We have motion data from the Gaia data sets. We already used that to calculate the actual position of stars rather than where they're appear to be."

"We also have the formula given to us for communicating," said Jessica on the screen. She was in America, but she often joined this type of discussion. "We can strip out the satellite part of the formula, and that will give us the motion of their star."

"They gave us that in Earth notation. The motion and speed were familiar to us. This is all in Hytuna. Light might travel the same speed, but we calculate light years or light seconds. How far light travels in a set period of time. And we measure the distance it travels in human meters."

"That's all in the appendix in the primer, isn't it?" said Becky.

"Yes, but it's all part of the conversion. And their numbers are base-8."

"You're going to want me to create a program for this, aren't you?" smiled Becky.

There was a chorus of agreement that this was the case.

"Before I do anything, I want to walk through one on the board," said Becky.

"Okay," said Evan grabbing one of the marker pens. "Jessica, you should be able to see this using camera 3."

"Got it," she confirmed.

Evan carefully copied the Hytuna formula, and then below converted it gradually from base-8 to base-10. Hytuna symbols to standard human maths symbols.

A knock on her door startled Jessica. It was early for someone else to be in the office. She'd come in especially for this call.

She muted the call and called, "Come in."

A young man entered. He was in his mid-twenties, and looked dishevelled, like he'd slept in his clothes.

"Hi Randal, you're in early."

"I could say the same."

"I've got a conference call," she said, pointing at the large screen on her conference desk. It still had the formula on it.

"Oh, the relative vector of Vega," said Randal, shuffling into the room. "Why are you looking at that?"

Jessica looked across in surprise at the young man. He'd just walked in and instantly understood what it was. "What?!"

"That formula. Ooh, you have Hytuna. What are you working on?" he enquired, always inquisitive and ready to soak in new data. He was one of the first employees hired when the company was founded a few years ago. Randal always seemed to have his head in the clouds, but his work was fantastic.

"Hang on. You come in, and you instantly recognise a formula, and you're only part of the way into the room."

He shrugged. "I enjoyed the book Contact. You know, by Carl Sagan. Anyway, when I was doing my masters, I did some orbital mechanics. I decided it would be fun to see what the path of Vega is in relation to Earth."

"Was that part of your course?" asked Jessica, slightly intrigued.

"No, just for my own fun."

It wasn't what Jessica would have regarded as fun, but she'd done some strange things when she was young. Jessica turned back in her chair and unmuted the call. "Hey. I've just been interrupted by the guy who calculates our orbital insertions. He recognised it as Vega."

She heard Becky's voice. "I've just pulled up the details from the Gaia catalogue and converting it to relative motion."

"How did you remember that was Vega?" asked Liam, wondering what type of person Jessica had working for her.

"Orbital Mechanics is my job," Randal responded immediately.

"Back at university it wasn't," retorted Liam, unsure of this chap.

"It's a passion," Randal admitted at last, sounding almost embarrassed.

"There's nothing wrong with that," said Evan. "Be proud."

"Confirmed," said Becky. "That's Vega."

"Well done, Randal," said Jessica and muted the call. She then gently asked, "So, what are you doing here this early?"

"I wanted to talk with you before the others got in. The satellite we're building. I've done the math, and we won't be able to get it into that orbit with that strength engine."

"But the engine is powerful enough when it's there?"

"Oh sure. It's perfect for that. At Earth-Sun L4 there doesn't need much station keeping. It practically just sits there."

"Great. At the moment, don't worry how it's going to get there. I'll tell you more about that next week. Just make sure everything is calculated and ephemerides computed. That all needs to be completed before it is moved for final fitting. When I finish this call, I'll come down to your office, and you can give me a rundown on things."

"Yes, Ma'am," said Randal, still confused, but left her office, closing the door behind him.

"Sorry about that," said Jessica.

"You need to learn to lock your door," said Becky good naturedly so not to upset Jessica, "but it saved several hours work. So, take him out for a beer. He deserves it. Send his details across, we can have security check him. If he's cleared, we might ask if he can be used to calculate other things like that for us. He seems to enjoy that. In the meantime, don't tell him more than he already knows."

"Will do. Do you want me on the call on Friday?"

"Yes. Hopefully, it will go to plan, but you know more about satellites than we do. This company seemed more than happy to do what we asked."

"Now we just have to work out the conversion for speed. It shouldn't be too bad. We know which star, so we can use that information to correlate."

A ping on Becky's phone startled her. She glanced at the notification then sighed in frustration.

The discussion regarding the star map conversion paused, and their attention shifted to Becky, who appeared noticeably paler.

"What's up?" asked Evan, concerned at his friend's sudden mood change.

Becky opened the email and scanned it. "I've just been told there is a cancellation on Friday for my referral at Milton Keynes. I've put off seeing doctors for years, and now I decide to go forward things happen at really bad times."

"Go. Henry and Liam are off to Manchester. I'm going to be here. What time is the appointment?"

"Ten."

"Perfect. We aren't launching until two in the afternoon. James and Sam are around, see if they can drop you off at a nearby airport. You can be back in time. I'm sure there's an airport near Milton Keynes."

Becky stood there, shocked by Evan's response. "That feels wrong," Becky said at last.

"Why?"

"It isn't going to cost much. Perhaps an airport parking fee."

"Cranfield Airport is the closest," said Jessica, still on the call. "It's linked to a university. I'm sure they'd love to see it. If not, they could drop you off and collect you when you get back there."

Becky didn't know what to think. This was happening too quickly. She wanted her final operation, but she thought the steps to get there were going to take time. They had, but now things were speeding up and that two-month comfort window had gone.

"Hey," said Ashleigh coming into the room. Jessica had sent a quick message, saying that Becky might need her. Seeing Becky in distress sent a shiver up her spine, and she rushed across. "What's wrong?"

"Becky got an email about a cancellation appointment in Milton Keynes. It's Friday morning," explained Liam.

"And I think we might have come on a bit strong," admitted Evan. "Sorry."

"Becky," said Ashleigh, putting herself in front of her girlfriend. "Look. It's your transition and you do it your way. Your transition, your rules."

"It's just a shock," said Becky. "I thought I had longer."

Ashleigh had a look at the email, which was still open on Becky's phone. "Your appointment in two months still stands. You don't have to take the cancellation. It is your choice. Don't forget you'll also have a wait to see a surgeon. I hear that can take a while. And they are only going to talk with you. It doesn't matter if it is two days or two months. I don't think you're going to be any different."

"True. It's been suggested we take one of the ships. Well, get James to drop us off. I really need to learn how to fly them. I could be back for the test."

"And what if they decide to give you a double session, like what happened in Cheltenham?" asked Ashleigh.

Becky thought it through. "We'd still be back."

"I'm sure nobody was pressuring you. It might have felt like it, but I'm sure they were just giving you a scenario showing it could work. At the end of the day, it's your transition. Your rules. You are the only one who can decide if you take the earlier appointment. If you do, I'll arrange everything. If you decide on two months, that's just as valid."

"And in two months we might be even busier," thought Becky aloud.

Ashleigh didn't say anything but just cuddled Becky. After a few seconds basking in Ashleigh's love, Becky leaned across, gave her a gentle kiss, and they disentangled. "Can you check with James and Sam?"

"Will do," she said, giving Becky another hug. "Even if they can't, accept the appointment and we will drive there, or get a helicopter from Staverton."

Staverton was the location of a small airport between Gloucester and Cheltenham. Officially known as Gloucestershire Airport, the locals still called it Staverton. They'd tried to grow, but they could never make it work. Too much competition with Bristol, Birmingham and Cardiff airports not being too far away. London was only a few hours."

Becky gave a small giggle knowing that James would never allow that. She sent the acceptance of the appointment change before she could change her mind. With that done, she felt better; the weight of conflict gone.

"I better go and see what Randal really wants," said Jessica. "Catch you all again."

She disconnected from the meeting, leaving just the team at The Anchor.

"That Randal person seems... I don't know," said Liam. "Something felt off."

Becky pulled up an image from the meeting, but nobody saw an issue. "Ashleigh, you should be getting a request from Jessica to have security check him. If you've not got it, you should have the information from their files."

"I'll send it to Laura's guy and get on with James and Cranfield. I never thought I'd be involved with getting people investigated. What a world I now work in!"

"It isn't that different from your previous company," Becky laughed, beginning to feel better. "You still keep a group of scientists from overworking."

"I've not had to do much in that line recently. Now you've done the complex bit, you've all been a lot more relaxed."

"We know the limits," said Liam. "We've experienced what it is like to overdo it. I wouldn't want to feel like that again."

"And Jenny was so upset and frightened," added Evan. "I would do a lot to not see her like that."

"Okay, it's time we got back to this conversion," said Becky, break time over.

"Time!" said Liam. "That's what's wrong. Can you pull up the picture of Randal?"

Becky did as she'd been asked. "There," crowed Liam. "That watch, it's a Rolex. He's dressed so poorly, but his watch is worth thousands."

"It could be a replica or an heirloom."

"It could be," agreed Liam, "But at least I now know what made me feel like something was wrong. Anyway, let's work on the speed value."

Ashleigh gave a small wave and went back upstairs to her work leaving the scientists to work on their problem in peace. They worked for an hour but made little progress. It didn't make sense. Nothing they tried converted to the value they had from Gaia.

"How about we find the next two stars. Hopefully, they will be in Gaia and then we can see how the speeds look. We can then see if something isn't backwards. Ours is in meters per second. Perhaps theirs is in time per distance or something else. We need a copy of their science books. Get a better understanding of their metrics."

"Is there no appendix in the Hytuna intermediate level document?" asked Evan, pondering where else they might get the information.

"Yes, but it didn't cover that," responded Becky, thinking back to her quick review of it. "Perhaps we need their advanced level."

"Okay, moving on, we have a starting position, but no epoch or starting time. Perhaps that is second nature to them, and they didn't include it."

"We can work it out," said Liam. "We can take the starting position of Vega, its speed and its vector and we can work forward until we reach where it is now. We'll then know the starting time."

"Let's hope it's consistent for all stars," mused Becky.

"It's another thing we should be able to verify when we have some more matches," said Evan.

"Okay, so it's all dependent on me writing a program, and matching to the converted Gaia database," said Becky. "Okay, leave it with me. I have some routines already written, so hopefully it will be the running that takes time, not the writing. The conversions aren't going to be the issue; it's the matching that'll take time."

Becky got to work using the lab, so Evan and Liam could continue discussions without interrupting her. She did a single pass over the Gaia data for everything within two hundred parsecs. That would give a good working amount of data to convert to the format she needed for comparison. After that, she set a background task to run it for the whole dataset. Just in case. The furthest they'd gone was 150 light years, but Aurora and Eos theoretically could travel much further.

Then she coded the analysis of the alien star data. This was a lot larger than she'd expected. She set it converting and matching against the converted Gaia database.

Needing the toilet, she rushed out of the lab into the discussion area. There was Jenny and Kelly, having a lesson with Evan. She closed her eyes in horror. She'd done it again.

"Hey Ma," called Jenny.

"Hi," responded Becky, neither of the two girls seeming concerned that Becky hadn't collected them. "Who collected you?"

"Mum. She said you were busy."

"Yes. Sorry for disturbing your lesson," she said, giving her daughter a quick hug before rushing to the toilet.

When Becky returned, Kelly's dad, Clive, was pulling into the car park. She went to the front door to let him in.

"Clive," she said, shaking his hand. "Good to see you."

When she removed it, she felt a slip of paper tucked inside. She kept her face neutral, though the move seemed strangely clandestine. Why the performance when it was just the two of them? Then again, Clive's GCHQ instincts might explain it. She longed to read it immediately but steadied herself. If he was breaking his usual pattern, it had to matter.

"How's Kelly doing?" he asked.

"She's lapping it up. She really seems to enjoy the extra lessons."

"Yes, it seems the school has noticed her improvement. The head phoned earlier concerned if she was feeling bored."

"It's great they're keeping an eye on the situation,"

When Clive had left with Kelly, Becky looked at the slip of paper. It said, 'NSA concerned about your satellite company in USA. Be careful.'

Becky's first thought was Randal. Was he an NSA agent? She knew that their factory had attracted attention of agencies, but ever since the blunder by UK Military Intelligence, things had been quiet. It probably wouldn't stay that way.

She thought about ringing Jessica, but if the NSA were interested, would their conversations be intercepted? This was beyond her experience. She thought about ringing Laura but decided on a different course of action.

She went upstairs and found Ashleigh. Passing Clive's note to her, Becky asked, "Do you know if Tina is contactable?"

Escaping the Cradle

by Karen Page

Part 27

---

Part 27
DATE:FC+121

Eos landed inside one of the industrial units across the road from The Anchor, filling the space inside. If any future ship variants were larger, the building wouldn't be able to fit it.

"Thank you for doing this," Becky said, climbing aboard.

"All part of a day's job. Saves us sitting around learning Hytuna," said James. "Let me contact them, make sure the landing site is clear."

"Saves me drilling you on Hytuna," Sam added and laughed along with James.

When Ashleigh and Becky were seated, James opened the interdimensional drive, and they arrived at Cranfield Airport.

They were relieved to discover there wasn't a crowd waiting to gawp at the ship. Ashleigh had been very specific about that, but it was always a concern. They'd said that landings were confidential, and that appeared to be the case.

"Be careful getting out, it's raining. We'll see you in a few hours," said James, as Sam opened the door. "We'll go back to base. Give us a shout when you want us to collect you."

"Thank you," Ashleigh said, stepping out of Eos and onto the tarmac. It had been dry when they'd left home.

They had parked close to Handling. She and Becky dashed out of the rain into the building. When they got there and looked back, Eos had gone.

"Hi," Ashleigh said, approaching the reception desk. It certainly wasn't as sterile as a commercial airport, but it wasn't as plush as Farnborough. "I'm Ashleigh from Star Bright. We spoke the other day."

A young man was sat there, his mouth open in shock. Ashleigh smirked and tried not to laugh. He'd seen Eos and even though he'd been warned, it was still a shock.

"It just disappeared," he uttered eventually.

"She does that," said Becky, finding it harder to keep a straight face.

Eventually he pulled himself together and even confirmed that a taxi would be here in a few minutes.

"Was that really the spaceship that everyone's been talking about?" he asked while they waited. "The one the aliens mentioned."

"Yes," Becky said, puzzled.

"Thank you. I'm at the uni. I work here a few mornings a week to pay my way. You've changed the world. It's changed us. It's given us all so much hope. A new type of future. Thank you."

The taxi arrived, and the two women dashed out to it. The rain came down as quickly as before.

"Where to?" the taxi driver asked, as they pulled away from the car park.

Becky responded, "Milton Keynes railway station."

The city was remarkably close to Cranfield. The road soon became larger, and she realised they were on the famous Milton Keynes grid system. The driver had his radio on low, and the news came on. The first item was an announcement that UNOOSA had announced they'd been tasked with setting up a space planetary defence. The second item was that Eos had been spotted at Cranfield.

"Wow, you two were just there," the taxi driver said. "Did you see it?"

"We saw her," Ashleigh said, glancing at Becky. "She wasn't there long."

"If only I'd got there a few minutes earlier," he said with obvious regret. "I'd have seen it."

"She was only there for a few minutes," reassured Becky.

"You saw it though. Fancy something like that being made in Britain. Not China or America but Britain. Fantastic. The flag on the front of the ship. Those people must be so proud to be British."

Becky couldn't believe what she was hearing. She'd seen the reddit groups where people were watching for Aurora or Eos but had thought it was just a few excited people. But just the thought of Eos having been in the area had excited people.

"The worlds getting smaller though," said Ashleigh. "They just said on the news about this global space planetary defence."

"Make sense. It's not something one country can or should do. We're all Earthlings after all."

When they drew up at the railway station, Becky paid and they hopped out. The rain had reduced to drizzle. The railway station complex had offices above it, and in neighbouring buildings covering the three sides of the square which was the car park. They went along, not into the station itself, but one of the buildings built alongside. This was the local mental health centre.

The setup was similar to the one in Cheltenham. It was bright and airy. The only thing it didn't have was an outside garden.

"That was so surreal," Becky whispered after they'd passed through reception. The waiting room was busy with about seven people waiting. Some were on their own, others with someone.

"What was?" Ashleigh responded.

"The way the taxi driver talked."

"You've lived in your little bubble. Remember when we went to Wales. The barman was the same."

"Perhaps it was just the taxi driver."

"We did just see Eos," Ashleigh announced, less quiet.

The person sitting nearby looked across and gaped. This must have been an early appointment, as they didn't pass very well. "You saw Eos?"

"Yes, she was at Cranfield Airport."

"Wow. That's so brilliant. You got to see it. That's fantastic. Eos in Cranfield. Go figure. What was it like? Did it just arrive and disappear instantly like on the news? Was it silent? Did you meet anybody from there? Wow, to meet them."

"Why?" Becky asked, frowning.

"To thank them. 'And this grey spirit yearning in desire. To follow knowledge like a sinking star. Beyond the utmost bound of human thought'," she quoted.

"Tennyson?" said Ashleigh tenuously.

"Yes. From Ulysses. One of the people from the Aurora project said to keep looking up and we might spot one of the ships. It went to Leicester, and a few other places. Today it was in Cranfield. One day I'll get to the stars."

"Mary Roberts," called one of the doctors, and the woman Ashleigh and Becky had been talking with got up.

"It was good to meet you," she said, and followed the doctor out.

"How did this happen?" Becky asked Ashleigh. "I never knew."

"I didn't know that you'd had this much impact," Ashleigh agreed. "But I think it's deserved."

"The impact we'd had. You are part of the team. Without you, Evan and Liam would have probably died and then there would have been no project."

"Becky Head," called another doctor, and Becky followed him out.

Ashleigh leaned back in her chair to wait. She took out her tablet and started checking on updates. She wanted to make sure that Henry and Liam had got to Manchester okay.

"Ashleigh Thompson," she heard called out. She looked up in surprise.

"Yes?" said Ashleigh, putting her tablet back in her bag and standing up.

The lady signalled for her to follow, and Ashleigh went through the security doors into a corridor with several doors leading off. They went into an office, and the lady shut the door.

Ashleigh looked around. The last time she'd been in a psychiatrist's office was while at university. This was totally different to that. Here there was a large plush black leather settee and facing it was a sage green wingback chair. The room, just like the waiting area, was bright, well-lit and felt safe.

"Have a seat," she said. "I'm Dr Tracy Dine. I know you are probably feeling a bit surprised, but sometimes we check on a partner of someone transitioning. They sometimes need someone independent to chat with. So, how are things going. Nothing you say will impact Becky's chat. This is purely something for you."

"Okay," agreed Ashleigh, still unsure of this conversation. There didn't seem any harm in it, so sat down.

"So, how long have you known Becky?"

"This is the second period of my life that I've known her. I started working at my current company the middle of last year and was very surprised to see her working there. I found out later she was one of the owners. I originally met her when I was a teenager but we..." Ashleigh trailed off. "We were barred from seeing each other."

"There sounds a story there. So, tell me when you first met Becky."

Ashleigh gave her nose a rub and thought about what to say. After a few seconds, she sighed and said, "My eldest sister, Caroline, played hockey. My mum used to take my youngest sibling to music practice, so I used to watch my sister play. I saw Becky watching and after a few weeks we got talking. I was very surprised when she told me her name was Richard."

"I'm sure it was. How did it make you feel?"

"Confused. Shocked. Perhaps a touch excited. We went into town to a new shopping area, and we relaxed. I forgot she was Richard, and I think she forgot to."

"You said your youngest sibling. That's a strange term to use."

Ashleigh gave a wry smile. "Yes. I suppose you would pick up that. At the time I would have said brother, but she is now my youngest sister. She went to a music school, and after leaving it seems she transitioned. I didn't see Tina until she was in her twenties."

"Tina Poop?" enquired Tracy.

"Yes, that's her."

"I think I'm going to ask someone else to talk with you. I know Tina, and I don't think it would be fair for you."

"You work at the music school?" guessed Ashleigh.

"Worked. I'm officially retired, but I give my time to helping the community and help out here. There's a few other retirees from that school here too."

"No wonder this clinic is rated the best in the country."

Ashleigh paused. It seemed an opening to mention Becky's wife, but she didn't want to be disloyal. She saw that Tracy was waiting, having noticed that Ashleigh was mulling something over. "Hilda Saunders was Becky's wife."

"I knew Hilda. When she died it was a huge shock. What a small world."

"I'm happy to continue to talk with you," said Ashleigh. "If you worked at Hayfield, I trust you are very good at your job and can be impartial."

"Okay. Let's continue. What's your relationship status with Becky?"

"We're engaged. Though she doesn't want us to marry until after she concludes her transition."

Tracy nodded. "Becky is seeing Dan. His job is to make sure she is on the right track. This session is to make sure you are okay. This isn't about Becky, though you are involved so I'm sure her name will come up."

"Will everything I say stay in this room?"

"Unless I think you are a danger to yourself or someone else, then yes."

Ashliegh nodded in acceptance and Tracy continued. "Was Becky your first romance?"

"Yes. We were both about sixteen. I'd never felt as alive as when I was with her. She did so much. We did so much. When we were out together, it's like we were in our own world. Our own bubble."

"But you were banned from seeing her. Why?"

"Becky didn't dress any differently from Richard. Just jeans and t-shirts, but if people didn't know her, they saw a girl. It seems Tina noticed and didn't realise anybody else did. Tony was caught dressed in girl's clothes and grounded. Tony said it wasn't fair that he was grounded when they had no issue with Becky. I was barred from seeing her and grounded too. They thought we were being deceitful and that Becky had led Tina astray."

"You seem very matter of fact about it," Tracy said, raising her right eyebrow slightly.

"It's old news. It happened. I can't change it. Over the years I've learnt to accept it."

Tracy remained impassive, "Why didn't you see Becky later, when you'd left home?"

"I'd wanted that," said Ashleigh quietly. "But Becky said no. She didn't tell me what university she was going to, and she disappeared from my life."

Tracy didn't say anything but waited, looking at Ashleigh to continue.

"I looked," Ashleigh said, a tear coming down her cheek. "I saved up and at weekends travelled to different universities looking for her. I never found her."

"Why did you look? Didn't you just want to move on?"

"She said she wanted me to still have a relationship with my parents. I loved her and the thought of being without her upset me more. After a few years I moved on. I tried both men and women, but nobody lived up to Becky. Nothing really lasted more than six months. After a while, I gave up trying. It was too painful. About five years ago, I thought perhaps I'd remembered Becky with rosy eyes, so tried again."

"And when you met Becky again, had you remembered her with rosy eyes?"

Ashleigh smiled, her eyes glazing slightly. "My memory hadn't done her justice. She is far more than I ever remembered."

"What would you say is the most frustrating thing with your current relationship with Becky?"

Tracy watched as Ashleigh frowned and fought internally. There was something, but she was really reluctant to say. "It's all confidential. I won't judge."

"She ..." Ashleigh paused and looked down. Barely audibly she said, "Becky doesn't want us to sleep together until she's complete."

"Have you told her how you feel?"

"Yes. She says she doesn't want me to see her like that. I get that. I've been with men and women, so it doesn't cause me a problem. I don't care what's in her knickers."

Tracy nodded, sagely. "You are eager and happy. She's the one who has an issue with her body. Hence why she is transitioning."

Ashleigh continued to look down and examine her hands. "I know that up here," she said, pointing to her head. "But my heart is the one that struggles with it. I'm a bit jealous because Hilda slept with her, and I can't. I know that's because they were married before the start of transition, but..."

"At least you recognise it and are being sensible about it. You aren't the first to have such urges. And to be fair, you've waited a long time for this. Just relax and it will happen. Do you sleep there in a separate bedroom, or at your own place?"

"My own place. It's only down the road. The only time I've slept there was when Jenny got kidnapped. I just needed to stay close. I slept downstairs on the settee."

"This is the kidnapping that was in the press two months ago?" Tracy asked.

"Yes. We don't know who was behind it though."

"How is Jenny doing?"

"She's doing well. Some friends recommended a therapist in America. She got the support she needed and doesn't appear to be having nightmares anymore."

"Remote support isn't always the best, but if it helped then good. Now, let's get back to you and Becky."

When they finished, Ashleigh felt more content. She hadn't realised how much she'd been bottling up. Just talking had helped more than she expected.

"Becky will probably have a follow-up with a different psychiatrist in a few weeks. Do you want another chat then?"

"Do I need to?"

"It isn't compulsory, but you have more going on. It might help if you have chance to unpack it."

Ashleigh considered this and nodded. "Thank you."

"No problem. See you then."

Dismissed, Ashleigh made her way back to the waiting room. Becky was there waiting for her, and she smiled when she saw her approach.

"I didn't know you had an appointment," Becky remarked, as they made their way out.

"Nor me," laughed Ashleigh. "But it seems a transition impacts both of us, and they like to make sure the other person has support too."

"Wow, this is a great clinic. I've never heard of them doing that before."

The two of them walked along that path to the taxi rank, the rain having stopped. They both felt better, their anxiety once more in check.

Escaping the Cradle

by Karen Page

Part 28

---

Part 28
DATE:FC+121

Henry and Liam had known each other for a few years. They'd done a few things together, often with Evan. Male bonding. Watching a football match, or going to a pub that was actually still a pub. But Henry had always felt apart. Evan and Liam were scientists. Brilliant scientists at that. Both with brains that you'd think they'd need to enter a building via the lorry loading dock. Henry was an engineer. His talents were different, and that was respected, but he always felt the odd one out. They found it easier to communicate with each other than with him.

But today was different. They were in the stream of traffic heading north on the motorway, with the radio blaring a mix from the 2010's. There was no talk of work, but a steady patter about football, rugby, cricket, and even films. Even the roadworks widening the motorway between junctions 9 and 11 didn't put a cramp on it. Apparently five lanes each way would be good for the next forty years. Henry was sure they'd said something similar when it had gone to four lanes.

It was after a rest break where they grabbed something to eat while the car was topped up, that they heard the news. Chaos in Milton Keynes. This would have past them by, but it was where Becky and Ashleigh were heading, so Liam flipped to a news site on his phone. He burst out laughing and several people sitting nearby turned to see if they could see what was funny.

"What?" Henry asked, surprised to see Liam's reaction.

"There has been a sighting of Eos at an airport just outside Milton Keynes. It seems the locals have gone nuts and are flocking there, just in case she returns."

Henry joined in the laughter. "Good luck to them in getting back."

Replete, they went back to the car which had completed its brunch of electrons. Manchester wasn't too far away. Their destination wasn't in the centre, but to the northeast. The motorway around the city flowed a lot better than the previous motorway, and they were soon arriving at an old red brick building.

Originally it had been an old mill, built over a hundred years ago. It had been abandoned for a long time, before being modernised for a work hub. After the pandemic, it again fell into disuse, but it had found a new purpose as a modern satellite company. The only outer changes was the security fence that surrounded the perimeter.

The high ceilings that was part of the mill had been a quirky selling point for the work hub, and a must for the new company. It was what they had wanted, and they got it for a nominal pound. The owner had been glad to get rid of it and not have to pay for demolition.

The gate guard checked off their details and pointed them to the visitor spaces. There were four, and nobody in any of them. It wasn't the type of company that got visitors very often. Each grabbed a backpack from the car boot and followed the sign to reception. For a company that wouldn't get many visitors, there was a complete visitor reception with seats, a coffee table and water cooler.

It was their first visit. Previously Becky and Jessica had made the trip. Jessica, being in the satellite business had been very specific about the requirements. Her cool efficiency had been a welcome insight to the new company. It was obvious she knew the business, and they took the request as a template for other new business. Becky had provided a sample module so they could test the interface. They were told for security reasons the actual module would be provided on the day.

"Can I help you?" purred the blonde receptionist, liking the look of Liam.

"Liam and Henry from Star Bright," said Liam, giving the receptionist a friendly smile. "We're here to see Kevin Potters."

"I'll let him know. If you can please scan your fingers for identification."

"All nice and secure," commented Henry, as he placed his finger on the reader.

"Yes," the receptionist smiled. "One of our contracts insisted on it."

Liam smirked. It was Becky's insistence when they'd visited. The company previously had been quite open. One of Laura Taylor's contractors had validated the updates met their standards.

Two security badges were handed across. "You must wear these while in the building. They will unlock doors in authorised areas and will provide us location information in the unlikely event of a fire."

Kevin came through the doors as they were placing the lanyards around their necks. "Greetings gentlemen. I'm Kevin Potters."

The two Star Bright employees introduced themselves and they were taken through secure doors into the building beyond. It was a mixture of the old and the new. The building itself was over a century old, but the insides were ultra-modern. From the inside it was only the bricks that were old. The windows had been replaced with replicas that actually retained the heat.

After walking quite a distance along the length of the building, Kevin stopped by a window looking into one of the inner rooms. "Have a look."

It was the cleanroom. Opposite where they were standing was the satellite enclosed within a large plastic enclosure. The only part that was open was the front, so access for any final work could be performed. Liam gaped at it, but Henry's eyes opened wide, and a broad grin grew over his face. It was their test satellite.

"I believe you have a module to add to the satellite and for the launch box?" Kevin enquired.

Liam pulled himself together. "Yes. Henry can work with your people for that. Can we sit down somewhere and go through the plan for today?"

After dropping Henry off, Kevin led Liam upstairs and into a boardroom. Two other men were there; both had on single ear headphones with small mikes.

"Let me introduce you to Manreet Singh, and Dhru Patel. Manreet confirmed earlier that the communication relay to your office is online. You should be able to hear us on your loop."

"I believe the CAA were sending someone to monitor this," Liam mentioned, after he'd shaken hands with them all. "Any idea when they will be here?"

The Civil Aviation Authority weren't just aviation bureaucrats anymore; in the new era they were gatekeepers to the stars. Every launch pad, every returning capsule, every would‑be spaceport on British soil had to pass through their hands. Even what a UK satellite did once it was in orbit was still tethered to their licence conditions. And the stakes were brutal: one breach, one corner cut, and the Authority could slam the shutters down — making the next launch not just harder, but perhaps impossible.

"In the next thirty minutes or so, according to their schedules."

"Okay. This will be interesting to see. It took a lot of discussion to get the authorisation."

"Ah, they didn't like something new?" asked Dhru with a small smile.

"No, but I'm glad it was others that dealt with that issue," said Liam.

While they waited for the representative from the CAA, they got on with confirming the plan. It had been confirmed previously, but Liam wanted to make sure nothing had changed. Once that was done, he took out his headset. It was tied back to The Anchor.

"Testing," said Liam.

"Greetings," confirmed Evan. "We also have Jessica online. She's got the satellite module online from Henry and checking it out."

"Good to know. We're waiting for the CAA. Do you think Becky and Ashleigh will be back in time?"

"Ah, you heard about the rumpus. Don't worry, they won't want to miss this."

Kevin took a call. "I'll be back in a few. It seems two people from the CAA are here to witness this."

Liam frowned. This was unusual. Since this was the first use of the interdimensional tunnel, the CAA had said they were sending someone to observe and confirm that everything had been done safely. Having two people wasn't the plan. He then berated himself. He was getting paranoid. Seeing issues where there weren't any.

While he waited, Henry appeared, having been brought up by one of the technicians. "How's it going?" Liam asked.

"All connected. Jessica's checking things out."

Liam nodded. It was the same as what Evan had said. "Kevin's gone to collect two people from the CAA."

"Two? I thought they were only sending one!" Henry exclaimed.

"Yeah. Oh well, more people to marvel at the satellite. It's a bit bigger than I thought. I expected it to be a cube sat."

"Becky wanted it big to prove we can send big things just as easily."

"Yes, but even so," Liam said, getting lost for words.

"I brought Eos through that way. It's fine," reassured Henry.

"I know. I have no doubt about it. It's just..."

Henry guffawed and was still grinning when Kevin came back, the two CAA representatives in tow. Kevin quickly introduced them. "This is Monica Peterson, and Walter Heart."

Both were dressed in neat, navy suits, their official badges clipped prominently to their lapels. Monica offered a brisk handshake, her eyes sweeping the room with sharp interest, while Walter followed with a reserved nod and a polite, if slightly hesitant, smile.

"I have a few questions," said Walter as they sat around the table. "It's all strange having a launch of a satellite in the middle of a city. I've been told its safe, but can you clarify what you're doing for masking of the sonic boom?"

Liam and Henry shared a look. "There won't be any sonic boom."

"But..." Walter broke off, failing to comprehend.

"You might have seen in the press about the spaceships Aurora and Eos?" Liam asked gently. Jenny's friend Kelly was quicker on the uptake than this guy.

"Yes. But the launch licence doesn't mention you using either of those ships."

Kevin was sat at the end of the table, looking down trying not to laugh. He was glad he wasn't having to answer these questions.

"We aren't using any rocket, or spaceship," explained Liam, trying to keep himself reined in. "The satellite is in a container. An interdimensional tunnel will be opened, taking it directly to the designated location in space."

Monica whispered a few words to Walter, and he nodded. She then turned and asked, "The licence is for a launch with a wide window. How are you planning to insert into the correct location?"

"Good question," Liam said. "Since Earth rotates, we translate the absolute location at the time of launch. This isn't new for us. We do this for our spaceship launches."

Kevin picked up the discussion. "Why don't I show you where the satellite is. You can see how it is housed. Grab your items, we will go to the control room after."

"You didn't show them?" Dhru asked.

"I brought them straight up," said Kevin. "It should be all closed up now."

They all trouped down the old concrete stairs and Kevin indicated the window. The two CAA people surged forward to have a look.

"I thought you were sending a test satellite?" Walter asked, sounding aghast. "This is the size of a bus!"

"Not quite," said Dhru. "This is only six meters in length. Busses can be twice that."

"We asked for it to be this big," said Henry. "If we are going to do a test, we wanted to prove a larger object, so there is less concern later on. We've transported bigger on planet."

When SpaceX had launched the first Falcon Heavy, they'd sent up Elon Musk's old Roadster as a test payload. Other companies had sent up lumps of concrete. Test payloads didn't have to be special. They weren't going to do anything. For a lot of ships, they were there either purely for ballast, or to prove they could launch something. Satellite companies didn't like sending a real payload into orbit on a test ship; even when given the flight for free.

Star Bright could have launched something cheap, like a big rock, or even an old combine harvester, just to prove that they could launch without issue. But they'd got a company to build a test satellite so they could prove internally that their tunnel communications would work.

"Are we permitted to get closer?" asked Monica.

Liam noticed Walter scowl at that question, but Walter didn't say anything.

"No," Keven responded firmly. "This room is now locked down ready for launch. The only time it will be unsealed is in the event of a scrub, or when it has departed. Shall we go to our control room."

It wasn't a big room like you saw for traditional rocket launches where there were banks of desks. That was probably because they weren't controlling the launch. They were the bit after. They were responsible for the satellite until launch. Once it was in orbit, there was a handoff to Star Bright.

On the wall though were two large screens. The first showing video feed from the cleanroom. The second showing the current status. It had data fed from both the satellite company and Star Bright. The status of the launch controller and the satellite itself. Everything was green apart from two items – 'Launch Authorised' and 'Site Lockdown'.

"You've got a desk over here," said Manreet, showing Liam and Henry a spare desk with monitors and keyboards.

"Thank you. Perfect," Henry said, and took his laptop from his backpack. Next was a square box about 4cm x 4cm x 2cm which he placed on the desk, before finally putting on his headset.

"We're all setup," said Henry into his headset. He was on the private voice channel "We have two CAA observers."

"Two?" remarked Evan. "Aren't you lucky."

"Is everything as described?" asked Becky.

"Yes. This is a nice setup," said Henry.

"Becky, you made it," said Liam, with relief. "I hear the airport got a bit busy."

"It was a nightmare return," she said. "I'll tell you about it tomorrow, but there were crowds all around the airport perimeter. I'm just glad they opened the hanger door so James could position the front of Eos inside. It protected us from thousands of cameras."

"Perhaps we will go by car next time," Ashleigh added. "No launches that day."

"Okay, let's get back to work mode," Becky instructed in her professional voice. "Liam. You are onsite launch control. Is everything safe?"

"Yes. The room is locked down. The building isn't yet."

"Okay, let me know when that's done," Becky requested.

"Jessica, how does the satellite look?" asked Liam.

"All green. I can see telemetry via the tunnel and via their published route. All clear at this side. They are disconnected from mains power and ready for launch."

That matched the board, but Liam wanted to make sure.

Liam switched to the larger communications loop. "Star Bright is green. Standing by for site lockdown prior to launch."

"Site lockdown starts at the top of the hour," informed Kevin.

Liam muted his microphone and moved towards Walter. "Any issues?"

"So far, you've kept to what's described in the launch licence. It's nothing like the launches I oversaw in the Shetlands."

"That's a traditional rocket launch of mostly cube sats. This isn't a rocket launch and that caused a lot of confusion while getting the authorisation."

"You don't know the half of it. I keep going back to what I'm used to. Monica reminds me this is new. But safety is being followed, which is the fundamental principle of any launch. So far, there are no violations."

Liam was bored. They were waiting for the site to be locked down. They were waiting for their agreed time, and that was that.

"All good?" Liam asked Henry.

"Yes, still all good," he replied with a grin. "Bored?"

"I don't like having nothing to do."

"We are doing something. We're waiting."

The rumble of a lorry passing on the nearby road caught his attention. They were so close to the main road. There would be cars, buses, even people on push bikes going about their daily business unaware that in the old mill there was about to be history made. If successful, it would be the first satellite launch from mainland Britain. The only previous one had been from Newquay when Virgin Orbit had made a single attempt that had been unsuccessful. The only other place was in Shetland, so not part of the mainland.

Another first. Where would this end?

Liam heard in his headphones, "Front gate locked."

He looked at the time. On schedule.

The door to the control room had been locked since they'd entered it and the door leading to the cleanroom had been locked since Henry had finished in there. Apart from a fire occurring, nobody was going anywhere inside the building.

"All building entrances locked."

After a few minutes, the screen showing the launch status had Site Lockdown turned green. There was just one step to go. Authorisation and the satellite would be launched.

"I'm going to perform a quick go / no-go check to confirm we're ready," announced Kevin.

"Satellite tracking."

"Go."

"Secondary tracking."

"Go," said Evan.

"Satellite health."

Before the person monitoring that could respond, the power went out. The only reason they knew was because the lights went out, and the emergency ones came on. None of the computers even flickered as they were powered by UPS. On the status screen the Power value went from Mains to Battery and a few seconds after, Generator.

"Satellite health," repeated Kevin.

"Go."

"Star Bright, we are on generators. Can you confirm you're still online with us."

"We are," came Evan's voice over the link.

Walter spoke up. "Are you still within your power resilience plan?"

"We are," Kevin responded, pointing to the monitor.

"Just checking. Carry on."

"Site and Satellite are green. Launch authorised."

The status screen updated. Everything was Go.

Liam said. "Launch."

As soon as the status went authorised, it unlocked the button on Henry's screen. He clicked it. "Launched."

Nobody had been watching Henry. They'd all had their eyes on the CCTV feed from the clean room. They saw it there one second, and in a tick, it was gone.

Walter was stood there, his mouth wide open. Most others erupted in shouts of euphoria.

"Status?" asked Kevin, not having moved from his command position. Console operators rushed back to their seats.

"Awaiting acquisition of signal."

The status page changed from launch status to showing satellite status. Its location, vector and speed for both forms of tracking being shown.

Liam switched his microphone back to Star Bright loop. "Satellite gone. Anything yet?"

"It takes about twenty seconds to confirm location to dial home," said Jessica. Liam knew that, but he was anxious. It felt different in the control room, with outsiders watching. Especially Monica. She'd been stood close by most of the countdown.

Waiting. Things were quicker than they were when space flights first occurred in the 1950s, but there were still times where there was nothing to do but wait.

"Connection," said Evan.

Liam spun round to look at the status screen, and suddenly data under Tracking 2 started to appear.

A few seconds later, 'Tracking 1' changed to acquired, with the same location.

"It will take us a few passes to confirm trajectory," said the satellite tracker.

The atmosphere in the room began to relax. They'd done it. It was now just getting confirmation, but they'd got proof via two methods that the satellite had been delivered into the correct location. It was now about confirming vector and speed.

"Unlock the building," he called and then turned to Henry. "Do you need to collect your unit from the cleanroom?"

"I already have it," Henry replied with a smug grin.

Kevin and those that were close by swung round to look at the video of the cleanroom. They'd all been too busy seeing that the satellite had gone to notice that the control box had too. Monica looked disappointed, and when she was offered a tour of the cleanroom that she'd requested earlier, she declined.

"Was everything compliant to launch licence?" asked Liam to Walter.

"A rather strange launch. I miss the sound of the rocket taking off and the vibration of the ground. It just felt—" he floundered for words to express how he felt. "It felt empty. No passion. No excitement."

"I'd prefer a dull launch than excitement, though the power failure almost gave me heart failure."

"From that perspective, you're right and yes, you were compliant."

"So will future launches be easier?"

"I'm just an observer. I don't make policy. But I'm sure companies will want this. It's quicker, probably cheaper, and no launch vibration."

Monica came across. She'd been very quiet most of the day. "The interdimensional tunnel is so clever."

"Why thank you," said Liam.

"How do you create it?"

"That is a company secret," said Liam, his eyes narrowed. "And something the Civil Aviation Authority doesn't need to know."

"Of course," she said, and walked away.

It was a few hours before everything was confirmed using traditional methods. Methods the CAA were happy with.

"What a day," said Henry, as he placed his backpack into the car boot.

"But successful," Liam added.

When they got in the car, their phones both pinged with a message from an unknown source. "Tracking and listening device detected."

Liam and Henry looked at each other and burst out laughing. Their job was never boring.

Escaping the Cradle

by Karen Page

Part 29

---

Part 29
DATE:FC+123

Earth First had been raving for a week that technology derived from space research could be alien influenced. There were even pictures of heaps of memory foam mattresses on fire in France, America and Brazil.

Not to be outdone, Earth Fist, the militant offshoot of Earth First, had claimed they'd disrupted a satellite launch by killing power to the site and other companies should shy away from using alien tech. This was soon disputed. They had killed the power, but the launch had still occurred. One news site even had a picture of a fictitious control room, lit by candles saying, 'We survived the blitz, and we will survive terrorism'.

The doorbell ringing woke Henry from a vivid dream. He lay there for a minute, trying to capture the memory, but as the doorbell rang again, it slipped away, like a mist taken by a new wind.

"I'm coming," he grumbled more to himself than whoever was at the door.

By the time he'd pulled on some day-clothes, the doorbell ring was now a demanding knock. Whoever it was, they were very insistent. It was a Sunday, and he just wanted to relax.

He opened the front door, and was about to berate whoever it was, but stopped when he saw the woman standing there. She had a friendly smile, and a twinkle in her eyes which totally disarmed him.

"Hi Henry. Sorry to disturb you on a Sunday, but there's some urgent things I need to discuss with you."

"Who are you?" Henry asked, not budging, and thinking about shutting the door on her.

"I'm Brenda. I'm part of Laura Taylor's investigation team."

"Wait there," Henry said, and shut the door. There was something familiar about her, but he wasn't taking any chances. Not after the fake police at Becky's house.

He took his mobile phone out and rang Becky. He knew she would be up. Jenny liked her routine and would have her ma out of bed.

"Becky. I've got a Brenda here. She says she's part of Laura's investigation team. Do you know of a way to check?"

"I know Brenda. You sort of do too. Put her on."

Henry opened the door and passed the phone. The call didn't take long, and she passed the phone back to Henry. "That's Brenda. She is part of the same team as Andy and Stacy."

"Okay. Thanks. See you tomorrow, if not later today."

When Henry had ended the call, Brenda asked sweetly, "Can I come in?"

"Sure," said Henry. "Tea? Coffee?"

"Whatever you're making."

"Breakfast?"

"No, thanks," said Brenda, following Henry into the kitchen. "I had something a few hours ago."

It wasn't even 8am. What time had she left?!

"Is this about Friday?" Henry asked, switching on the kettle, and grabbing two cups from the cupboard. "I thought we handled the bug and tracker as directed."

"You did. Something else has come up. I need you to step me through the day."

When he'd finished making the two cups of tea, Henry sat on the settee, and Brenda took one of the overstuffed armchairs. She sat there, confident, poised. The sparkle still in her eyes but now seemed all business. She took out a small camera and set it up.

"I'm going to record this interview, just in case. Are you okay with that?" asked Brenda.

"Now you ask, after you've gone to all the trouble in setting it up," retorted Henry.

Brenda shrugged and finished setting it up. "This is an interview with Henry Potter at 08:34. Now Henry, can you tell me about your visit yesterday."

"I'll tell you what I saw and felt. I'm sure Liam will have a different perspective."

"He's being interviewed by someone else. As is Kevin and Melanie."

"Melanie?"

"The receptionist you saw yesterday." Brenda then spoke a bit firmer. "This is important. I need to know what happened while you were at the satellite company."

Henry took a sip of his tea and thought about what Brenda had said. So at least four investigators asking questions. That was a lot of manpower. And why the receptionist. To Henry it didn't make sense as she had so little connection to the day's events. But she seemed earnest, and that steel in her voice made him not want to dawdle.

"Okay. Here's what I remember," said Henry and retold what had happened the previous day.

When he was finished, Brenda smiled. "That was some day."

"It was," agreed Henry, shifting uncomfortably. "But you could have got that information from anybody."

"No. Only you could tell me what you saw and how you felt. Feelings don't show on CCTV."

"Oh. What's this about?" It didn't seem like an inquisition, but Henry was unsure why there were these questions.

"I need to ask you a few more questions first. That way I don't taint your thoughts."

Henry mulled that over and nodded. "Okay. Ask away."

"So, tell me about the two CAA people."

"What do you want to know?" asked Henry, unsure what was being asked.

"Tell me your feelings about them," asked Brenda, in almost a hypnotic whisper.

"Walter seemed to take charge. He asked the majority of the questions, though at first it was like he was expecting a rocket launch in the middle of Greater Manchester. He knew the requirements of the launch licence. When the power went out, he asked for confirmation we were in safety margins."

"And the other one?"

"Monica seemed more in tune with what we were trying to achieve. She even asked if she could see the unit. She wasn't allowed as it was sealed prior to launch. She was offered to see inside after the launch but said no."

"Was that before or after she found the control box had moved itself?"

"After."

Brenda leaned forward and asked her final question. "How much discussion was there between the two of them?"

Henry thought and looked through the day. "Not much. It wasn't like they were close colleagues." He thought a bit more and frowned. "The only time seemed to be when he strayed into something rocket based, and she brought things back to what we were doing."

"Recording terminated at 09:45"

Brenda stopped the camera and both of them took a cleansing breath.

"Have a look at the CAA website," said Brenda. "They put out a press statement last night."

Henry took his tablet from the coffee table and had a look.

'Since this was the first launch using a novel mechanism, the CAA assigned an inspector to be present on site to ensure the operation was conducted safely. The United Kingdom takes its responsibilities under the Outer Space Treaty seriously, and authorisation was only granted once we were satisfied that public safety and the space assets of other nations would not be impacted. The licence conditions applied were more stringent than for a standard launch, and both companies involved demonstrated compliance with this higher threshold.'

"An Inspector? Is that what you're worried about? It could be just a turn of phrase."

"It might have been, but someone enquired. Only one inspector was assigned. At the moment we don't know which one. That department is closed for the weekend."

"But the satellite company has a Class Three verification system," said Henry in horror. "Fingerprint or iris recognition backed by the Home Office. That system is supposed to be foolproof." He gulped. "That is used by the police, NHS etc. If that system is compromised, what else could someone get access to."

"People said we'd never leave the solar system because you can't travel faster than the speed of light," noted Brenda. "It is an assumption but never proved. Just like a perfect number has to be even. It has never been proved. All perfect numbers found are even, but there has been no proof that there isn't an odd one."

"And something is only true until it isn't. Is that why the receptionist is being interviewed?"

"Yes. Were they both checked properly? The simplest answer is often true. Perhaps the system wasn't compromised, but perhaps the process was. Perhaps she only verified one of them for some reason."

"How do you think like that?" Henry asked, amazed.

Brenda shrugged and pushed a stray lock of hair behind her ear. "It's my job. I'm an investigator. I got asked to come here today to do this interview as an emergency. I'm undercover and only have a small window where my absence won't compromise that."

Henry had met several investigators. The ones he knew the most were Tina and Luke. He was happy to socialise with them when they were around, but that wasn't often. What they actually did during an investigation, he didn't know. But what he had gleaned, it sounded like a cross between a spy and someone infiltrating companies that did evil and thought they were above the law. Perhaps Brenda was a modern-day Knight Rider.

"Good luck," said Henry getting up. "I hope you haven't been compromised."

"So do I. And if you do spot me on television, remember, that's not the real me."

"Is this the real you?" Henry asked, a nagging feeling he knew her, but couldn't put the puzzle together.

"No," she responded and gave a fabulous grin. "Nice you understood that."

Henry nodded but wondered what Brenda was involved with. "Just be careful," he said, and afterwards wondered what possessed him.

"Thanks," and she left to go back to her mission.

Henry thought more about Friday. Less so about Brenda. She was an investigator and the less he thought about them, the better. As he put the crockery into the sink, he wondered if there was anything else on Friday they could have spotted. Why would someone want to infiltrate a satellite launch? It wasn't a very exciting thing to do.

A message pinged on his phone from Becky. She wanted a meeting with him and Liam to discuss matters. Henry shrugged and went to see what Becky wanted.

Liam was wandering down the road, and they met up. "Did you just have twenty questions?" Henry asked.

"Yes. Who interviewed you?"

"Someone called Brenda. You?"

"David. You know, the one who found the body in the basement."

"That sounds so Agatha Christie."

They both laughed at the shared humour and ambled in the early morning sunshine to the office.

Henry wasn't surprised to see Becky wasn't alone. It was a Sunday, so he expected Jenny would be there. And where Becky went, Ashleigh was sure to follow. Those two were like peas in a pod. When Becky's wife had died, he thought that Becky could never be the same again. Then came Ashleigh and turned everybody's life upside down. Evan was there too.

"You two survived your interrogation?" Becky quipped, as they came into the discussion room.

"So it seems," said Liam, dryly. "It was fact finding. There didn't seem to be any thought I'd done something wrong."

"No, it seems the receptionist did though," said Becky. "Hers was a rather quick interview. I feel sorry for whoever got sent. A three-hour drive, and a fifteen-minute chat."

"How did the second person get in? Was there a failure of the verification system?" Henry enquired, concerned at a government security failure.

"It was bypassed. They gave her a letter on headed paper saying that use of that system would compromise their security. If they wanted the launch to go ahead, they should be just let in. She did so, and didn't mention it to her boss or anybody. She thought she'd done the right thing."

Evan gave a low whistle. "That takes guts. Who would have thought someone would have the nerve to do something like that."

"Exactly. Hence why it worked. And then once they were through, there was only a short period before it was locked down for the launch."

"But were any of them fake?" Liam pondered.

"We've no idea yet. They seemed to know CAA procedure. But if one of them was an imposter, why did the real one take part in the charade."

There was a moment's silence. "The next bit of news. There is going to be some development across the road in the old industrial units. Planning permission has taken time but has been agreed. The plans have them more in keeping with the area rather than the rather utilitarian 1970's design currently there. This will be for our expansion."

"I won't have to wear a suit, will I?" asked Henry.

"Not unless you want to. I don't see engineers wearing suits that often. Laura's planning team say it's going to take at least six months before it's ready. It seems some of those units probably have asbestos, so that will take time to remove before they can be cleared. In the meantime, we are going to have some temporary offices at Waterwells business park."

Evan pulled a face at that drab lifeless place.

"I know and I'm not looking forward to it either. But you don't need to be by a river anymore. That part of the research is done. Most of the time you will still be doing what you currently do. However, you will need to make sure that the teams that will be going out doing satellite deployments know what to do."

"So, there is going to be recruitment?"

"Yes. And they all have to be checked. When we launch foreign satellite, which I'm sure will be quickly, there will be trips abroad. We will need more than Eos and Aurora. We will probably have other pilots and ship engineers."

"What about security of our parts?"

"That went in last week. The areas you will be in have secure doors and the windows secured too. The good news, the county police headquarters is virtually opposite. Hopefully that will put off any breaking and entering."

"What about The Anchor?"

"It's not going anywhere," said Becky. "This is our company HQ. When the work is completed in the business park, we will be back here. This is going to be our main research building. But it will be noisy with the work opposite. Plus, there is that handover that's needed."

"This recruitment. When is that starting and what are the people like?" asked Liam.

"It's funny you should ask that," Ashleigh said with a slightly smug grin. She took out her tablet, and clicked a few things. "You should now be able to see the CVs. I'd like your opinions."

When Becky groaned with Evan, Liam and Henry, there was surprised glances.

"You didn't know about this?" Evan asked.

"No," said Becky. "I knew she was up to something, just not what."

"I will also need James to look at a few applications too."

"How do we know if they can be trusted?" asked Evan.

Ashleigh nodded. "These have already been filtered. They should be trustworthy, but you never can tell 100%."

"Okay, let's have a look," sighed Liam. "What a thing to do on a Sunday."

Jenny, who'd been quietly reading something on her tablet looked up. "If you are moving to an office in Quedgeley, what will happen to being picked up after school?"

"It's only down the road. One of us will be there for you," said Becky. "It's closer than when we were doing all the work at the factory."

"And we'll still make sure you get your afterschool lessons," said Liam. He'd been enjoying teaching them. It took him back to when he taught at university before he got to pure research.

"Kelly's mum's new job is nearby," said Becky. "So, it will be just as convenient for Kelly to be picked up from there as here. Anyway, what are you reading that has you so engrossed. You've hardly said a word."

"I was reading about the stuff Miss Barnes mentioned about satellites. The CCSDS protocols."

"And?"

"I understand a bit more about what she proposed now, but some of the standards don't make sense to me. Do you think she would mind if I asked about it?

"Send her an email," suggested Becky. "It will help you put things in a structured way. She can then talk to you, and both of you will already understand what the conversation will be about."

After two hours of going through CVs, Becky's phone rang. She glanced at the screen and saw it was her boss, Laura Taylor. She moved away from the desk. "Hi"

"Please move out of earshot of everyone."

Becky walked outside. "I'm out of earshot."

"Later, can you pass my thanks to Henry and Liam. They were very helpful with the information they shared. Linked with what Melanie said, I managed to track someone down from that department of the CAA and explain Friday's events."

She went on to explain the situation.

"It sounds more like Counter Terrorism will be involved rather than the police," sighed Becky.

"Yes, so just be warned. Don't discuss this with Henry and Liam. We don't want them tainted even more than they already are."

"Oh, Brenda and David interviewing them might have tainted their knowledge?"

"Yes. I take it they are both at The Anchor?"

"Yes."

"Great. I will get word to the CAA who can let the police or security services know. If they want to, they can interview them. Let me know how it goes. All the interviews that Brenda and David did were recorded, so original interviews can be shared if needed."

When Laura had ended the call, Becky made her way back inside.

The others looked up, but she put on a smile and asked, "Did you find any good ones?"

Evan pulled a face. "Two to add to the possibilities pile, but still no knockout candidates."

"Then let us hope there is a mythical fantastic person, or three, in this lot."

They'd started to get disheartened with the candidates, when they were alerted that a car had drawn up into the car park. She recognised DC Singh. He'd been one of the officers who'd helped find Jenny when she'd been kidnapped.

"It seems you're still attracting attention," he said as he shook Becky's hand.

"Not me this time. I didn't go. I presume you're here to see Henry and Liam. They're through here. The only thing they are aware of is some discrepancy between the CAA press statement yesterday and what they saw. They've not been told about today's findings."

DC Raj Singh didn't move. "Okay. How's Jenny doing?"

"She got some great help and is fine. She's in there too."

"Okay, lead the way."

Becky took him into the discussion area, with everyone staring at the man Becky had brought in. Only Ashleigh recognised him. "DC Singh, isn't it?"

"Yes, Ma'am. I've been instructed to interview Henry Potter and Liam Mann."

Ashleigh whispered something to Jenny, who perked up and went across to Raj and peered up at him. "Thank you," she whispered in reverence.

"My pleasure," he smiled. "You were very brave."

Jenny actually blushed and rushed back to Ashleigh.

"Are you interviewing them one at a time, or both together?" asked Becky.

"One at a time. We get a cleaner report that way."

"My office is upstairs," said Ashleigh. "It should give you the quietest place for you."

"I've been informed that two corporate investigators interviewed you and that was recorded. My colleague says it was in a timestamped admissible format, which he was surprised about. Having met some of you before, I'm not. Nobody is accusing you of anything wrong. We just need information about the CAA inspectors."

As promised, the interviews didn't take long, and the Counter Terrorism officer was soon on his way.

"Did he tell you anything?" Henry asked Liam when he joined them.

"No. He said he didn't have that information. He was just here to gather facts."

"Laura told me earlier," said Becky. "I was asked not to tell you, so it didn't taint the interview."

"Which one was fake?" said Henry. "I bet it was Monica."

"Yeah, my money's on her too. Walter was too much a CAA guy," added Liam.

"They were both fake," said Becky. "The real inspector was drugged and tied up. They showed a fake letter saying that performing an identity check would compromise them. The receptionist went for it."

"Walter was fake?" said Liam in shock. "But he was so real. Who were these people?"

"Hang on," said Ashleigh. "If they were both fake, then that launch went ahead without a CAA officer being there. That was one of the requirements of the launch licence."

"What does that mean?" asked Liam, horrified. "Do we have to redo the test? It wasn't our fault."

"We don't know," said Becky. "We could be fined. We breached conditions even though it wasn't our fault."

"I thought that presumptions like that had been revoked with those dystopian drug laws."

"Mostly, though some rules still stand. Laura has her legal people looking into it."

"If we do have to redo it, can we get permission to return the satellite? It would be quicker than getting them to build a new one. A do over. There are no harmful chemicals in the satellite."

"They did send out that press release," said Evan. "Perhaps they won't want to admit the problem."

"Whoever these people were, they weren't amateurs," noted Henry dryly. He then gave an impish grin. "This job's getting more exciting by the day!"

The others didn't laugh.

Escaping the Cradle

by Karen Page

Part 30

---

Part 30
DATE:FC+125

Liam had been working very late in the office, packing up some of the equipment into packing boxes. He wasn't used to the physical strain he'd been put through. Mental gymnastics were more his thing. Feeling too weary to go the two minutes to his house, he made sure the discussion area and lab were secure and crept upstairs to use one of the two bedrooms. They were rarely used, and more often it was just Jenny if Becky was working late. They were transporting the last of the things in the morning. Why use a van when you could send them via the interdimensional tunnel.

A noise woke him. He didn't know what it was. Thinking it was the wind, he went to settle down but heard something downstairs like someone had dropped something. It wasn't much, but it jolted him awake. His heart started racing stronger than it was when he defended his thesis.

He took his phone. There was no signal and the CCTV cameras were down. That wasn't good. He normally had signal, so he presumed they were blocking it.

'Don't panic,' he said to himself, taking a few slow and deep breaths. After mercenaries had attacked the factory and they'd hidden in Wales, Luke had told him not to panic in an emergency. Panic clouds your thoughts.

When he'd regained a bit of self-control, he wondered how else he could see what was going on below. He checked the experiment cameras. They'd either not known about them or not thought about them. The image wasn't clear, but it confirmed they had intruders. At least two of them.

This was one heck of a wake-up. The adrenaline was working its magic. He couldn't call anybody. But could he do anything. He was a scientist, not a security guard.

A video from his youth came to mind. He'd been studying in America and one of the courses covered what to do in an active shooter situation. The chance of that happening in the UK was so remote, he'd forgotten all about it. Until now. Now that memory was front and centre. Stay calm. If you couldn't get out, hide and stay calm. Never approach them. Never try to reason with them. They were likely to shoot you to escape and not negotiate.

'Breathe,' he told himself. 'Breathe.'

They weren't far from the setup they'd been using to send items to the new building. Some items were large, so they'd put a plastic cover on the ceiling and put a temporary one down when needed on the floor. It was targeted from the ceiling, so was contained without the side parts. The thought of transporting them somewhere crept into his mind. But could he do it. He had what he needed on his phone, but where could he send them? The plastic cover wasn't down, but that might not matter. If it took the floorboard, it took it.

The river was just behind the building. He could just drop them in there. Too cruel. They might drown, and he didn't think he'd be able to live with himself. There was the panic room in Becky's house, but that opened from the inside. They'd escape. He also wasn't sure of the coordinates.

Gradually, the two intruders inched towards the area. They didn't seem in a hurry, and were checking as much as they could, taking photographs as they went.

With little time left, he set the coordinates of the storage annex. It was empty, locked and shielded. He set the entry height to two meters. They'd come down on the concrete with a bit of a bang. A swift mental calculation of impact speed, he changed the height to one meter. He wanted to stop them, not cause major damage. They should come out with a separation angle, so shouldn't bump into each other.

One of them got into the right area, but that was no good. He couldn't send one without the other. It would spook them. His finger hovered over the activate button, but they moved out.

The proverb 'patience is a virtue' was apt. Liam waited and a few minutes later both of them were within the area. Not seeing anybody else, he pressed the button, and they disappeared.

The phone signal didn't come back on, so there was still jamming. Were there more of them? Were they waiting downstairs, or outside?

'Think!' he chided himself. With no wireless signal, and no phone signal, the only thing left would be Ethernet. There was a USB to Ethernet adapter in Ashleigh's office. He knew it stayed there for when she had her laptop. With some of the experiments, they wanted Wi-Fi off, so she always had Ethernet available.

Carefully, he got off the bed. There was a small creak, and he froze. Nothing. Slowly he crept across the floor. He hoped he didn't see anybody, as he only had his boxers on.

The door wasn't too much of an issue. It was well maintained and didn't squeak as he gently pried it open. He scarpered across the landing and got to Ashleigh's office. The door was open, and he could see light filtering in. He ducked down so not to be seen and made his way almost at a crawl to the desk.

He jammed the adapter into his phone. Three long seconds later, he had a connection. He sent an email to Evan, Becky, Ashleigh and Henry telling them the building was under attack and to stay where they were. He forwarded it to Luke, not knowing if that would do any good. Finally, he dialled 999. Thank goodness for VOIP.

"What service do you require?" asked the operator.

"Police," Liam responded, barely above a whisper.

"Connecting you."

"Police. What is the nature of your emergency?"

"I'm at the office. Two people have broken in. They're jamming phones."

"What is your name and location?"

"What was The Anchor pub in Epney. My name is Liam Mann."

"Are they still there?"

"I think so. My mobile phone is still jammed."

"We've recorded the details. Officers will attend as soon as possible."

What? This sounded like someone wasn't coming immediately.

"I don't know if it's because I'm a witness for Counter Terrorism," added Liam. "I was interviewed by DC Raj Singh.

There was a pause, then "Officers are on their way."

"Thank you," breathed Liam.

"Stay on the line if it's safe. You don't need to talk, but we are here if you need us. Can you move to somewhere hidden?"

"I'm under a desk. I needed Ethernet since mobile is jammed."

"Well done. Stay there. Keep your phone screen down, so the light doesn't give you away."

'Sensible idea,' mused Liam, and turned his phone upside down.

Waiting was the story of his life. As a scientist he often had to wait to see if an experiment worked. He had to be patient in his thought processes and not jump to conclusions. There was often different solutions, and it was finding the most elegant. But this waiting wasn't like that. He was under a desk, not knowing if there were more people out there. He didn't even know if he'd been successful in targeting the annex for the transport. They could be out there too.

A squeak of the old stairs brought him back to now. Then another. It sounded a bit higher. Liam wanted to tell the police operator, but he didn't want to talk.

Blue flashing lights started to play on the wall. The police were approaching. The footsteps on the stairs were sudden but were going down. Whoever had been coming up had gone.

"Police are nearly here," said Liam. "There was someone on the stairs, but they ran down."

"Stay where you are."

Two shots filled the air. "Shots fired," said Liam.

"Armed units are a few minutes behind. Stay calm."

Liam decided it was a good time to practice his stay‑calm breathing technique. Another two shots put paid to that. His heart was hammering in his chest.

"The police are about to enter the building. Where are you?"

"Upstairs. There are two bedrooms upstairs. I was asleep when they broke in. I'm in the office also upstairs."

"Understood. Do you have a mobile signal now?"

Liam turned over his phone. "Yes."

"Three people jumped into a boat at the other side of the river wall. They are gone. Stay where you are until you are verified."

He switched off the "Do Not Disturb" that had activated, and his phone provided him with a stream of notifications. He saw messages from all his local colleagues, asking if he was okay.

"Liam, two officers are coming up the stairs. They will call your name when they see an office. He will shine his torch towards himself so you can see his badge number. Let me know what it is."

Liam waited, peering carefully at the door while trying to stay hidden. He heard them go into a bedroom. They weren't rushing. He presumed they were checking each room in turn to make sure there was nobody else there.

While he waited, he sent a message to his colleagues saying the police were there and he was waiting to be checked. A figure in the doorway made him jump. He'd been expecting it, but it still set him breathing heavily again.

"Liam Mann?" called the police officer.

Liam peeped and saw the police officer. He relayed the badge number and was told it was valid.

"Thank you," said Liam. "Thank you so much."

"Our pleasure. Good luck," she said, and ended the call

"I'm Liam Mann," Liam said, his voice shaking slightly. He now wanted to cry, which to him seemed really strange. He'd not cried during the attack but now wanted to.

Liam came out, glad the police officer was male. "I need to get dressed."

"Upstairs is secure," the officer said. "Go get some clothes on. We will accompany you out."

Once dressed and feeling a little less embarrassed, he found the police officer waiting, "Was anybody hurt? I heard gunshots when you turned up."

"No. I'm sure they could have hurt us, but they were more concerned about causing a distraction and getting away."

When they got downstairs, Liam gasped. The car park had a single police car in it. Its window was smashed and there was a bullet hole in the rear door. Police were putting up a tape cordon around the scene. Outside that, there were at least ten vehicles, and a police van. Even a dead body in the basement hadn't caused this much traffic. He was escorted over a taped path to beyond the quarantined zone. He was still in a cordoned off area, reserved for the police, but he wasn't in the area the crime happened.

"Are you the owner of this property?" the officer asked.

"I'm a part owner of the company which owns this property," clarified Liam.

An older man came across, and the officer moved to one side for a quick chat. The older man then came to see Liam.

"I'm Inspector Johnson. I'd like to ask you a few questions about what happened."

The name rang a bell, and then it came to Liam. "Were you the Inspector Johnson who helped on the kidnapping of Jenny Head?"

"Yes," he said cautiously.

"Becky Head, Jenny's ma, is one of the co-owners of this building."

"I see. That probably explains a few things."

What it explained wasn't clear to Liam. "I might have something for you," said Liam. "I managed to transport two of the people who were snooping in the office."

"Transport them?"

"Via a tunnel. Like we do with the ship. If it worked right, they should be in the workshop annex."

Inspector Johnson smiled and turned around. He yelled. "Hopkins, Singer, Thomas and Hoyles."

Four police officers, two of them armed with what Liam thought looked like really nasty weapons, approached.

"We might have some action for you. Apparently, there are two that might be locked in the annex. They might be armed."

Liam produced a bunch of keys and found the right one. It was taken. "I take it I'm not allowed back in?"

"It's a crime scene. You need to stay safe. We train for this."

Liam moved a bit along the taped area so he could see what happened. There was a narrow area where he could see the entrance to the annex. It wasn't an instant open the door and go in. They prepared. A lighting unit was brought across, so when they opened up, they would be able to see. A huddle took place between those taking part where they confirmed what each person was going to do. This wasn't a cowboy outfit. They knew what they were doing and would do it with as much control and planning as possible.

With the two firearm officers in position and others surrounding the exits, the door was opened.

"Armed police," yelled one of them, the sound carrying over the still night air. "Down on your knees."

It took a few minutes before they came out, handcuffed. Both were limping, but they carried themselves with their heads held high.

"That's Monica," said Liam when he saw them. He didn't recognise the man. "She posed as a CAA officer. Counter Terrorism are looking for them."

"Really?" asked the inspector, slightly bemused.

"Really. You said Counter Terrorism were coming."

"And here we are," said a man, coming from down the road. He was accompanied by DC Raj Singh.

There was a groan. "Hey Steve."

"This is Liam Mann. He works here. I interviewed him on Sunday. Liam, this is DI Steve Johnson."

"One of the people just caught is Monica Peterson. One of the fake CAA officers," said Liam.

Raj quickly updated them, and DI Johnson grinned. "London's going to love this."

"From the technology used here tonight, I don't think they're just corporate spies," said Inspector Johnson. "Their jamming was wide ranging. And some of the items found on the two are worth more than I'd get paid in a lifetime. There are some bits on the floor where they were beamed into. If that was from a fall, or they tried to destroy evidence, I don't know."

Liam was interviewed for another hour by DC Raj Singh. He was so tired, he thought he would fall asleep on his feet.

"So, what now?" Liam asked when all the questioning had finished.

"Forensics are going to go through your lab for evidence."

"No. There's too many confidential items in there."

"It isn't going to be local SOCO's. This is now in the realms of terrorism, and a specialist team will be here in a few hours. They are trained to not photograph sensitive documents or equipment. We just need to do our job, Mr Mann. We need to nail these people."

"That's Dr Mann," snapped Liam. "Sorry, I'm a bit tired."

"As long as you are wearing a forensics suit, you can supervise. In fact, it would be helpful."

"I'm dead on my feet," admitted Liam. "I need to get some sleep. If I get Ashleigh to supervise, would you be okay with that? I think you know her from Jenny's rescue."

"As long as it's not Laura Taylor, then I'll survive," said DI Johnson and for the first time since the episode began, Liam gave a small chuckle.

A van had slowly made its way up the narrow country lane. Slowed down by the many hurriedly parked police vehicles. It stopped at the edge of the cordon and a couple of people got out.

"You've got to be kidding," said one. "I thought this place sounded familiar. I hope they don’t have another freezer to remove."

The sky had started to lighten. The first signs of dawn were upon them. The sun would start peeking over the horizon and the next day would begin. Liam needed his sleep, and decided Ashleigh might not be too grouchy if he rung her.

The phone was answered before the second ring.

"Liam. Are you okay?"

"Tired. I know it's early, but can you take over for a bit? Forensics have to go through the building. Can you supervise that? You'll need to wear one of those white suits."

"I've been watching for the last hour but will need someone to let me through the cordon."

Liam relayed and Raj went to find her. It didn't take long, and she had the joy of scooting under the tape. It didn't seem to be as flexible as seen in the TV shows. When she got there, she took one look at Liam and asked, "Do you still need him?"

"Sorry?" asked Raj.

"He's been up half the night in a very trying situation. He's exhausted."

"He's told us all he needed to," said Raj. "And you can help when the CTU forensic team arrives?"

"Yes."

"Then sure," Raj agreed, and then turned to Liam. "Do you live far?"

"Just a short walk."

"It's going to be a few days going through the outside and inside. You won't be able to go in until then."

When he got home, he stumbled up the stairs and into his bedroom. He just lay down, not having the energy to even undress. Yet he couldn't settle. The thought of what had happened kept dancing in his mind.

He just started to fall asleep when his mobile phone rang. He leaned across and grabbed it. "Hello?"

"Liam. It's Laura."

"Hi," Liam responded, amazed.

"I've just heard what happened. Are you okay?"

At that Liam almost broke down. Wow, Laura ringing just like that. Nothing about the project. Just wanting to make sure he was okay.

"I'm safe," he responded.

"Good. I'm sure you've had a trying night and must be shattered. Because of you and your quick thinking, they've got two of them. Good job. Don't sleep in the office again, it's not safe. Now get some sleep."

And with very few extra words, she was gone but Liam felt better. As he lay down, the tears started. Ashleigh was waiting for him to ask for help, and Laura just rang to make sure he was okay. In a world of bitterness, some people just cared.

Escaping the Cradle

by Karen Page

Part 31

---

Part 31
DATE:FC+125

"Update me," Georgina asked her AI agent as she stepped out of the shower to get dressed. It was part of her new ritual to save time. News and important occurrences that had occurred in the UK and around the world would be summarised for her.

Over the few months she'd been using this new module, it had got used to how long it took her to dress and apply makeup, not that she wore much. She preferred the natural look.

"Anything in my personal interests?" she asked, as it finished with the general updates.

"Two items. The Chicago Cubs lost against the Pittsburgh Pirates, 4-8 at Wrigley Field. The road is closed through Epney. Police have implemented a diversion route."

People drove too quickly through those country lanes, thought the PM, and went to get breakfast.

She was just finishing off when there was a knock on the door, and Rupert came in. "Sorry to disturb you. You are needed next door."

"Very well," she said, abandoning her crockery.

If she'd been needed downstairs, that would have been her office. Next door was the Cabinet Office. This was a polite way of saying she was needed in COBR.

On the way Rupert gave a quick summary. "Two suspects are in custody after breaking into what was The Anchor pub in Epney, Gloucestershire. One of the suspects has been identified as Monica Peterson who was one of the fake CAA officers. Shots were fired, but nobody was injured. Mobile phone signals were blocked during the event. Other suspects escaped by boat down the river."

"Okay. Anything else?"

"Counter Terrorism arrived on scene just as the arrest took place. They were dispatched because the person who called was a CT witness. GCHQ are triaging some of the kit seized."

"Thanks, Rupert," she said as she arrived at the Cabinet Office Briefing Room.

When she entered, she saw some harried, and in two cases, tired looking faces. She took her seat at the head of the table.

"What's the latest on the two arrests?"

Lewis looked across at his boss. "They've been processed by Gloucestershire police and will be transferred to London this morning. Monica Peterson's fingerprints match those taken from Manchester, so we know we have a match. The male has given his name as Peter Guillam."

"Obviously fake," muttered Dame Charlotte Huggins, head of MI5, recognising the fictional name.

"We deal in facts," snapped Georgina. "You are chief of MI5. Do you have facts to the contrary?"

"We're working on all angles," she responded. "There was no chatter about this or Friday's event."

Georgina looked across at the GCHQ director, who was on a secure feed from Cheltenham. "Does GCHQ have anything to share?"

"The items we're looking at aren't commercial. You're looking at state grade. We're continuing to analyse to see if we can point to a specific state. Defence Intelligence has offered to help, but—"

Sir John, the cabinet secretary butted in. "Prime Minister, with recent issues with DI, I'd recommend it stays just with GCHQ."

Ron, the Defence Secretary nodded. "I'm sorry to say, but I concur."

The Prime Minister raised her eyebrows at that. He was the minister responsible for Defence Intelligence. For him to agree that they shouldn't be involved implied there were still unresolved issues there.

"Lee, if this is a foreign government, why weren't you aware?" the PM asked her National Security Advisor.

He sighed. "The situation is very fluid. The First Contact announcement and World Government suggestions has made some situations difficult to read. After the Pakistan General incident, governments are reining in their military, but some intelligence agencies are extremely interested in the technology. We've seen no indication any of them have gone off the reservation, but there might be some acting unilaterally. We already have watches for known people entering the country. We are checking if Monica is known but for now that has drawn a blank. Her accent and that of her colleague is a strong London accent. No hint of anything foreign."

"Is this linked to the murders of two members of ISAAC and the kidnapping of two children?"

Lewis answered. "We don't know if it's the same team or if there are multiple groups. This is an active line of investigation. Once Monica and 'Peter' are in London, there can be more active discussions. Until they are transferred, they are in police custody. The Terrorism Act states they must be held in authorised Counter Terrorism custody suites. Until then we are limited."

"When are they moving?"

"Imminently. Each of the prisoners demanded to see lawyers and doctors which they might have thought slowed things down, but it gave time for a secure convoy to be organised. We don't want someone attempting a grab en route."

"Did they request consular access?" The Foreign Secretary asked.

"No," Lewis said, checking his notes. "So, if they are foreign agents, they're playing it cool for now."

The Foreign Secretary continued. "If this is a state agency, I think we need to be careful. We don't want to impact the ongoing World Government negotiations. Perhaps repatriation rather than embarrassment."

"Noted," said the PM tersely. "Though I'm not sure how much goodwill I've got after two deaths, a hostage situation, shooting at police, breaking and entering and worst of all, the kidnapping of two primary school girls."

She glared around the room, daring anybody to challenge her assessment. Nobody did.

"Okay, we're up to date. Get me some answers. Intelligence, both domestic and foreign. Why did we not know about this? GCHQ, find out what we have and where it came from." Finally, she turned to the SO15 commander who'd been noticeably quiet. "A scientist managed to capture two suspects you'd failed to do. Don't let me down by failing to find out who they are and what they were doing."

She stood up and left the room before her anger got the better of her. When she'd moved through the connecting door between the Cabinet Office and Downing Street, she paused to calm down a bit. Reset, she went back to the normal routine.

Rupert was waiting when she got to her office. He was nervously clutching his tablet. "Do you have a moment to talk about your schedule, Prime Minister?"

"Come on in," she smiled. He knew her schedule better than she did.

When the door was closed, he said. "I've made a few tentative suggestions for changes to today's calendar."

She went to her desk and looked. Some meetings had been pushed out. Others set to tentative. There were now a few obvious gaps in her day.

"Good work," she murmured. He'd only moved from today the ones that could wait. He obviously felt she was going to be in COBR a few times that day. "I want a call with Ron at some stage. It might not be needed as I might be able to grab him after another COBR."

He made a note.

"Today's going to be one of those days. I know there will be interruptions, but hopefully tomorrow will be better than today."

He winced. "Yes, Prime Minister."

"I don't believe in superstition. We deal with the hand dealt to us. Sometimes it can seem the worst day ever, but then something good can come out of the worst situations."

She smiled wryly. "Oh dear. I'm quoting Hilda Saunders."

"A wise lady by the sounds of it," he said.

"Most leaders from the Asia-Pacific region attended a United Nations meeting last night to discuss the concept of a World Government. Can you see if you can get hold of the minutes from it?"

"It won't be available until 2pm," he responded, having checked on this while she was in COBR.

"Oh, thank you."

He smiled and left her to her work. Her first appointment wasn't for twenty minutes, so she went through her correspondence from ministers. The one from the Department for Transport caught her eye.

A suggestion from one of the CAA directors. "Due to the breach of launch licence, Star Bright should be barred from any launches and reviewed in six months."

The DfT response raised her eyebrows. "Star Bright did not break the licence, Beyond Satellite did for failing to properly verify people on site. I suggest a surprise security audit in a month at Beyond Satellite. As for Star Bright, what reason do you have for banning them for six months? Their launch was successful. They did place the satellite into the correct trajectory. Not all launches are observed and the data audits provided showed they went above and beyond what we required."

She shook her head. She knew the CAA were sticklers for the rules. They had to be, as lives depended on it. But surely they could see this was a rare success for the United Kingdom. Also, since an interdimensional tunnel launch was safer, did they need to review safety procedures? It wasn't her department though but thought it might be a good suggestion as part of the reviews Colin Hood was doing. Making sure that regulations were fit for the new era.

* * *

Georgina climbed the stairs back to the apartment above the office. A home where she was always on call. Her day wasn't finished. She had some foreign calls to make later but these could be done from there.

The day had been frustrating. GCHQ had carefully disassembled the seized equipment, but it didn't point to any specific country. Quite the opposite. Some components were Japanese, some Chinese, even an Italian-based RF chip. They'd gone to lengths unparalleled to not point to their country.

Then the two prisoners. They were ensconced in the Counter Terrorism suite in London. They were talking, but not about what happened. They wanted to talk about how Arsenal football club should have won more games, and how their manager should get sacked. They were pros.

She had a special reason to get back. She'd been thinking about it most of the day. Entering her bedroom, she located the small phone that had been discreetly given to her six months ago. They hadn't talked for quite a while, but the Prime Minister felt it would be helpful. She couldn't imagine why someone like Laura Taylor hadn't increased security.

The call wasn't answered promptly, and the Prime Minister was about to terminate the call when it was answered. It was a male voice, so not Sally. "Hello."

"Sorry, I was trying to reach Sally."

"Prime Minister, Sally is not reachable at the moment. She asked me to cover this number in case you reached out. You can call me Sean."

"How many aliases do you lot have?"

"As many as needed," responded Sean simply. "What can I do to help you, Prime Minister?"

"I take it you are familiar with what happened in Epney last night?"

"Yes."

"I'm just curious. Laura Taylor has a reputation for protecting her staff. They seem to be left rather exposed."

Sean paused, weighing what to say. Eventually he said, "Not all security is visible."

"What does that mean?" Georgina said sharply.

"This is an old discussion we had months ago; what was the best way to protect them? There were two main options. There was more considered, but two main ones that were analysed in more detail. First was to have onsite security. We went down that route last year before the ship test last December. Six personnel were onsite, with one of them at Jenny's school. While it protected them, it made them all jittery."

"Okay. And the second option?"

"We monitor from afar and try to get to the root of any danger to them."

"And how is that working out?"

"There were four main groups trying to infiltrate. At the moment it is two. That Pakistan General did you a favour. Some countries took a more detailed look at their agencies and military and brought them under control."

The Prime Minister was having trouble with this. Here was information being given to her that her National Security Advisor couldn't give her. "What about the two left?"

"Of the two left, the first one tried to get information out of one of your government scientists and killed him. They killed Martyn after he realised the tortured person knew the location of the scientists. They got some mid-level crooks to kidnap Jenny to see the reaction. They were planning on something a week or so after but paused when they found out about the other group. They thought they might have a better chance, so have held off to steal from them whatever they took."

"So, you knew they were going to infiltrate the satellite launch?"

"No. Friday's events weren't on the radar. When we found out about it, we set on discovering and diverting their plans. Star Bright were moving offices, so we managed to leak enough information to get them to steal something of little consequence. All the important items had already been moved."

"You got them to rob from yourselves? Why?"

"Knowing the other group, they would have tried to take it by force. Even if some members survived in each team, it wouldn't have been enough for them to continue."

"And one of the staff stayed overnight and got the police involved. Plan foiled by your own."

Sean sighed. "We are back to monitoring them and nudging the situation. It's not ideal but we can't infiltrate them. They are two agencies, so closed teams."

"Can you give me their locations, so we can grab them?"

Another considering pause and Sean said, "The team from last night are still mobile and might go out of country for a bit. The other has a splinter group ready to act if the main group is captured. It might not be a bad idea for them to be taken out of the equation. But you can't use standard groups. I'd suggest you speak with Ron. There is a team called Moonshine. Don't discuss it with Ron over standard lines, yours are not secure for that. I'd suggest calling a COBR for an update and discuss after."

"How come you know about these teams, and we don't?" she asked Sean.

"They're your allies. They know your systems, and in some cases, have access to your systems. That's the problem with intelligence sharing."

Georgina paused before saying slowly, "Your plan might not be dead."

"Go on," Sean said sounding interested.

"The team that slipped away last night; the other side won't know what they got. The police are all over the news. If you seed the idea they escaped with something, the rival team might move. Especially if they think the prize is being smuggled out."

"Interesting. That could work. I'll see what can be done,"

Georgina ended the call and set the little phone down on her desk. In COBR she had demanded facts and been handed shadows; here, in the quiet of her flat, she had not only been given answers but had offered one of her own. Yet they were answers she could never quote, never prove, and perhaps never trust. For a moment she wondered which was worse. Being kept in the dark or helping to shape a game she wasn't supposed to be playing.

She switched the phone off and slid it back into her bedside drawer. Whether Sean was playing her or not, it no longer mattered. If there was a dangerous unit out there. A failsafe team. She couldn't risk ignoring it. She marched to her home office, lifted her official phone, and dialled her overnight Private Secretary.

"Prime Minister."

"Can you please arrange a COBR with Home and Defence in one hour. They need to be here, not via secure comms. Get SitCen to provide updated situation on the CAA issue."

It would destroy their evening but needs must. She had an hour. This would give her chance to eat and plan. She always thought better on a full stomach.

The hour arrived, and she was in the most secure briefing room. Sir John, the cabinet secretary, was the first to arrive. Lewis and Ron appeared a few minutes later.

"Sorry to impact your evenings," she opened and moved to press the button switching off all microphones. SitCen wouldn't be able to hear and respond. This COBR was secure.

"Any change with the two in custody?" she opened.

"No," responded Lewis, wondering why the Prime Minister had effectively sealed them from the outside world. "They are refusing to talk. Their identities aren't on UK records, but we've not found them on any other records we have either."

She turned to Sir John. "Can you be careful what you minute. I'm about to say a few things which you may want to consider first."

He nodded. It wasn't unexpected when she'd sealed the room.

"I'm told there are two allied agencies on UK territory. At least one of them has access to our systems via intelligence sharing."

"Why isn't the National Security Advisor not here then?" asked Lewis.

"One of those teams. The one that killed the ISAAC members, has a backstop in case their main team is captured. I was told Moonshine would be required."

Sir John put down his pen and crossed his arms. It was a dramatic gesture that said that this discussion never happened.

Ron paled and his leg shook a bit. "How certain are you of this?"

She considered. How could she phrase it. "This contact has been highly accurate. They're also trusted by someone I trust. I might question why this droplet of information appears now, but if it's as bad as it appears, then I'm not sure we have a choice."

"Do you have a location?" he said tightly.

Georgina nodded and handed him a slip of paper. It had the location, and some other words that she'd never heard of, but Sean had said were important. Whatever Moonshine was, Ron wasn't happy. "Can you tell me? I don't want specifics, just a hint of what I'm asking for."

"Ever since Salisbury, there is a team on four-hour standby to neutralise and contain a nerve agent attack. That's all I'll say."

"Get them moving then," ordered the Prime Minister. She knew this was something that would never be seen in the news. This was something none of them would ever discuss. 'Why do we find it acceptable to dance so close to the brink,' she thought morbidly.

Ron interrupted her thoughts. "There's also one thing to consider. The third nerve agent listed ... only two countries have that. Russia. And America."

---
Footnotes:

COBR / COBRA	The UK government's crisis coordination hub in the Cabinet Office. Originally “COBRA,” referring to Cabinet Office Briefing Room A, the most secure room at the time. As other rooms were upgraded, the official term became COBR (Cabinet Office Briefing Rooms), though the older name still lingers in media shorthand
CAA	The UK Civil Aviation Authority. While best known as the aviation regulator, it also licenses and oversees spaceflight and satellite launches under the UK Space Industry Act.
GCHQ	Government Communications Headquarters. UK's signals intelligence agency, equivalent to the US NSA.
SO15	The Metropolitan Police Counter Terrorism Command. Sounds London‑based, but in practice they have operational hubs across the UK.
Salisbury	Shorthand for the 2018 Novichok nerve agent attack in Salisbury, England, which led to the creation of rapid‑response chemical/biological defence teams.
SitCen	The Cabinet Office's Situation Centre, a 24/7 crisis monitoring hub

Escaping the Cradle

by Karen Page

Part 32

---

Part 32
DATE:FC+126

"Jenny. How do you fancy a few days in Kent?" Becky asked her daughter as they finished breakfast.

Jenny stopped and turned to look at the two women in her life. Her ma, and mum. Ashleigh had gone there to say good morning. Becky would be off to the new office. Ashleigh would be back with the forensic officers. They'd promised it would be their last day.

"Am I in a lot of danger?"

"We don't know," Becky said, honestly. "I spoke with Miss Taylor yesterday after the break-in. She said to hold tight. There are still police in the area with forensics still in The Anchor so I'm not too worried at the moment. I'm thinking about when they're gone."

"Is there a school near Auntie's house? I've been getting the extra help at school. I will lose that there."

Ashleigh looked at Jenny with concern and moved across to be closer. "Talk to us, Jenny. You aren't normally that amenable when there's talk about staying with Auntie Donna."

"They aren't nice people. They could have hurt Dr Mann. When I was kidnapped, they could have hurt Kelly. They probably want to use me as leverage."

"This is true in life. There are always bad people around. You've just had a taste of the more extreme. What does Mrs Covington say about it?"

"I've not talked to her since last week. We are down to every other week."

"And why haven't you told Ma or me about your worries?"

"It was really just this morning. There was a huge shootout at Poole ferry port between two gangs. And something happened in Basingstoke too. Things like this never used to happen."

"They did. You're just older and listening to the news more. I'm sure they are nothing to do with us."

"Okay," she said. "It's just such a coincidence. I was reading how these things used to happen years ago, but with modern laws there is hardly crime like that. Anyway, I better get my school bag."

When they got to Jenny's school, Becky watched her daughter disappear through the gates. She no longer needed Becky to take her in. 'She is brave', thought Becky. 'Braver than she should have to be.'

When Becky got to the new office at Waterwells Business Park, she saw a familiar face waiting in reception.

"Hey," she said, approaching David. "What are you doing out here?"

"They won't let me in, even though my badge worked. They know the staff, and they knew I was from a sister office."

"Good," said Becky. "Security is working. I hope you didn't kick up too much of a fuss."

"Nah, I was a good boy!"

Reception had given David a red lanyard that said, ‘ESCORTED AT ALL TIMES'.

"Come on through. I'll give you the tour."

It didn't take long. Most of downstairs was the offices. Upstairs was the secured area containing research. Becky would mostly work upstairs, though she was unlucky enough to have a small office downstairs. Ashleigh had one too.

"An office?" laughed David.

"Don't. I need to be a bit corporate now. Not my thing, but I'm told it comes with the territory. Anyway, what can I do for you?"

"Just to let you know all the serious threats against the team are over. The last two groups got in an armed altercation with each other last night in Poole. None of them survived. It isn't what anybody wanted."

David hated the outcome. He loved life. He hadn't pulled the trigger, but he set the play in motion. The Prime Minister had been a peace envoy but even she knew that what had been going on couldn't continue.

"You killed them all?" queried Becky, aghast.

"They killed each other," repeated David. He didn't want Becky thinking this was her fault. It wasn't. "One group thought the other one had your secrets. They fought over a few pictures that would have told them nothing."

"Jenny is safe?" Becky asked hopefully.

"As safe as any curious eight-year-old is."

Becky gave a small laugh, which was David's aim.

"Did you come to just tell me that? That's a long way for something you could have done on the phone."

"There is no way I would tell anybody what I just did on an open phone line. We have secure phones for items like that, and you don't have one."

"I have something better at some stage. Communication via tunnel."

"Oh joy. That is going to go down like a lead balloon. You've sold all the space agencies on your plan to link Earth, Mars and wherever they want in the Solar System. If you did that on Earth, the reaction might be less kind. Spies like to spy. Especially the ones that claim not to."

Becky pulled out a USB stick from her pocket. "I know it's old school, but can you take this to London when you go back? I need you to pass it up your chain of contacts to the PM. It contains a raw version of the Primer and new Intermediate level Hytuna."

"Intermediate level?" David asked, taking a small container out of his pocket and placing the drive in it. "Where did you get that from?"

"We've got a basic communication link with the alien council. Just for them to give us information. We're still working out other things. We want to get messaging going, but we've not got their protocol information yet. The only things we've received is the Hytuna and a space map."

"A space map?"

"It took me several attempts to get the primer converted correctly into the new Unicode format. The intermediate then went smoothly but took time. It's about twice the size of the primer. We're still working on the map of which systems are safe."

"So why get it to the PM? Why not just upload it to everyone?" David enquired, puzzled.

"Anybody could do that. If it enters the world via the PM, it has provenance."

"No problem. It might be a few days to get it there. So, what's difficult about the map?"

Becky laughed. "I love you and your friends. You might not be scientists, but you have such a thirst for knowledge. We've got a lot of it cracked. Actually, someone in Jessica's company came in while we were in a meeting. He didn't see any of us, but on the screen was the vector of a star. He recognised it as Vega. We have the direction right, but we are trying to translate speed. And we got tied up with other things."

"What is so special about this map? We have star charts already."

"We have what we can see, or what satellites like Gaia could see. This is more comprehensive. And most importantly, if the star is claimed or occupied, it tells us by which race. That way we don't stumble into an Yvestigan system by accident."

"We asked nicely and they provided. Oh, and Jenny wants to become a pen friend with the Reginaddes daughter."

David laughed. It sounded so absurd, but it sounded so like Jenny. "That girl is fearless."

"She wasn't this morning," Becky retorted, and the conversation suddenly got serious. "We started talking about her going to stay at her auntie Donna's. She is worried because of the kidnapping, and about what happened to Liam. It isn't the way for a child to grow up."

That was a very sobering admission. "What can I do to help?" David asked without hesitation.

"I don't know what can be done. I asked for security not to be as obvious, as it was making all of us, including Jenny, jittery. But then without it, things seemed okay but was actually a lot worse."

"But what about—"

"Before you say what about humanity. I never asked to be humanities saviour. And I don't really think I am. But anyway, my priority should be Jenny."

David didn't know what to say about that. He sat there feeling guilty that his actions in protecting Jenny might have made her feel worse.

"I do have a favour to ask," said David, trying to rid himself of the morose feeling.

"Oh?"

"When you've got past your star map. It would be good if you could think about tunnel safety. Currently you could step through it to anywhere. Is there any defence?"

"Ah, you're interested if we can stop a tunnel from exiting at a location?"

"Basically."

Becky stopped and considered. "We need specific conditions to open a tunnel. At the moment we've not found anything that stopped it on the other end. However, that isn't to say there isn't. We've not looked into it. But perhaps we should anyway. We'd want to know if there were restrictions."

"Then my job is done here," David said, standing up.

"I do have one thing to ask."

David quickly sat down again. "Sure. What is it?"

"We had a note that the NSA were sniffing around. Was that over Earth-1?"

"A sweep and verification was done at Jessica's company. Nothing found. I know you requested a more detailed check on Randal. It takes time. It isn't like a few clicks of a button and their whole history pops up. Perhaps if we were governments, but not us."

"Thank you. How are the other three doing?"

"All on mission at the moment. I don't know who has the worse one. Probably Andy. Well certainly the most visible."

"Liam hasn't worked out about Brenda. He says there is something familiar, but he can't work it out."

"It's probably best not to say. If Liam works it out, so be it. It isn't something we advertise. We only showed you because it might be needed. It was for you and Ashleigh with Lisa."

"I feel privileged to know a little bit of both sides of you," said Becky.

David just smiled. There was something comforting about Star Bright. He could see why Tina and Luke spent time here when not on missions. A place full of intelligent people who got on with things, no matter what got thrown at them.

When David had gone, Becky made her way upstairs to talk with Liam and Evan. Henry was still unpacking some of his hardware in the storeroom.

"How's David?" asked Liam.

"Okay. He was here to say that the situation which caused unwanted attention has gone away. At the moment, there shouldn't be a reoccurrence of either last Friday or yesterday."

"Really? How?"

"I didn't really want to know the specifics, if you get my drift."

Evan and Liam nodded. They were scientists. Their heart wasn't in all the cloak-and-dagger stuff. They wanted to know how the universe worked and discover new things.

"Anyway," continued Becky. "I have the data run finished on the vectors. The small run I managed between running the Hytuna conversion didn't reveal any matches. With the vastness of space, and the number of stars out there, I'm surprised we had a good one at the beginning."

Evan frowned. "I don't get it. Why is this different to what we've done for the interdimensional tunnel? What gives us a point in time to jump and a formula for that. This looks like vectors and speed. Why?"

"History?" Liam suggested. "Just as we measure things differently. I presume they looked at stars and measured their paths long before they worked out interdimensional jumping. Have you looked at the new Hytuna document to see if there are any clues?"

"I've only just finished an accurate translation," Becky pointed out. "I sent a copy to Sam and Jessica. They pick up languages the quickest, with James not far behind."

"It's a good job you didn't tell Jenny before she went to school," joked Evan. "She'd have wanted to take it with her or stay home and read it."

Liam pulled up the data and frowned. There were thousands of matches. He took the top ten and put them on their new discussion board. "Are we sure this is speed?"

"No," said Becky. "I guessed since it was after the vector. Why?"

"Look." Liam added the known speed of those ten matched star systems. "There is no correlation."

"Okay, is there anything that correlates to speed?"

Liam pulled up different bits of data and overlaid. While that happened, Evan's slightly bitchy comment 'it would have been really nice if they'd given a file structure', got them all laughing.

"It does help having more than one star system to compare against," Liam said, as he checked and looked for patterns. "Ah. This one looks more like it."

"I wonder what the other values are then?" Evan pondered.

"We do have what race that claim them," pointed out Becky. "That is useful. It gives us a list of other races. I've no idea what the other values are. We have another formula and some numeric values. How many planets are in it? How dangerous it is? The type of star? They could be anything."

"Class of star would make some type of sense. We measure in two ways. Temperature and luminosity."

"Aren't they related? Surely a star that is hotter, will shine more?" Becky asked.

"Sure, but size comes into it. Say you have two stars the same temperature as our Sun. If it was larger, then it would shine more. There is a formula to calculate luminosity based on temperature and radius."

"Of course there is. There's always a formula!"

Evan nodded. "Okay, let's find a group of stars that are class G2. That's stars the same temperature of Sol."

Becky watched Liam and Evan work. They were loving it. Hunting through data, making sense of it. Categorising what they saw.

After a little while, Becky said, "We've got the main details. We can pass the rest to the international community. I'm sure they will love going through it. There are so many stars not in the Gaia catalogue. Probably too faint for our telescopes to pick up."

"What's this other formula for?" pondered Evan. "We have the star motion. Let's have a look at that. Let's do Vega one first, since that's what star we started with."

"It looks like a position relative to the star. Like we have for communication."

"Could it be a communication beacon?"

"It might be. It could be a danger area. It could even be a safe entrance."

"Do all stars have one? Do stars not claimed have one?"

Liam hunted and did some queries. "There aren't any with two. Most stars have one. Even unclaimed ones. So probably not a communication beacon. Unless we have one that we've never found. I think we would have been pointed to it as our communication endpoint rather than the one we are using."

"Fair point. If it was a danger point, I'm sure there would be many. Don't jump here because there is a planet, or an asteroid belt."

"We need another satellite," said Becky. "We could just jump to one of them using Eos, but if we're wrong it is a lot of danger."

"It doesn't have to be a proper satellite," said Evan. "A box that can withstand extreme environmental conditions, with power for a tunnel device. We can send it, and it can come back. It doesn't even need communication, unless we want to. Perhaps a camera or some other mechanism to check what's close by."

Becky sighed. "I know what Jessica is going to say. You just don't put something like that together in a few days. It can take months."

"Could we treat Aurora as a test ship for it? Not anybody in her, but put in some automation so she jumps there, does her stuff and jumps back?" asked Liam.

"Possibly. She has an auto return capability in her already. In extreme circumstances, such as total air evacuation in a vacuum, she will auto return. We need to enhance that for longer distances. She has the ability to recognise pulsars and auto triangulate. Like a galactic GPS."

"I'd be willing to go," said a voice behind them. They whirled around to see James standing behind them.

"And me," added Sam, who was standing next to James.

"But—"

"It's no different from how explorers used to be. They sailed off into the distance, no idea what they would find. At least we have a map. We know what star system we are jumping to."

"As you've said, there is no airlock with Aurora. There is only one Eos. There is only one you."

"Pft. I'm a test pilot. I trust Eos and the technology she has inside her. From what you said, it isn't bringing me in next to the star. If it is near a rock, it would be moved to one side. If it was a planet, I presume I would be the displaced item."

"Yes," Evan agreed. "That is what should happen. We saw you getting moved when the other ship arrived over Australia. We've no proof what would happen if you arrived inside a planet and I don't think I'd want to try."

"I'll go with you," said Liam. "It's the first trip outside the Solar System, apart from going to the alien council."

Becky was torn. It would prove the details, but it was a major risk. "If this did happen, where would be a good destination?"

"18 Scorpii," Evan answered without hesitation. "It's a G2V like Sol. I noticed when we were looking at stars similar to ours that it didn't have any claim."

"Just there and back," Liam said to Becky.

"You lot want to go now, don't you?" she responded, staring down at the desk.

Sam smiled. "Why not? What is the point in waiting? It won't change anything. Eos is always ready to go."

Becky looked up and saw four faces looking at her. She wanted to say no, but not wanting to disappoint them nodded. "Okay. Let's go."

In just under half an hour, they were pulling into the factory carpark.

"I don't think we should go to 18 Scorpii," said Becky as they congregated in the empty reception.

"We've just driven down here," sighed Liam, feeling a bit beyond disappointed.

"It's not that, is it?" said Evan, looking at Becky.

"I'm not saying you shouldn't go. Just that it's too similar to Sol. If we go somewhere and you are going to take a photograph, I want it somewhere different. Say, 61Cygni. It's a binary star system."

"What type of star?" asked James.

"K type dwarf stars," said Liam, without having to look it up.

"Oh good. I was worried you were sending us to something scary like a black hole or a neutron star."

"I'm coming too," Liam mentioned. "I value my life!"

"Fair point," he said with a nervous laugh.

"This is your idea," Becky reminded them. "We can stop and discuss other things. You don't have to make this journey."

"I'm good," said James.

"Me too," added Sam.

"Me three," joked Liam.

"It's really like you three are egging each other on," said Becky. "Okay, go get ready. Evan and I will setup upstairs."

Becky put the fake computers away and brought out the real ones from the hidden cupboard. Evan and Becky logged in and got up the telemetry.

As they were finishing, Sam nipped in and went across to Becky. "Last time I gave this to Ashleigh to look after."

"Sorry?"

"Don't worry about it. Just put it to one side."

"Okay."

A few minutes later, James came in and looked around and was about to leave. Becky saw an envelope in his hands, like Sam had. "Since Ashleigh isn't here, I can look after it for you," said Becky.

"Ah, thanks," flushed James and after handing it across, quickly left the room.

"What's that about?" asked Evan.

"I've no idea. Let me ring Ashleigh and find out."

Becky dialled and it was a few minutes before Ashleigh answered. "Hi."

"Hi. Sorry to disturb you. I'm at the factory and something strange has happened. I'm not sure what it means though."

"And I will?"

"Sam came in and handed me a letter. He said that you'd looked after it last time. James did the same a few minutes later."

"What are you doing?" she asked sharply.

"Er, they're taking Eos out."

"Yes, but those are goodbye letters, just in case they don't come back. They haven't had me hold on to them since the first trip to the alien space station. What are you up to? Where are they going?"

"We were discussing the star map. James suggested they try one of them, and Sam and Liam went for it."

"Okay," Ashleigh said. "You better get your head in the game. They are obviously taking it seriously."

"I hadn't realised how nervous they were," Becky admitted.

"I know. Ring me when they're back. I love you."

Becky repeated the sentiment.

Following a check of communication via a tunnel, James said over normal communication. "Ready to go."

"Please don't stay more than a minute for the first time. A few pictures using the external camera and return."

"Understood, though if we need to triangulate it might take us a few minutes to process the data."

"Of course. Good luck. Go at will."

"Departing," said Sam. The ship disappeared.

"We have telemetry via a tunnel," said Evan after a few seconds. "Ship looks good. Accessing external camera."

They did, and Evan gasped. In the distance there were the two balls of fire. But there was also a planet. Becky saw it and her eyes widened.

"Control, do you read?" said James.

"Yes," Becky responded. "We're seeing your camera. You're close to a planet. Rotate a bit and take more pictures. Then please bring her home."

"Can we get closer to the planet?" asked Sam.

"No," responded Evan firmly. "Getting close to planets outside our Solar System isn't something we should just do. We don't want to risk causing any changes or risk a first contact. We have no rules or policies."

"We're going to jump into the Solar System, near Mars and then jump back to the factory. I don't want to risk a direct jump the first time."

"Understood. See you soon."

It was only a few minutes before they landed. However, a few seconds later, before they opened the door, a red light started flashing. On Becky's screen, a single word flashed in red. CONTAMINATION. The ship room sealed itself.

Escaping the Cradle

by Karen Page

Part 33

---

Part 33
DATE:FC+126

"Stay seated," said James, seeing the red flashing lights.

He didn't have to say that. The other two knew what it meant and hadn't moved.

"We've not brought back an alien, have we?" Sam asked, trying to lighten the mood.

"If we have, I'm sure that would put paid to us being a private company," James responded. "Earth First would be on the streets with that."

Liam shuddered.

"Control. Any idea on the cause?" James asked over the radio.

Evan responded. "We're investigating. Detectors are flagging some type of contamination. We're looking into it."

Liam was on a spare console and was looking through the data. Doing was good. If he just sat there waiting for Evan, he was frightened he would panic. The detectors were quite helpful. They listed what it had found and why they were complaining.

"We were at a K type star system," Liam said to Evan. "Look at those values."

"You think its residual?" Evan asked.

"It might be. They aren't dangerous readings. Just not what we coded as expected."

"I see two solutions," said Evan after a few seconds thought. "We wait and they should diminish. Or you take Eos back out into high orbit. Get a good dose of Sol radiation on the ship."

"The second one sounds more fun," said Sam. "But if we are going to go to other star systems, I think we need to see how the readings dissipate. Learn from this."

"Agreed," Becky said, taking note. "Following the fourth pathway in our contamination protocol list."

"You've got that out?" asked Liam, surprised.

"It was the first thing she did when the alarm went off," said Evan. "We put in detectors, and we all agreed what would happen if they went off. I think it's only logical we follow the plans. She's had Laura and Ashleigh asking if we are calling in the fire brigade with hazmat units."

"No!" yelped Liam, making James and Sam look across in concern. Liam waved a hand signalling he was okay. "It doesn't need that. Well not yet. Let's see what the sensors say in ten minutes."

"Agreed. We can both monitor."

"Talk to us," James ordered Liam when he'd turned off his microphone. "What's going on?"

"Different stars emit different particles and radiation. The ship's outer hull picked some up, and Eos is now emitting low levels that confused the sensors. It should dissipate and we will see if those emissions are reducing in the next ten minutes. In theory, it should be gone in half an hour."

"So, we're not going to die?" asked James.

"Not because of this," said Liam. "Well not based on what the sensors are showing. They could be wrong, and there's a three-metre alien waiting to eat us when we step outside."

"I'd hope they'd see that on the camera," said Sam.

"Okay, a three-metre alien that's invisible that jumped through the interdimensional tunnel twice and survived in the vacuum of space."

"Oh, now you're getting picky," griped Sam.

"I'm sure I met a few of them over the years at Axiom Station," added James.

"You don't get them underwater," sighed Sam. "Looks like I missed out. Though the huge sea monster with twenty tentacles was such a beast to wrestle."

Liam looked at them in shock. He couldn't imagine why they were teasing each other at a time like this.

When he managed to assemble his thoughts, Liam asked, "How can you two sit there joking?"

"There's nothing else for us to do," James responded. "We're here at the factory. It's not like this issue occurred in a different star system. Here they can rescue us if they need to. We could even get them to send us a device so we could create an interdimensional tunnel to transport us out."

"I wasn't sure we'd get there and back," Sam agreed. "Heck, I even gave Becky my 'last letter'."

"I did too. Though I'm not sure she understood what it was."

Liam wasn't slow on the uptake. "Is that what it says on the tin? A goodbye letter just in case you die or don't come back?"

"Yes," Sam said simply. "It was something my CO mentioned before my first tour. It wasn't compulsory, but it was good to know there was something Jessica would be given in case I didn't return. I stopped doing them after a while but started again when I got involved with test ships."

"But isn't it like admitting you might not return?"

"That's the point," said James. "We might not have. We went somewhere totally unknown. Anything could have happened, and nobody could have come to rescue us. We knew and accepted the situation. We were clear in our minds that we might not have returned."

"You don't trust the ship?"

"We trust the ship," said James. "I wouldn't be in her if I didn't. It was the situation that was the big unknown."

"For you it's different," Sam said. "You never thought we might not come back."

Liam considered and said, "It's not that I didn't know I might not come back, it's just that the urge to experience the science is bigger. I wanted to see a different star. I wanted to see the theories I'd spent my life studying in front of my eyes."

"So how did you feel about going?"

"Terrified. But in some respects, I didn't want not to go. You two had said you would, and I knew I would be safe with you. Well, as safe as we could be. I didn't want my fear to guide me. Jenny managed to overcome her fear of returning to school after being kidnapped."

"Don't be reckless though," said Sam. "You don't want to put yourself and others in danger. Some people think they're invincible. They do things for the wrong reason."

Liam looked at the console to see what the data said. "Evan. Readings are normalising."

Evan responded. "We see. It'll be about another twenty minutes at current rates of decay."

"If it's not dangerous, why are we hanging around?" asked Sam.

"Because it is a good test of the system. One we've not been able to do before. When the values normalise, the lockdown should end. There's no confusion then. Nobody can say we were taking shortcuts."

As they waited, Liam said thoughtfully, "Do you think I should write a last letter?"

James and Sam shared a look. James sighed and answered. "That's up to you. Even when I was on the frontline with the RAF not everybody did. People do it for various reasons. A way of coming to terms that they might die. A way to leave something for a loved one so they know that even though they were risking everything, they were always in their thoughts."

"Ask yourself this," said Sam. "Are you a scientist or an explorer? You might be a bit of both or more one than another. Are you going to step into the unknown again? Then what would writing a letter do for you or who you left it for? What is the purpose for you?"

Liam fell silent again. This would be something to think about. Preferably with a nice beer. "Sam. Please tell me if I'm being too nosy, but why did you join the services? I thought that might have been difficult when you live without a defined gender."

Sam leaned back and considered how to answer. It seemed a simple question, but it didn't feel like a simple answer. "School gave me the freedom to discover more about myself. When I joined the UK school I was already living androgynously. The only time a gender was required was when we played foreign concerts and that was basically for the passport. I had other needs which the US school had more experience with, so we did a school exchange. When we finished and went to university, I found I missed the regiment that school gave."

Liam was shocked. "The music school was run like a military academy?"

"No," laughed Sam. "It was remarkably free, but there was a structure. Mealtimes set. Nighttime curfew. Things like that. I missed that structure. I also wanted to see if I could live as a gender. I finished university and the US Navy snapped me up.

"The first few months were hard. I didn't fit in, but I had the confidence in myself to push through. Over the years I became good at my job and became respected. I found I enjoyed making a difference and that sustained me."

"When I eventually left, I found I was lost. I found adopting a gender was tied to my role in the military. It was no different than a rank, or a job that I had to do. I'm glad I've been welcome here as me."

Liam got up and gave Sam a hug. "Thank you. I'm sorry if I caused you discomfort."

"It's fine," said Sam with a dazzling smile. "I think it helps you, understanding where I've been. I've already had this chat with James. He told me some of his story in the RAF and ESA. We work closely together, and it reduced misconceptions and misunderstanding."

They lapsed into silence, continuing to wait. The red flashing lights stopped and a few seconds later, Evan said, "Conditions are normal. No contamination being read. When you exit the ship, I'd suggest not touching the hull, just in case there's still residue."

"Do you want a reading from the hull?" Liam asked. "I could do a swab sample."

"Not without protective gear," Becky ordered.

"Of course not. We have some in the storeroom on the ground floor."

"When you exit, go to what we used as the makeshift med bay. Dr Watterson is waiting for you."

They were sticking to the plan, and all three in the ship knew it.

"It looks like I won't be teaching Jenny after school today," said Liam, knowing the medical checks would take several hours.

"Don't worry about it," responded Evan. "It'll be good for them to have me for the day."

* * *

Reception at Bright House in Waterwells Business Park had been warned about Jenny and Kelly. When they turned up, they were given special passes with yellow lanyards. After their biometrics had been confirmed, they followed Ashleigh through to a small meeting room on the ground floor. Evan was waiting.

"How's The Anchor?" asked Evan as the two schoolgirls went to look at the drinks at the back of the room.

Ashleigh looked relieved. "They've finished. It's all cleared and locked. I'll be here from tomorrow."

"Great."

"So hopefully you won't do anything else hair-brained and cause me and others palpitations. Alerts like that go to key people, including Laura."

"What did they do?" Jenny asked, grinning. She knew Evan was in trouble. She liked the scientists and knew it must have been something significant for her Mum to be upset like that.

"They'd decided on a quick trip to a star system. The idea excited them more than using their brains," Ashleigh explained.

"So, today we're going to cover Star Stuff," said Evan, as they all sat at the table. "I think it's rather relevant."

"Really?" Ashleigh queried, raising her eyebrows and sitting down to hear what he had to say.

"Really. I think it has good scientific information and a cautionary tale."

"As a teaser, the Star Stuff we're going to discuss are particles and radiation emanating from the Sun. It is often called solar wind. They reach out right around the solar system and create a protective barrier stopping stronger cosmic rays from impacting us. Finally, we will talk about Earth's magnetic field and how it shields life on Earth from the solar wind."

"But before we dive into the science, I want to share the cautionary tale. Jenny knows some of this already, but I forgot it. Again. So, I think it is worth repeating, and Kelly can get some of that knowledge too. Just under a year ago, Dr Mann and I were trying to puzzle out an issue with opening the interdimensional tunnel. We worked all through the weekend."

"My Dad sometimes works weekends," said Kelly. "It's sad to not see much of him, but sometimes he says it's needed."

"They didn't stop work over the weekend," explained Jenny solemnly, gripping the chair arms to steady herself. "They didn't sleep. They didn't eat. And they didn't drink much."

"They must have been really tired," said Kelly, not understanding the implications.

Ashleigh filled her in when she saw Jenny couldn't. "They weren't just tired. They were really ill. When I found them, they were so ill they couldn't stand. They were no longer thinking straight. If they'd not been found, they could have ended up in hospital, or could have died."

Kelly looked shocked, and Jenny looked like she was going to burst into tears. Kelly noticed and put her arm around Jenny.

"We've been really careful not to do that again," said Evan. "When work finishes, we go home and come back the next day. We rarely work all night, and if we do it is for a very good reason. Then Miss Thompson makes sure we have rest to recover."

"So how does that relate to today?" asked Jenny.

"That spark of curiosity is good. It drives a scientist. However, you have to think just because you can do something, if you should do it. Today we got excited about a trip to a different star system. We'd worked out the coordinates, and we discussed working out what it would be like. Someone suggested we went, and someone else agreed. Next thing I remember was us driving to the factory."

"Is Dr Mann okay?" Jenny asked in anguish.

"Yes," reassured Evan. "They went to a star system about eleven light years away. They stayed a few minutes and came back. However, there were consequences, which I will explain in a minute. I need to finish the cautionary part first and then we'll do science."

Kelly and Jenny looked at each other, unsure so far about what Evan had been talking about.

"Anyway, we got to the factory. Even though Mrs Head suggested we didn't have to go, the three crew members decided they were up for it. They'd travelled all the way to the factory. Why wouldn't we do it? They went, and when they got back, the sensors in the ship room went off saying the ship was contaminated. The room automatically sealed. The building locked down. Heck, even the gates locked."

"In our rush to explore, we forgot to think. We didn't think what might happen. We didn't think about Star Stuff. Excitement, and the peer pressure made us act silly. Just because Captain Partridge wanted to go. Just because Commander Hood wanted to go. Then everybody else agreed because they didn't want to seem the one that said no. Excitement made us want to do it. Peer pressure then made us not want to stop."

"Just say no?" suggested Kelly.

"It sounds simple, doesn't it. But when you're saying no to your friends when you feel the pressure of the group, it is really hard to say no. It's so much easier to go with the flow."

Kelly looked thoughtful. Jenny was about to say something, but Ashleigh put a hand on her arm to stop her.

When Kelly eventually talked, she was nervous and hesitant. "Dr Lancaster, can I ask you something?"

"Of course."

"I don't want to seem silly, but I'm lost. When you got to the factory, if you'd said no, why would that have stopped the others going? If they were so excited, wouldn't they have still gone, and they wouldn't have had you helping when they came back? Would you have left Mrs Head on her own?"

"I would never have abandoned them," said Evan fiercely.

"My mum is always talking about personal responsibility. When I do something that I shouldn't, I use to blame others. She told me I had to accept what I did or didn't do. This peer pressure you've talked about, does it override that personal responsibility?"

Evan rubbed his fingers across his lips as he thought about what Kelly had said. It wasn't something he'd expected. She was normally so quiet. She took things in and asked questions, but she'd never come out with anything like this before. "No, you are always responsible for your own actions. Peer pressure though can make you forget you have a choice."

"Why did the alarm go off?" Jenny asked, moving them away from what made her uncomfortable.

"Star Stuff," Evan responded. "Different stars emit different things. Think of it like a signature or a fingerprint. Just like oxygen is everywhere in this room. Star Stuff is everywhere near the star. Eos was sat inside it."

"Like she was having a bath in it," said Jenny simply.

"Exactly. And when Eos returned, it gave off the radiation from the other star. The sensors were setup for Sol radiation not 61 Cygni and set off the alarms. We were in so much of a rush to go, we didn't think about that."

"Was it dangerous?" asked Kelly.

"Not this time. Since Eos was no longer bathed in 61 Cygni winds, the unexpected items gradually dissipated. The contamination condition ended and the building unlocked. We have documented steps to follow depending on the issue."

Evan got a large folder from the side and put it in front of the two children.

"But this is paper," gasped Kelly in horror. "I thought this would have been on your computer systems?"

"There are many emergencies. What if the power was off? What if someone had hacked our computers and we couldn't get to the emergency procedures? Having a copy of paper as well as online is the safest solution. In an emergency you don't want to be fumbling for something; you want it straight away. We have paper copies at the control room, in the ship, and here. We have them on our systems and our tablets."

Kelly had been flicking through the folder. "There are so many procedures in here."

"Going into space is science and engineering. Going into space safely takes much more."

Escaping the Cradle

by Karen Page

Part 34

---

Part 34
DATE:FC+132

The date was set. The action agreed. Politics was sometimes a bitch, but so was life.

"You're going home," the three prisoners had been told.

"Home? Basingstoke?" They'd still protested their innocence and hadn't budged on their cover story.

When the house they were staying at had been stormed, they'd maintained that they were chemical technicians working for a paint's startup. When they were taken outside to be taken away, they saw the chemical warfare teams and knew that someone had blabbed. They'd maintained their cover during questioning but knew that their task had been uncovered.

"Hardly. I don't know the details, only that special transport is being laid on."

The three prisoners were bundled into a dark tinted car and driven away. Their destination was RAF Northolt. There they saw a transport plane being loaded with coffins. Each draped with the American flag. Each coffin was being removed from a hearse and placed into the plane with dignity and care.

If they hadn't known by then that things had gone wrong, it was plainly obvious then. It was also obvious that the British knew where they'd come from. This was going to be difficult when they got home. Being caught was bad enough. Getting caught on an ally's territory was unforgivable.

They didn't have the same dignity. They were loaded onto the plane in irons. They were seated separately and chained to their chair. They weren't going anywhere. Not that they'd have had anywhere to go once the plane was airborne.

The flight was uneventful, uncomfortable and boring. They were provided food and drink, and access to facilities, but everything was escorted, observed and logged. No privacy. No chance to escape. No chance to make the ultimate sacrifice to save further embarrassment.

The American Ambassador was summoned to King Charles Street, to the UK Foreign Office. On his arrival he was ushered up the regal stairs to one of the formal offices. He'd not been there long when the Foreign Secretary himself appeared with a small entourage. None of them looked friendly and there was an air of tension.

Formally, and rather stiffly, the Foreign Secretary said, "His Majesty's government views, with the gravest concern, the actions of an ally placing agents on United Kingdom soil. Arranging murder of two of His Majesty's officials and kidnapping His Majesty's subjects."

The US Ambassador looked stunned but didn't say anything.

"A repatriation flight recently took off, heading to your country. This contains coffins of eight of your agents and three that we had in custody."

A young woman passed a document to the US Ambassador. He took it but didn't glance at the names.

"That contains a list of the people on the flight, their names, ranks and social security numbers. The dead are being transported back in formal coffins draped in your flag. If you want the relatives to attend a repatriation ceremony, they won't see anything amiss."

The US Ambassador wondered what had been happening but said neutrally. "I will relay your message to my government."

"Your President and our Prime Minister are due to meet later at the United Nations. I hope she doesn't have to raise this personally."

The Ambassador left after that. This wasn't like his normal relationship with the UK Government. Within ten minutes of his arrival, he'd been dressed down and sent on his way. In his hands he had the formal aide-mémoire. The underlying controlled anger in that meeting was not like any meeting he'd had in this country. Whatever his government had done had really upset them.

Yet they appeared to be keeping it quiet. He looked at the UK news sites, and there was no mention about him being summoned, or an official protest. They were keeping up appearances. That was worthy of mention too.

The Foreign Secretary turned to his assistant and sighed. "One down, one to go. Call the French Ambassador."

* * *

Georgina Harries sighed as she arrived at the UN Building. The plane journey through the night, the awkward journey from Teterboro Airport where her motorcade blocked normal traffic causing delays for New Yorkers trying to get to work. It all seemed so wasteful. When she had visited the alien council she would have been there and back.

World leaders didn't go through the front door. Arrivals, like any other movement at the UN, were carefully choreographed. There was never a queue of leaders. They had their arrival slots and drew up at the VIP entrance. UN Protocol and Liaison services would then guide them to their meeting room.

On her first visit to the UN, she realized that reports of a world leader just happening to meet another leader in the corridor must have been totally fake. Nobody moved within that building unless Protocol had cleared it and confirmed it didn't conflict with anybody else. When you were in a corridor, there was zero chance another leader would be in that corridor at the same time.

The Prime Minister and her entourage were escorted to their base meeting room. For her stay here, this would be their base. Meetings were arranged and Protocol had arranged their movements to larger rooms. Discussions on pre-arranged topics would then take place. Events like this were carefully planned. Nothing happened on a whim. Well, not normally.

After the UK Ambassador to the UN politely greeted the Prime Minister, she said impishly, "No aliens this time?"

"They're on the agenda, but hopefully no visit this time," confirmed the Prime Minister as several in the room looked up in alarm.

"Rupert," the Prime Minister called. "You've visited the alien station with me a few times now. What scared you the most?"

Rupert was surprised to be called upon like this. "Being in space," he responded. "Weightlessness just added to that fear. Being at the alien space station was fine. It had gravity. I didn't actually realize we weren't on a planet until I saw we were over a large gas giant."

"Not seeing the aliens?" one of the ambassador aides asked.

"Surprisingly, no. I'm sure we look very strange to them, but they didn't flinch when we arrived at the Rohastin Council. Perhaps it was the setting that made it easier. It was just like going to any foreign state event. That similarity to what happens here made it seem less alien."

The Prime Minister smiled. Rupert had done more to calm people down than she would have been able to do. She was expected to be fearless. With Rupert, there wasn't that reputation.

"Okay, let's get to work. Has there been any change in the UN plans?"

"No. A large group to try to come to some consensus. Countries don't want to give up sovereignty."

"This is why this seems such an impossible task," agreed the Prime Minister. "Yet the offer is so tempting. There are also items that aren't country related. Defence of the planet. Exploration. Mining. These things didn't exist before. Even if we don't join the Rohastin Council, we can't continue as we are for long."

There was a knock on the door. It was the escort to take the Prime Minister and their UN Ambassador to the hall. It was a closed session, the only ones there were five UN officials, 193 leaders with their ambassador and a bank of interpreters. They sat in the chairs facing the front, but the usual podium on the raised platform wasn't being used. This was a more intimate affair, and those speaking would do so from their seat.

As they moved towards their seats, Georgina caught sight of Ramon de la Cruz, the UN officer in charge of alien knowledge. She angled towards him, but a Protocol aide stepped neatly into her path. There was to be no deviation from the plan.

Instead, she lifted a hand and beckoned. To her surprise, Ramon hesitated only a moment before crossing the aisle.

"Prime Minister?" he asked, as the Protocol representative tutted audibly and tried to steer her forward.

"I have something for you." She slipped a small USB drive from her pocket. "I believe this contains not just the primer, but an intermediate-level copy of Hytuna."

Ramon's eyes widened. "Grabe! My goodness. Really? How—"

He never got the chance to finish. Her escort's voice cut in, formal and insistent. "Prime Minister, I must insist you take your seat. You are holding up proceedings."

A small gathering like this was unique. This wasn't like the General Assembly which was about speeches. This was a global discussion. The first of this scale and intimacy. Even the most powerful nations were equal in their representation. Those with observer status, such as the EU, were in rooms close by; only permitted to watch via internal television feeds. It was a closed meeting to stop grandstanding.

"This gathering is unprecedented," said the Secretary General. "But then, so is the situation before us. Since the dawn of humanity, we have lived on Earth wondering if there was anything beyond. Since the beginning of the year, we have known the answer."

He paused, allowing the interpreters to catch up, the words rippling into six languages across the hall.

"We then learned of Aurora. And with that knowledge, we must admit that some of our treaties on space now look antiquated. They were written in another century, when only governments reached beyond the atmosphere.

"But today, the challenge is large. We have always protected our nations and resources against one another. Now we must protect the planet. Not from each other, but from forces outside our world.

"This responsibility cannot rest with a single country. It must be shared by all humanity."

He pointed to the screen.

"This encounter was caught by a space‑tracking camera."

Aurora shimmered into view over Australia. A ship appeared, nudging her orbit with impossible precision. A second vessel followed seconds later. Most in the chamber had heard the tale; very few had seen the footage. They leaned forward, breath held, waiting. The third ship arrived — and in the same instant was seized, held fast, and then all three vanished together.

"That last ship belonged to a race called the Yvestigans," the Secretary‑General said. His voice was measured, but the chamber stirred. "They are openly hostile to humanity. They objected to Earth's invitation and have twice attempted assassinating people currently in this room. Because of their actions, they were expelled from the Rohastin Council. The first two ships you saw were sent to protect us, as prospective candidates. But we cannot rely on their guardianship forever."

He let the words settle, then continued. "Since our last Rohastin Council visit, each of you has received a briefing pack. Based on those discussions, we must now decide: do we join? And if so, how do we meet the requirement of a single representation of humanity?"

The chamber erupted. Three delegates rose at once, each in a different language, voices colliding. The interpreters faltered, their words tangling into static.

A harsh burst of white noise filled the earpieces, snapping the hall into silence.

"Decorum, please," the Secretary‑General said firmly. "I know you are used to debate in your own parliaments. But here, we do not share a single tongue. If you all speak at once, there can be no translation."

From the benches, Georgina caught the Irish Taoiseach's mutter, his microphone off, "Perhaps we should do this in Hytuna."

A ripple of chuckles spread among those close enough to hear.

As the morning progressed, the world leaders fell into a rhythm, pausing after each phrase to let interpreters catch up. It became clear that the first question was inseparable from the second. What form a world government would take. It had taken two hours to get to that.

"Mother Russia will not be subservient," declared the Russian President. "We will not have Western countries telling us what to do. The proposed structure seems to give that. I propose that Russia has a veto on all rules passed down."

The Libyan leader leaned forward, speaking with deliberate calm. "Your representative agreed on equal representation. We all did."

"Yes, but we have bigger landmass," the Russian responded. And then with a slight glint in his eye continued, "But we are not unreasonable. If the World Government is headquartered in Moscow, perhaps we would be less concerned."

A ripple of murmurs spread through the hall. The Russian's had made the first move, but the day was young.

"That is a very generous offer and will be added to the growing list. It might be more productive if we leave that type of discussion until we examine the structure that government might take."

"I have a query regarding the commitments," said the Indian Prime Minister. "The clause on rescue and medical aid if something happens in our space. This is like the Outer Space Treaty and its extension, the Rescue Agreement. However, our doctors aren't familiar with their biology, and they won't be familiar with ours. Is there some mechanism for expanding our xenobiology?"

"There are a few areas to cover on this area," agreed Ramon de la Cruz. "All outstanding points will be covered before any agreement with the Rohastin Council can be reached."

"I have listened to this discussion, and I have a suggestion," said the President of the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire. He was a quiet and unassuming man in his fifties, with a tired look. This was the first time he'd ever left his country. "For a long time, our country suffered from despots and leaders hanging on to power. Democracy didn't exist. We had people who thought they knew best, but all they were interested in was staying in power."

The room was quiet, and he stood gazing across the room with wonder. "This is such a huge decision, I don't think we can or should bear that responsibility. A decision of this magnitude must be decided by the people. I've seen referendum cause issues where the vote is dissected and some say, my area didn't vote for that. Of a vote this large, and of such magnitude, we must resist that. I suggest a single worldwide count. Join: yes or no."

Still, he didn't sit. He waited for the translation to be completed and then finished with his final slice of wisdom. "The UN has never administered a vote like this. Nobody has. I know it will take time to organize. But that would give us time, and a deadline, to decide on what format a world government and its institutions would have. Without a deadline, I fear we will never reach a decision."

This was different from what had been considered. A new idea which caught some leader's imagination.

Georgina heard the Russian President bellow. "Vtoraya Perestroika."

The Secretary-General called order. "Why don't we stop for lunch. That is a lot to think about."

Lunch might have been a time for mingling with other leaders. A time to broker a deal. But not at the UN. Just like when they came into the hall, they were escorted out by the protocol team back to their individual room.

"Well, that was unexpected," said Craig to the Prime Minister as she entered the small meeting room. Her team had been watching the proceedings on the televisions in the room.

"A total abdication of responsibility," said the Prime Minister. "But it might be the only solution that will pass. Kick the question down the road and make others decide."

"True democracy though," Craig added.

The Prime Minister could only nod before Protocol arrived to take her to her lunchtime meeting with the US President. Rupert followed behind.

They were the first to arrive at one of the discreet dining-rooms where the UN would facilitate a working lunch. The table, covered in a white damask cloth was set for four people. It was just going to be the Prime Minister, Rupert, the US President and whoever was taking notes for him.

They didn't have to wait long before the tall and imposing figure of the US President strolled into the room. Georgina greeted him, and they all sat down. Catering weren't long and when it was just the four of them, they settled down to talk and perhaps manage to get some food.

"State got your message," said the President, opening the conversation.

"I get the team trying to get information. I don't get your death squad."

"Aurora is making some people very nervous." He put his hand up to the two making notes. John, his deputy chief of staff, instantly complied. When Georgina gave a small nod to Rupert, he put his pen down too. "They weren't sanctioned."

That was franker than the Prime Minister had expected, and she took a small bite of her cod while she considered.

"It's such a shame you're being so stubborn about letting them land in your country. Your NASA people had to go abroad for Eos to transport them into space. They also managed to provide medication to your scientist when ill on the space station."

"I don't appreciate your tone," the President said coldly, glaring at the Prime Minister. He meant to point with his finger, but found his knife was in his hand, so pointed with that. "That technology is dangerous. It could be used to blow up my office. You really need to rein them in. Make them part of your military or something. I thought your country would be better with you in control, but you're just as sloppy as your predecessor."

John looked uncomfortable, and murmured something to his boss, but he just continued to glare at Georgina.

She put down her cutlery and gave an exasperated sigh. "I was hoping we'd be able to sort out our differences. We are talking leader to leader. Yes, your country is bigger and more powerful than mine, but we aren't in the West Wing. You are also no longer the most powerful country in the world, so stop trying to act like it."

She continued in a more measured tone. "Remember, it isn't just Star Bright with that technology. Aliens have it too. I've had holograms of them appear in my office. If I remember right, you didn't meet with them when they came to the UN. You sent your National Security Advisor." She looked him directly in the eye. "Were you too scared?"

John and Rupert glanced at each other. Neither of them jotted down that accusation.

"Frankly, yes," the President replied honestly, surprising everyone including himself. "I've got to admit, you've got balls."

Rupert winced and tried to cover it up by having some food before it got cold.

"Had balls," she said, without a care. If he'd meant it as a reference to previous state, she'd long got past that. "And the aliens I've met are highly intelligent and very friendly. Ooh, is that one over there?"

The President looked around, and then scowled, when he realised that she'd played him. "So, what are you going to do about this Star Bright?"

She smiled. "Nothing. So much for America being the land of the free. They are a private company, and I'll let them continue that way. We are keeping an eye on them to make sure they abide by the law, even when it seems a bit outdated. They understand the security risks of the technology, which is why they've not published more information."

With an icy cold tone, she said. "But your team getting Earth Fist to kidnap two small girls is not acceptable. It sounds more like they want the secrets rather than trying to destroy it. My General is locked up for doing that. Are you going to do the same?"

Rupert had seen the Prime Minister in many meetings over the years, but this was the first one he'd seen her totally disrespecting the person sat opposite her. He'd seen her upset. He'd seen her angry. This was worse. Yet she'd never shouted or raised her voice.

"It's totally upset our business too," he complained, ignoring her jibe. "The rocket businesses look like they might fail. Probably our airplane companies too."

"They don't have to. They just need to adapt, but your protectionism isn't helping them. Your largest aircraft manufacturer has been struggling for years. Crashes and doors falling off don't help them."

"They create a lot of jobs. The economy is having a hard time as it is. I can't lose those types of tax revenues. And if unemployment goes up too much, I might lose the midterms."

"Star Bright are scientists, not ship builders. But while you still have an airplane manufacturer, why don't they build a ship and get Star Bright to provide the engine. It's no different from them buying airplane engines. I'm surprised Airbus haven't come knocking yet."

John was scribbling away at that, nodding as if he was thinking of the opportunity.

She continued, "You would have had the first satellite launched by them too, but your FAA has been pig-headed. I know they put pressure on the CAA to not allow the UK launch."

He shrugged, unrepentant. "It gives chance for the rocket companies to bring in some capital. My job is to serve America, not make life easier for you."

"Give me a minute to think," she said. It was politer than saying she wanted to actually eat a bit more. She'd noticed that Rupert hadn't had chance to eat much and it would help him too.

When she'd cleared her plate, she glanced across at the President. "I understand your economy was basically destroyed ten years ago and the leader after that didn't help much to fix it. Let's see if we can work together instead of working against each other." She smirked. "Let's do a deal."

He winced at the phrase. "What do you have in mind?"

"Stop your agencies from using my country as a playground. I will ask Star Bright about providing engines if your companies build ships. You lost too many good scientists over the last decade. I'm sure they will love having new frontiers."

"I'm not sure about this world government idea," he said plaintively. "I'm not sure if I'll be able to sell it."

"Which bit?" she enquired.

"The military coming under world government control. What happens if Russia invades."

"Do you need military on the chance that Florida might invade Georgia?"

"Of course not," he responded indignantly. John looked across, trying to understand. He was from Florida, so wondered if the Prime Minister had chosen those states deliberately.

"It will be no different between Russia and America. Just two countries under a world government. I'd be more worried about the Yvestigans than the Russians. They've tried to kill me twice already."

"And you're wanting to bargain with these aliens?" he asked incredulously.

"They're not all bad. In fact, it might just be the leadership of the Yvestigans and not even the population. The other alien races I've met have been great. One bad apple doesn't mean the tree is diseased."

The President leaned back, his knife finally set down, his voice quieter now. "Why are you so passionate about this?"

Georgina didn't answer straight away. She let the silence stretch, a faint smile tugging at her mouth as she folded her napkin, eyes never leaving his.

Across the table, Rupert's pen hovered, unsure whether to write. John glanced between them, waiting.

And then the President's expression shifted, realisation dawning. His voice dropped, almost grudgingly. "Peace," he said. "That's been your life, hasn't it? World peace."

Escaping the Cradle

by Karen Page

Part 35

---

Part 35
DATE:FC+135

"Remember, we're off to Milton Keynes today," Becky said to her daughter.

"Are you taking Eos?" Jenny asked.

"No. Not after what happened two weeks ago," Ashleigh said.

Jenny giggled, remembering the news reports about the chaos at Cranfield Airport. That had been two weeks ago, and it seems spotters were still camped on the airport perimeter, just in case.

"We're dropping you off at Willow cottage, so grab your bag."

Willow cottage was the home of Kelly, her best friend. When Kelly's parents had heard that Becky had to be in Milton Keynes, they offered to take Jenny to school with Kelly. It wasn't the first time, but it hadn't happened for a while.

When they pulled up, Kelly opened the front door as Jenny bailed out, saying bye as she rushed to see her friend.

"They saw each other yesterday, but it's like they'd not seen each other for weeks," Becky laughed.

The early morning drive was fun. It was just the two of them driving the few hours to Milton Keynes. Once they'd skirted Gloucester and climbed Crickley Hill, the countryside opened ahead of them.

As they went past Chipping Norton, an announcement on the news caught their attention. "Breaking news out of the United Nations. The world leaders have finished their extended summit. In the last few minutes, they have announced an unprecedented worldwide referendum to be held on the anniversary of First Contact. A single question: Should the human race join the Rohastin Council. More details when we have them."

"A referendum all across the world?" squeaked Ashleigh, surprised. "How are they going to arrange that?!"

"I doubt even they know at this stage. That's a major undertaking. And how have they got all these countries to agree? Countries like China and North Korea aren't exactly known for giving their population votes for national elections."

From then on, the rest of the news became secondary. This was the only thing that was being discussed. Experts joined, discussing what format a referendum might be. They debated different age limits across the world, and the treaty obligations. This had been agreed in principle, but countries would need to pass the treaty through their government mechanism.

Then came the phone-in. It started just as they got to the edge of Milton Keynes. When someone suggested that the government were selling us out to the aliens, Becky got agitated.

"But they're not," she said to Ashleigh.

Ashleigh nodded and gently stroked her hand over Becky's. "I know. People are just afraid. They don't have the facts of what it means. Hopefully this will become clear. The world government idea also needs fleshing out. We have no idea what that means either."

"I can't see countries giving up their sovereignty. I wonder what the deal is."

"It was only scheduled for two days, and it overran. The world leaders didn't go home when scheduled. They stayed and continued discussions. It must have been a priority."

Milton Keynes was one of the few British cities designed with the car in mind. Most towns and cities grew organically. Milton Keynes had been designed. Even down to the angle of Midsummer Boulevard, the road that ran through the centre. It was perfectly aligned with the path of the sun on the summer solstice. They parked up in a small carpark between the centre and the railway station. They were early, so sauntered along in the sunshine.

The renovated station square had a rotating selection of art. Currently on show was one of Milton Keynes more infamous artworks. The concrete cows. Ashleigh stared in amazement at them. She'd heard of them but had never seen them.

"Why would someone make concrete sculptures of cows?" asked Ashleigh as they stopped to look.

"I've no idea," said Becky. "Apparently they used to sit in a field, just like normal cows."

"I suppose it's no worse from where we grew up. In Gloucester there are tales of mice creating waistcoats."

Becky laughed. "Of course. It must have been mice for the stitches to be that small!"

When they got to the clinic, they were relaxed and happy. This caught the receptionist by surprise. A lot attending were nervous about the process, or what might be asked.

In the waiting room they saw the young woman they saw on the previous visit. Ashleigh nudged Becky and they made their way to sit by her.

"Mary, wasn't it?" said Ashleigh as they sat down next to the pensive woman.

"I remember you," Mary responded to Ashleigh. "You were both here a few weeks ago."

"That's us," said Becky with an easy smile. "Have you seen one of the ships yet?"

"Yes," beamed Mary, forgetting her worries. "After my appointment two weeks ago, I went to Cranfield. What a crowd. Anyway, I'd not been there long when it appeared. It just blinked into existence. One second it wasn't there and then it was."

"That's great," said Ashleigh, sharing an impish grin with Becky. "You sound so happy."

"Oh, I am. I'm a dentist. If the world is going to expand to the stars, they will still need dentists on new planets."

"You want to go to Mars?" Becky said, all serious.

"They won't go to Mars. It would need lots of work for humans to live there. With Aurora and Eos, they can find hospitable planets around other stars. Much easier."

"Becky Head," called a doctor by the entrance into the consultation area.

"Good luck," Ashleigh called as Becky went towards the door.

"She passes so well," Mary said wistfully, and then blushed when she realised what she'd said. "So, what do you do?"

"She does pass well," agreed Ashleigh. "I'm a purchase administrator. Nothing glamorous like you."

She laughed. "There's nothing glamorous about being a dentist. Children like to try and bite your fingers."

"Mary Roberts," called the psychiatrist.

"It was good seeing you again," said Mary giving a small wave to Ashleigh, and followed the psychiatrist for her appointment.

Ashleigh didn't have long to wait until she was being ushered through for her appointment. She was in the same room as last time, and seeing the same psychiatrist, Tracy Dine.

"How have you been?" asked Tracy when they were both settled.

"Great. We had a little bit of excitement, but things appear to have settled down."

"How have things improved? Last time we talked, you were recovering from your stepdaughter being kidnapped."

"There were a few exciting episodes at work which kept me busy. A few heart stopping moments. But we've been told that the threat to Jenny has been removed. That in itself has made us all more relaxed."

"You make it seem like there's little difference between your work and private life. Would you say that's true?"

Ashleigh paused and thought how to explain. "In some ways. Think of it as a startup. Very few people, but you spend hours with them. Work sometimes goes into the evening. My colleagues are almost like family. I've only worked there a year. Becky and Jenny are even closer to them."

"How many are in this close team?"

"Four of them, plus me. I suppose since January there have been three others that are like that."

"And what do you do?"

"I order parts," Ashleigh said simply.

"Besides that. Someone ordering parts is important but doesn't get them in the middle of a group like that. What do you do?"

Ashleigh looked down, struggling to find the words. She debated internally about what to say. Every time she thought of something, it sounded crass. She couldn't look Tracy in the eyes when she eventually said, "I keep them alive."

If Ashleigh had taken a peek at Tracy, she would have seen a slight raising of an eyebrow, but nothing more.

"That's not a usual job. Can you tell me more about what you mean?" Tracy ask gently, surprising Ashleigh that her statement hadn't been laughed at.

"They're scientists and engineers. They're liable to overwork if they get excited or frustrated. Part of my job is to try to stop that occurring."

"That sounds a lot of responsibility. How has that been for you?"

"None of them have died. I had one occurrence where two of them got together to discuss an issue over the weekend. I found them delirious and barely conscious on Monday. It was mostly lack of sleep that caused issues. They'd had some fluid, or it would have been a lot worse."

Tracy paused; Ashleigh's admission hung in the air. "How did you feel when you saw them like that?"

"Frightened ... I failed. They could have died, and it would have been my fault."

"I want to make sure I understand this," Tracy said. "I'd like to take this step by step. There was an issue?"

"Yes. We tried to run a test on the Saturday, and it failed. We had a discussion late into the evening, but no conclusion. I left them discussing it, and when I popped round on Sunday the place was empty. I found them on Monday morning."

"On the Sunday, you said the office was empty. Where were they?"

"At one of their houses. It seems the two scientists continued the discussion and at some stage ended up back at the office."

There was no waiting this time. "Do you control their lives outside of work?"

"No," Ashleigh responded instantly and gave a small sigh. "No, but I thought I'd taught them better. Changed their ways from all-nighters."

Tracy waited, looking at Ashleigh who'd now stopped trying to burn a hole in the floor with her eyes. "What happened since our last session that has you doubting yourself?"

"They did it again last week. Got excited, egged each other on, and before anyone could stop them, they were prepping Eos for a jump outside the Solar System. Two of them even wrote goodbye letters."

She stopped, realised what she'd said, and backpedalled. "I ... I shouldn't have said that. Please, forget I said that."

Tracy's expression stayed calm. "I don't need the details. What I hear is that people you care about took a risk, and you weren't there to stop them. How did that feel for you?"

Ashleigh let out a breath. "Helpless. Angry. But also conflicted. Because they came back safe. And afterwards, Evan sat Jenny and her friend down and turned it into a lesson. He admitted they'd been swept up in excitement, that peer pressure made them act silly. He even called it a cautionary tale. Part of me was relieved they recognised it.

Tracy didn't say anything. She wanted a bit more from Ashleigh if she'd give it. She did. "What if next time I'm not there, and it isn't just residual star stuff that sets off the alarms?"

When Tracy was sure that Ashleigh had finished, she said, "You can't be there all the time. It sounds like there are processes in place. Even in the craziness, they still followed those protocols. From what you've said, they know they messed up."

"But—" Ashleigh tailed off and the room fell silent.

"Did you do this in your previous job? Before you joined where you are?"

"Sort of. I purchased parts for a science team. I found someone who got ill because of overwork."

"And what happened to them?"

"I got them the help they needed, and it then became part of my job. Last year, I was approached to join where I now work. I didn't realise until I'd joined, that looking after the scientist's welfare was one of the reasons they recruited me. Hilda used to look out for them before that."

Dr Dine shifted and prepared to bring this back full circle to the beginning of today's session. She knew the answer, but Ashleigh needed to admit it to herself. "Why is it impacting you more in this company than your previous?"

Ashleigh thought, and after a few seconds she looked stricken. She almost whispered, "Because they're family." Her eyes widened with alarm. "Does that mean I can't do the job?"

Tracy leaned forward slightly, her voice calm but firm. "No, it means you care. Caring doesn't disqualify you. It's often what makes people effective in roles where others safety is at stake. Surgeons, teachers, firefighters; they all feel the weight of responsibility because they care about the people in front of them. The challenge isn't whether you care, it's how you manage that care so it doesn't consume you."

Ashleigh blinked, absorbing that.

Tracy let the silence stretch for a moment before adding, "What I hear is that you're afraid your closeness will cloud your judgement. But from what you've told me, you've already stepped in when others couldn't, and you've enforced boundaries when they wouldn't. That doesn't sound like someone who can't do the job. It sounds like someone who takes it seriously."

When Ashleigh finally stepped out into the corridor, the air felt cooler, lighter, though her chest still carried the weight of what she'd admitted. She wasn't sure if she felt relieved or exposed. Maybe both.

When Ashleigh got to the waiting room, she was surprised that Becky wasn't there. She checked her watch and saw that her session had overrun. Becky's must have been even longer. She didn't have to wait long before Becky stumbled through the door. She looked shaken, but her eyes told a different story. She looked like she'd won the lottery.

"Becky, are you okay?" Ashleigh said, rushing up to her girlfriend.

"They've referred me for surgery," Becky managed, her smile radiant.

Ashleigh squealed with happiness and hugged her. Those in the waiting room looked on, trying not to smile. They understood the significance, and it gave them hope that one day they would be in that position.

"Let's get a coffee," suggested Becky as they reached the fresh air. "I think we're both too excited to drive."

Ashleigh giggled. "I think you're right. You've been approved after two GIC visits? I thought it would take longer."

"I've been full-time for years. That counts. They saw no other issues that might hold me up. And there were notes from Hilda in the system. I didn't know."

Over coffee, they began to settle down. Neither had any idea how long the queue was for surgery.

Becky's phone pinged with a notification. It was the NHS app. She opened it and saw a new letter. The digital NHS certainly seemed to flow quicker than the old paper system.

"If you had any choice of UK surgeon, who would it be?" Ashleigh asked.

"Barbara Smith," responded Becky without hesitation. "She is the premier gender reassignment surgeon in the UK. I heard she was trained by Tom Millard."

Ashleigh didn't recognise either name, but Becky clearly had done her research. How did she know the lineage of surgeons? Ashleigh thought about asking Tina next time they talked. She'd had that surgery and might know the best.

As they made their way back to the car, Ashleigh's phone rang. She glanced at the caller and came to a halt.

"This is Ashleigh," she answered. She listened to the request before agreeing.

"Who was that?" asked Becky as they started walking again.

"It was Rupert from the Prime Minister's office. He was wanting to see if Eos was available a week on Saturday. They have some final negotiations with the Rohastin Council."

"Do you want to go too?" asked Becky.

"Could we?" Ashleigh asked, incredulously.

"It's our ship and it's a Saturday. Me, you and Jenny."

Escaping the Cradle

by Karen Page

Part 36

---

Part 36
DATE:FC+143

"Are we going somewhere today?" Jenny asked her ma when she saw her best dress being hung up on the door.

"Yes. It has been one of the hardest secrets I've ever kept. And that's saying something. Now quickly get dressed. Mum will be here soon, and I need to get ready."

When Becky finished getting ready, Ashleigh was waiting in the lounge. They grinned at each other but didn't kiss. They were both smartly dressed and didn't want to ruin their makeup.

"Are you two getting married today?" asked Jenny when she came down the stairs. Seeing her ma in a dress was something unusual. Seeing her in a smart dress was almost unprecedented.

"No, but we are going somewhere with other people who will be dressed smartly. We don't want to seem the odd ones out. We might meet some very important people today. If we do, you need to be on your best behaviour."

Jenny wanted to say 'duh!' but didn't. She just nodded and agreed.

The car journey wasn't long. When they turned off the A38 towards the factory, Jenny sat up and asked, "Are we going to the factory? Are we going somewhere in Eos?"

"Yes, and yes," replied Becky. "Now remember. Be on your best behaviour."

The security guard was dressed the same as usual, and when they went into the building, Liam, Evan, and Henry were too. Beside them was one of their new recruits looking a bit nervous.

"Looking smart," remarked Liam.

"Are you three going to be okay covering operations on your own?"

"It's good for Paul to get some experience," added Evan. "James and Sam are downstairs ready."

"Thanks," smiled Becky.

Jenny had gone over to look at the wall. She hadn't been to the factory in a while.

"What are you doing?" asked Ashleigh.

"You can't see the bullet holes at all," said Jenny, before following her Ma to go into the basement.

"Bullet holes?" asked Paul in fear.

"Something that happened a while ago. Nothing to be scared of," said Henry. "We'll tell you about it when they're underway."

"That wasn't helpful," said Ashleigh. "You don't want to scare them all away."

"I wasn't trying to scare him," Jenny pouted. "I was just saying."

The ship was unlocked, and when they boarded, they saw James and Sam sat at the front of the ship.

Sam greeted them. "Have a seat, we'll be going in a few minutes."

"Where are we going?" Jenny asked.

"That is something your Ma has been keeping secret from you," Sam said. "And I'm not going to be the one to tell you. You will discover it on your own. What I will say is where we going isn't a playground. You must stay with one of us at all times. Be that your Ma, Mum, James or me."

Jenny swallowed. Sam had never been that firm before, and it reminded her of the time she'd disobeyed her Ma and run to see the aliens. Mum had been firm with her, and she knew the consequences.

James swivelled round in his seat. "Your parents are taking a big risk bringing you along today."

"I'll behave," said Jenny, sitting down, and putting her hands in her lap.

"Good. Your parents think you will too, otherwise you wouldn't be with them."

Becky closed the ship door and took her seat. "Ready."

"We've got a few minutes before departure," said James.

"We've got a set time to pick up some passengers," Becky explained to her daughter.

"Are we going to the alien space station?" Jenny asked.

"Yes," acknowledged Becky. "One thing to remember, they have some strange ideas that I'm someone they prophesised about. I'm a bit nervous that they will make a fuss about it."

"I'll stay with you or mum. I don't want to get lost there."

"There will be security checking the ship before the other passengers get on. So, stay seated so it makes it easier."

"Oh, like Miss Taylor's bodyguards do?" asked Jenny, unperturbed.

"A little, but they don't know us, so there might be a few questions."

Jenny just nodded. She was watching and saw James press the button and the basement disappeared.

"Where are we?" Jenny asked, standing up to look out of the front window.

"Downing Street," Ashleigh responded, nervously and got Jenny to sit down.

Becky opened the door to be met by the police. Two officers swept the cabin with handheld scanners before nodding for the delegation to board. Three protection officers boarded with the passengers, and after Becky had closed the door, they took the row behind Becky, eyes scanning the cabin. They acted as a secure barrier between the delegation and the rest.

"This is so exciting," said Jenny quietly to Ashleigh.

"I know. First time for me too," she responded and held hands as they transitioned to the alien space station.

There was no feeling during the three seconds. It didn't feel like a loss of gravity, just a loss of everything. They didn't float, but they didn't feel grounded either. Before anybody could remark on it, they arrived at the space station. Downing Street, blackness and then the brilliant view of the ambassador ship port all within three seconds.

The only people on the ship that hadn't done that journey before were Becky, Ashleigh, and Jenny. They were frozen for a moment in surprise. They'd all been told about the journey, but it felt different from the planet jumps.

"Thank you for riding Eos," Sam said, opening the ship door. "Wow, that's different."

The protection officers had joined Sam and saw fifty different aliens, gathered by the hanger exit. Separate from them stood three aliens. Sam recognised two of them from their previous visits.

"Vost'am. Quite the crowd," greeted Sam in Hytuna having exited the ship.

"They heard you had three extra passengers. They wanted to see."

Sam went back and said in English to the protection team. "Don't worry, they are here because of Becky. Vost'am will take you to your meeting."

"Perhaps Becky should go first," suggested the Prime Minister. "That might thin the crowd."

"Of course," said Becky getting up. "James, if the Prime Minister is finished before us, can you take her back, and then return for us?"

"No problem," nodded James.

"Good luck," the Prime Minister said, her tone made Becky wonder if she knew more than she let on.

As Becky, Ashleigh and Jenny stepped off the ship, there was a small gasp from the onlookers. Jenny held onto Ashleigh's hand as they made their way forward. The other Alphonian came forward.

"It's an honour," he said in perfect English. "My name is Ro'toran."

"I'm Becky. This is Ashleigh and my daughter Jenny."

"The one in the picture," he said, his eyes widening. The crowd was silent, wanting to hear every word being said.

"Yes. And Ashleigh took the picture," added Becky.

"The Trinity," Ro'toran breathed in reverence. He then called out a word in Hytuna and there were audible gasps from the crowd. The word being repeated between themselves.

Becky glanced at Ashleigh, unsure if the religious term was deliberate or just a coincidence.

"Let me take you to see the doctors," Ro'toran continued back in English.

As they passed the crowd, Becky said in Hytuna. "Thank you."

Ashleigh, who was following behind with Jenny saw the response. It was a religious experience for those in attendance.

"What just happened out there?" one of the UN delegates asked the Prime Minister, baffled, as the crowd dispersed.

"That is the person who came up with the concept of Aurora," responded the Prime Minister. "Vers'am described her as Earth's saviour. Without her, humanity wouldn't have survived due to war or apathy. They see too many species die out. Not able to make it past their issues."

"And you believe this?"

"There is another prophecy regarding me. It doesn't matter what I believe. Others do, which is why the Yvestigans have tried to kill me twice. It looks like we're good to go. Let's meet with the Council and hopefully iron out the last difficulties."

* * *

"Are you okay?" Ashleigh asked Jenny after she'd felt Jenny hold onto her hand a bit tighter.

"I'm worried about Ma. She wants their help but they're making her go through all this fuss. She hates things like this."

"I know. She had an idea it would be like this. We talked about it, but she wants to see if they can help her complete her transition. She didn't want you wondering what was happening, so thought it was good for you to be here too."

"I'm glad she doesn't hide things from me," Jenny agreed.

They stopped at a door, and when Ashleigh had caught up, they went through. They'd expected a medical room, but instead it was a meeting chamber, with five doctors from different races there waiting.

"Nobody expected the Spanish Inquisition," muttered Ashleigh. Becky heard and gave a nervous chuckle.

The Alphonian and Reginadde doctors stepped forward. Ashleigh put a hand on Becky's arm to show she was there. The two doctors talked together in low voices, which nobody could make out, before rejoining their colleagues.

One of the other doctors asked something in Hytuna. Seeing her Ma's blank face, Jenny said quietly, "They're asking how they can help."

She gave her daughter a loving smile. "Thanks. I knew there was another reason to bring you." She then turned to the doctors and said in the Hytuna she'd practiced. "My Hytuna isn't developed. I've written it down."

Becky opened her case and pulled out several pages of paper and handed it across.

"Is that real human paper?" asked Ro'toran in English.

"Yes. Is that an issue?" asked Ashleigh.

He said something in Hytuna, and the doctors were more careful as they poured over it. Jenny laughed. "He warned them to be careful. Paper has sharp edges and can cut. And it is a historic document."

Becky's stomach lurched as she wondered if her medical information would be put on show in some alien museum for the next thousand years.

The middle doctor, someone from a race that Becky hadn't seen before spoke. Ro'toran translated. "This is Shinara the diplomatic doctor from the Frotanians. She is asking why you don't want the human procedure."

Becky bit her lip, trying to find the words to express how she felt. "Can you translate for me?" Becky asked Ro'toran.

"Yes."

"As I described in the document. The human race has two genders. Male and female. I was born with a male body, but a female soul. I take medication to mask the male hormones and other medication to provide female hormones. The next step would be to have surgery to correct my body to outwardly look female in the areas where hormones don't change."

Jenny was listening to the translation and asked something in Hytuna. The Alphonian doctor smiled and answered. She seemed satisfied.

"I am who my soul is. Even if I could change that, I wouldn't want to. Yet I've never had surgery, and it would only give me an approximation. I wouldn't be fully female."

This was translated, and again Jenny asked more in Hytuna. There were a few back-and-forth exchanges before she was satisfied.

"What are you asking?" Ashleigh asked Jenny.

"Some of the translation was beyond my understanding. I was asking for clarification in simpler words. I wanted to make sure it was right. I now understand a bit more Hytuna too."

"I misunderstood a human meaning too," said Ro'toran in English. "For someone so young, your daughter doesn't seem afraid of interacting with professionals. Are all human children like that?"

"No. I think it's because she's grown-up mixing with adults. She's never learnt to fear learning or interaction," responded Ashleigh.

Jenny blushed and looked down in embarrassment.

Shinara asked a question, quickly translated by Ro'toran, "What makes you think we can do a better job than your own doctors. We don't have the same knowledge of your biology."

"There was the virus the Yvestigans used on the Prime Minister."

Ro'toran stood there, shocked and since he hadn't translated, Jenny obliged. There was uproar. The doctors were remonstrating, their voices overlapping, two of them even waved their hands in some type of painful gesture. Becky stood there bemused. Perhaps there was not as much difference between the aliens and humans.

"That was technology used illegally," explained Ro'toran. "To ask them to use it that way is against all they stand for. It could break your mind. They could never risk that with you."

Becky held up her hands. "I'm sorry," she said, remembering the phrase from the initial Hytuna primer. Then when the doctors had calmed down, Becky said in English, "I didn't know. Sorry."

Ro'toran was quick to pass that apology on, and they nodded. The Alphonian said, "What you want would require organ generation or mutation. Even in our advanced state that is the land of fantasy."

The Reginadde added, "But our medicine might be able to do things yours can't. I'm sure humans have techniques we don't. Each time a new race joins, we all get an upgrade to our knowledge and so do they. We can use your entry scans to make comparisons and see if we can come up with a plan."

"Entry scans?" asked Ashleigh.

"Arrivals at the space station are scanned to make sure they aren't carrying anything toxic," Ro'toran explained. He talked briefly with the doctors before saying to Becky. "They suggest you get something to eat while they discuss your issue."

"What about our colleagues on the ship?" said Ashleigh. "Can they join us?"

"They ate a short time ago," he said after a moment. "The delegation is about to break for food too. You should be able to meet them if you desire."

"How did you communicate to know that?" Becky asked Ro'toran as they left the doctors.

"We have a communications implant. It enables us to converse without disturbing others. Where we are going is in the public part of the station. Most will never have seen a human before. I apologise if some seem... " Ro'toran seemed to struggle finding the right word. "...curious."

"Feeding time at the zoo," murmured Ashleigh.

"I don't think he meant it like that," Jenny said. "Sometimes he struggles to know the right words." Jenny then asked doubtfully, "How will we know what anything is?"

"I've no idea," Ashleigh responded. "It's going to be an adventure."

From the corridor, they reached a large set of doors, which opened as they approached. This led them into a large concourse. They walked along, different species going about their business. It was like a mall on Earth, with different vendors. On Earth, glass would separate shoppers from the wares; here it looked open. Yet no sound or scent leaked out; like an invisible barrier existed. There were a few looks from passers-by, but nothing that was too obvious.

"If some were nervous about seeing one or two different species, they'd freak here," said Ashleigh. "I've counted at least a dozen species already."

After a few minutes, they arrived at a large frontage and were shown in. As soon as they walked over the threshold the atmosphere changed. There was the murmur of people talking and enjoying their food, and then there was the smell. It wasn't like anything they'd smelt on Earth. It wasn't spicy, or sweet, but a deep musky scent, and Ashleigh's stomach rumbled in anticipation.

Jenny let go of Ashleigh's hand, and stepped back out of the restaurant and after a moment, stepped back in. She looked up to the ceiling, shrugged, and went back to her Mum.

"The author Arthur C Clarke once wrote, 'Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.' I'm beginning to realise what he meant."

"I wish Kelly could see this," Jenny sighed. "Am I okay to talk about it with her? Not the medical thing, but this."

"Of course. She might be jealous though, so broach it gently."

The room was full of diners. They continued along the edge of the room and through a door set into the far wall. This was another room, but with a spectacular view of the gas giant the space station was circling.

Jenny rushed up to Becky. "Look at that Ma!"

Becky nodded. "It makes us look so small, doesn't it. Are you both okay in here? Ro'toran said we could eat where we came in. Some species aren't happy with the view, but he thought we might be."

"It's spectacular," Ashleigh gushed, looking at the multitude of gasses that were gently swirling in vast bands of colour, like weather painted across a planet-sized canvas.

Ro'toran guided them to a table, and someone rushed to them. Six unfamiliar dishes were set down, each steaming or glowing faintly. Another brought three plates.

"I'll leave you to eat. If you need me, I'll be a few tables away. The cooks don't know what you will like, so have brought a selection. Jenny knows enough Hytuna to let them know what you do and don't like."

As they started to discover what the food tasted like, the Prime Minister came into the room accompanied by Vers'am and the Reginadde from the council. Following them was Rupert and the two security officials. There was no sign of the UN delegation.

Vers'am spotted them, and they came across.

"Hello," he said in English. "Can we join you?"

Becky glanced at Ashleigh, who nodded. "Of course."

The Reginadde said something, and the table expanded to allow more of them to sit. Jenny's mouth opened in surprise.

"Molecular reconstruction?" asked Becky, intrigued.

The Reginadde paused, thinking about her words. "I'm not sure what you mean, but if you are asking how the table changed, I'm not sure. How it works is beyond my understanding. That is a science question."

A tray with extra samples was brought for Georgina and Rupert. The Reginadde got up, and when he came back, a young girl was with him.

In Hytuna he said, "Jenny, I'd like you to meet my granddaughter."

Jenny got up and rushed across. "Hello," Jenny said, thought of food abandoned. She quickly glanced at her parents.

"Don't go far," said Becky.

They didn't. They sat on a table behind the group. They had their privacy to chat but were in view of everyone.

"Thank you," Ashleigh said. "I think you've made her day."

The two aliens looked puzzled, and the Prime Minister added, "A colloquialism. You have made her very happy."

"Where are the rest of the negotiators?" Ashleigh asked.

"They weren't keen on the view, so are eating in the closed off area."

"How are the discussions going?" Becky enquired, as she selected something to try, surprised to have been given human cutlery.

"There is a lot to cover, but we are getting there. What about your, erm ... mission?"

"There is a team of five doctors. They're discussing it. I made a bit of a mistake suggesting what had been done to you. I don't think I've ever offended anybody as much."

The Prime Minister turned to Vers'am. "I think we need a list of what is illegal or banned. We don't want to find something we do that causes issues."

The samples were delicious. She chose one, and a full dish was soon brought. This might have been a public restaurant, but they were being treated as VIPs. The service was fantastic and the food out of this world.

Vers'am nodded. "It is part of the pack, but I'll highlight it for you later."

"Thank you."

Ashleigh felt sorry for Rupert. Even though he was getting some food, he was keeping a note of various things.

"I've some news," the Prime Minister said looking towards Becky and Ashleigh. "I'm told the restrictions on you flying to America should be lifted soon. And Earth-1 should be green lit for transport to the UK for final fitting."

"How?"

Georgina laughed and signalled to Rupert to not make a note. "Being caught red-handed leaves you with a very poor hand in negotiations."

"Thank you," said Becky.

"Just doing what any government should do; help the country to do better. You are giving so much in not just helping the country, but the entire world. If I can help, I will. You have my office number and Rupert knows who you are. Now, how will this satellite help us? I've seen what Jessica told NASA, but I take it there is more than upgrading their exploration satellites?"

"Yes. It should be able to be used as the hub for communication outside of humans. At the moment we are just talking to the beacon here. I'm sure there are other beacons, direct to specific races. It will allow that without routing everything via our lab."

"You've only got simple communication going," said the Reginadde. "Rather like the Hytuna has been drip fed, as has communication. Jenny asked about a Pen Friend. We've never heard of that concept, but it sounds like a good experiment. My granddaughter appears to be getting on well with her, so perhaps we can use that as a trial. If you initiate a communications link tomorrow, we will have a document for you."

Rupert nearly choked on his food, his shoulders shaking as he tried to stifle his laughter.

As the meal progressed, the discussion was less of a working meal, but discussions on different cultures. The Alphonians had no concept of music but valued literature and painting as their main forms of art.

"Thank you," said the Prime Minister when she'd finished. "That was delicious. If all your food is like that, I'll have to move here."

"I'm glad you enjoyed it," said the Vers'am.

"And thank you for all the effort. Providing us with human cutlery. Perhaps next time I'll try one of your utensils. There is an Earth saying. When in Rome, do as the Romans do. It means follow the customs of the place you are."

Becky looked across to Jenny to tell her they were nearly ready to go. She saw them talking away but couldn't hear them. She then realised that there might have been a faint hum of chatter, but nothing loud and nothing distinct. It was like each table had a privacy feature, so you were never disturbed. It was these little things that caught her out. How things were so similar, but also so alien.

Jenny must have noticed as she stood up and waved bye. The young Reginadde said something and Jenny responded. The young Reginadde crossed her hands at her wrists and moved her head to one side. Jenny mimicked it and the Reginadde gave a human wave.

"A nice bit of cultural exchange," Becky said to the two alien council members.

"Children do view the universe differently."

"Perhaps we need some children's books introducing the different alien species," thought Ashleigh. "Biff and Chip meet a Reginadde."

"Not just children's books," said the Prime Minister. "We are already talking about waves of public information. We will need to sell this or Earth First will run away with it."

With the meal over, Ro'toran escorted Becky, Ashleigh, and Jenny back to the medical area. The five diplomatic doctors were waiting.

"This is quite a challenge," said the Alphonian doctor. "Each species are slightly different in the way we tackle a medical issue. Gender conflicts are thankfully one of the rarer issues we see, but it is one of the hardest to treat. You have already altered your outer appearance using chemical methods. You call them hormones. But your main organs are still that of your birth gender."

Becky nodded as it was translated into English.

"We found the information you provided helpful in understanding the limitations of the surgery. It creates the correct appearance, but the internal organs would not exist. You would still need to take chemicals to maintain a healthy disposition due to your body not creating them."

Shinara the Frotanian doctor took over explaining. "I was the doctor that analysed what the Yvestigans had done to your leader. How she was infected was unethical. However, it might be possible to use part of that technique to help you, but in a much more limited manner. That virus impacted the brain. You don't need or want that."

When that was translated, Becky gasped and Ashleigh held her hand in support.

"At the moment you take two chemicals. One to stop your male hormones from working, and one to provide female hormones. Is that correct?"

"Yes."

"The first thing we would like to do is to replace that with a nanite regime. They can control your hormones without damage to your other organs. As was mentioned earlier, we can't create something out of nothing. But we might be able to create something with what is already there. We need to do more research on this. But I'd like to get you chemically stable first anyway. It won't change your soul. You will still be you."

"And nanites are safe on humans?"

"Yes."

Becky looked across at Ashleigh. "What do you think?"

Ashleigh gently stroked Becky's face. "You will be the one with the nanites inside you. You've got to weigh what you want against any danger. I love you no matter. Stay as you are, have surgery or go this route. I'll still be there with you."

Jenny came up and looked up to her Ma's eyes. "I love you ma."

Ro'toran had been quietly translating the interaction, so the doctors understood what was happening.

Becky swallowed, and said, "I agree to the nanites."

"Done," responded Shinara. She stood. "I'd like to accompany you home and stay with you a while. Just to monitor."

"Done?" said Becky. "But they haven't injected me yet."

Ro'toran responded, "It's done remotely. They don't use what humans would call a needle."

Ashleigh looked at Becky. "Are you okay? It doesn't hurt?"

"No. I'm fine. If Ro'toran hadn't explained, I wouldn't have realised."

Ashleigh then turned to the doctor. "You want to accompany Becky to Earth?"

"Yes. I'd like to monitor her a bit."

"Border Force will go ape. Ro'toran, can you contact your colleague and get a message to Rupert or the Prime Minister explaining that one of the doctors would like to come back with us."

Jenny giggled. "I'd love to have seen their faces when they're told."

Escaping the Cradle

by Karen Page

Part 37

---

Part 37
DATE:FC+143

The request to bring the alien doctor back to Earth had been delivered discreetly to the Prime Minister.

Trying to be inconspicuous, she got up and moved to the edge of the room so she could talk with Vost'am in private. Everyone at the table stopped what they were doing and watched.

"Is this something Becky has asked for, or a doctor?" she quietly asked Vost'am.

"The doctors have instigated a medical procedure but are nervous. One of the doctors has asked to accompany her home to monitor her."

"For how long?"

Vost'am frowned. "We have difficulties with human time. A sleep cycle?"

"And she couldn't stay here for that monitoring."

Vost'am looked pained. "It isn't wise. Not the whole Trinity."

Doctor's orders were doctor's orders. Sometimes it was difficult to fathom why things happened the way they did. That wasn't just an alien issue. Even other Earth countries could be hard to fathom.

She noticed everybody was still waiting for her. "Please carry on. I've got a matter to take care of. Rupert, please update me when I'm back. I'll be about fifteen minutes."

There were surprised looks from those sat around the table, and an inquisitive look from the head of the UN team, but they just nodded.

"Vost'am, could you take me to Eos. I need to contact home."

Rupert jumped up and went to her. He said quietly so only she could hear, "Prime Minister, I can relay messages if you need to be here."

"Thank you, but this is an authorisation I need to give in person. That is how the rules are written."

"Certainly," Vost'am said. Since he was the one that had given her the message, it wasn't a surprise to him. If Vers'am or his Reginadde colleague had been informed, she wasn't sure, but they didn't have an issue.

When she got to the ship, James and Sam quickly stood up, surprised it was just her and none of the others.

"Sorry, I need to make a call back to base. I was told I can connect my phone via Wi-Fi, and it will route back to Earth?"

"Yes, Ma'am," Sam responded. After turning on the access port, provided her the connection information.

When she was connected, she rang Lewis. His private secretary answered. "Prime Minister. I didn't realise you were back."

"I'm not. If he's in a meeting, can you interrupt."

A few seconds later, she was put through.

"Prime Minister. I wasn't told you were back," said Lewis.

Georgina was amazed at how the technology was seamlessly working. "I'm not. I'm still on the space station."

"Wow, impressive. I can hear a small lag, but not much. What can I do for you?"

"I need you to initiate a clearance under codename Hound Dog."

Lewis took an audible breath. "Is this for you?"

"No. Rebecca Head will be the host. Mark it for forty-eight hours. Recorded entrance and exit to be Farnborough. Can it be done in fifteen minutes?"

"The protocol is in place, so no problem. Are you returning with them?"

"I wish. I think another few hours before I'm finished."

When she terminated the call, she turned to James and Sam. "Thank you. Very impressive technology."

"We just drive it," said James. "Becky, Liam, Evan and Henry are the ones behind the basic technology. And Jessica for the communications."

"You are more than just driving it. I saw a video of what happened over Australia. You kept your cool under danger. Very impressive. Anyway, Becky will be along soon to go back. One of the alien doctors will be accompanying her. When you get to Farnborough, the guest must stay onboard. When you go to passport control, ask for Elvis. Someone will come to the ship to check the passenger. They mustn't stay more than forty-eight hours and please try to keep them under wraps. Nobody wants the drama that would unfold if the public found we had an alien in the country."

"Understood," said James, not fazed. "Once we drop off Becky we'll come back for you."

Vost'am led Georgina back to the discussions. As they were going, she asked, "You referred to Becky, Ashleigh and Jenny as The Trinity. What do you mean by that?"

"Becky is the Saviour. She is the one that created the ship that enables humanity to spread and give hope. Ashleigh is what we call..." Vost'am paused trying to find the words. "The enabler. As for Jenny, that is sealed. We know there is something, but because she is a child, we aren't allowed to know."

"Prophecies are dangerous," remarked Georgina. "It makes people targets."

* * *

"That's all cleared," Ro'toran announced.

"What's all cleared?" asked Ashleigh, confused.

"Shinara can accompany you back home. The Prime Minister talked to someone and had it cleared."

"Does everyone have this communication implant?" Becky enquired, wondering how they stopped the system getting clogged.

"No. The Council staff have them because our duties are often away from the council itself. A lot don't like them because they worry its invasive."

The doctors finished going over the readings from their last scan. The nanites appeared to be spreading throughout Becky's system as they were designed to do.

"Thank you so much," said Becky, when it became clear that Shinara wanted to get going. "I look forward to seeing you soon. I hope a way can be found. If not, I thank you for trying."

The doctors all beamed with pride. Praise from Becky was high praise.

As they walked down the corridor to the ship, Ashleigh said, "I was thinking about the logistics once we get back to Earth. It's going to be hard getting from the factory back to your house without being noticed."

"And?" prompted Becky, knowing that Ashleigh had a solution already cooked up.

"I was thinking about a farm in rural Wales. If the cottages aren't in use."

Jenny perked up at the thought of seeing Jay.

"I think that's a great idea," Becky agreed. "Do you have their number?"

"Sure. I should be able to call when we get to the ship. Or even when we get to Farnborough. Passport control will take a little time."

At the ship, Sam and James were ready.

"Interstellar GAR form all filled in and submitted," said Sam. "When we get there, our special guest must stay onboard."

"We are thinking about the farm in Wales," said Ashleigh.

"Eos won't fit in that barn," pointed out James.

"They might have another one. If not, we'll drop you off before coming back here."

Sam took out his phone and made the call. "Farnborough this is Star Bright. We are arriving in several seconds. Is the slot clear?"

"It's clear. Safe travels."

Everybody settled in the seats. For Shinara the seats were bearable for the short distance. They weren't designed for anybody but human occupants. The designers had never imagined an alien passenger.

With the door shut, James raised the protective cover and pressed the button. An interdimensional tunnel was formed and the ship transitioned back to Earth.

Shinara said something which wasn't Hytuna. Jenny was sitting near her, asked her about it. The response made her giggle. She was surprised how quickly they'd travelled. She'd heard that the human ships were fast but hadn't realised how fast.

"Shinara, please stay in the ship," Sam said in Hytuna. "We have to go through a process for entering the country."

Their escort was waiting for them, and they sealed the ship behind them. They'd flown in via Farnborough several times, so it was no longer a shock to the workers there. Just a pride that they were the UK gateway to the stars.

At the desk, as their passports were being checked, Sam asked, "Is Elvis here?"

That got a snigger from Ashleigh and Becky. Jenny had no idea who Elvis was, and why her parents were laughing.

"That's for me," said one of the officials. "Someone must have been having fun when they assigned this task. I thought it was just a drill when I was told."

"What's going on?" asked one of the others.

"Need to know," Elvis responded tersely. "Believe me, you don't need to know. Okay, which one of you is Becky?"

"That's me," Becky said, raising her hand slightly.

"Great. Come on then," Elvis continued.

Becky followed him outside, with Sam going with them just in case translation was required.

Elvis continued, "I need to check your passenger. The Prime Minister has authorised this visit for up to forty-eight hours."

"How did you get this special job?"

"A special government minister came to the two places you enter the country. Here and Luton. Colin Hood interviewed all the Border Force officials, and it seems I fitted the bill."

On the mention of Colin's name, Sam laughed. "Well, you're certainly going to make history. You are the official letting the first non-human into the United Kingdom."

"Perhaps, but I'll never be able to tell anyone."

"Have we been able to go out and tell people? When someone got to know who we were, they kidnapped my daughter."

"When you put it like that," Elvis said before tailing off.

Sam opened up Eos, and they climbed aboard. Shinara was standing, the seat being too uncomfortable.

Elvis saw her and swallowed. It didn't take long before he'd regained his composure. Sure, the alien looked nothing like anything from Earth, but it didn't seem like she was going to eat him. In Hytuna he said, "Welcome to Earth."

Shinara moved slightly, and said, "Thank you."

Elvis took out a small document and handed it across. "This document is issued under the authority of His Majesty's Government, granting you temporary leave to remain within the United Kingdom. Should any official request proof of status, you must present this document. Authorisation is valid for up to forty‑eight hours on Earth. Upon departure, this document must be surrendered."

Shinara thanked him and reached out for the document. Elvis didn't flinch. It was written in both English and Hytuna. It was typical bureaucracy found across Council space. But for a planet that hadn't joined, she thought they had made a huge effort with their integration.

James, Ashleigh and Jenny returned. When Elvis had left, Sam shut the door.

Becky laughed, "Elvis has left the building."

Ashleigh groaned and then instructed all of them to turn off their phones. They didn't want to be tracked to their destination.

"So, where are we going?" asked James, taking his seat at the front.

"The car park by the cottages," Ashleigh replied. "I was told it was early in the season, and just my sister there. They will stand in the doorway of the cottages and make sure she doesn't come out."

It took Sam a few seconds to work out the coordinates, and they departed Farnborough for rural Wales.

Being mid-afternoon on almost the longest day of the year, there was plenty of daylight. Unfortunately, it wasn't sunshine. The first thing they saw when they got there was the rain dripping down the front window.

"Windscreen wipers," called Sam and James at the same time before they both burst out laughing. Everybody else chuckled, apart from Shinara who didn't understand English. What an introduction to Earthlings!

There were four cottages, and Paula was stood at one of the doors. Ashleigh, Becky, Jenny and Shinara quickly got out of the rain and into the cottage. Sam closed the door and disappeared back to the Space Station to await the Prime Minister and UN delegation to finish their negotiations.

Emma looked nervous, but stood next to Paula, holding hands. Jay was standing by Emma and put a supporting hand on his adoptive mother's arm.

"Welcome to our farm," said Paula in Hytuna. "I'm Paula, this is Emma and that is our son Jay."

"Thank you for having me," Shinara said. "And I'm impressed with your Hytuna."

Paula blushed.

"The Prime Minister didn't want a panic if an alien was known to be around," said Becky. Jenny translated so Shinara knew what was being said.

"I am just here to observe Becky," Shinara explained.

"Feel free to look around if you desire," Emma said, trying out her Hytuna now she was a bit less scared. "All we have are human food and human beds. I don't know if you will enjoy it."

"It is just one night," Shinara said. "Something new is always an experience, even if you never want to repeat it."

"Hello," came a voice from the back of the room. From their previous visit in January, the visitors knew it was the route to the shared room.

Ashleigh's heart sank when she heard the voice. It was her sister, just not Tina as she'd assumed. It was Caroline. Her older sister that didn't know about Ashleigh's secret job. Ashleigh saw her coming into the room, the three-month-old baby in a carry sling as if there wasn't a care in the world.

Becky watched in horror. Ashleigh moving quickly, hoping to steer her sister back through the rear door before she caught sight of anything. Paula and Emma parting, thinking they were helping. And finally, Caroline getting a good look at Shinara followed by a piercing scream of fright.