The Island Paradise

The old man, whose remaining hair was gray, was content to defend his small kingdom from all nonentities. His islet, with a multitude of others, acted like guardians, encircling and protecting a large lagoon against the gargantuan central Pacific. The soft zephyr came from the Western Pacific, across his small lump of sand that scarcely protruded from the sea. Resting his tanned, six-foot withered body on his cot, Daniel stared up at the palms whose leaves reacted gently to the breeze before passing to the other islets on the far side of the lagoon. Ah, Paradise Enow!

What was that buzzing penetrating his paradise? Whatever it was, it would be unable to enter through the protective shield, which Daniel envisioned, surrounding his islet kingdom. He knew that he was safe. Nothing entered his fantasy unless he allowed it with his mental powers. Daniel willingly allowed the small vessel, which brought food, mail and other supplies, to pass through his protective castle in the sky. It arrived earlier that day bringing its wares. Judith came from their shelter with papers in her hand. The buzzing was louder. Judith was a pleasure to see. Although her once lovely brown curly locks were now beautiful silver ringlets, her tanned complexion was as smooth and attractive as ever. Two beautiful green eyes lit up her charming face.

"Daniel, I have another letter from the president of the publishing house!" Judith said excitedly. "He says your book has been on the New York Times best-seller list for the last five weeks. He is depositing the royalties in our account."

The buzzing increased to a clatter. What could it be? "What book is that?" he responded to Judith.

"The book that you wrote several years ago." Sadly, she knew that he did not remember. "I kept submitting it to publishers for the past few years. I knew they couldn't ignore it forever—it was too good!" She patiently repeated this to Daniel, each day. "Remember, I have been telling you about the emails that I have received from the publishing company and the reviews from the New York Times. You are a famous author!"

"Yeah, right!" Nevertheless, now his fortress was breached. A contraption crashed through his kingdom's screen shattering it like broken glass. The clattering noise changed to a loud thumping. Daniel watched while fragments of the shield fell to the islet and splashed into the lagoon. To Daniel, this was incredible. After smashing Daniel's protective barrier, the vehicle sat down on the nearby beach sending sand in every direction. Daniel put his hands over his ears; the sand struck his sunglasses and stung his face. He was sure that it was fragments of the protective shield of his kingdom. How could this be possible? He did not let this alien monster to enter his kingdom. Judith was at his side, holding him as he shook uncontrollably. "It's just a helicopter!" she said, trying to calm him. Its appearance astonished Judith.

The prop of the helicopter slowed and the thumping changed to a shrill pulsating squeal. A man jumped from the vehicle and yelled, "Are you Daniel Tobbit?" Daniel, blocking his ears, could not hear, but his wife, still trying to control Daniel, answered somewhat angrily as well as quizzically, "Who wants to know? Who are you?"

"We are from the president—he wants Mr. Tobbit in New York right away!"

"Why can't we just have a conference call from here?" Daniel, with his hands now away from his ears, answered. "Our computers work just fine, and we have visual software which makes it easy. Now and then we use it to talk to the kids—since we can all see each other—the wonders of modern communication technology and not so recent at that."

"This is different," the man continued in an explaining manner. "The president would like to sit down with you and talk to you in the same room, not from somewhere on the other side of the planet."

"Will we go by that newfangled SOV that I have read about on the Internet?" Daniel inquired, "I understand that it will take less than two hours to get to New York."

"Yes, yes!" the man answered, a little perplexed. He then smiled and added, "After that you can spend a day recovering from your rocket-lag—a day visiting with the president and probably a day or two sightseeing or a play or maybe an opera—then as soon as you wish, back here again!"

"Sounds tempting!" Turning to her husband, "What do you think, Daniel?" Without waiting for an answer, she again faced the man, frowning quizzically, "What is this SOV that can get us to New York in less than two hours?"

"You remember, sweetie, we read about it on the Internet."

"But I thought that was still in the developmental stage. In fact I read that the work on it had been suspended because of the lack of funds." Judith was puzzled.

"Sweetie, you may be up to date on the latest telecommunications technology, but you are behind the times on transportation technology." Daniel continued, "I'm not a rocket scientist but this is how I think it works: it will carry you into suborbital space, traveling at about eighteen thousand miles per hour—that's five miles per second. Then the SOV will descend to its destination and land. In the meantime, we will be weightless for a while and be able to view the earth as only a few have been able to so far—it sounds exciting. How does that sound to you, sweetie?"

"Whatever you think, Daniel?" Judith, always adventurous, was becoming enthusiastic. Daniel turned to the man and said, "Miss Judy is coming too—I don't go anywhere without her. Is space travel healthy for old folks like us?

"Oh yes!" the man was now agreeable to anything and was now pressing his point a little impatiently. "Today, we have traveling suits, which are very comfortable for people of any age who are in reasonably good health and still keep your vitals in place—or for that matter, any size or shape—you look healthy to me, but a doctor will give you a checkup before embarking on the SOV."

"Miss Judy, let's get our bags packed," Daniel said excitedly and then reiterated, "I don't go anywhere without Miss Judy."

"Of course not, the president would be delighted to have both of you as guests! There'll be no need for packing—we will provide clothing and all your other needs while you are with us." At this time, the man was grasping and trying to drag Daniel to the helicopter. Attracted by the curious commotion, fifty or more of the islet's villagers encircled Daniel and Judith and were quietly looking on at the unusual scene. The man hardly noticed this activity. He looked at Daniel pleadingly, "The president insists that you come to New York as soon as possible. The SOV can only take off during a certain window each few days—I don't understand it but I know our time is running out today—let's get into the helicopter."

Judith thought to herself, "I didn't think the publishing business was so complex." She turned to one of the natives and said, "Tom, take care of the house and chickens while we are gone. We won't be away very long." Turning to the man, she inquired, assertively, "Will we?"

Tom, the native villager, acknowledged the request while the man did not answer her.

"I must get my purse. Tom, help me find my purse—I never go anywhere away from home without my purse." Judith ran back into the house and soon returned with a moderately-sized, beige purse slung over her shoulder. She again reiterated to Tom excitedly, "Take care of things, Tom." He again agreed with a, "Yes, Miss Judy."

Judith turned to Daniel, "The president of the publishing company needs to talk with us—it must be important. Something about your book, I'm sure. Besides, the trip will be an exciting adventure." She loved her tropical island home, but a free excursion like this with a vacation in New York would be difficult to pass up.

Daniel responded quizzically, "What book is that? I've started so many—." The helicopter man looked at Daniel, bewildered but said nothing.

Ducking unnecessarily under the spinning blades, the three boarded the vehicle. Once aboard, the man placed earphones on his head so the cushioned earmuffs covered each ear. Following this, he placed a set on Daniel's head. Daniel helped Judith with her earphones. This reduced helicopter's sound considerably. The man pulled the small mike, which was attached by a quarter circular wire from the right earmuff, to his lips. Both Judith and Daniel heard his voice through the earmuffs covering their ears. "I'm Ralph Mullet, and I'll be your companion—guide, whatever, for the next few hours. The pilot's name is Sam, but we will be leaving him when we arrive on the main island where we will board a SOV, which will take us to New York.

"As the helicopter lifted almost directly up, Judith looked down through the Plexiglas canopy and saw Tom. He was motionless. She watched him; the chickens, the small garden, and her home grow smaller. The helicopter banked and turned south, and her private world disappeared. Daniel watched as well. Both he and Judith sensed a feeling of severance, without a ritualistic or even formal good-bye. To the south, they saw the main islet grow larger. It looked like a large but motionless aircraft carrier with the airstrip stretching the full length of the islet from east to west. Thin lines of buildings were located on the north side next to the lagoon. Parked on the ramp between the buildings and the airstrip were four aircraft. Daniel could still recognize the two 747s and the 777.

The fourth was unusual to Daniel. One craft was setting on the top of another. It looked like the ancient space shuttle when it was being piggybacked from one location to another. "Mr. Mullet—"

"You can call me Ralph," he interrupted Daniel.

"Well, Ralph," he continued, "what is that thing?"

"That thing is the SOV—the thing that will take you to New York," Ralph chuckled as if he were telling a joke.

The Flight

The examiner determined that the Tobbits were physically fit to fly in the SOV after a brief and cursory health check. Following that, with the help of an appropriate attendant, an outfit replaced their clothing, which although not uncomfortable was skintight. Attached to this was a Plexiglas helmet with the forward half transparent, giving the user visibility. After being outfitted, a gurney carried each of them to the craft they were about to board.

They were individually elevated to the port on a small lift. Judith went ahead of Daniel and Mullet followed last. In their spacesuits they all looked alike except written on the top of helmets were their names Judith Tobbit, Daniel Tobbit, Ralph Mullet. Judith wondered how they would communicate with each other. Once aboard, they found three others already occupying the cabin. Written across the top of the helmets worn by the tallest inhabitant was Captain Robert Rover. The other two occupants were lying on their backs on gurneys that were side by side on the starboard side, tilted forward at about a fifteen-degree angle.

Captain Robert Rover came forward and pulled Judith's gurney forward placing it opposite the two passengers who were already in place. He then he securely locked it in place and attached a tether hose into a receptacle on the right side of her spacesuit. Judith immediately felt her outfit cooling, fresh air coming into her helmet, and she heard a voice saying, "Welcome aboard, I'm Captain Robert and I will try to make your flight as enjoyable as possible. In the meantime, you will lie on your gurney next to the window. Let's put your purse in the carrier under your gurney—make sure it's zippered or everything in it will float away when we are in orbit and you will most likely lose some of it." Judy zippered the purse and the captain took it and placed it in a leather container under the gurney. "Now I will get your husband situated."

Judith did as instructed and when she was lying down on the gurney, she found it was rather comfortable. The captain went back to get Daniel. When he was plugged into his tether hose, both he and Judith heard the captain say, "Welcome aboard, I'm Captain Robert and I will try to make your flight as enjoyable as possible. In the meantime your gurney will be next to Judith. I'm going to strap you down and you will remain so until we are in orbit, then you can float about the cabin as far as your tether will allow." He went to Judith and strapped her ankles to the cot, then tightened the belt above her knees, tightened the one across her waist, and finally the one across her chest leaving her arms free to move. He repeated the same procedure on Daniel.

The captain turned and went to the front of the cabin where a cot was in the middle of the ship. Instead of being tilted from stern to bow as the others were, it had a reverse tilt. He sat on the edge. His voice entered into each of the passenger's helmets. "For those of you not familiar with this routine, I will explain. You will note that there are nine buttons on the chest of your suits all arranged in the positions of a possible passenger. You will see the button that is alone and nearest your Adam's apple is for me, the captain—so if you wish to speak to me you press that one, hold it down, and just speak and only I will hear. Why don't you try it, Judith?"

Judith pressed on the button, held it down, and said, "Hi, Captain."

"Very good." The captain's voice was heard by all. "Did anyone hear Judith other than Judith and me? No!" the captain answered his own question. "Now you try, Daniel." Daniel went through the same routine with the same results.

"Okay then! The rest of you know how this works. So now, Judith, if you wish to talk to Daniel, you will note that the rest of the buttons are arranged just as the passenger positions are arranged. So, on the top row to the port side—that is to the left—there are two buttons, a space for the aisle, and then two more buttons for the starboard side; below those a similar arrangement, making a total of eight for the number of passengers this ship will hold. This is a cargo vessel so it can hold only a few passengers."

The captain drew a deep breath then continued, "So you see, Judith, the button to the far left is yours, while the button to the right of yours is Daniel's. So if you wish to speak to Daniel, you would hold his down and speak, or if you would like to speak to Mr. Mullet, who is located right behind you, you would hold down the button right below yours and speak."

The captain again took another deep breath and asked, "Any questions?" He paused and since he did not hear any, he said, "I am going to strap myself down now—it is almost time for liftoff." Whereupon, sitting on his cot with his feet toward the stern, he proceeded to connect the belt about his ankles then his knees.

While he laid back and began tightening his waist and chest belts. Judith pressed her captain's button and asked almost in a panicked voice, "Who is piloting this thing?"

Before he pressed his button to answer, he chuckled to himself, and then he spoke so that both could hear, and said, "Sorry, I didn't explain that. The pilot is in a secret location in one of the Rocky Mountain States. He is very good—we haven't had an accident yet."

"You mean there is no one piloting this plane?" Judith questioned.

"No, I mean that the pilot that controls this vehicle is not onboard but somewhere in the Rocky Mountains in a room with other pilots—each in control of their vehicle but on the other hand, they can help one another should there be any unusual problems. It is very helpful for on-the-job training because there are always many experienced pilots in the room. The pilot just informed me that the takeoff is about to begin."

The complex vehicle began to shudder, starting its journey on the short ramp to the western end of the airstrip. Soon, after turning east, they were traveling at a rapid speed down the runway. Judith again realized that the compartment where passengers were located was atop another aircraft. She looked out her window and saw the tops of the few palm trees zip by. On the other hand, Daniel only looked out of the window on the ceiling, and the cloudless blue sky gave him no visual sensation of motion. When the device left the ground its mild shuddering stopped and he had no awareness of motion whatsoever.