There Must Be A Mistake Ch. 33

All persons in this novel are fictitious. If you are looking for a great deal of sexual activity, this story is not for you. Those scenes that are included will be evocative, rather than just for the sake of sex itself.

This story is for your reading pleasure. Its length is undetermined at this time, because I do not know where my mind will take me as I proceed along this journey. I hope you will stay with this story until it reaches its inevitable...

This story is copyrighted material owned by Prolonged_Debut10. I am over the age of 18, and all my other information is on file with Literotica.com

"This is the end of the story, don't argue with me!"

*****

Chapter 33

Prologue: The Adventure Begins

Their quick honeymoon over, Gordon was on the flight deck at 8 AM, on 18 December. They ran through another simulation, without the help of Teddy. The Exascale computer ran everyone through their paces, and when their three hours was up, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

When the second crew saw them walking out of the spacecraft, looking as though they had been put through a shredder, they shuddered.

Gray's backup, Ralph W. Emerson asked him what the hell went on in there.

"You really don't want to know Ralph, you have to experience it for yourself."

My replacement, my dearly beloved wife, who continued to study her ass off, for this simulation, just in case something were to happen to me, walked towards me, and simply said, "I hate you already."

I replied, "If you hate me now, I'm going into hiding."

It took the second crew 4 hours and 20 minutes to finish the simulation. When Jennifer came down the walkway, she looked for me with evil in her heart.

"Luck, you are a dead man. I am going to fillet the skin off your body with a butter knife. I'm going to listen to you scream until you die."

"Does that mean you had fun with the simulation dear?"

"Does it sound like I had fun with the simulation dear?"

"It certainly does. It sounds like you learned a lot, and if anything were to happen to me, you will be able to handle it."

"Don't you dare use your logic on me Even Luck."

"What would you have done if you had to take over the helm with no experience, and I got sick again?"

"I hate you Even."

"I know, but I'll take it out on you tonight."

"I'm on strike. I'm already pregnant."

"Pregnant women get hornier by the day."

"Is there anything you don't know?"

"If there is, you haven't told me about it yet."

"Even Luck, I should never have fallen in love with you. You are the bane of my existence. I can't beat you at anything, and I love you madly."

"I thought you hated me?"

"I do, and I also love you."

"I can live with that. What's for dinner?"

"If you don't take me to a restaurant, I will poison you."

"You are paying for it again."

"At least I know what to do this time."

*******************

Dycke, Payne, and the completed rockets arrived on the 20th of December, two days earlier than expected. I was exuberant, because I had more time to lock down the final items going into the spacecraft. Nothing else was going on the second floor. Except for the walkways between the aisles, nothing else could fit. Everything was checked, rechecked for stability, scanned, and the area was locked down.

"I hope your turkeys aren't in that area Gordon, because they are going to die if they are."

"Monty, do I look worried? I knew this area was going to be locked down, just as you did. I'm not worried about my hatchlings, only you should be."

"They're not in this spacecraft. There's no way they could be. Everything was searched, high and low. No area was excluded. You're doing this just to get my goat. When we are in space, your father said I could take you apart. I will, with a smile on my face."

"I filed an application with the Swiss government, requesting a birth certificate with you as my mother on it. I requested a rush order. I should have it in my hand by the 22^nd of the month."

"You did not, you would not do that to your mother."

"I told her about it. She could not stop laughing. You can ask her."

"The Bishop said there is no restriction on beating a person to the edge of death, but not killing him. When you show me that piece of paper, you better be prepared for the beating of your life."

"You can't do it until we are in space. You will have to wait three days, and control your temper until then. I am going to enjoy the look on your face for those days."

"Zoey is not going to like being a virgin for those three days."

"Zoey never fails to get a rise out of me. She got a rise out of me the day after you knocked me senseless."

"That girl must be very good."

"My wife is beyond good, she is fantastic."

"I have patience, I will wait until the time is right, and bring you to the edge of death."

"I will be waiting for you, because you were my best man."

"That's another reason I'm going to kill you."

"What did the Bishop say about killing me?"

"Sometimes I hate religion."

"But you have a relationship with God, don't you?"

"Yes I do. She and I have a personal relationship."

"Good for you."

******************

The train tank cars were tested, while they were at Golden Colorado, for any toxic chemicals, or oil residue. Several were found unusable, and were replaced. 15 tankers were lined up, end to end, to be filled with the purest water the Coors Brewing Company had to offer. It took a day and a half to fill all 15 cars with 517,500 gallons of water.

Although the trains were normally restricted to 55 miles an hour by their company, I put a restriction on them to a maximum of 40 mph. One mistake, one accident, and the launch date would have to be pushed back by weeks. The trains left Golden Colorado on the evening of 19 December, for the 14 hour trip to Temple. 20 tanker trucks were waiting for them at the Southeast Railroad Terminal to begin the unloading process as soon as the train stopped.

No one involved in the unloading process was allowed at the NEST, until they received a phone call that the train was at the station. We wanted everyone rested when they came to work.

These technicians were at their positions at 8:45 AM, and the first truck arrived 5 minutes later. All water intake ports were opened. As each truck arrived, they were directed to the next open port. Our pumps drained these tankers in under 8 minutes, and the next truck was ready to replace it. It was working like clockwork. As the spacecraft filled with water, you could hear the landing gear groan. I guess 4.5 million pounds of water will do that to you.

When the men on top of the cranes saw the water starts going over the top of the inlets, they screamed and pumped their fists in victory. Water reaches its own level, and pushes air out as it rises. When we entered Outer-Space, we were now protected from radiation, and gamma rays.

Those hardy men came down, and other technicians went to the top to seal those inlets with the thermal insulation. Then they put on Schneider Industries magical glue, heat it to the appropriate temperature. They sealed the final four pieces of our exterior shell in place. Our beach ball was completed.

Adam Schiff crawled through the bowels of the spacecraft looking for any leaks in the plumbing system. He found plenty of them, and heat sealed them all. It took nine hours for him to do the entire system, because none of his instructors would go inside the ship to help him. I fired them on the spot, and told them they would receive no bonus at year's end.

Inside the ship there was not a leak to be found. Not only did my crew look everywhere, but Dycke insisted on joining them. He said he knew where leaks would occur, because it would be in the most inconspicuous spots.

I asked him if he didn't trust the engineers, and technicians that put our ship together.

"Even that's the first time you called this our ship. You always refer to it as your ship."

"Dycke where would this ship be without you? Almost 65% of it came from your engineers and factories. It may have been our ideas, and our scientists, but you and your people made it a real, and tangible product. That's why Schneider Industries is the 2nd largest name on the outside of the ship. Only the United States of America is bigger. If you look at The Good Luck name, it is smaller than yours. You are on one side of the United States, and the ships name is on the other. That's why you probably haven't noticed it. I didn't do that because you are my friend, I did it because you built our ship."

"Don't you dare make me cry, you bastard. I still want to see your cock."

"Okay, let's go up to the fourth floor, at least there will be a bed for you to fall on."

We reached the fourth floor, and I told Dycke to pick any room he wanted.

He pointed to a room all the way in the rear of a hall.

I opened the door, and Gordon yelled, "Dad get out of here, we're busy."

Dycke said, "No place is safe from those two."

"Pick a different room, and let's hope there's no one else in there."

This time we knocked on the door before we entered. There was no response, so we walked in. I locked the door, and we checked every nook and cranny to make sure no one was in the room hiding.

"Okay Even let's see it."

"Sit on the bed, I don't want you to hurt yourself."

"Bullshit."

"Have it your own way."

I open my belt, unbuttoned the button, and dropped my slacks to the floor. I asked him if he could see the head of my cock peeking out from underneath my shorts.

"I want to see it all Even."

I dropped my shorts, and his eyes dilated.

"Put that thing away. You could kill the first row of dignitaries with it."

"Do you think I would have won Zoey's freedom?"

"Hell, I think you would have freed all the slaves in Saudi Arabia with that thing."

"Thank you Dycke, are you satisfied?"

"I'm glad I'm not gay."

"Is our ship ready to go?"

"You're damn right it is."

The Good Luck 1 was ready for space.

****************

It is always wonderful having William Zabo on your side. It was time to get the remains of President Clark, and his wife, Julia Atwater to Temple so they could be prominently displayed before placing them in the spacecraft.

The head of the mortuary department at Arlington National Cemetery said it would take at least two weeks before we could get the remains. William asked who was in charge of the cemetery's budget. He was told Sen. John McCain of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

William smiled and said, "Give me his phone number, and don't tell me you don't have it."

**********************

"I'm sorry sir the senator is busy."

"Ask the senator if a $500 million donation to his Democratic opponent in the upcoming election will be enough for him to lose his seat in the Senate?"

McCain was on the phone seconds later. "Who are you, and what do you want?"

"I want the remains of President Clark and Mrs. Julia Atwater in Temple Texas by tomorrow morning. If they are not here, I want your head on a plate in the next election."

"You don't have that type of money. Very few people in the United States have that type of money to throw around."

"Do you mean your staff hasn't Googled my name yet? I put down $30 billion for the spacecraft that is taking off on December 25. Just in case you didn't hear me Senator that was $30 with a B Billion dollars. I can crush you like a snail in the next election."

"Their ashes will be at your facility by 10 o'clock tomorrow morning."

William didn't answer him, he hung up the phone.

"I love the way you do business William. You are extremely polite."

"You should have seen me when I was in my prime Even. I was far more polite than I was today."

"I think I'm going to miss you most of all. You brighten my life."

"When I took over for you I thought it was going to be a short-term appointment. I grew to love it as much as you do."

"You were the only one I knew that could do this job, and do it with a great deal of strength, and vision. That's why I called you."

"Your memory must be failing you. You didn't call me your lovely wife did."

"Remind me to thank her. She hooked the biggest fish there ever was. I believe your son will grow to love it as much as you do."

"When Jemma told him she wanted grandchildren he laughed. He said he wasn't going to get married, until he found someone like her. Then Teddy told him he was going to meet a redhead on Christmas Day and marry her. I think my boy panicked. Then she said they were going to have three children, two red-headed girls, and a boy that looks like me. He wanted to fly back to China that moment. He said it was safer for him there."

"Does he know he's dead in the water?"

"Every time he passes Jemma, she laughs at him."

"The poor guy must be dying."

"Patrick is no help either. He keeps asking if he can be the best man."

"He should be, they are brothers."

"That's if William let's him live that long."

I laughed, and went back to work, although there was very little for me to do.

I checked the guest list, and the seating arrangements for the dignitaries, and wondered why I was looking at it. Exascale had done it for us, and it was perfect. I felt like odd man out, because of that machine, but when we were in space it would be invaluable.

I leaned back in my chair and began to reminisce on how this all started. It was a simple conversation between Delicious, Rod, and me, while we were sitting in my kitchen. We had Delicious suite of engines to get us out of the atmosphere, and into deep space easily enough. She kept talking about the thrill of space, and being the first human to leave our solar system, with the possibility of reaching another one.

Rod thought we were both crazy, until the conversation turned serious.

"What are you two going to do, build the spacecraft in your backyard?"

Delicious replied, "Why not, we have enough room."

"You two are scaring me, I believe you're actually going to do it."

"Do you want to do it Delicious? You've done the hard part already. You've got us out of the Earth's atmosphere, without using a liquid propellant, as Doctor Werner von Braun told the world we had to do in order to explore space successfully. You have the design for your Ion/H2 engines, and a plan for a nuclear power plant that is out of this world.

We will run a simulation, through the computer, and if we are able to reach .99 the speed of light, I'm willing to give it a chance."

Rod said, "I'm leaving. You're both crazy. No you're both crazier than you were yesterday."

That was it. That was the beginning of this eight year dream to go to the stars. It wasn't an earthshaking event, it was just a quiet whisper, except for Rod of course, one morning over coffee.

**************

In the beginning, Delicious floored me by breaking the freolyte code, which both I, and teams of other scientists had spent years working on with no success. That prompted our trip to Austin to have her tested, and our fateful trip to the Grand Canyon, which broke both our hearts, and nearly killed my pilot and me.

The happiest part of that trip was meeting and falling in love with Jennifer, and her 3 year old son Gordon. It was instantaneous for both of Jennifer and me. Gordon knew it also.

There was my quick trip to the northernmost point of the United States, Point Barrow, where I never thought anyone would find me. However, there were two phone calls waiting for me. Director Meil, of the agency that does not exist, and is funded by a government that doesn't want to know about it.

The director tore me a new asshole because I ran away from a child, and hung up before I could answer him.

The second phone call was from my attorney, and friend, Rod Laver. He knocked me cold when he told me Delicious was not my niece, but my daughter, and to get my ass back to Denver immediately.

I hired Michael who had a twin engine aircraft and guaranteed me would be in Fairbanks before a storm hit. His estimate was wrong by 55 miles, or about 6 flying minutes.

With both engines out, we pulled a maneuver Jennifer told me about on our way to Fairbanks. "You have never heard of an airplane backing into a mountain, have you?"

Michael thought I was out of my mind, but the alternative was crashing into the trees head on, and certain death.

At 100 feet above the trees, he hit the left rudder, and turned the plane hard to the left, raising the right wing, turning the tail into the trees.

We are both alive today, because of Jennifer's awful joke.

When I walked up to her door, pulling Michael behind me, in a rickshaw of my own design, she was shocked. Missing for four days after our plane crash, and presumed dead, I told her she was coming to Denver with me to get married. I didn't ask her, I told her. She said it was the worst marriage proposal she had ever received, but she was overjoyed with it."

After making sure Michael was taken care of by the best orthopedic surgeon in the country, and that he would never want for anything, we said our goodbyes.

Shelby Meil, the son of the director of the agency that does not exist, took me to a diamond store to buy Jennifer ring. He also made a huge 'Blood Diamond' bust, when he found several of the diamonds the dealer was trying to sell me were not laser tagged.

I let Shelby do his thing, and started walking back to the hospital. Jennifer pulled up beside me and told me I looked lost. They were going to Wendy's, Gordon's favorite place, for dinner, and asked if I wanted to tag along.

It was the best offer I ever had.

We split a table with an elderly couple, and I excused myself to go to the bathroom. Gordon wanted to tag along, because he had never seen the inside of the men's room. He always had to go with his mother into the ladies room. He said it was embarrassing.

I showed him the ring I was going to give his mother, and he said she was going to cry. I asked him what he did when she cried. He said he hugged her until she stopped. I asked him if he would do that for me, and he said he would.

When I returned to the table, I got down on both knees and took Jennifer's left hand in mine. I asked her as graciously as my mouth would offer, and in between her tears she said, "Yes."

Gordon tugged on my sleeve. "Dad, she's crying. I have to give her a hug."

Everything moved on from there, and the next morning we were in a 787 flying back to Denver. Her family was there to greet her, and my friends from MIT, and colleagues that rarely get together except at symposiums were there to greet me. I was stunned. There was a huge party that evening, and I was ready to kill a young man, because he had eyes and hands all over my daughter. Delicious didn't know that fact yet, and I had not seen the proof. However I knew Rod would never lie to me, and if he said it, it was true.

Jennifer had a stranglehold on me, saying, "Down daddy, they are only dancing." I told her what dancing led to and she laughed at me continuously throughout the evening. Delicious brought the young man over to introduce him to us. Of course she lied to me. This boy could not be more than 22 years old.

"Dad, this is Dr. Grayson Thyme, he works for NASA."

(Yeah right) I asked him how the ISS was doing. I knew by the look on his face I had stumped him.

"I have no idea, I'm working on Orion, the capsule that will take four people to Mars in less than 50 days."

I started a war between him and Delicious right there.