Celestial Capers

Chapter 1

It is late summer in the year 5008 on the planet Proton in the Gastar galaxy. It’s about mid-morning and Queen Quasar plus six of her palace guards are sitting in the waiting area of the inter-planetary spaceport, Cape Constellation. The Queen is awaiting the arrival of her twelve year old nephew, Prince Pulsar, from his home planet Cygnus in the far away Milky Way galaxy. It’s been almost a year since she last saw him and she’s near bursting with fond anticipation.

His flight, however, is an hour and a half overdue and the royal lady is becoming concerned. Over the last six months, there’s been a rash of space piracy incidents involving serious injury to some of the victims and she’s worried about the Prince’s safety. The pale, translucent red rain outside, normally a pleasant experience for the people of this semi-arid city, is going unnoticed as she imagines all sorts of calamities befalling the young man.

The term regal definitely befits this woman. She stands six feet four inches tall, possesses a figure that is considered perfect by men and women alike, has long, wavy, jet black hair that falls to the bottom of her shoulder blades with a shock of it coming to rest just above her left eye, and her face, well, it simply mesmerizes.

Large, intelligent, jade green eyes are set astride a slightly upward curved nose, the full lipped mouth is set above a dimpled chin that is an ideal match for the high cheek bones, and the flawless skin is the color of burnished bronze, tanned by the twin suns of Proton. She is beautiful and fascinating to behold, disarming to the casual observer, but a scourge to anyone who dares to endanger anyone or anything she holds dear.

The Queen is brought out of her reverie when one of her guards calls out, Your Highness! Listen! There’s an announcement coming over the public address system. After a series of chime-like sounds, a deep monotone voice begins to speak. Flight 370 from the planet Cygnus will be arriving at lock 19 in five minutes. You may observe the docking from the observation deck located on Level C.

The Queen breathes a deep sigh of relief and, surrounded by her palace guards, makes her way to the observation deck. It is crammed with people waiting to greet the passengers when they disembark, but the admiring crowd makes way for her and her entourage when they realize who she is. She stands quietly, looking out through one of the floor to ceiling windows that is adjacent to the sliding door at the end of the egress tunnel that opens onto the observation deck. She is, once again, filled with awe over the fantastic achievements her people have brought about in space travel in just the past five years.

The most noteworthy, of course, is the development of an annihilation propulsion system. This system unites particles of matter and anti-matter and, because these two entities cannot occupy the same space at the same time, they completely destroy each other and in the process release energy of a magnitude that is capable of propelling spacecraft at velocities many times the speed of light, making them invisible to the naked eye.

The crowd is becoming more excited as the moment grows near for the spacecraft to materialize, the Queen included. No one is immune from the mind befuddling effect of a huge spaceship suddenly appearing before their eyes when nothing had been there a second before. And that’s exactly what happens. One instant Lock 19 is completely empty and the next there is this enormous disk-like craft with numerous propulsion pods evenly spaced around its perimeter hovering only thirty feet away.

Slowly, the spaceship’s captain lowers the landing struts and unfolds the circular feet at their ends. When this procedure is completed, the captain settles the ship safely onto the landing pad. Then a collapsible corridor is extended and connected to the hatch at the far end of the passenger egress tunnel. A few minutes later, passengers are streaming into the observation deck area and people are shouting, laughing, crying and chattering all over the place.

Queen Quasar hasn’t moved from the spot she has been standing in because it is a perfect place for the Queen and Prince to see each other when the Prince comes out onto the observation deck. The look of concern on the Queen’s face has been replaced with a smile so radiant it puts a twinkle in her eyes.

Prince Pulsar is one of the first passengers to disembark, but had he not called out to her she wouldn’t have recognized him he has changed so much since she last saw him. Hi, Aunt Cue. Those standing close enough to hear the Prince address the Queen in this way are shocked, but Queen Quasar doesn’t mind. Prince Pulsar has been calling her this since he began to talk and had trouble saying ‘Quasar’. Wow, you sure have grown, but you’ll never be too big to give your aunt a hug and a kiss. Get over here young man. Like most boys his age, he is embarrassed at showing affection out in public, but he doesn’t need any persuading as he loves and admires his aunt very much.

Standing back and assessing the young prince as relatives are inclined to do when they haven’t seen someone they care about for a while, she is both amused and surprised at the changes in him. He still has the pixie-like face framed by thick, black wavy hair, but he has grown at least four inches, his shoulders are broadening, and his musculature is becoming more defined. He has his father’s build and dark sapphire blue eyes, but there the physical similarity ends. His facial features are carbon copies of his mother’s, Queen Quasar’s sister. All in all, he is a handsome lad who, if he survives the predicaments he is always getting into, might make a fine ruler someday.

After picking up Pulsar’s luggage, they make their way out of the building and are soon on the beltway, heading out of the city towards the queen’s palace, Castle Capella. The castle sets atop one of the highest and most beautiful mountains on Proton. Pulsar is excited and growing more and more impatient the closer they get to the palace. He has missed exploring the place which is so huge that it will probably take him years to see everything. He has missed roaming the grounds outside the palace, playing with the animals and riding the powerful six legged gargans. But most of all, he has missed the staff of the palace and their families. There is always something going on at Castle Capella and he is never bored.

From the air, the beltway system looks like organized silver-gray confetti with numerous hubs at the center of widening concentric rings. Each ring is connected to its adjacent rings by evenly spaced connecting beltways as are the hubs. The traffic on the beltway is light at this time of day and they are making good time. They should arrive at the palace in about half an hour. They have only been driving for twenty minutes, but to Pulsar it seems like hours. Their arrival couldn’t be delayed by an accident, but mechanical failure could sure mess up the time schedule.

There are never any accidents on the beltway because they employ a highly sophisticated magnetic propulsion system which prevents tailgating, unsafe lane changes and excessive speed. The magnetic polarity of the beltways and that of the circular multi-directional deflection plates on the undercarriage of the vehicles using them is the same, negative. The driver of a vehicle controls its speed by increasing or decreasing the strength of the magnetic field emanating from the deflection plates and steers by positioning the plates at the appropriate angle to the beltway. The bodies of the vehicles have positive magnetic fields which are controlled by onboard computers and scanners which monitor both vehicle speed and closeness to other vehicles and make the necessary adjustments to the strength of the positive and negative magnetic fields to address the issues of closeness and excessive speed. The positive polarity of the bodies also keeps the vehicles on the beltway. The source of power for all this is the solar energy transmitted from the twin suns of Proton. Suddenly, the Queen’s driver turns onto a beltway the Prince has never been on before. What’s up, Aunt Cue? Why are we turning here?

I have a surprise for you, Pulsar, but you’re going to have to wait until tonight when we reach our destination. Tonight thinks Pulsar. That’s a good seven hours from now. Where could we be going?

Chapter 2

After going about thirty miles, the Queen instructs her driver to pull over into a rest area where there is a restaurant with a small gift shop. Using the Queen’s secured transceiver system, the driver passes along the Queen’s instructions to the palace guards who are driving in two separate vehicles, one in front of the Queen’s and one behind. Why are we pulling off here? asks Pulsar.

I think we should get something to eat. We won’t have another opportunity for quite awhile. the Queen replies.

Why won’t you tell me where we’re going, Aunt Cue?

All in due time, Pulsar, all in due time. Patience is not one of Pulsar’s strong points and the suspense is driving him nuts.

The restaurant, Hurkey’s Haven, is quite unique for Proton in that it is not part of a franchise, it is family owned, serves food not found anywhere else on the planet and it never closes. The architecture reflects a great deal of imagination coupled with intelligence and an unusual feel for the aesthetic. The stand alone building is in the shape of a huge top that reaches ten stories into the air and its outer surface is covered in a metallic like material. The outside of the building continuously spins at a wide range of revolutions per minute, gradually changing from one speed to another which is randomly selected by a highly sophisticated computer. As the number of revolutions changes so does the color of the metallic material, the variety of colors covering a broad spectrum of enthralling hues.

Access to the restaurant is gained through an underground walkway. This leads to a bank of elevators which take patrons to the reservation desk and gift shop level and the dining levels above. The inside is even more stunning than the outside. On all levels, numerous arced alcoves are embedded in the slightly concaved walls, providing privacy yet an unobstructed view of the beautiful décor throughout. Each alcove’s seating consists of an arced banquette and a cushioned wall covered with a plush velvety fabric in a light shade of gray and accommodates up to eight diners. In the center of each dining level is a very large circular fish tank containing some of the most exotic sea life found in the known universe. The center formed by the fish tank contains a stage that rises above the fish tank so that everyone can see the performers when there is live entertainment in the evening. Theatre in the round, bands and combos playing all kinds of music, comedians, you name it and it probably has appeared here. In the evening, every dining level offers some kind of show. In addition to all of this, each dining level slowly revolves in a clockwise fashion, making one complete revolution an hour. This affords the diners a beautiful, captivating and panoramic view for miles around, yet anyone outside can’t see in.

Since Pulsar has never been to this restaurant, Queen Quasar requests an alcove on the tenth floor level so Pulsar can get the opportunity to have a bird’s-eye view of the surrounding area. Needless to say, Pulsar is duly impressed which pleases Queen Quasar to no end.

The menu offers a large variety of inter-galactic cuisine and, as with most growing, active twelve year old boys, Pulsar is always hungry and orders and eats enough food to feed a small army. During their meal, Pulsar notices a pretty girl who appears to be about the same age as he in the fourth alcove to his right. What draws his attention is the animated way in which she is engaged in a conversation with another kid and two adults at her table. She is laughing a lot and the others join in whenever she stops talking. His curiosity is aroused and he very much wants to eavesdrop on the conversation, but the acoustics in the restaurant don’t permit it. He starts to make guesses as to what the girl might be talking about, but his thoughts are interrupted by the Queen’s announcement that it is time to leave.

Once they are back in their vehicle, the long trip from Cygnus to Proton combined with the big meal he has just consumed quickly pushes him into a deep slumber and thoughts of the girl are replaced by dreams of heroic adventure.

Suddenly, there’s a loud buzzing sound that awakens Pulsar and upon opening his eyes he sees a flock of robotic sentry birds diving down towards their vehicle and they’re emitting loud ear piercing squeals. Pulsar has never seen anything like this and sits straight up and lets out a squeal of his own. Queen Quasar quickly says, Everything’s ok. These birds are just doing what they’re programmed to do, notifying those behind the walls that someone has approached the compound.

Where are we, Aunt Cue, and why are we here? asks Pulsar intently.

In just a few more minutes all your questions will be answered, Pulsar, so cool your jets and drift in idle as you like to say.

As if on cue, Aunt Cue pauses and part of the wall in front of their vehicle opens inward, revealing a small courtyard with an armed guard stationed in an armor plated guardhouse and what looks like a gated entrance to a tunnel leading into the heart of the compound. The wall and an immense dome behind it about a quarter of a mile away are constructed of what looks like an orangish red granite.

The guard waves them into the courtyard, cautiously approaches their vehicle and asks the Queen’s chauffer the purpose of their visit. The chauffer replies, Queen Quasar and her nephew Prince Pulsar are here by appointment to meet with Headmaster Herby. The guard verifies the appointment on his roster, checks the occupants in the back seat, recognizes the Queen and bows, and directs the chauffer along with the Queen’s palace guards to drive their vehicles to the tunnel entrance. The gate slides to the side, the drivers of all three vehicles are instructed to pull all the way into the tunnel and shut off their engines. The gate is replaced with a solid cover which

drops down from the top of the tunnel entrance and, for a moment, nothing happens. Then there’s a soft whooshing sound and they are being propelled at breakneck speed through a maze of tunnels to the basement of the headmaster’s office by an exceptionally powerful pneumatic force.

By this time, Pulsar is wondering what in solar blazes this place is all about. As they are exiting their vehicles, Pulsar notices a tall green skinned woman from the planet Velusha, a neighboring planet in the Gastar galaxy, standing at a sliding glass door about 20 yards in front of their vehicle. As they approach, she opens the door, introduces herself as the headmaster’s assistant and asks them to follow her to the headmaster’s office.

When they arrive, the headmaster is standing in the doorway to his office waiting to greet them. With a warm, friendly smile he gestures them in, gets them comfortably seated, serves them a cool, pleasant tasting fruit drink squeezed from purple quints with slices of glutas added for energy and then begins to speak. Up till now, he hasn’t said a word, so the sound of his voice is somewhat startling as it is a very deep bass in tone but clear as a bell and soothing to the listener. The voice definitely goes with the body as the Headmaster is tall and sturdy in stature. He’s a pleasant looking man with bushy gray eyebrows and a mustache to match and a mop of unruly gray and white wavy hair that shows no signs of thinning. His demeanor is jovial yet scholarly and his intelligent blue grey eyes grip you like a magnet does a nail. He’s not someone you easily look away from when he’s talking to you.

Welcome, Queen Quasar, welcome, Prince Pulsar. Welcome to the Stellar School for Special Students. I have been so looking forward to meeting both of you. Queen Quasar, have you told the Prince why he is here and anything about our school?

No I haven’t, Headmaster. I think you will do a much better job than I could of explaining what our visit is all about.

"Very well, my Queen, then let me get on with it.

"Prince Pulsar, for quite some time now an Emperor Eclipse of the planet Erebus has been engaged in all sorts of shenanigans and skullduggeries aimed at creating havoc on the planet Proton with his ultimate goal being to conquer our world. He is constantly telling lies about our conduct to the members of the Inter-Galactic Treaty Organization to discredit us in the eyes of all in the Inter-Galactic community and, lately, has been threatening inter-planetary war. The Emperor is very envious of the wealth, achievements and happiness of the planet Proton and is always scheming to accomplish his goal.

"Our Global Bureau of Clandestine Investigations attributes the recent spate of space piracies to the Emperor’s attempts to discourage inter-galactic travel to and from Proton with the hope of seriously affecting our revenue from tourism and universal trade. The Emperor has been relentless in his attempts to undermine the rule of Queen Quasar in order to pave the way for his

own rise to the throne. The Queen has had enough! Proton has an extremely powerful military, is one of the most wealthy and advanced civilizations in the known universe and her subjects are extremely loyal. The Queen now plans to use all the resources at her disposal to defeat Emperor Eclipse once and for all time.

She has been reluctant to accelerate the tension between Erebus and Proton, believing that his repeated failure to get what he wants would ultimately discourage him from continuing with his assaults. This strategy has apparently been ineffective as the nefarious activities of the Emperor have become not only more frequent, but more devious and more violent.

Excuse me for interrupting, Headmaster Herby, but I’m a little confused. Why are you telling me all this? Obviously, this Emperor guy is a real lowlife of the sub-zero kind and I don’t like what he has in store for my aunt or the planet Proton, but I’m just a kid. What can I do about it?

Before the headmaster can respond, the Queen interjects with You know that surprise I said I had for you? Well, here it comes!

Pulsar, I know all about the special ability you have to generate at will huge amounts of electrical energy, including lightning, and that you have been sworn to secrecy about it by your parents and Queen Quasar. Pulsar can’t believe his ears and turns to his aunt for confirmation.

It’s alright, Pulsar, listen carefully to what else Headmaster Herby has to say.

The headmaster continues. "Pulsar, you have been instructed to never use your ability in front of anyone but your parents or the Queen because of their fear that you and your ability could be exploited and used by unscrupulous people for very bad purposes. I’m sure you have been seriously tempted to disobey for some very good reasons, but, in spite of your desire to do the contrary, you have strictly obeyed your instruction and should be strongly commended for doing so.

"This strength of character coupled with your astonishing special talent is what caused your aunt to bring you here today. You see, Pulsar, as the name of this school implies, all of the students here are very special in that they all are of exemplary character and possess extraordinary abilities. This school was founded by Queen Quasar about nine years ago when she learned about a freakish accident that had occurred on the planet Rinter in the outer regions of our galaxy.

"Rinter is well known for its yantillia, an herb that miraculously cures a wide variety of otherwise lethal diseases and will grow nowhere else in the known universe. Yantillia is very difficult to cultivate and harvest because of the unstable elements and weather on the planet, so a Protonese company sent a team of scientists to Rinter to look for ways to more effectively cultivate and harvest the herb. During one of their experiments which required an unusual mixture of elements, energies and organic matter, there was an explosion. This explosion released a variety of new gaseous compounds that no one had ever seen before. Of the thirty

member team sent to Rinter, only thirteen scientists participated in this experiment and were exposed to these gases, one man and twelve women. They found out later that these gases affected the genetic codes of the twelve women and the metabolic processes of the man, but there were no immediate signs of any changes in their physical or mental states.

"About ten days after the explosion,