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Several hours earlier... on planet Earth...

Three large military rockets rested on their launching platforms, upon their bellies, side-by-side-by-side, the largest of the rockets being the Space Army's Scorpion Leader. All hatches were shut. Systems checks verified mounted lasers and the other weapons systems were behind protective panels for travel through the atmosphere.

In the control tower, the countdown began. At zero, the rockets blasted off into the sky, pushing away from the Earth, toward the blinking beacons in a very distant orbit, beacons signaling the location of the entrance to the wormhole. Thanks to the gravity trick Dr. Hope Martin had performed to keep the wormhole in a safe place far away from Earth, the same trick also kept the wormhole positioned always near the planet as the world circled the sun each year.

The Scorpion flagship entered the wormhole first; Scorpion Two came next, and then Scorpion Three. The Army space rockets prudently flew through the strange cosmic tunnel single file.


Inside the Scorpion Leader, General Vernon Schnell unstrapped himself and smiled with satisfaction. He watched from the large captain's bridge the unbelievable sights presented to his eyes inside this weird tunnel in space.

Capt. Pike's stone face showed his seriousness about commanding this rocketship. The General looked a bit more relaxed, however. He turned to Leader Arthur Bigges and Gunther Martin, in their seats behind his. "We are hours ahead of schedule. I am very proud of our volunteer soldiers comprising this mission."

"As should you be," said Gunther Martin. "Eh, General, this affair should be done in a day or two, wouldn't you say?"

Earth Leader Bigges inquired, "Why, Gunther, what's your hurry?"

"You know I cannot let my business alone for too long without my hand to guide it, Arthur. Maybe it can run without me, but then again, maybe it will fall apart under someone else's watch. I am unwilling to chance it."

Ldr. Bigges kidded, "Or, maybe you are afraid you will find out it can run fine without you."

Gen. Schnell winked knowingly to Gunther. "Not to worry, Mr. Martin. Putting Gov. Bright in his place- the brig- should be a quick process. I, too, do not want to be away from Earth too long. I have an anniversary to celebrate, and we have special plans for a third honeymoon."

"Besides," Arthur Bigges added, "if you are so concerned, just remember- Nobody made you come along." Then, Arthur Bigges jokingly suggested, "We can stick you in a life pod and send you back home, if that works for you, Gunther."

Less jovial, the founder of Martinology shook his head at Bigges' foolishness. "No thanks. I think it best I come along. I want to find where Osmo went to hide from Gov. Bright, and I want to find him before Gov. Bright does, in case he wants to get revenge and carry out his threats against my son. And when we have Xavier Bright under lock and key, I want to talk with Osmo, face to face, about coming back to Earth. It's time for him to learn how to run the corporation. He has become a responsible person during his stay on Hope. His Mom'd be proud of him."

"No more burning down houses, eh, Gunther?" asked the Earth Leader.

Tactfully, Gunther Martin didn't answer.


In less than a half hour, the rockets reached the other end of the wormhole.

As soon as the Scorpion Leader emerged out the other side, the small, one-man patrol space ships, which were guarding the World of Hope's side of the space tunnel, sent the Scorpion Leader a stern message-  They were so close to the Earth rockets that their proximity bypassed Gov. Bright's communications jamming.

"Halt! Do not approach the World of Hope! Your flight has not been scheduled, and it is unauthorized. Proceed to Beta Moonbase upon our smaller moon. Land, and prepare to be boarded!"

Scorpion Two came next out the wormhole, then Scorpion Three. All three had been warned by the tiny guardships, and all three ignored the warning.

Gen. Schnell chuckled. "Like a sparrow threatening an eagle," he bragged to Gunther Martin and Ldr. Arthur Bigges.


The handful of small patrol rockets flitted about in front of the huge Earth Army rockets, trying to be a nuisance, which was about all they could do. Much more nimble and maneuverable, the sentry craft lacked any real firepower- not enough to contest a battle rocket. And yet, one brave- or stupid- patrol pilot dared to try. He came close to the starboard side of Scorpion Three and zapped the ship. Then it quickly scampered away.

"Okay, that does it," thundered Gen. Schnell. "We tried to be nice. Now let 'em have it- All of the patrol ships. You know what to do."

The Captain relayed the order.

The patrol ships danced here and there, close, distant, near again. They dashed as close as they could and blasted the big rockets, then soared away once again, inspired by the first little attacker. They did no damage except for one blaster shot that crippled a laser on Scorpion Three.

The Earth Space Army used a different weapon other than one based on blaster technology to answer the patrol ships' challenge. The choice of the moment was a disruptor beam. Zap! Zap! Zapzap!! In a few minutes, all of the space patrol vessels had been disabled by the beam. They had proved hard, elusive targets to hit, but patience won the game. Once the beam struck a patrol rocket, it scrambled its circuits, leaving the craft dead in space.

Gen. Schnell ordered Scorpion Two to send out its rescue "boats", to tow the inoperable mini-rockets back to safety and life support on the Alpha Moon. Furthermore, Scorpion Two was to follow the rescue boats, and to take over Alpha Moonbase. Likewise, Scorpion Three must take over Beta Moonbase. Once that objective had been achieved, the two Scorpions were then to leave behind some troops to keep the bases subdued, while the Scorpion rockets followed the Scorpion Leader- which was expected to be, by that time, on the World of Hope, setting up a base.

"Roger that," the Scorpions Two and Three rocket commanders responded.


As Scorpion Three approached the Beta Moon, a brilliant flash of intense energy burst forth from the moon itself, paining the eyes of any looking directly in that direction. The energy burst headed straight for the invading rocket. It hit like a comet, knocking Scorpion Three to the side. Hull fractures had to be quickly sealed. Some unfortunate soldiers, minus any space gear, flew out those hull breaches into the vacuum before the hulls were sealed again.

Gen. Schnell, livid over the loss of life of his troops, directed the Scorpion Leader to turn around. "Fire some splatter bombs at the base- That should knock them out of commission!"

Still furious over the surprise attack, he complained to Earth Leader Bigges and Gunther Martin, "So, Gov. Bright has even installed weapons on his moon which the Leaders of Earth had forbidden the World of Hope to do. Somehow, he improvised and made his own laser cannon! He has much to answer for-"

However, before any of the splatter bombs were launched, the moon laser cannon fired a second time, at the Scorpion Leader rocket now. The shot missed the flagship completely. And then the laser cannon fired no more.  A huge flare, coming from the spot where the laser cannon bursts originated, indicated trouble with the laser cannon. The bright flare suggested the cannon's demise.

"Ha! So much for Gov. Bright and his improvised weapons," gloated the General. "I'm guessing the cannon blew up, and our videos are showing the explosion took half of Beta Base with it. Oh, Gov. Bright may be able to sneakily put a laser cannon up there, but he does not have the ability to testfire it, to make sure all systems are running properly, without tipping his hand ahead of time. That'll teach them a lesson! Waylay that order for the splatter bombs, Captain."

"Aye, Sir."

Scorpion Three resumed its path to the Beta Moonbase, to land and take control of what was left of the World of Hope's outpost, and to make much needed repairs to its own hull.

Scorpion Two landed at Alpha Moonbase without incident.

Gen. Schnell checked the incoming reports. He nodded, watching the progress on different video screens that were showing the taking over of the bases. "We're not doing so badly. Gov. Bright gave us a little bit of a fight. He has some spunk, but not much brains. I think you shall be back in your big, soft executive chair on Earth sometime before Friday, Mr. Martin."

Gen. Schnell said to Captain Pike, "Now let's continue on to the World of Hope."


"Knock it off, X-9! Ice crystals aren't anything to be afraid of!" bellowed Clyden furiously. He tried to take the experimental aircar into outer space, despite the big flash they had just seen coming from the one moon. "What's the matter with you? Is your Seymour's Disease scrambling your electronic brain more than before?”

"Those aren't ice crystals, Mr. Clyden," X-9 replied, stubbornly refusing to let go of the control of the vehicle. His hook-up to the prototype skycar's computer overrode Clyden's manual control.

X-9 kept the aircar in a sub-orbit altitude, just inside the atmosphere. He told Clyden, "While the flash may have startled your eyes, and all of you momentarily blinked your eyes, only to see the residual twinkling reflection once you again looked, I, on the other hand, had no need to blink my eyes."

Clyden said to the robot head. "So, what did you see? If those twinkles aren't ice crystals, what are they?"

"Those are space mines in orbit, just above the air envelope- hundreds, probably thousands, floating there unseen, somehow cloaked from view. The aircar's sensors barely shows anything. It looks like just a smudgy cloud, and anyone would easily mistake it for a sensor anomaly. But when the flash's light hit them, it was so bright, I suspect the space mines could not absorb the light all at once, and for a brief moment they became visible. Too fast for the human eye to see, but not theeyes of a robot, I could see theiroutline. I am certain they are space mines- What else could it be, hidden in orbit?"

Tretl Clyden looked at the radar. "Yer right, it doesn't show much. But if you are correct, that means that weasel Gov. Xavier has laid a trap, presumably because he is expecting Earth any day now to send the military here to remove him from his office. He put mines here, wrapped in camo-wrap. Hey, look over that way, to the south, but up above, in space- I see some rockets- big rockets, and with Earth Space Army insignias! Already they have come! We don't gotta go to Earth to talk to them after all, guys, about what they did to George!"

"It's about time they sent somebody," fumed Nina. "They should have come here as soon as I had told them my suspicions of my husband's kidnapping on the secret commmunicator device that I found in George's things."

"You found it?" asked George McCleer, surprised.

Concerned for his friend, Albert Zoeniga, still holding X=9 on his lap, said, "If Earth sent the Army to take Gov. Bright out of power, then what will happen to Osmo, since he is a Security Agent? He may find himself on the wrong side of a battle-"

Clyden cut them short. "Look, that's not important right now! We gotta let the Army know about the mines, or that lead rocket is going to head right into the mine field! X-9, radio them for me-"

X-9 replied, "Mr. Clyden, something is jamming communications. There must be some radio jamming satellite in the vicinity, and while it may not stop the Earth ships from talking to each other, this vehicle lacks the power to broadcast over the jamming of our signal."

Now all of them could make out the large Army rocket as it rapidly neared the atmosphere- and the invisible mines!

"Oh no, we must do something to alert them-" said Nina McCleer.

"Like what, though?" asked Clyden. "We must help them, so that they can land in one piece and do their duty to get rid of that scum Gov. Xavier!"

Billy Boy had an idea. "If we cannot talk to them to tell them of the danger, then we must make them aware of it some other way. If this aircar has weapons, which I think it does, because it sure looked like it had openings for zapping with blaster fire, then we just fire away at the disguised mines floating in the rocket's pathway. You're bound to hit a space mine, even firing blindly and just randomly shooting, so that it explodes and they can see what they are about to run into!"

"Good idea, Billy Boob," Clyden agreed. "X-9, help me find out how to fire our blasters- We do have blasters like he said, right?"


Meanwhile, Captain Pike watched the viewscreen. He suddenly called to Gen. Schnell. "I see, in the distance, some kind of strange aircar- like none I have ever seen before-"

Gen. Schnell asked, "Only one?"

"Coming right toward us," replied the Captain. "Hey- the aircar's firing at us- But whoever it is blasting away, he is a terrible aim-"

Gen. Schnell frowned. “Okay, we will just turn the disruptor beam on it, then.”

Capt. Pike replied, “No time, General. The beam has cooled since we last used it, and must again be warmed before it has a decent charge, Sir.”

"Well, then, we must use blasters and lasers. I cannot imagine why there is only one of them attacking us, but let's shoot first and ask questions later. Perhaps it is unmanned. Just in case it is not, fire a warning shout," Gen. Schnell told Capt. Pike.

"Yes, sir."

As the Captain saw to it that the order was carried out, the wild blaster fire from the aircar finally hit a hidden mine. It blew up with a gigantic explosion, a half=mile away from the amazing skycar.

Gen. Schnell wondered, "What was that? An explosion in space, when there is nothing there? I see just ice crystals-"

Capt. Pike suggested, "Let us check a replay on the viewing monitor."

Immediately, the General and the Captain saw, when the replay froze just to the point as the space mine blew up, that a whole field of space mines lay in their way.

While they made that discovery, the warning shot which they had fired at the aircar, aimed to miss them by only a few feet, managed to also strike a mine as the zipping aircar passed by directly beneath the invisible mine.

The huge eruption of that mine sent a force of plasma and shrapnel hard into the stratosphere, and into the aircar, hitting it with much more force than the gale force winds of the blizzard had been able to produce. The assault on the craft knocked it out of its flight. It spun wildly across the sky and then fell down into the dark clouds on the night side of the planet.

The Captain called for the immediate halt of the Earth Space Army rocket.

Gen. Schnell said, "There's a mine field ahead of us! Look how powerful are the blasts! Probably power fuel mines- Illegal, no matter what kind, that's for sure. So, that brave aircar pilot was trying to warn us- And we misunderstood- Oh, I pray for the souls of the brave men and women in that aircar, whoever they might be-"

Gunther Martin acknowledged, "Gov. Bright is a crafty one, he is!"

"No matter, he's still a wanna-be who we'll cut down to size," promised Gen. Schnell.

Leader Bigges told Gunther Martin, "Do you see now why I thought Earth should act in haste against Xavier Bright, before he could strengthen his defenses- and his offenses!" And he warned the General, "Take care, Gen. Schnell. Gov. Bright has more surprises in store for us- of that I am certain."

Gen. Schnell grumbled, “Blast us a pathway through the orbiting space mines- from a safe distance, of course! That will take a bit of time! Perhaps the other Scorpions will have finished their assignments and will join us when we go downstairs."

"He knows we are coming," said Gunther Martin. "I am glad to know that, at least Osmo has escaped from being his hostage, so that he cannot harm Osmo now that we are here!"

(c) drk 2012