RICK RAIDER ETERNAL FLAME 6

RICK RAIDER: THE SEARCH FOR THE ETERNAL FLAME
copyright 2011 Stratomiker Syndicate

To get all the chapters click on 'Eternal Flame' on the sidebar.


Chapter Six: THE ELYSIAN FIELDS

Rick and Sally stared at each other for a moment, exchanging worried glances. The war between the Olympians and Zaxxons was over, and the Zaxxons had won it! And even though the robot was still smiling, they knew he was extremely upset.

"This is terrible, Princess," ABL089 said into the communicator. "Where are the King and Queen? Why are you at your uncle's villa?"

"My mother and father are being held captive in the Royal Palace by the Zaxxons," came Princess Athena's reply. "I was lucky enough to escape when the soldiers came, and I rode one of the horses out here to Uncle Orion's villa. But he's gone too! He went to Zaxxonia in search of Apollo."

ABL089 looked at Rick and Sally and shook his head in frustration. "What in the name of Andromeda are we going to do?" he asked. Then, to Princess Athena, "But don't worry, Princess, I'll soon be with you. And the Earthlings are terrific young people, just like you and Prince Apollo. Together we'll figure it all out."

"I hope so, Abey. I'll be waiting here for you. Lock into my laser beam with your ship's computer for landing guidance. May good fortune be with you!"

"And also with you, Princess." ABL089 slipped the microphone back onto the panel and hurried over to the control desk. Rick and Sally watched as he flipped several levers and typed a code on the row of keys.

"Now Aristotle is on laser guidance," he said, "and the beam from Princess Athena's unit will guide us to our landing place at the Elysian Fields."

Sally anxiously drummed her fingers on the control desk. Her faint smile held a touch of sadness. She was like, "Oh, Abey! The Princess is in a whole lot of danger. If the Zaxxons have the rest of the Royal Family in captivity, they'll want her too!"

"Right," Rick readily agreed, his hands on his hips and his face grim. "We've got to think of a way to protect her."

"We definitely can't stay at Orion's villa," ABL089 said. "The soldiers will surely look for her there.  That's where they found Apollo. We'll have to flee, but I don't know where to!"

"Yo, what's up?" Charlie asked as he came into the control room. "Why do we have to flee?"

Rick filled him in on the sudden turn of events.

Charlie groaned, all, "Talk about radical! This situation gets worse every minute." He turned to the robot. "But don't worry, Abey. Rick will think of something. He always does."

Rick grinned at Charlie's expression of confidence. "I sure hope I can this time. How are the officers?"

"They finally all came to. But they're still pretty out of it. I told them what's happened and they agreed to stay in there and rest. But Captain Ion insisted we call him when it's time to land the ship."

ABL089 nodded. "I'll let them rest a spell before telling them about the dreadful outcome of the war. It'll be a while yet before we land."

Rick was gazing thoughtfully at the glowing planet of Teutron on the viewscreen. "Tell us about the Eternal Flame, Abey. Why is it so terrible that the Zaxxons have stolen it?"

"Whoever possesses the Eternal Flame rules the planet," the robot explained. "It's the tradition on Teutron and nothing could change it, not even a signed edict from the gods. The Olympians have held the Eternal Flame for thousands of years and, because they are peace-loving people, they have allowed the Zaxxons to be free. But now that the Zaxxons possess the Eternal Flame, they'll no doubt turn Olympus into a military state. There will be no freedom for the Olympians!"

Sally frowned. "But why is the possession of the Eternal Flame of such great significance that it gives control over the entire planet? It doesn't make sense, tradition or not."

"It's the War Law of Teutron," ABL089 said. "You see, thousands of years ago there was a great nuclear war between the two nations of the planet. The Olympians conquered the Zaxxons, who had begun the Great War. But almost every one of the planet's great cities had been destroyed, and millions of lives were lost."

"Yow, that's pretty dreadful," Charlie said. "Thousands of people all over Earth are calling for nuclear disarmament. The same thing could happen there!"

"It certainly could," the robot agreed. "And for the sake of your people, I hope it doesn't. After the Great War on Teutron, the rulers of both nations met and signed the agreements known as the War Law. It strictly forbids the production or use of any nuclear weapons on the planet, in times of peace or war. At this same meeting, the Eternal Flame, then used for the Annual Games in Olympia, was placed in a golden vessel and given to the Olympian King as a token of victory. It was taken to the new site of the city of Olympia, for the old city had been destroyed by the warheads, and enshrined in the Temple of the Sun. The War Law states that whichever nation possesses the Eternal Flame rules the planet, and throughout the ages this law has been respected and upheld."

"A wise decision," Rick said. "It probably saved Teutron from another nuclear holocaust."

Sally shook her head sadly. "But now the Zaxxons have the Eternal Flame, and with it the rule of the planet."

"And the Olympians will no longer live in freedom," ABL089 added.

Charlie growled in frustration. "If only there was something we could do!"

"There is!"

It was Rick who had spoken, and in a low firm voice. The others all looked at him and saw the grim determination on his face.

Then he was like, "When we land on Teutron we'll go and find this Eternal Flame!"

Charlie gaped at him quizically for a moment, then excitement flamed in his eyes. "Dude! Right! We'll find the Eternal Flame for the Olympians same as we found the missing Yukon expedition last winter."

Sally beamed too, catching their passion. She was all, "Totally! Ohmygod, it'll be huge! And we'll rescue Prince Apollo too. Then the Olympians will be sure to reward us by taking us back to Earth."

ABL089 looked pretty astounded. "Do you think you can do all that?"

"Of course we can," Rick said. "There's a way to accomplish anything that has to be done. We'll just have to figure it out."

Charlie put his arm around the robot's shoulder. "And we'll change the Olympians' opinion of Earthlings too. Completely!"

Sally pointed to the viewscreen. "Look, you can see the two continents of Teutron now."

On the screen was the image of the planet, its two great continents now clearly defined. In the northern extremities the two masses of land almost touched each other, separated only by a narrow channel of water. Southward, the waters widened into a mighty sea and the lower regions of the continents wrapped around the globe.

ABL089 pointed to the left side of the screen. "That's Olympus, and Zaxxonia is on the right. The Elysian Fields are in the northern tip of Olympus, near the channel separating the continents." He pointed to the location of the Elysian Fields and then to the site of the city of Olympia, not far west of it.

"There's a place called the Elysian Fields in the mythology of Earth's ancient Greeks," Rick told him. "It's supposed to be a beautiful land where those who lived good lives go after they die."

The robot looked fascinated. "Then it's similar to the Elysian Fields of Olympus. Ours is a delightful region populated mostly by retired folks. Unfortunately, we'll have to leave the district as soon as we land. We've got to take the Princess to a place where the Zaxxons can't find her."

Sally got up from her seat at the control desk. "Charlie, will you take over? There's something I want to do for the Princess."

"Sure." He took the empty seat. "What's up? What are you going to do?"

"You'll find out later." She smiled mysteriously as she left the control room.

Charlie shook his head as he eyed the controls. "Humphh! Girls! They always have to have secrets."

As the ship flew towards Teutron, ABL089 and the boys remained at the control station discussing the turn of events on the planet and the courses of action open to them after landing.

"Where's the last place the Zaxxons would look for the Princess?" Rick asked.

"Why, in Zaxxonia, of course," was ABL089's quick reply.

Rick nodded thoughtfully. "Then that's where we ought to go."

Charlie agreed. "Good idea. They'll never think of looking for her in their own country. And I'll bet that's where they've taken the Eternal Flame."

"And Prince Apollo too," Rick added.

"I think you've got the right idea," ABL089 agreed. "We can escape the Zaxxons and search for Prince Apollo and the Eternal Flame all at the same time."

Rick looked up at the viewscreen. "Abey, is there a way we can cross the channel from Olympus to Zaxxonia?"

"I'm sure we can find some means of transportation, Rick. Orion owns an airship, the latest model. Perhaps it's still at his villa."

"Perfect." Rick crossed his fingers hopefully. "I hope it's there. There's no time to waist once we land. We have to get Princess Athena out of Olympus as fast as possible."

When landing time was near, Rick and Charlie went to sick bay to inform the crew. Although still weak from their injuries, Captain Ion and Officer Polamus returned to the control room with the boys. The other two men were unable to resume their responsibilities and had to remain on the bunks.

ABL089 told the Captain and his mate about the recent occurrences on Teutron and that the ship would be landing at the Elysian Fields rather than at the Olympia spaceport. The officers took this news with the calm reserve common to military men and proceedings were begun for landing.

After entering the atmosphere, the spaceship was soon sailing smoothly over the surface of Teutron. Rick and Charlie watched the viewscreen as the craft flew over a rugged mountain range riddled with glaciers, and then down to a district of rolling hills and orchards.

"We're now flying over the Elysian Fields," ABL089 said from his post at the communications panel. "In a few minutes we'll arrive at Orion's villa."

Sally came into the control room and greeted the two officers.  "We're almost there!" she said excitedly.

Charlie eyed her curiously. "What have you been doing?"

"I was in the lounge. I baked more brownies and cookies with Aunt Bea's supplies. That spectra-wave oven in the galley is outta sight! It works ten times as fast as the microwaves we have on Earth."

Charlie gave her a dirty look. He was all totally, "Puh! Thanks for bringing me some to eat. I'm freakin' starving."

Sally wrinkled her nose at him. "Dude, you are always starving. They're for the Princess, anyway. I hope she likes them."

"You can count on it that she will," said Officer Polamus, who was sitting with the Captain at the control desk. "I've never tasted anything here on Teutron with that unique flavor in those food samples I found on Earth."

"You must mean the chocolate," Rick said. "It comes from the cocoa bean, the seed of the cacao tree that grows in the tropical Americas on Earth."

"I wonder if we have any such plant growing here on Teutron," Captain Ion mused. "Why don't you check it out, Abey?"

The robot nodded and closed his eyes. The others could hear the whirring in his head as he checked his memory banks. When his eyes opened, he said, "I have no data of a similar plant in existence on our planet. There's also no word for 'chocolate' in any of the contemporary Teutronic languages. It must be a commodity particular to Earth."

Charlie hooted, all,  "Man, do I ever feel sorry for Teutronites. Life without chocolate! Who could imagine? That's what I call majorly deprived."

"Well, get yourself prepared for deprivation," Sally told him. "That's just what we'll be experiencing when our supply of cookies and brownies is gone."

Rick smiled to himself. Here they were, landing a spaceship on a planet besieged by worldwide war, in a nation now occupied by a barbarian enemy, and they were all talking about chocolate.

"Some good might come out of this trip to Teutron after all," he said. "I think Charlie's going to lose those extra pounds he's been carrying around lately."

Charlie sneered at him. "Think so, huh? Don't count on it. I'll find something on this planet to eat!"

Just then, the spaceship approached a populated area and they all turned to look at the viewscreen. Scattered here and there amongst the rolling fields were large stone villas. Captain Ion guided the ship above them to an open field aside one of the homes, and then he and Officer Polamus brought the craft down to a gentle landing.

"Home at last!" ABL089 croaked happily as he left his post at the communications panel and crossed to the control desk. "Captain, I must report directly to the Princess. I'll take Rick, Charlie and Sally with me."

"Certainly." Captain Ion turned to Rick, Charlie and Sally and thanked them for their help in saving the ship and its crew from disaster. "Unfortunately, this is not a good time for you to visit Teutron," he added. "But King Pallas will be informed of the help you've given us and, should Olympus once again rule the planet, he will see to it that you are properly rewarded."

"The only reward we want is to be taken back to Earth," Rick told him. "Olympus must rule again. That's the bottom line!"

After leaving the control room, they followed ABL089 to the lounge. The robot took his flight bag from a cupboard and, after adding to its contents the cookies and brownies Sally had baked, they hurried down the corridor and out the lowered ramp.

Awaiting them in the field were several servants from Orion's villa. One of them, a tall woman dressed in a simple tunic-like gown, stepped forward to greet them.  "Abey! What good fortune that you have safely returned. Are these the Earthlings you told the Princess about?"

"Indeed they are," he nodded eagerly, introducing them to the woman whose name was Hestia, the housekeeper at Orion's villa.

With an expression of awe she greeted Rick, Charlie and Sally, welcoming them to Teutron. Then she turned and gave orders to the other servants who had been standing there gawking at them.

As the servants hurried up the ramp to carry out the orders and attend to the crew, Hestia gestured to follow her. "Come, we must hurry. Princess Athena has already left the villa. She was afraid to stay any longer in case the Zaxxon soldiers came back looking for her."

ABL089 was dismayed. He was all, "The Princess isn't here? Where did she go?"

As they hurried across the field to the villa, Hestia told them that Princess Athena had gone to Elysia, a nearby resort town, and that she wanted them to meet her there at a night club called the New Wave Canteen.

"She rode her horse to Elysia," Hestia added. "There are four other stallions in the corral saddled and ready for you."

"What about Orion's airship?" the robot asked. "Is it not here?"

"No, he flew off in it yesterday to Zaxxonia, the old fool!" Hestia rolled her eyes in dismay. "He went alone to look for Prince Apollo, and we are all worried to death about him."

ABL089 groaned as well as his cheerful programming allowed. "Then we'll have to ride the horses. But first we must get some clothes for our friends. They can't travel about our planet in those Earth clothes!"

The villa was set into a gently sloping hillside and a series of  landscaped terraces led up to the entrance. They hurried up the stone steps and entered the sprawling house. After sending Sally off with Hestia, ABL089 led Rick and Charlie down a marble-floored hall and into a large airy chamber at its end.

"This is the room Prince Apollo uses when he visits here," he said as he pulled open louvered closet doors. "Good, some of his clothes are here. You are all three about the same size, so they should fit you. While you boys change, I'll go to the kitchens and pack some supplies."

"Yes, food! Lotsa food!" Charlie shouted after him.

He and Rick pulled off their clothes and piled them on a shelf in the large closet. Charlie burst out laughing as he slipped into one of Prince Apollo's tunics.

He was totally, "Why do they dress like this here? It's so queer. I feel like I'm wearing a mini dress!"

Rick cracked up, laughing at his friend. "Your legs sure ain't as nice as Sally's, bud. Hard to believe, huh? They had nuclear war thousands of years ago, but no one here has invented jeans and tee-shirts yet!"

"I feel like we're getting in costume for one of those Greek tragedies the Lake University Drama Club puts on," Charlie added.

Rick belted the tunic he had pulled on. "We are dressing for a tragedy. The one playing out now right here on Teutron. Sheez! I sure hate to think of the Princess out there all alone with the Zaxxons on her trail."

Charlie slipped on a pair of sandals and tied the straps that came up to his calves. "Ditto on that. I hope she'll be safe in Elysia till we get there." He gaped down at his feet, all, "Man, how nuts is this? Gladiator shoes!"

There was a backpack on the closet floor and they put extra underwear and a couple changes of clothing in it. Rick flung it over his shoulder and they left the room. They met Sally in the entrance hall. She was wearing a simple white tunic-like gown, and she also carried a backpack.

"This is Princess Athena's dress," she told them. "Pretty neat, eh? Hestia said that the weather here is almost always warm. You seldom have to wear anything heavier than these light garments."

Rick nodded admiringly. "You look pretty ultra," he said. "Just like an Olympian Princess."

"I'll say she does," ABL089 agreed as he entered the hall. "With her long golden hair, Sally's almost a double for Princess Athena."

The girl's eyes widened. "Yikes! Then I hope the Zaxxons don't see me!"

The robot was carrying two backpacks now. "I put some supplies in these," he said, handing one to Charlie. "You young people do know how to ride horses, don't you?"

Rick assured him they did, having grown up riding the horses at the Connors' farm. As they crossed the marble floor to the door, Hestia came running into the hall.

"You've got to hurry," she said in worried tones. "Zaxxon soldiers are approaching the villa. Their road vehicles are coming down the lane. They've come back again! It was so awful when they were here earlier and took Prince Apollo!"

"We're outta here!" Rick said. "Let's go!"

"May good fortune be with you!" they heard Hestia cry as they rushed outside.

As they ran down the terrace steps and across to the outbuildings, the rumble of the approaching Zaxxon vehicles could be heard. Rick turned to look down the tree-lined lane that led up to the house. He could see a formation of rocket-shaped tank-like trucks speeding toward them.

"I hope they don't see us riding off on the horses," he shouted. "They won't have any trouble catching us in those space-age trucks of theirs."

ABL089 looked at him with wide eyes. "No way, Rick. Those are ground vehicles. They can't fly."

"Fly? Well neither do horses," Sally laughed as they rounded the corner of a large stone barn.

The next moment she stopped dead in her tracks and stared ahead, her eyes wide with astonishment.

Charlie, too, came to an abrupt halt. He gawked ahead in total amazement.

"Dude! Raider! Do you see what I see?" he blurted.

Rick's grin was almost as wide as ABL089's.

He was all, totally, "I sure do, buddy. Those Zaxxons won't catch us now!"

In a corral directly ahead of them were four white stallions, each with a long flowing mane, and each with a pair of beautiful widespread wings.

ABL089 let out a shrill peal of laughter. "I take it the horses on Earth don't fly, eh? Well, you kids are in for the ride of your life. These are four of the fabulous flying Pegasi of Teutron!"

Coming next! Chapter Seven: THE FLIGHT OF THE PEGASI

RICK RAIDER ETERNAL FLAME 5

Rick Raider:
THE SEARCH FOR THE ETERNAL FLAME
copyright 2011 Stratomiker Syndicate  

To get all the chapters click on 'Eternal Flame' on the sidebar.

Chapter Five: ATTACK OF THE ZAXXONS

Rick Raider jumped to his feet, steadying himself against the swaying of the Olympian spaceship. It felt like his heart was in his throat, it was pounding so hard. It was too much to comprehend that he was being called upon to pilot an intergalactic spaceship in a battle with enemy craft!

"Yo! Let's get going," he called to his friends as he headed to the doorway. "This is like totally insane, but we've got to do it!"

Charlie and Sally, for the first time Rick could ever remember, were speechless as they  scrambled up and rushed across the room as the runaway craft careened through space.

"The Zaxxon warships are small and their phasers aren't as powerful as our quasar torpedoes," ABL089 told them as they hurried down the corridor.

"Then we stand a chance against them?" Charlie asked breathlessly, finding his voice once again.

"Yes, we can destroy the Zaxxons if we can get the ship under control."

Sally hurried on with her hands against the wall to keep her balance. "What happened to the crew members?"

"They were hurled against the walls and equipment, and injured," the robot said as they arrived at a red door at the corridor's end. He reached out his hand and the door dissolved.

"Captain Ion has a wound on his head and I fear his two assistants were further injured by electrical discharge. The blast short-circuited some equipment."

"What about the Quantae-drive engineer?" Rick asked.

ABL089 shrugged, his big smile incongruous with the dangerous situation. "He's down in the engine room. I tried to contact him but there was no response. We'll have to check on him later. Right now we've got to get this ship under control!"

The control room was directly in the bow of the spacecraft. In front was a large viewscreen showing the stars as the ship plummeted through them. Along the walls were computer stations and equipment, hundreds of lights flashing and blinking. The acrid smell of smoke was in the air. A man was slumped against a counter by one of the stations, and two others were sprawled on the floor in front of a large control desk in the center of the room. All three wore belted tunics of a military style.

Rick looked around quickly and assessed the situation. He never would have believed that one day he'd be commandeering a spaceship, but he set his jaw firmly and followed ABL089 to the control desk.

"Charlie, see if you and Sally can revive these men," he ordered. Then,  "Abey, what do we have to do?"

The robot sat down in front of the control station. "Just follow my instructions."

Rick took the seat next to him and looked over the myriad of controls. He could feel himself trembling, but he knew it was from the thrill of excitement as well as a tinge of fear.

"The ship is run by the computer, Rick, but now it's out of control." ABL089 pointed to a lever directly in front of him. "I'll pull this lever to reactivate computer control. Aristotle will take over again. You have to work those four instruments in front of you to direct our movement while we fight the Zaxxons. I'll control the ship's speed."

Rick ran his fingers through his hair. This was like a total video game nightmare. The real thing! And billions of miles into outer space.

He was like, "It's a cinch. Let's do it!"

ABL089 pulled the lever. Lights flashed up and down the control panel in front of them and the ship slowly returned to a more even flight. As Rick manipulated the controls, he looked up to the viewscreen and saw that they were now flying through the stars in a normal manner.

"All systems go," he grinned. "At least the phaser blast didn't do us in."

ABL089 nodded. "Not likely, Rick. It would take a lot more than one phaser to destroy this ship."

Rick chuckled. "I am so totally glad to hear that!"

The robot reached over to press a control that changed the viewscreen to a rear prospect. The image on the large screen immediately changed to one showing the three enemy warships once again closing in behind them.

"Oh brother, here they come again," Charlie muttered from behind.

Rick turned to look at him. "What's up with the Captain and his assistants?"

"They're totally out, man. All three of them. We dragged them back to the carpeted area by the door. Sally's with them, but they sure need a doctor." Charlie's eyes bugged out at the viewscreen. "Hey, we'd better get away from those Zaxxons!"

Rick glanced back up at the screen, his dark eyes hard and cold. "Give this baby some gas, Abey!"

The robot increased the speed and Rick guided the ship upward. The Olympian craft streaked high above the Zaxxon ships in a wide arc.

Charlie was all, "They're coming after us. Get behind them, dude! Let's show those Zaxxons a thing or two and blast them right out of space."

"That's exactly what we must do, boys," ABL089 said. "Those warships are manned by Zaxxon robots that are programmed to kill or be destroyed."

Rick's eyes widened. "You mean we're fighting for our lives against robots?"

"Right. But they're not nice ones like me," ABL089 assured him. "Nothing will stop them from trying to destroy us."

As if to verify his statement, one of the Zaxxon ships flew out ahead of the others and fired a phaser that streaked through space at them. But Rick guided the ship upward, escaping the phaser's path and then, suddenly, he flew off to port side. Again, just as quickly, he shot downward.

Charlie urged him on. "Max it, Rick. Yo, to the limit!"

The warships were no longer behind them, and ABL089 switched the viewscreen to its forward prospect as Rick guided the ship upward again.

Sally rushed up to the control desk from behind. Her green eyes shone with excitement. She was all totally, "Yay! Good going, Rick! We're behind them now!"

The Zaxxon warships were up ahead of them, flying in formation. Rick had his eyes pinned on them.

"Man the torpedoes!" ABL089 shouted excitedly as he manipulated several controls.

Sections of the control panel lit up and a bullseye marker was superimposed over the image on the viewscreen.

"Line up the ships in the center of that bullseye," the robot directed, "and we'll torpedo those lousy Zaxxon robots."

Sally looked questioningly at them. "Robots?"

Charlie explained that robots manned the enemy ships and that they were programmed to kill.

Sally placed her hands on ABL089's shoulders. "Whew! I am  so totally glad you're not like them, Abey."

The plastic-like man chuckled. "I'd rather have windmills in my head than Zaxxon microchips!"

Then Rick guided the ship close in behind the three warships. He worked the controls so that one of the Zaxxon ships was directly in the center of the bullseye.

"Charlie, you press that torpedo trigger," ABL089 ordered. "It's that flashing button right in the center of the panel."

Charlie eagerly reached between Rick and the robot and slammed the trigger. He was like, "Red death for you, buster!"

A fiery beam shot across the viewscreen and connected with the Zaxxon ship. The small spacecraft exploded in a brilliant flash of light. A moment later all trace of it had disappeared.

"Good shot!" ABL089 cheered. "One down and two to go."

Rick zeroed in on one of the two remaining ships. The pilot of the craft tried to get away by swooping off into different directions, but Rick followed closely. Soon he had the warship in the dead center of the bullseye.

Charlie slammed the trigger and the quasar torpedo zoomed ahead. It hit the Zaxxon ship squarely, and the enemy craft exploded.

Sally jumped excitedly. "Excellent! One more and we'll be home free."

The remaining enemy ship was far on the left of the screen. Rick went after it port side and ABL089 increased the speed.

"Go for it!" Charlie urged. "The darn sucker!"

"Just watch me!" Rick laughed, then followed the erratic flight of the fleeing enemy craft.

It swooped up, then off to starboard, back quickly port side, and then it spiraled downward. They followed it closely, keeping it within the bullseye.

"Get ready, Connors," Rick said tensely, beads of perspiration showing on his forehead. "As soon as that craft is in the center of the target, give it the gun."

Anxiously, the foursome watched the viewscreen as Rick made every attempt to center the enemy craft in the target. Slowly but surely he did as Charlie held his fist poised above the trigger.

"Now!" Rick hissed.

Charlie was all, "You are SO dead!"  And he banged down his fist.

Their eyes were glued to the big screen as the torpedo streaked to the center of the bullseye and hit its target square on. The Zaxxon ship burst into an explosion of light.

A spontaneous cheer rose up amongst them.

"Good fortune!" ABL089 squeaked. "I knew we could do it!"

"Awesome flying, dude," Charlie said to Rick as they slapped hands together in a high five.

Rick grinned with relief. He was like, "Hey, it was a slam dunk. Good thing I was playing Star Death last night. Who knew it'd prepare me for a real fight in space today?"

"And some people say that playing computer games is a waste of time," Sally harrumphed. "It sure helped save the day for us. Totally big ups to you, guys!"

ABL089 switched off the control for the target marker and it disappeared from the screen. Then he turned a series of dials and typed in a code on a row of keys along the top of the panel. The ship dipped and sailed in a wide arc before leveling off again.

"There!" He turned to the others. "Now the ship is under automatic computer control and Aristotle will guide us on a course to Teutron. We will arrive there shortly."

"We'd better see to the crew," Rick reminded them. "Jeez, We've got to give them some kind of first aid."

ABL089 got up from his seat. "Sally, the boys and I will carry the officers to sick bay. I want you to stay here and keep an eye on the controls."

"Gladly," Sally agreed, and he showed her how to change the views on the viewscreen so that she could watch for enemy ships.

He pointed to a red lever. "If you see any flying objects out there, pull this lever. It'll set off the sirens and we'll come running."

Leaving Sally at the control post, the boys and ABL089 carried the officers down the corridor into sick bay. Captain Ion had come to and he was mumbling groggily. After the men  had been placed on elevated bunks, the robot led the boys down to the engine room.

Officer Janus, the Quantae-drive engineer, was found sprawled on the floor. His forehead was bleeding where he had banged it on a large pipe after having been knocked off his feet by the phaser blast. After they had carried him up to sick bay, ABL089 examined the officers with an electronic device similar to a small microscope. It was attached to a machine that monitored the bodily functions.

"None of them seem to have been seriously injured," he said at length. "You know, sometimes I'm glad I'm not human. The blast threw me too, but it takes more than a hard knock to throw this plastic head of mine out of whack!"

He opened a cupboard and withdrew a number of first aid items, including a small vial. He instructed Charlie to clean and dress the head wounds of the Captain and Officer Janus, and to revive them and the other men with the chemical in the vial.

Captain Ion was mumbling incoherently. ABL089 looked at him. "Charlie, when the Captain is aware of what's going on, give him a full account of the situation. But insist that he stays here and rests with the others. Rick and I will be in the control room. I have to contact the spaceport in Olympia and let them know we'll soon be landing."

"Gotcha!" Charlie turned to the bunk the Captain was on and held the vial underneath his nose.

Rick followed ABL089 out of the sick bay and they hurried over to the control room.

"Everything is A-OK," Sally told them. "No more Zaxxon ships in sight. But I think someone was trying to make radio contact with the ship. Static was coming from the speakers. There was a voice too, but I could barely hear it. I couldn't make out what it was saying."

"That's very odd," ABL089 said, raising his bushy brows. "There wouldn't be static if the spaceport was trying to contact us. The Quantae-space waves can reach us clearly anywhere, especially now that we're so close to Teutron."

He looked at the viewscreen. It now showed a glowing planet suspended in the black void of space.

"Maybe the ship's communication equipment was damaged by the Zaxxon phaser," Rick suggested. "It might not be picking up the signal properly."

"That's easy enough to find out." ABL089 walked over to a communications station on the side wall. He manipulated several devices and lights flashed up and down the panel.

"Everything is all right," he said. "It's really strange to receive a weak transmission. There must be trouble in Olympia. I'd better contact the spaceport."

He picked up a microphone from the panel and was about to turn a dial on the board when a rush of static filled the room. It was followed by a voice:

"Explorer ship XZ89, do you copy? Do not contact Olympia spaceport or land your ship there. Danger in Olympia!"

Another rush of static followed the message. Then, dead silence.

Rick was like, "Uh oh." He felt a chill streak up his back. He turned to the robot. "Looks like we're heading into more trouble, Abey."

ABL089's big eyes looked as if they were about to pop out of his head. "Great Andromeda! That was the voice of Princess Athena!"

"The Princess?" Sally repeated, startled. "Oh, what's going on? I hope she's okay!"

"Shhh!" Rick warned as the static filled the room again.

The voice followed. "Explorer ship XZ89. If you copy, please transfer to laser beam communication. I repeat: transfer to laser beam communication."

ABL089 immediately began to work some controls on the panel. "The Princess is contacting us from a laser beam communicator," he said excitedly. "I'm now hooking into the beam coming from her unit so I can transmit to her over it."

When the connection to laser communication was complete, he spoke into the microphone. "Princess Athena, this is ABL089 speaking. We are now connected for communication."

"Abey!" The excited voice of the Princess now clearly filled the room. "Oh what good fortune that my beam located your ship! Are you safe? I was so worried about you! It's been reported that Zaxxon warships are patrolling the quadrant to destroy the returning explorer ships."

"We were attacked by three warships upon entering the solar system," ABL089 told her. "The crew's been injured but I was able to regain control of the ship and destroy the Zaxxons with the help of three Earthlings who accidentally stowed away on our ship."

"Earthlings!" came the stunned response of the Princess. "Well, there's nothing to do but to bring them here with you. I'm at my uncle's villa on the Elysian Fields, and you have to land the ship here. The city of Olympia has been occupied by the Zaxxons, and they have stolen the Eternal Flame from the Temple of the Sun!"

ABL089 looked at Rick and Sally, his mouth agape.

Then he was like, "They stole the Eternal Flame? But that means there is no longer any hope for the nation of Olympus!"

The voice of the Princess was very sad. "You are right, Abey. The war is over and the Zaxxons have conquered our nation. They now rule the entire planet of Teutron!"

Coming next, Chapter Six: THE ELYSIAN FIELDS

RICK RAIDER ETERNAL FLAME 4

Rick Raider:
THE SEARCH FOR THE ETERNAL FLAME
copyright 2011 Stratomiker Syndicate  

To get all the chapters click on 'Eternal Flame' on the sidebar.

Chapter Four: HELLO ANDROMEDA!

Standing in the portal was a man-like creature, tall and slim and pleasant-looking, with an expressive smiling face. He wore a tunic and sandals and resembled a normal man in every way save one. He was made entirely of what appeared to be a plastic-like substance!

A shock of blond synthetic hair crowned his head and bushy blond brows arched over his big round blue eyes as he looked the three friends up and down with unabashed curiosity.

Sally moved closer to Rick and grabbed his arm. She was  like, "Ohmygod! What is it?"

"It's not human, that's for sure," Rick muttered. "Some kind of robotic man, like an android. I just hope he's friendly."

A tentative smile quirked the edges of Charlie's mouth. "He sure looks friendly. I haven't seen a smile like that since the last time I saw a clown."

The plastic-like man walked into the room. He grinned broadly and nodded at them, and walked over to a cabinet on the wall opposite the computer. He opened the door and withdrew a small box, taking from it three rings. After placing the box back on the shelf and closing the door, he walked over to them and indicated that they were to slip the rings on their fingers. He handed one to each of them.

"This sure is weird," Sally croaked, eyeing the creature suspiciously.

Rick inspected the ring he'd been given. It was about one eighth of an inch thick and made of dull gray metal with tiny mesh inserts along the perimeter. It wasn't particularly attractive and obviously not used as decorative jewelry. He figured it had another purpose. Shrugging, he slipped it on his ring finger and Charlie and Sally did the same.

"There, now you can understand me," the creature said in a  low digitized masculine voice. "You are wearing sensor rings, invented thousands of years ago by Olympian scientists. The tiny speakers pick up vocal sound waves and the sensory apparatus in the rings scans the wearers' brain waves and translates the spoken word. They were devised to circumvent the problems caused because of the many different languages spoken on Teutron. With the rings, everyone understands each other."

Rick was all, "Majorly awesome! What an excellent device." He thought how valuable such a ring would be to InterTell. Noticing that the plastic-like man did not wear one himself, he asked, "Why don't you have one on?"

"I don't need to wear a sensor ring." The reply came with a chuckle and a grin. "I have a similar apparatus built into my head."

"Are you one of the Olympians?" Charlie asked doubtfully.

The creature laughed again. "Ask that question in Olympus and they'll think you've been out in the sun all day."

It was Sally's turn to laugh. She was totally, "People already think that of Charlie. All the time. So if you're not one of the Olympians, then who are you?"

"My name is ABL089 and, as you can see, because it is rather obvious, I'm a robot. The Olympians are humans, the same as you. I live with the Royal Family in their palace in the golden city of Olympia. We Olympian robots are very cheerful creatures and one of us always accompanies a space mission to keep up the morale of the crew."

ABL089 proffered his hand and they each shook it in turn, telling him their names.

"Hmmm!" The robot closed his eyes and a soft whirring noise was heard from the inside of his head. He opened his eyes and grinned. "There! Now I know all about you!"

Rick frowned. "What do you mean you know all about us?"

"Well, not really everything. But what I do know is all first rate. You are all three excellent students who achieve top honors at your university. You are all nineteen Earth years old and live close by each other on the same street."

"How do you know all that?" Charlie demanded.

"Well, as you seem to have discovered, for we picked up your radio transmission to Earth on our communications system, we extracted all the data from the two large computer systems in Lake City into Aristotle, our ship's computer. I, in turn, have transmitted the data into my own memory banks, for that is part of my job."

Rick's eyes widened. "You mean you can hold all the data this big computer can?"

"Just about. I'm a very sophisticated machine, perhaps the most technologically advanced robot in the universe. When I return to Olympus, it will be my job to relate the scientific information we received from your computers to our scientists."

Ricks brows were knitted in thought. "ABL089, ..."

"Please!" interrupted the robot. "Call me Abey, as my friends do. ABL089 is much too formal. And it takes such a long time to say!"

Rick's serious expression eased into a smile. "Sure, Abey. My radio devise transmits in code. How were you able to understand the message?"

The robot's jaw dropped in surprise. "Goodness, cryptic code is a thing of millenia past on Teutron. Our communications equipment is able to translate and decipher any transmissions we may pick up wherever we go."

"We didn't mean to stow away," Sally told him. "It was an accident. When we saw the ship sitting there in the field, we couldn't resist coming aboard to explore. We had no idea you were going to take off."

Teutron between the Olympians and the Zaxxons."

Rick nodded. "We know about the war. We read the command message on the computer's communications monitor."

The smiling robot nodded. "We figured you had worked the sensory mechanisms on the equipment to find out the information you told your father. That was very clever of you. This war is a dreadful thing and we have to hurry home. The Zaxxons have kidnapped Prince Apollo. I hope he's still alive!"

"Do you think they'd actually kill him?" Charlie asked.

"Yes." ABL089 nodded vigorously. "The Zaxxons want to conquer Olympus, and because the Prince is the heir to the throne it's possible they might do away with him."

"But that's horrible," Sally said. "Princess Athena must be pretty shook up over his disappearance."

ABL089 bounced his bushy brows. "You found out about the Princess, too?"

Rick explained how they had worked the computer to find out the information about Teutron.

"You young people were certainly busy. I'm impressed you could so easily handle Aristotle. Your operating systems on Earth must be very good ones. Yes, I'm sure Princess Athena is very distressed. She and her brother are very close to each other. You see, they are twins."

"Twins?" Charlie repeated. "That's something I've never heard of before, a prince and princess who are twins. I'd sure like to meet Princess Athena."

"You are sure to have the opportunity," ABL089 told him. "When we land in Olympus, you'll be taken immediately to the Royal Palace."

Sally frowned. She was like, "Can't you take us back to Earth? Our families are going to be frantic."

ABL089 shook his head. "I'm very sorry. There's no way we can turn back now. The ship has already traveled through Quantae space and left your galaxy. We will be approaching Andromeda soon."

"What!" Charlie was astonished. "We flew through an entire galaxy already?"

"Did you say 'Quantae space'?" Rick asked, before the robot could answer Charlie's question.

ABL089 grinned merrily. "Yes, we have traversed your galaxy already. And, yes, I did say Quantae space. It's a mode of travel the scientists on Earth are only now beginning to research."

"Yes, we know about it," Rick said. "They plan to hold conferences in Lake City next month about Quantae space travel."

ABL089 nodded. "We picked up a transmission concerning these conferences while monitoring a laser communications satellite orbiting Earth. That's what prompted us to visit Lake City several times recently. Yesterday we uploaded the information about the conferences from the two computers. We wanted to know just how much the Earthlings know about Quantae space travel."

There was a glint of wonder in Charlie's eyes. "You mean you can upload information just.....just...through the air?"

"Certainly," ABL089 confirmed. "Your computers have no alpha-sabotage protection. Don't forget, we're thousands of years ahead of Earth in technology. And we  believe we should keep it that way. We transmitted self-modifying code into the two computer systems so that they continually reprogram themselves, wiping out the data and rendering the systems useless. The Olympians want to prevent the people of Earth from discovering the key to Quantae space travel."

"But why?" Sally said in an angry tone. "The people of Earth have a right to that knowledge too, especially if they figure it out for themselves."

The robot turned to her. "Our observations have proved the Earthlings to be warlike in nature," he said. "Should they be able to travel the galaxies and visit other worlds, they shall want to conquer them. We've observed this same problem with the Zaxxons of Teutron who desire to conquer the Olympians. Although they have fine ships of their own, the Zaxxons do not have the knowledge of Quantae space travel and their explorations are limited to our own solar system, where they have already stirred up quite a lot of trouble. One of the reasons behind the current outbreak of war is because they wish to steal the Quantae secret from us."

"What exactly is this Quantae method of travel?" Charlie wanted to know.

"Hmmm, it's really not something you can readily explain, being based on Quantum physics technology, which is still only theory on your planet." The robot stopped for a moment, looking like he was thinking, then he went on. "To put it simply, you must think of space as not being a continuum, but instead a string of discreet points called Quantae. It's normally assumed that all matter must travel through each Quantae point in space. However, the Olympians have discovered a property of the universe which enables them to travel and communicate by skipping Quantae points, the same as you might skip a series of dotted lines on a piece of paper if you fold the paper and touch dots to each other that are normally far apart."

"It's like warping space, isn't it?" Rick asked.

"Exactly," ABL089 agreed. "And it enables travel equivalent to excesses of the speed of light."

"Far out," Charlie said, all agog at the idea of it. "They've been doing that on Star Trek for years now back on Earth. But it's only a space-opera  television show. We can't do it yet in real life."

"I'm sure the scientists of your planet will one day discover the secret of this mode of travel," the robot said. "Hopefully they will have overcome their warlike nature by then and be able to travel throughout the universe on missions of peace."

"Well, you're wrong," Rick told him, a defiant glint in his dark eyes. "We're ready to prove to the Olympians that all Earthlings are not warlike, and that most of them are peace-loving people like us."

"Right on," Charlie agreed. "Tell him about it, Rick. The Olympians' opinion of Earthlings seems extremely prejudiced to me."

Sally nodded, all, "But totally! There are problems on Earth, but most of its people would rather live in peace with each other. And even if they didn't, what right does Teutron have to come and steal ideas from us to retard our progress?"

ABL089 arched his brows. "You certainly feel fervently about it," he said. "With that kind of spirit, you just might change the Olympians' minds."

"They sure need to be changed," Sally harrumphed with finality.

Rick's hand closed around the encryptive transceiver in his jacket pocket. He looked at the robot thoughtfully. "Abey, do you think there's some way we can contact Earth from Teutron? I'd sure like to let our families know we're okay."

"I'm sure we can figure out a way for you to call home, Rick. Perhaps by means of your radio transceiver and the Quantae transmission rays used to contact our explorer ships. And when the war is over, King Pallas will undoubtedly see to it that a ship is dispatched to take you back to Earth."

Sally looked somewhat relieved. "Gosh, I hope so. Visiting a planet in another galaxy will sure be an awesome experience, but we do have to get back home!"

"Of course you do," agreed the robot. "But in the meantime, you'll be shown every courtesy in the city of Olympia. I must warn you, though, that our scientists will want to inspect and observe you. After all, you'll be the first Earthlings ever to visit Teutron."

"That's pretty way out," Charlie smirked. "Now it's our turn to be aliens."

"But there's no question about us being 'invaders'," Sally added, grinning at the boys.

"I'm expecting Teutron to be a lot like our planet," Rick said. "In fact, from what we've learned so far, the Olympians seem to be quite similar to the ancient Greek civilization of Earth."

"There are many surprising similarities and parallels in the universe," ABL089 told him. "We have no data on Earth's ancient Greeks, but you must tell me about them sometime."

"Why don't you try your memory banks?" Charlie suggested. "Aristotle may have sucked up some info on the Greeks from the University computer."

"Splendid idea!" The robot closed his eyes and assumed a look of ecstasy as they heard the soft whirring in his head.

"My word," he emitted when his wide blue eyes opened a moment later. "Heaven forfend! Yes, Aristotle did get loads of information about the Greeks, probably from e-books and e-texts at your library. The ancient Greeks are indeed the spitting image of the Olympians, in fact, of all of Teutron. I certainly shall have a great ball musing over this information when I have spare time."

He then gestured to the doorway. "Now that we've become acquainted, I'll take you to the crew's lounge. You may want to rest and refresh yourselves before seeing Captain Ion. I know that Quantae space travel can be very exhausting for humans if they are not properly prepared and suited."

"Which we certainly were not!" Sally was all like.

"Well, you shouldn't have any serious ill effects, regardless," ABL089 assured them. "The ship is built with human comfort in mind."

But Rick assured the robot that they hadn't suffered any bad effects from the forceful warps through space. As they followed him down the corridor, ABL089 told them there were a total of five crew members on board. In addition to himself there was Captain Ion, his two assistants, and the Quantae-drive engineer.

"There were several Olympian explorer ships abroad in your galaxy," he added. "But they should all be on their way back to Teutron now because of the war."

"Are there any other planets in our galaxy that have life on them?" Charlie wanted to know.

"Several that we know of," was the robot's reply. "But none of them anything like on Earth. Yours is definitely the most advanced civilization in the Milky Way galaxy!"

He led them through another dissolving door into the crew lounge. Here there was a large viewscreen on one wall, suites of  furniture of a futuristic design, game tables, a bank of personal computers with huge monitors displaying dazzling three-dimensional screen savers, and several arcade-style video games. On the far side of the lounge was a complete galley with all the appliances similar to those found on Earth.

What immediately caught their attention, however, was a tray on the galley table. It was loaded with very familiar-looking brownies and chocolate chip cookies.

"Hot dog!" Charlie raced across the room. He grabbed one of the brownies and took a huge bite. Then he was utterly, "I've been waiting for one of these all day!"

Rick laughed as he joined him at the table. "And I'll bet you never dreamed you'd have to leave the galaxy to get one."

"Yo, dude. It was worth the trip." Charlie shoved the rest of the brownie in his mouth. "Totally!"

ABL089 looked puzzled. "I don't understand. What do you mean that you were waiting for these? Officer Polamus found these food samples back on Earth. He said they had been left on the hood of a road vehicle."

Charlie smirked. "Yeah, a likely story. But I don't blame him. One sniff, and who could resist taking them?"

Rick explained that his aunt had baked the cookies and brownies and left the box of them on the hood of her car. "On the way back out of the house, she saw your crew member take the box and a bag of her groceries from inside the car."

"And he scared the daylights out of her, too," Sally added.

"Oh, dear," the robot murmured. He walked over to a bank of cupboards and opened one. "Here are the items from the bag Officer Polamus brought on board."

On the shelf were two boxes of brownie mix, a bag of chocolate morsels, and several other ingredients for baking. ABL089 pointed to the chilling unit. "There were also eggs, butter, and milk. I put them in there."

"Don't worry about it, Abey," Rick said. "I'm sure officer Polamus' intent wasn't to steal. He was out exploring, and food samples are something totally worthwhile to bring back to the ship."

Sally grinned with amusement. "Abey, you're the only one I've ever known who smiles when he's worried."

The robot chuckled. "I always smile. My face was constructed this way. I can't frown even if I try. And I don't actually worry much for I'm programmed to be relentlessly cheerful."

Charlie clapped him on the back. "All right, bud. Why don't you have one of Aunt Bea's brownies? They're the best in the universe."

ABL089 looked at the tray. "They certainly do look wonderful. But, unfortunately, I don't eat food."

Charlie pretended to be shocked. He was totally like, "No!"

"Yes! I'm a machine, young man, fueled by a power pack."

Charlie grimaced. "Well, you don't know what you're missing, dude."

The robot shook his head. "You're putting me on. Everyone knows robots don't eat food. Even Earthlings!"

Grinning, he turned and walked to the door. "I have to brief  Captain Ion on my interview with you. He'll expect to see you later. There's plenty of food in the chilling unit, so help yourselves if you're hungry."

"You can bet on that," Charlie assured him.

"We'll soon be approaching Andromeda," ABL089 added as an afterthought. "The ship will down-drive from Quantae flight before entering the galaxy. But the departure is not as forceful as the entry, so you shouldn't experience any discomfort."

"Well, what do you think of that?" Rick asked, after the robot had left the room. "Not too shabby, huh? A life-like synthetic man with a computer in his head far better than anything we have on Earth."

"I like him," Sally said. "He's cute, and it's almost like he's human. Abey would sure be a big hit with the kids back home."

Charlie bit into another brownie. "We'll be a big hit with the kids back home if the news leaks out that we've gone up into space."

"InterTell will keep it a secret," Rick told him. "And when we get back home, we'll have to keep it to ourselves, too."

"Figures," Charlie grumbled. "Just when you have something really big to brag about, mum's the freakin' word."

The three friends made themselves at home and were soon eating sandwiches made from bread, meat, and cheese found in the chilling unit. Afterwards, Charlie and Sally experimented with one of the video games, a holographic maze game similar to the old-fashioned Pac-Man back home on Earth, except that it displayed ontop of the table-top screen right up in the very air between them.

Rick looked over the remote control pad for the large viewscreen on the wall of the lounge. After pressing the sensor button on the unit, the symbols all changed to ones he understood. He pressed a button now marked FLY, and then one marked FORWARD PROSPECT.

"Wow! Check this out, dudes!"

On the screen was a magnificent color image of a giant pinwheel of stars, hung in the blackness of space.

Charlie and Sally hurried over.

"Like totally whoa! That must be the galaxy Andromeda," Charlie cried. "Jeez, look how quickly we're approaching it."

Each passing second the giant galaxy grew larger and larger as the ship rushed rapidly towards it. Sally stared at the screen, a thrill of excitement coursing through her.

"Hello, Andromeda!" she said with spirit. "Yow, I've got goosebumps all over! Isn't it fantastic, boys?"

"Like totally!" both Rick and Charlie agreed, mesmerized by the sight of the awesome galaxy they were approaching.

Suddenly, the ship's speed slackened as it decelerated from Quantae flight, and they had to fight to keep their balance, holding onto each other and laughing with excitement. Then,  seconds later, billions and billions of stars filled the viewscreen, and they were rushing through them at an incredible speed.

"Yahoo! Talk about the max," whooped Charlie. "This is it!"

"It's totally huge!" Rick agreed, thrilled with excitement. Then he was all, "And it's majorly insane! We're the first people from Earth ever to enter another galaxy!"

"Oh, look," Sally cried, pointing. "We seem to be zeroing in on that one star. Isn't it beautiful?"

"It must be the star Lexia," Rick said, as the glowing orb grew bigger and bigger on the viewscreen.

"We must be in its solar system already," Charlie cried, totally enthralled. "Man, and we think three hours from New York to London on the Concorde is fast!"

At that very same moment there was sudden shift in the flight of the ship, and a whooping siren blared throughout the room, startling them. The lights flashed and a digitized voice boomed mysteriously from the wall.

"Alert! Alert! Zaxxon warships closing in on rear. Alert conditions prevail! Prepare for combat!"

"Ohmygod!" Sally cried, her hands flying up to her cheeks. "Zaxxons are going to attack the ship!"

Rick quickly punched the viewscreen control marked REAR PROSPECT, and the screen's image changed to one showing the stars flying back behind them. Closing in on the rear of the ship were three small spacecraft.

He groaned. "Talk about Star Death. This is just like the computer game!"

"But real!" Charlie gawked at the viewscreen. "And those aren't the Groggs, they're Zaxxons! Real enemies waging war! Captain Ion had better leave those suckers in the dust."

"Or shoot them down," Sally said worriedly.

"If they don't get us first. Look!" Rick pointed to the screen. "They're shooting at us now!"

Streams of fiery light could be seen streaking towards them from the attacking warships.

"I don't believe this," Charlie groaned. "It looks like we're gonna be the ones to eat red death. And just when we were having such a huge good time!"

There was a mighty blast and the ship shook as if it were going to explode. They were thrown savagely to the floor and the room spun around and around. Rick twisted around to look at the viewscreen and saw that the warships were now above them as their craft went tumbling down through space.

They sprawled there stunned for several seconds, then the door to the room suddenly dissolved and ABL089 stood there clinging to the archway.

"Rick! Charlie! Sally!" he cried. "The Captain and his assistants have been injured from the phaser blast. You've got to help me fly the ship and fight the Zaxxons, or else we'll all perish!"


Click HERE for Chapter Five: ATTACK OF THE ZAXXONS

RICK RAIDER ETERNAL FLAME 3

Rick Raider:
THE SEARCH FOR THE ETERNAL FLAME
copyright 2011 Stratomiker Syndicate  

To get all the chapters click on 'Eternal Flame' on the sidebar.

Chapter Three: STOWAWAYS

The three friends gaped in astonishment at the ship from outer space. The streamlined craft rested on several stilt-like legs and, in the center of the side facing them, there was an open hatch and a ramp leading to the ground.

Charlie nudged Rick in the side. He was all like, "How about it, Raider? Do you believe in aliens now?"

Rick could feel his heart pounding with excitement. "Totally. This is insane! Let's get a closer look. We can sneak through the prison ruins."

"You bet," Sally agreed. "Gosh, I wish we had a camera!"


Charlie had whipped out his cell phone. "We do!" And he began snapping pictures as they moved on.

They crept along the edge of the overgrown shrubberies until they were across the gardens from the crumbling walls. Making sure no one was in sight, they dashed through the open area into a doorway.  Inside the old structure, the upper floors and most of the roof had fallen in. Sunlight filtered down through hanging rafters and slit-like windows, casting weird shadows all around them.

Sally jumped as a crow croaked up in the rafters.

"Yikes!" She looked up, startled.

"Get a grip," Charlie needled her. "It's just a bird."

"Oh sure. Whatever you say, most fearless one!"

Charlie snorted. "Girls! Everything scares them."

"Will you two knock it off?" Rick hissed. "If any of the aliens are around, they'll be sure to hear us."

They crept through the large room and into the next, crossing the debris-strewn floor to a row of windows on the back wall. The glass had long been gone and the bars had fallen out. They were much closer to the ship now and could see a shadowy corridor just inside the hatch.

Rick scanned the clearing. He frowned. "No one seems to be around."

"They must all be out exploring," Charlie suggested.

"Someone has to be in the craft," Sally reasoned. "They wouldn't leave it unguarded."

Charlie leaned forward out the window. He took a couple more pictures and then pocketed his phone. "Let's sneak aboard and check it out."

Rick grabbed Charlie's arm to hold him back, instantly like, "Chill, dude. That would not be a wise move."

Sally nodded vigorously, grabbing Charlie's other arm. She knew only too well how impulsive he could be. "We might get caught," she whispered. "They might hurt us."

They exchanged glances, each wanting to explore the UFO but knowing it'd be a dangerous and foolhardy thing to do.

Charlie groaned, falling back a little, and  Rick and Sally loosened their hold on him. Then he shot forward and flung his foot up on the window ledge.

He looked wild with excitement. He was all, "I'm going! You two can wait here for me."

"Connors, wait!" Rick tried to grab him as Charlie heaved himself out the window. "You can't just go and sneak on that ship!"

But Charlie was already running across the gardens toward the field, and he didn't bother to even look back.

"Darn him!" Rick grunted as he climbed out the window to follow. "Sally, you stay here!"

"Not on your life, Rick Raider!" she tossed back with spirit. "I'm coming too!"

She followed right behind him out the window in pursuit of Charlie, who was now racing across the field to the ship. He paused at the ramp when he turned and saw his friends following.

"I knew you couldn't resist it." Charlie was all grins as they joined him. "Something like this happens only once in a lifetime! It's an actual spaceship from another world!"

"You're totally wack," Rick said, but he was unable to keep his eyes away from the little bit of the ship's interior that could be seen. "We don't know anything about the creatures who own this thing. They could be dangerous."

To which Charlie was all, "Yah, right. Like, since when does danger scare us? Aunt Bea said the space dude was human-like. He looked like Hercules. How bad can it be? Hercules was a cool dude. You know darn right you want to go inside as much as I do!"

"They might be friendly," Sally said hopefully, wanting to explore the ship more than anything. "Maybe all they wanted was the data from the computers at the University and newspaper offices. We can just tell them we live in the neighborhood and happened by. Which is the truth. It's only natural we'd be curious. If we see any of them, that is."

"Right." Charlie looked eagerly up the ramp. "After all, these hills are our territory. They can't just land their ship here and expect us to stay away."

Rick narrowed his eyes, looking up into the corridor of the ship. He had to admit that Charlie was right. He wanted to check the spaceship out just as much as they did, if not more. He knew it'd be risky to enter the craft, but like his friends, he just couldn't say No.

He shook his head. He was like, "What lame excuses. We're just plain crazy. Let's go!"

Feeling his heart thudding in his throat, Rick led the way up the ramp. They entered the ship and crept slowly up the corridor toward the bow. Lining the gray metal walls were control panels with glowing displays and other devices, and along the corridor were several arches containing doors of various bright colors.

"Cool," Charlie whispered. "Looks like the Starship Enterprise. Maybe we'll see Spock or Captain Kirk."

Sally shivered. "Just so we don't see a Klingon!"

"I wonder how these doors open," Rick mused. There were no latches or knobs on them, nor any other visible means for controlling them.

Charlie looked around. "Maybe by electronic eye, like at the grocery store."

Rick stopped in front of one of the doors and tentatively thrust his hand out. Suddenly, with a little swoosh, the door instantly dissolved.

Sally jumped, startled, and Charlie let out a low whistle.

Rick's eyes widened, his hand still in midair. "Majorly awesome! The door is completely gone."

The room ahead was a small one, and it was filled with computer equipment. They stepped inside and the door, with another swoosh, instantly solidified behind them. One entire wall of the room was what appeared to be a massive computer.
A number of large three-dimensional monitors were running displays of data with menus and icons above and below them, and in the center of the unit was a desk that had a large keyboard and similar monitor on it, and a cordless mouse-like device.

"Yo! Look at this stuff!" Charlie was so excited he could barely keep his voice down. "A space-age computer from another world! Man, old Einstein would go bananas over this."

"He'd flip," Sally agreed, looking over all the panels with their numerous dials, buttons, and devices. "Imagine all the data this unit has, information about outer space that we here on Earth can only guess about."

"Hey, check out this language." Rick pointed to one of the big monitors. It was running a banner-like printed message in a hologram field of outer space graphics.

"Looks like Greek to me," Charlie said, watching the strange symbols flash across the screen. "Or maybe Russian. That's definitely not our alphabet being used!"

Rick walked up to the monitor, his brows crunched in thought. "I wonder what the message is saying?"

Below the screen was a round red button. Thinking it would cause the message to repeat, Rick pressed it.

He jumped and was all like, "Whoa!" as an unexpected tingling sensation streaked up his arm and rushed up to his head. For a few seconds it felt like his brain was buzzing.

Sally rushed to his side. "Rick! What happened?"

He shook his head, slightly dazed. "I don't know. It felt like an electric shock, all the way up to my brain!"

Charlie pointed to the monitor. He almost shouted, "Hey! Look! I can read it now."

They stared at the screen in surprise. The scrolling message was now being repeated in a format they could understand.

"Incredible," Rick breathed. "Some of the letters are a little different, but it's English all right. I bet the computer read my brain waves and changed the language to one I can comprehend."

Sally began to read the message aloud as it scrolled across the monitor: "Attention all Olympian explorer ships! War has broken out on the planet Teutron between the Olympians and the Zaxxons. Decades of political strife have culminated in the kidnapping of Olympian Prince Apollo from a villa on the Elysian Fields by Zaxxon soldiers. It is ordered that all ships return to Teutron and Olympus immediately."

Charlie watched the message repeat itself. He was utterly,"Oh, man. Man, oh, man! Talk about science fiction! We're in an explorer ship from the planet Teutron, and a command is being sent for it to return home because of war. Whaddya think of that, dudes?"

"It's totally insane," Rick said, charged with excitement. "Especially that they can transmit a message all the way from Teutron, wherever the heck it is, down here to Earth."

Sally was like, "This is fascinating!" She turned to the boys. "Olympus is the mythical home of the ancient Greek gods. And Apollo is one of the gods, the son of Zeus."

Rick nodded eagerly. "Right. And the man Aunt Bea saw was wearing a tunic and sandals, same as the Greeks wore."

"The Olympians must be a highly advanced civilization similar to the ancient Greeks of Earth," Charlie concluded. "I wonder where the planet Teutron is?"

"There's one way to find out." Rick walked over to the desk in the center of the computer.

He sat down on the chair and studied the keyboard. It was similar to the one on his home computer, but larger with many more keys. The top of the keys contained a substance that looked like liquid crystal, and each had a strange symbol shaped within. Beneath the space bar was a round red button similar to the one on the monitor that was displaying the command message.

"Press that button," Charlie urged. "I bet it's a sensor, like on that monitor. It'll change those symbols to ones we can understand."

Rick punched the button and once again the tingling sensation coursed up his arm and to his head. His spine shivered from the effect. As they had expected, the symbols in the keys  rearranged themselves into ones similar to the English language.

Rick grinned in amazement. "Far out! It read my brain waves again."

Charlie smirked, all, "You needed your brains examined, anyway, bud." He pointed to the monitor screen above the keyboard. "Sheez, look at these graphics!"

The graphics and icons on the screen had all changed to ones that made sense to the three friends.

"And we think Windows 2000 is something," Sally said. "This is like Windows twenty-thousand! And all in 3D! It looks like you can stick your arm right into the monitor, it's so real."

"Wouldn't Bill Gates love to get his hands on this technology?" Charlie laughed.

"Microsoft probably has a similar system on the drawing board right now," Rick tossed back. "Just don't let the Apple executives find out about it!"

The  three friends laughed eagerly as Rick took hold of the cordless mouse-like device and moved it around. A bright pointed spiral appeared on the screen.

"Click on the weird looking question mark icon," Sally suggested.

Rick moved the spiral up to the colorful icon and clicked with the first of several buttons on the device. A window suddenly appeared center screen with an empty field in it. Lettering in the brightly designed box stated SEARCH ARISTOTLE.

"No way," Charlie said. "This computer from outer space calls it's Google-like search engine 'Aristotle'!"

Sally giggled. "Why not? Everything else here seems to be ancient Greek. And Aristotle was the famous philosopher. Perfect name for a search feature that knows everything!"

Rick typed TEUTRON into the field on the search window and clicked the mouse spiral on the little square that said FLY. With a musical bleep another box appeared below with the information he sought.

"Teutron is the third planet of six in orbit around the star Lexia in the third quadrant of the galaxy Andromeda," he read. "Yo, can you believe that? This spaceship is from another galaxy!"

Charlie was like, "No way! It seems impossible. Other galaxies are so far away! They can only do that kind of space travel in the movies!"

"Ask Aristotle about Olympus," Sally urged Rick, almost breathless in her excitement.

Rick cleared the field and then typed OLYMPUS into it, and clicked the space-age mouse. A moment later he read:

"Olympus is one of two continents on the planet Teutron. A peaceful nation, its seat of government is located in the golden city of Olympia in the mountains of the north sector of the continent. The present ruler is King Pallas, the heirs to the throne, his son Apollo and daughter Athena."

Sally's eyes widened. "Ohmygod! Athena! There's a Greek goddess by that name."

Rick cleared the field again and typed another word into it: ZAXXONS.

A moment later he said, "Listen to this. 'The Zaxxons are a barbarian warlike people who inhabit the continent of Zaxxonia, one of the two continents on the planet Teutron.'"

Charlie leaned over Rick's shoulder to look at the text. "The Zaxxons don't sound too cool, eh? But at least the Olympians are peaceful. They must have come to Earth only to spy, not to invade."

"Say, that gives me an idea, Connors," Rick said. "If the Olympians did steal the data from the two computers here in Lake City and transmitted it into this one, we can find out by asking questions."

"Right. Ask the computer something about Lake City, or NASA."

Sally nudged Rick. "I got it.  Ask Aristotle about Charlie Connors. See if this outer space computer can compute that!"

"Real funny," Charlie grunted, squeezing in front of Rick. His fingers hit the keys and he typed CHARLIE CONNORS into the search field, then grabbed the mouse and clicked.

"Yow!" he cried a moment later, stepping back in awe. "This freakin' Aristotle knows all about me!"

Printed in the reply window was Charlie's name, date of birth, address, his current class schedule at Lake University, and a history of his scholastic records from elementary school upward.

"Then it's true," Rick said. "Professor Manning and old Einstein are right. This data is straight out of the University's computer."

"There's no other explanation," Sally agreed. "There's no way they'd know about Charlie on Teutron otherwise."

Charlie swelled out his chest. "Not! I'm well-known throughout the universe, don't you know?"

"Oh, for sure," Sally scoffed. "Famous as a deadly black hole!"

Rick pushed back the chair and stood up. "I guess we solved that mystery! It's the Olympians who caused the malfunctioning of the two computer systems. Now we'd better get off this ship before anyone sees us. When we get back to the prison ruins I'll call InterTell with the encryptive transceiver and fill them in."

"Won't they be surprised?" Charlie asked. "One of these days they'll wise up and put us on the payroll."


"But what will they be able to do about it?" Sally asked. "The Olympians won't fix things right unless we can ask them to do it, and for that we'd have to ..... "

Suddenly, without any kind of warning, the entire room shook and there was a mighty thrust of power that threw all three of them sprawling to the floor.

Charlie hurriedly scrambled back up to his feet. He was all like, "Jeez! What the heck was that?"

There was a tremor in Sally's voice as she looked warily around. "We're moving, boys. Ohmygod! The ship is moving. It must be taking off!"

"Man, let's get outta here!" Rick leaped to his feet and pulled Sally up to his side.

But the ship was already moving upward at a brisk speed, even though it seemed that not even thirty seconds had passed since the initial power thrust. It felt like they were in a room-sized elevator, speeding up to the top of a mighty skyscraper.

They raced to the door, but before they could reach it the upward thrust of the ship increased to such a stupendous velocity that they were again pulled down to the floor, as if by a mighty magnet. They struggled to get up, but the force holding them down was impossible to overcome. It was as if they were glued to the floor!

"I can't move," Sally gasped, her voice weak and hoarse. "Ohmygod! Rick! Charlie! We're going to outer space!"

Charlie let out a low groan. He was all, "And we didn't even have to buy a ticket! The Olympians must have read that command message on another monitor. Now they're heading back to Teutron because of the war!"

"You guessed it, bud." Rick felt totally crushed, as if a heavy weight was pressing down on his entire body. "And with us aboard!"

Struggling against the artificial gravity, he pulled the encryptive transceiver from his jacket pocket. After withdrawing the small device from its leather case, he struggled to maneuver onto his stomach to easier use it.

The transceiver was the ultimate smart phone. It did everything a normal one did, and far more, and it did it all encrypted so that anything sent, whether it be audio, video, text, or voice messages, could only be received and translated by a similar device. They operated via NASA communications satellite networks and worked absolutely anywhere in the world.

Rick wondered if the ship was still within the confines of Earth as he keyed the device for transmission, punching at a couple icons on its screen.

"Rick Raider calling InterTell," he groaned, hardly able to speak. "Do you copy?"

A few seconds later: "Agent KG010 speaking from Lake City City InterTell. I copy, Rick. Where are you? Your transmission isn't very good."

"Dad!" Rick felt his heart begin to hammer at hearing his father's voice. "You're back in the office! I wish you'd been there earlier. Listen up! We found the UFO at Penitentiary Glen in the Kirtland Hills. We came on board to investigate, but now the ship's taken off.  I'm afraid we're bound for outer space!"

"Rick! Did I copy correctly?" came the shocked reply. "You boarded the UFO and now it's taken off?"

"Roger, Dad. We learned this ship is responsible for malfunctioning the two computer systems. It's from the planet Teutron which orbits around the star Lexia in the third quadrant of the galaxy Andromeda. We didn't get off in time, Dad. We're on our way to Teutron!"

"Copy not clear, Rick." Mr. Raider's voice was almost drowned out by the crackle of interference. "On ship bound for planet Teutron somewhere in Andromeda galaxy. Is that correct, Rick? ..... Rick? I told you not to board the UFO ...."

His voice sounded like it was a million miles away. Then, the transmission faded. Rick felt a thudding in his heart, an emptiness so vast it shook him to the core. He tried again and again to contact his dad, but there was no response, just dead silence.

"Give it up," Charlie grunted at him. "We're probably flying past Saturn right now. Way out of reach of NASA's satellites."

Rick could scarcely move his head enough to see Charlie and Sally where they were sprawled out alongside him. "This is a deadly mess we're in!" he gasped. "How are we going to get back to Earth?"

But before either of the others could attempt a response, the ship's speed increased to such an intense degree that they were left speechless, flattened to the floor.

Rick knew that astronauts had to wear pressurized suits to withstand the incredible velocities of space entry, and he feared he and his friends would now perish. His head began to swim and he saw stars in front of his eyes. He could scarcely breathe. There was a buzzing in his head and he thought he was going to pass out at any moment. There was no telling how long the torment lasted.


At length, he was able to move a little bit, then a while later sit up.  His entire body was trembling, and all he could do was wrap his arms around himself and try to stop shaking. It seemed like an eternity had passed.

"Good night!" he muttered. "Whoever's driving this thing was really putting it to the max. Are you guys all right?"

Charlie slowly pushed himself up into a sitting position. He was like, "Barely! Sheez, and I was the one who wanted to go to outer space! I thought it was all over for us."

"Really," Rick agreed. "I don't know how we survived that. They must have this ship super-pressurized."

Sally managed to sit up, scared and exhausted. "Oh, no! Our parents! They'll be so worried. What are we going to do?"

The ship was now moving almost imperceptibly in a gentle forward motion. Rick slipped the transceiver back in its case and pocketed it. As he looked grimly at Charlie and Sally, he ran his fingers nervously through his dark wavy hair.

"There's only one thing we can do," he said, rising to his feet. "We have to ask the Olympians to take us back to Earth."

Sally looked at him doubtfully. "Do you think they will? What if they won't? What if they make us prisoners?"

Charlie helped her to her feet. "They're peaceful people, remember? Friendly. At least I hope so!"

"It's most likely they won't harm us," Rick agreed. "I just hope they'll agree to take us back ..... " His eyes suddenly widened and riveted to the doorway as a little swoosh cut through the air.

Charlie and Sally followed his gaze. Then, Sally jumped back, her hand to her mouth. Charlie gaped ahead with an astonished expression.

The door to the room had dissolved and now, standing in the archway, was a creature the likes of which they had never seen before!



Click HERE for Chapter Four: HELLO ANDROMEDA!