I stood outside the apartment for a moment, then turned and went over to the green column and stepped through it onto the Eagle's control deck. There was still two and a half hours left before Robin or Bob were to call me about the location of a landing site, on Earth, for the Vulture. And I wanted the Eagle back aboard one of the Vultures before they called me.

"Micro, place another Vulture close to the Vulture that sets in space above North and South America, and then place the Eagle on its hangar deck near the white oval entrance into the Vulture," I said.

Less than a second later, I was looking out through the dome of the Eagle at the Vulture's hangar deck and at the bottom of the white oval entrance through the Vulture's hull.

Walking over to the green circle, I stepped on it and stepped out onto the Vulture's control deck. The other Vulture was not in sight, and the Earth was above me.

"Where is the other Vulture?" I asked Micro.

"The two vessel's flat sides are attached," Micro said.

Micro placed a vision in my mind of the two vessels attached together at the bottom, and they looked like one large black egg.

"Is this the way the vessels were designed to be used?"

"Yes," Micro said, "but only when they are used in a battle with an adversary of unknown strength."

At that time I heard the thought-voice of Lieutenant Bob Scott call my name, "Captain Caleb, this is Lieutenant Scott calling you. Can you hear me, sir?"

"Yes, Bob," I said, in the Father's language, as I sat down in the control seat, "I can hear you," I then placed an image of the Lieutenant on the viewer.

"Captain, the United Nations of Earth have chosen two locations where you can land, but they said that you will have to pick the one to use," Bob said.

I broadened the scene on the viewer, and I saw that Robin and Doctor Grayson were standing to the right of Bob. I made an image of myself appear in front of them and said, "Greetings, Robin, Doctor. Now Bob, where are the two areas?"

Robin said hello and the Doctor nodded his head, and Bob said, "One is in the Southern United States and the other is in North Africa."

I thought for a moment then said, "If there is an island in one of your oceans that has a large air field, I can land the vessel on the ocean with the entrance into it next to the shore. That way, all the people from your many nations can come there and inspect the vessel. I don't want any nation thinking, because I am landing the vessel in there country, that they are dominant over the others."

"We thought of that, "Doctor Grayson said, "but we were not sure if you could land on water. The island is in the Pacific Ocean and we have a team of men over there now that can guide you down to the island. How soon will you be landing, Captain Caleb?"

"As soon as I pick up the signal from the Island," I said, "If that is all, I'll terminate this contact?"

"Yes, I believe we have covered everything," the Doctor said.

"Good-bye, gentlemen. Good-bye, Robin," I said, then I blanked the viewer, cut off my image on Earth, and lay back in the seat to wait for the signal from the island.

"Micro, there will be a signal from Earth that will come from an island. I want you to detect this signal and place this vessel over the island at..." I stopped to think, "I don't want the people on the island to see the vessel appear suddenly out of nowhere, so place this vessel over the island at about 50 miles above it."

"Caleb, where are you," I felt/heard Caleus's thoughts over-ride my own thoughts.

"I'm on the control deck," I thought-said.

"You can't be!" she thought-said to me, "I'm on the control deck and you're not here."

"I'm sorry, Caleus," I thought-said. I had thought she was still in the bedroom, "I'm on the control deck of the Vulture. That's the Vulture's hangar deck that you see outside of the Eagle. Just step on the green circle and think Vulture control deck and you'll be here."

"Okay, Caleb," she thought-said, and in less than a second, Caleus said from behind me, "Oh what a beautiful site Jade is!"

I was getting to know her language quite well in just the short time that we had been together. When a person talks and sends the meaning of each word by thought, you can learn their language very fast.

"That is not Jade, Caleus!" I said, "That is my planet above us. Its name is Earth."

"Earth!" she said, as she stepped over to the right control seat and sat down, "How far away from Jade is Earth, Caleb?"

"A little over 52 thousand light years," I said, and I noticed that she had overcome her sorrow, and she even seemed to be happy.

The Earth and stars vanished and were replaced with a blue-black sky, and below the vessel was a wide expanse of blue-green ocean.

Caleus sat with mouth open and eyes wide as she looked out through the dome, then she said, "What...what happened?"

"Micro just placed the Vulture 50 miles above an island in the ocean below us. I'm going to take this vessel down there and land it beside the island," I explained, as I placed my fingers on the bottom row of dents in the dent panel and tilted the vessel, so we could see the small speck of the island in the ocean below.

Touching the dent panel again, I took the vessel down through the atmosphere and watched the viewer closely as I came closer to the north shore of an island, and the edge of a long landing field that ran east and west along the north end of the island. I turned the vessel until I was looking east and the island was on the right side of the vessel; then, I set the curved edge of the Vulture's bottom on the highest part of the sandy beach, next to the wide runway, and took my hands away from the dent panel.

Caleus had been watching every move I made and said, "Why are you landing this vessel here? I sure don't see anyone out there."

"Caleus, I believe you can now understand the Father's language, so let's go down to the Eagle and I'll show you something," I said, pushing the dent panel forward and getting up from the control seat.

"Yes, I can, and Micro has explained a lot to me. They also told me that there is a message in this oval Pass, but I won't be able to see or hear it unless you are with me to place your Pass on a table, in the apartment, with mine," Caleus said, as she rose from her seat and came around it to face me.

"Well," I said, taking her hand and leading her over to the green circle, "let's go find out what the Father's have to say," We stepped on the circle and stepped out of the column onto the apartment deck aboard the Eagle.

"You didn't tell me why you landed here?" Caleus said, as we walked toward my apartment.

"After we hear the Father's message, I'll tell you why, Caleus," I said, and guided her through the doorway.

We sat down on a couch, to the left of the doorway, that had two low tables in front of it, one at each end, with a space between them to walk through. After we sat down, I placed my oval Pass in a dent on the top of the right table. Caleus pulled her oval Pass from a pouch at her waist and placed it in the dent in the left table.

Eight people, clothed in the same blue and white and black suits that we wore, appeared on the raised oval dais in the center of the living room, and their faces were covered with a smooth silver mask.

Four Fathers were on the right side of the platform and the four Mothers were on the left. The Fathers and the Mothers raised their arms and placed their hands out in front of them, palms up, and they said, "We greet you, our children."

After they dropped their hands to their sides, one of the Mothers in the center stepped forward and said, "The Fathers' son has been told why he was brought to this planet. Now, I will tell our Daughter the same.

"Eons of time will have passed when you, my daughter, understand the message we, your Fathers and Mothers, will leave on the Pass. The Pass is very important to you because it will open all the doors on the worlds which we are placing in the care of both of you.

"Many years ago, an evil race of beings invaded this galaxy and would have destroyed our race, but we defended ourselves without the need to harm them. Nevertheless, they continued the battle against us and destroyed two of our worlds.

"We could not tolerate the destruction of our worlds; therefore, we built large vessels and deadly weapons, which would have eliminated the evil ones, but we could not bring ourselves to use them since we are creators not destroyers.

"After a meeting of our thoughts with the Protectors, we built larger vessels to take our race to another galaxy far from this one, and the evil beings. We placed the Protectors around our worlds to hide the worlds from the evil ones until a new race could be created that would be able to use the weapons to eliminate the invaders of our galaxy."

She turned toward the other three Mothers and raised her arm out toward them, "We four mothers are the ones who will travel to the planet of your birth to mate with the primates, and there we will start a new race," She turned back to face us and said, "You, my daughter, are one of the new race of beings."

She paused and looked at the Father beside her, then looked back at us, "The vessels and their deadly weapons will defeat the evil beings; then, this galaxy will belong to your, and the son's, race. Good-luck, my children."

The Father then spoke, "My son, by now you have developed a plan, with the help of the Protectors, to enlist the people of your planet to be the crew of the vessels, and now, you are faced with the fact that there is another world that will need protection from the evil beings. We do not know the time you have before the evil ones return. But, with the help of our daughter, I am sure that you will have the time to enlist the crews from both of your worlds."

The Father paused, looked at the Mother beside him, then said, "There is a private place in the library on our home planet that we want both of you to visit after you have enlisted the crews to protect your planets. To open this place will take both of your Passes inserted at the same time by each of you. Inside of this private place, you will be taught all of the knowledge that we have obtained in the life time of our race. Now we must leave you. Take care of our galaxy and peace be with you!"

All the Fathers and Mothers held out their hands, palms up, and the scene faded from the oval platform in the center of the room.

Caleus said, "They sure placed a lot of responsibility on our shoulders didn't they!" then she looked at me, "If you are the descendant of the Fathers and I am the descendant of the Mothers, are we both human?"

"I think we are because we're both descendants of the Creators," I said, and then I thought of something else, "Caleus, when you think of God, do you think of God as a him or a her?"

"Of course, Goddess is a she!" Caleus said, "At least, everyone on Jade thinks of God as being a she. Do your people think of God as a he?"

"Yes, they do," I said, "and now I know why."

"I see what you mean," Caleus said, "Your creator was a Father and mine was a Mother."

"That's it exactly," I said.

"There's something else I know," Caleus said, "I know now why you landed the vessel on your planet. You're trying to enlist a crew from Earth, aren't you?"

"Yes, I am, Caleus," I said, "and I'll have to do the same on Jade; that is, if you want me to get your people to help us."

"Let me talk with Micro for a while, then I'll answer you," Caleus said.

I picked up my Pass and lay back against the couch. After a few moments of silence, Caleus took her Pass from the table, rose from the couch, and walked toward the bedroom.

"I'm going to use the viewer in the library, Caleb. Please don't bother me there for a few minutes," she said, without turning her head toward me.

"Okay, Caleus, I'll be on the Eagle's control deck if you need me," I said, as I stood up and left the apartment.

When I arrived on the control deck, I saw an army type mobile drive through the large oval entrance onto the Vulture's hangar deck below me. There were six men in the mobile. Four men wore army uniforms and the other two men were wearing civilian clothes. They stopped about 50 feet away from the Eagle and were looking up at the high domed vessel when another mobile drove into the Vulture. This mobile, that had only one uniformed man in it, drove up beside the other mobile and the man said something to the six men, then he turned the mobile and drove back out of the Vulture.

I sat down in the left control seat and touched my fingers to the dent panel. The viewer now showed the mobile up close and I could hear what the men were saying.

"...do you think?" I only heard the last part of a question. A man in civilian clothes said, "I guess Captain Caleb doesn't want us to bring any weapons on this ship. But how that barrier works is beyond me," A man in uniform said: "Well let's go on into the ship. There's supposed to be a green transport column in the center of it," and the other man in civilian clothes said, "When are the other seven scientist going to arrive, Paul?" then the civilian I had heard first said, "They should be here on the next plane!" Then the mobile began to move and they drove on toward the center of the vessel.

I stopped listening to them when I noticed Caleus was standing by the right seat. Her slim small-boned body moved smoothly as a cat as she sat down in the seat beside me. "What are you doing now, Caleb, spying on the people below?" she said, and grinned showing me her perfect white teeth.

"I guess I was," I said, smiling, "Did you have a good talk with Micro?"

"Yes, I did," Caleus said, "and I believe the way in which you handled the situation with the people on your planet is the way I'll approach the people on Jade, and the Galactic Republic of Calorn is the name I'll use also. It's such a small lie to tell them if the end result is the defeat of the evil ones."

"And it may become a truth if we play our cards right," I commented, then I asked, "Do you want me help you when you speak to your people on Jade, Caleus?"

"No," she said, "I'll have to do that on my own, but I will need you to show me how to control one of the vessels."

"I'll teach you how to control the Eagle," I said, "after I take you to Jade; then, I'll have Micro to bring me one of the Hawks from the Creator's home planet and you can use the Eagle. When will you want to go to Jade, Caleus?"

"As soon as I get some sleep," she said, "I don't know why but I am very sleepy. Maybe it's because I'm breaking in a new body," she laughed, and rose from the seat, "I'll see you later, Caleb," and then she walked over to the green transport circle and vanished.

I was a little sleepy also but I stayed on the control deck for a while longer to watch the people as they came aboard the Vulture. Two hours later, I left the control deck and went below to the apartment deck and went into the apartment next to mine. I didn't want to bother Caleus, or maybe I didn't trust myself to sleep in the same room with such a beautiful young woman.

"Caleb Thorn, wake up!" I heard Caleus say, and I opened my eyes. She was standing beside the bed with her hands on her hips, "Shame on you! Were you afraid to sleep in the same room with me?" she said, with a smile, "I wouldn't have bothered you, I promise."

"I just didn't want to wake you when I came in the room that's all," I said, and swung my legs out of bed and stood up beside her.

"Okay, Caleb," she was laughing now, "I believe you."

"It's the truth," I said, smiling, then I started laughing too, "Okay, okay," I choked out, "so I didn't want to sleep in the same room with a beautiful young woman half my age."

"Now it all comes out. You're a sex fiend, right?" Caleus said, still grinning, "And I'm not half your age either. Our bodies are the same age and my mind is 50 years old, which is the same age as your mind," Caleus had stopped grinning, "but I don't want to have sex with you! Not yet anyway!"

"I'm no sex fiend," I said, "and I wasn't planning on having sex with you either! Are you ready to go to Jade?" I didn't want to talk about sex any more.

"Yes!" she said and turned around and left the bedroom.

"Damn!" I said, as I touched up the cleaning-toilet and went into the shimmering blue column.

A little later, I found Caleus on the control deck. She was sitting in the right control seat studying the dent panel in front of her. She turned her head and smiled at me, when I sat down in the left seat, then went back to studying the panel.

"Do you want to 'jump' the Eagle to Jade?" I asked her.

"Jump? That's the first time I've heard you say jump when you spoke of moving the vessels, but I like the word. It's more like a jump than a move anyhow," Caleus said, "Yes, I would like to jump the Eagle to my planet. I need to learn how these vessels, and their weapons, operate. If I don't, I won't be able to teach the people who I will, I hope, enlist to be the first eight crew members."

Caleus, with her black gloved hands hovering over the dent panel, waited until there was no one watching the Eagle from the hangar deck of the Vulture and then she touched the GOTO dent. The hangar deck vanished from outside the dome and was replaced with black space and many pin points of light in all colors with a blue-green sphere in the center of them, which was the stars surrounding the planet Jade.

I stayed that day with Caleus until she had learned all that I knew about the vessel and its weapons. Then I had Micro bring one of the Hawks from the Father's home planet and place it close to the Eagle. This vessel would be the one I would use to train the eight people from Earth. Then Caleus flew me across the space between the two vessels and into the Hawk in one of the blue Doves.

I could have had the Hawk attached to the Eagle and used the green transport column, but this way I could be with Caleus for a little longer.

"Caleus, if you need me for anything, just tell Micro, and I'll be back here as quick as I can," I told her, as I stood up to leave the Dove.

"I will, Caleb, and if you need me, you do the same,"

"See you later, Caleus," I said, and walked out of the Dove and stood on the Hawk's hangar deck beside the shimmering green column.

"I hope it's not too long, Caleb. Good luck!" she said. The ramp closed and the Dove rose into the air and vanished.

"Smart girl that Caleus," I thought, "Well, I guess I better get back to Earth."

Turning to the green column, I stepped through it onto the Hawk's control deck. The Eagle set in space a few hundred yards away on my right blocking the planet Jade from my view. I sat down in the left control seat and touched a brown spot on the console between the two seats. The oval dent panel appeared in front of me and I touched the GOTO dent and jumped the Hawk to the inside of the Vulture on Earth.

The Hawk now set twenty feet above the Vulture's hangar deck in the same spot that the Eagle had been a few hours earlier. I saw some people in a mobile, who had been driving toward the oval entrance into the vessel, stop their mobile and stare up at the Hawk, so I made the viewer come into existence above the dent panel and landed the Hawk on the blue hangar deck of the Vulture.

I spent the rest of the day watching the people come and go through the oval entrance into and out of the Vulture. A few of them did try to take something from the vessel but, after finding they couldn't get out of the vessel with them, they took them back to where they had found them.

All day I had been thinking about what the Creators had told Caleus and I, so I asked Micro if they could explain where the Mothers stayed while they watched over the race of humans on Jade. Micro told me that the Mothers had stayed with the Fathers in the Eagle, and they used the Eagle to watch the human race grow on both planets. I also asked Micro about the private place on the Creators home planet, but Micro only knew that it was entered into from the library on the planet and nothing more.

That evening as I lay on my bed, I thought of Caleus, "I wonder if she has contacted the people of Jade yet?" I then said to Micro, "Has Caleus contacted her people?"

"Yes," Micro thought-voiced, "she has made a speech to the people of her planet. You can converse with Caleus by thought if you use the oval you have at your throat."

"Do you mean I can talk to her even though she's over 52,000 light years away?" I asked, disbelieving what I heard Micro say.

"Yes," Micro said, "There is no distance between the thoughts of any human who wears the oval necklace. Therefore, you and Caleus may exchange thoughts with each other."

I raised up on my elbows and thought to Caleus, "Caleus, do you hear or know my thoughts?"

It was a few seconds before she answered, "Is that you, Caleb?" and her thoughts came into my mind clearly, "I know it's you of course, but I was asleep. What are you doing back here?"

"I'm not there, Caleus," I thought-said, as I lay down and closed my eyes, "I'm in the Hawk on Earth. You can ask Micro to explain how we can talk to each other when we're so far apart."

"I will!" she thought-said, "I'm sure glad we can talk to each other, Caleb, because it sure does get lonely in this large vessel. I spoke to my people, and I told them the same thing that you told the people of Earth. I also placed four Vultures in orbit around Jade as you did around Earth. Have your people contacted you yet about the eight crew members?"

"No they haven't," I thought-said, "but I expect them to call me at any time. I know how lonely it can be, Caleus, with only Micro to talk to, but now that we can talk to each other, it won't be so bad. I'll let you get back to sleep and talk to you in the morning, okay?"

"All right, Caleb. Good-night," Caleus thought-said.

"Good-night, Caleus," I thought-said, and went to sleep.

I was wakened by Micro's thought-voice, "Sergeant Hanly is trying to contact you, Caleb."

"All right, Micro. I'll take her call in the library," I said, as I sat up on the side of the bed.

I rose from the bed and went to the cubicle beside the doorway leading into the library to get some water packets before going into the library and sitting down at the glass desk. The scene on the viewer was of Robin, and she was saying, "Captain Caleb, Sir. This is Sergeant Hanly calling. Are you able to hear me?"

I drank some of the hot coffee from one of the packets and then placed my image in front of her and said, "Yes, Robin, I can hear you. What can I do for you?"

She smiled and said, "Nothing for me thank you, but I do have a message for you from the UNE," Robin looked at a piece of paper she held in her hand and read from it:

"Captain Caleb, of the Galactic Republic of Calorn, Sir: We, the United Nations of Earth, have chosen eight men to be brought to your spaceship that sets on the island of Meegle. The eight men will be in your charge for no longer than 24 hours. After which, you will return the eight men to the island so they may be examined by our medical team and our UNE council. If the men are in the same physical and mental condition as they were before they were placed in your charge, you may continue to train them.

"The eight men will be on the island outside of the entrance into the spaceship at 0500 hours. If you, Captain Caleb, will meet them there, we will know that you have excepted our terms."

Robin looked up and said, "That's all there is, Captain. 0500 hours, where the spaceship is, will be about one hour from now. Do you have a reply to this message, Sir?"

"No, Robin, I don't," I said, "I will meet the men in one hour and return them to the island within the 24 hour limit. Good-bye, Robin. Thank you for calling me."

"Thank you, Sir," she said, smiling, "for letting me be the one to make the contacts. I'll never forget this as long as I live! Good-bye, Captain Caleb, Sir."

After terminating the image I had placed in front of Robin and blanking the viewer, I lay back in the soft seat and sipped on the second packet of hot coffee.

"Caleus, I'm going to start training the eight men from Earth in one hour," I thought-said.

"That's good, Caleb," Caleus thought-said, "I hope everything works out as good on my end. It'll be a while before I hear anything from Jade, so can I come help you train your crew?"

"Say now, that's a damn good idea!" I thought-said, "You can jump the Eagle close to one of the Vultures that are in orbit around the Earth, and then you can jump a Dove into the Hawk's hangar deck. That way no one will know that you weren't here all the time."

"I'll be there in a few minutes, Caleb, meet me on the Hawk's hangar deck."

"I'll be there, Caleus,"