Deep Space Journey - 6. DSJ Chapter 6

They had succeeded in exploring many places in deep space, meeting new civilisations on other worlds, and even returning to our solar system just under a year ago with a small fleet of ships to establish new colonies on three of Jupiter’s moons, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto.

Today, the lead fleet ship will visit Earth for the first time, and that it would be here in Auckland, New Zealand where that will happen. He asked that everyone stand for the official welcome to Earth of the “DSV Perseverance” and her crew” the Prime Minister said.

With that said the giant ship appeared out of the clouds. It slowly descended, opening out its landing legs, and gently coming to rest on the tarmac. Once all the dust had settled, a door opened and a sloping ramp appeared. Everyone in and around the tarmac was stunned at what they saw.

Three men appeared and walked down the ramp and past the honour guard, till they stopped in front of the waiting dignitaries. They had seen and spoken to each other many times over the past few weeks but now they were face to face, and chatting like old friends. The three visitors were introduced to the wives of the official greeting party.

Meanwhile, an armed security team from the ship had stationed themselves just inside and outside the door and ramp. In front of the media, the PM introduced the three visitors, all three were part of the original crew that went into space. What no one knew was, that all 12 members of the security team were not, they were all from Sahndrol.

All of this was being broadcast live throughout New Zealand and Australia, and within half an hour was delayed broadcasted all over the world, that a real space ship had landed on Earth and had chosen New Zealand as their landing location and not a heavily populated location like Europe or the United States of America.

Air traffic restrictions remained in place, much to the disgust of many commercial and private airline companies, and road traffic restrictions were lifted in the mid-afternoon as promised, but anyone attempting to get near the Naval base was promptly sent away.

Anyone trying to get close to the base on foot was sent back by the police or if they got past them, they came across a wall of defence personnel on the outside of the boundary, and military guard dogs and their handlers just inside. Inside the base Dennison, Quinn and Lucas met each of the members of the guard of honour, after having inspected them on parade, and they also met the senior officers of each agency involved in the exercise.

After lunch, the dignitaries and their wives have invited onboard the space vessel for a tour and afternoon refreshments. Once that was over and they had returned to the Naval HQ building, the 11 members of the media were informed that it was time to pack up and leave, as that is the end of their close-up access to the event.

As evening approached the security team returned inside the ship and the door was closed shut for the night, with the ramp remaining extended for use in the morning, as there were plans for a few outings over the next few days. The following morning a shuttle buggy came out the rear door and ramp and was escorted through the streets of Auckland, where it stopped at a private boy grammar school and neighbouring ladies’ college, where they were greeted by the headmaster and headmistress of both senior schools.

They briefly chatted before been lead into the school grounds to see the facilities, including interrupting a senior boys engineering technology class and a senior ladies’ biology and physics science classes. After visiting the classes, the visitors spoke with the headmasters and discussed ideas on developing advanced science, technology and engineering classes during the school holidays for the very top elite students who want to go into those fields of work.

This would include two weeks in the Autumn holidays, two weeks in the Spring Holidays and 4 weeks in the Summer holidays. The headmasters were interested in participating in it was supported by the URJ both financially and practically.

With providing the knowledge and expertise to teach these subjects, they suggested maybe doing a type of entrance examination for students all over New Zealand and maybe Australia too, to apply for a position in the college of advanced science engineering and technology or CASET for short. The three visitors liked that idea, and they would get to work on developing the idea right away.

Lastly, they asked if the two schools could be leased out to URJ for the holiday periods to run these courses, and both headmasters agreed pending approval from the board of governors. With a box full of textbooks that the senior students use for their classes in those three subjects, the three visitors returned to the ship, happy to have achieved a lot from their visits.

During a lunchtime video conference with the NZ Prime Minister and Minister for Defence, Ambassador Chaenej asked if it was possible for them to request directly to the Prime Minister of Australia permission for a short visit to Australia, preferably landing at a defence force base for security purposes.

Later that afternoon, Ambassador Chaenij received a reply from the Australian government, with a yes - they can land at RAAF Edinburgh base in outer Adelaide, South Australia, any time afternoon in two days’ time. With this great news, Qjiin prepared the crew for a journey to Australia, but before then, they would visit two more high schools, this time government high schools, and once again it was done with no notice of them arriving.

When the school principals learned who the visitors were, they were welcomed with open arms and shown around the school and allowed to interrupt a number of science classes to see the students at work. Two days later, the “DSV Perseverance” left Auckland, and flew westwards at very high altitudes so as to avoid all commercial and private air traffic.

RAAF Edinburgh by now was ready for their arrival, and with the assistance of the Australian Army, the state and federal police forces, the base and all surrounding roads and flight zone had been shut down. At precisely 2 pm the “DSV Perseverance” made its appearance.

Waiting for their arrival was the Prime Minister of Australia, the Governor-General of Australia, plus the ministers of Defence and Foreign Affairs and the Mayor of Adelaide. Once again when the doors of the space ship opened, a team of guards came marching out, and they were followed by the three members of the URJ. The Commanding officer of the base was the first to meet the special guests, and after introducing himself, he introduced all of the Australian dignitaries and invited them to have a tour of the inside of the ship, followed by some refreshments.

Two hours later after they reappeared from the ship, the Prime Minister stepped towards the small number of media that were permitted restricted access into the Defence base and announced that he was happy to be the leader of the second country to be invited to speak to the visitors from a far-off world deep in space and to see inside one of their magnificent ships. The PM said he had openly invited the space visitors to visit Australia again soon.

Once all the dignitaries had gone, as well as all the media, the Defence base remained in lockdown, as the space ship closed its doors for the day, locking themselves away in a safe protected environment, where no harm could be done to any of its crew.

Over the next two days, the three executive council members made four unexpected visits to schools in the area, two government high schools and two private colleges. Each time they looked around the schools and interrupted some classes to see what the students were learning.

Once all the school visits had been completed, the “DSV Perseverance” left the RAAF base and set off back home to the Moons of Jupiter, where the High Council was waiting for a full report of how the visit went.

The three-day journey from Earth to Jupiter was a lot shorter than when Quinn first travelled in space, where it took 9 weeks to complete the same journey with the help of the time rips. During the trip home, Quinn kept busy writing up his report for the high council, remaining in his quarters for most of the journey.

He would call home to speak to his wife and two sons each day to let them know he was on his way home and that he looked forward to seeing them again. For this journey, it was a first for the 14 passengers that were on board. They were the Board of Directors of DSRES who were coming to see the Jupiter communities for themselves and to officially be sworn in as Ambassadors of the URJ - United Republic of Jupiter.

Once that is done they will be returning to Earth and relocating to different areas on Earth to establish embassies, as representatives of URJ. This journey was more significant for one member of the Directors. For Dr Martin Lenegan he will be meeting for the first time his daughter-in-law and two grandsons.

Quinn and his dad spoke a few times during the journey, but Quinn wanted to try and concentrate on his business. On arrival at the Space Port of URJ, they were greeted by an official parade, with all the pomp and ceremony, once it was over Quinn guided his father to a private lounge, where Quinn’s wife and two children were waiting. It was a wonderful sight to see my family all together at last, and it was nearly an hour later that I suggested that we let my father get settled into his allocated living quarters.