Deep Space Adventures - 1. DSA Chapter 1

For the past four years, we have been monitoring everything that has been happening on the Earth’s moon, and the Space Research and Training academy was now a permanent lunar base for the European Space agency, which make weekly trips between Earth and the moon, for staff changes and supplies.

Grandfather Martin had retired shortly after his fiftieth birthday, and he and grandmother have retired to a quiet location in New Zealand, and they contact us at the usual special times of Birthdays, and Christmas. Lucas Durham has returned to working for the United Republic of Planets, and has returned to his original posting of Earth’s Ambassador, based on the Sahndrol Islands in the Northern Atlantic Ocean.

For me and my brother Suamyl, along with our parents, we have been secretly living on Earth, in a mansion at Shell Point, on the south end of Castle Harbour, Bermuda, where even the house staff have no idea who exactly we are, as we have been using our Earth names of Mr Quinn and Mrs Natalia Lenegan, and for me I adopted the name Mason, and Suamyl is known as Samuel.

The only difference between us and our new friends on the islands is that we are half Human and half Sahndrolian, and apart from that and our ability to speak a language from another planet. Sam and I have also developed telepathy skills, that our mother said would start to develop when we reach the age of ten, and since we started living in Bermuda, we have both been attending Warwick Academy, which is the oldest school on the islands.

However, since the start of the school year this year, at my request, I wanted to get a private school education in England, and so I am now attending Winchester College, in Hampshire. With just three school terms, the first is 14 weeks from September to mid-December, the second is 10 weeks from mid-January to March and the last is 9 weeks from late April to early July.

When not at school I fly back to Bermuda, to spend my holidays either there or in New Zealand with our grandparents, who we see at least once a year, usually at Christmas.

When I arrived home at the end of the first term at my new school, I was informed that we would be spending our four weeks of holidays in space, travelling to the capital near Jupiter, where the family has been summoned to attend a special ceremony of which our parents refused to tell us what it is about.

Using our 27-metre open yacht, we travelled from our private jetty below the house, around the east side of the airport, just inside the shallow reefs, and into St George’s Harbour, to get to the main jetty of the United Nations complex on Paget Island.

Before we arrived, we had the official flag of the United Republic of Planets flying from the aft of the boat, to let the UN security know that we are officially visiting the UN, and it was the Ambassador of New Zealand and two of his staff who arrived at the jetty to greet us.

“My Lord and your Serine Highness, this is a pleasant surprise to see you here,” the Ambassador said as my parents stepped onto the jetty with Sam and me following. “Thank you for the welcome, Ambassador, but the visit will be very short, as we are on our way to the Space Capital for some official business,” my father replied.

“I see, so we are to expect a space shuttle to arrive soon?” the Ambassador asked, just as the noise of the shuttle starting to be heard, as it began to slowly come down. “If you would be kind enough to escort us to the Landing pad on the roof, that would be appreciated,” my father said as we saw the shuttle slowly land on the roof of the main central building of the UN.

After passing through the security gates, we all headed inside, and the elevators quickly took us to the roof level of the main building, and as quickly as it had arrived, the shuttle was back in the air again, and heading for space, with a three-day journey ahead of us.

Our mum had packed us a suitcase each, with enough clothes to last us for a week, even though we were not sure how long exactly we will be away from Earth, and it has been just over two years since Sam and I have been in space, and it felt good to be out amongst the stars once more.

With a crew of just five, they assisted us in any way we wished, and while at times I was bored, and wished that I was back on Earth and at boarding school again, I also was looking forward to getting back to the capital city at Ganymede, as it has been quite some time since I was last there, with most of our previous space journeys going only as far as Mars.