Reaching For The Stars

What had at one time been a large hotel on the perimeter of the airport, by the motorway, was now the British headquarters of the Police and Security Force. This force was the result of the amalgamation of every individual force throughout the country, as well as becoming part of the whole global operation. This building was now the nationwide nerve centre and all emergency calls from anywhere in the country were received here and then relayed back to the nearest station for attendance. This was all fully computerised and took mili-seconds for the message to be relayed back. All equipment was now standardised throughout the force, not only worldwide but throughout the whole federation. Every officer above lieutenant had to complete a spell of duty here as well as at his home station. This one force was now responsible for law enforcement throughout the federation, and officers from any planet could serve on any other if they wished.

Some ten minutes after leaving in the taxi and after a nice fast run down the motorway the vehicle stopped outside the police headquarters. In the past this journey would have taken about three quarters of an hour even in quiet periods. Now however with road speeds of two hundred miles an hour commonplace, the journey time was considerably reduced. Speed limits in urban areas were now fifty miles per hour and out in the open country a limit of two hundred and fifty miles an hour was permitted. Peter paid the driver with a ten-dollar note.

“Keep the change. Thanks a lot”.

“Thank you sir, have a good day”.

Soon after the landings of `14 the world had changed over to the universal monetary system used throughout the federation. One dollar was roughly equivalent to one pound sixty three pence in old British money. The new notes had their value embossed on them so that people could tell what value it was even in complete darkness. The new notes were not made of paper like old time money but of a very resilient plastic type material which was virtually indestructible making the notes last a lot longer and stay in good condition for far longer than the old paper notes.

As Peter got out of the taxi a domestic fleet craft passed silently overhead and came into land over in the spaceports central area about two miles away. Peter saw the union jack flag displayed on the tail fin and thought that in all probability his sister Fiona would be on board. She too had come a long way since `09. From being a cashier in a large Knightsbridge store, she had progressed to senior navigating officer with the British division of the domestic air fleet. Only recently she had passed her examinations for change over to the long-range galactic fleet and was now waiting for a vacancy to occur. Fiona was now thirty-two years old and had no intentions of settling down with a husband yet. She had many boyfriends but so far had turned down all proposals of marriage saying her career came first. Peter went in through the revolving doors into the foyer of the building.

“Morning Cheryl, are we busy”?

“Morning sir, it`s pretty quiet at the moment”.

He carried on past the reception desk with its young police girl in attendance and headed for the elevator. He was whisked up to the fifth floor where his office was located. The room was fairly large, was nicely if plainly furnished and looked out over the spaceport. As the door from the corridor slid quietly shut behind him, he heard the video address system calling for three road patrols to attend an accident on the motorway involving three large hover transport vehicles. Seconds later he saw from the window, three road units go streaking away down the motorway, beneath his window with their blue lights flashing. The sirens on the emergency vehicles were the only noise to be heard on the roads nowadays, but here in the office even this was effectively cut off by the triple-glazing.

Peter shared the office with the other two members of his crew, second pilot Chris Ross and navigator Bill Howell. Chris was obviously in already as his jacket was draped across the back of his chair. Peter glanced at his watch and seeing it wasn’t quite nine, thought that Chris was an early bird this morning. Chris was younger than Peter at thirty-one and he like Peter was a brilliant pilot and a first class policeman. He had held acting captains rank for a short while and it was said that he would go far in the force. It was little wonder that they were known as Britain’s crack crew. Just then the door slid open and Chris came in.

“Morning Peter, I’ve just picked up our duty file for today. We’ve got sector seven. There`s a special observation to carry out, some unidentified craft in the Pluto area. No one seems to know what it is, but there’s been eleven visual sightings and has also been tracked by the research base on Pluto. We’re to keep our eyes open and verify the identity if we can”.

“Fair enough, sounds quite interesting anyway. It might liven that sector up a bit as it`s usually dead as you well know”.

Just then the videophone unit on Peter’s desk came to life.

“Lieutenant Gresham to the duty commander`s office please”.

“Okay, I’m in my way”, Peter replied to the young girl clerk.

As he left the office he was thinking about his fiancée, Maureen, who also worked in the police force. Until recently she had been a traffic patrol officer on the ground but was now training as a navigator with the ranger patrol fleet. Peter hadn’t seen her for a few days as their shifts had been opposite to each other. As he walked along the corridor to the commander’s office he wondered idly what duty she was on today. He tapped on the door and after a second or so it slid open. Peter’s heart gave a small leap when he saw Maureen in the office. The duty commander was a fair haired giant of a man, from Varianne called Nant. He rose from behind his desk as Peter entered.

“Good morning Lieutenant Gresham. As you know your fiancé here is now on space navigator training and she’s due for her second training run today and I wondered if you’d have objections if she went with you and your crew today up to sector seven. Your navigator can supervise if that’s okay with you”.

“That’s no problem at all, sir. We’ll be glad to have her aboard”.

“Good man. I won’t detain you any longer, off you go. Good luck Miss Brevitt”.

“Thank you, sir”. Maureen replied.

Peter led Maureen out of the office and as the door slid shut behind them, he pulled her close and kissed her.

“Hello darling, I was just thinking about you. Still love me”?

“Of course I do. Where are we going today? I know the boss said sector seven but that doesn’t mean much yet”.

“Seven is a local one really, it`s mainly the Pluto region and stretches about a light year away from Earth. It’s normally dead quiet out there but today we’ve got some special obs to do, looking out for some unidentified spacecraft that’s been spotted in the area”.

As they re-entered Peter’s office, Chris got up from behind his desk and shook Maureen’s hand.

“Maureen’s coming up with us today Chris. It’s her second training run so it’s lucky in a way that we’ve got a quiet sector”.

“Glad to see you Maureen, are you looking forward to it”?

“You bet I am Chris. It took a lot of persuasion to the boss to let me come with you, but I managed it in the end and here I am”.

Peter meanwhile had picked up the days duty folder from the desk and was reading quickly through it.

“First stop’s the moon I see, base six. Did you read this Chris”?

“Not properly, I just glanced through it while you were with the boss”.

“We’ve got to do a formal investigation at base six. Apparently some technician has been found in possession of official parts and spares and they want a police department check done”.

“There must be something more to it than that. They don’t usually call us in on a simple straightforward charge of that nature. Normally base security does that”.

“That’s what I thought as well. Trouble is there’s nothing else down here in the way of background. I think you’ll enjoy today my love. Actually going inside a moon base will be a new experience for you”.

Just then the door opened and Bill Howell came into the office. Bill was a second officer, two ranks below Peter and Chris and had only passed out of navigating college nine months before. After another three months in his present rank he would automatically be promoted to first officer rank. He was a quiet studious type and was a very gifted navigator.

“Morning all, I hope I’m not late and kept you all waiting”.

“No problem at all Bill”, Peter replied, “Maureen is coming up with us today for her second training run so she’ll be in your care. Make her work; she’s not just along for the ride”.

With the crew complete they all made their way down to the basement garage and got into a waiting vehicle, which would take them to the point in the spaceport where the Police ranger craft were marshalled. Already inside the waiting mini bus were two more crews.

“Good morning sirs and madam”.

“Good morning driver”. Peter replied on behalf of the others.