THE RETURN TRIP – Episode 267

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Posted on September 4, 2017

THE RETURN TRIP – Episode 267

…A little thoughtful investigation, sprinkled with a pinch of feminine intuition and you have the recipe for a romantic ambush…

Idle speculation is tantamount to a worry-overdose for Cerella, of the tower Eupepsia, and she is not going to have any of it. It is time to be proactive, get even closer to her work, shape the future before it shapes her or take the bull by the horns. She moves to act on her own, to secure the future of the Earth people she has grown to love.

Step one in her plan, to cement the McKinneys into Eridanus history involves a cultural custom which is exercised but once in a female’s lifetime.

A little thoughtful investigation, sprinkled with a pinch of feminine intuition and you have the recipe for a romantic ambush.

Deke had been busy studying the Olde language under the tutelage of a historian, perfecting the tones of his diction… when Cerella silently shuffles into the room, nervously placing stray strands back where they belong. Absent is the long silken robe of her day-to-day look, replaced with two wispy layers of blue voile, previously reserved for the privacy of her quiet time.

She continues her “waiting to be noticed” pose until the dialectal tutor gets the hint and excuses herself, giving way to her Heiress – the cat chasing the canary, “You have a visitor, my honored student.”

Her appearance shocks him off his guard, “I hope you don’t mind me learning the Olde Language. It takes up some of my free time.”

She verbalizes her response, “The Olde Language is not forbidden, merely ancient and sacred. It is good that you are taking interest in my culture, these skills will benefit us in the future.” {Us and my, are possessive references}

“Wow, don’t you look like an angel?”

“What is an Angel,” she asks.

“In your case: a heavenly body in a heavenly place,” when in doubt, flatter.

“It occurs to me that you have never seen my individual suite Deke McKinney. There are some treasures from the Mother Planet I thought you might want to see.”

“I would like that,” he admits, unaware of any ulterior motive.

“I also have an important matter to discuss with you, as it applies to how we relate.” She could not allow herself to entirely deceive him, without letting the Cheshire cat out of the bag.

“You have piqued my interest.”

THE RETURN TRIP

Banksy Triptychs

Episode 267

page 310

THE RETURN TRIP – Episode 232

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Posted on July 25, 2017

THE RETURN TRIP – Episode 232

…There are 3 very good reasons for Deke McKinney to be relieved that his brother broke curfew…

“What time is it?” Deke McKinney asks, as his eyes adjust to the bright lights of the kitchenette, having been awakened from quality sleep.

“I don’t know, 01:30 I guess, why?” Brother Gus doesn’t think much about it.

“We’re going to dust-off the moon in six short hours Gus!” The elder of the pioneering duo does not want any puerile thing to interfere with their brush with the future of space travel. “Did anyone see you come in? You will be scrubbed from the mission if they find out you blew curfew… you know that Maddox {mission coordinator} has been waiting for you to screw up, he hates you, you know?”

“That sapsack? He’s been pissed since his girlfriend hit on me at the Christmas party,” Gus’ voice echoes inside their small refrigeration unit scouring it for a late-night snack.

“There is leftover steak in the vacuum chamber, you need the protein,” practical advice from one who knows. “I told Dad that we would douse the lights at 2100 {military time}.”

“I have three good reasons for staying out:

“Roy hasn’t been President for 10 years
The SOL test is a 15 minute trip around the block.”

“Hey Buddy, Roy Crippen may not be President, but he does oversee the SOL Project and as for that trip around the block comment, I wouldn’t take it so lightly. And that’s only two, what’s the third?” urges Deke.

“3. I asked Mindy to marry me,” he licks the cold beef fat off his fingers.

There are three very good reasons for Deke to be relieved:

He had not been out partying
He had disabled the security cameras
Mindy McDonald has been a game-changer in his brother’s life

“We are going to have the biggest wedding that Houston has ever seen!”

This post dedicated to © Charles M. Schulz (1922-2000) R.I.P.

THE RETURN TRIP

Episode 232

page 273

THE RETURN TRIP – Episode 229

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Posted on July 21, 2017

THE RETURN TRIP – Episode 229

…Earth must be convinced that Deke & Gus McKinney are yet another major failure in Earth’s misbegotten ventures into space…

Misbegotten Moons by Elena Stone

^#The successful test of an unmanned vehicle at sub-light velocities is leading Earth to the wrong conclusions# Ekcello is as emotionally invested as his Eridanian rationality will allow him, ^#There is a point in time, before they achieve that SOL threshold, that we could make the necessary alterations to their space-drive and bring them here to Eridanus^#

Sampson prefers another option, “Why not save their lives, make the test a success and let them slingshot back to Earth? I don’t think Eridanus is in their flight plan.”

^#For your technicians to believe that it was by their merit that made the speed-of-light possible, when it clearly is not, would be like us sending you and Celeste back; the damage and confusion would offset the good intentions. They must be convinced that Deke & Gus McKinney are yet another major failure in Earth’s misbegotten ventures into space^#

“Now wait a minute here Mister! We may not be the most successful space program going… however many other space programs there are… but you are not letting us learn by our mistakes.”

^#That logic is flawed^#

“What are you saying Sam? Don’t you get it?” Celeste is adamant. “Either way the results will be the same, in the eyes of our world. Why should the reputation of the SOL Project take precedent over reality? The best possible solution is for the boys to join us here on Eridanus.”

^#At this point in the space/time continuum, the people of Earth cannot know the difference between death and disappearance as opposed to perceived success. How will your sons be able to explain the sudden emergence of a completely foreign technology. They could not^#

“Excuse me if I find it hard to get used to deciding the outcome of otherwise predetermined circumstances, family or not. They are going to freak out when they, all of a sudden, find themselves here. At least we had 5 years to think about it.”

^#We implore you to listen to your mate. She has seen for herself and she understands^#

Though outwardly he appears a dissident, Sampson McKinney has internalized and reconciled this matter of morality and mortality. Of all the things usually attributed to the Lord’s mysterious ways, the manipulation of the future by an alien race, raises more questions than those answered; each instance becoming moot and academic.

THE RETURN TRIP

Episode 229

page 270

THE RETURN TRIP – Episode 223

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Posted on July 14, 2017

THE RETURN TRIP – Episode 223

…The staggering ramifications of Ekcello explaining the McKinney’s fate are lost, overshadowed by the immediate; will a hundred tomorrows erase the memories of the day we/they first met…?

… Indeed that first day on Eridanus was memorable, nothing that the passage of the intervening ten years can erase, though they can only guess how many Earth years have fallen by the wayside. For a man playing catch-up, Sampson will, to this day, swear it was only three, but then again aging does not seem to be a factor here.

And as much as things change, sometimes they do not. Celeste’s propensity for the parapsychological has firmly entrenched her as a favorite of most of the dwellers on this thought-heavy planet. The music she produced in the guise of deep-space computer communications from the bridge of the ~~NEWFOUNDLANDER~~ Explorer has become all the rage.

Deimostra, whose physical development should match her 16 year Earthly age, is lagging behind by ½, while her intellect races to 16².

Sammy Mac is a different story. It is not that he personally feels out of place, but the bravado mannerisms that are irretrievably stamped into his personality are an acquired taste on Eridanus. To be sure, one of the concepts these cerebral people have

the hardest time comprehending is his need for competition, as it applies to gamesmanship or one-upmanship. In Celeste they see refinement and culture / In Sampson they find football, baseball, horse racing, and a burning yearning to win and be the best.

“You must have had some form of sports somewhere along the line,” he would tell them, ignoring the telepathy that they insist he master. “We saw your ancestors on Mars you know and they seemed to be regular guys—no floating or mind-games. In fact, the recreation room on the NEWFOUNDLANDER was filled with one particular weird game… like they were gambling.”

His contention falls on deaf ears, no matter which, they ignore his primitive rants. It was as though they have erased the memory of their ancient forebears, wiped them away and started with a clean slate. What they used to be has been placed in the pay-no-mind column of the collective memory.

These days, they have been forced back in time, in the form of a clunky spaceship and three creatures whose muddling civilization has been mostly forgotten about. Sampson’s stubborn reluctance, or wrongly hardwired brain, most assuredly will remind them to avoid such impulsiveness in the future.

THE RETURN TRIP

Episode 223

page 264

Puns 4 (Four) Fun #36 – WIF Wit and Humor

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Posted on July 2, 2017

Puns 4 (Four) Fun

On Independence day, may the fourth be with you. (sorry)

Fifth columnists of the fourth estate rated third grade, play a second fiddle to conspirators with their first-hand information!

What happened to the rich guy with the double chin? He made a four chin.

A crow is a four-letter bird.

The quadruplets were always wandering off. It was a four-gone conclusion.

He bought a plate with four corners so he could have a square meal.

Golfers would wear wrinkled clothes if it weren’t four irons.

Two weathermen each broke an arm and a leg in an accident and called from the hospital about the four casts.

College bread is a four-year loaf made out of the old man’s dough.

Puns 4 (Four) Fun #36

– WIF Wit and Humor

THE RETURN TRIP – Episode 212

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Posted on July 2, 2017

THE RETURN TRIP – Episode 212

…Only one new model in four thousand years, how can that be, I think we may have made a slight miscalculation…

Miscalculation by Jared Hindman

The largest of these towering edifices opens its low-level gates, in order to swallow the NEWFOUNDLANDER. The giant size sliding doors draw apart slowly and they can almost hear the creaking of the glides due to a possible drought of inactivity. The well-traveled ship both lumbers and floats in, after the gap reaches its full extent.

The adult McKinneys cannot take their eyes off the still functioning monitors. They have entered into what appears to be a vehicular {space} gallery.

“Do you remember the EAA Convention in Wisconsin?” Sampson tests his wife’s premarital memory about a yearly gathering of flying machines, pilots, enthusiasts and an accompanying aviation museum.

“Yes I do. You wanted to show off something there to your buddies.” She was thinking about her inaugural introduction to his friends and fellow airborne buffs.

“Yeah Oshkosh, by gosh, and the P-51 Mustang I had been working on for 5 years!” That comment earns him a fist to the shoulder. She meant hers-truly. “There is every type of spacecraft imaginable here.”

About that he is correct.

And then some; human eyes have not seen, nor can they imagine where some of these ships came from, though there a few that look like they were made by Earth’s own rocketeers, “That looks the first liquid-fueled rocket made by Robert Goddard in the 1920s! They made a movie about that Celeste. Stick an American Flag on that one.”

Identifying the antiques is easy. Just where the NEWFOUNDLANDER fits into this collection, only the folks of Planet X would know, although that vacant slot on the right, near the end of this mindboggling menagerie seems to have NEWFOUNDLANDER written all over it.

“There is only one ship here that looks more advanced than this one.” He is baffled. “Only one new model in four thousand years, how can that be? I think we may have made a slight miscalculation.” (like Wile E Coyote)

THE RETURN TRIP

Episode 212

page 251

THE RETURN TRIP – Episode 205

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Posted on June 23, 2017

THE RETURN TRIP – Episode 205

…great pains have been taken to restore the spacecraft to how they found it (minus the dead space-guy dudes) approx. 5 years ago…

For all the tragedy and misfortune that the Space Family McKinney has endured, most astronomers worth their salt would give over the left side of their brain for this opportunity.

This, “plain dumb luck” as Sammy Mac puts it, renews the group vitality. The Sammy Mac tag is a well-earned nickname, born out of sure bravado and worn like a merit badge. Before the sudden disembarking, the McKinney family unit had been sentenced to a potential lifetime on that barren red sphere, with only their resourcefulness as a survival skill. Badge awarded: Planetary Exploration.

They likely will never know that fate actually interfered and whisked them away from a New Mayflower rescue. Perhaps it is just as well.

So now comes the chance, however up-in-the-air, to actually have other beings to interact with; to share knowledge and history, keep company or perchance complete a rewarding life. That which was out of reach 5 years ago has been broached in the unlikeliest of circumstance.

To erase any possible doubts as to their intentions in their awkward capacity as stowaways and reflect positively on their culturally civil nature, great pains have been taken to restore the spacecraft to how they found it (minus the dead space-guy dudes).

“How are we going to explain the absence of their crew?” Celeste wonders while she and Sammy tidy up.

“Hopefully they have already guessed the fate of the expedition, seeing that it had gone on so long and returns only by the grace of automatic recall. If these folks bury their dead, we can show them the pictures of their Martian graveyard. If they do not bury their dead and consider the practice barbaric, then we didn’t see anyone on Mars alive or dead!”

From out of nowhere, a new sound filters into the bridge of the ship named by them, NEWFOUNDLANDER. Celeste is quick to identify it, “That is music played on a recorder! Why didn’t I pick up on that earlier?”