Chapter 21

“I’m coming back in… and it’s the saddest moment of my life.”

~ Ed White 3 June 1965.

Children’s laughter, playing, screaming; all sounds one would typically be pleased to hear on a warm and beautiful day in the park. Not for one man. Not for someone dreading a meeting that he knows will end gravely. This man was sitting on a park bench, listening and watching, waiting. Joyful laughter turned to fear for this man as he saw his contact.

“You’re late!” a little girl said as the man slowly approached her while she was swinging on her swing set.

“I have been here for three hours!” said the man.

Kicking her feet forward to give her more thrust on her swing, she replied with a playful grin, “So?”

The man refused to respond. Despite the gut feeling he has to rip into her, he knew it would end worse for him.

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“The Mission was a failure,” replied a little boy, not much older than the girl, who was also enjoying his swing.

“I beg to differ,” replied the man. “We have access to the planet now.”

“The Federation has the planet!” the girl shouted as she hopped off her swing.

Looking down at his superior officer, he replied: “That doesn’t mean we can’t get what we need.”

“The WarpStar is still flying!” the boy replied as he also hopped down, joining his partner.

“That was unforeseen. You said the Sumerians would not be present!”

“That should have been predictable. Disabling the engines on a ship piloted by the best pilot in the galaxy, commanded by the second best? A blind monkey could have known the outcome!” the boy yelled angrily. “The Sumerian intervention was unavoidable.”

“How was I supposed to know …” he began to say before being cut off by the girl. “He’s your son!” she yelled.

The man had no words, no way to reply to the sudden attack on a personal level.

“I can get it,” he finally managed to say after a few minutes, “I can get it, and finish this, we will still succeed.”

“Good,” said the girl. As she said this, every kid in the park stopped what they were doing, walked to the man and, in complete unison, stated:

“Do what must be done, collect what we require, soon the truth shall be known, and the Federation shall pay for their crimes!”

The man started walking away, clear of his assignment, knowing what he must do. As he walked out of the park, reality started distorting around him. The sky turned from a bright blue to pitch black. The buildings, park benches, swing sets, dogs, birds, trees all began to disintegrate around him. Soon, the ground he stood on turned from the green grass, to a black floor darker than the night. In an instant, a neutral grey square room appeared all around him. The Holographic projection had ended.