Chapter No.23. Far Out!

James answered the phone and held it up. "Hey Dad, it's NASA."

Robert accepted it. "Hello." After several minutes of listening, Robert replied. "We'll be there."

Janet came into the living room. "What's up?"

"NASA has a job for us," Robert said.

"What sort of a job?"

"It has something to do with one of their rovers shutting down."

"Oh wow!" James blurted. "We're going to go to Mars!"

"I don't think it involves Mars," Robert said.

"Where else would they have a rover?" Janet asked.

Robert smiled. "Let's go check it out."

They appeared in the Mission room at JPL and were greeted by Jason, the administrator, Ralph, the astrophysicist, and a woman who appeared to be in her early fifties.

Jason gestured to the woman. "This is Marion Wells, Enceladus Project coordinator. She can fill you in on our problem."

Marion stared at the three. "How far can you teleport?"

"Actually, it's not like the Star Trek transporter. It appears that we exist everywhere, but are only visible in one location, which means we can instantaneously be anywhere we visualize."

She continued to stare at Robert for a moment before continuing. "Enceladus is a moon of Saturn. It's not very large and it's extremely cold, like -198 degrees Celsius at best. At its present location it's 1.5 billion kilometers from Earth."

"What exactly is the problem you want us to rectify?"

"We sent a rover there to explore the southern hemisphere where there are water jet eruptions. However, it has ceased sending data."

"So, you want us to go there and repair it?"

"We don't have any other method available to do it. Another mission is out of the question."

Robert turned to Ralph. "We'll need to see the engineering diagrams and a list of possible reasons for the failure. We can transport the candidate replacement parts with us."

Ralph motioned to Marion and she began making inquiries at a computer terminal to bring up diagrams and parts list for the rover. Robert turned to his wife and son. "Memorize all of this." He turned to Ralph. "We'll need those spacesuits again."

"I don't think they'll be adequate for Enceladus. It's extremely cold out there."

"Don't worry about us. We can handle it."

Ralph turned to Marion. "Get all of the possible parts and assembly tools here."

She hurried off.

"As you may or may not know, we sent that rover to Enceladus to determine if there is evidence of life originating there," Ralph said. "If there is life there, it would be a game changer."

"We'll keep that in mind," Robert replied.

After being suited up, Robert, Janet and James appeared on Enceladus near the failed rover.

"Oh my God!" Janet exclaimed looking out at space. "What a spectacular view of Saturn!"

"Yeah, Saturn certainly is amazing," Robert said.

James started walking toward where several large jets were shooting out of fissures.

"Hey, what the heck are these things crawling around?"

Robert and Janet exchanged surprise glances before walking over to where James was standing.

"What in the hell are those things?" Janet said, staring at tiny red things that looked like insects with multiple appendages.

"I think we've found alien life," Robert said, smiling.

"Maybe we should take some of them back," James said.

"Yeah, but we'll have to be careful. The last thing we want is for some alien lifeform to get loose on Earth."

James made a metal sample container appear. "This should be a safe way to transport then back.

"Okay but be careful. Don't let any of them get on your suit."

"I can handle it, Dad." He made a pincher device on a long handle appear. "I won't have to touch them."

"We're going to repair the rover," Robert told him.

Robert and his wife went over to the rover and began by removing a cover that gave them access to the main electronics.

"I think I see what's wrong," Robert said. "the main processor board appears to have given up the ghost. We'll replace it and see what happens."

Janet removed a new processor board from the pack of replacement parts and handed it to her husband. He used his powers to remove the damaged board and replace it. After a few tries to start up the rover, it came to life.

"That was easy," Robert said. "But we had better run a system check to see if anything else is damaged."

They replaced a few more components before the rover passed all of the system checks and began to function as it was designed.

"We need another selfie," James said.

He attached his mother's iPhone to a selfie stick and they posed with Saturn behind them.

"That should do it," Robert said.

They appeared back at the JPL mission room.

"I think we found alien life," Robert said.

Marion stared at him with surprised eyes. "What do you mean."

Robert gestured to his son, and he handed the metal container to her. "This has some sort of insect looking things we found near one of the jet fissures. I don't know if they're still alive, but I would keep them isolated if I were you."

"Do you have any photos of them?"

Robert motioned to Janet. "Transfer the photos and videos we captured."

"How did you get those photos and videos?" Marion asked as she watched them appear on a large computer screen.

"We used her iPhone," James said, pointing at his mother.

"An iPhone wouldn't operate at that low of temperature," Marion pointed out.

"We kept it nice and warm the entire time," James told her, grinning with pride.

She didn't have a retort to that.

Jason, Ralph and Marion, along with several other specialists gathered around to view the videos and photos. What they saw changed everything, especially when they posted them on the NASA web site for all to see.

After returning home, the Steris family finally had a chance to relax, but Robert decided they needed a good meal in a place where they wouldn't be recognized.

"How about some German food and beer?" Robert asked them, grinning with amusement.

"He's too young for beer!" Janet said, pointing at James.

"Hey, the place I'm thinking of won't care."

"What place are you thinking of?" she asked.

"Alte Utting. It's a well-known nightclub and music venue in Munich."

"Are you sure it's safe?"

"We just came from Enceladus. I think we can survive Munich."

She frowned. "You know what I mean!"

"I doubt anyone will recognize us," Robert said. "Besides, even if they do, they can't do anything about it."

"Oh well," she said, grinning. "What the hell."

They appeared just outside what looked like a ship sitting on top of a bridge. It was lit up with strings of lights and disco music was waffling out of it on a cool evening. Most of the crowd was young, or at least in heart.

After waiting in line, Robert, Janet and James found a small table on the upper deck. The place was alive with people enjoying a unique experience.

A waiter appeared. "Wir möchten Saurebraten und Kartoffelknödel," Robert told him

"Was willst du trinken?"

Robert smiled. "Dein bestes Bier!"

The waiter smiled back before departing.

"You know German?" James asked.

Janet chuckled, "He knows a lot of languages."

Robert smiled. "You do too."

"How did you know about this place, Dad?" James asked while looking around. "It's unlike anything in America."

"I don't know. It seems that I can see these places in my mind's eye."

When the waiter brought their meals and beer, Robert gave him a bunch of euros.

"Vielen Dank!"

"Go easy on the beer," Robert told his son. "We may have to go into action."

He laughed.

After they were finished eating, Robert decided to take them to somewhere that would be large enough to hide even in a crowd. Nymphenburg Palace was such a place. The areas that led to it were wide and long. There were tourists walking around but not excessive numbers.

"This is where the rulers of Bavaria hung out," Robert told them. "And they dressed well in those days. A good example of that is in the Gallery of Beauties, which contains thirty-six portraits of the most beautiful women of that period."

The place had a good crowd, but they were gawking at the portraits, not them.

Robert got a sudden feeling of impending danger. "Ah, there's a bomb in here," he whispered. "I think it's in that bag over there." He gestured.

There were two guards standing nearby. Robert went over to them. "There is an explosive device in that bag over there where those young people are standing. I've deactivated it."

"How do you know that it has an explosive?" one of the guards asked.

"Trust me, I know. I think those young people are responsible for the bomb."

"Are you the guy in the latest NASA post?" the other guard asked.

"Yes, but I don't want to cause a stir."

"We'll take care of it." He extended his hand and Robert shook it.

"Ah, I repaired your damaged knee," Robert told him.

He smiled. "Danke!"

Robert smiled and walked back to his family. "Let's get out of here. Things are going to get crazy."

They appeared in their Livingroom.

"Do you get the feeling that we're being traced?" Robert said.

"Maybe we are," James said. "They might be doing it through Mom's phone."

"I'm not sure what they hope to achieve by doing that. We can mitigate their attempts to destroy us."

"Maybe this is just more of the experiment," Janet said.

"Could be," Robert said.

James wasn't sure, but what he discovered changed everything.