"It'll have to do," Jake said, "hold on, we're landing."

A last minute inspiration told him to land on the lake. There were no clearings that he could see, so he went for it. He flew across the lake, turned one last time, and headed down. At the last second he pulled the nose up and the glider did a belly flop onto the water. The low friction Kerasite really slipped over the surface of the lake, far easier than Jake had allowed for. They overshot the water's edge and headed into the trees.

"Hold on!" he shouted just before the crash.

A few seconds later, they came to an abrupt stop.

"Is everybody ok?" Jake asked, his voice shaking.

"Sort of, came three replies."

"How about the cargo?"

Betty, who was in the back seat, turned to inspect the cargo.

"It seems okay," she said, "well done Jake, you did it! We're home, back on Earth."

After the congratulations died down, Jake picked up his mic, "Come in Phil, this is Jake calling. We've landed safe and well, cargo and pa.s.sengers all intact. Over."

"That's great news Jake, well done, I bet you're glad now that you didn't bother with all those lessons, over."

"Erm, thanks Phil, you've just blown my cover, tell the folks back at Eden that we'll be in touch when we've had a good look around, over and out."

"Will do, good luck all, over and out."

Jake put the mic down, turned and said, "Well, I guess it's time to get out folks, some people near here need our help. They opened the hatch and climbed out. There was an interesting path cut through the trees behind them. The Kerasite wings had sliced through the trees like a hot knife through b.u.t.ter, leaving an easy route back to the lake. They set off with Jake leading the way. When they reached the water's edge they stopped, and Zeek said, "Listen!" they all became quiet. "Is that snoring I can hear?"

"Well, that's our job done Roy," Phil said, "time to head home. Let's see what this baby can really do!" He hit the throttle and the rockets fired. They were pinned in their seats for several seconds, and then Phil hit the Trion drive. There was a muted explosion and a frightening onrush of acceleration. By the time Phil had recovered enough to see clearly, they were way past 250,000 mph and still accelerating.

"We've got loads of fuel Roy, what say we by-pa.s.s the moon and see what happens?"

"Sounds good to me, we may not get another chance."

So they did just that, they shot past the Moon after a few minutes and kept going. At 500,000 mph and still accelerating, Phil throttled back and turned the ship towards the Moon.

"I guess we'd just keep getting faster," he said, "maybe if we let it go long enough we'll reach the speed of light?"

"Another time," Roy answered, "I'm hungry!" Phil laughed as they started back towards the moon.

Chapter Sixteen.

Chapter 7.

Earth Jake said, "It sure is snoring-"

"Now that's what I call precision," Zeek interrupted, "250,000 miles and we land within snoring range!"

They laughed, and Martha said, "Well at least we know one of them is alive."

"It could be a Grisly," Zeek joked, and Betty hit him on the back of his head.

"Ouch!" He shouted, the snoring stopped.

"Is someone there?" A weak voice called out.

Dave staggered out of the cabin and fell into Jake's arms. The girls took over and administered a berry whilst Jake went into the cabin to see how the others were. He was not long, and came out looking distraught.

"They're all dead," he said, with tears welling in his eyes.

"Not if I can help it," Betty said, and rushed inside.

They were dead all right, but Betty wasn't a quitter. She felt them to see if they were still warm, they were, so death had not occurred that long ago. Instinctively, she got out some berries and squashed out the juice. She poured it into their mouths and blew it into them, along with a silent prayer.

The huge ship skimmed across the gra.s.sy terrain. It had performed flawlessly throughout the trip, and Phil was delighted with the whole venture. Both he and Roy were eager to get back and report all that had happened. Steve and John were waiting for them as they came in to land.

"Good trip?" Steve asked, when they had disembarked.

"Fabulous," Phil said, "we need to talk."

"They got down ok," Roy said, "we had a message from them after they had landed, all are safe and well. They said they'd call when they've had chance to look around."

"That's great news guys, now, what's this we must talk about Phil?"

On the way back to the settlement, Phil told Steve what they had done. "We figured it was worth it to find out just how fast we could travel."

"Yes, I agree," Steve said, "I'm glad you did, we should be able to work out how long it would take to get to the speed of light from the time it took to get to 500,000."

"a.s.suming that acceleration is constant of course, which it might not be." This was John, thinking like an engineer again.

Steve said, "Come on, Mr. spanner in the works, it's been a long day."

"He's coming round," Martha said. "Hi Dave, I'm Martha and this is Jake, how are you feeling?"

"I've felt better," Dave replied, "how did you find us?"

"Oh, a bit of old fashioned radio triangulation, and your snoring. By the way, this is Zeek, and this is Betty."

"Hi everyone thanks for coming. We've been on our last legs for a couple of days now, some sort of sickness. .h.i.t us, not sure what, but it hit us hard. All the others are in the cabin sleeping, have you looked in on them yet?"

"Yes, I have Dave and-" Jake started, but Betty interrupted him.

"They're still sleeping Dave, let's leave them to rest." She motioned to Jake not to say anything. He understood her meaning, thinking they would tell him when he was stronger.

Just then there was a loud cough from inside the cabin. Jake looked at Betty who silently mouthed the word, 'berry' to him. He looked a little puzzled, but followed her inside. All four were alive but very groggy. The four consisted of a woman of Dave's age, and three children, two boys and a girl.

"How did you do it?" Jake asked.

"I dropped berry juice into their mouths and blew it in," she said with a shrug of her shoulders. "I also said a quick prayer..."

Now that they were 'awake' she gave each of them a berry to eat telling them it would do them good.

"Now there's an understatement if ever I heard one." Zeek said, in his own inimitable way.

"Where's the radio Dave? I need to make a call."

"It's out in the shed," he said, pointing the way.

Zeek went out to look for it. He found it in a run down wooden shed that had at one time served as a loo.

"Nice," he muttered, on entering. Picking up the mic he began, "Eden this is Southgate calling, come in over."

There was the usual time delay and then Bill answered.

"This is Eden, is that you Zeek? Over."

"You betcha," Zeek replied, "we've arrived at Southgate, and we were just in time. Dave was the only one still alive, but the berries have worked their miracle and brought the other four back to life."

"Let me get this straight," Bill interrupted, "the other four were dead, and the berries brought them back to life?"

"That's it Bill, Betty did it. She poured some juice into their mouths and blew it into them. They were alive again within five minutes. Tell Steve for us will you. Oh, and by the way, the Southgate community is a single family: Mom, dad, and three kids. We didn't see any other signs of life as we flew around, but will keep you informed as and when things crop up. Over."

"Thanks for that Zeek, I will tell Steve for you, and everyone else. They are all eager to know that you're all right. How did the glider perform? Over."

"Like a dream, Bill, tell the guys back there that they did a great job. The glider flew perfectly, we set down within 50 yards of their cabin, and it isn't even scratched. The heat shield worked just as expected and the Bycrilic held too. Over."

"Excellent Zeek, look after yourselves and if you need anything just holler. Over and out."

Back in Eden, Bill told Steve all that Zeek had told him. Steve shared it with Clare when he got home. "That settles it then," she said, "it is the tree of life, we can't deny it now, that means we'll all live forever!"

"Steady on Sweetie, we don't know that for sure."

"Well, ask me in 70 years time, we'll know by then."

Steve laughed at the thought of it. "We'll have to find plenty to do to occupy all that time Sweetie, any ideas?"

"Steve Forester! You're incorrigible," she said, laughing, "come on, let's have an early night."

Sam was home alone reading quietly when he heard a tapping on his door. "Come in," he called out, and in came Kay.

"Am I disturbing you?" she asked softly.

"Only in ways that I like," he replied, smiling.

"I could use some company," she said, a little coyly, seeing that Sam was obviously glad to see her.

"Come in and sit down and I'll make us a drink." He vanished into the kitchen, and she picked up the book he was reading.

"What's this you're reading Sam, Beginners Chemistry?"

"Yes," he answered from the kitchen, "I thought I'd expand my knowledge base, after all, there won't be much call for a doctor from now on, I may need a new career. You work in chemistry don't you?"

"Yes, I do," she answered.

"I thought you did, it will be good to have something in common."

She smiled quietly at his attention to her detail and put the book down.

"I'll help you along with it if you like."

"Yes, I'd like that very much," he said handing her a coffee.

The four new comers spent a rather uncomfortable night on the floor, and they were all glad to see daylight again. The Thomas family were already up and at work.

"Look at them," Martha said, to Betty, "just yesterday they were all dead, and now they're out there chopping wood and starting to build something."

"Build what?" Jake asked, whilst trying to get the crick out of his neck.

"Looks like a new cabin to me, perhaps they're building us a cabin."

Jake got up to take a look. "It sure does look like a cabin, and just look at how fast they're working. Come on, let's get some breakfast, and figure out what we're going to do next."

They emerged from the cabin and were greeted very warmly. All the Thomas family stopped what they were doing and came over to them.

"Good morning folks," Zeek said, trying to match their brightness, "what are you building?"

It was Dave who answered, "We've needed more s.p.a.ce for ages and you guys turning up has inspired us to make a start. Besides, we all feel so well that we thought we'd get as much done as we could, in case we get sick again."