The Final Showdown - The Moon Trilogy - Book 3

Chapter thirty-four:

After sleeping, the whole ordeal felt like a dream. Everything that had happened to Clarity since meeting Rachel in her moonlit back yard so long ago could be one, long dream. A nightmare, at times.

At the thought; In a flash, she was back in the cell in Atlantis, staring out through the narrow window at Clara, a blade thrust squarely through her chest.

But that wasn't the issue at hand, she told herself to rid her mind of the image. The issue now had a whole lot more to do with aliens than mutants. Even Eric Lance was finally gone...

The starships were being held under more scrutiny and excitement now than they had ever been since the old sci-fi craze of the forties. Old, cobwebbed facilities were being cleared out and booted up to provide more space for the limping-along program that had been almost abandoned in favor of deep-sea exploration and other fields of more interest and importance. And less risk. Except for the mars thing, which had consisted of three pot-bellied, slow moving space crafts that were just fast enough to get a crew, a cargo and some colonists safely so mars.

For so long, the question of aliens had been a complete mystery to everyone but people like Clarity and the aliens themselves. Now, everyone knew. Now, everyone wanted to get to the aliens in their far-off galaxies. They didn't even realize that there were people among them who'd already been there, who were even born there.

It was a race with no real winner. Frantic funding from millionaires and billionaires who always hopped on the latest trend spurred the production up to eleven. It was all everyone and anyone talked about. The video clip that had started the whole thing had been circulated to mars and back—literally, and had been authenticated time and time again.

There wasn't even a question about it, and the space hype was back on. Maybe even permanently this time.

By the end of the day, the news reports were even talking of starships almost ready for test flights. She was amazed at how fast the ships were being built. The ample funding couldn't hurt, she knew. She joined the team in the living room, where it had become normal to convene now that such a monumental event was occurring right before their eyes.

How would this turn out? No one knew, but the whole team wanted to watch it step by step, as if unfolded.

Well, the whole team minus one; Johnny was mysteriously missing for the whole day. She didn't think he had a phone, at least not one that she knew of, so she had no real way of contacting him. She kept the thought in the back of her mind as the day ticked, and it slowly became saturated with worry.

She tried to think of where he would be, and she even teleported to a few places just to check, even if she knew it was useless.

She gave up with a sigh and figured he'd come home eventually. He'd gone missing before.

She didn't bother to check a clock, but she knew it was late. She flopped into bed as soon as she got back and immediately fell into a deep sleep. Apparently, no matter how normal she'd felt during the day, the effects of the trials of the past few weeks hadn't quite left her.

*************

She snapped awake in the morning, a sudden sense of urgency forcing its way into her groggy half-sleep. What was wrong? Was she late for something?

For just a split second, she allowed herself to think that this whole thing really had been nothing but a long dream, and she was simply late for her morning class. But she was in a familiarly minimalist white room, not the cluttered dorm she'd shared with Jessie.

Johnny. The thought struck her like lightning. He was presumably still missing. She had to go check if he'd come home safely.

She rushed out into the living room right away. She'd slept in her clothes, so she didn't exaclty have to get ready for the day. No one there.