“We’re not lost again are we?” Spitfire asked.

“No! And last night wasn’t my fault!” I said. We were walking down the street having finished breakfast earlier and checking out of the hotel.

“Really?” Spitfire stood tapping her foot.

“Not my fault there was a hydrogen gas leak right when we left the restaurant.”

“Well you still had the map.”

“And all the routes it gave us were blocked off by emergency personal trying get to the accident sight.”

We stopped by on a street corner. I leaned my bag up against a glass wall.

“Do you even know where we are?” Spitfire asked, “I don’t want to miss the pickup.”

“Well, let me see where we are,” I said.

I tapped the map again, “Elusive Bus Tours Pickup Location.”

A blue dot flashed; right next to where we were. I looked up at the glass wall I had leaned my bag on. It was the bus terminal.

I face palmed. Spitfire put a hand to her mouth before bursting out laughing. She held her gut as she tried to take in air as she laughed at my plight.

I moaned, “Did I really just do that?”

“Yes! And I still can’t even believe that just happened!” she giggled, “You just pulled a Soarin’!”

I pulled my hand down from my head, “Any chance of me living this down?”

“Not a chance in hell!”

“Figures,” I sighed.

We walked into the bus terminal and sat on the benches.

“What time is it?” Spits asked.

“9:59. So the bus should be here right… about… now,” I said as the bus pulled around the corner and stopped in front of the terminal.

It was a tall structure with six wheels. There were large wide windows with an open balcony on the top. The doors slid open. The bus was relatively empty. There were only a few people on the bus. We stepped on. I tapped my card on a pad near the door. We headed up the stairs to the upper deck of the bus. No one was up here so we had the top all to ourselves.

“Now this is what I’m talking about,” Spits smiles.

“Told ya you’d like it,” I said. I set my bag down on the floor in front of a random seat and sat down. Spitfire placed her bag down and took the seat next to mine. The bus began to move.

“So when will we reach the Spaceport?” Spits asked.

“I think it’s the fifth stop,” I said looking at the bus schedule. Yep, definitely the fifth.

The bus zoomed down the street as we both pulled our seat belts on. The city was alive. It was almost like traveling through the body of a living being. Everything served a purpose. Each tall skyscraper was like an important organ in the human body. Even if it wasn’t occupied by a company or several it still served an ecological purpose. The buildings themselves were giant tall power plants. The windows were giant solar panels that sucked the sun’s energy out of the sky like giant plants. The energy went to power the building itself and the various city subsystems. Some of the buildings had huge gardens built into the sides that served to feed the city as well as keep it cool in the warm weather. Various vehicles zipped along and past the bus as it went.

“Here,” I said standing up, “Take my seat. You deserve this view more than me.”

Spitfire looked at me, “Thanks.”

We swapped seats and continued to enjoy the view.

Various types of sports cars zipped by on the ground and flew by overhead. The flying car was gaining popularity but the traditional ground pounder still held popularity but at least traffic had decreased. On many building there were large maglev trains that zipped on magnetic fields all along the upper part of the city. People could go their entire lives in this city without stepping foot on the ground. Entire schools, restaurants, businesses and other work places existed in the clouds above. In the city in the sky the rules were a bit different. A police chase in the sky looked more like a military dog fight. Only the dog fights now rarely happened in atmosphere. A large cargo transport flew by overhead. Its maglev panels on its under carriage let it gracefully sail across the sky in a long silent, silky movement.

Spitfire stared at the magical city around her in absolute wonder. I turned at stared at her face. Her expression was priceless; she looked like a kid who was in a candy store, toy shop, and a movie theater all at the same time. I had to admit, the city was almost magic. Though compared to the wonders of cities like Dubai, Honolulu, Tycho, Atlantis, the Halo Habitat, and a number of other wonders scattered across the system this was nothing. I was content to let her stare at his everyday life in wonder.

Secretly I was wondering what it would be like to see my world like her. She was lucky to view my world without presumptions and prejudice. To her, it was magic. She could probably see things I never could have ever dreamed of seeing her. Maybe finding her in that forest was luck in itself. Maybe this was the beginning of an adventure for both of us.

The Bus had stopped several times on the way to the spaceport but Spits didn’t seem to notice. She seemed caught up in taking in every exquisite detail of the metropolis around her. I smiled at her wide eyed expression that she conveyed so well. This must have been a wonderful experience for her. She was in her own wonderland. The ‘wonders’ of my world were just a part of everyday life.

The spaceport came into view. It was on the right side of the bus and was a large circular shaped, mushroom topped building. Half of it, the half that was connected to the peninsula, served as a drop off and parking lot. The upper part of the mushroom cap served vast landing pads for the various flying cars and other transports. The other side of the building served as the actual port that launched ships away from the city.

The bus came to a stop in front of a drop off zone. By now we were the only people left on the bus.

“Spits,” I said.

She was still taking in the surroundings.

“Spits,” I said more firmly this time.

She turned, “Yeah?”

“We’re here,” I said.

“Cool!”

I smiled shaking my head before standing up and grabbing my bag. Spitfire looked at me.

“What’s so funny?” she asked.

“You,” I said, “You get to experience my world through the eyes of a child so to speak. Everything is new and exciting but for me this all part of everyday life. I guess it’s interesting to see someone with such a happy fresh take on everything.”

“Well this place is amazing! Nothing like this even exists in Equestria! This place is a wonderland!”

“Well when you’ve lived here forever it certainly doesn’t seem that way.”

We stepped off the bus and onto the sidewalk. The city was now behind us. We both turned to admire the view. The city was alive yet peaceful at the same time. The tall forest of skyscrapers gave the illusion that it was a living, breathing thing.

“Hey,” I nudged Spits, “You wanna see something cool?”

“Sure! What is it?”

“Well if you thought the city was cool, wait till you see the Spaceport, the plane, and space itself. I’ll admit to myself that space is a pretty cool place.”

We walked along the sidewalk towards one of the main entry ways into the space port. For its gargantuan size it was still small for a spaceport. Some of them in the larger cities had berths a kilometer long to accommodate everything from the largest cruise ship to even the huge Beta Class cruisers. Anything larger than a kilometer had problems getting off the ground.

We finally found the door and stepped inside the spaceport.

Spitfire gasped. We were in a large open foyer area that formed a semicircle around the outside of the spaceport. Inside were large gardens that gave the place a nice aesthetic that sat both on the floor and hung from the large one way glass ceiling. Forward were large rows of terminals that served for as check in for passengers.

A holoprojector stood before us. A hologram of a woman in a spaceport uniform was projected in front of us, “Welcome to the Rio Spaceport. If you are a passenger, please step to one of the check in terminals before proceeding. Welcome to the Rio Spaceport…”

We walked past her.

“This place looks like a temple! Like a futuristic version of a Pegasus monastery.”

“Wait till you see the moon.”

We walked towards the terminal. There was a small pedestal with a pad and scanner nearby. Another pedestal had a hand pad on it. I tapped my hand to the pad and two pieces of smart glass popped out. I grabbed them.

Our tickets in hand we grabbed our bags and continued on. For the most part the building was hollow on the inside. Until you got to the waiting deck. We walked along to the security check. Fortunately they had replaced the strange person groping you with an automated scanner that worked as simply as walking through it. If someone happened to be carrying something dangerous a nanite field immediately immobilized the culprit. So far there hadn’t been a single mistake in any of the spaceports across the system that used it. Though it had stopped several… undesirables from making it aboard a packed flight.

We walked over to the security scanners. Large towers with blue lights running up the sides blocked us off from the rest of the spaceport. If one looked carefully they could see the blue security field that kept the system’s ports safe. I stepped through without a problem.

Spitfire stood back, a little apprehensive. I stood at the other end of the field.

“Are you ok?” I asked. She looked kind of like cat being skittish around water

“Is that thing safe?” she asked.

“What? The scanner? It’s fine.”

“No the blue shield in between it.”

“Wait, you can see that? And I thought I had great vision.”

“Kinda hard to miss,” she said.

“Well my people don’t normally have vision as good as yours or mine,” I said, “I mean, in order to see that you have to have… let’s see… 20/10 vision? That’s a lot better than most of the general population.”

“What’s the average?”

“I don’t know, I’d say 20/20?”

“What’s your vision?” she asked forgetting the field before her.

“Well right now it’s about what you have I’d say but before my accident it was 20/15.”

“What happened?”

I sighed, “I… I don’t like talking about it.”

A silence followed.

“So you said that it was a scanner?” Spits asked, “Won’t it see my wings?”

Hmm, I hadn’t thought of that, “I’d guess it would just perceive them as extra pieces of clothing. The scanner scans for weapons and other dangerous things so I’d say you’d be fine. I once heard of a guy who wore a Jet pack under his jacket onto a plane and he got away with it.”

“Will it hurt?” she asked nervously.

“Not one bit,” I gave a reassuring smile, “I promise.”

I held my hand out and stuck it through the field. Tentatively she took it and walked through the scanner. Nothing, not even a beep. She was good.

“See?” I said, “Not so bad.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. Thanks.”

“No prob.” We grabbed our bags and continued on. We passed several shops and stores in the airport; many of them restaurants. Others were stores selling things from books and magazines to even an electronics store.

I looked at our tickets, “Our flight is at Gate 12 Level F. Flight number 19679”

“And just where would that be?” Spits asked.

We were standing in a large indoor courtyard. Before us the large hollowness of the building ended and instantly began to resemble the normal thickness of an average building. Before us on the building’s ground level was level C. Lower, closer to the ocean were Levels A and B. Higher up were Levels D through H. Tall stair cases and elevators connected the levels.

I stared up the tall balconies, reading each sign as they went up. D, E, F, ah here we are. Three more levels up.

“I’d say we have to up three levels,” I said.

“Well then let’s get going!” she yipped and dragged me towards an elevator.

We made it to the elevator just as the doors opened. Several people exited before going their separate ways. We quickly walked into the elevator. I tapped the button and the doors closed as the elevator began to rise.

We reached Level F and the doors opened. We walked until we reached a large group of hallways.

“There’s gates 1-4,” I said pointing at the hallway farthest to the left.

“So 12-16 should be…” Spitfire said scanning the signs, “… There?” She pointed at a sign.

“Yeah, that’d be it,” I said, “Gates 12-16. Let’s go. They’ll be boarding us soon.”

We grabbed our bags and headed to our gate. There was a waiting area that was situated next to several tall windows. Outside was a landing pad where our plane rested. It was a sleek looking ship, not a single corner on it. The whole thing looked organic, like a giant sea creature that sailed through the sky. There were four engines situated on the wings and near the tail of the craft. There were also a series of lumps all along the ship; maneuvering thrusters for space. Windows lined the sides like any other commercial space plane. A docking arm and corridor led to the side of the ship.

We found some chairs and sat down and began to wait. I should have bought a tablet or a book at least. I’m a terribly impatient person. I like to be kept occupied at all times. I sighed and put my head back and tried to catch up on some Zs.

***

Rainbow Dash screamed. SolarStorm’s book fell out of his hands and through the cloud he was sitting on.

“Rainbow what’s wrong?!” He asked.

“Oh no. Oh no no no no no no no no. This is bad!”

“What is it?”

She handed him a piece of paper. Judging by its feel, composition, and smell it was a newspaper. Not braille.

He pulled his blue goggles down, exposing his gray, cloudy eyes, “Um, Rainbow?”

She gave a sheepish laugh, “Heh heh, sorry.”

“So what’s got your panties in a bunch?” he joked.

“My WHAT?!” Rainbow fumed. Though storm couldn’t see her, he could tell she was blushing.

He fell over laughing.

“You’re really lucky I like you,” she said.

“You love me and you know it.”

“Curse you,” she tackled him, pressing him down on the cloud. He gave a wry smile as his girlfriend pinned him down.

“So what’s on your mind?” he asked more seriously. Rainbow climbed off his body and sat next to him the cloud.

“This isn’t good, Storm,” she said sincerely, “Spitfire’s missing!”

He shot up, “What?!”

“The Wonderbolts were in Cloudsdale when one of their tricks went wrong apparently. The Equestrian Gazette doesn’t say much but she’s gone. They’re calling for a search party to go find her.”

“Any other’s missing?”

“No but the youngest captain in Wonderbolts history is still missing!”

“Sounds like we’re in quite a pickle here,” Storm said, “Come on, let’s go see Twilight. She’s bound to know something.”

***

Its emotional subroutines have been active longer than usual.

Yes, I’ve noticed that too. Normally their only active for about 6 hours a day. Any explanation?

It only just came back onto the grid. And while we know where it is there’s still no confirmation of its location. Lack of security camera footage.

And we’re letting it make its own choices on everything?

If this experiment is to be successful it has to be able to think on its own.

Hmm, so sit back and observe?

Yes. Also, get the Admiral. I think it’s time we let him know what we’ve been doing with his project. Bring him into the loop.

Yes sir.

***

I shot awake. I was still in the spaceport. I checked the time, 11:45; we’d be boarding the ship soon.

I turned. Spitfire was sitting next to me, twiddling her thumbs. She stared at her feet. She turned to face me, “So… About what happened in the hotel…”

“What about it?”

“Well, you said, uh, some things… Well I was wondering if they were true.”

I was beginning to feel awkward. God I hated situations like this. I needed to take the time to learn psychology. I never could tell when I was being toyed with or when I was toying with others. I hated that feeling. Last year I was asked to the junior prom a year in advance by one of the popular girls who had a boyfriend. I guessed I was being toyed with but reading people wasn’t always my strong point. She didn’t seem joking at the time but then again she didn’t seem like she was expressing much of anything at the time. I politely turned her down.

“If what things were true?”

“Well you said you were awkward in social situations.”

“Well I’m not the best at reading people so mingling with others is a bit of a problem,” I said as honestly as possible.

Spitfire looked at the floor again, “You also said I was beautiful.”

Oh dear lord not this again. Um, shit. How do you talk to girls? What do you say so they don’t kill you? Do you ego stroke? Compliment them? Idiot you already did that. How do you do this? I think you can add a few things to Einstein’s quote about human stupidity; Man’s lack of understanding for Women is infinite.

“Well, I, uh well, you’re, Gosh,” I stumbled over my words. If this was a race I’d be falling all over the place. Not the most verbally coordinated person. Still my father’s fault.

I muttered under my breath, “Crap, what do you say to girls when backed into a corner? Rule 84, no such thing as a square room unless you let it.”

Spitfire laughed lightly, “I’ve backed you into a corner?”

“Shit, you weren’t supposed to hear that!”

“So,” she found something interesting about the floor again, “Is it true?”

“Um, well, I-uh, you’re, um-”

A lady spoke over the intercom, “Now boarding flight 19679 to Tycho city.”

Thank god, “Well look at that. We best be boarding!”

Spits sighed and grabbed her bag. We stood up and headed to the gate. Fortunately I had paid for the first class tickets so we boarded quickly.

We stepped down the gangplank and into the space plane. It was a large open space with rows upon rows of seating. Not our seating.

“Come on,” I grabbed Spits’ hand, “We’re upstairs in the observation lounge.”

I led her up the stairs into economy. More seating but with more privacy and space. A group of couches and a few chairs sat around a coffee table. A bar sat in one corner of the room. Not our seating.

I led her farther down the space craft until we reached a large centralized stair case. We walked up the stairs to the observation lounge. It was large open area with one way glass. We could see into the open hanger bay of the port. This glass was one of the strongest, lightest materials ever built into a plane. There were several emergency crash couches in one part of the room but the rest of it was built for comfort. Large couches and comfortable arm chairs. There were even a few cubicles with beds, showers, bathrooms, and changing rooms. But most of the room was luxurious and spacious with wide open views.

“I’m pretty sure I bought the right tickets,” I said, “What’d ya think? Can I cook or can’t I?”

“This place is amazing!” Spitfire said forgetting of our previous conversation, thank god, “We’ll be able to see space from here?”

“That’s the general idea of an observation lounge.”

We found the carry on compartments and placed our bags. No one else seemed to have booked a flight in this part of the plane so we had it all to ourselves.

“Ladies and Gentlemen. Welcome aboard Flight 19679 to Tycho. We will be departing shortly so please take you seats.”

We took our seats in our crash couches. I strapped Spits in before securing myself. A flight attendant came up and pointed out the manual release levers on the sides of our chairs that pulled escape pods over us and shot the passengers out into space. She later pointed out the emergency exits in case we had to leave in a pinch.

Soon the plane shuddered. The docking arm disconnected and retracted. The doors closed and sealed as the cabin was pressurized.

“Oh I love this part,” I laughed as the plane rose off the pad, “Get ready for some High G acceleration.”

The plane rose up into the air. The landing gear retracted as the plane rotated to face out of the spaceport.

The plane accelerated forward as the powerful PRATT CORP engines pushed takeoff thrust. The space plane rocketed out of the hanger and began to climb. I looked at Spits who had a look somewhere in between excited/thrilled and terrified.

The plane climbed higher into the stratosphere. The city became a small blip in the land behind us. Soon the acceleration began to slow as we entered orbit and micro gravity.

“Acceleration complete. You are now free to move about the cabin.”

“Excellent,” I said. I unbuckled myself before helping Spitfire out of her seat. Artificial gravity was activated so we gripped the floor on ½ G.

“Whoa,” she said giddily, “This is so weird!” She bounced across the room in the low gravity.

“Ha ha!” she laughed as she jumped into the air before slowly descending to the deck, “This is so fun!”

I bounced to the edge of the tall room, “Wanna come see the view?”

“Sure!” Spits bounced over, nearly bouncing into the wall in the process.

“Whoa there, Astro angel,” I said gripping her hand and pulling her back down to the deck, “Check this out.”

I watched in amusement as Spitfire’s eyes went wide with awe and wonder. The planet came into view. The large curve of the planet made for a majestic view. It was a wonderful experience to see the cradle of humanity from space like this. While I hated being there I had to admit it looked like jewel hidden among the stars. Cloud formations below speckled the surface. The vast ocean gave the impression of a water world.

In orbit around the planet were several stations. Large orbital habitats, orbital elevators, large stations, observatories, and Military installations. We sailed past a military space dock with a large Tyson class cruiser resting inside. And that was just one of the small docks. Larger stations could house entire fleets inside while protecting them from the sun’s rays while they underwent repairs. There were large stations that served as harbors. Large space cruise ships rested in their berths as they took on passengers. Other container ships off loaded cargo. The orbits of earth were alive with activity.

The planet began to grow smaller behind us as the ship accelerated away. I moved to another part of the deck.

“Hey Spits, come check this out,” I pointed.

She bounced over, finding it easier to navigate that way. Commercial planes like this didn’t have efficient gravity systems onboard so gravity was stuck at ½ G. Larger yachts and other ships were equipped with complete systems. But ½ G gravity made it difficult to walk for anything used to a full G environment.

"What is it?” she asked.

“Look,” I said. I pointed at a small grayish white object in the distance. Earth’s moon, Luna. Only a small ball in the distance it would be difficult to see the cities that rested on the surface and beneath. At this distance it looked as it always did.

“That’s your moon?” she asked.

“Yup. We didn’t always live on it but now it has a population of… Oh I’d say about 100 million?”

“100 million!? How do you even have that many people living there? Equestria’s population is only 75 million.”

“Well we’ve had a lot of room to expand ever since we left Earth. The moon is just one the places we’ve chosen to live.”

“When will we get there?” she asked.

“In about 12 hours.”

“Ugh, that’s gonna take forever.”

“Not really,” I grinned, “There’s a few ways you can have fun on a 12 hour flight to the moon.”

I bounced over to a control panel on the wall.

“Check this out,” I said. I pulled a remote like device out of a compartment near the panel and found the button I was looking for. I pressed it and watched artificial gravity deactivate. Spitfire began to float into the air.

“Whoa! What is this? What did you do?!” she asked giddily as she struggled to move in the zero gravity environment.

I held onto a handhold on the floor, “I shut off gravity. Now we can have some real fun.”

I shoved the remote in my pocket and pushed off the floor towards Spitfire. I floated up to her and grabbed her hand before continuing onto the far wall. We grabbed handholds on the wall.

“Isn’t this awesome?!” I asked. I’d always loved zero G. So many things one could do.

“It’s different,” she giggled.

“Try pushing off from the wall. You’ll get carried over to other side.”

She gave it a try and launched herself over. She landed a little clumsily but managed to grab the hand hold. I pushed myself off the wall and followed.

I landed and held myself to the wall. Spits looked to be having the time of her life in the zero gravity.

“Hey,” I nudged her, “Race ya to the other side.”

“You’re on,” she grinned. She got comfortable on the wall. I crouched down on my feet.

“On your marks,” I said.

“Get set,” Spitfire said eagerly.

“Go!” We shouted and launched off the wall. We sped across the observation deck towards one of the couches. Didn’t want to smack into a wall. I approached the couch and flipped over, landing on my back with my feet facing the ceiling. Spitfire crashed into the couch next to me.

“I win,” I declared triumphantly.

“No fair. You’ve been in zero gravity before,” Spits smiled, “That and you got a head start.”

“No I didn’t. I’m just that fast.” I floated over to a refrigerator. I grabbed a bottle of water out of the air before closing the door. I floated back over.

“Check this out,” I opened up the bottle and watched as its contents floated out and into a small sphere. I resealed it before it completely drained.

Spitfire was staring at the ball of water in front of her. I casually brought out two straws and poked the sphere. Spits’ reflection disappeared as the ripples moved over the ball.

“That’s so cool,” she laughed.

I tossed a straw over. She grabbed it and poked at the ball. She laughed as it bounced and wobbled about in the zero gravity. I stabbed my straw in and drank, watching the ball get smaller.

“Everything is funnier in Zero G,” I said. I watched Spitfire gobbled down the rest of the water. She hiccupped before rolling over.

“Whoa,” she said, “Check this out.” She flipped and spun just above the couch before grabbing it and stopping herself.

“Please. Watch this.” I pushed myself off the couch and spun through the air before flipping and landing feet first against the far wall. I pushed back and landed next to the flame haired girl.

“Oh I got you. Trick wars. Just so you know, I’m captain of the Wonderbolts. Try to keep up,” Spits said before taking off into the air.

***

I couldn’t help but laugh. This was one of the funniest things I’d ever seen. Spitfire was stuck in the center of the room, floundering in the center like fish out of water.

“Don’t just stand there,” she said, “Do something!”

“Like what?!” I laughed.

“I don’t know! Just help me down!”

“I thought the Captain of the Wonderbolts didn’t need any help!”

“When did I say that?”

“When you nearly got stuck the first time!” I fell over and began tumbling in the gravity. Accept I couldn’t stop myself this time. I rolled into the center of the room, right next to Spits.

I opened my eyes to see Spitfire glaring at me with her arms crossed.

“What’re we gonna do now, smart one?”

“You’re forgetting one thing,” I grinned, “I have the remote.”

I held up the box and tapped the button. Gravity reactivated and we fell to the floor. It didn’t hurt since the gravity was ½ but a little uncomfortable.

I was still laughing when Spits playfully tackled me to the floor.

“Why didn’t you just do that sooner?” she asked.

“Because it was funny!” I laughed raising my arms to fake fend myself off as she pretended to beat me up.

“Ah! Stop! Mercy!” I laughed.

“Not this time!” Spits giggled.

“Oh my,” a voice said. I tilted my head back. A flight attendant had come up to check up on us, “I’ll come back later.”

She quickly beat a hasty retreat back down the stairs.

We sat like that staring at the stairs for the longest time before bursting out laughing. Spitfire rolled off of me and onto the floor as I doubled over and held my gut as I guffawed at what just happened. Spitfire giggled and pounded the floor with her fists.

“What the hell just happened?!” I laughed.

“I have no idea!” Spits gasped.

I finally controlled my breathing around the same time as Spits. I stared up at the window at the tall star scape above us. Spitfire rolled over onto her back or wings next to me.

We stared into the stars in silence. It was beautiful. Each one was diamond or sapphire or ruby among the darkness. Each one precious and beautiful in its own way.

“Beautiful aren’t they?” I asked.

“I guess,” Spitfire said.

“You guess? Spits theses are absolutely amazing! They’ve been a guide to my people for hundreds of years! They’ve been there for us like companions, friends, family as my people have evolved. They were above us for all the major events in our history! Through good times and bad they were the ones who were always there for us. And now one of them may have another jewel just like Earth nestled around it! They’re the most beautiful things in the universe!”

Spitfire turned her head, “Well when you put it that way, I guess they are pretty awesome. In Equestria the stars for us were one of the causes for the corruption of Princess Luna. While they’re pretty and all they don’t hold near as much significance as they do to your people. I think in Equestria the stars don’t’ even have things orbiting them!”

“Really? Why?”

“Don’t know. Something Princess Luna would know.”

I stared at the moving star scape as the ship flew through space. We both stared at the stars. I hoped Spitfire saw them like I did. I had always loved the stars. There were even rumors that the Neptunians were planning to build a generation ship to head out to a new Earth like planet they’d spotted. If so I wanted to be one of the ones who got to travel to the stars.

It was a peaceful moment. A very rare moment. One that wouldn’t last.

“Ladies and Gentlemen,” The captain said, “We will be landing in Tycho in 5 minutes. Please return to your crash couches and strap yourselves in.”

I turned to Spits who rolled over, “Guess we better get off the floor.”

“Yeah,” she said. We stood up and returned to our crash couches. We strapped ourselves in.

Outside the window we could see the moon fast approaching. Its familiar cratered surface came into view. We could see irregular metal gray spots all over. In the center of these were little sparkling lights; the large domed cities of the moon

We approached Tycho Crater. At the center was Tycho city. A large Super Domed structure. Inside sat a large city. Surrounded by a geodesic dome the city survived in the vacuum of the moon. The dome was an incredibly strong structure. It needed to be to hold in the atmosphere of the city.

We landed a landing pad on a space port like facility just outside the dome. The pad descended beneath the surface of the moon as a docking arm attached itself to the ship. The pressures balanced out and doors were opened to the rest of Tycho Spaceport.

We undid the straps and stood up in our seats. We grabbed our bags and walked down the stairs to exit. The other passengers were just undoing their seat straps when we stepped off the plane.

“Be prepared for a little Jet lag,” I said.

“Jet lag?” Spitfire asked.

“Uh, it happens when you switch time zones. It messes with your natural biological clock? Sleeplessness, headaches, irritability?”

“Oh, you mean Travel Fatigue. Don’t worry about me. In the Wonderbolts we travel all the time. You eventually get used to it.”

“Oh good. Because it’s 12:00 here.”

“Midnight?”

“No around in the morning. It’s as if we never left. We’re off by 12 hours now.”

“Eeeh,” Spits said, “Those 12 hour ones are always the worst.”

“Oh yeah. Come on, I forgot to call Cat before we left so let’s go find a terminal.”