Chapter 4
Back on Neila in Sona's bedroom, she sat on her bed looking concerned at her Space Pad.
"Luna. Are you there?" she spoke into the Space Pad. Luna's hologram did not appear on her Space Pad.
"Please come in Luna!" she pleaded into her Space Pad. But Luna's hologram still did not appear on her Space Pad, so she turned it off.
A bee boop was heard from her bedside table, where a Hologram emitted from her Holophone.
A hologram of Sona Senior appeared. She had purple hair with white streaks. "What are you doing, Sona?" asked Sona Sr.
"Oh, please, Mom! I'm not a kid anymore; you don't need to always check up on me," Sona replied.
"I'm your mother. It's my job," Sona Sr. responded in her normal motherly tone.
"If you must pry, I'm okay and getting ready for bed. So you and daddy have a great time on your space cruise. I'll see you when you get back," Sona replied then blew her mother hologram a kiss. Her mother's hologram quickly responded with a kiss in return.
Sona turned off her Holophone.
She got in bed worried about Luna not responding from her Space Pad.
Meanwhile, back on earth, it was nighttime, and the space center was peaceful and quiet.
Back at Kirk's place, Timmy, Frankie, and Monica were on the top of Kirk's building. They checked out the full Moon with Kirk's telescope.
Inside of Neila 1, Luna was still out cold while his ship tumbled down toward central Florida.
Luna became conscious and looked out his canopy and saw the ground coming up fast. He frantically got back to his seat.
He flipped switches, turned knobs, pushed buttons on the console then moved his joystick around.
The tumbling slowed down, and after some more control stick maneuvering, the tumbling eventually stopped.
Luna looked relieved but then noticed he was heading straight at the ground. He quickly pushed the buttons for the smaller thruster engines.
Above the space center grounds, Neila 1 slowed down but not enough to where it landed hard on the ground. It bounced back up in the air and slammed into an area full of muck that was thick with scrub brushes.
The front end of Neila 1 sunk into the muck and covered half of the canopy. Since the area was thick with vegetation, the branches of scrub brushes, pine trees, and other vegetation hid the spaceship from view in the air. It got quiet again.
Back on the roof of Kirk's building, Timmy, Frankie, and Monica looked around the area.
"I know I heard something. It sounded like a crash way over there," Monica said and pointed to in a northwestern direction.
"I didn't hear anything," Frankie replied.
Timmy nodded in agreement that he did not hear anything.
"What wrong?" Kirk asked while he walked over from walking up the steps.
"Monica thought she heard something crash over there," Frankie said while he pointed in the direction Monica pointed.
"I know I heard something crashed," Monica added.
Timmy, Frankie, Monica, and Kirk all looked around the area and could not see any signs of anything that might have crashed.
"She does have eagle ears," said Timmy while they continued to look in the direction she pointed.
They all shrugged it off and went back to looking at the Moon through the telescope.
Kirk stayed up there but got this nagging feeling in his stomach that something happened. He waited and continued to scan the area over.
Inside Neila 1, Luna was slumped over the console out cold.
His Space Pad beeped from his jacket as, during all the tumbling, it turned on.
"Speak to me, Luna!" cried out, Sona in a panic from his Space Pad.
Luna stayed out cold. His Space Pad beeped off.
A NASA Huey helicopter was above the spaceship.
Inside the NASA Huey helicopter, two NASA pilots, Rodney and Jake, sat at the controls and looked out their windows. A searchlight illuminated the ground below, and they only saw trees, scrub brushes, and other vegetation while they hovered.
On Kirk's roof, he and the Space Dreamers saw the NASA Huey helicopter hovering about fifty feet above the ground.
They watched while Huey's searchlight illuminated the ground about five hundred feet to the northwest of Kirk's place.
"I told you something happened over there?" said Monica.
"Maybe a plane?" replied Timmy now believing Monica.
"Maybe a meteorite?" added Frankie.
Kirk stroked his goatee while he watched the Huey. "It could have been a meteorite."
They continued to eye the Huey while it searched the ground with its searchlight.
Back inside the NASA Huey helicopter, Jake and Rodney continued to search the ground with the searchlight.
"What do you think it was?" Jake asked Rodney.
Rodney pondered for a second while he looked down below. "I'm thinking a meteorite, which probably buried itself in the muck."
"Maybe or maybe just nothing. Let's go back to the runway. I want some coffee," Jake responded.
"Yeah, I also think it was nothing. I don't want to spend the entire night filling out those lengthy incident report forms," Rodney added.
"I agree. It was nothing," Jake replied.
Rodney pushed forward on the cyclic control and lifted on the collective.
Their Huey ascended into the night sky with its searchlight turned off.
Meanwhile, way off in outer space, Neila 3 flew back into the black hole by Saturn.
Back on Neila at the King's Palace grounds, King Tona searched the grounds over and was worried.
"Luna! Where are you Luna!" he yelled out while looked up at the sky. He figured Luna might be sky surfing since he could not find his sky board in his bedroom. The sky was clear.
King Tona looked in the direction of the garage. He got an idea and rushed over to it.
King Tona went inside the garage and saw Luna's Sky Doo parked inside. He left the garage worried about Luna as his instincts told him something was not right.
He headed back to the Palace.
Outside the garage, King Tona removed a smaller version of the Space Pad and pressed a button. "General Meena, come to the Palace immediately. I'll meet you in the rear grounds by the garage," King Tona said into his Space Pad.
He started to pace back and forth in the grass, looking worried.
Ten minutes later, a small two-seater green spaceship labeled General 1 with a bubble glass canopy and four stars painted on both sides of the craft descended out of the sky.
General 1 landed twenty feet from King Tona.
The spaceship door opened and Meena got out.
He rushed over to King Tona, who looked worried.
"You wanted to see me?" Meena said.
"Yes, Meena, I can't find Luna. He wasn't in his bed, and it looked like he didn't sleep in it. His sky board is gone, but his Sky Doo is still here. Therefore, I want you to send out some troops to find him. Today is the day where he has to sign some paperwork for his Kingdom," King Tona said.
Meena snapped to attention and saluted. "Yes, sir. I'll put that order in effect immediately," then Meena rushed back to his spaceship.
"You know, if you find Sona, you'll find Luna," King Tona yelled at Meena just as he stepped set a foot inside his spaceship.
Meena cringed as he forgot about Sona. "Yes sir," Meena called back then went back inside his spaceship and closed the door.
King Tona watched while Meena's spaceship ascended then took off and flew back to the Army base.
King Tona walked back to the Palace, worried to death about the whereabouts of Luna.
Back on earth inside Neila 1, Luna was still out cold and slumped on the console.
He stirred a little and became conscious. He looked around his ship dazed and scared.
He got up and turned a few knobs on the console.
"Father? Can you hear me, father? I need help!" he talked into a microphone. Nothing but silence then he realized the communications portion of his console was dead.
He looked at the door and got curious.
He slowly walked over to it.
He opened the capsule door and cautiously peeked outside.
He saw nothing but thick scrub brush and other vegetation in the dark. He got scared and closed the door, but it did not close all the way. He rushed over to the console and sat down on the floor. He remembered something and reached inside his jacket pocket. He removed his Space Pad and turned it on.
"Sona! Please come in Sona!" he said into the Space Pad, but the monitor remained blank, and Sona's hologram did not appear. Luna shoved it back into his jacket pocket.
"Why did I go on this stupid mission?" he said while he looked around his spaceship scared to death.
It was now morning across Florida.
Over in the northern area of the space center, Scooter drove his pickup truck into the parking lot of the Support Building at Launch Complex 39C.
This was a brand new launch pad constructed just for the Magellan Rocket Program.
He parked his truck and got out with his lunch box in hand. He walked to the entrance of the building.
Meanwhile, Timmy, Frankie, and Monica all rode their bikes down Atlantis Street after picking up Timmy.
"There was nothing on the news about a meteorite hitting the space center last night," said Frankie.
"I know I heard something crash last night," said Monica and she looked serious.
"I believe you," said Timmy.
The Space Dreamers rode down the end of Atlantis then turned down SR 3. They rode north down that road.
A little while later, the Space Dreamers rode their bikes through Kirk's opened gate of his place.
The Space Dreamers rode their bikes and parked them by the Cousteau capsule stand.
"Hello, boys. What brings you back here so early in the morning?" Kirk asked while he stepped out of his building with a fresh cup of coffee in hand.
"We want to check out that area where the Huey searched last night," said Timmy.
"We believe a meteorite might have impacted there," added Frankie.
Monica nodded in agreement with her two buddies.
Kirk glanced at the Space Dreamers while he sipped his coffee. He knew their intense curiosity was something he remembered having when he was a lad. "Let me unlock the back gate," he said then reached in his right pants pocket and removed some keys.
Kirk headed off to the rear of his property with the Space Dreamers right behind him.
After Kirk and the Space Dreamers walked through numerous rocket engines, pieces of rocket sections, and a four-wheeler named "Lil Darlin" with a hitched wagon, they arrived at a back gate near the large tool shed.
Kirk unlocked and opened the gate. "Be careful of those vicious space center critters," he warned them.
"We will," replied Timmy while he walked through the gate.
Monica and Frankie followed behind Timmy.
"I'll leave it unlocked for your return," Kirk said then he turned around and headed back to his building drinking his coffee.
The Space Dreamers walked through the opened gate.
Timmy, Frankie, and Monica all walked off through the woods like they were going on a hunt.
After twenty minutes of searching the woods, they walked upon the rear section of Neila 1 sticking out of the muck at a ten-degree angle.
They stopped in awe at what they saw sticking out of the muck.
The Space Dreamers cautiously walked up to Neila 1 and checked it out.
"That doesn't look like a meteorite," Monica said.
"You're right," Frankie added.
"You know something, it sorta looks like a spaceship," replied Timmy while he looked at the rear section of the space ship. "Neila 1. What's that?" he said the second he saw that marking.
The Space Dreamers looked at Neila 1 in awe but were still clueless.
Timmy's eyes lit up with excitement. "Duke Spacewalker! Maybe Duke Spacewalker is inside and needs our help," he jokingly said.
Frankie and Monica chuckled.
"Yeah, Duke Spacewalker is here to learn from us earthlings," Frankie added in a sarcastic tone.
Timmy and Monica chuckled.
Duke Spacewalker was a movie character, for the series of movies called "Wars In Space," that the Space Dreamers often watched on the movie channels.
"Maybe it's some secret NASA spaceship they were testing last night. It crashed, and they couldn't tell the news people," Monica said.
Timmy and Frankie thought about her comment for a few seconds.
"I wonder why NASA isn't out here by now?" Frankie said.
Timmy looked up and could not see much of the sky from all the vegetation. "This area is thick so maybe that Huey couldn't see it last night," he said.
Monica and Frankie glanced up and nodded in agreement with Timmy's response.
Timmy walked closer to Neila 1 and saw a door on the right side of the spaceship. "Mister Spacewalker. Are you home?" he jokingly said while he knocked on the door.
Inside Neila 1, Luna shook in fear by his console over the sound of the earthling voices he heard outside.
"Hello Mister Spacewalker," Timmy said from outside the ship while he knocked on the door again.
Outside Neila 1, the door moved from Timmy's knocking.
Timmy got curious and opened the door. He got brave. "I'm going inside," he told his friends.
"I don't know if that's a good idea. NASA might arrest you," Monica said suddenly got a little scared.
"That's right. It's probably a secret," Frankie added.
Timmy cautiously stepped a foot inside Neila 1. "I' still going in. Duke might need our help," he jokingly said and looked brave.
Inside Neila 1, Luna cowered by the console and shivered with fright over the sound of the earthlings outside.
Timmy stepped inside the ship. "What are you?" Timmy asked Luna the second he saw him.
Luna saw Timmy and screamed out, "earthlings!" Luna's eyes crossed, and he passed out and fell over to the floor.
"Hey guys, I think we have an alien inside this thing," Timmy called out and was not afraid of Luna for some strange reason.
Then after a few seconds, Frankie cautiously entered Neila 1 along with Monica.
They did not have a clue on what to do at this point. So they just stared at Luna passed out on the floor.