Chapter 10

They board the shuttle to the first moon of Ert, Trite- El. Earl had to put the hurkle into the pet compartment section of the shuttle before he could go to his seat.

Earl sat back in his seat and waited for the shuttle to take off.

"Hello, this is your pilot speaking. Ladies and gentlemen please fasten your seatbelts the shuttle will be taking off soon. One of our stewardpersons will be around to check if your seatbelts are securely fastened and answer any questions you may have about escaping with your life in case of an emergency. Thank you and thanks for flying with us, as if you had a choice."

Earl always found the pre-flight checks relaxing; especially the seat belt announcement; he helped write it. The stewardperson came and checked to see if Earl had fastened his seatbelt and wondered if he had any questions. Earl assured her that his seatbelt was indeed fastened and no he didn't have any questions, if the shuttle exploded he knew there was nothing he could do about it anyway.

The stewardperson smiled and moved on and Earl again leaned back into his seat and closed his eyes. Soon the shuttle took off and reached a safe cruising altitude. Earl took out his traveling computer and started on some of the work he had decided not to do this weekend.

He had planned to spend the better part of the weekend with Jupie, but that had come to an unexpected halt because of the problem in space. Earl's eyes tightened and his lips came together to form a thin line whenever he thought of the things he had planned to do today instead of trying to figure out what was wrong with the space program. The flight to Trite-El was approximately an hour long. During that time Earl worked on paperwork, reviewed the space schedule, corrected a few errors and basically felt miserable about not spending any time with Jupie.

The shuttle approached the moon of Trite-El and went into a standby pattern awaiting clearance from the moon's shuttle port.

"Ladies and gentlemen this is your captain again, its seems that there will be a slight delay as we wait for the ignoramuses in the control stations to figure out where to put us. So sit back and enjoy the wait."

The stewardesses were again going around passing out drinks as they waited.

"What would you like sir?" asked the stewardess.

"I want to go and speak to the captain," said Earl.

"I'm afraid you can't do that sir. Only authorized personnel are allowed in the cockpit. Now would you like to drink sir?" replied the stewardess.

"I am authorized personnel," said Earl.

"Oh," said the stewardess with obvious disbelief, " do you have any identification?"

Earl pulled out his official authorized secretary of space badge and identification. The stewardess took it, looked at it and went to show it to her supervisor. Because she had no idea would authorized personnel identification was supposed to look like.

Fifteen minutes later a woman arrived at Earl's seat.

"May I help you?" she asked.

"I want to speak with the pilot."

"I'm afraid he's awfully busy at the moment; perhaps after the shuttle has landed you may talk with him," said the woman smiling.

"That's what I want to talk to him about," said Earl.

"I'm sure he can handle it sir. He has been fully trained in the matter," replied the woman with the same smile.

"I'm sure he can. I'd just like him to do it more quickly."

"Well, sir, he has to wait for clearance from the control stations before he will be able to land," said the woman with the exact same smile still on her face.

"That's why I need to talk to the pilot, I can get clearance from the people in the control stations. I am the secretary of space."

"Do you have any identification?" asked the woman.

Earl pulled out his official authorized secretary of space badge and identification and handed it to the woman. She looked at it, held it up to the light and eventually said that he could go and talk to the captain. Earl got up from his chair and started walking towards the cockpit. Halfway to the cockpit the captain announced that they had been cleared for landing and that everyone should be seated and fasten their safety belts. He also thanked them for flying with the official and only shuttleline of the planet Ert; as if they had a choice. Earl was beginning to seriously consider changing that.

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