Heredity is Your Calling

The sun glinted off the shuttle's asteroid shield. Travelers shifted restlessly, anxious to board and start the long space journey. A tall, slender young man sporting a purple Mohawk stood in line, a duffel bag slung over his left shoulder and an orange cat draped around his neck. "Saturn O'Malley," blared the speaker, "please advance to the front of the line."

Moving to the clear walkway beside the passengers, the purple-haired youth strode to the counter and presented his ticket and identification. Successfully passing a retinal scan, he was directed to an area towards the back of the boarding area.

Two guards joined him, one on each side. They escorted him through a titanium door. The people in the secure room jumped to attention when Saturn entered. "As you were," Saturn commanded as he moved to the head of the table. Everyone resumed sitting as General O'Malley sat down.

"Interesting togs, sir," the man next to him said. Giving a quick grin, the General concurred, adding, "This promises to be an interesting mission. I'm ready for the briefing, and those passengers," inclining his head towards the check-in counter, "are ready to be on their way. I don't want to be holding them up for long."

Half an hour later, O'Malley took his place on the shuttle. The cat rested comfortably in a carrier under the seat. "Too bad about getting called out of line," the neighboring passenger commented. "Typical that they would keep you just long enough so that you got the last seat. Everything okay now?" Settling in first, Saturn replied, "Yes, just a problem with the cat. They couldn't locate his shot record and wanted me to leave him behind. Luckily, I had a copy of what I submitted."

A humming sound began as the engine prepared for launch. Once underway, passengers stretched and began to move about the passenger area. Switching on his Kindle CIX, the nation's top undercover agent reviewed his assignment. "Unique code," he murmured, "plain as day to me and yet, to anyone looking on, it appears to be a story. The actual words only appear to Mercury and me. I guess that's good, since this part of space is doomed if our mission is unsuccessful."

The cat stirred and yowled a complaint, breaking his concentration. "What is it, Mercury?" he asked the cat, who merely blinked as if to say, "What? You don't know?!" "Okay, Merc, you win," Saturn said. "Let's go meet the neighbors." So saying, he released the cat and moved towards a group near the bar. One advantage about traveling with colonists is that everyone is a bit different from anyone else. The purple hair just helped identify Saturn as one of "them." A few friendly "Hey"s, and soon Saturn was getting an idea of who was on the voyage. Mercury drew quite a bit of comment, also, and gathered a few tidbits as passengers broke out their meals.

Eventually, people started settling down for the night. Mercury sidled near Saturn, leapt on the seat, blinked twice, and went to sleep.

Several hours later, two forms silently drifted towards the bulkhead. Engines thrumming, the ship hid any sound they may have made. With a small shimmer of light, the shapes disappeared from the ship.

As the ship continued on its way, Saturn and Mercury assessed their position on the small planet on which they materialized. There was no need for breathing equipment, even though the air was different than that which they normally breathed. Both were now a luminous glow that blended with everything around them. They searched for, and found, a small fortress hidden in the hills near where they landed. As Saturn mentally projected the code to unlock the door, Mercury advanced forward and opened the door with the power of his thoughts.

Once inside, the two started assembling a lightweight weapon that had been created and stored many centuries ago by the citizens of Rowan before they left the planet to live on Earth. Top secret category XII instructions had been left by those colonists in a secure location on Earth, with a beacon set to go off to guide the right people to its location if and when the need for the weapon should arise. The only requirements for accessing the instructions and the weapon were that the area around Earth was in imminent danger of destruction, and the two chosen to activate and use the weapon were of Rowanian descent.

Provisions had been made since colonizing Earth that several children in each generation would be given the opportunity to learn as much as they wanted, achieve the skills they desired, and hone any special gifts passed on to them, all at no cost to the child or his or her family. Both Saturn and Mercury were shape-shifters and telepaths, among other attributes. Most incredible was their ability to "think" things moved, resulting in their ability to leave the ship and land safely on the planet while out of their normal form (Mercury, of course, was already in a shape other than his humanoid form), and the opening of the fortress. Working swiftly, and using their skills, they assembled the weapon quickly, It somewhat resembled a cannon, but was much lighter. Instead of a fuse, it relied on the thoughts of the assembler to fire.

A sudden shift in air pressure caused them to rapidly mentally move the weapon to the open surface of Rowan. Using coordinates given in their briefing. Saturn and Mercury thought the location and the order to fire. A burst of glowing heat spewed forth and enveloped a huge wind streaming through space. With the intense brightness of a super nova, the danger was quarantined and obliterated.

Morphing back to their sparkling state, Saturn and Mercury twinkled their way back to the ship, still headed for Earth and resumed their mission forms. "Great job', General O'Malley," whispered Mercury as they started back to their seats. "Back at ya, Admiral Sandstrom," replied Saturn. "Well done!"