"I wish I had a shield that could stop bullets!" yelled Jack and his arm pulled in towards his body and began to flatten into a three foot wide circle. "Quick, get behind me." I crawled over to Jack and tried to make myself as small a target as possible.  I have no idea how many Chatrang were shooting at us because I closed my eyes and didn't open them until the sounds of bullets ricocheting off Jack's shield had stopped. Oddly opening my eyes seemed to have no affect. I couldn't see anything.

"Jack?"
    "Right here. That was pretty intense, eh? I could actually feel the bullets, or whatever they were, hitting my arm. Wild."
    "Jack, why can't I see anything?" He didn't seem to be as concerned with our situation as I thought he should be.
    "Oh, what, were you not looking or something? When we went up to the next floor the lights went off again. Let's go." I heard him stand up and walk into a wall.
    "What the heck? There's a wall here," he said.
    "What do you mean, a wall?" I asked.
    "I mean something that goes from the floor to the ceiling and stops you from walking through it," Jack said sarcastically.
    "Thanks, I know what a wall is, I mean what's it doing there? How are we supposed to get out of here?" As I spoke, a thought occurred to me.
    "You don't suppose that the important thing we were supposed to do was to push both levers, do you?" I asked.
    "I don't have any other ideas.  Go for it."
    I felt my way in the darkness to the back wall and found the two levers. I raised the one still in the down position. The wall with the levers on it immediately began to descend, letting bright light into our box. A sound behind us made us turn and we saw a wall rising from the floor.
    "That would have been useful a couple minutes ago," Jack said.
    "Thank God you're okay!" Mr. Fisher's voice carried into the room from the brightly lit hallway beyond the lowering wall. "We heard what sounded like gunshots."    

   "We're okay.  Jack created a shield for us.  It was pretty amazing," I said.
     "Why didn't you just push the other lever like I told you too?" asked the Princess who was standing off to the side while the rest of us gave each other high fives and shook hands with Mr. Fisher.
     "We were a little busy trying not to get blown up," I said. "We couldn't hear you."
     "That's unfortunate.  Now they will know you are here.  Even so, their response seems excessive. Let's hope that Tarrasch's orders will still allow us to get to your ship. Come, we must move quickly," the Princess said.
     "I don't think she cares that we almost got killed," whispered Jack.
     "She's just worried, but let's keep the HTS to ourselves for now.  I'm sure her boyfriend was not planning on helping us steal that," I whispered back. I put the stone in my pocket and we followed the Princess down a long straight hall that looked like it went on forever. I didn't notice that it sloped upward until J.P. started complaining.
    "Of course we're going higher. We have to get to the launch facility," she told us.
    "Well, how much farther is it?" J.P. asked.
    "Not far. Keep moving." The Princess looked back over her shoulder. "Quickly, now."
    I looked back and thought I saw movement in the distance. "Maybe we should run," I suggested. Jack shoved J.P. forward, forcing him to pick up the pace, though calling it running would have insulted the word, "running." It wasn't long before we came to a large door. The Princess hesitated.
    "What's wrong?" I asked.
    "Hopefully, nothing, but I'm concerned. Tarrasch should have been able to keep our movements secret, even with that incident below. Something has changed and I do not know what we are going to find behind this door."
    Mr. Fisher cleared his throat. "Um, your majesty. Might I suggest that we find out quickly, as even my eyes can now see some rather angry looking Chatrang coming toward us."  We all turned and sure enough were at least ten Chatrang running toward us. 

     "Okay, here we go," said the Princess as she pushed the door open. We rushed in and my stomach dropped. There had to be fifty heavily-armed guards surrounding our ship. 

     "Go back, go back!" yelled J.P., as he tried to push past Brian. Brian grabbed his arm before he could take two steps. 

     "We can't. Remember the angry Chatrang running down the hall?" he said. 

     "Stand back!" Jack yelled kicking the door closed. His hand became a large hammer, which he smashed into the lock. "That should keep them out for a while." 

     "Yeah, now our only problem is the fifty guys with guns locked in the room with us," I said. 

     "Might I suggest--" Mr. Fisher started to say. 

     "No," the Princess interrupted. "Say nothing. Come with me." She marched toward the ship with her head held high. We followed close behind. Okay, not that close, but we did follow. As we approached the ring of guards, one stepped forward and confronted the Princess. She put her hand up inches from his face before he could say a word. 

     "Captain, thank you for so ably guarding this ship. I know Prince Tarrasch will be grateful for your assistance as well. If you would please remain to ensure we are not disturbed until my companions have left, I would appreciate it. Now, please step aside and allow us to board. There are things we must discuss before they leave." 

     "But, your majesty, we have been ordered to hold you here and not allow the ship to leave," the captain said, clearly caught off guard by the Princess's tone. 

     "Don't be ridiculous," the Princess said. "Of course we will be permitted to leave. You can't honestly intend to hold a representative of the Ashtapada royal family prisoner." She raised her voice as she spoke and we could see nervous glances among the other guards. Apparently the fact that the Princess was with the aliens had been left out of their orders. 

     The captain recovered quickly from his initial surprise and said, "You are free to go as you please, Your Majesty, but our orders were very clear regarding the aliens. They are not to depart." As if to emphasize his words, loud bangs echoed across the room from that damaged door behind us. 

     "Fine, Captain. Then I wish to go aboard this ship and leave. Tom, lead the way," she said. 

     "Don't do this," the captain warned. The guards closest to us all raised their weapons in our direction. 

     Paying no attention to him, the Princess said, "Tom, I said lead the way." Mr. Fisher edged up next to me and gave me a gentle push forward while blocking me from the guards. Everyone else followed closely behind. Ten very long steps later we passed through the side of the ship and were aboard. 

     "Holy --" 

     "Cow," Mr. Fisher finished Jack's exclamation. 

     "I was not going to say, ‘cow.’" 

     "Yes, I know," commented Mr. Fisher. 

     "Now what?" I asked, ignoring them both. 

     "A flying lesson I think," said the Princess, leading us up to the room with the buttons and levers. 

     "Are they really just going to let us go?" asked Brian, once he and Mr. Fisher were seated in the two chairs in front of the controls. 

     "And, are you really coming with us?" I asked. 

     "As I said before, the fact that we have had this much trouble is a mystery to me, but yes, I hope you will be allowed to leave. I'm afraid I cannot come with you. I need to help Tarrasch sort out whatever mess I have caused. 

     "Now pay attention." She spent five minutes explaining the basics of how to fly a spaceship, including how to turn off the automatic controls that her brother had programmed and that had prevented us from doing anything other than flying right into the Chatrang's hands. Man, I hated that jerk more and more. 

     By the time she was done, Mr. Fisher was smiling like a kid at a birthday party and Brian looked like Jack had just walked in and said, 'I have a new video game.' We all took seats, except for the Princess who stood off to one side. 

     "Are you sure about this?" Mr. Fisher asked. 

     “No,” she said, with the hint of a smile.

     "Hang on," said Brian. The ship's engines began to rumble to life. We could hear shouts from outside. 

     "Good bye. I hope to see you again," the Princess called and she ran back down to the lower room. 

     "Thank you, for everything!" I yelled back. Brian counted to ten and pushed the red button. As the ship began to rise, he pushed it again and by pressing my face against the window, I could see two Chatrang guards helping the Princess to her feet from where she had fallen through the bottom of the ship a moment before. I saw her pull away from the guards and look toward the door Jack had smashed. It lay on the ground now as Tarrasch and what had to be a hundred guards came rushing through. He pointed at our ship and every weapon in the room was suddenly aimed our way. 

"Go, go, go!" I screamed to Mr. Fisher and Brian. The ship rocketed upward towards the ceiling.
    "We're going to hit the roof and die!" screamed J.P. But, the ship passed through the roof as if it wasn't there and we were headed skyward.
    "Oh," said J.P.
    "Sorry, buddy," laughed Brian. "The Princess said that would happen.”

We all laughed for the first time since we passed through the doorway to the Prince's world. It felt great and the feeling lasted until morning, when we were all awakened by a Chatrang ship trying to blow us to pieces.
     The sound of explosions was deafening and the ship shook so badly I was afraid it was going to break apart.  Unlike before, Mr. Fisher and Brian seemed able to control the ship, but I was pretty sure the entire Chatrang fleet was attacking us.
     "Do they have really bad aim or are they deliberately missing us?" yelled Jack over the roar of another explosion.
     "You know, we could just be really good at flying this thing," said Brian.
     "Maybe," said Jack doubtfully.
     "Look at the stars.  They're amazing," said Mr. Fisher.
     "Now is not the time for star gazing.  We're all going to die . . . again," said J.P. 

Even though I thought J. P. was probably right, I looked out the window and was stunned at what I saw.  It felt like we were literally swimming in a sea of stars.  The explosions and the shaking suddenly seemed far away as it truly hit me that I was somewhere far away from everything I knew—my home, my family, even my planet. I think I was more scared at that moment than I had been at any time along the way.  If I disappeared out here, would anyone back home ever know? Just then, I had the sense I was missing something important.
     "We've been hit!" shouted Mr. Fisher.  That must have been it, I thought.
     "Doesn't this bucket of bolts have any weapons?" asked J. P.
     "No!" we all yelled simultaneously.
    "Hang on everyone. It's going to get rough," said Brian.
    "Too bad," said Jack. "It's been so smooth and pleasant so far. I thought the in flight movie was just about to start. Oh well. Tell me, captain, will we be crashing soon?"
    "There! Go there," said Brian. I strained forward to see what he was pointing at and could just make out the horizon of a planet.
    "You're going to land?" I asked. "What if it's like Jupiter or Venus and we can't breath?"
    "I see lights," said Brian. "Something's down there." I hoped he was right. That would solve one of our problems. Unfortunately, where to land was not our only problem.
    "The Chatrang are still behind us," I pointed out.
    "One thing at a time, Tom," said Mr. Fisher.
    "Well, it's just that it's kind of an important thing, don't you think?"
    "Yup."
    "Okay, just checking."
    "I hate to interrupt," interrupted Brian, "but we're almost into the atmosphere and I'm not sure this spaceship is going to make a very good airplane giving that is has no wings." Boy, was he right. The ship began to spin and then to flip, and then just as Brian and Mr. Fisher seemed to bring it under control we slammed into the side of a mountain and started to explode.
     Have you ever been in a car accident or fallen down the stairs or tripped and knew you were going to hit a telephone pole, the floor or the ground, but it seemed to take forever to happen?  As our ship hit the side of the mountain everything seemed to slow down.  In the super slow motion I saw Brian reach for the lever.  We slammed into the mountain again.  And again.  Finally, as our ship was about to explode for the fourth time, I saw Mr. Fisher push the red button.  Like a shark in search of dinner the tip of the mountain passed between our chairs and out the other side of the ship.  We had just enough time to breathe a long sigh of relief before the ship crash landed and rolled like an empty garbage can down an abandoned street.