The Interstellar Police Force, Book One: The Historic Mission by Raymond Klein (ebook reader 7 inch txt) 📕

Khan made some adjustments to his computers and said, “You have control of the cruiser.”

Trent placed his hands firmly at nine and two on the steering wheel. “Starting our approach.” He guided the cruiser toward the deserted two lane highway.

The ground rushed up quickly to meet them. The landscape was going by at such a high rate of speed that trees and telephone poles were but a blur. While Trent concentrated on piloting the cruiser, Genghis kept him apprised of all critical information.

“Rate of descent looking good. Altitudes, right about on.”

Trent slightly turned the steering wheel so the nose of the cruiser lined up with the cracked and weather beaten yellow stripes on the road in front of them.

“200 feet, 4 ½ down.”

Trent fired the front thrusters, once again decreasing the cruiser's speed. Genghis continued with the updated information.

“5 ½ down, 9 forward, you're looking good.”

Trent kept his foot on the pedal thinking that the floor would give away if he pushed any harder. He wanted to make sure that the back spinning tires matched closely to their speed on landing. What they couldn’t hear was the double sonic boom that followed them.

“40 feet, down 2 ½ ,” Genghis looked out his side window. “Picking up some dust.”

With a slight bump, the back tires touched down with a squeal and a puff of white blue smoke.

“Contact light!”

Trent eased the nose of the cruiser down until the front tires made contact with another squeal and kicked up little bits of asphalt and loose rock as they sped down the cracked and potholed road. They traveled for several miles while Trent gently applied the brakes, just as he was taught in the simulator. 140, 120, 80, then 40 miles per hour. He finally slowed and brought the cruiser to a stop in the middle of the desolate roadway.

Exhausted, they both sat quietly for a moment. Trent then put the replicated automobile in park. They both methodically reached up and released the clamps for the convertible top from the header above the front windshield. The canvas top started to fold in an accordion-like fashion, the trunk lid slowly opened. The little electric motor slid the top over the back seat and then quietly tucked it away into the trunk.

The cool morning air hit them. It was early on Earth, and the sun was three minutes away from its arrival. The eastern sky was aflame in a bright orange and purple hue. To their right, the distant mountains were covered with the colors of autumn. A flock of birds flying high above in a ‘V’ formation could be heard calling to each other. Morning breezes rustled through the branches of the nearby trees sending leaves cascading to the ground. The billowing cumulus clouds on the horizon reflected the yellow and orange shafts of light as the sun started to peek over the horizon.

The morning light reached Jeff Trent and Genghis Khan as they sat in their human automobile. They sat there taking in the view of this new and interesting world.

Trent reached into his inside coat pocket and retrieved a pair of black Ray Ban Wayfarers. He put the sunglasses on to shade his eyes from the morning sun. He looked around in wonder then, through his nose, breathed in deep and let the cool morning air fill his lungs. He exhaled, then said, “So, this is Earth.”

With quiet reverence Genghis replied, “Yes, this is Earth.”

Trent was silent for a moment. Then blurted out, “Not all that impressive!”

“No, not really,” Genghis replied.

Chapter Five

This was not the first time an Interstellar Police Force vehicle had replicated and landed on Earth.

Eight months earlier, at the IPF headquarters on Ashlar, the largest of the three populated planets in their solar system, received a garbled message from the Interstellar Police Prison Transfer vehicle 964. There was an incident. Prisoners had escaped from their holding cells. There was an exchange of gunfire. The guards were outnumbered and about to be overrun. Then, the message went dead. They immediately started tracking the prison transfer ship.

Each transfer ship was equipped with an on-board tracking device just for this reason. When they started tracking IPPT 964 it was far off course and traveling at a high rate of speed away from any known populated world. The call went out and every available cruiser in the force was dispatched to intercept.

Roughly two and a half hours after they received the garbled message, the tracking device mysteriously and inexplicably stopped transmitting. This was an impossibility. Tracking devices were always hidden somewhere within a transfer vehicle. The only way one could be found was with the ship's schematics. And if this was the way the prisoners on 964 found it, it only meant one thing. Someone on the force had helped them. An immediate investigation was launched. And by the time the first IPF cruiser reached the last known position of Interstellar Police Prison Transfer vehicle 964, it was long gone.

The massive search went on for months. Photos of the eight escapees were distributed throughout the galaxy. Rewards were posted for their capture. All media outlets flooded the airways with photos, descriptions, and names. Leads came in on the whereabouts of the escapees and that of the missing guards, but to no avail.

The Interstellar Police Force used every resource available to them. They consulted and studied star charts and utilized computer models, taking into account the fuel supply on IPPT 964, it’s last known direction, and the speed it was traveling. They came to a conclusion that determined approximately where the transfer ship should be, if it had not made any changes to its heading. And if it had, which was most likely, the search area would be staggering; a circumference of trillions of miles.

They worked around the clock on the investigation. Thirty hours a day, eight days a week. And nothing.

Cheralet Commons was right out of the university with a degree in criminology. Finding a full-time position at the Interstellar Police