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Pretty, Please!

Chapter Eight ~ Rock and a Hard Place

By Sasha Zarya Nexus

Can Rose successfully navigate thru the asteroid field?

 

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The girls and I walked over into the outer room. They seemed to be doing well moving in their space suits. I led them over to the Rover which was pointing to the open garage door. It looked very similar to the one that the Apollo Astronauts used. I favored the design for its simplicity and function rather than some of the more extravagant vehicles available now. It had some enhancements such as the passive restraint field that would keep us secured. Even better was the Auto Systems and the ability of Doris to have a presence and help out with the Rover's systems.

I helped Linda then Julia into the Rover and I got into it myself. I took the controls and drove out of the garage onto the lunar surface and stop.

While Linda and Julia looked out with amazement over the lunar surface and back behind us at Luna City. "Doris, engage passive restraints and set a course for Eagle II Park and engage auto-drive."

Doris replied, "Compliance." We were on our way as Doris took us over the lunar landscape avoiding obstacles but steadily toward our destination.

The fascination that the girls had with the trip faded after a while since one crater looks a lot like another one. It was Linda who interrupted my running commentary about what we were seeing around us.

"Granny, can you tell us more of the story while we are traveling? Pretty, please! I want to know if Gigi was able to help fix the Starship!"

Julia chimed in, "Pretty, please, Granny! I want to find out if Rose was able to steer the Pathfinder away from all those asteroids! Was C3PO right about the odds of making it thru an asteroid field?"

"Maybe, Sweetie. But like Han Solo, Rose would not have wanted to know the odds."

I smiled at them and knew that I could not help but continue the story as we looked out in amazement at the lunar landscape going by us.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

The Starship Pathfinder continued to successfully navigate the asteroid field. Asteroids passed closely on all sides as Rose guided the Starship which zigged and zagged thru the asteroid field as Josh plotted escape vector. Below them in the Engineering Deck, Gigi headed the team consisting of Mark, Amanda and Jinx assisted by the two Lieutenants were attempting to repair the overloaded systems and ultimately bring the Tesseract Drive back online.

Doris reported, "impulse Drive restored to full function."

Josh relayed to the Engineering deck, "Great Job Team! We'll take anything you can give us!"

 

Josh fed me another escape vector along with a velocity reduction which we finally could do. Another asteroid was avoided. Josh was perplexed to find 'Program Overload' instead of the next escape vector and ordered, "All Stop!" I complied with the order as I nervously saw a number of asteroids heading straight for us. Josh demanded, "Doris explain 'Program Overload'!"

Doris calmly answered, "That means there is no longer an escape vector possible. Collision in 30 seconds."

"Commander to Crew, brace for collision!"

"Collision in 20 seconds, Deflector dish online. Deflector engaged!"

Josh breathed a sigh of relief as the 'Program overload was replaced by an escape vector. The deflector cleared a path in front of the Starship Pathfinder. Josh reported an escape vector to me and I directed the Starship on that course. Now that the deflector was operating the escape vector remained the same and we made steady progress navigating thru the asteroid field

Josh not having to direct such intense concentration to our situation relaxed enough to address the rest of our group. "Commander to Crew, Great Job! Collision avoided We expect no trouble clearing the asteroid field now."

Gigi relayed, "Thanks a lot, Commander! We're breathing again down here."

We cleared the field with no further problems. I hoped to never again have to clear an asteroid field without a deflector. Since there were no further obstacles, we maintained our original course as we waited for news concerning the Tesseract Drive as more and more systems came back online.

 

Finally, Gigi announced, "That does it!, it's fixed and better than new. Josh, Jinx and Mark would love to come up to the Command Deck to help out or just to take in the view now that the crisis is over."

"Let them know its fine. The view is wonderful again now that we are free of the asteroid belt. What about Amanda?"

 

"I'll tell them Josh. Amanda wants to help out with something but she will want to come up afterward. Rose can you meet me on the Engineering Deck?"

"Of course, Gigi." I turned to Josh, "Can you handle things without me?"

"Sure, I'll get Mark to come sit in your seat till you come back."

 

I got up and gave him a hug from behind, "Thanks, Josh." I made my way quickly to the Engineering Deck passing Mark and Jinx on the way. I could not help but notice that one of Jinx's leg pockets on her flight suit bulged enough to carry that cute little laptop of hers. I guess that's how she had it in the Shuttle Simulator in the first place.

I gave Gigi a hug when I found her all smiles.

"How did you fix it, Gigi"

"Of course I had lots of help but fortunately it only involved swapping some components around. Gigi from the future was right, It just took someone looking at it from a fresh perspective. Both I and the drive deriving its premise from me were wrong about how much effort it takes to fold space. We were actually trying too hard."

"Huh?" I was confused.

She took a piece of material like lycra that had some stretch in it and sat down and laid it on her lap. In her right had she had a stylus with a sharp point which she placed under the material and poked it. The material stretched out conforming to the shape of the stylus which she pointed to the left side towards a white circle on the other end of the material. The material stretched just enough for the sharp point to reach the white circle for an instant then it snapped back and as it did the material fell into a random fold and the origin white circle ended up folded over to another area of the cloth quite away from the target.

"That's what happened to both us and the Starship on our folds . The only difference is that instead of the starship recoiling, it absorbed the energy of the stretched fabric for it to stay in the same spot. When the fabric of our model stretches its like creating an uncontrolled warp in space which will recoil and slingshot the traveler as it tries to get back to normal. Both I and the Starship put too much energy concentrated in one spot into our folds."

She brought out 2 styluses but the tips were reversed so that the end flared out in a very blunt shape. She initially just used one in her right hand and with the blunt surface and less energy exerted she was able to fold the origin dot to the destination dot by making a regular fold which went the length of the fabric. She unfolded it again and had similar blunt styluses in both hand with one in each hand with the blunt area underneath the target on both. It made a regular fold where both dots met in the middle of her lap above the fabric in a kind of cylinder of cloth.

"By using less power applied locally instead of at a point we were able to make a regular fold without any warping (stretching the fabric of space) That made it possible to direct the Tesseract Drive to do what it really needed to do which was start at the other end and fold the destination closer to us by using a symmetrical reflection of our fold impetus. How that last was actually done was beyond me but once I had gotten the fold started at a much smaller energy expenditure, then the Lieutenants , who are brilliant themselves, worked out the rest and reconfigured the drive to do it. It appears that Star Trek was right on one thing, there is such a thing as 'subspace' and somehow they used it to produce the reflection at the destination. They described it as a network of nano - wormholes which stretch the entire universe."

"That is truly amazing, Gigi. What is this that You, Amanda and I are to witness?"

"There wont be much to see for a while. Even though the drive is totally fixed, the energy has to build up in order to perform what would have been 50 folds in one. In the mean time the Lieutenants have asked us to be present for a holographic presentation like the one we saw before. They say it involves Amanda so that's why she's here too. She's waiting for us at the viewing area."

"Let's go!" Gigi and I walked up to Amanda and we each gave her a hug before being seated. The lieutenants joined us too then the image came to life.

"Greetings Amanda, Rose and Gigi!" The image of the elderly Gigi spoke. "I never expected this to be played but since it is you all have succeeded beyond our wildest dreams. I suspect we have both my younger self, Gigi and also our two lieutenants to thank for restoring things to not only overcome the overload but to implement the drive in a manner which allows it to make the journey in one fold instead of 50. Well done all. Since it will be the last fold and you all have pulled off this miracle, you will want to wake the crew so the Starship Pathfinder can be ready for the last fold. Before that we have a couple of gifts that the future has to offer to bestow on Rose and Gigi, who alone need a little help due to their unique situations. Amanda, we need someone with your training to monitor life signs in the medical bay while they are given their gifts. If you all will go to the medical bay, Lieutenant Stanton can explain what is offered for you Gigi with all my hopes."

Lieutenant Stanton asked, "If you both will follow me to the medical bay, we can help Gigi with her challenge."

As I looked into Gigi's eyes, it appeared that we had both come to the same conclusion.

 

"Gigi, I have a feeling you are about to become a real GG!"

"I sure do hope so, Rose!"

 

They had a cure for her Gender Dysphoria! We entered the medical bay and Gigi was handed a hospital gown and some solvent and directed her to a private room where she was to disrobe and remove her breast forms and put on the hospital gown. When she came back they had her climb up onto a diagnostic bed where Lieutenant Stanton initiated a medical scan and directed Amanda to view Gigi's life signs and to press an abort button if they went out of acceptable limits.

Doris responded, "Subject confirmed with Harry Benjamin Syndrome. Microcellular conversion recommended as accepted treatment. Gigi that means we are about to turn you into a genetic female."

Gigi cheered as did I while the Lieutenants smiled broadly.

Lieutenant Stanton explained, "Gigi, like Doris said, we can turn you into a genetic female with everything that a girl your age is supposed to have. Is that what you would like to have happen?"

 

Gigi beamed with anticipation, "Yes, Please do."

"Alright. We will. You will be administered some anesthesia so the process will be pain free. There will be a bright light around you while the process is performed so we will be raising an opaque shield around the bed as a precaution. Once the shield is up please disrobe and the process will start once you are unconscious. You'll sleep for a while after the process but that is normal and you should have no after effects other than getting used to your new body. Any Questions?"

 

"I guess I should have dozens but I cant even think of one. Let's do this."

Things went as expected and the life signs stayed normal the entire time. While Lieutenant Stanton got a gurney, Amanda and I dressed Gigi in her flight suit. She was a normal girl in every way now. We transferred her to the gurney and she was left to recover in a holding area of the medical bay.

I wondered what was next but did not have to wait long because projected was the image of my elderly self from the future. "Rose, now it's your turn. I know you don't need the same treatment as Gigi did since we had that magical encounter at Grandmother's house. However, your birth father altered your history thru his actions instead of accepting you. You have a gap in your history from the time that Candice died to when you became Rose. Gigi and I have studied things out and with the instructions that we are going to send to Miriam in your behalf, we feel that the timeline for the time period that we want to send you to live in will be intact. We have examined other solutions such as interfering with the actions that cut you off from your past but they led to major changes in the timeline which would be detrimental In the same manner that Gigi was able to become a normal girl, we are going to change you into a five year old girl. This is something that is common place in our time and used in certain therapeutic situations. In cases such as yours, you'll retain your mind just as it is now. For you it will allow you to live thru nine years. Folding time is just as easy as folding space so you will land with Miriam shortly after Candice's untimely death. When you arrive at the farm for your sister's birthday, you'll be brought back here to reunite with your Space Camp Team. If you want to go thru with it, disrobe and get on the diagnostic bed and tell Doris and she'll do the rest. Amanda would you please monitor Rose's life signs like you did for Gigi?"

"Sure, Ma'am." I took off all my clothes and climbed up on the diagnostic bed, after all only females were present so I saved time with the hospital gown. I was so ready for this adventure to start.

"Doris, you may initiate the procedure." I calmly directed.

"Compliance" The shield surrounded me and I fell asleep...

~~~~~~~~~~~

I came to laying on a couch. I found that I was wearing little girl clothes that were very appropriate for a five year old girl. That's exactly what I was right then. Amazingly enough within my five year old brain was everything that I was up till then losing nothing. A woman came into my view and she sat down on the edge of the couch and smiled at me.

"This must be very confusing for you, Rose. At least it is to me. The documents which were sent with you, told me about your amazing life and how you come to be here right now. This is meant to be a gift for both of us. You need a mother to raise you up as a girl and I need a daughter, not to replace my little one, but a girl to receive the mother's love inside me just waiting to be expressed."

 

"You want to be my mommy?"

"Yes, very much Rose. and you will be my daughter. Thru magic, you became physically my daughter and your former grandfather became your father physically as well. When I saw you I fell in love with you just like you had come from my womb." She hugged and kissed me and I melted in her arms. I felt loved."

"Mommy, how will you take care of me? The work that you will do after your girl died, helped a great many people and touched many lives. You went all over the world helping."

"Sweetie, its true that I have in my heart something that can help a great many people. I feel like it will require me to build a successful corporation to provide the logistics and support needed to reach all the people that can can be helped. The other thing is that you've got a thirteen year old mind in that five year old body. Your new father found a boarding school for you and enrolled you in it. Its a wonderful school for brilliant children who mentally are far advanced yet emotionally and physically are no different in their needs growing up than any other child your age. A place like that, you can be yourself and not be any different than any of the rest of the students there."

"This school sounds like it will let both of us do what we each need to do. What's it like?"

"Even though its located in Spain, The school is made up totally of Americans. Its a totally new approach to education that the founders decided would not work in America where there is so much governmental intrusion from the local to the federal level. In exchange for certain considerations, the government leaves the school alone to do things their way as if it were like an embassy of another country. It will be a mix of the familiar and unfamiliar. While inside the school is a very American environment, there will be chances to explore the surroundings area and outward which are very European. I have an apartment arranged for me in the city adjoining the school. That's going to be my new home. When I get to come home from my journeys, I want to spend the time with you."

"Mommy, that sounds wonderful! Sounds like the best for both of us. When do I leave?"

 

"Soon, for the next little bit until the original records are destroyed, we need to be careful so a chance encounter does not undo what has been done for you to take my daughter's place. Together we'll fly over there and I will stay for a little while till you are settled. Then I start my calling to help people."

"Mommy what was her name, my new name?"

"Sweetheart, your name now is Candice Anne Caldwell. You are my sweet little Candy! I want you to have this." She took a locket and fastened it about my neck. I opened it and found on each side a picture of my new mother and father. It played a tune when opened which I immediately recognized. It was Sugar, Sugar by The Archies which goes something like this:

"Sugar, Oh, Honey Honey. You are my candy girl, and you got me wanting you. ..."

That was the start of a beautiful mother and daughter relationship. My time as a girl is another story entirely. I lived thru nine years and ended up at my new daddy's farm just before the magic occurred to make me Rose. I vanished from there just as I was and ended up back on board the Starship Pathfinder. Of course with the nine years I had grown from a little girl into the almost fourteen year old teen I had been before. I had on a cute pink dress with 3 inch red pumps and a matching handbag but more importantly I had on the locket that my new birth mother had given me.

"Rose are you alright?"

"I am alright, Amanda. Thank you for watching out after me."

 

"You are welcome, Rose. I'm just glad that you have had a chance to fill in your new life since Mr. Moore took your old life away from you."

 

"Thank you too Gigi for making this possible. I'm glad you are alright too, Gigi"

 

"You are so welcome, Rose. I am glad that I have parents that accept me as I am. It will be awesome to let them meet the new me, now that I am made whole and I'm a normal girl."

"You two are the best friends a girl could every have. BFF's We are so lucky!"

 

I realized that I didn't need to pinch myself to make sure it was real. All I had to do was to open the locket and I heard:

"Sugar, Oh, Honey Honey. You are my candy girl, and you got me wanting you. ..."

 

I knew it was real and I was so happy.

Lieutenant Stanton interrupted, "Ladies, I'm afraid I need to steal Rose away. Rose, there is someone else who would like to talk to you. Our current President of the United States."

"I'd love to talk with him, please proceed." I followed her to a private communications room and sat down across a table from a holographic image.

"Greetings Rose. Even though the circumstances are unusual, I wanted to give you my thanks for being the amazing woman that you are. Your great accomplishments in your future, my present enhance all of out lives and are a great inspiration to all. That magical miracle that you received was both the realization of your dream and the start of a great deal of trouble for you due to taking you out of the continuity of your life. I hope that you enjoyed the gift that you were given for your own girlhood. In giving you that gift, I hope we have freed your remaining days before adult hood so that you can enjoy them as they were meant to be enjoyed."

"Thank you Mr. President. I have been given a life independent of the one I had before. I am truly blessed to have so many people caring for me."

"There remains one obstacle which I hope to give my help to remove. With you no longer being able to be linked with having been Ross. If the staged death were investigated as a crime, without being able to prove that you were Ross and still alive, then the crime would no longer be fraud but murder. Mr. Moore would be hoist on his own petard. However condemning him for a crime he did not commit, is not the proper response to his actions. It is my hope that if I act thru your current President to give Mr. Moore and his daughter, Daisy Moore, a Presidential Pardon, that it will remove an obstacle so that you two can find a way to co-exist. If neither of you have to live in fear of what the other might do then perhaps you both can find peace. While we can shower you in my present with appreciations, I feel that it will have the greatest impact to enhance the quality of your life to give you this gift that you can use in your own present."

"Thank you so much for your gift, Mr. President."

"Julia has a letter that I have written in a manner which will verify its authenticity requesting your president to pardon Daisy and Mr. Moore. You must leave it unopened before it reaches your president in order for him to take it as authentic. Like messages have been passed before with success and I believe this one will be no different. You may have some help calling the letter's existence to the attention of your president. However I am also leaving with Julia instructions for you in case you have to make contact yourself so you will do it in a manner which lends credibility to your claim. Again Rose, a grateful US salutes you for everything that you will do. Goodbye."

 

The holographic image of the President disappeared. I turned to Lieutenant Stanton and Lieutenant Gonzales who had been with me in the room. "Which one of you is Julia?"

"I am Julia, Ma'am. Here is the letter and instructions that the President asked me to give to you." Lieutenant Stanton told me and handed them to me. I placed them my handbag without looking at them. I thought that when I changed clothes I'd transfer them to in one of the zippered pockets on my jumpsuit for safe keeping

"Can we spare both Josh and I from the command deck for a little while?"

"Linda can handle Engineering by herself for right now. The Tesseract Drive is better than new, now. with the modifications that Gigi suggested. It's fully functional now so we will get all the way to our destination in one fold. It's functioning normally, and the only thing that is holding us back from the big fold is storing enough energy so that the Tesseract Drive can guide us to hit the target. Before we fold, we'll use the drive to help Gigi send you all back to Space Camp. I'll go take over the watch from Josh and send him down here to you. You two can use my quarters if you would like to be alone. Linda can show you the way."

 

"Thank you, Julia." I told her as she turned to go back to the Command Deck.

While Julia was away, I went back to the changing room where I had left my NASA jumpsuit. I changed out of my dress and heels and placed the contents of my handbag in my jumpsuit pockets including the documents I had been given. My locket I left around my neck. I would never be parted from it. As I exited the changing room, I saw Josh coming down to the Engineering Deck.

I was so glad to see Josh that I ran up to him and gave him a hug.

"I'm so glad to see you Josh!" I told him trying to express how deeply I felt.

 

"What's all this? Its only been a few hours since we were together."

"For you maybe, but for me its been nine years."

"How could that happen?"

"I'll tell you all about it but it will be a lot more fun to be alone in Lieutenant Stanton's cabin since she offered it. Lieutenant Gonzales can show us the way."

"That seems like a wonderful idea. Lead on Lieutenant Gonzales!"

We followed Linda to Julia's quarters and she left us inside. With the door closed I relaxed and was able to let her in on what had happened.

 

"With the Tesseract Drive fully functioning, I got a gift from Gigi and my own older selves from this time. The older me knew how much it would mean for me to have a girlhood. They found a way to reduce me in age to a five year old girl and sent me back in time to the mother who had just lost her girl since my natural father now is the same as the person who fathered her daughter. I was sent to a boarding school which for me was an adventure and having a new family with the other girls there. Closer to our time she had more time to spend with me and I now have a pretty good relationship with her and she is an important part of my life. We worked thru the adoption and my coming to live at the farm thru day prior to the transformation in the original history and then I was brought back here."

"You have had quite an adventure! I'm glad you had a chance to grow up as a girl. Do you feel more normal now?"

"Oh yes completely. I am so very glad to be back with you, Josh.'

"Did anything else happen?"

 

"They arranged it so that the current President here wrote a letter for me to give to our President back home to pardon Daisy and Mr. Moore. With me being found to have my current daddy as my natural father genetically. and for me to be able to supply a fool proof continuous history by living thru all of that time actually, it turns the fraud faking Ross's death into murder since I am no longer proof that Ross did not die. I hope that I can trade the pardon for a ceasefire on his part and that I can live without him attacking me."

"Perhaps when we get back, the two of us could have a chat with him and put it to him that it would be in his best interest to stand down."

"If he says that he will leave me alone, I can trust him to do that. He always does what he says that he will."

 

"Anything else?"

"Not for me but for Gigi. They had a way to diagnose and treat Gigi's Gender Dysphoria. She's a real girl now in every way just the same as me."

 

"I guess it is true that any advanced science is indistinguishable from magic. Clarke sure was right."

 

"Kiss me please, Josh." Josh and I locked in an embrace and I closed my eyes. As our lips met it was like I was inundated by some mysterious energy which swept over all my body. My joy knew no limits as every cell in my body seemed to scream out in ecstasy As our lips parted I trembled with the overwhelming experience. Josh engulfed me and I felt warm and safe as he eased me to the bed. We cuddled for what seemed like an eternity. We heard a knock at the door which interrupted our bliss.

Josh and I unfurled and sat up on the edge of the bed. After a moment to restore decorum, Josh answered, "Come."

"Sorry to interrupt, but they are ready for you in the embarkation room. If you will follow me?"

"Of course." And we followed her up to the command deck to a compartment in the aft which neither Josh or myself had seen before.

"What is this?" I asked as I saw Gigi, Mark, Amanda, and Jinx forming a circle around a pile containing our orange suits helmets and parachutes standing on a raised circular platform in the center of the room. It reminded me of some kind of Science Fiction teleporter. Beyond them appeared to be another elevator to access the other decks.

Gigi answered, "This is what is going to get us home. It's not a teleporter, that's still science fiction and its impossible for it to work in real life. For us its even better. Its a short range, space time folder. And with the Pathfinder's Tesseract Drive at full capacity, short range for it is still enough to get us back to Earth and back in time to our present. It's what the ship's crew will use for embarking on missions now that everything works the way it's supposed to be."

"That's going to take a lot of energy. What about the Pathfinder continuing on its journey?"

"We are going to remain in this area for a little while. With the starship fully functioning its totally safe for us. Since we are going to be taking the last tesser direct to our destination. We'll wake the rest of the crew and give the Pathfinder a good going over. We'll also get ready to do the exploration that this starship was built to accomplish. We'll be fine."

 

Linda and Julia came around to each of us and gave us a hug. When it was my turn both women lingered a little bit longer with me and each gave me a kiss on the forehead with the hug and each whispered something to me.

Linda said, "Always follow your heart. It will never lead you wrong. I love you."

 

Julia said, "Boldly go where no woman has gone before! I love you."

I had felt the connection to the two women when I had met them. It was like they were somehow family. The love in their parting messages to me reinforced that feeling. If these two represented the family's future it was in good hands indeed.

 

Julia spoke to all of us for both of them, "We are going to miss you all and wish you a good journey. Places, please. We shifted back into a circle. Josh reached out his hands to me on his right side and Amanda on his left. Even though it was not necessary for function each of us took the hands of the people on each side. As we looked from face to face each of us were smiling. We were a team and together, we could do anything. Josh answered for us all, "Ready!"

Julia and her sister were beaming with pride as Julia spoke for both of them, "Doris, begin process"

"All systems are within normal limits. Confirmed flex point at infinity. Awaiting final command."

Julia exclaimed, "Tesser!" Doris paused a moment and said, "Compliance!"

As we winked out, I heard Doris whisper only to me, "See you soon, A..." and then there was nothing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The lunar rover pulled up to the Eagle II Park. I got out of the rover and helped them down to the lunar surface. They were being very good and really enjoying walking on the moon. They were so excited about arriving at the park that they did not protest me stopping the story again.

"We are here girls, This is where the Altair Lunar Lander named 'Eagle II" landed on the moon as the first lunar landing of the Constellation program. Four of us set foot on the moon that day but I was the only woman and thus the first woman to set foot on the moon."

That first test flight of the Altair was a total US mission and an American Flag was planted by the Eagle II. The area around the Altair was roped off so that I could still see my footprints in the lunar soil. There was a plaque with the mission patch and all four of our names along with a short description of the mission.

Linda asked, "Granny what was it like?"

"It was wonderful, Darling. We took video and you can see it now." I walked across to the monitor in front of us and pressed the start button. Since the Mission Commander was already on the moon, there was excellent video of me from the camera he had set up. It showed me climbing down the ladder and down to the foot pad to take my first step out on the moon. NASA had expected me to say something 'a la Neil Armstrong' since my steps were a media event.

"This is for all the people of the earth who together will allow us to walk on the Moon and go on to Mars. I hope this step will inspire all the women and girls of the earth to also participate in this effort. Together, nothing is impossible, if we only believe."

The video ended with me smiling and saluting the flag which was already planted on the lunar surface.

Gloria exclaimed, "That was awesome, Granny, Thank you for bringing us!"

"You are so welcome, girls. I'm sorry this has to end so soon but we need to get back. Please get into the Rover. I helped the girls into the Rover and then got back in myself.

 

"Girls, all secure?" "Yes, Granny", they both replied.  I turned the Rover around back in the general direction of home.

"Doris, Set a course for home and engage auto-drive."

"Compliance!" The Rover took off with Doris directing it in the direction of Luna City and home.