Chapter 4—Deep Space Communicator

The captain popped the spoilers on the 747 as the jet screeched onto the runway at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, France.

Jesse startled out of a deep sleep. "Whoa, what was that?"

"We're here, Son," Jonathan said. "I'm surprised you didn't wake up when the landing gear came down."

"Cool. I can't wait to see my cousins." Jesse rubbed his eyes and looked out the small window to see a brilliant orange sun rising.

"We still have a drive, but we should be at the inn by midafternoon," Jonathan said. "Are you hungry? We'll eat breakfast at the airport."

After an hour of standing in immigration lines, father and son finally settled into a small blue Fiat that joined the pack of honking cars and went barreling through the maze of Paris streets. Jesse's map navigations got them to the country road leading to the tiny village of Joyeux and his aunt's inn, the L'Auberge Etoile.

"Jesse, give Nikki a quick jingle on the space communicator," Jonathan said. "Let's see how well the unit works in Europe."

The Deep Space Communicator, or DSC, was a device Jonathan had been working on as a NASA engineer. Once fully developed, the DSC would allow faster communication both inside and outside the International Space Station, and to manned ships exploring the solar system. According to NASA, there would be human Mars missions by the 2030s. The DSC used the latest principles of laser-beam technology and was much faster than the old radio-wave system.

"Good idea," Jesse said, and reached into the backseat. He pulled out a small, rectangular device from his dad's briefcase and stared into the glowing infrared light at its center. The light flickered as it read the unique beam coming from his retina. The DSC knew when it was being watched and only communicated with those whose retinal wavelengths had been pre-entered. Jesse tapped a series of codes and within seconds heard a gravelly voice say, "Yeah?"

"Hey, Nikki, it's me. Thanks for standing by. I hear you loud and clear. How do I sound?"

"I was asleep. It's one o'clock in the morning."

"Oh, sorry. I forgot about the time difference. We got here okay and are on our way to the inn. Can you believe we get an instant link, without satellites, from halfway across the globe? Dad wants me to check in with you and Chaz every day, so we'll talk again soon. Tell Chaz I'll call tonight and every night about seven p.m. my time, which is ten a.m. your time and five a.m. in New Zealand. If that doesn't work, we'll schedule a time that's better."

"I'll tell Chaz. I'm going back to sleep now," Nikki said. "Adieu."

Jesse clicked off. "It seems to work well so far, Dad."

"Good. Maintain a log of all your calls and any issues that might come up, okay?"

"No problem." Then Jesse was silent, contemplating the gravity of his mission in France.