Free Earth Ship Protectress: Book Two in the Freddy Anderson Chronicles by John Ricks

feeling disgust toward me or any member of my team because of what I consider to be that person’s close-mindedness.”
    “I will try my best.”
    I smiled. “I can ask for no more.”
    The commander quickly introduced me to the next two people. “Freddy, this is Lieutenant Cal Bergman and Lieutenant Yuan Nguyen. They are the two astronaut trainees in astronavigation and piloting that I told you about.”
    Cal Bergman said, “Nice to finally meet you, Dr. Anderson.” I shook hands with both of them. “We both are also hoping to be able to do more than just train.”
    I responded, “It’s nice to see two people who have such positive feelings. I can see that we will get along very well.”
    “Thank you, sir.”

    Gray asked, “What is a UFO?”
    Green quickly turned to laughter inside. “A UFO, master, is an unidentified flying object.”
    Gray looked disturbed, his head tilted and his face wrinkled. “And what is an unidentified flying object.”
    Green smiled. “No one knows. That is why it is unidentified.”
    Every Green in the room laughed inside.
    Gray’s eyes seemed to wander in two different directions with a look of confusion, so Yellows helped. “Nice joke, Green. OPR, Master Gray. In their language, we were OPR. It seems that anything in space or flying through their territory that they cannot explain is opwernekul (or unidentified), prfereret (or flying), and a ratemer (or object); therefore, UFO. Their language has surprisingly similar words to ours. It is one of the reasons that this creature is mastering our phonetics so quickly.”
    Gray exclaimed with narrowing eyes, “It is learning our language?”
    I decided to mess with them a little more. “ He! He is learning your language. I am not an it .”
    Eyes widened, and everyone, except the Yellows and Green, backed up as they all looked shocked. Yellows quickly added a third and fourth tentacle, nearly completely covering my head. “We are running out of time in more way than one. He is adapting to the tank. Continue—and hope he does not do anything stupid.”

Chapter 10Inspectors or Plants—Pick One; They Both Suck

    “F reddy,” said the commander, “this is the FAA inspector, Mr. Terry Fly.”
    “Hello, Mr. Fly. I take it you’re the one who generated all the change requests? I am very sorry that they started you out looking at just the trainer; that was my fault. I failed to communicate to the team what the real product would be like. I’ve brought the shuttles out for you to inspect.”
    “I’ve already looked at the exteriors. I can see there’s a large difference, and many of my requests were unnecessary. When will I have the chance to inspect the interiors?”
    “That’s a problem, Mr. Fly. Please don’t take offense, but I have yet to hear an explanation regarding why I need inspections or approval from the FAA to fly my shuttles over my own property. I suppose the commander has a good reason, possibly several, but she has yet to sell me on this idea.”
    “It’s the law, sir. All equipment flying through United States airspace must meet certain regulations.”
    I put my hand on his arm and led him into the living room. I offered him a seat and then sat down across from him. “It’s not your presence that I am against, sir. If I allow my ships to be inspected, then I am saying that I will allow this for all my ships, and that could be very dangerous.”
    “Dangerous? In what way?”
    “The regulations by which you must abide are dictated by politicians; even some of the laws are purely political. I know because I’ve read them. I can see a standard for navigation lights—that’s common sense—but there are also laws regarding what type of materials I can use. Mr. Fly, most of the materials I use are not on anyone’s list yet. You require that I have toilets and a waste-disposal system that meets specific standard regulations, but my disposal unit completely disintegrates the waste, leaving no residue. Most