A pile of luggage sat by the front door. There was a limo waiting outside for them to bring them to the space center. There were also a couple of police motercycles there waiting to accompany them, though Taylor didn't know why it was necessary. Despite the shock, the world had handled the news surprisingly well. A few small anti-alien terrorist groups had sprung up, but no one really took them seriously; they were only to be expected, after all. Most people were really open minded about it. There was even a large group of reporters coming along to the fair to film it for the people unable to come.
About 4,000 people, ordinary people, had won tickets to go, and they were being seperated into five shuttles, along with all the artists. There were about 600 artists of all kinds going. This included everyone from other famous musicians, to actors, to craftpeople. There were people of all sorts invited to go there, many of them famous, all of them talented. Taylor still marvelled that they had been chosen to go.
The limo pulled up to the space center, and he got out. The luggage was left with the workers of the center to load while the family got organized. Hoisting Mackenzie into his arms, he carried his still sleepy little brother inside, following his father's broad back. Ike walked next to him, carrying Avery. She was snuggled down, with her head on his shoulders, and Taylor noticed how small she still was. Mac, however, began to feel bigger and bigger with each step. He was usually no problem to carry, but Taylor's entire left arm was half asleep, and tingled painfully with each step.
Finally, they arrived in a large room filled with people. There were some empty chairs in a corner, so the Hansons headed that way. Then, just as he gratefully sank down, a loudspeaker switched on and he found himself herded along with everyone else toward another, even larger, room. There was a stage in the corner, and a bored looking man with a shaved head standing in front of a microphone on it.
The man cleared his throat.
"Ahem. Uh, ladies and-what?!?"he demanded to a timid looking young assistant behind him. The assistand shook his head, and the man turned back to the mike. "All right. Now, ladies and gentlemen, we are here to be part of-" The microphone screeched loudly. Protests could be heard across the room. Taylor saw Zoe's little eyes opening slowly, before she burrowed deeper under the covers in the stroller.
"Yes. Ah. Oops, guys. Haha," he chuckled, trying to look indulgent and amused. And failing; he only looked annoyed. "Now, back to the business at hand. We're all going to get in our seperate shuttles, as practiced-"
"Which was a waste of time. What's so hard about getting in a shuttle?" Zac whispered.
"I don't know Zac. The whole lift foot, move it, put it down process has always been difficult for me," Taylor responded.
"This is the part I worry about. Are you sure we can do it?" Ike added, before all three boys grinned and turned their attention back to the speaker.
"We should be taking off at about 3 hours - that is, about 1 o'clock pm - and arriving aproximately three days later. Now, we were going to brief you on a few important issues, such as what you can and can't bring home, and what you can and can't do there, but we're running a little behind, so your shuttle crew will take ya'll aside later and go through it with you."
Some restless muttering from the crowd hurried him along.
"Almost done, folks," he said quickly. "I just want to thank the Lornians - that's the aliens, for those of you who didn't know - for their gifts of the space shuttles. Without them no one would be going."
Everyone clapped politely.
"Ok then, folks. Let's get going. Just follow the number of your shuttle, on the floor.
Walker took the stroller from Diana and led the family down a long corridor, following a line of four's that were lit up on the floor. They went through several metal detectors, and were all searched once, with the apologies of the searcher and the word "procedure" given as an explanation. Even Zoe was carefully searched, with her rattle going through a kind of x-ray machine.
They finally arrived at shuttle gate 4, and walked to the front of the line. One couple gave them a nasty look as they passed, but then smiled in understanding as they saw the baby. Their eyes widened in slight surprise as they saw the rest of the Hanson family march by in a long line, and Taylor saw a man counting the children silently as they walked by. He grinned. He was proud of his large family.
They got their papers checked and stamped, and entered the shuttle. It looked a bit like a hotel inside, which surprised Taylor. He thought it would be very professional and cold inside, not elegant and comfortable. They got their room numbers, and headed for the room to put the luggage down.
Getting there, he saw that they were adjoining rooms. Ike unlocked theirs, which had three bunk beds in it, two on one wall, and one on the other, with a dresser next to it. All the kids but Zoe would share the room, and their parents would share the other one with a young couple and their baby.
In the meantime, they saw a sign telling them all to go to the takeoff room. There was an x showing where it was on a map on the dresser, as well as a "you are here" dot. The dot was glowing. Tay grabbed the map, and they went out of the room, where their parents were waiting. Together, they all started out for the room. Tay glanced at the map, and was delighted to see that the dot moved, jumping to the map's current location every few seconds as they passed sensors in the wall.
Arriving in the room, they sat and were strapped down for the takeoff. The room was filled with windows, so that everyone could see out. Zoe was put in a special miniature seat, with comfortable padding. When everyone was seated the speakers came on.
Shuttle four ready. Prepare for takeoff.
Tay strained to understand the jumble of syllables coming out of the speakers. With all their technology, these people still couldn't make a clear speakerphone. He snorted. Some things never changed. More crackling came from it, which Taylor identified as the countdown.
"5,4,3,2,1."
Taylor took a deep breath.
"Takeoff!"