​     "We'll be leaving in exactly eighteen minutes," a voice over a loudspeaker intoned.​ "Anyone who is not an invited guest, please make your exit now."

​     "That quick?" Lockyard snorted.

     "This whole thing's happening pretty quick, don't you think?" Adam asked. "I mean, when did most of you know about this? Not twenty-four hours ago?"

​     The announcement created a lot of movement. Everyone's assistants and hangers on made a hasty retreat for the exit. Angelica's own assistant ran up to hand her a key card. "Got to go. Love you. Bye bye."

     "I found out noon yesterday," one elderly man replied. "It was the last of my unfulfilled ambitions, to travel into space, and today that ambition is about to be realized."

     "I've known about this for months," another gentleman, an Asian this time, responded, "under the condition that I keep it a complete secret until today, which I have done." 

     "And you're not worried about...I mean...NASA certainly can't send us into space like this. For some of the savviest people in the world, you seem awfully trusting of this...this Gideon Goldbody."

     Stewart Ashland, sole owner of Ashland Pharmaceuticals, was also a close friend of Adam's. "It's not that we know or trust Gideon Goldbody," he said out of the corner of his mouth. "It's that we know and trust the people who do know Gideon Goldbody. Actually, you know, you're responsible for a lot of the interest in this flight."

​     "Me?"

     "Using the advanced technology that you do. Not even letting the United States government know where you get it from? Goldbody's claiming he's using the same technology you do to get us into space."

​     "He is?"

​     "The exits and entrances will seal in five minutes," said the voice over the loudspeaker, "and they will not open again until our return. We understand that there are still twenty-seven people on the Skymaster who are neither invited guests nor members of the staff. I am sorry, but you will not be allowed to make this journey with us. Please leave at this time."

      And, in five minutes, the exits and entrances did, indeed, seal themselves up.

                                                  CONTINUE