The Journey of the Iguanahum

The recreational room was all in celebration for their breaking the barrier of space. Taken through to the other side, to where the mission will be to locate the binary star of Zeta Reticului.Drinks of intoxication for the crew who was off the rest of the night, while vegetable juice for the ones who would work that night. Green Algae, seaweed, protein from the sea, was available also.

"Lieutenant Sala. Glad you made it." His buddy Lieutenant Hoff said, calling from a table in back. The dim light reflected off green reptilian scales as aqua was the color of the day.

"Oh yeah, get me a Green Blaster." Sala said to the electronic rolling waitress. She made the beeping acknowledgment as she spun off.

"I'm off the rest of the night. Reilly is on duty in my place. I train Reilly like old school on Earth." Said Lieutenant Sala.

"Lord have mercy, I hope he knows the difference between up and down. I noticed him one day operating the controls with shaking hands." Hoff teased.

The electronic waitress came with the Green Blaster, set the drink down, paused eyeing Sala.

"Would that be all, Mr. Sala." Rosie the electronic waitress said with contempt, fiddling with the hand towel over her shoulder.

"Oh, this is fine Sparks." Sala tease. The table broke out with laughter.

"Oh...That'll be Rosie to You Mr. Sala, and to the rest of You hooligans.You aren't such a big officer, that I can't report you to Dr. MacArthur, he would have Mr. Dexter probe your mind, then you might be unfit to do that... whatever you do." The table got extremely quiet while Rosie eyeballed scaliwags. Her electronic eyes swirled in her head, spinning in opposite directions.

"I swear...you guys." Rosie grinned, chuckling with them. "Mr Sala, you have a face only a mother could love."

"You're one of a kind, Rosie." Mr. Hoff said. Rosie rolled away still giggling.

"Do you think that we are anywhere close to the Zeta Reticulum Binary Star system?" Tech Sergeant Norm Donaldson said not really addressing anyone in particular. Putting a handful of seaweed in his mouth, which made him choke and cough. Reaching for his vegetable juice, he took a swig and then cough out the contents in the direction of the wall. A few people looked but didn't say anything, they just went back to their merry making.

"Easy Norm. Don't kill yourself in the rec room. That would be embarrassing." Sala said smirking.

"We're close. I say a couple solar systems to the...." Mr. Hoff said circling his arm in the air.. "West!"

"Yeah right....West." Mr. Sala said. Hoff was probably right about a couple of solar systems more but any what direction.

"I'll have to be back on duty in 3 hours." Hoff said. "It's all good though. Listening to music for this joyful occasion."

"Toast..." Sala said raising his glass and prompting the whole rec room to respond. "To the Zeta Reticuluians, we coming for you baby."

Everyone cheered as they raised their respective glass. Clanking glasses with people at their table and the Lizards standing near by. All hues of green or aqua, some glowing more than others, depending on their mood.

"Doctor MacArthur. Where's the good stuff, you know, that Kentucky Bourban? The one that changes my green scales a very bright aqua, so some lizards have said. I don't see it, though." Captain Williamson asked his best friend doctor Kelly MacArthur. The two have known each other before Doctor MacArthur was in Military. He had a private practice amongst the civilian population of Iguanaville. Stephen Williamson went on to the Academy, graduated and was assigned a ship. Spent many thousands of hours in the flight simulator until the big launch months prior.

"I have something here Steve my boy." Kelly MacArthur said, pouring the Captain a drink. This was stored precisely for the Captain and now, little oh me, if you don't mind, have possession of this liquid. I gave the human scientists a clean healthy bill for lizard consumption. It won't hurt us, we have iron stomachs, i told them, you should have seen their faces. Kentucky Bourbon never tasted so good, Stevey my boy." Kelly said, looking like the rascal that he was.

"Well, Kelly, I got to hand it to you. This is some excellent stuff. I feel the buzz all ready." Stephen said after he took one, then two gulps of the liquid stuff. His scales already showing signs of the now aqua coloring.

"This stuff would technically run out in a years time, but we have the recipe and ingredients to fill this whole ship to the brim. Those robotic Iguanahum can made this stuff, they did it on Earth once, in secrect though." Doctor MacArthur said giggling.

Stephen Williamson was beside himself watching this grown man, Professional doctor act like he was 13 again in Iguanaville. They would go fishing for frogs during those early years. The pond was stocked with fish and frogs, where they would spend hours fishing. The tall tales came while they camped around a camp fire, roasting whole frogs. The weird stories of humans murdering humans scary stories, that would frighten little Stephen.They themselves were considered humans by the scientists that created them, super humans. They said that we are called Iguanahum, half Iguana, half human. They were a secret to Earth humans, the scientists told them, that they would have to keep this project top secret. Finally information leaked out, the humans became alarmed, how daré scientists create Lizard People. Overlooking people to die on this planet. 200 Lizard People in one spacecraft, to go to a binary star system to resettle. Human DNA along with Iguana DNA will be transferred to the outer reaches of the Galaxy, Zeta Reticului. Rumors abound of the Zeta Reticuluians lived in that system. The Ufologist brought news to the public as the government kept it a secret for decades. Now, that was the goal of the Iguanahum, to settle with the many species of intelligent life living there.

"Captain." The message came into Doctor MacArthur's quarters, calling the captain's name.

"Go ahead Reilly." Williamson said.

"We are approximately 2 years to the Zeta Reticuli binary solar system, by my calculations, that is" Reilly said, feeling proud that he figured that out before Sala did. He considered Sala a friend but Lieutenant Sala out ranked him. Ensign Reilly was being trained by the Lieutenant as his underling. He differently was catching on.

"Thanks Reilly. Have all the data transfer into the ship computer for analysis. Don't just asume 2 years, we have to be certain." Captain Williamson said with buzzed authority.

"Do you need any assistance?" Captain Williamson asked out of consideration but had confidence in him.

"No sir. It's all good." Ensign Reilly said.

"Okay stay on course Reilly. Out."

Stephen Williamson wanting to revisit his childhood memories, teen years in Iguanaville with his old childhood friend Kelly MacArthur.

Dexter, the science officer was analyzing the ships data and programming the Robotic Iguanahum, when the robot spoke. The robot did not speak in its usual monotone voice, but rather in multiple languages, after listening closely a few times, he deteted English. It relayed a mess probably in all the other languages as well, saying to key in certain letters and numbers. Mr. Dexter keyed in the letters/numbers combo. Mr. Dexter turned on the record button while the message came in. The message said to listen closely for the coded message, that they would have to decipher.

The officer meeting was in the conference room where all relevant officer was present. Mr Dexter was a complex Iguanahum, considered a genius by the Earth Humans. Studying many sciences with a nack for physics. Only one other was a genius in physics was Mr Celt, which his expertise was more on the engineering side of physics.

"Gentleman, Ladies." Commander Dexter spoke, adjusting his glasses on the rim of his nose. Benefiting from the Evolutionary process more than his fellow species, having surpassed all others. The scientists was baffled as to why this was and couldn't duplicate the procedure, which the scientists tried numerous times.Thus,one Iguanahum, named Mr. Dexter was ultimately 10 times the intelligence of the others. The other never matched Dexter's intelligence but still 3 times as smart as the scientists that created them.

"The message is in code, most likely from the Zeta Reticuli star system. Part of it is in English, like greetings and salutations. Not the many languages that was being spoken at the beginning of the transmission. The voice said the message was meant for us, now we would need to analyze the code.

"Commander Dexter, organize a team. May I also suggest Lieutenant Urban, she has studied languages in her formal studies." The captain said turning towards the others.

"Yes Captain." Commander Dexter said.

"Captain. The message was engineering in nature, possibly Physics. That I believe Engineer Mr. Celt should be on the team." Commander Dexter gave his recommendations then waited.

" Okay, go to the lab and call Mr. Celt and Ms. Urban. Where you and they can call more personell if needed." The Captain dismissed everyone.

" Mr. Dexter please, I know what I'm talking about." Mr Celt said addressing the bright green Iguana known as Mr. Dexter. "You don't need to consider this procedure, It doesn't make sense. Besides, this over here proved that thing over yonder is obsolete."

"Okay Mr. Celt, we will skip that procedure, for now." Mr. Dexter said.

"Mr. Dexter, Mr. Celt." Lieutenant Urban said as she looked at the computer read out, noticing a pattern.

"Yes Ms. Urban, what is it." Mr Dexter said while looking at his green scales, thinking about that time on Earth when he blinded that bat. The bat came swooping down on him while he was reading a book about Mathematics and quantum physics. He looked up, and there it was, coming towards his head. When he stood up from a lotus position, he merely just puffed his chest out causing the winged creatures to literally go blind, from his bright green aura.

"I believe I have interrupted the coded message. These patterns fit. I'm sure of it. Also, it isn't coming from the binary star system Zera Reticului where we are headed, but a nearby planet, here." Ms. Urban said pointing at the hugh star map that engulfed the room that they inhabited.

"Good work Mr Dexter." Captain Williamson said looking at the data.

"Thank you sir but it was Ms. Urban who put the final pieces together. Mr. Celt was also a big help, even though he has a habit of skipping vital procedures." Mr. Dexter said as he addressed the captain.

"Mr. Dexter, you, Mr. Celt and Ms. Urban, meet me in the shuttle craft room in 30 minutes." Captain Williamson said as hr got up from his swivel chair in his office, noticing the fine craftlizardship design.

"Yes sir Captain, I'll relay the message. And Sir?"

"Yes Mr. Dexter."

"I wish we could have brought my fantastic office furniture here on the craft."

"Noted."

The arrangements was made, Captain Williamson went into full Captain mode. Putting Mr. Sala in charge of the ship and Mr. Hoff second in command.

"Tech Sergeant Donaldson, you are now the ships Engineer." Captain Williamson said addressing the Lizard with a wrench, as he known to his buddies.

"Aye Sir. I will keep this crate idling." Norm said as only he could do.

Stephen called Kelly to join them as they really needed a doctor to come along to that orange planet below. They all rendezvous into the the shuttle room where they chose the least conspicuous for the journey. Had to pick the right color shuttle craft and the one that had the better clutch, which was the best choice, despite not having the desired color.

"Okay Ms. Urban, start the engine."

"Aye Sir." Ms. Urban said as she pressed the clutch and started the engine. It cranked beautifully.

"It sounds fantastic." Mr. Celt said with pride. He and Norm worked on the engine and the clutch just days prior.

"Dr. MacArthur, open the bay door." Dr. MacArthur took the remote from Mr. Celt and pressed the open button. Surely the bay door made a rumble, then it went up smoothly.

"Lizard 2 to Lizard 1." The captain said.

"Go ahead Lizard 2, this is Lizard 1." Lieutenant, now acting Captain Sala said.

"Leaving the shuttle bay, Lieutenant Sala." Captain Williamson said.

"And Sala?"

"Yes Captain?"

"Can you have someone come down here and shut the bay door. We only have one remote, we can't point it backwards to close the door. Bring a spacesuit because the door is wide opened. You will have to close it manually, a couple big Lizards would do the trick." It's great being Captain.

Ms. Urban throttled the gear shift, which had 25 gears. The planet was now visible, where Mr. Dexter gave read outs to the Lieutenant, giving her directions.

"Go to the left some, Ms. Urban." Mr. Dexter instructed while holding onto the back of his seat with one arm.

"I said left Ms. Urban." Mr. Bright Green Lizard said.

"I did, but web was upside dow6 when you told me lefft, so then i was actually going right." Lieutenant Urban said.

"Mr. Dexter, just point her in the right direction, since up, down, left, right does have much meaning here in space. Just like in our big ship, we don't use that directional system." Captain Williamson said.

"Aye Sir." Mr. Dexter said.

Ms. Urban watched Mr Dexter while trying to steer, shift gears, accelerate, look forward....

Dr. MacArthur took a swig of the Angel juice that he carries with him at all times. Mr. Celt saw the green doctor and made a low hum, indicating that he wanted some of that also.

"Here Mr. Celt, have a swig."

Mr. Celt took the concoction and took an engineer type guzzle. He looked by at the doctor and wonder if his liver my explode.

"Go ahead Mr. Celt, it isn't going to harm you, not much anyway." The doctor said as he looked at Captain Williamson.

"Steady Ms. Urban, just follow Mr. Dexter's claw." Stephen Williamson said as his stomach felt a little woozy. He was feeling a little space sick but he was the captain and needed to keep it together. He slipped his hand in his meal pouch and pulled out some green algae, stuffing his jaw with the food also good medicine, for this situation.

"Stephen,take a swig of this." The captain's friend said as he handed him the Angel juice.

"Easy, easy...over there Lieutenant." Mr. Dexter said guiding Ms. Urban to a clearing near a creek.

Ms. Urban guided the craft, shifting the gears like crazy, using the 2 clutches to downshift. Mr. Dexter had to pull the emergency brake located on the ceiling because Ms. Urban couldn't use the peddle brakes.

The shuttle craft Lizard 2 landed in an open space between boulders next to a mountain, a creek running beside it.

"Lizard 2 to Lizard 1 over." Captain Williamson said into the spacecraft microphone, cradling Dr. MacArthur's Ángel juice."

"This is Lizard 1, come in Lizard 2." Ensign Reilly said, filling in for Lieutenant Urban. As well as be a navigator, Mr. Reilly was commuication stand in. He had mastered numerous languages but not as much as Lieutenant Urban.

"Go ahead Mr. Reilly." The captain said as he handed the Kentucky Bourbon back to Dr. MacArthur.

"Put this away Kelly, I don't want to see it again, not anytime soon, that is."

"We've landed on the surface. We'll be exiting in a bit, Mr. Sala. Out. Captain Williamson said looking at his first officer Commander Dexter.