Flight of the Space Freighter Beanstalk

  By H. Jason Schulz

  Copyright © 2012 H. Jason Schulz

  All Rights Reserved

  This is a story about a young boy who also happens to be a space freighter captain. His name is Jack and Jack is the captain the Earth space freighter USS Beanstalk.

  Jack has a mother who lives aboard the Beanstalk but she is usually quite sick and rarely comes out of her quarters. Jack is usually left alone most of the time to run the big ship. Jobs were hard to find for Jack and his mother, the merchants of the galaxy saw only a little boy and a sick woman so they usually chose not to risk their cargo aboard the Beanstalk. At long last Jack found a job shipping cinnamon, which took them to the Orion system and would pay enough to support them for the next month. Jack oversaw the loading of the cargo on Earth and then set out across the galaxy to deliver the goods to a planet near the star Orion named Nebula.

  On Nebula there lived a certain scientist who was working on a way to open a passage through dimensions using green, emeralds. This scientist had discovered that if a person shot a specially cut crystal with a laser, it would begin to vibrate and open a hole through dimensions. This scientist cut the gems and then using his laser, crossed over into another dimension. He quickly returned and was half scared to death. He wrote notes all about his short journey to the land of Nimbus and put these notes, as well as the gems, into a small black box. The next day he decided to try again but he was surprised and concerned because someone had stolen the little black box!

  Jack and his mother arrived on Nebula and landed in the space terminal. Jack was off loading the cargo of cinnamon when an old man approached Jack.

  “I'd like to talk with you.” The old man said.

  “Me?” Jack asked. “Why? Do you have a job for me?”

  “In a manner of speaking.” The old man replied. “I see that your mother is ailing. I have a proposition for you that will allow you to hire the finest doctors in all the galaxy.”

  “What is it?” Jack asked.

  “Just this.” The old man held out his hand. In his palm was a small black box and inside the box were a few small crystals. They were green in color and each about the size of a bean.

  “What are those?” Jack asked.

  “These are porthole crystals.” The old man explained excitedly. “Why, with one of these you could open a porthole to Nimbus!”

  “What is Nimbus?” Jack asked.

  “Not what, but where.” The old man replied. “Nimbus is in a different dimension. A place where gold and gems can be found by the bucket full!”

  “And you are just going to give them to me?” Jack asked skeptically.

  “Not give so much as sell.” The old man said with a chuckle.

  “If you can really get this great treasure so easily on Nimbus, then why don't you go get it yourself?” Jack asked.”

  “Oh! You are a clever boy. I never said that it would be easy!” The old man exclaimed. “You see I'm old and slow and this treasure is guarded by a Giant...Thing!”

  “What kind of thing?” Jack asked.

  “Well...” The old man thought for a moment and then he looked at a small piece of paper that he had taken from inside the box. “It's big and ugly! It stands taller than a house, has a giant nose, and small eyes. Oh! And it will steal anything shiny.”

  “I don't know...” Jack said. “It sounds dangerous. My mother only has me to take care of her and...”

  “You will be taking care of her.” The old man interrupted. “I know that you have a difficult time getting jobs and with all of that treasure, you'll never have to work again. More importantly, your mother will never have to make another cross galaxy voyage.” The old man paused and then added. “With your smarts...you should be able to outwit any...thing.”

  Jack thought for another moment and then asked. “How much for the crystals?”

  “Uh...How much did you make on this job?” The old man asked eagerly.

  “Thirty thousand duckets.” Jack replied.

  “Well – Well! You are in luck!” The old man said. “That is just the amount I happen to be selling these crystals for.”

  “Okay!” Jack said. “It's a deal!”

  The old man produced a card and Jack transferred the thirty thousand duckets from his card over to the man's. Then the man handed Jack the small black box containing the crystals and without another word, ran away.

  Jack took the box into the Beanstalk went to show them to his mother. “Mother! Mother! Jack called out. “I have an answer to our problems!” Jack had entered his mother's quarters and then he stopped short and was quiet. His mother was asleep and he didn't want to disturb her. Instead he quickly wrote her a note explaining what he was doing and where he was going. Then he went into the huge cargo bay which had so recently been filled with cinnamon. He opened the small black box and removed an emerald. He placed it onto the floor of the cargo bay and took a few steps backward. Next he removed his laser from the holster on his hip and pointed it at the green crystal on the floor. He took careful aim and pressed the button. A long. thin line of red laser light cut through the air and struck the gem. The green crystal began to shake violently and then it went “POP!” In it's place a small circle of what looked like water appeared on the floor of the cargo bay. Then without hesitating Jack ran up and jumped into it like he was doing a cannonball into a swimming pool.

  Jack came out of the other side of the port hole with a “whoosh!” and flew a few feet into the air. Then falling back to the ground, he landed onto his back with a “thump!”

  “Ouch!” Jack said as he got to his feet and looked around. The whole area was covered in a thin white fog. It was hard to see very far but Jack thought he could just make out the outline of a building. So with nothing else in sight, he started walking toward the it. It seemed like he walked for an hour before he arrived. It was a building all right– a big house. The door looked like it was in bad shape. In fact, the whole house looked like it was just thrown together with whatever could be found. There were great gaps in the door and one of them was so big that Jack could crawl right through it!

  So he did. On the other side of the door he saw a big room, much like many other rooms except for the fact that everything was gigantic. There was a coat rack near the door with a few big coats on it and Jack began to climb up to get a better look around. In the center of the room was a table and chairs. Beyond that there was a kitchen piled high with dirty dishes. To one side of this room was what looked like a cot with a thin blanket on it. And on the other side of the room, there sat containers of all shapes and sizes filled with gold, silver and gems of every color! After surveying the room in detail jack decided that for a Giant, this was quite a small house.

  Just then he heard the door creak open behind him! Jack quickly scrambled around the side of the coat rack and tried to hide as best he could. The door opened and a heavy foot fell right next to the rack. The impact shook the rack and Jack almost lost his grip. Another foot fall and then a loud “Bang!” as the door closed and the Giant strode over to the pile of treasure. He began to empty his pockets of the new treasure he had stolen that day.

  The Giant was indeed big. He had a overly large stomach and floppy ears. His arms seemed too long for his body and he had a greedy look on his face as he looked at his pile of treasure.

  Jack hurriedly climbed down and began to sneak across the floor toward the pile of treasure. He ran as fast as he could until he was hidden behind a giant box. Then he scrambled to the leg of one of the chairs. He noticed that the chair was made from whole tree trunks that had been lashed together. Jack stood perfectly still as the Giant turned and began toward his cot yawning as he walked. Suddenly the Giant stopped and sniffed the air.

  “I smell emeralds!” The Giant bellowed slowly. “I have no emeralds! Who has emeralds! I want shiny emeralds!”

  Jack stayed hidden behind the chair leg as the Giant looked all around for the source of the emerald smell. Finally the Giant picked up the chair and Jack clung to the tree trunk for a moment and then began to climb. As the chair was close to the table top, Jack leaped onto that and attempted to run but the giant had slammed down a hand in front of him barring his way. Jack reluctantly turned to face the Giant.

  “There you are.” The Giant said setting the chair down onto the floor and then sitting on it so that he was eye to eye with Jack. “You have emeralds. Gimme – Gimme!” The Giant held out his hand to Jack.

  “Me?” Jack asked. He didn't want to give up his only way back.

  “I know you have them! I can smell them.” The giant sniffed again. “Gimme – Gimmie! Or I'll smash you!” He raised his hand up.

  “Okay!” Jack said and he pulled out the small box from his pants pocket. “Don't smash me! They are in here.” Jack held out the box and the Giant carefully took it and opened it, dumping the contents onto his palm.

  Then the Giant dropped the box onto the table as he admired the gems and it fell at Jack's

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