March 04, 2009
In This Issue:
ARTICLE
NEWS
BOOK REVIEW
ADVENTURE STORY: THE CAVE DWELLERS
ADVENTURE STORY: THE GALLANT MYSTERY
ARTICLE
Why Phonics?
Phonics is simply the method of learning to read by sounds. It was developed about 5,000 years ago when the Phoenicians invented the first-known alphabet. By putting sounds and symbols together the average Phoenician could learn to read quickly.Some people dislike "ancient" wisdom, but when that wisdom is based on unchanging principles - not fashions or technology - it is timeless. This can apply to many core systems such as math, morals, and phonics. What worked then still works today. We may add to our knowledge or advance our applications, but the foundation remains the same.
Phonics is learning the letter sounds, knowing that some letters make more than one sound ["A" makes nine sounds!], and discovering the rules which tell when the letters will make which sounds. It may seem complicated, but when presented in small, easy-to-learn steps even first graders can master reading. It is fun to see the first graders read and correctly spell words like "chrysanthemum."
A person who uses the Whole Word method is limited in reading to the number of words they can memorize. A person who knows the phonic rules can read about 80% of English's 700,000 + words.
Some people have tried phonics programs and still have a hard time reading. The main reason for this is that all phonics programs are not created equal. Some phonics is better than no phonics, and some people are able to learn reading easier than others. Keep in mind that phonics was largely abandoned about 100 years ago. Many of the current phonics programs are not aware of all the rules involved, and some of them do not present the rules they do know in simple and logical steps. Many of these programs use pictures as a teaching tool. Pictures are great when you are reading a story - but not when you are learning to read. Pictures encourage a student to guess at the word instead of taking the time to pronounce it out.
Academic Associates presents all the phonic rules in simple, logical steps. It has a tremendous success rate even with students who have struggled or failed with other phonic programs. Phonics is the best way to learn to read and, for some students, it will be the only way they can learn to read.NEWS/LETTERS
Diane and Ruth [our daughter] will be going to Mexico on a missions trip during Spring Break; therefore, there will be no classes from March 5 - 18.BOOK REVIEW
YOUTHEveryone has probably heard of the classic book: Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson. Many have probably seen one of the many movies based on it. However, nothing matches reading and imagining it for yourself. With the current popularity of "pirate" movies it is a good time to spark your child's interest in this timeless classic which was first published in 1883. Read - or re-read - it together. If you are a client in Prince George these books are in our library for you to borrow. "I never look back at my childhood and wish I had watched more TV." Joel Minion
ADULT
Many of you have children who are in or approaching the teenage years. Dr. James Dobson has a great book titled Preparing For Adolescence. It is an easy-to-read book which deals with the issues that every teenage faces. It talks about feelings of inferiority, handling peer pressure, physical changes, sexual values, making sound decisions, the ten most common misconceptions about romantic love, and much more. It is a great book to give to your child as he or she is approaching the teen years or, better still, to read with your older child. Your child needs to know that they can talk to YOU about some of these sensitive issues. If you are a client in Prince George these books are in our library for you to borrow.
We trust we will see you here next month.
Yours in life building,
Glenn and Diane Davis
Learn To Read Prince George and the World
Held Fast For England
HELD FAST FOR ENGLANDBy G.A. Henty
Chapter 5
A FRENCH PRIVATEER
As he became more accustomed to the scene around him, and found that the waves were more terrible in appearance than reality, Bob began to enjoy it, and to take in its grandeur and wildness. The bareness of the deck had struck him, at once; and he now saw that four of the cannon were gone--the two forward guns, on each side--and he rightly supposed that these must have been run out, and tumbled overboard, to lighten the ship forward, and enable her to rise more easily to the waves.
An hour later, the second mate came along. "You had better come down and get some breakfast," he said. "I am going down first." Bob threw off the rope, and followed the mate down into the cabin. Mr. Probert had just turned out. He had been lying down for two or three hours, having gone down as daylight broke. "The captain says you had better take something before you go on deck, Mr. Probert," the second mate said. "He will come down, afterwards, and turn in for an hour or two." "No change, I suppose?" "No. She goes over it like a duck. The seas are more regular, now, and she is making good weather of it." Bob wondered, in his own mind, what she would do if she was making bad weather. The meal was an irregular one. The steward brought in three large mugs, half filled with coffee; a basket of biscuits, and a ham. From this he cut off some slices, which he laid on biscuits; and each of them ate their breakfast, holding their mugs in one hand, and their biscuits and ham in the other. As soon as they had finished, the two officers went on deck and, directly afterwards, the captain came down. Bob chatted with him until he had finished his breakfast, and then went up on deck again, for two or three hours. At the end of that time he felt so completely exhausted, from the force of the wind and the constant change of the angle at which he was standing, that he was glad to go below and lie down again. There was no regular dinner, the officers coming below by turns, and taking a biscuit and a chunk of cold meat, standing. But at teatime the captain and second mate came down together; and Bob, who had again been up on deck for a bit, joined them in taking a large bowl of coffee. "I think the wind is blowing harder than ever," he said to the captain. "Yes, the glass has begun to rise a little, and that is generally a sign you are getting to the worst of it. I expect it is a three days' gale, and we shall have it at its worst, tonight. I hope by this time, tomorrow, we shall be beginning to shake out our reefs."You had better not go up, any more. It will be dark in half an hour, and your bunk is the best place for you." Bob was not sorry to obey the order, for he felt that the scene would be a very terrible one, after dark. The night, however, seemed to him to be a miserably long one; for he was only able to doze off occasionally, the motion being so violent that he had to jam himself in his berth, to prevent himself from being thrown out. The blows with which the waves struck the ship were tremendous; and so deeply did she pitch that, more than once, he thought that she would never come up again; but go down, head foremost. Once he thought he heard a crash, and there were orders shouted, on the deck above him; but he resisted the desire to go up and see what it was, for he knew that he could do nothing; and that, in the darkness, he could see but little of what was going on. With the first gleam of daylight, however, he got out of the bunk. He had not attempted to undress, having taken off his shoes, only, when he lay down. Having put these on again, he went up. There was but little change since the previous morning but, looking forward, he saw that the bowsprit was gone, and the fore-topmast had been carried away. The sea was as high as ever, but patches of blue sky showed overhead between the clouds, and the wind was blowing somewhat less violently. "We have been in the wars, you see, youngster," the captain said, when Bob made his way aft; "but we may thank God it was no worse. We have had a pretty close squeak of it, but the worst is over, now. The wind is going down, and the gale will have blown itself out by this evening. It was touch-and-go several times during the night and, if she had had a few more tons of cargo in her, she would never have risen from some of those waves; but I think, now, we shall see Oporto safely--which was more than I expected, about midnight." For some hours Bob, himself, had considerable doubts as to this, so deeply did the brig bury herself in the waves; but after twelve o'clock the wind fell rapidly and, although the waves showed no signs of decreasing in height, their surface was smoother, and they seemed to strike the vessel with less force and violence. "Now, Mr. Probert," said the captain, "do you and Joe turn in, till first watch. I will take charge of the deck. After that, you can set regular watches again." The main-topsail was already on her and, at six o'clock, the captain had two of its reefs shaken out; and the other reef was also loosed, when Mr. Probert came up and took charge of the first watch, at eight bells. That night Bob lay on the floor, for the motion was more violent than before--the vessel rolling, gunwale under--for the wind no longer pressed upon her sails, and kept her steady, and he would have found it impossible to maintain his position in his berth. In the morning, he went up. The sun was rising in an unclouded sky. There was scarce a breath of wind. The waves came along in high, glassy rollers--smooth mounds of water which extended, right and left, in deep valleys and high ridges. The vessel was rolling tremendously, the lower yards sometimes touching the water. Bob had to wait some time before he could make a rush across to the bulwark and, when he did so, found it almost impossible to keep his feet. He could see that the men forward were no longer crouching for shelter under the break of the fo'castle, but were holding on by the shrouds or stays, smoking their pipes, and laughing and joking together. Until the motion abated somewhat, it was clearly impossible to commence the work of getting things in order. "Did the bowsprit and mast both go, together?" Bob asked Joe Lockett, who was holding on to the bulwark, near him. "Yes, the bowsprit went with the strain when she rose, having buried herself halfway up the waist; and the topmast snapped like a carrot, a moment later. That was the worst dive we made. There is no doubt that getting rid of the leverage of the bowsprit, right up in her eyes, eased her a good bit; and as the topmast was a pretty heavy spar, too, that also helped." "How long will it be before the sea goes down?" "If you mean goes down enough for us to get to work--a few hours. If you mean goes down altogether, it will be five or six days before this swell has quite flattened down, unless a wind springs up from some other quarter." "I meant till the mast can be got up again." "Well, this afternoon the captain may set the men at work; but I don't think they would do much good, and there would be a good chance of getting a limb broken. As long as this calm holds there is no hurry, one way or the other." "You mean, because we couldn't be sailing, even if we had everything set?" "Well, yes, that is something, but I didn't mean that. I am not thinking so much of our sailing, as of other people's. We are not very fit, as we are now, either for fighting or running, and I should be sorry to see a French privateer coming along; but as long as the calm continues, there is no fear of that; and I expect there have been few ships out, in this gale, who have not got repairs to do as well as we have." After dinner, an effort was made to begin the work; but the captain soon ordered the men to desist. "It is of no use, Mr. Probert. We shall only be getting some of the men killed. It wouldn't be possible to get half done before dark and, if the sea goes down a bit, tonight, they will get as much done in an hour's work, in the morning, as they would if they were to work from now to sunset. "The carpenter might get some canvas, and nail it so as to hide those gaps in the bulwark. That will be something done. The boys can give it a coat of paint, in the morning. But as for the spar, we must leave it." All hands were at work, next morning, with the first gleam of daylight. The rollers were still almost as high as the day before; but there was now a slight breath of wind, which sufficed to give the vessel steerage way. She was put head to the rollers, changing the motion from the tremendous rolling, when she was lying broadside to them, for a regular rise and fall that interfered but little with the work. A spare spar was fitted in the place of the bowsprit, the stump of the topmast was sent down, and the topgallant mast fitted in its place and, by midday, the light spars were all in their places again, and the brig was showing a fair spread of canvas; and a casual observer would, at a distance, have noticed but slight change in her appearance. "That has been a good morning's work," the captain said, as they sat down to dinner. "We are a little short of head-sail, but that will make no great difference in our rate of sailing, especially if the wind is aft. We are ready to meet with another storm again, if it should come--which is not likely. "We are ready for anything, in fact, except a heavily-armed privateer. The loss of four of our guns has crippled us. But there was no choice about the matter; it went against my heart to see them go overboard, but it was better to lose four guns than to lose the ship. "I hope we shall meet with nothing till we get through the Straits. I may be able to pick up some guns, at Gibraltar. Prizes are often brought in there, and condemned, and there are sales of stores; so I hope to be able to get her into regular fighting trim, again, before I clear out from there. "I should think you won't be sorry when we drop anchor off the Mole, youngster?" "I am in no hurry, now," Bob said. "I would have given a good deal--if I had had it--two days ago, to have been on dry land but, now that we are all right again, I don't care how long we are, before we get there. It is very warm and pleasant, a wonderful change after what it was when we sailed. "Whereabouts are we, captain?" "We are a good bit farther to the east than I like," the captain replied. "We have been blown a long way into the bay. There is a great set of current, in here. We have drifted nearly fifty miles in, since noon yesterday. We are in 4 degrees 50 minutes west longitude, and 45 degrees latitude." "I don't think that means anything to me." "No, I suppose not," the captain laughed. "Well, it means we are nearly due west of Bordeaux, and about one hundred miles from the French coast, and a little more than eighty north of Santander, on the Spanish coast. As the wind is sou'-sou'west we can lay our course for Cape Ortegal and, once round there, we shall feel more comfortable." "But don't you feel comfortable at present, captain?" "Well, not altogether. We are a good deal too close in to the French coast; and we are just on the track of any privateer that may be making for Bordeaux, from the west or south, or going out in those directions. So, although I can't say I am absolutely uncomfortable, I shall be certainly glad when we are back again on the regular track of our own line of traffic for the Straits or Portugal. There are English cruisers on that line, and privateers on the lookout for the French, so that the sound of guns might bring something up to our assistance; but there is not much chance of meeting with a friendly craft, here--unless it has, like ourselves, been blown out of its course." A lookout had already been placed aloft. Several sails were seen in the distance, in the course of the afternoon, but nothing that excited suspicion. The wind continued light and, although the brig had every sail set, she was not making more than five and a half knots an hour through the water. In the evening the wind dropped still more and, by nine o'clock, the brig had scarcely steerage way. "It is enough to put a saint out of temper," the captain said, as he came down into the cabin, and mixed himself a glass of grog before turning in. "If the wind had held, we should have been pretty nearly off Finisterre, by morning. As it is, we haven't made more than forty knots since we took the observation, at noon." Bob woke once in the night; and knew, by the rippling sound of water, and by the slight inclination of his berth, that the breeze had sprung up again. When he woke again the sun was shining brightly, and he got up and dressed leisurely; but as he went into the cabin he heard some orders given, in a sharp tone, by the captain on deck, and quickened his pace up the companion, to see what was going on. "Good morning, Mr. Lockett!" he said to the second mate, who was standing close by, looking up at the sails. "Good morning, Master Repton!" he replied, somewhat more shortly than usual. "There is a nice breeze this morning," Bob went on. "We seem going on at a good rate." "I wish she were going twice as fast," the mate said. "There is a gentleman over there who seems anxious to have a talk with us, and we don't want to make his acquaintance." Bob looked round and saw, over the quarter, a large lugger some three miles away. "What vessel is that?" he asked. "That is a French privateer--at least, there is very little doubt about it. We must have passed each other in the dark for, when we first made him out, he was about four miles away, sailing northeast. He apparently sighted us, just as we made him out; and hauled his wind, at once. He has gained about a mile on us, in the last two hours. We have changed our course; and are sailing, as you see, northwest, so as to bring the wind on our quarter; and I don't think that fellow has come up much, since. Still, he does come up. We feel the loss of our sail, now." It seemed to Bob, looking up, that there was already an immense amount of canvas on the brig. Stunsails had been set on her, and she was running very fast through the water. "We seem to have more canvas set than that vessel behind us," he said. "Yes, we have more, but those luggers sail like witches. They are splendid boats, but they want very big crews to work them. That is the reason why you scarcely ever see them, with us, except as fishing craft, or something of that sort. I daresay that lugger has a hundred men on board--eighty, anyhow--so it is no wonder we sometimes get the worst of it. They always carry three hands to our two and, very often, two to our one. Of course we are really a trader, though we do carry a letter of marque. If we were a regular privateer, we should carry twice as many hands as we do." Walking to the poop rail, Bob saw that the men were bringing up shot, and putting them in the racks by the guns. The breech covers had been taken off. The first officer was overlooking the work. "Well, lad," Captain Lockett said, coming up to him, "you see that unlucky calm has got us into a mess, after all and, unless the wind drops again, we are going to have to fight for it." "Would the wind dropping help us, sir?" "Yes, we have more canvas on her than the lugger carries and, if the breeze were lighter, should steal away from her. As it is, she doesn't gain much; but she does gain and, in another two or three hours, she will be sending a messenger to ask us to stop." "And what will you do, captain?" "We shall send another messenger back, to tell her to mind her own business. Then it will be a question of good shooting. If we can knock out one of her masts, we shall get off; if we can't, the chances are we shall see the inside of a French prison.
"If she once gets alongside, it is all up with us. She can carry us, by boarding; for she can throw three times our strength of men on to our deck." There was but little talking on board the brig. When the men had finished their preparations, they stood waiting by the bulwarks; watching the vessel in chase of them, and occasionally speaking together in low tones. "You may as well pipe the hands to breakfast, Mr. Probert. I have told the cook to give them an extra good meal. After that, I will say a few words to them.
"Now, Master Repton, we may as well have our meal. We mayn't get another good one, for some time; but I still hope that we shall be able to cripple that fellow. I have great faith in that long eighteen. The boatswain is an old man-o'-war's-man, and is a capital shot. I am a pretty good one, myself and, as the sea is smooth, and we have a good steady platform to fire from, I have good hope we shall cripple that fellow before he comes up to us." There was more talking than usual, at breakfast. Captain Lockett and the second mate both laughed, and joked, over the approaching fight. Mr. Probert was always a man of few words, and he said but little, now. "The sooner they come up, the better," he growled. "I hate this running away, especially when you can't run fastest." "The men will all do their best, I suppose, Probert? You have been down among them." The first mate nodded. "They don't want to see the inside of a prison, captain, no more than I do. They will stick to the guns; but I fancy they know, well enough, it will be no use if it comes to boarding." "No use at all, Probert. I quite agree with you, there. If she comes up alongside, we must haul down the flag. It is of no use throwing away the men's lives, by fighting against such odds as that. But we mustn't let her get up." "That is it, sir. We have got to keep her off, if it can be done. We shall have to haul our wind a little, when we begin, so as to get that eighteen to bear on her." "Yes, we must do that," the captain said. "Then we will get the other four guns over on the same side." After breakfast was over, the captain went up and took his station at the poop rail. The men had finished their breakfast and, on seeing that the captain was about to address them, moved aft. "My lads," he said, "that Frenchman behind will be within range, in the course of another hour. What we have got to do is to knock some of her spars out of her and, as she comes up slowly, we shall have plenty of time to do it. I daresay she carries a good many more guns than we do, but I do not suppose that they are heavier metal. If she got alongside of us, she would be more than our match; but I don't propose to let her get alongside and, as I don't imagine any of you wish to see the inside of a French prison, I know you will all do your best.
"Let there be no hurrying in your fire. Aim at her spars, and don't throw a shot away. The chances are all in our favour; for we can fight all our guns, while she can fight only her bow chasers--at any rate, until she bears up. She doesn't gain on us much now and, when she comes to get a few shot holes in her sails, it will make the difference. I shall give ten guineas to be divided among the men at the first gun that knocks away one of her spars; and five guineas, besides, to the man who lays the gun." The men gave a cheer. "Get the guns all over to the port side. I shall haul her wind, a little, as soon as we are within range." Don’t miss next week’s exciting encounter!
STAR ACTION
Peter and Janet inStar Action
By Glenn Davis
copyright 2009
Chapter 4
Fade Out
A tall, slender man of sixty-seven years or so was seated in the command chair in the Main Control of the U.A.F Courage. He ran his fingers through his silvery hair and then brought them down to thoughtfully stoke his chin. He was wearing a spotless white uniform with a red cross on the upper part of each sleeve. Instead of a pull-on shirt he wore a comfortable looking jacket. His name was Rev. Jack Flynn and he was the Head Chaplain / Co-Captain.
The Courage's Main Control was located on top and near the front of the huge starship. From it the Captain's orders were put into immediate action.
Sitting at their command desks in front of Rev. Flynn, and two steps lower, were most of the Main Control officers. There was: Lt. Johnson, Navigator; Col. Davidson, Security (temporary replacement for Commander Smith); Commander Grant, Fleet Commander, Lt. Stanton, Onboard Weapons and Defense; Col. Lee, Engineering; Lt. Dez, Science Officer, plus a life support technician.
The two other desks in the room were on the platform with the command chair and behind it, one to either side. They belonged to Lt. Xto, Communication; and Rev. Flynn's normal desk. On the wall directly in front of the Captian's chair was a giant view screen. It could be all one picture or divided into sections to show different scenes at the same time.
Lt. Xto was the only one in Main Control who didn't look human. From the waist up he did look quite like a young man except for two horns on his forehead. Below his waist he was shaped like a goat and he had a rather long tail, which he kept swishing about. Lt. Xto was a faun.
As he was watching the shuttle disengage from the Death and begin its journey to them Rev. Flynn thought about Captain Caspian. He disagreed with her decision to go with the rescue shuttle. 'A Captain's place is in Main Control', he had said. A smile spread across his face.In quite a few ways she reminded him of himself in command of his first star-ship. He knew she had put many long hours of study in at the U.A.F. Training Center. Very few women had any interest in becoming starship captains, but Nancy Caspian had and she graduated top of her class. And now she had been in Command of her first star-ship for fourteen days. Like all new captains, Rev. Flynn figured, she would settle down in time.
The attempts of the shuttle to contact the Courage broke into his thoughts. He swirled his chair around to face Lt. Xto.
Lt. Xto answered the inquiring look without having to be spoken to, "The Death is giving off something that's blocking our transmissions but not theirs. The shuttle will probably be here before we can break through."
Lt. Xto had underestimated his abilities, for moments later he was apologizing to Captain Caspian and placing her short, incomplete message over the Main Control speakers.
As soon as he heard the commands, Rev. Flynn carried them out. The Courage was placed on red alert and Commander Stanton brought the shields to full power.
Unable to contact Captain Caspian again Rev. Flynn turned to his science officer, Lt. Dez, "Do the scanners show anything which would be that dangerous?"
"No, sir." was her prompt reply.
Rev. Flynn leaned back in the command chair and stared at the view screen. Captain Caspian's brief message was puzzling him. Although she was inexperienced, Captain Caspian was not the one to raise false alarms. If she wanted the ship on red alert she must feel they were in great danger but from where?
Rev. Flynn rotated to face the windows which lined the left wall. There didn't seem to be anything around that could pose such a threat. Sure there was the U.R. Death, but it attacking the Courage would be like, an ant attacking an elephant.
"Sir, the scanners are reporting an energy build up in the Death." said Lt. Dez.
They didn't have to wonder about it for long. Suddenly bright lights shot out from projectors on the Death's side and grew brighter and brighter. They were followed almost immediately by boulders being launched from three cannons which had appeared on the roof of the Death. The boulders were aimed at the shuttle and quite a few were smashing into it. The shuttle would soon be torn apart!
It was obvious the U.R.'s wanted Captain Caspian to believe they were blowing up Axin. Why, Rev. Flynn had no idea, but action had to be taken.
"Drop the shields to half power, prepare to fire on the Death, three squads each of Flyers and Buffalo shuffles on countdown to launch," the commands were spoken rapidly and with authority.
Rev. Flynn studied the situation. In a few seconds they would be able to destroy the Death, or invade it, or cut off all their power. All at once Captain Caspian's shuttle vanished from the view screen.
Rev. Flynn half rose out of the command chair, "What happened to that shuttle!" he demanded. His voice stressing his concern, but his emotions well under control.
"I don't know," replied Lt. Dez, "All trace of it is gone from the scanners. There is no place it could have gone... and no wreak-age. It's as if the shuttle never existed."
"Is it possible it was just a projection?"
"No, sir. The scanners showed it did have substance and its identification code was that of our shuttle."
When all this had begun Lt. Xto had run a check of his own and now he reported it, "A voice scan shows it was Captain Caspian's voice which spoke to us."
"Cancel countdown for Flyers and Battle Shuttles, return shields to full power." Rev. Flynn paused. "The Death can't out run us so we'll sit tight and see what other surprises they have for us. Meanwhile, Lt. Dez, see if you can find out what happened to the Captain's shuttle."
Deep in thought, Rev. Flynn stroked his chin. The shuttle's disappearance right off their scanners was the most mysterious thing he had ever encountered and he had seen a lot of strange things when he had been Battle Commander over a fleet of star-ships in the Tricot Wars.
"Sir, the Death is starting to fade away." came Lt. Dez's astonished voice.
"Fade away?""That's the only way I can explain it. It isn't moving, but it's slowly disappearing from our scanners."
"Increase Retractor beam power on it, Lt. Johnson. If the Death gets away we may have lost Captain Caspian and the rest aboard the shuttle forever!"
As the Death faded back on the scanners the stars and the planets around them began to fade out. In the Tricot Wars he never would have underestimated the foe, but Rev. Flynn knew he had made that mistake right now. The U.R.'s were a whole lot smarter than anyone had figured. So far they had kept him off balance by keeping him guessing at what they were up to. Now they had him puzzled as to how they were doing it.
"What's happening?" asked Rev. Flynn, hoping someone would give him something he could work with.
"Our retractor beam isn't stopping the Death, instead it's pulling us wherever it's going." said Lt. Dez.
"Col. Lee, how can a spaceship that small pull this starship?"
"It is impossible sir."
"A lot of impossible things have been happening lately."
"I would say that the Death is not using its engines. Instead it is being pulled by some outside force and since we are hooked on with the Death it is pulling us as well."
By now all the stars and planets had vanished. The U.R. Death was the only thing in scanner range. No one in Main COntrol had ever been in such a void where they had absolutely no reference points. Fear's boney fingers played with most of their hearts but it was controlled by their training and professionalism.
"El, we don't know where we're going but we do know You're going with us so we put our trust in You." Rev. Flynn said as if he was talking to a close friend.
A few minutes later the stars and planets began to fade back in but they were not the same stars and planets! A quick check with the Cita Computer showed they were in an uncharted solar system.
It was a half hour later when Lt. Dez looked up form her desk in awe, "As far as I can tell, and all Cita's informations seems to indicate this, we have rocketed past explored space.
"I wasn't aware that travelling that far that fast was more than a theory."
"Our scientists have been working on what they call a Rapid Transport Device. It is a totally different system than what our engines are based on. It requires a device on a planetary station to pull the object through what is essentially a tube outside of time. We had no idea anyone had a working model of such a device.""Is this where Captain Caspian disappeared to?"
"I don't know. It is probable since the UR Death came here; however, if there is more than one Rapid Transport Station they could be more than one tube, each leading to another destination."
"In any case you had better have your people working on this Rapid Transport Theory 24 hours a day because if the Death escapes from us or they are unwilling to talk we may be stuck here for the rest of our lives!"
Next Week Chapter Five: Where Are We?