Chapter 17 - Go North!

XL found that he was very busy over the next few weeks, at school, doing homework, taking swimming lessons, practicing his piano, and of course--playing with his friends. During that time he and Anna had tried to find Susan's address. Even though they knew her surname now, still they couldn't find the address in the phone book. Nor did the name show up on any social media web sites. Moreover, Florence hadn't received any letter from Susan, so probably Fred never told her that Florence wanted to contact her.

XL knew Susan's home was near Waskesiu, so he decided that he would explore the area at the next opportunity. That opportunity came in spring, on the Victoria Day long weekend near the end of May. Max had finished with all the modifications to Saucer 1, so it was ready to go. It would take only a few hours to reach Waskesiu using Saucer 1.

The weather was unusually warm for that time of year; it was almost like summer. XL had mentioned his plans to Beeba Boeboo, and seeing that Beeba would very much like to go with him, XL invited him to come too. "The national park there opens that weekend, so we can get a campsite and sleep overnight in a tent!" replied Beeba, after he was invited.

XL reminded Beeba that they could sleep in Saucer1. The airship had a place to keep food, a small closet with a toilet, and room for putting down mattresses and sleeping bags. Beeba said he at least wanted to have breakfast at a picnic table. So XL arranged with his parents to book a camp site near Waskesiu. He picked a camp site in a clearing near the edge of the campground, to make it easy for Saucer1 to park overhead and lower the elevator to the site.

XL's dad Max had to work that weekend, but his mom and sister both wanted to come. While we are there we can rent a power boat, said Larissa, who had a boat driver's license. They thought that would be fun, because there are big lakes in the park.

As for Florence, she was sick again. No doubt she would have liked to come in hope of finding Susan, but she decided to stay home. XL promised to give her news of any discovery they might make on the trip.

A few days before departure, while XL was busy playing a computer game after supper, his dad stopped by and asked him to pause it for a minute.

"I can't really pause," said XL, "because it is an online game and my friends are playing online too, on my team. We are in submarines in an imaginary ocean under the surface of the moon, defending against alien sea serpents. I don't want to let them down."

"I will be leaving for a conference tomorrow," said Max, "and I won't be back for a week. But before I go I would like to show you the new search-and-rescue features of Saucer1. I have been very busy lately, but I have time now. Would you like to see?"

XL wasn't sure what to do. It didn't seem likely that he would ever need to rescue anyone. But what if an oxcasion arose when he did?

Please help XL to decide what to do. The choices are:

Choice A	Tell his dad he would like to see the new features, and ask if his dad can wait a couple of minutes so he can tell his friends that he is signing off.
Choice B	Tell his dad that he loves this game and it's hard to find a time when his friends are online too. He will see the new Saucer1 features some other day.

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