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Chapter 17 continued...

"I would love to see the new features!" said XL, "but can you give me a couple of minutes to sign off?"

"Yes," answered Max, "but sometimes when you keep playing you forget that you have promised to stop. By the time you remember, it is too late."

"I won't forget this time," said XL. "I have set a 2 minute timer!"

True to his word, XL exited the game within 2 minutes. He had notified his friends in an online message, and parked his virtual submarine. Then, in the real world, he removed his virtual reality goggles and set them on the desk near the computer. He left the room and soon found his dad at the kitchen. He and Anna were clearing the dishes from the table where they had eaten supper earlier.

"I'm ready now," said XL.

"O.K., let's have a look," said his dad.

The two of them went up the elevator into the airship. "We have new infrared cameras on the bottom of the airship," explained Max, "and also some remote control drones with cameras. They are all controlled from the central computer."

They sat down at the computer console of Saucer1, and Max showed XL the new "person finder" program. They spent the whole evening going over the program's functions, until XL was confident that he could use it.

"This program is really cool!" said XL when they were done.

"Better than defending the moon from underwater aliens?" asked Max.

"Well, the moon game is more fun," said XL, "but it is not real. With this, I am learning something useful. It is more interesting."

"So interesting wins over fun?" inquired Max.

"Not always," said XL, "everyone needs some of each. But safety is not something to be procrastinated. You know, I'll bet a lot of rescue organizations could use an airship like Saucer1."

"I thought so too," said Max. "In the last few weeks, we showed it to several government rescue organizations. We offered to build more of them, so they could buy them. But nobody seems to want one."

"Why not?" asked XL.

"They say that airplanes fly faster for searching. And for rescue, helicopters are just as good at picking up someone."

"To land a helicopter you need a flat area without trees," said XL, "but with Saucer1 you can lower the elevator into a smaller clearing."

"True," said Max. "But the helicopter can lower someone on a rope, and lift a stretcher by the same means."

"Well, I still like Saucer1 better," said XL.

XL went to bed that evening after the sun had set, and dreamed of visiting Waskesiu, in the Northern part of Saskatchewan. He didn't have to wait many more days. Soon Saturday morning arrived, and Beeba met him at his front door to join him on his trip.

Larissa had packed food the night before, and XL and Anna had already put all the supplies into Saucer1, so they were ready to go. Beeba brought a suitcase with his extra clothing, and a big box containing a screen tent. "This is for our picnic," he said, "in case it rains, and to keep out mosquitoes."

"I don't think there will be mosquitoes this early in the season," said XL.

"I'm not taking any chances," replied Beeba. "I heard that there are huge mosquitoes up north, in the bush, unlike bugs in any other country. That's how the northern mosquito got to be Canada's national bird."

"It is not!" exclaimed XL. "They are so tiny you can hardly see them."

"It isn't seeing them that I'm worried about," said Beeba.

"Fine, we'll take the tent," said XL, as he lifted it into the elevator of Saucer1.

Soon Beeba, XL, Anna, and Larissa were in Saucer1, flying north. At first they were flying over the prairie, which wasn't very interesting because they saw it all the time. XL and Beeba sat in the front, watching a movie on the airship's main view screen. Two other view screens showed the altimeter, airspeed, and other flight information, but they only looked at those occasionally because the computer took care of the flying.

Meanwhile, Anna and Larissa were on the sides of the airship. Larissa was reading a book, while Anna sat wearing her virtual reality googles. She was chatting with her friends in a virtual world.

They continued over the prairie until the movie was done, and now they were coming over the northern forest. Suddenly a search-and-rescue alert flashed on the main view screen. Evidently Max had programmed the computer to scan for alerts and to display them.

The alert said that a small child named Wendy had been lost in the forest the previous night. Searchers had been looking for her since then, including some small aircraft that were sent over the area. Just a few minutes ago, an airplane had spotted a girl in a clearing at the top of a hill, but there was no place nearby for the plane to land. The display showed the location on a map. A helicopter was being sent out, which would get there in an hour.

"Hey, that's not far from here!" exclaimed Beeba, looking at the screen. "We just have to turn west, and we would be there in 20 minutes."

"Search and rescue is not our duty," replied XL. "There are professionals hired for that. Besides, we would be 20 minutes off course, plus 20 minutes to get back, and maybe longer if we find the child and have to deliver her to her home. It would mess up all our plans for today."

"Another hour is a long time for a little child lost in the forest," said Beeba. "We can help her."

"What if she sees Saucer1 and runs away, back into the forest," said XL. "Remember that it looks like a flying saucer from a movie."

"Weren't the aliens the good guys in that movie?" replied Beeba. "More likely she would be overjoyed, and run to see it."

Reader, please help XL to decide what to do. Recommend one of these choices:

Choice A	Continue to Waskesiu as previously planned. Search and rescue professionals have already evaluated Saucer1 and it isn't the best equipment for the job.
Choice B	Go to the location were the girl was spotted and try to find her.

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