Defenders of Destiny, book one, the Discovery of Astrolaris by Brenton Barwick

  Chapter Two

  “IT’S From SPACE !”

  “It’s beautiful,” declared joseph. “It looks kind of like the pictures of space on the NASA web site.”

  Slowly, Joseph and his dad raised their heads from the incredible sight and climbed out of the now large hole.

  Handing Joseph a jug of water and a camp chair, Joseph’s dad flipped open another chair and put it in the elusive shade of the umbrella and with a long sigh, relaxed into it, as if it were his favorite lounge.

  Chugging the water straight from the jug, Joseph handed it back to his dad nearly half empty, and sank into the other chair. “So.” This was Joseph’s signature invitation to his dad for his thoughts.

  There was a long pause as Thomas finished off the jug of water. “So…” he drawled contemplatively. “I think we should finish digging it up and then figure out what it is.” After a thoughtful silence, “We should go get the backhoe. I’m too tired to keep digging by hand; besides, even if we could dig it up, it’s too big for the pick up truck, and no telling how heavy it is.

  Thomas operated a one-man excavation company; they owned a backhoe and a dump truck.

  “We are going to keep it, aren’t we, Dad?”

  “Yeah, this is the find of a lifetime. Let’s put a little sand over it, in case someone comes by while we’re gone. I think we should leave the umbrella and the cooler, to mark it as our spot.”