Determination — R.E. Riepe; M.L. Riepe

Dallas was sitting in his captain's chair this day and was bringing the Garrison to a halt to explore another new world when Joe walked up to him on the bridge.
“Dallas, I need to speak with you today. It is time for the Garrison to go home to Onisac,” he simply said.
Dallas pulled back on his navigational joystick and brought the Garrison to a smooth halt and turned to his younger brother who was now standing beside him.
“Little brother, I have been trying to do that ever since we got to this universe. Being a telepath like me you should know that,” said Dallas with a slight smile.
“I know Dallas. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be so blunt. What I meant to say was I know how to get home and it is time to go. I have been ready for the last month.”
Dallas had a look of surprise on his face and then one of elation. He knew of Joe's advance mental powers and he had learned to respect his younger brother's ability.
“You are serious about this aren't you Joe?”
“Yes I am Dallas. I can read your thoughts and you want to go home as much as I do. I know how we can get home. I have known for a couple of years what had to be done to get home but I was not ready for the task, now I am ready for the task. I have been working very hard on the solution for a long time. Now is the time to reap the benefits of my hard work. I am ready to go home back to Mom and Dad.”
Dallas paused for a long moment looking at his little brother. He had learned that his younger brother was always serious in his temperament and very rarely joked.
“Okay Joe, tell me, how do we get home?”
“You are not going to like the answer Dallas but we have no other choices. Centuries ago the Cortex did some business with a humanoid alien race that had jumped to Earth at some point of time in the past. While these explorers were doing business with the Cortex, the Cortex pilfered their computers for information unknowingly to the alien space travelers. I found the information about the visit by the aliens but the coordinates for Earth was missing. Later after further analysis, I discovered that the Cortex have these coordinates and a lot more information about other civilizations in a secure vault on their planet. The information in this vault is their most highly prized possession because the Cortex knows that knowledge is power. We need to pay the Cortex a visit so I can speak with them and obtain the coordinates for Earth plus I intend on harvesting all the information that is contained in this vault. Once we have those coordinates for Earth, we are going home that day.”
“Didn't we all agree a while back that the best thing we could do was to avoid that species? From what I have heard from Babydoll is that they are very dangerous Joe.”
“Four years ago that was a prudent thing to do Dallas. I was not prepared to deal with the Cortex species. Now I am.”
“You are serious about this aren't you Joe?”
“I am deadly serious big brother. I want to go home to Dad and Mom.”
Mel and Sam walked into the bridge together. They had heard the conversation with their developed brains.
“We can be of some help Joe,” said Sam.
“Thanks brothers but I can assure the both of you that I will need no help. I will take the two dogs for additional enforcement if I should need it. The two dogs are machines and are immune to the Cortex mental powers thanks to their nanocell shielding around their CPU's. Besides, I will protect the two android war bikes if things get ugly.”
“Summon the rest of the family to the bridge fellows, so Joe can tell everyone what he is planning on executing,” ordered Dallas somewhat reluctantly.
Soon all the family members were surrounding the captain's chair. Joe announced to the assembled group what he was going to do. The first to speak up was Christa.