Bill and Meri spread out blankets for themselves and Jack while Karen spread out some for herself. Meanwhile, Jordan held on to Jack. It was obvious from the way he held the infant that he was more scared of dropping him than he had been of going out into a predator infested wilderness in the dark. He was clearly relieved when Meri took Jack back.
“See you guys in the morning,” Jordan said.
It wasn’t as hard to fall asleep as Bill had thought it would be. Despite the sheer excitement of being rescued, it had still been a long day. Combined with the great meal, and then more alcohol in one sitting than he’d had in a year, that was a recipe for lethargy. Realizing that nobody needed to stand watch and that when it came to midnight feedings, there wasn’t much he could do to help, he said goodnight to his family, kissing each in turn, then collapsed between two bison blankets.
Bill awoke just before dawn. Through one of the cabin’s windows, he could see the sky turning a lighter shade, the bottoms of the clouds turning pink with dawn’s early light. Evidence of Rayleigh scattering, he thought, as the sun’s rays penetrated more of the atmosphere than they would when directly overhead. The shorter wavelength of the blue light scattered, leaving the longer wavelength of red to strike the clouds.
Bill rolled out of their makeshift bed, then got up and noticed that the cabin was considerably cooler than it had been the night before. He then saw what he had missed the night before: a small woodburning stove in one of the corners. He quietly made his way over to it and re-stoked the almost dead fire.
Soon, the fire was warming up the cabin. Bill decided to take the opportunity to get some coffee, so he got dressed and grabbed his rifle. The others were still asleep, so Bill made his way back to the operations building, which also served as the mess hall.
He wasn’t surprised to see people already there, enjoying coffee, tea, breakfast, or all three. The cooks noticed him enter and one yelled across the room, “Take a seat anywhere. I’ll bring it to you!”
Bill nodded his thanks and joined Jordan and Ken Schmitt. Both had cups of coffee and plates of food before them. Bill could only stare. He hadn’t seen eggs or bacon for as long as he could remember. And maple syrup-covered flapjacks? Fuggedaboudit!
In just a few seconds, a similar platter, along with a steaming hot cup of coffee, was placed before him. Bill thanked the cook, then automatically went for the spork stashed in his shirt pocket. He didn’t even notice what he was doing until Jordan said, “What, you don’t like our knives and forks?”
Bill blushed while laughter erupted around him. One of the older Explorers joined them at the table, telling Bill, “Don’t sweat it. Happens to every Trekker. Give it a couple more days and you’ll remember what civilization’s like.”
Rather than spending a lot of time talking, Bill ate quickly. He told the others he wanted to bring Meri some coffee, juice, and food because he was sure a certain son of his would be taking up a chunk of her time in the morning. Those Explorers who were parents nodded in understanding.
He cleared his empty plate and utensils and got a tray to carry food and coffee back to the cabin, making sure he had a second cup for himself on the tray.
Needless to say, Meri was not only awake but quite pleased to see the tray of food Bill brought her. And as Bill had suspected, a certain young infant-turned-limpet was latched onto mom, have breakfast first. Karen was already gone, probably in the latrine.
Bill set the tray down beside Meri, and handed her a fork, saying, “They have this weird utensil here. Sorta like a spork, but with longer tines.”
Meri laughed. Growing up in the Corps, she immediately understood. “Yeah, it’s going to take a bit before we become civilized again.” She forked some of the scrambled eggs into her mouth.
Bill sat quietly, sipping his coffee, as his wife and son continued with their breakfast. Meri seemed to take exquisite joy in drinking her orange juice. And like Bill, she appeared to find the bacon to be like ambrosia.
After breakfast, Bill offered to take the tray back to the rec room/mess hall, mainly because he detected a certain odor emanating from a certain infant.
“You’re just trying to get out of diaper duty,” Meri said.
“Won’t deny it. When we get back to civilization where there’re real diapers and diaper wipes, then I’ll be glad to help out. Well, not really glad, but more likely? But skins and moss or grass? Yuck!”
“Get out of here and let a real woman show you what it takes,” Meri said, laughing. “We’ll join you in the rec room shortly.”
Bill returned to the rec room and found almost the entire base assembled. Some were still eating, but most had finished and were sitting or standing around. It was a mixed group of men and women, and even more ethnically mixed, running the gamut across the human spectrum. Bill recognized a few Explorers from his survey time on Zion and nodded to them, getting nods of greeting back in return. He also saw Karen sitting at one of the tables enjoying her first civilized breakfast. Seeing him, she smiled and gave a thumbs-up, then held up her spork.
“Commandant said he wanted an all-hands meeting,” Jordan said when Bill joined him after depositing his tray.
Bill suspected he knew what the Commandant was going to say, but he kept his mouth shut. I could be wrong, so why say anything?
When Meri entered with Jack, a murmur went up around the room. Meri just smiled and waved, making her way over to Bill. One of the sitting Explorers got up, offering the new mom a place to sit. Meri thanked him and sat down.
“What’s happening?” she asked.
“Appears your dad called an all-hands meeting.” Turning to Jordan, he asked, “Any idea when this meeting starts?”
Before Jordan could answer, the door opened, and in walked Lewis and the area commander. Cheng’s look was anything but inscrutable. Bill could tell he was definitely not a happy camper.
“Listen up,” Lewis said, looking around at the quickly quieting crowd. “Effective immediately, we’re shutting this planet down.”
As the room erupted in shouts of dismay and murmurs from the veteran Explorers, Lewis raised his hands. “What’s the primary objective of the Corps of Discovery?” he asked.
“Exploration!” said one man.
The rest became thoughtful, and it didn’t take long before somebody ventured the answer, sounding as if she was quoting from a text, which she was. “The Corps of Discovery’s primary purpose is to survey new parallel planets to ensure that no other humans or hominids exist there before opening them to settlement.”
Lewis nodded. “Exactly! And that’s why we’re shutting this planet down. We’ve upgraded it from Class III to Class II, thanks to information and evidence provided by Bill Clark, Meri Lewis — I mean, Meri Clark — and Karen Wilson. They not only found Neolithic tools in Eurasia but actually saw tool-bearing, cloth-wearing hominids that resembled Neanderthals before sailing through the Strait of Gibraltar. It doesn’t look like humans have made it to this side of the ocean, but we’re not taking any chances.
“Luckily, this survey was just getting started, so we don’t have too much to clean out. But I want everyone chipping in to remove all manufactured artifacts and get things back to the IP, and then to Hayek. Once all artifacts are gone, those of you who are pyromaniacs get your chance. I want every base burned to the ground. Not much we can do about the runways other than spread some grass seed on them. Nature will take its course and wipe them out in a few years. And, I’m betting that’s probably decades or centuries before those Eurasian hominids make their way to this continent.”
Looking around the now-quiet room, Lewis asked, “Any questions?”
“When do we start?” Cheng asked.
“Immediately. As soon as that plane out there deposits our Trekkers at the IP, the pilot will be notifying the IP commander to start the evac process. I expect we’ll have some birds landing by mid-afternoon, so be ready by then.
“I know it’s going to take some time to pull out all th
e infrastructure, like the solar panels, wiring, et cetera, but the sooner you can load up your personal gear, the sooner you can help strip this place.”
“All right people, let’s get cracking,” Cheng announced in his booming Marine Corps voice. Bill remembered first meeting Cheng, and hearing the phrase, “once a Marine, always a Marine.” Cheng was proud of his service in the U.S. Marine Corps but was also proud of his service in the Corps of Discovery.
As the room emptied, Bill heard Cheng mutter, “Good thing we didn’t have to deal with any boats.”
Lewis gestured the three Trekkers over.
“I don’t want you guys doing anything except getting your gear together. We need that plane back here immediately, so once you’re packed and ready, we’re out of here.”
Bill and Karen nodded, while Meri held out Jack and said, “It’ll go a lot faster if somebody’ll watch this little guy.”
Lewis took little Jack, saying to him, “Your mom fights dirty.”
“Gee, I wonder where I got it from,” Meri said as she headed out the door.
In less than fifteen minutes, the three Trekkers, along with Jack and Commandant Lewis, were at the rear of the Caribou, watching as Brad Maeda and his co-pilot did a pre-flight inspection. The crew chief was present, but his assistant wasn’t.
Watching the two of them brought back memories of Bill and “The Colonel” doing the same thing. Fourteen-year-old Bill learned to fly on an old single-engine Cessna. Every flight started with a checklist that Bill had to follow religiously. “If you don’t have the checklist, you might forget something. And if you forget something, you might die. Never pre-flight without a checklist,” “The Colonel” would tell him.
Soon the pre-flight was completed, and everyone boarded through the passenger door at the rear on the pilot’s side. Once the door was shut, the engines started, and the crew chief made sure everyone was properly strapped in.
“Where’s the assistant crew chief?” Bill asked, over the roar of the engines.
“Helping break down the base. Don’t really need him on this flight, so why waste the gas carrying his lazy ass home?” the crew chief said with a grin.
Only minutes after they boarded, they were given permission to take off. Brad turned the plane into the wind, gunned the engines, and soon the plane was rumbling down the steel-planked runway. Within fifteen minutes the plane reached its cruising altitude. The passengers were told they could unbuckle, and if necessary, use the small toilet. That would require them making their way over, under, and around the canoe, though. The crew chief warned them that they might experience turbulence, so staying buckled in was the best course of action.
As the plane roared along, conversation wasn’t too practical, but it turned out that drinking coffee was. The crew chief brewed up a pot in the small galley (really, just a one-burner electric hotpad and an electric drip coffee machine) and passed around the brew. Bill took his black with sugar. He still couldn’t get over how sweet sugar was. The only sugar he’d had for the past nine months was mainly from fruits and berries they harvested along the way. Even the pemmican they made, which contained fruits and berries, wasn’t as sweet as the single spoonful of sugar he dumped in his coffee.
The flight lasted almost two hours. Meri, Bill, and Lewis spent the time passing Jack around until he fell asleep from the airplane’s drone. Bill was ever grateful that the infant hadn’t had ear problems on take-off. He remembered some of the flights he had been on where a child screamed practically the whole way. At the time he had thought, Why don’t those stupid parents shut that stupid kid up? Thinking about that made him uncomfortable, especially now, realizing that how kids react isn’t always in control of the parents.
Soon after Jack fell asleep, the crew chief came around and told them that they were approaching the IP, and checked to make sure everyone was properly strapped in. Then he said a few words over the small microphone attached to his earphone headset, reporting to the pilot.
Bill could feel the plane’s angle change as it descended toward the ground. Turning around in his seat, he looked out the small portal at the imposing figure of Mt. Rainier. Mt. Tahoma, damnit. I’m on Hayek, not Earth. Well, almost on Hayek. He glanced over at Meri and Karen, who were also staring out the windows. Meri’s eyes were clearly wet, but Bill could see tears streaming down Karen’s face. I’m glad she made it, he thought. Damn close, though.
As the plane landed with a bounce and a chirping of wheels on the pierced steel planking runway, Jack woke up. Still too small to do anything physical, he seemed to look around and then yawn.
“Almost home, little guy,” Bill said, even though he knew the infant couldn’t hear him over the roar of the reversing engines.
Soon the plane pulled up to the operations building, the propellers wound down, and everyone unstrapped from their seats. Brad came out of the cockpit. “Quite the crowd out there.”
He turned to Karen. “Ms. Wilson, would you mind departing first? There’s a couple of young men out there waiting for you.”
For a second, Karen had a deer in the headlights look. Then, turning to Meri, she asked, “How do I look?” while simultaneously trying to straighten her uniform and brush her hair from her face.
“You look fine. Now get out there.”
The crew chief opened the door, dropped the small steps, then stepped aside, gesturing for Karen to exit first.
Slinging her pack on her back, and grabbing her rifle, which she slung over her shoulder, she tentatively made her way to the door. She stood there for a second, then stepped out and down into the bright sunshine.
Bill could see her descend the few steps to the ground, then heard her squeal with pleasure. He finally got his first glimpse of Tran, Karen’s husband, and their son, Jeff, through the open door as the two rushed toward Karen. Tran, a man of Vietnamese descent, embraced her in a hug, literally lifting her off the ground as she wrapped her arms around his neck. Bill thought that quite a feat, as Tran was several inches shorter than Karen.
As Bill and Meri collected their equipment and rifles and made their way to the door with Jack, Bill saw Karen crouching down in a squat and looking at Jeff. When they had last seen each other, Jeff was two. Now he was three and had lived a third of his life without his mother. Bill wondered if he remembered.
Karen must have said something that tickled his memory, for the young toddler suddenly reached out and wrapped his little arms around his mother’s neck. Karen mirrored him, hugging the young boy. Bill could see tears streaming down Tran’s face.
Meri exited the Caribou next, holding Jack. Bill could hear people cheering, but didn’t see them until he finally stepped through the small door.
All personnel from the base were present, and a sign had been erected that read, “Welcome Home Trekkers.” For a man used to being around only three other people, it was quite overwhelming. He started to step back into the plane, but felt the pressure of Lewis’s hand on his shoulder.
“You’ll be fine,” Lewis said. It was clear to Bill he understood.
Bill finally made his way down the small steps. Looking over at Karen, he was glad to see her finally smiling. About time, he thought. She had been through a lot, and Bill was glad to see it was finally over for her. He doubted she would be applying for field duty any time soon.
The Field Manager, the young Asian admin type who had welcomed Bill to Zion on his first survey, approached Lewis. “We’re scheduled to open the gate in an hour. I presume you’ll want to get the Trekkers through immediately.”
Lewis nodded at her. “Yeah, the rest of it can wait. How’s the evac going?”
She glanced down at her tablet for a second. “Pretty good. We only had a handful of bases operational, and they’ve all been notified. Each has their own ‘bou, so it shouldn’t take more than twenty-four hours to evac and get everyone here.”
As she was saying that, Bill could hear the hydraulics of the cargo doors of the Caribou whining. Turning around, he s
aw the rear ramp drop, then several men entered the rear of the plane.
Then, a deep southern drawl said, “Well, look at what the cat dragged in.” Actually, that was Bill’s interpretation; what he heard was “Wail, looky what the cat dun drug in.”
Turning to the voice, he saw his former roommate, Matt Green, with a wide grin on his face. Meri gave him a one-armed hug, then Matt approached Bill, who reached out his hand. Matt bypassed the hand and gave Bill a bro hug. “Welcome home, dude.”
Bill couldn’t say anything. Once more, his throat had constricted and the lump wouldn’t let him talk.
Eventually, the two friends let go of each other, and Bill found he could speak again. “Hey, I hear you’re engaged.
“Damn skippy. Been waiting for my best man to show up so I can make it official,” Matt said, grinning.
“Well, I’m here. So, when’s the date?”
“Good question, we’ll have to ask Nicole when we cross over.”
“She’s not here?” Meri asked, surprised.
“She was, but she managed to break a tooth last week. Slipped coming out of the cockpit and smashed her mouth against a bulkhead. Broke the tooth and needed stitches for her upper lip.”
“Ouch,” Bill said as Meri visibly winced.
“She going to be all right?” Meri asked.
“Yeah, but they couldn’t save the tooth, it was so damaged, so the oral surgeon’s gonna do an implant.”
Bill wasn’t familiar with the process so decided to keep his mouth shut until he learned more.
By this time, the three Clarks were surrounded by well-wishers, patting them on the back and saying “Welcome home,” or words to that effect. It was a bit overwhelming for them, and seeing their increased agitation, Commandant Lewis yelled to the crowd, “Hey. Little room here. Give the Trekkers some space. Ain’t you got any manners?”
The crowd laughed but parted. Some understood what the Trekkers were going through, having been there, done that. Others out of just plain respect.
Soon the attention of the crowed turned to the rear of the Caribou where the canoe was emerging from. Once it was fully out of the plane, one of the men went back into the aircraft and retrieved the mast and sail. Bringing it out, he attached it to the canoe, showing the Trekker’s small water vessel in its full glory.
The Corps of Discovery Trilogy Box Set: Books 1-3: A multiverse series of alternate history Page 51
