Empty Planet

by Lynette Sloane

  Over the next few months another twelve hundred Jumpers began their new lives in the distant future. Each time the RD data showed us that everyone was doing fine and they were beginning to build homes and towns. A few Jumpers ventured a little further a field looking for evidence of mankind, but none was found. This time the information they sent back to natural time didn’t change or disappear as it had previously. It was clear that the future had now been set and we weren’t changing it with our technology or normal day-to-day living.

  We received news from other Section Headquarters in Russia, China, Africa, India, and Australia, but it was pretty much the same with them as it was with us. Their Jumpers were doing very well and settling down, but they could find no evidence of a resident population.

  Chapter 24

  The months passed and Lillie began to crawl. Nearly all the Jumpers had now left the twenty-first century and I knew I would soon be joining them. Gemma had waited to leave with me even though I’d received special permission from Zee to go in the last jump.

  I spent as much time with Anna and the baby as I could. The one advantage of living in this community was the abundance of baby sitters. Lillie was the only baby in the cave system and I only had to suggest that Anna and I wanted to spend time together or eat out at the restaurant—the posh canteen on level twelve—and several people immediately offered to sit for us.

  I could often tell Anna had been crying when I returned from the Hub or Primary Jumper meetings, but she always tried to appear cheerful when I was around.

  “Steve,” she said as we lay in bed one night, “I know you have to leave soon, but before you go can you give me another child? I’d love a son to remember you by.”

  “Oh Anna,” I said, already missing her.

  “I’ll never forget you, it’s not that, it’s just that as our son grows up I’ll see you in him every day.”

  “I can’t guarantee that it will be a boy,” I said, as I kissed her passionately and we went about trying to make that baby.

  The next morning, while Anna and Lillie still slept, I got up, wandered down to the shower room, showered and returned to our cave. I was thinking about prehistoric cave dwellers and laughed to myself: I wonder if they nipped down to the local waterfall for a shower in the mornings.

  Anna woke up and looked over to me asking, “What’s that in your hair?” I felt in my hair but found no foreign body so I checked the mirror. My hair was going white at the temples and faint age lines had appeared under my eyes.

  “It’s started,” I said. My body is starting to suffer jumping deprivation. I’m beginning to age.”

  “You’d better see your father or Toren,” Anna remarked anxiously.

  Dad confirmed it, adding, “There are less than twenty Jumpers left to relocate. Aside from you and Gemma, they are all stored in the containment field so this won’t affect them.”

  At that moment Gemma arrived at the medical centre having received an emergency directive to attend.

  “What’s up Doc?” she asked with a cheeky grin.

  Toren smiled, “I’ve never heard that one before.” Then looking more serious said, “I need to scan you for premature aging.”

  Gemma lay on an examination bunk while the doctor ran a portable scanner over her body. He stopped at her shoulder and knee joints asking, “Have you been feeling any pain here or here?”

  “My shoulder pains a little and my left knee has started aching when I stand for too long, but I put it down to living in here. The lower levels are a bit damp; I like to go down there and sit by the indoor lakes and spot the fish.”

  “Well you’re developing age related arthritis.” Her mouth dropped open.

  “Clever use of hair dye too,” he added.

  “Well I’m only twenty five. I don’t want to look old yet.”

  Zee had been informed of this latest happening and arrived at the medical centre out of breath and looking very serious.

  “Steve,” she said, “I know you want to stay with your family as long as you can, but it’s nearly time for you to leave. In a couple of weeks you and Gemma will look like pensioners; a week or so later you’ll die of old age. You won’t be any good to Anna or Lillie if that happens. You need to make a decision.”

  Anna spoke whilst trying to hold back tears, “Steve you have to go. I don’t want to you to grow old like this or die. I want you to have a long happy life.”

  Zee allowed us another thirty-six hours to say our final goodbyes, but all too soon we found ourselves in the vortex room awaiting our final jump. Dad, Anna, Lillie, and Toren came to see us off.

  As before, Vanessa gave us all goggles to shield our eyes from the blinding light. She also gave Anna a cover to shield Lillie’s eyes. It was made of the same material as the goggle lenses.

  “I made that myself,” said Vanessa smiling. Anna nodded a thank you and gave her a weak smile as we put the goggles on. Within seconds I saw the pin pick lights of the vortex. They grew larger then dimmed to their usual brightness.

  Vanessa said, “You may remove you goggles,” We took them off.

  Zee gave the directive for the remaining Jumpers to be brought back from the containment field where they had been stored as energy. Having materialised, they stood on the vortex pads at the back of the room apprehensively waiting for the directive to step into their new futures.

  “Welcome everyone,” said Zee. “It’s good to see you again. You are the final seventeen to be brought out of stasis and will be starting your new lives today. The recording devises have given us regular updates on the progress of everyone already resettled in the future, and I’m pleased to be able to tell you that they are all well. New towns are under construction and there are ample fresh water and food reserves. The first crop is nearly ready, there have been no wild animal attacks, and most importantly there is no trace of the Frumscyld-Ábitan super-virus. Ladies and gentlemen, the future is bright.”

  Geoff and Tim greeted us from other side of the vortex and passed Zee the RD containing the latest data gathered from the future. Zee cheeked it then gave the other Jumpers the order to step through time, shaking their hands, and wishing them well in their new lives. Once they were all on the other side of time Tim passed the latest RD back to us on another flat stone, once more careful that his hand didn’t pass though the time portal.

  It was Gemma’s turn to step through next. She shook Zee’s hand, gave my father and Anna a hug, kissed Lillie on the forehead and said to me, “See you in a few minutes kid,” then stepped through the vortex.

  Now the only Jumper remaining in the twenty first century, it was finally my turn to go. I didn’t want to leave everyone, but this was my destiny; this was what I had been born to do. When the Doctor had told my mother she couldn’t conceive again naturally Dad had gone to C for help, and C had bent the rules allowing his friends to be counted with the parents of the Jumpers who, unbeknown to them, had conceived children with very special characteristics. Regrettably, this also brought with it the knowledge that one day my parents would loose me to the future of mankind—knowledge which lay nagging at the back of Dad’s mind all the while he and mum were raising me. That day, that moment, had finally arrived.

  “Is it possible I could ever make a return jump?” I asked, already knowing the answer yet not wanting to cut my only thread of hope.”

  “No Son.”

  I said, “Goodbye Commander,” to Zee and hugged my father. Anna was holding Lillie so I hugged them together and said, “Love you both forever,” then hugged them again. Anna’s face was wet with tears. Our daughter, too young to understand, smiled and blew a raspberry.

  “Tell Lillie about me,” I said to Anna whilst trying not to blubber. I was determined to stay strong for their sakes.

  Anna nodded, unable to speak through her tears.

  The pain of knowing I would never see Anna, Lillie, or my father again weighed heavily on my heart. I reluctantly turned my back to my family and took a step towards the
vortex … and as I took that step I felt a hand gently touch my left shoulder.

  I turned around. It was Anna.

  “Take Lillie with you,” she said. I saw sincerity in her eyes.

  “I can’t, she wouldn’t make it. She’s not a Jumper.”

  “Yes … yes she is,” Anna said, summoning more strength. “John’s been running tests on her. She has your DNA, and some of mine of course, but she has the part of yours that allows her to jump through time.”

  I looked up at Dad, “It’s true,” he said, “Lillie’s DNA structure is different to anything I’ve ever seen. She could leave with you today without being primed for the jump, but I left it up to Anna to tell you about it and to make the decision on whether Lillie should go with you or not.”

  “Of course I want to take her, but you’re her mother, I couldn’t take her from you. I’d never hurt you like that,” I said to Anna.

  “You have to take her. Remember how she cried when I picked her up yesterday?” I nodded. “It was a pain cry. I took her to Doctor Toren; she’s developing arthritis of the spine. John has given her some treatment to help her for now, but she needs to jump or she’ll die of old age before her first birthday.”

  I let Anna pass the baby to me.

  The vortex light faded a little and the picture blurred in the centre.

  “Commander Zee, the vortex core is losing power; I can’t hold it open much longer,” said Vanessa, accentuating her words while somehow managing to stabilise the weakening vortex.

  “Go,” Zee said to me firmly.

  I held Anna one last time and gently kissed her: a kiss that would have to last us the rest of our lives. Then through sheer will and determination I forced myself to look away from her and stepped through time with my daughter.

  I looked back for one final glance of Anna and my father, wanting to hold that picture in my mind forever, but the vortex had already collapsed and disappeared.

  __________

  Gemma, Geoff and Tim were amazed that I’d brought Lillie with me, each wondering if she would survive. I felt a little dizzy so sat down on a nearby rock and looked around. The Jumpers—eleven men and six women—still sat around waiting for Geoff to show them the way to the settlement. Because the vortex had been running on low power they hadn’t been able to see us or hear our conversation, so I brought them up to speed.

  The land around us was quite flat with some lowlying hills in the distance. A little way in front of us was a large area of woodland and a dried up riverbed. The day was very warm and the ground quite soft. I stood up and poked a soft mud clod with my foot.

  “It rained in the night,” explained Geoff, excited that the Jumper numbers were now complete. “We need to start walking; the nearest settlement is just this side of those hills.”

  Tim joined in, “We’ve been building homes and there’s a spare one each for you, Gemma and the others.”

  “Thank you,” Gemma and I said in unison.

  “They even thought to send us some baby stuff for when we repopulate the planet,” Geoff informed me.

  We started our journey following the riverbed for the best part of an hour, then began climbing uphill. Everyone took it in turns carrying Lillie, who, despite her size, soon seemed to get quite heavy.

  Our path took us into the woodland, which became progressively thicker and harder to pass with each step. Creeping vines and thick brambles hindered our progress and grabbed at our clothing. Soon the dry riverbed came back into sight; Geoff told us it would be easier going if we walked on its rounded pebbles. Another half hour later, our route now taking us steeply uphill, the riverbed stopped at the foot of a large rock outcrop, which, I reasoned, would probably host a waterfall when the river returned in the wet season. We were in a particularly dense part of the woodland and so had to leave the riverbed and squeeze between the rock outcrop and a large tree in single file. The others passed through the narrow space first and I followed, once more carrying Lillie.

  The land on the far side of the obstacle suddenly opened into a large clearing housing thirty or more single story log cabins. We had arrived.

  Carla came out of one of the nearby cabins and greeted us. When she spotted Lillie she exclaimed, “Oh my goodness the jumping genes are hereditary.”

  Soon a crowd of fifty or more settlers gathered watching us with interest. It became apparent that the story of how I’d discovered the survivor and brought him back to natural time—he giving his blood to save humanity—had made me a celebrity. Word spread and soon many more excited young people joined us. They were equally amazed at Lillie and nicknamed her Jumping Beanie.

  After Carla had calmed everyone down she announced, “Our numbers are now complete. Please let Steve, Lillie and the others settle into their new homes. You all remember what the transition’s like and what it’s like to leave loved ones behind so please respect their privacy. There’ll be plenty of chance to meet everyone in the coming days.”

  While the people slowly dispersed Carla and Geoff placed the new arrivals under Gab’s care before showing Gemma to her cabin and walking me to my new home a little further down the valley past a large group of pine trees.

  It had been Carla’s job to arrange each party of new arrivals into groups and see them to their respective settlements. As we walked She and Geoff told us a little of how things worked in our new world.

  “Two hundred and seventy people live in this settlement,” Carla told us.

  “So there must be a lot more cabins I haven’t seen yet,” I remarked.

  “Yes, there are many more amongst the woodland. We didn’t build them too closely together and kept as many trees as we could; they add character to our settlement, shelter us from the autumn winds, and give privacy to the residents.

  Geoff added, “The next settlement is a couple of miles away and houses about three hundred people. Some groups are larger than this. There are seven settlements in total. Calling them Settlement One and Settlement Two is a bit boring so now our numbers are complete we’re going to take it to a community vote and name them.”

  Carla smiled at Geoff and took his hand, continuing with the dialogue, “Zee sent the people with necessary building and survival skills first; they’ve been here a couple of years. It’s been a massive undertaking. The settlers have come from many racial groups so we truly are a multi cultural society. Each settlement group has two elected spokes persons. They all meet every new moon to discuss each group’s needs and any good ideas that could help the other groups. Of course some folks have wandered further a field, but initially, until we are sure of the dangers of this new world we are going to keep close. There’s safety in numbers after all.”

  We arrived at a single story log cabin, with a chimney and a small porch built over the front door. On either sides of the door were windows with open shutters. This was my new home. It was so picturesque: Small yellow and pink wild flowers grew in what would become the front garden and a shelter for a wood store stood at the one side.

  Geoff pointed to a small building built a little further away. “The toilet,” he said with a grin.

  Still inwardly grieving Anna, a little excitement stirred in the pit of my stomach as I thanked Carla and Geoff and carried Lillie up the pathway to the door.

  Geoff called after me, “I’ll get Tim to bring you a cot and some baby things over; you’ll need baby formula too. It’s safe to drink from the stream behind the cabin, but you’ll need to boil and cool the water before you give it to Lillie.”

  Carla and Geoff left Lillie and I to settle in, which suited me fine; I couldn’t face company at that moment.

  I opened the door and walked inside. The sun had warmed the unfurnished cabin and the smell of freshly cut wood hung in the air. Balancing Lillie on my hip the same way I’d seen Anna do many times, I had a quick look inside the large trunk which had been placed in the centre of my living area, checking that Section had sent the correct things: blankets, a pillow, several pairs of jeans, a
dozen or more Tshirts and shirts, warm clothes, underclothes, footwear, a copy of my wedding photos and several other things I would check out later.

  “Come on Lillie,” I said, lifting the baby into a more comfortable position. “Let’s have a look around our new home.” The cabin very well made with wooden floors throughout. It comprised a large living space with an open, stone fireplace, a kitchen, and two bedrooms. I didn’t know how I would fill my days, but was sure I would have plenty of time to make Lillie and I some furniture and to organise a place for crockery and a washing area.

  The baby was falling asleep so I took off my jacket and laid it on the floor. I was gently placing her on top of it when I heard a knock on the door.

  Not wanting to wake her I opened the door and whispered, “Come in,” to Gemma and Tim who stepped inside carrying a homemade cot filled with blankets, baby bottles, formula, terry nappies, crockery, cooking pots, fresh bread, vegetables and a few other necessities.

  I was really grateful, “Oh thank you, I didn’t really want to put Lillie to sleep in the trunk.”

  “You may have to sleep in there yourself ’til you make a bed,” said Tim.

  “I’ll manage.”

  “I can show you how to do it. I’m getting quite good at woodwork,” he said with boyish enthusiasm.

  Lillie cried for ages that night. She wasn’t hungry and didn’t need her nappy changing. I think she was missing her Mum. I knew how she felt. It was hard to get my head around the fact that it was only hours since I held Anna, yet in this time frame she’d been dead for nearly twenty thousand years. This was something no human should have to come to terms with.

  I lay on a blanket on the wooden floor wondering what the future held. I’d studied law but couldn’t see how that skill would help anyone in this age. We would of course have to make laws but I couldn’t think of that tonight. I was heartbroken at having to leave Anna and wondered what had become of her. I hoped she’d met someone who’d made her happy and had treated her well, and that she’d lived a long life. … But that was so long ago, I whispered aloud as I eventually drifted off to sleep.