The Long Road Home

by Max Swan

  “What kind of information?” Paul asked.

  “A full briefing with our engineers on how you plan to build this power station, with all the schematics so we can check them for ourselves. Nothing less will get me to reconsider your proposal,” Octavian answered evenly.

  “I understand, and I’ll consider it,” Paul said feeling shattered.

  His one goal for this mission is to get plutonium, and another door shut-in his face. Octavian stood, followed by all the Board members, including Marcus. Paul remained in his seat watching Octavian, amused at how the others almost grovelled to him. Any doubts that Marcus worked for The Pedigree, now gone.

  “Well, Alan, I’m afraid I must be going. If Mr. Starr wishes to proceed on my terms for his power station, let me know,” Octavian said. He looked at Paul, saying, “Good day to you, Mr. Starr, I look forward to seeing your flying car,” and with that he walked out the door. The meeting over.

  They left Forcedes, and while Marcus seemed buoyant about how it went, but Paul felt flat from failing to get plutonium from Octavian. He knows I’m not the Professor, he thought, so they’ll never give me anything. The time to return the Professor to Earth is getting close now. The timing has to be perfect though, he thought, so there’s more of this game to play out for now.

  Chapter 14

  Richard sat in the soft red sofa staring blankly at the television that played an old cartoon. His eyelids drooped, and his head dropped, as sleep fought against his consciousness. A sound, like someone accidentally kicking a chair, caught his attention and woke him with a start. He turned sharply to see a tall dark figure standing directly behind him. The figure just a blur, so Richard rubbed his eyes thinking it’s his eyes. However, it made no difference. The dark blur stood there, while everything else around it seemed in focus. The sight filled his heart with terror, and he stood quickly backing away toward the television.

  “Who are you?” he asked, turning pale.

  “It’s me Rishard, I’m here to save you,” a familiar voice hissed at him.

  “Why can’t I see you properly?” Richard asked.

  “My appearance is difficult for you Schleeman to tolerate,” the Vaman said.

  “Schleeman? What are you talking about?” Richard said, looking around to see how he could escape.

  The Vaman sighed, and pulled a disruptor from its side, stunning Richard, who collapsed to the floor. Putting the disruptor down, it walked around the sofa and grabbed Richard by the feet, dragging his limp body into the bedroom. After laying him face down on the bed, it went into the living room and retrieved a metal box. The Vaman pulled out a smaller white box, looking at the label that read: Neural Implant – Brainiac Model. Putting it down on the bed next to Richard, he pulled out the insertion pack and went to work.

  *****

  On a cool, wet afternoon in May, history was made at a Forcedes factory, in a city called Geelong. Paul flew a shuttle from Kingslake to a house in Melbourne’s west to meet Jane. The plan for her to follow him in the shuttle, while he drove the car to the factory. With Octavian knowing Paul isn’t the real Professor Starr, a means of escape had to be always available. He felt sure Octavian is preparing a trap for him.

  As Paul stepped out of the shuttle he said, “Hi, Jane.”

  Paul noticed how good Jane looked these days. She had the healthy tan of someone who has been spending time working outdoors, her hair looked shiny and had a new look to it, she had a glow about her.

  “Field work agrees with you,” he said.

  She shrugged. “It hasn’t been as bad as I thought it would be. This world is fun, even if it is primitive. It’s a shame it will be wiped out.”

  Paul nodded glumly. “Yeah, more than a shame, a tragedy. I wish there were something we could do about it?”

  “I hear Blake’s recuperating well,” she said, changing the subject.

  “Oh? Heard from whom?” Paul asked.

  “Li, told me last night. She told me Mr. Crimpson is having trouble keeping him in bed at the moment. Nadir has had to order him to stay in Medlab12,” Jane smiled, amused.

  Paul chuckled thinking about his experience with Blake in the mining rig, “Sounds as if Blakey’s will be fine. I had better get going eh? It’s a long drive to Geelong.”

  Paul started to walk toward the car when Jane grabbed his arm. “Major, the Colonel has asked me to investigate other ways we can get plutonium. He’s not confident you can persuade The Pedigree to give it to you.”

  Paul sighed. “He’s right. The Pedigree know I’m not the Professor. They know I’m not of this Earth, too. The whole mission has been a waste.”

  Jane’s eyes bulged slightly. “Nadir never told me that. If they know about you we should scrap this charade before they arrest you.”

  Paul nodded agreeing. “I’ll give it one last one shot today, and if it leads nowhere it’s over. I’ve fucked up this mission, haven’t I?”

  “It’s not your fault,” Jane said, blushing. “The Professor was a bad idea that I pushed on Nadir. I should’ve consulted more with you before this mission, because of your expertise in the field. I’m sorry but my stubbornness set you up to fail.”

  Paul looked at her with eyes wide. That’s the first time I’ve ever heard an IO admit they were wrong, Paul thought amazed. “I don’t think any of us could’ve foreseen what the Professor was really like. We were desperate, and one thing I’ve learned over the years is that plans made in desperation rarely work.”

  “You amaze me,” Jane smiled slightly.

  Paul chuckled aloud. “Yeah, my incompetence is amazing,” he joked, but Jane didn’t laugh. She looked away, letting go of his arm. “Now I have to be going. Stay close I might need fast escape.”

  “You can count on it,” she said, and turned entering the shuttle.

  *****

  The test is supposed to be a low key affair, however, word about the flying car had spread. The media had learned about it, and as it involved the ‘Kinky Professor’, a large contingent of paparazzi with cameras, recording devices, and other equipment waited to confront him at the gate. Paul had noted in the morning papers that the media speculated that he is about to make a complete fool out of himself, and Forcedes. The safe house at Kingslake had proved secure, no-one had discovered him there. Since the news first broke about the Professors extracurricular activities, the press had never got a statement from him, much to their utter frustration. One news agency had approached Marcus with an offer of quarter of a million dollars for an interview. Paul politely turned it down, suspecting Marcus would get a large commission if he delivered him to the press.

  Driving through the front gate unsettled Paul, as reporters pushed and banged on his car, shouting questions at him never going to be answered. Camera flashes shot at him like machineguns, but thankfully the police were on hand, and the reporters got pushed back to let him through. Once inside the grounds, a car escorted him to a large hanger like building and stopped, so Paul pulled up behind the car. A security guard got out, and Paul followed him carrying a large silver case that held the GFM Dexter built for this project. The guard swiped an electronic lock on the door making it beep and unlatch, and he pushed the door open and walked inside, stopping to hold the door for Paul.

  As Paul passed him, the guard said, “Down to that door at the end, Professor. They’re expecting you.”

  Paul nodded. “Thanks.”

  He kept walking. Hearing the door close behind him, he turned briefly to find the guard had left. Paul took a deep breath, and continued to the door, entering a large hangar. In the middle of the hangar stood an object covered in a parachute. Where’s the car, Paul wondered? A man in a suit and a white coat approached him smiling enthusiastically and said holding his hand out in greeting.

  “Professor Starr, welcome. I’m Dr. Adam James, a senior Engineer,” he said cheerfully.

  Paul shook his hand smiling inwardly at the nerd like nervous energy of the scientist. “Thanks, so wh
ere’s the car?” Paul asked.

  Dr. James smiled knowingly. “After looking over your designs, we decided because we’re planning to fly, we should use a vehicle that’s safer than car,” he said.

  Dr. James motioned to someone and the parachute suddenly lifted to reveal the body of a helicopter. It had no rotor blades, and no tail fin. The engine had been removed, and replaced with Paul’s GFM compartment. The body had been painted racing-red, and had Forcedes logo plastered all over it.

  “Impressive,” Paul said looking it over.

  “You don’t mind?” Dr. James asked.

  Paul shrugged. “Nah, you’re right, a car is not safe at altitude. May I look inside?”

  “Sure, we’ve kitted it out to your exact specifications,” Dr. James said proudly.

  Paul walked to the left side and opened the door. Climbing in and sitting behind the steering wheel as the joystick had been replaced. He studied the dash, and felt the pedals at his feet. Many instruments had been removed. The attitude indicator, altimeter, and an airspeed indicator were still present, with a computer system, and some car systems like heating, radio, lights, turn signals, and even a CD player. Dr. James stood outside watching Paul’s reactions, with expectation. Paul touched the GPS navigation system, it turn on.

  He turned to Dr. James, and asked, “This vehicle has power?”

  “Oh, we have an external power source so we can make sure everything works,” Dr. James said.

  “I see. This… copter/car is pretty sweet. I bet you boys enjoyed building it?” Paul broke into a smile.

  Dr. James nodded enthusiastically. “It’ll be sweeter if it flies. The copter/cars computer system needs installing the software to run everything,” Dr. James said rubbing his hands.

  Paul jumped out. He opened the case and pulled out the round GFM, he climbed a ladder to where the helicopters engine once sat. The inside looked like what Paul expected. The GFM fitted into a cavity in the middle of a white medal box, which had plug jacks at the bottom. Eight car batteries sat in front of the silver box to the store excess power the GFM would create. The GFM slotted in perfectly, and Paul clamped it down and hit a switch turning it on. A green indicator light on top of the GFM began to flash. From his pocket he pulled out a USB stick, and connected it into a slot on the left hand side.

  He turned to Dr. James below, and said, “You can disconnect the external power supply now.”

  Dr. James signaled to another man in white coveralls who pulled a plug out from behind the vehicle.

  “Done, Professor,” he said.

  Paul shut the engine housing, climbed down, and got back inside the copter/car. He touched a menu icon on the computer screen and it changed from GPS, to a list of three navigation icons. One said: land, the other: air, and the third: install. He touched install and a message appeared, it read: Software ready to install. Do you wish to proceed? He touched: yes.

  Numbers rolled across the screen for several minutes until it stopped, leaving a picture of a car, and a new menu that read: Car Mode, and Airplane Mode. Getting the conventional car style controls in the copter/car like a steering wheel, floor accelerator, and brakes, to work in the air is what makes these vehicles so impressive. When using the vehicle in car mode, the steering wheel is fixed, and you could only use it to turn left or right. However, when flying the steering wheel becomes like a yoke on a plane. Turning the wheel right or left will still made it turn in those directions, but to gain altitude it had to be pulled toward the pilot. To lose altitude, the steering wheel is pushed away from the pilot. Paul looked on the copter/car with satisfaction.

  “Everything is ready to go,” Paul said.

  Dr. James and others were standing around the open door watching everything intensely. “Really? How do you know it’ll work?” Dr. James asked.

  Paul smiled. “Ah, I never picked you for a cynic Dr. James.”

  Dr. James blushed slightly. “But that software will need testing, Professor. I respect your knowledge of physics, but that doesn’t make you a computer programmer.”

  Paul laughed. “Dr. James, I should remind you that computers were invented by physicists, making me perfectly capable of writing a program.”

  He couldn’t wait to tell Dexter of this interaction, as he knew it would make him laugh. However, Dr. James didn’t seem convinced, and his body language betrayed as much.

  “Very well, Professor Starr, I shall inform the Board you’re ready to start,” he said and walked off.

  A man in white coveralls stepped forward with a smirk saying, “If it doesn’t work you’ll look like a goose, won’t you?”

  Paul thought about the Professors career so far, and smiled to himself. “Do you know how many times I’ve looked like a goose in my career?”

  “Well according to what I read in the paper the other day, lots of times,” the man said, looking as if he believed it.

  “People once called me a goose when I talked about manipulating gravity. They laughed at the stupidity of the idea. ‘Impossible,’ they said. They even called me a crackpot. But guess what, none of them are laughing now. In fact, they’re the ones feeling like a goose these days,” Paul said, making the man shift uncomfortably.

  “It’s your funeral, I guess,” the man said, looking away embarrassed. A shout from an office got his attention, and the man said, “Looks like they’re ready for you.”

  “Let’s get this show on the road,” Paul said closing the door.

  The worker signaled to a man near the roller door who pressed a button and it began to rise. After the door opened, Paul touched ‘car mode’ on the screen and the copter/car quietly rose fifty centimeters off the ground. He pushed lightly on the accelerator pedal and moved forward silently. Paul couldn’t help himself, he turned to the shocked looking man in white coveralls who had been so skeptical, and flipped him the bird. The man didn’t look impressed, and turned and walked off angrily.

  Waiting for him outside were many suits. He spotted Marcus and waved at him. Marcus waved back. Some men in military uniforms were also present. Behind the crowd of executives, stood another crowd of more than one-hundred factory workers. Paul stopped near them, and climbed out of the copter/car giving the crowd a wave. The workers all cheered him. The CEO Alan Lieb stepped forward and shook his hand enthusiastically.

  “Well, I’m excited about this Richard. History will be made here today.”

  Paul smiled. “Yeah it’s an exciting day. I’m glad you let the workers out to see it.”

  “We never planned to, but we don’t mind. Let them see what’s going to make their jobs obsolete,” he said.

  “Well, I hope not,” Paul frowned. He glanced at workers again, feeling sorry for them. The Garan’s will make them obsolete long before the GFM will, he thought sadly. I wish there were something I could do for these people. Collecting himself, he said to Lieb, “I’ll need some volunteers to come with me. Are you game?”

  A man suddenly stepped forward and spoke into Lieb’s ear, and Lieb pushed him away in disgust. “I sure am,” he said to Paul, and with that both got into the copter/car. Paul looked toward Marcus and gave him the nod, who came running up and climbed in the back.

  Paul turned to the CEO saying, “I thought Julius Octavian would be here.”

  Lieb shrugged. “Mr. Octavian is a busy man, but I’m sure he’s here in spirit.”

  Paul nodded. I’m sure he’s watching this somewhere, and listening to every word we say, he thought.

  After they had belted up, Paul pushed the accelerator down and the car began moving in silence toward the testing track. Onlookers lined the road and the track watching in awe as the copter/car silently drove by them. Paul drove around the track several times, getting to a speed of one-hundred and fifty kilometers per hour, with no problem. Lieb sat there looking at the dashboard and watching Paul with great interest, while Marcus remained silent.

  “It’s so silent, it feels weird,” Lieb said.

  “T
he GFM makes no noise, as it has no moving parts,” Paul said.

  Marcus said from the back, “The ride is so smooth, too. It’s awesome!”

  Lieb said, “You told me you could make a car fly? Can we get to that?”

  “I thought you’d never ask,” Paul said looking at him with a smile.

  As the copter/car approached the straight again, Paul touched ‘Airplane Mode’ on the computer screen, and began pulling the steering wheel toward him. The car easily lifted off in complete silence. As Paul flew the copter/car over the factory, and the suburbs of Geelong, Lieb and Marcus squealed delightedly, like boys on a roller coaster.

  “So we’re not flying, we’re falling right?” Lieb asked. “That’s right. The GFM bends gravity, so down becomes the direction we want to go. To make the car fly faster we narrow the field concentrating the gravitons, and increasing the strength of the gravity acting on the vehicle. To make it go slower, we widen it to dilute the gravitons, weakening the field. It’s simple once you understand it,” Paul explained.

  “Hey Richard, I think we’re being followed?” Marcus said from the back seat.

  Paul looked into his side mirror, and adjusted it. “A helicopter, it looks military. It’s closing on us fast,” Paul said.

  “We did get permission to fly over the city, so there shouldn’t be any interference,” CEO Lieb said looking back at the helicopter.

  Suddenly, Paul’s cell rang. He fished it out of his pocket, and stared at screen. The number displaying on the screen is one Jane set up for him to use when he needed to talk to people like Marcus.

  “Hello?” he answered.

  “Richard, is that you?” a woman’s voice said.

  “Who’s this?” Paul demanded.

  Lieb looking concerned, said, “This isn’t the time to take a personal call, Richard.”

  Paul ignored him as the female answered, “It’s me, Mary. I’m here to watch you fly.”

  “Mary? What the hell are you talking about?” Paul asked.

  “I can see you in that funny helicopter, you know,” she said.

  “Richard, that helicopter is getting close,” Marcus shouted from the back.