Jim 88

by J G Clements

  “Here then. You’ll need these. I had several of these made for myself. No reason you can’t wear one too” Tossing a pair to Jim, everyone eyed what he now held in his hand. “If your eyesight is good, you should read the inscription on the back.”

  Jim squinted at it, then a broad grin broke out. Instead of reading it out loud, he handed one to Sue: “This entitles the Bearer to assume any rank he wishes at any time.” Jack and Jake, probably having too much respect for normal military ranks didn’t laugh as hard as everyone else, but they did smile.

  Helen mindlinked to the Recruiter. ‘This crisis is over. Jim will be more than just a cog in a big machine. He will still be part of humanity, not an isolated soul. He’ll continue to have contact with his kind, even though he is doing indispensable work for us. Is this acceptable?’

  ‘Will we take him to Ceres? I think he should go. It might do both of them some good?’

  ‘Yes. And Sue should go with him. Will you let her take some of the wine you stockpiled?’

  ‘Sure. But I bet he’d like the Scotch better.’

  The meeting seemed be winding down when Jim brought up a question. “Do battle fleets have names?”

  Jack was probably about to speak up, but Helen beat him to it. “It already does. Its called the McKinse Fleet.” Sue positively beamed upon hearing this, and it was clear she couldn’t wait to get started. Instead, Helen announced that everyone would be better taking a few weeks off to do whatever they wanted, and if at all possible, wherever they wanted.

  No one argued.

  Afterword

  I knew they were coming for me.

  I had beat everything that Space,…cold, empty, lonely Space could throw at me. And I had done it myself, not using someone else’s help or alien technology. So when the ship landed, I knew I wasn’t leaving. Or at least not without a fight.

  I watched a single individual…female. Despite the pressure suit, I could tell by her walk. I let her come over to my ship. Yeah, I still slept on the ship even though I had transferred most my tools and things over to my tent. So I was home to let her in.

  I’m sure she could have used a radio to contact me, but she knocked. Just like on Earth. I cycled the outer door and waited for her. When she was in the airlock, I pressurized it and let her in. As she entered, I was on top of a toolbox, making myself almost normal height. I noticed lots of things about her, but I liked her spacesuit. It was better than mine with much smaller tanks. Probably figured out how to convert carbon dioxide back into oxygen without a lot of waste heat. Would like to know how that was done, but I guess that would be cheating.

  She removed her helmet and it was no one I recognized. Then she introduced herself: Sue-39 of the McKinsie fleet requesting permission to come aboard. I broke into a grin. “I don't really see this as a ship anymore. I don’t think it’s going anywhere any time soon, but you are welcome.” By then, she had her right glove off and we were shaking hands.

  “The Crekie would like to invite you over to meet a few friends, and to offer you dinner.” That seemed rehearsed, and I know they sent her because I trusted her. “Oh…and the Recruiter would like to ask if you prefer wine or Scotch?”

  “Either. But do I have their word that I will be free to stay here? They aren’t coming to remove me from here, are they?”

  “No.” She didn’t add anything more. I was about to ask her how she knew, then thought better of it.

  “If they want to meet me, they’ll need to come here or I can meet them in my tent. If they want, I’ll try to make them dinner.” I was hesitant about that offer. I’m not sure that anyone would willingly eat what I was living on.

  Sue didn’t need to consult her radio, so she must have had authority to negotiate. “What about we meet in your tent, but we bring the food? Mostly fresh vegetables?

  “Sure”. I didn’t mention that I’m not sure my digestive system could even handle that. But at least I wasn’t going onto their ship.

  “Great. How soon?”

  I had no schedule, but decided I needed to do something. “Say in an hour?” She nodded, and I couldn’t help add, “Dress is informal.”

  One hour later I was in my tent with several faces I had seen on the transmissions from Earth. The Recruiter, the being they called Helen…looking as human as any anyone I’ve ever met…and Jim-88 of the McKinsie fleet. It was Helen that seemed to be in charge. They had brought over a table, and boxes of food and spirits. Silverware, cups…everything I owned only one of.

  Dinner itself was a bit awkward, none of us knowing how to behave and not wanting to start any conversations that might upset anyone. So instead, they looked at many of my projects, how I smelted metal, hammered parts, my garden, that sort of thing. And though the food was fabulous, I tried not to eat too much. Somewhere I read that prisoners of war who had been starved, died after they were given all the food they wanted: Their bodies weren't able to cope with it.

  Halting my eating apparently signaled that dinner was over and it was time to get down to business. “Sir…do you have a name that I may use?” That was Helen. She had been the quietest of the group, not paying the same attention to my handiwork as either Jim-88 or the Recruiter.

  I have…or had a name. I no longer felt I needed to use it. “No.” I let that just hang to see what they would make of it. I’ll give her credit, she was smooth. Never missed a beat.

  “I’ve had experience with people who don’t use their names.” She glanced over at the Recruiter, and he had a half-smile that was pretty infectious. I found myself liking him. “So let me continue. Its our opinion you have accomplished something that every person on Earth should know about: You have shown that Humans can survive in space, and that the self-reliance of the individual is the most important characteristic of your species.” I was flattered, as I had no doubt she intended but tried to keep my face deadpan. Lets see where she was going with this.

  “We would like to offer you pretty much whatever you want, provided you let us tell your story.”

  I must have looked confused and it was the Recruiter fellow himself that chimed in. “Many of the first people to leave Earth need to believe that they can do it. You actually did it, being a true pioneer and taking care of yourself for these years. Helen here would like to see some sort of documentary about you beamed to Earth.”

  To be honest, I wasn't sure I wanted to. Then Helen sweetened the deal. “We know of a planet with a breathable atmosphere that is partially habitable. But one with a fairly low gravity. Perhaps one that would be easier on you than Earth. We are willing to offer it to you, solely to you, and to re-locate you there with whatever supplies you wish.”

  “How is a planet partially habitable?” I was trying to figure this out.

  “The planet could use another million years or so for a lot of the heavy metals to wash into the oceans. But there are some high plateaus that have soil that wouldn’t poison you if you grew crops there.”

  “And what do you get out of this?” Remember, I had worked for old-man McKinsie and knew every offer swung both ways.

  “Publicity. We are in awe of what you have done here. We really are. But we wish others to see what you have accomplished.”

  “Then why relocate me?”

  “You don’t have to. We thought you might like the option to be able to grow more of your own food.” They had seen my gardens. They weren’t a total failure, but they weren’t a resounding success, either.

  “Can I think it over?”

  “For as long as you wish. Our offer is good indefinitely.”

  I nodded, trying to be non-committal. To be honest, I wasn’t sure what I wanted. I saw Ceres as my home now. But no question, food was tough. Fortunately, my reactor would generate power for many more years. But over half my tent was dedicated to trying to grow stuff. I was not even close to a break even proposition. So instead, I carefully poured three more Scotches. None of my visitors had mastered pouring in low gravity, but both Jim and the Recruiter
seemed to enjoy the Scotch as much as I was.

  Then, just like that I made a decision. “ I have enough food here for at least two more years so here is my deal. You can send a film crew or whatever you want, and they can pretty much film me for twelve hours a day every day for the next year. But at day’s end, they leave. Get into their own ship and stay in orbit till the next day. They can’t bring me anything…even a coffee (and I really wanted a coffee) or the deal is off. At the end of the year, you take me to see the planet you picked out for me. I get to look at it and if I’m not happy, you bring me back here. If I do like it, you come back and get everything that I brought here. Nothing added, nothing left behind. Whaddya say?”

  Helen blinked, seeming trying to digest what I just said, but it was the Recruiter who stuck his hand out and made it binding. Funny, I had though the Recruiter worked for Helen. Now I wasn’t so sure.

  With the handshake, everyone seemed to relax. I really don’t think I was tipsy, but its been a number of years since I had any alcohol and it was catching up to me.

  Rather than leave, and it would have been just fine with me if they did, Jim-88 had an odd question for me. “Why did you choose Ceres? The moon was closer, or even Phobos?”

  “Oh, I thought about them. The trouble was, they were never going to be near a null gravity zone. Ceres was the closest one, though I missed it. It was over several months before I got here.”

  “Null gravity zones?” That was Jim-88.

  I never would have told anyone, but the Scotch was affecting me. “Let me show you something.” In the bottom drawer of my tool cabinet there was a single item. And though almost everything on my ship had been cannibalized for parts, this item was exactly the way it was the day I launched myself from Earth. Of my own design and built by hand. “This is a small rocket I had brought out to make the first quantum jump. It uses fields and works pretty much the way all your jump drives work. If my plasma drive hadn’t failed while I was trying to get out here, I could have proven it. As it is, the next null gravity field around here won’t happen for several more years.”

  “Null gravity zone?” That was still Jim-88. I guess I hadn’t answered his question.

  “Yeah. Instead of getting further out from the sun where the gravity gradient is low enough that you can jump, I was going to capitalize on the temporary one that occurs when all the planets cancel each other out. If I had gotten here on time, I’d have about a twenty hour window when I could have proven that the concept of faster than light works. Now thanks to you, I don't need to.”

  Helen and the Recruiter were looking at each other in an odd way. Somehow, Helen must have drawn the short straw. “You mean under certain conditions you can jump from deep within a star system?” I could hear incredulity in her voice.

  “Sure. When you get all the planets pulling in all the right directions, the local gravitational constant is as low as it is out past Pluto. It just doesn’t last very long.”

  Silence. I had either bored them to tears or they were as drunk as I was. Then just as suddenly, it was Jim-88 who looked at Helen and said the Fleet needed to know this. Sue, who hadn’t said much since dinner must have figured out something.

  “I think we’ve imposed here enough for one night. Would it be alright if we withdrew for the evening and thought about this?”

  “Would it be ok if you didn’t come back for a month or so? I think I’ve had enough company for a bit?” I liked them, just didn’t see myself as having much in common with any of them. “I suppose if I need to explain anything, Sue can call me on my private line? And it’ll give me some time to think about your offer.”

  True to my wishes, they withdrew, taking all the leftovers and furniture with them. No trace of their visit remained, nothing that anyone would accuse me of as having given me an unfair advantage. But on my way back to my ship that night, there was a case of Scotch outside with a note. “Thanks. And it doesn’t freeze. Best, the Recruiter.”

  And actually, I was OK with that.

  ******************************************

  Other books by J.G. Clements:

  “The Last Green” Winter 2019

  “The McKinsie Fleet, Book One” Spring, 2020

  “The McKinsie Fleet, Book Two, Summer 2020