Jim grimaced and raised a hand to halt Chris’s explanation. “We get the picture.”
“I still haven’t mentioned the biggest antagonism that’s causing the current situation,” Chris said. “Just like the Nazis victimized the Polish, the French Empire victimized the Germans, kept them isolated on their three planets. In everything from rewritten history to film and literature they depicted them as a brutish subhuman race capable of nothing. We just found out that the French took the great works of the German philosophers Schopenhauer and Nietzsche and translated them into French claiming they were written by Frenchmen named Laurent and Roux. The Germans have the greatest bitterness of all.”
“Jim,” Peter said, “it’s not your fault, but when you opened the back of that truck you released one hell of a row. Remember the first half year after you arrived? An hour didn’t go by on 3V without someone yelling at someone else over the significance of who did what to whom with what in whatever century before the Exodus.”
Chris sighed. “I take it that Commonwealth meetings are now a rather tense situation.”
“Very much so,” Peter said. “After the battle, the factions are all probably blaming each other for being surprised and arguing over which of them was best suited to spearhead the counterattack. The time taken with bickering cost them the initiative.”
“I knew things were getting bad, but not that bad,” Carol said. “Will the Commonwealth disintegrate?”
“The experts say no, but it’ll take time to repair the damage. It’s possible that the Arab league and the Gaelic Federation may change sides in the war, but the remaining eleven unions should stay together.”
“But...” Jim said, searching for words. “We had quite a nasty war with the Japanese, but in my time it was all but forgotten.”
“You saw it as a gradual change,” Chris said. “History slowly melted into the past and attitudes modified as it became more distant. The current population had the whole lot dumped on them at once.”
“But, I remember when I was first here, talking to a black guy who had recently found out that his ancestors were slaves in the United States. He said that fact didn’t bother him in the least. It was too long ago to be a factor.”
“He only said that it didn’t bother him. I’ll bet that somewhere in his mind it did change his outlook.”
As the discussion continued, the team one by one excused themselves and proceeded to their cabins.
At around standard midnight only two remained.
“Looks like you have to do something about the conflict Jim,” Halbert said, quietly sipping his drink.
“What can I do about the war?”
“Not the war, the mini war on this ship, Karla to be precise.”
“Like what can I do?” Jim asked with a tired smile. “Throw Karla out an airlock? She’s of use to us, her literary knowledge. I brought her along to see if she could retrieve information by questioning the colonists.”
“Not quite that drastic. I suggest you assign her to whatever work project I’m on and I’ll see if I can handle things. I was known for being quite persuasive before the booze got me.”
“I’ll do that,” Jim said while thinking. “By the way, how’s the booze situation anyway?”
“Much improved,” Halbert said, looking down at his glass. “I now only get drunk every second day and occasionally every third.”
“The pioneering life seems to agree with you?”
“Yep, pilgrim, that John Wayne fellah from your old videos is now my hero.”
Jim raised both hands in a gesture of frustration. “You do know that the characters he played are myths. No one like them ever really existed.”
“You told me that on Hebram and I told you that I knew the nonfactual style well.”
“You watch too may videos.”
Halbert nodded. “What else do I have to do at night in a farm house kilometers from the nearest town. With the reduced alcohol intake my brain cells seem to be waking up again, that is, the ones that are not already dead. I saw many things as they are and talked with things that will be. My visitors told me of the future.”
“Visitors?” Jim said. “Sounds like you were having the DTs.”
“Call them what you will, but after long discussions with myself I have sorted things out and know where I have to go.”
Jim stood. “Well,” he said with a chuckle, “you’re going to have to muster all the brain cells you can if you’re going to handle Karla. As for me, I’m going to bed.”
“I’ll see what I can do.”
Chapter 6
The transparent dome of the excursion vehicle protruded through an oval opening in the floor of its docking room. Stacks of crated equipment lay nearby on the roughened gray deck.
“Open hatch,” Jim said then he placed another small case on the stack.
The vehicle’s double walled dome, hinged at the rear, pivoted upward. Jim stepped into the rear seat section folded down as a cargo bed and reached for the closest case.
Carol entered from the corridor carrying a few smaller items. “All right expert,” she said, looking into the vehicle, “now let’s see you pack that thing as well as you say you can.”
“Hey, if I can pack a car for a family of four on a camping trip to the Grand Canyon I can pack this thing.”
“That Corolla vehicle of yours is too small to pack this much plus carry four people.”
“We had another, bigger vehicle,” Jim chuckled. “A Honda Odyssey. When my wife left us and went to California she took that one and left the three of us with the Corolla. The Odyssey was about the size of this excursion vehicle. The trick in loading one is small containers. They fit together like a jigsaw puzzle if you know what you’re doing.”
“Well, I don’t know what the Grand Canyon or a jigsaw puzzle is so I’ll just have to take your word for it.”
“You don’t know what a jigsaw puzzle is?” Jim asked in mild surprise.
“No, never heard of it. Is it something you cut up?”
“Not exactly, it’s already cut up for you. It’s a picture of something that’s cut up in little, oddly shaped pieces. You get it in a box, all mixed up, and have to reassemble the picture by putting together the pieces.”
“How many pieces?”
“Some of them are simple with twenty or so pieces, others have hundreds.”
Carol shrugged. “Sounds interesting but I’ve never seen anything like that before.”
“Computer, direct line to Amy Harrington on Batalavia.”
“Calling now,” the computer replied.
Jim stretched out his arms. “Hand me those and I’ll show you how to pack this thing.”
Carol looked down as she handed him a small case of clothing. “Jim, are you still determined to go on the manual controls? No one does that any more.”
Jim looked back up, surprised by the question. “Yes, and I’ve put in twelve hours on the simulator in preparation. It’s not too different from driving a car, just an added dimension that’s all.”
“Just go carefully. I’ve never been in a vehicle where someone was physically controlling it with their hands. The whole idea just doesn’t seem natural to me. Fast fighter pilots, scout pilots and explorer pilots do it, not regular people.”
Jim looked up with a smirk and raised an eyebrow. “Well it’s natural to me. Just shut your eyes for a while and pretend that a computer’s controlling the flight. When I took it out this morning, I did just great. You won’t know the difference.”
“I’ll bet,” Carol said sarcastically.
“What do you want Jim?” Amy asked.
“Go to Colin and ask him for their collection of jigsaw puzzles. There are at least six. I have no idea how we overlooked them. They must have been in a carton of toys that were sent to the house before the historians went through my things. The boys will show you how they work.”
“Will do. I take it that they are some sort of toy?”
“Yes, and s
ome adults thought of them as a hobby too.”
“I’ll notify your toy company to prepare for expansion. There is a factory complex for sale on New Hope. I’ll put in a bid.”
“Thank you,” Jim said.
“Let you know what happens. End transmission.”
“Finished,” Jim announced, waving a hand over the carefully placed pile of cases. “The pressure tents are stowed in the pod at the rear; all that remains to load are the passenger and pilot.”
“All right,” Carol said. She reluctantly stepped down into the passenger side of the front seat. “I would prefer it to be two passengers but if you’re that determined to fly this thing yourself. So, how do you control it?”
Jim jumped in and sat behind the control column. He grasped the T sections either side of the crossbar connected to the end of a column. “Easy, Push the column forward into the panel and the nose goes down, pull back and it goes up. Turn the bar counter clock and the craft banks left, the other way banks it right. Push the top of the Ts forward and it accelerates forward, back and it either backs up or decelerates. The foot pedals are either for flat turns or sideways movements. I hope you’re getting all this because if I drop dead or something you’re going to have to fly it back.”
“Fly it back? All I’ll do is disengage that silly thing and tell it to go home.”
“Well, I do know what I’m doing so just relax. Close hatch,” Jim said and the transparent dome pivoted forward and locked into place. “Release vehicle.”
“Warning, both doors to docking bay access airlock are open,” the computer said.
“Ah... well close them first,” Jim snapped, “and I don’t want to hear a word from you.”
“I didn’t say a thing.”
“Yes, but you thought it.”
They sat waiting the three minutes while air was pumped from the docking bay followed by the scrape and clank as the locking clamps released them. The craft made a sudden downward lurch into space and Jim reached forward to activate the main and maneuvering jets. Sitting back, he grasped the controls and turned the T bars forward. The small vessel accelerated with the black underside of the Lydia passing overhead. Within minutes, they were in the open with the bright, gray white planet beneath them and clouds of stars in all other directions.
“How come I get to name the smaller of the two moons?” Carol said. “I really don’t think that’s fair.”
“Well, it’s ladies first and that is the closer of the two right now.”
“I think we should have flipped a disk or something.”
“If you want to, we can do it right now. Go for it, have you got a cash disk on you. I’d like to see it done at zero gravity.”
“Can you coast for a minute? I’ve figured out how. Watch this.” She retrieved a rectangular ten G disk from a pocket as Jim released the controls. Placing it in front of her, she let it go. As it drifted slightly, she flicked it on one end. The disk rapidly spun end over end.
“You call it, face or back, the winner gets to name the larger moon.”
“Face,” Jim said. She grabbed it and placed it on her wrist. Removing her hand, Jim looked to see the face side that read ‘Commonwealth Ten Gram’.
“Ok,” Carol said in disgust, “you get the bigger one.”
“But first I want to do a loop in this thing. We’re over ten kilometers from anything.”
“A what?” Carol asked apprehensively.
“Loop the loop. Ever since I knew I was getting one of these things I wanted to do one.”
Accelerating again, he pulled back on the controls. They both pressed back and down into the seat as the stars revolved downward in front of them.
“Aaaaah! Don’t do that!”
“What’s the matter?” Jim asked. The dot in the distance that was the Lydia passed their view. “You wouldn’t get this nervous if the computer was doing the same thing.”
“That’s different. The computer makes fewer mistakes than a human,” Carol said as they leveled out again and the smaller moon came into view in the distance.
“Shut your eyes and tell me if you can tell the difference between me controlling it and the computer.”
“Ok, but no more loop the loops.”
Jim banked to the right then pulled back on the controls. When the turn was made he banked left and pulled up again until they were back on the original course. “How was that? Could you tell any difference?”
“Yes, it wasn’t nearly as smooth as a computer could do it.”
“Well I got used to a transit on those computer controlled throughways. Not being able to steer freaked me out. In time you can get used to me controlling this thing.”
“I had the same feeling when I watched those videos with people driving their own cars. That’s scary to me.”
“All in what you’re used to, I guess.”
For the next hour the small craft accelerated toward the moon at one G. Jim then rotated the craft to face the way they came and decelerated for the remainder of the trip.
Turning once more, the moon filled their field of view.
“Computer, turn on landing guidance information for low orbit.”
“Adjust for low orbit window.” the computer replied. “Nose up twenty three degrees, reduce velocity by eight hundred and twelve kilometers per hour.”
Jim pulled back on the controls while turning the top of the T toward himself. He watched the bank of digital instruments in front of him as they slowly adjusted to the computed recommendations.
“Why not just tell it to land over there?” Carol asked with a growing note of anxiety.
“Quiet, it’s more fun like this.”
The cratered surface slowly revolved beneath them as they searched for an area to land.
“Look,” Carol said, pointing forward and slightly to the right, “a flat area over there.”
“Computer, landing mode, warnings only.”
Jim accelerated slightly to make the descending turn, then pressed a button located on the top of the right T. The trigger mechanism that controlled the gravitational landing jets popped out beneath his right index finger. The craft descended under the moons light gravity.
“Warning, decent too rapid,” the computer said.
Jim gradually pressed on the trigger that controlled the down jets and watched the instruments as they adjusted.
“Jim, can’t you...”
“Quiet,” Jim interrupted, “this is the critical part.”
“Oh, shit,” Carol said weakly.
Jim glanced in her direction and found that she now had two hands clamped firmly on her face covering her eyes.
As they descended, a small hill loomed in front of them and Jim, using a combination of controls, banked left, then right to avoid it. The small clear plane appeared again and Jim raised the nose to slow his forward motion under the power of the down jets. The craft descended to two hundred meters above the surface as Jim searched for a landing place ahead.
Picking an acceptable site, he lowered the nose and dove using the foot pedal controls to slide to the right for a final adjust. Ten meters from the surface the nose lifted again. A cloud of dust obscured his vision so he switched his attention to the radar screen and maneuvered to miss a large boulder to the front. Inside the craft, they heard a mild scraping sound as the skids slid a meter or so on the dusty surface. Jim reached forward and switched off the power. The dust cloud rapidly dissipated revealing a classic moonscape quite similar to pictures Jim had seen of Earth’s moon. “You can look now, we’ve landed.”
“Oh my. It’s beautiful.”
Jim reached back and retrieved the two helmets. “Get this on so we can take a walk.”
“Don’t you think that we should call back and tell them we’ve arrived?”
“Computer,” Jim said while locking his helmet into place, “open a direct line with the Lydia, ship wide call.”
“Connection established.”
“Lydia, the turkey has landed,”
Jim said, then suddenly realized that no one aboard would get the joke.
Applause, cheers, whistles and general accolades echoed around his helmet as he activated the suit testing control. It crackled and popped as it pressurized. He then heard the air circulation unit’s low hum.
Jim turned to check Carol’s suit then issued the command to depressurize the cabin. As it did, Jim heard a tap on the back of his helmet. Turning, he saw that the lid of one of the cases had opened. Splattered liquid was rapidly freezing both inside the opened container and on surrounding ones.
“What the...?”
“Oh darn. That was half a container of that wine you liked.”
“I take it that the other half was filled with air?”
“I guess so.”
“What has happened?” Captain Mull asked.
“Just a sealed beverage container exploded when we depressurized, nothing to worry about. We’re about to open the hatch now.” Jim double checked both suits. “Computer, open dome.”
Without a sound the bubble pivoted open and both passengers stood.
“There you go,” Jim said, extending a helpful hand, “jump out and name the moon.”
“But I haven’t decided what to name it yet.”
“How about indulging your ego,” Chris said. “Call it Carol.”
“Good idea,” Jim said with pleasure. “I’m going to call mine Jim,”
“Oh, how romantic” Celia said. “Jim and Carol floating through space for billions of years.”
Jim grimaced. “Put it that way and it sounds depressing. I may just call mine Irving.”
“I think I’ll do that,” Carol said, climbing out.
“What?” Jim said. “Call it Irving?”
“No, I name this moon Carol.”
A second round of cheers came from the ship. Jim stepped out and stood on the fine dust that covered Carol’s surface. “Strange, for some reason this means more to me than all the planets I’ve walked on. Computer, close link with the Lydia.”
To Wake the Living (The Time Stone Trilogy Book 2) Page 12
