To Wake the Living (The Time Stone Trilogy Book 2)

by Robert F Hays

  “The name’s Sam. If’n anyone calls me Mr. President ah will veto their ass. I cain’t wait ‘till ya holds a new election. Ah’m a farmer. This hea’ Presidentin’ has got me plum confused. Talkin’ with them Commonwealth fellahs over this and that is a right pain in the petunias.”

  “I’m sure we can do something when enough people are woken up to accommodate you on that Sam,” Harry said. His eyelids were blinking more frequently than they had been.

  “I’m rearranging the wake up schedule again,” Chris said. “I am including two former police officers in the early teams. This will be just a precaution in case we accidentally wake up the wrong person. How does that sound to you Harry?”

  “Quite logic... logic... Ah...” Harry forcibly assembled his rapidly scrambling thoughts and tried to stand. “I think it’s bed time for me.”

  “Could be,” Celia said, jumping to her feet. “Just sit there, I’ll take you to a cabin.”

  The group sat and watched as Harry was pushed toward the lift tube. Jim glanced across at Karla who seemed to be sulking, then to Chris. “Well, we’re going to have to locate all the members of that group and isolate them. I suggest we start with that Falvy woman. She appears to be the techno they’d be lost without.”

  “Agreed, but it’s going to be quite a job shuffling things around. We need manpower, that means waking up more people than we first anticipated. How’s the supply situation?”

  “Halbert,” Jim said, turning in his direction. “You’re in charge of that. Can we support a larger population than we first rostered?”

  “No problem there. The preserved food in the hold of that ship is in better condition than I thought it would be and the Commonwealth emergency relief committee has promised anything we want.”

  “Peter, how about help from the Commonwealth police with our problem?”

  “No, we can not interfere in a purely internal matter pertaining to this planet.”

  “In that case it’s time to wake up the police,” Chris said. “I’ll take a team over in the morning. Levin, will the ship hold an atmosphere?”

  “Oh yes, the repair autoserves finished their work an hour ago. It was quite interesting to note that they found on deck twenty three a most unusual method of ducting. It ran at right angles to...”

  “So we can start pressurizing it tomorrow then?” Chris interrupted.

  “It’ll take three days,” Levin said. “We can start with the four main, central decks and go from there,”

  “And now for the team,” Chris said looking around. “Earl to take care of the...”

  “I volunteer,” Karla snapped.

  Jim leaned forward. “Don’t expect too much Karla. Just forget about it.”

  “I know what to expect,” Karla said, standing and walking toward the lift tube.

  Chris exhaled heavily. “Fine, the team will be myself, Karla, Earl and Levin, that is unless you want to go along Jim.”

  “No, I’d like to stay here and talk to the next one to wake. I suggest you keep an eye on Karla. She’s still acting most peculiar.”

  “Understood. Just don’t go funny on us yourself Jim.”

  “No chance.”

  “Someone!” Chin yelled through the system. “I need help, quick.”

  Jim, Chris, Earl, Peter and Halbert squeezed into the lift tube and descended one level to the recreation deck. When the door opened, Dr. Chin stood with his back to them. Mort stood next to him. Blood could be seen flowing down the side of his face.

  “She woke up a lot faster than we thought,” Chin said, pointing at one of the numerous chambers in the room. “She’s behind that one.”

  “Yes,” Mort said, wiping blood from his cheek. “She got hold of the metal bar I used to lever open the chambers and hit me a good one. I think she’s been awake for about twenty minutes pretending to be sleeping.”

  “How long ‘till she falls over Doc.?” Jim asked.

  “It should be another hour,” Chin said, waving an injector pen. “But she needs this to ease the headache she has and clear her mind. I doubt if she’s thinking at all logically right now.”

  “Hear that?” Jim called while wandering toward one of the large bay windows leading to the star filled outside. “The doc needs to give you a shot. It’ll ease your head.”

  “Take it yourself,” came a female voice from behind the chamber.

  “Hey now, don’t be silly,” Jim said. He took a few more paces and caught a brief glimpse of a bare elbow around the side of the chamber.

  Out of the corner of his eye, Jim saw Peter duck low and silently move to the other side of the large room.

  “Come near me and you’re going to get the same as that other guy,” the woman said.

  Jim tapped the control pad on a beverage dispenser as he passed. Two seconds later an access door raised and he took the full plastic cup and held it in front of him. “Thirsty? After traveling two hundred light years I should think you would be.”

  The young woman with long brown hair raised her head above the chamber. “Screw you,” she said in a hoarse voice as she eyed the glass.

  Jim took another couple of paces and watched. She clumsily tried to raise the metal bar held in her hand. Stepping to the side and slightly waving the glass, he saw her entire naked body. Jim took one more pace forward and placed the cup on the deck then stepped back.

  “Take it,” Jim said as he caught a fleeting glimpse of the top of Peter’s head as he tried to work his way around behind her. “It’s just water.”

  She reached out while trying to keep her balance kneeling on the deck. Grasping the cup, she lifted it, spilling half before it reached her mouth.

  Jim took a pace forward and watched her tighten her grip on the bar. “Hey, you ain’t going to hit someone that just gave you a cup of water, are you?”

  “Yes,” she said. She momentarily lost her balance and fell against a chamber.

  Through reflex, Jim reached for her to stop her falling further. He quickly retracted his hand when she ineptly swung at it with the bar.

  “If we were the people you think we are, you’d be dead by now. Am I correct?”

  “I don’t know, just stay away.”

  Jim jumped back as she struggled to her feet and raised the bar. Holding it back in preparation for a full swing, she advanced half a pace. As her arm came around, aimed at Jim’s head, she found that her hand was empty. She glanced back to see Peter’s smiling face. He held her weapon behind him.

  “Come on,” Carol said, walking around Jim holding out an exercise suit. “You can’t go ‘round naked for the whole universe to see. Anyone would think that you’re trying to turn my husband on as you Earth people would say.”

  Chapter 9

  Jim slowly sauntered down the main corridor of deck fifteen of the great ship. Through each door, as he passed, he saw lines of bedding covering the deck. The area served as dormitories for those awake. Six 3V rooms, brought by freighter, were continually in use day and night educating colonists in the use of new equipment which was floating close by the ship. The first team of geologists, agronomists and meteorologists were preparing to make the primary descent to the planet’s surface. Surprisingly, Levin had declared the old shuttles perfectly airworthy and fully able to make the trip. Other more modern shuttles had been sent to them, gifts from various governments.

  Aluminum framed tents were also found in perfectly usable condition and were in the process if being loaded.

  They no longer floated down the corridor, artificial gravity units had been installed in much of the ship.

  “Mr. Young,” came a voice from a room as he passed. Jim backed up a pace to look in.

  A middle aged, balding man dressed in his underwear sat up in bed and slid back to use a bulkhead as a backrest.

  “I’ve wanted to talk to the famous Sergeant James Young since I heard about you in that briefing.”

  “Well, I’m well known around the galaxy but not as a Sergeant,” Jim said ke
eping his voice low as others in the room were still sleeping. He walked to a pile of blankets on top of a cryo chamber mat that constituted a vacant bed and sat. “So what do you want to talk to me about?”

  The man wiped his face with the back of one hand then looked up at Jim. “George Franks is the name and you were also well known back on Earth, mainly by the police missing persons departments. When I trained at the police academy, twenty years ago, I saw an instructional film on the five most baffling disappearances in history and you were one of them.”

  Jim stared at him. “Why me? People used to disappear all the time.”

  George smiled. “The circumstance. An active duty soldier, two kids, a dog, big truck, car and a house full of furniture, gone without a trace. Remember that military program where you registered the serial numbers of every appliance you owned?”

  “Yep, operation ‘mark it’ or something like that. It was a guard against theft.”

  “Your list was circulated ‘round the country to pawn brokers and used appliance dealers and nothing appeared. The rental company supplied the code that they stamped parts of that truck with and not one piece of it surfaced.” The man then chuckled quietly to himself. “One crank came up with a kidnapped by aliens theory. He appeared on all the talk shows. What a kicker, he was the only one that was right. That’s why the whole thing stuck in my mind all these years. It was so weird.”

  Jim hesitated, afraid to ask the next question that came to mind. “Did the film contain any information on my family?”

  “Just your brother, he searched the South West on and off for years afterward. I believe he hired a private investigator but he had no more success than the police or the military.”

  Tears came to Jim’s eyes as he leaned back against a bulkhead. “Anything about my wife?”

  “Not that I can remember. It was a film on the police search. There wasn’t much of a personal nature. I think it mentioned you were married but that’s all.”

  “Anything on another missing person, Karla Brett.”

  “No. She asked me that yesterday. Also asked me about that Charles Stutchman.”

  “What did you tell her?”

  “Nothing. He came on the scene after all the information systems went to hell. All I know is that he came from somewhere in southern California.” The former police officer thought for a moment. “Has that young lady got both her oars in the water?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “She kept pestering me about the family’s background even after I told her I knew nothing. Wanted to know if the father could be a lot older than we thought. Kept telling her I knew nothing but she kept on about it.”

  “She’s not thinking straight right now. Probably looking for relatives, but I don’t know why she would pick on Stutchman. He sounds like a proper asshole.”

  George shook his head. “You don’t know the half of it.”

  “We’ll keep them sleeping until you have a chance to build jails to hold them.”

  “Work camps more likely. Many of them were fully qualified to get a slot on a ship. They opted for this method so they could sit back and let others do the work.”

  “Either way, they’re secure for now. It’ll be at least half a year before we can get ‘round to them. By the way, don’t tell Karla you know anything about my family. It may upset her to know that I’m privileged and she isn’t.”

  George grimaced. “Too late, I told her and she was upset. That two thousand year sleep must’ve fogged my brain.”

  “Oh shit,” Jim said, standing.

  “Sorry, I’m just not thinking right. Too preoccupied with those classes from the police academy on Regis. A lot to learn about devices like that one that can smell peanuts on a man’s breath at a distance of twenty meters.”

  “Can’t be helped,” Jim said as he walked toward the door. “Have fun with your classes,”

  Halfway down the corridor a young woman jumped into the hall when she saw him pass and stopped him.

  “Mr. Young, any word on my husband going to that planet to have his surgery?”

  “Ah... was he the one that had kidney damage from a malfunction in his cryo chamber?”

  “Yes, can you tell me when he’s going?”

  “I was told about that this morning and it’s going to be done here. A team of surgeons on Broughams Folly will do the operation by remote control using medical auto... ah robots.”

  “Oh my.”

  “Yes, amazing isn’t it. Every day something else surprises me too.” Jim smiled and nodded as he continued toward the vertical shaft that connected all decks.

  “Excuse me Mr. Young,” another voice said.

  Jim tried to conceal a grimace as he turned to face the speaker. He wished he could face the entire ship’s complement at once and tell them to get their questions over and done with. He knew the frustration of wanting to know about things as they are, but was slowly becoming annoyed at the fact that they considered him the best source for the information.

  “Yes?”

  “This Commonwealth thing,” the young man said, “do you really think we should be a member?”

  “It’s about the only chance this colony has of attaining a decent standard of living in as short a time as possible. Going it alone would cut you off from all the government’s assistance.”

  “What about that other group?”

  “They’re now calling themselves the Independent Alliance. You wouldn’t be any better off joining them. The three confederations mostly stick to their own matters. They don’t assist each other financially let alone assist a new colony.”

  The young man grimaced. “The Germans and Arabs I don’t really care about, but I’m of Irish ancestry. If we are in the Commonwealth then we’ll be at war with my own people. I really don’t like the idea of that.”

  “In that case you have a decision to make. I could have a freighter take you to New Dublin. There are ways of getting around the various blockades. One thing is for certain, join the Alliance and this planet will be swamped with immigrants. After all, this whole war is over vacant territory. That’s why the other two federations changed sides, conquest.”

  “Hmmm... Looks like I have a lot of thinking to do.”

  “So does everyone,” Jim said then turned to walk toward the central shaft.

  “Wait up,” Halbert said as he walked up behind Jim. “Did you hear about the meeting they had this morning?”

  “I heard there was a meeting.”

  “They took a vote on retaining the Confederate battle flag as the planetary emblem. The British, Canadians and Australians were quite enthusiastic about it, so were the majority of Americans, but in the beginning there was a quite adamant minority against.”

  “I shouldn’t have done that,” Jim chuckled. “I knew it’d cause problems. Turning Celia’s dress into a flag was a spur of the moment thought. So, what was the decision?”

  “Sam got up and made a speech. He talked about the gallant men in his regiment during the war and how they fought for their rights and not for preserving the institution of slavery. The minority reluctantly withdrew the objection out of respect for him. They’re retaining the flag.”

  “I hope they realize that without Sam and his background they might have got the planet stolen out from under them.”

  “They all love President Sam,” Halbert chuckled. “After hearing the stories of his origin and recent actions, they steadfastly refuse to conduct an election or appoint anyone over him.”

  “The irony is Sam was in the Ninth Georgia Regiment. I had ancestors in the Forty Second Illinois. They were on opposing sides in the battle of Antietam. How many colonists awake now?”

  “Seven hundred and eighty nine.”

  Jim nodded. “That should be enough of a sample to indicate the overall consensus.” Jim again turned toward the shaft.

  Gravity vanished as he stepped confidently into air and reached for a climbing rung.

  “Watch it, coming do
wn,” called a voice from above.

  Jim pulled himself to one side and looked up to see a meteorologist he only knew by his nickname ‘Stormy’ descending head first down the shaft. The man grabbed a rung and stopped as their heads reached the same level.

  “Good news,” said the smiling, upside down face. “In the past week hurricane activity has dropped by fifteen percent. We should have the whole planet down to a dull roar in a couple of months. Those ionizers and humidity controllers are amazing.”

  In the past week Jim had heard the word amazing at a rate of five times an hour from the excited colonists. A new hope had propelled the vast majority of the ones so far awakened into a frenzied learning. Assistance and concern from around the galaxy made anything they required available through government grants and a growing charity system. Commonwealth government funds were tight due to a continuing confrontation with the Independent Alliance but planetary and private organizations were most generous. Two more cargo shuttles were due to arrive from New Hope within the week. They were a gift from that government in conjunction with a local corporation.

  “Just told President Sam,” Stormy continued, “and I was privileged to hear a genuine rebel yell. Never thought that a Connecticut Yankee would be so honored.”

  “He does that. It tends to get a little annoying at the breakfast table.”

  “Gotta go,” Stormy said as he pushed off again down the shaft. “Have to make adjustments to the new cloud sensors then take a class from the University of Hebram.”

  “Hebram? That’s still a colony planet isn’t it?”

  “Yep,” Stormy said as he dove through an open door and turned to look back. “New experimental stuff they’ve been perfecting there. They said it’d work even faster here due to the new innovations they came up with.”

  Jim smiled as he thought of the roaring winds of the planet he had visited some months before. He had a flash mental image of a University that consisted of two beat up buildings strapped together and bolted to the ground so they didn’t blow away.