"Good. Now, let's see how I did."
"Gallant, I've found more bones. Hmm... NO! This gets changed! Mick, pack us. We're going with him. Do it! Send resigs to the foundation. Get a super out here for the kids."
"Mom, Elaine?"
"Up to you, Mick."
"Athena, you aren't coming with me! I never take anyone with me!"
"You do this time, Gallant. I'm going to do my bit to change the universe. This is probably why I was born. The other bones are yours. I'm going to see to it they're not here."
"Oh."
"Yeah, oh."
"It's still too dangerous. Athena, I won't trade your lives for mine. It's been incredibly long and full. I'm sorry, I won't take you. I'll be careful."
"No. You'll take us or I'll hunt for your ship. It's got to be around here someplace. I'll look for it until I find it, then I'll follow. Probably take me a hundred years to figure it out, but I will. If I don't, my son, or my grandkids, or my great-grandkids, or however many it takes, will. You are not going to die in Earth's past."
"One of those selected genes was for stubborn!"
"Yeah, that too. I like it when you yell at me. It's loud, but it's all exasperated 'I care' underneath."
"You're really determined to go with me."
"Yes, Gallant. There's more to it. I'm bored. I have skills that I can't use for anything but play-acting. I'm a trained researcher in a half-dozen fields that are dying out or have too many in them already. The world is a delightfully peaceful and prosperous place and it's driving me crazy."
"And Mick?"
"Inseparable. Too closely linked. Elaine's his love. I can't imagine her allowing herself to be left behind. You'll like her. Gallant, she's family already and she doesn't really have other. She said she'd recognize her mother, because she's seen her on vid. We don't even need to come back. The three of us can say farewell and no one will hunt us. She's making pepperoni pizza. She loved the idea. Right in the middle of modern Greece, she's making an old Italian dish American style. Come on. She's a great cook. Almost as good as Mick. Have to say you look like you appreciate good cooking."
"I'm comfortable this way."
"Yeah, well, I'm putting us all on a training program. We're all going to be in top form when we... Gallant, you just decided to take us along, didn't you?"
"Yes. Your empathic powers are strong."
"It's not that. Look at the dig, Gallant. Look close."
"They're gone!"
"Yeah, both sets. There's no settled earth. We've got a chance! Come on! Let's eat!"
****
"Damn, you're just about too gorgeous to exist. Now I see why Great-great-great-grandmother Julie called you an angel. You look like you walked out of a Renaissance painting. Gallant, we're going to tower over these people. You know, no one ever mentioned how tall you are."
"I wasn't. I grow a bit once in a while."
"Explain that. You got a real weird feeling. Come on, Gallant. You know I'm too curious to drop it."
"I discovered it a few thousand years ago. Now, you see, I haven't even begun explaining and you're already shocked."
"No, but a 'few thousand' did knock me a bit."
"You're sure? Well, I'd never really been hurt badly. I'd learned my body could heal itself. I drop into a trance state, light enough I can find water and food if I must, during it. It's not restful. I sleep an approximately equal time afterward. This particular occasion, I tranced nine days. Yes, a lot. It was the first time I'd run into Hensk. I had him. Or thought I did. I chased him into a building on Apboretha. His ship was on the ground floor. It was a trap. He took off and dropped the building on me. I'd never had a broken bone. I made up for it. Multiple fractures. Arms, legs, ribs. I'd nearly gotten out. Somehow, the building missed my head. An old female dug me out and stayed by me. She gave me water and cared for me. I think she set the bones. My body grew. It strengthened itself by becoming taller and thicker. I'm incredibly dense. I weigh half again as much as a human my size. After that I came back to Earth. I needed to learn a lot more about just staying alive in an environment that... Anyway, that's why I'm about six-four and massive."
"Six-four? Gallant, we haven't used those terms for... a couple of cens. Well, a cen-and-a-half."
"Athena, I spent more than a century on Earth. The twentieth. I kept getting drafted. I hate being drafted."
"You went to war?"
"Four of them. Two world wars, Korea and Vietnam. Grew a bit in all but the first. I was a very good sergeant. I only lost one man. Smitty. Right after we hit Omaha beach. I went back to the sixties later and marched for civil rights, then was a war protester."
"You were a hippie!"
"That too."
The last of the dark brothers had chosen to destroy the world and people he loved. He'd chosen the birthplace of western culture, Athens. Athena, Mick and Elaine had crammed to learn ancient Greek. They had Gallant to help with accent. Athena had been right. He liked Elaine. She was very proficient in the martial arts, but no one he'd ever seen was as good as Athena. Except himself. Mick was almost as good as his mother.
"Who's he after, Gallant?"
"At a guess, Plato."
"Not Socrates?"
"No, Athena, I don't think so. Plato would still have written his dialogues. They're the true treasure. Athena, you know the culture. You and Elaine are going to stand out even more than I do."
"I've given thought to that. Gallant, I'm gray-eyed Athena. You are Apollo. Mick and Elaine are minor divinities."
"Athena, that could seriously change the mythology of the period. We can't risk that. This time is pivotal in the development of your own civilization."
"It's just an expedient. You can use hypnosis to clear it. I got the idea when we landed atop Acropolis. There's another reason I chose this way. As gods, we won't be... pursued."
"Athena, I learned to handle male advances thousands of years ago. Your three times great-grandmother and a nice fellow named Chuck taught me."
"Hey, not just you. You may be super-gorgeous now that I've got you in shape, but Elaine, Mick and I are not mashed potatoes."
"No, you are champagne and caviar. All of you, but you most of all. Although, I'm not sure how I feel about your haircut."
"Short is practical. Cut it to a cen before every comp I was ever in. Call it battle dress. I'll be wearing a helm. At first anyway. Come on, Gallant. I can feel you've decided to go with my plan. Let's roll. Mick and Elaine are ready. Kiss for luck?"
It shocked them both. The sudden blending of their minds and the heat between them. He'd found the first Athena and she knew it too.
"Gallant, I don't quite know what to say. Nothing... Nothing like that ever... Not even with my husband."
"Athena, I've searched ten thousand years for you. Lead me, My Lady."
"Oh, Gallant, that's why I made you Apollo. We lead together. Let's go find Plato. Before I start trying to talk you into putting Alice on hover for a couple cens. Uh, hi, Mick, Elaine."
"Hi yourself, Mom. Very high. Grats, Gallant. You found your girl. And she's a beaut."
"That she is, Mick. Now, I have suddenly developed an acute desire to come out of this alive. Shall we see if we can accomplish it?"
****
"Evil has come among you. Lo, Socrates, your students are endangered. I, Athena, seek Plato. Apollo has seen his destiny. One seeks to alter it."
"Oh, beautiful Goddess, he absents himself this day. His loves are not among these either. I had believed they sported on the slopes of Lykavittos. Now, I fear for them."
"Fear not. He is mine and in my keeping. Apollo, it pleases me to walk through my city. Will you speak to these? I would not change your vision with my presence."
"Yes, Athena, I shall touch each that the tale not be told. Come, Socrates, your words ring through the ages. Plato records them well. I would not have them changed. They guide the young of the future."
"Then I ask you take this vision."
&n
bsp; "Socrates, I give you this day to remember us. On the morrow, you will awake, remembering all but our presence here and your trepidation over the fate of Plato. I bid you continue your discourse and pass this day as others. Speak not of us to those I have not touched."
He gave each of them the same command, then ran after Athena. The speed of his run would convince Socrates and the young men they were, indeed, who they claimed to be. Athena was an excellent tactician.
He struggled to calm himself. If he could keep his mind on the job at hand, he would have what he so desperately wanted. He could smell the evil. The dark brother was nearby.
"GALLANT!"
She saved his life. The dark brother had sprung from ambush and nearly shot him down. He suddenly knew the future she had changed. He would have been injured to dying, but would have killed the brother before death. It had been a trap. Plato wasn't the target. He was.
"NO! ATHENA!"
The sudden tears almost blinded him. The dark brother had shot her down. Mick and Elaine were headed toward the hooded figure at a run. He screamed in rage as he saw him shoot first Mick, then Elaine. He pulled the unit he'd built out and turned it on. It was still keyed to the dark brother's genetic code. He smiled as he listened to his death screams. It shocked him a bit. He had killed, but he had never enjoyed it before.
He ran to Athena. She was alive! So were Mick and Elaine, but all were badly injured. Mick and Elaine he could save. Athena... No! She would not die! He needed Alice. Desperately. She wouldn't live through the journey to the ship. He laughed wildly as Alice materialized around them. Somehow, she had heard his need. And answered.
He changed a decimal on the coordinates and threw her into flight. He had no idea where they were going, but the decimal point would insure a long flight. He did something he'd never done before. He placed Athena in nontime. She was the first living thing he'd ever risked suspending. He turned to Mick and Elaine, pulled out the medunit, and went to work on them.
****
"I can't find them, Elaine. I know they're here. I can feel it, but I can't find them."
"Mick, the note he left said he was going to try to heal her. You can feel she's still alive."
"Yeah, and still unconscious. This ship is huge. I only found my way back because I could feel you."
"What?"
"Surprised me too. The link just grew with the love. Elaine, they're thirsty. At least she is. Terribly thirsty."
"Mick, this may sound weird, but ask the ship to help you find them. Told you it was weird."
"No, you're right. Come with me, Elaine. Pack food. I'm not kidding. We could end up dozens of Ks from here."
"All right. Give me five. Find a pack."
They packed food. Mick said no to water. Gallant wouldn't have taken his mother anywhere they couldn't find it. He took Elaine's hand, then a deep breath.
"Alice, they need us. Please, help us find them."
They set out hand in hand. Elaine squeezed his and smiled. All the corridors, but one, were dark.
****
"Mick, is she... out again?"
"Just sleeping, Elaine. Gallant. Gallant, drink a bit of broth, then sleep. I know how it works. Mom told me."
Mick sat back and smiled. They were both tired, but his mother's injuries were healed.
"Elaine, I'm going to trek back and check to see if Alice has anything she wants to tell us. I'll bring more food too. Stay with them?"
"Naturally. Mick, this is a... bower. A beautiful clear pool, flowering trees, soft deep grass, roses on trellises... A bower in the middle of the ship."
"Not half the middle. You should see some of the... rooms. There's a meadow and a forest of strange trees. There's something that can only be a racecourse of some kind. There's a room full of nothing but labels hanging in the air, all with names of musical instruments. Bedrooms in a hundred different styles... Thousands of rooms. Told you I got lost. I keep looking for a kitchen closer to us, but haven't found one. Well, it's only a little more than a K. Not bad. Be back. Love."
"Love. Mick! How long?"
"Sleep? Same as trance. Five days. Want a book or three?"
"Yes. No, bring my pack. Might as well work on my thesis. I might get to deliver it."
"Bother you?"
"No. Truth is, I'm as excited as I've been about anything in my life. You?"
"About. Right up there with you saying yes when I asked you out the first time. Elaine, marry me."
"Gee, I thought I was going to have to ask you."
****
"Hensk. I can feel him. He's teamed up with the bel-Nathans. Nasty combo. Those people don't stand a chance. Wonder why he's so interested... Telepaths! A whole race of telepaths! I've got to help them. I'll get you somewhere safe, Athena."
"Gallant, you're not going into battle without me to watch your back."
"Athena, I don't want you in danger!! I want you safe!!"
"Yell at me some more. I love it. Hey, I love you. Don't expect to keep you, but intend to have more than so far. Much more. Hensk is the last one, Gallant. And he scares you. Bad. He's got you... programmed. How many times have you met up with him?"
"Seven."
"And?"
"He got away."
"And you got hurt."
"That too."
It happened the same way again, but it took nearly seven years. Seven years of running, fighting, running... The telepaths helped. So did the augmented horses Athena and Gallant gave them for transport. They all fell in love with the people, especially their leader Chervan.
Communication wasn't difficult. The telepaths, some of them, learned to vocalize, in English. Gallant taught 'finger speech' to the others. He was uncomfortable communicating telepathically.
The concussion he sustained, when Hensk blew out a mountainside trying to kill him, kept Gallant from going into trance. Athena never left his side the twelve weeks it took him to heal. She'd never let go of his hand the two weeks he lay unconscious. He spent four more months with her.
"The dreams."
"Yes, Athena, the dreams. She's come back."
"You're going alone, aren't you, Gallant?"
"Athena... "
"I've always known the time would come."
"Do you want to go home?"
"This is home. There's nothing on Earth for me. Mick and Elaine feel the same. Our skills are needed here. Besides, Chervan and I together are an unbeatable combo. We'll get this world out of the stone age and on the road back to tech civ in nothing flat. Gallant, I want... Before you go... "
"Tell me, Athena."
"I want all of you. I want the whole thing that I got just a taste of the first time we kissed. Drop your barriers with me just once. It's the one memory I want I don't have."
She recoiled in shock when he opened his mind to her. He dropped his arms to his sides and turned away. He should have known better.
"No, Gallant! Stop! Again. Slowly this time. It was just too much all at once. You carry so much loneliness and pain. It hurts me to feel it. Show me the love and joy too. I want to know all of you. Love all of you."
He stood with his back to her, desperately trying to rebuild his barriers.
"No, Athena. Even I don't want to know all of it. I put it all away and forget as much as I can. I surprised myself too. Chervan is scolding me. It seems I knocked half the paths on the planet to their knees. She's not really angry, just upset I didn't give them enough warning to get their barriers up."
"Warn them now. Don't argue, Gallant. I won't listen and I won't let you win."
"I don't really want to win. I want this memory too."
****
He wandered. The dreams had sent him from Athena, but not to anywhere. He restlessly searched for Hensk, dodged a few attacks by dark brethren he'd already destroyed, and wandered.
"Find her, my gallant one. Find the second who bears my name. Build the door."
He awoke aching with loneliness. A door? A door to where? He stumbl
ed to the comp station. He was being driven. He avoided looking in a mirror. He knew what he'd see. Knew because his clothes hung on him. Knew because he couldn't eat or rest. A door to where? A door to beyond where he was? Where was he?
He began again. From where he was. If he defined that, he would, perhaps, know what was beyond. The name Hrune. It came to his mind again. Hrune... He tapped Alice's memory banks. Hrune... Yes! Orbel Hrune, Lahathan mathematician. Theory of infinite universes. He patted the console.
"Thank you, Alice. Now I know what door I'm to build. Let's see if you and I can figure out how to build it. I hope you're in the mood to help."
She was, but it still required months of work. Most at the comp station. He found a red giant to power it and began the work of building it. Athena hadn't come to his dreams since he'd begun the work. She came the night before he opened the door and whispered, "The second Athena."
Gallant cautiously explored the universe he'd created a way into. It shocked him when he discovered it was 'the same' as his. He was sure it shouldn't be. He was stunned when he learned his own people didn't exist in it. There was a race as old as his in another galaxy, but very different. He wasn't surprised to discover he actually liked them better.
He set coordinates for Earth. It was home in his emotions and humans were the people he truly needed to know existed in this universe. Alice flashed "Well it's about time, Nervous Nellie!" on her screen and he laughed.
"You're right, Alice. I've been avoiding it, just as I avoided visiting Earth after the twentieth century, for several thousand years, because I was afraid it would change too much. This universe shouldn't be at all like ours, but it is. And telling myself it doesn't matter if there aren't humans in it is not working."
He hopped through time. Humans not only existed, they flourished. By the twenty-second century, they'd put all their boundless energy into exploring their galaxy. Earth was the home of the Orion Arm Federation of Free Worlds and the base of the highly regarded Exploration Fleet, but they had a problem. It was called the Durcassin Empire.
He hopped forward and saw the Federation and the Empire settle into an uneasy truce. The Federation grew on one side of the wide 'Zone of Neutrality,' by inviting space-faring peoples to join. The Empire grew on the other side, by conquest.
Choice of the Gallant_Paradox Equation I Page 4
