“At that moment the temporal slide drew me back and I felt myself floating and being pulled backwards at an incredible speed. As before, it quickly let me go. My timeframe slowed down and I found myself back in the temporal capsule in Howard’s Lab.”
Howard added, “I was excited and couldn’t wait to find out if everything had gone according to plan. Only a couple of seconds had passed in my timeframe, in fact I’d just reset the sequential dial for incoming traffic when Ch’ron appeared back in the capsule saying, ‘mission accomplished’.
“He stepped out of the capsule and breathed out a sigh of relief, carefully placing the pilot’s bag on the counter. I must admit we were both very relieved, and energized, and threw our arms around each other.”
“You said you weren’t going to tell them that part,” Ch’ron muttered, laughing and feeling a little embarrassed. “The best part, of course, was seeing Howard looking younger; he didn’t have any grey hair.”
Chapter 11. Temporal Science
The next few months kept Howard and Ch’ron very busy with the genetic science part of the experiment. Cloning had been around for quite a while now but this was to be a cloning with a difference. Your average clone is born, or hatched, a new, complete person, but this cloning was to be unique.
I considered the whole subject of time travel very controversial. Ch’ron had proved that it was possible, but what if a less scrupulous individual, or group, got hold of the technology and messed up history? They could travel back in time and change everything. The consequences could be disastrous, and none of us would ever know.
And then there was the question of time travel paradoxes: In theory a man could travel back in time, meet a young woman and get her pregnant. She could then turnout to be his great-grandmother: so he would be his own great-grandfather. (A case of incest gone crazy). Or what if you travelled back in time and inadvertently killed a bug that was supposed to sting someone and cause his or her death. If as a consequence they lived and then killed your father before you were conceived you would never have been born. But if you had never been born you couldn’t have travelled back and killed that bug that was supposed to sting the person who then killed your father. Temporal science and temporal paradoxes always gave me a headache.
I put my concerns to Ch’ron who told me not to worry about it.
“The equipment will soon be dismantled and hidden away somewhere no one will ever find it,” he assured me.
I wasn’t so sure of that.
He noticed my doubting look. “Bally, really, you have nothing to worry about. Would Howard or I keep anything as important as this away from you?”
The answer to that, of course, was a resounding YES.
I didn’t have long to wait before I discovered an even bigger secret Howard hadn’t bothered telling me about.
Early one morning I received a call on my workstation. I was in the shower so I grabbed a towel robe and ran to the monitor. I called out “Receive” and Howard’s face appeared on the screen.
“Can you get over to the lab straight away? I have a new hatchling for you.”
I hadn’t reared a hatchling since Ch’ron, and frankly I was enjoying my retirement. I’d even got back to oil painting and had been tutoring several groups of New Race students, some of whom showed great promise. They were all getting excited about a forthcoming exhibition, which I’d managed to get Nor-man’di to agree to attend. This would give us a lot of publicity.
I glanced around my apartment. Easels, oil paints, brushes, and other equipment were placed at random around the living room, kitchen, bedroom and hallway, and canvasses (some complete and some abandoned), were stacked against the walls. I was about to have a studio built at the back of the building. Generally, this was not a child-friendly place.
“Why me? I asked my brother, doesn’t the hatchling have parents to look after it?”
“This one’s special,” Howard explained, “… one of my little surprises.”
Oh, another of Howard’s surprises. This brought back memories. I suppose I should have been used to those but this one surpassed all his previous revelations.
I quickly got dressed. Howard had used his mini-transponder to contact me so it was easy to forge transport from his com-link and transfer straight across to his position. I materialised in Howard’s office next to a sofa a couple of meters behind him. He was standing with his back to me, but I could tell from his stance that he was holding something. When he heard me arrive he turned around and I saw he was bottle-feeding a New-Race hatchling. It was so cute. Over the last few years I’d seen thousands of these, but this one seemed strangely familiar.
“I’d like you to meet Olan … again,” he said to me, quietly.
“What do you mean Olan again?”
“This is our Olan … in everyway.”
I knew by now that there was no point arguing that this was impossible; Olan had died. I had been there and was a witness to the fact. This hatchling had to be a clone, which was no surprise; I had expected Howard to try to clone Olan with the DNA Ch’ron collected on his journey back in time. I reasoned that this child was the equivalent of an identical twin.
“I saw Olan die,” I said, hesitantly, “I held his hand, and went to the remembrance service. How can this be Olan?”
“Remember what Ch’ron and I told everyone at our family dinner?”
“Yes. I understand about Ch’ron bringing back the DNA sample, and this baby being a clone, but inside he must be a different person. He must have a different life source … a different spirit—like an identical twin born many years after his brother.”
“You didn’t see Olan die. Well not exactly. Only his body died. Ch’ron captured his life force. We fused this with the DNA at the point of conception—in simple terms relocating him into his new body.” I didn’t know what to say. “Would you like to hold my son?” Howard held out the small hatchling, offering him to me. I carefully took him and held him in my arms gazing down at those familiar olive green scales, unforgettable deep pool eyes and beak-like mouth.
“Bally the best thing of all is that he won’t die after seven days. This time he could live for the full hundred and twenty years.”
“You’ve found the lost years?”
“Only for this little chap. The treatment that allowed the New-Race people to live for ten years changed them genetically at the sub-atomic level, so this new treatment won’t work on them. We all hope that during his lifetime Olan will help his race by finishing the work he started on Earth. He’ll have plenty of time.”
I thought for a moment, “Ch’ron said you were thinking of dismantling the temporal slide.”
“Already done. It was just too dangerous to keep. If it had ever fallen into the wrong hands a person or persons could travel to any point in history changing the past, and present, with disastrous consequences. It was dismantled and taken to a secret location, and only the Sovereign Head of State and the governing body of the United Coalition of Planets are party to that information.”
“Does Nor-man’di know about Olan?” I asked.
“Yes, she has known from the outset. She often visited her little brother to witness his progress in the development pod. I kept it from you until now, as I didn’t want to get your hopes up before I knew everything was one hundred percent successful. I know how upset you were at loosing Olan the first time around and didn’t want you go through loosing him again if anything went wrong.”
For once, Howard had kept information from me to protect me, and not because he didn’t have the time to tell me or because he thought it didn’t matter.
He then explained how at conception the life-force containment field had been opened and Olan’s life force was blended with the New-Race cells. The body was grown in much the same way as designer body parts had been grown in laboratories for several generations, although no one had grown a complete body from DNA samples before. The growth took sixty-three days, which was the total average developmen
t period of a New-Race hatchling. However, this New-Race person was matured in a transparent development pod so its progress could be monitored throughout the gestation period.
Howard and Ch’ron had received the complete backing of both the Ad Astra Per Aspera Government and the ruling body of the United Coalition of Planets. However, it was the latter that had insisted Ch’ron dismantle the temporal slide, before taking possession of the parts and hiding them away.
~~~
Three years later, on the twelfth anniversary of the hatching of the first New Race person, I flew my shuttle to the Omicron Scientific Research Institute (where Howard now worked) and parked outside. Built in the city centre, it stood overlooking the enormous, veiled, bronze statue of Olan that had recently been erected in his honour.
Once again, the rains were several months late and the heat was unbearable. A huge crowd was already gathering consisting mainly of New-Race people and a few remaining crewmembers of the Omicron Flyer. Most of the original crew had returned to earth now that the New-Race Society was established.
The small child clasping my hand was growing impatient.
He tugged on it trying to pull me forwards, “Come on Bally,” he whined. “I want to see Howard.”
“Okay darling, we’ll go inside now.”
We entered the building and made our way up the grand staircase to Howard’s office. The door was open and the little boy immediately ran to Howard and threw his arms around him.
“How’s my favourite little man?” my brother asked, picking Olan up and swinging him around. The child squealed with delight as Howard lifted him higher and placed him on his shoulders. “I know you have to get ready for the ceremony Bally, so we’ll go and get an ice cream in the park,” Howard said, looking in my direction.
“That’s fine by me, I’d love to go home and have a soak in the tub, and I want to update my journal,” I replied. “See you both later.”
“Bye Bally,” they both replied.
“Bye.”
I decided to leave the shuttle in the city for the return trip later that night and transfer home. This would leave me more time to get ready for the evening’s events.
I used my mini transponder to create a com-link with my personal workstation and transferred directly to my apartment in Jaimbalar. I had originally chosen to live in this small town as there was an excellent learning centre for New-Race Children nearby. I could choose to transfer or to walk to there depending on if the penetrating heat felt too much for me to stand. I did try to endure it on the cooler days as walking helped keep me fit.
I’d taken three generations of this family to that learning centre: Nor-man’di, Logosti, and Ch’ron, and now I was about to take the fourth. (Although this Olan was technically part of the first generation)—this really did make me feel old.
I sank into my bath, enjoying the cool water on my skin. Again, this had cost me a week’s water rations. Consequently, I usually made do with the sonic shower. If the rains came soon there would be plenty of water and I would be able to bath every day without using any credits. I remembered the thunder I’d heard on the evening of our family dinner; it had proved to be a disappointing false alarm.
On cue, a ridiculously loud clap of thunder sounded overhead echoing down the valley for several seconds. I nearly jumped out of my bath in fright and splashed some precious water on the tiled floor. I sat upright for a moment, my heart racing.
I’d better wash my hair and get ready I thought.
The heat had been intensifying all afternoon, and it felt as if there was hardly any oxygen left, so I chose to wear a sky blue, all-in-one trouser-suit that felt as soft and flowing as a silk scarf. In reality, it had been designed to protect human women from the heat, yet still look smart and feminine. This was a wonderful invention as my outside thermometer read forty-nine degrees Celsius in the shade: too much for any human to endure for any length of time.
I had an hour to spare so updated my journal with the previous months’ main events before transferring back to Howard’s office where we had arranged to meet.
Howard was just entering through the double, oak panelled doors at the end of the room.
Olan came bounding over towards me exclaiming, “I’ve been to the park with Daddy Howard and we ate ice-cream.” He reached out his arms towards me, “Pick me up Bally.”
I picked him up. “Are you ready to unveil your statue?” I asked him.
“Yea, yea!”
I let him down, and Howard, and the little lad made their way out of the building and onto the specially built platform in matching three-piece suits and blue and gold striped ties. Politically less important, I followed them onto the specially built platform and sat down next to Olan. Appearing the age of a three-year-old human child, Olan’s chair was far too big and he swung his legs in excitement, fidgeting with a model of the Omicron Flyer he’d hidden in his pocket.
The platform was positioned to the right of the huge bronze statue of a much older Olan. It stood on a large granite block and in all must have been over thirty metres tall. The statue had been crafted into the likeness of his image taken from the porta-disk that he had made for me back on earth when he appeared to be in human terms around fifty-five.
Nor-man’di, Taima, Logosti, Zultrane, Ch’ron and a few political dignitaries were already seated and waiting for us. Nor-man’di had enjoyed her birthday. Twelve year’s old was an amazing age for a New-Race person. This equated to around one hundred and ten in human terms. She was especially remarkable as she still took a very active part in governing her people.
The day had been unusually hot, but now the sky was filling with the dark rain clouds that marked the end of the dry season and blocked out the sun, darkening the whole area. Crowds of thousands filled the streets and pathways, some climbing the deep rooted omlar trees and clinging onto the huge branches. The air was electrified with expectation and the multitude was getting more animated by the minute, cheering and waving banners and flags, and firing streamers into the air. When the floodlights came on lighting up the huge statue, the crowd went wild chanting Olan’s name and letting out wolf whistles.
Sensing the time was right, Nor-man’di rose slowly yet gracefully to her feet and stepped forward to the microphone with all the poise and dignity befitting her station. The crowd instantly hushed.
She confidently announced, “Ladies and gentlemen, New-Race People and off-worlders, we are here today to unveil this bronze statue in memory of a great man—my brother—the man who gave us back at least some of our lost years and made this civilisation possible.”
She looked lovingly towards her little brother, bending slightly towards him and motioned him to walk over to her with one finger. He trotted over to her side smiling, reached out his hand, and took hold of hers.
She continued speaking to the assembly, “Today I present the same New-Race person to you. He is the one who will one day give us back the rest of our lost years … Ladies, gentlemen, and off-worlders … I give you, OLAN.”
Slightly confused by her last statement, the crowd remained silent as the little fellow ran over to the golden chord that held the veil in place and excitedly pulled it as hard as he could. The veil fell to the ground exposing the huge bronze statue depicting Olan standing with his right arm by his side and his left arm extended upwards gesturing towards the heavens from where the help had come.
The statue had been coated with a lacquer that would protect it from the extremes of weather that it would have to endure over the coming centuries, and reflected back the spotlights, casting circles of light on the masses, the surrounding buildings, and trees.
A man somewhere in the crowd let out a wolf whistle, and soon the multitude was shouting and cheering. None of them knew how it was possible that Olan was standing before them as a three-year-old child, but they trusted Nor-man’di unreservedly and knew that she would never trick nor deceive them. She was, after all, one of them … the very first of them.
&n
bsp; While the people were still cheering and clapping the first rains started falling, splashing down on the statue and everyone who had gathered there. Within moments it was a deluge. The people scattered in every direction. When the rains came on Theta Dayton Four they came with a vengeance. Everyone on the platform made his or her way back into the building behind us in record time.
Part two Epilogue
In my advanced years I found it necessary to leave my familiar apartment and move into the Royal Palace where I would get the extra help I needed for everyday living. I hated loosing my indepencance, especially when I found I was no longer fit enough to fly my shuttle, but it was good to live in luxury.
I was the last living human on the planet but had long since been accepted as an ‘adopted’ New Race person. I would live out my days surrounded by my New Race family. Not Norman’di, Logosti, Ch’ron, or their partners: they lived long ago and were now memories in an old lady’s heart. Olan was still here, of course. I had fallen in love with him long ago—on that perfect day on earth in another lifetime—and I knew I could never feel that way about anyone else, but I would never tell him. It was too weird and I was too old anyway.
Yani, my Great, Great, Great, Great (I’d forgotten how many greats there were) nephew ran into my room, disturbing my thoughts.
“Bally, don’t forget my birthday supper,” he said, looking up at me and grinning the way Ch’ron used to.
“Okay, darling, I’ll be down in plenty of time. I just need to update my diary.”
The little lad ran out of the room.
I thought of all the royal children living in the palace. They loved their human Auntie. So many generations of New Race babies and children had sat on my knee, even when I was too old to help rear them.
Using my walking aid, I slowly made my way to the Great Hall across the cooler floor tiles that had been laid for my benefit and took a seat at my polished, omlar wood computer desk. The room was over thirty metres long and about two thirds as wide. I joked that they should provide me with a hovercar to get from one end to the other. I could have used the much smaller drawing room on the second floor but loved the light and view from this seventh story room, and, anyway, all the royal New Race bonding ceremonies had been held here, so the room was full of memories.
New World Rising: A story of hope born out of tragedy Page 10
