by Karl Morgan
They trudged through the snow for half an hour and began to climb the gentle slope just east of the cottage. Looking back, the building seemed so tiny. It was hard to believe they had been here so long already. Dave was beginning to doubt they would ever leave this place. He would fail his mission to expand the Free Society by adding a thousand or more planets. He and Lini would live out their lives on this rock, lost in space and time. Even if Darlene and Fa-a-Di were looking for him, they would have no way of knowing where in time he was. Perhaps Darlene would find their bones in the crumbling cottage. She and his children would never see him alive again.
“Dave, are you okay?” Lini shouted from fifty feet ahead of him. “Why did you stop?”
Dave began to walk toward her. “I’m sorry Lini. I was just thinking about us being lost in time. The Bolofaz don’t seem to be able to help.” As he reached her, he took her into his arms. “You know, if you had stepped aside like Fola and I asked you, I’d be dead already. Being alone here would have destroyed my mind. Thank you.” He kissed her.
She sat on the ground. “Come on and sit with me, Dave. You are not alone. I will always be next to you. Even when we get back, you can count on me every day to help you.” She elbowed him in the ribs gently. “Notice I said ‘when’ and not ‘if’. We are getting out of here.” She rested her head on his shoulder. “Now just sit back and enjoy the stars.” The view was stunning tonight. The dark side of Solander was facing back toward the Milky Way Galaxy, which filled the sky from horizon to horizon. On Earth, dust in the air and reflected light dimmed the view of the galactic disc. Here it was incredibly bright. “Now this is not for fun, sweetheart. This is a scientific experiment. We are testing the insulation of these clothes. Let me know when your butt starts to get cold,” she laughed and held his arm against her.
They sat together for some time that night, enjoying each other’s company and being outside that tiny cottage. Dave was starting to feel the chill but had no intention of breaking the spell of this magic time. He put his arm around her and held her to him. “From here, it looks like we are the only life in the galaxy, Lini. It’s almost like we made the galaxy as the background for our lives. A giant painting for our personal enjoyment.” He laughed.
“Dave, what the heck is that?” Lini asked as she pointed out into space.
“It looks like a shooting star,” he replied. “I mean, a meteor.”
“It just changed course and stopped cold,” she said. “It’s like it is hovering over us.”
Dave stood and pulled Lini to her feet. “It’s a space ship! We’ve got to find a way to signal them. Maybe this is the coincidence Ondeen was talking about? We have to get to the cottage and find a way to signal them!” He took her hand and they rushed down the hill toward the stone cottage. “Do you still see it, Lini?”
“I can’t look, Dave,” she panted. “I’m afraid I’ll trip and fall.”
“Okay, don’t bother,” he huffed as they continued across the plain toward the cottage. “We’ll both look from the porch.” They were a hundred yards from the cottage.
“Dave, I left my rifle on the hill,” she cried. “I’m sorry. I’ll go back.”
“No way, darling,” he shouted. “We’re not separating again. I’ll get it tomorrow.” As they arrived on the porch, they both looked up. “Do you see it?”
“I don’t know,” Lini cried. “There are too many stars. I’m sorry Dave.”
He pulled their hoods off and kissed her. “Don’t apologize, Lini. It’s okay. I can’t see it either. But we both saw it, so it’s up there.” He hugged her tightly. “This is our return ticket baby!”
They went inside and locked the door and began pulling off their winter wear. Both their faces were red from the run through the frigid air and snow and they were breathing heavily. Dave went to the kitchen and soon brought back two steaming mugs of coffee. “Here, drink this. It will warm you up.”
She sipped the coffee. “Ah, that’s great Dave. Thank you.” She sat at the small table and he joined her. “Do you think they’ll rescue us?”
“I hope so, Lini,” he replied. “But you know they are not our friends. We’re far in the past. I just hope they are friendly to strangers; or at least curious why two people are alone on a planet.”
“What if they don’t bother looking at all?” she asked. “Why would they look anyway? This rock can’t be their destination, can it?”
“If they show up here, I guess we’ll know,” he replied. “There are many no-so-friendly planets out there. I only hope we don’t look like dinner to them.”
“That’s an odd thing to say about space travelers,” she argued. “If they have all this technology, wouldn’t they have to be curious at least?”
“It was just something Fola Untor told me once,” Dave sighed. “I don’t know why I’m quoting that son of a bitch anyway.”
Lini stood and came over and sat on Dave’s lap. She took his head in her hands and kissed him. “Everything will be okay Dave. I’m sure this is the coincidence Ondeen told us about. We’ll be rescued and go back to our own time. You will go back to your fleet and I’ll head off to the academy.” Her eyes welled with tears.
Dave held her tight. “Just a while ago, I had the feeling we would die of old age or insanity here, Lini. Now, we may be rescued soon. You know, I’m not certain which is better right now.”
“Don’t even think that Admiral Brewster,” she said with a forced smile. “Going home is always best. We will always love each other and have our memories of this place, but none of this is real. Traveling back in time four hundred thousand years is not normal. I am very grateful for our time here. It has been a fantastic ride. But I always knew it wouldn’t last forever. I didn’t want it to either.”
“I’m not sure what I want Lini,” he replied.
“Of course you do silly! The last months of our lives were taken from us by the lunatic Untor. This never should have happened and I’ll never know why the Bolofaz or the Source or God allowed it,” she began. “The fact we made the best of our situation and found love and companionship is the only redeeming thing about it. You have a great future Supreme Fleet Admiral Brewster. Your friends are desperately looking for you in our future. Now maybe, just maybe, we have been found again.” She kissed him passionately. “Time to wake up, Dave and go back to work.” She stood and pulled off her clothes and searched through her bag for her pajamas.
If this was their rescue, Dave would miss her casual way of disrobing and walking around in the nude. Lini was a free spirit with a strong link to the Source. Dave knew they would be together still, although the past was now over and his real life would resume again soon. “Come to bed Dave,” she winked. “We need to be rested for our rescue.” She rolled over and soon was fast asleep. His mind was racing with the events of the day and sleep was hours away. He grabbed Ten Years to Gallia from the shelf and opened it. Chapter four, he thought.
Chapter 50
Dave woke suddenly still sitting on the chair with the book in his lap. They had neglected to close the black-out blinds and the room was filled with brilliant light. Both Lubna and the sun must be shining today, he thought. He rose slowly and his body ached from sleeping on the chair. His neck was stiff and his knees crackled as he walked. He looked out the side window and noticed the snow had melted. The Solander winter was severe but short. He walked over to the bed and looked out the other window and almost fainted. A massive silver shuttle craft was landing fifty yards away. He shook Lini gently to wake her and pulled her up to the window. Her jaw slackened and her eyes were wide open as the landing jets slowed the craft down just before the ship settled down on its landing pylons. “Let’s get dressed,” he said. Both frantically pulled on their clothes. Dave made certain he was wearing his official uniform. He strapped on his belt with his daggers and two blaster pistols. He gave his rifle to Lini, kissed her gently and the lips and said, “This is it.”
They stepped out into the brilliant S
olander morning. The temperature was quite warm today already, promising a scorching afternoon. As they stepped off the porch, they found the ground soaking wet and spongy. They walked ten yards from the building and then stood waiting. Dave told her to carry the rifle with the tip pointed down to not appear aggressive. His blasters stayed clipped to his belt. They waited ten minutes for something to happen, but those minutes seemed to last all day long. Finally, the landing doors opened and a ramp extended down to the ground. Four tall Beings in heavy pressure suits walked slowly down the ramp. They were each about ten feet tall and carried blasters and daggers of their own. They walked ten yards from the ship and stopped, not certain what to make of the two small Beings standing before them. The visitors seemed to be discussing matters among themselves, unsure what to do next. One tried to come forward, but the others kept pulling him back.
Dave cleared his throat loudly and the four visitors stopped and looked at him. Two of them had leveled their blaster rifles on him. Dave gently took each blaster from his belt and set them on the ground. “Lini, you have your rifle ready. I’m going to meet our guests,” he said.
“Dave, I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” she replied.
“No choice now,” he smiled and kissed her cheek. He began to walk very slowly toward them. The visitors kept exchanging looks and appeared to be arguing about their next move. Without hearing their language through their suits or knowing their com-link frequency, he kept walking and smiled.
When he was ten yards away, one of the visitors shouted, “Drop you daggers, friend, or we’ll shoot you where you stand.” It was perfect Gallicean, although the accent was different from any he had ever heard. He turned and could see Lini smiling.
Dave shouted back in their language, “A Gallicean warrior never travels without his daggers, friend.”
The one Gallicean who had tried to approach was laughing out loud. The others were arguing with him. The laughing one ordered the others to stand down and they reluctantly lowered their weapons while their leader stepped forward. “You seem to have the better of us, friend. How do you know our language and what kind of beast are you?”
“My name is Fleet Admiral Dave Brewster of the Free Society, and I am a human from Earth,” Dave said. “Welcome to Solander.”
“You must be a sorcerer or something, Dave,” the other replied. “I just gave this moon that name in a meeting this morning. How could you know that?”
Dave looked at the Gallicean standing in the heavy suit. He tried to look closely at the face through the thick glass. After a minute, Dave recognized the face. “Fa-u-Bay, it’s you!”
The Galliceans were stunned. They stood as if frozen for several moments. “None of this can be real, human,” Fa-u-Bay replied. “We must be dreaming or you have us in a trance. I demand you tell us how you know these things.”
Dave turned and shouted to Lini, “Go get the book, sweetheart! You’re going to love this. You won’t need the rifle anymore either.” She went back to the cottage and returned shortly with the book under her arm. Dave took the book from her and handed it to Fa-u-Bay who looked at the cover and then flipped through some of the pages.
“You are one of my heroes, Fa-u-Bay,” she beamed. “Do you think you could autograph this for me?”
“I don’t understand Dave,” Fa-u-Bay sighed as he handed the book back. “What’s going on here? And why are you two alone on this planet and how do you know me?”
Dave and Lini told the Galliceans the entire story about Fola Untor and Ten Years to Gallia and the Sojourn. They told them about the Bolofaz and the Hive on Fistan and how they were stranded in the distant past as revenge for the demise of the Brotherhood in the Andromeda Galaxy. Each revelation seemed more magical and mysterious than the one before. The sun was setting and Dave was still talking. The Galliceans were very uncomfortable in their suits and with the story. It was too outrageous to be true. But here they were past the edge of the galaxy with two humans who knew their past and their future. Fa-u-Bay looked at his air gage and said, “Dave, our suits will run out of air soon, so we need to go back to our ship. What do you want us to do?”
“We would like you to take us to Fistan,” he replied. “The people there are like Dar Lini here and their Hive may have the power to return us to our normal time. As we told you, there are fleets preparing to wage war here in my time and every Being there is in great danger.”
Fa-u-Bay looked at the book again. “Do you think I can keep this?” he asked.
Dave laughed. “You wrote it! It belongs to Lini though. It might be better if you discover the secrets in here for yourself. I don’t want to change the past. From my experience, that doesn’t turn out too well.”
“You’re probably right,” the Gallicean said. “When I get to my ship, I’ll have small pressure suits assembled for you two so you can breathe during the trip to the other moon.” He looked carefully at them both. “You’re sure you are not felons serving time here. I’d hate to help you break out.”
Lini laughed. “When we arrive on Fistan, you can take us to their police if you like. If they say we are wanted, you can return us here. Two simple people can’t stand up to your crew.”
“I suppose that’s true enough,” he chuckled. “Dave, tell me again about my descendent who is your friend.”
“Fa-a-Di? Of course. He is the current High Commissioner of Greater Gallia. He is the hero of both Predaxian Wars and has saved my skin many times. He and his brother-in-law, De-o-Nu are like my brothers.”
“You hear that, De-o-Nu,” Fa-u-Bay laughed. “You have a famous descendant with your same name.”
“I’ll remember that for my next performance review,” the other Gallicean said. “Sir, we are down to ten percent air supply.”
“Okay, Dave and Lini, we will return tomorrow at the same time. Thank you for telling us about our future. It has been a magical experience,” Fa-u-Bay said. “Good night.” The four climbed back on the shuttle and the landing ramp rose back into the ship. They could see the Galliceans pulling off their pressure suits and strapping in. A few minutes later, the shuttle rose off the ground and flew up into space.
“Time to pack, Dave,” Lini said as she rose and headed back to the cottage. “We have a busy day tomorrow.”
Dave stood and looked around. Hopefully he would leave this place tomorrow and return to his own time. While this was his prison, he felt strangely sad to leave it. It has been so peaceful here, aside from the one animal attack. He would miss sleeping with Lini and learning new languages. Even though Fola Untor had sinister motives, his actions had made Dave very happy for a while. He realized he forgot to collect the other blaster rifle, but that would have to wait for the morning. The sky was almost pitch black and he did not want to take any risks on his last night here.
Safely locked inside the small cottage, he pulled off his clothes and slipped on his pajamas and crawled into bed with his back against Lini’s. He could hear her soft breathing and the scent of her perfumed hair filled his senses. He rolled over and put his arm around her, smelling her hair for the last time. Back to reality, he thought. Lini rolled over and kissed him passionately. Her hands were all over him now and he kissed her and caressed her willing body.
Chapter 51
Dave was walking down the hill with the misplaced rifle when the shuttle drifted down through the morning sky and landed in front of the cottage. As he approached, he saw Lini lugging their packs outside where two Galliceans loaded them onto the shuttle. “Good morning,” he said as he passed them.
“Good day, Admiral,” De-o-Nu replied. “Is this everything?”
“Let me check with Lini,” Dave answered as he walked back toward the cottage. Stepping through the door, he saw her sitting at the small table crying. He sat across from her and took her hands in his. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong, Dave,” she sighed. “It just feels like leaving home.”
“I know what you mean,” he replied. “I
had the same feelings last night. You and I have been through a lot here, haven’t we?”
“Yes we have,” she smiled, wiping away the last tears. “But I know this was never home. It was a prison and now we will be free. Soon we will join the battle in our own time. Only the Source knows how that will end.”
“Sweetheart, I disagree about this not being home,” Dave replied, while gently squeezing her hands. “Every place we lay our heads is home. While we did not pick this place, we made it our own. You made it a home. You know, perhaps we should come back here someday, just to relive old memories.”
Lini laughed. It was good to hear her laugh, he thought. “Now you’re the crazy one, Dave.” She stood and said, “Let’s get out of this hellhole.”
Dave took her in his arms and kissed her. “Thank you for these months together, Lini. You kept me sane and gave me great joy here. As I told you before, if you had stepped away, I probably would have committed suicide by now.”
She kissed him back. “You are quite welcome, Dave. Come on, we have work to do on Fistan.” They walked out of the stone cottage for the last time. Dave made certain the door was secure. He knew he would be back in a few hundred thousand years after Fola Untor ran over him with the car. He did not want any stray animals ruining his bed. When they reached the ramp, Dave and Lini looked back and hugged. Their exile was now over. They climbed into the shuttle where the Galliceans helped them into the pressure suits. Once the internal atmosphere was verified, the cabin air was replaced with air breathable by the Galliceans. They then took off their pressure suits and strapped themselves in. Minutes later, the shuttle lifted off and blasted back into space. Neither Lini nor Dave bothered to look back at the red moon. It was the past.
