“You have chosen to remain anonymous by withholding your name,” pointed out Adam finally. “Please grant us the same privacy by remaining silent about our secrets. They are ours to share or not share.”
“I shall do exactly that,” promised the Samaritan with a respectful nod.
Adam opened up an MRE pack and ate half of it, handing the rest to his sibling. Thomas in turn offered the food to the Samaritan, but the stranger held up a cautious hand and smiled politely. “Here in the desert, I have vowed to eat sparingly. The occasional locust or small reptile has kept me going this long, and it shall continue to do so. I do not mind, as it is my choice.”
“You have a lot of courage sir,” Thomas told him. “I think you will help your people build a bright future.” He scooped the remaining food out of its metal tin and heaped it into a large bowl. Then he opened his own MRE and added everything from that to the container. He glanced over at their new friend, whose nose had perked up noticeably upon smelling the food. Slowly the huge dog lumbered slowly to its feet. Then it approached the bowl and promptly consumed everything in it.
“That’s supposed to feed us if we’re here on a long term basis,” protested Adam with a disapproving shake of his head. “What the hell are we going to eat when our supplies run out?”
Chuckling lightly, Thomas eyed his brother mischievously. “When in Rome…” he said simply, continuing to laugh. “Perhaps the occasional locust or reptile will have to suffice for us as well.”
The sunlight was already beginning to recharge the brothers’ implants, allowing them to deploy a minimal shield against the growing heat. It took them a few minutes to gather together all of the blankets, most of which were with the Samaritan. Once that was completed, the subject of what to do next was inevitable. “If it’s okay, we’d like to travel with you for a while,” Adam suggested to the stranger. “We don’t totally know where we’re going yet… we just know that the person we’re looking for is probably out here in the desert.”
“I would welcome the company,” decided the Samaritan with a wry smile, eyeing Fika warily, “especially if we should unexpectedly run into additional members of the Roman military.” He winked at Thomas.
The small eclectic group of four set out shortly after, continuing in a direction that took them primarily toward the south. The Samaritan informed them that he wanted to visit the Dead Sea. Eventually, when a break in the mountains presented itself, he planned to break off toward the east and descend all the way to its western shore. Until he found such a pass he reassured the brothers once again that their company was most welcome.
The Rohs tended to walk in a straight line, for the most part, confident that they could manufacture as much water as needed. The Samaritan, by contrast, constantly weaved to the left and the right, quite literally searching for anything edible. He was also attracted to areas where the Earth was damp, indicating the possible presence of underground water. His progress, at times, was so slow that Thomas finally convinced him to drink more of his water. He pointed out that accepting help from others was a necessary attribute in any leader.
It was difficult for the two brothers to understand what the Samaritan must be enduring, because the strong sunlight provided plenty of power to maintain the minimum shielding they required in order to block out most of the excess heat. It remained unclear as to whether or not their companion even noticed that neither Roh was sweating in the slightest, because in the end he chose to say nothing. Fika maintained an alert status that impressed Thomas greatly as he watched their massive, furry friend moving across the rough terrain much more easily than his human counterparts. By mid-day they were making very good time again and had noticed no other human activity. The four of them were truly alone in the wilderness of the Judean desert.
Allowing the Samaritan to take the lead, Adam dropped back near his brother’s side and studied him carefully. “How are you doing?” he asked inquisitively, curious as to where Thomas’ thoughts were. “Are you still convinced this is the man we’re looking for?”
Thomas shook his head negatively. “No. Unless all the generally accepted historical documentation on the life of Jesus Christ is somehow massively incorrect, then this is in fact not the person we are looking for. It’s really quite disappointing.” He glanced down at his boots, slightly embarrassed.
“You revealed an awful lot about us and our purpose here,” observed Adam.
“You could have intervened and taken the lead at any time.”
“I know.” Adam smiled thinly. “This is your first field mission and I thought I’d let you practice using your own judgment. After that fiasco with the Romans, it’s quite clear you need to work on that.”
Chuckling moodily, Thomas shot his brother an annoyed glance. “Flattery will get you nowhere.”
They continued walking together, both men studying the gray-robed form of the Samaritan in front of them while heat shimmered in waves around him. This day was proving to be even hotter and deadlier than the previous one, which was great news for the Roh brothers and their energy-starved brain implants. For their companions, it was a terrible burden. Fika was roaming all around them, sometimes to their left or right and at other times in front or behind. He was always on the perimeter of their small group, waiting and watching for any signs of intruders. Adam felt much more heartened to have the big dog along for the proverbial ride, even though Thomas reassured him that he was close to reestablishing contact with the Lexington. Soon they would have full power restored to their defensive systems along with mental links to well-trained Sentinels aboard the Earth warship to watch over them.
“Have you considered the possibility that Jesus Christ may not be the reason we’re here?” Adam asked his brother after a time.
“Not really. There is very little other reason for us to have ended up in this place and time.”
“Seriously Thomas, think about this for a moment or two. If we had landed on the southwestern side of the Rubicon would you think we were supposed to find Caesar and consult with him?”
“We didn’t end up there and I really don’t think Caesar would offer any advice that would be helpful.” Thomas shot his brother another really annoyed look. “Why are you digging at me like this?”
“Because I’m trying to appeal to the scientist inside of you,” responded Adam firmly. “I agree with you that the likelihood of where and when we are is undeniable. There is a monumental probability that you are correct in your conclusions, otherwise I wouldn’t have allowed this plan to proceed.” He paused, frowning. “I also believe that you are correct about David’s silver watch. I think it’s some sort of device designed to guide us through a series of steps. The problem I have with all of this is the room for error that that kind of really vague guidance introduces. It’s easy to misread signs that aren’t specifically clear. After repeated failures prior to each of the successes on your CAS experiments; you should know that more than anybody.”
“What are you trying to say?”
“I’m asking you to try and keep an open mind that there may not be a specific, clearly defined reason why we are here.” He gestured toward the nearby figure of their companion. “Take him for example. Until he informed us that he was a Samaritan, you were almost fully convinced that he was the man we are looking for. Why? Because he happens to be a loner on a personal mission of fasting in the Judean desert at this particular time and place. You were reading into the situation exactly what you wanted to believe, not searching for factual confirmation of it. That can lead you down a very incorrect, dangerous path.”
“I guess I kind of was reading what I wanted to believe into the situation,” admitted Thomas reluctantly. Fika approached him and dropped the remnants of some sort of four legged creature at his feet, then rubbed his leg repeatedly with a low growl of fondness. “Yuk!” said Thomas as he kicked at the mostly skeletal remains. “You go ahead and eat the rest Fika… that is your catch after all. You worked hard for it.” He hugged the
dog’s head warmly and petted him.
“You shared your breakfast with him,” Adam grinned. “The big dog is just trying to return the favor.”
“I think we’ve finally found the first life form in the history of the Earth to actually like the taste of MREs,” agreed Thomas. “Most dogs in the modern era would attack me if I tried to feed them that stuff.”
“How do you think the watch works?” Adam asked suddenly, out of the blue. “Do you really think it’s running software of some sort, or is it an actual artificial intelligence… sentient, non-sentient perhaps?”
Thomas thought about the questions a long time before answering. “If it’s programming,” he replied finally, “then it’s on some sort of a higher level that we can’t yet see or understand. We always think that we comprehend the laws of physics… how things work and why they work the way they do. But then… POW… out of nowhere something else always comes along and clearly demonstrates that we’re only touching the tip of the iceberg.” He paused, watching Fika head off in a westerly direction, sniffing the ground the entire way. “Remember the scientists of the early twenty-first century… Hawking and those guys?”
Adam nodded. “New devices worked but they couldn’t explain how. Scientists put out papers conclusively proving how the universe worked, or how black holes formed and functioned. Then a decade would pass and they would notice something new and suddenly be saying ‘wait, wait just a minute… let me revise that’.”
“It’s similar to what you’ve said in the past about the Bible,” added Thomas. “Those books were originally written long ago, in times like this one, when people thought the Earth was flat. From their perspective they were recording what they believed was taking place without fully understanding it. Some of them obviously embellished their stories… a lot… and some didn’t. That’s why we have to rely on good old common sense when other people reach conclusions. I’m glad we have the CAS drive now and access to Noah and the resources of his scientists on Tranquility. We can really, truly, finally start to understand how and why the universe exists the way it does.”
“In a way, I think our twenty-first century science was just as limited in its analysis and understanding of things as the people writing in this timeframe,” Adam continued. “We knew the Earth was an oblate spheroid because we could put a satellite in orbit and photograph it. Studying black holes and other galaxies was another matter entirely… something that had to be done based solely upon what we could observe from Earth using telescopes and antennae receiving dishes. Science defined a periodic table based on everything we could find… on Earth. But that isn’t all there was. We found so much more once we left the Sol system in the Pathfinder.”
“Some people claim to swear by science, as if it’s somehow impervious to error when compared to religion,” growled Thomas. “And yet so much of science is researched and defined by corrupt, imperfect people. Have those folks, I wonder, who rely solely on science ever actually fact-checked the work of a lab rat who is about to lose his grant money if he doesn’t produce a specific result?” He frowned darkly. “That’s why I liked our base on the moon. The politics pretty much stayed behind on Earth.”
Adam nodded. “And undeniably Earth is a pretty tiny speck in the grand scheme of things. Using logic and the analysis of what we could see and ‘hear’ from the study of telescope images and electromagnetic emissions could only teach us so much. It wasn’t until we built the Pathfinder that we could actually go out and truly take a closer look and find things that were otherwise undetectable.”
“I keep thinking about your encounter with David in the Wasteland,” pointed out Thomas. “Just think how far above us Noah’s people are on both the evolutionary and technological scales. They are a society that was literally able to shape its own galaxy and embed it in the center of the Poseidon gravity well. And even with all that knowledge and all of those abilities, they were still unable to keep their implant technology on-line while you were speaking with David. Somehow, that crazy old guy completely shut them down and they can’t explain how he managed that feat to this very day. That’s a pretty impressive accomplishment, in my book!”
“David,” ruminated Adam thoughtfully. If he hadn’t left that watch with me, Dr. Simmons would quite probably have diagnosed me with PTSD and pulled me off the battleground as swiftly as possible.”
“I don’t think so,” Thomas countered self-assuredly. “We discussed that and the simple fact that we were unable to maintain our Sentinel-link with your implant was proof enough that you weren’t simply hallucinating. I was at the Science Lab when that happened and they couldn’t find a malfunction of any kind, even after checking over everything. They were still in the process of double-checking, as a matter of fact, when your conversation ended and everything suddenly came back on-line again.”
Walking steadily as they continued to converse, Adam suddenly noticed two things. First, the terrain immediately surrounding them had grown suddenly stony and high. Looking first to the left and then right, he could also see cave openings along the sides of several of the rocky hills. The second thing he noticed was that Fika suddenly paused in his circular patrol around the Roh brothers and growled ominously. Bright red blips, four of them, suddenly appeared on Adam’s eye HUD and he reacted instantly, gesturing with a sharp finger motion in his brother’s direction. “Watch your back Thomas, there’s someone else here!” he called out.
A man dressed in a filthy white robe dropped onto his back from above, his long curved knife flashing in the bright sunlight. Adam’s defensive shielding flared electric-blue in response, causing the man to start cursing in his native language. Ducking forward, Adam allowed the unknown assailant to roll off of his back. The still-chattering man glared at him with hate-filled eyes as he landed in a seated position facing Adam. Three other men dressed similarly appeared out of the rocky crevices, all wielding sharp knives. They smiled at the Roh brothers malevolently with gap-toothed grins. For a moment all of them simply stood there, looking at each other. Then Fika landed on one of the men with a huge snarl and bore him to the ground. The other three ignored his screams for help and immediately attacked Thomas and Adam.
“Desert outlaws,” growled Adam. Since he was obviously the largest, two of the men separated and approached him from in front and behind. The elder Roh dealt with the thief in front of him first, catching his descending knife blade easily with the fingers of his left hand. Again electrical energy snapped and popped as he closed his hand around the weapon’s sharp edge and yanked it out of the man’s hand. Then he picked up his stunned opponent, pivoted on his left foot and tossed the attacker onto the startled man behind him. The two went down hard, grunting and groaning in obvious pain. Another wave of six attackers materialized out of the surrounding rock. Now there are ten of them, mused Adam heatedly. Wonderful, just wonderful.
Glancing briefly toward Thomas he noticed his younger brother was clearly agitated. “Stay sharp little brother,” he snapped fiercely. “Conserve energy and don’t kill anybody unless you have no alternative.”
“Are you kidding me… there are TEN of them!” Thomas shouted back at him.
“That’s okay,” replied Adam confidently. He stepped forward to challenge four more attackers in front of him and struck the lead opponent directly on the breast bone with the heel of his hand. It was a hard blow, but not nearly as solid a hit as he had used the day before on the Roman soldier. The bandit flew backward into two of his friends and again three men went down in a complex tangle of interlocked arms and legs. No cracking of ribs or breaking other bones, he thought as adrenaline surged through his bloodstream. These guys will probably simply kill their seriously injured without a second thought.
A loud snapping sound caught his attention and he turned, smiling grimly while watching Thomas drove off another pair of assailants with the same types of mini wrist gun pulses that he had deployed against Fika during their first meeting. Howling with rage and surprise, the two me
n fell back. Bodies continued to fly back and forth over the next few minutes, as Adam and Thomas closed in next to each other and oriented themselves back-to-back. Occasionally observing his brother while fending off the attackers in front of him, Adam noticed that Thomas was behaving much like he had during his first few days in the Wasteland. Inexperienced and unused to hand-to-hand combat, Thomas was simply letting his opponents move close enough to try and knife him. As soon as their blades crackled uselessly against his skin shield, he would seize an advantage by tossing them against a rock face or throwing them into other opponents just as Adam was doing.
Outstanding job little brother, Adam thought triumphantly.
A quick head count revealed that there were only six people left standing. Curious as to the cause he took a precious few glances behind him. Fika was tearing into three more men and it was obvious he was trained in the art of evading their knife blows. Nevertheless, one of the dog’s attackers had retreated far enough to a position where he pulled a smaller, thin-bladed throwing knife off of his belt. He was raising the weapon and preparing to kill the unsuspecting animal when Adam’s left wrist gun emitted a high energy pulse that caught him from behind. Screaming in agony, the desert thief flew forward and landed face down on the ground with a smoldering fire burning in the small of his back.
The chaotic environment of the melee was exactly the kind of thing Adam had experienced repeatedly during the Wasteland mission… images of past fights flashed through his mind as he put down first one attacker and then another. It was gradually becoming painfully obvious to the remaining outlaws that their efforts were having no success in bringing down their targets. A pair of throwing knives struck Adam in the torso, their impact velocity instantly dissipated. Their forward flight simply stopped and they dropped to the ground. Smiling rebelliously, he deployed the same type of mini-pulses that Thomas was using. The howls of pain and anger from the attacking enemies increased steadily even as their combat capable number continued to decrease. Confident that Thomas and Fika had the matter well under control, he began climbing the rock face on his left toward a nearby cave. A sixth sense he couldn’t explain urged him on.
The Pathfinder Trilogy Page 98
