High Edge: A Seeders Universe Novel

by Smith, Dean Wesley

  He could see a dining table and a kitchen beyond.

  Everything was in brown tones and photos of beautiful natural scenes were scattered along the walls, some of which looked slightly alien in nature.

  “This is my apartment,” Gina said.

  “On the ship?” Benny asked.

  “On the ship,” Gina nodded. “Sorry for the mess. It was a rough few days getting ready to join you.”

  Benny actually liked that the apartment looked lived in. If it had been spotless, he would have worried.

  She led the way into a side office with three large screens and a comfortable chair.

  She tapped a spot on the desktop and the screens came alive. She dropped into the chair like she had done so for a very long time, her fingers moving over a panel he could barely see in front of her.

  The image of the main area in the Empire State Building came up. The boys and the professor were still watching television.

  Gina’s hands moved and she quickly checked in on Candice. She was sound asleep.

  Then Gina pulled the image back out so it felt like a plane over New York. The city was dotted with green lights.

  Gina shook her head, then sadly she said. “We lost three more today.”

  “How many are there on the island now?” Benny asked, kneeling down beside her so he could see her screen clearly.

  The four green dots in the Empire State Building were clear. And in another high rise building about twenty blocks to the north there were another seven green dots.

  The rest were scattered, mostly solo.

  Benny didn’t want to think about being alone in all that smell. Survival, or any reason for survival, would seem like a distant thought. They had to help some of these people.

  Gina quickly cleared the board and brought up another screen. Then in a drawer to her right she dug out two ear buds.

  She stood and gestured for him to sit in the chair.

  He did, feeling odd being in her chair.

  She handed him the two ear buds. “Put those in your ears and face the main screen.”

  “What will happen?” he asked.

  “Over about an hour you will be given all the history we know of the Seeders, what we can all do as far as skills, what you would need to do to join, and our mission statement. All that basic stuff.”

  “So I just sit and watch?”

  She nodded. “It will feed you the information as fast as you can absorb it. It mostly takes about an hour. At least that’s what it took for me. You won’t feel the time going by.”

  “What will you be doing?” he asked.

  “Cleaning my apartment,” she said, smiling. “And doing some dishes.”

  “Can’t say I’m not scared about this,” he said.

  “Just think of it as a movie without popcorn.”

  He took a deep breath, moving his shoulders and neck around, then exhaled. She remembered how scared she had been with this first introduction. But after that, she hadn’t been afraid at all.

  “I’m ready,” he said, putting the two ear buds in.

  “See you shortly,” she said.

  Then she pressed the start button.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

  GINA PUSHED THE button and saw the images start to flash past in front of Benny. He didn’t stiffen or anything, just sat there, staring straight ahead.

  He was incredibly handsome. She could just stare at him, and she had a hard time believing he was really sitting here in her office, in her apartment, on the ship.

  She sure hoped he decided to join the Seeders.

  She was starting to wonder what this future job would be like without him working with her.

  She turned and headed for the door. Her apartment needed a good cleaning and the dishes would start smelling if she didn’t do something with them soon. This hour was as good a time as any to do that.

  She was almost out the door when behind her Benny said, “Wow, that was something.”

  She spun around and went back to her screens as he pushed back and pulled the ear buds out.

  She quickly checked the program. It had run completely.

  He had absorbed that entire program in less than three minutes.

  How was that possible?

  “You all right?” she asked as he put the buds on the desktop.

  “I’m fine, and impressed,” he said. “Can’t imagine why a group like the Seeders would want a city boy from a backwards planet to join up. But it sure has some nice perks, from what I can tell.”

  She opened her mouth, than shut it, then opened it again, then shut it again.

  He looked at her. “Is there something wrong?”

  “I honestly don’t know,” she said, her stomach twisting and fear clamping down on her stomach.

  “Chairman Carson, permission to talk with you?” she said into the air.

  “Granted,” he said.

  “Something’s wrong, isn’t it?” Benny asked, worry filling his eyes.

  “We’ll find out in a minute,” she said, and transported them to the chairman’s office.

  He seemed to be surprised that Benny was with her. When they both appeared, he frowned.

  “Change your mind?” the chairman asked.

  “Actually, no,” Benny said, smiling. “I’m pretty convinced I like what I saw.”

  The chairman glanced at Gina and she nodded.

  “Three minutes,” she said.

  “Holy shit,” the chairman said.

  Then the chairman looked up slightly. “Chairman Ray, would it be possible for you to join me?”

  A moment later Gina was stunned again as one of the most powerful and oldest of all Seeders appeared in the room. He glanced at Chairman Carson, then strode over and extended his hand. “My name is Chairman Wade Ray.”

  “Benny Slade,” Benny said. “Nice to meet you.”

  Chairman Ray looked at Benny and stepped back. “Have you decided to join us?”

  “Just took the introduction video,” Benny said. “I want to sleep on it, but I like what I’ve seen so far.”

  “He did the introduction video in three minutes,” Gina said.

  Benny looked at her. “I thought you said it was going to take me an hour.”

  “It took me an hour,” she said, smiling at him, but she couldn’t make her stomach stop worrying about what this might mean.

  “It takes most people an hour,” Chairman Ray said, smiling. “But not all. Just as your memory could not be wiped clear of your time on the ship, the Seeder gene you carry is so strong, it allowed you to absorb that lesson almost instantly.”

  “And what exactly does that mean?” Benny asked, clearly as worried as Gina felt.

  “It means I hope very much you decide to join us,” Chairman Ray said, smiling.

  “And if I did, would I be able to stay here and help my planet recover?” Benny asked.

  “We would desperately need you to do just that,” Chairman Ray said. “And help us all plan the future recovery.”

  Benny nodded and Gina let out a sigh of relief. There was real hope that Benny would join the Seeders.

  “Do me a favor, would you?” Chairman Ray asked Benny. “You saw in the training how Seeders can jump from one spot to another? And I assume Ms. Helm has shown you as well.”

  Benny nodded.

  Chairman Ray stepped back closer to the wall. “Imagine yourself standing here beside me looking at Ms. Helm.”

  “I’m not sure what you mean?” Benny asked.

  “Just believe you are standing beside me, facing Gina Helm. Close your eyes and try it for me once. Just believe you are here.”

  Gina watched as Benny shrugged. She had no idea what Chairman Ray was trying to do.

  Benny closed his eyes and a moment later he was standing beside Chairman Ray.

  Gina covered her mouth to not allow the gasp to come out.

  Benny opened his eyes and staggered back against the wall in shock, shaking one of Chairman Carson’s picture
s, but not knocking it down.

  “Did you do that?” Benny asked.

  Chairman Ray just shook his head and smiled. “You are a natural Seeder, the gene is so strong in you. There are four others like you on this planet. We made sure all four survived and none of them remember the rescue because we had spotted them ahead of time and kept them knocked out. We didn’t find you until the transport.”

  Gina opened her mouth and then shut it. She had no idea what to say or even what it meant for a Seeder to have a strong gene. She didn’t even know Seeders had special genes until earlier today.

  “Is this normal to have five naturals on one developing planet?” Chairman Carson asked.

  “So far, this is the only five we have found in this galaxy,” Chairman Ray said.

  Then he looked at Gina. “No one told you, but you were a natural as well, only one of two in your galaxy so far. We hid that information from you because at that point we didn’t know what to do.”

  Gina could feel her mouth opening, then closing.

  She wanted to breathe, but doubted she could at the moment. She had no idea what it meant to be a natural, but she was stunned that Chairman Ray and others had known about her and followed her.

  Chairman Ray smiled. “I would say you two have a lot to talk about. I hope you will take our formal training, Benny Slade. I have a hunch it won’t take long.”

  “What would happen if I decided to do so,” Benny asked.

  Chairman Ray smiled. “Then I would personally help both you and Gina develop to your full potential so you could help us save this planet.”

  Gina could say nothing. Her mind was gone.

  Chairman Ray knew about her when she was recruited. She kept thinking about that over and over. She didn’t feel special, at least no more than any other Seeder.

  Chairman Ray nodded to them, then to Chairman Carson.

  And then he vanished.

  Gina just wanted her mind to return. One solid thought.

  Anything.

  “How far away is he going right now?” Benny asked, staring at the spot where Chairman Ray had been.

  “No telling,” Chairman Carson said. “Across the galaxy, maybe. A couple hundred thousand light years, maybe. No way of knowing.”

  Benny laughed. “At some point I really need to learn how far both of those measurements are.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

  BENNY HAD NO idea what had happened, exactly, in the chairman’s office, or even who this Chairman Wade Ray was. The guy seemed important, but Benny would have to ask Gina later about that.

  But right now Gina seemed as stunned as he was feeling.

  The training information was now in his mind and he could remember it all when he focused on it.

  He knew Seeders were humans that went from galaxy to galaxy seeding the human race on Earth-like planets. And then hundreds of thousands of Seeders remained behind the front line to help out the planted humans advance and get past all the self-destruction points to become advanced democratic cultures.

  Many Seeders just remained and settled on the planets they helped, others, like Gina, moved around.

  There was no information about any sort of “natural seeder” people in the introduction program. Not a word.

  However, it had talked some about the ability of Seeders to transport, but it said in the video that took training. Seemed he could do that already. It scared him to think about that. Training sounded like a damned good idea when it came to jumping all over the place.

  Gina, after a moment, seemed to recover slightly and nodded to Chairman Carson. “We’ll talk with you soon, I’m sure.”

  The chairman nodded and Gina jumped them to her apartment.

  Again he was impressed on how comfortable her apartment felt, but he really wanted to be back in the city.

  “How about we go to our apartments on the surface?” Benny said. “I think I need to be a little grounded.”

  Gina nodded. “Two to transport to the surface,” she said in the general direction of the ceiling. At some point he’d ask her why she did that.

  A moment later they were standing in Benny’s living room.

  Around them, out the windows, the once bright city was dark, only shadows of buildings like ghosts in the summer night. Overhead the stars were bright, filling the summer sky. More than likely this was one of the first times the stars could be seen from downtown Manhattan in a hundred years.

  He knew those stars out there were full of humans. The idea of that just stunned him.

  And after he helped this planet recover, he could go out there if he wanted to.

  The idea of that flat scared him more than he wanted to admit.

  He moved over to the kitchen area and pulled out a popcorn maker and started it up.

  Gina had not said a word since they got back. She had gone around and sat down on the couch staring out into the dark night and all the stars beyond the windows.

  He poured them both a glass of white wine, even though he wasn’t sure if she even liked wine, and walked over and set both glasses down on the coffee table in front of her.

  Then, saying nothing, he went back to the kitchen area to wait for the popcorn to pop. He was pretty sure she hadn’t even noticed him.

  Finally, when he had a large bowl done and two glasses of ice water as well, he went back to the couch and sat down a little distance from her.

  He put the green plastic bowl of popcorn between them. It smelled wonderful and he had salted it, again without asking if she liked popcorn or salt on popcorn.

  He set her glass of water beside her untouched glass of wine, then leaned back sort of sideways on the couch so he could see her beautiful face. Her gaze was distant, not really in the room. He had no idea what she was thinking about, but he needed to find out.

  And he needed some answers as well.

  “Mind telling me who this Chairman Ray person is?”

  She seemed to come back into her eyes at that point, then nodded.

  She took a drink of water, then seemed to see the wine for the first time when she set her water glass down. She picked up the wine and sipped it.

  “This is good,” she said. “Thanks.”

  He took a drink of wine as well, then a handful of popcorn, waiting for her to answer his question.

  “As far as I know,” she said, holding the wine in her hands, “Chairman Ray is one of the oldest and most powerful of all Seeders. No one knows how old he really is, but he and his wife are rumored to be maybe two hundred thousand years old, if not more.”

  Benny had the popcorn half-chewed when she said that. His mind told him from the information he had gotten in the training program that extreme long age was possible. But grasping that kind of age was far, far beyond him.

  He was still having issues with the fact that Gina was two hundred years old.

  “Powerful how?” Benny asked, pushing the age part back. “My understanding from the training thing is that there is no real organization that runs the Seeders.”

  “That’s true,” Gina said, “as far as I know. But with age comes respect and the oldest tend to help plan things. But realize, I haven’t had much more Seeder history than what you got earlier.”

  “So I have some special Seeder gene, more so than most Seeders, and it seems so do you,” Benny said. “Any idea exactly what that means?”

  “Not a clue,” she said. “I wish I did. I didn’t even know there was such a thing as a Seeder gene until they told me that was the reason you could remember the ship.”

  Benny realized that in the training program he had gone through, there was not one word about that either.

  “So we’re both kind of flying in the dark here,” he said.

  “Pitch dark,” she said.

  She took another sip of wine and nodded. “You would think after two hundred years, this kind of thing wouldn’t happen to me. I feel like I did when I was approached to be a Seeder. Confused and puzzled.”

  “Good
,” he said. “That makes two of us.”

  She laughed and set her wine down and took a handful of popcorn. After she tasted a handful she smiled. “Perfect.”

  “So do you think I should join?” he asked. “Get the training?”

  “That’s up to you,” she said.

  “Have you ever regretted it?”

  “Not for an instant,” she said.

  “So I know it’s my decision,” Benny said. “But I could use your opinion.”

  “My personal opinion is that I want you to join for selfish reasons,” she said. “I want to work with you, get to know you better, and save a lot of people with you.”

  “Some of that doesn’t sound so selfish,” he said. “But we can do that without me joining.”

  “For a while,” she said, nodding. “But I have a hunch if you could do some of the things I can do, and we both get whatever advanced training Chairman Ray is talking about, we will be even more effective. And save even more people.”

  Benny glanced out over the dark city. He remembered clearly those green lights on the screen in Gina’s apartment on the ship. Each person, each green light, needed help. And some needed it quickly or they would not survive for long.

  He had to make this decision quickly. And then get on with the job at hand.

  “Let me sleep on this for the night,” he said. “And I’ll have a decision in the morning.”

  “Good idea,” she said, nodding.

  “But honestly,” he said, “I’m leaning toward signing up.”

  When he said that, it felt right.

  She smiled. “I hope you keep leaning.”

  “So one more question and then we can relax and watch a movie or something,” he said.

  “Anything,” she said.

  “How far is a light year?”

  She looked at him for a moment, then laughed. “Light travels at one-hundred-and-eighty-six thousand miles per second.”

  He nodded. He remembered that from school somewhere.

  “A light year is how far light travels in one year’s time,” she said.

  And once again he couldn’t imagine that distance. He got the thousands part.

  He shook his head. “Some way to relay to me how big this galaxy is?” he said.