Step on the Sun

by Doug Plamping

  Amy was nervous after Paul’s warning. “OK, but let’s keep to the path.”

  Paul pointed at the ferns thickly lining both sides of the path, “Like, we have much choice!”

  Frank led off down the gap in the ferns. Amy could see that the concrete kept the ferns from growing on the path. The ferns made an arch over the path, crowding the sides, and completely blocking the sky. It was spooky, in a yellowish green tunnel, and the flashlights only made it feel worse. The path was wide enough for two people to walk side by side, so while Frank led the way, she and Paul followed.

  After 30 minutes, the ferns opened up to a clearing. Frank was looking down into a valley.

  “Look over there,” Frank pointed, looking through his binoculars.

  At first, Amy wasn’t sure of what she was looking for. It was difficult to see in the starlight. What she initially thought was a rocky area was actually a cluster of ruined walls outlining where buildings once stood. Who had lived here, and why?

  Frank was following the path with his binoculars. “I think that this path goes down that slope over there and then swings back to those buildings. We can make it in half an hour.”

  Paul was shaking his head. “We’ll have to come back tomorrow. We need to get to town before the stores close. Tomorrow, while Simon has a nap.”

  Amy asked, “When is it daytime here again?”

  “We need to be at the pillar by 5 am to make best use of the daylight at Simon's campsite,” said Frank.

  Amy gasped, “5 am!”

  “How will we get out that early?” asked Paul.

  “Tell them that we’re going to see the sunrise from the hills?” suggested Frank.

  Paul added, “We can get up and meet in the lobby by 4:30. It took us 30 minutes to walk here from the ruins so we’ll get there about 5:00 am.”

  “Yes, sunrise is at 5:30 so that works,” said Frank. “Make sure you stop at the buffet and get some sandwiches for tomorrow and some drinks too. We can keep them in our room fridges.”

  “Well, my parents are not going to believe that I want to get up at 4:00 am,” said Amy with a big smile. “Let’s go back to Earth, find them and tell them that their progeny are acting strangely again. Is there a restaurant booked tonight?”

  Paul answered, “No. Our families were all going to meet at the buffet at 7 pm.”

  They headed back to the pillar and then the resort, to reconnect with their families, and tell them a few white lies. Amy wished they could include the families in this secret, but how would they believe this, she wasn’t sure she believed it.

  * * *

  Dan was staying in the bachelor officer dormitories on a base near Washington DC, as the army was trying to making use of underutilized dormitory space, but that was OK by him. He travelled light and only slept at the dormitory. He hadn’t been able to get back to his office that day, so before he took off his uniform he checked his email. If he had to go to the satellite command center, he’d better know now.

  An email from the Captain on duty at the satellite control center reported that there had been two more gravitational pulses. There was a new map, but the results from the satellite’s sensors did little to narrow down the location. Nothing that required him to go back to his office.

  Dan knew that getting a better fix on the location would have to come from the new satellite software they were still testing. The Captain reported at the end of his email that the first simulation test on the software worked with only a couple of glitches, and they should be able to complete the testing the day after tomorrow. They would even have time to include some of the civilian updates that had been on hold.

  Dan forwarded the email to General Hardisty with his own comments on the expected improvements from the new software.

  * * *

  The buffet was so full that when Paul and his parents arrived he couldn’t see his friends. Amy stood up and waved both arms. Mrs. Fortezza saw her, and led her family to the seats Amy’s family had been holding at their table. It wasn’t a surprise that the Fortezza’s were late; they preferred to eat later in the evening. Paul said it was an Italian thing. Expecting the delay, Amy, her brother John, and Frank had brought plates of appetizers from the buffet to their table, and everyone was talking.

  Amy was seated between her Mom and Frank’s Aunt Gladys, and Mrs. Fortezza took the open seat opposite Amy. Amy didn’t know Italian, and Mrs. Fortezza spoke very little English, but they’d found out that they both spoke Spanish. Mrs. Fortezza had been happy to find someone she could talk to, as there were very few Italians at the resort. Amy suspected that she was a little lonely. Frank and John were at the other end of the table talking about the latest video games. The conversation at her end of the table was light, talking about the places they’d been, and the places they wanted to see, swapping hotel stories, and hints on travel.

  Finally it was Mrs. Fortezza who asked the question. She asked her husband in Italian, and then Mr. Fortezza asked the question in English. Amy had some warning as Paul’s head turned sharply to his mother, and then Paul looked at her. Mr. Fortezza asked, looking at Amy, Paul, and Frank, “My wife would like to know what is going to happen to that man you rescued? Paul told us you didn’t get a phone number.”

  Amy gave Paul and Frank a quick glance; they were expecting her to answer. She spoke loud enough to answer the whole table, but that wasn’t a challenge as everyone had stopped talking, “Simon seems to be OK now. He’s on the medication for his heart, but the specialist said he doesn’t have long to live, days or weeks only. We took him back to his camp in the jungle today, and made him comfortable there. We’ll visit him every day while we’re here.” Mr. Fortezza translated for his wife.

  Mr. Fortezza asked, “But where is he from?”

  Amy knew this could get sticky. If she told them that Simon was from another planet, the reaction would be…what? Who knows! Amy didn’t. If they believed them they would make them demonstrate, if they didn’t believe them they would have to demonstrate to prove it, and either way the police or government would get involved, and they would never again travel to other planets. So, Amy answered, “Simon seems to be some sort of travelling priest or monk. The nurses said that Simon didn’t know how old he was, but the specialist thought he was in his eighty’s or ninety’s. Simon’s first language is not Spanish or English, so we’ve had trouble understanding some things. He says he’s from a school that is at least a seven day hike from the nearest road or telephone.” Amy felt better telling a half-truth, even if it wasn’t the whole truth. “I suspect from how he talks about the school and God, that it’s a temple or monastery school. Simon was too tired to give us more information today, and said he will tell us how to get to his school tomorrow. We may be able to find a way to send them a message.”

  That seemed to satisfy the curiosity about Simon, and conversations at the table moved back to lighter topics.

  * * *

  They were all in the lobby ten minutes early. It was 4:20 am, pitch black outside. The desk clerk at the lobby counter watched them; there was nothing else happening.

  “I see we’re all anxious to get going,” Amy said, amused with her own enthusiasm for getting up this early. Loudly enough to be heard by the desk clerk, she announced, “Let’s go see that sunrise.”

  Once they were away from the resort, they collected the supplies they’d hidden in the jungle.

  “We have a few extra minutes, so I want to discuss something,” said Paul.

  “OK, what is it?” said Amy, anticipating some criticism.

  “Yesterday was a great adventure, but it could have gone wrong. I like Simon, but we were too trusting. He may be a nice guy, but there must be others out there and some are not going to be nice people.” Paul was getting into the swing of it now and his voice was forceful. “We need to be more careful. We have to consider how we go about this, and we should not agree to anything until we discuss it as a group. It’s not that dangerous in Mexico, and our
families are still happy that we stay together. So let’s be sensible about this, and be careful.”

  He looked defiantly at Amy.

  “Well, I don’t feel it was that dangerous,” said Amy, defending her decision, “but I can agree that we decided to go too quickly, and we could be more careful.”

  “Make that definitely,” said Paul.

  “OK, definitely,” she answered, “but I think we were all bored after a week on the beach or exploring ruins, there’s not even a nightclub here, and we jumped at the chance to do something exciting.”

  “True,” Frank inserted.

  “But we must be more careful now, don’t you agree?” Paul emphasized.

  “OK, Paul, I agree,” she said, trying to close this discussion. “Let’s not discuss this till we puke. If it deals with safety, you just say what you want, and if no one objects, it just gets done. OK with that?”

  “Yes, that sounds good,” said Paul, looking surprised that it was so easy. “How about you Frank?”

  “Good for me too,” said Frank.

  “OK, lead on Sub-lieutenant Fortezza,” said Amy, smiling.

  Paul gave a short nod, happier now.

  When Amy reached the pillar, she dropped the supplies in one corner with stuff Frank and Paul were carrying. They looked around to see if there was any trace of the man in the video. Paul found where he'd entered from the jungle, a narrow trail that led in the opposite direction from the dirt road, towards a nearby hill. Frank marked the path to the hill on his map.

  Paul picked up a stick and laid it across the circle in the mural. Amy watched in puzzled silence, saving questions for later. Paul announced, “I’ll go first and check everything's OK. I'll be right back.” Paul tapped the sequence on the pillar and he was gone.

  * * *

  Simon was sitting on the rocky path when Paul appeared on the platform. Paul asked, “Is everything OK?”

  “Everything is fine,” he answered. Paul nodded, tapped the sequence for Earth, and was gone.

  Simon smiled to himself and said to the empty clearing, “A soldier to protect and serve.”

  A minute later Amy, Frank, and Paul arrived together. Frank was holding part of a stick that was cleanly cut off. Frank and Paul compared it with the other end of the stick. They invisibly fitted together. Simon realized that they’d been testing his warning.

  “I was watching the second sun come up,” and Simon pointed to it, now bright enough to shine in the morning sky. He then noticed the bags slung over their shoulders and the boxes they were carrying. “What did you bring?”

  Amy answered, “We have some presents. They’ll make it more comfortable for all of us. Let’s go to the camp and set up.”

  At the camp he watched with amazement as they transformed his camp. They opened up one box, and pulled out poles, fabric, and rope. In a few minutes they had put up a shade canopy big enough for them all to sit under. The long cylindrical bags had puzzled him, until they pulled out bundles of metal and fabric that unfolded into chairs, or what they called a lounger for him to lie on. He’d seen the chairs before, but hadn’t realized they folded up. Another box contained what Paul called a camp stove; it used liquid fuel and provided heat when a round thing was turned. Again he’d seen them before, but hadn’t known how they worked. Amy put a kettle with water on the flames and it quickly heated up. He was thrilled; this was so easy, he wouldn’t have to bring firewood from Earth any more. Simon stated, “I don’t know what to say, but thank you.”

  “This will make us all more comfortable!” explained Amy as she organized the camping pots, food, and drinks, on the table, and made coffee for all of them.

  “They say ‘she shall lead and care for all’,” he answered. Seeing the puzzled looks he explained, “That’s a translation of a phrase in Galactic, which reminds me to get started on teaching you the language.”

  Frank pulled some instruments out of his bag. “I’ll video this. We can use it to practice later.”

  “What’s ‘video this’ mean?” Simon asked Frank. “I’ve seen the tourists with those boxes but I don’t know what they do.”

  Amy directed, “Frank, show Simon your video of him in the hospital.”

  Simon watched intently as Frank showed him on a small picture in the camera, video of him propped up on pillows in the hospital. The pictures moved and he could hear everyone talking. He shook his head in disbelief. “This is just like those televisions!” This planet had more technology than any other he’d seen or heard of. The One Who Tests had led him here, and now he was starting to see why.

  Frank smiled at him. “By recording you we can watch it again later and practice the words you tell us. You’ll only have to say each word or phrase once, we can practice later.”

  Simon shook his head again, the wonders that Earth had, it was beyond understanding, “And ‘a wizard shall advise and guide them’.” He explained to Frank, “Another phrase from a book written in Galactic.” He sat down on his lounger, sitting back in comfort with a sigh. “So comfortable! This will make it easier. First, I’ll tell you some of the Isolated Planets’ history. It will allow you to put everything else into perspective.” Amy, Paul, and Frank each took a chair and created a semi-circle facing him.

  He told them, “It happened thousands of years ago, we don’t know exactly when. The stories were not written down until many years after the events, and most of our records were lost. What we have you can see in our library. Our civilization was a busy, peaceful, and happy place. People traveled about using the Pathways. A new invention then. Pathways were connected yellow domes. You could walk from one side of our civilization to another. In the cities there were many Transit Stations where you could walk into an archway, go to the yellow domes, or directly to another archway on the same planet or a nearby planet. Travelers could stop at Waystations, what we call hotels for travelers. They traded goods and ideas in the cities, and some just traveled for the wonder of it. Settlement of planets in this area was continuing. Stories tell of ships capable of moving planets to different orbits around their sun. Then something terrible happened.”

  “There was an invasion of our planets near the center of the galaxy, a war, and the call went out for all our leaders and soldiers to fight the invader. Then came a plague; it spread through our planets before anyone understood what it was. People became seriously ill, and only two thirds of those infected survived. People panicked. Assuming that travelers spread the disease, mobs killed any traveler or stranger they found. The Wayfarers, my guild, sent out orders that all travel was to be restricted, but it was too late.”

  “There were riots on many planets as the hysteria spread. Mobs destroyed Waystations, blocked archways, buried pillars with rubble, and killed any Wayfarers they could find. Then something happened to the Pathways. The connected yellow domes were destroyed somehow, some think by the war. Some archways exploded, destroying whole cities. Pillars and archways seemed to lock into whatever mode they were in at that moment in time. Pillars afterwards could only receive or send, some were locked to one source or destination, a few worked normally, but many stopped working. So few of our guild survived that knowledge of how to control the archways, pillars, and yellow domes was lost. There was starvation on many planets, and some planets started raiding other planets for food, and later for slaves. With the archways and pillars not operating properly, trade was disrupted, and there was not enough food to feed people on non-agricultural planets. They had to move or die. Within a generation, half of the population in the Isolated Planets died.” There were tears in his eyes when he thought of what was lost.

  He took a deep breath. Simon felt tired, realizing that there was a lot to teach them before he died, and there wasn’t enough time. He recovered his composure, and looking at them said, “Now for the happy part. After generations had passed, people had forgotten about the plague. The remaining Wayfarers on my planet, now lacking knowledge in many areas, started to go back out into our planets, bu
t we still keep our location secret. Many generations have studied the wall carvings, and our few records, and put them to use. We can redirect archways now, we have been able to reactivate some of the archways and pillars, but we do not know how to find new yellow domes, or connect yellow domes to each other. I’ve seen almost one hundred planets in this region of stars, what we call the Isolated Planets, but we are cut off from the rest of the galaxy. My guild is trying to reconnect the cities and planets of our civilization, but most of the knowledge has been lost. That is why I tried to learn about Earth’s technology.”

  “So why did you bring us here?” asked Frank.

  “To put it simply, I need help. I have no background in technology, and our civilization is a simple one based on agriculture, fishing, mining, crafts, and trade, with one language and one set of rules. There are a few planets that have more technology, but none like Earth. I have not traveled far from the pillar, but in talking with the old men in the village I have learnt much about your planet. They loaned me books and encyclopedias, gave me newspapers to help me learn Spanish and then English. They have shown me some technology, but I don’t understand how it works. The books told me that on Earth there are hundreds of nations, languages, and cultures, technology beyond my understanding, luxury, poverty, crime, officials and fences to stop you crossing borders, and war. It’s war that’s most frightening, the millions that have died.”

  Paul protested, “Earth is mostly safe now. There's local wars and terrorism, but we're working on that.”

  “It’s OK Paul. Wars happened when people fight to defend what they have, I see that. I also see that the civilized nations on Earth are trying to stop war. It’s just that war on the scale that has happened on Earth frightens me.”

  “That’s OK,” said Amy, interrupting further protests from Paul. “It frightens me too. How do you want us to help you?”

  “To over-simplify it, I want you to represent Earth to my planet, Quenlac Three. As I found that I do not have the skills to understand Earth or its technology, I realized that for someone from Earth, it should be simpler for them to learn about us. The technology you have could be used to help restore our civilization. However, what I ask you to do will not be easy. You must learn Galactic, how to travel using the archways, yellow domes, and pillars, and you will have to face many dangers out there.”