The Tower in the Mist
Page 8
“I was thinking of that. I just don’t want Earth Two pissed off.”
“Fine,” I said. “Do I have to pick up the guy from Earth Three? Seriously, two years in a speedster with a guy from Earth Three…”
“Yup. You can get him on your way back from Earth Four. Then it will only be a year. Just tell him to shut up.”
“Okay. I’ll get the ship ready.”
“And Jack,” he said. “Thanks.”
I nodded as I got up. I wondered what I’d gotten myself into. But few people said no to Bill Bartlett.
Signed, Jack Powers
October 12, 2098
Two years later, I brought the wizard, the guy from Earth Two, and the guy from Earth Three to the conference room of my resident pod. he wizard was a tall blond guy with a beard. He didn’t say much during the trip. He’d asked if our dragons were tame, and I said we didn’t have any dragons. Then he asked about unicorns and I told him to take a nap.
The guy from Earth Three had long hair on the sides, a bald head on top, glasses, and short silk pants that buttoned at the knee. He made me nervous. He kept talking about the rights of his people and asking me for wine. I did what Bill told me to. For about the hundredth time, I told him to shut up and listen.
The guy from Earth Two was kind of quiet. He kept looking at the conference room like he was studying the technology. I didn’t trust him. He looked like he knew too much already. Bill shook their hands and sat down. Then we all took our seats.
“Welcome, gentlemen. No ladies here today?”
The guys from Earth Two and Three laughed. The wizard smiled.
“Yes, well, then, let’s get on with the business at hand. My name is William Bartlett, and I’m the current president of this planet. As you can see, we live in this pod. There are one hundred and twenty-five pods on Earth One, on different continents, but I believe two of them are merging soon.
“Anyway, we brought you here to discuss changing the names of our planets for the purpose of clarification. We have a random name generator in our computer that will help us select four names…”
“What is a computer?” the guy from Earth Three asked.
“We’re not getting into that now, are we?” I said.
“It’s a machine,” Bill replied.
“Well,” Earth Three said. “You will only need three names, sir.”
“Mr. Franklin, I believe? Benjamin?” Bill said.
“We will not be changing the name of our planet, sir.”
“Are you absolutely sure?”
“We are sure.”
“Then why did you come here?” I said. I was pissed off.
“I admit I came purely out of curiosity. My fellows don’t know that I’ve left the, uh, planet.”
“What if they find out?” Bill asked.
“Yeah, won’t they think you’re consorting with demons?” I said.
Mr. Franklin frowned and looked down his nose at me.
“We will not be changing our name,” he repeated.
“Fine, well, that leaves just three, then,” Bill said.
“So, he gets to keep Earth?” the guy from Earth Two cried.
“Mr. Edison, you agreed to the change already,” Bill said. “You can’t change your mind.”
“But I didn’t know they were keeping it.”
“And they won’t be getting the technology we promised you.”
“What’s technology?” Franklin asked.
“Nothing you need worry about,” I replied.
“You’ve made your decision, Mr. Franklin,” Bill said. “Jack, please take Mr. Franklin back to his room.”
“I can find my own way,” Franklin said as he left.
“What are you giving us?” Edison asked.
“We’re giving you aerodynamics.”
“And what the hell is that?”
“Flight,” Bill said. “The ability to fly over land.”
“So, why not just give us transports?” Edison said.
“There are too many variables. You don’t have the fuel. We can’t risk pushing your society into decrepitude. Do you want to end up like us?”
Edison sat back in his chair. “So, we could fly in the air? Like birds?”
“Yes.”
“And what will you give me?” the wizard asked.
Bill looked at Geezer. “We’ll discuss that later, Geezer.”
“Does that mean you’re giving him transports?” Edison said.
“No. Geezer has no need for transports. Besides, his planet doesn’t even have the internal combustion engine yet.”
We all laughed. The wizard didn’t.
“Fine,” said Edison. “Let’s get on with it.”
Bill pushed a button and the table lit up. I’d seen the generator in action before. It would flash a name and we’d vote on it.
The first name to appear was Pryll. Bill liked the sound of it. I thought it was okay, but Edison didn’t like it.
“How do you say that?” he asked. “Don’t like that y in the middle.”
“I’d say it sounds like pr-ill,” Bill said. “I like the y. It’s different.”
“I’ll pass,” Edison said.
“Then we’ll take Pryll,” Bill said.
He wrote it down.
He pushed the button again and the name Sunge appeared.
“How would you pronounce that?” Edison asked.
“I’d say Sunge, like soong, with a hard g.”
“I kind of like that,” Edison said.
“Then you accept Sunge as the new name for your planet?”
“I’ll agree to it.”
Bill wrote it down. He pushed the button again and Tresteria appeared.
“Tresteria,” Bill said. “Nice. I like it. What do you think, Geezer?”
“It’s quite lovely,” he said.
“Then it’s acceptable to you?”
“It is.”
Bill stood and shook hands with Edison and the wizard. The wizard whispered in Bill’s ear and I overheard Bill say, “Two years.” Everyone seemed happy enough, and I took Franklin, Edison and the wizard home. As I left the wizard by his tower, he smiled at me. It was kind of a sad smile, like he’d seen the future and he didn’t like it, but what the hell could he do about it?
Bill was waiting by my room door when I got back to Pryll two years later. That name would take some getting used to. His hair was streaked with white.
“You never told me what you gave the wizard,” I said as I activated the lock on my door. “And he wouldn’t talk about it.”
“I asked him to keep it to himself for now. He agreed to let us come to Tresteria to colonize. I didn’t tell him we’d have come no matter what. I asked him what he wanted and do you know what he said? Peace! He doesn’t want us to bring war. Can you believe that? He’s pretty naïve for a wizard. You know what their history is, the British, I mean. One damned war after another.”
He was breathing hard. He was getting old fast.
“Maybe we can change that,” I said as I walked into my room.
“What do you mean?”
I put my bag on my bed.
“I mean, we can take over,” I said. “We have the history books. We already know how to run things, where the resources are, how to make weapons.”
“Democracy or monarchy?” he asked.
“Neither worked very well, but I kind of like the idea of a king. A king demands and people do what he wants. Feed everybody and they’ll back you up.”
“You make it sound so simple, Jack,” he said.
I shrugged.
“We sent a transport to Sunge. Edison got them to accept the new name. Apparently, they call him a wizard, too. He told them he could make them fly and they believed him.”
He was wheezing.
“Sit down,” I said. He sat on the only chair in my room. I sat on the bed.
“I’m going on the first transport,” he said.
“I didn’t know we’d already plann
ed one.”
He nodded his head. “We’re going in two months. We have to find a location for a colony.”
“And you want me to pilot, right?”
“Who else can I trust?”
He looked at me.
“I’m twenty-eight, Jack. Do you think I stand a chance of reversing this?”
“We won’t know till we get there.”
He stood up.
“I’ll set a date after talking to Marian,” he said. “She’s gonna bitch and moan, but I can’t help that. She doesn’t have a death sentence hanging over her head. She can come on the next transport.”
“Just tell me when.”
He left and I took a shower. It had taken a year to drop off Franklin, Edison, to take the wizard home, and another year to return. My speedster was built for speed and endurance. It could take a beating. I’d yet to see the transport that could take a trip like that and land in one piece.
I was willing to do the job, but I knew the odds of seeing Pryll again weren’t good. I looked at the shelf above my bed. It contained everything I owned. I was twenty-four. If I stayed here, I’d be dead in six years. I’d begin turning gray soon.
Bill would be twenty-nine if he lived through the trip. If all went the way we hoped, Tresteria would give us more time.
I pulled the items down from the shelf and began to put them in a small overnight bag. A history book, a penknife, and a picture of my mother. Now I was ready to leave.
Signed,Jack Powers
Ode by Arthur O'Shaughnessy
We are the music makers,
And we are the dreamers of dreams,
Wandering by lone sea-breakers,
And sitting by desolate streams,
World-losers and world-forsakers,
On whom the pale moon gleams,
Yet we are the movers and shakers,
Of the world for ever, it seems.
This book is dedicated to the dreamers of dreams.
Author A.L. Jambor
Amy Jambor hails from the state of New Jersey, but has lived in Florida for almost fourteen years. She is a wife, mother, a grandmother, and a writer. Married to the love of her life for thirty-seven years, she knows that true love exists and longs to share her dreams and fantasies with the world. Writing is something she has always loved. As Lenore Butler, she writes historical romance. As A.L. Jambor, she has written books in the genres of science fiction, children's stories, time travel, and mystery. As Amy Jambor, she explores the realm of space fantasy. She invites you to join her in a world of make-believe where anything can happen.
http://aljambor.com/
https://www.facebook.com/ALJambor
The Tresterian Chronicles on A.L. Jambor's Author Blog
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Daughters of the Evening Star
Under Rose’s Star
Mercy in the Moonlight
Where’s Audrey
Mystery Shorts
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A Christmas Mystery
The Room in Grandma’s House
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