EarthBound

by D M Arnold

  “Yes. We have a comm station moored above their sun's north pole. The station connects us with our communications systems, and also ties into the Earth computer network. Communicating with you will be as easy as if I were in Sudal and you were here.”

  “What are your plans?”

  “I'm taking the train to the fusion plant this morning. My packet leaves at zenith.”

  “Why the power plant?”

  “To collect diamonds from the ashpile. I must bring at least a half- kilogram of diamond crystals to the Agent-in-Chief. The Agency sells them on Earth and the proceeds fund our operations there.”

  “I don't understand the value of those rocks on that world,” she said, glancing toward the balcony. “My skimmer's here.” Nyk gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek. “Good luck on your assignment.”

  “I'll be in touch.” He watched her climb into the skimmer.

  * * *

  Nyk stepped off the shuttle and onto the transit platform, a large spaceport in synchronous orbit. He headed toward the departure lounge for the interstellar packets. His father-in-law spotted him and waved him into his office. “Hello, my friend and son.”

  “Veska. I'm on my way to Earth.”

  “Yes, I've diverted the Gamma-5 packet for your benefit. How does Senta feel about your assignment?”

  “She's not happy about it. She'd rather I'd signed aboard a scout cruiser.”

  “Life on an ExoScout's hardly a stroll in the park. Many of those cruisers spend long stretches out of range of the comm net. At least on Earth, you have communications. I'm always more than happy to divert a packet to bring you home if you're needed.”

  “Tell that to your stepdaughter,” Nyk replied, “unless she wants me out of reach for a year.”

  “Your packet boards at port three, middle level. Good luck on your mission.”

  Nykkyo picked up a case loaded with empty stasis canisters and capsules. He stepped into the lift, rode it to the middle level and proceeded to the departure lounge.

  He could see the packet through the viewports. It was docked with the transit platform and being serviced by tender shuttles. Nyk entered through the docking tunnel, found his seat and belted himself in. He glanced out the viewport for a final look at his world -- an indigo sphere suspended in the black of space.

  The packet's airlock shut. The starliner detached from the platform and sped away. The viewport shutters closed and the subjump jolted the ship. The vessel had left orbit and was now outside Floran's heliopause. Another indicator flashed to signal the interstellar jump. He felt the jolt as the warp coil fired, rupturing the timespace fabric and permitting the starliner to travel two hundred lightyears in an instant. The viewports opened.

  Nyk could see the comm relay station as the packet approached in a docking maneuver. He walked through the docking tunnel into the station's main workroom. A short, older man with receding grey hair greeted him. He was Seymor, the Agent-in-Chief for North American Operations.

  Zander had told Nyk of Seymor -- that he had grown fond of an Earth lifestyle. “Seymor's sponged a personal fortune from Agency coffers, a fortune worthless to him on the homeworld. It's no wonder he never sets foot off that planet.”

  Seymor addressed Nyk in English, “Greetings, Nykkyo Kyhana. From now on, you will answer only to the name Nick Kane. Your wife's name is Cindy. You were born on the 27th of April 1974 in Augusta, Georgia, and your parents are deceased. Your assigned locale is near Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The wardroom is over there. Select some appropriate Earth clothing and we'll head down. It's September, so you won't need anything too warm.”

  Nyk found a pair of jeans and a polo shirt and selected a pair of running shoes. “Very good, lad. You look every bit the university researcher. Here are your identity papers -- birth certificate, passport and Social Security card. This is a debit card you may use to access funds deposited in your draw account. I believe you have something for me.” Nyk turned over the bag of diamonds. Seymor examined the contents and scowled. “Next time, bring bigger ones. These will do for now. I will be riding to the surface with you. You are qualified to operate a shuttlecar, yes?”

  “Yes, I've had the required simulator training.”

  “Simulators and the Real Thing are like Theory and Practice,” Seymor lectured. “In theory, they're the same. In practice, they almost never are. I want you to take the controls.”

  Nyk initiated pre-launch diagnostics and tested doorseals. He started shuttlebay decompression and the bay door retracted. The shuttle rolled forward and leapt into space. He checked the subjump coordinates and pressed the actuator. The warp coil discharged with a bang. The windows and windscreen lightened and he saw a deep blue planet flecked with white, swimming in the void. As the craft descended the sphere grew until it filled his field of vision.

  “Well done, lad,” Seymor said. “I'd think you've done this a dozen times.”

  “I have -- in my dreams.” He computed an orbital insertion vector, executed it, and activated countermeasures to make the craft invisible to Earth radar.

  Seymor pointed to a control on the panel. “You can use the timeline vernier to make slight temporal adjustments in your warp subjump. The goal is to arrive when North America is in the dead of night. We're a bit early and we'll have to sit in orbit awhile before we risk setting down. You can save some time by adjusting your vernier, remember that. It's a little tricky, but you'll get the hang of it.”

  Seymor gave Nyk the go-ahead for landing. He nosed the car down using its inertial sink to absorb re-entry forces. The shuttlecar landed on target, a quiet country road. His final destination was programmed into the navigational computer. At Seymor's direction, Nyk piloted it into a small city near Milwaukee and parked in the driveway of a house.

  “Don't power down the craft yet,” Seymor chided as Nyk began to switch off the life-support system. “We must pull it into the garage. This vessel resembles an Earth automobile at a glance, but we don't want curiosity-seekers taking too close a look.” Seymor stepped out. He unlocked and opened the garage door and motioned Nyk inside.

  Nyk pressed the unistick forward and the shuttlecar rolled into the garage. “Okay, secure it.” He initiated an orderly shutdown. The craft went dark and he sat in it for several moments. Then he opened the door and put his foot onto the hard-packed dirt floor. A quiver ran up and down his spine -- he was now on Earth! He inhaled the smells the place exuded.

  “Come along, lad.” Nyk walked from the garage and glanced around. The dim glow of street lamps illuminated the undersides of leaves on the trees lining the street. He looked at the houses. All were similar but each differed in detail. Many had cars parked in their driveways. He heard the sounds of the slumbering city, of sparse late-night traffic on the distant main highway and buzzing from the trees.

  Seymor climbed the steps leading to the front porch of the house and beckoned Nyk to follow him. He opened the door and Nyk stepped inside. “As you recall from your training, Earth days are shorter than Floran days. You'll need some time to become accustomed to them. This is your home-away-from-home.”

  The house was an older, two-story dwelling on a small city lot. Seymor pointed out the kitchen, bath, and bedrooms. The furniture was old and battered, with wear showing on the upholstery. Seymor led him upstairs and into a bedroom converted to a study.

  He handed Nyk a small, black device with a button. “Here is the most important feature. Press the button.” Nyk pressed it and a wall of bookshelves swung open to reveal a concealed room behind. Inside was a rack of equipment, some of it Floran and some of Earth origin.

  “This is one of our communications uplinks. There is a GravNet transducer concealed beneath the roof. This equipment is a GravNet transceiver, and this is a protocol adapter.” Seymor pointed to another rack. “That is all Earth equipment, connected to a high-speed data circuit. This house is one of five such facilities in North America. Remember, under no circumstances should any Floran technology be left lyin
g about the house. Keep it in this room, and keep this room shut and locked unless you have a specific need to use it. Now ... it's two in the morning, and I think we'd both benefit from a few hours' sleep. We'll conclude the briefing in daylight.” Seymor retired to the house's spare bedroom.

  Nyk walked around the darkened house. The kitchen cabinets and refrigerator were empty. He sat on the sofa in the living room. Built-in bookshelves stood vacant except for an old television set. He climbed the stairs to the master bedroom, stretched out on the bed in his clothes and shut his eyes.

  * * *

  Dawn's first light roused Nyk. He descended the stairs from the master bedroom. Seymor hadn't arisen, so he decided to look at the planet's sights in daylight. He opened the front door, stood on the porch and felt the cool dampness of the morning air. Walking onto the lawn, he stooped to pick a blade of grass, put it in his mouth, and chewed it. A grin spread across his face.

  He began looking around attempting to identify some of the plants he saw. An ash tree, he thought, a maple and an oak. Nyk walked to the oak and stroked its bark. The house caught his attention and he compared it with his mental image of the one Koichi described in his journal.

  Seymor called to him and he and went inside. “What's your impression of the place in daylight?”

  “Green! The vegetation's green. Everywhere, green. I'm trained in the appearance of Earth plants, but seeing it for real!

  “This house must be similar to the one Koichi describes in his journal. It's in New York, in Queens, and it belonged to the family for two hundred years before him. You're stationed in New York, you might've gone past it.”

  “New York's a big place, lad, and I rarely get to Queens. Let's continue the briefing.” He handed Nyk a black device. “This is a laptop computer. It may be primitive by Floran standards, but these do work, most of the time. They get the job done, and we can eliminate the risk of assigning you Floran communications devices. These have revolutionized the way we do our jobs. Even five years ago, you wouldn't believe the worry I had when one of our agents needed contact with the homeworld. With these, we've eliminated the need to issue homeworld technology into the field, except under special circumstances.

  “When connected to any data port in the world, you may use it to communicate with myself or other ExoAgents via Earth Internet email. You all have coded identifiers. If you or another agent is off-planet, messages are routed and sent via GravNet for delivery on Floran or any colony planet.

  “This computer can also access the Floran TachNet. I'll show you how. Maybe you'd like to speak to your lovely wife. If you would like for her to see you on her end, you must attach this miniature camera, which clips to the top of the display panel.” Seymor manipulated the keyboard and a blue window appeared on the screen, then an image. It was Senta.

  “Hi korlyta. I made it to Earth.” Nyk exchanged small talk with her.

  Seymor interrupted him, “We must go to the lab. I'll introduce you to the college brass as FloranCo's new botanist. As long as they can keep cashing our checks they'll leave you alone. Are you hungry?” Nyk said he was. “Good. As part of the deal with the school they issue us a university staff card. It is useful as it allows you to take meals at the university union, which is a short distance from the lab, quite convenient. The food is not very good, but it is expensive.”

  Seymor escorted Nyk to the campus offices and obtained keys to the lab and Nyk's staff card. “You'll be fine, lad. If you need anything, you can call me or send me an email message. It's all in your training packet. Well, I'm off to New York. Enjoy!” He picked up the sack of raw diamonds and left.

  3 -- Sukiko

  Nykkyo unlocked the door to the Chem Annex building, entered the lab and looked around. Old laboratory benches were covered in years' worth of dust and grime. Seymor had told him the structure's history. Built in the mid 1970s, the wood-frame building had provided a temporary home for the Chemistry Department's graduate school. When the Science Center opened in 1990, the university abandoned the annex as a research facility. He walked along the concrete floor, assessing the effort required to make the place usable. Seymor had hired a cleaning crew and Nyk awaited their arrival.

  He was regarding some circa 1950 electrochemistry equipment when a knock at the door interrupted his survey. The cleaning crew arrived and Nyk began directing their efforts.

  He had found some empty filing cabinets and discovered they would accommodate his stasis equipment. He asked one of the cleaning crew to help him move the cabinets into position underneath a lab bench.

  “I clean, I don't move,” the worker replied.

  Nyk recalled a lesson from his Agency training. He reached into his pocket and produced a twenty-dollar bill. The worker snatched it, winked at him, and the heavy steel cabinets were in place.

  The crew left and Nyk began installing the first piece of Floran equipment, a power converter. He snaked the power cord through an opening in the rear of the filing cabinet. The plug wouldn't fit the power sockets. Perhaps, he thought, he'd done enough work for one day.

  He walked toward the house, passing the university union. Students were coming and going, some talking boisterously and engaging in rowdy horseplay. Nyk shook his head and continued on his way. By now he was quite hungry and he knew the cabinets at the house were empty. He stopped at a small grocery along his route.

  His ExoAgency training course on Earth food came into his mind. “Earth people are, by and large, flesh-eaters. This is a difficult concept for a Floran to comprehend ... while we will not discourage an ExoAgent on assignment from experiencing Earth meat products, we do advise caution...

  “...the approach we recommend toward Earth food is simply not to think about its origin. Many Earth natives employ this approach as well. Those who wish not to consume flesh products should seek items labeled 'vegetarian'...”

  He passed the meat counter and lost his appetite. He saw a section labeled Health Foods, and there he found a can of vegetarian lentil soup. The picture on the label looked like a package meal from the homeworld. He bought it, trudged home and ate the soup cold, straight from the can.

  “It sounds like we shipped you the wrong power converter -- probably one for Europe,” Seymor said over the phone. “I'll send you a new one via overnight express tomorrow. You'll have it the day after that.”

  Nyk snapped open the laptop computer and clipped on the digital camera. The vidphone program activated and he selected Senta's locator code. She answered and he saw her image on the screen. “Hello again korlyta.”

  “How was the first day of your assignment?”

  “I'm cold, tired and discouraged. I hadn't realized adjusting to the time difference would be so difficult. The Earth population doesn't appear as Koichi described it. The students here are loud and rowdy, and most of what's in the food store is stuff I wouldn't dream of eating.”

  “Now aren't you happy you refused to forget this ExoAgency nonsense and sign onto a scout cruiser? That would've been more like an extended vacation.”

  “Zander told me Agency assignments are the most rewarding in the Service.”

  “You're getting exactly what you deserve for believing one of your friends instead of me.”

  “Veska says life aboard a scout's tougher than you might imagine.”

  “Think what you want.”

  Nyk terminated the call and flopped on his bed.

  * * *

  The replacement power converter arrived and the stasis canisters were working, concealed in the locked filing cabinets. Nyk tested the equipment by placing a strawberry from the grocery into a stasis capsule. He placed another in a petri dish sitting on the lab bench. Now, a week later, the berry in the dish was moldy and grotty while the one in the capsule was as fresh as the day he bought it.

  He had produced cultures of some vegetables by isolating individual plant cells and putting them into a nutrient broth. After a few days he had little plantlets. He could create an entire living plant fro
m the smallest cell sample.

  It was now noon and he decided to dine at the union. He flashed his staff card at the door, stood in line and bought a bowl of vegetarian chili. His scan of the dining room found a single empty table near the rear door. He scooped a spoonful of chili and reacted with pleasure and pain to the mix of flavors.

  A woman's voice startled him. “Do you mind if I join you? I think this is the only empty seat.”

  “Please do.”

  She sat across from him and began eating her lunch, fixing her eyes on her tray. Nyk compared her appearance to his memory of Koichi. She had the same black hair and yellow-brown complexion. Her face was an oval with prominent cheekbones and full lips. She was petite, with a well-proportioned figure. Her eyes were deep brown and had a pronounced epicanthic fold, more so than Koichi's. She was beautiful, and Nyk couldn't avoid staring at her.

  “Excuse me -- are you a Japanese?” he asked.

  “No. I'm an American.” He made eye contact, and then she looked down. “My mother is Japanese. My father's family came from Japan at the turn of the century.” She took a bite from a tuna salad sandwich.

  Nyk scooped another spoonful and gazed at her. “You have the most beautiful eyes. I've never seen eyes so dark.”

  She glanced up, looked down, gulped her mouthful and grasped her tray. “If you'll excuse me, I have a class.”

  Nyk watched as she stood, dumped her tray and walked out. He followed her to the door and observed her proceed into a classroom building. He estimated she was about his age, maybe slightly older. Nyk was 31 Floran years old, about 25 Earth years. She's not likely a student, he figured, perhaps an assistant professor.

  * * *