by Bob Mauldin
He turned to Kitty’s aunts. “Aunt Cindy, Aunt Lynn, Katie will be by to explain all of this very soon, and we are sorry to have caused you any trouble. We just never expected this to happen,” he said waving his hand vaguely.
“Won’t those nasty men just come back and take us away again, Simon?” Cindy asked worriedly.
“I expect to be speaking with their boss in the next couple of days about that very matter, Aunt Cindy. You should be okay, but if they try it again, we’ll just have to make sure that there isn’t a third.” He turned to the pilots and said, “Check your pre-programmed destinations. Access destination alpha and land near the farmhouse you find there.”
He looked at his parents. “That’ll be one down. As soon as the asteroid hits, we’ll get you two home, then the rest of these good folks. Same thing applies: I’ll be putting a stop to this soon, but you should be safe enough until I get to talk to a particular individual.”
His father raised a hand to get a chance to speak. Simon expected a harangue but was surprised to get a question instead. “How are you going to ensure that the asteroid doesn’t miss its target?”
“It’s being guided down by two ships designed to move those kinds of rocks around in space. They will make sure it’s on course, and at almost the last minute, they will veer off and let it finish its run on its own.”
“Pretty intense response, though, son.”
Simon bristled. “You were the one that taught me that if someone messed with me once to whip him good, and if he messed with me a second time to make sure that it never happened again.” He looked the older version of himself in the eyes. “The only difference is that this time the bullies have been elected. The level of response to an individual is one thing, but to a government? It has to be something that will make them stop and think. Or sit up and take notice. I believe I’ve got that covered.”
Simon glanced at his console then turned to face it completely. “I’m on it,” he said to the pilot. He touched a point on his screen, and the isolated farm below appeared in minute detail: barns, silos, main house, outbuildings and large equipment all instantly transferred to the pilot’s console. He touched a point on the new screen and said, “Set down there.”
Taking off his headset, he turned back to his guests. “Mom, Pop, Miss Parker, I’ll be back in a few minutes. I’ll be seeing my aunts to their house.”
“Wait!” Sarah Parker almost yelled. “Where were we being held?”
Simon looked surprised, but answered, “Call it eastern-central North Dakota, why?”
“And we’re where right now?” she asked, ignoring Simon’s question completely.
Something in the frank stare she gave him over the tops of her wire-framed glasses made him say, “Call it central Montana. Again, why?” This time his question carried more persistence.
“I’m from Fargo, Captain. I know how far it is from one place to another around here, and we just went around three hundred miles in,” she looked at her watch, making faint beeping sounds, “about six minutes. Pretty fancy rescue vehicle.”
Simon’s smile would have done a wolf proud. “We’re pretty proud of her, but you should see her move when we shift into second.”
John Hawke watched his son usher Kitty’s two aunts toward the back of the shuttle. He leaned forward and spoke to the pilot. “Better than three thousand miles an hour? That’s around five times the speed of sound. Kind of hard to believe,” he said gruffly. For months he had been questioned by a series of nameless men about just this kind of technology. All that time he had denied knowing anything, of course. Of course! And now he sat in a chair covered in exactly what he couldn’t say but it was comfortable enough.
The pilot laughed. “And that’s about it inside Earth’s atmosphere, sir. We’re restricted to something in the vicinity of Mach four or five or so. Maybe a little faster if we were more aerodynamic, but not much. We try to keep it down around populated areas. But let us get out of the atmosphere and she’ s a bit faster than a Mamba in the long run. Right up to sub-warp speeds is what we hear out of R&D.”
The reporter in Sarah wouldn’t let her keep quiet. “I know that there were lots more people released than would be represented by the number of people here. Where are the rest of your people?”
“Aboard Galileo, three bases and at the moment, two ships,” the pilot replied, “and, well, maybe the Captain should fill you in on the details.” He turned back to his console and said, “Mikey! I have one vehicle on a straight-line near approach.”
“Been there, done that, Jeff,” came softly through the speakers. “Beat up old truck, weaving slightly. Probably a drunk headed home.”
“Thanks, Mikey.” The pilot turned back to the three people sitting in the front row. “I’m sure the Captain won’t be much longer. We need to get back to the air base soon.”
Knowing he wouldn’t get anything out of the pilot if he kept pestering about details, John Hawke asked a more innocuous question. The truth was that the answer to this one question would tell him more than he could get asking any ten others. “Are you happy doing what you’re doing?” His voice trailed off as he pointedly looked at the pilot’s collar insignia.
The pilot’s face lit up. “Oh, yeah. And I’m Commander Jeff Archer,” he said. “Lieutenant Commander, actually. Full commander wears a gold star.” He bubbled with enthusiasm. “Wouldn’t you be happy if you could live your fantasy? I mean, flying ships in space, away missions, firefights.”
“This was a real firefight, son,” John Hawke said huffily. “Not one of your war games. Real people are risking their lives here.”
“I know, sir,” Archer said somberly, his face going slack. “I was on Orion when ...”
Something in the pilot’s eyes, or maybe his posture, told John that his son had reentered the ship. He sat back easily in his chair. “Thanks for keeping an old man occupied, Commander.”
Simon sat down across from his parents and the Parker girl. “I’m glad that Kitty is the one to have to deal with that one,” he said sighing. “Take us back to the base, Jeff.” He looked at the three people and said, “It’s all true. We have a space ship, and we won’t give it to the government. We plan to release the technology to the whole world so that everybody benefits. If that makes us bad guys, then we’re bad guys.” The few other civilians just absorbed the information, as they knew from personal experience just what their children had gotten them into, albeit involuntarily.
Simon sat silent for a few seconds then looked at his father. “This little scene we’re having is your fault, you know.” At the look of shock on the elder Hawke’s face, Simon laughed bitterly. “Not directly, Pop, but you helped instill the values I live by. I’m here, we’re all here, right now because of one of your heavy-handed lectures.”
He stood up and looked down at his father. “I remember two things out of all the stuff you tried to teach me, Pop. Actually, believe it or not, I rely on both of ‘em a lot. One was, ‘When in doubt, don’t.’ That applies to so many things in life, not just passing a car on the road. The other was not to get even with the wrong person or thing. I remember egging some kid’s car and his dad called you and complained. I got my ass chewed. You told me that the car hadn’t done anything, so I should have left it alone and fought with the kid. When I said that, you’d whip me for fighting, you told me that the whipping would have been done and over with. Instead, you grounded me for two months. Well, I’m here tonight because somebody else was the egg-thrower and you were the car.”
“I don’t understand,” Doralene Hawke said.
“Mom, somebody’s mad at me and was trying to use you as leverage against me,” Simon explained. He looked at his father. “Haven’t you explained any of this to her?”
“What am I supposed to explain? What exactly did you confide in me for me to explain? How was I supposed to know the truth?” the elder Hawke shot back.
Simon smile wryly. “Maybe so,” w
as as close to admitting his father was right as he would go. “Wanna see what all the fuss is about?”
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Simon sent his second in command, Commander Robert Shipley, down to contact Galway after dropping off the rest of his passengers. “I was expecting to hear from Commander Grimes,” the gravelly voice replied to Shipley’s introduction.
“Captain Grimes has been promoted and is too busy running a ship of her own to do messenger duty. I, on the other hand, had a clear schedule and was happy to take a quick look at DC. Now, the Captain says that you and he need to discuss a meeting with one of your bosses, especially since the scales have just been balanced. He said that you should get your team together and line up whatever transportation you want out to the west coast. I’ll call you back with details later. Have a nice day, Mister Galway.” Shipley hung up the phone, having spoken for less than two minutes.
Robert and Michiko beamed down and placed calls to their friends, the Collier’s and Brandt’s. Specifically transferred back to Galileo for this trip, Robert and ‘Chiko hoped to have someone else meet them as well, making life a lot easier all the way around.
The three couples had been in touch via the radios left behind during their last visit while Galileo was en route to Earth. The high number of volunteers needed at one time was almost as large as the force trying desperately to absorb them. It would have to be handled in two trips if that many people could be found. They were looking at almost another two thousand people and were hoping to get a fair fraction of that on this trip. Enough, if they were lucky, to crew at least one of the three ships waiting in the belt. And that still left Taurus Base to be considered.
The two thousand person figure seemed a daunting number at first. The only thing that made it even remotely possible was the underground that had sprung up in the Denver area. Once converted, James Collier began to show his son how to set up cells of people where only one person in a cell knew about the next one. Making duplicates of the videos and getting them passed around was of prime importance. The video work was amateurish enough that no one could think it fake for more than a few minutes, and it was added to each cells’ equipment. Telephone schedules were arranged so that all could be contacted at need and converts or interested parties could be brought in. Meetings were held for the newbies on a monthly basis, never in the same place twice, and those who agreed to join were assigned to cells.
The process continued to grow and evolve until meetings began to take on the aspect of church revivals, with people showing up from out of nowhere. Once word began to spread about a particular meeting, Jim and his wife, and the Brandt’s, Ted and Alice, were hard pressed to keep any sort of order. Never being able to give a particular date, all they could say was, “Be ready. The call will come. They are out there and on the way back.” The repetition was getting tiresome.
Until the call came. “Robert! Where the hell are you? Are you ready to do something to help us? We’ve got people ready to take our heads off. They’re starting to think it’s all a hoax. What took you so long?” Ted Brandt was indignant, to say the least.
“It takes time to build a space station, Ted. We got back as soon as we could. And we had an errand to take care of first. Are you able to get some of your people together tonight? I’ll stop by and give you something and show you how to use it. We’ ll put on a little demonstration. I guarantee that your people will settle down after that.”
“You better be right, pal. We can’t hold this together much longer without proof of some kind. The will to believe is only so strong, you know. Especially in something that flies in the face of everything these people were taught to believe.”
Robert said, “I know. I’ll see you in fifteen and explain what we can do.” With that he hung up the phone, turned to ‘Chiko and explained their dilemma. “I think we should give a demonstration like we got when we joined. Want to beam in and freak out a bunch of people?”
She smiled. “I would love to! Let’s go set it up. The best thing is to give Jim a locator disk and show him how to activate it when he has his people in one place. You think?” Agreeing, Jim grabbed the keys to their car and headed for the door.
Robert handed over a disk to Jim. Ted had been called and he and his wife were there as well. Babs and Alice looked on. “You recognize these. They send out a signal. They let us know where to beam down if we haven’t been there before or if it’s too crowded. Set it on the ground, press here,” he said, showing the small depression in the top of the disk, “and the signal is sent. These are coded to you, so we will know that it’s time for the show. Trust me on this, your people will believe. If you could have a space about the size of a football field clear would be great. I’ve already spoken to the Captain, and he’s decided that it’s time to start showing a little of what we have to the people of Earth, not just our own volunteers, so the reason for all the open space, believe it or not, is so one of our fighters can come in and land. It won’t be able to stay long, but it should be long enough to make believers out of the worst skeptics. How soon can you get your cell leaders and a few from each cell together? By the way, how many do you have enlisted?”
Jim grinned. “You said you needed about two thousand, right?” At Robert’s hesitant nod, Jim laughed. “Well, buddy, we’ve got about a quarter of that right now. If you pull off what you say you can, I’ll bet you that we can have several thousand more within a week. Man, we’ve got people from all over the country camped out around here. Word spreads, man, word spreads. You may need to start recruiting from somewhere else after this. I think it’s going to get way too hot, real soon. As my dad says, every good under-grounder knows when it’s time to go under, himself.”
‘Chiko let out a small noise. “Several thousand? We could crew all three ships plus the new base as well. And have people left over for the next ships. Some are going to be resentful of being left behind. Perhaps we should institute a lottery-type situation for the time being.”
“Maybe, Honey, maybe,” Robert mused.
“Well, Mister Galway, we have you booked into the Quality Inn in Billings, Montana.” You can check in any time after two P.M. tomorrow,” Commander Shipley said. “Two rooms in your name. We’ll call you sometime after you check in and let you know where the conference room is.”
“Billings, Montana,” Galway responded with resignation in his voice. “That’s where this all started. Where will you people send us next?”
“I really have no idea, Mister Galway,” Shipley responded. “I’m merely passing along the Captain’s instructions.”
Being as how it was Simon and Kitty’s home turf, it wasn’t too hard to have someone inside Logan International, the airport that serviced Billings and the surrounding area, when Galway’s plane landed. A disguised Lucy Grimes reported that it actually was Galway and company and beamed back aboard Galileo. Meeting Simon in his ready-room, she asked, “Are you going to set it up like the last one?”
Simon pursed his lips and said, “No, I don’t think so. Things like that tend to work only once. I intend to be a little more above board this time. I did tell Commander Shipley to tell them that there would be a conference room set up, so I expect any of their extra man-power to be expended trying to cover all the possible conference rooms we could be meeting them in. Instead, I think I’ll have them picked up by a limo and delivered right to my front door.”
Lucy was aghast. “To your home?” she finally got out. “Isn’t that just asking for trouble?”
Simon smiled. “Sure, why not live a little? It’s time to be a little more open. Daniels has been inside, with and without my permission. You know that story. Why not let Galway in, too? But it’ll be on my terms, this time. And we can have this session be a little more informal. They will feel a little more at ease and a little less antagonistic.”
“Well, you know best, Simon,” Lucy said dubiously.
“A statement that is not always true,” Simon retorted.
“Infallible, I’m not. Anyway, we’ll let ‘em stew for a little while, then we’ll all beam down to the house, call the limo, and have a tea party. I figure me and Kitty at first with two side boys That’s just to show that we aren’t alone. A few others, armed, out of sight to discourage unwanted visitors. Then we signal you and John to beam in. Another move to show our strength. We’ll also have several people around the neighborhood to keep watch. And, of course, Galileo will have her sensors trained on the area the whole time. That should provide enough deterrent to provide an interesting evening without too many surprises.”
On the stroke of seven P.M., the phone in Galway’s room rang. The voice on the other end told him to get his party together and go outside where transportation would be waiting. The four men trooped out the front door of the motel to find a limousine waiting at the curb. Brandon didn’t miss the significance of the all black uniform and baseball cap of the driver.
“Galway party?” the uniformed driver asked. At Galway’s nod, the driver opened the door and gestured the men inside. He then walked around to the driver’s side, got in, and pulled away from the motel. At Galway’s query concerning their destination, the driver looked into his rear-view mirror and said, “Sir, I’ve been instructed to just deliver you without answering questions of that nature. But, I can say that we’ll arrive at your destination in about seven minutes.” He continued, “Now, normally, I take a more indirect route, and point out some of the sights of our fair city, but I’ve been given to understand that you wouldn’t be interested in something like that.” Looking into his rear-view mirror and seeing the curt nod that Galway gave him, the driver went back to his job and navigated his over-sized vehicle through the streets of Billings.
