Melinda's Dreams (The Advent of the Stars)

by Paul Harm

  She did not look anything like a chief engineer. “Ok but still Thunderbolt’s never going to beat Lightning in a 300 km long run.” Claire continued to taunt her. “What do you know about boats anyway.” This fish obviously will not go for the bait. “I know nothing about boats.” Claire admitted and looked away from her as if their conversation was over. “But I do know something about aerodynamics. So, from seeing Lightning hanging behind Thunderbolt’s slipstream I guess the engine of Lightning is inferior for long distance races. That’s all I’m saying.” Rosanna’s chin dropped a bit. Now that is the face of someone who swallowed bait. “But hey, its ok I didn’t want to be embarrassed by a stranger myself.” Claire mocked as she waved goodbye and started to walk away. “Wait a second their lady.” Rosanna yelled after her somewhere between annoyed and angry. “You’re on. If I win you take me to the fanciest restaurant in Port Said. If you win. What do you want if you win?” “Same thing!” Claire shook her hand and sealed the deal. “In order to ensure my best interests, me and my husband will pilot my boat and you try to outrun us.” “I’m looking forward to this delicious meal you going to pay me.” “We meet here in two hours, if you have the guts to show up I shall introduce you to the interface.” Rosanna announced. “So be it.” Claire agreed.

  As Claire and Joseph approached Rosanna she typed something on her tablet and the two boats approached the beach. While they came closer Rosanna introduced Claire to the user interface of the boat and with Claire’s background at Newcorp industries she had no problem understanding any of it. “Just one last thing.” Rosanna pointed out. “Be careful those things have a nasty acceleration.” Claire nodded. They were hovercrafts, so they had no problem with shallow water and in a couple of minutes they were on the boats and headed towards open waters. They took position and after a timer counted down, the boats went into full acceleration. 4G is nothing to make fun of. If Joseph would not have been carefully placed in the co-driver’s seat he would have enjoyed the race from the back of the wall. Breathing was hard, but it was possible and after a couple of seconds the acceleration was gone.

  The boats shot over the ocean and since both of the women wanted the other one to pay dinner they kind of went flexible on the safety protocol. The Thunderbolt stayed ahead for a long time, but the Lightning was just close behind. Even though they travelled with peaks of 340 km/h the boats barely made a sound except the occasional water splashing when they jumped up and down the little waves the wind created on the open sea. After an hour the boats kept trading first place every couple of seconds falling in and out each other’s slipstream. Finally, Port Said showed up. Joseph did not look very well, he wasn’t exactly sea sick but maybe he was high speed sea sick. Anyhow he barely held it together and since in his opinion the task was to get to Port Said he told Claire. “Slow it down a bit ok we’re almost there. No need to be so relentless. Give the lady a nice meal for smuggling us out of Jerusalem.” Claire looked at him for a brief moment. Her eyes were focused, her muscles tense her mind sharp as a razor blade. - Good damn it she isn’t going to let that woman win if she can help it. - Joseph thought and tried to get comfortable with his high-speed sea sickness. He did not mind that she did not even give him an answer.

  Years of living together and first-hand experience told him it is better to just deal with what is happening until it is over. Unfortunately, even though the two women spent almost half an hour talking about the specifics on the boats and how the key to winning is the slipstream they never really agreed on the exact finish line, so to speak. The tablet in front of Claire fortunately showed the docking station of her boat and so she thought this is where the race ends. Fortunately, Joseph did not see that. Falling in and out of each other’s slipstream they approached the haven with a furious speed and when they started their curve to make it towards the docking station they splashed a couple of dozen people on the harbors boardwalk and by a hair’s breadth not crashing into it. Joseph felt the curve looked towards Claire and saw as a mad vein pumped at her forehead. No time to talk, time to let her do her thing. They approached still at almost half of their top speed towards the docking and no one was willing to slow down just yet. Claire and Rosanna almost simultaneously swung their boats 180° around and started the breaking thrust with the familiar 4G.

  Joseph felt horrible and disorientated, not to speak of his growing desire to vomit. The 4G let loose of him and he felt they stood still in place he looked to Claire with a reproachful frown, opened his strap and ran out towards the harbors toilet to vomit his guts out. In the meantime, Claire and Rosanna met between the wooden deck the two docking places for the boats. “I can’t believe it.” Claire stated totally ignoring her husband’s pain and suffering. “Me neither.” Rosanna mentioned shocked staring at the same tablet Claire stared at. “A draw!” They declared simultaneously. “I guess I’ve to buy your meal than.” “And I’ve to buy yours.” They started to laugh, and Joseph lurched out of the toilet as they stood their laughing and tapping each other’s shoulders. “God, I hate boats.” They started to wave at him and walked towards him. “You look ruffed up, buddy.” Rosanna smiled at him as she tapped his shoulders. “Thank you.” He replied. “Let’s go, we have to pay our dues Joseph.” And they went towards Port Said’s best restaurant to eat as much as they could, since the other one had to pay for their food, the race was not over yet. Except of course Joseph who just sat there. It probably was the rush with which they had to move nowadays. Maybe it was the blue ocean that gave them enough distraction. Maybe it was the competition in Claire’s case that made her forget the horrors and wonders of the other day. But in the back of their minds both Claire and Joseph began to understand that there was no turning back to old habits, old values or their old life. In the back of their mind they started to worry a little about their daughter who did not know that her parents apparently went rogue on what they thought was a stable and utopian world order.

  As the two ladies paid for each other’s meals they could not help but admire each other’s appetite since the bill was ridiculously high. “Thanks for the treat old lady.” Rosanna mocked Claire. “You’re welcome, doesn’t it bother you that you couldn’t win against a fossil like me?” Rosanna’s grin stopped. “It was a gesture of good will you know.” “Ah was it now.” They started to laugh. Oddly enough the bill was about as close as the race was and after saying their goodbyes Claire and Joseph walked towards the next Cascade entry. As they walked through the city the sun set behind them. “I think we need to rest for now, let’s get a room or something before we travel any further.” Joseph proposed as he leaned against a wall. “You look horrible Joseph maybe we should get a good night’s sleep.” They wandered to an inn and rent a room with the communicator Akachi gave them.

  After Joseph took a long shower he laid next to Claire. “So where do we go next?” “The coordinates of the Schwarzschild archive, I checked them when we were at the restaurant.” “So where are they pointing us at?” “Well they point, and by point, I mean something isn’t accurate with those coordinates, us in the middle of nowhere in Russia.” “But isn’t that a good thing? The middle of nowhere seems to be where I’d hide my stuff.” “I don’t know, it seems to be awkward but that’s what they were pointing at. Look!” Joseph showed her on his communicator which displayed a hologram in front of it. “Holy cow that’s in the middle of nowhere. The next city is like... how do we even get there?” “Not without military equipment that’s out of reach for us on foot, and the climate is rather hostile. Well maybe we can get there with a local guide, but it’s going to take weeks to get there by foot.” They looked at each other in disbelief.

  No one from Salera is used to facing temperatures below 10 degrees Celsius. Even to suggest there is such a thing as sub-zero temperature is an insult to Salerian lifestyle. Joseph closed the hologram and laid the communicator away. He got up and went outside on the rooftop terrace. Fortunately, the stars were out already and when Claire followed, he laid her arm aroun
d her. The stars shone bright and the moon started its climb from the east to the south where it will reach its peak to set again in the west. The moon was still only half visible and the other half hid under the horizon. Under the clear night sky, the stars gathered and showed all of their beauty to the earthly watchers. “You think she’s alright?” “Of course, she’s. She’s a big girl.” Claire whispered softly. Joseph looked towards the moon in a mixture of hope and pain where their daughter lived nowadays. Some strange feeling befell him as he wanted to look away from the moon and he was forced to watch it a bit longer. He could not tell what it was, a strange sensation caught his mind and fixed his eyes on the moon. “Schwarzschild was an ancient physicist you know.” Claire pointed out leaning her head on Joseph’s shoulders. “How ancient?” “Hm... I think he developed something about an event horizon of a black hole the same year Einstein published his general relativity. I think that was 1915 or something like that, definitely during the first world war.” “That’s the time when we started to name everything in the solar system in detail!” Joseph explained startled as he reached in his pocket and activated his communicator. “Give me a moon hologram.” Over the communicator the moon hologram hovered and slowly rotated. One of the sides was dark the other one in that familiar mystical white. Claire watched astonished. “69.94° North 121.31° East show me the spot EVA.” The hologram jumped for 180° towards the dark side as a little red line pointed to a crater on the dark side of the moon. Schwarzschild Crater. “That’s it!!!” They screamed simultaneously. “But we don’t have a chance of getting there, we barely made it out of Jerusalem, how could we possible go for the moon again?” Joseph wondered shaking his head.

  “Maybe I can be of some assistance.” Akachi’s stood in the entrance of the rooftop terrace. “Oh, and sorry to interrupt your privacy I just let myself in since no one seemed to open, and I was rather worried about the two of you. You can’t imagine how relieved I was when my communicator checked into this hotel. So, I came and see for myself if you’re alright and how your journey is going.” Even though they felt a bit intruded on in their privacy, Joseph and Claire were glad Akachi showed up and solved a problem they just started to realize they had. “Well and here I’m thinking it’s going to be hard to get into the back land of Russia’s wilderness. Traveling to the far side of the moon is going to be a walk in the park in comparison.” Claire sighed as she spoke and shook Akachi’s hand. “You got any idea how we can get to there? And before I’m happy to see you I’m furious you should know.” Joseph’s voice was angry and sharp. “We witnessed a murder the other day, our guide was blown to pieces in the desert.”

  “What the fuck is going on here Akachi! What’s this secrecy and all this hiding while we move. We’re going up against something bigger than I expected. What’s this all about?” “I don’t know.” Akachi’s answer was as calm as it was honest. “I don’t know what’s going on. All I can tell you is that I’m working or have been working on Melinda’s command, but I haven’t heard from her or seen her since you departed from your old life. For now, all I can tell you is that I have known Melinda since I was a boy and I grew suspicious about the way the world seemed to be shaped in her presence. A deep suspicion rooted in me and I knew that she knew there was something behind the curtain no one saw, and barely anyone felt. But there is a corruption in the core of this world humanity calls civilization and I know Melinda has a deeper insight than she shares with us. Probably because of what happens with people who start to see through the fog of convenience.” “We witnessed a murder Akachi, whatever it is we’re messing with here, it does know we’re on to something and it must interpret us as a threat by now. For God’s sake they shut down Jerusalem’s cascade system because of us. That’s nothing that just happens.” “I know, and I’m sorry for your loss. All I can tell you for now is to go straight ahead, the time to look back and mourn for your losses will come, move forward decisively and fast, both of you don’t look back. There’s only one direction, straight ahead.” “Who’re you Akachi?” Claire asked with an honest clueless expression on her face. “I’m a faithful servant of humanity Claire just as you are. But like you I feel there’s something strange going on, something I can’t see but I can feel it, for a long time. Unfortunately, Melinda never told me anything, just like she did not tell you and for now the Information you’ve is more than I ever knew. This crater on the moon.” Akachi pointed at the hologram. “What’s it?” “We found coordinates in the last research facility at first we thought they’re on Earth, but Claire gave me a hint and I found this, the Schwarzschild crater.” “Ah that’s why you want to go to the moon, as I mentioned before this is something where I can be of assistance. Tomorrow I’ll give you the two communicators that will get us to the moon. Until then gather your strength, you’re going to need it.” With that he turned around and was gone.

  “Cryptic.” Joseph stated. “Agreed, let’s not think about it for now.” Claire took his hand and laid into the big bed with him that stood on the terrace. They laid there for a while and rested watching the celestial body above them a mythical and beautiful feeling ensnared them. Slowly they saw the big bang and how all of the billions of suns formed in the early stages of this universe, how it is that we can only see as a part of our own universe since even light itself runs out of energy thus creating a spherical observable universe for the humans on the planet. But instead of feeling small or feeling inferior towards this powerhouse that is our universe they felt chosen, special and they knew in all the heavens all the suns all the gravitational forces all the planets, rocks, meteors, moons and nebulas in all of the creation only this small minority of living beings had a couple of choices every now and then, everything else was truly in subatomic slavery from the beginning of time.

  After they slept under the starry sky in the bed that stood on the roof terrace they had a quick breakfast and left early to get to the moon as soon as possible. When Akachi showed up early in the morning as the sun just began to rise. He had two new communicators for them and already waved them in their direction when he approached them. “Good morning. Here take those you have to go to Cairo first and then leave through the Atlantic cascade. I don’t think our enemies predict this move so we probably can sneak in undetected.” He handed them the two new communicators and collected the other ones. “Are you two good to go?” “As ready as we’re ever going to be.” Claire declared in a mixture of sleepiness and grumpiness. “Ah yes that’s the spirit.”

  “Thank you Akachi but how does this telepathic beacon thing work?” “Well since I’m not a telepath I can only tell you how it was described to me. Generally, all people feel within a certain range of intensity a very well-known range of emotions and feelings. If for example a panic would arise a telepath would be able to sense it asap like you see fire burning with your eyes, he sees panic reigning within the human mind. So, this is the case for a crowd but for an individual the telepath has to be able to isolate him somehow. This is easiest when the telepath is physically near that person but the telepath we’re dealing with is way more powerful so if it finds someone who is acting odd. Well it first probes the mind running through the last couple of hours of memory after that the telepath can do whatever he wants the victim is helpless as the telepath takes over all impressions the victim receives. Let us say he does block his thoughts off or resists the intrusion, the telepath has so many ways of breaking the victim’s spirit. For example, it could make him hallucinate drowning until his defenses collapse but then again, our enemy is too powerful. Her victims shouldn’t even know she’s there and that’s why you have to block her because not only can she search for them she can possess them as well. Again, she banishes her victims in a world she controls making them do whatever she wants. If you ever encounter her, run, run like hell because we don’t know the limits to her power.”

  “Who is she?” Claire sighed, and a desperation took hold of her while Akachi spoke. “I was hoping you might find out on your jour
ney.” With that he stood up and swung his big brown bag around his shoulders. “This is all I know, godspeed! I’m looking forward to seeing you again.”

  XXV. The Dark Archive

  Tranquility base was where humans decided to build the first compound on the moon which was the only other celestial body a human ever had landed on for a long time. Unfortunately, this was almost on the opposite side of where Claire and Joseph had to go. “I have no idea how we get there.” Joseph pointed towards the Schwarzschild crater on the slowly rotating hologram of the moon. They were sitting in the same coffee place they sat in when they first came to the moon to find out where that mysterious picture was taken in order to find the hidden laboratories. “We cannot just steal a spacesuit and go there, I agree. But there must be a way, maybe Mathilda can help us?” “If we even ask Mathilda we expose her and us. If it’s true what Akachi told us we have to give her the psyblocker and if we do so she’ll be in danger if the blocker should ever be discovered.” “You got a point. So, we have to take her with us.” Claire shook her head. “That isn’t what I’m saying, I said we shouldn’t involve her.” “She’s already involved, Claire, if we leave it like that they’ll find out sooner or later. You heard Akachi, those blockers just work as camouflage not like protection, when she does find us and with all Mathilda knows about the location of the last laboratory the photograph and from what we told her and the secrecy we burdened her with. She’s already involved.” “Maybe you’re right. No need to keep her out, let her make her own decision. But what do we tell her? Have you been paying attention to the fact that what we’ve been doing for the last couple of weeks it sounds crazy?” Claire pointed towards what she thought was Earth’s direction. “It doesn’t matter.” “Of course, it matters.” “No, if we say we need her, she’ll come.” Claire sighed. “You know what, she’s going to come with us just to make fun of us.” “Probably.” They stood up and were on their way to Mathilda’s lab, walking in moon’s gravitational field always made Joseph feel both enthusiastic and nostalgic at once. Strange feeling, he pushed it away.