Douglas Kendall

by Jason the Rescuer

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  " J A S O N T H E R E S C U E R "

  Infinity City series book #2, 7Mar94.

  Copyright 1991-1994 By Douglas K. Bell

  This work is registered with the

  UNITED STATES COPYRIGHT OFFICE,

  THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.

  * Reg. No. 537383 *

  All Int'l rights reserved.

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  This document is for use only by permission of the author and may not be sold, licensed, or rented.

  >>> If you would like "SEARCH FOR KATZ", the next exciting book in the series, just email me!

  * * * -------------------------------------- * * *

  Author:

  DOUGLAS K. BELL

  Pleasanton, California

  Email: dougbell@netcom.com

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  N O W , L E T T H E S T O R Y B E G I N ! !

  (Note: Pretend words in all CAPITALS are really in *italics*! ) 1. HOME.

  Jason left the happy occasion of his parents 100th anniversary party slightly early, feeling a little miffed at still not being able to talk them into having more children. He quietly left their little apartment above their family store, a curio shop of exotic items from around the Galaxy, and headed to his electric rent-a-car parked along the street here in the quaint little section of Infinity City known as Oldtown, where he had grown up. Jason had actually only recently returned to Infinity City. *1. (See footnotes at end of this chronicle.) With the extraordinary amount of money resulting from his last rescue mission of a stranded space vessel, he had purchased for his parents an anniversary gift of 100 years supply of the PILL

  OF LIFE. *2. They were extremely grateful, as the PILL was expensive, and their only source of income was from their little curio shop. Their old supply of the PILL was almost out. 'What would they look like if they started to age?' he wondered.

  Strange to think... Yes, it had been a happy reunion with them, in spite of the mysterious little audio tape they had acted so strangely about, now tucked safely into the pocket of his flight jacket.

  Now, it was down to the shining Infinity City gold souqs to make his final purchases prior to sailing away tomorrow morning on his next rescue mission of a huge derelict colonial space craft, lost somewhere up in the Galaxy outside the black hole of Infinity City. *3. Miraculously, he had just finished all his provisioning that very day ahead of schedule and all that was left was to purchase a good supply of pure, soft buttery-yellow gold ingots for trading with colonists aboard the stranded ship he was looking for. Often in the past, the broken down ships that he had rescued had contained surprising and amazing cargoes that he would sell for high profits back on Infinity City.

  He folded his tall, well-toned physique into his little, automatic rent-a-car and instructed it to take him to the Oldtown gold souqs. Jason had gone on the PILL before his aging began and perpetually looked like he was still a radiant young man in his early twenties. Exercising frequently, vigorously, almost religiously, he kept himself in the best shape that he could.

  This was a tradition among the Adventurers of Infinity City. It had another Grand Purpose for Jason, though. HE could not resist the challenge of a pretty lady (single ladies only, of course...

  usually). He had blue eyes and wavy almost-blonde hair that would always blow around at the slightest breeze giving him a wild look; as if his personality was not wild enough. He tried to keep his hair short, but always preoccupied with preparation or execution of a rescue, it tended to get a little too long.

  Slightly sunken cheeks and a fair complexion gave him a misleadingly austere look when he was calm and a frightful grimacing scowl when he was roused. Jason was the epitome of the Infinity City Adventurer ideal. Wild, a little greedy, uncanny clever, light-hearted, passionate and always at odds with the ultimate authority of the Grand Dames. But, when it came to the actual execution of an Adventure, he was dead serious.

  He also had a small secret tattoo that he would brag about to peak the curiosity of young ladies. It could be viewed in only the most intimate of circumstances. Jason was, after all, a rogue.

  His prize feature, to him, was a small scar down the left cheek of his clean-shaven face, won during a battle in his active duty with Infinity City's Militia Guard. In conversation, especially with ladies, he would stroke his left cheek with a finger, to draw attention to the impressive little scar, hoping for someone to ask about the story behind it, which had grown into quite a remarkable tale, over the years.

  He had even gotten to tell this, his favorite tale, twice during the evening at his parent's anniversary. An opportunity came to tell it a record third time, but his parents, bored after having heard it countless times before, demanded that Jason tell them all the exciting details regarding his UPCOMING rescue mission. He sighed and agreed. He took rescue missions very seriously (about the only thing he took seriously, his parents worried) and would have preferred to jabber away about the dangers and successful completion of some past mission already under his belt. But, his parents and friends were crowded around, leaning forward, eagerly awaiting something new, and they had all heard his other stories before anyway.

  He told them about how, at the Infinity City Grand Library, he had performed exhaustive computer searches of news releases from all over the Galaxy to find anything about spaceships in need of rescue. He learned about a famous case, in which a huge space-liner full of over nine hundred colonists, from a modern world named CONOVER around RIGEL, had been reported missing eighty-seven years ago. The 'Heaven,' it was called. The purpose of its important voyage was to colonize a newly discovered planet, only a few stars away from RIGEL. The voyage should have taken only about ten years. (They only had primitive ion-engines, though, at least, with direct mass-conversion nuclear power.)

  After it was reported missing, by the advanced scouts at the new world, search ships were sent out but mysteriously found nothing between the HEAVEN'S origin and destination. No debris, no trace, no radio distress messages. Conover loyally continued the search for decades! The regretful conclusion of the official investigation was that it must have gone off course and tragically had been lost.

  Jason had his own exciting theory of what happened, though.

  Its course was near one of Infinity City's main Militia Guard patrol routes, around one of the "neighbors". *4. Jason's eyes widened and he grew animated telling the expectant crowd about a wonderful clue to the ship's mysterious disappearance. Only five years before, Jason, on active duty with the Militia Guard, had been assigned a patrol mission around that very same "neighbor."

  Before he left, he had received the usual briefing, but this one had an urgent addendum regarding a dangerous gravitonic whirlpool that had just been reported by an Adventurer newly arrived on Infinity City. Jason had remembered this because the report related an amazing account of how the Adventurer himself had gotten caught in the whirlpool, been slung out catastrophically near the speed of light and thus so slowed down in time that when he finally returned to Infinity City, though only a few shipboard months had passed to get back, he discovered that 93 years had passed on Infinity City since he had last been there.

  Time aboard a spaceship or anything traveling near the speed of light, adhering to the Law of Relativity, slows down and approaches a stopping point at the exact speed of light, which cannot normally be reached since this would take an infinite amount of energy. The sailships of Infinity City employ the probabilistic field shift method, reeling out gigantic sails of special molecularly laminated material that redirect the gravitons about the ship, utilizing the phenomenal effects of gravitons upon local probabil
ity.

  The report prudently noted that his wise investments in the Infinity City Militia Bond fund had made him so wealthy, that he had moved away to retire on some obscure planet around RIGEL.

  When Jason had seen the news report at the library about the missing colony ship and read that its course had been near his old patrol area, he had become very interested. When he read that the ship had been from RIGEL, he remembered the Adventurer's report regarding the whirlpool which had been very near to the ship's planned route. Jason surmised that the whirlpool had swung the ship way off-course, probably also slinging it so close to the speed of light that the crew were now living too slow to have transmitted a distress call yet. On the colony ship, it may have only been a few days or just A FEW HOURS since the catastrophe!

  Jason told the expectant crowd, that he planned to sail off to the whirlpool and begin searching the gravitonic currents radiating out, for the lost ship. The original searchers, from the colony ship's home planet, had no gravitonic technology and so never searched these currents. The colony ship, according to Jason, was probably sliding along one of them at near light speed.

  Everyone had grown just as excited as Jason about the story.

  Everyone except his two parents, who just stood looking at each other with a serious look of silent communication which Jason noted wryly most married people always seemed to develop. He asked, "WHAT, are you two thinking now?"

  His mother conspiratorially asked his father, "Should we tell him?"

  His father said with irritation, "I don't want to tell him.

  You tell him!"

  "I can't! It was hard enough making that tape."

  "Then, let's just give him the tape like we planned to anyway."

  Jason asked, "What tape? What IS all this?"

  His father addressed his mother, "Go get the tape, Maynyn"

  She went off to search for it. His father turned to him, but could not meet his gaze. "Jason, this story you just told us reminded us of something that happened a long time ago. Long before you were even born. Something happened that... Well, that we aren't very proud of. And, that really turned bad, and...", his voice was beginning to shake. He stopped and took a deep breath. "You should know. During your last absence, we sat down and recorded a tape of the whole story. I just can't tell you about it! Now, look. Let's just forget it. This is a happy night." His mother returned with a small audio tape. His father said, "Here, just take this tape and listen to it during."

  Jason tried to learn more about the mysterious contents of the tape, but they would say nothing. He finally just put the tape in his jacket pocket and change the subject, bringing up a topic he had hounded them about for years now. "You know, when I come back from an Adventure, something is really missing. Other Adventurers come back and are welcomed by their huge families. I just have you two. I was just wondering if you two had been thinking about what you promised me to think about. Remember?

  Before my last voyage?"

  His father rolled his eyes, "Oh, Jason, not this again!"

  Jason stubbornly drove on, "You promised that you would think about having more kids! I hate having such a small family.

  I love you two, sure, but I want brothers and sisters and nieces and nephews so much! You two need to get on the ball here."

  His mother looked down in embarrassment, then walked away to go talk to some of the other guests. His father squinted at him.

  "There's nothing stopping YOU from getting married, Jason.

  You're 45." And then dryly, "I think you're just about mature enough."

  Jason did not know if he was being serious or sarcastic. In any case, settling down was the lowest of his priorities at this point in time. "Dad, come on. I haven't found the right girl yet." He grinned his ear to ear grin. "I'm sure looking around a lot, though!" Then, returning doggedly to his obsessive quest for siblings, he cajoled, "Come on, why won't you have more kids?

  You both came from big families! Why not? What is the damn mystery here?!"

  His father looked at him sharply, "You want to know the mystery? Why we don't have more kids? Listen to the damn tape and you'll find out! Now come on, let's forget about it. It's our anniversary tonight, everybody's having a good time. You gave us a wonderful gift. You're our wonderful son and you're about to leave again, so let's just have a good time, too...

  Hey, did you read in the JOURNAL OF RECENT ADVENTURE about your friend John One bringing back Van Gogh? That's incredible!"

  Jason had not felt like small talk. Soon, he had said his good-byes and left.

  Jason pulled his car away from the curb of his parents'

  little two-story curio shop and apartments. Looking up into Infinity City's nighttime sky, he noticed that someone was playing a laser show. Thick, fuzzy beams of pistachio green and hot pink drew wild geometric shapes through the nighttime mist being released at the very top of Infinity City's atmosphere.

  Infinity City was located midway between the first and second event horizons within a black hole, about halfway toward the center of the Galaxy. It was roughly disk shaped and was surrounded by an artificial atmosphere, held in place by artificial gravity and heated by a revolving artificial sun.

  Probably the most stunning and complex creation of mankind, Infinity City had been built by the mysterious Original Builders many millennia ago.

  Jason began to feel the usual home-sickness prior to leaving on one of his self-appointed rescue missions. Sometimes he was gone for many years. Finding lost ships always took a long time and never ending patience and persistence. And, sometimes the repairs could take over a year. His wonderful sailship cruiser was outfitted with an amazing workshop where he could perform electronic repairs, machining, software programming, even woodcraft (a hobby during the long months in space). He had even repaired one ship captain's noisy plumbing in exchange for some rare zoo animals which he had transported and sold back on Infinity City.

  He spontaneously decided to stop by the WELL OF THE WISH and pay his respects to the Original Builders. *5. Legend had it that they had one by one all jumped down. He told the car to go there instead. The WELL was at the center of Oldtown and also the precise center of Infinity City itself, which meant that it was exactly at the center of the Black Hole Normal Line. From outside a black hole, the event horizon is the shape of a spherical shell. Relative to the inside of a black hole, all event horizons are points. (See subsequent I.C. chronicles for interesting accounts of adventures within various other event horizons...) The Horizon Normal Line, an imaginary line between the first and second event horizon, plays a crucial role in astronavigation. When a sailship leaves Infinity City, its temporal point of emergence, back in the outside universe, is a function of the ship's exit angle to the Horizon Normal Line.

  After a few minutes, the car pulled into the small parking lot outside the wall surrounding the WELL. A little old man, too poor to afford the Pill, sat snoring in the guard booth, his chin resting on his chest. Jason grinned and stole quietly past, through the open gate in the wall and into the translucent roofed-over interior. The lighting was subdued. He moved to the old black and red brick cistern and looked inside. At the bottom, far below Infinity City, was the second event horizon.

  Tonight, it was a bright white whirling star, that looked very far away. Some said what you saw determined your future. Jason did not believe superstitious nonsense. However, he had a reverence for the forces that kept the Universe running.

  Looking into the WELL before a rescue reminded him of two things: The powerful forces of nature he would have to deal with in space. And, how the Original Builders, his forefathers, had bent these forces, no matter how immense, to their purpose.

  He longed for a cigarette or a cigar, but they were currently banned and he had not yet found a supply anywhere. Oh, well. Smoking gave him bad breath, anyway...

  He turned away from the WELL and left. Just as Jason exited the gate, another car pulled up and out sprang Vincent Van Gogh with paintbrush and
palette. He stormed toward the gate. Jason had just been introduced to him the day before. As he passed, Jason greeted him, "Hi, Vincent!", but Van Gogh ignored him and marched through the gate. TEMPERAMENTAL ARTISTS! Jason thought to himself. (See previous chronicle for a full account of Van Gogh on Infinity City...)

  He hopped back into his car and told it to take him to the gold souqs. The car rolled off and after a few minutes, pulled into the busy street adjacent to the bright, flashy gold souqs.

  It was a busy night and the car took a while to find a parking place. Finally, Jason was able to jump out. The street was brightly lit from the intense indoor lighting reflecting a fortune in gold shining out of all the shops. He looked up at the dazzling store fronts, with all sorts of gold jewelry hanging in display. He turned, walked down the street a way, wishing he had brought sunglasses, and turned into one of the narrow, connecting alleys between each avenue of the souqs. This one lead to the second row of souqs. He was looking for a particular merchant, who always had an amazing variety and who would give Jason his usual "discount" without Jason having to waste any time haggling. He quickly found the store. It stood out among its neighbors, as if its owner took far more pride in his business.

  He went up to the large glass door and it slowly swung open automatically triggered by his presence. It was about three inches thick, made to withstand intrusion.

  Inside was a flaming, dazzling fortune in golden glory!

  Finely worked jewelry with and without precious gems hung everywhere. The decor this time was all wood flooring & paneling, with bamboo furniture. The soft, light toned wooded wall panels seemed to glow with a life of their own reflecting the hanging long gold chains, bracelets, rings, and more. The overhead lighting was tuned to make the gold as instinctively alluring to the human eye as possible. Jason felt the excited stupefaction that always overcame anyone surrounded by the most ancient of mankind's treasures. Gold was still precious, too expensive to synthesize, even for the "alchemists" of Infinity City.

  Several young clerks genially waited on customers. Jason looked for the owner and saw him just coming out of the back room The owner, a Mr. Abu originally from the Earth, spotted Jason and recognized him immediately. He moved toward Jason and greeted him, "Ah, Mr. Jason, my friend! It has been so long!