Douglas Kendall

by Jason the Rescuer

  But many, addicted to life on the streets, avoided all offers to rejoin society. On Infinity City, the street kids secretly moved about like ghosts. Most citizens weren't even aware they existed.

  No one would help Dalton, thinking from his accent, that he was just some off-world brat of some crewmember of one of the many ships temporarily at port. But Dalton HAD very definitely belonged to the sailship for a long time.

  He had grown up on-board the sailship of a dashing Adventurer from Infinity City. Dalton, and his father worked aboard the ship as it traded around the Galaxy, stopping at many worlds, but mysteriously never on Infinity City. The Adventurer would not even talk about Infinity City. Trouble with some girl, Dalton's father had told him.

  Dalton's own father had had trouble with a girl. Dalton's mother, who Dalton had never even known. His father had told him that he had signed on with the Adventurer, on some obscure planet when Dalton was only a baby. But, his mother had chosen to stay behind! Whenever Dalton had asked his father about his mother, the man would either grow angry or depressed, but would never talk about her except to say that she had not wanted to go with them, and could not look after the infant Dalton for some reason.

  Dalton and his father left with the Adventurer, who saw nothing wrong with a man dragging a baby on-board. Due to the perpetually nomadic lifestyle of spacemen and spacewomen, they were all used to children underfoot.

  The story got stranger. Dalton saw many different worlds around the Galaxy. He loved life aboard the Adventurer's ship.

  But, as he grew older, he began to notice a certain strain between the Adventurer and his father. Especially, when he, Dalton, was around. The Adventurer used to look at him in a funny way, and then sometimes grow angry with his father. It got worse and worse. Finally, it came to a terrible end.

  Just up from a successful trading stop at an agricultural planet, the Adventurer and Dalton's father were sampling a huge supply of liquor they had purchased to trade elsewhere. Dalton's father was now something of a partner with the Infinity City Adventurer, due to his bargaining skills, and cleverness when dealing with port authorities. At first, they had been quite happy over such a successful venture on the planet. Dalton heard them laughing through an open hatchway at the end of the corridor leading to the cargo hold. Dalton had snuck to the hatchway to see what was causing such unusual glee. Dalton, only nine years old, did not understand drunkenness, and watched with fascination as they swayed back and forth, slapped each other on the back, and said unusually nice things about each other.

  But, then they began talking about some girl. And, then they fought! And, to Dalton's horror, the Adventurer smashed a bottle against his father's head. His father fell over, and hit his poor head again against a sharp metal storage container.

  Dalton would never forget seeing so much of his father's blood, so bright red!...

  The Adventurer was the legal sovereign of the ship. He told the crew that only in self-defense had he hit Dalton's father, who tragically had fallen against the container. Dalton did not know if this was true. Certain members of the crew, upon learning that young Dalton had witnessed the fight, had asked him secretly about it. But, all Dalton, still in shock, could remember back then was his beloved father lying on the deck of the cargo hold with his blood pouring out.

  The Adventurer held a burial-in-space ceremony. He was very sincere, and even shed tears. Everyone missed Dalton's father.

  They jettisoned his body away. Up to this time, Dalton had been in a daze. But, upon seeing his father's body in a clear plastic box ejected out into space, Dalton finally broke down sobbing and crying.

  Seeing this greatly affected the Adventurer. After that, he began treating Dalton in a completely different way. He gave him much attention. Was kind and gentle and generous. He even taught him all about the ship.

  But, without his father, Dalton was heartbroken. He grew quieter and quieter, and got so thin he saw his bones sticking out. This made the Adventurer very distraught. He acted more and more as if he felt responsible for Dalton and his unhappiness.

  Finally, the Adventurer asked Dalton if it would make him happy if they found his mother. Dalton looked at him, amazed at such a concept. He said he would like to meet his mother, but did not know where she lived. But, the Adventurer said she was in a ship, and he knew its course!

  This was amazing! Dalton brightened up. The Adventurer changed their course, and they sailed for many months. The crew did not like this change in plan because it meant a suspension in trading, and also a suspension in their percentage of the profit.

  Unlike the ageless Infinity City Adventurer who had a large supply of the PILL OF LIFE, most of the crew were aging, and in a hurry to make their fortunes. But the Adventurer ruled the ship alone. Unfortunately, catastrophe struck again.

  They had been following the course that would lead to Dalton's mother for a very long time. Day after day went by.

  The crew were tense and bored, growing restless. Someone carelessly fell asleep at the helm one day, and the sailship got sucked into a gravitonic whirlpool!

  They were extremely lucky that the sails had not blown up in an atomic explosion. The moment the ship came under the influence of the whirlpool, the Adventurer had noticed something peculiar about the ship's artificial gravity. Arriving in the pilot room, he found the duty officer fast asleep, with the computer hopelessly engrossed in a game of chess with itself.

  The Adventurer terminated the game, and the computer immediately signaled imminent catastrophic danger. They were being sucked into a gravitonic whirlpool, where the graviton density was great enough to cause gravitonic sails to implode so rapidly that they broke down in an atomic explosion destructive enough to vaporize their sailship.

  Instead of trying to maneuver out of the whirlpool, he immediately reeled the sails in.

  It was a rough ride! There was much damage as the tidal forces of the whirlpool tried to squash and stretch the ship.

  But, finally the ship was slung out of the whirlpool.

  Unfortunately, though, the ship had instantly gained an enormous amount of kinetic energy. Now it went flying through the Galaxy so close to the speed of light that Galactic time was now going faster than time in the ship. They discovered this when the crew checked the stars to see where the ship was. They found the landmark stars moving dozens of times faster than normal, some so Doppler-shifted that many were either deeply blue or red!

  The ship had serious damage. Some of the gravitonic sail systems were beyond repair. The Adventurer ordered a course set for Infinity City, the only place where he could put in for refitting gravitonic systems. It took them a year of ship time to "limp" back to Infinity City with the gravitonic sails in the shape that they were in.

  The capricious Adventurer's attitude changed once again. He blamed Dalton for the accident, and the forced trip back to Infinity City. It had happened because they had been looking for his, Dalton's, mother. The Adventurer became very icy toward Dalton and the crew. It was clear that he did want to go to Infinity City. He told no one what it would be like entering the black hole. That had been another rough ride.

  And, once landed at the space port, the Adventurer had dumped Dalton, now 10, out of the sailship, ordering the computer not to let him back in. Dalton was immediately taken in by other homeless boys who all worked odd jobs around the busy space port.

  And, that is where he had been for the last five years. Working the space port, and recently, picking pockets at the souqs. It had been a rough, bitter, and very lonely time. Dalton's voice took on an eerie edge for one so young as he talked about it.

  When he was done with the story, he just sat looking at the floor. Jason was struck numb by such a sad tale. He looked at the boy, dark tousled hair, head bowed, with his arms wrapped around his skinny knees. Jason felt a sudden strong tenderness.

  It was something he had never felt before. Was this what a father felt for a son?

  Jason thought to himself about Dalton's
miserable situation: The poor little guy has no one back on Infinity City. Maybe, it WOULD be fun to have a bright kid along. And, there's just something about him that gets to me. Maybe I'm getting old...

  Nope! I took the PILL just the other day...

  Jason said softly, "Hey, kid." Dalton looked up questioningly. Jason paused, and regarded his face closely.

  There was something about Dalton's looks. Something familiar?

  Dalton's triangular shaped face had delicate features that gave him a sensitive, thoughtful look. His skin was clear, and without a blemish. Jason had a flash of insight and imagined Dalton growing up to be tall and lean; and good-looking just like himself! But something still seemed familiar about him. Maybe he had seen him around Infinity City before. Oh, well. Jason decided he liked the boy very much.

  Jason reached forward, took hold of the boys shoulders, and said, "Dalton, my young friend, how would YOU like to learn to fix space ships? I could use a good partner!"

  Dalton looked up at Jason with a look of disbelief that turned into innocent wonder. Then, he jumped to his feet, grabbed Jason's hand, and began shaking it up and down, grinning from ear to ear. Jason looked up and saw tears of joy in Dalton's eyes.

  5. THE SEARCH

  The two hit it off like no two PARTNERS ever had before.

  The potential between them was limitless. Jason, for all his wildness, was extremely intelligent, and endlessly knowledgeable.

  Dalton was filled with boundless energy, and his mind was an ever-thirsty sponge for learning. Dalton, forever thankful at being rescued from his miserable life on the streets, was now the eager protege. Jason, delighted to have such an amusing little companion on the long voyage who was so eager to learn about the ship, the universe, and life, and who practically worshipped the ground he walked on, fell into the role of mentor and teacher.

  Jason was appalled at Dalton's lack of basic education. He sat him down in the pilot chair, and had the computer run tutorial after tutorial covering self-psychology, physics; electronic, computronic, & mechanical engineering, and of course, software. Then there was the history of Infinity City, the worlds of the Galaxy, the politics of Mankind, and more. Dalton was fascinated by all of this. And he felt so strongly motivated to please Jason. Jason had allowed him to stay, rescuing him from his despairing life at the bottom of Infinity City. Jason was the first person, since his father, to take any special interest in him. Dalton felt like life was beginning all over for him.

  And then, when Dalton thought nothing in the world could beat his new life, Jason made it still better. He began teaching Dalton the workings and operation of the sailship! The gravitonic systems, the pilot room controls, the amazing automated tools in the workshops! Dalton was in love with the sailship. Its systems became second nature to him. He amazed Jason one day when he showed him a clever yet simple plan for diverting energy from the powerful gravitonic sail generator to the atomic particle-beam defensive weapon system which had a much smaller generator that took an excessive amount of time to charge up between firings. Jason, impressed after his review of the plan, concluded Dalton had definitely earned his position as junior partner.

  Using the materials and tools of the workshops, they built a secondary pilot chair for Dalton that they attached to the top of the ladder entering the pilot room through the floor. From there, Dalton watched in rapture as Jason would periodically pilot the ship out of one gravitonic current, and into another on a more direct course toward the area of the whirlpool.

  Sometimes, sophisticated tacking maneuvers were carried out when the sailship was forced to beat its way through opposing gravitonic eddy currents the size of entire solar systems. Jason even let Dalton sit in the main pilot seat, and take over manual control of the ship for basic lessons in gravitonic sailing.

  Dalton was an excellent pilot. He never grew tense or careless. His exuberant joy at piloting reflected reminded Jason of his early days in Militia Guard patrol duty.

  Jason would sit in the secondary pilot seat watching Dalton smoothly maneuvering the ship through training exercises, rapidly chattering orders to the computer, his high voice breathless with excitement. And Jason would feel his heart warm with nurturing pride. THIS must BE WHAT IT'S LIKE TO HAVE A SON, he thought to himself. I ALWAYS THOUGHT IT WOULD BE ALL WORK AND A LOT OF

  YELLING...

  Months went by. Jason noticed that the usual loneliness and anxiety of a solo trip were gone. It was so much fun showing this kid the ropes. How strangely rewarding it was observing that hungry little mind growing and growing, asking question after question without tire. Jason looked forward to each day.

  Dalton had boundless energy, and was perpetually good-natured.

  And yet he always maintained the strangest amount of self-control, and dignity for someone so young. When Jason had been Dalton's age, about 15, he was always in constant trouble, with girls, with school, and with his parents. Jason would sigh when he would think back to those times, and then remind himself as he always did on long rescue missions that though he was alone, he was now completely FREE. But now, he was NOT alone anymore at all! From now on, he would always have a junior partner.

  For recreation there were endless computer games. Jason tried to show Dalton some woodcraft techniques using the equipment in one of the workshops. But, Dalton preferred playing around with the computer. He could safely do all the programming he wanted by using an exclusive area of the computer's atomic memory reserved just for him, without affecting any other part of the important computer, critical to their safety.

  For physical activity Jason would string a net across the cargo hold, which had plenty of room. The net, about as wide as an arm-length, was positioned midway up the wall. They would don knee, elbow, and wrist padding. Then, they would tug on spongy-soled polymer boots and half-gloves, kill the ship's artificial gravity, and play 'free-ball', bouncing and ricocheting all around the cargo hold while throwing the heavy freeball back and forth past the net. Though Dalton's height and size of foot were small, Jason had several pairs of polymer boots, and half-gloves that fit him. Jason liked to keep the ship fully equipped for entertaining female guests, especially those that were excited by the energetic activity of a satisfying free-ball session.

  Dalton was wild about free-ball, and trounced Jason repeatedly. He was just too fast! Jason almost always came away with a new bruise or two, but it was so much fun. He felt like a kid himself!

  The object of freeball was to score the most points in a given amount of time. Players jumped back and forth between floor and ceiling throwing the ball past the net, and then catching it after it bounced off the far wall, and came back past the net again. Play went in turns with one player serving and the other player receiving. (In the Militia Guard version of the game, they were referred to as "attacker" and "defender.") If the ball touched the net or anything but the walls or players, it was out of play, and service would go to the other player. If the non-serving player intercepted the ball, before it passed the net and returned to the serving player, the intercepting player would get to serve. If he intercepted the ball BEFORE it bounced off the back wall, he earned a DEFENSIVE POINT. If the ball made it safely back to the hands of the server, that was an OFFENSIVE

  POINT.

  The appealing challenge of the game was all the moving about in zero-gravity. Players wildly flew back and forth between floor or ceiling or the back wall, landing and then immediately springing away toward the most predictable route of the ball.

  The heavy ball itself immediately altered a drifting player's course the moment it was caught or thrown. It was a thrilling game with many addicted followers.

  Whenever Dalton picked up something new, in his rapid education, that was particularly impressive, Jason would reward him with an extra-vehicular excursion. Dalton would turn red and almost burst with excitement each time Jason casually mentioned that it was time for another "walk in space."

  Jason maintained three spacesuits fitted for himself,
but these were too big for Dalton. However, Jason just happened to also maintain a few suits sized for women, which he had used in the past for entertainment purposes involving certain acquaintances he had made with personnel aboard disabled space vessels. One fitted Dalton well enough.

  They would put the suits on, and activate them in the cargo hold. The ship's computer would monitor the sensors all over the suits, checking for any problems. If and only if the suits were functioning perfectly, the inner hatch of the air lock would open. In they would go. The inner hatch would then slide closed, and the air would be pumped out. Proper operation of the suits would again be closely monitored.

  A large compartment, at once side of the air lock, could be pulled open to reveal the means of locomotion in space.

  Spacebikes! A space rider would straddle the 'bike, then clamp the circular restraining bar around the waist. Jets folded out on all sides. Using blasts of steam, they were capable of translational movement in any direction, and had gyroscopes for control of angular attitude. The controls were located on the restraining bar. The extremely high power jets required little water. The controls were not mechanical. They were just simple inputs to the spacebikes' sophisticated on-board computer, which had many functions for making space movement easy, such as angular and linear momentum control. Also, the spacebike computer's were slaves to the master ship's computer. This way, any command given by the wearer would be ignored if the ship's computer predicted that the command would cause trouble, such as a command to crash into the ship, or a command to hit the gravitonic sails, or a command to crash into another spacebike.

  Dalton and Jason had thrilling times chasing each other around the ship. The freezing jet steam sprayed out veils of tiny ice crystals that sparkled in the ship's outer spotlights.

  Sometimes, Jason would release one of the repair robots, equipped with propulsion jets. He and Dalton would play "follow the leader" with the little repair robot programmed to execute wildly random maneuvers that Dalton and Jason would try to follow.