The sun was setting, and Ray was getting tired of waiting. John had been sleeping for more than four hours. Ari had followed his lead and snored gently in the other room. Christie was playing with Tycho out on the hill.
Ray may have been bored, but he wasn’t about to wake up John before he was ready. The orb hadn’t been interested in talking to the rest of them, as evident by the lack of any palm prints when approached. Ray was worried that the orb had chosen John as its only source of binding. Ray was happy to let John be the conduit. It hardly seemed fair, however, to force it upon him.
Ray had driven Christie to Fairlee a couple of hours before, where she made a phone call to Suffolk University. That being taken care of, Ray had busied himself setting up the last spare bed. Christie would have to sleep out in the common room, which was hardly a great inconvenience as that’s where the woodstove was. Ray was impressed that even after everything that had happened to her, Christie was still able to run around, rough-house, and laugh with Tycho.
“Man, I feel like shit,” said John, appearing in the doorway.
“You’re finally up,” said Ray.
“What time is it?”
“Almost six o’clock.”
“Damn. I’ve been up for a little while, actually. I was busy.”
“What, busy fapping it? I didn’t hear anything.”
“I had some weird dreams...”
“I’ll bet.”
“I dreamed I was talking with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednigo. The three friends who were thrown into the fiery furnace by Nebudcanezzar in the book of Daniel.”
“I remember the story.”
“I was standing with them in the fire. They were telling me to build a ship.”
John held up a piece of paper. There were diagrams drawn in pencil on it.
“Oh, that’s what you were doing.”
John handed Ray the paper. On it was a diagram of three floors of a ship, as well as front, side, and rear views of the exterior. Above it John had written Reckless Faith.
“Reckless Faith?” said Ray.
“Throwing yourself into the fire with no regard for the apparent consequences.”
Ray looked over the drawings. “I like it. I notice you have six crew’s quarters here on deck one.”
“Room to grow, I guess.”
“You’ve also got an armory here as part of deck three.”
“The crew should be armed, right?”
“Oh, absolutely. Unless Seth informs us otherwise, the crew should be ready for anything.”
“What about external weaponry?”
“Seth said all he was supplying was the hull and engine.”
Ari appeared from the other room.
“Coffee,” she said.
“Filters are above the stove,” said Ray. “Coffee is in the cabinet. Use the basket filter and a small pot.”
Ari busied herself with this task. Christie came inside, her cheeks red from the cold.
“I see everyone’s finally awake,” she said.
“Have a seat,” said Ray, “John has come up with a preliminary design for the ship.”
“So then,” began John, “any external weapons would have to be of Earth design. And I don’t know about you guys, but anything worth having is way outside our price range and ability to obtain. The best thing we could do is get a semi-automatic fifty caliber BMG, and then what? Roll down the window to fire it?”
“Okay, so external weapons may be out of the question. Maybe we could simply outrun trouble.”
“We don’t even know what trouble is waiting for the crew of this ship,” said Ari.
“I agree,” said Christie. “Until Seth tells us more about the mission we should focus on the basics.”
Ray asked, “Why is everyone talking about ‘the crew?' Aren’t we planning on manning this ship?”
There was silence. After a few seconds, John spoke.
“I don’t know about anybody else, but I’m not going to make up my mind just yet. The unknowns are still too great. We don’t know how far we’re going, how long it’s going to take, and if we’re even going to be able to come home.”
“I’d take that chance,” said Ray. “I’m in. I don’t have anything left on this planet that I care about not counting those present.”
Christie raised an eyebrow. She hadn’t expected Ray to say that.
“I agree with Ray,” said Ari. “I happen to be in a position to drop everything myself.”
John asked, “How about you, Christie?”
Christie put her chin in her hand, and replied, “I’m going to help build this thing, for a while anyway. I may decide this mission is way beyond my ability to handle and bow out. As far as leaving Earth, I’m not too keen on the idea.”
“Whomever ends up going may want to recruit help later,” said John.
“That sounds like a good idea,” Ray said, “But where are you going to get volunteers? Hover the ship over Times Square?”
“I don’t know.”
“Why don’t we present the design to Seth,” Ari said, “and see what he thinks?”
“I don’t know if I’m ready for another session playing host to Seth,” said John.
“We don’t have any other choice,” said Ray.
“We tried to access it,” Christie said, “it seems to want you.”
John sighed. “Fine, I’ll try it. This design, however, isn’t to scale. I need to draft an actual blueprint. And, by the way, if we’re supplying all the internals to this thing, how are we going to build the floors? What about the walls? I learned a little bit about aircraft structural repair but that’s about the extent of my construction knowledge.”
“Maybe Seth can do the hull and the layout of the rooms,” said Ari.
“All right, let’s go ask him.”
John led the way out of the cabin. The others followed him through the fading light into the woods. As John approached the orb, it became fully visible. A single handprint appeared on the orb.
“No,” said John. “All of us.”
There was a pause, and three more palms appeared. John motioned for the others to take their places. Together they put their hands into place.
It was apparent right away that they were back in the planetarium. The Zeiss projector beamed light like a supine Christmas tree. There was a new image on the dome of a colorful nebula with snaking and looping wisps of smoky light. Seth was at his place behind the Zeiss controls. John tiptoed around the chairs in the dim room and walked over to Seth.
“It’s the Tarantula Nebula,” said Christie. “It’s one of the features of the Large Magellanic Cloud.”
“Home,” said Seth.
“Seth,” began John, “I don’t want you going through my head like you did before. It was very unpleasant. If you need to share my mind that’s fine, but I call the shots while you’re in there. Understood?”
Seth blinked.
“Clearly he does not,” said Ray.
“You do not want to be one with me?” Seth said blankly.
“If it’s the only way of communicating effectively with you outside this place, then I agree to it,” said John. “I would simply like to maintain control of my thoughts and memories at all times.”
“We also want to take turns, so that John gets a break,” said Ray.
Seth looked at them. “John is better.”
“I knew that already,” said John, grinning.
“Tycho is best.”
John, Ari, Ray and Christie expressed various forms of surprise.
“You mean the dog Tycho?” said John.
“The one named Tycho,” said Seth. “John has... room for me. Tycho has more room.”
“We can use the dog as a host?” said Ari. “That’s fantastic!”
“Wait a minute,” began Christie, “how the hell is Tycho supposed to talk to us? Dogs don’t have nearly as sophisticated vocal chords as humans, not to mention the lack of lips.”
“You will hear him,”
said Seth.
“What do you mean, like telepathy?” asked Ray.
Seth thought about this for several moments.
“Yes. In your mind.”
“So why don’t we go get Tycho and deal with Seth that way?”
“Wait a minute,” said Christie, “how do we know that this is safe for Tycho?”
“How do we know it’s safe for any of us?” John said.
“Fair enough,” said Ray. “What we do know is that interacting in this illusion world isn’t physically or mentally demanding, not like what we saw John go through.”
“You got that right,” said John.
“So why don’t we continue working with Seth right here? We can start using our brains like canteens when we need to take Seth places.
“I cannot be taken places,” said Seth. “I am bound to the ship. I can go only... two hundred thirty seven point three five feet from the ship.”
“So then we put the orb in the truck,” said John. “How much can it possibly weigh?”
Ari snickered. “Since when does weight matter? It’s floating in midair, remember?”
“Right. Anyway, Seth, we have a proposal for the ship’s hull. It’s on a piece of paper in my hand outside in the world.”
“Then it is here,” said Seth.
John looked down. The paper was in his hand.
“That was easy.”
John showed the drawing to Seth. Almost immediately the drawing appeared on the overhead dome. Slowly the yellow paper faded away and the pencil drawings became solid. Around them, the planetarium faded to black.
The four found themselves standing in front of a ship. The exterior was a flat gray, and some parts were out of focus and difficult to regard. A large ramp led up into the underside of the ship.
“This is all pretty much what I was imagining earlier,” said John.
“It’s huge,” said Ari.
“It’s only ten meters tall by thirty meters long; it’s not that big really.”
Giant letters appeared in John’s handwriting on the ramp.
“Cargo Ramp,” Ray read aloud.
“It looks like it’s time for the virtual tour,” John said. “Care to join me?”
The others nodded and followed John up the ramp. At the top of the ramp, more letters appeared. This time the words read, “Fore Cargo Bay.” As they looked around, the floor, walls, and ceiling became better defined. A staircase materialized in front of them, and led up to a doorway that was equally as new. A word appeared on the door.
“Armory,” read John. “Right where it should be.”
Ten minutes later, or so it seemed, the humans were standing on what was to be the bridge. Each part of the ship that they visited was empty, and the details that they could see were far exceeded by the vagueness of everything else. Most starkly missing were windows of any kind, and when John mentioned this aloud, small portholes appeared along the walls. They looked monumentally stupid.
The bridge was a bit better off in this regard. Large, sloping windows ahead of them gave the impression of a windshield. There was nothing but a black void outside, but it was sufficient to comprehend the opening. Seth, who had been absent from the ship so far, appeared before them.
“This is a good first draft,” said Ray.
“What I need is my CAD program,” said John, shaking his head. “If I could do this up right, the finished product would all be in my memory to give to Seth.”
“This is acceptable,” said Seth.
“It’s not finished yet. We need more time to design the interior.”
“The exterior, as well,” said Ray. “Right now it looks like a big gray suppository.”
“When you have finished,” Seth said, “I will create the hull. These approximate dimensions will require at least the following items: Two hundred tons of iron. One hundred tons of aluminum. Fifty tons of silicon...”
“Wait a minute!” shouted John. “I thought you said you would supply the hull for us!”
“I did. There are insufficient resources present to do so.”
“For God’s sake,” said Ari, “we can’t possibly bring you that much stuff.”
“Then we will go to it,” said Seth.
“Where are we going to find that much raw material?”
“There is approximately zero point zero zero one percent of the needed materials proximate to this location. Carbonic iron and aluminum are present only in small amounts.”
“Carbonic iron?” said John. “You mean steel?”
“Yes.”
“Well, the only steel present is in our cars and our firearms.”
“It is an insufficient amount.”
“No shit. So you can just take the materials and transform them into the superstructure of the ship?”
“Yes.”
“So he’s got a matter replicator, or transporter, or something like that,” said Ray.
Seth blinked. “Yes.”
“Still,” began John, “the question remains. Where are we going to get those materials?”
“I think I know a place,” said Ari.
Thirty minutes later, the group had packed up their things and vacated the cabin. They had loaded their gear into both cars, leaving room in the Expedition for the orb. Once they had managed to place the orb in the vehicle, they would be on their way to Woburn. And, after John finished his CAD drawings, Boston.
Boston, as Ari had pointed out, was full of steel, aluminum, and a lot of other useful items. It was also the home of the USS Portland, a decommissioned Navy dock landing ship. According to Ari, who learned this information from an old boyfriend, the ship was destined to be used for target practice. For now, it remained berthed off of Chelsea near the mouth of the Mystic River, a fact that Christie was able to confirm from memory. The plan was to drive up to it with the orb, take the materials, and stand back while the orb transformed it into the hull. Then they could drive the vehicles into the cargo bay and take off. Seth had assured them that once the hull was complete, that it would be hidden from sight. They hadn’t asked for an explanation for that one.
John and Ray approached the orb. It glowed faintly in the evening darkness. A single handprint appeared.
“Are you sure you wouldn’t rather let Tycho take a crack at this?” asked Ray.
“We can fool around with Tycho and the orb later. Let’s stick with what works for now.”
John placed his hand on the orb. He instantly stumbled back. Ray grabbed him and held him upright.
“I got you, buddy.”
John regained his balance. “We’re okay.”
“Good.”
John began walking through the woods towards the Expedition. The orb followed behind smoothly. When they arrived at the truck, John guided the orb into the back. Ray threw a blanket over it and closed the hatch. Christie and Ari were waiting by John’s car.
“Okay,” said Ray. “If there are any problems I’ll put on the hazard lights and pull over. Be sure to keep enough distance behind me to stop if this should happen.”
“Roger,” said Ari.
“I’ll drive,” said John, heading for the left side of the truck.
“I don’t think so,” said Ray. “It’s too crowded upstairs for that.”
“Ray, I’m fine. Seth is holding back his force. It’s much more comfortable this way.”
“I don’t want to risk that changing while we’re doing seventy down ninety-three.”
“We must insist, Ray.”
John’s face bore a dire expression. Ray shrugged.
“Okay, fine. There’s nothing wrong with an alien possessed driver. I don’t mind.”
Ray gestured towards the driver’s door. John got inside.
“Just please tell me,” said Ray, getting in, “that you’ll tell me if you sense something is wrong.”
“Don’t worry, I will.”
John turned the key and started up the truck. He looked ahead as if confused.
“Yes, John?
”
“Why aren’t we moving?”
“Maybe you should try putting it in gear and stepping on the gas.”
“Aren’t we already in gear?”
“No, we’re in park...”
The Ford lurched forward about twelve inches. Some of the stuff piled up in the back seat fell over. The cooler hit Ray in the back of the head.
“What the hell was that?” Ray yelled.
“I don’t know,” said John. “I was thinking about the truck moving.”
“You mean, you thought about it and it happened?”
“I think so. Hold on.”
John looked ahead and concentrated. The Ford began to roll forward slowly.
“Holy shit,” said Ray.
“There’s something... wait...”
John grabbed the shifter and placed the truck in neutral. The truck began to move faster. They arrived at the end of the driveway to the cabin. The access road made a sharp left.
“Uh, John? Are you going to turn?”
“I am turning.”
“No, you’re not!”
At the last moment, Ray pulled the emergency brake. The truck stopped a few inches from a tree.
“Well, that didn’t work.”
“No shit. John, why don’t you just let me drive?”
“Wait, I just need some practice.”
“Fine, but wait a minute. Don’t do anything, I’ll be right back.”
Ray got out of the Ford and walked back to John’s car. Ari rolled down her window.
“What the hell is going on up there?” she said.
“John found out that he can control the Expedition using Seth. He’s trying to get the hang of it.”
“You’re kidding.”
“No, I’m not. Sit tight, I’m going to try and make sure that he doesn’t kill himself.”
“Okay.”
Ray returned to the Ford. As he got back in, he noticed a very faint blue glow around the undercarriage.
“Ray, Seth is showing me something,” said John. “I can see energy flowing around the truck. It looks like a blue flame. It comes from the orb and flows around the whole outside of the truck. I think I can control it.”
“Interesting. Why don’t you try backing us up and getting us facing the right direction?”
“I’m working on it.”
“No way!”
Ray’s exclamation was due to the fact that the Ford was now floating about one meter above the road. Ray’s adrenaline surged and he turned to John.
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