Empty Planet

by Lynette Sloane

  Another of the hooded mob said, “We will release you if you give us what we want.”

  “Which is?” I asked.

  “The survivor.” It was a woman’s voice this time.

  “The first voice, a man, continued, “Tell us where to find him, or her, and we’ll let you go.”

  “What survivor? A survivor of what?” I asked, feigning ignorance.

  One of the others, a thickset man with a deep voice, kicked me in the side and growled, “Don’t treat us like fools. We know all about your temporal jumping, vaccines and saving humanity. Tell us who the survivor is and you can walk out of here.”

  The hard kick had winded me, its force knocking me back onto my side where I lay frantically trying to gather my thoughts together.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I grimaced.

  The first man, probably their leader, stepped closer to me and said in a calm yet determined voice, “There will be no vaccine.”

  “Vaccine?”

  He continued, “You’ll learn to respect us. The human race has had its chance and look what a mess it made. Mankind nearly ruined the planet. It’s nature’s turn now. Tell us who the survivor is and where to find them.”

  I snapped, “You’ll never learn that from me!”

  The rest of the hooded assailants set about kicking me again and again in my back, legs, arms and body, while the leader stood back and watched.

  Although my attackers had apparently tried to avoid kicking my head (they must have wanted to keep me alive and conscious for now), one of them had caught me in my mouth. I could hardly speak and spat out blood.

  “You’ll tell us or you’ll die. Maybe that would be the better plan. If you die the survivor will never come back to natural time because no one else knows where to find him … or her.”

  I hurt all over, but I managed to say, “Yes they do, I’ve already told someone.”

  At that moment the barn door burst open and several gas canisters landed on the floor releasing a smoky gas. A number of my attackers tried to kick them back through the door, but were already beginning to succumb to the effects of the gas.

  Lying on the floor under the level of the descending grey cloud proved to work to my advantage, as I was still able to breath easily. My captors staggered, collapsing one by one onto the floor, then, as the gas level sank lower and started to envelope me, I began to feel light-headed again. Suddenly, three men stormed through the door wearing breathing apparatus and took control of the situation. Two of them grabbed me under the arms, dragged me outside and lay me on the grass in the fresh air while a medic put an oxygen mask over my nose and mouth and checked me over. He nodded to the men, who lifted me onto a stretcher. I became vaguely aware of the bright sparkling lights of a vortex opening nearby, but passed out before being carried thought it.

  I awoke finding myself lying in a bed in the Section medical facility with my father leaning over me.

  “We can’t risk this happening again.” He said. “Section Directorship have given the instruction that you stay on site until after the jump.”

  A few days later, still sore and bruised from my ordeal, I was interrogated to see if I’d spoken to anyone about the things I’d learnt at Section; it was imperative that they found out how the kidnappers acquired their information. Satisfied with my responses, my interrogators left me alone in my hospital bed.

  Although I wanted to go home and spend time with Anna I accepted that I had to stay at Section Headquarters, so I volunteered to help out—mostly out of boredom. I was given the job of overlooking Carla’s Website. Dad trusted her, and as the ‘bad guys’ already knew about the survivor and proposed vaccinations, I was allowed to communicate with her via a secure window on her website. Carla was shocked to hear what had been happening and thought the assailants were probably ‘norms’, her name for Non-Jumpers.

  “Whoever would want to stop the vaccine that can save the human race,” she exclaimed.

  “I don’t know, but they think we shouldn’t interfere in what they believe is an act of nature, and they’re very passionate in their beliefs; I have the bruises to prove it.” I replied.

  “Jumpers everywhere have to stick together and be on their guard. I’m going to contact the Leadership Team to warn everyone in their areas, as well as posting it on here.”

  Section Directorship insisted that I learn to use a handgun saying that it might be necessary if I encountered wild animals, or any other dangers, on a future jump. They trained me and I became a very good shot.

  I wasn’t permitted to leave Section Headquarters at any time, even when I got the terrible news that Mum had been rushed into hospital with bowel cancer. She knew all about Section, Dad’s work and me being a Jumper, so she understood why I was staying there and hadn’t been home to visit her.

  C gave special permission for her to be brought into Section’s medical facility where she received the latest treatment, but unfortunately it only prolonged the inevitable. For the next two months Mum and I spent a lot of time together, but as the daffodils came into bloom she faded away. We held a small memorial service in Section’s grounds, before her casket was taken to her local church for her family and friends to pay their last respects.

  Chapter 10

  On the day of the jump I awoke early and got ready. I was excited at the thought of seeing David Senior again, but was also apprehensive at jumping into the unknown. Over the last couple of years younger David—my private name for Anna’s brother in natural time—and I had become very close and he often hinted that I should marry Anna, making him my brother-in-law. I really missed her and hadn’t been able to see her at all during my stay at Section. She was very understanding and knew I was involved with some kind of high security work. We spoke face to face every night over the Internet on a secure connection, but it wasn’t the same. I couldn’t hold her or kiss her, or tell her the truth about what had been happening.

  Dad said, “Never mind Steve, if all goes well you’ll be back here with David Senior tonight and you can visit Anna tomorrow.” I looked forward to that. Dad accompanied me to the vortex room where C and a few technicians were waiting for us, but there was no sign of Gemma. I asked where she was.

  “There was a change of plan,” replied C. “Don’t worry, she’s Ok. Section has something else in mind for her.”

  A stocky middle-aged technician dressed in a grey boiler suit informed us, “It’s nearly time Commander.”

  Dad reminded me, “This jump will take you to a point in time fifty-five years after the virus first hits, so David will be around seventy five year’s old.”

  The technician finished programming the temporal vortex interface.

  “Here goes,” he said.

  A shimmering light appeared just in front of the opposite wall about thirty centimetres off the floor. It grew to the size of a large door, and then faded in the middle, allowing me to see the familiar outline of David’s farmhouse.

  “Take a step for the human race,” said C. “The vortex will close behind you and re-open in about fifteen minutes, your time.”

  “Fifteen minutes? That doesn’t give me long!”

  “No. This is a very small window. If you take any longer you risk catching the virus yourself. I’m afraid it’s the last window for several decades. David Senior won’t be around if we use the next one; he would be over a hundred and fifty.”

  “What if I don’t find him in time?”

  “Then you have the choice of staying longer. You know the risk, it would be your choice.”

  I obviously didn’t want to catch the virus, but if it meant saving the world I was willing to take that risk. However, there was one more question on my mind.

  “Commander, what about temporal stress?” I enquired, concerned for David’s safety.

  “Sorry?”

  “Won’t David Senior suffer temporal stress when I bring him through the return vortex? He’s not a Jumper.”

  “It seems
the virus will have inoculated him against some of the effects of temporal stress. He may feel a little weak for a few days, but he’ll be all right. We could use Frumscyld-Ábitan to make Jumpers out of everyone, but in its present form it would kill them. David has built up antibodies to counteract the lethal side effects of the virus whilst gaining certain benefits. You must go now, you’ve used up three minutes already.”

  “Yes Commander.”

  I gave a nervous smile and stepped forward through the temporal doorway.

  The ground on the lane outside David’s front garden felt soft underfoot, and the house looked much the way it had the last time I’d seen it, but the garden was unkempt. A cold breeze blew a scattering of autumn leaves in front of me and caused me to pull my open jacket around me to keep warm. I walked through the gateway in the low stonewall where I’d sat with David sipping water one hot summer’s day long ago. I pictured Anna tending the flowerbeds. She loved her flowers, but they were long gone, replaced with weeds and long grasses. The lawn was long too and hadn’t been cut for several years.

  Willing David to still be alive, I knocked on the front door and waited, but there was no reply. I knocked harder: still no answer. I tried to open the door, but it was locked. I was considering breaking it down when I heard whistling coming from around the left side of the house. Feeling relieved, I ran around the corner and saw David walking towards the back door with a metal bucket in his hand.

  “David!” I shouted to him. David turned to face me looking startled and dropped the bucket. Fresh milk splashed up his trousers and spilled on the floor.

  He squinted at me, then, as recognition reached his eyes he shouted back, “Steve!”

  I ran over to him. We threw our arms around each other, then stepped back looking each other up and down. David saw before him the same young man he’d seen many years previously, but I saw an old man many years my senior. In natural time there were only a couple of years between us, but this looked like a grandfather and grandson reunion. David still had a good head of hair, although it was completely grey and had lost most of its curl, and there were many more lines on his weathered face. However, despite his age he still had a well-toned physique. I suppose this was because with no one to help him he must have had to work hard on the farm every day of his life.

  “I knew you’d come back one day, but I didn’t think you’d take this long,” he said. “Lets get in out of this cold wind. I think winter’s on its way.”

  We walked back to the house and I followed him inside, which, in contrast to the front garden, was still as clean and well kept as it had been the last time I’d been here.

  “First things first,” he said, how long can you stay?”

  “About ten minutes.”

  David was crestfallen, “I waited for you for twenty five years and you can only stay ten minutes? Isolation takes its toll on a man; over the years I even doubted your last visit happened.”

  I felt so sorry for this lonely old man. He’d lived most of his life in solitude, abandoned by the rest of humanity, with only the farm animals and his memories to keep him company. Given his situation I’m sure I would have lost my sanity.

  “I’m not leaving you here; they sent me back to find you and bring you back to my time.”

  “Why?” David asked warily.

  “What you told me last time was true. You said that the things I learned on my visits into the future might be of help in the natural time frame. All this can be stopped. The human race doesn’t have to die out.”

  “What? How?” he asked. This was the best news the he could have hoped to hear, but I sensed he held back: it seemed too good to be true, and he couldn’t face the subsequent disappointment if it didn’t work out. Maybe he doubted I was really there with him; maybe he thought he was hallucinating.

  I explained, “There’s only one man who can save humanity from annihilation, and that’s you.”

  David looked confused, “How can I save humanity? Rubbish. I wish I could, but no, that’s impossible.”

  “The answer’s in your blood. You survived the super-virus, so the antibodies are in your blood.”

  “Well that could have been so fifty years ago, but there won’t be any there now. You’ve left it too long.”

  “In normal circumstances that would be true, but the virus came to earth on meteorite fragments and these infected fragments have continued falling over the years. Your body will have kept up its immunity. The antibodies will still be there. The people who sent me need a few blood samples to run some tests. They will attempt to create a synthetic vaccination from the information gained examining your antibodies. It’s this vaccination that will save the whole of mankind, or as many as they can inoculate in the given time.”

  “How much blood will they need?” he asked, “And what will happen afterwards? I can’t leave my animals, they depend on me.”

  “Just a few samples, afterwards you will be returned to your own time. Of course if the vaccination is successful you won’t be returning to an empty planet, and the events of the successive years won’t have taken place. Please come back with me and give humanity a second chance.”

  David bowed his head and thought for a moment, “I really have no choice. The fate of humanity rests in my hands. If what you’re saying is true it’s in my power to save everyone or condemn them. I have to give it a go. I can’t let everyone die. I’ll do it for you Steve; I’ll do it for Anna. I still think of her every day you know.”

  I checked my watch: I had two minutes left. We walked back outside and through the front garden. David looked back at his home and surrounding hillsides for what could be the last time in this future. If the vaccine was successful, the next time he stood here as a septuagenarian he would have lived a full life surrounded by the people he loved.

  The vortex started opening a little way in front of us. I explained, “This is like a doorway, we just walk though.” David looked at me for a moment, as if for reassurance, then we stepped through the temporal vortex together.

  Someone had placed two beds in the vortex room and isolated the area. Dad, C, and the boiler-suited technician were standing behind an enclosed screen. From their perspective I had only been gone for a couple of moments.

  David stumbled, his legs buckling underneath him. I grabbed him under his arms to stop him falling and helped him sit on the side of the nearest bed.

  C addressed him, “There’s nothing to be worried about Mr. Franklin. That was a side effect of temporal stress. You’ll feel stronger in a while. All this is just a precaution. We have to determine whether either of you are carriers of the super-virus.”

  A medic entered the room wearing a full, airtight body suit and breathing mask. He asked us both to lie on the beds. We obliged.

  Before examining David he said,” Thank you Mr. Franklin, we really appreciate what you are doing for us.” David nodded. He was rather overwhelmed at seeing other people.

  The medic took a few readings from us both with a portable handheld scanner, and then took off his breathing mask, saying, “I’m pleased to tell you, you’re both clear of the virus and safe to mix with the rest of us. Mr Franklin, you’ll feel a little weak for a couple of days. Don’t worry, this is temporary.”

  Later that evening, before I left to see Anna, I asked Dad what would have happened if David had refused to come back with me.

  Dad looked very serious. “Section wanted David to come here of his own free will, but, should he have refused, a small security team were on standby ready to ‘encourage’ him to come back. He was always coming back; there was never any doubt in this. After all, how does one weigh one man’s freewill against the future of humanity.”

  “I understand that,” I said. “Not that I like it. Another point: If David had refused and the security men had gone after him they would either have had to stay in the future or return to natural time where they would have died of temporal stress.”

  “Yes … they were aware of the fac
ts.”

  Chapter 11

  I travelled to the smallholding by a parallel vortex, arriving a little way up the lane so no one would see the strange phenomenon, then knocked on the front door. Anna shrieked with excitement when she realised who was knocking. She opened the door and threw her arms around me, not letting me go until I told her she was suffocating me and I needed to breath.

  David ‘Junior’ looked up from the kitchen table where he sat eating and said, “It’s only Steve. What’s all the fuss is about?” then grinned, and as Anna finally let go of me, added, “Hi Townie,” his usual nickname for me.

  Seeing him as a young man again was a very strange experience, and I decided I had to think of him as two separate people: the David of my peer group and the much older man he would become. Of course, if his mind were clear enough to recall them, David Senior would already hold today’s memories. I felt it was my duty to spend as much time with him as I could, so, as Anna’s father was away on business and wouldn’t know about it, I stayed with her until the morning, then made an excuse to leave so she wouldn’t see my return vortex.

  I walked back up the lane and stepped though the temporal doorway into the vortex room, nodding a thank you to the technician, before rushing over to the Infirmary to see David Senior.

  “Our guest will be very pleased to see you,” said a short, stocky specialist as he held the door open for me. I walked through. David was lying in a bed. I stood in stunned silence for a moment, horrified at his gaunt appearance: his cheeks and eyes were sunken, he seemed to have aged ten years and he’d lost at least thirty pounds.

  The specialist walked past the bed, took David’s medical notes off a cabinet and started checking through them.

  “What have you done to him?” I demanded, hardly believing this could be the same man I’d brought back through time the previous day.