by Andy Kasch
Jumper scowled and said, “Fine. Meet you both out there.”
“Hope he doesn’t ditch us both,” Jumper heard Kayla say to Alan as the two of them walked towards the building.
“That might not be so bad,” Alan responded.
“You wish, Alan.”
In the parking lot a short while later, Jumper knew he had two choices. The first was he could drive, and let Kayla squish herself in with Alan in the passenger seat. He chose the second option.
“I thought you always drove,” Kayla said as she squeezed in with Jumper. Her flesh felt good against his, even through the thick climate-controlled clothes they all wore, which consisted of stretchy pants and a long-sleeve shirt. Her voice was flirtatious in a way Jumper wasn’t sure about. He decided to act annoyed.
“I’m working on my journal entry—but I keep getting interrupted.” Jumper turned his attention to his lightpad as soon as she settled down.
“Oh, your journal. Right. When are you going to let me read that?”
“I’m thinking …never. Yep. Pretty sure it’s never.”
“Don’t want me to read about Ashlie and Carmen?”
“As if girls were important enough to write about,” Jumper jeered.
“You’ve been writing that thing since we were kids. Are you seriously saying it has nothing about me?”
Jumper looked into Kayla’s dark brown eyes. They were becoming more beautiful as she matured.
“Oh, I’m sure there’s something. Like you said, it goes back a long ways.”
“The file size has to be getting gigantic by now,” she said.
“Yeah, it’s pretty big.”
Kayla put her muscular, soft arm around Jumper’s shoulder and lowered her voice. “How much about me is really in there?”
Alan appeared outside the driver’s door.
“I’m driving? Great! Kayla, you might be good for something after all.”
“What took you so long?” Jumper mumbled.
It was a short drive to the university, especially with Alan determined to enjoy his opportunity to drive. They dropped Kayla off at the front building—Jumper gave her a little shove to help her exit—and then took the 2-seater around to the social sciences building. As they were parking, an overhead sound made them both look up. There was a small space shuttle above them, descending fast over the far end of the parking lot.
“That’s got to be Uncle Brandon!” Jumper said.
They watched as the boxy spacecraft lowered, hovered, and landed. The cabin door opened upward. A lone human figure emerged and began walking towards the social sciences building.
Jumper sprung from the 2-seater and ran to meet him.
“Uncle Brandon!”
Brandon’s smile was so wide it was the first thing Jumper saw as his face came into view.
“Jumper!” he said and raised his hand. Jumper leapt through the air the last few yards and slapped his hand as he landed—a special greeting Uncle Brandon taught him as a young child, something he called a running high five.
“So great to see you Uncle Brandon!” Jumper stepped back and checked him out a little better. Brandon wore old Earth style clothes, denim pants that the older generation called jeans, and a cloth coat of the type they referred to as letterman jackets.
Jumper then glanced at the shuttle craft behind him. “Did you bring Aunt Rachel or Rachel2?”
“No, Jumper. I’m here on important business. Is your dad waiting for me in his office?”
“That would be my guess. We just arrived ourselves.”
“I see. That must be Alan2 with you.”
“Right. Kayla—Kayla2, that is—begged a ride from us, so she’s here, too. We dropped her off at the front so she could exercise on the bars.”
Brandon unfocused his eyes for a moment. “Kayla2. Yes, I remember her. Cute young thing. Her father was depressed over not having seen her in so long, the last I talked with him. That was last year sometime. How’s her mom?”
“She’s always been depressed, as far as I can tell. Doesn’t seem to bother Kayla2, though.”
Brandon talked as they walked. “We’re all pathetically unaware of how our actions, particularly those which transgress Erob law, are a detriment to our children.”
“You’re still the same old Uncle Brandon, I see.”
“Yes. Let’s hope that never changes.”
Alan joined them and exchanged greetings with Brandon, then the three of them walked to the sociology building and entered. Jumper’s dad wasn’t in his office, so they went to his lecture hall. He was there, talking with several native students. When Jumper’s dad saw the three of them come in, he stepped back from the group and crossed his arms in front of his gray climate-controlled shirt. To anyone else, it would appear he was indifferent to their arrival—possibly even irritated—judging from his expression and body language. But Jumper knew his dad well enough to detect an ever-so-slight smile at the corners of his lips. He knew he was happy.
Brandon apparently wasn’t fooled either, as he proceeded immediately to Jumper’s dad and stood before him. They didn’t say anything for a long moment as they beheld each other. Then Brandon stretched out his hand. Jumper’s dad didn’t immediately react, but the corners of his lips upturned noticeably. Finally, he reached out and they did that special old Earth handshake of theirs. Brandon then clasped his hand between both his and held the position as toothy smiles formed on both their faces.
“I told you they weren’t really mad at each other,” Jumper said to Alan. Alan nodded in response without taking his eyes off of them.
Brandon spoke. “I see you’re growing a goatee, Derek. It looks good on you.”
“Is that what future-people call a chin beard?” Derek replied.
“Although,” Brandon said, “there are a few gray hairs in there. On your head, too—you can’t hide them with that short haircut. And I detect a wrinkle or two forming on your face. If you insist on continuing to live here, you’ll be an old man soon.”
“Not afraid of what I am,” Derek said. “That’s what you never understood, man. I’m an Earthling, and Earthlings age.”
Brandon shook his head. “Not so much on Banor. Even the oldest of us now looks younger than you.”
“Youth isn’t a good look for a professor, Brando. When and if I decide to change planets, I’ll be the respected one over there—the one they come to for advice. Might just set up shop next to you and give you some competition.”
They laughed and cracked a few more jokes, then asked about the welfare of each other’s small families. When all was reported well, the two of them came over to Jumper and Alan.
“How did the suits work?” Derek asked.
Alan said “partially” at the same time Jumper said “perfectly,” causing Brandon to laugh and Derek to frown.
“Tell me about it as we all walk to the chemistry building,” Derek said.
The four of them left the lecture room and ambled through the halls and courtyard. Jumper told his dad the same partial-truth story about the mountain trip that Alan had given his father.
“I’m glad you didn’t try anything stupid with them,” Derek said. “I’ve since discovered there needs to be a certain geological composition in the nearby ground for the anti-gravity fields to kick on properly.”
“Does it include cortzye stones?” Alan asked.
“They contain one of the necessary elements, yes.”
Jumper saw Brandon glance at him and Alan with a wry face.
“Yob3 is giving a lecture at the moment,” Derek said, “so let’s slip in the back row and wait while he finishes up. With any luck we’ll freak him out.”
“I’ve never seen Professor Yob3 freak out over anything,” Jumper said.
When they came to his lecture hall, they went in single file through the rear door and sat down quietly. Five native students and one Earthling were in attendance. Yob3 glanced up at the new arrivals, shook his head slightly and chuckled. There
was a small metal sphere balanced on a thin pole in front of him, which was dimly lit from the bottom side. Yob3 went on with his lecture.
“So we see that the isolation of the light from an accelerated nuclide can be controlled in this manner, and is not particularly dangerous to handle. By rearranging the supporting spectrum…”
At that moment, Jumper thought he saw a recognizable flash of light from under the small metal sphere—the flash move flicker from polwar. That didn’t make any sense. He must have been imagining it. But he knew he wasn’t. He was the colony champ because he learned to distinct that flash from all other light reflections. Jumper leaned forward in his seat and felt a tightening in his lower stomach.
The light under the metal orb turned blue, and the orb levitated off its resting point until it held in place in the middle of the room. The students were looking up at it now. The tightness in Jumper’s gut increased and he clutched his abdomen with both hands.
Yob3 continued. “We have achieved a partial transformation of light energy here, what some would mistakenly assume is matter related. But the matter is only reacting to the energy transformation. Now we can set the sphere back down gently by continuing to rotate through the spectrum—”
A second familiar flash sparkled under the elevated metal orb and Jumper’s abdominal pain became severe—but only for a second. The orb then shot upward and impacted on the ceiling. It exploded in an intense flash of white light that spread across the entire ceiling of the lecture hall. The resulting blindness was a welcome relief to Jumper, because his stomach was suddenly fine again.
It was a few minutes before Jumper could see normally, and correspondingly a few minutes before Yob3 spoke again.
“That was unexpected,” he said. “Is everyone all right?”
The students in the room looked at each other and nodded. Jumper noticed Professor Yob3 glance to the back of the room with a look of suspicion.
“In that case, the lecture is concluded. I would advise you students to vacate the room, in case there are any harmful rays lingering from the detonation.”
The students all left. Brandon and Derek stood up. Jumper and Alan followed them to the floor where Yob3 began cleaning up what was left of his demonstration.
“Derek, I don’t sabotage your lectures, so I’ll thank you to return the favor—regardless of who may be visiting.”
“Easy man,” Derek said. “If there’s been any sabotage, I know nothing about it.”
Yob3 then looked at Brandon, who only shook his head. The three of them turned and studied Jumper and Alan for a moment. Jumper put his palms up in front of him. Alan did likewise.
Yob3 seemed satisfied and greeted Brandon.
“What brings you to my humble lecture hall?” he asked as he fiddled with his equipment.
“I think you know.”
Yob3 frowned. “It’s still a little too early, Brandon. I know you’ve waited a long time, and are understandably anxious, but we shouldn’t use the culture before it’s reached full maturity. Especially not now, after all this time when we’re so close. Losing our patience at this point risks everything. Better to wait a while longer—I’m thinking one more year, in fact.”
“I fear we no longer have that luxury,” Brandon said. “Warring alien races are now holding positions at Amulen and Cardinal-4. The middle continents on Amulen are staged as a possible battleground. Governor Mip7 urgently requested that I accompany the High General to a parley at the station, but I felt the security of the situation at the Science Complex was my immediate priority.”
“RL-71 is as secure as we can possibly make it,” Yob3 replied.
“Which is no longer secure enough, and exactly my point.” Brandon pulled a small metal tube out of his pocket. “I brought the key. I’ve never …felt stronger about anything. I want to inject the culture now.”
Yob3 examined the burn marks on the lecture hall ceiling and said, “Do you know something about the security of RL-71 the rest of us don’t?”
“I know there’s an alien battle percolating here, which has the all-too-real potential to involve the Banorian military. I know the atmospheric conditions on Amulen are now unhealthy for humans, and grow worse all the time, which may be accelerated significantly by the use of certain weapons. I know Amulen is not a safe place, with bickering local militia groups attempting to self-govern the many small regions. All the while the infection fortifies itself. We’ve even heard stories of isolated groups playing polwar death matches in reclusive areas, like something from the Roman Coliseum on ancient Earth.”
Derek said, “Those are unfounded rumors told for sensationalism, man.”
“Maybe not so unfounded,” Jumper accidentally said out loud. Everyone in the room turned and gave him a quizzical look, except Alan—whose look was scornful.
Brandon continued. “The situation is much more hazardous than any realize. In reminds me of conditions on Earth before the two 20th century world wars. When lawlessness abounds and authority is scattered, it opens the opportunity for self-serving parties with oppressive leaders to rise to positions of great power. I have no specific knowledge in this regard, but the circumstances are familiar and I can sense the inception of tribulations.”
“The red Sheen,” Alan said quietly to Jumper. Brandon may have overheard him, as he shot Alan and Jumper another concerned glance. Jumper elbowed Alan in the ribs.
Brandon held the cylindrical key up with his thumb and forefinger. “It is my firm opinion that the risk of letting the culture further mature, under the current conditions, is higher than the risk of slightly immature application. I want to do it now.”
Yob3 turned to Derek. “What’s your opinion?”
“Biological chemistry isn’t my bag, Yob3. Brandon and I don’t agree on a lot of things, but I must admit he usually turns out to be right by some miracle when he feels strongly about something. With the possibility of bombs exploding down here on Amulen soil, I’m going to side with him on this one. Just don’t ask me to go with you to that house of horrors. I still haven’t gotten over it, and don’t expect I ever will.”
“Can we go?” Jumper and Alan said in unison.
Brandon and Yob3 smiled as Derek rolled his eyes.
“Yes,” Brandon said. “We’ll need your help, in fact.”
Yob3 looked at Jumper and Alan and cocked his head for a second.
He then said, “Okay. They’re your people, and you know the risks. It’s your decision. Let me get organized and I’ll meet you in front of the administration office shortly. Derek, watch over things here for a few days.”
Derek put his hand on Brandon’s shoulder. “Brando, take care of the kids, man. Don’t let them get too far out of your sight. Those two can be a fair amount of work, and are known to get a little reckless.”
Derek turned to Alan and Jumper. “Alan, I’ll tell your parents. They won’t be too surprised. Jumper, I’ll …make up something better-sounding than the whole truth to tell your mom.”
Brandon assured Derek they would all be back soon. Jumper and Alan then followed Brandon out into the hallway.
“What about Kayla?” Alan asked.
“She only asked for a ride here,” Jumper said. “Let her find her own way home.”
Alan laughed. “Won’t be the first time you left her stranded.”
Brandon shook his head. “No. Let’s at least tell her we’re leaving. Treating others irresponsibly is unwise.”
“All right,” Jumper said. “Follow me. She’s in the air gym.”
The three of them made their way to the athletics department, passing an occasionally student along the way.
“Hard to believe this wonderful institution has been reduced to such a ghost town,” Brandon said. “But good to see it’s held on even this long. I hate to say this, but it will probably close soon, assuming it isn’t reduced to wartime rubble beforehand. If you kids wish to continue your education, you’ll have to do it on Banor. Our universities are bustling, and
the graduates are finding good jobs.”
They came to the air gym window. Kayla was inside exercising. The air gym was a large, sealed, low-gravity chamber with gymnastic bars of different types arranged in a type of obstacle course. The gymnast launched from a platform in a high corner of the room and gradually made their way down through the descending spiral of rings, bars, and beams, eventually dismounting from the final beam to a padded floor. Kayla was in the middle of the run, swinging through a series of hoops.
“Two flips between hoops,” Alan said. “She’s been practicing. I tried that once and ended up dropping right to the floor.”
Jumper nodded. “We’ve all done that. Two flips is hard. Now she’s coming to the unattached bars.”
Kayla sprung with her hands off a beam and flipped in the air to land on the first unattached bar upside down, hooking onto it with backwards with her bent legs. As the bar then began to fall, she continued spinning backward, released, stretched out her arms, and propelled herself upward off the next bar before it could fall more than an a tiny bit. She then rapidly swung her way through the remaining unattached bars one-handed, catching the last one with her outermost reach. Bouncing off a beam below, she landed on the parallel bars with both hands and shuffled her way across.
“I always miss that last one,” Jumper grumbled.
Alan whistled. “Extat, that’s impressive.”
“Yes,” Brandon said. “Indeed it is.”
“Please don’t tell her that, Uncle Brandon. She’s tough enough to live with as it is.”
Kayla made her way to the end of the course and did a twisting, five somersault finale before gracefully sticking a landing. Jumper then pushed the access button below the window and the alarm sounded.
“Let’s take her with us,” Brandon said.
Jumper and Alan immediately voiced objections.
“I want her to come,” Brandon said. “Tell me—is she also a good marksman?”
Jumper reluctantly nodded.
“Good.”
Jumper and Alan exchanged baffled looks. Alan finally shrugged in a way that also betrayed a hint of enthusiasm. Jumper had to admit this trip with Uncle Brandon was suddenly infused with more excitement than he first figured it for—but why did Kayla have to be involved? That let some of the buzz out of it.