Black Desert

by Peter Francis

  Gowan was talking to Ramirez and so far there had been no name-calling. They were making final adjustments on the door which would provide them an exit from the dome during periods they were not time travelling.

  “Hold it up,” said Gowan.

  “With you around, Junette, I don’t need to hold it up. It does pretty well on its own.”

  “Keep your mind on the job.”

  “I can’t stop thinking about you.”

  “Perhaps you’re in love with me.”

  “I always have been, I guess.”

  “Yes,” she said. “Let’s see if we are still together in a hundred years from now.” She hesitated and thought for a while while applying epoxy. “I mentioned I had a grandmother with the same last name as Hugh. She was the one who encouraged me to join Fleet. She told me it would be the greatest adventure of my life. I told her how tough it would be to enrol as Fleet was much smaller then but she just kept on urging me to try harder – so I did.”

  “I’m glad you did, Gowan. I would never have met you otherwise.”

  “I used to wonder why the psychologists put us together on the same ship. I just assumed they had made a thunderous blunder.”

  “And I, in my arrogance, could never find a way to treat you like a proper woman. You were too smart for me.”

  “And you have turned out to be the smart one. Lillishenger was right,” said Gowan. “Odd about my grandmother though.”

  “Maybe you and Dunfield are related?”

  “What – English in my blood?”

  “No,” said Ramirez. “I would have thought Irish.”

  “Maybe Hispanic,” she said. “You know – if a man is unfaithful I’d hand him his severed dick over breakfast.”

  Ramirez winced. “Ow. Even the thought hurts. I’ll never be unfaithful.”

  “What about when I’m eight months pregnant and the size of this dome?”

  Ramirez thought about this. “I’ll lock up the knives,” he said.

  Lillishenger said to Ogden, “It seems strange to think that if all this theory works, I’ll end up back in the time I should be – ten years in the future from where I left. After all, ten years has passed by here.”

  “This is a strange world,” said Ogden, “but I would be tempted to remain here if I could.”

  “Why?”

  “Englishmen are built for the desert,” he said. “Our climate was always such that we sought dry, sunny places for adventure.”

  “But your climate is regulated now.”

  “Yes it is. One day of heavy rain – usually a Wednesday – which supplies our water needs to automatically fill water cistern reserves and take care of the garden. Four days of sunshine and two days of cooler, fresher weather. Water is micromanaged to the last drop and we receive enough sun to raise the vitamin D in our bones without damaging our skin. These, here, are the bad old days. Yet I find they’re not so bad. The people are way nicer.”

  “Wait till iPads and tablets.”

  “Thank the Lord for the destruction of the satellites. It put us back a few decades and forward by even more.”

  “At least we were ready for the aliens.”

  “No we weren’t,” said Ogden. “I’m not even sure we are now.”

  “We’ll do our best and likely die in the attempt,” said the Professor.

  Three days later they were ready for their first flight to nowhere. Everything had been tested apart from the theory and they planned their first hop to last but a day or two while they worked out any gremlins.

  “It’s a shakedown cruise,” said the Captain. “Except we’ll be somewhere in that dome and hopefully some way into the future.”

  Jenny came over to see them leave and there were hugs and kisses all round between the men and the women, the women and the women, but not between the men and the men. After all, nobody claimed to be French. Hands were shaken and goodbyes said. “See you soon,” said Gowan.

  “Well, sometime anyway,” said Ramirez.

  They entered the dome and locked the steel door set in the concrete wall, leaving the key hanging by it. They each had a spare and two more were already inside the Challenger. Then they swung the dome portal shut and sealed and entered the craft. Stiers commanded, “Chameleon circuits and cloaking device off.”

  “Off,” confirmed Ramirez.

  “Start engines.”

  “Engines running,” said Ogden. “Optimum output in thierty seconds.”

  “Check guide rail secure and connections made.”

  “All okay, Captain,” said Lillishenger.

  “Galley reserves stocked?”

  “Stocked to maximum. Raw materials stocked to maximum,” said Gowan. “Hey, how come I don’t have anything more important? I mean do you want me to check the laundry while I’m at it.”

  “Weapons control,” continued Stiers.

  “Sorry, Captain. I forgot that is me also,” said Gowan. “Weapons are quarter charged and on standby.”

  “Let’s start slow,” said the Captain. “One tenth power to the hyperglide system. Let’s watch out for problems.”

  “Heat build-up on the rail,” said Ogden.

  “That’s okay,” said Lillishenger. “Continue. It will cool down when we reach light speed as we will no longer be there.”

  “That doesn’t make sense to an old cowpoke,” said the Captain.

  In fact the rising heat was caused by the speed at which the guide rail and track they had built underneath the vessel were passing close to each other. The ship was moving in a circular motion while retaining its constant outlook and the treated metals and plastics suffered at below light speeds.

  “Heat build-up continuing to rise. That rail is definitely getting hot.”

  “So is the guide track,” said Gowan.

  “It’s to be expected,” said Lillishenger.

  “Take us to forty per cent,” said Stiers.

  “Forty per cent,” said Ogden after a moment. “The rails are hot enough to warp.”

  “So is the track.”

  “You have to go to a seventy per cent to evade the heat,” said the Professor.

  “Let’s just hope it all holds together,” said Stiers. “Start the internal shield protectors then go to seventyfive per cent for eight hours and prepare chronometers for calibration. Then to one hundred per cent for eight hours. Report any deviations. Report any heat build-up. Report anything unusual, however slight.”

  “Chronometers are reversing,” warned Ramirez.

  “That’s to be expected,” said the Professor. “They are just moving slower than us. Record everything.”

  “Link chronometers to the main computer,” said Stiers.

  “Seventyfive per cent,” declared Ogden. “Heat reducing rapidly.”

  “Sure,” said Lillishenger. “Now we’re cooling the buggers, not heating them.”

  “Chronometers tied in with the computer banks for initial calibration,” said Gowan. “We won’t be able to ascertain an accurate calibration until we touch Earth again.”

  “Ensure you have that thing adjusted for Pacific time – whatever it is when we land,” said the Captain.

  “Everything seems to be running smoothly,” said Ramirez.

  “Then,” said Ogden, “I suggest we break off for a cup of tea before moving to a hundred per cent.”

  “Perhaps you’d like an iced bun with it,” suggested Ramirez but his heart was not in the jibe since he had found love. He glanced over to Gowan who looked away from her holos to smile at him, warming his heart to a temperature close to that reached by the rail and track at their zenith. They had not found time to actually make love to a conclusion but each of them knew it was just a matter of time.

  “We’re not holding at seventyfive percent,” warned Ogden. “There’s a minute fluctuation that keeps ironing itself out. I may have to clean out the nuclear filters again when we land.”

  He was correct in his terminology. At that point the Challenger was not actua
lly on Earth but trapped in a circle a fraction above it. They would not rejoin real time until that fraction was closed. The gap was minute but vital to the operation.

  After the eight hour period, Stiers increased to ninety percent and let it remain there for another eight hours. They slept in short shifts, using their waking hours to constantly monitor what was happening. At the end of a further eight hours, the Captain decided to continue the experiment in favour of the most accurate chronometer alignment he could get. They ran to to the full one hundred per cent for another eight hours. The ship constantly faced the same direction while moving in a circular motion which kept all parts of it moving at the same speed. Spinning would have resulted in the ship going into different time zones and likely breaking up. At a hundred per cent Gowan and Lillishenger complained about dizziness.

  “It’s slight, but persistent,” said Gowan.

  “It’s more than slight for me,” said Lillishenger. “It’s quite painful in fact.”

  Ramirez set to modifying the internal shielding, slightly increasing the capacity until there we no more complaints. The Captain asked, “Is this as fast as we can go?”

  “Until we know the results of analyses on all the equipment, yes,” said the Professor.

  After exactly eight hours at a hundred per cent, Stiers brought them out of light speed and reduced the motion of the vessel. Each slowing down would bring another hot phase but slowing too fast would make it worse. He judged it well and Challenger finally stopped all motion. “Okay,” said the Captain. “Let’s see where we are.”

  “More like when we are,” said Lillishenger.

  “I would hate to have spent more than a day in there without making progress,” said Stiers.

  “Perhaps we’ll arrive in time for breakfast – or hamburgers,” said Ogden.

  “One short hop and you’re hungry,” said Ramirez. “Who knows how long we’ll be cooped in this thing?”

  “I will,” said the Professor, “as soon as the calculations are in.”

  “Shut us down, resume cloaking and chameleon circuits,” instructed Stiers.

  “Cloaking and chameleon activated,” confirmed Ramirez.

  “Reactors cooling normally. Engines at standby,” said Ogden.

  “Weapons at shut down,” said Gowan. “Oh, and the galley is still well-stocked, I expect.”

  “Don’t take things personally, Gowan,” said the Captain. “We’ll all be out of here shortly.”

  They used the ship’s key to open the security hatch and entered what seemed like a different world.

  “What happened in here?” asked Lillishenger.

  “It looks like somebody has tidied it all up,” said Ramirez. “That old car has gone.”

  “Lots of things have gone,” said Gowan. “And everything else is in a sorted order.”

  “It looks better,” said the Captain.

  The Professor grunted. “Maybe,” she said, non-committally.

  “Is it night or day?” asked Ramirez.

  “It’s day but you have your eyes closed,” said Gowan.

  He chuckled. “I’m not that tired.” Ogden wondered what, if anything, they had been up to – and where.

  “It’s daytime,” said the Professor. “I can see the light through the windows and cracks in the doors.”

  “You can see through the windows?” exclaimed Ramirez. “Wow. There really has been a clean up. There used to be a hundred layers of cobwebs.”

  “I was quite busy – remember?” said Lillishenger.

  “It must be Sarah’s handiwork,” said the Captain. “Let’s go find them.”

  They unlocked the small door using their own key and sunshine burst into the confined space like a wave breaking on the shore. They blinked and shaded their eyes against the onslaught of light. Stiers peered across the yard. “The house is still there,” he said.

  “It’s not tornado country,” said Ogden.

  “That’s not what I meant. As far as I can tell all the usual junk is there but in neat and tidy rows. As far as I can tell we haven’t slipped into another dimension where humans have four eyes and three breasts.”

  “Three would be a waste,” said Ramirez. “Man only has two hands.”

  “Somehow I don’t think that would bother you awful much,” said Gowan.

  “You’re the only woman in the world as far as I’m concerned.”

  “For now,” said Gowan. “If you make it as a hero – who knows then?”

  “I think I preferred it when they argued all the time,” said Ogden to the Captain. “It was a comforting background noise most of the time.”

  “Just as long as they don’t start kissing in public,” said Stiers.

  “Hey,” said Ramirez. “Don’t forget we spent a long time having to listen to Prof and the walrus grunting in basic copulation.”

  “I don’t have a moustache,” said Ogden. “Walrus is inappropriate.”

  “I was referring to size, not facial features,” said Ramirez.

  “At least nothing has changed between you two,” said the Captain.

  “Just remember I didn’t start it,” said Ogden.

  “I’m too happy to be arguing,” said the saintly Ramirez. “Let’s go find Sarah and Hugh.”

  “And maybe get some food,” said Ogden.

  They walked to the house which had received a fresh coat of paint and opened the door as usual and made their way to the kitchen. A pregnant woman was there making a cake and she shrieked with alarm as they walked in on her. For a moment nobody recognised each other until she suddenly smiled and rushed over to greet them.

  “We thought you were never coming back,” she said. “You’ve been ages.”

  “How long were we gone?” asked Lillishenger.

  “It has been almost a year,” said Sarah. “Well, ten months anyway.”

  “Ten months,” exclaimed Ramirez. “It has been just over a day for us.”

  “That is because running at a hundred per cent for as long as we did without testing has taken us much further along the timeline,” said the Professor.

  “At least you are all still alive,” said Sarah. “Hugh and I were beginning to wonder.”

  “We had not planned on being this long,” said Stiers. “Until we accurately set the chronometers we won’t know where we are in relation to Earth time.”

  “What happened to you?” asked Ramirez.

  “It’s a thing that sometimes happens between men and women in love,” she said. “They have sexual intercourse and pregnancy can result.”

  “I know that. I just didn’t expect you to be pregnant this quickly – and this far along.”

  “We’re getting married on Friday,” said Sarah. “You’re invited of course. Oh, it’s Monday today by the way.”

  “You’re telling us the day? We don’t even know the year,” said Ogden.

  “1995. And for those who are interested, I am seven months pregnant.”

  “You didn’t waste any time,” said Ramirez.

  “No, I didn’t. Your Captain suggested it. This is a convenient time, by the way. Jenny is coming down for the wedding. She shows up from time to time with papers to sign. So far she is managing our money and making it grow very well.”

  “We’ll give her more information from the computer,” said the Captain.

  “Good.” She smiled again. “Hugh is just fetching a few things from town. You’re probably gasping for some real coffee.”

  “Yes,” said Ogden. “Would you be cooking food by any chance?”

  “It’s about lunchtime. I will for you you smooth talking Englishman.”

  “I’ve heard that joke,” said Ogden.

  “What joke?” asked Sarah.

  “It’s an old Australian joke,” he said. “This girl is hitching a ride in the outback and a truck pulls up, the coarse driver leans across, opens the door and says ‘Here, Sheila, do you shag?’. She replies, ‘I will for you, you smooth talking bastard’.”

  �
�You swore, Ogden,” protested Gowan.

  “It’s part of the joke,” said Ogden. “A joke without searing would be the one where a man and his dog make it to a desert island after their ship sinks. After about two weeks there’s no food left so the inevitable happens. The man builds a fire and cooks the dog. When he has finished there’s a pile of bones beside him on the beach and he looks at them and says’ ‘Poor Rover. If he was still here he’d have loved those bones.”

  “Where is this humour coming from, Ogden?” asked Ramirez. “I don’t wish to be rude but normally you’re as humourless as a rabbit having to chew its own leg off because it is caught in a trap.”

  “Our plan is working,” said Ogden. “Do I really need to say more?”

  “I guess not,” said Ramirez.

  “Aren’t you happy at our progress?” the Professor asked him.

  “I’m just happy to be wherever Junette Gowan is.”

  “Well,” said Lillishenger. “If you’re going to be soppy…”

  “Bizarrely enough, I’m quite happy to be soppy.”

  Gowan took his arm and smiled at him. “Me also,” she said.

  “Sit down and I’ll get some food,” said Sarah.

  They did as instructed, taking their places around the table as naturally as if it had been a few minutes ago they had last performed this small act. Sarah cooked up a lunch of tortillas and a huge pot of fresh coffee. She made up some orange juice from frozen concentrate and filled the jug with ice. The poor girl was perspiring so much, Gowan felt obliged to help her, despite the usual comments about her cooking. In the end Ramirez chipped in and they sat down to eat.

  “Do you plan to marry Gowan?” Ogden asked him.

  “Sure I do – if she’ll have me. Why not?”

  “I was just remembering her cooking – broiled eggs for example?”

  “I’ll cook,” said Ramirez.

  “I can learn,” said Gowan.

  Ogden chuckled and Gowan threw him a dark look which almost singed his forehead. “Sorry,” he said and chuckled again. “When’s Hugh due?”

  “Who do?” said Ramirez. “Who do what?”

  “No. At what time is Hugh due back here?”

  Sarah glanced at the clock. “Within an hour I should think,” she said. “So what have you been doing all this time?”

  “It has been little more than a day,” said the Professor. “There isn’t much we can do except sit in our ship inside that dome and travel from point to point. Luckily now we can calibtate the chronometers we’ll be able to tell you exactly when we’ll be back.”