The Quiet God (Earth Exiles Book 4)

by Mark Harritt

  Joel’s monotone continued to detail some of the differences, “… and the skin suit they wear seems to have some kind of unique eukaryotic slime biotic that allows their skin to stay moist. It’s almost like their skin exhibits amphibian like qualities. That slime biotic is the reason that they smell so bad when you get close to them.”

  Everett stared straight ahead, looking at absolutely nothing, his eyes glazed, “That sounds pretty disgusting to me.”

  Joel shook his head, “Actually, no, it’s one of the most interesting things I’ve ever seen. The layer of slime cells seems to eat the dead ski …”

  Joan leaned over to pat Joel on the arm, “Joel, it may be interesting to you and me, but I think we’re starting to lose the rest of the audience.”

  Joel blinked myopically, his wild hair giving him the mad scientist vibe, and looked around at the rest of the group, “Oh, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to natter on like that. It just seems so interesting to find this kind of symbiotic relationship where the human body needs an exterior coating to maintain its …”

  Joan patted him on the arm again. Joel realized that he was going on again, “Ah, erm, okay.”

  Mike grinned, “No problem, doc. It’s good to see you find something that you’re passionate about. We’re kind of a captive audience, though.”

  Joel’s hands fluttered like wounded sparrows as he tried to collect himself. Joan reached over and patted his hands, and then he settled down.

  Joan looked over at Hank and Will, both of who were present for the meeting, “I believe it’s your turn, Hank.”

  Hank didn’t look too happy, but Will looked down right pissed off. Mike couldn’t tell if Hank was displeased with Will, or something else, but Mike was pretty sure he was about to find out.

  Hank started, “Well, I just want to say, the rooms are coming along well. We’ve had some problems with the structural integrity of the rock, but …”

  Hank didn’t get a chance to finish. Will broke in and interrupted him, “Are you going to say something?”

  Hank looked at Will, “Look Will, I just think you’re taking this way too seriously. He’s just having fun, for God’s sake.”

  Will slapped his hand down onto the table, “Fun? Fun, you say? It’s damned insulting if you ask me.”

  Everett cleared his throat, “Ah, guys, you want to share with the rest of the class?”

  Hank had a look of concern on his face, and seemed like he wanted to say something, but Will took the moment away from him as he turned and looked at Everett. He pointed at Everett, “Fucking Mickey!”

  Everett stared at the finger pointing at him like it was a loaded gun about to fire, “I’m not Mickey. And no, I haven’t been.”

  Joan snorted, trying to control her laughter.

  Will glared at Joan, but the look softened as he realized it was Joan. Joan composed herself, and nodded, “I’m pretty sure I’d know if that was the case, Will.”

  Will opened, then closed his mouth. He didn’t take the bait and switched his glare back to Everett, “No, but he’s one of you team guys.”

  Mike held up a hand, “What’s up with Mickey?”

  Will focused on Mike, “Every time we go out to work, if he’s around, the first damn thing I hear is him singing, ‘Hi Ho! Hi Ho! It’s off to work we go!”

  Mike looked at Hank, but Hank was busy staring at the ceiling, tracing a circle on the table with his forefinger. Ed snorted as he tried to hold back the chortle that seemed to bubble up out of his mouth. Ken looked away as a ghost of a smile flitted across his face.

  Jen spoke, “I’m sure he doesn’t mean anything by it.”

  Will glanced at her, then looked back at Everett.

  Everett looked at Hank, “Is this true?”

  Hank nodded. Everett tried to retain a neutral look on his face, but Mike could tell he was having problems maintaining.

  Mike was trying really hard to keep the smile off of his face. The problem was, they both looked the part. Neither one of them was tall, except maybe next to the Contai. Hank was about five foot seven. Will was shorter, maybe five foot five, in boots. They were both stocky, muscular men from years of working with iron and other metals that they fabricated.

  With the lack of razors, nobody shaved anymore. Most of the men kept their beards short with scissors. Hank and Will had taken it in the other direction, though, and their beards were absolutely amazing. Will’s beard was midnight black, and even though it was curly, the bulk was a mass that stood thick down his chest, like the beard that the apostle Paul might have worn, or maybe an Assyrian king.

  Hank’s was different than Will’s, but amazing in its own right. A golden, red beard emerged down the sides of his cheeks from the brown hair that capped his head. Mike was in awe of Hank’s beard. No, more than that, he was downright envious. Hank’s beard hung in magnificent, reddish, golden waves. They had beards that Nordic gods would envy. Thor himself would have wept with jealousy at the magnificence of Hank’s beard. Mike had heard a few rumors that some of the Contai women had checked to see if the carpet matched the drapes. Contai men didn’t grow beards like that, not that thick. Mike had watched as Jessica Randall glared at the native women when they tried to touch Will’s beard.

  “You . . . fabricate things out of metal?” Joel asked.

  Will looked at Joel, “Yes?”

  “So, in essence, forging new tools. Out of metal?”

  Will turned his head slightly, his eyes narrowing, “And?”

  The corners of Joel’s mouth twitched, “And now, you’re carving caves out of stone?”

  Mike saw where Joel was going with his line of questioning, “And, remember when you forged those new knives for the Contai?”

  Will’s face went blank, no emotion showing.

  Hank couldn’t hold it in, and started chuckling. He poked Will in the ribs, “You were pretty good with an axe when you chopped down the trees back at the compound.”

  Every person in the room was trying very hard to keep the smiles off their faces, twisting their lips and contorting their features.

  Will looked around the room. There was no sympathy for him at all.

  Slowly, he turned his head to Hank, the expression on his face frosty, “You too?”

  Hank shook his head and shrugged, smiling the entire time, “Sorry, Will, but Joel has a point.”

  Will struggled with his emotions for a moment, and then he pushed back his chair, and stood up, “Well, I can see I’m not getting any help from any of you.” Cloaking himself in an aura of dignity, he walked around the table, and out the door.

  Mike closed his eyes, trying to keep it in. It really wasn’t that it was that incredibly funny, but Hank’s reaction and the look on his face was priceless. He could feel moisture around his eyes. It was going to start, and there was nothing he could do about it. He heard a snort as someone else lost control, and then the laughter came out like a tidal wave. Everett was pounding the table, and Ed had his head in his arms laughing. The laughter died down, and then someone else started laughing again, the synergy of the moment collectively driving them into a laughing frenzy over and over.

  Finally, they all settled down. Ed was wiping the tears out of his eyes. Mike’s ribs hurt. Joan was holding her rounded stomach, trying to catch her breath. Joel was grinning, chewing on his mustache.

  Everett chuckled, and looked around the table, then hooked his thumb over his shoulder toward the door that Will had exited through, “Well, I guess we know who Grumpy is now.”

  The laughter continued for another ten minutes before it was done.

  Joan, still grinning, looked at Hank, “Anything else?”

  Hank motioned toward the door, “He’ll get over it. He’s just a little sensitive about his height.”

  Joan shook her head, “No, I mean pertaining to the meeting.”

  Hank’s eyes lit up with comprehension, “Oh, no, nothing that won’t keep. We’re still building rooms. Hopefully we’ll have everybody
undercover soon. We have all the women and children undercover, and we’ll have enough room for the Contai men soon enough.”

  Joan looked over at Ed, “Anything for the group?”

  Ed shook his head, “Not so much for the group, but we’ve been looking at the dead soldier’s equipment.”

  “Did you figure out what kind of weapon he was carrying?” Everett asked.

  Ed looked at Everett, “No, not really. We know it’s some kind of energy weapon, but not much beyond that.”

  Mike frowned, “Really Ed? That’s all you have for us?”

  Ed shrugged, “Well, I don’t know exactly what it is, but I’m pretty sure you don’t want to be standing in front of it.”

  Mike stared at Ed, “That’s all you have to say? Don’t stand in front of it?”

  “Words to live by with pretty much any weapon,” Everett pointed out.

  Ed looked at their expressions and shrugged, “Unfortunately, Mike, that’s about all I can tell you right now. We just don’t have the testing equipment to be able to differentiate what kind of weapon it is. I know it’s some kind of directed energy weapon, but that’s all I can tell you. I can tell you the frequency range. It could be a maser, or it could be a laser. Hell, if it’s a laser, I can’t really tell you if it’s a pulse laser, or a continuous laser. I just don’t know without more testing, which requires more testing equipment. The equipment would have to be made by fabrication, but they’re kind of busy these days, just keeping everything in working order. And that’s only If we even had the materials to build the correct type of sensor.”

  Mike looked over at Hank. Hank nodded in agreement with Ed.

  Mike thought about it, “Can we use the night vision goggles to find out if it’s a continuous or pulse laser?”

  Ed shook his head, “No, unfortunately, this directed energy weapon is in a different frequency range. You can’t see it with your night vision goggles.”

  Mike frowned, “Is there anything you can tell me about it?”

  Ed nodded, “Yeah, the further away you are, the less likely you are to be injured by the weapon. Vegetation, moisture in the air, smoke, will degrade its effectiveness. Believe me, you really don’t want to be shot point blank by the weapon.”

  Everett looked at Ed, “What happens if you get hit?”

  Ed frowned, “Your flesh turns into a boiling plasma that explodes wherever the beam touches it.”

  Mike crossed his arms, the idea of his flesh exploding vivid in his imagination, “yeah, I could see how that would be considered a bad thing.”

  Ed chuckled, “That’s an understatement.” He leaned back in his chair, “One good thing, though. It seems to be delicate compared to the weapons you have. Heavy explosives, or heavy hits might be good enough to shatter some of the weapon’s inner circuits.”

  “You mean, like with a fist?” Everett asked.

  Ed shook his head, “No, probably not a fist. You’d need something heavier. Metal, a rock, something like that would do it.”

  Mike held his palm out to Ed, “Hey, what about those grenades he had on him?”

  Ed shrugged, “Once again, we can’t really figure them out completely without testing, but as near as we can figure, it’s some kind of flash bang.”

  Everett steepled his fingers, “Interesting.”

  Ed nodded, “Yeah, it is. But we think it may rely on light more than it does on the overpressure to alienate and confuse the intended target. I personally think it overrides the synaptic nerves to deliver an impulse directly to the cerebral cortex to incapacitate the target.”

  Mike was trying to figure what Ed had just said when Joel spoke, “So, kind of how flashing lights might disable an epileptic?”

  Ed snapped his fingers and pointed at Joel, “Exactly like that, Joel, though on a more intense scale. Still, there’s no real way to test it.”

  “Well, I for one want to know what this weapon is capable of. Are you sure there’s no way to test it?” Everett asked. “I think it’s important for us to know that. We may be able to come up with a way to counteract its effects.”

  Ed shook his head, “We’d need some kind of guinea pig. I don’t want to try it on a human being, and we don’t exactly have any kind of experimental animals we could test it on.”

  Everett wasn’t willing to give up, though, “You don’t have any kind of equipment to test it with?”

  Ed shook his head, “Same as the problem with the rifle. We don’t have the correct type of testing equipment to figure it out.”

  Everett frowned, crossing his arms, “Damn.”

  Ed nodded, “Yeah, that’s the problem with this kind of weaponry. Energy weapons are a lot trickier to figure out than something that shoots a bullet or creates shrapnel and overpressure on the intended target. With those, all you have to do is walk up and stick your finger through the holes in the targets. This is a little bit more complex, unfortunately. I’d say, leave your helmet on. The flashing effect probably won’t be as effective when it’s relayed through the electronics.”

  There was a lull as Mike and Everett mulled over that last. The others waited for Mike or Everett to speak; and then, when neither Mike nor Everett started talking, Hank brought up the next topic. It was one that everybody was interested in, “So, have you figured out anything else about the null generator?”

  Ed frowned, “We’re still looking at it. I hesitate to say we know everything about its working parameters, but hopefully we can figure it out, eventually.”

  Hank leaned in, “Can you tell if we can use it to get back?”

  Ed paused, “Look, I don’t even want to think about anything like that yet. We know so little about the operating parameters of the null generator. Right now, we’re more interested in making sure we don’t accidently get caught up in a null field and transported further into the future; or, accidently end up in the heart of a star. It could be a very long time before we know enough about the generator to do anything like that with it. Right now, we’ve just been able to get it to transport itself a limited distance. We’re playing with the range of the field itself right now.”

  Joel was a little less oblique when he asked, voice quavering slightly, “Do you think we’ll ever be able to go home, again?”

  Ed spread his hands, “Honestly, I’m not sure we’ll ever know enough to be able to give you a definitive answer about that. Tomorrow, we could accidently discover that we can jump back before the nuclear warheads hit. I’d like to be able to tell you we could go back and saver everybody, but I can’t right now. I don’t want to get anybody’s hopes up. I don’t want you to go around telling everybody that there’s a chance that we might get home. Right now, there’s just no way of knowing.”

  Ed paused. He took a deep breath, and spoke again, “Right now, though, I don’t think we’ll ever get back. I just can’t imagine it happening. Not without a better concept of the nature of time and how space-time works. I think us getting here was a fluke. Plus, we don’t even know exactly how much time has elapsed between our lives on old Earth, and our lives here. I’m not even sure how we’d ever be able to calculate that, to get us back to old Earth. We could easily over shoot the time frame that we need, and maybe, inadvertently, destroy all life on earth before it even started.”

  The committee fell silent at Ed’s musings. It was a harsh dose of reality for them all. Rumors and speculation about what the three amigos and Bobby were doing with the null generator were rife through their small community. Many had hope where there had been none previously. The truth was, though, that nothing had changed. It was a sober and serious group that adjourned the meeting.

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  Will heard a feminine voice, “Hey.”

  “Coming.” He stood up and walked over to pull the curtain aside. Natural light flooded in, but most of the light was blocked by a large figure. Mickey and Tracy were standing outside Will’s room. Will’s spine stiffened, but he hesitated, his better i
nclinations taking over. No matter how pissed off he was at Mickey, he couldn’t be upset with Tracy at all. A quiet young lady, she was always sweet to Will.

  Will nodded, looked at Mickey, and then pointed at Tracy, “I see you brought reinforcements.”

  Mickey grinned, “Yeah, I figured you might get pissed if you saw me, but you an’ Tracy’s always been good buddies.”

  Will turned to Tracy, “Well, it’s always good to see you Tracy. Unfortunately, I can’t say the same for your boyfriend.”

  Tracy nodded, sympathetic, “He does have a tendency to piss people off.” She looped her arm through Mickey’s, “Good for him, I was able to see right past that.” She patted Mickey’s big bicep with a hand that looked small and fragile next to it.

  Will nodded, “So, Miss Tracy, if you will, please forgive me for what I’m going to say.”

  Tracy took in a deep breath, and let it out, “It’s fine. I understand.”

  Will turned to Mickey, “Go fuck yourself, Mickey.”

  Mickey’s grin grew wider, “I figured you’d say somethin’ like that, so I brought you a peace offrin’.” Mickey pulled out a skin of Arrack.

  Will’s eyes grew wide at the unexpected gift, “Well, you’ve come prepared. I’ll give you credit for that much.” Will thought about it, then he motioned for them to come in.

  Later that night, as she approached her room, Jessica Randall wondered why she heard the slurred sounds of Disney cartoon songs in three-part harmony.

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  Chapter Six