by Darrell Bain
Once away from the Anachronism Festival area, we made good time, then even better after the sun came up and we could see better.
"Now they're saying it was Brazil that started it," Rez said. "They bombed China and India, too, and now those two countries are fighting each other, according to some reports."
God's chips, where had our intelligence service been? After the revelation of Gater involvement with the attempt to destroy Russell's research into light theory, the Church of the Gates had declined drastically in our country and the militant branch had moved to Brazil and began growing again.
Brazil had always been an anomaly in South America, the largest and most powerful nation on the continent, but using Portuguese as its primary language rather than Spanish. It tended to make them think of themselves as unique and superior to other countries down there, even though they shared the same Catholicism as the others. Evidently, the Gaters had found fertile ground. They must have infiltrated the current military government and induced it to start a war after the first starship returned, hoping the resulting chaos would preclude further development.
I didn't worry about India and China. Both had been decimated by AIDS III and IV and the Shiva Prion before cures were perfected, then an epidemic of the tremors, a new disease which had popped up from God knows what source did more damage. And finally, the global warming had upset their agricultural production, leading to millions of starvation victims. Refugees from the coastal flood plains had caused further death, destruction and chaos. Both countries had fractured into quarreling third world states years ago and I didn't see where a few A-bombs lobbed back and forth would hurt them much more.
So long as their war didn't spread, that is, and so far, that didn't appear to be the case. It couldn't go on too long, regardless. Nuclear weapons were supposed to have been completely banned a few years ago, but it was common knowledge that most countries had fudged on the treaty, keeping enough in stock to retaliate if the need arose.
It took us almost seven hours to get back home, where normally the drive wouldn't have taken nearly that long. We had only one spot of trouble, an attempted roadblock which I spotted long before we were in any danger. A few well-aimed shots from the rifle I always kept stowed in my vehicle sent the neophyte bandits scurrying for cover and we drove on through.
Donna continued to monitor the net. On the way back, she passed on the latest. Brazil had been thoroughly bombed from space, targeting industrial complexes, military bases and sites from which missiles had been launched. So the United States had sent more into orbit than the Orion and clippers and the new FTL ships. For once, I was grateful to the military thinkers, even if their intelligence did fail to predict the infiltration of the Brazilian government by the Gaters and their subsequent launching of nuclear missiles. At least they had prevented any more from targeting us, and so far, only Austin, Los Angeles and the Cheyenne Mountain military shelter in Colorado had been bombed in our country and the Los Angeles bomb had been a small one. We could recover from that, and you can damn me for saying so, but Los Angeles was no great loss. The area where the bomb hit had been controlled for years by smugglers, ruthless killer gangs and reps from the Las Vegas drug lords.
I could see from the overpass as we pulled into town that lights were burning in homes and businesses all over Ruston where everyone was staying up to catch the latest news, but otherwise, it was quiet and the lighted downtown streets were deserted.
I have never been so glad to see Grandpa's old homestead as I was that day, even though with all the renovations, he would never have recognized it. Russell parked the van and we hurried into the house with what luggage we had brought, then into the den.
I got the big screen on line with my bodycomp while Rez and Donna threw together a scratch meal and coffee. No rum this time. I wanted us to stay sober. There was no telling what might happen and I wanted us to be able to react quickly.
It was a marathon session in front of the screen. Some of the clips of casualties were bad enough to make me cringe, with long lines of horribly burned, wounded and radiation-poisoned persons standing or laying in long lines, waiting for a chance to pass through a sex gate and be healed. The excruciating pain of their injuries and lack of medical attention from doctors and nurses who were buried under the unprecedented number of casualties made the prospect of sex changes the least of their worries.
Early the next morning, it was reported that our government had given the Indian and Chinese warlords a final warning to cease use of nuclear weapons or meet the same fate as Brazil. A few hours later, they capitulated, what was left of them, and the worst was over except for cleaning up our three bomb sites and sorting out the disruption of financial losses.
By the day after that, most of the casualties who wanted to try had managed to get through a gate. Most of them came through, young and healthy and grateful for their healed bodies, regardless of the resulting change in sex. None of the small number who risked a second passage because of terrible wounds made it that I heard of, though a few new Seconders could have been created during the chaos without much notice. Armageddon had come, but it was less than final. Our country would recover and continue with space exploration and exploitation. Finally, we all went to bed for some much needed sleep. None of us were feeling very perky by then, even though we had been taking stimulants and not drinking much.
The day after that, we all began running at both ends with vomiting and diarrhea, and our skin began showing purple blotches from internal bleeding.
God's chips, none of us had even thought about that piece of debris which had landed on the van. It must have been thrown into the air from the Austin blast and carried by thermal currents all the way to the castle parking lot. The dust which had sifted into the van from the hole in the roof must have been loaded with radioactivity. I blamed myself for not considering the possibility. I was the one who had read all the disaster novels.
Rez gathered me into her arms after I made that confession and hugged me while we both retched. "It's not your fault, Li. How were you to know?"
"I should have thought of it," I cried, then had to run for the bathroom as I felt another bowel spasm.
The bowl filled with bloody mucous while I vomited into a trash can. I finished and came back out feeling shaky and sick, as if I had the worst hangover in the world and no pills to take for it.
"We'd better get to the clinic," Rez said. "I'm feeling worse by the minute." He turned and vomited a thin thread of bloody mucous into a pan he was holding.
"Me, too," Russell said. "Come on, Donna. Can you make it?"
"I'll try," she said weakly. He helped her to her feet and out to the car while Rez and I supported each other.
If it had been any further than a couple of miles to old Doc Tyson's clinic, I don't think I could have driven it. I retched constantly on the way, and by the time we pulled into the clinic parking lot, each of us had to be helped into his office.
He took one look at us and knew what the problem was. He never asked a question, simply hurrying us one by one into the diagnostic booth as quickly as he could.
A few minutes later, he was shaking his head. "Nothing I can do. You all got too much of a dose. Your only chance is to try a sex gate."
The Sex Gates! One chance in a million of Rez, Donna and I coming out alive as Seconders. A better chance for Russell, perhaps, if the radiation sickness hadn't progressed too far. He was still a neophyte.
We stared sickly at each other. Rez got shakily to her feet. "Well, it looks like we're all liable to find out what happens to the people who don't come back out," he said.
"Come on, let's hurry," Tyson said. "One of you might pop a major vessel and bleed to death any moment."
I let myself be carried out to the ambulance, keeping my eyes on Rez all the way. If this was going to be our last few minutes together, I wanted to stay as close to him as possible. Donna and Russell appeared to feel the same way about each other.
The am
bulance pulled up in front of the Ruston sex gate, siren warbling. We were helped out and supported up to where the strange green arch loomed over us.
"I'll go first," I said. "My fault." I could feel my bowels rumbling and a sudden sharp pain coursed through my belly, doubling me over. The ambulance attendant straightened me up and gave me a shove. I fell into the enveloping green nimbus. My last thoughts were of how easy it was to die.
BOOK THREE
MARS/VENUS
Chapter Twenty-Four
I blinked and stumbled, my body suddenly off balance. I felt different, bulkier, as if I were bundled up for a winter storm. I regained my footing and looked up. The first thing I saw was the Ruston water tower. My God, I had made it! I had made it! My senses swam, making me feel sicker than a snake-bit dog one second and the next, becoming aware of the healthy vitality coursing through my strong, young body. My mind felt strange, as if I were deeply involved in a virtual game, with abstract patterns impinging on my peripheral vision. I shook off the sensation and turned around, searching for Rez-or Rita.
She was there, beautifully naked against the shiny green background of the gate. Sudden tears filled her eyes as she recognized me. She ran into my arms. I held her trembling body close to mine, grateful beyond words to whoever orders the odds which brought us both through the gate. With our bare bodies squeezed together, it felt almost as if we were one person. I felt her tears as if they were my own and imagined I could feel the faint sandpapery sensation of my beard against her cheek. The curious double awareness faded when she stepped away from me.
She brushed at her eyes. "Lee. Oh God, Lee, I never thought we would make it."
"Me either," I said, looking over her shoulder at the green edifice we had passed through. I waited for Russell or Donna to come out.
Rita became aware of why I was standing so still. She turned slowly and we stood side by side, waiting. And waiting.
My mind was a blank. I don't know how long we stood there, eyes locked on the gate, expecting Russell and Donna to suddenly appear before us, healthy and smiling. From somewhere came the wondering thought of what Russell would look like as a woman.
It was Rita who finally broke the silent vigil. "Lee, I don't think they made it." She was clenching and unclenching her hands, her knuckles white with pressure from her doubled fists .
"Let's wait a bit longer," I said, unwilling to give them up, to believe they were gone, taken by the gate which had unaccountably spared our lives.
"It never takes but a second…a second or two to pass through the gates," Rita said, her voice breaking. I felt sadness and remorse filling her mind, as it was my own, tinged with a lingering guilt that I had not thought of radioactivity when the debris struck the van.
From nearby, the gate guard approached us. I felt his presence before I turned around.
"Are you folks all right?" the guard asked.
"Yes, we're fine," I said stonily.
Doc Tyson and the two ambulance attendants joined the guard. The paramedics stared at our nakedness. I paid no attention to them. A sudden bold hope hit me. Maybe our friends had never entered the gate!
"Doc, did Russell and Donna actually follow us into the gate?" I asked.
He saw the wild expectancy which was gripping me. He shook his head and gazed down at the ground. "I'm sorry, Lee. They went in. They didn't come out." He looked back up. "I think it's a miracle the two of you made it. How do you feel? Any different?"
I did, somehow, but I said, "No, Doc, other than it's a little odd to be back in a male body again."
"Same here but vice versa," Rita said. Her fingers gripped my hand as tightly as a small woman holding a Doberman's leash.
One of the paramedics left us for a moment and returned carrying sheets from the ambulance. He extended one to each of us, averting his eyes as he gave Rita hers.
"Well, I'm as sorry as I can be, but there's nothing more to be done here," Tyson said. "Come on, I'll give you a lift back to the clinic."
It turned out he had followed the ambulance in his own car, though I had been so sick, I don't remember it. He got us settled in the backseat and drove off. Presently, he asked again, "Are you sure you're okay?"
"We're sure, Doc," I answered for both of us, though in truth, my mind still seemed to be playing tricks on me. I closed my eyes and could feel Rita and Tyson's presence in the car, almost like ghosts haunting his vehicle.
"I'm glad," he said. "I had my doubts any of you would even live to get to the gate. You were all bleeding internally by then."
"Thank you for acting so quickly," Rita said.
"That's what I'm there for, though I'll confess, I don't function nearly as well now as I did when I was young. I guess I'll have to be thinking about the gates before long."
That remark was just what I needed to take my mind off Russell and Donna, at least momentarily. I couldn't imagine the old doctor as a fresh eighteen year old girl. He was already well into middle age when I was a kid.
Rita apparently had the same reaction. She chuckled, but said nothing.
"Would you like me to examine you before you go?" Tyson asked as he pulled up at the clinic.
"No, thanks," we said almost simultaneously.
"I didn't think you would. It's just habit to ask after a person has been through a traumatic experience."
"Thanks, Doc, but we're fine," I said.
My car was still at the clinic. I drove us home in silence, each of us mourning our loss separately, though I still thought I could almost feel Rita's emotions. I had to concentrate on driving at first, unused to my old-new body's different dimensions.
Rita and I had to smile at each other as we searched for some of our old clothes to put on. We found jeans and shirts in the back of the closet, and our old sandals. I suppose we could have worn each other's clothes just as well, but we each sought comfort in garments from long ago.
"How about a drink?" I asked, the first words either of us had spoken since leaving the clinic. I didn't know about her, but I sure needed one.
"Make it a strong one," Rita said. "I don't know about you, but I still don't feel like myself. I keep having this sensation of you almost being a part of me, in my mind, sort of."
"You, too?"
She nodded. Curious. We headed for the bar.
I poured bourbon and added a little water and some ice. We sat down together and sipped at our drinks. The Jack Daniels bit at my tongue and slid down into my gut. Presently, I could feel the first effects, a warm, tingly flush spreading throughout my body. I turned to Rita.
"It's hard to believe they're really gone," she said. "Damn it, why us and not them?"
"Maybe they're not dead. Maybe the gates just hold the people who don't come back in stasis or something until a later date."
"Science fiction," Rita said.
"What are the gates? Something the Easter Bunny left?"
"Touché. Sorry, hon. You know, I would like to think they aren't really gone, but rather waiting somewhere on us."
"Me, too," I said. "And maybe they are. Who knows? The gates are as much of a puzzle as they've ever been." Somehow, that made me feel better. Besides, a sudden disappearance, leaving no body behind didn't quite seem like death as I had known it. Anyway, it gave room for hope, faint though it was.
"Speaking of puzzles, how did it happen that we managed to come through a second time, and together at that? I've never heard of it happening before, and just figuring the likelihood, that would be odds of something like, uh, one in ten billion?"
"More than that," I corrected her. "In fact, you can't really calculate the odds, since so far as we know, we're the only two who have ever made a second passage together."
"Whatever. It's still astronomical."
I shrugged. "Better minds than ours have been trying to figure out the gates for years. Why wonder? Maybe one day, we'll know." I got up and refreshed our drinks.
We sat and talked and drank while the shadows outside deepened in t
he gathering dusk. I tried to describe the feeling of being aware of her presence no matter whether she was visible or not. Words wouldn't quite fit, and she had no more success than I, though we both agreed that being back in our original bodies (albeit a few years younger than before) wasn't exactly the same as it had been.
"Why don't we get in touch with some other Seconders and ask them about it?" Rita suggested.
"Good idea. Maybe there's even a story in it," I said, though I wondered about that. No Seconder had ever described anything like what we were feeling. And they didn't give interviews anyway.
As if on cue, my bodycom beeped. I answered it with the small screen, just to avoid turning away from Rita. I was enjoying the sensation of being male again and having her warm body near me.
Whitney Horst's angular face came into view. "I just heard about you and your girlfriend passing through a gate together, both for the second time. How did you manage that?" he said without preamble.
"Your guess is as good as mine," I answered, truthfully. "It was the only chance we had to live, so we took it."
"Do you remember anything about it?"
"Nothing. One moment I was pushed into the gate, sick as a poisoned dog, and the next thing I knew, I was outside and back in my old body."
"Same here," Rita agreed.
He almost snarled. "I don't believe it. There's something awful goddamned weird about you Seconders. One of these days, I'm going to find out what it is."
"Believe what you want," I told him. "I can't tell you anything else. And so far as us making it together, we were just a while ago calculating the odds of that happening."
"So was I. Pretty improbable, to say the least."
I shrugged. "Sorry. That's all we know."
He looked almost as disgusted with us as he had the night the unknown parties had gotten away with Russell's goodies. "All right. I may want you to come in for questioning, though. In the meantime, if you remember anything, contact me." He disconnected without saying another word..