Arnot’s body collapsed to the ground and he was breathing hard from his exertions. His chest was arched up toward the sky because a good-sized rock lay near the small of his back. It was digging into him and making his position extremely uncomfortable, but for the moment he did not have the strength to move. His father lay near him, prone and just as weak. Arnot groaned, only dimly aware that his mother and a host of others were running in his direction.
Nyx crawled to him. “We must rest,” she gasped and dropped to the ground, her head less than a foot from Arnot’s.
“I found it!” Arnot answered and then broke into a fit of coughing.
“Arnot!” Samantha and Elin yelled in unison but the younger of the two reached him first. Elin lifted most of Arnot’s body off the rock that was attacking his lower back. She was a very strong girl, and at the moment it was something for which he was very thankful.
“You’re looking lovely today,” he told her just before the others arrived. Nyx chuckling softly at his side.
“What happened?” Samantha blurted and dropped down at her husband’s side. Gwaynn shook his head.
“There are too many,” the High King said and snatched up a peach as Captain Gaston and a few others carrying provisions arrived to help.
“No father…I found it…just at the end,” Arnot said with a mixture of pride and happiness. He made a grab for the food, but found that his limbs were very shaky and he missed his target. Elin however, was not tired at all and snatched up some cheese and began to gently feed him, careful at first that she did not get her fingers too close to his mouth since he was obviously ravenous. She laughed lightly as she fed him and Arnot would have smiled but his stomach was knotting and causing him considerable pain. Soon all the Travelers were eating vast quantities of fruit, nuts, cheeses and slices of meat.
“Nice day for a picnic,” Nyx commented when most of the edge had been taken off of her hunger.
Kostek laughed and looked out across the field. It was full now, of small and large groups of people, all eating and laughing, the dangers of the morning now nearly forgotten. “We will try again?” He asked Gwaynn and everyone paused to hear the answer.
Arnot, who was still lounging comfortably in Elin arms, glanced at his father expectantly.
Gwaynn nodded. “Yes of course…when we are strong enough to make another attempt.”
“That will be a good week for me,” Monde commented. “I’m getting too old for such exertions,” she added, but in truth the attempt galvanized her. It had been a very long time since she’d felt so alive…so strong.
“I wish I could help,” Scott Sommers blurted to Arnot. He was full, very full from sampling the surrounding bounty, and utterly amazed at the quantities of food the people around him were consuming. It should not be possible for anyone to eat so much and live. But then, how they were able to make a connection between one universe and another was also a mystery.
“I found the world we were looking for…your world,” Arnot told the man. “I felt it…I believe I can aid in the search. Next time it should be easier.”
At this they all fell silent, then Samantha stuck out her right foot and lightly kicked Arnot in his thigh.
“Arnot sit up and stop making that poor girl feed you,” she scolded though everyone could tell she was happy for her son.
Arnot smiled but did as he was told even though both he and Elin were quite content with the previous arrangement.
“Yes mother,” he answered and then glanced at Elin and though she was not strictly a beauty there was something about her face, her body and the way she moved that attracted Arnot like no other.
†
May 8th 2015 Old Earth
Vio sat in comfort, shocked and utterly amazed as the metal house picked up speed and began to roll quickly down the highway…almost as fast as the car. Both she and Avigail found cars astounding but that was nothing compared to the wonder of a house that moved…and moved very fast.
She was sitting on a long, soft bench seat, one of three that surrounded a fold out table that was made of nothing Vio could identify. The table was solid, but it was not wood…or stone but something foreign. Whatever it was, the table top was very smooth and very white.
Christine was sitting next to Vio gazing with both eyes into some kind of device that she called a ‘microscope,’ whatever that was. To Vio, Christine was a very strange woman…almost a man in actions and slightly bizarre. Vio’s opinion was reinforced by the fact that Christine was currently studying a drop of Galen’s blood. Her actions seemed unnatural, but neither Adam nor Galen seemed to react to her in a negative way so Vio sat quietly and tried to reserve judgment. It was not difficult because nearly all of her thoughts were focused on Adam, who was sitting across from her, facing the rear of the vehicle. Galen and Avigail were lounging toward the back of the moving house; they were sitting very close to one another, but not actually touching.
Adam sat grinning at Vio’s expression as the RV picked up speed.
“What funny?” Vio asked suddenly and her own smile turned to laughter as Adam jerked in surprise. Christine looked up from her microscope for a moment and glanced from Vio to her brother. It was obvious to see that the two were engrossed with one another so she sighed quietly and went back to her work.
“You spoke English,” Adam said, obviously pleased.
Vio shrugged. “It not so hard. Avi helping…at night,” Vio answered, her brow furrowed in concentration.
Christine glanced up at Vio again, shocked at the woman’s linguistic skills. “How many languages do you speak?” She asked Vio, knowing that if a person was fluent in more than a single language it made picking up another just that much easier.
Vio frowned as Avigail spoke to her in the language of the Inland Sea from the rear of the RV.
“Our land only has one language,” Avigail answered, though from books of old Earth she realized that there were hundreds of different languages in this world, but the concept made no real sense to her.
Christine considered Vio and Avigail a moment, then shrugged and went back to her microscope though she had very little hope of making a discovery. She needed another genomics lab if she was ever going to root out the problem of R89’s inactivity. The problem was there were precious few top level genomics labs in the country and all of them were undoubtedly under tight surveillance. Of course there were other genome centers throughout the world including several in the United Kingdom. Dr. Lyle Cartwright of the Inne Centre in Norwich would likely help her if she asked. They’d become friends during a weeklong conference in Rotterdam, but after Paula, Christine was reluctant to involve anyone else in her problems. She only half listened as her brother tutored the strange woman next to her on the inane rules of the English language and fought the growing nausea that came from knowing that she would inevitably illicit more help and endanger more innocent lives. She had to, Galen and what knowledge he could provide about the human aging process meant too much now to them all.
Ned and Dorothy took them west to Omaha, then up Interstate 29 and into South Dakota. Ned drove the bulk of the distance but Dorothy and Adam also chipped in. Christine, the only other licensed driver had become completely immersed in her research and was for the most part unaware of her surroundings. She barely noticed when Dorothy slid the paper plate containing a sandwich of leftover barbeque and a pile of Ruffles potato chips in front of her. She was chaffing a bit at her limited environment, but the rest of the group was thoroughly enjoying the comfort and convenience of the large vehicle.
“She’s not much for talking is she?” Dorothy commented to Adam, who was up front talking football with Ned. Adam welcomed the distraction. His thoughts were almost continually on Vio which was a dangerous habit to get into considering their present situation. But even now, as he discussed the Big Ten with Ned, he couldn’t help wondering how Vio would look in a skimpy, collegiate cheerleading uniform. The pleasant thought held him a moment and he glanced back into th
e RV. Vio was in the rear having a quiet discussion with Avigail and Galen, she was facing forward and immediately caught Adam’s eye. She smiled and Adam’s heart did a little flip.
“Believe it or not, there are times when she won’t shut up…”Adam replied, but Dorothy was already heading back to the small kitchen area. The woman never seemed to tire of trying to get someone, anyone, to eat something.
“We’ll be stopping at a place we know,” Ned said as he guided the large vehicle off the interstate and onto a two lane county road. It was near six in the evening and Adam was grateful. As comfortable as the large RV was, they’d been driving nearly the entire day and he was beginning to feel a bit cooped up. Ten minutes later they entered a small out of the way campground called Johnston’s Folddown. It was in the middle of nowhere, South Dakota.
“How in the hell did you find this place?” Adam asked as Ned negotiated the enormous RV onto a large gravel lot. They pulled past a normal looking split foyer home and up to a small outbuilding that stood next to the only entrance to the campgrounds. The place was flat and wide open, with relatively few trees. There was a small lake and a main building which housed a set of restrooms and what appeared to be a family run convenience store.
A man with a tanned complexion emerged from the outbuilding and smiled as he walked up to the driver’s side of the vehicle.
“Ned! It’s been a while,” the man greeted through the open window.
“Nearly a year Blue,” Ned replied. “Our spot open?”
“You know it is,” Blue replied. “Hell, you can see it from here. How long will you be stayin’?”
“Not sure, not sure,” Ned said. “We’ve some friends riding along with us. This here’s Adam,” he added and Adam leaned over so he could see the man called Blue. He was a tall, burly man, with powerful shoulders, perhaps in his middle thirties. He had sharp, chiseled features and close cropped black hair. It was a hard face, like the kind you might expect to find in a dark alley or a prison cell. It was a face that would be hard to trust except for the twinkle in the man’s eyes.
“Adam,” Blue said and smiled; the smile changed everything and let Adam know that Blue was a friend. “Welcome to my place. Call me Blue, everyone does.”
“Alright Blue. You own this?” Adam asked looking about. Blue nodded and Adam found himself liking the man instantly.
“Sure ‘nough,” Blue answered gazing out across the open field. “It may not be much but in a world where most spend their days with people they don’t love, in a place they don’t want to be, doing something they’d rather not be doing, I’d say this is as close to divine as you can get on this world.”
“Amen!” Ned said and passed the man a handful of bills. “You come around the fire tonight,” Ned told Blue, and bring Camille with you and Guy if you can tear him away from CSI.”
Blue laughed and nodded as Ned slowly rolled into the campgrounds. They circled around before finally pulling into a spot next to the lake that sported one large oak. The tree looked lonely, but Adam knew right off that it was well loved.
“Prime spot in the whole grounds,” Ned told him happily as they came to a stop. “Home number two,” he added as Dorothy rushed forward and gave him a hug over the back of his seat.
“We’re finally here,” she said. “It’s finally happening.”
†
Nico Torres was not happy. He’d followed the RV the entire day, after spending the night in the backseat of his Volvo where he’d slept very fitfully. He parked on a small dirt track, half hidden in a cornfield, hoping not to attract the attention of any locals. He praised the Lord for GPS, because if he hadn’t attached the tracker to the old Buick he would have lost the target for sure. As it was, he only had it on faith that the target was even in the large RV. He had yet to see the boy and was very thankful that he was an early riser. When the enormous vehicle pulled out of the drive, turned left and headed west, the tracker was still beeping steadily from somewhere behind the house…presumably still attached to the Buick. Nico grumbled. Dawkins was good…he was very good. Nico was sure the feds were completely bewildered and in the dark. That at least was welcome news, but as he watched the RV pull away Nico was forced to make a quick decision. He could let the vehicle go, break into the house and try to locate the target, but that assumed the boy was even in the house, or Nico could follow the RV.
After a quick prayer, Nico decided with complete confidence to follow the RV. But six hours later he had to experience the indignity of peeing in an old MacDonald’s cup, that or wet himself, which was not something he would let happen, after all he was the Left Hand of God. All across Iowa and then north through southern South Dakota Nico followed the vehicle, which undoubtedly had a small toilet inside. Early in the afternoon he had a bit of a panic…he needed gas and the RV still showed no signs of stopping. In the end he had to pull off the interstate and refill as fast as he could. It took him nearly an hour to catch back up to the big vehicle and when he did he was growing increasingly weary with this prolonged assignment. And now…now he was out in the very middle of nowhere, just north of Sioux Falls, South Dakota watching the RV roll into a rundown, unimpressive campground just outside of an armpit of a town called Dell Rapids. The town was small and dirty with only one crusty looking motel, which was much too far from the campground for safety. Nico cursed at the prospect of spending another night cooped up in his car. He’d had enough, no girl…no woman was worth such discomfort. He’d like to strangle her, kill her intimately, but if she died by the bullet it couldn’t be helped. He’d get over it.
He kept his car moving north up Highway 115 for about a quarter of a mile beyond the campground then turned off onto a gravel road. He drove slowly up the dirt road and scowled at the thick column of dust tailing out behind his Volvo. However, he didn’t have to go far before he came to another even smaller dirt track that led off through a field before coming to an end at a decrepit old barn. Nico drove slowly through a shallow ditch, across an open field, and then around to the far side of the barn. In the distance, he had a clear view of the campgrounds and the RV. Satisfied he pulled to a stop, making sure that his car was not visible from the dirt road and then turned it off. Without hesitating he got out and went around to the trunk and opened a black bag and began to expertly assemble his sniper rifle, but he also removed a Glock 23 and slipped on a shoulder holster. After his weapons were ready he stretched his back for a time, staring at the vehicle in the distance. Finally after nearly a quarter of an hour he reluctantly crawled back into the front seat, reclined with a sigh, and then settled himself in to wait for dark.
The sky was clear and it promised to be a warm night even though they were well north. Nico stretched his legs as well as he was able and flipped on the radio and punched Etta James up on his iPod. He enjoyed Jazz, the older the better. It was clean and honest, not like all the new noise they called music these days.
“Havin’ car trouble?” A voice asked directly outside the driver’s window and Nico jumped. He spun about and looked into the face of an old man, whose eyes widened when he caught sight of the rifle propped up on the passenger seat. Nico quickly climbed out of the car and the old man raised both hands and backed away as if he was afraid he was about to be robbed.
“Ain’t none of my concern mister,” the old man added and actually turned his back and began to shuffle toward an opening in the barn. He hadn’t moved three feet before Nico drew his Glock and shot him twice in the back of the head. The old man fell without a sound, twitched a half dozen times and then went still.
‘Well that settles it. This has to finish tonight,’ he thought disgustedly and then looked down at the old man.
“I deliver thee unto Jesus,” he whispered sourly and then grabbed the old man by the boots and dragged the body inside the dilapidated barn. There was nothing much inside, a few pieces of rusting machinery that Nico could not identify, along with several large rolls of chicken wire, and a good sized pile of rotting lumber
of various shapes and sizes. Nico placed the body on the dirt floor next to the lumber then covered it quickly with a few of the larger pieces. By the time he was finished the sun was sufficiently close to the horizon to start the trek back toward the campground. He pulled his rifle from the passenger seat and set off.
Nico followed a fence line back to the west. He moved carefully, keeping a close eye out for any other locals that might be wandering about in their fields. Fortunately for those inhabiting the countryside around Dell Rapids, Nico came across no more unwanted guests and he quickly covered the quarter of a mile distance to the outskirts of the campgrounds. Surprisingly the place was fairly busy, though God knew why. He was sweating freely by the time he reached the outskirts of the grounds, and the mosquitoes were already beginning to buzz around him excitedly.
He stopped along another fence row, near the back of the grounds. He easily spotted the large motor vehicle from Iowa, though there were at least a half a dozen occupied campsites between him and the RV. Fires were beginning to glow in the darkness all over the campgrounds and Nico found that he envied the people sitting around them. The smoke from the fires undoubtedly kept the bugs at bay; Nico was having a hard time not swatting at every little buzz he heard. He knelt on the soft ground and began to slowly load his rifle. Nico slid round after round into the chamber and all the while he kept his eyes glued on the RV. When he was finished he stood and propped himself up against a nearby fencepost and began to hunt his target through the powerful scope. Through the magnification the fire just outside the RV became clear and close, but at first Nico could find no sign of the target or the girl who had so captured his imagination and a wave of panic swept over him. He shook it off however; the thought of driving through Iowa and South Dakota on a wild goose chase was not something his God would subject him to needlessly. Finally, he spotted the older woman who appeared at the pavilion, though now that she wore normal street clothes she lost some of her exotic nature. He sighed with satisfaction, his faith reaffirmed. He also spotted Dawkins and his sister sitting close to the fire, smiling and laughing though the sounds were lost in the distance. He didn’t have to wait long before the girl and the target sauntered around the front of the vehicle, but before he could line up a shot, a host of people blocked his view. Nico glanced up, irritated and watched as a group of maybe four adults and three children made their way up the short drive to join Dawkins’ party and their fire.
The Best of All Possible Worlds Page 30