A. Warren Merkey

by Far Freedom

  “That is a provocative series of images,” Sung said. “Compelling, even though very improbable. What does it mean?”

  “It means, sir, that this mission is not what any of us thought it was. It may also mean we have a good chance of surviving it.”

  “We are aware of the dismal history of missions beyond the frontiers of the Union. Why is the Five Worlds not a good choice?”

  “I don’t know how it was in your case but I suspect most of our civilian crew were invited by the Navy to participate in a voyage of exploration. None of you could decline the Navy’s invitation. Leaving the ship now will probably not rescind the invitation. The Navy will come after you.”

  “And put us back on the ship?”

  “Only if they catch us. They could put you on another ship. The implication is that none of us were ever supposed to return to Union space. Captain Horss told me we were going to become slaves somewhere beyond the Union boundary.”

  “Then Demba is actually working against the Navy,” the historian said. “She knows it was never a legitimate exploration mission. She is in fact trying to steal the ship from the Navy. I would applaud but I know it’s a doomed attempt. There is no good choice for us.”

  “I believe Demba and Mnro must have planned long ago to steal this ship. Hopefully, that means they think they can accomplish it. The fact that Demba gave you a choice to leave the ship means she doesn’t intend to harm you. The fact that Captain Horss asked me to try to stop you from leaving sends the same message. Stay on the ship. Take your chances with someone like Demba, who may have the ability to keep us all safe.”

  “I hope your logic is correct,” Sung said. “Either choice may end badly but the Freedom will certainly be the more interesting choice.”

  The final group of civilians made a unanimous decision and departed for their quarters on the ship. Jamie was left standing with her Marines and the Navy officers, and she was still fascinated by the crew portrait of the Frontier.

  “What is it?” Lieutenant Wingren asked.

  “Do you know who he is?” Jamie pointed to the tall officer next to her mother.

  “If it’s authentic, that would be Captain Alexandros Gerakis.”

  Section 013 Climbing a Mountain to Phuti

  Jamie was still standing with her Security contingent when Demba, Mnro, and Sammy appeared by transmat. Everyone stood to attention and Jamie exchanged salutes with her mother. Doctor Mnro hung back with Sammy as Demba stepped forward and put everyone at ease. Demba turned and glanced at the images still displayed in the debarkation bay. “How many left the ship, Major?”

  “Two hundred five civilians, sir.” Jamie wanted to point at the Frontier crew and ask a certain question about Alexandros Gerakis but it didn’t seem like the right time. Not too many days ago she would have been nose-to-nose with Demba, demanding to know everything, but she had ceased being that person. Now she was someone’s daughter, and assaulted by everything that brought with it. Now she had different needs, different perspectives. She cringed when she remembered some of the things she did during her life as a Marine.

  “I don’t know why your show kept everyone else aboard, but I’m grateful. Well done.”

  “Captain Horss’s less-than-subtle announcement helped,” Jamie said. “The crew has courage and intelligence. And I think we appealed to their curiosity.”

  “Are you ready to go with us?” Demba looked at Jamie with critical interest.

  “Yes, sir. But may I introduce my men and my Navy volunteers?” Her mother nodded assent. Jamie stepped aside as the Marines and the Navy officers formed a queue to introduce themselves to Demba and Mnro - and also to Sammy, much to his delight.

  Lieutenant Commander Wingren was last in line, probably by choice. Zakiya regarded her with special interest. Wingren saluted smartly and put forth her hand to shake. “I saw your documentary,” Zakiya said as they shook hands, finally understanding why these Navy officers had been her watchers for so long. “You know more about Keshona than I do. She’s not someone I want to remember.” She looked at Wingren’s head and hands where permanent tribal markings were visible. She wanted to know more about Wingren and the culture from which she came on Rhyandh. “One day we’ll have to talk. It’s possible I knew some of your ancestors from the deserts. I did fieldwork on Rhyandh as an anthropologist a long time ago. That was when I was Zakiya Muenda of Deep Space Fleet.”

  Jamie was content to hold Sammy’s hand and walk with him ahead of Demba and Mnro down the cold white tunnel into the Five Worlds habitat. She had a lifetime of questions to ask both women but it would have to wait. Sammy was a calming and distracting influence. It was all she could do to keep up with his questions and comments.

  People met them who wore no uniforms or badges and carried no weapons. They were officials who registered the four of them as guests. Surprisingly, Sammy now had an official record of Union citizenship and he seemed happy about it. Jamie received a better welcome than she expected, perhaps because she was obviously Sammy’s friend. Admiral Demba initially found no friendly faces among this informal group of officials. Aylis Mnro was rigorously identified, because no one could believe it was her, then the smiles came out. They closed the Port of Entry and all the people working there escorted them into the Five Worlds.

  As they walked though the port area Demba talked with several of the people near her who wore clothing that Jamie assumed was costumes from ancient times on Earth. Perhaps they wore the costumes as a normal routine - a way of welcoming all new guests. Her mother was relaxed and now seemed to attract more persons willing to talk to her. Demba asked questions and made comments and smiled. The black uniform she wore seemed to become invisible to the Five-Worlders.

  “It’s what she always used to do,” Mnro explained to her when Jamie had a chance to query her about Demba. “We often worked as a team. She collected the cultural data, I collected the physical data. We both enjoyed seeing new faces and talking.”

  “Deep Space Fleet?”

  “Yes. We loved it! There were so many surprises, yet people were always people, no matter how deep in space we encountered them.”

  It was good to see Aylis Mnro happy in the moment, Jamie thought. It was interesting to see the woman who was her mother displaying yet another facet of her life and talents. She was in awe of these two women.

  Jamie sensed the scrutiny of one of the local citizens. She instinctively but casually placed herself between the stranger and Sammy. This action made the person speak to her. “They seem genuinely interested in us,” the man commented, indicating Demba and Mnro. He was almost her height, taller than most of the others. She guessed he was of European lineage, judging from his long face and blue eyes, although he wore a costume that seemed Asian. He was young and serious of expression.

  “I think they are,” Jamie agreed.

  “How do they know the Old One?”

  Jamie judged the young man’s demeanor more carefully. He had targeted her for inquiry. He was apparently an official of the Port of Five Worlds. “Does your job give you reason to question me? We have completed the necessary data and have permission to enter the Five Worlds.”

  “You have permission because the Old One requested you have it. She knows you.”

  “I don’t know who the ‘Old One’ is,” Jamie said.

  ” She spoke your name with recognition when I told her of your request to meet with her. She did not sound as interested in the other two.”

  “My name? I don’t know her, or I don’t remember her. I suspect you and I are of similar professions. I am the Chief of Security of the Freedom. My name you know. Who are you?”

  “I apologize for my manners,” the man said. “My name is Gregor. Yes, I am in charge of our security force. Something does not feel right to me. This is the most unusual visit by the Navy I have experienced in my ten years of duty.”

  “Demba and Mnro did not tell you anything more than that they wished to visit this ‘Old One?’”


  “They referred to her as Nori Hoshino, which I know is her real name. Almost no one else knows her real name. That Aylis Mnro knows her is a fact disturbing to me. Do you know if I should not be disturbed?”

  “I still don’t know who she is,” Jamie said, wanting to resolve the matter more quickly than at the current pace. She had no instructions on what not to

  say to anyone. Her mother should know Jamie’s reputation concerning her big mouth. “Does the Old One have any relationship to Doctor Mende?”

  “I was about to approach that subject, but you are somewhat intimidating, Major Jones.”

  Jamie reached for Sammy as he started to wander off. “Me? I’m just here to watch Sammy.”

  “Why did you ask about Doctor Mende?” Gregor asked.

  “How many more security people do you have?” Jamie appreciated Gregor’s slow but perceptive inquiry. Jamie considered it a matter of courtesy to warn Gregor of the intentions of Demba and Mnro. There could be trouble and Gregor needed to prepare for the possibility.

  “Not very many. Should I activate all of them?”

  “Demba and Mnro want to take Doctor Mende from the Five Worlds.”

  “That would not be permitted! The Old One knows how that would hurt us!”

  “Put all of your personnel on duty, Gregor. Also, start a rumor the Navy is here to steal Doctor Mende. I’m not going to make it easy for those two to do it.”

  “His body is still at the shrine,” Gregor said, checking an instrument he carried. “They could have transmatted it. Why do they want it?”

  “As you were beginning to suspect, Gregor, they both knew the Old One, and so also Mende. They and Mende served together on the crew of a ship. I don’t know why they would want his body, either dead or alive. But I do believe their reasons must be good.”

  “Doctor Mende was in the Navy?”

  “These are very old people, Gregor, and they were crewmates long before the Navy existed.”

  “Do you think the Navy wants Doctor Mende to help heal another troubled society? Can he be revived by Doctor Mnro?”

  “I’m sure he can, but the Navy has no interest in Mende. Only Demba and Mnro want him.”

  “Please excuse me, Major. Thank you for your information.” Gregor hurried off, speaking into a communications augment.

  “Who was he?” Sammy asked. He had not understood the conversation with Gregor, spoken in Standard.

  “A policeman,” Jamie replied. “Your mother will be angry with me for what I told him.”

  “Will she spank you?”

  Jamie laughed and stopped. “She hasn’t spanked you, has she?”

  “No! She’s too nice! And I’m not gonna make her want to!”

  “She is nice. Maybe too nice.”

  Demba cast a long gaze back at Jamie, perhaps because she saw her talking to Gregor. Jamie smiled inwardly. She might still behave badly as her mother’s little girl but she felt justified for what she told Gregor.

  The parade passed through a grand opening and spread out along a balcony that only became a balcony when Jamie’s mind was able to comprehend what her eyes saw. Here was a windowless verge onto a planet curled into a tube of bright clouds and mountain peaks. She only knew it was a tube - a giant cylinder - because it was a known fact of history. Her eyes could barely translate that historical fact into an explanation of what she saw. Her perspective was Godlike. She looked down - and up and to the left and to the right - and saw mountains capped with snow, hills green with forests, valleys cut by shining rivers and streams. This three-hundred-sixty-degree universe projected away from her around a cylinder of partial cloud cover until the haze of distance and weather obscured whatever end might exist at whatever far distance. Despite a previous experience of viewing an immersive image of the Five Worlds, reality remained the supreme experience. She and Sammy were captivated for a long time, until Demba broke their trance, urging them to move on.

  A clear tube allowed them to step off the balcony and float through it and into a small aircraft with large delicate wings. Sammy seemed quite at ease in the micro-gravity and didn’t need her help pulling himself along. Sammy seized the opportunity to sit in Demba’s lap in the airplane, making Jamie feel lonely. Jamie could see people launching themselves into the air from the balcony, their clothing sprouting translucent wings and other airflow control surfaces. When the aircraft disconnected from the balcony tube and began its flight, the flying people outside accompanied it toward the rugged terrain below the clouds. Jamie could identify Gregor as one of the human fliers.

  The airplane silently glided many kilometers away from the balcony into clouds, emerging above a green valley dotted with villages. They landed at one of the villages, floating silently into a grassy field between rows of quaint rockfaced houses with steep roofs. The flying people from the port arrived with them, doing expertly-timed stalls to hop onto the ground, their flying mechanisms vanishing into their costumes.

  Jamie followed behind her mother, Sammy, and Mnro down a path that seemed much older than the Five Worlds. Their escorts followed in pairs behind them and hung back as they approached an old woman who sat on a stone bench under an apple tree. The seated person began a small struggle to gain her feet and Mnro and Demba rushed to help her.

  “Nori?” Mnro supported the oriental woman by her arm and hand.

  “I couldn’t believe it was you,” the aged woman said, grasping Mnro’s hand that held hers. “Have you come to argue with me about my age? I almost turned you away.”

  “Nori.” Demba spoke with deep affection, taking the other side of the elder.

  “So you are this Fidelity person! Zakiya! And where is Jamie? She was the only reason I let you come.”

  The old woman gazed at Mnro and Demba with joy but turned away to spot Jamie’s face. She frowned slightly to try to recognize her, then found Sammy standing next to Jamie. Sammy was staring at her. Sammy wore shorts and his injury was obvious. The prosthesis did not blend with the rest of his leg. The Old One glanced up at Mnro with a frown before taking Sammy’s hand and smiling at him.

  “I’m Sammy.” He returned the smile, shaking her hand a little too hard. “You’re old!”

  “And you are so young!” She said it in Twenglish. “Why are you here? I didn’t know children traveled on Navy ships.”

  “Zakiya is my mother now and I have to stay with her. She didn’t want me to come here because of my leg, but I can walk! I’m sorry I said you were old. It doesn’t mean I don’t like you. I do. Rafael is old and I like him a lot.”

  “My son likes to talk.” Demba said, smiling.

  “Oh, yes!” Aylis Mnro agreed.

  The old woman chuckled, released Sammy’s hand, and turned to Jamie. She looked up at her and Jamie almost felt obliged to lower herself to ease the strain of the stooped elder having to peer up at her. The old woman raised her hand and Jamie did bend over, not realizing she was going to snatch her cap from her head. “Turn,” she said, pointing to one side. “Now stand up straight.” She handed Jamie’s cap back. She caught one of Jamie’s hands in hers. Her hands were dry, bony, the skin like speckled paper, but warm and strong. ” She is his daughter,” the old woman said to Demba, “and she must be yours. I must have shrunk! I don’t remember her being so tall. She is Jamie, isn’t she?”

  “Yes, Nori,” Demba replied. “Jamie, Nori’s father is Koji Hoshino.”

  Jamie had no idea who Koji Hoshino was, until she mentally reviewed the portrait of the Frontier’s crew. It seemed that she still had an eye for good-looking men. “Who is my father, Nori? They won’t tell me.”

  “How do you not know your father? Alexandros is your father! He would be proud of you! You are such a fearsome warrior now, but you still have the simple loveliness for which Direk expressed his pleasure to me. Ah, Direk! Aylis’s misunderstood son. The old times are still inside my brain. Do you remember when you and he stopped here to visit with Phuti and me?”

  Jamie wanted to know wh
y Nori considered Direk misunderstood but an incredibly sharp and pungent memory caught Jamie and stopped her from talking or even breathing. On their visit to the Five Worlds Phuti (She called Doctor Mende Phuti!) mistakenly assumed she and Direk were lovers and found them romantic accommodations that caused them to investigate the possibility of physical intimacy. The results were embarrassing and comical at best. Even so, the memory pushed tears out of her. She vaguely heard Demba speaking a warning to the old woman not to mention Direk.

  “Nori, we don’t have much time,” Mnro said. “We came to see Phuti.”

  The Old One paused to think. She was extremely aged but Jamie knew she was mentally alert and capable. “I did not think it was only me you wanted to see. Word has already reached me that you want to take Phuti away with you.”

  “Do you signify resistance?”

  “If you cannot be made to abandon your desire for Phuti, then we must walk. We must walk to him and see what happens. If it can be done, then it can be done. Resistance, yes, there will be that.”

  “Will you go with us, Nori?”

  “I’ll go as far as I can.”

  They walked in the sunlight of a small mountain valley and into the next village with its smooth streets and cosmopolitan shops and restaurants. As they passed through, in the middle of the central street, all activity ceased. Bakers came out of their bakeries, mechanics dropped their tools, shoppers turned toward them. A small school opened its doors and a dozen children rushed into the street and followed their group. “Children!” Jamie said with awe. “So many of them!”

  Sammy waved at the children, who looked at him more than they did the adults.

  “We’re not immortal,” Nori commented. “The Mnro Clinic is no more than a medical assistance here. Even so, they’ve let me live too long. I am their poor substitute for Phuti. When I die, another child can be conceived.”