The Time Stone (The Time Stone Trilogy Book 1)

by Robert F Hays

  “Earth’s population was about eight billion at that time. By the way, these figures are only guesses. About two and a half billion were sent, of those only a little over two billion made it to a potentially habitable planet. Within a few years, half of them had died. That was a desperate time in our history.”

  “I can imagine.”

  “One thing we would like to know. The object that brought you here came from what was the United States of America. Is that what you were, an American?”

  Another jolt struck Jim. The past tense was used with reference to his country. “Yes, I’m American. Where are the descendants of my fellow citizens now?”

  “All around you. This planet was colonized by three ships comprised of a mixture from England, Canada, Australia and the United States. The colonies were primarily assembled on a linguistic rather than a national basis. The old governmental divisions no longer exist. You’re going to have to get used to new partitions within the human race.”

  “I’m lost. How do I explain this to the kids, their mother’s dead?”

  “A friend of mine is a child psychologist, I’ve called her. She’ll be able to assist you.” Redmond took a pen shaped object from his belt and called a sequence of numbers into it. A red light flashed at its tip. Redmond touched the pen one more time.

  “Yes Tal?” came a female voice from the device.

  “Doris, when will you get here?

  “I’ll be there in a couple of minutes.”

  “Did Levin fill you in on what’s happening?”

  “Yes, and it sounds serious.”

  “It is. Talk more when you arrive.”

  Redmond replaced the pen in his belt.

  “I think I need a shrink too,” Jim said.

  “Ah... what do you need to shrink?”

  “Nothing,” Jim said, mildly annoyed. “It’s just a slang term for a psychiatrist.”

  “Well, Doris is a very good shrink. I suggest we wait for her before going back in.”

  Jim grimaced. “I don’t want to leave the boys alone too long. How’re they doing?”

  Redmond pulled the device out again and called numbers into it.

  “Andy here Tal, how is it going?”

  “That is why I called. How are the boys?”

  “We’re taking some furniture in there now, making them comfortable.”

  Jim leaned over to the device. “Are they scared, are they upset?”

  “No, they seem more confused than scared.”

  “Can I talk with them?” Jim said quickly. “Are you in there?”

  “Yes, your boys are right next to me.”

  Jim heard a few words of unintelligible conversation then the voice of Colin. “Dad, when’re you coming back?”

  “I’ll be there in a couple of minutes. Just take care of your brother. Everything’s ok.”

  “The man here says we’re on another planet, are we?”

  “I’ll explain when I get there. How are you doing? What’s going on in there?”

  “There’s a bunch of people bring us chairs and stuff.”

  “Just hang loose, do what they say.”

  “Dad, please hurry.”

  A transit pulled up and a woman got out. She was tall, dark haired and slender. She carried herself with an air of authority. Jim knew the look of a medical career professional well from his time in hospitals.

  Doris walked quickly toward them. “Tal, is this the traveler?”

  “Yes, Jim Young, meet Doris Heller.”

  Jim hesitated, not knowing if he should extend a hand for a handshake.

  Doris grabbed Jim by the shoulder. “Come on, we’ll talk on the way.”

  * * *

  Jim awoke to music. He half opened his eyes to look up at the side of his rental truck. He lay there for a few seconds trying to recognize the tune. After a couple of dozen notes he decided that he had never heard it before.

  “Are you awake yet dad?” Colin called.

  Jim rolled on his side and saw him sitting on a mattress on the floor. In front of him was a TV screen. “Yeah, I’m up, I’m up.”

  “Dad, did you know people could dance in zero gravity?” Colin stood up, swiveling his head so that he could look at the screen upside down.

  “Sure, I’ve done it.”

  Colin’s head snapped around. “You’ve been in space?”

  “Nope, a swimming pool. In a pool you have no weight.”

  Jim looked around. Michael was sitting on a couch like piece of furniture. Next to him was a suited figure with an obviously female shape. The figure had her arm around Michael. She turned and Jim saw Doris through the face shield.

  “Sleep well?” she asked.

  “As well as I could, thirty four light years from home.” Jim stood and adjusted the military issue gray sweat suit he was wearing. He straightened the word ‘Army’ that was printed on the shirt front.

  “Actually it’s thirty three point seven eight light years,” Doris replied.

  Jim walked over and sat next to Michael.

  “Really? Closer than I thought. Guess I’ll just jump in the car and go.”

  Michael looked up. “Is that true dad, we can drive home?”

  “No,” Doris said. “Your father’s just making a joke.”

  “Well, can’t we get a spaceship or something?” Michael pleaded.

  Doris hugged Michael. “We talked about that last night, remember?”

  “Yes but I thought that dad might’ve found out that…” Michael stopped talking and started to cry.

  Jim looked up at Doris. “So, how’s it going?”

  “Colin is taking it quite well, but I think we have to be extra careful with Michael.”

  “I thought that’d happen.” Jim sighed.

  “Dad, do we have to stay in this room for all our life?” Michael said between sobs.

  “No. I’ve been outside. It’s beautiful out there. We’ll be on an adventure. Trees, grass, three moons.”

  Colin turned around. “Three moons?”

  “Yep, saw two of them.”

  “Yes,” Doris said. “Athos, Porthos and Aramis.”

  Jim smiled. “The three musketeers.”

  “The three what?” Doris asked.

  “Musketeers.”

  “What are they?”

  Jim gave her a skeptical look. “On this planet they named your moons and you don’t know where the names came from?”

  “No we don’t. They were named seventeen hundred standard years ago. No one knows how they got their names. The source was lost in time.”

  “Dad, we’ve got the DVD,” Colin said.

  Jim chuckled. “Here I’m thinking you’re going to educate us. Looks like we’ll be doing a bit of educating back.”

  Jim turned to see another suited figure enter the room. This one was male and carried a tray with what appeared to be covered plates and cups. As he got closer, Jim saw a black face through the faceplate.

  “Breakfast,” the man announced.

  Colin jumped up. “Is it future space food?”

  The man put the tray down and extended a hand to Jim. “Andy, Andy Eastman.” He then turned to Colin. “It may be future food to you but to us it’s just breakfast.”

  “Wow,” Colin exclaimed as he reached for a plate. “What is it, roast Altarian boogabeast or something?”

  “No, it’s just oatmeal and cantaloupe with orange juice. Have you had that before?”

  Colin’s face soured. “Oh. When do we get the Altarian boogabeast?”

  Andy was confused. “Uh… If I knew where to get one I would. Is that an Earth animal?”

  Jim chuckled. “No, Colin just made the name up.”

  “Well, if you describe it to me, I’ll see what I can do.”

  Redmond joined them. “How are we this morning?”

  Jim stood and grabbed his shoulder. “Could we talk?”

  Redmond smiled. “Sure.”

  Jim stared to walk at a slow stroll. “Private
ly.”

  “Yes, what’s bothering you?”

  They walked a few paces. “Everything. This is a university, am I correct?”

  “You are.”

  “So, what’s our status here? Are we going to be specimens to be examined?”

  Redmond suddenly stopped. “No, no, you’re our guests for now. We’ll be asking you many questions, but when you’re properly acclimatized to this planet and time you can go where you want.”

  “On top of losing everyone we know, there are other problems. How do we live? Does anyone here take a Bank of Central Texas ATM card?”

  “I’m not too sure what you mean.”

  “Money. How do I get work? My education would be useless. I’m a soldier. Your army probably uses ray guns or something.”

  “The main infantry weapons are laser pistols and photon pulse rifles,” Redmond said.

  “I’d have to learn things all over again and I’m getting too old for that. About all I’d be good for is sweeping floors.”

  Redmond smiled. “You’ll find it easier than you think to get along here. The changes have not been that drastic.”

  “But, two thousand years?”

  “It took hundreds of years for the colony ships to get here, then hundreds more just trying to survive. There were terribly destructive wars and a period we call the dark ages where nothing advanced.” Redmond hesitated as he saw Jim’s forlorn expression. “One other thing, you have no need to work.” Redmond slapped Jim on the shoulder. “With the things you’ve brought with you, you’re a very wealthy man.”

  “What do I have?” Jim asked, waving his arms.

  “Well, for a start, that vehicle, the smaller one. A collector of Old Earth, if you will excuse the term, antiquities would pay an absolute minimum of one million Gs.”

  “What’s a G.?”

  “Oh... ah... it is our unit of currency. The early colonists used rare metals from their ships as money. G. is short for grams of silver. We do not use silver any more, but the name sort of stuck. Its subunit is an MG short for milligram.”

  “How much is a G worth?” Jim asked, waving his arms in frustration again.

  “Let me think of how to translate.”

  “I’ve got it. If you went to a restaurant, you do still have restaurants don’t you?”

  “Yes, all over.”

  “Ok, just an average restaurant, nothing fancy, and you ordered a meal, just an average steak and salad, you still have steak?”

  “Yes,” Redmond laughed.

  “Fine. Just the meal no dessert. How much would it cost?”

  “I see what you’re doing. It’d cost me about…” Redmond thought for a couple of seconds. “...in round figures, about three G.”

  “Three G. The same would cost me around fifteen bucks. So that’s one to five.” A look of astonishment crossed Jim’s face and his jaw dropped. “Five million bucks? For a ten year old Corolla with one hundred and forty five thousand miles on the clock? You’ve got to be joking.”

  “No, no, I’m not joking. I said a minimum. Probably many times more.”

  “But... it’s got two bald tires...”

  Redmond looked Jim in the face and spoke slowly. “You have a transport full of antiques and collectibles. I would suspect that just about everything you have is so rare they are unique.”

  “So, my Bank of Central Texas ATM card would be worth something?”

  “I have no idea what that is but I’m sure you’ll have collectors fighting over the privilege of just touching it.”

  “How much would I get for my underwear?”

  Redmond burst out laughing. “Yes, you’re probably wearing the most valuable underwear in the galaxy. By the way, you will hear people refer to this as the galaxy. The fact is, human habitation has only occupied a small fraction of it. Some two hundred planets and moons circling about a hundred stars. The rest still remains unexplored.”

  “Is there anything else I could have that’s valuable?”

  “You said you have Coca Cola. Would you by any chance know what’s in it? We have no idea. It’s known only by legend.”

  “I have a recipe on my computer for the Pemberton 7X Coca Cola formula. It was a secret but someone put it out on the internet. I downloaded it. I don’t know if it’s authentic, but they say it is.”

  “Uh….” Redmond said and his eyes opened wide.

  Jim tugged at Redmond’s suit. “I take it that you can fix things so we don’t have to keep wearing these outside.”

  “Yes, definitely. Before you, there were a number of other creatures, a rabbit with long ears and a rather bedraggled looking dog like animal. We had to put them under anesthesia for a few days while the doctors worked. Filtered their blood and lymphatic systems and generally gave them a new immune system. There were no problems, they’re now quite acclimatized. There should be, likewise, no problems for you and your boys.”

  “How come you know so little about Earth? Doris didn’t know how your moons got their names. Didn’t they take records with them?”

  “They tried, available space was the problem. With that many people and a few primitive spacecraft...” Redmond paused with an embarrassed expression. “Oh... I’m sorry. I hope I do not offend you by referring to the technology of your time that way.”

  “No, that’s all right. Most of my neighbors swung from tree to tree.”

  Redmond gave Jim a curious look. “Is that so?”

  “That was a joke Doc. Has humor changed that much?”

  “No, I’m slowly finding out that it has not. It’s just that I do not know your culture. I was worried about upsetting you by laughing if you were serious.” Redmond watched Jim for a moment. He was obviously doing his best to put him at ease and gain his confidence. “Ah... You should call me Tal. It is a little friendlier. I’m here to help you.”

  “Old habit Doc. I’ve associated with medical doctors for many years. The term I feel most comfortable with is Doc. Would you please continue with the story?”

  “Well, for the colonists, personal items were out of the question and the computer banks contained mostly technical information. They needed to survive. Cultural and historical information was a low priority. Since then, due to age, damage and other historical factors most of the rest was lost as well.”

  “In that case you might like to look at my encyclopedia.”

  “You have a what?” Redmond’s face went bright red. “Is... is... is it on a laser chip?” Redmond was trembling.

  “I’ve got a couple on CDs but my favorite is on paper as in twenty four volume book form. I got it at a yard sale. It’s a Britannica.”

  “B... books? Oh my goodness, this is... oh my. I’ll get university funding to pay you for the privilege of viewing them.”

  “Did the university fund your work that got us out of that thing?”

  “Yes it did.”

  “In that case I don’t think it’s right to charge anything. By the way, how much do you think collectors would pay for empty beer cans?”

  “Plenty,” Redmond said with a laugh.

  Jim turned and pointed at the black pyramid shaped object. “That thing you said held us, is it still active? I mean, can it at any time zap us back into that other universe?”

  “When we first found it, it was scanning the immediate area with sub-neutron radiation. It captured one of our vehicles before we found a way to neutralize the beam. It’s quite safe. There have been no problems for almost a standard year.”

  “I was wondering about that,” Jim chuckled and pointed at a device on a stand. “One other thing. On the bottom of that is printed the word ‘Zippo’ is that the company name?”

  “It’s a microwave scanner. The company that made it was named after a famous mythical Old Earth object that gave off heat and light. It comes from an ancient story about a man lost in the ice and snow. He used this magical Zippo object to keep from freezing to death.”

  “Does everyone know the name?”

&nbs
p; “Oh yes. It appears in a dozen famous children’s books about mythical animals, wizards and magic. They were all written after man left Earth so we do not know what the original object was.”

  Jim walked to a table were his cloths were laid out. He reached into the pocket of his jeans and pulled out his lighter. He flipped open the top and flicked the wheel. Redmond physically jumped when he saw the flame. Through the faceplate on his suit Jim saw that his jaw had dropped.

  “This is a Zippo,” Jim said. “It looks like I’ll be shattering a few myths and legends as well.”

  “You will do just that,” Redmond said. “But one thing’s for sure, you put that single object up for auction and you’ll have enough money to keep you and your family for the rest of your lives.”

  Jim wandered back to his sons. “Well boys, we’re going to be rich.”

  Michael started to cry again. “I don’t want to be rich, I want to go see momma.”

  * * *

  Jim and Redmond entered the lab control center, Jim in his protective suit. “Here it is. We monitor everything from here,” Redmond said with a wide sweep of his hand.

  Jim gave the room a visual once over. There were three consoles, two of them occupied by technicians. Both stood as Jim and the doctor entered the room.

  “I’d like you to meet my two chief assistants; on the right here is Simmons.”

  The tall, lanky man in his early thirties stepped forward and extended a hand. “Call me Levin,” he said.

  “And you met Eastman.”

  “Yes, Andy brought us our great breakfast.”

  Andy laughed. “And I’m searching the galaxy for an Altarian boogabeast.”

  Jim turned to Redmond. “What was that thing you talked on outside, a cell phone?”

  Redmond produced the pen shaped object. “It’s my pen phone. I believe you had these on Old Earth.”

  “Yes, and it took pictures too.”

  “Well, this one takes pictures and high resolution video.”

  “Does it have an ear plug?”

  Redmond pointed to the bottom end. “Yes, this part detaches and you put it in your ear. It also has a holog…. Ah….”

  “Holographic?”

  “Display, yes.” Redmond pressed the device and a rectangular area in the air above one end glowed white. “People hardly ever use it, too difficult to watch while walking.”