The Time Stone (The Time Stone Trilogy Book 1)

by Robert F Hays

  “Can they swim?” John asked with a smile.

  “No they can’t, that’s how you escape. Just jump into a creek and swim away.” Colin was becoming extremely exuberant as he spoke.

  “That’s good,” John said trying to sound somber. “If we do grow them I’ll use the fields on the other side of the river. That way if they do get out of hand they’ll only eat our neighbors the Eckerts. We don’t talk to them much anyway.”

  “Just put flame throwers on the bridge just in case.”

  “And land mines too,” Michael added.

  “Oh yes, put a mine field along the river. That should stop them.”

  “I’ll remember that,” John said. “What type of mine do you recommend? The only ones I know of are set in space and are used to destroy enemy battle cruisers.”

  “Not them,” Colin said, still fascinated by Mara’s facial expressions that ranged from horror to disgust. “These are the ones you bury in the ground. When you walk on one it blows your legs off and leaves you rolling around screaming and shi.. and stuff.”

  Continuing the game, Colin recounted two more stories about the killer raspberries before the end of dinner. Michael sat smiling, nodding his head in agreement and support at appropriate times.

  After dinner, the three children played a game of flying fish. The Kirbys had very little interest in the contemporary 3V simulator. They didn’t even own the required interface module necessary to play the three dimensional games. The Kirbys preferred the games of the previous generation, this one in particular. A small catapult fired winged fish randomly around the room. They were caught in a small net that dangled beneath a remote controlled miniature helicopter. The controller was a pistol shaped device that emitted an infrared beam. The helicopter chased the beam as it was moved around the room. Even though Colin wished that they could shoot the fish down instead of catching them, he still enjoyed the game.

  The boys slept in one of the guest bedrooms of the two story farm house. From their window they could see the long dirt road leading to the property boundary. In this area of the continent, transportation was by grid navigator, a small self-contained vehicle not connected to any main computer system. For many years they had been promised the paved roads and network system, but government budget problems had postponed its installation. The Kirbys didn’t seem to mind the inconvenience of having to input the route themselves. In fact they preferred its ability to travel where there were no established roads. Its biggest problem was an inability to travel over areas where rock protruded over half a meter from the ground. Backtracking and re-routing was a relatively common.

  * * *

  The morning sun illuminated the room with its usual orangy glow. Michael woke first and wandered to the window. John had promised a hunting trip later in the week. Michael peered through the window in the direction of the distant woodland property boundary. Each farm was separated by a wooded strip. These areas, plus the numerous reserves covered over half the district’s surface. They acted as barriers to insect migration, as well as soil erosion and wind control. The strips themselves were carefully farmed for woodland products.

  Numerous sensors monitored the animal population. They notified the farmer of any imbalance, which was promptly corrected.

  Hunting was one of the many options available when a species became too numerous. John owned a low powered pulse rifle, which Colin wanted to try. John was also looking forward to using Colin’s museum piece .22. An increase in the rabbit population was a fortunate occurrence for both of them.

  Only about a third of the total farm area was under cultivation. The rest varied from woodland to grassland. The topography of the farm itself wasn’t static. The irregularly shaped sections slowly changed from farmland to grassland then woodland and back to farmland. The boundaries of these areas, as with just about everything in this culture, were computer designed to imitate an organized version of nature. The farm house itself had been moved twice in the hundred and sixty year history of the relatively recently colonized planet. Its walls were constructed from the area’s rock and soil. Formed and shaped by electrostatic force the silicate mixture was subjected to intense heat until it turned almost to granite. Its reddish brown coloration was indicative of the local high iron content. When the sun was at certain angles the walls faintly sparkled due to the quartz crystals in its composition. The interior and roof were made of wood taken from the constantly shifting forests. Impregnated with a plastic polymer, the organic material endured for centuries. It was fully reusable when the house changed size, shape, or location.

  A light blue navigator caught Michael’s eye as it traveled up the road to the farmhouse. This was the first visitor since their arrival. It came to a halt in front of the house. The door opened and a tall, dark man climbed out. Michael ran to the top of the stairs where he could see the front door and not be seen himself. Iris was already there waiting for the visitor.

  “They’re still asleep Mr. Montoya,” she said as the man entered. “Come in and have some breakfast while you wait. It’ll take a while before they’re ready to go with you.”

  “That’d be great,” the man replied. “I dashed through the space port this morning so fast I did not get a chance to eat. Call me Federico.”

  Iris led Federico in the direction of the kitchen. “I’ll wake them up.”

  Michael ran back into the bedroom and shook Colin. “Colin, Colin, someone’s here to get us.”

  Colin mumbled as he slowly awoke. “Huh? Get us? Is it Mrs. Redmond?”

  “No, it’s a man I’ve never seen before. They went to the kitchen.”

  “Come on,” Colin said. He jumped from the bed then ran to the door. “See if we can hear anything.”

  The two boys ran down the hall past the main stairs and to a smaller back staircase that led to the kitchen. At the top, they stood and listened.

  “You’re right,” Iris said. “Holding the children would force Mr. Young out of hiding. It’s better that they go with you. This farm isn’t equipped for that sort of thing.”

  “That was what Uncle Santiago said,” Federico replied. “To easy to sneak up on this place.”

  The man was seated at the kitchen table. He spoke with a pleasant voice that reminded Colin of the latest warnings: They were to beware of soft spoken smiling faces that may conceal ulterior motives.

  Michael frantically tugged on Colin’s sleeve. “They’re part of it?” he whispered. “They’re going to take us somewhere and shoot dad when he comes to rescue us.”

  “Stay here,” Colin said, pushing Michael aside. “I’ll see if he knows the code.”

  Colin gently broke the grip Michael had on his sleeve then walked as casually as possible downstairs.

  Iris looked up at Colin and smiled. “Oh, you’re up. It has been decided to move you two to a safer place. This gentleman will take you there. We’re going to miss you, but it’s for the best.”

  “Will it take us four days to get there?” Colin asked the tall, dark man.

  The man laughed and replied. “No, it’ll take us nine days.”

  “I’ll wake up Michael,” Colin said. He turned and ran back up the stairs. Grabbing Michael by the shoulder, he took off in the direction of the bedroom.

  “That’s not the code dad told us,” Michael whispered.

  “They’re all part of it, we’ll have to get out of here right now and hide in the woods.”

  The two quickly dressed. Colin took his rifle from a closet, putting his last box of ammunition into a pocket. He then touched the control pad next to the window. It slid open and Colin climbed out onto the porch roof.

  Michael followed. “What will we eat?” he said. “I’m hungry. Couldn’t we run away after breakfast?”

  Colin waved his rifle. “Rabbits, potatoes and squashes. Remember, dad taught us how to make a smokeless fire. We can sneak out into the field at night and dig up vegetables.”

  They walked the length of the porch roof toward an ornament
al lattice.

  “What’re you doing out there?” Mara asked through her open bedroom window as they passed.

  “Playing a game,” Colin replied.

  “Oh, can I play too? Is it an Earth game? I would like to learn if it is,” she said enthusiastically.

  Colin stopped and turned around. “Ah.. yes. We’re playing an Earth game that’s practice in case of a raspberry attack. They’ve invaded downstairs and we’re going for reinforcements. You can be the dis-information agent. We’re pretending that your parents are the raspberry bushes. Your job is not to tell them where we’ve gone and listen in on their battle plans.”

  “But they’ll eat me if I do that.”

  “No they won’t. Raspberries are man eaters, they don’t eat girls. You can be our spy.”

  “Can I pretend that I’m disguised as a raspberry bush?” Mara asked, raising her arms then freezing in place.

  Colin started his climb down the lattice. “Good thinking, secret agent Mara. You do that and report on their activity.”

  “Where will you be so I can report to you?”

  “Ah.. around the back in the laundry. That’s where our secret radio... I mean V phone is.”

  Once on the ground, they ran in the direction of the equipment barn, a long single story structure. Other than the farmhouse it was the only prominent building in the immediate area.

  Michael pointing to the left. “Mr. Kirby’s over there.”

  Colin looked. He saw John bent over working on a junction valve in the automatic underground irrigation system. “Quick, in here.”

  The two ran through the door of the equipment barn and hid behind a large tracked harvester just inside the entrance.

  “How do we get to the woods?” Michael asked, breathing heavily. “They’re a long way away.”

  “We’ll just have to crawl.”

  Michael started to cry. “They’ll see us and shoot us. “

  “No they won’t. They want us alive. You’ve seen those movies about kidnapping. They need us to talk on the telephone or dad won’t come to get us.”

  Colin returned to the door moving from shadow to shadow. Michael followed wiping tears from his eyes.

  “Mr. Kirby’s still working on that water thing and he’s not looking. Stop crying and follow me.”

  Colin took off at a sprint. After going twenty meters he dove into a shallow rain ditch next to a narrow service road. Michael followed and the two of them started their long crawl in the direction of the distant woods.

  * * *

  “Colin, Michael, do you need any help?” Iris called through the bedroom door. She turned to find Mara behind her. The young girl stood quietly with her arms raised.

  Iris returned her attention to the door and called again. After waiting half a minute she touched the control next to the door which slid open revealing an empty room.

  “Computer, what’s the location of Colin and Michael?” she asked as she entered the room.

  “Colin and Michael are no longer inside the house,” replied the computer voice.

  “What was their point of exit?” She asked.

  “Point of exit was the window of bedroom three.”

  Iris ran to the open window and looked out. The boys could not be seen. Turning back in the direction of the door she found Mara who had just entered. “Have you seen the boys? What are you doing with your arms up like that?”

  “I am one of you, and that was cheating using the house computer.”

  “Did you see the boys outside on the roof a little while ago?”

  “No, the computer must be malfunctioning. They didn’t go that way.”

  “Which way did they go?”

  Mara shrugged. “I haven’t seen them this morning.”

  Iris ran from the room and to the kitchen where the man was waiting. Mara followed, maintaining her disguise.

  “They’re not in the house. I don’t know where they are. I hope they don’t think you’re a danger to them and have run off.”

  The man stood up. “I gave them the return code.”

  “What code?”

  “He was to put a random number somewhere in a sentence and I was to reply with a number in a sentence. The two were to add up to fourteen.”

  “What numbers did you say?”

  “He said four so I said nine.”

  “That adds up to thirteen not fourteen.”

  “Damn! We’re going to have to find them fast if we’re going to make the connection with the company freighter.”

  Iris turned to Mara. “Mara, you go out the back and... What are you doing with your arms?”

  “Nothing, I’m on your side. What is our battle plan? Where are you going to look for those tasty boys?”

  “I think you know something you’re not telling us,” Iris said, grabbing Mara’s arms and pulling them down.

  Mara stuck out her lower lip. “So, you saw through my disguise you nasty raspberries. You can torture me, I’m not talking.”

  “Mara, this isn’t a game. Colin and Michael may be in trouble. Tell me what you know, now,” Iris pleaded.

  “You’re not playing the game?”

  “No!”

  “They told me you were killer raspberry bushes and they were going to call for help on the secret V phone in the laundry.”

  “They went to the laundry?”

  “I don’t think they went there, I saw them go into the equipment barn.”

  * * *

  Half an hour of crawling found the boys only a fraction of the way to their objective.

  “Colin, can we get up and walk? I’ve hurt my knee on a rock.”

  Colin turned around. “No, stay low. We can still be seen from the house. Come up here and let me take a look at your knee.”

  Michael crawled up to Colin and rolled on his side raising his leg. His pants weren’t torn, but a small patch of blood appeared through the dirt encrusted material marked the site of the injury.

  “It doesn’t look too bad. Can you crawl a little way further?”

  “I think I can.”

  Colin raised his head to examine the terrain ahead. “About two hundred meters more and we can get up. The ground is lower up ahead. If we stay low we’ll be out of sight of the house.”

  A few minutes later Michael grabbed Colin’s foot. “Someone’s coming.”

  “Where are they?”

  “That navigator, the blue one the man came in, it’s coming up this road from the house.”

  “Quick Michael, roll to the left.”

  The two boys log rolled a few meters into the low bushy leaves of the potato plants. Colin wriggled to work his way into the paltry cover. Michael copied him.

  They heard the soft crackle as the navigator slowed then stopped near their position. A click followed by a swishing sound indicated that the door was opening.

  “Colin, Michael.” The voice was that of the tall, dark man. “I see you there. Do not be afraid, I’m a friend.”

  Colin assumed a kneeling position and raised his rifle. “Don’t you come near us asshole!”

  Federico smiled a friendly smile before taking a pace forward. “I’m a friend, your father sent me to take you to a safer place.”

  “Bull frigging shit!” Colin yelled. “Come any closer and I’ll blow your dick off!”

  “No, it’s all right,” Federico said.

  “Safety rule two,” Colin said to himself as he put his finger inside the trigger guard of his rifle. “Never put your finger inside the trigger guard unless you intend to fire the weapon.”

  “I can prove that I’m a...”

  Federico stopped dead as he saw Colin take aim.

  Chapter 16

  Jim made his way down the main street of Zera, the capital of the Ramiun district of the planet Hebram. Walking an undeviating line was difficult. The violent gusts of wind occasionally forced him from the paved footpath and into one of the numerous puddles left by the latest of the frequent storms. Jim tugged at the sleeve
of the ill-fitting protective suit that was literally thrown at him at the spaceport. It clung to him with varying pressure on the side facing the wind and the loose material flapped violently on the other.

  He was picked up from the orbiting warehouse where his freighter had docked. After a quick ride in a small cargo shuttle, Angel, Raul Montoya’s cousin, slipped him into the crowd of newly arrived colonists. No names were asked, no identification checked, a seemingly disinterested official just handed him a billeting slip. It was for a room at the Windy City hotel some five kilometers from the spaceport. The city’s only moving sidewalk took him part of the way. He walked the rest carrying his one bag.

  On the way, he listened to the conversations of others. Complaints mostly, they were not used to the weather of this relatively newly converted planet. The oceans had formed fifty years before, vegetation ten, and human habitation initiated only a year ago. Climate modification was still a progressive and struggling project.

  The people were a mixture, some braving a forced smile, some looking downright miserable. The colonists consisted, predominantly, of failures on their planet of origin looking for a new start. Some were a result of the court system. They picked here as an alternative to jail or a rehabilitation center.

  In the preceding two weeks Jim had registered at the lands office. He put in a claim for five hundred hectares of land on which he informed them he would grow pears. The newly rediscovered fruit was reassembled from genetic material found in a small can of fruit cocktail Jim had packed for his move some months before. The fruit had survived the Exodus, but became extinct due to a mutated virus that developed during the sixth century of the colonial era.

  He felt safe requesting this product from the government agency which subsidized agriculture. He knew nothing about growing pears, but neither did anyone else.

  He was also safe in his identity. As Mr. Cat Stevens, no voice print or retinal scan had yet been required. No one here cared who you were before, just what you did here and now. His new face was rarely seen, except for a blurred glimpse through the faceplate of his protective suit. The atmosphere was breathable, but still contaminated by harmful gasses left over from the planet’s recent primordial past. The government claimed that suits could be dispensed with within a year. For now, his new face, plus his beard, triple disguised him.