Ascendancy: A Near Future Sci-Fi Thriller

by Randal Sloan

Doctor Randolph nodded to James and gave a very slight bow to Xiu. “It’s a pleasure to meet both of you. I’m sure we will have a number of conversations following this.”

  Julie gestured to them all, “Let’s go aboard New Hope. This all will be much easier with gravity plates to hold us down. Plus, we can all sit down.” She gestured to the docking tube. “James, if you would do the honors.”

  So they basically reversed their order coming over to go back. “Do we have any gravity mats with us?” Julie asked Zeke. “If we do, we should send them all over. They might help, especially with the medic.”

  “I’ll check as soon as we get back aboard,” Zeke told her.

  “What exactly are these gravity plates?” Julie’s father asked her, staring at the floor in the connecting tunnel.

  “Exactly what you might think. They generate a gravity field, adjustable to give the level of gravity desired. Your future son-in-law invented them.”

  “With a lot of help from you.”

  “Lucky I was there. If I turn my back on you in a lab, you blow it up.”

  “Hey, I’ve only done that twice. The first time to save you from that Weasel.”

  “What’s your excuse for the second time?”

  “I had to know if the shields would hold against that monster weapon of theirs. I just overdid it a little.”

  “A little bit. Two levels of isolation, and you still blew the power to the whole lab section and pretty much destroyed the lab.”

  “Yeah, but the shield held.”

  “Yes, thank God the shield held.”

  Doctor Randolph had been watching the two, and listening to the banter as they crossed the tunnel. Their affection for one another was extremely obvious. After getting over the initial shock, he was really glad his daughter was happy. And wow, but those gravity plates were impressive.

  They quickly returned to the control room of the New Hope and entered the small briefing room off to one side. Stopping in the doorway, Julie directed the chief tech on the bridge. “Coordinate with the other ship to make sure they have anything they need. And send any gravity mats over, especially to the medic as I suspect they will make his job easier.” She started to turn around but turned back and said, “And have them prep the corvette. I’m going to take my Dad out to show him around while we’re waiting on them to finish up.”

  She followed them into the room, explaining, “Dad, when we finish up here I’m taking you for a little ride in my corvette. You’ve got to see what it can do. I can run circles around this hunk of bolts. Well, except when Zeke is driving. He’s a whiz at adjusting the fields, and just when I think I’ve got him beat, he adjusts again and he’s caught right back up.”

  “Yeah, but I could never take you in a real contest. You’d be spinning and phasing in and out and I’d be zapped in about two seconds.”

  “Maybe, but in a straight race you would win.” Julie smiled at the others. “Sorry, guys. I’m possibly a little wound up here. So Dad, where do we start? So much has happened while you were gone.”

  “I saw the news synopsis you sent us. Some of it made perfect sense, but some of it I didn’t have a clue about.”

  “Well, it started with the little experiment Zeke and I built while we were in school. The first one failed miserably, actually for the same reason your ship lost control. There’s a huge feedback loop that is generated across the subspace fabric due to all the multi-universes that are part of that subspace fabric.”

  Seeing the look of total incomprehension on the face of everyone but Zeke, who’d heard it so many times it had finally started to sink in, Julie stopped. “Sorry, just accept that there’s a feedback loop and we can use it for power. Cheap, unlimited power, and no byproducts. And we can scale them to just about any size. So Zeke and I negotiated with our very good President to add a surtax to all our early sales to support a fund to help those put out of work and those countries affected by the shutdown of oil production.

  “That’s when I met the First Lady, who is an amazing person. Anyway, I’ll try to talk about our sales plan later. So then Zeke got to working with the fields to try to generate shields since we knew the Organization was going to use nukes. That was when we realized he could see the fields to tweak them precisely. I had used math up to that time and Zeke’s ability completely transcends that. Then Zeke figured out how to use one to generate a plasma burst to give us the plasma cannon which Zeke used to kill four of the pirate ships. But finally, we worked together to use the fields to give us the gravity plates. We’ve only started to touch the possibilities on the opposite to that, the anti-gravity plates, with the anti-gravity beds and the anti-gravity mats which can be rolled up and carried around. We’ve also started testing them on the shuttles, and we think we can cut our round trip cost to a tiny fraction of the current cost.”

  #

  Doctor Randolph had listened to his daughter in more and more amazement. All of this in a few months, and the ship’s drives which she pretty well only mentioned in passing. Then that last part. She had in fact become the CEO of Space Tech in every way possible. And he knew she would step aside for him if he asked, but he wasn’t sure he even wanted to do that. The last two years of his life had been consumed with finding a cure for Julie, which had worked out even better than he could have possibly imagined. That and revenge against the Organization, which was kind of empty now that they were gone. He had no idea what he would do now.

  When Julie talked about the envoys, and negotiating with the President and First Lady, his amazement grew even more. He’d only met the man once and he’d immediately respected him, but he hadn’t even thought of negotiating with him directly. He’d left that to the lawyers and politicians. Finally, Julie wound down and he smiled at her. “I’ve no idea how to start on all that and I think I’m going to have to digest it all for a while. How about you take me on that little spin in your corvette and we can reconvene this some time and place later?”

  “Good, I really would like that.” Julie told him. Turning to Zeke, she said, “Zeke, if you would keep an eye on things for me, I’ll be back in a little while.”

  “You got it, love. Just make sure you don’t get him carsick.”

  “I’ll try to keep it down to the basics today. I wouldn’t want to scare my Daddy into taking my little T-bird away.”

  #

  So shortly thereafter, Julie and her father were strapped in and heading out on her little spin.

  “We built this guy first and it’s quite an amazing little ship. Toe-to-toe with the pirates and they didn’t have a chance, even with their nukes. Plus, it can go all the way from atmosphere to deep space. Zeke even figured out how to tweak the fields to use the drives all the way in deep atmosphere. I have no idea how he did it; the math says it should be almost impossible.”

  “Anyway, you can look at the specs later and try it all out yourself. I really just wanted to spend some time alone with you where we won’t be interrupted.”

  “I sorta figured that out, and I wanted to do the same. So, let me go first. I may answer some of your questions for you. Most importantly, Zeke. It’s so obvious that you two love each other very much, so I will be thrilled to see the two of you married and happy.”

  “Secondly, I have already decided that I won’t be coming back in as CEO of Space Tech. You’re doing such a tremendous job,” he held his hand up when Julie started to interrupt him. “No, that’s non-negotiable. I’ve been so consumed with curing you, and then revenge against the Organization that I feel almost empty right now. And to miss those months when so much has happened. I can’t explain how overwhelming that is. So I don’t know what I will do.”

  “Ok, Dad. I didn’t know how I was going to turn loose of the reins anyway. We have the chance to do so much good in the world and I think I’m in too deep.”

  She caught her breath. Now for her task. “Maybe I can help you with your problem, Dad. You see, we came out here a couple of weeks ago to map this area and set up a gr
id to use if we needed it to look for you. But while we were here, Zeke and I and the two envoys discovered something amazing. The real reason I brought you out here is that I need to show it to you. We’ll be there in a couple of minutes.”

  “Is this something dangerous?” her father asked her, obviously a little uncertain.

  “No Dad, it’s not, but it is a special experience. And it’s different for each of us. You’ll have the opportunity to see someone, either from the future or the past. Zeke and I saw our daughter, your granddaughter, from somewhere like eighteen years in the future. And she had a message for us, a task that we had to complete. And you were my task, to bring you here. I have no idea who you will see or what your message will be. And I won’t know unless you tell me when it’s over. We’re almost there if you’re ready.”

  “Not sure if I will ever be completely ready, but I feel compelled to see it.”

  “Ok Dad, we’re here.”

  The fog as Julie described it, parted in front of them and there was the obelisk, just as she’d seen it before. Smiling, Julie wondered who she would see this time.

  #

  Sam stared in awe at the scene before him. And then suddenly his wife was standing there in front of him, bringing tears to his eyes.

  “Hello, my love. I have been given an opportunity to leave you a message for a time when you need a little help. I know that by now, I’ve been taken away from you. I was warned by a vision from someone I trust explicitly. And in my case, there was no way to alter the vision. I’m so sorry, love. We should have had many more years together, but that just wasn’t how it was to be for us. But I was given a vision of our daughter that I’ve treasured these last few months. She was at her wedding, preparing to marry the man that she loves so much, and she was so beautiful.

  “So I need to tell you this. You’re going to be given an opportunity shortly, and you need to take this opportunity. It will give you a very important job to do that will also be very important to the future of the human race. And you need to heal. Someday you are going to meet someone else, and she won’t be me, but she’ll make you very happy. So you must be ready for her.

  “Oh! One more thing. Tell our grandchildren about me. Especially the time we first met. That will one day have special meaning for one of them.”

  “I’m sorry, but I have to go now. I love you so very much. Please let go of your pain and try to treasure the best parts of our love you still have with you.” She faded away and he stood there, tears running down his face.

  #

  Julie was nervous. She had so much she wanted to see. Her daughter, who was already so special to her. Her mother who she had lost much too soon. Her son, who she had not ever seen yet. And she was worried that she might get nothing, that it was a one time shot.

  She was thrilled when she saw her daughter again. “Hi, Mom. Looks like you get an encore. That means you’ve completed your task or you wouldn’t be back here. And I guess Dad completed his or I wouldn’t still be here. So I don’t have a lot of time this round, but I’ve pretty well said all I have to say anyway. Plus, it’s not long till the wedding, and then it won’t be long before the two of us are getting acquainted with each other in a much more direct manner.

  “So, I bet you were hoping to see my brother, but he’s not here with me. That sort of goes back to that thing you are not supposed to be mad at me about. But don’t worry. I’m sure you’ll start having visions about my brother when it’s a little closer to time for him to make an appearance. I always told him that he was a freak of nature and talked his way here. You’ll see what I mean.

  “Anyway, I’ve been thinking about my brother and his task. You remember I told you he had the other timeline. I’m a little worried about it, because I think his task is going to be the hardest. If my grandfather has been killed, there is no Space Tech and there aren’t any nanites either I guess. I’m wondering if he needs help and I’m not yet able to help him. I’ve just started to have my own visions. But the idea I had was there might be some way you can communicate with my mom in that alternate timeline. Sort of a Julie to Julie call. Just think about it.”

  She looked away again. “And now I’ve really got to go. Love you, Mom!”

  Julie watched as her daughter faded away. In her place stood her mother and that brought fresh tears to her eyes. “Hey there, my precious daughter. They told me I could leave you a message too. I had a very important one for your father that our friends gave me the opportunity to do, but I really wanted to leave you a message too.”

  She smiled sadly. “I have an explanation that I owe you after all that has happened. My dear friend Catherine, who you should have met recently as the First Lady, had a vision regarding the attack on our family, and although sometimes with her visions there is a way to prevent what she has seen from happening, in this case there wasn’t a way out. Every possibility led to what was to be or something worse. So I have accepted it. And I didn’t want to tell you beforehand, or who knows what you would have done.

  “Our family has a gift or a curse, depending on how you look at it. Specifically we sometimes have the ability to see the future, and it is passed down from mother to daughter. You have this ability too, which you used to save your father and me from that plane crash when you were younger. You must understand we can see the future of those around us, but not our direct future. So I knew something was not right before that flight, but not what. You saved us and I knew what it meant even if you didn’t understand.

  “Catherine and I also foresaw that knowing about the future at so young an age would be bad for you, so that is why we sent you to those doctors and had you take that medication you hated so much. It was blocking your ability, and I’m so sorry we had to do that.” She shook her head sadly.

  “So I expect you’ve been regaining some of it since then. Catherine is holding a necklace for you that she should have given to you by now. It has been passed down for many generations and you’ll some day need to pass it on to your daughter. You’ll know when the time is right. But for now, you need to wear it, which I bet you haven’t been doing. It will help you with managing your gift. I’m so sorry that I can’t be there with you to help with all this. Catherine will help when she can, but her time is going to be really limited until her husband completes his second term in office. But use her help whenever you can.

  “One more thing. I want you to help your father as he transitions to his new responsibility. I don’t even know for sure what it is, but he’s going to need your help to do it. And you must also support him when he meets someone else, something I’ve foreseen will happen. Just know she’s not there to replace me, but to fill the hole in your father’s life that’s going to be there.

  “I wish I had so much more time with you, but I guess I need to go and let you get on with your life. Be sure to tell your children about me. I wish so much I could have seen them in person, but at least I did see them in visions. I love you so very much.”

  #

  Both Julie and her father were speechless for several moments. Both had tears in their eyes and on their cheeks. The obelisk had faded back to its normal quiet look. With its job finished, Julie turned their ship around and headed back toward the New Hope.

  Finally Julie spoke up, “Now you see what I meant, Dad. Your message was meant for you alone and I know my mother spoke to you. I also saw her after a second smaller message from my future daughter, your granddaughter. But she told me I was to help you as much as I could. I was given a charge to bring you here, but I was also told by our First Lady I needed to bring you to see them before anything else.

  “So here is my proposal. We go back aboard the New Hope until we get everything taken care of with your ship and crew. Then we’ll re-provision this ship and leave ahead of the others, going straight to the earth and then down to the Presidential estate. We should be able to complete our business there and get back to Space Tech Station before the New Hope arrives there. Especially if I tell Zeke
to slow down a little. Most particularly if I tell Zeke to slow down; otherwise that won’t work.”

  Her father nodded. “That sounds like a good plan. I’ll talk to you later and tell you what I can, but right now it’s all just a little too much for me.”

  Julie could tell her father was deeply moved by his vision. So they were very quiet on the way back to meet with the New Hope. Instead of landing her ship once again in the hold of the ship, she docked with the bigger ship. While they were away, the medic had taken care of everyone on board The Annette and they had begun to transfer the crew over to their ship. The crew of The Annette couldn’t believe when they boarded the New Hope that they were able to walk around using the gravity plates, but no one complained at all.

  The Annette was put into maintenance mode, and left on its course until they could come back and retrofit her with the new engines to return her home. Julie and her father then went aboard the corvette and headed back to earth, with Zeke under strict warning to take it slower.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  A New Job

  Julie had obtained permission to go directly to the presidential estate and she made all haste to get there. Her father mostly just sat and watched her as she flew the ship. Despite what he knew about her nanites, he still marveled at the technology she had invented and her ability to use it. Now that she was able to use the drives the whole flight in, Julie was able to make a high speed direct landing at the small airport beside the presidential estate. She couldn’t resist showing off by hitting the anti-grav so that she was able to shorten the time even more by eliminating the need to land using the runway. Instead, she just dropped to a landing right next to the security gate, everyone staring at her incredulously. By this time her father was one of those looking at her in disbelief.

  “Sorry, Dad, but we’re in a bit of a hurry,” Julie told him as she shut the ship down. “I told Zeke to take it slow, but I know him. He’ll try to do it, but he just gets carried away. I figure we have an hour or less.”