Earth Seven

by Steve M.

  A startled Koven ducked down behind the table as the wild shot hit high on the cave wall behind him.

  “We’re under attack,” the man at the far end of the cave yelled, although the weapon had been aimed nowhere near him. He ran to a small desk nearby and took the weapon from on top of it. He ducked down again.

  Koven turned his PPS to the maximum setting then stood up.

  “Stop this now. You are shooting at an agent of the History—” his words were cut off by a blast that hit right at eye level, momentarily blinding him.

  “Shut up,” a voice yelled at him, and shot at him three more times.

  But at the far end of the hall, Dubitam had picked up a weapon he was becoming more familiar with. He had aimed it for the last shot. The voice confirmed the position for him. He closed one eye then squeezed the trigger.

  From a distance of 24.82 maatars, Dubitam hit his target. There was a grunt and then the sound that a body makes when it hits the ground. A moment later a body became visible on the floor of the cave. An instant later a bubble ship formed an oblong shape and quickly exited the cave.

  “Look, I got him,” said Dubitam. “I got him.”

  “You saved us,” said MinKey, and quickly kissed him on the lips.

  “Behave now,” he said to her with a smile as she pulled away from him.

  “We can’t hurt them,” said Rusa down at the other end of the cave.

  “Not so loud,” said Koven with a shhh on the end of his words.

  “Hello?” said Dubitam at the other end of the cave. “We heard that. We agree completely. I didn’t mean to hurt anyone, but we were under attack.”

  “You were not under attack,” replied Koven. “We were under attack.”

  “I apologize, then. At the moment of the shooting I didn’t know you were here, or anywhere for that matter. That would explain the very poor aim,” replied Dubitam.

  Rusa turned off her cloaking.

  “A woman, nice,” said Dubitam. A tix later he felt MinKey hit him in the arm.

  “Don’t get jealous,” he said to her.

  Then Koven turned off his cloaking.

  “Ah, the man in charge,” Dubitam said. And again felt MinKey hit him in the arm. This time harder than before.

  “Ouch. Forgive me, but my wonderful assistant, MinKey, is a rare believer in women being treated as equals of men. I mean, logically, I can find no fault with her ideas. Sure, there are differences between us, but that doesn’t imply one is superior to the other. However, as much as we are both free thinkers on this topic, we must keep our opinions to ourselves until a more liberal era comes about. And I will admit that I am the least free of the two thinkers on this topic.”

  “I understand,” said Rusa. “This is one of the reasons why your planet only gets a Primitive 3 rating.”

  “We’re not as primitive as you think,” said Dubitam. “Not since we have the reader. We’ve moved ahead thousands of revs since I started reading the parts about complimentary crops and micronutrients. There are many things not visible to the naked eye that make all the difference between a good life and a miserable life. I have almost completed a device that will permit me to see them.”

  And Dubitam lifted up a device, crude and wooden. But at the top and near the middle two glass lenses were clearly visible at the end of a round tube.

  “I believe you call it a microscopic,” replied Dubitam with a satisfied smile.

  “A microscope,” replied Koven.

  “But a microscopic is as good a word as microscope; with either we understand your meaning,” said Rusa quickly.

  “Good,” replied MinKey quickly.

  “You need to leave now,” said Koven.

  “Why?” asked Dubitam.

  “Because there is going to be a very powerful explosion.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

  Herds of animals migrate in search of food, water, safety. Humans are animals. The capital city of Midar swelled as pilgrims came seeking the healing powers of Lord Allor and the confirmation of a belief that permits them more control of their own lives.

  Allor had priests open all of the temple grounds for pilgrims. The elaborate gardens of the former Underones were opened to give the pilgrims a place to sleep. The grounds of the temple at Kiro swelled until there were more than a hundred thousand within the temple walls. Allor had the priests provide food from the royal kitchens to the crowd. Still, there were problems. After a couple of days, the temple grounds of Allor smelled mostly of urine and shit.

  Allor went out onto the front balcony from the main temple. It overlooked the steps leading to the temple doors and the large square in front of the temple. The crowd cheered when he appeared at the balcony door with Canto. He held her hand and raised it high over their heads like declaring a victor in a boxing match.

  “We bring you good health,” Allor yelled to the crowd. It was met with cheers. He listened as the repeaters in the crowd repeated his words and they rippled through the crowd. The cheer started closest to him and moved away like a wave in water.

  “We bring you more control of your own life,” Canto yelled to the crowd. She looked at Allor and smiled. They listened to the cheer progress to the back.

  “We bring you more of the rewards of your work,” Allor yelled to the crowd. He waited.

  “We bring you a world without false gods,” Canto yelled. She looked at Allor. They had argued about who should say this. Canto won.

  As they were speaking to the crowd, a line of The Expected began to surround the perimeter of the square. Each of them carried a long metal rod which they held high above their heads. At the top of each was the head of a Ceros priest. Once the square was surrounded by heads on sticks, the grand doors to the temple opened. Out came two lines of The Expected marching side by side. They held staffs with heads on top of them. The crowd at first was shocked by the sight of the heads. But they began to cheer as they understood that the heads meant the end of the religious police of Ceros.

  As the crowd cheered The Expected cleared a path for them to march through, up on the balcony the ambassador from the Disciples of the Earth stepped into view. A moment later the ambassador from the Kingdom of Rom stepped out onto the balcony also. Both men stood beside Allor and Canto. They raised their fists together to the crowd that roared their approval.

  It was to be a brutal peace.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

  Wingut and Longley looked at the image of Koven in the holocast projected between them in Professor Longley’s office.

  “And that is the inventory of technology destroyed,” said Koven. “The temperature on the device was set at a high enough level to melt everything inside of the cave. As you can see, access to the cave has been blocked.” Koven panned the camera to view the former cave entrance, now simply a smoldering pile of rocks, a few of them glowing red from the heat in the cave.

  “I did a composite analysis on the dead woman killed by the man inside of the cave. She is Professor Kushina Herer, associate professor in the Sociology Department. The weapon Dubitam used was set on medium low at the time of the attack. I will be sending Professor Herer’s body back via sub-light pod before the end of the rev. End of report.”

  “Educator of the 500 Rev Cycle,” Longley said, making it sound more like a curse than a title.

  “I need some agents to help him out,” said Wingut. “Not many, just a couple.”

  “We’ve been over this, with Klept still at large we can’t spare the manpower.”

  “Then give Earth 7 to Sociology and let me call Modi back home,” said Wingut emphatically.

  “You know I’m not going to do that. All quarantine planets will remain under the guidance of the History Department as long as I am Department Head.” Professor Longley moved his coffee cup between him and Wingut.

  “I know how it feels,” Longley said with a gentler tone to his voice. “When I sponsored missions, I couldn’t sleep some nigh
ts if my people were at risk. And I felt each death of one of my agents deep down inside of me. I felt responsible. I felt it was my fault. I know it hurts.”

  “He’s not dead yet,” replied Wingut coldly, “and he’s not going to be if I can get him some help.”

  “What about resources here? Are there any uni-based resources that would be helpful to him?”

  “I don’t know,” replied Wingut.

  “You should ask him.”

  “I will,” replied Wingut.

  “But there is one good thing about this whole episode,” replied Longley.

  Wingut was too annoyed to give him the prompt for an answer.

  “We have Trill now. A dead sociologist is the kind of evidence he can’t lie his way out of,” said Longley. “I’ll be talking to both him and Dean Midge torev. I will demand that Trill recall his people immediately. Withdraw by the end of the rev. Tomorrev at the latest.”

  Not long after their meeting, Wingut sent a message to Koven. He offered any resources that could work from the university. But he didn’t offer what Koven Modi most needed: agents on site.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

  Koven took his time off. He took a FLT cruiser that came within bubble range to collect him. He had packed in a hurry. He had been unhappy with Professor Wingut’s latest message. As a result, he immediately booked his time off, sent a message to Tanit, and then booked his flight. He was angry, something rare for a historian. Rusa suggested they have sex. That is largely why he had to pack quickly.

  Tanit waited for him at the spaceport. She ran to him like someone in a movie. She kissed him hard on the lips and reached down and squeezed his butt while they kissed. They got ice cream as they walked to his parents’ penthouse condo.

  The introduction to Koven’s parents was awkward. But then it’s always awkward when a historian introduces a romantic interest to historian parents when the romantic is not a historian. It is near universally awkward.

  “Propulsion physics is a very lucrative career,” said Indira in an attempt to make conversation with Tanit.

  “Not as good a being a historian, but I’ll get by,” Tanit replied in a gross understatement of a propulsion physicist’s earnings.

  “And get by in style,” replied Indira with a smile.

  Not long after their awkward introduction, Koven and Tanit went down to the exercise class in the gym on the tenth floor of the building. Koven enjoyed a different exercise routine from the one he had at the university and while on missions. Tanit didn’t enjoy it as much but was determined that it would not defeat her. She finished with a weakness in her legs. She used a remedium on herself before leaving the gym.

  They showered together, but Tanit wouldn’t let him touch her. “Your parents are waiting,” she used as her excuse to torment him.

  Over dinner, Koven gave them a detailed update on his mission. His parents were upset when they learned about Professor Herer. “Outrageous” is how Eflin described it. They were only slightly calmed by Professor Wingut’s promise of escalation.

  “Wingut’s a man with a reputation for getting the job done,” said Eflin.

  “Not always by the direct path,” countered Indira.

  “I have confidence that he will do what he says. And I believe he has enough evidence to get Sociology to withdraw their people,” said Koven.

  “Maybe even enough to cost Trill his position as head of Sociology,” added Indira.

  The good thing about being around historians is that it tends to make Nons less emotional in their responses. Tanit was in a higher level of panic than her voice indicated.

  “Isn’t there any way you can refuse to go back until you have adequate help?” she asked.

  “No. Refusal to report is considered a high-level disciplinary event. Long-term refusal to report is considered a resignation,” replied Indira. “We had one historian in one of my teams refuse. He lost his license. I believe he teaches psychology now after re-education.”

  “Why did he refuse?” asked Tanit.

  “A woman,” replied Eflin.

  There was a lull in the conversation for a moment. Then Eflin did something that historians are notorious for, the inappropriate question.

  “So, have the two of you had sex yet?” he asked.

  “Yes,” said Tanit at the same time that Koven was saying no.

  “That’s good,” Eflin said, ignoring Tanit’s response to the question.

  “Well, it’s only been VR sex so far, but it means a lot to me. And I count it,” Tanit said.

  Then, in typical historian fashion, Eflin replied coldly, “We don’t.”

  Being in the company of historians is like being around someone with no filter on their mouth. Oftentimes it is a time of awkward silences followed by conversation for a while before something inappropriate is said again and another awkward silence ensues. They had a long one after “we don’t.” Tanit betrayed for just a moment a look of deep hurt over the fact that Koven didn’t seem to consider VR sex to mean as much to him as it did to her. It just didn’t count.

  Finally Eflin complained about the greater popularity of the History of Golf class than the class on the Mizar empire.

  “I have two new Ph.D. candidates. One of them you should find interesting, dear,” Indira said to Koven.

  “Why?”

  “She is planning her dissertation on the Corlus Revolution. I think you should speak to her. I believe a conversation would be helpful for her. And it would give you a chance to revisit your own dissertation. It wasn’t just on Corlus. It was one of the most important revolutionary movements you covered.”

  “Is she pretty?” asked Tanit. She knew enough about historians to know to ask and listen.

  “Yes,” replied Eflin. “Her parents had more money for the geneticist than we did.”

  Tanit tried hard not to laugh. She was the only one at the table that interpreted Eflin’s comment as calling his own son ugly.

  They watched a video on challenges of teaching about periods of historical upheaval. Tanit was less than interested. She lied when asked if she enjoyed it.

  That night Tanit and Koven finally had R-Sex. It lasted a long time and both reached a climax. As soon as Koven collapsed on the bed and lay beside Tanit, he turned her head to face him.

  “I think you should move in with me. Not everything, if you don’t want to, but enough of your belongings so that we can have a life together without you having to go home every night. My place is bigger and you will have more space than you have at your home,” he said in rapid-fire fashion.

  “Of course, my love.”

  “Forty-two percent,” he said. “It doesn’t mean we will be part of the fifty-eight percent, only that it’s probable,” he added. He reminded her that historians are notoriously difficult to live with. However, they are faithful and loyal.

  “I will have your DNA print put on my birth control,” she replied, and leaned over and kissed him gently on the lips.

  As Koven lay beside his new roommate, he thought about all the diversions he had used to avoid R-Sex. And in the end it wasn’t what he expected. He had been worried about disappointing her with his lack of experience. But what he hadn’t expected was his own reaction. He was disappointed. Rusa had spoiled him.

  There is a joke:

  Q: What are the two most common words spoken after the phrase “I will need more time to prepare my answer”?

  A: “Damned Historian.” Historians tell this joke among themselves with pride. Not at being annoying, but pride that when more time is needed, the historian immediately alerts the other parties. It’s kind of their way of saying “We don’t break, damn it” in the geekiest way possible.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-EVEN

  Eckly Bik stood in front of Allor. He was a rumpled little old man with bushy eyebrows.

  “Without a doubt, it is not the work of a resistance movement. The cave was burned to the point of melting the rocks i
nside of it,” said Bik.

  Allor didn’t like the news. He had known it but hoped it wasn’t true.

  “Not even an oil fire?” Allor asked.

  “No, Allor, it wouldn’t burn nearly hot enough.”

  Pens drew his sword.

  “Dog, you will refer to him as Lord God Allor or you will become worm food.”

  “No,” said Eckly.

  Allor and Canto started laughing.

  “It’s OK, Pens,” said Allor, “Eckly has known me since I was a young boy. He knows me better than most people.”

  Pens put his sword back in the sheath. He moved back beside the throne chair and beside Allor. Canto sat on the smaller chair beside her brother.

  “I’ve known since the day that the ship crashed that there might come a time when they returned. And in my mind I knew we would have to be prepared. But a child doesn’t think as deeply as a man. Then the distractions of life took hold and I forgot about it. But they didn’t forget. Now they have come to get their machines back and ensure we do not benefit from them. They exhibit all the coldness of a father to a bastard child.”

  “Sir,” said Eckly, “what we need is to have a conversation with them. The man and woman that rescued Dubitam and MinKey. Before the cave exploded they left without discussion.”

  “And just how do you intend for that to happen? Do we merely call out their name, which we don’t know?” asked an annoyed Pens.

  “You’re pretty damned close, yes,” replied Eckly. “We know what they want, don’t we?”

  “To get their machines back,” replied Allor. He looked at the old man and smiled slightly. They had been adversaries for so many years that Allor was very pleased to be able to now consider this man, the man that chased him out of the Treasury building, his friend.

  “Right you are, sir. So how do we attract them? Pens has already given us the answer.”