Star Matters

by David John West

  “Hey, I said ‘open-minded’, Charlotte, and that’s what I meant. Does that mean invisible young piratical McGregor is going to be perched on my shoulder the whole time now wherever I go?”

  “If it makes you feel any better then it’s true that spirit guardians are widely occurring and perfectly normal here on Earth without our being much aware or bothered by them. Lots of spiritually advanced societies understand and value them. If it makes you feel any better he won’t intrude on your privacy unless you need it and you will soon get used to him being around. The only difference is, I’ve told you he is here. And he will be able to direct you in an emergency if you get into any trouble. He can communicate soul to soul with you in an emergency, for instance to stop you walking out in front of a car. All you would notice is an involuntary stop that prevented you from being run over. If you were to ask then you would find lots of people have this kind of experience and congratulate themselves on their useful ‘sixth sense’. I would feel much better knowing that Duncan is helping look after you.”

  “But you aren’t thinking of me being run over by a car, are you, Charlotte?” Professor Kitteridge looked at her over the top rims of his spectacles. “You are thinking of your enemies, these Zarnha of Spargan, coming after me as they realise that you are feeding me scientific enlightenment against their interests.”

  “Yes, that is true, though preventing everyday accidents can be just as valuable,” Charlotte replied. “After what happened to Doctor McGregor, we want you looked after the best we can. He is very motivated to stop them operating against us. He can look for danger on many more levels than you could imagine. And it leaves you free to carry on as normal. You couldn’t be in better hands than Duncan and myself. Duncan is the best surveillance you could arrange – and I am the best physical protection with Joe and Daniel. I know I don’t look fearsome but you would not want to come up against me in a real fight.” Charlotte regarded him mock ferociously.

  Professor Kitteridge appraised Charlotte anew. “Just when I think I am getting the whole picture sorted you are surprising me with something else, Charlotte. Do you mean protection like, what, a bodyguard!?”

  “Let’s just say that I hope we don’t need to find out, Professor,” she paused and glanced at the other chair. “Duncan is amused now. We have been through quite a few scrapes together down the ages… ”

  They talked on for some time with the difficult job of transferring Gayan general knowledge to Professor Kitteridge to ensure his future published works were soundly based in facts. As they wound up they discussed Duncan’s role some more. Charlotte explained that Duncan would be able to look over the whole group but would be concentrating on Professor Kitteridge, the Gayans, and Christopher, who would need developing as succession planning for Professor Kitteridge’s work into the future.

  Christopher was conflicted over Professor Kitteridge’s new friendship with Charlotte. He assumed that the introduction was made through Joe knowing Charlotte from their schooldays but he could not figure the way it had come together. It frustrated Christopher that after all this time he still felt like the outsider and did not quite get what was going on with his two oldest friends. Joe did seem more out of the day-to-day picture with Professor Kitteridge with his biology science practical work on weekday afternoons. This gave Christopher more chance to see Charlotte without Joe always being there as well, like it had been in their schooldays. On the other hand he was newly envious that Charlotte and Professor Kitteridge seemed keen to spend time alone together and it was difficult for him to find reasons to join in with both of them. He wanted to be included in their little group as well as wanting more private time with each of them and yet he could hardly verbalise these feelings and come across as the mature scientist.

  One time Charlotte and Professor Kitteridge met at the astronomy labs in a half-glass-walled office looking out across an open-plan laboratory. Christopher was there at a lab desk and clearly was angling to see what they were up to as they sat across a desk talking to each other. Charlotte was first to remark, “We should have a better reason for the time we spend together,” she remarked. “Christopher is taking interest and he is bound to ask the question sooner or later. Why indeed would an astrophysics professor be working with an economics undergrad?”

  Charlotte had been helping Professor Kitteridge with his seminal work on the nature of dark matter and laying the ground for the ‘discovery’ of the principles of a Dark Matter Fusion drive that would permit interstellar travel at speeds that made it practical for living humans to traverse the galaxy without the ludicrously long journeys associated with rocket propulsion. Of course this became much easier following the leadership of Charlotte who already knew of the fact of the DMF drive without necessarily understanding all the technical details. Duncan would participate to provide additional detail if it were required. The work was progressing to such an extent that the scientific paper was close to completion and they had decided to simultaneously publish a ‘science fact’ infotainment book that would allow the world’s media and interested people in the general population to have access to the breakthrough ideas at the same time as the serious papers published to the scientific community. Charlotte was calling the book Don’t Fear the Dark – It Matters, though Professor Kitteridge was thinking it a trifle trite and he continued to think of it as a working title.

  Professor Kitteridge’s physical condition continued to deteriorate and Charlotte and he spent some time preparing him for that eventuality. Like knowing that spacecraft with DMF drives were really out there in the universe waiting to be discovered, having an authority on the process of passing through (rather than away) the vale of physical death helped Professor Kitteridge come to terms with his deteriorating condition. He trusted Charlotte and she had revealed enough of her background that he believed her soul had been reincarnated several times and indeed that was what had happened now to Doctor McGregor as he returned as Duncan, though of course he had not started a new physical life as yet. This comforting knowledge could not prevent his mind dwelling on worrying thoughts of what was to become of him in that dark time alone before sleep when the mind roams so uncontrollably.

  Charlotte and Professor Kitteridge had agreed that Christopher and a few other close members of the group should be involved in the development of the Dark Matter work. It did require detail development and there was the key requirement for continuity to ensure that Professor Kitteridge’s theories were adopted and developed into the next generation. They put thought into arranging meetings of the team separate to Charlotte’s visits, which were now seen as a valued but side thread to developing some idea of how alternative alien economies might function in advanced societies. Charlotte was of the opinion that, with ease of transportation and multiplicity of Earth-like planet resources, then there would not be the same overbearing focus on acquiring and holding wealth competitively as individuals and races had always done on Earth. In that, her superior knowledge once again provided the special insight required to give a very accurate model of economics in the galaxy. This also gave Charlotte good reason to participate with Christopher’s work in the team.

  It was the summer term of their second year when the tide of events came rushing in and pushed them all in to frantic action. Charlotte was the calmest. She had seen events unfold against the tapestry of human frailty previously and knew also that there would be prejudices to overcome and in some cases real enemies attempting to stymie their work.

  Professor Kitteridge’s papers and the accompanying book were released to widespread acclaim as a breakthrough that could one day provide the human race with the likely means to fly beyond the bounds of light to explore the universe. Previous theories could not provide any evidence that travel could be achieved beyond light speed and that was so encumbering that travel beyond the immediate solar system was not viable. Now there was a brilliant insight into new ways to achieve this with some fundamental early proofs
from experiments using existing technologies like the Hadron Collider, plus some thoughtful development of the philosophical and psychological changes from Charlotte and Christopher’s work that would be required to embark on exploration of nearby space.

  The media wanted access to Professor Kitteridge to provide newspaper articles and a televised documentary of the supposed capabilities of these new discoveries. Professor Kitteridge was now too frail for the furore and the world’s press were frustrated in having to deal largely with his ancillary scientific team that were relative unknowns and certainly of the less charismatic scientific breed. Professor Kitteridge was increasingly cloistered by a few nursing staff at his home together with his closest scientific group so that he could ensure that they had the best direction to continue the work. Charlotte was well established in this group and her tangential work on the potential economics of space travel allowed her a measure of privacy with him that could be devoted to the overall continuity plan as his physical capabilities diminished. Soon he was unable to think incisively and thoughts that once would have been efficiently despatched were forgotten on a whim. He sometimes mused out loud about where his soul might alight next and hoped it would be somewhere developed and not some ‘Neanderthal wheel-inventing situation on a primitive world’. Increasingly these kind of thoughts were shared with his nursing staff who in general believed them to be the indulgences of a brilliant man starting to deteriorate and lose his grip on reality.

  Charlotte had known the release of the discoveries around Dark Matter Fusion would attract the attention of Zarnha of Spargar. This would always happen over the course of history as Dawn of Gaya introduced step-change discoveries to the human race. The human race would accept that brilliant individuals could develop and articulate original ideas out of nothing, or outer space as it were. The existence of geniuses was well established in the human psyche, in fact it would be missed if none were around at any precise moment. Zarnha of Spargar knew better of course especially when the revelations were wholly accurate and arising from one individual or group.

  It was in this way that the young slim blonde of Estonian origin, Daniel’s girlfriend, Anya, came to be in the service of Professor Kitteridge as he needed additional care. Anya wanted to stay on in Cambridge after her language course and was doing some caring work while she applied for nursing. She had joined the private company that had been engaged to look after the growing nursing and care needs of the great astrophysics professor.

  Anya was medium height with straight platinum hair that fell to her waist when not tied up for work. She was undoubtedly attractive with very pale, very blue eyes and slim enough for even Professor Kitteridge to be concerned she was eating properly. She was quiet and spoke seldom with a clipped east European accent. This covered for her not really engaging in conversation with others around her at work, though her actual attendance, skills and enthusiasm were without fault. It was this combination of Anya’s easily explainable slight strangeness combined with her attachment to Daniel that led Charlotte to wonder again whether there was some Zarnha connection. She liked to think she could be objective in a way the men around her could not, thereby noticing the possible malign coincidence in Anya’s appearance on the scene. Her new job with Professor Kitteridge gave her very close access to the great man and his entourage in a very natural and intimate way.

  Professor Kitteridge felt the conflicting pressures of assimilating the cornucopia of scientific knowledge from Charlotte with the failings of his declining health. He told himself that his mission with the Gayans would keep him alive until this work was done. His mind was racing as his body increasingly let him down and fatigued him. Anya’s presence became a godsend, attending increasingly to his physical needs. Anya never complained and was devoted to him. Professor Kitteridge had started using a wheelchair accepting that his hip and knee joints were too painful and his legs too fragile to reliably carry him around Cambridge walking. They became a familiar sight, the slender east European nurse and the enfeebled genius travelling between his home, faculty and college.

  Occasionally Daniel would meet Anya at Professor Kitteridge’s home or office. This gave Daniel the opportunity to monitor Professor Kitteridge’s health on a regular basis. He quietly provided medicines that retarded the deterioration of Professor Kitteridge’s condition. Anya was the only person who could see this going on and the positive effect Daniel’s potions worked on her patient.

  Charlotte engaged Anya in conversation whenever she could, inserting herself between the nurse and the patient. Whenever this happened Anya would become possessive of Professor Kitteridge’s welfare. Professor Kitteridge enjoyed the little cameos of the two attractive young women competing in their efforts to look after him. As far as he was concerned Anya was not only most helpful but also Daniel’s girlfriend so she must be trustworthy. Charlotte was sangfroid on Anya’s relationship with both Daniel and the professor. Daniel was not always clear-headed when it came to his emotional relationships. It was almost funny how he devoted himself to his partners over the generations seemingly not learning important lessons as he went along. On the other hand it was one of his endearing traits. Joe by contrast was always so reserved and even-tempered. Until of course he was pressured into acting and then he could be formidable or even uncontrollable.

  Charlotte and Professor Kitteridge worked on his immediate role changing from driving everything himself to managing the group so that they developed the DMF theory forward towards a physical implementation in all its sub-projects. He had been equivocal on that initially but could see that with his diminished physical capability then the ideal would be to develop the team to be able to carry on under his tutelage and ultimately without him. Now he understood the nature of death and passing through the veil as a free soul he had flirted with the idea of giving up on this life and flying off into space straight away in search of a nirvana of his own imagining. He was tempted to leave his deteriorating body behind and range the heavens in flights of discovery of the wonderful things he had been made aware of. Charlotte had to divert him from these fanciful notions and pointed out that they all had a job of work to do before they got carried away on new ideas. She and the other Pointers of Dawn were even more invested in their current work together than him. Indeed they had devoted several of their lives thus far to the body of knowledge culminating in Professor Kitteridge’s work and its further success through Christopher. It was also of course true that Professor Kitteridge would have all the time in the world to indulge his dreams beyond his current lifetime. Charlotte sincerely hoped that he would use part of this time after passing through helping Christopher in particular and the rest of his group to continue and expand his work. In this way Professor Kitteridge had come to the conclusion that he wished to stick around as long as he could and then return in spirit guide form to protect his ideas and friends. This would allow him to enhance his legacy and also be around his team, Charlotte and the other Pointers of Dawn he had come to know.

  TWENTY-FOUR

  Daniel had the original idea for inviting his friends for a punting party upriver to Grantchester Meadows. The Cam river winds north through the famous colleges along ‘the Backs’ from the Mill Pond at Queens’ College to Jesus College past Magdalene Bridge. In between Queens’ and Jesus the famous Cambridge University colleges jostle together so closely the punter passing by on the river sees them all blend together; King’s, Clare, Trinity Hall, Trinity, St John’s then Magdalene before the land opens up onto Jesus Green on the right-hand bank. Beyond, the river turns east and then north again across the doleful low Fens towards the far Wash at King’s Lynn.

  Daniel wanted to explore the opposite direction going south on the upper river towards Grantchester; a famous trip for an evening picnic and the best place to start would be Silver Street Bridge where the Queens’ College punts were moored up in the summer. He met with Joe and Charlotte and arranged the last booking for two punts on a weekday evening for
ecast to be mild and warm. Joe, Christopher and Charlotte would come from Queens’. Stephen Hadley overheard them planning the trip and volunteered himself to come along. Daniel would bring Anya, and she would invite her two friends from the language school to make four in each boat.

  The group gathered for the last punt booking of the day. In theory it was for an hour and the punts should be back before dark but no one would be checking them back in so they could arrive back as late as they liked. They brought bottles of wine, glasses and blankets and waited by the Mathematical Bridge for the punts to arrive from the prior bookings. The first arrived on time; the second was ten minutes late and rushing. The pole man standing on the rear platform angled in to the low wall on the west bank under the Mathematical Bridge that led to the stone access steps. He was not thinking clearly and ran the far end of pole along the top of the low wall. He held the heavy pole in both hands straight out horizontally in front of his portly stomach. As they watched, the metal-tipped far end of the pole snagged into the angle of the top of the wall and the grassy bank above. The pole stuck, the punt kept moving forward, the handle end of the pole dug into the punter’s copious stomach at the same velocity as the punt was moving. With a cry, the punter was poked off the back end of the punt and disappeared, arms wheeling, into the river with a big splash.

  Daniel’s punting party ran to help along the mooring stage but only in time to help pull the unfortunate punter from the river and take possession of the punt and pole. The prior punters climbed the stone steps to the small car park by the Porters’ Lodge, one of them dragging a watery trail in his wake. Daniel’s party split into Charlotte, Anya, Joe and himself in the front boat, Stephen, Christopher and the two language students in the second boat. The watching Ghola sent from Omeyn MuneMei looked down from the car park; walking on the water was still a work in progress for this disturbed soul and it appeared that would soon be required if it were to follow the group on the river.