Jimmy's Dreams II: A Recurring Nightmare

by Saxon Andrew

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Ed sat on his front porch rocking slowly back and forth as his baby slept in his arms. He breathed through his nose and was finally thankful he could stand the smell. This place could gag a vulture. He usually wore nose plugs and breathed through his mouth, when he first arrived. Now his olfactory system had agreed to get along with the…aroma. He glanced out at the lake and saw some Stompers moving on the opposite shore. His eyes narrowed and he reached over and took a pair of binoculars hanging from a nail in the post. That nail wasn’t hammered into the post; the wood was too hard. It took a small blaster beam to burn the hole it was put in.

  He used his right arm to lift the binoculars and adjust them. He looked at the Stompers and adjusted the view some more. OH BOY! He lifted his community communicator and pressed a number.

  “What’s up, Ed.”

  “Kellie, I’ve just taken a look across the lake and there’s six-Stompers feeding on the other shore. Their eggs must have just hatched, I see a large number of their hatchlings running around between their legs.”

  “OH CRAP! I’ll put a message out on the main channel letting everyone know to stay away. Thanks, we’ve not seen that.”

  “You know what this means?”

  “I know, better drag out the ear-phones.”

  The contact ended and Ed shook his head. Every beast, fowl, air-creature, small animal, and everything else on this planet all hatched their eggs or gave birth during the same month. The ensuing noise from the roars, howls, screams, and every other unimaginable sounds the creatures made would fill the air. Most of it could be blocked by earphones, but the howlers would penetrate them anyway.

  Ed chuckled. Nothing was safe on this planet but a howler. It looked like a cross between a rooster and a hawk. It was small in comparison to the rest of the animals on the planet, it was about the size of a large Border Collie. If you were unfortunate to accidently stumble up on one hiding in the shrub, you’d find yourself climbing out of the top of the closest tree. Even the wreckers would flee their screams.

  Ed started laughing as he remembered one of the early community meetings where the scientists were going to assign official names to the most common animals on the planet. The scientists suggested a Latin name for the largest predator. They proudly suggested GIGANTICA CARNIVORA, which meant gigantic carnivore. They looked out and said, “Does anyone have another suggestion?”

  Billy Kincade, a former Australian survivor said, “I call em Wreckers.”

  The scientist looked at Billy and said, “Why would you do that?”

  “Because if ya stumble up on one of em, they’d wreck your whole day!”

  The gathering burst out in laughter and the giant carnivore was voted to be called Wreckers. And so it went. The scientists would make a suggestion and the crowd would turn to Billy. Soon, the scientists just gave up and asked Billy what to name the local members of the ecology. “What about the large Herbivore, Mr. Kincade?”

  “Oh, I call em Stompers!”

  The scientist rolled his eyes and said, “I know I’m going to regret this; why do you call them that?”

  “Because I saw four of em stomp a Wrecker into a giant pool of Jell-O; they sorta wrecked his day.”

  So, Billy Kincade named the animals. And the names were easily remembered. One name he suggested drew no laughter but several “Amen to that!!’s, Howler.

  The Marines under Derik’s command would get a lot of slack for allowing an occasional predator to sneak through their sweeps around the community. But it they allowed just one Howler to get within two miles of the community they caught hell. Now it was birthing season and the earphones would be in full display.

  • • •

  Ed heard a noise and smiled. Jillian walked around from the back of the house and smiled. Her brow furrowed as she sniffed, “EEDDD!”

  “What?”

  “What do you mean what? The baby need’s changing. I can smell him from here.”

  “I’m impressed you can smell anything but the local aroma.”

  Jillian shook her head and said, “I’ll take Eddie, you can entertain Angelica.”

  A little three-year old girl yelled, “GOODIE!!”

  “Come here my princess.” Angelica ran up the steps and lept. He caught her pulled her into his lap.

  “Daddie! Tell me a story.”

  Ed smiled, “I’m going to tell you a story about the most beautiful place in the whole universe.”

  Angelica started clapping her hands, “EARTH, EARTH, EARTH!”

  Ed nodded. Jillian listed to Ed as she changed Eddie and smiled. The new children would know about Earth; their parents would make certain of that. She looked out at the lake and began hearing the Stompers start roaring their challenges to any would be attackers. She turned back to her baby and held him close. She remembered Earth and the ones that died there. She missed them. She looked up and said, “HONEY!”

  “Yes, Love.”

  “One of the engineers thinks he’s invented a force field.”

  “What use does that have?”

  “How about surrounding the community and keeping the predators out. One of them managed to kill one of the sheep we brought here. He also says it might keep out the noise from the Howlers.”

  “God I hope he has! Those Howlers are maddening.”

  “What about keeping the predators out?”

  “No big deal, we do that now.” Jillian rolled her eyes. “Men! Always showing off.

  • • •

  She picked up Eddie and remembered going with Hope back to Earth and found nothing but devastation; the Community and three-cities were obliterated by the falling Mercenary Transports. As they were leaving, the ship’s computer sounded a tone. “What has it detected?”

  Hope stared at the screen, “It says the remains of two Pounders are on the east coast of North America.”

  “Go! Check it out.”

  Hope flew the Striker to Boston and followed the trace to the campus of MIT. She landed and saw the remains of two-Pounders that had been hit and burned. She looked to her left and closed her eyes. Jillian said, “What?”

  “My mother brought all of us here individually when we were four or five-years old. There was a building here that was in ruins and she loved it so much; we could hear it in her voice. This is where my parents came during their last minutes.”

  “Why didn’t they come to our new home.”

  “Earth was also one of their children, Jillian; they couldn’t bear to leave it.” Hope began crying and Jillian took her in her arms, “I’m not sad! They died together at a place they loved. They made a place for us to survive and saved our species. They accomplished their life-long dream. I just miss them so much!” Jillian cried with her.

  • • •

  She walked out on the porch and lifted Angelica. She sat down in Ed’s lap and held her two babies. Ed rocked them as they watched a beautiful sunset.

  • • •

  Rachel leaned back in her chair in the new Control Center. It was the only two-story building in the community. She looked at the rows of monitors showing the lands surrounding the community and was amazed at what her parents had managed to do in secret. Jimmy sent Derik’s’ Marines out more than a year before the final attack and they found a place to build on the new planet. He continued to send Jumpers filled with stores and all the other essential items to start a new community. He had done it once when he built the Community in the valley and he had plenty of practice at keeping secret what was happening. It was Summer working behind the scenes that made most of it take place, Jimmy was far too visible to do it alone.

  No one noticed the massive migration of the community’s technology to the new world, everyone was caught up in the coming invasion. Suzette probably knew about it as she and Patrick accelerated the construction of Jumpers. No one really noticed the continuous launchings; everyone assumed they were moving between the three cities.

  But they were coming here.
The real work began when the final wave of humanity boarded the Jumpers to escape the coming attack and arrived at their new home.

  And it was a good home, if you could ignore the smell. She rarely noticed it anymore. The planet was barely tilted so they had seasons every thirty days. That’s how long it took the planet to make a revolution around the Red Dwarf Star it orbited. It went from very warm, to warm, to slightly less warm, and somewhat cool every thirty days. The rains came during the very warm season and things felt like a sauna for a week.

  Jillian remembered Ayet coming and talking with Grandmother. She had lost her heart years earlier when her husband died of a brain-aneurism. She was getting frail and losing her legs. Ayet convinced her to go and see his world. She agreed, which shocked all of her grandchildren. Ayet brought her back two-months later to pick up some personal items and she had her legs back. They saw that she had fallen for Ayet. She promised to come back when she got bored. Spring made her give a time and six-months was agreed on. She was due back in a couple of weeks.

  The Urriks made a huge difference in getting the community built. Ed sent Reddy out to the million pilots left stranded in the void outside Andromeda after the Jumpers arrived with the last loads of colonists. Reddy refused at first but eventually relented. He arrived and heard them from a distance. He interrupted them and said, “Do any of you want to live?!”

  One Pilot said, “I want to live. Although, I’m only pilot.”

  Reddy’s eyes closed and he said, “If you are willing to accept my home as yours, I will allow you to live.”

  A pilot asked, “Is Kee at your home!”

  Reddy’s voice turned angry, ONE OF YOU KILLED KEE!!”

  The wail that came from the pilots was immediate and unnerving. Reddy shook his head and realized, they weren’t responsible. It’s like Jimmy said, they had no freedom. Reddy said softly when the wailing died down, “Kee would want you to live. Are you willing to go to a new home?”

  “I will go.” The thousands responding increased in volume and Reddy lifted his communicator and said, “It will take numerous trips to move all of you. Those closest to the vessels moving this way will move inside their grey field and stay close together.”

  It took multiple trips by the Jumpers to bring them all to the new planet. Their White Ships were parked in orbit and the Urrik Pilots were shuttled down to the planet’s surface. They immediately started eating the plants and their hunger was held at bay. It was the Urriks that built the community.

  • • •

  The trees on the new planet were something new in human experience. The hardwood trees on Earth looked like balsawood in comparison. The only thing that could cut them down was an intense blaster beam. One Urrik would cut the tree’s trunk at ground level as ten others pushed on it. They fell exactly where they intended. The Urriks would use blasters to cut the trees into boards and would then carry them to a building site.

  The issue became how to attach the boards to each other. Nothing could be hammered through them and it was decided that a time-consuming notching of them would be necessary. It was a Urrik who left a pile of lumber under a wet-tree that found the answer. The next day when he came back to move the stack of lumber, it was all stuck together. He called in several pilots to assist him and even six of them could not separate two of the boards. The new community had its answer. The sticky glue was used to hold the boards together and nothing would separate them. Measure ten-times and then stick.

  Her panel pinged and Rachel smiled as she pressed a button, “Ayet, it’s been a while.”

  “I know. You know how it is trying to keep children out of trouble.”

  “Don’t I ever.”

  “I just wanted to let you know that another Long Neck moved in from the North Shore and we’re planning to launch another elimination run up the lake.”

  “I thought they’d learned to stay away.”

  “They have for the most part but you know how fast they grow. The new ones haven’t learned yet and need to be educated.”

  “Let me know if you need anything.”

  “Actually, the water-proof Rail-Pistols were a great gift. I’ll let you know if I run into any issues.”

  “Don’t be a stranger, we miss you.”

  “I promise to do better. The babies are running me crazy.”

  Rachel smiled. She missed her parents. The community was named James Town, which was right on so many levels. James Town was one of the first early cities built in the new world. And it was the first city built on this new world. The planet was named Summer. And that too, fit. Rachel sighed, she needed to wrap things up. Hope and Spring wanted to bring their children over to play with AA and Summer. John had to bow out, John Jr. was not feeling well. She volunteered to pick up Candice but he said JJ would pitch a fit if she went and he didn’t.

  She heard the door open behind her and saw AA walk in, “Dad says come on!”

  Rachel laughed and stood up; Alex had good timing. She passed Derik walking in and said, “You’re on.” AA took her hand and started pulling her. She walked out of the control Building and saw Alex waiting with Summer in his arms. She looked up at the sky and sighed. One day…one day…”

  Epilogue

  Three-hundred years later, a large fleet of Jumpers came out of their stardrives close to a large moon circling a distant planet. Jimmy Carpenter, a direct descendent of the original Jimmy Carpenter, stared out of the front viewport and gasped. The green and blue planet with white clouds was breathtaking. “Move us in closer.”

  Edward Boyer nodded and pushed the drive-handle. He looked at his twin sister sitting next to him in the scanning chair and saw her point at a larger image of the planet on her panel. Ed’s eyes flew wide open as he said, “It’s more beautiful than the stories.” Angel nodded.

  Jimmy watched the planet growing larger and felt Jill move next to him. He put his arm around her and pulled her close. “Where are we going?”

  Jimmy kept his eyes on the planet, “There’s only one place for us.”

  • • •

  The Carpenters were known for having large families. It was easy to see their descendants, they all had the narrow, deep set eyes. There were more than a hundred and fifty-thousand of them on the fleet of jumpers moving toward Earth. More would be coming on the second wave. All of them felt the pull of the planet below from across the stars.

  The Urriks had arrived months earlier with their heavy construction machinery and as the Jumpers moved into orbit, the clouds of dust being kicked up from the clearing of huge swaths of land filled the air. A large shuttle took the bridge crew down to the planet and Jimmy led them out. There were dust clouds surrounding them in all directions as Boston was being cleared of ruins and new buildings erected. But this place was untouched.

  Jimmy walked forward and a saw small fragment of a pounder barely sticking out of the soil. He bent down and caressed it. He looked ahead at a blasted and ruined structure overgrown in weeds and vines. He walked forward and saw a single scorched and burned column half-buried in the dirt. He sighed, opened his pouch, and pulled out an image of a building that had been sent centuries ago by Summer with Spring to their new planet. It showed a beautiful white building surrounded by white columns and marble steps leading up to it. Jimmy reached down and touched the half-buried column.

  • • •

  Ten years later, that column adorned a beautiful white building again.

  The End

  Message me at Saxonandrew@msn.com and let me know your thoughts. I treasure your feedback.

  Books by Saxon Andrew

  The Annihilation Series:

  Love Conquers All

  The Power of a Queen

  A Rose Grows in Weeds

  Tommy’s Tale

  Searcher

  Demon’s Sacrifice

  Finding Keepers

  (The Seven books above are also audio books at Audible.com)

  Prequel-Psychic Beginnings

  Searching f
or a Hero

  Dahlia’s Deception

  Annihilation-The Complete Series Box Set

  Ashes of the Realm:

  Juliette’s Dream

  Greyson’s Revenge

  Death of an Empire

  The Return of the Realm

  Lens of Time:

  The Pyramid Builders

  Planet Predators

  Pray for the Prey

  The End of Time

  Lens of Time - Star Rover:

  The Worst of Time

  Running Out of Time

  Chosen to Die

  The Fight for Creation:

  Life Warrior

  Scout Warrior

  Ultimate Warrior

  Star Chase:

  The Lost Prince

  (Also an audio book at Audible.com)

  Nowhere to Run

  Nowhere to Hide

  Probe Predators

  Jesse's:

  Jesse’s Starship

  Mike’s War

  Joshua’s Walls

  Nemesis:

  Revenge is Best Served Hot

  The Search for Orion

  Trapped in Time:

  The Time Takers

  Taming a Planet

  Extinction

  Escape to Earth:

  Running From Fate

  Fighting for Space

  Defending Holy Ground

  The Legacy of a Conqueror

  Living Legends

  The Sequel Series to Escape to Earth - Defending Earth:

  Searching for Death Feeders

  Discovery Means Death

  The Death Prophecies:

  The Coming of the Prophet