“Is this the immigrant planet?” M2 asked.
“Yes,” Moses replied. “My purpose is to reassure you that all that I tell you is true. The gravity is just slightly less than that of Earth and the air should aroma the same. However, this dome has a very competent seal, so you will not notice any odors. You will not be going outside. There are domes that will allow air transfer and some that have a dome only at one end. That is why one should always verify. I have instruments for that purpose.” YDRII floated up next to Moses who wrapped one arm around the cylinder. “YDRII has to stay with me. If I left him here he would neutralize, a very unpleasant experience for him. Now, please follow me.”
CHAPTER 12
Moses walked through the gray nothing followed by the eager Amy and then the Dance Band in no particular order. It was becoming old hat to the bold adventurers.
The arrival dome was at most twenty feet across and the same in height. It was one-half of a big metal ball lying solidly on the flat top of a high, grass-covered hill. The broad windows gave us a spectacular view in most every direction.
“This is Yellowstone Park in high summer,” M2 said.
“No,” Moses replied, “this is the immigrant planet.”
“Sorry,” M2 said, “I was just making a comparison.”
“If the rest of the place is like this,” Harry said, “I know where I’m going to retire.”
I just gawked. The grass looked like grass, the distant trees looked like a pine forest and the water in the lake below was blue. The surface had a scattering of dancing diamonds caused by a normal looking sun. Norman Rockwell could have painted the snowcapped mountains in the distance. Thunderhead clouds moved slowly on the horizon and there were some birds over the lake. It was complete and idyllic.
“Is the whole planet like this?” I asked Moses.
“Certainly not,” he said. “It contrasts as does Earth, but not as extreme because the axial tilt is not as great. Like any good real estate agent, I want to exhibition this planet at its best. I am happy we did not arrive after dark, but even so, on a moonlit night it has great loveliness.”
“Sir—er, Moses,” Amy asked, “where is this sun in relation to Earth?”
“The star you see here is relatively close to one of the stars in the constellation that you call the Southern Cross.”
The gang looked at Carl. He looked back and I gave him my best “Go figure” shrug.
Moses noticed. “This seems to be of importance to you.”
I didn’t want to get bogged down with a long explanation. I told him that the constellation image was a small link in the chain of events that led us here. Someday, when we had much more time I would bore him silly with the details. This appeared to satisfy him.
“It’s just lovely,” Alice said, as she gazed out over the landscape.
Harry was standing next to her. “Yeah, and it’ll take us less than ten years to muck it up. The Lumber Baron will clear-cut that forest over there. The Water Baron will drain the lake and bottle the water. The Mineral Baron will start strip mining and the Oil Baron will start drilling. Then the Tree Huggers will set up picket lines followed by the Politicians who will finish the destruction. Before you know it we’ll have another Earth, or at least parts of it.”
“I didn’t know,” Alice said, “that you are a pessimist.”
“Pessimist is just another word for realist,” Harry replied.
Moses stepped between them. “You can be confident that the plan I transport avoids problems of that nature.”
“I sure hope so,” Harry said, “but you don’t know Homo Sapiens.”
“Perhaps I do,” Moses said. “There are things that endure the same no matter where one travels. Our DNA is virtually identical, as are the motives and desires that drive us. You and I dream the same dreams.”
It was quiet for a while and we just looked out at the panorama. Moses said that we all seek a perfection that was never in the Master Plan.
“Is there a Master Plan?” M1 asked.
“I advise anyone to walk carefully down that endless path,” Moses said. “I bring no message in that regard and I appeal no message from you.”
“You say our DNA is similar, but are you physically or mentally advanced beyond humans?” Alice asked.
“Not really,” he said. “My life distance is greater because of medical advances, but in other respects I only have the advantage of a much elder civilization. You can have the eyes of an Eagle by using binoculars. Now, I can do these things and more, but it is because I have YDRII. I imagine that in a few thousand years, your descendants will have established something similar.”
“How old are you in Earth Years?” Alice asked.
“About fifty-two,” he said, much to our surprise. “I do not age while dormant.”
Amy piped up with yet another question I should have asked. “As inhabitants of the Earth, we call ourselves Humans or Terrans. What do you call yourselves?”
“At the time I left, my species tenanted five worlds and we did have a common name that you could not articulate. I will try to think of a human comparable and if I do, I will tell you.”
“Did the Egyptians have a name for you?” she asked.
“I was known as Thoth. I think they attributed my appearance there to one of their legends. But now, if you have seen sufficient, I would like to return.”
Our mad pace did not slow down even in another part of the galaxy.
CHAPTER 13
Back in the pink Quonset hut, we joined Moses in the third portal chamber. He closed the outer door then caused the green thing to part. This was the portal to the Nexus and it held a surprise. It looked like a big sheet of glass, hit near the middle. It was still intact, but this did not look good.
“Here you see my first problem, “Moses said. “The surface you see here on this side is intact, but the surface at the other end has suffered extreme damage and I don’t know why. Since arriving here, I have had no occasion to use this portal until after I ended my contact with the Nazis. My thoughts at that time were to return to Nexus and then to my home world to request aid, but this is what I found. I will demonstrate some things that will make for you a better picture of the difficulty.”
He reached into an invisible pocket and pulled out a foot long wand. He stuck the tip through the center of one of the cracked pieces and swung it around as though he were stirring a pot of soup. The wand just bumped against the white crack lines.
“You see that the portal at the other end is still working, but the cracks limit the size of what may pass. I could force a larger object through this hole, but those white crack lines would trim the edges. It would appear at the other end in several pieces.”
Next, he reached into another unseen pocket and drew out what looked like fishing line with a golf ball sinker on one end.
“This little ball is heavy,” he said. “When I throw it through one of these holes it should fall to the floor on the other side. Gravity there is about sixty five percent of Earth’s.”
Moses had a good underhand lob and the little weight sailed through one of the lower holes, but the string did not go slack, as it should have. Rather it pulled taught as though someone on the other end had caught it and was trying to pull it away. He then swung it back and forth and it worked just like a pendulum only it was sideways.
“It behaves in this manner,” he explained, “because the portal at the other side is now lying face down over a void about twelve feet deep. YDRII dropped a probe to record the environments and found a partial collapse of the structure that houses this portal. All I could see, using the light on the probe, is rubble. The air is non-toxic and I could detect no radiation. The probe did record what sounded like occasional distant thunder.”
Moses retrieved his little weight. “I need to go to the Nexus and this validates why I cannot. I am too big to fit through any of the holes. If the cracks were on this side, I have a device that could repair them.”
W
hile talking, YDRII elevated, moved to his side and a heretofore-unseen panel in the middle of the barrel shape opened. Moses reached in and pulled out a small metal sphere about the size of an orange. He pulled three telescoping legs from its body and got down on one knee to place it on the floor about four feet from the portal. There were two colored dots, one yellow and one blue, near what was now the top. Moses touched the blue dot and a short, flexible tube rose out of the center.
“Look up,” he said.
We all did and saw a tiny point of brilliant green light on the pink ceiling. It looked a lot like a laser pointer. We kept our eyes on the dot as Moses twisted the stem to move the dot to the approximate center of one of the gray pieces.
“If I were on the other side,” he said, “I would now touch the yellow dot and this device would begin to mend the cracks neighboring this one small area. It is a lengthy process, but it works. The problem is that although this device can pass through to the other side, it needs to be set. The colored buttons, like those on the console reply only to a patterned being. I cannot manipulate it from here.”
So, here we were facing another stone wall. I hoped no one was looking to old James for a solution. The Dance Band members were all sailing through deep and unfamiliar waters. Moses stooped to turn off the little wonder. He turned to point his finger at one gray area, low on the portal where the lines were further apart.
“This is the largest open area on the entire surface and it is none too big. I need one of you to pass carefully through this opening to set up the repair device and it needs to be your slightest member.”
All eyes went to Amy, but this time there was no blush visible.
“Who better?” she asked. “I just hope you guys don’t get mad at me because I get to do these things first. I was the first to come here to Ganymede. In case you didn’t notice I was next in line after Moses when we went to the immigration planet. Now I will be the first human to go to the Nexus. This is not a crap detail. If it was, Carl would get it.”
Carl grinned widely at this sign of acceptance. Moses was not in error when he called her courageous. From the start, I really did like that gal so, without permission, I gave her a bear hug.
“What is a crap detail?” Moses asked.
Amy explained as best she could. We should remember we were talking to a literal mind, at least until he became used to the oddities of our language.
Moses reached into YDRII once again to extract a coil of thin rope. With a smile on his Egyptian face, he tied it under her arms and around her chest. When he finished, he handed her a small glowing rod.
“Hold this light. M1 and M2 will hold you parallel to the floor and feed you, feet first, through the opening. Once through, Nexus gravity will become dominant and they will lower you to the bottom. Do not remove the rope. Look around and if the space looks stable, pull the rope once and we will lower the mending device. Do as I have demonstrated to set it to labor. Once you touch the yellow spot, pull the rope twice and we will pull you up.”
“Got it,” Amy said, while assuming her Statue of Liberty pose. “Shall we proceed?”
M1 and M2 picked her up by her belt and her shoulders and carefully slid her into the gray hole. By the time her middle reached the gray surface, the gravity on the other side was pulling her significantly. They released her belt and guided her the rest of the way with her upper arm. The whole operation went without a hitch and in minutes, little Miss Courage was back and safe.
“Now my friends,” Moses said, “the process has begun. This first mend will take a day or possibly two to complete, then Amy will have to return and arrange the next mend. We have a few inactive days ahead—possibly a week. I hope you can abide the wait.”
“Unless you have things for us to do here,” Alice said, “we should return to the Hollow Mountain and contact our superiors. I feel sure that at least our Director must meet you. I would like to know what will happen when Amy finishes her job here.”
Moses was silent for a time. “My search must begin at the Nexus. I have no way of knowing what I will find or what dangers I will face, or if I will prevail. It would delight me if you would join my uncertain quest. I cannot bring myself to ask because I cannot tell you that you would someday return here.”
Talk about big decisions. This was monumental. Moses was asking us to leave the solar system on an undefined quest. Was this a continuation of the Secret Path? Or was it a path to nowhere? I was at a fork in the road, but I needed time to think. I looked at Alice. Her seemingly placid face told me she was boiling with questions, but holding back until she had more information and possibly more privacy back on earth.
It was very quiet for a time then Amy broke the silence. “I’m in,” she said. “You can’t expect me never to see what lies outside of that hole I was in.”
That did it. We all agreed to go except for Carl. He stood with downcast eyes for a moment, then he looked up at us. “Someone must stay behind in the Hollow Mountain and it should be me. Even if, for some reason, I could be of use on your venture my physical condition would prevent my going, it would make me a liability.” He hesitated a bit. “I do request that when you return and if conditions are right, you will allow me to join the Band for your second trip.”
M1 spoke up. “All in favor of taking Carl on our second trip raise a hand.”
Carl had his reservation.
Alice turned to Moses. “Now we have a schedule of sorts. I’d like to take my group back to the Hollow Mountain and make some decisions about what we must do to prepare for our trip. As I said, we have to contact our Director in Washington and convince him to put all of his plans on hold until our return. I’m not sure that we can, but we’ll see. We also need to decide how Carl will manage things. We can’t expect him to stay alone in the map room. I’m sure we can sort it out, but we’ll be more comfortable back on Earth.”
“I agree,” Moses said. “On your next visit here, bring a selection of foodstuffs for my replicator. I’m sure you would soon tire of the modest Egyptian diet. It is vital you bring your Director here for a meeting. He will be an essential part of this.”
“When will you give us the background information on the Nazis?” Alice asked. “I’m sure you can understand our curiosity.”
“Have your Director bring a computing device,” he said. “At that time, I will provide a great volume of data.”
I asked Moses if he would be able to replicate one of the few remaining cigars that I was carrying. He said that he could replicate anything provided he had a sample. This was good news. My priority now would be to locate a fine Havana. Harry overheard this whole exchange and showed me a flask of vodka he pulled from an inner pocket.
“Between you and me,” he said, “we are golden, my man.”
I saw Alice take out her cell phone and punch a number.
“Who you calling?” I asked.
Her eyes widened and she snapped her phone closed.
“Yikes!” she exclaimed. “I was calling the Director, but I forgot where we are. I wonder if his phone rang.”
“Only if they have extremely sophisticated equipment,” Moses said. “You will probably arrive back on Earth before that signal does.”
“Before we leave,” Amy said, “I’d like to know the name of Moses’ starship.”
“It has no name,” Moses replied, “only a number. Why do you ask?”
“Because most of Earth’s ships have names and if you don’t mind, I’d like to be the one to give your ship something other than a number.”
“I have no protestation,” Moses said. “What do I now call my ship?”
By then we knew what was coming, but we kept quiet. “The Enterprise,” she said, dramatically.
When the applause died down, Moses opened the portal to Earth. “After you have arrived on Earth, I will close the portal on your side. When I need Amy again, I will signal by opening the barrier. When your Director arrives, you know the sequence. While I wait I will absorb more of
your language to speak correctly.”
CHAPTER 14
We said our goodbyes and were back in the Hollow Mountain in the time it took to snap your fingers.
Two seconds later, Harry stopped us. He had something to say. “Look, my friends, this old schemer and negotiator kept his mouth shut, up there on the Enterprise. Now that Moses can’t hear us, I want to ask all of you why on Earth or why on Jupiter did you agree to all of this so fast? I hope fervently that he’s a straight shooter, but we don’t know beans about him or his situation or his world. Lord only knows what’s waiting for us out there. I’m still in all the way, but I hope we can learn more about Moses and his people. I’d sure hate to make contact with a fully armed and angry Klingon D7-class battlecruiser.”
“You and I are on the same page, Harry,” Alice said, “Amy, as a new member of the Band, tell us how you would respond to Harry’s concerns.”
Amy didn’t hesitate. “Sure, it’s possible we were fed a load of bull, but both Moses and YDRII seem like straight shooters. In this situation, all we have to go on are our impressions. Really, what choice do we have? Do we tell Moses no? Sorry pal, we’re not interested in what is probably the biggest adventure ever. Even if it’s very bad news out there, we have to go.”
We all remained silent until Harry said, “Okay, I’m good.”
“I’m good too,” I said. “If there’s a Nazi problem lurking out there, we have to know. Also, I totally agree with Amy and Harry. Vigilance, of course, but we must go.”
The cafeteria was our next stop. Amy put the coffee on to perk and got out the cups. We took our lunch hour.
Alice sat down next to Carl. “We have some decisions to make. You must be thinking of the weeks and months ahead. Tell us your thoughts.”
“Have any of you ever been in here alone?” he asked.
We all shook our heads.
“I have spent many days here, trying to break into the map room. When I was busy it was tolerable. I can’t ask Anna to join me after what happened last time, but she just might for short periods.
LOST AND FORGOTTEN: Book 2 The Secret Path Page 9