STRANGER WORLD

by Jack Castle

  “George,” the Leftenant prodded. “What is the name of her…”

  “I heard you,” he said irritably, cutting her off. “I don’t know what the name of her smelly cat was.”

  “Smelly cat is incorrect.”

  “I know it’s not Smelly cat,” George barked. “I have no idea what the name of her stupid cat was.”

  “Stupid cat is incorrect.”

  Ugh. This woman… er… hologram… is so infuriating. Why would anyone build such a thing? Okay, breathe. Think. He pictured Maddie in his mind. He could see her now, she was younger, about seven, holding the cat after they had brought it home from the vet clinic. Gosh, she was so cute at that age. No. No time for that now. Focus. The collar, what’s the name of the cat? Think. It’s on the collar. You bought it for her.

  George opened his eyes.

  “Lucy.”

  When the Leftenant didn’t answer him right away he studied her face. For a moment, she seemed more human than ever. She had been watching him as he recalled the memory. Something had moved her somehow. But how is that possible? She’s just a hologram.

  Shaking off whatever she was pondering, the Leftenant smiled politely. “Lucy is correct. Please stand by.”

  George thought he heard a more modern clicking noises. The Leftenant’s eyes turned fiery burning white and suddenly, there she was.

  “Hi Daddy!”

  “Maddie!”

  George lunged forward, kneeling down and stretching out his arms as he did so. And he passed right through her. He gazed back at the Leftenant and realized the light projecting from her eyes was only producing a hologram of his daughter.

  The Leftenant raised an eyebrow at him. “She’s a hologram, Mr. Stapleton,” she said, as if explaining to an overly emotional toddler. “I told you, it’s only a message.” Tilting her head to the side as she often did when wanting to emphasis something she paused, considering, “Are all Americans so dense, or just you?” Before George could come up with a quippy comeback she said, “No matter, I shall resume the message now.”

  Maddie giggled. “Isn’t this cool? I’m a hologram. Just like the Leftenant.”

  He was about to ask the Leftenant something but she was standing stock still as she projected the computer-generated image of Maddie.

  “Now, Dad, I know you’re probably worried about me, but I’m okay. The Leftenant has been taking good care of me.” Maddie stopped for a moment, looked to some unseen presence, and said, “Alright. I understand. Dad, I don’t have a lot of time. Lady Wellington is taking us to Portlandia. The Leftenant said you can use the Dauntless to catch up with us. But you have to hurry. If you don’t reach me before she gets there it will be too late. The Leftenant has a plan. Trust her.” Again, Maddie looked to someone off screen, nodded in understanding, and then faced him once more. “I love you, Daddy…” and she was gone.

  Chapter 41

  “Let’s play chess”

  “Your move.”

  The young adolescent girl grabbed her Knight and moved it to Queens 3. The Leftenant calculated all possible outcomes and determined she would easily win the game in no less than six moves, bringing her total victory eleven-to-one. It was impossible for the young Miss to win. The Leftenant supposed she could let Maddie win a game or two, maybe build up her confidence, but that would hardly teach a young girl anything.

  “Can I have some more milk?”

  There was no point in answering, young Maddie had already risen from her chair and was pouring herself another glass.

  “Now see here, Maddie? You left yourself open to my Bishop. Remember what we talked about, one must first consider all opponent’s moves, then one’s own, and finally determine if you have put any of those under your command in future jeopardy.”

  “Do you want some?”

  Irritating. And to add insult to injury she noted Maddie was picking up her British accent. Some might have found it amusing but she found it boorish. Although, even she had to admit, it was kind of cute the way the young Miss also picked up some of her mannerisms, like holding her hands behind her back while standing at attention. None of this mattered, of course. It was all inconsequential. She would soon be free of young Maddie, as soon as her Beta-self returned with the Dauntless. She found herself wondering exactly how much of the mission her Beta-self had accomplished thus far. All she knew for certain was the ornate box carrying her had safely reached the surface, and Maddie’s father went speeding out after it with some serious convincing of his oafish-looking companion.

  If the last three decades proved anything, it was that without the Dauntless she couldn’t go anywhere. If she tossed herself over the side in an ornate box it might as well be a coffin. It could be years, if not centuries before she was found. Damn my inadequacies. The deal with that vermin, the Lamppost Man, and she wouldn’t have to worry about that anymore. What is so special about this little girl that the Lamppost Man’s employers would want her so badly? Pay so much for her? No matter. A deal’s a deal. A biological body grown just for her. That’s what she was working toward. Then, the world would finally be her oyster. Of course, Miss Maddie was unaware of the maelstroms of thoughts raging inside her head. On the outside, the Leftenant continued to play chess with Maddie, who, even she had to admit, had picked up the game rather fast. The Leftenant laughed at all her jokes and attended to her every need, much to her inward chagrin.

  “Your move, young Miss.” She put Maddie’s Knight with the horde of other captured pieces. This was not proving to be Maddie’s best game.

  “I can’t wait to show my dad I can play chess.”

  Maddie made another ridiculous move and captured a pawn with her Queen, leaving it vulnerable. The Leftenant knew she could easily capture Maddie’s Queen, but opted to move her Rook instead, ensuring a swift victory in two more moves. Maybe this would finally be the game where Maddie chose to give up her useless attempts at beating her. This caused the Leftenant to think of another lost cause.

  “Maddie, may I ask you something?”

  The young girl, deep in thought, didn’t take her eyes from the board when she answered, “Sure…”

  “How is it you are so certain your dad is coming to your rescue?” She wanted to bring up all the impossible odds facing her father in attempting such a rescue, but she also didn’t want to cause the poor biological any more stress. That would be, simply put, just plain cruel.

  Maddie made another equally ridiculous move. “You haven’t met my dad, have you?”

  “No. I can’t say that I have had the pleasure of making your father’s acquaintance.”

  As they were well out of communication range the Leftenant could only hope her Beta-self had been undamaged in the fall and activated by Maddie’s father. A sudden thought occurred to her. What if they hadn’t been able to open the ornate box? Or worse, never found it? This was the reason she never could escape Lady Wellington’s hover barge in the first place, without hologram emitters the ornate box might as well be her Beta-self’s tomb.

  Maddie made a derogatory noise that sounded like a deflating balloon. “That’s easy. I know my dad will come for me because despite all those impossible odds, my dad loves me. And when one person loves another, they’ll do anything.”

  As a preprogramed hologram, love was hardly an emotion she was familiar with.

  Interrupting these thoughts, Maddie asked her, “You don’t believe in love?”

  Wait, did I say that out loud? I don’t remember doing so.

  The Leftenant blinked several times. She had never been asked about love before. And it had been a very long time since anyone had asked her opinion on anything. She, of course, was familiar with the literal and cultural concepts of love but she had never experienced the phenomenon. It was as unfamiliar to her as the Yetis in the Cobalt Mountain Range. Instead of answering she surprised herself when she asked, “How do you know when someone loves you?”

  “You know someone loves you when they put your needs above their own
.

  “I know my dad loves me and he will rescue me, despite all impossible odds, as you say.” Maddie’s eyes suddenly widened, and she quickly moved her pawn one space closer. “Oh, by the way, Leftenant, Checkmate.”

  Checkmate. This was impossible, of course… She studied the board again. Oh bullocks.

  Maddie slurped her milk, smiling over the glass at her like Lady Wellington’s stuffed cat.

  The Leftenant, now more irritated than ever, started to let Maddie know it was nearly bedtime when she noticed this small girl (who had somehow bested her in chess. Her… in chess!) was wearing a milk mustache. “Little Miss. You have milk on your upper lip.”

  Maddie raised her eyebrows. “I do?”

  Handing the small girl a cloth napkin the Leftenant instructed “Yes. You do. Now please remove it.”

  Maddie wiped her chin but the milk mustache remained. “Did I get it?” she asked earnestly.

  The Leftenant pursed her lips. “No. You most certainly did not. I said, mustache. Do mustaches grow on your chin?”

  “Ohhhhh… you mean here.” Maddie wiped the tip of her nose and put the napkin down on the table. She folded her small hands and resumed studying the chessboard.

  The Leftenant was about to scold the small child when she detected a slight smile in the corner of Maddie’s mouth. She’s playing with me?

  “You little minx. You’re trying to pull the wool over my eyes, aren’t you?” Why am I smiling? She’s being outright disobedient.

  Unexpectedly, Maddie exploded.

  The Leftenant had to resist the urge to leap from her chair but soon realized Maddie had only exploded with laughter. While gasping for air the young Miss managed, “You… should… have… seen… your face.” And then she resumed laughing like it was the funniest thing in the world.

  Then the last thing in the world the Leftenant ever thought would happen--it was impossible--but it actually happened.

  She laughed, too.

  This may prove to be more difficult than I first presumed.

  “And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them… and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army."

  -Ezekiel 37

  Chapter 42

  “Operation: Rescue Maddie”

  In the pilot house, George gripped the big riverboat wheel and sighed deeply. Through the atrium glass paned windows he saw the first light of day appearing on the horizon, marking the dawn. It was a beautiful sunrise, pink and fiery orange with a splash of purple. A memory sparked. For a moment he thought he could see a wounded helicopter in front of the Dauntless ship’s bow. Missiles locked--a voice echoed in his ears. For the life of him he couldn’t remember who had said it or what had happened to the wounded helicopter flying in front of him.

  Scanning his surroundings, he could see he was now alone in the wheelhouse. The Leftenant had vanished, and the others had arrived safely. After a quick briefing, they were now exploring the ship. Staring over the wheel he wondered aloud, “I wonder how I get this tub moving?” Checking the entrance to the pilot house and finding it empty he raised his voice. “Hellooo… bossy English lady.” No one answered. Great.

  A crisp English accent sliced through the air like electricity. “To begin, one would enter the cockpit.”

  “Geezzzz!!!” George said with a start. Once again the Leftenant had rematerialized, seemingly out of nowhere, and this time he had nearly turned right into her. “Do you have to do that?” Then, thinking about what she had just said he gestured to the pilot house. “Wait. I thought this was the cockpit?”

  “No, this is the pilot house, and is strictly for show. This is for the guests. The cockpit is actually this way, beneath our feet.” She rounded another console and opened a large circular hatch in the floor. Peering inside George could see a narrow stairwell. He immediately noticed the steel grating steps didn’t have oak finish or gold plating. He liked it immediately.

  Boots clanging on the metal rungs, the passageway was barely wide enough for his shoulders. He entered the futuristic cockpit that looked like something Flash Gordon might’ve flown to Mongo. There were two jump seats, presumably for a pilot and co-pilot. As he examined the controls more closely he began to make out instrumentation familiar to him--altimeter, compass, gyroscope…but some he didn’t recognize at all.

  As he dropped into the pilot’s seat the Leftenant rematerialized in the co-pilot seat as if by magic. George asked her, “You know how to fly this thing?”

  “I am capable of operation controls such as life support, lighting, and propulsion. In fact, I am warming up the engines as we speak.”

  “That’s not what I asked. Can you fly it?”

  She paused. He could tell she didn’t exactly care for her answer. “No. My programing does not allow me to operate the vessel other than starting it, shutting it down, or piloting the ship during an emergency.”

  George raised his eyebrows at her. “And this doesn’t qualify as an emergency?”

  The Leftenant considered a moment before answering. “No. I’m afraid this does not fall within that prevue.”

  George shrugged. “Well, let’s finish cranking her up then.”

  “Yes sir, Capitan!” she said, giving him an old crisp English salute, her palm facing upward.

  George gasped mockingly. “Was that a joke, Leftenant?”

  “I haven’t the foggiest idea what you are talking about,” she said aloofly, straightening her jacket, the rising sun lifting the shadows from her face.

  “I guess we will never know,” George mused.

  The Leftenant pondered the sunrise a moment longer, turned to him and said, “Quite right.” He thought he detected the briefest semblance of a smile before she vanished, presumably to finish warming up the ship’s engines.

  “Hello down there!”

  It was Sophia, calling down to him from the pilot house above. “Mind if I join you?”

  “Sure,” he called back but she was already clamoring down the stairs. “I’m going to need a co-pilot.”

  She dropped into the seat beside him. Staring at the sunrise she breathed, “My, you certainly have a lovely view.”

  Unsure of how to respond George settled for asking, “How are the others settling in?”

  Sophia seemed to think things over before answering. “Barnaby is still brooding over the fact that the Leftenant told him he was a fifth generation clone. I’m sure he’ll be alright. He’s lasted this long, hasn’t he?”

  George didn’t share his thoughts as to how guys like Barnaby survive in hostile situations. Instead he asked, “What about the gargoyle butler, he still with us?”

  “Oui. He has already made his home in the galley and insists he is preparing a magnificent feast. I’m not sure what it is, but I must admit whatever it is, it smells divine.”

  “What about you?”

  Sophia tore her gaze from the sunrise and looked over at him, a slightly confused expression on her face. “What about me?”

  “Did the Leftenant tell you, ah, you know, what you are?”

  Sophia lowered her eyes to the deck. “No. I didn’t want to know.” Resting her fingers delicately on her cheek she continued, “But I know this isn’t who I truly am.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “I remember. Not everything, not exactly. I remember a photograph. In it, I am very old, in my nineties perhaps. It’s Christmas time, I can see the decorated tree behind my chair, and I am holding what I believe are my great grand-babies in my lap.”

  George thought carefully about his next question. There was so much he wanted to ask her. Before he could, however…

  “Captain,” a bronzed gramophone said with a British accent. It took George a moment to realize it was the Leftenant. He followed the tubes that ran up the side wall and into the ceiling and realized
it was some sort of ship’s intercom system.

  Leaning forward he spoke into the gramophone. “Yes, Leftenant?”

  “You should now have power to the cockpit.”

  George was about to respond that if they did, he certainly couldn’t tell, but then the controls suddenly lit up and hummed with life.

  “Captain?” came the Leftenant’s impatient voice once more. “Do you hear me?”

  “Yes, Leftenant. We have full power in the cockpit.”

  “Very good.” The Leftenant talked him through it but it was a simple matter to set a course for Portlandia, which was approximately a heading of North-by-Northeast, and engage engines at one-eighth full power. The Leftenant felt it best to warm up the engines slowly before gearing up to full steam. Staring out the windows at the ground George said a silent goodbye to the safari truck that had brought them here. It pained him leaving the old truck behind but they had more important things to think about, like rescuing Maddie.

  He could hear the blades of the enormous paddle-fans turning on either side, and after watching them for a few seconds he fell back into his jump seat. “Not exactly warp drive, is it?”

  “I’m sorry. Warp drive?”

  “Never mind.” This got him thinking about the future and remembering what Sophia had said earlier he asked, “So what’s the future like? And by that I mean, my future.”

  He thought Sophia might be confused by his question but she seemed to grasp immediately what he was asking for. “What year did you say you, uh, left?”

  “Last day I remember is June 22nd 2012. I was on a rescue mission in Afghanistan. I guess I didn’t make it.”

  Sophia nodded in understanding and resumed her gaze of the landscape slowly being revealed by the morning sun. “As a kid, about seventy years after you, um, left, and before the wars started, life was pretty good. Disease and hunger had been wiped out. People were practically immortal; the rich ones anyway. We established colonies on the moon, Mars, and Europa. Ruins had been discovered under the melting Antarctica.” She paused, turned to him and asked, “Wait, did that happen before you left?” He shook his head no. “Anyway, I had a great childhood. I remember that part perfectly. I remember going to college and studying the sciences. All of that is very clear. After that things gets a bit hazy.”