by Chad Spencer
Not knowing what to say, Jeff silently glanced through some of the mails he was receiving on his desk’s display. He thought wistfully of Harriet. He remembered Eden’s words, “My last gift to you is the one thing you love most—Harriet. But she won’t reach you for years.”
There was a knock at the door. Without waiting for an answer, Amanda entered abruptly. She perched herself lightly in the only remaining chair, sitting at the very front edge of the seat.
“Good, you’re both here,” Amanda tensely began without preamble. “I’ve got something to tell you.” She fidgeted nervously.
Jeff asked, “What is it, Amanda?”
“I wasn’t sure I should tell you this. I wasn’t even sure it was real at first.”
“What do you mean?”
“Every night, for the last week I’ve been having dreams. That woman you told me about has been talking to me. Eden. I thought I was just dreaming it at first. But she keeps coming back every night.”
Sourly, Jeff asked, “What did she say?”
“She said you should stop avoiding her. It’s in your best interest as well has everyone else’s to listen to her. She’s real persistent about it. I’m getting tired of her.”
“You tell her that I’ll decide what’s in my own best interest.”
“Maybe you should talk to her.”
“Maybe I should, but not now. I’ve got other things to worry about right now. Is that all she said?”
“No. She gave me things. Glowing things. She put one in my head and one in each of my hands. What does it mean?”
Jeff sighed. “It means you’re like us. If you wanted to, you could probably learn to fly.”
Amanda shook her head. “That would be hard to do with everyone scanning the planet all the time,” she countered. “This isn’t exactly something I’d like everyone to know about.”
Gloomily, Jeff agreed.
“So now all three of us are mutant alien freaks,” Danae joked lamely.
Jeff told them both, “We’re not freaks. We’re still people. But whatever we are, I think we just need to move forward with our lives for now. I have a feeling that we’ll eventually come to understand exactly what Eden wants from us.”
Part 2
Arrival
“Jeff often said that when he was marooned on planet Akio, he really wondered if he’d ever see another human being again. But none of us are ever truly alone. Even if we don’t know it, we are connected to those who came before us and those who will come after us. Every choice we make affects future generations yet unborn. For example, who you choose to marry will affect your family for generations. Who you pick as your friends can do the same. In Jeff’s case, the small choices he made affected an unimaginably large number of individuals, including you and me. People came into his life and went out of his life based on those small everyday choices. And as they came and went, so came and went the hope for all humanity–and many others as well.” First Contact, An Eyewitness Account, Hugh Benson, p. 191.
14
Jeff stood on the edge of the sheer red cliff scanning the vast Martian landscape below. A cool summer breeze whispered across the plateau where he stood.
‘Well the computer said this was the entry point. But where is everybody?’ he wondered. The barren, rusty vista before him was empty except for the twisted rock daggers that jutted randomly from the soft, sifting sands below.
Squinting at the distance, Jeff muttered, “I suppose it’s my fault for being late.” To the computer, he instructed, “Computer, move me to where Amanda Meadows is.”
The computer responded by instantly moving him far across the landscape. Now he was at the sparse beginnings of the green belt that signaled the distant presence of the Acropolis Sea. The mountain where he entered the program sat serenely many miles in the distance.
Glancing over the landscape around him, Jeff could see a group of riders not far ahead. ‘There she is!’ he thought happily.
“Computer,” he called. “Create me a horse.” The computer complied. Jeff mounted the tall, red stallion and guided his horse to Amanda.
“You’re late!” scolded Amanda teasingly. “You were supposed to come get me at the Amsterdam.”
“Yeah well tell that to Stacey,” Jeff replied apologetically. “I told her this is the High School Senior Outing, but she needed me to finish the analysis of the mining ship.”
Amanda sighed, “I figured that. I guess it’s not a big deal. It’s not like we’re really in high school.”
‘No,’ Jeff thought, ‘you’re in college and I’m finishing my Space Corps Academy training, even though we’re both only 17. It’s everyone else here that’s seniors.’ But to Amanda he replied, “It is a big deal. This is our first date. I really wanted it to be good.”
Amanda smiled shyly. Jeff’s heart did flip-flops. ‘Did it just get warmer?’ he wondered.
“Well,” she said, “you’re here now. And that’s all that matters. And it was nice of you to leave a message for me so I wouldn’t still be waiting on my ship.” Flashing another heart-melting smile, she nudged her horse into a trot and followed the other riders toward a large expanse of thick grass. “Come on,” she called over her shoulder, “there’s a river down this way to swim in.”
Happily, Jeff kicked his horse to a gallop and followed after her.
By the time the two of them arrived at the river, the others were already in their swimsuits and diving into the water. Jeff and Amanda told the computer to change them into swimsuits, and then they quickly joined the others. Swimming together for hours, the pair finally sunned themselves on the riverbank.
“I’m hungry,” Jeff told Amanda. “Are you ready to eat dinner?”
“Sure,” she replied. Instantly, she disappeared.
Jeff willed himself out of the program and opened his eyes. The clear, curved door of his Artificial Reality pod was sliding open. He sat up and looked around for Amanda.
The other seniors on the outing were still lying peacefully in their AR pods and enjoying the simulation of Mars. Spying Amanda, Jeff hopped out of his pod and trotted down the long row to her side. She smiled up at him and brushed her wavy blond hair from her face. Jeff never ceased to be dazzled by the intense blue of her eyes.
Taking his hand, Amanda asked warmly, “Shall we go eat?”
The pair moved toward the ship’s cafeteria. When they arrived, they found that the lights were dimmed for the event. Every table had a tablecloth and even a real candle that was lit. Many of the teachers were acting as waiters and waitresses. Mamsen Suzuki, who taught Japanese and German, glided toward them and greeted, “Would the two of you like to be seated?”
“Yes please,” Jeff replied. Mamsen Suzuki led them toward a table for two. Holographic menus appeared in the air in front of them. Before they could order, Jeff’s gridPhone beeped. “Sorry,” he apologized hastily as he pulled the squealing phone from his pocket. “I forgot to turn it off.”
Noticing the ID of the caller, Jeff apologized again. “It’s Governor Connors,” he told Amanda. “I have to take this.” As Jeff rose, he could see the disappointment in Amanda’s face.
Quickly stepping out into the ship’s huge main corridor, Jeff answered his phone.
“I’m sorry to interrupt your date,” Governor Connors began. “But we need you to come out to the Implantation Site right away.”
Jeff wondered, ‘How did he know I was on a date? Sheesh, there’s no privacy in this colony.’
The Governor continued, “The seed isn’t growing and we’re going to inject an accelerant into the asteroid. It’s a time-critical operation, Jeff. If it doesn’t happen soon, the experiment will be a failure.”
“Maybe that’s better,” countered Jeff. “An accelerant might make the ship’s growth unstable. I could work on an updated seed program tomorrow.”
Governor Connors sighed. “I’d love to accommodate you Jeff. But if we don’t have a mining ship soon, this colony may fail. We’ll have to
move to planet Akio and start again there. And you well know that our presence there may be detrimental to your crab men friends.”
The Governor paused and then explained, “I know how important this evening is to you, Jeff. But there isn’t anyone in the colony that understands nanobot programming as well as you. We have to get the Living Miner up and running and we have to do it now. There’s no other way to get the volume of raw materials we need to live. The Living Freighters just can’t mine fast enough to supply all of our needs. If you take your shuttle and leave right away, you can reach us in about 6 hours. As soon as you arrive, you can start running your tests. With your help, I think that we could be ready to program accelerator nanobots and inject them into the Living Miner seed inside the asteroid in less than 24 hours. If it doesn’t happen by then, it’s not going to happen.”
Jeff sighed. He knew Governor Connors was right. After half a year of working on the Living Miner project, he knew quite well that he was the most qualified for this task. The only people who were as smart as him were the ones who had korei inside of them. Regular humans just couldn’t learn as fast as he did.
‘Sometimes I wish there was some korei I could give out to someone besides me, Amanda, and Danae,’ he thought ruefully. ‘Maybe then I wouldn’t be as busy as I am.’
Squaring his shoulders, Jeff returned to the ship’s cafeteria and told Amanda the bad news. She was disappointed, but understanding. “When you said it was from Governor Connors,” Amanda responded sadly, “I kind of figured you’d be leaving. I know you’re doing important work, Jeff. We don’t have enough mining equipment to keep living here in deep space.”
Jeff agreed, “I thought when we started all this, we could just program up nanobots to make anything we needed. But it turned out to be a lot harder than that.”
Nodding, Amanda told him. “I guess nothing’s ever as easy as you think it’s going to be.”
“I’m really sorry,” Jeff apologized again. “Could we maybe go out next weekend? Or how about Tuesday? We could do a sailing simulation on Tuesday evening.”
Dropping her eyes, Amanda answered, “Why don’t you call me when you get back? We can talk about it then.”
Regretfully, Jeff agreed, “Ok. I’ll call you.” With slumped shoulders, he turned and strode from the cafeteria. Returning to his quarters, Jeff quickly changed out of his suit and into his regular clothes. As he did, he pulled the gold necklace he’d synthesized for Amanda from his suit pocket. Remembering all of the water this necklace cost him, Jeff gazed at it dejectedly and set it on his dresser. ‘Maybe I can give it to her Tuesday,’ he thought disappointedly. ‘If she actually goes out with me again.’
As rapidly as he could, Jeff made his way to his shuttle pod. Launching hurriedly, he set course for the asteroid far across open space where the Living Miner seed was being tested.
On his shuttle pod’s main viewscreen, Jeff pulled up a view of the colony as it receded behind him. Each of the six gleaming white Living Freighters that formed the Lethbridge Drift was three miles long, so there was plenty of room for the colony’s 900 or so inhabitants in the crew and passenger modules that the megafreighters offered. And the newly completed molecular recombination synthesizers built by the engineering staff enabled the colony to manufacture much of what they needed. The only thing lacking were mining ships. ‘Without those mining ships,’ Jeff worried ominously, ‘we can’t keep living in deep space.’
As Jeff looped around the freezing green gas giant that the colony orbited, he double-checked his course and then turned on the automatic pilot. ‘I’d better sleep now,’ he told himself silently. ‘Once I get to the Implantation Site, I won’t have time to rest.’ He went to the back of the pod and lay down on a cot he kept there. Closing his eyes, he thought, ‘I sure hope Amanda isn’t too mad at me.’
15
Jeff stood on a red sand beach under a lavender sky.
“Oh no,” he muttered, “not this again.”
Jeff followed a path above the beach to a castle made of light blue crystal. As always, Eden was waiting there.
“Jeff,” she greeted, “it’s wonderful to see you again.”
“Hi,” replied Jeff curtly. “What do you want?”
“It’s been months since we’ve talked,” Eden scolded, “I would think you would be happier to see me.”
“Mm,” intoned Jeff noncommittally. “What do you want?”
“You were doing so well at learning to use your powers. Why did you stop?”
“I got busy. Chief Connors was elected governor of the colony. He started a project called the Living Miner. It’s a mining ship that can extract minerals and stuff from asteroids. We need it to survive. They’ve got me working on the project. Thanks to you, I’m the best nanobot programmer in the star system.”
Eden smiled indulgently, patted his cheek, and said, “I’m glad I could help. But Jeff, you must continue to develop your abilities.”
“I can make lightning and fire come from my hands. I can fly and I can move things with just my mind. I can make a shield around myself. I think I’m pretty much set for anything that might come my way.”
“Not true, Jeff. You haven’t seen what you’re up against. Harriet, Hugh, and Akio fought in a war. Their powers are far more developed than yours, but they barely survived. You must work to make yourself stronger and you must come to me.”
“A war? What war? There hasn’t been a war in 600 years!”
“A rogue dairei was running amok in human-occupied space. He started a war for his own purposes and Harriet, Hugh, and Akio were caught up in the middle of it. They won the war using the powers I gave them. But there is still great danger for the human race. You must come to me and together we will keep all humanity safe.”
“I can’t come to you. We’re probably 10,000 light years away from the Federated Alliance. We can’t build a hypergate so none of our ships can leave this star system. We’re stuck here forever and there’s no way to get help from the Alliance.”
“No, Jeff. That is also not true. There is a ship coming that can traverse interstellar distances.”
“I don’t see how that’s possible.”
“It is more than possible, Jeff. The ship will soon arrive. You must use it to come here before it is too late. The fate of all humanity is in your hands.”
Eden smiled warmly and continued, “And you will be very glad when the ship arrives. Because riding on that ship is . . .”
A loud beeping interrupted her. The telepathic vision immediately dissolved and Jeff awoke in his shuttle pod. The autopilot’s proximity alarm was wailing at him. Jeff checked the navigation console and found that he was passing close to a small asteroid. He corrected his course, reset the autopilot, and returned to his cot.
Staring up at the ceiling he wondered, ‘Can a ship from the Alliance really be on its way here? And if it is, what does that mean for Amanda, Danae, and I? We’re not superheroes. How can we save the whole human race from a bunch of aliens?’ He rolled over and tried to sleep again. But he knew it was futile.
16
“Why isn’t it WOOOORKIIIING?” Jeff growled he as thumped his forehead in frustration on the window of the observation deck. “The accelerant should have WOOOOOORKED!” He beat his fists on the plastiglass. Below the Ellsworth II hung a nondescript asteroid instead of a completed mining ship. Jeff couldn’t understand why.
“Don’t be too hard on yourself, Jeff,” Governor Connors consoled. “Even supergeniuses have setbacks sometimes.”
Not feeling very comforted, Jeff groused, “I’m not a supergenius. I . . . I just have a knack for nanobot programming. At least I thought I did. Why isn’t it WOOOORKIIIING?” he groaned again. “The accelerant should have WOOOOOORKED!”
Governor Connors chuckled. Gesturing toward Stacey, who was standing next to him, Governor Connors said, “I’m sure Mamsen Tomorrowmoon and the other programmers on the project can look over your work. Maybe they can find what you’ve misse
d. Right Stacey?”
“Sure,” Stacey replied brightly. Suddenly, she pointed out of the window and yelped, “Look!”
A huge chunk of the asteroid fell in on itself. Rough-hewn shapes appeared everywhere, growing rapidly.
“Wow!” yelled Stacey. “It’s working! Congratulations, Jeff.”
Relieved, Jeff stared at the ship that was creating itself below him. Trillions upon trillions of molecule-sized robots were ripping apart the asteroid and building a mining ship atom by atom. Watching intently, Jeff saw the squat ellipsoid that would become the main body of the ship coalesce from the materials in the asteroid. It was quickly followed by the ship’s long, cylindrical fuel tanks.
Governor Connors instructed, “Stacey, monitor the progress of the ship as it forms. Let me know if anything goes wrong. If it completes properly, go through the safety checks as rapidly as possible. I want to get mining operations going yesterday, if not sooner.”
“Yes Sirsen,” Stacey confirmed. She scurried from the observation deck.
Turning back to Jeff, the Governor congratulated, “Thank you, Jeff. It looks like the work you did here today really paid off. I’ll personally send a message to Amanda and let her know how much I appreciate her lending you to us.” He winked slyly.
Jeff knew Governor Connors meant well, but he thought the wink was kind of corny. He just smiled and replied, “Thanks, Governor Connors. I’m glad I could help.”
A beeping sounded from Jeff’s pocket. “Excuse me,” he said to Governor Connors, who nodded and told him, “It’s ok, Jeff. I need to hurry back to the colony anyway.” He waved and strode from the observation deck.
Answering his gridPhone, Jeff heard his father’s voice calling, “Jeff? How’s the project going?”
“Hi, Dad. It’s going ok. I’m finished here for now. Where are you?”
“I’m on the way back to the Lethbridge Drift and I wondered if you wanted a ride. The Porsche’s Haven’ll pass by the Implantation Site in about an hour. You could rendezvous with us and get back to the colony in just a few hours.”