by Karl Morgan
Darlene could feel De-o-Nu being buffeting by the air current. It felt as though she were on a county fair roller coaster. Jake was flying next to her. She could see the external air pressure rising on her heads-up display as they dived deeper and deeper into the atmosphere. She could see Nan-de-Bo and Jon flying corkscrew turns around them. The cloud of maklans made incredible acrobatic maneuvers even as they dived downward. Far below, Darlene could see a massive cloud stretching to the horizon in all directions. The cloud was varying shades of blue and green, twisting and swirling into strange shapes. She remembered looking up at clouds as a little girl and imaging what creatures they looked like.
“Brother, what do you call that cloud below us?” Darlene asked as they rapidly approached the tops.
“Sister, we call that a good time! Hang on!” he replied as they hit the clouds. De-o-Nu was bouncing back and forth and Darlene held onto the harness as tightly as she could. Dark rain drops splashed over them both and ice crystals were forming on her suit. Within a few seconds, they exited from the bottom of the cloud and the governor extended his wings and leveled off. The rain was still falling around them, but the air was very calm here. “Darlene, we are getting close to the pressure level where we would expect to see a Ka-la-a. I’m heading to the spot where Dave thought he saw one. The amount of rain and ice is a very good sign.”
They flew onward. The rest of the group rejoined them and seemed to be enjoying the ride. No-ka-De said, “Governor, I think I can see the Ka-la-a ahead. Aria and I will check it out.” Being somewhat smaller than De-o-Nu, No-ka-De could fly faster and they rushed ahead. The Ka-la-a appeared to be very large, with its edge stretching for miles. Soon, the Galliceans had all landed and folded their wings. The surface was covered with moss, similar to what Dave had encountered on Jupiter. The sheer size of the floating island was more than any Gallicean had ever seen. There were no large lumbering herbivores as there had been on Jupiter. Many different types of insects scurried about on the surface. There were small jellyfish-like animals eating the moss. It seemed that the insects fed off the dead herbivores and each other. No-ka-De picked up samples from the plant life while Nan-de-Bo collected sample animals. These would be checked by the scientists on the Kong-Fa to make sure they were not poisonous.
They walked along for some time, in awe of the size of this icy island floating on the heavier gases below. After twenty minutes or so, they came upon the bleached skeleton of a large bird-like creature. At first, De-o-Nu thought it might be Gallicean. Upon inspection, the creature was clearly native to this world and probably not sentient. Its brain cavity was quite small, although it had large jaws full of sharp teeth. “I think we need to leave the sample boxes here for now,” De-o-Nu said, drawing the blaster from his holster. “If there are more creatures like this, we need to be ready to fight.” The other two Galliceans drew their weapons as well.
“Governor,” Ambassador Pakalanalan said, “there is no need to leave the boxes here. I’ll have two of my team jump them directly to your lab now.” At her word, two maklans flew over and touched the boxes. After a bright flash, they and the two boxes were gone. Within a minute, the two maklans returned.
“Thank you Cara,” De-o-Nu replied. “Yet another example of Gallicean-maklan cooperation. Let us continue and be vigilant.” They walked for another twenty minutes and came upon the rotting carcass of another large animal. It seemed similar to the tiny jellyfish that floated in the gas or their larger cousins who fed on the moss, except its canopy was thirty feet across and very thin. “What an odd beast this is.” he said.
“It’s incredible, Governor,” Aria replied. “Do you think that beast floats around the planet?”
“Yes, Aria. We used to have creatures similar to this on some of the colony planets. I don’t think any were this big though,” he replied.
Jake glowed red and said, “Look up above us now!” The group looked up and saw a herd of the giant jellyfish floating several hundred feet above them. Their long tentacles stretched fifty or more feet below them as they tried to catch food floating in the streams of gas. There were hundreds of animals in the herd, all being carried along in the wind, their large, almost transparent canopies billowing like the sails on a ship. “I suggest we exercise caution here. Those tentacles are likely to be very poisonous.”
“I concur, Jake,” the governor replied. “This is indeed a miraculous planet, my friends. It will take our scientists years to assess the life on this planet and make recommendations to the High Council. If the other two planets are anything like this, we have been given another gift of incomparable value.”
In the far distance, they could now see wings flapping against the current. De-o-Nu wondered if others from his crew were joining them. As the wings approached, they could see this was a pack of ten creatures like the skeleton they had seen. The birds were very large, with wings spanning twenty feet. They were bright red and their screaming filled the air. The beasts were closing in on herd of jellyfish that were almost straight overhead. The jellyfish started moving around frantically, while the birds flew among them, trying to separate one from the group. One bird swooped down on a jellyfish with its beak wide open. A second jellyfish came to the rescue by wrapping its tentacles around the attacking bird. The bird screamed in pain and abandoned its chase.
The remaining birds had managed to separate one jellyfish from the group and they attacked it viciously, tearing out big chunks of the canopy. After a minute, its canopy failed and it fell toward the Ka-la-a. It crashed to the ice two hundred feet away from them. All the birds landed next to their victim and began to feed on it. The bird that had been injured by the jellyfish came down to join the feast. After a couple bites, the other birds forced it to leave. It looked up and noticed the Gallicean group and began walking toward them. All three Galliceans pointed their blasters at the bird. It stopped twenty feet from them and looked at them quizzically, moving its head from side to side and blinking rapidly.
It stood as tall as it could and stretched its wings to their full fifteen feet and baring its teeth to show its dominance. Some of the other birds had noticed the activity and were watching; however they had no intention of leaving their meal to see these other creatures. As if on cue, De-o-Nu and his lieutenants extended their wings to their full forty to fifty feet. A cloud of maklans flew around the bird which was startled by both the lights and the giant size of these other birds. It folding its wings and dropped its head to the ground. Then it turned and slinked back to the rest of its pack.
“Well, I think we’ve had about enough of this,” De-o-Nu said. “I still want to see the Dar-Fa on this planet. I will have our crews wear armor and weapons as we investigate this wild place. I have never seen such large predators on a gas giant before. It is said that we evolved from bird like creatures long ago. Perhaps these creatures will do the same someday.” The group flew away from the Ka-la-a and the feeding frenzy as quickly as they could, while keeping a watchful eye behind them in case they were followed.
It took an hour of flying to reach the vicinity of the Dar-Fa, which loomed across the full horizon. Unlike the Red Spot on Jupiter, this Dar-Fa was dark blue. They were miles from the edge and the winds were pushing the group all about. On the governor’s command, they flew upward toward the top of the atmosphere. It was simpler to penetrate the Dar-Fa from above. Darlene looked at her heads-up display. The oxygen level read thirty-five percent. The external air pressure was very low and the Galliceans had grown even larger in the thin air. She was thinking about how wild this system was, with the birds here and the giant wolves on Golden Dawn. Her lab assistant days were long over, she thought.
They dove into the top of the Dar-Fa. All the Galliceans went tumbling due to the high swirling winds. The humans hung onto their harnesses. The maklans were everywhere, with their small bodies blown about with abandon. After a minute, they broke into the eye of the Dar-Fa. Other than the color change, it was exactly like Dave had told her. The wall she
could see was moving incredibly fast. Most of the edge was far over the horizon in all the other directions. While the air here was very calm, she could see the tops of countless tornadoes below them. “Aria,” she said, “it’s just like Dave and Charlie told us. Isn’t this unbelievable?”
“Darlene, I could never have imagined that such a place existed,” she replied. “I am so happy to be here with you and Jon.”
“Don’t forget Jake,” the maklan said as he flew between them. “I remember these things from textbooks when I was in school. When our people first jumped to the Earth system, we explored all the planets, so there are detailed books and videos on them from almost a billion Earth years ago. Of course, when we found life on Jupiter, we left there to allow it to flourish naturally.”
“Enough chit-chat,” De-o-Nu said. “You can talk all the way from Golden Dawn to Tak-Makla. My comrades and I have picked a tornado to fly into. This will be the roughest part of the trip, so hold on tightly.” The group dived into the open mouth of the tornado. The upwelling of air and material was like a sandblast. They were spinning and tumbling in the violent windstorm around them. The Galliceans had folded their wings tightly against their backs to keep them from being ripped off by the savage gusts. They fell for several minutes and the winds became stronger and the noise level was growing. Darlene saw that the external pressure was high enough to crush a human not in a pressure suit. When he had enough, De-o-Nu signaled the others and they dived into the wall of the tornado.
They were tumbling uncontrollably now. Darlene could feel her harness loosening and she struggled to hold on. The wind noise was overpowering and she moved violently about De-o-Nu’s body. Now she could feel his arms around her, holding her tightly. She relaxed a little. The noise suddenly stopped completely and the wind calmed. They were now in the middle of the Dar-Fa. Around them were thousands of tornados swirling about. Heavy black rain drops and small hail pelted them. “I thought you were going to lose me for a minute, brother,” she said.
“Sister, I panicked completely when I felt the harness starting to slip. A human free falling in a Dar-Fa would be a very bad thing. Since you are my sister, I would give my life to protect you,” he replied. “Jake, you need to get over here and help me with Darlene’s harness. I almost lost her back there.”
Jake and two other maklan immediately landed on De-o-Nu and began working on the torn harness. “Brother, this harness is heavily damaged,” Jake reported. “I think it would be best if I jump Darlene back to the platform from here. I’ll have others check Aria and Jon’s harnesses just to be safe.”
“Jake, I’d like to stay here for a little while longer,” Darlene said. “This is an amazing experience and I can’t go just yet. Perhaps before we get to the edge again, you can jump me out. Is that a deal?”
“Okay, Darlene, I’ll wait. I’m going to stay right here though and keep an eye on you,” he replied.
The group flew onward in the black rain and hail. They swooped around some of the tornadoes, in awe of nature’s majesty. De-o-Nu thought about his great ancestor, De-no-Ko, who discovered that the materials rising in the tornadoes could be used to build massive floating islands. He thought about the coming voyage to meet what would likely be the most advanced society in the galaxy. The cold rain on his back was refreshing. He longed to fly here the rest of his life. As they approached the edge of the Dar-Fa, Jake glowed bright white, and Darlene and Jake were gone.
Chapter 18
Dave walked into the family room of Charlie’s house. Rob Watson had just arrived with his brother Matt, Matt’s wife, Elaine, and their two children, Sophie and Brian. Charlie was busy hugging his grandchildren when Dave joined the group.
“Hi Rob,” Dave said, “It’s good to see you again.” He turned to Matt and continued, “You must be Matt, and this is your lovely wife, Elaine. My name is Dave Brewster. Your dad has told me all about you.”
“It’s good to meet you, Dave,” Matt said. “Dad says you two work together. Are you helping him with his books?”
“In a way, I suppose I am,” Dave answered. “I try to find new and interesting things for Charlie to write about. Wouldn’t you agree, Charlie?”
“Working with Dave has been very educational,” Charlie replied. “Even though I traveled a lot when I was in business, my pal Dave has certainly introduced me to lots of new things. Let’s all sit down while we wait for the rest of the party.”
As they sat, Matt said, “I thought this was just going to be a family dinner, Dad?”
“It is, son, but there are a few folks I feel are part of my family now, like Dave here,” Charlie said as he walked to the door. “I’ll have Kally bring us a few bottles of wine and some refreshments for the kids too. You all keep chatting while I’m gone.” Charlie left the room.
“Dave, Dad told us the story about how you two met in the Starbucks. Don’t you find that coincidence amazing?” Rob asked.
“Not long ago, I would have agreed with you, Rob. Now, like your Dad, I don’t believe in coincidences,” Dave said. “I like to think there is a course in time that pulls us all along. We may not expect the things that happen, but they were surely meant to be.”
“You’ve been hanging around him too long, Dave,” Rob laughed. “There are so many people and things on Earth. It only makes sense that random chance plays a big role.”
“I know how you feel, Rob. I can only go by my own life experience. To me, things always seem to move along a trajectory. Maybe Charlie and I are nuts, but you can see how things have worked out very well for him. And I have no complaints,” Dave answered.
Charlie reentered the room followed by Rence, Muncie, Alana, Bea and Kally. Kally went to the bar, opened bottles and poured red wine for all. He also prepared two Shirley Temples for the children, with extra maraschino cherries, just the way they liked them. Rence, Muncie, and Alana sat on a couch across the coffee table from Matt and Rob. Bea pulled up a side chair next to Dave and joined them.
Rob and Matt looked very concerned. They both worked for Rence and Muncie, but had no idea how Charlie knew them. Rob had met Bea at the coffee shop when he moved here, but had no idea why the barista was here. “Dad, what’s going on here?” Rob asked.
“It’s kind of a long story, Rob,” he replied. Kally was passing out the drinks. “Give us a minute to relax and then we can get to the more serious business.”
“Let’s have a toast!” Charlie said as he stood up. “To our family. And that means everyone here.” They all sipped the wine.
“I’m confused, Dad,” Matt said. “You know Muncie and Rence?”
“Yes, son, they both have worked with me for quite a while,” Charlie smiled. “I honestly had no idea they had hired you two. I’ve been out of town for a month with Dave and we didn’t have cell coverage where we were.”
“Dad, they have coverage almost everywhere now,” Matt stated. “Where could you be where there was no reception, Mount Everest?”
Charlie turned to Dave and said, “Dave, do you want to tell them where you’ve been since we left here a month ago? I think now is the time to jump into it, so to speak.”
Dave thought for a minute. He knew that if things did not go well, the short term memories of Charlie’s family would be cleansed of the discussions, so there was little danger. He said, “Most recently, we have been in orbit over a new planet twenty-eight light-years from Earth. Oh, and the year was 3187.”
“That’s absurd, guys,” Rob laughed. “My dad the author and his friend the accountant flying through space a thousand years in the future. You’re kidding, right?”
“What Admiral Brewster said is factually correct,” Muncie said.
“I’m a bit surprised by you two,” Charlie said to his sons. “You’ve taken jobs from Muncie and Rence and never noticed how different they look? Didn’t that raise any suspicions in your minds at all?”
“Dad, we’re not racists,” Rob said. “We don’t judge people by the way they look. They ju
st look like two brothers.”
“Rob, we are not related at all,” Muncie began. “In our time, society has blended and very few racial differences remain. I was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Rence here comes from Pennsylvania. Alana, my fiancée, was born in Florida. We were all raised in the early 3100s. I met Rence at MIT when we were getting our doctorates in temporal engineering. I met Alana when she joined the Temporal Command a couple of years ago.”
Bea had moved and was playing with Sophie and Brian on the floor. Charlie kept a box of toys and games in the room for just such an occasion.
“Okay, let’s say we believe you, which we don’t, what about Bea here?” Rob asked. “I just met her at the Starbucks a couple weeks ago. She doesn’t look like you guys. Is she from this time?”
“Bea is from the future too,” Dave said. “Unfortunately, her file is restricted by the High Commissioner. Suffice it to say she has some influential friends and family, and her part of this mission is secret for now.” Dave winked at his granddaughter, who smiled back.
“The barista is a spy?” Elaine asked.
“No, I’m no spy,” Bea said. “I think they picked me because I love coffee and kids. I suppose the High Commissioner knew that Muncie would need a baby-sitter on the team. Elaine, Sophie and Brian are so cute. Sophie looks just like you.”
“I’m beginning to understand why Aria had such a hard time with these two,” Charlie laughed. “They are a tough couple of nuts to crack.”
“Aria never told me anything about the future, Dad,” Matt said. “What are you talking about?”
“Oh, yes she did, Son. You have to imagine how advanced a society eleven centuries in the future would be. They have the technology to selectively erase memories in the event of temporal anomalies,” Charlie replied.
Alana withdrew a small electronic device from her purse and set it on the coffee table. “The Commodore is correct. This device can be used to erase certain memories when someone sees or learns something unintended about the future. I have trained for two years to be able to use it well. At the end of the evening, Muncie will decide if we let you keep the memories of this discussion or not. I will carry out his decision.”