“Any day now,” Eddy said nervously. “We’re getting farther from our destination by the minute.”
“Don’t rush me. This is delicate work. One bad connection and we won’t have to worry about your friends in the tin can next door any longer.”
“Sorry.” He watched Davian work, fascinated. The man was a genius with this kind of thing. Eddy was good with the grunt work, the flying, and the basic electronic stuff, but something like this required an understanding of quantum mechanics and a steady hand he just didn’t have. “Hang on, Director Hammond,” he said softly. “We’re right alongside you. We’re working out a way to catch you.”
“Affirmative.” The man sounded exhausted.
“There.” Davian gingerly closed the access hatch and placed the x-drive back into its cradle. “Either this works or we have no more worries.”
Eddy nodded. “Do it.”
He punched the controls and the drive lit up, but with a blue glow this time.
A red line snaked around it, shading into purple.
Eddy watched it worriedly, but then it flipped over to solid blue. “That’s good, yes?”
Davian nodded. “Yes.” He looked out at the escape pod next to them. “Get as close as you can. The gravity generated by the x-drive will do the rest.”
Eddy nodded and used the jets to nudge the Moonjumper closer and closer to the pod. As they closed to about two meters, the two crafts pulled together with a resounding thunk.
“Woo-hoo!” Eddy high-fived Davian. “We did it!” He picked up the mic. “Gotcha,” he said over the comm. “I’m going to turn us around.” He used the jets on the far side of the craft to slowly bring them into a U-turn, heading back toward the now distant worldlet.
Director Hammond’s relief came through loud and clear on the comm. “Thank you, Eddy. Eddy and…?”
“Davian.”
“Thank you to both of you. You’re angels.”
Davian snorted.
“Can you get us inside Forever? It looks like you’re not going back to the station.”
“Yes. We can contact the world-mind once we’re close enough.”
“Are you both okay over there?” Eddy asked.
“I think so. My daughter hit her head when we ejected from the station, but she seems to be all right. It was a close call.”
“What happened?”
There was a long pause. Eddy guessed the man was deciding whether or not he could trust them. “It was a virus in the station-mind. It targeted the power core.”
Eddy whistled. “Casualties?”
“As far as I know, zero. We were able to get everyone else off station before it blew.”
Eddy sat back and stared at the radio. That was a minor fucking miracle, given that there must have been hundreds of people aboard Transfer. “Listen, I’m going to go radio silent while I navigate us up to the world-mind’s air lock. It’s at the close end, right?”
“Yes.”
“I want to shake your hand when we get there. It’s amazing that you managed to get everyone out alive.”
“Only thanks to you.”
Eddy laughed. “Fair enough. Signing off.”
Chapter Nine: Coming Home
IT TOOK Eddy a tense half hour to navigate back to Forever, and they had to work their way through the space where the station had been. The vicinity was filled with debris, and he had to steer the awkward combination of ships around the worst of it.
He could only use three of the four attitude jets. The fourth was facing the escape pod and would have either damaged the hull of the other ship or knocked it away from them, or both.
It was like navigating a field full of landmines carrying your drunken uncle in one arm with the other strapped behind your back. It tested his piloting skills to their limits.
He was damned good at flying almost any craft, and his years of experience in the NAU Armed Forces came to the fore.
Davian helped him spot debris as they wended their way through the field, using both the nav system and his own eyes.
The temperature in the little craft was up to 107 degrees. Eddy wiped sweat away from his eyes nearly constantly. He was so ready to land this bucket of bolts and get outside to breathe real air again.
That reminded him of Earth, coming to an end as he had known it even as they struggled for their own survival up here. He shoved his emotions as far down as he could manage and concentrated on flying.
He could see as he approached that the worldlet had taken a few hits from Transfer’s destruction, but it looked intact. It sketched out an elongated cylinder against the starry background attached to an even larger asteroid, and parts of it illuminated by sunlight had fresh scratches and craters, but nothing fatal. They still had a new home to go to.
He wondered if the other two seed worlds had been hit too, and if they had been as lucky.
“Okay, we’re approaching the end of the world.” He realized, as he said it, just how true it was.
“We’re in touch with the world-mind. The air lock should be opening now.”
COLIN SAT on a bench by Lake Jackson, staring glumly out at the waters.
He’d halfway expected the people down on Earth to bring themselves to a bloody, rancorous end, but somehow the station and this little paradise world had seemed safe from all that, detached from the troubles of Old Earth. Now it was as if the ghost of the home world had reached out a bloodied hand to pull them down to death and destruction with it.
The last shuttle had come in a half hour before, but there was no sign of Aaron and his daughter, Andy. They’d done an amazing job of saving everyone else on Transfer, somehow holding back the disaster until the last shuttle was free.
Then… nothing.
He wondered if he had erred in giving up his command. If he’d stayed on, it might have been him up there instead of the Hammonds. They might have been safely ensconced on Forever while he ended his own life in noble sacrifice. It was a debt he owed to Jackson. One that he might never be able to repay.
“Can I sit with you?”
He looked up. It was Keera Hammond, Aaron’s wife. He nodded.
She sat down and stared out at the lake with him. “I can’t believe it. It doesn’t seem real to me.”
He put an arm around her and pulled her close. “There’s still hope. They might have escaped in one of the pods—”
“Who’s going to go get them?” Her eyes were red from crying.
“Your husband’s father was an amazing man. He could find his way back from almost impossible odds. Aaron and Andy are like that too.”
She nodded. “I want to believe that.” She wiped her nose with the back of her hand. “He loved you, you know.”
Colin nodded, not wanting to correct her with the present tense.
“Glory’s taking it hard too.”
“I’d imagine.” Losing Jackson first, and now her eldest son and granddaughter…. He knew as well as she that the odds of Andy and Aaron’s return were next to zero at this point. Only a miracle might save them, and they were running low on miracles.
“Director McAvery?”
He tapped his loop. “Yes?”
“Patching a call through.”
He waited, holding his breath.
“Colin, you have a welcoming committee waiting for us?”
“By God, is that you, Aaron?”
“The one and only.”
“Is he…?” Keera looked trapped between hope and despair, tucking a loose strand of blond hair behind her ear.
He nodded. “He’s alive!”
“Oh my God. Oh my God. And Andy?” She was shaking.
“You have Andy there with you?” he asked. He closed his eyes, picturing the energetic, amazing young woman who had helped him at the refugee camp.
“Yes. She’s a bit worse for wear, but she’ll be all right.”
He opened his eyes and nodded. “They’re both okay.”
Keera jumped up and danced around. “Thank G
od!” She took a deep breath. “What’s he saying?”
“How’d you manage it?” Colin asked Aaron.
“I’ll explain when we land. Let’s just say we have a couple new friends.”
“I can’t wait. Want to talk to Keera?”
“She’s there? Yes, please!”
“Lex, please route the call over to Keera.”
“Connected.”
“Aaron? Don’t you ever do anything like that again. I thought you were both dead—” She wandered off, and Colin let her have her privacy to talk to her husband.
They were alive.
Somehow, it made all the difference. No matter what else happened, two people he cared about deeply had weathered the storm.
It gave him hope that, despite the long odds against them, they would all find a way to do the same.
He stared at the place in the South Wall where Aaron, Andy, and their new friends were due to come through, in whatever craft had managed to save them from the destruction of the station.
Then he turned and ran back into Micavery, shouting for help to pull together as big a reception party as he could manage.
EDDY BURNED most of the rest of his fuel bringing the two ships through the air lock and then setting them down safely on the landing pad inside Forever.
Their new home was spread out above, around, and below them, and he gave himself a minute as the ships settled toward the ground to take it all in.
It was paradise.
When the Moonjumper touched the ground, he let go of the controls and disengaged the x-drive, breathing a deep sigh of relief.
They’d made it.
Davian grinned at him. “We’re fucking here!”
“Yes, we are. I need some fresh air.” Eddy slipped between the seats and popped the hatch, then climbed down from the jumper.
A cheer went up from the throng that had gathered around the landing pad. Surprised, he looked around. They were all waving at him.
Then the escape pod’s hatch opened and the cheering grew even louder.
A redheaded man in a white uniform, probably in his late thirties, climbed out and came over to shake his hand. The man’s green eyes twinkled. “Eddy Tremaine, I assume?”
Eddy nodded. “Director Hammond?”
“Just call me Aaron.”
A girl in her midteens who bore a marked resemblance to the director climbed out next.
The crowd closed in around them.
Davian had come to stand beside him, and the poor guy looked overwhelmed by all the people.
Eddy looked up, and his stomach lurched.
Nothing could have prepared him for seeing the world arching over his head like some crazy funhouse mirror.
It went up and up and up… and he went down, exhausted from the heat and the stress and the long trip and overwhelmed by this new world.
WHILE EDDY was being given a hero’s welcome and being carted off after he fainted from the shock of this new world, Davian took advantage of the distraction to blend in with the crowd and work his way out of the landing area and into Micavery proper. He’d studied maps of this place before they left Earth. He knew how to find his way around.
What he didn’t know was where the other refugees were being kept.
Where there were refugees, there was discontent, and discontent was something he could work with. It bred opportunities.
They’d made it up here, against almost impossible odds. He liked long odds.
Soon he’d set about making this new world his own.
Epilogue
ANA FIRED up the propulsion engines that would serve to propel Forever across the gap between the stars. They were designed to blow off unneeded matter, slowly building up the world’s speed as they headed toward their destination, an Earthlike planet in a star system where humanity could start over.
The passage would take hundreds of years. None of the current colonists would live to see its conclusion.
She felt a deep sadness at leaving behind the home world. It had been an amazing, complicated, maddening place, and she would never see its like again.
Then again, she had left it, and herself, behind long before.
As the world began its long journey, she shifted back into sync with Lex and Jackson. Their minds, more and more, were merging into one cohesive whole. They still had their own distinct personalities, but they overlapped in significant ways. “It’s done.”
Lex nodded. “Our own work is just beginning.”
They had a charge—to carry their passengers into the liminal sky, across the stark divide between stars to a new home.
The age of man on Earth—homo sapiens—had ended. The age of mankind between the stars—homo stellae—had just begun.
EDDY WOKE slowly, first feeling the softness of the bed linens that surrounded him. He was comfortable. Warm, but in a good way, not like he had been trapped in the cramped, hot space of the Moonjumper.
Next he noticed the air. It smelled… different than Earth’s. It was fresh and clean, and it excited his senses.
He opened his eyes.
Director Hammond sat next to him. He was in a private room with a wooden floor and bright yellow walls. The very air seemed alight, giving everything a warm, fuzzy glow.
Hammond leaned forward. “Good. You’re awake.”
“Yeah.” He sat up, looking around. The room was sparsely furnished, but a plant in the corner glowed with a golden-green glow. “Is this heaven?”
Aaron laughed. “Nope. You just got a bad case of rubber neck.”
“Rubber neck?”
“It’s what we call it when newbies get overwhelmed by the whole ‘world over your head’ thing.” He got up from his chair and leaned out into the hallway. “Guys?”
There were footsteps, and then the young girl he’d seen before and another man stepped into the room. “Welcome back to the end of the world.” The man held out his hand. “I’m Colin McAvery.”
Eddy’s jaw dropped open. “The Colin McAvery?”
“One and the same.”
“This is my daughter, Andy,” Aaron said.
“Thanks for saving us.” She gave him a big grin.
“My pleasure.”
The ground shook underneath his bed. “What the hell was that?” He sat up and looked around, afraid the world would fall away beneath him. He’d come so far….
“That, my friend, is us getting underway.”
“Underway? How…?” But of course. Forever was a generation ship.
Colin nodded. “We talked with the world-mind, and in light of the events on Earth—”
“It’s gone, isn’t it?”
“In every sense that we knew it, yes. The planet is still there, but most of it is no longer fit for human life.”
Eddy let that sink in. He’d suspected it, deep down in his core, after the last news reports. But thinking something might be true and knowing it for a fact were two very different things.
He closed his eyes and thought of all the things that he would never see or have or do again. No more skiing down a snow-covered hill. No more surfing on the Gulf Coast. No more chocolate ice cream or tridimensional films or hot buttered popcorn.
“In any case, we decided to start on our journey. I know it’s a lot to take in,” Aaron said. “We’re on our own now. None of us here will live to see our destination, but we’re starting an adventure the likes of which mankind has never undertaken before.”
“Did the other seed ships make it?”
“We don’t know.” Colin stood by the window, looking out at the world. “Transfer held the long-range antennas. We’re cut off from whatever else is going on out there.”
Hammond took his hand. “I wanted to thank you for what you did. Your arrival was opportune, but more than that, you risked your life to save ours, and for that I am truly grateful.”
“You’re welcome. It wasn’t just me, though. Hey, where’s Dav?”
“Your friend?”
Eddy n
odded.
“He can’t have gone far. I’m sure he just needed a break, after the trip you two took to get here.”
Eddy nodded. No matter what he’d lost along the way, he was here now. He had a future, unlike so many billions of others. He had to make the most of it.
Andy looked down at him, a curious smile on her face. “I’ve never been to Earth. What was it like?”
He smiled, gesturing for her to sit next to him and make herself comfortable.
“When I was a little boy, I used to love to look up at the big blue sky….”
Glossary – The Stark Divide
3Cast: 3-D TV
41 Daphne: Second asteroid incorporated into Forever
43 Ariadne: Asteroid used to start Forever
Aaron Hammond: Oldest son of Jackson and Glory Hammond; Director of Forever Project 2160
Affinity Link: Connection between human and ship mind
Lex: Ship-mind of the Dressler, World-mind of Forever
Alexandria “Ria” Tanner: Sister to Trip, one of the glider fliers
Alifir Trees: “Native” Forever trees, piney scent
Allied African States: Union of African nations
AmSplor: The space arm of the NAU
Anastasia Anatov: crew on the Dressler, doctor/geneticist
Anatov Fungus: Fungus that brought down the Dressler
Anatov Mountains: Mountains between Darlith and Micavery; formerly the Dragon’s Reach
Andrissa “Andy” Hammond: Daughter of Aaron Hammond
Keera Kelly: Aaron’s love interest; Family from Ireland
Ashton: Part of the North Pole crew
Aspin: A Mission-class ship
Astrid: Dormitory building in McAvery Port
Axion-Class Ship: Biological-mechanical hybrid ships newer and larger than Mission-class
Bio-Grafts: Plants dependent on the host world to survive
Biomind: Artificial minds that sit at the boundary of computers and AI-Human minds
Brad Evers: Community ambassador at the refugee camp
Bug Drone: Spy drone the size of a bumblebee
The Stark Divide Page 28