Helt moved closer to Wills as though to minimize the possibility of being overheard, “It did it; it set up a very nonstandard airflow pattern that starts at 2230 hours and switches back to standard mode at 0100.”
Wills considered the implications, “Is there anything that you can point at and say that it’s wrong?”
Helt’s eyes lost focus and wandered, “Ahh . . . no; all I can point at is things going right.” He locked eyes with Wills again, “Have you got any idea how much that bothers me?”
Wills smiled, “I promised CeCe a roll and coffee; so I’m leaving before your paranoia rubs off on me.”
##
“
Hayes’ feet had barely touched the ground at the bottom of the Santana’s ladder when he heard the familiar tiny voice. The little girl that he now called Eva came running up to him and took his hand; she had a smile on her face. Apparently what constituted a monster on Forest was not too awfully frightening.
He pulled his bag from the open hatch and started walking to the seating area. He could see Pressler and Mays were already there; they were both holding cups of hot coffee. Many of the locals were still camped out around the sides of the field but none had moved back onto the field itself since they were told to clear it last night.
Hayes diverted slightly and stopped where Eva’s parents were sitting at the edge of the path to the town. “Will you sit by me and my friends? I would like to talk to you.”
Hayes took his usual seat and got out a piece of butterscotch for Eva while her parents moved their stuff to a spot near them. He pointed at Pressler, “This is Pressler and this is Mays. They command two of the ships that have come to help your people.”
He then indicated Eva, “This is Eva, and these are her parents.”
They both said “hello”; Eva pointed at Mays, “
Mays’ eyes shifted from Eva to Hayes, “Ah . . . what?”
He grinned at the look on her face, “When we first met, she asked me if I was a monster. Since then, humans are generally classified as monsters but in a friendly way. It also seems that she recognizes you as a girl.”
“Okay, thanks for that.”
Hayes turned his attention to Eva’s parents, “My two friends and I are the small workers here; Ames and Twisst are the leaders of our group and they are talking to the leaders of your people. We would like to know what you and your friends think about this. Are any of your friends ready to leave?” He pointed at the floaters, “These small ships are ready to take some of you to the ships that will take them to my planet where it is safe.”
They looked at each other and exchanged a few words too quietly to be heard. Eva’s Mother spoke, “We have
Hayes lowered his eyes and nodded; he turned his head toward Pressler and Mays, “I think they see us as the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse. Everything was fine until we arrived with a message of doom.”
“CONTACT WITH SHIP’S BEACON - IDENTITY, CARGO VESSEL WINSLOW.”
“AI, acknowledged.”
Mays stood up and walked closer to Eva’s parents, “Another ship has just arrived; it will be able to take a thousand of you to safety. It is unfortunate that you know about us only because of the problem you face, but we are doing what we can do and all that we can do.”
She pointed at Hayes, “I have known Hayes for many years; I know that he is a good man, and I can see now that he likes Eva. If he has to leave here knowing that you refused to leave and that Eva died because of your fear, he will carry an evil memory of her useless death for the rest of his life.”
Mays was getting slightly agitated and shaking a finger, “You have known for many years, probably all of your lives, that there was a problem; you ignored it and hoped it would go away. Well, it hasn’t, and the day has arrived that you must choose to die here or get on those ships and leave. In two or three of your days, the last ship will arrive and your people must be here in large numbers. When that ship gets here, it will have a short time before it must leave to get away from the radiation wave. In about four of your days, we will all be gone. Will you still be sitting here watching Eva die in your arms or will you be on your way to a new and beautiful world?”
She had a grim expression as she reclaimed her seat, “Sorry about that, Hayes; I hope I haven’t dropped a wrench in your gears. I have a limited tolerance for people that don’t know what they’re doing.”
“Don’t worry about it; I haven’t had a good feeling about our progress here anyway.”
Eva’s parents were silent for awhile after Mays’ rant before they began quietly talking. A minute later, they got up.
“We will talk with friends - Eva come”
Eva took her Mother’s hand and they walked toward other groups.
Pressler stretched, “If we’re going to be here for a few days, we’re going to have to organize rotating watches; I fully expected to be back in isolator drive hours ago. Right now, I need a shower and breakfast.”
Mays rose with him, “Me too; we’ll be back in a bit.”
Hayes watched as they posted one of their other crew members to watch the remaining floaters, and they lifted for their respective ships.
#
“CONTACT WITH SHIP’S BEACON - IDENTITY, CARGO VESSEL PUGNACIOUS.”
“AI, acknowledged.”
Hayes was sitting with Pressler, Mays, Wilson Stark, the First Officer of the Winslow, and Beverly Wolfe, the Chief Engineer; their two cargo floaters had joined the growing fleet in the field. Ames and Twisst had not returned yet but Hayes had caught up the new arrivals on the situation and introduced them to his friend, the furry bad attitude. Actually, things were going well with that situation and Hayes had gotten his first chance to meet the puppies. They were reluctant to come out from under the bush but Mom coaxed them out.
An hour later, the floaters from the Pugnacious were down; Captain Teresa Wainsworth and Second Officer Harold Hoffman had joined the group. About that time, Ames and Twisst returned from the town with Joe and a few of the other Forest leaders.
“CONTACT WITH SHIP’S BEACON - IDENTITY, PASSENGER VESSEL GREGORY FALLS.”
“AI, acknowledged.”
Hayes turned toward Ames, “Well, Doc; it seems we are almost all gathered. Have we all come here for a glorious purpose or will this be a tale of great regret that we tell our children?”
Ames scratched the side of his head, “I think we have some movement; Joe had a description of the situation here sent to all of the other towns and told them that they may send anyone that wants to go. There is some panic out there and I am expecting some refugees; I don’t know how many.”
Captain Wainsworth was irritated, “I expected to be loading as soon as I hit dirt; now I find out that the locals are sucking their thumbs in indecisive fright. I had a lucrative contract waiting at Barrimore but Reynolds stuck a bayonet up my ass, and now I’m stuck on this butt boil.”
She turned to Ames and held a finger to his nose, “You start these backwoods yahoos loading in two hours, or I’m gone.”
An uneasy and slightly shocked silence fell over their group and a large number of nearby locals. The AI had not translated the outburst, but the emotion was clear enough.
“Actually, Captain, you should be talking to me.”
Hayes opened another pouch of butterscotch candy as Wainsworth turned to face him.
“And why should I be talking to you, Lieutenant?” The sneer that colored that last word was more than obvious.
He held the open pouch and looked up at her with a gentle smile on his face as he chewed on a lump of candy, “Because, while Doctor Ames and Doctor Twisst are in charge of relations with the inha
bitants of this planet, Admiral Reynolds gave me full authority over all ship traffic in this system. If you attempt to leave without clearance from me, I will have one of the patrol ships cut your AG ring to pieces then take you and your crew aboard under arrest.”
Commander Mays raised her hand and did a silly schoolgirl bounce on her seat; “Oh! Oh! Me! Me!”
Hayes bowed toward the trigger-happy destroyer Captain, “The privilege is yours Captain Mays; here, have a butterscotch.”
She reached into the pouch with one hand while she pressed on her com pad with the other, “Mays to Rance.”
“Rance here, Captain.”
“New standing watch order; weapons console is to be manned at all times. If any ship breaks orbit without clearance from Lieutenant Hayes, you will fire a warning shot and advise them of the error of their ways. If they still don’t see things your way, you will correct their thinking by chewing on their AG ring and arresting the crew. Any questions?”
“No ma’am; crystal clear.”
She took her hand from the com pad and started chewing the candy.
Wainsworth looked from one to the other with an expression of disbelief taking over her face.
“Try to relax, Captain; we shouldn’t be here more than four more days. The Contact Commission will make good any losses that you suffer, and give you a grand Certificate of Commendation that you can brag about. Here, have a butterscotch.”
“It’s very good butterscotch.” he called after her as she stomped back to the nearest of her two floaters.
The intensity of their exchange had been an item of extreme interest to the nearest groups of Foresters; two older males approached Hayes.
“Is a greater problem for us
Hayes stood and walked them back closer to a group of Foresters so that more could hear him, “There is tension among us. Some of these ships and their crews have been diverted from their daily business at great cost. They are unhappy to find that their sacrifice was made for nothing because you fear us and the idea of leaving your home. They came here to save your lives; now they believe they will leave you to die and their effort will have been a waste. There is anger at you for not wanting to go and anger at our leaders for sending them here for no reason.”
He left them spreading his explanation and returned to his seat where he renewed his efforts to make friends with the critter and her puppies.
#
An hour later, a call came down from the Kellogg warning of the incoming fleet of floaters from the Gregory Falls. They watched as they settled onto the field behind those that were already there--except for one. They had all been lining up for a standard approach to the open section of the field when one of them broke away from the group and swung around for a landing on the wide path between the field and the town; there were several locals on it and they had to scramble out of the way.
They all rose from their seats to watch.
“Who the Hell is that lunatic?” asked Twisst.
Hayes was pretty sure he knew, “I would have to guess that Captain Stewart Weathers of the Gregory Falls has just arrived.”
All eyes were on the forward hatch as it swung open, the stairs extended, and a neatly dressed steward posted himself at the bottom of the stairs and saluted.
Pressler leaned closer to Mays, “Any ideas on how we get our people to do that?”
She leaned back toward him, “Lots of money.”
Weathers stepped out onto the top step.
“What the frozen bells of Hell is that?” Hayes was having a hard time focusing on what had to be the shiniest object on the surface of Forest; everyone was.
“Before I came out here, I went through a military museum on Earth.” said Twisst. “That looks like the uniform of a nineteenth century Prussian artillery officer, only worse.”
Everyone in the group, including all of the Foresters within sight of the apparition was paralyzed as it approached. Hayes swept his incredulous gaze from the mirrored black boots with the ruby encrusted, gold toe tips, up the dark burgundy slacks with the elaborately patterned gold and jeweled stripes up the sides. The soft, cream colored jacket was so heavily embroidered with burgundy colored metallic thread and encrusted with gold highlights that Hayes thought it had to weigh ten kilos or more. The ruby and gold buttons and jewelers nightmare of a sword were a nice touch, but the puffy, burgundy cap with the shiny gold visor made the entire scene more than his mind could handle; he dropped to his seat and then to the ground, struggling to breathe as he laughed hysterically.
The scene turned into a comedy show as the infectious laughter spread to the Foresters who had not been sure as to what the aliens thought of this new arrival; he could have been their Slave Master or God for all they knew.
Weathers stood there and fumed with his left hand maintaining a death-grip on the Ardmore Tree Lizard skin wrapped grip of his sword. The fact that all of the humans were wearing ship suits or plain duty uniforms did not add to his satisfaction.
“MADIGAN!” he yelled and began stripping off the jacket. Madigan came running up and saluted, “Yes, Sir!”
“STOP WITH THAT DAMNED SALUTING!” he yelled again as he jammed the cap, jacket, and sword into Madigan’s arms. “PUT THESE IN THE FLOATER!”
Weathers was still grinding his teeth when Hayes was able to stand and put his arm around his shoulders. Between gulps of air, “Captain, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart; we needed a good laugh, and you gave it to us.”
Weathers still had a tight look on his face as he sat down and asked, “What’s the situation down here; how soon can I expect to start loading?”
Hayes looked at Ames, who took up the question, “It may not go as well as we were hoping; it is possible that you might be leaving this system as empty as you arrived. We have not--“
Ames broke off as something in back of Hayes caught his attention. Hayes turned and saw that a large number of the Foresters gathered around the field had risen and were coming toward them. Hayes wasn’t sure of the feeling that passed through him; all he knew was that something was about to happen. Ames, Twisst, and Joe came up beside him as an older male stopped in front of them, tipped his head toward Joe, and waved an arm at the group that surrounded him.
“We will do this
Joe made a subdued ducking motion and turned to Ames.
“Take as many of my people as you can to this new world”
Joe turned, waved, and called to someone further back in the group; Susan came forward.
“It is correct that this sky watcher will send our people to the stars - give her your wishes - all here will obey her”
Joe and two others turned and headed back toward the town. A heavy cloud seemed to settle over the crowd that stood in the warm sunlight.
Hayes turned to one of the Foresters standing near him, “What made you decide to go?”
“You laugh”
##
“Breakout in three, two, one.”
The Weasel returned to normal space just past the worst of the flares that were tearing up the surface of the Forest primary after a snapshot jump and began maneuvering for alignment to Forest.
“Kellogg to Weasel.”
“Weasel to Kellogg, this is Reynolds; how are things going?”
Wills sat back and waited the several minutes it took to get a response.
“Reasonably well now, Admiral; there was a problem getting things moving until three days ago. However, the Winslow left two days ago with a full load, and the Pugnacious should be leaving in a couple of hours. The Gregory Falls has just begun loading.”
“Glad to hear it. We will be making our approach for landing as planned. ETA to ground is three hours.”
“Acknowledged, Admiral.”
Wills swept his gaze across the console and the resonator display. The Weasel would be aligned for a jump to Forest in a couple of hours; until then, he just had to wait and watch.
; CeCe was studying the systems readings from the isolator drive initiation that they had just gone through, “Captain Helt, I’m seeing a fifty-eight percent drop in conformal arrest timing from the previous activation. Do you have that?”
“Yes, I do.” came the reply from the screen. “I also have an accumulator pulse that was an even twenty-six percent below what it should have been. It seems that the Silverman is learning a smoother and less energy intensive way to do things.” Helt smiled, “I have a feeling that a whole bunch of isolator theorists are going to be writing a whole bunch of books when we get back.”
“Admiral!”
Stoker and Treelam had been studying the latest download from the Solar Monitor at the work station built into the low table in front of the seating area.
Wills came over and sat next to Stoker, “What do you have?”
“It looks as though you will have less than twenty hours on the surface before you must leave. At about mid-morning tomorrow at Watts the radiation levels will take a sharp jump as Forest begins crossing the orbital plane of the anomaly. The Weasel’s hull will offer some protection but those outside will acquire a lethal dose very quickly, thus eliminating any point in transporting them.”
Wills sat for a moment absorbing the rich wash of deadly colored graphics on the screen before rising and returning to the control console.
“Weasel to Santana; Hayes?”
Once again, the minutes passed, “Santana here; go ahead Admiral.”
“We expect to be on the ground in less than three hours. Doctors Stoker and Treelam tell me we will have only about twenty hours before the radiation reaches unacceptable levels. I want you to get things moving as quickly as possible. Getting 100,000 people up those rail lines and on this ship will take time that we no longer have.”
“Sir, if I were you, I wouldn’t count on having a full load. As it is, we’re having a slow time getting enough of them to fill the Gregory Falls. I have already sent some of the local leaders to the other towns by floater to get them moving, and I’m keeping all floaters here and using crew members from the Kellogg and Rance to pilot them and make pickups in those towns.”
Ariticle Six Page 10