Wills nodded as he listened to Hayes’ report, “Okay, Hayes; it sounds like you’re doing everything you can. Push as hard as you can. See you in a bit.”
##
Hayes stood with Captain Weathers next to the floater parked on the path to the town. Susan was guiding another group of Foresters that had come up on the railroad system. They all gawked at Hayes, Weathers, the Santana, and the two grounded floaters. Susan looked worn out and near ready to drop. A young couple with a small child that was part of the group she was leading had stopped at the town-end of the path and had the look of people that had just passed their reality tolerance limit. Susan was also well past some sort of tolerance limit; she was yelling at them.
“THEN DIE HERE!”
She stomped past them to catch up with the group that was now milling around one of the floaters from the Winslow.
Hayes leaned a little closer to Weathers, “Now there is one advanced case of frustration.”
“Kellogg to Santana.”
“This is Hayes; go ahead.”
“Lieutenant, the Pugnacious is now fully loaded and will be ready to depart in a few minutes. I have diverted all floater traffic to the Gregory Falls.”
“Excellent; thank you.”
Hayes picked up his last pouch of butterscotch candy and wandered over to the, still panicked, couple, “Here, have one of these.”
The female moved to hide behind the male and the little boy behind her; the male had the look of someone wishing for his own hiding place. It was highly probable that this was their first sight of the aliens.
“In a couple of hours, a very large ship will come down and land over there.” Hayes turned and pointed southward past the field, “It will be a sight that few people get to see; I have never seen one of these ships land or take off. If you would like to watch it land, you should sit over there.” He pointed to the seating area that he normally used.
His intent was to put something in their minds that was strange but benign and would break through the current lockup. Their eyes gradually lost that blank look and became something that looked a bit closer to confusion. He pointed to the seats and encouraged them to head in that direction.
After he had them seated, he went back to sit on the lip of the grav plate apron next to Weathers, “What was that all about?”
Hayes shrugged, “Just your standard panic attack; there has been a constant flow of advanced fear reactions when floaters arrived in the outlying towns. When I arrived here with Ames and Twisst, we had the advantage of a slower start and landing on the edge of town for a less threatening presentation. The floaters have to set down right in the middle of the towns because of the lack of time, and that has had a cultural shock effect even with the Watts locals that are on the floaters.”
He waved a hand at the couple, “They can sit there all night if they want and get used to us; their final decision time will come when the Weasel is ready to leave.”
“How soon will I be ready to leave?”
“I don’t know; let me check. Hayes to Kellogg.”
“Kellogg here, Lieutenant.”
“How are we doing on loading the Gregory Falls?”
“I would call it slow. Reports indicate that we were lucky to get the Winslow and Pugnacious loaded and gone. I would not expect to achieve a full load before dawn tomorrow, your time.”
“Alright, the Gregory Falls is cleared to leave twenty hours from now without consideration of load status. The same goes for the Kellogg and Rance. If possible, take some passengers, but if there is no traffic, you are to be on your way.”
“Acknowledged, Lieutenant; twenty hours.”
Hayes turned to Weathers, “Captain, if you still have floaters coming up, I would expect you to wait as far into the twenty-two hour window that we now have.”
“I will, Lieutenant.”
Several minutes and a half dozen butterscotch discs later, “Say, Captain, I just had an idea; this may sound crazy, but how about you put that uniform back on and take your floater to the other towns and try to convince them that the Fun Ship is now loading. It just might give them the jolt they need and get you out of here quicker.”
Weathers slowly turned his head and stared at Hayes--like he had just fallen out of a tree.
Weathers stood up and yelled, “MADIGAN!”
He then headed for the stairs as Madigan came from the back of the floater where he and the pilot had been resting, “GET LANDIS UP; WE’RE OUT OF HERE.”
Hayes backed away from the floater as Weathers tapped the lock plate and the stairs swung up. Two minutes later, the floater was disappearing to the east.
Hayes resumed his normal seat on the sidelines, watched the remaining floater lift for the Gregory Falls, and Susan trudge back into town to try and assemble another group. There were still thousands of Foresters in Watts, but they were locked in a battle between fear of the aliens promised future and fear of the promised death. Only Susan and a couple of other sky watchers were totally convinced of what would arrive with the next day.
Hayes slumped to the ground so he could rest his back against the seat and closed his eyes; the long rotational period of Forest was turning into a bad case of what used to be called jet lag and was now known as system switching.
There was no one around except the couple and their child at the other end of the seating area. There were no locals lining the field. Ames and Twisst were town hopping; it was just the silent bulk of the Santana, the warm sun, and the gentlest of breezes.
His mind slid down that soft path to a restful doze and images felt more than seen of Archer and the girl he was getting so serious about. She liked to tease him a little and would, occasionally, lick his ear--just like that--
“UH, WHAT!”
He jerked awake with the feel of a warm, wet tongue in his left ear. After flailing for a second and wiping his wet ear, he saw that Bad Attitude was his current tease. She had jumped back at his startled response, lying low on the ground, and looking at him.
“I have a girlfriend back home that would not approve of another girl doing that. Come here!”
He waved his arm and patted the side of his leg; she came over and lay beside him while he got the beef jerky pouch out of his bag. The smell and her chewing brought the puppies to the party and he gave them each a stick to chew on. When they had finished, he picked them up and started stroking them. They were a bit uncertain about this treatment but managed to put up with it with less and less concern as the days had passed.
##
“Ready!”
Wills entered a command at his console and CeCe’s chair configured for close maneuvering.
This time, she hung face down in virtual open space as they dropped almost straight down toward the sunlit face of Forest. Numbers hung in space to the side of her expansive view and indicated just under a thousand kilometers to the designated target area and decelerating through 10kps. She waited until they passed 300km before reducing power to the AG ring from 60 percent to 50 percent. At this rate of deceleration they would come to a complete stop 5km above the surface. She spent the remaining seconds lining up for a vertical descent to the rocky point just south of Watts.
“Landing struts down.”
“Landing struts coming down.”
The 200 meter diameter circle of virtual pads appeared in her vision.
“All landing struts indicate down and locked.”
She backed the power down to 45 percent at 50km and watched the ground coming up; the impact indicator was dead on her selected site.
#
Word had spread that the big alien ship was on its way down, and the game field was crowded again. Hayes sat on his usual seat holding the puppies and scanning the sky; Eva and her parents had joined the gathering, and Eva was standing next to Hayes’ knee, looking up where he said the ship would appear.
The sky was cloudless and there was nothing to focus on, so Hayes just let his vision wander in the general area until a
small dot appeared.
He pointed at it and yelled, “THERE IT IS!”
Translation was not required and the Foresters followed the line of his arm to a dot that was now a disc that was growing larger by the second. Hayes had been on the Weasel twice during its rebuild, so he was well aware of the size of the thing that was dropping almost straight toward them; he kept shifting his gaze between the growing bulk in the sky and the expressions of the locals.
Hayes figured the Weasel was still a couple of kilometers up when the locals started to get the idea of just how much sky this thing blocked out and their depth perception started to provide accurate information. Expressions started shifting through the spectrum from anticipation to alarm.
Hayes stood and raised his free hand to gather attention, “DON’T WORRY, I KNOW THE PERSON THAT IS FLYING THIS SHIP AND SHE IS DOING A PERFECT JOB.”
A nearby male turned to him and asked, “The one person bringing this vessel down is female
It hadn’t occurred to him that that would be a surprise, “Yes!”
##
The area CeCe was falling toward had been tested by remotes and determined to be solid bedrock. The only thing they didn’t like was the variable depth of the clay and soil layer that covered it. The pads nearest the drop-off to the ocean-front below would only sink into a few centimeters of overburden while those furthest away would touch down on almost three meters of it. The depth variance was well within the landing struts’ compensation range but would require care on liftoff.
“Activate auto-level.”
“Auto-level activated.”
CeCe delicately touched the controls under her left hand as she surveyed the positions of the virtual pads around her; she wanted the ones toward the beach placed just…so. The massive ship settled the remaining meter to the first pad contact. CeCe took slightly more power off the ring and watched the pads sink into the soft ground. More power came off and the auto-level sensors adjusted strut extensions to keep the ship level. Finally, all power to the lift ring was cut.
“Ship is grounded; finished with close maneuvering.”
Wills entered commands to reconfigure her chair, “Struts set to level and active. Minimum clearance under the ship is four meters. Good landing, Captain.”
Helt was in his usual position on the screen and joined in the praise, “That was the best landing of a Rhino that I have ever experienced; Very good, Captain.”
CeCe smiled at the praise, “Maintain all systems at departure ready status. Say, just how many landings of a Rhino have you experienced?”
Helt looked nervous, “Ah…well, let me think about that.” He started silently ticking off things on his fingers while staring off into space.
CeCe got the idea, “This was the first one, wasn’t it?”
Helt smiled brightly as he reached his last finger, “One!”
##
Hayes had never seen a Rhino-class starship take off or land either, and he was impressed at the sight of something that size settling like a feather. A lot of the Foresters had retreated in fear but most just stood there with their eyes wide and mouths open. Eva was standing on his seat with a death grip on his right arm.
He lifted Eva off the seat and started walking through the crowd, repeating, “You will now meet my commander. He has brought this ship to move as many as possible to safety. Get a few of your belongings together; we must leave before midday tomorrow.”
Some of the crowd shifted toward the town, but Hayes could tell that those that remained were not yet convinced that what was being offered to them was a good thing. He could see it in their faces that being told that they were about to die and that strange people from the stars were there to save some of them was something that most of them had not managed to wrap their minds around. He kept repeating his message until the floater arrived.
It came in slowly and settled next to the Santana after Hayes cleared the space. The crowd stood at a respectful distance, but not as far as they had before; some things were becoming familiar.
Wills and CeCe exited the cargo floater and approached Hayes. Wills noted that Hayes was neatly turned out in a standard ship suit, but had two puppies under his left arm, the mother dog happily pressed against his right leg, and a little girl with her arms wrapped around his left leg, regarding CeCe and himself with wide-eyed apprehension. They exchanged salutes.
“Hayes?”
“Sir!”
“Have you become a family man in the short time you’ve been here?”
“No, sir, but it is well known among my peers that I have a way with the ladies.”
Wills was not, totally, convinced, “Hmm . . . yes; well, at least you’re not wearing a grass skirt.”
Hayes turned to the locals that surrounded them, “This is Admiral Reynolds; he is the leader of our mission. And this is Commander Copeland; she is the Captain of that ship and the one that landed it.”
The crowd was obviously impressed by that information and talked excitedly as they pointed at CeCe and the Weasel.
Hayes smiled at the look on CeCe’s face, “They are astounded by the size of the Weasel and that one little girl brought it down; I think it’s an old fashioned sexist thing.”
Wills smiled at CeCe’s expression and turned back to face Hayes, “So, Hayes, what’s your opinion of the situation here? We need to get loaded, and we don’t have much time to load as many as the Weasel can hold.”
“Sir, at this moment they are still trying to get enough to fill the Gregory Falls. If I had to make a bet, I would say that the arrival of the Weasel is near pointless.”
Wills took a long breath and let it out slowly while he looked at the crowd in the field. He took out his pad and configured it to match Hayes’ pad.
He walked over to some of the locals, “Will you come with me to a new planet?”
They looked startled by his approach and question. After a bit of whispering among a few of them, one older male stepped slightly forward, “We cannot leave our homes -
Wills let out another long breath and motioned for the man to come closer; he did, with trepidation. He put an arm down around the shorter man’s shoulders and turned him toward the sun in the late afternoon sky.
“Tomorrow, at this time, every living thing here,” he started pointing, “the grass, the trees, the dogs, all other animals, your crops, your children, and you will be dying. You will never finish that barn because you will be dead. You will never feed your animals again because they will be dead.”
He turned the Forester to face the Weasel, “This ship was used by my people to take millions of us to other planets. Our need to go to other planets was because there were many of us and we needed more room. We have found more beautiful planets than we can use and you and your people can have one of them. You will have new animals and new lands. You will have a planet that is rich in metals, and, being near us, you will have access to new knowledge.” Wills swung his arm to point at the sun, “If you stay here, that sun will kill you tomorrow. If you get your families on that ship, your people will have a new life.”
The man wandered back to his group with a subdued expression. Wills stepped closer to another large group, “Gather your families, and walk to that ship. My people are ready for you now and all through this coming night. Do not bring your farm animals or any big tools; new tools and animals will be provided later.”
The crowd continued to mill around and talk; some headed for town and some sat on the edge of the field.
“Sir, Ames, Twisst, and I have been pushing that message since we got here, and all we have accomplished is loading two ships and, maybe, a third. You will notice there is no stampede for the Weasel.”
The three of them sat on the grav plate lip of the floater and CeCe took one of the puppies; Hayes introduced its mother who was now looking a bit worried about the new alien holding one of her babies.
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“This is BA for Bad Attitude; she really didn’t like me at first.”
Eva was still at Hayes’ knee and pointed at CeCe, “Female monster”
And Hayes had to explain that again.
“Kellogg to Santana.”
“Hayes here.”
“Lieutenant, over the last couple of hours we have seen something of a surge in arrivals at the Gregory Falls. If it keeps going this way, they will have a full load in around three hours.”
Hayes and Wills exchanged surprised looks, “Very good, Kellogg; put as many of your crew members as possible to work flying the Gregory Falls floaters. When the ship is full they are clear to leave. After that, put your people to work transporting people from the towns to the Weasel. Have them land in as close to the loading ramps as they can.”
“Will do, Lieutenant.”
“Has our message gotten through?” asked Wills.
An image of Weathers’ reconstituted collection of everything bad about a military uniform burned its way across his mind, “In a way; I think Captain Weathers is making campaign stops. I sort of gave him a bit of inspiration and told him he could leave as soon as he was loaded. I guess it’s working.”
#
Four hours later, the three of them had been joined by Stoker and Treelam in the game field’s seating area. The sun had set, the Santana’s lights lit the field, and a large delivery of cinnamon rolls had been made; they proved to be a big hit with the locals including BA and her puppies. Wills had to put in an order for a second delivery.
“Who’s this?”
Hayes looked where CeCe was pointing to see a floater making an approach to the path into town, “Given where he’s landing and the Gregory Falls logo on the nose, I would guess that Captain Weathers has arrived.”
The floater settled, the hatch opened, the stairs lowered, and Captain Weathers stepped out.
Wills was unable to avert his gaze, but he managed to grab Hayes’ arm. “Hayes, before I go blind, could you tell me what’s about to cause it?”
Ariticle Six Page 11