The Redwood Trilogy Box Set

by Jaxon Reed

  Jeremy told us the newspapers and gossip sheets on New Texas went nuts, and President Montoya had to provide extra security to keep the paparazzi away. I did not miss the attention, and felt that was one of the major perks of living on a frontier planet.

  I let Jeremy know about the chalet Dee Dee and I stayed at for our honeymoon. He thanked me later, and agreed the place was absolutely outstanding.

  The other two couples flew off to different ag experiment stations, which I thought was a good idea. There was nobody out there and they brought plenty of food. An AES would be a great place to spend time alone together. They were all gone for a week.

  -+-

  With State restrictions lifted, and no more State to enforce them anyway, we were able to resume biological research on the planet. We gave the monkeys a wide berth, letting the hematophages settle back into their natural role as predator for the primate population. But there seemed to be an almost infinite number of other organisms. We had very little to go on, since research had been suppressed for years.

  Dee Dee and I started doing field surveys, which I found fascinating. I finally began classifying organisms never seen before by anyone. As the discoverer, by time-honored tradition, I was afforded the privilege of naming them. I quickly garnered 22 to my credit. Mostly insects, but three small mammals as well. Small for Redwood, that is. They were slightly bigger than Old Earth grizzly bears.

  Dee Dee beat me, though. She found and classified 38 different birds during that same stretch of time. She has a real knack for ornithology. I kidded her one night before bed and said I always knew she was flighty. She laughed and said she was just winging it. We stayed awake, thinking up as many bird puns as possible.

  The couples returned from their honeymoon and dived (literally) into maritime research, which had been completely neglected. Jacob and Jason found a small research vessel near Ranger Station Beta, which was located closer to the ocean than Alpha. The boat had been in storage for years but was still serviceable.

  With the help of a small team of Technicians from the city, they managed to launch it back into the ocean, and began performing maritime research. They transmitted underwater photography back to Redwood City, and we sent it on to New Bryan.

  Some of video was amazing. They called one of the specimens “the ghost fish.” About fifty feet long and almost as wide, it was pale white and translucent. It floated directionless through the water, and seemed to absorb other fish who became trapped in it.

  The four spent weeks together out on the boat, and they seemed to grow much closer to one another during that time.

  -+-

  Humanity’s days on Redwood drew to an end as preparations for reconfiguring the Janus rings were finalized. People began going, more and more leaving with each spaceship headed back to New Texas.

  In a conference call, President Montoya told us there had been considerable debate about what to do with the city, the experiment stations, and the Ranger stations. Finally, a consensus had been reached. The ecological impact of humans on the planet had been minimal, thanks to State concerns about vampires. Redwood City had been erected in a relative dead zone. We were to take with us what we could, but otherwise everything would be abandoned, including all infrastructure.

  The last spaceship landed at the spaceport, and everybody spent the day making final preparations for departure.

  A thought crossed my mind. I had been entertaining it for a while almost subconsciously, but after Montoya told us everything would be left in place, I started giving the idea full consideration.

  Dee Dee and I went for a walk through the gardens on the top level, which had entirely emptied of people by that time. We had a long talk and came to a consensus of our own.

  Jason made a “final boarding call” over the city-wide com system. We took the elevator down to the ground level and walked out to the spaceport holding hands.

  The Professor and Mrs. Cruz were there, supervising the loading of people and supplies. Everybody stopped when they saw us approaching with no luggage.

  Mrs. Cruz furrowed her eyebrows, mildly confused.

  “You’re not bringing anything?”

  “We’re not going,” I said.

  Somebody went inside the ship and brought out those inside. Everybody gathered around. We had their undivided attention.

  I cleared my throat.

  “The whole point of blowing up the Janus rings is to isolate Redwood, so that nobody tries to gain access to the hematophagic primates. We don’t want despots living forever, and we don’t want the State to create an invincible army.

  “But if Dee Dee and I leave, it defeats the whole point of isolating this planet. As long as we’re out there, easy access to the same thing is available to the wrong side, and they won’t have to fly a hundred and fifty years through space to get it.”

  I could see Mrs. Cruz tearing up. I figured she’d take it hard. She had already lost one daughter, and now she’d never see the second one again. The Professor didn’t look happy, either.

  He said, “Tony protected you on New Texas. We can keep you safe there.”

  “For how long, Professor? Because nobody knows how long we’ll live. They say maybe forever, barring some unforeseen circumstance. Can President Montoya keep us safe forever? How about the President who comes after him? And the next one, and the next?”

  Dee Dee said, “We still had to deal with some of those people, even with the University’s provisions for our safety. That’s never going to stop. Somebody will keep trying to get us, even if they wait decades to make another attempt. Even worse, we can’t imagine what might happen if they try to get to us through you.”

  Everybody blinked. I noticed several people shuffling their feet nervously. Nobody had thought much about that, I gathered. We had seen what Phang was willing to do to Connie in order to make the Professor compliant. Others would no doubt try and capture those closest to us in order to gain leverage on us if we returned. But if we stayed, it removed us from the equation, just like the monkeys.

  “We’re staying,” I said firmly. “If anybody says anything about it, tell them we’re the perfect stewards for this place. We’ll keep an eye on everything, and we’ll continue researching the planet, too. We’ll keep sending reports to A and M.”

  There was more discussion about the details, but ultimately they let us stay. There wasn’t much they could say to make a convincing argument against the idea. It just made sense.

  Our ecological impact would continue to be minimal, and we could add to humanity’s knowledge by remaining and continuing the research. And so long as travel to Redwood was extraordinarily difficult, our “gift,” as Phang put it, would stay safe along with the monkeys’.

  Everybody cried. We hugged everyone. I shook hands with several people. Many last minute pictures were taken.

  The final moments before departure were spent with our closest friends. Dee Dee hugged Andrea and Charlie. They sniffled and shared a few quiet words with one another.

  I shook hands solemnly with Jacob and Jason.

  “Tell Jeremy I said hi when you get back. Y’all raise a pint for me at The Minor Prophet.”

  They both said they would, then turned away quickly so I wouldn’t see them crying as they walked back to the ship.

  Major Moore gave us both a hug, then hurried inside. Sergeant Sledge shook our hands, with a serious expression on his face.

  “Don’t like leaving anybody behind. But I guess it’s for the best.”

  We said goodbye to everybody else, and waved at several of them as they crowded around the entrance to the ship.

  Then the door shut.

  We moved back out of the way, and watched the ship take off. We followed it with our eyes until it became a speck in the sky, then it disappeared.

  -+-

  Later that evening I pulled up a lounge chair next to the one Dee Dee sat in. We sat facing the southern sky next to the glass wall of the bubble on top of Redwood City. We wer
e now the last two humans on the planet.

  I gave her a champagne flute, and popped the cork off a rare vintage imported all the way from Brasilia.

  “I’m sure we have a finite supply of those,” Dee Dee said with a smile.

  “That’s right. This is from The Old Man’s private stock. Only a few hundred bottles of it left. But, I’ve been thinking about ways to replenish supplies. I think we’ll have lots of time to experiment as vintners.”

  I topped her glass. We clinked them together and settled back in the lounge chairs as darkness spread across the sky.

  “I’m sure we’ll deplete the blood banks first,” she said.

  I nodded.

  We watched as a cat wandered by, paying us little attention.

  “Is their blood really that nasty?”

  I shrugged.

  “You get hungry enough, you won’t care what it tastes like.”

  I pulled out a portable humidor and handed her a Redwood cigar, then took one for myself. We both lit up and watched the stars twinkle for a while.

  “What time is it supposed to happen?”

  I glanced up at a clock nearby.

  “Right about now, I think.”

  “Will we be able to see it?”

  “If we do, it should be somewhere around there.”

  I pointed with my cigar in a general part of the sky I thought the Janus orbited.

  We watched in silence for another minute.

  Then we saw it. A small flash up in the sky. The Janus was gone.

  New Texas had sent a drone through that exploded as soon it entered our space, taking out the ring. A similar drone, we knew, had simultaneously taken out the other Janus leading to Orange.

  We were now cut off from the string. Nobody could reach us without spending at least a century and a half in space to get here. We couldn’t leave either.

  We looked at each other and smiled.

  At least, I thought to myself, we’ve got each other. We’re not alone.

  Epilogue

  This completes my personal recollections of the events surrounding our small part in the University Revolution. I’m sending it in the data packet along with this month’s research reports for storage at New Texas A&M’s library, and I hope that somebody may find it useful someday.

  It takes about five minutes for data packets to cross the light years over to New Texas. It’s a long way from the telepresence calls we were used to sharing. Now we’re limited to communicating mostly by email.

  We’ve been here a year now, and of course it’s still good to hear news from friends and family. We heard Charlie’s pregnant, and if the other triplets hold true to their nature, a race may soon be on to see who can have the most kids. Or maybe not. Dee Dee thinks the women may not want to participate in a child-bearing contest.

  We continue to classify new organisms and collect other data. We’ve got some interesting side projects going as well. I’ve restarted Kalinowski’s tobacco harvesting at AES 3, so we’ll have a virtually unlimited supply of cigars. I always remember Ulysses S. Grant when I light one up, though. I try to practice everything in moderation, especially with cigars and alcohol. Even if cigars can’t kill me like they did General Grant, I figure self control is always a good thing regardless.

  In the meantime, we continue to live. At Physician Kumai’s request, we send biological data on ourselves every month along with our research reports. So far, nothing has changed. I think by now maybe she’s lost interest since she can’t poke or prod us directly anymore.

  Hopefully we’ll be able to continue taking care of the infrastructure left behind, and keep collecting data on the only planet humans have abandoned. At least, it’s the only one abandoned so far.

  I understand that the next planet in the string is due to be opened in a few years. Long range scans from the drones headed toward it reveal it’s a very cold place, and the only part suitable for human life is a thin band around the equator.

  Names are decided by a committee back on Old Earth. I remember talking with the triplets about that, trying to figure out the pattern behind planet names. But now that we know a committee makes the decisions, it makes more sense.

  There are several relatively cold planets in the string, and most of the good regional names have been taken. We heard a faction on the naming committee pushed hard for the planet to be called “New Greenland.” But a strong wave of support came in at the last minute for “Thule,” which is an ancient name for distant lands to the north. I guess they thought it was appropriate, since Thule will be the last planet in the string for a while.

  “String” isn’t really accurate, anymore. The Janus rings now connect New Texas to Orange, bypassing us. And Orange is still connected to Old Earth, making the string, in effect, a circle. The plan is to start a new string from Orange to Thule, so Orange will have four Janus rings in orbit. One to Old Earth, one to Redwood, one to Thule, and an inactive one to counterbalance the Janus to Thule.

  I still feel a little uneasy with a Janus to Old Earth being this close to us. But, since I can’t do anything about it I try not to worry too much. I’m comforted by the fact it would take a ship almost 200 standard years to travel from Orange to Redwood without a Janus, or about 150 years from New Texas. Hopefully that will prevent anyone coming here searching for “the fountain of youth” or a “super soldier serum.”

  But if they do, we’ll be ready for them. Dee Dee and I have made extensive contingency plans for unwanted guests.

  Meanwhile, we’ll continue our research. Right now we’re trying to figure out if one of the smaller mammals can be domesticated. If so, that might provide us with some additional companionship, not to mention an extra blood supply if we ever run out of cats.

  We’ll see. The smallest mammal we’ve found so far weighs almost a ton. But, hope springs eternal, and we’ll keep looking. In the meantime, we haven’t grown tired of each other yet. I don’t think we ever will.

  Until my next transmission, this is Marcus Savitch, signing off.

  THE END

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  Addendum: A Brief Discussion of the Janus String

  Faster than light travel is not possible. But, Janus rings provide a man-made wormhole allowing spaceships to jump vast distances.

  Each ring exists in two places at once, one side in orbit around one planet, the other in orbit around the next planet. By traveling through the ring, a ship instantly ports from the orbit of one to the other.

  The rings orbit their respective planets about 240,000 miles out. Each ring stays diametrically opposite to its partner. Janus 1 orbits around Old Earth. Go through it and you come to the first planet we colonized, Europa. In geosynchronous orbit on the other side of Europa is Janus 2, which leads to Asiana. Janus 3 leads to Bharata, and so forth.

  When new habitable planets are identified, drone ships begin traveling toward it. Some of these drones have been traveling for centuries, and new planets may be added to the string every few decades.

  Once they arrive at their destination, the drones assemble a new set of rings in orbit. The one going back down string is linked to the “empty” or “counterbalance” ring left on the last planet in the string.

  This is a list of the planets in the string before the University Revolution, and their respective Janus rings:

  Janus 0 - Old Earth - Janus 1 - Europa - Janus 2 - Asiana - Janus 3 - Bharata - Janus 4 - Africana -Janus 5 - Australiana -Janus 6 - Americana - Janus 7 - Oceana - Janus 8 - Brittania - Janus 9 - Hispaniola - Janus 10 - Deutchlandia - Janus 11 - Nihon - Janus 12 - Hanguk - Janus 13 - Nederland - Janus 14 - Mesopotamia - Janus 15 - Pacifica - Janus 16 - Caledonia - Janus 17 - Icelandia - Janus 18 - New Scotland - Janus 19 - New France - Janus 20 - New Moravia - Janus 21 - New Indonesia - Janus 22 - New Siberia - Janus 23 - Brasilia - Janus 24 - New Hong Kong - Janus 25 - Alexandria - Janus 26 - Athena - Janus 27 - New Texas
- Janus 28 - Redwood - Janus 29 - Orange - Janus 30

  In the last days of the revolution, Janus 30 was connected to Janus 0, making the string a circle. Janus 28 and 29 were then destroyed, cutting Redwood out of the string. A new Janus was installed connecting Orange with New Texas, Janus 31, with Janus 0 serving as its counterbalance. Afterward the circle looked like this:

  . . . Athena - Janus 27 - New Texas - Janus 31 - Orange - Janus 0 - Old Earth . . .

  Janus 32 and Janus 33 were then established around Orange. Janus 32 served as the counterbalance, while 33 linked with Thule. This made Orange a crossroads of sorts, as the only planet with four rings.

  It’s conceivable that two strings could stretch from Orange sometime in the future. Janus 32 could be attached to a counterpart somewhere. More likely, however, Janus 34, the counterpart to Janus 33 orbiting around Thule, will be connected to the next habitable planet.

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