Jennings' Folly

by Thomas C. Stone

  She kneeled next to Uncle Pat and took Toby up in her arms. Toby had, for the moment, forgotten about the disturbing load in his pants. “Are you all right?”

  “Why do people always say that?”

  “I was asking Toby, but how about you?”

  “I’m all right.”

  “That’s what you always say.”

  Pat sighed and climbed to his feet. “Here, give him to me. I’ll change his diaper.”

  Aunt Liza handed over the baby and kissed Pat on the cheek. “See you planet side,” she said and we continued on our way as Pat took Toby into the control room.

  The deck moved under my feet and both Liza and I staggered down the passage to a compartment Liza called secondary control, but I called it my special place because nobody else ever went in there. Until then, anyway. Aunt Liza lifted me into a seat just my size and connected the straps, pulling them tight and asking me if it was uncomfortable. I shook my head no as the turbulence caused by the ship entering Dreidel’s upper atmosphere began to make me sleepy. That’s when Liza started talking to Glaucus and I could tell she was angry.

  “You didn’t give everyone a fair chance to get secure before that last maneuver. You could have killed somebody, do you know that?”

  “I acknowledge your concern, Liza; however, there are variables of which I am not fully in control. For instance, the orbital path of this planet around its star…”

  “Come on, Glaucus. Pat was holding Toby. Give a better warning.”

  “I formed the handholds for you.”

  “It wasn’t enough. Next time… no, let me retract that because there will not be a next time. Just give us ample warning so we can get somewhere and get strapped in. Is that understood?”

  There was silence from Glaucus as the turbulence abated, but then a new tremor and buzz as the impulse engines lit.

  Liza was really mad and she demanded Glaucus answer her but he didn’t.

  *

  The next thing I know, somebody was releasing the straps and picking me up. I knew it was Liza because I could smell her and I went back to sleep on her shoulder.

  *

  I woke up again in my own bed with Papaw tickling my feet. I tried to ignore him but I couldn’t and I started laughing which is usually a signal for Papaw to really double up on the tickling but he didn’t do it. Instead, he told me to get up and get dressed.

  “Time’s a’ wastin’,” he said. As he turned to exit, he ran into Aunt Liza at the door.

  “Is she up?”

  “She needs a little motivation,” Papaw said before disappearing into the outside hall.

  “Are we there? Did we land?”

  “We sure did,” said Liza. “We’re sitting beside the prettiest glacial lake you’ve ever seen.”

  “What’s that?”

  “You’ll see. But first, we need to put you into warm clothes, plus you’ll get to wear outdoor shoes, not space sox.”

  I got dressed, stuffed a small bag with last minute items – toys, mostly -- and took my last breakfast aboard the ship with Liza and Toby. When we were done, Liza put Toby in the sling which hung around her shoulders, and herded me to the main airlock which, of course, was always kept closed, but it was open this time and, along with real sunshine, cold air flowed through.

  I ran to the open outer airlock and looked down the ramp. Pat and Papaw were at the bottom as well as a breathtakingly real holographic representation of Glaucus, who stood a head taller than Papaw and Papaw was the tallest man I’ve ever seen. Yet not even Glaucus’ impressive image could prevent me from staring at what I soon learned were called “striders.”

  Three towering machines stood beyond the perimeter of the ship. They looked like people in that they had legs, arms, a torso and a head. They sat with their fronts open, exposing the operator compartment and the ingenious system of servos. The striders were white in color blending with the surrounding snow, which was another miracle wrought before my young eyes.

  I looked from the machines to the snow and then to the body of water sitting placidly in a valley nestled between snow-covered peaks, protected by cold gusts of wind.

  Pat stamped his feet and said, “We shouldn’t tarry long in this weather.”

  “Let’s mount up, then,” said Papaw. He moved towards the big machine in the middle with Kaliis timidly trailing him, squinting his alien eyes in the sunshine.

  Papaw ducked under the open door and into the chest of the machine. He sat facing outward and slipped a halo control onto his head. That must have activated the machine because it suddenly jerked upright into a ready position that not only exposed a secondary compartment but also made the total height of the machine a little over three meters. Papaw’s voice boomed from a speaker, “Kaliis, get in here!”

  The diminutive alien slumped forward to the passenger seat, located directly below the pilot’s seat, and climbed in. He mumbled something about hating tiny spaces.

  As Aunt Liza helped Uncle Pat put a grinning Toby in Pat’s strider, she sat back for a moment, fanning her face. She ran a hand over her big tummy and Pat asked if she was all right.

  “I’m fine,” she said, turning her attention back to Toby. “How’s this going to work?”

  “With the kids?” asked Pat. “We’ll manage.”

  “What if we have to stop?”

  Uncle Pat laughed. It was good to hear because he didn’t laugh much. “Then we’ll stop. We’re here, Liza. We can slow down now.”

  “I hope so,” she said.

  That’s when I thought about Glaucus. “Where’s Glaucus gonna go?” I asked Liza.

  “He’s staying here with the ship.” She added something else but I didn’t catch it because that was when Papaw closed up his strider.

  I watched in rapt fascination as the front of the machine folded up, sealing Papaw and Kaliis inside. It backed away from us before gracefully turning a pirouette and moving away in long, slow, skating steps.

  Liza kissed Toby on the cheek then backed away to where I stood. She took my hand and led me to the last strider and lifted me into the lower seat. I remember how it fit me perfectly, melding to me and warming me. It was very cold outside and the wind kept blowing.

  The strider with Pat and Toby sealed up and stood up, towering over Liza and me.

  Liza placed a booted foot next to my left armrest and pushed herself up to the pilot’s chair. The front of the strider was still open and I looked directly at Glaucus and when he looked at me in return, I remembered I hadn’t said good-bye. I threw my arms out toward him, waggling my fingers and said, “Bye-bye, big boy!”

  He smiled and lifted a hand, wiggling his giant fingers.

  The front panels closed and I had to bring my arms in but I could still see out of a viewing port. Glaucus could see me too because he kept smiling and waving until Liza made the strider stand up, turn around and go to the others.

  She joined the other two striders on the top of the nearest hill and together, all three vehicles faced the snow-covered valley. The ship was there but my friend had disappeared. “Where’s Glaucus?” I asked.

  “He’s gone inside, honey.”

  We watched as the ship silently lifted and drifted out over the lake. It dropped, slowly, to the water’s surface where it hesitated an instant before continuing its descent into the depths of the lake and disappearing altogether.

  “Glaucus not coming with?”

  “No, he’s staying with the ship.”

  “Why?”

  “Because we have to hide the ship.”

  “Why?”

  “Because Glaucus is unique. If people knew where he was, they’d want to take him for themselves.”

  “But now he’s all alone.”

  “He’s a machine, Amanda. He won’t mind.”

  I told Aunt Liza he was more than a machine but she had already starting guiding the strider away from the rise that afforded us such a grand view of the lake.

  My little perch was snug, but co
mfortable. The window gave a nice view of the wilds of Dreidel and, occasionally, the other two striders as they wandered in and out of my field of vision.

  The striders were designed to walk, actually to glide, over most terrain. To that end, the design had to include functions for walking, running, climbing, and even traveling at high speeds along flat surfaces. The long “legs” scissored back and forth as the occupants sat in a center module – the torso. The key to the comfortable ride was not the small, efficient fusion generator that powered it, but the design of the “air-wheels” and the accompanying suspension system. I don’t pretend to understand the technology but the feet on the bottoms of the legs were suspended on rotating balls of air, as Kaliis tried to explain to me. Upon activation, the machine never really touched the ground.

  It was winter on Dreidel and snow lay over everything; hilltops and valleys and fields contained between. Whenever we encountered a worn track, we took it if it were convenient to do so; however, the intent was to remain unseen, if possible, and bypass any settlements along the way to our destination, which was my late father’s ranch. Although the striders hovered centimeters above the ground, they still left trails in the snow so Pawpaw intentionally led us on detours over exposed rock in order to break our trail.

  I was very excited and wanted to see everything, but the rhythmic cadence of the strider’s scissoring legs eventually had its way and I drifted off to sleep.

  Chapter 2

  I awoke when the strider came to an abrupt halt. The outer door opened and a blast of cold air hit me in the face. Without a word, Aunt Liza leaped from her seat above and landed somewhere in front of me. The freezing wind stung my face as I peered into the darkness, wondering what had happened and where was Liza?

  After a long moment, I grew aware of voices coming from above me. I looked up and saw Liza’s radio headset dangling from a wire. That’s where the voices arose; specifically, it had been Uncle Pat’s voice, but as I reached for the headset, Liza and Papaw came out of the darkness and stood at the open door. Papaw had an arm around Aunt Liza and it looked like he was propping her up. He looked at me and asked if I was all right. I gave him a thumbs-up and he grinned. Papaw turned back to Liza and over the wind I heard him ask if she could make it another couple of miles.

  She nodded. “I can do it,” she said.

  Papaw helped her back into the driver’s seat. Before he shut the door, Papaw told her he’d be right behind. “Just follow Pat,” he said. “We’ll be all right.”

  “I’m sorry,” she added. Sorry for what, I wondered?

  “You can’t help it,” he replied before the door swung shut, blocking the cold wind. My teeth were chattering by then.

  I craned my neck to look past Liza’s shins and knees and saw she’d been crying. “What’s wrong?” I asked.

  Liza was never one to sugarcoat things. “I’m not feeling well,” she said. “We’re changing plans and heading to the nearest town. It’s not far. Nothing to worry about.”

  “But…”

  Liza spoke sharply and I cringed. “Please, Amanda.”

  That’s what they all said when I’d ask too many questions. Please, Amanda. Except for Papaw. I could never make him tire of answering questions. So, I took Liza’s hint and kept quiet. I could hear her breath coming and going and once she said oh! like something had hurt her.

  Through my little window I could see past a big scissoring shadow to pinpoints of light in the distance. There was a wide, smooth path to follow and in no time at all, we’d covered the distance and glided to a halt.

  Without a word, Liza popped the hatch and slowly climbed down. She’d just touched the ground with one booted foot when Uncle Pat appeared at the open door. He took her by the arm and helped her the rest of the way.

  “Mandy?” said Pat.

  I looked at his worried face.

  “Can you get out of there on your own and help with Toby?”

  “Sure.” I fumbled with the restraining buckles and when they finally opened I jumped out of my warm seat into the cold.

  I hit the ground and saw the other two striders parked on either side. Papaw was still climbing out of his when bright lights came on everywhere. In front of me, Liza leaned against Pat. Uncle Pat raised a hand to shield his eyes and shouted at the lights.

  “This here’s a woman with child. We could use some help, if you please.”

  Now I could see that we’d stopped before a wall made of timber and the large gate to the interior was drawn up, held high by ropes and winches. Outside the wall was a ditch that appeared to go on as far as the walls in both directions.

  For a moment, there was no reply, then a deep voice said: “Stay where you be.”

  Papaw was looking after Toby but straightened when he heard what the voice said. I stopped moving too and the wind blew so hard I thought I might fly away.

  “What sort of machines them be?” asked the voice.

  “Oh these?” said Uncle Pat. “We call ‘em striders. Unique design…”

  At that moment, Aunt Liza folded to the pain in her swollen belly. I thought the baby must be kicking especially hard to hurt Liza like that.

  “Can we get some help here?” pleaded Uncle Pat.

  A reply was not forthcoming but instead the hoisted gate began to lower, creaking and moaning with every meter. When it finally broached the ditch and rested on the ground and before any of us could continue inside, two large guards came out, each holding what I later learned were called crossbows.

  Another man came and looked at Aunt Liza before turning and motioning for others to show themselves.

  The storm was growing worse, lifting up the ground snow and pushing it in the ditch where it accumulated and climbed against the wooden walls. In the face of the storm, two women appeared and took places on either side of Liza and walked her over the gate and inside the fort. The other man motioned for the rest of us to follow.

  Uncle Pat asked them to “Give me a minute to put the striders, our machines, inside.”

  “The man shook his head. “No,” he said. “Leave them.”

  Papaw was holding Toby and I went to him. Without a word, he handed me the baby and I did my best to hold him but he was a heavy little sucker. Papaw turned and I saw Kaliis behind him, wrapped in a blanket which he wore like a cape and cowl.

  Papaw herded us in front as Pat led the way. The two guards with the crossbows waited until we passed, then followed us inside.

  The walls afforded a break from the wind and we were taken one way while Aunt Liza was taken another. Uncle Pat didn’t like that at all and insisted on going with her. The man in charge balked at first and said no but Uncle Pat can be obstinate, so the man said all right and let Pat go with Liza as the rest of us were taken to a building right beside the infirmary. Or so the man said, which turned out to be true. Papaw told me infirmary was a fancy word for hospital. By then, all I wanted was to get out of the cold.

  We were taken up onto a porch with an overhang and everyone stamped their boots to remove the snow before entering. My feet were like icicles so I just sort of tapped my toes against the wall. The door opened and we were shepherded inside; that is, me, still holding Toby, Papaw, and Kaliis who was bundled head to toe and I’m sure looked like just another kid to our hosts.

  There were more people inside the room gathered at tables with a couple standing by an enormous fireplace. They all looked at us when we came in and I felt their eyes upon me. Some came forward to introduce themselves, offering a hot cocoa and trying to be helpful. Working a crowd is what Papaw is really good at, so he took control and everything was fine until somebody took the blanket off Kaliis.

  As soon as they saw him, they fell back as if he were a leper. The women gasped. One man standing by the fireplace grabbed a poker and pointed it at our star navigator. “What the hell is that?” he asked.

  Papaw stepped beside Kaliis. “Not to worry,” said Papaw, “this here’s Kaliis.”

  “It’s an al
ien,” a man flatly stated, “isn’t it?”

  Papaw looked down and Kaliis looked up at him. Papaw nodded his head in the affirmative. “Yes, he’s an alien. One of a race called the Tec’Lissir. Perhaps you’ve heard of them?”

  “The True Ones!” someone said.

  “They’re just a legend,” someone else said.

  “As you can see,” replied Papaw, standing a head taller than anyone else in the room, “Kaliis is more than a legend.”

  “Does he bite?”

  “Nah.”

  “Can it talk?” a lady asked.

  “Sure,” said Papaw, “but he don’t like crowds.”

  Everyone stepped back to give the little guy enough room in the hopes that he’d speak up.

  The front door opened again and a blast of cold air blew into the room as a man entered. He pulled at his mittens as he looked around the room. He found Papaw and started to cross to him but paused when he saw Kaliis.

  A man in the crowd spoke up. “Look there, Jonah. It’s one of them tic-lesser’s.

  Jonah looked interested. “Is that so?” He gave Kaliis a good look before turning to face Papaw.

  “My name is Jonah Prayman.”

  “You the head honcho in these parts?”

  Jonah suppressed a smile, although others in the room openly grinned at some inside joke. “We don’t have a designated leader, as such.”

  “How do you get anything done?”

  Jonah laughed and scratched his chin through a full, black beard artfully streaked with grey. The black hair atop his head had yet to turn for the winter. Of course, with all the different restorative therapies available on Earth, like DNA manipulation, nanostructures, sound and/or light induction methods, practically anything is possible. If you don’t know what any of those are, don’t ask. I can tell you what they do, not how they work. Anyway, these people were colonial, true colonial. They were hardy, frontier people. There wasn’t a lot of need or desire for personal metamorphosis among the lot. They were a healthy, generally young lot – both the women and the children. I guessed Jonah to be about forty.