“Harness? What harness?”
“This locker is a Troopers locker. Look in. As you can see there are a few here. And in the room beyond, and beyond that room, 80,000 fully stocked lockers and I know where to get more if needed. I have my own munitions factory here, on board, and also on a hidden planet.”
“What else is in there?”
“You remember Icarrus? Of course you do. Well he didn’t make his wings out of the right kind of feathers.”
She took out a shoulder pack harness and hung it over the locker door.
“You see these canisters here? They provide push. Underneath them are wings which fold out. So you fly. The wings get shot out you slowly descend to the surface. If the surface isn’t friendly you get recycled at worst.”
“Recycled?”
“Another day. We also have a version of an 18 inch mortar, but enough of this. Leave this. Come, stand here in the aisle. Brace yourself; the floor is going to move.”
It moved. Slowly at first then it sped up. Doors opened and closed behind us, surroundings blurred, and then we arrived.
I said, “I see Icarrus grew some mighty wings.” As I looked up at something, which was plainly meant to go through the air.
Thelma said matter of factually, “These craft doesn’t rely on air to be kept aloft.”
“This is getting to be a dream. But let’s us go inside it, before it becomes vapor.”
“Too close to the sun this might become vapor. Barring that, and despite most everything anyone can do to it, it will continue to exist. Come here between the skids.”
I did, and a platform came down from the belly and we stepped aboard. The platform rose and when it stopped we were in the craft. I concluded it was about two hundred feet long.
Thelma observed absently, “Two hundred and twenty to be exact with an eighty foot wingspan when extended. The control room is this way.”
I followed her to a room, maybe twenty five feet in diameter with two seats toward the front as we stood in the doorway, and a seat along both the left and right walls.
Thelma said, pointing toward the two front seats, “Pilot, co-pilot, on the walls, left is navigation and right is weapons. Come on let’s sit down. You sit in the right seat.”
She was moving a bit quicker and more decisively than usual and I thought, (oh shit, I’m in for it now).
We sat, and she put her arms and hands in groves and wiggled her fingers. The wall in front of us came to life and I got up to run, but I couldn’t move. I was being held firmly, but gently by who knows what. That saying came back to me, in for a penny, in for a pound, and stayed in the back of my mind as an opening appeared in front of us and we leapt through it. Then, there appeared on the wall in front of us, a picture of stars above, and land below. It appeared we weren’t moving in relation to anything and I fought to regain my voice.
“I guess we’re up in the air.”
“Good observation. Make it go.”
“What go? You mean this craft. How the hell does it go? Better yet why doesn’t it fall?”
“Universe drive is next semester. Just think, going, and it will go, try it.” She coaxed.
I thought (going like a covered wagon) and the horizon below shifted minutely, great. Then something occurred to me.
“Won’t the people below see us? I don’t want to frighten anyone.”
She said, “There’s no one below. At this time Earth is recovering from an Ice Age and this area is not repopulated.”
Then it struck me, what she had said about not being Rafe anymore.
She said in my head, I TRIED TO MAKE YOU UNDERSTAND.
“There’s no way to explain the workings of a locomotive to a two year old. I insisted on this course. I don’t blame you, or harbor any anger towards you.”
When I said that I wondered if it could be true, but I had no ill feelings toward her. Maybe that was because I was feeling mostly numb inside. I knew the Rafe I had been wouldn’t ever return and I felt sad about that. I thought back to my daughter Julie, and what she would have said about this from her four year old mind. The thought came to me and a feeling of her along with it, ('Go fly Daddy, go fly.') Then I flew, for Julie, and Susie who had cooed and cooed when I’d last seen her. I steered the craft between the stars and the ground, just wishing it to be so. When I slowed down from my mad dashing, Julie and Susie were with me in my mind like they hadn’t been for years and years.
I kept them with me in the back of my mind and turning toward Thelma asked, “What’s next?”
“I see you aren’t going to go mad, so it’s back to school for you.”
“Back to school, don’t you have some potion that will make this all understandable to me?” I asked hopefully.
“I wish. No, we’ll have to do this the hard way. But you’ll like school this time around, no exams.”
“Before you get into details I have two questions in the front of my mind: does this craft have toilet facilities, and a mess hall?”
“First door on your left in the corridor, and I’ll arrange something while you’re gone.”
Everything was self explanatory in the latrine. The get-away gave me time to collect my thoughts, which were multitude and scattered over the universe. I didn’t have much success in collecting, but I did resolve a basic point of view. I would try to look at everything from the question of how it bettered me. I figured if it bettered me, it could better all of the people I was responsible for. And, I knew, Thelma would be many steps ahead of me the whole way down the line.
Back in the control room Thelma had turned the chairs we’d occupied somewhat toward each other and put up a table spread with various packets. I smelt coffee coming from mugs which were wider at the bottom than the top. Quite practical I observed. I sat and opened a packet which had a strawberry on it. I bit. “Delicious.”
“I’m glad you approve.”
“To start, we aren’t bound by time anymore so I want to rescue my family from before they died.” I insisted.
“That’s possible, but I don’t think you’ve considered all the complications.”
“What complications? I don’t care about that. We can do it. We do it!” I demanded.
“And then?”
“What do you mean, and then.”
“Where are they going to live? What is your wife going to think about you? I’ll tell you what; she’s going to think you’re some kind of a devil. And she’ll tell your children you’re a devil. This kind of a situation is not new; it’s not an unusual request from the person in your position.”
“You can change their minds.” I offered.
“Maybe, and maybe they'll go mad. My efforts to change mental considerations are best kept to not allowing someone to react too violently when faced with some part of their new reality.”
I fought my frustration in silence while I sipped coffee and forced myself to go on to the next packet, which was a fruit juice drink, while I calmed myself.
Finally I responded, “You’re probably right. But I can’t just let them go, especially my daughters, who asked for none of that war. What can you do?”
“I don’t have the answer. Maybe you can think of something when you have more information. Meanwhile I will do one thing. I will have their, your wife and daughters, ‘essences’ recorded and preserved. I have given the order. It will be done. Now it’s your responsibility to learn enough to make my efforts meaningful.”
I could only believe her. What other choice did I have? None.
“You command I obey.”
“Were it only that simple. Practicalities; you’ll have to free up your time in the Habitat, except for making command decisions. You know what to do; you’ve done it before. Then we’ll start your instruction. The information will come in spoken and in pictures, like the flight window you used. You’ll be connected to an instrument which will make sure you understand all of the data you’re given. She is quite an exacting task master.”
“She instru
ments, what next?”
Thelma said with a smile, “We’ve learned that if the person learning, has his or her sexual feelings involved better attention is forthcoming. She won’t tire you out. You’ll have plenty of energy to spend with me. You will be spending time with me won’t you?”
I assured her, “Sure, I don’t expect you had any choice in the fullness of all things, to say yea or nay, either.”
Chapter 7
Rafe
She answered musingly, “I like to think I had. I like to think that with all my collected wisdom, I chose on my free will to carry out this mission. But like you say that may not have been the truth.”
I asked, “Next question; what the hell is the ship the Habitat is in? How big is it? What is it made of? What can it do?”
“I came back in a Seed Ship along with my own yacht. A Seed Ship is a nucleus to build from. I and the Seed Ship built the vessel in which our plains are. I started with an area 500 miles long and 200 miles across and 5 miles high and built a shell around that volume. And the I/we put various things inside of it, and outside of it. The result is an area of space, outside of time, which I control.”
“So the canyon is just a gangplank to where we are for real.”
“That’s right. But don’t get confused and think we are someplace, or somewhere, we just are. We don’t need places, or times. You’ll get used to it. Nerrefetti will see to that.”
“This Nerre’ have a body?”
“Of course, but don’t fall in the trap of thinking she is weak because she's a female and mortal. You couldn’t kill her body if you tied her to the front of a 5 inch cannon. Treat her nice!”
“I will," I promised. "Is there anything else you want to show me?”
“You’ve been skimming along about tree top level with your flying. Let me show you the overall view and we’ll go home.”
We swung the chairs around to the front and the table went away somewhere after I put the excess rations in a shirt pocket and the cup in a holder. Thelma’s face became emotionless and all of a sudden there were only stars in the window. I don’t guess that stars got any closer but they became much brighter before she turned the craft to face downward. I could see this distant ball with blues and browns and a sunrise chasing darkness away as it crept from right to left. I looked and looked and eventually remarked, “It doesn’t seem so important from way out here does it?”
“No, it doesn’t. Keep that in your mind when you become frustrated in the coming period. Our daily events encompass us and we get short sighted. This picture will help you place them in their proper importance. In the times to come you will have memories of many planets, too many to remember, but this first sight will stick with you. It has with me. And maybe if you’re fortunate Nerre’ will discover some memories in you already of such off world times. We’ll see. Now back to the ship.”
We started toward Earth and immediately the control room began to pulse with a faint blue light which came from everywhere. Alarmed I asked, “What’s wrong.”
“Nothing, we’re going to do a combat reentry, just for practice.”
“Is that safe?” I inquired to get an idea of what she was talking about. I didn’t want to say ‘let’s go down like a feather like I wanted to, could I?
“Oh, it’s quite safe, unless we have a system failure. Seriously, we’d have to have countless system failures for any risk to be involved. Nonetheless, the temperatures at our bow would melt the hardest metal that you know. But we’re protected by many envelopes of force. Like many gloves. If they would all fail it might get a bit warm in here but we’d be in no danger. The point of it all is, that the faster you’re approaching, factoring in random changes of angle of descent, naturally, the harder it is for the enemy to hit you. Relax, enjoy the ride.”
I tried. We were getting closer, mighty quick. I gradually realized that we weren’t looking out a window, but some sort of a projection on a screen. And we weren’t slowing down, at all. I looked over at Thelma and what she had said about men and women being equal among the stars became personally real to me. She had a look on her face like she was an eagle diving down to get dinner, all the while daring our craft to fail. I was no longer in the room. It was all Thelma against the universe. To me, she had more than an even chance to prevail. A body of water started to fill the window, and filled it, and we were under water. We started to slow down, indicated by the slower flashing of the blue lights. Then they quit. But we weren’t moving all that slowly from the way we approached fish of different sizes and brushed them aside. Gradually ahead a bulk was to be seen and still we didn’t slow down. It’s unmanly to cringe but I was starting to; when we were suddenly out of water, and in a large bay, at rest among other craft.
I said, “You could have warned me but I guess it is best this way. Fortunately it’s been a long time since whatever meal we had last. There will be a lot for this Nerre’ to teach me. But I will have to be absent a lot, and what if I damage something, and we’re not going to be prepared enough and--.”
“Slow down, slow down, and take a breath. That’s good, another one, now we’ll address your concerns one by one. Before we go back, we’ll visit the mess hall. Nerre’ is designed to teach, she knows teaching, all possible ways. I hate to spring this on you just now, but that’s not all she knows. She knows all about men and women. Wait, wait, and let me explain. I know we’re married and you’re not one to stray, but after two months of pregnancy it’s not advised medically to make penetrating love. So Nerre’ will help you over the months to the birth of our son. All right, we will discuss this point later.”
She turned her seat to face me. “As to us not being enough, you and me. We could be, but it would be better if there were more people who knew what was actually the truth. I know, I know, there are truths that you, and whomever, will need to work up to. That’s just the way it is. Who did you have in mind?
I said, “Thanks for the dinner invitation. Nerre’ and I will work out whatever we have to. Naturally I was thinking about us six, and most likely the doctor. I think he suspects more than you realize, behind that alcohol fog of his.”
“That’s very astute of you Rafe. Our Doctor Larry has been ringing alarm bells in my mind; and I’ve not decided to ring his bell, or trust him with some actuality. He has become influential among the arrivals, so it must be one way, or the other. We can’t have a mutiny; it’s bad management practice.”
She had always been a practical person, one who didn’t quibble over carrying out decisions once reached, even back then in Colorado with the customers. I guess that’s why she was in command, and not me. I daydreamed too much. As she finished speaking, she stood and made ready to leave the room. It, the room, seemed like it was sorry to see her go, and she reassured it she would be back, just before it went to sleep. Just an impression but when Thelma said, “IT MISSES ME.’
I knew the impression, fleeting as it was, had been correct. THAT’S PART OF WHAT MAKES YOU A LEADER. YOU’LL UNDERSTAND EXACTLY ABOUT YOU, EVENTUALLY.
The mess hall was so damn long I couldn’t see the end. I just stood in amazement.
“This is one of six messes. They can all seat ten thousand at one time. Come on let’s see if the menu has changed.”
She walked to a wall which had a shelf along it and picked up a tray and a rolled napkin with a utensil in it and put the tray on the shelf, which was waist high, standard mess hall I thought.
“It’s quite simple Rafe, you walk along and look at the pictures and when you come to what you like, touch the picture, and the dish comes out onto the shelf. You know that tart cherry pie you like, I’ll bet we have one like it, just about -- here.”
She touched twice and out popped two pieces of cherry pie. She placed one on my tray and said, “Let’s try these first. If they can’t make cherry pie right, we’ll go someplace else.”
We sat across from each other at the nearest table which had a long bench along either side. I unrolled my napkin and im
mediately asked, ”What’s this?”
“This is a spork. You see, spoon, fork, and knife; the knife is a bit blunt, but you’ll never need anything sharper, here. Try it.”
I did, and bit into the best cherry pie I’d ever tasted. I asked for forgiveness from Grandma Nell, while I ate. I didn’t guess it would make any difference if I had a second piece, or the whole pie, but there is the point of manners.
I said, “We’ll eat here, if it’s all right with you. Do they have coffee?”
About an hour later I dumped the trays and dishes in the disposal chute as instructed. I kept the Spork to wonder over, as evidence of how high humanity would rise. Back at our table I stated, “This woman’s Army food isn’t bad, no, quite good. What other pleasant surprises am I going to have? What about this Nerre’?”
“Nerre’? You’d like to meet your teacher? Why, we’ve grown positively adventurous. Nerre’, come out.”
I heard boots walking, toward us from somewhere. The owner had put on metal pieces, like the ceremonial parade soldiers do, to be better heard. Gradually I could focus on the sound and when I did this creature in a dark blue uniform appeared. The uniform didn’t hide anything, but it covered her from head to toe. She removed the garrison cap and shook out long black hair. Her complexion said she had been out in the sun too much, or she was a mixture. I had seen her like, or a wisp of what she was once at a slave market, a blending of the best of several races and separate from all of what she had come from. Her face was broad, but not coarse, features in perfect balance. She came up to my six foot and had more curves than I could look at with a bosom so full that another inch would have been too much. I was awe struck; oh damn, this was going to be trouble, hurrah.
Thelma evidently had gotten a crumb stuck in her throat because she was having trouble speaking proper, but she finally got herself under control and said, “Nerre’, this is Rafe. You’re going to be his instructor, going to bring him up to date on things. You’re now cleared to access his file and the subjects he’s to be taught.”
Greener Green I: Where Does the Circle Begin Page 5