Greener Green I: Where Does the Circle Begin

by Peter Sowatskey

  Molly and Sally knew where they were going. I was glad they were on either arm. I would walk and have no idea that I’d done so. The further I got away from the Great Hall the clearer I became. But then I wanted to go back and lose my clarity in the unified purpose that had been us. We were still us. That could not be taken away.

  There were trains, elevators, colder than the witches --- places, but finally we came to Joshua and Gina. They were surrounded by so many boxes of ‘who the hell knew what’ I was surprised they were even a bit sane. Or maybe from their eyes they weren’t. Joshua motioned to a chair, I sat. He put a comm log sheet in front of me. It was in German. Some words were spelled slightly different but I could read it, ‘We’re still waiting for shipment pzx- 027, please advise.’

  Joshua said, “That’s what got me started. This exact message was sent every week for six years. So I rummaged through material requests to see what was being requested. Turns out the item are huge industrial sized cold fusion reactors. The materials request was for 1,730 of them. The whole planet of Wiltorme doesn’t use that much power, orbital space port included. So I searched further and found excavation requests mentioning pzx-027. The records later indicated the request was carried out. I could go on. Another day you’ll appreciate how methodical these people were, are, for all I know. The result of my efforts is the location of 1,500 interconnected caverns with tubes of ceramic material going to the surface. These tubes are still extant. At the surface they are covered over by a type of gemstone, faceted gemstone. These tubes and caverns are geometrically placed over the planet. My conclusion is that they were waiting for a power source to power a planetary shield. A sub request of the excavation request mentions the moons which were repositioned and hallowed out to accept weapons. I haven’t got to the exact weapons but the work done on the moons says the surface was made separate from the core, 100 meters down there is, was, a sealed fluid strata of 50 meters. Down to the core point nothing was done. Evidently the surface zone was to rotate to align weapons. I see a planetary defense half or more done. The shipment to power the defense system didn’t get here. The Germanic folk left. Or the shipment got here after they left and is stored somewhere awaiting their return. I know you’re in no shape now to do anything. You need rest. But while your body rests, your mind doesn’t. It will come up with questions. I’ll be here with more answers. I talk, but you should make no mistake that Gina shares more than half the credit for this find. Now Molly, Sally, get him in bed. If you can find his wife get her in bed too. Bring them both back in two days. Go now.”

  We three left. I got to a bed, sometime after I went to sleep. I think someone fell into bed a short while after me.

  I awoke some time later. I didn’t feel at all rested. I searched my mind for what was bothering me, after seeing that no one had called me. In my mind, in minute detail was a plan of action. M.Verdai was sleeping peacefully next to me. I called, Molly, Sally, whoever is on duty meet me in the dining room. I put on a robe after washing my face and went there, to see Molly sitting attentively.

  She said, “Let’s see if I got this right. I’m to contact Joshua, right now, and tell him you don’t think the shipment of generators ever got here. You want him to compose a message requesting immediate shipment using whatever emergency code words that were in use then. Then you want a Frigate to slip back and send the message at a point in time after the Germanic folk left. That’s assuming, he knows the frequencies and direction of signal?”

  “Both were on the message form. If he didn’t notice, or can’t decipher that information, he can call me back. The Frigate is to remain in the time/point vicinity for a month. That should be plenty of elapsed time if an answer or shipment arrives. If anything, I’d expect a shipment because of secrecy protocol.”

  Molly said, “I understand. Any special instructions for the Frigate?”

  “Yes, they’re to take along enough equipment to neutralize 10 freighters. Put the equipment in external pods so it can be released and destroyed if they need navigational speed in the case of emergency. On second thought we’d better send two Frigates to have a vantage point if Frigate one is acting as a tug boat. Have the DO contact the right persons and get this operation underway sooner rather than later. If anyone has any additions which will increase the likelihood of success, just do them and notify me later. I’m going back to bed, cobwebs and all of that.”

  I awoke feeling so relaxed that I had to gather and assemble my parts. I opened my eyes to see M.Verdai looking at me with a questioning look on her face. I said, “I’m sure you’ll find something more tender in the mess hall.”

  “I’m sure also. I’m just thinking about us. I still hate you, but I’m interested in this life at the same time. Maybe her and I will be one again. We’ll have some tales to tell. Maybe I’ll think about that instead of how I hate you. About how I never want you to make love to me again.”

  With that pronouncement she threw all the covers off the bed and flung herself on top of me. I didn’t try to escape. After a while I couldn’t have if I wanted to.

  Stalorne was quick to bring us our second helpings of lunch. He didn’t have his own kitchen here in the Palace but he got the Reg kitchen help moving quicker than they were used to. Molly brought in some more reports to go with the pile I and M.Verdai had already gone through. I passed half of them to her, while saying, “Molly, find out when Torme can meet us for a private conversation. Then get him over here. Also what’s the latest from the dropped Frigate?”

  “They received a response from the message, coming to them from 17 different directions. It said, “Momentan. Joshua says that it means the Frigate should expect delivery shortly. Based on that the Frigate has off loaded the pods to a distance and is standing by.”

  “I know you’ll bring in anything the moment it comes, thank you. Now go see about Torme. Tell him it’s not any priority at all, just whenever.”

  The top of the new pile was from Joshua. He wanted to go on with us to Earth to look at the last days of the Phaeton civilization. From our conversations about Phaeton he’d developed the suspicion that the ANNU KI had been there also. He thought the degree of unrest could have been externally caused. I couldn’t imagine Thelma having any objections so I wrote ‘sure’ on the request and passed it over to M.Verdai. Her comment was, “Why not?”

  Nikon’s report said he’d integrated the Rail Dock’s command structure with the Planetary Defense Command so he was out of a job and wanted to get back to Earth as soon as the shipment situation worked out, but no later than 30 days from now regardless. That was in line with what I had in mind so I wrote ‘pack your bags’ on it and passed it on. She looked at it and put it in the ‘out’ pile. We were making progress. Maybe by dinnertime we could go for a walk.

  Molly came back and said, “Torme is going to meet you here in your quarters this evening when he gets done with the Ceremony Committee. Some big to do because the prevailing thought is that they should smooth another face of their burial mountain to accommodate those that have fallen, and will fall in time wars. The Reg take their dying very seriously. Even after they know the fallen take up continued service with Thelma.”

  “You mean the fallen don’t ever come back here? That I didn’t realize.”

  “Yes, they don’t ever come back. They can communicate, and if a mate wants to go off world and join a ‘reborn’ that’s fine. But the fallen are fallen, and gone from the planetary social thought.”

  “I suppose in an odd way that makes sense. I’ll have to give it some more thought. Convey, that we’ll be happy to see him when ever he gets here.”

  Mid afternoon a message from the time dropped Frigates arrived, ‘N Space window in the outer system opened and 8 ships came through. Moving at slow speed to intercept broadcasting what was given to us’.

  Early evening another message came, ‘contact is established, codes exchanged. No one on any ship. A package on the largest ship giving off possible Artificial Intelligence readin
gs, putting package in triple force fields, attaching time/drive pods to freighters. Should arrive your time/space 1100 tomorrow. Will take up position far out in the system’.

  I said as I handed the message across the table to M.Verdai, “Sally, make sure we have enough Frigates out there at these coordinates to establish force fields around all of the arriving ships. It’s a shame we don’t have any tugs.”

  Sally said, “But we do, Standard TO&E.’

  “Fine, get some, 8, of them out there too, make it nine. I want this life form package extracted and handled separately. I don’t have to imagine all the possible outcomes to this situation. Make sure if I’ve invited a massive destructive capability into our bosom it’s dealt with safely. Send out the Captains ship to ride herd. Ask Ike to do so also. He’ll understand about riding herd.”

  Sally smiled, “Most of us understand about riding herd. Western movies are always playing in Central City. I’ll get on with it.”

  I looked over at M.Verdai and said, “I bet the movies don’t come with saddle sores.”

  She just smiled.

  Torme came by a while later. He looked older and strained. He said, “I can’t give you much time now. The Oversight Committee wants another piece of my ear later.”

  “Are you getting grief about the mission?” I asked.

  “No, not about this mission. About the mission which wasn’t done 7,630 years ago, which would have rid us of this misery, back then. There has been a noticeable increase in intellectual clarity since the mission. I experience it myself. Things which I used to struggle over are totally clear now. I can do mathematics in my head which I couldn’t last week. Fortunate for me I just took over. If not I would be replaced. The Committee doesn’t have a lot of patience. Not with itself either. I always caution them about too much blame. It will calm someday. I’m to say to you our thanks. You have only to ask for anything, favorite daughters, anything.”

  I didn’t even glance at M.Verdai. Who said Regs don’t have a sense of humor?

  “I can’t think of anything. Can you FO?”

  “I’m thinking. Meanwhile we have news to share with our guest since he’s been in meetings all day long.”

  “Quite.” I said, “Your long awaited planetary defense package will arrive 1100 tomorrow, Gods willing and all of that.”

  “Somebody passed around a brief earlier. I had no idea. How do you do this magic?”

  M.Verdai said, “It takes a very convoluted mind.”

  I took it as a compliment, but didn’t say thank you. Instead I said, “It all sort of fell together. Maybe the Gods favor us at this time. We’ll see anon. I want to talk about your losses. The ones who died will live with us. But the ones who didn’t die, what of them?”

  “They have mind damage, walking problems, thinking, even holding onto now, problems. Our doctors can’t do anything. Maybe there is nothing to be done?”

  I said, “Molly, get me Ike.”

  Ike appeared--3D--in his dining room, “What can I do Rafe?”

  “Mind damaged Regs. Do you want to try to fix them?”

  “Sure Rafe. We’ll be here for some time. If we can’t fix them we’ll prepare a place for them if they want that. But we won’t kill them, Torme. That would not wash for long.”

  Torme said, “I know. Someone would say later, ‘that’s the reward for service with Thelma’ and here we go down that mountain.”

  Ike went on, “Send them up when ever you like. Anything else Rafe?”

  “You’ve been copied on tomorrow. Maybe you could send out a few Frigates to the time/place point?”

  “I’ll get the DO on a plan right now. We’ll be in touch. Gotta go now.”

  Ike blinked out. Torme said, “I’ll tell the Committee. Who knows whether they’ll like it? I almost prefer the beer drinking savage routine. No going back though. I’ll have the Great Hall set up for the arrival. See you then.”

  M.Verdai said, “One thing before you go, Torme. I like your idea of favorite daughters. Maybe twins. They would be our personal assistants. We’d arrange for proper sized quarters and working places, give them a proper rank and pay.”

  “I mean what I say. I’ll send them over tomorrow.” He stormed out looking a bit less troubled. If man would only make ones fellow man less troubled the Universe would be a pleasant place.

  I noticed that we’d done all of the dispatches and she did too. She said, “I think you may have tried to escape this morning. We must try that position again.”

  So we closed shop, retired and tried, and tried.

  Chapter 41

  Rafe

  At 1000 M.Verdai and I reported to the Great Hall. The 3D of the system showed that our ships had made a ball around the designated time/space point. I started to compute the force field capacity of the different ships involved, and felt I could, but I reminded myself that sharper minds than mine already had, many times I’m sure. M.Verdai went off to mingle. She was very good at that, spoke to everyone at their highest understanding range. Torme came over and said, “Your mug is still on the wall, help yourself.”

  “Thanks, I’ll do that.”

  I sipped and the clock advanced. At 1058 the shimmering appeared, and then the ships. God, they were huge. The scale at the side said, 12 miles by 4 miles by 2 miles for 7 0f them and one was one third larger. That was the one with the A-I in it. As we watched the front third of the large ship separated and stood off from its parent. A transmission came from it, ‘I would speak with your Commandant’.

  Someone handed me a microphone and I said, “I speak for the peoples of this system. What message do you have?”

  “Thank you. I will consider this shipment delivered. Where do you want me to report for parts disassembly?”

  “A force field from a ship will deliver you to that point. Please wait.”

  “I wait.”

  I thought, ‘Molly, get that section wrapped in various force fields, scanned by us, the Regs and an Essence. If it passes clearance bring it here. Same scan protocol on the ships, and then to stationary orbits.

  Molly stood still. Events started happening around her while she wrote on action forms. I waited. Almost unbelievably quick, a dot started moving in the 3D display.

  The dot moved slowly in-system accompanied by 3 Frigates which had Essence Ensigns aboard. When it passed the halfway point and folks around me started to fidget, a voice came out of the air in the middle of the display. “This is Ensign Tony Bressler. The ship section and its contents have been scanned in every way presently known. Neither they, a couple, nor the contents present any danger to us. I have personally viewed them back to their inception, again, no danger, Bressler out.”

  That was that. Now we just had to understand what we had bagged. A voice in my head, mine, said, ‘or what has bagged you. Who has the broader reality’? Oddly, those questions made me anticipate meeting them, rather than feel cautious. Maybe the ANNU KI absence was making me more alive too.

  I commanded, “Put the section down next to our ship.”

  I knew M.Verdai was way ahead of me and would have her special scanners going full blast. If she didn’t object, there was nothing to object about. The section set down dwarfing M.Verdai’s Frigate.

  I radioed to the inhabitants, “Are you capable of assembly assistance?”

  “Yes, we both are.”

  “Are you compatible with this atmosphere and gravity rate?”

  “We don’t breathe. We are rated for 10x this gravity.”

  “Very well, disembark. A person will appear outside your ship to escort you to our presence.”

  The voice said, “If you prefer you can clear a space in your hall and we will appear there?”

  A space of 20 feet by 20 feet cleared in the middle of the hall and I said, “Appear.”

  Eight corners of a room, represented by small balls appeared first, and then walls of a substance which didn’t let much light through. Just enough to see two figures form out of a swirl, then solidify.
After that the walls went away in a second and we beheld the two. They were as tall as a Reg with long arms. Their faces were human like except for a rosy swelling in their foreheads. They had on one piece suits and thick soled shoes. I thought, ‘an odd version of the ANNU KI’?

  The slightly heavier one spoke without making much lip movement, “No, not ANNU KI. We have seen the presence of same and already calibrated the projectors to protect you from them. Not their slightest influence will get through the shield. We have observed through the time shifts to here that you have been held back by same. Not an unknown problem. We solved it long ago. Long before our creators went on. No we are not Telepathic as you understand it. We just receive all communications sent to us. I am called MK 3974-22, my partner is MK3973-22. Do we start work now?”

  I said, “I am Rafe and this is Torme.” I grabbed Torme’s arm and pulled him along with me as I approached them. “You will work for him, or me. Can we give you names which don’t have numbers?”

  “Yes.”

  “You will be Rork and your partner will be Rorklin.”

  “Good sound. Me Rork, she Rorklin, good. Work now?”

  I said, ”Not yet. Let’s sit.”

  Someone brought four chairs and arranged them in a square. Someone also brought four beers. I figured I needed it; they smelt at the steins and emptied them in one gulp. Torme and I did also and handed them back to a server. Four small tables appeared with the refills.

  I said, “Your method of movement must have a base and a projector. Do you have extras and can you teach someone to calibrate it?”

  “Certainly. Routine maintenance tool. Slow to travel around a planet to fix something which needs fixed now.”

  “Thank you. Perhaps you could also reprogram our language translator machines. Yours seem to be more efficient.”

  “Have plenty. Use ours. Fix yours. Your choice.”