Greener Green III: Let Light Reign

by Peter Sowatskey

  "Why would anybody do that, go to another Universe?"

  "Because it hadn't been done, as far as the races of Essences who built this ship, and the ARK, knew; just for fun."

  Melin waited while I tried to reduce her vision to my world. This would be my miniature rock gardens; compounded to an unimaginable power. I didn't emotionally get it.

  "You are sitting in Communications seat. Do not be startled when I bring up your network."

  A two foot diameter ball of energy appeared in front of me containing this planets solar system. I seemed to be in the ball. I directed my attention out into space and encountered another system, and a line from mine to it. I called on my Nav data and thrust out to Intel HQ, and thought about Maria.

  OH, HELLO THELMA. FOUND A NEW TOY HAVEN'T YOU. WE'RE WELL. ACTING ON MELIN'S INFORMATION.

  I thought, 'Thank you, gotta go.'

  I asked Melin, "What information?"

  "Routes of five more supply collection ships. And other supply vessels which stopped short of their destinations. The ANNU KI intends to attack en-masse, soon."

  "I had nightmares of that happening."

  "No nightmares. Looks into the future."

  I asked uncertainly, "Do you have all those languages on the spire, do you know them?"

  "Yes."

  Melin, I know you think I do grand things, but some I need help with. Your help and the others who have landed."

  "They ride the circles as we speak. Granger finished his book and landed elsewhere. He wants to explore. I told him about the circles."

  "Granger is a strange man."

  "This Universe made him that way. When the Essences didn't have their dream, some lost interest in their spaces. You experienced the results. My Essence combined with all here, became one, remained interested, and sabotaged your ship engines so you would have to land, only after the repair components were put on at your last stop."

  I smiled, "Curiosity will save the day."

  Everybody but Granger arrived. I still looked at my Comm ball.

  Melin directed, "Sit, the controls for that particular seat will activate. Don't fire weapons or anything like that. This planet isn't held together by much."

  Twisted smiles and waved hands were her answer. I shrugged my shoulders. She shrugged hers. I tried to order my questions in 'important to nonsensical.'

  The first one, "Can we act in time to stop their attack?"

  "No. Not without attacking backward in time. I know, problems, but can you live in your world with failure, and be enslaved for the rest of time?"

  Erlo sat close beside me. The Comm ball shifted to my right, between us, shift change, clever.

  "I heard that, "He said. "How fast can this ARK of yours go?"

  Melin answered, "How fast can you play cards. How many card hands did you play in your last crossing? Time must be created when outside motion is not present, understand?"

  "I understand," Erlo said. "I ended up with a huge number of credits to my favor. Collected every last one of them. I guess our leisure vacation time is over, Hank, Jim, you hear what the lady is saying?"

  "We copy. We sent out the call."

  I thought, a 'call to arms' for Essences. I hadn't digested my Comm ball yet.

  Granger came in the room, down to the dais where Melin sat, and plopped down beside her.

  "It's like nothing I ever seen before. How many of these are scattered about, Melin?"

  "The total number to be carried along, 51,000. Of those 7,943 are on the ARK lying dormant. On this planet we have 13, 894. As you say, the rest are scattered over nineteen worlds. They are not actually piloted, more like thought along, by the thinker's intensions being magnified by the base. I would have to train thinkers. You here now have sufficient capacity to direct the craft. They don't fail. They can be run through a sun slantwise. What are we waiting for?"

  All eyes focused on Granger. He asked, "Erlo, if you had a few of these could you stir up recruits from the Second Fed?"

  "I get recruits without these, but it would make a nice vacation yacht."

  "Hank, can you make a multi lingual dictionary from the languages on the spire?"

  "With a few hints from Melin I think I can finish the last twenty percent."

  Granger said, "Good. Then perhaps we can know what we have available. How do we do this training Melin? And how much does the crew need to know?"

  "Not that much. I have already told Second Officer Marly how to program the rejuv chambers to have them produce the body type we need. One hundred per ship, different personalities, half men, half woman. We are one hundred and forty years behind our present time. Let's do this, and attack up time sweeping all ahead of us. If that doesn't make a difference we will go back another one hundred years from here and do it again. We will sanitize time, if we need to."

  I couldn't resist saying, "And you thought you had the ownership of, 'do it', eh, Granger."

  "It's evident I don't, but I learn. One question before I say 'Lead on Melin.' Why didn't the ARK crew just kick the ANNU KI back into the Void when they realized their true nature?"

  "They had forgotten how to kill."

  I interjected, "You're telling us, Melin, that because they couldn't kill we've suffered these countless centuries?"

  "I myself, this Essence, did only deliveries, had no presence on the ARK, but knowledge thereof. You have it right in what you say. I have no problem with killing. I have killed many when I walked the surface of Moneslakia, to keep myself alive, bad and good. So I now, in this melding, have no hesitation to kill, solar systems, if I decide it is necessary."

  Granger shrugged, "We'll just have to believe you. Another thing occurs to me. The Beam Tech on the Mother Ships can transport gold and rematerialize it. If we had that capability to mount on smaller ships and land vehicles we could collect all the gold in this section of space, from everybody. Stupid way of putting together a monetary system anyway."

  Melin smiled, "That can easily be done. Whatever the ANNU KI has, they stole from ARK technology. I will have each ship here make the devices, many of them. They will not be heavy, and will fit in a small case. Erlo, your mind likes gold. We will store it where you say. If there are no further questions we will go to the learning room. There you will float while I put in the information. We will be finished in time for evening meal."

  Operational Area Earth - between the Ice Ages

  Chapter Twenty Four

  Janus Malcolm Peabody

  "You better bring my yacht back to me in one piece," Thelma threatened. "Or I will pull you out of storage on Med Deck and send you back to hunt dinosaurs without the customary pen knife. Do you understand?"

  Would I feel the pain out in Rim Alliance space? I didn't want to know.

  "I will guard it with my life."

  "I wouldn't trust you with it, but the marks on those worlds won't believe you're running a religious scam if they can't see proof of my involvement. If they can they'll be lining up to get in on the payoff."

  "I know. We've been over the plan. It's at least as brilliant as the one I had in mind, but yours is broader in scope. Any word on when the Liner will finally be loaded?"

  "The Unknowable moves in its own time."

  "Damn slow, usually. Would you grab that coffee urn and pour me a cup, bloody good."

  Thelma did as asked. I took the cup and saucer to me and leaned back and looked around. Nothing much to look at, four walls with doors in the center of each of them, a doomed roof that magnified light as it went through, and in the middle of the large room a square reception booth, benches around the walls, wide and soft enough to sleep on, and a few table and chair settings, typical barren Church of the Open Door. The rub came in with the question; where did the doors open to, and when; major rub.

  I brought my mind back to Thelma and picked up on her sentence.

  "--- and these devices will be delivered to each Church. You enter the destination code, which will be a ship in orbit, point it at a gold s
torage area, push the clasp button, and whoosh, the gold is in the ship, which departs as scheduled. There should be no strain. Make sure you and your circus are at least five solar systems away."

  "Tell me again, what's my take in this?" I knew she just talked to pass the time; we'd gone over the point in minute detail.

  "For starters, though I see no value in it, that planet you directly came from. You know the technology of Wrap Jumping is old hat."

  "Not over there, but it's just closing cycles, before I depart for good."

  Thelma looked skeptically at me. "I knew a Magician once; he didn't depart, well not often anyway. I got to go attend to dispatches. Evidence of a mass frontal attack by the ANNU KI is growing, check and re-check your evacuation plan. And remember what I said about my yacht. I meant it."

  Jolene came over to the sitting area after she departed. "The Liner is 99% boarded. We have no idea of what most of the passenger's missions are. Aren't you worried?"

  "There are times to know details, and manage minutely; this is not one of those times. Let their interaction flow and we'll get far more from them than otherwise. Let's be gone, as soon as I fill my travel mug with this fine coffee. I imagine some are expecting the yacht to fall upon the settlement anytime now."

  Outside the children were watching the overhead yacht, commenting about how soon it would fall. Evidently ships came and went under Invis, usually. We went up in the skiff that fit into a hull recess, then doors closed over it, odd arrangement, but it could be launched under attack to help fend off an attacker. So said the manual, and I'd read the manual. I'd been downloaded in regard to the manual. I still didn't have half the yachts functions in my operational fore brain, or at all. We had a crew of six youngsters, who were probably a thousand years old, nieces and nephews of mine out for a lark.

  Jolene sat left seat, I right. We streaked up to the Liners vicinity. No tenders about, running lights on, finally.

  "Liner, this is Janus. Execute plan 3Z7, now."

  Beams came out from the Liner and held us. By the time I thought to look at a viewer, Earth appeared as a spec, nothing more to do for the moment.

  "I'm going back to the study, coming?"

  "No, be along later, going to do distress drill."

  In the study, I found the most comfortable chair, put my feet up on a footstool, and consulted my Universe.

  There were other Magicians about. I'd often thought it would be nice to carry on a conversation here, but the particle flow didn't slow down enough to allow discourse. Out on the Rim, where our destinations lie, blackness swirled. I visited the Worlds where our Churches were allowed, leaving the impression on any Magician that the address of any gold storage location should be brought to the Church. It took a lot of thought to go to every Church world, and no time.

  When I opened my eyes Jolene regarded me. "You almost got away that time, just smoke left."

  "Didn't your mother caution you about staring?"

  "Of course, about lots of things, I would have been a shriveled shrew had I listened to half."

  "Yes, totally juiceless also. Send a memo, All Churches, if anybody presents an address with my initials as authorization, go beam the gold out of there, instantly."

  She pressed the button on her decorative collar. A moment went by, "Done."

  I reflected, "That's the last hill to climb today, unless you have some."

  "No. But it's going to be boring going to the Churches and doing nothing."

  "Necessary, people were beginning to be curious. Its better the Churches are thought of as a part of a scam, than some foreign group's toehold. Enough business for today. Come sit on my lap and we'll take-give some penetrating dictation. These robes are the latest in practical."

  "Aren't they?"

  The next day I went looking for my crew. Naturally, I found them, in, and around the pool.

  "They don't have any reason to leave that area", said Thelma, "The ship has telepathic interfaces. They are telepaths. I never sat on a hard cushion when I could float in the pool and do the same job. Think about it, Janus, and think it done."

  The interfaces didn't respond to my wavelength, so, without them, I would have to do it the old way, through a crew.

  They looked like rich spoiled youngsters, never-the-less they waved as I walked in the room. Told to make nice, I thought.

  A young lady with too much on top, and too much on the bottom, and too little in the middle, to be someone else's girl, walked up to me in a scanty two piece swim suit and saluted.

  "We were not told to be nice. We are nice. And I'm no ones girl. Also I don't want Jolene trying her Commando training on me. I would beat her, and she would be pissed, and cut your good times off. Pleased to meet you, I'm Roe. I'll speak for us, and relay any orders."

  "Just wanted to see you in person. You have no background files."

  "That's all there is."

  "Aw, come on Roe, if you want to sell that you better relax, all the way in to your bones. The energy crackles off of you."

  "Good observation. We might have to cover that up."

  I agreed, "Something's needed. I'll be back tomorrow, see what you come up with."

  Two hours later, while I struggled with the ship's manual some more, Roe walked into the study.

  "Jolene listens to the intercom too much. She came to the pool and challenged me. I told her if she lost she would have to spend a day in the pool area."

  "She'll wear your boys out."

  "They're not my boys, and it's their problem. I'm your problem. I understand you like the soft chair position. We'll start with it. Your studying is done for a day. Don't move, until you can't stay still anymore."

  I put the manual aside and obeyed orders. She'd run out of positions eventually.

  In the twenty third hour, she did. Troubled, I searched my mind for a new position, couldn't find any, damn, have to rest. I fell asleep.

  Next thing I knew Jolene woke me. She appeared full of energy. She said, "We'll consider us and the crew introduced. I could have taken her anytime."

  "Wake me up in ten hours."

  "You've already been asleep twelve."

  "Don't feel like it."

  "First planet in two hours, starting the arrival drill, now."

  We swooped down on the local Church four hours later: five hundred of the four thousand passengers, and Jolene and I and four nieces and nephews. Tables were set up inside and outside the Church. Everyone from the state Governor to the local homeless was invited. Afterward we did the local night life, paying in one ounce gold coins with my likeness on both sides.

  Twenty hours later we departed orbit. The door Techs got their jobs finished and we delivered several brief cases. Two months later they were going to be the poorest planet around, the first of many cousins. We'd give all the gold back, with interest, if the planet were still in existence after the War.

  Five months later while departing from the latest planet, I said to Jolene and Roe, who I'd summoned from her pool, "We are never going to get it done. We're opening four Churches for every one we visit."

  Roe commented, "We were never meant to 'get it done', just sell the scam, which no one has figured out, but Thelma has many queries about needing more operating capital. She's handling them, involving money people, who are sponsoring more Churches with their own funds. We send the building and the minister. They supply the people for crowd contact. So far they're just using the operation to launder unexplainable funds from the collection plates into the Church bank account. That's fine. We get our cover for our briefcases. No one has said anything about missing gold reserves. No economy is doing anything but prospering. We're a success."

  "Magnificent. Change of plans; get someone from the liner who looks like me to lead the drinking and night club activities. Don't say he is me, just a look alike. We have to go to Intel HQ. Classified, just make it happen, Roe."

  She hesitated, too long, to be arranging schedules in her head. "It's done. Just a difficult Na
v problem since we're running ten years behind their present time. We'll peel off in the next ion cloud, three hours approx. Run under Invis, Intel HQ two and a half days. A day sooner if absolutely necessary?"

  "Not necessary, I'll brief you on why, when I can; thanks."

  She went back to the pool.

  Jolene asked, "Want to fill me in?"

  "Can't. Magician's secret."

  Actually, I myself didn't know yet. Also I didn't second guess my intuition. It had kept me alive through many tight spots.

  We diverted from the Liners course. A half day later I called Roe, "We need to be there now."

  "I'm not an Essence, I'm a ship pilot, but you'll get all I got."

  "Thank you. Also nobody, Essences included should know we're on the way."

  "Acknowledged."

  We approached Moneslakia shortly over a day later. I called Roe, "Can you sit us down on the plateau?"

  "No, too many ships there already. You said not to call ahead."

  "Right, hover next to the plateau and put out a ramp."

  She did, and I walked down the ramp to be met by woman who looked down at me. "I'm Betty."

  "Splendid. How do you usually visit the ANNU KI in the swamp?"

  "I go down with that shuttle over there and land near his ship."

  "Let's do that."

  She didn't move, searching my mind, and then she said, "Of course, everything for visiting dignitaries."

  "Exactly."

  I stepped on the lit 'X' marks behind her to the reception area. A huge figure came through a taller door and asked, "Betty, how can I help you, and you Sir, you seem to have much haste behind you."

  I said, "I always do things in haste. Life is too short for us humans, not like you two, who live forever."

  He acknowledged, "Indeed we do. Have we joy from that? I, who am stuck here in this swamp. But I have my work. Can I show you around; have you enough time to do that?"

  "I've made the time. I'm very interested in your labs. Please don't hurry yourself in my regard."