by Mark Wandrey
For a second, Osgood thought he was going to die. He could see the general’s finger tense on the trigger and decided it was all over. Then his thumb came up and he lowered the hammer. The weapon went back into its holster in one smooth motion and he turned to leave. “One life lost today is enough, egghead, you’ve got about seventy-two hours to get that damn thing turned back to where it needs to go before the shit hits the fan.”
“What happens then?” Leo asked.
“My boss gets here, and he’s not as forgiving as I am.” Once the general was gone, Volant removed his hand from his own gun and took a breath. He didn’t know if he could have killed the general, but he also wouldn’t have allowed him to do the unthinkable.
“I guess we better get to work then,” Osgood said and turned back to the monitors. Aside from the sweat covering his face, he appeared startlingly calm to everyone else. Most of them left as soon as possible and didn’t notice Osgood shaking and breathing hard. There’s no fucking way we’re going to break this language in three days
, he thought as he watched the mystery woman manipulate the Portal again. The memory of the gun pointed at his face was all too vivid in his mind’s eye and reminded him of exactly what was at stake. Fail on a NASA project and face a career change, fail at this and face death. What price freedom? In this case, he felt the question was 'what price survival?'
May 15
Mindy stepped from the cafeteria bathroom with a smile on her face and tears in her eyes. She wore a flowing lavender dress, the finest that could be found amongst her fellow detainees at such short notice, and a veiled headdress of material that almost matched. On cue, an MP3 player wired into the room’s PA system began playing the wedding march. Lisa Thompson, a friend she’d made since joining the Portal Project, and a co-conspirator in her and Harold’s secret planning, took her arm and smiled. She handed Mindy a hastily assembled bouquet of daffodils and tulips and got a kiss on her cheek in return. A few yards away stood her soon to be husband, Billy Harper, in full NYPD dress uniform. A smile was on his face too, but like most men, there was fear as well.
As the music played, Mindy and her bridesmaid walked up the short aisle to meet the groom and his best man, a neighbor of his named Mr. Nebowitz. The elderly Jewish man nodded and patted Mindy on the cheek. “Shalom,” he said and moved to the side with Lisa. All the attendees fell silent and watched. Mindy caught a glimpse of Osgood in the audience smiling and giving her a thumbs-up just before the military chaplain stepped forward and touched them both on the shoulder.
“Shall we begin?” he asked.
“Last chance,” Billy said to her.
She smiled at him, her eyes sparkling with tears. “There isn’t another man on this planet I would rather have as my husband,” she said and the fear left his eyes. They both turned to face the chaplain.
“Dearly beloved, we are gathered here to witness the joining of this man and this woman in the bonds of holy matrimony.” They listened as he spoke, then with the small congregation they prayed. All the while, they looked into each other’s eyes and felt the love that had sprung up so suddenly and grown to fill their lives. Mindy worried for a moment if it were the kind of love that would last a lifetime. They hardly knew each other. Then she remembered what was coming in seven days and cast all concern aside.
“Do you, Melinda Elizabeth Patoy,” she caught the look on Billy’s face when the Chaplin said her true first name and shook her head slightly, some other time. They were also too wrapped up in each other to notice Osgood's head jerk and lock on Mindy's face. The Chaplain continued, “Take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband? Do you promise to love, honor and care for him in sickness and in health, for richer and for poorer, and for as long as you both shall live?”
“I do.”
“And do you, William Lance Harper, take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife? Do you promise to love, honor and care for her in sickness and in health, for richer and for poorer, as long as you both shall live?”
“I most certainly do.”
“Then by the authority granted to me by God Almighty and the United States Military, I declare you man and wife. You may kiss the bride.” And without further fanfare, Mindy fell into her new husband’s arms. It might have been his best kiss so far. “Ladies and gentleman, I give you Mr. and Mrs. William and Melinda Harper!” The audience applauded loudly, some cheering and whistling as the newlyweds continued to kiss. Mindy was too busy to notice that one person, a tired old hippy, was watching with tear-filled eyes.
Osgood caught up with her quickly, giving Billy a warm handshake and Mindy a hug and kiss on the cheek. Afterwards, he held her by the shoulders at arm’s length and looked at her with a serious look. “Is something wrong?” Mindy asked.
“Later,” he said and left in a hurry. Mindy stared after him in confusion, but others came up to congratulate her and the instance was quickly forgotten.
The reception lasted a couple hours. It seemed more like days to Mindy and her new husband. There was music and food to be enjoyed by all, and everyone wanted to dance with the new bride. The food was a pleasure, even for the impatient newlyweds. Many treats that had become impossible to find including oranges, bananas, and fresh pineapple were offered. Leo even provided a luscious sandwich bar full of meats, cheeses, and bread. Part of the way through the celebration the man most responsible for the preparation made his appearance.
“Leo!” Mindy cried and ran over to give her old mentor a big hug. “Thank you so much for this! All the food is wonderful.”
“Glad everyone is enjoying it. But do me a favor; if anyone asks who raided the project storeroom, you have no idea.” They laughed and she hugged him again. “Is Osgood still here?”
“No, he rushed out of here in a hurry. He was acting kinda strange.”
“I'm not surprised. We’ve got a real problem at the Portal; I thought you might want to know about it.”
“Yes?” she said and Leo pulled her to the side where the revelers would not be able to hear. Her new husband watched them move out of the way with curiosity while not interfering.
“Night before last, Osgood was by the Portal doing some late work and he had a visitor.”
After he finished, Mindy shook her head in amazement. “So this woman somehow reprogrammed the Portal? That’s outstanding!”
“Not quite the reaction Volant and Hipstitch had,” Leo said.
“I don’t think Hipstitch would be happy if a naked Playmate sat in his lap.”
“Depends if she were wearing combat boots. Anyway, you solved our location issue. I confirmed it this morning. I gave the numbers to my associates at NASA and they ran them for me. Your location data was correct, and we looked over some solar observations the people at Ft. Eden took. The data matches up with Gamma Orionis B perfectly. The fact that life evolved there at all is a miracle.”
“Do you want me to work on this other issue?”
“I was hoping you would volunteer. Given your success with the location problem, I’ve gotten Volant to grant you full security access and permission to join the main research team.”
“So I get to work in the dome with the big boys?”
“If you want.” Suddenly Mindy remembered something else she’d been working on, and the man who was helping her who just happened to be hiding near a potted plant in the corner.
“I’ve become pretty important to the project from the logistics side as well.”
“To say the least. I’ve seen some of your recommendations and they are first rate.”
“Glad to hear it, but what I meant is could you arrange a secure data link so I can continue to help them, when I have time?”
“That shouldn’t be a problem. Pick an assistant and we’ll arrange a secure connection to their machine.” He leaned close and gave her a hug. “I’m glad you found someone to share your life, now enjoy the reception and the day off.” Mindy thanked him and immediately was asked to dance. It went that way for sev
eral more dances until someone surprised her. “Dance with me?” Harold asked.
Mindy smiled and took her old friend’s hand as a new song began. As they moved across the floor with a few other couples Harold tried again and again to think of something to say. He had almost come up with the right line when he saw Mindy’s new husband chatting with one of the guests. He never took his protective gaze off of them. Mindy caught her new husband’s eye and shot him a joy-filled smile. Instantly, Billy’s face brightened up until she looked away, then he returned to his guarded observations. Whatever it was Harold was going to say died in his throat.
“You look like there’s something you wanted to say,” Mindy asked.
“It’s not important,” he said, “I just hope you’re happy.”
“Thanks Harold, I appreciate it. I wanted to tell you they’re going to move me to the dome crew so I can work with the Portal directly.”
“No doubt because you found the location. You deserve it, man. Put in a good word for me, will you?”
“You know I will.” She had turned to walk away, when he called her name. She turned back and he had the strangest look on his face. “Good luck, and good bye.”
“Thanks again,” she said, confused at the expression on his face. A moment later he was gone and several more people were waiting to dance with her. “Aren’t there any other girls living in this place?” she moaned in mock protest.
What seemed like weeks later, she and Billy stood by the exit to the cafeteria. The men in the crowd went wild with cheers as Mindy put a shapely leg up on a chair and Billy hiked up her dress so he could pull the garter off. Billy shot it across the crowd and a young, bashful man caught it right between the eyes. He was instantly set upon by a whole brace of girls.
The women who gathered to catch the bouquet were considerably more boisterous then the men, all jockeying for position. Emboldened by Skinner’s contraband booze, they squealed and shoved each other in anticipation. When Mindy turned and tossed it over her shoulder, Billy thought he’d seen more dignified scrambles for a foul ball at Yankee Stadium. She didn’t get to see who got the flowers because Billy took advantage of the confusion to grab her and run for the elevator. The crowd caught on and raced after them, screaming and throwing handfuls of rice stolen from the kitchen.
“Finally!” Mindy cried as the doors closed. Billy pushed the button for her floor and practically jumped her. They hadn’t been together for several days and were as hot as firecrackers. Billy nearly ripped her panties off as she tugged down his zipper.
The elevator ride took less than a minute. With a ding they arrived at their floor; there was nothing to do but walk out. Billy carried her, Mindy’s legs wrapped around his waist and her arms around his shoulders. The wedding dress was quite billowy and covered everything so the pair of men waiting for the elevator only cocked their heads and smiled.
“Newlyweds,” Billy said with an out of breath shrug. Down the hall, she had her key out and unlocked the door quickly. He kicked it open and walked her into her bedroom. By the time he laid her down on the bed and picked up where he’d left, off she was in seventh heaven.
Early the next morning, Mindy awoke and saw her husband lying next to her and staring. “What are you doing?” she asked and rubbed her eyes.
“Watching my wife sleep,” he said and watched her blush. “I love you, thanks for marrying me.”
“I love you too, and you’re welcome. It’s an honor to be your wife.” She rolled over and eyed the clock; four-thirty AM glowed in the darkness.
“So you have to go to work this morning?”
“Yep, there’s a new problem Leo wants to set me on.”
“Something to do with the Portal?”
“Yes.”
“I’ve been meaning to ask you, what about this bunker thing?” he climbed out of bed, retrieved his pants and returned with a letter. It was an announcement that he had been pre-selected for Bunker Number 4 in the Pennsylvanian mountains. “I know you can’t talk about this Portal thing and what the government is doing with it, but I don’t see millions of people lining up here to use it. Whether it goes to Heaven, Hell, or some other planet, doesn’t matter. All I know is this is the only out I’ve been offered. This letter says I can take a wife and child with me, what do you think?”
“It’s bullshit,” she said quietly. “The general in charge of keeping us in line came clean days ago. It’s nothing more than an elaborate distraction. If you go there you will just be queuing up to die.”
“I thought so.” He sighed, crumpled it up and shot a three pointer into the waste basket.
“How did you figure it out?”
“Our precinct has one hundred and ten cops. Forty of us got these notices, and fifty other cops had relatives that did. That’s more than a hundred people in a small group. It seems everywhere I go, I run into people that have gotten letters. There is no way there could be that many in just our borough with less than a million total people selected.”
“You’re right. They haven’t said anything about how this whole process is going, but it makes sense.”
“Why? It seems like it’s going to blow up in their faces.”
“Think about it. Hand out exactly the right number of invitations and the remaining three hundred million go insane. Give out fifty million or more and then add that little line about spouse and kids getting to come along and all of a sudden a third or more of the people think they are saved. More days go by during the exodus to these bunkers and only once they get there will the illusion finally collapse. Of course, by then the asteroid will be only a couple days away. Everything will be falling apart anyway, and they will have bought over a week of calm and order for nothing more than a few million letters.”
“God, you sound like you almost admire these bastards,” he said.
“Just look at it: a well thought out yet simple plan to bullshit an entire nation while a few dozen use the calm to escape. It’s demonic, it’s unthinkable, and it’s happening as we speak.”
“That’s all that will get away, a few dozen?”
“Yes, but I’m going to see we are two of them.”
“How?”
“I’m working on a plan.” He lifted an eyebrow suspiciously at his bride. “Oh, don’t worry, it’s legal.” He shook his head and climbed on top of her. “You’re incorrigible,” she said as she felt him grow hard against her leg.
“
Let’s enjoy the rest of our honeymoon,” he said and kissed her passionately. “I want to remember this day.” Mindy lay back and sighed. She had no doubt she would remember it, for the rest of her life.
May 16
Ft. Eden was alive with activity as the sun came up. The occupants of the installation, now numbering fifteen, were hard at work felling trees and digging holes. Ever since the first team arrived, the Komodo sloths had been an ever increasing threat. Last night as the watch was changing, two of them charged the perimeter and mauled one of the men. He was in the makeshift infirmary, fighting for his life. The morning brought the implementation of a new plan. Under the direction of their engineer, Amanda Broadmoore, they were working feverishly to construct a palisade. “No, no, no!” she yelled at a group of men about to set a sharpened tree into a hole, flat end first. “I told you, five of the twenty footers, then two fifteen, then five more twenties!”
“What the fuck difference does it make, Amanda?” asked the sergeant, his muscles straining against the huge weight he was helping to move.
“I’ll tell you what; if you think it would work better there, go ahead and stick it in that hole.” Her look was deadly, and effective.
“So you want it in that hole over there?”
“That would be nice,” she said with a big smile. The men grumbled and hoisted the log back on their shoulders to move it down to another hole.
“Be patient with them, they’re not engineers.” She turned around and shrugged at Lt. Colonel Wilson. “They’re grunts, give them a break
.”
“Sorry, I’m just shook up after last night.”
“You were on watch before Smith, weren’t you?”
“Yes sir, it could just as well have been me. I don’t think I would have even gotten a shot off. Smith killed one before the other one reached him.”
“You don’t know that until it happens.”
“I want you to take me off of watch until the palisade is finished.”
“Not going to happen. We’re a man down now and everyone is dead tired. You’re doing the least amount of physical labor, not that I’m complaining. It wouldn’t do any good to have the architect of our defenses hurt moving a log, but you’re the freshest among us. It would be poor judgment on my part to allow you to stand down.”
“I see.”
“Fear not, Amanda, I have more faith in you than you have in yourself. Is there any word from our good doctor?”
“Nothing, not a peep. He’s been out there for three days, all alone. He’s probably dead.”
“Like I said at the time, it’s a bad command decision to let him go.”
“Didn’t seem to stop him.”
“Eggheads often don’t listen to orders. He spouted all kinds of shit about more diverse biological data and geological samplings.”
“Makes sense on a scientific footing.”
“Not on a hostile planet. Once we have a few dozen more people trained to defend themselves then I would have cut loose a couple of soldiers to escort him while he ran around collecting dirt and shit.” Out in the woods there was a resounding roar. On top of a sentry tower completed just that morning, a man raised his field glasses.
“A pair mating about a kilometer away,” he yelled. Everyone relaxed. The sloths had one mating season and it seemed to last all year. Amanda hadn’t had a chance to read Dr. Gibson’s sloth autopsy report. She’d poked her head in once and asked a couple of questions, but he’d been so preoccupied that she gave up and left.