Warp Point

by Darrell Bain

  * * * *

  “You should have been the captain,” Dan told Stacey that night in bed.

  “Dan Saddler, stop it. If it hadn't happened this way, McCoy might have done something far worse. He was an unstable character to begin with and it's the fault of the damn politicians for forcing him on us in the first place."

  “I keep trying to tell myself that."

  “Well, I'm telling you, and it's the truth. Besides, you're a better captain than I would have been. I don't have the fortitude to have someone executed, for instance, while you saw it had to be done and did it."

  “Some captain. Good for killing people."

  “Shush, I said.” She caressed his cheek and found wetness there. A moment later he was in her arms, taking solace from the only person on board able to give it to him.

  * * * *

  Dan returned to Central Control the next day; if not recovered from his funk, he was at least able to function. The investigation into the two deaths was still continuing, but it had been fairly well determined that the actual killing occurred much the way he had diagnosed it after seeing the sprawled bodies. At noon, a brief service was held near the main airlock.

  Dan turned the prayers and wistful talk of life after death over to the Catholic chaplain. At the end, he stepped forward. “Terrell Blanco was a friend. He was a good man, well thought of by his comrades. He will be sorely missed.” He pressed the touch plate and had the bodies released into space. He had nothing to say about the Reverend Murray McCoy.

  * * * *

  Once in orbit around Teren a few hours later, Dan announced his decision over the paging system.

  “I have reached the conclusion that we cannot risk ourselves on a planet already inhabited by intelligent beings and possibly harboring inimical parasites or microorganisms, just as ours might affect them. Therefore, we shall not be landing here. All studies must be carried out from orbit. We'll leave the planet Termen seven days from now and shape a path for home, back to Earth. I've been assured by the notes of the late Terrell Blanco and have assurances from other scientists that the warp point will indeed return us to Earth. However, he could not and I cannot guarantee what conditions we'll find there upon our return. They may be almost unchanged. Yet they may be so different from what we left as to make it impossible to live there again. As you all know, we are in a different alternity, a different reality if you will, from that we knew before embarking on this voyage. We can only wait and see what awaits us. Thank you."

  There was little dissent with his decision. More and more, the crew wanted to return to Earth, and as soon as possible. The scientists who had wanted to land instead got busy harvesting whatever knowledge could be gleaned from orbit, which turned out to be a surprisingly large amount.

  Termites were still the dominant life form, but their level of technology was far lower than in the previous reality. The photointerpreter had pretty well called it right. Castle-like buildings surrounded by hovels was the norm. There were few highways. Transportation was with wagons drawn by termens, possibly slaves or lower castes, but it was impossible to tell for certain. There was no radio or television. A few crude steam engines were spotted, the height of scientific achievement.

  Despite living with such a rudimentary technical base, the population was very high. Vast areas that had been occupied by forests or plains in the other alternity were devoted to crops in this reality.

  “We'd never be able to colonize here,” Hawkins said as he and Dan studied the continuing flow of data. “I don't see how they even support their own population."

  “They must be living right on the verge of collapse,” Matt said. “Pack animals or boats for trade. Trails instead of roads. Dozens of occupants to each hut."

  “I agree that it must be hard to support themselves, but the crowding could be cultural just as well as poverty."

  “I guess so,” Dan said, automatically looking around to get Terrell's opinion before remembering he was no longer with them. Susan was still not recovered from his death. Stacey visited her often and told Dan she would be all right, but needed time to herself for a while.

  * * *

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  The week in orbit passed swiftly. The last day before leaving for the warp point, Dan & Stacey had the inner circle to their stateroom, along Berlin, Brad and two new advisors, Geraldine Borgan, a socioanthropologist, and Herman Wurster, a physicist with a good knowledge of quantum theory. It was an informal, friendly gathering where drinking was allowed, knowledge would be exchanged and they could all relax together away from Central Control's formality and military constrictions. Susan made her first formal appearance since Terrell's death. She was pale but managed to smile when Dan greeted her.

  “I'm glad to see you, Susan. Make yourself at home."

  “Thanks. I thought it was about time I started crawling out of my shell.” She left him to visit with Stacey and Tara.

  Dan went to talk to Geraldine and Herman and get to know them better. He had a feeling that their fields of learning might become vital if they found Earth's culture significantly different from what they remembered.

  “Geraldine, Herman, glad to see you here. Is everything okay in your departments?"

  “Fine, Captain. Thanks for asking. And thanks for having us here,” Geraldine answered for both of them. They were living together in one stateroom.

  “The pleasure's all mine. Besides, this sort of gathering usually produces some good ideas and you're both tops in your fields."

  “Thanks. Good of you to say so,” Herman acknowledged with a courteous nod of his head. He spoke through a short beard that went well with his bushy black eyebrows.

  “It's nothing but the truth. I'm interested in hearing what you make of the changes on Termen since we were here before."

  “Well, I'm sure you know the sophants down below haven't changed at all; we're simply in a different reality,” Herman ventured.

  “Of course. Nevertheless, can't we draw some conclusions? Geraldine?"

  “Please call me Ger, captain. That's what most people know me by.” She smiled, brightening an otherwise plain face.

  “Certainly, but Geraldine is a pretty name."

  “Why, thank you, Captain. I was just telling Herman how much I wished we could have learned more about the Termens. Termites, as we all call them."

  “Me, too,” Herman said. “We could have gained some valuable knowledge about quantum theory and—” he nodded at Ger—"anthropology."

  “It's too bad, but it might have taken years of study of both cultures; in fact, it probably would have, being a different species we know very little about. Still...” Ger's voice trailed off. She glanced upward as if thinking of all the lost knowledge.

  “I take it you're both talking about where the two realities deviated?"

  “Right.” Herman smiled broadly. “Where the universe split into one of the infinite number possible when a choice of action was taken."

  “All right, Herman, let me ask you a question Terrell was working on. After seeing the degree of change here, does that give you any indication of what might have happened on Earth?"

  He shook his head. “Not a clue. You said it all in your announcement. We'll just have to wait and see. We can hope there's not much change—or perhaps we should hope there is."

  “Why?” Ger asked.

  “Well ... I'm not spreading this around outside of the group here, but if there aren't many observable changes on Earth, that would mean we may meet our other selves when we get back."

  Dan was caught off-guard. “Good God! I've read about that in science fiction stories, but is it possible in real life?"

  “Depends on what we classify as real.” He shrugged. “It's possible, I think, but like any other theory, the proof's in the testing. We can't know until we've checked on it."

  “Wait a minute. If it's possible to meet our other selves in a different reality, why didn't we do it here when we arrived back here from the
other universe?"

  “That's a simple one—I think. The deviation on Termen occurred so far back that this reality took a different track, one where they're still a long way from space travel. These Termites never sent a spaceship to Earth; therefore our other selves weren't here to greet us."

  “But...” Ger shook her head, then lost track of what she was going to protest about.

  Herman nodded sympathetically. “Uh huh. Makes your head hurt to think of all the ramifications and paradoxes of quantum theory, doesn't it?"

  “You can say that again,” Dan agreed. “I doubt I'll ever be able to figure it all out."

  “Don't worry about it. Better men than me have foundered over the implications of alternate realities."

  Later on, Dan advanced Herman's theory to Hawkins. “What do you think, Chet?"

  “Makes me want to get drunk. Maybe I could make sense of it then."

  “Make sense of what?” Stacey asked as she joined them.

  Dan told her.

  “Brrr. I'm beginning to wish Pioneer had come down in someone else's backyard."

  “Is that what really happened?” Ger asked. “I thought that was just the media making up a good story."

  “No, it really happened like that,” Stacey confirmed. “Dan suggested we go inside and take a look before the military got there, and the next thing we knew, we were in charge."

  “Well, I'm damned glad it was you two instead of someone like ... well, like McCoy, for instance. Can you imagine what he would have done with it?"

  “I can imagine. I don't like to think about it, though."

  “I guess not. Herman, want another drink? I'm going to the bar."

  “I'll go with you. Excuse us, captain."

  “Sure."

  The two drifted off in the direction of the bottles and mix.

  Stacey took Dan's arm. “Sweetheart, I sure hope Herman is wrong. I love you to death, but I think one of you is all I could take."

  Dan pretended to be considering the idea of doubles. “Hmm. I don't know. Maybe two of you would be fun."

  “No it wouldn't. Know why?"

  “Nope. Tell me."

  “Because both of us would want you and try to keep the other away, that's why."

  “How do you know?"

  “An old science fiction novel I read when I was a kid. Triangle, or something like that. A man loved a woman but she loved his best friend. So he figured out a way to duplicate her so he'd have one of her, as well as his friend. Didn't work. The duplicate was in love with his friend, too, and jealous as hell of her other self."

  “How did it all end?"

  “I don't remember exactly except that it wasn't good."

  Dan pulled her to him and gave her a quick, sweet kiss. “I love you so much I couldn't handle two of you. I'd be worn out in a week."

  “Hah. Not the way we've been going on this trip."

  “Special circumstances. I'll try to do better once we're headed back to Earth."

  Matt and Hawkins came over to where Dan and Stacey had decided to sit for a few minutes on the big lounger.

  “Plop yourselves down,” Stacey invited.

  The two men sat down opposite them on the smaller lounger. Hawkins led off. “We've been listening to Herman expound on the subject of duplicates. Have either of you heard him yet."

  “We were just talking about it,” Dan said with a grin, and got an elbow in the ribs from Stacey, warning him of limits.

  “Do you believe it?"

  Dan scrutinized his friend. He was staring back anxiously, looking worried over the possibility.

  Stacey caught his expression as well. “Chet, what's wrong? It probably won't turn out that way."

  “I know."

  He still looked worried and suddenly Stacey knew why. “Oh, God, Chet. I'm sorry. I was making fun of Dan, but you ... you..."

  Hawkins nodded his head sadly.

  “You left Jenny and the kids at home.” Stacey covered her mouth with her hand and shook her head. “Oh Lord, Chet, I'm so sorry. You must have been worrying about this kind of thing ever since we discovered we're in a different reality. Why didn't you say something?"

  “I guess I was in denial. And you have to admit, this isn't something that comes up in your life every day. It's such an odd situation that I didn't really think about the implications. And added to that, my immediate worries have been about the ship and the crew, not what might be changed on Earth."

  “Goddamn, Chet, I wish there was something I could do to get back sooner, so you'd at least know."

  “Yeah, I wish, too, but never mind. Keep your attention on the ship. We've still got to get home. That's the important thing right now."

  * * * *

  A faint rumble sounded in the rooms and compartments of Pioneer as the great ship's energies were turned to acceleration. The trip to the warp point, and back to Earth, had begun, for better or worse.

  Dan sat in the captain's chair and surveyed Central Control. It seemed a lesser place without Terrell's presence. Herman had yet to make up the difference, and perhaps never would, he thought. The physicist was too jovial about concerns most of the rest worried over, including himself. Despite berating himself time after time to quit thinking of all the possible outcomes they might discover, he couldn't keep from it. What if there was only a minor difference in this Earth and the one they had departed from? Would they find themselves shaking hands with their own selves? Would they meet another Pioneer, arriving a little later or earlier than they did? Would Earth be radically changed, a unified government, maybe, or perhaps something bad, like a nuclear war having occurred? Would they find a different United States, one that had never broken free of England, or where the South had won the Civil War? Could there be a world where slavery was legal and unquestioned, like it had been through most of history? He dreamed of possibilities without end and of himself being chased through innumerable doors, each leading to a different reality.

  Sometimes he talked in his sleep, waking Stacey. She would hold him tight until the dream dissipated and she could sleep again, unaware that on some nights he did the same for her. On those nights when he held her sleeping form, his mind wouldn't stay still. It seemed ironic that nothing they had anticipated happened, and that even after becoming embroiled in the Termen/MI confrontation they would never know for sure how it came out. And regardless, the whole long nerve-wracking clash with the MI seemed entirely pointless now that they knew the situation was only a single one of an infinite number of possibilities for them. And even more ironically, fighting the MI had led to them losing any chance of seeing their world again as they had left it. Sleep came hard on those nights and left him in an absent-minded state the next day as he wondered how it would all come out in the end. Not the least of his worries was Stacey's pregnancy. What kind of world would their child be raised in, the one coming now after they'd given up all hope they would ever have offspring?

  One day as they neared the warp point, he began thinking of how he would immediately start listening to broadcasts from Earth and find out where they stood, only to remember that Pioneer couldn't receive communications while accelerating or decelerating. They would have to wait for the turnover point, halfway to Earth, before they had a window, and it would be for only a few minutes while the ship reversed its orientation and began decelerating.

  Eventually he decided to take a full day off and try to simply relax with Stacey and the inner circle, but he waited until two days before reaching the warp point.

  Hawkins had managed to get his mind off the consequences of leaving his family home by beginning a hard training regime for the battalion of army troops. He wanted them to be ready to fight if it came to that, even if it was against troops of the United States in this reality. Announcing that possibility, and others just as bad, went a long way toward getting them to take the training seriously.

  He arrived at the stateroom looking fit and healthy, then immediately rubbed it in by telling Dan he need
ed to get more exercise.

  “I know, Chet. And once we're past the warp point and on the way to Earth, I intend to."

  “How long this time?"

  “I talked to Brad the other day. We can cut the three months we spent getting from Earth to the warp point down a lot, now that we know Pioneer's capabilities. And Earth's in a more favorable spot in its orbit, so the path'll be shorter. Say four to five weeks, with a little over two until turnover. That's what I'm looking forward to; a chance to see if Earth's broadcasting, and if so, what."

  “We probably won't learn much, even so. Television broadcasting is line of sight reception."

  “I know, smart guy, but there's lots of signals going out to hundreds of satellites. The communication officer tells me we should be able to pick up a good deal of the normal leakage from the signals spreading."

  “Hmm. Didn't think of that.” He grinned. “Now, smart guy, we just have to hope this Earth has satellites."

  “Whoops! But even the lack would tell us something, wouldn't it?"

  “Sure. But what?"

  Dan had no answer for that one.

  * * *

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  By now, Dan was getting used to the physical discomfort associated with passing through a warp point. He paid it hardly any mind, simply waiting patiently for the feel of nerves twisting and the other bodily sensations to pass. As quickly as he was able, he spoke, unable to contain his anxiety. “Matt, get us a plot quick as you can, and for God's sake, tell us whether Earth is still here!"

  “Give me a few minutes."

  Knowing approximately where to look shortened the time considerably. Less than two minutes later, Matt grinned happily. “There we are, right where it's supposed to be. Happy now?"

  Dan nodded, surprised to discover what a relief it was to know at least that much, even if more credible information was still two weeks away. He hadn't known how worried he had been that they might arrive in a reality where the planet had never formed. “Great. Get going."

  Matt stayed busy a few minutes, working with Berlin and Brad to change Pioneer's acceleration pattern from what it had been as it hit the warp point to what was needed to head toward Earth. Eventually he touched the console and digits by the vector toward Earth changed rapidly, then settled into a steady pattern, counting time down to the second. “Two weeks, one day and seven hours until turnover,” he announced.