Antelope FreewayChapter 2
- 3 years ago
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Seven months later...
Time: November 2, year 204,883 7:00 PM Peruvian Local Time
In the month of October 204,883, Brianna and Isabelle and 1,679 other Peruvian girls passed their ninth-year control gates. The graduates began using their chosen names, and on the first afternoon of November they were all allowed to begin touring the male puppy farms, entering the pens and playing with the boys and choosing which ones they would like for pet-mates. By the end of the second day, over sixteen hundred girls had made their selections. Brianna and Isabelle were not among them...
The two girls returned to their dorm room after dinner. Brianna went to her desk and popped up her mathematics workbook on her monitor. She was soon lost in her studies. Isabelle went to her own desk and pulled up her work lessons in civics. The time passed quietly...
Speaking out loud, Brianna said after a while, "So, what did you think of Gregory?"
"Gregory? Uh, which one was that?"
"What?! Isabelle! How could you forget?! The cute sandy-haired puppy in the south pens, in the same pen as Anthony. You know, the one with the dimple on his cheek. He's so playful! And cute! And did you see his legs?! Very handsome! I like him a lot. Isabelle! How could you forget?!"
Isabelle shrugged, and did not look up from her civics studies. "Well... These last two days, we looked at an awful lot of puppies..."
"None of them were as cute as Gregory!" Brianna started to whine, "There aren't many puppies left Isabelle! I had no idea you and I had such different tastes in boys..." Brianna frowned and added, "Maybe we shouldn't have volunteered to double up..."
"Yeah... Maybe not..." Isabelle sighed and went back to her studies...
The normal practice for the WFM was to have 20% or 30% more boys than girls for the girls to choose from, using the surplus for replacements for older children and adults, for medical research, and culling the rest. But in the year 204,874, there was a worldwide problem with the ova quality used for male breeding, and there were only about an equal number of boys born that year as girls. The problem temporarily disappeared, and only a few high-level commanders and genetic e-techs realized how serious the issue was.
As a means to cope with the shortage, the girls had been offered a choice to "double-up" and share a single pet-mate. There were not many volunteers...
Isabelle looked up from her studies. "Mark was nice..."
"Mark?... Which Mark?"
"Mark 49, the one that"
"That Mark?! Isabelle! He was so short! He's shorter than I am!"
"So?"
"No way!"
"He was nice! And did you see how he likes to cuddle?"
"No! No! No!"
"Hey?!" Isabelle looked exasperated. "Okay, I give up! Let's just go with your Gregory then!"
"Really?!''
Isabelle sighed heavily. "Yeah, it'll be okay."
"Thank you Isabelle! You won't regret this!" Brianna started typing on her console happily. "Excrement!"
Isabelle looked over frowning. "Now what?"
"Norani picked him an hour ago!"
"You're kidding?! I thought she was looking for something more athletic."
"This is all your fault Isabelle! If you just would have listened to me yesterday, Gregory could have been playing with us right now! Now... Oh Isabelle! There are so few left!"
"Hey! This shortage is not my fault! Stop blaming me!"
"Fine!"
An hour went by before the girls spoke again. "Isabelle?"
"Uh huh?"
"I'm sorry."
Isabelle leaned back in her chair and sighed. "I forgive you... Pull up the breeder's web site. Let's see what's left."
The girls stared at the puppy web pages for several minutes. "Sixty-three left, not much of a selection," murmured Brianna.
"Midnight tonight, our first choice status disappears. Research will probably pick up the lot. I doubt if any will be culled... Want to wait for next year?"
Brianna shook her head vigorously. "No, I want a puppy now!"
"Well, see any boy you like?"
"Not really... How about you?"
"I wouldn't mind waiting."
"Oh heck, you're no help..." Brianna flipped through several more pages in silence. "Sorry... I know this isn't your fault."
Isabelle leaned over and lightly kissed Brianna's cheek. "It's okay. Really, pick any boy you like."
"Really?"
"Well, any cute one..."
"Yeah..."
Brianna browsed for a while, considering. The picture of Kyle came up and she stared at it for a surprisingly long while. "Isabelle, what about the talking boy?"
"Yeah, right! Click on next."
"There is no next. Kyle's at the end of the list."
Isabelle shrugged her shoulders. "So why don't we wait for next year? There'll be a plentiful supply, not like now. We can even have our separate pet-mates..."
Brianna kept staring at the last picture. "Why don't we take Kyle now?"
Isabelle stared at Brianna. "You're serious?"
"I think so... yeah..."
"It would be novel, having a boy who talks! But can you imagine cuddling with him?! Brianna, what are your thoughts?"
"I've been dared, so many times... I think I'd like to do it."
"Brianna! Taking care of any puppy is a big responsibility! Don't take a talking one because someone dares you to!"
"Oh, I know. Still... Please?"
Isabelle stared at the picture. "He is cute... Nice athletic body... I remember he waved at me and smiled when I passed his pen... He certainly is friendly enough... and I like his eyes. Look at his eyes Brianna! Such beautiful soft blue puppy eyes... Okay! Let's take him!"
"Thank you Isabelle! You won't regret this!" Brianna kissed Isabelle and entered the selection web-page...
Time: Unknown, transversing a slip channel conduit... Isabelle's mind was filled with wonder as she sped through the column of blue bubbles. She could sense being held tightly by her mother, but that sensation seemed to exist in an alternate reality. Isabelle cried out to her mom, trying to make contact. "Mom! What is this stuff?" Isabelle sensed rather than heard an answer. "I don't know! This isn't what I was expecting! Hang on!" The lights were so pretty, broad swatches of...
Earth time: Tuesday, December 21, 2032 4:00 PM Central Standard Time Aina time: 7:15 PM, day 126 of 1436 H.E. (first day of autumn Makule, one month before the Festival of Ice) Jim Arnold put down his marker and walked away from the whiteboard to sit with A'moth and me, Antelope Freeway's newest arrivals. We had spent our first couple of days socializing with each other. Then Cindy converted one of the Arctic bedrooms into a classroom, and over the last two days, she and Jim and Isabelle...
Earth time: Saturday, March 19, 2033 6:00 PM Eastern Standard Time (29 minutes to sunset) Aina time: 5:15 AM, day 216 of 1436 H.E. (53 minutes to sunrise, morning of the first day of spring and the Red Bird Festival) "Visual image locked?" I nodded. A'moth and I were in a tight embrace, staring into each other's eyes. I linked with her mind, she join the lock of my mind's eye on my target destination ten feet away. An instant later we were both there. "Excellent Gary! You needed...
Time: Unknown, parked in a field of corn... We all woke up about the same time in the cockpit. Hoshi looked totally confused and surprised that we were still in one piece. The view outside was that of a setting sun. The plane was surrounded by a vast expanse of corn... I probed with my mind and sensed the 400-foot sound barriers in all directions, about 23 kilometers away. I probed a little more closely. I think my seat in the cockpit was directly opposite the center of Antelope Freeway....
"Oh hell, Jim. Hell... Look at the odometer. It's right on schedule." It was now 8:40 AM. Jim slowed down and stopped by Cindy's car. Cindy noticed the battery status flip from yellow to blue, as the current charge of 33% began to make its 2% per minute ascent. The day was starting out just as whacky as the last one had ended. They had had an early breakfast and had started traveling eastbound on Antelope Freeway at 7 AM sharp, a few minutes before sunrise. Jim had decided to drive at 67...
I awoke about an hour before dawn, breathing deeply and totally relaxed and refreshed. A'moth was still sleeping in my arms, but I could sense she was right at the edge of waking up herself. I began to nuzzle her neck and pet her stomach. "Ah! Good morning Gary..." I glanced out the tent. It was still dark outside. "Gary... Yeah... I haven't been called Gary in years." A'moth nodded. "It was the same for me sometimes, over the centuries. You're the first person who knew me as...
Four years later... Earth time: Friday, April 24, 2037 9:25 PM Central Daylight Savings Time Aina time: day 0 of 1442 H.E. 2:00 PM First day of summer and the Festival of the High Sun Cindy walked into her bedroom at her arctic home and saw Jim lying naked in a very awkward position on the bed. Cindy herself was feeling terrible, weighed down with an enormous burden of sadness and despair, and she took off her clothes and lay by Jim's side. They stared into each other's eyes for a...
A few weeks later... Earth time: Tuesday, July 10, 2043 7:33 AM Central Daylight Savings Time ( 1 hour, 17 minutes after sunrise on Antelope Freeway ) Aina time: day 277 of 1449 H.E. 4:34 AM ( 1 hour, 24 minutes after sunrise at Spirit House ) Isabelle rushed into the situation room three minutes after the meeting was supposed to start. "Sorry I'm late!" "No problem Issie." Jim replied. "How was your workout?" Isabelle smiled. "Pretty good! Ten kilometers in forty minutes! It's...
Time: Unknown, Blue thunder on Antelope Freeway... Just as Gary completed his jump, the light in the cornfields of Antelope Freeway changed from the normal afternoon sunlight of late-winter to something so bizarre that A'moth gasped in astonishment. All the colors of the green corn and brown earth were replaced by a bright cornflower blue, the entire world one great expanse of great blue glowing light. The sky above was incomprehensible, a uniform blue without clouds, but with a huge arc...
Five years later... Earth time: April 27, year 204,860 9:00 AM Antelope Freeway Standard Time After my morning workout with A'moth in the arctic gym, I was all set for our usual 8:00 AM staff meeting, but Isabelle said she and Jim are working on something interesting and she asked if we could postpone the meeting till ten o'clock. So I asked Issie to jump me to Antelope Freeway so I could practice my jumping for a while. I practiced for about a half hour, and then got bored. I parked in...
Time: 1 hour 52 minutes post injection Isabelle had spent the last several minutes running preliminary diagnostics. Hoshi looked on quietly and admired her expertise. The other four teachers were gathered near the door. "This confirms it," Isabelle called back to the other teachers. "The plane has dropped back to its very last solution. It's activated both terrain mapping radar and gyroscopes, and is being guided by its internal map software." "I didn't even know the jets had such...
Time: 6:07 AM June 23, 207145 Nebraska reference time A glint of the first rays of the morning sun came in through the windows on the other side of the plane at fell upon my face. I smiled, feeling well rested. A'moth was already up and gone but I was still feeling the warmth of Isabelle sleeping by my side nearest the window. I opened my eyes, and saw one of the nine-year old girls watching me from about an arm's length away. She smiled at me when she noticed me looking at her. "Hello....
Time: December 3, 207145 6:57 PM Nebraska Standard Time We started the meeting right after dinner, and had been working on the plan for almost an hour. All twelve of us were in Conference Room A, the primary situation room of the arctic home. Jim and Isabelle had finally come up with a plan of what we should be doing, and it was a doozy. All twelve of us had been debating it ever since. Even the girls were chiming in... "If we decide to do this, how soon should we leave?" asked...
They drove in silence for the first part of their trip. Cindy would occasionally put her hand outside the window and let the air flow through her fingers. "Ah," she said at last, "I haven't driven with open windows in ages. When I was with my parents, it was just so easy to keep the climate system on and listen to music..." "I've got some CDs if you like. Mostly Jazz, but also some Spanish guitar and choral music... Some Rock & Roll from the 60's and 70's too..." "Sounds...
Cindy leaned against the northern sound-barrier and sighed, enjoying the warmth of the small window of sunlight. She finished her picnic lunch and drank the last of her last bottle of water, and reflected again on how amazing her life was turning out to be. She had been together now with Jim for almost two weeks. They had been making progress in several ways, and were utterly stymied in others. They still saw no way out of their Freeway prison. They paced the perimeter and grounds for...
Aina: 8:04 AM, day 217 of 1406 H.E., two hours after sunrise, morning after the Red Bird Festival Earth: Thursday, 12:13 PM, October 22, 2009 Central Daylight Savings Times Cindy crept up the mountain, her body shaking with fear. A great red hawk was hunting her overhead, and she felt very exposed on the bare rocks. This was the first time she had seen the awful predator since last summer, and she was dismayed at the added complication. Her only salvation was that the humans were close by,...
Six years later... Earth time: January 1, 2050 12:01 AM Eastern Standard Time I was reading a book in the main library, sitting in one of the comfortable reclining chairs. Isabelle came into the room and sat on my lap and kissed me. "Happy New Years dad!" "Huh? Already?" I kissed her back and looked at the clock. Isabelle shrugged. "I was thinking of Aina base time. They used to use Eastern Standard Time as a reference... from their connection to West Virginia..." I nodded. The...
Isabelle's meeting with A'moth and Cindy wound up lasting the day. I had a friendly lunch with Jim and then we started playing chess in the afternoon. His understanding of physics is light-years ahead of me, but in chess we're about equals. We like to play game-thirty, thirty minutes on the chess clock for each of us, regardless of the number of moves. We have an unspoken rule not to use the clock to win drawn positions. The women weren't coming out of their meeting, so Jim and I kept...
Two hours later... Time: May 4, year 204,883 6:30 PM Peruvian Local Time After an uneventful trip, Child Transport dropped Isabelle off at the office of the top Genetic e-tech of the city. The secretary electronically signed the transfer log, and then gestured for Isabelle to enter the inner office. As Isabelle did, she heard a soft hiss as two layers of doors closed and sealed the entrance behind her. She looked around the new room. The opulent office was somewhat dim with the panoramic...
Time: January 2, 204894 3:17 PM local time outside the Nebraska channel, 4 hours, 17 minutes after injection. A lot can happen in 200,000 years. Nebraska used to be famous for its cornfields, but the area around the channel entrance was now a deep forest. After A'moth dropped us off, Jim and I spent some time hiking around a bit until I nailed the exact location of the entrance. The trick is to probe lightly. Too deep a mind-presence in the channel and I'd slide down without being able to...
Time: 6:00 PM day 267 of 1536 N.H.E. (New Hopewell Era) Mayoni and Kalea were the first to enter the executive conference room on the ninth Level of Spirit House, a half hour early for the upcoming meeting. The western views out the panoramic windows looked very familiar. They should have. Mayoni's and Kalea's apartment was directly above the conference room on Level-10. Through all the years of their absence, the Hopewell had kept the apartment reserved for them. The two sisters sat down...
Jim and Cindy both got out of the car after Jim pulled into the breakdown lane. Across the median about 200 feet away sat the other car, its flashers brightly blinking. Jim thought it was a large car, expensive looking... Cindy was the first to speak. "I don't believe it! It's another Mercedes Coupe! My gosh, it's my exact model too!" She then had a shocked look on her face. She gave a strangled cry and began racing across the median to the other car. Jim began to walk after her to the...
The miles glided by. The ride was incredibly quiet; the only sound the rush of wind by the windows. Cindy had been relaxing with her eyes closed, her body tired but her mind too excited to rest. She finally gave up trying to sleep and opened her eyes and looked at the clock. "Past 6:40," she said. She let her fingers play with the wind outside her window. "At least it's still cooling off some more. What a relief! Still doing fifty- eight?" "Yep, speed is steady..." said Jim, very...
It was just after 1:40 PM when Jim and Cindy returned from his car to their grass picnic area by the sound barrier. "I checked the batteries." Jim commented. "They're 80% charged now. At least the magic is still with us." "Uh huh..." Cindy said idly. She was carrying her flute from the car, and she walked over and sat down on the picnic blanket, taking off her sneakers and socks. She lifted her head up and gazed at the white clouds above her. The weather was delightfully cool, 53F,...
Jim and Cindy spent the next half hour walking the inside perimeter of their 300-foot by 500-foot prison. It was after 5 PM, and sunlight was reaching only the upper parts of the northern and eastern walls. Everything else was in shadows. Cindy felt a great wave of resignation wash over her as they completed their walk. "Do you think we'll ever get any sunlight down here?" Jim muttered, "Not much..." without thinking, but then began to consider the issue. "Certainly not near the...
Aina: 5:51 AM, day 217 of 1406 H.E. (Hopewell Era), thirteen minutes before sunrise, morning after the Red Bird Festival Earth: Thursday, 10:00 AM, October 22, 2009 Eastern Standard and Central Daylight Savings Times Mark awoke first, the screeching of the migratory birds finally pulling him from his dream. He blinked his eyes open, and then he smiled at the sight of naked Anuhea sleeping in his arms. They had just married the previous evening, and had spent two hours afterwards hiking...
Cindy was asleep for about an hour when she began to have a most amazing dream. At first she was at the bottom of an enormous cylinder, perfectly shaped and filled with crimson light and so vast it was beyond comprehension. There was a great golden spiral curving up around the inside of the cylinder, making one and half revolutions before reaching the top miles above her. After a moment the scene blurred, and Cindy was falling backwards against giant red soap bubbles, a deep red light...
Cindy awoke after daybreak and discovered she was alone. She continued her search for several hours without success, and then heard a number of human voices coming from nearby. She climbed a ridge to investigate and was horrified by what she saw. Cindy guessed there were seventy dead human bodies in the field before her. The snow was red with their blood. About thirty men and ten women were moving among the corpses. Cindy climbed a tree and stared at the carnage, trying to make sense of...
Future Interlude I: A Day At The Water Park... Aina time: 9:17 AM Day 36 of 1467 H.E. It was the start of the midsummer school break on Aina, a full week with no school. In the early morning, the two mothers currently parenting the twins asked them where they'd like to go for the day. In one voice, Kalea and Mayoni answered with a shout, "L&M's!" So Jennifer and Kara packed box lunches for everybody and they took the subway to the Aina's one and only Water Park. The two women...
Earth time: Wednesday, 5:49 PM, September 8, 2010 Central Daylight Savings Time H.M.S. Resolute, depth 200 meters, speed zero knots, six kilometers from the undersea Lomonosov Ridge... Captain Jacobs drifted over to helm control. After a moment of staring at some displays, he asked, "And what's your opinion bosun?" John McHale looked up from his station, shrugged first and then smiled. "Warrant Officer Stevenson is the best there is, sir. But I'll bet you sterling to navy beans his...
Future Interlude IV: Reflections At Home Aina time: 2:43 PM day 150 of 1472 H.E. Kalea came in first to the apartment she shared with Mayoni. She kicked off her shoes and sat in one of the plush lounge chairs in front of the bay windows. The view was due west, and sunset would be at 2:51 PM. The scenes of the snow capped mountains in the setting sun were spectacular. About ten minutes later Mayoni came in carrying a piece of paper. She joined Kalea, discarding her shoes and jumping into an...
Future Interlude V: A Chat With Dad Aina time: 6:50 AM day 151 of 1472 H.E. Mayoni was just stepping out of her morning shower when she heard the phone ring. Kalea had already left the apartment for the University, so Mayoni dashed out of the bathroom naked except for a towel around her shoulders. "Hello?" "Hi Mayoni. It's dad. How are you?" "Oh, hi dad! I'm fine. Where are you?" "In what used to be southern France." There was a pause, and then Mark laughed. "Actually, the...
Early next morning... Earth time: Saturday, 6:18 AM, November 27, 2010 Central Standard Time Aina time: 6:25 AM, day 45 of 1408 H.E. (mid summer) A'moth completed her eighteenth lap on the underground jogging track and glanced at her watch. The track was very springy and a delight to run barefoot. A'moth was pacing herself to one lap per minute, a nice easy run for her. The diameter of the vast cavern was 132 meters, and A'moth was running about 1.5 meters from the wall. Each lap was...
Earth location and time: Miami Florida, Dade County Family Court, Monday, 9:40 AM, November 29, 2010 Eastern Standard Time Aina time: 11:29 AM, day 47 of 1408 H.E. "Mr. Connors, can I ask you a question?" My lawyer's quiet question brought me out of a daydream. My daughter Isabelle was sitting in a chair on my other side. Her eyes were closed, but I sensed a subtle shifting of her head as she plugged into the conversation. "Of course," I whispered. "What's up?" "While you were...
Earth time: Monday, 12:40 PM, November 29, 2010 Mountain Standard Time Aina time: 4:29 PM, day 47 of 1408 H.E. After A'moth left, Isabelle and I wandered about and looked at our boxes. They were neatly stacked in two separate piles in the room. Isabelle looked so excited I decided not to press her for explanations, let her decompress first. A'moth's downstairs area was very comfortable. It was a nice deep basement, more than seven feet of head room. There was one large living area plus...
Earth time: Monday, 3:38 PM, November 29, 2010 Mountain Standard Time (51 minutes before sunset) Aina time: 7:27 PM, day 47 of 1408 H.E. (16 minutes past sunset) Isabelle won the flip and started as White. I gulped when she offered me the King's Gambit by pushing P-KB4 on her second move. The game was on its way to some major league fireworks. A'moth popped into existence just as I was accepting the Gambit. "Ah, you'll have to wait on that! We have an arriving train to catch, the 3:40...
After tucking Sarah in, my wife begged to take a shower first, before we talked. I changed into a new tee shirt and cotton shorts, and sat of the king-size bed in our bedroom waiting for her. I was so tired. After a few seconds I lay down to rest. My mind was desperate to think about something pleasant and non-threatening. I started thinking about the house... It's a good house, comfortable, simple, a non-pretentious boxy cape. It feels like a home. Foundation size is about 10 meters by 12...
Earth time: Friday, 5:55 AM Mountain Standard Time, December 24, 2010 Aina time: 6:54 PM day 72 of 1408 H.E. (Festival of Harvest, first day of autumn) Kara walked home alone after the tribal council meeting. It was an hour after sunset and a beautiful evening for a stroll, pleasantly cool after the warm day. Mahina was a brilliant waxing half-circle of blue light in the southern sky, and there were even a few solar-panel lights mounted on poles around the village, providing more than...
Earth time: Monday, 4:29 PM Mountain Standard Time, January 3, 2011 Aina time: 8:30 AM day 83 of 1408 H.E. I was standing in a barren cornfield in the center of Nebraska. It had taken us close to four hours to drive here from Pine Bluffs. A'moth and Isabelle were walking around a short distance away, the dry icy snow crunching and squeaking beneath their boots. The car registered to my new identity was parked on a narrow farm road about a hundred meters away. I shivered in the cold. The...
Earth time: Saturday, March 30, 2019 5:51 AM Central Standard Time Aina time: 1:50 PM, day 243 of 1418 H.E. I love my weekends. I love working out. My routine is to take Route 61 southeast from home at Minneapolis Minnesota and drive out to the Richard J. Dorer Memorial Hardwood State Forest. A huge place, thousands of square kilometers of virgin forest, and with all the preoccupation with the plague, almost deserted. I love turning my body loose to run. I locked my car and looked around,...
Future Interlude IX: Love By The Stonewall Aina time: 8:40 PM day 288 of 1473 H.E. (77 days after memory integration, First leap- day of 1473, two days before the Festival of the High Sun and day zero of 1474) Mayoni and Ekela walked through the quiet orchards well north of the old deserted museum-village, holding hands and enjoying the lush beauty and sweet smells of the fruit trees around them. The sun was very low on the horizon and would set in twenty minutes, and the native Aina...
I woke in the cave after four hours of sleep. A'moth was gone. I lounged around for a while, thinking about life. A'moth's story about Chungieran sex really shook me up. Not just my personal situation, but the fact that the dominant male gender on her world intentionally changed their reproductive act to be unpleasant. Somehow, I can't see the guys of Earth jumping on that bandwagon, no matter how crowded life got. But then again... Oh, I don't know. It was just that I was face to face...
Later that morning... Earth time: Tuesday, April 26, 2033 9:00 AM EDT "God damn it you asshole! We haven't got time for that! Run and get me the bolt- cutters! Move!" "Sure thing Carl! Just be a minute..." I heard someone run off, leaving Carl fuming on the outside of the generator hut and pounding on the door in frustration. I was just a meter away from him on the inside. Fortunately there were no windows. Generators around here are priceless, and this one was extremely well...
An hour later... Earth time: Tuesday, April 26, 2033 6:49 PM EDT Aina time: 7:00 PM day 254 of 1436 H.E. I was in the back of our home cave with A'moth. She's in a deep sleep, breathing easily. I'm hoping she'll be okay. She did warn me her body would hibernate as it repaired itself and grew a new hand. I was lying with her, caressing her, just enjoying holding her. Occasionally she would sigh contently in her dreams. I think she knows I'm cuddling with her. Yeah, I'm hoping she'll...
Six years later... Earth time: Sunday, June 14, 2043 5:50 PM Eastern Daylight Savings Time Aina time: day 251 of 1449 H.E. 4:19 AM Isabelle looked at the wall clock and felt a rising tide of exasperation. "People! In exactly three days the tunnel will open! We need to come to closure on this." Cindy took a deep breath and paused to look around the situation room. They had made many changes to their arctic home over the years, and currently one entire floor was devoted to mission...
Future Interlude X: Proposals In A Tent Aina time: 4:40 PM day 66 of 1474 H.E. (145 days after memory integration, one week before the start of autumn and the Festival of Harvest) Ekela finished his portage from Maluhia, the small resort hamlet the Hopewell had recently built along the eastern line of the great rim mountains. The hamlet consisted of a single hotel and a few small buildings for supplies and emergency medical support. The hotel could house a hundred people, but Ekela, Mayoni,...
Nine years later... Time: February 27, year 204,883 7:52 PM Peruvian Local Time The door opened and an angry young girl stomped into her dorm room. She then froze in astonishment and yelled, "Who the sink are you?!" "Hi! My Short is 714. I've been transferred here from Kangnung." "The plunge?! They're transferring kids now?!" "So it would seem. Hello 825." "You expect a sinking hello back?! You have a lot to learn! Get the plunge out of here!" Short-714 shrugged her...
Two months later... Time: May 4, year 204,883 2:27 PM Peruvian Local Time Isabelle sat in Dr. Ceres outer office, glancing at the clock occasionally. She had been tersely ordered to report for a two o'clock meeting, and it was unusual for Dr. Ceres to be late. Suddenly Dr. Ceres walked in from the hall and with a quick hand gesture waved at Isabelle to follow her into her inner office. "Sit down after you close the door 714," the doctor ordered as Isabelle walked into the room....
Several hours later... It was almost 10 PM before Brianna was led by building security to her new home, the upper levels of the Central Government Complex. After going through a number of rigorous medical exams in the labs below, Brianna was surprised to be allowed to discard her flimsy medical smock and to put on newly issued clothes. And then she was escorted to an ascending elevator. Brianna had assumed she'd be kept in one of the sub-level holding pens, and was half expecting that the...
Ten years later... Time: December 26, year 204,893 4:30 AM London Local Time Nineteen year-old Brianna walked out of Kyle's kennel and joined Isabelle who was waiting for her in a car. Isabelle, though mentally much older, also had a nineteen year- old body, and was wearing brand-new epaulettes showing her rank as a Level-2 Commander. Brianna's graduation from the College of London was one month away. She had one last step remaining in her doctoral program, the completion of her...
Time: January 1, year 204,894 9:11 PM London Local Time (T plus 12 minutes) Jim was lying quietly on his mat, his eyes closed and pretending to be asleep. He suddenly noticed a slight lemon taste in his mouth and breathed a sigh of relief. It was Gary's signal that he was back in the area, and lemon was the code for full success. Profoundly happy that his son was almost free forever from the grips of the WFM, Jim settled down and tried to get some real sleep. Time: January 1, year 204,894...
Time: January 2, year 204,894 2:15 PM London Local Time (T plus 17 hours, 15 minutes) Jim paused for a second, staring at the corporal beckoning him to the couch. He then felt a brief taste of lemon in his mouth, and he realized it was Gary reminding him that Gary would protect him if things really got out of hand. Jim smiled a bit as he thought of what Gary's definition of "out of hand" would be in a situation like this. He walked over to the couch. "There's a good puppy! Such a nice...
Time: January 2, year 204,894 5:00 AM Honolulu Local Time (T plus 19 hours) One hour before black-hole injection, the slip ship jumped from one hundred kilometers to seventy-five kilometers from the geodesic center of NBHX35. The black hole's event horizon was a mere 3.5 kilometers beneath them. The orbital period jumped to 1.61 milliseconds. The ship was now traveling 97.64% of the speed of light. Each second of Kyle's and Brianna perceived time appeared as 4.6291 seconds to Honolulu...
Time: January 2, year 204,894 5:40 AM Honolulu Local Time (T plus 19 hours, 40 minutes) Twenty minutes before black-hole injection, the slip-ship's reality projection point jumped from one meter above the event horizon to five microns above the event horizon, approximately 71.5 kilometers from the geodesic center of NBHX35. The orbital period remained at 1.50 milliseconds. The ship was now traveling 99.9999999997% of the speed of light. A second of Kyle's and Brianna perceived time...
Time: January 2, 204894 5:44 PM London Local Time (44 minutes post injection) I was keeping out of sight from the windows at the kennel; quietly scanning the area to be sure nobody could sneak up on us. Jim was immersed in his work. Several of Kyle's journals were laid out before him, and Jim was going through them slowly, occasionally making notes. Without warning, A'moth popped into the room with us. Jim looked up and gave her a warm smile. "Hi!" I said. "Did your meeting end...
Sharing deep hugs with Isabelle, I spent the next six minutes describing the danger we were in. Hoshi listened in and occasionally giggled hysterically. I would occasionally look at her and try to reassure her of her sanity. It felt so strange to look at Hoshi, look at a healthy young alert woman who I knew would die within the hour... A'moth still had the engines at full power, punching the jet to Mach 2 and climbing to thinner air as fast as the engines could push us. There were no...
Future Interlude XI: The Sunflower Field Aina time: 9:05 AM day 198 of 1474 H.E. (277 days after memory integration, first day of the last month of winter, 18 days before the Festival of the Red Bird and the marriage of Mayoni and Ekela) Two hours after sunrise the pheromones took effect and the X-tree sunflowers curved their leaves into graceful arcs and bowed down before Mayoni, Kalea, and Ekela. In her earlier adult life, Mayoni had already witnessed this firsthand with her parents and...
Time: 1:47 AM June 22, 207145 Nebraska reference time Jim and Cindy had been lying with each other in their arctic bedroom for over an hour. Both of them were trying to relate to the perspective of their partner. Cindy was trying to grasp the concept that Jim had left her two days ago. Jim was trying to grasp the concept that Cindy had lived away from him for more than two thousand years. They tried several times to talk to each other, but they both felt shy and at a loss for what to say....