Jimmy let out a whoop as he careened down the hillside on his mountain bike. He jabbed the shifter repeatedly and powered up the next rise as the chain jumped to the largest rear cog. Ignoring the sweat running down his face from beneath his red and yellow helmet he pressed on up the rise, spinning his crank and shouting again as he crested the short hill. He popped his right foot out of the pedal and skidded to a stop sideways, sending a small shower of leaves and debris onto the side of the trail. Despite being the waning days of summer, the sun was out in full force, its yellow heat barely dulled by the thick foliage. Even though there had been thunderstorms nearly every night, the trail was dry and you could hear the old fallen leaves crunch under his black and red cleated shoe.
Another figure appeared struggling to reach the top of the hill he had just descended. He watched as the other rider stopped for just a moment at the top, looking down and up the trail before spotting him. The rider stood briefly, stomping on the pedals to start moving. She gamely coasted down the steep hill, riding the brakes the entire way. He noted with a touch of pride that the brakes made no sound. If they were even the slightest bit out of adjustment they would howl like unleashed banshees. Her shifters clicked loudly and the chain traveled across several cogs, finding a gear that would propel her to his chosen spot. He waited until she reached him to clip his foot back in the pedal and start down the next hill.
She pulled both feet out of the older style clip and strap pedals and stood her ground. "Okay, you asshole. I'll just sit right here. I have no idea where I am, so I’ll just stay right here lost so you'll have to come back to find me later!" shouted the slightly built young woman riding the second bike. She swung her legs off the bike, letting it fall to the ground, not even caring that it landed on its drive train side. She just stood there at the top of the hill, arms crossed and lips pursed in a mock pout.
Jimmy smiled to himself and whipped his bike around on the path in a turn tighter than the young woman had any hope of emulating. This time he made a show of struggling back up the hill he just powered down at full throttle. Hands gripping his bar-ends, he climbed standing, not even bothering to shift to a lower gear. He was still grinning when he reached her. "We're just a few miles from the place I had in mind,” he said, slightly breathlessly. He wasn't actually winded; he was just putting on for show.
"A few more miles! I'm not going a few more FEET!" her mock pout deepened, leaving him not quite sure whether is was real or not. It only took that one look at her to know that she had made her mind up on the matter. He hoped some of his brand of logic would persuade her to go on.
"Well, we can't camp here. It’s too hilly to set up the tents." Mentally he winced at that. The whole area could be described as ‘hilly.’ The Uwharries were an old mountain range, much older than the not-to-distant Appalachians but eons of erosion had weathered them down to rolling hilly terrain.
"We can set up right down there beside the creek. It’s flat and I'll be able to wash off my feet." She gestured down, indicating the dried crust of mud on her right foot. She'd dabbed, or more prosaically, had put her foot down in a mud bog Jimmy simply powered through. Tiny flecks of hardened southern clay filled every crevice in the leather and nylon hiking boot and her once white terry sock was stained as well.
Still, not wanting to give in so easily, he countered, "No. This time of summer we're just asking for a doozy of a thunderstorm to pop up and we'll be swimming instead of bicycling." That could be true enough. While he had never seen that happen first hand, it was one of the things that had been drilled into him when learning the fine art of camping from the Boy Scouts.
The young woman wasn't convinced. She unbuckled her helmet and pulled a thick two-foot braid of shining black hair out of the plastic rear strap cradle. She sat down beside her bike and pulled the water bottle out of its holder. She took a long drink from it, considered it a moment, and twisted the whole lid off to take a huge gulp. Rivulets of water ran down her smooth pale cheeks. "It’s not supposed to rain any more this week and we'll just be here for the night. We can stay here and ride on to your silly rocks tomorrow."
Sensing an attack of inassailable stubbornness, Jimmy backed off. In fact he had to admit the site she had chosen really was a fairly good one. The flat area beside the creek was clear enough to set up, and the creek looked deep enough to contain all but the most severe downpour. Not to mention, he estimated they were still about ten miles from their eventual destination and that was more than just a ‘few miles’ on a mountain bike. Alone, he could have powered his way there in a couple hours, but that sort of speed was beyond his companion. The sun was already starting to dip to the surrounding hilltops. Shrugging, he coasted down to the site standing on one pedal. He unclipped his left foot and swung his leg over the complicated looking machine. He opened one of the several packs attached to the cargo rack of his bike, pulling out a pair of Teva sandals to replace the relatively clunky mountain bike boots he was wearing.
James Neil Argus, who everyone called Jimmy, was exactly six feet tall. He was the greater part through his seventeenth year but had been that tall since he was thirteen. When his wavy shoulder length hair wasn't matted down with sweat it was shiny light brown, the outer highlights faded almost blonde due to the time he spent outdoors. He had a compact, wiry build, which made him seem even taller. A thin, barely grown-in mustache decorated his average but handsome face. His eyes were his most striking features. They were steel blue, small and set into slightly deep sockets. He was dressed in a brightly colored mountain biking jersey made to look like tie-dying with a decal of a skeleton riding a mountain bike made of bones. His ensemble was completed by a pair of black Lycra shorts and black shoes that looked like a cross between hiking boots and running shoes with a tiny hidden metal cleat in the sole. He sat down on the ground, ripping open the Velcro straps that held them to his feet so he could put on the sandals.
Dona Deloris Marks, the young woman, was about five inches shorter than him and even more slightly built. She was only a couple months younger than him, but looked years younger to those who did not know her. This was in part due to her stature. She was one of the types of women who were naturally quite slim. Her braided hair was shining jet black and just long enough to reach the middle of her back. Her raven hair was a trait she inherited from her mother, who was from somewhere in South America. Ecuador, Jimmy seemed to remember. He knew little about her father except he had been a wealthy blue blood from up north. He died long before he met her, and there was never any mention of what happened to his money. Dona and her mother barely had enough to get by. He believed that she actually favored her father more than her somewhat heavy-set mother. Her skin was the hue of a delicate porcelain doll, though her face was currently flushed from exertion.
For all practical purposes, he was Dona's family. They had been a steady couple since they were both fourteen, though they hadn't known each other terribly long before that. He was the son of a semi-well-to-do Greek family living in Charlotte, North Carolina. Dona was as welcome in his house as her own, which her mother, Isabel, had mistakenly assumed was part of a Greek arraigned marriage custom. His family really didn’t practice any such thing but everyone assumed the two were bound to get married some day.
Actually, if it weren’t for his name, you would never know Jimmy was from a Greek family. Upon hearing his name people would often remark, "You don't look Greek." to which he would respond, "What exactly do you think a Greek looks like?" His family seemed to go out of their way not to seem like stereotypical Greeks. They went to a Lutheran church rather than the Greek Orthodox, though he thought that was born out of his father’s personal beliefs than a conscious decision to deny their heritage. In all honesty, his family seemed to be just as City-Southern as the rest of his neighborhood. Jimmy spent more time concerned that he would sound like some kind of hick or redneck than trying not to sound Greek. His accent was not thick, but it was very distinctive, especially if he was tired or excited.
Both of them had finished high school already. That was one of the reasons that they were on a trip deep in the woods on a sunny September afternoon. They were sufficiently talented enough to complete their studies a year ahead of the rest of their class. Their friends called them Mr. and Mrs. Einstein, or, more often, the "old marrieds" since they had been together for so long. Few called them “geeks” or “nerds” since they didn’t associate with most of the other advanced students outside of class. Scholarship opportunities were piled to the ceiling for both of them, and they were dreading the notion that they would have to attend college at widely separated locations. They wanted to find a school together, but Jimmy was planning to become an engineer and Dona was going to study sociology. Unless they simply decided to attend the local university, he was probably going to attend M.I.T. and Dona was going to go to the University of South Carolina. At any rate, they had elected to take a year off from school and let the rest of their friends catch up to them. This shocked and dismayed their guidance counselors but with their announced intention to spend the year saving money won their parents to the decision so they were overruled. It also helped that they were taking a light load of classes at a local community college.
Jimmy pulled a nylon bag out of the shock cord on his cargo rack. The bright red full suspension bicycle wasn't intended to have a cargo rack, but he had made it fit anyway. He had a special talent for things mechanical, which fueled his desire to become an engineer. He was especially adept at finding novel solutions for things that were not even meant to work together. He extracted the contents of the bag and started connecting the fiberglass rods. Soon he had a small geodesic dome made out of the rods. Dona joined him in unfolding the nylon body of the tent. They finished by staking down the outer fly.
He went to Dona's bike and pulled off a similar bag. "Hey, I thought the extra tent was just to placate my Mom." She protested. Up until that moment she had assumed it had been left back at the car since he had taken the responsibility of loading the two bikes. For a fleeting moment she was angry that she’d carried an extra load that wasn’t needed.
"Well, I had an idea about the bikes. We don't have a good way to lock them up out here, and if anyone comes along, they could ride them off in the night. I'll just stuff them inside this tent and we'll look just like hikers camping back here."
"Except the fact you're dressed like you're ready for the 'Tour de France.'"
"I thought you liked my butt in Lycra." He said, waving his backside in her direction.
"Shut up." She grinned at him anyway, making a point of actually watching his gyrating backside, exaggerating her movements as if he were moving a few feet rather than a few inches.
"Anyway, I brought some more 'outdoorsy' stuff to wear. You certainly must have. I think your bike weighs at least ten pounds more than mine." He said. Dona was wearing shorts just like his, but had a mud stained, too large white tee shirt on, knotted at the waist. Her hiking boots were of the more pedestrian variety, since her pedals were the less sophisticated toe-clip and strap type.
"Jimmy, my bike probably weighs ten pounds more than yours without a load." That was a little bit of an exaggeration, though not by much. Her bike wasn’t junk but it definitely was not the high tech designer rig that his was. It was an honest to goodness mountain bike and not the junk you could find in the ‘Big-Box’ retail stores. It only had simple front shock, as opposed to the dual shock system on the front and rear of his machine but at least the aluminum frame was actually designed to accept a cargo rack without any clever jerry rigging. She opened up one of her panniers, pulled out a set of fresh clothing and started to unknot her tee.
"I'll give you a hand there." Jimmy reached around her waist with both hands, reaching the small of her back and pulling her up against him. She gave him a quick kiss on the lips and pulled away from him.
"Save that for later." She turned and crawled into the dome tent.
He sighed and turned his attention back to the other tent. It was an older model, a green a-frame rather than a blue dome. It wasn't complicated, but still took slightly longer to put up, especially since he was working alone this time. Satisfied with his work, he pulled their gear off the bikes and pushed them inside, laying them carefully on their sides.
Dona emerged from the dome wearing baggy, tan camping shorts and a red jog bra. He enjoyed the view, even though the close fitting garment covered far more than most bathing suit tops. She had put on her own pair of nylon and rubber sandals and headed to the edge of the creek carrying her filthy hiking boots. She knelt at the edge and used her fingernails to scrub the caked mud from the old Nikes. Once finished, she slipped off her sandals and dipped her feet in the relatively icy water.
Jimmy stomped right into the creek, sandals and all and proceeded to select stones from the bed. Perplexed, Dona asked what in the world he was doing. "I'm building a fireplace so I can fix our dinner."
"I thought the big idea was to use that little camp stove I packed?"
"Nah, that thing is just a backup in case we didn't find any dry wood. Jimmy's rule of camping number, oh, fifteen; never use a wimpy little camp stove when you can build a fire."
"Oh, so we have rules for this thing, huh? Do I get a vote on these rules or are you king for the day? Still seems kind of dangerous, not to mention not being very ecologically friendly."
"Not if you do it right. Besides, men have been building campfires since the dawn of time." He leaped back onto the bank, kicking a light spray of cold water on her. He gathered about half of the rocks he had thrown up on the bank and carried them to a point halfway between the two tents. Once he had the other load in place he arranged the rocks in a neat circle. Using his foot, he cleared a ten-foot circle of leaves and various debris. Finishing that, he reached into one of his panniers and held up a bag of marshmallows, wagging his eyebrows at her. "Be a shame trying to roast these on a camp-stove."
Dona pulled her feet out of the water, shook them, and then slipped her sandals back on. “Men have been burning down the forest since the dawn of time too.” She took two rolled blankets from their gear and made up a bed in the dome tent. She used two panniers full of clothes as makeshift pillows. By that time the sun was starting to dip just below the top of a hill and it was getting noticeably darker as the shadows lengthened. Jimmy cast about for firewood. He used a tiny folding saw to cut his trophies into manageable lengths, and then arranged smaller twigs in the center of the fireplace forming a sort of pyramidal lean-to. Producing a box of strike-anywhere matches he lit his creation, and by the time it was getting seriously dark he had a crackling fire going.
Dona sat back and watched her boyfriend. This was one of the few parts of his life that she was rarely able to share. Just last year he had quit the Boy Scouts to take a part time job in a bicycle shop. At first they just let him clean up and change tires, but they quickly found out he was a far better mechanic than most of the twenty-somethings working in the shop. Before long, he got to work on the really serious rigs that came in the door. All the while, he gathered parts for their bikes and learned constantly. That was his way. He could learn far more by doing things than by listening to somebody tell him. On Sundays, when the shop was closed, he would disappear into the woods around Charlotte with his bike.
Dona and her Mom couldn't afford a real bike shop quality rig, so it took Jimmy several months to build her one using a leftover warranty frame and spare parts. The result wasn't the high-end fantasy rig he had, but it was good enough for a trip like this. He intended to upgrade her bike gradually as she gained experience riding it but for now it was perfectly appropriate. She wasn’t aware that the parts in their drive trains were actually nearly identical.
As for their trip, all she had to do was convince her deeply religious mother to let them go on the overnight trip without a chaperone. That turned out to be less of a problem than she thought. Her Mother worshiped the ground Jimmy walked on. Not to mention she was a close friend with his mother, Aleeta. Despite that, they both received stern lectures from both sets of parents before they set off for the Uwharrie Mountains. Her mother had even insisted they take two tents with them. Well, Dona thought, what she doesn't know won't hurt her…or at least it was something she could use to convince herself that her daughter’s honor was intact. Well, it wouldn’t hurt her anyway, she thought with the slightest of frowns.
Jimmy was the consummate camper. He had been doing it for years with the Scouts, though this was the first time he used mountain bikes. He raked hot coals into a pile using a piece of deadwood then inserted two packages tightly wrapped in foil under it. He then used his stick to rake more coals onto their dinner. Satisfied, he added more wood to the fire until it lit their campsite in an amber glow. He took a long draw off a tube coming from his small backpack. Hidden inside the pack was a large water bladder. He wasn't worried about their water supply since they were beside a creek, and one of the water bottles attached to his bike contained a charcoal filtration system. He sat down on the ground and slipped his pack off, using a thick log as a backrest. Dona went back to the creek and returned with her wet boots. He took them from her, pulled out the tongues and placed them on their sides beside the fire. She sat down beside him and pressed in close, immediately falling asleep with her head on his shoulder.
He woke her a short while later and unwrapped the foil package. Inside were a fully cooked meat patty and some chopped up potatoes, onions and peppers. He had frozen the meat the night before, letting it thaw as they rode. They were called 'Hobo Dinners' and they were cheap, easy to make, and actually surprisingly good. They ate without a word then resumed their positions at the fireplace.
"What time do you think it is?" she asked, watching the rising moon.
"Almost nine, I think." he touched a button on the side of his Timex. "Yep, ten till." Slowly pulling away from her he made his way to the tent. Moments later he emerged with a small aluminum flashlight and a small bundle. He untied a nylon cord from it and unrolled what looked for all the world like a fishnet. He tied one end to a stout tree then flashed his light about. He selected another tree and stretched the net to another about seven feet away. Spreading the net with his arms, he revealed a neat camping hammock. He climbed into it, stretching out his legs.
Dona got up from her place by the fire and sat on his lap. That was a little more difficult than she expected as the hammock tended to envelop them. The fine nylon mesh was much stronger than it looked and it held their weight easily. She leaned toward him and curled up in his arms, kissing him warmly. Jimmy helped her unbraid her long hair, running his fingers through it. She put her head on his chest and her arms around him. He kissed the top of her head, holding her tightly in his own arms. They stayed that way for a long time before dozing off watching the dying orange embers of the fire, both feeling a tiny bit of regret about an earlier decision.
Chapter 2
Jimmy opened his eyes slowly, blinking back sleep. Even though the ground was slightly uneven, he had slept deeply and it took him just a moment to properly get his bearings. His mind switched gears from being used to waking up alone in a small bed to the new and exhilarating sensation of the woman he loved snoring softly beside him. They were curled up together in their blankets inside the tent, trying to banish the night’s cool by pooling their body heat. The sun had been up for some time and it was starting to warm up despite the usual cool of the truncated mountain range known as the Uwharries. Jimmy touched a button on his watch and frowned. They had slept a bit longer than they had originally intended. He let it drop since they didn’t have any sort of real time table anyhow. He let his head back down on the makeshift pillow and closed his eyes, concentrating on the warm points where Dona’s body was in contact with his. They didn't get to stay in the hammock very long the night before because a light rain began to fall during the evening hours, contrary to what the weather report had claimed. The hastily abandoned it in favor of the sheltered comfort of the tent. Dona was facing away from him, still fast asleep. He lightly kissed her bare shoulder and carefully extracted himself from the blankets. He unzipped the front flap and started to step outside. He wasn't prepared for what he found outside.
He was shocked to see a tall man sleeping in their hammock. The sight of him was so unexpected that he drew a quick breath in spite of himself. Figuring they were alone, Jimmy hadn't bothered to pull on his camping shorts and was dressed only in a pair of light boxers. He had assumed that they were by themselves in the remote campsite and he had planned to find a nearby tree and relieve himself. He ducked back inside and hastily pulled on a pair of tan denim shorts. He quietly pulled a small two-edged fixed blade knife with a drilled minimalist grip made from one piece of metal from its place on his hip. He didn't brandish the blade, holding it lowered as he approached the figure sleeping nearby.
The man was wearing camouflage fatigue pants and a sleeveless olive tee. He had olive colored socks on his feet and his boots lay on the ground unlaced nearby. He was on his back with his hand propped behind his head, using his fatigue shirt as a light cover. He didn't look terribly much older than Jimmy, but was slightly more muscular. His hair was cut in military fashion.
Jimmy approached, as quietly as the still moist ground cover would allow. It was futile, as the man popped one eye open and turned it right at Jimmy.
"Might as well put that cheap showpiece away. Its just about useless as a weapon and it looks like nobody's ever shown you how to use it anyway." He grinned broadly, opening both eyes and turning to face Jimmy.
He tried to get out of the hammock, misjudged his balance and dumped himself right onto his butt, putting to lie his bluster about the brandished weapon. Jimmy chuckled, twirled the knife in his hand and slipped it back into its leather sheath. It wasn't a showpiece. Jimmy bought it some time ago at an outdoor sports store in the mountains. It was made from a single piece of 440 stainless steel and it was razor sharp. The man was correct about one thing; Jimmy had no idea how to use it as a weapon. He brought it out just in case.
The man finally extracted himself from the hammock and put on his shirt. Jimmy relaxed somewhat when he saw the Air force markings on it. He had worried the man was part of some para-military nutcase group or some kind of skinhead. His hair, while short, qualified more as a crew cut rather than a buzz. There were two stripes on his sleeve and the name Bedarest was stitched on the breast.
He sat back down on the hammock again and pulled on his boots. He was trying to balance himself and lace the boots at the same time when Dona emerged from the tent. She obviously hadn't heard them talking as she was clad only in her lycra bike shorts, holding a balled up tee shirt over her otherwise bare chest. She took one look at the airman, yeeped, then dashed back into the Tent.
Bedarest grinned from ear to ear. He looked Jimmy up and down, then looked back at the tent. "You know her daddy can put you in jail for that, buddy?"
Jimmy flushed and hastily tried to explain they were both seventeen, but Bedarest just waved him off, "Don't sweat it buddy. I've been in you position before... and her position, and several other positions...” Jimmy could swear he could hear a growl come from the tent.
Bedarest finished lacing his boots and stood up. He was a good five inches taller and his hair was somewhat darker brown. His hazel eyes glittered on his perpetually grinning face. He jabbed a long fingered hand at Jimmy, "Name's Murky Bedarest, you can just call me Murky."
Jimmy stuck out his hand and Murky tried to crush it. Jimmy crushed right back, his hands powerful from prying tires off at the bicycle shop. "Is that your name or a description?" Murky winced; he'd obviously heard that one before.
"Actually, my first name is Millard. Murky's short for my middle name, Murqford. It’s my mom's maiden name. " He looked from Jimmy to the occupied tent, "Ya’ll got names or do I just call you 'Beanpole' and 'Jailbait?'" This time Jimmy was sure he could hear Dona growl.
"I'm Jimmy Argus, 'n that's Dona, with one N." he gestured at her as she emerged from the tent wearing baggy shorts and her short red tank top.
"Argus? You don't look Gre..."
"Do Not Even Say It!!" Jimmy cut him off. Murky had struck back for the comment about his nickname.
He pointed at Dona, "You gotta last name honey, or have the two of you run off and gotten hitched without your parents knowing about it?"
"Its Marks," she replied tartly, "Doña Deloris Marks." she added, using the formal Spanish inflection on her first name. "And no, we're not married."
At least not yet, Jimmy thought to himself. He looked down at the ground and noticed the three empty power-bar wrappers for the first time, two cinnamon apples and a chocolate. They had planned to have them for breakfast along with some cereal and preserved milk. Dona noticed the wrappers and went to find their food supplies. It suddenly dawned on Jimmy, "You're on survival training out here, aren't you?"
"Guilty as charged. Gotta live off the land for a week. It's actually a real good way to lose a lot of weight real quick." He reached down and gathered up the wrappers, handing them to Jimmy. "Sorry, they looked just too tempting last night, and I was starved."
Dona came up and smacked half of a chocolate power-bar onto Jimmy's chest. He barely caught it as she walked off chewing her half, saying between bites, "Eat hearty. That leaves us just one to last us all day and into tomorrow. She passed in front of Murky glaring at him. She was clearly pissed. She turned away and stalked into the woods to relieve herself.
They both watched her for a moment until Murky said, "Damn she's pretty. I'd like to have some of that action..."
"Hey..." cut off Jimmy.
"Still, if she looks like this at seventeen, bars are gonna card her till she's fifty. You a lucky guy. You two were sure going at it hot and heavy last night till you took it indoors."
Jimmy blushed again. In fact, he thought, they had been making out for quite a while in the hammock but it was only really kissing. The fact was, though, they were both still virgins, though he sure as hell was not about to tell the airman that. He was sure what it must have looked like when they had come out of the tent nearly naked. They had shed their wet clothes once inside the tent and had fallen asleep on top of their blankets since it had been a hot night. It had been pitch black inside the tent and only a roving hand, quickly swatted away, revealed her state of dress to him. Only later, when she started tracing the curve of his backside did he return the favor, running his hand over her butt, then back up her back. That was about as far as they went, though they had little shame together. The reason they stopped there was not a moral one, but a practical one. Dona's mother was devoutly Catholic, and birth control of any kind was out of the question. It also suited their old-fashioned streak. Dona wanted their first time to be magical and totally romantic. They had discussed making this trip their 'first time,' and had even stopped in a drugstore on the way. It was Jimmy who backed down, explaining it would be too hot to enjoy themselves properly, which suited Dona just fine, as she was having her own second thoughts. After all, she explained, they were still just seventeen, and they would have all the chance in the world a few months later when they would both be eighteen. Jimmy thought wistfully of the upcoming spring. Dona didn't wear the tiny diamond ring openly yet, but they planned to get married just after her birthday in April.
Then it hit him. "Just how did you know when we 'took it inside'?"
"I was in the other tent trying to catch some Zs. Sorry, I just couldn't help myself. Thought I was getting some late night entertainment." He pointed at the green a-frame. "I couldn't figure out why you had the second tent until I crawled in and found the bicycles. You said you’re seventeen?"
"Yeah."
"Let me guess. You told her parents you would sleep in separate tents?"
"None of your business."
"He shoots, he scores!" He grinned widely, knowing he had divined the correct answer.
Jimmy scowled at him. Murky had to be in his early twenties. Jimmy wondered what the source of the childish bluster was. It could have been a defense mechanism, or he was just a boor. Perhaps it was just the result of being cooped up for long periods with the type of people it took to be and enlistee. He had to admit he knew very few people in the military. Jimmy was part of the college bound crowd and most of his friends wouldn't even consider military service. He briefly considered it himself, actually thinking about the Air force, though he would have gone in as an officer. Murky seemed like the kind of young man who spent most of his time swilling beer and talking about his amazing conquests. Jimmy was trying hard to like him, though he was doing everything possible to aggravate Dona. He assumed Murky would be in incredible trouble if his superiors discovered his raid of their camp. Well, it wouldn't come from him. At least if he didn't get as pissed off as Dona.
Jimmy got out the food pannier and unpacked their breakfast for tomorrow, two tiny boxes of fruit loops and two of frosted flakes. He used his pocketknife to cut the side of one and opened the end of a package of non-refrigerated milk. He fixed one for himself and one for Dona. He noticed Murky's expression and offered one of the remaining boxes. "Want some?"
"You bet." Jimmy poured the remains of the milk on Murky's share and watched the airman wolf down the contents as if he hadn't eaten anything as long as he had been out here.
"How long have you been here?" he asked.
"You mean here with ya’ll or here in the woods?"
"How long have you been on survival training?"
"Three days so far."
"How much food have you found?"
"Just about next to nothing. I tried eating insects but that just made me gag. Too much like the food back at Pope. By the way, that Parmalat milk is just about the worst thing I've ever tasted." Dona returned and started to eat her share at a more conservative rate. Murky continued, "We had that stuff at Basic. Who in the world could call that milk?"
Jimmy spoke between spoonfuls of his cereal, "I know the stuff sucks, but its better than eating this stuff dry. We're all just spoiled by all the fresh milk we get in the stores. I went to Greece with my dad about five years ago, and that's just about all they had. I certainly didn't want to chance fresh milk." Dona made a face mirroring Jimmy's opinion about fresh milk. He chased down his breakfast with a draw from his water bladder.
Jimmy excused himself and crawled into the tent. He emerged moments later carrying both of their riding clothes. He briefly rinsed them in the stream, then hung them on a branch in the sunlight He went over to the green a-frame and pulled out both bikes. He started to break down the tent and fold up the metal poles. Dona finished her breakfast and joined him in striking the camp. She crawled into the blue dome tent and emerged with their bedrolls. Jimmy finished with his tent and stuffed it into its bag. Murky made as if to help them by untying the hammock.
Jimmy took it from him and started to twirl it until it formed a smooth rope, which he then rolled into a ball. He packed it in his rack top trunk and started to strap their gear to the bikes. The bikes looked ungainly loaded down like that, but he knew just how to pack them so the bikes would still handle properly. Dona went down to the creek to retrieve their wet clothing. "They’re still pretty wet." she called back to him
"They'll dry pretty quickly once we're under way."
She shrugged. Not long ago, they had been caught out in the rain on their bikes. It actually wasn't a bad feeling, and the sun had come out, turning the summer day into a steam bath. She was grateful then of the cooling evaporation, but they had been on fast road bikes then, not the comparatively pokey mountain bikes. The day was warming quickly, though.
She crawled into the dome, emerging shortly clad in the damp togs. Jimmy finished with his bike and took his turn getting ready. He came out with the skeleton shirt and tights, pulling his hair into a short ponytail.
"I used to have hair like that." Commented Murky.
"D'you leave it on the floor at basic?" asked Dona.
He looked her up and down and mentally smacked his lips. Now that he had a good look at her, he decided she actually did look seventeen. She was very slender, but he found the curve of her hips enticing. His eyes crept up to her bosom. She had the jog bra on and he could make out the curve of her relatively small but nicely proportioned breasts. His moved his eyes up to her face and he noticed her brown eyes for the first time. It seemed to occur to him what she'd said. "No, that was back in high-school. My dad up and decided one day that I wouldn't go around like a hippy, so he packed me and my brothers off to the barber and had him give us all marine haircuts. They didn't have much to buzz off me by the time I enlisted."
"Why are you in the Air-force?" asked Jimmy.
"Well, it was actually sort of an Eeny-Meeny sort of thing. The Marines were totally out, so I just picked between the Air force, Army and Navy. Air force was the first door I came to so here I am. Best thing I ever did. I'd probably be in jail by now if I didn't."
"I don't doubt it." Said Dona dryly.
Jimmy pulled on his riding boots and tightened the straps over the laces. He climbed onto his bike and put on his helmet. Dona followed suit. "Well, don't eat too many bugs." he said as he started off. Murky just held up his hand in a wave goodbye. He watched them as they rode off down the trail, paying special attention to Dona's backside as they left. Good lord, he thought, how long has it been for me.
_________________________________________________________________
It took them the rest of the morning to reach the rocky area they were headed for. They emerged from the woods in a clear-cut. High-tension power lines stretched for miles in each direction. Jimmy turned them right, which he knew would take them further into the national forest. They followed the clear-cut for several miles, crossing several logging roads. Before long, this whole section would probably be clear-cut for timber. He found the trailhead he wanted and they turned back into the woods following a single-track trail cutting through the woods. The trail had grown noticeably steeper and harder to follow. They had been following four-wheeler trails for some time, but they were getting into an area frequented only by dedicated hikers and a few adventurous mountain bikers. Before long, the trail itself petered out and they followed the ridgeline.
They had to stop once to repair a flat on Dona's bike caused by a tiny thorn. Jimmy patched the tube expertly and had them under way in minutes. He worried little about his own bike since it was equipped with Kevlar lined tires. Dona watched the coil-over shock extend and contract under his weight, silently wishing for some relief for her own sore buttocks. His bike was bright red, with a yellow rear triangle. It originally had a yellow shock up front, but he had replaced it with a newer unit painted slightly darker red, fading to black near the tops. Her own bike was orange and black. It was a men's frame and Jimmy assured her that it was more appropriate for her than a step-through model. He proved it by showing her pictures in his magazines of professional racers riding standard frames. Right now she didn't give a hoot about the frame, she wanted a softer saddle for her butt.
They had been climbing for quite a while when they emerged from the tree line. This high the main vegetation was low scrub, punctuated every now and then by a stunted, twisted pine. They picked up speed as they found the single-track trail again. Up ahead, they could see their destination, a rock formation made of pure quartz. There were trails to each side of the rocks, but they stopped at its base.
Jimmy took a folding Allen wrench from his fanny pack and went to work on Dona's bike, removing the four bolts holding on her cargo rack. He didn't bother with his own bike since it was attached in a much more complicated manner. He settled for simply removing his packs. They spent the better part of the day climbing the path and riding down the other side. Dona actually started to get the hang of it after watching him do it several times. She got off the saddle and slid her butt way back over the rear tire and before long she was actually bombing down the steep hill without riding her brakes.
Tiring of the riding, Jimmy again switched into his sandals and started climbing on the rocks themselves. Dona's heart skipped a beat when he suddenly disappeared. She climbed up to where he had been and discovered the cave for herself. It was more of a hole, formed by ancient boulders stacked one on top another. There were many natural shelves, allowing her to climb down as if using a ladder. She climbed down about twenty feet where she found Jimmy hiding back in a depression. He grabbed her by the waist and pulled her close, kissing her hard.
"You planned that didn't you?"
"Guilty." he kissed her neck, letting his hands run up and down her body. She purred slightly before disengaging herself and climbing back up. He followed her back out. "There’s enough room for us to spend the night."
"I am not sleeping in a cave, no matter how much room there is."
"Oh, come on. It's cool, dry, and out of the way of prying military eyes." He said, alluding to their encounter with Airman Bedarest.
"No, just plain no. No means no." she waved her arms, palms flat indicating there was no room for further discussion.
"Its the snake thing, isn't it?"
She looked at him just a second, wondering just what kind of snake he was referring too. Then she realized again who she was talking to and knew he was just talking about reptiles. She wasn't deathly afraid of snakes, but she had some fear of waking up with them on the camping trip. She mentally chastised herself for letting Murky's bawdy banter get to her like that. "No, I just don't like being closed in like that. You know, all that rock over our heads."
"I haven't been here in almost a year, and it hasn't changed a bit the whole time. Its perfectly safe...” he waved his arms, then fell back into the hole. A moment later he shouted back, "I'm alright!" He climbed back out again and sat down beside her on the cool white rock. "See any place you like? Last night's spot was pretty good."
"Not around here. It's too flat, and too open."
"Well, we'll see something one the way." He got up and headed for the bikes, where he started to re-attach their gear.
"On the way where?"
"You'll see, its sort of a surprise. Its only about a mile away."
Chapter 3
As it turned out, they were a lot closer to their destination than Jimmy had figured. The distance seemed so much smaller on the bikes than it had on foot. They crossed back into the dense tree line, following a faint trail until they reached another break in the trees. They rode their bikes all the way into the shallow hollow. The trees were rather dense here with the exception of and irregular hump in the middle. The hump crested near the end of the little valley. Younger looking trees grew for a way past the end of the hump. The main clearing was about two hundred fifty feet long and fifty wide. Only low scrub grew on the hump.
He stopped his bike near the crest, laying it carefully on its side. Dona was close behind. She watched him without speaking as he started to pick through the low scrub on the hill. She wasn't expecting what she saw next. He pulled some plants and ground cover away, revealing a gray metallic disk. It was more than ten feet wide and perfectly round. It was dull gray and featureless with the exception of a round handle set into a niche. "I found this last time I was here with my old scout troop. They weren't with me and I didn't have time to investigate further since I had to get back before I was missed. This is one of the reasons I wanted to come here and take time to check it out." He pulled on the handle without effect. He twisted it right, and then left. He used both hands and twisted with all his might.
"Here, this might help." she handed him a tiny bottle of chain lubricant. He poured a small amount into the crack around the handle and twisted again, still with no effect. Dona leaned forward and cleared more of the ground cover away. She uncovered writing just to the left of the slightly convex disk. In English script the name 'X.S.S. Phantasm' was printed to the right of the disk in large black gothic letters.
"I saw that the last time. I thought then it looked like an old, abandoned science fiction movie set, though I've never heard of anything being filmed out here." He had both feet on the disk, pulling on the handle with his whole body.
Dona reached over to try her luck. It was probably because she was leaning over a little further than Jimmy had and put more weight on the handle. This time it depressed about an inch and she was able to turn it clockwise. The entire disk popped inwards about an inch and these was a puff of stale air as it split into four equal parts. The sections retracted into the opening, letting a small shower of dust and ground debris inside.
It led into a room lined with metal cabinets to the right and a square hatch with round edges to the left. Above were three windows, covered almost entirely with soil and other debris with only a few points of light shining through in the afternoon light. Directly across from them was another round hatch. The floor pitched away from them at a twenty-degree angle. Jimmy's cleat slipped slightly as he carefully stepped inside, but he was able to get a foothold. He carefully picked his way down to the other hatch. From this angle it sat vertically. It didn't have a round handle, but a series of switches were set off to one side. He hit the one labeled ‘Cycle Hatch’.
Something in the wall complained loudly as the other hatch split apart. This time only three of the quarters slid into the wall, revealing only soil and rock behind. Jimmy reversed the switch and the hatch slowly slid closed, quieter this time. He started to move, slipping on the smooth tilted surface again. He slipped his boots off, and then stripped off his ankle socks. The floor was clean and smooth, with only a light film of dust. It was slightly pliable and quite kind to his feet. Without the stiff cycling shoes he was able to move around easily despite the angle.
Dona leaned inside, "This sure doesn't look like any kind of movie set. Do you think this is some kind of abandoned military site?" She stepped inside, her plain hiking boots giving her good purchase on the floor. “This obviously isn't how the floor should be. I’ve heard of buildings settling, but this is ridiculous.”
"It might be military, but it looks awfully modern to be abandoned." He made his way over to the four metal cabinets. The third one he tried was unlocked. It contained four rifles of a design unfamiliar to him. He pulled one out and inspected it. There was an empty receptacle on the side, which looked like where a magazine would be inserted. The barrel was long and tubular, with a smaller nozzle at the end. The stock was a tapering triangle, opposite from the familiar design. The design felt more comfortable cradled on the arm rather than at the shoulder. He stepped past her and pointed it at the high branches of a tree, squeezing the trigger. Nothing happened. It apparently was not loaded. He noticed the figure just coming out of the woods in the twilight.
Murky was carrying an old igloo six-pack cooler. Jimmy wondered if some logger was missing his dinner somewhere. He stopped at the edge of the tree line and threw his arms up in mock surrender. "Don't shoot, I come bearing beer!"
Jimmy lowered the rifle as Dona came outside. "Oh shit, find some ammunition for that thing." Murky had made his way up to them by then. He had one can already in his hand and took a sip. He offered the cooler to them.
Jimmy took it and looked inside. There were three Budweiser cans left inside. He handed it back. "No thanks, neither of us drink. Besides, who'd you swipe that from?"
"Its mine. I had it stashed in the creek not far from your campsite. I thought I'd pay you back for the food."
Dona pulled Jimmy to her by the shoulder and whispered to him, “Do you think he could actually be, I don’t know, some kind of sentry posted to keep an eye on this thing? He is from the military, and he might not be the idiot he lets on like. Let's get out of here before we get into trouble."
Murky just pushed past them, climbing inside the hatch. He seemed genuinely interested in their discovery. Jimmy didn’t agree with Dona. Murky seemed to be too young to be entrusted to something like this alone. Not to mention, if someone was actively guarding this, they would not have let it settle into the ground like this. "Jimmy, you still have that flashlight handy?"
He unzipped his fanny pack and produced the light. Murky used it to look around their discovery. Jimmy asked him about it. "Do you know what this thing is?"
"Haven't a clue. I've never seen rifles like that before. Where does this go?" he pointed toward the other round hatch.
"I think it was meant to be another door. This thing has settled I guess, the floor wasn't meant to tilt like this."
Murky shined the light around. He found another control on the rectangular hatch and worked the switches. Something whined in the wall and the hatch rolled up about an inch. Jimmy joined him pulling from the bottom, and they succeeded in opening it, revealing a corridor beyond. "How did you find us?"
"Your bike leaves a pretty distinctive print. I just missed you two back at the white rocks. I saw you taking off up the trail, and it took me a little time to catch up to you on foot."
"Surely you didn't follow us just to bring us beer?" he asked. Dona was lifting the two bikes inside.
"Nothing better to do. They just dumped me here in these woods and all I have to do is find my way to a pickup point at the end of the week." he didn't add that he really wanted to see Dona again, her relationship with Jimmy notwithstanding. The notion that survival training usually involved groups of men, not one out completely alone started to creep into Jimmy’s mind, adding credence to Dona’s suspicions. They found a light switch, or what they assumed was one, but there seemed to be no power attached to it. The corridor was only about ten feet long, ending in another roll up hatch. They had to pry it open just like the last one. There was a little power, but not enough to break through whatever crud had built up on the door jambs. With that in mind he started wondering if the lights were fluorescent, requiring much more power to properly start.
It opened into a longer passage flanked by three doors distributed evenly along the walls. All the doors were open, being simple, unpowered pocket types. Each appeared to be a small stateroom, complete with a folding desk top and a modest sized bunk. Just above each bunk was a partially rounded porthole. The bunks were all neatly made. A few odds and ends were strewn about the carpeted floor. Off to one side were a table and some stick chairs. They were piled at odd angles and seemed to be more at home at the end of the room where it widened into a common area. There was also a series of what looked like lounge chairs with seatbelts near the other end of the room. The rectangular hatch at the other end was open. It led to a smaller room with four of the lounges. Spiral staircases descended to each side of the hatch.
The seats looked and felt like they were padded with extremely soft leather. The control panel was trimmed in fine-grained glossy wood the color of honey. Other panels were trimmed out in brushed stainless steel. Very nice, Jimmy thought as he eased himself into the left-hand seat. The tilt of the floor made it somewhat uncomfortable to him, like he was being pitched forward. There was a sudden hiss as the seat suddenly righted itself. It was slightly reclined, and very plush. There was a harness retracted at his shoulders and he could feel its lower mount between his legs. Despite the obvious luxury, the controls looked a lot like the cockpit of a jet liner, though to Jimmy’s knowing eyes, they were significantly simplified. Twin throttle controls were mounted to the left of each lounge. A joystick control was mounted to an arm, which allowed it to be operated from either arm of the lounge or in the middle. A large screen was mounted on the console between the lounges in place of where the lion’s share of instruments should have been. Nothing was lit; leading him to believe the seats had their own power source. There was no other power on in this section. He panned his flashlight around the cockpit, which he had decided this was. Overhead was a portal made of five long panes of glass. This time, instead of being covered with dirt, a metal shutter had been extended over the outside.
What in the world was this thing? The crazy pitch of the floor and the presence of what was clearly meant to be a cockpit certainly ruled out the underground facility theory. That led him right back to his notion that they were on an abandoned science fiction set, especially considering the layout of the panel. Obviously somebody was only interesting in approximating what it would really look like. He was still studying the controls when his toe lightly stubbed a partially open tile in the floor
Looking down, he found that it wasn’t a tile at all, but a small panel on the floor that had not been closed properly. It was marked 'Main Power Dist.’ with a small metal handle made out of thick bent wire. It looked just like a door to the circuit breakers at his home. Well, if this thing had any power at all, this was the place to try. It opened fully with some force, punctuated by some choice swear words and grunting. Inside were a series of switches that looked for all the world like circuit breakers. They were numbered rather than labeled. Each switch had marks for 'Offline, Prewarm, Standby and Online.' Well, the place had some power going to it. Despite looking like it had been there for many, many years perhaps the power company had failed to cut it off. It may have never even had a legal meter, just pulling power some quick and dirty way from the nearby high tension wires. Feeling the worst thing that could happen would be a shower of sparks and the tang of ozone, he switched each one to on. He waited for a few moments, but there was no effect. Hmm. Maybe they were just normal circuit breakers and had to be cycled fully off and then switched back to on. Dona and Murky were crowed over his shoulder so he passed the flashlight to the former so he could have both hands free. A half-remembered memory about industrial breakers crossed his mind. There had to be a reason for the other settings, so that’s what he would try. He switched them back to off, then slowly switched them back to pre-warm. He was rewarded with a low hum from somewhere behind them. The sound faded slowly until it was gone. He flipped each of the switches to standby.
Several lights set into the wood paneled ceiling started to slowly brighten, starting very dim, then growing brighter till it filled the room with soft light, which was gentle on his eyes. It lit the cockpit, which he decided this was, with a dim light just enough to see comfortably without the flashlight. He could see Dona and Murky in more detail. His face was full of interest and not a little awe but hers was a look of mild concern. "Looks like you finally found the lights. Careful, hon', you've got no way of knowing what this stuff will do." He noticed Murky had moved behind her, holding one of the rifles by its strap. He had found a magazine and shoved it into its receptacle. Jimmy realized he had overlooked the ammunition for the weapon without recognizing it. He almost had a moment of panic that the tall Airman meant to harm them, but it passed. Something about the grinning man made them trust him.
Jimmy turned his attention back to the breaker panel. He hadn't noticed it before, but tiny lights to the side of each switch now identified the system each was tied to. The first was titled 'Main Computer Core' and he flipped it to full online.
The entire bridge lit up. Hundreds of small devices came on at once; causing a confusing cacophony of beeps and buzzes as the entire console came to life. The screen first glowed green, then settled into a shade of black that still seemed to glow in the low light. As it warmed up a schematic of what looked like some sort of airplane or other craft appeared on it. It showed a vehicle with a front section like a rounded wedge, a narrower shaft running to two huge engines, and a superstructure like a spine down the top. Their entrance was labeled "Main Docking Bay."
They all jumped as a high-pitched wailing started toward the rear of the ship. The sound continued gaining in intensity until there was a sound like an explosion. They all raced back to the open hatch just in time to see ground debris raining all around. Something had caused the entire ground cover in the hollow to blast into the air, revealing the smooth metal contours of the object that had been hidden under a light layer of soil and debris.
A huge shuttered scoop louvered open up above them. Before it had looked like a rocky outcropping. Little glowing motes of light just like fluttering fireflies were being pulled into the scoop. The whining suddenly stopped, replaced with a sound like jet engines revving up. Before they could react, the quartered hatch slid shut, much more quickly than it had opened, trapping them inside as it popped back into its closed position and rotated ninety degrees clockwise. Murky stabbed at the controls but the hatch would not open this time. Frustrated he started pounding on the keypad with his fist. Jimmy turned and jumped clear over the two bikes, racing back to the cockpit. The lounge had settled back into its neutral position and the lights were on brighter than they had been before. He looked down at the breakers. All of them had flipped to full online of their own accord. The schematic indicated the flow of power from the two scoops to the engines. Across the bottom, in large letters, it said "Program Active."
He almost lost his balance as the floor suddenly righted itself. The shutters rolled up, revealing the sun setting in the distance. The ship had ripped itself out of its earthen grave and now hovered just above the ground. Heat lines radiated from underneath as control jets lifted its bulk clear of the ground. A new message flashed onto the screen; "Ion Drive Engaged."
Jimmy shouted desperately "GET IN HERE AND STRAP DOWN!" As hard as it was to believe, this thing was actually real. Dona barely had time to get into the other lounge when the ship started to move again. They were slammed into their seats as the huge engines fired. They had a glimpse of the ground rocketing by before the shutters rolled down again. A light winked to life one the console and the feeling of acceleration lessened somewhat, though it did not disappear entirely. The schematic shrank and moved down into the corner of the screen. It was replaced with an external view.
The engines steadily increased in pitch. Other notices flashed on the screen as critical systems were activated. One Jimmy caught was "Countermeasures Active." Another smaller screen labeled "External Tracking" came to life displaying a series of green bars. The bars shrank below a yellow line. Dona shouted, "I don't think anyone can see us on radar!" She was struggling to latch her harness. Jimmy found what he was looking for and pressed a switch.
The shutters rolled back again. The sky was turning twilight, then darker, until stars were visible. They were leaving the atmosphere. Then the engines changed pitch suddenly, and they were pressed back into their acceleration lounges again. The message "Hyperwarp Drive Engaged" flashed on the screen. The felt like they hundreds of pounds were pressing on them, their faces deforming as the ship accelerated. There was a sudden sensation as if they were stretching out, their bodies reaching into eternity.
This time they both blacked out.
Chapter 4
Dona came to first.
There was a moment of disorientation caused by the quick realization that she was not waking up from her bed or even from the blankets of their tent. It should not have been night out, but is was almost too dark to see.
The bridge lights had dimmed somewhat and many of the controls had once again gone dark. The central screen was offline as well. She unlatched her harness and tried to stand up. Her stomach lurched with the sudden movement as there was nothing besides the mass of her own body to push against. The memory of what had apparently just happened to them rushed back and she realized just as the ceiling rushed to meet her that there was no gravity. She pushed back lightly against the cool glass of the portholes, hoping to send herself back to the seat. Instead, she found herself floating just out of reach. Something dark suddenly covered her eyes, but it was just her hair drifting up over her head. She had a slowly subsiding headache. With her foot she was able to snag part of her harness, allowing her to pull herself back down. Grabbing the side of her lounge she pulled herself back into it. She held on with one hand as she reached across to Jimmy.
She shook him until he stirred. He rubbed his temples for a second, and then opened his eyes. He blinked twice, and then took stock of his surroundings. It took him a moment to remember what had happened. "Don't try to get up fast, " she advised, "there's no gravity.”
Jimmy shook his head, trying to clear the nagging headache. “Huh what? How the hell is there no gravity?" Jimmy loosened up his harness just enough to look around.
“I don’t know. Last thing I remember is this thing taking off right out of the ground.”
He undid the harness the rest of the way and tested his weight holding tightly to the sides. “I think we might be in orbit.”
“That’s not possible…” There was an edge of fear in her voice. It wasn’t quite panic but the seeds were sown.
He let go of the seat. With only his now weightless mass to push against the cushions sprung outwards, sending him floating just barely above it. A slight push with his hand send him slowly upwards toward the ceiling. “About as impossible as some kind of airplane or spacecraft sitting buried, obviously for years suddenly bringing itself back to life and launching us into the sky. Face it, we’re not on Earth right now and we’re not accelerating so we must be in orbit.”
“What about that trick airplanes use to simulate anti-gravity?”
“Micro-gravity. Anti-gravity is impossible. No, that only lasts a couple minutes and it would feel a lot more like riding a roller coaster than this. This is like swimming with nothing to push against.” He glanced down at the console. “We need to know where we are. If we just blasted into orbit there’s a good chance we could be running into stuff pretty soon. There’s a whole lot of stuff up here.” Pushing against the ceiling he drifted back down to the console. With his small flashlight he located the switch controlling the external shutters for the main portholes. They rolled silently up giving them a spectacular view…
…of almost nothing.
Inky blackness, punctuated by bright white pinpoints of light. The contrast was far more vivid than either of them had imagined. It was not like looking at the night sky above them. It was at the same time darker and brighter. If you looked long enough you could start to discern slight differences in the color of the various stars. They stood there looking outward for some time before they could speak.
“Where’s Earth?” Neither was quite sure who had asked that.
Moving about the cabin without the aid of gravity was more difficult than it seemed. It took several tries to get exactly to the hatch at the rear of the cockpit before he was able to reach the control panel. There was no power to it anyway, leading to another discovery about their predicament. There was no way for him to use his weight to force the door open. Every purchase he got with his feet just sent him floating away. He finally got a toe hooked into a crevice and pushed the door into its pocket, with servos complaining softly as he did so.
He launched himself as gently as he could from the door toward the first of the crew cabins. It seemed that every door had snapped shut before losing power leading to the same difficulties. Dona drifted up towards him, catching his hand. Together they were able to get the first door open.
The small porthole revealed the same view they had seen in the cockpit. Nothing but space. Not even familiar patterns of stars or hazy nebula to see. No moon looming large above them, no ground below them.
“I’m getting a sick feeling this is all we’re going to see, no matter what window we look out.” Jimmy muttered.
“What does that mean?”
“It means, if we can’t see Earth, we’re not in orbit.”
“Then where is Earth? Shouldn’t we see something as big as a planet?”
He looked at her, his expression a mixture of mild amusement and worry. Shock and panic were interfering with logic. “If we were somewhere between Earth and the other planets, we might not be able to see much. I mean, look at Venus. All we can see with the naked eye looks just like a really bright star and it’s not much smaller than Earth and it’s the closest orbit to ours. Planets are big but space is a whole hell of a lot bigger.” He wasn’t about to admit how frightened he was at the prospect of being in deep space. The terror of being trapped in orbit was enough without at least having the reassurance that familiar ground was somewhere below them.
His heart sank further when they reached cabin on the other side. If they were anywhere near Earth it should have been visible somewhere on the ship.
“This just doesn’t make sense.” He said as he maneuvered his body to return to the cockpit.
“What?”
“This ship. Think about the Space Shuttle. You’ve got all kinds of hand-holds to make life easier in microgravity. This thing doesn’t seem to have any of that.”
“So?”
“So, that means this thing was either never meant to be flown in space or there is something else.”
“Building an airplane or something that can shoot you out into space sounds kind of stupid to me Jimmy. Of course this is a space ship.”
“That’s what I mean. It’s almost like they expected there to be gravity here. That’s one of the things that made me think this thing wasn’t for real. Everything I’ve ever read about the real science of science fiction said that generating artificial gravity just wouldn’t be possible. If that’s true, they why build a ship with everything oriented towards one floor?”
“Bad design?” he could see the gears starting to turn in her head. “Okay, I see your point. Somebody intelligent enough to build a space ship like this isn’t going to be that stupid.”
“Right. Before we try to do anything else let’s find out just how intelligent the builders of this thing really were.”
The breaker panel was firmly closed but its location in the deck made getting it open a simple enough proposition. Most of the switches had kicked over to standby though none were completely off. The only one fully on was life-support, for which they were thankful. Something had gone through a shutdown routine and part of that was leaving the most important functions active for safety reasons. Jimmy knew enough that breathable air was important in space but so was heat. He had no idea about the insulating properties of the hull but eventually the heat stored by the interior would fade, leaving the interior colder than any ice box or freezer. The main computer core was on standby but the system still read as being fully off. He was just able to reach it and switch it to pre-warm. This time there was no sound coming from aft. He flipped it to standby, then to online, with no obvious effect. There was a tang of ozone in the air but it was faint and stale, possibly the result of the systems being turned on after long disuse. He started to flip the other switches to online. Their tag lights lit as he came to each one. His heart leapt when he reached one marked "Synth-grav." He felt himself settle deeper into the lounge as he slowly grew heavier. He was thankful the gravity didn't come on all at once. He was still a bit surprised it was there; he was mentally programmed to believe that science fiction movies just invented it as literary license. It was something learned busybodies always pointed out about the space fantasy movies. We just simply had no idea how to create an artificial gravity field. Well, they were wrong, here was the proof! He undid his harness and they made their way back.
They found Murky slumped against the far wall of the stateroom. The dim lights had kept them from seeing him lying there. It was also possible he wasn’t there but floating somewhere in the cabin when the gravity kicked in. The rifle he had been holding was beneath him, neatly bent at a right angle. One arm was jammed behind him at an improbable angle. A thin trickle of blood dripped from his forehead, pooling at the corner of his eye. There were several spots around him where some blood had been floating in freefall. Jimmy pulled him into a prone position, tossing the ruined weapon to one side.
His forearm was oddly soft, clearly broken. Jimmy straightened the arm out as best he could, mindful that he really shouldn't be moving him. They were clearly a long way from any help, so it would be up to them. He broke one of the wooden chairs and used the pieces to form a splint. Near as he could tell the break was clean. Not having any real idea how to set a bone all he could do was hope that it was in the right position. Dona helped lift him into one of the lower bunks. She listened to his heart and breathing, both which seemed strong. He hadn't made it to one of the acceleration lounges located near the staterooms. When the ship shot forward he was slammed into the bulkhead just to the right of the rear open hatch leading to the docking chamber. It worried them that the head wound might be more cause for alarm than the broken arm.
Jimmy went back to the bridge and opened the shutters once more. Something had them programmed to quietly roll shut either when they left the bridge or after a set time had passed. Hopefully he cold find some kind of override, though it obviously wasn’t controlled by the simple switch. Outside, there was nothing to be seen but stars. No planets, no cloudy nebulae, just stars. He scanned the console, looking for something useful. He worked the control joystick, nudging it slightly to the right. The ship responded perfectly, stopping just when he did. Automatic jets responded, starting and stopping the ship in perfect unison with the controls. That would be useful, he thought. It meant they wouldn't be spinning in place unless he made the ship do it. He pirouetted the ship though three hundred sixty degrees. The controls were designed to be intuitive, clearly made for somebody with little or no training to make simple maneuvers. Still, nothing outside gave him any indication where they were.
He scanned the console, trying to make sense of it. He had taken enough flying lessons to earn a single engine pilot’s license when he was old enough and knew his way around a simple cockpit. Still, despite all the simplification evident this was beyond him totally. It looked more complicated than a Concorde. He looked for anything pertaining to navigation, and finding nothing, he decided it must be incorporated into the main computer screen. An idea struck him and he decided to take a leap of faith. He cleared his throat and spoke in his clearest voice, "Computer?"
He was rewarded when the ship schematic returned to the main screen. This time a message said "Perform Main Computer Reset - Cascade Failure." Jimmy almost panicked, not quite knowing how to proceed. He thought a moment and said "Perform Main Computer Reset." The screen winked off for a moment, then came back on.
A screen flashed, "INPUT SECURITY PALM PRINT." An outline of a right hand appeared on the screen, and not having any other choice, he placed his hand there, even though he assumed it was keyed to someone else. There was a mild tingling sensation and the schematic returned. The screen said "INPUT PRIMARY COMMAND USER." Dona had come in, and reading the screen, just looked at him and shrugged.
"James Neil Argus." he said as clearly as he could. The screen blanked for a second and he thought they had been completely locked out. It came back on again reading "INPUT ACCEPTED, Welcome Commander Argus."
"How on Earth did you do that?" Dona asked
"Something must have happened to the computer. Whatever it was, it reset itself completely. It must think I'm a new user or something."
"And you just talked to it, just like on Star Trek?"
"That's how I got the Idea."
"Computer," she said "Where are we?"
There was no response. After a moment Jimmy repeated the question. The screen simply read "NO DATA." He started to list systems he wanted to see. The screen continued to flash "NO DATA." He started to give up, and then asked the computer what systems were available. A seemingly long list of systems tied to the automation system scrolled by, with no mention of navigation or even information about the ship.
"Computer, where are all other files?" he asked. A new message flashed up. "MAIN COMPUTER CORE NOT RESPONDING -CASCADE FAILURE." The computer was only functioning as part of the automation system. It wouldn't or couldn't access any other information, though they couldn’t even guess what cascade failure meant. He decided to try something else. "Computer, add user." The hand reappeared and Dona repeated the process. Then he asked the computer if it could record their position and start building a star chart from that point. It could, but that would be of no use until the actually found somewhere to go.
"Should we just stay put here, or do you think we should try a random direction?" Dona asked.
"Well, at least we can always come back to this point if we don't find anything. Computer, how far to the nearest habitable planet?" If it didn’t know where Earth was by name, at least they could find it by description.
"NO PLANETS FITTING THESE PARAMETERS IN DETECTION RANGE."
A cold chill went through him. Where were they?
Maybe it just couldn’t identify worlds that way "What about other planets?"
"THERE ARE 73,324 SYSTEMS IN DETECTION RANGE WITHIN THOSE PARAMETERS"
73,324? That meant the sensors were picking up not only local planets but those circling other stars. There was a surge of hope, then something else struck him.
Sensors that powerful would pick up a planet like Earth.
“Computer, identify the third planet of the nearest star.”
“CLOSEST STAR HAS NO ORBITING BODIES IDENTIFIABLE AS A PLANET.”
Impossible as it seemed, Dona turned a shade paler.
“Where the hell are we?” He asked no one in particular, ignoring the useless answer the computer provided once more.
__________________________________________________________________
They weren’t in the solar system. As impossible as it seemed that could be the only explanation Jimmy could think of. Either that or somebody programmed the computer with a sick sense of humor. Somehow he just couldn’t believe that could be the case.
“Computer, where is Earth?”
“NO DATA.”
“Computer, where is the sun?”
“PLEASE SPECIFY.”
That caused him to think for a second. Any star with planets would be a sun. Earth’s sun had its own name. “Where is Sol?”
“NO DATA.”
His brow furrowed in frustration. He was starting to wonder if anything was programmed into the navigation system.
“Computer, display star systems with planets…in detection range.”
The chart that popped up onto the screen was utterly unreadable. It didn’t help that everything displayed had a blank tag. None of the stars were number, let alone named.
“Computer, display the nearest system with at least, hmmm, 9 planets.” Hopefully he would get lucky and they weren’t at far from the Solar System as he feared. A section of the screen was selected and expanded, showing what looked like a navigational plot, though still missing any kind of identifying tag. What was displayed was a yellow star with twelve planets, none of them the familiar worlds they knew. No blue-green third planet, no massive gas giants, only relatively small globes circling a similar sun.
“So what do we do?” Dona asked.
“The best thing I can figure is to just pick somewhere and go there, assuming we can. This can’t be the only ship in the universe and it had to come from somewhere. If this ship were the only one of its kind it wouldn’t be built like, well, like a yacht. It’d be full of instruments and stuff. It’d be a test-bed, not a honking big tour bus with too few windows.” He turned back to the screen. “Computer, can we get there?”
“TRANSIT TIME ESTIMATED: 71.4 HOURS AT NORMAL CRUISING SPEED.”
"Computer, set a course for it, I guess at normal cruising speed."
"DANGER - CHRONAL DAMPING OFF-LINE, FASTER THAN LIGHT TRAVEL SHOULD NOT BE ATTEMPTED WITH CD SYSTEM OFF-LINE."
"Computer, Is the system damaged?"
"SYSTEM IS OFF-LINE. SYSTEM AVAILABLE AT 100% CAPACITY."
"Computer, Bring the, uh, chronal damping system and the warp drive on line and stand by'"
"WORKING. ION DRIVE ENGAGED. HYPERWARP DRIVE ON STANDBY." They were prepared this time and strapped themselves in place after making sure Murky was secured. Once he instructed the ship to begin there was a barely perceptible feeling of forward motion. The relative speed readout steadily increased toward a red mark. This time when "HYPERWARP DRIVE ENGAGED" flashed they watched as the color of the stars suddenly started to shift. They needn't have worried. Something was different; they could barely tell the ship was accelerating past the speed of light. He watched the relative speed readout, until the ship's acceleration leveled out at thirty, though he didn’t really think it meant 30 times the speed of light. Even at such an astounding speed they wouldn’t reach the star in months, let alone just under three days.
They unstrapped from their lounges and made their way back to check on Murky. He seemed none the worse for wear, but had not regained consciousness. The schematic really didn't tell much about what kind of medical supplies the ship had, so they had to explore on their own. Jimmy decided the ship must really be some kind of yacht. It was luxuriously appointed throughout. They found a parlor and a large master stateroom. The ship was not incredibly large and the parlor was intended to double as a kitchen.
There they found the first aid supplies. They consisted mainly of different kinds of bandages and something in a can called "MED+FOAM." It was instructed to be used on all wounds, so they took it to Murky and on blind faith they applied it to his injuries, including the flesh of his broken arm. There were a few ampoules of ‘Methahexadrexine’, which was identified as a strong pain reliever. They administered it to him and it woke him up almost immediately. He babbled incoherently and his eyes would not focus. Almost as quickly as he came to, he fell into a deep sleep. They tucked him into the bunk and started to make their way back to the parlor when an idea struck Jimmy.
He looked at his watch. By his reckoning, they had taken off about an hour ago. They must have been out for no longer than thirty minutes. How were they then so far from any planets?
Dona suddenly realized something else. "Did we go faster than light before?"
"I think so.