Allotropes (an Ell Donsaii story #8) (24 page)

“Chuck, for some reason we don’t have any times up on the big board. Something flashed momentarily but then it went blank again. However, I wouldn’t be surprised if Donsaii had just set a new record!

“Sweet Jesus, Cheryl! The time… the time clock says 8.61! That
can’t
be right! Michael Fentis’ world record was 9.49 seconds!

“Wait, the board has just put up a 10.45 for Abbot. 10.45
would
have set the women’s world record… if Donsaii hadn’t just beat Abbot by almost twenty meters! At that speed twenty meters
would
be about two seconds.”

“Chuck, consternation is sweeping the stands. Some seem to be saying the clock
must
be wrong. Others are shouting with glee to have been here to witness this amazing event. The officials have gathered to review the secondary clocks and to use the video to back check the accuracy of the times.”

Cheryl said, “There doesn’t seem to be any doubt in Keisha Abbot’s mind! She’s just picked Donsaii up by the waist and is screaming something. Now she’s put her down and is dancing around, still shouting. She’s saying… she’s
shrieking
‘Donsaii!’ over and over again. Shaking her fist and pounding Donsaii on the back. Donsaii appears to be blushing. Rather than shaking a fist or proclaiming her victory as other runners would, she’s simply standing in the middle of the track collecting hugs from the other runners. Abbot has grabbed the Stars and Stripes and is making a circuit of the track, still shouting Donsaii’s name.”

Cheryl said, “Well Chuck,
it looks like Michael Fentis was wrong.
Very
wrong. I wonder if he’s regretting the day he challenged Donsaii to enter a race…”

***

Delhi, India—August 5: As it did in Dallas eight years ago, the sport world’s focus has turned to Ell Donsaii. So far this Olympics she’s added a gymnastics team gold. Though no one doubts that she could have won more individual gold in gymnastics, yesterday she entered the Track and Field arena, winning the gold in the 100 meters. She broke the world record in the 100 while doing so. Not just the women’s world record held by Keelaw Fell, but the men’s world record held by Michael Fentis—by nearly a full second, in an event where new records are usually advanced by mere hundredths! Today she’ll be running in the 400…

“Well Cheryl, what a difference a day makes, eh? Yesterday everyone was offended that Coach Shirley Black had displaced seasoned Team USA competitors who had earned their stripes. She replaced them with Ell Donsaii, an amazing gymnast, no doubt, but someone who had never competed in a track meet at all, much less at this level. In interviews last night, Black said that Donsaii had proven that she could break the women’s world records during a visit to the Olympic training facility in Chula Vista. However, Black has admitted that even she had no idea that Donsaii would be able to destroy the
men’s
world record as well.”

“Yes Chuck, and now we’re about to find out what she can do in the 400 meters. Yesterday she ran the 100 final after running two other races, presumably a problem for an athlete with a self-confessed lack of endurance. She’s granted no interviews so we don’t know what her thoughts
are regarding her accomplishments so far. In fact no one’s even seen her away from the track. She’s not staying in the dorms with the other athletes but somewhere away from the Olympic campus. No one seems to know where and, amazingly enough, the paparazzi haven’t tracked her down.”

“Cheryl, the women are stepping into their blocks… They’re up... And they’re off! Once again Donsaii has
exploded
out of the blocks in lane one, putting paid to her laughably poor starts in the prelims. My God! Since she’s running the inner lane, you’d be expecting her to catch up to the stagger somewhat on this first curve. She hasn’t just
caught up
she’s passed everyone! In the back straightaway she’s gaining more and more on them… Now she’s coming into the second curve where the inner lane runners traditionally are still catching up on to their shorter course, instead she’s rocketing farther ahead! Holy crap! She’s about 70 meters ahead of the field and still pulling away! There’s the finish line.

Ell Donsaii has another gold medal and
must
own another world record!”

“Chuck, Donsaii’s coasted to a stop and turned back toward the finish line where bronze medalist Seychelle Eventide is giving her a congratulatory hug. As happened yesterday, the stadium’s official scoreboard has not instantly put up her score like they normally do. Presumably this is because the officials are having a hard time believing the clock and are checking it twice like they did for her 100 meter run.”

Chuck shouted, “Yes! 39.13! Another world record! Seven seconds better than the women’s world record and nearly four seconds better than the men’s record held by Michael Fentis. This is beyond astonishing!”

“Chuck,” Cheryl said, “they’ve started showing the race in slo-mo up on the big screens. I have to say that—in slo-mo—Donsaii looks light on her feet. Where the other runners
appear to be straining to run at their maximum speed, Donsaii looks flowing, graceful and relaxed. Like someone else out for an easy lope around the park! Watching this makes you feel like she could run even faster if she had to! I… I… wonder if she actually could…?

***

Delhi, India—August 8: As the world watches the Olympics today, almost every eye is turning once again to Ell Donsaii. Over the past two days she’s run the heats and semis for the 200 meters. As in the 100 and 400, she’s come in third in each of those events, just good enough to qualify for the next level. This time, no one doubts she’s saving herself for the final. Yesterday she also qualified for the long jump… and qualified with a women’s world record jump of 8.11 meters (26.6ft)! One can only wonder what she’ll jump today in the finals…

“Well Cheryl, what kind of surprises do you think Ms. Donsaii has in store for us today? The Olympic committee reports that she’s been tested exhaustively for every banned substance known to man as well as examined extensively by their physicians. They state that she is a completely normal and unenhanced woman in every way, albeit in extraordinarily good condition. Her amazing physical condition is something we can all see in those skimpy track suits. Not bulging with muscle, but
very
well defined. ‘Ripped’ in common parlance. Everyone now expects her to set a new men’s as well as women’s record in the 200, the question is, ‘what will she do in the long jump?’ Was her women’s world record yesterday the best she can do?”

“Chuck,
some people have been pointing out the enormous distances she’s covered in some of her gymnastic routines when she wasn’t even
trying
to jump as far as she could. On the other hand, those leaps were made on ‘sprung’ gymnastic equipment so they may not be comparable. We’ll just have to wait and see. Whatever happens, there is no doubt now in most people’s minds that she’s set her sights on all
four
of Michael Fentis world records. I would say that calling
this
particular lady out—was
not
his best move.”

“Hah! You can bet
I’d
never want to piss that woman off! I’m much too grateful for what she’s done for our world. As almost everyone knows, sprinter Michael Fentis has led a personal crusade to question her athleticism, to debunk the rumors that she runs faster than he does and to generally and vulgarly belittle her accomplishments. Throughout, despite his tirades and offensive language, she has, publicly at least, complimented his achievements and repeated her hope that one day he’d consent to give her the autograph she first asked for eight years ago at the Dallas Olympics. However, I
would
say that, by setting out to demolish his world records she has officially put him on notice that she is ‘not pleased.’”

“Here’s Urai Fenbassa, the expected gold medalist for the women’s long jump. Well, she
was
the expected gold medalist until Donsaii’s jump yesterday. Fenbassa had jumped close to the previous world record in two of her past meets and is rumored to have broken it in practice. Here she goes. Oh! That looks like an excellent jump! The judges are measuring… 7.84 meters! That
would
have been a world record before Donsaii’s 8.11 meter jump yesterday. She’s likely guaranteed Senegal a silver.”

“Yes Chuck. That would have been an
amazing
jump two days ago. Now Donsaii’s stepping up to the runway. They’ve finished smoothing the sand. Here she goes. Oh Lordy! She’s just rocketing down the runway with that unbelievable speed only Donsaii can achieve. She’s launched herself into the air like no one else can… My God! She’s landed
far
beyond where Fenbassa landed.”

“They’re putting up the measurement… Sweet merciful…
Donsaii’s jumped 10.13 meters. More than a meter beyond Michael Fentis world record of 9.04. She’s jumped more than 33 feet! And… it doesn’t look like she’s going to take her other two jumps… I guess that one was good enough, eh Cheryl?”

***

Delhi, India—August 11: Ms. Ell Donsaii is now up to a total medal count of ten Olympic golds. That would be four gymnastic golds from Dallas and one here in Delhi. Now she’s added golds in the 100, 200, and 400 meter sprints plus the long jump. Then yesterday she anchored Team USA in the 4X100 meters relay, taking a careful handoff before running more than fast enough to catch up to and pass the Jamaicans who had been leading. The Jamaicans had been the expected gold medalists but she brought her team’s baton in far in front of them. She’s fully expected to get another gold medal today in the 4X400…

Shan’s AI said, “Emma Kenner is calling.”

“Put her on,” he said, thinking that it
must be around midnight back in North Carolina. “Hey Emma, what’s up?”

“Shan! I can’t reach Ell, is she OK?”

“Yeah, she’s got her headband off for the 4X400 relay.”

“Oh! I forgot about the time difference. Allan contacted me
because he couldn’t reach her. Keldap’s attacking Sigwald.”

“Crap.” Shan glanced out at the field. Though they were setting up for the relay Ell wouldn’t be available for a while yet. “Allan, give me the feed from Sigwald.”

His HUD flickered and then Shan was looking at Keldap. Though, of course Shan didn’t really understand Keldap’s expression or body language, he had the feeling Keldap intended to look threatening. Keldap had some kind of a tool in one of his upper manipulators. Another manipulator had what looked like a part of Sigwald in it.

Emma said, “He’s cut off a part of Sigwald’s foot and
has been threatening to cut off more.”

Allan said, “The piece Keldap is holding up is part of the skirt on Sigwald’s foot. Without it
, Sigwald will no longer be able to hover or travel on ground effect.”

“What’s Keldap been saying?”

“He’s been demanding to know how to get to the stars.”

Shan sighed, “The one thing we can’t tell him.
Let’s offer again to teach them something else.”

“What should I offer to teach them?”

“Ask Keldap what else they might want to know. We may learn something important from what he requests… Emma? Would anything terrible happen if we just abandoned Sigwald? Shut off the lights and power so to speak, and just left them the empty husk of the waldo?”

“I’ve been wondering about that. What if they could somehow open one of the ports in Sigwald from their
end? Of course, all of Sigwald’s ports open into a pipe in near solar orbit that’s really hot to sterilize stuff transiting in either direction, so coming through that port wouldn’t help them much. But what if they fired a laser or something through that port that somehow broke open the near solar tube? If they could send through even one rolled up port of their own, then they’d be able to send through bigger and bigger ports until they had something they could send sigmas through… Or spaceships?”

“Oh… Shit! That sounds
bad
. What can we do to keep that from happening?”

“I don’t know… but I think we should try to negotiate. Meanwhile we should try to think of a way to destroy Sigwald, not just leave him inert there.”

Shan said, “Allan, say, ‘I am sorry that I do not know how you could get to the stars. I was sent here and do not know how that was done. Is there anything else I could teach you? Something important enough that you would let me go?’ Emma, I think Ell told me that the orbit of that intermediate near solar station is intentionally set to deteriorate into the sun?”

“Yeah,” Emma said, “but it shouldn’t burn up for another year or so.”

“Is there a way to decelerate it so it will deorbit faster?

“Let’s ask Allan.”

Allan came on, “Keldap says the
only
thing they want to know is how to get to the stars. He doesn’t believe that Sigwald could have come here to another star without knowing how he got here, at least in principle. He has begun to cut the front off of Sigwald’s other foot.” Typical for an AI, Allan continued without a pause, “There is a small rocket motor on the ‘intermediate near solar station’ which I could use to begin decelerating it. It would still take weeks for the orbit to deteriorate sufficiently to reach destructive temperatures.”