Heirs of the New Earth (16 page)

"Is he...?” asked Fire, with a worried frown.

"Alive, and in the same state as Ellis and Coffin as best as I can tell,” said Cooper.

Fire looked at Kirsten, who nodded. “I hate to say it, but I think it's time we got G'Liat,” she said.

John Mark Ellis rowed away from the
Pequod
in the whaleboat. He felt the oars push against water, though he certainly saw none. Coffin had given him provisions: food, blankets, and a first aid kit. He didn't know if any of that would be of any use. As the light that indicated a gravitational node grew closer, Ellis felt the boat pulled along, as though grabbed by a current. He came to the node surprisingly quickly. Looking back, the
Pequod
was lost among the stars. He had no sense of scale, but his instincts told him that he was moving somewhere near the speed of light.

As he entered the nodal point, he expected that he would experience something like a starship jumping from point to point in the galaxy. However, it wasn't like that at all. Instead, it was like entering a tunnel of light. All sensation of motion stopped. A few moments later, he found himself standing in front of a door. The boat and the provisions had vanished, though he was still dressed the same. Ellis opened the door and stepped into an electronics lab of some sort.

A drafting table stood against one wall, while the room's lone occupant sat hunched over a workbench, a test probe in one hand. Cautiously, Ellis approached the man. Alerted by the creak of Ellis’ shoes, the man looked up. “Ah,” he said. “You must be new here."

"Well,” said Ellis running his hand through his hair. “I just got here, if that's what you mean. But, I'm not sure exactly where ‘here’ is."

The man smiled. “My friend, you've just found paradise.” He put down the test probe and shook Ellis’ hand. “My name is Timothy Gibbs and for the first time in my life, I'm getting to build the computer I've always dreamed of."

Ellis’ eyebrows’ came together. “Who are you building the computer for?"

"For the Cluster, of course,” he said. “It's their legacy."

"Tell me more,” said Ellis.

Gibbs looked at his wrist chrono. “Let me show you around and I'll explain as I go.” He moved toward a door at the opposite end of the room. “I'm afraid I don't have a lot of time. I managed to leave a friend of mine back at the apartment. I'm sure he's worried. He just arrived from Sufiro when I had to leave for work."

"You have a friend from Sufiro?” asked Ellis. “I know some Sufirans. What's your friend's name?"

"Ed Swan,” said the man.

Ellis’ jaw dropped for a moment before he regained his composure. “Yes, show me around,” he said. “Let me know when it's time for you to go. I have a message for your friend."

G'Liat stood over John Mark Ellis, his hands balancing the Rd'dyggian brain scan device on the captain's head. The device was designed for Rd'dyggians, whose brains were in their chest cavity. After a few moments, G'Liat looked up. “That's odd,” he said with a look of near-human puzzlement on his face. “Ellis was gone, just like Samuel Coffin."

"Was?” asked Kirsten.

"I'm now registering brain activity again,” said the eight-foot tall warrior. “He's much nearer again, like most humans. It's like his brain pattern was sent to a distant point, but now it's come back to one of the Clusters close to the Earth."

"How can that be?” asked Fire.

"I don't have enough data yet,” said the warrior. “However, I've never seen anything like this in any of the people I've examined."

"Perhaps you should examine Manuel,” suggested Fire.

"Perhaps,” agreed the warrior, retrieving the brain scanner.

"Examine Manuel for what?” Raton leaned against the bedroom door, stroking his mustache. He stepped over to the window and pushed it open, took a deep breath of the damp, salt air and grinned. “Man, it's a beautiful day.” He turned and looked from Kirsten to Fire. “Did someone get those eggs I left on the stove before they burned?"

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Fire Ellis watched Manuel Raton as he ate his breakfast of oatmeal and toast with a look of peaceful contentment on his face. Fire and Manuel had grown up together on Sufiro and she knew his moods well. She had see him raging mad when he'd seen an injustice committed, worried about friends in trouble, satisfied after solving a dispute, even joyously happy when things were going his way, but she rarely saw him completely serene.

"You know,” said Manuel, “the Cluster has made things so peaceful here on Earth, I wonder what it could do for other worlds, like Alpha Coma or Sufiro."

"I don't know if I want to find out,” said Kirsten, wrinkling her nose. “I don't care how nice the Earth seems, the fact is that over sixty percent of the population is gone."

"Besides,” said Fire, pointing her spoon at Manuel. “How do you know what the Earth was like before? You didn't even grow up here."

"But I was here before the Cluster, with you,” said Manuel, leaning forward. “My father and mother told me plenty of stories about living on the streets of El Paso and Juarez, not even able to afford a place to live. That's all been fixed."

"In the most draconian of ways,” said Kirsten. She threw her napkin on the table and picked up her dirty dishes.

G'Liat reclined on the couch and watched the interchange with some interest. He made a show of examining his fingers, then looked up. “So, what was it like to communicate with the Cluster?"

Manuel's mouth worked, but he couldn't quite get the words out. “It's hard to describe,” he stammered at last. “It was like being gathered into my mother's arms and being told that everything was all right.” His content smile dissolved into a deep frown as he remembered his own mother, murdered on Sufiro. He turned away from the warrior's gaze.

Eva Cooper looked from Manuel to G'Liat and back again. “You're in law enforcement, Mr. Raton. How can you condone what the Cluster has done?"

Manuel's brow wrinkled as though he was trying to think through a difficult problem. “I don't...” he began, but stopped. “I don't know how to explain,” he resumed after a few moments of silence. “I almost wish the Cluster had come sooner, not later. I find myself wondering if my mom and dad would still be alive."

"Who knows, if the Cluster had come sooner, perhaps your parents would still be dead and Sam Stone of Tejo would still be alive,” said G'Liat from the couch, referring to the man who had ordered the execution-style murder of Raton's mother and father.

Manuel looked at the warrior and his lip trembled as though he wanted to say something.

"How do you know about Sam Stone?” asked Fire, her head inclined.

G'Liat held his arms out to the side. “I know many things,” was his only reply.

The teleholo signal sounded. Fire continued to stare at G'Liat as she stood, only breaking her gaze when she went to the other room and answered the call. A few moments later, she reappeared. “Kirsten, it's a call for you. It's Simon aboard the
Sanson."

Kirsten nodded and followed Fire back to the teleholo. Shortly, Fire returned and sat down.

Eva took a last bite of her oatmeal and washed it down with some coffee, then sat back and eyed G'Liat with a sly grin. “You're testing, aren't you? You're trying to find out if there's a way to break the brainwashing the Cluster has done."

Before G'Liat could answer, Kirsten appeared at the door. “Simon's just told me that several people aboard the
Sanson
have just ... zoned out, like Manuel and Mark. Even our pilot, Laura Peters seems to have been in contact with the Cluster."

"And Suki Firebrandt Ellis ... or so it would seem,” said G'Liat, standing up from the couch. Hunched over, he made his way to her. Her eyes were open and staring, but she didn't blink when he waved his orange six-fingered hand in front of them.

Eva stood and moved to Fire. Kneeling beside her, she took her pulse and checked her breathing. She looked up at Manuel who continued to smile. “She's with the Cluster now,” he said. “There's no need to worry."

Kirsten leaned against the great stone fireplace, took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Eva stood and joined Kirsten at the fireplace. She looked up at a beautiful painting of a seascape. After a moment, her eyes fell down to a rack of pipes. She picked one up and thought about the great wars medical science had waged against smoking and obesity. Looking back at Manuel, she began to think she might be looking at an addict.

"G'Liat,” said Eva, “what would happen if we simply took Mark and Fire back aboard the
Sanson
and got them out of the Cluster's range?"

For a moment, G'Liat's mustache wriggled, then he shook his head in deliberate imitation of the human gesture. “That strikes me as an exceedingly bad idea.” The warrior picked up Fire's dishes and took them to the cleansing unit. “We don't know what exactly has happened to their brain patterns. What would happen if the time came for them to return to their own minds and the body was not here to receive it?"

"You think it could kill them?” asked Eva returning the pipe to the rack.

"I don't have enough data for a solid hypothesis,” said G'Liat. “However, that is certainly one possibility."

"Does that mean we're trapped here until everyone is back in their own body?” asked Kirsten as she moved from the fireplace to the couch.

"If you do not wish to desert your friends,” affirmed G'Liat. As Kirsten opened her mouth to protest, G'Liat raised his hand. “Knowledge is power in this case. The more you know, the more likely you can save your friends from the Cluster. The longer you wait, the more you will know."

Eva looked at Manuel. “What I'm afraid of is all of us succumbing to the Cluster ... or worse."

G'Liat finished clearing the table. “That's the chance you must be prepared to take."

In Southern Arizona, Edmund Swan paced back and forth in Timothy Gibbs’ apartment, trying to decide what to do. He'd spent two nights while his friend sat motionless and apparently comatose in an armchair. Several times, Swan thought about calling the police or an ambulance—some kind of emergency help. However, every time he thought about it, he remembered the scene of police officers burning bodies. He wasn't sure whom he could trust and began to think it had been rash to come to Earth so unprepared.

Tim Gibbs’ eyes fluttered open. “Good, you're still here,” he said. “I've just met an old friend of yours named Mark Ellis."

Swan's jaw dropped. “You
met
Mark Ellis. Where?"

"At work,” said Gibbs, as though he'd been physically outside the apartment and not simply sitting in his armchair for the better part of two days. Gibbs stood and went to the bathroom. When he came out, he ordered up huge meal of roast beef, mashed potatoes, vegetables and bread from the food preparation unit.

"So, where do you work?” asked Swan, joining his friend at the kitchen table.

Gibbs’ brows creased and looked at his plate. “I'm not exactly sure ... I think it's an orbital complex. Your friend, Ellis, seemed most interested,” he said. He took another mouthful of food and washed it down with a drink of water. “Oh, I almost forgot, Ellis had a message for you. He said that his mother, Manuel Raton, and some others were on Nantucket Island. He was sure you would want to talk to them."

Swan smiled. “You bet I do,” he said. “May I use your teleholo?"

Laura Peters stepped onto the command deck of the
Nicholas Sanson
. She moved to the pilot's station and commanded it to bring up her standard display that looked identical to a pilot's console on a Gaean Navy vessel.

Natalie Papadraxis at the communication's console eyed her with concern and Simon Yermakov stood up from the command chair and stepped to her side. “How are you feeling?” he asked.

Heat rose to Laura's cheeks and she looked down at the console, checking ship's status to avoid meeting either Simon's or Natalie's eyes. “Embarrassed mostly,” she muttered. “I should have been able to fight the Cluster—keep it out of my mind and keep working."

Natalie put her hand on Laura's shoulder. “There's no reason to be embarrassed, Laura. I've felt the Cluster's power. There isn't anything you could have done."

"Isn't there?” asked Laura, harshly. She looked up at Natalie, her jaw clenched. “Why me? Why did the Cluster single me out of the command crew?"

Simon tugged on his trouser legs and squatted down next to Laura's chair. “That's a very good question,” he said. He looked down at the deck and then up again. “I'm sorry, but I have to ask—what was it like?"

Laura took a deep breath. “It was comforting ... very comforting,” she said as she looked back to her console. “It was far too easy to forget about the ship, to forget about my duty. It was like I was being primed for something bigger, something more important but..."

"But, there's nothing more important to you than your duty to the ship and crew,” said Natalie, quietly—almost reverently.

Laura nodded and sniffed.

Simon stood. “Don't be too hard on yourself. We'll get out of here just as soon as we can.” He stepped around the pilot's console into the holographic projection at the front of the deck. The projection showed the Earth and the position of all orbiting ships and satellites along with three of the Clusters. He noticed that one of the Clusters was increasing speed and moving away from the Earth. He continued to watch it for a few minutes, wondering where it was going while pondering Natalie's words about why she alone among the command crew had been singled out for contact.

"Display crew roster, here,” he said stabbing his finger in front of him. A list of names appeared in front of him. “Remove all personnel off-ship,” he commanded. Dutifully, the names of Mark and Suki Ellis, Raton, and Smart were removed. “Highlight all personnel in medical during the last day for treatment of Cluster-induced trauma.” He saw several names highlighted, including Laura Peters and Chief Engineer Mahuk. Simon paced a little ways off and looked at the Cluster that was moving away from Earth, and noticed that it was still accelerating.