CHAPTER 39
THE SKYWARD
While there's life, there's hope.
- Cicero
The Bus's a brief stop at Kay's Aspen was short but memorable. At the scene of the recent great battle, the Bus Team was greeted by a throng of jubilant People that had been informed telepathically by Pru of the victory over the Ra. As different from humankind as The People appeared to be physically, they celebrated in ways very familiar to their guests. There was hugging, backslapping, handshaking, singing, dancing, laughing, crying, prancing, whinnying, howling, roaring, and flying; just as might be expected. The Bus Team was much more sedate, due to the loss of the Falcon.
Some People of The Land combined celebration with damage repair. Two giants stood hugging the ravaged Aspen. Elizabeth was delighted to discover and point out to the rest of the Team that Blackened branches were visibly healing with new bark, and broken limbs were sprouting back, including fresh buds that promised new green leaves.
The Team was startled when two humans abruptly stepped out of the solid trunk of the big Aspen itself, accompanied by the prancing unicorn Baldor. The two young men looked at Pru and nodded, then walked purposefully towards Bates. The shorter of the two was nearly as tall as Steve Latana and just as clean-shaven and handsome, while his thin, bushy-headed companion was half a head taller and sported a huge silly grin.
"Dr. Bates, I am Johnny Goth and this is Shaman Dooley Simple from Goth Mountain. Baldor told us about you and we've seen some COM news stories about you. We are at your service, sir."
The two newcomers shook hands with Bates firmly. "Just call us Johnny and Dooley," Goth requested.
"Just call me Dooley," clarified the tallest, hairiest, young man. "If you was to call me Johnny too like Johnny says to do I'd get all confused."
"And call me Bates, gentlemen. Your help is of course welcome, but Pru never mentioned what your skills might be."
"Far less than those of Pru, of course," replied Johnny, "but far greater than most humans."
As he spoke face to face with Johnny, Bates suddenly became aware that his own feet were no longer touching the ground. He looked about to find that he and Johnny were floating a meter off the ground! "What the heck?" he muttered.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you, Bates," Johnny apologized, as he and Bates settled gently back to the ground. "That was just a little telekinesis demonstration."
Meanwhile Dooley was looking around at the destruction that the Ra had caused and shaking his hairy head in disapproval. He walked to the slowly recovering gateway Aspen, rested his thin hands on it, and began to mutter what sounded like gibberish to Bates. Immediately tree re-growth was so rapid that it reminded the Team onlookers of time-lapse photography. New bark, braches, and leaves soon covered the tree. He stepped away from the still rapidly healing tree sporting a huge grin.
"Dooley is a forest shaman and I am a forest protector," explained Johnny.
"That tree healing was easy to do," said Dooley. "This is just a little bitty part of the One Tree, like the one we have at Goth Mountain. All of the forests where the One Tree lives helped make this one part better."
Dooley reached down to touch the burned out grass that the Team stood on and all around them new green grass began to sprout through the burnt remains of the old.
Led by Elizabeth, several of the Team took off their shoes and socks so that they could actually feel the new green grass grow beneath their feet and between their toes!
"Welcome to the B-Team," Bates announced loudly, as he smiled and again shook the hands of Johnny and Dooley, and then introduced them to the rest of the Team.
The Team enjoyed all of this thoroughly, but they had to continue the mission. The victory over the Ra Mother Ship and the sacrifice of the Falcon would turn out to be a hollow indeed, if Dannos still pulverized Earth in three and a half days. After provisioning, hasty repairs and cleanup of the Bus, the Team was off again, leaving a crowd of new friends that waved hands, hooves, horns, and wings as they flew away.
Based on timely written communications received from Jigs, the Bus headed towards the East-coast in search of the mysterious 'Black Pit'. As there could still be more Ra, Flood expertly flew the Bus directly under an airliner, as he had done for the Phoenix to Utah trip two days earlier. The flight would last several hours; long enough for the Team to fill their bellies with chili provided by the People, and for more thoughts and discussions about the mission.
Bates and Mel outlined what was happening to both Johnny and Dooley, though Baldor had already told them most of the basics. They didn't seem to be very surprised or amazed by anything that they were told. Goth Mountain must contain some unusual secrets itself, Bates surmised.
Later, after Team discussions and the meal, Bates picked up the dirty dishes, sat them on a Starlite Plastic tray on the counter next to the kitchen sink, and directed the floppy-nozzle of the Sonicvac at it. Even at full power, the hand held unit that they had picked up at a 7-Eleven in Phoenix was challenged by the tenacity of the dried-on chili. He had to admit, the People from The Land brought with them a several day supply of the best damn chili that he had ever tasted, though he had no idea what was in it, and was afraid to ask. It took several seconds for each dish; perhaps Bates had not waited long enough for the chili to totally dry and become brittle. As he watched, the last remnants of pulverized meat, beans, and tomato sauce disappeared from the plate into the Sonicvac nozzle. The powerful vacuum was supplied by a hose that ultimately led to the outside of the pressurized Bus.
Bates didn't really mind taking his turn at clean-up duties in the little Bus kitchen area. The humming and sucking noises of the Sonicvac effectively shielded him from responsibility for conversation with other Team members, while the cleanup process itself occupied his mind with trivial issues unrelated to asteroids, hostile space aliens, and the like. For a few minutes, there was a much-needed opportunity to escape. He was still a shy, introverted man at heart, thrust by events into a starring role that was terribly uncomfortable and taxing for him. He was very much more comfortable doing dishes than leading efforts to save the Earth.
Despite the welcome distraction of his 'busy work' and his revived thoughts of Janet, he still found himself doing some serious thinking about the mission. Guided again by the Jigs riddles, they were now looking for a place called the Black Pit in order to find the mysterious Traveler. Why, they didn't really know yet. Bates didn't know exactly why they needed Krog and Wink along either, or for that matter why any specific member of the Team was needed. Was Krog to 'call' this Traveler character telepathically, or call him using his deep, loud voice? Or, would Wink or Goyahkla or even Pru be the ones to contact the Traveler? Or maybe Johnny or Dooley? If they did find the Traveler, what 'key' would he then supply to them?
Why shouldn't they just head straight for the Sleeping Great One somewhere, since that was apparently their final destination anyway? And finally, the Team still had no idea how to stop Dannos. What could this 'Great One' if woken do about the asteroid Dannos? Could even a Great One stop an asteroid? Could anything in the universe stop Dannos?
Bates put the last dish away and made a last sweep of the forward compartment for trash. Following the cleanup at Kay's tree, the Bus was cleaner than it had been in days, and Bates resolved to keep it that way. As he retrieved a couple of Twinkie wrappers from under the seat of Barns, the thought also crossed his mind that he still had no idea of the elimination habits of unicorns, so he was very careful of where he stepped. He hoped that if Pru eliminated in the manner of horses, it happened during someone else's clean-up watch. He looked down the aisle, noting the large size of the unicorn, and then felt embarrassed when he saw that she was looking straight right back at him!
"Worry not, Dr. Bates, I can hold it in," she pathed, as she blinked a dark eye at him.
Damn, Bates thought! She read my mind! Pru gave her whiny-laugh, then went back to her conversation with Mel and Steve.
Earlier they had f
ull Team discussions on the issues, with particular attention paid to input from the new Team members, including the unearthly and the nether-worldly. Krog and Wink couldn't shed much light on the Black Pit mystery, but it was interesting to hear their story nonetheless. Ten years ago the duo was supposed to hold secret discussions with leaders of key Earth nations in order to pave the way for actual Earth membership in the Galactic League. They were also supposed to investigate rumors that the Ra were interfering with Earth.
Finally, as a side mission, the pair were supposed to investigate the odd lack of 'paranormal' phenomena on Earth. Earth had long been a mystery in that regard, as humans, dolphins, and many other species examined appeared to have the requisite physiological structures, but little, if any, actual telepathic capability. There was something on Earth that disrupted even the normal telepathic capability of investigating League scientists that visited the Earth.
This was Krog's first time on Earth. Wink, an experienced Earth researcher specializing in human cultures, was essentially Krog's guide and cultural interpreter. Krog was supposed to use his expert telepathic capabilities to flush out the Ra, if they were on Earth, and to begin to study the strange 'telepathic noise' phenomenon. He was amazed to hear Pru attribute the telepathic noise to some sort of great sleeping being.
Compared to the Ra, these two space aliens certainly seemed to Bates to be nice folks, though Krog seemed a touch uppity. Both were highly intelligent, but they also seemed very naive and vulnerable. Crime and dishonesty were practically unheard of in their species. Bates tried to imagine a Galaxy full of innocents like Krog and Wink policing the Ra. Fat furry chance! Here on Earth, the Ra had put Krog and Wink out of commission in less than one day.
As to the Traveler, the Black Pit, and the Sleeping Great One, Krog and Wink offered no information, other than an old Kronan legend about some sort of gigantic super-being that was supposed to have inhabited Kronia thousands of years in the past. In fact, several League members had similar legends. Such beings, if they ever really existed, seemed to have disappeared long ago throughout most of the galaxy.
Pru and Fen also had useful information, particularly Pru. However, she often seemed to enjoy talking her way around answers cryptically, rather than heading straight to them. It reminded Bates a little of trying to fish information out of Jigs. Perhaps she didn't want to tell outsiders everything, or perhaps there were just such wide gulfs between human culture and The People of The Land, that communication was difficult, even though the unicorn's English actually seemed to be better than his own.
"What else can you tell us about The Sleeping Great One, Pru?" Bates asked directly.
"That I should be the primary one to deal with him. It isn't likely that he will communicate with others."
"Why not?" asked Mel.
"He will not be happy to be disturbed. Typically he consumes those who do so."
"That's just dandy," Bates noted. "Maybe that's why we're supposed to find that Black Pit place first, like the Jigs riddles say, even though time is growing short. We need a more solid itinerary. Where is this Great One sleeping, anyway? How long will it take us to get to that site? Is it near here, Pru?"
"No," replied the unicorn. "It is far to the south. I believe you call it the Yucatan Peninsula."
"Bloody hell!" Barns exclaimed, though it was barely audible above the groans, intakes of breath, and other reactions from the Team.
"But that's where Dannos is supposed to strike!" noted Elizabeth.
"That can hardly be a coincidence," said Johnny Goth.
"No more a coincidence than what happened at Goth Mountain not long ago," said Pru.
"The Evil was after you that time, Pru!" said Dooley.
"Such that I wouldn't still be around by the time Dannos struck," said Pru.
"But you are still around!" said Bates. "What kind of trouble was it? Were the Ra involved?"
"No, not the Ra," said Johnny. "But there was a nasty demon. We won, with Pru's help, but that's another story."
"A related story," said Pru, "though the details aren't relevant to the current threat. But it is certain that the Great One sleeps at the Dannos impact point."
"Does this mean that the Ra target this Great One being, and not humans?" asked Wink.
"But that doesn't make sense!" said Barns. "They would have said something about that when they were preparing to eat me! But all they talked about was killing humans! Could that have been all theatre played for my benefit?"
"Maybe not," said Johnny. "Pru, you told me when we were attacked on Goth Mountain that not even you were the ultimate target, and that the demon that we fought probably didn't even know what part he was playing. Maybe the Ra don't know either. Maybe the Great One is the target for Dannos but the Ra don't even know it."
The unicorn whinnied her laughter. "You again show wisdom, young Goth."
"What more can you tell us about the Great One, Pru?" Bates asked.
"I can tell you no more at present," Pru replied, and would say no more about the mysterious Great One. "My knowledge of the Great One could prove dangerous to others."
As to the Black Pit, Pru did admit that her People knew of a strange means used long ago by Great Ones to travel between different worlds. She speculated that perhaps this is what the Black Pit was.
The location of 'Black Pit' had been narrowed down somewhat, to a mere million square kilometers or so, by astounding written information sent from Jigs in yet another VISICOM message. The good news was that Jigs actually admitted to being at The Black Pit with The Traveler several times over the last twenty-five years. The bad news was that: (1) its location shifted by tens of kilometers each month or so; (2) he didn't know where it was now for sure, other than it was likely to be somewhere in the Appalachian Mountains of the Eastern United States; and (3) he had dozens of investigators looking for it for the last several years without finding it. However, the investigators recently discovered several possible 'leads' that were included in the VISICOM message from Jigs, including recent news reports of odd happenings. If the most promising new leads actually panned out, they had a chance of finding the Pit almost immediately.
As to what exactly they should look for, Jigs was quite vague on that point. Apparently the Black Pit featured strange characteristics that made it practically impossible to find. People could walk by it without seeing it, or forget what they saw if they had seen it. When someone approached it, they tended to become very confused and forgetful.
Bates wandered if by visiting the Black Pit several times, Jigs had been permanently damaged himself, or if the strange old man was just dithered by old age. Did he really know more than he was letting on, or less? Was this all just a wild goose chase based on an old man’s crazy imaginings? Unfortunately, the fate of Earth rested on the answers to such questions.
The latest Jigs VISICOM message also indicated that he had booked the Team rooms for two nights at the Skyward Lodge in the Great Smokey's National Forest in North Carolina. While this was very welcome news for the Team in terms of their personal comfort, the time factor worried them immensely. Only about 80 hours remained before the destruction of Earth. Two nights at a vacation resort just didn't seem to fit into their schedule.
The biggest surprises awaited the Team at the Skyward Lodge. As the battle weary Bus and B-Team dropped into a strangely vacant parking lot, a dozen well-armed people in trench coats emerged from the wooded surroundings. Flood recommended taking off again, but all fears disappeared at the appearance of a familiar looking little old man in the midst of the armed personnel who smiled and waved eagerly at the Team.
"Holy shits!” exclaimed Flood. "It's the Boss himself!”
Sure enough, Ray Dave Jigs was the first to greet Bates as the scientist stepped from the Bus. A waggley tailed Milo returned the greetings of the billionaire, and the dog was rewarded with a big tasty dog treat that Jigs pulled from a jacket pocket. "There you go, Milo," said the billionaire. "That will have to hol
d you until we get you to your pizza."
"What's all the security about?" asked Bates.
"Oh, that? Don't worry about it!” said Jigs. "It's just some of my security team. Mostly they are here to control the press, the public, and various government officials.”
"Press, public, and government?" exclaimed Bates, looking about in alarm; but there was nobody in sight except the security people and the billionaire.
"Sure,” explained Jigs. “You guys are world news now. When word leaked out that you were coming here, a few hundred press and thousands of other folks headed here too. Naturally, with elections coming up at some point, all the federal, state, and county government officials wanted to get in on it also. But don't worry; we have it all under control. Except for the immediate press conference, my people will isolate you and the Team from this circus. The reception will essentially be private and then you will get a good night's sleep.”
Bates jaw dropped open further. "Press conference and reception? That's nuts! We have a mission to do, and we're running out of time! Show him, Flood!”
Flood stepped forward and the billionaire shook his hand vigorously. "Good job, Mark,” said Jigs. “We're all very proud of you. And of course, the crew of the Falcon.”
The smiles disappeared. "Yes sir. We'd be cinders now if it wasn't for them. But it's not over yet, and we're all concerned about the time that this stop will take.” Flood showed Jigs a special wristwatch that was adjusted to count down the hours left before Dannos would strike the Earth's surface. It indicated only 79 hours, 10 minutes.
"Yes Mark, and you should indeed be worried; that's one of the reasons I gave you that watch in the first place. But you all have to trust me. You're still on schedule. This stop may seem a little out of place, but some highly critical things will happen here.” He winked, smiled knowingly, elbowed Flood, and gave a little nod of his head towards Bates. What the hell that meant, Bates and Flood had no idea.
Jigs went on to greet the others. As he had done previously in Enterprise City, he again perplexed the newest Team members by knowing who they were before being introduced. Jigs seemed to already know about ghosts, unicorns, little shape shifting goat-men, Goths and Simples.
Pru however, didn't seem to be surprised. "You are the far seer?" she asked.
"Yes, I have been called that by the Traveler," admitted the billionaire.
"There are none such among The People at this time," she said, "but there have been a few, in times long past. It is a curse as well as a great gift.”
Jigs informed Winnebago that sadly, he didn't need more life insurance. Goyahkla walked right through the billionaire, obviously seeking to startle him, but the old man only laughed. Latanna and Jigs embraced warmly; they were obviously old friends.
Dooley was star-stuck. "I ain't never met up with a billionaire before this," the hairy young shaman noted.
"And I've never had the honor of meeting a forest shaman, Dooley," replied the billionaire. "I have assembled some wonderful berry pie for you and Johnny in the lodge, Dooley," he added, as he shook Johnny's hand. "It's an honor to meet you Johnny; I think that you'll be able to help Bates learn some skills that you already have. And of course this is Janet and the twins!" he exclaimed, as he turned his attention to the next Team members to emerge from the Bus.
The last new Team member to exit the Bus and meet Jigs appeared to be a second Jigs. The billionaire laughed heartily as he shook the hand of his doppelganger and the doppelganger laughed at him in kind. "Fen the shape shifter! You will particularly enjoy meeting the Traveler."
"Listen everybody," announced Jigs, "go to your rooms and freshen up, and we'll do a short press conference in half an hour. Then there will be a reception with some great food."
"But we can't leave the Bus out in the open like this, there may be more Ra!” complained Bates.
"Don't worry!” assured Jigs. "My people will take your Bus to a well hidden cave only half a mile from here, and we have people and equipment set to spot space craft that enter the area. I've been setting this up for years and can handle most plot variations."
As the old man led the Team around the back of the lodge, the sound of many voices was soon heard. Rounding the corner of the building, the group stopped as one, stunned at what they saw. There were hundreds of shouting people, many holding cameras, struggling against a too-thin line of security personnel. As the Team watched, they were obviously seen and recognized by the crowd, because as a massive wave of humanity, the unruly mob broke through the security line and came crashing towards them! The Team was being charged by the press!
"We have to get inside the lodge!” exclaimed Bates, as he diverted the group to the nearby lodge wall, which was made of massive logs. "Pru," he said, "can you get us all through this?” In answer, the unicorn pranced nimbly through the wall, followed without hesitation by Johnny Goth, Dooley, Fen, Gus, and Jigs, who were all apparently quite used to walking through things. The others paused uncertainly until Gus stuck an arm back out through the wall and motioned for them to follow.
The pursuing national and world press, and subsequently the people of the world, were therefore treated to the odd sight of Jigs and the Bus Team walking through a solid log wall. Several reporters tried to follow and suffered minor injuries to valuable equipment and stubborn heads.
Inside the Skyward Lodge, the Team trooped through the men's room that they found on the other side of the wall, startling several lodge patrons, and then out into the lobby. The lobby was empty except for a big man in a wheel-chair being pushed by a strikingly attractive blonde woman.
"It's about time!” boomed a deep base voice that was immediately recognized by most of the Team. "Jigs told us that you'd probably arrive through the men's room. Damned if you didn't, women included!” The man tried to rise, but the resolute woman with him pushed him back into the wheelchair then ran forward herself to wrap her arms tightly around Mel and kiss him passionately, actually lifting the slight physicist up off the floor in the process.
"Oscar! And Jane!” exclaimed Bates joyfully, as he rushed to vigorously shake the biologist's huge hand.
"Ouch!” complained Oscomb. "Take it easy, Bates! That's my bum arm!” Bates looked more carefully at the big biologist. He appeared battered and exhausted, though very much better than when the Team had left him at the hospital in Phoenix. Bates immediately began introductions as the Team continued to file out of the men's room, though some members lagged behind for a few minutes to take care of other pressing business.
When Pru was finally introduced, she immediately lowered her great horn onto the big man's head. The horn glowed brighter than usual for several seconds, as did Oscar. When she finally lifted her horn away from him, the biologist took a deep breath, shook himself, and wide eyed, rose slowly from the wheel chair! Jane tried to push him back down again but he reached out, grabbed her under the arms, and lifted her high into the air as though she were weightless. "Hot damn, I'm cured!” he shouted joyously.
"You induced some sort of rapid tissue regeneration, Pru?" Bates asked.
"I merely helped; Oscar actually did most of the real work," explained Pru. "You humans are far more capable than you yet imagine.”
"Thank you!" Oscar told the unicorn.
"Well, however it was done, it's wonderful!” said Bates. "We are again in your debt, Pru."
"If yea think that's something, wait till I tell yea what's what in terms of the Biology involved, Oscomb!” said a voice that Oscar hadn't heard in years.
Oscar was actually more amazed to see his old mentor Augustus McGregor than he had been to meet a unicorn, a ghost, and two space aliens. "Gus! How the hell did you get involved in this? And where's your Florida tan?” Oscomb patted his old buddy Gus on the back so affectionately that the spry little old man would have taken a tumble, had Bates not been there to catch him.
Things got even stranger when a second Augustus McGregor stepped out of the men's room! ”Tarnati
on Fen! You little stinker!” stormed the second McGregor. Oscar stared agog at the two McGregors! Pru tapped the first McGregor on the head with her horn and in moments his image blurred and then reformed into that of the mischievous goat-man!
Gus started to introduce Johnny and Dooley to Oscar and Jane, but at that moment a yapping herd of reporters, slowed but not fully stopped by a wall of security people, stampeded into the lobby. Governor Latanna, the only one of the group used to dealing with reporters, stepped up onto a coffee table in the path of the oncoming horde and with loud voice and authoritative body language, stopped them dead in their tracks by essentially giving them what they wanted.
"QUIET EVERYONE, AND WE'LL START THE NEWS CONFERENCE RIGHT AWAY" he announced. The crowd hushed in expectation and pushed to form in front of him. "The leader of our Team, Dr., Narbando Bates, will introduce the Team and make a brief statement. Then he'll answer questions. Here now is Dr. Narbando T. Bates."
"Sorry about this Bates," Jigs told Bates, as he shoved him towards Latanna. "You were supposed to get a few minutes of rest and coaching first, but that's the breaks. Break a leg!"
Latanna stepped down and all eyes and cameras in the room turned to the terrified Bates, who would have stood frozen next to the table indefinitely but for the insistent guidance of Oscar and Mel, who forcefully propelled their friend atop the table just vacated by Latanna. Oscar reached up and gave Bates a strong pat on the back as encouragement to get him started, nearly knocking him back down off the table.
Bates first introduced the whole Team starting with the humans, as he intended leave the introduction of the most sensational members for last. Unfortunately, the reporters were so astounded and attracted by the space aliens and the People from The Land that they pushed towards those most unusual folks and started asking them questions directly, ignoring Bates. The press conference was rapidly deteriorating until a blood curdling yell was heard and Bates soon found himself floating in the air several feet above the table while the sound of beating tom-toms filled the air. Goyahkla had creatively shifted their attention back to Bates.
After the drum sounds stopped and Bates was lowered gently to the table, Bates finished with quick introductions and gave the reporters a quick overview of the situation. He had never done this sort of thing before, but had seen many press conferences given by Government officials on the VISICOM. Therefore he knew to be very vague and to give no particulars. Instead, he provided a greatly edited version of what he had been telling new Team members when they joined. Certainly no details about the rest of the quest could be revealed to the press; this unruly bunch could easily be as disruptive to the mission as the Ra.
When he completed his narration Bates began to take questions. He had no previous experience with the press, so at first he feared he would be hit with probing, insightful inquiries that would pry from him the details of their mission. But this was the press, so of course most of the questions turned out to be irrelevant.
Q: "What do the aliens eat?"
A: "The big one eats whatever he wants. Chili, so far.”
"OH! And Twinkies," pathed Wink.
"And Twinkies," continued Bates. "On the other hand, we have reason to believe that the Ra sometimes eat humans."
Q: "Have you seen them eat anyone?"
A: "No, but one of us barely escaped alive, covered with barbecue sauce."
Q: "What does the Bus use for fuel?"
A: "Beer now, mostly, new or used, plus a secret additive that I'm not at liberty to describe."
Q: "Can you people really walk through walls?"
A: "Only when we're in a hurry to get to a press conference."
Press: Laughter.
Q: "Why has the existence of the DOD been hidden from the public? Does Congress know that the DOD still exists?"
A: "We haven't been hiding from anyone, we’ve just become too small to be noticed. Congress has been funding us less every year, but they have been funding us, so I suppose they know about us to some degree. Maybe you press people just haven't been paying attention.”
Bates' confidence was growing. Then the questions became more annoying, though still irrelevant.
Q: "Is this whole thing a hoax?"
A: "No; of course not!"
Q: "Can you prove it isn't a hoax?"
A: "No; but then we don't have time to anyway. Fortunately world opinion about the reality of the threat apparently isn't relevant to the accomplishment of our mission."
At that point Jigs motioned to Bates that he had something to immediately tell him. While the press threatened to get rowdy again, Bates bent down and the old billionaire whispered a few words to him.
A: "I stand corrected," Bates resumed. "It is imperative that the people of the Earth understand the reality of the threat to them; that is the primary reason why we're holding this press conference."
Q: "Is this hoax supposed to result in more DOD funding next year?"
A: "Again, I don't know anything about any hoax, or how someone would go about getting more funding. This mission is to save the Earth. If we don't succeed, there won't be a next fiscal year to fund. None of us will live even long enough to get paid even next week."
Q: "Is it true that the man responsible for the incorrect tracking of the Dannos trajectory is a DOD employee?"
A: "No. Well, yes and no. That is, a few days ago we found out that Melberg is a Ra, not even a human. Yes, recently he has worked for the DOD, though he was apparently working for NASA when he sabotaged the system that is tracking Dannos. He's probably still officially on the DOD payroll, but if I ever see him again, I promise to fire him on the spot, once the shooting stops. No, on the other hand why wait? Wherever Melberg is, his DOD employment is hereby officially terminated, effective immediately."
Q: "Where is Paul Lund?"
A: "Who is Paul Lund?”
"That NP guy I saw get carried away by the Ra ship in Phoenix!” Governor Latanna whispered to Bates
A: "Oh yeah; sorry. Lund is probably scattered over half of Colorado, from when the Ra ship blew up today."
Q: “So you confirm the rumors that an alien spaceship has been destroyed?"
A: "Yes, a huge Ra spaceship has been destroyed by three brave employees of Mr. Jigs who lost their lives to save ours. I understand that Jigs already provided that information to the press so I won't repeat it here."
Q: "Will that action save the Earth?”
A: “No, but it saved us, so that now we can go on to try to save the Earth.”
Q: "But what does the Jigs corporation have to do with this? Isn't this really a military operation?"
A: "His company manufactured our vehicle and provided our wonderful pilot, Commander Flood. But no, this isn't a military operation; the U.S. military hasn't existed for a decade. The founding nucleus of our Team is a DOD civilian scientific team working under direct Presidential orders to address the Dannos crisis.”
Q: "Why has the U.S. Government been covering up the Dannos problem?"
A: "Have they? You'll have to ask the administration. But I do know that most of us have only known about the problem for a few days, and Dr. Janet Garb originally discovered the problem less than a week ago. So the news has actually gotten out pretty fast. But this issue, like most of your questions, is completely irrelevant to us at this point. Now we have to focus on the mission to stop Dannos."
By this time Bates was getting tired of the press conference. However, he has relieved that they hadn't asked the probing questions that he feared, and feeling pretty good about the way things had gone, until the next question, when he realized that his last statement had moved the questioning in the wrong direction.
Q: "How do you plan on stopping Dannos?"
A: "Good question."
Q: "Do you have a good answer?"
A: "Not a good one, not yet. We're still working on the details."
Q: "But there are only about three days left!”
A: "We're working on it
. That's all that I can tell you about it now."
Q: "But Dr. Bates! Do you or don’t you have a plan to stop Dannos that will work?"
A: "Yes, we do indeed have a strategy that we hope will work."
Press: sighs of relief.
Q: "How sure are you that it will work?"
A: "We aren’t sure. We simply don’t know yet. But we do know that while we are doing this press conference we are making no progress at all. So let’s have one final question please!”
Q: "What is your relationship with Dr. Janet Garb?"
A: "I'm totally in love with Dr. Garb, and if we live past Christmas, we have a heavy date planned. And now, I'm afraid that's all we have time for today."
With that, Bates stepped off the table and gave Janet a hug, though she didn't seem overly receptive.
"Heavy date?" she whispered somewhat acidly. "Is that what I am? Did you have to say something like that to billions of people?”
Bates staggered, almost fainting. Billions? He hadn't thought of that! He had been nervous enough to speak before a room full of reporters! For some reason, the possibility of countless viewers across the country and the world hadn't even occurred to him. Janet returned his hug in order to keep him from sinking to his knees, but she still wasn't smiling. Cameras flashed. By next week, if there still was one, Bates figured that he could walk into any supermarket in the country, if there still was one, and see blurry pictures of that moment plastered all over the covers of half a dozen newspapers specializing in sensationalist trivia.
All during the press conference, Jigs security personnel had quietly filed into the room until they actually outnumbered even the press. Finally they whisked the Team into an adjoining room while the reporters yelled and pushed to no avail. Thankfully, heavy doors closed, shutting off sight and sounds of the scuffle.
The adjoining room was empty of people except for Jigs and another person that Bates recognized immediately.
"Mr. Ryan! It's an honor and pleasure to meet you in person at last, sir!” Bates stepped forward to shake hands with the President's Chief of Staff.
"The honor and pleasure are mine, Dr. Bates! The President sends her congratulations, her warmest regards, and her greatest encouragement. We have followed your rather unusual exploits as closely as we could. Mr. Jigs assures me that so far you are doing as well as he expected.” From the expression Ryan made when he glanced over at Jigs, Bates had the impression that Jigs had been explaining things to Ryan, but that Ryan wasn't totally satisfied with the information that the billionaire provided.
"Your press conference was very well done,” continued Ryan. “You managed to not tell them very much at all, but it was reasonably reassuring and professional. But the time remaining is so short, and our information on your effort has been rather sketchy," complained Ryan. "I must ask you point blank Dr. Bates, how do you assess your actual progress, and exactly what is your strategy to stop Dannos?"
"Progress? Well, err, sure," mumbled Bates. "We've learned quite a lot about the riddles."
"Riddles?" asked Ryan. His jaw dropped.
"Yes. Didn't Mr. Jigs explain it to you?" asked Bates.
The two of them looked over at Jigs. The eccentric little old billionaire had shuffled over to the big banquet table in the middle of the room and was stuffing big, pink, ice-chilled shrimp into his mouth as he handed out plates full of the things to members of the Team.
Jigs looked very happy. He had mentioned to Bates on the way in that he himself had defined the menu, and that it included only his favorite foods. The result was a perhaps unusual assortment that included fruit, leaf-spinach, nuts, steamed and stir-fried broccoli, Brussels sprouts, eggplant, corn meal mush fried golden brown, over-easy eggs, buckwheat pancakes, an assortment of Wendy's burgers, and a wide variety of sea food and pasta dishes. Now Jigs happily turned his attention to pilling heaps of various foods onto a big plate, culminating in a slice of everything-on-it pizza draped over the very top.
Bates licked his lips.
But Ryan was pale. He had lived mostly on yogurt for the last decade, and couldn't imagine anyone eating what the billionaire had put on that plate!
The full Team, including its exotic members, was also gathering in the harvest. Goyahkla hung suspended above the table. Various foods floated up to hover before him, and then lined up and took turns popping into his mouth. Unfortunately, he was apparently unable to actually eat it, as it all passed through the back of his head and floated back around to the front of his head to rejoin newly arriving food.
Pru commandeered a huge bowel of fresh spinach for herself, although it was unclear that unicorns actually needed food at all. At the moment, Krog and Oscar seemed to be engaged in a pig-out contest. Krog was popping whole steamed lobsters into his mouth, while the rejuvenated Oscar focused indiscriminately on anything and everything. Wink, Gus, and Fen apparently all had a passion for fruit, as they were consuming surprising numbers of oranges and bananas. Johnny and Dooley were happily gulping down elderberry pie alamode. The General, Sandra, Carbuncle, Winnebago, Barns, Flood, Janet, Elizabeth, and Don had quickly dished up their food and retreated to other, quieter parts of the room. Steve and Kay moved off to a corner all by themselves, and seemed much more interested in each other than in the food.
Distracted by the rather unusual scene, and afraid of what more he would learn from Bates, it was long seconds before Ryan finally answered Bates' remark about riddles. "Well", said Ryan finally, "Jigs did tell me some crazy business about some visions that he had over twenty years ago, is that what you mean?"
"That's it exactly!” replied Bates, nodding his head. "Strange as it seems, following his visions and clues is the strategy that our mission is based on."
Jigs was looking around the room for something. He finally spied Milo sitting to one side of the food table, watching wistfully as his taller, more privileged Team mates filled their own plates and stomachs with food. Jigs shuffled over to Milo and put the plate of food on the floor in front of the grateful dog, who went right to work, starting with the everything-on-it pizza.
Pleased that Milo had been fed, though concerned at the alarming rate that the food was disappearing without having gotten any yet himself, Bates returned his attention to Ryan, to try to wrap up their conversation.
Ryan was just recovering his composure. "This whole thing is based on someone's visions of the future? You can't be serious!” said Ryan.
"I'm very serious," replied Bates.
"But you're a scientist, Bates! Surely you can't believe that it's possible for anyone to actually see the future!” Ryan was clearly very disturbed that the fate of the world hung on some sort of physic vision by an eccentric old man, even if he was the richest person on Earth.
Bates considered then answered. "Believe me Mr. Ryan, eight days ago I would have probably felt the same. But since then I've been inexplicably promoted to be Head of DOD, chased by evil space aliens in flying saucers, met a ghost and all manner of magical creatures, walked or floated through mountain rock and a log wall with the help of a unicorn, experienced mental telepathy with friendly space aliens, battled flying saucers, and discovered that I'm a father. And, though there is much that we still don't understand, both I and other members of the Team have a sense that the pieces of a giant puzzle are starting to fit together. Continuing to follow the Jigs riddles we plan to next find the Black Pit and then wake the Great One, but we don't have details about those yet. Right now we just have to keep going and hope for the best." Bates shrugged. "And that’s pretty much the whole thing in a nut-shell."
Ryan remained dumbfounded and disturbed. "Dr. Bates, you've been very busy for the last few days, so I don't think that you fully appreciate the situation. We kept the Dannos situation secret for as long as we could, but right at this moment news of hostile aliens and Dannos threatens to cause widespread panic all over the world. What I had hoped to be able to do is to bring a message of real hope back to the President, on
e that she could use to calm the people. But what you tell me doesn't give me much confidence at all."
"Mr. Ryan, from a purely analytical viewpoint, based on current human science and philosophy, I'm afraid that I would have to wholeheartedly agree with your assessment. Objectively, the situation seems to be totally hopeless. On the other hand, at this point, I'm honestly beginning to believe that almost anything is possible. I find that my own view of the Universe and mankind's place in it is changing rapidly. As a result I'm actually much more optimistic now than I was last week when I first learned of Dannos and the Ra. We have humans and non-humans on our Team that have incredible talent and knowledge, and we have a strategy and we’re following it. Believe me, that’s a lot more than we had when we started, and it's also the best we can do."
"I'd like to feel your optimism Dr. Bates, but I'm finding it very difficult," said Ryan. "World scientists assure us that what Garb discovered is absolutely correct; Dannos will strike Earth on Christmas Eve. You tell me that you still don't know how to stop it, and that's what I'll have to tell the President."
"In the meantime Mr. Ryan, we better eat, before Krog and Oscomb finish off everything!” suggested Bates. Ryan sighed and started towards the food table with Bates, shaking his head. But Jigs met them halfway with two trays of food. The food that Jigs gave Bates was exactly what he gave Milo, but tripled in quantity. Over the years man and dog had cultivated similar tastes in food.
To the astonishment of Ryan, Jigs handed him a tray that held a container of strawberry yogurt, a black coffee, and buckwheat pancakes covered with strawberry preserves. It was exactly what Ryan had decided to get for himself, only moments earlier. He found a chair off to one side of the room where he could sit quietly, eat, and think. How the hell had Jigs known what he wanted to eat before he did? He looked at Jigs and at precisely that moment the smiling billionaire looked back at him and winked.
Later, the Team was introduced to the county sheriff, the park's head game warden, and the mayors of several of the closest towns. The politicians were wearing their fake smiley faces; it was hard to judge what their true reactions were to the Team. They were definitely disappointed that there was no press to record their encounters with the now world famous Team, but were pleased when Jane pulled out a Kodak COM-CORD and took some shots that she promised she would COM to them later, assuming that there would be anyone left alive on Earth later to send or receive anything.
It was nearly midnight when the weary Team was finally shown their rooms. In the rooms were clean new clothes for members of the Team that used them. Bates was most intrigued to find that he and Milo had been given a room next to Janet. Was the pairing by chance or design? Later, he was astonished to realize that they actually had adjoining rooms! After a quick and much needed shower, he put on the nice warm flannel pajamas that had been provided and collapsed on his bed, exhausted, but soon found himself staring restlessly at the door that separated him from Janet. Earlier, there had been sounds of drawers, doors, running water, and so forth from the direction of her room. Now it was quiet; she was probably sound asleep by now.
He regretted that he hadn't had a chance to talk with her. Ryan and then Jigs had totally dominated his time for most of the evening. Ryan kept fishing for answers that Bates didn't have, and Jigs briefed him on the clues that his men had gathered regarding The Black Pit. The Team would search for the Pit in the morning. Perhaps they would find it; perhaps they would never find it. Perhaps the Ra would find them first, if any remained. Maybe this would be their last night alive before they were all killed while performing this crazy quest!
But he thought of none of that now. He was exhausted, and the Dannos business was all too confusing and out of control to make any sense of it anyway. Right now he found that he could only think of one thing: the woman sleeping on the other side of that door! The woman that even though physically absent from his life, had still dominated it for the last twenty years.
But no, not her, she wasn't responsible for his problems, he corrected himself. Mel was right, it was all him. It was his obsession with her that messed up his life. Was she really mad at him for his 'heavy date' remark to the press? He should try to do something about that.
By now Milo was laying on his back in the bed next to Bates, snoring loudly. Fortunately, Milo was a heavy sleeper, so Bates easily avoided waking him when he got out of the bed and crept over to the door that led to Janet's room.
His hand formed a fist. He reached towards the door. But then he stopped, unsure of himself. Would she be even madder at him if he woke her now? He had better be careful to say just the right thing to her; he didn't want to blow it again. But he was so tired that he couldn't think straight. He lay back down on the bed for a minute to try to better formulate what he would tell her. Something perfect. Something that would propel her into his arms again at long last, perhaps this very night!
This was it! This would be the night that he had dreamed of for twenty years.
Then he fell asleep.
****