CHAPTER 50
JUNGLE RENDEZVOUS
Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.
- Theodore Roosevelt
Bates woke too early on the morning of what was probably the last morning of the last day on Earth. He woke as he lay on the floor of the Bus, with Janet sleeping at his side and Milo licking him in the face to wake him. That part of things was great, but he had wanted to dream something odd and amusing. Bates loved to sleep and dream, but last night dreams seemed to completely elude him, and he felt cheated. Now it was too late; there was no more time for any more dreams, not for him or the billions of other humans and other creatures that that had completed their last night. There remained only the last day and evening, a day and evening of events that would either save Earth or lose it to eternity.
He got up quietly, taking care to let Janet and the others on the Bus sleep just a little while longer; maybe long enough for them to enjoy their own last dreams. The Bus was packed full of his sleeping friends. It was a truly wonderful thing he realized, to have so many friends, and if he was to die tonight, he would perhaps be comforted by that, if he could somehow ignore the brutal fact that they were all dying too. With his new senses he could hear them breathe and even hear their heart beats, steadily counting down to the end of the world.
Milo poked his leg again, reminding him that his dog friend had urgent business to do and needed to get outside. It was very inconvenient that the Bus didn't have a doggie door. Why hadn't Jigs far-seen that need and had one built? But not even Jigs could think of everything, that's for damn sure. Jigs might know the broad outline of what might happen, but all the messy details that made up reality were up to chance and other laws of nature, brutal laws that didn't care if a happy ending would result for Earth and Earth life including humans.
At the front of the Bus the pair encountered Norma vigilantly studying Bus systems that constantly searched for the Ra. She quietly saluted Bates and Milo, then got back to work.
Bates unlatched and opened the Bus forward hatch, and Milo scrambled out. The early morning light illuminated a jungle full of life. Dandy if you liked that sort of thing, Bates mused, but in this case both man and dog nearly let out a scream when both noticed that a gigantic anaconda lay only a few feet from them, regarding them with its little reptilian eyes.
The snake shimmered for a few moments before resolving itself into much less frightening form of Fen, the shape-shifting little goat-man. "Morning Bates, Milo!" he said. "General Therman has me patrolling the camp for snooping wild-life. The snake form tends to scare other critters away, but the General wants the entire area cleared of critters large and small. That's mostly a Johnny and Dooley job for sure, but after breakfast maybe you could pitch in too?"
So an hour later Bates was walking slowly through the jungle, deep in concentration. Dooley was showing him a new trick. Hundreds of snakes slithered slowly in front of him, in response to Bates. Despite his newly acquired familiarity with their limited but surprisingly placid psyche, he still feared and hated snakes, and wished that there was a better and faster way to temporarily clear the jungle of wildlife, but he couldn't think of any. There would soon be thousands of people here, and he agreed with Therman that it would be better for both people and wild creatures if the two groups didn't meet. The jungle could be reclaimed by its proper inhabitants the next day, if everything went as planned. If it didn't, there would be no jungle to reclaim or critters to reclaim it.
"That's it, Mr. Bates!" exclaimed Dooley in delight. "You keep on moving these snakes on this side of the camp, and me and Johnny will handle the critters on the other sides!" With that the lanky shaman trotted off, grinning as usual.
Oscar accompanied Bates, taking notes and COM footage. He said that he planned on doing a biology paper on the snakes later. As both scientists and snakes would in all likelihood be pulverized to atoms shortly, Oscar’s efforts seemed ridiculous to Bates, but ever since the Team had come up with their plan to 'soap trick' Dannos and save the Earth, Oscar's optimism had taken on absurd proportions. When they started this project earlier Oscar identified and lectured on each snake species that they encountered, but Bates made him stop. He didn't want to know what their Latin names were or which ones were poisonous; he just wanted them all gone! At least this part of the operation was going well. Snakes by the hundreds slithered away.
Mel came plodding through the jungle to catch up with them, probably with more bad news. Bates surmised that it must be something important this time, or Mel would have simply 'pathed' information instead of walking all that way through the steaming jungle. Bates refused to carry a COM, and gladly took on the animal clearing job to get away from the hubbub going on at the Bus, where Therman was managing the logistics of the encampment, Flood was air-traffic controller, and Latanna was handling the press over the COM. So far, only a hand-full of other people had arrived at the camp. Soon the first big aircraft would arrive with tons of reporters, and all heck would break loose. Bates felt more comfortable dealing with snakes.
"Good news!” started Mel. "The passport and visa problems are solved!”
"What passport and visa problems?" asked Bates.
"Well, ours! We left the USA in a bit of a hurry, you know. Illegally! And then we entered a foreign country illegally. Passports are required. Usually if you work hard at it, it takes days to do all the paper work needed to get one, even if you can find your birth certificate and Social Security card."
"I wouldn't know. I haven't seen my birth certificate or my Social Security card in years, and I never left the States before this, unless you count Niagara Falls."
"The Canadian side counts."
"Well I was only on that side for about a minute, then I walked back across the bridge. I like the American side best, there's less crowds and tourist traps."
"I love tourist traps!" Gus said. "But crossing the bridge into Canada still counts being in a foreign country, in my book. Rules are rules. Anyway Bates, the Guatemala officials got here almost an hour ago to deport us."
"Deport us? Holy shits! Don't they know that we're trying to save their hides?" roared Oscomb.
"Probably, but paper work is paper work. They're just fellow civil servants doing their job. Red tape and associated bean counting are this planet's biggest industries, you know. Actually, Krog and Wink do have passports, though they were probably made off-planet. So they're legal, according to the Guatemalans."
"You mean to say that Krog and Wink are OK, but we're the illegal aliens?" exclaimed Bates. He was having trouble controlling the snakes and carrying on a conversation at the same time. If he were also trying to chew gum, the three of them would have been buried to their arm-pits under a thousand snakes by now. "Anyway, you say this problem was solved?"
"Yes. With a little pressure from President Wright, the Guatemalans agreed to hold off deportation for one day!”
"Hooray for our side!” exclaimed Bates. Actually, though he was glad to hear that a problem had been solved, he was even gladder that he had nothing to do with it. "But that's good news Mel. You wouldn't have walked all the way out here just to announce good news. Am I right?"
"I'm afraid so. Bates, I've been studying the physics of what's going to happen, which I don't claim to fully understand, but I'm very concerned. First, Dannos will strike us at night, invisible to us, and moving at about thirty miles a second. This soap trick will have to be done with really good timing."
"I talked with Pru about that," said Bates. "She says the other unicorns will be on hand to make Dannos visible, so it can more easily be located by her as well as us. Also, she says that she'll start the process a half-minute or so early, so that it will be in place for sure when Dannos gets here. That way, timing doesn't have to be that precise."
"Good enough," agreed Mel. "Lots of us humans have synchronized our watches to the correct time, so we can tell her when to start. Unicorns don't wear watches, you know! But her starting early only aggravates the second probl
em. I have estimated the amount of energy that I think is needed to pull this little trick off, and it's monumental. Now we've both seen Pru in action, and she's an extraordinary being, but I can't believe that she'll be able to handle this job for six minutes."
"Six minutes? I thought that it would be over in seconds, or a minute, tops. Dannos is traveling nearly thirty miles a second, and the earth's crust is only about thirty miles thick, isn't it?"
"Close enough; actually it's thinner under the oceans and thicker under the continents. But I've been thinking about the collision, and talking with some folks at Cal- Tech about it. While we all agree that we can greatly reduce damage by allowing Dannos to pass through the crust unhindered, we also agree that Dannos materializing within the Earth would still cause tremendous damage and loss of life. After all, many cubic miles of material would still be vaporized when the kinetic energy of Dannos is transformed into heat, and a great deal of momentum would be transferred. The resulting world-wide quakes and volcanism would still be pretty disastrous. Millions of people would die."
"Would California have 'the big one'?" asked Oscomb.
"Definitely. So would every place else along the tectonic plate boundaries. Volcanos and perhaps super volcanos would also erupt. But that can all be avoided by keeping Dannos immaterial the whole time that it passes through the Earth. The kicker is that unhindered passage through the entire Earth by Dannos would take about four and a half minutes. With at least a half minute margin added at each end, that means that Earth humans and Pru would have to do the job for at least five and a half minutes, six to be on the safe side. Then of course there's the worst case scenario to consider."
"Which is?"
"Re-materialization of Dannos shortly before it pops back out of the Earth somewhere in North Australia. Instead of an entrance wound, Dannos would create an even more enormous exit wound. Hundreds of cubic miles of crust would be blasted out into the atmosphere, with results even worse than if there were no interference by us at all!"
"So you worry most about a weary Pru dropping the ball a few seconds before Dannos has exited the Earth, resulting in this worse-case scenario?"
"Actually, I don't think that she'll last even that long."
"She might surprise you!” said a new voice at their feet. Bates looked down to see the biggest damn snake that he ever saw, curled up on the ground right next to him, and regarding the three startled scientists with cold, emotionless eyes. Bates jumped about two meters up, and remained there floating, while the snake's image shimmered for a moment, and then reformed as Fen, the mischievous little goat-man! The little stinker had been doing his anaconda impression again! "Sorry, I couldn't resist!” he said, after he finished laughing.
"You're lucky I didn't blast you away!” said Bates, as he settled back on the ground. Bates still didn't know what he had done to Renson, or how to control it. The thought that he could have just now reflexively done the same thing to Fen shook him up pretty bad.
"You better tend to the real snakes, Bates!” said Oscomb, pointing. A thousand or so snakes were slithering off in all directions, including towards the four onlookers. In seconds however, Bates had them turned around again.
"I suppose you've got problems to tell me about also, Fen!” said Bates.
"Not really," replied Fen. "Just thought that I'd let you know that our folks will start arriving soon. They should be able to finish this little wildlife effort of yours easily Bates, so that you can get right to your press conference."
"What press conference? Steve is supposed to handle public relations!” The thought of a news conference was a bigger fright to Bates than Fen's snake trick!
"He is. He's been on the COM for hours, and so has President Wright, Wink and Krog, and even Pru for a short time, which amazed me, that's for sure. But you're our mysterious leader, and the press and public are clamoring for you like crazy. The first big VTOL airplane is due in ten minutes, and it includes about three dozen media folks from all over the world."
"Fudge Winkies!” conceded Bates. "I guess I'm in for it then!”
"Not necessarily," said Fen. "Are you forgetting my own little talent?” Fen's form wavered for a moment, and there stood a second Narbando T. Bates, identical in appearance to the real one, clothes and all.
This is why it was Fen who brought the news, thought Bates. This was the goat man's big chance to perform in front of the billions of people! Bates was tempted, as his knees were jelly already just thinking of another news conference. But what if Fen screwed it up, or if everyone found out about the deception somehow? The Team's credibility would be shot to hell! He just couldn't take that chance.
"No! Sorry Fen, but I better do it myself.” Judging that the snakes had been moved far enough away, Bates set off for the camp, followed by the others.
"OK, so you want that part for yourself," concluded Fen. "I don’t blame you one bit. But then can I play Milo?" In moments, two identical dogs were trailing after Bates, one of whom was very confused and was preparing to attack the other.
The VTOL airplane with the press wasn't the first aircraft to arrive. To the amazement of onlookers, a huge, non-VTOL Boeing 888 approached rapidly, slowed impossibly, and finally floated gently down into the jungle near the Bus. The unlikely flight pattern of the 888 was explained by the identity of its passengers. The big rear cargo doors opened first, and out bounded Pru's mate Baldor! With him were two other unicorns. Baldor and Pru met in seconds, and were soon snorting and rubbing each other's horns, which glowed brilliantly. Next the huge giant Gor came crawling out, and then stood yawning, scratching, and stretching as dozens of griffins, ogres, centaurs, and others came spilling out of the cargo hold after him!
One of the passenger compartment doors opened and the unmistakable, unclothed, extraordinarily feminine form of Thela came flying out using her huge white wings, hand in hand with a small human girl, who seemed to actually be contributing to the art of flight! A big stern nun was flying right behind them.
"Greetings friends!" Thela announced, smiling. "I bring you Sara. She wants to help.” The little girl laughed, and after pulling away from Thela, flew down to land in front of the unicorns, followed by Thela and the Nun.
"Is one of you the good unicorn that needs help?" asked diminutive Sara, who floated back up into the air a meter so that she could face the towering unicorns.
"Yes, that would be me, small one, though all unicorns are of course good!” replied Pru.
"And I'm Sister Marie!” said the nun angrily, as she landed next to Sara. "And if you want my help or Sara's, you better get some clothes on these subjects of yours!” The stout Nun pointed at Thela, and at several others of the People that had human looking body parts, none of whom ever had any use for clothes.
Apparently the clothing issue was one of several unresolved disputes that erupted when the People suddenly arrived at Salt Lake City Airport, asking for transport to Guatemala. Despite Presidential assurances, declarations, orders, and decrees, the People were not universally welcomed into the several communities world-wide where they suddenly appeared. They were after all aliens. Naked aliens.
"Maybe she's got a point!” said Janet, who was watching Bates. Along with every other human male in the vicinity, Bates was watching Thela's every voluptuous move. It was also very evident that smiling Thela knew and enjoyed the effect that she had on men.
Pru stared back at the Nun with her black-pit eyes. "Trouble can indeed result from beauty, if those who view it are lacking. But why do you, Sister, who are pledged to do service to the All-Father, fear something that is clearly good, such as natural beauty? He who founded your order has seen Thela's beauty and not found it objectionable."
"Who do you mean?" asked the startled Nun.
"Why, your Jesus of course; or his spirit, at least. A quite remarkable being. Despite interference from The Sleeping Great One, in life and in after life he has been able to heal and perform other services to human-kind."
&nbs
p; Sister Marie stared wide eyed at Pru. She had expected the People to be ignorant heathens, as far as God and Christianity were concerned, or worse yet, in league with The Devil. "You claim to have met with our Savior?"
"Several times. It is through meeting such extraordinary humans that we were persuaded to allow limited communication with humans."
This remarkable conversation, which at the very least forestalled Sister Marie's campaign to clothe the People, was interrupted by the arrival of the next VTOL, which landed noisily and immediately discharged dozens of swarming reporters, along with a couple hundred additional gifted humans. General Therman sat prominently on Gor's huge shoulders holding a megaphone, and directed the gifted humans into groups to be briefed by Team members and to be trained in psy skills by the People. In the meantime, most of the reporters were being briefed immediately by Latanna.
So it was that Bates, when he arrived back at the encampment, managed to go relatively unnoticed among the hubbub, until he had nearly reached the sanctuary of the Bus. At that point a dog fight suddenly erupted next to him and ended almost immediately when a screaming goat-man appeared with a dog hanging from his furry backside. A reporter recognized Bates when the Team leader refereed the brief scuffle and removed the dog from poor Fen, and most of the reporters were on him in a flash. As he had done at the Lodge, Latanna quickly established order, but soon Bates was standing in front of dozens of cameras and microphones, answering questions.
Q: "Is this plan of yours really going to save the Earth Dr. Bates?"
A: "That's the whole idea. But for it to work, everyone on Earth has to help. As many as possible, anyway. The role of the press in this is of course absolutely vital.”
Q: "What exactly do you expect the press to do?"
A: "Let me be frank, ladies and gentlemen. Without your strong cooperation, our plan WILL fail, and we will all be dead or well on the way to being dead in about fourteen hours. We need the cooperation of virtually all the people of Earth, and that has to be communicated immediately to everyone on Earth by you news people.
"Everyone has to understand what's happening to them, and not be afraid. We suspect that perhaps half of all people on Earth are currently discovering that they have psychic powers. These are powers that they had already, but up to now they've been masked by the sleeping dragon Quetzal. To help us save Earth tonight, these people first have to immediately begin to discover and exercise their powers, and learn how to transmit that power to Pru. They have to be prepared to transmit powers to Pru here in Guatemala at one-fourteen AM, Eastern Standard Time, and sustain their level of concentration for six minutes. Even people who don't have powers, or think that they don't, should help their friends that do, or perhaps better yet, try to send some psy energy anyway, just in case they have some capability that they haven't even discovered yet.”
Q: "How would you describe these psychic powers?"
A: "They're a set of natural capabilities that will revolutionize our lives here on Earth, mostly for the good. Most people that have these powers seem to have one or two capabilities, but a few people have more. What those capabilities are specifically is what you've been reporting today on the VISICOM net. They include flying, dematerializing objects, telepathy, and so on. And I think that's only the tip of the iceberg. Over the next several decades science will be busy discovering and trying to understand these and other capabilities. But right now, we all have to focus on immediately applying them to the Dannos problem.”
Q: "What about the Ra? Are they still a threat?"
A: "We don't know. We'll just have to remain vigilant until we are sure that the Galactic League has neutralized the Ra."
Q: "We've had isolated reports of a huge dragon, presumably the one you call Quetzal, flying over the Pacific. Is there any hope that Quetzal will help us with Dannos?"
A: "We don't know. We can't discount it, but we can't depend on it either. We have to try to save ourselves."
After that, the press conference got redundant and trivial, and was over in half an hour, after which Bates joined the psychic training sessions that were starting to take place around the camp. It was an odd sight. Humans of all descriptions sat with People and Team members, to demonstrate and practice their psy powers in preparation for Dannos, while VISICOM cameras transmitted the sessions around the world.
A flood of people was arriving from the whole Western hemisphere, and a several flights even arrived from other parts of the globe. There were people from every continent and nearly every country, most gathered by Jigs corporation people and taken to aircraft scattered world-wide. The Jigs company helped to ensure that each of the participants had sufficient psy capability and motivation for the Guatemalan effort.
Thanks to advance preparation by Jigs, the VTOL aircraft brought food and camping equipment in addition to people. A big shipment of Porta-Potties and toilet paper was particularly well received.
World-wide, humanity struggled to adjust to the emerging psychic powers that the day before were not even believed to exist by most people. Of course, given the impending doom of Dannos, it would not have been a normal day anyway. However, the psychic power phenomenon provided much added chaos, particularly in the period between Wednesday evening and Thursday afternoon, during which many people had not yet heard the correct explanation for what was happening. In some cases, abhorrent behavior, injury, and even death resulted.
Through it all however, a stabilizing thread of sanity and hope emerged and strengthened as Thursday wore on. There was a rational though fabulous explanation for recent occurrences of human psychic powers. There was a world-wide 'call to arms' by the American president and other national and world leaders empowering the citizens of Earth to actually try to save themselves from Dannos, instead of just hopelessly standing by and letting it happen. There were indeed space aliens that wanted to destroy Earth, but there were friendly space aliens also that wanted to save Earth. There was continuous news coverage of the project in Guatemala to save Earth that featured lessons on psy powers from mythical creatures, friendly space aliens, and humans, and practice sessions with Pru that caused the unicorn to glow brilliantly from the power she received from the host gathered in the camp and world-wide. Throughout the world, most of Earth's people listened and/or watched VISICOMs, fascinated. As encouraged by the VISICOM, they gathered in churches, schools, homes, and bars, to practice their fledgling psy skills. By evening, there was increasing hope!
Meanwhile, there continued to be scattered reports of a great dragon raging about Earth. More troubling, there were unconfirmed reports of a flying saucer in the vicinity of the encampment in Guatemala. There was some good Ra news, however. A Ra jamming device near the Guatemalan camp was located and destroyed by a Guatemalan banana farmer that was looking for his missing brother, who had recently guided someone into the jungle.
Through it all Bates managed to keep busy, and thereby avoid major bouts of anxiety. But in every spare moment his newly invigorated mind efficiently ran through all the permutations of things that could go wrong, and all the terrible consequences.
This was it; the culmination of nearly two weeks of incredible lunacy that transformed his dull but orderly and comfortable existence into a confused and deadly adventure.
One way or another, it would soon all be over.
****