Suddenly, being on another planet was a lot more dangerous to Amy when it was possible they might never get back to Earth. After a very long ten minutes, Amy heard the bell sound three times. Her sigh of relief was echoed by Frank.
“Sorry about that guys,” said Paul. “There were a couple of Mexican kids on the path to the ruins. They didn’t see me, so I kept out of sight until they were well up the trail. We should go quickly, while the coast is clear.”
Amy asked, “What if you couldn't get back next time, or were arrested? What would we do then?”
All Paul said was, “I don't know.”
They arrived without incident, and the Mexican kids were no longer around. Before they left the jungle clearing, Frank pulled out his map. “If we keep going back and forth between here, the village, and the resort, someone's going to get curious. Kids talk.”
“That’s a good point,” said Paul, and examined the map.
Paul pointed at the map, “If we take the path the Mr. New York used, then we should finish up on top of that hill. From there we can easily connect to a trail that leads back to the resort. That’s probably why he came that way, to avoid the village. If we come down from the hills to the resort, they'll think we’ve been hiking. Once we know that trail then we can come in that way each time, and avoid the village.”
“I hear no objections,” said Amy looking at the map. “Lead on Sub-lieutenant.”
Paul smiled back at her, sharing the joke. He led them up the narrow path, and Frank took the rear. As they climbed the hill, Amy saw that the narrow path entered an open meadow and joined a more traveled pathway across the hilltops. They carefully memorized the location of the path branching off to the ruins.
* * *
As Paul followed Amy and Frank back into the resort and past the pool, he saw the couple from the lobby sitting in lounge chairs by the pool. Frank was busy saying hi to his aunt and uncle. Paul was just about to speak to the couple when a cellphone rang. The woman took it out of her camo backpack. Paul continued to walk past, not wanting to interrupt. As he passed them, he heard her quietly say, “Yes Sir,” in a military way. He continued to the stairs to the beach before looking back; they were whispering. Paul felt that something wasn’t right, but he wouldn’t tell the others about this yet, not until he was sure.
* * *
Amy led them along the beach to Amy’s and Paul’s parents, at their usual spots under the palapas. Everyone said hi, and Amy told them they’d all enjoyed hiking. Not quite a lie. The four parents had gone on a tour that day.
Mr. Fortezza told them, “You would have enjoyed it. There are ruins right in the middle of the city, and the shopping was great.” He smiled at Mrs. Fortezza, and translated what he’d said into Italian.
Amy didn’t want to chat so she stripped down to her bikini, ran down the beach and dived into the surf. Paul and Frank joined her. After ten minutes in the ocean, Amy felt both cleaner and de-stressed. She pointed down the beach, suggesting, “Let’s go to the end of the beach and talk.” The sun was getting cooler as it was almost sunset, and many of the vacationers had already returned to the resort, leaving the far end of the beach empty enough to give them some privacy. They pulled some lounge chairs into a triangle and settled in.
Paul and Frank waited for Amy to start. “I want to talk about the questions we should have Simon answer. I don’t think we have enough information to commit to what he wants, but we’ll have to make that decision soon. We leave Mexico on Saturday.”
Paul concluded, “There’s not enough time.”
“Yeah, there isn't!” agreed Frank.
“No there isn’t, but it's all the time we have,” said Amy, shrugging her shoulders. “I can see Simon’s point of view. We’re committed and we help him, or he closes the pillar. We’ll have to make that decision.”
“We need more answers,” Paul suggested to Amy and Frank. “We should figure out the questions and write them down.” Frank pulled out his pad, started an app, and began to take notes.
As the sun sank below the line between the blue sky and the blue ocean, they listed the questions they wanted answered.
* * *
The Senate committee meeting had finished and the participants and audience were exiting from the meeting room. A Sergeant from the Communications Office was waiting in the corridor with a package; as it wasn’t marked urgent, he’d chosen to not interrupt the meeting.
“Colonel Richards,” called out the Sergeant.
“That’s me,” Colonel Daniel Richard responded, while holding out his ID.
“So I see, Sir. There’s a secure package for you. Please sign here.” The Sergeant passed over a clipboard.
Dan signed for the package, and moving to the side of the corridor, tore it open. The report and data printout inside were on a new series of pulses in the mid Mexican afternoon, and contained some new analysis on the pulses. It narrowed the area down to the 5 mile circle that he’d expected, the area that included San Crecerlan. He stood in the corridor for a minute trying, again, to puzzle out what these patterns of pulses meant. The Army Intelligence team and CIA people, with a liaison from the Mexican authorities, were now in the area observing activity and movement.
Senator Joe Abrams was the chair of the Orbital Research Facilities Committee and came over to Dan as he left the meeting room, asking, “Something wrong, Daniel?”
“No Senator. Nothing’s wrong. It’s more like an interesting puzzle. We intend to brief the Committee when we have some conclusive information.” Dan reported to the Orbital Research Facilities Committee on the programs his group of scientists undertook, including the Gravitational Anomaly Satellite Program, as it was officially called, or unofficially as GASP.
“Why don’t you walk with me to my office? You can tell me about your puzzle on the way.” They both turned to the corridor behind them, and Dan outlined the questions raised by the pulses in Mexico, the involvement of Army Intelligence, the CIA, and the Mexican military, and the progress they’d made in trying to locate the source.
When they reached the Senator’s office door, Senator Abrams shook Dan’s hand, concluding, “Thanks Daniel. There’s army politics involved here, things involving General Hardisty that you’re not aware of. Keep me informed, send copies of the reports to my office, and in the meantime I’ll put it on the official Committee agenda for next week. It’s time for the Committee to get involved.” The Senator headed into his office calling out orders to his staff to get him ready for his evening meeting.
Dan headed over to General Hardisty’s office, to give the General the same information he’d given the Senator. He wanted to avoid any repercussions with the General, and he needed to try to find out if the issues with the General might affect him or GASP.
* * *
Their parents, and Frank’s aunt and uncle, were puzzled by the announcement of yet another sunrise hike, but they weren’t going to question their progeny too much on getting up early when the opposite had been the issue in the past.
That morning, the trip to the pillar was quiet with no people on the trails, or at the ruins. Simon was able to answer most of their questions, but it took all of the morning, as they had to give Simon more breaks so he could rest. Amy knew that they wouldn’t understand everything until they actually traveled to other planets, so she was willing to make a decision without knowing everything as she just had a feeling this was what they were supposed to do. She encouraged Paul and Frank to move to a decision as well.
Amy cooked a lunch for Simon, Paul, and Frank, but Simon just picked at it, eating very little.
The afternoon was spent talking about other planets, both in English and Galactic to give them a sense of sentence structure, but they struggled with speaking in Galactic. By the end of the day, Amy was tired, as were Paul and Frank. Simon looked worn out.
Their return to Mexico was uneventful, except for sighting a helicopter flying over the area. Paul thought it was military because of the
dull green paint job.
Paul told Amy and Frank, “Remember the couple that were registering early in the morning, when we were waiting for Frank. When I was near them at the pool I heard one of them answer; ‘Yes Sir’. Everything says ‘military’ about them.”
“It shouldn’t have anything to do with us,” Frank objected.
“Why do you think it’s about us?” asked Amy.
Paul answered, “I don’t know, it’s just a feeling.”
“Well, there’s no harm in being careful,” said Amy, wanting to support Paul if he was concerned.
* * *
Once back at the resort Amy led them to the theatre, empty since rehearsals weren’t until the afternoon. Their discussion on their future, the Isolated Planets, and Earth, quickly consumed an hour. Paul was insistent that they should go to the government with this information.
“Paul,” insisted Amy, “I gave my word to Simon, and I intend to keep my word. We agreed to this together. Didn’t you give your oath?”
This was the difficult point for Paul, “Yes, I did, but this is more important than any oath! My commanders, my government, need to know.”
“Why? Summarize it for me,” asked Frank.
Paul responded, “Our governments have the expertise and personnel that are needed to deal with this. The military command structure is designed to deal with unusual and evolving situations like this.”
Frank asked, “No argument with that, but if we told our governments would they allow us to go to Quenlac Three as we promised?”
Paul reluctantly answered, “No, they wouldn’t let a bunch of students go.”
“Then it’s simple,” Amy suggested to Paul, “you keep your oath and tell the government.”
“And how do I do that?”
Amy resisted smiling, “Simon had us give our oath to tell no one about this and to return his staff and journals to the Wayfarers on Quenlac Three. After that, your oath is complete; you can then tell your government whatever you want. Can you accept that?”
Paul thought about it, “OK, I accept that. But I still think it’s better to go to our governments now.”
“So?” asked Amy, “are we agreed that we’re going to travel to other planets?”
“Yes!” Frank said enthusiastically. Then he surprised Amy with, “When we come back we should tell our families before we tell anyone else.”
Amy and Paul both nodded in agreement. They all had supportive families and it was hard to lie to them about this.
“Agreed,” said Paul, after a short silence.
“I agree too. That’s unanimous!” announced Amy, hiding her relief. None of them could resist the desire to travel to other planets, they were committed.
It was time to leave the theatre. Amy reviewed her notes, “I think we need to agree on some priorities,” said Amy. The others waited for her to continue. “I have four. We all have a heavy load with studies, so our first priority is to complete our studies. Simon seems to be more concerned about us completing our courses than our parents are!” They all smiled. “Then we travel to Quenlac Three next summer, right after we graduate.”
“Agreed!” said Frank. “It’s going to be tough to complete our degrees and travel out there during our semesters, but we don’t have time to waste.” Amy knew that Frank meant his masters, but he automatically hid the fact that he already had two degrees. Amy understood that; she had some brilliant friends at Duke University who were almost shunned by the other students when it was discovered they were not on their first degree. She sometimes felt more comfortable in their company, but her mind was not one that retained facts and information, even her childhood memories were few. Her mind was always busy analyzing an issue, and visioning the future in broad strokes.
“Second is to sell these gems.” Amy took out a rough blue stone from her pocket, hexagonal in shape, slightly longer than its diameter, and passed it to Frank. “This is what you picked up from the ground when you demonstrated the alignment of stars, remember?” Frank nodded. “I took a community college course on gems once, and I double-checked on the internet. This is a raw sapphire, that’s the same as a ruby, except its blue, and this one is worth maybe $3,000 wholesale.”
“No way!” Frank protested.
“Yes, way!” Amy responded. “I weighed it at the jewelry store. It was 7 grams, that’s 35 carats; at about $100 per carat for wholesale, that gives you $3,000. But that depends on the quality; this one looks good.”
“But it’s so tiny!” protested Frank, as he passed it to Paul.
“They’re not normally found this large,” answered Amy, “and the blue color is the most valuable after red. People pay a lot for gems and jewelry. They’re in the loose sand and rock at Simon’s campsite. Sapphires are found in stream beds; so the campsite must have been a stream bed at some time. I picked up another three from where Simon dug up the sod around the campfire, so we have four now. These gems, if we sell them, can provide funds for our travel and supplies, which means that we don’t have to take jobs to pay our bills. Jobs would just get in the way and we don’t have the time. I’m not sure how I get funds to each of you, and I’ll work on that with my Dad. In his business he sets up a new company or a partnership to work with each of his clients. I’ll ask him to set up a company, with all three of us as owners or shareholders. We’ll need to find more sapphires at the campsite, what I have won’t be enough. As Frank pointed out, we don’t want to be paupers when we come back to Earth so we set up the company to sell ideas, goods, herbal medicines, whatever from the Isolated Planets, on Earth.”
“How much will you have to tell your Dad?” asked Paul.
“Only that we all want to set up a business together,” Amy answered, trying to sound unconcerned. “He’ll help me without asking too many questions.” She didn’t really think it would be that easy! She’d just have to handle it.
Amy continued, “The third priority is to explore the nearby stars and learn about them. One or more of us needs to explore planets at Christmas and Spring Break, and we’ll need to arrange our schedules so we’re traveling together as much as possible and learning Galactic each time.”
Paul was still worried, “We need to see how dangerous it is before we travel alone.”
“I think you worry too much, but the first trip will be all three of us, so we’ll be OK. The first week our schedules match we meet in Mexico, meet Simon again at the campground, if he’s still there, and go on our first trip.” Amy knew she had avoided the possibility that Simon would be dead by then, but she just couldn’t say that out loud.
“And we had a fourth?” prompted Frank.
“The fourth is communications,” Amy looked to Paul.
Paul nodded, “Yes. If we’re going to keep this secret, we’re going to have to be careful. I’m going to work out a secure way for us to communicate. In the meantime we use video and email, but avoid direct references to anything relating to travelling to other planets. Assume that someone reads everything you send. I don’t think the military is here by accident. Using a machine that sends you from one planet to another must give off some kind of signal; the power use must be huge.”
“You’re right about the amount of power it must use, but maybe you’re just paranoid,” Frank teased.
“Yeah! But am I paranoid enough?” replied Paul, laughing, getting smiles from Amy and Frank.
Amy announced, “We’re decided. We’re going!”
Chapter 7 – Military Presence
Paul was the first to the lobby; dawn on Simon’s planet was later each day by about 30 minutes, so they were leaving about dawn in Mexico. Paul saw that the couple from the pool was in the lobby; they were talking to a group in Mexican military uniforms, and there were military vehicles on the entrance road, in the direction of the trail across the hilltops. The couple wore grey jackets and camouflage pants, and small backpacks with camouflage patterns that Paul recognized as US military issue. That was enough for Paul. It might be ju
st a coincidence, but it might not be. He left the lobby and waited at the bottom of the stairs where Amy and Frank would come down, to divert them to the beach. He told them when they arrived, “There are military personnel and the couple I told you about in the lobby, and military vehicles on the road. We need to go along the beach to avoid any questions.”
Frank asked, “Do think something’s wrong?”
Paul said, “I don’t know, but unless you want to risk being asked questions, we should go the village route.”
“OK,” Frank answered, “but I don’t like this!”
“Let’s go by the beach,” Amy agreed.
Paul saw that they were the only ones on the beach, and he led them silently down the beach past the edge of the resort, and then cut across to the dirt road behind the beach which would take them to the village. As they walked down the road Paul watched a military truck pull out of a side street near the center of the village, and stop. He pointed this out to Amy and Frank, as soldiers started climbing out of the back of the truck, “Look!”
Amy was worried, “What’s going on there?”
Paul answered, “There’s no reason to think it has anything to do with us, but we should avoid them.”
“What should we do?” said Frank.
“Our best option,” Paul responded, pointing to the right, at a well-used track leading into the jungle, is to go into the jungle, skirt around the village, and get back to the road on the other side.”
“Why don’t we just go through the back streets?” asked Frank.
“We could,” he said, “but we take a chance on being seen, and there’s dogs in the village, their barking will give us away.”
“Why not just ignore them, and walk through?” asked Amy. “It has nothing to do with us.”
“But if it is about us, or the man in the video, or the pillar, then someone might later remember three students being out shortly after dawn,” Paul explained.
“Yeah,” said Frank, “let’s avoid those questions.”
“OK,” answered Amy, “Let’s go through the jungle.”
Paul led them into the track. The jungle was less dense this close to the village, so the track was easier to follow. Once they were screened by the jungle, Paul used his flashlight as it was still dark in the trees and bushes, and they moved faster. He chose paths based on keeping them away from the village. Paul could hear dogs barking, which probably meant that the soldiers were moving about.