Lady Grace & the War for a New World (Earth's End Book 2) (40 page)

Suck it up, Edgarton, he thought. Soldier it through. You know you don’t want to be around her. You know what will happen. You’re happy living by yourself, working hard. You’re doing good work.

He had reached the jumble of rocks where the mountain collapsed into the plain. It was true that she was very nice and had saved his life. And had powers that Ellie didn’t. He’d never seen Ellie make friends with a wolf pack. Honey
wasn’t
Ellie.

Still, she’d turn into a wasp, like Ellie, and the whole thing would begin again.

He didn’t hear anything when it happened. Something huge and heavy hit his right shoulder and threw him down. He could smell the cat’s rancid piss smell. She grabbed his shoulder with her teeth and raked him with her claws, but couldn’t tear the Russian commando jacket. She clawed at him, trying to turn him on his belly so she could bite the back of his neck.

The death bite. Crushing the back of the skull and top of the spinal cord meant death in seconds. Predators were born knowing how to do it.

Jeremy tried to swing his rifle at her, but it was useless. She was too close to shoot or club. He pulled his legs up to shield his belly. She was doing her best to gut him with her back feet.

A snarl rose over the sounds of their battle. The cat backed off, a long, low moan escaping her throat. A similar moan hovered in the air, coming from a ledge above him. He heard a thud as something jumped off of a rock outcropping. Shit. Another cat. Jeremy looked up, but couldn’t see anything.

A chorus of snarls and moans followed, the cat letting go of him and facing her adversary. He scrambled to his feet and backed away. The howls rose to a crescendo, when the cougar abruptly squatted, peed where he had lain, and walked away.

Jeremy stood mute.

“I told you that I should go with you,” Honey marched up to him. “Look at you; you can’t walk home without getting into trouble.”

Jeremy blinked. “I guess you’re right. What did you do? Are you friends with the mountain lions, too?” He rubbed his shoulder where the cat had raked him. He’d be bruised, but the skin wasn’t broken.

Honey shook her head with disgust. “I did something I never do.”

“What?”

“I lied to her. I told her that you were my mate and that I would kill her if she hurt you. Neither is true. You don’t even like me.”

He rubbed his face. “Well, I’m liking you a lot more. Thank you for saving me.”

“Twice.”

“Yes, twice. Thank you. I think I’d like to go home and go to bed now.”

“Yes. I will accompany you.” She marched off, holding Jeremy’s elbow.

When they got to the shack, Jeremy shuffled from foot to foot. “Would you like to come in for some more soy bread? And water?”

“No, thank you. The others undoubtedly are quite distraught over my absence. I will go home now. And I am perfectly safe by myself.”

“You could stay here. I can reach them on the wireless.”

She stood up. “No. That would be improper. We are not married and should not cohabit without a chaperone. We are not friends. You won’t even shake my hand.”

Jeremy reached out his hand. “Ellie … Honey, I’d be honored to shake your hand. And be friends.”

She took his hand and he felt electricity surge through him.

“Um. If you’d like me to teach you about computers, I’d be happy to.”

She made a little hop, beaming. “Oh, wonderful! I will come back tomorrow and you can begin to teach me. I need to discuss something else with you, as well.”

“What?”

“Quantum physics.”

72

He had hauled the beefiest computers to the shack where he lived. Jeremy wasn’t being lazy during his exile from the community. He was working hard trying to figure out how to let Willy Fish, Will Duane’s tech guy, know where and when they were before their world fell apart. That required that he figure it out first. But now, he had to deal with Honey. Teach her, but not get involved.

“OK, Honey. This is a computer.”

“Of course. I’ve been using one at home. This is a more advanced model than any we have. It promises much more power and computational ability. Do you turn it on like this?” She deftly powered up the machine.

Jeremy sat in his chair, bent over the keyboard and hit a few keys. “Yep, that’s how you do it. OK, Honey. This is code.” The black screen was covered with white writing. More writing in bright colors was interspersed with it.

“Oh. That’s very interesting. The screen is black and the writing is white. That is the opposite of the computers we use. Why is this line bright pink?”

“That’s because it’s a command. All the colored writing tells the computer what to do.”

“Show me how to write code.”

“That’s complicated. It takes years to learn.”

“We have years.”

He smiled. “You’re right.”

She stood next to him while he sat at the keyboard, her thigh pressing on his shoulder. She was warm. He pulled away. She didn’t seem to notice. Her face was working like she wanted to tell him something important. She leaned over.

“The real reason I wanted to learn about computers has to do with something Grace told me in confidence.” She dropped her voice. “She said that someone named Bud Creeman once lived here. He agreed with Grace that this place is not natural. It seems natural to me; I have never seen another world. But Grace pointed out the discrepancies in the types of flora and fauna, as well as the diverse rock formations. I realized that such phenomena were abnormal. Bud and Grace felt that this world may decompose one day. Do you think it will?”

“Yeah. I do. That’s what I’m working on down here. Honey, let’s sit down over here and we can talk.” He motioned her over to his living area, the rough-hewn sofas with pads.

“Grace said that a person named Will Duane, who lives in the 21st century, knows a physicist who has created a time machine; she is a Dr. Schierman. She and Will Duane may be able to transport us to the 21st century, thus avoiding our being annihilated when the planet breaks apart.”

“Yeah. I’m trying to figure out where we are and how we can communicate with them.”

“I would like to help you.”

“Thank you, but it’s an advanced programming job.”

“Well, I have had some thoughts about it. Programming is part of it, but we’re really facing a problem in theoretical and applied physics. Post-quantum physics. We’re talking about time travel. That is a tricky concept, but with the Kobayashi theorem, and the work done by the Kobayashi school …”

“Who is that?”

“Professor Fumio Kobayashi was the leading theorist of quantum physics after a man named Alfred Einstein established the discipline. Dr. Kobayashi lived two hundred years after Dr. Einstein. Kobayashi’s work, and the work of his students, was repressed by your government because he
succeeded
in finding particles that were only theoretically possible to Einstein.

“He found many particles, tachyons, for one.”

“What are those?”

“They’re subatomic particles that move faster than the speed of light. He also discovered and documented
photons
. You understand that Post-Einsteinian physics says that light is not a wave, but packets of particles called photons.” She leaned toward him, ensnaring him with her earnestness.

“Photons originating at the same light source have an instantaneous link. No matter how far apart they might be, the same thing happens to all the particles from the same bundle. That means they have
instantaneous
communication all over the universe …”

“Where did you learn all this, Honey?”

She ducked her head modestly. “Well, as I said, I don’t sleep much. In addition to the language arts, I also worked my way through the mathematics component of your recorded lessons.”

“You did all this in one year?”

“A little over. I don’t sleep at all, really.” She leaned forward and whispered. “I don’t like the others to know because they become concerned about my health. I don’t need to sleep. I study all night. One night, I was experimenting with one of the computers and managed to access one of
your
satellites with stored data from the universities of the old Earth. This was very old information, concealed in your time. Your rulers could see the implications of Dr. Kobayashi’s physics.”

“What are the implications, Honey?” Something deep inside Jeremy, prior to words or thoughts, stirred. She was smarter than him. He’d never known anyone smarter than him.

“But don’t you see, Jeremy, photons, with their instantaneous communication, pose a real, theoretical basis for time travel. And Kobayashi’s school
found
photons, physically, not theoretically.” Honey beamed, waving her hands exuberantly. “There’s more. Subatomic particles called
kaons
move
backward
in time.”

A jolt went through him. “You’re saying that we can go back? That time travel is possible? It’s something we humans can do? Not just the goldies?”

“Yes! The theoretical framework for time travel exists. If Kobayashi found the particles, so can you and I. There’s more. Superluminal loopholes. They can scientifically account for instantaneous time travel, backward-in-time travel and faster-than-light travel.” As she spoke, she became more excited, her voice rising in pitch and her body quivering.

“We can do it, Jeremy! I can understand most of the math, but a study partner would be nice. We have so many things to do. We need to determine the time/space coordinates of the people in the 21st century and prepare on our end.”

She looked down and said shyly, “I thought we could collaborate.”

“You think you can duplicate what Kobayashi did?”

“It will be very hard, because we do not have a laboratory. But I think that’s the only way out. That and praying that the people on the other side do work that complements ours. But if they are led by a physicist, I think she must be thinking along these lines.”

Her shoulders dropped a bit and she looked wistful. “I would like to help you so much. Grace told me about New York City. I would like to see New York City, and other places. She told me about parties. I want to go to a party with many people and wear pretty clothes.

“I don’t want to blow apart when the planet disintegrates, and I want to see that the children and everyone are saved. May I help you?”

He appraised her. “OK. I’ll give it a try. But if you slow me down, that’s it.” He was just being a prick. She wouldn’t slow him down. She’d be more exciting to work with than anyone he’d known. That place deep inside him registered something. He could have something with her that he’d never had. An intellectual relationship with an equal.

“That’s fine. I have one last question.”

“Fire away.”

“I would like to invite you to have Christmas with me and the others. Apparently, I was present at the last Christmas, but I do not remember it. I had only recently arrived and did not know much. I would like you to come with me to my first Christmas that I remember.

“The others are quite excited. They have uprooted a large conifer and placed bright objects on it. The children have hung stockings and expect a being called ‘Santa Claus’ to come in the middle of the night in a carriage pulled by Nordic deer. He will fill the stockings with gifts. I find that improbable. More mythological than real.

“They are making a large dinner, with a wild turkey and a boar. I will not eat those. Everyone has told me that it is imperative that I not eat meat. They say something very bad will happen if I do.

“But it occurred to me that you may want to eat meat and enjoy the festivities. Grace has hung a stocking for you. I would like it very much if you came.” She looked at him with her big, gleaming eyes.

He felt his insides turning over. She smelled like Ellie. Cinnamon and something musky. Shit, he thought. Shit. Shit. He shouldn’t have let her near him. He should have let her go home by herself the night before. He should have been eaten by wolves so he didn’t have to deal with this.

“Well, I don’t know, Honey. I’m right in the middle of …”

“We can work the following day. One day off will not create a significant setback in our project. Besides, Christmas has a religious significance in the Christian religion. When I read the Bible …”

“You read the Bible?” She nodded. “You’re the only person I know who’s actually read it.”

“I’m reading the Buddhist Sutras now, then I’ll read the Koran. Sam Good Man said that the Commands tell us to read all the religious texts. I live by the Commands.”

“Oh, no. Not
you
.”

“Yes, Jeremy. You gave the original Commands long ago, but they’re still being written. Sam showed me the Book. It has new parts that weren’t there in the underground.”

“What!”

“They are your words, spoken to Sam when he first met you. Sam showed me The Book and where it stopped when he was in the underground. A new Command has been added. I saw it.

“You said, ‘I’ll give you a COMMAND right now. Follow the Commands all you want, but if they’re bullshit or make life worse, don’t follow them. Do something that works.’” Her voice sounded exactly like his.

“Those are wise words.” She nodded solemnly.

“They’re really in the Book?” Jeremy was mind blown.

“Yes. You are the Great Tek, Jeremy, whether you want to be or not. I don’t know what your life holds, but I believe it to be of great importance to the universe.” Her eyes were wide and trusting. “I live by the Commands primarily because Sam Good Man is such a good person. If he’s good because of them, that’s how I want to be. And he and Grace are very happy. I would like to be happily married one day.

“Would you please come to Christmas?”

“Wait a minute, Ellie … Honey. This is too fast. When is Christmas?”

“It’s tomorrow.”

“I need some time by myself now. Could you leave?”

“Certainly. I didn’t mean to detain you.”

He stood up, looking down on her. “You’re a little taller than she was.”

“Who?”

“Someone. Never mind.” He felt her presence, her warmth. Oh, Ellie, what you do to me. But you’re not Ellie, you’re Honey. You’re just a little girl. He bent and brushed her lips with his.

“Oh, my! Was that a kiss?” She stepped back, blinking, and then put her fingers to her lips. Her eyes widened impossibly. “I feel extremely exhilarated. I am quite excited!”

He laughed.

“Is doing that permitted? I do not know you well.”

“It’s OK, Honey. You know me better than you could possibly imagine. Do you dance, Honey?”

“Oh, yes. They play many genres of music on the ledge and I dance. My favorite music is that of Chaz Edgarton, your ancestor. His music is uplifting yet extremely complex with its moody overtones.”

“Let me ask you something, Honey. Would you like me to go back with you tonight?”

“Oh, yes! I would like that very much. I would enjoy walking with you and conversing more this evening. And tomorrow, there’s the great feast!”

He bent over and really kissed her, feeling the soft texture of her lips, his hand supporting the back of her head. He felt himself respond. He was a sucker for Ellie. He could never let her go. Never resist her. She knew that. Did you make Honey for me, Ellie, so I wouldn’t be alone?

“Oh. That is so unusual.” Honey was astonished by the kiss. “I feel strange. As if I’m floating. Why is that?”

“I’ll tell you later.” Jeremy laughed. “I’ve got a question for you, Honey.”

“Yes, certainly.” She blinked at him.

“If I go back with you now, will you promise never to turn into a giant wasp?”