The Gift (22 page)

“There wasn’t much to chose from. I hope you like spaghetti.”

Jim lifted his head from his hands and stared at Esther. “I’ll eat whatever, and thank you, but why are you doing this?”

“Doing what?”

“You don’t know me, and you know Lisa even less. Why do you care, and what makes you think you have a right to give me advice with regards to my daughter?”

Esther looked at him for a moment before answering. “You’re wrong. I do know you. I’m no longer ashamed to say I’ve watched and admired you for years. You’re a good man. I’ve never heard you say an unkind word to anyone and what you did for Sam was remarkable. Most of the people who came to the center did so to get something. You came there to give. It was obvious to anyone paying attention, even if you didn’t know it.

“I didn’t think I had anything left to give anyone. I know now that I was wrong, that I was wasting the remainder of my life because I didn’t want to try and fail. Now I’ve been given a second chance that I will not waste in fear of rejection or anything else.

“I don’t have a right to give you advice on anything, but you need to eat and I want to help.”

Jim stared down at the plate Esther had placed in front of him as she spoke. He didn’t speak or move for a long time. Finally, he raised his head and looked directly at her. She looked back from where she’d remained standing after serving him, nothing but kindness in her eyes.

“I’m sorry, Esther. I know you’re just trying to help. Hell, you’re not trying; you are helping and you deserve better from me. I’m not handling this very well.”

“No apology necessary, and there’s no good way to handle having one of your children in this condition. Now eat.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Esther waited until Jim had finished most of his plate before she continued. “I heard from Sam. He said he has something he needs to discuss with us. He’ll be here with Matt soon. That’s the main reason I disturbed you when I did, to give you some time to prepare what you’re going to say to Matt, but you did have to eat.”

“What do you think I should tell him?” Jim asked.

“As much of the truth as you think he can handle and nothing more.” Esther answered.

“Did Sam give you any specifics?”

“No. He said he’d prefer to discuss it in person. He sounded concerned.”

Jim thought about that for a minute before responding. “Thank you for dinner. You were right. I did need it and I do feel better. You know, I worked with some commanders in the war who thought their job was to work every hour they could, work themselves to exhaustion and then get just enough sleep to do it all over again. They were wrong, of course. In the good units, there’d be an NCO with enough guts to tell the CO that he wasn’t worth a damn to the unit like that. You’d have been a good NCO, Esther.”

“Not much for war, Jim.”

“No sane person is.”

They both turned as the front door opened. Sam and Matt were back. Matt bounced into the house with a stringer full of trout.

“We had a good day!” Matt said as he entered the kitchen.

“He’s being generous. He had a good day. Kid knows how to fish,” Sam said.

“Where’s mom?” Matt asked.

Esther took the stringer from Matt and started removing the fish from it. Jim answered Matt, “Your mom is in the bathroom. She’s not feeling well. How about you get cleaned up outside and into some fresh clothes? She might be well enough by the time you’re done to have some dinner with you and Sam.”

“You sound just like her, Grandpa. She never wants me in the house after I’ve been fishing.”

“She sounds like me, Kiddo. Now go get cleaned up.”

“Okay.” Matt headed back toward the front door.

“You handled that well, for now,” Sam observed, “but he’s going to have to know more about what’s going on if Lisa doesn’t wake up soon. He’s a smart kid.”

“I know. Esther tells me you have news.”

“I do. Two people from the first contact team called me over the Worldnet while I was with Matt. Web was the first. I was surprised to hear from him directly; didn’t expect him to accept a gift. Anyway, he said what I expected he’d say. He wants me to turn myself in, that the Worldnet belongs to the world, etc. Admirable words, if he meant any of them, which of course he doesn’t. Let’s just say that I declined.

“The second call was much more interesting. It was from Dr. Chang Liu, the team’s mathematician. He wants to join us, along with his wife. I told him I’d think about it and get back to him. He said I didn’t have much time for that because Web had figured out where I’d gone and that his only chance to get away was while Web was gone. Apparently, Sara told Web about you, Jim. It didn’t take them long to figure out we’d probably gone to Lisa’s house. Web is putting together a team to retrieve me as we speak, which brings me to my primary point. We have to get out of here.”

“Lisa’s not well enough to move.” Jim said. His expression was clear. No one would be moving her until he believed she was well enough.

“I’m not going to tell you that I understand how you feel, because I don’t. I will tell you that Adia assures me we will not hurt Lisa by moving her now. Her physical injuries are healed. She can be moved, and she will be moved, either by us or by Web’s commandos. I had hoped we’d have more time, but we don’t. We have to move her, Jim. It’s the only way we can stay together, and staying together is the best thing we can do for Lisa right now.”

“What do you think?” Jim asked Esther.

“I think it’s your call, but Sam knows this Web fellow and I don’t. If he says we’ll be separated from Lisa if we stay, he’s probably right.”

“We?” Jim asked.

“I’m staying with Lisa and you, whatever your decision.” Esther answered. Her expression was every bit as certain as Jim’s had been about moving Lisa.

Jim turned to Sam. “Damn it, she’s my little girl! How am I supposed to decide what to do?”

“Jim, you told me Lisa wouldn’t come to live with you because she’d rather die where she’d loved living. I think she’s going to recover and be better than she’s ever been, but forgive me please for saying what we’re all afraid of. What if I’m wrong? You respected her wishes before. Respect them now. No matter what happens, let it happen with us, with her surrounded by people who care for her, in a place she loves. You know that’s what she’d want. I’m sorry I brought this possibility into your life, into her life and Matt’s, but don’t let her fate be decided in a military hospital surrounded by strangers and under guard like a common criminal.” Sam finished because he had to. It was all too familiar.

Jim took a deep breath, held it for a moment and then let it out. “There’s a cabin our family used to own about twenty miles out of town. It’s not much more than a shack, but it doesn’t have an address and I don’t think anyone’s been there for years. I don’t know how your military buddies could know about it or find it. We can go there.”

“Esther, will you help Jim get Lisa ready to move?” Sam asked.

“Of course. I’ll ask Matt to pack Lisa’s car while we do that. How soon are we leaving?”

“As soon as we can.”

Sam left the kitchen and walked out onto the front porch. “Adia, Can you talk with Chang’s gift to tell if he’s telling the truth?”

“Would you want me to tell others about your thoughts through their gifts?”

“No, of course not.”

“Then you have the answer to your question.”

He could tell that she was not pleased with him for asking. Hell, in retrospect, he wasn’t pleased with himself for asking. If he couldn’t trust his judgment on who he wanted on his team, then he wasn’t worthy to lead it.

“I’m sorry I asked and you’re right. We’ll have to rely on trust. We don’t have enough pairs to build the ship yet and quite frankly, I don’t know where we’re going to get them. Chang and his wife would be excellent additions, assuming he’s legit, which I’m not yet ready to bet our future on.”

“It appears he was telling the truth about us being found.” Adia said.

“What are you talking about?” Sam asked.

“A military drone is approaching from the west.”

C
HAPTER
T
WENTY
-S
IX

Sam walked back into the house. Esther was in the kitchen, packing some food. Jim was with Lisa. Sam asked Jim to join them in the kitchen. “Adia spotted a drone heading our way. It was already close enough to get video of my truck back to whoever is operating it. So, they know we’re here, but they don’t know we know about them and they don’t know we’re planning on leaving. I intend to keep it that way as long as possible. We need to stage the equipment we’re going to load in the vehicles by the front door and be prepared to load it as soon as I take the drone out. Until now, we could have backed out. After I take out that drone, we’re at war with the federal government. Are you both still with me?”

Jim nodded. “You were clear from the beginning, Sam. I’m with you.”

“We’re with you,” Esther added.

“Okay, then. Jim, I think it would be easier for you to get Lisa in and out of my truck than her car, so why don’t you and Esther take that while I take Matt with me in Lisa’s car?”

“Makes sense. When are we leaving?” Jim asked.

“I think we can spare ten minutes to gather up the essentials, but no more than that. I’ll let you know via Worldnet right before we take the drone out. Then we move. I’m leaving the sensors and defenses here active until we get to the cabin in order to take out any back up surveillance they may have in the area, then I’m recalling them to there. Any questions?” There weren’t any.

Ten minutes later, Sam asked Adia if a sufficient number of the nanites directed toward the drone had reached it. When she confirmed they had, he told her to activate them and they began to disassemble it in mid-flight, creating more of their own. The drone was gone before any portion of it could hit the ground. Verifying that there was no other local coverage, they quickly loaded the vehicles, with Jim gently placing Lisa’s blanket-wrapped form in the back of Sam’s Jeep. In less than three minutes, they were moving. Jim led the way.

The trip to the cabin took the better part of an hour. Sam had Adia change the color and plates of both vehicles again. Most of the time spent on the trip was on poorly maintained back roads surrounded by evergreens, so Sam wasn’t too worried about being pulled over or seen from the air, but he was taking no chances. When they arrived, Sam asked Adia to begin constructing overhead camouflage, which she did immediately.

The cabin was in worse shape than Sam had envisioned. It was possible to see clear through it in some places, whatever chinking there had ever been, if any, was gone to the ravages of time and weather. “We don’t need a palace, but this is not going to work in its current state. Esther, would you mind working with Haya to fix it up some? We could use running water, a bathroom, walls without holes, etc.”

“Sure, Sam. It will take a while with just me, though.” Esther replied.

“Jim will be able to help you in a minute. He needs to explain what you’re doing and how to Matt first; right Jim?” Sam asked.

“I’d hoped you’d have done that on the ride over,” Jim replied.

“I thought it would be best if he heard it from you. Besides, I was monitoring the sensors at the house, changing our cars, and talking with Chang. I’ve accepted his offer to join us, by the way. I wanted to discuss it with you both, but he was running out of time. I didn’t tell him where we are, however, at least not specifically. I plan to meet him and his wife when they get closer.”

“I’ll talk with Matt, then,” Jim said.

“While you two work on the house, Adia and I are going to recreate our defenses here. When we’re done with that, I’ll help you with the cabin. Remember, we want it to look abandoned from the air. There’s no doubt there will be more drones flying all over this area looking for us.”

Esther nodded and moved off toward the cabin. Jim shook his head slightly and called out to Matt, “Come here, Son. We need to talk.”

Sam started a conversation with Adia, “Have you finished the conversion?” Sam had asked Adia to convert all of the property and belongings in Lisa’s house, save the few packed by Matt and Jim, to nanites. He didn’t want to give Web any clues, and he wanted to send a message.

“Yes, Sam.”

“Are we still clear of local observation?”

“Yes.”

“Then bring them all here, and show me, please.”

Adia began the process. What Sam saw was Lisa’s house and work shed appear to dissolve into the ground. Had he seen the gift ship at Kansas perform its transformation after landing, he would have noticed the similarities.

“How long will it take them to get here?” Sam asked.

“They will start arriving in about eight minutes.”

“Do we have enough capacity to start working on defenses here before they arrive while still controlling them?”

“We do. Our capacity to control nanites has more than doubled since you last asked about it. Managing the group at Lisa’s house reduces that significantly while they are still distant, but that will change as they approach.”

“Please begin doing what you can. Our priorities are avoiding detection, followed by knowing if someone is coming. The first priority is by far the most important. There’s not really much we can do if they find us and respond in force.”

“As you wish.”

Over the course of the next two hours, the cabin became a place worthy of occupation. After completing the sensor network and defenses, Sam worked with Adia to develop a plumbing system, starting with a deep water well. Although he had nothing to compare it to, he felt as if they had a knack for constructing things with the tiny machines and he found that he enjoyed the process. There was something deeply satisfying about building the infrastructure for a house without disturbing anything around it or creating any waste. Whatever else the gifts would do for humanity, they would most certainly forever change the fields of construction and manufacturing. He wondered briefly how such advances would be allocated amongst those without gifts before his mind returned to their present situation. Realizing that his habit of becoming completely immersed in his work had allowed him to forget about Lisa while doing so angered him. What the hell is wrong with me? He wondered, not for the first time.