Visions of the Future (54 page)

“But these are all thrillers and a few dumb old cozy mysteries by Peg Kay. Couldn’t you find something that would improve your minds?”

“Tell you what,” said Ed. “While we’re gone, you make a list of mind-improving books and give it to us when we get back. We’ll rush right out and stock up on them for the final trip.”

“Gee,” Blake said, “thanks. I was hoping that you would give me a meaningful assignment like that.”

There were hugs and kisses all around. Then the gang wheeled the craft into position. Space-suited, Zoe and Ed climbed in. Adam and Ivar fired the rocket and they took off.

They checked and rechecked their instruments. Many times. The instruments were always okay. They also did what they did at home. They ate their rations. They brushed their teeth. They went to the bathroom, using a toilet that worked much like those on Earth except that air, instead of water, moved the waste through the system. And then, there were all those thrillers.

After about five months, as Ed was checking the instruments yet again, he cried, “What the hell!”

Zoe abandoned the spyglass and joined him at the instrument panel. “What’s going on?”

“We seem to be in the middle of a hologram which is blanketing an electronic shield.”

Zoe looked at the instrument panel. “Geez. The shield might possibly be a natural phenomenon, but the hologram, no way. Something sentient developed it.”

Ed said. “If there’s a planet being hidden, that would explain why no one has spotted it.”

“Only one way to find what’s there,” Zoe said. “I’ll take the scooter down.”

“Uh uh,” Ed said. “Safer to bring the big ship down.”

“Absolutely not!” Zoe was adamant. “If something bad happens, this ship has to be able to let the family know.”

Reluctantly, Ed agreed.

They put the craft on automatic while they prepared the scooter. The little ship had been outfitted with a minimal instrument panel—some navigation tools plus a spectrometer and a photometer. Both ships carried powerful electronic magnets which had been developed in one of Lark’s companies. The scooter’s magnet, located on top of the hull, was negatively charged. The mother ship’s magnet, attached to the far end of a tether, had a positive charge. Each ship could activate and deactivate its magnet.

The scooter would be affixed to the tether. When she thought it was safe, Zoe would deactivate her magnet and continue her descent. They opened the exit bay. Zoe got into the driver’s seat, revved up and headed toward the electronic field. The little ship hummed, buzzed, and bucked as it traveled downward through the field, finally breaking through.

Zoe deactivated the magnet and found herself peering at something that looked a lot like Earth. It had large areas of what seemed to be trees. She dropped down a bit further. They were indeed trees, but not any variety familiar to her. Possibly good as building lumber, but not certain. There were mountains to the right, not big ones. They weren’t majestic, more like the eastern ranges. Their tree line was close to the crest. That was interesting—a subject for later exploration. She moved the craft leftward to a point where the trees weren’t blocking her view. She saw no sign of animal life, nor did her instruments indicate such life. It was possible that critters existed who were composed of materials beyond the range of her instruments. She wondered if she dropped something on the ground, a curious animal might pop up to see what was there. The only thing that came to hand was her seat cushion. She wrestled it free, opened the porthole, and pitched the cushion out. She observed its fall. It hit the ground and stayed there. Nothing came to greet it.

She stuck her head out of the porthole. She could breathe easily. Good sign! She yelled, “Helloo out there!” There was no response. She closed the porthole and moved on. Still farther to the left there was liquid that appeared to be a sizable lake. She made a pass. She tried to see if there were fish, but the lake was opaque. For all she knew, there could be a whole coterie of water breathing mammals playing pinochle down there. She still saw no animals; still no birds.

By this time Zoe’s ship was below the tops of the trees she had seen initially. Better not get any lower. It would be most unfortunate if she crashed into something. “It’s like this, officer…”

Should she try to circle the planet? Better not. She might not be able to get back to Ed. Between what she’d seen and what the more sophisticated instruments of the mother ship revealed, they would have a very good idea of whether the planet was habitable.

She turned the scooter upward and made her way toward the electronic field. Her thruster had just enough juice to shake her free of the field. Without a seat cushion, the trip upward was a tad uncomfortable.

She activated the magnet, checked the coordinates, and browsed space until, with a jolt, Ed’s magnet grabbed her and the tether hauled her to the bay.

As she was reeled in, the magnitude of what happened hit her and she burst into tears. Against all odds they had probably found a safe haven for civilization.

Ed opened the scooter’s door. He observed Zoe and said, “What’s wrong, Big Sis?”

Zoe brushed the tears away, sniffed and grinned.

“Not a thing wrong, Little Bro. I think we found what we were looking for.”

Ed burst into tears.

When they had finished their teary celebration, Ed asked, “Any idea how the shield and hologram got here?”

“I can think of two possibilities,” Zoe responded. “First, there is sentient life there. If that’s the case, it’s probably not hostile. There was no effort to interfere with the scooter. Second, there used to be sentient life but for some reason it is no more. I think that’s more likely.”

Ed nodded. “It was either obliterated or left the planet voluntarily. My guess would be obliterated. The Mayan civilization was destroyed by drought. Something like that could have happened here.”

“Yeah,” Zoe said, “but neither scenario explains why there are no buildings of any kind. I didn’t do a lot of exploring—getting through the shield drained a lot of the scooter’s juice and I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to get back. I may have landed in something like a park. There could be buildings in another part of the planet.”

Ed started to laugh.

“What?”

Ed said, “Did you ever see re-runs of that 20th century television show, ‘The Addams Family?’”

Zoe joined the merriment. “That’s what we’ll name the planet!”

The two of them put Zoe’s observations and data through the hoops of the big ship’s instruments. Her data were confirmed.

They looked at what their instruments had gathered. Nitrogen comprises a little less than 80 percent of the Earth’s atmosphere. The next largest component is oxygen—about 21 percent. And then small amounts of lots of other elements. The new planet was similar. A smidgeon less nitrogen. A bit more oxygen. The ground was solid. The lake was uncontaminated fresh water. And most astonishing, the planet was just about the same size as Earth. Assuming that the settlers were more sensible than the current human occupants of Earth, the place could hold and, with hope, feed a reasonable sized population.

While Zoe had been sightseeing, Ed had positioned the ship to chase after their home planet. They streaked off.

The months going back passed a lot faster than the months going out. They both wrote up voluminous notes, read them, re-read them, and passed them to one another for additions, corrections and admiration.

And just a little shy of a year after they left, they landed back in the staging area.

Ivar heralded the landing of the craft. The family quickly assembled in the conference room and waited for Ed and Zoe to arrive. The two voyagers entered the room. They were disheveled, smelly, and grinning like lunatics.

Zoe said, “It’s a go.”

Time: While Ed and Zoe are in space

Place: All over

The shells of three spaceships, hidden by their electronic shield, had been tethered offshore for several years, awaiting their turn to be launched into space. The largest of the ships was capable of carrying 500 passengers. Its configuration was similar to an old-time railroad train. Each “car” carried upper and lower berths, ten bathrooms, a kitchen, a dining room, a cabinet large enough to hold six months’ worth of dried food, and a common room with computers that held games and reading material. There were five such “cars”. Each car would carry a spyglass. A sixth spyglass would be for Zoe and Ed, the pilots. Passengers would be able to pass from one car to another. The ship had already been outfitted with an instrument panel and minimal amenities. Further outfitting would await the results of a successful exploratory mission.

A somewhat smaller ship would contain provisions for the settlers. Food, obviously. Would the new home require building materials and if, as was most likely, such materials were required, what materials should they take? Also tools, clothing, all of the things we take for granted. And seeds, lots of seeds. In addition, this ship would carry the scientists’ lab equipment, medical necessities, and a digital library of scientific and engineering tomes as well as a selection of fiction from the late 19th and 20th centuries—
Heart of Darkness, Call of the Wild
—literature that made no mention of religious beliefs.

“Maybe,” Judy mused, “we should include a book on the history of religion.”

“Bad idea,” said Blake, “that could encourage conflicting beliefs. If there is a god he, she, or it, can reveal himself, herself, or itself and lay down the rules.

Judy nodded. “You’re right. It was a lousy idea.”

Adam won an argument about music. Aside from the agreed-upon Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, and Bernstein, the kids grudgingly allowed Louis Armstrong and Kid Ory. A selection of musical instruments was also to be loaded.

Sculptures were rejected because of their weight. Paintings were another matter. The art should not only be good, but it should show the near-term evolution of painting (leaving out the post-Pollock scribbles) and, when possible, show something about life in the period. Should they buy some masterpieces and send them up? Would they stand the rigors of the spaceship? Maybe just prints. But if Earth were to be destroyed, every masterpiece would be toast. In the end, they bought Rubens’
Child with Bird
, Monet’s
Train in the Snow
, Cassatt’s
The Boating Party
, Lichtenstein’s
Ohhh, Alright
, and O’Keeffe’s
Out Back of Marie’s.

A telescope would be too big and too heavy. But it would be foolhardy not to keep an eye on the sky. Someone or something might drop in unobserved. They settled on loading another dozen spyglasses.

The third ship, if needed, would be for livestock. Would the new home support livestock? Did it have livestock already? Would livestock survive space travel? Monkeys, cats, rodents, and dogs had been sent up experimentally and many of them had survived. The biggest threat to survival seemed to be impact. What would happen to cows, sheep, goats, and chickens on impact. The family decided to send them up if Ed and Zoe found no reason not to do so. Picking the hardiest of each breed, they settled on seven cows and a bull, seven ewes and a ram, seven nannies and a billy goat, and ten chickens and a rooster. In the beginning, that wouldn’t be enough livestock to feed the population. Initially, the settlers would have to depend on the transported fruit, vegetables, and seeds. But after copious reproduction, livestock might furnish sufficient milk and eggs and later yet, might even provide meat and leather. An artificial pasture had been built, launched, and tethered to the island. A barn was located at the edge of the pasture. The workmen were sent back home. They made it most of the way there.

Two caretakers were hired and the animals were given all the comforts of life on the mainland. The fate of the caretakers and the animals would be determined first, by the findings of the exploratory team, second, if and how well the beasts survived in space, and third, if the caretakers fit the criteria. If they didn’t fit, two of the selected farmers would take their place.

The procedure for selecting the human travelers was simple. During the first six months of Ed and Zoe’s trip, the family members would visit their respective companies and find some excuse to either work alongside or interview the appropriate candidates. They would select the people who seemed able to get along with their colleagues, who most closely fit the criteria, and whom the responsible billionaire liked.