Warp Speed (19 page)

"Tabitha," I started, "if we have ten miles to run, and to be safe say, we have an hour and forty-five minutes to do it, then we better run nine minute miles. No problem with shoes on and no bruised ribs. Can you make it?"

"The ribs aren't hurting so bad right now. The sand is okay to run in. Let's hope that we stay in the sand. How are you doing?"

"Good. Nausea is completely gone now and my nappy old karate feet will take a lot more damage than this. Besides, I invented the warp drive!" I mentally patted myself on the back.

"I was thinking about that. Are you sure?" Tabitha asked.

"Sure about what?"

"How do you know that you broke the speed of light? We didn't have any of the science instrumentation operational to measure our velocity."

"Couldn't you just have kept that to yourself!" I joked. "Okay let's do the math for worst case. We were about three hundred kilometers from Earth. The Earth blinked out and then we were here. The time inside the bubble seemed to me to be about a second or two. Do you agree?" I took a sip of water from the tube hanging over my right shoulder.

"Yes, I agree with that. Even if you consider the start time when we saw the blue light flashes around us, there was still a second of delay." Tabitha saw me drinking water and decided to do the same.

"All right, then we'll call that three hundred kilometers per second or three times ten to the five meters per second. Light speed is three times ten to the eight meters per second. We were three orders of magnitude short. Hey that's still faster than any human has ever traveled."

"Maybe the transit time really only took a millisecond but we have no way of ever knowing that do we?" She asked.

"None that I can see. The blue light probably was Cerenkov radiation but who knows. Whether we broke the speed of light or not, our propulsion came from warping space. We were still the first humans to travel with warp drive." I looked at my watch. We had been running for about twelve minutes. We still had a long way to go.

An hour or so had passed when I noticed a break in the trees at the edge of the
Finger of God
path that the tornadoes had made. "Let's veer toward that opening in the trees."

The opening turned out to be a logging road. This was most definitely a planned timber grove. It could possibly be a state forest. Sometimes when fires, tornadoes, hurricanes, etc. tear through a park pine trees are planted to fill the holes and protect from erosion.

"I need to breathe for just a second Anson. My side is hurting."

"Only for a minute or two Tabitha. We have to keep moving."

"Okay. We'll keep walking, just slowly for a minute or so." She held her side. We stopped for a second. Then started walking.

"So, any ideas where we are?" I asked her.

"Not really. The air feels like the southeastern United States to me though. It has to be ninety-five degrees and at least eighty percent humidity. It is almost like Titusville. Every now and then I even think that I can smell the ocean." She continued to hold her side.

"Yeah, I thought I could smell salt earlier also. Are you sure you're okay?"

"I have to be, don't I." She made the last statement as more of an order to herself. It was definitely not a question.

"Hey stop!" I yelled. "Don't step any further." Tabitha obeyed but she looked at me very confused.

"What is it?" She took a defensive posture.

"Tabitha, without moving look down about two feet in front of you." She did and if it were possible to sweat more than we already were, she did so.

"Anson, I hate snakes!"

A small colorful snake was sunning itself in the sand on Tabitha's side of the logging road. I slipped way around so as not to startle the snake and found a tree limb that was about four feet long. I broke it off a sapling that was overhanging the road.

"Come here, fella! You're all right, mate!" I did my best Steve Irwin impression. I made a slight disturbance behind the snake with the stick and it turned away from Tabitha. "Okay, Tabitha, slowly back up, then come around to me mate. Whoa, you're okay, mate." The snake struck at the twig a few times.

"Would you quit talking like that!" She did just as I had told her although she was obviously annoyed by my sense of humor.

"Red touching black you can pet him on the back. Red touching yellow will kill a fellow." I recited the poem that my dad had told me when I was a kid.

"You mean that thing is poisonous, right?" Tabitha held my shoulder, keeping me between her and the snake.

"Well, at least I know where we are now. With this vegetation, the sand, and this little coral snake, which by the way is more poisonous than a rattlesnake--or at least as poisonous. Though it is kind of like comparing apples and oranges since they carry different types of toxins. I digress. Anyway," I continued, "I would guess that we're in south Alabama, Georgia, or northern Florida. I'm not quite sure why we missed our mark so far. Probably a miscalculation of the frame dragging effect or something. Maybe somebody is fiddling with the laws of physics and not telling us." I laughed at the thought of that. Then I remembered that Tabitha's parents lived in Florida and began to wonder just how much damage our return home had caused, would cause. I hoped that the tornadoes had blown themselves out before they reached population centers. I started to bring it up but Tabitha had enough on her mind with the physical pain and all--not to mention the mental pain of losing several of her long time friends in the Shuttle explosion. We didn't dare think about that.
Keep moving soldiers; we'll mourn our brothers later.

"We better get back to moving," Tabitha nudged me away from the little snake.

"G'day mate." I said, tossed the stick away, and we began running again.

We ran quietly for the next four or five minutes. I let Tabitha set the pace. She must have been feeling better because we were cranking out probably seven-and-a-half-minute miles. The terrain was rather flat. It was easy running except that we had no shoes and were both wearing Spandex long johns. The sandy roadbed became slightly more compacted and there were fresh tire tracks on it.

"Tire tracks," I said.

"That means people might live close by. Anson we are going to be responsible for killing them." Tabitha seemed to up the pace but maybe it was my imagination.

"I know. Maybe we can get somewhere in time to warn people or to go back and stop the explosion. We still have at least twenty-five minutes, maybe thirty or more."

"Listen!" Tabitha said. "I hear a vehicle! It sounds like it's coming from around the curve ahead."

"You're right! I hear it too!" We pushed a little harder hoping to catch whoever was ahead of us. We turned the curve and three other roads joined into a slightly larger one. The noise was a HUMV about thirty yards ahead of us on the main southbound road. As we approached it became clear that the HUMV was stopped at the gate of a fence. The fence was about eight feet tall with barbed wire at the top. At the edge of the road was a guard shack and a sign that told us that we were at one of the gates to Eglin Airforce Base. We were in Florida.

CHAPTER 12

Anson, let me do the talking," Tabitha warned as we approached the guard shack. I nodded to her.

"You got it, Colonel!"

The guard looked to be between twenty and twenty and a half somewhere. That is, if he was a day over eighteen. Tabitha postured herself with her best voice of command that she had learned in officer's school. Looking back on the scene, I realize that we must have been quite a sight to see. Both of us were sweaty, wet, muddy, and in our white Spandex long johns--but none of that fazed Tabitha a bit.

"Airman! I am Colonel Tabitha Ames and this is Dr. Anson Clemons." Tabitha showed off our astronaut wings and her dog tags. "We are survivors of a Shuttle crash and it
is
important that we see your commanding officer immediately."

The airman must have recognized her. He snapped to and saluted her. Tabitha returned the salute. "It is an honor to meet you, Colonel ma'am. I've been a long-time fan of yours. I always wanted to be an astronaut. That is why I am in the Air Force so I can pay my way through school and--"

"That's great soldier and I would love to hear it some other time, but we're in an extreme hurry. Where is your C.O.?"

"Well Colonel, other than that truck that just came through I've been the only person on this side of the base all day. We'll have to use the radio. Follow me." He led us to the small truck parked behind the guard shack. He made a call to his superiors and handed Tabitha the radio.

"Who am I speaking with?" Tabitha asked.

"This is Sergeant James of base military police--who is this?"

"Sergeant, my name is Colonel Tabitha Ames. It is very important that you listen to me carefully. I and one other occupant of the Space Shuttle are the only survivors of a crash that took place about three miles from this gate. There are security-sensitive elements in the crash site. More importantly, one of the classified components at the crash site has gone critical. That device will, I repeat, will explode in about twenty minutes or so unless we return and stop it. The explosion will have a total destruct radius larger than the atomic explosion at Hiroshima. Do you understand?"

There was a pause on the other end of the radio for a moment. The airman looked at me as though what Tabitha had just said scared him out of his mind. It well should have. I was scared shitless!

"Uh, ma'am is this for real? Jason is this some sort of gag?"

"Sergeant, I assure you that this is no gag. If we don't take action right now, there will be serious consequences!" She pretty much screamed that last bit at the microphone.

The airman took the microphone from Tabitha.

"Excuse me, Colonel," he said. "Sergeant, this is Airman Jason. This is real, Sarge! It really is Colonel Ames--I recognize her from television. Her and this other fellow just walked up out of the woods still in their astronaut gear. They both look like they've had a really bad day."

"All right, Jason. Put the colonel back on." Airman Jason handed Tabitha the mic.

"What do you need, Colonel?"

"First you need to start a civil defense evacuation of the area. A ten-mile radius from here at least. Do that now. Second, get us a helicopter or something that can land in a tight spot here five seconds ago. Also, hold a second . . ." She turned to me. "What do we need Anson?"

"Uh, a set of jumper cables and about five car batteries. How about some clothes and shoes. I wear a size ten and a half. Oh, and some duct tape. You can never have too much duct tape."

"Good idea. I wear a women's nine. Did you copy that Sergeant?"

"Copy that, Colonel. It will be there in five minutes or less."

I had expected him to ask about the car batteries and stuff but he didn't. He just followed orders and didn't waste time. Good soldier.

"Colonel, you guys look thirsty. I have some sodas in a cooler in the shack there if you want them and there's a water cooler back there, too." Airman Jason said. I could tell Airman Jason wasn't from the South. The thing about there being "sodas" instead of "cocolas" in the cooler was a dead giveaway.

"Airman, I want you to get in your truck and drive south at least ten miles before you stop," Tabitha ordered him.

"Sorry, ma'am. From the sound of it you two will need some help carrying all those car batteries. I'm going with you. Besides, my Aunt Rosie lives about five miles from where you are talking about. If I can help, I plan to. "

"Airman!--" Tabitha started in on him. I interrupted her.

"Tabitha, he's right. We need the help. I don't want anybody else involved either, but he signed on to help protect the country. This is his job."

Tabitha scowled at me and stormed over to the truck. She didn't say a word. She rummaged through the cooler for a soft drink. I followed her.

"What?" I asked her. I did something wrong. I could tell.

"Anson, I love you, but never, and I mean never, contradict me when I'm giving orders to subordinate soldiers."

"Tabitha I love you too--more than anything in the world. But, I'm not a soldier and I don't have to follow orders here. We aren't on the Shuttle anymore. And although I will admit that you are better suited to be in charge here, if you do something wrong or if I disagree with you I should be able to tell you. Shouldn't I?"

"Next time do it in private!"

"Yes ma'am, Colonel."

"Don't Colonel me, civilian," she tossed right back at me. She was still obviously sore at me, but not as much. After all, I had invented the warp drive.

"Listen," I began. "You're right and I'm right. I don't want to involve anyone else either. Hell, if there was a way that I could do this myself and put you in that truck with Airman Jason I would do it." Tabitha halted me there.

"The hell you would!"

"Well, I'd try. Maybe between Airman Jason and me we could hogtie you and throw you in the back of that truck."

"There would be a helluva fight," she said. Then she smiled. That was good. I didn't want Tabitha mad at me. We had enough on our minds.

We grabbed a Coke each and started drinking them. I managed to get out of Airman Jason that he was from Ohio somewhere and his Aunt Rosie was retired and living here in Florida.

Tabitha and I both needed the caffeine and sugar rush. Of course, neither of us needed to be dehydrated and that is just what the caffeine will do to you. We chased the Cokes by filling the bottles with water from the water cooler in the guard shack.

About three minutes had passed since the radio conversation. I looked at my watch. There were only about seventeen minutes left. Whoever was coming had better hurry.

"If they don't show within ten minutes, all three of us are getting in that truck and heading south," I told Tabitha and Jason.

Then a jet silently passed into view from behind a small hill. A few seconds later we could hear it. It came straight for the clearing at the guard shack.

"That's a Harrier Jump Jet," Tabitha exclaimed.