Near Future 1: Awakening (30 page)

"I have one more question," she finally roused. "You said you could set me up with a dojo to work on my self-defense. I am thinking I need that even more now if I am going to learn how to control my movements." She waved her hand in front of her and it whizzed by in a blur.

"Well," Uncle Ted said. "You're not going to like this one. You are right, but you need to take it up another notch now. I did a post-graduate study with a group of Tibetan monks after serving my tour as a medical doctor, and they are probably the best in the world at this. They start with meditation to control the mind and body. Only when the student has total control with the meditation do they allow him to study any of the physical moves. But I think that is what you need in this case.

"You will have to go to them, and even for you it will take weeks to learn their techniques. I understand that this group has now moved out of the Tibetan mountains, and instead they bought an island off the coast of China. Like their original stronghold, it is only accessible by helicopter. The seas around the island are considered unnavigable by all. Very, very beautiful, but deadly I have been told. And the island itself is quite mountainous, much like their original stronghold. But I must warn you, at least in the past, they only took male students, although I have quite a bit of influence with them."

Julie looked up at him. "You're right, that's a lot more than I wanted to hear, but I can see it's probably my best choice. We'll have to see if we can get it worked out. I have a lot I'll have to do during the next few weeks, too. Maybe I can carry a portable VR system with me, and that way get my work done at night. We will have to get their approval for that I'm sure. But I will have to be here when Zeke wakes up. I owe him that much, and I'm probably the only one who can help him cope with it."

Uncle Ted hesitated a moment as if deciding if he needed to tell her something or not. Finally, it appeared he had decided. "A couple more things. First, it appears that the Organization is behind the coup in your favorite third world country. Their plan is to monopolize zechronium, which is one of the essential minerals for our space tech. We have been working with the US government on a response. So far our part of it has been passive, but we may have to become more actively involved. Right now we are only getting forty percent of our zechronium from them, but we aren't ready yet to handle the loss of it."

"But the more important thing I need to tell you is this. You met Jon Rupert, our own mole in the Organization. He has worked for us since the time they launched the attack on our family, something he was so aghast at seeing that he changed to our side. He is very, very good at what he does. He has sent me a secret VR message that he has information regarding the leaders of the Organization. They are planning to set up shop in space in an old space station that they have refurbished. He believes that they will have their equivalent of our board of directors meeting there as a show of extravagance. If they do indeed meet out here in space, we would possibly have the opportunity to attempt to capture them all. He is going to keep us informed as he learns more."

Julie gave him a hard look as he divulged the last information to her. "You were right to tell me, and you should know that I am taking up the responsibility for wiping them out that my father began, so if you know anything else, you need to tell me now."

Her uncle shook his head. "No that's it, and we don't even know the details yet, so it may not pan out."

"Make sure you keep me informed about both of those while I am gone. I will expect to be personally involved. Also, get me info on a couple of potential mercenary teams. We may be needing to hire them."

Uncle Ted had been a little saddened by the last conversation. He could tell that he was no longer talking to the innocent young niece he used to know. But he didn't disagree with anything she said. "I'll do my best to make it happen," he finally agreed.

He turned to leave, promising to send her the information needed to access the file on
The Annette
. When he reached the door, he looked back at her. He could tell she was already deep in thought. He hoped that she could make some sense of the file when she accessed it. She was probably the only chance he had to ever see his brother again.

As soon as she had the information from her uncle, Julie immediately looked at it in great detail. In the middle of her research, and despite her increasing certainty that her father was alive and that she had to find him, something hit Julie out of the blue. It was her uncle mentioning studying with the Tibetan monks after serving as a military doctor. Her brain had suddenly put that together with the two stories of lost loves she had heard recently.
What if they are the same ones? Wouldn't that be awesome.
Something else to put on the list to do, something good.

#

Once more deeply immersed in data, Julie was completely taken by surprise when Uncle Ted brought an elegant case and a box of items into her room.

"These are some of your things that I have kept in my apartment until you needed them. I have been thinking about it. I'm hoping if you go through these things, something there will be the trigger to help you get your memory back. I want you to take a look at them and see if you get anything."

He handed her the box, and she began to look through it. She saw pictures of her family who were all indeed very familiar to her. And also one of her dad and uncle together. With them together, it was obvious that they were brothers, and she wondered why it had taken her so long to figure it out. She had been pretty lost when she had first awakened from that coma, so she blamed it on that. But other than the one memory she now had of her mother, the memories themselves were not there.

Under the pictures, Julie saw a beautiful old-fashioned hair comb. She immediately knew why she had been so mesmerized by the hair comb that Mrs. Caldwell had insisted on buying for her. It was very much like this one in appearance. She knew belonged to her family and had to have been loaned to her by her mother for the concert where she had played right before the attack. When she picked it up, Julie felt the presence of those family members who had worn it all those years past. It was an amazing feeling, and it did give her a sense of peace and comfort. She knew she would have to think about what it might mean to wear it later. She suspected it was related to her family history, and was meant to be passed down from daughter to daughter. But it wasn't any help in finding her own memories that she needed so badly.

Finally, she opened the case. Within was a violin. When she saw the violin, she knew instantly it was her violin and the music started playing in her head. She picked it up and automatically started to tune it. Lifting the bow to the violin, she began to play softly that song, the song that had helped her so many times, and the tears streamed down her cheeks as the memories came flooding back, all of them, of her family, of her friends, of who she had been.

Doctor Ted sat quietly until she began to play the violin, and he knew it was working. He wanted his niece back completely, although he also knew she had been changed forever. She had always been smart, but now he knew her IQ tested off the charts. Not to mention her other skills, unbelievable physical skills that probably would be even more once she learned control again. Now at least she would have her identity back.

Julie was still sitting there playing softly as Doctor Ted quietly left the room, closing the door gently so she could be alone. The girl who could now, finally, maybe, find a little more peace within.

Epilogue

Somewhere above the asteroid belt and several months in the future.

#

The Space Tech research vessel
The Annette
was finally stable after many hours of work by the engineering team and even the techs who had been drafted to help. Doctor Randolph had pitched in too, although the crew wouldn't let him do any of the EVA work. When the main reactor came back online, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Doctor Randolph had finally confessed to them that no one at Space Tech knew he was there. It had happened unintentionally, but that was what it was. When they did send a message to earth, that information would have to be included. What he did not tell them was that he hoped he had not precipitated a crisis at Space Tech. He was very concerned about his brother's reaction, and especially worried about the potential effect it would have on his daughter, who had been safely away from it all in the identity given her by witness protection.

The ship had resumed their spin again for simulated gravity. The whole crew gathered in the galley compartment, which was the biggest area on the ship, and the only place where they would all fit at once. John Jenkins, as the lead tech aboard ship, had been asked to summarize their status. "Ok everyone, here are the facts. Our situation is grave, but not impossible yet. As everyone knows, we are moving at a high rate of speed. In fact, our speed is very fast relative to all the technology we know. We also know that we were thrust forward in time several months.

"Our current position is far beyond where any human has ever travelled. When we began the test, we deliberately had set a course slightly out from the R4 point and aimed a little above the ecliptic. Of course, no one had anticipated the results of our test, but we always planned to err on the side of caution. Eventually we think that we will stabilize into some kind of orbit around the sun, but due to the distance involved, that orbit will take years to complete and will not help us in a rescue attempt.

"We are currently somewhere approximately in the middle of the orbit of the asteroid belt. Because our course was upwards from the solar plane, we have safely managed to avoid collision with any of the asteroids. We now have full control of our normal rocket-based propulsion system, so that although we cannot stop our forward progress without quickly exhausting our supply of fuel, we can potentially navigate to some extent. We have no idea how to safely use the test propulsion system, and until we do, we don't dare try it again, not that it could be used in the condition it is now.

"We expect to be able to establish communications with Earth within the next couple of hours. We will then transmit the information about our situation, including our position and speed. We will also allow each person to send a brief message to their families. Unfortunately for our families, it will have been many months, and many of our family members have probably given us up for dead. Of course, to be clear, I currently don't know of any way that they will be able to rescue us, so we may still not ever make it back. Please in your personal messages do not give out details of our exact circumstances.

"We will of course transmit all of our data to Space Tech regarding the accident that got us here just in case they somehow can put together another ship with the capability of mounting a rescue attempt. We know that our ship will continue on the current course and speed. That means we will continue to travel further away during the time this rescue attempt could be mounted, making it even more difficult. They may be able to figure out how we can safely use the new propulsion system, enabling us to return on our own, so we haven't given up on that possibility. Or, they may be able to build a modified version that will work safely, and use that to come get us.

"Our current status is that we have plenty of power now that the fusion plant is back online and fortunately undamaged. We have approximately one year of food, water and oxygen if we properly manage it and we have no major accidents. We may be able to increase the length of time that our food will last, and our water and oxygen probably can be safely recycled for a longer period of time also." He looked around at everyone. "So, questions?"

Doctor Randolph looked around the group, noting that many appeared extremely dismayed. He needed to do what he could to help that. Finally, he spoke up, "Everyone, please do not give up yet. If anyone can rescue us, the people at Space Tech will be able to do it. And maybe they can figure out a way to resupply us in between. I don't want to mislead you, but I don't want you to lose hope. Who knows what they have accomplished in the time that we have been gone. As you all know, we have some of the brightest people in the world working for Space Tech, including some of you."

Finally, one of the Engineering group asked, "Any chance of modifying our course vector to make a potential rescue easier?" He at least was thinking and trying new ideas, and it did prompt a couple more of them to pep up a little.

John looked at him, giving him a nod. "Good question. Our thoughts on that are that without talking to earth any change that we would make would potentially use the fuel that we might need later. We do think that it holds promise after we are able to talk to Space Tech, but we are holding it in reserve for now. Hopefully we will be talking to them shortly, and they will have some good ideas."

When no one else had any questions, Doctor Randolph finally said, "Everyone, find a place where you can be alone and compose any private messages you need to send to your loved ones. I intend to do that also. As soon as we are able to get a message through to earth and get a response back, I will let you know. Thank you for your efforts to this point."
 

Doctor Randolph left the meeting, going back to his private quarters. He first composed a message for his brother. "Ted, I will tell you alone how dire the situation looks here. In public, I have to keep a strong appearance for the others. I don't know what has happened while I've been gone, especially with our travel out of time. I suspect you have already had to make significant changes to our original plans. I obviously don't know where things stand. I'm sure I've missed a lot because of the amount of time that has passed, not knowing any of the circumstances at Space Tech, or the progress of my daughter. I assume she knows who she is by now. I'm sure the stockholders have been quite demanding, so she would have had to make an appearance there. Assuming I don't get home, you know the most important thing in the world is protecting her, so I am depending on you as I always have."