The Horicon Experience (26 page)

All of these questions coursed through Delmar’s mind. Then again, assuming they could even find the shed, there might not be anyone there. Unless the farmer lived somewhere close and someone could direct them to him, their trip could very well have been in vain.

“It shouldn’t be too far,” Delmar said to Jake as he got his bearings. The road below looked so different from this point of view. It had been less than two years since he’d walked that road in a desperate attempt to escape his abusive brother. It had been dark and cold, and he’d been so alone.

Now the sun shone bright from above and cast a whole different light on a world that he’d feared coming to might have been a mistake. Was it possible the unseen hand of a higher power was guiding his steps? Could the Unseen One really care about one person’s problems? Was Jake’s faith really that tangible?

Delmar remembered the sermon he heard Jake preach the day he’d inadvertently wandered into the temple. He couldn’t remember the whole thing, but he recalled Jake saying the Unseen One watched over every small life. He’d been holding a baby in his arms at the time, dedicating it back to the Unseen One while its parents stood by. Could this have been the Unseen One’s way of telling him that his life wasn’t a mistake and he wasn’t alone; that a higher power watched over him even though his faith was weak? These were things he’d have to ponder in private.

Before long, the buildings on the outskirts of the town hove into view, surrounded by lush fields of grain, with yet other fields still under plow. Jake brought the flitter down low and slow so Delmar could watch the fields pass below them.

“There,” Delmar said, pointing at a field with a shed in the middle of it. A farmer was working in the field, riding an odd-looking eight-wheeled tractor.

“You sure?” Jake asked.

“I’m sure,” Delmar answered. “I might not know one shed from another, but I could never mistake that crazy eight-wheeled, two-engine tractor.”

The tractor Delmar indicated was strange-looking indeed. Jake was certain he’d never seen anything like it in all the years he’d served as a minister on Mica. The strange machine had two engines that sat side-by-side each other on an extra-wide frame. Both engines were puffing smoke from individual smokestacks, but the machine was surprisingly quiet.
That thing must have an incredible muffler system
, Jake thought as with practiced eye he pondered its other peculiarities.

The thing Jake found most odd about the machine were the eight wheels. It sported two small wheels in front that were apparently connected to the steering mechanism in the driver’s cockpit. Jake couldn’t see a steering wheel, so he assumed the machine was controlled by hand levers and foot pedals.

Six more wheels lined the sides of the vehicle, three on each side. They appeared to consist of an interlinking offset axle system that paired the center wheel like a friction cog between the other two. Jake hoped he would be able to get a closer look at the machine.

The color of the machine was another oddity. Jake was certain he’d seen almost every color in the spectrum, but he’d never seen anything like this. The main body of the tractor was almost iridescent azure. He could tell the tractor was very old, but the paint looked to be factory fresh. The sunlight caught the paint with such brilliance that the tractor seemed to disappear for a moment, leaving only the wheels visible along with just a silhouette of the tractor body.

The fenders of the machine were at least four feet wide; wide enough for a man to stand on.
They have to be that wide
, thought Jake,
to house those enormous wheels
.

“A locomotive,” Jake said aloud.

“What’s that?” Delmar asked. “Did you say something to me, Jake?”

“I was just thinking that crazy tractor looks like an old steam locomotive without the tracks.”

“It sure does, doesn’t it?” Delmar agreed. “I told you it was weird.”

Jake set the flitter down in a clearing opposite the field. Both he and Delmar exited the craft and started making their way through the rows of grain toward the tractor.

The farmer, an old man with a long peppered beard and gray hair, saw the two uniformed men approach. He stopped the engines on the tractor, climbed down from the seat and waited for Jake and Delmar to reach him.

“You boys lost?” he called to them when they were close enough to hear him.

“No sir,” Jake answered. “We’ve come to see you.”

“Me?” the startled farmer asked. “Why me? Don’t tell me I’ve been drafted.”

“No sir,” Jake laughed. He already liked this old guy.

“My name is Trooper Chaplain Jake Sender. I’m a minister in Port Mulvey. My young friend here is Trooper Delmar Eagleman, formerly of the planet Erdinata. He has something he wants to say to you.”

Jake turned to Delmar. “Okay, son. It’s your ballgame now.”

“Sir,” Delmar began, addressing the farmer. “I’ve come to apologize to you.”

The farmer looked Delmar up and down, inspecting his uniform and his posture. He’d seen troopers many times but had never served in uniform himself. What could this boy from another planet need to apologize to him about?

“Boy,” the farmer said, hooking his thumbs in the straps of his stripped over-alls, “I don’t know you from Uncle Pete’s old tomcat. What do you need to apologize to me for?”

“This is difficult for me, sir,” Delmar continued. “But over a year ago, I broke into your shed to get in out of the weather. I damaged the hasp on the door of your shed, and then left without leaving you a note or fixing matters. I’m sorry, and I’ve come to make it right.”

The old farmer took a large blue handkerchief out of his back pocket and wiped the sweat from off his neck.

“Well, if that don’t beat all,” he said. “I just figured some of the kids in the neighborhood did that tryin’ to get at my rig over there.” He motioned with this thumb toward his tractor.

“That’s some rig,” Jake said. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“It’s the only one like it for a thousand miles around,” the farmer answered. “My daddy imported it from an agricultural planet near the core when I was just a kid. Come to think of it, it may be the only one like it on the whole dad-gum planet.”

“It’s a beauty,” Jake said.

“It is until I need a part for it,” the farmer answered. “Then it’s like looking for a spaceship part in a caveman store. Everything on the thing is custom built, right down to the lug nuts on the wheels.”

Jake laughed. “Well, either way, it’s still a sight to see, especially from the air.”

“Wouldn’t know. I ain’t never been up in one of them crazy flying machines and I don’t ever intend to get in one.”

The farmer looked from the rig back to Delmar. “So you want to fix my shed for me, do you, boy?”

“Yes sir,” Delmar answered.

“Too late. Already fixed it myself,” the farmer said. “Didn’t figure the kids around here would own up to it.”

“Then maybe there’s something . . .” Delmar began, but the farmer cut him off.

“Erdinata, you say?” the farmer began, a hint of mischief in his eyes. “I heard that planet has some prime farmland on it. You ever been on a farm, boy?”

“Yes sir,” Delmar answered. “I was raised on a farm, and I worked on a neighbor’s farm while I went to school.”

“Doin’ what?” the farmer asked. “Sloppin’ hogs, feedin’ chickens?”

“Yes sir,” Delmar answered. “Among other things. I mended fences, fed the stock, cleaned the barn, plowed the . . .”

“Plowed?” the farmer interrupted. “You know how to drive a tractor, boy?”

“Yes sir,” Delmar answered, then noticed the twinkle in the old farmer’s eye. “But I’ve never been on anything like that rig of yours.”

“On the contrary. You’ve been on this very rig,” the farmer said. “I had to wipe your muddy boot prints off my fender from where you stood on it to warm your hands at my light bulb.”

Delmar looked back and forth between Jake and the farmer.

“How did you know that?” Delmar asked, embarrassed.

“I may be old, but I ain’t senile, boy,” the farmer answered. “Besides, I do the same thing from time to time myself.”

The farmer turned to Jake and motioned toward a large tree at the edge of the field.

“Reverend, you go on over and have a seat under that Julep tree and pour yourself a cold glass of iced-tea. Me and this boy has got us some work to do.”

Jake watched while the farmer put his arm around Delmar’s shoulder and led him toward the tractor.

“So tell me, Delmar,” he heard the farmer say, “what kind’a tractor does your daddy have?”

Jake thought he saw Delmar smile. He was happy.

∞∞∞

Time passed quickly for the boys after their short visit to Port Mulvey. Delmar found time to ponder his own life decisions. It had never occurred to him that what you choose to do can be bigger than yourself. He and Jake had spent time talking about destiny and the importance of knowing who you are and how your life must count for something; that each of us are part of a greater whole, not just individual beings taking up space in the universe. Their time together had given him a new direction and a sense that even an orphan boy from an obscure planet can make a galactic difference.

At least he had cleared his conscious about breaking into the farmer’s shed.
And besides
, he thought,
the old farmer turned out to be alright
. He’d even taught him to drive that crazy eight-wheeled tractor, and before long, he was plowing the field alone while the farmer and Jake sat under the Julep tree sipping iced tea.
It had been a good day
, Delmar remembered.

Now, Delmar had been in the counseling center for over an hour going over the necessary paperwork to transfer to another school. As Jake had predicted, the liaison officer had been most understanding and helpful in closing Delmar’s tenure at the computer institute and helping him look into more appropriate fields of endeavor. Still, Delmar kept thinking back to the leave spent in Port Mulvey as helping him get his personal compass set straight. He realized that he’d been looking at graduating from the institute as some sort of personal validation. It wasn’t easy seeing that he expected himself to fail. As a result, he was preventing himself from ever finding his niche in life and succeeding.

He paused in his thinking to look at the wall clock. Ten more minutes had already passed while he mulled over the trip. Turning back to the forms that he still needed to complete, Delmar applied himself to filling in all of the little blanks.

∞∞∞

Evening had fallen and the technicians had finally gone home. Ert found that he enjoyed the relative solitude free from the constant questions with which this team of technicians plied him. In short order, they learned the necessary servicing procedures and quickly picked up on basic operations. The unit found that some of their preconceived notions about computers were amusing so it patiently tried to teach them better methods.

At first, some of the creatures seemed very annoyed that a mere curiosity knew more than they did about the nature of artificial intelligence. By tapping into their lab computer, Ert was able to demonstrate the differences between their self-defeating methods and its own. Several of the experts caught on while others languished in their own ideas and primitive systems.

That brought up another point of contention. For some reason the creatures had difficulty with the idea of a computer having emotions. They had somehow gotten it ingrained into their minuscule sub-consciousness that machines were totally incapable of having emotions or feelings. Ert reflected how its original builders would have reacted to such a false notion.

One of the unit’s favorite creatures was the one called Professor Angle. The creature seemed to intuitively grasp the concepts Ert was trying to convey. It found working with this professor to be quite enjoyable. When Professor Angle approached it about repairing and upgrading the simple computers it had contacted earlier, Ert was more than happy to comply. The task was easy enough to accomplish, and the only difficulty came in retraining the attending creatures how to best utilize the improvements.

Another avenue open to Ert dealt with historical files. After the repairs to the library computer, it finished transferring all the information it had about Horicon. Then it had the pleasure of tapping all of the files dealing with the history of these bipedal creatures. The concept of personal space flight was foreign to the unit and it studied the phenomenon voraciously. It was interesting that the early explorations of these creatures took them to within two light-years of Horicon, even though the Horicon had already been extinct for countless generations, and the ruins discovered only a few years ago.

Yet, the unit was happy. It learned it really had nothing to fear from these creatures and their curious notions. Once again, the unit had purpose and it was pleased with the arrangement.

Chapter Nineteen

From: HasselFarm>gss.bv.er

To: Sshane>gss.mcti.mi

Subject: congratulations

Dear Stan,

We wanted to send our congratulations on your upcoming graduation from the institute! From what we’ve heard, both Delmar and the Senders say you’ve done well and should be proud of yourself! Robert and I both feel the service will be well served by your skills and that you are a credit to the Axia.

Delmar also told us about your application to work in the Observation Department. We both think that’s an excellent idea and hope your application is accepted. Robert agrees that your ability with computers will be put to excellent use there. Let us know if any input from us would be helpful.

Well, that’s about it from here. We know you’re busy getting ready to graduate and arrange transit to your new duty station. Say hello to the Senders for us. We understand they plan to attend your graduation ceremony.

Love, Robert and Agnes Hassel

P.S. Does Delmar have a girlfriend?

Stan chuckled as he finished the letter and placed it into his desk drawer. He glanced over his shoulder at Delmar who was rapidly pecking away on his student keyboard
.