The Pathfinder Project (47 page)

“I hope you don’t mind if I
confirm that,” Dennis decided as he sat down by the work station on his desk.
He typed up a quick E-Note to Dr. Simmons and let her know that he was having
hallucinogenic symptoms and ended the communiqué with a query as to whether he
needed to stop by for a booster shot of Mirzion. They already knew the unknown
bio-agent was non-life threatening, so he saw no immediate need to use the
Comm-link and wake her.

“
You’re thinking about going
back there aren’t you
?”

“Pardon me?” he said, swiveling
in his seat to gaze – somewhat in disbelief – at the image of his long dead
wife.

“
Your conversation yesterday
morning with Mr. Dandridge – it sparked the thirst for revenge in you, too.
You’re considering a return to Earth, so you can try and be a hero
,” she
said. “
I know you, and that’s exactly what part of you wants to do. Go back
and try and help the survivors – if there are any
.” She paused, folding her
hands neatly on her lap. “
That Brotherhood attack was hideous… you’ve seen
the video footage and know that they are
too
powerful. You’re simply
going to get yourself and everyone who comes with you killed. Can’t you see
that
?”

He looked at her with more than
a little intensity. “We have been working with Patrick Warren to find new ways
of identifying and dealing with them. If we can build weapons that will beat
them then I most certainly
will
consider going back and knocking them
off their damned hill. What are we supposed to do now that humanity is defeated
– let their bloodthirsty nature turn on each other while what’s left of our
people get caught in the crossfire?” He shook his head in disbelief. “A society
that only knows how to kill will look for new enemies… and if they don’t find
any they’ll turn on each other. Who knows,” he snapped furiously. “Maybe
they’ll even start a civil war and begin destroying four or five
stars
per year in our galaxy just so they can keep their opponents off balance.”

“
You cannot control what the
Brotherhood or strange, alien races do any more than you can control what
people like Jack Dandridge do
,” she pointed out. “
There will always be
people who think and believe differently, who value life less than we do, or
who simply are bloodthirsty and like to kill. Our civilization has been many
things, but it has never been perfect
.”

“The Brotherhood will find out
that
running
our society efficiently will be much more difficult than
conquering it,” predicted Kaufield.

“
So let them figure that out
for themselves. Leave it alone. You don’t have to try and play a part in that
battle any more, Dennis. For God’s sake you have our son to think about
.”

“Our son deserves his
home
,”
snarled Dennis angrily. “He deserves his grandparents around him and his Mother
to turn to for advice. He deserves a lot more than he’s going to get in life.
All parents want things to be better for their children than it was for them.”

“
Our son deserves
a
home,”
Elizabeth said, correcting his statement. “
You’ve found plenty of places out
here that are suitable for colonization already – and with the
Pathfinder
’s
technology you’ve also managed to put the Brotherhood threat
permanently
out
of reach
.
You’ve already beaten them Dennis – there’s no need to go back
.”

“They took our homes,” Dennis
said, tears running from the corners of his eyes. “And they killed our
families.
Our families
!”

“
And if you go back they’ll
kill you too
,” she insisted softly. “
Where does that leave Joseph? He
adores you and you’re all he has left
.”

“I am the commander of the
Pathfinder
Project and a Naval officer,” Dennis said fiercely. “It is my sworn duty to
safeguard my people and fight back against our enemies… whoever they may be.”

“
Your duty as a
father
overrides
everything else
,” she protested. “
I’m not around any longer to remind
you, but if I was still by your side I think you
know
how I’d react to
your suggestion of fighting back against the entire Brotherhood military. All
you’re looking for is the same kind of revenge you accused Jack Dandridge of
.”

“You’re damn right I am,”
Kaufield said, standing up and wiping the tears from his eyes. He took a
tentative step toward the couch. “Beth…” he pleaded softly.

“
Take those angry feelings
and put them aside
,” his wife said firmly. “
They won’t help Joseph and
they’ll only tear you apart emotionally. Be a
father
Dennis. Be a good
Dad. If you do that then you
will
have already beaten the Brotherhood
because they can no longer touch you, or any of the families on this crew. Nothing
is more important than keeping the children on this ship safe and the future of
humanity intact. You have the power in your grasp to
guarantee
the survival
of the human race. Isn’t that more important than fighting back
?”

“Right now I’m not in a
position to guarantee anything,” Kaufield growled. “We’re floating in the
middle of a huge gravity river and I don’t think we’re going to be able to make
it out of here in one transit. It’s quite possible that we have a very long
journey ahead of us – Joseph could be a kid without a
real
home for a
very long time.”

“Perhaps
I
can help with
that,” said a voice from behind him.

Kaufield spun around quickly
and noticed an elderly man standing behind his kitchen counter. The newcomer
was thin, had a wrinkled face and friendly smile along with wispy curls of hair
so gray they appeared almost white. He was dressed in a dark blue sweater and
gray slacks. As the Captain watched he walked out of the kitchen and crossed
the room to stand next to the sofa. “
Who
are you?” Dennis asked
cautiously. “I know hallucinations have at times become commonplace on the
Pathfinder
,
but for the most part people generally see someone they know. As far as I can
recall, I’ve never met you before.”

“No you most certainly have
not,” the man agreed, smiling warmly. “You’ll pardon me for not introducing
myself sooner, but I’ve never seen a man have a conversation with a couch
before so I wanted to observe you a little bit.”

“As far as I know, this time
I’m having a conversation with my kitchen,” Dennis said, feeling a little bit
ridiculous. “The only difference is that now I see
two
imaginary people
instead of one.”

“Do you?” the man asked carefully,
raising an eyebrow. He turned and glanced toward his left, and Kaufield noticed
that a very sleepy-eyed Joseph had walked out of his bedroom and was staring at
him very oddly.

“Dad… Dad who are you talking
to?” Joseph asked, rubbing sleep out of his eyes. “It’s kind of early in the
morning to be having people over, isn’t it?”

“There’s no one here Joseph,”
the Captain responded. “I’m just thinking out loud. Dr. Simmons refers to it as
a duel between the right- and left-brain halves of our subconscious. We see
imaginary people and can even interact with them if we choose to… but in
reality we’re simply visualizing a conversation that’s occurring inside the
brain. I touched some mineral rocks this morning and they must have…”

“Who’s the old guy?” Joseph interrupted,
pointing at the wizened, smiling newcomer. Kaufield stopped in mid-sentence and
stared
at his son.

“You can see him too?” he
asked.

 “Yeah, he’s standing right
there in front of you,” Joseph said, sounding a bit more alert than when he had
first walked into the room. “Can’t you?”

“Sure I can, but he’s not
supposed to…” On impulse Kaufield stepped forward and reached out a hand to
Elizabeth. Her image had faded a little bit but he could still see her and she
also reached out her hand toward his.

“
Take care of our son Dennis
,”
she said. “
I love you both so very much
.” She nodded warmly at her
husband and then looked lovingly toward her twelve year old son as if grateful
to admire him one last time. Kaufield reached out carefully and his hand passed
right through her. He waved it back and forth to be sure, but she was
definitely one of the bacteria-induced hallucinations that the crew had been
reporting since their visit to the ‘Atomic Nightmare’ star system. The
interaction with Joseph had helped awaken his own sleepy subconscious and he
watched her fade completely away. The older gentleman, however, continued to
stand next to the sofa with a big smile on his face.

“Welcome to
my
home
Captain Kaufield,” the man said pleasantly, stepping forward and offering his
hand in friendship. “I know a lot about you and I plan for you to know me as well.
My name is Noah and I sincerely hope that you and your Council will welcome a
delegation from my world aboard your starship.” Dennis stood where he was in
complete shock for a moment before carefully holding out his own hand. As he
had done with Elizabeth, he cautiously reached forward and was completely
astonished when his hand unexpectedly touched warm human flesh. Stunned, he
shook hands with the man while Joseph stood giggling in the background.

“Noah,” Kaufield said
carefully. “It’s nice to meet you, Noah. I don’t mean to be rude, but I hope
you’ll understand and humor me by telling me just who you are and what you’re
doing on board the
Pathfinder
.”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Joseph
asked, continuing to laugh with delight. “That’s the guy who sent us the
mystery picture, Dad.”

*    
* * *     *

Adam nodded sleepily at the two
marine guards standing next to the Observatory wing’s hatchways. He entered
cautiously and walked slowly out into the central working area, trying
repeatedly to keep from yawning. Over by the main office area he could see
Julie and Glen – both were excitedly discussing something.

“Good morning,” he said
drowsily as he joined them. “What’s up with the early morning wakeup call? It’s
not even
five
in the morning yet, for God’s sake.”

“We had a choice,” replied
Glen. “We could disturb you or we could disturb the Captain. So welcome to the
Observatory!” He handed Adam a cup of coffee and the elder Roh took a sip as he
surveyed all the printed material that was spread out all over Dr. Markham’s
desk.

“Okay Doctor,” Adam grinned. “I
give up. What’s worth disturbing me at this hour? Did you find a neutrino with
a crappy attitude or something?”

“You’re joking right now, but
you won’t be in a minute or two,” Julie said confidently, handing him a
photograph freshly printed only moments before. He took the paper and studied
it intently, noting that it showed mostly the golden nebula mist that they had
grown used to seeing during the
Pathfinder
’s slow journey along the
length of Poseidon’s gravity river. There were some additional red- and
green-colored nebula clusters in one corner, but other than that…

“What… what exactly am I
looking at?” he asked. “This is just another one of your pictures of stellar
irradiated dust.”

“Not quite… take a look here,”
Julie said, pointing to a dark spot in the upper right corner of the photo.
“One of my astronomers detected this less than two hours ago. It’s very hard
for us to locate individual objects with all the nebula dust floating around
us, but he managed to get a decent shot of this because it’s so huge.”

“Okay,” Adam said hesitantly.
“So you woke me up at 4:30 a.m. in the morning to show me a picture of a black
circle almost totally obscured by a gold dust cloud. I still say big deal.” He
watched as Julie frowned and handed him another picture – this one a
magnification of the object she had pointed too. Adam glanced at the new photo
and did a double-take before whistling as he set his coffee cup down. “This…”

“…is a 3 dimensional sphere of
empty space,” Dr. Markham finished for him. “It’s sitting in the
exact
center of the gravity river like a boulder in a stream. Everything that touches
its perimeter breaks apart just like the current in a normal river of water
would and continues its course around it.”

“How close are we to this
spherical void?” asked Adam, suddenly intrigued.

“Extremely close,” Julie said,
tapping the picture with her forefinger. “It appears as though our CAS transit
into the center of Poseidon’s river was indeed a planned adjustment to the
Pathfinder
’s
course by someone – we’re drifting directly toward it.”

“Well what
is
it?” he
asked. “It looks like the result of some kind of energy source that neutralizes
gravity. It’s acting just like a magnet would when you move its positive pole
next to a negative one. It’s obstructing or repelling all of the dust and
stellar objects that come in contact with it, forcing them to simply float
around.”

“For starters it’s almost three
million light years in diameter,” Glen spoke up. “It’s also a perfect sphere –
Dr. Markham’s astronomers have not been able to find any distortion or
fluctuation in its shape whatsoever.”

“So is it man made or a natural
occurrence of some sort?” queried Adam.

“We weren’t absolutely certain
at first, which is why I woke Glen up first. Two of our advanced Canary Probes
have extra equipment built into them including a small PTP transit drive. We
sent one of them into this ‘sphere of nothing’ to take a closer look around.”

“If nothing else, we were going
to verify that standard Point-to-Point still works,” commented Glen. “The
Canary’s trip was successful, so now we know that if our attempts at CAS
re-initialization fail, it may take a little longer but we will eventually be
able to move back out into normal space.” His expression was confident. “The
Captain and the rest of the crew will be happy to hear about that part, at
least.”