The Pathfinder Project (52 page)

“Welcome friends,” said Dixon
warmly, extending his hands in friendship. He waited patiently as Adam appeared
from the back of the Observatory with Lieutenant Hastings at his side. Mary’s
expression lit up the entire room… the cheerful face of a bride on her wedding
day. Wearing a beautiful simple but elegant white wedding gown she took the arm
Adam offered her and walked slowly toward Glen. As the pair reached the front
of the crowd Adam politely stepped into position behind Kaufield and let Mary
take her place at Glen’s side. Thomas took up a position next to his brother
and grinned cheerfully.

“Who offers this woman for
marriage this day?” Father Dixon asked carefully.

“I do,” responded Adam. Behind
him the crowd parted again and Julie, Karen and Noriana all stepped forward,
also wearing white gowns. Each was holding a beautiful bouquet of flowers from
the Garden wing and they stood quietly waiting for the proceeding to continue.
Glancing at his girlfriend, Adam noticed that Nori carefully held her bouquet
slightly lower in order to discreetly hide her rounded belly and he made a
silent mental note to make sure and tease her about the situation later.

“We also welcome new friends to
our side this day,” Dixon grinned, waving his left hand toward the elderly man
standing at the front of the crowd. Nodding with respect, the white-haired Noah
stepped forward and took up a position next to Thomas. It had taken some doing,
but they had finally located a passenger with a tuxedo that fit him. He looked
very old and wise, although he had privately indicated to Kaufield that he was
still a spry 71 years young.

Standing beside his beloved,
Glen leaned over and whispered in her ear. “
How many people have the
opportunity to get married on the very edge of creation?
”

“
Not many from our world
,”
she whispered back to him. “
Who knows? Perhaps we’ll start a new tradition…
”

Glen smiled excitedly at her
before giving the Captain and Noah a quick nod. “Transit when ready!” he told
them with delight, watching Noah activate an electrical device that was
attached to an armband on his sleeve. All around them, the windows lit up with an
unusually bright green Point-to-Point flash and suddenly all of the brilliant
color was gone. Surrounding them was the complete, empty blackness of space
without even a single star to add to the dimly lit room. There were some minor
“oohs” and “ahhs” from the crowd but not the reaction that everyone had
expected.

“I guess we were hoping for a
little more than simple darkness,” Father Dixon said with a smile and a shrug.
Noah walked up onto the platform and took his place beside the Chaplain.

“Currently the systems on my
shuttle have placed the
Pathfinder
precisely one hundred meters
behind
the inner edge of the blast wave from the Big-Bang explosion that created our universe,”
he stated informatively. “We are still moving along with it at what you would
call 1.0c, or the speed of light, in order to keep up.”

“One hundred…
meters?
”
someone in the crowd gasped in surprise.

“Yes, and now we transit yet
again…” Noah said, touching his armband computer once more and causing another
familiar PTP flash to briefly light up the room. This time, however, the
windows were suddenly filled with a brilliant swirling vortex of deep blue mist
that rapidly shifted in hue as it collided with the ship’s hull. Tiny
electrically-charged particles of bright white light glowed and danced within
the fog-like atmosphere causing everyone in the crowd to react much more
enthusiastically this time. There was a deep feeling of awe that circulated
around the room, followed by applause and loud cheers of approval.

“
It looks like fireworks
except that they’re
everywhere,” Kaufield heard Joseph whisper with his
usual youthful zeal.

“We’re now
inside
the
blast wave itself,” continued Noah. “This is
all
that is left of that
densely packed matter that exploded so long ago. Back on Earth you won’t see
the outer galaxies and star clusters, like Proteus, when your telescopes pick
up the light waves from this distance. Because, my friends, by the time that
light reaches Earth the matter you can currently see reacting with my shuttle’s
energy field is almost as old as time itself. What little light telescopes can
detect from this particular point in space clearly shows these dwindling clouds
of matter… constantly spreading themselves thinner and thinner until gravity
can begin its long process of sculpting them into the more familiar galactic
objects that you’re used to seeing in the neighborhood of your Milky Way home.”
As the crowd applauded with approval, Noah stepped politely aside and returned
control of the floor to Father Dixon.

“Many thanks go to our new
friend Noah and also to his people,” the Chaplain said proudly. “We
sincerely
appreciate their invitation that will allow us to stay safely with them during
our time of crisis. It is also most kind of him to give us this opportunity to
hold our first shipboard wedding on the very edge of the Creation from which we
have all sprung forth.” He turned his attention back to Mary and Glen. “Now
then,” he said with a Chaplain’s confidence as the sparkling blue fog continued
to swirl merrily around the ship. “Do you, Glen Fredericks, take this woman…”

Later that evening the dance
part of the ceremony was in full swing. Mary Fredericks smiled with pure joy as
she danced slowly with her new husband Glen. Band music filled the makeshift
ballroom with a cheerful atmosphere, while the sparkling, intermittent white
traces from the outside view continued to captivate most of the guests. Mary no
longer saw it… she simply looked into Glen’s deep brown eyes and continued to
dance with delight, feeling safe and secure for the first time in almost six
months. Gently he spun her as they moved, and she gracefully allowed herself to
twirl away from him until she held only his fingertips. Drinking in the
emotional overload, she reversed direction and spun herself back into his arms.
Grinning, he dipped her backward before they continued their dance deeper into
the crowd of happy couples.

“Watch it people, I’ve got a
full load of cargo coming through here,” said Adam with a chuckle as he and
Nori bumped into Glen. Mary watched her pregnant friend quickly swat the elder
Roh and she smiled with approval. Her attention focused back on the crowd and
she noticed Julie and her husband also dancing energetically past them.

“Aren’t you supposed to be
studying
this?” she shouted over the music at her friend. Julie glanced back at Mary and
grinned in response.

“Every system I have including
that last active telescope in the corner is set to
record
!” Dr. Markham
laughed with glee. “I’ll get around to reviewing it… eventually. Right now it’s
time to have some fun celebrating
your
big night!”

The happy new couple continued
their romantic twist through the crowd and smiled cheerfully as they passed
Thomas and Kari. “It won’t be long before you’re in
my
shoes buddy,”
Glen hollered to his friend, watching him blush several shades of red. He continued
to watch all the happy faces in the crowd pass by and suddenly noticed
something odd. “Where did the Captain go?” he asked carefully while continuing
to scan the room.

They found Kaufield seated with
Noah, Dr. Simmons and Patrick Warren in the Infirmary. Dennis was a little bit
shocked as he watched Glen, Mary, Adam, Thomas, Julie, Noriana, Father Dixon
and Colonel Neeland file slowly into the room – still dressed in their formal
attire. Jeff arrived a few seconds later from the Lab wing, where he had been
emceeing the ship’s other party until Thomas managed to have him paged.

“I didn’t mean to spoil a
perfectly good time,” Kaufield said sincerely, watching his close-knit group of
friends and officers carefully. “But once we return to Tranquility and park the
Pathfinder
for good we’ll be unable to use its CAS Drive for a while.
I’ve thought the matter over and decided that there is one more task as Captain
of this ship that I have to perform.” He shook his head in wonder, watching
them with the respect and appreciation that only people who have served
together for years have for each other. “That’s
my
responsibility,
however. You folks should return to the party and continue having fun. After
all,” he grinned, looking at Glen and Mary proudly. “It is your night, after
all, and it should be a memorable one!”

“Earth is our home too
Captain,” said Glen firmly. “The responsibility and yearning you have to do
something about the Brotherhood – at least in some way – is equally strong
among the rest of your crew, I can assure you.”

“What are you planning, sir?”
asked Thomas curiously. Kaufield’s response was to hand him a sheet of printed
paper containing a very short message that Karen and Patrick had helped him
write. The young scientist read the text message printed on it before handing
it down the line so the rest of his friends could also review the content.

“It reads well,” Adam
commented, handing the note back to his Captain. “But they’ll never believe us
unless we offer them proof that we’re
not
kidding. If you don’t mind,
I’d like to make a small suggestion…”

Later that evening found the
Captain and most of his Council of Twelve standing side by side in the Command
Dome, carefully studying the overhead monitors. Thomas and Glen had taken
complete control of the central computer ring and were busy working from the
stations normally occupied by Adam and Mary. The view that the rest of them
were watching was an image of the bottom of the
Pathfinder
’s hangar bay.
A large Canary Probe dropped from its secure position on the bottom of the hull
and floated free for a moment. Then the small craft’s aft thrusters fired and
it began moving slowly forward into its pre-programmed position.

“CAS Drive is on-line and
ready,” Thomas said confidently.

“Shrinking PTP window for
transport,” Glen replied. He watched the readouts on the work station in front
of him carefully and nodded as its lights flashed green. “The probe is away
Captain,” he said with enthusiasm. “There is no way we can precisely hit Earth
orbit from this distance, but the Canary will arrive close enough for its
internal systems to guide it the rest of the way.”

“That’s it then,” Kaufield said
softly, smiling at the people standing with him. “It’s time to pick a party and
go back to having some fun.”

“It’s going to be bad for a
while on Earth, Dennis,” said Noah cautiously. “The killing will continue, and
the Brotherhood will have to make a choice.”

“Yes, but they’ll have to do
so… alone,” replied Kaufield with a sharp grin. “I can’t thank you enough for
using your technology to bring Earth’s refugees to us.”

“Some of them are Brotherhood
devotees, many of whom are still on the fence as to who to trust…”

“They will no longer be the
bully,” the Captain replied firmly. “We will deal with them more fairly than
they dealt with us.”

“I will leave you to your new
world then,” the alien said, turning to go.

“Everyone enjoy themselves and
have fun tonight,” Dennis decided. “Tomorrow the hard work begins, rebuilding a
new world for more than a billion refugees. We will construct new cities and increase
our population first, and only after that is completed will we decide whether
or not to open negotiations with Earth’s current leadership. It may take
decades, it may take hundreds of years… and it remains to be seen whether or
not anyone will survive back there.” He flashed a wry smile.

Sol-system,
172 days after the initial attack

The Canary Probe emerged from
its CAS-assisted transit having traveled almost instantly
all the way back
to the edge of the Sol star system in the Milky Way. The incredibly long
distance PTP hop wasn’t perfect by any means, so its programmed computer
systems immediately activated its motion sensors and on-board observation
equipment. The probe began a search for nearby objects and very quickly began
to populate an empty computer file with a detailed map of the solar system.
Mere moments later its scan was detected and the probe noted ships moving
toward it – none of which signaled it with a friendly identification code.

The four enemy fighters moved
quickly into the area and began to rapidly close the distance between their
patrol and the unfamiliar probe. They were preparing to open fire on the
unknown intruder when the Canary suddenly activated its own small PTP unit and
transited away. One of the fighters immediately reported its findings back to
home base. They patiently waited until a return signal was received, indicating
to them that the matter was under control. Accepting the transmission, they
resumed their patrol along the outer edge of the solar system.

There were even more enemy
warships in Earth orbit but the Canary proved to be very precise in its
measurements. It emerged from its second, short-range hop already in the upper
atmosphere and its hull instantly began to heat as its thrusters moved it even
more sharply downward toward the distant surface below. The vulnerable
equipment inside of it began to fail from the extreme heat and it tried one
last time to adjust its course toward a rural region located just south of the
Himalayas in a small country called Ghuitan. The course correction failed along
with the rest of its electronics and, a blazing ball of fire, the Canary Probe
dropped out of the sky trailing a huge column of smoke behind it right before
crashing heavily into the ground.

The wreckage was still smoking
when a large shuttle dropped out of the sky and landed near the new crater in
the ground. Four Brotherhood soldiers emerged from the ship and walked over to
the remains of the probe and then paused, waiting for additional instructions.
A beautiful dark-haired woman dressed in black also stepped out of the cargo
carrier and walked over to examine the wreckage.