This is a draft version of a chapter from John Saye’s book, Longevity and Other Stories. If you are daring, why not subscribe to my newsletter (they come few and far between), and I’ll send you a PDF copy of the book?
“So, what are my options? I’ve got some money, an idea of what I’ll do for income, and a time to wait for Wen, who went so peacefully.”
“He’s a nice guy. I don’t know what to tell you,” said Barton. “He slipped. I wasn’t quite expecting that.”
“Where can I go from here?”
“Well, I was thinking about dropping you out on Earth.”
“What?”
“Well, More Earth-Two, to be honest. One dimension over the Earth is quite different.”
“What’s it like?”
“Well, it’s a lot closer to many other well-populated planets. They take care of their environment, they have pretty good space commerce. You can catch a starship or an intergalactic cruise from there to almost anywhere.”
“It’s as good a place to start as anywhere, right?”
“It’s what I like to think. If there’s anything you need or you’d like to ask me a question, shoot me a note or call me. My number is already on your phone.”
“Right. Take me there. How do we shift dimensions?”
“I do not know. I let the engineers figure all that stuff out. Come on, let’s go to the forward lounge.”
They walked to the front of the ship and after they made it there, and walked into the room, warp, they were standing in front of the Earth again.
“Looks like Earth to me.”
“That’s because it is. Watch.”
Before they spun the Earth. Clouds swirled around. On the dark sliver, they could see from here the city lights lit it up.
“Mostly, nothing. Very little experience with the world of, well, with the galaxy at large.”
“They don’t know we’re up here?”
“They can’t see us at all.”
“Nothing. So where is this other Earth I’m supposed to start on?”
“Right there.”
“But that looks like the Earth.”
“Aren’t you in awe?”
“Of course I am, But I was brought up on images of Earth from space, and I’m in a spaceship. True, that just dropped my boyfriend off on a crazy meatball of a planet…”
“Wrapped in Bacon.”
“Thank you… But here we are. What about this dimension hop here?”
“Watch.”
He held out his hand. She watched the Earth, from the corner of her eye, and with a vromp, everything changed.
The planet itself looked very similar. Blues, greens, and browns under a sea, under a layer of clouds, and a lit-up nightside. The first thing she noticed was the moon. They covered it from one side to the other in buildings. Steel buildings, and lights, it was a bustling place.
“Your moon there. Is the biggest starport on this side of the galaxy? I mean, there are a lot of great ones and just as many you wouldn’t want to get stuck in like any other airport, but this one, the moon, you can get just about anywhere in the galaxy from here.”
“Star liners?”
“Ships yeah, by the seat or the room, you can go anywhere from here.”
“This morning I woke up and thought I’d have just another normal day showing folks around our weird set of fake caves. I would see Wen once in a while. After closing time, he’d come out of hiding, but mostly, he was pretty quiet.”
“Then today.”
“And I’m on the other side of the glass. I’m out in the galaxy with my little bag, and we have to get somewhere now.”
“I know, it’s big.”
“How many others have you done this to?”
“What?”
“They could have killed me, left me unconscious on the fairground, certain no one would ever believe my story.”
“Yeah well…”
“You were kind. You could have just killed me, maybe sent me down to Bacon with Wen, but you’re setting me up. I’ve got a fresh identity, a new chance, and a line of galactic credits to get me back and forth across the void if I want to. But why?”
“Because in the face of all I have to do, sometimes I feel like it’s all I can do. If you want me to, I’ll give them a flip back, and I’ll have you down in your ok’d apartment, totally rent-free forever, of course. I’ll do my best to get you set up. But since you were so accepting of Wen, and the possibilities out here, I thought maybe you’d like a chance at this.”
“And I would.”
“Good, because it’s time to get out of here. I don’t get off this ship nearly enough. I’m taking you down in a shuttle.”
“What, a space shuttle?”
“Think of it like a badass minivan with no wheels, and we need to get on out of here.”
They dropped by Janet’s room to collect her things. Opening the door, her rolling bag was there, packed, and her shoulder bag.
She took her rolling bag and her shoulder bag and got them together, then followed Barton down the hall back to the elevators. This time, she went down.
“Don’t guess I could have gotten this lift to go down?”
“Not likely.”
The doors opened after a grief lurch and they were standing in a giant bay open on two sides of space.
“Force fields, shields if you will, keep us from flying out into space now.”
“Then I’m very glad for them.”
“This way.”
They crossed the bay, which was filled with a variety of sleek and chunky-looking fighters, busses, and Barton’s little flier.
It was black, and two clamshell doors opened on the left and right of it as he approached. “Toss your stuff in the back.”
“Okay.”
She put her things in the little vehicle. She felt like it was much larger than a car. Maybe a medium-sized cab top.
She folded herself into the front seat, and Barton got in next to her and revved it up. Lights came on all around her, and he lifted his ship into the air.
He worked a switch on his dash. “Barton, one planning departure, am I clear?”
“Yes, sir, the pattern is obvious. Please tell the Earth One lady we’re all rooting for her.”
“I will, thank you,” he flicked it off and polluted the incredibly smooth ship out of the bay. They left the larger ship behind them. Janet didn’t even know what it looked like and didn’t think to look it up on her phone until hours later.
They flew out and down, and straight to the moon. “I thought we were headed down to Earth?”
“You are welcome to explore there later, but I’m headed to the moon, to the main starport. It’s called Alpha Luna. You can get anywhere on Earth from there. And anywhere across the stars.”
They flew down, and as they got closer and closer, she could see all kinds of traffic traversing the moon in organized patterns. The ships looked like ants, then like dogs and cats, they were among them, and filed into the rest of the regular traffic, some ships looked like needles, others like meatballs, some looked stylish and organic, and others looked like they could be alive.
They slid through steel gray buildings, towering spirals of glass, and force fields until they came to Alpha Luna. It was a huge sun-shaped dome with eight points coming out of it, and it was fifty miles long, and five hundred starships were tethered, docked, fueling, or boarding around it.
“Holy shit.”
“I know, right?”
He pressed on and the closer they got, the more she could see the windows and openings. In the middle, at the top, was an expansive, bizarre parking deck.
He set down in a small square cubicle, and as their dories opened Janet watched as people came out to work on his vehicle. “No, fuel it up, yeah, but I need nothing. I’m just dropping off.”
That seemed to deflate the team, a young man and something else that to Janet sort of looked like a goofy canister with legs in a suit of overalls. “Thanks, guys. Come on.” He took Janet by the hand and led her out into the hall, which was closer to a king train track. Every few feet, trains that appeared to fly at lightning speed picked up people on their way in and out.
One stopped, and they sat down. There were no seatbelts, harnesses, or anything. This thing floated on a cushion of air and went three hundred miles an hour, just a blur around them. “Major terminal?”
“Just a moment, sir.”
They slid down mikes and mikes, stopping almost out of nowhere once in a while to pick someone up. Every moment or two a human, men, an alien, occasionally a vegetable. And at least one tune for a walking cat. He was seven feet tall and covered in leopard spots.
Soon the team was full, and a moment later they were letting everyone out in front of a grand entrance. Everything was white marble and bright lights. Through a massive downed window, you could see the Earth.
“Where will I go from here?”
“That depends on you, I think.”
“I’m in charge of that?”
“Sure. I didn’t bring you here to lock you down. I’m here to see you off.”
“In that case, I need a vacation.”
“Okay, let’s see what we can do. This way.” They came around, and by a table, there was a kiosk offering everything from exclusive sexy spas to theme parks the size of a planet.
“Get your little pad there.”
“What?”
“Your computer,”
“Okay.”
She swiped it, and a program downloaded it into the get system. “What’s this?”
“Pamphlets.”
“Okay.”
“Okay, advertisements for places to go. Little trifold things you used to see at the Florida visitors’ center, well this is the gem version. Compete with park maps and video clips.”
She sat down in a large swanky chair to flip through them. “Okay…”
“Be right back,” said Barton. “I’ll get a couple of drinks.” Though plenty of little robots seemed to flit about filling drinks, he went up to the counter himself to order anyway, keeping an eye back on Janet.
“Okay, star cruises, hotels, pleasure planets. That looks like a bit much for me. What about…” she flipped through some more. “Excursions, adventure, meeting new people. I don’t know.” She flipped some more, the light of her little notebook in her face.
Barton watched her with his spectacles, and three arms fixed their drinks. He brought them back and offered her a coffee. “Thank you.”
She took it and drank. The plastics were different, the lip edge of the cup, the size, and the measurements, but it was very good. Everything was wonderful, just a little off. She sipped and felt the warmth spread through her.
“Do you do caves?”
“I’ve never been a cave fan,” he said. “Enclosed spaces. I’m in enough of them.”
“I see. Fishing on Poseidon IV?”
“I don’t think so. It’s a planet-wide ocean with fish, and I use that term loosely, which could kill you in a heartbeat. Go if you are a big game hunter who doesn’t want anyone to give you grief anymore.”
“That makes sense. What about this cruise ship, the Starship Enigma?”
“That is an excellent choice. Let’s book you on there. It’s a week’s cruise and they go to different places, ports of call, and lots of shopping. You might like that.”
“How do I book?”
“It’s right there in the advertisement. Just click. Any luck, they won’t just teleport you onboard.”
“Where are they? Can I see?”
“Oh yeah, it’s right there.” She stood up, and she and Barton went to the window. “There it is, the starship Enigma.” It was colossal, definitely cruise-ship-shaped, but floating above the surface of the moon. “It must be the length of—”
“A county.”
She flipped the booklet open. “I’m going to do it.”
“Sounds like a plan. Send me a note when you return.”
“Okay.”
She pressed the buy button, entered her code, and then was about to say something else when she and her luggage all vanished.
Barton smiled, took another sip, then tossed his cup in a bin that thanked him for it and walked back out.
