By the time I got to New Tower it had stopped raining. There was a stiff breeze of twenty kilometers per hour blowing, but the ship was completely unaffected by it. The ship parked about two kilometers from the edge of the colony which is to say the outer ring of the ship nearly reached the edge of the camp. The ship stopped about ten meters above the ground and opened every ramp it had and began unloading everything from food to hardware. It's supplies would be enough to start building a new New Tower and it would be better than the one that Killer had created. It took about two hours to unload half of what I had.
I instructed the ship to go to Old Tower. The idea was to give them supplies too. I wasn't given a very nice reception. They tried to shoot the huge alien ship. The computer that ran the ship was very competent and managed to protect the ship handily. We went to an altitude of about five kilometers over the city. What few missiles they launched at us were easy to destroy before they could do anything. Actually the ship destroyed the missiles to protect the colony from falling debris more than to protect the ship. The aliens had some kind of field that could protect the ship from any kind of projectile (if it had a warhead or not).
It took almost two hours to establish communications with the new colony manager and when I did it took another hour to convince him that I was only on a mercy mission.
Finally I was allowed to unload. They tried to board the ship but Percy was able to keep the troopers at bay. Percy, That's what I called the computer who ran the ship. He was a real character and I had taken to him right away.
I think when the sentient computers were made there would be one alien that would either program or train each computer and the computers sort of took on the personality of whoever it was that they had been in such close contact with. Whoever Percy's trainer/programer had been I think I would have enjoyed meeting him. I suppose I could have been surprised though. I was still trying to find a reason why these computers were sentient and had such...personality.
For all I knew Percy's trainer could have been the biggest ass the world has ever seen. Jet's personality was her own and hers alone just like my traits are just me. Percy was influenced by the surroundings he was nurtured in but was unique onto his own self.
Anyway Percy and I finally unloaded and went back to the main hanger at Apex and the ship was loaded up again. There were only two ships of the size I was using, Toni was on the other one. There were five smaller ships with Sid, Jet and Dick each on one. Those ships were a half a kilometer across. There were also about twenty hover cars and trucks available. All of the ships had been used to deliver supplies to as many different colonies as could be done. Only the ships had sentient computers to guide them. All the hover cars and trucks could be operated by a computer, but only if it was close enough to 'see' what was going on. Until we had made friendly contact with the various colonies it was decided that a human should be aboard each ship to establish communications. After we had done that once we (Toni, Dick, Jet, Sid,and myself) could use the hover trucks to help the big ships. We needed to get as much supplies out as quick as possible to make up...make up for...for what we had ...caused. It had been our fault that the rains had come. We had to help. We should have never listened to Killer.
The idea was to give as much as we could to all the colonies. They all needed supplies and this would be a way to demonstrate our (Dick, Toni, Sid, Myself, and the 'others') goodwill. (A peace offering, if you will.) We were hoping to set up a whole planet conference to discuss ways to help one another, maybe set up trade agreements, and introduce everybody to everybody and everybody to the 'others'.
The 'others' surprised me by announcing a desire to build more sentient computers. They wanted people to 'train' the new computers. It was a great idea. The 'others' would pay, in goods, to have a colony (no individuals) assign a primary instructor along with a instruction team and all the field trips plus the 'hands-on' training that it would take to make each computer truly sentient.
I'm getting ahead of myself. The first thing we had to do was repair the damage the rains had caused.
***
After we made contact with all the colonies we left the big ships to ther computer operators. We humans (and I'm counting Jet here) manned the hover trucks and made the quickie flights carrying small loads. We'd fly in, say howdy, unload, say goodbye and maybe get a list of essentials for the next trip. We even got some help from friends of Dick and Sid. It was an all out effort.
We had nearly let things go too far. Well, things had gone too far. We should have stopped the rain makers way before we did. It's something I guess I'll always regret having done. I know it doesn't really count for much, I wasn't going to do this, but I'd like to say I'm sorry. No excuses. The only thing I can say in my defense is that the next time I'll know better...I hope that's enough...it's all I can give...
***
I developed a route. It would be difficult, if not impossible, to learn where all the colonies were. Not impossible, I guess. There were only fifteen colonies all told. There was something called the UCL that acted as a central governing body (kinda) and they had a handle on where all of the colonies were. There were ten members of the UCL plus four other 'maverick' colonies plus New Tower. Most of the colonies in the UCL were very nice (a high standard of living, or so it appeared). They had done very well for themselves. Some of the 'maverick' colonies were little more than families that lived together. It was interesting to see what some of the other colonies were doing and how they lived.
There was this one colony I found interesting. It had a population of maybe a hundred people at the most. They had one thing to do--they maintained sleeper's capsules. It was an interesting place. They had been doing pretty good after my first drop to them and I hadn't thought that I would have to go back again for at least a couple of weeks. A few days later I was out making deliveries close by when they had sent out an emergency distress call.
One of it's nearby colonies could have gone out and helped them but I knew the guy making the call and I was close by so I decided to stop and give them a hand until someone else showed up. It turned out to be a happy turn of fate...
***
The problem they were having was a lack of personnel. They had detected where there was the extreme possibility of a mud slide about a kilometer above them. There was a large depression that had collected thousands of liters of rainwater and it looked like part of what was holding the water in was going to collapse. That had happened in hundreds of other places, maybe even thousands. Most of the time it didn't threaten anyone and even when it did all the people had to do was leave the area let nature take it course then come back when it was safe and pick up the pieces. That was impossible in this case--most of the people were asleep in capsules. Thousands of them. More than the caretakers present could revive before the impending flood.
I landed on a high knoll near ther settlement so my hover truck would be safe then I hiked the two or three hundred meters necessary to get to ther compound. It was pathetic. It was like everywhere else I had been. People forced from ther homes living together in makeshift shelters. There were easily two dozen vehicles stranded nearby. None were in operating condition. Mostly they were stuck in the mud.
I was shown where to go and they put me right to work. I wasn't doing them that much good by what I could actually do for them (I knew nothing of what they did), I was there to give them a way out if the mud slide should start before anyone else got there. If I hadn't come they would have been forced to stop reviving people and get out of there while they could. With my hover truck nearby they could keep working--maybe they would be able to revive everyone--maybe they could just revive one more soul. Either way it was well worth the effort.
They showed me where to get the capsules from and where to take them. That was my job. Get a dolly, load a capsule on it, carry it to a reinvitation room, Talk to the newly awakened patient until it was time for another capsule.
It was...repetitive. Naw, what I want to say is it was addictive. Every time I saw somebody revived I wanted to go get another and another. Finally help arrived and I stayed on. There was absolutely no way we could ever save them all. If the mud slide started as predicted there would be sleepers who would never wake up. We worked feverishly. I pushed that dolly back and forth so many times that I got sore from it.
I had been there for maybe ten hours before I took a break to eat. By then the sleepers that had been revived when I first arrived were able to help. Suddenly we had a huge work force--with the exception of the technicians in the revaluation room. We had a real bottleneck there. There was this other girl and I went to work in there. We couldn't do anything medical but we helped the technicians. We moved stuff and cleaned and every once in awhile we had to remove the body of someone who hadn't made it.
I worked until I was exhausted. I kept trying to help but I was making so many mistakes that I was becoming a hindrance. Finally the doctor over the room I was trying to help sent me away. I remember being led to a pile of dirty linen and collapsing on it.
***
I woke feeling worse than I could ever recall. I was tired, sore, hungry, and I had a kink in my neck and couldn't move my head. I got up and found someone and asked where I was needed. It was pretty quiet so I figured a lot of other people had had to stop for rest too.
"What's your name girl?" some head-nurse-type asked.
"Cookie. Let me get something to drink and I'll be glad to do whatever I can."
"Cookie? You're the one from the 'others' aren't you?"
"Yes ma'am." I said dreading what she might say next. She now knew I was probably responsible in some manner for the rains.
"We were wondering what happened to you. Relax, everything's fine. They called down an hour ago. While we were reviving all these people they had a crew out bleeding the water off the pool. It's safe now. Here let me get you something to eat--and drink. If you want we'll get you a place you can rest up some more if you want. We owe you a debt of gratitude. Several people remarked to me about the job you did. Thank you."
I looked at her sheepishly. I was glad she didn't know about my part in starting the rain makers. I was ashamed of myself. I asked if I could get something to quench my thirst and I'd be out of there.
I was shown to a lunchroom where before I could get some much needed water I was introduced as 'the girl who had worked so hard'. I was never so embarrassed in my life. They patted me on the back, fed me coffee, and told me what a great person I was until I couldn't stand it a minute longer. Finally I was able to make my excuse and I left. I got outside and saw where the hover truck was gone! I nearly fainted.
I remembered someone during the night had come to me and asked to borrow the truck. It wasn't stolen, it was just still borrowed.
Have you ever had to do that, y'know. You have done good in front of some people and then you must admit to something that was maybe beyond your control. It's like maybe when you are leaving on a long trip and your friends maybe throw you a party and there's a long tearful goodbye and everybody's emotionally drained and it's just wonderful then you go outside to leave and there is a delay and you have to go back inside and wait. Wait around all of those people who said goodbye so sweetly before and now are wondering if they'll have to do it all again. Something like that. I could understand where some people, if that happened to them, might just check into a hotel or go to a museum or something. Anything to keep from going back to ther friends and putting them through all the sadness of leaving again. Something like that.
I looked back at the doors leading back into the compound and tried to figure out where the nearest hotel was. I was still running options through my mind when a woman opened one of the doors and motioned for me to come back. I rolled my eyes towards the sky (which was full of clouds), mouthed the words "Why me?", and went inside. Thankfully there was no one else around. Perhaps I could just quietly stand unnoticed by the door until my truck was returned. I never should have loaned it out. I should have gone with it. I hadn't been able to...
"What's the matter?" The woman asked me. I recognized her. She was one of the people that had been revived that nigh. I had talked to her. She had tried to help me as much as she could despite being weak from just having been wakened. We had be the ones, towards the end, who had been helping in the rooms. I liked her.
"Someone's got my truck. I guess I'll have to wait until they bring it back."
"I saw you standing there. You looked like you were too embarrassed to come back in..."
"Yeh." I laughed. "I guess I looked pretty stupid out there."
"You ought to laugh more. I was beginning to wonder if there was something the matter with you." The woman confided.
I laughed again. I had been acting pretty gloomy. in a way it cheered me up to help the people in the various colonies and it also made me fell bad too, because I knew I was, at least, partially responsible for ther misery. There was that and the fact that I knew Killer was going to catch up with me and the others. That would not be pretty.
"Look, they won't let me do anything so if you want we can sit over here and just talk some until you get your truck back. See? You can see right out the window here and everything."
"You are being kind, thank you."
"Quit being so timid, for Pete's sake!" she chastised me playfully.
She had said "for Pete's sake". I remembered she had used expressions like that many times during the night. That made me think she was one of the original settlers. Expressions having to do with 'Pete" had been encouraged to keep the name alive. It had belonged to a man killed during a mutiny on the ship that brought the settlers to Seco.
They had especially tried to use that name in a colony set up expressly for prisoners. It had been called Petesburg (Pete's burg). I swallowed nervously. This woman may have been a prisoner there. There was no telling what she had done to be incarcerated in Petesburg and evidently put in a sleeper's capsule.
Most of the records from that time had been lost so the sleepers had on the most part been allowed to sleep. Who would know what you were waking up. Putting murderers to sleep was common practice back then. It was like they just said "We'll figure out what to do with this one next year/decade/century/millenium..." Nobody had ever wanted to wake them--especially after the Petesburg records had been lost.
"Tell me about what it's like now." the woman asked.
"Um...I don't know. What do you want to know?"
"Well...where are we?"
"I don't know the name of this colony. We've had a flood and I'm just here to deliver supplies--at least that's normally what I've been doing."
"Oh, you must be in the service or some kind of rescue squad?"
"No...um..I, that is...um..." How did I tell her that I was trying to help out to atone for all the damage I had done? I had a need to tell someone--not Sid, but someone who had suffered because of what I had done. I needed absolution. This woman would be..a stepping stone, a test case. She had actually benefited from the rains. It would be an opportunity to see how she would respond. If she got upset she wouldn't get too upset because, like I said, she had been helped by the rains. If she didn't get too upset perhaps she might be willing to tell me how she thought the other colonists might feel about what had happened. If it went well enough maybe I could even tell others. Maybe the world wouldn't be as mad at me as I was afraid it was.
I wasn't just thinking of myself now. I could swallow my own lumps. What made it so bad was the thought that Toni, Dick, Sid, and even Jet were involved.
"Look, I'll tell you but this is just between you and me, ok?" I told her.
She looked at me surprised for a millisecond then nodded her head. "You can tell me." she confided. I liked the way she said that. She wasn't willing to listen because she thought she was going to be in on a nice big juicy piece of gossip. From the way she responded I could tell that she knew I was hurting inside. "Let it out, I'll listen." she told me and gently put her hand on my shoulder. It felt good. I wondered if it would still be there after I told my tale.
I began being careful not to mention any names or give too many clues about who I was talking about.
"A long long way from here there is a colony with two kinds of people in it. Let's call them the A type people and the B type people. The A's have it all over the B types and don't treat them very good. The B's were very unhappy but there was nothing they could do about ther situation. One day the B's discovered alien machines that could make it rain. They told the A's to let them go or they would flood Seco. The A's wouldn't believe them so the B's were forced to make it rain. Many times the B's gave short demonstrations. This only made the A's determined to steal the machines. They tricked the B's and nearly won but the B's managed to get the machines back and ther leader, in anger, turned them on for ten days and nights. After that time there was so much damage from the rains that the B's who ran the machine couldn't stand it any more and turned it off and began using other alien machines to help repair what had been done."
I stopped and looked at the woman. I was making it sound like a fairy tale. She was giving me her undivided attention. When I didn't continue she spoke. "What happened to the leader of the B's?"
"I don't know. I guess he's still in charge."
She looked deeply into my eyes like she could see inside of me. I turned my head away half expecting to hear something that I didn't want to hear. My eye watered.
"You're one of the ones who ran the machines, aren't you? One of the B types."
I stiffened up. I thought I had avoided telling her that. I turned back towards her and held my finger over my mouth indicating that she should be careful what she said. "Don't say that!" I whispered in a panic. "Someone might hear you!"
"Sorry. Why does that bother you?"
"Don't you see? If these people knew that I was one of the ones who was responsible for making it rain they'd want to tear my eyes out! People have died because of the rain!"
"You didn't want them to did you?" she asked.
"No! Of course not! We tried to warn them. We dropped leaflets and everything. The dumb SOBs would still go out and do things to get themselves killed. We needed a weapon for our revolt so we could start our own colony. We didn't want to actually use the rain machines we hoped we could just demonstrate what we could do--if we had to."
"There's nothing wrong with that. I'm sure people still die everyday from accidents." She tried to console me.
"Yeah, but these people here didn't even know about our colony and we rained on them too."
"Why?"
"Because the A's tried to force our leader to give them the machines. We were able to rescue him and he told us to start all the machines, to flood the world!"
"Why?"
"Why what?" I asked confused. I wasn't sure what part she wasn't following.
"Why'd you have to do like he told you to?"
"If we didn't he'd get someone else to do it."
"You couldn't stop him?"
"No." I said in a shaky voice. Tears were beginning to well in my eyes. This wasn't the front I wanted the woman to see. Her hand slid up my shoulder further and she pulled me to her to give comfort. I resisted and the pressure stopped.
"If you couldn't stop him then I guess you did what you had to do. The rain has stopped now. Will it start again?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"We have the 'others' protecting the machines so he can't use them."
"Others? What others?"
"They were left by the aliens who used to live here to keep the machines in good shape so when they came back they could bring the water back down to the ground."
"The aliens are the others? I don't understand."
"The 'others' are the computers the aliens left behind. They are self-aware. They are just like you and me only they're computers."
"Really! That's interesting. Computers as intelligent as humans. I'd like to see one of them. I used to be a computer programmer and de-bugger."
I blinked my eyes and sat up straight. The word de-bugger reminded me of something. My mom, my real mom, the biological one, had called herself a de-bugger in the book I had read describing her trip to Seco. While I was in the compound I could maybe find out if she was still in a capsule somewhere. I had tried many years ago when I first found out I was a CB to find out what had happened to her. I had been denied access to the files.
"What's wrong?" my friend asked.
"I..I..I've got to do something. Would you excuse me, please?"
"Sure. You're alright aren't you?"
"Yes, I guess so. I need to find someone."
"Ok, we'll talk more later?"
"I don't know. If we don't it's been nice having someone to talk to. I needed it. I feel much better about myself. Thank you."
"Glad to help--you saved my life."
I was standing by this time. The woman got up and gingerly gave me a hug. It surprised me for a moment then I hugged her back very gently.
"I hope you realize that you aren't a bad person. We all have to do things we don't want to in life. Goodbye. Please don't blame yourself for everything. You're very sweet but you can't take the blame for all the bad in the world."
I squeezed her a little tighter and looked her in the eye. "What a nice person." I thought to myself. It was a shame I'd never see her again.
The public address system blared something and she kind of jerked. "That's me!" She told me. "They've revived my husband! Gotta go!"
I let go and she started off down the hall stopping once to give me a waive. The PA blared once again.
"JENNIFER LEE TRANSOR PHELPS TO RECOVERY ROOM 5, PLEASE."
I almost sat on the floor before I knew it. "Mom?" I called out weakly at the rapidly receding figure. That was my real mother's name--Jennifer Lee Transor Phelps! I could barely speak and I don't know what would have happened if she had left, I don't know if I would have had the courage to go after her and tell her who I was.
I had called to her once in a weak and cracking voice that I barely heard myself but there is something inside a woman, an instinct or something, that allows her to hear her children call her no matter how weak or far away, thank goodness!
The woman, my mother, instantly stopped in her tracks. I had my hand out to her and it was all I could do to keep standing. She stood there as if she had been pricked by something but couldn't decide what. I strained to reach out to her, but couldn't. It was like the only way I could figure out how to get to her was to stretch until I was there (which wasn't working). I tried to call to her again but nothing was coming out.
She turned and saw me standing there. At first, I think, she thought I was having a seizure or something. She pursed her lips to say something but before she could she realized why I was like that and it was like she suddenly had the same affliction.
"Sue Ann?" she managed.
I wet my lips and got out "Mom?"
Doubt still raced across her face.
"Mom it's me! Sue Ann, your daughter!" I choked out past huge tears. I had a smile as big as my face as I finally began to walk towards her.
"Sue?" she asked one last time. Suddenly she accepted it. "My little girl!" she shrieked happily and ran to me and hugged me tightly. I was so happy I could have passed out. I found in that one hug all the love I had missed since my adoptive mom had shunned me and even more love than that. There was a warmness that is impossible to describe. Mom and I danced round and round just tickled to have found each other. It was like I had always hoped it would be--better.
Finally mom stopped and held me from her so she could look at me for the first time. "Oh my little girl," she moaned, "What have they done to you? You're all grown up. I have missed raising you. How were you looked after? Did they tell you they were your parents? Did they tell you about us? Were they good to you? Has life been good to you? What have you been doing?" and on and on.
She voiced a million questions in less than a second and I still had to stop her. "Mom. Mom!...Let's go see dad!" That got her moving again. we were both so happy we couldn't stand it.
We found the proper recovery room and went in. There was a nurse entering something on her hand held. On the bed was a man, a handsome man, my dad. He was relieved to see mom.
"You alright honey?" he asked her.
She went to him and they hugged. It was plain to see that they belonged together. There was something there that just fit between them. I hung back shyly until they were through.
Mom held up her hand to me and told her husband, "There's someone here I'd like for you to meet. Jerry this is Sue--your daughter--all grown up!"
He looked at me and his eyebrows jumped like they were going to keep on going. "Sue?" He looked back to mom and asked, " What happened?"
"I don't know. I guess they woke her up before us."
He turned his attention back to me. "Come here. You are my Sue?"
I swallowed deeply. "Yes sir."
This wasn't at all like it had been with mom--until I saw a tear escape his eye. He was crying because he had missed my childhood. I went to him and put my arms around his neck and hugged him. "Oh daddy." I cried.
I felt him gently put his big hand on my back and pull me to him. He pulled mom to him with his other hand and we just embraced for a few minutes. I felt so much a part of these people. They were strangers to me and yet they were the closest people on the face of Seco to me. I could hardly wait for us to begin doing things together.
***
Somehow I felt as if I had been forgiven for turning on the rain makers, for killing those two guards. Nothing this good could ever happen to someone who was...not favored.
The whole book in zipfile format.
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