Chapter 36

“Captain, I assume you still remember me?” Aimee asked with deliberate sarcasm. She wanted to create a commanding attitude immediately. Obediently, the Captain snapped to attention.

“Of course, Regional Engineer. What can I do for you?”

“I have obtained access to some equipment that may be able to help locate the rebels. In order to facilitate a search, I need the coordinates of any known locations they have occupied in the past. Do you have those available?”

“Well, I don’t know if I can –”

“Now, Captain.”

“At once, Regional Engineer!” the Captain said stiffly. He may not like this sudden, non-procedural request, but he knew how to obey orders.

Within two minutes, the information had been downloaded into Aimee’s computer.

“Is there anything further I can provide you at this moment?” the Captain asked politely, if not pleasantly. “Or is there any way in which my men can assist you in the search?”

“Not at this time. Thank you for your offer, Captain. We will keep you informed of our progress.”

Aimee broke the connection without any further pleasantries.

“Do you think I was officious enough to keep him from being suspicious?”

“Oh, I’m sure he thought you were a typical bureaucrat,” Solomon assured her. “He must believe you want to steal all of the credit for the apprehension of the E-terms without saying where you got your information.”

“Probably,” Aimee agreed without the least concern. “Although I did not exactly lie to him about my motives. I just let him misinterpret.”

“Very deftly done,” Solomon complimented her.

Aimee brought up a map of the area on her computer. She then superimposed the coordinates over the map.

“There’s the copse of trees where the fugitives were hiding when we saw them,” she said, pointing to a denser band of green on the map. “It’s been several days. Given the terrain and the probable health state of most of the E-terms, we can estimate how far they might have been able to travel in that time. We can then project a ring with that point as the epicenter. In addition to the spots indicated by the Captain, I can do a computer search for any known geographical features, such as caves, where they might be hiding.”

Solomon rested his hand on her shoulder.

“Excellent work, my dear Aimee. I’m sure within a few hours you will have given me as much hope of locating them as possible. The rest is up to me – along with my newest small version of the TDM, of course.”

# Two days later, Solomon had searched all of the known hideouts and several possible spots Aimee had located. There had been plenty of evidence of several people at most of the locations, but no sight of a single person. Solomon felt certain the mysterious leader of these E-terms might indeed be able to help them, but he was acutely aware Time was running out. Moreover, what motive would this person have to help them, even if he could somehow be convinced that Solomon and his friends wanted to overthrow the Zaibatsu?

He would invest one more day in his search. After that, they would just have to chance it on their own. His doppelgänger’s warning had left no choice in the matter.

The best news was that Aimee had located and downloaded the as-builts for the MS building without triggering any computer defense system. At least, none they knew of. Even now, the rest of the Revos would be studying those plans and memorizing the locations of the defenses. When he and Aimee joined them, they would have perhaps another day or two to finalize their scheme to insert the virus into the MS. After that, regardless of how confident they felt about their plans, they would have to go.

In just over three days, their own hideout would be discovered and his ‘counterpart’ Solomon would have to flee. That’s the way it had been, and he knew that’s the way it would be. He could not dare change it. Until then, they would do their best to make the assault on the main fortress of the Zaibatsu one they could survive. Solomon could still not see far enough into the future to know whether or not any of them would actually make it. Like the other Solomon, however, he thought perhaps it would be better at this point not to know what would happen.

Solomon resolutely turned his attention back to the task at hand. He knew perhaps better than anyone in the world it was no use worrying about the future.

“Which location are you jumping to this time?” Aimee broke into his thoughts.

“This one,” Solomon said, pointing to the control center of a hydroelectric power station that had been abandoned more than a hundred years before. “You thought there might be a good chance this person would be drawn to such a place, remember?”

“Yes. We can only hope.”

“I sincerely do. Wish me luck?” Solomon said as he prepared to push the transmit button. It was a little ritual they had developed over the past few days.

Aimee gave him a kiss. “Best of luck,” she said, as she stepped out of the range of the transmission field. Solomon pressed the button.

He stepped out onto the dam, high above the dry earth below. The rivers that once fed the huge storage basin changed their courses once humans had quit interfering, and the concrete monolith was now simply a barrier across the mountain chasm. The world’s energy was now produced far more efficiently, if less dramatically. The millions of tons of concrete and steel now only acted as an ugly blot on the mountain’s landscape.

As was his procedure, Solomon immediately knelt and started programming the TDM for a quick return to Aimee’s apartment. He was so absorbed in his work he didn’t notice he was no longer alone until he felt something sharp lightly brush the hair on the back of his neck. He turned in annoyance, thinking it must be some large, flying insect wanting to make a meal of his blood. He froze halfway through his turn.

Two wildly dressed men stood menacingly at his back. They were not much taller than he was, although much stockier, and looked distinctly of Japanese descent. Both of them were holding spears.

Idly, Solomon noticed the spears seemed fairly sophisticated for such primitive looking people. The long handles were smooth wood, the blades were firmly planted in notches in the ends of the wood, and the metal seemed a good imitation of steel. The blades were bright and extremely sharp. Someone who knew what they were doing had designed and overseen the manufacture of these things. Solomon immediately knew he had found the right place.

“Konichi-wa,” he said in as friendly a voice as he could muster. He made no movement with the rest of his body.

The two looked at each other. One said something in a language that vaguely resembled Japanese, but was clearly a bastardized variation. The other pointed at the TDM and said something definitely unfriendly. Solomon hoped they didn’t think he was planting a bomb next to their hideout!

“Sumi masen,” he apologized for interrupting this scintillating conversation. The two immediately stopped talking and pointed their spears menacingly at Solomon. He laid the TDM down as gently as he could and held his empty hands open, palms toward the pair as he came slowly to his feet. He then quoted an old line he had once heard, although he had no idea where it had come from.

“Take me to your leader.”

The two looked quizzically at each other. They obviously did not understand him, but maybe that was their intent anyhow. The first one pointed at the TDM and indicated with his spear that Solomon should pick it back up. Solomon made a questioning gesture, just to make sure, and the fellow repeated his movements. Carefully, Solomon bent down and picked the machine back up. The first man then waved his spear as though to say, “Walk in front of us, bub. But be careful!”

Solomon intended to be very careful. He started walking along the top of the dam towards the former control room. The pair followed closely behind, spears aimed steadily at his back.

They halted at the entrance to the building. The first man went ahead, although he was paying very close attention to their prisoner. The second man followed at a bit of a distance, no doubt in case Solomon tried to suddenly turn and take him by surprise. The first man led the way through various passageways until they came to a huge room where massive electrical conduction coils, now passively contained in their bulky casings, towered above them.

As they rounded one of the huge devices, Solomon saw the fugitives huddled as a group in a corner of the room. Everyone was sitting on the floor. They were eating a meal, which looked quite crude and unappetizing. Nevertheless, they seemed to be eating in as civilized a manner as he could have expected under the circumstances.

The thing that jumped out at Solomon immediately was the number of children in the group. There were probably two dozen adults, with at least that number of children of various ages. These were obviously not just E-terms who had congregated for mutual support. The look of the people, and the fact that there were a few older teenagers amongst them, indicated they were people who had been out of the system for many years. The children must have been born outside of a city.

The second thing he noticed was the couple to whom every single member of the clan looked as soon as they entered the room. They were decidedly not of Japanese extraction.

The male was a black man who looked to be perhaps sixty, with a bald head and a white mustache and beard. He towered above the Orientals in spite of being seated. He was fairly thin, although with stringy muscles and an easy grace to his movements. He seemed as though he might have been quite good looking in his early days.

The woman was white, with blonde hair and blue eyes. Although somewhat haggard looking, she was still attractive in a sturdy, Nordic sort of way. She was also fairly tall, with an athletic build that suggested she would be quite formidable if forced into personal combat. Solomon recognized her instantly as the woman who had made a break for it when the trio of fugitives had led the Security Force guards away from the rest of the group. He was happy she had survived.

The black man asked some question of his guards. The first guard looked at the machine in Solomon’s hands and shrugged. He did not attempt an answer. The leader looked directly at Solomon.

“What is that machine?” he asked in perfect English. His voice was strong and deep, although it sounded worn from cares and hardships. Somehow, it seemed familiar.

“It’s a – well, I don’t know how to describe it to you. It helps me move through Time as well as space.”

The man looked at the machine with great interest. Then he studied Solomon with a quizzical expression that sent chills up Solomon’s spine. A faint but incredibly familiar smile gradually crept over his features.

“So, Solomon Barnaby Smith. You finally perfected your TDM.”

“Great ghosts of Einstein and Planck! Robert Winston Wood!”

# The reunion of the old friends had almost been a disaster. Seeing Robert alive and well after so many years, Solomon got so excited he tried to rush forward to greet him. He slipped on the stone flooring and almost lost the TDM. As he was juggling the TDM, trying to keep it and his skull intact, his movements toward Robert were highly erratic.

This made the guard in front of Solomon think he was trying to attack their leader. He almost skewered the stumbling scientist before Robert could shout at him to leave the man alone. The entire group started to panic, perhaps also thinking this machine was some dangerous weapon. The younger children and some of the others tried to dart away, knocking over dinner bowls and tripping over people still sitting in their way. By the time the misunderstanding was cleared up, the group and the floor was in shambles.

Robert explained the situation, and they all had a good laugh over Solomon’s clumsiness. Fortunately, the refuges seemed a pretty amiable bunch. Still, most of the smaller children seemed wary of him. Solomon was invited to share their meal. After sending an ‘all clear’ signal to Aimee, he reluctantly agreed. As plain as it looked, the food was surprisingly good.

As they ate, Robert proudly introduced the blonde woman, Geta VanLaan, as his wife. Solomon was surprised by the term, but merely told her how pleased he was to meet the woman who could tame the Testosterone Terror of Seven Continents. Geta gave Robert a look as though to say, “We’ll talk about that dubious title later.” Robert quickly pressed on about Solomon’s own romantic life.

Solomon said he had only recently met a woman with whom he was seriously discussing conjugation, but was reluctant to talk about Aimee. Robert took that as his usual shyness. In fact, Solomon was afraid that if he told Robert who she was and what she did, Robert would shut himself off to his intended conversation before it even began.

Robert continued to ply Solomon with questions about his work and his life in general. As intended, Solomon quickly passed over his development of the TDM and described in detail his work with the Revos. Needless to say, Robert and his wife were fascinated by the concept of trying to overthrow the Zaibatsu, although neither one seemed terribly convinced of his chances. Every once in a while Robert would explain some of the related conversation to the rest of the audience, who seemed to be extremely impressed by such a bold undertaking. Their own limited encounters with only a remote force of the mighty empire of the Zaibatsu caused them to greatly admire anyone who would dare to stand up to such a powerful enemy. For them, trying to survive against the vagaries of Nature was enough.

Solomon did not try to embellish any of it. He told the story as simply as he could, although with enough detail for his audience to believe the Revos movement was a serious effort. He also wanted to stress they had done quite a bit to influence the majority of the Citizens of the world. Although Solomon generally got the impression he was believed, the outcasts were dubious as to how much impact had been made against a seemingly irresistible foe. In their experience, one acted like a mouse late at night and stole what bits of cheese or bread fell from the table. One never dared to go directly up against the swarm of cats protecting the household. Weary of trying to gently persuade them away from this philosophy, Solomon questioned Robert about his own story since his friend had shambled though the small doorway in the Court room.

“At that point in my life, I almost despaired,” Robert admitted quietly. “I never had a chance to contact you or anyone else, Solomon Smith. I was taken to a remote wilderness and simply allowed to walk away. At first, I could not believe they had ‘let me go’. For months after that, I wondered at the cruelty of them, having thrown me into an existence of loneliness, near starvation and unmitigated terror. I was certain I would not survive, and wondered why they had not been kind enough to simply kill me and get my misery over with.”

The rest of the refuges listened attentively. Although they could not understand the words, they must have intuitively known what their leader was talking about. Many of them had gone through the same sort of experience. The younger members had been told of such experiences and could fully understand, considering the harsh life they lived. An almost melancholy quiet fell over the entire room.

“But I did survive,” Robert said proudly. “I was more resilient than I would have believed possible. I was very lucky in that my E-term started late in the spring, or I’m sure I would have died quickly. At first I lived off wild fruits and vegetation, and gradually learned how to hunt birds and other small game. I was dropped off deep in a mountainous territory, and knew the winter would bring a rather nasty spell of rain, snow and freezing wind. When I wasn’t hunting for or storing up food, I was looking for different options on sheltering from the coming winter.”