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Sail the Sea of Stars - chapter 12

 
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 19, 2016 4:25 pm    Post subject: Sail the Sea of Stars - chapter 12 Reply with quote



CHAPTER 12

Farewells, Greetings, and Surprises


Four days after the battle with the Beltherians, Samuel Kellogg put the Candlelight into a parking orbit around Timbuk Three, and two dozen shuttlecraft lined up to wait their turn to dock with her. The interstellar passenger line that owned the Rembrandt wanted the passengers to arrive at the spaceport via company shuttlecraft rather than an Alliance Armed Forces starship, because hundreds of news reporters were waiting at the spaceport on Timbuk Three. Piracy was bad publicity, and the passenger line wanted to show there dedication to their passengers’ comfort.

The passengers were off-loaded at the secondary airlocks on the starboard side of the Candlelight’s thirty-five story sail, so that the port-side main airlock complex could be used to unload the cargo. The big room was depressurized and the six interior bridges were retracted. After the cargo hold had also been depressurized, the huge transparent section of the hull was opened, the artificial gravity was turned off, and the floor was rolled back to reveal the cargo hold below. Crewmen in pressure suits floated around like flies at a summer picnic. The more vacuum-sensitive items of cargo had been sealed inside large transparent bags of bubble-plastic before the cargo hold was depressurized. When the air was pumped out of the cargo hold the bags expanded because of the air they contained.

In zero gravity the crewmen bounced around and tossed the giant beach balls as they jockeyed the Rembrandt's cargo out of the cargo hold and into the large freighter which hovered close by. The remote controlled freight lifters from both the Candlelight and the freighter soared back and forth between the two ships like ants scurry to the colony with morsels of food, and then returning to grab more goodies from the Candlelight’s cargo hold.

The passengers were a downright rowdy bunch as they lined up in the corridors leading to the secondary locks. They were glad to be leaving the crowded ship, and they were anxious to tell their thr¬illing tale of adventure to the folks back home. Honest, Mom! Real pirates!

The junior crewmen who had made themselves a temporary home in the cargo hold were eager to help the passengers with their baggage, since by doing so they were regaining their own quarters.

The Candlelight floated above Timbuk Three and gave up her sheltered brood like a mother hen watching her chicks leave the nest.

And still Danceea wouldn't tell me where she was from.

We were standing in the corridor near air lock four when the last of the pas¬sengers were called to board a shuttle. I put a brave smile on my face and went through the motions of farewell, even though the girl had made it painfully obvious that she wanted us to part as mere friends, without any embarrassing sequels to our brief shipboard romance. As we stood near the air lock, I steeled myself to play out the drama without losing my dignity.

"I really enjoyed it," I said for about the third time.

"So have I, David." She wore a sweet, sad smile that betrayed her awareness of the pained look in my eyes. "I won't forget you,” she added — which hurt, because I didn't believe it.

"Aw, I’ll bet you say that to all the guys who save your life," A trace of unintentional bitterness crept into my voice.

"Since you’re the only guy who's ever saved my life, I guess I do say it to all the guys who have saved my life." She held her smile in place, and I tried to do the same. I was holding both her hands in mine, and I had to consciously relax them. I knew that when I let go of them, I’d never hold them again. She turned her head and watched the last of the passengers scurry through the lock.

"Guess I better go or I'll get left."

"We couldn't have that, could we?"

She paused for a moment, gazing up at me with enough pity in her eyes to almost make me hate her.

"Good-bye, Davey," she said softly, and she kissed me quickly on the corner of the mouth. She turned and hurried through the air lock while I stood there looking sad and confused and disappointed. I watched until she crossed the boarding bridge and entered the airlock of the sleek, streamlined shuttle with Nokinora Interstellar painted in bright blue letters on a white background.

I was all set to stand there like a brokenhearted fool and watch the shuttle undock and glide away, but then I heard the sound of people behind me. They were chanting a strange phrase over and over. I couldn't make out the words until they got closer.

"Lions and tigers and bears, oh my! Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!"

I turned to see Heckle and Jeckle approaching with two gorgeous young ladies. The four of them came striding along in step, shoulder to shoulder, arms linked, chanting in unison. When they reached me, the foursome halted.

"See? I told you we'd make it!" said Bill Jenkins to his lovely companion. "Now if you gals will just click your magical red shoes together three times, yon shuttle will whisk you back to Kansas."

"Toto, too?" said his smiling female friend.

"Toto, too," said Bill in a ridiculously high voice. I was forced to stand there and watch the girls proceeded to give Bill and Randy a matched set of good-bye kisses that would sunburn their lips for sure. Randy's girl whispered something to him which I was just barely able to hear.

"Tell me the truth, Randy," she whispered against his ear. "Will I see you again?"

"Somehow, someway, you bet," Randy said with quiet sincerity. Meanwhile, the other girl whispered something to Bill that I could not hear. Whatever it was, it actually made him blush. She concluded her remark with a kiss on his ear, then the two girls headed for the airlock where a shuttle crewman with a headset was reporting that the corridor was clear and the last two passengers were coming aboard.

Halfway across the boarding bridge the two girls linked arms and started chanting again. "Lions and tigers and bears, oh my! Lions and tigers . . . " Their voices faded as they entered the airlock and disappeared.

" . . . and bears,” said Randy softly. “Oh my." He and Bill exchanged meaningful looks. Then Bill turned to me.

"Hey, Newcastle, did you get Miss Aberron’s address?"

"Uh . . . the lady declined."

Bill looked embarrassed, then surprised. ""Oh . . . Really? Hmmm."

There was an awkward moment of silence while I stood there playing the Romantic Failure. Bill decided I needed rescuing.

"Hey, we just discovered another classic old movie in the library. It's called The Wizard of Oz. Ever seen it?"

"No, I don't think so. How old is it?"

"Ancient! One of the oldest."

"One of the silent ones?"

"No, it's got sound! I mean, originally," said Bill.

"Ah, good. Black and white though, huh?"

"Parts of it are sepia, for some damn reason," said Randy. "But most of it is in color. Great color."

"Is it in 3-D?"

"Yes," said Bill.

"No," said Randy.

They looked at each other like they both thought the other one was crazy. Then Bill said, "What do you mean, no?"

"It wasn't originally made in 3-D. They did that about a hundred years later — you know, when they converted all the old stuff to 3-D."

"Oh," said Bill. Then he made a face at Randy and said, "Jeez, you can be so picky."

I jumped into the discussion and said, 'What's the story about?"

Bill leapt at the chance to end the debate, since he’d lost. "This little girl on a farm gets caught in some kind of vortex that looks like a tornado, but she ends up in a parallel universe or something. Everybody there sings a lot."

"No kidding?" I was getting cheered up in spite of myself. "What do they sing?"

"Well, you know . . . different songs, of course."

"But in harmony!" said Randy.

"The parallel universe had a lot of weird creatures and strange landscapes."

"Wow," I was trying to visualize the movie after hearing nothing but colorful generalities and child-like enthusiasm. Still, they did have my attention. "Has it also been converted into 360° 3-D Immersion?"

Randy and Bill looked at me without blinking for five seconds, mouths agape. Then Bill said, "I didn't know they could do that with old movies."

"They've done it with a few of them, but it usually doesn't work well. The computer has to create a reasonable image of what the viewer would see if the movie had been filmed with a 360° 3-D camera — like what you’d see if you were standing where the camera was located, looking all around in every direction. It’s just like total immersion video games.”

Randy was nodding his head. "Okay, but why doesn't it work well when they convert old movies?"

"The computer can do it just fine if the scene in the movie is a known location and the computer has holographic scans of the area. But if it's film on a movie set of a fictional location like . . . ummmm . . . "

"Forbidden Planet!" said Randy, deliberately answering before Bill could.

"I’ve never seen it, but okay. Like that one. How's the computer supposed to know what was behind the camera if it's just a movie set of a fictional location?"

Randy and Bill were looking at me without blinking again, but the were they holding down a pair of smiles which struggled to break free. They held that pose until finally I said, "Okay . . what?"

"You've never seen Forbidden Planet?" They said it in perfect unison. It was creepy.

"No. Or maybe I just don't remember."

"Oh, you'd remember!" said Randy. "The original 2-D version is awesome. The converted 3-D version is even more awesome."

Bill leaned close and spoke in a low voice. "If you can create a 360° 3-D version that looks good, you'll become a legend. Beautiful women on planets with primitive cultures will worship you as a god."

"Sounds like quite a movie." I wasn't sure how serious either of them were. And since Heckle and Jeckle were never completely serious, I was mentally debating shades of gray, not black-or-white.

"Well it certainly sounds like a challenge," I finally said. I felt like a sane man trying to inch his way towards the door of an asylum before the inmates insisted he stay and be their friend, forever.

"A challenge is just what you need, Davey!" Randy exclaimed. "The first step will be to watch the converted 3-D versions of both The Wizard of Oz and Forbidden Planet."

"Wrong," said Bill. "The first step is to make popcorn. The second step is to find out which alcoholic beverage goes best with popcorn."

"Rum and Coke," Randy suggested.

"Perfect! And then we watch the movies," Bill said. He stared at me the way the Mad Hatter looked at Alice. "Come, your Wizardry! Fame awaits you!"

"Well . . . alright, let's give it a try. If Gracie can’t do it, I’ll wager God couldn’t either."

"Great!" said Bill. He turned to Randy with a lunatic grin. "To Oz?"

"To Oz!"

They grabbed my arms and dragged me along as they started skipping off down the corridor, singing with less skill than two ally cats in heat. "We're off to see the Wizaaaaard! The Wonderful Wizard of Oz!"

Oh well. There's no place like home . . .

_____________*___________*___________*

The trip to Hollacox took less than one day at top speed, and the members of Dr. Carrington's team were off-loaded in orbit by a shuttle which said University of Hollacox on her side. I asked Gracie to show me data on the university, and I found out that it was very highly regarded, galaxy wide. So, either the university was financing part of the expedition to the Magellanic Clouds or the Alliance had just picked the university as a scholarly rendezvous point for the assembled team.

Dr. Carrington had come to me before he left the ship and said a sincere good-bye. He made me promise to write a letter to his grandson. I was sure that when Carrington told his grandson about my daring adventure aboard the Beltherian ship when I bravely snatched the captain’s log and made a narrow escape, the boy would look upon me as the true hero of the entire incident. Honest, Mom! A real pirate computer!

The good doctor gave me permission to look through his data which had been copied by the Beltherians, since the pirate ship's log was still in the Candlelight’s computer. Carrington's data contained everything he knew about the mysterious artifact he was en route to investigate.

By the time we had dropped off Dr. Carrington and his people at Hollacox, the Candlelight’s crew had been seized by a genuine mania. No matter where I went on the ship there was no getting away from that info program about Tason. The reason for the programs popularity was obvious. We were finally en route to Tason for our fifteen day surface leave. Even though we could have gotten to Tason in less than a day, the captain ordered a cruising speed that would cause us to arrive in just a little over two days. Our surface leave could not begin until the G.S.C. Reverence had finished her own surface leave and departed the Tasonian community to which we had been assigned.

Every individual in the Armed Forces has heard about Tason. There’s not another place quite like it in the galaxy. Part of the fascination is the beauty of the planet. There are no major oceans on Tason. Just lakes and streams and rivers and ponds that occupy millions of lush, green valleys sur¬rounded by ragged mountain peaks which soar to impossible heights. Geologists are still trying to figure how the highest of the tower-like mountains can exist. Tason is the galaxy's biggest garden. Accord to the tall tales told about the planet, you could plant an axe handle in Tasonian soil and it would sprout leaves the next day . . . and bear fruit the day after that.

Naturally we didn't believe everything we heard, but apparently if there’s an ugly spot on the planet, nobody has found it yet. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that every part of the planet was a tempe¬rate zone, but apparently even the deserts and arctic regions are gorgeous in their own unique way

Strangely enough, Tason has no natives — that is, no sentient species which is indigenous to the planet. Its population is comprised of a mixture of the species capable of living on an Earth-type planet. Application for Tasonian citizen¬ship requires approval by a board of review, and even if the board approves the application, there’s a mandatory waiting period of two Earth/standard years.

On Tason the various sentient species of the galaxy are interacting with greater success than was thought possible. Tasonian art and literature has gained galaxy-wide acclaim. Their literature concerning philosophy and theology has started new religions, and revolutionized old ones. The title of one book, translated into Earth/English/current, is Speculations on the Creator's Goal. It examines a number of fascinating theories as to what God (assuming there is one) ultimately wants to do with the universe.

One of the reasons the book is such a departure from many other works which deal with God and religion is it's assertion that most religions are completely wrong. And it does a good job of presenting this unpopular idea based on logic and the documented history of several thousand sentient species. It examines the possibility that every religion on ever planet fails to take into account the concept that God must have a plan for all sentient species — even though the cultures of these species are so different that a sin in one culture is a virtue in fifty others. And vice versa.

All three authors flatly deny any divine inspiration, pointing out that if God had guided them while they wrote the book, it wouldn’t have so many different theories on the end-result of all creation. It would have simply revealed The One.

But Tason isn’t just a planet filled with deep thinkers who ponder lofty ideas. Many years ago Tason offered the Alliance Forces the opportunity to reward its most conscientious members by letting them spend fifteen days as honored quests at special communities which were tailored to provide a unique experience for the guests. Each community is populated by a variety of the species that make up Tason's population. These communities are all located in some of the most breathtakingly beautiful spots on the planet. The citizens are all volunteers, dedicated to providing their guests with a once in a lifetime holiday.

The reason for the Tasonian hospitality -- aside from the whopping fat fee they charge the Alliance — is a simple one. The Tasonians are recruiting. Since only the cream of the Alliance Armed Forces are allowed to visit the planet, the Tasonians can look over their guests in hopes of finding worthy new citizens. On very rare occasions some of the visitors have been asked to stay. This seems odd in view of the fact that millions of beings all over the galaxy have applied for citizenship, so it would not seem necessary for the Tasonians to have to go looking for new ones.

Perhaps the brief fifteen-day period of non-stop interactions with the Tasonians is a more accurate way to judge the suitability of a potential citizen than any detailed investigation of applicants. Or perhaps they consider both the personal interaction, along with the detailed service records of these individuals, to be the best way to select new members for this elite population.

All this information about Tason (and much more) was contained in the info program the crew had become addicted to watching. The program was required viewing for any crew going to Tason, but nobody had to be order to view it. The crew would have gotten their hot little hands on that program even if it had been illegal. There was, to put it mildly, a madness in the air.

The purpose of this presentation is to acquaint you with some of the facts about the binary planets called Tason and Dante. This program is required viewing for all service personnel who have been awarded a surface leave on Tason.

The main dining hall was populated by people who frequently forgot to eat, so attentive were they to the suspended pyramids of the holographic displays above the tables.

Tason has a surface gravity of 0.897 Earth/normal and an oxygen content of 4.6 richer than Earth/standard, so adjust your equipment accordingly. The planet's general terrain is exceptionally mountainous, with some peaks reaching a height of 88,000 feet, which is almost 17 Earth/standard/miles, or just under 27 kilometers.

People started bragging about how many times they had viewed the program. Some folks could quote large sections of the program by heart — which they did — and to groups of crewmen who actually listened.

Both Tason and Dante are terrestrial planets, though Dante is so volcanically unstable that its atmosphere is saturated with vol¬canic gases.

The visual aspect of the informational program was frustratingly devoid of colorful pictures which showed the spectacular landscape or the many sentient creatures who would be our hosts. It was, instead, dominated by graphs, charts, planetary cross-sections, and computer graphics, giving the viewer very few actual scenes of Tason's surface or its inhabitants. None the less, the program described the concept of Tas¬on, a place where giant sentient sea creatures would ride you down to an underwater garden, or giant sentient birds would fly you up to a mountain-top res¬taurant.

Tason has no indigenous species of sentient life. Its population is comprised of several hundred different types of life forms from all over the galaxy.

A surface leave on Tason was such a rare and honored opportunity that everybody felt overwhelmed by the idea. It represented the prime reason for which many people had joined the Armed Forces. Of all the "new places and new things" a recruit yearned to see, Tason was the newest and the best. We were pre-sold on Tason, and the more we heard about it from that program, the more anxious we were to get there.

At noon on the second day of our trip to Tason, I wandered up to the observation decks to watch our approach to the system. The lower deck was filled to capacity, standing room included, but the upper deck still had a few square feet of floor showing here and there. I wove my way through the crowd to the guard rail and eased myself sideways into a narrow gap. The ship had already dropped below light speed and we were well inside the Tason-Dante system. However, the view through the bridge dome that surrounded both the bridge area and the observation decks was blocked dead-ahead by three joined display screens which were showing (you guessed it) the informational program about Tason. It was about to conclude as I reached the guard rail.

Yes, your surface leave on Tason promises to be an experience you'll never forget. We urge you to make full use of this truly golden opportunity. Please remember, however, that you represent the Alliance Armed Forces, and as such your conduct is especially important.

Again, congratulations and we hope you’ll enjoy your surface leave on Tason.

The program concluded with a dramatic shot of both Tason and Dante as seen from space. The scene stretched across the three joined screens as the narrator finished his presentation. Dante was an angry red orb in the foreground, partially obscuring Tason. The display screens started rolling to the left, still coupled together and still showing the two planets. As they slid aside they revealed (TA — DAA!) Tason and Dante, live and in person, the same subjective size as their screen images, and positioned almost exactly the same way. A chorus of ooh's and ah's preceded the burst of applause that issued from the observation decks in appreciation for the showmanship displayed by the grinning bridge crew who had arranged this unexpected show.






Tony Thorn, the communications officer, turned to the captain and said, "Sir, I have the G.S.C. Reverence on-line.."

"Really? Are they still on Tason?" said North, seated comfortably in his command chair, enjoying this moment as much as everyone else.

"No, sir. They're approaching us now," said Thorn. A screen rolled out from the right, already bearing the image of a bridge area identical to the Candlelight’s, but populated by strangers. A lean, elderly man lounged in the command chair, surrounded by a crew who wistful but content. Several people stood behind the captain on the level area at the top of the sloping bridge floor. They were all junior crewmen, and they waved with campy exaggeration while their captain addressed Captain North with a perfect poker face.

Captain Lawrence Gordon looked relaxed and bored as he spoke. "Hello, Daniel. Congratulations on your surface leave. At last you were given some small reward for your years of faithful service,".

"Thank you, Lawrence. It's quite an honor."

"Yes, I suppose. Everyone is impressed the first time they go to Tason. This is my second surface leave there, you know." He wore a faintly patronizing smile as he settled himself deeper into the command chair, assuming a lazy and indolent slouch. Several of the crewmen in the group behind Captain Gordon were stifling giggles. Captain North knew exactly what Captain Gordon was up to, and he began to imitate Gordon's patronizing tone.

"Yes, Lawrence, but it took you, what . . ., fifteen years to get back?"

"Hmmm. Closer to twenty, I think."

"Oh, I see. So, going back must have been something of a bore, I imagine. I mean, once is enough, right?" Captain North was doing a fine job of remaining straight-faced — unlike the rest of us on the bridge as we watched this comedic performance.

"Weeeell . . . no, it wasn't too terribly boring. And I wouldn't want to seem ungrateful for the honor of being asked back a second time. After all, Daniel, so few people get to go to Tason even once."

"You must have been quite young when you made the first visit, hmmmm?"

"No, actually I was thirty-five years old."

"I see. And how long had you been aboard the ship on which you served?"

Captain Gordon squirmed visibly and finally said, "I'd been assigned to that ship for thirty or forty . . . days."

North pounced gleefully. "Ah-ha! A lucky break for you, Lawrence. I'm sure you earned the honor . . . retroactively, so to speak."

"Well. yes, I like to think so."

"Has Tason changed much since your last visit?"

Captain Gordon shook his head sadly. "No, I don't think so. I really didn't notice."

“What a shame,” said Captain North, his expression a sad-faced portrait of sympathy. "And what about your crew, Lawrence? Did they find anything at all to amuse themselves?"

Behind Captain Lawrence the silent crowd of crewmen was nodding vigorously. Their captain pretended to be completely ignorant of the circus clowns who performed behind him.

"Oh, I'm sure they were entertained the first few days — you know, until the newness wore off." Captain Gordon faked a hugh yawn which distorted the first few words when he said, "But I'm sure they were careful not to be rude, Daniel.”

"Oh, really? Didn't any of your people have a good time?"

Behind Captain Gordon, all the crewmen began pointing at themselves vigorously, grinning like lunatics. On the Candlelight’s bridge there was a burst of laughter, but it was ignored by both the two captains.

"Hey, I have an idea!" Captain North said cheerfully. "Maybe the ones who did enjoy Tason would like to transfer to my vessel for a few weeks. You could ask for volunteers."

On the bridge of the Reverence twenty hands shot up into the air, a forest of upraised arms while the people struggled visibly to keep from knocking each other down. Captain Gordon casually glanced over his shoulder and then turned back towards Captain North, struggling valiantly to maintain his serious expression. It was a loosing battle. He started to say something, stifled a quick laugh, tried again — and finally raised his own hand slowly to join the ranks of the folks who were eager to jump ship and head back to Tason.

The bridge crews on both ships erupted in laughter. When it subsided, Captain Gordon straightened up in his chair and let his cocky attitude slide away. He leaned forward and looked at Captain North with a smile that was both envious and congratulatory.

"Daniel, I'd give my right arm to go back to Tason. It was . . . more than any of us thought it could be . . . " His voice trailed off as words simply failed him, so he finished by saying. "I just hope that in twenty years they let me go back again. You and your crew are in for an experience you’ll never forget. And you've earned it."

Captain North smiled as he answered quietly. "Thanks, Lawrence.”

Captain Gordon and his crew lifted their hands in farewell as the image faded from the screen. Tony Thorn rolled the screen back to the right side of the bridge, but he was rolling another screen out from the left again. Over the crowd's rising murmur Tony spoke with undisguised excitement. "Captain, the Tasonian Landing Master is on-line!"

Instantly the crowd made a racket shushing itself. As they did, the rolling display screen filled itself with swirling static. From the PA came a deep, mellow voice. The effect on the crowd was visible and awesome.

Welcome, Galactic Stellacruiser Candlelight. I bring you greetings from all the life forms who dwell on Tason.

The bridge became as quiet as a tomb, and the crew as motionless as mannequins. That voice marked the official beginning of our surface leave, and it put goose bumps on every arm present.

"Greetings from the Candlelight," said Tony in his smoothest voice "Uh . . sir, we don't seem to be getting your video signal." The screen was still filled with a blizzard of static.

You won’t need a video signal, Tony. You'll have plenty to see during your approach.

"Very well, sir. I'll turn you over to the helmsman and the navigator."

Thank you, Tony. Hello, Samuel and Beth. Welcome to Tason. Beth, your husband will be making a close pass by our sister world, Dante. Bring the ship past Dante at sixteen hundred kilometer precisely, and keep your shields up, full power.

"All right, Sir. Sixteen hundred kilometers altitude, aye."

Captain North?

"Right here, sir."

Hello, Captain. I've been asked to tell you that our community chief administrator hopes to play chess with you.

"I'd be delighted," said North. The bridge crew knew North was a chess player, but the fact that the folks on Tason knew it too was a small but significant gesture on their part.

He'll be glad to hear that, Daniel.

Tony Thorn had retracted the display screen, and the volcanic Dante was drawing close. The crescent of Tason showed around Dante's edge, beyond the lava-laced planet.

And now, men and women of the Candlelight, please observe Tason's unfortunate companion in space.

Dante loomed up larger and larger as the Candlelight approached its night side. The dark hemisphere was veined with rivers of lava, which connected with lakes and oceans of red-glowing molten rock. The planet had a swirling atmosphere of smoke and ash which was filled with constant lightning. Updrafts from the hot lava oceans and the larger lakes tended to push the black clouds into continent-sized clumps which hovered over the relatively cooler regions.

Because Tason and Dante are chained so closely together by gravity, Dante has been slowly disintegrating ever since the two planets became chained together by gravity.. Poor Dante's molten core is being pulled to the surface by Tason. But the fact that Tason is not suffering the same fate remains a mystery.

Dante filled the right side of the view through the bridge dome, frighteningly close as the Candlelight slid by the planet on its left. Every starboard-side view port on the ship was crowded with people as the smoldering world drifted past. The Landing Master’s voice continued to fill the ship, like a benevolent God showing off his creation to the awestruck mortals.

Since Tason has no major oceans, we don't suffer the extreme tidal changes that Dante would otherwise cause.

As we reached the closest point of our fly-by, we found out why the Landing Master had instructed Beth Kellogg to keep our shields up. On Dante's surface, at the point nearest us, just sixteen hundred kilometers away, a colossal explosion bloomed like a silent flower of fire. It sent globs of liquid rock floating up towards us. I unconsciously cringed as the deceptively slow-moving bits of lava kept rising from the sideways surface of Dante until they struck the Candlelight’s outer-most shield. The shield flashed white hot at the impact point, and the glowing debris exploded like fireworks. Then the pieces tumbled back down to the surface as we left Dante behind.

Twenty feet to my right, standing at the guard rail, Heckle and Jeckle were holding a bottle of champagne and two long-stemmed glasses. With elegant ceremony they filled the glasses and raised them in a toast.

"See the galaxy by Candlelight," Randy said poetically. The two men sipped the bubbly beverage while Dante slide past us.

Again the Landing Master's voice filled the ship. And now you see before you . . . Tason.

As Dante drifted out of sight behind us, the dark silhouette of Tason's night side was revealed, glittering with a light of its own. The source of the luminescence was actually Dante, whose day side was reflecting sunlight onto Tason, giving it a “full moon” many times brighter than any which ever shone on Earth. The reflected light form Dante sparkled from the surface of Tason's countless lakes and rivers. Tason was a shimmering jewel, filled with thousands of tiny highlights, wrapped in a clinging veil of clouds. It grew visibly larger as we rushed towards it.

Samuel? Your console display will show you an approach vector. You'll notice that the last part of your course brings the Candlelight in at a low altitude and a slow velocity. When you come through the mountain pass, please monitor your speed carefully.

Beth Kellogg studied the console display with her husband, then she turned to the captain. "Thirty miles an hour, Sir?"

"It's his show," whispered North, his voiced filled with awe.

The [i]Candlelight
reached the upper atmosphere of Tason, and Gumjaw lifted her prow until the planet was finally below us and we were descending slowly towards the surface below. He fiddled with the control yoke switches, matching our course and speed to the Landing Master's instructions.

Someone edged up next to me at the rail. I turned to find Chief Alex Sandusky smiling as he gazed at the planet below. Sandusky leaned over the rail and called down to the helmsman.

"Hey, Sam? Ask him which community we'll be staying at."

The Landing Masters voice answered instantly. The Norado community, of course, Alex. Did you think we’d forgotten?

The crowd around us murmured in astonishment while Sandusky laughed and said, "I should have known."

Seeray sends his congratulations on your promotion to chief non-commissioned officer. He says you still owe him seventy credits from a poker game.

With a truly devilish grin, Sandusky patted his pocket. "And I've got it right here. Tell him I intend to win it back."

I will, said the Landing Master.

Instantly everyone around the chief started whispering questions about this unsuspected previous visit to Tason. The rest of the crowd exploded into hisses to quiet the questioners. When the crowd settled into silence again, Sandusky leaned close to me and whispered, "I was a Protector with the first Field Study team that went to Wind Jammer. I’ll tell you that story sometime."

If it had earned the chief and his shipmates a surface leave on Tason, I knew it had to be quite a yarn.

Captain North called up to Sandusky.

"How long ago was your first visit, Chief?"

"Eighteen years, sir."

"And they remember your voice?"

"The people in each assigned community make an incredible effort to personalize ever aspect of a crew’s visit. They even try to send second-timers to the same community they visited before. When a community finds out which starship is scheduled to come, the Tasonians study up on the crew for weeks in advance."

North looked puzzled. "Where do the get the information?"

"The Alliance supplies it. The Tasonians look at shipboard videos, service records, medical requirements . . . everything."

"Amazing," said Captain North.

Sandusky chuckled and said, "When we arrive, every citizen of the Norado community will know everyone’s names, right off the bat. They'll also be able to make some pretty shrewd guesses as to which entertainment activities each of us would like best. By the end of the first day you'll feel like you've been there for years."

The voice of the Landing Master startled us when he suddenly chuckled and said, Alex, please — don't give away all our secrets!

The Chief laughed. "My apologies, Sir."

The murmur level rose again as everybody mulled over the idea of an entire community filled with instant old friends. By this time we were deep into the planet’s atmosphere, approaching the day/night terminator as Tason's sun rose above the planet's edge. The bridge dome polarized to reduce the glare. The land below was dark, but the higher clouds were beginning to catch the sunlight. Somewhere up ahead, it was already dawn at the Norado community, where they were getting ready for a new batch of guests.

The land lightened beneath us, and it took on more naked-eye details as we lost altitude. Our speed was down to two thousands miles an hour. From the looks of the broken cloud patterns up ahead, it was going to be nice sunny day in the Norado region — which was definitely a good thing, because if it took us twenty years to get back here again, we’d hate to have our vacation ruined by rainy days!

As the ship continued to descend, the patchy cloud layer rushed up to meet us and we slid down between a couple of spectacular thunderheads who were squaring off to do battle. My first good look at Tason's geography brought with it a full understanding of what the informational program meant when it spoke of Tason's thousands of lakes, ponds, rivers, and streams. All that meandering water had cut up the planet's surface until there were very few large plains or flat regions left. Tason was very much like Samuel Kellogg's home world, Hinckle's Home, in that it was all mountains and valley. The difference was in degree. Hinkle's Home had mountains — whereas Tason had mountains.

We were barely below the cloud layer, many miles above the ground below, and yet there were strangely shaped, impossibly tall mountains punching up through the billowing clouds on all sides of us. They went up and up for miles, tall spires of rock like skyscrapers in a big city. No wonder planetary geologist all over the galaxy couldn't figure out how Tason managed to exist.

I looked down at Gumjaw. He was dividing his attention between the view ahead and the display screens on his console, as if he didn’t trust either one completely. Ahead of us was a wall of dark gray stone, ragged and cracked, which rose up from a valley below. We were headed for a cleft in the near-vertical cliff ahead. The cleft split the wall of rock from it's cloud-piercing peaks above us all the way down to point just below our current altitude. And yet we were about three thousand feet above the valley below!






Through the cleft poured a waterfall, and the falling white stream dropped straight down into a misty cloud of spray which totally obscured the region beneath us. The water dispersed so completely during its impossibly long fall to the land below that I wondered if there even was a lake or river at its base. Maybe it just drizzled all year long in that region for miles in every direction.

But looking ahead, I did see the source of the waterfall, a lake which was barely visible beyond the cleft in the cliff. Apparently the Norado community was in a valley on the other side of the cleft in the mountain, at the shore of a lake. The lake drained into a river which fed the waterfall, and the waterfall dropped down to a valley three thousand feet lower on this side of the cliff!

I was getting a headache trying to visual this planet's impossible geography.

How could any Earth-sized world have livable environments at so many different altitudes? The air pressure should be too low in the high regions and too dense in the low regions. And why didn't all that water flow down to the lowest regions and drown everybody there without mercy, and then form several massive oceans with tides that caused gigantic tsunamis on a daily basis because of Dante's brutal gravity?

Tason was a paradise which defied the laws of physics.

Gumjaw had our speed down to one hundred miles an hour as we flew over the impossible waterfall and into the mountain pass formed by the cleft. The Candlelight slipped into the stone-walled gap, with cliffs flanking us on the left and right. Our skilled helmsman manipulated his controls and centered us carefully between the hard vertical walls of stone on both sides, being careful not to rake the jagged rocks against the outer edges of the Candlelight’s long, slender wing-like structures which protruded from each side of the stately central sail which comprised the bulk of her fuselage.

Below us, the wide shallow river edged along, feeding the waterfall behind us before making its impossible fall towards the valley below. A green valley ahead of us was slowly coming into view as we approached the end of the mountain cleft and the lake beyond it. We were creeping through the pass at thirty miles and hour, just the way the Landing Master had instructed.

After the long silence, the Landing Master's voice startled us when he suddenly spoke in voice charged with more emotion and drama than anything he'd said before.

People of the Candlelight . . . welcome to Norado!

We were nearing the end of the wide mountain pass and the lake which fed the river, and we could see that the green valley across the lake ahead of us was astonishingly lush. Low buildings designed with great aesthetic appeal were firmly embedded in the fat green foliage for as far as the eye could see. Open regions of grass wandered among the islands of tall trees, and the whole valley was flanked by more of the towering peaks of sharp rock, most of them lost amidst the clouds above.

We were almost to the mouth of the mountain river when a flock of huge birds came cruising in from both sides of the canyon. Some of them soared out in front of the ship, while others surrounded us and matching our speed.

"Hang gliders!" shouted one of the crewmen on the upper observation deck, and I realized that some of the flying objects around us were not actually birds, they were men and woman riding brightly colored gliders. Many of them were trailing lengthy streams of colorful fabric which mimicked the long tail feathers of their avian companions.

Chief Sandusky, standing next to me, said, "Now you know why they wanted us to come in so slowly."

We were engulfed in a flock of giant, brightly colored birds and human-piloted gliders fashioned to resemble them, many of them pacing us perfectly. The pilots of the gliders were grinning and waving. The real birds, with their forty foot wing spans, darted around among the gliders, imitating the people by waving their wing tips at us and dropping their bird feet to paw the air, as if they were walking.

"Hey, look!" shouted Beth Kellogg. She was pointing towards the right, and everybody turned to starboard as a dozen Tasonians who were riding longer, more streamlined gliders — black in color with white streamers of fabric trailing behind them — caught up with us and raced past. The riders lay prone, their bodies tucked beneath the center spines of their arrow-like crafts. They shot by us doing more than eighty miles and hour as they waved like Harpo Marx, grinning maniacally as they passed by us and moved out ahead.

Seconds later, the Candlelight reached the end of the stone alley and soared out over the wide lake that fed the river. We cruised across the lake, slowly loosing altitude, surrounded by our amazing assortment of escorts. The Candlelight filled the valley with the throbbing roar of her engines.

Beneath us, the surface of the lake was alive with leaping aquatic life forms, all demonstrating their glad greetings by churning the water with their activity. I saw seventy-foot-long behemoths, their slick rounded backs heaving and rolling above the surface, their oddly shaped tails bursting free of the water and fanning the air.

The whole swimming mob was headed for our landing area, a series of three metal disks that were located at the edge of the lake, a hundred feet from the shore. A wide, grass-covered ramp extended from the lake's edge to the middle disk of the three. The other two disks were designed to line up with the stellacruiser's two smaller, inverted versions of the sail on the bottom of the hyperdrive engines, a quarter of the way out the length of the long, slender wings.

Gumjaw brought the Candlelight down to hover over the three disks while the fleet of hang gliders and bird escorts went on to land in the lush grassy field which bordered the lake. I could see the men and women as they hit the ground running, shrugged out of their harnesses, and came sprinting back to the lake's edge to join the hundreds of Tasonians who waited there for us to land.

The flamboyant Mr. Kellogg decided to dazzle the folks, so as soon as the air around the ship was cleared of gliders and birds, he slowly rotated the Candlelight in mid-air, turning it so that one of the wings swept over the crowd. When he had realigned the ship over the landing disks so that it was facing back towards the lake, he brought it down light as a falling leaf until the two structures under the ship rested on the two outer disks.

The people around me on the upper observation deck made a concerted rush for the escalators, and I hung back to avoid being trampled. When the crowd surged away like an out-going tide, it revealed Randy Henson and Bill Jenkins, leaning casually against the guard rail, sipping the last of the champagne in the long stemmed glasses.

I smiled at the empty glasses and said, "You didn't drink it all, did you?"

"Nope," said Randy. "We each poured ourselves a glass and then offered the bottle to anyone willing to go get more glasses."

"And?"

"We never saw the bottle again," said Randy.

"Yeah," said Bill, nodding sagely. "We suspect they ate it."

The bridge and the observation decks were deserted — something I’d never seen before. Everybody was rushing down to the boarding way beneath the ship to join the happy throng of friendly Tasonians waiting to meet them. I knew the boarding way would be crammed with people. Randy, Bill, and I stood there looking glum and neglected until Bill's face suddenly lit up like a kid with rich parents on Christmas morning.

"I know a short cut!" Bill exclaimed. He set his glass down on the floor and then bolted for the stairs that lead down to the escalator landing. Randy and I followed as Bill lead us to the maintenance airlock which opened out onto the starboard-side wing. Bill opened both airlock doors and ran out onto the hull of the ship, jogging along the top of the wing.

Both Randy and Bill were thirty feet ahead of me by the time they reached the edge of the wing and looked down. When I jogged up next to them they were having a debate.

"We probably shouldn't do it," said Bill.

"Oh, I disagree," said Randy. "I'm sure we shouldn't do it."

"Hey, look. They're waving at use . . . and one of them just called you a coward."

"No, what he actually said was that you were a bigger chicken than me."

"Shall we prove him wrong?" said Bill.

"Might as well. They've already cleared a place in the water below us. On three?"

"Right," said Randy. "Here we go. Three!"

And so help me God, they both jumped.

It was a good seventy feet to the surface of the lake below, and the swimmers had moved back to clear a big circular area. Randy and Bill hit feet first and came up a few seconds later. The humans among the on-lookers applauded as the two men swam over the edge of the lake and climbed out. The outer disks that supported the ship's two landing structures had been lowered a few inches beneath the water after the ship had landed. The Candlelight seemed to rest serenely on the water's surface, although from my high vantage point above I could see the disks just below the clear water.

The grassy ramp stuck out from the lake shore and ended at the edge of the center disk, located twenty feet below the ship's boarding way, a shorter structure which protruded from the bottom of the stellacruiser like a fat, short keel. Four wide escalators had folded down from the bottom of the landing way and were resting on the center disk. All four escalators were packed with crewmen coming down from the ship. They were streaming across the grassy ramp towards the crowd of Tasonians who waited to greet them on the lake shore.

The green meadow which bordered the lake was littered with even more Tasonians. There were creatures which resembled shaggy horses, waddling lizards, multi-legged over-sized dogs, and fleshy over-weight insects. And naturally there were dozens of other life forms which didn't resemble anything recognizable.

Open cockpit flyers, designed to hold a dozen human-sized passengers, came whizzing in above the crowd. They were filled with Tasonians of every shape, color, and size.

I didn't exactly have a perfect view of all this, perched on the edge of the Candlelight’s wing, because most of the action was taking place under the ship. Directly below me I caught sight of Bill Jenkins on the lake shore, waving at me to leap off and take the plunge. I felt my gut drawing up like a clenched fist — but madness seemed to reign pretty much everywhere, so before I could loose my nerve I just stepped off into the air.

I was immediately seized by enough full-fledged vertigo to ring one long, loud scream out of me. It took about ten minutes to reach the water (or so it seemed). I hit feet first and promptly wished I could get back all that valuable air I’d wasted screaming on the way down. The cool water closed around me and I went down-down-down until the world was dark and green and silent.

Suddenly something slick and yielding came up from below and pushed me forcefully upward. I broke the surface gasping for air and kept right on going up, planted atop the head of a whale-like creature with a bright red head. It held me high for all to see while the crowd cheered my return to the world of air and light. I waved just to prove I was still alive, and then Moby Dick lowered me back into the water as the huge creature slide back beneath the surface. I splashed and sloshed my way towards a ladder that lead up to the ship-to-shore ramp. I had to swim through a frenzied crowd of Candlelight crewmen and aquatic Tasonians. It was like a circus gone beserk. When I got to the ladder and climbed up, a kindly hand reached down t help me. With its help I pulled myself up to a standing position.

"Welcome to Tason," said the voice of my benefactor. As I stood there dripping wet and feeling foolish, I found myself looking into the green eyes of Miss Danceea Aberron.

During a long shocked silence, my brained screamed a single question.

Where the hell did she come from!


__________________________________________



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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


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Gord Green
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 19, 2016 11:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Really getting into this now!

Although all the back-story on Tason seemed labored, I have a feeling some of this info will become pertinent as it goes on.

The interaction between the Reverence and the Candlelight went on a bit too long and could have been reduced.

I would think a publisher would call for cutting out some redundant and non-essential parts and that could be one of them.

All and all I really enjoy the personal "story telling" aspect of the first person.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 20, 2016 9:10 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Gord Green wrote:
The interaction between the Reverence and the Candlelight went on a bit too long and could have been reduced.

Yeah, I was afraid that might be the case. In fact, initially it was even longer and I paired it down a bit, but obviously it's still not lean enough.

Thanks.

Glad you're enjoy it! Very Happy
____________________________________

Special thanks to Bulldogtrekker for pointing out that Tason and Dante were WAY too close together in the picture I created. I made adjustments to Dante's size.

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
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Gord Green
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 29, 2016 3:21 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

C'mon! C'mon! I'm getting anxious to know what's next!

Great story----Good characters----Good writing style.

Serialized stories can be SO good that they whet the appetite for MORE!!!!
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 29, 2016 11:49 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

Well, here's my problem.

The whole novel needs extensive revision, but the first part (the chapters you've seen so far) didn't need as much as the later parts, and I did most of the work on them about a year ago, but then got lazy let it sit for a long time.

So, the recent work has just been some polishing to make those first chapters good enough to post.

However, the later parts (the chapters you haven't seen yet), need a lot more work, and I haven't even started any of that work yet. Furthermore, I was told by two friends who read the original version many years ago that the parts of the story which describe the crew's "shore leave" on Tason didn't hold their interest. Sad

So, now I'm struggle with what to change and what to cut out in the Tason section. And when that's done, I have to start the really hard work — writing the brand new parts that replace story elements that I've decided to scrap completely.

The bottom line is . . . it might be a while before I add more chapters.

Then again, I might just decide to post almost everything from that part (after some polishing) and let you give me feedback to help decide what needs to be done to improve the novel.

If that's what I do, I want you to be honest about what you think needs changing. If you have any really strong criticisms to make, you might elect to send them in a PM rather than post them here. That would be your decision to make.

Anyway, thanks for the encouragement (I need it!), and I apologize for rationing out the chapters at such a slow pace. It's hard to maintain interest in a story with these long delays between chapters.

Meanwhile, I don't know if you've read The Wishbone Express, but if not, give it a try. After all, Sail the Sea of Stars it the sequel!

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


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Gord Green
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 29, 2016 2:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Fully understood.

I think this story shows great promise. Keep polishing it until it shines!
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