[Not all my stories have their origin in what-ifs.  I began this little novella even before my first novel that I wrote the summer I turned thirteen.  I won’t say how many years it took me to finish it, but it has a certain teenage innocence about it still.  Enjoy!]

Escape from Earth

Copyright 2016, Steven M. Moore

Part Four: The Escape

[My apologies…the chapters got out of phase…]

Chapter Eleven (cont)…

“We have examined our spacecraft in orbit,” said Saki’s older colleague.  “Your space debris did major damage.  We’ll have to make some quick repairs with material and components we can find here.  Our escape pods need repair too.  We’ve been working as fast as we can.”

Lucas studied the man.  ET?  Android?  How to tell?  His bare feet, blue jeans, and sweatshirt made him look like an old hippy.  Sitting in a lotus position while Lucas sat in an old rocking chair helped the metaphor.  Saki came out of the kitchen and handed each man a beer, keeping one for herself.

“I shouldn’t keep you from your work then,” said Lucas.

“You can help us in two ways, so I need to explain that.”  Joli held his hands as if he were praying.  The pause seemed long—calling it “pregnant” always seemed a bit sexist to Lucas.  The survivors’ leader finally rested his palms on his thighs.  “Two lists.  First, materials.  We will create a wish list of items we need, mostly chemicals in bulk.  We have no idea where to get them, but you might.  And we have cell phones and something called Yellow Pages.”

“Old,” said Saki.  “Not make Yellow Pages now.”

“I know.  But it’s a start.  I’m assuming chemical factories don’t close that often.”

“You’d be surprised,” said Lucas.  “If they’re bought out by someone else, or go under because of Chinese competition, it’s here today, gone tomorrow.  I don’t know the area.  The phones are our best bet for determining where to find what you need, but the reception might not be too good here.  I’m game to go and obtain what you need, though.”

“The regular reception is good enough,” said Joli, “but there’s no wi-fi, and we have limited data plans for these phones.  We’ll have to work around those limitations, maybe use hot spots in the city.  The second problem is obtaining printed circuit boards and other electronic parts.  We think we can design work-arounds to fried electronics, but it’s a daunting task, especially in adapting our software to the work-arounds.  I can’t begin to calculate how much time we’ll need for that.”

“You don’t have much.  The FBI isn’t far behind us, according to my sister.  Do you have any parts catalogs?”

“I think we need to steal those.  Saki says you dabble in this stuff?”

“Saki might overestimate my skills.”  He waved his fingers.  “But I’ve built some complicated stuff and done a few work-arounds in my life when the available parts weren’t exactly what I needed, even after becoming a doctor.  All I can do is try.  Who’s your electronics specialist?”

“Modi has some theoretical knowledge, enough to make some clever design changes, but he doesn’t know about practical issues.  The two of you should work together.”

“We’ll develop two lists then.”  Lucas looked at Saki.  “Let’s suppose we can fix the pods so they can carry you back into orbit.  How are you going to fix your ship?”

“You go too,” said Saki.  “Fix there.”  She smiled.  “I need my feral human.”

Lucas thought a bit, looked from Saki to Joli several times.  I have nothing to hold me here.  Jan’s independent and dedicated to her little patients, and she can always sell the farm if finances get dicey.

“How do you say it?  An FYI?” said Joli.  “There are no guarantees.  Even if we think our repairs will work, they might not.  We might die of starvation or lack of air trapped up there in orbit, or have to return here and burn to a crisp reentering your atmosphere if the pods aren’t able to negotiate a soft landing.  The best scenario is that we escape from Earth.  The second best is that we spend our remaining days on your planet.  All other scenarios probably end with our deaths.”

Lucas swallowed but nodded.  “Let’s start on those lists.”

***

There was no avoiding it.  They had to make trips down the mountain to buy materials.  Whether in the Rover or in the old sedan the others had stolen, it increased the chances authorities would discover them.  Having read many crime stories, Lucas came up with the idea of switching plates.  They did it several times.  He also knew how to hot-wire old cars (newer ones were more secure), so they increased their fleet.

It was on Lucas to enter the stores, though.  He knew what to look for and could play the role of electronics tinkerer because he’d been one.  He was a bit uncomfortable using money Saki’s people had stolen from ATMs, but they had spread around the pain.  And it wasn’t the kind of situation where one worries about stealing.

But the inevitable happened.  Lucas was sure that a young cop on the beat, who passed the entrance to a store at the same time Lucas entered, recognized him.  A more experienced cop probably wouldn’t show so much interest.  Lucas felt both unlucky and lucky—the first because the cop was around at all, and the second because he had telegraphed his intentions.

“Do you have a back door?” Lucas said to the clerk.  “I left my list in the car, and it’s around the block.  I bet the alley will get me there quicker.”

“Straight back,” said the clerk with a smile.

Lucas knew he was probably thinking that inventors and tinkerers were weird.  What would he think when he didn’t return?

That was the only incident, though.  Modi and he were soon busting their butts trying to do the impossible.  For Lucas it was fun, but he realized their likelihood of success was small.  As the days flew by, he swung from thinking of torpedoing the whole project to hoping for success.  He didn’t know if an adventure far beyond an astronaut’s dreams was enough motivation.  Being wherever Saki went was a lot more.

 

Chapter Twelve

“Maybe they’re building a bomb,” said Carpenter.  She and Needham were still debating the meaning of the young officer’s report.

“They’re somewhere remote,” said Needham, looking toward the hills almost obscured by smog.  “What was the air like here before they started to clean up?”

Carpenter popped the trunk.  They got out and removed their luggage, heading for the office of the Van Nuys hotel.  “There are acres of national forest and state forest around here.”

“You mean hills and mountains stripped of all vegetation by forest fires,” said Needham.  “It’s a wonder everything doesn’t come sliding down carrying all SoCal into the ocean.”

“That could happen if they ever have the big one.  I knew someone at Cal State Northridge who broke both legs in the last one.  At least they don’t have blizzards or hurricanes.”

He smiled, remembering the story of the Donner party.  In very little time, one could travel from beach to mountains in the Golden State.

They took adjoining rooms.  Needham didn’t even unpack before he started making calls.  Jewel, at the local LA office, had decided to provide them a helicopter after the news about sighting Lucas Wright.  After a quick lunch, they found it at the Van Nuys airport.

“Just what are we looking for?” said the pilot, checking all his controls before taking off.  “No Santa Anas now, but there can still be strong winds in the canyons.  You might be using binoculars a lot because I’m not going to fly that low.”

“That’s fine,” said Needham.  “This might take a few days.  We’ll treat you to dinner each night.”

“Screw that.  I have a wife and kids.  One kid is in a basketball game tonight.  You’re on your own, old man.  You too, ma’am.”

Ma’am?  Needham winked at Carpenter.  “Domestic obligations often trump work ones.  I wish I’d realized that long ago.”

They were up and flying out of the Valley.

***

“You’re going to kill yourself eating red meat,” said Carpenter.

Needham stopped cutting his steak, took a sip of his cabernet, and looked at her over the rim of the wine glass.  “You sound like my mother.  A vegan before it was popular to be one.  Drove my dad crazy.  If you keep doing salads, you’ll never round out that slender finger.”

“I never want to round it out, as you call it.  I get my protein from the tofu strips and my carbs from the wheat rolls.  The latter makes it not vegan.  I eat healthy.  You don’t.”

“They say red wine’s good for you, though, so I’m sticking with that.  It’s less expensive here.  Visiting wine country’s on my bucket list, you know.”

“You should take a few days of vacation and drive up there with Jewel.  Right up the coast.  Hang a bit in Big Sur and Monterrey and then on to Napa and Sonoma.”

“It’s that obvious?  I’ve always felt some vibes.  Both of us were married before.”

“You’re not now.  That’s another reason to go light on the red meat, by the way.”  She smiled.  “So they say.”

“Have you been up the coast?  I’ve been in and out of Frisco.  I never had the opportunity to go to wine country.”

The small talk over dinner invariably turned to the case at hand.  They were both frustrated by the lack of results in the aerial search.  Needham said Jewel would probably pull the plug on it soon.

***

On the afternoon of the third day, they ran into trouble.  One of those canyons became a narrow ravine and the pilot couldn’t gain altitude fast enough against a strong breeze that was more a downdraft that carried them farther into the ravine.  As the helicopter spun and burned on its way down, Needham realized that he’d probably never see wine country.

 

Chapter Thirteen

“Maybe chopper down,” said Modi, reentering the work area in the old barn.  “Joli says search mode.”

“Why didn’t he say something to us?” said Lucas.  “Maybe we have to leave!”

“Here still same from air.  Find us, need ground search.”

“There’s black smoke on the horizon,” said Joli, also entering the barn.  “I’m—how do you say it?—torn?  There might be survivors that need our help.”

“They become prisoners,” said Saki.  “But no torn.  We look.  Yes?”

“You empathize with these feral humans,” said Joli with a smile.

“Feelings, yes.”  Saki winked at Lucas.

“OK.  I’ll get two of the others, and we’ll take a look.  Keep working.  Whether there are survivors or not, there will be others looking for them.  Our time is getting short.”

“They can certainly spot a downed helicopter from the air,” said Lucas.  “The area might soon be crawling with Feds.”

“Feds?” said Saki.

“The authorities.  Even ones not looking for us.  That increases the likelihood of discovery.  Be careful.”

“Always,” said Joli.  “We’re out of our element here.”

By evening, the three were back.  Joli had a young woman strapped to his back.  The other two carried an older man on a makeshift stretcher.

“FBI agents Carpenter and Needham,” said Joli.  “We put them into induced comas.  The pilot was dead.”

“Bury pilot, hide wreck,” said one of the stretcher-bearers.  “Still search chopper, three ferals?”

“We need more time,” said Lucas, looking at Modi.  “We’ve only begun building the work-arounds.”

“How much time?” said Joli.

“Guess weeks,” said Modi.

“And now need nurse, guard two,” said the other stretcher-bearer.  “Better left.”

Joli shrugged.  “Not an option.  That wouldn’t have been right.  And maybe we can convince them to help us.”

“How?  Why help?” said Modi.

“Because we saved their asses,” said Lucas with a smile.

***

“OK, we’re beginning to understand,” said Needham, looking at Carpenter.  He was sitting up now, and she was walking with a makeshift cane made from a broken broom handle.  “You two have the hots for each other and want to elope to the stars.  Cute.  So romantic.  But our assignment is to solve this case.”

“Solved,” said Saki.  “Now know me.  Know Lucas.  We go.  Everyone OK.”

Lucas nodded.  “But we’d like your help.  You two owe Saki and her people.  You’d have been coyote food, you know.”

Carpenter shuddered.  “Our poor pilot.  He had a family.”

“Forget the animals,” said Joli.  “He’s buried, the chopper hidden.  They won’t find them in months, and they won’t know you’re here either.  But the sooner we’re gone, the sooner you can return to your own lives.”

“OK by me,” said Carpenter.  “Needham?”

“I guess.  I can’t say that I can do much.  I’m still in recovery mode.”

“Calls needed.  Plutonium depleted.  Need more.  Maybe for ship in orbit too.”

“Plutonium?  How in the hell am I going to get you plutonium?”  Needham had struggled to sit more upright.  Saki went to him to put a calming hand on his shoulder.

“Livermore,” said Lucas.  “Do you have any connections there?”

“I do,” said Carpenter.  She winked at Needham.  “Another old boyfriend at Cal State is a tech there.  He might have access.”

“That’s pretty risky,” said Needham, smiling at Saki.  “He could lose his job!  Or tell our colleagues about this group.”

Carpenter wiggled the little finger of her right hand.  “Saki’s not the only woman who knows a man who will do anything to get laid.”

“Geez!” said Needham, and Lucas turned red.

***

Carpenter accompanied Joli and the two stretcher-bearers on the long ride to Livermore.  They met Raul Suarez in a restaurant that tried to look like an old New Jersey diner—the nostalgia look, she called it.  Not far from the lab, it served good food and gave them enough privacy to create a plan.

“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” said Suarez, his words a mumble caused by a huge bite into his Burger Supremo with salsa and avocado.  He gulped Coke to wash the bite down.  “I could do life in federal prison for this.”

“What about me?” said Carpenter.  “Ever read The Tale of Two Cities?”

“Cliff Notes,” said Suarez.  “Have you ever read Cien Años de Soledad?  Yeah, yeah, I get the idea, but I wouldn’t exactly call these ETs lifelong friends.”

“Not ETs, but you could go with us,” said Joli, watching his two colleagues wolf down their burgers with a smile.  “Carpenter too.”

“Not for me,” said Carpenter, moving the salad left in her bowl around and eying the burgers.  “I always wanted to go into space, but I don’t like flying.  And wherever you’re going is a long ways from here, I’ll bet.”

“I’d have to convert to your measurement units.  What you call light years, of course, assuming our ship is even repairable.”

“OK, let’s work on a plan,” said Suarez with a sigh.  “You might be on your own if I think it’s too dangerous for me, though.  I had plenty of chances to end up in prison as a kid.  I don’t want to end up there now.  Or dead.”

“Always melodramatic,” said Carpenter.  “Just think of all the good times I’ll give you.”

“Shit, you live outside the state in DC now.  Never could figure what brought you all the way out here from New York City for school.  Anyway, that’s a false enticement.”

“My aunt offered to give me room and board, thinking I needed to get away from my five brothers,“ said Carpenter.  “I did.  And there’s nothing false about the enticement.  And don’t forget that one night with me is worth it.  You remember, don’t you?”

“Vaguely.  I’d had a bit of tequila.  I remember how you look naked, though.”  He winked at Joli.  “She’s all woman, my ET friend.”

“I understand,” said Joli.  “You feral humans do have your fun.”

 

Chapter Fourteen

“It’s risky,” said Suarez, fingering his ID card before handing it to Joli.  “You don’t look at all like me.  And I’m not going to chance it by accompanying you.”

“Coward,” said Carpenter.  “You’re missing out on a lusty evening.”

Suarez shrugged.  “There are layers of security, Joli.  I’ve never been where you want to go.”

“I’m not going to put you in a bad position,” said Joli.  He was in the back seat staring at printouts from Google Earth and comparing to some blueprints.  He handed the ID back to Suarez along with the printouts.  “What are these things on the roof in the area you circled?”

Suarez leaned across him and looked at from the blueprints to the printouts.  “Google pics are blurred, probably on purpose.  Maybe they’re cooling towers.  They’re big enough.  I don’t know.  I’m no engineer, tu sabes.  Si, that’s probably what they are.  Summers here are tough, and they have a lot of volume to cool.”

“That’s where we’ll go in,” said Joli.

“You’ll all get killed.  They’ll think you’re terrorists.”

“Carpenter will stay here with you, but behave yourselves, or you’ll be cleaning up the car.”  He winked.  “If we’re not back in two of your hours, you’ll know we failed, so drive away.”  He tossed the keys to Carpenter.  “And I don’t blame you, Raul.  You’ve done enough.  How do you say it?  It’s our gig now.”

***

“Nice guys,” said Suarez.

Carpenter, in the driver’s seat now, turned to him.  “And you’re an ass.”  She patted the front passenger seat.  “Come up here.  I’ll be damned if I’m going to be your chauffeur.”

“You think I was wrong to bail out?” he said, slipping into the seat beside her.

“I don’t know what to think.  It’s a complicated situation.  I’m supposed to have arrested these people, you know, so everyone could poke and prod and interrogate them.  That just sounds wrong.”

“I hear you.  It’s like using chimps for cancer research or something.  Do you think they can pull it off?”

“They’re smart and creative.  But I’m only waiting the two hours.”

But Joli and the others only took fifty minutes.

“We probably could have gone in through the front,” he said, entering the backseat as the other two stored the small amount of plutonium, made heavy from its lead case, in the trunk.  “I was very convincing.  They wanted to help.”

“How’s that?” said Suarez.  “Why would they?”

Joli held up his disk.  “I think you call it the power of suggestion.”

“Hypnosis,” said Carpenter with a smile.  “Yes, you probably could have gone in through the front door.”

“The janitor was the most difficult,” said Joli.  “His English was worse than mine.  We needed you after all, Suarez, but he came around.”

“Back to the ranch?” said Carpenter.

“Let’s make a car switch when convenient,” said Joli.  “I saw this one on a video surveillance screen at one of the security stations.”

***

“With the plutonium we’ll be ready to go as soon as Modi and I finish,” Lucas told Needham over breakfast.  “How are you feeling?”

“Still a bit unstable.  But ignore me.  You need to get back to work.  They’ll be looking for the chopper, or at least for the black box.”

“Find chopper, still not us,” said Saki.

“They’ll wonder what happened to our bodies,” said Carpenter.

“Coy-yott-ees,” said Saki.

“Coyotes couldn’t bury the pilot and carry off all remains of Agents Carpenter and Needham,” said Lucas.  “They’ll search the area in ever widening circles and find us.”

Needham nodded.  “That’s what I’d do.”  He held up his slice of bacon.  “Who’s the cook?”

“Me,” said Saki, jerking a thumb toward her chest.  “Watch TV cooking channels.”

Lucas had picked up several old-style TVs for parts.  A few were still intact, so he had made a simple dipole tuned to VHF for each one.  Reception was limited, but it was entertainment.

“Needham’s right.  I need to get back to work.  See you at dinner.”

 

Chapter Fifteen

The last software and hardware checks made, all pitched in to help reassemble the four pods.

“I don’t see how you could offer to take us,” Carpenter said to Saki.  “With you and Lucas, there’s no room.”

“One pod at Lucas farm.  No need it now.”

“You mean the one you came in.  We went over that area pretty well.”

“Me and Boki.  Boki gone.  Ship hidden.  Out of phase.” She waved her disk.  “Simple technique.”

“What about all the stuff needed to repair the ship?”

“Replace padding.  Not all needed.  All fits.  No worry.”

The roof of the barn was removed.  Carpenter helped Needham out to say goodbye.  There were hugs all around.

“Drop us a postcard,” Carpenter said to Lucas, giving him a kiss on the cheek.

“Joli said you and Suarez have some interesting vibes,” he said.  “Why don’t you look him up?”

“Maybe, after I get Needham hooked up with a nice woman named Jewel.”

Needham flashed her a frown.  Lucas laughed.

***

The two FBI agents watched the pods slowly rise into the gray sky until they were lost in the clouds.

“Looks like it’s going to rain again,” said Needham.  “I thought SoCal was in a drought.”

“It’s an El Niño year,” said Carpenter.

Late that afternoon four black SUVs arrived and parked between the house and the barn.  Carpenter showed Jewel into the house.

“When they found the chopper, the pilot buried, and you two gone, I figured one of you helped the other out, you old devil,” she said to Needham.  “Any reason you camouflaged the chopper?”

“Carpenter wanted to start a signal fire,” said Needham.  “Figured that the extra gas tank would be a good accelerant and get it going.”

“So?  Why didn’t you do it?” she said to Carpenter.

“Neither one of us had a lighter.  I dragged Needham’s old ass here.  It was a place to recover.  He couldn’t move much, and I was gimpy.  The pilot did the best he could, Jewel.  It was just a terrible accident.”

“I guess.  No luck in finding Lucas and the girl, I take it?”

“In our condition, we couldn’t look anymore.  Sorry.”

“Explain it to DC.  I’m just happy we found you.”

***

“Are you still amazed?” Joli said to Lucas as they admired their work on the AI unit.  It no longer had the sleek lines it had originally, looking a bit like Einstein on a bad-hair day with the tangled mess of wires and external circuit boards, but it was functional, as far as they could tell.

“More so,” said Lucas.  “But I’ve learned this is all within our reach in a few years.”

“Why we worry,” said Saki, crawling out from under a bank of equipment.  “Feral humans smart.  They go far into space soon.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t call them feral anymore,” said Joli.  “There are many like Lucas.  Consider Carpenter, Needham, and Suarez.”

“Habit,” said Saki.  “I try change.”

“Help us slide this into place,” said Lucas, pleased at the interchange.  “I’m still not used to the idea of having inertia in a micro-g environment.  You still have to get things moving.”

“Mass isn’t weight,” said Joli.  “Your Newton knew that.  But don’t worry, in a few weeks, we’ll be on our way.  Our days of micro-g are limited.  And be prepared.  Our planet has a bit more gravity than Earth.  You’ll feel lethargic at first until your muscles adapt.”

Lucas put his arm around Saki.  “Funny.  I’m looking forward to it.”

***

[Fans of hard sci-fi, dystopia, and post-apocalyptic novels should try the “Chaos Chronicles Trilogy.”  Earth suffers through the Chaos in Survivors of the Chaos, and Humans arrive at a new colony on New Haven, a planet orbiting the star 82 Eridani.  On that planet and other new colonies, the saga continues in Sing a Samba Galactica, where first contact takes on a new meaning with friendly ETs, the new coalition must fight against not-so-friendly ETs, and ETs and Humans strive to do the right thing when confronted with a huge collective intelligence, the Swarm.  In the third novel, Come Dance a Cumbia…with Stars in Your Hand!, humanity almost loses the battle with a megalomaniac when the conditions that started the Chaos threaten to return.  Available in all ebook formats.]

In libris libertas…

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