Chapter 35: Space: 2099
Goodlife:
They were having fun in the Binochi Corridor again while rock music with a powerful beat blared through the swirling mists.
"Aaaaah," said Alina Sestacovika 1. She smiled as she grazed the side of her arm against a bright, hot temporal vortex, deep in the mists, blazing like a small sun. The pain she felt was exquisite.
Oliver Wayfairer 2 gave off a loud scream as he burned his hand against the side of another vortex.
"Careful," Mercury Jones chuckled. "You know what they say about moths who stray too close to the flame, right?"
Everyone laughed.
For Goodlife, pain was good. The pain distracted them from all the voices, all the visions, all the possibilities of realities racing through their heads. Their minds were constantly in a blur as they were repeatedly assaulted by the multiverse. They had lost the ability to sense, to feel. So even the experience of pain became a joyous occasion, to feel something genuine, real, now, of the self, and not bits and pieces from countless billions of others living their daily lives.
Mercury danced himself to exhaustion with Alina Sestacovika 3, feeling the strong techno beat of the music flowing through his enormously strained and tense body. And then they made their way back to the control room, where they found the others, exhausted, lounging on the couches.
Mercury lay on his back and stared up at the nightlight he had specially installed. He wanted to see the moon. Or rather, he
didn't
want to see the moon. To be more precise, he wanted to see that he couldn't see the moon. So many thoughts, so many experiences, so many possibilities!
"We need more recruits," said Oliver Wayfairer 2, nursing his burned hand.
"I have a lead on someone named Angie Moore," said Oliver Wayfairer 3.
"Angie, Angie, Angie. It would be nice to have someone named Angie," said Mercury, laughing. "But there is someone else on my mind. Someone else in my thoughts. Someone I see visions of in the Corridor, too much, too many times, too frequently!" He put his hands to his aching head.
"Who?" Nigel Roman 1 asked.
"His name is John Calle," said Mercury. "He should join us."
"Then let's go get him!" said Nigel Roman 1, jumping off the couch.
Mercury shook his head. "It is not so easy. John Calle 1 and John Calle 2 are... not available."
Andrew Wyatt 2 tried to puzzle this out. "If John Calle 1 and John Calle 2 are not available that leaves... that leaves...."
"John Calle 3!" Alina Sestacovika 2 yelled, bursting out with laughter.
"No, not John Calle 3," said Mercury. "At first, I thought he was a 3, but I realize he's a 4, a 4 pretending to be a 3."
"He doesn't disappear?" Andrew Wyatt 2 asked.
"No," said Mercury. "He's like a 2, but he's really a 4."
"Amazing!" said Nigel Roman 1. "Let's get him!"
"It is not so easy," said Mercury, shaking his head. "John Calle 4 lives in the realm of the threes. He is a member of the Continuity Service. He is well protected. We must do something to draw him out... to get his attention." His head tilted upwards, to see the full moon. Why was the moon still there?
"And how will we do that?" Nigel Roman 1 asked.
"Simple," said Mercury. "We'll blow up the Moon, and send it crashing into the Earth. That's sure to get his attention!"
And everyone laughed hysterically.
********
The earthquake took everyone by surprise. Equipment rattled, dust leaked from the ceiling, and people were thrown to the ground.
Even as Continuity Service operatives were slowly getting to their feet, Colonel Strayker strode into the control room, puffing madly on a nuclear cigar. "Sarah, what was that?"
"An earthquake, sir," said Sarah, sitting back down in her chair.
"I know
what
it was," said Strayker. "But why are we experiencing an earthquake in Central Florida?"
"I don't know, sir," said Sarah.
"Well, find out!" Strayker demanded, his arms akimbo.
Sarah rapidly checked her holomonitors while Strayker impatiently tapped the floor behind her. Ayesha came up with a cup of atomic coffee. Strayker took one and thanked her and then watched her large, firm Indian buttocks as she returned to her post, at the coffeemaker.
"I think I may have found the cause, sir," Sarah announced.
"Well, let's see it," said Strayker, stepping forward.
Sarah pointed to a holomonitor. It showed a giant crescent shape, sticking out of the Pacific Ocean.
"What... what is that, Sarah?"
"I believe, sir, that it's the Moon," said Sarah.
********
"As most of you undoubtedly know, the side of the Moon which faces the Earth consists of trees and forests and arable land, with a remarkably Earth-type atmosphere," said Strayker.
"And shopping malls and nuclear golf courses, don't forget those," said Daniel.
Strayker shot him a dirty glance. "The far side of the Moon, however, is very different. It's a barren, rocky wasteland. It was deemed to be the perfect place to dump all of Earth's excess nuclear waste, before nuclear fusion was perfected. Moonbase Luna was created to supervise the waste dumps. That is our history, as it was supposed to be." He paused. "But then something new happened. In the year 2099, the nuclear waste dumps detonated. There was a tremendous thermonuclear explosion. The moon was split into two. One part went floating harmlessly into space; the other crashed into the Pacific Ocean less than 70 miles off the West Coast. The resulting tidal wave decimated California, and the resulting earthquakes and rising sea levels killed millions."
Everyone ooohed as they saw a holoimage of a crescent piece of the moon bobbing in the Pacific Ocean.
Strayker turned to Calle. "Captain, you and Lieutenant Kildaire will look into this, find the cause, and stop it."
********
Calle didn't know Lieutenant Mercy Kildaire all that well. He first really noticed her during the incident with the parasites. She and Lieutenant Ron Cardassian had been among the first infected. They in turn had spread the parasites throughout the base through sexual contact. But Calle had no idea if Mercy was a sexually active woman when she wasn't being controlled by a rider.
She was short, about five feet tall, she had curly blonde hair, and she had a cute smile. She reminded Calle a little of Erica Green, except that Mercy seemed... friendlier.
They stood at the ramp, waiting for Sarah to open the Binochi Corridor. They were wearing period clothing of Moonbase personnel; mostly single color, off white uniforms with bell bottom pants, a wide belt made of transparent plastic, and a single colored left sleeve.
"This is so odd, to have color on only one sleeve," said Mercy. "And why do we have a zipper on the sleeve? It seems like you could put on and take off the shirt without it."
"Perhaps Daniel could tell you," said Calle, feeling equally strange in this outfit. "He's the historian."
"And you're the Special Talent." She gave Calle a flirtatious grin.
Sarah coughed.
Calle looked at her.
She gave him a petulant stare. "Are you ready,
Captain
?"
"Yes," said Calle.
Why is she angry with me?
The Binochi Corridor came alive with light and energy.
********
It wasn't so bad when they saw how other people were dressed on Moonbase Luna. They were all wearing the same ridiculous uniforms, complete with bell bottoms and high heels.
"At least no one is laughing at us," said Mercy, leaning against Calle slightly. "What's the plan?"
"We have to commandeer one of their short ranged spaceships, called Egrets," said Calle. "We'll use one to fly over the nuclear waste dumps and attempt to locate the saboteur."
"Are you joking?" said Mercy, putting her hands on her hips. "The nuclear waste dumps are 400 square miles. How do you expect to find anything from a low orbit?" She paused, and gave him a sly look. "You're going to use your Special Talent, aren't you?"
"Hopefully," said Calle, studying a map of the base on the wall. Then he started walking.
"How do you activate your talent?" Mercy asked.
Those glowing orange eyes.
"I don't. It either comes, or it doesn't," said Calle.
They walked to a travel tube, where two black men with purple sleeves stopped them. "Identity card, please."
Identity card?
They hadn't known they needed those. Calle and Mercy pretended to search nonexistent pockets. "I guess I left mine in my quarters."
"Me too," Mercy smiled.
"We'll get them and be right back," said Calle, turning away.
"Hold it," said one of the black purple sleeved men. He drew something that looked like brass knuckles, but obviously was some kind of stunner.
********
An hour later, Calle and Mercy found themselves in Commander John Karnig's office. All his senior staff was there: his science advisor, Victor Berman, his chief medical officer, Doctor Helena Jack, his computer expert, Kayno Neboya, and his chief pilot, Alan Cartaret.
"You expect us to believe you're from the future?" Karnig said.
Mercy had implored Calle not to tell them. She was worried about contaminating the timeline. Calle had pointed out that a big chunk of the moon was sticking out of the Pacific Ocean, which seemed like pretty substantial timeline contamination already.
"Yes, Commander," said Calle.
"This weapon looks fairly similar to a compression pistol," said Karnig, holding up Calle's weapon. Then he held up a recall device. "But this object is totally unfamiliar."
"It's a recall device," said Calle. "It will return us to our own time."
"So you say," growled Alan Cartaret, the pilot. "Commander, I say we ship this lot back to Earth. Let the authorities deal with them."
"You can't," said Calle. "The nuclear waste dumps are due to explode in less than two hours."
"How?"
"We don't know," said Calle. "We think there is a saboteur who may have planted bombs there."
"They'd have to be pretty powerful bombs to ignite the nuclear waste," said Karnig. "Why would anyone want to do such a thing?"
"They call themselves Goodlife, Commander," said Calle. "They have temporal psychosis. They're insane."
"Temporal psychosis. Travelling through time. It all sounds so... improbable," said Karnig. "Victor?"
"Well, John, I would tend to agree with you. The Science Directorate doesn't believe that time travel is even possible," said Victor, scratching his bald head. "On the one hand, these people could be telling the truth. But... on the other hand, they could also be lying. I would tend to think it's one, or the other." He nodded sagely.
