Chapter 4
Planetary Kiss
Erica dropped to her hands and knees right then and there. She kissed Planet Pacifica. Brave Moon then raised to one knee, shaded her eyes, and looked out to sea. Sunlight flashed blue-black in her hair as she stood. Then, slowly, she danced around Eddy, chanting something ancient.
She circled him twice, almost floating as she moved. Then she stopped, arms upraised, and reached to the heavens. Black lightning thundered between her widely spread hands. It disappeared almost as quickly as it came, carrying its thunder to inside out, leaving a mystifying after-ring of silent nothingness.
"I just had to try it," said she, turning to Eddy, giggling and shrugging her shoulders. "Star Song told us we should practice."
Eddy jumped back when she spread her arms to hug him with love. Then he too laughed, "Be careful with that stuff." He was halfway between playful and serious. "Don't aim the lightning part at me! Whatever it is."
Erica laughed as she leaped into Eddy's arms. They embraced in celebration, only then becoming aware their arrival had not gone unnoticed. Hundreds of hard-working pioneers were stacking materials on the nearby dock. They and their friends had also been looking everywhere for Eddy.
"Where have you been?" Walker demanded, striding toward them from the pier, where he'd been helping inventory equipment before it was loaded onto a barge and sent to the delfinian spaceship that was still anchored in the harbor's deeper waters.
"We've been searching high and low for two days," Walker said, somewhat breathlessly, when he reached Eddy and Erica.
He folded his arms across his chest, clearly expecting to hear everything. Walker looked from Eddy to Erica questioningly, examining the bandolier across Eddy's chest with keen interest.
"We're married," Eddy blurted out, shyly taking Erica's hand and introducing her to Walker and the gathering assemblage of pioneers.
"You sneaked out of bed in the middle of the night and eloped?" said Walker, incredulously, his eyes lit with a twinkling smile.
"With all this going on?" He swept his arms to the workers and pointed to a distant group of spaceships parked on the prairie, at the northern edge of the settlement, just beyond newly planted fruit orchards.
"You've been busy," Eddy responded verbally. Then he sang their freshly lived story, using melodian telepathic song.
As before, those pioneers who had kept up with their melodian study groups created a critical mass of conscious understanding which made Eddy's detailed and complex melody available and clear to everyone there. All eyes turned to Brave Moon. The vision of her accepting Star Song's gift at the stone stage had been one of the more intriguing melodies in Eddy's song. Most of those present had already witnessed her playful black lightning when she and Eddy first arrived.
Erica Brave Moon bowed low and then slowly stood, until her arms were raised high. Nearly everyone stepped back, their collective gasp was audible. Another even larger bolt of black lightning cracked between her hands, rocketed skyward and then imploded into nothing, dragging its thunder with it.
"We do not know what it is," Erica's melodian song was sweet and brief. She bowed again.
"What's the belt across your chest?" Walker asked.
"It's a bandolier," Eddy responded, "a war sash, that's what Star Song calls it."
"We know more about Eddy's war sash than we do about my black lightning," Erica mentioned, casting Eddy a questioning look and an unspoken message, 'Do you remember what any of those discs are for?'
"Did you receive the computer station yet?" Eddy asked Walker. Then glancing slyly to Erica, he directed his melodian speech to her alone.
'There are seven discs, I know what four of them do,' he told her, wondering if she was contemplating another playful demonstration, by him this time. 'Are you thinking I should follow up on your, er... black lightning act?'
'Star Song told us we should practice,' Brave Moon beamed into Eddy's eyes, yet leaving space for Walker's spoken words.
"Yes we did," Walker answered Eddy. "A desk, computer, and bookcase full of books. They're in a glistening dome, just outside the communication center. The dome has two electrical panels with hundreds of plugs and switches, on the outside. We haven't been able to get inside. What is it?"
"It's the USE presidential war station. Let's go see," said Eddy. "Someone should go find a staff scientist, perhaps Erin Mullen and a technician for him to work with."
Walker led them to a side lawn outside the rough-hewn yet still new communication laboratory, where the new distiller had been built.
"What does the sign in front mean?" Erica asked with a soft laugh. "Tangerine Square?"
"The sign was here before the round dome," Walker laughed, too. "It doesn't name the round dome. Tangerine Square is the model name of the new distiller, which was hauled out those side doors in the dome. Somebody placed the sign there when Sean took the new Distiller to Earth."
"Tangerine Square is still something of an odd name. Isn't it?" Asked Erica.
"Here's how it happened: Distiller makes a conscious feedback loop from the sum of human experience. Those experiences which indicate logical alternative decisions are expressed as questions needing answers." Walker explained.
"The name was proposed by scientists of Chinese ancestry, they were munching tangerines at the time, though not from that small tree. The seedling tangerine tree is from a seed that someone spit out. You can't see it because it's behind the book case. The name refers obliquely to Tienanmen Square, where there was an early attempt to turn China's cultural renaissance away from copying the old United States that was about to collapse. Now, almost two hundred years later, my genius brother has invented a machine named Tangerine Square and the new United States seems like it also is about to collapse."
Erin Mullen, a brilliant pioneer scientist, joined them at the dome as Walker finished his explanation. He placed his hand on the dome.
"Solid as stone," he said, "and so thin one can see right through it." Erin then turned and introduced Rose, who arrived wearing a backpack and carrying two small satchels of tools.
"Please meet Rose Ciaran, she was a technical aid for six years, working through her post-graduate studies, back at Lunar Science Base. She's done many jobs, working for lots of different people. Its her brain though...."
Rose waved Erin to a stop. She was smiling as she swung a turn and clunked one of her heavy satchels against the dome. "There's no door," she said, stating the obvious.
Erica liked Rose instantly, she admired the way Rose had brought focus to the task-at-hand so quickly.
Rose let the bouncing swing of her satchel spin her, momentarily face-to-face with Eddy. "I'm happy to see you again," she said to him as she continued her swing to Erica. "I'm Rose" she introduced herself to Erica, who responded simply with her name, "Erica Brave Moon."
Rose then plunked her satchels down and touched one of the discs on Eddy's war sash. "Are these made using the same technology that made this dome appear at the lab door?"
Eddy put his arm around Erica's waist. "The discs contain failed technologies which have been miniaturized and updated by the best present-day melodian scientists, who then assembled what is now my melodian war sash," he said. "I think we can use one of the discs to enter the dome, and let you inside as well."
He tapped one of the discs with his left hand and held Erica's hand with his right. They walked through the dome wall, leaving a rainbow ripple pattern, like those behind divers entering a smooth pool of water. Eddy and Erica turned and beckoned for the others to follow them inside the dome before the ripples subsided.
"Those discs are failed technologies?" Erin gasped, letting out with a long, slow whistle. Would you mind if I look closer?" he asked, pulling a magnifying glass from a pouch in his back pocket.
Erin then pulled another object out of his shirt pocket, it looked and clicked like a ball point pen. "This is tipped with a shard of split diamond; very sharp. May I put a tiny scratch on one edge?" He became so engrossed in scientific thought and wonder that Eddy was transformed into something of a laboratory specimen. Erin didn't intend to be pushy, or rude, none-the-less, he was moving faster than Eddy could answer. Erin's hands reached eagerly for one of the medallions on Eddy's bandolier.
A small bolt of black lightning jumped from Erica's free hand, across her chest, to the face of the disc Erin was about to touch. Thunder filled the dome and was swallowed by nothing.
Nobody moved. Erin's diamond tip tool clattered across the floor.
"It was too heavy to hold!" He exclaimed.
"Oops," said Erica.
"Wow," Eddy breathed.
"I'd say we shouldn't touch too much in here, Rose commented wryly; setting her satchels and backpack full of tools in an out-of-the-way corner.
She then walked to the computer station and stood looking at it, with her hands clasped behind her back. "I wonder how one turns it on?" she mused, gingerly reaching to the computer station and pushing the power switch with the tip of one finger.
Three things happened simultaneously: An Earth wall-map appeared on one side of the dome, a door appeared on the other side, and a technician who had been studying the circuit boxes outside the dome suddenly started pointing and waving. The power plug had automatically opened, all that was need was an extension cord.
Eddy found himself once again awed by melodian technology. "They must have recreated the map using data on the computer," he said.
"We didn't get the map... er, I should say, Star Song didn't get the map when we escaped from Earth," Erica explained to the others. "This one is way better," she noted, running her fingers over its ethereal shimmer. "President Bushleeg's was bulky and primitive. This one in the dome's skin is an actual picture."
Walker stood at the book shelf rapidly perusing pages from volumes which caught his eye. "This is an entire compendium of the USE war machine," he said, carefully placing the heavy book in its proper slot among the others. He then turned to Eddy and Erica. "We three should exit the new door and zip on out to the delfinian spaceship," he said as he started for the door.
"I'm coming with you," Rose said, realizing it herself as she spoke the words.
Four pioneers hurried the short distance back to the pier. Walker led the way across the settlement's small central park to where Spring was waiting in the water, at the end of pier, next to a small power boat tied to the ladder.
"May I give one of you a ride?" Spring asked politely. "I'd like to find out what's been going on. And what was that black lightning?"
Eddy, Walker, and Rose turned to Erica. A broad grin spread across her face as she knelt to remove her mountain running boots.
"I am Erica Brave Moon," she told Spring. "My greatest thrill in all that has happened is understanding you with my new melodian speech." She stood and handed her boots to Eddy, "Except for becoming married in front of the entire cosmos," she said to him softly.
Erica was smiling as she turned to Spring, "I will tell you as much as I know. May I ride upon your back?"
"Climb down the ladder and hop on," said Spring. "I won't go fast, at first." His low orca chuckle vibrated through the water and buzzed up the pier pilings. It tickled the bottom of Erica's feet and fueled her urge to ride.
Eddy quickly explained how to stand; right angle to Spring's back, leading foot turned a little forward, fingertips to dorsal-tip.
Erica fairly flew down the ladder and onto Spring's back. He swam away from the pier in a gentle curve, toward the delfinian spaceship.
Eddy, Rose, and Walker climbed down the ladder and into the small boat. Walker started the boat and Rose untied the mooring line, they soon passed Erica and Spring. Walker steered wide as the launch passed them. "She looks confident on her feet," he commented as he turned back into a more direct line with the delfinian spacecraft.
A large loading bay door was open near the forward end of the floating spacecraft, almost at the water line. Several pallets of equipment and supplies were made visible by inside lights. Spring, wanting to hear more of Erica's story, took a long route. He was moving further away from the spaceship in long graceful loops that adjusted to Erica's foot movements as Walker parked the launch and moored it at the Delfinian spaceship loading area.
"Do you really think President Bushleeg has been turned into a zombi?" Spring asked Erica, totally shocked by the idea.
"He was about to drop atom bombs on ocean people and native americans at the very moment we escaped with his war controller gizmos. Someone tried to shoot the president. Someone else saved all our lives by knocking the gun barrel upward. Then the ceiling collapsed and we left in a big hurry."
"Was the president hurt?" Spring asked.
"Not while we were there. We don't know what happened next."
"He was going to drop atomic bombs on cetaceans because they've become terrorists who bamboozled native american braves into trying to save the world by stopping HUNTA?" Spring asked incredulously.
"It was scary, Spring. He was screaming a word-for-word playback of the subconscious messages he saw on the movie screen. President Bushleeg is eerie, he really is some kind of TV zombi, and he spits in rage if people don't believe what he believes. I'd say he's definitely gonzo in the cabeza."
"What you have told me is way worse than I imagined," Spring murmured. "I was planning to stay here and explore the oceans of Planet Pacifica, now I see it will be better if I return to Earth and help warn the Ocean People," he turned swiftly toward the delfinian vessel. "I'm sure that huge spaceship has enough room for me."
Spring stopped sideways to the open loading doors so Erica could easily jump to the cargo room floor. It was low enough to the water for him to make a quick turn and then beach his upper body inside the cargo loading area. He held himself comfortably in place with his front flippers.
Rose was leaning on a large crate near the open cargo doors. She was wearing a delfinian translation collar and listening to a small group of delfinians, which included the ship captain. They were discussing a plan of action with Captain Walker. A smile crossed her face as she turned her gaze to Spring. He reminded her of a person lying pool-side; The forward third of Spring's body was flopped on the floor, a spreading puddle of water surrounding him.
"Your people will end up growing arms if you hang out with the delfinians much longer," she joked quietly, so as not to interrupt the discussion.
Spring's low chuckle vibrated through the spaceship deck. The delfinian captain turned to him with a smile and a questioning look.
"I'm hoping you have room for me to go with you to Earth," Spring said, his chuckle still slightly buzzing.
The delfinians conferred together for a moment before one from the center of the group replied. "You may use this loading bay for you quarters during the trip to Earth. A vertical shaft large enough for you extends downward from here to the lower water decks. This cargo area will be flooded with water for you and there will be plenty of fresh air near the ceiling. Someone will explain lavatory procedures aboard ship. We leave in one hour."
"Thanks," said Spring, sliding backward and disappearing underwater.
"So," continued the delfinian ship captain. "Our conclusion is that we can fit eighteen medium-sized cruisers on our ship. They will each carry four fighters. That adds up to seventy two fighters and eighteen cruisers, in total. Will that be enough?"
Walker paced back and forth as he thought over the captain's question. "Earth is a small place for all the belching pollution and endless consumption, still, it's a mighty big place for ninety ships to patrol and protect from nuclear war," he answered, with a worried expression on his face.
"There will be two delfinian ships there also," Eddy pointed out. "Maybe eighty fast fighters can guard Captain Pearl's battle platform so it can move close enough to the USE Capital to knock some sense into their heads with its smaller weapons."
Fleet Commander Walker studied Eddy for a moment. "I think Earth needs every ship we can spare; the situation is dire. Twenty heavy cruisers with six fighters each are also loaded and ready to go. Those ships are too big to fit into delfinian landing bays. Inocente needs the heavy cruisers there, too. Can you take them using melodian technology?" He spoke with almost the same questioning hopefulness that Spring had used while asking to be taken home to Earth.
Eddy hesitated, his mind racing; he dreaded the prospect of another space flight experimenting with hundreds of people's lives. "I made it to Earth with Captain Pearl's ship," he answered, noncommittally. "That was scary, but I figure it can probably be done again with this ship."
"What about an accompanying squadron of twenty heavy cruisers bunched outside the ship?" Walker asked the question Eddy had been avoiding.
"Its dangerous out there," Eddy answered slowly. "Star Song told us many melodians have been lost forever in conscious timespace."
"Space travel is dangerous no matter how one does it," Walker countered, quickly.
Erica stepped to Eddy's side and put one hand on his shoulder. "We can do it," she said in a barely audible whisper. "Together we can do it."
Eddy turned to Erica, his worried eyes searching hers. "They are all volunteers," he said, to no one in particular, though Walker responded.
"All volunteers," said he.
"There are now two of us with advanced flight training. We might be able to move everybody as one, yet there is no way of knowing before we try." Eddy felt his shoulder muscles knot with tension, his body visibly shuddered when he next spoke, "Position your ships as close as possible."
Walker looked at Eddy and decided the time had come to reveal his plan, "They are not my ships, Eddy. You are the Earth Fleet Commander, appointed by Admiral Castro. You know quite well what to do. I plan to stay here and protect Planet Pacifica, if the need arises."
Eddy began to object but Walker cut him off. "The Admiral is among the most brilliant military leaders in human history, he would be flabbergasted if I showed up leaving Planet Pacifica without a Fleet Commander. The three of you will get along quite well without me," he said with a nod to Erica as the number three companion, with Eddy and the Admiral. "It's time for us to get back to shore," he said to Rose. He turned and abruptly started toward the shore boat.
"I'm staying with the ship!" Rose exclaimed, hurrying to retrieve her satchels and backpack full of technician's tools that were still in the launch.
"But we need you here," Walker objected. "All our most experienced people are going to Earth."
"Oh posh," said Rose over her shoulder as she whisked past Walker on her way to the boat. "There are plenty of people who can do my job. Actually, this will give some of the younger interns a chance to practice on their own."
"The same argument applies to you," Eddy called out to Walker. "I still think you should come with us and command Pioneer Earth Fleet."
Walker turned and looked at Eddy. His body shifted its shape for a split second as his posture and expression briefly mimicked the Admiral. He didn't actually speak.
'I have to be Earth Fleet Commander,' Eddy thought, as he looked at Walker. 'The Admiral trains Walker the same as me. He has no choice....' Eddy's thoughts turned to listening when the delfinian captain spoke.
"I am Captain Strong." She gazed thoughtfully into the friendly argument developing around her while introducing herself to Eddy and Erica. "We have prepared a water barrier around the copilot's area, for Eddy," She said with a smile in his direction, along with another thoughtful gaze into his eyes. There is room for Erica and Rose."
Eddy stepped back slightly under Captain Strong's steady gaze, he was reminded of Cecric's fourth-brain communication. Everyone turned in time to see Rose slip on her backpack, pick up her satchels, and kiss Walker on the cheek.
"This is my home. I will be back," she said, turning to join the others.
Walker stood at the open doors. His gaze shifted from Rose's departing back, to the launch, then back to Rose. He slumped, briefly. Her quick volunteer to help save Planet Earth shocked him with instant pangs of loneliness for a treasured friend. He also felt envy, Rose was going where he, Walker, desperately wanted to go. He heaved a great sigh and stepped into the launch.
Walker pondered his future as he drove the boat ashore. He knew his job was to help protect both human and delfinian populations on Planet Pacifica. Two species were now established on two worlds, the thought made him smile; and Cetaceans had visited, soon there would be three species. Delfinians and pioneer humans had become allied with the melodian quest to contain evil in forms he had not imagined possible. Now they were also allied with Earth's cetaceans. Walker hoped many years would pass before anyone had to face whatever sent the cloud of doom to destroy them. In the meantime, no matter how he felt personally, his job was to stay on guard.
Eddy noticed a tiny glimmer of a tear in Rose's eyes as she watched Walker recede into the distance. He vowed to do whatever he could to make sure Rose made it home alive.
"Follow me to the flight control deck," he said, turning to Erica and Rose. This spaceship will be in orbit in less than an hour. Eighteen light star cruisers will be stowed as we move outward into space. Maybe we can help with something now."
Eddy then led the way up a ladder that went up the wall from floor level and on upward into a round vertical shaft. They climbed high enough to make them all hang on tightly as they stepped off the ladder and onto a landing. They decided their climb was at least ten meters as they walked three quick steps and were through an open door.
Captain Strong was already on the flight deck, she turned to Eddy, Erica, and Rose as they arrived. "Welcome aboard," she greeted them with a smile, standing on her third paddling hand in almost chest deep water, behind a portable water barrier. Captain Strong then indicated the room with a sweeping motion of one arm, giving them a moment to look around and become familiar with their new surroundings.
"Eddy, you will use the copilot's seat. Show Rose and Erica how to move the extra navigator's chairs closer to yours. We lift-off very soon. Please excuse me for a few minutes while I monitor the ship's pulse."
Eddy pointed out small levers beneath the well-padded and comfortable seats. He released the lever and was able to easily move the heavy seat across the floor and reposition it next to his copilot's seat, which was identical, save for a few added controls.
"Delfinians use gravitonic technology to power their ships," he said, showing them how sturdily the seat locked in place when the little lever was put in its original position. "I wouldn't be at all surprised to find out these chairs are held in place by super-strong gravity," Eddy concluded.
"Do the electronic controls imbedded in the seat arms still work?" Rose asked, with keen scientific interest. She indicated where the seats had been moved from with a nod, as she moved the lever under her seat, then pushed it to feel absolute solidity. "There are no wires coming from the floor where the seats were. How can power buttons still work?"
"I don't know," Eddy admitted. "Its definitely a fancy remote control. Delfinians are at least two hundred years ahead of us technologically. Though we discovered joy power and our top speed is between ten and a hundred times faster than theirs, delfinians are way ahead of us in everything else."
"And you two have been trained to use even more advanced melodian technology," Rose commented as she looked about the delfinian flight deck, examining it in greater detail. "I included Erica in that training now, too," her voice trailed off as she watched Captain Strong working her computer keys like an organ player in a rock and roll band. "Life has definitely expanded for us," she concluded smiling.
"Melodian science is another story entirely," Eddy responded. "Erica and I have only been trained to use a small part of melodian technology, we would probably need to go to school on Melodia to find out how it actually works.
Eddy clicked the power switch embedded in his seat arm and watched the dials and switches on the control panel in front of him light up.
"This delfinian stuff is very similar to ours, when compared to melodian technology," he said with a sigh of comfort as he climbed into the plush seat. "I have noticed one very interesting difference on delfinian ships though," he said with a nod toward Captain Strong, who was still busy monitoring ship sensors and controls.
"What?" Erica asked, following his gaze.
"Monitoring the ships pulse," Eddy replied. "Those are the exact words Captain Pearl uses to describe what he does on his ship. Delfinian Captains watch over their ship like shepherds. They make only occasional suggestions, and rarely give direct orders."
"Interesting observation," Rose mused. "Maybe their fourth brain area helps them stay in touch with each other better than we can."
"Eddy and I were on a melodian spaceship before boarding, er... this flight," Erica said with a sideways glance to Rose. "We traveled beyond the beyond, out into what Star Song said was fertile field. We looked back and saw the whole cosmos."
Rose instantly swung her attention from Captain Strong. She spun a quarter circle on one foot and looked directly at Erica.
"Is there really more than one big bang?" She asked, without a moment of hesitation, as if she had been waiting to ask the question,
"I don't know," Erica answered. "Star Song did say infinite possibilities were busy being born."
Eddy turned his attention to the control panel while Erica and Rose continued their conversation. He finished the last of his check list and heard Rose exclaim, "They call it Fertile Field?" He was about to rejoin their conversation when he saw Captain Strong wave his attention to the main navigation screen, above the forward windows.
"We lift-off momentarily," the Captain said. "My records of your delfinian flights indicate one planetary encounter, a short undersea voyage, and one take-off, when you flew from one hundred kilometers to rendezvous orbit. Is that correct?"
"Yes, Captain," Eddy responded. "After rendezvous with the cruisers, Captain Pearl showed me how to prepare the ship for deep space, following a preset course."
"That part of the record went to Earth with Captain Pearl's ship," said Captain Strong, locking her eyes on Eddy's.
A snap of her delfinian communication power jolted him. It was unexpected and surprisingly quick. The Captain averted her eyes, briefly, then she looked at Eddy again, he could feel her concentrating deeply.
Captain Strong's left hand slowly reached for a small green button. "Its the lift-off button," she said, pointing to the ships monitors.
The giant spaceship was already powered for flight and thus flying in space. Ship sensors clearly indicated them as very close to a planet, flying partially submerged, on the same exact speed and course as the ocean.
A second snap of delfinian communication power passed between Eddy and Captain Strong as she pushed the take-off button.
The huge delfinian ship instantaneously moved one hundred meters from the ocean surface. Eddy looked at the sensor needle pegged exactly on one hundred meters, he was very impressed by the exactitude of delfinian science. He also laughed.
"You just performed a scientific experiment on me!" He exclaimed.
"Captain Strong smiled. "It worked. The ship is flying normally using its own power and sensors. And you, Eddy just stepped us through timespace on a predetermined delfinian course of one hundred meters. I'm happy you are not angry, it had to be secretive in order to minimize observer influence over outcome." She reached to the green button and pressed it again.
"I will now fly us to one hundred kilometers, where you will take over and continue to rendezvous orbit, please," said Captain Strong, moving to deeper water within the captain's flight station. Her third tail hand grasped a comfortable swivel-ring anchor at the bottom.
Eddy's mind whirled with excitement. The delfinian experiment with melodian technology had worked. Captain Strong's fourth-brain communication power had added up to enough momentary shared consciousness for Eddy to move in conscious timespace, topping it off, they were guided by delfinian science to exactly where the scientists had chosen.
"What happened between you two?" Erica asked softly. "You've been wearing a blank stare for at least a minute. What?"
"We just stepped one hundred meters through conscious spacetime in a delfinian experiment with melodian technology. Delfinian fourth-brain power activated something their scientists are undoubtedly studying at this very moment."
Captain Strong turned from the controls, she moved gracefully to the water barrier in an upright position, nearer to the humans. "Fly us to rendezvous orbit, Fleet Commander McGregor," she said, clearly enunciated, with professional demeanor."
Eddy's heart stopped. He quit breathing. His ears rang. He thought, 'No one has ever called me that!' Then his mind started back up. He pinched his arm, thinking, 'I am Captain Strong's Fleet Commander, she just told me that, using no uncertain words.'
The Captain cocked her head to one side and looked at Eddy. "Your admiral is not here. My admiral is not here. I am the highest ranking officer in charge of the biggest ship, push the blue communication button and I will introduce you as my Fleet Commander."
Eddy pushed the button and was more than a little surprised to see himself flash onto the largest navigation screen, a two meter square, above the forward windows.
"You probably haven't seen yourself as others do, until now," Captain Strong said, before identifying him as Earth Fleet Commander over the ship intercom.
Eddy looked at the screen once more. The material of his clothes had become melodian when Star Song had placed his bandoleer over him; his shirt and pants were loose, elegant, and a protective shield. The bandolier and medallions had been hung on his chest by an amazingly powerful servant to goodness, Eddy looked like a highly decorated Fleet Commander. He also looked to be from the future.
The same had happened to Erica's clothes when Star Song linked her with the unseen force in black lightning. Erica looked Melodian, Brave Moon going to battle. Her dark eyes had deepened to hold all she had seen, they had become so deep and black that she looked more alien than Eddy. Side-by-side, Erica and Eddy appeared as alien ambassadors from a highly advanced future.
"Wow," Erica said, taking both Eddy's hands and looking admiringly at her man in his war sash.
"I know," Eddy said. "We didn't think about these clothes while we were with Star Song. You look like some kind of alien princess from New Mexico," Eddy said the last in a whisper.
Erica giggled. 'Star Song has obviously appointed us to be something,' her melodian thought was directed to Eddy, who laughed along with her.
'I didn't see Star Song as a joker, at first,' Eddy said. 'What are these elegant clothes all about?'
'He didn't tell us anything. And how did you end up with mountain running shoes like mine?' Erica asked.
'They're cool,' Eddy grinned and looked down, wiggling his toes. 'We should talk more about this later, Captain Strong is expecting me to fly,' he concluded, glancing at the Captain.
Eddy settled into the delfinian spaceship controls quickly. He enjoyed flying with gravitonic forces, the athletic aspect of slip-sliding on gravity fields was actually fun. He pressed downward on the rolling ball in his copilot seat, it worked just the same as the one in Captain Strong's floating arm rests. When he rolled the ball he felt the huge ship respond agilely. His now familiar job was to watch the navigation screen and guide an emerging yellow line as it arced to meet the end of a straight green line. The delfinian ship would be in position when the moving tip of the yellow line of actual travel touched the navigator's green-line tip.
Eddy was concentrating on the controls and thoroughly enjoying himself. He gradually became aware someone was speaking to him at about the same time he had settled in on the route to orbital rendezvous with the pioneer fleet. The voice speaking through his concentration was Captain Strong.
"We are just over six thousand kilometers from rendezvous orbit position. Our scientists want very much to perform the experiment one more time."
Though Eddy was very intrigued by delfinian attempts to understand melodian technology, he felt a flash of irritation at being interrupted from one of his favorite flight routines. He sighed inwardly and let go of his personal wish to continue flying what he considered a very cool spaceship and turned to the captain. "Very well," he answered, without an outwardly discernible trace of reluctance. Captain Strong immediately locked eyes with him.
Eddy now felt more accustomed to contact with delfinian fourth-brain communication. He visualized the ship's final orbital destination and watched the space between his and Captain Strong's eyes with keen interest. He felt the snap of her conscious communication energy and briefly saw inside it, a miniature Planet Pacifica floated between them and then disappeared.
Rose and Erica looked at Eddy with concerned and questioning expressions, he glanced at them with a reassuring smile and turned forward to the navigation screen. He was not surprised to see that the yellow light had moved to the tip of the green line, nor was he surprised to see that there was no arced yellow line leading to their present location. They had stepped through conscious timespace, ship sensors had been briefly useless.
"Very good. It worked again," said Captain Strong, exhaling a breath of obvious satisfaction.
Rose, Erica, and Eddy all studied the navigation map. It clearly marked their new position as having moved over six thousand kilometers, instantaneously. Rose was the first to speak.
"One certainly must admire the courage and tenacity of delfinian science," she said, turning from the navigation map to Captain Strong. "Your scientists seem to have grasped something of melodian technology even as you send this ship off to battle. Am I correct that the ship carries over three thousand armed scouts and their families?"
"Yes, plus another fourteen thousand colonists simply moving to Earth," Captain Strong responded, moving back to her pilot's station and its slightly deeper water. "There is no doubt these experiments can be duplicated, but that is for the future. Our next step is to load eighteen star cruisers from the pioneer fleet. We will set the instruments on course for planet Earth," she concluded, turning to Eddy. "Our scientists are not so confident as to interfere in deep space, they will merely gather data as you fly that course on your own."
Eddy suddenly felt his worry storm back over him. Didn't people realize that he was himself experimenting every time he tried something new? The crews of twenty large cruisers were bunching closer, even as the medium cruisers were being loaded aboard. Would he lose them all somewhere in the vast fabric of conscious spacetime? Could he do this alone? He felt a bead of sweat break free and tickle its way down his back, then Erica's hand on his shoulder.
"You are not alone," she said softly, squeezing his shoulder with her hand. "I am here to help. This is what Star Song trained me for."
Erica removed her hand from Eddy's shoulder and placed it on the arm of his copilot's seat. She stood beside him and watched the monitors as Eddy slowly oriented the delfinian spacecraft away from Planet Pacifica and toward deep space. They were a mighty military force, bound for planet Earth, determined to stop atomic war over what remained of once abundant but now scarce resources.
Eddy looked from the instruments to Erica. 'This isn't a dream,' he thought. I really am married, in love, and zooming through space toward danger that thrills through my body.' Chills spilled across his skin where sweat had recently been.
"Okay," he said, with a slightly forced grin of confidence. "The delfinian experiments showed us two minds can make a bridge through conscious spacetime. Now we will try it together."
Eddy climbed out of his seat and switched on his microphone, the navigation image was replaced by Him and Erica, everyone on the delfinian ship and the cruisers already loaded in hanger bays could also see and hear them. He put his arm around Erica's waist and switched on the radio.
"Can you hear me in your ships?" He asked the squadron of heavy cruisers which were tightly clustered outside the delfinian ship.
"Affirmative," replied a somewhat muffled squadron leader's voice.
"Very well," Eddy continued, trying to place where he'd heard that voice. "Erica and I will call to the cosmos. It is filled with singing spheres. Listen for the rhythm of their creation song. Sing praise with our melodian song if you hear it. If you cannot hear it in your head, smile and be happy anyway. Think of something beautiful on Earth or Planet Pacifica. Sing praise for the beauty of creation, your song will bind us together as we move in the weave of conscious spacetime."
Eddy's throat felt too dry to sing anything. He licked his lips and concluded the preflight instructions with a raspy edge on his voice. He glanced at Erica's face on the monitor and was reassured by her confident smile. He closed his eyes briefly and visualized the galaxies that lay between them and Earth. Then his melodian song rang into the cosmos with a haunting and playful melody meant for Earth and Sol.
Eddy and Erica were suddenly shoulder to shoulder in a cascading river of stars that swirled around them with a force ripping them away from the others. Never before had such a strong force buffeted Eddy from unknown directions. He fought to hold his concentration on the ships outside but felt all of them slipping apart in a waterfall of stars, they were plunging over an infinite abyss. He braced himself against rampaging waves in spacetime and held Erica as he watched her struggling to lift her arms into a blinding current that threatened to tear even them apart.
Black lightning thundered across Erica's outstretched arms and pushed aside rising panic. Fertile Field briefly surrounded all the spaceships and then collapsed into nothing between Erica’s upraised arms.
Eddy watched Erica's body sag and rebound. He saw on the monitor that twenty heavy battle cruisers were in orbit around Planet Earth and turned to Erica. They held hands and looked out the forward window at Earth Base One.
"We made it," Rose breathed a sigh of relief. "Now how are we going to get to shore?"
"Down the ladder to the loading bay?" Eddy responded with a glance to Captain Strong, who looked up from her work at the ship sensors to nod a quick, wide-eyed, "Yes."