IMAGINATION'S PLACE
FICTION
JOURNEY TO THE LIGHT
By; Speaker Gerald Polley
All rights reserved.
Chapter 15
Carol, Peter, and Cher went over her calculations
again and again. Finally The Professor said "I really think you
should call a press conference! I'm surprised nobody else has
picked this up. If they have they don't want to be the ones to
bring it out."
Carol agreed. "But not until after our little
experiment," she insisted. "I don't want anything to distract from
that! This afternoon's going to be something I really worry
about."
"Don't!" the Professor comforted. Just do your best and don't worry about it."
The car came to pick Carol up and they went to the
clinic. "I don't know why they call this place a clinic," Carol
muttered. "It's one of the biggest hospitals I've ever seen!"
The driver giggled. "I know!" she agreed.
"Sometimes I think they just call places something to lessen their
importance."
"That could be the truth!" Carol agreed. She
went in, was showered, put in a surgical gown and taken into an
operating theater. Pasteur was already there. Jerry was
already sedated. Carol examined the donor. They were right, there
was nothing she could do for him. 'Well," she sighed, "I suppose
we've gotta give this a try!"
She put her hand over the man's right leg about
where she figured she should separate it. Nothing happened.
She tried again. "It's just too much!" she announced. "I
can't do it. It's too much!"
"We've considered that," her doctor admitted.
"Step back. Wait a few minutes. I'm going to separate the
leg and bring it over, try to position it in about the right position
then see if you can fuse it."
Carol nodded. She couldn't believe how swiftly
the doctor worked, even with the assistance he had. But finally he
stepped back. The leg was in position. Carol came over, put her
hands over it, and moved them around. Instantly it fused to
Jerry! He gave a moan.
"That's predictable!" Pasteur commented. "He
suddenly has feeling in that leg again. It's got to be a little
uncomfortable. The other one?"
The doctor was already working. Finally he put
the second leg in place, and again with almost effortless ease Carol
bonded it.
"Can't even see a scar!" the doctor cried. "I
think a little swelling is starting. We'll put some ice packs on it.
We'll have to see how it responds in the next few days."
Pasteur withdrew a syringe. "Can't tell how
much we've got," he muttered. "I was hoping the blood wouldn't
contaminate it."
Carol walked over, extended her hand, and a blister
appeared on the leg. "Take it from there!" she instructed.
Pasteur quickly did so. As soon as he got the sample the blister
disappeared.
"If I wasn't seeing this," Pasteur remarked, "I'd have a very hard time believing it!"
He headed off to the lab that had been set up.
"Now that this is over with," Carol sighed, "I think
I'll stay right here and call a press conference and talk about our
other little problem."
Within an hour thirty reporters were gathered in the
clinic's lecture hall. Carol sat up a projector and as soon as
the crowd settled down she mounted the podium.
"Ladies and gentlemen," she began, "thank you
for coming. For years people have been speculating and worrying that an
asteroid might hit the Earth. Well, that's not going to happen in
the foreseeable future, but apparently we've got one headed for
Mars. It appeared out of deep space and will probably be there in
about four months. Now, it's pretty hard at this time, to get
exact calculations, but it's gonna come close, it's going to come very
close. How it effects the rest of the solar system is really very
hard to predict. But if this thing should knock Mars out of orbit
it's going to change the solar system drastically, and definitely the
plans of the human race for a while."
"Any idea how big it is?" a reporter asked.
"Big!" Carol answered, "Exactly how big we're not
exactly sure. But it's massive! It's effecting the other
planets as it's coming in! There's no question if it hits Mars
somethin's gonna happen. We'll be able to tell more as it gets
closer. We've got a couple of satellites orbiting Mars that have
some pretty good telescopes. We should be able to get better
images when it gets closer."
"Have you given this thing a name?" a reporter asked.
"Yes," Carol answered, "Object Stevenson, after
someone who did a friend of mine a great service. That's about
all we can tell you right now. But we will keep you advised.
We'll give weekly bulletins and I'm sure others will be tracking
Stevenson."
"You can count on that!" a reporter cried.
"Ma'am, if we're through with this, could you make some comments on the
charges that The UN made against you at their world headquarters in
Prague? They're asking The World Court for warrants against you
for assault on a UN diplomat. They're demanding you cooperate in
an ongoing investigation. What do you have to say?"
Carol laughed. "Well, you know what
happened the last time the world court tried to mess with anyone in The
Republic! I believe one of their justices is serving his life
sentence in this very facility! We don't recognize The World
Court, we don't recognize The UN. We let their personnel in our
countries as a matter of courtesy and will cooperate with them when we
see fit. Otherwise than that, doesn't matter to me what they
say! If they start bothering us we'll kick 'em out of our
countries. That's what we've done before, and we'll do it again.
They do not dictate to The Republics! I had no idea they were
pressing charges but I tell them what, send this individual over again,
have him get in my face and insult me, and they'll have some more
charges to press! Because I'll set him right on his ass again!"
"Are you speaking as a member of the government?" one of the reporters asked.
"No," Carol answered, "I'm speaking as a citizen of
The Republic, and stating my rights, which I know The Republic will
stand up for. They have in the past, and they will in the future."
"Yeah," a reporter snapped, "even when somebody
grabs a boy by the penis and throws him down a flight of stairs The
Republic won't tolerate The United Nations or, The World Court
interfering."
"Absolutely right!" Carol answered. "When a piece of
filth can't keep his hands to himself and dishonors an honorable man,
what happens is his responsibility. When these animals are told
no they must understand what no means!"
"Ow!" the reporter snapped. "You definitely hold The Republic's view, ma'am!"
"I certainly do!" Carol answered. "Leave us
alone, we won't bother you. Try to force your sickness on us, try to
make us follow your foolishness, and we'll deal with you. You
don't tell us how to live. You don't tell us what we have to
accept. I've been fortunate. I've been given a good
deal. I've fulfilled my part of the bargain and they're
fulfilling theirs. People better not forget that. The UN does not
dictate to us. The World Court does not dictate to us. Stay out
of our way, we won't bother you. Thank you ladies and gentlemen!
Unless Mr. Asad wants to add something."
"Don't need to!" Mr. Asad added. "You've said it
plain enough! And that's exactly the opinion of The
Republic. Leave our people alone. We don't share your
views. We don't support your sickness. I will say, that
because of this incident all UN personnel are asked to leave Republic
territory. They wanna cause trouble, we don't want them!"
The reporters all nodded. Carol was grinning. "What's so funny?" Asad asked.
"I'd like to have been there," Carol remarked, "when
The US Marshalls served the eviction notice on The UN in New York when
they were to to get the hell out."
Asad smiled. "I was there!" he remarked.
"It was beautiful. Oh! They were angry! But they
left! They knew better than challenge us! He was just The
President Of The United States then, but they weren't stupid!
They knew if he said go, they'd better go before we started arresting
people."
Carol headed home. Weeks went by.
Finally her calculations began to show that the object wasn't going to
hit Mars. It was going to come very close, and it might possibly
go into orbit. But the world breathed a sigh of relief. The
thought of a planet being knocked out of orbit was not a pleasant one
because you didn't exactly know where it might go.
One day Asad came in and held out some papers. "What's this?" Carol asked.
"Your transport documents," he announced.
"Everybody needs to get packing. You've got 27 days. Your ship
lifts at Cape Canaveral exactly on that time, no matter the weather no
matter what. There could be a hurricane and you'll go up.
They want you at the observatory on the moon when your friend reaches
Mars, so they're pushing things ahead a little bit."
"Oooh!" Carol sighed. "I don't like being that important."
"I wouldn't worry about it," Asad managed, "because everybody else does, Madam Speaker!"
Carol grinned at him and looked at the papers. "Anti gravs could take off in a hurricane?" she asked.
"Well, they could," Asad answered, "but they
probably wouldn't. They'd wait 'til good weather. Exposing
a hurricane to massive anti grav fields? No tellin' what could happen!"
Carol understood his meaning, and they began
packing. The children were all excited. Carol had to admit,
she was a little bit, too! They were going to the moon on the
dark side, which was kept dark because of the instruments there,
instruments that were looking further into the universe than anybody
had ever looked before, instruments Carol was going to get to
use! She couldn't lie. She couldn't say she wasn't excited,
she was. She most certainly was!