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A JOURNEY TOO FAR
Page 1 of 2
By Donald Sullivan
Jay Francis stretched out on the bunk and made himself as comfortable as possible. He reached down with his right hand and pressed the button on the side of the bunk. The rest was automatic.
The door to the chamber slid shut. Straps slipped over his arms, legs, and body and tightened. The temperature within the airtight chamber began to fall. He felt sensors searching for the vein in his forearm, then felt a slight sting as the needle was inserted. The computer announced that the IV was activated and administering hypnotol. The drug, combined with the sub-zero temperature, would preserve his body for ages.
The computer would monitor his bodily functions and maintain the correct temperature in the chamber to assure that he would remain in a frozen state of hibernation for the next five hundred years--time enough for The Solarwind to reach Alpha Centauri.
Jay was feeling drowsy now; the hypnotol was starting to work. He gazed through the chamber window to see the other chamber holding Calvin Youngblood, son of Walter Youngblood, multibillionaire and owner of The Solarwind. Jay marveled at how Calvin had manipulated his father into funding this voyage--a voyage of which the elder Youngblood would never know the outcome.
But Jay felt he had been manipulated as well. Calvin had talked him into leaving a secure position as an astronaut with Asteroid Mining Company to pilot The Solarwind to Alpha Centauri to investigate a newly discovered planet there--a planet that astronomers believed would support life. Calvin was convinced that overcrowded Earth must spread out to the stars.
That was Jay's last thought before drifting off into blissful darkness.
*****
When he awoke, his first thought was that the drug hadn't worked. But the computer told him differently. "Your hibernation period has ended. Vitachal is being administered through the IV to restore vitality to your system. Please do not move while the Vitachal is being administered."
He lay still as he felt a prickling sensation over his entire body for the next few minutes.
"You may move now," the computer told him. "Please arise very slowly. Perform light exercise phase one..." The computer continued to spell out instructions he knew by heart.
He stepped out of the chamber. He glanced at the other chamber, but there was no sign of Calvin. While waiting for Calvin to emerge, Jay--still wobbly--went to the galley for a bowl of the prescribed broth.
When he returned to the chambers, there was still no sign of Calvin. Now he was concerned. It had been over thirty minutes since he awakened, and he and Calvin should have awakened no more than minutes apart.
He hurried--as fast as he dared move--to the control cabin. He sat down at the master controls and keyed the mike. "Request status report on Calvin Youngblood in hibernation chamber number one."
"Calvin Youngblood expired on the twentieth day of the seven hundredth year of the voyage. Death was due to an undetected defect in chamber number one. Do you wish a full report?"
"No report desired." Jay was shocked at the news of Calvin's death, but he could not accept that Calvin had died during the seven hundredth year--the voyage ended at five hundred years, as scheduled. But he glanced at the ship's chronometer and received another shock, for it read one thousand years. He made another inquiry of the computer, to which it responded:
"A hibernation period of one thousand years was programmed. You were awakened at the end of that time."
Either a terrible human error or a terrible computer glitch had occurred. In any case, Jay was facing another thousand year journey, making a total of two thousand years away from Earth.
The computer assured him that sufficient drugs and fuel remained for the journey. He jettisoned the body of Calvin and prepared for the return trip.
*****
He awoke with a start. He struggled against the straps until he remembered where he was. The computer cautioned him to cease movement until the vitachal was administered.
After performing his exercise routines and drinking his broth, he proceeded to the control cabin. The computer informed him that The Solarwind was now in orbit around Earth. He made several attempts to contact Earth, but received no response.
It was strange, he thought, that there had been no response to his attempts to communicate. It was strange, too, that his approach to Earth had not been intercepted. It was now the forty-second century on Earth, and an ancient ship like The Solarwind should be attracting attention. But there was not a shadow of activity.
Fearing that the computer might have mistakenly taken him to another world, he checked the monitor showing an image of the planet below, then zoomed in for a closer look. The shape of the Florida peninsula had changed, and some of the state was now under water, but he knew that this was due to the melting of the ice caps. But there was no doubt: this was Planet Earth.
He left The Solarwind in orbit and descended to Earth in the AGS, antigrav shuttlecar. He found a suitable stretch of beach on the Florida coast and landed the AGS.
He stepped out of the shuttlecar, stretched, and took a deep breath of the invigorating salt air. There was no sign of activity anywhere or no sound except the ceaseless roar of the surf crashing on the shore.
Obeying a hunch, he stepped into the AGS and pulled out a laser pulser, checking to make sure that the weapon held a full charge. He strapped on a pistol belt containing more charges, holstered the pulser, and set out along the beach.
He was not yet up to full strength, and after thirty minutes of walking he stopped to rest. After a short rest, he couldn't resist pulling off his boots and wading in the surf.
He chuckled to himself, "After two millennia, I deserve a little pleasure." He'd waded out to knee-deep water when he abruptly stopped. Something was moving out in front of him.
It seemed to be a large snake, or perhaps an eel. He started backing away as he saw it coming straight toward him. As it drew closer, he could see that it was a tentacle, and he looked out to see its owner rising out of the water: a huge octopus-like creature.
He turned to run toward the beach, but even as he turned, he felt something coil around his ankle. In the next instant he was sputtering and gulping water as the tentacle pulled him through the surf. Abruptly, he was lifted from the water and found himself dangling like a rag doll as the creature pulled him toward its huge maw.
He struggled to reach the pulser on his hip, hoping that the weapon hadn't shaken out of the holster. But he was being tossed around so violently that he couldn't find the handle. He was near total exhaustion now, and found it an ordeal just to grope for the pulser.
He was but a few feet from the creature's maw when his hand found and drew the weapon. His finger tightened on the trigger, and he fired wildly at the creature, hoping that he would hit a vital spot. He felt the charge in the pulser empty just as the coil around his ankle relaxed. He fell in the water and managed to holster the weapon before swimming away from the thrashing monster.
He made it to shore on adrenaline and the help of a large swell pushing him toward shore. He lay on the beach face down, utterly exhausted and gasping for breath. He did not know how much time had passed before he managed to struggle to his feet. He examined his body, and although he was sore all over, he found no wounds.
He donned his boots, reloaded his pulser, and continued his trek along the beach. He grew more and more troubled as he plodded along, for he saw not the slightest sign of another human being. Other than the monster he'd encountered, the only sign of life he'd seen was a lone coyote. That meant there were smaller creatures around like rats and rabbits, the coyote's natural prey.
But where were the humans? Had he somehow gone back in time during his journey through space? Was the tentacled creature some kind of prehistoric monster, long extinct in his own time? But there was the coyote; it didn't exist in prehistoric times. More likely, he thought, he was in the year 4102, two thousand years after leaving Earth in The Solarwind. But after his departure, something terrible must have happened on Earth. He headed back to the AGS. He would set out for Atlanta; maybe he'd find something there to give him a clue as to what happened.
*****
Atlanta was in ruins. Most buildings were huge piles of rubble, some overgrown with brush and vines. He set the AGS down outside the ruins and made his way through the rubble, seeking any signs of human life. He found nothing but rats, cockroaches, and another lone coyote. Had the human race disappeared from the face of the earth?
His peripheral vision caught a movement to his left. He turned his head to see a figure about a city block away, moving toward him. Apparently seeing Jay at the same time, the figure jumped behind a rubble pile.
Jay spread his arms, empty palms forward. "Hello! I mean you no harm."
The figure popped up and fired a beamer at him. He felt a sting as the beam grazed his left shoulder. He ducked around the corner of a building.
"You cannot deceive me, android." The voice sounded metallic, as if coming from a speaker.
The building was small, but one of the few left intact. Jay found a door and entered, hoping that the structure didn't choose this moment to come crashing down. He pulled his shirt down to expose his left shoulder. The wound was minor. There was no blood; the beamer had instantly cauterized the wound. But it was still painful.
He found the stairway still intact and climbed to the second floor. He drew his pulser and ran to a window, hoping to spot his assailant below. What he saw standing directly below the window was a robot. He drew his head back in.
A robot! And it appeared to be sentient. He recalled that the robot had called him an android. Did sentient robots and androids exist in these times, capable of reasoning and acting on their own?
He heard voices coming from below. He peeked out again to discover six robots standing below the window. He had no trouble hearing the loud, monotone voices.
"It is not logical. An android would not dare to come to this part of town alone."
"Logical or not, I saw it with my own sensors. It wore odd looking garments and tried to deceive me. It seems to have disappeared, but it can only be in this building."
"Very well, we shall search the building. Zeta-One-Five shall guard the front exit, and Delta-Nine shall guard the rear. The rest of us will enter the building and search. If the android is spotted, it must be destroyed on sight."
He was trapped. This was a small two-story building with only two exits; they wouldn't be long in finding him. And they meant to kill him on sight. They thought him an android, and there must be something going on between robots and androids. But there was no time to dwell on that; he had to find a way to escape.
He went to the window, a drop of over twenty feet. About six feet away from the window was a high pile of rubble only a few feet below the level of the window. He would have a chance, he figured, if he could land on the rubble. Anyway, there was no other choice.
He crawled into the window, crouched, and pushed off with his legs. He landed on top of the rubble, but his feet slipped and he tumbled down the side of the pile. His wounded shoulder struck a jagged chunk of concrete. He felt pain as the tender wound ripped open.
He heard footsteps as he struggled to his feet, and saw that the robots were almost upon him. He drew his pulser; at least he would go down fighting.
"Stop! Do not harm him," one of the robots shouted. "He is human. He is bleeding."
"Yes," said another, "robotic law demands that we help him."
Jay recalled that a twentieth century scientist proposed the robotic law even before the first robot was designed. The law would be permanently programmed into all robot's circuits. The gist of the law was that robots must serve, obey, and help humans in every way possible.
As the robots came to his aid, one of them went haywire. It fell to the ground, kicking and flailing its arms. Smoke curled up from the robot, and after a few moments it was still.
"Beta-Four-Two caused your shoulder injury," a robot told him. "Its circuitry could not stand the shock of learning that you are human."
The robots led him to a building where other robots were gathered. Some were dismantled while other robots performed maintenance on them, some were repairing weapons, and others were simply idle, doing nothing.
One of the robots was a medical tech, and Jay was amazed when it produced a container from within its body and sprayed his shoulder wound. The spray felt soothing, and within moments it solidified into a thin bandage.
"The bandage contains pain killers and antibiotics," the tech told him. "As the wound heals, the bandage will fall away."
A robot classified as a domestic prepared a stew of meat and plants. He did not want to ask what the ingredients were, but the stew was savory--and his first real food in two thousand years. He was beginning to feel better.
"I have been away from Earth for a long time," Jay told the robots. "I want to ask you some questions."
A robot with DZ8 on its breastplate stepped forward. I am Delta Zulu Eight, leader of this group. I will answer your questions," it said in its metallic voice. "Humans find it easy to simply call me Dizzy."
"First, I'd like to know what happened to all the people on Earth, Dizzy. Where are they?"
Conclusion on page 2
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