It Is Really Not So Sweet

It's Really Not So Sweet

John W. Gilmore

As If Reading My Mind--Chapter 1

“Why won't it stop raining so hard out there?” I looked up at the sky light. “The rain is coming down in sheets! It sounds like thunder or something!”

“It could be worse. It could be snowing,” Melissa answered, never looking up from her computer screen. I could completely understand. We had had that conversation hundreds of times if not thousands, but why did we only have two choices—rain or snow?

“We are surveying a planet where it rains in the summer and snows in the winter,” she said, as if reading my mind. “I can't understand why you're surprised if it is raining or snowing.” She looked up at me and just stared. I frowned.

“Well I know who to not visit next time,” I said.

“We'll miss you,” Anita said, from the other side, with a big smile. She leaned back in her chair and continued to read. She was wearing green, khaki pants, military style along with army boots and a regular black tea shirt with short sleeves. Her hair was in long plats. She said she wore it that way, lately, so she didn't have to take as much care of it. “You can get some coffee before you go though,” she said. “Long ride to the Beta site. Especially in all of that rain.” She looked up, grinned and gave me a wink.

“You know you aren't going anywhere right now, John,” Melissa said. “It's raining too hard. Have a seat.” She stood up and went to a nearby file cabinet.

“Why are you always pretending to be so busy?” I asked. “Probably working on some recipes or something.” I walked over to the coffee pot and filled my thermos. “I don't melt, Mel. We all aren't as sweet as you are.”

“Make sure you have a raincoat and your batteries are charged. We don't want to have to come after you,” Melissa replied.

“We won't. It's only rain,” Anita responded

“Yeah, But It can be terrible out there,” I complained.

“In the snow,” Melissa said, brushing a lock of black hair from her face, and folding her arms, “but it really isn't snowing, is it?” I just shook my head.

“Quiet? That's a really new thing for you isn't it? Suits you well, John.”

“I can be abused anywhere. I'm going to hit the road.”

“Well you be careful,” Anita said. “The roads wash out a lot, and be careful of the floods. How long will you be on the road anyway?”

“A couple of weeks at the most.”

“You are the only Security? Why don't they hire somebody else?”

“Because they can't find anyone better than me,” I said. She shook her head. “What?” I asked. “Don't you agree with me, Anita?”

“Sure John. Whatever you say.”

“Don't say that to him, his head is already big enough,” Melissa said. She looked at me. “You take care and keep your radio on, OK?”

“Sure. I didn't know you cared.” I zipped my jacket and headed for the door before she could answer. I heard, “I didn't say I cared,” as I stepped out into the pouring rain. There were so many puddles, streams, and river-lets out there that had just appeared in the week I had been there that I barely recognized the place. I hit a button on my wrist band and waited. Soon the auto-drive vehicle pulled up.

It was a large white van, almost as big as an RV. It was set up in the back with a small kitchen, small stove, and seating area. The table could be manipulated and turned into a small bed. There was also a small loft style bed located in the rear up near the roof.

It was far to the other sites. This was only one of four I had to inspect. Sometimes it took almost a week or two just to get from one site to the next. I hadn't mentioned it, but I often wondered why I was the only security person within thousands of miles myself. The door opened and I climbed into the back. Anita came running out.

“Forgot your thermos! You'd forget your head it it wasn't attached.”

“No doubt,” I said. “Thanks.”

“You be careful and take care.”

“Sure will.” She turned and rushed back into the building. I kept the side door open as I rummaged around in the back and prepared for a long ride. I found my most comfortable seat, set everything up, and anchored the small kitchen table close enough for me to reach easily. I hit another button in my watch and the door slowly slid closed. I took a seat.

“Please fasten your seat-belt,” a voice said. I ignored it and the engine went off. “Please fasten your seat-belt,” it repeated. I locked it around my waste. The engine started again and we began to move out across the muddy landscape toward what looked like a raging river. I knew this thing was waterproof. It was almost like a boat car, but it made me nervous.”

“Your respiratory rate is up as well as your heart beat. Do you need soothing music?” The car asked.

“No thanks. I'm just a little worried about all of this water. Looks like we're going into a raging river.”

“No worry. We have done this before. Please relax. I will tell you when you can remove your seat-belt”

“Thank you,” I said. Soft music came on. I leaned back into my seat. I only looked out the window every so often. There was nothing to see out there, but water and trees. It was rather strange, however, to feel oneself bobbing and swaying through rushing rivers every so often, or to feel your tires spinning through mud filled paths without you driving. I didn't think I would ever get used to that, but hey, everyone was doing it. It was proven safe so...what the hell. It would probably take almost a week to get to the next camp. I decided I would just relax.

The wind was blowing. The rain began to beat down on the roof. We bobbed up and down and the slipped out of the big stream onto the muddy trails, moving slowly and purposefully, as to not cause the wheels to spin. It was getting dark outside, but I could see the rain being blown against the side windows. I thought how cold it must be out there. We continued on, slowly and carefully. I started to fall asleep. “You may remove your seat-belt,” the van said. I unlatched it. I closed my eyes again and went into a deep sleep. I awakened feeling good.

I was a little tight after sleeping in a chair, but I was refreshed. “You have arrived at the Beta Site,” the van said. That was impossible.

“How can I have arrived there already? It's a whole week or two week journey?”

“We went through a time slip.”

“What the heck is a time slip?”

“A shortcut between time and space. I have been designed to take you anywhere you needed to go as quickly as possible. Would you like to alter this programming?”

“Of course not, but you haven't done anything like that before.”

“I went for maintenance during the last rest period. I am new and improved.”

“I've never heard of a time slip on such a small vehicle.”

“Welcome to the real world,” the van said.

***

The vehicle pulled up in the front of the quonset hut and the door opened. It would go a bit farther on its own to a parking garage with an automatic door. The garage was kept at a constant temperature to keep the vehicles from freezing up during the winter. It wasn't winter, but everything was set so that it would go there automatically anyway. I got out and headed in. To my surprise the van found an out of the way area near the side of the building and parked there. I guess it did have a makeover.

Billy met me at the door. He was standing there looking as scruffy as ever with not only a five o'clock shadow, but a ten o'clock shadow. I often told him that he should decide whether he wanted to grow a beard or not. He would just flag me off and say either one was not worth the effort.

He had wild brown hair, a scruffy mustache and beard. Billy was about five ten and burly. He had the build of a lumber jack or WFC wrestler, but he was actually a Climatologist. He, Brian, and Kim were stationed on the Beta site together studying the cycles of snow and rain, especially focusing on weather patterns to inform the would be settlers coming to this planet on what was necessary when it came to farming, believe it or not.

Most of the first settlers were farmers, agricultural engineers, carpenters, plumbers and the like. They were the people one needed to build the infrastructural for the society and the other people would come later, after all of the necessities were in place. Some scientists, engineers, and other specialists spent most of their time in little domes or huts preparing for the onslaught of the dispossessed of the planet Earth—the ones who were either so disenchanted, adventurous, or broke they were willing to fly light-years away for a new start, which included me.

I had been a cop for a couple of years after the war, which was boring. Aside from the politics, as in putting up with working with macho assholes, to the turning of the head to corruption in the ranks that was necessary to survive, it just wasn't my thing to harass people to fill a quota on arrests and passing out citations. That moved me into working in private security firms and some deep spiritual practices that I learned from doing martial arts, believe it or not. After several years of private security and the growing dissatisfaction, I needed something new. My spiritual practices were changing me as I moved farther from the martial aspects deeper into meditation so I jumped on the chance to go to the new planet – New Earth.

I always thought they should have called it Earth Two, but the General Population, for some reason, didn't agree with it. So here I stood on New Earth face to face with a red neck Climatologist, a Black Agricultural Engineer, and an overall fascinating, yet quick to hit and spit, Infrastructural Engineer named Kelly. Kelly was a bit plump and a bit mean. Yet again, we all were.

She often wore army fatigues, like many of the people on New Earth. She liked to wear head scarfs and bandannas wrapped around her long red hair to keep it out of her eyes when she worked. Brian had no hair, it was easy for him to keep it out of his eyes. He had a baldy. They were very interesting characters. The three stooges at best, but brilliant.

“You coming in or what, John?” Billy asked. He headed back in before I could answer speaking over his shoulder. “Why'd it take you so long. It's been almost a month.”

“A month,” I said. “It's been less than a day.”

“A day.” He turned toward me. “What are you talking about?”

“I left yesterday. I sat at my table and nodded off a bit and then,” I spread my hands. “Here I am. The van said it had been refitted with time slip technology.”

“Really? Well it didn't work too well because it took a couple of weeks longer than usual. I thought you were in a drug induced coma somewhere.”

“I should be so lucky,” I said. We walked down the long ramp leading to the underground section. “I don't like that vehicle and what they did to it. The thing is talking to me all the time and what the hell happened to my weeks? Did it...what did it do to me?”

“I have no idea. I also don't know why they would add time slip to a vehicle like that. That's for vast distances.” He shook his head. “Looks like they're at it again.” He looked at me. “Oh. I shouldn't have said anything. You are one of them aren't you?” He grinned.

“Believe me. I am not one of them, whoever they are. Everywhere you go we hear about them; this secret elite group of people controlling the world. I've never seen them. I don't think they exist.”

“Of course not.” He gave me a wink. “We know they don't exist, don't we?” We walked into the living space. Brian and Kelly were sitting in a giant room full of furniture, one on the left side and one on the right side, both reading. I guessed that was the only way they could get privacy, by pretending the other didn't exist.”

“He's here,” Billy said as we entered.

“Hope you have my chocolate,” Kelly said. She headed in my direction. “Took your time getting here, didn't you?” I removed my back pack and fished inside pulling out a box full of chocolate bars. “Those should last until the next time I make it,” I said.

“I doubt that.” She took the box. “Thank you. I'll make sure you get your credits.”

“What? Is our friend here on the take?” Brian asked. “You selling black market items, John?”

“It's just chocolate, and yes.” I said.

“I don't understand where he gets it,” Kelly said.

“Someone in Delta makes it home made,” I said.

“You are so lucky. You get a chance to travel around and see all of these experiments going on. I wish I could,” Brian said.

“Come with me some times.”

“Not allowed,” Billy said, cutting in.

“Here's the sheriff again,” Kelly commented.

“I just...stick to the rules.” He walked over to her. “Can I have one of those?” She hesitated and then tossed him one. He turned to me. “You know where to sit. Don't be like a stranger. We're used to seeing your dull face at least a week at a time. Have a seat.”

Brian began to laugh. I walked over to a large sofa sitting in the center of the jumbled of sets of love-seats, stuffed chairs, desks and small table. There was enough furniture for about 30 people. “Leave it to security man to take the center chair,” Brian said.

“Don't join in with them, you're better than that, Brian. Billy is crazy.”

“Don't you know it?” Billy said.

“So what do you have for dinner?” I asked.

“Same old thing. You know the drill,” Billy said. “As for me, back to the lab to do some work.”

“I can see this will be a fun week,” I said, sarcastically. I kicked off my shoes and laid down on the sofa, fingers laced behind my head and looking up at an unfinished ceiling. Pipes, wires, sheet metal, ten different types of paint and even no paint. The lights didn't even match. They were just stuck up there. I just shook my head and decided to take a little nap. Before I knew it I was being shaken awake.

“What are you doing, Kelly?” I asked.

“Waking you up, Dummy. It's time to eat. We at least do that together.”

“I'm sure you do,” I said.

“And what does that mean?”

“Nothing.”

“Yeah. Well keep nothing to yourself and come on. You've been here before. You know how we do it. House rules.”

“It's been a long time and I've been to a lot of other Houses, remember?”

“This is the only one that counts. Kitchen! Fifteen minutes.” She spun on her heal and headed out of the room toward the kitchen. What did these people expect of me. I spent most of my time traveling from one site to the next and spending about a week or two at each site. I didn't remember any of those little rules. There were just too many.

I put my boots back on and laced them tight. I headed to the kitchen. I at least remembered where that was. The food smelled good. I couldn't believe that. I think they had real meat. Everyone was at the table waiting. I took a seat.

“Smells like real meat. Where'd you get that?”

“I made it in the lab and printed it out,” Brian said, proudly. I looked down at it. It looked like a steak. “What's wrong?” He asked. “It's meat. I just grew it from some of the cells we keep stocked here. What do you think Agricultural Engineers do? We engineer agricultural products.”

“And this is safe?”

“I wouldn't be feeding it to you if it wasn't.”

“Well. You're one of them. You're liable to do anything.” Kelly began to laugh. Billy started smiling.

“Oh that famous group of them? What are they? The Cabal that has been ruling the universe for millions of years.” He shook his head. “I haven't seen them. There's no such thing. We all know that don't we?” He cut into his printed steak. “Now eat your steak before it gets cold,” he said.

“It may turn back into worms if you let it get cold,” Billy said, putting a big chunk in his mouth.”

“As if that would matter to you,” Brian said.