The Earthrise Trilogy Part 16

"Ok," Jimmy said, "to business. I've solved the fuel problem, or rather the Kerasite has."

"How so?" Steve asked.

"Remember I told you about its violent reaction to water? Well, it seems that the reaction changes the molecular structure of the water, under pressure it becomes very volatile, the slightest spark and boom. Problem solved. Now, all we need is enough Kerasite to make the glider and the fuel comes free!"

"No problem there," Steve replied, "I found loads of the stuff on our trip. I guess we need to become miners."

"There's an industrial laser down in Lark that will make quick work of that," Jimmy said, "we used it to test the Kerasite and it ate rock for breakfast."

"How much ore do you think we'll need?" Steve asked.

"Hmm, that's a good question, at least a couple of tons...The weight of the glider times three I'd say."

"Fair enough," Steve said, "I'll get someone on it."

There was a loud knocking on Kay's door. "Come in," she shouted. Sam entered, his heart pounding. She caught site of the flowers. "Are they for me? How lovely..." She stopped short and looked at Sam. The penny dropped.

"How's my favourite twenty year old today?" he asked, blushing.

"All the better for seeing you Samuel Davis!" she answered, "Is this what I think it is?"

"Absolutely," Sam replied, "fancy a walk by the lake?"

Steve had fixed a meeting with the four volunteers. He was quite excited about telling them of the people on Earth, and having done so, he brought up the question of mining the Kerasite. "The whole trip depends on us having enough to build the glider," he told them. Both Jake and Zeek volunteered on the spot. "Good," Steve said, "that's the mining sorted, now we just have to design the glider."

The lake was it's usual vivid green colour, only today, everything seemed brighter, the colours deeper and more vivid.

"I guess the berries sharpen eyesight," Sam said. They were walking hand-in-hand at the water's edge when suddenly, Kay just gave out a schoolgirl scream and dived in fully clothed. Sam looked on a little incredulous, but she called out, "Come on in, the water's wonderful."

Sam didn't hesitate, he dived in, also fully clothed. The water was wonderful. They both started laughing, realising that this was not the normal behaviour of a couple of forty somethings.

"We're behaving like a couple of kids," Sam laughed, flicking water at her.

"We are a couple of kids," she said, "let's enjoy it."

Lisa Hammond came home from teaching school. "I'm glad you're back Lees," John smiled, "I've got a problem."

He explained about the Earth mission, and the need to design a glider.

"What about Tristran?" she replied, "he's really talented at design."

"But he's just a kid," John protested.

"A very bright seventeen year old kid," Lisa answered, "it wouldn't hurt to give him a try."

The next day, Lisa set the cla.s.s the design problem. She knew that Tristran would rise to it, but didn't want to single him out. He was a strange lad, but extremely bright, and he had a flare for designing things.

"Remember cla.s.s, it's four pa.s.sengers, plus food and medicine."

Cold water has an effect on ardour, even youthful ardour. Sam and Kay climbed out of the lake and stood dripping in the sunshine. She shivered slightly, and instinctively, he reached out and gave her a hug to warm her up. The hug was returned, and the kiss followed.

"I'm so glad you're well again," Sam said, softly, "I've longed for this day, but didn't dare to dream it would ever happen."

"I didn't dare to dream at all," she responded, "but I've been given a second chance Sam, and I intend to make the most of it."

She melted into his arms, and he melted at the knees.

Several hours later, Sam and Kay walked into the settlement without a care in the world, looking damp and bedraggled. Heads turned as they pa.s.sed.

"Did you fall in?" Someone called out laughing.

"Or were you pushed?" Someone else said.

Sam and Kay were oblivious to it all and just strolled casually back to Kay's house where they kissed and parted.

"Now I know there's a G.o.d," Sam muttered, as he left. Inside the house, Kay burst into tears of joy at the wonderful things the Lord had done for her that day.

When Jimmy arrived home from work he found Sh.e.l.ley at the computer writing. "I know something you don't know," he teased her. The look he received told him not to push his luck, so he told her about Sam and Kay. She was delighted and said, "Eden really is a good name for this place, do you know what it means Jims?"

"Nope," he answered.

"Paradise...It means paradise, and this place is paradise!"

He told her about the radio contact, and the planned trip to Earth.

"They're using a glider because Steve doesn't want there to be any chance of the ship bringing back any contamination."

"Then it's a one way trip for whoever goes," She said, thoughtfully.

"Yes, there are four volunteers, Jake, Zeek, Martha and Betty."

She looked at him and said, "I think they're very brave to go back, it'll not be paradise back there."

"No, I suppose you're right," Jimmy said, thoughtfully, "it'll be anything but paradise."

Sam floated home without noticing the journey, he was at his door when Steve caught up with him.

"Sam, I'd like you to give Martha and Betty a crash course in first aid. They may need it when they get to Earth. They can only carry so many berries...Sam, Sam are you listening?"

"Erm, sorry Steve, yes I'll do that, no problem."

Steve was tempted to ask Sam if he was all right, but the glazed look in his eyes shouted that he was. Steve put it down to the berries. Things were sure going to change around here from now on.

Life settled down again in Eden, though the sudden influx of youthfulness was having a profound effect on everybody. Work rate almost doubled as reinvigorated bodies set about the tasks at hand. Jake and Zeek took to mining like old time professionals, and soon had several tons of Kerasite ready for smelting. Eric modified the main ship's power system with his super efficient solar panels, and Roland, who was in charge of all power generating systems, set his mind to the problem of the Trion drive. He had developed a theory that Kerasite could deflect the Trion radiation away from the ship, thus eliminating the need for the initial explosion. So far, Kerasite had proved to be impervious to everything they could throw at it, and as of now, everything hinged on the design of the glider; nothing could go forward until that one item was in place.

At the end of the week when it was time for the students to hand in their a.s.signments, Lisa waited with some antic.i.p.ation for Tristran's design to arrive. Several of the students had already handed theirs in, but she hadn't taken too much notice of them. She didn't really expect any of the younger students to be able to come up with such a complicated piece of work, but Tristran was in a different league to all the others.

He was a solitary boy who was uneasy with company. He had not been born on the Moon, but had been too young to have any memory of Earth, or the journey that they had made to get here. He was fiercely intelligent, and would no doubt, one day, become a great intellect. He approached her desk to hand in his work.

"How did you get on Tris'?" she asked.

"Okay, I think Mrs. Hammond, but it needs quite a lot more work yet. Perhaps I could come and discuss it with Mr. Hammond some time if that would be all right."

This was an unusual request for him, but perhaps this a.s.signment would be the catalyst needed to bring him out of himself.

"I'm sure that will be fine Tris', I'll show him your work and get him to call you."

He smiled and left. It was only then that she looked down at the package he had dropped on her desk. It was a box file full of diagrams and explanatory notes. She only glanced at them, but found them impressive, and felt sure that John would be also.

Later that evening, after they had eaten, she handed John the box and said, "See what you make of that."

"What is it Lees?" he asked, having forgotten about the school project.

"You'll see, I'll leave you to it."

She did just that and didn't see him until he came to bed several hours later.

"You were right, he is good. I think we can use his design as a basis and build on it. He hasn't grasped some of the stress calculations properly, but his aerodynamics are remarkable." He would have gone on, but she was already asleep. "Night," he said, turning out the light, knowing he wouldn't be sleeping much that night.

John Hammond was up very early the following morning. He'd spent most of the night thinking through Tristran's schematics, and had become more impressed as he did so.

"I told him you'd call to discuss it with him," Lisa said over breakfast. "I feel this project might just bring him out of himself, you will call..."

"Most definitely," John enthused, "the more I think about his work, the more I like what he's done. I may need to take him out of school if that's okay, we'll need help to build it."

"It's okay by me, he's beyond my teaching anyway."

They both left for work, but John headed straight over to the Forester's house to show Steve the plans.

Steve was delighted with what he saw. "How soon can we start building John?"

"Subject to a few minor alterations to the interior, we can start right away. The outer sh.e.l.l is the best aero dynamic design I've ever seen, we may need to strengthen some of the internal bracing, to cope with impact on landing, but that's all."

"This is great news John, it means the Earth trip can go ahead."

"I'll be sorry to lose Jake and Zeek though," John said, "I've grown very fond of those guys."

"Me too, but their hearts have never really settled here, strange, I took to this place like a duck to water."

"Speaking of water, did you hear about Sam and Kay? They're an item."

Recalling the glazed look in Sam's eyes Steve replied, "That would explain a few things, I'm happy for them."

"Me too," John agreed, "They make a great couple."

Just then, there was an enormous explosion, and the whole house shook. Steve and John raced for the door. Once outside, they looked around frantically for signs of damage. Steve thought the sub station had gone up, but everything looked fine in that direction. Turning, he saw Jimmy walking, a little shakily, towards them. He was rubbing his ears and his clothes were covered in various forms of debris.

"What happened?" Steve called to him.

"It works!" Was the reply. Jimmy arrived still banging his ears. "Actually, it worked a little too well," he said smiling. "Sorry about the bang guys, but I only used a few CCs."

Steve had cottoned on to what he was going on about, but John was still wondering. "It's the rocket fuel John," Steve explained.

Jimmy elaborated, "Yeah, I thought I'd see just how volatile it was...We'll need to be real careful when we handle it. That was just a few CCs in a pressure container, some bang eh. Well, we needed a swimming pool nearer than the lake, now we have a hole big enough for one!"

Jimmy wasn't kidding, the hole he had made was huge, easily big enough for a swimming pool.

Steve and John followed him back to where the explosion had taken place, and Sure enough, there was a large hole in the ground just as Jimmy had said. "Well, it's a bit round for a swimming pool, but I guess we could elongate it a bit..."

They all chuckled, but the idea stuck, and several months later, Eden had a swimming pool which they Christened, 'Jimmy's Dip.'

Special tanks were constructed from Kerasite, to hold the new fuel, and fitted to the big ship. The very low weight of the Kerasite made it ideal for all things 's.p.a.ce travel,' where weight is a problem. To have such low weight and such high strength in a single material was a major blessing.

Chapter Fifteen.

Chapter 6.

The Trip to Earth John stopped by Tristran's house to tell him about his part in the Earth project. He wasn't home, he had left early for school to talk to Lisa about his design. John went to the school building, knocked on the cla.s.sroom door, and entered.

"Hi everybody," John said, on entering, "sorry to disturb you, but I need Tristran to come with me, is that Ok with you Tristran?"

"Sure thing Mr. Hammond, but please call me Tris', everyone else does."