Josiah West 1: Kaleidoscope (17 page)

Josiah was now in the suite that Nora had been in since he had arrived here; it had windows and sunlight and normal beds. The last month of physical conditioning had created a great longing for that peaceful trail by the gentle stream. Everyone in the facility referred to the physical therapy area as The House of Pain. They were right, but Josiah could walk now even if he did need to use two canes for balance. The greatest help was his determination.

He reclined in the bed after a therapy session. Molly
sat in a chair next to him, and Admiral Jacks sat on the edge of the bed on the other side; today was the first time they had visited that they were able to have a normal conversation.

Molly had his, now usable, left hand in both of hers; she had wet eyes and a critical expression, “I don’t know what we’re going to do with you; Arthur’s afraid to let you operate anything more dangerous than a can opener.” She managed a small smile at that.

The Admiral objected, “I only said that for while he is recovering; after that, maybe a ground vehicle that won’t go any faster than 10kph.”

Josiah looked from one to the other, sensing the fading panic and fear, “How have things been for you two?”

He felt Molly’s grip tighten; that told him all he had to know about her feelings. The Admiral got a grim look on his face, “Everyone except Edwards, Marks…and you were in my office going over routine business when we were notified of a problem with the Hahn-Wright Station. By the time we got clearance from the Chinese Government to send military assistance, it was over three hours after impact.”

He gave Josiah a grim smile, “We were watching feeds from various satellites and ships orbiting the area and marveling at the dumb luck that had dropped it on the north side of those mountains instea…instead of a few kilometers further south.”

He had to stop talking for a moment. Josiah could see the brimming wetness in his eyes, “We didn’t know, we just didn’t know.”

He took a deep breath and got his composure back, “It was right about then that someone over at Atmospheric Traffic Control put two and two together and checked with Tampa Traffic Control to see if they had information on Admiral 6. They called us when they realized that the last fix they had on you was when you were doing an atmospheric dive across the
South China Sea heading straight toward the Hahn-Wright Station. Beltozi got on the Orbital Search System ELT scan link and found yours mixed in with several others at the crash site. It had been ignored because of the obvious mess.”

Josiah could see the Admiral’s eyes lose their focus, “That’s when things got a little fuzzy. I think I remember screaming orders to get everything we had in there.”

Molly said, “Yes, he did.” to Josiah.

The Admiral got up and started pacing, “We got to the hanger and grabbed a couple of Falcons.” He stopped pacing for a moment and smiled, “For the first time in my military career I declared a full emergency and used those forward screens like they’ve never been used before; we were on top of your ELT signal in forty-two minutes.”

He sat back on the edge of the bed, “Unfortunately, Kaleidoscope wound up as a debris trail three kilometers long; it was hours before you were found and it was a couple of weeks before the full picture of what you did started to become clear.”

He started pacing again, “The entire world thought it was just plain luck that it didn’t hit
Beijing.” He stopped pacing and looked at Josiah with a huge grin, “I remember when we released the first report about what we found on the recorders. I was watching one of those annoying news shows with those annoyingly happy vacuum heads that never shut up. The pretty little thing was so stunned that she couldn’t finish reading the printout.”

He came over to the bed and put a hand on Josiah’s shoulder, “I don’t believe I’m being overly dramatic when I say that the whole world gasped.”

Molly caught the surprised look on Josiah’s face, “Have you been watching the news feeds?”

Josiah looked at Molly then back to the Admiral, “Well…no, I guess I haven’t. I’ve been out of it and too involved in therapy and sleeping to bother turn
ing on a vid. All I’ve gotten are some remarks I’ve heard about a lot of newsies being around and the President being briefed on my condition. It’s been so quiet around here that I figured I’d get a medal out of it, write a book, and get a disability pension if the docs couldn’t fix everything.”

He looked from one to the other as they looked at each other and got totally weird expressions on their faces. There was only so much they could do to control it and they finally busted out laughing.

“Ok, Admiral, it seems that I have missed something. Two medals?”

When they could breathe again, Admiral Jacks put a finger a millimeter from Josiah’s nose, “First, from now on, when we are alone you will call me Arthur and I will call you Josey. That is an order.”

“Ahh…yes, sir, Arthur.” Molly was grinning.

“As far as medals go, I think they
’re going to hang so many geegaws on you that you’ll have trouble standing up.”

He settled back down into a serious mood, “You are the most famous and revered man in the world. They have made vids based on the recordings pulled from the wreckage.” He gripped Josiah’s arm and locked eyes with him, “I was invited to watch a preliminary screening of one of them at a Marine base. When it was finished, strong men were stunned and women were weeping.” Arthur leaned a little closer, “The world needs a hero, you’re it, and because of those recordings, the
y got to see an ordinary man in the act of becoming extraordinary.”

He let go of Josiah’s arm and began walking around again. “The fallout from this is amazing; I can’t go anywhere without being recognized and mobbed. You’re my boy; I found you; I put you there. Your entire life is known. The Mars incident is now a vid and I and my staff have been consultants and advisors for all of this. When any of my staff are seen, they’re mobbed too.”

Arthur stopped by the side of the bed, “Difficulties we have had with the Chinese have disappeared. Other situations around the world have cleared up or are, suddenly, open for negotiation.” He stopped and smiled directly at Josiah, “That ring that Marty Napoli designed for you has become a sensation. Luckily, Marty had a copyright on the design and is getting rich with licensing and producing lower cost versions of it.” Arthur stopped and raised a hand, “Oh, Marty cleared it with Nora. He felt that it was yours and hers and you should ok it. Nora said you would approve.”

Josiah smiled and nodded, “I do.”

Arthur was smiling down at him when a thought crossed his mind, “Oh, the Navy is making a bundle licensing out the specs and rights to build models of Kaleidoscope. The last I heard, the model maker doesn’t expect to catch up with orders for a year.”

That brought a sharp memory back to Josiah; he looked at Arthur, “I met Kaleidoscope.”

Arthur was confused, “Met?”

Josiah nodded and smiled, “Yeah, those drugs I was swimming in; I conjured up a personification of Kaleidoscope. I have to admit, he sure fit the role.”

There was a light tapping at the bedroom door and Anita Balistra poked her head in, “I don’t want to interrupt anything but Josiah is going to be a daddy in a little while; Nora just went into labor.”

Arthur pointed at Josiah, “Tell me about that later, right now,” he spread his arms wide, “I’m going to be an Uncle.”

He found the canes, handed them to Josiah, and grabbed an arm, “Come on Aunt Molly; let’s get him down there.”

“How do I look?”

Josiah stepped into the living area and all eyes turned his way except for those of Eliana Karin West, who was comfortably curled up in Molly’s arms.

“Skinny!” Nora said.

He looked down the front of his uniform at the belt sticking out past the buckle and the wrinkles in his shirt where it entered his trousers, “Yeah, I’m still down about ten kilos.”

Josiah looked at Admiral Jacks with a touch of anxiety in his eyes, “Sir, is this show really necessary? I don’t need people applauding me and telling me how great I am. Frankly, it’s kind of embarrassing just thinking about it.”

Admiral Jacks nodded, put his arm around Josiah’s shoulders and started to wax philosophical, “A few months ago you made a decision. Had you gone the other way there would have been no repercussions, no one would have thought what you did was even possible. You were the only one that realized that you had the only tool capable of altering the obvious outcome and were in a position to use it. You offered your life to save others, and the whole world got to watch you do it after the fact.”

Admiral Jacks turned Josiah to face him and placed both hands on his shoulders, “The deed is done; the consequences are now yours to deal with. But…today is not for you,” he stuck a thumb over his shoulder, “it’s for them. The world knows you and is still in a state of shock that a man with so much to lose would put it all aside. You haven’t seen the recordings; I have, many times. There is no hesitation; there is no indication of second thoughts. There is only cold calculation and hard orders. The world needs to see that you are well; they need to show you that they are worthy of you.”

He returned to an arm around Josiah’s shoulders and addressed the others with a smile, “You would not believe the number of times I had to change my shirt because teenage girls cried all over it.”

The Admiral checked his watch, “Molly, we should get started.”

Molly gave Eliana to
Grace…with obvious reluctance. She came up next to Josiah as Admiral Jacks retrieved something from a document pouch he had brought with him. It was one of “those” cases. He opened it in front of Josiah; it contained a set of Lieutenant Commander’s staff officer shoulder boards.

“Effective this morning at 0900 EST, Lieutenant Josiah West is promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Commander.”

He handed one to Molly and they each changed one of his old boards, “Molly and I got to do this about a year and a half ago. This time is even better.”

The auditorium at the medical center only held 1,800 people, but every seat was full, and the film screens around the arc of the back wall were all operating and showed vast crowds around the world watching the transmission of the GS pickups that were hanging above the audience.

Josiah peeked around the edge of the side wall and swallowed. He reached over and tugged on the Admiral’s sleeve. They put their heads together, “Arthur, how many people are watching this?”

Jacks thought for a second, “Remember the funeral of Holy Sister Ondalla nine years ago?”

Who didn’t? Josiah nodded.

Jacks smiled, “More!”

“But what do I say? Nobody told me I had to give a speech.”

“You don’t; just assure them that you are doing well and let them see you. Say whatever comes into your head that seems appropriate.”

Josiah’s knees felt a little rubbery and he found a stool to sit on. Just as he sat down, a chime sounded, indicating the start of live transmission. Arthur turned to Josiah, “Be ready, I’ll introduce you.”

The Admiral strode onto the stage to the small podium, “I am Admiral Arthur Jacks. I command Division One of the United States Federation Navy. It is, also, my pleasure to be Josiah West’s Commanding Officer.

“You are all aware of the personal feelings that I and my wife have for Josiah West. In a way, I was responsible for his meeting the girl he would marry. I was Best Man at their wedding.”

His expression lost its pleased look, “The Beijing Incident, and the time right after that was a horror to all of us here. To find out that a loved one had put himself in harm’s way without our knowledge and without warning was mind numbing.”

He raised his right hand and slowly swept a pointing finger across the screens, “As we dealt with the strain of his near death and slim chance of recovery, it became known to us that all of you were just as shocked and were praying for him.”

He spread his arms to take in the people in the auditorium and the whole world, “For that, you have the thanks of his family and friends.”

As the applause from the audience and the sound feeds from the film screens grew, Arthur stepped away from the podium and waved for Josiah to join him.

Josiah swallowed again and stood up. He noticed a young girl standing near a system control board, “Would it be possible to get rid of the podium and have someone take this stool out there?”

She was paralyzed, just staring at him. An older man standing near her noticed and said something in her ear. She looked embarrassed but picked up the stool and took it out on stage. The man hit a button on the board, and the podium descended into the stage.

Josiah took a breath, leaned on the cane in his left hand, and limped out on stage. The girl had a huge smile on her face as she passed him.

Admiral Jacks steered him to a spot in front of the stool and had to yell to be heard over the noise, “It’s all yours, kid.”

The applause continued for several minutes, resulting in the most embarrassing and exhilarating moment in his life; for a little while, all of the aches and pains were forgotten.

Finally, it grew quiet, and his voice could be heard. As he had walked onto the stage, he had noticed that the leftmost screen showed the Chinese government’s main assembly hall with President Chiang sitting front and center. He turned to face the screen and its pickup and bowed, “President Chiang, I would like to take this opportunity to apologize to you and the people of China and, especially, to the people in and around Beijing. What I did caused the deaths of many of your people that should not have died even while saving others.

“On that day, all that mattered to me were the numbers and what I could do to reduce them. Now, with time to think about my actions, I have trouble getting past the thought that I decided who would live and who would die. I may be a military officer, but I have ne
ver fired a weapon at anyone; what happened in Beijing sits heavily on my mind. I ask that you forgive my decision.”

Admiral Jacks had left the stage and taken a side aisle seat next to Doctor Balistra. He leaned his head closer to hers, “There’s nothing wrong with his mind. He knows that the Chinese take very kindly to humble heroes, and this forum gives Chiang an opportunity to look supremely gracious. Besides, Chiang wouldn’t dare do anything other than bestow forgiveness with the entire world watching.”

The President of China rose to his feet and returned Josiah’s bow. He spoke slowly so that the interpreters would not miss any of his words, “I stood on a peak near to where the Hahn-Wright Station had crashed two days before. It was getting dark and I turned to look upon the lights of Beijing in the distance. I am not a religious man, but I thanked whatever Gods or forces in the universe for their grace in not allowing this thing to happen such a small distance further south.”

Chiang’s eyes were still pointed at Josiah but, now, lost their focus, “Two weeks later I received a report from your government, and I returned to that peak. This time, I had the screaming atmosphere and the sound of your ship breaking apart to fill my head, and I saw that there were no Gods here. I looked at the lights of
Beijing and knew that they were there because of one man.”

President Chiang bowed deeply, “Your request for forgiveness is denied; no forgiveness is needed. You are a Hero of the Chinese People and always will be.”

The applause from the audience and around the world rivaled what was given to Josiah. Admiral Jacks joined in the clapping and loudly said to Balistra, “That old horse thief really knows his audience, smooth as ever.”

A few minutes later, things were quiet again, and Josiah sat on the stool trying to think of what to say next; the cane in his hand gave him the most obvious idea, “I’ve still got a lot of aches and pains, but I can walk now. Doctor Balistra--,” another idea hit him, “Doctor Balistra, where are you?” Some people near the front of the audience pointed to the side, and Josiah found her sitting next to Admiral Jacks. “Doctor, stand up.” He waved a hand and coaxed her to her feet, “I’m pretty sure that most of the world knows Doctor Anita Balistra by now; she is the head of my medical team. Stay standing Doc.” He looked down at the near front center of the audience and found his Mother, “Mom, stand up. Come on, up, up.” When she was, finally, on her feet, he looked back at the general audience, “This is my Mother, Grace, but most of the world probably knows that too.” He looked back down at them and moved a pointing finger back and forth between them, “You two now have something uniquely in common with each other; both of you had the job of putting me together.”

The laughter surprised Josiah even though he was expecting it. When it died down, he kept sweeping his finger between them, “In my Mother’s case, she had the Master Plan to work from and could eat lunch while the work went on. In the Doc’s case, she only had pictures to work from and everyone breathing down her neck.” More laughter! “I suppose the award for difficulty will have to go to Doctor Balistra.”

His Mother cut off the beginning laughter, “I don’t think so, Josey, you were almost five kilos when you were born.”

He had to wipe tears from his own eyes and was glad he had not fallen off the stool. It looked like laughter was the ticket and he had a couple of more ideas.

He scanned the screens and waved a hand across them, “Are the people from the Navel Survival Systems R&D Department here today?”

A few seconds later, there was movement on one of the right-hand screens. A voice feed from that screen declared, “Yes, Commander, Captain Fredeman and his people are here.”

He could see several people stand up in the large group on the screen, “Captain Fredeman, I realize I’m a bit late in getting back to you regarding that survival suit I was checking for you, but something came up…or down, actually.” He had to wait a moment for the laughter, “Several systems kept me from dying on impact, but your suit kept me alive until I was found. Therefore, I would like to inform you now that I approve of your design.” Laughter and applause caused the grinning Captain to bow his thanks.

As his eyes left the screen they swept past Doctor Balistra again, and another comedic scenario popped into his head, “Doctor Balistra, I almost forgot to tell you the bad news.”

She got a concerned look and mouthed the word “What?” at him.

“Well, during the time I have been here, my parents have become good friends with you and your team and very familiar with your work. My Father took me aside the other day and advised me to never invite you and your people to one of our company picnic cook-outs; he is afraid that your group will ruin the mood of the day by standing around and arguing about how fast you thought you could get the steaks back on their hooves.”

The response to that was the best yet; he noticed that even the notoriously stiff President Chiang was laughing after the joke had been translated.

He was starting to feel a little tired, but the bow that Captain Fredeman had taken gave him an idea; there were other people that needed to take a bow.

He looked at the, finally silent, but still smiling audience and groups on the screens, “All of you out there have seen the vids of what happened. They all show just one person on Kaleidoscope.” He took a deep breath as he looked around, “That…is not, strictly, true.”

He waited for the murmuring to stop, “Kaleidoscope was the only one of its kind. It required the talents of a long line of skilled and dedicated people to create. I have been informed that there was no other vessel in existence anywhere that could have done what Kaleidoscope did.”

He got off the stool, stepped to the edge of the stage, and raised his arms, “Out there, among you, are the people that created Kaleidoscope over the years. I want all of those people to stand up now, no matter where you are. If it is possible, I want you to stand up and tell everyone around you that you helped create Kaleidoscope. I don’t care if you worked on the plumbing or painted the hull.”

He could feel a heat building in him as the aches and pains vanished. He saw people start to rise on several of the screens, and Eddie
, Jeremiah, and Andy stood in front of him in the auditorium, “Every one of you had your hand on my shoulder while I pushed Kaleidoscope past the breaking point. You people made that breaking point high enough to save millions of lives.”

One of the screens showed a large assembly at the
Navel Academy. He reached his left hand toward it, “Fran, are you there? Fran Woleneski at the Navel Academy, are you there?”

Slowly, reluctantly, the petite blonde stood up. She was in her second year at the Academy and showed the stripes of a Cadet Company Lieutenant. She was sitting only three rows back from the Academy Commanding Officer and his staff. They got a surprised look when they saw him talking to one of the cadets; there was no reason they would have been overly familiar with her past service record.

Josiah kept his left arm pointing at her while he addressed the world, “This is Francis Woleneski. Prior to being selected to attend the Navel Academy she spent four years in the enlisted ranks. Petty Officer First-Class Francis Woleneski was the systems integrator on Kaleidoscope.”

Josiah lowered his arm and interlaced his fingers, “Fran.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Have you seen the raw dump from the maintenance recorder?”

She twitched a nervous look at the line of officers that had all turned to look at her. No one except the investigation team and a few people with high-level connections had seen the data from that one recorder, and they all knew it.

“Yes, sir.”

“Evaluation, please.”

Now she looked both nervous and embarrassed. With no way out, she braced to attention and dropped into her lecturer mode that Josiah had seen several times.

“Sir, the data indicates that the drive coils were pushed to 58.1 percent above their original rated limits and 76 percent above programmed limiter levels. Synchronization lock error remained under one percent until thirty seconds prior to impact when structural damage forced a wave harmonic override. Harmonic distortion due to hull flex was compensated for by integrator routines and kept under 10 percent during the remainder of the event. There was no indication of dropout or cross-link errors due to extreme power level settings.”

“Who was it that integrated the system that produced the performance you just described and saved millions of lives?”

Her eyes were wide and wet, “It…it was I, sir.”

Softly, he said, “You always knew I’d do something like that, didn’t you?”

Someone had handed her a tissue to dry her eyes. She finished dabbing and presented him with a strained smile, “Sir, Kaleidoscope was something that should have never existed. I always lived in fear of the day when something would fail or someone would make a simple mistake that would be magnified into a major disaster by the overpowered and mismatched systems. When the true nature of the Beijing Incident became known, I was a near basket case for a week.” Fran waved her hands over the cadets and officers around her, “Everyone here thought I had snapped; I never told anyone that I had given you the instrument of your death. It was only when we were assured that you would live that I was able to get back to normal.”

“Fran.”

“Yes, sir.”

“In the end, history will only be kind to Kaleidoscope.”