Outward Borne (42 page)

The Voyagers agreed that they
would not wait until dark, even though it would be safer for Broga.
There would be too much stuff for one small dog to carry, and
running back and forth at midday would surely be noticed. Ragnar
was not worried, however, and said that he would arrange
things.

Kelli put a muzzle band on Gustie,
Cari Umbala’s particular friend. It was a device they used in
training dogs to walk in line. She tied Gusties’ band to Broga’s
backsack, and they were ready to go, except for one thing. Gifts
had been collected for the girls, and for Derik, and these were
added to Broga’s load.

The Army’s observation had become
particularly attentive since the Voyager’s appearance. Surely, they
would see the two dogs leave the lander. They would unless there
was a significant distraction, Ragnar thought. Four large dogs
running wild through the meadow might be sufficient, especially if
it looked as though one might escape into the forest. Rodik had
Rugge and the others, Redi, an even taller red racer, and Huffer,
an even bigger Great Dog, sitting ready at the hatch. The dogs were
trained to respond to a whistle, and they would, if they did not
take out after some poor rabbit. That would be untried territory.
The four big dogs took off, with gleeful barking. The smaller ones
dropped quietly from beneath the lander, and followed their flybot
guide.

Broga ran right to Patty Palmer,
who gave him a big hug. Gustie got one too. She opened the
backsacks and let out a squeal. The Voyagers had sent presents. She
got a fine blue cap with a nice hand-written note from Cari Umbala,
and Derik received a long red cape from JiDaSon Alomar (superman
quips to follow). Martha opened her bundle to find a
yellow-and-black-striped knee-length top from someone called DePat.
She quickly put it on and twirled around. It was made from a
delightful airy fabric, like nothing she had worn before. A bit
later, when she stuck her hand into the deep side pocket, she felt
two small cubes and a second note.

Miss Marta,

Please take care of this small
gift. It is a very secret present to you, and very important to me.
Someday, I will come to visit you and exchange it for something
better. After we exit the lander, I will stand by the fence. Please
wave to me if you have received my gift.

Your friends,

Muff and DePat

Martha held the small copper boxes
up to the light. They were not really boxes though, more like cubes
with a top. Each about the size of a walnut, with the outside
inscribed with complex, curving designs, and a top that flipped
open to show tiny brightly colored pictures, but it was not clear
what the pictures were. She closed her hand and stuffed them into
her pocket. No one saw.

Everything worked as they had
hoped. Patty stuffed a big bag of M&Ms into the sack, and sent
Broga and his caboose running. The flybot and dogs disappeared into
the bushes and were halfway across the field before anyone saw
them.

Colonel Fitzsimmons was reading a
report on the arrival of the containment units when he was informed
that a Mr. Hanson had arrived. Some legal fellow who claims to
represent the Voyagers, his aide said.

“
Colonel, thank you for seeing me.
May I sit? Colonel, I have several items related to the Voyagers
that I would like to make you aware of. This is a Voyager document,
in their language and writing, which I have been told, states that
a Mr. Ragnar Jondar has been selected as leader of the Voyagers and
is authorized to speak on their behalf. The symbols down the sides
are their signatures. Quite a valuable piece of paper, I should
think,” he said chuckling.

Fitzsimmons wanted to know how he had gotten
such a document, but Hanson kept his peace for now.

“
Here, Colonel, is a power of
attorney letter, signed by Mr. Jondar, authorizing me to represent
the Voyager community. Quite an honor, I can tell you. In that
role, I have applied for citizenship in countries based upon the
residence or birthplace of the original captives, and as of today,
the Voyagers have been granted provisional German citizenship. Very
prompt those Germans. When the Voyagers depart from the lander, I
will present their passports to you for your inspection, or to an
immigration authority if you wish. Other petitions are being
considered, including U.S. citizenship.”

Colonel Fitzsimons shook his head
and smiled. He rather liked this fellow, and could do nothing but
admire how he had pulled off.

“
I expect that the Voyagers will
be treated with all rights accruing to foreign nationals.
Furthermore, the German Ambassador has delivered a letter to the
State Department requesting that formalities related to visa status
be waived, along with complications associated with their rather
unusual mode of entry. I believe that he received a favorable
response from State, but you may wish to confirm this for
yourself.”

“
A separate matter involves
Superior Enterprises, Inc. Superior is an employee-owned Delaware
company that represents its employees in various activities,
typically movie and book contracts, concerts, and public
appearances, that sort of thing. All of the Voyagers are now
employees of Superior Enterprises. Superior will be in a position
to file an injunction seeking damages should their employees be
held beyond a period agreed to by their own medical advisors.
Colonel, I believe they have estimated an amount of $1,000,000 for
each day of lost combined income for the Voyagers. Celebrity status
pays well, it seems, but I doubt that will be
necessary.”

“
Finally, I have a signed letter
of understanding detailing the conditions under which the Voyagers
will leave the lander. It is very much as you have lain out. They
will agree to be taken to a military medical facility of your
choosing; that their own medical advisors will provide medical
treatment during quarantine and that they be granted freedom of
movement on some date considered safe by those same advisors. To
this end, they have contracted with the Stanford University School
of Medicine, who will provide specialists in whatever disciplines
are required. You may have your own medical staff observe and
review the proceedings throughout the period of quarantine, and of
course, that would be welcome.”

“
Affix your signature Colonel, and
we can begin to arrange the departure. If you need to consult
higher authorities, I will leave these documents for your
consideration.”

The Colonel received these
revelations with mounting calm. This duty had been elevated beyond
his authority to that of his superior officers or to some
politicians. Good, he thought, that suits me well enough. He had a
strong feeling that everything he was doing was creating history,
and he rather enjoyed it.

The interior of the landing craft
was cramped, with rows of protective pods surrounded by banks of
robotic medical and emergency repair equipment, and much else. The
dogs recovered first, then, one by one, the voyagers were able to
stand and move about. It was crowded, smelly, and uncomfortable.
The bodies of their two dead companions were left in their pods to
save space; even so, it was hard to find room to sleep. Food and
water were limited. Needless to say, the M&Ms, once they
figured out that they could be eaten, were a sensation. Imagine
being brought up without chocolate? The Voyagers developed high,
soon to be dashed, hopes for all the wonderful new foods they would
experience here.

Jondar had scheduled the departure
date. Activity and excitement rose to a frenzy on that day. The
Voyagers cleaned and groomed themselves as best they could with the
small amount of water available, and no mirrors, or even privacy.
They helped each other dress in the unfamiliar ‘Earth-clothes’ that
had been specifically designed and produced for this moment. The
ObLaDas had warned them to act normal, like normal people of Earth
that is, and not to show off or do anything peculiar - nothing too
alien. Magnar Remton, for one, thought that it would be more
appropriate to dress in his best full-length, screaming yellow body
cape and tall iridescent purple crest, but he put on the designated
narrow, dark gray trousers and white over-top instead.

The Voyagers had requested that a
space be partitioned off around the lander to allow them room to
disembark and acclimate themselves, however briefly, to their new
surroundings. They would spend a short time in this area, before
being taken away for medical examination and quarantine. Colonel
Fitzsimmons had thought to have the Voyagers proceed directly to
his secure facilities, but he agreed to this reasonable request. He
hoped to limit the media circus by allowing a single pool of
cameras to be set up outside the craft and to broadcast only those
pictures from the site, but once again, the Voyagers had their own
cameras in the air.

The Voyagers lined up in pairs, with their
dogs, if they had any. When the moment came, the port cover slid
open and bright sunlight streamed into the dingy passageway for the
first and last time. The emergence commenced at 11:03 AM on 25 July
2065. The People would spend some time in the open air, with their
feet on the ground, for the first time in 1415 years, as near as
they could determine. The Voyagers left the landing craft with
nothing more than the clothes they were wearing, and even those
would soon be taken away. They entered this land with nothing, just
as their ancestors had when they were taken away.

It was a clear, mostly sunny day
with a few scattered clouds, somewhat cool and breezy. The grass
was still green and a few summer wildflowers bloomed in the flat
open meadow. Surrounded by granite cliffs and smooth rounded peaks,
the canyon was a scenic spot by anyone’s standards, but a
phenomenon to the Voyagers who had never seen the sky or felt the
wind. Ragnar Jondar and Cari Umbala were the first to step off the
lander platform onto Earth. The others followed, with their dogs on
a string. Many were enraptured by the view, turning, and turning
again, to look in every direction, heads high to marvel at the
clouds in the surprisingly blue sky. Others, DePat among them, were
fascinated by the mass of people lining the field, waving and
calling to them in half a dozen languages. But the dogs, and not a
few of the People, were in awe of dirt. Having lived their lives on
flat plastic floors, this soft, gritty, smelly stuff was a marvel.
Living plants, they had never imagined the existence of plants,
just grew everywhere. In fact, it seemed living things were
everywhere, except for the distant rocks. Tullie Dohar tried to
pull up a clump of grass and was astounded by how hard it was to
get it loose. She succeeded with a little help from Gustie, only to
find worms. There were things living underground,
amazing.

Flybots had been sent out some
time during the night, and were now busy recording and broadcasting
events to networks and blog sites worldwide. Before the Voyagers
appeared, the flybots had flown above the nearby cliffs and spotted
five snipers that the Army had put in position overlooking the
meadow. The lander’s robots had watched the soldiers as they moved
to the edge of the cliff south of the landing site. The craft’s
computers warned the Colonel that it would be futile to attempt to
shoot anyone, as the bullets would be intercepted and the five
soldiers killed within an instant. Fitzsimmons did not believe the
craft had that capability, but he explained that it was only a
security precaution in case someone in the forest attempted to harm
the Voyagers. True, but the lander was also truthful. The ObLaDas
sent word that his security was not necessary, for they had all
that was needed to control events. Fitzsimmons did not believe
it.

Martha and Patty were too excited, as they
pressed against the barrier to watch the Voyagers walk from beneath
the lander. They were about fifty meters away. After a while, a
tall man came to the edge of the Voyager’s fence, and looked in
their direction.

Martha screamed for the binoculars. “I must
have them to see, please,” she was almost in tears.

Jin Leung gave her his pair, and she focused
on the Voyager.

“
Oh my God. Oh-my-God!”

“
What is it?” asked
Patty.

“
He is the handsomest man ever,”
whispered Martha.

“
Who? Where?”

“
My DePat, over there with the
little dog. Oh my God, he is waving to me. I think I am going to
die.”

Martha adjusted the binoculars and
looked at the tall, lean young man, with flowing blond hair, and
unusually straight eyebrows, soon to be the most famous unibrows
since Frieda Kahlo.

“
You’re so right,” was all Patty
could manage.

The flybots continued to broadcast
images throughout the day. They swooped over the field, showed the
people straining against the restraining barriers, and in one
memorable sequence, they slowly panned back to the Voyagers and
focused on DePat as he stood holding Muff. He was shown smiling and
waving, clearly delighted by the reception they were receiving, and
oh so handsome. It was the general opinion, and the first notice
that set DePat a bit apart from the others.

The Voyagers’ ordeal began soon
thereafter, however. As they left the meadow, the Voyagers were
ushered into a plastic covered tunnel where they were given sterile
coverings and face masks. They were moved further into an enclosure
that was lined by armed men in protective white suits. This was
expected, if not welcome, but some became anxious when they were
split up into small groups and loaded into windowless vans. They
had never been in a vehicle, and were startled when the vans sped
off, accompanied by motorcycle escorts, sirens blaring, and
helicopters hovering overhead. The convoy drove to a prepared
clearing not far away, where three large helicopters sat waiting,
rotors turning. A few of the Voyagers panicked, not wanting to get
into the things, but they were forced. The cargo helicopters flew
them to the Walker Medical Facility in Fort Irvine, deep in the
Mojave dessert, a hot, barren place. Nothing was heard about them
after that. They were held in strict quarantine for eleven weeks,
during which they were tested, examined, scanned, and injected a
lot. None of them were ill, except for Aneus Gunthar, who had an
allergic reaction to the AIDS vaccine he had been given.