End of the Beginning - 1. Chapter 1

Ron woke as he had for years, long before his alarm was set to ring. He sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed only to freeze as a spasm of pain rippled down his back. He clenched his eyes shut, and waited for the pain to ease. A quick flick of Maggie’s tongue over his hand reminded him that he still had many things he needed to take care of.

“Alright, girl. Be with you in a moment.”

Ron opened his eyes and focused on the sleek coat of the Irish setter sitting by his feet. He carefully reached out and scratched the dog behind the ears, watching as her tail wagged furiously behind her.

He slipped his feet into a pair of slippers before he shuffled down the hall after the dog, opening up the back door so she could run into the area behind the house. Yawning, he made his way back down the hall to the bathroom.

It didn’t take him long to finish his morning routine. He took care of his body’s needs, took a hot shower, brushed his teeth, gargled, shaved, and headed into the bedroom to get dressed. Trying to move quickly he slammed his knee into the counter as he headed back out to let Maggie in. Ignoring the pain, he filled her water dish and checked to make sure she had food.

He turned on the radio but there was only static. Fed up he finally walked to his old cd collection and slipped one into the stereo system his daughter had bought him years ago. The sounds of Frank Sinatra filled the air as he continued his morning chores. The smell of brewing coffee filled the air as he made up a loaf of bread from scratch. He had learned to make it from Alice when they were newly married. She always swore that a fresh loaf of bread would make any day better. His hand cramped as he worked the dough, but he forced the pain away and continued to kneaded the bread. He set the bread aside to rise while he washed up the dishes. He had always enjoyed the smells of fresh bread and coffee, though coffee had always been his weakness. While his doctors had told him to cut down or, better yet, stop, he still had his morning cup every day. Just smelling it as he finished the dishes brought a smile to his face.

He was just going to gather the laundry together when he noticed the blinking light next to the tele-communicator. He sighed as he walked over and clicked the button on the machine.

“There is one new voice message at this time. Recorded at eighteen forty two on …”

Ron clicked the button to go directly to the message.

“Dad, its Jeanette. Would you answer the damn machine? … Alright, I guess you must be out in the yard with Maggie. Look, there isn’t much time left and I want you packed and ready. I am not leaving you behind no matter what you might say.”

Ron sighed again and walked into the back bedroom to get his clothes from the hamper. He carried them to the washer and dumped them in. Maggie lay in the doorway keeping an eye on him.

“Darks and whites detected. Do you want to continue?”

Ron grimaced. The damn machinery had gotten more and more intelligent. Now it told them when things were wrong. Alice would have been ecstatic. She never would have worried about having one of his red neckerchiefs turn her bras pink again, but he knew he didn’t have many years left and if he ended up in pink underwear so be it.

Ron hit the continue button on the washer and it automatically picked the size, speed, and water level. It even automatically added the soap and fabric softener. All he ever had to do was add the bottles to the side once every few months. Hell, the machine even let him know when to do it.

Ron walked back out and put the bread into the oven. He sat at the kitchen table sipping his coffee and creating the list of things he wanted to get done today.

Alice’s roses needed trimming again. He had to cut the grass back by the graves. He would also have to reset the air rebreather on the pod and see about getting a few new ones to last him. The garden was fine but he would need to check on getting more chickens before the last of the others left. It would be hard to cook and keep up if he didn’t have eggs from real chickens. The fabricated ones just didn’t taste the same. He washed out his mug and set it into the drain board to dry.

He walked out into the yard listening to the wind blow through the trees. Maggie had slipped out with him and raced over to where the small stream flowed near the apple trees. He smiled as he looked out across his domain.

A moment later his blue sky flickered and then the darkness of space surrounded him. He cursed as the holographic walls that had projected the image he desired vanished and his property altered its appearance. His giant maple tree and his apple trees no longer had dozens of acres behind them, but the hard clear bubble of the pod showed now stripping away the dream that he owned a huge piece of property and was supplanted with the reality that space was just beyond the pod.

“Damn power outages. Gaea would have to die before I did,” grumbled Ron as he walked toward the power grid for the pod. He was partway there when he heard Maggie bark happily and saw her dash toward the front of the house. Ron wondered what had caught her attention.

He didn’t have to wonder long, because Maggie came racing around the side of the house followed by Jeanette. She walked steadily toward him, a small bag on her arm and a look of determination on her face. Ron glanced down and found his daughter had worn flat boots so she could easily tred across the yard with no fear of tripping.

“Are you ready?”

“Jeanie, how many times do I have to tell you?”

“Dad, stop. I am not fighting with you. I am here to get you. There is nothing more to say. Where is your stuff?”

“This is my world. You mother is here. Your grandparents are here. This is where I am going to be buried as well. Can’t you understand that?”

Jeanie walked over and stood before him. She copied his stance, looked him straight in the face and lifted her left eyebrow. Her green eyes showed the same determination he was sure was reflected in his brown ones.

“I can understand that you don’t want to leave this pod. It has been your home your whole life. However, Gaea is dying. The damn engines on this planetoid are unable to be repaired. When the stupid thing was built over two centuries ago they said that they would break down, Dad. It was like some stupid prophesy of the end of the world, only this time, they were right.”

“I’m not going”

“Listen, this pod of yours is one of the oldest models on the whole manmade planetoid. The later models were built to be separated from the main one and, hell, over a fifth of the population was able to simply detach their pod and take it with them. Yours is hardwired into the system. You know that right?”

“Of course I know that. Your great-great-great-grandparents lived in Gaea zone one. We were one of the lucky families that got to have an outer ring later on and one of the house sized pods at that, not just a room one.”

“Well we managed to secure a place on Titan moon one.”

Ron shook his head. He turned his back on Jeanette and walked back to Alice’s gravesite. Beside hers were the graves of his parents. A moment later he sensed Jeanette standing there.

“I can’t leave them Jeanie. I wasn’t there when your mother got sick. I barely made it back before the end. I … I can’t leave her again.”

“Dad, everything is shutting down. They can’t save Gaea. They’ve tried. The rebreather is closing down. The power grids are failing.” Jeanette reached out and took her father’s hand. “Hell, even the food fabricator isn’t producing any more. Gaea central control has stated the stabilizers will fail in less than a week and then the planetoid will drift off course and into the sun. Death of Gaea is due within two weeks.”

Ron turned back to his daughter. She couldn’t seem to understand that, for him, the world was already over. It had ended five years ago when Alice got sick and died on him. He got up each day, got dressed, ate, and kept the place up, but it wasn’t a life. He was just going through the motions till he could join his wife.

“Dad, I want you with us.”

“You have Stewart. You will be fine.”

“I want you to be there for my children,” Jeanette whispered as she released his hand and rested her hands protectively over her abdomen.

Ron turned and looked uncertainly at his daughter. Alice had always wanted grandchildren, but had died before it could happen. Jeanette had been so driven by work and had only married two years ago. Three years too late for Alice’s dream to come true

“Children?”

“Yes Dad. Twins. The doctors have said they will be boys. Well, it looks like it is going to run in the family again. Mom was a twin and now I’m having twins.”

“Boys? I can’t believe it. How did this happen?”

“Dad! Honestly, I don’t think I need to explain the facts of life to you. I mean you and mom had me.”

Ron crossed his arms and looked at his daughter.

“I mean when did you finally find the time to start a family.”

“Well Stew has been begging me to slow down. That was really all it took.”

Ron pulled his daughter into a hug just as the pod turned red in warning.

“Oh, now what?”

“Dad what is going on?”

Ron held her close and moved rapidly to the generator for his pod. He slapped the emergency start up button. A moment later the red glow faded.

“Dad it isn’t safe. Grab Maggie and let’s get out of here.”

Ron was about to complain when the holographic message began.

“Ron, if I know you at all, you stubborn old goat, you refused to leave even after being told the pod wasn’t safe.”

Ron and Jeanette stood open mouthed as the holographic image of Alice stood there before them.

“In case you never figured it out, I knew that I was under the gun so to speak. The doctors were very thorough and very honest. They told me upfront that there was almost no chance of a cure. Got that, Ron? There was no way you could save me. Now I know the idea of leaving your parents and perhaps me has you upset. If the estimates were correct then we are probably about a month from total failure of Gaea. Give me one moment while I have the pod scanned.”

The image paused and flashed out while a white beam of light began at the furthest edge of the pod and worked its way across the space.

“Dad, did you know Mom had a message for you?”

“Are you kidding? I never knew anything about this, but, with your mother, I can’t say I’m surprised.”

“She never liked to leave anything to chance if she could help it.”

“She definitely liked to have everything planned out. We used to joke that she would tell the coroner when to show up.”

Jeanette just shook her head and watched as the scan continued waving over her, Ron, and Maggie. A moment later the hologram reappeared.

“Jeanette, baby, I didn’t know you would be here. However, knowing your father you are probably here to get him to go.”

Alice stood as she had in life. Her dark hair still shot with the white stripe down the side of her head, her hands on her narrow hips, and her emerald green eyes sparkling behind her small round glasses.

“As you can tell I took a number of precautions to look after things if I went before Gaea did. The pod scans as functional at the moment. Is Gaea failing?”

“Is that really you?” Ron’s voice cracked with the emotion he was trying hard to hold back. The initial shock had worn off and now he just wanted to walk up and hug his wife.

“Yes, well at least as much of me as I could leave you. Now answer me, is Gaea failing?”

This time the hologram stared at Jeanette.

“Yes. They give it less than two weeks until total failure.”

“I thought as much. Ray, you are going, aren’t you?”

Tears ran down his face as he stood there staring at his wife as he had remembered her. Here she was strong, demanding, and still looking after him. God, he missed her so.

“I’m not leaving you.”

Alice sighed, looked skyward, and then turned to Ron again.

“Computer, Activate Alice Emergency 2, Alpha Beta Omega.”

“Error. Alice is no longer registered.”

Jeanette sighed.

“Computer, this is Jeanette Donahue.”

There was a pause. Finally the computer seemed to kick on again as it cycled through her voice code.

“Recognized. Pod has been updated to correct vocal recognition.”

“What are you doing?”

“What Mom wanted. Computer, Activate Alice Emergency 2, Alpha Beta Omega.”

“Command accepted.”

“What did you just do?”

“I’m not sure, but I’m going to trust mom, and so should you. She always knew just what to do.”

The hologram smiled.

“Thank you Jeanette. Your father always was a stubborn old goat.”

Suddenly the room glowed blue.

“How the hell did you manage that?” Jeanette stared in wonder at the hologram.

“What is going on here? Why is my pod blue?”

“Ray, the pod is blue because of the program I had installed.” The hologram looked from Jeanette to Ray. “You really don’t know do you? I had the capsule redone so that it could be disconnected from Gaea. It cost a fortune but basically I made sure you didn’t have to leave anything behind, Ray. I had all the wiring, cables, interconnections, rebreather, and I mean all of it redone. This capsule is now capable of being moved to Titan.”

Ray turned and stared at the hologram of his wife in shock.

“Ray, you never noticed much if it didn’t involve your work or the kids. You do remember that I was a scientist, and a very smart one if I do say so myself. There was a reason I could work from home, while you had to travel to your work pod.”

The hologram was beginning to soften around the edges. Jeanette realized that the hologram system was reaching the edge of what her mother had programmed for this emergency. Her mother had created such a sophisticated response system that the holograms almost took on a life of their own. It was one of the reasons she worried about the affect this might have on her father. For this short period of time it was like having her mother back.

“You never realized just how well paid I was. I helped create new plants that took up such small spaces but gave off large amounts of fresh oxygen while recycling carbon dioxide. I have more patents cycling money to accounts in my name. I simply tapped them to have this done for you.”

Ray stood, the tears flowing freely down his cheek as he looked as his daughter.

“Jeanette, I did leave just a few messages for you, in case you ever got to become a mother. Those I have programmed to be given to you, now that the scan shows you are with child. I’m sorry I won’t be there to hold my grandchild but I am so glad your father will be able to be a part of their lives.”

Alice turned one last time and looked at her husband.

“Remember, this is just one part of the journey my love. Don’t rush to end it. Enjoy it and everything that life has to offer you. When the time comes, I will be waiting for you with all my love.”

The hologram faded.

“Your mother,” Ray paused to blow his nose, “always took care of me even when I didn’t deserve it.”

“That was Mom.”

There was the sudden squawk of a Gaea emergency system before the speaker system in the pod clicked on.

“Notice has been given that Pod 1000345 of Gaea is to be transported to designation Titan. Transport will occur within the next half hour. Please have all necessary items placed into temporal suspension. Thank you. “

“Wow, that was quick.” Ray wiped at his eyes as he tried to ignore his daughter’s face.

“You know there was no way she would leave anything to chance.”

“I know.”

“So come on. I’ll help you lock down what is necessary and prepare the house for temporal suspension. Then I’m taking you and Maggie and we are getting out of here. You can stay at our pod till yours arrives and is hooked up. It took about a week and half for ours, but yours is one of the last to be moved so it shouldn’t be bad, Dad.”

Ray shook his head. This morning he was so sure his life was over and now he was preparing for a new chapter. It was amazing what twists and turns life could throw you. Ray reached down and scratched Maggie’s head and followed his daughter into the house to begin the lock down.