The Long, Dark Night

  Bedouin’s Travels

  The Long, Dark Night – Book II

  By Ben Winston

  Copyright © 2015 Ben Winston

  Published by Blue Space Publications, LLC.

  Table of Contents

  Copyright Page

  Disclaimer

  Author’s Note

  The Long, Dark Night – Book II

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  About the Author

  Connect with the author or Blue Space Publications, LLC.

  Books Published by Blue Space Publications, LLC.

  Disclaimer

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review to be printed by a newspaper, magazine, or journal. All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each reader. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  Author’s Note

  In the following book, there are a lot of celestial references that may sound real, but they are not. In order to establish the proper ‘ambiance’ for the situation, the astronomical objects and phenomena exist only in the author’s mind.

  The Long, Dark Night – Book II

  CHAPTER ONE

  “Everyone is a friend, until they prove otherwise.”

  - Author Unknown

  Survivor Pod 0001a

  6 Apr. 8255 CE

  Location Unknown

  Earth, Sol system

  Knowing that Ben would want to talk to her, the girl was taken to the small infirmary in his pod. Jon had been notified shortly after the girl had been picked up, and had gotten ready to treat her. When he’d been told about the small computer that seemed to be taking care of her, he got so excited that he almost forgot they told him it only spoke a strange form of Latin.

  Jon lost most of his enthusiasm; he sucked at Latin, and hated speaking it. He also realized that the other doctors from around the world would like to have time to study the computer as well.

  His attention was soon taken from the subject by the arrival of his new patient. She spoke what sounded like Latin as well, but Jon wasn’t able to understand any of it. After making sure she was stable, he put in an urgent request for a linguist to translate for him.

  Sophia had told him the patient’s name was Addson, but Jon automatically added the 'I’ back into the name making her Addison, which is how he addressed her. She just smiled and shook her head. The P.A. had also told him he couldn't bind her ribs because she was adjusting to our atmosphere, and was having difficulty breathing as it was.

  When he asked about nitrogen narcosis, Sophia told him the computer said it shouldn’t be an issue. She could only assume that it had been an adjustment made over time, and the human body had become accustomed to levels of CO that would be lethal to one of the survivors.

  Jon did note that Addison seemed to be inebriated, but assumed that had been the result of the pain killers that she had been given in order to get her to the infirmary. He knew it could also be a result of the higher levels of oxygen and nitrogen than she was used to. So he just tried to ensure she was comfortable and that she needed no further treatment at this point.

  Ben was in his office, deep in thought when Deirdre came in and sat down. She did notice that he hadn’t noticed she entered. So when she spoke, he about jumped over his desk.

  “Whatcha thinkin' so hard about?” She asked.

  “Jesus, Mary and Joseph! When did you get here?” Ben asked trying to push his asshole back to his ass.

  Deirdre smiled softly at him. “I just got in here, really, but I knew you hadn’t noticed. I would say I’m sorry for startling you, but I'm not; that was way too fun!”

  “Ha ha. It’s a good thing I don’t have a heart condition!” Ben replied.

  Deirdre chuckled. “What are you thinking so hard about?”

  “The girl we rescued; Addson. Jon says she’s going to be recovering for a while yet and that she doesn’t know our language. She speaks a derivative of Latin. I was just thinking we could use the teaching machine we used in the freezers. But then again, we had centuries for the machine to work, so that idea’s out the window,” Ben replied, glumly.

  “Maybe not,” Deirdre suggested. “Six of the people that invented it were assigned to three of the Indian Pods. We could always just ask them about it."

  “Really? That would certainly help. I had no idea they had been included. Dad planned well,” Ben replied.

  "I was looking through some of the information about our populations. Most of those that had a hand in developing the technology that we are relying on were included in the pod populations. Apparently, Ed had been mis-informed about the requirement to procreate; not all of them fill that requirement," Deirdre replied. "Tom must have allowed an exception, thinking we would need people like that when we awoke."

  Ben could only agree. "Well, procreation is important, but I'm glad he did. We're really going to need creative thinkers if we're going to survive this new world."

  When the two siblings got back to their apartments, dinner was already on the table and it smelled wonderful. Surprisingly, they were not the last to arrive. Marcy got off the elevator from the transportation level, just before Ben closed the door. He waited and held the sliding door open for her.

  “Wow that smells wonderful! I thought it was my night to make dinner. Who do I have to thank for this wonderful meal?” Marcy said, thinking it was Kaitlin that had done it.

  Kaitlin held up her hand to stop her friend. “Hey, it wasn’t me! Super Woman over there ordered the raw ingredients and prepared the meal herself! I will admit, I had my reservations when I heard her order spinach, but it does smell wonderful."

  Jorga had just set a plate down stacked high with garlic bread, when Marcy took her in her arms and hugged her. Marcy softly said ‘thank you’.

  Deirdre followed Marcy's example, as did Ben and Kaitlin.

  “I think we better eat before it gets cold and Jorga can tell us her surprise,” Deirdre said seriously.

  “What is this Jorga?” Marcy asked, indicating the dish she'd made.

  “Chicken Florentine with bow-tie pasta. I made garlic bread to go with it and there is a side salad. I have a carafe of red wine, ice cold milk, or warm spiced cider,” Jorga answered proudly. This was one of her favorite meals, and she knew she was good at making it. "Dig in.”

  After everyone had filled their plate and gotten drinks, Ben turned to Jorga. “So what’s the reason for the special meal?”

  “Well, do you remember that I told you that I had committed to helping my mother with a project she was working on?” She asked. Marcy and Kaitlin both shook their heads since the only time Jorga had mentioned it in front of them was the night Tom died. However, both Deirdre and Ben nodded. It was actually where she had been spending most of her time since they all awakened.

  “She kinda made a break-through today. You see she’d been working on creating working, personal nanomites. Basically, their little machines that get injected into a human bod
y to repair stuff without major surgery. The thing is, she did it. I'm full of them and they’re keeping me so healthy I actually haven’t aged since before we went into the freezers!” Jorga announced excitedly.

  “That’s amazing! How are they controlled?” Marcy asked, matching Jorga’s excitement.

  “I have an active control interface implanted in my brain. How she ever designed all of this is beyond me and the hardest part was having the module installed. Of course I don’t think brain surgery is supposed to be comfortable.”

  “I can’t believe your mother would experiment on you like that. Why on Earth would you agree to such a thing?” Deirdre asked concern for Jorga clear on her face.

  Jorga got really quiet for a moment before she spoke. “Two years ago, I was diagnosed with a very nasty form of cancer. I took my chemo treatments after school, and I fought hard to make sure no one knew, most especially you, Ben.

  “Even back then, I loved you so much! But I couldn’t bear the thought of putting you through that. I knew that once you knew about the cancer, you'd never have left my side. Having a life, together, with you was the only thought I had to keep me going. If I could beat it, I knew we could be together.

  “Finally the day that every cancer patient dreads arrived. The chemo wasn’t working anymore. The specialists all agreed that I had about eight months left and those months would not be very pleasant. They were so certain I was going to die they gave me an open prescription for any narcotic I wanted to try to counter the pain. I wanted nothing more than to fill the prescription, go home, and take them all at once.

  “My mother helped me out to the car and somehow she could tell I was done. I’d given all I had to get better and I just didn't have anything left. Instead of taking me to the pharmacy, she took me to her lab and gave me a shot. Whatever it was, I immediately felt a hundred times better, yet I was still clear headed.

  “That’s when she told me about her ‘secret’ project. The control module was the same one they’ve been implanting into pilots for the last few years and she assured me that even the connections were the same, the only difference would be that I was controlling my body, and not a multiple geometry, high-performance, aerospace fighter.

  “Really, I haven’t been controlling anything. The nanos are hooked into my control unit and the control unit has access to the data available in the computer system. You know why my grades went up so radically? I could access the Internet and look up the answers while the teacher was talking about it!

  “But the coolest thing of all was when they told me exactly how sick I was and where the tumors and 'defective’ cells were located. They asked for permission to ‘repair the malfunctioning cells, and destroy the intrusive growths’.

  “I told mom what they asked me and she nodded and smiled. I didn’t know it at the time, but she was monitoring them remotely. Once I told them to make the repairs, Mom had me come to her lab every day after school for tests. It took them almost a week, but they did exactly what they were supposed to do and there has been no sign of the cancer for six months! Not only that, but from what Mom’s computers are telling her, the nanos are using my body fat to replace cells that begin to become ‘defective’.

  “The original goal was to cure my cancer, but since I forgot to tell them when to stop, they’ve been continuing to repair my damaged cells. I haven’t aged in weeks!" Jorga finished getting some of her excitement back.

  Everyone else at the table had stopped eating and were only staring at her. Ben was the one to speak first. “Jorga, I can't help but feel a little betrayed over this. How long have we known and loved each other? Just because I could have lost you was no reason to keep me away. Please don’t ever keep anything else from us, please.”

  She had tears in her eyes as she answered him. “I promise, I’ll never keep anything from any of you again!”

  Deirdre and Kaitlin all but tackled her out of her chair in their rush to get to her and cuddle. Marcy smiled at them, but spoke to Ben. “Ben we really need to think about this break-through. If, like Jorga said, she can interface directly to public computers, how will that affect our population? I dislike keeping such a thing secret, but perhaps we could ask to keep a limited version of these nanos for medical purposes, and reserve the unlimited version for the military, if it turns out we’ll need one.”

  Ben nodded. “I agree. However, I can't help but wonder that if Dad knew about this why didn't he opt for this treatment as well? We could have really used him here." He went quiet as he thought about that question.

  "Maybe he didn't know how far along she was in her research, Ben. Honestly, there is simply no way to know why he didn't get the treatment," Marcy replied. "Besides, there is nothing we could do about it now."

  Ben sighed and nodded his agreement. "Before we go to bed, please call and ask Dr. Lowe to keep her project and findings to herself for now.”

  “I'll do that and try to get an appointment with her to discuss the possible ramifications of her work. I'll try to get a realistic idea of exactly what they can and can't do as well," Marcy replied.

  "That would be really great, thanks," Ben replied while the family got back to finishing the excellent dinner Jorga had made.

  Shortly after dinner, when the family was settling in for the evening, Marcy slipped off to a separate room to make her call.

  “Dr. Lowe? Hi, this is Marcy Carmichael, Ben’s science adviser?”

  “Oh! Hi Marcy! Did Jorga tell you the wonderful news?” Hope Lowe asked.

  Marcy sighed; she really hated to ask what she was about to. “Yes she did, that’s what I’m calling about. Ben asked me to ask you if you could please keep the news of your break-through to yourself for now. I’d like to stop by sometime either tomorrow, or whenever is good for you, so I can learn more about it, so I can brief Ben and the Council.”

  “No, I don’t mind keeping it to myself for now, besides there are some refinements I’d like to look into and I’d like at least another week's worth of data from Jorga before actually getting excited. But I do have to admit it is certainly looking promising,” Hope replied. “Uh, Ben isn’t going to try to bury this is he?”

  “No, but Jorga was telling us everything the nanos let her do and some of it’s pretty scary if you think about it. So Ben wants to discuss it with the other leaders and perhaps ask you if the control interface can be limited to only interfacing with the medical computer," Marcy asked.

  “You mean Jorga can interface with other computer systems?” Hope asked, amazed. "She never told me anything like that!"

  “That’s the way I understood it. She told us about how she could use the nanos and the control module to research a subject on the Internet while the instructor was lecturing on it in school. Considering the reality of our new existence, that could be catastrophic. Our computer systems were not built to handle that kind of load, not to mention the potential for hacking.”

  “Jorga would never ...” Hope began.

  “Oh we now that, Dr. Lowe! No, we had others in mind once this began to be used on a larger scale. We don’t want to limit it, we just want to make sure it’s use is safely controlled and everyone's protected,” Marcy replied, putting a slight emphasis on the word safely.

  “I think I can understand that. In fact, once I have a chance to think about it more, I’m sure I’ll agree with you. When Tom built our pod, he made sure I had a nice lab attached to our apartment. So anytime you’d like to come over you’re more than welcome Marcy and for goodness sakes call me Hope! Dr. Lowe sounds so stuffy and formal.”

  Marcy relaxed when Hope told her that. It was going much easier than she thought it would. “Fabulous! Then I’ll just come over with Jorga when she comes to see you tomorrow.”

  “That would be great! That way I can show you the progress we’ve made!”

  “I’ll look forward to it, Hope. I’ll see you tomorrow then.” Marcy said ending the call.

  “Bye! And tell Jorga we love her!”

&
nbsp; “I will, good night.”

  “Goodnight,” Hope said and broke the connection.

  CHAPTER TWO

  “I am often amazed at how much more capability and enthusiasm for science there is among elementary school youngsters than among college students.”

  - Carl Sagan

  Bio-mechanical Research Lab

  Survivor Pod 0001c

  7 Apr. 8255 CE

  Location Unknown

  Earth, Sol system

  Marcy returned the hug Hope was giving her. “Hello, Hope. It's really good to finally meet you! My role as 'science adviser' is so vast, I doubt I could ever get to meet everyone, so this is a real treat for me.”

  Hope broke the hug. “Well, I think we were destined to meet anyway. Since Jorga said she considered you family, that makes you part of our family! So I'm sure we would have met sooner or later!”

  “You know, I think its past time we invited the three of you over for dinner. Let me talk to the gang and I'll call you back to make the date, okay?” Marcy asked, smiling. She'd been missing her mother and that hug had felt really nice.

  “I'm sure we'd love to come! I'll have to talk it over with Bill and Hanna, but I can just about guarantee they'll say yes,” Hope replied. “Now, you came over to discuss the nanos. Let's go into my office and I'll fill you in on the background for the project.” Hope turned and led Marcy through her neat home to a sliding panel at the end of the hall. "It's really too bad Jorga had that errand to run, or I could have shown you real-time data.

  “As a very young girl, even younger than Hanna, I can remember great-grandmother Esther living with us so we could take care of her. She was a cancer victim and was slowly losing her fight. Every time they thought they had killed it, the damn cancer would pop-up somewhere else. Gran said it was a sign, and she ordered her doctors to stop the endless chemo treatments. She told them she'd keep fighting it on her own, but the chemo poisoning had weakened her. She also said she wanted to die with some dignity remaining. She was already living with us because the chemo had hurt almost as much as the cancer had.