“Yeah… I know where that is,” Cuddy said flatly. “Where Brian works… lives.”
“Yeah… but I would have wanted to be a doctor there anyway.”
“Uh huh,” Cuddly said, sounding unconvinced.
Cuddy didn’t show it, but having a future life with Jackie, if they managed to survive their current predicament, seemed more and more inconceivable.
Watching her now, bending over, sliding the casserole into the oven, he listened to her quietly humming a familiar melody. He didn’t know its name, like so many other things he was clueless about. For too many years, he had neither the interest, nor the mental capacity, for learning such things. In many ways, he felt like the same simpleton he’d always been. That would change eventually—though apparently not any time soon enough.
Cuddy stood up and listened.
“What is it… don’t like my singing?” Jackie asked, giving him a wry smile.
“The orb just informed me… we’re there. We’ve reached Primara.”
“No! Already?” she asked.
Cuddy hesitated for several moments, taking her fully in—the remnants of flour on her nose, the small scratch on her cheek, the odd way she wrapped her long fair hair into a ponytail at the top of her head; and her amazing, highly expressive eyes.
“I need to get to the bridge.”
Cuddy hurried onto the bridge and joined the orb at the forward console. Beyond the observation window, large and brilliant in color, was a world that easily could pass for Earth: Magnificent azure oceans; green continents, containing high-ridged mountains, as well as prairie land that seemed to stretch on and on forever.
He knew Tow would be pleased right now, seeing this world—this new home.
“The Howsh?” Cuddy asked.
“Yes, they are here, Captain,” the orb replied.
Cuddy glanced out at the curved horizon—where the planet’s blue atmosphere met the blackness of space. No way to spot something as insignificant in size as a few spacecraft, but he looked just the same. “Where?” he asked.
“Like us… in high orbit.”
“Have there been any attempts to contact us?”
“No… none.”
Cuddy thought about that, though it really didn’t mean anything. Whoever was commanding that fleet of warships could take his sweet time. We are completely at their mercy, he thought.
“Bob, do you have defined coordinates where we’re to go? Where the heritage pod is to be… placed?”
“No, that was not included in my directives. You can make that determination, if you wish, Captain.”
“There!”
Cuddy spun around to see Jackie, standing with her arm extended, her finger pointing out. He stepped back and followed the direction of her finger.
“Near that patch of forest. At the base of the mountain ridge,” she explained. “Yeah… that’s the place,” she said with certainty. “Can you take us down there, Bob, so we can take a look?” Her face was animated and her enthusiasm contagious.
Tony and Kyle barged onto the bridge together, their mouths agape as they took in the panorama of beautiful Primara.
“Take us down, Bob… let’s bring them home,” Cuddy said.
The descent into Primara’s lower atmospheres was fairly quick and non-eventful. If anything, Cuddy wished they could slow time down—make their moments together last a little longer. With a quick glance over his shoulder, he noticed Brian too had joined them on the bridge, and was now easing his bulk down into a rear seat.
Tony said, “Holy crap… that world is…”
“Incredible!” Kyle exclaimed, finishing his words.
The orb brought the Evermore lower—barely skirting the tops of trees. Cuddy briefly wondered if forests like this one, seeming both endless and undisturbed, still existed back on Earth. He didn’t think so.
Out the port window could be seen the ragged mountain ridge they’d spotted from space. Below, the trees were now becoming more and more sparse. Then they were traversing low over long golden grasslands. Something bright sparkled in the distance.
“The lake I saw below us… it’s over there,” Jackie said.
The orb changed their course slightly. Ahead lay a shimmering body of water—a great lake—that Cuddy could see was rimmed with a wide sandy beach.
Cuddy caught Jackie’s eye. “Here okay?”
He watched her eyes take in the landscape beyond, before she nodded, “Yeah… right here.”
“Put us down, Bob,” Cuddy said.
Cuddy was the last one to exit the Evermore and walk down the gangway. He breathed in the brisk, fresh air, and held it deep in his lungs for several blissful moments. As he took his first steps onto Primara soil, he acknowledged the good fortune, as well as the sacrifices they’d made to get there. In the distance, he saw Kyle—walking near a stream all by himself. Tony and Jackie were walking together, heading toward the distant lake. Brian, the one nearest him, was slowly waddling toward a nearby stand of Aspen-like trees.
“It is time, Captain.”
Cuddy, aware of the orb’s close presence, gazed into the sky, wondering if his pledge to Tow was an act in futility. Would the Howsh begin their attack now?
“How do I do it? How do I get the heritage pod out of the ship?” Cuddy asked.
“The lower sub-deck of the Evermore is a separate construct. It also has a lift mechanism.”
A soft whirling sound brought Cuddy’s attention to something behind him. The Evermore was rising up higher on extended struts. A mid-section of the ship was slowly being lowered downward, beneath the spacecraft’s underbelly. He studied the organic shape of the heritage pod as it came into view. In this vast wilderness, it somehow looked small and vulnerable. And then he felt it—a heavy weight on his shoulders, nearly bringing him to his knees. It was the weight of responsibility—the weight of an entire race of people, depending on him.
Cuddy walked back toward the ship and came to a stop, just as the lift settled onto the ground.
The orb, still hovering at Cuddy’s side, communicated with him telepathically:
The pod must be moved onto the ground.
Cuddy looked at the orb, then at the heritage pod. It was easily seven or eight feet tall, and twice that size across. “What does it weigh?”
“Ten thousand pounds, Captain.”
Cuddy made a face, showing his disbelief. “Well… there’s no way I’m lifting that! Even if everyone helps, there’s no possible way!”
“The heritage pod will not unfold, unless it is on Primara soil—”
Cuddy cut the orb’s words short: “I got it… it needs to be moved.” He stared in the direction the others had gone then dismissed their help, again, as a viable solution.
“Sit, Cuddy Perkins, sit upon the ground. I will assist you; you can do this.”
Cuddy gave the hovering orb a weary look, but eventually did as asked. Although he tried to clear his mind of all thoughts and concern, it quickly became apparent that was not possible. To have come this far—this close—only to be stymied now. He sat there for a long while. The sun lowered into a pink, orange sky, as a steady breeze carried the scent of the distant lake. Cuddy’s thoughts turned to Tow. He should be here, doing this honored task. He was a true Pashier… with powerful mental abilities—far more powerful than his own.
“Do it! Move the heritage pod, Cuddy!” the orb said.
Jackie, returning, took a seat to his left. He felt her take his hand in hers and hold it tight. “You can do this. Look what you’ve accomplished so far.”