Time to link up this story with some of my old ones – I hope it works out.
34 The Man from Elydonia
The visage of Commander Neville Sage on the screen in front of him sent shivers down Jarred Kinderman's spine, so he had to think fast.
"Ah... hello sir; I must admit I did not expect to see you on the Orbit Station."
"Yes there have been some changes made; so what do you want?"
"I was hoping to talk to Major Dias sir about the load we are carrying."
"What about it?" Sage was always short and to the point.
"Well err... we sent a manifest list to Mars and we all know April has been pushing the citizens council for permission to start a second colony, so I was going to ask the Major if there was any news sir."
"Yes it has all been sorted out so don't worry about it" Sage was blunt. "All will be explained when you get back. Is there anything else Kinderman?"
"Err no sir; MTV out."
With communications cut, Jarred and Ruth just stared at each other for several seconds.
"We should be able to tell him when we're back on the station" Ruth hoped "Sage won't be with us all the time."
"I certainly hope he won't Ruth."
Back on the ship, DeGroot was very pleased to have all eyes on him as he began to speak again. He felt much calmer sitting at the large table instead of standing outside in the hot sun surrounded by tense people.
"This is a real treat for me" he admitted "No one ever wants to hear my whole story."
"We just want to find out who you are, what you're doing and why you've been looking for Blue?" Professor Adisa said in calming tones.
"So tell us; are you now or have you ever been associated with the Earth First Alliance?" Sid asked accusingly.
"Oh Sid."
"Yes Professor?"
"Shut up!"
"Yes Professor."
"Just start from the beginning" Linton encouraged.
"As you already know, my name is Maximilian DeGroot and I am a record keeper and historian. Have any of you ever heard of the Kingdom of Elydonia?"
All those at the table glanced back and forth to see if anyone else had heard of the place DeGroot spoke of, but none had.
"Would it help if I said it was west of Gondland and Mandoria, and north of New Loran?" but everyone continued to look puzzled.
"It does not surprise me because very few people did know about these places, even before the first meteor strike over fifty years ago. Even I am not even sure of Elydonias exact location myself, but I believe it was somewhere on the west coast of Europe between Norway and Belgium. Many centuries ago, an ancestor of mine named Yolon DeGroot was the keeper of the Kingdoms artefacts and treasures during a time of political upheaval. A particularly unjust king was overthrown, followed by a short lived civil war. During this time, the new king was married to a beautiful yet mighty warrior maiden from the Viking tribe known as The Dragon Riders of Berk."
"Dragon Riders?" Calla (along with a few others) gasped.
"I wouldn't take the name literally" Professor Adisa smiled "Vikings would often adopt fearsome names and adorn the bows of their longships with wood carvings of dragons and other mythical beasts."
"Oh I believe the name to be a true representation of these Vikings" DeGroot responded "The records of my ancestor say the new Queen had extensive changes made to Bolthorn Castle to accommodate her dragon named Skywolf."
"You can't really expect us to believe this rubbish?" Captain Reed Branson's head dropped into his hands as he sighed.
"No I don't" DeGroot replied bluntly "Nobody ever does; but I believe it and I have devoted my life to putting the lost histories back together again."
"But what does any of that have to do with Blue?" Emerson asked.
"Ah yes; various clues I'd discovered led me to a man in England named Gerwin Haddock, who also knew quite a lot about the history of his family. Unfortunately though, by the time I tracked down where his family lived, he had passed away for he was a very old man. There would have been other family members but with so much destruction on Earth because of the meteors, his granddaughter April was the only one I could find any records about. This was because of her involvement in the Mars Project but by the time I tracked her down, I was once more too late; she had already gone."
"Yes she died soon after I was born" Blue lamented.
"No, not died" DeGroot corrected "gone... to Mars."
To say the last comment caused a commotion among the people from the Railgun complex would have been the granddaddy of all understatements. The Magpie of Heart Stopping Shock had invaded the room and brought a dozen or so friends with him.
"That's absurd" Sarah thumped the table "I saw her..."
She stopped herself from completing her sentence before beginning again in a measured voice.
"I saw it happen... and I wasn't the only one."
"I remember the flash in the sky" Sid agreed "and I always assumed April's helicopter was..."
It seemed everyone was finding it difficult to finish their sentences.
"Wait a minute DeGroot" Linton interrupted "didn't you say earlier the records you found in the USA stated the ship was destroyed and we were all dead?"
"Indeed yes; but I heard rumours and so I kept hoping."
"I've been trying to work out how April could possibly leave her child behind" Sarah admitted "but if she were told the ship was gone with all on board lost..."
"Just as we were led to believe she was dead..." Sid added.
"And later informed the ship had fallen to the EFA" Linton threw into the pot of now obvious lies.
"So none of it actually happened" Willow sighed.
"You're missing one more horrifying fact" Amos declared as everyone turned to him "If April's death was faked for our benefit, then what attacked us was not an EFA controlled drone. In order to make it appear to us as if the Medivac Helicopter had been destroyed, our own forces must have been in control."
"Two things have always bothered me" Linton revealed "From where was the Attack Drone controlled, and why wouldn't the EFA send a squadron of piloted fighters if they wanted to sink a massive ship like this one?"
The room fell into a deafening silence as the group considered what Amos and Linton had said. Maynard's family and friends were all unsure exactly what Linton's group were talking about, but they knew some very serious vibes were going down. After giving it some thought, Professor Adisa came to a startling decision.
"I know it won't be easy Mr. DeGroot, but do you think you could show me exactly where you found out this information? I just may want to go there for myself."
"Oh come on Linton, you cannot be serious" Doctor Henry Deming said angrily "You want to go all the way back to America on some kind of wild goose chase? What on Earth do you expect to achieve?"
"The only reason I can think of for all this deception, was to keep us from sending more colonists to Mars, while still enabling us to send supplies and equipment. So if our own leaders were willing to use our fear of the EFA against us, we need to know what to expect if we should try to send people to Mars today. I do not want to start trying to save people and end up sending them to their deaths at the hands of unscrupulous, manipulative bastards. We spent fifteen years locked up underground because I believed the information I was given was true and I'm not going to make others pay for my naive stupidity ever again."
"Don't beat yourself up too much sir" Sarah said with concern "we all fell for it."
"Okay then" Deming replied "You've convinced me."
"One point though" Reed Branson noted "he may be a thorn in my side, but DeGroot is a part of our group. So as his Captain I will not let you just take him against his will; it must be his decision either way."
"Yes of course" the professor agreed "What do you say Mr. DeGroot."
"I've been searching for years trying to find a descendant of the Dragon Riders; I just want the opportunity to talk with him and share what I've learned."
All eyes turned to a very nervous looking Blue Dias
"What do you think Blue?" the professor asked eagerly.
"I err... think... everyone should stop staring at me and give me time to really think."
It wasn't easy at first, but Blue eventually managed to get people to stop following him while asking questions or giving advice. He wandered along the shore for a while, soaking in the sea air and marvelling at the beauty of it all. The last time he felt the cool refreshing water on his feet, he was knocked senseless by an exploding lump of superheated rock plummeting through the upper atmosphere. This time his senses were finding it hard to process all he had recently learnt.
When he first decided to leave the complex, it appeared it would be a very long and drawn out process, giving him time to get used to it all. But then Calla had fallen in, knocked him out and changed everything. Now he was outside at last, there were new people arriving almost every day and West Sumatra was not as deserted as he and his friends had once thought. And now he's discovered his mother is alive and well, and living on planet Mars.
Blue felt as if he had been standing by the road of life waiting for a bus, when along came four all at once.
Even though he had finally found the person he had tracked halfway around the world, DeGroot was ordered to leave Blue alone and only answer the boy's questions (if he had any). Reed had been adamant about this order and had even made the usual threats of violence if he was disobeyed.
Fortunately DeGroot was still very keen to peruse the paperwork left on the ship and so after much persuading (ie: begging), Professor Adisa and Captain Branson both gave him their permission to help before they left. When Branson finally reached the entrance to the complex, there was some good news and bad news waiting for him. The good news was there were no casualties and no serious injuries back at the fleet he had left near Padang. The bad news was both ferries were now onshore wrecks.
The Complex Road Team who had diverted south, along with help from the town they found on the road to Padang, had managed to get through to the bay where the fleet had been anchored in only half a day. Most of the people from the fleet were taken back to the town temporarily but a few were brought back to the Railgun to meet up with Reed.
"When the spotters saw the wave in the distance, we knew there wasn't enough time to start hauling the ferries out to sea" Jack Sumner reported to his captain.
"So what action did you take?" Branson asked.
"We let the smaller craft make a run for it while we evacuated everyone else onto the Tug Boats; then we all made for the open ocean."
"Losing the ferries is a real setback, but you made the right decision Jack" Branson agreed.
As they all settled in for the evening, Professor Adisa called yet another meeting with his department heads while Sarah and Blue were given the task of taking Branson and some of the One and All crew on yet another tour, and showing them the basics of the complex. Maynard, Ursula and Emerson offered to help some of the complex staff set up a temporary indoor camp for the visitors, while Calla was more interested in following Sarah and showing off what she had already learned. When the initial tour was finished, Reed Branson led his crew to the now converted warehouse to talk and sleep.
Much to her disdain, Calla was ordered by her mother to stay put for the night with the rest of her family, but Sarah was called in to see Professor Adisa to receive some interesting news.
"I was surprised when you thought you may be in trouble for removing some of our road crew and redirecting them to help Maynard's friends" Linton paced back and forth as Sarah and Blue sat and listened.
"Well I knew it was very important to get the road between the beach and the complex entrance reopen, but..." she started to explain but was cut off.
"But the welfare of those possibly suffering nearby could not be ignored" Professor Adisa agreed.
"So... why did you want to talk to me about it?" Sarah wondered.
"The actions you took in my absence verified for me, a decision I had already made many months ago. In the last hour, I took my decision to the other Complex Team Leaders and although they did have some things to say about it, they all agreed with me."
"Agreed with you about what?" Sarah was still wondering as the Magpie of Heart Stopping Shock perched itself on the top of the couch close to her left ear.
"If you agree to accept the position Sarah, starting tomorrow you will be the new Head of the Railgun Project."
Even a mythical magpie has a squawk loud enough to wake the dead.
When I decided to make Sarah the new leader (about two months ago) it was because the Professor had died. But when I started on the DeGroot revelations, new ideas came about what Linton Adisa would do when he heard the news and so his life was saved.
Good for him :-D