Journey of Rick Heiden Ch. 25-26

"Yes, you can count on me," said Amanda.

Cadmar climbed over the seat to the back so he and Maggie could trade places.

"As for the soldiers," said Amanda. "Japan isn't the United States; they have no authority to detain you."

"Maybe so," said David, "but that won't stop them given the opportunity."

I guessed Cadmar's intention when I saw him take Aiden's pistol from his jacket.

"Slow down," I said to Rocke.

"Quelle? Pourquoi? (What? Why?)," he asked.

"Do it! Slow down, let them get just a few meters from our bumper," I said. "Are you ready back there, Cadmar?"

"Let them get closer," said Cadmar.

"David, what's happening?" asked Amanda.

"Nothing to worry about just taking care of our trivial problem. Hold on a minute," said David, looking out the back window.

"Cadmar, your ring!" I licked my knuckle, removed the ring, and tossed it to Cadmar, who skillfully caught it. I watched him put it on and use the diamond on it to cut around the edges of the glass in the back window as deeply as he could. Once they were in position, he yelled, "Everyone, get down!"

I didn't see what he did, but a loud crash and a high pitch chirp sounded. I yelled to Rocke, who had slumped down into the driver's seat. "Let's go, Rocke. Go! Go! Go!"

He rapidly sped up, and we left them behind. I got up to see Cadmar waving bye to the vehicle receding behind us through the newly broken-out window. He had electromagnetically pulsed their engine.

"Rick, here's the ring back," Cadmar yelled, trying to remove it.

"No, Cadmar, it's yours," I said. "It's where it belongs."

David continued his conversation with Amanda, and they had a three-way call with the Prime Minister. David wanted to ensure that the portal at the One City remained usable and to establish some rules about the exit near London. The Prime Minister suggested that the British Government could hold the immediate area around the portal at Painshill for Jiyū in perpetuity, and then we could have an embassy built. David felt unsure about that and would have to consider the proposal. When the call ended, he had the assurance he wanted that we could return to London and hammer out the details of Jiyū's relationship to the United Kingdom.

"I have a radical idea," said Aiden. "Why don't we go back to London?"

"We don't know that we can trust them yet," said Cadmar.

"How will we know if we can trust them if we don't trust them?" I asked.

"Sorry," David said, shaking his head, "that only applies to the first time. At this point, it's 'fool me once shame on you,' etcetera. If they want our trust after what they did, they will have to earn it somehow."

"How do we know they will bother?" asked Maggie.

"Because they believe Jiyū to be the golden-egg-laying goose," said David, "so they'll bother alright. Rocke, park in that lot. We've driven around the perimeter of the forest, and we're probably farther away than we'd prefer, but we can't help that."

Visitors used the lot to access the hiking trail for a section of the wood. We carried water in our packs and some snacks, but not enough for more than a day. Fortunately, we had a destination and knew we had six miles to go. When the trail ended, it forced us to trek over half the distance through the treacherous forest, which turned dense with little air movement. We had slow-going over the vines, rocks, and roots that covered the ground beneath a nearly leafless canopy.

It became dark as we got to our destination, and that would mean we couldn't go home until the next day if we didn't want to draw attention to the portal. Unfortunately, none of that mattered since the U.S. military, who lit the area with portable lighting, had beaten us there. It sat in an unusual, round clearing inside the forest, making me wonder if the portal's field deterred plant growth somehow. We were just out of eyesight, and the soldiers in the circle hadn't seen us. They held weapons, though, and that made us not draw ours. Major Palmer had arrived, which explained his indifference to our leaving the parking lot.

"Don't move," said a voice behind us. "Put your hands where I can see them and step slowly into the clearing."

It had drawn the attention of the others. The major had everyone step to the edges of the clearing and away from the center.

"Hello, Mr. Levitt, why don't you join us?" asked Major Palmer.

When David stepped into the clearing, the portal gradually appeared.

"Sir!"

"And there it is," said the major with an air of great satisfaction. "I don't know how you do that, but I soon will. Bring them closer."

More soldiers prodded us closer to the portal with the muzzle of a rifle.

The major acted quite pleased with himself. He walked around the portal, which looked identical to the others. He climbed the steps and gazed into the crevice to get a better view of the light source.

"Fascinating," he said and stepped off the portal toward David. "How do you activate it?"

David said nothing.

"Maybe you just stand on it, sir," said one of the men. "It could be that simple."

"Perhaps, Lieutenant Lopez," said the major. "Let's test that; your men are ready, aren't they?"

"More than ready. Aren't we, men?"

"Yes, sir," they said.

"How did you find this place?" Aiden asked.

"The signal from your drone," said the major. "It's a good thing we failed to destroy it."

"What signal?" David asked Aiden.

"I'm not sure," Aiden said. "Oh wait, Iris sends out a signal."

"Oh, bloody hell," said David.

"Pearce must have told them," said Cadmar

"Maybe," said David.

The major told the men to assemble upon the portal. There were five of them, and with them, they brought six large containers they stacked up on the disk. One of the soldiers carried a spiked pole with an American flag upon it.

"You'll proclaim Jiyū as your own?" asked David.

"The planet, yes," said the major. "I'm sure we'll change that foreign name to something more American."

"What about the people who already live there?" I asked.

"Your people are even less aggressive than the Indians," said the major. "You're reluctant to draw your weapons, and you're always looking for a peaceful solution. And you know what we did to the Indians. We won't make the same mistake this time. We'll wipe you, godless bastards, off the face of our planet."

The men stood upon the disk, and the energy below was building. "If this works, we'll send more tomorrow with more equipment," Major Palmer told them. "You know what to do, men, and may God go with you."

The energy swirled, the field was surrounding them, and I noticed an odd, intense hum that I hadn't remembered hearing with the other portals. It grew bright, and we had to squint. I heard David cough. Our pistols were still in our jackets. The portal distracted them, so they didn't think to take our weapons. The field grew so bright that we had to close our eyes, and that meant everyone else did too. David, Aiden, and I pulled our pistols, turned, and stunned our captors. There were eight of them left, and it took only a couple of seconds before they were on the ground. We turned our backs to the portal and shut our eyes just as it completed the sphere and grew brightest. Then suddenly, the light dimmed, and a thunderous rumbling came from behind us. We turned to see that tons of stones and boulders had covered the portal.

"Bloody hell! What happened?" asked Aiden.

"The portal on Jiyū must have gotten buried somehow," said Cadmar, "That's interesting."

"Interesting?" asked Maggie.

"Yes, this is the first new data about the portal we've obtained in centuries," said Cadmar. "What do you think, David?"

"I think we are exceptionally fortunate," he said, staring at the pile atop the portal.

"Is it under some sort of avalanche, maybe?" I asked.

"Those men on Jiyū are probably dead, and all you can think about is a pile of rubble?" asked Maggie.

"They are right to be unconcerned, Maggie," said Rocke. "This world is half-filled with horrible people. They may be a product of their circumstance and their flawed humanity, but that makes them no less horrible. Their intentions were not honorable. They do not deserve our pity. Save that for the likes of Monsieur Julien Le Gal. He was a good human being."

"Might these men have had families?" she asked.

"They may have," said David. "If they had thought of them more, perhaps they wouldn't have been here in the first place. Life is fraught with mistakes that one cannot rectify."

"So, has this journey been a waste of time, David?" I asked. "Did Julien die for nothing?"

"No," said David. "We did what we had to do; circumstance had constrained our options. Julien had a senseless death, but it happened for a reason. He wanted to help us get home, and because of what he started, we will."

"What do we do now?" asked Aiden, kicking a stone that had rolled to where he stood.

"The only thing we can do, Aiden," said David. "We move on. We trust. We act upon the world the best way we know-how. We try to befriend those worthy of our time, and at the end of the day, we go home."

And we did just that. While Aiden recalled the drone, David contacted Amanda and told her everything. As part of an apology to us, she paid for our first-class plane tickets back to London. She assured us we would have no security issues and told us she would meet us at the airport with the Prime Minister. We appreciated the kind gesture. We walked out of the forest in a more direct route, which meant we lost our transportation. I called a cab to pick us up. We went straight to the airport, bypassing security with the help of the Japanese government. After wandering around the terminal all night, we caught our flight early the next morning.

It seemed almost dreamlike at that point; we slept the whole way back to London. For reasons I couldn't explain well, we stayed virtually silent with one another, like we had said everything, and the finality of our situation met us with a level of disappointment beyond words. The Americans had retreated for the moment, and we survived, for as dissatisfying a victory as we had.

After we left the circle in the forest, the pile of rubble collapsed to the ground when the portal phased out. No doubt Major Palmer had much explaining to do about the men buried beneath stone on Jiyū.

When we arrived in London at 1:00 p.m., the city seemed the same, but the atmosphere felt different. The Prime Minister greeted us with a heartfelt apology and an invitation for a meal.

We all acted like nothing from before had happened; I suppose we tried to put it behind us. Still, we remembered those who had been kind to us and the sacrifice of our friend Julien. He did what he had to do in the task he had set for himself. We would not forget him.

That afternoon we went to Painshill Park, along with the Prime Minister and his entourage, including Amanda. They had the park protected, but demilitarized, and that pleased us. They returned Cadmar's sword to him with a personal apology for what he endured. We shook hands all around, and we mounted the portal to leave, the sight of which we could tell dazzled all those in attendance.

As we stood there, I remembered what Amaré said to me, and he was right. We seek a greater connection because there were people on Earth worthy of our time, like Julien, Yukiko, Sarah, the Rabbi, and all those people who helped us, including those who realized their mistake and did their best to correct it. Throughout my life, I had never felt more connected to my larger family than I did just then. Some things really were good to remember.