The Time War Ch. 17

The Time War

By Gary LM Martin

Chapter 17: The Green Hills of the Moon

The Luddites:

There was continued tension in the quad.

Brad Wilson didn't have any reservations when he first joined Tom Stoyer's band of dedicated environmentalists. Tom wanted to roll back the technological excesses of mankind, which Brad and his wife Maggie, agreed with wholeheartedly.

But Brad was surprised when Tom had started to flirt with Maggie. Wasn't Tom already with Donna? He acted like he was single. And then, before Brad knew what was happening, Maggie was kissing and making out with Tom, and then Maggie came up to him, matter of factly, and told him that Tom had invited the two of them to join with him and Donna to form a quad.

Brad didn't know quite how to respond. It was clearly obvious that Maggie wanted it, and almost as clear that if he said no, that Maggie might leave him and form a trio with Tom. Tom Stoyer had a magnetic charisma and seemed able to get any woman he wanted. Bradley couldn't compete with that. So he had agreed, reluctantly, to go with Maggie and form a quad with Tom and Donna.

Except things hadn't worked out as Brad expected.

Maggie was having sex with Tom a lot more than she was having it with him. In fact, as time went on, Maggie was having less and less sex with him, always making excuses, but always being eager with Tom. Meanwhile Donna had made it clear that she was not attracted to Brad at all. She had finally had sex with him once, at Tom's urging, but wouldn't let him touch her since.

He kept going after Maggie about it so much that finally she said, "Well all right, if you're going to be nagging me so much, fine! Let's have sex!" And she briskly took him by the hand and brought him the bedroom, eager to get it over with as soon as possible. Maggie stripped off his clothes, and he hers. She manipulated him with her hand to get him hard, her face a mask of concentration and annoyance, and when she deemed he was ready she mounted him. But as she bounced up and down on his organ she stared at him with an annoyed intensity.

"Do it," she said, gritting her teeth. "Come on, do it do it do it."

On one level, Brad felt unhappy over Maggie's obvious lack of interest. But she was his wife. She had thick blonde curls, and large bouncing breasts. The sight of those round melons bouncing up and down always fanned the flames of his ardor, and today was no exception. And so it wasn't long before Brad cried out, and released inside of her.

Maggie lay on top of him. "Was that good for you?"

"Yes," said Brad. He started to ask, "What's that good for-" but Maggie had already gotten up and padded to the shower.

Brad began to wonder if joining Tom Stoyer's group had been such a good idea after all.

********

"My friends," said Tom, smiling broadly the following morning. "It is time to stop a terrible crime from taking place."

"What crime would that be, Tom?" Maggie asked, giving him an adoring smile. Brad couldn't help but notice that after Maggie had showered and left their bedroom that night, she had gone straight to Tom's.

"The crime I refer to is the rape of the Moon," said Tom. "As we know, everything mankind touches turns to dust. How many of the Moon's pristine forests have been cut down for shopping centers? How many of the Moon's rolling green hills have been destroyed by violent acts of strip mining? The Moon has been exploited relentlessly, my friends, and it is time that it came to a stop."

********

Sarah was starting to feel something... unusual. And the source of those unusual feelings were... her vagina.

She looked down, watching as John Calle's manly penis moved in and out of her. Everything was as it should be. This was the established pattern. First Calle would make love to her, on her back, to achieve his own orgasm, and then she would mount him to get her own. Sarah had learned early on that this was the only way she could climax while having a man inside of her.

And yet now, for some reason, she was starting to feel... sensation. Of course, whenever they had sex, Sarah felt Calle inside of her. But she didn't feel arousal.

But now she was.

Calle had raised himself up, like he was doing pushups, entering her at a raised angle. Something in what he was doing was stimulating her clitoris. Sarah rapidly started to get aroused.

She saw him smile down at her. He seemed to know. Sarah shuddered. Seeing him, with his beautiful blue eyes, his manly chest, hovering over her, while she was being so intensely stimulated... oh... oh... oooooohhhhh!

Sarah cried out, partially from pleasure, and partially from surprise, and enjoyed the sensation when Calle finally dropped down on her chest. She hugged him tightly, rocking slightly as she milked the last of her orgasm from his raging tool.

Afterwards, she said, "I... I have never come that way before. What did you do?"

"I came in at a higher angle, to stimulate your clitoris," said Calle.

"How did you know to do that?" she said, searching him with her eyes.

"I... I have encountered someone with that problem before," said Calle quietly.

Sarah nodded. For some reason, she felt jealous. Jealous of a dead woman.

Her relationship with Calle had taken an unexpected turn. At first, Sarah had wanted to sleep with him because she was intrigued by him, and because he was handsome. She thought if things went well that she would add him to "her rotation". But then a funny thing happened. Calle, unlike the others, climaxed when looking directly at her! No one had ever done that before. Sarah stopped having sex with other CS operatives. Some of them, like Lieutenant Riegel, even started to complain about it. And now, for the first time, Calle had helped her get an orgasm in the traditional missionary position, while she was lying on her back.

She looked at him lying by her side. Was she falling in love with John Calle?

********

The two of them came into work at the same time, which may have been a mistake. Colonel Strayker said, "It's nice to see the two of you showing up for work." What did he mean by that? Sarah lowered her head.

Calle said, "Has something happened, sir?"

Strayker nodded. "There's something wrong with the Moon."

Sarah quickly got to work, sitting next to Naomi, who was already looking at dozens of holoimages. "What do we have here?" Sarah asked.

"The Moon... is empty," said Naomi.

"What do you mean?" Sarah asked.

"The Moon... it has no cities, no towns, no shopping centers or nail salons... it's just lush forests and hills," said Naomi.

"That's impossible," said Sarah.

********

Two hours later, they found out that it was possible.

"I have traced it back to 1969, the year of the first manned moon landing," said Sarah. "When Neil Armstrong landed on the face of the moon, he discovered that it was a barren, lifeless rock. The American public was so underwhelmed that there were no further missions to the moon after that."

"But... how could that be?" Calle asked. "If you just look up at the moon, even with a low powered telescope, you can see the forests, the trees, the grassy hills!"

"I have looked at news reports from that era," said Sarah. "Apparently, scientists believed the images of trees and rivers on the moon was an optical illusion, a reflection of the Earth's surface."

"A reflection?" said Calle. "But when they landed there, they surely must have seen the trees, the grass, the flowers."

"Apparently they didn't," said Strayker, looking severe in a dark brown suit with tall collars. "That's why you're going to have to go to the Moon, in the year 1969, to find out what went wrong."

********

"We have never sent anyone off planet before," said Sarah, adjusting the controls. The Time Shaft seemed to hum with greater intensity than usual, the blue rings of energy pulsating up the shaft with tremendous electrical force. The Time Shaft itself was a hazard; if it weren't for the protective force field around it, random electrical discharges could be lethal to the operator.

"Is there some element of danger involved?" said Calle.

"I'm not sure," said Sarah. "It's remotely possible you might arrive somewhere in orbit. How good are you at breathing vacuum?"

"Not very good."

Sarah looked around, to be sure no one else was listening. "Then I may have to find myself another sex partner to relieve the tension."

Things had changed so radically since Calle had arrived at the CS. When he had first met Sarah, she had flirted with him at the top of her voice, seemingly uncaring of who heard her. But now that they were in a relationship... of sorts... she was much more discrete.

"You do that," said Calle, touching her cheek. "I wouldn't want you to be without someone... to help you relieve the tension."

Sarah looked at Calle, and gave a shy smile. Then she spoke more loudly, so the others could hear, "All right, we've got it. We're set." The Binochi Corridor lit up. "Major, you're good to go."

Calle walked up to Major Reynolds. "Major, I just had a thought. What if they're right? What if the Moon is a barren rock without an atmosphere?"

"Then I guess we'll see how long you can hold your breath," said Reynolds. He stepped through the gateway, into the Corridor.

Calle looked back, saw Sarah staring at him with obvious concern, and then he turned and followed his team.

********

The moon was a lifeless, barren rock, with no atmosphere.

It was an enormous shock to behold. Calle found he was holding his breath. He couldn't breathe!

And then he involuntarily exhaled. And then he automatically inhaled.

Breathing air.

Fresh air, apparently, which smelled of grass and flowers.

Which were nowhere to be seen on this rocky, barren lunar landscape.

What was going on here?

"It must be some sort of localized holographic generator," said Erica Green.

"A localized generator?" said Major Reynolds.

"Sure," said Erica. "That's all they'd need. This is the exact spot where Neil Armstrong is going to set down his lander, in just a few minutes. All they would need to do is to project this landscape to the horizon, perhaps two or three miles in every direction."

"Then we have to find that generator before they get here," said Reynolds grimly.

********

High up in orbit around the moon, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin prepared to get into their lunar lander and touch down on the surface of the moon.

"Please, guys, can't I go with you?" the third astronaut Michael Collins, fairly pleaded.

"I'm sorry, Mike, there's only room for two in the lander," said Armstrong.

"But... no one's ever going to know who I am!" said Collins. "Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, those will be household names! No one will ever know who Michael Collins was!"

"Of course they will," said Neil, as he started to climb into the lander. "You'll always be known as one of the first men to get 90% of the way to the moon." He gave a big chuckle, which was echoed by Aldrin, who was already in the lander.

They continued to laugh about that even after module separation. As they headed down to the moon, though, Buzz Aldrin had another thought. "Neil, I'll be the second man to step on the Moon. Do you think history will remember my name?"

"Of course," Neil said reassuringly. "Your name will be as well known as mine, all throughout history."

Hope blossomed in Aldrin's eyes. "So... if it's all the same to you... can I step on the Moon first?"

"No," said Armstrong.

"But Neil-"

"End of discussion," said Armstrong.

*********

Erica Green held up her Pad. "My sensors can't detect the hologenerator."

"It must be shielded," said Major Reynolds, looking through a bunch of holographic boulders.

"Then how are we going to find it?"

"This is the epicenter of the lunar landing. It must be around here somewhere," said Reynolds.

Those glowing orange eyes.

Calle started to get a feeling, the feeling he always got when he sensed something that was pivotal, that was a key part of history in the making. He found himself gravitating towards a bunch of holographic boulders some hundred feet or so away. But before he got halfway there, he heard a shout.

"Get down!" Calle heard Erica Green yell.

Suddenly, the sounds of compression rounds rang through the air.

They were under attack by a force of Luddites, who had been set there to guard the holoprojector.

The only problem was that there was no place to take cover behind; all the boulders were holographic.

The Luddites faced the same problem. So they all lay prone on the lunar landscape, and sniped at each other with compression rifles and pistols.

********

Apollo 11's lunar module touched down on the surface of the Moon. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin wore spacesuits, of course. Just because telescopes from Earth showed trees and flowers on the moon didn't mean that the air would be breathable to men.

But it was a shock when they looked out the window of their lunar lander and saw barren rocks as far as the eye could see.

"Where are the trees? Where are the grasslands?" Buzz Aldrin said.

"I don't know," said Neil Armstrong. "This is like nothing we've seen from Earth."

"It's a good thing we brought our spacesuits," said Aldrin. "So, do we go ahead?"

"We might as well," said Armstrong. "But if this place is as barren as it looks, I think we're just going to shoot a few rounds of golf and head home!"

Armstrong closed his helmet and entered the airlock. When it had depressurized, he started climbing down the ladder. One step, two steps, three steps, four steps... one more step, and he would be standing on the surface of the moon. It would be the greatest moment in history. He, Neil Armstrong, would be the first man to stand on another celestial body.

He had a speech all ready. But just as he was about to begin, his foot slipped on the last rung, and he abruptly found himself standing on the lunar surface.

"Yeow!" he said.

"What was that?" said Mission Control.

"Nothing," said Armstrong. He quickly got up on the ladder again and stood on the last step. "This is one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." And then Neil Armstrong made history again, as the first and then the second man to step on the moon.

Except, of course for all the Luddites and Continuity Service operatives who were engaged in a fierce gunfight several hundred feet away. Neil Armstrong couldn't see that far because of a holographic rock cropping.

But Daniel Acton could see Neil Armstrong. He knew that this was a pivotal moment in history. If the astronauts found the Moon to be a lifeless, worthless hunk of rock, they would play a round or two of golf and quickly return to their lander in orbit. He couldn't allow that to happen.

So even while his fellow CS operatives were engaged in a pitched battle with the Tom Stoyer's Luddites, Daniel ran towards Neil Armstrong. By this time Buzz Aldrin was coming out of the lander. As he stepped the Moon, he said, "I'm the second man on the Moon! Buzz Aldrin, that's with two z's!"

And then they both turned and saw Daniel Acton running towards them, waving his hands wildly.

The sight of a man without a spacesuit walking on the face of what they thought was an airless moon was more than a little surprising.

"Hello, hello there!" said Daniel, waving vigorously at them. "You probably are finding this a little strange."

"Buzz... do you see what I see?" Armstrong asked.

"If you see a man standing there without a spacesuit, then the answer is yes," said Buzz.

"I'm real!" said Daniel.

"How can you be real?" Armstrong said. "Where is your spacesuit?"

"I don't need a spacesuit. The Moon has air," said Daniel.

Armstrong looked around at the lifeless rock. "How did you get here? Where is your spaceship?"

"Ah... that's a little more difficult to explain."

"We must be hallucinating," said Neil Armstrong.

"We must be," Buzz Aldrin agreed.

"No, you're not," said Daniel. "You're really on the face of the Moon. But it has air, and trees and grass."

"We must have an air leak," said Buzz Aldrin. "We should return to the lander immediately."

"Good idea," said Neil Armstrong.

"No, don't go," said Daniel.

Meanwhile, the battle between the CS operatives and the Luddites paused.

Bob Novato and Peter Orinda couldn't get a clear shot at John Calle, who, like them, was lying prone on the ground in the absence of cover. Novato gestured for Orinda to cease fire. "Hey, over there. You, can you hear me?"

"I can hear you," said Calle. He also heard the sounds of gunfire on his left, as Major Reynolds and his men engaged another flank of the Luddites.

"There's no need for this conflict," said Novato. "Do you even know what you're fighting for?"

"I'm trying to preserve the timeline," said Calle.

"Do you really want the Moon to be turned into shopping centers and nuclear golf courses and electronic nail salons?" Novato asked.

"Not particularly," said Calle.

"Then join us! All you have to do is sit tight for a few minutes, until the astronauts leave."

"I'm afraid I can't do that," said Calle.

"Just think for a moment," said Novato. "You're fighting to turn the Moon into suburban New Jersey. Is that what you really want?"

Calle knew that Novato was wrong; he knew that maintaining the timeline was of the paramount importance. But he didn't have the words to argue it. Meanwhile, he was running out of time. He could see the astronauts returning to their lander.

Those glowing orange eyes.

That group of holographic boulders, over there. There was something important inside of them. Something that was pivotal, for this moment in history. It gave off vibrations so strong that Calle could feel it, even fifty feet away. Calle raised his compression pistol, and set it to setting eight.

"Are you still there?" Novato shouted.

"Yes, I'm still here," Calle reassured him. He aimed carefully, and steadied his hand, and fired once, then twice.

Suddenly, the entire environment around them shimmered, and disappeared. And fifty feet in front of Calle he saw a tall piece of machinery, with a gaping, electrically sputtering hole in the middle of it.

And Calle and everyone else found themselves in the bright green grasslands of the Moon.

Bob Novato shook his head angrily. They had been so close to victory. "Retreat!" he cried, giving the order over his collar comm. Suddenly multiple gateways opened up, and the Luddites disappeared one by one.

Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were in a state of shock at the sudden change of scenery. Suddenly, the moon looked habitable. "What has happened here?"

Daniel activated his recall device. A swirling gateway opened in front of him. He tried to think of some way to salvage the situation. Finally, he said, "The air leak you mentioned."

"What?" said Armstrong.

"There was an air leak in your lander. It deprived you of oxygen, causing you to temporarily hallucinate. But once you stepped out onto the lunar surface, you could breathe again. Don't worry, things will make sense to you in a minute or so. You're recovering from oxygen deprivation." And then Daniel stepped through the gateway, and vanished right before their eyes.

********

"So history is restored?" Strayker asked, puffing on his nuclear cigar.

"More or less," said Sarah

"More or less?" Strayker asked.

"The moon was developed and colonized as our history shows," said Sarah. "But Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin went crazy, and had to be confined to a mental institution for ten years."

"And there were no other changes to the timeline?"

Sarah shrugged. "None that I could detect."