Hope Is Eternal

By Michael Black

For 1000 years the last remnants of the human race had asked the question “Why are we stranded?” Then they found Carandel, and some of the answer to why, and the dogs who had waited for their return. Now it was time to answer the last question; would the Earth of their forefathers ever be livable again? The Gymkhana makes the long journey to answer the question, only to find that it was not the last question at all, but the first in a list of questions that just grows longer each day...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Michael Black
• Release date: Apr 9, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005371289

Michael Black

I was born in 1948, to two delightful parents, in Brockton, Massachusetts. From about 5 years old I knew I loved Science Fiction and Horror movies. I graduated from Braintree High School in 1966. The Military draft was going strong then, and since I didn't want to be conscripted, I joined the Naval Reserve the next year. From 1968 to 1970 i served on my first ship, going to the Mediterranean on one 6 month cruise, being released after my 2 year obligation. From 1970 to 1972 I did Weekend Warrior time on two reserve Destroyers once a month, and two weeks in the summer. Just before my enlistment was up, I found I liked the life of a sailor, and reenlisted in the regular Navy, for the remainder of a twenty year carreer.After that, I went to work for a private Ship Yard, and spent the next 24 years working on more Navy Ships, making much more money of course. I retired in 2016, and have been learning how to enjoy retirement ever since.

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Hope Is Eternal

By Michael Black

Copyright 2021 Michael Black

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

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Table of Contents

Prologue to a Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Epilogue

About This One

Prologue To A Prologue

Eric wasn’t going to let this catastrophe win; he was a pilot after all, and pilots never gave up until they crashed and burned. That sentiment wasn’t gonna help him much now though, the base was deserted; as far as Eric knew the whole planet was deserted by now, the radios, computers, televisions, everything had been silent for a week. That meant only one thing, Eric Salazar had to get off Earth; but where to go, and how to get there. The four available shuttles wouldn’t even get him to Moon Base, only the space station maybe and the in system ships out on the desert hadn’t been serviced in months. That left only one option, the brand new starship in the hangar. Being experimental it had not gotten it’s certification yet, but Eric knew it had had two very successful test flights, and he knew where the command codes were kept too; in the Base Commander’s office. The office still smelled of sweet rotting flesh, even though Eric had buried the man two weeks ago, but the overpowering stench wasn’t quite as bad now at least.

Eric managed a smile when he got to the safe on the wall; the voice activated lock had about the most hilarious code he had ever heard, heard being the operative term now. He had overheard Colonel Jacobs use the code as Eric had entered the office one day, Ellie May Clampett. The code may have been unorthodox, but Eric had to admit it was easy to remember; he had also watched the 150 year old reruns often. He almost laughed when the safe’s door opened wide, and he removed the stack of folders, all of them with the big red letters on them, ‘Top Secret, Ultra Level Access Required’. The classification meant nothing now, so Eric browsed through them all; but stopped when he found the one titled ‘Angel Laboratory Research Facility, Planet Carandel’. The folder not only listed the complete roster of the current 100 staff personnel, but gave him the ticket to get there, spacial coordinates! Eric Salazar had hit the jackpot; the description said plainly the planet was ‘Earthlike’, which meant he could live there without the fear of broken down machinery or diminishing air supplies; that is if the sickness that devastated Earth didn’t claim him first. That little detail scared him, so he jotted down the coordinates quickly, along with the simple Command Transfer Code he would need to make the starship his and his alone. Eric had jogged almost to the hangar door when he heard the dog’s mournful howl.

***

Spooky was aptly named by his ‘Master’, for at first glance he did look a little like a wide eyed ghost from some age old comic book; at pure white from head to tail, the Siberian Husky’s black eyes could startle the newcomer. Add to that the little bit of black fur lining his mouth in a perpetual smirk, and you ended up with a friendly dog who could make you laugh with his antics. Spooky wasn’t feeling very friendly right now though, he had been confined in a large kennel cage for two weeks ever since his Master had died from the sickness. The automatic feeder and water bowl had kept him healthy until they ran out of contents and Spooky had had no food and water for almost a week; he was a bit miffed as well as hungry and thirsty, so when the man appeared Spooky growled at him. The man hesitated for a moment, but then sat down on the floor and started talking to him in soft tones. You could call Spooky a ‘prototype’ since he had had an injection of an equally prototype drug created just to make dogs live a bit longer than usual, and as an unintentional result the dog understood some of the human words; the soft tones calmed Spooky down, but he was still very much hungry and thirsty, and went over to his two empty bowls, sniffing at them then looking back at the man. Eric finally got the message, Oh I get it; you are famished aren’t you? Ok, let’s get you some water and food! After a satisfying meal of two steaks from the base’s galley and two bowls of water, Spooky was willing to follow Eric almost anywhere; anywhere ‘except’ into the starship. It looked too much like the confined space he had just left, and he was not going in there again. Eric tried for over twenty minutes to coax Spooky, but it wasn’t happening. Finally Eric gave up, Alright, as much as I would welcome your company I have to get off this planet so you are on your own dog. At least you are free now, but I doubt you’ll survive for long; there just isn’t anything alive anymore; go on now, find your own way; go on! Spooky understood the words ‘go on now’ so he ambled off toward some low hills in the distance, while Eric went into the ship and began his litany to take control, Pilot, Epsilon Delta 484, Command transfer, destination Angel Laboratory Research Facility, and rattled off the coordinates he had written down. Five minutes later the ship took off; it was already dusk now. Spooky watched as the ship flew over his hill, and began barking frantically; he had second thoughts and wanted the man to come back for him, but it was not to be. He watched for a long time as the ship grew smaller and smaller, until it seemed to fly right into the moon; Spooky had lost in less than a half hour the only friend he had had in a month, and he pleaded to the moon to send that friend back, sometimes barking, sometimes howling.

Around midnight he lay down right where he was and drifted off to sleep with a soft voice whispering two words in his ears, Sing more; and Spooky did just that every night as he wandered the South Western states in search of a new friend, any friend. It was three full weeks before Spooky found the huge cave; it was actually many caves leading deeper and deeper under a mountain, some large and others smaller, but all had treasures of some kind in them. Many of them had small pools of water too. Some of those didn’t smell good, but the deepest cave had a small lake of water that not only smelled good but tasted good too; even if the taste was odd. Spooky felt better when he had his fill. The best treasure Spooky found was in the ‘mushroom cave’ though; the medium sized cavern held hundreds of thousands of the edible treats and Spooky tried several varieties before he was full, the only rule being if it smelled alright he ate it. Feeling better than he had in a long time Spooky sang extra loud that night; and the Moon gave him Rose Dergan as a reward.

Rose wasn’t anyone famous or important; her family wasn’t rich or anything like that, and it wouldn’t have made any difference anyway. There wasn’t any place to use money anymore; the only thing that made Rose Dergan special at all was the fact that she was still alive. As the last survivor of one of the few small groups of children in the United States, she had been migrating from central Florida for a month now, following what food was left on the shelves in any super markets and convenience stores along her path; it wasn’t much really, but it did keep her alive. There wasn’t much still growing wild, just some tough cactus, and the whole world looked brown now; it was always quiet, and occasionally hard to breathe, appropriate for a dead world. Rose was looking for someplace to spend the night when she heard the faint howling; there was a little group of buildings ahead but the sound was coming from the mountain to her right so Rose followed the old paved road toward it.

There are no words to adequately describe their first meeting. The dog went berserk, barking wildly and running around in circles, the young girl cried and ran forward hugging the dog tightly; it took a while for the emotions to calm down some, then Spooky proudly showed Rose his new home. When she saw the mushroom vault Rose had to admit her search was over, this was a good place to live in a hostile world. The dog’s collar proclaimed his name so later, when he sang to the Moon again he heard the same words again that he had heard only as a whisper the first time; only this time it was his new friend who said them, Sing more Spooky, I like it. The dog didn’t have any problem with that idea, so each night they would sit at the top of the entrance to the main cave while Spooky sang to the Moon; often Rose would sing the songs she remembered, and Spooky would try to harmonize with her. Over the next month kids started showing up, the last remnants of a society that was past tense now; none was older than twelve, most being five or six. Rose was only fifteen herself. Each one had virtually the same answer when Rose asked how they had found this place, I heard a voice, it said to follow the song. The ritual continued until there were seventy two living in the caves; Carlsbad Caverns had been used for centuries as a retreat and tourist attraction, a ‘getaway’ so to speak, but now the caves became a symbol of survival. Social Psychologists, if they had still existed then, would have told you that it was impossible for less than one thousand people to survive under such circumstances, and totally unheard of for 72 children with little to no experience; so it was a good thing this tiny group of humans never read that memo. Rose Dergan became the Matriarch of this fragment of humanity, but Spooky became the savior; he taught his family to be cautious of the world around them and how to survive in it. For a dog who had never spoken a single human word, Spooky taught his people how to ‘live’ in an uncooperative environment. When he died at age 31 Spooky died happy, knowing his children would live on; the last dog on Earth was remembered by all the people in a rather unique combination, with honor and love.

It would be a very long time before any other dog walked the Earth…

***

Chapter 1

William Elgin, you are not going to Earth alone and that is that! Sanna looked up to see Crissy wagging her finger at her Father, and in sympathy for the sentiment said, I go too Crissy, protect Master. That brought a smile for a change during this little tirade that was supposed to be a family meeting, and Tipper piped up, I go, is good ad…adventer! Now all of them were laughing as Crissy grabbed Tipper in a tight hug, Yes my precious, it will be an adventure alright. To actually see where we came from finally; I have to figure out what we should take with us! Bill was exasperated now, "Do you guys mind if I get a word in here? All I wanted to do is a speed run there, have some readings taken, maybe a bunch of pics and then come back. It will be a longer trip than we are used to, much longer, and I have to consider the weight limits,