| Oh | Kiss | |
| Be | Me | |
| A | Right | |
| Fine | Now | |
| Girl | Sweetie |
An old otter turned around and glared at the class. "Ok, you twity twinks... Who put that up on the board?"
The class looked back at the old teacher and giggled... They all pointed at each other, not helping the teacher at all.
The otter flopped his tail and snorted... he couldn't find the eraser, so he left it up on the board. "Ok, class... lets get started."
"Today, class, we learn about something known as 'weather'. In the old days, when we lived outside the domes, the sky would often discharge liquid or solid water indiscriminately, causing no end of destruction and terror."
Somewhat to the old otter's surprise, this didn't have the usual effect. Normally, kids this age went wild over anything promising stories about things being destroyed, but now they only fidgeted and wriggled in their seats.
"Come now, class, this is exciting stuff! Pay attention!"
"Teacher?" asked one of the students. "Can you tell us about the stars?"
The otter froze as a chill of terror ran through his body. "Where did you hear that word?"
"They are real, aren't they?
The old teacher turned, head down and paced the length of the front board from the wall to his desk, stopping to lean upon it with his head down, eyes averted. "Yes," he said softly.
His class quieted, eyes wide. "But. . . . There's nothing out there now."
"Yes. . . . They are still there." He turned to his class and drew himself up to his full height. "You are all so young. The dark night outside is all you have ever known. That, and the artificial sun that lights our day. It was not always so. Once, night was filled with billions of points of light, each one a distant star. Our sun was a star, a middle aged star. . . ." He reached into his desk drawer and brought up a thick book. "Now that you have reached a point to ask, it is my duty to tell."
A small fox stood and lifted his hand timidly. "D-don't we have a sun anymore?"
The old otter smiled and nodded. "We do and it used to warm our world and make weather and make things grow. Something happened. Without warning, it changed. . . . It entered old age. We had time. That was when I was but a pup. There was a lot of panic and running. Preparations were made and we abandoned the world before the end. Our peoples headed in all directions to the stars in hopes of finding new life on far alien worlds." He shook his head. "If you will all get ready, we will now learn about a star's life cycle and they you may understand it all. . . . Bertram, take the blue books from the cabinet and give one to each. The time has come to learn about the End of all things."
Bertam, a young marmot went to the cabinet, and removed enough of the thin blue books to give to each student.
"But-but Sir, how can it be the end of everything?" a young otter asked, fear in his eyes. "We're here. The world is here!"
The old otter nodded. "Indeed, we are. Kindly open the book to page five and let us begin with the birth of stars. You will understand soon enough."
A slight shudder beneath his feet told him Ganymede was still active. Yes, this world was haven and home for now.
The thin Blue Books were passed out and the class silently began to leaf through them.
The teacher sighed, "I had hoped that you would be older before you were told about this. It is an exciting story, full of adventure and daring.. But it is sad too, as it has left us here, without a home to call our own.
An otter in back spoke up, "But teacher, this IS our home.. it is where we have always lived.. where we will always live!"
The teacher shook his head, "No.. you are wrong. This is not our home. It is only a place for us until we are able to find ..our new home.
The teacher moved to the blackboard and drew a circle. He then drew some lines upon the circle and turned to the class.
This was our home. It was called Earth, and it was warm in most places ..safe and perfect for us. We had lived there for millions of years, but when the sun began to die, it began to be a prison for us. Food wouldn't grow.. water either boiled or froze.. there were earthquakes and storms and all sorts of horrors.. So our scientists built this for us."
The teacher swept his arm to indicate the city. "This place.. this small world.. by hollowing out a large rock near the Earth, and building all these things inside for us.. our new world was made. The scientists could only send a few of us on, many stayed behind and met their fate.. but we were spared.. sent out to keep our world, our life, our way of life, alive.. inside this rock.. once known as Ganymede.
The main door at the back of the class opened up with a swish and two hard-eyed coyotes walked into the room. "Dr. Chahala, you will come with us. Your class is dismissed."
Dr. Chahala nodded to his class. "Go on home kids. It looks like I have something to talk about with these gentlemen."
The kids filtered out of the room very quiet as they snuck peeks at the two armed coyotes. When they were all gone the coyote nearest the door closed and locked it. Then he turned around and placed his back to the door.
"I am Captain Red. May I ask what you were doing?"
Dr. Chahala frowned. "I was teaching my students about the stars."
Red hit one of the desks in front of him.. "YOU KNOW THAT IS A FORBIDDEN! Time and time again we have had to tell you never to talk about about the stars with your kids. It is always very costly to re-educate them. I think that the board is going to have to take more 'drastic' measures to force you to comply."
Dr. Chahala slapped his desk with one webbed paw. "They have a right know know where they are. What if we forget and end up drifting in this tin can for a million years? Where would we be then?"
Red just shook his head. "Come along, Dr. Chahala. We are going to go see the board right now."
The other coyote stepped over and with a vise-like grip took Dr. Chahala's arm in his meaty paw.
"Ouch! You big oaf!... That hurts."
The coyote merely grunted.
They passed a pair of rats in the hall. Red turned and whispered something to them as they passed, and the rats nodded and slipped into the room the three of them had just left.
"What --" asked Dr. Chahala, trying to twist free to see what was going on.
"Just cleaning up some loose ends," Red replied, with a sneer.
The otter's eyes widened in horror as he heard the sounds of tearing paper and the high pitched squeaky laughs of the rodent from the room.
"You've gone insane!" With a desperate yank, he managed to tear his arm free from the second coyote's grip, the fabric of his jumpsuit shredding. Before the coyotes could react, he whirled and bit down on Red's arm as hard as he could.
Red screamed in pain, and the old otter took off back down the hallway, towards his room.
The old teacher ran into his room and without hesitating, lept upon the two rats in their revery, attacking them in the middle of their merriment as they were shredding books into confetti.
The battle lasted only a moment, after which the rats ran screaming from the room into the hall, trailing blood behind them. The old teacher grabbed the few copies of the books that still existed and squirreled them away into safety.
Red and the two coyotes fell into the classroom like an explosion. The fight was brief. The old otter lay across his desk, dazed.
"How long are you going to hide it all?" he pleaded. "How long are you going to have them convinced that this is the Earth when it isn't? You and I both know the sun is dying, and has become an all devouring monster that has engulfed the inner planets and left us marooned."
"Why, Doctor... you know that isn't true. We're on our way to the stars. This ship will take us to our new home. Right now, we can't let them know the truth. It would only cause undue panic and you know control can't be maintained if they know this is only a ship."
The old otter scowled and spit. "Ship? That's what you believe? My GOD! This is GANYMEDE!"
Red ordered the coyotes to pick the teacher up and drag him out. "Of course, Doctor, Ganymede is the generation ship! You know that." Red grinned. "Take him away."
"MY GOD, Red! GANYMEDE is not a ship. It's the biggest moon around Jupiter and we are doomed. The sun will puff off its outer layers and the hot gasses will destroy everything as they pass! Let them prepare . . . ."
Red frowned. He gathered up the loose pages and bindings from the floor and threw them away, then picked up other stray pages here and there. A picture caught his eye and he held it. He read quietly. His ears flattened and he turned to look at the trash, then to the door. He went to the trash and assembled what he could of one book and stuffed it into his pocket. The enormity of what he read weighed on his mind. If what he saw was true, he and every other person in the city had been lied to. He had to know.
Red and his cohorts took the teacher to a 'holding cell' in the deepest, darkest tunnels of the security area.
After filling out the paperwork concerning the teacher's unusual outburst, request for psychiatric evaluation and heavy sedation to prevent him from hurting himself, he checked out and went to his home.
Red walked along the corridors, thinking about what he had seen in the book. All his life he had been told, and believed that they were on Ganymede, but even though Ganymede was fatal to all life, that the domes and tunnels and their life underground protected them from death.
Red got to his cubicle and entered his code. Then he took the book from under his jacket and tossed it towards the bed. It sailed in an arc, moving towards the floor, and sideways across the room to land on the center of the bed.
Red went to the fridge and opened a beer, he went back to the bed and picked up the now tattered blue book.
"A planet, a moon ..I just don't know." Red again opened the book to the image he had seen, a giant sphere seemingly suspended in space, with jets of some sort erupting from one end, as it moved towards the stars. The next page showed a control room, with technicians working on control panels beneath huge windows which showed a blue and green sphere in front of them, beautiful and inviting. Red closed both the book and his yes as he stayed in deep thought.
Dr. Chahala was dreaming again. He could still remember his kid sister from when he was so so very young. She was so sleek of fur and the browns and blacks gleamed so well after she had taken a swim. Still though, he knew it for the dream that it was as he slowly came out of his drugged sleep. The drugs didn't work as well as they once did, mostly from having had them used on him so much. Then he woke up.
Dr. Chahala looked around the holding cell and grinned. He was rather fond of this one. He even had a pet name for it. The Otter Yiff Pitt of Doom. He forgot where he got that name though, somewhere or the other. He guessed that it was something an old friend of his told him about. He sighed and waited like every time before.
Red walked down the hallway to Cell 34 and opened the sliding door and looked into the room at the doctor. "Tell me... Is this really true?" He held up the small blue book.
Dr. Chahala nodded. "Yes, son, it is."
Red threw it into the cell. "Then how the hell do you know about it? Says right there in the book that we have been under power for 200 years. You said that you were there when it was made? That isn't possible." Red's eyes blazed and glared at the otter. "Well?"
Dr. Chahala looked up at the young coyote with his old eyes. "I was there. In fact. I designed the power system."
Red held very still. "That does not answer the question."
Dr. Chahala sighed. "I wasn't meant to be awake for the trip itself you know. There was no time to test the cold sleep systems though. They didn't work and your board had to wake me. So I became a teacher. Ask them if what I say is true."
Red blinked. "They had to wake you? Cold sleep? What they hell are you talking about?"
"Cryogenics," Dr. Chahala explained patiently, "means freezing a person so that they never grow old."
"And that works?"
The otter laughed. "Of course not. If it was that simple it wouldn't have broken." Dr. Chahala shook his head. "It takes quite a bit more than that... as well as quite a bit of power."
Red nods. "We've got plenty of power. The excess from the reaction chambers.."
"I know, I know, I designed the system, and it *should* have provided ample power for the duration of the journey. But we never counted on losing two of the engines to electrical failures from the solar wind. We have plenty of power *now*... because we had to shut down the cryogenics."
"Unfortunately," Dr. Chahala continued, "we no longer have any hope of reaching our destination before the systems break down. That's why we *need* to teach the children."
"And the council?" Red asked.
"They'd rather take the 2% chance Ganymede will hold together long enough over the 100% chance of the people's anger at finding they've been lied to."
"So, the sun bloated and ate the Earth and now it's in its death throes?" Red waited patiently.
The old otter nodded slowly. "Eventually it will sluff off its outer layers and form a vast glowing nebula whose heat and radiation will reach us even here."
"Damn it! They could've told us." Red struck the door of the cell with sudden violence. "That damned book said this isn't a ship, but a moon around Jupiter. How can it be?"
"Because this is as far as the ship got. We moved into the existing underlayer ice base. Now it is underwater because of the increase in solar heat."
"We aren't going anywhere?" Red blinked.
The old otter shook his head, "just around Jupiter... over and over..."
"DAMN IT!" Red grimaced and turned away. "Even WE have been lied to. What's the use in this farce? If what the book says is true, we haven't a chance!"
"Yes we do. Did thou read the final pages?" asked the old otter.
"No, they were missing." Red pressed his face up against the viewport bars. "Tell me, what's the chance?"
The old otter chuckled, reached into his smock pocket and pulled out a book which he waved before Red's face. "They weren't all destroyed.
"Let me read it. I promise I won't destroy it. Doctor, please. . . ." Red reached through the port beseechingly.
The old otter smiled and got to his feet. He ambled to the door and placed it into Red's hands. Red took it and vanished. The old otter heard a low growl and his cell door opened. "Come on, Doc. We have work to do!"
Red and the Doctor raced up the corridor. Red sped at the doorway into the office area.
"Look Doc, to get us out of here will require you to trust me. I believe you. I think we can save ourselves. But to do so, you will have to trust me. Will you?"
The old Doctor looked at Red, "Son ..at this point I don't have a choice. Yes, I trust you."
The doctor held his hands behind them as Red put the handcuffs on him, "Ok.. lets go.
Red threw open the door and roughly pushed the doctor out. "So.. you don't wish to recant? Perhaps some excerise in the recycling pits will change your mind!"
The rats and coyotes in the offices laughed as Red pushed the Doctor roughly through the rooms and into the hall.
But rather than telling the lift to go up towards the recycling pits, he used his pass key and sent it down.. deep into the tunnels towards the center of the city.
Red took the handcuffs off the Doctor. "Sorry, but it worked."
The Doctor rubbed his wrists and replied, "Thats ok ..now..to the control room." The doors opened on a small corridor, they passed through two very large doors, and then into a wider passage that was brilliantly lit, and even after 200 years spotlessly clean.
"Which way, Doctor?" Red asked.
"This way," the Doctor replied, and raced up the corridor to a red door, with huge hinges and a combination key pad in it's center.
The Doctor entered some numbers and with a beep, the light on the panel turned from red to green, and the door opened.
Red and the Doctor stepped inside.
They were in a control room, panels of instruments, controls, flashing lights and screens sat waiting, as they had for 200 years.
Red said, "This is the control room?"
The Doctor pressed some buttons and huge panels opened, showing a vista of the world outside of theirs. Stars filled the blackness.
Red's jaw dropped. "Stars.. so they DO exist.
Red gazed in wonder as the Doctor made a few adjustments. The view in the window slowly moved to center on a huge red gas ball, pulsing in the heavens. "And that is the sun, and according to these instruments we have no time to lose.
The Doctor continued to make adjustments and take readings, moving from panel to panel, and setting different bits of equipment up.
"Red.. stand here. When I give you the signal, press this button." The Doctor said, pointing to a flashing red switch.
Red stood as directed, "What will it do.. whats going to happen?"
The Doctor moved around the room in the light of the glowing red sun. "With so many engines inoperative, we must find another source of power, we'll use what is available to us. "
The ship moved again, now centering on a great sphere with a huge red spot in it's center, "Well use that. Now.. get ready, and hold on tight."
The Doctor threw a switch, and a steady hum emanated from behind them. A bluish glow began to shine from the dust in space around the windows.. The Doctor watched his instruments and made some minor adjustments.. when the time was right he looked at Red.. "Ok, NOW!"
Red threw his switch as the Doctor threw another on his panel.. a blinding flash forced them both to close their eyes as a beam of pure energy flashed towards Jupiter, hitting dead center in the great red spot
Red and the Doctor watched as Jupiter's clouds and storms bubbled and fumed, the planet shrinking before their very eyes.
"Ok Red.. here we go.. hold on!"
Jupiter continued to shrink, starting to glow and pulse.. it's round shape becoming oblong. the storms coalescing into solid matter.
With a flash, Jupiter EXPLODED!
Red and the Doctor were thrown to the floor as the shockwave blasted into the moon, the hollowed out ship tossed and turned, it's gravity thrown off by the sudden movement.
The doctor stumbled to his feet and watched the instruments, making adjustments with the steering to keep the moon smoothly riding the crest of the explosive wave, and heading out of the solar system towards Andromeda.
As the moon and the systems settled down, the Doctor looked at Red. "Well Red, we have avoided being killed by the sun, we are on our way out into deep space.
Red looked dazzled and baffled, "What do we do now?"
The doctor looked at red, and put a hand on his shoulder, "Not we, Red.. you. I am old and close to death.. This strain has done my old heart no good. It is up to you.. Show this room to others." The doctor handed Red the blue book. "This book.. show it to the children.. teach them the truth.. let them decide their own future.. and that of us all."
With that, the Doctor sat in a chair, gasping heavily, "Save the children, Red.. save our world."
Ganymede blasted through space.. past the rings of Saturn, away from Uranus and Pluto.. through the Oort cloud, as Red and the dying Doctor watched the parade of wonders pass.
Red watched and listened. "I will Doctor. I will.. I promise."