The Quintessence of Quick (The Jack Mason Saga) (56 page)

Jack chuckled. “Hell, I’m for it. At least they won’t be sending messages to me through you.”

“In that case, I shall. I think on balance they’ll be happier. One thing’s for sure- Rick’s going to be a lot happier without the memory of killing Underhill to contend with. After my little memory sweep at CIA, all he is, as far as the government’s concerned, is an honorably discharged
Captain,
United States
Army. Recognizing Pete as a live-and-kicking Moses Kubielski was a bit of a hit for all of your Twin Beech crew, to say nothing of coming to grips with Naz and his history.
K2
tells me that Rick and Trisha have both had a couple of scout ship hops, with Pete as pilot; it is, you’ll remember, one hell of a ride. But I shouldn’t tantalize you as you come to grips with the Lear Jet. In any case, you’ll be seeing quite a bit of them as time goes on; Pete requested the same level of bodily upgrading that Linda necessarily add last November 22nd.”

This time, Jack laughed out loud. “Shit, that’s terrific! How’s it feel to be God? I’m going to have some company in the fifth milennium.”

Echoing Jack’s laughter, Gil said, “Make that god with a small g. I’ll just say that the three of you have quite a bit of history in front of you. And of course, there’re the others to consider.”

“Yeah- Mom, er- Dad, Rick, Trisha and the twins.”

“Exactly. The twins have been relieved of their visions of your and Rick’s role in the murders, so there’s plenty of time for them, Mom and Dad to decide what kind of life span they’d like to have. And believe me, there’ll be varying points of view on that question.”

Jack glanced at Gil. “Well, I’m a ways from getting my arms around how long this can go on without, you know, upsetting the cosmic applecart.”

“I’d be surprised if you felt differently at this point. You’re- we’re- not scientists, so I’ll be brief for now; Einstein and his peers may have started us down the road to cosmological truth, but they left a lot on the table.”

“Like teleportation.”

“Like teleportation. And the subatomic goodies- quanta, particles- and what Einstein wanted most- the derivation of what he called the Unified Field Theory. Better known these days as the Theory of Everything. And the manipulation of mass, enabled through the discovery of what you’ll be hearing about when a little item called the Higgs Boson emerges. And, by the way, VSL- the varying speed of light. What have I left out? Oh, hell, plenty. All together, though, humanity’s eventual mastery of its physical environment gave us what we need to venture out among the stars. To say nothing of getting a pretty big toe in the water in time travel, which we’d never have been able to do without near-zero mass and VSL.”

“And having Late Barbarian Age sex again, which I’m sure you’d never sneeze at. So what about you- and me? How long can we go on being Gil and Jack? Is there going to be a point that we merge, or what?”

“You’ve got me there, kid, but believe me, I’m working on it; I’m definitely working on it. See you in a couple of weeks; I need a change of scenery, and ancient
Egypt
beckons. Just keep an eye out for a Packard Caribbean some warm evening when your Irish’s up.”

“Think it might show up in little old
Wichita?”

“Could be; the
Midwest’s a hotbed of high school athletics.”

“Well, hell, bring Naz along; could be you can scare him up a blondie campus queen for a change.”

Laughing, Gil said, “Well, it’d be a fresh application of the old "Take, eat; this is my body," line, wouldn’t it?

“Get ‘im some sixties duds, and I’m betting he’ll do the rest.”

“All in good time. Just fly the airplane, bubba, and let me handle the physics for now.”

“With pleasure. Give my regards to the Scow-riders!”