The Tenth Revolution.

‘Gordy, please hold up a while, my feet are killing me.’ Jaycee slogged along in his wake, her safari boots rubbing against her feet, even with the thin cotton socks she was wearing.
Gordon looked around and saw she was really stumbling to keep up, but it didn’t change his mood any more than being called “Gordy.” Still, she had been a good sport for much of the time and he didn’t like to see a woman, any woman, suffer.
‘Okay, we’ll take a quick break,’ he said, reaching into his pack and bringing out a sand-proof sheet. He perched on the edge, allowing her the bigger part to spread out on. She sat down with a sigh of relief, tipping the water-bottle so some of it went into her mouth with the rest trickling down between her sweat-soaked breasts.
Gordon looked away. He couldn’t be the man she wanted. Not with so little time left to him.
Sipping at his own water he reflected on the decision to allow her along on this trip. The wardens had the final say in each expedition and Jaycee was part of that choice. In the distance the start of the hills loomed, the entry to the Valley of the Kings and the tombs of the Pharaohs were within his reach at last. This was one experience they had both agreed on, though there were others he wanted more. He knew that Jaycee wanted the night under the stars and the possibilities of greater intimacy. He did feel something for her, but losing even part of the night would cost his dearly.
There was still so much to see and experience and so little time in this revolution. A few minutes passed by with neither speaking. Her breathing returned to normal and she looked at him with a question in her eyes.
‘We should get a move on if we aim for the hills tonight,’ he said.
She just nodded, knowing there was no point in hoping for a longer rest.

The stars were filling the sky by the time they stopped again. They could go no further without light to guide them, unless he wanted to use the flashlights. But that would be cheating. Reducing the experience to something only half felt. He was about to erect the tent when Jaycee put her hand on his arm, her eyes speaking for her. Instead he opened out the groundsheet and laid the twin sleeping bag on top. While he refilled their water bottles from a small stream, she made a sparse meal with the rations allotted for that night.
Later he opened a bottle of the thin local wine and they toasted the enterprise by the light of the sickle moon.
He checked her feet, handling each part with delicacy. There were some bad blisters around her left ankle which he treaded with Plasmaderm. Then he checked his own, only allowing her to look at the parts he couldn’t see clearly. Aborting the trip wasn’t an option to him, but he would do it for her if things got bad.
They lay on their backs, looking up at the night sky and talking in whispers, though there was no real danger from wild animals. Night in the desert was cold. At some point she rolled her body so that her pelvis and the curve of her small round belly fitted neatly against his bottom. He felt himself grow hard. He wanted to take her savagely, as if to prove it was just lust. But in the end it was gentle, rocking them finally into sleep.

He woke early and for a moment regretted the intimacy of the previous night. It had been a long time since he’d had a woman, but he didn’t want any distractions. There was no choice though. Each visitor to Old Earth had to have a partner and Jaycee was the only other available at the time. He watched her now, her slight body curled up to keep the warmth in. Her chestnut hair already catching the light of the rising sun, like a halo around her head.
Instinctively he checked the ground around their camp. Close too there were no signs of others, but further out he came upon tracks that could belong to wild animals. He brought out his guidebook, annoyed that he couldn’t put a name to the tracks himself.
‘Hyena or wild dog,’ she had crept upon him.
‘How do you know?’ he was genuinely interested.
‘There was never any real wild beasts around this area. Too little water and anyway, this was a camel-train route at one time.’
‘No wild cats?’ his voice held a trace of sarcasm.
‘Wrong area,’ she replied. ‘Don’t forget that the Nile tamed these lands long ago.’
Gordon thought of the depictions they were about to see for real, not in just the Escans.
Whistling an old tune he made for their camp.
‘Let’s get some breakfast,’ he said to Jaycee.
*

Gordon braced himself. The line linking Jaycee to him was taught enough to hold her, but with enough play that she wasn’t about to freak out on him. This part of Ben Nevis was a tricky traverse which he could have easily accomplished on his own, but once again he was bound by the rules of the wardens. He went over the safety routine. More to ground himself than for anything else. He doubted that he would be in any danger while Jaycee was with him. Still, it didn’t cost him anything to take precautions.
There could be no mistakes now. Not since he was so near to his goal. He thought back on the last few revolutions and the places they had been to. The luck of the draw was with him, but his companion had some say in the programme.
They had been to the wetlands of modern India, slogging through thick jungle growth to find the few rare species now introduced back into the wild.
Then there had been the reclaimed deserts and the few true aboriginal tribes scattered throughout the land.
But time was running out on him, so they took a jetlink copter to Scotland, his ancestral home. Here they stayed for one night of rest while the hotel staff did their utmost to provide what was thought to be a typical Scottish banquet. Gordon wasn’t that sure himself. Few people were allowed on Old Earth now, and his memories had been extracted from his own brain to produce something close to what had been, or might have been.
Other guests were staying, though it was hard to tell whether they were clones or other wanderers.
‘Gordy, how long do I have to hang here?’ Jaycee was getting impatient.
‘Just a moment, sweetheart, I have to make this secure, then it’s all the way to the summit.’
He wondered what made her so keen to reach the summit with him. It wasn’t as if she was taking this last trip for her own sake. The poor girl had probably drawn a lot for his companion, though it was a better way to go out than lingering behind with the Feebs.
Once again he tested the line and then he dug his feet into the snow-covered rock and started ascending once more.

The Snow Leopard took him by surprise. One moment they had had been scrambling back down from the summit, after a glorious moment on top of Ben Nevis. The next they were in a fissure on the easier slope down from the top. There shouldn’t have been any danger at all. Just easy scales down the mountain until reaching the pass where there was a new mountain railway, just ready to zoom them to a luxurious chalet and the end of their experience of a lifetime. Instead they were facing a beast that had no right to be alive two centuries after the last of the wildlife had become extinct. Gordon had known that the soaring eagles weren’t real. Nor the other birds and animals they had encountered. But this one looked real and what’s more, the hairs on the backs of his neck were standing up in true panic mode.
The creature wasn’t even native to the Scottish Highlands, but that was something he couldn’t afford to think about right now.
It crouched low in a drift of snow slightly above their position. It was hard to see against the snow. Its coat was a whitish-tan colour with brown and black spots. It was making a low growling sound in its throat and instinctively Gordon pushed Jaycee behind him. There wasn’t much that he could do. He knew that they were near to the railway entrance, but he couldn’t gauge the distance….not with this magnificent beast just yards away from pouncing on him.
Jaycee cowered behind him, her flesh raised in Goosebumps. Gordon saw the animal tensed to leap, it’s powerful haunches reared up and it’s front paws ready to swipe and kill. He didn’t know why or how he lifted his ice-pick up, but he threw it towards the creature, gaining a few seconds for Jaycee to dodge backwards towards the railway tunnel.
It was far too late for him though. The ice-pick grazed the animals side but not enough to halt it. His last thought before the heavy animal crashed into him was one of surprise and another of pride. Gordon McDonald had come home to stay.

The technicians watched the body through its last spasms until they were sure it was dead. Jaycee was crying softly as they drained the fluid that had kept Number 315 in stasis for the last thirty years. Once again she asked the question, ‘did he feel anything, he was trying to save me, you know that?’
She asked the same thing every time…she was programmed to believe she was real. It was supposed to bring out the heroic side of man’s nature and allow him to die happily. As if anyone could die without regret?
Technician one was tired. The long space journey towards a new home planet went by without relief. One day they hoped to find another planet to support human life. Until then they had to sacrifice one body every tenth revolution of the old earth years. It was the only way that any of them were able to survive.
‘Cheer up Andros,’ his mate tried to make it easier. ‘He died as he thought he should. The chieftain of a great nation, protecting his woman.’
‘And who will you be protecting when it comes to your turn?’ Andros looked at the body, now dried up without its protective fluids.
‘Me, I’ll be protecting myself.’ He answered himself.

*