Chapter Twenty-Five: The Book

Andy could not stay on Norton in his condition. Living in a tent with a recently amputated leg was just begging for complications. He was to weak to move at the time however. The doctor among the colonists assured them that Andy needed rest to gain strength. In a few days time, they could take him in the ship to a real medicale facility that would be able to take care of him properly.
In the mean time, Jonathan helped the colonists. They were stranded on Norton and were unable to go home. The Angel of Redemption had another mission to preform. Jonathan was convinced that his message pod theory was sound. The colonists managed to cobble together a strange sort of machine that was perhaps a little more effective than Jonathan's. It was their best hope. Jonathan also promised that he would alert Earth of the situation of the Colonists when he could.
Marcelle stayed with Andy in the hills and talked. She told Andy everything about what she had experienced when she went introspective, and all about what she had learned on Earth. About how teh human race was being led astray and into a sort of eteral darkness, and that the only path to redemption was to once again find an embrace the Transcendental Power.
Andy sat and listened and contently wrote down what he heard. He took notes on paper and carefully wrote everything out on an electronic data pad. He re-told the stories as he wrote with an elegance of prose that went far beyond what Jonathan remembered his capable of. If it weren't for the proof of the writing directly infront of him, Jonathan wouldn never have believed that the young man who had told him one of Grinder's former military exploits was indeed the same person writing what was essentially a mixture between history and a prophetic dialouge.
Andy wrote without end. He continually directed the information into a kind of book that he was designing. It layed out the paths of history and how they intertwined and how it was relevant to the culture of the Idelists. But it did more than that, it had an almost timeless quality to it, liek it could still be read and used generations after the fact. He called it Crisis of Idealism: The Transcendental Power and the Destiny of the Human Race.
It was a powerful book when he was finished. The text was all there, but Andy insisted that it still needed editing. He played with the words and changed passages to make meanings more clear.
He was still not happy with the outcome when he was well ebough to be moved to the Angel of Redemption. The six days it took to transport the ship to the Orpheus system were enough for him to satisfactorily complete his text.
Port Orpheus was weary of the arrival of a new type of ship, but Grinder managed to smooth talk the local flight control into letting them land. It was a simple matter of claiming to be a new experimental vessel of the Tapert family.
Port Orpheus had the largest realist population out of all the world. It was not as much of a military operation on this world, because it was a civilian colony world. There were many cities and towns, and they were not patrolled by a military like Vaudevelt. The realists could walk around in the open on Port Orpheus if they claimed to be Idealist in public.
There were three people waiting just off the landing pad by a hovercar when the Angel of Redemption landed in the spaceport. The strange red suns once again met Jonathan's eyes as he stepped out of the hatch and onto the ground. He accepted an end of a makeshift stretcher which Andy was sleeping on, holding his book in his hands. Norman was sleeping on the stetcher as well, curled up by Andy's remaining foot. Grinder carried the other end. They moved over towards the car. A tall woman smiled and nodded as Jonathan pushed the stretcher into the back of the large aircar.
Marcelle walked over and greeted the realists, thanking them for coming to get the party. She got into the car and all of the others followed.
Jonathan suddenly recognised one of the realists. It was the young woman who had been working in the Spacing Commission building at the front desk during his breif stay there. She bore a striking resemblence to the tall woman who had met them. Jonathan could only assume that the girl was her daughter.
"I'm sorry," jonathan said, "I don't think I even caught your name."
"Ellen" the girl said simply, looking at Andy in the stretcher and seeing the missing leg. "You didn't have a safe trip, Andy." She said, leaning back into her seat.
Jonathan was surprised with the ease at which they moved through the city. He assumed that Marcelle and Grinder were wanted criminals, and he guessed that he was as well.
Grinder was talking with the tall woman who was driving the car. "I heard about Magdalina," she was saying.
"It was a damn shame, she was a good woman. I'm just glad I got out of that wreck alive."
"I'm glad that you survived as well. Managed to bring a couple people you, too."
"Well, I do have a reputation to live up to."
The woman grinned. "That's why I love you James. You're always so cheerful."
Jonathan leaned forward and asked "Grinder, how do you know these people?"
Grinder looked back at Jonathan. "My God, where are my manners! Jonathan, I want you to meet my familiy. My daughter Ellen, my son Greg and my beautiful wife, Victoria."
"Please, call me Vic." The tall woman said.
"You're whole family converted to realism with you, Grinder?" Jonathan asked.
"I'm a lucky man. What else can I say? I suppose its because they're all so damn smart."

The car eventually pulled into a small white building outside of the city. Jonathan couldn't say what the purpose of the building was, but he found it to be full of friendly faces. It was certainly a respite from some of teh times endured in his recent past. It was a Realist base, there was no doubt about that, but it was much more comforatable that the depths of the Realist caves on Vaudevelt.
Never before had Jonathan felt so among friends since he had started his journey through the stars.
There were ample medical facilities where Andy could be looked after. His face was a little hollow and his eyes a little harder, but it wasn't long before the onld enthusiastic smile was back on his face. Everytime that Ellen came into the room, he would put his book aside (he still insisted on checking it over to mae sure everything was right). She was the only person he would put it away for.
The entire party took some much needed rest. Jonathan was pleased to be able to spend some time with Marcelle just as people.
They knew that this happy life away from the city could not last forever though. When Andy as well enough to begin moving around on his own, it was time to present to the Realist community the Crisis of Idealism.