Eric Flint - TITLE - Grantville Gazette.Volume XVIII

Allie relaxed slightly at that.

"But, you must learn to do it yourself someday. So, before you leave here today…" He took the other syringe and filled it with clear liquid from another bottle. "… you will have to give yourself a saline injection. Like so." He demonstrated on his own arm. Then he picked up the bottle of saline and handed it to Allie. "Your turn."

Hugo came to stay with the Haggertys shortly after Allie began to take the insulin. He was a down-timer and an orphan, so he didn't have any support net. He had come to Grantville seeking education. He was taking classes to pass the infamous GED when he fell ill.

Since he was so young he had no trade, no stake, and he was too sick to labor and learn one. Ernest and Bobbie Jean took him in. He got on well with Allie and God knew she needed an understanding friend.

They gave him the spare room. Hugo was immensely pleased. He'd never lived in such a fine building before. He lay in the comfortable bed, unable to sleep but not wanting to disturb his hosts. He had faith in American technology. Soon they would have better medicine and he could give himself the shots.

He'd seen the wasting sickness before. Those who got it as a child died, usually starving no matter how much they ate. It was a terrible thing.

Dear Lord, please let this work. Please watch over Allie for me, and the Haggertys. Please allow the medicine to work. Not just for us, but for everyone who has and will have the wasting sickness. Please bless us with your infinite mercy. Please bring us another miracle.

December 29, 1633

Allie's boots crunched in the new snow as she and Hugo marched through the empty cornfield. She was cold to the point of shivering. "Why are you bringing me out here?" She thought when he asked her to walk with him that they would walk hand-in-hand and talk about romantic things.

The only light around came from the pathetic bullseye lantern he carried. "I can't feel my toes, Hugo." He didn't answer. She scanned the horizon, but failed to see anything of importance. The town was behind them. She could see the lights but not much else. "The Moon isn't even out," she added.

Hugo stopped in the middle of the field. Holding the lantern aloft so that she could see, he smiled broadly and spoke. "We are here."

"Where, Hugo?" She knew there was a hint of irritation in her voice. "We are where?"

He swept the lantern around to indicate the field. "Here," he repeated simply.

"Hugo," she replied, the impatience mounting in her voice, "I don't see anything. What do you expect me to see?"

"Stars." He dowsed the lantern.

She looked up. "Oh, my God. They're beautiful. I've never seen the stars like this."Grantville was far from the major sources of light pollution in the twentieth century, but in seventeenth-century Germany, the town sat under an inky black sky. Impossibly bright stars burned in the sky like so many bale fires. "Hugo, they're amazing!"

"They are beautiful." He looked at the ground for a moment before gazing into her eyes. "Like you."

She didn't know what to say. No up-time boy had ever taken her out on a moonless night to show her the stars.

"The brightest one is Jupiter." He looked back to her to make sure she understood. "Is planet, not star. But star south and west, is Alpha Taurii. Mohammedans call it Aldebaran."

She leaned closer to him, snuggling for warmth, but also to see better. He wrapped his cloak over her shoulders.

"To south of Jupiter is Alpha Orionis. Is also called Betelgeuse. Is brighter than Aldebaran. It is point four magnitude, while…"

Allie placed a finger over his lips. "Shh. Talk about the stars, not the math." She grasped his other hand in hers.

He turned toward the eastern horizon and pointed to a small red light. "That is planet Mars. He has two moons, but we can't see them." He turned to her and gave a pleading look. "Up-time stories say you sent machines to fly there. Is true?"

"Yes, Hugo, it is true."

He was silent for several minutes. "Marvelous," he said at last.

Her watch beeped. "Oh my God, Hugo," she declared, suddenly alarmed. "It's midnight. We gotta get home. My parents will be worried."

He started walking toward the town, pulling her hand. "Come," he said chuckling. "Your parents will not worry. I keep you safe."

She laughed at this, but still they hurried.

Hugo looked over the cathode ray tube sitting face down on a blanket on top of the kitchen table. The television had gone out the week before during a program he'd really wanted to see, and the technician who diagnosed it said that the tube was bad. No replacement parts were available so it couldn't be fixed. Ernest gave him the set after it broke as a project. When it turned out it couldn't be fixed, Hugo sold the chassis-it still had many useful parts that could be cannibalized.

But he kept the tube. He had a plan, and the money he made selling the spare parts would make it happen.

He would take the twenty-five inch TV tube and make a telescope out of it. He had the parts, or most of them, and Mister Haggerty said he could use his tools. He'd even promised to help.

Hugo could buy what few special parts he would need. And hardware, of course. That would be expensive. And most expensive of all would be the silvering of the mirror. He sat down at the table and began to draw.

Oh my God, what am I gonna do, Allie thought. When she was eight years old and her grandmother was dying she had asked her mother why. "Because it's God's will," Momma had answered, "and you just have to do the best you can with what God gives you." That made Allie feel better somehow. Her mother had added, "that's all you could ask of anyone," to which her father replied "take it in the shorts and press on." That remark had her father sleeping on the couch for a week. Allie had never understood the quip until now.

She had several thick references out and was busy researching

"Allie?" came a voice over her shoulder. She turned to see Matt Tisdale standing behind her. He had his chemistry book in his hand. She recognized Michael Fritz and Kevin Norris behind him.

"Yes, Matt?"

"Could you help us? We're having some problems."

"Yeah," cut in Michael. "This stuff is hard. I don't understand."

Allie gestured toward the chairs around the table. "Sure, I'll help. Sit down, guys." She herded her papers into a neat pile. The three boys took the seats, opening their own texts and getting out their notebooks.

"What's the problem?"

After some discussion of the chemistry problem that had the boys stumped, Matt smacked his forehead. "Ah, now I get it." He turned and looked at his buddies.

"Right on, Allie." "Thanks." "All right" The boys started to leave. Allie let them, because she suddenly felt dizzy.

On the way out Michael blew her a kiss and called, "Allie, you're a genius."

The dizziness mounted. Allie stood up, then tottered a bit. Then she fell with alarming speed.

"Allie!" Michael called. Allie didn't hear him; she passed out before her head hit the table.

"Allie, how are you feeling?" Doctor Adams seated himself on a small stool and looked up at her from his new vantage point. "You had a little faint. Do you remember what happened?"

"Well…" Allie paused. Somehow she was in the doctor's examining room. She was still dizzy and there was a sharp pain shooting through her back. "I was in the library, studying when some boys came along and asked for some help with their homework."

Her mother seemed to appear out of thin air and handed Allie a glass of water. It wasn't enough. She drained the glass. "Can I have more please?" Then Allie turned back to Doctor Adams. "The guys were just leaving… I guess I must have passed out. I was really dizzy right before, but I just can't describe the feeling. I couldn't move. I was aware, but my muscles just wouldn't move. My body wouldn't obey." She shuddered. "It was the scariest thing that ever happened to me."