Dark as Daylight Ch. 14

"I missed my target. I'll make it up to him, later."

"I'm sure you will. Just don't break his nose, Patrick will have too much fun with that."

"If I accidentally broke Will's nose, and Patrick went after him, it would take the entire United States Army to keep William from killing him. Pat would be merciless."

**********************

"Gwen, I'm sorry to tell you that you did not rupture your husband's eardrum."

"Dammit, I gave it my best shot."

"I'm writing this all down, Gwen."

"Remember William, while I'm recovering from all that abuse, you are taking care of our child."

"Checkmate William; you must never underestimate the powers of a pregnant woman."

"I'm getting hit by all sides dad. I have a pregnant wife, and a smart ass brother, who just learned about sex. What else could go wrong?"

"Your aunt Patricia could come live with us permanently."

"I would move Patrick back into this house, and move into the completed townhouse, until the other one is finished."

"You can't do that. That one is in his name."

"When did that happen?"

"It was your idea; don't you remember? You did it for tax purposes."

"I'm going to kill myself."

"I'll go get your gun."

"Gwen be nice to your husband."

"Why dad, all he wants to do is hit me."

"If he lays a hand on you, come to me, and I will break that hand."

"Does anyone want to hear about Williams ear?"

"Yes Shelley, please tell me what's wrong with my son's ear."

"It was a good thing that Gwen hit him with the telephone."

"Does everyone know I hit him with the telephone?"

"It's pretty easy. The imprint it left on his face has the letters 'p-h-o-n'. You don't have to be a genius to guess what the other letters are."

"Getting back to William, it was very fortunate that you hit him, because his previous experience with a busted eardrum left him with a weak spot, which was only covered by a piece of wax which he never cleared out."

"I told you to take better care of your ears."

"Not now Gwen, please."

"The wax grew into the area of his middle ear. If it continued to grow, it could have done some very serious damage. You will come to my office tomorrow morning, at 8 AM, and we will take care of everything."

"Dad, can I do to Doctor Jacobson, what you did to Doctor Sanderson?"

"You can certainly give it a try."

"Doctor Jacobson, I don't get up until 9 AM, then I have to shower shave and have breakfast. I'd rather have it done at 10 AM."

"That's fine William, you show up at 10 AM. I'll take you as soon as there is a break between my regular patients. It should be around 6 o'clock when I can fit you in."

"I'll be at your office at 8 AM Doctor."

"I think that's a very wise decision William. The only man alive that can make me or any other person I know, rearrange their schedule at a moments notice is sitting to your left. One day you may have the power he has, but until then, stay with in your own power structure, and it will serve you well."

"Thank you Doctor Jacobson, that was very good advice."

"Shelley, on Monday, Drake Hamel will meet you at the hospital and help you take care of your problems as Chief of Staff. If you have any paperwork detailing the Chief of Staff's purview, bring it with you."

"Thank you William, I'll even bring my box of Cheerios."

**********************************

54. Oh, No-ah

"Why doesn't the water gouge out the land, where it cascades out of the mountains?"

"Excuse me Harvey, I thought you were the scientist, not me."

"Captain, all of us are scratching our heads. We can make it happen on the ship using a small-scale scientific experiment, but it doesn't happen out there, and we're watching it in real time. Look at the water cascade off those rocks, and the grass stays there. It's not bothered by it. The substructure should be mud. The grass should have nothing to hold onto. If the current wasn't so fast, I bet you I could walk out to the middle, stick my hand down through the water and pick up a single blade of grass, without disturbing anything else."

"Why do you have to go all the way to the middle to prove that hypothesis Mister Cushing? We can tie a rope around you, let you walk 6 feet into the water, let you dive down, and see if you can pick up one blade of grass. If you can, you have proved your hypothesis, and we have proven that this planet is even weirder than we knew it was."

"We now have approximately 3000 head of the weirdest looking, lousiest smelling cattle walking around near the water, some of them are even venturing into it. I wish they all would; maybe that odor would go away.

"Teddy says we can milk them, and make ice cream."

"Teddy would say anything to get ice cream."

"It would be a good idea to get some from one of the cows and have it tested for anything that would help the young children grow, and have strong bones and all the vitamins and minerals they need."

"How can you get milk from something; you can't bear to smell?"

I guess we should try to do it anyhow, and have Doctor Finch test it. The children are going to need those items as they grow up, and sooner or later, we are going to run out of the artificial baby drinks as we grow into a larger community. We better know what we can depend on from this planet."

"Do you want to try it first?"

"I can milk the cow, without a problem. First, we have to cut a female out of the herd, with her calf, and see how she acts. We have rope. We may be able to use some of the larger ponies to ride. They may help us bring the cow here, for this experiment."

"Why don't we have Teddy talk to her pony, and have the horses do it by themselves?"

"As delightful as that sounds, I don't believe that is feasible."

"I believe it is more feasible than putting some of us on horseback, without saddles, and attempting to rope a cow, with a calf, and lead it here."

"You're right Roger, I totally forgot about the saddles. Without the aid of the saddle horn, if she puts up a fight, your hand is going to be ripped down to the bone."

Adam said, "There is another way."

"Don't make us wait, Adam. I will have Laura beat you up, just on general principles."

"Laura is pregnant. She is so afraid to do anything out of the ordinary, because she does not want to lose it."

"Beating you up is nothing out of the ordinary. She should be doing that every day just to keep her in practice. You don't want the baby to grow up to think his mother was a pansy, do you?"

"I'm going to tell her you said that about her."

"Go ahead, I'll have her fight Gordon. I've been waiting for that fight, since we took off."

"If it's going to happen, it's not going to happen until after she has the baby."

"$1.00 on Gordon."

"Do you want to give it to me now, or after the fight?"

"Say it out loud, Adam, so everyone can hear you."

"$1.00 on my beloved wife, Laura."

"Give your dollar to me I'll hang onto it."

"I'm trustworthy, I'll hang onto it, until after the fight when it's joined by yours."

Monty picked up her communicator.

"Communications this is Senior Captain Montgomery Jamison, make an announcement both inside and outside the ship asking for Teddy Thyme to join me in the auditorium."

"Roger, Captain; Teddy Thyme is to join you in the auditorium."

"That is correct."

Seconds later you could hear the announcement being made all over the ship, and hopefully outside of it.

It didn't take long for Teddy to join them.

She saluted and said, "6-year-old Teddy reporting Senior Captain."

"Good morning Teddy. There was one thing at your birthday party I felt very bad about. We didn't have ice cream. I'm sorry."

"It not your fault Big Captain."

"I feel that it was, Teddy. We have all those cows out there, and I didn't know how to separate one of them from the rest of the herd. All I needed was one cow, who had a baby calf with her. Cows make much more milk then the calf needs. We could have taken enough milk from the mother, and made enough ice cream for everyone on the ship, but most especially for our birthday girl, you, Teddy."

"Thank you big Captain, but it's okay, maybe next year."

"Teddy, we'd like to try it this year; would you help us?"

"Sure, I help you."

"Could you ask your friend, the little white pony, if she and a few of her family members could bring a cow and a calf to us, without hurting them. We don't want to hurt anyone, we just want to use her milk to make your ice cream, and maybe, give some of her milk to our babies as they grow up."

"I can ask her; I don't think she ever did anything like that before."

"It's okay Teddy, neither have we. We will try to help by using some of our ropes to help lead the mama cow here. The rope will not harm her; she will just follow us here."

"Okay, I will talk to pony now. You get ready too?"

"We will go down the other staircase and get ready. Adam has a way to keep her where we need her, but it will also give her plenty of time and space to eat grass, and get to the water with her little one."

"It sounds very good to me."

***********************

Teddy left the spacecraft, and spotted her little pony grazing with the other ponies along the tree line. She was about to call her, when she realized if she called out the word "Pony" all of them would look at her. She decided she would have to give her friend a name.

As she suspected, when she called out to her friend, "Hello my friend pony," every horse in the herd turned to look at her. However only one pony came trotting towards her.

The little horse stopped right in front of Teddy, and put its muzzle right against her forehead. Teddy returned the greeting by kissing her muzzle.

"My friend I have to give you a name, or I'm going to confuse everyone in your family, when I call for you. I don't want to give you a common name, like Queenie, or Whitey, because you are so bright. What do you think about a name like "Stargazer?"

The little horse shook her head vigorously, 'No.'

"How about 'Sunlight?"

"No", again.

"This is hard. All you ponies are really beautiful. I'm going to have to name all of you so we can get to know one another."

"How about 'Daylight?' How does that sound to you?"

The little horse nodded her head, and danced around in a little circle. Apparently, she liked her new name.

"Okay my friend; my name is Teddy, and your name is Daylight. When I call "Daylight," it means I need you, or I want to play with you. Is that okay with you?"

The little pony put its muzzle against Teddy's head, and then licked her hair. Teddy kissed the pony. She was not sure how, or if the pony understood what she said. It sure seemed like she did, but she would find out soon enough.

**************************

Members of the quorum, I have called you together to act on the dissolution of the marriage between Zoie Luck, and Gordon Luck. According to our bylaws, I could act on this by myself. However, I am too close to the situation, and I need your help to make some very difficult decisions. I need you to put your biases aside. I want you to forget about the picture that was posted of myself and Gordon Luck kissing that was posted all over the ship. I want you to listen only to the evidence, that is offered to you today. Make your judgment only on the evidence presented. I will not vote. The members of the security team that was on duty that day, and were put in the brig for dereliction of duty will not be allowed to vote. Janet Dover will not be allowed to vote. They will be called to give testimony in this case by either party, because of their actions. Their right to vote has been suspended.

Each of you has received an email listing the charges against both parties. You have also received documents from Doctor Finch, and Doctor Daniels certifying that both parties are capable of giving testimony in this trial. They will give other testimony during the trial that may be uncomfortable for all involved. This will not be a simple case of divorce. There is one living child to be considered, and one unborn child to be considered. I do not know how that was handled on our former home. I have asked Callie for a reference on it, but there was no mention of it in her memory banks. We will be breaking new legal ground, so make sure you use your head while making this decision, and not your prejudices.

At the end of the testimony, if you need more time to think about your decision, it will be given to you. If you wish to discuss it with other members of the quorum, that will be allowed also. As I said we will be breaking new legal ground, and I will leave no stone unturned to make this decision a correct one. Who knows what will happen in the future, if we make a mistake now.

"Security, would you bring Mrs. Luck in first, and seat her on the far side of the dais."

Zoie walked in sedately, and walked to her chair, without saying a word.

"Mrs. Luck have you chosen an attorney to represent you?"

"I asked dozens of my former friends to represent me, and they all turned me down. Finally, I asked a family member to represent me, as fairly as possible. He accepted. Grayson Thyme has accepted the task of being my attorney."

"You have made a very wise choice, Zoie; he will represent you very well."

"Security, you may bring in Gordon Luck now."

Gordon walked in, and took a seat. He said hello to Monty, and acknowledged everyone in the quorum.

"Mister Luck have you chosen an attorney to represent you in this case?"

"Yes I have. My sister, Delicious Thyme, will represent me as fairly as possible."

Monty exploded.

"Are you out of your fucking mind? Are you trying to cause another divorce?"

"Quite the opposite Monty. We are trying to strengthen their marriage. After Gray accepted Zoie's request, my sister was in my room seconds later, demanding to be my attorney. She said it would be good for Gray and her to be on opposite sides of a divorce proceeding just to see what it would feel like if it was them. Personally, I would make sure no weapons are on them when the trail starts."

"That's very comforting Gordon. Should I just kill you now and make us all feel better?"

Zoie yelled, "That would serve justice."

Gordon replied, "Birth control pills would have stopped all this nonsense before it started."

"I didn't get pregnant by myself."

"You put the condom on me, it was not my fault that it broke."

Gray said, "Your Honor, would you use your hammer and shut those 2 up, please?"

Delicious said, "If you turn me loose Your Honor, you won't have to use your hammer. I'll shut my brother up for 6 weeks."

"Delicious, you've been pregnant too long to have watched your brother in the gym. There is no one on this craft like him, with the possible exception of Laura Schiff. Your brother took me down in 22 seconds, and he was being nice about it. If I were you, I would not test his patience."

"Monty, who am I going to pick on if I can't pick on my brother?"

"You can always try Teddy, she 6 years old now."

"Please don't remind me. She's doing algebra, and geometry now."

Gordon said, "I guess she didn't tell you we started doing linear algebra last week."

"Gordon I want her to be a normal child. I don't want her to be special, like you."

"I'm sorry, did you say special 'LIKE ME'? Who was the one that drew a nuclear power plant at the age of 13 using paper, pad, and a high school computer? Who was the one who proved Sir Isaac Newton was wrong and GRAVITY could be REVERSED? How did we get here, Delicious? I helped, but whose designs made it possible? Don't tell me you don't want your child to be special, because between you, and Gray, Teddy has no choice. Look at Newton; have you ever seen a boy as bright as he is? Jack loves him like a son, because he has a mind that absorbs everything around him. At 19 years old, engineering could not be in better hands. Newton, Teddy, and your twins are the future; both you and I know it."

"If you two will permit it, I'd like to start this trial please."

"You are a pain in the ass, Gordon."

"That's the nicest thing you said to me in months, Delicious."

"Since Zoey is the plaintiff, she will go first. Gray call your first witness."

"The plaintiff would like to call Doctor Joseph Finch."

"Doctor Finch please take the stand."

*************************************

"Where the hell do you think you're going at this hour?"

"I have to prepare to take the Attorney General back to Washington."

"Were you at least going to say goodbye?"

"I thought we said goodbye 5 times last night, and if you had not run out of steam, it would have been 6."

"I was not celibate like you for 20 years. A man has got to rest after a while."

"You could have rested, but you didn't have to fall asleep."

"When are we getting married?"

"I do not see a ring on my finger. When I see a ring on my finger, we will discuss it, not one moment before."

"I have to straighten things out here, where are you going to be Friday?"

"I have to take care of some personal business in New York on Friday."

"Can I go with you, or is it secret mission?"

"You may not enjoy where I'm going. The man is an egomaniac. He bet me that I would be engaged within 6 months, and I have to go there and tell him he was right. You have no idea how much this is going to hurt me, because I never saw you coming."

"Can I meet you someplace Friday evening?"

"I'm renting a one room apartment, while I'm assigned there."

"How about I rent a hotel room, and we go a little fancier than your one- bedroom apartment. I may even get a room with a hot tub."

"Do me a favor, just make sure it's not on 11^th or 12^th avenues. You never can tell what diseases you could pick up."

"I was thinking of dinner, an opera, and then the hotel."

"My goodness, a big spender. How do you know there's an opera in town?"

"I Googled it. I also have my airline tickets, my hotel room, and reservations at Morton's, after the opera. Do you want to join me?"

"Who did this, Richard or Holden?"

"Richard got my airline tickets, from Charleston to Richmond, and from Richmond to Newark all first-class, complementary from the airlines. Don't ask me, because I don't know.

Holden got me a suite for two nights at the Mandarin Oriental, Friday and Saturday night, all meals included, spa treatment for Madame Saturday morning, and a limousine to the opera at 7:30 PM. After the opera the limousine will take us to Morton's for dinner, naturally it is complementary. The tickets to the opera are eight row center, which naturally means Madame will need a gown, and Monsieur will need a tuxedo."

"If you tell me the boys got that included, they are thieves."

"No they didn't know about the evening gown or the tuxedo. I didn't tell them about that either. I figured enough was enough."

"What time are you coming in Friday?"

"I'm supposed to land at Newark at 3:15 PM."

"Have you ever driven in a police car?"

"If you're asking if I have ever driven fast in traffic, the answer is yes."

"Have you ever done it in New York?"

"No."

"Joe, when you get into the car, put on your seatbelt, and hold on. You are in for the ride of your life. We have to get from Newark, to lower Manhattan, check you in, go up your suite, use the hot tub for 30 minutes, make love, use the hot tub for 15 minutes. You have to shave put on a suit, and I have to take you to the man I lost the bet to. He lives on 5^th Avenue, and 82^nd St."