Dark as Daylight Ch. 22

The Good Luck 1 took off with 122.1 metric tons on board, and the Good Luck 2 will be empty compared to that maximum tonnage. Can you imagine building a variant just for cargo delivery, Dycke?"

"It boggles the mind to think about it, Rod. It would probably top out around 250 metric tons because of the 6 nuclear engines. I really can't wait to find out how fast it goes, during this trip. From Earth to Atwater Luck in a straight line. It might take them as long as a month to get there at Warp 12 or 13, but I don't think it will take them much longer than that."

"I hope they don't run into any debris along the way, it could ruin their whole trip."

"No chance, Rod, the warp bubble would push it out of the way. I'm going home to the wife now, if she finds out I had this information in my hands for an hour, and didn't tell her about it, she would use her paddle on me until I was absolutely raw."

"You are too old to have fun like that my friend. It's time for you and your darling wife to find other forms of entertainment in your bedroom. Rosalyn and I enjoy an active sex life, and neither 1 of us has to pick splinters out of our ass when it's over."

"Payne picks the splinters out with her teeth. It is very erotic."

"Now, I have to go home to my wife, because you are getting me excited."

"Make sure the boys received the message, before you go home. It is more important than getting laid."

"It all depends where your priorities are. However, I will call building site and find out before I leave."

"Goodbye Rod."

"Have fun, Dycke.

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"Richard did you see the schematics that Dycke sent us?"

"I've been feeding the parameters into the computer to see what it came up with. Why the hell would Teddy use a green laser to transmit something so important, instead of a red laser which is faster? She must've had a reason, but I don't understand it yet."

"It might be in the secure part of the text that only the Colonel can decipher for us. Do you know where he is?"

"I only have the phone number that he told us to call if we need him."

"Call him."

"What a wonderful idea."

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

"Central Station."

"This is Richard Luck. I need to speak with the Colonel as soon as possible. I have a coded message from Atwater Luck that needs to be deciphered, and only he can do it. Have him get in touch with us at the building site as soon as possible. Thank you very much."

"Message received, out."

The aircraft was turning south, just over the US boundary, when Paul's cell phone rang.

"This is the adjutant."

"Call the building site and speak to Richard Luck. Coded message from Atwater Luck only the bird can decipher. Central-station out."

"What's up, Paul?"

"You're going to have to live a while longer, Colonel. We have a coded message that you have to decipher."

"Have them send it to me, and I'll do it here."

"Gee, Colonel, why didn't I think of that?"

"Paul, if they get me healthy again, I am going to beat the shit out of you."

"If they get you healthy again, sir, I quit. I'm going to live on a tropical island, and eat fish for the rest of my life. I will never hear these words again, 'Give me 50 Sergeant'."

"I've been trying to get rid of you for the past 30 years, why didn't you tell me all it took was me getting sick, and then getting better. I would've faked it just for you."

"You forget, sir, I take care of all the paperwork. I take care of all the bills. I schedule all your doctors' appointments, and I didn't run you over the day you broke your leg. Do you see what a good guy I was when that happened?"

"Why did I have to slip on that stupid rock. I now own a hospital that I have a nurse and doctor running in my absence. When you get back there, make sure the water tastes perfect. If they have to pull every pipe in that place out to do it, make them do it, and put copper in to replace it."

"Are you insinuating that you're not going back to Vancouver with me?"

"How the hell would I know, Paul? You kept my illness a secret from me for more than 5 years. I don't even remember what it's called."

"It's a little-known blood cancer called, 'Multiple Myeloma', sir. It is the 2^nd most serious blood borne cancer, only to Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma. One in every 132 people, who contract this disease, will die within 5 years, even though the survival rate for those who are lucky enough to have this disease detected early is 50% or better. You, sir, were not 1 of those lucky people. You were in stage 3, when your blood tests showed you had this disease. You never did do anything the easy way, and I had to make a decision on how you were to be treated. I did. I decided to let you live the remainder of your life as the man you were, and not as a walking test case for some miracle drug, a drug manufacturer is hoping to make a fortune off. There is no cure for this disease, just as there is no cure for your vile temper."

"I am going to take a baseball bat to your head, Paul, just to knock some sense into it. I do not have a temper. I attempt to disgorge knowledge into soldiers that will keep them safe in battle. The way I do it may seem harsh, but they all come home with me because of my methods. You came home with me, and regardless of how hard I tried, I failed to get rid of you."

"Colonel, you are so full of shit it is coming out of your ears. I would never have said that to you 10 years ago, but I can say that to you now, because I am well past my retirement time. You have made me rich beyond my wildest dreams, and I have learned lessons from you every day we have been together. It has been my honor to serve alongside you. However, you wouldn't know what to do with your sidearm, if I had not cleaned and polished it and your holster, before you reached for it."

"Why is it that I can still shoot better than you, Paul?"

"Because I let you Colonel. I didn't want you to think you were slipping, in any category, during your declining years. I didn't want you to know about your cancer. You still can out shoot 99% of the people on this planet. However, I am not 1 of those people. I just did not want you to know about it. I proved that to you in the jungles of Peru. It was not luck that brought down the vice president. It was a well-planned and executed penetration, and assassination of a political figure, who had gone rogue against his country's interest, and against a high-value target. Killing that countries president was an added benefit that I had not anticipated. It turned out to be a perfect cover for the operation."

"How far was that shot, Paul?"

"1.1 miles sir."

"Before I die, I am going to take you to a range and out shoot you from that mark and further out. I didn't bring my rifle with me, so I'll be forced to use yours. I'll adjust your sites to bring them into proper specifications, and I will bet you $10,000 per shot that you will not beat me."

"What good is money going to do for you, Colonel, if you're going to die on me?"

"I could kill you with my last shot, which would make my day, week, month, year, and lifetime. I would stand over your lifeless body and yell, 'I am finally rid of you.' Then I would break down the rifle, pour acid into the barrel to make it untraceable, give it to 1 of our 2 idiots to have them dispose of it, and call for help. The police would look at this frail 82-year-old man, with advanced cancer, and know he was innocent of this gruesome murder."

"As usual, sir, you forgot one thing. Anytime I know we are going to be around high-powered rifles, I wear 2 bulletproof vests, with the ceramic plates in place, both front and rear. I don't believe you would shoot me in the back, but why would I take the chance with my life.

While you are looking down at me, gloating at your success, I would wake up after the shock of being hit by a high-powered round and ruin the remainder of your life. You would see my eyes open, my lips smile, and you would begin crying unstoppably. I've never seen you cry, Colonel, that would be a treat of a lifetime."

"Paul, I swear you could fuck up a free lunch. That daydream of mine brought my blood pressure down to normal for the 1^st time in months. I was actually smiling inside at the thought of being rid of you."

"Colonel, what are the 1^st words out of your mouth every morning?"

"I could change them."

"What are the 1^st words out of your mouth every morning, sir?"

"Paul, get your ass in here."

"How long does it take me to get my ass into your room, Colonel?"

"The words are not out of my mouth and my door is opening."

"Are you going to get that service, and protection from anyone else, sir?"

"I doubt it, but I would always have a 9 mm handy."

"What good is a 9 mm against a fragmentation grenade?"

"None at all, Paul."

"Sir, that's why I sleep next to all the alarms. If one chirps, I am up and standing by your door to make sure you are safe. You couldn't wake up Carl, in the middle of the night, with a brass band playing in his room. I have never taken any chances with your safety for 42 years, sir, and I never will, until I plant you in the ground."

A voice from the flight deck said, "Prepare for landing."

"Dammit, I was hoping to see them take the heart out of your chest before we got here. Apparently, Jemma is still doing fine."

"Jemma is going to be in NYU today. You'll never guess where I'm going to be?"

"NYU is going to be very busy this morning. Mr. William Zabo is going to ream you a new asshole, sir, and I am going to stand aside, while he does it."

"You better stand far aside, because that old man has a temper the likes of which you have never seen. He's 98 years young, and he is going to live for many more years to come. He's not going to leave Jemma while she sick. He will not allow his body to deteriorate. He will not allow his mind to wander away from her. She is his total focus, and he will move heaven and earth to get her well. He will move hell, also, if he has to, to make sure she lives many more healthy years.

The only thing that will kill William sooner than his natural time, will be if he gets her pregnant again. They are approaching 15 years since their twins were born, and if it happens, you will hear a scream of pain from him, as she tears his balls off with her teeth.

The laughing you will hear will be coming from William Junior, Gwen, and Patrick. It will be short-lived, because Jemma will go after them, one at a time, to beat the shit out of each and every 1 of them. She will not be pleased to be pregnant at 67 years old."

"Is it possible to be pregnant at that age, sir?"

"Trust me, Paul, with those 2 anything is possible."

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"Here is the transmission you have to decipher, Colonel."

"I need a pencil, paper, and a ruler, please. This is not from Jack, someone else wrote this. It means Jack has passed away, and his body will be floating around the universe until the end of time. I hope he had a good time while he was traveling around the stars. It was something he really looked forward to doing."

"I don't know what was not to like, sir? He left Earth's gravity behind him, and was 1 of the 1^st people to leave our solar system. Those "PIONEERS" accomplished everything they set out to do, and so much more. They were and are an amazing group of people."

"I couldn't agree with you more, Paul. Give me a moment while I translate this into passable English. It's not written in passable 'Attic Greek' code, so I will have to make do with what's here."

"Sir, why would someone have to send a message in a dead language, and in code?"

"How many people do you know that speak ancient Greek, Paul?"

"Only you, and Jack, sir. Now I have to assume someone on the Good Luck 1 does also."

"There is one entity in this world that transmits its code in Attic Greek to all its missions, Paul. That is,' The Roman Catholic Church.' They use one-time pads and computers to make their codes unbreakable, but it is the language that drives code breakers crazy. Unless you know the nuances of the language, you could bypass the meaning without seeing it."

"Very sneaky, Colonel, very intelligent, and very sneaky."

"The Church transmits millions of dollars monthly to missions around the globe. If anyone broke their code, they could steal that money, and use it for nefarious purposes. No one has ever taken a dime from the Catholic Church's coffers, because of its codes."

As they were approaching hangar 19 at Kennedy Airport, to keep Patrick's 747 secure, while it was on the ground, Lucius said, "Paul, get me Richard Luck on the phone. I know what he needs and we will transmit it to him via secure text."

"Immediately, sir."

Richard listened intently as Lucius explained to him the intricacies of the text. Then Lucius said to him, "You are a very bright boy. You have to learn Attic Greek intimately. Between you and your brother you should be able to decipher this code between you. I will send you a copy of the code by messenger, but you have to know the language to do it properly. If you don't, the meaning of the message will pass you by without you seeing it. Get a high-ranking Catholic Bishop or Cardinal to teach you the language. It shouldn't take you more than 1 or 2 months of intensive training to master it. Take books in ancient Greek with you, or include them in your computer, while you are traveling in space, and study the language. It will be useful to you in the future when you are transmitting very secret information. No one, and I mean no one has broken this code for over 2000 years; not the mob, not us, the Russians, the British, the French, or the Chinese. All of us have tried to do it without success. We've used supercomputers to try to do it and it doesn't work, because of the language."

Richard replied, "There is a Cardinal I know, who will teach us this language, Colonel. I hope we don't have to kidnap him and take him along with us on our journey, but we will know everything about Attic Greek there is to know, before we reach Atwater Luck."

"If you have to kidnap the Cardinal, at least put him in a first-class cabin, Richard."

"That is a very sensible idea, Colonel. I may even put him outside, for a while, to see what our God has made."

"What is he going to say when he finds out that God is a SHE and not a he? Even Luck surely did know how to start a ruckus even after he passed away."

"My dad loved starting trouble. Telling everyone that God is a WOMAN and not a man, was probably the highlight of his eternal travels."

"Get to work, Richard. Dycke wants your input on this new transmission device as soon as possible. It would be great, change that, I want it operational on your ship before you depart. Is that understood?"

"Colonel, that could delay our departure by months if we don't get this right."

"In that case, Richard, you will delay your departure. It is what your father would have done. It is what any rational human being would do. You would have instant communication with Earth and Atwater Luck all during your trip. Everyone would know where you are and what was happening to you at that time. When you passed through Lightspeed, no one would be able to doubt you. It would prove to NASA that we are light years ahead of them in the areas of communications, as well as space travel. Your 10-year planned trip will cover more area of space than you ever dreamed about. You will take pictures of stars, close up, that Hubble shows as faint dots on its long-range telescope.

Companies, here on earth, that depend on the space industry for their survival, will have to find new areas of science and technology to continue to exist. It may start a new Scientific Revolution in our nations space science and industrial positions, or be the beginning of a long recession in those high-paying jobs.

It all depends on which way Big Businesses decide to use their money. Our current technology of '5G' here on Earth may be obsolete within 2 years if the information we have in front of us gets out prematurely. As soon as you and Dycke have it figured out, and it is ready to use, get it patented. Put your lawyer to work, Richard, and this time he better be sure he gets it perfect. This will affect communications throughout the universe for eons to come. Your children's, children's, children, will have trouble wading through the money Teddy's invention will bring in."

"My dad told us, before he left Earth, that Teddy would replace him one day. I was too young to understand the meaning of it at the time, but look what she's done at 17 years old. Who would have thought about shrinking light-waves and transmit sound through them? I'm still having trouble believing it's possible, but the proof is in front of me. I can't wait to see Holden's reaction to it. How the hell do you shrink a light-wave, then attach a sound carrier-wave on them, and transmit them on a green laser 7.6 light years across the universe to earth in less than 4 seconds? If I was not going to marry Rebecca, because I love her so dearly, I would chase after this young woman, and marry her, just to be close to her every day of my life to see what she would do next."

"What is your wedding date, Richard?"

"3 weeks from tomorrow, Colonel, that is if the bride doesn't die of hypertension before then. She is a basket-case. I can't calm her down. Her sister can't calm her down. Her grandmother can't calm her down, and Mrs. Laver can't calm her down.

I said to her, "Let's elope, and have the big wedding for everyone on time. She hit me so hard I wound up on the floor."

She yelled, "I can't cheat like that on my grandparents, or myself."

I replied, mistakenly, "Listen shortly, we sleep naked together in the same bed. We have done everything a married couple could do except have intercourse. Why would eloping be so terrible? I shouldn't have called her shortly, because she hit me, and I wound up in pain, again."

"You are not that big, and you are not that smart, Richard. A promise given is a promise to be kept. I promised to marry you and I will at the time and place my grandmother and I agreed on. You better show up, and on time, otherwise I will emasculate you."

"Little girl, who asked who to marry him?"

"Is your memory so befuddled that you don't remember asking me to marry you?"

"I remember it very well. It seems that you have a problem remembering it. I will be at the church on time. I have purchased matching wedding bands for us to wear. Yours will fit over your engagement ring. Mine is a band that will stay on my finger even after I die. I will never be without it. All you have to do is stay calm, and remember only time and a piece of paper separates us from being legally married. I could get you very angry with me by taking your virginity at any time I desire. You would be outraged, but you would get over it in time. You may not talk to me for weeks, but as we stood before the Cardinal, and he asked you that simple question you would say the words, 'I Do' without hesitation. So would I. You may hit me shortly afterwards, and you may hit me many times during our marriage, but we will be married for many decades to come. I think I would like 9 children. My mother now has 8 children according to her note to us. I would like to beat her by at least one."

"9 children! Are you out of your fucking mind? You get pregnant and have the children I will agree to 2, and then I will get my tubes tied, cut, and shriveled just to be sure it doesn't happen again."