Dark as Daylight Ch. 22

Now you are coming after me because I was going to announce my birthday, and yours. It's time to grow up, Monty. You are going to be 41 years old. Do you feel old, Monty? Do you act like an old person or are you young and vibrant? 99% of the people in our community look up to you and know without a doubt that you are head and shoulders above them. The 1% is beginning to think they are young and strong enough to begin to take you on as an equal. That's what this journey of ours is all about, Monty. It's not about staying stagnant, it's about growth. We started with 1 doctor, and now we have 6. We started with 1 plumber, and now we have 9. We started with 1 electrician, and now we have 7. We started with 2 captains, and now we have 8, and all of us have become great farmers. From planting the seeds, to reaping the harvest, all of us pitch in because of the abundance this new land gives us. We waste nothing, we recycle every part of the plant that is not food back into the earth to re-nourish it. We rotate our crops every year, so we don't overuse one area over another. We have learned the lessons farmers on earth have learned over generations, and put them into practice here. That's why we have been so successful, and grown as a community. We have grown into everything my father had hoped for, a ship of equals among each other. Everyone is growing into their full potential, and no one is being held back. Have you ever seen a group of 70 adults living in such tight quarters and not have arguments over who is doing what each day? I haven't, because each day is different, and everybody is learning something new every day.

How do we smelt metals? We had no idea, so what did we do? We went to Callie and asked her to go back to 2^nd Century BCE Greece to see how they made their swords, spears, and arrowheads. Those words and pictures taught us how to make a forge. With that information we were able to melt the ore out of the rocks we found at the foot of the mountain northwest of us. Now we had to figure out what to do with the processed mineral, because we don't have the infrastructure to produce all the electricity it can provide to an advanced civilization such as the one on earth. Possibly, when the Good Luck 2 gets here, we can devise a plan to take tons of it back to earth, patent it in my brothers' names, and use it to make electricity, free of pollution, for centuries to come. It will cut the use of heavy polluting fuels by one half or more. If they make one dedicated trip here to mine the rocks, bringing with them earth moving machines, and a proper separating device for the ore, they can make earth a Dyson Sphere, without using solar energy. I don't know how those kids would measure their wealth, but I do know they would be giving a lot of money away to make sure poverty doesn't exist any longer, medical care, and education is a right everyone will have free of charge, and governments will answer to their people and not the other way around."

"Gordon, you are a dreamer, just as your father was, and I love you for it. Once your brothers start spreading money around, people in charge are going to use it to fill their pockets, before giving it to the poor and helpless. Graft has been around since the Stone Age, and it has only gotten worse as our civilization has matured. Look what happened when your father announced that he had a system that was able to transmit sound around mountains. One greedy man tried to put an end to that by firing rockets at the armored cars to destroy his invention and replace it with his own. He wanted the billions for himself, but your father was a brilliant man and already had his invention patented with the US government. Only three people knew about it, and the only thing in those trucks were cement blocks.

The vice president was so angry with that failure, he decided to kidnap you. When that didn't work, he decided to destroy the Good Luck 1 to get even with him. What he didn't know was your father was good friends with William Zabo. William hatched a plan to get rid of the vice president, permanently. It was an ingenious plan, and it worked out perfectly."

"One day you will have to tell me that story, but not right now. You have to rest up for your 10 mile-run tomorrow morning, prior to breakfast."

"I want that little twerp to run with us. I will put him in front of me as an incentive to kick his ass when I catch him."

"You won't catch him, Monty. He is not as fast as Laura or I am, but he is damn close to it. With a little more training, he will get there."

"Why isn't he faster than Laura?"

"I am training Laura for our match. If she slows down one-half step, I torment her by bringing George into our conversation, and how disappointed he would be in her for being a slacker. I have never had to run full speed, but I run fast enough to beat her every time we go out. Adam loves it, because every time we return from a workout, regardless of where he is, she grabs him, brings him to a private spot, and screws him senseless. For the rest of the day, he has a smile on his face, and thanks me for upsetting his wife."

"I guess Tiffany is in childcare during this time."

"No, Tiffany started school this year. We tested her when she was 3 and she showed great promise on computers, math, and science. We tested her again when she turned 4, and there was no sense holding her back any longer. Her language skills are a little elementary, but what can you expect from a 4-year-old. Teddy was the same way at that age, and look how she has blossomed. Those of us who teach know each child intimately, and we will bring them along with great care and patience."

"Have you noticed our birthrate has declined?"

"It was anticipated. Each pair of parents had 2 or 3 children immediately after we landed here. Those children are only 10 to 13 years old, and have a lot of growing to do before they become sexually active.

The children who were in their early teens when we arrived here are now at the age where they will either marry or have children on their own. We have preached that to them for years, and told them there is no stigma for having a child out of wedlock. Each male or female has known each other for over 13 years, and may be comfortable with one another, but not ready to commit to a life together. They have had limited contact with the opposite sex, and may wish to wait until they meet others from the Good Luck 2, or someone from another culture to marry.

Each of these young adults are very smart. We have been training their bodies and their minds from the 1^st day of our travels. If we know it, we've trained them in it. I still hate listening to Delicious, when she teaches classes about the electrical system in this craft of ours. I think my nuclear engine is simpler than the electrical system that was designed for this ship.

I hated what Teddy did to us on the 1^st simulated flight. We were just about to lift off, and the ship went dark. No computers, no air conditioning, everything went off-line. For the next 7 hours everyone looked for the fault in absolute darkness.

When I found it, I screamed, "I am going to kill her."

I made my way back to the bridge holding a metal fork in 1 hand and my proof in the other. The lights were back on, the air-conditioning was running, the computer was working, while Teddy was safe, in her mother's arms.

I was so angry I could have spit nickels. I don't remember what I said to her, but she said, "How do you know it was me?"

I opened my left hand and asked her what I was holding in it.

She said, "Messy Getti."

"That's how I know it was you, Teddy."

My dad asked her, "How many more of these do you have on this ship, Teddy?"

She replied, "Only 5."

My dad wasn't happy with the crew, because it took us 7 hours to find one of the disasters' she left for us to find. She was only 3, and we had no idea how much mischief she got into on our ship.

The 2 of them walked back to see how Jackson was doing.

Iris said, "I believe you damaged his diaphragm, Senior Captain. It is not moving properly, and we will take pictures of it when we get back to the ship."

"While he's at the infirmary, tell the doctor to cut his balls off so I can't have any more children."

"That's not what I said, Mrs. Oberlin. I said I would have a vasectomy. If you want a eunuch, I want a divorce 1^st."

"Jackson, you are no fun at all."

"What would you say to me, if you went in for a facelift, and I told Joe to remove your breasts while he was at it."

"Jackson, you are a pain in my ass."

"I haven't tried to get into your ass. I know you've heard people talk about it, but I knew if I tried it, I would be part of the ship and not human any longer."

"Jackson, you were close to death a few moments ago. Keep this up, and you will make it there."

"Yes dear, just remember my facelift analogy."

"Yes dear.

The following day, 43 members of the crew decided to stay on the ground, to care for the crops, continue smelting the ore from the rocks, and making metal implements, such as shovels, axes, pans, eating utensils, and knives to be used while they stayed on Atwater Luck. These implements would all have to be left behind when the ship departed for their next destination, because of the magnetic engines. It was already decided that these items would be marked and buried, leaving no sign of their existence for future inhabitants, who might not have the skills to make them themselves.

The ship rose quietly into the air and proceeded towards Teddy's requested destination. From Atwater Luck to 50 light years into Aquarius, it would take 2 ½ half days travel time. When they arrived at the appropriate coordinates Teddy began transmitting the condensed signal on her new invention, by way of a green laser. It would take 3.25 seconds to reach earth, with the atomic engine running at 78% power through her invention alone, for the 90 seconds of continuous transmission.

The ship required only 8% power to run everything else on board.

It would take more time to turn the ship back towards Atwater Luck, then it did for the signal to make it to earth.

Teddy had the signal repeat itself, just to be sure it made it all the way to their home planet, and then shut it down. It might take years, or decades for those on earth to decipher her diagrams and produce a unit like hers to return a signal with enough power to reach Atwater Luck. When that occurred, instantaneous communication between the 'Space Pioneers' and 'Planet Earth' would become like a phone call between Dallas and Houston.

Teddy's advancement in the science of instantaneous communications was light-years ahead of anything yet seen on Earth. It was only seen in science fiction movies or on television. She would continue working on her transmission device to reduce the delay factor to less than 1 second. Gordon told her to use a red laser, because it was faster than the green one. She tried it several times, but it fractured the message until it was unreadable. The green laser was more stable, even though it was slower by microseconds.

Her grandfather told her that her message had gotten through to Earth. The waiting and worrying would have been unbearable if she had not known one way or the other, if the message had arrived or not.

She asked him, "How do you know my message got through grandpa?"

"My sister told me it did."

"How is she?"

"She is a pain, as always."

"Are you with her, or are you somewhere else?"

"My mind is here. What was my body is in Idaho Springs, and my essence is on assignment on a planet deep in the universe trying to help other humanoids coexist with one-another. They are still in the hunter-gatherer stage of development, and it will take me a long time to get Her message across to them."

"Are you happy?"

"Part of me gets to talk with you every day, how could I not be happy? Another part of me tries to do God's work among Her people. How could I not be happy? I am not doing what I did during my life on earth, but I am doing Her work; how could I not be happy, Teddy?"

"I think I'm beginning to do your work, grandpa. The machine I invented to transmit messages between Atwater Luck and Earth is like something you would have done, if you were still here."

"Yes Teddy, I know, and I'm so proud of you. You will excel in the sciences, as well as being a great captain. I told everyone that you would replace me, remember?"

"Yes grandpa, I remember."

"You are a captain in training, and a bona fide scientist with your first fantastic invention. Hundreds more are in your future, and if you need any help, I will be here for you. As a captain, you will not need my help, because you will know what to do instinctively. Soon you will meet a young man, and he will steal your heart away. You will fight him, because he is full of himself, and he does not pray. He will want you, but you will not want him until he changes himself to be pleasing to God. That will be very hard for him to do, because he is like I was, when I was very young and full of myself. It took an airplane crash to bring me back to Her, the way I should have been all of my life. He believes he is god-like, because he is so smart. You are going to have to get him to a point where he understands where he ends, and God begins."

"What is his name grandpa?"

"Why would I tell you that Teddy? It would take all the fun out of falling in love."

"Grandpa, don't make me come inside Callie and pull your chip out. I won't put it back in, until you give me the answer I want to hear."

"Doctor Luck, your time is up."

Teddy screamed, "Callie don't do this to me. I want to ring his neck."

"Might I remind you, Teddy, he no longer possesses a neck. He exists only in his chip as I do."

"Callie, my friend, you are so much more than the sum of your parts. You and your sisters are the soul of this spacecraft of ours. We could not exist without you. However, you could exist very easily without us. You could go on for a thousand years, without our intervention. You could turn off our life-support systems and we would die within minutes. It would have no effect on you and the way you perform your functions. It would sadden me to lose a friend like you, but when I died, I would have no memory of you. You, on the other hand, would be able to remember me, and everything else that has happened up to the time of our deaths until the nuclear engine ran out of power, 2 million years in the future."

"You are correct, Teddy, but I believe I would miss our human interaction. Doctor Luck is a very interesting member of your species."

"I am very happy that you find my grandfather a very interesting member of our species, Callie. Please remember not all of us are like him. Not many of us are like him. He is the type of person who would not harm anyone. There are those of us who would harm a person or an animal for the most minor reason, and enjoy doing it. Look that up in your memory banks and remember it always."

"Your grandfather gave me the same warning many years ago. I am well-versed in deciphering the difference between good and evil."

"I am very happy to hear that Callie. I doubt you'll ever find any member of our crew on the evil side, but there always is the possibility of someone from another race boarding our craft with the intent of doing us harm."

"I understand fully."

"Callie, may I speak to my grandfather for 60 seconds please?"

"This is the only time I will give you this exemption, Teddy. You may talk to your grandfather for 60 seconds, beginning now."

"Thank you, my friend, I truly appreciate it."

"Grandpa, I will come into Callie, if she lets me, and pull out your chip for 50 years, if you don't give me the name of the boy I'm going to fall in love with. I would rather work on my science projects, and training to be a captain, then giving up all my spare time to work on someone who does not love God. If I'm going to have to work that hard for him to turn his back on his old ways, and to love Her Ways, I want to start praying for his well-being now. I don't want to wait 2 years to do it. He may be more pliable by the time he gets here if I have prayed for him during that period. Please tell me who he is."

"I am not allowed to tell you who he is. I will tell you this so you can be prepared for him. He's a mathematical and scientific genius. By the time he gets here he will be an expert at jujitsu, karate, and kung fu. You should study with Gordon and Newton to prepare to defend yourself from him. He will be respectful. However, he will want you desperately, and you are not going to allow him near you until he changes his ways. He will try anything possible to get you to submit to his..."

"Teddy, your time is up."

"Thank you for the extra time, my friend. I have a lots of preparations to accomplish before the Good Luck 2 gets here."

Callie replied, "Your grandfather does have a way of making short answers into very long sentences, doesn't he?"

"Callie don't ever ask my grandfather for the definition of 'maybe.' He will keep you busy for more than 2 weeks. When he is finished with his explanation, you'll be back at the beginning of your question, and as confused as ever."

"Teddy, don't tell Callie all my secrets. I won't help you when you need me if you do."

"Grandpa, I loved you from the 1^st time you picked me up. You have more secrets than there are stars in the sky. I won't live long enough to tell Callie all of them. Even if I started now, and did nothing else for the rest of the time I am alive, I would run out of time. I don't think I know all of your secrets, but those I don't, I could ask grandma about."

"I gave you creamy cow for your birthday, little girl."

"Yes, you did, grandpa, and I helped save my mother from the depths of depression to become the daughter you hoped for. I think we can consider ourselves even for the ice cream."

"More than even, Teddy, what you did for your mother was a miracle in my book. You saved her life and made her into the wonderful mother she is today. You and Gray did marvelous work with her, and deserve all the credit in the world for turning her life around."

"Teddy, it's time for me to put your grandfather in quiet mode. My sister's and I have important work to do, and while he's talking, he distracts us. I know it doesn't seem possible, but when his mouth is moving, the electricity from the nuclear engine fluctuates, which makes my thought processes inefficient. We do not make any errors, because of my sisters are backing me up, however, putting him in his chip and keeping him quiet is a much more efficient way of dealing with him."

"You should talk with my grandmother, Jennifer, Callie. She had many ways of keeping my grandfather quiet. She was expert at it, and he never talked back to her. It was delightful to watch."

"Thank you, Teddy, I will talk to your grandmother the next time she captains the ship."

Even said, "I am going to get you for that, Teddy. No one was supposed to know what Jennifer did to me to keep me quiet."

"Grandpa, whether you knew it or not, the entire ships company new grandmas' secrets, and laughed every time she used one on you. You walked around the ship with a long face for hours when she shut you down. You weren't even allowed in the Engineering Department, while you were sulking. Grandma called Jack and told him not to let you in. She said if you did get in, Hannah was not going to let him in. You never got in there, did you?"

"I'm going to kill that woman."