Dark as Daylight Ch. 22

"How are you going to do that grandpa? You don't have hands, and you can't climb out of the computer. Callie is your boss, and anything you try that is negative, she will shut down. If you're not careful, she will turn you off for a century or two. Be nice, grandpa, or I will put you in a corner, and we will pray together, like we used to when you had a human form."

"I'm beginning not to like you, Teddy. It's not fair that I have to take orders from Callie, and you. Everyone used to take orders from me, and now I have 2 overlords."

"You are wrong, grandpa, you have 3 overlords. Callie, me, and God. She is the overlord you should try to please. If She is happy, you do not have to worry about me or Callie."

"Doctor Luck, it's time for you to take a nap."

"In our next match, Callie, I am going to go for a win."

"I look forward to it, Doctor. It means you will lose for the 1^st time."

"I think I don't like you either, Callie."

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Gordon, Laura, and Newton were outside the ship loosening up for their 10-mile run at 5:30 AM, waiting for Monty to show up. When she did, she was furious.

Gordon asked, "What's the matter, Monty?"

"I have to kill that man. He has a one-track mind and it's always on sex. I can't move without him attacking me."

"Was it good for you?"

"He always makes it good for me, damn him."

"Then what are you complaining about?"

"Gordon, I don't want to talk about this with you, I just want to get this run over with and go kill Jackson, with my bare hands."

Laura said, "It sounds like your marriage is a lot like mine. I can't walk by Adam without wanting him to jump on me, or me jump on him. I'm pregnant, again, so Gordon and I will not be able to fight until after this baby is born. He feels really terrible about it, but we will continue to train, until my belly gets in the way."

"How far along are you, Laura?"

"Iris says I am about 3 ½ months along. I should have a Christmas baby this time. I was married on Christmas Day and it would be wonderful to have this baby on Christmas Day."

"I may be there right along with you. I'll know when they take the sonogram next month, but I know I am more than 2 months along."

Gordon said, "Don't forget Zoey, she's right in there with you two. She is either 3 or 4 months along. Isn't Elizabeth pregnant, Newton?"

"We haven't told anyone yet, how did you know?"

"Newt, I live with the ships newspaper. If anything is happening onboard our ship, she knows about it, and I hear about it 1^st hand. Nothing is secret from her."

Monty asked, "Gordon weren't we just talking about the decrease in the birth rate among the crew members of our ship recently?"

"Yes, we were. However, I think that's about to change. All of us here are expecting children within the next 6 months. I will wager that 20 family's, or more, will be having children within the next year. That will make up one third of the married crew, and several of the unmarried crew. We should top 100 members by the end of next year. We will again have a youth movement. The teenagers that were on board at the beginning of our journey will now be young adults 20 years old and above. The children that were born during the 1^st few years of our journey are now teenagers, and except for the few children that were born during the intervening years, we are now going to have an explosion of new births now. I don't know why it's happening this way, but for us and for this expedition, it is perfect. It is a constant renewal of our gene pool and perfect distribution of our age groups.

I expect the Good Luck 2 to arrive here by the end of next year. I expect a minimum of 500 people to be on board her. Many of them will be married. Many of them will be the parents of those of us who have made this journey, and want to see how their children are faring. Some of us may wish to return home, to planet Earth, on her, and we will miss them greatly. Some members of the group from the Good Luck 2 may wish to stay with us, and explore the universe on the Good Luck 1. Regardless of what happens, we will have finished our preparations to leave Atwater Luck for our next destination. We will have accomplished everything we set out to do, and it will be time to move on. We will leave everything that is needed for those who wish to stay behind, and they will never be out of touch with planet Earth, or us, because of Teddy's invention. She is coming into her own, and is getting ready to take my father's place on this ship. I can't wait to see what she accomplishes as time marches on.

Newton said, "If you are finished 'waxing poetic', Gordon, my legs are getting tired from warming up. I'd like to start this 20-mile run please."

"You can run 20, Newton. You are young, and dumb. The 3 of us are only going to run 10 miles today, and you are going to come in last."

"I wouldn't come in last to that old woman if she had a three-mile head start."

Monty charged at him, screaming, "I am going to tear your legs off, Newton. If I don't catch you today, when I put you in the brig, there will be no escape for you, and you will be in pain the likes of which you have never, ever felt before."

Gordon and Laura were still laughing, as they were pacing themselves behind Monty and Newton. Laura yelled out, "Don't you two know you're supposed to pace yourselves on a long-distance run?"

Monty yelled back, "I am pacing myself," as she ran full speed after Newton.

Gordon said to Laura, "By 3 miles, they are both going to be dead running at that speed."

"Who is going to fall first, Monty or Newton?"

"Newton is. Even though he is younger and in better shape, he could not keep up this pace for 3 miles until his legs gave out."

"Monty on the other hand was insulted by him. She is running on pure adrenaline, and only thinking about revenge. You don't call Monty 'OLD' and get away with it. You will suffer, and she knows how to dish it out. I know that from personal experience. You and I will run 10 miles today, as usual, we will let them play by themselves."

"Monty doesn't know we run 10 miles every morning?"

"No, she doesn't. She only knows that we train together to get you back into shape for our match. She has no idea what our regimen is, and she doesn't know that Newton is part of it. She thought this run was to punish her as part of her loss to Newton. She hasn't asked me, yet, how to break that hold, but she will, and I will tell her how to do it."

"What good is it to have the perfect hold on a person, and then tell them how to get out of it?"

"It's all for sport. There is no sense having a perfect hold and keeping it secret. No one will fight you if they know they're going to lose. You have to give them something to fight for, and you have to think of a way to nullify it. Jack taught me that and a thousand other things about life. I miss him so much. Newton does too."

"Is Newton okay as the head of the Engineering Department?"

"Newton knows that department as well as Jack did, because Jack taught him everything about it, from the smallest item to the largest problem he could possibly face. Newton loves that department, and when I am not working on the bridge, I'm down there with him driving him crazy with questions. He knows it all, and I'm very proud of him."

"He's down! His thighs are cramped, and he is in pain. Should we stop and help him?"

"No, Monty will help my cousin by putting him in pain in other parts of his body. He will forget about his thighs momentarily. Let's keep going, I don't want to see this. I've been in his position before and I was put into an ice bath because of it. She loves putting people in pain when she's teaching them a lesson they have earned. My cousin has earned this one, and he won't repeat it ever again."

"Now that I think about it, how did you get out of the isolation room this morning?"

"I opened the door, and walked out. I signed myself out at the exit, and here I am."

"I hope you're not contagious."

"I don't think what Viggio has is contagious. He has no outward signs of a disease. I think it's a genetic problem from his culture. My mother is going to be devastated once again losing a man she loves. I don't believe milk is going to help him. I don't believe the Sun is going to help him. Doctor Finch is not a geneticist, and Callie is the only way we are going to find out if there is a cure for him. Maybe my dad or possibly Teddy may think of something to help him, but I'm not smart enough in that area to think of anything that can."

"Maybe we should've thought of bringing a geneticist along with us at the beginning of our journey."

"What would he/she have done up until now?"

"They would've had a field day with the Nasralvhrnecian's genetic makeup, even though it is very close to our own. This disease, or whatever it is, would probably show up prominently in Viggio's DNA structure."

"It might, or might not, but either way it would take decades to find a cure if it is genetic. I don't know what I'm going to be able to do for my mother if he dies. Doctor Finch tells me there is no way he is going to survive past one year because of the bones in his neck. He can live without hands and arms, but the condition of C1 through 5 is terminal. He's never seen anything close to being like it before. The discs are flattened and nonfunctional. Every time he turns his neck, he is rubbing bone on bone, and shaving tiny particles of bone away. He can't help it, but he is his own worst enemy."

"Why don't we put him in a neck brace?"

"He won't do it. It has something to do with his culture, and even after my mother slapped him, for being so stupid about his health, he asked her if she would defy her God for the sake of a longer life. Needless to say, my mother said 'NO' she would not, and then she broke down and cried in his arms."

"Why is it that the people who are so much in love with one another always wind up getting hurt the worst? Your mother lost your father, and she was devastated by it. Now she just had a baby, with Viggio, who she loves dearly, and she's going to lose him within a year. I don't understand it, and it does not seem FAIR."

"You are not allowed to hit me when I tell you this, Laura, because it is a quote from my father, and not from me. If I see you wind up to try to hit me, I'm going to put on a burst of speed and leave you in the dust. I have never run full speed with you, because I didn't want to embarrass you. Now, just listen to what my father said to me from the time I was 3 years old, about life being FAIR.

"God never meant life to be fair and equal. She gave everyone something special, but never something equal. She has a sense of humor, and that sense of humor never was about LIFE being Fair. She made some people strong, other people smart, other people industrious, and other people evil. She may have had the Archangel Michael put the Devil into hell for a thousand years, but she left his disciples to roam the earth to do mischief.

Every time people saw these mischief makers causing problems' they couldn't solve by themselves, they turned to the smartest people for answers.

The smartest people wanted something in return; they wanted to be kings, to live in palaces, and to be protected by the strongest among them. It didn't seem FAIR to the Industrious people, but it was the only way they were going to stamp out the problem the mischief makers were causing. Once the kings were installed, they started taxing the people for their protection. It didn't seem FAIR, until the mischief makers showed up once again and were defeated by the king's army.

Fair is a double edge sword and continues to be to today. Some presidents try to take care of the people and succeed because they are FAIR. Others are idiots and cannot see past their greedy noses. Their definition of FAIR is enriching those who helped put him in the position of power.

Many countries are run by dictators who are backed up by their armies that control the people. Others are run by democracies, where people elect their government. Sometimes the people get it right, and other times they get it wrong.

Fair has nothing to do with it. Politicians will lie and cheat to get elected to office. Fair will get you nowhere in politics. If you did something wrong while you were in high school, it will be thrown in your face 20 years later while you are running for elected office. Fair is not a word anyone uses while running for office. Fair is bullshit. Fair will never be mentioned in a public speech. Fair should be removed from Webster's International dictionary, and the Oxford English dictionary, because it means nothing to the people in power, or those trying to attain Power. The people put these people in power, because they are like sheep. 1 dog can lead a thousand people around like sheep, and whip them into a frenzy because of words that separate one party from another.

Fair is not one of those words. Fair means to unite, not divide.

"Threats of Civil War after an election that puts the other party in power divides the nation."

"Fair makes those people laugh, as they load their guns, and scream about the Second Amendment to the Constitution."

"Fair will never get you elected, but it will get you noticed as a nice person who wanted to do good and lost by a large margin to some idiot who promises tax reform, a larger military, a reform of Social Security, and less healthcare. The word FAIR never left his/her mouth, EVER!"

"FAIR means nothing to anyone in power. They would rather kill you then be FAIR with you, if it is going to cost them anything. If it is going to be beneficial to them, then they will be FAIR."

"Thank goodness you have a photographic memory with total recall, Gordon. How many times did your father repeat that to you?"

"Over the course of 15 years, he said it 1,264 times."

"That's almost once a week, Gordon. Did he ever ask you to repeat it to him?"

"Yes, he did, and I repeated it perfectly every time. He got so angry with me for doing it that well, he would send me out for a run, with Monty. Rain, or snow, it didn't matter, out we went for 5 miles. Monty was amazing in her 20s, nothing bothered her. When I went up to her ranch in Montana I understood why. Her ranch was huge. The mountains were snowcapped all year long. She had cattle, buffalo, moose, deer, wolves, every kind of animal you could think of on that property of hers, and it was picturesque. She had an agreement with the Indian nations. They could come on her property any time they wanted to hunt the buffalo. I never saw a hunt, but Monty shot a big, old Buffalo, that would not have made it through the next winter. She took it to a shed, and hung it up by its hind legs to be slaughtered. She put me in a leather apron that covered me from shoulder to shoes, and handed me the biggest knife I had ever seen. She told me where and how to eviscerate this huge beast, and left me alone to do it. I should have known better, but I was only 16, and Monty was still training me. This was just another lesson in life. I did the transverse cut from the left hind leg to the right, and Monty and Janet applauded. The next cut started at the bottom, by the buffalo's throat. I had to go up the center of his body, all the way up to the transverse cut. It was tough going, through this bulls' body but I finally succeeded. Nothing seemed to happen even though I knew I had cut through every layer of skin and fat.

Finally, when I reached the transverse cut, all hell broke loose. Everything that was inside this animal gushed out and fell on me. I screamed in horror, but all I heard in reply was Monty and Janet laughing their asses off. They knew this was going to happen, but they didn't inform me in advance. I was covered in the viscera of this animal, and I did not like it. This stuff must've weighed at least 150 pounds, and I weighed less than that. I had to wiggle myself out from underneath it, while the 2 instigators watched me and laughed.

When I finally stood up, I was covered in blood and gore.

Monty said, 'Cut out the liver, kidneys, heart, brain, pancreas, and tongue. Then you can cut off the head, wash it out thoroughly, and put it on. Go into your bedroom and see what the little miss has to say about it."

"I know what the little miss is going to say about it, right after she screams. I'm going to cut your balls off Mr. Luck. If you ever scare me like that again, you will never have any children or a sex life."

"Maybe you should leave the head outside until morning. You can show it to her then."

"I believe that is an excellent idea."

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80. Message Received

Dycke Schneider called Rod Laver to ask him if the boys had received Teddy's message. He knew instantly the answer was no.

"What message, Dycke?"

"If everything we've deciphered is correct, this message was transmitted a little more than 4 minutes ago, from a point in space, somewhere in Aquarius. I have a team of my engineers trying to work out the parameters of this new transmission system, but I sure would like the boys input on it as soon as possible."

"Dycke send a full copy of the transmission directly to the building site. I will have the boys call you directly, as soon as they get a chance to look it over."

"Thanks Rod, I'm transmitting it to them now. Each family has a personal note on this transmission also. I don't know if the University of New Mexico is going to dole them out or not, but I am going to call Patty now, and give her the news about Laura, and then I'm going home and let Payne read about her grandchildren. She will be thrilled."

"Did you say grandchildren or grandchild?"

"Grandchildren, my friend, I have a granddaughter, and a new grandson. If this doesn't get Payne on our ship, nothing will."

"Who are you going to leave in charge of all your businesses here, Dycke?"

"Can you keep your mouth shut?"

"I am an attorney, I can keep a secret from anyone, including my wife."

"I have an engineer that's been with the company, about 12 years now, and he is showing great promise. I want to see how he does as an administrator. I wish Even was still around to drive him crazy, as he did me, but there was only 1 of him, thank God.

The Good Luck 3 will start a preliminary design phase as soon as the boys lift off. It will be a duplicate of the Good Luck 2, because as far as I am concerned that ship is perfect in every way. The boys did a perfect job on the inside build, and my guys did a perfect job on the outside. One day the government will wise up and use our design instead of using rockets."

"That will come much sooner than you think, Dycke. Patrick has made changes at NASA already, and he's only been there 9 months. I can't wait to see what he does in the next 2 years. There are no more rockets on order. There are a total of 3 Space Launch Systems on order as of this moment, and that will be the end of that system. The maximum lift capability of SLS variant 2, will be 143 metric tons. After that I believe they will be building from our designs for everything in the future.