Honor Thy Mother & Thy Father Ch. 22

"Stephano, we are going to slip and fall in the shower. If you want to do it standing up, that's fine, but let's do it on the carpeting we have some purchase for your feet."

"Patty, why do you have to be so logical, at a time like this? We are on our honeymoon; we are supposed to be spontaneous."

"Stephano, if spontaneity means death; you go first. You can come back, as my mother did, and tell me how it feels. When I get your answer, I will think about it."

"Your sense of humor is abandoning you again, Patricia. That was not at all funny."

"It was not meant to be funny, it was meant to keep you alive, at least until our children are born."

Stephano said, "Get dressed; I have developed appetite for venison."

"You want to eat a deer?"

"Why not, I just ate you, dear."

"I guess I walked right into that one, didn't I?"

"Yes you did, Steph."

They walked out of the hotel, along a raised boardwalk, and viewed animals in their natural habitat. Mother bears walking with one-year old cubs. A moose standing in water, above her knees, grazing on greens that were growing wild, in the marsh. Hundreds of bird species eating berries and seeds, storing up energy for their long migration south. Finally, as the sun reached its perigee, and the clouds were blown away by the unceasing gales, the solar winds started to play against the Earth's upper atmosphere. The Northern Lights caused Patty to lean against Stephano's chest, as she watched them dance, for the very first time. As her mother told her, God was definitely a 'She.' No man would bother to paint the sky, every night, with such astounding beauty. She watched awestruck as the lights danced around sky. She knew the physics that caused this marvelous effect, and believed in the God that demanded it happened every night. At that moment, she felt her heart glow as if her mother was visiting her again. She put her hands to her chest, trying to capture the warmth she felt. When Stephano asked her if she was alright, she said she was fine. Her mother had just paid her a quick visit. Stephano kissed her on the top of her head. He held her close to him, as the moments passed. Patty was as calm as he had ever seen her.

Three days later, they were on a pleasure boat 20 miles off the coast of Vancouver, British Columbia, and watched as a pods of humpback whales moved implacably north. They used no compass. They did use the stars for guidance. They used the Earth's magnetic fields to make the transit from their summer home in the Gulf of Tehuantepec, off Southern Mexico, to their feeding grounds in the Arctic. They gave birth to their next generation in the warm waters of Southern Mexico, and mated there to bring new members to their pods two years hence. With no calendar or clock to tell them when to start north, the females, the young, and the very old, started their trek north. They were followed a few weeks later, by the stronger and younger males. Site seers, from all over the globe, came to the Eastern Pacific to watch this annual migration of the largest mammal remaining on Earth. Their numbers were increasing slowly, but they are still a protected species.

From Vancouver, it was a one-hour hop to Seattle, and a helicopter jaunt to the estate of Bill and Melinda Gates. Built into the side of the mountain, overlooking Lake Washington, the house is completely fiber-optic. It took after Bill himself. It is totally understated, but has every high-tech device currently on the market, or under development.

As they were eating dinner, all questions were about Patricia's programs. For the first time ever, she was completely forthcoming about them. Her two hosts were enthralled.

When it came time to demonstrate the programs, Patty asked Bill what company he would like her to shut down.

He laughed. "How about Apple?"

She replied, "How did I know you were going to say that, Mr. Gates."

"It was just a thought," he said. "Shut Microsoft down, I want to see how my people react. Let me make one phone call first."

While Patty loaded the first program, Bill called the president of Microsoft and told him what was about to happen.

"Bullshit Bill, nobody can do that to us."

"$10 million to my charity, if you're wrong."

"Hell, I'll put 20 million in if it happens."

"Thank you very much for your money, it is tax-deductible."

"Bill, why do I think you just fucked me?"

"I called you to warn you about what was going to happen. You were the one that said it couldn't happen. In less than five minutes, our computers will go down, unexpectedly. Five minutes after that, they will come back up, without an explanation."

"I want that person on our staff."

"I tried, she won't do it. She's going to work with Harold Chase on something that is so revolutionary; the skies could be blue again."

"I am not even going to ask if we are still going to be in business in 10 years."

"Yes we are, and we will be doing just fine. Start thinking outside the box, because the box is not going to be a cube anymore. Are you ready, Patty?"

"Any time you want Mr. Gates."

"Say goodbye to our computers, they are about to go down. Do it, Patty."

Patty inserted the codes, and watched as the monitor in front of her started dancing. Lines of code moved like lightning. Bill and Melinda Gates watched the numbers stream by."

Melinda said, "That can't possibly do anything to a computer."

Stephano said to her, "Don't bet this house on it."

One minute later, Bill's cell phone rang. "Our computers are down. What the fuck did she do?"

"After I see $20 million in my charity account, I may tell you. Until then, I will have to keep you in the dark. The computers will come back up in two minutes. Patty, whenever you're ready."

Patty put in the second disc, booted it up, and waited for it to announce it was ready. When it did, she typed in her codes, and waited for the next set of instructions. When they came up she put in the next set of codes, hit enter and removed her disc. She put in a third disc and ran a special program. It ran for four minutes and ejected itself automatically.

She looked at Bill and Melinda Gates and said, "It's not that I don't trust either of you, but you are both too smart for me to leave any trace of what I just did on your computer. I just erased everything. I hope you don't mind."

They smiled. "If you hadn't done that, I would have been surprised," Melinda said.

Bill's cell phone rang again and the disjointed voice at the other end said, "Offer her a quarter of the company. I want her on our staff. Our computers just came back up."

They sat down in the library and Melinda said, "The program looks benign as it is processing. I have no idea what happens to it when you put in your codes."

"My mother and I worked on this for many years. I came up with the breakthrough that turned, for lack of a better analogy, a herbivore into a carnivore. My mother challenged me to find a way to reverse the process. She told me that one was no good without the other. It was a nightmare to do it. It only took 2 ½ years for me to turn the program into a carnivore. It took us four more years to find a way to reverse the process. I say us because my mother helped me every step of the way. I despaired many times believing it could not be done. One afternoon, I took down a AT&T Repeater. The whole Southwest was out of communications for AT&T. I put in my new program, and prayed. Six minutes later, it was back up. My mother and I were ecstatic. We did something we never had done before; and never repeated afterwards. We got drunk together in the living room of our house. We woke up the next morning with the worst hangovers you can imagine. We were both naked, and my pony was asleep close by me."

Melinda asked, "What was the horse doing in the house?"

"Neither my mother nor I remember bringing her into the house. Her name is 'Timeless' and she is 19 years old now. We are the best friends."

Bill finished laughing, he asked, "Does she remember where the liquor cabinet is?"

Patty's eyes started leaking, and Stephano rushed to her aid. He said, "My father had Patty's mom and 30 other students killed as part of a vendetta. Patty's father told the other members of the New York syndicate that my grandfather had stolen a great deal of money from them. He told them how he had done it, and where the money currently was. The heads of the other four families personally killed my grandfather. My father was forbidden to go after anyone in Europe because of the repercussions that it would have to the drug business here U.S. That's why he killed Patty's mom, tried to kill Patty, and blew up the dormitory where Patty was living."

Melinda said, "I've remember reading all about it. I had no idea it was you Patty. I am so sorry about your mother, and your friends. The other stories I read; it must be true also. The attempt on your life prior to your wedding, where you wound up in the hospital, and had to find a place to hide. The NSA sent people out to kill you; all that is true?"

"I'm sorry to say this, Melinda, but everything you saw and read was true. I only survived, because of three people. My father, the head of the FBI, Michael Free, and this big oaf, who would not leave me, just like I cannot leave him. He always showed up in time to foil someone's plan to hurt me. He secreted me out of the hospital, while I was in a coma, because he didn't want them to cut my body open for a feeding tube. He found a novel way to get me out of the coma, by lying that my father's new wife was about to lose her baby, and possibly her life, if our helicopter was not there to take her to New York for emergency surgery. He is very good at lying. The only problem is I can tell when he's doing it, and he gets into a world of trouble."

Stephano laughed as she described the problem he has, when he tells a lie. He said, "I don't know how she does it, but I must have a neon sign that lights up on my forehead that tells her I am lying. Her face changes instantly and I know I am in trouble."

"Have you ever thought about not lying to her?"

"I stopped lying to her, when I asked her to marry me, and she said yes."

"I didn't say yes, you badgered me into it."

Bill said, "I think your marriage is going to be a lot of fun."

"We are having a house built now. One of the rooms is going to be called, "The Argumenterrium." Once we go in there, we are not allowed out until we have resolved our differences. No lethal weapons are allowed in that room."

"That sounds like a very reasonable precaution, otherwise one of you might not walk out of the room."

Patty smiled, "I would never kill him. He is my husband until he reaches 110. However, he would see his testicles hanging from the bedroom wall if he ever violated our sacred trust."

"You Catholics take marriage very seriously, don't you?"

"We marry once, and we marry for a lifetime. It is why we are supposed to take our time and get to know one another before we get married. He will never leave me, while he is 'ALIVE.'"

Stephano, Bill, and Melinda laughed riotously.

They left the mansion shortly after midnight, and the helicopter took them back to Seattle. The next morning, the aircraft was prepared for a 2 hours and 20 minutes, from Seattle, Washington to Vail, Colorado. There was a major difference in the flight crew. Hank, this senior pilot, was sitting in the right seat, which is normally the copilot seat. Greg, the copilot, had set up the jump seat, which is just behind the airspeed, landing gear, and several other major components of the aircraft. Patty was sitting in the pilot seat. Stephano, and Shirley were buckled in tightly, and praying in the passenger compartment.

Patty came on the intercom and said, "Stephano shut up. If you are going to pray, do it silently, or I will come back there and stuff your socks in your mouth."

Stephano had heard that tone of voice before, and started praying silently, you will immediately.

Hank contacted the tower, received their clearance and taxi instructions to the runway. He asked Patty nicely if she wanted him to taxi to the runway.

She said to him just as nicely, "Keep your hands off the controls, unless I ask for help. This is my aircraft."

Hank did not utter another word.

As they approached the end of the taxiway, Patty said, "Sea-Tac tower, November 37749 ready for takeoff runway 34 right."

"November 37749, altimeter 30.01, winds 020°, 17 knots, contact departure control 118.35. Cleared for takeoff."

"749, Roger, departure control 118.35. We are rolling." She smoothly moved the throttle to one-quarter speed as she turned the corner and lined up with the centerline and then increased it to 90% power. As the engines continued to spool up she continued checking instrument panel to make sure everything was fine and then increased them to full power. Hank kept reading off speeds as she continued reading the instrument panel.

Hank said, "V 1," which means you have 2 takeoff or abort your takeoff now. Patty continued on.

A few seconds later, Hank said, "Rotate," and Patty called the yoke smoothly back towards her lap. The nose of the aircraft gently glided into the air and she increased her airspeed to 200 knots as indicated on the Standard Instrument Departure sheet which was attached to the yoke in front of her. She contacted departure control as she turned the aircraft to the east southeast and requested her cruise altitude of 45,000 feet. It was approved and when she reached the altitude she put the aircraft on autopilot. She asked Hank if the control zones, where the Air Force does tactical training were in use.

Hank said, "It doesn't matter Patty. They never let anyone overfly those areas. It would take 600 miles off our trip, because we have to go around them all the time, but they say they could have an alert any minute and they don't want anyone in those areas."

Patty smiled at him and said, "We will see about that." She took out her cell phone, hit a speed dial number, and put it on speaker.

"NORAD, General Lyons office."

"Is he in a good mood today, or is he venting again?"

"Lady, are you out of your fucking mind. If he heard you talk about him that way, he would rip your skull off."

"Put your phone on speaker, and tell him exactly what I said. I bet you a dollar he starts laughing."

"What happens if he throws me in the brig, and I lose my stripes?"

"I will make sure that does not happen."

"Lady, you are out of your mind." The sergeant did as he was asked and said, "General, a young lady asked me to say this to you. ' Is he in a good mood today, or is he venting again?"

Gen. Lyons started laughing, and told him to put her through.

The sergeant said to Patty, "I'm sorry to say I lost, but whoever you are, I think he likes you a lot."

"He was hoping I was going to be his daughter in law. I told him it would never happen, but he kept hoping."

"Congratulations Mrs. Valentino, you broke my son's heart."

"Hello Ventin III, did I break his heart before I gave him the million dollars, or after he fell in love with Marie?"

"Patty, did you notice she has a very strong resemblance to you?"

"If you mean she is a woman, she is beautiful, she is available, and she is able to wrap him around her little finger without him noticing it, yes she has a very strong resemblance to me."

"He tells me the exact opposite. He says she is very pliable and she conforms to whatever he asks of her."

"I talked with her a few weeks ago and it was the funniest conversation I have had in a long time. Did you know he would not have sex with her because he thought it was not proper to have sex with you the truth before marriage?"

Ventin responded, "My son would have sex with a wall it had a hole in it. Now he won't touch Marie because he's getting married to her?"

"I believe I put an end to that, after we had our little talk. Steve was screwing everyone at school, with the exception of me and a few other girls that resisted his charms. I take it you are going to be at his wedding?"

Unfortunately, yes I am, even though his mother is going to be there also. I tried to stay at least 3 states away from her whenever it is possible."

"Well, you to do something right. Steve is an absolutely wonderful person. He is also brilliant. He's going to make both of you very proud. Did he tell you about the program he developed, which he is negotiating the sale of to a major corporation?"

"I knew he was keeping something from me. It was something in his voice and I couldn't figure out what it was. So he has something big in the works?"

"Don't say that I mentioned it to you. I don't want to ruin it for him. This could be huge. Let it to his surprise for you. Okay?"

"My lips are sealed, Patty. Now, why are you calling me? You are not known for your social graces. What's up?"

"I am flying an airplane at 45,000 feet, and I want to go to Vail, Colorado. You have these pesky control zones that are costing me hundreds of dollars in fuel because we have to fly around them. Can you help me and let me fly direct to my destination."

"No."

"I will shut your computers down."

"No one can do that."

"The NSA, the FBI, and several nefarious organizations around the world thought so too."

"I am going to take you over my knee and spank you."

"You can't do that; only my husband can, and he enjoys it quite a bit."

"Patty, all that was your doing?"

"Yes Ventin, that is why the NSA and 4 New York Mob families tried to kill me. It took my mother and me 6 years to perfect the programs to kill computers, and then bring them back to life if we wanted to. Will you reconsider my request to fly direct to the Vail Regional Airport this one time? I would hate to put our country's defense posture at risk."

"You knew I was going to let you do it anyhow, Patty"

"You know I was never going to shut down your computers, general."

"You and my son would have made quite a pair Patricia."

"No General, he would have been in a mental institution by the end of our first year of marriage. I am worried about the big lug I'm married to now. I hope you can take the idiocy I dish out, when I am working on program. Oh, he has gotten me pregnant already. I am going to have twin girls. If I don't drive him buggy, I am sure they will."

"Congratulations Patricia, I wish the absolute best for you, Stephano, and your new family. If there is anything I can do, let me know."

"I already asked you, and you said 'No!'

"All right, give me a minute."

Gen. Lyons contacted the officer on duty at the control desk and told him what he wanted done. The General on duty knew better than to argue with his commanding officer. His staff contacted the air traffic control center, gave them the aircraft's number. In return they were given its position, and altitude.

The control center called Patty's aircraft and said, "November 37749 is cleared direct Vail Regional airport. Who the hell do you know?"

Patricia responded, "Would you believe I pray a lot?"

"The Mormon Tabernacle choir could ask to go through that area and they wouldn't allow them through it."

"In that case, I'm just lucky."

The trip was bumpy all the way there, because the flight was over mountainous terrain, which made the air unstable. As they got closer to the airport, Hank asked Patty if she would like a pen and paper to figure out the pressure altitude.

Patty said it was not necessary. She already had it figured out. She had factored in the altitude of the airport, the current altimeter, the temperature, and all the environmental measurements involved. She had come up with a landing speed of 128 knots, plus 10 knots for her husband.

Hank laughed, because normally a pilot added the 10 knots for his wife. He said to her, "Are you sure you have never flown an aircraft before?"