There Must Be A Mistake Ch. 30

"In other words, it still hurts."

"Of course it hurts, but she had no choice in the matter. She had to break her mother's heart, or break mine. Either way she was going to break her heart too. Her life is one of denial. If you asked her, she would say she is very happy with her decision. If you could see inside her heart, she is dying, just like me."

I grabbed my son and hugged him tight.

"Finally, those of the first tears I've seen you shed over your breakup. They won't be your last, but it shows you human, just like the rest of us. It will take time Gordon, and one day you'll get over it."

"I know dad, time and distance, and on 25 December I'm going to be putting a lot of distance between us."

"Let me talk to the boys for second dad, because I have an answer for their problem."

"Holden, Richard, there is an easy fix to your problem. You can do it the way the Romans did and make an aqueduct system as walls under each floor, or you can use traditional walls, with openings for doorways of any kind. The arches give you a prettier look, or you could paint the walls with murals and do it that way. As usual it is always your choice."

After a quick conference Richard asked, "How thick does the wall have to be?"

"Traditional walls are 8 inches thick. However in this case, just for safety reasons, I would go with 14 inches."

I asked, "Why would you go with 14 inches Gordon?"

"Dad, even with the safety features between the 2nd and 3rd walls, the internal gravity feature is going to create a lot of torque moving at over 1000 miles an hour. The walls are going to be subjected to an awful lot of stress, so I added the extra 6 inches to compensate for it."

"I agree, but I would've gone to 16 inches."

"Are you always going to break my chops?"

"Are you going to miss me when I'm gone?"

"When you leave, I am coming after you. I'm sure I'll have questions you haven't answered."

"Carrot top will answer them for you."

"Not like you would. So don't mention leaving again."

"What's on your mind son? Your feet are moving and your fingers are about to be worn out by the table."

"Is Mister Schneider well enough to kill you again?"

"Why do you ask?"

"While I was working on Newton's light project, I sort of stumbled into another area of science, and according to every computer I tried it on, it works dad. It's easy, it's quick, and it's big time. We have everything on hand. There are no new discoveries needed. All we have to do is put the parts together. We have everything we need, except one thing, and that is what Mister Schneider will kill you over."

"I don't want your brothers to know what it is so write something on a piece of paper and hand it to me. He wrote down Pop Tarts, but whispered the real thing in my ear."

Richard and Holden watched their brother carefully write the secret ingredient on the piece of paper, and hand it to me.

I read it, and was about to throw it away, when I looked at the 2 of them. Thoughtfully, I stuffed the paper in my pocket and smiled.

Come with me Gordon, we have to discuss this.

As soon as we were out of sight, my 2 gremlins attacked the pad upon which Gordon had written the secret words.

Using a sharp pencil, and a light touch, they used the graphite to bring the words to life. When they saw, 'Pop Tarts' Richard screamed, "I'm going to kill you Gordon. I don't eat pop tarts."

"That was fun, wasn't it Gordon?"

"Fund for you dad, now I have someone else in the family that wants to kill me. Let's go back there, and try to let me calm them down."

When Richard saw us walking back towards them, he charged at me. I yelled at him not to do it, because he did not have any training from Monty.

He pulled up short and asked, "When should I start?"

"I started when I was 3 years old. I think you should start right away. I think Holden should start also. It does 2 things for you. It builds up your body, and clears your brain.

When you go back to work the next day, you are raring to go. The next evening you go through the same program, until you start to progress. Your body will be black and blue, but you will learn to enjoy it as I did.

I don't know what I would do without Monty at my side. She beats the crap out of me, and I keep coming back for more, because she keeps training me to get better. The better I get at defending myself, the better scientist I have become. My head is clearer, and I am able to concentrate better."

"Who are we going to get to train us?"

"Asked Monty, and she will find 2 people to train you, just as she was picked to train me."

"What would you have done if I tried to hit you?"

"I wouldn't have allowed you to hit me. I would have stepped aside, tripped you, and watched you fall headlong to the floor. Then I would have put my hand out to help you up."

Gordon whispered, "800 pounds of depleted uranium."

I screamed, "Shoot me Gordon, save Dycke the trouble. Where the hell are we supposed to get 800 pounds of depleted uranium?"

"Keep it down dad, little ears are listening. Have your agents take them away for little while please, I don't want them seeing this yet. Believe it or not, those 2 are the biggest blabbermouths on earth."

"Hank would you take these 2 gremlins to the cafeteria for me please. They can eat the tables, the chairs and anything else in there, but they cannot eat ice cream."

"Dad that's not fair. If Teddy was here, you would let her eat ice cream."

"I would not, it's before 12 o'clock."

"It's 11:50 dad, we can wait 10 minutes to eat."

"I know, but I can't wait 10 minutes to get rid of you."

"I'm going to tell mom you said that to us."

"Go ahead, she'll probably tell you why I waited so long."

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

All right Gordon, what do you have for me?"

"A Force Field dad, an honest-to-goodness Force Field, and I stumbled on it."

"Those are the best kinds of inventions Gordon. Let's see it."

After going through two password protected lockboxes, and two challenges by the computer, Gordon was allowed into his file.

As I looked it over, I understood the lasers, electromagnetic arc generators, and the heat generators, microwave beams and the electrical discharge. As everything came together in my head, the holy shits started coming out of my mouth. I started screaming at him, "Did you write it up? Did you call Rod yet? We can build one of these here without going to Dycke right away."

I'm dancing up and down the aisle thinking about all the military possibilities Gordon's new patent had in store, and I believe I was in mid air, turned around and stopped.

Gordon was sitting in his chair smiling at me because it finally hit me, "Why do we need 800 pounds of depleted uranium? None of it was called for in the process."

"Gotcha." He ran away from me like a scared rabbit.

I laughed, and ran after him like a hungry wolf.

"I'm going to get you for that Gordon."

"You are 1000 jokes ahead of me dad. I will never catch up to you."

"Print out one copy of your invention, and put it back into the lockbox. I'll call Delicious and Gray and have them meet us at the Nest."

"Why dad, is your mind failing you?"

"What did you just say to your father?"

"Oh shit. Hello Monty, what are you doing at work today?"

"Hank needed the afternoon off, so I switched with him. You still haven't answered my question about your father?"

"Hold him by the neck Monty I'll be right there."

Monty's left-hand reached out and grabbed Gordon's neck like a grape ready to be squeezed.

"Don't worry about me dad, she's only killing me."

"Good morning Monty, how is your favorite student this morning?"

"Good morning Doctor Luck, I'll let you know when my fingers touch."

"I hate to ruin your afternoon so soon, but you have to let him go. He just came up with another patentable product that he has to sign over to his brothers before I kill him myself. I pulled a joke on him this morning, and not only did he get even with me, he is one up on me now. He's never done that to me before. Your influence is getting through to him, unfortunately."

"It's only taken me 14 years Doctor. You would think by now something would have happened."

"You certainly have made a man out of him Monty. I couldn't be more proud of him and more thankful to you for doing it. I never would have had the time to bring him up as well as you have."

"Beating the crap out of him has been my ultimate pleasure Doctor. It will be my continuing pleasure once we get on board the spacecraft. Did I tell you he called me Tubby?"

"He called you Tubby, and he still breathing? Should I ask you why?"

"Doctor, look at it from my point of view. Killing him quickly the pain would be over quickly. We are going to be alive for a very long time, and we have the gym on the spacecraft, where I can beat the crap out of him daily. He will have to go into stasis, for 10 years, to recuperate from the pain I'm going to inflict upon his body while we are awake."

"What an excellent means of retribution Monty, and there are only so many places he can hide from you in our spacecraft. Since you are in charge of security, anyone seeing him will have to report any sightings of him to you, and you will have your hands around his throat just as you do now. What a wonderful thought."

In a rasping voice Gordon said, "If she doesn't let me go, I won't be able to do my job."

Monty said, "I have 6 weeks, I'll train a chimpanzee to do your job."

Gordon replied, "I'll train a silverback ape to do yours."

Monty reared back her right hand, until I stepped between them.

"That will be quite enough children. Look how well you trained him Monty. I don't believe anyone but Jeff would stand up to you like he does."

"You have to promise me you won't kill him Doctor. I raised this pain in the ass, and if anyone is going to kill him, it is going to be me."

Gordon said, "Are you sure you don't want me to sneak turkeys on board the spacecraft?"

He broke out of her hold and started running away. I grabbed Monty's arm and asked, "What is this thing about turkeys?"

"I told Gordon that if he ever called me Tubby again, this Thanksgiving he would be the headless horseman. That's when he mentioned this thing about turkeys. He wanted to know how many eggs a turkey laid in one season. I told him not even he could slip that by you."

"Monty if anyone could slip one of those things by me, it would be Gordon. Now you have me worried."

"There are so many cameras watching the entrances to the spaceship, he couldn't possibly slip anything by security."

"Does anybody check his briefcase when he goes into the spacecraft?"

"No, why would they?"

"What a wonderful way to get turkey eggs into the warm confines of the engineering section."

"That's sneaky son of a bitch would do it. Starting tomorrow, all bags going into an out of the spacecraft are going to be checked Doctor, even yours."

"That works for me Monty. We can just have Jeff tell everyone there has been a bomb threat, and no one gets into or out of the spacecraft with out being checked. We better tell Colonel Canyon about this ruse so he can tell Mister Zabo, and General Morgan. Otherwise, they will shutdown this place tighter then a drum."

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

"Mom got laid yesterday Becky; look at the smile on her face. She has not glowed like that in almost 20 months."

"If we had our diary with us, we could give her the day, week, and month, but we left that at home."

Joan was about to ask a question, when Sandra stopped her.

"Mom please don't; I just found out about it recently. I was told it was a very short book. Apparently, when I am away from Joseph, I am a very boring person."

Rebecca said, "Grandma, if we were Catholic she would be the only living saintly nun. While we are at school during the day, she spends her time working with 3 agencies for the poor, homeless, and sick. On the nights she goes out to have fun, everyone drinks alcohol, and mom drinks water. It's the reason she was cleared of all charges when she had her accident. She had a ton of alcohol in her system, but the charges at the club showed she only had water. Someone wanted her, but didn't plan on her getting into an accident."

Joe said, "That is in the past, and we are looking at a bright and happy future. Dad did I tell you paying for her wedding Saturday?"

"No Joseph I think you skipped that part."

"You can take it out of the $210 million you just received from my wife. It should only cost about $300,000, possibly $400,000. Make sure you call your credit card company, or bank, and tell him to expect it."

"Thank you for that information Joseph, I'll declare bankruptcy as soon as I pay for your wedding."

4 women attacked him viciously, until he begged for mercy.

"Joseph, what is it with women and hitting? Can't they take a joke?"

"Dad, you just got the shit beat out of you. Shouldn't that answer your question?"

"Yes, I guess it did. Can we go see the spacecraft now?"

"Sam, you are still like a little boy, you can't wait to go see a new toy."

"Mom, this is a $350 billion toy. People have been putting their hearts and souls into it for nearly 9 years. In a little more than 6 weeks, it's going to be gone, never to be seen again. Do you understand what a heartbreak it is going to be for them? We call it the 'Egg', and the area it's in is called 'the Nest.' Everyone will cheer when it takes off and listens to the voice contact as they pass the moon, Mars, and proceed into outer space.

Then there will be nothing for them to do after that. They will come back to work after the New Year, and begin packing up their desks. They will get severance packages, which will blow their minds, because of the great work they've done over these years. However, they will still miss looking at the 'Egg'."

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

"Doctor Finch did you hear about this?"

"Hear what Hank?"

"As part of President Clark, and Mrs. Julia Atwater's Final Will and Testament, they both request to be taken into space, on the Good Luck 1, if it has not departed yet. They wish their Urn to be placed on the first habitable planet we reach, even if you decide not to stay there. There is an absolute uproar going on, in Washington, over this request, but there is nothing anyone can do about it."

"That's why the people loved him, and the politicians hated him. He was always a forward thinker, and not a follower of the status quo. The force of his political will is the reason we can breathe the air again without coughing. He is also one of the 20 investors in our project."

"How could he do that if he was President of the United States."

"He was out of office when he joined us. His stature, along with Williams', made all the difference in the world to get the money needed to build this spacecraft, and the big named company's to join in to make things they never thought were possible to make, until they tried."

They stopped at the security gate and the windows rolled down.

"Good morning Doctor Finch, the soon to be really Mrs. Finch, Deborah, Rebecca, Joan, Sam, we have been expecting you. Do not let your granddaughters throw you into the bear traps please. You will not be happy with them if they do. Enjoy your tour of the spacecraft. Girls, it's not that we don't trust you, but we don't. Your hands will be cuffed behind your back at all times, while you are on the spacecraft."

"That's not fair. What happens if we slip and fall, we will land on our faces."

"Yes we know. It will be quite an improvement."

"Dad!"

"You have nothing to worry about girls; after all, I am a plastic surgeon."

"Mom!"

"Don't look at me for help. My diary is very small."

"This is not fair Deborah. They're ganging up on us."

"Should we give them the silent treatment?"

"Absolutely not, they would pay us to do that. We never did recite the preamble to the Constitution, the Constitution, and the 27 amendments to dad. Maybe we could introduce them to everyone over dinner this evening."

Sandra said, "We have to ask those men where they get those sound-proof ear protectors. I couldn't eat and listen to them talk all through dinner."

"Mom, dad's taking us to a restaurant that has Atlantic salmon. It's your favorite. Not even two brats, like us, could stop you from eating Atlantic salmon."

They were still laughing, when they reached the drop off point for the Egg. All the insignia's were on it. United States of America was prominently displayed towards the seating area. The Good Luck 1 was below and to its right. Schneider Technologies was below and to its left. Every other partner was displayed in a size according to their representation on the project. Boeing was in large letters, Sony, ITT, universities, and hosts of others were much smaller. The name of every scientist, engineer, tradesman, secretary, and janitor, who ever worked on the project were proudly painted on a central portion of the spacecraft. None of them knew this was going to happen, and when they were asked to initial their names, most of them had tears in their eyes, and shaky hands."

Sam said to his granddaughters, "You two go first, we will follow you at a safe distance. If you make it across safely, so should we."

"Grandpa, we would never do that to you. Your bones are too old and fragile. You would never be able to teach us how to play golf."

"I would sit in a golf cart, and have a golf professional teach you, 10 hours a day, on Saturday and Sunday. Your hands would be blistered, as would my ass, but I would get you to know how to play the game of golf."

"Grandpa, why did your mean streak miss daddy. You are as evil as we are, and that's not fair."

"Who said life is fair?"

"I said that to someone recently. I must remember who it was, it is very important."

"Do you want me to hypnotize you, and help you remember who it was?"

"What else are you going to ask me, while I'm under your spell?"

"Would I do anything like that to you, my dearest granddaughter?"

"With half a chance grandpa, I think you'd steal my shoes."

"Don't wear shoes."

"You're very funny grandpa; I'll take off my socks too. I'm being honest with you, it's very important I remember who I said those words to. I have a feeling it will help her make a correct decision."

"So you already know it's a girl."

"I don't know. What made you say that?"

"In your last sentence you said, 'I have a feeling it will help her make a correct decision'."

"I didn't realize I said that, but it may be true. Let's go into the spacecraft, I haven't been here in a long time.

As they reached the entrance ramp, security checked them again. When they got to Rebecca and Deborah they said, "Ladies, hands behind your back please."

"Dad this is embarrassing."

"Girls, sometimes so are you. Do you promise to behave?"

"Of course we're going to behave. We wouldn't do anything to damage the ship."

"Guys, I'll take responsibility for those two. If they touch or break anything, I will take their fingers off one by one."

"That's my job Doctor, not yours."

"Good morning Lucius, how are you?"

"I am just fine Joe. I just brought my uniform in to be cleaned and it will be perfect for Saturday afternoon."

"Lucius let me introduce you to my parents. Colonel Lucius C. Canyon, this is my father Samuel George Finch, and my mother Joan Alice Collins Finch."

They greeted each other warmly and talked for a few moments until Joe cut in.

"Lucius, I'd like to introduce you to my former wife, the light of my life, and my soon to be bride, Sandra Connie Alberts Finch."