Chapter 7

I cornered Mike once we were airborne. “Two questions, since we’ve been around too many people this morning to talk. One, where’d Brent come up with his bullshit story? Two, where’d you come up with your bullshit story?”

He grinned. “People see what they expect to see. It helps if they have preconceived notions in the first place. The last time they were all together, Jeremy mentioned to James about the ass covering as something he’d seen in the Marshals Service. We just let them run with it. As for the comment about your mother ... that one came from Mister Heinlein shortly after he met you and spent some time talking with the rest of us about your history. He’s as devious a man as Elroy, and his stories are better. I’ve just never had the chance to use it in a situation where it’d get back to official Washington. Now it will, and that’ll put their minds to rest, since they know Cally came from North Dakota and can use the shivalingam, and it also neatly explains how you can use them, too. Your mom was affected by them while she was pregnant with you.”

I simply shook my head in admiration. “I fixed Bob and Ginny for other reasons, but it sounds like he’s already done more for me than I anticipated. Unrelated, is the other plane as nice inside as this one?”

“Yeah. We figured you might need to go places with people that wouldn’t really like to sit on jump seats. We’ve had two of them reconfigured for passengers. You probably could have just gotten a regular passenger turboprop or something, but why? It’s not like these things can’t handle a LOT of human cargo.”

“I’m having trouble visualizing this thing that full. How’d they do it?” I asked.

“Fall of Saigon. Four hundred fifty-two, with only the pilot for the flight crew and thirty people crammed onto the flight deck with him.”

I looked around the interior again. “No way!”

“Seriously. He was an instructor pilot, and knew all the tricks, so even with it being more than ten thousand pounds over maximum weight and using every single foot of the runway to take off, he made it to Thailand and saved a lot of people that day.”

I just shook my head in admiration, then leaned back, thinking for the rest of the flight.

A short time later, I was in the midst of a large crowd as we watched the shuttle come in for a perfect landing. I overheard an engineer from NASA Langley talking to Justin. “You know, for a flying brick, I think we did a pretty good job with the control systems.”

Justin laughed, replying, “I still remember when you asked us to come up with the tiles for it. Remember that one time everything zippered?”

“Oh, god, yes! We were days getting the wind tunnel cleaned up from the melted mess. Come on, she’s stopped and the recovery convoy is on its way out.”

There was going to be a period while they waited for the shuttle tires to cool down before they could tow it off the runway. They only use the tires once, then replace them. I followed Justin and his team down to where the tow vehicle was waiting. Hugo, Dora, and my lab assistants came with me.

By the time we got there, the ground crew had determined there weren’t any dangerous gases and were starting to get out of their emergency gear. The physician had already boarded and made sure the crew was okay. I chuckled upon seeing the vehicle close up. When Hugo looked at me, I said, “It’s a modified portable airport lounge. We’re supposed to have some of them at Hutchinson while they finish building our airport terminals.”

Our bus stopped and we got out. One of the ground crew moved to intercept us.

“Folks, you can’t be here yet! We’re still doing recovery operations.”

Justin said, “That’s nice. I’m the head of NASA Ames, this is George Weir, he’s with NASA Langley. That’s the head of all space operations for the whole planet. Just ... step aside. Cal, come here, look at this!” Justin was already close enough to the front of the orbiter that he could examine the tiles from underneath.

My crew walked up with him. “What am I supposed to be looking at, Justin? I don’t see anything.”

Virginia muttered, “¡Madre de Dios!” Her voice grew louder. “It WORKED! That’s what you don’t see, Cal, is that your Resist Heat WORKED! There’s always a little bit of etching or pitting along the leading edge tiles, no matter what!” She raised her hand into a fist, then yelled, “Dammit, I’m too short!”

“I’m not,” Justin said. He made a fist and punched one of the tiles as hard as he could.

I thought the ground crewman was going to have a stroke when he saw that. “Hey, you can’t do that! You’ll destroy the tiles!”

“No. No, we won’t,” Justin calmly replied. “George, do you see it?”

I leaned over to Hugo. “As much fun as it would be, let’s not. We’d do a lot more than just break a tile.”

He laughed. “So, you’ve made it so heat is no longer in the equation, as it were?”

“Heat and cold. My father really was a rocket scientist, after all.”

I heard a shout coming from where the crew was being loaded into the Astronaut Transporter Van, which was a glorified motor home. I started walking that way, where two ground crew were assisting Overmyer and Gregory with standing. “Sirs, you need to enter the transport van, you’re still weak from zero-g,” one of the ground crew said.

The two of them didn’t move as we walked over as a group. When we were close enough, I stopped, then went to the position of attention in front of them. Both men did the same, as best they could, then raised their hands in salutes again. Overmyer snapped out, “Colonel Overmyer with a party of six reports a successful mission, SIR!”

I returned his salute. “Job well done, gentlemen, very well done. You already know the lab assistants. They have something for you, just as a down payment on the party that we’ll throw for all of you later on.”

Jonathan and Sam walked up to each of them, handing over bottles of Irish whiskey. “Gentlemen, on behalf of the crew that worked on your ship, welcome home.”

“Thank you. Damn, this stuff’s older than my kids!” Overmyer joked.

“Well, if you don’t want it...”

“Oh, no! Thank you, we’ll make sure it doesn’t go to waste!” The expression on his face changed. “How close was it? We thought we felt a sideways shove like it failed, but with the SRB separation right afterwards, I wasn’t sure.”

“I wondered about that. They didn’t tell you on my orders. Burn through occurred at three point eight seconds prior to SRB separation. The initial exhaust was directed towards the lower edge of the starboard wing, which had no issues with it due to four coats of Resist Heat. At two point four seconds prior to separation, the hole in the SRB seal had grown such that it was pointing at the external tank. I made the call to not hit the SRB jettison switch because it wouldn’t have made a difference at that point, even without Resist Heat on the tank.” I shrugged. “I had a mental timeline on how soon before SRB separation occurred that I’d hit the button, but there were variables involved, and no, I’m not going to share those with you.”

Both men grinned. “We wouldn’t expect you to, Sir. Good to know we’ve got someone in charge that actually is willing to make a decision. Now, if you’ll excuse us, these poor guys are freaking out,” Overmyer said.

“Carry on, men.”

They turned and were helped into the motor home. As they were driving off, Justin said, “George said he didn’t see anything until after you pointed it out to him after separation.”

“He didn’t. I did. Follow me.” I walked over, under the starboard wing, pointing up. “What do you see?”

“Nothing.”

“That area, right there, had thirty-six hundred degree heat hit it for almost four full seconds. That’s more than twice what the tile itself is designed to handle. Then it immediately went into space, so talk about your thermal shock. Then it went through trailing edge temperatures during all of reentry. Virginia, can I borrow you?”

She walked over, puzzled. I put my hands on her waist and picked her up, so she was within a few inches of the tile. Nodding, she punched it as hard as she could.

I set her back down while she rubbed her fist.

Justin nodded. “I’ll be pulling tiles at random when we strip her down, to test what it does take to actually destroy one of them. I think when we restart the program next year, we’re going to have one hell of a fleet.”

“You know what I said were the goals. Get those slackers from Langley involved, too.”

That got a laugh, then we headed back to the bus. Hugo pulled me aside as we were walking. “Those men, the astronauts ... I have seen that level of respect before. But it was in combat, when soldiers had been given a mission they knew they might not live through.”

“I told them the truth before launching. We had an idea that the SRB might fail, but it was my decision to proceed with the launch. We’d be ready in case it did, but I gave them the opportunity to decline or to proceed with the mission.”

He was quiet then, and stayed that way during the flight back to Moffett. Hugo helped his ladies down from the C-130, then asked to be driven to his jet.

“Hans, please confirm it’s been refueled, and prepare for takeoff. We’ll be returning home in a few minutes. Dorothea, would you please join me while I discuss something with Cal, Elizabeth ... his Elizabeth, that is ... and the men from the State Department?”

He walked several yards away from the jet, where the wind noise would help keep what we were saying private. “I trust that there are no hidden microphones or those long distance ones that are used in sporting contests or any other recording devices in use.”

“Nothing other than my memory, Hugo, and you know it’s perfect.”

“Yes, I do. Very well. Misters Cain and Abel, I received two mysterious phone calls in my hotel room yesterday and one this morning. It seems that my former business associates have had all of their liquid assets, including their secret accounts, completely drained. Not only that, but the group that was paying for the white government of South Africa is also broke. At the same time, there is now a Federations of Terran Nations Trust Fund for Africa which contains more than fifty billion dollars, and the names of the three trustees in charge of that fund are Elizabeth La Rosa, Lydia Evelyn Jullien, and Dorothea Gianelli. What kind of game is the United States playing, asking me this morning about being your friends?”

I couldn’t help it, I grinned. “Hugo, they didn’t do it. And before you get upset with me, I didn’t do it, either.”

At his look of disbelief, Beth said, “Cal’s right. He didn’t. We did. His ladies. We’re like your ladies, we’ll do whatever it takes to support our man, because we love him more than anything. What’s been going on in Africa for too many centuries has to come to an end. When Cris Bauman visited, giving us his shivalingam, Cal told him that it didn’t matter what he did in Argentina, even continuing to set up his own Fourth Reich. It was completely on Cris that he decided to completely change his spots, as it were. We know you’re not a nice man, Hugo. So do your ladies. But you’re a powerful man, a strong leader, and with their advice, you’ll be a good ruler.”

“Ruler of what?” he asked.

I looked at Beth and said, “Really? You came up with that while I was out while healing him yesterday, and you didn’t think of mentioning it to me?”

She snorted. “You were already planning on it as a contingency anyway.”

“Well ... yeah. Of course.” I took in a deep breath, then sighed. “Most of Africa.”

“Excuse me?”

“Just because they’re not white doesn’t mean they’re not our cousins, Hugo.” I tapped my own chest, then tapped his. “Genetically, they’re as close to us as the Romany and the Indigenous Australians. But the size of the continent, and how scattered they were after the battle worked against them. Being invaded by Romans and Muslims didn’t help, neither did the more modern European invasions. There are, very politely, too many military dictators and not enough real governments there. Ethiopia had one for a long time. They don’t, any more. The people of Africa need a savior, someone who can come in, kick ass, take names, and bring them into the twentieth century. Someone that I don’t particularly have to like, but I do anyway. Someone who wants a better place for his kids to grow up than what and how he did. Don’t get me wrong, some of the nations there do get it. Egypt, for example. But so many of them, including South Africa, simply don’t.”

“It could get very messy,” he warned.

“Aren’t there some drug dealers running around in many of those nations? Isn’t that how most of the warlords make their living, after all?”

Dorothea spoke up. “Why, I believe that’s correct. Do you think we might be able to get some assistance from the Federation military in dealing with that? After all, we’d simply be helping with what the Messenger from Above said, right?”

“I could talk to General Demidov. It’s my understanding that, due to the downsizing of assorted national militaries, the Salthawk Security International, and the Salthawk Security Military Contract Division subsidiary of SSI, are getting a few nice toys. At least one full armor division, ten aircraft carriers complete with crews and planes, plus an assortment of cruisers, destroyers, and who knows what else. It’s not something that’s going to be done overnight, that’s for sure. But again, with a trust fund to help pay for things, and to help get reliable power, and thus clean water, and not having to worry about UN troops coming in, raping the women and stealing stuff, because you sure as hell won’t allow it...”

Hugo had a grin on his face that was in perfect contrast to the look of horror on Abel’s. “You really, truly would give me a blank check for dealing with Africa?”

“Serena Rothschild worked with George Soros to put the assassin on the tee box to kill Jennifer. At least that’s what we heard yesterday. It’s a darned shame we’ll never be able to ask her, since apparently she felt a lot of pain after losing her eye like that, and seems to have taken too many painkillers last night.” I grinned. “Brent, what would I normally say right about now?”

He sighed. “‘Why is it that people who are ruthless think that they’re the only ones capable of ruthlessness?’ You know, I’m starting to think I need a vacation.”

“How about somewhere with lots of coastline, sandy beaches, and women that none of us are married to that like to parade around without tops on? I’m sure Hugo knows a few countries in Africa like that.”

“If he doesn’t, we do,” Dorothea said with a smile.

“Cal, have I told you how much I hate you at times?”

“Why, yes, James, you have. But you and Brent are the only two people that I trust to go to Geneva with Hugo and talk to Walter and the two Prime Ministers that are the regional assistants for Africa to make sure things are all settled. Have a nice flight!”

Hugo laughed, then gave me a hug. He gave Beth a kiss on her cheek, then went to all my women, doing the same. Dorothea reversed things, giving Beth a hug and giving me a kiss, before they boarded the airplane. Brent and James looked a little confused, then simply climbed up after Elizabeth and Lydia had boarded, shutting the door behind them.

“That wasn’t nice,” Beth said as we watched them depart.

“No, but it sure makes me feel better,” I stated. “Come on, we’ve got classes tomorrow, and I need a drink.”

She furrowed her brow. “You don’t drink.”

“I never said of what. Margie’s lactating, after all.”

“God, what kind of monster did we create?”

“You didn’t see it, did you?” I asked.

“See what?”

“Everyone was so caught up on how similar me, Hugo and Cris look. Think about how much Elizabeth ... both of them, for that matter ... look like Eve and Jennifer. Same with Salvadora, Dorothea, and Dora. I just saw what you girls are going to look like when you’re pregnant, my love, and while I can’t do that to you yet, we can sure practice, I think.”

She stopped walking, then shook her head. “You literally just locked us all up. None of us had made that connection until just now. Motherfucker...”

“Only if it’s Jennifer or Diana. The rest are still mothers-to-be.”

I think she pulled her punch a little, because while it did push me a bit ... about two steps sideways, actually ... nothing broke.

Dave was behind us and whistled. “You do like to live dangerously at times, Cal. Oh, and Beth? Please, I’m not enhanced.”

She laughed, her blonde hair flying as she shook her head. “Don’t worry, Dave. I know who I can punch hard, and who I can’t. Mister ‘says something wonderful then makes an awful joke the next sentence’ deserved it.”

“I’m not going to argue with you on that,” he agreed.

Margie was waiting for us at the Suburban. “Mother-to-be, huh? I didn’t swallow a watermelon seed.”

Jennifer was sitting next to her and giggled. “No, but don’t worry. When that bowling ball that’s pretending to be your son’s head is squeezing out between your hips, pushing the bones out and stretching you wide, you’ll be calling Cal everything but a nice man.”

They were both quiet for a second, then broke out laughing. Margie grinned. “Diana said that once we’ve given birth, we’ll know and understand how much pain and agony a man is in when he has a mild cold.”

Dave grimaced. I looked confused. “I don’t get it. But, I’ve never been sick.”

“Can I slap him? Or will you hit him again for me, Beth?”

She laughed. “Dad’s rarely sick, and he’s worked through them, but I know what you’re talking about. Cal, typical men end up being tremendous babies when they get sick with even the littlest of things. According to Bill Cosby, quoting Carol Burnett, there’s an easy way for you to grasp how much pain a woman goes through during childbirth.”

“Oh? What’s that?”

“It’s pretty simple. Grab your bottom lip.” I reached up and did. Beth grinned and said, “Okay, now, pull it up and over your head.”

Everyone laughed at my stupid expression at that point, including Yagyu. He shook his head. He simply curved the index finger on his right hand, put it in the corner of his mouth, and pulled.

“That is definitely not a movement from Japanese culture,” I said.

“No, but she got you hook, line, and sinker.”

While we were resting in bed that evening after a bit of loving, Marcia said, “I think the humor after Hugo and his ladies left was definitely needed. Thank you for being a good sport about it, love.”

I smiled, giving her a kiss, then gave all my girls present a kiss. I didn’t burden them with the thought that had gone through my mind while I was talking to Hugo. I wondered how many tens of thousands, or tens of millions, he would kill, in order to unify Africa under his rule.

Beth quietly said, “However many he needs, and his women won’t let them be anyone that doesn’t deserve it, any more than we would. I always know what you need, Love. You needed to hear that. He’s not a nice man, but he’ll be a good man.”

I couldn’t say anything in response to that, so I snuggled up to Margie, so I’d wake up seeing her face in the morning.

The reunion when everyone returned home Wednesday was rather understated. Atlantic touched down at Moffett about noon. Even with the comfort of the plane and being able to sleep and stay clean, my ladies were jet-lagged. They came home, took showers and ate, then mostly slept.

I’d spent a bit of time preparing things, so I had rings ready for my Indian women. The main part of the meteor shower was past, as were the negating effects. I wasn’t going to take a chance on them needing one and not having one when the Orionids hit. When I got home from the lab, I made sure and gave Niranjana and Sukhjeet theirs, as they were the two that had stayed awake to tend William and Harry. Apparently neither of the little ones was that bothered by the air travel.

The older kids were caught up in end of the year studying for their final exams. The Menlo school would give them Memorial Day off, but then they’d start their final exams Wednesday after that. One of the reasons for that was so that the teachers would be able to not only grade the students, but also make personalized recommendations for studies for the next year for each student. Now that Toby was no longer mentally challenged due to his birth defect, he was working harder than ever to catch up and pass where he should have been otherwise.

Stanford classes ended the week after Menlo, but I already had all of the papers written I needed for this quarter’s degrees, and I’d already filed my paperwork. My younger wives were still working on their papers, though, so I decided to take Will and Harry out in the stroller for a walk, and give their nannies a break.

Harry was just bubbling, his eyes tracking around. He was eight months old today. William was two months shy of being three, and he was even more curious about things than before.

“Can I walk, Daddy?”

“Maybe a little later, William. I haven’t taken the two of you out yet by myself, and this could take us a little while.”

“Oh, okay. Why Daddy not trip?

“Why didn’t I go on the trip? I’m still in school right now, and there are times when I have to attend classes. My school will be out for summer the week before your birthday. Do you know what you want for your birthday?”

“Mama Margie give me baby brother then, she told me. Mama Helen and Mama Hannah give Harry baby sister and baby brother for his bird day.”

I laughed a little. “Sounds like you’ve been around Toby a lot, William.”

“They good big brother, grandpa. Carrie, Cawwy, and Howwy good big sisters and grandmas. They grandmas pretty.”

“I know the girls are cute. You see the other ladies in them?”

He shrugged. “Sure, Daddy. Easy. Easy see grandpa, too. Hard see man in you. Why you stop pushing?”

“Sorry. You said there’s a man you can see inside me?”

“Hard see. Like seeing woman in Mama Marci, Mama Margie. Umm ... I not word. Like ... almost dark, bedtime, when you in room, no light on, hard to see you, but know you there, know you love me, love baby brother.”

“I see. I think the word you’re looking for is faint, which courtesy of the language, means more than one thing. Sorry about that, little man, but English is confusing.”

“I learning. All the pretty girls teach me. I happy you love me, Daddy, not like old Daddy. You love Mommy, too, not like him. You good big man.”

I was quiet for long enough that William sat fully up from where he was sitting and turned around. “Why you crying, Daddy?”

I coughed and wiped my eyes. “Because I’m happy to be your Daddy, William. Both you and Harry’s Daddy.”

“Okay! We go fast now?”

I stopped and made sure they were both strapped in, then said, “Hold on, boys. Daddy is going to do some running, now.”

I didn’t use any of my speed, but I made it a little harder for the golf cart with Dave and Yagyu that had been discretely following us to keep up. I took a couple of curves with the stroller on two wheels, and between the wind whipping through their faces and the banks, got them both laughing.

Then I heard a horrendous sound coming from the front of the stroller, followed almost immediately by a terrible odor.

“Oh, Harry make stinky!”

“Oops.” I made an emergency signal with my hands, which caused Dave and Yagyu to come to a skidding stop, looking in all directions.

Dave had his pistol out and ready. “Where’s the threat?”

“Harry’s butt. I made a huge mistake. I forgot to bring a diaper bag with me.”

About that time, Harry farted again. That made Yagyu and Dave both cough, which William thought was hilarious.

“Stinky butt! Stinky butt!” He was laughing so hard, he farted. “Oh, I make stinky, too! Daddy, I need to poo-poo!”

I picked up the stroller and got onto the back of the golf cart. “Drive like our lives depend upon it, Yagyu! Hugo only had to face nerve gas! We’re about to get baby poop gas attacked!”

I still don’t quite know how he was able to drive the cart like that, while he was laughing harder than I think I’ve ever seen someone laugh since I’ve been on this planet.

I also found out that little boys are treacherous. I found that holding my breath was an incredible benefit, due to the shade and consistency of what came out of both of them. Not to mention the odor, of course. No, the worst part was, I got them all nice and cleaned up after I got their dirty diapers off, and was just putting clean diapers on them, when they both ended up peeing in perfect arcs that caught me right in the face.

Of course, they were both laughing at that, almost as much as they were when I was pushing them fast in the stroller.

I got them cleaned up again, this time making sure no weapons of urinic destruction were primed and ready. Telekinesis came in very handy in getting a washrag for my face and chest, and then getting a fresh shirt. That’s when I raised up and saw Diana standing by the nursery door.

“I was asleep, of course, but saw what you were doing. I heard what Wills said, what you said. I didn’t think it was possible to love you more than I already do. I was wrong.” She ran in, grabbing me in a hug that would have injured someone normal.

I returned it, only gentler. “Come on, these boys just emptied themselves, we need to get them fed again. They’re growing boys, after all.”

The tears in her eyes and huskiness in her voice couldn’t disguise her pride when she said, “They’re good sons and will be good men, just like you, Daddy.”

She wasn’t the only one who had witnessed what I’d said, and with them linked, even the ones who weren’t asleep got to see the replay. That got me lots of hugs and kisses from all of my wives.

Those sleeping had gotten up for dinner so they’d get back on a normal sleep schedule. That put all of us at the table for the first time in a while. It was more than just nice having the whole family together, it felt right.

Once we were done eating, before anyone could get up, I said, “Okay, Margie. Since everyone heard what William said today, I think it’s time for you to let me in on what you were thinking.”

She sighed. “I think that Sophia was right, but more than she realized. I don’t think we have old souls living within us, I think we have ancient souls in us. That’s why they’re so faint, but at the same time, why we were so drawn to each other. From when the team from Star Home first colonized Earth, a quarter million years ago. The people in us were part of the team that came over, you were supposed to be part of the follow-up team because we were family. That’s why Marcia was linked to me, before the two of you linked up, as it were.”

Helen frowned. “But ... the Sacred Souls never knew of the first ones, like that. I would think they would.”

Carrie shook her head. “The Sacred Souls of Uluru and Mount Moffett were from the same time and afterwards, literally only a few thousand years ago. That’s where the shivalingam came from. The older computers ... Junior and Peace ... they were part of the original colonization. It’s possible that they would know, if they have a list with pictures of the colonists. There were only originally, what a dozen or so?”

“That’s what I understand,” I said. “William, can you see the women in Margie and Marcia even now?”

He looked up from playing with his mashed potatoes, then at each of them. “Yes, Daddy.”

“Come on, little man. We’re going to try something. Want to fly?”

“Fly me, Daddy!”

I picked him up with telekinesis, then carried him into the computer room. “Mycroft, since I know you heard the discussion in the other room, have you hooked up with Junior and Peace?”

“Yes, I have. Junior does not have anything. Many of his ancient history files were erased, rather crudely, when he was taken from the Selk’nam. No, I don’t know how. Peace, however, retained his files and never had to overwrite them due to lack of storage, since he spent tens of thousands of years buried under volcanic ash. What would you like me to do?”

“See if you can pull up pictures of the people that were on the crew of the first mission, or involved with the launch, and display them on the screen here. William, I want you to look at the screen here, and tell me if any of the pictures you see of people match the ones in Margie, Marcia, or me.”

“Okay, Daddy.”

It took Mycroft a couple minutes, then he put up a picture on the screen. He changed it after a few seconds when William didn’t react. At the fifth picture, William jumped a little.

“Hold it, Mike. Is that one of the ladies?”

“It’s too bright, Daddy.”

“Mike, correct the picture back to Star Home normal lighting and colors.”

He did so, then William clapped. “She pretty there. That lady in Mommy Margie.”

“Go through the rest of them, Mike.”

There weren’t that many. William picked out the man in me, and the woman in Marcia.

Mike said, “Peace doesn’t have their full biographies or names, and even with his assistance, I can’t translate some of the words that far back into either our language, English, or the language from when the sisters were alive, for that matter. My best read is that the man was one of the top scientists in developing the project. The women were his wives. They came here as part of the first team to set things up. I don’t know why he never came.”