Chapter 19: New Corn in the New Field!

Newly planted corn.

A woman came in on Friday, February 1, 2019. She had a newborn baby strapped on her chest. She asked to see President Taylor at about 8:15 in the morning. She introduced herself as Professor Diane Charles. Seeing a crimson sweatshirt with “WSU COUGARS” with the face of a Cougar peeking out from around a baby on it gave it away as to where she was from. She introduced herself as Professor Charles.

“What can I do for you, Professor?”

“I’m on maternity leave as you see; I’ve been a little busy.” Diane laughed, “I came here looking for a grant.” Diane laid a book on John’s desk. The title was ‘How to Make a Large Area of Desert Productive Again.’ By Professor Diane Charles, Ph.D., “This is a copy for you, Mr. President.”

John picked it up and quickly sat up in his chair and looked at the chapter titles and read for about 5 minutes. John set the book down, “Thank you. This answers a zillion questions. What are you thinking?”

“I’ve read everything that has been printed online.” Diane brought out a file folder that was two inches thick, “I have copies of all of it and all the pictures. Give me a project, some transportation and let me go figure out what can be done for a reasonable cost.”

“Diane, I need to shift gears here. This is not a US project, but a Galactic one. As Emperor, I have maybe forty or more trillion dollars as a resource. I have asked God for help, and he sent me you. When can you start?”

“Now. I have twenty-seven people with me across the street drinking coffee. What is the first project?” Diane smiled. The baby cooed.

“Let me send my First Lady an invite. She is bored at home. She wants a reason to get out of the house.” John laughed, ‘reclaiming planets meet asap.’

“Doesn’t the First Lady run the Health Care System?” Diane asked.

“Your son is going to have two new friends in 19 days.” John smiled, “Doctor’s orders. Jenny was getting herself too tired carrying the load, so her MD Assistant Director told her to take some time off where she can go take a nap once or twice a day. She is still allowed a two-hour meeting three or four times a week, but no more. Death in the US is down to a handful or less every week.

Most of that is accidental or this week one was eaten by a bear when no one was around, and the body just does not want to be found. Even so, the medical team is looking for their first “No Death” week for the North American Continent.”

“That’s amazing. I thought I was doing important work and here behind the scenes you and your wife are working to end death. Wow!” Diane said.

“It helps that equation if everyone has food.” John smiled, “It’s been ten minutes. Maybe she’s asleep. Let’s go meet your team.” Just then John got a text, “On the way!” John showed the message to Diane. They both sat down again and laughed.

“How did the battle go?” Diane asked.

“We lost only three ships. The dozens that were damaged or stopped working were retrieved and either repaired or simply rebooted and restarted. The personnel were taken to God and we were able to revive everyone. The other side fought to the end and were not revived.”

“Were you in the battle?” Diane asked.

“My ship the Patricia led several charges, disabled 3 battleships, and took out 27 of the Black Jets. We got hit dozens of times and our AI locked up once, but we went to manual until our AI came back.” John said then laughed as he laid the local newspaper in front of Diane, “Seth Wilson the man who owns the newspaper and wrote this article was with me.”

“OMG!” Diane sat back. The respect for this man just went through the roof. She was looking at that when Jenny and the kids showed up.

There was Jenny with Lucy, Willy, and Bobby. Bobby had a backpack full of books she was reading, “Weeeeeeee!” Jenny said. All the kids were laughing.

“Diane, may I introduce to you the First Lady of our land, Jennifer Roberts Taylor,” John said. Jenny and Diane shook hands.

“Jenny, this is Professor Diane Charles, Ph.D. of WSU.” John handed Jenny Diane’s book, “And this is another Willy in the making.”

“Is this another one of your requests of God?” Jenny asked.

“Yes!” John blushed.

Willy tapped on John’s leg, “I’m Willy.” John reached down and lifted Willy, so he was on the same level as the baby.

“So is the little one. He’s named after you.” John pointed to the baby.

“What do you mean?” Diane asked, “Requests of God?”

“John puts out a request to God. Then a day or two later the ideal candidate, probably the best in the land shows up wanting to work.” Jenny said, “Scares the hell out of HR, but it is really neat to watch unfold. Welcome to the team.”

“So, I am at the right place at the right time with the right credentials?” Diane asked.

“Yes,” John said. Both John and Jenny were smiling at Diane.

Diane raised her son, “Momma has got a brand-new gig son. Hang on tight.” Diane had her baby son strapped into a carrier on her front. She had put her hand on her son’s back. The baby “Cooed!”

John laughed, “Shall we meet with your team?”

At Sou’s:

“How did you guys get here from Pullman?” John asked as they walked into Sou’s.

“I’ve been here before, so we transported,” Diane said. Diane gathered up her team. They were sitting at a dozen of the smaller tables. They followed John and Jenny back to the President’s Table. I have an uncle that runs your Junior College Program.”

“Professor Tom Rollins?” John asked.

“Yes, that’s him,” Diane said.

Diane started it off, “Mr. President and First Lady, before the Earth Changes, I spent two years in Israel working on restoring over 17,000 square miles of desert. My book is the story of that two years. Today that land is producing many different food crops. I was the on-sight lead for that two years for my team. We were one of three teams and I had thirty in my team.

The other two teams also had success and together restored 12,000 square miles. When my team left, we had a hundred students from several colleges and universities in Israel, totally up to speed as to the steps necessary to create a productive environment for food crops. We started with sand and salt water and ended with crops generating over $7,000 per acre net.

The cost of water being around $3,000 per acre or as you can figure the net would have been much higher without drawing water out of the Mediterranean Sea.”

“John made a phone call, “Admiral, I have the land restoration team here. I want to make a trip to Funston and show them what we got there. I’m taking the Patricia and wonder if the two Major Taylors are interested in piloting the trip?”

“Would you be interested in having Virginia as a wingman Mr. President?” Mary asked.

“That would be fun. It’s 9:00 AM I would think 2 to and 2 hours on the planet then right back again.”

“I have Sam here. I’ll bring Major Si and a dozen of the Golden Boys. Major Tony and his gang just walked in. We’ll have them come along too. Meet at the ships in five minutes?” Mary asked, “John we have Patricia and Virginia at the airport. We have been putting on classes on how to kick the tires.” Both the Admiral and John laughed.

“Sounds good. 10/4.”

“Hey everybody, do you have time now to see the planet, Funston? I can have you back in Pullman no later than 3:00 PM today.”

John got the sense that they agreed all around. Diane had a big smile on her face, “Let’s go then.” John stood and helped Jenny up. He laid a silver dollar down to cover for the drinks, “Everybody take a deep breath. One, two, and three.” The transport happened.

They were about fifty feet from the Patricia, “Ladies and gentlemen the Patricia is our ride go ahead and board.” As John pointed in that direction. John was amazed at the backpacks, cases, and other things Diane’s group carried. Were they expecting this?”

“Dad is it alright if we catch a ride with you?” Johnny and Teresa were standing there waiting for an answer.

“Come on. It has been too long since we talked.” John shook hands with Johnny and gave both his son and Teresa a hug.

“Mr. President, the Admiral said you needed pilots?” Tony and Willa asked.

“Yes, going to Funston. Have Brad, Gloria, Jesus, and Julia go with the Admiral.” John said.

“Yes, Sir.”

“You Marines, two with the Admiral, two with me,” John said.

“Yes, Sir.”

“George, I’m happy to see you. Do we have anyone for Virginia or are they just going to have to rough it?” John asked.

“We have a second quarter student cook named Harry Stiles. He is up to speed on Virginia.” George said, “I have both the Patricia and Virginia stocked enough for a lunch on a day trip.”

“Welcome aboard George.” John was smiling.

“Mr. President. Do you mind if I follow George?” Seth Wilson asked.

“Mr. Newspaperman, I’m sensing a conspiracy. I can’t leave the planet without everybody knowing about it.” John laughed.

“Don’t ask me, I was just in the neighborhood and saw George and thought Good Food.” Seth tried to look innocent, “Yes, we have a phone tree.” Seth laughed.

“Good. Welcome aboard.” John looked around. Professor Rollins was running towards him.

“Mr. President. So nice to have made it in time.” Tom Rollins said.

“Professor, how good it is to see you again. Let’s get inside so we can take off.” John followed the Professor into Patricia. The door to Virginia was already closed. He stepped inside and hit the close button for the door. The door closed, and the light turned green meaning the door was secure and sealed. The mechanical locking device moved to ensure a very tight closure making the seal airtight.

John moved up to the control area, “Door is closed and sealed. We are ready for lift-off.”

“This is The Patricia calling Virginia, we are all green and ready for lift-off,” Tony announced ship-wide along with contacting Sam.

“Patricia, this is Virginia, we will fly as your wingman 100 yards behind and 100 yards to your left. We too are all green and am ready when you are.” Sam said.

“Patricia link with Virginia and notify all in the area we are going to Funston. Please Proceed.” Tony said, “Contact Planet Security and let them know we are leaving Earth.”

“Proceeding to Funston at best speed,” Patricia announced.

Diane was sitting next to Jenny and the two women were talking excitedly about space travel and the niceness of Patricia.

Soon the two ships went through the Van Allen’s Belt and had gotten pointed in the direction of Funston.

“The lid to the black box needs to be removed in 5 seconds, 4, 3, 2, 1, NOW” Patricia announced. The stars all started to move. The excitement on the ship was incredible. George was there in a few minutes with a snack as he called it. He had a three-compartment plate with Cole Slaw, cored apples, and either chicken nuggets or large shrimp in a wine sauce.

He had seconds available or a ½ of a Pastrami Sub also. The Marines were bringing another floating board with juice and coffee, cups, cream, and sugar. Several of the students were also helping.

“How fast are we going?” Diane asked.

“15,000 light-years per hour.” John said, “The President of Lockheed believes we can up the speed with little trouble. Maybe get there in one hour or maybe even less soon.”

All was quiet for a few minutes.

“Diane, the way you reacted to the job was as if you were looking for work? Are you?” John asked.

Diane nodded, “The Dean for Agricultural Studies terminated me when I asked for maternity leave. He then used my book for the classes I was teaching and hired doctoral candidates to run them.”

Jenny and John traded looks, “We’ve talked about Education was the last area that needed fixing.”

Johnny and Teresa were sitting nearby listening.

“I’m so happy where I am Mr. President.” Tom Rollins said, “I never want to be involved in a major institution again.”

“What if you hire Diane and run this project through (OCC) Omak Community College?” John asked.

“Money to pay for it?” Tom asked. Seth was listening in on this conversation along with several students.

“The Galactic Treasury has at least forty trillion dollars in gold and silver. We know of at least three planets right now, Funston, Nanux, and Etamine that need a tremendous amount of work.” John shared.

“Will the students get paid?” Diane asked.

“A gold coin for three days when off-planet?” John smiled, “Would that work? Might be a sixteen-hour day like on Funston.”