Dark as Daylight Ch. 17

"Your father never knew I was pregnant until I told him."

"Do you really believe that mom? Were any of us ever able to surprise or outwit dad? Why did the garbage cans in our bedrooms allow the refuse to go down into the basement, onto a small conveyor, and into one large receptacle to be compacted? Dad knew everything we were using in the house, because we threw the packaging away. It wasn't to make it easier for the cleaning crew to bundle it up, and carry to the street. It wasn't to keep them from searching through the house. It was to keep an eye on what we were doing, and what we weren't doing. He knew the day you took a pregnancy test to see if you were or weren't pregnant, because you threw the packaging away. If the little stick was blue, you were pregnant."

Jennifer screamed, "Teddy, cover your ears."

"God still hears you."

"Damn you Teddy, I'm furious with your grandfather, and I can't scream at him the way I want to because of you."

"Yes, you can grandma; just use good words."

"I don't know why God just doesn't give you your wings now. You are such an angel."

"I'm not an angel, I do bad things sometimes."

"Baby, we have to sit down and talk. I want to hear what you consider bad things."

Jennifer mumbled, "Even Luck read my mind. The next time we meet you are going to hurt so bad."

Jenny stood there, with her eyes closed, her arms rigid at her sides, and her body ramrod straight. If Even could hear what she was thinking, he would be running for the highest hills.

God knew what she was thinking, long before she thought it and the demerits were marked next to her name for inappropriate language. However, demerits were not put down for inappropriate thoughts. Even Luck deserved all those evil thoughts, because of his wry sense of humor.

"Free Will, I'm so pleased I gave it to them."

Jennifer said, "So you are the 'Man of The Family'. You better be prepared to prove it. When you step outside the spacecraft to do Teddy's work, you better not fool around. You will do exactly what Teddy tells you to do, in the manner she tells you to do it, and nothing else. Then you will get your ass back into the spaceship, quickly and safety. Do you hear me, Gordon?"

"Yes mother."

Jennifer said, "No one move; no one say a word; do not make a sound."

Everyone froze.

Jennifer got up from her seat and like a cat, stalked her way around the conference table. She stayed as close as possible to the walls as possible, but did not let the fabric of her clothing touch them. Everyone watched her, as she moved stealthily, and under complete control around the area. The room was eerily quiet. When she reached the area directly behind Gordon, she jumped away from the wall, grabbed him around the neck, and kissed him on top of his head.

Confused, Monty asked, "What the hell was that a

all about?"

"Monty, didn't you hear what my son said to me?"

"Yes, we all did. He said, 'Yes Mother.'"

"Exactly! Now think back many years and ask yourself what it would have taken to get those words out of my son's mouth, if my name was 'Even Luck?' Where would this discussion be heading now, if my hardheaded son would have given his normal answer. Wouldn't it have been:

Mother, I will do as I damn well please!"

"Oh God, I am not going back to that day, ever again; even if I have to go into the brig myself, and take him with me."

"Uncle Gordon is not going into the brig, is he?"

"No Teddy, but you remember when your uncle wanted to walk out into space, without a space suit, when you were three years old?"

"Yes, I remember. He was not very smart that day. He had a tumor in his head, but it was not the reason he was acting like he was smarter than grandpa. Stubborn, like my mommy, daddy should spank him. Spank him hard like the day that he thought mommy lost her engagement ring."

Delicious screamed. "No! You couldn't know about that day. You weren't born yet. Your daddy and I weren't married the day he spanked me for almost losing the engagement ring. You couldn't know about it; you couldn't possibly know about what happened that night."

She turned and looked at Gordon, who was the only person, beside her and Gray, who knew about that incident.

"Gordon, did you tell her about that night?"

"Sis, I would never tell her about something like that, not ever."

"Swear to me that you didn't tell her about that night."

"On my children."

"Teddy, how could you possibly know about the night I thought I lost my ring. You weren't born until nearly 8 years later. Daddy and I never talk about that night, and uncle Gordon just said he doesn't talk about it either. How could you possibly know about it?"

"Easy, your mommy told me."

"I am going to kill that bitch! Doesn't she realize that some things are supposed to remain private."

"Mom, you are going to have to put your nose in the corner for one hour, and pray that grandma does not keep you up at night for many years to come. God is not happy with you either."

"At this moment, Teddy, I don't care if God is happy with me, or not. That was a part your father and my life that our children were never supposed to know about. I am not particularly happy that you know when your father and I are making love, but there is nothing I can do about it because of the confines of our spaceship.

The events of that night were supposed to remain very private between my husband-to-be and me. I did not loose my ring that night. My fiancé and I were playing. We did not have sex, until the night we were married. We did many things before we were married. However, I made a promise to my mother, and myself, and I kept it. I swore I would not have sex, until I was at least 18 years old, and I was married.

You will never know how hard it was to keep that promise after I met your father, but we made it. I say we, because sometimes your dad was much stronger than I was. I am very angry that you know about that part of my past. I'm not angry with you, I'm angry that my mother had the gall to tell you about it."

"What are you going to do about God, mommy?"

"I will take care of God in my own way, and in my own time, Teddy."

"God can stay angry longer than you can."

"I know, but I'm not putting my nose in the corner, for something my mother did, and it was wrong for her to tell you about it. God knows it was wrong for her to tell you about that night, and anything else she told you about your father and my private life. Parents deserve that distance from their children, and my mother should not have told you anything that infringed upon it."

"I agree with you, mommy. I don't tell you everything I do either. I think, maybe, we should talk about growing up."

"I would love to talk to you about growing up, Teddy. Tell me when you want to talk, and I will be with you for if you want, for as many days as you want to talk."

"I would like that a lot mommy. Maybe we can talk tomorrow, while we are in space."

"Do you two think we can continue with the meeting now?"

Fred asked, "Do you mean there really was a purpose for this meeting?"

"Yes Fred, and don't mock me again, or you will be in the brig looking out from the wrong side of the bars."

"I think you are correct, senior captain, there must be something in the air. Everyone seems to be extremely touchy today."

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

"What crew is on duty today, Monty?"

"Are you asking me what crew am I going to put through the wringer today, Janet?"

"I would never accuse you of tormenting a junior crew, senior captain."

"Well, since it is just idle chatter, it is one of my favorite crews, with one of my favorite captains. It is crew 6C."

"Are all the children staying on the ground, while you torture Mr. Cushing?"

"How did you know I was going to put Mr. Cushing in command?"

"You wouldn't miss an opportunity to pull on Mr. Cushing's chain, unless all four of your limbs were broken, your bowels were blocked, you were on a respirator, and in a deep coma."

"I don't know what's up with that man. He has all the attributes of a superior captain, yet he functions at a low level when he sitting in that chair. At every other position, he has had to learn, from engineering, to food service, he excels. Why at 'command level' does he shrink back."

"Have you had him speak to Hannah?"

"No, I haven't. I didn't think it was necessary."

"Maybe you should rethink that decision."

"I will speak to Hannah about it, when we return from today's mission."

"I have to rake weeds, in our wild oats area, today. I will see you, when you return."

"Don't forget to wear your hat, I don't want to see you with a sunburn, again."

"Is that in order, captain?"

"Does it have to be?"

"I will consider it in order, because I don't want the pain I went through again."

"Good thinking, go to work."

"You just love giving orders."

"Who are you sewing your wild oats with?"

"Have you been married so long you need to hear about my sex life to get your juices flowing?"

"I wasn't sure if you had a sex life, until recently."

"Well I do, but I'm not sure it's going anywhere. I am getting up in age, so I may just get pregnant to have a baby, or two to keep me company, in my declining years."

"Declining years my ass. You're 40 years old, and you have a body that would stop traffic on Alpha Centauri B. Your only problem is you have limited access to the opposite sex here. When the Good Luck 2 gets here all that will change. There will be at least 500 more men for you to choose from, and they would be idiots to pass you bye."

"You're just saying that because it's true."

"Get out of here, and go sow your wild oats."

"With a great deal of pleasure I assure you, senior captain."

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

9:45 AM

"We have to give this new ore a name. We we can't keep calling it by different identities every time we speak of it, so let's decide on something specific to name it and stick with it. I found it, but I'm not naming it Gordon. Laura has been working with it the longest, and we are not naming it after her. Steven, you are the closest thing to a metallurgist we have; do you have any ideas?"

"There is the problem, Gordon; it's heavy, but it's not a metal. It reacts like a metal, but it does not attract to a magnet like a metal would. I don't know how to classify it."

"Jack, how about you?"

"Mercury flows like water, but it's not considered a liquid, and I don't think it qualifies as lead, even though it does have some of its qualities.

They use coolants for supercomputers that are viscous, and again they are not water-based. I think we have something that is in a clay family, but I have no way to prove it. I wouldn't name it based on that until I could."

"Delicious, you're very quiet."

"Why do we have to name it after anything specific. Drug manufacturers take the technical name for their product then give it to an advertising firm to come up with a name that the public will accept. Why don't we just do that?"

"That sounds like a great idea. Give us a name."

"Thanks Gordon. How about 'LITELEAD'? We agree it's not a metal, and it's not water based. It's not malleable like clay. It does have a radioactive signature. It is impervious to x-rays at a thickness of 1/32nd of an inch, just like lead, but it's not as heavy. I think it's as good a name as any."

"All those in favor of calling our new rock 'Litelead', signify by saying aye. The eyes have it. Congratulations sis, you have named our first new member of the periodic table. We will give it the initials DT."

"Why DT?"

"If your sons can change Hubble's constant from Ho to To, why can't we put 'Litelead' onto the periodic table under my sister's initials: DT."

"It's been a long time since you did something nice for me, Gordon. Thank you."

"I do nice things for you all the time Delicious, you just don't see them that way."

"Let's not argue, let's get back to work.

Jack said, "We smelted enough 'Litelead' for several experiments. In the first one we increased the oxygen flow into the fire to get rid of the impurities in it. We poured it into a mold, 12 x 12 x 1/2", and cooled it rapidly in water. After 10 minutes, we had Roger use his AR-15, from 30 feet, and had him unload the complete magazine into it rapidly. It didn't scratch the surface. The bullets were completely flattened. I don't know what we have found, but we have lots of the raw material to make anything we want with it. It has a low melting point, and to find out how high the failure point is after it is purified, we would have to use the nuclear engine. I'm not a fan of using it, because nothing I anticipate using this product to make would use that much heat. You can take that same ingot make something of it, melt it, and reform it into some other object, without any loss of density or properties. It may be perfect to use as the exterior vessel for your engine, Delicious, or to make the engine itself.

It's not a material like bauxite, which makes aluminum, because we do not have to add copper, and electricity to make it. I don't know what we have here, but they don't have it on earth. My suggestion is, 'If we can't use it now, take enough of it with us when we leave, just in case any occasion arises where we do, and we can have it on hand. When we leave, we must make sure we clean up every speck of it. Cover the area where we've mined it, and make sure the natural covering that was there takes over it completely before we leave. We must not leave one trace of this for any other people who come this way. We don't know who they may be, and if they will use it for good or for evil. I just want to make sure we don't lead them to it. If they find it, fine, but I don't want us to be responsible for their making this discovery."

"Excellent thinking Jack."

"Why did you show this to me now, Laura?"

"I want to take this on the ship to see if it interferes with the magnetic engines. If it doesn't, we can make use of it to make all sorts of items for the ship. Jack will have a laundry list of things that he could make in engineering. Catering could finally have proper kitchen utensils, plus knives, forks, plates, pots, and pans, while we are waiting for the Good Luck 2 to get here."

"Delicious, it's up to you, they are your engines. Will you be able to tell if there is a distortion in your magnetic engines, caused by this one small piece of 'Litelead' before we crash?"

"Yes captain, I believe my engines can take it."

"Good, I will have Mr. Cushing take us up to 1000 feet, and hover, while you check out your engines. If there's any problem, we will throw it out, before we retract the landing gear."

"That is an excellent precaution captain. Delicious, where would you like me to place this 'Litelead'?"

Delicious put her arm around Laura, and began walking up the stairs and into the ship.

"I have the perfect place for it. I know someone who is very familiar with the area. I think we should let him do it."

"That sounds logical, who is it?"

"Adam! He should put it in the same pressure module, where he found the bomb, before we left Earth. If you want, we can attach tape to the back of it, and have him place it on the ceiling of the module. You can have him lay there for the three hours we will be in space, to make sure it stays in place. How does that sound to you?"

Laura grinned. "Actually, it sounds like a lot of fun."

"You have an evil grin on your face, Laura."

"Adam and I weren't married the last time he was in that tube. We are now."

"You nasty girl you."

"I have learned a lot from him since we were married, and he never runs out of things to teach me."

"Yes, I've heard about your discussions with my sister-in-law's. You evil girls you!"

"Have you ever...?"

"No comment."

"You have six children, with one on the way, and you've never done that?"

"If this gets out, I'm going to cut out your tongue, and remove your breasts."

"I promise."

"The subject has never come up. I don't know what I would say if he asked, and I have never brought up the subject to him. So, that's where it stands."

"You must be one hell of a lay."

"He is my only one. He had many others before me, but I was only 17 when we met. You know the rest."

"I was 24. You cannot believe the number of women who came up to him, while we were dating. They would openly ask him openly, in front of me, if we were in a monogamous relationship, or if she could borrow him for an evening, or if we could have a threesome.

I could not believe my eyes, and ears, because some of these women were beyond beautiful. I didn't find out why he was in such demand, until after we were married. I knew what he could do with his hands, and mouth, because I had so many orgasms while we slept together, that they would run into one another. He could make me cum just by talking to me. He has a very evil mind, and the way he uses his body to pleasure mine is so much better.

On earth, we had a signal I would give him when he made me so hot and I couldn't take anymore. Even if we were eating dinner, reading, or resting; when he got me to the point where I was about to explode, I would scream, 'I need a shower.'

He could have a fork full of food at the entrance to his mouth, and he would drop it, and fly to the bathroom. I could be halfway there, and he would pass me to get it ready for us. I could have my way with him in any room in the house, but not in the shower.

The shower belonged to Adam.

The things he did to me in our shower would have relaxed the entire student body of an All-Female Catholic College, run by the Sisters of Perpetual Virtue, located on a private island, with no outside communications, and no batteries."

"Now that place sounds like hell on Earth."

"No ma'am, 'Our Shower Was Heaven On Earth."

"Now, not only am I pregnant, but I'm horny as hell."

"Isn't Grey coming with us?"

"He sure as hell is now!"

"I will make sure Adam is on board. As soon you tell me the 'square' of 'Litelead' is okay, or not, we are finished. Either it gets thrown overboard, or it gets placed safely away. There is no sense wasting three hours watching stars go by, when Adam can make some new ones for me."

"Isn't life grand."

Wistfully, Laura said, "I wish I could talk with my mother. I would love to tell her how much I've I've grown, and matured. I don't think she ever believed it would happen to me, because I was always a loner. She would go crazy over Tiffany, and Dick. I guess that is the worst part of this trip, no communications with Home."

"Newton and Gordon are working on it. They haven't gotten very far, but it is a work in progress. Lightspeed isn't fast enough to get messages there, and receive a reply. The first message would have to be diagrams on how to make a transmitter and receiver to keep in contact. To test it, we would have to take the Good Luck out 100, 150 light years away and transmit a message here to it to see how long it takes to gets back here. If it takes more than three hours, it's not fast enough. It's good, but not good enough. It has to be instantaneous, like I am talking with you, now."

"As was said at our last meeting, your father loved being told it was impossible to do. Get to work Delicious. Get your brother, and your children to work on the project. They are the smartest people on this ship. Don't hold them back. Push them forward. Even your four-year-old's, put them to work, too. You never know what gems will come out of their mouths."

"You want me to go back to seeing Hannah every day, don't you?"

"If that's what it takes to get that radio buzzing, and your new engine zipping us through space at WARP speed, do it. I don't care if you and Gordon are outside the spacecraft, square dancing, with no spacesuits on, while we are under attack by the Kardashians."