There Must Be A Mistake Ch. 17

As they entered the house, Cassie said, "I can't believe this. Love has finally hit that big lug. I've never seen him act this way before. I don't know whether to be happy or sad. I always wanted it to be me, but I've known for years it was never going to happen. He's known Junie for a month, and I'll wager that cowboy is down for the count."

Laura said, "Three kisses do not make a marriage."

"When he initiates kisses like that in public, he is serious. Like Anna said, those kisses were 'toe curlers.' He saves those very special people. I never got one."

"Is my baby sister jealous?"

"You know damn well I am. I would have hopped into his bed anytime he asked, but he never did. I'm the sister he never had, and I can't tell you how much I hated it."

Patty put her arms around her and kissed her head. "There is a great guy out there looking for you, he just hasn't found you yet. You've been so wrapped up looking at Callum, you never saw him. Now you can look at everyone else that is worthy of you. Don't rush yourself; you are very young, and gorgeous beyond measure."

"Thanks Aunt Patty, I think I'll call my mom and tell her what's going on."

"Should someone call Susan and Alan and give them a heads up?"

Christian said, "It will be my pleasure. No wait one minute; Cassie have mom call Alan and tell him the news. She will enjoy this immensely. She will finally have something over him. She can torment him instead of the other way around. Mom will love you for it."

"Christian that is the most unchristian thing I've ever heard you say. It is positively marvelous. I wonder if mom will do it in church."

"Now that would be mean, marvelous, but mean. He would chase her out of the pulpit and around the sanctuary. The bishop would have homilies for a year talking about those two."

"You two talk to your mother. We have to make up a supply list to build two stasis units. We will test one on a monkey for one month and see how that goes. Then we will put Junie in the full-size model for one year. No one can know about this test, except for Doctor Luck. This cannot go public. The government will shut us down before we start, because we did not follow the FDA procedures. It would take seven years to do that, and more if they don't like what they see.

I think it's time for some trickery. If they get word of it, the first place they are going to look is down in our labs. We are going to be hard at work trying to figure out how to put people into stasis. Come on people we have work to do."

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

77. The Redcoats Are Coming

It's not often that humans are smarter than computers but the 100 electrical workers had been trained so well they found flaws in the CAD produced schematics for the electrical systems. When they did, all work stopped in that area.

When the supervisor came over and told them to do it the way the schematic showed, the electrical workers said no, because it is wrong. The supervisor called the section chief. He ordered electricians to do it the way it showed on the schematic and again they refused.

"The six of you are fired. Leave the site immediately."

"Call Delicious Thyme and let her know about your decision. We are not going to kill her, you are."

The men left the 'Beach Ball' and waited with security for Delicious to arrive. 20 minutes later she did. Her agent opened the door, and she walked straight to them.

"Hi guys what's up?"

"Teach, you told us in class if we found something wrong not to do it and bring it to the attention of our supervisor. We did, and he told us to do it the way it was shown. It's wrong, we know it's wrong and we won't do it that way. He bumped it up to line, and we got the same results. They fired us. We don't want you to die because we did something wrong. The schematic is wrong; we are right."

"Let's go inside and find out. Maybe I'll fire a supervisor, and a section chief, for trying to kill me and my family."

They formed a phalanx behind her as she walked towards the area in question. The section chief said to her, "I fired these men, they are not allowed in this area."

"George, if these men are right, and you are wrong, you will be picking up your paycheck instead of them. I trained these men, and I told them to stop everything if they found a defect. They found one, and now they're going to prove it to me. Bring it up on the computer, and I hope you have enough money saved to hold you over until your next job."

Jack said, "Follow this circuit, it goes to this terminal, it should come out here, proceed to this junction and proceed to this breaker. Instead it bypasses the breaker, and proceeds to the next two junction boxes and joins at the next breaker. It will work just fine until this feeder line from the Arboretum is activated. The pumps for the water and the lighting for the plants may or may not cause an overload, but if it does you have a fire here behind this wall. It is in the worst possible spot in this section. It would take at least 40 minutes to get to it, and by that time it is out of control and the ship is lost. All we wanted to do is bring the line to the correct breaker, and these two assholes told us to do it the way the schematic showed it."

"What do you have to say for yourself now George? You just destroyed a $400 billion project and killed 70 people, because you wouldn't listen to superbly trained electrical workers. If they tell you it's wrong, it's wrong. I trained them for the better part of the year to know it's wrong. They are not infallible, but they are as close to it as any human can be. Did you give them a chance to show you what they showed me?"

"No I didn't. I looked at the schematic and it looked fine to me."

"Now that the spaceship blew up a couple of million light years away, what do you think? You can't apologize to me, or my father, and all the families that are on board because we are dead. You are down here, drinking beer, thinking what a wonderful job you did by firing six electrical workers who were correct, and you were wrong. Are you a rich man George; can you afford to lose this job?"

"No ma'am, I can't afford it. Alimony is killing me."

"The next time one of my electrical workers tells you there's a problem, listen to them. Have them show you where it is, and why it's a problem. If you still don't see it, call me, and I will decide if it is a problem or not. Apologize to these men, because they didn't deserve the treatment you gave them. When you see their supervisor, I expect him to be six inches shorter, and his tongue tied to his teeth when he apologizes to them."

"Yes ma'am."

"Guys, would you tell George what the passing grade was in my class."

"100 percent George; anything else you were fired."

"George the men and women who are working on this project are the cream of the crop. They will go out into the field and teach their coworkers and newcomers how to read schematics and to put everything together properly. Congratulations guys; great work, now get back to work. You've goofed off enough for one day."

"Slave driver."

George said, "I'm sorry guys I didn't see the flaw, and my mouth overloaded my brain. It won't happen next time. I'll let you show it to me, like you did Mrs. Thyme, before I make a decision."

"That's all we need George, she drilled it into us every day, because she's going to be on this 'Bubble'. She doesn't want to die on it, and it's not going to be our fault if something goes wrong."

"It's not going to be my fault either, I'll make sure it."

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

I was sitting at my desk when my secure phone rang for the umpteenth time this morning. How did anyone expect me to get work done without going through my secretary?

"Yes."

"Even, Patti Valentino, stasis solved tell no one." The phone line went dead.

I looked at the phone wondering if it was a crank call but I knew her voice and knew there must be a reason behind her request for absolute secrecy. I decided to test it by speaking to Stephano later today. If it was truly solved our last major hurdle to climb into the stars was behind us. Everything else was doable, it just would take time, and that we had plenty of.

Every time I would walk onto the ship on Sunday, the second floor was becoming a warren of piping, electrical lines, the fiber-optic, pumps, a waste treatment plant, and a recycling plant. The amazing thing was it was all coming together quickly. Between the people and materials sent to us by Celeste and Philip Castronova, for miniaturization, and Dycke and Payne Schneider for the assembly of my "Beach Ball" our vision of the future was coming to life in rapidly.

I could hear a ruckus coming from behind me. It could only be those two children fighting with each other again. I couldn't decide which one was getting worse. Was a Gray getting younger, or Gordon getting older; they were constantly razzing each other. All I could tell today is that they were running towards me.

I turned around and yelled, "Would you two infants stop it already."

Gray yelled, "Gordon stole a telex out of my hands. I didn't get a chance to read it, and he started running here. I know it's good otherwise he would've given it back to me."

"Gordon, give Gray back is telex."

"Okay dad, but it was nothing important. It only says 15 Exascale computers are on their way and should arrive Thursday."

"I'm going to kill that little runt," Gray shouted. "I've been waiting for that confirmation for two weeks, and he steals it from me. I was supposed to tell you that."

"Is it really that important who tells me we're getting the fastest computers in the world? Does it matter that we are getting computers with chips made on slices of industrial diamonds? Does it really matter in the long run who tells me except they're finally coming here to be installed in this wonderful machine of ours?"

Gordon and Gray looked at each other. Then they looked at me. Simultaneously, they yelled, "Yes."

"Okay, I was just checking. Check with the Paranal Observatory, in Atacama Peru, Gary. See if they have the latest star charts ready. If they do; see how much the ESO (Europeans Southern Observatory) is going to charge us for them."

"Gordon call the NEST, tell them I want the forward areas of the third floor, Sections A13 through C59 completed yesterday. I want these computers installed as soon as the trucks offload them. I don't want them sitting outside the 'Beach Ball' for one second longer than necessary. I don't care what they have to stop doing to get this completed, but I want that area finished and ready to be sealed off as soon as the fifteenth computer is installed, connected, and locked down in place.

Have all the installation, electrical, technical, and air conditioning section chiefs set up an overtime rotation on a triple time pay basis. I want all this information dispatched by the end of business today."

"Aye, Aye, Captain, I will do it right now."

"Young man how many times do I have to tell you your mother is the captain?"

"On our spaceship too dad?"

"It's just a house that flies."

"It's a very expensive house."

"Men build houses, women make them homes."

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

Jennifer called me on my cell.

"Hello baby, why don't you come up here, and look at all the wires, conduits, and everything for yourself. You are the 'Master' of this vessel. You are supposed to know where everything is, and where everything goes."

"What am I supposed to do with your children Doctor Luck?"

"Oh I keep forgetting about them."

"If you keep forgetting to come home, you could be missing the three of us. Gordon would stay with you."

"I'm sorry dear, what can I do for you?"

"There are men down here who want to give you televisions."

"We've already purchased three hundred televisions from them."

"They know that, but they didn't know where they were going. Now they do and they want to talk to you about it."

"Why do I have a feeling we're going to have another logo on the outside of the ship?"

"That's not my problem. Get your ass down here, I want a kiss."

"Where do you want it?"

"I'm dropping my pants, you can kiss both cheeks."

"Don't scare the Japanese away dear, I'll be right down."

*********

My wife did not disappoint. She was standing behind the scaffolding, and once I appeared she dropped her pants, and panties, and I kissed both cheeks. What she didn't count on were the guards patrolling the other side of the ship looking our way. They applauded, and she turned red.

"I'm going to kill you Even."

"This was your idea Jen, not mine. I will come home tonight and sample the rest of your tender body, and see if we can add some more kisses to other areas of interest."

"Some areas have forgotten what it feels like husband."

"I am sorry Jen. I am so tied up in this project I'm afraid to leave it."

"Then don't leave it. We are going to be together for ages once we leave this planet. You are going to take me on the adventure of a lifetime. What wife could ask for anything more?"

"A wife like you deserves more than I'm giving her now."

"Even let's go get some televisions and we will catch up on everything later today."

"Where did we meet again?"

"If you forgotten, I'm going to hit you."

"It must've been those trees I hit backwards. It's all coming back to me now. Some woman told me a joke and even I thought it was stupid. She was the first woman I had talked to years. What a mistake that was." (I didn't move fast enough, and it hurt. She continued to hit me all the way to the Japanese contingent. They looked confused.")

I bowed. "Hello gentlemen how may I help you?"

They had a wonderful presentation prepared, and they wanted to help us instead of the other way around. They wanted to equip the entire ship with monitors, two-way radio communication between rooms and essential parts of the ship. The most impressive part of all was they wanted to give us enough external cameras to give us a Globular view of space as we travelled through it. The main view screen would be like a Jumbotron at a sports stadium. It could be broken up into 48 individual screens to look at every point of the compass, plus a large center screen for looking forward. All the screens could also be focused at one area also for a larger view.

I was in awe of it all. I never dreamed it could be done, and I dreamed big. Then I asked the magic questions, "How much will it cost, and how long will it take to install?"

They were ready for me with both counts.

"Doctor Luck, we will do the installation of our products, and your people can hook them into your grid. Our part will take 13 to 15 months. You can begin connecting each item as soon as it is installed. This way it can be checked immediately.

Then they opened a digital laptop computer and showed my 'Beach Ball' in all its glory. As it turned, at each 90 degrees interval in large letters from north to south was the word, "SONY." The name was larger than the name of the ship.

I turned to the head of the delegation, shook his hand, and said, "No thank you." I took Jen's arm walked away.

I think their entire delegation was stunned. They started talking amongst themselves quickly, attempting to save their plan.

As we reached the scaffolding one of their members reached me and asked me to join them for another conference.

I told him nothing that size was going to be on our ship. I have donors that are giving me billions of dollars to build this craft. I have corporate donors: IBM, Goodyear, Argonne National Laboratory's that were going to have prominence on the exterior of my spacecraft. What you are offering me is a few hundred million dollars. What they have given me, and continue giving me, is in on billions of dollars. You people have some nerve demanding such attention for yourselves.

He beseeched me to come to another conference.

I acquiesced.

He spoke with his group and explained to them the competition they were up against. They came up with a solution they found acceptable to one another and presented it to me.

They asked that their name be put in a place of honor, for all to see, and the same size along with our other donors.

I told them I could accept that compromise. I also told them the letters U.S.A. would be larger than all other letters, including the ship's name.

They understood that also.

It was a major victory for our program. We had never envisioned any video system like this. I had to call Delicious to make sure we were not overloading the electrical capacity of the ship.

"Dad how can a genius be a dunce? We bought plasma televisions from them three years ago, because they were the top of their line. They have been in storage now because they stopped making them. They kept overheating and burning out after three or four years. I compensated for that with the air-conditioning system to keep them ice cold. Now they are giving us the new LCD screens throughout the ship. They use less electricity, they run cooler, and I don't have to pump as much air-conditioning into the forward deck. We save electricity; we don't expend more."

"That's what I called to tell you. I did you a favor I saved electricity for you."

"If I was there dad I would smack you between the eyes."

"You're not here, that's why I said it. How's my grandson doing?"

"I think he's going to be like you. He keeps trying to open the cabinets and get to the chemicals. I'm sure he's going to make some type of bomb by the time he seven."

"We blew up Rod's bicycle when I was six."

"Please tell me you're joking, I'll have to handcuff Newt."

"When you come to work tomorrow ask Rod. I don't think he's ever forgiven us for doing that to his new bicycle."

"What do you mean us dad; did mom have a hand in it."

"You already know she didn't like Rod. This is one of the ways she proved it. Rod will tell you the story."

"She hated Rod when she was five?"

"Rod was always a pervert. He kept picking up the back of her dress. She got even with him."

"Way to go mom, I am really going to have a good time with him tomorrow morning."

"Keep your running shoes on. He was not happy that day. I will talk to you later baby."

Jennifer was talking with Gordon and Gray when I yelled, "Gray your wife want you home 10 minutes ago. She wants you to work off some of that fat you're putting on. She's putting Newton down for his nap and if you're not there by the time he falls asleep she's going to perform an operation on you. It's called a gelding and it sounds painful."

"I've lost eight pounds since we've been married, and it's not because of her cooking. I should never have introduced her to sex; she's going to drive me to an early grave."

Jennifer kissed him on the cheek. "I feel so sorry for you. All men should have your problem. Get your ass home before you're missing your balls."

"Yes mom, goodbye dad, I'll see you tomorrow at work."

"Mom, how soon can I get in on this?"

"Get in on what Gordon?"

"This sex stuff, everybody's getting it but me."

"That's the way it should be, until you get married."

"That's not what I've been reading; over two thirds of the kids in high school are having sex. I've already graduated high school, and I'm not having sex."

"Life isn't always fair, and if you have any other questions ask your father."

"Dad, when will it be... where did he go mom?"

"Who is the smartest man you know Gordon?"

"Dad is."

"If your father heard me saying 'if you have any other questions about sex ask your father', what might he do if he didn't want to answer it?"

"Disappear."

"Do you see how smart your father is?"

"Delicious always says 'Dad is smarter than the average bear.' One day I'm going to find out what that means."