Chapter 9

We received a phone call this morning before we left for the office. It was Edgar and after exchanging greetings he said, “Johnson and Tailor Construction is satisfied with the contract for the IT construction, Jeb, and is ready to sign on the dotted line.

“I checked on the status of the permit for the IT Department construction yesterday, and was told the permit had been approved. I will pick up the permit today, and then a signed contract is the only thing I’ll need to start the construction.”

“That is good news, Edgar. When we get into the office, I’ll talk with Shane and have him arrange a meeting to sign the contract.”

“The other thing I had for you, Jeb, is that Elba is projecting completion of your drawing package for your office building in about three weeks.

“My bosses at Johnson and Tailor received an advance copy of Elba’s draft specification and the building’s floor plan. They are starting to prepare a bid for the construction of the building. Once Elba completes the draft drawing package and specification, they will update their bid package.

“They want to know if you are interested in finalizing the contract based on the draft drawings. If there are any significant changes in the final drawing package or specification, any additional costs can be negotiated using a change order.”

“I’ll discuss that with my wives, Edgar. If the draft drawing package and specification is ready in three weeks and there are no significant changes to the package, then we may be willing to go that route.”

Edgar asked, “Do you want me to have Elba start the parking garage drawing package for you when she finishes the office building’s drawings?”

I said, “Yes. We will come up with an estimate of the number of parking places that will be needed in a week or two. Anything else?”

“No. Have a good day, Jeb. Bye.”

When we arrived at the office, we talked with Shane about the two contracts. Shane said, “Let’s talk about the IT Department contract first.

“The contract will only need one of you to sign it. Do I have a volunteer?”

Phyllis said, “I should have more than enough time this week to sign the contract, so I will do it.”

Shane said, “Good. I will check with Oren for the dates and times that you are available and set up an appointment with Johnson and Tailor to sign the contract at their main office.

“As to finalizing your office building contract, it’s up to you to decide whether you want to base its construction on the draft drawing package and specification. If there are only a few minor changes, it will probably be okay.

“As you know, work done on a change order is usually more costly than the work initially negotiated. So keep in mind that there is always the possibility of Elba finding an error, and having to correct the drawings after the contract is signed. If that happens, you may incur significant costs for Johnson and Tailor to build what is in the final drawing package.”

Alicia said, “We will remember that, Shane. At the moment, we are willing to take that risk. We will need that office building as soon as it can be built. I suspect that the additional construction costs will be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars range. The delay of having to wait for the final drawing package could cost JAMP millions of dollars in lost profit over the next few years.”

Shane said, “I wasn’t aware of that. It sounds as if basing the contract on the draft package is a good idea.

“Construction can’t begin until the permit is approved and the final drawing package will be required to apply for the permit. That gives us a window of time for negotiating a contract. I will talk with Johnson and Tailor to see if something can be worked out to minimize the cost of any Change Orders.

We ended our meeting with Shane. The next thing on our agenda for the day was to determine the tasks we needed to work on before the first day of the meeting. There weren’t that many tasks, but there were also only a few days before the meeting started.

We prioritized the tasks and started working on them. Started is the operative word. Throughout the day we were interrupted and had to respond to a number of situations. We knew this was normal and didn’t get upset for we expected it to happen.

A date was arranged for signing the IT Department construction contract. Phyllis and Johnson and Taylor’s representative signed the contract. Five and a half weeks later, Terra and her IT technicians moved into their new home. Quinn and his leads were still defining what they wanted done in the basement to support their efforts.

While we were at the office, Ship Commander Shimlt had her people install the two systems she agreed to authorize for our use. The equipment came with people who were trained to use and maintain the equipment. Simon assigned them lodging in one of John’s shuttles.

Ship Commander Shimlt talked with Lieutenant Zant over their communication link, she said, “Lieutenant Zant, Facilitator Jeb Connor informed me that you provided him with a suggestion on how to respond to a long range attack. He and I appreciate your suggestion.”

“Thank you, Ship Commander Shimlt. I was hoping that Ship Commander Third Tanat would have a better suggestion for mine could create problems. When I heard his suggestion, I knew it was the better way to handle an attack.”

“Yes, that is what I heard, Lieutenant Zant. When I considered that you did not know about all of the assets The Seeker had available, I realized it was a good suggestion. Thank you.”

“Ship Commander Shimlt, there is another thing you should be aware of. Let’s just say that the members of my assault platoon are not diplomats. Their interaction with the delegates could create problems. You may want to consider recalling me and my assault platoon and replacing us with Altairian Defense Force personnel.”

“Yes, Lieutenant Zant, that is a very good idea. I will make the necessary arrangements and issue orders for that to happen at an appropriate time. Thank you again for another good suggestion.”

That’s why we received two Patrol Groups of Altairian Defense troops three days before the meeting started. We were happy to learn Explorer Leader Nick Thelt’s Patrol Group was one of the two groups.

When making the arrangements, Ship Commander Shimlt knew the Patrol Groups would be on Earth for close to two years, so she decided to deploy additional shuttles to be used as supplemental living space.

When we learned John was leaving, he agreed to join us for a farewell dinner in his honor, Thursday evening. He rather enjoyed the barbequed beef ribs, potato salad, baked beans, and other side dishes my wives prepared with Vert and Relpt’s help. Of course Simon, John, Paul, Aaron, Mike, and I enjoyed a few beers while we barbequed the ribs. I learned that barbequing is a well-known method of cooking meat in the Empire. John was already an expert in basting ribs with sauce, and he told us our sauce was different from what he used in the past. That led to Simon and John each explaining to me why their preferred sauce was better than that preferred by the other. I salivated over the descriptions of the two sauces. Paul, Aaron, and Mike added to the discussion of whose barbeque sauce was the best.

Friday morning, the shuttles swapped places again. The two Patrol Groups’ shuttles hovered overhead, while John’s two assault shuttles lifted and once clear of the farm climbed straight up heading to The Seeker. The roar of the engines shook the area around the farm and rattled windows. There was a rumor that John broke a few windows in downtown Seattle. Personally, I attributed the rumors to people trying to get the Altairian government to pay for previously broken windows that their insurance companies didn’t cover. Yeah, if you check your homeowner’s insurance policy, you will find that, in most cases, your deductible is higher than the cost of repairing a broken window.

Once the two Patrol Groups had arrived and set up their living quarters, Simon, Vert, and Relpt moved into one of Nick’s additional shuttles. Simon said since the Explorer Leaders normally reported to him, it would be better for troop morale if he lived with them. Simon explained that assault troops were subordinate to Altairian Defence Force personnel when they were onboard a Defence Force spaceship, which was not a frequent occurrence. That was part of the friction that made things awkward here at the farm.

Friday afternoon we met Explorer Leader Helen Beebe. She was an eager addition to our breakfast club. My wives were happy when she informed them that Ship Commander Shimlt had rescinded her non-fraternization order. Cindy never explained why she had issued the order or rescinded it, and we never asked.

Monday morning would be the first day of the final meeting.

After the end of the prior meeting, we tracked the votes the nations sent us to determine if there would be another meeting. When the votes exceeded fifty percent of the nations that had attended the meeting, we sent an invitation letter to all of the UN’s member nations. Among other information, the letter provided the date the next meeting would start and notification that each nation was authorized two delegates, and each delegate was authorized two support people. One translator per delegate was also authorized if the delegate was not fluent in English. We indicated that the nations could send additional support personnel, but they would not be authorized access to the meeting area, and they would not be authorized lodging and support at Joint Base Lewis-McChord. We also notified the nations of the altercations that happened during the prior meeting between the demonstrators and the delegations’ personnel.

The nations who planned to send delegates to the meeting had been sending us the names of their delegates and the delegates’ official support staff to include the date and time they would be arriving at the Seattle-Tacoma Airport (SeaTac).

We had not heard from nineteen nations, but there was no time limit for them to notify us of who would attend. They would either arrive, or they were declining our invitation without notice. Of the delegates we were aware of, many were due to arrive sometime this Friday and the rest on either Saturday or Sunday. We kept Betty informed of their arrival dates and times for she had agreed to provide transportation from SeaTac to Lewis-McChord for the delegates and their official support staff.

The media had set up their cameras and other equipment in the meeting and media tents Saturday. This meeting was more important than the last meeting, so we agreed to increase the number of reporters authorized access to the meeting area to twenty five. We also authorized two camera operators in the meeting tent to operate the two cameras, but the cameras were to remain at their designated locations in the tent.

The reporters covering the meeting shared their interviews with the remaining reporters. Every two weeks, a new group of reporters would be selected from the pool of available reporters to serve as the onsite meeting reporters. The reporters selected their first group of reporters and cameramen on Saturday.

Mike and Nick’s people had developed a badge system with embedded chips that were read by our security system. An alarm was generated when a badge worn by an authorized visitor entered an unauthorized area, or when an expired badge was worn by an authorized visitor was within the area enclosed by our network of sensors. It goes without saying that an unauthorized visitor within the area enclosed by our network of sensors was in serious trouble. Authorized visitors attempting to enter the meeting area with an expired badge were in trouble also, but the penalties were not as severe.

I called the Sheriff to remind him that Monday morning was the first day of the meeting. He was aware of it for I had already made arrangements to hire his off-duty deputies to ensure the road wasn’t blocked by spectators parking on the road to get a look at what was going on in the meeting area. We paid well and since his deputies worked a rotating shift schedule, they all had the opportunity to earn a bit of extra income on the side.

My wives and I were ready for the meeting to begin. Oren had assisted us with getting the agenda and other handouts printed and with a few last minute arrangements. He helped us deliver the handouts to the meeting tent and also volunteered to assist us with distributing the handouts that we would provide to each delegate.

During the past three months, Dani and Kiara had supervised and trained Susan Arrington, Dorothy (Dot) Bernthal, Nancy Patterson, and Sandra Adelson to be our Administrative Assistants during the meeting. Actually, they needed very little training, so Dani and Kiara had tasked them with the preparation effort we needed for the meeting. Dani told us they were good workers and would survive the meeting. That was good to hear. I just hoped my wives and I survived.

Day 1:

Monday morning the breakfast club met. After breakfast they wished us the best during the meeting. Vert and Relpt volunteered to clean up the kitchen because all of my wives and I were to be present for the first day of the meeting, and we all had to get ready for the meeting. After today, my wives would rotate the task of assisting me depending on their JAMP schedules and workload. I would happily allow them to decide who was to be with me.

After we changed into formal attire, we sat on the porch waiting for the Altairian delegation to arrive. The meeting was supposed to start at 10:00 and the delegation was supposed to be here by 8:30. I wanted them here early to get their badges, and ask any questions they may have before the delegates started arriving.

They were late, and I should have expected it. These people were senior politicians, despite their positions and title of delegate, and politicians always wanted to make an ’entrance.’

We watched as a seemingly constant stream of Earth delegates were disgorged from the buses. The reporters who were not authorized to be in the meeting area interviewed every delegate in the parking lot that they could get to talk with them.

At 9:30, my wives, our four Administrative Assistants and I headed to the meeting tent. At 9:50 we heard a shuttle on approach to our landing area. At 10:00, I started the meeting by introducing myself, my wives, and our Administrative Assistants. Part way through my opening remarks, a portion of the Altairian delegation entered the meeting tent. Simon pointed to the chairs on the platform where they were to sit. I hadn’t paused or paid attention to the delegates, so I continued with my opening remarks while they got comfortable.

It would be an understatement to say I was upset with the delegates’ late arrival. But I chose to ignore their arrival to send a message to them. If a different type of message was required, I could provide suitable comments.

I got the story from Simon during our lunch break. Simon said, “I waited until you had left for the meeting tent, Jeb. Then I went to our command shuttle and contacted Ship Commander Shimlt.

“I informed her that the meeting would start in twenty five minutes with or without our delegation. She was upset and sent Mark Heist to the shuttle bay to find out what was wrong. He reported back that several members of the delegation had not arrived at the shuttle when they had been instructed to do so, and the pilot was waiting for their arrival before departing. The pilot said that every so often a few delegates had made an appearance.

“Ship Commander Shimlt ordered the shuttle’s pilot to launch immediately and to make a fast transit to the farm. He did so and as he launched he ordered the delegates to put on Upchuck Kits for it would be a fast, rough ride to the surface through the atmosphere. Apparently the Altairian delegates have delicate stomachs for most of them lost their breakfasts into the Upchuck Kits. At least they didn’t spray each other.

“I don’t know what Ship Commander Shimlt will do about the missing delegates. However, I would not want to be them.”

“What type of action might be taken?”

“Jeb, this meeting is very sensitive and important to the Supreme Royal Zldat because his First Offspring is here and involved. Ship Commander Shimlt is very much aware of the Supreme Royal Zldat’s involvement, so I think she will send a trans-dimensional subspace message to her boss Supreme Commander Klatht at Altair’s Defense Force Headquarters. The message should arrive in two weeks.

“He does not appreciate politicians being sent on a sensitive mission like this and playing dominance games. So he will contact their boss’s superiors to let them know what happened, remind them of the sensitivity and importance of the mission, and request replacement delegates who will do their jobs without playing politics.

“I suspect the delegates will be returned to Altair and will be demoted. I imagine appropriate comments that can’t be expunged will be placed in their personnel files.

“What that means for us is another ship will be dispatched from Altair once the message arrives, a ship is prepared for the trip, and suitable delegates are selected and arrive on board the ship. The length of time to accomplish that doesn’t matter. When everything is ready, the ship will depart Altair and Time Distort to earlier than they need to be here. I suspect they have already arrived and are traveling as fast as safety permits using Light Speed Plus to reach our location.”

“I understand what you are telling me, Simon. I just find it difficult to comprehend the replacements already being here when I consider the time for a message to reach Altair, for new delegates to be selected, and for them to travel here.”

“I know, Jeb. You didn’t grow up with the concept of Time Distortion like I did. The ship will require a long time to make the trip from Altair to here, but they know how far in our past they need to arrive to allow them to travel here and arrive within a few hours of now.

“Learning that the delegates who missed the shuttle were replaced will be a good lesson for the delegates who made it to the meeting. I will reinforce that lesson with a few remarks and reminders from time-to-time during the meeting.

“Simon, if it’s a sensitive subject you don’t have to respond. If I recall, our present is sixty years in Altair’s past. How will they receive a message that arrived at Altair sixty years in their past?”

“It isn’t a sensitive matter, Jeb, for everyone in the Empire knows it can be done, but the explanation is complicated. I also don’t know the technical details of how it is done, so the best I can do is provide you with a generalization of what happens.

“Before Time Distortion engines were created, messages were transmitted between two locations in a three dimensional universe. The message’s transmission time was determined by the transmission distance and the subspace transmission speed. When Time Distortion engines were created, time was added to the transmission path to create a four-dimensional transmission path.

“When a ship Time Distorts into the past, or future, a trans-dimensional (TD) time link is created between the departure point and departure time on its original timeline and the ship’s arrival point and arrival time on its destination’s timeline. This TD time link advances along the two timelines at the same rate. One of the TD time link’s characteristics allows for transmission of trans-dimensional subspace messages over the TD time link.

“Jeb, in reality there is a single universe and it has a single timeline. However for my explanation, the easiest way to explain trans-dimensional subspace message transmission is to picture your Earth and my Altair being located in separate ‘time’ dimensions that are separated by sixty years. You can think of the two ‘time’ dimensions as two snapshots of the universe that were taken sixty years apart. Earth is the focal point of the first dimension and Altair is the focal point of the second dimension. Earth and Altair exist in both dimensions, and the two worlds have changed during the sixty year time differential between the snapshots.

“The Seeker departed Altair and headed to Earth traveling through the second dimension’s space. During the trip, The Seeker Time Distorted sixty years into the second dimension’s past, and then completed its journey to Earth arriving on the first dimension’s timeline. Now the TD time link connects The Seeker’s departure point in the second dimension with its arrival point in the first dimension.

“When The Seeker was preparing to transmit its message to Altair, it focused its transmitting antenna at the arrival end of the TD time link. The transmission traveled through the first dimension’s space to the arrival end of the TD time link. It was carried over the TD time link to the second dimension’s departure point. Then the transmission was radiated through the second dimension’s space to Altair’s receiving antenna.

“The end result, if we ignore the message’s transmission time of about two weeks, is the trans-dimensional subspace message arrived at Altair’s receive antenna sixty years after it was transmitted.”

“I’ll probably need to have you explain that again, Simon, but I think I understood what you said. If I understood you correctly, Altair could have responded with a response message to let you know it received your message, but you didn’t mention getting a message. Is it normal for them to not respond to messages, Simon?”

“They can’t respond, Jeb. Remember that I said The Seeker pointed its transmitting antenna at our end of the TD time link?”

“Yes.”

“Well, Altair knows the general direction to its end of the TD time link, but to send a message over the link, their transmitting antenna must be pointed at the end of the link. Precise pointing is required for sufficient transmission power to travel over the link and still have enough power remaining for The Seeker’s receivers to lock onto the message transmission.”

“I find that totally dumbfounding, Simon. Whoever figured that out must have been a genius.”

The late arrival of the Altairian Delegation caused a rough start for the first day of the meeting, but the remainder of the day was reasonably smooth with the exception of one announcement.

The announcement was part of my explaining how we would conduct the meeting. The delegates had no problem with my start time, lunch time, and break times. They did not care for my end time. I told the delegates we would continue our discussions until all of the day’s agenda items had been completed.

The delegates weren’t happy that I insisted on not ending the day at a specific time. I insisted that we had a very large number of agenda items to address, so we should remain until we had addressed all of our agenda items for the day. Failure to do so would result in a longer meeting, and them having to endure their current living conditions for a longer time.

We reached a negotiated settlement shortly after the Australian delegate Amira Blaustein said, “I attended the last meeting.

“We were here for two weeks living in the same tent city at Lewis-McChord and eating in field kitchens here and at the base. For two weeks we endured unpleasant living conditions.

“This meeting is expected to last for two years. I’ll stay and do my duty to my country. However, I want out of here as soon as possible. If I have to stay for an extra hour, or more, to complete the day’s work I will. It beats spending an additional month or more at Lewis-McChord. I’m even willing to work on Saturdays if it will get me out of here quicker.”

Our agreement had two parts. We agreed that if at 6:00 PM we had more than one agenda item to discuss. We would discuss the next item and move the remaining agenda items to the following day’s agenda. The second part was, if we completed the day’s agenda items before 6:00 PM, then we would begin discussion of the next day’s agenda items.

I planned on being a strict task master, but not a slave driver. I liked the idea of working on Saturdays to hasten the end of the meeting for I had better things to do with my time than listening to the delegates arguing. But, now was not the time to suggest a six-day work week. I would have to pick an appropriate time four or five months from now; but by then. Amira or another delegate might be suggesting that option.

When I completed defining the procedural matters, we started discussing our first agenda item. My wives and I wanted to build momentum, so we had arranged the agenda items so the simpler topics would be discussed this week.

The majority of the delegates had attended the prior meeting. They were in the forefront of the discussions. Toward the end of the day, I noticed the newbie delegates were also participating but to a lesser extent. There wasn’t a lot of disagreement on the agenda items.

Dinner that evening with the breakfast club was interesting. Since my wives spent the majority of their time in the meeting, Relpt and Vert had prepared dinner. Their versions of common Earth recipes were different, but tasty. We learned later that they had visited their mess facilities and obtained a few Altairian seasonings. They were good cooks.

Most of the dinner conversation was about the delegates who missed the shuttle.

Helen said, “I pity you, Jeb. I had to deal with a few of the delegates during our trip to Earth. It wasn’t a pleasurable experience.”

Marge replied, “No need for pity, Helen. Jeb is more than capable of putting an Altairian delegate in their place. If a delegate tries to get superior with Jeb, all he has to do is inform the delegate that he is Mary’s bearer. That will shut the delegate up.”

Simon confirmed the statement with a nod of his head. Helen said, “I wasn’t aware of that. Since Jeb is Mary’s bearer, is she here at the farm?”

I said, “Yes, she is here in the house in a safe location. We try not to disturb her time in the Time Continuum when she is viewing the past and future unless it’s important. Otherwise, I would introduce you to her after dinner.

“Before I forget it, my complements to our chefs. Your creations for our dining pleasure are very good.”

Vert and Relpt acknowledged my compliment, and the compliments that followed it with smiles and nods of their heads. The conversation returned to the delegates with Helen saying, “A few of my friends onboard The Seeker contacted me to let me know a shuttle arrived at The Seeker and dropped off some delegates and their luggage. Our missing delegates boarded the shuttle with their luggage and it left. The delegates with whom I had my encounter were among them.”

Simon said, “Yes, it is unfortunate that they had been selected to be delegates. Perhaps their appointments brought the less pleasant facets of their personalities to the forefront. Regardless of why their behavior was inappropriate, the Altairian Government was not happy with them. They embarrassed their bosses, who selected them to attend the meeting, and their boss’s superiors. At a minimum, the delegates and their bosses will be reprimanded by the senior government leaders. I would not be surprised to learn that they will be demoted for poor judgement.”

Alicia said, “To bad we don’t see more of that around here. I can think of a number of politicians from the prior administration who deserve to have a vacation in prison to contemplate their actions, and it would be nice if their boss joined them.”

Those of us familiar with the prior administration’s shenanigans laughed at Alicia’s statement for we were in agreement with her.

Madge said, “I know what you mean, Alicia. I never understood how they managed to avoid prison for their actions.”

Phyllis said, “That’s simple, Madge. Regardless of their party and the way they fight over issues, most politicians protect each other. Although, Betty is different. She seems more interested in getting the job done right and not worrying about the cookie crumbs that are the result of her actions.”

Helen asked, “What do cookies have to do with politics?”

Nick said, “Nothing. When you break a cookie, you always get a few crumbs. So cookie crumbs is a metaphor for the damage that occurs from someone’s actions.”

I asked, “Do you think the delegates will end up in prison?”

Simon said, “No. Their actions will probably be attributed to poor judgement with no criminal intent. The delegates will likely be demoted in a way that will prevent them from ever being promoted into another position of power. Their bosses will probably be eligible for promotion after a period of penance for their poor choices.”

Our talk switched to our personal opinions of the more talkative delegates. My wives and I chose to listen without comment. It would be inappropriate for us to comment; anything we said would likely get back to the delegates.

Days 2 through 5:

During the remainder of the week, a number of additional delegations arrived from their countries. They had travel difficulties because their travel agencies booked them on flights that landed in countries that chose to believe all of a flight’s passengers and crew were drug runners. The custom’s officials insisted on inspecting everyone’s luggage for contraband even though neither the passengers nor crew nor their luggage would be remaining in the country when the flight left.