Chapter 18

Sarah smiled as she began to wake up to find herself lying near the middle of her sleeping spouses. Although she wasn’t physically in contact with all of them, she could sense their nearby presence. Again, as she did every morning, she gave a prayer of thanks for the many blessings they had received.

“Yes,” said Maeve. “We have been blessed in many ways.”

“I hope I didn’t wake you.”

“Don’t think so. Although I’ve never tried to prove it I’ve often wondered whether we all go to sleep at the same time. I do think that it is pretty close, also we all seem to wake up at nearly the same time. Well, except when we become wrapped up in a dream and those have always been enjoyable.”

“That they are.”

“Think the storm is past Gaillimh Isle?”

“It should be. I guess since no one contacted us that everything is okay.”

“It is,” said Star.

“Is something up as you don’t normally greet us?”

“No. Everything is fine. I was monitoring you all because I expected that that would be your first thought.”

“Well my first thought was to give thanks for my spouses, friends, and where we are in life.”

“Me too.”

“Based on the mutterings I’ve heard there are many who feel the same way. We could have quite a philosophical discussion on how the path we chose came about, however I don’t think a conclusion would be reached.”

“We agree.”

“What is the situation at Tara Ardchlár?”

“Several domes had some minor damage to their exterior covering from wind-blown debris. Due to the way they are layered only a little water reached sensitive or protected areas. There was some minor flooding at Tara but the staff were able to control it, so there isn’t any significant damage. Tunneling operations continued without any problems.”

“So later this morning the staff can begin returning?”

“Weather wise, it is probably best to wait until at least lunch time.”

“How bad is the flooding elsewhere?”

“Very close to predictions. The bay rose to cover about half the land below the falls. The forecasters think it won’t begin receding until tomorrow. Communications has sent out four groups to document the storm’s impact on the island.”

“Good.”

“Star, thanks for anticipating our query,” said Sarah’s Clan.

“You are welcome. See you on the bridge after breakfast.”

Sarah said, “I hope we didn’t wake you all up.”

“You didn’t,” responded Erin. “I think all of us woke up at about the same time, which was while Maeve and you were chatting.”

“I agree,” added Jill and several others.

Judy said, “I certainly enjoyed the time we spent sharing our affection last night. It felt especially good then, and even more so in hindsight.”

“So are you suggesting another round?” jested Joyce.

“Well ... I have no objections to doing that, but we have quite a bit that needs our attention today, so tonight would be soon enough for me.”

“An excellent idea,” responded several.

“We should begin our exercises,” reminded Alison.

“Yes, we should,” responded Aoife. “But like Sarah, I love the sensations and affection I feel when we are together as we are now. I am not sure my feelings can be adequately expressed even using our mind link and its attributes.”

“I agree,” responded Alena. “But I also agree with Alison as I feel really full.”

“Does that happen very often?” queried Judy.

“Occasionally. It is not like what happened on the way here. Actually, that was my first thought when it first occurred but the occurrence isn’t consistent. Sometimes it is just for one let down. While at other times it continues for perhaps a couple of days then it is back to normal. I’ve gone over my activities but don’t see any commonality.”

“Well stop by the clinic today and we will run some tests. Actually, we may want to repeat them over several days.”

“I am not sure we need to go to that much trouble.”

“It is not any trouble. We mustn’t forget that we are still adapting to this environment, so we need to attempt to determine if there is any substantive reason behind any odd changes.”

“That makes sense. I’ll come by after breakfast.”

Tara said, “Actually you might want to remind everyone about watching for, and reporting, any odd reactions or changes our bodies exhibit at lunch time.”

“Good idea. Perhaps we should wait until after we’ve seen the results of Alena’s tests, as that could give us a new way to present the issue.”

“So, we’ll wait for the test results before mentioning it,” said Sarah.

“Agreed,” replied her spouses.

As Sarah’s Clan made their way down to Tara Ardchlár Jill said, “Let’s take a look around before we land at Tara.”

“What did you have in mind?” queried Erin.

“Well I would like to look at the island we use for prisoners. After that let’s approach Gaillimh at a low level and then follow the bay from the ocean to the falls. I am interested in seeing where the two women were found and its relationship to the beach. From the beach we could turn north and continue at a low level so we can see how extensive the flooding was, or still is.”

After making a circle of the island they used to confine prisoners they turned toward Gaillimh Isle. Terry said, “I didn’t see any noticeable effects of the storm.”

“I thought it looked like the storm surge was pretty high, based on where the trash was on the beach,” responded Janet.

Alison added, “The impact of the storm there was mostly an increase in high tide along with heavy rain.”

They had traveled a few miles up the bay when the Shuttle AI said, “Leisl was found at this point on the north side. When she woke up, she was a short distance up the game trail from the water’s edge. When we found her she was at the top of the bank. A map is on the monitor. The water is now much higher than when she was picked up; in fact it is well above where she said she woke up.”

“Thank you.”

“I would think it would take several hours to drift this far from the beach,” said Alena.

“How did she survive?” asked Jill. “Wasn’t she out here for 4 or 5 days?”

“Five,” responded the AI. “She said she chose to remain there for several reasons. First, there was fresh water and she hadn’t figured out a way to carry it. Second, she found edible plants and flowers nearby. Perhaps more significantly, even after being there several days, she was certain that we would come for her and that hiding wasn’t an option.”

Aoife said, “I take it you carried the team that picked her up.”

“Yes. Several of the team indicated that they felt drawn in this direction. They also commented on how few game trails they saw along the bay between the water and the ridge. Has she remembered how she managed to get this far downstream? Or out of the water?”

“Not that we’ve heard.”

“Her reaction to being found seemed strange as she seemed both happy and sad.”

Judy said, “She was and her reasons are a rather complex. While I haven’t been directly involved with her and Jodie’s treatment, the doctors have indicated that their recovery is progressing very smoothly. Jodie’s reasoning and her situation was quite similar to Leisl’s.”

“This is the game path where they found Jodie.”

“This one appears to be more of a challenge to climb than the other,” noted Rusty.

“When the water is at its normal level there is a fairly long path just above it, with several places where it is easy to reach.”

Alison said, “With these game paths being so clear there must be quite a few animals using them.”

“I am not sure that that is the case,” responded Rusty. “Although they look like game trails now, I suspect they are created by runoff from heavy rains. Since they aren’t gullies game would probably use them in dry weather. Animals likely have easier access to water on the inland side of the ridge.”

Erin said, “Did you notice that so far it is only these two paths which have vegetation next to them?”

“So are you implying something?” questioned Maeve.

“Perhaps ... I suspect they were ... shall we say, guided to the spots where they were found. It seems reasonable to believe that they had assistance in traveling this far and safely reaching the bank. We could draw a loose similarity with events from Earth, which is of porpoises assisting swimmers, or maybe it was dolphins. Something like that could explain how they survived long enough to reach the spot where they were found, although since they woke up away from the water’s edge the idea of being assisted by aquatic mammals doesn’t seem reasonable.”

“So why didn’t this happen to the other two that the vermin claimed they dumped in the bay?”

“Possibly for many reasons. Their condition. Their attitude. Their bindings. If it was due to assistance by dolphins or porpoises then I guess they weren’t here at the critical moment for the others. I guess we will never know.”

“We’ve reached the beach,” said the Shuttle AI, “although you can’t see it due to the high water.”

Alena said, “I wonder whether there will be a beach there when the water recedes.”

“Should be,” responded Claudette. “If I remember the map correctly, the beach is east of where the Clota river enters the bay. Actually it could gain additional sand, if the currents are right.”

“AI, let’s follow the Clota river up to Tara Ardchlár,” said Sarah. “Fly low, and a little to the west side of the river, so that we can see the river as well as the adjoining land.”

“Okay. Let me know if you want to pause. There was a crew from Communications down this way earlier today and late yesterday.”

“Good. We’ll be able to compare their reports with what we see.”

When they reached Tara Ardchlár Joyce said, “Well, what was your impression?”

“Based on the models that were built for Gaillimh Island, I think they did a great job of identifying the areas that were susceptible to flooding. Seeing the results reminded me of scenes around where my grandparents lived.”

“Same here,” added Rusty, “except they were aunts and uncles.”

As they exited the shuttle they saw Siobhan’s Clan exiting another shuttle nearby and waved. When they were close Siobhan queried, “Are we still going camping tomorrow?”

They chuckled as Joyce responded, “I think the only excuse our children would accept is ‘a dire emergency’.”

“Based on our interaction with them over the last few days, I am not sure even that would be enough to lighten the disappointment.”

Eileen said, “We noticed that you all made a detour on your way here.”

“That we did,” responded Erin. “We wanted to see the impact of the storm on the island that we’ve used to confine prisoners. It looks a bit wind-blown and the water rose fairly high but otherwise not much different. Another reason for the detour was to get a visual of where Leisl and Jodie were found. When you read what happened, their survival is pretty amazing. Since seeing it, it seems even more amazing.”

“We agree,” responded Tiff with her spouses nodding.

As they talked, they were walking toward Central Square while looking around. Near the entrance to the building Kendra said, “It looks like some will be moving into a real building before long.”

“For us it will be about 10 weeks,” responded Claudette. “We should have the inside of the Residence Hubs completed at about the same time, or around the 34^th of Tenmonth.”

On entering their conference room they found the other Councilors waiting for them. Sarah said, “Good morning. We didn’t intend to be late.”

As they began greeting each other Chester said, “You aren’t, in fact you are probably early.”

Kelly added, “I think we all took time to look at different aspects of the island when we came down today. We came up the bay and then followed the Brigantia River valley north.”

“Good,” said Jackie. “It is almost like we planned different stops on the way here.”

“To a certain extent, we may have,” responded Aoife.

“Well we took a look at the tunneling effort. The four tunnels connecting 2E, 2E 1S, 1E 1S and 1E 2S are open. There is still quite a bit of finish work to do before they are completed. Currently there are four active locations. Two are the connections between a hub and its residence towers. The others are the tunnel from 1E 1S toward 1S and from 2E toward 1E.”

Molly added, “Excavation for 1E is to begin in a day or two.”

Rebeca of Kathryn’s Clan queried, “It seems rather risky to be digging a hole to start 1E while the tunneling is headed toward the same location.”

“The tunnels will be pushed to within about 3 or 4 meters of where they meet the foundation then halt. When they are ready to start the walls for sublevel 2, the tunnels will be completed.”

They shared their observations on the activity at Tara. During this time several of them noticed Amy’s Clan smiling and nodding as each spoke of what they had seen. When all but Amy’s Clan had commented Sarah said, “Amy, Jim, you all have been very quiet but we’ve noticed a few smiles and nods.”

“Your observations fit well with what’s been in the progress reports. Erin mentioned earlier wanting a visual of the situation Jodi and Leisl faced. In a way you’ve just provided that to us with your report of what you saw on your trip here. We think we are at a point where we can make some projections on when the buildings can be occupied. For the Residence Hubs at 1E 2S and 2E 1S, the temporary suites should be ready for occupancy in 10 weeks, or by the 34^th of Tenmonth. For 2E and 1E 1S, it looks like we will be ready to set up manufacturing operations in them by the 14^th of next month. Since we haven’t started the foundations of 1E and 1W the dates won’t be a firm. 1E should easily be done in 10 weeks. For 1W, we expect to be able to move most medical services there by the 50^th of Tenmonth. It won’t be complete at that time, but it will be far enough along. Once moved we will take down the covering at 1W 1S that they’ve been using. At that point tunneling will have reached there so it can continue west until it reaches 3W.”

“But the foundations for the buildings won’t be in place,” noted Rebeca. “I had the impression from what is occurring at 1E that we had to wait until the walls of Sublevel 2 were ready to build.”

“In the case of 1E that is true as we don’t want to be excavating while tunneling. However, the 1S tunnel will be past those building locations when excavation begins. When a tunnel reaches a building location, a hole is created to the surface. It is through this hole that the debris for the next section is removed. The tunnel segment that will be a part of the building has a disposable interior. If there are services running through this segment, they will be set up so that they are fairly easy to relocate while construction takes place.”

“Okay.”

“When will we start the residence towers?” queried Paula of Maureen’s Clan.

“It partially depends on crew availability, but currently they are scheduled to begin several weeks before we begin occupying the Hub. Beyond that, we expect to be building the last two towers in a group when we start a new Residence Hub.”

“Will the temporary accommodations in the two Hub buildings give us enough space to empty a passenger ship?” asked Molly.

“Yes,” replied Jim. “Why?”

“Based on the number of people arriving at An Clochán, we should be going to get them at about that time.”

“Good point,” commented several.

“We gather you’ve been thinking about this,” said Alison.

Mairia of Jackie’s Clan responded, “A bit. The idea we’ve toyed with is for 2 Dóchas ships to travel with a passenger ship. That way we could linger there a bit before returning.”

Smiling Joyce said, “I gather you are volunteering to go.”

“Yes, we are,” replied Molly’s and Jackie’s Clans.

Mairia added, “There are some people we would like to visit, well that is if it is possible to do so without putting them in danger. However, we realize that this needs to be decided as a group, and perhaps as a family.”

“Let’s put this on our ongoing discussion topic list,” suggested Sarah. “We have plenty of time to work out the details, but it is something we need to carefully consider.”

“Agreed,” was the reply.

Melissa of Siobhan’s Clan said, “Zyworki informed Celia System Control Center that their replacement ships will arrive in the next few days. He would like to use our practice range to transfer supplies and become acquainted with them. At some point they want to use the range to test the weapons systems.”

Rusty said, “I don’t see any reason to object.”

“We’ll need a Security team there to handle range control,” added Chester.

“I believe that is being handled by Cathan’s and Alana’s Teams,” responded Emma of Keriann’s Clan. “I believe they are assisting them with the change over.”

“Is the evaluation of the Durale ships complete?” queried Kendra.

“Yes,” replied Calvin of Keriann’s Clan. “I think we now have a better understanding of their ships capabilities. Participation by the other Spec Ops teams in the evaluation was very beneficial.”

“Why is that?”

“The best way to explain it is that each group looks at unknowns differently. I think this is due to the difference in backgrounds and equipment. We spent quite a bit of time trying to determine where the Durale had been and where their command center is located. The conclusion was that it moves frequently. To enable ships on voyages find the new location they leave buoys with coded messages. In order to pick up the message a ship has to fit a profile and needs to respond with at least one pass phrase. We weren’t able to determine what makes up a profile.”

“That sounds like it could be a nightmare,” responded Chester with Kelly and Rusty nodding.

“On that we all agree. The evaluation did give us some good ideas to consider for improving our tactics and weapons. We gave the weapon ideas to Engineering.”

“Good. I’m not sure I’ve seen anything on the status of the forts.”

Evangeline of Molly’s Clan said, “They are progressing, but it will be several months before the first two are operational. In some respects setting up our SCC delayed the effort, but it also opened their eyes to some limitations they hadn’t thought were significant. So in a nut shell, we are a little behind, but better off.”

Ron of Jackie’s Clan said, “It would probably be a good idea if those of us with combat experience visited with them from time to time. It’s not that they doubt what they are doing, but they don’t have hands on experience so at times they have difficulty judging an attribute’s worth.”

Rusty, Kelly, Keriann, Chester and Calvin nodded as Keriann said, “We’ll do that ... very carefully.”

Maureen said, “Are you all still going camping?”

“Yes,” replied Sarah’s Clan with Siobhan’s nodding in agreement.

“Where?”

“The first day and night it will be on the plateau north of us. The next 2 days may be on another continent but there was talk of visiting the mountains south of us. The children have several places they would like to visit but the final choice hasn’t been made yet. We will keep Star informed.”

“Good.”

“By the way, Briana’s Clan is going with us as are several lions.”

Siobhan added, “Our backups will cover the bridges while we are gone.”

Jill said, “We really need to name the continents. The other day when I looked there are only names for this island and Carey. Beyond that the locations where we have installations are labeled with global coordinates. It works for specific locations but not too well for an entire area.”

Angie of Kathryn’s Clan said, “How about asking the Cartographers to divide the continents into several entities using natural boundaries? Once those are established, they can be offered to the family for discussion. The next step would be to have a naming project like we did for here. Geographical features like lakes, rivers, mountains and so forth need labels as well.”

“We agree. Should we set them up as a suggestion for now, and then make a formal assignment when people begin visiting the area.”

Sarah said, “Angie, would you see if you can get this effort rolling?”

“Sure. Actually, I already floated the idea past several others and had good responses. So I think I know several people who can lead the project.”

“Great,” responded the group.

“It is getting close to lunch,” said Brittany of Kathryn’s Clan. “Do we want to discuss sending groups to visit the Monque and Atewa home worlds today or save it till next time?”

Terry said, “Why don’t we break for lunch and meet back here at 19:00 hours? That will give us time to check with our staffs before coming back. Then we should have enough time before dinner to create an outline of how we want to do this.”