Chapter 5

“What about diseases?” I asked. “Are there any diseases there that will threaten our people, or will any of our diseases threaten them?” I asked, remembering my history lessons about the virulent diseases that swept through the native population of the Western hemisphere once Europeans arrived.

“Good question,” Sheila commented. “Our probes always logged all communicable diseases and we made sure that our researchers who went to the planet were inoculated with a special vaccine that countered all viruses, bacteria, and fungi that weren’t naturally in their body.”

“I’m guessing that everything to make it was on the ship that’s missing.” I commented.

“True, but any good medical research center on Earth could manufacture it,” she replied.

“You don’t mind releasing that information to Earth’s population?” I asked.

“Not at all. There’s no way to use the procedure to manufacture any sort of biological weapon. In fact, it will make most forms of germ warfare obsolete.”

I was quickly on the phone with my attorney, the one who dealt with real estate transactions. He recommended a colleague to help me deal with the college when I approached them to fund a project to create the oral vaccine. That same attorney would also protect my idea to keep the college from trying to patent it by saying that they developed it.

That reminded me about the new solar panels, wondering if we should patent and sell them. I had a feeling that paper currency would be obsolete within a decade at most, but I could insist on being paid in precious metals, ingots of various ores, or construction materials.

“Sheila, do they use some form of coins on that planet?” I asked, wanting to make sure I had any necessary metals to make their coins.

“Barter is the most frequent form of payment, but they do use coins. Gold and silver are the highest value, but rarely used. The most common coins are bronze, copper, tin, and lead. Several large cities issue their own coins, but all coins minted in the area I am recommending are a standardized size, weight, and metal. Only the designs are different,” she explained.

She assured me that she could provide me with the dimensions (diameter, thickness, weight, and specific alloy) of each type of coin. All I had to do now was find someone who could mint coins. And then come up with our own design.

An online search provided two potential names that lived nearby. Both had begun small smelting facilities and were taking advantage of the decreasing supply and increasing prices of metals by recycling scrap metal.

The first guy wasn’t interested in working for me. The second guy, Sam, was definitely interested. He’d been robbed twice in the last month, the fruits of his labor stolen. Furthermore, his wife and two teenage children all helped him, and he was worried about their safety.

“What I’m most interested in is minting coins, specifically coins of bronze, copper, tin, and lead. I have the dimensions, as well as the overall weights of the coins. I need someone to make the molds and then produce the coins. I’m thinking about using reeded coins so the edges can’t be filed down without it being obvious,” I explained.

“Do you have a source for the metals?” he asked.

“Oh, yeah,” I assured him, “although I’m always interested in more sources.

“My family digs through an old nearby landfill. We have a tunnel that we’ve braced with wood, and we bring out anything that’s metal. I sort the different types of metal and smelt each type in a different batch, although lots of the metals are alloys of different sorts.”

“Isn’t digging through the landfill dangerous?” I asked.

“The tunnel is braced, and they wear protective gear and breathe air from a scuba tank,” he assured me.

By the end of the next day, Sam and his family had been moved into our compound. I’d sent several people to help them pack up their home and his equipment, as well as ten of our security men. Seeing the heavily armed and armored guards, the local gang members watching them pack lost interest and left. His smelting equipment was added to the workshop where mine was.

“Wow, someone else does some smelting, too,” he commented.

“Yeah, but I’ve got far too many other things I need to do,” I replied.

I gave him the measurements of the various coins and a supply of different metals to start with. He would begin by making a die to cast each coin so it was the correct size and weight and the edges were reeded. Whatever designs we came up with would be added to the coins using a trip hammer.

A week later, the attorney and I met with the chancellor of the University of Florida, the vice chancellor of their College of Medicine, and two of the college’s attorneys. The chancellor fired the opening salvo, challenging me. “You have no medical background, so why should we even consider researching your idea?”

I stopped my attorney when he began to respond and replied myself. “It’s no secret that your enrollment is down by over fifty percent. You have professors with little to do. Since I’m willing to pay ten million dollars for one of said professors to investigate something for me, what difference does it make if I’m right or not? For ten million dollars, they should be willing to play Tiddlywinks if I asked them to.

“If I’m correct, every doctor and government in the world will want access to the serum. I’ll grant the University the right to manufacture and sell the serum. You’ll get two-thirds the profit. If you’re not interested, just tell me and I’ll head on up the road to Tallahassee to see if FSU wants to do it.”

“I didn’t mean to imply that we didn’t want to do it, I was merely questioning why someone with no medical background would suddenly think they had a universal vaccine,” The chancellor replied to my challenge.

“It doesn’t really matter, does it? I’m willing to pay you to develop and test the serum, and then I’ll pay you to manufacture five thousand doses for my use. After that, if you want to contact the CDC, or test and then market the serum, it’s up to you. You just can’t sell the formula to big pharma.”

“You seem more interested in getting a supply of the serum than in the potential profitability of it,” the chancellor commented.

“That’s because I see total anarchy in the country in the very near future. Already, a quarter of the colleges and universities across the country have closed and many more are considering it. Banks and big businesses are starting to fail. I expect to see that trend continue until it’s orders of magnitude worse than during the 2007-08 subprime mortgage crisis. How long will it be before hospitals start to fail, making it more difficult to access health care?

“I represent a group trying to stay ahead of the economy’s deterioration and trying to create a safe place for us to continue raising our families. This is part of our solution, having a way to prevent disease,” I explained.

“Well, regardless of your reasons, we’re willing to create and test your serum,” the vice chancellor of the Medical College interjected. I had seen in his face when my comment struck home about wanting something to prevent disease before the health care system went to shit.

An hour later, the deal was done. The college had my check for ten million dollars, as well as a copy of the instructions to make the serum and the dosages. I could see the disappointment on their faces when my lawyer produced the agreement, which included the detailed instructions for making the serum. Their signatures would show that they got the instructions from me, so they couldn’t rush out and patent the serum, especially since I’d already applied for a patent.

The next thing on my TTD list was learning to communicate with the people closest to where I hoped to settle on the other world. Sheila had suggested letting her program several laptops with Rekka, the language spoken in the part of the world we planned to move to, and I agreed. Each word had the English translation next to it and we could hear it spoken. I had Larry select a team of two dozen former elite combat troops to make the initial trip to the planet. Given their background of performing secret missions, I knew they could keep their mouths shut about what we planned to do so we explained. They were astounded ... and excited.

While Vickie and I began emptying another doomed ship, Amy began looking for farmers interested in throwing in with us. Within a week, she had more than I thought we’d need, but I’d rather have too many than too few. Some specialized in growing grain crops, and some grew the garden crops we’d be eating. Others were for the orchards and vineyards we’d need and some raised livestock. My hope was to eventually grow and raise everything we’d need. Not knowing how much of an impact the upcoming crisis would have on Earth, I didn’t want to have to depend on them for anything.

My ultimate goal was to become completely self-sufficient, although I was sure that would take years, if not decades. I felt that we could produce 95% of what we ate within three years. Many tree crops would just start producing a full crop about then. I had no idea how long it would take trees like cinnamon and nutmeg before they were productive.

Our corn crops would need to be huge because I hoped to have most of our engines powered by electricity or alcohol. I wasn’t sure if we’d be able to convert the ACAVs and tanks, or the three military drones Larry had somehow gotten his hands on.

Four weeks after starting the language lessons, Vickie and I had emptied yet another treasure ship, the Portuguese Nau Chagas. The cargo was worth enough that I split it and auctioned part at each of my three medieval properties. Like I did with most of the precious metals I salvaged from ships that sank, as well as what I got by auctioning the cargoes at my medieval properties, everything went into one of our secure vaults.

I only paid taxes on what I sold to Dan and kept the rest to use when buying things. While I’m sure the government would disagree with me vehemently, I considered those transactions to be barter, and not taxable income.

What I sold to Dan was mostly gold nuggets and flakes and gold and silver ingots, although I’d purchased a larger smelter and could now melt down many of the artifacts we recovered. I was even planning to mint my own gold and silver coins based on the ones used where I planned to move to.

Speaking of buying, parts of our compound were now covered with stacked cargo containers, including the northern part and several housing areas that had originally been neighborhood parks. Containers were stacked three and four high in spots as construction materials continued to arrive. Last I heard, we now had eleven semi drivers working strictly for us. Each had his own rig, although we’d paid it off for them. While the truckers were a bunch of independent cusses, they had been worried about losing their rigs, and hence their livelihoods.

They were also worried about the increased lawlessness, so we helped line the doors of their trucks with Kevlar, had them wear vests and helmets, and assigned an armed guard to ride shotgun. Working for us, they met ships, barges, and trains when they arrived in Tampa. Once the cargo containers were offloaded onto their trucks, they drove here and had the containers taken off the trucks before returning for a second load. They usually made two trips a day when we had cargo arriving. I was surprised to learn that some of it was being shipped in from overseas.

Even our new farmers were getting in on the action, ordering dozens of new electric-powered machines instead of the older gasoline or diesel-powered ones they left behind when they abandoned their farms. Other cargo containers held bags of seed.

Hundreds of fruit and nut trees to start our orchards with were set in dozens of rows in their pots. Some of the farmers had been assigned the job of watering them. We also had dozens of beehives near the far wall to take to the other planet to pollinate our crops.

Among the trees were more than five hundred that we hoped would eventually provide us with spices, as well as various types of nuts. The oddest trees were the paper mulberry trees that we hoped to eventually use to make a high-quality paper without resorting to using harsh chemicals that harm the environment.

In addition, there were over two thousand olive trees, mainly for olive oil.

By the time Vickie and I finished emptying the Nau Chagas, the serum had been completed. I’d even been visited by a delegation from the CDC and FDA who asked how I’d come up with the idea.

“I didn’t. The idea was given to me, but I am not allowed to divulge the origin of the idea,” I explained. It was the honest-to-God truth.

“If you are given any additional new ideas, please contact us,” the leader of the delegation told me, handing me a business card.

I nodded and mumbled but didn’t agree. It would be a cold day in hell before I went to the government. They were, after all, the reason the country was in as big a mess as it was. While the individuals from the CDC and FDA weren’t the cause, they were part of the government, and hence, part of the problem. Besides, I figured that the government would find a way to confiscate the idea from us and claim credit for it.

The way I’d done it, the government couldn’t claim any credit for the development of the serum other than finally verifying that it worked, for which they were currently starting trials.

Word about the new serum spread like wildfire and the university was quickly inundated with orders. They were even approached by four pharmaceutical companies interested in producing the serum. Even though our agreement specifically prohibited them from selling it to the companies, the college asked me.

“Nope,” I replied. “All they care about is how much money they can soak people for. Remind them about how much they’ve been overcharging for the medicines they produce and how they’ve fucked over people by not producing enough of the older drugs. You’ve got lots of empty classrooms. Set some of them up to produce the serum. From what I saw of the lab where the first batch was made, it shouldn’t take too much in the way of expensive equipment to manufacture it. If necessary, I’ll advance the money to set up a manufacturing facility. However, that money will have to be repaid from your share of the profits,” I warned.

“If you need employees, I’m sure that you have former students who had to drop out because they couldn’t afford to keep attending classes. Talk to the most promising of those students. Offer them part-time jobs and let them attend college part-time. You might even have faculty that are being underutilized and family members of your faculty looking for work.”

And that’s what they did. I advanced them the money to buy supplies and equipment they needed and to have everything set up. The employees were a mix of recent dropouts and current students, as well as a few faculty that had too much spare time on their hands. Even some of the faculty’s family members took jobs.

Within two weeks of the government’s approval, the facility began turning out the serum. I insisted that the first five thousand doses be delivered to us.

Finding Larry, I had him gather the men he’d chosen to go off-planet. I began by speaking Rekka to test them and was surprised that they were far better at it than I was.

“I’ve relieved them of guard duties and had them concentrate on learning the new language,” Larry explained.

“So, now what?” he asked.

“Now I think we need to explore a bit. That means we’ll need even more troops since we’ll need a continuous presence on the other planet while keeping everyone here safe,” I told him.

“The men definitely know that it’s getting more violent here. We had two attempts to hold up the clinic this last week. Fortunately, all of our people were safely in the back. The metal detector and full-body scanner you bought catch at least five people a day who are carrying weapons, although most have them for self-protection. We’ve added keyed lockers where they must put their weapon before we let them enter. We store the weapon safely and return it to them when they leave.

“Two of them threatened to shoot someone when we wouldn’t let them come inside. The hidden guards dealt with both of them, stunning them and holding them until the cops arrived and took them to the county lockup.

“We’re now getting at least one person a night trying to sneak into the southern half of our community, down where the wall isn’t finished yet. We warned all the tenants that anyone entering or leaving the complex had to go through one of the two security checkpoints. We’re even getting a few trying to row ashore. The cops come to get them, but I think they’re all released the next morning because we’ve caught five people twice,” Larry explained, something I hadn’t known about.

Yeah, we now had two security checkpoints. The southern one was only for civilian vehicles. The northern one was mainly for commercial vehicles.

Grinning, I suggested that we make a chain gang and put the men to work in Sam’s tunnel at the landfill. They could scavenge for scrap metal.

“I like it,” Larry laughed, “although we’ll need more than one tunnel.”

“Getting back to the new planet, why don’t we build several sentry towers here, so we have them ready ahead of time,” I suggested. “Once they’re installed there, some of the men can watch for predators while the others scout. Once we know it’s safe, I’ll send our contractor to check out the location. We’ll want a wall constructed before we start building too much more.

Larry countered, “I think the fastest way to create a safe area will be to enclose it with triple concertina wire. Once that’s in place, we can install a twenty-foot-high chain-link fence with razor wire across the top and leave the triple concertina wire outside that.”

I agreed. “We should block any nearby trails that access the plateau with chain-link fencing and a gate that the locals can figure out so they can continue to hunt until we can build rock walls to secure them. Eventually, I want to have a rock wall around the entire plateau to keep new predators from arriving after we eliminate the ones already up there, and to keep raiders from sneaking onto the plateau. The locals will have to learn to go through our security checkpoints if they want to trade or hunt on the plateau.”

Larry started laughing. “Once we start building rock walls, we can transport the scum we catch trying to sneak in here at night and make them help build the walls.”

“We could, but I’d rather not have them learn about the other world. I don’t want them staying with us when the wall is finished and if we turn them loose back here, they’ll start blabbing. I really think we should use them for digging through the landfill,” I replied.

“Why don’t you draw up a design for a sentry tower. I’ll talk to Ron, letting him know what’s happening,” I suggested.