A New World
Copyright© 2026 by Edward Douglass Patterson
Chapter 6: Family Meetings
LeeAnn and John Lawrence’s home
Carlisle, England
Tuesday, May 18, 1999
Sir John Lawrence had flown back to Carlisle from London on a chartered plane after the meeting with Prime Minister Blake and the cabinet. He had forgotten how much he hated commuting to London. He suspected that his son John Harvey and daughter-in-law Marie had found their commutes to London and Edinburgh even more of a strain with both of them commuting. Their interest in living on one of the new worlds must be partially driven by wanting to end the commuting. Nannies and living on the Lawrence family farm with the other Lawrence family houses next door had only helped a little. Now John Harvey understood why his father had been so willing to leave Parliament when his grandfather Smythe had died. Sir John’s wife, LeeAnn, had asked for her husband’s help in running Smythe Industries. They had soon found that they enjoyed working together.
John Harvey had run for and won his father’s former seat in Parliament. Soon he and Marie had found that they had little time together. John Harvey had been thinking of not standing for the seat at the next election when Alice had developed her adjacent world theory. When Alice had talked about colonizing one of the new worlds, the idea had appealed to John Harvey and Marie. Both the Maclaren and Lawrence families knew having John Harvey stay in Parliament would help them with working with the government when the time came to tell the Prime Minister about the other worlds.
The meeting with Charlie Blake and the cabinet had shown that it had been a wise decision. Most of the decisions had been in line with the plans that Jess had outlined on Monday. A few individuals had felt that they should work within the European Union and not the United States to explore and colonize. They had been barely willing to work with Australia. John Harvey had told them that working with Australia and the United States would allow for exploring and colonizing more land on the new worlds. The exploring would be vertical from world to world. Therefore, the Australian colonies would be just as far away on another world as Australia was from England on Earth. Open land on another world next to a big city would be where a lot of the population would move. The United States and Australia had a lot of land area. They would have plenty of land on the other world to explore and colonize. The British Isles were small by comparison. Working with them would bring more benefits than obligations. Well, that would be John Harvey’s problem to solve. His job would be to see that they had the people and equipment that they would need.
He turned into the driveway. Marie and his two daughters, Barbara and Ann, were calling their children to come into the house. They had been playing with the dogs. It amazed him the control that ten-year-old KA had over her dogs. With her and her dogs, there was no need to worry about the little ones. Linda and Mark, who were only three, would have at least two dogs with them at all times. KA was now sending the dogs off to patrol. With no one but family around, she hadn’t even bothered with verbal commands. It was nice that all his children had homes together here. Having all the family living together was probably the thing that he liked best about Alice’s vision of their homes in the new worlds.
When the children saw his car and started towards it, Marie had to call them back.
As soon as he got out of the car, LeeAnn was there to greet him. After years of him living and working in London every week and many weekends, they were now used to working and living together with very little time apart. They hugged and kissed.
“I am glad that you only had to go for the day. John, I missed you.”
“And I you.” They kissed again.
“Well, the whole family except for John Harvey is here. Larry had to cancel some appointments tomorrow, but luckily he had no operations.” LeeAnn said as she opened the door to the house for her husband. She noticed that he had a second briefcase which was chained to his wrist.
He saw her glance at it. “The military is insisting on secrecy. They alternated between having a fit over what they feel is the lax way that we have been handling things and upset that they had no hint at what we were doing.” They entered the family room where everyone had gathered. “I don’t think family and loyalty are how they expect secrets to be kept. Charlie told them that it had worked so far and that we would work to make the two systems work together. John Harvey and I didn’t tell them that JJ was in charge of security. When they find out that an eight-year-old has been telling us who we could trust and who we couldn’t, I want to be there to watch JJ handle it.” JJ was his grandson, John Jess Lawrence IV.
“Oh, I think that KA’s guards will also be fun to introduce them to.” His son-in-law Larry said.
“Uncle Larry, they’ll only be learning about the dogs. The cats and the others will be our secret.” KA remarked. Sphinx, her favorite cat, rested in her arms.
Sir John’s thoughts were of the unusual abilities of his oldest grandchild, Karan Alice. Sphinx could be unnerving the way she followed your conversation. KA claimed that when they were together, Sphinx understood some simple things, but that what she really understood was the emotional feelings of the people. Watching JJ, KA, and Sphinx “interview” new employee candidates had been enlightening. After the first six rejections had been confirmed by in-depth investigations, there was no reason to spend money and time with regular background checks. It will be interesting when John Harvey has them interview the government scientist, engineers, and military that would be joining the project.
LeeAnn took control of moving the young ones to another room so they could begin their discussion. “Linda, Mark, Steve, and Less. Say hello to Grandpa.” Sir John knelt down to get a hug and kiss from each of his youngest grandchildren. “Steve, take Linda and Mark to the playroom. Less, get cookies and milk for all of you.” As the four little ones had headed out of the room, Less had glanced back at her sister and brother. Both KA and JJ had smiled and shaken their heads.
The adults, KA, and JJ had then headed into the dining room and taken seats around the table.
Sir John and LeeAnn were seated at the head of the large country table. To their right sat Sir John’s half-brother Ed, his wife Sarah, and their children Nels and Sandy. Next to Sandy was Alyca Maclaren, Marie’s cousin. To their left were their oldest daughter Barb, her husband Sam, their youngest daughter Ann, and her husband Larry. KA and JJ shared a chair with an extra pillow at the end of the table next to their mother Marie. Sphinx lay across KA and JJ’s laps. Everyone eagerly awaited his report on the meeting with the Cabinet.
John decided to start with the biggest news. “John Harvey will be in London for the next couple of days. The reason he had to stay was that the Prime Minister has appointed him to co-ordinate the government’s work to explore and colonize the other worlds. Charlie believes that with John Harvey’s understanding of the windows and what we have developed to explore the new worlds, he is in the best position to ensure that things go as smoothly as possible.” He saw that Marie was concerned. “He will be working from here as soon as they can set up secure communication. He expects that will be Thursday or Friday.” Marie was smiling. Even KA and JJ were smiling. Both their parents would be working close to home.
John continued. “When he returns, the first of the scientists, engineers, and military officers will start to show up. There will also be an army platoon for security. The military wanted to get people here sooner, but we told them that we wouldn’t have the redesign ready for a couple of days and we wouldn’t be opening any gates for a while without the government present. I’m not sure if anyone but Charlie realized the loophole I gave us with John Harvey as the head of the government for all window-related activities.” There was laughter around the table. “They will have an Army company available when we open the first window. A special battle group is being assembled to do exploration.”
“Now we just have to determine where the good places to open the windows are.” John looked at Marie, who smiled and pointed to Alyca.
“Your farm here is one of the best places that I found. You have ground-level access to the Earth, Water, and Fire worlds. I think though that it would be less disruptive if we open the government windows somewhere else. I drove around Carlisle and there are a number of locations that are almost as good. We should probably start with your Kingmoor factory. You have two locations in the yard that would be good. One matches up with the Water world and the other with the Earth world. Also, I didn’t find any volcanoes or lakes in the area that might prove dangerous.” Alyca answered.
“How were you able to do that?” Nels knew that they didn’t have any working windows.
“Monday, we found that some of us have the ability to sense the other worlds after being exposed to them. I drove around and checked for good locations. Others can only sense the window being opened or closed. We want to keep this a family secret. We will check whether each of you has these abilities.”
“What if we do or don’t?” asked Barb.
Marie answered, “It took me a while to find out that I could sense the other worlds. Others did it faster and my cousin, Robert, was the fastest. For all we know, anyone could in time. We need those who can sense the other worlds to select where we should open gates. We also need to have some instrument or method to divert the attention from the fact that we can sense the other worlds.”
“Sandy and I are working on a small window generator mounted on one of the ATVs and powered by the ATV’s generator. The window will have a transparent glass or quartz cover with a video camera focused on the window. The window will open, a few video frames will be recorded, and the window will close. The settings for the different worlds will be hardwired with only the water world readily available. I’m trying to think of a way to have the other three settings available but not obvious. Also, the method cannot be one that someone would do by mistake.”
“You are just grabbing a few frames of video to check out a world.” Barb immediately had seen a solution. As director of engineering at S-I, she was experienced in seeing alternate solutions to problems that the engineers were having. “Why not run through all four worlds and put the images from each world in different folders? Display the Water world automatically. The others can be accessed by anyone that knows where to look. Capturing all four should take less than a second.”
“That will be easy to implement. It’s all software. We can make the same hardware available to the public but with different software.” Alyca said with a big smile.
“KA, which of your friends would you place at Kingmoor for security?” John asked his granddaughter.
“Regis, Tammy, and four from their first litter. I will have to visit them daily or they might decide to come home. Shepherds will look more like regular guard dogs. Sphinx and I will work with the plant cats.” KA replied.
John nodded his head. Her command of animals was always amazing him. Sphinx had climbed up on the table and then jumped on the floor. KA had looked after her with a scowl. Well, maybe a few had minds of their own.
“Barb, what is the status on the window redesigns?” John asked his daughter.
“Alyca has given us all of the design changes. The review package should be available now, but I have set the design review for 8 a.m. That will allow everyone the chance to arrive early and review the changes. I expect that only minor changes will be necessary. The machine shop and purchasing sat in on today’s meeting. They were told to make sure we had whatever we need to get it done. We will have something ready for Alyca to check out early Thursday.”
“Oh, that reminds me. There were a number of packages delivered to me at the airport. They are in the boot of my car. They were all marked to your attention.” John remarked.
“Yes, Walt had asked if you were coming back tonight. When I had said yes, he had hurried off. I guess he checked with Stirling Air and had the packages delivered to the plane.”
John smiled. They had some really good people. You just had to let them know what was needed, and they found a way to get it done. I expected many of them would be interested in colonizing, which is good since they would be even more valuable there. I will have to have an all-hands meeting tomorrow to explain to everyone what was going on. “What is the count on the number of ATVs we can have operational by Friday?
Before she could reply, the dogs were heard barking in the yard. It sounded like they had surprised some intruders and were herding them. Everyone looked at KA.
“One intruder. They are meeting resistance. I need to go and take control.” Alyca and Nelson were already headed for the back door. KA started to get up, but Marie put a hand on her daughter’s shoulder.
“Let them go first.” Marie told her daughter.
John had then realized that Alyca and Nelson were not the only ones armed. Barb, Sam, and Larry also started towards the door. “Marie! Ann! Go stay with the young ones.” John took control of KA and JJ. He saw that his wife had taken up her cell phone. “LeeAnn, wait. We need to keep this quiet. Be ready to call, but don’t call unless we lose control.” She looked up at him, then nodded her head.
The sound of the dogs had changed. They were having fun.
“KA and JJ. Let us go see what they have found.” John put a hand on each child’s shoulder and headed towards the back door.
Outside, they found a stranger down on his knees with his hands behind his head. All his clothes were dark, but they were not out of the ordinary. Just someone out for a stroll, but he would have had to cross their fields to get close to the houses. Alyca and Nels stood apart with their pistols pointed at the ground. With over a dozen dogs, there had been no need for them to do anything but watch.
One of the dogs approached KA carrying something in its mouth. “Thank you, Regis.” KA said as she took what the dog offered her.
Barbara walked over to her niece. “May I see that?” KA handed the item over. “Parabolic mike with a recorder. Sam, get some tie wraps. KA, have them check to see if he was alone.”
KA looked at Regis. “Snow White and Happy guard. Regis, search.” Regis turned and led all but two of the dogs away into the dark. KA pointed to the all-white dog and then to the left behind the man. She then directed the other dog to the right side. Both moved to their positions. The man watched with surprise but not fear on his face.
Sam was back with the tie wraps and started towards the man. “Hold up, Sam.” Alyca said. Sam stopped. She addressed the kneeling man. “You know who I am.” He nodded. “I am better with a pistol than with a rifle. I’m also an assistant range master with the Lothian and Border Police. For some reason, they felt that meant that I should be a reserve officer. So just let Sam secure your hands, and we can go inside and talk.” They saw the man relax.
Sam went behind the man and secured his hands. He then helped him up.
John put his hand on JJ’s shoulder. He turned to Sam. “Sam, you and KA should go and find Marie and Ann. Take the young kids over to Marie’s house. Marie should call her dad and give him a status report. The rest of us will go and talk with our visitor.” Sam and KA entered the house first and gathered up the others. They exited by the front door. John and JJ entered next, followed by his brother Ed. The visitor followed with Alyca close behind. The rest followed without a backward look. They returned to the dining room.
“No need to make that call, my dear.” John told his wife. He returned to his seat at the head of the table. He pointed to the visitor and then the seat where Marie had been seated. The visitor sat down. Nels pulled the seat that KA and JJ had been sitting in back and sat behind and to the side of the visitor. Alyca and JJ took the two seats nearest to the visitor. The man was looking at JJ. He clearly did not know what a kid was doing sitting next to him.
“I imagine that it’s not comfortable sitting with your hands tied behind you, so if we can reach an understanding, we can remove them and continue with our discussion.” John said.
Barb entered the room carrying the parabolic mike. “He caught a little before the dogs distracted him. It was just the design review. There’s nothing about our project.” She reported.
“Good, well if you can tell us who you are working for, we can decide if we should tell you anything.” John said.
“I was just out bird watching. That’s just to hear bird calls.” The man replied.
“Do you want to be tied up in the shed for a few days? My sister can have some field mice or snakes keep you company. They aren’t as smart as the dogs, so what they do while they are there may not be as friendly as the dogs.” JJ asked the man.
The man looked at the kid, then at the adults. The kid had just threatened me, and the adults were almost laughing. Then what the kid said registered. Days tied up with mice or snakes. He shuddered.
JJ repeated his grandfather’s questions. “For whom do you work?”
Without thinking, he had answered. “CIA.” He realized that he had answered with the truth. What had happened to all the conditioning through which I suffered?
JJ asked, “What is your name?”
Again, without thinking, he answered. “Bruce Jenson.” What’s with answering this kid’s questions?
“Good.” John said. “Bruce, we have been looking to talk with the US. You may be able to help us. If you promise to hold off on reporting, we can give you some information about what is going on. You would have to stay with us, but that should be no more than three or four days. If we cannot find a direct way to a higher level, we may have to work with you to get a meeting with the President.”
“Meet with the President?” Bruce asked.
“Yes. My son and I met with Prime Minister Blake and the Cabinet today. Ian Macphater will be meeting with Prime Minister Hunt in a couple of hours. We have no one that can call up and ask for a meeting with President Clarke. We have some members of the Cabinet that would rather bring in the EU than the US. We disagree, but I have to go with that until Charlie has time to clear that up. It may take him a few days. Then he would be able to just call and get us a meeting.” He paused. “Until then, I would like to give you the opportunity to learn more about what we are doing. In return, I ask three things. First is your promise to not report until we have been able to set up a meeting with the President. Second is your promise to stay with us. We will share some of what we are doing with you, but we will have to think about what we can and cannot share. Third, we would like your suggestions about how to improve our security here.”
“I’ll have to think about it.” Bruce replied.
“Why?” JJ asked. “Either you gather more than you came here after but report later. Or you spend some uncomfortable time in the shed and someone else delivers the information to the President later than you would have.”
“You are only eight?” Bruce asked.
“Last month. But you are avoiding the question.” JJ responded.
“Yes, it’s just a lot to take in at once.” Bruce answered.
Nels had stood up. “You’ll have to get used to that around here. Bend forward and I’ll cut you loose.” He cut the tie wraps.
“That’s all. You take my word.” Bruce was confused at their willingness to trust him.
“My grandson would have known if you were lying,” John replied.
“I think that we will soon be trusting Bruce like one of the family. Don’t you agree, Alyca?” JJ looked at his cousin.
Alyca had been looking intently at Bruce since she had sat down. There was a half-smile on her face. “Ah.” She looked at JJ who was smiling at her. “Yes, I do think so.” Shut up and go away.
JJ stood up and yawned. He saw Sandy looking at Alyca and a smile slowly spreading on her face. “Aunt Sandy, can you walk me home?”
She turned and looked at JJ. Walk him home? He has all of KA’s dogs out there to look after him. Oh. He wants to get me out of here before I say something. “Sure, JJ.”
JJ went and kissed his grandmother and grandfather good night. When he was with his grandfather, he whispered. “Give Alyca and Bruce some time alone.” John looked at JJ. He started to say something but instead gave his grandson another hug.
JJ and Sandy left.
John looked down at Alyca. “Alyca, you don’t have anything more to report.”
Alyca could tell that it was more of a statement than a question. “Yes, sir.”
John smiled at her. “Will you take Bruce to the living room and explain what is going on? You have the best overall knowledge. We’ll just be discussing status and how to coordinate with the government.”
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