Chapter 9

I called Spencer and asked about the property Steve was leasing, thirty acres on the south side of my property (at least it would be mine eventually). When I asked if I could sell it, Spencer said it was up to me, but that he’d have to sign all the paperwork since he was still executing the will. He reminded me that the money from the sale would go into my uncle’s holdings and not into my pocket. I told him I understood that, and that I’d get back to him.

I called Steve’s cell phone and caught him on the job patrolling the area near Springdale. I told him he could buy the property, all thirty acres, but he’d have to work out the details with Spencer. Of course, he asked how much I wanted. I’d learned online that the average cost of good farmland in the area was around $4,000 per acre.

“I think we can let you have it for $2,000 an acre.”

There was a long pause, then a very surprised, “Say again!”

“$2,000 an acre. That’s fair, isn’t it?”

“Um, Jesse, I might be cutting my own throat here, but $2,000 an acre is about half of what good farmland around here usually sells for. Are you sure about that price?”

“Yeah, I’m sure. Look, Steve, there are some things we need to discuss before we make this deal. Is there some place where I can meet with you sometime today?”

“I was thinking about stopping at Sally’s Diner for lunch in about a half hour. Would that work for you?”

“Is that the one on the north end of Springdale?”

“Yep, that’s it.”

“Right. I’ll see you there in a half hour.”

I needed to be very careful about how I handled the sale. Since I was never going to use the property, I was happy Steve would get some benefit from owning it, but there was one major issue that had to be taken into account. I wasn’t positive, but I suspected the cave had sections that extended well into that area, and I couldn’t be absolutely sure how deep they were under the top soil. When I asked Jakoby, he confirmed that part of the cave extended about halfway across that portion of the property, but that it was at least a hundred feet below the surface. As long as the land was only being farmed, there was no danger of accidentally stumbling onto our common house. I would need to insure there was going to be no development or excavation in that area over the next few years.

The deputy’s Suburban was already parked at the diner when I arrived. Steve was sitting in a booth at the far end and he waved me over when I stepped through the door.

I slid in across from him. “How’s the serving and protecting business going this morning, Steve?”

He laughed, “Well, I haven’t had to protect anyone yet, but the day’s still young. How are you doing, Jesse?”

“Good, good. Uh, look, Steve, here’s the thing about you buying that property: I wouldn’t want to see any kind of development going on next door to me. That means no subdivisions, no leasing of mineral rights to drillers or frackers, nothing like that. The only reason I’m willing to sell you the property at such a big discount is because you’re working it as a family farm. I’d insist you sign a contract agreeing to my terms. I’d be happy to see you make good use of the land but I sure as hell don’t want anybody else making use of it. Oh, and one other thing: If you decide to quit farming or you move off the land for any reason, I want the option to buy the property back at the same price you’re paying.”

“That wouldn’t be a problem, Jesse, because we’re not going anywhere. My wife and I grew up country kids, and we moved out here because we needed to escape from the city, get back to the land. Because we grow everything organically, we can’t actually make much of a living from the farm, but we do a little better than break even and we’re happy with that. That’s why I became a deputy sheriff, so we’d actually have a little disposable income. We’d have no interest at all in subleasing the property for any reason.”

“I’m happy about the organic farming; I was going to ask about that. And what about the wooded areas? Are you thinking about clearing any of that?”

“Oh, hell no! We love those woods. If anything, we might actually plant more trees.”

“That’s good to hear, because I’m becoming pretty much of tree hugger, myself. I don’t like to see nature disturbed any more than is absolutely necessary. By the way, you said you and your wife moved out here from the city, but you didn’t mention kids. Do you have any?”

“Not yet. We want to build up a little more financial security before we take that step. We’re both twenty-nine, so we’ve still got plenty of time.”

It popped into my brain that Steve would be an ideal first recruit because he seemed to fit the profile I had in mind. At any rate, it wouldn’t hurt to sound him out. I searched my brain for a way to segue into the topic of environmental degradation and came up with, “Yeah, I guess you really have to give some hard thought to bringing a baby into a world that’s in the process of crashing around us, don’t you? You know, it really torques my jaws to see what we’re doing to this planet. It’s like people can’t see past their noses - or maybe it’s their wallets. How can they be so blind to what’s happening?”

I had to stifle a chuckle when I listened to what was coming out of my mouth. A few months ago, I hardly gave environmental issues a second thought. Not that I was anti-invironment; it just wasn’t all that high in my list of important things. Now, the story of the Ennahai and coming to know Grandfather Jakoby and his clan has completely turned that around. Environmental preservation was everything, even though it was too late to make enough changes to be of any benefit to the people I’d come to admire and love.

The waitress stopped at our table and took our orders. As she walked away, Steve said, “People aren’t blind, Jesse. Most of them know very well what’s going on, they just don’t know what to do about it. Especially people who have jobs in or related to the energy industry. Hell, look at coal miners. Don’t you think most of them know deep down that coal is killing us? But a lot of those folks are living hand to mouth, especially the ones in the parts of Appalachia where good-paying jobs are few and far between. It’s probably unreasonable to expect them to rally against greenhouse gasses when their next meal depends on digging that crap out of the ground. They can’t afford to change their minds until they can be provided with replacement jobs. It’s just not the way our brains work.”

I conceded the point. “I know you’re right, Steve, but somebody’s going to have to take the lead someday. We can’t keep going like we have been because the planet just can’t take it much longer.”

“I suppose you’re right about that. My wife and I do about everything we can to minimize our carbon footprint, but I doubt we’re having all that much of an impact. Hell, I feel guilty as hell every time I fire up that Suburban out there because it’s such a gas guzzler. I’d be happy riding a horse like my counterparts from the old west, but I’d have a hell of a time chasing down some guy in a muscle car who just knocked over a convenience store.”

“I know, I know. I’m just afraid we’ve already done too much damage. Over all, I don’t think we human types have done a very good job looking after our poor little blue marble in space. Wish there was some place we could go to give it another try, don’t you?”

He chuckled, “That’d be nice wouldn’t it? But not in our lifetime. We’re stuck with what we have, so we may as well try to make the best of it. It’s either clean up Mother Earth or die with her. No, that’s not right, either. After we’ve gone extinct, she’ll eventually recover and clean up the mess we left behind. I hope.”

That was the opening I was looking for. “Would you do it if you could?”

“Do what?”

“Go to another planet; start over and do it right the next time.”

“Hell, anybody would, wouldn’t they?”

“I sure as hell would!”

Our orders arrived and we went back to talking about the sale of the property. Deputy Steve was a definite possibility as a recruit.

I called Spencer when I got home. I told him Steve would be in touch about buying the property and that he was agreeable to the buy-back clause and happy to sign an agreement that there would be zero development on any part of it. I gave him the list of restrictions I wanted on the contract. The land that was already being farmed would continue to be farmed, and the wooded area would remain a wooded area. He said he’d handle the sale and deduct his fee from my allowance.

The deal was signed and sealed in less than two weeks.

Several times over the next month, both Jakoby and Ninnith asked me how I was coming along with my recruitment plans. I told them I was working on an idea, but that it still needed some refining. What I really meant by that was that I had the plan, but I wasn’t at all sure they’d buy into it. It was a little risky, but I thought it was pretty damned clever.

Gilleena was going to be my sounding board. When I thought I had something workable, I headed down to her room in the caves with some tea and cookies and asked if she’d listen to my plan and give me her honest opinion.

She seemed as excited as I felt. “Let’s hear it, Jesse! Tell me how you’re going to do this.”

I couldn’t help but lead off with a little bit of CYA. “OK, but you have to hear me out and listen to the whole idea before you give me your opinion. And I’m still working on the final phase because I haven’t got all the logistics worked out yet.”

She smiled and nodded for me to begin.

“OK, here goes: I’m going to tell the truth. By that I mean I’m going to tell the whole story of your people and the Travelers, and you’re all going to help me tell it. The thing is, it’s going to be in the form of a blog and it’s going to stretch out over the next four years. I’m going to present it as a fantasy and ask interested followers, if I get any, to interact with the story and offer different directions and possibilities, but I’ll keep the core story factual.

“Over the next four plus years, we’re going to build a story that will seem entirely credible because it’s true. We’re going to make every member of your clan a person people will want to know. Little by little, we’re going to tell them the entire history of your people, as well as your individual stories. Then we’re going to lay out the whole plan to be transported to our new home. That’s when the Travelers will be introduced.”

Gileena’s brow began to knit up with doubt and I held up my hand to forestall any comment and continued my narrative.

“Now, of course, nobody is going to take it seriously at first. They’ll see it as pure fiction, but I know people love to fantasize. Everyone, child or adult, wants to believe there’s some hope for the future. I’m pretty darned sure we’ll develop a following over time, and I mean a loyal following if we do this thing right!

“Toward the end, when it’s almost time to begin final preparations, we should have built up a list of a few hundred people who meet our conditions and who we’ll invite here to be offered the chance to go with us. Of course, they won’t know that until they get here. Once faced with the reality of an interstellar flight, most won’t want to go, but some will. Timing will be critical at that point! How to get them here ready to take the trip is the part I haven’t worked out yet. Well, what do you think?”