Chapter 7

Getting Penny to the phone, he allowed Reginald to quiz her about her school certificate, and he was soon satisfied.

"That would be satisfactory, my dear. Naturally, we have to see the actual certificate here at the college, and scan it into our records before you start any course."

Concluding the call, he remarked, "Your assessment was accurate, John. She would be quite acceptable for most of our courses, and certainly for the areas you outlined earlier. Can I leave it with you, that you will discuss with her which options she should prefer?"

"Will do, Reginald. That was a nice piece of cake, I must say. I thought I recognised the coffee; it is the one we use at home. Very suitable for most occasions, I believe.

"Well, I must get back to my own work. The Colony won't run itself; at least not yet!"

Getting back to the office, he called the chairman of the action committee.

"Evelyn, I have a rail expert coming from Rehome Colony in the next 24 hours or so. He is the man in charge of the rail network there, and was instrumental in organising most of the development work in that Colony. He is an action guy, so should be just what you want.

"I liked your cable-car suggestion. I think we should make a start on it right away, if The Personalia can oblige us with sending in the stanchions for your cable-carrying pillars. Do you want them to add another couple of rail sections to make the pillar taller? They could get their mechanoids to weld the extra sections into place."

Evelyn was keen on that idea. "Please proceed with that, Governor, if you can. We have to work out how to make cable cars for that construction. We have decided that small cars for up to four persons is preferable to the standard one used on Earth. Our needs are small and often, for transporting men to the other side of the mountain. The cars will have to be well insulated, considering the height they will be reaching, even going through valleys. None of the valleys are deep – or the mega beasts would have used them to get to the crater – so we have to cope with what we have to work with.

"We still haven't solved the difficulty of going up and downhill with a cable car. On Earth, they go from the bottom to the top, and stop, then return. We want them to go on further, to save having to stop, unload, go to another cable car start point, and load again. The cables are continuous, running round a wheel at top and bottom, so one has to have some means of transfer. We are still thinking about that."

John was pleased to hear this activity, but had a concern. "If the cars are small, does that not make them more susceptible to weather, such as cross winds? That could make for a rough ride. A larger car would be more stable, surely?"

"True, Governor. It is all a matter of judgement. How often will we have to face strong cross-winds? If it is not often, the cars can be halted at the stations for the duration of the high winds. I shall speak to our meteorological expert about the winds to be expected at various parts of the proposed route."

"Evelyn, why don't you involve George Prentice, that railways guy from Rehome. I can give you his number. Speak to him, for cable cars are not that different from ground rails. He might have some suggestions."

"Any input would be welcome, Governor. I'll happily do that. Give me his number now, please."

John did so, and shortly thereafter, Evelyn phoned George Prentice. Getting through, he introduced himself, adding, "We have an immediate problem that you might have ideas on, Mr Prentice."

He explained their plans for a cable car route across the mountains through one of the high passes, and the difficulties at each interchange point. George went quiet for a minute, than said, "You want to run your cable cars continuously, don't you; no unloading and reloading?"

"That's correct."

"Have you considered points, like on a railway line?"

"how do you mean, Mr Prentice?"

"What I envisage is that as the car reaches the end of a loop, where there is a wheel for the cable loop, that a switching point transfers the cable car on to another cable beside the original. That short loop delivers the car to the terminus of the next cable loop, going either down or up, and so the car continues on without a break, just as trains do on a railway line."

"Mr Prentice! That sounds like it should work. All we have to do is sort out the mechanics of the transfers. The cars are hanging from the cables, so we need to design a transfer mechanism to swing the connector off the one cable and on to the other. I am envisaging a rocker connection, where the rocker will lift and disconnect from the first cable as the other side of the rocker connects to the new cable, and locks in place. I think that should work.

"George, if your other ideas are as good as this one, I am very much looking forward to you joining us tomorrow. Goodbye for now."

John was tired by the time he got home that day, He walked slowly along the path to his front door, and opened the door, glad that no-one had left the security latch on. He stepped in, and hung up his topcoat on the coat hook.

A face looked out of the livingroom, to see who it was. Penny's face lit up, and she rushed to John.

"John! Thanks for your help with the college." She grabbed him and slapped a passionate kiss on his lips. "You are a darling man." She dragged him towards the livingroom. "Come and see what Tabs has been up to."

She had been making cinder toffee, to display the effects of bicarbonate of soda. This involved granulated sugar, liquid glucose, and golden syrup and a little water, heated gently in a deep pan to dissolve the sugar into an amber-coloured syrup. The the bicarb was added, and the mixture whisked, at which point it bubbled up excessively, with the release of copious quantities of carbon dioxide.

Penny was showing off Tabs' knowledge of carbon dioxide, and tried to talk more about it. However, John wanted to catch Penny's attention, and grabbed her elbow. "Come with me, young woman. We have matters to discuss."

She smiled sweetly. "Anything you say, John. I am at your disposal, always."

"College courses, Penny. My study: bring yourself a chair. No lap dancing this time."

She pouted, "Hmmph. Not fair," but went and brought one of the wooden chairs from the kitchen. John sat down opposite her, in the study.

"Right. Your certificate shows that you are clever enough, so what do you want to do with your brains, Penny?"

"Well, what is there in the maths side of things?"

"Pure maths has to be discarded. Our colony needs practical applications, so something that enables you to help the Colony. I noticed that the college runs a course in Community Economics. That sounds useful. Our finance department could do with more expertise in that line.

"By the same token, we need more, and better, teachers for our schools. I have seen you pontificating about various subjects, so I think you would make a good teacher, as well.

"At the suggestion of the College Principal, I would like to suggestion that you tackle two courses at once: Community Economics, and Teacher Training. What do you think of that?"

"You expect me to tackle two courses at the same time? And in both cases, joining the course when it is part-way through? Are you mad, John?"

"Not in the slightest, Penny. The College Principal thinks you are capable of doing both at once, and I agree with him. You are much cleverer than you make yourself out to be. I suspect that with your family problems, you didn't want to put yourself forward as the cleverest member of the family, not at your tender age, so you have disguised your abilities, with good reason at the time.

"These reasons no longer apply, Penny. I, along with Muriel and Gloria, want to see you make something of yourself in our community. We want to see you graduate in both disciplines, and let us be proud of you."

Penny glowered at John while she thought things through. Then she made an announcement.

"John, if I start these courses, and promise to do my best at them, will you consider making me your third wife at some time in the future? I am not asking for a promise, merely that you consider the possibility, and allow me to put my case as time goes on?"

John was rocked back by this demand. It had come straight out of the blue, and he was unsure what sort of response he should give. He decided on truthfulness.

"Penny, you are a lovely girl – sorry, woman – and having you as a wife would be a really flattering experience. While I like you a lot, I cannot say that I am in love with you at this minute, and I would have to be that, to consider your request seriously. Secondly, any additional spouse has, by law, to be approved by the other spouse or spouses, so you will have to convince Muriel and Gloria that you would be an asset to our existing marriage.

"I cannot see that happening any time quickly, so you should work on a long term project to convince all three of us that we should marry you. I like the idea – don't think that I am putting you off – but it is a serious subject, not to be embarked on lightly. Whatever made you interested in me, anyway?"

"John, you are so completely different from my father, that I could not believe you at first. You acted in a kindly way towards us, even to my father, despite his killing of my mother. I could not understand how you could look at a man who had killed his wife, as a man worthy of compassion. It took days of watching you with Gloria and Muriel for me to understand.

"John, you are innately a nice man, determined to take that attitude towards all the people you meet. You don't act that way out of personal benefit. In fact, in a religious community, you would be seen as a holy man.

"Oh, I know you don't see yourself in that way, but others see what you do and say, and respond accordingly. You think you are Governor because you were appointed to the post. Well, you were, but you got that post because of who and what you are, not because you have specific academic qualifications for the job. You are a man who will put his Colony first, in any decision you have to make. That makes you lovable, in my eyes.

"But, more important, you treat your wives as valuable human beings. That is not common; in fact it is quite rare. Most marriages are aimed at being of benefit to one spouse or the other. You don't view marriage in that way. You view it as a loving arrangement of benefit to all. Both Muriel and Gloria are deeply in love with you, no matter how the marriage actually began. You have made them love you, by your actions and the way you treat them. They have your babies because they WANT to have them, to show how much they value you as a husband and father.

"I would love to be regarded in the same way. I think you have the capacity to love me as well as Muriel and Gloria."

"By gosh, Penny. That was quite an exposition. I have never viewed myself in the way you just described, but I have to accept that as an outsider, you have a unique viewpoint. I am flattered, but I think you have to ask Gloria and Muriel whether they truly see me in that way. You may be using the proverbial rose-tinted spectacles. Speak to Gloria and Muriel about your ideas, please. I am sure they can put reality before you, and help you refine your ideas about me."

"Okay, John. I'll do that, just to let you see that I am serious. Good night, then."

Ten minutes later, Gloria walked in to the study, and leaned over to kiss John. "Penny was talking to you, I see. Frightened you, did she?"

"Frightened me? No, not like that; but I had to come to terms with a young woman who thinks I wear a halo. Now, that IS frightening."

"John, dear, I know you don't wear a halo; you wouldn't know what to do with it. You'd probably wear it round your neck, or on your ankle as a shackle. To be truthful, you are a much nicer guy than you make yourself out to be. You try to act tough as you are the Governor; you feel that you have to put on a show.