Chapter 3

Almost two months after the discussion with Glorious about his sexual needs and security concerns, Jack had a full ships compliment plus some “extras”. Of course the people selected for the crew and shore installation had not yet been told about Glorious and their true positions. They all thought they were hired to help Jack with his research and inventions only. Some of the hires however were becoming suspicious about the true nature of their work. Not only was Jack coming up with cutting edge ideas and technology very rapidly he was being very secretive about some of the material and components that seemed to disappear overnight.

The problems Jack and Glorious anticipated began in a strange manner one Tuesday morning. Jack was in his office and private research lab when a well dressed self important man barged into the room. He walked arrogantly up to Jack and said, “Mr. Johnson I am Nathaniel Hawthorne from the county zoning commission. I am here to investigate several complaints about your use of this land and the buildings thereon situated. We have three complaints about you converting residential and recreational use land to light manufacturing. The vehicles using the road net to get here indicate more than light manufacturing may be occurring. By actual count you have received an average of four semi truck loads of raw material per week for the last eight weeks. In addition it appears you have over one hundred people working in this facility. I might point out none of this activity is allowed under the current zoning regulations.”

Mr. Hawthorne handed Jack a thick stack of legal documents and continued, “Here is a copy of the complaints filed against you sir and a court ordered search warrant for me to ascertain the extent of your non compliance with current Zoning Regulations. Also attached is a copy of the potential fines that will be assessed should each of the complaints be substantiated. Now, sir, I insist you guide me on my inspection immediately without contacting anyone to warn them and allow them to conceal illegal activity.”

Jack had not risen from his desk during the entire diatribe spewing from Mr. Hawthorne’s mouth. He sat staring at him for a moment then slowly stood. He said, “Mr. Hawthorne, if that is your name, I think you are laboring under a misconception. This county DOES NOT HAVE ZONING REGULATIONS ENACTED. Knox County does in fact have zoning regulations in force and I see these documents are issued by the Knox county zoning and planning commission and a Knox county court. These documents however are invalid because you are now standing in Union County and Union county does not have county zoning therefore any activity I choose to engage in within the confines of my property is perfectly legal as far as zoning regulations go.”

“PREPOSTEROUS! I have a map here showing your buildings and lands are clearly in Knox County.”

Jack smiled and said, “Come with me please Mr. Hawthorne. Step over here to the map on this wall.” When the two men reached the map on the wall Jack none too gently took the map from Mr. Hawthorne’s hand. He held it up to the map hanging on the wall and continued speaking, “You see Mr. Hawthorne, your map does show my house and garage as being in Knox County. Based on these documents I have no choice but to allow you to inspect them, however, if you notice, this almost imperceptible line on your map denoting the county line goes right between the house and garage and this building. This building and the ones behind it are not in Knox County therefore you have no right to inspect them. Of course the wall map was in larger scale but it was obvious part of Jack’s land was in each of the two counties. It was also obvious that only the house and about twelve acres were in Knox County while the remainder of the land and all the new buildings were in Union county.

Hawthorne’s face became red when Jack pointed out the county line and location of the buildings then said, “As you can see, we are not now in Knox County and you have no authority to do any of the investigation and inspection you claim these useless documents authorize you to do. Now, if you really wish to wander through my private residence and garage let’s go get it over with so I can get back to work.”

Hawthorne almost screamed his reply. “This is preposterous. You can’t get away with flaunting your illegal activity and ignoring the laws of Knox county sir. We’ll see about this.” He turned and stomped from the room.

The next day there was a county survey crew seen working on the road which was being heavily patrolled by Knox county Sheriff’s vehicles. Three days later the weight limit signs and speed limit signs along the road were changed to prohibit any vehicles with a gross weight over 12,000 pounds and speeds in excess of 35 miles an hour. All Jacks deliveries were turned back by a sheriff car stationed at the end of his road.

Jack began hauling what he could into his campus in smaller vehicles but some of the larger items had to come in from other directions when they required larger trucks to haul them. Jack was presented with a bill from the county charging him for repairs to the road allegedly caused by vehicles coming to his property. He refused to pay it and was hit with a lawsuit to force payment. He also received notice of several other harassing lawsuits all filed in Knox county. He was being sued for noise pollution, light pollution, the road damage and for operating a dangerous business that impacted citizens of Knox County.

His next contact with authority was from the Federal Government. Several large black vehicles pulled into his parking lot and dark suited men and women tumbled from them. He was faced with people from the FBI, CIA, NSA, DIA and about any other three initial Federal agencies he could think of such as IRS. They all wanted him to stop what he was doing and cooperate with their investigation. He was accused of numerous serious violations of national security and was told he should IMMEDIATELY cease and desist in selling and licensing his supposed inventions until such time as the Government decided what items were to be allowed into civilian use. His whole operation was locked down and crews of men and women began going through his records and investigating his campus. Some of his equipment was carried out and placed in trucks which then departed.

Jack stood in stunned silence and watched his employees being herded out of the building. Each and every person was searched before they were sent on their way to be sure they did not take anything away from the site that might be of interest to the government. As he watched the forced removal of his employees, Jack got a call from Glorious. She said, “Captain, I am afraid this may be the end of our peaceful clandestine operations. Your government is in the process of repositioning two surveillance satellites so they can keep your buildings and land under constant surveillance. If you wish, I can disable them or I can block some of the data they are gathering. My shields will keep them from getting a good picture of me under the water but they will be able to detect the metal in my hull.”

Jack thought a moment then said, “If you can do it without being obvious disable them Glorious.”

A few moments later Glorious said, “Captain I found a small meteor shower that was predicted for later this afternoon. I can take control of two or three of the small meteors and make sure they impact the satellites. It may look suspicious to your authorities but since astronomers are aware of the upcoming shower they may write the hits off as an astronomical coincidence.”

“Fine, if you can do that without detection do it. Will they be able to get any damaging intelligence before the satellites are disabled?”

“I do not believe so Captain. If I have computed correctly they may be able to transmit information about the large mass of metal under the lake before they are destroyed but I cannot say. It all depends on whether or not they are searching the lake before they search other areas.”

About six that evening Jack sat on his porch looking at his research center and drinking a beer. He was trying to decide what to do first about the mess he was in. Two large black Expeditions arrived at his parking lot and armed men in dark uniforms got out. They set up a perimeter around the buildings and then began putting out surveillance devices. While they were working the people inside began filing out and leaving for the night. Within fifteen minutes all was quiet once again and appeared almost normal.

About eight p.m. another car pulled up, this time in the driveway to Jack’s home. Jack stood and began walking toward the car before it stopped. He was almost to the door when it opened and his secretary stepped from the driver’s side. At the same time his head research assistant got out of the passenger’s side. Jack had been spending many pleasant hours with these two women both at work and, occasionally, other places. He took them together and separately out to dinner and shows. He saw them many times after work both in his own home and theirs. They were the two most compatible females found in his employees and were approved by Glorious as mates for Jack.

It took Jack several weeks to finally concede Glorious was right when she selected and then informed Jack of the matches. By the time Glorious had confirmed their compatibility Jack had already noticed them using the tried and true “old fashioned” methods that had worked for millennia. He merely talked with them and slowly learned about them from conversations. He was gratified to know that imperial technology agreed the two women were perfect mates for him but he still had some misgivings about having sex with subordinates. The women still did not know about Glorious but that time was rapidly approaching.

Jack walked up to the women and smiled. He gave each of them a hug and said, “I was hoping you would come out tonight. Come on into the house and we’ll chat for a while.”

After the women were seated in Jack’s den he gave them each their usual drink then sat facing them. He looked at them for a moment in silence then said, “Glorious, full security please. Engage shields. Let me know when our property has been recovered but otherwise, listen and if I make an error, please let me know. Has there been any reaction to the destruction of the satellites?”

Both women looked at Jack curiously, then jumped when Glorious said, “Yes Captain. Security is fully implemented, shields are at maximum. So far no further satellite repositioning is occurring however there have been several messages back and forth about the hits. Do you want to listen to them?”

“No that won’t be necessary. Let me know if any more surveillance is attempted.”

“Yes Captain. Welcome Susan and Emily. It is a pleasure to finally get to speak to you both as myself.”

Susan looked around then said hesitantly, “Gloria? I didn’t know we were on a conference call.”

“I am afraid the Captain and I misled you somewhat Susan. My name is not Gloria, it is Glorious and I am not a person. Please, relax and let the Captain explain; then if you have questions he cannot answer I will do so. Rest assured you are completely safe and we mean you no harm.”

By the end of the conversation with Glorious both women looked shocked and scared. They turned back to Jack and Emily asked, “Jack what is going on here? And why did she call you Captain?”

Jack leaned back in his chair and said, “I’m afraid this will be a long explanation ladies. When I received a similar one it took almost six hours so please bear with me. As for the title, it is one I held years ago in the Navy and have recently regained. I have yet to use the title publicly since I was once again given command of a ship. I am not sure I am qualified for the title this time but Glorious is adamant that I am the Captain and that is what she calls me.”

Jack launched into the explanation demanded by the women. He used technology installed in his house for audio visual assistance. Finally, just after midnight Jack leaned back and said, “Well, in a nutshell, that is where we are now. I have inherited a Star Ship and its AI insists I am the captain and owner. I am supposedly fully qualified to command and fly the ship but it is still at the bottom of this lake. We have been using my business to purchase needed material for repair and for a conduit for the technology we are releasing into our economy. I am afraid someone has finally decided my “inventions” are too far advanced to be normal and is now looking for the source of this technology. It is now time for Glorious and I to notify the people chosen for crew and see if they are willing to take that job. As I said earlier everyone in the business is either crew or base staff IF they are willing to take the jobs. That includes you two. Emily, you have been chosen to be the Executive Officer if you agree to take the position and you, Susan, are to be the Logistics Officer. Tonight, if you accept the positions, I need you to board Glorious and begin your training. After a couple of nights training for you, we will need to call the employees together and give them this same briefing and see if they are willing to take on their new jobs also.”