Chapter 16

As I said, we arrived at Wayside two hours later than I had expected.

During one of our rest stops, Mac and Martha’s son Timmy wandered around the clearing. He was tired, so he stretched out on a comfy looking bed of leaves and fell asleep. Unfortunately, the leaves were on the far side of a boulder. So, when Dan prepared to hop us to our next stop, no one noticed him behind the boulder. Mac and Martha each thought the other was holding his hand. Martha knew Timmy wasn’t holding her hand, and she noticed Timmy wasn’t holding onto her daughter Dove’s hand. When she looked, he wasn’t holding onto Mac’s hand, either! Dan released his hop energy as Martha came to this realization.

“Stop!” Martha screamed as we appeared in the clearing of our next stop.

Mac looked at her and said, “What’s wrong, honey?”

“Timmy isn’t with us,” she shouted.

They then turned to me.

“Doug, Timmy was left at our last stop.”

A quick check confirmed that Timmy wasn’t with us. Sereine and I glanced at each other and shook our heads in resignation.

“Okay, we will just have to go back and get him.”

Sereine hopped Coral, Sto, and me back to our last stop. Sto and Coral quickly moved about ten feet into the surrounding brush and circled the clearing to find his scent trail on the ground. When they didn’t find it, they quartered back and forth across the clearing and through the surrounding brush. It only took us about two minutes to find him snuggled down, sound asleep in the pile of leaves.

He must have been extremely tired, for my picking him up didn’t wake him. I hopped us back to our party, and handed him to Martha. It had been less than ten minutes since we discovered Timmy was missing, but Martha was scared to death that something serious had happened to him.

He was sound asleep when we arrived and Martha saw us. Timmy didn’t stay asleep, though, for Martha was all over him. She was crying and checking him out to ensure he hadn’t been hurt. Of course, since Timmy had been asleep all this time, and didn’t know what was wrong, his Mom’s behavior scared him and he started to cry. That set Martha off again, thinking that he was hurt, and she had just missed his injury. Eventually everything settled down, and we finished our rest period. Sereine recovered first, so she hopped us to the next stop. I noticed Mac and Martha had a good grip on both Dove and Timmy, when Sereine started to build her hop energy.

A couple of hops before reaching Wayside, I remembered the question I wanted to ask Dan.

“Dan, I’ve noticed that you and your people all carry energy rifles and pistols. Most of the D-Hoppers that I know only carry energy rifles. Why do you carry both?”

“It’s a matter of forgetfulness, Doug. A couple of trips back, I hopped us to a planet and everything seemed fine. We had gotten into the habit of stacking our weapons once everything seemed safe. A few of the crew took a walk around the clearing. While they were walking along the edge of the heavy brush, a couple of the local predators charged them. Luckily the predators were slow and had a long distance to cover, so the rest of us were able to get to our weapons and kill the predators. When we got back home, we talked about our carelessness, and someone suggested that we carry pistols also. Now we carry both; so far, we haven’t stacked our rifles!”

“Actually, that’s a good idea, Dan. Rifles are more powerful, but pistols are a good backup in case there is a problem with your rifle; plus, they are more maneuverable.”

When we arrived at Wayside, we changed out of our traveling clothes and stored our energy weapons and other traveling equipment in the storage shelters. I wanted to make sure everyone was clear on what we would do when we arrived at the ranch, so I made a brief announcement before we left.

“Okay, people, listen up! When we get back to the ranch there will be a lot of confusion. In order to make sure everything is taken care of in an organized way, we will do the following:

“Security will form a ring around us with their stunners drawn, until we confirm there is no threat.

“Matt and Bill will find the on-site security guard and let him know we have returned. Once they have done that and we know everything is okay, we will split up as follows:

“My current people who have a mobile home assigned to them are to take the people who are to stay with them and go to your mobile home. Except for the security people assigned to guard duty, everyone can take the rest of the day off.

“Bashira, Ken, and their wives are to go with my wives to our mobile home. Once everything is taken care of, Sereine and I will hop you back to Washington and New York.

“Sergei’s people are to remain with me. I will show you where you are to sleep. Once you drop off your personal items, we can talk about getting the installation started tomorrow morning and you can use the rest of the day to get organized.

“Have I forgotten anyone?”

No one spoke up, so I nodded to Dan. He hopped all of us, and the storage shelters containing his people’s equipment and supplies to the ranch. The only location he was really familiar with was Ken’s house and barn, so that’s where he set us down.

At least the bedlam wasn’t as bad as it could be. Bill had our security people set up a perimeter around us before Dan hopped us to the ranch. I had allowed the on-site security company to use one of our empty portables as their guard post, while we were gone, so Matt and Bill started walking toward our mobile homes. The security guard had heard our voices and he was on the way to the house to investigate what was happening.

Bill turned and waved to us once he had spoken with the security guard. Ken, Carla, and Andy walked over to the house and made themselves comfortable on the porch swing. There was a lot of shouting as my people found the people who had been assigned to stay with them and started walking toward their mobile homes.

Once they were gone, Kenneth joined me, Carla went in the house for a nap, and Andy hurried to catch up to his roommate who was guiding the people assigned to stay with them. Since Kenneth was with me, I had Yarl Wilson talk with me about the support his crew would need tomorrow to get the installation started. When I asked, Kenneth volunteered his services to chauffeur them around the ranch in his truck, as needed.

Matt, Bill, and I would need to go to the equipment rental agency in the morning and pick up the cherry pickers and other equipment we reserved. With all the installation effort organized, I guided Yarl and his people to the portable we had set up for them before we left for the Multiverse. With a final reminder not to eat or drink anything they had not brought with them, l left them to get settled and organized.

Everyone was talking at once when I first walked through the door of my mobile home. Abby had shown the girls staying with her to their rooms, dropped her belongings in her bedroom, and then checked her voicemail. The third message was a bombshell, and the final two messages reaffirmed the seriousness of the situation. She let the girls know she would be back in a minute, and immediately set off to my mobile home. As soon as my wives saw me in the doorway, silence settled over the room.

As the bearer of the bad news, Abby said, “Doug, the Secretary of State called me and left a couple of messages. He said that I should let you know things can be worked out, but Senator Belton has made several public accusations regarding you violating the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme by importing Blood Diamonds.”

That was it. I had the feeling that I was forgetting something for several days now. Well, it wasn’t something I forgot, it was something I noticed. Ken and Bashira’s wives had been wearing very nice earrings at dinner. Of course they were just costume jewelry in the Multiverse, so it didn’t register in my conscious mind that on Earth they would be very expensive pieces of fine jewelry.

The Senator’s accusation had nothing to do with them purchasing jewelry in the Multiverse. It just prompted me to link their jewelry to my feeling of having forgotten something.

When Abby said ‘Blood Diamonds’ the only thing I could think of was the Red Diamonds that were in the earrings and rings that my Embassy people had worn at the President’s reception.

Looking to Abby, I asked, “What is the Kimberly Process scheme and what are Blood Diamonds. I’m not upset with anyone, but just in case I forget it, we also need to talk about the jewelry our group bought during this trip.”

When I turned back to Abby, Ken said, “Doug, Charlie is right. These accusations are a serious matter and they are also pure bullshit. The Kimberly Process Certification Scheme has nothing to do with diamonds brought here from the Multiverse.

“The Kimberly Process Certification Scheme is intended to stop the rebels in African countries, and other places, from financing their revolutions by using slave labor to mine diamonds and selling the rough gems in the various diamond centers, which are scattered around the world. Depending on who you talk to, Blood Diamonds refers to either the slaves who died in mining the diamonds or the people killed in the revolutions that are financed by the diamonds.”

While I was trying to comprehend the relevance of the Senator’s accusation in light of Ken’s explanation, Abby said, “He’s right, Doug. The Kimberly Process has nothing to do with the diamonds you brought here from the Multiverse. However, the phrase Blood Diamonds will create a knee jerk reaction in a lot of people. Many of them will be upset with you without even considering the truth of the matter.”

“Is he really that stupid, Abby?”

Ken intervened and said, “I know Belton better than Abby, and no he isn’t that stupid. I believe he knows your diamonds are not Blood Diamonds. Most of the US population doesn’t understand what the phrase Blood Diamonds actually refers to, Doug. All they know is that it’s something bad, so his accusation carries a lot of weight with those who don’t understand the true meaning of the phrase and with those who just accept his word without stopping to think about what the term means.

“Once we challenge his accusations and prove them wrong, most of the people will get over their initial outrage. Unfortunately, there will always be a few idiots who will wonder if he might be right. That’s what he is doing, Doug. A small attack to chip away at your credibility and honesty. He may have more attacks planned.”

“All right, but how should I go about countering his accusation?”

Bashira smiled and said, “You have Kim in your corner, Doug. Give her an interview and let her paper print the truth of the matter. She needs to focus on two points: 1) the purpose of the Kimberly Process, and 2) your diamonds did not come from Earth’s mines. It would be a good idea if Kim presents the story as her idea, not you responding to his accusation. She should tell the people that the Senator knows his accusation is false, and for personal reasons, he is using the American public to make a personal attack on you.

“That will place the Senator in a very awkward position. If he claims he didn’t know the purpose of the Kimberly Process, people will believe he is either a liar or stupid. If he acknowledges that he knew the purpose of the Kimberly Process, people will know that he knowingly made a false accusation and is a liar. Either way, his political reputation will take a big hit. He will lose the respect of his constituents, and his peers will know he made a very poor political move and will tend to avoid him. I know I would avoid someone who used such poor judgment as to attack an adversary in that fashion.”

“I think that will work, Bashira. Now all I have to do is get with Kim and explain matters to her. Where is she staying?”

Mary said, “She is with us, temporarily, Doug; until she finds other lodging. If she wants, she can stay with Matt and me, until we move into the Embassy; but that will be her choice.”

“All right, by this time she has probably gone to bed, so I will talk with her later. Right now, we need to discuss the jewelry issue and get the four of you back home.”

Matt added, “Ken, it would probably be best if Doug and I have a conference call with you and Charlie early tomorrow to discuss Senator Belton’s accusations. Hopefully, we can sabotage his plan by guiding Kim in how to slant her story. However, knowing the Senator, Kim will have to do at least one interview with you before this matter is finalized. I doubt he would have made such a stupid move without some type of backup plan or some way to counter our probable response.”

“We can deal with this matter tomorrow,” I said. Right now, I need someone to tell me about the shopping trip for jewelry.”

Rita spoke up, “I didn’t think you would mind, Doug. While you were on Timson talking with Maribel, I took everyone to one of the local costume jewelry stores to get a few souvenirs.”

“It’s not that I mind them buying some jewelry, Rita. The problem is the impression that people will have of us, and the government officials we deal with. Matt, Bill, and Sue were still with Homeland Security when we took them shopping on Vora. That was undoubtedly a mistake. We were lucky Matt, Bill, and Sue’s bosses didn’t find out about their jewelry purchases, or at least they didn’t comment on them. Bill and Sue’s bosses accused them of accepting a bribe, but I don’t think that was ever made public. Matt quit Homeland Security before his bosses made a similar accusation.

“Our Embassy earrings made a big sensation at the President’s reception. The Senator’s accusations have undoubtedly drawn attention to the jewelry I have been bringing to Earth. We didn’t try to hide the fact that Ken, Bashira, and their wives went to the Multiverse with us as our guests. What do you think is going to happen when their wives wear their jewelry in public at the same time Belton is raising a stink about jewelry?”

Ken spoke up, “Doug is right. The Senator’s accusations are coming at the worst possible time for us. I don’t know about Bashira, but I am going to have to justify this trip so it doesn’t end up looking as if Doug was taking my wife and me on a pleasure trip as a gift. Please don’t take that the wrong way, Doug. We enjoyed the trip and being able to be there for your wedding. Unfortunately, with Belton involved, he could twist it to make it look like us receiving a bribe from you. That isn’t what happened, but it could easily be made to look that way.”