Chapter 9

I timed our departure from Timson so we would arrive at Mister Tam’s home on Halpern late in the morning. I did so for I knew we had to be at the Tam home before mid-afternoon to confirm our hotel reservations and we didn’t want to arrive too early. We arrived in the portion of his backyard that he had previously designated as our arrival area. It didn’t take the Tam family long to usher all of us into their home.

Our party was too large for them to accommodate us in their six-bedroom house, so I had placed a hold on rooms for our party at a local hotel. It was an ongoing hold that would be renewed each day until we arrived. If we didn’t arrive by mid-afternoon, the rooms were released back to the hotel and they would give our rooms to other guests for that day. The Tam family explained what would be happening over the next few days. So I made a quick comm to alert the hotel that we had arrived on Halpern and would need our rooms tonight and for the following three nights. Carla, Andy, and Oscar would stay in the Tams’ home until we departed and the rest of us would stay at the hotel.

I had been thinking of a one-day turn around on Halpern and then leave for Fangler. My plans changed when I learned that the Tam family had arranged for a family get together to celebrate Andy and Carla getting married. A few of the family were coming from off-planet, so their travel arrangements had precluded their being here earlier. The party would be held in three days, so for the rest of the day and the next two days, Andy and his family treated us as members of their family and showed us the local attractions.

During her stay with the Tam family, Carla and Missus Tam firmed up a date for the wedding and made the arrangements for the church, a minister, and a catered reception at their home. Both couples had agreed that they didn’t need a second honeymoon this soon. So there would be no honeymoons after the weddings on Halpern or Fangler.

I found Halpern to be a very nice place to visit, but as Andy said, I would not want to make it my permanent home. One of our two days was spent at the Halpern Water Park, which was a recreational facility owned by the city that had several lakes for sailing, swimming, water skiing, fishing, and other activities related to large bodies of water. The park also had water slides with an adjacent picnic area. The main difference between the water slide area on Slave World and the Halpern Water Park was bathing suits or other attire were mandatory. The citizens of Halpern did not consider public nudity appropriate.

The day of the celebration arrived and the Tam clan and friends descended on us. There was plenty of food and beverages, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic. The members of the Tam clan were friendly and accepted the strangers in their midst as Andy’s friends. Most of them probably didn’t know Andy worked for me. That impression was helped along by Andy, Oscar, and my security detail maintaining a low profile without paying overt attention to Cindy, Carla or me. Being introduced as just Andy’s friends, Cindy and Doug Smith, also helped. Cindy, Doug, and Smith are fairly common names in the Multiverse. I suspect that a few of the attendees were aware that a Doug Smith was the owner of Archer Conglomerate, but they didn’t equate me with that Doug Smith. It was just a friendly family get together. When Cindy and I arrived, Sandy explained that Andy’s immediate family thought it was a great joke on their relatives and other people they knew, to pass me off as just an average person. I sort of look at myself that way, so I didn’t have to put on an act.

The day after the party, all of the family’s relatives and friends that did not live in the local area headed home. Once everyone was ready, I hopped my party to Fangler. Before I left, Mister and Missus Tam mentioned their joke to Cindy and me, and said they were hoping to continue it until after Andy and Carla’s wedding. Andy later told me that he and his family loved to play harmless practical jokes on each other.

We arrived on Fangler in time for me to confirm my hotel reservations, and the situation was very different than what I experienced on Halpern. Fitz’s family knew who Sandy and I were before we had dropped Sandy and Fitz off at his home. Their relatives, friends, and acquaintances also knew who we were, and that included just about everyone who lived in Fitz’s home town of Radiguet. Needless to say, Sandy’s security detail had been very busy during their stay. It seemed as if everyone wanted to stop by, pay their respects, and wish the couple a long happy life together. Sandy, Fitz, and the rest of her security detail didn’t want to stay on Fangler; they wanted to get back to the estate, so everyone could relax.

Missus Bower had made the arrangements for her daughters’ weddings during the past few years. She knew exactly who to contact and what was needed for the wedding and reception. All she and Sandy had to do was define the wedding guest list and scale the arrangements up from what Missus Bowers had done on prior occasions. Using an estimated number of wedding and reception guests, Sandy and Missus Bower had made the necessary arrangements for the wedding in just a few hours of the first three full days that Sandy was on Fangler. The rest of her stay was getting to know the Bower family and attending a number of receptions hosted by the members of the local high-society organizations. The type of parties Sandy hated, but felt she had to attend in order to be socially polite.

We made an excuse about important business that we needed to attend to on Slave World, said our goodbyes, and left after a very early breakfast the day after I arrived. Sandy later said she would have left immediately after I arrived, but doing so might seem insulting and that she wouldn’t want to insult Fitz’s family. She liked Fitz’s family, but most of the locals she had met annoyed her.

Sandy had certainly changed, since she agreed to go to Earth with me. She had hated having to be polite to people who fawned over her mother, but kept her opinions to herself. Now she was more vocal in private about her dislikes, but still didn’t voice her opinions in public. She felt that publically commenting on her opinions was inappropriate, and would hurt people who were not intentionally annoying or harming her.

I did not bother timing our departure to arrive at the estate at a decent time of the day on Slave World. We left Fangler immediately after breakfast, and we appeared in the estate’s arrival area in the middle of the night. We could have had a layover at one of our interim stops, but we all agreed that getting home as soon as possible would be our best option. Fitz used the area’s comm to contact the Control Center and inform them we were back. Once that was done, we all headed for our rooms.

We tried to not disturb anyone, but Charyl must be a light sleeper or have a second sense when it comes to people arriving at the estate. She met us as we came in asking if anyone needed something to eat. None of us were exceptionally hungry, but just the idea of Charyl’s sandwich buffet was enough to make us agree to a light snack. Charyl put the sandwich makings on the table, and we made ourselves sandwiches. Our snack was just right and we all headed for bed. Charyl said she would clean up in the morning.

Sto was with Coral and I heard her think, “Be quiet. Sleep. I’m tired.”

As Cindy and I climbed into bed, we woke Betty. Unlike Coral, she just had to know everything that had happened while we were gone. Cindy and I gave her a short briefing and after the three of us stretched out on the comfortable bed and relaxed, Betty asked if Cindy and I were too tired to give her a bit of loving. We had gotten out of bed on Fangler less than eight hours ago, so we weren’t too tired, and it was another two hours before we were all satisfied and fell asleep.

Men, like Sto and me, must have an innate survival instinct that keeps us healthy and happy. Some people on Earth call it being pussy-whipped, but annoying your mate is definitely not good for you; your mate has ways of making you regret doing what annoyed them.

During breakfast the next morning, Betty and Misty briefed Cindy and me on the status of their translation effort. Misty needed to determine the proper medical terms for a few of the Multiverse terms on the front panel of the diagnostic unit. She had gone through all of the displays and listed all of the Multiverse terms and measurement units that she needed to research; the list was very long. She had provided the appropriate Earth term or unit for some of the words. Misty told me there was a lot that she did not know about Earth concepts, terms, and diagnostic methods, so she would have to find someone to work with on Earth to gain the needed knowledge. Based on her limited knowledge of Earth medicine and the way she explained things, translating the terms and units wasn’t enough. She believed that many of the diagnostic procedures and techniques used by the diagnostic unit were unknown to Earth medicine. She summed things up nicely by saying Earth medicine was not as advanced as Multiverse medicine, and Earth doctors had a lot to learn in order to use the diagnostic units.

That was bad news for anything new regarding medical knowledge, procedures, and techniques would make the American Government and the Medical Guilds - whatever they call themselves - resistant to change. We wouldn’t be able to get our equipment approved by the government agencies in the US by comparing it to something that used similar diagnostic processes and techniques for there were no similar processes and equipment. This was going to be another problem like introducing drugs that the government had not approved for sale in the US. We would get there, but it was going to be a long hard battle.

Betty and Misty had acquired most of the graphic and text files, and supporting documentation from the publication specialist, Juliana, that they would need to translate the manuals and marketing material once they returned to Earth. The rest of the materials they had identified as being needed would be delivered before our estimated departure date. That was good news and Betty said that Holly and Bailey told her that, since the people of Earth had DNA comparable to that of the humans in the Multiverse, the critical computer code that made the measurements should not need to be changed. They also told her the instructions for interpreting the measurements were the same. The only things that would need to be changed were the measurement units, the scaling factors on the displays to adjust the grids to the Earth units, and the units and values in the explanation of interpreting the displays. According to them, it would be a lot of work for the software people, but they wouldn’t have to redo or modify most of the code. From their perspective that was good news.

Betty was at a loss for she didn’t know the medical concepts behind what they told her. Misty had a basic understanding of what needed to be done, but no means of assessing the scope and duration of the work.

Personally a delay sounded good to me, even if it did mean it would take longer to complete than we first thought. My talking with the engineers assigned to the travel shelter and personal force field projects had given me a better understanding of what happened in the early development stages of a design effort. The word slide may not mean much to a non-engineer, but it was a word frequently used by engineers when discussing their development schedules. Our schedule for getting approval of the American Medical authorities was going to slip, but the extra time could be used to teach the American medical personnel, who were interested in using our equipment, what they needed to know about Multiverse medicine. So a schedule slip was not necessarily a bad thing.

After another of Charyl’s breakfasts, I made it to my office just in time for a visit from Sereine.

“Morning, Doug. Welcome back. The doctor on Toomby said Coral and the kits were fine. Sto was nervous about Coral, the kits, and the possibility that the doctor was going to give him more shots.”

“Yes, Sto talked with me briefly last night and told me the same basic thing. How was Carl?”

“Carl’s doing good. He is about ten years from retirement and looking forward to the day he can sit back and just take it easy. I don’t think that day will ever come for Carl. He just isn’t the type of person who takes it easy.

“I submitted my report to him, and he read it while I waited. He said he was happy with the progress I’ve made considering the Embassy isn’t built and I have no one to assist me. Carl noted my attempts to establish a liaison with the local Earth law enforcement personnel seemed to be progressing nicely and should be very beneficial in the future.

“Carl has two police officers who are using the sugar solution and one of them, a married female, is available to return to Earth with me; the other officer’s health is good, and he needs to finish the investigations he was involved in.

“Police Headquarters on Shilling has identified five additional police officers on active duty who are sugar addicts: four men and one woman. They were on the sugar substitute and according to the report Carl received their health was starting to degrade, so Carl sent a good supply of sugar to them with instructions on how to use it for increasing their tolerance to high concentrations of sugar. With the sugar, they will be able to function in their positions, so they will remain on duty at their current assignments until I am ready to put them to work on Earth. They are all married, so their families will need to make the decision of whether they wish to remain in the Multiverse or go to Earth with their spouses. Carl recommended that if the families plan to go to Earth, they should wait until it is close to the time they are due to leave before family members start taking the sugar solution.

“I’ve finished everything that I need to do in the Multiverse, Doug. Did you need me to do anything for you?”

Before I could answer, Misty knocked on the door and joined us.

When I asked what she needed, Misty said, “Doug, I got busy talking about the translation work I’m doing and forgot to tell you about my recruitment effort.

“While you were gone, I posted a job notice at the Medical Guild office in Billby. I’ve also attended church services twice. No one responded to the job notice and the staff at the Medical Guild let me know it is unlikely that anyone will be willing to become a sugar addict in order to get a job, especially a job on what is considered to be a remote and hostile planet.

“A nurse who attends my church is seriously considering joining me on Earth. The idea of missionary work appeals to her, and all of her family members have either passed on or she has lost contact with the one or two who are still alive. She told me that if she goes with us, she has a male lover who is working as a part-time medical assistant and he has no family to keep him here either. Her lover wants to remain with her, so he may be willing to consider going with us. Before they commit to joining us, they want to talk with a couple of additional people who they can trust to tell them the truth about Earth.”

Turning to Sereine, I asked, “Do you think you can spend some time answering questions about Earth?”

“Sure. I’ll have Betty and Cindy help me also. Their viewpoint is different from mine and they are certainly knowledgeable enough about Earth to describe what living there is like.”

Misty said, “Before I forget it again, I also ordered a supply of powdered No Hop and End Hop. The drugs are due to be delivered here next week.”

I said, “I thought those drugs had to be injected.”

Misty replied, “They do, Doug. I would prefer to order the liquid form because of the hassle of dissolving the powder in alcohol so I can inject it. The only reason I went with the powdered form is that it has an almost indefinite shelf life.

“Sereine, there is one thing I sort of overlooked. How much lead-time will you need if you have to administer a dose of No Hop to a D-Hopper? I’m also curious about how do you go about administering No Hop to a D-Hopper who doesn’t want to be injected? All they would have to do is just hop to another location.”

“In the situation where I would need to inject a D-Hopper with No Hop, I may not be able to give you more than an hour or two of notice. The D-Hoppers I will be dealing with arrive, meet with their contact, sell their merchandise, and then depart as fast as they can; which is likely to be two hours or less. We normally need an hour to assemble and get organized, so we are usually not able to catch them during their initial deliveries. Once I know they are making deliveries, I will have you prepare the No Hop solution well in advance of their next expected arrival date.

“Now most of the D-Hoppers who engage in criminal conduct on other planets have a pattern to their deliveries. So once I have identified the frequency of their visits, I and my checkpoint officers will be ready in far less than an hour the next time they visit. I can sense their arrival point, so I will immediately hop my people to that point and we will stun everyone. Then we will inject everyone with a dose of No Hop. Once they wake up, we will sort out who is who, what crimes were committed, and who we can arrest.”

“Don’t you arrest everyone?”

“We do that in other parts of the Multiverse when an illegal sale is in progress. On Earth, I expect to have jurisdictional conflicts. I can arrest Multiverse citizens, but I may not be able to arrest Earth citizens. This is a problem that Doug and I are trying to resolve.”

Our conversation tapered out and since both ladies were finished with me, they thanked me for my time and left. Sandy was coming into the office to see me as Sereine and Misty left.

She said, “Doug, Carla and I need to pick out our wedding gowns. If we start now, we can visit the major dress stores in Churls, Billby, and Eddine before we leave for Vora. If we can’t find something we like here, we can always visit the stores in Cinnity and Willibald once we get to Vora.”

When I heard shopping for wedding dresses, I shuddered. Thank the Mother Betty and Cindy weren’t there to see my reaction! Maybe Sandy won’t mention it to them. My four wives had subjected me to that ritual before we got married and it was still a recent memory. Fitz, Andy, and I were about to go through it again. At least it was only two women this time. If we can last until we get to Vora, my mother would happily take charge of the effort and tell us men to not interrupt them. Fitz, Andy, my dad, and I will sit around the house enjoying a beer while my dad and I recounted our experiences. It’s a male bonding experience and bad mouthing not being consulted on your wedding is one of the traditions associated with getting married.”

I knew Betty and Cindy would go, so I asked, “Are you telling me this to arrange for the trips, or so Fitz, Andy, and I will go with you?”

“Both. We need our security detail for the trip, and Carla and I want Andy and Fitz to go with us. Betty already told me that she, Cindy, and you would be going with us.”

“When would you like to go and in what order do you want to visit the shops?”

Sandy handed me a list, and said, “Right after lunch would be good for us and here are the stores we want to visit.”

After glancing at the list, I said, “I don’t have anything scheduled for this afternoon. I’ll get with Samson and make the arrangements.”

Things shouldn’t be that bad for I wouldn’t be in the hot seat this time; those positions would be filled by Andy and Fitz. Cindy also knew my schedule so I couldn’t claim to be busy doing something else.

Sandy said, “Good. The next items are the bullion we need to buy and our review of my finances with Kendrick. Kendrick gave me the report of my financial affairs while you were gone. I’ve reviewed it and everything seems to be good, but I have a few questions to ensure that I understand the report. He said he would give you the report on your affairs after you returned.”

“Alright, I’ll call Kendrick and see if he can stop by before lunch.”

“Don’t bother. I called Kendrick this morning to let him know you were back and to make an appointment for us to meet. He said he was busy with a few matters and wouldn’t be able to meet with us until after tomorrow. He will be here for breakfast the day after tomorrow.