Chapter 17

I caught up with what everyone else had been doing during the first couple hours of our Sunday afternoon flight home. After that, they took naps so their body clocks would be closer to normal when we got home. With the time zone changes, we left at three in the afternoon, and we’d arrive about six in the evening.

Of course, not everyone was asleep.

I walked into the galley to get some iced tea to drink while I read reports and found Carrie, Cally, Karen, and Ginny Heinlein mixing ingredients.

“I would have figured you’d all be tired from playing tourist in Geneva,” I said as I got the pitcher of tea out.

“We found a couple of shops that sell ingredients from countries around the world. One of them had a cookie recipe that we decided to try. Ginny is showing all of us how to cook on an airplane, which is something none of us have ever done,” Carrie said.

“Well, this isn’t cooking, it’s baking, which is a little different. The thing is, we’re at thirty thousand feet or so, and the higher altitude makes food taste different up here than it does at sea level. That’s one reason why so much of what the staff does serve us has been started on the ground, and they simply have to finish it up. Oh, not for everything, of course. We have plenty of fresh eggs, for example. But the bacon they serve is precooked, and just needs to be reheated, because the last thing anyone needs is a grease fire inside an airplane,” Ginny explained.

Karen was puzzled and asked, “How do you know so much about this topic?”

“Oh, Robert and I have traveled all over the world. Plus, he is an aeronautical engineer. I’m a biochemist and engineer myself. We used to live in Colorado, where you have to learn how to boil water differently, until my high-altitude sickness meant we had to move. The same as on an airplane, because this plane is pressurized like we’re about at six thousand feet. That’s a twelve degree drop in the temperature of water boiling, and a simple five minute boiled egg now takes twenty minutes to cook. You’ll see when the cookies go to rise in the oven, after we’re done with them.”

“Cally, I, um, think I may need to enroll in a cooking class when we get to California. I have a suspicion that everything I know how to cook ... and I do know how to cook a lot of things ... isn’t exactly what you or your Father are used to eating,” Karen said.

“Oh, you don’t need to do that, dear. We’re going to have to find a place closer to the city, in addition to Bonny Doon. Robert is going to be working with NASA now that he got roped into being in charge of developing the space station, so to save commute time, we need someplace close. We can teach each other, because I’d like to learn how to prepare some of the meals you’ve cooked over the centuries.”

“But ... ma’am, I’m...”

“I know exactly who you are, now.” Ginny nodded at me. “My husband is one of the few people on this planet he’s not married to that Cal trusts completely with everything; which means he trusts me as well. We’re not your enemies, Karen.”

I grabbed my tea and left, before the tears started flowing.

Instead of speed reading, I took my time browsing through the list of military equipment we were going to get. On one hand, I thought it was a ridiculous amount of material. On the other hand, since they were giving it to us with no strings attached, we could always scrap what wasn’t needed. I wondered how much of it we could donate to organizations, for museums and such.

Then I went through the results of the meetings on the Emergency Response Teams. I saw that someone had been coordinating between the groups. I had wondered why the Soviet military was giving us fifty thousand entrenching tools. They were also selling us several Antonov AN-72s, which were twice as fast with twice the range of the C-130, but could only carry a bit less than half the cargo.

The Antonov Design Bureau was also grateful that they were going to be able to finish their giant airplane and build a second. While the first Soviet orbiter had actually been completed, it was supposed to only be a test bed, similar to the original Enterprise. The Soviets had already started work on a second orbiter, but it was only half complete. Robert ‘suggested’ that they work with Boeing, and make certain things common, such as latch points, so their orbiters could use our external fuel and booster system, while our orbiters could also use their Energia boosters. The US already had two 747s for transport and with two AN-225s available as well, a space fleet of ten orbiters would be feasible in less than five years.

After a couple of hours, there was a knock on the door to my office. I looked through it, then used my powers to open it. “When did you become formal with me, Mike?”

“I can’t see through doors like you can, so I wasn’t sure you wouldn’t be engaged in something that I shouldn’t see,” he said, coming in and sitting down after closing the door behind himself.

“Since I know that’s a load of bullshit, what’s really going on?”

He looked hurt. “Cal, you know I’ve always respected the privacy of you and your ladies.”

I chuckled. “I think having Jeremy as my primary while Dave’s getting his ashes hauled and Chuck is being tended to by his own private nurse means I’ve picked up more slang in the last few days than I have in several months. So, pull the other one, and tell me what’s on your mind.”

Shaking his head, Mike said, “You can take the boy out of the Air Cav, but you can’t take the Air Cav out of the boy. I wondered if Jeremy would be a corrupting influence on you. I was right, but I didn’t have a lot of other choices.”

“Quit beating around the bush,” I said.

“Damn, you have picked up a lot. Fine, I have two things. The first is that I’m sort of torn about the ceremony in Geneva. Oh, don’t get me wrong, it was ... nice ... getting to meet so many of the old crew. And it was damned decent of you to fly Jeremy’s father all the way from Illinois for it.”

I shook my head. “I didn’t do that. For that matter, neither did Jeremy. When Colonel Gage found out what was going to happen, he called some of his buddies and they took care of everything for him. Before you ask, he had to know because they interviewed him as part of the investigation process. I may have helped a little so that when he gets back to Illinois, he’s going to get better treatment, but he does need the help.”

“That’s good. Family is important.” He stopped, then leaned back in his chair, looking at the ceiling. He was blinking hard, then brought his face back down. “Right now, I don’t know whether or not to love you even more than I did before, you little shit, or take you out behind the latrine and beat some sense into you.”

I purposely misunderstood what he said. “Do you have it on you? I didn’t get to see it up close before President Reagan presented it to you.”

He sighed. “I had a feeling you’d ask.” He pulled it out, leaned forward, and handed it to me. “They’ve changed things a little over time, in case you’re wondering.”

I looked at the simple, five pointed star surrounded by laurel wreaths. The head in the middle was surrounded by the words ‘UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.’ It was hanging from a bar with the word ‘VALOR’ on it, with a bird holding olive branches and arrows above that. The striped neck ribbon had twelve stars on it, with the thirteenth being the medal itself. I flipped it over, to see where it had been engraved with ‘The Congress to Michael Douglas.’

I handed it back to him. “I know that’s supposed to be an eagle, but that’s not the greatest looking one I’ve ever seen. I also see what you mean about it changing a little, because it’s not quite like the one I’ve seen in the cemetery.”

“If nothing else, I’ll be able to report that to Mister Blasdel, the next time I’m in Hutch. At least they didn’t ask for the oak leaf cluster back on my DSM.”

I smiled. “You know I’m proud of you, don’t you? You earned that medal, with what you did for your country and your family, your fellow soldiers.”

“Damn. I think you might just finally have grown up. I know you’ve matured a lot since Robert was born. I’m not saying this to be mean, but sometimes we did wonder about your level of commitment to, well, the whole planet. No one ever thought you didn’t truly love all of your ladies, and us as part of the family. The thing is, you could just as easily effectively be Shiva yourself. Or you could have been, anyway. The boy that went to Nepal isn’t the same as the man that came back. I can understand it, even. You’ve been reacting, ever since you crashed in Beth’s backyard. You’ve had things thrown at you, I presume all of them new. Now, in spite of you still joking about desert island time, you really don’t mean it. Certainly not with the actual sincerity you have in the past.”

“I know Margie has a degree in psychology, and Eve is getting her doctorate at some point. When did you get so smart?”

“There’s a reason why Robert quoted Rudyard Kipling in Starship Troopers and why the Marine Corps Commandant had Robert’s book on his required reading list. Just because it’s science fiction doesn’t mean it’s also not reality.”

I shrugged. “I didn’t serve in the military at home. Our Scouts were a quasi-military type outfit, though. Sort of designed to give you discipline, while teaching you survival skills and other useful life tips.”

“Speaking of survival skills and useful life tips...” He paused, then ran his hand through his hair and scratched the back of his head. “This is sort of embarrassing.”

“If I can confess to Cardinal Gantin that I have the soul of someone who died a quarter million years ago living inside me, you can confess what’s bothering you to me.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Ah, is that what you said to him? I wondered what was going on with that, when everyone basically told me they were done investigating your background.” He smiled, then. “You’ve definitely matured. You knew that Gantin wouldn’t say anything, but that since we weren’t home, the phone lines would all be tapped, so whatever you said when you called him would be monitored by intelligence agencies around the world.”

“I may have learned a few tricks from the masters of devious Bastardy, Elroy and Robert. I’m going to make a guess. You find yourself physically attracted to Karen, but you’re not really sure about her because, in all fairness to you, she isn’t your Karen and you’re afraid of being untrue to a memory. At the same time, you’ve now got a daughter that you hadn’t planned on who needs a Mother in addition to her new Father. We’ve also got the trust issues, as we’re not really sure we actually can trust Karen, as noted by my having Hugo give me all of his extra shivalingam. Is that it in a nutshell?”

“I’m not going to say I owe Robert a dollar, but I might owe Ginny something. That’s one hell of a summation of everything I’ve been thinking,” he said.

“Did you see the girls making cookies in the galley?”

“I saw Ginny giving baking lessons. I think that was a good bonding experience. The cookies themselves were ... okay, but they weren’t that good. Of course, I didn’t tell them that,” he said.

“Of course not. I’m quite certain that when Karen and Cally make them on the ground, they’ll probably taste incredibly better. You were Army, not Air Force, and ... oh, that’s right, something we’ll have to start. I was going to say not Space Force, but none of the military’s actually have that, do they?” I chuckled. “Gurkha warriors in space suits. Now, if I can just figure out how to make a lightsaber that’ll work for more than five minutes, they won’t have to use their khukuris. Take that, Hugo Drax!”

“I see what you’re trying to do. What do you mean, they’ll taste better?”

“You’re used to eating whatever it takes to survive, no matter the taste. That doesn’t mean you don’t appreciate a good steak. Things taste differently at thirty thousand feet or when you’re in space. Unless you’re at normal Star ... Earth atmospheric pressure, as well as Earth gravity, things just taste different. That’s one of the major disadvantages of microgravity spaceflight. Oh, they call it zero gravity, but it’s really not. That’s also why I’ve put Robert on designing and building something fairly big, that can spin to simulate gravity until I can figure out gravity generators and create an actual air flow instead of using fans.”

“You’re actually doing a damned good job of distracting me from the second reason I came to see you. I’m impressed.”

“You should be. But it’s not that good, or you wouldn’t have noticed. I’m probably not the best person to give relationship advice, since I have seventeen wives, one son, two stepsons, and I’m soon to have several more children around the house. At the same time ... Mike, you’re forty-two years old. You met Karen when you were thirteen, married her at eighteen, then barely saw her for the next six years because you both understood that serving your country was something that honorable young men did. Then she died. You had eleven years together. This is going to sound blunt, but she’s been dead for seventeen years, Mike. If I’ve made a terrible mistake in changing Nyota so that she looks like Karen because I thought I was doing you a favor, let me know. I have the shivalingam in our room right now. Because of who she is, I can literally help her to become any woman you might have ever fantasized about, whether it’s Marilyn Monroe or Raquel Welch ... well, cousin Raquel might make Sophia mad, and we wouldn’t want that.”

He joined my laughter at that comment, then shook his head. “No, Cal, it’s not that. I’m going to ask you what’s going to sound like a stupid question, but it’s not. How long will I live?”

“I don’t know. Not too much longer if you do stupid stuff. Definitely not much beyond April if I lose against Shiva. Otherwise, who knows? I’ve had a lot of free time on our flights, and I don’t actually need that much sleep. I should have the first, experimental batch of genetic reversion drugs ready by December, if things perform in the lab like I think they will in my head. Final product actually ready for general use by next summer. So that ought to be good to get you to three hundred or so, without even trying. That’s ... not for public dissemination, but until we get colonies on Luna and Mars and are mining the asteroids, that’s all the better I’m going to make it. We need FTL travel before I extend it out further. That’s for the general public. I think a couple of thousand years isn’t too much of a stretch, for someone alive today that’s under, oh, fifty years of age, if I pushed it. Ask me again in five hundred years. I should have everyone back up to five thousand by then. That’s not counting people I use the shivalingam on, for tune-ups. I haven’t done you yet, but I can. Like Robert said, you could still walk in front of a bus. But if I gave you a tune-up, you’d be good, other than occasional tweaks, for four or five hundred years, like everyone else is.”

He sat quietly for several minutes. “Okay. That brings up two more questions for me. First is, do they all know that they’re going to live that long?”

“Not yet. Robert knows from writing about it that one of the biggest issues with long life is that you lose your joy of living. I’m hoping to keep enough challenges for everyone that we as the human race would rather ... well, ‘explore strange new worlds and seek out new civilizations,’ if I can steal that quote. As for the answer to your second question, I can do your tune-up right now, because the reason for your ‘stupid question’ is that you were concerned that Karen might have found a new reason to live, one that Nyota had lost, but you wouldn’t be around for that long, all things considered. As you’re an honorable man, you didn’t think it’d be fair to her to have a relationship with someone who was ... ephemeral.”

He snorted. “I’ve had a lot of time on airplane flights. I’ve read Time Enough For Love. Actually, I’ve read all of Robert’s books now, since he’s ‘in the family’ and I needed to know how he thinks. I ... damn, I think you’ve got the psychology degree now.”

“Shut up, lean back, and close your eyes. This’ll take me a while. Oh, and I’m not going to get rid of your extra assholes and zippers, but I will clean up the scar tissue under them and heal a lot of stuff you don’t know you have wrong with you. Too bad I can’t fix your brain damage.”

Before he could do more than shoot me a dirty look, I put him to sleep and started working on him. Knowing I would need them, Beth brought in some of the shivalingam, then stood behind me, giving me a neck rub. Once I was finished, we left Mike asleep, while we went upstairs.

Bob and Ginny were playing cards with the kids, while Karen was simply looking out the window at the clouds.

“I heard we had some cookies made. How come I didn’t get any?”

“Because they tasted terrible,” Karen said. I could see she’d been crying again.

“Somehow, I doubt that. No one asked my opinion, after all. Keep in mind that I’m the one whose father actually was a rocket scientist, so I know how to adjust for altitude and pressure when I’m judging how something tastes,” I said.

Carrie pulled out a plate that only had a couple of cookies left on it. Considering how many I’d seen them making, there weren’t a lot left. I took one, flexed it a little to see how moist it still was, and then bit into it.

“Considering that we’re six miles high, which means things dry out quickly up here, this is a good cookie. When we get home, will you make me a batch, after you’ve had some time to get settled in? Maybe for next weekend?”

Karen sniffed, then replied, “You mean it?”

“You don’t know me well enough to realize that I’m not the world’s most tactful man at times, so if I’m telling you these are good, I mean it. Oh, and Cally, you’ll be staying with Carrie and Holly for a few days when we get home.”

“Why’s that?” she asked.

“Your Mom and Dad are going to have a lot of catching up to do. Karen, I’ve given Robert and Ginny tune-ups, but not quite as serious as what I did to you. I’m certain that your time in Geneva wasn’t quite what you thought it should be, what you were hoping it would be, all things considered. Mike hasn’t seen you for eighteen years. He was told you died giving birth to his child while he was on a mission in Vietnam. During the six years before that, he was mostly away from home, either going to specialized military schools or attending West Point to get his commission. You’d known each other for five years in junior high and high school before that. Memories fade over time, so as far as he’s concerned, the two of you are starting over, with pleasant memories of having been together in the past. And that’s it.”

She furrowed her brow. “But ... what about my own past?”

“You’re Karen Douglas. You’re the only one who knows your own past. You’re getting a chance to start over, to start a new life together with your husband who has missed you for eighteen years, and his daughter from a drunken ‘fling’ when he returned to the US after finally getting out of Vietnam.” I paused, then raised a finger. “The daughter that now lives with him. Mike is an honorable man, and has been sending child support to two sons that also came about from that weekend. If nothing else, that should tell you about the content of his character. The Medal of Honor that he received from President Reagan this weekend should tell you about the man he is.”

Karen bit her lip. “But there’s one other thing.”

“Oh, and the tune-up that I just gave him, so while he still carries the battle scars he earned while serving his country, none of the damage they caused him remains. And as with anyone who has had a tune-up will find out over time ... Robert and Ginny ... you could still walk in front of a bus, but other than that, you’ll only physically age about one year for every ten that passes. Unrelated, we left him asleep in my office downstairs, the door will lock from within, my office is soundproof, and I cleared my desk off before coming up here.”

With only a smile and a nod, Karen got up from her seat and walked downstairs.

“I thought it was going to be one for five, once we ... well, get to whatever younger age we’re going to get to,” Bob said.

“I honestly didn’t lie, I just didn’t know then what I know now about how the shivalingam work. As for you three ... four ... wait until you hit about twenty or so, before you lock your physical appearance, just as a suggestion. You’re not going to need my help at all.”

“No, we’re not. And ... thank you, Cal. I don’t care what Beth says, you’re a good man after all,” Cally said.

“I do know where you’re ticklish, young lady!” Beth warned.

“Are you okay, Carrie? You’re looking a little wistful,” Ginny asked.

“I do miss my parents, but Aunt Brenda and Uncle Walter have been good to me, raising me as their own daughter. I wish at times they were closer, and I know, I can fly up to see them anytime. The funny thing is, I’m not ... I don’t know how to describe what I feel, what I’m feeling.”

Beth smiled softly, saying, “You’re not feeling unloved, because it’s not like you’ve been shipped off to boarding school and are surrounded by strangers. You’re still living with family that loves you, supports you, and cherishes you.”

Carrie burst from her seat and gave Beth a crushing hug. “That’s exactly right!”

After talking with everyone for a couple more minutes, Beth and I walked through the rest of the plane. We spent a minute or two speaking with each person, especially our guards, just to make sure they were okay. With that done, we rejoined our wives for some rest.

We landed on time and had an uneventful ride home. I thought it was interesting when we walked in to find several Hollywood stars sitting at the table, drinking coffee with my wives, with one of them holding little Robert.

“So, we go out of the country for a couple of days, and when I come back, I find all sorts of riffraff sitting in my kitchen. How are you all doing?”

The woman holding Robert said, “You’re right, Margie. He does have Cal’s eyes.”

“He does? Wait, how can I see, then?” I joked.

“Where’s the orangutan when I need to say, ‘Right turn, Clyde,’ about now?”

“Just hush, Clint,” Marcia said. “Everyone, this is some of my adopted family from Hollywood. Uncle Charlie ... Charles Bronson, and his wife, Jill Ireland. A soon to be kicked out of the family uncle, Clint Eastwood, for making fun of our husband, because that’s our job. One of my adopted brothers, Michael Wayne and his wife, Gretchen. Uncle Izzy and his wife ... Kirk and Anne Douglas. And Steven Spielberg, his fiancée, Amy Irving, and their son, Max.” She then introduced the rest of our family to all of them. There was the normal gushing over Diana, but we all expected that.

“What’d Clint do, come up for more tips on how to golf from Jennifer?” I asked.

“You know, I think I liked you better when I didn’t know you,” Clint said, with his famous squint on his face.

“Do I need to take you two miles out to sea and let you swim back to shore?”

“No, Marcia. You’re one of the people that know I had to do that during the war, and once was more than enough. I am sorry, you know me and my mouth at times. I’m actually sort of giddy, because Pale Rider is doing so well at the box office.”

Bronson laughed. “That’s something I never thought I’d hear, Clint Eastwood saying he was giddy!” That got a laugh from everyone around the table.

“So, what’s going on?” I asked.

Kirk said, “With Marcia due to pop any day now, we brought up some presents for your daughter. Marcia’s going to be out of circulation for a while after giving birth, so we’re also giving her an update on Schindler’s List. Steven and Clint are going to direct it, I’m one of the producers, Michael’s going to be another, and Charlie is going to be one of the Germans, but not Göth.”

“I’ve got another month on The Color Purple, and then post production after that. That’s one of the reasons we had to meet now, so that we could figure out exactly when we could all get together to make this. We’re all shifting around commitments, and figuring out who will fit the roles the best. I think we should be ready to go by next June, actually,” Spielberg said.

“It takes that long to plan to make a movie?” Carrie asked.

“Normally not, young lady,” Kirk replied. “This one, though ... this one we’re going to make sure and do right. We’re not doing it that way so the following year, when it’s time to go on stage, we’ll all be up there to get the gold statue. We’re doing it right so that we tell a real story, regardless of whether it makes any money or not.”

“That’s normally not what the business is about,” Marcia explained, “but with our ties to the Holocaust Museums we’re building and opening around the world, it fits. We had some rough plans before, but I think now we have things firmed up.”

We spent some more time just talking. While I’d met everyone before, this was different. I was giving a little tour of our garden area when Bronson put his hand on my shoulder.

In Russian, he said, “You know how I told you that if you didn’t treat our little Marcia right, we’d have to take care of you?”

I replied in the same language. “I also remember she said that’d be more difficult than you think,” brushing his hand off.

“Yes, well, normally I don’t apologize for making those kinds of comments. There were two reasons for the way I treated you. The first is that we ... all of us ... love Marcia as if she were our own daughter. The second is that Jill was diagnosed with breast cancer a couple of days before we first met you, and both of us were still in a bit of emotional shock. I’m ... well, one of the reasons I do violence so well on screen is because I’m not afraid of it. When I was your age, I’d already been working in coal mines for six years to help feed my family. I saw my first man die when I was eleven, due to a falling rock. I did that for ten years, then was a gunner on B29s over Japan. I did twenty-five missions, and I don’t know how many Japs I helped kill. Thousands, probably. So, coming up here this weekend, seeing how happy she is with you, even if it’s not anything like a conventional life ... I’m sorry I was an asshole to you.”

He held out his hand. I looked down at it, then took it. I looked in his eyes and could see all the decades of pain he’d had, and I could see his love for his wife. That made my next decision easy.

Still speaking in Russian, I said, “Come along with me. We need to get your wife.” I switched to English. “Jeremy, would you please get a Suburban instead of a golf cart, since it’s dark? I need to run to my lab for a few minutes.”

Bemused, Bronson followed me back to our house, where Hannah was already escorting a confused Jill out to meet us, with Dora walking out as well. “Charlie, what’s going on?” Jill asked.

Bronson shrugged, then Jeremy pulled up in a Suburban. I motioned to the back. “If the two of you would have a seat, we’re going to run onto campus for a few minutes.” Both of them gave me odd looks, but sat down with Dora next to Jill. Hannah went back inside. Jeremy drove us over to the lab.

“Unrelated to anything, where are the idiots?” I asked.

“Oh, they’ve decided to only protest you during the week, and then only during the day,” Jeremy said. “Apparently, since you performed ... well, Helen performed ... all those marriages, they’re thinking you might actually be okay,” he said.

“Ah, fine. I don’t think I’ll ever understand their mindset. We’re guarding the whole building now?” I asked when we pulled up.

“Oh, yes. We’ve already stopped two attempts by someone to break in and steal your research. A couple of pharmaceutical companies are kicking themselves for not staying around after your presentation.”

As we walked up the stairs, Bronson asked, “Your research? And you’ve got guards armed with rifles on a building?”

“Oh, yeah,” Jeremy said. “Keep in mind ... oh, that’s right, you don’t know. I’m a Deputy US Marshal, basically permanently assigned to Cal. He’s slightly more important to the US Government than all of our nuclear weapons, combined. And to the planet, since he’s the Spatial Defense Minister for the Federation.”

“What’s a Special Defense Minister do?” Jill asked.

“Spatial, as in outer space. Or anything more than eight miles up. I’m in charge of defending the planet, as well as all of the space programs around the world. I’m also doing research on an assortment of things. I’ve already got Doctorates in Chemistry and Physics, with Master’s in Pharmacology and Biochemistry, for example. Dora has Bachelor’s in Cell Biology, Physiology, and her PhD in Political Science.” I nodded at the guard standing outside my lab, swiped my card, and led everyone in.

“Please, if the two of you would have a seat, and Jill, if you’d roll your sleeve up? I’m not as good at this as my main assistant, but that’s because she really is a nurse, and I haven’t gotten my actual MD yet. Fortunately, this still isn’t considered practicing medicine, so Doctor Korn can’t complain.” I pulled out a syringe and small needle. “He probably will, anyway.”