Chapter 5

Part 16

The Vice President of the United States looked across the conference table at the Attorney General. He let the A.G. stew in his own juices for awhile. Somewhere there was a leak. He hated leaks. Someone was going to get his balls cut off.

Finally he spoke. "Bill, we can't have this. It's an election year. How did that little Adkins bitch get hold of my private email? Someone gave it to her. I don't know if the leak was in my office or at Fox News. But I want to know.

"When we hired you, Bill, we told you that we didn't want any fucking leaks. Get the FBI on it. Get the Secret Service on it. I don't care if you get NSA on it. But I want to know who the leaker is."

The Attorney General looked uncomfortable. It wasn't his problem. It wasn't his damned office that leaked. But he was the one being blamed. He bit his tongue. Better to be still in the face of the VP's wrath.

The Vice President continued. "Just do it Bill. Now can we get on to other things? We've had it with this whole New Man shit. Those people are going to be dangerous when they grow up. We have to do something about them now while they are weak. The President needs a finding. "

The A.G. knew perfectly well that the President didn't need anything. The country was run by the Vice President. The President was an electable happy face without a brain.

"What kind of a finding, Sir?"

"These people have the balls to call themselves 'New Man'. They claim they are a different species than normal people. Well okay, if that's the way they want it, that's what they'll get. The freedoms listed in the Constitution are for men: defined as Homo sapiens. Have your lawyers give me a paper telling me why we can put all of these New Men into protective custody.

"They are fucking around building televisions and predicting the weather when they could be designing something useful like the next generation of smart weapons or clandestine surveillance gear. We could use their brains, but we've got to control them.

"Since they aren't true men, they have no legal standing in the eyes of the government. They don't get Constitutional protections. We'll take them in, then start to spin it to the general public. The Religious Right already hates them. We have to build on that. We can sterilize most of them and then just allow a few of them to procreate in captivity."

The A.G. felt his stomach turn. The V.P. was one mean mother-fucker. He certainly didn't intend to get on his bad side.

"What about the Progenitor? He doesn't claim to be 'New Man'. Do we just leave him alone?"

"What do you think the Patriot Act is for?"

"You want me to arrest the Progenitor? How is that going to go over? He's one of the most popular men in America. And on what grounds do we arrest him?"

"Christ, Bill, why are you always so negative. Alright, we'll leave Adkins alone. But I want the kids. Make it happen.

The Attorney General returned to his offices. He seriously doubted whether the courts would uphold this particular view of New Man. He didn't remember anything in the Constitution specifying Homo sapiens. On the other hand, the V.P. rarely allowed Constitutional considerations to stand in his way. The V.P. thought the Constitution was a pain in his ass.

The A.G. turned to his virtual monitor (a New Man invention, he thought wryly) and began to type the emails that would set in motion the incarceration of an entire species of human. Or so he thought.

Part 17

Emma Adkins perused the latest batch of emails emitted from the Attorney General's office. She shook her head in wonder at the audacity of it all. 'They have no shame', she thought. 'Ignore the message and kill the messenger.'

She picked up her phone and hit #1 on her speed dial. Andrew Adkins' image appeared on her screen.

"Hi, Emmy. What's up?"

"Daddy, we have a problem. It looks like the administration has gone off the deep end over this Ice Age thing. The Justice Department is developing a legal argument to show that because New Men aren't Homo sapiens, we aren't covered by Constitutional protections. Then they are going to arrest us all and put us in 'protective custody'."

"Well that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. It's like you are Jews in Nazi Germany; or Japanese-Americans in World War II. Nobody is going to stand for this. Well, how are the defenses at New Man U. going?"

"They are pretty much ready to go. We can't fight back much, but we certainly should be pretty hard to tackle, even with an army."

"Okay. I'm going to have a talk with the Chief of Police. Keep track of anyone who is outside the University so they can be called back in at a moment's notice. And Emmy; you haven't been very annoying recently. Why don't you be a little annoying?"

Emma laughed. She loved it when her father gave her free reign. "You got it, Daddy. I'll just tickle them a little bit."

Andrew Adkins put in a call to the local police chief. They had been friends for many years. Money from New Man Incorporated had put his children through college, as it had for many policemen in Georgia.

The call went through and the chief answered the phone. "Hello, this is Chief McArthur. What can I do for you?"

"Chief, this is Drew Adkins."

"Hey, Drew! What's up?"

"Chief, I think we have a problem brewing and I wanted to give you a heads-up."

"Does this have anything to do with that ice age shit? Man that like to scare that crap out of me."

"Well, kind of. Apparently the Attorney General isn't real happy with us. I suspect the real unhappiness comes from the Vice President. But there is a rumor that the A.G. is going to arrest all the eKids at New Man University."

"Arrest them? What the hell for?"

"The story goes that the eKids aren't Homo sapiens and therefore aren't subject to Constitutional protections. He is going to claim that they are not legal citizens of the United States."

The chief laughed. 'Drew, that's the biggest load of bullshit I've ever heard in my life. That won't stand up in court, that's for damn sure."

Andrew breathed a sigh of relief. "Well I just wanted to alert you to what might be happening. You might be the one doing the arresting."

Andrew heard the chief snort. "It'll be a cold day in hell before I arrest those little kids, Drew. They are every bit as human as anyone else, just smarter. If the A.G. orders us to arrest the kids, I'll demand a valid charge. Not being a human being is not a valid charge."

"Well, thanks, Chief. Who knows, maybe sanity will break out at the Justice Department. But I wanted to get you into the loop if it doesn't. I'll talk to you soon. Bye"

Andrew clicked off and stared at his virtual monitor. Well this is just dandy, he thought. Better get things in motion. They hadn't gotten as far as they had by not planning for contingencies. Living in the Bible belt was a constant wake-up call to the eKids, knowing that they were often vilified by the more extreme members of the clergy.

Andrew placed a call to his wife, the one who was President of New Man University. His monitor lit up and the beautiful face of Donna Adkins greeted him, her eyes alight at the unexpected pleasure.

"Andrew, it's so good to see you! Do we need to take an extra-long lunch break today? I've got nothing on my calendar that's too pressing. What me to meet you at the house around 12?"

Andrew smiled warmly. His Donnie was always eager to have a lunch-time quickie. On the other hand, she might not be so eager after she hears the news.

"Donnie, baby, there is something of an emergency going on. It looks like the Justice Department plans to attempt to arrest the eKids. They think they have a loophole they can use. Since the eKids aren't Homo sapiens, they aren't covered by the Constitution."

Donny actually laughed. "Has our Attorney General lost all contact with reality? Wait; even he is smarter than this. It takes a truly arrogant fool to come up with a scheme as dumb as this one. It had to be the Vice President."

Andrew countered, "If we're talking dumb, then why don't you think it was the President that ordered this?"

"Andrew, please! The President hasn't ordered anything but lunch since he came into office. No this has the mark of our devious bastard V.P. all over it. I suppose you have Emmy at work on our counter measures."

"Donnie, Emmy has me at work. She's running this show. I'm just a spear carrier."

Donnie looked at her husband lovingly. "Andrew, you are so naïve. Emma does anything you ask of her. She worships you."

Andrew looked skeptical. "It looks to me like she's transferred her affections to someone else."

Donnie smiled fondly. "That boy Eamon, you mean. I don't want to burst your bubble, dear, but your favorite daughter is no longer a virgin."

Andrew looked pained. "And which daughter might that be?"

Donnie said, "Perhaps I should have said daughters."

Andrew winced. "By the time that young pup finishes with my girls are there going to be any virgins left?"

Donnie shook her head. "Of course not. You know how it works in our family. But at least we can be sure that he will never finish with them."

"Well geez, you sure know how to bring me down."

"I'm sorry, darling. What can I do to make you feel better? I'm coming right over. We'll take a long lunch and try to bring up your spirits."

"Thanks, Donnie. I can always count on you to cheer me up", 'and think up an excuse to get laid' he thought to himself. "See you in a few. And hurry."

Part 18

Melissa Turner called a family council on the morning following Emma Adkins' press conference. Her son, J.J. her daughter Mikalya, her security people, most of them friends since childhood, and of course the family patriarch Jake Turner, all were there to receive an update from Eamon Turner. Elle Adkins was notable by her absence.

Melissa addressed her Grandson. "Well, Eamon. You haven't had much time, but your trip to New Man University appears to have been singularly fruitful. What can you tell us?"

Eamon wasn't especially comfortable being the center of attention, always having been the youngster of the family. He took a breath to calm himself then launched into what he had learned in the past two days.

"The Adkins' are an amazing family. Like us, they have family councils. In fact, I attended one just yesterday morning. I was invited because I've kind of grown attached to..."

"Yes, yes, we've met Elle; a lovely little thing. Please go on with your story."

"Grandmother, are you going to let me tell the story my way or what?"

"Please forgive me, Eamon. I won't interrupt again. But come to the point."

"The point is you have the wrong girl. Or you do have the right girl, but she wasn't the first girl. Christ this isn't coming out right. I was going to say before I was so rudely interrupted," he glared at his Grandmother, "that I've grown attached to Emmy."

Melissa Turner sat up at that. "Emmy? You mean the Emma on the television last night? What about Elle. You slept with her! And I assure you, from what I understand, everyone knows that you did more than sleep!"

Eamon was annoyed. Can't anyone keep a secret in this house? "Grandmother, do I go snooping into your affairs? If you must know, I'm with Elle, too. Dad, you certainly know what that is like, don't you? These IAM twins have attachments that can't be broken. My Mother was one as everyone knows. So Dad brought both her and her sister into the family. Somehow I don't think Dad considered it much of a hardship.

"Actually though, there is more. There are another set of twins named Edie and Eddie. They come with the territory, too."

Melissa sat with her mouth open. When she had recovered her wits she said, "Eamon, am I to understand that you've been out of the house for two days and now you have four girlfriends?"

"Yes, Grandmother. Actually they are more than girlfriends. They are my soulmates."

Melissa turned to her husband. "Well there's one grandchild that certainly got a full allotment of your genes. But I don't remember even you working this fast."

Jake Turner put his hand on his chest in denial and said, "Me? Hey, how did I get into this? Eamon is perfectly capable of going overboard on his own."

Melissa brought things back to order. "Eamon, dear, with all of this, shall we say, courting going on, did you have time to find out anything useful?"

"Grandmother, they are the real deal. New Man is real. New Man U. is the most amazing place I've ever seen. It's populated with child-geniuses. My girlfriends are in charge of much of it. Their mother is the University President. Emmy is Dean of Students and Director of Admissions. Elle is, well I forget exactly what Elle does. Mostly she is the financer of the University. Edie and Eddie are scientists."

"These children have incredible intellects. Andrew nurtures them, helps them grow, while giving them as free a reign as possible. Within itself, New Man U. is a totally open society. Everyone's opinion is respected. That's because everyone's opinion is brilliant. Andrew defers to his daughters' decisions on almost everything, so far as I could tell.

"You saw how Emmy handled herself during that press conference. She's a piece of work, I'll tell you. You've met Elle. Grandmother, would you believe that by the time she was six years old, she had earned as much money as you inherited? She is a financial super-genius. New Man U. was entirely built and endowed with money that she earned on the markets as a little girl."

"But there is more to my girlfriends than intelligence. They all are sweet and funny. They are athletes. And they have other talents too, but I'm not going to go there right now. But let me assure you, these eKids would be tremendous allies of the Turner family. We should help them. We should give them all the assistance we can. I'm telling you, Grandmother, they are on the side of the angels.

"And Grandmother, if they say there is going to be an Ice Age, I recommend you buy a warm coat."

Eamon's father, J.J. was looking bemused. He said, "Four! You got four girls and they all look like Elle? I didn't know you had it in you, pal."

"Gee, thanks, Dad", Eamon said sarcastically.

"And so, Eamon, besides the obvious improvement in your sex life, what exactly did you accomplish the last two days?"

"Grandmother, I told you. I've met the Progenitor. I've met his wives. I'm familiar with how they work. There is nothing going on up there that I don't know about or can't find out about. My girls don't hold things back, from me at least. They have nothing to hide, pretty much. You sent me up to find out and I found out. Believe me or don't believe me.

"Perhaps you think I've been mislead. If so, you would be mistaken. I'm here to tell you that the eKids are the most important things on earth right now. They are the salvation of mankind, it seems to me. And oh, by the way, I'm an eKid, as if you didn't know."

Melissa Turner was mildly amused by her grandson's feisty nature. "Don't get testy; we're just trying to get information here. We sent you up there, you had your little fling, and now you are back home. What do you plan to do with your little girlfriend? Is she going to stay here, too? How about the other three? Do you have room enough in your bedroom for four women?"

"Grandmother, you have things backwards. They aren't staying here. I'm staying there. Right now that is where the action is. And as I said, I'm an eKid. I need to expand my horizons, and New Man University is the place to do it. My girls have jobs to do there, and so do I. I'll continue to report back to the family with my progress. I'll tell you what's happening there that they won't reveal to the general population. I'll be your little spy for you.

But understand this. They had me pegged when I walked in the door. They knew why I was there from the start. And still they invited me into their inner-most circle. They told me to offer you their hand in friendship. Grandmother; Granddad, I think you should take it."