Chapter 11

"The tunnel has just opened!" Ura called into the comm link. "The first-contact team will now go down the spiral with their skateboards. They should have the comm link active outside the tunnel in about twenty minutes, and will ask for confirmation before attempting to communicate with Cider Junction."

"Thank you Ura," said Kara. "I'm marking the opening time as 4:48:48 PM Earth time, September 8, 2010, and 12:11:36 PM day 254 of 1407 here on Aina." Kara looked around the conference room at the transfer station next to Blue Spirit. They were just past the middle of spring, and the local weather was delightful, 69F and dry with a gentle breeze. The council was loosely gathered around the speakerphone resting on the center of the table. On side tables around the room, numerous bowls of fresh early-spring fruits and goat cheese would serve as their lunch. A few minutes ago, Kara's unborn child had given several kicks to her bladder, and she sat quietly hoping the child would go back to sleep...

Mayoni walked into the room, smiling at her moms and sitting down quietly by Anuhea's side. She was very much looking forward to saying hello to her Earth grandparents again...

Kara smiled at Lois as they waited. "Think they've made any progress solving the plague mystery?"

Lois shrugged her shoulders. "Earth was totally baffled when we left ... But I guess we can always hope..."

"Council!" the speakerphone sounded. "This is Kaimi, leader of the first-contact team. I'm now outside the Path on Earth. I estimate we will complete setting up the digital transceiver in about four minutes. I'd like to report the circular well in the Path is full of boxes. I suspect Tom and Ellen have been buying things for us. I recommend the transfer team start their work as soon as possible. I estimate over sixty people-hours of work are needed to clear the tunnel. Weather here is a little misty, very moist and damp. I estimate temperature to be 85F. The sun is visible through the mist. Solar position is consistent with our expectation for current Earth time ... Please confirm our attempt for digital link to Cider Junction."

"Thank you Kaimi," said Kara. "Well done! We'll start the transfer team up Blue Spirit after we talk with my parents ... I confirm attempt for digital link."

A few minutes passed in silence, and then Kaimi spoke. "We have the carrier wave from Cider Junction. Locking it ... You have the data link ... now!"

"Confirmed!" said Kalea, sitting by a laptop next to Kara. "I have web access through Cider Junction's gigabit port."

"CDC Atlanta is still accepting my passwords for data access," Lois said happily as she typed on another laptop. "Starting data transfers now."

Kaimi's voice came from the speakerphone again. "You have the voice link ... now!"

"Hello?" said Kara. "Tom? Ellen?"

"Always a pleasure to hear your voice, daughter! I see you are still alive! Are you still pregnant?" sang Tom.

"Your other daughter is pleased to hear you too!" sang Lois.

"Hi Dad!" said Kara. "Yes, I'm still pregnant! Hopefully Lois will help me deliver in a few weeks. There's no sign of the plague here on Aina, none at all. Tom, Ellen, how are you?"

Kara could hear the relief in Tom's voice. "I'm fine. Ellen is right here with me. We have loads of stuff to tell you, but let me start off with what I'm sure is on your mind the most. There's been no progress understanding the plague. The world is more baffled than ever. There's still not a single documented case of any woman surviving her 14'th week of pregnancy this year. Not one. A few rumors maybe, but everybody is dismissing them. Sorry I don't have better news."

"That's too bad," Kara said quietly. "Mom, how are you?"

"I'm fine Kara. I've been very busy with Tom stocking supplies for you in the Blue Spirit tunnel, and thinking about what you might need. Lots of hiking! Tom and I haven't been in this good of shape in years."

"Mom, Dad," said Lois. "We're utilizing the full bandwidth of our 10 megabit link, multiplexing 64 kilobits for the voice link now, and using the rest for data transfer. With your permission, we'll be downloading throughout the window. We hope to pull over 80 gigabytes of data over the next day ... Mom, dad, we love you ... What's it been like on Earth?"

"It's pretty scary Lois," said Ellen. "Since you left, the world finally recovered from the initial shock of getting hit with the plague, but there are still huge social and political changes going on. People estimate the number-one industry in the world now is child trafficking. There has been a huge flow of children from the underdeveloped countries coming into Europe and the U.S.A. I believe every country in the world has eliminated immigration quotas for people below thirty years of age."

"The world economy is a mess," said Tom. "Oil peaked at $378 a barrel this summer before pulling back to about $205. It's double where it was in 2009 and still high enough to cripple the world economy. There's gas rationing here, rolling power blackouts ... Does Aina have oil? If the U.S. ever found that it did, the first thing they'd do is rape the planet, pump every drop they could back to Earth."

Ellen broke in. "People are afraid Kara, they're running scared. There's been a huge increase in world terrorism. Every insane religion you can think of has flourished, here and abroad. Cult leaders are springing up everywhere. Genocide has become a huge problem for the world. All the hate-filled racists want to kill their neighbors, be the only ones left. And for what?! It's so senseless!" Ellen paused for a moment, and then continued. "In some third world countries, where women don't have rights, men are still forcing women to have sex. It's creating an incredible friction between the genders. As bad as it is in the U.S.A., this plague has hit the third world countries the hardest."

Tom continued. "The third world economies were based on rapid population growth, much more than the developed world. Let me quote you some numbers from an article in today's newspaper. It divides the child age group into four segments, 0 to 4 years, 5 to 9 years, 10 to 14 years, and 15 to 19 years. At the start of 2010, the developed countries of the world had 5% to 6% of their population in each of these segments. But the third word countries had 9% to 10% of their population in each segment. Before the plague hit, the average age in the third world was thirty years, and in the developed countries it was forty years. There's been such an influx of children into the U.S., people think the average age here might actually go down this year. But it won't last forever of course."

"The annual world death rate used to be below nine people per thousand," said Ellen. "People expect the rate to be almost thirty this year! World population at the start of the year was estimated to be almost 6.8 billion. World population at the end of the year is expected to be under 6.6 billion, with about half the deaths due directly from the plague. It's an incredible tragedy how many women in the third world are still being forced to have sex, and then are killed either by the plague or black market abortions..."

Kara looked around at the council members and her family in the room. Everyone was sitting in stunned silence. "Thanks mom, dad..." Kara finally said. "I know how hard it must be to talk about this..." Kara took a deep breath. "We've been doing a lot of thinking about how to protect ourselves, protect Aina from ever getting this plague. It's difficult balancing the risk against the benefits of interacting with Earth, since we have no idea of how this plague is spread. The plague affects only women. We've decided to send only men through the Path. Ellen, you and Tom are still welcome to come here, at any time you choose. If you don't come today, we are predicting the Path will open again on June 20, 2011."