Chapter 61

Time: 6:07 AM June 23, 207145 Nebraska reference time

A glint of the first rays of the morning sun came in through the windows on the other side of the plane at fell upon my face. I smiled, feeling well rested. A'moth was already up and gone but I was still feeling the warmth of Isabelle sleeping by my side nearest the window. I opened my eyes, and saw one of the nine-year old girls watching me from about an arm's length away. She smiled at me when she noticed me looking at her.

"Hello. My name is Tacara. You talk, don't you? Is your name Gary?"

I blinked for a second. I used to be Mr. Connors to someone so young, but then I thought, the world has moved on. "Yes, I'm Gary. Good morning Tacara."

She nodded in reply. "Do you belong to Deputy Commander Isabelle? Are you her sex- pet?"

I gulped. "No, not at all. Isabelle is my daughter. Do you remember A'moth? A'moth is my wife and Commander Isabelle's mother."

Tacara shook her head. "You using terms used only for animal breeding. Still, it's amazing to hear you talk at all! If you want, I will teach you the correct words to use." She then looked somewhat confused. "A'moth?"

I smiled. "Ah, you probably know her as Supreme Ruler Lisa."

Tacara had a shocked look on her face and then a burst of a smile. "I knew it! I knew she was one of the Supreme Rulers! We girls were debating. Are you saying she's your..."

"That's right. Lisa is my wife."

Tacara stared at me, and then looked as if she had to hiccup. "Oh, that's so funny!" she cried, bursting out into laughter. "If you only knew what you were saying!" She continued to laugh uncontrollably, tears streaming down her face. The racket started to wake up Isabelle, and I helped by gently prodding the Deputy Commander in her ribs with my elbow.

"Uh, Issie, you might want to jump in on this..."

A'moth, Isabelle, and even Hoshi spent the next hour talking with the girls and explaining the new world order. Hoshi would occasionally glance at me and look embarrassed with how hard it was for the girls to grasp what the adult women were saying. Talk about having trouble with reality shifts! I just smiled back and tried to show her I wasn't offended. A number of the girls would just stare at me as the conversation progressed. I wasn't upset. I know this is going to take some time...

I jumped around Antelope Freeway for a bit while the women and the girls continued their talk. After almost twenty years at Acapulco Bay, it was like coming home. I couldn't jump to the arctic home of course. That's a dreamlike reality-shift and a completely different process than jumping. But I wasn't concerned. Isabelle could take us to the arctic whenever we wanted.

I checked out the old convenience store. It was still overflowing with various hard goods and packaged foodstuffs. It gave me an idea. I opened a small food package and tasted it. It was fine... Havika dreamed so well, setting all this up.

It's a self replicating dream now, running on its own. The shelves are always full, no matter how much you take. The trash bins are always empty, no matter how much junk you throw in. The toilet always flushes and fills faithfully. Just don't ask where the water comes from. I asked Jim about it once, and he started talking about self-organizing reality shifts and undetermined quantum-classical interface layers... All this to fill a toilet?

Jim described to me once his one meeting with Havika. I think I would have enjoyed meeting him. It seems so strange to think of meeting a person from another timeline... A'moth showed me once where he's buried. There's no marker. A'moth said she thought Havika would have wanted it that way... An old Roman general once commented, better to have no grave marker and have people ask why there wasn't one, compared to having a marker and having people ask why it was there...

I jumped back to the plane about 7:30 AM. The women had finished their talk with the girls and had opened the plane. Everybody was standing around outside and the girls were getting a bit of exercise exploring the cornfield. The plane was pretty big, but they had to stay close to keep from getting lost in the high corn. I went over to the women and told them of my plan...

A'moth thought it was a fine idea. So I jumped A'moth and Isabelle first and then all the girls and finally Hoshi. Within a few seconds we were all standing in the parking lot outside the convenience store.

It'll be a halfway house, a stepping stone before we introduce the WFM refugees to the magic of the arctic. There's only one toilet and one shower. It'll be a bit communal for Hoshi and the six girls but... ah, they'll be fine...

I jumped Issie inside the sound barriers so she could check on Jim and Cindy. She returned about five minutes later to find me admiring Jim's old car. What an antique! Over 200,000 years old and in perfect running condition. Jim left the keys inside the unlocked car. It started right up when I tried it; dream-gasoline I guess...

Issie smiled at me though the car's window. "Wow! It brings back memories, seeing you in a car like that, memories of Santiago..."

"Yeah. I almost feel like taking it for a ride... not much road to drive it on though..." My smiled faded. "How's Cindy?"

Isabelle nodded. "I noticed it too, last night... I think she's going to be okay. She's still sleeping with Jim. She seems very peaceful, and... well, I think she's going to be okay."

And Cindy was okay. She seemed like her old self the next time we saw her, and as the days turned into weeks and the weeks into months, all twelve of us began to knit together as a large, extended family...

Hoshi and the girls are interesting. We moved them to the arctic about two weeks after we arrived at Antelope Freeway, on July 4'th. We old-timers thought it was a good date for Independence, and Hoshi and girls were eager for a change. The cornfields are peaceful enough, but so uniform... boring...