Chapter 91

Harlou’s wedding to Coraleen was well officiated. Lamanr and Snart were on the stage and I was so proud of my son. Coraleen looked like the vision of an angel. She wore the dress that Melody was married in, with minor alterations by Keryon. I assigned Harlou a room in the headmen’s corridor since he now was a married man and one of my most trusted advisors. No one objected about that move, that I ever heard about. But after a couple weeks of honeymoon time, we had him get started on his studies.

Snart, Barbara, and I sat down with Harlou after Snart received the past quizzes from the college entrance exams. We started going over them and asking Harlou questions. Some he knew, others he didn’t, those we marked for further study. It was surprising the amount of help we got from the Trwennkleihjof, Alertitian and Hellslinth people towards Harlou’s education. Roger, Calvin, and even Kilnary and Trewegin added some knowledge to his repertoire. We felt that he had the chance now he needed to be able to pass the test.

We were rapidly approaching December 25th, Christmas. I had announced the concept of Christmas to all the people in early November and said that gifts, made by them personally, would be the order of the day. Giving something you made to someone else as a gift would mean more than anything else. I contacted Phil and asked how thing were going with Operation Gamma, and was I surprised. Phil said that George now had a working body and was extremely pleased. Phil also said that he still had some DNA of mine, left over from the Solange/Angel clone experiment, and had cloned an empty shell just waiting for Fred to occupy it. He said it took about 2 weeks for everything to get working right, but that George could now help Fred over the worst hurdles.

I had made some special necklaces for my wives from some very beautiful stones I had found in the stream. All of them had been polished by the water and shone like precious stones from my world. Some were black, one was grey with gold flecks in it, and one was a very beautiful turquoise color. Each one I hand shaped and polished to a very fine sheen. I drilled them and hung then on very thin rawhide thongs. For my son I would give him my pocket knife. For Jerrel, I had made a plated bracelet that I died in the plaits her name. For my headmen I had some baseball or gimmie hats in the closet that I felt would give them a distinctive air about them. For Snart I had set up with Kilnary and Trewegin a six months course in the adept school so he could learn his abilities. Carmaletta, I made a similar bracelet with her name, but the bracelet had a metal rectangle with her name on the front, and on the back it said ‘With Love Forever, Bob’, that I had engraved on the metal. I polished the aluminum and sprayed it with a clear polyurethane coating, to prevent wearing.

When Christmas Day came we all had a great time opening presents. When all the presents were opened, I said, “Fred I also have a present for you, but I’m afraid that you will have to be transported to the New Beginnings to receive it; George would you do the honors please?”

We could all see on the big screen where it almost appeared to be two Doctor Phil’s. Then a blue shimmering light appeared and we could hear one of the Doctor Phil’s say, “Welcome aboard Fred.” The face was almost Phil but had subtle differences, but the voice was definitely George.

We hear a shocked Fred’s voice say, “You sound like George and look like Phil, what is going on?”

Dr. Phil said then, “Fred meet the new George. This is truly George inside, and a close approximation of me outside. Bob asked if we could build a body for your people, mainly for you. Well let me show you what is on the table here.”

He drew back a cover and here was a clone of me, Fred said, “You mean Bob has given me a body for a present?”

Dr. Phil said, “Yes he did, this is Operation Gamma. We tried it for George first, because we weren’t sure if it would work, but Bob thought it might and he wanted you to be able to have the same things he has, a body. He wanted this for all of your people, if they wanted it. Caroline has asked that she be the next in line for this. We were a little worried at first as the brainpan was not large enough for George’s body, so with a little work we were able to stretch him along the spine too. I’ll bet that is one thing, none of your people knew, you can change shape. Once I asked George if he could do it, he said he would try, and guess what, he could. It took a few tries to get it down pat, but it is possible.”

George spoke next. “Fred, this is the biggest boon to our people since we found out we could understand FTL flight and FTL communications. Since you will be gone for a couple of weeks, one your offspring, Samuel, would like to take your place. He is the new transporter for the Second Chances. Because the ship is small he will retain his present form and so will Phyllis his partner, the communications operator for the Second Chances. They will join Jules as the real brains of the ship.”

“Bob, I don’t know what to say to you about this gift. A simple thank you is not enough. We have worked together for several months now and you have become a true friend, I have grown and so have my people because of your insight and knowledge, but this is something way beyond that friendship. I promise that I will spend the rest of my life trying to make up for this one gift. I think if I had eyes I would be crying now, this is just too much for me to handle at this time. I think I now know the emotion of love. Thank you.”

By now Fred was glowing a very brilliant blue, almost a royal blue. His normal light blue hue was gone and replaced by this brilliant and bright color. George said, “Bob, Phil, Fred is in overload and he must calm down now, please excuse us.” They left and believe me there was not a dry eye in our cave anywhere. Many people came up to me, and wanted to let me know what an unselfish, giving thing I had done for a friend. Overall it was a very emotional day. By suppertime things had calmed down some.

All of my presents were well received. Bertet gave me a note where she had written in English just how much she loved me and this note was good for four lovemaking sessions with her whenever I wanted. She of all of my wives had the most trouble with English, so this was very special to me. Barbara gave me a rabbit fur lined vest to wear under my outer coat. Once winter came we saw lots of snow hares, almost pure white in color and quite large, about the size of a 4 month old Labrador puppy, they had huge back legs like a jack rabbit from home and weighed in around 20 to 25lbs., they were excellent eating too. Ambat had sewn me some mittens from a snow hare hide too, with the fur inside. Marlit gave me necklace to wear for ceremonies with some bear claws and some lion teeth and a single saber tooth in the middle, that our resident carver had caved into it, ‘Love, Marlit’ in English. Nadira also sewed me some slippers from rabbit hide. Pauloa had drawn a picture of our family on some paper that almost looked like a photograph. She has a real eye for artistry. She is our artist of the family. Fretail gave me a bracelet plaited from very thin rawhide strips in a 24 string plait. Plaited in amongst the rawhide were very small stones that sparkled almost like gold.

Gerona was not really talented, but she had picked out a piece of wood similar to cherry and had our carver carve into it “I Will Always Love You, Gerona” and she polished the wood until it shone. She then glued some of the small gold stones into the letters so they stood out from the wood. And last but certainly not least; Swendtra had herself, carved a couple, one Neanderthal female and one human male holding each other, both figures were nude. It really was a piece of art. I told her that the resident carver should take lessons from her. She blushed and said, “I took lesson from him and then made this.” From Snart I got a Free Lifetime ticket anywhere in the multi-verse aboard the Second Chances. From Carmaletta I got hugs and kisses and a promise of something at a later date, as she had something in mind, but it just couldn’t be here in time. That one had me wondering.