Chapter 6

As the sun rose, Michael was restless as he started planning his day. The scheduled must be cleared, and he wanted a full day planning session with his NUSF commanders, Shamus Mac Lochlainn, and the R&D designers from the weapons division. He felt as if someone was staring at him, looking around, Colleen had her eyes on him with a determination he had not seen in a long time.

Colleen told him there was much to do today, however the day would go much better after his daily exercise and a morning run. Nodding, Michael slid from the bed, then putting his running gear on he suddenly realized that he and Colleen were the last ones to get up that morning. When Colleen saw the puzzled look on Michael's face, she told him that for the last hour he had been very restless, and his other wives decided to shower before the day began. With that they headed to the bathroom to relieve bladders, and then went to the Tai Chi area.

As Michael was finishing his shower with his wives he hit the cold water button to complete the wakeup process. He was surprised that all of his wives remained in the shower, as they had learned that that one or two minutes of cold water closed the skins pores and kicked the heart and brain in gear. Going to his computer, Michael typed a message to the Senior NUSF Commanders, head of the R&D weapons design division, and Tressa, that an urgent meeting would begin at 9:30 AM in the conference room in the Ard-Ri's office. He then signed it Ard-Ri, to let everyone know that was important, and that the Ard-Ri was involved. He then sent an additional message to Tressa to have everything set up, and to contact Meg to have a working lunch prepared and served. At breakfast, Michael asked Colleen to have security tightened around his office and conference room for the next few days.

As breakfast was being served, Shamus and Keilah came to eat. Michael waved the two of them to his table as there were two open spaces. As he was finished eating, Michael turned to Shamus, asking him join the meeting on solar system defense and weapons development. Shamus agreed, however he felt that his Weapons Officer should attend also, as she had a far greater knowledge than he did, as he only knew how to point and shoot if everyone else was dead. Michael agreed, then turned to Shae telling her she should attend, as there would be additional power requirements for her engines to supply. With that Michael left for his office.

At his desk, Michael called Trina to meet with him. As she appeared in the chair reserved for her, Michael noticed she was beginning to take on human qualities and emotions, as there seemed to be a smile on her face. Michael told her that she seemed very happy today, and he was wondering if his humor and emotions were rubbing off on her. Looking confused, she asked him what rubbing off was. Michael explained that sometimes when two people spent a lot of time together, the traits of each person would cause the other to take on the personality of the other. It is said that married people after many years seemed like one person, and even knew what the other was thinking before anything was verbally spoken.

Contemplating what Michael had just said, Trina realized that she did feel happiness, and a contentment she had never felt in all the centuries she had existed. Why did she refer to herself as a female ... strange. Telling Michael this, she admitted she had felt incomplete until the return of the FLC's AI's. "Now Michael, you did not call me to discuss AI's emotions, so what can I do for you," Trina asked.

Michael asked if the communications logs and systems that monitored the spaceship that had been chasing the FLC had been analyzed. Trina called the lead AI from the Shamrock to join them, relaying the question. As Trina's twin Trisha appeared, she said that all communications were routinely recorded aboard a spaceship, and any communications of a ship within a light year were also recorded. "What are you looking for" the AI asked. Michael said he was trying to determine if the other spaceship was able to transmit it's location before it was destroyed.

A third AI hologram appeared who was introduced as the communications AI of the Shamrock. When the AI heard the issue it went dormant for several minutes, then said that it was in communications with its home planet before it was destroyed, but had not established its location, as it had just dropped out of warp drive. The home planet had asked why it had dropped from warp drive, as its destination was a planet several hundred light years from this location. The AI could not be 100% certain, but did not feel that the home planet had a clue where the space ship was within 50 light years, and might be 50 light years in any direction from its final destination.

Michael thanked all three AI's, but asked Trina to remain. When they were alone he asked Trina to attend the meeting, but not to release any technology unless he specifically requested information.

Trina said she did not understand why the information could not be released, as it would provide knowledge faster and planet security sooner.

Michael said that would be giving scientist a solution and they would not have to work for it. Then every time they wanted something new or something they did not understand, they would run to the AI's and never use their brains. The tendency would be to become lazy, and not to want to anything and become complacent. Michael was not going to let that happen. With that the two of them left his office for the conference room.

Everyone was surprised when Michael and Trina entered the conference room, as they had never seen a hologram walk from one place to another. There were three empty chairs, Michael's and two others across the table from him. Trina took one and the other was filled by another AI.

Looking around, Michael saw everyone was present, he started his instructions "We how have been discovered and our location may have been transmitted to a planet that sees humans as a source of food. The AI's from the FLC and Shamrock both felt that the ship that was chasing the Shamrock was in communications with its home planet, but because the ship had just dropped from warp drive did not have time to determine its location prior to its destruction. There is no way we can be 100% sure, so we need to step up our weapons research. We will need to deploy a number of weapons on the perimeter of our solar system, weapons that will have a search and destroy capability."

Michael looked around the table at each member there. Continuing "today we need to brainstorm, and give our researchers a direction to develop the type of weapons that will destroy a spaceship regardless of the type of shields it has deployed. If we are to survive, we must protect ourselves with every thing we can develop. We have the best minds available, and some new people with us that have some advanced knowledge that hopefully will add ideas to our arsenal".

Michael asked Trina if the AI's had any devices aboard the space ship that would assist them until the weapons could be put on line. Trina felt that there was one shield that could be deployed that would absorb all light emitting from the surface of the planet at night, and in the day time a camouflage that appeared to be a forest or jungle. This would fool all types of scanners except for heat seeking scanners. It was impossible, with the technology available today, to protect from everything unless you want to live underground. If our calculations are correct and we understand the language correctly, it could take at least five years of our time before human eaters could arrive in our solar system.

Michael told them that the perimeter weapons had to be in place within four years or sooner. He added "We must also have some type of spaceship that will act as the fighter planes did on earth, with major firepower."

The Weapons Officer of the Shamrock asked to be heard, one of her grandfathers was in the weapons design department before being assigned to the Shamrock. They had just completed the design and first testing of a new weapon that would penetrate all shields known at that time. She continued "The interesting thing about this weapon was that it did not destroy the spaceships, but all biological life would be evaporated, leaving the spaceship available to the first who could board her. This may be to our advantage, as it would provide a fleet of ships very soon. The good news was the Ard-Ri insisted that my ancestor obtain all the information on this weapon, and remove it from our home planet. As generations passed, the keeper of the specifications, designs, and manufacturing drawings made sure they were taught to their successor. I have all that information in this memory crystal, however, we will have to construct a reader to access the information. I request to be assigned to the weapons R&D department, as that is my true career desire, if would please the Ard-Ri."

Looking at Trina the AI could see his question before he ask it, "Your Majesty, the crystal reader will be in the Weapons labs before anyone can reach there from here".

Shamus felt that there should be enough information in the AI's library to assist with the construction of a fighter, and if the power plant was available they could be operational with in two years.

Michael wanted to know if the design was that complete, why would it take so long to manufacture the fighters.

Shamus felt that the power plant would take the longest to build with enough to power both the craft and a weapons system.

Shae stated that if she could have 1.5 m³, she could supply a power plant that would supply 20 Kilotons of thrust and 25 Gigawatts of electricity to power weapons, navigation, stealth systems and life support. The power plant was tested and flown a few days ago. Another 1.5 m³ of space, and she could provide warp drive. Just remember that the size of the ship should be no larger than 75,000 Kg.

Shamus thought the 3 m³ doable, depending on the space required for the weapons and two crewmen.

About that time Meg and her staff rolled carts into the conference room with potato soup and corn beef sandwiches. Everyone realized how hungry they were and glad for a break.

Michael suggested that they take a an hour for bio breaks, and to eat lunch as there was still much to do today. Meg had bowls of soup at each chair except the AI's and platters of sandwiches along the table. Meg told Michael that dinner for all the meeting members and families would be at 6:00 PM and not to be late.

While everyone was eating, a discussion started on the power requirements that a weapons platform would need. Since the majority of the time the platform would be in standby mode only, minimal power would required for scanning purposes. The scanners would operate in the passive mode, so as not to call attention to an advanced technology system. One of the weapons designers suggested that the platforms should appear to be comet or asteroid debris, that way they would not be size limited.

As the remains of lunch was cleared away, the discussion centered on the scanners needed for the platforms. The scanners in use now would only detect objects that were traveling below FLT speeds. They somehow needed to detect spaceships that were at warp speed, because they could be well inside the perimeter of the solar system before dropping to a lower speed to target the planet. To detect objects or spaceships traveling at FLT speeds seemed almost impossible. One of the scientist wondered if the warp of the fabric of space would not be easier to detect. He had noticed that during their trial of the shuttle to the next planet, a small ripple in the fabric of space could be detected. He felt that if the ship were larger, or multiple space ship were traveling together, the ripple would be much larger. This is much the same effect as a large ship traveling across the water causes a larger wave than a small ship.

Trina stated that the AI's had been trying to figure a way to detect ships traveling a FLT speeds, but had never considered monitoring the ripples of the space fabric. In fact she was going to have some AI's review some older scans, to see if the ripple could be detected. Trina then asked the scientist how he detected the ripple, and if he could explain it to one of the AI's it would be greatly appreciated.

The meeting seemed to break into smaller discussion groups, until Michael called everyone's attention back, stating that they had progressed to the point that several groups needed to be established to continue and start to design systems to protect the planet and solar system. He then took suggestions as to what groups should be established and who would chair each group. With that said, he charged Colleen, Rory, Maureen, Shae, and Shamus to recommend the groups, and the full group would meet tomorrow for assignments. Michael also thanked all of them for their contributions, as he knew it had been a long day they should go home for a while, then meet at the castle for dinner with their spouses or girlfriends.

Walking home, Michael noticed his three wives appeared to be in an intense conversation. As he moved beside them, the subject matter changed which made him question what was going on. When questioned, the three of them smiled and said he would find out later. That statement worried Michael, as it always meant he was in for something. As they entered the castle, Meghan, Adeen and Jacqui met them and Michael asked how many did they think there would be at dinner, as he had additional information abut the crew of the Shamrock. Michael's wives looked at him with questioning eyes, but with a grin said they would find out in due time. Colleen said that they were going to have to quit using the statement 'in due time' or 'you will find out later', as it was infuriating for everyone. Everyone agreed, but knew it would continue.

Tonight Meg had outdone herself, as there was a great rack of lamb. The crew had not had anything but food from replicators for their entire lives. Keilah could not get over the difference in texture and taste of the food. She said that replicator food was OK, but nowhere near as good as the real thing. Turning to Michael, she asked what the limit on the number of babies a family could have?

Laughing, Michael said he and his wives had 27 kids, and he suspected by this time next year there would be at least six more. The look that he got from his wives told him he had something he should have kept to himself. All the grandmothers had their ears tuned in and started to ask questions, when Meghan told them Michael was just bragging and wishing. But the look from Meghan told Michael to be quiet. As far as Michael was concerned, the best part of dinner was the Irish Whiskey Cake, and with the working distillery in operation some of the twelve year old whiskey was very good.

Shamus wanted to know what kind of cake that was, as he had never had anything like it. Paps suggested he not eat too much of it, as it had a tendency to make you walk funny. Shamus said that he had only had three small slices and everything was great. The Shamrock crew had never had alcoholic beverages, nor food made with alcohol.

As people started to head for home, as the day had been a long tiring day for most of them, and as Shamus started to stand the effects of the Irish Whiskey kicked in and he sat down abruptly. Keilah looked at Shamus with concern, wanting to know what was wrong. Meghan told her that the cake had a sauce on it that was made with whiskey, and the alcohol in it caused this effect if too much was consumed. The real effect would be felt in the morning, with a hangover which was a headache. Meghan and Colleen got on either side of Shamus with one of his arms around each shoulder, and off they went to put him to bed.

When Michael and his wives finally got to their suite, he knew he was in for a one way discussion. As the six of them readied for bed, Meghan had few words for Michael which were until they told him it was OK he was not to mention they were trying to get pregnant. Maureen told Michael that tonight he needed to give three of them each a large deposit of his potent come, to complete the impregnation of all six of his wives. Trina had confirmed that Shae, Colleen and Jacqui, were pregnant and that left Meghan, Adeen, and herself.

As things settled down, Michael could not believe that seven people could lay in bed with six females all touching him, one on each side and four on top. This was the life, and it got no better.

Michael woke as there was an abnormal noise coming from the younger kids' room. Quickly extracting himself from the softness of female flesh, he headed for the kids room, however he decided to put on a robe. As he entered the room he found eight two and three year olds playing with five grandmothers. All the kids were dressed and ready for the day. Michael looked at his watch, realizing that they were late for Tai Chi, and would probability only get their run into day. Michael returned to the bedroom and pulled all the covers from the bed, giving each of his wives a loving smack on the butt. He then started to dress in his running clothes, and was heading out door when Jacqui asked where he thought he was going. He replied that he thought he should leave while the leaving was good, and then he ducked six thrown pillows. Shae said that if he knew what was really good for him, he had better wait for them, and with that they all laughed.

The seven of them were stretching in front of the castle when Shamus and Keilah appeared, with Shamus looking the worse for wear. Keilah told them she figured Shamus would have to run until noon to get the cake off his belly, but what she wanted to say was work the booze out. Keilah had surfed the internet for the meaning of hangover, cause and cure, and she was sure by the time she finished with Shamus he would never overindulge again.

As they started their run, the proverbial four security troopers were with them, however, Michael noticed six additional people were behind them, moving at the same pace they were. When Michael started to say something to Colleen, she told him to just run, and picked up the pace a couple of notches. Returning to their suite Michael started to say something again about the additional security, when Colleen and the rest of his wives looked at him. Colleen said that there were more than a thousand new unverified people in Ulaid, even though they seem to be good people. There has already had one attempt on this family, and until we, and I mean the NUSF, are satisfied, you and all of your family will have additional security. Then she asked Michael if he understood, as there would be no discussion. Looking at each of his wives, he saw the same cold look and determination and told them he understood, and would abide by this decision, as he knew that the larger the population the less freedom he would have, and he did not like the loss of freedom one bit.

Michael headed off for his shower and he turned on the cold water only, contemplating the status of security and the requirement for it. Maybe he should have rejected the position of Ard-Ri, but deep down he knew that was not possible. He felt two hands start to massage his neck and shoulders, looking around he saw Meghan behind him with a look of both love and concern.

Meghan told Michael that all this security was a pain in the ass, but he should remember that all of his wives and children had the same issues. Besides that, she was the only one of his wives that could stand to take a cold shower with him. That caused Michael to laugh, pulling Meghan to him as their lips met in a deep loving kiss. Then from outside the shower they heard 'get a room'. Looking at his five wives standing waiting for the shower and breakfast.

Entering the dining room, Michael and his family dispersed themselves among the eight toddlers, when suddenly two of the kids started a ruckus. They were both claiming that it was their turn to sit next to Dad, and they were not going to give up their spot for anyone. Adeen had the four look at the seating chart to see who's turn it was to sit next to Dad. When they returned the issue was settled, and the two who had started the ruckus were correct and took their chairs. Breakfast was a special time for the Royal Family, as most of the time it was just Michael, his wives, and his children. Even Rorke, who was in university, still made time to eat breakfast with the family. The discussion this morning was when was Dad going to take them on a vacation, and could they go to the cottage soon.

Tabitha, a three year old, asked Michael why she had only one brother and all the rest were sisters. Michael replied only the Gods knew, and everything would work out for the best. "As for you, Miss Tabitha, in ten days' time we will go to the cottage, just our family, all twenty-nine of us." Tabitha asked if that meant tomorrow. Michael told her that would mean when she woke up once for each finger on both hands, and he had her hold up her hands, then he counted each finger and thumb until he reached ten. Looking at her hands, she moved each finger and it seemed she understood what Daddy had told her.

Michael, Maureen and Shae left for the meeting shortly after breakfast, each deep in their own thoughts. Shae mentioned that the meeting would not start until 10:30 AM, as they still had a bit of work to complete the work groups and group leaders.

Michael was surprised as he walked into his office and saw Allister and a couple of his managers waiting for Paps. He was thankful that Paps was handling the day to day problems. Tressa had a schedule for him, and he saw that he had presentations at the schools after lunch. This was one of the most pleasant duties he had, as he had so much fun with the school students, and all indications were that they enjoyed him handing out grades and awards. Michael asked Tressa if she had the list of awards and what each award was for. He also wanted the sheets with the grades for the last period and this period. There was one young boy that seemed to be struggling, and Michael felt that there was more than being slow. Looking over the sheets he found the marks that he was looking for, and saw that the boy was slipping farther behind.

Calling Meghan he asked her if she had time to go to the school awards presentation with him today.

"Michael, there is more to this than wanting me to go to an awards presentation, now tell me what is going on," Meghan asked.

Michael explained that this one lad was at the top of his class six months ago, and today he is at the bottom. He did not understand it, and he wanted a medical opinion as to the boy's health.

Michael was called into the planning meeting, as the groups were ready to be announced and assignments made. Colleen began by showing the overall plan for the solar system defense project.

First priority was the perimeter defense, with as many platforms as required to provide a sphere of 25% overlapping platforms that would be smart platforms. Initially each would scan for any unusual activity in the sector it was responsible for. An AI would monitor ten platforms, with backup from two other AI's.

The second priority was the ability to scan for ripples in the fabric of space. This would be done in parallel with all other research, and was not to interfere with any other parts of the project.

The third priority was the small fighter ship that would carry a mighty punch and have stealth capabilities. The stealth item would make the difference would be for this fighter to get very close to the enemy without being detected. It would be an advantage if the fighter could fire its weapons while still being stealth.

The one thing that would pull all of this together would the weapons. That in itself would make the project successful. Once again, even though the scanning platforms were the first priority, they would be deployed with or without a weapons platform. The weapons could be installed later when they were available, however the preference would be to install a weapons on the platform before deployment.

The final area was the power plant, and even though the power supplied was important, just as important was that it produced no heat or radiation signature.

Maureen took over to assign the project leaders.

Solar System Perimeter Defence Platforms (SSPDP) would be lead by the Manager that had designed the shuttle, and to make the platforms look like space debris. It had to be big enough to house three technicians for short periods of time. The other issue was that no two platforms could look alike.

The project leader for the space fabric ripple scanner was the scientist that had brought the issue up in the first place.

The fighter hull project would he led by Shamus Mac Lochlainn, as he had space travel experience and some plans to build the fighter. He also would be responsible for the system that would make the fighter stealthed.

The weapons project for the fighter and the platforms would be led by the Weapons Officer from the Shamrock.

The Power Plant Project would be led by Shae Fearghas, as she was neck deep in power plant now, and had promised a plant and warp capabilities in an area of 3 m³.

Maureen asked if there any questions, and there were none. Maureen then said that the project leaders should submit their personnel requirements to Adeen, and if there were any names that they had for their projects, submit those also. If the same person was requested by different projects, the leaders would meet with Adeen and the said person, so there would be no battles over personnel. Be clear the decision may be based on project priority. That being said "get the hell out of here and go to work". Shamus seriously asked what hell was, and Maureen told him it was someplace he did not want to be or even near to. With everyone chuckling, the meeting broke up and the conference room was vacant in mere minutes.

Maureen, Shae, Shamus, Tressa, and Michael headed to the castle for lunch, to Michael's corner in the kitchen. As they entered, Meghan and Adeen were already there having a light lunch, as compared to what Michael ate. They were just getting settled in when Jacqui and Keilah showed up. It appeared the two families would become good friends.

Maureen asked Adeen what lab and hangar space was available for Shamus to work in, as he needed space to build a space fighter or something like that. He would also need access to personnel records of engineers and technicians that could work with him on the project.

Shamus said the engineers would no be a problem, as there were four well trained engineers from the Shamrock that he would use as the main design engineers. However, if the university has graduating students that wanted to work in this field, he would glad to have as many as possible.

Adeen said that the new hangar with labs had just been completed for the planet build of the deep space project for ship component staging. If she was right, that project was on hold for now and the space was available. As for engineering personnel, there were aerospace ship designers that would graduate in two weeks time, and she was sure more than half of them would jump at chance to get on the project.

Michael asked Tressa to issue a memo from him, officially putting the deep space spaceship project on indefinite hold, and another memo assigning the new hangar and labs to Shamus and the space fighter project.

Lunch completed, Michael, Meghan, and Tressa headed for the elementary school where the lad that Michael was concerned about would be in school. As they entered the school, the Headmaster met them at the door as happy as any of his students, yet he had a worried look about him. He explained that the lad he and Michael had spoken about was there, but was becoming disruptive. He seemed to be digging at his left ear, and had made it bleed several times. The school nurse was concerned and had wanted to take him to the emergency room, but he had steadfastly refused continually.

Michael went to the raised platform to start the awards presentation. He had all the students sit around him as he sat on the edge of the platform. There were few awards this term, and it seemed the school had less students. The awards were well received, and one student who had started school two terms ago, was progressing very fast, and she gave Michael a kiss on the cheek. After all the awards were handed out and grade cards presented, Meghan was watching the boy as he dug at the area behind his ear, and as he pulled his hand away she saw there was blood on his fingers. Meghan put her arm around the boy talking to him quietly. Not surprisingly, the two talked for five minutes while Michael talked to the Headmaster.

Michael asked if the student population was much smaller than last term when he was there. The Headmaster agreed, and said that a large number of students had been advanced to the next level, and he was not expecting any new students before the next term started in three months.

Meghan and the boy came to where Michael and the Headmaster were, and said that she was going to take him to her office to run some test. She asked Michael to find his parents and have them at her office in two hours. Michael agreed.