Chapter 7

As time passed, Michael saw the securing of the Solar System with advances of technology added to the original SSPDP. For years the platforms appeared to be space debris until a cloaking system was perfected. The weapons systems had advanced to the point they could be effective to a range of 10,000 kilometers, with the main problem being that there were only six shots before the power supply was depleted. The hope was that if it were not a kill, the spacecraft would reach the range of another platform. So far this had not required testing. The Solar System had been quiet since the Shamrock had crossed the edge of the System and the alien ship had been destroyed.

In 0106 Michael gained six daughters, all born on the same day within an hour. Somehow he felt that Meghan and Trina had a big hand in this, but both claimed the wonders of nature would never cease to amaze the human race. Then in late 0108 Jacqui presented him with his 30^th daughter. With Rorke that made a total of 31 children that all called him Dad.

Being 49 years old, Michael and his wives still looked to be in their early to mid twenties. After Jacqui had Laetitia (daughter # 30), they decided no more children for a while. The surprise was Rorke and his wife Nancy. Recently they had triplets, a boy and two girls. Once again the birthmark appeared on the boy's back in the same location as Michael's. Nancy clearly understood the power of seven and the Elven Star. However, since Rorke felt so strongly that he did not want to follow his Father as Ard-Ri and would pass it on to his son, the two of them decided not to have a multiple wife marriage. Rorke became a military man and officer, and his wife a military medical doctor. Rorke was a pilot of a space fighter and would soon be a squadron leader.

The amazing thing was that Rorke, Zaria, and Hanna had extraordinary telepathic capabilities. Once, when Rorke was patrolling on the edge of the Solar System, he was describing what he saw to Hanna and not paying attention to the command center. Three times they called him before he responded and then had to explain what he was doing, needless to say his Flight Commander had special words for him, as one of the platforms had stopped responding to inquires and commands. Rorke was only a short distance from the platform and was sent to investigate. Upon arriving at the location the command to de-cloak was given by Rorke but there was no response. With the scanning equipment on board the fighter Rorke pinpointed the platform, however it did not respond to any commands.

Another Fighter arrived and the two linked together and then flipped to see who would board the platform, Rorke lost. Entering the platform the darkness was unreal and just weird. Going to the control panel Rorke got no response and did not even see any power indicator. Proceeding to the power plant space, he saw that one of the power cables was swinging free. Upon examination, and finding nothing wrong, he contacted the Security Center for the method of reconnection. He was told to insure that the power plant was disabled, then insert the cable and turn it ½ turn to the left. Upon reconnecting the cable and restarting the power plant the platform came on line a few minutes later. Rorke returned to the control panel and saw that Leti had control, and was activating the maintenance processes. Rorke was told to return to his fighter and continue patrol.

When Rory O'Hara was informed of the repair, he ordered the platform maintenance crews to begin checking the connections on all of the platforms. They were not to return to Leti until every platform was checked.

Michael asked Tressa to set up a meeting with the Senior Officers of NUSF, including Shamus Mac Lochlainn and the design team of the interplanetary spaceship. This project had been on hold to long, and Michael felt it was time to actively proceed with the building of the spaceship. Tressa informed Michael that the meeting would be the next day and would be in his large conference room.

All of Michael's wives were planning a holiday at their cottage to start next week, and were discussing it when Michael came home that afternoon. He agreed with them they all needed some down time, however they should not make it a hard date for next week, as tomorrow's meeting could keep Colleen, Maureen, Shae, and him in discussions for a couple of weeks. The three ladies asked Michael what meeting and why were they not informed. Michael said all he knew was that he told Tressa to setup the meeting, and she told him the time was set for tomorrow. The three pulled their PDA's and saw messages from their Personal Assistants clearing their schedules and stating the time of the meeting in the Ard-Ri's conference room. Maureen, smiling at Michael, told him that Tressa was pretty sharp setting the meeting up with their P A's while they all took the day off.

While everyone was assembling around the table, Michael was looking through a folder of notes that Tressa and he had compiled. Several years ago there had been a few meetings that was to launch this program, however due to solar system security all activity had been suspended. As the group became quiet, Michael realized that they were waiting on him. Stating that they had waited long enough and had the solar system under surveillance, now was the time to get serious about deep space interplanetary travel. Looking around the table, he saw many familiar faces from other projects and felt that this core of dedicated people would make a good team.

Michael said he had reviewed the committee assignments from years ago, and wondered if the chairs of those committees would retain those positions. With that he named each committee and the chair. Two Chairpersons felt that there were now more knowledgeable people available and had more recent experience. One was Shae, as she was now the overall administrator for the entire R&D departments for space technology. The other was Maureen, as she had stepped away from the mid level industry and research area. Both ladies had recommendations to fill those positions. The recommendations were accepted and approved. Michael then appointed an oversight committee staffed by Maureen and Shae Fearghas, Shamus Mac Lochlainn, and Deiridh Aimiréal Fitzgerald as the committee's chairman.

The building dock was the first order of construction before they could even start construction of the spaceship. The team looking at this felt that since the mass of Leti was larger than Earth, and the mass of the building dock was also larger, the Geostationary Orbit would have to be 50,000 kilometers above the surface of the oceans of Leti. They would need to build propulsion engines into the structure of the dock to allow for altitude adjustment as the spaceship was constructed. As the ship was constructed the dock would have to be raised, and once the space ship left the dock then it would have to be lowered to remain in orbit. They also wanted to include living quarters for about 200 people to work on the ship.

With that in mind, the next item was a cargo ship to transport material from the surface to the construction dock. The first design of the cargo ship reminded Michael of an oversize whale, as the center cargo area was a huge bubble of about 3,000 M^3, with a crew and power plant space of approximately 120 M³. The ship would only require a three man crew, a pilot, copilot, and the load master. The design team figured that if the construction dock was built in modules it would take to many trips to get it in place. They proposed that some type of interlocking connectors for the superstructure could be designed, then the whole dock could be transported in about 20 trips, excluding the living quarters. If the living quarters were to be, say, 4000 M² depending on shape, it could be put in place in four trips.

The construction dock design team felt that the initial living quarters of 4000 M² would be good, and if it were at the end of the dock it could be added on to later. One of the designers felt that a double twist connector with a covering collar and a locking dowel was needed to insure connection integrity. The designer felt that once in place, the dowel could not be removed, so if reconfiguration was ever required it could present a challenge. The head of the design team said that the only thing they needed to know was how big to build the dock.

Michael looked at the time and realized that it was approaching 6:00 PM and it seemed the day was just starting. He called a halt to all discussion and set a 9:00 AM start time for tomorrow morning. He told all of them that it had been a very interesting and profitable day, and there was much more to discuss tomorrow. With that, everyone started to gather documents and notes, and someone asked if they could leave all the material here as it would be needed tomorrow. Colleen said that a security detail would be in place until the meetings were concluded, so everything would be safe. With that the table was straightened and everyone left for home.

As Michael walked toward the castle, Maureen, Colleen, Shae, and Shamus were discussing the day's events. Michael was wondering how big the spaceship would need to be and how many people would be required to man it. Maureen said that even though the last couple of years had been dedicated to solar system security, she had a small team of designers working on the spaceship's design. The current estimate was that the ship would be between 600 and 800 meters long and maybe 100 meters wide. With the requirements of the AI's, there could be as many as 30 decks with 10 to 12 required for ship's operational requirements. Grinning, Michael put his hands on both ears pleading for someone to please make her stop, his head was too full to try to remember any more today.

As everyone sat down for dinner the questions started as to the progress of the meetings and how long would the meetings continue. Michael knew that if he let it, there would be a great deal of information out in the public as the entire extended family and some friends were at dinner that night. Michael did not want the details discussed at this time, so he told everyone that when firm information was available it would be posted in the web news, and that seemed to stop all questions. As he looked around the table there were a few questioning looks from those that attended the meeting.

Meghan quickly changed the subject, bemoaning the time it took to get x-rays developed and wondering why the technology could not provide a digital picture on screen and be printed out for more detailed study. A screen image for things like broken bones, which for the most part did not require a lot of detailed study. Zaira, Maureen and Michael's oldest daughter, said that using a high density line scan solid state detector, she thought that if the detector could handle the x-rays it would work, and then the fine tuning to get the definition required.

Rorke said he had applied to be a crew member of the spaceship that was being built for the first voyage into deep space. The room became very quiet, as everyone knew that he was the successor to his father as Ard-Ri. Meghan looked directly into Rorke's eyes, telling him that he was not eligible to be on a crew for any deep space voyage. Continuing, she told him they had all heard him say that he would prefer to pass the throne on to his son, but that was not in the stars nor in his future.

Rorke, looking at his wife, heard what his mother had said, and started to once again renounce the throne, when his wife put her hand on his shoulder telling him that he should think over his future and embrace it with love and kindness. Their future was important, but the survival of the human race and the preservation of the descendants of the Ancients was of a higher priority. She continued that since he was a direct descendant of the last Ard-Ri of the Ancients, he needed to learn how to fill his place in the universes, and keep the love and respect of the people of Leti.

Listening to all of this, Michael said that first deep space voyage would be for six months of ship time and a couple of years Leti time. If Rorke really had his heart set on a voyage, and if he would leave his wife and son on Leti, maybe, just maybe, Michael would override the exception this time. Since there was still a long period of time before the ship would be ready for departure, maybe Rorke should consider forming his own family and began to build a strong balanced understanding of leading a planet of loyal followers.

Rorke's wife smiled as her brilliant blue eyes sparkled, telling Rorke that several young women had been asking her if they could become a sister to her and a wife to him. Trina appeared and seemed to sit between Rorke and and his wife Nancy, telling them there was a sign to look for when they decided to join with a wife and sister/wife. She told Rorke to look closely at Nancy's eves and note the color. Remember that color, and those that would be acceptable would have eyes of the exact color. She also said when Rorke became Ard-Ri, his wives' eyes would change to the color of Michael's wives.

Michael then told Rorke to relax, as he planned to remain Ard-Ri for several hundred more years. He thought he would step down about his six hundredth birthday and let Rorke take over. Meghan felt her son stiffen as the conversation proceeded, she changed the conversation by telling Rorke and Nancy that she needed to see them as soon as dinner was complete.

Rorke and Nancy followed Meghan as she headed for her office. They were intercepted by Colleen and ask if the grandmothers could take care of the babies while they met with Meghan. Turning, Meghan said for Colleen to come pick up the babies in fifteen minutes, then turned, continuing to her office. Rorke had seen his mother like this only once in his lifetime, and knew there was an unpleasant conversation ahead. When the office door was closed, Meghan turned with fire in her eyes wanting to know why Rorke was trying to kill his father, what had Michael ever done to him that Rorke wanted him dead, where did she fail in teaching him love honor and duty, and why did he drag Nancy into his plot to destroy his father, the royal family, and the planet of Leti? Looking at Rorke and Nancy she could see the shock and disbelief on their faces.

Meghan told them to strip the boy down to his diaper. When they completed the task, she asked them to look at the baby's back. To their shock the back was unblemished, no birthmark. Then Meghan turned Rorke and jerked his shirt from his pants, asking Nancy to look at Rorke's back, telling her what she saw. Nancy looked, and said that she thought that the birthmark had faded, was lighter than it had been when she married him.

Meghan then really unloaded, telling them she was going to have another baby, and was praying to the Gods that it would be a boy that would be proud to be his father's son and take his duty seriously. She felt that the Gods were telling Rorke that he was not fit to be Ard-Ri at this time. She felt that Rorke, Nancy and their babies would not live another five years. She would be heartbroken, and cry every day after their deaths. The Gods would decide if Leti would survive and if another Ard-Ri would be born.

Nancy was sobbing while Rorke was in shock. Meghan dressed the boy and took the babies to the door where Colleen, Maureen, and Jacqui were waiting. Jacqui told Meghan to be careful with the two, and be sure to provide an escape route. Meghan smiled, nodding, telling Colleen to put both Rorke and Nancy on an indefinite leave of absence.

Returning to her office, she thought to Trina to soundproof and block all telepathic communications in and out of the room, She then felt a hand tremor, letting her know Trina had completed the task. Looking at the two of them, Nancy was softly crying and Rorke's face was red, almost purple, with anger. He started to unload on his mother, telling her that she was so wrong and had no right to condemn them to a death sentence. No one loved his father more than he did, and how dare she say that he was trying to kill him.

Meghan's look told Rorke he needed to close his mouth and listen. Meghan waited until he sat down and normal color began returning to his face. Then she began telling them what was going to happen over the next thirty days. Rorke and Nancy, along with their babies, would be escorted to a remote place on the planet that only Trina and Maureen would know. Maureen would not be able to communicate that location to anyone even if she died. At the end of the thirty days, it would be their decision whether to return to Ulaid or remain in the wilderness. If they remained in the wilderness all telepathic communications would cease, and all memory of them would be erased from the people of Ulaid. Nancy would have no more children and Rorke would become a Eunuch. The babies would not reach their fifth birthday. This was not her decision, but that of the Gods that directed the AI's. They would not be able to deceive the AIs or the Gods, as they could see deep into their beings and would know their true feelings.

Rorke and Nancy could see the pain and grief in all of Meghan's body and thoughts, and with that she collapsed. Rorke and Nancy rushed to her, checking her and finding she was in a comatose state quickly called Colleen for assistance, however Trina appeared and said that the AI's had put Meghan into a coma where she would remain for thirty days. At the end of the period she would awaken to welcome them home, or awaken never to remember she had ever had a son named Rorke. At that point it would be up to the Gods to decide the fate of Leti. Rorke and Nancy were beginning to understand that there were higher powers that controlled their destiny and that they had a lot of growing up to do.

As the sun rose there was a knock on the office door, and Jacqui came in bringing Rorke and Nancy, the babies. Jacqui looked as if she were in a robotic state and told them it was time to go. The five of them followed Jacqui to the helicopter pad on top of the castle, where they boarded a unidentifiable bird. As soon as the door closed and Jacqui stepped away Maureen lifted off, departing in a Westerly direction.

Trina had the planet's citizens believing that Dr. Meghan Fearghas, Rorke and Nancy were away for an extended vacation and rest period. Even the Royal Family believed this, while Meghan was in her office under the control of the AIs.

Maureen, unknown to her, was also under the control of the AIs, and the helicopter was transported to the other side of the planet near a waterfall. There were several pallets of equipment and food sitting at the side in the meadow near the waterfalls, and it was about an hour before sunset. Maureen set down in the middle of the meadow, shut down the rotors and opened the door. As Rorke departed, Maureen handed him a calendar mounted on a board, telling him tomorrow was day one. In thirty days she would return and would know to land if all the pallets were repacked and ready for transportation. If the pallets were not packed, she would return to Ulaid never to return. With that she closed the door, departing as soon as they cleared the area.

Rorke and Nancy's Story

As the helicopter disappeared over the horizon, Nancy, leaning on Rorke, asked him what they had done to cause Meghan such anger and pain. Rorke, still in denial, said that this was just a method used by Meghan to get her way, and they would return to Ulaid in a few days to continue as if nothing had happened. As for now, they needed to find the tent and set up for the night. Nancy told Rorke he needed to get his head out of his ass and grow up, as in a few weeks their future would sealed one way or the other.

Rorke quickly found a pallet that had a notice indicating it was for the first night. When the pallet opened there was an instruction manual that informed them that the equipment on this pallet was good for three days and would no longer be usable after that time. Rorke and Nancy would have to build a shelter within that period from things in the local environment. There were tools on one of the other pallets for that purpose. Within three days they would also have to have an elevated place for food storage, as there were animals in the area that would scavenge their food supply.