Chapter 6

Michael had worked with his staff of advisors and the AIs to review every aspect of the infrastructure that had already been completed in Ulaid. The plan developed was to insure that they would take enough supplies to meet the requirements of the community for ten years. What surprised Michael was the subject about tampons and sanitary napkins, which made him realize how little he knew about the requirements of a female. Because of the age regression, every female that reached puberty would need enough tampons and sanitary napkins for a 131 periods, and if there were possibly 2000 women plus new births could be 2,620,000 periods. Just tampons alone could be 15 million that had to be purchased. The purchasing requirements could not be handled by one man, so a team of purchasing agents were assembled. The AIs offered to move the bulk ordered items directly to New Ulster as soon as the loads would clear the manufactures facilities. Because so much was being purchased, it was decided that like items would be purchased either by the truck load or the rail card load, and no more than the equivalent of one rail card load would be purchased from one company or distributor. Michael had Malvina set up 30 companies that could not be linked back to the group on Rathlin Island. The big items that were non transportation or engine driver, were purchased by Darry and a few holding companies.

Another major issue was engine powered items such as cars, trucks, tractor trailers, tractors for farming, and all the required attachments were major items of discussion. Darry said that the purchasing of those items would be simple, however the purchase of enough fuel was an impossible task. The AI suggested that if they were allowed, they would change all the engines out for non polluting cold fusion engines. Michael thought that was great, but insisted that the technology would be taught to the New Ulster engineers before they relocated, however the research could progress far enough so the earth's population could have the technology within five years. The AIs did not think that earth was advanced enough to deal with technology this advanced. Finally Michael had enough, as he could see that this discussion was going nowhere fast, so he declared his first override on an unresolvable issue. He would have three research firms, not connected with any vehicle manufacture or fossil fuel producer, develop the technology. The research firms would be in Ireland, Europe, and the United States, and be totally independent of each other. The Scientist would have to have documentation that showed they had been working on the research for several, years and be near enough to completion that their assistants could complete the research.

The AIs did not think that earth's petroleum industry was ready to give up their huge profits to allow cold fusion be widely deployed. Michael had a solution, and that was the United Nations would pass a resolution banning fossil based fuel for use in combustible engines in ten years, and the manufacturing of said fuels would be illegal in 15 years.

It was a good thing that Jackie Stewart O'Reilly had come to work for Darry, as there were many things that were on the shopping list that had restrictions as to who could purchased them, and where they were to be shipped by some country or another. The USA was the worst of the developed nations, and had the longest list of restricted technology, as they felt anything with a complex computer system incorporated could be used for some type of weapon. Jackie was able to purchase all of the medical diagnostic equipment, including the MRI machine, from Siemens in Germany, with the delivery time she wanted. There were several large computer systems on the list that were highly restricted that Darry wanted from IBM, Paps had to call in a favor from a friend that showed that the Irish ARW was purchasing the computers. As a farmer, Darry wanted to buy John Deere farm equipment. He first bypassed the dealers and tried to purchase the equipment directly from the manufacturer, and when they saw the size of the order they agreed, but said they could not meet the time frames. Darry thanked them very much and left. Darry then got on the telephone and called every John Deere dealer world wide and found the equipment required.

On a rare cold rainy day in January, in the wee hours of the morning, Meghan presented Michael with a son that was a big boy, 9 lbs 13 oz and 23 inches long, and a birthmark in the lower center of his back that looked a lot like the Fearghas crest. He had a head of dark red hair and a very fair complexion, and his eyes would eventually be an emerald green. Meghan named the baby Michael Rorke Fearghas the III, and when Michael objected she would hear of no other name, and as far as she was concerned that was the end of the discussion. The boy had a commanding voice that one did not ignore. As the day wore on and things begin to settle down, darkness was upon the fields when Maureen decided that Rorke III requited a sister, and presented Michael with a daughter of 6 lbs 8 oz, 18 inches long. Maureen said the name would be Rory Zaira Annette Fearghas, and be called Rory, as before, Michael had no say in the naming of his daughter. It appeared that she would be a bright red head that one would call carrot top, but you better not let Michael hear you say that, with freckles across the bridge of her nose. She also would have the same emerald green eyes as her brother.

Michael seemed to have disappeared, and could not be found until Flanna looked into the nursery late on the night of the birth of his first two children. He sat with one baby in each arm, and had tears steaming down his cheeks. The love that flowed between the three radiated, and they seemed to be encapsulated in a golden glow. Flanna quietly left the room to the father and his son and daughter to bond as only a father and his children can do. Meghan and Maureen had more help than any two mothers could imagine, with grandmothers and great grandmothers around.

Maureen finally confided in Meghan and Michael that her mother had basically disowned her because her father was such a scoundrel. It was not that her mother did not love Maureen, but when she became a pilot her mother thought she would be just like her father. Without Maureen's knowledge, Michael had Rory O'Reilly locate Maureen's mother, and surprise of surprises she and her second husband were on the roster of people to relocate to New Ulster. Michael took pictures of Maureen at their wedding, then of Maureen and Rory, and went off to meet with Zaire Flanagan. When Michael knocked on the Flanagan's door, Zaira recognized Michael as the Ard-Ri, and fell to her knees wondering why he had come to see her. First Michael showed her a picture of Maureen, who could have been a twin of Zaria in her younger days, and a great sob came from Zaria. She had not seen nor heard from her daughter since the day of the big fight about her career choice. Zaria told Michael she had made such a mistake in not trusting her daughter, and every day her heart would bleed from loneliness. Zaria's husband, a huge but gentle man, held is wife in his arms to comfort her as Zaria ask if Michael had come to tell her Maureen had died in some horrible plane crash? Then Michael handed her the picture of the two of them at their wedding, and then a picture of the second wedding with Meghan, Maureen, Colleen and Michael at the Celtic wedding. Finally Michael gave her the picture of his three wives and the two new babies. Zaria gasped and fainted, which caused her husband to panic, however Michael told him it would be OK as they waited for Zaria to come round. Within a few minutes Zaria was back among them, when Michael invited the two of them to go with them to see their new granddaughter and to pack several days clothes for a visit. Within the hour the three of them arrived at the airport and boarded a helicopter, and headed for Rathlin Island. Michael had Erina land on the wall pad of the castle, and the three were met by Meghan. After introductions, Meghan told them that Maureen and Rory were in their sitting room spending a little quiet time, but she did not think that it would be quiet for very long. Zaira walked into the sitting room and saw that Maureen's shoulders shaking as she were crying, she asked her daughter what the problem was and if she were sad. Maureen screamed, scaring Rory who started screaming, and Michael quickly took Rory to settle her down. Maureen then grabbed her Mother and hugged her so tight that Zaria thought every bone in her body would break, but she did not care. Maureen then looked at Michael and told him he was so dead when she was recovered enough, that he would not walk normally for weeks. Michael then handed Rory to her grandmother, which caused tears in Zaria's eyes.

Maureen told her mother that she thought she never wanted to see her again after their fight, and had cried all the way to the airport, and then to Wisconsin for flight training school. After school she was hired by a large charter service, and when she was not on a charter she was teaching students to fly. One day, two ladies came to the school and wanted to learn to fly, and would spend as much time as necessary to get their pilots license. Those two ladies turned out to be Michael's grandmothers. Just then two grandmothers and two great grandmothers walked in the door with a pregnant Colleen, wanting to know what had upset Rory. Maureen hugged Colleen and asked her if she remembered what Michael had done to her with her sisters. When Colleen said "yes, and you see what happened to me!" pointing to her pregnant belly. Maureen told her that Michael did it again, and introduced her Mother and Stepfather. Michael had been talking to Maureen's stepfather, Ron, and found out he had been a miner until the mines had closed, then he went back to school and had become a software designer. Michael knew there was a need for designers, as they were redesigning the software for the security center and having problems.

The return to meetings and creating list of materials continued, until one day Michael thought they had hit a deal breaker. Michael, Artur, Darry, Paps and Granda were meeting with Trina and the AI responsible for agriculture, when they learned there was no livestock on New Ulster. Michael asked how many head they could include in the relocation and was told none. The look on Michaels face told Trina she had screwed up big time, especially when he told her the relocation was canceled. The horror that showed on all of the AI's faces was indescribable, as they had never shown emotion before. Michael went on to explain that not only did the livestock provide food as in beef, pork and chicken, the byproducts were milk, eggs, butter cheese and more. Trina asked how soon Michael wanted to terminate her program and that of the other AI's, and did he want to have some from here trained to operate the equipment. Michael assured her that no AI would be terminated, but because of this issue they may have to wait for the next Ard-Ri to populate New Ulster. One of the AIs asked to be heard and Michael nodded, the AI ask if someone had to be present to tend the animals for a short period of time, say one or two months. Artur said not as long as they could get to food and water. As for chickens and turkeys, they could include a few thousand fertilized eggs in the cargo and that would resolve the problem. The AI thought they could start relocating the cattle a few hundred at a time, and there were pastures available that would allow the animals to eat and drink. Artur handed the AI a list of animals he wanted, the gender and the quantity. The AI turned to Trina and told her they would have the animals moved in two days time, all they had to do was locate them. Artur said he would go to an auction in Texas next week and buy the live stock, and as they were trucking them they could just take them out of the trucks, he asked how many the AI could handle at one time. The AI said he would like about 100 the first try, and if every thing was OK they could handle up to 300 per day. Artur told Flanna they would leave for Lubbock on Monday morning, then be in Iowa on Wednesday, Wisconsin on Thursday, as that would provide the beef, pork and milk livestock. They could stay at the house in Wisconsin over the weekend, and hit more auctions the next week and be in Kentucky by Saturday, as there was a horse auction over the weekend that not only included thoroughbreds but some Clydesdale and Morgans. While they were there they could get the tack they needed. Darry said that if Artur thought he was going to a livestock auction without him, he better go see Meghan to find a head Doctor, which had everyone laughing and broke the tension.