Chapter 2

The pilots were in agreement that they should depart at six AM local time, which would be one AM Eastern time. The flight should take eight hours and they should land in Florida about nine AM. They decided to land in Orlando rather than Miami, as the runway and taxi lights were still working when they were last there. As part of the preflight check they met with John Adams to see if he had found a replacement circuit board for the faulty one they had trouble with on the flight over. He said that he now had two complete sets of circuit boards for every system on this aircraft. He had run the extended diagnostics on all systems and they checked out good.

Selma and her daughter had asked to return to their apartment to gather a few things before they left. Sarah and Carolyn said they would like to go with her to explore some residential areas before leaving tomorrow. The three of them took off to explore and get the items from Selma's home. Along the way Selma showed them the city and places she used to shop. They came across a boutique that Sarah wanted to go into. The clothes were magnificent for casual wear. They cleaned the store out of every size and every item. Carolyn said that Robert would kill them for bringing so much back. Sarah laughed, telling her that when the women got a look at this stuff there was something there for every woman on the plane. Sarah thought that they should have some formal clothes so they could dress for dinner one night.

When they reached Selma's home it was a beautiful house with five bedrooms, a formal dining room and living room. There was a family room and a huge kitchen. Selma said she liked to cook, and had attended several schools in Italy and France to hone her skills. She would be sorry to leave all the things in her kitchen. Sarah asked where her cook books and other written material were. Selma showed her, then Carolyn asked if there were boxes in the house. Selma said no, but there were many suitcases in the storage area. All the suitcases were hauled out, and those needed for personal items were packed first. When that was completed, the remaining suitcases were taken to the kitchen and all the cookbooks and other material was packed. Now, the only problem was how to get everything in the SUV. It was decided that the suitcases would be loaded on the roof racks. That was fine until they got to the cases with cookbooks in them, and they were heavy. Finally the three women got them on the roof and Selma found some rope to tie them down. She asked if they could make one final stop by her office to get her laptop, as it had a lot of information about the electrical grid in Brazil.

When they returned to the airport, Robert saw them drive in and thought the SUV was riding low on the suspension. When he actually saw the load he started to say something, but thought better of it as he saw a lot of women's clothes. Sarah explained that four of the suitcases on top were Selma's cookbooks, and it would take years before he sampled all the dishes described in those books. When the word got around that there were new clothes for all the women, there was a crowd to help unload. The men took the four suitcases of cookbooks to the cargo hold and stowed them. The cases of personal belongings were separated, and only two went to the area where Selma was sleeping, the rest went to the cargo hold.

Selma went in search of Sofia, and finding her in the galley, she looked confused. Selma asked if there was a problem. Sofia said that she was tired of eating the same old things so often. Smiling, Selma handed her a cookbook with some of her favorite dishes included. Sofia flipped through the book until she saw a dish she had not had since she was very young. Sadly, she continued, finally going back to the dish she remembered. Selma saw the look on Sofia's face and asked her if she could prepare that for dinner that night. Sofia said no, because she had tried to make it a few times and it was never like her mother made it. Selma said that maybe if they worked on it together it could be done. The two women prepared dinner and became fast friends.

As everyone sat down to dinner, the smell of the food was beyond heavenly. As plates were set on the table, Benson knew what was being presented, as it had been one of his favorites when he was stationed in Italy. As everyone tasted the Braciolone they thought they had died and gone to heaven. As the plates were cleaned Benson looked at Sofia questioningly, and as she saw him she started laughing. She returned to the galley and came back with a large pan of Braciolone going around the table. By the time the round was completed the pan was empty, and she told them that was all.

Robert stood, thanking Sofia for such a wonderful meal, and any time she wanted to serve Braciolone he would be at her table. Sofia said that it was a joint effort between Selma and her, as every time she had tried to make it previously it had been a flop, but now she knew the secret.

Sofia fed the pilots Italian sausage and scrambled eggs at five AM so that the preflight could be completed prior to takeoff at six AM. The fuel tanks had been topped off the night before, and it was decided the electrical power cables would be taken with them in case other airports did not have them. As the A380 rolled onto the runway the brakes were set and the engines checked. One final check of the magnetic compass to the direction of the runway proved it to be right, then the brakes were released and they were Florida-bound.

After breakfast the review team was sitting at the large table writing reports and preparing the presentation for their return to Initium Novum. Robert asked how they should plan to move everyone from the Arctic Circle and the South Pole to the new location. Mac Roderick said they should find one of the big cruise ships then they could pick up the people in the Arctic Circle, then the people at Initium Novum, and finally the people at the South Pole, they could get to know everyone and have a party. Reta smacked Mac, telling him that was a dumb idea. Where would they find a cruise ship and who would crew it. Robert said wait a minute, that might not be said such a bad idea.

Robert dialed his Satellite phone putting it on speaker. Tom Fitzgerald answered saying, "Who ever this is better be in dire need, calling me this time of night. Now, what do you want?".

"Is that any was to talk to the Monarch of Initium Novum? You are becoming a grumpy old man, Tom Fitzgerald," Robert said. The people around the table could see that Robert was having a very hard time to keep from laughing.

Apologizing, Tom said, "Robert, I am sorry, I just barely got to sleep as Lenora and Sheila seem to think they both need to be pregnant at the same time. I am not as young as I once was".

"Dad, what are you crying about, besides I need more sisters and brothers. Get back to work," Malissa told him.

"Just because you are grown does not mean I can notcannot paddle you, young lady," Tom told her.

Robert told Tom the reason for the call was to see if he could Captain a cruise ship. If so, where could they find a ship that would transport four to five thousand people? Tom said the MS Allure of the Seas could transport about 6300 passengers, and the MS Oasis of the Seas about the same. Then there is Norwegian Epic, which transports just over four thousand people. The only issue he could for see would be the cooking. It so happened that the MS Allure of the Seas was visiting Seattle, Washington when all travel was halted. "Robert, let me do some research and I will get back to you".

Alexander Cummings asked for a moment before Tom hung up, as he might have a solution on the cooking. The cook at Amundsen-Scott Station had worked on one of the Carnival cruise ships before she had decided a life at sea was not for her. She may be able to solve your cooking issue if you contact her. Tom thanked Alexander, as he saw that as the biggest issue of this whole circus, he bid them all goodnight and he would call soon.

Sandra Cummings was asked to be the presenter for the group, as she had more presentation experience than any of the others. She agreed, as she looked over the completed presentations prepared by the others. Sandra began assembling the presentation, telling them they would try a first run through to see how it went. Over the next hour she went through all one hundred twenty charts carefully, highlighting the information on each one. When she finished, she asked if there were changes that needed to be made to the presentation. Without exception, changes were made by each group who had prepared the charts in their area of responsibility.

Sofia had prepared a lunch of soup and sandwiches. She asked Robert if she could see him for a few minutes. The two of them went to his office, when she told him that she could not under any circumstances be the cook for the cruise ship for more reasons than one. The first being she had never cooked for that many people and was not willing to learn. Secondly, she was glad Selma had found them to relieve her, as she was going to be out of commission for a while. In about five or six months she was going to be presenting Benson with a new son or daughter. Robert asked if Benson knew and was told no, as she had to find someone to help her because when she had Rodney she was bedridden for the last month before he was born. Robert asked her to hold on a minute. Robert went and got Marion, then he asked Sofia if she had talked to Marion yet. Looking at Robert like he had three eyes, she asked if he thought she was slow, of course she and Marion and been talking. Robert asked Marion about the complication Sofia described, and were there any new advances that would prevent them from reoccurring. Marion said they were in new waters with women past forty-five being pregnant, but they would watch and do whatever was necessary to bring healthy babies into the world.

Marion and Robert left and told Benson that Sofia would like to see him. About fifteen minutes later they heard a happy yell from Benson as he came running out of Robert's office telling everyone who would listen they were going to have a baby. It was great news for Sofia and Benson, and Selma said that dinner preparation was hers and Julie Wilson's tonight.

Everyone noticed the plane was descending as they began the landing approach to Orlando, Florida. It appeared to be a beautiful afternoon, and they were glad to be back in the western hemisphere. Except for the maintenance crew and cooks it was a day off. The women decided that they would find some stores to rummage through and see what they could not live without. The one thing they wanted was to find tuxedos for the men and gowns for the women, for the last night before returning to Initium Novum. They took two SUVs and all were armed for protection. They headed for the Mall at Millenia, finding all types of clothing stores. With twenty-three women shopping with no spending limits and no sales people to pressure them, the shopping had begun. For the five hours they would have, this was a special onetime only event. The mall had every type of specialty store you could think of, and the women took advantage of it. The biggest hits were Victoria's Secret and Bloomingdales. The last hour was in a men's formal wear store. The women wanted full dress tuxedos for the men to match their dresses. Because they did not know the exact sizes of some of the men, they took all of the tuxedos that were full dress. The good news was none of the men were overweight, the major differences were height and build. They found enough garment bags to hide the contents so the men might not notice what was planned.

Returning to the airport, the women saw the cowling on one of the engines was open and the maintenance crew discussing the engine. After landing in Orlando all the oil filters were pulled and checked. They found fine bits of metal in the filter of one of the engines and were concerned about it. Scott MacArthur, the former FAA man, said they should find engine stands and pull a couple of the engines from the other A380s and change this engine out. Of the five A380s, the filters were pulled and they found fifteen of the twenty engines were clean and no metal filings in the oil filters. All the A380s had Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines, same as the one they had. The other thing was that the spec plates on the engines that were clean had later manufacturing dates than the bad engines. Two of the maintenance men took off looking for engine stands. They brought back four stands all with wheels. There were five maintenance people, and if they could get a couple of more hands to make up four man teams they could change the engines in ten hours by taking the complete engine. The weight of an engine was about thirteen thousand eight hundred pounds, so Scott met with the pilots to have them see how many engines they could load as backup. Scott stated that he would like to have at least one engine for backup. The pilots said they would have an answer in three hours.

Tom and Ron were going through the cargo holds checking weights. The heaviest things were the SUV's at six thousand pounds each, for a total eighteen thousand pounds. There were another fifteen thousand pounds in other cargo, and another eighty-three hundred pounds in passengers and crew. Then they looked at the cargo hatch size, which killed the whole idea of taking spare engines. When they found Scott they gave him the bad news. They told him the weight of two engines was no problem, however the cargo hatches and the height of the cargo holds would not allow the engines to fit in the aircraft. Scott said he was afraid of that.

Scott told the maintenance crew to change out only the affected engine, as spare engines could not fit into the cargo holds. What surprised him was all the cowling was already off and the engine stand was connected to the engine. There was a maintenance person on each side of the engine, and one disconnecting all the electrical connections. Two hours into the change out all connections were removed and the main support connections were ready to be pulled. The stand was raised to release the pressure on the support bolts and they were pulled. As the engine was lowered an electrical connection became visible, and was quickly disconnected and the engine rolled away. The replacement engine still had another thirty minutes work, before it was ready for removal. Three hours into the project the replacement engine was heading towards Robert's airplane. It was decided to just set the bad engine under the wing of the A380 where the replacement engine came from, with an FAA rebuild document attached.

Benson asked the men if they were at a place where they could break for dinner. Everyone looked at each other and realized that they were starved. They headed for the plane and showers. Forty-five minutes later they were at the table ready to eat. Selma and Julie began setting dishes on the table, and a Roasted Lemon Rosemary Chicken. After a busy day, everyone was starved and cleaned all the food that was on the table. Scott said that after the new engine was installed there would be a period of time that the engine would have a run test and it would be quite a bit of noise. He suggested that they find other accommodations for the night and they should be ready for takeoff at eight AM the next day. Tom asked if they could leave at seven AM, as it was an eight hour flight minimum and he would prefer to land before sunset. Since they were in the same time zone they would have no relief from time changes.

The maintenance crew went back to work and began the installation of the new engine. As they started to raise the engine to the supports Helen said stop, as she ran up the portable stairs and reconnected the electrical connection on top of the engine. She then took the locking wire feeding it through the bolt and nut holes, then twisted the ends, finally crimping the seal on the bitter ends. Scott had been watching, telling her that that was excellent and signed off the line item. The rest of the installation was by the book. When the fluids were added every connection was checked for leaks, there were none. The fuel valve was opened and pressurized-- there were no leaks. John Adams went to the electronics maintenance center and ran the diagnostic on the engine, all tests passed. Finally Scott sat in the left hand pilot's seat following the maintenance check list for starting an engine. The preliminary checks were all in the green. Finally it was time to see if the engine would start. He released the high pressure air to start the engine; it caught and spooled up to idle RPMs. The N1 was increasing and finally stabilized. Helen was in the right seat, and Scott told her to stand on the brakes and hold on tight. He advanced the throttles to 25% power, then to 45% power, and finally to 65% power. This was repeated many times, and the engine checked out and was ready for flight. After shut down they returned to the tarmac and told the crew to button up and get ready to fly.

At six AM, Tom and Ron showed up for a preflight inspection. They checked all the cowling to insure it was tight. They were in the cockpit when Scott showed up with the installation and inspection check off sheet. The pilots looked it over and signed off. Tom started with the checklist, and finally started all engines. Everything checked out and the engines were shut down.

Robert and the rest of the team arrived and boarded for departure. Sarah and Injerd taxied to the runway, the engines looked and sounded perfect even as they took off. They set the auto pilots and headed for Santiago, Chile. John Adams sat at the maintenance center console checking the navigation system and insuring all was good. The flight was normal, and four hours into the flight Tom and Ron relieved them. As they approached Air Commodore Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport near Santiago, Chile, people were looking at the area as they approached the runway, looking at the beauty of the area. The lush green rolling hills and the mountains to the East were breathtaking.

They taxied to an area that appeared to be a holding area for aircraft not requiring the boarding of passengers. When Tom shut down the engines and opened the door, the air had a clean smell to it as if it had recently rained. The maintenance people followed a security detail to the tarmac. They looked for fuel and electrical receptacles. They finally found them in the corner of this area, almost as if it was a reserved area for VIPs. Helen had found a tug and was lining up with the nose wheel. When they were connected, the crew chief guided her to put the aircraft where it would be in easy reach of both fuel and electrical access. John Adams had the electrical power cable out and was laying it out to the power box. He had electrical power to the aircraft in a few minutes. Another maintenance person had spotted an air conditioning unit, and was bringing it to the aircraft. It was decided that they would wait to refuel, to allow the aircraft to cool down, as there seemed to be no hurry to take off.

Ron Barton had lowered the rear ramp and started to remove the SUVs when he spotted two people watching them from behind a truck. He pretended to ignore them as he drove one of the SUVs from the plane and drove away from the area. When he was out of site of the hiding place of the watchers, he got out of the SUV and quietly walked up to them. Carolyn and Gayle had been on duty and had seen what Ron was doing, and were covering him. Ron spoke excellent Spanish and in a calming voice asked if he could be of assistance.

The two people, that appeared to be teenagers, jumped at the voice, turning expecting to be shot. "Habla Inglis?" the young man asked. Ron asked them if they were hungry and if there were others that needed food. The girl burst into tears just as Carolyn reached the trio and took the girl into her arms to comfort her. The boy said there were six of them, all his sisters except for Marcy, his girlfriend. He said that they had been able to find enough food to keep going, but they were tired of canned meat and vegetables. Ron asked where the others were and how long before they could be here. Braden gave a series of whistles, and four kids which Ron guessed to be between the ages of four to sixteen appeared from almost nowhere. They were invited to join them on the aircraft. Carolyn was calculating how many crew beds they had left, when Ron as if reading her mind said there were plenty, and more stored in a cargo hold.

Braden appeared to be several pounds underweight, when Maddy asked him about it he said he had eaten less to insure everyone else had enough because they were still growing. Then he told their story. His father and Marcy's father and been attached to the British Embassy. His father was the British Ambassador to Chile, and Marcy's father had been the head of security. When everyone started getting sick their parents had considered taking them back to England, but found the sickness was much worse there. For some reason, their parents had isolated them in an area of the Embassy that was climate controlled, and told them not to come out for six to nine months unless one of the four parents came for them. Braden decided after nine months they should stay put until their supplies were exhausted. Two months ago the water was gone, even though they still had food. Braden was going to go alone to find bottled water when Marcy said wherever he went they were going along, as there was safety in numbers.

Leaving the secure area, Marcy took them to the Embassy's armory and drew side arms for her and Braden along with UZI's, each of the kids she supplied with riot guns. As diplomat's kids they had all been given training in the use of guns for self protection. They had been roaming the area finding food and water, not really knowing what to do. This afternoon they had been in a park getting exercise when the plane flew over. Braden had found several cars that had the keys in them and had started several of them. One was a Toyota fifteen passenger tourist bus, and that was the one they had used to come to the airport.

Marcy had tears in her eyes when she said that she loved Braden and wanted to take care of the kids, but she was scared. She said even though both she and Braden were twenty, without help they could really screw things up. She wanted to know who was leading this group, and what they had to do to stay with them.

Robert spoke up for the first time, "Marcy, I am considered the leader of this expedition and the nation of Initium Novum. You are all welcome to join us, as we need young people like you to grow the human race. We are looking for a place to call home, as there are just over five thousand people we know of that have survived the biological germ release. Santiago, Chile, is one of the areas we are considering, and since the six of you are familiar with the area maybe you can show us around."

The youngest child was a girl that had been hanging on to Marcy, never letting her go. The little girl asked Robert if he would be her uncle, as her mommy and daddy were gone and were not coming back. Robert held out his arms and the little girl flew into them for the warmest hug she had had in a long time. Robert said that he would be her uncle and would protect her with everything he had. She then told him Marcy and Braden were going to be her new mommy and daddy when they got married. Robert asked her how old she was, and she told him four.

It was approaching six-thirty PM when Sofia called everyone to a supper of meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and green peas. There was also hot dinner rolls and apple crumble to finish off. The six kids ate like they had not had a decent meal in months. Once again there were no leftovers and everyone was well satisfied, as Robert started to lay out the activities for the next day. Braden said he could show them the areas where all the main manned electrical substations and main control center were. Marcy knew the city residential areas fairly well, and their resident brain, Agnes, knew the main university, as she was a student there. By that time it was pushing ten PM and everyone was tired.

Breakfast the next morning was pancakes, ham and fried potatoes, with orange juice and coffee. The three teams were about to set out when Robert decided to go with Michael Ward and the educational team. Agnes sat next to Robert and directed the driver to the Universidad de Santiago de Chile, which was the largest in Chile. The Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile was the other large Chilean university, and between the two the majority of research was conducted.

Selma and the electrical power team took off to find the central control center and see what was available for source power. Arriving at the center, Selma recognized the emblem on the building as being an EDP subsidiary. She swiped her EDP ID card to see what would happen. For a few minutes nothing happened, then a computerized voice said "Welcome, Selma Cruz" and the electric locks clicked. Proceeding to the control center, Selma sat at the master console, entering her ID and password. Her fingers were flying so fast only Braden was following what she was looking for. Finally the printer started and printed out a status summary of the power generating plants. All of the coal and non renewable fueled generating plants had been shut down by the computer because of demand, or lack thereof. The demand from the copper mines was zero.

Sarah, Sandra Cummings, Reta Rodrick, Amy O'Connor and Marcy were looking at the residential areas, and saw there were many areas that were available for housing. They looked at the upper middle class areas and some of the wealthy areas, to see what was available. Sandra, Reta and Amy were insistent that Robert must have a home that was consistent with his position.

Sarah told them "Robert would always want to live among the people he served and not be an elitist. It was hard to get the home in the underground built the way it was, and he only agreed when they showed how many families were living with him. Another thing was that Robert would never consent to having domestic help in his home. We, and that means all my sister/wives, insure we clean our own space. Amy, when was the last time someone cleaned your and Brad's suite. Robert's family will have to have a big house because there are so many of us, and he wants family to live with him, and he includes the O'Connor family as part of his family. Robert, Brad and Amy go back to their grade school years, while the rest of us have been part of the group for only a few years. Robert does not want the Caucasians of the human race to become the elite. We passed areas where poverty was the rule. I can guarantee wherever we settle, those shanty areas will disappear. I am sorry I got on a rant and should not have spouted off".

The four women gathered around Sarah, telling her that they understood and would work with her to ensure Robert's family was not pressured into something that they did not want. As they were heading for the SUV, the earth started to roll. Marcy and the California women knew what was happening, but Sandra Cummings looked very frightened. Marcy said "just another earth tremor, in a few days we will get a bigger one." She told them in Chile the tremors happened several times a week, and damaging earthquakes happened every few months. Sandra said she would have a very hard time living in that type of environment. Reta said that most of the people that were going to populate their area were not from earthquake areas, and would have the same problems.

That night at supper the main topic of discussion was the tremor. More than half of the people were not happy with the earth moving underfoot. Sofia said that as far as she was concerned she would like to leave now, but she knew they had more work to do. Robert said they did not have to stay the two weeks, but they needed to collect as much information as possible. The next day Paul and one of the pilots would look over the farm land. Robert asked Selma if any of the power plants needed to be visited, and was told no as all plants responded to computer interrogation.

Over the next few days Michael Ward's team continued looking at education, research and manufacturing facilities. Paul and Ron spent three days looking at farming communities, and had even landed near some grape vineyards. They had returned with a large basket of fresh grapes that were consumed in short order. Everyone wanted to know if there was more, and was assured there were plenty more where they came from. Paul said he would get a few bushels to take with them.

The morning of their ninth day a 4.3 earthquake hit somewhere close to Santiago. As far as most of the people were concerned that was enough, they were ready to leave. Tom and Ron took a truck and drove the runway many times, looking for fractures in the concrete. Elisa found a large twin engine that could carry three people and a large cargo. They flew to where Paul got the grapes, and the four of them were in the vineyard in a few minutes. Elise said to remain together, never more than 2 meters from the person next to you. In just over two hours they had ten bushels of grapes loaded and were heading back for the airport. They pulled up close to the A380 and started unloading their cargo. It was not long before they had more help than they needed. All but one bushel was loaded into a temperature controlled cargo hold.