Chapter 4

Floyd and Freida met with Robert, telling him that even with the revised numbers the Ozone Layer was still letting way too much of the UV A&B rays reach Earth. If they were to wait for nature to correct the problem it could take decades. Even though the majority of the things that had caused the thinning of the Ozone Layer were no longer produced, the atmosphere was still loaded with CO2 and CFCs. The CO2 would be lowered significantly if the world temperature were lowered two to three degrees. The only way to do that would be an ice age. Floyd went on to explain that there had been five identified ice ages. In all of the ice ages the levels of CO2 were lowered. The main concern to the Lycombs was the CFCs. Even though the levels were recorded at eight to nine hundred ppt (Parts Per Trillion), the effects of the CFCs as they reached the upper atmosphere and were broken down by UV B&C rays were the main causes of the Ozone depletion. The CFC breakdown creates chlorine and bromine, and their interaction with Ozone changed Ozone to simple oxygen.

Robert met with Nancy and the other intellectuals on the space ship to discuss this issue. The conclusion was that a Northern Hemisphere ice age of at least one hundred years would be required. The aliens could cause this to happen, but the civilization in the Southern Hemisphere would have to remain there. Robert and his people would have six months to obtain everything they would need from the Northern Hemisphere. After that the cold, snow and ice would prohibit them from traveling there. They would have to be constantly aware of the UV levels and take protection from them. The ice age combined with pollutant emissions being drastically reduced in a hundred years meant that the Ozone layer would be in much better condition.

The other thing Robert and his people would have to contend with was lower temperatures. That would mean a change in the types of food crops grown and the types of livestock raised. As long as Robert was aware of those things, the atmosphere could be cleaned faster and in a couple of hundred years they could return to the Northern Hemisphere.

Robert returned to the spaceship after a lot of thought and discussion with his wives, and told the aliens to make it happen.

Leaving Initium Novum left a void in those that had spent years there. Many had formed friendships that would last a lifetime, and others had found the love of their life and started families. As Lenora took the ship to sea there was a tear in her eye as she thought about the changes in her life. She had gained a husband and a sister/wife. She had two children that she thought she would never have, and Sheila had two children that she thought she would never have. There were several others in the same situation, older and starting young families and the three of them felt they were in their twenties. Tom and Sheila requested permission to come on the bridge and it was granted. Tom put his arms around the two women that were the loves of his life. They realized that things were happening to them that they never dreamed could happen. They had two boys and two girls and hoped to have many more.

Bonnie and her crew had been in the galleys since noon, and decided to have first service at six PM. They decided on a simple meal of spaghetti and meat balls with salad and canned fruit, with coffee, tea or water to drink. With twenty one hundred people aboard, this would be a warm up for when they picked up the almost four thousand in Antarctica. Bonnie was concerned about the meat available, as the freezers were not that big, as cruise ships would normally replenish their meat supply at designated ports along the way.

Bonnie was in her office when a young woman was in the chair facing her desk. Bonnie was startled as she had not heard the woman come in the door, nor had there been a knock. "How may I help you", Bonnie asked.

"I am here to help you, my name is Nancy and there are two things that concern you and you need help with. The first is the meat situation that keeps you on edge all the time, correct".

Bonnie conceded "there is not enough meat to hardly get us to Antarctica, let alone to Brazil or should I say Campinas, Novum Initium"

"After every meal the meat freezers will be replenished to what they were before. There will be two items added that have been on Robert's mind for weeks, bacon and breakfast sausage patties. I hope that puts your mind at ease. Now are there any other items you may require before you get to Campinas", Nancy asked.

Bonnie thought for a while and said she had everything needed until she got to Lima, Peru, but would see what was available in the warehouses there.

"Bonnie, the other thing that keeps you awake at night is your size. Now you are 153.7 cm (6 Ft 1 In) and weigh 185 Kg (408 Lbs). After calculating that your BMI should be 18.6, which is in the bottom quarter of the normal range, your new weight should be 63.6 (140 Lbs). Now most people would take a couple of years to lose 121.4 Kg, but you are not working with ordinary people, and by the time you get to Lima you will be at 63.6 Kg and all the loose skin will be gone. I am also going to slow your metabolism down so it will be hard for you to regain the weight as long as you do not binge eat. By the way, there is a gentleman that is just over two meters that needs to meet a tall lady". When Nancy told her all this, Bonnie broke down crying only hoping what she had been told was true.

Dinner that evening was very good; the problems they faced was with after eating. People had to be reminded to place their dishes in the proper receptacles, and to scrape the food into the containers provided. After the first serving it took staff almost an hour to clean up and be ready for the second serving. Bonnie placed a person at each door, and as people left they were reminded where to place their dishes and to clean their tables. The second setting was better but still not good. Bonnie met with Lenora asking her what to do, as her staff did not have the time to be busboys. Lenora said she would take care of it. That night a sheet was placed under every door with a message and a table seating assignment. The message was simple and straightforward, if you do not clean your table, do not expect to eat for the rest of the day. The message was received and no more problems occurred.

The ship was performing better than expected. Two people were in engineering spaces and two people on the bridge. The autopilot was doing the navigation, however Lenora brought a box to the bridge as a backup. At eight PM she took the sextant from the box, and with the assistance of her pilot took a reading. This fell far from modern technology, but Lenora wanted to be sure. Lenora took three separate readings then had the pilot record the latitude and longitude readings from the GPS and autopilot. Then she went to the chart table and finished her calculations to obtain her position. She compared the sextant reading and a GPS reading to the autopilot reading, to find that they were within one hundred feet of each other, with the sextant being between the other two. She was happy and decided to take sextant readings twice a day to ensure location, and she liked the mind exercise the challenge presented.

Lenora thought it would take eight days to reach Lima, Peru, and there would not be a lot to do for the non operations people. She let it be known that if people were looking for something to do, she could use them in ships' operations. The number of volunteers she received was unexpected. Several had mechanical knowledge of some kind and were assigned to engineering. Some were assigned to the bridge and taught specific functions that were nice to have done but they could live without. The other amazing thing was that most asked to learn other duties, so that they could fill in should it become necessary. The greatest thing was that the airplane pilots were willing to stand watch, and they soon became officers of the watch. They understood the navigation systems and the importance of the information being received.

They had been at sea two days when one night Lenora received a call from Sarah, who was officer of the watch, telling her that there was something approaching the ship and she needed help. Lenora was on the bridge in less than a minute. Looking at the radar image and then going to the sonar screen, she started laughing, telling Sarah that she was being tracked by a pod of whales, probably humpback whales or maybe blue whales. A good sonar person could tell which by their songs. As the sun rose the whales were still following, and in fact much closer. Sarah called the bridge to see where they were in relation to the ship. She went on top of deck eighteen and looked for the whales, and found them about three hundred meters off the port bow. Once in a while one would jump out of the water, and it was plain to see that they were blue whales by their size alone. Every day the blue whales would put on a show for the cruise ship as they jumped from the water, and would easily keep up with the twenty knots the ship was doing.

More volunteers were being trained to assist with operational positions on a daily basis. As people were trained, the experienced people were given volunteers and the watch schedule was expanded so a person only had a watch every other day.

Robert met daily with the relocation team about housing. Selma was a great help, as she had a good knowledge of the residential areas and the number of homes in each area. Robert insisted that he wanted to live as close to the citizens as possible. What Robert did not know, was that a group of about forty very large executive homes had been reserved for the Robert and his extended family. Selma knew the area she wanted to suggest as a starting point for single family dwelling homes, and was pointing out the area on the map. Sandra remembered the area and thought the homes were high end and were probably nicer than most were use to. There were enough homes in Campinas and São Paulo where about any type of furniture could be found. Art for the homes would be plentiful.

Some of the scientists were beginning to take interest in their research again. The one project that Robert was interested in was the fuel cell that could replace all petroleum based engines. Along with hydro generators, the CO2 emissions could almost be eliminated. Whatever was needed would be provided to insure the fuel cell became real.

Another project was stem cell research. The governments of the world had blocked the research that could cure all of the major diseases known to man today. Scientist like Sophia Agostino would gather the information and connect the dots so stem cells could heal.

The final project was one that Nancy and her colleagues insisted must be tackled sooner than later, and that was space travel for the defense of Earth. Nancy insisted that at some time in the future Earth would be scouted by an alien race, and then targeted for takeover and annihilation of the human race. Robert thought that was just what they needed, another threat after most of the entire population was wiped out.

The astronauts and the communications geeks found Robert and some of his wives eating lunch, and they seemed to be quite excited. They had control of most of the satellites and had been scanning the Earth for heat signatures of surviving humanity. They found heat signatures in the mountains of South Africa. They appeared for a few hours and then disappeared until a few days later. This had been going on for a couple of weeks, but today they confirmed that they were humans, as one of the military satellites that had a much higher resolution scanner was able to identify a large group of people, maybe twenty or thirty, and some were seen to be children. Robert said as they had the location pinpointed, soon after they arrived in Campinas they would send a team to try to make contact and hopefully get them to join the community.

The port of Lima, Peru, was in sight, and Terrance Davis had a shopping list of items ready to be moved from the warehouse to the ship. He hoped that the warehouse was still intact and had not been breached. If the power had not failed, there were a few surprises in this warehouse. When he had purchased the warehouse there had been a huge underground freezer storage facility. He had a ton of all flavors of ice cream if it was still good, along with a couple of tons of frozen fruit. He was concerned about having enough food for the remainder of the trip, due to the added people and an additional seventeen days at sea, plus however long they would be loading people from Antarctica. The first thing was to dock at the fueling terminal and hope there was power so they could load bunker fuel. The warehouse was only ten kilometers from the fueling pier, so loading of supplies could be done as soon as they could be loaded on trucks.

Sheila had the bridge when they arrived in Lima, and docked at the fueling pier as if it were an everyday occurrence for her. Work parties were ready for their assignments for something to do. The group responsible for fueling was worried that there would be no power to pump bunker fuel. They walked the pier identifying the different types of fuel points available. The main one was the major pump, with a twenty cm supply pipe. They had been at sea for eight days using one hundred sixty-one tons of fuel per day, they would need about one thousand three hundred tons of bunker oil. At 10.4 tons per hour it should take about eleven hours to top off the fuel tanks. That would give them four thousand tons of fuel or twenty-five sailing days.

Lenora met with Robert, Sandra and Alexander Cummings to discuss the pickup of the people from Amundsen-Scott base. She recommended that the pickup be at Esperanza Base, as it would save them ten days of sailing and they did not have to worry about fuel. Lenora's calculations were from Lima, Peru, to Esperanza Base was a ten day run, and from the base to São Paulo, Brazil, was another five days. That would allow them five or six days at Esperanza Base. The only concern Lenora had was getting the people from Amundsen-Scott. Sandra said to let her talk to the people at Amundsen-Scott and then meet in three hours.

Terrance and twelve others walked to the warehouse to find it intact. Terrance keyed the code then keyed a second code and the door opened. There were two flatbed semi trucks in the warehouse and three forklifts. Terrance started with the must have items such as food. The first truck was loaded and on its way with two of the forklifts. When the truck was unloaded at the ship, the forklifts would move the load onto the ship until the other truck arrived. It took most of the rest of the day to load the required items aboard. At dinner that night there was an assessment of remaining available storage space, and evaluation of the space required for the people coming aboard from Antarctica.

Sandra met with Robert and Lenora and said that the trip to Esperanza Base was about forty-five hundred nautical miles, and there were landing strips at both bases. "The largest plane to land at Amundsen-Scott was a Boeing 737 equipped with skis. This plane is currently housed in McMudro Base. This plane has landed at both Amundsen-Scott and Esperanza Base with a four hour flight each way. The capacity is one hundred ninety passengers, so eighteen trips would be required. The good news is that Esperanza Base has a tourist component as a money maker, so about eight hundred people can be housed there. The suggestion would be to have two crews to try and get two flights a day, and this is possible because it is summer. There is sufficient JP5 at both locations to complete the mission. The management at Amundsen-Scott agreed that Esperanza Base made more sense. So let's go for it. A disposable plane will have to be found to fly to McMudro Base, as the cold will destroy the engines and fuel system." Robert said that if volunteer pilots could be found it was a go.

Terrance had loaded everything he felt that he could onto the ship and still have room for the additional passengers and their luggage. The warehouse was about forty percent empty, and the remaining items were those that had a very long shelf life. As long as there was power the building was humidity controlled, and would be hard to break into. The final thing was to drive around to see if any of Bonnie's shopping list could be found. Most of it would be in big box stores or food supply warehouses. One of Terrance's team members was fluent in Spanish, and grabbed the Yellow Pages to look for food distributors or suppliers. There were three suppliers in the area they were in now. Upon visiting the suppliers they found everything on Bonnie's list and decided to bring Bonnie there to let her shop.

Terrance, Bonnie and Barry Gold took off to go shopping. Barry was smitten by Bonnie, as she was a tall lady and carried little or no extra weight. He was hoping she was not married, as she was not wearing wedding rings. As they went through the suppliers' warehouses, Bonnie would say two cases of this, three cases of that, and so forth. By the time they finished, the one ton cargo van they had was full. Most of the things they had acquired were spices and things to make deserts. The amazing find was cases of Crisco that were still in the shelf life window. That meant that Bonnie could make some great desserts if she hurried.

Sandra had met with the pilots and some maintenance people as for the requirement to get the people from Amundsen-Scott Base to Esperanza Base. David Jones, and his two wives, and Edward Rickenbacker said they would be the pilots, while three of the maintenance people said they would pull maintenance on the plane.

The seven of them left for the airport to see what airplanes were available. They found a G650 that had a high engine time and was a little rough, but with one stop they could make McMudro Base. There was an A380 there also, too bad it had not been fitted for skis. Everyone thought that would be an adventure, but there was no way they were going to try landing that monster on ice with no skis.

They returned to the ship asking if they had thought of using a helicopter to bring people aboard ship from shore. There was really no pier to tie up to, and a small boat in that cold water could cause real problems. They saw two Russian Mi-26 helicopters that carried ninety passengers each, and for the short ride from the land base to ship could probably be pushed to one hundred. They had a range of one thousand NM, and could fly out of the Ushuaia, Argentina airport. Explaining this to Sandra, her first question was who would fly them and how would they get to Ushuaia. David said that in discussions with the jet jockeys from Finland they said they had helicopter experience, and one of the people in the Arctic Circle group was a helicopter pilot. Sandra putout a call for helicopter pilots and was surprised to find nine people show up. When Sandra explained the situation, three of the pilots had experience on the Mi-26 and could train the other pilots in two days. When Robert heard the call for helicopter pilots he went to the meeting to see what was happening. After listening to the concept and the number of pilots available, he said to make it happen. Twenty-two people had an early lunch and departed for the airport to make aircraft ready to depart for Ushuaia, Argentina. The helicopter would stop at the San Luis Airport in Argentina to refuel, and meet the G650 at Ushuaia. They would wait for the ship to arrive at Ushuaia Harbor, and then ferry all the people from Esperanza Base as soon as they were transported from Amundsen-Scott Base.

The G650 flew over the ship, followed by the two Mi-26 helicopters. Lenora pulled out of the harbor heading south.

Robert was thinking about the future and what lie in store for the people of Novum Initium. He told his wives that he was going to travel for a while and not to worry, as he would be back when he had completed his journey. Nancy was traveling with him to insure no harm came to him.

Robert appeared to be sleeping in the lounger, on the balcony of their suite, but he was not there. Nancy had taken him to an ancient training area to enhance his psionic skills. She knew the challenges he would face in the near future would cause him to question his position in life. There were other psionic skilled family members, and all his wives could have the ability when their brains were opened to the ability. Sarah was already struggling with her abilities, trying to understand why she was able to hear people's thoughts.

As Robert entered the old castle he was mentally attacked, which brought him to his knees. The more he tried to shut out the pain in his head the worse it got. As he was about to pass out, a calm encompassed him and the pain was no longer a concern. Robert stood to face the deity whose eyes pierced the depths of his being. "Robert, here you will learn to shield yourself from mental attacks like you have just experienced, because if you do not-you will die. There are those that will come to your planet that will desire your position and power, and will enslave the people. You and your family are the ones who will keep the people on the planet safe. Before you leave the planet there will be attacks on humans as food, and yet others that will make slaves of the people. You, Robert, have been selected as the leader and prime warrior of the people of Earth. Now, we do not have unlimited time as the sand in my glass is running out".

Robert followed as he was taken into a room that had many doors. He was instructed that behind each door was a mental attack on him, and he would not be able to leave this room until he had conquered them all. The starting place was suggested, and one door should be the final test of his ability. If that door were to be opened before he was prepared he would perish.

Robert opened the first door to see a beautiful woman, and as soon she opened her mouth the screeching meemies started. The screams were varied and pierced the auditory senses of Robert's entire being. He began to find ways to block the attacks and calm returned. As Robert went through the room, all of his sensory factors were attacked. Finally there was only one door to open. Nancy told Robert that everything behind that door was an illusion, and he had to recognize the difference between the reality and illusion.

When Robert opened the door he saw his family playing in a meadow having a pleasant afternoon, when a gang of men rode up on motorcycles and hacked his family to pieces. One scene after another appeared, and Robert felt his soul ripped apart. He soon began to realize that some could be true and some were just illusions with a force trying to break him. At last a calm swept over him, and he realized that he now had the ability to block others from entering his mind and causing pain and confusion. The greater ability was to keep his thoughts secure and not let people read his mind.

The second lesson of the day was to enter other people's minds to read their intentions. He could see when people were planning agony or bliss. Robert learned to plant thoughts into people's minds to change their entire thought process or attitudes. He could cause them to do exactly as he desired them to do. Robert had complete control of anyone his mind could reach, even though this was contrary to his very basic desires. Finally he learned to examine the body of a person and cause sicknesses to heal, and tumors to shrink and disappear forever.

The deity appeared and said that he had enough for this time, and he would see Robert again soon. However Robert must remember that the sands in his glass were coming to an end, and what Robert was going to learn needed to be done soon. With that Robert woke, finding his four year old son watching him sleep. Robert reached for his son, hugging him and once again realizing just how much he had to be thankful for. Robert Carson Callahan Jr., better known as Carson, started to squirm and wriggle, telling his daddy he was hungry and it was supper time.

In bed that night Robert took all of his wives to an orgasmic level they had never experienced before, and did it several times for each of them. As they begged him to stop and let them sleep, he realized this level of love was special and happened to very few people. As his wives slept he entered each one of their minds and looked into their deepest thoughts and desires. He found pain in Marion from the death of her first family, and Robert put the hurtful thoughts into a compartment and the good thoughts into an area that could be easily recalled. He explored their psionic abilities and found in all humans there was a section of the brain that contained these abilities. The section was enclosed in a mental capsule that had to be removed for their abilities to be active. Sarah's capsule had a small rip in it. Robert began to remove the capsule as one would remove the layers of an onion. Soon the psionic ability was active and free. In her subconscious state, Sarah projected her love for Robert and thanked him for releasing her.

The morning sun rose to find Ann, Jan, Carson and several other Robert Callahan offspring pulling mommies and their dad out of bed, it was time for breakfast and they were not going to be put off any longer. Ann and Jan were a big help to all their mothers, as all the diapers had been changed and small ones dressed. A couple of the babies were still breast feeding. As everyone got their showers and dressed, the kids were getting louder and wanting breakfast. Finally they headed for the dining room and were lead by the running kids. Ann and Jan asked if they could eat with Robert, as it seemed that it had been a while since they ate together. Robert said sure and hugged them both. As they started the buffet, there were waffles with strawberry jam and whipped cream that most of the kids spied immediately. Robert, being a creature of habit, stuck with his eggs and whatever meat was available along with biscuits.

Ann asked if she and Jan had to have separate rooms when they reached their new home. Robert said that he thought now that they were teenagers they would want their own rooms; however they would not be forced to have separate rooms as they needed to be comfortable. Jan said that Ann was her very best friend and her sister, and that the two of them looked out for each other and Ann helped her with her home work. Ann said only English, as Jan was the math whiz and was so far ahead of her that she was the one that needed help with math. Robert laughed, and said that he would try to find a place that they could have two rooms one for study and fun, and one for sleeping. The mothers had been listening to this, and the pride and love for the two teenage girls almost made their hearts explode.

Robert took a tour of the ship, ending on the bridge. Lenora told him that she and Sandra had decided to dock at Ushuaia, Argentina. The Mi-26 has the ability to shuttle the people from either Esperanza Base or Halley's Base several runs a day. There was no reason for any passengers to remain at the bases over night. Robert thought this was an excellent idea.

When Robert returned to the suite he found that the family was somewhere else on the ship. Robert sat on the balcony and thought where he would like to go today. He remembered the satellite pictures they had from South Africa. He decided to travel back a couple of years to the time this expedition had been organized. When he found them they were at the Onmeetbarediepgat Caves exploring previously unexplored areas. He found the expedition leader was Donald Brooks, a paleontologist, and his wife Mary, an anthropologist. They read of the areas that had been affected on November 11, and gathered tons of canned food and looked for live animals they could butcher for fresh meat. Of the people with them, there was Mary Brooks' sister, an MD with a Masters Degree in Microbiology. She had cobbled together some equipment that would let her test the air and soil for any abnormal germs or virus in the area. She felt that she had a good baseline, and had been in touch with the CDC in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, and received the markers for the germ that was killing so many people. Donald and Mary Brooks gathered their families and brought them to the Onmeetbarediepgat Caves in mid December for a spelunking holiday.

Robert returned to the present just in time for lunch. As he walked to the dining room he knew that he would have to send two air crews to Initium Novum for the A380ER and the G650. Not seeing his family, he went through the line and was about to sit down when Tom Schneider flagged him over. As they ate, Tom said he needed to take a few flight crews to Initium Novum to retrieve several aircraft. He wanted all the G650's and the A380ER. They were aircraft they knew and could trust. Also Michael Ward's plane should be retrieved. Robert said he was thinking the same thing, as there would have to be a trip to South Africa in a few months.

Even aboard ship they were still gathering information from the satellites and looking for infrared signatures that might indicate human life. The ship's routine continued, as did Robert's time traveling four or five hours each day. Ten days later they pulled into Ushuaia, Argentina, and tied up to the pier. They were met by the helicopter pilots looking for a good Bonnie meal. They were tired of canned food, as none of them could cook worth a damn. Sandy ate with them and found out the fixed wing pilots had found two planes at McMudro Base that could land at Amundsen-Scott, and had the range to land at Halley Base, and each could make two trips a day. That would mean that four hundred people a day could be moved to the ship, and in ten days everyone on Antarctica would be on the ship.