Chapter 7

Robert met with Ed Cunningham to find out the status of their data storage facilities as to how much they would lose due to the pending Ice Age. Ed said none would be lost, as all the data had been stored in two different locations, in the Northern Hemisphere and again in the Southern Hemisphere. He said that Nancy also had the data stored on the spaceship that the AIs controlled. The only way they would lose any data on the planet was if the facilities were not accessible via communication links. Ed was worried about this, so he had technical people out collecting mass storage equipment and bringing it to Campinas. There was a building in the downtown core that was perfect to become the data repository of all knowledge they had collected. Selma had designed the power system with an uninterrupted power backup, along with voltage regulation so there would be no voltage spikes that would damage the equipment.

Two technicians had designed a program to collect the data from the storage facilities in the north as long as they were operational, or until all data was backed up in Campinas. So far they had completed the backup of about forty percent of the data and were doing well so far. They had started collecting the data in the far north and worked their way south. They had tried to revisit a facility in Calgary, Canada, and found there was no communications link. They tried the fibre optics network and got as far as the city emergency management centre, but no farther. Because the data they had collected from the Calgary facility looked corrupted, it was checked against the same data in Bogotá, Colombia, and found it had been translated into another operating system. Because everything else was a Linux based operating system it had to be cleaned up, but that would happen after all data was backed up.

As Robert and Ed discussed the backup, they realized what a massive amount of data they were dealing with. Robert began to wonder if there was some of the data that would never be accessed, and maybe there was some that could be deleted. Ed adamantly objected to the thought of deleting even one byte, as it was a part of the history of the world prior to the release of the biological germ. Yes, there was data that may not be accessed in their lifetime, but the historians of the future would find a very good chronology of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

The team monitoring the satellite scans were still looking for heat signatures hoping to find more survivors. The signatures were coming less frequently, and most that were found were animals. The population in Campinas was now just shy of eight thousand. Robert let it be known that he and his wives would be taking a few days holiday. The fact was that they were returning to the ancient training area, for training for his wives and additional training for Robert. Brad, Amy and Eumache would be joining them for the training. After consulting with Asteria it was decided that she and Montgomery Scott would not be taking this trip, as a conscious psionic was needed in case trouble came their way. The decision was made that Injerd and Elisa would fly them to Kapa'a, where they would depart for their training. Their children would be with their grandparents or other family members.

Robert was surprised one day when he felt someone roaming around in his mind. When he got a look he found it was his sister Susan. He asked what she was doing there and what she wanted. Susan told Robert that she had been exploring with an ability to see in people's minds, and told Robert that before he went on his training trip that he needed to give those travelling with them their full capabilities. He asked her why that was necessary, as they were not to be put into harms way at any time. Susan said that the twenty of them would become involved in a psionic war which could destroy the human race. This event would come sometime after they had passed the fortieth anniversary of the germ release. Robert told Susan to get her as well as Rod and Toni ready to travel, as they would be needed in the future. Susan said they did not have the gifts that she and Robert had. Robert said that before they landed in Kapa'a, they would have and be as proficient as she was, and by the time they returned they would be able to assist in any psionic war that came their way.

As they landed in Kapa'a, Rod and Toni were doing very well with their new powers, and were amazed that these powers were real. The group found some beach front cabins and decided to take a few relaxing days before training. The swimming was great, but they swam only after five PM. They found the restaurant had a dance floor and a DJ booth, Robert set up two hours of dance music, fast, slow, rock, waltz and everything in between. As the night wound down the families headed for bed and a final night before training.

Nancy was waiting for them after they finished breakfast. She told the group to walk with her, as it was time to begin training. As they walked down the beach it seemed that they walked through a portal and were crossing a wooden bridge that Robert recognized as the castle bridge where he did his first training. They were met by the deity that Robert had trained with. The deity had all of them sit and explained the training. Looking at Amy he said that since she was pregnant her training would be exclusively in the area of the psionic mind. Amy would learn how to read minds, find hidden areas that no one wants found, how to get behind shields and to do this in such a manner the target would never know she was there. The remainder of the group would take the physical training, and he expected everyone to see that Amy continued training as soon as her baby was born. A second person came and stood next to the deity and was introduced as Iris, handmaiden of Hera, an Olympian Queen of the Gods and God of Women and Marriage. She was also Goddess of the skies and the starry heavens. Robert asked who their trainer was, and Iris said it was Asclepius, grandson of Zeus and son of Apollo. Iris said that they had limited time to learn the skills, as Asclepius was tired and his hourglass was running low.

Over the next several days Asclepius would teach them the psionic powers of:

Apportation - Materialization, disappearance, or teleportation of an object. Aura reading - Perception of the energy fields surrounding people, places, and things. Automatic writing - Writing produced without conscious thought. Astral projection - An out-of-body experience in which an "astral body" becomes separate from the physical body. Bilocation - Being in two places at the same time. Biofield energy healing - Healing by channelling a form of energy. Clairvoyance - Perception outside the known human senses. Divination - Gaining insight into a situation via a ritual. Dowsing - Ability to locate objects. Faith healing - Diagnosing and curing disease using religious devotion. Mediumship - Communicating with spirits. Precognition, premonition, prescience, precognitive dreams and second sight - Perception of future events before they happen. Psychic surgery - Removal of diseased body tissue via an incision that heals immediately afterwards. Psychokinesis or telekinesis - Manipulation of matter, space, time or energy. Psychometry - Obtaining information about a person or object. Remote viewing - Gathering of information at a distance. Retrocognition - Perception of past events. Scrying - Use of an item to view events at a distance or in the future.

Telepathy, extrasensory perception, and sixth sense - Transfer of thoughts or emotions, especially knowing another person's thoughts.

Transvection - Bodily levitation or flying.

The one power Asclepius would not teach was death-warning, as he felt than no one should have prior knowledge of their death. As the weeks passed they practiced each power until they were very good at each task. A few were better at some powers than others. Brad, Maddy and Marion had the biofield energy healing and psychic surgery down, and were far more advanced than the rest because of their medical training. Everyone had strong suits for one or two of the powers. Then there was Robert, of the twenty-three powers he excelled in all but a few. He purposely did not push the medical powers, the divination power, the clairvoyance power, the automatic writing power and knew nothing of the death warning power. He agreed with Asclepius that having prior knowledge of one's death could cause a person to become lax and inattentive, getting the rest of the group killed.

They had been at the training facility for three months, according to Sarah's calculations, and felt that the people in Campinas would believe they were dead. Asclepius called them together, congratulating them on their accomplishments. They were now the most powerful force on Earth and maybe in the Galaxy. There was no more that he could teach them and their training was complete. They should use their telekinesis powers to return to their time, and have a week in the sea and sand before returning to their home. He also told them that they had the ability to shield the Earth from enemy aliens for a time, but there was a race that would eventually find them and want to destroy the human race and take over the Earth. "Finally, continually reinforce your mind shields, but maintain constant contact with the members of this group. If you want to move through time or space as a group, regardless of size, join hands in this manner. Each person will take in their left hand the left hand of the person next to them. That causes half of the members to face into the circle and half of the members to face away from the circle. The members facing in will collectively move the group where ever you want to go, and the members facing out will be the defense of the group as you arrive at the new location. My advice is to always move in the apportation mode until you are sure you are safe." With that he wished them well, telling them this would be their last time together. Iris would visit them from time to time to ensure their longevity. As of now they were near immortal, and over time may achieve immortality. Then he was gone.

The group formed the circle as instructed and returned to Kapa'a and began winding down. Brad said he was very hungry and wanted a large steak and baked potatoes. He knew that that was not really possible, but to dream was great. Robert and Sarah came through the front door with bags of groceries, telling everyone they were going to prepare dinner and it would be ready in ninety minutes. Almost to the minute, Sarah said dinner was ready, and as the rest of the group sat down there were salads at each place. Robert had not appeared yet, but Sarah gave Brad several bottles of Paul André's very best Burgundy of 1990.

Vicky and Toni looked at the bottles, recognizing the vintage, knowing that this Burgundy's vintage year was the year their father had won gold medals in Canada, Australia, Europe and the United States. This particular year had put the family vineyard and winery on the global map. Vicky looked at Sarah, asking her where she had obtained this wine. Smiling, she said "Easy I went to the winery's distributer and bought a hundred cases. We have two here and ninety-eight in Campinas. The fun will be when we get back and get Paul's reaction when he opens the wine chiller and finds two bottles there." Toni started laughing hysterically until she got a hold of herself, telling everyone the last known bottle of this vintage was opened for Mother and Dad's thirtieth anniversary ten years ago. Dad will have an aneurysm; this was one of his favorite wines.

As they were eating, Sarah was very quiet and seemed sad. Robert noticed and asked her if there was a problem. "I miss the kids and the rest of the family. I do not want to stay any longer, I want to go home," Sarah said. The other women immediately echoed her feelings. Malissa said that even though they had only been gone a week in this time, they had spent three months at the training center. She wanted to go home also. Injerd said that the aircraft could be ready for travel by nine AM the next day. By female vote they would be heading home then.

They were ready to depart, and Injerd and Elisa began to taxi to the runway when Injerd asked if they should make this a very short flight and teleport to about an hour from Campinas. Elisa thought that was a great idea, wondering how draining it would be to teleport an aircraft this big. Injerd said they would find out. They leveled off at thirty-eight thousand feet and linked their minds, picking a point they thought was about an hour from Campinas. The initiation of the teleport was easy, and when they took the GPS readings they found the plane only forty minutes from the Campinas airport. They continued the flight and overflew the airport to be sure they were correct. When satisfied, they started their decent and Elisa announced that everyone should buckle up for landing at Campinas. Sarah entered the cockpit, asking the two how they had accomplished a flight of almost ten hours in under two hours. Elias said that had she not been paying attention in all the training they had just completed. Sarah hugged them both, and then buckled up in the jump seat for landing.

Injerd was talking to the communications center and requesting transportation from the airport to the Monarch's residence in twenty minutes. The person in the communications center said the Monarch was on vacation and would not return for another week, who would they like to have her contact in his place. Injerd was glad the person in the communications center was on the ball and questioned such a request. She said she would transmit the planes IFF code for verification and did. The communications center replied that transportation would be made available with a driver. Injerd said that no one was to be notified of their return, and Robert did not want a fanfare for his return. The communications center acknowledged the order and said it would comply. As they taxied to their hangar, Niklas Gustafsson was handling the wands and guided them to the appropriate parking location. Injerd, Elias and Sarah completed the post flight checklist while Robert, Brad and Rod unloaded the luggage. The three were laughing that they did not have a lot of new luggage with new dresses, as the women did not go shopping while they were on this trip. Robert said not to let them hear that, or they would be going somewhere on a shopping trip. The others agreed.

That night Robert's extended family was at their home for dinner. Sofia had prepared a special dinner from one of Selma's cookbooks, and asked her to observe to ensure it would be right. The wine bottles were in covers, as Vicky and Toni wanted to see if Paul would pick up on the wine. As dinner progressed, everyone that was on the trip and Maria notice Paul kept sampling the wine. Finally, Maria had had enough and asked Paul what was going on with the wine. "I would swear that this wine was our 1990 Burgundy, if I did not know the stock had been depleted ten years ago," Paul said.

Toni took a bottle and removed the cover, handing it to her father asking if he meant this vintage. Looking at the label he was speechless, finally asking where this came from. As far as he knew there was no more in existence, and they had never been able to duplicate the grapes that created this wine. Vicky said that he would have to ask his daughter-in-law Sarah, as she was the one that had obtained it. Paul looked at Sarah, really wanting answers. Finally Sarah said that a distributor in Sonoma, California, had been the primary distribution source for Paul's winery in the nineties, and she convinced them to part with a few cases. Smiling, Paul asked about how few. Sarah said about a hundred. Shaking his head, he said there were only twelve hundred cases of that wine, and you got a hundred cases, how so? Sarah said money will buy anything.

Brad, Maddy and Marion went to the hospital to see how the clean up was progressing. They were amazed that the clean up would be completed that day. The hospital was huge, and they had decided to open only three areas and twenty-five beds for now. The ICU and CCU were combined into a single unit for efficiency. While they were there, there were two emergencies. The three discussed the new powers they had, and decided to use the technique of the day unless there was no other way. The first was a six year old boy that had been trying to parachute from the second story of his home and broke an arm and a leg. Maddy took charge and had the bones set in a short time. She put a walking cast on the leg, and a shoulder to wrist cast on the arm. That much of a cast might assist the learning curve of the boy, that jumping from a high place was not a good move. The second was more serious, as a farm hand was working on a tractor when the hoist let loose and the motor had fallen on his abdomen. There were internal injuries that took several hours to repair, and Brad was concerned that they did not have any whole blood and no blood bank as back up for major surgeries.

Brad issued a request for every person to be blood typed and DNA tests completed for medical emergencies. The response was good but not overwhelming. Brad and Robert were discussing the issue, and Robert asked if he should issue a directive to have the two procedures done. Brad thought that it was a little early for that, but maybe the medical administrative staff could get a roster of all the citizens and they could send weekly reminders to have the test done. They could try this for a few weeks to see what the response will be. Two weeks passed and the medical administration manager knocked on Brad's office door. She said that when she checked against the list provided by Vicky and Amy, almost everyone had been blood typed and samples for DNA were being tested. The exceptions were the people working on the farms. They left early in the morning and returned home hours after the lab closed. Brad said that the next day they would get a team together and visit all the farms and get the blood there. He called Paul André and asked if he could go with him and the team to the farms for gathering the blood samples the next day. Paul said that would not be a problem, and asked how many days of clothes he would need. That set Brad back, as he thought it could be done in one day. Laughing, Paul said that only if they took a helicopter could they do it in one day. Brad told Paul he would pick him up in the morning at six AM.

Brad, two lab technicians and Paul were in a helicopter by seven AM, heading for the farming area. The reason Brad went along was to insure that those working on the farms were getting the medical care they needed. Going from farm to farm the samples were taken and things were going well when the pilot said there was a medical emergency at the dairy farm. Brad asked if they knew what the problem was. The pilot was on the radio a few minutes and said one of the ladies collapsed and they could not revive her. Brad asked him to push it. Returning to his seat, Brad asked what the lab techs had with them except for the equipment for drawing the blood samples. She said standard tests for allergies, diabetes, hypoglycemia and stuff like that. As they landed at the dairy farm, a man with a white flag was waving it so that the pilot set down near the man. Brad and the lab techs left the helicopter on the run, following the man with the flag; they found the woman in an unconscious state and sweating profusely. One of the lab techs said diabetes or hypoglycemia, and took a diabetes test kit out to test the sugar level. Brad mentally entered her body and soon confirmed that she had very low blood sugar. The lab tech said her blood sugar level was at 1.6 mmoI/L (Canadian Glucose Levels 6 is normal) and they needed an injection of glucagon. The second lab tech handed Brad a hypodermic with the maximum dose of glucagon and Brad injected it directly into the vein. In a few minutes the woman began to revive and become coherent. Brad started asking simple questions such as names, marital status and names of her children. When he was satisfied with those answers, he asked her if she was a diabetic to which she answered no. Was there a history of diabetes in her family, again no. Brad said that she would have to return to Campinas with them for some tests to see why her blood sugar level was so low. The woman said her grandmother had hypoglycemia in her later years, but she was told that it could not be genetically inherited. Brad looked at her and asked who told her that, and she said it was the family doctor that had treated her grandmother, and had told her mother and she had not asked a doctor since then. Brad said that it was a genetically inherited disease, and they were going to see if that was what she had for sure. The lab techs had finished gathering all the samples and were ready to leave, and the five were heading for the helicopter when a man came and asked who would be the shift supervisor for the remainder of the shift. Paul, looking at his watch, said the day's shift was over and they should head home unless they needed to finish their day's work. The man said everything was completed, and all the milk had been transferred to the coolers, so they would head home.

Returning to the hospital, Brad gave Paul a list of his people that needed to have blood samples taken, and told him they were not to return to the farms until the samples were taken. There were three names on the list, and two were his sons Paul Jr. and Pierre. Paul started laughing, as he told Brad to have smelling salts ready for those two, as they always passed out when getting shots or have blood drawn, and that was why they had not had it done. He would talk to their wives and they would be at the labs before it opened.

The test on the dairy supervisor found she was a truly hypoglycaemic, but did not have diabetes. All she had to do was eat more often and make sure that she always had candy, or something with a high sugar content, in case she went low. With that she was returned to her family.

Robert decided to see what was happening in the research labs, to see what progress was being made. As he arrived at the Science Research facilities, he was met by Sandra Cummings. Robert asked how she knew he was coming here and was told that was what a good PA was for, to let people know when their boss was touring. Robert told Sandra he wanted to see it all, however he was especially interested in the Atkins fuel cell and the off planet shuttle research. Sandra said they should start with some of the mundane stuff that would keep them alive until something exciting happened. The first area they visited was Floyd and Freda Lycomb's environmental lab. Floyd was quite excited, as he Frieda and Alexander Cummings had just finished the projections with the new information that the Northern Hemisphere would pass through an ice age. "The environmentally harmful gases and other substances will be greatly reduced by the snow and ice that will cover the Northern Hemisphere, and cover the areas on Earth that have the highest concentration of pollutants. The extended cold and weight of the snow and ice will change the Earth's temperature and cause many good things to happen. The main thing is the reduction of pollutants from factories, vehicles, and chemicals being dumped into the environment. We project that in forty to fifty years we could have a fully restored Ozone layer." The one thing the group emphasized was that technology would have to provide a clean exhaust engine so the world would not find itself in this situation in the future.

Next, Robert visited the computer lab where they were developing a new computer design that would not require the manufacturing processes of old, where CFC's and lead would be excluded from the process. Ed Cunningham was leading the project, and talked about bubble memory and things Robert thought were science fiction. The most powerful computer Robert had heard of was the K computer built by Fujitsu, which had a speed in 8.1 Pflops (flops is floating point operations per second so 1 Pflops = 10¹⁵), what that really means is that the computer could complete 8.1 quadrillion calculations per second; however the drawback was that it took eight hundred twenty-four cabinets to house the monster. What Ed and his team wanted to do was build a computer that would work at a speed of 10 Pflops in a single cabinet. Very ambitious in anyone's dreams. Ed said two or three of the systems would provide any spacecraft they could design in their lifetime all the computing horse power needed, with two backup systems.

As Robert moved on to the agriculture research labs, the idea was to develop a hydroponics garden for spacecraft that could support a large crew and yet use a limited space. The idea of a hydroponics garden was nothing new, as it had been done for many years, but the infrastructure was massive. On a spacecraft there was not the luxury of that type of infrastructure, nor the power to operate it. One of the major problems was the water required, and the plant food to maintain healthy fruit bearing plants. The horticulturalists were just beginning to map out the project, and a strategy to achieve that goal.

The off planet shuttle program was the next area to be visited, and it was a busy place. There were drawings and pictures all over the walls. Some of the strangest looking aircraft were hanging on the wall. The surprising thing was how many people were working on the project. It seemed that of the two people that were heading the project, one was the youngest in the group. Annabelle Danielson was barely in her twenties, graduating just a few years ago with her PhD in Astrophysics. The other person leading the group was Martha Rickenbacker. Most of the astronauts that had been on the International Space Station were also involved in the research. Annabelle explained the first vehicle they were working on was a cargo carrier that could leave from a standard runway, maybe a little longer, and reach the upper edge of the Medium Earth Orbit (MEO), or the real benefit would be to reach Geosynchronous Earth Orbits (GEO) in the High Earth Orbit (HEO) at thirty-five to forty thousand kilometres above sea level. This may have to be done in two stages, the first being an altitude of two hundred eighty kilometres above earth. The second stage would be a jump from two hundred eighty kilometres to forty thousand kilometres. The idea was to have the second stage vehicle have the capability of accepting several modules from the first stage, before transiting to the second point. The idea was to build a construction and docking station at the GEO level. The first thing was to get to reach the transfer point at the ISS.

As Annabelle and Martha were showing Robert some of the conceptual drawings on the wall, there was one that caught Robert's eye. It had what looked like the old original space capsule of the sixties and seventies. It was attached to a centre column which appeared to be one or two hundred feet long, followed by another pod which appeared to have something to do with propulsion. Annabelle said this was her version of a space semi-trailer cargo truck. The capsule at the front was for crew and some passengers. The compartment at the rear was for the propulsion system yet to be designed. The space between the two modules was for mounting twelve cargo carrying containers or modules, for building the construction and docking station.

The major hurdle was the power plant. Both Annabelle and Martha wanted to perfect the antimatter power plant. NASA had a manned spacecraft that was to be launched with a destination of Mars, expected to launch is 2030 and already had working models of the positron reactor. One of the ISS astronauts was scheduled to take a lead role in that program when he returned. They were going to Houston to get all the data available, since Ed Cunningham's team could not seem to retrieve the data over the net. Ed was sending a technician he called the locksmith along, as it was touted that he could open and access any password protected system. The future in space looked bright, as there were Particle Accelerators at the Laboratorio Nacional de Luz Sincrotron here in Campinas, and a Tandem Accelerator in Buenos Aires, Argentina. There were two others, one in South Africa and one in Australia. The ability to make antimatter was available.

Robert's final lab to visit was one that he hoped would produce quick results. The fuel cell research for Earthbound petroleum combustion engines needed to be converted to a non polluting fuel. When Robert entered the lab he saw Bob Atkins leaning over a device that had heavy cables attached to it. In an electric motor mount was a large electric motor. Bob was adjusting the torque to change the load on the motor. Katerina entered the lab with a set of printouts for Bob's review. In a few moments Bob had Robert looking over the results with him, and explaining that the first device was a cold fusion electrical power generator. This one had been producing an average of one hundred thirty kilowatts for the past seventy-five hours continuously. The motor attached was out of a GM Volt car, and maximum draw was one hundred eleven kilowatts. They adjusted the torque converter every twelve hours, and had at one point had the equivalent of a thirty percent upward grade, or the steepest road on any mountain he knew of. The next day they would be installing this power train in the BMW that Malissa had brought them for testing. They were going to test it for a week, and then have Ann test it for a while. They would put governors on the system to limit the speed, as theoretically the motor would exceed two hundred fifty kilometres per hour.