Chapter 13

Saturday, Mar. 16

The alarm went off this morning and I really wasn't ready for it. I had been right in the middle of a very nice romantic dream with Sam, Brenda, and Suzie. We seemed to be one big happy family living together and enjoying life. I was just getting to the point where we would be going to bed for the evening when the alarm went off. What a bummer. I hurried around to get ready for work, ate my breakfast of cereal, toast, and sausage, then went outside to catch a ride in with Sam Simpson.

You know how funny it is when you are busy with a couple of different projects, then some other event sneaks up on you when you least expect it. Well, I have been busy with writing the wounded warriors' thing, getting people lined up and trying to match requests, and I had the St. Patrick's Day dance to look forward to. Well, I had forgotten that, starting Monday, I would be working at Traynor all week. Needless to say, I was unprepared for that when Sam asked me if I was ready for a full work week.

"Sam, to tell you the truth, I hadn't really thought much about it. I've been pretty busy with another project." I explained about the writing campaign I started between the students and the wounded soldiers at Ft. Belvoir.

"Bob, Ronnie said something to Judy about that the other night. I think that is a very commendable project. Do you need more people to write to these guys? I'm pretty sure we could get some of our people to go along with that too."

"Sam, I really don't know, we already have more students signed up than we have injured soldiers, but it is a good thought. I will have to see if there might be a way to write to more soldiers, even those that are not injured, but still in the field over there. I will see what I can find out; maybe we can contact someone at Ft. Hood to get some names and addresses from them. We would probably need someone with some connections to a high ranking officer in the administration section. I'll have to think about that some."

"Bob, I think I may have just the person in mind. One of the guys I grew up with out in San Jose is a colonel at Fort Hood. I think he said he was in division personnel. Also, you know that Craig Lopez has a brother up at Ft. Hood. He might be of some help too."

"Thanks, Sam, I'll contact Dr. Schulman and see what he says about more people writing our soldiers. I'll talk to Craig too. If you can talk to your colonel friend, maybe we can get some more names and addresses."

We arrived at work and when I saw Craig, I asked if he could call me later when he had some time to talk. I explained what I wanted to discuss, and he said he would call me about lunch time and we could talk then.

"Perfect, Craig, I'll meet you in the cafeteria at 12, if that is a good time for you."

"Yes, that'll work out great. I should be able to talk to my big brother by then. See you then."

I started in gathering information for this morning's staff meeting and getting our scheduled jobs assigned for next week. We had a couple of conference rooms to set up for some incoming dignitaries that we sell products to, and the big conference room needed to be set up for our weekly Wednesday corporate meeting at 2:00 PM. I also planned to rotate some of the job assignments so that everyone could do every job. Jerry Hopkins was fairly new and had not been trained in the mail routine, so I would have him work with Barbara Scott today and Tuesday. José Ramirez also needed training on our courier routes, and I scheduled him to be with James White on Monday and Wednesday so he would be up to date on that function too.

In the meantime, Glenn sat back and watched me work, saying nothing. Once we were ready for our 10:00 AM meeting he said, "Bob, it's a pleasure to see you work. You had already read all the personnel files and were aware who knew what jobs, and who had been signed off for what duties. You saw some blanks and went about filling them in. More and more, I see why you are here, and how you are so young, yet so mature in your thinking. You'll make a very good supervisor and I, for one, am so glad I could help you on your way toward that goal. Now let's get to your meeting."

Glenn and I went to the normal Saturday status meeting. I listened to all the reports to see where we could help other departments, then gave my report. When we went back to work, Glenn called a meeting of our power committee to discuss what answers we had come up with regarding our problem with using extra power during outages. It was decided that we would lease an auxiliary generator until June 1^st, and see about a second lease starting in late August until November 30^th, which would take care of the fall months when we had heavy thunderstorms. Felix had completed a lot of research going back five years to determine the months we would need the extra power due to power outages. Fiona Wright from purchasing had several companies bidding for our business and she had finally picked two who said they would work with us in regard to timing for setup and installation, but they would like to walk through exactly what was needed and when our schedule would permit them to start installation. They were Cummins Southern Plains, LLC, and Clifford Power Systems, both in Austin. They had what we needed at the approximate price we were willing to accept. The plan was put into place and a representative from both companies would be out on Monday to go over our exact requirements. That problem was solved for now.

Nothing much worth mentioning happened for the rest of the work day, and it was soon going home time. Craig had been able to talk to his brother Allan, but did not have any more information than that. His brother was going to see what he could do from his end.

Sam did say he would pick me up for work at the normal time Monday morning. I still had a lot of work to do matching students with the wounded soldiers that MSgt. Miller sent to me. So it would be a long night for me. Once home, it was supper time and then I sat down at our computer and sent e-mails to both matched people, with something about each person as a way of introduction and let them write back to each other. I had finished off about twenty of them when Suzie let me know it was bedtime, so I finished up the e-mail I was working on and shut down for the night.

Sunday, Mar. 17, Early Morning

I heard a voice calling me in my head, so I got up and dressed in the clothes I wore yesterday and allowed myself to be transported to the Orthanian ship. "You have got to stop dragging me..." That was as far as I got before I was hit with a lightning bolt to my mind. I immediately shut my mental shield and threw up my body shield. Once I caught my breath, sort to speak, I lashed out to the mind that was sending the mental bolt. I grabbed the mind and squeezed and the attack stopped. I looked around the room and there was a very old Orthanian slumped on the floor holding his head in his hands and gasping for breath.

I slowly released my hold on his mind and said in a command voice, "This is my last warning. Do not attempt to harm me in any way or your death and the death of all your people will be on your hands. DO YOU UNDERSTAND???"

Because of the severity of the attack and the amount of blowback the room received, there was only one person standing upright. That person was me. "Now what is this all about, besides my attempted murder? Defendorship, what is this all about; answer me NOW!"

"Bob of Earth, this was not my doing. Gartonome assured the council that he could kill you and we would have no more trouble with you and with the other ship not here right now, we would exterminate the Leptoe people and take over this planet. I tried to explain to the council that you were too powerful, but they would not listen to me. Please spare me of your wrath. I do not want to die."

"Defendorship, I believe you have tried to be straight with me. As for this council, I think I have something for them. I do not want to do this, but I feel that I have no choice. Defendorship, please do not think ill of me for what I am about to do."

I reached inside the brain of this supposed adept Gartonome and sectioned off his autonomic bodily functions and then scrambled his memories and motor functions with an imagined egg whisk. Suddenly the elder man released his bowels and then drooled as he slumped back to the floor. "Take this man and send him back to the council with this message. 'Any more attempts to harm me in any way, or to harm the Leptoe people will doom your whole planet to become just like this man'."

Defendorship motioned to a couple of guards and soon they were gone from the room in a flash of light.

"Defendorship, I am sick and tired of trying to work with you people to come to an acceptable solution for you and the Leptoe people."

"Bob of Earth, please accept my profoundest apology for all of this mess. I tried to explain to the council this would not work. I'm not sure what I am to do now."

"Defendorship, if I was you, I'd find those people that are loyal to me and put them into a ship of my choosing. Then I would send home to Orthan, all the rest of the people here. I would then take the ships left to me and try to find another planet to inhabit, try to get along with whomever you meet, and enjoy life. I think your ruling council will have more worries than trying to find you. Have your ship's doctor see if there is some way to dampen your mating desires, or even find some way to stop the sperm of the males from reaching the eggs of a female, or however your species mates to produce offspring. I assume that there is some type of procedure that is used on people who are in ships like this as there is no way to have a ship with all the people you have and not control breeding."

"We are required to undergo an operation that makes us sterile while we are within the service of our planet for space travel. Once we return to our home planet or a new planet we can have another operation to allow us to breed once more." There was a long pause and then Defendorship spoke again, "Bob of Earth, we have found our way now. Once we can find a new planet to live, we can selectively make some sterile individuals fertile again so we can populate our new world. Then we can limit the number of offspring we are allowed to have and then be made sterile again for life. How wonderful, thank you Bob of Earth, you have saved so many of us."

"Defendorship, I did not save you, you did. By you realizing what was available, but utilizing it in a different way. Now where you go from here is up to you. You can go back home with this new information or you can ask the Leptoe people if you can co-exist with them or you may choose to go out into this vast universe and make your own new home. You have much to think about, and I am missing some very much needed sleep, so please send me home. I hope you have a long and interesting life among the stars."

"Thank you, Bob of Earth. You have given me much to think about. You will not be getting any more calls from me, I assure you. I will be discussing your advice with my fellow shipmates and we shall see where this leads us."

I was back in my room shortly after that conversation. I undressed again and snuggled back into bed with my sister.

Sunday Morning, Mar. 17

Much later in the morning, my sister woke me as she exited the bed and I too rolled out of the warm embrace of Morpheus. I was having a very nice dream of Brenda, Suzie, and me in bed making love. Needless to say, I really didn't want to interrupt that dream, but like all sleeping dreams, it popped out of existence for me and I was awake. Thank the gods that I was only gone for about an hour last night. I still felt dirty from wading around in the mind of Gartonome. He was one evil dude. His mind was like a pig sty of excessive abuse, murder, and torture. I am ashamed that I did what I did, but I feel vindicated by ridding their world of one so deviously evil. I really needed a shower to feel clean again.

After breakfast, it was time for church. We did find out this morning that we were to get a new minister next month. Pastor David Morse had been assigned to another congregation in Colorado. Our new minister, Pastor Rebecca DeMonay would be here next Sunday as a guest speaker. We all hoped she was not a monotone speaker. Other than that, church was boring as usual; well, except for the Joe and Betty show. You know, Joe snoring and Betty smacking his arm to wake him up. The third time she woke him, she must have pinched him as Joe hollered "What?" Then Pastor Morse said, "I guess I better cut this short before Joe has too many bruises for a Sunday morning." We all laughed and Betty blushed a bright red. I think Pastor Morse had finally gotten the approval of the church with that statement. Maybe he would take that lesson with him to his next church.

We ate lunch in town, then headed home. I worked some more on my matching soldiers and students, and sent more e-mails to finish up all of the names I had matches for. I also received several e-mails from both students and soldiers thanking me for setting this up. I answered that it felt like a good idea at the time when Nathan and I talked last week. It's supper time now, so I guess I'm done with that task.

Now I need to see what I can do to defuse some of the plans some people have for me. Some are good and some are bad. I need to see about those who would do me harm, one of them being Dr. Melody Sherman. It seems she is writing about me for some medical journal. She is keeping my name out of it; however, her description of me and the location she is using is very close to home as far as someone possibly pinpointing my location. I know she is not thinking clearly on this, as she wants to be a published doctor so that she can advance her status. I do need to either stop her from submitting this for publication, or see if I can persuade her to change the location or background enough so that I am safe from snoopers. There are a couple more people who have some serious questions about my abilities. One of the questioners is Captain Gage. I think I will have to see about blanking his memory of the events leading up to last year's heroics. We will also have to drop him from our list of people that we invite to our reunion this summer.

After supper, I paid a visit with Captain William (Bill) Gage. He was still in the service, stationed at Fort Hood in Texas. He was still a helicopter pilot and was set to return to Afghanistan in a couple of months. He had a daughter now, named Angel Grace Gage. I quickly entered his mind and cut off the circulation to his hindbrain. I then looked for the memories of his stay in Ft. Belvoir and modified them to eliminate any reference to his or our abilities. I also searched all of his memories for any reference to our time together. I found a couple of vague memories and I zapped them too. Now he could never tell about anything that happened during our heroic mission to save the world; nor would he remember anything about anyone with occult powers, even his own. One more possible harm to me eliminated. While I was up there, I also checked his wife for memories to see if he told her of his adventures, but found nothing.