Chapter 20

"I'm worried about Barbara." Ron told Susan.

"I know. She's driving herself to the point of exhaustion." Susan said.

"She won't take a vacation. I've tried. I want to produce the rod too, but I know that killing ourselves isn't going to accomplish that. I know we are close. But still. She needs to get away." Ron said.

"Barbara, get your cute little butt up here, now!" Susan sent.

"She'll be here in a few moments. I'm going to demand she take some time off. I think you two are due for a couple of weeks skiing. Don't you?" Susan asked.

"Sounds divine, but do you really want both of us to travel together? All your eggs in one basket, so to speak." Ron asked.

"You can travel separately, but I want both of you to go. I think your loving is the other side of her therapy." Susan said.

"You'll get no objection from me on that. I wouldn't mind a few weeks with you, too. Not that you're stingy with your love. You certainly are not that. But I'm also certain you could use a break yourself. You look a bit haggard too." he said.

"Oh, thanks." Susan half-chuckled.

Ron looked at her.

"Susan. We have always been honest with each other from the very first. I'm not about to stop being that now. I love you too much for that. You are the most adorable woman on the planet to me. You also look haggard. That's not a put down, it's a fact. You won't tolerate that sort of behavior in any of the others. You shouldn't tolerate it in yourself. If I have to call Jane, I will, but I do detest going over peoples heads." Ron said.

"Point taken, as Cindy would say. Speaking of which, that girl is in need of a break too. Alright. I think Cindy and I will be joining you on your ski holiday. Lord knows I could use it. Say, Christmas break?" Susan asked.

"I'd say at the start of it. Right after thanksgiving. Which they don't seem to celebrate here." Ron mused.

"Why would they? It's an American holiday. They don't celebrate the fourth of July either. Like we don't celebrate Cinco de Mayo. Instead -here- we celebrate Austria's independence day from the Austro-Hungarian Empire on November 12th. -I guess from the end of WW1 in 1918- and National day on October 26th., which I never have figured out. Anyway, the first two weeks in December are agreeable to me." Susan said.

Barbara came in. Looking much more haggard than Susan, she thought.

"Yes?" she asked, meekly.

"Barbara, my love. You are taking a vacation." Susan said.

"Oh ... I can't do that now. I know I'm close to..." Barbara began.

"It wasn't a request!" Susan said, sternly.

"I really am close. I can feel it." Barbara objected.

"Good. You will be just as close when you come back. To insure that you go, I will be accompanying you and Ron, with Cindy. We are going to go for two weeks of skiing and loving. There is no argument about this. I need you alive. I need you fresh and revigorated.

"As Ron has pointed out, traveling together would be putting all our eggs in one basket, so we will travel there and back separately. But we will all go. The first two weeks in December. That's just two weeks away.

"Until that time, I first want you to get some sleep tonight. Then I want you to alternate nights between Ron and I. Maybe share one or two with us. You will stop work at precisely seven o-clock every evening and have a good dinner, followed by lovemaking until you have no choice but sleep. You will not return to work until at least eight o-clock. Now, do I make myself clear?" Susan asked.

"I have a seven-thirty A.M. class to teach." Barbara objected.

"Gosh, what are T.A.'s for? You will just have to rely on them to cover the first half hour. I know your T.A., she's well competent to cover your class. You don't utilize her near enough." Susan said.

Barbara looked dejected.

"I really am close you know." she said.

"I think that's wonderful. I truly do. So the last thing I need now is for you to blow a gasket. Producing the first rod ruined a good man. It took Aphrodite herself to repair the damage. I don't happen to have her at my beckon call to count on to repair you. You've read the text of her message. You know she doesn't want that either. So, take a break! Or I will request Jane to induce it. Got it?" Susan asked.

"Alright. I guess I could use one ... but I don't want to." Barbara said.

"As Mick Jaggar once said: 'You can't always get what you want'." Susan said, "Ron, would you please take this woman out and feed her and then put her to bed?"

"With pleasure." Ron said, chuckling.

Cindy didn't want to go either, but she knew better than to try and argue with Susan.

"Jane?" Susan asked after she knew Jane would be up.

"Yes, Love?" came the reply.

"I've just ordered Ron and Barbara and Cindy to take a vacation for two weeks. I'm going myself to make certain they do. How are folks there holding up? Including you?" Susan asked.

Jane mentally chuckled.

"I ordered the whole place shut down for Christmas break yesterday. No Work at all. The resorts are going to see their biggest season in years. I was just waiting for you to decide to do the same yourself." Jane said.

"That's a good idea. I didn't make it general. I'll do that. I have the hospital rotate shifts so that everybody gets enough time." Susan said.

"That's what I did. Teaching staff will fill in for residents in rotation. And vica versa" Jane said.

"That will work. Barbara seems to think that she is close, but I figure that's just when I don't want her killing herself." Susan said.

"I agree. Good plan. You booked later?" Jane asked.

"No, I thought I'd turn in after I catch a bite to eat." Susan said.

"I'll take a break and drop in. It's not quite as good as in person, but it's not bad." Jane said.

"Thanks, love. I'd like that. Feel you then." Susan replied.

"Bon appetite, my love." Jane replied, kissing her.

To break up the different aspects of research, Susan traveled with Barbara and had Cindy travel with Ron. No single accident could produce a serious long term setback to either the physics or the medical research, although, either would have been severely felt.

Susan looked on as Barbara sort of looked out the window on the train as they traveled. That was alright. The Austrian landscape couldn't help but be soothing. Barbara hardly noticed it. Her focus internal on her thoughts.

The resort town was festive and friendly. There wasn't much danger in the four of them going out to dinner, but they stayed in different hotels just the same. Just in case of a major avalanche or a fire. The skiing was wonderful. The snow almost as good as back home. It was nice enough to snow lightly several times during the night to supply just enough powder to make even the packed runs a joy to ski on. At night, there was food, drink and loving. None of the Sisterhood was seriously devoted to alcohol, but a glass or two of wine with dinner helped induce a pleasant mellow feeling. This was conducive to the lovemaking that followed. There was certainly an adequate amount of that. The resorts were discrete enough not to notice any room swapping. They alternated partners at whim.

Barbara did unwind some, but not as much as Susan hoped for. She was always thinking.

Then it happened.

Barbara and Ron were riding up a chair lift together. It was below freezing, just a bit, but enough that the metal of their ski poles was below the freezing point. A light snow had started, not enough to discourage any skiing, but just enough for a few flakes to be visible. One single flake drifted down from the sky and landed on the shaft of Barbara's ski pole and stuck. She sat looking at it a moment, considering it's beauty. Suddenly her eye's got really big as the seed the rod had planted germinated.

"THAT'S IT! I GOT IT!" she exclaimed excitedly.

"What? That joke I told you last night?" Ron chuckled.

"NO, NO! The crystal! See the snowflake? It's crystal shape follows the basic molecular shape of the water molecule. But each flake is different because of random factor factors of brownian motion and such. What makes a crystal the same, is a seed crystal! We need a seed from the original crystal, the original Sapphire! It must not have been pure sapphire -aluminum oxide- it must have been something else! Something that survived the temperature. It acted as a catalyst and set the crystal structure of the rod!

"Like the silicon boles they grow in Silicon Valley. They cut up old wafers for the seeds. The silicon wafers grown now are progressions of the seeds they used way back at the start of the semi-conductor era. Identically crystalline wise. Once they got pure Silicon crystal, they stayed with it!" Barbara exclaimed.

Ron was nodding to himself, and frowning.

"Yes, I see ... Unfortunately, that's very bad news." he said.

"Huh? Why?" Barbara asked.

"Because, my love. We don't have an original sapphire seed. Whatever there was was used in the production of the first rod. The only other thing that survived the melt was the diamond substrate of the blue LED. That and the platinum wire." Ron said.

"DIAMOND! That's it! The Diamond substrate set the matrix! The platinum wire provides the interconnect! Changes the distributive capacitance of the matrix! The time transience is a factor between the acoustic wave properties of the crystal and the electro-magnetic 'C' velocity in the platinum. Between the two of them you get a standing wave. The size of the wave is a factor of the magnitude and the differences in velocity. All we need is an LED off the same Diamond substrate seed. It's probably a man made Diamond. Maybe out of the GE facility, which is about the only place growing man-made diamonds. But if we order an LED from the same source, it probably will have the same crystalline structure as the original. Like I said, they re-use failed substrate as seed material. I'm certain they do the same with man-made diamonds. It's probably harder to get good seed crystals for diamonds than it is for Silicon! We've got to get back!" Barbara exclaimed.

"No." Ron said.

"No?" she asked.

"No. We will tell Susan what we think. We won't be able to do a thing about it until after the holidays anyway. But both Susan and Jane should know this information right away. For one thing. It might be something else than the diamond. If it's a part of the Sapphire ... I don't know. Maybe there's some flecks in a mortar and pestle somewhere. But we need to get this information away from us two. If the ski lift broke right now, then all the research would be lost." Ron said.

"Susan's waiting at the top of the hill, she's talking to Jane now." Barbara said.

"So help me. I will never get used to being around telepathic women." Ron said, not joking.

"You liked it well enough last night." Barbara said, grinning.

They met Susan and Cindy at the top of the lift. Susan grinned ferociously at them as they skied up.

"Okay. Jane knows everything you know now. She's going to check on both possibilities. We are to continue our holiday. I'm for that. I'm having a marvelous time." Susan said, looking at Cindy, who blushed a bit.

"Ron? Can you make me some Bucky-balls?" Cindy asked, turning to him.

"Sure, no problem. There's probably some back in your hotel room in the chimney of that quaint oil lamp on your mantle." Ron said.

"What are Bucky-balls?" Susan asked.

"Buckminsterfullerine." three voices answered in unison.

"Always the last to know ... Alright, one of you, Ron. What's that? " Susan asked.

"Buckminster Fuller, was the man who invented the geodesic dome. Buckminsterfullerine was named after him because of it's shape. Like a soccer ball. We all know about C12 and C6, being stable configurations of carbon atoms. Somebody, I don't remember who, figured out that there were higher stable configurations, like C60 or C90 or even C240. These configurations would be linked together like little balls. The atom to atom bonds lining up in chains to make up sides on segments. Any of those upper shapes would be balls, resembling geodesic spheres. Thus; Buckminsterfullerine." Ron explained.

"I see ... What do you want... Bucky-balls for?" Susan asked.

"Well, Barbara's not the only one who's still thinking while on holiday ... I was thinking of them last night ... While I was looking at Susan's derrière. It's curve got me thinking of soccer balls..." Cindy began.

"Now you know why I never monitor when we make love." Susan said, rolling her eyes.

"Don't be silly, you have a damn fine curve to your derrière. It was that curve that got me thinking about the other curve that's been on my mind for a long time. To wit; the key to our lock. The molecule that will tag the divot in the cell structure of a cancerous cell. Only it isn't a smooth curve, it has flat spots in it, like a soccer ball imprint. Before you dragged me away on this outing I was looking for shapes that fit that curve, I tried C60, but it's curve is too sharp. I need C90 or bigger." Cindy explained.

"Ouch. Not near as simple. Especially in quaintly. People have been trying to make the higher orders for years. Not an easy thing to do. One guy even tried catching a bolt of lightning in a bucket of wet sand. Caught the lightning, didn't find any high order Bucky-balls." Ron said.

"Oh, I want you to put Platinum in them too." Cindy said.

"Sure piece of cake, just tell me how." Ron chuckled.

"I was thinking of a platinum wire down the middle of carbon rod filaments with an Eximer laser focused on the electric arc gap between them to raise the quantum state beyond plasma." Cindy said easily.

Ron looked dumbfounded.

"Might work." Barbara mused.

"Why Platinum?" Susan asked.

"Just a hunch." Cindy replied.

"Yeah, and I know where you got that hunch. Remember the affinity the crystals have for Platinum. We had to vacuum cement them, but it was the only thing that would stick. And there's platinum wire in the original rod. You're thinking it has some connection with the woman you cured?" Barbara asked.

Cindy nodded.

"I don't really follow. Put Platinum inside the Bucky-balls? How do you do that?" Susan asked.

"That's the easy part. Making the balls is the tough part. If you vaporize carbon and Platinum into the same space, then it's likely that -if you produce any balls- an atom or more of platinum will get trapped inside the carbon as it settles into it's state of equilibrium. The balls are hollow, just like a soccer ball." Ron said.

"Cindy's idea for producing them has merit. A higher quantum state -plasma- should make more balls. But it's still chancy. I still don't think you'd get many." Barbara said.

"Alright, take the predicted size of the balls you desire -C90 or C120- and figure that for wavelength. Modulate the arc with that frequency. The standing wave should produce a catalyst surface on which the carbon atoms will line up, thus producing more of them." Cindy suggested.

"You sure you're in the right field? Maybe you should be in physics." Ron mused.

"It just might work at that. We can try it when we get back." Barbara said.

"Alright. Any more brainstorms?" Susan asked.

The three of them shook their heads.

"Good. Cause we are standing on a freezing mountain top over some of the best skiing on earth talking about Bucky-balls. I will relate what you all have said to Jane as we ski down. I hope any further brainstorms come sitting around a fire holding a glass of wine. Preferably with a nice, warm body part in the other hand." Susan said, shivering.

"My, I like the way this woman thinks, trade you parts." Cindy chuckled.

"Good idea. I think you and Barbara should observe each others derrière's and see what thoughts that inspires. I will see what comes of it with my hand on Ron's parts." Susan chuckled, heading down the hill.

"I like the way she thinks too." Ron grinned, following her.

"I guess it's you and me babe. It is an excellent idea, you know." Cindy said, pointing her skis down hill.

"Yes, I fully agree. Let's go." Barbara said, leading them off.

Jane was almost reluctant to contact Steve and Judy once more. She still strongly felt the pangs of guilt over her actions of the past. No matter what Aphrodite's assurances. She pulled up to the opulent house in the Berkeley hills overlooking the San Francisco Bay. She hadn't called ahead. She composed herself for a moment before walking up the neatly bordered path to the front entryway.

She rang the bell and waited.

Judy opened the door. She didn't wait and instant before she was in Jane's arms.

"God I've missed you!" she finally said, pulling back, just before she kissed her.

"I was unsure of my welcome." Jane said, tears on her cheeks after the kiss.

"You must never feel unwelcome here. We love you, you know that." Judy said, leading her inside.

"I know I left you very little choice in that matter." Jane said.

"Perhaps, but that is no longer the case ... We have much to talk about." Judy said, guiding her to an internal courtyard.

Steve was there, lovingly tending to a miniature Bonsai tree.

He looked up and dropped his tools. Sweeping Jane into his arms and hugging her like a long lost loved one, that she was.

Afterwards his kiss was warm and genuine.

"We've been expecting you for some time. I am very glad that you are here." he said, warmly.

Jane was still crying. Overwhelmed by the warmth of her welcome.

Steve lifted her gently into his arms and carried her into the bedroom. Judy stripping off her clothes as she followed.

They made love to her on a four poster bed with a frame made of clear glass. Jane's many orgasm's supplying her with much needed relief for the anguish she felt. The kisses were warm and sincere. It was the therapy most needed at the moment. Later she was much calmer.

They sat wearing silk robes in a conversation pit looking out into the courtyard, separated only by a solid glass wall between.

Judy poured them three glasses of an excellent Mendicino county Chablis. Setting them on cork coasters on the solid glass table.

Jane was composed enough to sip at her wine.

"I didn't expect this." she said, sipping meditatively at her wine.

"Apparently." Judy chuckled.

"I thought you'd hate me. You certainly both have reason enough." Jane said.

"We both shall be eternally grateful to you. For you brought us together. My life is rich and rewarding. So is Steven's. My daughter is now in college, thanks to you. And there is much more, for we all share a joy that we never knew before. We love you beyond measure." Judy said, sincerely.

"How can you both be so... forgiving?" Jane asked.

"Who, who have heard the voice of Aphrodite could not?" Judy said, softly.

"She spoke to you?" Jane asked, startled.

"Yes, to both of us." Steve said, sipping at his wine with pleasure.

"She removed the scar tissue from our hearts. More importantly she explained the reasons that had caused it to begin with. Since then our days have been filled with joy and our nights with love. Our only longing has been the desire for your sweet love to grace our presence once again. Now that you are here, we are whole once more." Judy said, kissing her softly.

"Now enough of this. Tell us of your life. The Sisterhood, it goes well?" Judy asked.

Jane nodded.

"Yes, I'm thrilled to say. We are now some-four thousand strong. We have our own University in Austria and we fully control one here. We run two state of the art teaching hospitals and two newspapers." she related, looking out at the courtyard, through the virtually transparent wall.

She put her wine down on the solid glass table, seeming to notice it for the first time. Even the legs were glass, it appeared to be a single perfectly cast piece. There were no seams visible to mar it's perfection.

"Where on earth did you get this table? It's incredible!" she exclaimed.

"Yes, I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. I expect to sell a lot of them." Steve chuckled.

"You made this? You've continued your research?" Jane asked.

"Obviously. I'm indebted to you for my love of glass." Steve chuckled.

"And that wall? It's gorgeous, but isn't it a little dangerous sitting on the Heyward fault like you are?" Jane asked.

Steve picked up a large glass cube off the table and hurled it at the wall, forcefully. The cube hit the wall almost dead center and bounced! It went skidding off across the tile floor spinning and tumbling. Neither piece of glass was even scratched, although the cube had struck the wall on one of it's corners and landed on the floor in the same manner. A shattered ceramic tile marked it's impact upon the floor.

Steve seemed unconcerned as he grinned.

"That's incredible!" Jane gasped.

"Yes, I'm quite pleased with the wall too. It's probably the strongest component of the house. I'm working up to that, a glass house." Steve said, thoughtfully.

"What about privacy?" Jane asked, kind of chuckling.

Steve picked up a wireless control and touched a button. Suddenly the wall was a perfect mirror, reflecting the inside. He thumbed a control and the mirror began to admit light slowly in shades. From just visible to fully transparent once more. He touched another control and the entire wall became a color video screen, the local news was on. He frowned a bit and returned the wall to transparency again.

Jane sat with her mouth open.

"Super-twist LCD. I use iridescence theory to generate the colors." he explained.

"Four-thousand ... That's wonderful!. So I take it you have developed your own daughter rods? Otherwise you must live with that rod in you." Judy chuckled.

"Daughter rods?" Jane asked.

"Your crystals. I've detected thirty-eight of them, and two others you use as a Com-link. Excellent quality, I might add." Steve said, easily.

"You've detected them? How?" Jane asked.

"With my own." Steve chuckled, "or hadn't you noticed Judy's amulet?"

Judy lifted the sparkling amulet from between her shapely breasts.

Jane stared at it.

"Not as anything more than an amulet. I can't feel it." she said.

"It has a neutral set. It's unbiased." Judy said.

"You know about biasing?" Jane asked.

"Obviously. That's why all mine have a neutral set. The growth of the Sisterhood, while being a great joy to us, is no longer our concern. We have our own parallel destiny's to fulfill. Besides you, I alone possess the technology. It will remain that way. When I pass on, the information will be yours totally. The technology is available to you now, freely. But your folks are doing just fine. Actually I expected you before this." Steve said.

"Then you know why I am here now?" Jane asked.

"Yes, Of course you mean besides us being so cute and lovable?" he chuckled, "But put your fears aside. I have what you came for, and a few other things my research has brought to light to take back with you."

Jane almost sagged into herself in relief.

"But you will stay a while, won't you?" Judy asked.

"I should get what I came for to Ron and Barbara as quickly as possible." Jane said, torn by her duty.

"I can transmit the technical information directly to your secure Com-link. They will need a few things that would be difficult to obtain before the first of the year anyway. They won't need the objects you came for until that time anyway. There's no hurry now. The Rod of Aphrodite will be born. So please, you have been too long away from our bed. I know Chelsea would love to see you too. I know she would be honored if you would induce her first level." Steve said.

Chelsea was Judy's daughter.

"I would be honored to do it, but I don't have the rod with me." Jane said.

"I have an adequate crystal. In fact; superior to the ones you've produced. Judy set it's bias, but it will be responsive to you. Unlike yours, it would be responsive to any of the Sisterhood. It's capacity is sufficient for all but twelfth level. So, will you stay?" Steve asked.

"Yes, I'd love to. I have much to make up for." Jane said, tears growing in her eyes.

"Oh the dams broke again. Why don't you make us some dinner, love? I think Jane and I have some more loving to attend to." Judy said, taking Jane's hand and leading her toward the bedroom again...

The dinner -and the loving- were outstanding. Jane reclined on the sofa looking up at the wall, now jet black studded with crystal sharp points of light. A star field. Every now and then the points would suddenly streak and settle in on a new portion of the sky.

Jane looked to Steve in inquiry.

"A live feed from one of the telescopes at the Lick observatory. I have a friend up there. He want's very much for me to build them a new telescope, but he can't quite afford me. I may do it anyway." Steve replied.

"I'll be happy to finance it, that's a very worthy cause." Jane said.

"I'm quite capable of financing it myself, really. But thank you. I accept. It would dent my cash flow right now. I've bought a lot of equipment lately to gear up to produce scaled down versions of the display wall." Steve replied.

"Just let me know what you need." Jane replied.

"I'll let you contribute ten-million. It will cost three times that, but that's mostly for outlay for equipment that's reusable. We're going for a three-hundred inch Schmit- Cassegraen. You can pay for the support carriage, which will be massive." Steve said.

"No problem. You talked about parallel destinies, what did you mean?" Jane asked.

"Application of the technological aspects of the rod. The safe development of new fields of energy production and applications such as that window. How about pollution free transportation? How about reactionless thrusters that will allow us to travel to Mars and beyond. I'm working on a full color 3-dimensional imaging system that will make Television seem like the first telegraphs. That all needs to be developed while keeping it out of the hands of governments and terrorists. Nice bit of work on your last Doctoral thesis by the way." Steve said.

"Thank you. I guess I never considered the energy and communications applications of the technology. I'm not sure how I feel about that. Can you guarantee the technology will never fall into the wrong hands?" Jane asked.

"Yes, because I control it exclusively with the exception of your organization, which I'm not worried about. If I produce energy devices, they will be totally self contained and impervious to reverse engineering. If they could find anything that would penetrate it, then they don't need our technology. The devices themselves will supply limited quanta of energy over an unlimited period of time. They can't be paralleled to increase output for war or terrorist applications.

"In fact, they just wouldn't work at all for those applications. An energy cell used for a bomb would simply cease to produce any output.

"I can insure this because I can bias them myself with an ingrained essence of my own ethics. In fact in that cube I threw at the window contains a complete copy of my mental processes along with Judy's to keep it company. I expect it to be around for millennia after we're gone. A sort of immortality on it's own.

"The applications for data processing alone are staggering. Consider an intelligent, unmanned probe that can travel to the stars and search out habitable planets and instantly report back to us any it finds. It could contain copies of the finest minds in every field.

"Consider copying the contents of the library of congress interpreted by the mentalities of the finest minds available in every field of science today and having it in your pocket for reference. Tempered through a filter biased by the Sisterhood to prevent answering unethical or socially damaging questions.

"Consider a desalination plant with no moving parts -100% efficient, no waste heat- supplying fresh water, free and forever off the coast of Ethiopia. No apparent power input.

"Consider the prospect of your mentality existing to the very end of the universe, surviving as long as there is a single erg of energy remaining.

"This is the task that Aphrodite assigned to Judy and I. You control the sisterhood, along with the other woman who will be guardian of the second rod. We direct the technological applications, which are unlimited." Steve said.

"Her name is Susan Rowe. And she's a whole lot purer of heart than I am." Jane said.