Chapter 1   The Blue Planet   Chapter 2   Spoonraker        Chapter 3    Space Ships
Chapter 4   The Error            Chapter 5    After Recovery
Chapter 6    Stories from  Another World
Chapter 7    His Plan              Chapter 8    The Colony
 

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    JC knew he was beginning to recover because he couldn't sleep a much as before and he was tongue lashing himself mentally. He had to stop, he needed to save every bit of strength he had or he would slow his recovery. He knew the only way to stop was divert himself. He tried several times and it didn't work.
    He was mad at himself and the others for being so stupid, but being angry took more energy, he had to calm down. He tried reviewing what went wrong and that increased his anger. He tried reviewing the mission, but that led back to what had gone wrong and so that failed also.
    He tried once more to divert himself by reviewing his family history, he could feel his pulse rate decline and his body relax. Many family members were story tellers and he enjoyed their stories.
    Five thousand generations of his family had been entrepreneurs or scientists. He was the first maverick, a historian and a cryptanalyst, his knowledge of history aided in deciphering the languages of other civilizations.
    His ancestors were the reason he was on this mission. Two thousand years ago, one of his ancestors explored this planetary system. He and his crew disappeared leaving only a transmission to the space ship, a brief automatic transmission that all exploration crews sent before they descended to a new planet, giving their location, time, and a brief description of the planetary system and the planet they choose to explore.
    It was the first planet with water to be discovered in more than thirty years. Their choice of words indicated their excitement, referring to it as The Blue Planet, Third From The Yellow Star. They also called it Earth Two because it was almost identical to earth, it even had a large moon. The planetary system was very similar to the solar system, including an asteroid belt. The star was of the same spectral type and nearly the same size, but it was much younger than the sun. The Blue planet did not receive much attention because the first report indicated barren land, little or no vegetation. Also, it was located in a region of very few stars.
    While the first full scale exploration was being planned, another more promising group of planetary systems was found and the mission was canceled, but it was re-instated many years later. The second mission was granted because it could be easily accomplished while exploring another promising group. The third mission was granted for the same reason.
    By the time of the third mission, the Milky Way had been charted in much greater detail and by using a massive star to change direction, the third mission could be made from the space ship with very little energy. What energy was stored on board the explorer would be used to rendezvous with the space ship on its return to earth. This mission was carefully planned, like all missions were.
    A thousand years after the first mission, another ancestor returned, trying to learn the first crew's fate. They didn't return either, but they sent a transmission each day reporting what they had seen and done. Equipped much better than the first crew, they transmitted volumes of technical data about the planet and planetary system, very useful in preparing for the third mission. Most of the data was transmitted by automatic sensors via computer on board the lander to the orbiter to the explorer and then to earth.
    After six months, irregularities began to appear in the reports. By the end of the year, it was almost impossible to decipher them. The last intelligible report stated they had discovered the first crew's hover vehicle at the bottom of a lake and they were going to try to recover it. The following reports were all goobledygook.
    Unsuccessfully, he read and reread the reports, in an attempt to glean more information from them. He couldn't find anything more than anyone else, that's why he was so mad at himself, he and everyone else had missed the obvious clues. All three crews had made the same error.
    Now he was getting to close to what had gone wrong and therefore; to close to his previous mental state, he changed his thoughts to conserve energy. He reviewed history in a very superficial manner, he did this often. He laughed at what each generation thought was important.
    The ancients recorded the conquests of kings and then of generals. Then came wars over religion, followed by discoveries of new lands. Next came the conflict over political and economic ideas, followed by new scientific discoveries. Then came the problems of the environment, to many people, to much pollution, not enough resources. What was important to the ancients historians disappeared from the written record. Armed conflict disappeared and ideological conflict had all but disappeared. Concern over biodiversity had arisen many times, but no solution was adequate.
    The population growth rate was out of control. Family planning was largely ignored, any form of birth control was still taboo for religious reasons. Venereal disease was endemic. Pollution was still increasing at a fast  rate. Nuclear and coal fired power plants were still being delayed because of the disagreement over pollution and waste disposal. Droughts were common. The green house effect was getting worse.
    Only small dents were made in the 'Throw Away' life style. These minor changes were made in a half hearted attempt to prevent the world temperature from increasing rapidly. Many people recycled and most use public transportation, electric cars were common among the wealthy. Solar and wind energy began to supply many homes with heat and electricity. Some were stand alone systems, other were completely integrated with the utilities.
    A new generation of personal computers reduced the cost so low and the size so small that almost every person carried their own computer. The new generation was based on an octal technology rather than tertiary or binary. Storage capacity increased by another order of magnitude so disc and tape storage was not necessary. Printed output was eliminated by a visor display which was later replaced by the so called 'sun glasses' display. Since everything was solid state the reliability was greatly increased.
    Major changes were forced on the people because of their extravagances. Droughts now occurred in the temperate zones. Many forests disappeared, so did all large wild animals. Lumber and paper was very limited. Magazines disappeared first, then books, and then newspapers. Home construction had to change, inflation increased.
    No one seemed to notice the losses, people continued to ignore the problem, very few took responsibility for their actions. As long as water came out of the tap and the lights came on, very few planned for the future. If a problem arose, they thought the government would take care of it or a new technology would solve the problem. The government appointed another committee to study the problem and a new technology was not developed.
    Fortunately, networking advances replaced paper with video, via the telephone system. Large volumes of data were transmitted by fiber optic cable or satellite. Around the world people were connected to one another electronically. People read electronically and traveled by simulation.
    A significant voluntary change occurred in the electronic village. Networking had expanded so much that the communication system could not handle the load. So the electronic village began to use radio to transmit messages. The old radio and TV band was used, since all radio and TV had moved to the communication system thirty years before. R-mail became so popular, it replaced the telephone for personal communication. Every neighborhood had its own antenna and booster transmitter.
    The next events happened much more rapidly than predicted. The loss of trees plus the increasing green house effect changed the rain fall and cloud patterns around the world. People continued to ignore the problem. They ignored the fact that trees need water, too. As more trees died from dehydration, exacerbated by disease and pollution the droughts increased, crops failed in self sustaining countries. Famines occurred in all food dependent countries.
    Reservoirs and wells went dry, Oil and natural gas consumption rose dramatically to desalinate water to provide drinking and irrigation water. Construction could not keep up with demand as rivers and lakes dried up.
    The regulations on coal fired and nuclear power plants were removed, but it was to late, construction would take ten years working around the clock. Gasoline was limited to government agencies such as the military, fire, police, and other emergency services. All private travel was banned. Trucks, trains, and buses were being converted to natural gas, to haul food and water and to transport people to work, but it couldn't be done fast enough.
    The Ross ice shelf collapsed and glaciers around the world melted at a faster pace, the sea level began to rise. With in a year all major oil ship terminals were under water, the construction industry could not build dikes fast enough. All off shore and coastal oil wells were plugged. Oil shipments by water ceased, inflation began to sky rocket. Natural gas consumption increased, pipe lines could not meet the demand. Brown outs occurred almost every day. The droughts got worse. Crops turned to dust in the fields. The food distribution system could not meet schedules. Food supplies were deplete.
    Less than a week after very strict water rationing was in effect, all economic activity came to a complete halt as people spent all their time and resources in a futile attempt to get food and water. Rationale went out the window, panic ensued, it rippled around the world. Countries dropped neutron bombs on their own populace in an attempt to stop the food and water riots. Mass dehydration and famine occurred. People were reduced to barbarians. The small arms ammunition supply of the entire world was consumed before the end of the next week.
    The population fell from twenty billion to four billion by the third week. Those who still had any strength left were fighting with knives, stones, and clubs. Large wild animals had long been extinct, including most fish, now horses, beef cattle, and most dairy cattle were wiped out.
    Some people and animals such as dogs, cats, chickens, sheep, goats, and hogs survived. Mainly in remote rural areas, those more than five days walk away from the mobs, they were to dehydrated by that time to be a threat to anyone. They didn't have enough strength to carry very much water, if they had any.
    The Great Drought happened very rapidly, instead of thirty to forty years that was predicted, it was complete in three years. The population crashed two more times before it reached a new sustainable level. The survivors knew they had to replace the trees. Two centuries later trees began to increase and some land was recovered from the drought. Obviously, this period was another dark age. The standard of living fell precipitously. Learning and technology were stagnant and even fell, but it did recover.
    Prior to the Great Drought, some people had predicted what was going to happen. They were called the doom and gloom people by the majority. A few took them seriously and they prepared as best they could for what was to come. Some actually moved to areas where they thought they had the best chance to survive. Others created summer homes in similar areas and some managed to move before the travel restrictions were imposed.
    While the rest of the population was moving to the sun belt, there was this small but extremely important counter migration to the then harsh climates. Some business groups choose to move to these remote locations. Groups that did not require very many resources and could conduct their business by communicating in some manner, they didn't need to be in physical contact with the rest of the corporation. They were mainly think tank groups, such as research and development. One such group was the research and development segment of the computer industry, a group that was crucial to the recovery.
    Their homes were underground, or dug into the side of a hill. These people had a tremendous advantage over the refugees, because they had the time to test their new mode of life and to refine it while they could still get help from other sources. They had the proper equipment. Their wells and latrines were already dug. Their storage cellars were full. They had a few animals to supply meat and cloth and most importantly, seeds to plant the next crop.
    Most of these enclaves survived and they provided a strong nucleus for the new society. A few were destroyed by the mobs and a few were forced to move because the drought came unpredicted to their area. Most of these people were well educated and or highly skilled. They put a premium on education and did their best to maintain it. Local education was supplemented by using the electronic village.
    They knew what had to be done and did it, whether they liked it or not. They knew if any changes were to be made, now was the time to make them. They changed the number system to octal. The numeral nine replaced the numeral one and the numeral eight replaced the numeral zero. Weights and measures were changed. The language was made phonetic, irregular verbs were eliminated. The alphabet was changed and reduced. Enough redundancy was kept in all the characters to prevent confusion between any of them. Grammar and punctuation was simplified. Words were contracted. You became U, are became R, see became C and so on. All pronounceable two, three, an four letter combinations of vowels and consonants were used. This reduced the time needed to key and transmit alphabetic data.
    They changed the economic system. Private property and money disappeared. All resources were owned by the world community. Every person was considered to be a part owner of the world community and shared in any benefits.
    Anyone could use any resource owned by the community. Any person could file a claim to use a given resource via R-mail, stating how the resource was going to be used. If standard procedures were followed for private use, R-mail approval was received the same day. If procedures were non standard, the request would be relayed to the appropriate committee and generally an answer was received within a week. Any disputes were resolved by those interested, usually the local village.
    Anyone could research the data base to learn how to use a resource and what rules had to be followed in using the resource. The rules were designed to protect the environment and were updated as new research indicated a change was necessary. Each person using the resource received a message stating the reason why the change should be considered and they were invited to participate. After the change was agreed upon, the new change was sent to everyone using the resource.
    Everyone followed the rules. The Great Drought was still fresh in their memories and everyone knew it was caused by not following the rules of the ecosystem. Later everyone followed the rules because it became a way of life. The rules were not that restrictive and they could be changed. Simple errors could be corrected within a week, minor changes could be made in a month, and major changes could be made within a year. This was certainly faster than any of the old systems.
    They changed the calendar. They kept the old months, but reduced the number of days per week to six, with five weeks per month. The last month had six weeks except during skip year, when the last week was dropped to bring the calendar back into line with the equinox.
    The Great Drought finally convinced people, they had to disagree agreeably and they had to cooperate, a free market can't solve all problems. This period in history fascinated JC, the people did make an effort not to repeat their previous mistakes. The biggest changes occurred in government and religion.
    Contrary to what anyone predicted, instead of many conflicting ideologies, only one emerged, based on ecology. Obviously none of the old ideologies had prevented the Great Drought. The people of the world were finally united, one government, one language, and no religion.
    Because of the gruesome death by dehydration and starvation during the Great Drought, voluntary and involuntary euthanasia was an every day occurrence. If you didn't work, you didn't drink or eat and if you became to weak to do any type of work, you were killed. No one was going to waste their resources on you and they didn't want to watch you die, slowly. Obviously the survivors were workers.
    The death rate increased dramatically because of pneumonia and other hypothermia related diseases, even so, birth control was practiced as best as it could be. Since most religions prohibited euthanasia and birth control, the people agreed to abandon all religion, there was no point in being hypocritical. Another seldom mentioned reason was that no one had resources to waste on religion.
    Solar voltaic cells and wind generators provided enough power to keep the electronic village running, plus a few lights and a few refrigerators, used to store the remaining pharmaceuticals. Batteries were prized, to store electricity. The surviving electronic data bases became the new libraries of the world. Ideas and solutions to problems were shared around the world. Problems were discussed and agreement was reached on a solution. The solution was put into effect by those closest to the problem.
    Radio was used for all communication except for very short distances. Hence one language and one government. Governing was done by R-mail. Anyone who wanted to participate could. Everyone could vote. Another old illusion was eliminated, everyone knew the majority did not rule, it was the majority of the minority who participated who ruled. Human nature had not changed, ninety per cent of the new order did not participate, just like the old order.
    All the trappings of the old society were gone. Staying alive was now the most important task. There was no need to keep up with the Jones. No one tried to accumulate wealth, that stupid illusion was dead. The bigger is better philosophy was gone. There was no need for expansion. Bureaucracy was not needed, not even government bureaucracy.
    Immediately following The Great Drought everyone worked everyday all day to get food, but a century later people did slow down and only worked four days a week or less, everyone enjoyed the extra weekends. Most people had two jobs, some had three, the primary one was raising food, done the first thing in the morning while it was still cool. The second job was done in the shade. Everyone worked part time doing what had to be done for the community.
    Once again it was an agrarian society. Rise with the sun and go to bed with the sun. Everyone had to be self sustaining. Very few electric solar power tools were used, everyone labored in the gardens and fields. Gardens were every where, every square inch was used. Side walks were gone and streets were narrow, homes were small, so not to use any more land than was necessary. People once again, walked in their neighborhoods, talked and played cards with their neighbors. People shared, greed was gone, conspicuous consumption was gone because there was very little to consume.
    Education had a new importance. People had to solve many problems quickly and the wise use of resources was the key to survival. They intentionally kept their villages small and dispersed to limit the spread of diseases. The population was tightly controlled. People did it willingly. Pollution was held in check as best they could and was improved with each new technological recovery. Nothing was wasted, everything was reused, recycled, or composted, there were no trash dumps. Every new product had to have planned disposal or it could not be produced.
    Recycling on a grand scale began as the abandon old industrial complex was salvaged to form the new industrial complex. When possible, scavenging trips were made to recover the batteries from electric cars, and for other essential items that were no longer in production. Most of these scavenging trips were made by water and limited to a few miles from shore. The rising sea level allowed different areas to be scavenged each trip. The sea level stopped rising five hundred feet above the old sea level.
    Only a few villages with their industries intact survived from the old order. Those near hydro or nuclear power in remote locations and that were self staining. Most of these villages and industries were mining related, a few were fishing villages.
    Coal became the major source of power, because the natural gas pipe lines still in operation did not extend to where the new centers of population were. Slowly, industry revived, but this time it was need directed and not want directed. An ancient source of power was redeveloped, steam. The industrial revolution was beginning anew. Solar power, battery, and fiber glass insulation were among the first industries to be redeveloped.
    Between coal and steam, the steel industry revived to a new low level of production. The steel was used to make farm equipment and boilers. Next came the cement, chemical, and pharmaceutical industries. The number of hospitals dramatically increased.
    Even though these industries didn't have to be reinvented, travel was so limited and labor so scarce that progress was extremely slow. The distribution system was gone. Walking, bicycles, and small boats were the only modes of transportation.
    The strict limit on the use of wood added to the slowness of the recovery. The only lumber available was that produced by forest management since growing trees were vital to the reduction of carbon dioxide very few were cut for lumber or fire wood.
    Then another ancient industry returned, the railroad, with steam turbine electric locomotives. Soon followed by steam ships and steam generated electricity. As the transportation system improved, trade increased and the standard of living improved dramatically. As the standard of living increased, some of the old practices of specialization and mass production were reintroduced, mainly because these old practices were more economical.
    The people remained vigilant. They didn't want the old excesses to reappear. Two more centuries passed before the new industrial revolution was complete, oil and natural gas replaced coal once again. As each small village received community supplied electricity, community water and sewerage soon followed. Next came refrigeration, central heating, indoor plumbing, and washing machines.
    Pneumonia deaths dropped to the old lows. The population began to increase, but the people were vigilant and it soon returned to zero growth. The population was allowed to increase as new farm land was recovered from the drought and the sea. The glaciers began to grow and the sea level slowly fell.
    Since capital is a resource and all resources were owned by the community, any economic gain was distributed to everyone, not just the people involved. Because the gain to any one person was small, the incentive to be entrepreneurial was reduced. It discouraged people from working hard, but at the same time selfishness and greed were reduced. No one worked harder or longer than they had to, but everyone worked. The emphasis was on getting the job done well and efficiently, not on trying to accumulate wealth.
    A little know fact was now widely understood, when people work over time, very little is accomplished. During the first two weeks, productivity increases, then declines. So much so that by the end of the first month, the amount of work done in ten hours is lower than what had been done before in eight. The error and waste rate increased to the point that by the sixth week the productivity was below the normal rate. Now the only time anyone worked over time was during an emergency.
    Working hard was the myth of the old system. The only people who worked hard before the Great Drought were workaholics and they had a mental problem. Everyone else only worked hard at getting out of work and taking credit for someone else's work. Now, people were much more likely to share ideas than under the old system. Whose idea it was didn't matter, no one would benefit until it was put into action. All involved would receive credit and everyone would benefit by a small amount. Instead of receiving an increase in pay as under the old system, everyone received a small reduction in required work time.
    In ancient times, this was called communism. What made it different was, everyone knew what was happening. Anyone could query the data base and learn every detail of any project. First, the project had to be approved and received a priority. All priorities, reached by consensus, were based on the conservation of resources, not by special interest groups or anything else. The progress of all community projects was reported to the world, not just to the local community. If your project was on the priority list, you could check the progress of the higher priority projects and know when work would begin on your project.
    The efficiency of a local project team could be compared to other similar teams. If a mistake was made or someone bungled a job the whole world knew. The embarrassment was tremendous. By the same token, efficient project teams were treated like heroes. This publicity encouraged good work and discouraged anyone from doing anything that would delay a higher priority project.
    The barter system was supplemented by an electronic exchange system that recorded all the transfers of goods and services between people. The transactions of each village were summarized and transmitted to the world data base. Everyone could know the current exchange rate for any commodity. From that data, an average excess production factor was computed for each person each year. If someone's production was above average, they would be invited to explain to the community how they were able to produce more than the average.
    In this manner, new methods were transferred around the world. New ideas and new methods became the property of the community. The ego gratification from this procedure was so great that everyone was willing to participate, the inventor, the developer, and the implementers were recognized world wide, instantly.
    If an increase in production was the result of a persons skill, they could trade their skill with someone else and there by reduce the work hours of both workers. If an increase in production was the result of geography, that advantage was used as soon as transportation was available. Since transportation was very limited, once local needs were met, there was no incentive to produce an excess. People turned to producing something else, until their needs were met. Every village had a warehouse to store little used items. Anyone could borrow an item and return it when no longer needed.
    During the centuries following the new industrial revolution tremendous advances in science and space exploration were made. Mental retardation and genetic diseases were eliminated. Everyone graduated from college. Space colonies were established. Many failed, fungi and bacteria were a major problem, to many or not enough, their level was difficult to control. Space travel was routine. The exploration of the first planetary system was a mile stone. The first contact with another civilization was the next milestone, but the distances were so great that two centuries passed before the two civilization actually met.
    By then, contact with several other civilizations had been made and cooperation on an intra galactic scale was established. Evolution created very similar creatures on all the planets discovered. The geological history of each of the planets was very similar and so was the history of their civilizations. The ancient science fiction writer was correct, all surviving civilizations had become peaceful. The remains of a few who were not, had been found, their planets were no longer habitable. Planets like earth were few and far between, what a tremendous loss.
    During the review JC was careful not to recall additional details about the weather because that would have brought him back to the error all three crews made and he didn't want to become angry again. Now that the review was finished he was fighting to prevent the error from returning to his thoughts. In desperation, he tried to recall family stories, none returned. Then without effort and to his surprise one of the least recalled stories returned.
 

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    At first I didn't realize where I was, I had never dozed off in the student union before. I looked at the clock and knew I was going to be late for a class, but which one.
    "What day is it?", I asked a student walking past the couch as I tried to get up.
    "Monday."
    I looked around but couldn't find any books, "That's strange, I had never forgotten my books in three years, why now?"
    I looked at the clock again. I was going to be late for ROTC drill. I tried to walk but my feet wouldn't move. I tried again, they moved but I couldn't walk in a straight line. A passing student offered his elbow, "Had one to many the first thing in the morning?"
    "No, but I don't know what's wrong."
    At the door I told him I was OK and he went his way. I was walking better and I felt fine. I kept increasing my speed until I was running. The drill field was nearly a mile away and I had to run if I was going to be on time. A feeling of euphoria swept over me.
    "Gee, it's great to be alive."
    The leaves rustled around my feet, the sky was bright blue, a chill was in the air, and I was running as well as I could remember. "What's going on?"
    I didn't think about it the rest of the way. I arrived at the assembly area as the platoon leaders were marching their platoons into company formation. I took my position, but before I could utter a command, an elderly couple shook my arm, "What do you think you are doing?"
    "I'm going to march my company across the street to the drill field."
    "What are you talking about?"
    I ignored them and turned to the company. "You will march across the street when I give the command, won't you."
    The company replied in unison, "Yes sir."
    "COMPANY RIGHT FACE. ROAD GUARDS OUT. FORWARD MARCH."
    Before I reached the other side of the street the old couple stopped me, "You must be sick."
    Suddenly, I felt sick. "ROAD GUARDS IN. BY THE LEFT FLANK MARCH.
    EXEC."
    "YES, SIR."
    "TAKE COMMAND."
    I ran into the ice arena, into the toilet, and heaved my guts out. After several episodes of the dry heaves, the sick feeling left as fast as it came. I rose from my knees as if nothing was wrong and ran back toward the drill field. I stopped behind a row of pine trees to check my uniform. I looked at my shoes, "Tennis shoes?" I looked at my trousers, "Blue jeans? Oh my God, I can't go back to the drill field this way, I'm out of uniform.
    I looked at both shoulders. I was wearing my overcoat with the proper rank on each shoulder. Wait a minute. I looked again, I had captains bars on my shoulders not ROTC diamonds. I removed my hat, it was correct.
    "What's going on?"
    I turned around and walked away from the drill field, staying behind the pine trees until I was out of sight and returned to the student union. I drank some water and went into a lounge. Within five minutes I was sick again. I ran to the toilet and when I quit, I rinsed my mouth, drank a small amount of water, and returned to the lounge. I flopped on a couch and tried to figure out what was happening. I leaned my head back and fell asleep.
    Voices woke me. Someone said, "There you are, we've been looking all over for you."
    They continued to talk, slowly I opened my eyes. An elderly couple was sitting on the opposite couch next to a student in a suit. They were talking to a young woman sitting next to me and a stout man sitting next to her. Two middle aged ladies were sitting in chairs at each end between the couches and several men were standing behind the chairs.
    The stout man asked as he looked at the elderly couple, "Which speech are you going to give to night, the one about 'Know, Love, and Serve Him' or the one about 'Doing God's Work'?"
    Without thinking I said, "That's the epitome of egotism to even think we are doing God's work, let alone say we are. How can a small infinitesimal being like us know the infinite or do the work of the infinite."
    Everyone looked at me in disbelief.
    "That's an odd remark from a man of your stature," the student said.
    "Well, wouldn't it be wiser to say we are doing what we were called to do or something to that effect. We might do God's work by accident but not by our volition.
    Wait a minute, what do you mean a man of my stature, I'm only a senior?"
    Several mouths fell open and all were silent, until the elderly man said, "I told you he was sick, I told you I followed him into the toilet. I left to tell my wife and when I returned he was gone."
    The woman in the chair next to me said, "You're right he is very pale."
    The woman in the opposite chair said, "I didn't know you had returned to school Reverend Spoonraker. Although, I shouldn't be surprised, you are a very active sixty year old."
    As I stood, "I apologize for intruding on your conversation," and started to walk between the couch and the chair, but one of the men blocked my path. He didn't block it intentionally he did so out of disbelief. After a pause he said, "You can't leave, now. How would we ever get another speaker this late? The banquet will begin in one hour and you need to change your clothes soon."
    "You've got to be kidding?"
    Only then did I realize that I was the focus of their conversation and not an unintended participant.
    "I'm not Reverend Spoonraker, I'm JC Smith, I'm only twenty two."
    The man in front of me pulled a hand bill from his pocket and held it for me to read. The picture on the hand bill was me, forty years older. I fell back on the couch.
    "What is going on?"
    I closed my eyes and tried to remember. I couldn't recall, my memory was gone. I knew I had lost a weekend and had slept most of the day.
    "What time is it?"
    "Almost five."
    "I'm sick."
    Two men pulled me to my feet and took me to the men's room. Only clear water came out, followed by the dry heaves. They helped me to the sink. I cupped my hands, let them fill with water, and rinsed my mouth.
    When I looked in the mirror, part of my memory returned, some grease paint was still on my face. Friday night I went to dress rehearsal, "My God, I haven't had anything to eat for three days!"
    I only had a bit part, but the makeup crew wouldn't let me do my bit without makeup. They said, "You don't have to change just put your hat and coat on, do your part, and you can go."
    They knew I had to go to the airport.
    "Why was I going to the airport?"
    My sole purpose in the play was to walk the star of the show to the center of the stage and exit after she said, "Good bye, father."
    That simple entrance established that she was a military brat, the daughter of an unsuccessful, not to smart father, one who was near retirement and still a captain.
    "That explains why I had my ROTC hat and coat on and why you mistook me for Reverend Spoonraker."
    The two men didn't understand what I said and watched in disbelief as I washed the rest of the makeup from my face and removed the powder from my hair. I splashed cold water on my face and grabbed a paper towel. As I dried my face more of my memory returned. I bolted from the men's room, stopping for a candy bar at a vending machine and crammed half in my mouth, I was starving. The two men caught up with me before my mouth was empty.
    "Does some one have a car?"
    "Yes."
    "Quick, we maybe to late. Someone call the campus police and an ambulance, have them meet us at the old bridge. I grabbed the one who said, 'Yes' and dragged him out the door.
    "Give me the keys. Where is it?"
    He was running in front of me, he didn't know why, but he was. He reached for a car door. I ran to the drivers side and by the time I closed the door, he had the key in the ignition. I started the car and peeled away from the curb. I put my hand on the horn and was going sixty by the time we reached the first corner. The tires squealed and the car skid against the curb.
    "Your Reverend Spookraker was poisoned and dumped into the river."
    His mouth fell open, his face blanched. I shoved the rest of the candy bar into my mouth and drove like hell. I crossed the bridge, turned the corner, bounced over the curb, across the side walk right up to the river bank, slammed on the brakes, slid to a stop, jumped out of the car, and ran down the bank right into the river.
    I looked in both directions, I couldn't remember and could barely see, the sun had set, "Was he near the bridge or was he away from the bridge?" The man tripped as he came over the bank and rolled to the bottom about twenty feet away.
    "He's over here."
    I ran to him. The Reverend Spoonraker was an arms length from where the man had stopped rolling. He was under the roots of a leaning tree, still alive. I pulled him from under the roots and stuck my finger down his throat to make him vomit. When he stopped, I shoved his head into the river and commanded, "Drink as much as you can."
    When he stopped, I pulled him up right and was going to stick my finger in his throat, but he didn't need help this time. When he stopped, I pushed his head back into the river. By the third time, sirens, red lights, and search lights were all around. When nothing but river water came out I stopped. Two paramedics grabbed him and pulled him up the bank, I collapsed.
    On the way up the bank the man told them what I had told him. The ambulance left, siren wailing. The man and a police officer returned and dragged me up the bank, into a police car, and we followed the ambulance. I tried to tell the doctor I was all right but he insisted, "You need a complete physical."
    When I told him I had lost my memory, he checked my head.
    "Ouch."
    "You have a nasty lump on your head. Do you remember how you got it?"
    "NO!"
    Then he got serious. Two hours later, after many samples and probes, I was wheeled into a semiprivate room. I climbed into the bed and as soon as I was comfortable I fell asleep. Hunger woke me the next morning and I walked to the nurses station. "I'm starving."
    "You're not supposed to be out of bed. Return to your room and we'll bring you a tray shortly."
    An aide escorted me back to my room. I noticed a quarantine sign on the door as we entered. She shut the door as she left.
    My roommate was sawing lumber, not just a little bit but a whole cord. I opened the curtains I wanted to see who was snoring so loud. I looked at my sixty year old twin. I closed the curtain and walked to the window and looked at the street. After a while a tray arrived. "Bring another, this one will be empty before you reach the door." As I finished the second tray my twin woke. He was hungry but could not eat. He asked the aide to open the curtain as she left with his tray.
    "How are you JC."
    "Fine.
    How do you know my name?"
    "Do you know who I am?"
    "Yes. You're Reverend Spoonraker, a well known out spoken TV preacher."
    "Then you should know how I know who you are."
    "Your staff told you."
    "Right.
    I know a lot about you and in case you are wondering where all the reporters and TV crews are, we are in an isolation ward at my request. It was the only way I could get any rest and I thought you would appreciate the peace and quiet also. You will have to face them soon, so be prepared."
    "Why would they talk to me, wouldn't you get all the attention."
    "Well, I had to tell them something last night or they would have broken the doors down."
    "What did you tell them?"
    "I thank JC for saving my life."
    "Isn't that a little overboard?"
    "Maybe, but you did take a blow on the head that was meant for me and you did drink half of the poison meant for me, unwillingly of course. Don't you remember?"
    "No.    I remember I let my friend talk me into picking you up at the airport so he could go home with his roommates."
    "Yes, my last speaking engagement was canceled because of a problem with the air conditioning system and all the other auditoriums were booked, so I came here on Friday instead of Monday."
    "Isn't Monday an odd day for a famous speaker?"
    "Not really. First, it was the only opening in my schedule and fittingly I was going to speak informally to the Monday Morning Club. Since originally I couldn't arrive until afternoon, they arranged a banquet."
    "I didn't know my friend had any interest in football."
    "No, no, not that kind of club. Small groups of two or three members of the club went to different churches and told the others about the sermon they heard when they met on Monday morning. When the sponsors canceled my speaking engagement, I decided to come early, unannounced to hear a sermon so we would have something in common. That's why I dressed as I did, I didn't want to attract a crowd."
    "I didn't have any problem recognizing you. You were the only person walking out the gate with hat pulled down, a scarf around your face, jacket collar turned up, and wearing sun glasses."
    "I did look rather odd, but it worked. I was thankful your friend offered his room for the weekend. That way I didn't have to register at a motel until Monday. Sorry it didn't workout as planned and you were involved."
    "I remember giving you my coat to cover your legs so you could nap in the back seat on the way to the dorm and taking your suitcases into his room, but I don't remember anything after I returned to wake you.
    Now, I remember another thing. As I came out the door someone said, 'That's him'. That's the last thing I remember about Friday night."
    "I can't help you because they woke me when they put you in the passenger seat. When I sat up one of them shined a flashlight into my face and said, 'Oh no, we have twins. What'd we do now.' The other said, 'Git in the back seat with him, I'll drive.'
    They drove to the parking lot near the river. The one next to me pulled a pistol and told me to help the other drag you to the river bank and lean you against a tree. The other removed a small bottle from his pocket. You were starting to revive. He tilted your head back and poured half of the contents into your mouth and made you swallow it. He pushed you over the bank and let you roll to the bottom.
    He turned to me, 'It's your turn pops.' He grabbed my throat, the other grabbed my nose, pulled it up and back, and forced my jaws open. He poured the rest of the bottle in my mouth and stroked my throat until I swallowed it. The vile tasting stuff barely entered my stomach and I heaved. He said, 'Damn it' and hit me in the stomach so hard I was launched over the bank. My head hit something as I fell.
    When I came to, I couldn't see. I crawled a short distance, I know not where, heaved again, crawled some more, and passed out. The next thing I remember was someone poking their finger into my throat and pushing my face into the river. That was you."
    "When I washed the rest of the grease paint off my face, I remembered."
    A doctor walked into the room, "Glad to see both of you awake and feeling better. I have good news. You will be released tomorrow morning unless something unexpected happens. Make sure you drink plenty of fluids and eat as much fruit as you can."
    "Don't worry about me, Doc. I've eaten and drunk enough for three days."
    "I'll make sure you get more and how are you doing Reverend?"
    "I don't have an appetite."
    "Drink orange juice. You need additional acid to stimulate your stomach. Didn't the aide tell you?"
    "Yes, but I didn't follow instructions. It's my fault."
    "The reason for the acid is the good news. The people who poisoned you didn't know what they were doing. They used a very ineffective poison, one that requires a strong acidic solution in order to work. The poison inhibits the stomach and since neither of you had eaten for more that four hours when they gave you the poison, your stomachs were not acidic enough to let the poison pass into your intestines where it could be absorbed. If they had used orange juice or soda pop with the poison you would be dead."
    "Why are we so sleepy?"
    "We don't know. Your bodies eliminated what ever else they mixed with the poison. It must have been something very quickly absorbed in the mouth and esophagus. You have scrapes and bruises and will be sore for a while, but other than that, you are both fine.
    The police and the media would like to talk with both of you and your staff would like to talk with you Reverend."
    "I'll call my secretary and arrange to meet with the media in two days. If it is OK with JC, we can talk to the police now, but I would like some more peace and quiet. Can you keep the others at bay?" I nodded agreement and the doctor said, "I can keep them at bay as long as you like."
    "One more day, please. I'm enjoying a good rest, thank you."
    The police entered a few minutes later. During the interview all my memory returned. I remembered crawling up the bank at dawn and staggering to my car. I climbed in the back seat and used my coat for a blanket and went to sleep. Saturday was an away football game and it wasn't until the Monday morning commuters began arriving that I woke again.
    Someone's trunk wouldn't latch and the repeated bam bam as they kept slamming it shut aroused my foggy brain. Without thinking I put on my hat and coat and went to the student union because I was hungry and thirsty, but I could not stay awake.
    The police left when they couldn't learn any more and an aide brought fruit juice and fruit.
    "Why would anyone want to poison you?"
    "It's to depressing, I'd rather not talk about it."
    "The 'good' Christians are still crucifying Jesus."
    "Well put JC, they are because He did not preach what they want to believe, but enough."
    We chatted for a while and during the chatter he said, "Please. Call me 'Spoon'."
    "You're the most unorthodox preacher I've ever met."
    "Why do you say that?"
    "You behave like one of the boys and haven't mentioned religion once since we met."
    "Can I assume that you have not met very many preachers."
    "Not many. I stopped going to church when I was twelve, I stayed home on Sunday morning and listened to grandfather's stories."
    "Why?"
    "A few years before, I learned that children were not delivered by a stork from God."
    "Tell me more."
    "As I learned more, I knew adults were not telling me the truth or at least not the whole truth."
    "What does that have to do with going to church?"
    "I finished reading the bible from cover to cover before I was twelve and I knew my Sunday school teachers were not teaching what the bible said, they were teaching what they believed.
    The bible was not consistent and what they believed was even worse. The more I learned the more antagonistic I became. I attacked religion anytime someone spoke about it. During my freshman year my attack became so venomous that during a student discussion I caused several students to cry. I stopped discussing religion, if anyone brought up the subject I walked away."
    "Have you mellowed a little since then?"
    "A little, but my blood boils when ever the 'Kid Glove Crusaders' march and wave their flags."
    "What disturbs you so strongly?"
    "Self righteousness.
    People will not take responsibility for their actions and they use self righteousness to justify their actions. I got into an argument with a 'Kid Glove Crusader' and he said, 'All I'm doing is following Dr. King's example, I don't understand how you can object to that'. I blew my stack. 'You stupid jerk. Dr. King was trying to change an unjust society under very hostile conditions.
    You want to pass laws and you call your self a Christian. You're trying to impose your view point on everyone else and you are creating the hostility. No one threatens you, you threaten everyone else. You are not following Dr. King's example, you completely missed his message.
    You bloody hypocrite, you say you are, to deceive yourself, to justify your actions.' I will not repeat what I said after that because I'm ashamed of what I said and did. He continued to argue his point and I nearly destroyed him, he was near a nervous break down when I left."
    "What caused you to change?"
    "My family. The following summer, I reflected on my problem with religion and the things my family taught me. The family stories I heard over the years finally started to make sense. I tried to recall everything I could. I asked my family to retell and to add to the stories. I'm still learning."
    "Can you summarize what your family taught you?"
    "Yes.
    In the womb all our needs are met. After birth and until puberty our parents satisfy most of our needs and we cry if they are not. After puberty we are forced to satisfy some of our needs and we become angry when we are not successful. As young adults we meet more of our needs because we want independence. When we finally become adults, if ever, we meet most of our needs and begin to help those around us meet their needs and become frustrated by our remaining unmet needs. As we grow older we become fatigued and begin to reduce our willingness to help those around us meet their needs and become anxious about our remaining unmet needs.
    In the womb we are completely helpless, as babies we can cry, as toddlers we can lash out, as children we can be mischievous, as teen-agers delinquent, as young adults dropouts or addicts. Some of us become adults and learn that in the womb we had everything our own way and we have to spend the rest of our lives learning that the world was not created for us to have our own way.
    Some people are aware of this, but only a few are aware of the corollary. In the womb we cannot change anything, as babies very little. The ability to make changes increases as we learn. Some time after puberty we may gain confidence in our ability to make changes, for those who do, they gain power, for those who don't they spend the rest of their lives crying in their beer.
    We can make changes. We can make a difference. If we learn. We must learn to take responsibility for our actions and learn from the results of those actions. I'm quite sure you know how delicate this learning process is and if it is interrupted at any point and the individual is not strong enough to continue on their own they will be forever frozen at that level of maturity for the rest of their lives. They become dysfunctional and drop out of the main stream of society.
    Not accepting responsibility for our actions is one of the most important mistakes we make. We want to return to the womb and have everything our way. Since we can't, we seek to escape, we want to be entertained, we hoard material things as a substitute. To paraphrase a historian, 'When the freedom desired most is the freedom from responsibility, all freedom will be lost.' Every society that reached that point collapsed.
    We are ignoring our responsibility for our children and we are abandoning them at ever earlier ages, we are letting someone else or TV take care of them. Most will never become adults, many will be on welfare or in prison most of their lives. The result will be economic stagnation or collapse. What a sad ending to a proud nation, a nation that has very little to be proud about. We have so much and have done very little in proportion to what we have. We give lip service to the words democracy, freedom, and work. We talk about having less government as being desirable. That's not what is important. What is important is to insure that our bureaucracies work for us, if not, we should change them.
    We fail to understand the most important aspect of our society. With our form of government we can change our society. It doesn't matter what name we call our form of government, what matters is that we can change it without death and destruction. Freedom is contentious with peace, we can never have both, we must always balance freedom and peace.
    Work, what a laugh, we praise hard work and do everything possible to avoid it. Why not recognize that all nature conserves energy, why shouldn't we. If we would accept this fact about ourselves maybe we could progress to the next level. We should only work hard at reducing the need to work hard. Let's drop the phony baloney and stop kidding ourselves. Let's use our time and energy on something more useful than maintaining a facade.
    Is that enough?"
    "Yes."
    "Did your staff tell you my grandfather financed your first preaching tour?"
    "Yes. If you know, would you tell me why?"
    "A friend of grandfather heard you preach. He told grandfather he had heard a voice in the wilderness that should be heard by more than one congregation. After a long discussion, grandfather told him to arrange it."
    "My tour manager is a friend of your grandfather?
    Thank you, that answers many questions. Now I know why the collection plates were always full even when the audience was small."
    "They didn't stay small for long."
    "Did your family have any thing to do with that?"
    "No. That was all you."
    "Then you know all about me."
    "No. I know of you and a little about you from the reports made at the family meetings."
    "Have you heard me preach?"
    "Tape replay."
    "How many?"
    "Only one, I like your style and what you are trying to accomplish, but I don't like the dogma encapsulating it."
    "Sorry about that JC, you see, even I can't shake the brain washing I received as a child. That's why I'm against so called Sunday school or religious education, children should be in church with their parents. To often Sunday school is not Christian education, but brain washing, the same is true for most religious education.
    Its a very serious problem because God can not communicate with a mental slave any more than He can communicate with some one who ignores Him.
    And for me, the question becomes, 'How do you educate someone who doesn't want to be educated?'.
    Your family is something else. They support many diverse activities, many are counter to their beliefs and because of their privacy they can support the diversity without becoming embroiled in controversy.
    Tell me your favorite family story."
    I told him several. Spoon kept asking questions and kept me talking until I couldn't keep my eyes open. "I need sleep, aren't you tired?"
    "NO, I'm learning."
    "You're something else. Now I know why you're so popular with the people who know you. You're NOT like any preacher I've met. You haven't preached to me for one second and you have guided the conversation so I've done most of the talking.
    During the last three years I've come to agree with grandfather. The easiest and the least painful way to learn is to observe and listen to other people and don't make their mistakes."
    "It's difficult to learn when you are talking."
    "Grandfather says, 'If you must speak, learn to learn even while you are talking. Listen carefully to what you say, listen for errors in your thinking, in the manner of your speaking, and what you say. Correct those errors as soon as possible. Once those errors have been corrected, then progress to how can you improve, was my message received, did I waste time, etc.'
    Your questions have given me a chance to correct my impression of many things.
    Thank you."
    "You are a very lucky young man JC. You have received wise consul. Make sure you listen carefully. Good night JC."
    "Good night Spoon."
    JC mused over his namesake ancestor's story. "Why did that particular story return?
    Probably the responsibility theme." He turned to reviewing space travel.
 

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    Another thing that amused JC was the ancient science fiction writers descriptions and drawing of space ships. Most of them were small and streamlined which meant the writers imagination may have left earth, but their space ships didn't. The winds of space were nothing like the winds of earth, not even close and he wondered how they expected a small ship to travel the vast voids of space.
    He smiled at the use of the words 'space exploration' in describing the first solar missions. Even the most ambitious mission was only one light hour. He nearly burst out laughing. He drank some water from the watering tube and removed a food pelt from the dispenser with his tongue. The fact that he felt like laughing indicated he was recovering and his mood improved.
    Five centuries after the Great Drought, people were trying to explore space again. Half of the land was recovered from the drought, the green house effect was declining, the ice packs were growing, the sea level was going down, the new industrial revolution had eclipsed the old, and people were ready for a new challenge.
    Their goal, to find another planet to call home before the sun began to change into a red giant. That was a long way off, but it might take that long to find a new home. The new goal was met with enthusiasm, the spirit of cooperation was renewed. Progress was steady and exhilarating. New launching and propulsion systems were developed along with new composite materials. The first step was to establish a geosynchronous work station, completed in ten years, in addition a large telescope was stationed at each LaGrange point, forming a very long base array telescope to study the universe.
    The next step was to build a colony at the trailing LaGrange point. A century later a second colony was established at the leading LaGrange point. Each colony contained many segments of four rings of one hundred and eight blocks, four hundred square feet (inside dimension), three stories high, held together by super conducting magnets and the force fields.
    The segments rotated in opposite directions at about a half mile per second creating an artificial gravity with the opposite orientation of earth. Up or top was toward the center and down or bottom was away from the center. Each segment was a separate self sustaining community and each block was a self contained unit. The doors between the blocks in the same segment were always closed. All other openings, such as air ducts, would be automatically sealed in the event of pressure loss.
    The bottom floor was the garden, a chicken and pig farm, and a recycling unit. The second floor was the living quarters and the third floor was the working and storage area. Each segment was divided into quadrants, each a different sleep cycle. Almost every piece of equipment was used and almost every job was performed continuously.
    The plants and animals were the result of genetic engineering. The pigs were miniature, long and lean, the chickens were little changed. All plants grew on a conveyor trellis or in a waste water slurry. The trellis plants looked like leaf lettuce with small berries. The chickens ate the berries and the young leaves as the trellis moved past their cages and the pigs ate what the chickens and the people didn't as the trellis moved the plants within their reach on the opposite side. The water plants made the water look like pea soup and after drying, the plants made an excellent flour. The flour, eggs, chicken, pork and three flavors of leaves supplemented the synthetic food diet. They supplied the nutrients and fiber missing in the synthetic food.
    Along the axis of the colony was an unshielded reactor. Force fields directed the solar wind and cosmic debris into the reactor in addition to material from storage. Plasma created in the reactor orbited along the axis and around the colony in eight symmetrical storage rings, four in each direction, held in place by the force fields. The energy radiating from the reactor and the sun was collected on the inside and outside surfaces of a cylinder scaffolding surrounding the colony.
    The desired wavelengths were selected for light and the other forms of energy and the rest was reflected back to the reactor and the sun by an ultra thin reflecting polymer. Mirrors and light tubes transferred the light to every area of the colony. Wires and guide tubes conducted the other forms of energy. Hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen were collected from the reactor to replace losses from the colony.
    The first colony had to much redundancy. Accidents didn't happen as often as feared, people rarely left the pressurized areas, micro meteorite damage and high energy particle erosion were controlled more effectively with each improvement.
    The colonists were very careful as you might expect, their lives depended on almost everything they did. Computers and people monitored telescopes at all times ever watchful for dark particles to large for the force fields to control. The one fear that was in the back of everyone's mind was a collision with a massive particle, a fear that never materialized. The particle, the colony, or both were moved to prevent a collision.
    Almost all manual labor was performed by robots, under the supervision of computers and people, and people only worked one sixth of a day. Boredom was a problem, everyone had to remain disciplined. A positive attitude was essential. Exercise and activity helped, each designed to take place in a small area. Learning and experimenting with ecology, physics, and math was encouraged, along with discussions and brain storming sessions on how to improve the colony.  Everyone was encourage to have a goal, to work toward their goal, and to measure their progress toward it.
    During this time major changes occurred in health and life span. Barring accidents most people lived to one hundred fifty with little or no illness and died quickly, usually less than one month. Slow mutating pathogens were eliminated and fast mutating ones were made amicable. The common cold was still common, so was cancer, but bioengineering of a persons B and T cells followed by reinjection eliminated each individual cancer.
    The Great Drought eliminated tobacco, coffee, tea, and most hallucinogens, narcotics, and stimulants and they were never replaced. An ancient style of unfiltered beer was served at every meal, a very effective way to store calories and protein for the winter. Grapes returned at an exceedingly slow pace and wine became a meal time drink much later. Hard liquor was never made again. People remained disciplined and only drank one glass per person per meal, alcoholism was avoided.
    Other life style changes occurred as well. Most people continued formal education until fifty and then left earth for one of the colonies or space exploration. Most couples were married during their twenties and all children were planned, unwanted pregnancies were a thing of the past. Very few couples divorced before fifty and after fifty about half remained together. Every woman could have two children if she chose, she could have more if additional replacements were needed, the population on earth was maintained at one billion. Contrary to ancient predictions, most pregnancies and deliveries were natural and most children were breast fed. Modern methods were only used when complications arose or in cases of infertility.
    The first space ship and all following ships were built the same way, with new developments incorporated as they were proven. A scaffolding, shaped like a straight trumpet, was extended from each end of the scaffolding surrounding a new colony containing thirty thousand people, until the ship was twenty seven miles long. The force field controllers and mirrors were added as the new scaffolding was extended. This design allowed the ship to move in opposite directions without turning around.
    The large bell at each end allowed vector trusting to change directions and to gather as much space dust, particles, and radiant energy as possible, in the direction of motion while protecting the segments from damage. The space dust, particles, and radiant energy were focused by the force fields into the reactor then into the plasma storage rings from one direction while relativistic ions of the iron series, the main propulsion system, were allowed to escape out the other. The mirrors focused radiant energy back into the reactor and into eight twenty mile long single pass lasers to provide auxiliary propulsion.
    Slowly, the massive space ship drifted away from the LaGrange point using the solar wind and the gravity fields of the solar system. Time was not conserved energy was. The propulsion systems were activated when the exhaust would not damage the other colonies or the earth. Obviously the course chosen contained as much small space debris as possible and zero large objects.
    Like so many things people do, the first mission was just to go to another star, it was an ego trip. The mission was never completed, but at least it didn't end in disaster and it did bring very sober thinking to all following missions.
    The captain canceled the mission when failure became obvious. The propulsion system never developed enough power for the ship to reach its intended speed of 0.2 sol. Even at two tenth the speed of light, the mission required forty five years. If the mission had continued the crew would have died of old age and the ship would have been lost, the investment in both was to great to loose on an ego trip.
    The trip was not a total loss. Data was continuously transmitted to earth and the colonies. Many teams surveyed the data and the error was discovered before the ship returned to port thirty years later. The ship's telescope data was combined with the very very long base array telescope data and three potential planetary systems were discovered.
    New features were added to the ship, a new crew, no one under fifty and no one over sixty, replaced the old crew, and it departed for the potential planetary systems. Space exploration was the domain of the elderly, the physical rigors of ancient space exploration were gone and the sedentary life style and limited activity demanded of the crews did not match well with youth.
    The updated propulsion system worked better than expected and after three years the ship reached 0.2 sol and two years later it passed 0.5 sol. The main propulsion system was shut down when it could no long accelerate the ship by one per cent. The auxiliary propulsion system maintained speed as the force fields continued to collect and store space debris in the plasma rings to be used later. New theories and a new propulsion system would be needed to go faster.
    Data from the telescopes were analyzed everyday, the crew was ecstatic when planets were confirmed and later dejected when water could not be detected. The crew settled back into its routine when someone reminded them that more than thirty years would pass before earth could acknowledge their discovery.
    Again their spirits soared when water was detected on one planet in the most remote planetary system and depressed again when a brown dwarf was discovered very close to their course. Data and calculations were checked and rechecked. A new course was determined and the main propulsion system reactivated. Again the data from the telescopes were checked and rechecked to make sure no obstacles were left undetected.
    Their mood improved when a navigation satellite placed in orbit around the brown dwarf relayed the earth navigation signals to the space ship and even more when they left the brown dwarf behind without incident. One telescope remained lock on to the brown dwarf navigational satellite and the other telescopes checked periodically. The navigational satellite remained lock on to the earth navigational signals and to the space ship. Everyone was excited, the new course allowed the telescopes to find another planetary system with water, near their original destination.
    One at a time the explorer ships left the space ship in different directions to carry out their separate missions while the space ship began to reverse directions. The explorer ships were similar in design to the space ship only much smaller. The scaffold was only five miles long and a mile in diameter with two rings for the crew, one on each side rotating in opposite directions and parallel to the scaffold. Their propulsion system was not designed for power or speed, but for maneuverability and endurance. Docking points for the explorers with their orbiters with their landers were on the outside of the scaffolding so the outside edge of a segment aligned with the outside edge of the inside explorer ring. A transporter could move easily from one ring to the other as the blocks rotated into alignment.
    Their mission was to approach the planetary system from above or below and maneuver through Oort cloud and dock at a LaGrange point of each planet to be explored. If further exploration was indicated an orbiter was launched into geosynchronous orbit around the planet from which a lander was dispatched to the planet. When the exploration was complete the process was reversed.
    The passage through the Oort cloud was the most dangerous part of any mission and a very anxious moment for everyone. The dark comets, meteors, and other remnants of a planetary system were difficult to detect and to track, these objects didn't stay in the plane of the ecliptic. Unlike the space ship when it went through the Oort cloud around the solar system, the explorers had a very limited number of people, computers, and telescopes to discover and track each object.
    As the space ship slowed and reversed directions, all telescopes recorded as much of the sky as possible. Forty years after the mission began the space ship was moving toward earth again. The explorers returned before the space ship reached 0.1 sol. The crew turned from gathering data to analyzing data especially the data from the explorers even though all the planets were barren and not suitable for human habitation.
    The whole crew was a buzz with excitement and each person eagerly awaited their turn to participate. Even if they were bored with their required work, the anticipation of their turn at a console and the following discussions made their boredom evaporate. The next forty years passed very rapidly. Their return was greeted with a month long celebration. The communication system could barely handle all the messages between the ship, the colonies and earth.
    The return trip was uneventful. Outside of the brown dwarf and the planetary systems, they didn't encounter any objects larger than micro meteorites. All other stars were more than four light years away and all other objects were to small, to dim, or to far away to be detected.
    The data they gathered was analyzed and reanalyzed many times. After cross checking with the data received by earth and the colonies, the summarized data were stored and all redundant and trivial data discarded.
    Several possible planetary systems were discovered in the telescope data, some even more distant than the ones just visited and some nearly the same distance but in a different direction from earth. The crew was eager to help plan the possible new missions and to learn about new developments made on earth and the colonies during their absence.
    Another space ship was near completion and of course with all the new improvements. The old ship was scheduled for refitting as soon as the new ship left port. All crew members retired to one of the colonies after a vacation on earth, everyone wanted to visit their grandchildren and great grandchildren, etc.
    The electromagnetic launchers and rockets continued to propel freighters and buses to the geosynchronous work stations directly over head where robot transporters directed them to the colonies. The launchers were built in deep canyons and were directed almost straight up. The rockets kicked in once they cleared the launcher. The return trip was a combination of ballistic reentry, reverse thrusting, and capture and electromagnetic deceleration at a landing pad near the launchers. Each shipment was matched to the work schedule of the colonies, rarely was either the work or the shipment delayed by either one being behind schedule. The scaffolds and blocks fit together like jigsaw puzzle pieces. Each piece was prefabricated as much as possible on earth.
    Later the asteroids were harvested to supply most of the massive amounts of material needed to construct the colonies and the space ships. Large solar furnaces, refineries, and manufacturing plants, in space operated by robots, converted the asteroids into useable materials or reactor fuel.
    Thirty years later the new ship left port to explore the newly found potential planetary systems. Three years into the mission the ship passed 0.6 sol and the crew experienced an odd feeling, no one could explain it. Immediately the captain slowed the ship and the feeling went away.
    Everything was checked and rechecked, everything checked out nothing was wrong, except for one thing, the ship reached a new speed limit. During the few seconds required to slow the ship, the speed recordings reached a plateau even though the new propulsion system should reach 0.7 sol. The recordings should have shown a steady increase and then a steady decrease, not a plateau.
    The red shift of the navigation signals and the blue shift of the target star and the equipment used to make the measurements were checked and rechecked again, nothing was wrong. The speed was slowly increased until it was within a fraction of the new speed limit and maintained. The feeling did not return.
    A crew member was toying with the new speed limit, she tried ratios and inversions with other numbers for recreation. One such number intrigued her and when she formed the inverse, she was surprised. She recognized the number immediately, it was e.
    "What on earth did e have to do with the new speed limit?"
    She checked and recheck the instructions she gave the computer to see if she had made a mistake, there was no mistake. Her excitement soon infected the entire crew as each one learned that the speed of light squared divided by their new speed limit squared was a very close approximation of e.
    Everyone's imagination was in high gear trying to create new ideas about this new discovery and how to test it. A consensus was reached, an orbiter from one of the explorers was launched with instructions to activate its propulsion system for five seconds, stop, decelerate back to the same speed as the space ship, and to transmit status data to the space ship.
    Everyone watched a console as the orbiter drifted away and disappeared. Quickly the telescopes scanned all around. The stunned feeling was replaced by relief when the orbiter was discovered on a parallel course a short distance in front of the ship.
    The data from the tracking telescopes was replayed in very slow motion, the first attempts didn't show the orbiter disappear in an ever decreasing sphere, the last try did. The status data indicated that everything was normal, but the speed indicator never went above the new speed limit.
    The orbiter was instructed to repeat the previous experiment ten times and each time it disappeared and reappeared further in front of the ship. The orbiter was instructed to return. Before it reached dock many people wanted to go on board and execute the instructions again.
    A crew was chosen and the experiment repeated. Their debriefing revealed that the strange feeling returned, all communication with the space ship was lost, but strangely the navigation signals and the light from the target star was uninterrupted, and to them the space ship seemed to disappear in a sphere when they replayed the data from their tracking telescopes and reappeared behind them when they stopped accelerating. The same data was replayed to the astonishment of the entire crew.
    Many theories were presented, but only one was plausible, at the speed limit, motion could now take place along another dimension. How could that motion be measured? No one knew, but everyone wanted to repeat the experiment for longer periods of time and therefore presumably at a higher over all speed.
    The orbiter was refueled, released and accelerated until half its fuel was used. Again the funny feeling returned and all communication between the ships was lost, but this time the orbiter was so far ahead of the space ship it couldn't be seen on the telescopes until a light signal was sent by the orbiter crew. The orbiter needed all its remaining fuel to slow down so the space ship could catch up and then to speed up and to pull into dock.
    After checking all status data, many people were convinced that the orbiter had indeed moved in another dimension. Below the speed limit the ships followed the same geodesic as light. As the orbiter accelerated above the e limit the rest of the force was now causing the ship to move on another path, maybe a cord to the geodesic. Again many people wanted to continue the experiment, but after some thought everyone realized that neither an orbiter nor an explorer could accelerate long enough to make another experiment meaningful.
    The captain did not ask the question because he didn't want to risk the ship and crew in the unknown. He didn't have to tell the crew that if another experiment was to be done the space ship had to do it at some time during the mission or it would not be done until after their return to earth. The crew answered the unasked question and they wanted to do it immediately. The last experiment indicated a large time savings might be possible, maybe as large as half the anticipate mission time.
    The crew suggested the remaining distance to the brown dwarf be the first experiment. Agreement was quickly reached and a new course was calculated to insure ample clearance in case they passed it before the experiment ended. An estimate of the time of flight was made from the orbiter data. Redundant messages were sent to earth explaining the new discovery and the experiment they were about to undertake.
    The captain didn't have to tell anyone that everyone one had to be alert and make note of anything and everything that was different during the experiment and to report any signs of danger as rapidly as possible. As soon as the final check was made, the main propulsion system was set to full power. Two telescopes and consoles locked on to the brown dwarf and the rest monitored the sky in all directions. All computers and people were on alert keeping a close watch on all systems.
    The first change was the strange feeling, everyone wondered if it would go away like sailors getting their sea legs and that's what happened. Next, all light received at right angles to the direction of flight was lost and as time passed the cylinder of darkness expanded. The angle to each end of the cylinder continued to expand by about six arc seconds with each hour, obviously this was a possible measure of speed in the unknown. The red and blue shift of the navigational signal and the target star remained steady as if the ship were still moving on a light geodesic at constant speed.
    When nothing else happened the crew slowly returned to a normal routine, as normal as possible when traveling in the unknown. Everything was checked and double checked and recorded even the thoughts and feeling of the crew, everyone had an eerie feeling of traveling in an unknown tunnel, but no new changes were observed.
    When the estimated time of flight was reached the computers shut down the main propulsion system. Immediately the cylinder of darkness began to shrink at the same rate it expanded, no reverse thrusting was necessary.
    Nearly two and a half years later the cylinder of darkness disappeared, stars were visible all around. The parallax between the line of flight and the brown dwarf was so small the tracking telescopes never lost contact and it served as a check against the time of flight estimate. Also the timing signals from the navigational satellite agreed with the estimate. The ship arrived at the brown dwarf about a half year sooner than the original flight plan. Before they left the brown dwarf behind, a robot transporter replaced the old navigational satellite with a new one.
    Encouraged by a disaster free experiment, a new course was set for the most remote planetary system discovered on the previous mission, a course known to be free of obstacles. At that point they slowed and surveyed the path to their new destination and proceeded with caution until reversal time was reached.
    No one was surprised when the cylinder of darkness stopped expanding at forty five degrees, an angle predicted by calculations of the data from the previous experiment. The angle indicated their speed had reached the e limit in the new dimension.
    No one understood what was happening, all anyone knew was either less energy was needed to move in the new dimension or the propulsion system was generating more power in the new dimension. Hopefully new methods of measuring would be discovered so people could understand, but for now it was 'Dam the torpedoes full speed ahead'.
    They reached the point of reversal of the previous mission in a little less than half the previous time. A search of the path ahead didn't indicate any obstacles. A new reversal point was chosen midway between the potential new planetary systems and the speed maintained just below the e limit. A new sky survey was made during the transit.
    Again the emotions of the crew was on an elevator, two of the potential systems were in fact planetary, but later measurements could not detect water. The explorers departed to survey each system in detail, the space ship reversed, the explorers returned, and the return trip to earth began. Nothing disastrous happened during the entire mission, only anticipated wear and tear maintenance and recovery from normal mistakes, routine except for one other exciting discovery besides the new dimension.
    As the explorers returned, each one reported that part of the scaffold was missing at the end of each horn, no one thought to check the space ship as they departed, they were to intent on their missions. Inspection robots confirmed the reports. The scaffold was cut nearly a mile deep at eight places at both ends, exactly in line with the plasma trajectories.
    Maintenance robots enlarged the cuts and fluted the scaffolding in order to retain structural integrity, a very fortuitous modification. On completion, the inspection robots inspected every inch of the ship. When nothing else was found, the return trip began, the propulsion system was set to full power. The time to reach the e limit was the same as before, but the e limit in the unknown dimension was reached very quickly and could be maintained at half power. The time at half power was extended and as anticipated the slow down occurred at the same rate as the acceleration.
    At the reversal point of the previous mission, the inspection robots inspected the scaffolding, again the scaffolding was cut and again each flute was enlarged. The course was set for the brown dwarf and the same events were repeated. The power pack on the navigational satellite was replaced and after the repairs were completed on the horns, the final leg of the mission began. The mission was completed in sixty years instead of eighty and the home coming events were repeated.
    The old space ship had departed twenty years before and a new space ship was under construction. The scaffold of both ships was modified, instead of looking like two trumpets connected at their mouth pieces, they looked like two Easter lilies joined at their bases. Their departure on new missions was the real beginning of space exploration.
    Each new direction was explored at slow speed until it was proven to be free of unseen objects, subsequent missions traveled the same flight paths at high speed. Generally, if light reached the tracking telescopes from the target star, the path was clear, but if any dark objects were to close for comfort, a new path was chosen.
    The new shape allowed the propulsion system to generate more power and two more dimensions were found. At the e limit in each dimension the ships could travel at an effective over all speed very near to the speed of light. Obviously, the strange feeling, the dark objects, the increase in power of the propulsion system, and the new dimensions required new theories. Several centuries passed before satisfactory new theories were formulated.
    At this point JC was sleepy. He drank some water and ate another food pellet and went to sleep.
 

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