The return of the orbiter was accomplished without difficulty and at a leisurely pace. They docked first at one ring and then at the other. The artifacts and samples were divided between the rings according to the specialty of the people residing in each ring. Once the data was in the data base it was shared with all, not just the people on the explorer, but with the space ship and earth. Redundant messages were sent to anyone who might be listening, on a predetermined schedule. The messages contained the status and report logs, any data gathered, and any analysis done by the crew. The messages insured that not all was lost in the event of a catastrophe such as happened to the first and second missions to the Blue Planet.
    JC left very little behind, but another explorer would know someone had explored the planet even if they did not find the marker and data cell at the base camp, they would certainly find the hover vehicles and marker on the hill top. The next explorer was not a concern for JC, he followed standard procedure, he was already forming his plans to colonized the planet. The other crew members knew what he was thinking long before he announced his plans.
    JC didn't open the clay jars until after the translation of the micro dots was well underway, they had more than enough work for everyone, there was no need to start another project. The translation proceeded very rapidly, the pictograms were designed for that very purpose and as soon as JC assigned the appropriate word for each of their words on the pictograms the translating programs could determine the rest of the words from syntax for the rest of the micro dots that followed each set of pictograms. The computer was waiting for JC to finish his assignments until the last dozen or so sets, more computer time was required as the syntax became more complex. Any words that were too ambiguous for the program were left until all the pictogram words were assigned. JC did not understand the meaning of some words even after many hours of reading. Some words in any language have no counter part in another, the only hope was that some understanding would be achieved after years of work.
    JC was glad he waited to open the jars because each jar contained a scroll of mirco dots. He only opened one and had only translated a quarter of the dots before rendezvous with the space ship. After a short briefing on the results of the other missions, the results of their mission electrified the entire space ship crew. Almost everyone wanted to help. The rest of the jars were transported to the space ship and the dots scanned to the space ship data base. The current dictionary and grammar rules were copied from the explorer to the space ship data base and soon more than ten thousand people were assisting in the translation. Updates were shared by all.
    The story of the Blue Planet was very familiar, one that would be heard again and again as other civilizations or their remains were discovered. The similar theme was as if evolution encountered the same problems everywhere and came to nearly the same solution, only some creatures could not come to the right solution soon enough to prevent a catastrophe that stopped evolution or delayed it for millions of years on their planets.
    The pace of the translation slowed as the crew began to read the translations of interest. When the translation was partially complete, many of the crew knew more about the Blue Planet than about earth. Many stories were so similar if the reader had not known the source they would have sworn they came from earth. One such story so piqued JC, he had to tell everyone to read it. He created a condensed version because the original was to wordy for most people.
    As best JC could tell, the story was told by the wisest old couple in the kingdom, who supposedly lived in the small valley where JC found the jars. According to the story the vault was their tomb, but JC didn't find any remains and doubted the story.
    The old couple were forced by their king to tutor his children, an arrogant and unruly lot. He attempted to teach the boys and his wife the girls, neither were successful. The oldest son was the least intelligent and the most prideful of the children and refused to attend any lessons by the old man. At twelve, he told the old man he was going to learn something important and asked his father to begin his military training.
    His request was granted and the only time he came to the old man's class was to harass him and the other children and to show off how good he had become. He was especially abusive of women, they were the lowest life form of all.
    His skill wasn't one tenth of what he boasted because all involved with his training were afraid for their lives if they criticized him too strongly or made his errors too apparent. The only one who rode rough shod over him was the captain of the calvary.
    The prince threatened him one day and he answered, "I'm a dead man, threats of death are meaningless to a dead man." The prince looked at him stupidly. "Some day your actions are going to be the death of me, so it may as well come sooner rather than later."
    The prince walked quickly away and retired to his apartments for several days. It was the first time in his life that the actions of another person had shook him to his core. His cockiness didn't return for two more weeks, those around him thought he was sick, but when it returned he was much worse than before. By the time he was sixteen he was unbearable and unfortunately, many men in the city adopted his arrogant manner. The only person he deferred to was his father, in whose presents, the prince was someone unknown at any other time. He knew his father would not tolerate his behavior, not for one second, even though he spoiled him and the other children, terribly.
    Each year a feast was held to celebrate the harvest and as was the custom, the two neighbor kings alternated years hosting the event. The two kingdoms shared a long wide mountain valley, one on each side of a large river. The mountains surrounding the valley cut them off from the rest of the warring world. In between eating and drinking, contests of skill occupied their time. The rivalry was very congenial, no one was concerned with winning, they enjoyed the sport of each event. In fact the winner was razzed about taking it to seriously. No one alive could remember even a mild dispute between the two kingdoms, that is until the prince was old enough to participate.
    To avoid embarrassment all contestants were required to wear a mask or a helmet that covered their faces and could not wear any identifying clothing or insignia other than the colors of their kingdom, red or black. In addition the contestants could not talk to one another. Obviously, members of the same kingdom could recognize one another by their horses or manner of gait, but they were honor bound not to say anything.
    All contests were between kingdoms, but by having winner contest winner and loser against loser a ranking for all contestants was obtained, except for those who dropped out and many did after a couple of losses. The contestants could move between the contests and eating and drinking without some much as a break in any stride or a hesitation in any conversation, no one thought anything of it, except the prince.
    Even the bumps and bruises and fatigue of the contests didn't dampen his rage upon loosing. He lost every contest, even to the worst of the worst of the black kingdom. His first out burst shattered the congenial atmosphere, everyone was silent as they stared at his unmannerly display. His following displays of anger were ignored, then hissed, and finally booed. After he lost the last match of the day, the chorus of boos lasted until he walked off the far end of the contest field.
    Each year his rancor became worse, if that was possible, and to make matters worse, a new knight won all the events as a rookie and every year after. Not even the contestants of the black kingdom knew the identity of the black knight. He was as tall as the others but slender and rode a small black horse. He barely won the contests of strength, but easily won all the rest. What he lacked in power was more than off set with speed and agility.
    The other contestants had to refrain from laughing when he prepared for his first run in the joust. He was definitely not the image of a winner with his slender build, a short lance, a small shield, and on a small horse. But their amusement disappeared quickly, his horse was as fast and as agile as he was. It was one with his rider, he avoided the opponents lance and quickly repositioned the black knight to unseat the horseman on the other side of the rail.
    The prince seized every opportunity to create bad feelings between the kingdoms. The old couple tried to counter every move he made without success. He insulted their ambassadors and emissaries when ever his father was absent. He arranged raiding parties to steal and loot in the black kingdom. The mood of the Fall Feast changed from festive to sullen to strained by his nineteenth year. The black knight set the tone. By lot he was the first to shoot in the archery contest. He hit a bulls eye on his first shot at a distance none of the others were willing to try. He then dispatched every contestant from the red kingdom in all other events.
    By chance the last event of the day featured the black knight against the prince in the first joust. The prince was unseated so unceremoniously that it provided the only laughter of the day. The laughter soon turned into a gasp as the prince removed his helmet and charged the black knight on foot. At every turn the black knight made the prince a laughing stock. The audience became tense and separated into two camps. The confrontation ended with the prince face down in the dirt to tired to move, not one of his blows reached its target. The black knight rode from the field followed by all members of the black kingdom as if on cue.
    By the following fall, the climate between the two kingdoms was so bad each was preparing for war. The black kingdom made the first move. Their army marched along the river up the valley to the first ford, giving the red army more than enough time to prepare. But the prince had convinced his father to let him lead the army and he violated every rule of warfare. He let the enemy chose the time and place even though he was on the defensive. The black knight led his army to the top of a small hill, made camp and waited for the red army.
    The prince was so boastful about his coming success, he didn't reconnoiter nor did he send out scouts, he knew all the land in his kingdom. His arrogance was so twisted that he led the old couple to a bluff over looking the battlefield and told them, "After I annihilate the black army, I'll return and kill you, I want you to see that I've learned what is important, not that drivel you tried to teach me."
    The old couple began to weep as he rode off to lead his army to its destruction. His plan was sheer suicide. The captain of the calvary argued at every turn and finally conceded when the prince was about to remove him from command. The captain knew the prince was planning on killing him and was hoping that he would die in battle so he would not have a fight with his father over his death.
    His battle plan called for the calvary to lead the charge. Their goal was to open hole in the heavy infantry ranks at the center of the enemy defense. Then the light infantry was to secure the hole while the heavy infantry over ran the enemy from the center.
    The prince rode in front, with the army in three ranks spread from one side of the small hill to the other. The calvary was in the first rank, followed by the light infantry in the second rank, and the heavy infantry in the third. The enemy spread out to match his formation, their numbers were smaller than he thought, the prince smiled as he savored victory. At the base of the small hill the calvary moved past him and began its charge and closed into four files in the shape of an arrow head. The light infantry closed ranks into four tight files forming the shaft of the arrow and the heavy infantry walked behind them in four spread files forming the feathers of the arrow. The prince was pleased, the enemy would not have time to close ranks and his arrow of destruction would pierce their ranks and he would destroy them.
    His smug feeling was short lived. A short distance from the enemy lines the calvary veered sharply to the right and circled toward the castle at a full charge. The prince cursed the captain as he rode away, "Come back here, you coward."
    It was too late, the infantry was in no mans land, they could only go forward. Half of the light infantry fell during the first volley of arrows. The prince stopped and stupidly said, "Where did they come from?", while another fourth fell in the second volley. The rest were killed by the enemy heavy infantry.
    Blindly the red army heavy infantry continued forward to engage the enemy heavy infantry, only to be decimated by the enemy light infantry which quickly moved around their flanks and surrounded them. In less than an hour the battle was over, except for the prince who was swinging his sword at a circle of soldiers keeping out of his reach. The black knight galloped into the circle and knocked him from his saddle. When he raised is sword, the black knight knocked it from his hand. The soldiers pounced on him and put him in irons.
    The black knight led him by the neck to the top of the bluff, dragging him at times behind his horse when the prince refused to walk. As they approached the old couple, the black knight was saying, "I've never met anyone as stupid as you."
    "Well, if it hadn't been for that coward of a captain, we would have won."
    "Shut up you idiot and listen," and slapped the prince across his face with the flat of his sword, drawing some blood. "If your calvary had continued our lances would have killed their horses and the men with their light shields and short swords would have had little chance against the heavy infantry with their heavy shields and long heavy swords. The rest of the battle would have happened just as it did, you stupid fool."
    A courier rode to the black knight, whispered, and rode away.
    "That coward as you called him died courageously trying to save his king. He knew I had split my forces and did the best he could against the odds.
    He listened to the peasants as they came in from the fields to defend the castle."
    "I'm glad you killed him because I would've."
    "Shut up," and slapped him again, drawing blood from the other cheek. "Don't you ever listen," and the knight pointed toward the castle with his sword. Smoke was rising from a wide area. The prince fell to his knees, stared in disbelief, and wailed, "You've killed them all."
    "Only the peasants and their cottages will be spared. Your castle will be a pile of stone, your city ashes."
    The black knight raised his sword above the kneeling prince and asked the old couple, "Would you like his head for a mantle piece?"
    The old man replied, "Of what good is it? The best revenge is to lead a happy life. Let him live his miserable life."
    "A wise response old man, but I can improve upon it. I will make sure he lives as long as possible and as miserable as possible. I will personally remind him of his stupidity and make him suffer his worse humiliation. Every day I will spank his face with my sword and ask him, 'How could you have been so stupid to be defeated and imprisoned by a woman,' and she removed her helmet and let long golden tresses fall upon her shoulders and down her back. At another time and place she would have been a beautiful sight, the long gold hair contrasting with the shiny black armor and the black horse, but not now.
    "Take him to the dungeon." As if appearing from nowhere a man ran to take him away. She turned to the old couple, "My father would welcome you at his court, what is your choice?"
    The old woman responded, "We would prefer to retire to our small cottage at the mouth of the river."
    "So be it. I will send a farmer and a shepherd with a wagon and some sheep to take you there."
    Before she left the old man turned to with tears in his eyes and looked at the dead and dying on the small hill.

        East of hear, north of tongue,
                    lies the land of the ever rising sun.
        Wisdom reigns, peace begun,
                    people can agree, thought has won.
        Voices are heard, songs are sung,
                    parochial not, the people are one.
        Night receding, dawn has come,
                    in the land of the ever rising sun.

        Music heard, bells are rung,
                    in the land of the ever rising sun.
        Varied still, prejudice hung,
                    stagnate not, as many solutions come.
        Agreement reached, consensus wrung,
                    everyone works until project done.
        East of hear, north of tongue,
                    lies the land of the every rising sun.

    JC stopped reading the story at that point because the ancient authors of the Blue Planet were similar to the ancient authors of earth, they wrote books to be read out loud with a lot of description, way too much for JC. He instructed his search program to bypass any paragraph containing any of their favorite subjects of description, it was a very long list. He then read the remaining passages. Some of the passages intrigued him because they were so similar to passages from earth. One writer in particular, wrote the following.
    For a nation which has so much, and we want more, we have produced very little in proportion. Our greatest weakness is we promote idiocy.
    The thirty second sound bite is not new, it is a part of culture, an ancient example is 'those who don't remember history are doomed to repeat it.' Another example, 'trends do not a future make.' Trends do make the future unless we change, heaven forbid, change, not us. If we just remember history we are doomed to repeat it. Certainly remembering bitterness and pain will not prevent history from repeating, we must learn and change as well as remember.
    He wrote almost verbatim a passage written by an ancestor of JC about the error of allness. He wrote, we are finite beings, we can't possibly say all there is to say and we certainly can't listen to all there is to be said. Politicians take full advantage of the error of allness, they commonly say, 'All we have to do is .... and all our problems will be solved, so vote for me. Such solutions are doomed to failure no matter how noble, grand, or glorious.
    'The purpose of an education is to prepare our minds so we can have a pleasant place to spend our idle moments,' I agree, pleasant thoughts are enjoyable, but since we spend more time working than thinking, using education to prepare us for an occupation we enjoy is far more important and then we will spend many more enjoyable hours. Also, well educated people tend to have more diverse interests, to be more athletic, and tend to be more active. Variety tends to increase our enjoyment.
    The author continued, people are truly educated when they can enjoy life, be wise stewards, be effective citizens, and be good parents. Notice I did not say happy, happiness is a state of mind, we can choose to be happy or sad. Happiness is having our own way. Enjoyment is our feeling about an activity or object. You don't have to have your own way to enjoy.
    To be an effective citizen a person needs to be able to work well with other people. This requires a long list of capabilities such as a broad background, good judgment, etc. One thing that is usually missing from such a list and is not taught very well if at all, is the ability to disagree agreeably.
    To be a good steward and a good parent it is helpful to have all the tools an education can provide, so we can use our resources wisely. One area I think we are very poor stewards and parents is the human brain. We waste so many, especially children, they are abandon for fun and games and never get the chance to develop.
    Another area of waste most people are aware of but do nothing to prevent, is that of indolence. Our culture promotes the idea that the people on the top lead a life of leisure, sitting beside a pool, smoking, drinking, and eating, living in a big house and driving a big car, doing nothing constructive. This promoted life style is a bunch of hog wash and fortunately not true, but why do we continue to promote such stupidity.
    For a vacation it's fine, but after five days most people have to do something. People want to work, people need to work, people need to do something they feel is worth while, important, meaningful. So why don't we recognize this fact and promote it instead of stupidity. What a waste, we promote stupidity and ridicule intelligence.
    We commonly make fun of book learning, we point out mistakes in books and make fun of people who use knowledge incorrectly. Why don't we rewrite the books and retrain the people rather than allow the errors to continue. More time wasted. Another common activity is quote stupid statements or to quote inaccurately or incompletely.
    These writings so mirrored the writings JC had read as a young man that he contemplated for several days on the similarities of the two worlds. Another very different story remained in JC's thoughts for a long time before he moved on to his next obsession. It was a story about a middle aged couple living a very routine life until an escaped convict burst into their home as they were preparing dinner. He slammed the door shut and waved a weapon at them. Neither stopped what they were doing, the wife was at the stove and the husband was setting the table.
    "Your late, where have you been?"
    "What?"
    The convict hesitated a moment before his panic again took control of him. "I'll kill you if you don't do as I ask."
    "No you won't, you need us."
    The convict slammed his hand on the table and the wife jumped. "See, I scared you."
    "No you didn't scare me, the loud sound scared me. Don't sudden loud sounds scare you or is that all there is to you, a loud sound?"
    "Nothing scares me."
    "Then why are you running?"
    A car door was closed next door and the convict ducked away from the door and window.
    "I see. Loud sounds don't scare you, only quiet ones."
    Slowly the convict stood and looked out the window. When no danger was obvious his panic returned and he threw his weapon against the wall.
    "If you continue to make noise, you will attract the attention of our neighbors and they will call the police. Is that what you want?"
    He drew a knife, "I'm going to cut you into small pieces, if you don't shut up and do as I say."
    "No you won't. You have no choice, you have to trust us, you have to sleep sooner or later and if you hurt us you know you couldn't trust us. Besides, I know you don't want to do the house work."
    The convict pulled a chair from the table and slumped on to it.
    "Hey. How did you know I was coming? There are three places set."
    "The One who sent you, told us," replied the husband, "Have you done something you can't undo?"
    "What do you mean?"
    "We were told you did."
    The convict said to himself, "What have I walked into?"
    "If you have, we pity you."
    "Pity," the convict said with a snarl. Both husband and wife stopped and listened.
    "What do you hear? I didn't hear anything."
    "You have done something you can't undo. Oh, I feel sorry for you."
    "What are you talking about? What did you hear?"
    "We heard the hounds of your hell coming. You will hear them shortly."
    "You two are crazy."
    "Quick, put the food on the table, mother, he will need every bit of energy he can muster."
    "What are you two old coots talking about?"
    "Be silent and eat."
    "When you do something you can't undo, you release the hounds of your own hell on yourself and no one can help you, not even yourself. Only UhUnOhUUR can help you and you must meet Him as soon as possible, before the hounds arrive."
    The convict stood. "Who is UhUnOhUUR?"
    "The One who sent you."
    Angrily the convict tipped the table over.
    "You shouldn't have done that, you've wasted valuable time," and both began to clean up the mess only to stop and listen.
    "Turn up the heat it's cold in here."
    "It's not cold in here. Admit it, you heard them this time didn't you."
    "NO."
    "Denial won't help."
    Together they cleaned up the mess and reset the table.
    "Eat quickly and as much as you can."
    "I'm not hungry."
    "You must eat, you have to have energy to do what you must do."
    "Do you have a sweater I could borrow?"
    The husband left the room and the convict began to eat. The husband returned with a sweater,
    "There's a small amount of hope you."
    "Why do you say that?"
    "Because you asked instead of demanding."
    "You two are getting to me and I'm tired."
    All heard a plaintive howl in the distance.
    "You don't have time to rest. You must leave at once."
    "Where am I going?"
    "You know where."
    Another howl sounded nearby.
    "It's too late."
    "Maybe not," replied the husband.
    "Yes, it is."
    The convict ran to the door. He didn't move or speak.
    "Look at its eyes. What color are they." The convict crept back to the chair.
    "It was just an ordinary dog."
    "What color was its eyes?"
    "Blue, why?"
    "Hounds have brown eyes." The convict shivered. The hound's howl was answered.
    "I've got to get out of here."
    "Not now. You might as well eat a piece of pie. You can't leave until the hound leaves."
    "How can I eat. My hand is shaking so much I can't keep anything on my fork."
    Both put their hands on his shoulders and his shaking stopped. He ate the pie and returned to the door. Several hounds were milling around as if not knowing where to go or what to do.
    "Stay away from the hounds, don't even let their breath touch you. The breath of the red eyed one will burn you, he's their leader. The breath of the blue eyed ones will freeze you."
    "What are you talking about they're just ...." The convict stopped talking when the red eyed one looked straight into his eyes. He leaned against the door and looked away. When his strength returned, he looked out the window and watch the hounds take off on a dead run. He bolted from the house and ran the other way.
    The two held each other and said in unison, "We can only pray."
    It was not to be. The top story on the news the next night was, "The escaped murder was found dead in the city park. His cause of death has city officials stumped. He had burns around his head and face, most of his eyebrows were gone and some of his hair, but he froze to death in the middle of summer."
 

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    The transition from one obsession to another was so slow and imperceptible that JC was not aware of the change until it was firmly established. He was amused as he reflected on it. The first changes were the normal progression of translation, from assisting the expert translation programs to reading the new translations to enlisting the aide of others and answering their questions followed by the search for historical documents and writings, then searches on very specific topics as interest in each area began to wane.
    The routine varied very little during the twenty year trip to earth. After the usual routine of exercise, eating, and talking with Eric, he worked with the translation and talked with all the other crew members during breaks and closed the day by eating dinner, talking with Tom, and preparing for sleep.
    During the first five years of the return trip, he spent most of his time assisting the people he had enlisted to help with the translation and reading selected translations. After the morning wake up routine, he checked his messages, responded to those that may delay someone's work, and talked to the other explorer crew members before lunch. After lunch he responded to as many of the other messages as possible until dinner time. He joined the after dinner discussion groups until bed time.
    As the experience level of the translation workers increased, the number of messages decreased and he spent more time reading translations. The messages changed from requesting assistance to alerting him to translations he might be interested in reading. The number of messages dwindled to only a few and he became a very selective reader. In addition to his usual break time conversations, he queried the data base on land recovery procedures, how to eliminate heavy metals from an environment, and which plants could tolerate high concentrations of heavy metals. He joined the after dinner discussion groups on those same topics as well.
    One day JC absent mindedly wrote a brief outline of his plan. It only contained six headings, Prepare for departure, Complete preparations during the journey, Establish a space colony to support the recovery, Establish a recovery station on the planet, Recover the planet, and Establish a new civilization.
    Only JC was surprised by his self revelation, those he routinely talked and worked with already knew the direction he was taking and were eager to join him. Many had their initial contributions ready before he asked. The number of responses to his first query overwhelmed him and his new obsession was launched with much enthusiasm. He wanted to have a plan to recover and to colonize the Blue Planet to present to the world council by the time they returned.
    His goal was achieved with ease, in fact three comprehensive reviews were completed before they returned. His plan was approved very quickly. Several weeks passed before JC could recover from the whorl wind speed of all the committee meetings and final review. The world council was impressed with the level of detail in the plan, so was JC. The plan was so large that JC could read only a small portion of it and the more he read the more he was impressed with the quality of the work done by the crew, but not only that, ten thousand people were lobbying the world council on behalf of the plan.
    Once approved the crew turned, without a request from JC, to enlisting the younger generation to the project. Their enthusiasm was so great it was over subscribed. JC could not believe the force he started, it washed over him and swamped him. The project now had a life of its own. Many people were contributing to the project. It was no longer his plan, it was our plan and it was detailed right down to the number of people, villages, and the infrastructure they would need.
    The bioengineering of a hardy bean plant was completed before a spaceship was outfitted for the project. The plant produced four two foot high leaf covered stalks with a single lima bean size bean maturing about an inch apart between the leaves starting about six inches above the ground. As the beans matured they turned from a pale green color to the same red as the trellis berries. The spaceship chickens were easily adapted to eating the red beans.
    Every root cell of the plant produced many cell surface molecules, on contact each would transport a specific heavy metal into the cell. The cell would then produce a heavy metal complex and transport the complex out of the cell and into the sap. As the sap move up the stems the first unsaturated bean encountered would convert the complex into an insoluble compound and store it until it became saturated. As the heavy metals accumulated in each bean its color changed from light green to darker and darker shades of green until it was completely black upon saturation.
    All cells of the plant were bioengineered to produce a mild toxin that was only destroyed in a bean just before it turned red. During the journey to the Blue Planet the spaceship chickens were trained to pick the black beans and deposit them in a collections system. For each black bean the chicken received a red bean. If a chicken ate any bean except a red one or any other part of the plant it would become sick and regurgitate, once was usually enough.
    When the recovery began on the Blue Planet, the crews started in the tropics and planted the beans at all locations with sufficient moisture and moved toward the polar region as spring advanced, then returned to the tropics and followed the spring planting to the other pole.
    Then chickens were transported to the maturing bean plants. The heavy metals were extracted from the beans and converted into reactor fuel. The extracted beans and the plants were composted. When a colony on the planet was established, irrigation, composting, and soil building became the main tasks.
    Two decades later some bean plants were producing red beans, when the plants produced only red beans over a large area new plants were introduced according to the climate and terrain. As the recovery progressed the weather patterns slowly changed allowing the recovery of more land.
    The first spaceship became a space colony at one of the Lagrange points. While the space colony was being established a small crew established a geosynchronous space station above the location of the first recovery colony and then began construction of the first recovery colony. The recovery procedure began as soon as sufficient infrastructure was in place.
    The second spaceship arrived ten years later and established a space colony at the other Lagrange point. Their mission was to mine the asteroids and build a space factory to build additional robots and to furnish the materials to continue the recovery of the planet. Additional spaceships were requested by the recovery colony as more land was recovered.
    JC died seven years into the journey. He knew he would not live to see his plan completed, but he had hoped to see the Blue Planet one more time. He was one hundred forty three when his brain lost too many vital connections. He just slumped over at his console. Everyone knew his wishes, he wanted to be buried with his ancestors on the Blue Planet. His ashes were placed in one of the micro dot jars and sealed.
    The refitted spaceship was faster and the route was direct. The journey was completed in fourteen years. If JC had lived to the normal life expectancy he would have seen the Blue Planet one more time. As it was the project team carried out his dream.
    The first phase of the project was way ahead of schedule so the crew re-analyzed the geography and weather patterns of the planet. JC's low level survey of the planet combined with the space station data was invaluable and resulted in an improved recovery plan. Three recovery colonies were established. One on the island and one near each pole. Each location was less contaminated than the rest of the planet and allowed some work to be done without dust masks and the end of day decontamination, the result was a large savings of time.
    Life in the recovery colonies was very similar to living in the space colonies. People would spend almost all of their time in their quarters. They maintained contact with each other and the robots via their consoles. Their diet was monotonous, but with good flavor, their entertainment was as broad as the number of data cubes in their possession, virtual travel was a common diversion. Education was on going and at the speed of the person. Dialogue between people and groups of people was encouraged, the sharing of ideas was of paramount importance and most people spent at least an hour a day in this activity. The number of people involved in each group was only limited by transmission time. Rmail was use when it was longer than thirty seconds.
    Every step of the recovery was completed sooner than expected. The speed of accomplishment of one step seemed to shorten the time of the next.
 

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    "We hope you have enjoyed the presentations this week, exploring Corpse Canyon, the area around Mt. Stupidity, and the ancient nuclear defense center. We hope you will visit the Valley of Jars before you return home, if you haven't done so already. It's only a short trip from here, the scenery is excellent, and it's the final resting place of our planet's founding father. His ashes are stored in the vault of the valley next to the tomb of his ancestors, plus you can connect to an interesting data cube presentation of his exploration of the coast and the valley. Thank you for being an excellent audience, good bye and good luck."
    I reflected on the changes since our founding father began the recovery project as we traveled to the Valley of Jars. Every change was well documented to provide a base from which to make corrective changes, if necessary, and like any large scale project, there were many false starts, many retracing of steps, and many new discoveries.
    It was difficult to imagine the conditions the first colonist had to endure, but the final result was incredible. It was even more difficult to imagine this beautiful planet as a waste land. I wondered how the first colonist could cope with the mind numbing bleakness of the landscape. Fifteen minutes of virtual travel with the first full scale survey of the planet was more than enough for me, I had to switch to another data cube.
    The presentations we had just witnessed help to put everything I learned into perspective. Like my ancient ancestor, JC, I was a historian and the story of the reclamation had always intrigued me. I was very appreciative of the constant reminder from the planet council to keep our ecology in balance. Everyone needs to be reminded about what was once lost and not to lose it again. How could any civilized society destroy their own planet. How could they let such small inane inconsequential disputes escalate into a nuclear holocaust. I just couldn't imagine it.
    The children, Jimmy and Jane, focused my attention on the scenery by pointing out everything of interest to them. It was their first major trip and they enjoyed everything about it. Like little sponges they absorbed everything around them. I hoped they would never lose their curiosity, their desire to learn. I never could understand how someone could lose either, but many did. I vowed to do my best to keep that spirit alive in my children.
    The children were disappointed in the Valley of the Jars because it was not the same as in the data cube presentations. We parked our hover vehicle on the beach and walked along a tree lined path next to the river between tree covered hills to the vault and tomb. We watched the data cube presentation and walked to the top of the hills JC had used to shelter his vehicles and to look out over the valley and ocean, but we could not see what JC saw, the trees blocked our view. The mountains and the beach were much the same but the rest was alive with growing grass, flowers, bushes, and trees. The desolate view that JC had had disappeared long ago.
    As we returned to the hover vehicle I thought, 'human nature has changed very little. We still want to walk where another has walked, we want to stand where another stood, and we want to see what another saw.'
    When everyone was buckled in I said, "AUTOPILOT HOME." We watched the scenery in silence. What a beautiful planet, one without mosquitoes, grasshoppers, locus, or cockroaches. A carpet of green punctuated by water, rock, and sand, but mostly green from our low level. The farms with their orderly fields and the orderly lines of the small villages pleased the eye, but the disorder of the forest and mountain was even more pleasing. The disorder was broken very sparingly by railroads needed to carry heavy freight. Highways and large cities were a thing of the ancient past.
    The children soon tired and fell asleep, I found their comment, before they dosed off, interesting, "Daddy, why is real travel more tiring than virtual travel?" I could not think of a good answer until they were asleep. "Why do answers come when you can no longer use them?" The answer was obvious once it came and I probably would forget by the time they woke. Virtual travel can be stopped at anytime, real travel must continue until your destination is reached.
    Again my thoughts returned to the reclamation. The first colony was established at East of Hear, next to a larger river on the southern shores of Cape Hope on the northwest coast of Smith continent. The site was chosen with great care. At sixty degrees north latitude, it had a very moderate temperature because of a warm off shore ocean current. Glaciers in the mountains north of the cape fed the river with nearly heavy metal free water. The area received very little rain and no dust storms. The heavy rain fall occurred much further east and south of the site and the dust storms never came across the mountains from the south east or the ocean to the west.
    Northwest of the site was a large plateau. Steep cliffs on the west side provided support for the electromagnetic elevators and the flat top provided excellent landing sites for the landers, trucks, and busses from the space ships and space colonies. The gentle slope from the top to the river and the level shore allowed easy access to both from East of Hear. The top was fog free, but the shore and the river valley had frequent morning and evening fog.
    After the landing, the soil and water was sampled to confirm that the conditions of the cape had not degraded since JC last stood on the cape. Assured that the site was usable, the planned occupation was signaled to begin. One after another landers, trucks, and busses left the space colony for the site. The first lander contained the material and crew to build the first landing pad. The first truck contained a reactor and the following vehicles contained the material for the electromagnetic elevators and additional landing pads.
    When the reactor, the landing pads, and the elevators were operational, a canal was built from the river at the base of the foot hills to provide irrigation and then the first farms were established. The people lived in the landers and other vehicles until additional supplies were delivered. All activities were scheduled to save energy not time.
    When operations at East of Hear was routine, the next colony was established at North of Tongue in the southern hemisphere. The location was similar in geography to East of Hear, a warm ocean current to keep the temperature mild, a river that was relatively heavy metal free, a large expanse of ocean to the windward to prevent dust from polluting the site, and mountains to keep the dust storms at a distance in the other direction. After North of Tongue was operational the island site was established.
    The recovery crews took a break to lay JC's remains to rest. Because violent storms still raged through Corpse Canyon, the council decided to remove his ancestor and crew, cremate them, and place their ashes in micro dot jars and place the jars in the vault in the Valley of the Jars. The reconditioned vault and a newly built tomb became a national shrine. When this work was finished the recovery began.
    The decision turned out to be a very wise one, people had a permanent place to go to pay their respects and give thanks very early in the recovery so resources were used on the recovery rather than the restoration of the earlier grave. Five centuries passed before the difficult restoration of the area around Mt. Stupidity began.
    Five years after the recovery began, several small, but ever expanding rings of green were flourishing. All the plants were nitrogen fixing, so the colonist only had to ensure a supply of water, potassium, and phosphorous to keep the green ring expanding. Hardy grasses led the expansion, after the beans had removed most of the heavy metals, their roots held the soil in place while their stems and leaves slowed the wind at the surface. Another five years later the grasses were mingling with the tundra plants and both moved windward and the grasses moved toward the equator.
    Fields of bean plants led the expanding green. They extracted the heavy metals from the soil better than the bioengineers had hoped, the roots of next generation of bean plants went even deeper. The grasses held the soil in place until green composting and irrigation rebuilt the top soil. The grasses were followed by food crops, pigs, and chickens on land suitable for farming and bushes and trees on the rest of the heavy metal free land. A necklace of bean plants surrounded almost all mountains and other rough terrain and the trained chickens still maintained their vigil.
    Fresh water fish from the two rivers were edible, but migratory salt water fish were not. The same was true for local shell fish compared to those further away. Bioengineer microscopic plants and animals were introduced into all off shore waters receiving heavy metal runoff. The animals incorporated large amounts of heavy metal into their skeletons from the plant they ate, the remains of those not eaten by larger animals removed the heavy metals from the water as a new limestone layer was formed on the ocean floor.
    A large celebration followed the first harvest, the colonists had new variety in their diet. The next big celebration occurred when a whole year passed without a giant dust storm. Now villages could be built anywhere on the planet and the speed of recovery accelerated as additional colonists arrived and new plants, animals, and insects were introduced. The first plants were all wind pollinated. The added diversity accelerated the recovery faster than anyone had predicted. Two centuries later everyone agreed that the project was a success far beyond anyone's imagination.
    Of course, the completion of each small step was reported to everyone, everywhere. As each report was received optimism increased to the point that other recovery projects were being planned. The successes and failures were shared around the galaxy. A new feeling of satisfaction pervaded all people everywhere, we had finally reached a new level of cooperation with ourselves and with the biospheres in which we lived. Waste was converted into another usable form, it was never dumped into any biosphere. Everyone felt satisfied as never before, everyone knew a major new goal had been achieved, a new way of thinking was ingrained in everyone.
    When the autopilot shut down the children's energy switch turned on. Fortunately their mother had rested with them so I could take a nap. They ran around the yard and played badminton before they were ready to discuss the trip with their mother. She tried to answer their questions or referred them to the appropriate data cube. One of Jane's questions surprised her and one of Jimmy's statements disappointed her.
    "Mom, when did belief in God return?"
    "Religion and belief in God disappeared, but not faith in God."
    "OK, I see, I was confusing the two."
    "How could anyone be that stupid?"
    "What do you mean?"
    "The creatures on this planet. How could they destroy their own planet? People would never do anything that stupid. We're better than them."
    "Get that parochial idea out of your head right now. You have been ignoring your history lessons haven't you?"
    "Aw, mom."
    "Young man sit down and study this data cube until your thinking is straight. We are not better than any other living thing, we have different capabilities and therefore different responsibilities, but we are not better. We all share in the two greatest miracles, we are something not nothing and we are living, only a few share in the third greatest miracle. We have been blessed, we can create non material resources. This capability does not make us better, it makes us unique.
    The creatures on this planet were no different than us, they made an error and they could not find a solution to their problem. A fatal error to be sure, but still an error, one that could have been avoided if they had been able to have more than one way of thinking. They became prisoners of their intellectual blind spots, something you must avoid."
    Jimmy connected the data cube and as was his wont, he randomly selected where to begin. His eyes widened and his mouth fell open as the first few pages flashed before him and he began a virtual tour of the NORAD defense command center. He quickly returned to the introductory pages to recheck the time and place. "THE NORTH AMERICAN AIR DEFENSE COMMAND CENTER" and on the next page was a picture of the entrance with the caption underneath, "Colorado Springs 1976". As he continued he yelled, "Hey mom, it's just like Mount Stupidity."
 

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Chapter 1 'Jack and Jill went up the hill'
Chapter 2 'Jack fell down'
Chapter 3  'And Jill came tumbling after

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    The weather was not a predictor of the event that was about to take place and Jack was enjoying his last beautiful summer day at the lake, he would leave tomorrow, football practice started Monday. Jack was a good athlete, but not exceptional. He came from a long line of athletes. Both parents were large, athletic people, they could do almost anything and so could Jack. Jack's biggest liability was that he couldn't go on the attack, he didn't have a killer instinct. In wrestling and boxing, he was an excellent counter puncher, but didn't have any offense, he enjoyed the sport, he, just, didn't want to beat the other guy.
    He did much better at team games, football, baseball, and basketball, but he wasn't quick enough to be excellent. He was invited to try out, but was not offered a scholarship, because he had large, 'soft' hands, and was an excellent pass blocker. His six three two thirty frame made him a candidate for tight end. He thought he could make the team his freshman year and then maybe they would offer him a scholarship.
    His parents could not afford the cost of his education and he had not saved enough. He took a summer life guard position because it was the only job he could find. He did his exercises every morning followed by a five mile run around the bottom half of the lake before he went to the beach at ten.
    He followed the same route every day. From his cabin he followed the asphalt road all the way to the end and then continue on dirt road which became a two track to a turn around. He stopped running and walked a short distance to a seclude cove with a marsh on each side.
    He sat on a log and look at the lake through a gap between the trees on each side of the cove as it narrowed before rejoining the lake. After he rested for about five minutes, he walked back to the turn around and resumed his run back to his cabin on the other side of the lake.
    At sunset he helped close the beach and returned to his cabin, ate a Spartan meal, read and listened to music, and retired. He rarely did anything else, he went to a campfire get together once in a while, but he tried not to spend money, he needed every cent. If he didn't get a scholarship he didn't know how he was going to continue his education.
    This was one of the things he was thinking about as he neared the dirt road, his major and what was he going to do for transportation were, also, on his mind. He was so absorbed in his thoughts, he didn't look around, his eyes were fixed on the ground a few feet in front. He didn't notice a lawn care truck parked in the drive way or a small person spraying fertilizer, herbicide, fungicide, and insecticide on the lawn of the only year around home on this part of the lake. He ran past the house and down the dirt road past the marsh to the turnaround and walked to the log.
    Jill also had trouble finding a job. If her father had not been a friend of the owner, she would be unemployed. One of his men quit without notice and no one answered the ad he posted in the local grocery store. He mentioned this to her father when they were fishing and was surprised by, "My daughter could do it."
    "A woman can't do that kind of work."
    "My daughter can. She's been driving since she was twelve. She was too small for the heavy work so she convinced me to let her drive the tractor pulling the hay wagon, from then on she drove all the vehicles on the farm. Try her out and you'll see." He did and she did.
    She was strong for her size, five two one thirty, she could wrestle her two younger brothers to a draw most of the time. She called herself, fat, but she wasn't. She often referred to herself as 'dumb little fat one' when she made a mistake. She wasn't dumb either.
    After the state bought their farm to extend the freeway, her father retired to the city where she finished her last three years of school. She was a football chearleader and fairly popular, but she was not very good looking so the boys didn't pay attention to her, she never had a date except for group social functions and double dates when a friend was not allowed to go out alone.
    Her mother was aware of how much she wanted a date and she annoyed Jill, by saying so others couldn't hear, as she left the house for a social event, "Don't come back pregnant." Her mother had a strange sense of humor at times. Other than that, both parents were very supportive.
    Her family spent their summers at the lake, but their cabin was on a good beach so she never went to the county park. She, like Jack, needed money for school. Her parents would pay for her education, but she had to earn her spending money and pay for her car. Later, she was glad she started her last work day early because she was able to finish on schedule, she wanted a week off before cheerleading tryouts.
    She saw Jack as she turned to make her last pass near a small picket fence by the road. She let go of the valve, good thing because she would have burned the grass with too much chemical. She couldn't explain it, but she followed him like a radar locked on to a target. As he approached, she said to herself, "Boy, I sure would like to wrap my legs around that hunk. Jill, what a thing to say. Come on, admit it, you sure would." As he passed she studied the back of his head until he disappeared around a bend in the road. She was peeved that it took him so long to come back, she knew he would.
    She wanted his attention, but couldn't say a word, she was afraid she would never see him again. Reflexively, she did the only thing she could. She intended to fire a shot across his bow, but she misjudged his speed, Jack didn't jog, he ran and he accelerated as he moved from the dirt to the asphalt. She squeezed the value full blast and hit him in the middle of his chest.
    His large hands served him well because they instantly protected his face. Jill froze when she realized what she had done, "Oh, what have you done, you dumb little fat one," was a silent thought. Jack didn't, he turned out of the spray, leaped the picket fence, and knocked the hose from her hands.
    "I'm going to beat you to a pulp you little runt." He had never been so mad, how could anyone be so stupid. Before he could swing, his chest felt like it was on fire. He didn't want to let his antagonist escape, but he had to wash the chemicals from his body. Instinctively, he picked her up and put her across his shoulders with her head and shoulders on one side of his head and legs on the other and his arms over her shoulders and legs. He ran back to the cove, he didn't want to be naked out in the open, inhibitions cause strange reactions.
    He dumped her on the sand, pulled her rubber boots off, grabbed her lapels and ripped them open. Her coveralls were old and the metal buttons came out of their holes with a rrrrip. He jerked her arms from the sleeves and yanked the coveralls from her legs. He tied her arms down to her sides with the legs of the coveralls and tied the arms to a small tree.
    He ripped his shirt from his body, pulled down his shorts and jock strap, and removed his shoes and socks in what seem to her to be one motion. He made no attempt to conceal himself. He dove into the water and scrubbed himself with sand from the bottom. When the burning sensation stopped he stopped scrubbing and came out of the water.
    While he was scrubbing, Jill tried to free herself, but he had tied the legs so tight around her waist she couldn't move her arms and when she tried, it was almost impossible to breath so she quit. She forced herself to breath slowly to prevent hyperventilation. "Dumb little fat one, you did it this time." She stopped repeating to herself when she saw leaches on his body.
    For an instant she felt sorry for him, but that turned to admiration as he deftly removed the leaches by rubbing them with sand so he could get a grip on them and rolled them between his fingers until they let loose. Her fear of what he would do to her vanished as her original fascination returned. She enjoyed the ripple of his muscles and the grace with which he moved. Her fear returned quickly when he moved towards her. She would have sworn the water turn to steam from his blood red mad body. She didn't blame him for being mad, she felt she deserved what ever he did, how could she have been so stupid.
    "I going to beat the tar out of you," as he untied her and stood back. She remained quiet, regaining her breath and then removed the protective head gear she was still wearing, hat, goggles, and mist mask. When her hair fell down around her shoulders, Jack's enraged brain paid attention to the messages sent to it from his eyes. He saw the small waist and the hip waist ratio when he removed the coveralls, but it didn't register.
    He fell to his knees near her and slammed his fist into the ground with such force the sand moved beneath her. Since he was twelve, his father told him almost every day, "You can't touch the girls, you can't hit, slap, or pinch them. You don't know your own strength. You could injure them so quickly you would not have time to recover and you will regret it the rest of you life."
    He could not violate this dictum and he vented his frustration by beating the sand repeatedly. She felt compassion for his frustration, but fear returned quickly as his enraged brain thought of the only way he could punish her. He pushed her down, unfastened her shorts, put one arm under her legs, lift her hips off the ground, and with the other arm crossing under, he grabbed her shorts and underwear at the waist and yanked them off.
    "NO, NO, STOP, STOP, this is not the way it's supposed to happen."
    She beat him and squeezed her legs together, but it was useless. Her blows bounced from him like drum sticks from a drum, he didn't hear a word she said. He grabbed a thigh in each hand, his thumbs and fingers digging into her flesh with such force all resistance left her, she went limp. He spread her legs and threw her body around so one leg was on each side of his knees.
    He paused, wrestling with his thoughts, his parents did not teach him about sex, he learned in school, but they did give him advice when they knew he knew. Both told him to stay away from girls. More than half of their family and friends 'had to get married' and more than half of the women were pregnant the first time.
    His dad said, "Women make odd sounds when they have sex, so don't think you are hurting them, they will tell you to stop if you are." His mother told him to go slow and to wait for her to adjust and above all to be gentle.
    "How could he be gentle if he wanted to punish her?"
    Jill was thinking, "Well, dumb little fat one you wanted him, now you're going to get him, ready or not?"
    She was ready, she was ready the first time she saw him and her fear had not diminished it. She didn't cringe, flinch, cry, or scream, she never thought he would kill her, it was a fear of the unknown, of not knowing what he would do.
    Now, she was apprehensive, she had never seen an adult male aroused before and he was larger than she anticipated. She wondered which would be true, the old horror stories or the true romance. She was disappointed afterwards, neither.
    He made up his mind and moved over her. "Well dumb little fat one you wanted to wrap your legs around him, now's your chance." She did and as he entered, she let out an involuntary gasp. He kept his weight on his elbows and knees. He was still for a while and then moved violently. He slammed against her with such force her body slid on the sand. He came quickly and his anger left his body with his fluid. By the time he came again he was not angry. He withdrew and sat beside her.
    Jill knew he was again wrestling with his thoughts and wondered what they were, but decided not to ask. She watched him with pleasure as he again moved with grace and power, the violence was gone, his skin tone returned to a beautiful golden brown.
    He pulled her socks off and carefully raised her upper body and removed her T-shirt and bra. He picked her up and carried her to the water and rinsed the sand from her body. He stood her on the sand, took her shirt, shook the sand out, and used it to fan her dry. He placed her coveralls on the sand front side down, the arms extend above and pushed the metal buttons into the sand so as to make a smooth ground cloth. He picked her up and put her on the coveralls and sat beside her.
    The switch in his attitude was not lost on her subconscious, all remaining fear and doubt evaporated. He looked at her, he started at her toes and slowly went the full length of her body. She shivered as he did so. He placed his hands on her feet and slid them gently up the outside of her legs until he made contact with her hands and followed the outside of her arms ending at her hair which he gently brushed back from her face. He slid his hands back down her arms. Again he looked at her from toe to head.
    "Please don't look at me that way, it gives me goose bumps."
    "I can't help it. I want you again, God, do I want you."
    She couldn't look this time, but she knew he was aroused.
    "May I."
    She spread her legs. She enjoyed watching him move, the tone of his voice, the controlled movement of his body, and his gentleness. She also realized what her earlier feeling meant, her body was telling her it wanted to be pregnant, it didn't care about circumstances or morals or anything else, it wanted to accomplish its mission in life and she gave in to it. After the third time he withdrew and again sat beside her, but this time he caressed her and kissed her hands, feet, and waist.
    "I know as sure as I'm here, you'll be pregnant," and even he could not believe what he said next because he had never thought about a wife and family, not even once. "I want the child, I want our baby." Again he scanned her from toe to head. "You are beautiful."
    "No, I'm not, I'm fat." He felt her tummy, under her arms, and her 'love handles'. "NO, you're not fat. You're my little dumpling."
    "What?"
    He turned and beat the sand with his fists. When his burst of anger subsided he placed his head on her waist facing her head. "Can you ever forgive me." And then almost a scream. "I raped my wife."
    A moment passed before she could speak, "What did you say?"
    He responded very calmly, "I said, can you forgive me, I raped my wife. Will you marry me?"
    She couldn't believe her ears, it was beyond her wildest romantic fantasy and asked him to say it again and he did and added, "I know I will be a good husband and father. I will listen to you and I will never use force to get my own way."
    She didn't know what to say.
    "Could I use friendly persuasion, though?"
    She couldn't help herself, she laughed, "Yes."
    He stood, bent down, picked her up, and kissed her long and passionately and she responded. She could feel his arousal and wiggled from his arms and led him back to the coveralls. She wanted him. This time all the pent-up passion of both virgins was unleashed. She wrapped her legs and arms around him and dug her heels into his back and with all her might she pulled her body as close to him as possible. A while later he rolled off panting for breath and she fanned her body trying to cool off. "Phew. I can't remember being this hot." She reach orgasm several times and now knew what it meant to be hot and bothered.
    After resting for a while, both were apologizing for what had happened and saying, "Let's get married as soon as possible."
    "What am I saying, I'm supposed to leave for football practice tomorrow."
    The following discussion revealed they were going to the same school. They agreed to do as they had planned and make changes as necessary. She dressed and he tied her coveralls around his lower body. They picked up the rest of their things and walked back to her truck. He sat in the truck while she finished her work. Both talked a mile a minute and at the same time while she drove to his cabin and then to the county park after a change of clothes. They parted with a quick kiss after she told him she would return with sandwiches at her next break.
 

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    Jack was an hour and half late reporting to the life guard station, a porch built over the entryway to the changing rooms and the concession stand between the parking lot and the beach. His partner, Pat, a beautiful junior coed, was worried because Jack had never been late or missed a day of work.
    "What happened?"
    "I was with my wife," he sat next to her on a four person bench.
    "Your wife! I've never seen you with a girl and you never told me about a woman."
    "We had our first date this morning," and that is how each of them described it, it was their first date.
    "Wow, fill me in. How did it happen?"
    "I met Jill when I was running and we got to talking and forgot the time," and that is all they ever told anyone.
    "Boy, I can't wait to meet her."
    "She'll be here soon with some sandwiches, I hope it will be soon, I'm starving."
    Pat kept asking questions even though she knew he would not answer. Jack was an easy going, quiet person. Many days he contributed maybe ten words to their conversation in ten hours, she did all the talking.
    Their daily routine involved watching the swimmers, of course, teaching swimming once a day, checking a same sex changing room every fifteen minutes, and 'patrolling' the perimeter of the swimming area every half hour to remove any unsafe items and trash and to insure the public that they were present. One remained at the station while the other patrolled or checked a changing room. At first the patrol was a boring task, but after sitting most of every day, it felt good to take a walk, so neither shunned this task.
    The county park was a popular place because Bass lake lived up to its name, it was a good fishing lake, very few sandy beaches. Most cottages and homes had long docks, able to extent out into the open water away from the vegetation.
    By the end of the second week together, Pat was very mad at Jack. She knew he watched every move she made. She made physical contact with him at every opportunity, she even slid a breast up and down his arm. He never made a pass at her, never asked her for a date, no response at all.
    At the beginning of the fourth week, the wind was raw and she forgot her windbreaker. Jack suggested she stay down in the concession stand, but she refused. After she returned from patrol, Jack unzipped his jacket and raised his arm so she could slide under the jacket and his arm to keep warm, he draped his beach towel over their legs. Boy, did she snuggle up to him.
    He finally responded and not the way she wanted. Without any emphasis on his words, "You are a beautiful woman. You are poetry in motion. When you move, your curves are something else, I can't keep my eyes off you. You are a delight to watch, but you are not my woman and never will be."
    She didn't move, she felt comfortable and safe next to him and she never told Jack how she felt about him. She was able to accept his response and they developed a very strong brother sister relationship. So when Jack told her about his 'wife', she really couldn't wait to meet her. The more she thought about it the more excited she became.
    At her first opportunity Jill went to the family cabin, made six sandwiches, changed her clothes, and put additional clothing in an athletic bag. Her mother returned from shopping as Jill was leaving, the guys were still fishing.
    "Where are you going?"
    "I have a date, mom, a real date."
    "Oh, honey I'm so glad for you." They embraced. "But remember don't come home pregnant."
    She laughed and Jill grinned.
    Pat was on patrol when Jill drove into a packed parking lot. Pat saw her as she rounded the corner of the building, carrying a small picnic basket. She went to her and embraced her, "Hello, Jill.
    Congratulations.
    I'm so happy for you.
    He's up those stairs."
    "You must be Pat, but how did you recognize me, was it because I was the only person carring a basket to the beach instead of the picnic area?"
    "No, honey, I would have recognized you in crowd, you're glowing like a full moon."
    Jill was about to speak, but Pat pointed up the stairs. Jill went up and Pat sat on bench below and listened. Jack and Jill took turns eating and talking. Jill left after one sandwich, Jack ate four and left one for a snack.
    Pat returned to the station, "You said more in that short time than all summer to me." He nodded his head. "You chose a good woman."
    "How can you tell?"
    "Intuition, Jack, intuition."
    Both scanned the beach and the water. "You are her man. No doubt about it."
    The rest of the afternoon was usual. Jill returned a little after five with more sandwiches from the deli. Pat returned to the lower bench when she came up the stairs. Pat went to the station when it was Jack's turn to check a changing room or go on patrol. During those brief moments with Jill, the two women became life long friends. After sunset they would not meet again until Pat graduated. Before they left the beach, Pat gave Jack a great big kiss and a very warm hug. "Good Luck you big hunk and all the happiness in the world to you, young lady."
    "Thanks."
    They embraced for a long while and all departed teary eyed. They had not made plans for the evening, so Jack had no idea what Jill had in mind until he saw her take an athletic bag out of her car. He opened the door and turned on the light. She quickly scanned his three room cabin, walked quickly to his bed, put her bag under it, pulled the covers down, went to the door, and turned off the light. Jack had not moved. She removed her clothes and put them on a chair. Jack did likewise. Then she turned to him, "You sat next to that beauty queen all summer and you choose me! Do you realize what that does for my ego, you big wonderful hunk."
    She jumped up, threw her arms around his neck, wrapped her legs around his waist, and kissed him passionately. He slid his hands around and under her hips. With his help she slowly lowered her body over him.
    "Wow, woman."
    He walked carefully to his bed and just as carefully lowered both of them on to it. She growled like a cat when she reached orgasm and before the last of the twilight left the room, she surprised him. She pushed him onto the floor, got up, and walked quickly around the room, "Sorry about that, but I had to cool off. I was approaching heat stroke."
    Jack couldn't believe it. He sprung from the floor and touched her as she walked by. She stopped and let him feel her body. Every where he touched, she was very warm. He fanned her with his hands until she kissed him and the cycle repeated the rest of the night with a little sleep in between.
    The next morning they showered, dressed, ate breakfast, cleaned the cabin, packed his things, returned the key, and left for the bus stop. Neither was tired and they laughed and joked most of the time. "After your bus leaves, I can't wait to tell my mother, it's pay back time," and they burst out laughing.
    Both were amazed how much they had learned about each other in such a short time. Both knew they had much to do, but both had a 'can do' attitude, and they told one another they could do it because they would work at it. When his bus left they were both walking on clouds.
    Many thoughts passed through Jack's mind as he looked out the window. One new thought, "Me, a family man," he still couldn't believe it. Until yesterday he never thought about it now he was conscious of it. He mulled it over for several minutes, then he turned to what he had to do and formulated a plan.
    A new feeling grew in intensity, one he would not understand completely until years after graduation. A part of him was missing. When his understanding was complete he realized that he and Jill were a unit, not two individuals. He was the captain of the unit by default because women defer to men. It was not a gift, a privilege, or something he earned, it was a responsibility. He, with her help, was responsible for keeping the unit together and functioning. To have his own way, pleasure, wealth, or anything else meant nothing if he failed his responsibility. When she wasn't with him the unit was not complete and he didn't feel complete.
    When they were together he felt whole, time stood still, there was no beginning, no end, no past, no future, only now. It seem like they had been together forever. Jill concurred. The feeling occurred most strongly during sex. It felt so natural, so comfortable, so satisfying. He didn't want to go anywhere, do anything, he just wanted to hold her, to keep the unit together. He didn't like it when his body told him to do otherwise because at that moment he knew he was not in control. A trap men fall into more easily than women. Men think they are in control and think they are supposed to be in control. The loss of control was one feeling that made him mad during the first years of their marriage.
    Many times after sex he would be sullen or angry. He knew Jill was baffled because men seemed to enjoy sex so much more than women, why would he be sullen or angry.
    He couldn't determine the cause of his sulleness or anger so how could she. He thought it was because he had given up his independence, he couldn't have his own way. Until he met Jill, he basically did what he wanted, when he wanted.
    During sex his subconscious knew his body was in control not him and his ego didn't like it hence his sulleness or anger. When he realized his loss of control was the source of his frustration his sulleness and anger left and never returned. He did what had to be done, he let his body do what it had to do, but he still didn't understand his own feelings.
    Women don't want to give up control either, but during their child bearing years they are reminded each month that they are not in control so they don't fall in to the trap as easily as men. Most woman learn not to fight their biology, to go with the flow, follow their feelings, and use their brains not to fight their feelings, but to keep their feelings tempered.
    On arrival, Jack settled into a room in a dorm opened early for the football team, called his parents, Jill, and went to sleep. Jill met him at his first break the next day. They applied for a marriage license and married housing, they didn't expect any to be available, but they wanted their name to be in the cue. Next, they went to the college chapel, were surprised to learn they could be married on any Saturday until the second week in October. They returned in time for his next practice session. They were married the first Saturday following the end of the waiting period.
    The following day after blocking practice two guys were yelling at each other. One didn't like how the other blocked him during practice and Jack intercept the first punch and forced him to sit on the bench, "We're here to play as a team, not to fight," ending it before it started. No one saw the freshman football coach duck out of sight from the end of the locker row.
    At the end of morning practice the middle of the next week, Jack told his coach he was turning in his equipment, "Come to my office before you leave." A short while later, Jack knocked on his door.
    "Come in." Jack closed the door and took a seat. "Why are you quitting?"
    "You don't need me, you have three freshmen better than me and I can't see wasting our time."
    "Good observation.
    Thank you, you made my job a little easier, I hate to cut men from my roster." Jack didn't understand the full meaning of his comment. "Are you going to try out for any other sport?"
    "My wife wants me to try to out for the cheerleading squad, but there are so many entrants, I don't want to bother."
    "I think you should.       Thanks Jack."
    Before Jack reached the door, "By the way, keep your locker, you are welcome to work out with the team or in the gym any time you like."
    Jack didn't see him reach for the phone as he closed the door. "If a young man named Jack wants to try out for your squad, let him."
    "My squad is full and I've closed application."
    "Do it anyway, if you don't you'll be missing something."
    "OK."
    Again, Jack didn't understand when he asked to try out for the squad at Jill's insistence, "I've been expecting you, start this afternoon."
    By Saturday, Jack was up to speed and doing things he had never done before, he didn't know he had a natural ability to balance his wife on overhead lifts. He learned the tumbling exercises the coach wanted as fast as he was shown. He became the anchor for mounts and lifts. He did everything asked and more.
    Tears of pride ran down Jill's cheeks when she had the chance to watch him, usually she was in front of him. She had asked the coach for that arrangement and the coach quickly agreed after Jack removed his shirt on a hot afternoon. The girls who could see him went into a swoon and didn't regain their rhythm for a half hour. He did the cheers like a dancer, with precision and grace. The coach called him to her office and made it perfectly clear, he was never to remove his shirt and that he and Jill were to always be on one end or the other. The cheer leading squad had an extra pair when football season opened and with full scholarships.
    After their team scored a touchdown it was tradition for the male cheer leaders to do pushups. Without thinking Jack went to the goal post and did one handed vertical pushups with his toes straddling the post and they weren't wimpy pushups, he touched his nose to his hand and then extended fully. The students went wild and clapped in unison with each push.
    Many times when the game was going badly and the team was dejected, Jack would do a solo impromptu cheer, the students would rise in unison, and the noise would be deafening.
    After a heart breaking last minute season ending loss, Jack led a cheer that said in effect to the team, you may have lost by the score, but you didn't lose the game. No one left the stands as the football team carried Jack around the stadium while the band played the alma mater following the traditional hand shakes.
    Even the opposing team and their fans stood and applauded. No one wanted to leave, the band had to play three more times before people began to leave. It was a game for the memory books for those who were present, they forgot other games, but not 'that' game. Many felt an esprit de corps they would never feel again.
    Alum giving jumped ten per cent. Who on campus didn't know about Jack? Jack enjoyed being in the lime light, but he never succumbed to its ego inflating effects, Jack remained Jack.
    When the cheer leading coach presented her awards at the fall awards banquet, she turned to the freshmen football coach, "You were right, I, we all would have missed something." A public announcement of a private understanding. He nodded thank you.
    Another event, earlier in the football season also added to Jack's reputation. During an away game a fight broke out a short distance to Jack's right, out of the visiting team's fan area. Jack vaulted the brick wall as the other fans were departing. He went above the two combatants and interceded. He caught first one blow in mid air and then another, pushed both combatants forcing them to trip over a bench. Before they could recover he pinned both to the cement with no injury to either and held them until the campus police arrived. He returned to the squad and continue the cheer as if he had never missed a beat.
    After the game, Jack ducked the reporters, went quickly to the locker room, and asked the coach not to identify him. The TV cameras caught the entire episode and fortunately, from Jack's point of view, his face was blocked from view or his back was to the cameras. Later, when he had the details, the TV announcer called him the 'gentle giant', a name people used when he was not present.
    Jill caught up with a bunch of coeds walking between classes because the ones in front kept turning around to talk with the ones behind, slowing their progress. As the distance between them shortened, she could tell from their words and tone of voice, they were idolizing someone. When she nearly joined them, she heard 'gentle giant,' they were talking about her hunk. Again, tears of pride ran down her cheeks.
    When a more observant coed turned to talk to those behind her, she noticed Jill, "Why you must be the little dumpling!" They crowd around her telling her how lucky she was, how much they enjoyed watching her and the 'gentle giant', and many other kind remarks. A thrill that would not be matched until much later in her life.
    Jack ran with the cross country team, sparred with the boxing team, and worked out in the gym. Several coaches invited him to try out for their teams, "Sorry coach, I've decided to major in chem engineering and I have more than I can handle."
    The locker room discussions almost always ended on sex. The most common complaint even by the married men was they didn't get enough.
    "What about you, Jack, you never say anything."
    "He probably has to beat them off with a club."
    "Yeah, the one between his legs."
    He shook his head and said to himself, "Some times I wished I had both problems, but that thought goes away very quickly because I immediately think about my little dumpling." Three married men invited him to join their wife swapping group, "Our wives would sure like a piece of you." Again he shook his head and to himself, "I can't handle what I have, why would I want more." More than once, during those locker room discussions Jack wanted to stand on the bench and shout, "You guys don't know what you are talking about," but he never did.
    After graduation, the economy was in recession and after a day of four interviews and no offers, Jack still had time to present his views at a nuclear power plant public hearing. Jack was a man of few words, but when he did speak people listened, he was concise and tactful. One of his interviewers attended rather than watch TV in his motel room. He cornered Jack after the hearing and asked, "Have you ever consider public relations?"
    "No, and I haven't had any classes on the subject."
    "We'll pay for your education, that's not a problem. Why don't you come to our home office and talk with our staff about it."
    Jack had more interviews the following week but no offers. Jack felt he didn't have a choice and called and made an appointment. Again Jack could not believe the speed with which the events happened. In less than a month, he and Jill were living in a fashionable suburb in a four bedroom home with two cars, and a large salary.
    Life was very kind to Jack and Jill and both gave thanks in their own way. Those who knew them felt they deserved everything they received and helped them receive more.
    Life did deal Jack two severe blows, but he never felt the second one. Tom had played with toy soldiers from the time he could crawl. His desire to be a green beret was no surprise to them. He graduated from college and enlisted. Two years later he was a special advisor in Veitnam.
    Like Jack, he wrote very few letters, but after two months in Nam he wrote once a month. Then every other week, then once a week, then twice a week. The tone of his letters changed with the increase in frequency. At first, his letters were descriptive, the country side, the people, the war. Then fear, fatigue, wounds, dying, and death. His mental health was deteriorating. He survived minor wounds, land mines, booby traps, ambushes, gun fire, and artillery.
    In his last letter the tone change to hope, his tour of duty would be over in two weeks and his unit was being moved to a rear area. The military communiqué stated the helicopter transporting his unit suffered a rotor mechanical failure within sight of the air field. It crashed killing all on board.
    Mary and the two grand children were the only thing that kept them going. Jack recovered a year later as much as he would, but Jill could not heal. She was functional, but she was scarred to the end.
    The second blow came at age forty eight, Jack began to loose weight, no pain, no symptoms, and all tests were negative. The weight loss continued. In desperation his doctors opened him up. He died on the table, full of soft tissue cancer. It had metastasized to every organ in his body.

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    Jill drove from the bus station to the family cabin a little faster than normal, walked into the living room and yelled, "Mom I'm home." She waited for the expected reply. It came as she came from the kitchen.
    "Where have you been?"
    "And I'm pregnant."
    "You can't possibly know yet, it's to soon."
    "Like the mares on the farm, mom, I know I'm settled."
    Her mother sank into chair, Jill took her bag to her room and returned. "You've got to be kidding," but when she looked into Jill's face she knew it was true. She went to her daughter, embraced her and cried.
    "Don't cry, mom. I have a hunk, a real hunk."
    "How long have you known him"
    "One day."
    "ONE DAY!" Then she filled her in on all the plans they made in one day.
    "This is unbelievable, it's to much for me. Go for a walk or do something, let me recover. Then we'll talk.
    Jill went to her room and packed little used items, she would leave for school in a week. When she returned to her mother, her room was in order and except for laundry she could be ready to leave in less than an hour.
    "Tell me this is a joke."
    "No, mom this is for real. We don't want to change our prior plans unless we have to. I know it's not the way you would like. It's not the way I would like. Everything that has happened in this one day is different than I ever dreamed."
    "Talk about a whirl wind romance, this one takes the cake." She looked very carefully at her daughter's face, went to her, "I believe you, honey, this is for real."
    They embraced again and cried. Then, they got down to business. They soon reached a point where they had to wait for Jack to call and answer some questions and give them his parents phone number, he didn't give it to Jill on purpose, he wanted to be sure he told them first.
    When the guys returned from fishing, Jill ran to meet them and tell them. Her brothers teased her, "Gosh, Jill we thought the only thing you could catch was a cold."
    She slapped at them, missing of course, they ducked away as soon as they spoke. "I didn't catch him, he came after me." They both hugged her. It took her father awhile to digest the full impact of what she said, his little girl was getting married. "You know I wish you the best, sweet heart."
    "I know daddy."
    She helped them unload the boat and carry gear to the cabin. At dinner she told them as much as she could remember and was willing to tell. Jack called as they cleared the table. When she learned he would have a four hour break the next day, she decided to meet him. Jack called that night to suggest a motel where the families could meet the night before the wedding. Jill called his mother immediately. Between the two mothers and Jill they agreed to keep each other informed and to share ideas. Jill had planned to commute to school and if she made the cheerleading squad her second year she would move on campus. Now that plan was discarded. She and her mother returned home and read all the real-estate adds, called several brokers, and called friends and relatives they though might know of a place to live. They looked at so many apartments and homes that by Thursday night both were exhausted.
    A friend of a friend of a friend called between calls to the lake and his parents, and a call from Jack, they had inherited their parents home and were preparing to auction it and its contents and Jill could look at it before they signed any agreement. They would be glad to show the house the next morning at nine. Jill called the cabin and told her father.
    It was an old single story two bedroom house, not what Jill wanted, but it had two huge advantages, it was closer to school and it was furnished. Jill called her dad and gave him the details. "Ask them if they will accept a deposit and I'll talk to them on Monday." They did. Jill was in seventh heaven, everything was going so smoothly.
    When her dad learned that his dad was a farm boy and a fisherman, he suggested the men meet at the cabin and the women meet at their home for the weekend. The two families not only became in-laws, they became good friends. They had many similarities, neither were members of a church, although they did attend once in while and they agreed on politics, sports, food, and entertainment.
    After dinner on Sunday, Jack and Jill said their good byes and drove to school. The other girls hooted and hollered when Jack gave her a passionate kiss at the cheerleaders dorm. Jill called home Monday night and her dad told her she could pick up the keys to the house anytime, everything was taken care of.
    Neither Jack nor Jill understood what 'taken care of' meant, her parents had bought the house and paid all the house expenses when they receive their scholarships. She drove home her first break the next day. Both had lied and marked married on their forms, so they ate their meals in their dorms, but left after their last meeting to sleep a little at their new home. They it called their prehoneymoon. Neither parents liked the idea of their children living together before marriage but both wives asked their husbands not to interfere.
    During his first two weeks with Jill he learned several things not to do unless he was prepared to finish what he started. If he caressed a breast or her labia, the lower half of her body would be nude before he took his next breath. If he kissed her more than once, stroked her forearm, pat her butt, kissed her passionately, or did his exercises in her presence with his shirt off, she would lead him to their bedroom and if someone was present, "Excuse us please, Jack has something he has to do."
    The first time it happened Jack was baffled and embarrassed. Her mother arranged a lunch visit on a Sunday following a home game. She told Jill she would arrive an hour before and leave an hour after lunch so they could do their home work. For Jack it was the usual first visit by a mother in-law. After lunch Jill cleared the table and did the dishes to allow Jack to talk with her mother in the living room. When she rejoined them she sat next to Jack and held his hand. Absent mindedly, he stroked her forearm with his other hand. Jill stood, pulled on Jack's hand indicating she wanted him to stand, and interrupted her mother, "Excuse us mom, Jack has something he has to do."
    She walked backwards to their bedroom, pulling on his arm, and giggling because of the funny look on his face. Her mother's suspicions were soon confirmed by the rhythmical creak of the old bed. She wrote a note to her daughter and left. She gave her daughter a lecture the next time they met, "But, mothh err."
    After that, Jack wouldn't even look at the house to buy if it didn't have a sound proof master bedroom. Once aroused she wanted him, she wanted him NOW, and she didn't want to quit. She told him more than once, "As far as sex is concerned I can take it or leave it, but do I EVER respond to it, wow," and because of her response, sex with her was something else so Jack found it very difficult to refuse and only quit when he was empty or no feeling was left.
    Jack and Jill had similar interests, but they were not similar, they were not opposite, they were complimentary. When one had strong feelings about something the other didn't care so for the most part each had their own way. The same was true for household chores, which were done quickly and on time so there was very little nagging. Most of their disagreements were caused by miscommunication which were settled quickly. The only source of complaint was Jack's lack of sleep, it didn't seem to effect Jill.
    Along with his public relations activities, he was also a member of the acquisition and interview teams. He didn't like being away from home, but at least he could sleep. On one acquisition inspection trip, Jack returned home exhausted. The chemical plant was in the middle of nowhere and the local accommodations were poor, he didn't get one good nights sleep. Her mother came to help Jill with the children and after Jack greeted each, he went to bed.
    "Mom would you watch the kids for a while?"
    "NO. Leave him a lone, the only time you let him sleep is when you are taking care of the children."
    "But mothh errr."
    "I know honey, but you don't want your hunk to be sick do you."
    "No."
    "Well then don't over do it." Jill sulked the rest of her visit.
    Jill was tired, an unusual occurrence, and Jack decided he would give Mary her bath. He didn't have any problem with the large parts of her body and both dad and daughter were enjoying the bath. But when he tried to wash her eyes even the tip of his pinkie cover all of it, he couldn't clean the corners next to her nose. He tried to wash behind her ears and he couldn't. He tried to clean her navel and he couldn't. He did succeed by using a q-tip. He finished, put Mary in her crib, went into the living room, and sat. After a few minutes of reflection he burst out laughing. Now he understood the difference between men and women besides the obvious. He roared, "And do I enjoy the difference." This time he disturbed Jill.
    After the fall semester, Jill dropped out of school. Mary was born in late February and Tom two years later. Jill nursed both as long as she could. The only time they received a bottle was when they were hungry before she returned home. Jill developed a mother's ear two weeks after Mary was born. She could hear the slightest peep no matter what she was doing and would go and check. She was a very concerned and caring mother.
    Jill was not planning on returning to school, but her parents convinced her to return. Her father said, "A woman's education is never wasted if she has children," and her mother wanted to take care of the children, she wouldn't hear of a baby sitter. Her mother came before Jill left and left after she returned from her last class. Jill and her mother became even closer.
    This arrangement allowed Jack to work four hours a day, an ego boost, he was bring home some bacon. Jill went to summer school and Jack worked and even with their busy schedules, both were in the top ten per cent of their class. Obviously they had very little social life. Pat joined the university staff as housing director, so their social life involved visits by their families and Pat. Even so, Jill was very satisfied with life.
    Life dealt her a series of severe blows. The first blow was when she miscarried a year and a half after Tom was born. She battled with depression for three months. The second came when her mother died suddenly, about two years later. Jill had to have medication to recover. Caring for the children kept her going. The third was the death of Tom, a blow from which she never completely recovered, but it put her on a new career path, she entered politics. Jack's death was the fourth, and her own death, after a long illness, was the last.
    Jill was vehemently opposed to the Veitnam war and easily won a house of representative seat, she went on to be senator. Jack was her campaign manager and her chief of staff. Jack wowed the voters and he introduced her to the voters as his little dumpling. Jack quit his job and devoted full time to her political life. In his spare time he did charity work, housing for the homeless, soup kitchens, etc.
    Jill championed women and children's health issues and did work outside the political arena. Jack and Jill were an effective team all the way to the end. The work they started kept her functioning after Jack's death. For more than a year she worked like a zombie, it was the only thing that kept her going. That and the support she received from all the people who knew and loved the gentle giant and the little dumpling.
 

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    I walked out on to the deck after clearing the breakfast dishes and looked out over the Paradise River. A low thin fog lay over the entire river valley as far as I could see in both directions, but thick enough to block my view of the water.
    My great great grandfather bought this land because he enjoyed the view and the sunsets and all the generations after him appreciated the same. Our home was located on gentle slope eight feet above the river about three miles down stream of one of the last large earthen dams.
    The river was more than five hundred feet across with verticle banks two feet high, the river was very shallow except when the flood gates were opened in the spring. Most people used flat bottom boats on the river below the dam, as we did. The valley sloped gently to a very steep escarpment about a mile from the river and extended down stream about fifteen miles on both sides of the river.
    The village of Paradise lay against the escarpment on the east side of the river a short drive north of our home. The dam was built where the escarpment turned into low hills on both sides of the river. At this point the river valley was a mile across and the dam, a two mile arc fifty feet high, the spillways and the flood gates were the only concrete and steel parts of the dam.
    Many studies had been made to replace the dam, but all arrived at the same two conclusions: one, if the dam ever failed it would not be replaced, it would be removed because the dam could not be any higher and because the bed rock was fifty feet down and two, it would not be removed until it failed because it had a very large reservoir that provided irrigation, recreation, and wild life habitation.
    Thousands of people golfed, camped, hunted along the shore or fished and swam in the many small bays along the irregular shoreline. Boating was popular in the broader expanses of the reservoir. Most of the people of Paradise were employed by government agencies or the tourist industry north of the dam.
    The main roads to and from the recreation areas were north and east of the dam, only local roads connected each side of the valley, crossing the river on top of the dam and meeting at the next bridge more than twenty miles down stream. Since the main tourist area and the main roads were north of the dam very few people used the local roads, making the valley below the dam a very peaceful place to live.
    Because the dam would be removed when it failed, a monitoring system had been established many years ago to ensure the saftey of those living below the dam. The county emergency preparedness department in cooperation with the village police, fire, and 911 centralized their functions in dispatchers office in the village hall. Water level gauges, one above the dam and one below, and a flow meter in the spillway were monitored on a continuous basis from this office, plus a closed circuit TV provided continual visual inspection of flood gates, the spillway, and the water above and below the dam, alternating every fifteen seconds. A warning siren was tested the first Saturday of each month at one o'clock. The people of the lower valley felt very safe.
    My wife joined me a few moments later, her hair finally fixed to her satisfaction and we walked down the stairs, boarded our boat and drifted down stream to the wedding and brunch reception of one of our neighbor's daugther, we planned to leave right after brunch, by then we would both be tired.
    They had a very large family and a large circle of friends, and almost everyone from the village would be there, we expected their road to be jammed with cars and we were right. When we arrived, people were walking more than four blocks.
    It was a very pleasant affair and we enjoyed talking to many old friends and their families. The time passed very quickly and every time I tried to leave, my wife found someone else, she just, had to talk to, she was still talking as I turned the boat around and pulled back into dock.
    All docks were built on the bank and parallel to the river, so the spring floods would not wash them away. I became alarmed when I could barely make headway against the current. I grabbed a post, secured the boat, scrambled onto the planking, and looked at the river.
    Something was wrong, very wrong, the spring run off had disappated a month ago, but now the water looked like chocolate milk. I interrupted my wife's conversation and we all looked at the river and agreed that something was wrong, none of us could remember anyone saying anything about opening the flood gates or of any testing to be done.
    We went back up the stairs and each of us asked different people to see if they knew if anything was happening at the dam. All responses were negative and very few showed any concern. I decided to call 911, but every phone in the house was being used. I walked outside and looked down at the river, the fog still blocked my view, so I walked down the stairs. There was no apparent change, but I didn't like the color. I ran back to my wife, she could sense my aggitation, and she followed me as I went next door, called 911, and explained the situation.
    The dispatcher said, "The monitor shows only fog and all the readings are within the normal range. A severe thunderstorm upstream has raised the water level, but not unusal. There is nothing I can do because if I can't measure it, I can't report it."
    I couldn't convince her to put out a level one alert. She did agree to have the patrolman check the water upstream to find out what caused the color change. I decided not to wait and took the first car that was not blocked by another car and had keys in it. We drove toward the dam. About a quarter of a mile from the dam I caught up with the patrol car stopped at a low spot in the road. The flood gauge along side the road indicated that a car could not pass. The patrolman got out and came over, "What's going on?"
    "I don't know, but what ever it is its not good." He went back to his car and called dispatch. She still could not see the river on the monitor and all readings were still normal. Dispatch called the state police and asked if they would check the dam, they said they would, but it would be some time before a patrol car would arrive in the area. We told dispatch we would check the road south of the village. We both drove down the valley, again water blocked our path about three miles from the bridge. The patrolman called dispatch, "We have a problem."
    "Yes, but what do we do about it? I ran a test mode on our equipment and everything checks out."
    "You better sound the alarm."
    "I can't until I hear from the state police, besides, I will sound the test alarm in another minute and no one will think anything of it."
    "Better put the first stage warning into effect."
    "What good would that do almost everyone is at the reception."
    "We'll go back to the reception and tell them."
    "OK."
    The test alarm sounded as we drove back. When we arrived many of the guests had had to much to drink already. We talked to as many people who would listen, but very few showed any concern. A few would walk outside and look down at the fog and say, "Well the water is not above the fog yet and the road always floods after a storm, so what's there to worry about, it will receed by morning."
    We finally gave up and left. The patrolman agreed to check the water level and color every hour.
    "You're so nervous, what are you going to do to calm down."
    "I don't know. I don't like it."
    "Let's rest a bit, then pack a picnic dinner and go to Paradise Park. If the it gets worse we can climb the path to the scenic overlook."
    "Not at our age, but that is a brillant idea. If it is a bad as I feel it is, we could use the old elevator at the rock climb. Maybe we should go to the top anyway and see if we can see something."
    We rested for a hour, packed our dinner, I called dispatch, and told her where we were going. She must have sensed my uneasyness because when we got there the patrolman was waiting for us. "That was an excellent idea."
    "What idea?"
    "To go to the top to see if you could see something."
    "That was my wife's idea."
    "Well, good for her. Why don't you go to the top now. I'll pull you up.
    Why don't both of you go, take your dinner and yell down if you see something."
    I helped him pull my wife to the top and he pulled me to the top. I hadn't been on the old rope and pulley elevators in many years. It was fun.
    Two old elevators, a lift on each side of pulley, as one lift went up the other came down, were kept in operating condition so rock climbers could come down if they were too tired to climb back down or go down the steep path nearby and for old people like us to reach the top of the escarpment and return if there was someone who was willing to pull them up. Going down was not a problem, a braking pulley controled the descent, gravity did the rest.
    We chose one of the picnic tables at the scenic over look with the best view and looked up the river. From our angle we could see through the fog, but we couldn't see anything that would indicate what was wrong. I yelled down to the patrolman and he yelled back that he would check the river, the flood gauge, and return in an hour.
    Before he returned, a cold breeze blew from the north and cleared away the fog. Within minutes the warning siren sounded. Quickly, we looked down at the river. We could not see it before because the fog obscured the difference in the color of the water, but now it was clearly visible. A short distance from the dam an inverted 'V' of chocolate milk contrasted against the darker clear brown color of the water around it. Water was under cutting the dam.
    Between the trees to the south we could see the patrol car speeding from Paradise toward the reception with lights flashing and siren sounding. Then the alarm siren sounded for one minute and silent for one minute and continued to alternate on and off. Then we could see a few cars moving about and shortly thereafter we could tell they were heading toward Paradise Park.
    Before the first cars arrived below, more cars were moving, but now they were moving fast and we could see and hear the police cars and the fire truck driving up and down the streets and roads in and around Paradise, their bull horns sounding an alarm and telling people what to do. A few minutes later a few cars were moving on the other side of the river, those who were not at the reception, they were going south, the road on that side was high and rarely was blocked by water.
    Next we heard the patrolman using his bull horn to tell people where to park their cars so everyone could get to the path and the elevators, followed by another voice on a bull horn yelling, "Pull together, pull, pull,pull,.... pull together or half of us will drown."
    Not long after that the first of the women, babies, and toddlers got off the elevators followed by the older children who could climb the path. Then the infirm got of the elevators followed by the weak and the weary, and finally the strong came up the path followed by the police and firemen.
    The people spread out along the edge of the escarpment and watched with fear and amazement as the chocolate milk inverted 'V' turned into an artisian well at the point of the 'V'. It grew larger and higher and turned into a gyser and moved toward the dam. They let out an eerie sound as the gyser cut right through the dam.
    Within seconds the entire dam gave way and a wall of water rushed down the valley. The sound of the water drowned the sound of the people which didn't stop as they watch their homes, cars, and other possesions tumble down river in front of the wall of water and then bob like corks for a few minutes in the flood and disappear.
    But the most sickening thing of all was for the people of Paradise to watch in horror as those unfortunate few who were on the water above the dam fight for their lives as their boats and watercraft were swept down river, only to watch them, helplessly, go under the churning water.
    The whole event last only minutes before the water receeded, but for those watching it, it lasted a life time. Many people passed out, those still standing were weak and trembling, no one had a dry face. Eventually, a few with clear heads told the others to come away from the edge. Some began to walk down the road toward the highway some ten miles away. They were met by aid workers before sunset.
    The people of Paradise were lucky. Very lucky a breeze blew the fog away before the patrolman went to check the flood gauge, he could see across the river, clearly. He never could explain why he did what he did. After he checked the flood gauge, a truck could not pass, he sat down on his heels and aimlessly tossed small pebbles into the river and then, before he stood, he looked at the river, he could see water upwelling in the center. When he was standing he couldn't see it, so he sat down on his heels again, again he could see the water rising from below, the parallax was to small to see from any other elevation.
    Lucky because a warning system was in place so once the danger could be seen they had time to warn other people and have time to escape, if they had waited until it could have been measured it would have been to late.
    They were unlucky, also. Everyone lost everything they had, their possesions, their homes, their community. Some lost friends and loved ones, those who would not listen or who were on the river above the dam.
    But most unlucky was watching them, helplessly, die. An event that would haunt all of them for the rest of their lives. Maybe if they could have put a name on it they could have healed, but they didn't know what it was so they couldn't put a name on it. It was the indifference of the rushing water, it was completely indifferent to its effect on anything else as it followed the instructions of gravity to seek a lower level. It was this complete indifference that the people could not comprehend.

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    Like most people you were feeling euphoric because it was the first cool crisp autumn day following a long hot summer. You went in early because of a phone call about a rising tide in New Zealand and Australia, there was a tone of urgency in the callers voice. On the way in you reviewed some recent rising water stories.
    During the spring, the ice stream of two glaciers in Alaska and two in Norway slid into the ocean leaving ice canyons behind. The canyons were interesting to look at, but the resulting sea level rise could hardly be measured, so interest faded quickly. In early July, the West Antarctic ice shelf collapsed, but because the ice shelf was already floating it did not raise the water level and it was another ho hum event. The summer heat wave was the continuing story.
    When you arrived at the studio, you were welcomed by a handful of bulletins. The first was from New Zealand saying the tide came in and kept coming in and no one had an explanation, especially when an old salt said, 'The tide is not due for four more hours'. The second was from Australia, followed by Indonesia, South Africa, and India.
    An eye witness from a low lying area of New Zealand said she was awakened by the sound of lapping water. When she looked out her window she could see waves lapping at her patio wall. She woke her family and they went outside. A full moon allowed them to see that the water was not receding after each wave. She said it took awhile before they realize that something was wrong. Then they woke their neighbors and everyone went to high ground. Millions of other people were not so lucky.
    This same story was repeated many times, the witnesses said, each wave about an inch high came in but it did not recede because the next wave was an inch higher than the one before.
    Before you finished reading the first stack of bulletins, reports were coming in from all around the world. Your assistant told you that so many phone calls were coming in that the switch board was tied up and calls to other sources received busy signals. The reports indicated that the tide was moving north at about six hundred miles an hour. That indicated a tsunami, but the seismic stations did not report any major earth quakes, only an anomalous signal from West Antarctica. A call to NASA revealed that the space station could not see West Antarctica because of a snow storm, but they would check each time they made a pass. Time went quickly as everyone was busy trying to find out what was happening.
    Everyone froze when a report came in saying Miami was under water. It took awhile to recover, but by then operations were in a near panic mode because now reports were coming in from every low lying area. The northward movement of the tide was obvious. Everyone was asking everyone else, 'Would it reach NY?'
    The full impact of what was happening did not sink in until a reported said that the gulf coast refineries were shutting down because of the rising water. Stock markets around the world crashed. Communication with flooded areas ceased, only remote satellite relay messages were getting through.
    Everyone stopped doing what they were doing to listen to a report from the space station, the whole world that was not effected by the water was watching TV. The snow storm had cleared and they could see the fast moving ice streams in the West Antarctica glacier were sliding into the ocean leaving ice canyons behind. Mile wide ice bergs were slowly moving out to sea, about one a minute, first from one stream and then from another. Like heavy boxes in a chute, the lower ice bergs were being push out to sea by the weight of those higher up the chute.
    Now almost all activity ceased, everyone watched TV for the next report, with anticipation, and they came like clock work. Each city along the coasts from south to north reported rising water.
    A few knew what to do and did it. Emergency crews and the military were activated, but their efforts were soon swamped by the magnitude of the problem. Others got their families together and moved to high ground. Soon traffic was jammed.
    The lights went out. The emergency lighting system kick in, but you like most people moved to the windows. You first looked at the sky, it had not changed, still a bright blue. When you looked down you expected to see traffic grid locked, but something unusual fixed you gaze, people were running.
    From what? Your question was soon answered, water.
    You stood there transfixed watching each small wave move up the avenue, each one higher than the one before until the water was three feet deep. The streets were now deserted except for abandon vehicles. The scene was surreal. The sight of floating bodies jolted you back to the reality of the situation. You joined the others in trying to formulate a plan of action. The cafeteria and snack bar were flooded and dark, vending machines were quickly emptied, it was going to be a long cold hungry night. It turned out to be much longer.

    I can assure you that those responsible for this catastrophe will not take responsibility, most will not even understand that they were contributors and those who do will deny it.
    As long as the glaciers stay grounded we have time, if they don't, we don't.

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