As Trish, Jill and James stabilized in the gardens of the largest wholesaler of fruit trees and garden supplies on the planet Earth, the owner greeted them, and then introduced his staff to the girls. He and two of his senior partners sat down with Trish and Jill and answered their questions. Then they took the girls out into the gardens to begin picking out the miniature trees the girls had chosen from the catalog. Trish put James on the lawn and watched him as they worked. He played with his wooden truck and chewed on a fresh green bean one of the girls had washed and given him. As the girls stepped around a couple of trees to look at a pear tree, James toddled off to explore the grounds. Jill and Trish continue discussing how many pear trees to have teleported to The Empress, and then Trish suddenly turned to check on James. Trish realized that James had wondered off. The girls quickly begin walking and calling his name, trying to get him to walk in their direction. Jill decided they could look for hours in these trees and asked the computer on The Empress to locate James’s travel watch.
Within seconds, the computer began giving the girl’s directions towards James location, but then the computer said, “Do not rush girls, James is safe with a new friend. He is in no danger.” Trish slowed her pace and then spotted James sitting on a bench beside a young girl, eating a huge red apple. The girl was probably ten years old, and very blond. The bench they were sitting on was part of the wooden structure the farm hands used when they packaged the fresh fruit they picked. Jill realized that the building also had a toilet on one end. The girl had placed a towel around James neck like a bib, and she wiped James chin with a second towel to catch the apple juice as it began to drip. Trish and Jill stepped back where James could not see them and watched him eat his apple. When he had finished eating all he could, the young girl wet a towel in the sink behind her and wiped James face and hands, then removed his bib; all this time James was giggling and talking to her and anyone who passed by.
Trish and Jill approached James and sat down beside him and his friend. Trish introduced herself, then Jill, and then asked the blond girl her name. She said her name was Margaret, and she said she lived and worked here on the farm. Margaret said, “I was afraid that after James had wondered off, he might be lost forever and no one would ever come and rescue him.” The girl seemed very concerned over James being lost. The owner walked up to the girls and said, “My assistant told me that James had wondered off, but later said you had located him. I see Margaret was watching him for you; she is such a wonderful Sister to her own little Brothers.” Margaret smiled, then stood up, shook James hand and said, “Goodbye James, I need to get home and help my mother fix lunches for the workers now. I am glad your mother found you and saved you from being lost forever.” When she walked away, the owner said, “Margaret is a little slow, but a very good sister, a wonderful friend to everyone she meets, and the most generous person you will ever find. The workers I have hired to work here love Margaret and they treat her like their own child.” Jill said, “I am glad Margaret sat and talked to James until we found him, he was in good hands. Now we should finish our shopping and then get our merchandise to The Empress. The sun is getting very hot and your workers will need to move out of the heat of the day.” The owner said, “First let’s get some water, James looks like he needs something to wash down the apple Margaret fed him.” As they finished with the last of the dwarf fruit trees, and the workers had carefully placed them into huge watertight pots; they arranged the merchandise in a neat row. Trish and Jill checked their list to be certain they had purchased everything they needed, then teleported the trees into the cargo bay of The Empress. Then they sent the seeds, bags of garden soil, lumber for building vegetable gardens, and the rubber matting to keep the soil and water contained into small garden patches, up to The Empress.
When they had paid for the merchandise, they teleported to another garden supply company that carried lights that were specifically designed as grow lights for plants. When the girls had purchased twenty of the lights and a few dozen spare bulbs, the manager said, “You must have a really large patch of wacky weed you are cultivating.” Jill laughed and said, “What we have is a vegetable garden and dwarf fruit trees growing in a travel membrane in orbit around planet Earth.” The man looked at Jill and winked. Jill just shrugged her shoulders and said, “You asked for an explanation, I gave you one.” The man laughed, and then sat the last of the lights in a pile as Jill had asked. Once Jill had paid for their purchases, they teleported the entire stack of lights, bulbs, and cords directly into the cargo bay of The Empress. When the stack of equipment disappeared right before the man’s eyes, he quickly walked away from the girls as if they were contagious. Jill held up a finger as he walked away, and a few of the customers saw her gesture and began laughing. Apparently, the man had irritated a few other customers with his comments.
Jill and Trish make one more stop before they returned to The Empress. They headed to a small laboratory that had recently developed and was successfully operating the latest generation of fuel cells. These fuel cells were capable of producing a continuous flow of low voltage electricity. The byproduct of these fuel cells was clean water. The girls realized they could blend the water with nutrients and then use the water to feed the gardens. As the girls listened to the engineers, they discovered that the fuel cells and voltage converters also produced heat, and this heat could provide a warm high humidity environment to help the plants grow and prosper in the dark cold cargo bay of The Empress. This would require the girls to create a separate growing room just for the plants and trees to live in. Jill giggled and said, “We will have our own plantation aboard The Empress.” The engineers said that the fuel cells would run for about a year with no maintenance and then the girls could unplug one fuel cell at a time and teleport it to their repair facility, have it reconditioned, and then they would teleport the fuel cell back to The Empress. The turnaround time for the reconditioning of each fuel cell would require about four days total, and The Empress would have four fuel cells aboard. Jill and Trish agreed to the price and paid for the fuel cells. The engineers said the four cells would be ready in five days and be ready for teleportation to The Empress.
Jill also hired one of the engineers to come aboard, start the fuel cells, voltage converters, and get the grow lights up and running. The grow lights would be on three leg portable stands that they could place wherever they needed them. They would power the lights with the extension cords they had purchased. They would only run two grow light banks at one time, and a sequence timer would stage them so different lights came on every two hours. This way they would have enough reserve power from the fuel cells to provide the plants with plenty of light.
When the girls teleported themselves and James back to The Empress, James was hungry and Jill decided they all needed some food. They quickly prepared food from the food replicator and got James started eating. They fixed spaghetti and James loved to suck the long spaghetti noodles into his mouth with a slurp. Trish was trying to teach him to eat the noodles quietly and without sauce flying around, but Jill seemed to foster his bad behavior. When James had filled his belly and was beginning to get sleepy, they quickly cleaned his spaghetti-stained body and put him into his bed for a nap. Jill asked the computer to watch James while they began the layout of the garden room in the cargo bay. When they walked out into the cargo bay, Jill said, “Computer, do you care where we place the new growing room? Would you prefer for it to be centered in the cargo bay?” The computer said, “The inventory control locker is located on the outside wall of the travel membrane, which helps when we need to configure the vessel for high speed flight. I prefer that we enlarge The Empress in width, and then place the growing room on the opposing outside wall with a hallway between them.” Jill said, “That will work well, computer can you make that change or do we need to draw it on the monitor first?” The computer never answered them, but The Empress began slowly growing in width. Then the computer placed red laser lines on the floor and said, “Will
the area I have marked with red lines work as the outside edge of your new growing room?” Trish and Jill walked into the marked area and Trish said, “Computer, this looks large enough. We will place everything inside and then see how it fits. Computer, where would you want the fuel cells and power converter located?” The computer said, “Place the electrical equipment on the wall with the air compressors so I can create an ejection port in case of a major failure of one of the fuel cells.” Jill liked that idea, as she was fearful of a hydrogen explosion even though the engineers said that such an occurrence was impossible.
As they stood and talked, they realized they had worked through the night and it was now daylight on planet Earth. They were in a stable orbit around the planet and the sun was now shining through the portal that the computer opened for them to observe Earth earlier in the evening. The lights were beautiful at night from the billions of glowing city lights. Jill thought about Fred down there somewhere and realized she was anxious for his arrival on The Empress.
Trish said, “Jill, I am going to get a couple hours sleep before James wakes.” Jill told Trish she would also go to bed and sleep about six hours. Then Trish could wake her and she would care for James while Trish got a second nap. They had no customers to visit for about six more days, so sleep was an option, not a necessity. Jill remembered that Fred and Naomi would teleport to The Empress in two days, so they needed to work hard to get the potted trees into position so they could begin watering them. The farm hands had only given the trees a small amount of water so they would be lighter for Jill and Trish to move them into their permanent locations in the growing room. Jill spoke to the computer and asked if it could begin using all the recycled excess water to fill the large storage tank that would supply water for the plants. Later on, the fuel cells would supply the tank with ample water to hydrate the plants. As Jill watched, the rubber line running from the condensate drain from the air scrubbers began dripping water into the huge tank. Jill watched the dripping water and decided that by the time she woke from her sleep cycle in six hours, the tank would hold enough water that she could add a nutrient pack and then later today they could give each tree a small drink.
Jill walked into her room, stripped down and walked into the shower. When she was clean, she dried and crawled under the covers of her king size bed. She woke with a start and realized the computer was speaking to her. She said, “Computer, I just closed my eyes, how can six hours have passed so quickly.” The computer explained that she had slept more than six hours and she should dress and put a pack of nutrients into the water tank that now contained one hundred and four liters of water. Jill said, “Thanks for putting that much water into the tank for the trees. Did it short any of vessels systems of necessary fluids?” The computer said, “I was careful to insure The Empress did not suffer from the temporary diversion of water.” Jill thanked the computer again, and got herself up and dressed.
When she was ready to face the day, she stepped out into the kitchen and realized that Trish had perked her some coffee. James began banging his spoon on the table and demanded her attention. She leaned down and kissed his forehead, the only part of his face not coated in oatmeal, then helped him spoon a little of the oatmeal into his mouth. Jill smiled, and realized most of his breakfast had never entered his stomach. Jill spooned in another bite of oatmeal and James readily chewed it and swallowed. Trish said, “Thanks Jill, I only got about four spoonfuls of cereal into his belly, the rest is spread all over his body and the kitchen. I did get a few scrambled eggs into him, but he seemed more interested in playing then eating. You seem to have the magic touch. Can I fix you some breakfast to fill your belly while you spoon that food into my child?” Jill said, “I could eat two scrambled eggs, toast and coffee if you don’t mind.” Trish stood behind Jill and gently rubbed her stiff neck, then began cooking. Trish fixed Jill some coffee and sat it out of James reach. Jill quickly sipped some of the coffee with one hand and fed James with the other hand. Jill felt a wave of emotion flow through her body as she watched this tiny child, and wondered what he was thinking right now. The tears stayed inside, but she had to fight hard to keep them contained. Jill thought about Naomi and hoped she could become friends with her.
When Trish sat the plate of food in front of Jill, she realized that Jill was on the verge of tears but said nothing, hoping Jill would tell her of her feelings during breakfast. Jill finished eating and washed away as much oatmeal as she could find hiding in the crevasses of James head, neck and ears. Jill looked at Trish and then said, “Trish, I know I promised to allow you a nap when I woke this morning, but now I find that I need one more hour before I can relieve you of James so you can sleep.” Trish walked over to Jill and said, “That is quite okay Jill, anything I can help you with.” Jill stood up, left the kitchen, and then returned with a package of migraine medicine. She opened the package, unzipped her flight suit, placed her arm on the table and said, “Would you stick that needle right here in the fat of my arm for me, then look away until my tears are wiped dry.”
Trish washed her hands, swabbed Jill’s arm, slid the needle in and injected the medicine. Then she disposed of all the packaging and syringe. She handed Jill a second tissue but said nothing to her until Jill was ready to talk again. Finally, Jill said, “My mother’s suicidal thoughts seem to have invaded my mind today. Trish, I would like to stay very close to you and James until these feeling have subsided.” Trish said, “Jill, I will not allow you out of my sight until you feel better. You are safe and do not need to fear for your own mortality. The computer and I are here for you. I love you Jill, and if those words make you cry, then I believe you must need a good cry.”
Jill got some ice and put it inside a bag, found a towel, then sat down in the recliner and put the ice on her leg. As she sat down, James crawled up into her chair. Trish stepped up to remove him and allow Jill some quiet time, but Jill smiled at Trish and said, “I think I need James love right now if you don’t mind.” Trish helped James crawl up into Jill’s lap and watched as the tears began to fall from Jill’s eyes as she hugged him and talked to him. Trish stayed close enough to hear James giggling and talking to Jill, but never got too far away from her as she had asked. When Trish walked back into the kitchen, James was back on the floor playing and Jill was now smiling. Trish put her hand on Jill’s leg to insure it was not getting to cold from the ice, then sat down on the floor beside James. Within seconds, Trish realized that Jill’s tears had dried up, she was smiling again and her eyes were no longer squinting. Trish said to Jill, “Better now?” Jill said, “Much better thanks. I have been sitting here wondering if my mother’s fears and suicidal tendencies were a direct result of migraines, caused by the trauma of her rape as a child. Maybe all she needed was some of this medicine and she might have been better able to cope with life a little easier.” Trish said, “That is very possible, the doctor said that migraines are very hereditary, and triggered by stress.” Jill looked at Trish and said, “You can go take that much needed nap now if you like. I can now cope with James with no further problems.” Trish said, “I think I will do that, speak to the computer if you need me for anything.”
Trish started walking down the hall towards her room and spoke to the computer again, “Computer, would you keep a very close eye on my friend Jill and if she should need a shoulder to lean on or a friend to talk to while I am sleeping, would you please wake me immediately.” Jill heard the words Trish spoke to the computer and decided that maybe Trish wanted her to hear them. Jill picked up James and said, “Let’s go look at the new trees tiny child. I will introduce you to each tree and maybe we will write a name on each pot so we can call them by name as they grow their fruit to feed us.”
The computer played the words Jill had just spoken into the speakers in Trish’s room as she was crawling into bed. Trish felt her own warm tears fall from her eyes as she considered how much Jill needed someone, something to love so desperately she was now going to name the fruit trees in the
cargo bay. Trish knew that James would be pleased as he and Jill wrote names on the huge pots the trees now called home. Trish slept for only four hours, and then found herself awake and unable to sleep any longer. She spoke to the computer to check on James and Jill and discovered they had both had taken naps on Jill’s bed, and then had returned to the cargo bay were James was watering the trees.
Trish quickly dressed and walked out into the cargo bay. When she stepped into the room, she watched James toddling along carrying a very small pail of water to the trees. Jill was directing him so he watered the correct trees, which now had names on the pots four inches high. Trish giggled over the names Jill had selected. She had named the first pot Trish, the second pot was James, the third was Auntie Jill, the forth pot was Fred, and then the last pot in the row was Naomi. The remaining pots seemed not all named yet, Trish suspected Jill had run out of time to put any more names on the pots.
Trish walked up to the last row of pots and realized Jill had labeled two more pots that she had not seen at first. On one pot was the name, Ronnie Sam Yutaka. On the other pot, Jill had written the name, Angela Irene Yutaka. Trish sat down on the floor in front of the pots, and began to cry. Trish had not cried like this for Ronnie and Angela in a very long time, but the tears would not stop flowing from her eyes. James saw his mother crying, spilled his bucket of water and quickly ran to her, talking the entire time he ran. Trish grabbed James when he got close and hugged him. Then she asked him about watering the trees, and he began explaining how the job needed doing properly.
Volume II Page 10
