by T I WADE
“Why so much money?” she asked her son.
“How much was it, Mom?” Jonesy asked, and she told him the amounts of both checks.
“That should allow you guys to stay on board for another trip,” he replied, interested that Ryan had paid him what he had promised at the very beginning. She told him that it was impossible for two old people to spend so much money.
Jonesy’s dad asked them to stay another day. Jonesy phoned Ryan and was given permission to stay and also to fly his parents into England. Ryan needed to get the diamond to Washington. They could pick up Jonesy’s parents on the way, travel to Washington, and then onwards. SB-III was having few problems and wouldn’t be flying for another month.
Over lunch, he told them that he could fly them to England, so get booked, and asked them if they didn’t mind meeting the president in Washington on the way. They both stared at their renegade son. The shocks, although pleasant ones, just kept coming.
Since the Internet was down, Jenny Jones had to call the cruise agency in England. The credit card wasn’t authorized until she had phoned her bank and had them call the company to confirm that the $112,000 was available to pay for their sea-view suite for the month-long voyage.
For the rest of the day, Jonesy and Maggie sat out of the rain on the warm summer porch and enjoyed planet Earth, and its bounty of scents, dampness and ever-changing light. Jonesy told his parents much of what he, Maggie, and his old partner VIN had accomplished, since they left Colorado after their first visit.
Jonesy’s father asked Maggie about her life in the air force. Afterwards Jonesy told them the whole story about General Joe Bishop, what he had done to Jonesy, and his explosive end at the hands of the same person whose air force career he had destroyed.
During the day, it seemed to Maggie that the still antagonistic older Mr. Jones warmed to his son, and she was happy that a friendship was developing there, perhaps for the first time. If Ryan was right, this would be the last time Jonesy would ever see his parents.
The Gulfstream landed on a hot clear day in Nevada, the exact opposite weather they had flown out of earlier that morning. The aircraft was a hundred pounds lighter on cargo, and still had enough fuel in the tanks to not need refueling in Denver. It was only a short two-hour hop over two states into Nevada.
Ryan was happy to see them. His complexion had darkened with the sun and he looked healthy again. So did all the crew from space. The diamonds were studied and Ryan agreed with Maggie that the necklaces looked far better than massive rings. Then he was debriefed on the entire journey.
Five days later, watching Allen and Jamie do the next old-fashioned launch out of the Dead Chicken, the Jones family and Ryan took off for Denver International. Jonesy’s parents were driving in and would meet them. Since their son didn’t have a suit to wear to meet the president, they brought one of his old ones with them, just in case. They didn’t know if the president had already met their son.
“We are flying in a Gulfstream 500?” asked Jonesy’s dad as he and Ryan walked them and their two suitcases to the aircraft from the smaller private terminal. They were both happy to meet their son’s boss and surprised to see Maggie and Saturn aboard waiting for them.
“A 550, the newer version, and with extended long-range capabilities. This baby can fly three-quarters of the way around the world at 50,000 feet.” His father whistled.
Maggie flew all the way into Washington, impressing Jonesy’s father, who was watching his new daughter-in-law from the co-pilot’s seat. Jonesy’s mother made him try on his old suit while Ryan looked on laughing. He had asked Kathy to pull out one of his suits out of their America One apartment and send it down to Nevada on the last flight. One suitcase was the only cargo Allen and Jamie had brought down in SB-II. Jenny Jones was now pretty good buddies with her granddaughter who was happy to make faces and spit up on her. Flying wasn’t that easy for babies.
A sister helicopter to the president’s Marine One was waiting for them at Andrews Air Force Base. The party was whisked onto the lawn of the White House to be met by the president, the first lady, and their two nearly grown daughters, who were happy to be temporary nannies for Saturn.
This was all a bit too much for Jonesy’s dad. He did salute the Commander-in-Chief before shaking his hand, but it was not the same Commander-in-Chief he had served under.
The “People’s Diamond”, as the president called it, was officially handed over in the recently refurbished Oval Office with the press present. In a ten-minute ceremony, Ryan presented the stone to the president with the entire Jones family looking on. Afterwards, the group was invited to an early dinner.
The president needed to discuss a few things with Ryan, so after the meal the Jones family said farewell to Ryan and the First Family, and were flown back to Andrews, where they took off for Southampton Airport in Southern England.
Jonesy flew this time while his father sat in the co-pilot’s seat. Jones senior was a pilot, a hobby he had taken up while in the air force, but he wasn’t a professional air force pilot like his son.
“She flies totally different compared to what I flew,” he remarked.
“She flies totally different compared to what I’m currently flying too, but if we were staying on Earth, Dad, I would get one of these as the family runabout.”
“But they cost a fortune, son,” his dad replied.
“Not to Ryan. It’s chump change for him. He offered all of us $100,000 motor cars before we returned to Earth. Like VIN’s car—the one he and I arrived in when we visited you in last time—but cars are not for me, this plane is. As his chief pilot/astronaut I’m sure I could wangle one out of him. Maybe I will if we return before I’m too old. The quantities of those diamonds we are bringing back on our next missions could pay off our national debt to the Chinese.”
“Is that why he is staying at the White House?”
“I think so. Dad, what I’m saying is secret, but the president is asking Ryan to help the country. Even though the last administration tried to kill him, he is still an American.”
“But isn’t that trillions?” his father asked.
Feeling more like an airline pilot as they flew over the Atlantic, Jonesy told his father about DX2014, how the dead president and Mortimer had been so stupid, and how many diamonds the moon actually could hold.
In Southampton early the next morning, Jonesy arranged a car to take his parents to the docks to board their ship. He said goodbye to his parents for possibly the last time. His mother was in tears and even his father, now respectful of his son, hugged him for the first time Jonesy or his mother could remember.
After hugging Maggie and little Saturn, and saying goodbye several times over, the car drove off towards Southampton Docks. Maggie got ready to take command of the aircraft while a tired Jonesy slept with his daughter in the aircraft.
They picked up Ryan in Washington. Jonesy, now rested, flew them onwards towards Nevada.
“Have fun with the president?” Jonesy asked when Ryan entered the cockpit. Maggie was feeding Saturn in the rear.
“Yes, we talked for a long time. He doesn’t want us to stay away from Earth for so long,” Ryan replied. “He suggested that we return sooner and check up on the planet. It seems that they can’t survive without us.”
Four days later Allen and Jamie returned, this time with passengers. Thin and pale, VIN and Suzi were helped out of SB-II with VIN wheeling Suzi in a chair over the hot apron. A soundly sleeping Mars Noble was also visiting Earth for the first time, and was immediately placed in a crib.
Ryan wanted his astronauts to spend a week on Earth; it was time to discuss the future, what the president had asked of him, and to get feedback from his crew.
The next morning, after allowing VIN and Suzi time to enjoy themselves in the pool, and Suzi had a chance to receive and marvel over the ring and necklace, they began the meeting. First VIN and Suzi brought the ground crew up-to-date on America One.
Suzi was first t
o report. “All seven cubes are doing well. We are feeding the crew. Mr. Rose has everything under control, and apart from bits of rot here and there, the plant life is adjusting to space and our new gravity. Nothing is wilting anymore, and the bodies of the plants are strengthening. The rabbits and chickens are doing fine. We have our first space-incubated chicks, meat chickens, and they are doing well and growing, although a little slower than we would have anticipated compared to their rapid growth here on Earth.”
“The build crew completed the next family apartment cylinder,” VIN continued. “Seventy percent of the crew is housed, and the others are using the empty hospital ward. We had a case of what Doctor Rogers diagnosed as a cold last week. He was worried that a flu strain had reached the ship, but tests confirmed it was a common cold. He suggested that more stringent medical tests should be carried out before launches, and that Allen and Jamie, and anybody else launching into space should be quarantined for twelve hours before flight. He also suggested that a doctor be stationed here to conduct complete crew and passenger checkups, and that flight crews stay away from ground crew for at least an added twelve hours before each flight.” Ryan replied that he would do as the doctor asked. Then it was Ryan’s turn.
“As you all know, Fritz and Mrs. Warner left last week for Washington. They are being briefed there. I met with them during my recent visit. Next week they are scheduled to go to Beijing. Fritz is happy, his wife not so, but they will be staying in our embassy over there. The current administration in Washington believes that the Chinese are seriously contemplating investing all their resources into space travel. The president believes that they will not accept any more apologies from the U.S. over the destruction of their space program. Also, knowing that they have laser technology puts NASA and the other space authorities around the world into a defensive mode. Russia, Europe, and even Australia are ramping up their space programs. Washington will be increasing NASA’s budget three-fold this year and, as you know, our next launch is three new GPS satellites. All the new equipment up there is being tweaked to stay at stationary geo-stationary altitudes, and will not orbit the planet as the old equipment did.
“Our old friend Bill Withers was also invited to dinner by the president to discuss all his new designs. NASA and the air force are already producing more rockets for the same nukes that destroyed the asteroid. I told him that he was barking up the wrong tree and that they would be going to a gunfight with a knife if the Chinese had lasers up there. Naturally, he wanted all our designs, which I’m not giving him. But we will still equip the ISS and Ivan with a laser defense system, and these two craft will still need to orbit earth at LSO, or low space orbit. I explained that we don’t yet have accurate enough lasers to sit at 22,000 miles and will let him know when we do. It is possible Igor and his team of laser designers can increase accuracy from a farther distance with the new diamond lens we are producing. We will begin testing it as soon as the first lenses arrive from the cutters in Israel. I have also purchased the most powerful diamond cutter available to place aboard America One so we can cut our own lenses. That equipment will be arriving in about a month. Until then we stick with what we have.
“Now, to our odyssey. The president persuaded me to modify our itinerary. Our new travel schedule will be to journey to other planets when they are in opposite orbits around Earth. This will enable us to maybe pass by Earth between destinations so we can stop to visit. Before we begin our odyssey, however, we will go to the moon to collect diamonds. In the event we do not find any, I have decided to give him what we have in storage.”
“We still have diamonds in storage?” Jonesy asked. “Where?”
“That, Mr. Jones, is a secret. And yes, they are the big guys you brought home. Let me get back to the immediate problem. China has already asked for a 10 percent payment of the money owed to it by the U.S.A. and they want it within 90 days. They know that the U.S. doesn’t have one trillion in cash and the president asked what they would take in place of cash. China laughed at him and said that they certainly didn’t want any freshly printed U.S. dollars, but would accept precious metals, diamonds, or the U.S. Virgin Islands or the Hawaiian Islands as payment.”
“We can’t just hand over parts of the United States!” exclaimed VIN.
“The Chinese don’t expect us to give them property, but the new Washington administration will lose face before the entire world if we rescind on the deal, revealing our inability to pay debts. That will lead to bigger demands.
“Just tell the Chinese to smoke something else,” remarked Jonesy.
“What can they actually do to us?” asked Allen Saunders. “They have already stopped all their exports into the U.S. That alone must be hurting them.”
“It seems that the whole of Asia, including Japan, are worried about what the Chinese could do next,” replied Ryan. “China has attacked nearly every country in Asia during the last 150 years, and many believe that they are destined to do so again. South Korea, Japan, the Philippines, even Indonesia, want us to send more fire power into their countries. If they are attacked, and we have large military presences in those countries, in theory China is attacking the United States as well. Also, Iran is becoming a good friend to China. What I say next is for your ears only: Washington has learned the dead president received heavy financial backing from certain companies here in the States, to ensure his success in the last election. A significant amount of that money was transferred into these companies and other organizations from a country abroad.”
“Iran,” stated VIN. “It must be Iran.”
“Correct, Mr. Noble. I know you worked close to the Iranian border when you were in Iraq and saw how they operated. It is believed that Mortimer, Bishop, and McNealy, who were instrumental in channeling a lot of that money, were on their way to Iran via Greece when Colonel Jones blew up their boat. Sources at the Federal Reserve have estimated that 95 to 110 billion dollars was fed into these companies through Switzerland for political campaigns. This is the first time that foreign money has been able to change the course of a political election here in the U.S. As a result, the law permitting corporations to make unlimited contributions to a campaign is being revoked.
“So, Iran is in bed with China. Russia is not happy, nor are the Europeans nor, of course, Washington.
“China will fill Iran with nukes,” suggested Maggie.
“Yes. Of course, China knows that Iran isn’t afraid to use them, so it looks like Biblical prophesies might come true. Instead of Russia, China is at the forefront of a possible third World War.
“But China is on the opposite side of the world to the U.S. and the Middle East,” stated Jonesy.
“Perfect for China,” responded Igor. “The best and only place to be when there is a war is on the other side of the planet. They won’t care if the Middle East is taken out by America’s nukes. They will hope we are taken out with Chinese nukes coming from Iran.”
“Exactly,” Ryan confirmed. “So the president wants our help with a deal Washington has made with the Israelis. I am going to send all of our big diamonds to Israel to cut up into stones no bigger than three to four carats so they won’t be big enough to use for laser lenses. Once done, they will be returned to Washington and then handed over to the Chinese. I’m sure you have noticed Hangar Seven is being erected again. It will be our new sorting hangar for all future incoming rocks, as well as the Gulfstream’s new home. It will have a fence around it, and nobody except Igor, Boris or I will be allowed in. If any of you need the jet, Lieutenant Walls will escort you in, but other than that, it is off limits.
“You are giving those three big beautiful diamonds to the government for free?” Maggie asked.
“Correct,” Ryan replied, “plus some of the tennis-ball size ones, the same size as the ‘People’s Diamond’. We are keeping two for our own cutting. What, Mrs. Jones, do you think I should ask as payment for these rocks I consider to be useless, as useless as the large rings you didn’t like?”
> “For starters, I could use my own Gulfstream 550 extended-range jet if we aren’t going to spend the rest of our lives in space,” Jonesy jumped in, expecting to be admonished for his suggestion. Ryan smiled.
“Colonel Jones, I’m sure the president would be happy to order you a $50 million jet for ten trillion dollars in diamonds to pay the Chinese. I will put your order on the list. One thing I am asking for is total control and security of this airfield. Within a few weeks, several air force hangars will be erected on the other side of the airfield, and a wing of air force F-35s will be permanently based here. A fifth laser will be produced for the defense of this base. When we leave it will be given to the Europeans. We will also have our own NASA-made communications satellite next year so we can have permanent direct and secret communications with Washington from anywhere in the solar system.”
“So, are we still going on our odyssey?” asked Suzi. “I was scared. All that work up there, all for nothing, and my ideas all kaput!”
“We are going, Suzi. Our first mission will be to the moon to mine for diamonds, I hope. As Colonel Jones suggested, ten trillion dollars’ worth to repay our country’s debts. Our second journey will be an odyssey to Mars. There, our objective will be to set up a second home away from Earth, hopefully using the new Nano-Silicone sent up to America One to be tested. When we return, if Earth is still here, we will begin a five to ten year odyssey to Jupiter and Saturn.”
“What about the crew left on Mars?” asked Suzi.
“Good question, Suzi. A crew of five or six scientists might be left on Mars, hopefully living both above and underground. Either new NASA shuttles or our own craft will supply them every twenty-four months with equipment and supplies to continue building. NASA will build new shuttles capable of reaching Mars with one to two tons of supplies. They will not have our more modern laser system. It will be up to them to perfect their own from the older ones we leave on the two space ships, once they are able to retrieve them. That gives us a head start on everybody. Ultimately, no government can be trusted. What will our own U.S. government be like in a decade or two when we return?”
