Aerospace I : The Lunar Cycle

Aerospace I - Lunar Ice

Aerospace I : The Lunar Cycle

Lunar Ice

Gordon Best

Chapter 1 : Youth

My name is Frida Thorsdottir, or that is the english version. I was born and brought up in a small town on the east coast of Iceland. Neskaupstadur in Nordfjord. My mother is a local girl. She is a daughter of an Indian girl, adopted from Calcutta, and an Icelandic seaman.

Otherwise, I am one hundred percent an Icelandic woman. My father is a TBM supervisor. A TBM is a machine that makes holes through mountains. Look it up. Tunnels for vehicles, railways, etc. But Iceland has no railways.

We had just one functioning machine back then. Every year or two it would be moved to a new location to shorten the route under a fjord or through a mountain.

I grew up always the big girl for my age. I was the one, that the girls made fun of and the boys secretively liked. It was a small town and they knew I could beat them, so they left me alone. With the girls, I had little in common. I am not blond but have brown hair with red tinges. My eyes are brown.

When I was twelve, my father started taking me and my mother with him. We lived near his work site over the summer holidays. That is four months in Iceland. There is always a town or village nearby where his worksite is.

The first summer, I spent many a day out in the valley walking the fields. I had the attention of the children in the town. I did not have their friendship. Often there is a trouble maker. In this village, there were these big boys. They were just young enough, not to be working in the fish processing plant. I noticed they were following me. This one day, I was willing to be friendly. I found a spot on the mountain slope to sit myself on a rock.

"You want to be friends?" I asked them. "You come here and speak to me nicely."

They looked at each other and smiled. The bigger one said, "We are friendly, girl. We like you to be friendly too."

Then they rushed toward me. Boys in Iceland are big. This one carried some weight. Much of it was in his head. I had dealt with stupid boys at home. I stood up with my advantage of height and ran, ramming him, with my elbows out. The big one fell and I plowed my hand into his balls. Then I rolled, so the other one could not grab me. I was up and jumping, as the slimmer boy reached me. Lifting one knee to get him solid under the chin. Blood squirted passed his lips. As he reached for the ground, I stamped on his hand and would have broken something, but the ground was too soft.

I walked back to my rock and tried to catch my breath. I sat and watched them. I wasn't going to leave. They would leave me. That evening I told my father, not my mother. He said that I needed better defense training. There could be more boys next time. He hired a woman from Reykjavik. She came for a month and trained me. She stayed at our house, in a spare bedroom. Every day, rain or shine, we were out there, me receiving most of the damage. Then she left. My father had limited resources.

I did find a friend. She was a little thing but very smart. We had one thing in common. No one else wanted to be friends with us. We talked much through that summer. I don't remember what we talk about, but we enjoyed each other's company.

In the last week, the boys tried to ambush me again. I was alone but I was ready. I used the same location, I often sat there thinking of my future. I let them approach. I was not going to hold back. I would be leaving soon and to hell with the parents.

They came from behind me. Three, four? One threw a piece of rope around my neck. I collapsed forward and pulled him over my head. He was protecting his balls, but I had other goals. I stomped on his face and broke his nose. Turning in a smooth circle, I knocked the next one down with a blow to the diaphragm. Then the smaller two were on me. I stuck my sharpened thumbnail under his chin and pierced the skin deep. The other had a rock and was ready to strike my head. I almost lost my will at that point. I rolled, pulling the lighter boy over on me. He got the blow. The boy with the rock ran and I got up, throwing the unconscious boy aside.

I said, after sitting back down, "If you want help, I would not wait for your friend to bring it." I ran my hands through my short hair. About five minutes later, they were dragging their slack buddy down the slope.

The next year and the following, I had that same defense instructor for a month. Always a new place but news got around. It is a small country. "Don't tangle with Frida."

At fifteen, I started working for my father. He had no sons, so I was it. He was training me to learn his job. At first, I fetched things and answered phones. My real job was to learn how everything worked. Because I was big, when I was eighteen, he made me foreman directing the trucks. All the debris had to go somewhere.

When I was 19, and going to engineering school in Reykjavik, he made me foreman of the conveyor systems. When I was 23, he made me foreman of the TBM machine itself. I was expected to know how to fix it and where to find all the needed parts. At 25, I got my own machine. We were now running two machines in Iceland. I got jobs in the more remote locations and was on my own.

Chapter 2 : A Long Distant Call

At 27, I am the authority, in Iceland, on tunneling machines, next to my father. We go to conferences in Europe and Canada in the winter. There is always one name that flies about. But I know no one who has ever met him.

Anthony Perera. The king of all TBM operators. He went from working in British Columbia, to the Moon and then to Mars. The rumour was that he was back on the Moon.

There had been other operators, but Anthony was the Number One guy. Then I got the phone call. A Skype call. He was sitting right there, with a dining room like no other behind him. First and second level rooms with fire poles for access. His wife stood by him and waved. I had no idea who she was.

Text was coming on the bottom scroll. "Frida Thorsdottir, I was told you are the right person for the job. I am Anthony Perera."

I sat and stared, Then I spoke, "I am glad to speak to you. I hear good things at the conferences."

Anthony said, "I hear things too. But because of the secrecy of my job, I never attend those conferences. Your father put in a good word for you."

My father, what was he thinking. "What is the job? I have no experience outside of Iceland."

"Excellent! If you can work in Iceland, you can work here." Anthony said. "I know your season is winding down. Your father said, he could clear everything up. We need you here in two weeks. A two year contract. We have all the equipment here. Just bring your spacesuit."

We discussed some details but he was vague. Public airwaves. I later phoned papa.

I asked him, "What have you been up to behind my back?"

"He first offered me the job, but I am not a young man. He wants an Icelander, I gave him one." Papa said. He explained that in future, there would not be enough work for two TBMs and he wants to sell the older one.

"So, I am unemployed?" I asked.

"Not at all, Anthony has lots of work for you."

"Why do I get the feeling, I am being railroaded?"

Not a lot of baggage, Mary had said. Just a few personal things. Get yourself to a shuttle base. Saskatchewan. I took a bus north from Saskatoon and arrived in Candle Lake. That is where you get the ride up.

* * *

Entering the Hab 1 airlock, I was greeted by Anthony and Mary. They led me slowly, I am adjusting to being 15kg and a couple of centimetres taller. The flat was a few doors down. We sat down, while Mary goes to fetch coffee and cakes. Anthony is looking at me with kind, maybe even sympathetic eyes.

He said, "I got called in a long time ago, to do the very thing you will be doing. I had not a clue where anything was going in my life. But I had confidence in the people I met. I was your age and single. Being single does not seem to last very long around here. It must be in the dust."

Mary came in. She said, "He tried to escape this place and he somehow bumped into me. I find it much better here. People are nicer. They don't fight as much. They help each other. If we didn't, then we would not survive."

Continuing, she said, "We want you to stay here with us. This flat once had 24 people. There are just 10 right now." She pointed to the two rooms I had seen on Skype. Up a flagpole? She showed me how and helped me with my things.

I sat in my room for hours just trying to understand what was happening. I laid down and was soon asleep. Mary called me from the door. "Do you want supper?"

I got up and Mary showed me where to wash up and change. Then we ate. Just the three of us. I wondered where the others were. The place could have handled 30.

The next morning there was a bit of a fuss out in the corridor. Then Mary came in with a lovely woman about my age and an older chinese man.

"Frida, I would like to introduce you to Chung Tan and his wife Khloe McLean. They have just got in from Mars on the McLean wheelship.

Khloe said, "Just a skeleton crew on the trip here. They will be gone again soon enough, but we are staying."

I stood and shook hands and then we sat down. "I just arrived from Earth, but I heard of the McLeans. I do not know much yet." I explained.

Khloe apologized, "We seem to do a lot of that. It has to do with revealing as little as possible, until the person gets here. It was my parents that dragged Anthony into this place. My parents are now on Mars."

Chung spoke, "I guess I will be the one introducing you to the chinese side. Giving you your instructions, but let us talk of lighter things." Everyone got down to breakfast.

Chapter 3 : The North Wall

It was Khloe that gave me the tour. She actually had a few days without too many responsibilities.

"I am a medicine woman. Learned my trade the hard way on Earth. I and my sister Kimberly, have both gone into the profession. She is on Mars but there is a need here. I will be opening an office by the clinic next week. "

She showed me the mall corridor and the shops, schools and restaurants. "There are many malls throughout the complex. There are six habs and four tubes. It would take four days of constant walking to see everything."

She stopped walking and made a face. Then she ran to a spot where there was nothing but a tunnel, she touched the right wall, ran her fingers up and down.

She said, "I am not one for seeing things. But maybe I am still adjusting to the Moon gravity. Unless I am coming down with something."

I asked, "Now I am an Icelander and seeing things is our specialty. Describe what you saw. Sort of at the corner of your eye?"

Khloe said, "Yes, It was clear enough. A little man. Dressed in ancient clothing style. He went across the hall out of one wall and into another. In all my years, I have never had one like that."

"Maybe I brought him with me. We have them under every rock and living in mountain caves. I have not ever seen one, but I have spoken to them. Like before every new project, I ask for permission to drill and promise not to move any rocks but the ones coming from the tunnel. We have different names for them, but the name 'Hidden Folk' or Hulda Folk is most common." I explained.

"But this was real. I saw something." said Khloe.

"Maybe you should talk to your husband about it, but I would not talk to anyone else. Not until we see what else I brought with me." I said.

Khloe laughed and I was reminded of the little girl that I befriended when I was twelve. I grabbed her hand and felt some joy that I had not known. We walked on. I remember little about that day. But I will always live with that feeling.

Unlike me, Khloe was a social being. She had been forced to become an isolated person with her medicine job. She saw sometimes the worst of people, when they were in their greatest pain.

I said, "Anthony was right."

"What?"

"There is something in the dust." I answered.

"That must be it." she looked at me with great love in her eyes.

She found us a spot. We could sit for a few hours without disturbance. Just holding each other. Then that day was over and things got very busy.

* * *

The next morning after breakfast, Chung had some old charts on the table, held down at the corners with cups. Up on the monitors were other photos and diagrams.

Anthony and I were with him. Khloe was out getting the supplies.

I asked. "What is the history of this north wall?"

Chung answered, "I was there at the beginning. Before Anthony arrived. We spent three months doing the testing of the walls, finally using the dozers to move debris away from the chosen tunneling location. We had a group of men, who were separating and crushing rock. We built a thin highway south just to see if it was possible to produce good hardened roads."

Anthony said, "I was brought in about then. The TBMs were the smaller models. We had to assemble them, two machines to quickly get the people underground."

Chang continued, "There was a lot of stuff going on, with the native workers. I never felt it my duty to bring down the law. They were up to something. I just kept my own people in line. Ali and Anthony got the first temp-hab in and we were protected. From then on, the chinese teams created four full habs and found two tubes."

Anthony explained, "There are ghosts in the habs. The chinese think so. It has spooked them so much, that the remaining chinese finally fled for our south wall habs. Politically there is no north and south anymore. That was two months ago. Now we want to do some renovations at north wall. Make sure it is us that owns those habs."

I commented, "And not the ghosts? You want me to go in and spook the spooks? We have whole fjords abandoned and controlled by lost souls. I have no authority over them."

Anthony explained, "We got plans for you and that is just a part of the whole. A team of our youth are going to go in with you. They want to help settle the souls. We want the youth to think you are the expert. Isn't that the way you do things. Pull the wool over the foreigner's eyes?"

I answered, "That is an icelandic secret." and I felt uncomfortable. He knew more than he should.

Chung, Khloe and I made a trip to Hab 1 on North Wall. All the systems were functioning but no one was home. That is what we thought. As we entered the air lock and undid our suits, the silence was loud. Dust had collected, which meant some equipment was not functioning. We wandered into flats, where food had been left on the tables. Evidence of mice, flies?

There was a smell, probably from the maintenance tunnels below. Lights flickered, but the big thing for me was the feeling of sorrow and despair. These were ghosts. I had been in a dozen such places in Iceland. Papa had told me what it was. That not everyone could feel it clearly, like me and him. The souls that we left behind. Their children had left and the parents and grandparents died in loneliness, knowing everything they had worked for was gone. He thought these were people without true faith in God.

My father said, "Frida, if you have God with you, then you are never alone. To despair is to doubt." He was a wise man. Perhaps he should be the one doing this.

I briefly held Khloe's hand. Then I walked proudly into the thickness of loneliness. We were at the gate.

Khloe said from behind me. "We will need to bring in people to pack up the stuff that is useful. Then in come the youths. After that we take off the airlock and let the vacuum clean out the place."

Chung had shown me how they wanted new tunnels to be made and old flats to be torn out for more mall areas. "Nothing will be recognizable as it was. Everything will be cleaned, resealed in brighter colours."

Chung said, "I don't know who will be moving in. When we are finished, it will be roomier than our habs. Then we will redo the tubes. I am sure that the soil is in need of a good recharging."

They were an amazing group of youths. Fifteen to twenty-five years old. They came bearing prayer books and songs. Instruments and a respectful attitude. Full focus on the goal. I walked about as they congregated. I talked to souls in Icelandic just like the small folk at my job sites. Explained that their place was somewhere else. That a transition was in progress. For the next few days, we did this with all the locations. We also kept an eye out for living persons that had stayed behind. There were some.

Chapter 4 : A New North

It was not my experience to have to chop out walls and floors, nor was I qualified to direct inexperienced crews. All the best crews were on Mars. Anthony was on site, but he was directing me. That is why I was there. I knew about conveyor systems, no problem, but these conveyors ran slower for many reasons. It was methodical how workers went in, and pried away walls and managed to get most of the debris on the belt. It was tricky to be removing floors when you were standing on them. But every operation has its working methods. Safety first, but get the job done. Sometimes you were hanging from a ceiling while eliminating a floor. The conveyor is below. Your suit is designed to reflect away any stray laser beams.

Old corridors, to be reused, are cleaned with electrostatic sand-blasters. Then they are resealed using lighter colour dyes and a more cleanable smooth surface lacquer.

With all that done, I and Anthony retire from the scene. It is the infrastructure people now. Airlocks, pipes, electrical, flat utilities, flat walls, doors, airtight doors, radiators. Most of the items are produced at the south wall. With all the new debris from the hab refurbishing, our materials people setting up machinery, at the debris deposit site and took on the job of finding the valuable water and minerals there.

The garden people come in to see what they can salvage from the atrium and tube gardens. What ever is missing there is a soil team to provide. Fresh compost is brought over to get things started.

At this point, Anthony, Mary, Chung and Khloe are sitting with me over lunch, back at the south wall.

Mary says, "We got a new guy coming. He was supposed to be here weeks ago but better late..." I look over.

Mary continues, "He is an electrician, electronics man. Learned his stuff in a town on the BC coast. Bella Coola. He has a reputation for taking good functioning machines and making them twice as fast, efficient, etc. It shows that he is always thinking ahead. We need these people."

A knock at the door. I turned around. He is tall and gangling, but he is good looking as well.

"Please come in." says Anthony. "Are you Ketill?"

I say, "Make yourself at home strakur, hvernig gengir. I am Frida Thorsdottir."

"And I am from Norwegian ancestry. Not Icelandic. Sael. I am Ketill Thorkelsson."

"BC, I hear is a good place to live." I said.

Kettle replied, "Not if it rains 200 days a year and snows the rest. But who is complaining. I ran out of challenges, in my part of the country. Thought I would try new locales."

Mary walks over and introduces herself, "We have talked, I am Mary. This is Khloe and her husband Chung. Frida is our new TBM operator."

We all got a bowl of soup. And sat around. Ketill was very casual. He was shown his room next to mine. We now have six. I still did not see any signs of the other four.

Well it never rains but it pours. Mary told me, that starting tomorrow, just as lights go on, the moving of 25,000 people, will fill the halls, up to the McLean wheelship. "That will take about six days of constant traffic. Many of the people, you were working with will be going. And about four days after that, the Anthony wheelship will arrive. Shaun and Zoraida will be onboard and they will be staying here. I am expecting a younger couple as well."

Mary explains, "They are an Eagle Couple. I will explain that later. Shelley and Gav Penn have a special talent. They are human dowsers. They have an interesting history. Shelley was found as a stowaway on a wheelship, with no memory of who she was. Gav is the son of the Russian commander on Mars. Uri came over to our side and brought his team with him."

"I suppose I should ask just how many people are living in Plato South?" I asked.

"Well after we send out 4400 on the Anthony, we should still have about 105,000." said Mary.

I sat and thought about that one. "How many are we going to house in North Wall?" I asked.

"There once were 31,000 there, but with the new changes, I would say 49,000." Mary continued. "The young people want to take on North Wall and make it their own. I have talked to these two here and they will move in if asked." Mary was looking at Khloe and Chung. "They will need medical services. If the young move there, then I hope some of the chinese will move back."

I was feeling a little sad at that news. It is a hundred kilometres away. Khloe would be too far away.

Anthony was saying, "We really don't have a lot of say on who lives where. It is quite possible that Shelley and Gav might want to be there as well."

Chapter 5 : Gohan

The question was, what to do while all the human traffic was backed up by the airlock. People always looking in the door. The doors to the flats were never shut. In fact there was only one door and that was an airtight door that closed, when there was a signal of loss of air pressure in the corridor.

Mary said that after every job, a report was required by the council. I was to write my report and include photos taken during the program by Anthony and the foremen. So for the next two days, I sat at a corner table in the flat and did just that. It was much more complex than I was used to.

When we started to renovate the habs on North Wall, the first job was to bore a series of five tunnels across and three high. These would form the new flats for the hab. We went in six kilometres as it was better to have too much space rather than too little. The old flat areas were completely removed and made into an atrium garden area. Never can have too much food. We completely gutted the mall and factory area. It will be rebuilt with a cleaner fresher wall colour. Every tunnel was emptied and cleaned. Soil was produced outside on the crater floor and brought in. Finally we retreated and allowed others to take over. This was the same for each hab. Some extra tunnels were made to create maintenance access to malls and atriums. In total there were 78 new tunnels. All this took about ten weeks. Then another team to clean the machines. We brought the TBMs back to the south wall on land haulers.

On reflection, I was surprised how much we had done. Anthony made it clear that working in a vacuum and in cold rock temperatures, stops many of the problems faced by tunnel equipment on Earth. No running water and little loose gravel. The frozen ice thinks itself rock and the machine treats it that way.

I asked Anthony what I should do when not on a TBM project.

"Well, I see that you have already taken time to have your machines cleaned and overhauled." I did that last week. My team, were now inside doing their own thing.

Anthony said, "I think Mary would be better at answering your questions. I have my hobbies and if I get too comfortable, work always finds me.

So I asked Mary. "What should I do between jobs? I had sports and other such activities in the winter at home. I like to read. But that is not work."

"You want to contribute to the community. I understand. Do you like to write? Your reports tell me you have a good command of English."

"I have written for myself, in Icelandic and I put out a couple of fantasy books for children. Everyone writes in Iceland."

"Then do that here. Write for the children here. Do it in Icelandic. One side Icelandic. The other English. I can find you an illustrator." said Mary. "Write what you know. Let it come from your heart." That would be bad advice. Mary would be the first to find out.

I had my spot now. Everyone knew I sat at that table, not far from my firepole in the living area. I set out handwriting materials. I also had a screen and keyboard.

I sat for hours each day without writing much. It does take time for the juices to start working. One day I caught Ketill after breakfast. I asked him if he knew a good lunch place. I had not been out much.

"I have some things to do but I will be back to fetch you." said Ketill.

He arrived and took me over to the mall. A small restaurant, Korean Sunrise. He said it served a good Spicy Lunchbox Chicken. Three tables inside. Very cramped. Four small tables outside. Ketill went in and made the order. He soon came out with the spicy meal. I liked it a lot.

Ketill said, as I was looking into the kitchen area, "There are two things that are said about this restaurant, it does not have chicken and its cooks are not Korean. The first is not quite true. They get a quota of one chicken a day. Half a chicken is used at lunch time, and the other at supper, mostly in the Chicken Teriyaki."

The faces of two young people were working around the stoves. They were black and I bet they spoke little Korean.

Ketill answered my thoughts, "They trained in Korea Town in Toronto. They speak Korean."

"And how come you know all this, Ketill?" I asked. I could see the pretty young woman in the inside.

"We have had a few conversations, only that." But his face was revealing deeper feelings. "They are brother and sister. They finish about 4pm when their parents start."

I looked now more closely at the young man. "His name is Gohan and Madu is his kid sister."

We went our own ways from there. Gohan was leaning on the counter taking a good look at me, as I stood up. I waved and went back to my flat.

It started about then. The ideas. The little characters started to crowd the pages. I had to cut it down.

Mary came to me one afternoon about 4:30. "I have an illustrator for you. He is not familiar with your culture, but is willing to learn. He is an engineering student in the morning, and does practical studies in Tube 4 in the evenings. A very interesting drawing technique."

I turned to the door. There stood Gohan. A small wooden box in his hand. He smiled and came in. I had felt his eyes on the back of my head. I was nervous. I could not say anything.

Mary just turned around and walked out the door. It was as if she was escaping a stick of TNT. I thought I heard words escaping her mouth, "God save us!"

Gohan said, "I think Mary has been playing cupid. Putting the lonely souls in one room."

I smiles, "So you know, Mary?"

"My family have been here for a few years. I was 12 when we came. May I introduce myself, " he held out his hand. "Gohan Soma."

I shook it. "Frida Thorsdottir, from Iceland. Been here about four months now." He was beautiful. Long shiny hair, a little hair on his chin, a big white smile. I was staring. He was staring back. He sat down, but we did not take our eyes of each other. He reached across the table and took my hand. Then I noticed people in the room getting ready for supper. It was my turn in the kitchen.

I said to him, "Please come tomorrow." He left with a bounce in his step. I stood slowly and went for the kitchen.

Khloe said, "You could have stayed there for much longer. It was so sweet. Have not felt that emotion in a while." She glanced over at Chung with a smile on her face.

I asked, "God, Khloe. What am I getting into? He is at least eight years younger than me."

Khloe answered, "I think what I am feeling is jealousy. This is something very special. You are lucky. When is he moving in?"

She must be kidding. I had just met him. Maybe she did not know that.

Khloe said, "It is known here that young people, and older, fall very fast and hard. It is in the dust."

I answered, "Well this girl has ice in her veins. I hope he knows what he is getting into."

I could hear her thinking, "You are melting girl. You are melting."

Chapter 6 : Conflict

Khloe mentioned that Gohan gathered with colleagues from the college to do trial constructions in Tube 4. About 7pm. I had no intention of going, but at 7:30 I was there watching at a distance, while a group of young students constructed and tested two different miniature bridge structures. They were running controlled toy trucks across them, with different weight loads. They had powerful fans blowing and water was being sprayed from a hose. I was fascinated. Then they were clearing up and I had forgot the time.

Gohan spoke up from behind me. "I could feel you from over there, Frida."

I turned around and then my hand was in his and we were pulling close and it was like a warm breeze after a long winter. And there was no point in waiting. This was it.

Gohan said, "You have fulfilled me, Frida. I have been waiting for you all my life. What took you so long?" And he kissed me.

Well our intentions were to walk back to his parent's place and ask their blessing. We walked slowly down the corridors and crossed tunnels, until we were in our mall. It was then that we were attacked. A group of young whites, with some fighting skills. They grabbed Gohan from a dark passage. I had to let his hand go and I was wondering what the hell! I had not seen or heard of violence in the hab.

I crouched down and tried to figure it out, to move my body in low Gs. I had been working and doing a little running. Then someone grabbed me. A young woman by the feel of her. I did not hold back. I jabbed back with an elbow. She was out with a broken rib. I plowed into another youth who was pounding on Gohan and I gave him a damaged neck disk, if he was lucky. Then I stood and grabbed the foot of the big guy. At that moment, a swarm of black arms and legs came my way and stomped the guys kidney. She moved on to pound two female onlooker into the wall. The rest fled. Leaving their friends.

I phoned Anthony. He told us to take lots of pictures.

Madu helped me get Gohan back to my flat. He was just bruised. Then she left saying, "Take care of him. He is precious to me. I will make up a story for my parents."

Mary helped me get him washed and then I changed my bloodstained clothes and had a shower.

"Well, I guess he is yours." said Mary. "You just won him by combat." She lifted her hand up to my room.

But it was true. He was mine. I was his. That was it. Then Zoraida and Shaun walked in the door. Behind them was a young girl and another couple, odd looking and very much a unit. Gav and Shelley Penn. They were Gohan's age.

I said I would be right down. I took Gohan up to my room. Laid him lovingly on the bed then went to greet the guests.

Gav said, "You are the new ones. I told them even before we landed." I had no idea what he was talking about. The room started shrinking and then it started spinning. Then the lights went out.

* * *

I opened my eyes. Looked up and he was looking down. I smiled. Gohan bent down and kissed me.

"We weren't this close last night." I said.

"No. That fellow Gav had something to do with it. Gave us the extra kick." said Gohan.

I asked, "How did I get here in my bed?"

"You won't believe it. It was Khloe. She was here much of the night. It was the two of us after I had recovered. That woman really loves you. The tears."

"Yes, I understand. What you going to do now?" I asked.

"I am going to go get washed up." and he was out the door with my towel and toothbrush.

I tried to get up but my muscles were complaining in strange places. Finally he was back and held out the toothbrush.

I said, "I know where the new ones are. You can have that one." I put on my robe and hopped the pole. I looked around. Five people were cheering and clapping for my benefit. "Congratulations!" I bowed. This was my moment.

Then I ran for the showers.

I returned to my room. I looked at Gohan standing there in my clean underpants. I said, "Maybe I should rephrase my question. What should we do now?"

Gohan said, "Ah! Now you're making sense. We will go out there and I will let you take the stage, but in here we are equal."

"Sorry. It is not as if I was ready for this. No training manual." I said.

"Gav, says there are two or three manuals. He and Shelley wrote one of them. Kimberly McLean or Kimberly Basil, wrote the first. What we are now, is an Eagle Couple. If we follow the pattern, that would make you Frida Gohan."

"Shall we eat. Don't give the audience a chance to think evil thoughts." said Gohan. We dressed and went down for breakfast.

It was a little late. They were all gone somewhere. Both Gohan and I were hurting. It would be a good idea to stay home and work on the book. I convinced Gohan to phone in to his school and his parents. They had to be told something.

It was not an hour later that his parents were standing in the doorway. Gohan stood and went to drag them into the room.

"What has been going on Gohan. We hear one story from your sister, and now this one from you?" said his mother.

He got them to sit down and we began the long tale. His father said, "It is in our history. Back many years in Tamil Nada. The stories of two becoming one. We see that in you. You are not two anymore." his mother was crying. "But I know it has happened in Plato South before. They have come to eat at the restaurant. Most are gone now. Off to Mars, where you can see the stars."

His mother said, "We will have a party. Just the family and some friends. Next week. Make it official. Madu is going to bring some of your things over. Your place is with Frida. Oh! Madu wants your room."

We just laughed. I said, "I think Madu wants Ketill to move in."

His father said, "Nice boy, nice boy."

Chapter 7 : Purpose

Our flat mates came back about lunch time. Tired but not unhappy.

Shelley put her hand on Gav's shoulder as he was about to make some announcement. He relaxes and Shelley said, "We are a team. At least the four of us. Frida and Gohan, Gav and I. The Plato Crater council wants to start an exploration and development group. We will get the ball rolling."

Gav spoke, "But I know two others that must join us."

Then Shaun spoke up, "We, Mary and I, had a talk with the Hab 1 council. About the fracas last night. To explain why they had a young woman with a broken rib, two others with head injuries, A young man with a crushed nose and a man with an injured neck, severe enough to send him to Earth for special surgery. Oh! And the damaged kidney."

I just waited to see what else he would say. Mary told us, "It was an unprovoked attack. I could have warned you, but I wanted to see how you did." She was looking at me. "I did not expect Madu to turn up." She was saying it with a straight face.

Shaun spoke up. "Mary can read minds. It is easy for her, when people are feeling very angry. What did you do to rile them Gohan?"

Gohan looked at Mary, I looked at Mary. A mind reader. Never ran into that before. And you run into a lot of weird stuff in Iceland.

Shaun continued, "The council will get back to us. But the way this thing goes, is attackers leave with immediate family. No return policy. Supporters of attacks are watched and can be sent to Earth on the slightest infraction."

"The local council congratulates you on your new status as an Eagle Couple." said Anthony. They all clapped and came and gave us hugs.

I asked Mary over breakfast what should I do about the book.

She said, "Leave it for now. You are going on a grand Hobbit adventure."

Anthony explained more, "The country of Plato is not official yet, but it is in the works. Now we need to make a claim to some territory. The best way to do that is to go north and do some prospecting. Our first move was to refurbish North Wall. Our next idea and we will be consulting with the youth council, is to start an industry of gem processing. In North Wall halls. They will prosper and we will prosper. Zoraida and her sisters have some experience with diamonds and emeralds."

Shelley says, "Gav and I have been studying all the data on the Moon. We feel in our bones, that there are strong locations in the north for precious gems."

Gohan spoke up. I was wandering what he would say. I still knew little about my other half. "I have been looking at maps for years. Even as a boy, I wanted to get out and run around on the Moon. I have my dreams of what can happen here."

I said, "Gohan is studying civil engineering. I was watching him and his fellow students building model bridges last night."

Gohan said, "I am not the best of my peers. But they would be glad to help in any projects that needs to be done."

Anthony spoke, "I was not going to speak of this yet, but it seems pointless to wait. We are thinking of a grand road going north. As far as Philolaus Crater. We will need a team just to organize the manpower and machines. I will be heading that."

Anthony continued, "But the four of you should not wait for us. It is your mission to work north using hoppers. Check out likely places. I will see you have the electronic equipment."

I wanted to say something, but I could see Shelley was waiting for a chance. "There are two others that should be on the team. I think they are a good balance to the rest of us."

I finally said, "You mean Madu and Ketill?" Gav broke into a big smile. "Ketill is the electronic whiz kid, and we know he won't want to be separated from Madu. Do we get a portable home?"

Mary said, "I see you have your exploration team. You got brain, brawn and beauty." She was looking at Gohan.

After lunch, the council members were all off again, more to do and other councils to consult with.

I looked at Gohan. He looked at me. We were up the pole in a second.

Chapter 8 : Details

It was Madu who woke us up. She poked her head in the door.

"Ah! Must be recovering from last night or is it something else?"

Gohan threw our one pillow. "Who said you could come in?"

"I brought your crappy stuff. Still not safe out in the corridor. People are a little worked up. They have a guard by the door." said Madu.

I asked as I got dressed. "What is it you study in college? I have to assume something interesting, if Ketill wants you."

"I am in the first year of geology. But I have been taking advanced studies with MIT online. Hope I get some credit for it. It is the free courses." said Madu.

I mention, "We are getting together a team. We need Ketill and we could be out on the surface for days at a time. I was wondering about you." I left it hanging.

Madu said, "You going out for prospecting? I know about gems. My specialty. Been waiting for Plato to get its shit together."

I looked at Gohan. He just shrugged his shoulders. I was feeling left behind. But then I was the new kid.

She stayed for supper. Ketill arrived and everyone was there for an evening meeting.

We did not really try for privacy. Life went on around us as we sat about my table.

Madu had been telling Gohan about the Korean girl she had in the restaurant kitchen today. And she was complaining that she was now going to be training her own replacement.

"It is our parent's business. They should find the next one." answered Gohan. "Perhaps some relations in Toronto. We won't be going out for weeks."

I brought things to order. "That is a side issue. I want for us to visualize how all this is going to work. We are going out to find valuable stones, gems, minerals, whatever. Let's keep that open. We are going north from the west end of the fourth hab. That is rough territory. We will all need good legs. Is everyone up to it?"

Gohan said, "I think my sister should put us all through a physical training program. She is in better shape than anyone. I have trained with her, but not the fighting stuff. I suck at that."

We agreed to that. I knew how to keep them to their schedule.

Ketill said, "I want to see the equipment we will have on the journey, and get all the manuals, so I know what we have."

Gohan said, "This land we are traveling into, is a land of shadow and cold. I want to have a record of all the lighter spots, heat strengths, with every spot we cover. We are going to be building solar electric power stations on the way."

Shelley said, "We are your main mineral detectors (her and Gav). That is what we are good at on Mars. The problem is we cannot go barefoot here. We brought special shoes for our spacesuits. They are the same used by a friend of ours named Ellie Kita."

I asked, "You do it through your feet?"

Gav said, "We all have special powers through our feet. It is just no one wants to wake up to it."

I said, "Tomorrow morning, I want us all to meet here at 7:15am and Madu is going to put us through some simple paces. Then the next day we can find a better spot. We need to make these meetings the priority. Lunch here. Don't make any plans before 4pm. This is your job and I am your boss."

I talked to Madu and she was fine with being on the team. The girl, she was training, had worked in a restaurant before. The girl could do the counter, while her parents alternate with the cooking. I asked Mary if she knew any Korean chefs working somewhere else in the habs.

Within two weeks we were much fitter and Anthony was keeping us in the loop about the road construction.

Over supper Anthony says, "It is the best time to get a crew for the road work. There is little going on with the wheelship business and no new arrivals for the coming months. We just finished building one mother of a service elevator, west of Hab 4. Now we are setting up a staging location above. That is where all the equipment will work from. Materials are being run up a special conveyor system."

Gohan asked, "And what about power. You cannot use North Wall power as you move north?"

Anthony said, "I have some units that can work remotely. But that is our weak spot."

Gohan asked, "How much cloth we got available. Shading cloth and solar cloth. Can we have a batch made?"

Mary asked, "And why, Gohan?"

"I got an idea. You are going to have a lot of machines and people working out in the hot sun. They are not used to that. Maybe we could make it easier and solve some other problems. My friends at school have been running some ideas."

He handed over his pad to Anthony. Anthony said, "I was not thinking this far. It looks very good. An electrical supply always nearby, a place to keep emergency equipment, a place for an inflatable habitat, lunchrooms. When can you get me the road shelter design?"

So as the road got going with road shelters over the road every few kilometres. We set out using that still rough graded road with a couple of rovers. We searched to right and left gradually moving north. This part was particularly rough. Small mountains and deep crevices. We found stuff. Iron and aluminum, copper and boron, tin and nickel. Data was sent to south side. It was not what we were looking for.

At one point before reaching the Frigoris Mare, a cold sea, desert of sand, we were no longer able to go home. An inflatable was made available and we got very chummy. Madu and Ketill were indeed an item. Gav and Shelley have a daughter. Shaun was taking care of Penn, the daughter, at the south wall.

We continued north. This is where the first good find was. Cassiterite, not the mineral, but the crystal, the future gem. It was at the edge of the debris thrown out from the Plato crater but there was also a fault line below. At some time hot gases must have escaped here. It was Gav and Shelley, running about as usual making a lot of noise and telling dirty jokes. They had spotted the gems. That was why they were here. Shaun had known how the pair were needed on the Moon, more than on Mars.

Cassiterite, an oxide of tin, but rare and very valuable. We found the edges, the ground locations, of the best stuff. And sent it back to Mary, collector of all data. But we were only four weeks in and I hesitated to give them a break. I decided to see what else we could find along this fault.

We had to have another inflatable dropped a few kilometres ahead of us. We were a long way from the road. This is where we found Moldavite, a kind of glass non-crystal gem. Gav found a couple just by sticking his glove in the dust. It is a result of meteorite impact and some of it ended up here. We stuffed some in our pockets and called a hopper to take us home.

Chapter 9 : Value

Khloe and Chung were feeling a little out of the loop. Chung was helping with the road crew and Khloe was the nurse on hand for any injuries. They listened very closely.

Anthony said that night after a late supper. "Just these pieces, you brought home, would pay for the days operation. Take a couple of days off. Then I want you out there again. The road is now well out in the desert. We will shelter most of this section because it is a good source of solar power. With a new staging area at the desert edge."

Mary explained, "There have been a lot of changes in the last week. 18,000 of our youth have moved to North Wall. They are leaving the south wall just as we are receiving a lot of new immigrants from Candle Lake."

Shaun said, "We have a small but well trained group of gem cutters and polishers. There is also a search on in Thailand and Cambodia for families trained in gem handling. I am hoping to include more asians in our mix."

Shaun had more examples of rare and precious gems for Gav and Shelley to walk over. Just touching them with their toes and noting the names on a pad was enough to tune them in.

We took a few more days off. Gave the road crews time to get the road shelters up. There was a lot of brain storming among us.

I wanted some private time with Gohan, and I know the others felt the same. A couple of days.

Then we drove, we walked the desert road. Every sign of gems had us out in the sun or the cold darkness. But it was not until we reached Fontenelle Crater, and started walking around the east side, that we found one of our biggest gem sites. Rubies in brilliant red. That is what Gav thought and Shelley confirmed. We needed a drilling rig and we got one. The spot was drilled to 50 metres. Up came a sample with lovely raw rubies. A dozen in the first try. Finger sized and one about fist size.

We were called back and had a break. Anthony told us that North Wall was ready to handle a batch of raw rubies and he could not think of any reason not to start the mining right away. The price was very high on the world market. I might be called in if the TBM was needed.

That night we were lying in bed as the lights went out. I said to Gohan, "We need to come up with more ideas. This gem stuff is going to end in the next year. I am assuming you want to work for the rest of your time in this world. I do."

"You mean when we are not making love and sleeping?"

"You might have noticed that there are a few hours left over, when the fun things are put aside." I said.

"We should talk to Mary." said Gohan.

Mary suggest we meditate and told the story of how she first met Anthony.

Mary said, "It almost killed me, but I am not complaining. You have to go for the prize."

So we practiced meditation in our room. I got two firm chairs, just like Basil and Kimberly had. We put a poster of a triangle on the wall and started our day with an hour of contemplation. It was the most difficult thing I had ever done. My thoughts, I always regarded as being me. In meditation they are not.

Gohan was back in school and I was at loose ends. So I used that time to investigate every part of the hab complex.

Gohan said one night. "I sit in class and I can sort of visualize where you are. But what comes very strong is that my body gets very warm sometimes and quite cold at others."

And I did not think of it again until I was in Tube 3. I found places where my body warmed up and others where I got cool. I checked the local temperature on my pad. It did not change in any way with my body.

I talked to Anthony. Told him what we had done and what was happening.

He said, "Well, if it was Mary you were talking to, she would say Gohan is hot and you are cool."

I got the reference. But I also got the real meaning.

"Could it be? Would it be possible to search out a hot spot and drill down?" I asked him.

"We could try the crater floor. Maybe in the northwest where there is little going on. We will only drill if it is a very strong signal."

So the whole team went out but only Gohan was to help me. The others were just to make comments after the chaos.

We knew that a source of heat, during the fortnight dark days was worth something. They were using a few thorium reactors at the present time for power. We walked a grid pattern. Just the two of us. The others stayed back. All day we experience slight changes. I tried to clear my mind. Reach down with my feet let the energy flow. Then Gohan was jumping from one foot to the other, I was starting to sweat in my suit. We broke from the grid pattern and walked in the direction where the heat was rising.

I fell to my knees and Gav ran in and dragged me away. Gohan staggered after.

Gav said, "Well I would call that a strong signal. Shall we call in the drill? How far down?"

I did not know how to answer, but Gohan said, "Maybe a kilometre."

It was a big operation, but it was an experiment worth a lot, if the results were good.

It was a week later and after two other finds, the results of the first came through.

Anthony gave us the news over supper. "The hot spot has got us excited. We brought the drill bit up and it was filled with solid tin. Good purity. It could be that the rock down there is staying at a temperature to just melt and pool tin. Somewhere under 300C. Our next test will be to see just how deep and wide this pool is."

Chung is going to develop a technique for extracting it. "If we don't find a way, then we can lay pipes and extract the heat for North Wall.

He continued, "It might not be any use trying to sell this to Earth. The price is not high enough. But we can use it."

Anthony said, "Shall we not give it another try? I have something to show you all." Anthony would not tell us anymore.

We, my team, headed for the airlock, donned our spacesuits and were out the door. We took the same route, driving an hour, to the service elevator on North Wall and we were now standing about, by the side of a busy road above the crater. Small and large machines rushing by.

Anthony said, "I want all six of you to give support to a search for something. I know it's there, but I want you to find it." A grid map appeared on my visor.

So we walked north, a small distance from the road. It was about half an hour when I felt the cold. At first I thought the suit had a hole or the systems were broken. Then Gohan touch my shoulder. He felt it too.

I called out to Anthony, who had not followed us. He said, "Now map it out. I want to know the whole size."

It took us the rest of the day. The grid pattern meant nothing now. We had to feel our way. Anthony called. "I want the very edges of this thing." It was rough going as there were steep hills and valleys. I and Gohan figured a way to separate ourselves and call out numbers. At one point, we were five kilometres apart and both of us had an edge. Then we walked to each other and the cold just got colder, deeper. We crossed the road moving west and we still had not reached the end when Anthony called us in.

He said, "We will finalize this, another day. You two have proven yourselves. It is not a deep piece of ice. That is how we found it. But getting the full extent and the edges... We can now figure that Plato has a lake of pure ice water for many years to come. We must keep this a secret for now. It could be years before we need to use it."

I was doing some figuring that night, but Gohan was faster than me. "If that ice-lake were ever drained it would make a cavern big enough for the population of Canada to settle in."

"We don't want the 'Stand on Zanzibar' version." I said.

"Well if we build flats to the ceiling around the perimeter... About 150,000."

I added, "With about 1,500 hectares of arable land. That might support them."

We were feeling very sleepy.

Chapter 10 : Quiver

Now we had another arrow in our quiver. With Gav and Shelley finding minerals and I and Gohan looking for temperature differences we were a formidable team. We began the third part of our journey north.

The road team had done a great job of bypassing the ruby fields. We did too and started examining more of the rim of Fontenelle crater. Toward the north rim, we found sapphires in amounts that made it worth mining. Then we continued north working our way back to the covered road. There was an inflatable waiting for us. We passed by Fontenelle P, a small satellite crater. It was about 5km wide.

Gav gave some whoops and a little dancing. Shelley just did a shimmy.

I called, "What have we got people?"

Gav answered, "Spicy Chicken."

I asked again. "Shelley?"

"Diamonds! Deep and plentiful. Looks like Canadian north stock. But much more."

I sent the news to Anthony. We marked the spot perimeter and made for the shelter.

There was much more to do. We were leaving diamonds behind, for the next week, we then stuck closer to the road. The direction, destination of the road was Philolaus Crater.

* * *

It was the road crew that gave us our next find. We had just about caught up to the front workers.

They said that the road was hollow. There was a dip and it could be a dangerous spot. Anthony asked us to check it out while the road crew called a halt. We went east along the dip. I and Shelley on one side and Gav and Gohan on the other. Madu and Ketill road a rover down the middle with their electronics loaded.

Ketill called everything to a halt. "It seems a little thin here. I am going to move the car off for now." We continued east until Gav spotted a hole. Just a hole big enough for a rover to fall in.

Ketill had a box on his back and a wand in his hand. He was approaching the hole. "It has been made. The thickness of the sides must be several metres."

We called in some men and equipment. We were going exploring. A truck and winch cable got us down to the tube floor. Just the six of us. Mary had called and insisted that this was secret stuff.

We reached the gravel floor 500 metres down. I gave a signal and told them to stick around. The huge cavern stretched east and west. We went west to check out thicknesses under the road. It was a good 50 metres and then we kept going, sometimes climbing debris piles, but no sign that the roof structure was weak. It was three kilometres east of the road that we found the ball, or a huge strut and cable sphere. It was not a design that was in any of our data bases. Gohan just scratched his helmet.

"Got to be somewhere. This is classic Fuller. But do you notice that there is a feeling of another dimension?" Gohan said.

Gav put his glove on one of the connections between strut and cable. I started leading each member of my team to locations about the sphere. Then we were standing spaced around it.

I said, "Touch the connector in front of you." I really had no conscious will at that point. I just knew that we were here to do this. What happened? Well it changed everything. I can say that Madu and Ketill became what their hearts had been reaching for. They were now an Eagle Couple. But there were many more consequences.

When we exited the hole, Anthony and Shaun were there. They had the men cap the hole and cover it with a couple of metres of sand. You could not tell it was there. They were told to be silent outside this circle. Not even the council.

We left. On getting home Madu and Gohan were told that the team was moving to Hab 4 on North Wall. A place was waiting for us. Everyone in the flat was moving. Including Khloe and Chung. That very moment. We quickly got our few things together and three hoppers moved us north.

In Hab 4 we found an empty corridor and empty flats. One was prepared for us.

We found rooms that suited us, then had some supper. Mary explained.

"I have the gift of mind reading. But I also go with my feelings. Anthony and I have been dealing with Eagle Couples and other special pairings for 15 years." She took a sip of coffee. "It was a feeling that made me ask Anthony, to prepare a place for us, if something should happen. I did not know what it would be. But if I am scared, then it is best to keep you away from the general population."

"Anthony and I, Zoraida and Shaun are here for you. We have experience in dealing with weird events. Congratulations! You six are the weird phenomena of the month."

Penn was running around, not looking into the flat, but checking each one of the six of us. She stared into my eyes. Finally Shelley grabbed her and kissed her head. Pulled her close.

We all went to bed and slept as well as you can, when five other people were sharing feelings with you. It was like a different planet.

After breakfast we sat about and Anthony started. "Tell me what happened after your foolish circling of an alien devise."

I said, "I did not know it was alien. Maybe the others did."

Mary said, "We looked at the videos and checked for possible Russian or American activity. Not very likely. Where is the garbage they would have left behind?"

Zoraida said, "Just to make this clear to everyone, I too am a mind reader. As good as Mary. It runs in my family." Would anything ever stand steady again. I was waiting for Shaun to say something.

Shaun said, "None of us are outside this new event. It seems to me as the social person here, that this group is now a unit. Including Penn. That is why we had to get you out of Hab 1 last night. We did not know how far it would spread. You six have the couple's powers, but we five have been feeling different among ourselves. I would like to complain about being too old for this, but the cat is out of the bag."

Zoraida says, "This hab has been closed off for now. It was about to be settled next week, but that has changed. We are texting the main council. Even a video signal might be dangerous."

Mary said, "I and Zoraida don't have to be told what you are going through. Today what you need to do, is go about your business and also consult, on how this new closeness is affecting you. Can you work with it? Can some ground rules be set? Can perceptions be shut down or toned down?"

Anthony continued, "Good luck! We are here for you."

It was like a great scientific experiment. Thank you very much, papa. Now I can only text you and mama.

My question was, 'What can we do, now that our talents are shared?"

Chapter 11 : New Insights

Mary was in tears as she told me her story. We were in her room. "Anthony has always come into my dreams. I gave him permission, after the first time. We were on Earth and I was dreaming about a hab, that I have not seen yet. It is my dream home. Where I go to rest in sleep. He found me there and we have always shared that place."

She continued, "It makes me wonder how many people do this. Share dreams, have a dream home space. I and Anthony remember these dreams as we wake. We ran into six children running around in my place. Not unruly. One girl was a little older than the others. That is you. The dreams were over ten years ago. You as a group have popped in and out over the years."

I was getting hairs standing up on the back of my neck. Gohan stuck his head in the door. "Everything alright?" I called him over. He sat down with me and I cried on his shoulder. Mary jumped up and fled the room. I understood.

I suppose other conversations were going on and in time we would hear what was being said. Mary told me that in the most intimate way, the six of us were her children. The children of her garden. And Shaun and Zoraida had a history of adopting children.

This was just the beginning and anything else I might have thought, was overcome by events. Ali and Alex were on their way to Plato. They would bring Kimberly and Basil. A well trained Eagle Couple. They are often called the first. Maybe not really but in our history... They were the first public couple here on the Moon.

Anthony said the Ravenchild was available and that they would be here in record time. "Besides I know Ali. She would never miss something like this. She is a bit of an adrenaline junky."

Kimberly is Khloe's younger sister and they are very close. So we talked and they started touring the Hab 4 layout with me and Madu. They was a smaller Atrium ready for planting. I looked at Madu and over to Khloe. There was nothing stopping us from gardening and thinking at the same time. We gave each other total hugs and rushed back with the idea.

Khloe spoke up. "We want seed and cuttings brought over from the south wall. They can leave it, the way they leave our food. We are all going to do gardening." We were isolated just like an infectious disease group.

At the flat. "Mary," I said. "You remember the layout of that dream garden. I think we are about to build it."

And we started our second project together. Mary was the map. Each of us provided a talent. Chung and Khloe made clay forms for statues to be cast outside in bronze. Tin and copper are major elements. We got 'cedars of Lebanon' seedlings and blue spruce. Apple and date trees. All the root crops. Trellises to the roof, shaped with someone's talent. Vines of beans and grapes. Berries of all sorts.

We were ten weeks into the work, when we heard that the Ravenchild wheelship had arrived. Ali and Alex settled into our old flat and checked in with us by text. They confirmed that we had been isolated because of an unknown disease. The activity in the old hab was about normal. No signs that our condition had spread. She sent a report about the artifact found on Mars. This one had been found years before by Anthony.

Alex thought the whole business of Eagle Couples could be caused by this sphere in the tube. "That it is much stronger when close. And stronger still when touched by six. It is probably the object itself, that was causing this affect. We should test the road crew before coming over for a visit."

So they came about a week later. In the door and with their belongings. Getting very cozy in Flat Mary.

Alex and Ali walked in. Ali said, "Just could not stay away from my three daughters." Shelley ran up to her. Threw her arms about her mother, while the rest of us, stared in shook and confusion. Shelley McLean?

"Mom," said Khloe, "What is going on?"

"I will talk to the family later. But be sure that Shelley is mine. Not Alex's. Just mine."

This was the famous Ali. Never a dull moment I heard.

There was a lot of hugging and greeting. Basil and Kim came in behind. Then the family including Basil and Chung went into the other room. Alex stayed behind.

Alex said, "I know the story. It is just old news for me. So what is up here. I don't see any aliens. No strange shadows in the corners, no moody music on the intercom."

Anthony said, "We thought that we were going to sit over lunch and chew it over. Now half of us are out to lunch."

Alex said, "Give them about ten minutes. Ali will dump it and be out as fast as she can. Never the huggy type."

So we laid the table and put up real time pictures of the garden on the monitors.

Ali came in with the others following. Shelley was holding her hand. We all took our places. Mary began explaining the new situation.

"I welcome you to my garden." She looked up at the screens. "What I can say so far is we have a special way of working with each other. How that will show itself out on the moonscape I cannot say. It is not just the six. We have all been affected. We exercise together. I think everyone is meditating in the morning, though we do not do it as a group. The gardening is a joy and we seem to get a lot done with the fewness of our numbers."

Ali said, "You think you will get me exercising. That will be the true test." She is tall and thin, with wide streaks of gray in her hair.

Anthony said, "How many years have you kept this secret? How many years were you on Mars with Shelley and Gav running around? But the first thing you do on coming here is grab Shelley and hug her and she calls you mother before you say who or what."

Ali looks around. "I do feel more emotional about my family. Maybe I am just getting old."

Mary comments, "I have found something new every day since we have been closed in this hab. It has been hard to keep my eyes dry."

Alex sat with Penn in his lap. They had found something between them.

We talked and worked in the garden for the next week. We claimed it as Mary's garden, then we had the Hab 4 cross tunnels opened. What the hell. Let us see how it goes here at north wall. No warnings, no info. When the council notices the change then we will have a report ready for them.

* * *

Kimberly and Basil became part of our prospecting team. The fearless eight? We were told not to go near the sphere. But we did stand above it and held hands in a circle. One hour and then we continued working.

Emeralds, mineral beryl, mostly green, very hard. This is a big one. The question would be how to introduce the gems to Earth without crashing the world price.

We were finding stuff like platinum and gold when we hardly were trying. It was calling to us.

Anthony waved us home. We had only been out eight days. "We will continue with the gem hunt, but it might be a few months down the road. I want Gav and Shelley, Frida and Gohan to set up a mining operation using a TBM. Chung will bring in a part of the road crew to help you. The gold is what we need. Once you get it started, we can have others take over."

Team two was Kim and Basil, Khloe, Madu and Ketill. They were in charge of the advancement of Atrium gardening in Hab 4. This meant that they would circulate among the community in Hab 4.

Team three was Mary and Anthony, Ali and Alex plus Penn, Shaun and Zoraida. They were to study how the alien sphere was influencing the hab. This was them comparing the hab life in other habs on North Wall.

I was happy to be out again. Gold was a good enough excuse. Even if, I was not getting a percentage, I was still doing alright. On arriving in Plato crater, I was given a bank account with a deposit of $60,000 up front. From then on I have received 10,000 Canadian a month. There has been little opportunity to spend this money. The flat and much of the food are provided. Because I have been here now nine months, I have $129,000 in the bank. My trip home is paid for. For six months this is good pay in Iceland. Then there are the fringe benefits.

We were flown north to the gold find. There was a cliff face to the west and I got Gav and Shelley to run up it. They would phone me when any veins were found. The three of us below followed and observed what was around. There were signs that this face was part of an ancient fissure. Shelley phoned down to explain that a thick vein ran deep below them and probably under our feet. Chung took the hint and we had the backhoes and drills in the next day.

By the end of the week there was enough reason to bring in the TBM, so we dug a sloped notch in the ground to give the tunneling machine direction. A work crew brought in equipment for conveying the rubble, crushing machines and screens to allow the gold to separate. We were going to do this fast.

The tunneling was done slowly. Gav was in there a lot giving instruction on which direction to turn. He knew the limits of the machine. It became clear that we were making the settlement rich. When the gold was collected, it was smelted on the site and stamped with a North Wall Gold stamp, one triangle with NW in the middle. One Kilo bars. I can't say any more about that.

Our next project was the platinum find. As the TBM at the gold site was busy. We brought another machine in. We did quite alright. The bars were somewhat smaller.

That gave us time to rest six months in. And the sitting around the table brought the three teams together.

Chapter 12 : Compare

Alex gave the first report review for our away team.

"The first three months there was little to compare. It took that long for people to settle here and I wondered with you four gone, if there would be any real influence. But Madu and Ketill were working with groups of people in the atriums. An Eagle Couple will pack a lot of punch. But with Khloe and Basil joining them, I could even feel it. They have felt the strength of the sphere, even though they have never approached it.

Basil spoke up, "It is time to come clean. For a true reading of what is going on. We did not go down to the sphere, but all eight of us stood above it for an hour. I, for one, was refreshed in my relationship with Kimberly. It was a second honeymoon for us."

Madu spoke, "Our love has only grown as we work with the local people. This is one of the aspects, that the new arrivals are seeing. It is our devotion to each other."

Ali spoke, "It is perhaps the best point in our list of differences. People of Hab 4 are in awe of the Mary flat. It is like a shrine to them. This is a little strange since they are all young people with very young children."

Shaun said, "I don't see what you see or feel what you feel. I am impressed with the utter focus and attention to detail this group of eight has. If it is spreading that is a good thing."

And there were many other comments by members of team three. What wasn't there, was anything you could say that is definitive.

* * *

Madu asked that I stay after exercise class. We were in Mary's garden one morning. It was just the two of us and a bunch of workers further down the atrium. We sat on a bench that Shaun has made from bronze. Very cozy and I was a little uncomfortable.

Madu smiled. It just about made me cry. "You like me, don't you. I can feel it and everyone in our eight group knows. It's Ok." We held each other tight and I thought that was it. She wanted to bring it out in the open.

Madu continued, "You have been a little out of the loop. I was asked to talk to you. My brother will not come in until you agree."

Ok! What was this about? "Now you got me mystified."

"You noticed how team three was not able to come up with anything? Do you know how the youth movement started and what the basis of it was?"

"Not really. I don't know much of the history of Plato. I came here to work." I said. She was still holding me.

"Except for Ketill, the rest of us have followed it for many years. It was Basil and Kim who gave the movement its first push. Many years ago. They don't think that team three is really clued in. Team two is. Kim has been directing us through the program during the time you were out mining."

I just waited for the next bit.

"The Eagle Couple phenom is not something that works outside the program, and the subject matter is for all ages. We were waiting for team three to implement it. No such luck. Now we want you to call team one, to spend a week with us. We will all start from the beginning."

She added one statement, "Have you noticed what is above us, when we stand in the circle at the sphere." She was speaking of the time when the eight stood out on the surface. I thought. It was always there. A little to the south. I thought also about the five times we had gone back to visit without telling team three.

Chapter 13 : The Shift

It took me a couple of days to come around. Madu gave we a book to read. Paper. Gohan was careful to say little but I could feel his quiet power inside me. We spent a lot of time just holding each other. I read, I meditated outside our regular times. I ate and slept little. I went to remote places in the hab. Then I started visiting the other habs. Just wandering. I found atriums where I could watch the children. It gave me a strong desire to have children of my own.

Gohan was having a difficult time of it. Because he was feeling what I was feeling. I know he went to Madu for support. I was glad he had such a sister. Some things have to be done alone. That will not change. That my other half had already made a wise decision did not make it easier for me. Remnants of my Icelandic independence were popping up.

How could I have missed this? What was team three thinking? Were they waiting for me? All these thoughts were just delay tactics. I knew this from meditation and how the mind works. It was tied to our human nature and our Lord above us. This is the beginning of a layer cake of worlds. All the world is a series of sign posts leading to our higher nature. Our higher nature is dependent on the decisions we make.

I was facing the critical moment in my life. I was so in control, but understood nothing of the bigger picture, or the people around me. People that I loved. They had been very kind to allow me to find my own way.

* * *

So woman admit it! You screwed up. But some were pointing and I just pushed through and ignored the fingers.

I got my team together, while I still had one and said, "I got a proposal. Team two wants us to study the series of books used by the youth program. I feel that while we are still on a break we go ahead. I will not insist on it."

There was an expression of relief from Chung and Gohan. Shelley and Gav were showing interest.

There was little discussion and we went on to other things. When the meetings started in the garden, my team were all there. Let us say that you all should study a message, that has come from God again and again through messengers. In this time, he has brought the greatest message. It will accompany us out to the stars.

* * *

Our next move was north. The road work had been delayed but was now back on track. The two mines had been closed and sealed. We were now working smoothly as the eight. Going out into the rough rolling hills to the west and to the east. Getting closer to Philolaus Crater.

Ali had told us before we left, that she was proud of our efforts, and the finds we had made. It went to balance the Plato economy, making future projects possible. She hoped that we all would consider being leaders for upcoming events.

I was given a private talk later with Ali and Alex. Ali said, "We know you are here on a contract and that is fine, but you have shown leadership and abilities that I would have loved to have, when I was your age. We don't run things any more, we just sort of stick our noses in, every now and then. The council puts up with our suggestions."

Alex said, "It certainly paid off this time."

Looking at me Ali said, "I need you and there are a lot of friends, people that love you, hoping that you stay. The contract will be over soon, but the jobs will keep coming. We don't look for smarts just in one trade. We want people who can stand back and see novel solutions. You are like that."

She came over and hugged me. I was surprised but moved and hugged her back. Ali said, "I must be getting old. I feel you are a daughter to me. As if I need more daughters." She smiled with tears in her eyes.

Alex grasp my hand and there was that look in his eye. Like 'whatever you just did, keep doing it'.

I asked them right there. "The thing that would convince me most to stay, would be to see you two and the rest of team 3 doing the youth program with us. Then I would know that we were all traveling together."

* * *

Out on the road, team one, was traveling in two rovers. Traveling most of the way over the bad lands, south of Philolaus Crater. Four of us got off and start walking west. There can be no hurrying the process. A good spot could be missed with hurry. But not this next one. It was a mountain of ice covered by half a kilometre of rock. We spent two days calculating the edges.

Then we went east. Same story, different mineral. This is a value-added road. Massive bauxite or aluminum deposits.

So further north we run into a small vein of emeralds and then just south of Philolaus Crater we see evidence of a tube running east-west. We were nervous with this one. An artifact was in there. We could feel it. A consult with team three and then we had Chung get the equipment for a hole. A little deeper this time. The tube was a good fifteen kilometres long, but we were only interested in the artifact.

It was a different frequency, Fuller shaped. Same layout and we spaced ourselves evenly about the base. I phoned up to Chung as it might take a while.

"Don't disturb us until eight hours have passed. Even aliens need to pee." I said.

We all reached out and touched the connector near us. We stood in a united body watching a book being presented.

It was a book from a messenger. The words were similar to the book I had read. It spoke of glory and light, attitude and humility, a Lord of the universe and a book brought to mankind. There were promises and warnings. A new spiritual government, brought to the people with open eyes. Then it said that we must recognize Him within ourselves. It is our judgment day. If we succeed we must thank God.

Four hours passed. I think the aliens were more concerned with our attention span. I phoned Chung and we were soon up. It would be discussed later.

It was a universal confirmation. For us, but others could take comfort from it. Chung just stared at us and we have not the right to think that he had not felt something as well. I suspect that the whole crew were standing over us as the session went on.

I tried to write up the book as I remembered it. Gohan and the others did the same. But it faded. Mary collected the fragments for posterity. Would there be something like pilgrimage in future to these sites?

We were going to leave the Philolaus crater for next month.

Chapter 14 : Family

I was in a position to have to choose between my beloved country and my new country. But there was really no choice. Papa and mama were back there. They had raised me, knowing I would go off and be my own person. More than half a million young had done the same. Moving mostly to Canada and the U.S from Iceland. I could go home to visit. But could I bring Gohan? Would he want to go through the torture of adjusting to Earth gravity. He has lived here for five years.

There was all my friends here. I had no friends in Iceland. Oh, I had friends but not personal and not close. Living out in the wilderness, with a work crew eight months of the year, is not the best. Unless you like to drink, you will not see much of them. People my age are in London and Paris. Working in hospitals in Denmark. Neskaupstadur as a town has not changed much in size in the last sixty years.

Here I have friends. Gohan of course. Madu and Khloe. I love them and I think they love me. Ali. We look over at each other almost every day. We hug in private moments. She really is a mother to me.

I am about to find out how friendly and inclusive Plato is. I have been asked to be a tutor. It means spending three to four day periods over on the south wall. That is where all the new recruits will be. The young coming in from Candle Lake. Someone needs to take the most raw, through the first four books. There, Gohan and I are doing one group and Madu and Ketill taking the second. It is just a drop in a bucket. There are literally hundreds of groups happening all the time over there.

* * *

I will not go into the details but it was a great education and a humbling experience. I called on Gohan to be my rudder and steer a course, away from old morality and cut through modern madness. Just the essence please.

The one thing we never had trouble with... We would wait until a minute or two before the meeting was to start, and when we walked in hand in hand, me 30, Gohan 22 there was a hush and even some fear. These people were coming from some of the worst conditions, mostly in the Canadian cities, but some American cities as well. Black kids who had seldom seen two people like us. I am pretty white as Icelanders go. Gohan is quite dark with his slight accent, and I, a stronger one. Then there is the Eagle Couple thing and who knows what they see from the effects of the artifact.

But the program is based on the unity of God, His message and His messengers.

* * *

I asked Ali one day about Mars and the wonders of living there. She thought it fine and wants to go back in time. But right now she is having such an interesting time on the old Moon. She was holding my hand. I love it when she holds my hand.

Ali said, "I have this instinct. It is something Doris and I have shared. Something happened when we got together. The most vital events are where I want to be. Right now they are all around you."

Ali continues, "Mars was the goal. I was thinking of getting good people together, using the Moon as a base and flying off to Mars. Everyone lives happily. Life is very mysterious. That is my wisdom of the day." She did not tell me about Venus.

"Any chance we can get this group back to Mars like soon?" I said. It was as if someone else was controlling my mouth. "Ali, I don't know where that came from. My heart is beating and it is telling me to follow the signs."

She looked deep into my eyes. She stood up and asked me to hold her. I did it with great need. Gohan came in and over to the two of us.

Gohan said, "I get the feeling I missed something. It was as if there was a hiccup in space and time." said Gohan.

Ali said, "We are going to Mars! Everyone."

"But," I asked, "what about the road and the prospecting?"

Ali said, "It will still be there, when we get back. The Ravenchild has been over to Venus and is back now. It is small but comfortable. How many are we? I will get us on."

It was going to unload a lot of supplies and about one thousand people. It is now just a get-about compared to the other wheelships. The McLean can take 30,000.

We spent as much time as possible doing study sessions on the south wall. It helped to keep the anticipation down. We boarded about three weeks after my sudden statement. Many of the passengers were older people, some Chinese nationals forced to use our wheel, because they had no program any longer in Plato Crater. We had bought out their wheelship at a discount price. Zoraida was the celebrity onboard. She had been the first commander of this ship and this ship was the first to go to Mars.

We got our own residence. It was cramped, only balcony like bed areas, above the dining area. So each day we woke and washed, then ate. Then we were soon out in the garden. It was Mary's garden all over again. The forces at work. We could not stop the ideas on board. We understood instinctively, what needed to be done. We were making more plants grow and better.

It affected the whole population. They were out exercising as we did, meditating, reading scriptures, running the four kilometre wheel. They worked hard and it made us stop and think of ways to make them happier.

Madu got pregnant. Ketill was happy. I was happy. I was told that many pregnancies occurred on this transit and others. This was the fifty million mile high club.

And then we were in orbit about Mars. It was different now. No plans for us, entering a new planet.

 * * * 

Frida Gohan and Gohan Frida land on Mars. This was the naming tradition here, and I was not going to change that. Many here were no longer youth and their children had grown up and taken over. Our team of eight stayed together for the flight down.

We were met by two women. A mother and daughter. I knew them from pictures. The prospectors of Mars. Ellinor Kita and her daughter Itchy. Gav and Shelley ran to greet them. Kim and Basil were right behind.

I shook their hands as did Gohan. Itchy was having a real good look. I kicked Gohan's foot to make him stop staring. Ah! Chemistry. Madu and Ketill were introduced.

I said, "Before we get into the martian society thing, I thought it good that we could have a private conversation. No bosses, no detractors. This is just us prospectors. Ellie. You got a place for us?"

"We have a place. It is used for program sessions but not this week. Just a couple of staff. North of the youth domes." said Ellie. "Bring all your stuff."

We all loaded into a bus. And half an hour later we were there. Itchy said, "You can stay here for the week. If you stay longer you will have to be involved in the studies."

After getting comfortable we sat down to coffee and discussions. I started.

I said, "Ali and Alex have told me that they want me to take over their responsibilities. I don't know about that, but it seems to me that we can move ahead without waiting for any go ahead."

The others just looked at me. Even Gohan.

I said, "Look, I did not talk about this before, because it was not straight in my head. But what I understand is that the Mars settlement program wants to continue and there are some problems. Ali has not said outright. Mars probably is not consulting well with Plato council. I don't know much about it... What I know is that Ali wants to send a lot of valuable stuff from here to there. We are here to find it, dig it out and transport it back on the Ravenchild."

Ellie just shook her head as if everything had finally come clear. She said, "You mean all this introverted Martian living has blinded us to payments due."

"Right." I answered.

Itchy said, "So what are we going to do?"

"Well it sure would be good, if it was just a matter of finding gems and gold. We have already done that and any more would imbalance the Earth market. We have to find other stuff. Get us your research data, so we can go over it, and tell us everything you have found and things that intrigue you."

So we spent the next three days going through stuff. Ellie told stories of their finds, like the salt sea. Then it was time to bring in the big guys. Chung and Anthony were first on the list.

At this point we locked down a section of the study centre. It was important and Ali was able to arrange it.

After a day of discussions which tended to dwell on the artifact area of the canyon, we asked for Uri and Marina to join us. They were the Russians in charge of the artifact investigation.

Uri said, "Now that we are all a part of Green Valley, it is good to stay within the borders of the country. This alien spot is our territory, but I know that the Americans have been snooping around."

Marina said, "It was very difficult at the time, to get much work done. Our survey was a little light on science."

"Well," I said, "If you want to join us, we are going to do the survey, that you wanted to do. We want to find out why the aliens stopped there. It does not seem that they were stuck or crashed."

I looked at Anthony, "Is it alright, that I tell them. It might stimulate some ideas?" He gave me the go ahead.

"We found artifacts on the Moon. Have you notice anything about the people on the expedition, has it affected your people?" Uri acted nervous then stayed silent while we waited. I am sure everybody was thinking wildly. I did not know about the revolt.

Uri said, "You don't know do you?"

I looked around. Chung spoke up. "The Russian quarter had a revolt in Hab 1. Several were killed, hundreds were shipped out. The Russian wheelship never stopped at Earth. Sixteen years later, it is still orbiting the sun erratically."

"My wife was the pilot on the ship." Uri said. "I see something about that expedition, but I need to look at the data. Perhaps the people on the trip to the artifact, are the ones still here."

Uri was sitting between Shelley and Gav. They were comforting each other. I called Zoey McLean in. It was a family affair. She is his wife.

"I think with this group, we should go there. Into that narrow canyon. In three days?" Chung indicated that it could be arranged. "We will all need new spacesuits with those special soles that Ellie uses. This is just between us until we are ready with something to tell." I said.

Chapter 15 : Reunion

One high speed rover was large enough to carry most of us, while the others brought mostly equipment. It was fast but it was rough. The distance was around 1000km. And we were averaging 60km an hour. It was the next morning that we arrived and we were all bone sore and exhausted. The second car was lagging about an hour behind. We pulled up at the first signs of the artifact. We jumped out and immediately found footprints and signs of pillage. Someone had been digging, as the shovels were left behind. Everything scattered. Then the shots started making puffs of dust and I knew what to do. I lifted my hand and directed everyone to the far cliff.

That is where the shooters were, but they were high on the rocks. It was harder for them to get to us, if we were under them. I had handled rifles, on the annual caribou hunt in Iceland. Ellie ran with a zigzag pattern back to the car. Jumped in and Chung called her and told her to stay there.

"I have a remote to drive the car over to us." said Chung.

Ellie said, "I need some equipment for Itchy." She stayed inside as the car moved over next to us. Soon Itchy was hanging hooks on her belt and had shouldered a rope.

Ellie gave signals but said nothing. No point warning the shooters.

Then the young runner was gone. Up the rocks, now sheltering the rest of us. So fast she was. Then next thing we knew, a space-suited body came crashing down and bounced off the car. Then a minute later another body further to our right, deep in the dust. Cracked helmet. Thump. Then Itchy was down.

"Only two of them." she held onto her mother.

I said, "Chung get the helmets off and take pictures." There was no chance they were alive. Both suits were ripped open. One had a hook in it. "Find ID. Take any radios for evidence."

Anthony said, "This is the first instance of inter-colony theft that I know of. They would have got away with it, but their timing was very bad. It won't do to investigate. I fear that we will only create enemies if we publicize it. We will bury them here, by the wall with a simple headstone. 'RIP for two thieves'. Something such."

So we did bury them with all their stuff and guns. RIP.

Then the second car arrived. Uri and Marina inside. We did our explaining, then got on with the job. Anthony had an inflatable hab erected so we could sleep and eat well enough.

The first thing we noticed was the small bricks of some heavy metal. Gav said it was Rhodium, Shelley said one of the bricks was worth about 40,000 dollars. Bits of a familiar frame structure were sticking out of the ground. Those two thieves had not been interest in the alien frame. That true gem.

I called Ali. Told her what was up. The frame had to be dug out of the dust. It had probably been buried over hundreds of years. The Rhodium was there to stop it from working. An interrupting element? The whole location might have been because of the minerals located in the vicinity. We needed to get a survey started as soon as the Rhodium was out of site and out of mind. We stayed for four more days. Our extended prospecting team ranged up and down the narrow canyon. There were a lot of interesting sites. Some had been mined.

Ali and Alex arrived with a crew of a hundred and a couple of heavy digging machines. We collected thousands of bars mostly Rhodium, some Neodymium, some Ruthenium. It would go straight to the Ravenchild then to the Moon. A special shuttle came down and made five trips to get it all on board.

Now we were left with the frame exposed. The work crews left. We stayed. Fifteen people spread out, about the sphere. Each touched a connector. We stood in our suits but it was as if we were in a garden dressed lightly among fountains, music playing. A most wonderful place. It pulled us closer and closer. When we left the sphere, it was standing as a monument to another great peoples. May we do as well as they.

Chapter 16 : Survey

Calcite, a mineral consisting of naturally occurring calcium carbonate, CaCO3, crystallizing in the rhombohedra system.

We reclaimed our study hall location, which was about to get recycled. Sorry! Will try to make it up to you. It was time to consult among ourselves and bring in people that could help us.

Two fronts. First we needed to re-investigate the locations of valuable minerals about the sphere location. Second we needed to ponder why the three spheres are where they are and is there another one. Possibly on Earth.

I phoned my father. "Papa, I need your help and it is very important to the work we are doing. Do you ever remember me getting sick?"

About eight minutes later came the answer. "This waiting is most disturbing. But I will help you. Got no recollection, and your mother here says you were always strong and healthy. She only worried because you did not make a lot of friends. The boys were always wanting you to take your clothes off, so that might have been a good thing, that you were not so friendly."

"What about girlfriends? Older male or female friends in the eastfjords area?" I asked.

"Not that we know of. You wandered a lot. Those camping trips to Vidfjordur." Mama said.

"I was fine. Some of my happiest memories are the feelings I had there. I had the phone. Good reception. I remember the first time I camped there. Aunt Billa drove me in with my equipment. She did not think I was in any danger."

"She is crazy like you. My sister is still that way." said mama.

"I was very close with Billa. You let me stay over with her on the farm many times." I said.

"Yes, you were. But I guess all the summers away changed that. Then you went to school in Reykjavik and were on the job sites." said mama.

I phoned Billa. "Hi, beautiful friend." I said this and all the times that Billa and I had been together came rushing back. "I am on Mars so don't try to answer until I say so. This has an eight minute delay. I have some questions. Don't worry about the cost. I have it covered."

"It is funny. How your call is coming now. I have been sitting here wondering about you. Your parents did not even tell me you had gone to Mars. But I could feel you were much further away."

"I remember us tormenting mama with pretending that I was alone in Vidfjordur. You were there all the time. I slept in the tent and you in the car."

Aunt Billa said, "We walked the east side of the fjord and visited the ghost sites, where pads of concrete still appear in the ground, remnants of the old holmsteds. We prayed, that the hidden folk would lead us to positive finds. Remember in Dwarf's Bottom, that cave with the glass crystals."

I did not remember. "Anything else there? In the cave?"

"There was this huge pile of sand banked up at the back. Nothing else I can remember." I thanked her and now I missed her like crazy. I had remembered it all. I promised to text her about what I needed, and hoped she understood the importance of it and how quiet it had to stay. I transferred $40,000 to her, Western Union.

"Just a token for how you did so well in getting me started. It is a tiny amount of what I receive in my wage." said the accompanying note. No sweat. Two million kronur. I wish I could have allowed her to text me but not yet.

I presented this information to the group and waited to see what they thought.

I had pictures of an old spar mine near the haunted fjord. I told my team about Nordfjord having the first highway tunnel in Iceland. I thought the spar important because it has a history of being used in telescopes and navigation a thousand years ago. Would the aliens have been there at the same time as the settlers. If not then we know the dates that the early norwegians settled that area. Around one thousand AD. Maybe a century earlier. That gives a time for the Aliens building the spheres.

My aunt Billa could help with the find. I said, "We should send people in and dig out the back of the tunnel. My father knows about keeping secrets. He could help. It was early in November there. We should act soon."

We now had our whole team and some others from the Green Valley council. It was getting very high pressure. But I soon found, they were very used to strange things going on and this was important but just in a days work. It certainly broke the pattern of late.

Here we were dealing with an alien artifact and talking of an old spar mine in Eskifjordur. Of an old cave in Vidfjordur. Of a possible alien communication grid, between Earth and Mars, via the Moon. My question. And I don't expect to get an answer. Are these people of the Mars artifact, mothers or fathers of some of us? And have they done something that can be found in the Icelandic genes. About the sphere, I am sure they could have hidden it, until we are ready to find it.

Icelanders have the largest children. They are very healthy and big and strong. They are as smart as hell. It could have started in Vidfjordur. If that was around 400-900 years ago. That gave the genes time to spread in the east. At the beginning of the twentieth century the children were moving to regional schools. High schools. They would not return to the home of their parents.

The children of all the isolated communities, broke the old people's hearts. This racked their souls. I felt it, on those camping trips. The ghosts were still there. The people died in despair. The children prospered and went out all over the world, to become the directors of hospitals, astronauts, civil engineers, famous furniture makers, film makers.

Soon into the twentieth, those locations were all abandoned. The fjord was empty. One sad road still gets you in there. I loved it. It felt more like home than anywhere else I went in Iceland.

"Billa," I texted, "Did we have relatives that came from Vidfjord? Return text with reply button."

It was later in the day she replied. She talked of two hundred years before. "Did have a brother and sister in regional school here. Girl stayed and married a farmer on this farm. Boy went to Reykjavik, became engineer on roads, bridges. It seems your father is a descendant."

I told the group the next day. I needed time to wonder. My question to the Green Valley history people was, "Have these children from Vidfjordur spread to the places where many of us have come from?" The researchers were going crazy. Take all the Moon peoples and the Mars peoples and cross reference them with Icelanders. That done, how many Icelanders with ancestors from east fjords, then narrow it down again.

Mary was the data person, central gathering point. She connected about eighty percent of the off Earth peoples to Icelandic ancestry. The facts are sketchy. But it is consistent with all populations, not just us Plato people. Even the Chinese. We Icelanders have always managed to get around. We are very good at spreading our genes. Just ask anyone.

I convinced Anthony, that my father was the man to get a crew into the fjord, and get the dig done with the least fuss. He was good enough, that you had asked him first to come to Plato before me. I asked them to drop him $300,000 for expenses. Then they should ask him to itemize a bill afterwards. I knew what things cost. The cave afterwards will have to be carefully closed and disguised.

That was done. Iceland is always happy to get Canadian bucks. Billa had a place to store any finds on her farm. The sphere, if there, would be left in place. I, as an afterthought, asked my father, mother and Billa to go to the cleaned artifact and stand around it and touch a connector. Why should they be left out.

Chapter 17 : The Mines

Seven months had passed since our arrival on Mars. I knew the moment they made contact and found the connection in Vidfjordur.

We were close to the Mars sphere. Surveying various spots, for possible mining operations. Gohan and I staggered, then stood still across the valley floor from each other.

Back in Iceland, when they had found the sphere, there were a dozen little wooden boxes near the base of the sphere. In each was a crystal of Iceland Spar. I told my father to leave one where he found it and send the others to Plato. The small cave was sealed, disguised as a rock formation.

We would receive one wooden box about four months later. I had it placed in a container, one tiny box, buried with an Icelandic spar crystal inside.

We mined platinum with a high percentage of Iridium. We refined it using gravity, and weight difference, with the surrounding materials. When we could do no more, we shipped it to the railgun station and had it shot up to the Ravenchild. We would replace a lot of the foundation rock on the wheelship with Platinum and Iridium ore. When we needed it...

The best find so far is rubies found by Gav and Shelley. The pair were found entangled in each other. Good thing, they still had their suits on. Out cold. Did not respond to automatic calls. We sent Itchy to find them. After we carried them out, they came around.

Shelley said, "Never felt anything like it. It was heaven. Suddenly it was like we were children again, and playing as children. Then it got too intense."

We all knew the rubies were special. A ruby of a standard not found on Earth. Maybe never was there ones like this. It was time to call the gem people to Mars.

People came in a entire organized group. We would almost empty Hab 2, on North Wall of Plato Crater. Four thousand of them, gem experts, polishers, shapers and jewelry people. A number of Thai families among them. The Zoraida wheelship gave them passage.

As time went on, we got in the habit of stashing tons of minerals and gems in the base areas of the five active wheelships. There would be rumours, but the reality was so incredible, no one really could believe them. Not on Earth anyhow. We could have used names for the ships like Iridium Shuttle or Ruby Express or Emerald Shooter, or the Platinum Palace. I liked the Double Diamond or Ice Divider?

Every find automatically gave a percentage to Green Valley. It was a 50/50, I think. Seems fair and all debts were paid. So the city had warehouses full.

It was our third year on Mars. I had made many friends and wanted to return and live here. I asked for special dispensation. The Xing Xing, a double wheelship was coming and was scheduled to leave again in two months. I suggested that one wheel be set at a near Earth gravity, to allow people to go back and visit Earth. The four months would not be enough for some, but if the gravity were increased... in increments, then people like Madu and Gohan, could be mostly adjusted, by the time we got there. There were four thousand and some signed up, old time Martians. Even the Americans wanted on.

It was not at all like the journey out. Just pain, always the pain, overwhelming. We kept moving every day. The experts knew that the wheel would have to increase to .5Gs immediately. After a month .7Gs and then .9Gs. There was no shyness in the last call. A whole month of full Earth gravity. The wheel had never rotated separately or as fast. It had never been treated to this strain before. Ellie and Itchy were often outside checking for leaks or running into every crevasse onboard. We went straight to Earth orbit, scaring the public, because their governments did not pass on that we were coming. Even the internet news was seen as a hoax. It is a double wheelship, with everything top notch. Once owned by the Chinese.

Ten, two hundred man shuttles, were waiting. My team and a delegation of Mars council officials, went down in the first wave. Home to Candle Lake. Their arrival greetings and the party after were very grand and heartening. We wanted to just run in different directions. But the gravity issue would not let go. Most of us stayed in rehab for a few weeks. Then, as planned, we slipped out, some under assumed names.

I phoned from Calgary, a breezy April morning. "Hello, papa. We are here and ready to come and visit. Don't tell anyone but mama and Billa. Others will find out soon enough." How could I ever not be noticed with Gohan on my arm. Watch out homeland.

We first flew to Glasgow and then home via Keflavik, Reykjavik, then Neskaupstadur. The house seemed big and warm. The five of us spent a quiet two days just catching up. Billa and Mama in tears a lot of the time. Easter meal was wonderful, but I worried a little about all the meat. Gohan was not worrying. Then we went out with new parkas, as the wind was icy and strong. I breathed deep and long. The sea, the salt, the birds always flying and crying above, the mountains on one side like a wall. Snow still half way down the slope.

Every window of the houses we passed. Curtains moving, eyes staring out in wonder, disbelief? Were they reacting to Gohan, or the alien effect, were they just trying to figure us out, who this woman was? How come she looks so different?

Chapter 18 : Gestihus Hagi

We went for a walk. We were about halfway through town, heading out of the fjord, we looked behind us. We had just reached the Egilsbud Hotel parking lot. Behind us came dad and mom with Billa on her arm. They were smiling.

Billa said, "I just had this feeling we were going to miss something. You know me."

At that point a man in his forties came running out of the hotel with his coat in his hand. "Excuse me. Are you Holmfridur Thorsdottir." I looked around to see the man.

"And if I was?" I said.

"I don't know who else you could be. The capital is buzzing. Reporters will be filling the next flight in. You have something to say before paradise turns into hell?"

Billa strode up and grasped his hand. I had an idea. We needed the exercise. By the looks of it, we all needed it. Mother had been telling me about the Guesthouse built at the tip of the ness.

We looked over at Billa. It was a 'go with me' eye sign. I said to the reporter, "We are walking out to Gestihus Hagi. If you want answers walk with us. You might want to put your coat on."

And so we walked and we talked. Yes, I met Gohan on the Moon. Gudmundur called him Johann. We are arriving from Mars. Just visiting with family. Have not talked to anyone yet. Gohan has never been to Iceland. Yes, he understands enough to follow what we are saying. He is from Toronto. We are miners, yes. Why are not more Icelanders involved? Because they showed little interest maybe?

Before long, we were standing outside the Guesthouse with a stiff wind blowing from the north. If you looked south you saw most of the way into Vidfjordur. I could feel it. My family, we were radiating its energy. I signed again to Billa. We arranged ourselves into a circle and held hands. Gudmundur between me and Billa. It was a strong connection maybe the best yet.

* * *

"You coming in or are you going to stand there and freeze?" came the woman's Irish accent. We came out of our meditation. We all trailed into the living room. She had the table full of coffee treats. Cakes, pies and juices.

"Bea," said my mother. "Just in the nick. We were needing a little."

"Got some of that good stuff I see. I did not expect Gudmundur to be with you." said Bea.

My mother said, "We picked him up on the way. He isn't quite himself. But he can hold a coffee mug."

I said, "I don't think we have met. I am Frida."

"Yes, you did not include me and Sean when the dance around the christmas tree was to happen. Your mother slipped us in."

I looked over at mother. She was pretending to look out the window.

"Well, as I said, I did not know about you or this Guesthouse." I explained.

Billa said, "We took care of it." It is now time for the consequences. "Bea, we are going to be here again in about three hour. Be ready for about twenty-five." Sean whistled as he came out of the kitchen.

"And what about tomorrow?" He asked.

I answered, "One day at a time. Now thank you for this, but can you give us a ride back."

Back at the house, we and Gudmundur sat about looking out to see if the plane was going to make it. It is a tight spot. Billa was holding his hand. I told them, that they should stay home this time, as Gohan and I did the walk.

Billa said, "Gudmundur is going to be very helpful with some information we need. Let him make a report from here. He has the spirit of the place." He was a distant cousin. I was sure of that.

When we saw the plane land, and gave the reporters enough time to realize that there were not enough beds in the hotel nor the Bed and Breakfast. We started our walk to the Guesthouse. They rushed out, when one of the staff, pointed to us. We just smiled and asked them to join us.

Yes, we were still a little weak after living on Mars. It was a joy to see blue and cloudy skies, instead of orange. Was not Candle Lake breaking Canadian laws? That one got me. But I answered. Is not Canada breaking Indian law, native treaties? Icelanders understand this kind of answer.

Soon enough we were standing in front of the guesthouse and Bea came out in winter gear.

"Hello, people. Anyone who needs a bed, we will find one. Please stand around in a circle, as we greet the evening." Soon we were all holding hands and the wave of energy grew through the muddled thoughts. Like soil, for the sprouting plant. Then we were in for coffee.

The next day went much the same both morning and evening. Not many ever come to this fjord. It is not on the Ring Road nor the tourist traps. This gathering was a strain on the town, but in a good way. People had spare rooms they rented out. People wanted some way to have a connection with the event. On the third day, we packed the main hall in the hotel. They asked us questions about things on Mars and the Moon. It was the time to answer.

A website was set up right from Neskaupstadur and got world attention. It was not long before foreign reporters were turning up. It was very reassuring that Anthony and Mary arrived. We had them stay in a room upstairs, in our family home. When the crowds got to town, where would they stay? Many stayed over the mountain in Reydafjordur and Eskifjordur. Coming by taxi and bus for the press conferences. Thank God, Anthony took on the English questions. Mary could spot any problem areas. I and Gohan circulated. There were many walks out to the guesthouse. It was ten days of constant dull questions.

What we were really doing was right under their noses? The Russians came. The Chinese came. Gohan had a delegation from India. Then Ketill and Madu arrived with two year old Parvati.

"Heard you were having fun. Came to help. We can do some walks for you." said Ketill.

After a couple of days, we said our good-byes to family and slipped away in my father's four-wheel electric. He would pick it up in Reykjavik. The family would give us a week. Then they would mention that we had left town.

I let Gohan drive, when it was easy going. He needed to have something to keep him busy. The problem was we were getting as horny as rabbits. But no rabbits in Iceland. Every day we were getting to our hotel or guesthouse a little earlier to play in the bedroom. It was hard on the furniture. It was hard on me. The fluids were flowing and I am afraid, we were not as neat as a good guests should be.

I got so desperate, that I made a call to Ali in Calgary. She just said, enjoy it while it lasted, and laughed until I hung up. We ran under waterfalls and dove into rivers, ice cold, by the roadsides. We ran through fields completely naked and did it on flat rocks still holding the cold of winter. We ate copiously, at open breakfasts and lunches. It was about a month of this and then we just went to sleep for a day or two. I had debit, so the bills got paid. It did not reveal who we were.

By the time we left the country, I was pregnant and Gohan was king of the roost. He had just about driven me to the end of my sanity. But I was that other half, participating one hundred percent. I was the soil and he planted his seed. Hmm!

It was the moment I understood what female means. It was powerful. I was powerful. The bond was complete. As we went about our journey back to Canada, I was spiritually wrapped around Gohan and he thought the same.

Chapter 18 : Toronto

It was a bit of a dream in Toronto. We took a room in a small hotel downtown and spent late June walking the streets hand in hand. We were saying good-bye. Good-bye. Sitting on park benches. All kinds of people would come up to us and we talked to them, listened, always listened. We had information cards, from the native gathering centres. We heard snips of news from people about Banff wiped out, along with a couple of mountains, California drowned. It was no longer our world. We were going and we invited people to join us. It was hard to say. Could we change anything here? Was it too late? Maybe not. But we would try to do better on Mars.

After a month Gohan wanted to be back in Candle Lake. We left by rail. No rail passages through the mountains. Earthquakes, disruption on the northern route. We went to Saskatoon and then took a bus to Candle Lake. Helicopters above us, as we approached Meath Park, military style natives, at the gates, on the base. They smiled to see us.

I asked, "What is going on. Just coming from Toronto."

"Government." said one, as if that explained everything. "Blaming us. Most of us getting out. Taking everything with us. Four wheelships in orbit. Even the shuttles are going. Until it all settles down. But, I like it here. Moving north if I have to."

We got out.

* * *

This was odd. Perhaps the cap was off the bottle. Now the gas was escaping. We got the next available shuttle up to the McLean. The wheelship was packed with people. Perhaps 70,000. It was a quick trip to Plato, then the ship would go back to Earth orbit. Candle Lake had no official population. But the numbers were estimated at 400,000. Then there was the other 350,000 coming in from all over. Where would they stay?

Chung and Khloe were organizing the new hab constructions next to Hab 4 on North Wall. It included a thousand flats and twenty atriums. Not modest. They were half ready when the exodus happened. Those that could not find space would have to stay on the wheelships and go to Mars. They were building new ceramic domes there. Those that could not find space on Mars had to stay with the wheelships until there was.

We had not caused any meteor showers nor any asteroid explosion. But who would believe us. I suspect our meetings at Guesthouse Hagi were coincidental. We were just being spared. I hope the reporters all were well. They had been kind.

The Colonies were in better shape then you would think. Just about everything we needed was now available either on Luna or Mars. We had great incentive to work on the last five percent.

We stayed with Gohan's parents for the rest of my pregnancy period. Madu and Ketill with daughter Parvati. It was a quiet and pleasant time even as the governments of the world fought and crumbled. Iceland seemed to be riding the storm. For them, that is the same as what they were always doing. They planted their root crops, harvested their fish and raised their sheep. All the electric power and hot water they needed. Shut the doors and wait.

But we had a growing population. What do people do when the doors are shut? They reproduce. I did.

Mani, (pronounced mawnie) the God of the Moon. His name would be such. He was white, round and happy at his birth. He darkened as the years passed. But he stayed happy. He and Parvati were the best of friends from the start, she becoming big sister.

We waited and watched as major cities fell. Chicago burning. Houston drowning. Vancouver flattened. Victoria abandoned because of earthquakes and volcanoes. That was all I could relate to. At least the Dome program was going forward in Canada. Their populations were booming. Estimated three million. Healthy prosperous natives, waiting for the time when Candle Lake could be re-opened.

Then we got evicted and sent to Hab 5 the newest hab, on North Wall. 35,000. We shared a flat with 20 others. We were lucky. I quickly got my team together and we worked the atriums. People have to eat. They had to be patiently educated. Mani was always with me as I worked. Gohan had his team working on ways to get better production. Him and Ketill brainstormed to get the tech working efficiently. Madu threw herself into compost production. The key to any successful soil production. Chung had made the tunnels extra deep. Ten kilometres for the atriums.

What still had us stumped was the 500 hectares we had and that was only enough land to feed 30,000 at the most. People always said. Just keep the lights on longer. It does not work that way. We need eight hour to rest. So do plants.

We could fine tune the heat, the lights, use much more trellising. Control the fan (wind) strength. But compost was a real winner. If we could just grow more on less land. I suggested that we encourage a regular shipment of dolomite from Green Valley. Replace the ballast rock on the wheelships with dolomite, and bales of potash. We also needed soap.

Boulders and bales would arrive from Mars. All the habs were grateful. We need clay. Send clay from Mars. Thank you.

Then Toronto got it. It was a wave and an earthquake. The asteroid hit right down the alley. East to west, with water piling up to drown most of the city. If you were living north of the 401 maybe you survived. But what is survival without a city to work in. Tremors and shakes for months. Number four, three and five gone. Largest cities gone or under threat. New York drowning in sea water. Mexico city a muddy hell.

It brought us together. I and Gohan, Madu and Ketill, Chung and Khloe, Basil and Kim, Zoey and Uri.

"I say we all intend to move back to Mars?" No one objected.

"We need a plan to get our replacements in and then get out. I see maybe five years?" It was a good average.

"We need from now on, to tell people the month and year we are leaving. This team. Everyone should have two people in place to replace them. That means apprentices from now on. Everyone. We know apprentices lose focus. Don't fool with the lazy or irresponsible. Let them know it. Nothing inspires interest better than knowing you are going to be left behind."

I guess I have to get an apprentice. Who could replace me and do I really want to find that person?

Chapter 19 : The Apprentice

Kess was a sewer rat. As skinny as a skeleton, but fast and tough. Other kids her age gave her space. She knew about things. She picked up stuff by observation. Then she imitated, with the children's cooperation. Her parents had little control over her. I think discipline would have driven her away.

Madu gave me bits of info on her, as if she really cared about her. Kess was always watching me and picking up on my actions. It seemed like Madu wanted me to do something. I felt like grabbing the scrawny kid and stuffing her full of mashed potatoes and gravy. Kess would sometimes run off and start gardening programs among the children, just as I had done with the adults.

She was twelve and still no signs of breasts. I knew that some children thrived being skinny. She must have been living off the food in the gardens. So Madu asked her one day, if she wanted to become apprentice to the 'A' team. That was how others referred to us. Madu asked her to be there the following noon.

I was there, sitting on my favourite bench. I said, "It was me that wanted to talk to you." She was a little fidgety but was listening. "You have the respect of your friends." I waited.

"I watch you. You get respect."

I said, "And they know I respect them."

Kess asked, a plea in her voice. "What is behind it? I need to know."

I answered, "It is the secret in mankind's progress. We found it."

"Please, I need to know."

"It is service. All that you do, in this world, is before God. It is service to others, that pleases Him and it fulfills our lives." I went to her and held her.

She whispered, "Then service is what I will do. I have nothing else."

I said, "You do now."

She was to attend school each day before lunch and I would get the reports. After lunch her job was to watch me and we could have Q & A after. I got permission from her parents, who were glad someone else was looking out for her. No, there was no payment for her services. She did get a paycheck, which was held in a bank account and some coins each day.

We had about a month of this, when Chung approached me. He was needing me for the TBM work. Hab 6 was to be started and every able hand was needed. It would probably be the last hab built in the north crater walls. Engineers advised, that any more might weaken the rim.

I had a talk with Kess. "The TBM work is also my job. I came to the Moon to do the overhaul on the original Habs. I would like you to be with me. Watching what I do. Until you understand and can become a part of it." She had to show, that she could learn the book work, as well as the grunt work. We could be going into a series of projects.

She was quiet, but I was not in doubt of her answer. I said, "I will be testing you on various subjects, as the time goes by. School in the morning. Work outside in the afternoon. We will get you a spacesuit." I said.

I encouraged her to come for lunch at the Mary flat. And then breakfast, so I could test her about the day before. When two months were over, I gave her a room so she could stay. I was her school work. I gave her material after supper to study before she went to bed. Her memory was good and her focus was excellent.

I had a talk with Kimberly. I was worried about Kess' sexual development. Could she prescribe something to speed things along. Kim told me to be careful what I asked for.

I worked most weekends, but I would not let Kess work. She had to have her own time. She used the special libraries, I had suggested, to study up.

It was a busy year. 600 tunnels and a lot of walls and floors removed. The last step for us was provided by Gohan and Ketill. They had developed a bubble window for each of the thirty atriums. Sunlight could finally stream in, when sun shined against North Wall. The glass was fitted into a circular hole made in the outside atrium wall. All the other atriums would get one in time. Hab 6 was completed now. The infrastructure people could move in.

* * *

We are not a sophisticated people. We have taken short-cuts to get where we are. We have made mistakes.

We are also a nation in waiting, for good news from Earth and from Canada. Our own unity was something we thanked God for.

We followed reports of peoples who had fled to the remote areas of Canada. Domes were built and zomes were destroyed by white revenge groups. They thought that Candle Lake and all those associated with it, were responsible for the asteroids.

They had even tried to take possession of some domes but that fell apart. They had no internal unity. No positive policies. They were finally chased out or killed by peoples who had been made homeless.

A secret agreement with Greenland allowed for the transporting of peoples to Iceland from Happy Valley in Labrador, Canada. The natives of Greenland had the largest trawlers in the Atlantic Ocean. There was a lot of extra space since the fish markets had crashed.

The tug planes were in mothballs. But they were brought out and dusted off. Soon the shuttle planes were returned from orbit. Passengers were coming again and Hab 6 was in demand. It is a fact, that many of the immigrants proved unfit for lunar work. They were screened out. But they found acceptance in Iceland and many towns grew.

Would there be no peace on Earth? Would we continue to do better?

North Road

Where we found the first artifact was in a long twelve kilometre tube. We agreed that it would be good to prepare it for a large population. Nearby was a reasonable sized ice reservoir. It needed a lot of development but nature had done some of the work. Now Kess was approaching fourteen and I had got permission to have her with me during regular working hours. Gohan and I had also formally adopted her.

How to prepare a tube for habitation? First you go in and you clear away all the debris within a kilometre of the entrance location. You clean it up and seal all the surfaces so you are sure atmosphere will not escape. You use the debris further in as a foundation for agricultural land incoming. But first you clear the next kilometre by moving it into the sealed area and so on... When all this is done you install bulkhead walls with large sealable doors. Doors every kilometre until you're are within a good distance from the artifact.

Then you bring in piping and electrical, finally soil then you seal everything off. Add atmosphere, water, people to build living apartments. I was there, in the tube with Kess by my side. All the machine operators needed direction. After an eight month stint, we took a break and two months later we were working from the other side. 700 hectares of farm land. We were going to be able to house and feed about 70,000 persons.

I had Kess keep a regular record of the different projects we were working on. She would notice things that I would miss.

Gohan used the bubble glass idea here as well. By using a long solid glass tubes to reach down into the ceiling, a half bubble was added at each end spreading sunshine through the tube. Each kilometre section would have ten of them. The 3D printers, we used to produce sections for high-rise apartments. They fit like Lego bricks.

Chapter 20 : Prospecting

I thought it time to get the team back together. Much of what we had found was still in the ground and would stay there until it was needed. And mineral value needed peace back on Earth. We had used some of our reserves to back up the value of the krona. Iceland and Plato were co-operating on textile manufacturing. They could produce the best rockwool and other threads. They helped develop the next generation of control devices for the wheelships and the rigs.

It was Iceland that started importing all kinds of wood scrap, old furniture, drift wood, anything that we might find interesting. We would take anything. Wood is our gemstone. Wood, that we could shape and feel, smell and hear. Wood made into instruments, fine crafted by a number of hobbyists here. Music was ringing in the corridors. No one was discouraged from singing and playing. The finest composition pieces of the 21st century were made in Plato.

Dance music now had a new rhythm due to the movements of Lunar dancers. New poets and song writers were born out of our prosperity. No Mozart yet, but we are getting there. And Iceland was receiving the benefits. Not Canada. Not Europe.

Canada was but broken units. Halifax, Ottawa, Thunder Bay, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Prince George. How sad. Political and physical destruction.

We had more searching, prospecting to do before this part of our efforts was over.

We found the three interlinked ice caves right in the middle of Philohaus crater. Each one was a dome over watery soil, five kilometres in diameter. The soil could be dried and the walls cooled so the melting stopped. A structure for human occupation could be built easily inside each cave. 7,500 hectares. Using the same old techniques, we had a new settlement here.

One kilometre thick ice still sat over top. But this was not the end of our search. Here in the middle of Philohaus crater. We got down to business. By using a rover we worked our way out to the east rim and circled the crater. It took time. We had some. Gav and Shelley ran and walked through the days carefully checking out the edges of our cave crater. A road was being made across the crater to a fold in the north rim. From there it would head straight to the north pole.

Gav would cry out a mineral or a gem he had found and we would mark it with rocks and record an estimate of quantity and quality. It was not anything we had not found earlier. Finally we were ready to leave the crater. So I called a break and we went home.

After a week I got very restless. So we were off to continue north. Now we were in real ice country. Many places here had received ice from space and had never seen the sun's rays. The shadows were longer and I was feeling cold most of the time. All the ice chunks buried under our feet. Three billion years of ice chunks.

Gav stopped. I could feel the question mark on his face. "That is odd? I am a little ashamed to say the word wood."

I said, "Those boxes were made of wood."

Gohan asked, "What else you see?"

Gav said, "Lots of wood. Tons of wood. Old wood. Dead wood."

I called Chung. We were only three kilometres from the road. "Chung, we got something big. Need a crew with excavation machines. This could be it." My heart was turning over. I called the rest of my team. They had to be here.

The cave was not deep, so we came in gently from one side. When there was a hole big enough for us to crawl through the digging stopped. There was Basil and Kim, Uri and Zoey, Chung and Khloe, I, Kess and Gohan, Shelley and Gav, Madu and Ketill, Anthony and Mary, even Ali, Penn and Alex. 18 for the circle.

The room was not large, when compared to what we were used to. Maybe 60x60m. It was carefully constructed with flattened rocks. Like a burial mound. Along the walls were old dry logs, maybe 3m long. Thick logs. Where they came from, I do not know, but it wasn't wood from Earth. In the centre of the room was a large stone table. On the table was a small wooden box. Like the spar boxes.

We stood about the table. Just dusty and no markings.

Ali said to Kess, "Go ahead. They have been friendly so far. Open the box. I see no hinges."

Kess opened the box and stared at a ring. I said, "Go ahead. Take it out."

She held it up and we all had a good look. There were lines completely around the ring and on each line was a circle.

Gav said, "It is an alloy of Palladium and Platinum. We should put it back in the box and check it out back home."

I said, "Chung you document the contents and we will take one log home with us." No sphere here.

* * *

At home, we placed the ring on the table. I was inspecting it with a glass. "Lines seem like orbits and circles are planets. Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, Uranus. Eight lines. There are six boxes left of spar. There are six spheres to be discovered.

Chapter 21 : Venus

We now figured that the wood must have come from Venus. That made no sense but where else? Life on Venus had not been around for millions of years. What was it worth? To us wood was worth what you could make from it. We did not need it for heating or power poles. Now if we had the seeds. Our maybe there was a secret garden where trees like this grew.

We left the log in the hands a skilled carpenter. He was told what it might be and that we had more. He came back in a few days and said that it was perfectly dry wood, with a fine grain and was close in likeness to mahogany. Good wood for musical instruments. We told him to have a couple guitars made and get back to us. We would send samples to Iceland and get a second opinion.

It was strange. Here I am at the top of my game and I am feeling that it is over. My part was about to be passed on. It felt like the end of this journey. What was the next move. I told the team my feelings hoping they would pull me out of my funk. No replies.

The next day I sat next to Kess in our garden. Just the two of us.

"You seem very sad mom. What is it?"

I answered as best I could. "It is not my role to go on to explore these planets. I am sure of this. Gohan and I will go to Iceland and spend some time with mom and dad. It won't be like last time. That was when Mani was conceived." And I smiled at the memory.

So I told her the story. The whole story.

Kess said, "That is pretty hot. You know I long to be like you and Gohan. But what are the chances?"

I pulled the ring box from my pocket.

I said to her, "Put it on. I think it is meant for you."

I held her tight by my side, while she slipped it on. She slumped as I held her up. I waited. It was the nature of these things. Kess opened her eyes. I smiled at the girl, who was now almost as tall as I am. A slim beauty, who knew the value of a good raw carrot. A clear mind, well focused.

"They showed me where to find the tree seeds. They told me about the other six planets, where to go. But they must have wanted you. They kept talking about my Eagle mate. I have none.

I insisted, "No, it is for you. It is your turn."

"We must go to Mercury. It was clear. North pole area.

"Any urgency?" I asked.

"Could not tell. But I must do it with my Eagle mate."

"Then we will go to Iceland and see how things work out." I concluded. "I am very happy for you. Where are the seeds?"