Chapter 7

Thursday morning, I decided to go to Wichita. I got in my truck and headed there on my own. I had a destination in mind; Wichita State University. It took me just over an hour to get there. Once there, I noticed something I hadn’t taken into consideration; parking permits on this campus. I went to the Campus Police Department, to see where I could park.

I walked in the door. There was an officer sitting behind a desk. “Help you?”

“I hope so. I’m enrolled up at HCC, but I wanted to do some studying here. I have a permit on my truck from there, but I didn’t even think about the difference as far as parking permits for down here, and I didn’t want to get in trouble or get my truck towed,” I said.

“That’s exactly what would have happened.” He turned his chair around. “Sarge, I’m going out front, get some info off a vehicle.” A voice told him to go ahead. He got up with a clipboard. “Let’s go see what we’ve got.”

I walked out to my truck, with him following me. “That’s a nice red. Let me get the VIN from the dash. Okay ... why do you have current college and high school permits in your window?”

“Um, because I’m enrolled in both schools.”

“Huh. Let me get your plate number, too.” He wrote that down, then walked back in. He sat down at a computer terminal. “Okay, I’ll need your driver’s license and your college ID from HCC. We can issue temporary permits for students at other schools in the state, so they can use the library.” I handed him my IDs.

“What the hell kind of name is California? Sorry, kid.” He was typing my information into their system.

I didn’t realize it was a rhetorical question. “Yeah, I know. That’s why I just go by Cal.”

“Lewis? You’re Cal Lewis, the quarterback for the Salthawks?” I nodded. “Wow, you don’t look like this picture at all.” He held up a copy of the Wichita newspaper. On the front of the business section was an article about what had happened on Saturday, with some pictures of the groundbreaking ceremonies and then in the athletic center.

“Um, that’s because that’s not me. That’s Bill Gates, from Microsoft. I’m ... yeah, here, over here, in the background, talking to Charlie.”

“That’s Charlie Koch. You know him?”

“And his brother, David. I’m surprised this is still news here. This happened last weekend.”

“They try to do an in-depth business article every Thursday, on whatever big thing is happening in the state. Um, Sarge, have you been listening to my conversation here?”

“Yeah. Give him an unlimited parking pass. No charge. Anyone that’s adding thousands of jobs to this state can get a little help from us.”

The officer printed things up, had me sign two forms, then gave me back my ID, along with a parking permit. “Thanks for what you’re doing for Kansas, Mister Lewis.”

I went back outside, put that permit on my truck’s lower left windshield, and just shook my head a little. A smile on my face, I went over to the library lot, parked, and then went inside.

I knew the library would be bigger than we had at HCC. I wasn’t quite prepared for how big it really was. One really good thing was that there weren’t that many students in the library. The other was that it was laid out under the standard Dewey Decimal System. That let me head to the areas that I wanted to read, without stopping at the card catalog.

I spent the rest of the morning simply pulling books down, flipping through them, then putting them back on the shelves. I wasn’t thrilled with what I’d read. Unlike in the sciences, where it didn’t matter, you had rules that applied, this twaddle didn’t seem to have any rules. Or at least consistent ones that made sense.

After leaving the political science section, I then went to the ancient history section. A lot of what they had was pure hypothesis and conjecture, but I was able to glean quite a bit of gold from the dross. That also told me where I was going to go with Beth, so that I could introduce her to the world.

I headed out at two, so I could make it back to school for practice. Once practice was over, I went home. Mike Douglas was waiting for me.

“Mister Lewis, it’s up to you. I’ve already written Brad up for exceeding his authority. If you don’t want him here, on your site, it’s up to you.”

“Mike, it’s been my understanding that he’s been otherwise competent at what he does.” He nodded. “Then just let it slide this time. Let him know that I did take his suggestion. I went to Wichita State today, to the campus library. I read their political science books. It’s not his fault that he made that error. From that bunch of garbage, you can end up with just about any conclusion that you want, and find other documents to support your position. Which means that it’s not science. They ought to change the name to political bullshit, because that’s what it is.”

“Oh, and if it happens again, that he doesn’t go through the chain of command in a non-emergency situation, I’ll be giving him a hand to hand combat lesson.”

That got Mike to laugh. “Oh, I think that’ll do it. Totally unrelated, but once you’re done with football, we’ve ... well, there’s a bit of a Christmas party that our company has, for the employees in December. The employers are also allowed to attend. One of the traditions is that we have a few competitions. I’d ... maybe like you to enter some of them.”

“How much are you planning on betting? At good odds, I hope.”

“Why, how could you possibly think that I might place some wagers on what is simply a friendly competition, amongst peers? No more than $10,000, and at about 5 to 1. I’d place a bit more, but ... I may have put a few bets down that the number one team at the end of next college season will be Stanford. The Vegas odds people don’t know you’re going there yet.”

“I obviously don’t condone gambling, at least until after the football season is over, and then we’ll see if Grandpa starts his Friday night poker game again. And obviously, I can’t bet on something I personally would be involved in. Just curious, though, what are the odds?”

“250 to 1. It’s not just for me, mind you. We may have pooled a bit of money.”

I smiled. “In the event that it doesn’t happen ... we’ll talk, then.”

I went in to eat, and watch the news to see if there was something that I needed to deal with elsewhere. Beth, Dora, and Eve were working on their college work. Marcia joined me on the couch, while Margie and Jennifer played a game with Toby.

It seemed that the lame duck Congress was pushing things off until the new Congress would be sworn in, since they would still have a slim majority in the House. They didn’t seem to care one way or the other about what might be construed as arguing against the Messenger. There were reports that Walter Mondale was being excoriated by members of his party leadership, for putting the nation ahead of them. Apparently, he should have stood firm. Reagan had signed an executive order, formally disbanding the CIA, and was getting grief about that.

The US Army was working on packing things up in Europe. Congress was screaming about that as well, but that wasn’t something they could do much about. There was going to be a summit meeting the next week between the leadership of some of the nations on both sides of the Cold War, to make sure they were all on the same page. There were some riots in France, but those seemed to be for no real reason. The Vatican was appealing for peace and calm around the world, stating that the messenger was just an alien, and not actually a religious figure. India and Pakistan had announced they were signing long term agreements, and allowing disputed regions to actually decide for themselves what they wanted to do.

China was engaged in a bit of an internal struggle. It seemed the markings on the moon were doing some good. The local governments couldn’t dispute what had happened in Beijing or to the country, not with the proof visible each and every night. And neither could the national government. The military was moving to maintain order within the country, but that was it. They weren’t cracking down on actual government protests.

Northern Ireland was actually peacefully petitioning to be removed from British rule, to join the rest of Ireland. Some members of the British Parliament were arguing both for and against it. The key point in favor seemed to be that the messenger had told China that the people of Taiwan didn’t recognize the Chinese mainland claiming them, and something similar should apply to them. The minor detail that they were peacefully protesting British rule, instead of being violent about it, wasn’t lost on anyone. What made it more compelling was there was actually an apology for the Brighton bombing, including an offer from the person who had planted the bomb in the first place to surrender to justice peacefully and willingly.

“I think Sunday evening, I’ll be heading east again. I can probably, you’ll pardon the expression, kill three birds with one stone. It’s time to visit Italy, London, and Washington again.”

Marcia nodded. “I’m afraid you’re right. The Vatican is rumored to have all sorts of things going on. I’m sure they’ll try to exorcise you or something like that.”

“Hey, after eating Esmeralda’s cooking, maybe I’ll need Holy Water to put the fires out.” I didn’t move my head, simply my hand, as I reached up and caught the pencil Dora had thrown at me. “You know I’m not being mean, my dear, just kidding.”

“That’s why it was only a pencil, and nothing more.”

“Well, seeing as how the world is still screwed up, Beth, are you ready for tonight’s training session?”

She made it almost an hour tonight. When we got into bed, Eve asked, “When will Dora and I join you? And before you ask, I’m not jealous of Beth and her abilities. I was just wondering if you had an idea.”

“I don’t know. One thing I’m considering is whether or not you want enhanced before you play basketball this next year.”

“That’s ... before. Not because I’m concerned about it, but I want to be ready for you by March of 1986, when Halley’s Comet comes here again. And I may not even bother with basketball. Not because I don’t miss playing. It’s because all of you are more important than a simple ball game.”

“By the way, just because she said that about basketball, that doesn’t mean you’re not going to play football, big boy,” Margie said. “You gave them your word about two championship teams, and you’re going to keep that.”

I leaned back on the pillows. “Okay, I’m going to Stanford to learn things. Why is it important that I also take part in sports?”

Jennifer sighed. “Long term planning, love. You’re not doing much of it. We are. That’s not a bad thing; your job is to keep the world together. Our job is to help you with that. You may even need to stay at Stanford a third year, so you can stay sharp for the pro teams.”

“Now, I’m confused,” I said.

“Let’s wait until Saturday, when we’re having dinner with everyone. I want Elroy’s input, as well as the rest of the adults, just to make sure that our plans are good for you,” Jennifer said.

I wondered what they were planning for me. But with six naked women snuggling up to me for slumber, I decided to just wait for their surprise.

I woke up to the smell of bacon cooking. Instant joy from me. It’s funny, but that smell must be hard-wired into my brain, going right to the pleasure center. Jennifer and Eve were flanking me in bed, the other four were up. I sighed, because it was very tempting to just do more than simply kiss both of these lovely women awake.

“Come on, you’ve got to go to school today,” Eve said, once she was awake. She gave me a kiss back, as did her mother, then they kissed each other as well.

When I was in the kitchen, getting my plate, Beth showed me something else. She turned the stove top on, then put her hand on it. Nothing happened to her.

It was ... odd, being back in class. The girls went as well. The difference was, they’d have college afterwards, and I wouldn’t. In creative writing, I wrote a short piece about life as a mouse in a laboratory maze. In Spanish, I simply took the regular test with everyone else. Then in speech, we discussed some of the great speeches of previous American Presidents.

Lunch was fun. The team knew I’d be there today. It turns out that even when I wasn’t there, they’d still been meeting, and held four chairs open for the girls and me. I was also pleased to see Tina and Bill together as well. She came up to me and gave me a hug of thanks.

“Um, you’re welcome.” I looked at Bill, slightly puzzled.

“All good, my brother. With the assistance you provided, Tina was able to be released back to her own home, with an aunt of hers moving in to be the responsible adult.”

“Oh, sure, not a problem.” Tina went back to sitting on Bill’s lap, while I looked across the table. Beth gave me a slight wink, telling me all I needed to know.

I really didn’t have anything to do after lunch, so I went shopping. I picked up some toys and more games for Toby, and had to get some more clothes for me. I’d gotten another half inch taller. I also had a weird thought, and picked up half a dozen pair of scissors that were disposable. I then went home, to do some more in depth discussions with Mike about AIs.

The girls got home a couple of hours later and I gathered the three of them around. “Seeing something this morning made me curious about myself and how it’ll affect all of you. Dora, you have the longest hair of everyone. Sit down for just a second.”

She did. I used one of the pair of scissors to cut a couple of hairs from her head at the roots. “That’s all, pretty much what I expected. Beth, would you sit down?”

Beth took Dora’s place. I held a couple of her hair strands up, and then cut them at the root. Or more precisely, I tried to cut the root. Instead, the scissors broke. I picked up another pair of scissors, and moved out from her scalp an inch. I stopped when it was obvious I couldn’t cut there, either. It wasn’t until I was halfway to the end before her hair would cut.

“Now, switch with me, only start at the ends of my hair, and work your way closer to my scalp.” Beth was able to trim almost an inch off my hair before breaking the scissors.

“What does this mean?” she asked.

“Hair is dead cells. Normally, hair grows less than an inch a month. So, at best, your hair should have been able to be cut within an inch of your scalp, since you’ve only had the powers for two weeks. At the same time, I haven’t been here three full months yet, so you should have been able to get another two inches of hair off my head, getting it down to maybe two inches, not four. I think what it means is that our hair will still grow, but we’ll have to be careful about making sure that it’s always within our fire retardant gear, or the ends will burn off.”

Eve frowned. “I’m surprised your hair didn’t get hot and burn when you were entering the atmosphere like a missile, or when the flamethrower gel was all over you.”

“That’s a mystery to me. Perhaps my body creates some kind of force field. Anyway, I’m just thinking that, in the interests of making sure things go okay, Beth might want a bit of a haircut, to make her hair shorter, just in case.”

Beth chuckled. “That actually makes sense, which worries me. You’re not supposed to be the one who catches things like that about a woman.”

“That’s okay, if you like that, you’ll like this one, too. Mike detected your hormone levels being fine. Did you actually have a period, though?”

“A light one, but yes.”

I frowned. “I’m mostly concerned about your next one. You’ve only had your powers a week. Not that I particularly ... let me rephrase that, before I have to pull my foot from my mouth. It’s up to you when you decide to have a baby. It would be simpler if you were done with college.”

“Nice save, hero,” Beth said. “I agree, for the three of us. The others? Yes and no. They’ll all have a full semester of learning, and I suspect that it won’t take them long to be back in class, if for no other reason than they’ll all give birth in the summer.”

“Sounds good. Well, I have to get back to school, to dress for the game. I’ll see you in the stands, and ... I hope we’re not having any special presentations tonight.”

I pulled into the parking lot at school about the same time as half the team did. We laughed a little at how coordinated it seemed from us; like we were all on the same schedule. There was a bit of friendly joking around as we got into our gear. It was mild outside, in the mid 50’s for the temperature, with not much wind, only about 15 mph, coming from the northwest.

It was different this time, though. There weren’t any JV players also getting ready with us. This was it. All of it on the varsity. This was further than the team had been in several years. Coach noticed it the change in the way we were taking things.

“Well, well, looks like there’s been a little reality show up. Good. Yes, this is when you get to shine. You’re playing out there tonight to show Lawrence that you deserve to move beyond them. You’re playing out there for the right to play against either Wichita West or Derby next Friday. You’re playing out there to prove to yourselves that it’s not just a fluke, that it’s not just Cal carrying you on his shoulders, that’s why you deserve the title of state champions. Now, get out there and show your family who you are.”

Terry yelled out, “Who are we?”

“SALTHAWKS!”

We ran out to take our spot in front of our bench, and to do pregame warm ups.

Lawrence had showed up after their three hour bus ride as ready to go as they could be. They’d brought three fan buses as well for the long trip. While they had the field for their pregame stretches, we huddled up.

“Okay, guys, here’s the deal. What’d Coach say, you’re out there to prove to yourselves that I’m not carrying the load? I want to play football tonight. But more than that, I want you to show to your families, to your friends, to the city, and more importantly, to those Lions over there that we’re better. So I want you to make it so that I don’t get what I want. Pay me back for those new jerseys and gear you’re wearing! Beat these guys without me!”

Things in the huddle for quiet for a few seconds. Then Aaron started softly chanting, “Salthawks! Salthawks!” The rest of the team picked it up, their voices getting louder and louder. Our fans picked it up, stomping their feet in time with the chant. The noise was so loud, the referee had to blow his whistle a couple of times for us to even hear it.

Things settled down a little. The band played the Star Spangled Banner, with all of us singing along. They’d marched in from the south end zone. I hadn’t noticed, but Marcia and Mike weren’t in the stands. Their presence became known from just outside the north end zone, when, “And the rockets’ red glare”, was played. If Derby could do it, we could do it better. Right at two dozen large rockets took off, streaming red flames behind them. Five seconds later, they all burst, sprinkling blue and gold confetti. The proof of the flag came roaring out. All three of our armored vehicles came charging out behind the end zone. The LAV had a ten foot tall American flag on a pole attached, one of the Commandos had the Kansas flag, the other had the Salthawks flag.

No one could hear the band finish over the cheering from our stands.

We won the toss and elected to receive. They picked the north goal to defend, so the wind would be behind their kick. It came in long, with both Aaron and Andy back to receive. Instead of taking a knee, they ran it out, with Andy carrying the ball and Aaron blocking for him. The Lions players all had time to stretch and warm up after the three hour bus ride, but Andy made them look like they were standing still. Both he and Aaron were still on their feet when they crossed the goal line.

We kicked off to them with a 7 to 0 lead after only 30 seconds off the game clock. Their deep man decided that he would pay us back, by running it all the way. The problem he had was finding two fired up Salthawks that hit him, causing a fumble that popped up into the air, right into Pete’s hands. He made it back to their 30 before getting tackled.

Terry and I had talked about what he needed to do. The offense never huddled up, simply Larry going right over the ball. They pulled a fake handoff to Andrew, then made a lob toss to Bill. With Tina back as his girlfriend, Bill was fired up and steamrolled over two of their defenders for our second score.

They settled down a little after that, and both teams played good, hard football. It didn’t matter a whole lot. By the time we got the ball back, due to a turnover on downs, with 30 seconds to play in the fourth quarter, we had the game locked up, 56 to 33. That’s when I went out, to quarterback the taking of a knee twice, to let the clock run out.

I’d made sure that we had a full container of Gatorade ready before I went out to the field. That way, when the clock expired, three of our guys dumped it on Coach. He was laughing so hard, he didn’t care. We shook hands with everyone on the other team. Their Coach pulled me aside for a moment. “Were you feeling okay? You didn’t play until the last few seconds.”

“There wasn’t a need for me to play. I helped train these guys, so they can play without me. Let me ask you something. How many of your boys have been contacted by a college team, recruiting them?”

“I’m proud that a full dozen of my boys have been contacted. That’s much higher than the normal average.”

“Every one on our team is being recruited. All of them. By a minimum of five colleges. That’s every ... single ... player. You know why I didn’t play? I’ve been recruited by more than 500 colleges. I’ve got my pick of basically every college in the nation. Tonight was so that they get more choices. So, yeah, I’m feeling perfectly fine.”

He shook his head. “Damn. You’re one hell of a team player.”

“And a good winner, too. I know it’s not much by way of compensation, but there’s 60 meals from Sonic being delivered to each of your buses, including your fan buses, for your ride home. Good luck next year, Coach. I’ve also trained the JV.”

I felt a little cocky when I got into the locker room.

“There he is!” Half the guys were stripped, either from getting their showers, or getting ready to get one. I got mobbed and picked up. “You’re too CLEAN!” They carried me into the showers, still in my uniform. They started covering me with soap and shampoo, so I’d have to wash off.

“Assholes!”

“Yes, but we’re YOUR assholes, Cal,” Terry said. “You know our phones are going to blow up on Sunday again after tonight. Thank you.” The rest of the team echoed his thanks. “Now, you better get cleaned up. I saw half a dozen girls out there waiting for you.”

“Oh, good,” I laughed. “They haven’t added anyone else yet.” That got everyone else laughing.

Twenty minutes later, I left the locker room. Apparently, Terry was wrong. None of my girls were outside waiting on me. No one was. I looked around, confused, then shrugged a little and walked over to my truck. It wasn’t there.

Instead, the LAV was parked in its place, with the American flag still attached. The back door was open. “Well, come on. It’s time for your driving lesson.”

“Mike, are you kidding me?”

“Nope. You get to drive home tonight. Try not to run over too many things on the way. Come on, I’ll sit up here and give you directions.”

He had me get the feel of it by driving down Severance. He wouldn’t let me turn until we got all the way down to Avenue G, then I finally got to turn. It was fairly easy. I wondered what the traffic on 61 thought when we crossed it. We kept going until we got to the edge of our first property, where Siemens was going to be built.

“You’ve got four miles of cross country now between here and home. Have fun.”

I made sure and didn’t tear things up too much, but he was right. This was fun. He didn’t know that I was using my vision to see, not the headlights that were on the LAV itself, so I didn’t hit too many obstacles. For some reason, it took us almost half an hour to cover those four miles. I may have put about fifteen miles on the LAV in that span of time. Finally, though, I took it the rest of the way home.

“Amusingly enough, that was Brad’s idea,” Mike told me, once we were finally shut down at home. “He thought it might give you a psychological edge. I don’t really think it was needed, but it was damn fun getting to show off, especially on camera.”

“What do you mean, on camera?”

“The entire game was broadcast live, including the pregame National Anthem. The announcers specifically said that our vehicles were owned by us ... by you ... as part of your security. That’ll take care of damn near anyone that might consider coming after you and yours, realizing you’ve got your own military.”

“So, what happens next? You going to have a flyover of our planes for the next game?”

He smiled a little. “Maybe. That’s been discussed. Especially since it’s Derby. They won their game tonight. Your 737 is getting delivered eventually. We’ve already got paint jobs drying on one of the smaller jets. Now that I’m home, they’re painting the other one to match. They’re going to do the 737 in something similar.”

I shook my head. “Just so long as you don’t end up putting a bunch of military hardware on them.” I saw his look. “Okay, no offensive military hardware.”

He smiled. “Just chaff and flare dispensers, nothing major.”

“You know what? I’ll put up with you telling me it’s your expert advice. It’s my family we’re talking about. But someone tailing me? Like I don’t know how to wipe my own ass? Not hardly.”

“I understand.” He saw my look. “Okay, okay. As SJ would say, Aye, aye, Sir.”

I left him chuckling and went into the house. Beth was standing, alone, waiting for me.

“I like it. I know it’s not the length you’re normally used to, but it looks good.”

“Thank you for not being the typical male and wondering why I was waiting here, all tensed up. What took you so long to get home, anyway?”

“Someone took my truck, and left me alternate transportation. I had to learn how to drive it. That took a little while.”

“An hour?”

“Well, I may have spent a whole half hour going over 4 miles of ground ... more than once. What’s everyone else doing?”

“Come on, we’re having a small party next door.” She gave me a kiss, then led me to Harry and Emily’s house. Everyone was there with snacks and drinks.

“Can’t have you hosting everything,” Harry said. “Congratulations on the victory, Coach.”

“I’m just the quarterback, Harry.”

“Bullshit. You’re their coach. I know Jim Thompson. He’s happier than he could ever be, that his boys are doing so well. He knows it wouldn’t have happened without you. So does everyone else that has a clue,” he said.

“Well, either way, we’re playing Derby next week. Mike said our new plane would be in soon. I wish SJ was here to see it.”

“He will be,” Jennifer said. “He called me this evening, before we left for your game. His cast is off, he declined rehab, since it was just a break and it’s healed, and he’ll be out-processed starting tomorrow. He should be home by Thursday. Oh, since you never bothered to check, or if you did, you didn’t mention it. Beth confirmed that Marcia and I both implanted.”

“Damn, I’m sorry. I just plain forgot.”

“Well, if you give us each a kiss, you might be forgiven.” I paid that price willingly.

Emily shook her head. “I think I’m going to have the shortest tenure as President of the bank ever. My last day is New Year’s Eve. I start working for CEDEM on January 2^nd.”

I frowned. “You do? I figured you’d be working for Harry and the Ice-X plant.”

“No. Unless you have some other title, I’m basically going to be the VP of Operations. Someone has to coordinate what we’re doing with all of the facilities. I’m actually going to have a small staff of my own, because we’re having so many things going on.”

“I presume we’re paying you well,” I said.

“Oh, I get paid to do this, too? Wow, that’s a bonus.” She laughed. “Sorry, it’s just funny. You gave my husband millions of dollars, and you’re worried about me getting paid something.” She shook her head. “Don’t worry about it. We’ve got it covered, Cal.”

We sat around and talked until Toby fell asleep, not realizing it was getting late until then. I picked him up and carried him home, tucking him into bed. He woke up enough to give me a hug and sloppy kiss on the cheek, then went back to sleep.

All six of my girls were waiting. “You’re a good dad,” Jennifer said. The look in the other girl’s eyes agreed. Rather than do much of anything that would break the moment, we just went to bed.

Saturday was decent weather for a family get together. We ended up meeting for lunch, not at the Menendez house, but at his shop. Roberto owned several vehicles and had a large building, about half the size of our garage, where he stored materials. They’d cleaned things out, with several picnic tables set up inside for everyone. Instead of just family, Dora had invited the football team over as well. Our personal security and the off duty teams were also invited.