Internet Blindness©--A Poem

By Richard A. Falb

The stars are brightly shining

I do not see a one

My eyes are glued to internet

Until the rising sun

I did not see the outer world

It was no longer real

My world was in the internet

The rest had no appeal

My friends did what they could for me

I did not see the reason

Chat rooms were good enough for me

No matter what the season

I did not see the me they saw

My eyes were dull and rheumy

But I thought I saw bright and clear

Not what was happening to me

My Fantasy©  

by Richard A. Falb

I sat upon my porch one day

And dreamt of lands so far away

It was not lands that I could see

It was of lands in fantasy

For I had writ bout many a land

They were far yet close at hand

They were not ones for which I sigh

Them I did see in my mind’s eye

I peopled them with spirits bright

And added to them many a sprite

Included then a fairy queen

Most gorgeous one you’d ever seen

Then Elven forests ever green

With Elven creatures oh so lean

Of course there was a wizard too

Who spells did cast or maybe two

Of course there must be maidens true

And healers who could make you new

And swordsmen with their blades so keen

And dandies who just loved to preen

We must include some mountains high

For that is where the eagles fly

Perhaps we’d add a dragon red

For everyone their fire to dread

Then we must add some Kings and all

Who live within their castles tall

And Dukes and Earls, their Ladies too

Bedecked with finery bright and new

It is a lovely fantasy

If only it could really be

I see it all in my mind’s eye

Then let it go with just a sigh

A Sunny Morning©

By Richard A. Falb

T’was a rather sunny morning

Following the previous gloomy day

It was as if t’was making up

For being dark and grey

I do not know the reason

I thought that was the way

I did not mind the gloom at all

It matched my mood that day

I will admit that it was nice

To change my mood today

The sun did brighten up the scene

And chased my gloom away

The day did help enhance the mood

Be dark or bright that day

A smile does banish gloom away

On any gloomy day

     Came back to take a look at my old neighborhood in my home town.  It had been a long time since I was last here.  In fact it was when I graduated from High School and went to college.  As soon as I left my parents had split up got divorced and moved away.  They never said where they moved to.  In fact I never heard from either of them after the first six months I was in college.  I was on full ride scholarships so they never paid a thing for my college.  Of course I had just turned fifteen when I graduated from High School.  My parents, dubbed me a precocious brat, which I probably was.  Oh I had plenty of friends in school.  I was just good at maneuvering adults.  They got mad at me because I could out think and outwit them.  Actually it was a very upscale neighborhood.  My parents were well known college professors.  I was their only child.  I really don’t think they had planned on having me. 

     I was now twenty eight and had a couple of doctorates.  I also had a number of very valuable patents and so far two bestselling novels to my name.  I had maneuvered a good interest in several very successful companies, so I had money.  There were three very attractive girls, in the general neighborhood, I had an interest in while in school.  I wondered if they were around.  They were probably already married.  It would be fun to check that out.  I just finished another novel and had sent it off to the publisher and decided to take some time off and enjoy myself.  I had never felt I had the time to seriously pursue any girl so far.  Now I had the time and the money so I thought I might look around. 

    Decided to drive my car, through the old neighborhood, as I came into town in the morning.  I will look for a place to stay later.  The houses looked a little older, but not much seemed changed.  I was surprised that I remembered where those girls had lived.  Those homes looked well cared for.  I wonder if the same family lived in them.  I also did remember the names of the families.  The park I remembered nearby was also still there and looked well cared for.  On a whim I decided to look up a coffee shop bakery that was one of our favorite places.  It wasn’t that far away from the neighborhood.  It was kind of near the High School.  I found it and parked the car and walked to the shop.  It looked exactly the same and had the same wonderful smells coming out of it.  I walked in and up to the counter.  I recognized the woman at the counter with the two girls.  She was the daughter of the owner and she had been in school with me.  A smile of recognition came upon her face.

     “Carlon Tataan, what are you doing back here,” she said.

     “Hello Charleen, you running the bakery now?” I said.

     “My husband and I took it over.  I married Greg Charles.  You remember him.  He was in the class ahead of us,” Charleen said.

    Out of the corner of my eye I noticed three rather attractive young women sitting together at a table at the back of the room.  When I got my roll and coffee I turned and looked around the room for a table.  There was one next to the one I saw the three women.  I thought I recognized two of them at least.  In fact I thought those two were two of the girls I had a kind of crush on in high school.  I took my coffee and rolls and moved to the table and gave a nod of my head to the women as he settled himself down to enjoy the coffee and rolls.  With a smile one of the women said,

     “Are you just visiting Carlon or have you decided to come back to your hometown,” in explanation she added, “I’m Casey Karan.  We were in High School together.”

     I laughed, “I thought I should recognize you, Casey.  You were one of the cute girls I had a crush on back then,” I said.

     “How come I didn’t know about that,” said Casey.

     “You were always surrounded by the jocks and I was too shy to try to break into that group,” I said.

     “I don’t remember you being particularly shy, Carlon,” said another of the women, “I was Taylor Tilden then.  Actually I am now back to being Taylor Tilden again,” she added with a grin.

     I laughed, “Yeah, you were another one I had a crush on.”

     “You spread the crushes around.  Couldn’t you make up your mind?” asked the third young woman.  “I was in the same class. I was Chris Loudon then.  I’m the widow of the group. I’m now Chris Samlon, but I am thinking of changing back to Chris Loudon to join the group.”

     “Holy Cow,” said Carlon.  “You’re the third of the three I had a crush on back then.  You were the athlete of the group.  I was never willing to work at being an athlete that the coaches required, nor had that great a talent at it.”

     “You always seemed to be in very good shape if I remember rightly,” said Chris.

     “Oh I did exercise regularly then, I just wasn’t willing to put in the extra time the coaches demanded.  There were other things that were a little more important to me,” said Carlon.

     “Like being the smartest one in the class,” said Casey with a smile.  “And writing your little stories, the teacher would confiscate.”  Carlon laughed.

     “They never told me I couldn’t write them and they never gave them back to me,” said Carlon.  “I always wondered what they did with them.”

     “I remember someone saying they passed them around for the other teachers to read,” said Taylor.

     With a grin Carlon said, “No wonder I had such an awful reputation.”

     “I don’t remember that it was awful, just slightly off beat and perhaps a trifle racy,” said Chris.

     “I didn’t think my stories were racy,” said Carlon trying to look surprised.

     “They probably were for a high school student,” said Casey, “you weren’t suppose to know that much about life.”

     “Hey, my parents were college professors,” said Carlon, “they ignored the fact I was in the room and had big ears.”  Then he added, “I learned how to ask oblique questions so they never knew how much I really heard.”

    Chris said, “That shows in the stories you write.  I’ve read them, and I liked them.  When’s the next one coming out, and do we get a sneak preview?”

     “I just sent a new one in, and you will have to wait until it comes out, no sneak previews, that would only spoil it,” said Carlon with a broad grin.
     “Spoilsport,” said Casey.  “not even a little hint.

    “Well it is different from any others,” said Carlon with a grin.  Chris made a face at him and he laughed.

     “Where are you staying?” asked Taylor.  “That new motel out on the highway going south, is suppose to be real nice and moderately priced.”

     “Thanks,” said Carlon, “I hadn’t checked in anywhere yet.”  Then with a grin he said, “Do any of you know a good real estate agent I could have find an apartment and then keep an eye out for a house to buy?”

     “You’re planning to settle down in your old home town?” Chris asked.  Then she added, “Carla Jorden, she was Carla Swansen, is a real estate agent, who knows her way around town.  She might know of some good apartments, especially if you are going to be looking for something to buy.”

     Carlon laughed, “You mean she might steer me to a good apartment as she might be able to make some money off of me if I eventually buy a house.”

     Chris grinned, “She was always willing to really work at something that promised a good pay back for her.”

     “There’s nothing wrong in that, as long as she delivers a good product,” said Carlon.

     “I think she has a pretty good reputation and she has been at for a while,” said Casey.

     “I’ll have to check her out,” said Carlon.

     With a broad grin, Chris said, “She’s married.”  Carlon laughed.

    “I meant as a real estate agent, smarty,” Carlon said.

THE VISITORS©

By Richard A. Falb

Jon Tellerant had just sold his biotechnology firm for millions of dollars.  His wife, Karylyn Tortec, retired early from her position as head of a highly successful space-engineering research firm.  They were only in their middle fifties and in excellent health, but their daughter, a medical doctor, urged them to get out and enjoy life while they could.  Rightfully so, she pointed out they were definitely not in need of money, and their reputations were solidly established.  Their other daughter, an internationally recognized astronomer and space researcher, concurred with her sister’s advice.

A few years ago, they purchased a ranch in the mountains, that was rather remote.  They, their daughters and their husbands, their two sons and their wives built houses on the property as a summer retreat.  Jon Tellerant and his wife Karylyn Tortec now decided to spend most of the year there.  Their children would come as often as time allowed.

Their one son and his wife were both aeronautical/space engineers.  Their other son was a chemical engineer.  They talked their father into building a large hanger-type building on the ranch near the housing complex.  They were thinking of building an experimental type aircraft.  They smoothed out and blacktopped a runway suitable for small to medium-sized aircraft.   One of the wives claimed they wanted to build a flying saucer.   The possibilities of space travel had intrigued everyone of the family.  In fact that was often the subject of discussion at family get-togethers.

It was an evening in late spring.  The weather had been very mild this spring.  Jon and Karylyn were alone at the ranch.  They had planned the houses to be as efficient and possible.  A place were they could easily do everything themselves.  The rest of the family, were planning on coming out this weekend.  A very strange craft came out of the skies, hovered for a moment and then landed in an area near the hanger.  Three figures came out of the craft and walked toward them as if this is where they planned to land.  Neither Jon nor Karalyn recognized the craft.  There was nothing familiar about the three persons walking toward the house.

“I have a strange feeling about those three,” said Jon thoughtfully as they watched the trio walk toward them. 

“You do not seem to be afraid,” said Karylyn.

“I do not think they pose us any danger,” Jon answered thoughtfully.

Jon and Karylyn waited for them on the porch.  The three figures came to the bottom of the steps leading up to the porch.   Jon and Karylyn felt a thought impinge upon their minds.

“We assumed human form for this first meeting.  We thought it would make it easier to communicate.  Our true physical form is not relevant at this time,” the leader of the trio communicated.  The tone was very friendly.  Jon and Karalyn were surprised but not particularly startled.  The three persons really did not seem to pose any danger.

“Who are you and where are you from?” asked Jon.  He spoke out loud from habit, although he realized these beings were communicating by thought transfer.

“In your language we would be senior scientists.  We are from a world far beyond your world’s ability to travel at this time,” was the answer.

“Then why are you here?” asked Karylyn, also voicing her question out loud.  The answer seemed to come from another of the trio.  One Karylyn had a feeling was their equivalent of a female.

“Our leaders have long worried about the stability of your world.  We have been sent to transfer some of our knowledge to you in hopes it will help stabilize your world,” this figure communicated.  “An influx of very advanced information might serve to pull your world together by putting the emphasis on integrating it into your lives.  Everyone would be busy trying to catch up.

“Why did you chose to land here at this remote place?” asked Jon.

“Because we determined your family has the intelligence, the stability and the integrity to assimilate the knowledge and to best determine how this knowledge should be disseminated.  It needs to be disseminated as widely as possible within as short a time period as possible,” was the thought they received from the third member of the trio.  “We determined we would need a close-knit group of at least your family’s size to successfully accomplish our task.”

Karylyn began to realize that she was also getting some background thoughts from the one she thought of as female.  She realized she was not supposed to be able to receive these thoughts.  Karylyn made sure she was completely passive in this, fearing to let these beings know, she was getting more than what she was suppose to get.

“You could not have come that distance in that craft,” Karylyn communicated.

“You are very perceptive,” replied the thought of the leader.  “Our base spacecraft hovers high above us.  There are many more of us aboard that craft.  If you agree to our proposal, when your family arrives, we will take you to that craft to begin the transfer of knowledge.  With thought transfer it will take much less time.  In addition, we can transfer some of the knowledge to each member of the family.  You will all gain greater ability in thought communications as we go along.  Later, you can share the knowledge that each has received.  Tonight, we would like to give you a basic idea of what we plan to do and how we wish to do it.  You can communicate this to the other members of the family before we return.”

It only took a moment for Jon and Karylyn to decide to indicated their willingness to do this.  It sounded like a very exciting and exhilarating project.  They were sure their family would see it in the same way.  The next three hours the three figures took turns explaining what would be happening and the reasons for it.  At the end of the time, the trio said good-by and returned to their craft and quickly disappeared into the sky.

“Do you think the rest will believe us and then agree to do this?”  Karylyn asked Jon.  She wasn’t sure she completely believed this had happened. 

“With the two of us telling the same story, they will have to believe us,” replied Jon with a little laugh.  “I also think they will jump at the chance to quickly gain the new knowledge they seem to be promising us.”

“During the time they were here, I was getting some background thoughts of one of the three.  I don’t think I was supposed to be able to receive them,” Karylyn told Jon.

“That’s funny,” answered Jon,  “I was getting the same thing from the leader of the group.  I was sure I was not suppose to be able to receive those thoughts.”

“I got the feeling one of the group was their equivalent of a female,” remarked Karylyn.  “That is the one from whom I was getting the extra thoughts.  I got the impression there was some debate as to how much of the knowledge we would be able to understand and use.  There seemed to be a definite difference of opinion on this.”

“I got the impression, the leader of the three wanted to transfer as much knowledge as they could, in the time span they allotted for this project.  I got the impression they had a critical date by which they had to leave to return to wherever their world exists.  I think he thought the argument about this was irrelevant,” Jon told Karylyn. 

The next morning, at breakfast on the porch, Karylyn, with a bemused smile asked,  “Are you sure this all happened?”

Jon laughed,  “It would be a temptation to believe it was a dream, but I’m afraid it was very real.  However, I don’t think anyone outside of our family would ever believe us.”

Karylyn had quiet smile on her face,  “I hope all the members of our family do.”

“Oh ye of little faith,” quote Jon with a broad smile.  It was still a day away, from the day their family was to arrive.  Late that afternoon, their daughter Terreza called Karylyn.

“I had the strangest dream, mother,” she began,  “I dreamt,  you were here, and said the family was going to be asked to embark on a very strange but very interesting project.  Before I could ask you for more details, you turned and left.”  Then she added rather thoughtfully,  “It was so real.  I could have sworn it actually happened.  I could have sworn you were here with me.”

Karylyn laughed,  “Well I’ll see if I can think something up before you all get here.”  Karylyn did not want to say anything until all the family was together.  It kind of shook her up just a little to have Terreza tell her that.  Terreza was not one to have things like this happen to her.

Friday afternoon, the family began to arrive.  It wasn’t until dinnertime that they all made their way to the ranch and got settled.  The dinner, was accompanied by everyone catching up on what was happening in each other’s lives.  The women all pitched in to clear the table and clean up afterwards, then they joined the men in the large living room in front of the fireplace.

Jon looked them all over.  Each of them was very well educated in varying fields.  They were a remarkably compatible family that applauded each other’s accomplishments, rather than competes with each other.

“I have something to tell you which will be somewhat hard to believe.   Your mother will back me up in all of it, because she experienced it also,” Jon started.

They all looked at him questioningly.

He continued,  “The other evening we had visitors who flew in a craft I have never seen before.  It was obviously a very advanced space craft.  These visitors, three of them, had human form, but they were obviously not from our planet.  They communicated by thought transfer, not by speech.  They were friendly, courteous, and obviously highly intelligent and very highly educated.”

Everyone looked at Karylyn.   She nodded and said simply,  “That is all true.  We had visitors from another world, and it was by intent they landed on our ranch and came to visit with us.  They knew who we were and exactly where they could find us.  They also knew you were going to be coming here.”

“Is that what my dream meant, mother, or did you send that thought to me?” said Terreza.

The others looked at her.

“Let us not get off the track.  We, as a family, have a decision to make,” continued Jon.  “These beings wish to transfer some of their very advanced knowledge to our family.  They told us their leaders were worried that our world was becoming very unstable.  Apparently for reasons they did not tell us, that could somehow threaten their world.  They hoped this knowledge would help stabilize our world.  They are trusting us, to determine how to best disseminate the knowledge, they will transfer to us.  It was very obvious our family was chosen.  This was not a matter of happenstance.  They gave us some idea of the knowledge they have.  It is very, very advanced.  It would take centuries for us to reach that level on our own.”

“How do they expect to transfer all that knowledge to us?” asked Kaze their son,  “They couldn’t do it all in the two weeks we plan to be here this time.”

“They want to start the process during these two weeks,” answered Jon.  “Then an agreement would be reached with each member on the best time and best days that contact could be established to transfer additional knowledge.  Each of us would receive some of the knowledge, then we could facilitate the transfer of that knowledge among ourselves.  They undoubtedly have a critical date by which they must depart from our planet.  Then it will be up to us to transfer this knowledge to the rest of our world.  It is definitely their intention that it should be disseminated to the whole of our world.”

Jon and Karylyn proceeded to give them the information they received from the trio.  The family listened in silence.  Then they were all silent for several moments.

Maarlyn, Kaze’s wife spoke up first.  “I vote go.  It sounds fantastically interesting.”

“I’m for it,” put in Terreza.  Her husband Torbert nodded his agreement.  Within a few minutes they all indicated their approval.

“What is the next step, Dad?” inquired Cedric, their other son.

“Very early tomorrow morning, the trio we met with will come down, possibly accompanied by one or two others.  They will brief all of us, and familiarize us with the thought transfer process and transfer some knowledge as a trial.  They will be with us until evening.  If everything works out, they will come each evening to pick us up and return us before dawn.  This way they can go undetected.  They said this would be best for both them and us,” Jon told the family group.

“In other words they do not want anyone else to know they have been here,” said Torbert.

Terreza observed,  “We would be deluged with official and unofficial visitors which would make the project impossible to carry out.  There would be definite opposition to the disseminating of the information beyond our shores.  In fact, there would be immediate jockeying for the right to receive the information first.”

Kaze said,  “They are right when they say it would be best if only the family knew of this.  We will need time to figure out how we can effect the transfer of this information to everyone worldwide.  It had got to be our secret.”

“We are going to have to reset our biological clocks so we can work all night and sleep during the day,” Karylyn said.

“Well I tend to be a night person anyway,” Maarlyn admitted.  “That should be relatively easy for me.”

The discussion continued for a while then someone suggested, if they were going to have visitors early in the morning, they had better get some sleep.  Everyone agreed and headed for their respective houses.  They agreed to meet back at the main house for a very early breakfast.

In the morning, just after the family finished breakfast, the craft settled to the ground.  Jon noticed this was a larger craft.  This time six figures got out of the craft and came toward the house.  As before, they had assumed human form.   Although she couldn’t be sure, Karylyn thought three of them looked like they might represent females.  The six figures came to the bottom of the stairs again.  “Have you decided?”  was the thought question of the leader.

“Yes,” Jon sent the thought back,  “We are ready.  Shall we go into the house and you can start briefing all of us.”

They all went into the house and into the large family room where they spread themselves out with the six at one end of the room.  They apparently had little trouble establishing thought contact with all the members of the family.  Within a short time things seem to go along to the satisfaction of everyone.  About noon, the six showed their understanding of human customs when they said they would go back to their craft while the family had lunch.

“This probably also gives them a chance to report back to their base craft,” said Cedric.  “They apparently have a good understanding of our customs.  I wonder if we will get any insight into theirs.”

“That might be part of the knowledge transfer,” observed Terreza.  “Perhaps that figures in to their hope this knowledge will help, as they say, stabilize our world.”

The speculation continued during lunch.  Then as if by a signal the family was ready the six reappeared, and the process continued.  It was after dinner, the real transfer of knowledge began.  It was dark before the six signaled this session was ended.  There was a feeling everything was going to the satisfaction of the group from space.  They quickly returned to their craft and disappeared.  Before they left, however, they said they would be back tomorrow night right after dark.  At that time, they would take the family to their base craft.  They would then individually begin the transfer of their knowledge.  Each, family member would be given their own special area of knowledge.  Later, the family members could get together and share what they learned. It was obvious these individuals from space were very familiar with the capabilities of the all the members of the family.  It was to several members of the family slightly scary that these persons seemed to know their family so well.

The next two weeks went relatively smoothly with only minor problems.  At one point in time, they were afraid someone had detected the coming and going of the craft.  However it turned out to be a false alarm.  A nosy person in town knew the family gathered at the ranch, and wondered why they didn’t come into town at some time.  Karylyn was able to explain they had a lot they wanted to do at the ranch, so any trip into town was postponed.  The explanation was apparently accepted.

The family actually had the last weekend to themselves so they could get back to sleeping nights.  Their last session was Thursday night.  The family slept until noon Friday and then got together for lunch.

“Their knowledge really is so much farther advanced than ours in most areas.  However there may be gaps that we can fill in if we can search the minds of the right people,” Kaze remarked.

“I got that same impression in my area,” Carlyn Baldwin, Cedric’s wife agreed,  “also, I was getting some background thoughts, I don’t think I was suppose to receive.”

Shari, Jon and Karylyn’s other daughter, observed,  “The background thoughts I was getting was more advanced knowledge they seemed to be deliberately holding back.  It filled in areas in the knowledge they were transferring to me.  I am sure they didn’t realize this was happening.”

“That was what really surprised me,” remarked Jaasin Cohl, Shari’s husband,  “I almost got the impression, some members were deliberately feeding me that more advanced knowledge.  Almost as if there was disagreement among them as to how much knowledge they should be giving us.”

“Well let us keep this all to ourselves, at least until we learn more about the knowledge we are to receive,” Karylyn admonished the members of the family.  “If we are sure to give no sign we feel anything unusual is going on, it may work in our favor.”

“If as Jaasin feels, some members are deliberately feeding us more advanced information, how long do you think it can continue before other members of the group detect this?”  Carlyn asked.

“Individual members are providing this knowledge to individual members of our family,” Jon speculated.  “That would seem to be a direct connection between the sender and receiver.  If no one is charged with monitoring everything, then it could go on for the entire project.  The only possibility for discovery, that I can see, is if one of us inadvertently indicates we have greater knowledge in an area we were not suppose to be given.”

“I get the feeling,” Kaze commented,  “That responsibility was divided up within the group for the sake of expediency.  In other words, each had their job and they were supposed to do it.  There is a time factor in here.”

“Well what ever, we are going to have to get this all on our computers and fully backed-up, while it is fresh,” Terreza reminded them.  “Then later we can disseminate this information to everyone else in the family.  We also must make sure no one can break into our computer files.”

The rest of the weekend the family worked hard at getting all the information they could on the computers and on backup discs of each member’s information that they could take home.  The members of the family, except for Jon and Karylyn left for home sometime Monday.

That evening Jon and Karylyn were sitting down after a quiet dinner.  “Do you think, that as Jaasin feels, some members of the group are deliberately furnishing us with more advanced knowledge, than we are suppose to receive?” Karylyn asked Jon.

Jon sat there thinking, then he slowly replied,  “I am inclined to go along with Jaasin.  We have all received it at each session, therefore I don’t see how it can be accidental.”

“You mean you feel it is a deliberate transmission of knowledge, by a number of people within the group,” inquired Karylyn. 

“I think so,” replied Jon,  “For what purpose, I haven’t the slightest idea.”

“Do you think that all of them are very top experts in their particular field?”

“Except for maybe the crew that operates the craft.”

“What do you think will happen if others in the group discover some are providing us knowledge we weren’t suppose to receive?” asked Karylyn.

“I’m not sure,” replied Jon.  “I get the impression that it was a higher authority that sent them on this mission.  I think they would hesitate to abort the mission because a disagreement on how much knowledge they should transfer to us.”

“That would mean they would have to reach some compromise in order to carry the mission out,” Karylyn said.  “So it would make no difference to us.”

“Actually for us, the best possible scenario would be if it would not be discovered this extra knowledge was being furnished to us,” Jon said.  “At least until the project was nearly completed.”

“You mean we would then get the maximum possible knowledge from them before they had to leave,” Karylyn suggested.

“Yes, I think that would be best,” Jon said.  Then he became thoughtfully silent for a short time,  “I wonder how we can best disseminate that knowledge without revealing the source of that knowledge.  That is going to take some very careful planning.”

“Do we start working on that problem right away, or should we concentrate on gaining the maximum knowledge from them first.  Then we could carefully plan the dissemination process.  That way we would definitely know what knowledge we had to disseminate,” Karylyn wondered out loud.

“I think we had better concentrate on gaining what knowledge we can.  Then we can tackle the other problem,” Jon said.  Then he added, “I do not think we have a timetable.  They only wish it be done as quickly as it can safely be done, making sure it is disseminated worldwide.”

The next months, the family spent in contact with individual members of the group in the spacecraft.  As time went on, the pace of the transfer of knowledge speeded up, as the family’s ability in thought communication increased dramatically.  The knowledge, especially the advanced knowledge they were apparently receiving surreptitiously from some members of the group, proved to be very, very advanced, and opened up a whole new world, to the members of the family.  Apparently the transfer of the more advanced knowledge was going on undetected.  In fact it was not until the final times there was any indication there was suspicions in other members of the group that something was going on.  It was then too late.  They had completed their mission and would soon be on their way back to their own world. 

Several members of the family discovered the contacts for them with certain members of the group had been left open.  They began to get knowledge of the design of a space craft of very advanced design.  Another member of the family was receiving knowledge of the materials that went into the building of the spacecraft.  Another received the formula of the fuel used.  The family was sure none of this was knowledge they were supposed to receive.  They had no idea why this information was being furnished to them, or specifically by whom. 

The day after the completion of the receipt of this latest knowledge, the family got the information that the spacecraft was on its way home.  As far as the family knew, no one else had detected the presence of any unknown craft near earth.  At least there was no news about this.  There was also no sudden unusual activity in their area, which they were sure would be so.

Two weeks after the space craft left, the family gathered at the ranch for a week of discussion and planning.

As they gathered in the family room, Kaze’s comment was,  “Maybe Carlyn’s flip comment about our wanting to build a space craft, will turn out to be right on target.”

Jon looked at his son,  “I think before we think of doing anything with this knowledge we have been given, we better thoroughly assimilate it ourselves.   This means we spend most of our time providing all the rest of the family with the knowledge we each have separately gained.”

“I agree,” remarked Shari,  “and we better get going.  All of us have a lot of knowledge to share.”

“I don’t think we can accomplish that in the week we have,” observed Maarlyn.

“No,” said Karylyn,  “We will have to set up specific nights for the next several months.  Then we can use our new-found ability to communicate by thoughts to accomplish that task.  This would also keep anyone from realizing that anything unusual is going on with the family.”

Terreza laughed,  “The first series of conference calls using thought communication.”

“That is a scary thought,” remarked Torbert.  “At least they were thoughtful enough to teach us also how to shield our thoughts.”

“Dad,” commented Cedric,  “Do you think this ability could be used to tap in to some of the top minds of our world to add to this knowledge we have received?”

“It might be possible, if we tapped in at the time that person was reviewing some of the knowledge in his mind when he was working on some problem,” Jon replied.  “I don’t think it would work to indiscriminately delve into a persons thoughts.  Also, the process of trying to make contact with that person, might send a warning signal to the person, that would disrupt the natural chain of thought.  We really have no experience with this outside what we were doing with these persons.”

“In other words, timing and reason for the contact, would be critical,” Jaasin said.

“I think any attempt like that had better be thoroughly discussed among us first,” said Jon.  “That could raise some ethical questions.”

The family began to discuss this whole project and think through where this might lead them. 

Karylyn looked them all over carefully,  “I think it better be understood from the start.  We were entrusted with this knowledge on the assumption we would use it to benefit our whole world.   Under no circumstances will it be used for the sole benefit of this family.”

Terreza looked at her mother thoughtfully,  “Mother, I am sure all of us agree with you completely.   It is up to all of us to make sure that does not change.”

Kaze asked,  “Does that mean that we shouldn’t try to build a space craft?”

“No,” answered Jon.  “It just means we make the process public knowledge after we test it out.  We don’t sell it to the highest bidder.  Also we make sure no one knows it is coming from us.”

“We assimilate, test it out and get it out to the public so they can use it,” Maarlyn said.  “We have a long road ahead of us, but it should be exciting.”

“I really think our biggest challenge will be to make sure no one gets suspicious of what we are doing before we are ready to go public,” Cedric said.  “Which means the space craft had better be down the road in priority, and can’t be built in the hanger.  However, we could use an experimental aircraft to test some materials we would use in the spacecraft.  That we could use the hanger for.”

“That hanger is big enough to use part of the space as laboratories to test out processes and materials,” Jon reminded them.

“There is one machine I would like to try to build, that I got the advanced design specs on,” said Torbert.  “It is a machine that uses a beam to excavate, which essentially liquefies the earth and then can turn it into extremely strong walls, roof and floor for the excavated area.”

“That could come in handy.  We could dig out an area of the mountain to use as a place to experiment with, test or perhaps build things we wanted to keep secret until we were ready to go public,” Jaasin said.  “Of course, we would have to figure a way to keep the outside of the mountain looking exactly as it is now.”

“We are getting ahead of ourselves again,” Terreza reminded them.  “Let’s get this process of formalizing and transferring this knowledge among us, in gear first.  Then we can set priorities as to the projects, which should get done first.  Only then should we be thinking about the experimenting, testing and building of things.”

“Terreza’s right.” said Karylyn.  “Let’s get all the knowledge down and transferred among us.  We built an inside room upstairs to hold a small mainframe computer.  We have the computer in place.  Now we are going to alter the upstairs to actually make that a secret room.  We will store all the knowledge we have gained and all the information on our experiments and tests on that computer.  You all will have access to that information by use of a special code sequence.  We will provide you that when you leave.”

The rest of the week was spent putting some of the knowledge on the computer, sharing some their knowledge with each other, and getting together in small groups.  The whole family got together to set priorities and work out the processes of sharing the knowledge.  They decided, during the next several months, individual couples would come to ranch as the opportunity presented itself.  However, the whole family would not meet until they had finished sharing their individual knowledge and getting it all on the main frame.  Then they would begin setting priorities for projects and deciding who would be involved in which projects.  By the end of the week, they had practically everything worked out to everyone’s satisfaction.  They also had a substantial amount of the knowledge already in the computer.  They even had some idea as to what projects they might begin with and basic agreement as to those to be involved in which projects.  Before they left for home, the last comment by Shari was,  “I feel like I belong to a secret society.  Once I leave here, I must forget everything about what we have discussed.”

“Mums the word,” laughed Kaze.

“Remember,” said Jon,  “no one does anything about this project except for the things we have agreed upon here.”

“In other words,” said Maarlyn,  “no one goes off on their own tangent.  No wild hair schemes.”

With that they all took off.  However they were laughing and joking as would be expected when leaving from a family gathering. 

By Christmas, the weather cooperated so all the family were able to gather at the ranch for the holidays.  Practically all of the knowledge had been transferred, and it all was now on the mainframe.  They were ready to do a little celebrating and to start looking to the future on how they would test out this knowledge.  Everyone was still recalling bits and pieces of knowledge, especially of some of the more advanced knowledge they hadn’t put down yet and not communicated to the others.  They did some of this between the celebrations.  During the week following Christmas, the weather turned bad.  They were snowed in for four days before the weather turned very nice again and they were able to get plowed out.

“Too bad we haven’t gotten around to using some of that knowledge to build some machines that would either clear the roads quickly or be able to travel easily in the bad weather and deep snow,” observed Torbert.

“At least the bad weather hit at the most opportune time,” Terreza said.  “No one could get in to bother us.”

Cedric laughed,  “You always did look on the positive side, Teza.” 

“She’s right,” observed Shari.  “We have plenty of time to start building and trying out things.  No sense in rushing these things.”

“Yes,” agreed Carlyn,  “It has been a very pleasant holiday so far.  Now we can get out and do some skiing before we head home.”

All of them did take the opportunity to get out and enjoy the snow for the next several days.   They spent the last day and a half setting the schedule for the next several months.  The first week in April they set for the next gathering at the ranch.  Up until that time, they would be trying to assimilate the knowledge they had received.  They would also consult among themselves to try to develop priorities  they could then discuss when they all got together again in April.  Each couple also would be going over the information they received to make sure they had recalled everything.  The excitement of this whole thing was building.  They were the only ones that knew this was happening.  They didn’t know how long this would last.  They knew they had to plan the experimenting and building phase very carefully.  Any information, of unusual activity leaking out, would bring someone nosing around.  Jon and Karylyn hoped none of the rest of the family would break ranks and leak something about this knowledge.  Eventually, they would have to go public with the knowledge.  They wanted to carefully control when that would be.  It would have to be disseminated widely in the shortest possible time.  They would have to make sure it stayed available to the greatest number of people possible.

They had been able to move some materials and equipment to the ranch without arousing suspicions.  They let it leak out that they were making a family project of building an experimental aircraft.  Jon also came up with the idea of turning a large RV into a truck to haul material.  The couples took turns turning up with the RV to spend a few days at the ranch.  Some of the materials, could be brought in relatively small packages by the family, or in some cases, by regular delivery companies.  In this way, they had been able to stock pile the material needed, to start some of the experimenting and building of certain new equipment, that would help them build other things.

Before the April date when they were to all gather again at the ranch, it had been decided to try to build the machine Torbert wanted to build.  They decided it would be a good idea to excavate the mountain just in back of the housing complex and build it into a group of large and small rooms. There they could build a manufacturing and testing facility.  They, figured out a way they could keep the outside of the mountain looking the same as it now was.  This would give them a secret place where they could build and test things, including the spacecraft that Kaze and Maarlyn would like to build.  Carlyn had gotten agreement, to have the power shield she wanted to try to build, as one of the top priority projects.

Their first priority would be to build a generating plant that would provide them with the electricity they would need for all these projects.  They would continue to use the electricity supplied by the local utility company for the houses. This they would keep at a minimum.  They had also trucked in gasoline, oil and airplane fuel because they let it be known they were going to build an experimental aircraft.  This would not surprise anyone because it was widely known that was the field of one of the couples.

On April first they gathered and began to work on the priority projects.  The generating plant proved to be rather simple with the information they received.  The power shield also proved to be much easier than they anticipated.

The family let it be known they were holding a month long reunion at the ranch.  They brought in, plenty of food, and with it a lot of other supplies.  Torbert’s pet machine proved to be a much different situation.  Kaze had to fly out and bring in some materials they had to gather from a number of different sources.  They were finally able to put together and get the machine running.  In the process, they were able to learn a number of new things from combining some of the bits of knowledge they had received.  From this, they were able to perfect a way to easily transport the heavy equipment they were putting together.  It involved an anti-gravity device.  In fact, they were able to miniaturize it.  They also learned how to miniaturize the power shield generator so it could fit on a belt and generate an individual power shield.  This was an invisible field that stopped any object from penetrating that field.  They produced these for all members of the family.  Although they could now link together by thought communication, they devised an individual, miniature communications system effective for several hundreds of miles.  They began to excavate the mountain and to build the rooms where they could carry on their experiments in complete secrecy.  They excavated an underground link to three of the houses.  This way, they could go from house to laboratory, without anyone else knowing it.  By the first part of May, they had things ready to utilize the rest of the knowledge they had received.  The family departed, with each couple assigned a project they could carry out without arousing suspicions of any of their friends.  Cedric was assigned the gathering of a list of chemicals they were going to need and arrange to get them to the ranch.  They decided to meet again at the ranch in August for two weeks.  Meantime, individual couples would come out for a long weekend, using the RV to carry materials with them to the ranch.

Meanwhile Cedric and his wife Carlyn had an opportunity to test out the personal power shield.  They had gone out to dinner to a restaurant in the middle of town.  When they went to get their car, two men with guns, who demanded their money, accosted them.  Then one of the men moved to grab Carlyn to take her with them.  Cedric and Carlyn had turned on the power shield when they saw the men.  The man reaching for Carlyn was stopped dead.  The other man shot at Cedric, the bullet bounced off the shield.

The men stopped, startled, then they turned and ran.  Cedric and Carlyn left the power shields on, until they were ready to get into the car, then turned them off.

“Well we know it really works,” said Carlyn.  “Weren’t you worried, though?” she asked Cedric.

“That’s a funny thing.  I wasn’t.  I had absolute faith it would work just like it did in the tests we ran at the ranch,” Cedric replied. 

When they got home they got in touch with the rest of the family to let them know the power shield had been put to a test and had passed with flying colors.  Jaasin reported, he  figured out how to put one of their miniature power plants into his car.  He said he would explain the details of his plan when he saw them all at the ranch.  Perhaps they could install one in a car and test it out.

By the time the family gathered at the ranch in August, they had plans for a number of projects well under way.  They also realized some of the products, such as the power shield, had to be kept completely under wraps, for the foreseeable future.  On the other hand, the miniature power plants should be moved out into the public domain as quickly as they were proved reliable.  The detailed information on design and production would have to be very widely disseminated around the world.  They realized there would be those who would do everything to prevent that, including possibly some high government officials.  They also figured they would have to find a way to distance the family from this disclosure.

Some of the knowledge they received in and of itself would lend itself to wide dissemination and would be of value to all the peoples of the world.  Here again, they felt that the family should not be connected in anyway to this disclosure.  It would arouse too much interest in the family and particularly this ranch.

During the two weeks in August, they were able to make very good headway on quite a number of projects.  They  brainstormed a number of ways, to disseminate some of this knowledge, while remaining completely anonymous.  They wanted to eliminate the possibility of it being traced back to any member of the family.  There were several promising possibilities.  The family would be investigating them in the coming months.

The other development was that the family decided to move up the space ship project.  They decided to attempt the building of a large sized space craft as well as a smaller one to carry ten to twelve people and one to carry a maximum of four.  They were planning to use the experimental aircraft to test out a number of components.  Part of this decision was made on the basis of the highly successful tests of the anti-gravity device.  They also had been able to build and test computers that were not only far more powerful than the most powerful supercomputers in existence but were the size of a small hand held one.

The family planned to put together the plans for the various parts of a computer about a tenth as powerful and about the size of a laptop.  They then were going to find a way, to get them out on the Internet and into computer and popular science and technology publications.  They figured, it would be best to get out this information a little at a time.  Then once this information was widely disseminated, they could raise the technology another notch, and so on.

During the two weeks in August, they were also able to install one of the miniature power plants into an automobile and test it out.  It ran perfectly.  They planned to install these engines into all of their cars and test them out during the winter.

Using the Internet, and their very advanced computers, they were able to break into the computers of a number of technology magazines of various types and technology scientific websites.  That way they essentially put the knowledge they wanted disseminated into the programs of these computers without divulging the source.  This proved highly successful, at least for the time being.   Of course it caused quite a furor and some claims this knowledge was stolen, but the claims were never proven.  For the time being the furor actually aided the family.  With all of the turmoil, it was easier for the family to anonymously feed in additional information.

Small companies jumped on the chance to build these various products.  Many were even able to enhance them to a degree.  However the knowledge had been widely disseminated as had been planned.  They were even able to achieve world-wide distribution.  The one downside was that certain government agencies in several of the most advanced companies were now beginning to investigate to find out the source of this knowledge.  With the tiny computers, the family had been able to put together, they were able to move the place from which they would break into various computer banks.

“It’s funny,” said Carlyn one time when the family was together,  “We’re like a secret espionage group, except we are disseminating important information widely, not seeking to steal it for one group.”

“Ah, but, in some peoples eyes that would be disloyal to our country,” laughed Cedric.  “Especially seeing as they can’t gain any huge monetary gain from it personally.”

“That could prove to be a problem for us down the road,” said Jon thoughtfully.  “Our government may look on us as doing something subversive, because we gave it to everyone in the whole world.”

“You mean the CIA, the FBI, and all the armed forces intelligence units will be after us?” inquired Jaasin with a wry smile.

“I’m afraid it really could come to that if we aren’t careful and don’t thoroughly cover our tracks,” remarked Kaze a little more seriously.

“Isn’t it too bad that in trying to help the whole world, we might end up being viewed as enemies of our own country?” Terreza said.

“Well we have a job to do.  We were entrusted with it.  Let us do it,” observed Karylyn.

“Damn the torpedoes.  Full speed ahead,” said Torbert.

This brought a laugh from everyone.  They went back to planning their next projects, and what information was ready to be disseminated.  They discussed the best and safest way to do this.  They had a definite advantage here. The information and the equipment they had to do the job was far, far better than anyone else had.  They even found a way they could get the government printing office to print and disseminated some of the information as if it came from some government department.  So far they were able to disseminate the information so widely that nothing could be done about it.  It couldn’t be recalled.  It already was in public domain.  Internationally at that.

Some of the scientific information was planted in the computer files of prestigious university departments and research laboratories world wide.  There was some conflicting claims as to who stumbled onto this information.  However, with so many sources reporting this information simultaneously it became a mute question.

Work was progressing, although relatively slowly, on the building of the spacecraft.  Kaze joked that if they were discovered as the source of all this information, they might have to use it as a get-away craft.  His wife Maarlyn looked at him rather disgustedly commenting that joke might come back to haunt him.

They built a small model of the spacecraft that they could control with a special laptop computer.  They were about ready to test it.  They had also built and flown an experimental plane with some very advanced features on it.

They carefully planned the timing and area where they were testing the plane.  This way they were able to keep it under wraps until they could thoroughly test it out.  It was so highly automated that only one person was needed to fly it.  After the design plans and test data was disseminated as widely as possible, Kaze flew that plane to an abandoned airfield in the Southwest.  He was picked up from there, by others in the family, on their way to a golfing resort.  The Air Force was anonymously informed where they could find the plane.

To cover themselves the family built another experimental aircraft of somewhat more conventional design with certain advanced features built in.  This was kept in the hanger on the ranch.  This proved to be a very good idea.  Some government officials dropped in, saying they heard about an experimental craft they were building at the ranch.  Kaze and Maarlyn happened to be there so they briefed the men on the aircraft and some of the advanced designs they were experimenting with.  They even took two of the officials for a test ride.  This apparently satisfied the officials.  Jon and Karylyn breathed a sigh of relief.  Luckily they had built and installed an early warning device on the ranch.  They knew ahead of time when someone might be dropping in on them.  Because the ranch was set in a valley surrounded by very rugged mountains, the only way people could come into the ranch was by a road that came through a canyon at the far end of the valley, or fly in.  As a precautionary device, several of the members of the family had devised and built a gate of stone that slid out of the walls of the canyon.  It was electronically operated and could be activated from the house.  It was really built to test out several other pieces of equipment and processes.  They had no idea what protection this possibly could afford them or from whom.  Carlyn said that as long as they had built it, they might as well equip it with power shields that would be automatically activated as soon as the wall slid into place.

“Well,” said Kaze,  “It might buy us some time if we had to make a fast get away in our space craft.”

Jon was thoughtfully listening to the half serious, half kidding discussion.  “It might be a good idea to set up power shields for all the buildings that could be activated from any place in the complex.  If it is somehow discovered that the information is coming from here, it is possible some might feel this place must be destroyed.  At least after they find out they cannot control us.”

“It is lucky that no offensive weapons were among the information we received.” said Torbert.

“That’s right,” said Jaasin.  “We have nothing to penetrate the power shield.”

“It cannot be made permanent,” said Carlyn.

“In other words it lasts only a certain length of time,” added Cedric.

Jon turned to Cedric,  “We would then need at least two power shields for each building it we were to continue to protect them for a long length of time.”

“Yes, Dad,” answered Cedric,  “but we could easily do that with the capabilities we now have.”

“Do we have the knowledge to build a device that could explode incoming rockets or bombs in mid air?” asked Kaze.

“I think we do,” said Jaasin,  “but we would have to place them outside of the power shields.”

“Are you building power shields into the space crafts?”  Karylyn inquired with a smile.

“Yes, Mom,” said Kaze,  “and anti-gravity devices also.”

“Are our paranoia’s showing?” asked Jon.  There was general silence, then everyone started to laugh.  Then Jon continued,  “Although I think we should take certain precautions, we should also guard against continually peering into the shadows fearfully.” 

That brought a moment of thoughtful silence to the group.

“That is a good thought, Dad,” Shari said.  “If we keep harping on this, our thinking might be colored by it.”

“You’re right, Sis, but we do have to recognize there might be problems in the future.  It is best to be prepared for them.” Kaze said.

“Just let us not become over prepared,” added Karylyn.  “Our first priority is still the job we accepted.”

“Let us put into operation those protections we have discussed,” said Jon.  “Then let us get on with our first order of business.  We still have a long, long way to go.”

“But let us make haste, slowly,” commented Maarlyn.

The next year was a very busy one.  With the dissemination of a number of products they had built and tested, it became easier for the family to get material into the ranch.  Everyone knew they had built an experimental aircraft.  The people knew the background of the members of the family.  It was not thought surprising, with the new information that was being discovered and disseminated to everyone, members of the family would be using the ranch to build and test some new things the family could form a company to manufacture.  This proved to be a good smoke screen for a while.  It allowed them to accumulate the materials needed to build the two spacecrafts.  They had also built a small one to carry only two people.  This they were able to test.  They had been able to alter the technology of the power shield to make it absorb radar signals.  This allowed them to test the craft without detection at night.

By Christmas of the second year, the family figured they had successfully disseminated about half the knowledge they had received.  When the family gathered for Thanksgiving, they had been able to test the smaller of the large spacecrafts in the middle of a blizzard that tied up that whole section or the country.  It had been a highly successful test.  Using their highly advanced computers, and the information from the test, they were sure they could successfully finish building the larger spacecraft.

  This Christmas, the family had decided to put all work on hold and just enjoy the week together.  They all arrived in time, before they were snowed in by another big snow storm.  The last couple barely made it in.  They all arrived by Friday evening.  Christmas fell on Sunday.  Christmas Eve and Christmas day was peaceful and pleasant.  They were able to a lot of catching up on each other’s lives outside their combined project.

“We were wondering if we had aroused some suspicion about three weeks ago,” said Terreza.  “The FBI paid us a visit and were asking questions of quite a few of us.  Apparently they were investigating one of our associates in China.”

“The CIA came in and talked to me about my trip to the Middle East a month ago,” said Cedric.  “However that is a common occurrence when any of us visit certain areas of the world.”

“Has any of them commented about the explosion of information while they were pursuing their investigation?”  Jon asked them.

“I don’t know if it is a smokescreen or not, but the government officials who I have talked to all figure it is too widespread to be coming from any one source,” said Kaze.

Carlyn told them, “Cedric and I think we have discovered a way to make it appear it is coming from a number of third world countries.  We figured that if we could accomplish that it would throw suspicion away from anyone in our country.  That would buy us additional time.”

“I am sure we are not in any imminent danger of being discovered for quite some time,” said Karylyn,  “so let’s enjoy this week and then set a time for us to get together again in early March.  Before that time we can all evaluate the reading we get on any serious line of investigation.”

“For the time, Mom, I think none of the agencies quite know what they are investigating,” Kaze told his mother.  “There are no laws against the dissemination of scientific information.  Practically everything we have disseminated would fall under that general classification.”

“The problem is, brother,” said Shari,  “that all the information has been very, very advanced information.  This is what everyone undoubtedly is questioning.  Where did this information suddenly come from, and why is it being so widely distributed.”

“So the conspiracy scenario raises its ugly head, and it has officials all over the world very uneasy,” said Maarlyn.

“But what conspiracy for what reason?  Everyone is getting the same information,” Jaasin joined in.

“That is what has them so uneasy.  It’s unnationalistic,” Jon said.  “Now let’s change the subject and get to enjoying our enforced togetherness.”

The mood became much lighter and continued on through the rest of the week.  The latter part of the week, they were able to get out and enjoy some winter outdoor activity.  In fact, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s day the weather turned almost balmy.  They were all able to get on their way home after setting the second week in March for their next meeting together.

It was the second week in February that Jon and Karylyn got a visit from some officials from Washington.  Two were friends of Jon and two of Karylyn.  All of them were top scientists and engineers.

One of them said to Jon,  “I understand your son was very interested in the plane the Air Force discovered landed in the desert.”

“Both Kaze and his wife were very interested because according to information he got later, the plane had components that were much more advanced than some components they had been able to include in their experimental aircraft.  Naturally they were curious where the information came from and who did the research.  They would like to find out if it would be possible to get together with those people,” Jon answered.

Karylyn spoke up,  “Dr. Gooding swears that the information is so advanced it could only come from someone from another, much more advanced world.  But then who built the aircraft?”

Another one of the visitors said,  “Although the information needed to put the plane together is way beyond any of us has ever heard of, we are sure the plane was put together here.”

“What you are saying,” said Jon,  “is that some one on our earth must have been given that information.”

“We don’t believe there are any extraterrestrial visitors among us,” said another visitor.  Karylyn started to laugh.

“You aren’t a believer in UFO’s?

“Let me say that I have yet to see any real scientific proof.”  Then the official added,  “However I am one of those who believes there are other intelligent beings out there.

“If there are no confirmations of UFO’s, then how would some one on this earth receive that very advanced information?” asked Karylyn.

“That is what has been bothering us, along with why would that information be given to someone on earth?” answered the official.

“We haven’t been following it that closely, but isn’t it true most of the information has been distributed worldwide?” said Jon.

“That is what is even more perplexing.  Actually all of the information has been disseminated world-wide and almost at the same time,” said another of the group.

“Is that illegal in the United States?  I assume that there are some countries that it might be,” said Karylyn.

Two of the officials laughed.  “That is what is bugging some Senators and Representatives as well as some Cabinet officers.  The legal experts are telling them it is not.”

Karylyn looked at them,  “Is everyone assuming that the information is coming from someone in the United States.  Isn’t that being a little presumptuous?”

“You hit the nail right on the head, Dr. Tortec.  We have not been able to discover where that information is originating.”

“Are you sure it is originating from one place?  Couldn’t it be originating from some organization?” asked Karylyn.

“It is possible,” was the answer,  “but usually in an organization there is a weak link.  We have seen no evidence of a weak link.  To answer your first question, the information doesn’t seem to come from one source.  That could be on purpose.”

“Are you saying that it is not coming from one geographical location, but it still might be coming from one source?” asked Jon.

“That is right, Dr. Tellerant.  It has not come from one geographical source.  In fact, in some instances there is no clue as to where it came from.  It just appeared in somebody’s data bank.”

“The information source couldn’t be traced?” asked Karylyn incredulously.

“The person or persons have some extremely advanced information to work with, and we suspect some powerful, very advanced computers,” was the chagrined answer.

“At least they seem to be benign,” Jon said.

“So far that is true.”

“Is there a possibility that will change in the future?”  Karylyn asked.

“At the present time, most of us do not think so.  However, we are all realists.  We would like to solve the mystery before there is a change.”

Another official picked up the conversation,  “That is why we came out to see if you had any information, or any theory that might be helpful.”

Karylyn shook her head thoughtfully,  “I really would like to meet the person or persons to find out where they got this information.  From our information it has all proved out to be true.”

“Oh it has all been scientifically sound information.  No one has been able to prove it wrong so far.  Plenty have tried.”

“I’m afraid, as Karylyn has indicated, we are as completely in the dark as you are.  Maybe more so,” said Jon.  “Kaze and Maarlyn felt like they had been wasting their time, when they got the information on the aircraft so much more advanced and sophisticated than their experimental one.”

“I suppose that really was a jolt, especially to two who are so highly regarded in their field,” one of the officials said.

Karylyn invited the group to stay over at their place, but the group said they would be getting back into town.  They had a plane waiting for them.  They did ask to see Jon and Karylyn’s computer set up.  Jon explained they had altered the basic computer they purchased to make it much faster and more sophisticated.  Karylyn said they were going to use some of the information, now out there, to upgrade their computers some more.

One of the officials smiled,  “As long as it is there we might as well make full use of it.”

They then took their leave and headed for town.  Jon and Karylyn stood in the doorway and watched them depart.

“Do you think they had any suspicions, Jon?”

“No, dear wife, I think it was just a fishing expedition.  They were just trying to cover all possible bases, even if they figured in advance nothing would be learned.”

“Do you think they bought the story on Kaze’s and Maarlyn’s plane?

“Actually, Karylyn, that probably convinced them, our family couldn’t be involved in anyway.”

Jon’s analysis of the situation was right on target.  The group had been convinced this visit would just be a pleasant chance to exchange pleasantries with some old highly regarded friends.  They were convinced Kaze and Maarlyn would never have built their aircraft if they had the information used to build that far more advanced plane.  Both Jon and Karylyn knew that there probably were other individuals that would look on that as a very nice smokescreen.  They could never let their guard down.  It was obvious to them from this visit, government officials were determined to learn who had all this advanced information and why they were disseminating it to everyone worldwide and not keeping it within the country.  Fortunes could be made with this information.  They would prefer to see, that the fortunes would be made by citizens, of  their country.  They saw no reason it should be spread around the world.  That only increased the competition.  Although this group admitted they didn’t know from where the information was coming, it was obvious official thinking was that it had to be from inside the United States.  Perhaps if Cedric and Carlyn could accomplish what they thought they could, it would shake that thinking to the very core.  That would confuse government officials even more.  It could sharply divide thinking on this situation.  That could prove very helpful.

A few days later, Jon got in touch with the rest of the family to inform them of the visit of the government officials.  He also gave them their analysis of the reason and the result of the visit.  Both he and Karylyn warned the rest of them that these people had been old friends.  Another group might not come away with the same impression.  They still had to keep their guards up.  Karylyn asked Cedric and Carlyn if they had developed their idea any farther.  Cedric told her they had, and they were now, more sure than ever, it would work.  After a consultation with the rest of the family, Cedric and Carlyn were given the go ahead.  The originating points and the particular information was decided upon.  They then set the times for the release of the information.

Cedric and Carlyn were able to have the information disseminated practically simultaneously.  They figured this would confuse the investigators completely.  This would also suggest that it was some kind of organization involved.  Jon realized that some would follow this thinking eventually back to a family group.  He figured that might take quite a long time to finally work out to that point.  In the following months, reports coming back to the various members of the family, indicated they were right in their assessment of the situation.  Rumors began to abound, it was suspected some organization was disseminating this very advanced scientific and engineering information.  There were even some suggestions that the organizations headquarters could be somewhere in Europe.  When the question was raised about the fact the plane was landed in the American desert, some explained this as a kind of red herring to confuse any investigation.  Enough were buying this thinking, so confusion reigned.  This is the result for which the family had been hoping.  The family had been able to buy a little more time.  They were hoping to get all of the information disseminated before anyone got suspicious of them.  Then no one could trace it back to them.  They could innocently begin to use the information that had been widely disseminated.  They would make sure they would do this in a way that would look completely natural and which would not arouse anyone’s suspicions.

With certain information already disseminated worldwide, the family had been able, to start up several small, high tech companies in the fields of expertise of members of the family.  This was viewed as a natural thing, which did not cast suspicions on the family.  Everyone else was trying to take advantage of this very advanced information.  It was also natural that they would do so.  Not to do so would arouse suspicion.

As the year went on, Jon and Karylyn began to struggle with what to do about the technology of the spacecraft and the power shield.  The construction technology that allowed them to build the construction shelter, inside of the mountain, could be disseminated.  They planned to wait with that until the last.

Kaze and Maarlyn argued that the technology for the spacecraft, or at least the major part of it, could be released worldwide after they had released everything else.  It was absolutely imperative that this be disseminated worldwide practically simultaneously.  That way it might force countries to cooperate to explore space.  Cedric and Karlyn both said that the power shield would have to remain a family secret as far as they could see.  There was too great a danger it might be used to the detriment of the general public.  After a lot of discussion, it was agreed the spacecraft technology would be released as suggested.  There was immediate unanimous agreement regarding the power shield.  They also agreed, after extensive discussion, that they would retain the top level of computer technology for their own personal computers.  All the rest of the technology would be disseminated.  Jon now figured they could disseminate the rest of the information they received within the following year.  Then they could disseminate the spacecraft technology.

Within the next year, several other members of the family had discussions with government officials about how this extremely advanced information was being distributed.  It was apparent that because members of their family were so highly regarded in a variety of scientific and engineering fields, they might have some idea as to the possible organization involved.  The family members asked enough questions to actually further confuse the issue.  At the same time they claimed they would be very interested to get together with members of that organization.  It would be interesting to find out where or how they got that very advanced information.  They all knew, it might not be bought by every one, of the officials.  However, they could keep the investigators unsure enough, so no one would be willing to consider investigating the family.

As that year drew to a close, Jon and Karylyn as well as the rest of their family, were looking forward to completing their task.  It had been a very trying time for everyone.  Because the family was a close knit group, they were able help each other to work out the tensions.  It apparently was not noticeable to any of their friends and fellow professionals.  At least as far as they could determine.  None of them were particularly targeted by any of the investigating organizations.  Karylyn reminded them that might not mean anything.

They had finally disseminated all of the information but that dealing with the spacecraft and the machine they used to excavate the mountain.  They had been able to complete and test the two small spacecraft without arousing any suspicions.  They figured they could order the material supposedly to build a spacecraft once the design information was disseminated.  Then they would have several months to supposedly build it.  After that they would be able to fly it.  They would be expected to try to build one.  After all, Dr. Tortec had headed up a space-engineering research firm and her son and daughter-in-law were aeronautical/space engineers.

They set a meeting for the family for Thanksgiving week.  This would be a very legitimate reason for the family to get together.  They had been meeting at the ranch for Thanksgiving since Jon and Karylyn had bought the ranch.  They were going to release the information on the spacecraft and the machine simultaneously, the weekend just before the members of the family left for the ranch.  It would be released worldwide from a number of different points.  Supposedly the members of the family would be en route at the time the information was being disseminated.  They figured this would give all of them a solid and very legitimate alibi.  Jon knew that any information now sent out from the ranch was being monitored.  Jon and Karylyn had friends in very high places.  This information had been leaked to them.  They had expected this.  No discernible signals would emanate from the ranch.  Jon and Karylyn had arranged to be very visible shopping and visiting friends in a city some hundred miles away that weekend.  This would give them a very solid alibi.  They would arrive back at the ranch late Sunday night.

The family started arriving the Monday morning before Thanksgiving.  They had all arranged to stop and visit very specific friends on the way.   They had all arrived by the time that Jon got a call from a close friend in Washington D.C.  “Jon,” the caller said,  “We are getting information from a number of sources that information has been disseminated on the design of a very advanced spacecraft.” 

“We’ve been away from the ranch until late last night,” Jon replied,  “What does it look like?  Have you seen the information?”  Then he added,  “Kaze and Maarlyn would like to see it.  To whom is it being disseminated?”

There was a laugh at the other end of the line,  “To everyone who would possibly be interested in it, according to our information.”

Karylyn had gotten on the line when Jon signaled her to do so.  “Any possibility that we could get a consortium of nations to cooperate to do some serious space exploration?”  Then she added,  “I assume like much of the other information that has been disseminated, it is scientifically sound.”

The person on the other end of the line said,  “Early indications are that it has our experts very excited.”

Jon indicated to Kaze that he get on the line also. 

“What is the possibility of our getting hold of that information.  We’d love to try to build a prototype spacecraft,” Kaze broke in with.

The voice said,  “I thought you might have received that information already.”

“We’ve been traveling all weekend.  We weren’t expecting anything like this to break.”  Then he added,  “We weren’t expecting something like this to break up our family Thanksgiving get together.”

“It looks like it is going to break up my family Thanksgiving get together,” the voice said,  “Misery likes company.  Actually I just thought all of you would like to know.”

Jon broke in,  “We really appreciate your clueing us in.  Was anyone able to get any fix on where the information was coming from?”

“It came from multiple sources again.  It was simultaneous transmission.  We think we will find out that those multiple sources know nothing about the transmissions supposedly coming from their location.  Whoever is doing it has highly sophisticated equipment.”

“Isn’t that a given?” asked Jon.  “They must have gotten that along with all the rest of the information they have been spreading about.”

“Given that whoever this is, had this information already, couldn’t they have simply built on it?” asked Karylyn.

“That is a very good possibility,” was the answer,  “What you are saying is that they are already ahead of us.  But that leads to the possibility that they haven’t really distributed the most advanced information.”

“Do you think that is a possibility?” asked Jon.

“Most of us don’t think so.  We believe that they are providing all the information they received,” the person said.  “However there is a possibility that they are building on that information themselves.”

“Wouldn’t you?” said Karylyn.

The person on the phone laughed,  “I probably would.  However, I might not be passing the information around.”

“Have any of you ever thought that it was the only way they could receive that extremely advanced information,” asked Kaze.  “That might have been part of the deal.”

“You mean the organization had to commit to disseminating the information worldwide before they were provided with the information?”  Kaze was asked.  “That has been discussed.  Some officials would just as soon ignore that possibility.”

This Thanksgiving Day was a rather quiet one.  The family had completed the dissemination of all the information they dared.  They knew they might not be in the clear as far as certain high government officials were concerned.  With no more information being disseminated, they hoped the furor would die down.  Jon and Karylyn were sure the investigation to find out who had been sending out this information would be continued.

“At least we fulfilled our agreement,” said Torbert,   “without being arrested and prevented from completing our task.”

“Yes,” said Shari,  “that we can be proud of.  What is the chance that they will trace it back to us, and how long would it take?”

Karylyn said,  “We really don’t know if they even suspect we are the source.  The thing is, we can’t ever leave our guard down.  One mistake and they’d down on us like vultures.”

“You make them sound awful, mother,” Shari said.  “We didn’t violate any laws.”

“They could stretch a point and say we violated security by providing sensitive information to the wrong people,” Jon told them.

“But none of the information was classified.  No one else knew it existed.  It was not information obtained from our government.  That wouldn’t hold up in court,” Kaze said.

Terreza looked at Kaze,  “Wouldn’t that depend upon what court.  Also, how do you know it would even be handled in court.”

“You mean a kind of kangaroo court?” laughed Carlyn.  “I think we’re getting too wrapped up in this.  As long as we stick to a common story, it would be very hard to trace anything to us.  Especially now that we won’t be sending out anymore information.”

Cedric broke in with,  “We are going to be careful in putting the information to use ourselves for a time.  With our connections we would be expected to get all of it eventually,”

“Are you saying we can’t use it to build on?” asked Torbert.

“I don’t think Cedric was implying that,” said Jon.  “He meant we couldn’t come out in the open with advancements until a reasonable time has gone by after the time the information was spread around.”

Maarlyn said,  “Some of the information we can already use openly because it has been around for a while.  We just have to be sure we remember the dates we sent certain information out.”

Karylyn said,  “Just be sure none of those date are recorded where someone else can access them.  Unless you can prove those dates came from some official source.”

“Actually,” said Kaze,  “that should be easy.  The media has been recording that information since the beginning.”

“That’s true,” said Jaasin.  “I have a colleague who has been compiling that, with the media source.  I can express an interest and he will be glad and furnish me a copy.  I could then send each of you one with a note as to who compiled it.  It would be of interest to us, because we have been contacted on these things by government officials.  It would only be obvious that we would get this information for our protection from being charged with something we didn’t do.”

That discussion dragged on for a while.  Then everyone started discussing what the family should do the rest of the weekend.  None of the family was going to start leaving until sometime on Monday.  It actually was a very relaxed time for the rest of the week.  They got outside to do a number of things together.  For the moment they forgot about the furor they had caused worldwide.  The family planned to disassemble the network they had created to disseminate the information.  The large spacecraft sat inside the mountain ready to fly when it was safe to do so, or if it was needed.  They planned to get the material to build a small spacecraft sent to the ranch.  Then within a reasonable time they would move the craft they already had tested into the hanger.  The material would be moved into the mountain.  Kaze and Maarlyn would use this to build one of more advanced design.  They had already been working on the design for this craft, using their tests of the other one.  They had perfected robots to do most of the work.

Monday they made sure there was nothing at the ranch that might be suspicious.  The entrance to the mountain workshop was securely hidden.  They had moved the main computers containing all of the original material into the mountain.  The computers at the main house contained only that information they would have been able to obtain from the worldwide dissemination of the information.  It even contained notes from various members of the family as to when and from whom it was obtained.  They figured they were now ready in case someone decided to investigate them.

“Do you think they’ll buy it?” asked Terreza.

“Enough so it will keep them from zeroing in on this family, or its various members,” answered Jon.

It wasn’t until two months later that a group of high government agency officials came armed with a search warrant.  Some of them were somewhat apologetic about doing this.  Jon and Karylyn cooperated fully.  They just stuck their heads into the attic.  It had piles of insulation.  What they didn’t see was a satellite dish pointed straight upwards concealed within a pile of insulation.  This had been used to beam information to a tiny automated spacecraft far above which then sent it out to various other points around the world.  They had left that in place so they could communicate quickly and secretly with the other members of the family in case of an emergency.  The group did a very thorough search but turned up nothing suspicious.  Several officials again apologized and obviously gave a sigh of relief that nothing was discovered to implicate their friends.  Karylyn even provided them lunch, although she told Jon she drew the line at providing them dinner.  Jon laughed afterward at this comment of hers.  The next morning they clued the rest of the family in on what had happened.  They all had anticipated this.

Kaze and Maarlyn were visited separately.  The focus on discussions with them was on the spacecraft.  They both told the same story with some slight variations reflecting their different approach to things.  They both said they were anxious to try to build such a craft.  They would probably try it out at the ranch, which had the hanger in which they built their experimental aircraft.  They figured the robots they used to build the aircraft, with some refitting would handle the work of building the spacecraft.

Both got the impression they passed inspection.  They decided they would not take that for granted.  They would continue to keep their guard up.

Within the next month all of the various members of the family were visited by investigating officials.  They told basically the same story with their own peculiar twist.  All said they would really be interested in finding out where the information came from.  All of them cooperated fully, at least as far as any of the officials could determine.

It was obvious the investigators were completely frustrated.  The trail was getting cold.  No new information was being disseminated.  They were not able to pin down, from where geographically the information had come.  They were sure that some top scientific and engineering minds had to be involved.  Of course there were some that hinted they might be involved.  Many of these were not even considered seriously.  Some, however, were being thoroughly investigated. 

By spring the story no longer made national headlines.  A couple of shadowy organizations claimed credit and had their fifteen minutes of fame.  Jon was asked about two of the organizations.  “In your opinion, Jon,” a friend in Washington asked,  “Could either of these organizations be involved.”

“I would doubt it,” said Jon,  “I don’t think they have the people with the necessary technical expertise, and I cannot conceive how this would serve to disrupt the operation of any of the great powers.  The spreading of this information for use worldwide is a benign operation.  That’s not in keeping with the aim of these organizations.”

“That was my first thoughts,” Jon’s friend said.  “I thought I would get your thoughts on this.”

After getting off the phone Jon turned to Karylyn, who had been listening in,  “That was a little testing to see if I would suggest the organizations could be involved.”

“In order to keep them from continuing to check on us?”  Karylyn inquired.

“That I think is their line of thinking.  I’m afraid I disappointed them.”

“Yes,” said Karylyn thoughtfully,  “we must make sure any red herrings we throw should be very legitimate red herrings.”

“I think we have accomplished that so far.”  They both kind of chuckled at that thought.

By the first part of summer, the material needed to build a spacecraft according to the design distributed, had all been delivered to the ranch.  The robots were altered to fit the design of those inside the mountain, which had built the other spacecrafts.  Kaze and Maarlyn had altered the design of the craft to reflect the result of the tests on the original spacecraft.  They decided to build this one a little larger than the first medium sized craft.  With Karylyn, they worked out their reasons for the changes including the change in size.  This proved to be a very good idea.  They had a number of official and unofficial visits that summer as they were working on the building of the craft.  The design plans these people saw did not contain all of the equipment that would go into the finished craft.  This could not be detected from the design plans they saw.

Kaze and Maarlyn were able to complete the craft by late fall.  It was to be tested out at the family’s Thanksgiving get together.  The differences in the one they had originally built and the one they had just finished were not noticeable except possibly close up by an expert.  Therefore they figured they could fly both craft as long as they didn’t fly them together.  They also decided to try the large spacecraft late Thanksgiving night.  They would activate the power shield to escape radar detection.  They did not intend to do this with the other two.  It was known they were planning to test the craft this week.  They actually wanted the flight of the craft to be detected.  They wanted to make sure they were seen as acting like they had nothing to hide.  They intended to fly one of the spacecraft, during the day, and the other at night.  This would be natural to test out all of the advanced features of the craft.  Of course, no one would know that these were not the same craft.  Actually in the process of building the second craft they were able to learn some things they used to alter the first one and make it a much more advanced craft.  That one they would keep stored in the secret mountain hanger.

Late Thanksgiving night they took off in the large spacecraft with the power shield on.  They hurtled into space to give it a good test.  It performed practically perfectly and they were able to come back and into the mountain hanger before dawn.  They decided to provision it for a very protracted flight.  They had been able to build capabilities for surviving over long extended trips into this large spacecraft.  This was some of the very, very advanced information they had been given surreptitiously by some members of the space visitors.

The family had been discussing the possibilities of taking an extended trip into space with this large craft.  They hadn’t figured out quite how they would work this without arousing suspicion.  They knew the investigation was continuing as to where all this very advanced information had come from.  Also the investigators wanted to know why it was disseminated worldwide.  Some officials had not eliminated members of the family as suspects.  They were too highly regarded in too many scientific fields.  They would have a good background for understanding this very advanced information.  It was also well known that they were a very close knit family.  So far that is all that could be found to point to them as the source of this information.  This was a little too far of a reach so far.

Jon and Karylyn were hoping that with no more information being disseminated, the investigation would die from lack of reason to be continued.  They and the rest of the family figured it probably would take years before it would be completely closed.  They were being very careful to visibly use only the information that had been public knowledge for sometime.  In their particular field, they aggressively pursued that knowledge and put it to use as soon as possible.  This would be considered a natural thing.  To not do that would be suspicious.  They had to walk a very tight line at least for the next couple of years.  However privately they were building on the knowledge they had received.  This material was stored only in the computer in the mountain.  It could be accessed only by a very involved series of codes and only by their very advanced computers.   These computers they were keeping under wraps. 

To further confuse the situation, Kaze and Maarlyn got together a group of their colleagues to design and build a more advanced design spacecraft, building on the information disseminated.  Because if would be designed and built by a consortium of experts, it would be looked on as a natural endeavor