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
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