Variations on Humanity

by Paul Eslinger

  “She… she was a cow,” replied a different voice. The AI immediately identified Martin’s voice.

  The sound of a shot rang out and Martin screamed in pain. His voice was hoarse, “I’ll kill you!”

  “You’re wrong,” Rucker replied. “I’m the one doing the killing today.” Another shot rang out.

  Martin’s next scream was louder. It continued for nearly twenty seconds before dying away. He took a shuddering breath and then screamed, “Die!”

  The body of the plane bulged and the windows blew out when a concealed explosive consumed air and spit back fire. The force of the explosion ruptured the fuel tanks. The demons of oxidation cackled with glee as a fireball consumed the plane and the nearby car.

  “Hold your positions,” Keene said in a steady voice. External sensors picked up the sound of distant sirens. He almost expected a flaming figure to jump through the door, but nothing human moved in the crackling inferno.

  “People are coming out of the hangers,” Rhona said.

  “Thanks,” Keene said. He considered the conditions inside the cabin of the destroyed plane. “Give it another ten seconds in case some pistol rounds are still intact.”

  “I see a fire truck,” Rhona added.

  “Let’s go,” Keene ordered. All four chariots pulled back slowly, staying clear of the boiling cloud of black smoke. Moments later, they rose higher, turned, and headed for Kansas.

  Keene didn’t speak for a while and then he rubbed his stomach. It felt like someone had tied his intestines into a knot. “That was justice, I suppose, in the manner both Rucker and Martin understood justice. Why don’t I feel better about it?”

  “I’ll have nightmares again,” Rhona said.

  “Me, too. I kept my word with Laura about active physical involvement, but I still feel sick.” Keene took a long breath of air and closed his eyes.

  Chapter 42 – Safety First

  “Did you check the news this morning?” Helen Pratt asked one morning when she sat down beside Rhona and Keene at breakfast.

  Rhona raised her coffee cup in a sloppy salute. “No. The night crew didn’t wake me with any emergencies. I’ll check after breakfast.”

  “Former Senator Parker’s treason trial starts today. The judge denied another request for a postponement so the defense could finish making preparations.”

  “It’s been a media feeding frenzy, so far.”

  “I agree,” Helen replied. “Very little they say is actually true.”

  “They’re selling advertising like crazy.”

  “That’s right. Brian made me watch some of the OJ Simpson trial footage while I was helping him prepare more information for the president’s legal team.”

  “What did you learn?”

  “The media will sensationalize anything and everything to increase their profit margin.”

  Rhona took a sip of coffee. “Has Brian made any predictions on the verdicts?”

  “He makes a different prediction every day. Just for fun, I’ve been tallying the yeas and nays. On average, he’s leaning a little on the side of conviction.” Helen grimaced. “I agree with his recommendation to the president to take the Senator to court first. If he gets off, the case unravels against his cronies.”

  “What about the trials for the military people?”

  “That’s entirely different. They don’t have to let the media cover the trials. The president instructed them to allow a different reporter, but just one, to attend every day. They can’t bring a camera or recording device.”

  “I was thinking about the verdict prediction, not the media.”

  Helen nodded. “Brian is predicting 99-1 odds that Breneman will be convicted. Dulcis is predicting 90-10.”

  “Why so high?”

  “Breneman made all the high-ranking military people look stupid with his attack on the first Abantu freighter. Brian thinks they would fry him because of that even with a lot less evidence on his plot to kill the president. Besides, most of them take their oath of office seriously.”

  Rhona finished an English muffin filled with cream cheese and wiped her mouth. She looked at Helen. “Are you going to the ground breaking today?”

  “Yep,” Helen replied. “I wouldn’t miss it. I’m planning on getting an apartment there.”

  The temperature was already warm under the ten o’clock sun when Rhona and Keene arrived at the work site east of 219 Road and south of Kansas 156. Laura had set aside a plot of land half a mile wide and a mile and a half long for residential development.

  Human cities would have used high rise apartments, but the Abantu built mostly underground. Thus, the planned twenty story complexes would have all the living spaces underground and common green spaces above ground. A network of corridors would connect all of the buildings underground.

  The construction activities had brought a large number of workers to Jetmore, but they would dissipate within a few years. However, Laura’s diverse plans required permanent workers. There was the new spaceport, a medical college, increased medicine production, and the list went on and on.

  Laura’s diamond engagement ring sparkled in the sunlight as she stepped on the ceremonial shovel and turned over a spade full of dirt. Brian Rodabaugh had taken the mental plunge after accepting longevity medical treatments from Laura, and he had proposed a week earlier.

  After the quick symbolic ceremony, Keene turned to Rhona. “What are your plans for the rest of the day?”

  “Something just came up and I’m going to visit Elaine. I can either come back late tonight or stay over until tomorrow.”

  Keene looked at Rhona with raised eyebrows without saying anything.

  “Okay, okay.” Rhona laughed. “Elaine met a new guy Dulcis approves of. She wants me to meet him as well.”

  “She could just have him visit here.”

  “I know. However, she hasn’t yet told him of her connection with the Abantu. I’m going. Elaine is in Canton this week trying to determine if she should locate her new engineering company close to the metal manufacturing plant Laura is activating. She’s staying in a B&B with one of Craig’s girls and it has an open room. Actually, they also booked the other room, so it isn’t open. I can stay there.”

  “Ah,” Keene said while they walked back towards the road. “Craig told me he assigned four people to Canton for a few days. Laura is heading up there tomorrow.”

  “She didn’t tell me,” Rhona said.

  “She barely tells me,” Keene grumped.

  Surprisingly, security needs had lessened over the last few months. The people on the street didn’t care that a few Abantu lived on Earth. In fact, public opinion had swing totally the other way around. Judith and Charles had already sold over a billion sets of longevity medicine and the dramatic results matched those of the test individuals in nursing homes. Many people were willing to rat on dissenters who stood in the way of them getting a treatment for themselves.

  Keene had confided to Rhona that he believed the current lull in security needs was just a lull. He and Craig now had twenty-three security operatives, but several on their initial recruitment list had turned them down.

  There was no reason to rush, so Rhona arrived in the Canton area in a chariot piloted by Helen three hours later. Once there, Helen dropped a pilentum in a decrepit parking lot behind an abandoned building. Rhona waved as the chariot lifted off and disappeared behind the cloaking field. Her onboard sensors revealed two stray dogs but no human observers as she headed out towards the street.

  The onboard AI did the driving, so Rhona had time to look around on the five-mile drive to the B&B. The town looked like Rhona’s hometown of Hillsboro, Ohio. The town was bustling with life, but prosperity had fled the region.

  Elaine emerged from the two-story older brick house and trotted down the sidewalk when Rhona parked the pilentum behind the
pilentum already there. “It’s good to see you,” Elaine said.

  “It was a quiet trip,” Rhona said while she returned Elaine’s quick hug. “I spent part of the time watching news clips and part of the time reading journal articles.”

  Elaine frowned, “Really?”

  Rhona threw up one hand. Her other one clutched an overnight bag. “I understand American culture, but not other cultures. I’m trying to learn something about what makes people respond the way they do.”

  “Never mind what I was doing,” Rhona continued. “How did you meet this guy, Ivan Oswald?”

  Elaine’s face brightened. “Dulcis has already done a market survey and suggested a location we can purchase for my new company research headquarters. I came in person to check it out.”

  “Yes?” Rona prompted.

  “A couple of days ago, Dulcis suggested I try a food cart when I was downtown at noon. She didn’t give me a reason. I started talking to a guy waiting in line. He seemed pleasant and said he ate there most days. After lunch, I started checking on him. He’s single; widowed, actually. He has a Karthi Index of 9.951.”

  “I suppose you went back there for lunch the next day.”

  “Of course.” Elaine smiled. “We ate lunch together sitting on a sidewalk bench. He suggested we meet again just as it started to rain.”

  By this time, they were inside and Rhona followed Elaine up a flight of stairs. “Did Dulcis orchestrate the first meeting?”

  Elaine turned and looked back. One of her eyebrows rose. “Dulcis?”

  “Dulcis is actively compiling Karthi index scores, but it seems contrived for her to direct you to a particular food cart at a particular time without an ulterior motive.”

  “You know,” Elaine sputtered. “I don’t care. Dulcis can find much better personality matches than websites like eHarmony ever did.”

  Rhona looked in the room Elaine pointed out and dropped her bag on the floor. “This looks fine. How long until dinner?”

  “We have three hours. What do you want to do until then?”

  A tour of the town and some shopping consumed time at an unreasonable pace but Rhona and Elaine still arrived at the quiet moderately-priced restaurant five minutes before the appointed time. Elaine led the way inside the restaurant and immediately veered towards the man standing at one side of the entryway. “Hello, Ivan.”

  “Hi, Elaine.” Ivan greeted Elaine with a smile and looked at Rhona. His smile faded when he nodded at Rhona.

  Elaine turned slightly, displaying her perfect profile in a new dress. “This is my friend Rhona Finch. I hope you don’t mind if she eats with us.”

  “That would be great,” Ivan said. His frown cleared and he raised one hand and pointed at Rhona. “I’ve seen you before. You posed with President Leek at your wedding. You work…”

  Rhona smiled and interrupted when the hostess moved in their direction. “That’s right. I’m here on other business and Elaine invited me to dinner.”

  After the hostess showed them to a table, Ivan looked over his menu at Elaine. “So, how did you meet Rhona?”

  “I worked for her for a while in Rapid City as a dental technician.” Elaine gestured at Rhona. “We now work for the same employer.”

  Ivan rubbed his chin. “You said something earlier about doing a market survey. Were you…”

  “It was the truth. I’m looking for a place to locate the research arm for a new company.”

  Ivan laid down his menu with a bleak expression on his face. “I worked for a small consulting company that could have helped with your market survey.”

  “Worked–as in past tense?” Elaine asked.

  He nodded. “A bigger company bought us out a week ago. Half of our office got pink slips today–me included.”

  Elaine glanced at Rhona and correctly interpreted her expression. She turned back to Ivan. “Tell me about yourself.”

  “I was born in Columbus and lived there most of my life. I earned a Ph.D. in Statistics at Ohio State and started work at a consulting company. Consulting pays well, but jobs and companies tend to be transitory. I married while in college and we had two wonderful children.”

  He paused and a painful look crossed his face. “Four years ago, Grace and both kids were killed while driving home from preschool. A drunk driver…”

  “I’m sorry,” Elaine said and placed her hand on his.

  “You don’t need to share my grief,” he said gruffly. He looked at Elaine’s hand and sat quietly for long moments before moving enough to break the contact. “Although I am a statistician, almost all of my work has been on economic issues.”

  “Interesting,” Rhona said to keep the conversation moving.

  “My company management was blind,” Ivan said.

  “In what sense?” Elaine asked.

  “You should know,” Ivan said while he looked back and forth between the two good looking women. “You work for the people–the Abantu–that developed longevity medicine. No one seems to understand the immense societal changes coming as old people who are young again rejoin the workforce. Oh, a couple of financial analysts are sputtering that pension plans are dead or will run out of money, but they had been on the way out for the last twenty years.”

  Elaine nodded. “Yes, big changes are coming. You mentioned old people, but the medical industry will contract greatly. There will still be a need for trauma care and obstetricians. If I am successful, there will be less need for trauma care.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  “I want to make transportation safer–and I will because Laura is backing my new company.” Elaine patted Ivan’s hand again. “People shouldn’t have to suffer the grief you suffered because of a car wreck.”

  “How will you make it safer?”

  Elaine held up three fingers. “By implementing smart traffic control systems, building advanced safety systems, and improving equipment reliability.”

  He raised one eyebrow. “How will you do that?”

  “Let me pose a different question. How would you like to work for me and help make it happen?”

  “You’d hire me just like that?” Ivan asked. “What about an interview process?”

  “Just like that,” Elaine replied with a bright smile. “Even though we didn’t tell you in advance, this meeting was part of the interview process. We already checked your background and our people have skimmed through all of the papers and reports you have written.” She raised one finger and both eyebrows, “are you still interested?”

  “Of course, I’m interested,” he replied quickly. “Tell me a little more about what I would be doing.”

  Chapter 43 – Pregnant Plans

  Rhona woke before the alarm went off and snuggled against Keene. Married life was better than she had expected–it was like a dream come true. Surely, there would be rough times between them, but they were still in the future.

  Her movement woke Keene. He turned and wrapped his arm around her. Soon, they were both awake–and actively enjoying being in bed together.

  Rhona laughed and threw aside the covers when the alarm began playing Puff the Magic Dragon. “I get the bathroom first.” Her legs were moving almost before her mind gave them the order.

  The cafeteria only served hot food for half an hour at breakfast, so everyone showed up at the same time. Rhona slid her tray on a table beside Beverly and sat down. “How are you doing today?”

  “I’m doing well,” Beverly replied while she patted her gravid belly. She had just started her third trimester. “However, I eat less than I used to.”

  Rhona studied Beverly for a few moments. She looked eighteen rather than sixty-one. Her wavy brown hair was so dark it was almost black. “You’re doing well with the pregnancy.”

  “I am,” Beverly responded. “Nanda takes good care of us.”

 
“Yeah,” Rhona replied. She hadn’t been that surprised when Diana confessed she was pregnant not long after the May Day party. After all, she had still been the age when conception was possible. Then, just a week ago, Rhona’s mother dropped the verbal bombshell that she was also pregnant.

  One of her favorite breakfast foods was a warm English muffin topped with strawberry flavored cream cheese. Rhona took a big bite and savored the flavor. The taste was phenomenal, but the bite seemed to weigh five pounds when it reached her stomach.

  “Good morning.” Karen Wahl said cheerfully when she joined them at the table. Her fiancé, Craig Anstow, was coming across the room, talking to Keene. Behind her, Rhona could see Diana and Orval.

  “Hi, Karen,” Rhona replied and then looked at Craig. “You got too much sun yesterday.”

  Craig tugged on one of his pink ears. “I left my hat behind when we put out more sensors. Nanda gave me some cream this morning. They’ll be totally healed by tomorrow.”

  “Just in time for the 4th of July Parade,” Keene chuckled.

  “Nanda also scolded me and showed me how to set the controls for my protective suit to screen out most of the UV light.”

  The light-hearted chatter continued through the half-hour meal. At the end, Rhona felt slightly queasy while she bussed her dishes.

  Keene looked at her as he set his tray down. “Are you okay?”

  “My stomach felt strange for a moment. It hasn’t been that way since I found you.”

  “Was it before?”

  Rhona shrugged. “I didn’t feel like eating much of the time I was looking for you. But, it was a little different than this.”

  He chuckled. “You were sitting by two pregnant women. Maybe it rubbed off on you.”

  “That’s not how…” Rhona began with a laugh. The laugh died away as she paused, rubbed her midsection, and then ran her fingers through her unruly curls. “Dulcis reminded me last week to ask Nanda for another contraceptive shot because mine was wearing off. How could I have forgotten?”