Generations

by Francis Rosenfeld

  "Why don't you come here and find out for yourself. Who's making the bread?" Seth asked.

  Sarah smiled in a daze and got up from her chair to check on the rising dough. She formed six boules, split the tops to allow them to rise and placed them in the oven. Seth nodded her head in disbelief.

  "Good heavens, if I didn't ask you we'd all be fasting tonight. Pay attention! It's a kitchen, not a chemistry lab, but still," she counseled in vain. Sarah was in a world of her own, still eight years old, hiding in the doorway between the kitchen and the herb garden and listening to the nuns talk about their day.

  "Mom, can I get some herbs for my room?" Sys asked.

  "Sure, honey, just get some fresh ones from the garden," she said, and watched um step out into the sunshine and bend over the herb bed with a graceful stance straight out of a medieval painting, its copper curls glowing like fire against its chocolate skin. "The more things change," Seth thought. A rambunctious group of children passed sister Joseph who was about to enter the kitchen and ran across the room with great noise to get to the beach through the garden.

  "Hey!" sister Joseph admonished, "How many times do I have to tell you not to use the kitchen as a shortcut to the playground? This is a prayer hall, not the monkey bars!" she tried to look outraged, but the kids were way out of sight by now, leaving echoes of their laughter between the stone walls and followed by Sys who completely forgot her herb project and joined them in their roughly planned adventure.

  Jesse, who was covering the back, hesitated, turned around, grabbed a honey chamomile cake, thought about it, then grabbed one more and rushed to catch up with the other children.

  "Good, you didn't forget dessert!" sister Joseph noticed, pleased. She grabbed a few honey chamomile cakes from the mounding pile in the middle of the table and started munching quietly.

  "Don't eat sweets before dinner, you'll ruin your appetite," sister Roberta commented, half-jokingly.

  "It's good you remember to tell me!" sister Joseph replied, outraged. "They don't have any schedule," she nodded towards the children who were almost out of sight, "if they were raised by wolves they'd have more structure in their lives." She paused, then continued. "Why don't you ask the sugar toy to make food and spare yourself the trouble?" she asked Sarah.

  "Oh, the bread is ready!" the latter snapped out of her unusual reverie and pulled the crispy boules out of the oven. The steamy aroma reached through the open window into the fields, calling out to the sisters more effectively than a dinner bell.

  "Mind the pot roast," said sister Joseph, and Sarah rushed to pull the main course out of the oven before it was too late.

  Sister Mary Francis had come into the kitchen unnoticed and was setting the table without noise, moving back and forth to bring the butter and the cheese and the fruit and the cucumber salad. The table filled with abundance, leaving just enough room for the main course platter.

  "And here I thought, silly me, that we took a vow of simplicity," sister Joseph gazed over the feast, secretly delighted. For all her harsh demeanor the sister didn't like sparseness and austerity and the communal meals, always lavish with warm bread and baked goods and platters of the vegetables and fruit they had grown themselves made her feel proud and fulfilled. It was the labor of their hands that made the dirt spring forth the abundance that was so unashamedly displayed for even the most common of meals.

  Slowly the sisters arrived, one by one drawn in by the smell of fresh baked bread and they all ate in silence, according to their custom.

  ***

  "Finally! You'd think we were recreating the known universe! Lay it over there," Seth gestured towards the table, irritated. Sister Roberta placed the VR compiler on the smooth wooden surface and pressed play. The large glazed hall disappeared and they found themselves in front of a planetary model with all the currents charted out. The transportation routes were outlined in lime green and electric blue.

  The StreamPath comprised about one tenth of the entire circulation system of the planet and was painstakingly interconnected, with access to each and every island. The paisley outlines of the land masses and the finely threaded web in between made the model look like old-fashioned openwork embroidery, in strange contrast to the advanced theoretical physics employed in developing it.

  "What is the maximum capacity of the system, sister?" Seth asked Roberta. The latter looked at her and by the surprise in her eyes the leader realized that she didn't consider this factor. The sister tried to answer but Seth stopped her with a hand gesture.

  "Evidently public transportation is only a small part of it, the whole point was to move freight with the least amount of effort. The thought never occurred to you?" she asked with an intense stare.

  Sister Roberta looked down in lieu of admitting she didn't think about it.

  "How long would it take to figure this out?" Seth asked with a tone that didn't leave room for excuse. "This project is taking way too long, I thought you had this figured out already, are we are all gathered here to watch you work?"

  The sister typed furiously some modifications to the equations and recompiled the model.

  "Assuming we work out the automatic jumps, and that should not be a problem with a few sensors, theoretically there is no limit to weight and volume. The inertia of each individual cargo would have to be calculated separately, of course, every gram counts at that speed."

  "Securing systems for moving cargo? I assume it gets knocked around at 560 mph," Seth continued her train of thought.

  "Of course, just like on any other ship," sister Roberta answered.

  "A barge doesn't travel at that speed. Any special requirements?" Seth insisted.

  "Nothing we can't figure out," sister Roberta spoke before she realized she was just pouring gas on an open flame. Seth said nothing but her eyes were throwing thunderbolts in all directions, making even Sarah look around for cover.

  "I was hoping you'd show me an already designed ship with all of these problems worked out, the velocities and shear strengths calculated and a working prototype ready for testing," Seth continued in an icy tone.

  "Why is she so upset?" Sarah thought, "if there is anything we have in abundance it's time." The leader glared briefly at her to signal she heard and disapproved.

  "So, assuming that everything will work as described, what are the next steps?" she asked sister Roberta.

  "We coordinated the hub locations with the other islands and as soon as the plans are finalized we send them the blueprints so they can start building. There is really not much in terms of construction, just a small receiving dock and an office for the distribution system," sister Roberta quickly answered.

  "Ok," Seth said. "Let's test it. Sister, can you model a barge and send it flying, so to speak?"

  Sister Roberta quickly reached into the library and found the full technical blueprints for a barge. She mirrored the hull and obtained something that looked like a giant metallic sausage.

  "That looks charming! What's the capacity?" asked sister Joseph.

  "40,000 tons," sister Roberta answered and entered a different program into the compiler. The room changed again and they found themselves on the beach, with the barge floating close to the shore.

  "How are we going to follow it, it's going to disappear from view in a few seconds?" asked sister Jesse.

  "I'll move the reference system with it, we'll stay at the distance we are now for the entire trip," sister Roberta answered.

  "What if it falls on my head during the jump? Do you know how far it's going to be carried by inertia?" sister Joseph mumbled, displeased.

  "That's what the calculations are for, I can drop it with a half inch accuracy," sister Roberta answered proudly.

  "Show off," sister Joseph thought to herself, but the very busy Roberta chose not to reply.

  "Ready? Here goes..." They all embarked on a very fast race, reached the transition point and jumped with the barge, slightly slanting to the side to compensate for the ce
ntripetal force. The barge settled steadily on the new course, giving them a little whiplash because of the change in speed, then zoomed through the waves and parked itself neatly next to a dock.

  "Wow, good thing it's made of metal," Seth commented, dizzy, "are you sure we didn't need protective gear for this?" she asked.

  "Yes, just give the grains inside your inner ear some time to settle down, it's like an amusement park movie ride, I deactivated most of the physical parameters to be on the safe side," sister Roberta answered.

  "So, how much time do you need to get the prototype to the other islands?" Seth pressed Roberta, who didn't answer, but frowned as her mind ran a few rough calculations for the timetable. "Just remember the last launch, you never think your work is ready," Seth insisted.

  Sister Roberta ended the program and they all found themselves in the glazed hall with stone floors. All around them the lush vegetation of Terra Two was basking in the warm light of two suns.

  "I can send the maps and public transit blueprints now so they can start construction on the receiving docks and follow up with the cargo ship parameters later," sister Roberta finally answered.

  The children were assembled behind the glass doors since it was almost time for class and were staring with enchanted curiosity at the sisters who disappeared and reappeared in the prayer room as Roberta kept switching between programs.

  "I wonder where they went," Jenna commented, curious.

  "I bet they're building a new shuttle, a much faster one, you know? To take us out there," Lily asked, pointing at the studded chocolate sky and following a dream in her mind.

  "You've already been out there," Jimmy said.

  "The out there we're not able to reach yet," Lily said. "You know, beyond the observable universe, and in real time, not in the past" she said, starry eyed.

  Seth and Roberta heard her through the interlink and felt like the completion of this major transportation project was such small potatoes compared to the expectations the children had of them. "Beyond the observable universe? Really? The children thought we could do that?!" Seth gasped in disbelief.

  "I guess now we have to," sister Roberta replied perfectly poised. If anybody else had made that comment Seth would have thought it a joke, but she knew Roberta meant it, in fact her face already had that detached look that accompanied her mental analysis.

  ***

  The problem of having too much free time never transpired while Sarah was growing up, back on Earth everybody was busy all the time and not being engaged in some sort of activity seemed suspect and sinful. As a child she was busy with school and the farm, early in her youth she was busy getting a degree, later on she was busy innovating in Perpignan and bringing life into the dirt of Terra Two. She wasn't busy anymore, for a long time now, and her well intentioned efforts seemed to be more of a hindrance than a worthwhile activity on their automated farm.

  In the strange eternity of Terra Two Sarah's life had remained frozen in that enthusiastic stretch of youth when one believes one has the duty to overcome every challenge in the world. Her emotional make-up predisposed her to daring and adventure and she felt whatever she did was not enough and the wondrous gift the immortals bestowed on her was worthy of so much more.

 

  It never occurred to the redhead that people were willing to travel twenty light years to visit her lab and that the concoctions that emerged from behind the louvered shutters would have earned her deference and authority from any prestigious university. After so many years of working with the sisters she finally realized their simple life was not a penance, but a gift: the gift of being unencumbered by ego, of allowing oneself to see life change, of doing things for the pure joy of doing them, of shunning the impossible.

  Between her chemistry lessons with the children, her experiments in the lab and her beloved herb garden Sarah was happy without even knowing it, in a way that only people who are not subjected to the tyranny of time can be. Life on Terra Two was beautiful indeed, not only because their little island was a lush vision of paradise, but because the people who were living on it made it so.

  Since she had asked the immortals about the meaning of life and found out they didn't know the answer either Sarah concluded it was a fool's errand to search for life's meaning and enjoyed living it instead.

  Chapter Eleven

  Of Mentoring

  Seth stopped in front of the door. Of all the activities she had ever been engaged in, and goodness knows there were many, mentoring children was the one she felt least qualified for. The leader was a very direct person and she carried this frankness into every relationship. This won her discontent from some and loyalty from others. The one thing she wasn't good at was the gentle handling of emotions, and in the case of children this was a task as delicate as dancing among ancient crystal shells.

  She gazed through the glass enclosure and saw Lily staring right at her, getting more and more tense because of the delay. Seth swallowed her misgivings and opened the door, with a severe stare in her eyes and the remnants of a frown on her forehead.

  Lily, who was born confident, didn't bat an eyelash and shuffled a little in her chair to find a more comfortable position. The girl rested her hands on the armrests, completely poised, and presented to the leader an open stance, with straightened relaxed shoulders and an upturned chin. She smiled and stared right back into Seth's eyes. The latter suppressed a pleased grin. "Good," she thought, "I won't have to teach her proper posture or coddle her insecurities, this might go well after all!" Sarah heard her through the interlink and offered a reproach but the leader ignored her.

  "So, they sent you to me for advice," Seth broke the ice.

  "Yes," Lily smiled broader. "Sarah thought you would be the best person to mentor me."

  "She didn't!" Seth was instantly infuriated and made a mental note to give the redhead a harsh talking to later for putting her on the hook. "Why do you think that is?" she asked Lily, with as much gentleness as she could muster through her emotional upset.

  "You are a great leader," the girl answered simply, with no intention to flatter.

  "Is that something you are interested in?" Seth continued.

  "I don't know, everybody says that's what I should do because I'm good at it," Lily said, with a hint of doubt in her voice.

  "I noticed," Seth bought herself some time. Everybody had noticed, Lily had the authority and daring of a general and the sisters wondered if they shouldn't funnel some of the activities that tended to be put off indefinitely to her, she seemed to be able to persuade the children to do almost anything. Seth frowned at the thought of 'anything', which tends to cover a lot of territory. She looked at Lily again. The girl didn't seem impressed by her own abilities, which was good in the sense that she wasn't given to pride and bad in the sense that she behaved like her heart wasn't in it.

  "Is that something you are interested in?" Seth repeated the question, ceasing any other thought to allow Lily to concentrate on it.

  Lily looked out the window for a second, searching her mind for an answer. She didn't find it, so she didn't respond.

  "Ok," Seth said. "Let's start differently. What is the first thing that comes to mind when you wake up in the morning?"

  "Oh, I don't know, a bunch of stuff, most of it unpleasant. Things people said, stuff that didn't get done, that low grade I got in astrophysics, eating what I don't like for breakfast," she started enumerating but Seth stopped her immediately.

  "Let's set aside what you want to do when you grow up, after all Sarah is right, you can be everything at least once and still have plenty of time to get bored," the leader said. Lily stared at Seth confused.

  "The easiest way to weed out unpleasantness from your thinking is to address yourself as if you were another person. If you were talking to your friend or your mother would you start every morning with what she did wrong, feed her things she doesn't like and put her down over less than stellar performance?" Seth asked rhetorically.

/>   "No, that would be horrible, why would I want to do that?" Lily jumped, bothered.

  "That's the point of the exercise," Seth said. She breathed a sigh of relief that she acquitted herself well of her duty and set up another meeting for next week.

  The entire community woke up the next morning to an eerie sight: two feet above the ocean surface, floating in thin air, hovered a perfectly round glass globe, like the ones children shake to watch snow fall on miniature buildings and Nativity scenes. Inside the globe a flurry of white rose petals sprung from an unseen source and saturated the air for miles with heavenly fragrance. At the bottom of the globe, on a bed of silky sea foam that moved with the lightest breeze lay an angelic creature whose skin glowed and whose hair was the purest blue, smiling contentedly and snacking on diminutive wild strawberries fed to her one by one by a flock of rainbow lyrebirds. The heavenly creature sketched a mischievous smile and greeted everyone in Lily's voice.

  Lily's parents had endured the lion's share of the shock earlier when they woke up to find this person who insisted was their daughter in their kitchen. The first actions on Lily's list were to make herself four years older and eight inches taller, reshape her body to ideal proportions and achieve mastery in ballet. She threw in the blue hair for good measure, since she always wanted to try Sarah's drinkable hair dye but was told she was too young and was wearing a surreal gown made of water that stuck to her body as if held up by magnets.