Survivors

by Alex Isaacs

  We all now head out to the PSV’s to take us up to the vehicles. We now land in the landing bays at the back of the vehicles. The FSV is the first vehicle to release, then move away. I get into the captain’s chair, releasing the clamps to the other vehicle. Maggie and I check out the controls then pull out to follow the FSV. We have a set course so no one on earth can see the vehicles. All the important people are on the CSV-1, now following us out on our test flight. Ann corrects a couple of things on the computer, making it fly better. All the systems are working. We see the last of the PSV’s coming back to the asteroid base. They are bringing mostly asteroids to give to the other countries. Some have some fuel for us to produce. We fly around for an hour before returning to the base. We hook up with the vehicle beside us, before heading back down to the earth.

  We still need to stock up the vehicles, but that can wait, we are not in any rush. George is still bringing more supplies from out west for us. We have more household goods, Scott getting us the cots, bed linen, pillows, and blankets this time. We leave the metal frames of the cots behind; we do not need them. A load of food is helping to fill the FSV. We are concentrating on filling one vehicle at a time. After landing, I go to see Simon. I want to know what is going on now, especially after the phone calls. Simon gets me to close the door; it seems that now the countries want to come up to see the asteroid base. The General got a phone call from his commanders wanting to go ahead of the rest of the countries. Now, I see why the two stopped right in the middle of the meeting. I ask how long will it be before we take them all up. Simon tells me we can not postpone it; they will know we are hiding something. Simon says we have to cover the walkway to the CSV’s, along with putting most of the PSV’s onboard the vehicles before moving them away from the base.

  Simon says he hopes they are only politicians; they might not figure out what we are doing with the asteroid. I leave Simon to figure out when it will all begin. I finish doing my daily routine of training, schoolwork, and helping teach the astronomy class. I look at the calendar; I have more exams coming up at the end of the month. This term is going quickly. The next morning, I hear that the FSV has topped up the fuel for the two CSV’s and all the PSV’s that will be in the CSV’s. It is now heading back out to the asteroid belt. That will be one less vehicle to worry about when the tours begin. Joe and Simon are busy talking about everything; I guess making sure they see as little as possible. I make a run-up with some of the supplies, the others are getting the farms ready to run on the second CSV.

  Jason tells me that Scott and Jake found the transmitters in their shipping containers. They do not know how long they have been there. I call Scott when I get back, he and his friends are improving the security on the mine site. Scott asks what else we need. I let him know we need more medical supplies if he can get them. The food is a great help; I tell him the inside of the cave these guys have is huge. It will take a lot of things to fill it halfway. Scott asks when I will be coming out to see them again. I tell him I am taking summer courses, so I might try to get out after my exams in a couple of weeks. I say goodbye, then change to take everyone into the astronomy lab. Kelly is doing well; she is about up to me in the course; it is the only course that she is doing. We get back to do our training and the rest of the evening's activities.

  This next week starts nicely; then, we have to take the first group up to the asteroid. Simon and the General told me to hit a few bumps on the way on purpose. Maggie and I shake the group up a bit on the trip up, Maggie trying not to laugh about it. The group is uneasy as we get them into the spacesuits. We show them the telescope; then, bring them back to tour the inside of the asteroid. We show them the piles we are setting out to take back for each of the countries involved. Some of them are very nosy, trying to look behind everything that is sitting around. Joe is smart; he has put up radioactive signs near the walkway, along with canisters with radioactive rocks in them.

  We take them back, giving them another bit of a rough ride. The politicians look shaken as Simon and the General greet them. Simon hopes this will satisfy them for the time being. We have one more week of classes before our exams now. We are moving some animals up to the vehicles now that they are back beside the asteroid. The animals are scared on the ride up, but once they see that it looks like they are back on the farm, they begin to settle down. We get through the last week of classes, most of them go over what will be on the exams. Scott has come through with more medical supplies, Jake and Jason finding more transmitters in the goods.

  Our exams begin, I do them in the morning with the others before doing anything else. I have the week off from flying to the base. Friday after my last exam, I look to see my marks coming in. They are better than what I expect, especially with everything that I am doing. We all get a week off, so we will go to the valley to see how things are there with our parents. I see most of the animals are gone; they are up on the CSV’s. My dad wonders how the animals are coping, so I invite him to come up for a ride to see them. My mother declines the offer, my brothers, along with the girls, jump at the chance to see the vehicles. Marie is engaged to Peter, my mom, giving them a cooling-off period from living together. I call to let Simon know about my dad wanting to see the animals. Simon is happy; he knows it might be easier to get my whole family to come with us to take care of the farms.

  Simon does not waste any time getting them all to come to see the farms; even Jody decided to come along for the tour with Rose. The General must have heard what is going on; he is standing there waiting to go with us now. I show my dad the level with his farm on it, the two boys and girls take off to find their farms. We had to send a search party out to find them to direct them to the proper level. Simon asks my dad why Jean did not make the trip. My dad tells Simon, going into space is not something that Jean will want to do right off. My dad adjusts some of the controls for the farms, telling us it is warmer than it should be. My dad says he will start to keep manure aside to bring up to add to the soil; these animals here will not make enough of it in the next few weeks. My dad asks if they will simulate the growing seasons on all the farms. Joe says yes, but they will not have any snowstorms.

  We look at the farms on the other CSV, my dad helping to adjust the controls on the levels. We finally have the other four back with us; I said we almost left you here. David said really, trying to walk away. My dad grabs onto him, as we head to the PSV to come back to earth. When we get home, the boys and girls are telling my mom everything about the farms. Young Marie says, mom, you should come up to see it all. I see a tear in my mom’s eye; we might persuade her to come up to see the farms. I get my dad aside, telling him to talk to my mom about it when he can. I will take them up when she wants to go. Rose begins to tell my mom about the one level with the hydroponics; it is like a giant greenhouse. Rose then asks my mom to show her more things to do in the greenhouses down here. Jody asks if all of our farms will be on the same CSV. I say yes, ours will. It will be the main vehicle for producing food. I can see my mom is interested in the farms, but she is still not saying she will go.

  I get an idea; then I start to make some phone calls. I ask Simon if I can see Scott this week, I have an idea that might get my mom to come up to the CSV. Simon says yes, anything to get my mom interested in coming with us. I now call Scott, asking him for a couple of cameras and video recorders. Scott laughs saying his supplier gets them goods to sell, this week they have six shipping containers full of cameras, video recorders, DVD players and televisions. I ask Scott to set aside a shipping container with a mix of those goods. I do not need that many cameras, but the other goods to go with it will be great. I call back Simon, letting him know that I can get these special goods. He says okay, he will give me a couple of more gold bars to cash in to pay for them.

  I help to bring in some more hay, some we will ship up to the CSV. George has dropped off three fuel cars in the valley; it is marked not to touch. I find out that it is fuel for the PSV’s. I get some of the manure my dad want
s to ship to Simon. We will put them into the shipping containers that we have piling up from the goods from Scott. These shipping containers are handy for moving the goods from the valley to the base, then to the CSV’s. Wednesday, George is gone to the train, I catch a ride on the plane to meet up with Jason. Simon gives us some more gold bars plus another list. Simon would like more hydroponics equipment, along with more greenhouse. Jason asks if he can get us weapons. Simon says they are; the General got us to move some of the special weapons out of the very base that the two in Scott’s group are supplying with weapons and ammunition. Simon and the General made the connection to my friend's group.

  Jason and I fly off to California to meet Scott. We cash in the gold bars after landing; then, head to see the other two. I give Scott the list along with some cash. Scott says the electronics are on the train already. I ask Scott if I can buy a couple of them now, he laughs, telling me to follow him. We go to the container site where he still has some of the goods. He gives me a couple of the best cameras, video recorders, and supplies to use with them. I offer him some money, but he refuses to take it, saying he already has the cash for it all. Jason sees the DVD’s asking if he gets a lot of movies to sell on the side. Scott says yes, it is a big mover; he will keep out movies for us the next shipment he gets, putting it in with the hydroponics. We give Scott some more money saying to take it for these extras. We head back to park the motorhome, then fly back to the base. I go up to the CSV before flying home. I video and take pictures of the farms, the houses, then the hydroponics level to take to show my dad and mom.

  When I get home, I tell my dad about the videos and the pictures I have of the farms. We put it on the television for my mom to see. My mom sits down to look at the video of the farms. When it is over, she says that it is amazing; it is like the farms here. I go to talk with Rose, hoping she will continue to talk with my mom, getting her help for the hydroponics level. Rose smiles, saying yes, she wants my parents to come with us whenever we go out into space. Rose says the knowledge my parents have is incredible; it is helping Simon out a lot.

  I enjoy the next couple of days that I have with the others here in the valley. When we get back, we will be starting the next year of courses. Going to school all year long will cut the time from four years down to three years. We head back on Sunday; we need to go pick up our textbooks for these terms classes. I start thinking of my past courses, then think I should download a copy onto a separate hard drive in case I need to go back to reference some work. I go to Joe, getting some of the hard drives that Scott got us. I find I can start with my first year's courses; they are all online still. I begin to download them, checking to make sure they are okay to watch at a later time. I will do this for all my courses now. I see that I will need more of the small hard drives, I get on the phone to Scott, asking him to send some with Jason next week, I will send him some money. Scott says to forget it; he has a bunch of leftover portable hard drives that he needs to get rid of, he will send me a couple of boxes of them.

  We do some more training before heading to bed. Monday is a holiday, but I will still go up to the CSV to drop off supplies. We are only moving supplies now, so I go to look at the farms to put in some time. There is a great set up for bringing the farm animals and supplies in and out. The barn has a back door to enter the landing bay. It has an elevator-like platform to move between the levels. I measure the inside of the PSV with Maggie’s help, finding that we can use the shipping containers to bring things right into the farms. We head back down, going into to see Simon. I give him my suggestion of using the shipping containers. We can make a plastic container that would slide in and out for my dad to send the manure for the fields. Simon thinks then says we can use the plastic inserts to ship the grains and feed from the valley to the vehicles as well. Simon makes a phone call, then tells me it is all ready to start to do for the shipping of different things.

  Monday night, I get my things ready for my classes, when the burner phone rings. Scott wants to know if I can do him a favor, the people that get the shipping containers got a hold of a couple of containers that they do not need. They have a huge DVD library of movies and television series. Scott asks if I can use them, he needs to get them away from there main storage area. I tell Scott to send them to me; I will look and take what I can use. Scott then asks me if I like to play video games. I tell him I know my brother does, I could get into playing them. Scott tells me he will send me some games and systems for doing this favor, along with a couple of televisions to play them on.

  The new school year starts smoothly; most of the computer courses are bringing everything together more. I make the odd trip up to the CSV; the supplies are slowing down now. Friday, Jason comes to see me, he tells me that we got a load of hydroponics, along with the movies that Jason wants. Jason tells me there are also three more containers for me. Three containers, I told Jason I thought there would be one, maybe a second. Jason says no, there are three for me going to the base in Colorado. I ask for his help tomorrow, moving them to the CSV. Jason says he has the one with his movies and extra things in it to move as well. I say that will be two trips each; we will get up early to move the four containers. I let Maggie know we have to get up early; the other girls overhear us talking, saying they will come to help me out as well.

  We get to the base in Colorado early, finding the four containers sitting with my name on them. The guys that brought them in ask what is in them, why are we bringing in personal items. I tell them that there are computers along with hard drives for me to use on the CSV. We take the first load up, moving it onto the level that has my farm on it, leaving it in the barn as we refuel and head back for the next two containers. Jason asks to keep the container in one of the barns. I ask Jason if he wants to try running a farm; this way, he can have a house to put some of his things in as we do on the vehicle. Jason laughs, saying him a farmer. I tell him it is not that hard to do, plus if we ever do go out into space, it would give him something else to do. Jason tells me he will think about it, but he would like a farmhouse anyway. There is one on my level, so I tell him he can use it, I will help him out with his farm.

  We open the containers; I about flip out at the one with the DVD collection. There are also some selves to put up to hold them all. As we move the DVD’s out of the way, I find a popcorn machine, a big-screen television, some expensive DVD players, a couple of refrigerators, a stereo system, and some furniture to complete the load. As we look at it all, Jason says this is like a small theatre set-up. I now wish I had a basement in my farmhouse. Jason laughs saying all I need is refreshments to put in the fridges. I tell him I would also need to have a lot of popcorn for this machine. Jason says to add it to our list. I ask Jason where I would store it all. Jason taps on the shipping container. I ask Jason where can we set up the mini theatre. Jason tells me to let him think. We move the mini theatre into my house, putting the shelves in one room for me to build later. The rest of the things I leave in my front room. Jason looks at the roof of my house, saying we can go up another level on the house, let's ask the engineers to put up another level for the theatre room.

  We go back to open the next container; it has video games, game systems, more computers, cameras, and small hard drives. The next one has more DVDs along with DVD players, and an assortment of televisions. The last container has refrigerators, stoves, washers, and dryers. This container has to be a mistake. Jason says we can use a few more fridges in the theatre and games room. The girls shake their heads; I tell them they can come to watch the movies. We take the one shipping container back with us since we emptied it. Simon is happy to see us bring one back to the base; the engineers can use some of the materials leftovers from the asteroid base to make the plastic shells. We missed our training for the day, so we go to dinner; then do some of our school work.

  I give Scott a call, telling him I appreciate the containers, but why did he send the appliances. Scott said it was a mistake; I can keep them or sell them. Scott tell
s me he will make sure on my next special order that he does not make any mistakes. He thanks me again for taking the one container. I ask him if he knew everything that was in it. Scott says he opened it up, seeing the book in the front, the list of all the DVDs. I tell him that it is a whole mini-theatre set-up along with the furniture and a popcorn machine. Scott says a popcorn machine, then tells me he will get the popcorn for it. I tell him there is no rush for the popcorn. I say goodnight. I want to do more work on the farm in the morning.

  We head out, getting a load of the hydroponics to take to the CSV, the engineers telling me that Jason spoke with them earlier, they will put the third floor on my house for the games room. We go to move more of the goods, but I think I will hold off until the engineers are not around. I do take some of the televisions and DVD players. I will take them to all the other farmhouses to get rid of most of them. I grab some more small hard drives to take with us; I can load them up with different things that we might like to have. The girls ask for a couple of hard drives; they would like to load up some of their music. I see Jason, saying the engineers will put up my third floor as well as one on his house. Jason asks me what he would be farming. I tell him pigs and some crops; then I laugh, saying it will be for crops.

  The next week sees Simon sending the containers to the valley for my dad to put the manure, the feed from the crops in to take to the CSV’s. It is the right time as my dad, and my brothers are doing the fields. Simon also got the engineers to make smaller cattle cars to go right into the shipping containers to bring more of the animals up to the farms on the CSV’s. With things slowing down in the valley, my dad asks to come up to the CSV again, telling Simon that Jean would like to look at the farm. When Simon tells me this, I am shocked to hear my mother wants to look at it in person. Almost all of the animals are up on the CSV from the farm. There is enough in the valley to feed the remaining people. The greenhouses are empty, except for the ones by my dad’s house.