Many thanks to Grundy_Golem for his help with the editing of this chapter

Progenitor


Chapter 10

After arriving home, Jake talked with Amy and Kate to tell them what AL had found. They were all three wondering what the plutonium was doing on the river as that was not the usual way that it was transported, as far as they knew. Amy had the idea to contact John to see what he had to say to this. Jake asked AL if John had access to the private messaging program that had been installed on his own computer. The answer was not yet, but that could be done if John would exit whatever program he was running and give him a chance to do the install; on the other hand AL said he could set up a "conference call" between the three of them, John, and himself just as easily. Jake gave John a call on the phone and asked John to find some place where he could be alone to join the conference. John said he would need about an hour as they were sitting down to supper; Jake agreed.

After Jake, and party, had finished supper themselves they all went to Jake's room for the conference. Amy asked AL to start the conference with a report of anything new that had been found since Jake left the base, but to wait for John to join in. It was about 10 minutes before John joined the conference.

AL=> Since Jake left the base the droid has found small traces of the same explosive in Bartuk's quarters but no more of the compound itself. No other abnormalities had been found at this time. The barge that contains the plutonium has come to a halt and using the satellites already in place by your government it appears that it is trying to conceal itself. The amount of radiation is very minimal and appears to be well shielded.

John=> Did you say plutonium; on a barge? That is not how plutonium is transported, at least not in the US. That is very strange.

Jake=> I thought so too, but was not sure. It does seem to be suspicious.

Amy=> Too suspicious. AL did you say that his plutonium could be used to provide power without endangering the base or any personal that might be there?

AL=> Yes Captain; and the amount that I am detecting would last a long time. All that is required is to get it to the base. I can direct a couple of droids to remove and place the material; that way there will be no danger to anyone.

Kate=> but how would we get the stuff in the first place? I mean, nobody is going to just give plutonium to a bunch of teenagers.

John=> we need to determine what the stuff is doing on the river. This sounds very illegal to me.

Amy=> I agree

Jake and Kate=> Me too

Amy=> AL is there anyway for us to be able to find out what type of barge that is and where it is headed? If it is a military barge then it is okay, if not then we may have a real problem on our hands.

AL=> the only way to find that out is to have someone go on board. The satellite that I am using to follow the barge does not have the equipment to allow for a close-up view in that much detail. Also, Captain I have taken over another 4 satellites and have started using them to scan for other crew members. I have found someone who appears to be a descendent of the Security Chief. I would need a closer scan to be sure. May I contact this person?

Amy=> Where id this person located and what can you tell us about them?

AL=> The person is located in St Louis, is female (like her predecessor). That is all the information I have at this time on her.

Kate=> it is too bad one of us can't just go to St Louis and meet her. That would be too cool, especially if she turned out to be the one you are looking for.

John=> why couldn't one of us go to St Louis? I mean, you know use one of the cloaked shuttles to go there. I think Amy should go. She is the Captain, and being female it would not raise as much suspicion if it turned out she was not the right person. Females do not tend to feel threatened if approached by another female, at least not as much as a strange male approaching them.

Kate=> I know I feel safer if it is another girl instead of a guy, unless he is really cute.

Amy=> While we need to find more crew, we need to worry about the plutonium first. If it is headed up river then it could be going to St Louis, as well as anywhere else upstream.

John=> Couldn't we send a stealth drone to get better information on the barge. I mean if the people who came here were that far ahead of us then they must have had that type of technology available to them.

AL=> There are several drones of that type in the storage area, but they can only be operated from about 100 Km and from a manned survey ship. We have no pilots.

Jake=> Could either John or myself be trained to operate the survey ship? You know using the "quick learning" technique like we did for the history you gave us.

AL=> Yes, any of you could be trained in that manner. But you would still need some actual time in the ship to be able to operate it with any degree of safety. If any of you have previous flight experience that would be the most likely person to train.

Amy=> Unless John has the training we are out of luck. I know none of the rest of us have that type training. And none of us have even been on a plane, that I know of.

John=> I've never even been on a plane either.

Jake=> That shoots that idea down in flames, at least for now until we can find someone who can fly.

Kate=> How long would it take to train someone who has no experience?

AL=> Even with the accelerated learning available it would take several weeks to train someone well enough to operate the ship; even longer to learn about and master the simple fighters on this base. As it is now I only have the Captain's Gig that can be used without a pilot, that is what you have been riding in for all of your trips.

Amy=> We really need more people; there is no way for the four of us, five if this girl in St Louis is the one, to do all that needs to be done. But we still have the problem of someone saying the wrong thing at the wrong time to the wrong people.

Jake=> The only way is to have them move to the base; that way they can't say anything to anyone. But before we put anyone on base we need to have some type of security in place.

Amy=> Yes we need to have security, to protect the base as well as ourselves. AL, how long would it take for me to get to St Louis, meet this girl, and determine if she will do?

AL=> Depending on the amount of time it takes you to talk to her you could do all of that in about two hours. I can direct you to her once you are inside the city. Is there any way for Jake and John to return to the base for an extended amount of time?

Kate=> I want to return also. I really would like to start training in some of the ships. And I still think we need a real Doctor on the base if we are going to put people there, or at least a nurse. Someone that people can relate to.

AL=> I can start your training as soon as Amy gives her permission. But unless you are going to stay here it will take longer than usual to train you.

Jake=> I don't know if I like the idea of my little sister flying around in space. I can say I'm going to camping with John; that would give the two of us a day or so on base. If John agrees, that is.

John=> Sounds good to me, but be warned that I have not been camping much. Although, it would make my parents happy that I was doing something besides staying on the computer all the time.

Kate=> that is fine for you two; but what about me? It would look suspicious if I went with you without Amy and Sally going too. Since Sally has not been told any of this, wouldn't that cause problems. Not to mention the concern of our parents over a group of teenagers going camping all by themselves. What we need is some type of activity that we can all go on without our parents being concerned about our behavior or safety.

Amy=> Too bad we all can't go to some type of camp for a couple of weeks. You know like some sort of advanced learning camp due to our grades. But it would have to be cheap on our parents.

John=> That is a good idea; how do we pull it off?

Jake=> We could have letters delivered to each of us inviting us to this camp at no charge to our families. I can generate the letters but we would need some type of official looking letterhead and we would also need someone to come and pick us up to take us to the camp. If our parents have to take us it won't work.

Amy=> What if they wanted to visit the camp before letting us go? Or even needed to call us in an emergency?

John=> The calls wouldn't be a problem; we just setup a phone number for them to call and have that number connect with AL. That would be simple to do.

Jake=> Okay, if we all agree then I'll get busy typing up the letter. But I will still need some official looking paper. AL, can you provide something that looks official for me to print out the letters on?

AL=> Even better, you write the letter and send it to me via the massager and I will have it arrive in your mail.

Amy=> Okay, let's try it. Unless someone has anything else then we might as well end this now and get some sleep. Most of us didn't have a nap like Jake.

There were no other issues so the conference was ended. The girls went to their room and Jake started typing up the letter. After getting it typed to his satisfaction Jake sent the letter to AL and then he too went to bed.

The letters came in the mail the next day. They looked very official and were signed by the State Superintendent of Schools. Jake's Mom and John's parents were very impressed. Both sets of parents filled out the form and mailed it that same day. AL just picked the replies up in the middle of the night. Three days later everyone received a notification of acceptance and a schedule of travel, free, with contact information for the parents.

They all left three days later on the bus.