After Mom’s last return and the difficulty she had with the switch-over to her old personality, we decided it was best if she were returned to a simulation chamber and allowed so ti on her own to adjust. We had all planned for maybe 15 minutes, facilitated by Joe prompting her and answering any questions to help her acclimatize to being Susan Bailey, my mom, again.
When Joe announced she was being transferred to the Headquarters to begin her transition, Dad and I jumped up and hurried to wait for her in the Welco Hall outside the Simulation Room Door. The ss from the ergency surgery had been cleaned up, and there was a new door next to the Simulation Room Door. This led to the new dical Annex that Dad had requested after we saw Joe’s ability to treat a vicious stab wound through the heart using the dexterous arms of a fabrication ch along with equipnt created on the fly. The victim of the stabbing was still inside, he was stabilized and sedated waiting for Joe to deem him ready for a new heart and lung to replace those damaged by the twisting knife thrust of the rcenary killer sent to kill Rafael and Maribel in Guatemala.
We expected a fifteen-minute wait or less if Mom transitioned well and was eager to see us, which, of course, she would be. Thirty minutes later we were still waiting outside the Simulation Room. Joe assured us everything was all right. Mom just wanted a little extra ti to clear her head. Dad reminded that we had agreed to call the Simulation Room, just the one in the treehouse, the Holodeck in homage to the HoloDeck from Star Trek. So, while we waited, I had the door labelled. Then, I decided to label the dical Annex as SickBay for the sa reason, much to Dad’s delight.
After about thirty-four minutes, Mom finally stepped out of the HoloDeck and I rushed to hug her. She knelt down and wrapped her arms around , pulling tight. She held for a long ti, so long that I felt bad for Dad having to wait so long. Finally, I felt her arms relax and she pulled away enough to look in the eyes. "I love you so much, Timmy," she said, "It’s so weird coming back and... rembering you again, then thinking about the ti when I didn’t even know I had a son just a few minutes before..." She pulled tight for one more short hug.
"I love you, too, Mom. I miss you so much when you’re away. We can watch you through the drones, but’s it’s just not the sa." She looked up at Dad suddenly. He looked down after a second. "Dad sotis takes a walk instead of watching, because he misses you so much, I guess," I added.
She gave a kiss on the forehead and stood up, facing Dad. They looked into each other’s eyes for a long couple of seconds, then she stepped closer and hugged him. I felt the tension leaving . I don’t know why exactly, but I almost felt like they weren’t going to hug.
As they stood there, holding each other, it seed like a good ti for to be sowhere else. "Well," I said, "I’ll leave you two alone, I guess. I’ll be in the Status Room. Finishing up the preparation for the eting with Arroyo later."
Dad lifted his head, "About that, Tim." He said, "I know you want to move out of the shadows and show your real face for that eting. I think that needs to be a family decision. They will be able to figure out who I am, Daniel Bailey of Cheshire, Massachusetts, if they see my face. They’ll find our address. Our house won’t be safe. While they probably won’t find the headquarters because of the shielding, if they use aerial surveillance, they could see us coming and going to it, and they’ll figure sothing’s here. They’ll be able to circulate our nas and faces globally and we’ll be watched at the very least, if not arrested outright. Your grandparents might be questioned, your cousins, aunts, and uncles. Your teachers, including those at UMass Amherst now, will be questioned and watched. It’s going to make things much more difficult for you... and a lot of other people."
"I hadn’t thought about all that," I said dejectedly, "I an there’s a lot of stuff we need to do behind the scenes as far as technology introductions and dical advances. You’re right, all that’s going to get harder. But if we sneak around as mysterious unknown people, things are going to be difficult in the long run as we try to establish credibility for our world governance movent. I think we have to choose the lesser of two evils," I finished, waiting for so feedback.
"We do have to choose," Dad said, "but maybe not just yet? How about we continue as we have been for a while longer?"
Mom stepped back from his embrace, "I think there’s a compromise, she said.
We both looked at her as she continued, "Maybe Maribel should get a promotion. Present here as the second in command with decision-making authority. Let her be the visible front conducting etings, negotiations, and let her grow the One Earth organization through outreach to other nations and communities."
"It’s the United Federation of Planets," Dad said, "We’ve expanded our goals."
"From Star Trek? I thought we wanted credibility?" Mom shook her head, "My father told not to marry a Trekkie..." She said it with a grin, though. "Unless we are ready to reveal the whole alien conspiracy thing, which I’d vote against, then any ntion of planets needs to wait. We need a na that encompasses the sum of all people on the planet."
"Soap," I said.
"What?" Mom and Dad said simultaneously. Turning to look at .
"You said the Sum Of All People of Earth. That’s S.O.A.P. of Earth." I explained.
"Mom rolled her eyes, "Look if the King of Earth or the Supre Ruler of the whole place or whatever, isn’t going to take this seriously..." She smiled.
"I know, it’s not the real title, but we can have fun now and then, can’t we?" I said in my cutest little boy voice.
"Of course we can, son," Dad replied with a comforting smile, "but Mom’s right as usual. We do need to pick a na for the overall Earth governnt that you’re trying to establish. Sothing that sounds legitimate and benevolent, non-threatening, but authoritative. So, if we went with United Federation of Earth’s People, it would be easy to transition to United Federation of Planets when we start going off-world." He grinned wickedly.
Mom rolled her eyes again, "If Star Trek and SOAP are your leading candidates, maybe you boys should leave this to . Since, it appears I’m the only real adult in the room. The Mayans might say ’Chibal’ which roughly ans... the larger family including ancestors. It’s sothing like the Scottish Clan concept. I think it’s important that we emphasize humanity as a single family group."
"About that," I said hesitantly, "it turns out that if humanity wasn’t present, the Galactic Union would consider Earth belonging to Chimpanzees, Dolphins, Killer Whales, and other apes and monkeys... They say they are advanced enough in their intellect and social organization to be consider ’people’ in the broader sense."
Mom and Dad just stared at , dumbstruck.
Dad was the first to break out of it with a joke, of course, "So it’s settled then. The United Federation of Killer Whales, Chimps, Octopuses, Dolphins, and lesser, though equal, creatures like Humans. That would be the UFKWCODALTECLH, for short."
Mom punched him, not too hard, and just in the shoulder. I just shook my head trying to show a fake disappointnt. "All those in favor of removing Dad from the naming committee?"
"Aye!" Mom and I, and surprisingly, Joe, all chorused at once. Then we all broke out laughing.
"Really?" Dad complained, "because I was thinking HOPE, which stands for Humanity and Other People of Earth, or... I’ve got a million of them."
"Nope, you’re relieved of naming duties by order of the King and his council." I declared with a smile. "That was literally the easiest decision I’ve had to make as King."
"Hey, I thought we shared a strong belief in nepotism?" Dad said. Mom punched him again, harder this ti, but still in the shoulder.
Dad looked affronted and rubbed his shoulder. "Maybe you need to spend less ti with criminals if you’re going to resort to violence to get your way..." He regretted it as soon as he said it, I could tell from his face.
I saw the laughter fade from Mom’s face, replaced by sothing too complex for an eight-year-old to decipher, but it had a little anger, defiance, embarrassnt, and so other stuff. She turned away from him.
"I’m sorry... I..." dad said, moving closer to her and gently turning her to face him. They looked into each other’s eyes for a brief second, but it seed uncomfortable for both of them. They just pulled each other into an awkward embrace with Mom’s head resting against Dad’s shoulder and his hand cradling it there. It was awkward for them, as I said, but it was really awkward for , especially since I didn’t really understand what was going on...
"So anyway, I’m going to go the revise the plan for the Arroyo eting. We’ll put Maribel as the visible front and let her conduct the eting by herself. With Joe silently relaying anything we have to add from the sidelines. Joe, can you work up so amalgamation of Maribel and Mom, that makes her seem and act like Maribel, but leaves her mory of us and the real situation intact? For the eting, at least."
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