Launch (16 page)

After another minute, she smiled. “We could be
founders of a new society on four-b, a new civilization.”

“Maybe we should go to the apartment and
practice making babies, so we’ll be ready when the time comes.”

She put her arms around him and whispered in
his ear. “Yes, sir, Commander, General, Buni, sir.”

They turned and began walking back to the taxi
with quicker steps.

▼

On the flight back to their apartment, Claire
said, “Elf, we want to apply for a license to have a baby. How do we do that?”

Elf answered, “You both tell Elf and then
complete an application for a license to be a parent. Elf will submit your
application, ma’am.”

David said, “We both want to have a baby, Elf.
When can we apply?”

“You can complete the application in your
audio-visual centers, sir, but it must be done alone and separately. You should
be aware that submitting your application will waive your right to privacy with
respect to information on the application. The Malibu Parent Licensing
Committee is, however, bound by law to limit the use of your personal
information for parent licensing purposes.”

“What right to privacy?” David asked.

“All of your personal information is private,
sir. It cannot be revealed without your permission unless legal authority
orders its release for cause.”

“But you know everything about everybody!”

“Elf is a machine, sir, an electronic device.
It is bound by law to keep personal information private and to enforce laws
protecting the right to privacy.”

“Does the government have access to our private
information?”

“No sir, not without your permission or a court
order.”

Claire asked, “If we finish our applications
tonight, when will they be submitted?”

“Tomorrow morning, ma’am.”

▼

After they returned to their apartment, each
completed an application in one of the audio visual centers. Then they went to
bed.

Claire whispered in David’s ear, “We are not
going to have a toothy turtle in the house.”

David grinned. “You’re just mad because it
tried to eat you.”

David was awake and staring at the ceiling when
Claire woke up the next morning. She put her hand on his chest.

He smiled and turned to kiss her. “I’m going to
check out some ideas for the new starship in one of the audio visual centers.”

After he left, she lay quietly trying to plan
for the future. But she soon realized there were too many unknowns to make any
decision except one:
take one day at a time
.

She dressed casually and went into the kitchen.
Its color scheme was white and glacier ice blue. The largest appliance was a
cylinder standing on end, and she thought it must be the refrigerator. When she
stepped toward it, pictures of food containers appeared on it with generic
names and expiration dates labeled in green. She did not see a handle, so she
touched a picture of milk. A green rectangle appeared around the picture and a
sliding panel opened with the milk positioned on a circular shelf directly in front
of her. Then she heard a soft chime that disrupted her concentration. A
fraction of a second later, Elf said, “Doctor Archer, your next door neighbor, Naomi
Radin, is at your front door.”

The sliding panel on the refrigerator closed as
Claire walked toward the front door. It had a large one-way panel in the
middle. An attractive brunette with hazel eyes was in the hallway holding a
coffee cake. Claire said, “Open the door, Elf,” and the door retracted into the
wall.

“Hi Naomi, I’m Claire.”

Naomi’s eyes opened wide in surprise, and she
said, “Doctor Archer! You’re my new neighbor?”

“Call me Claire, please. Come in. “How did you
know you had a new neighbor if you didn’t know who?”

 “I asked Elf about the taxis coming and going
yesterday. It told me I had a new neighbor, but privacy rules wouldn’t let it
tell me who you were.”

“I’d appreciate it if you would keep it
private,” Claire said. “I wouldn’t like to get up and answer the door at three
in the morning.”

“I may suffocate when I see my friend Gladys,
but my lips are sealed,” Naomi said.

Claire laughed and said, “Thank you.”

Claire and Naomi soon had coffee and cake on
the breakfast table. After Claire took a bite of cake, she said, “Mmmmm. This is
fantastic.”

“Thank you. The cake is an old family recipe.
You can have it if you want.”

“Yes, please.”

Naomi said, “Elf, make my coffee cake recipe
available to Claire.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Claire thanked Naomi and asked, “Have you lived
here long?”

“Almost three years now. We love the view and
my husband loves the surfing.”

“The view is spectacular and this apartment is
rather luxurious,” Claire said. “I imagine the rent is high.”

“This isn’t that fancy by current standards,
but the location and view do make the rent high.”

Just then, David came in and said, “I smell
coffee.”

Claire said, “This is our neighbor, Naomi
Radin. She brought us this lovely coffee cake.”

He smiled. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Naomi.
It looks like I got here just in time.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, too, General Archer.
I’ll get you a cup and a plate.”

Claire said, “I’ll do it. I don’t learn to find
my way around my kitchen, I’ll starve to death.”

David sat down and said to Naomi, “Make it
David, please. What do you do?”

“I teach history at Malibu High School.”

“Claire and I need to learn about the history
of the last five hundred years. Can you recommend any good textbooks?”

“Standard textbooks and lectures are available
through Elf at no cost. They may be the best.”

David raised an eyebrow, “You don’t do lectures
in the classroom?”

“No. Standardized video lectures have the very
best teachers and elaborate teaching aids. Some have won Academy Awards.
They’re much better than what most teachers, including me, can do.”

“Don’t kids fall asleep during the video?”

Naomi shook her head. “We interact with videos
to maintain spontaneity and rapid changes of pace. Students should be challenged
so they don’t dare look away. Teaching and learning should be fun.”

He smiled. “Where do I sign up?”

Naomi laughed.

After she served David coffee, Claire sat down
and looked at Naomi. “We applied for a license to be parents last night. Can
you tell us anything about what happens next?”

“That’s fast. You just got here.”

Claire nodded. “It’s important.”

“The Malibu PLC will probably give you an
appointment in a few days. After they give you a provisional license, you’ll
need to complete a parent training course to get your full license.”

“A license to have a baby wasn’t required when
we left,” Claire said. “Having to get one now seems like a terrible imposition,
and the idea that somebody could take my baby is just . . . .” Claire shook her
head. She could not find words to express her horror.

Naomi put her hand on Claire’s and answered
sympathetically. “I can understand how a parenting license is a big shock to
you and David. But the required training prevents people from suddenly finding
themselves with an infant human being and no clue about what to do next.”

“What do they teach?”

“The basics, of course: how to meet the
physical needs of children. Then they get into more challenging and complex
subjects: how to make a child feel loved and secure; developing self-esteem and
the emotional strength necessary to realize full potential, and teaching
self-reliance.

“My husband and I have completed the courses.
They’re comprehensive, but they’re not hard. You and David will do well and be
glad you did it.”

“I hope so,” Claire said.

Naomi raised her hand to cover her mouth and
appeared to cough or say something. Then she said, “Excuse me, please. I
enjoyed meeting both of you very much, but I must go.”

Claire and Naomi agreed to have dinner soon as
they walked to the door.

After Claire returned, Elf said, “Doctor
Archer, General Archer, the Malibu Parent Licensing Committee wants you to have
a physical examination and take the Parent Aptitude Test, the PAT, before they
consider your application.”

“That was fast,” Claire said. “What about the
exam we got when we landed? Would that qualify as a physical? Can the results
be made available to the committee?”

“Yes to all three questions, ma’am.”

“How do we take the PAT?”

“You can take the written portion in your
audio-video centers at your convenience. It takes about four hours. The lab
portion also takes four hours, and it can be done at the UCLA Department of
Psychometrics.”

“Could we do the written this weekend and do
the lab on Monday morning?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“What do you think, Buni?”

“The sooner the better.”

She said, “Schedule the PAT for Monday morning,
Elf.”

“Yes ma’am. You will need to be there at eight
a.m. A taxi will be here at seven-fifty.”

Claire said, “We’ll be ready.”

After taking another bite of coffee cake, David
said, “This is delicious.”

“I love it,” Claire said. “Naomi gave me access
to her recipe. Let me know when you want some more, and I’ll tell the robot to
make it.”

David grinned. “Getting modern already are we?”

She nodded. “Yep. We’ve got a lot to do, and we
need to take advantage of the tools available.”

“With Elf’s help this morning,” he said, “I did
some design studies for a starship to take settlers to Minor-four-b. Our old
starship design is not a good choice. The best thing I can think of so far is
something like a giant soup can with engines around the top. It will only need
two particle impact shields instead of four.”

“Does that mean we’ll have to learn to fly a
whole new system?”

David knew Elf was monitoring their
conversation, and he raised a warning eyebrow.

“No. The controls and control responses will be
like
Origin
. I’ll have a maneuvering console simulator built so we can
practice, and we’ll fly the real ship on test flights. Then we’ll train the
people who are going to fly it to four-b.”

After finishing their coffee-cake breakfast, Claire
said, “For people who are supposed to be famous it sure has been quiet. Elf,
have there been any calls or messages for us?”

“Elf has been holding your calls and taking
messages, ma’am, as instructed by the reception committee. You have more than
eleven million messages.”

“What? How are we supposed to deal with that?”

“You might want to just take messages from
people you know, ma’am.”

“That sounds good. Do we have any?”

“Yes, ma’am. You have one from Naomi Radin
inviting you and General Archer to dinner tomorrow night, and one from Doctor Albert
Masters inviting you to dinner Sunday night.”

“I’m glad I thought to ask. Do you have a list
of people who can reach us directly?”

“Just President Saleh, ma’am.”

“Okay, I want you to add Doctor Albert Masters,
Doctor Dale Curt, Naomi Radin, and their immediate families. If anybody such as
the PLC, UCLA, or NASA calls with business important to us, put them through,
too.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“I would like to accept the invitations. What
do you think, Buni?”

“Sure. Elf, could you connect us with Doctor
Masters?”

“I’ll see if he’s available, sir. Do you want
visual?”

“How do we do that?”

“Videophone calls can be made from most places
where there’s a video screen. The living room would be socially appropriate for
this situation, sir.”

Claire told Elf to tell their robot to clean up
the dishes and kitchen. It came out of its closet and quietly went to work.

They sat in the living room recliners facing
the omniglass wall, and David said, “Okay Elf, do your thing.”

“Yes, sir. Doctor Masters will take your call
visually at his office.”

The omniglass wall revealed a life-sized image
of Dr. Masters. He smiled. “Hello, I see you’re getting acquainted with our
video communications. What do you think?”

“This is stunning!” David said. “It’s like
being in the same room!”

“It is, isn’t it? Would you and Claire like to
come over for dinner Sunday afternoon about six? We can smoke some steaks in
the back yard.”

“We’d love to,” Claire said.

“Splendid! How are you doing?”

 “We’re fine,” David said. “There are so many
new things. We’re going to be like kids in a candy store for a long time.”

Dr. Masters smiled. “You’re lucky. Not
everybody can have a chance for a second childhood.”

They finished the call, and Claire said, “That
was fun. Elf, can we get a visual connection with Naomi?”

“Elf will try, ma’am.”

After a short pause, Naomi’s head appeared on
the omniglass wall with a kitchen in the background. “Hi Claire. Hi David.”

Claire said, “Hi Naomi. We’re calling to accept
your invitation for dinner tomorrow night.”

“Great! Is seven okay?” Naomi asked.

“Seven’s fine, thank you.”

“My husband’s dying to meet you.”

“It looks like you’re in your kitchen. Do we
have a videophone in our kitchen, too?” Claire asked.

“No. I’m talking to you on my wriscreen.”

“Interesting,” Claire said. “Something else for
us to learn about.”

After they said goodbye, David asked, “Elf,
what was Naomi using to talk to us?”

“A wriscreen. It is a video communication
device with navigation capability and a personal data assistant, sir.”

David asked Elf where they could get one, and a
list of places selling the devices appeared on the omniglass. They looked at
several. Most wriscreens were held in place on the inside of the wrist by many
different styles of bracelets: from plain and functional to bejeweled and
expensive.

While they were shopping, they discovered
things called transmitter rings and ear charm receivers that worked with
wriscreens. Transmitter rings allowed people to put their hand over their mouth
and have phone conversations in public without annoying others. Ear charms
could be decorative like earrings or almost invisible.

David picked out a transmitter ring, an ear
charm, and a wriscreen. Claire chose several styles of each and asked, “How do
we pay for these, Elf?”

“You tell Elf what you want, ma’am, and Elf
will transfer the money from your bank account to complete the transaction.”

 David
said, “Speaking of money Elf, what's our account balance?”

 “You have more than six billion dollars in
cash on hand at August Bank, sir. You also have more than one trillion, seven
hundred and forty-five billion dollars invested in nine hundred seventy-six
stocks, bonds, and funds.”

“Did you say trillion?” Claire asked.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Are you pulling my leg, Elf?”

“No, ma’am. Elf does not have a sense of
humor.”

“Where did we get so much money?”

“One billion came from the government recently,
ma’am. The rest is income from investments, salaries, retirement income, and
other assets that have accumulated over the centuries.”

David asked, “Elf, could you put that
information in a financial statement on the wall?”

A long, complex, series of numbers appeared on
the omniglass, and Elf said, “This is your August Bank balance sheet as of
today, sir.”

They studied it in silence for several minutes.

“President Saleh didn’t mention anything about
this yesterday, Claire said. Does she know?”

“It is common knowledge from history that you
have or have had a trust, ma’am. But the law now requires financial records to
be private. No one in government has any specific knowledge about your trust or
your account.”

“This is unreal,” Claire said. “What’re we
going to do with so much money? Are there any charities that help meet human
needs?”

“There are many organizations raising money for
special projects, ma’am. But the government ensures that all physical human
needs are met.”

“Nobody needs food or clothing or housing or
medical care?”

“No ma’am.”

“What about inner city ghettos and schools?

“Ghettos do not exist now, ma’am. High-quality
education, housing, and medical care are available to everyone.”

David asked, “Is out trust still giving 20% of
its income away?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Let that continue. We can take a look at
what’s being done with it when we have more time.”

Claire nodded.

“In the meantime,” David said, “Having this
much money will make special projects easier to fund.”

They were lost in thought when they heard the
soft chime again. Elf asked, “Do you want to complete your order?”

“Oh yes,” Claire said. “Do it, Elf.”