The First Indigan

  Chapter 17: The Garden

  Captain Brezinski had discussed with Kate the possibility of having a party following her treatment and Kate used her recovery period to plan the event. They had decided that a formal dinner party was in order and the traditional naval "Dining In" ceremony would be the most appropriate. The traditions were modified to meet their present circumstances and to include the entire crew, with the exception of Brother Simon who had volunteered to assume "the watch." Normally the ceremony began with a formal entrance by the Captain followed by a "Parade of the beef." They had no beef to parade so they decided to substitute a container of soup. The crew was assembled outside of the Long Branch Saloon and Tom, who was acting as "Mr. Vice", announced the arrival of the Captain who was piped aboard. Everyone followed the Captain into the Long Branch and stood by their assigned seats based on date of rank. The single long table had the Captain seated at the head with the crew arranged according to descending rank. Tom was seated at a small secondary table at the opposite end from the Captain. Mr. Vice then announced, "Madame President, all crew are present."

  Captain Brezinski opened the ceremony by saying, "Tonight is a time for celebration in recognition of our accomplishments as a team and for the initial success in Kate's treatment. We have accomplished things that a few generations ago would have been considered miraculous and yet our true mission is just now beginning. It is appropriate that we take this small amount of time to celebrate our success and to prepare ourselves for the work ahead. Participating in the elevation of a pre-sentient being to a fully self-aware being is most certainly a god-like task. Our selection to participate is both an honor and a tremendous responsibility. We are representing the human race as we participate in the work of The Visitor and the civilizations of the greater community into which the earth has been allowed the first step towards membership."

  Captain Brezinski finished her remarks and asked Mr. Vice to sample the wine. Tom sampled the wine and announced, "The wine is fit for consumption." Captain Brezinski struck the gavel which allowed everyone to take their seat.

  Capatain Brezinski then asked everyone to begin eating. While the crew was enjoying the first two courses, Martha arose and addressed Tom, "Mr. Vice, Petty Officer Martha requests permission for her barbershop quartet to entertain the mess."

  Tom responded, "Madame President, Petty Officer Martha requests permission to entertain the mess." Captain Brezinski replied, "Proceed." Martha's quartet arose and she introduced their song "Farewell to Grog," which she said was a tradition aboard the British fleet:

  "Oh! Messmates, pass the bottle round,

  Our time is short remember,

  For our grog must stop and our spirits drop,

  On the first day of September."

  CHORUS

  "For tonight we'll merry, merry be,

  For tonight we'll merry, merry be,

  For tonight we'll merry, merry be,

  Tomorrow we'll be sober."

  "Farewell, old rye! ‘Tis a sad, sad world,

  But alas it must be spoken;

  The Ruby cup must be given up,

  And the demijohn be broken."

  "Jack's happy days will soon be past,

  To return again, no, never

  For they've raised his pay five cents a day

  And stopped his grog forever."

  "Yet memory oft will backward turn,

  And farewell with fondness partial,

  On the plays when gin was not a sin,

  Nor cocktails brought courts-martial."

  "All hands to splice the main-brace call,

  But splice it now in sorrow,

  For the spirit room key will be laid away,

  Forever, on the morrow."

  The crew joined in on the chorus and the mood for the evening was established. Captain Brezinski said, "Mr. Vice, I recommend that our quartet be rewarded with some grog (a mixture of half water and half rum)."

  Tom responded, "Aye, aye." Tom then rose and proceeded to partially fill each of the quartet's glass with some grog. When one member of the quartet asked, "Don't we deserve a full glass?"

  Tom replied, "Prudent seamen husband the ship's store during long voyages, and besides, careful sailors avoid heavily laden passages."

  Captain Brezinski then asked "Mr. Vice, where's the beef?"

  Tom then called out "Parade the beef!" Ann and her two assistants discreetly arose and donned their chef's attire. They returned to the accompaniment of "The Roast Beef of Old England" and instead of a platter containing the roast, it held a large bowl of soup. With great ceremony they ladled the soup into a bowl and presented it to the Captain. She was allowed to taste the soup, and pronounced it,"Fit for consumption."

  It was Tom's job to make sure the dinner protocols were followed by everyone. The formalities were followed through the many-course dinner with only minor infractions of the protocols. These were duly noted by Tom and recorded. The first major infraction occurred when Kate arose and said, "Excuse me" and proceeded to leave the room.

  Tom stood and addressed her, "Chief Petty Officer Kate, do you wish to seek the Captain's permission to leave the assembly?"

  Kate replied, "I need to use the bathroom."

  Tom then addressed the Captain, "Madame President, Chief Petty Officer Kate requests permission to ‘relieve the springs'."

  Captain Brezinski responded, "Permission granted" and the infraction was listed in Tom's record book. The dinner was repeatedly interrupted by song and other entertainment. After the desert had been eaten Captain Brezinski said, "Mr. Vice, it is time to charge the glasses."

  Tom responded, "Aye, aye, Madame President," and passed the bottle of port to his left. The crew dutifully filled their glasses and passed the bottle on without ever letting the bottle touch the table until it returned to Tom. Tom then reported, "Madame President, the glasses are charged."

  Captain Brezinski stood and offered a toast to the Secretary General of the U.N. under whom they all served. Ann had worked hard to produce a wine substitute and when everybody lifted their glasses in toast and sipped their wine she watched their faces in anticipation. Several of the crew members were obviously surprised at the quality of the flavor and nodded to her in appreciation of her work. The next formal toast was, "To our spouses and sweethearts, and to those we have left behind."

  Mock cigars were then passed out and Mr. Vice announced, "The smoking lamp is lit." Everyone was quite surprised when Mike produced a real cigar and proceeded to light it. With the smoke swirling around his head he had a smile of self-satisfaction which dimmed considerably when Captain Brezinski said to him, "I assume that you're going to share your cigar with the rest of us, are you not?"

  Mike stammered, "Of course."

  "Well, pass it around then."

  Mike grudgingly passed the cigar to Doc Jules who sat on his right. Doc Jules took a leisurely puff on the cigar and passed it to Eric-Peter. The cigar worked its way around the table with everyone enjoying a single puff. Captain Brezinski was last to sample the cigar and when she finished her puff she passed the cigar back to Mike saying, "Your generosity is much appreciated."

  Mike looked at his cigar which was now two-thirds gone and said, "I have been saving this for a special occasion and I think that celebrating Kate's recovery is such an occasion." Toasts were then offered to the leaders of those countries represented. Doc Jules rose and addressed Tom. "Mr. Vice, I request permission to offer a toast to the work that Brother Simon did."

  Tom looked at the Captain who nodded her approval and Tom replied, "Permission granted".

  Doc Jules raised his glass and said, "A toast to Brother Simon for the brilliant work he performed which has allowed us to have this celebration."

  Everyone responded with "here here!" and drank in his honor. Captain Brezinski then announced, "Everything we accomplish aboard this ship we accomplish as a team and I would like to offer a toast to all of you, to all of
us, for what we have accomplished." She raised her glass and everybody followed.

  Captain Brezinski rapped the gavel twice indicating that everyone was to stand. She walked over to the empty side table which had been set, but the wine glass had been inverted and a U.N. military hat sat on the table. She began, "This table is reserved in honor of comrades who have fallen during this mission and other missions. Those who have served with them and depended upon their strength shall always remember, as we shall remember, these great people who have not forsaken us. The glass is inverted, symbolizing their inability to share this evening's toast. The chair is empty and the place is set as a symbol reminding us to keep a spot in our hearts open for them." She then turned to Tom and holding her glass high said, "Mr. Vice, a toast to our fallen comrades." Tom and the rest of the crew responded, "To our fallen comrades."

  Captain Brezinski returned to her seat and addressed Tom, "Mr. Vice, let the toasting commence." As the evening wore on the toast became less formal and as the alcohol took effect the speech less eloquent. Captain Brezinski then addressed Tom and said, "Mr. Vice, are there any protocol violations that need to be addressed?"

  Tom responded, "Madame President, I have a list of eight infractions of protocol."

  She asked him to read the list of offenses. Doc Jules was surprised when his name was called for using the wrong fork when eating his salad. Mike's name was called for having his military ribbons placed in the wrong order on his uniform. Kate was identified for her failure to properly request a leave from the proceedings. After the list had been read, Captain Brezinski ordered all of the offenders to stand for sentencing. With great solemnity she pronounced sentencing: "All of those guilty of infractions will form up for a marching drill to be conducted by Chief Petty Officer Kate."

  The hilarity of watching Kate trying to organize the least-military-capable members of the crew into an organized marching team produced ongoing laughter amongst the remaining crew members. Finally Captain Brezinski asked the Chief to give Kate some assistance. The Chief manually directed each member of the drill team into position and had them stand at attention. He then stood next to Kate and relayed marching orders to her. With the Chief's assistance Kate was actually able to direct the moderately inebriated drill team. After about 30 minutes of embarrassment, Captain Brezinski announced that punishment had been served and released all members to return to the table.

  She then announced, "The hour is late and it is time for these proceedings to come to an end. Mr. Vice, please charge the glasses for our final toast."

  Tom then filled everyone's glass starting with her's. When he finished, he said, "Madame President, the glasses are charged for your toast."

  Captain Brezinski rapped the gavel twice and everyone stood. She raised her glass and said, "Success to our mission." The crew responded, "Success to our mission!" and drained their glasses bottoms up. As they left, the entire crew paraded out in a much less organized fashion then they had started the evening.

  Captain Brezinski presented to the bridge for a final check. Brother Simon turned as she entered and said, "Good evening, Captain. It sounded like the party went very well."

  She nodded and thanked him again for taking the double watch. Brother Simon replied, "It was good for the crew to celebrate together and I needed time to think."

  She asked him what he needed to think about and he replied, "I have always felt that eugenics (genetic engineering to improve the race) was immoral because it disrupted the natural order. Now I am being called upon to perform eugenics on the highest order. Taking a pre-human type of being to a fully human type of being."

  They were both silent for a while and then Captain Brezinski said, "It would appear we are combining the science of evolution with your biblical account of creation."

  Brother Simon smiled and said, "The concept of directed evolution has been opposed by both the pure evolutionist and by the creationist. By the amount of animosity the concept has engendered I always felt it must have a great amount of merit."

  Captain Brezinski then asked, "If the concept is valid for our work here what does that imply for our own heritage?"

  Brother Simon replied, "One of the great mysteries has always been why, after a million years of development, did modern man suddenly appear 40,000 years ago to dominate the entire earth and replace all other hominids. The genetic diversity between the most diverse humans is much less than the diversity between chimpanzees of the same family, indicating our very recent development. It would seem logical, considering our present situation, that we also received assistance in our development." A period of silence ensued which was comfortable to both of them, as they wrestled with their own thoughts.

  Captain Brezinski rose to leave and said, "I will leave you to your watch and I will ponder this while I sleep and recover from the toasting." Brother Simon wished her a good night and thought, as he watched her leave, that female companionship was still as enjoyable as he remembered from long ago.

  Breakfast the next morning was much quieter than usual and several of the crew complained it was Mike's cigar that produced their headache. Despite his double watch, Brother Simon seemed as alert as everyone else. Following breakfast everyone met for a general assembly of the crew. She opened the assembly by recapping the recent developments and said, "Our mission has been defined as the development of a pre-sentient type of being into a fully human type using genetic engineering. In order to accomplish this we need to develop a habitat for the flora and fauna of their native world and we need to genetically domesticate enough of the plants and animals so that our new beings can survive. We will be working as teams on specific projects for both our primary mission duties and our support activities. The habitat structure will be the responsibility of Mike, the habitat development team will be led by Doc Jules, and of course Brother Simon will lead the genetic engineering work. In addition to these primary mission duties some additional support activities need to be developed. I believe you all agree that fresh food production would be a welcome addition and I have assigned Ann this responsibility. I've assigned Doc Jules a secondary task of improving the health of the crew, which I understand will involve making us all ill with viral infections to boost our immunity."

  There was a general groan from the crew with this announcement.

  "The development of a landing craft to return our new beings to their world will also be required and I have assigned this task to Mike and his department." Captain Brezinski concluded her remarks by saying, "Crew members will be assigned to the primary mission work teams as their skills are needed and everyone will need to spend a few hours each week helping Ann with her gardening work."

  The assembly was then opened to discussion and questions were answered. Several of the crew members wanted to know how sick Doc Jules was planning on making them. He advised them that in order to boost their immunity they would have to be made ill enough to run a fever for several days. They would have to be isolated during this time period in order to limit the illness and prevent accidental infection of other crew members.

  Tom raised a question about how the new beings would protect themselves from the resident inhabitants and neither Captain Brezinski nor Brother Simon had an answer for him. She assigned Tom the responsibility of investigating defense strategies for the new beings. At the conclusion of the assembly Captain Brezinski closed by saying, "We have been given a great responsibility which I am confident we can handle, but I must insist that all work periods be limited to 12 hours. One day a week will be set-aside for rest and contemplation."

  She looked directly at Mike and Brother Simon while she was saying this. They both knew she understood that left to their own devices, they would spend most of their time working, probably to the detriment of their own health.

  After the assembly was completed Captain Brezinski asked Mike and Doc Jules to join her for coffee. They both complained about the quality of the coffee subs
titute, but agreed. She asked them to sit while she got the coffee. Captain Brezinski returned with the three cups and the container of coffee. She watched their faces as she poured the coffee because a strong coffee aroma was arising from the cups.

  Mike spoke up first and said, "Where did you find real coffee?"

  Captain Brezinski smiled and said, "Ann and Brother Simon have been spending a lot of their free time working on improving our rations."

  Doc Jules tasted the coffee and said, "I applaud their efforts."

  Mike's reaction was also complementary in its own way when he said, "It's almost real. That damn mystic and his chemistry might be good for something after all."

  She told them, "This is Ann's first batch. She wanted to surprise you and hoped you would like it."

  Ann came out of the kitchen and asked, "What do you think?" Mike responded, "Like I told the Captain, It is almost real."

  Doc Jules smiled, raised his cup and said, "I salute you and figure that I now owe you two fish dinners." Ann smiled back and said "I'm working on that."

  Captain Brezinski then explained, "I will be working with both of your teams and would like to function as the communication link between them."

  Mike asked, "You mean that it will be your responsibility to explain to our good doctor the constraints that the laws of physics place on us?"

  Doc Jules responded, "Having someone to explain to the ship's engineer the critical needs of a biological system would be wonderful."

  Captain Brezinski laughed and said, "The two of you make it sound like my task will be all but impossible." She then asked them where they should start.

  Mike's response was, "Like with all engineering projects, we need to define the basic characteristics of the garden, such as the size and environmental conditions."

  Doc Jules disagreed and said, "It’s more important to develop a series of isolation structures so we can begin developing the vegetation on which the mini-ecosystem will be dependent."

  "Why are the isolation chambers needed to develop the vegetation?" she asked.

  Doc Jules responded, "We do not understand the complex interactions which may occur between our biological systems and the ones of this new world; therefore, it would be prudent to keep them isolated."

  Mike was shaking his head and said, "As you can see he is being overly cautious again. He has already proven there is no danger from these new germs."

  Doc Jules said in response, "Well, it appears the first challenge is to explain to the ship's engineer that we're more concerned with our bacteria and fungus's detrimental effects on the development of this new ecosystem. He needs to understand that we must maintain its purity to make sure that our new beings can survive when we return them."

  Captain Brezinski re-filled their cups and asked, "Can we not work on both simultaneously?"

  Mike grumbled, "I suppose."

  Doc Jules shrugged his shoulders and said, "That sounds logical".

  They spent the next hour working on a rough design for Doc Jules' isolation chambers and designing the basic parameters for the garden. It was decided to emulate the terrain from which their specimens were taken. Doc Jules proposed a large garden that would dominate the dome. After the engineering obstacles were discussed they decided that a garden which was built on the scale of a large domed sports arena was the most practical. Mike had initially suggested they use a slight increase in the ambient air pressure to hold up the roof, just like the sports arenas they were copying. Doc Jules objected, saying in order to duplicate the habitat the air pressure would have to be lower than their present atmospheric pressure. Captain Brezinski suggested they could obtain the dual barrier by having a rigid structure covered by a secondary collapsible structure which would be held up by a slight pressure differential. Mike began sketching the modified geodesic dome covered by a secondary dome with a membranous roof. The floor space between the two wall structures would be used for the equipment and storage. Mike said, "This appears to be a workable concept and I think that I can provide adequate filtration to satisfy the doctor. We have not yet decided on the amount of gravitational force we need."

  Captain Brezinski said, "I would assume that we will have to decrease the rotation speed of our ship in order to obtain the .9g's the new inhabitants need."

  Doc Jules asked, "Can we not instead build this structure part way up the dome so that the crew can continue to be exposed to a full gravitational effect."

  Mike groaned and said, "There he goes again exponentially complicating everything."

  Catain Brezinski asked Doc Jules what his concern was and he replied, "We have approximately 28 years left before we begin de-acceleration. I am concerned this prolonged exposure to reduced gravity will produce osteoporosis and other metabolic damage in the crew."

  Mike replied, "There must be some other way to prevent these problems other than complicating the design and construction by at least a thousand fold."

  Captain Brezinski asked Doc Jules, "If the crew was subjected to a period of increased gravitational force for one day a week, would this be sufficient exposure to negate the harmful effects you are concerned about."

  Doc Jules replied, "It would probably be effective but how can we continuously change the rotational speed of the ship?"

  Captain Brezinski smiled and said, "I think it would be far easier to build a recreational facility at the end of our access tunnel. We will require that all crew members spend their day of rest there, wrestling with the higher acceleration forces that are present."

  Dr. Jules was quiet for a while with a far-away look and then he said, "Would it be possible to build an observatory into the outer airlock so we could actually see out?"

  Captain Brezinski turned to Mike who replied, "Sure, we can build a double glass enclosure inside of the outer door and maintain the integrity of the seal, but why bother when we have such good video equipment?"

  Captain Brezinski responded, "It would probably be good for crew morale, so I think that we should include the concept in our design."