The Centauri Conspiracy

Epilogue

  At present people live on other planets and on this one the most famous family reunion, the Bakman-Iversen Family Picnic, is this summer having another once every third year get together. It is still called “a picnic” by family members. Bakman, that mystic name of legend on at least four planets, started this gathering where countless members of the Bakman and Iversen family members have had their ashes scattered.

  The only exceptions ever granted for scattering of ashes at this site are to workers in the original OpDyke Building and their immediate family members alive before building ownership changed to the city of New Dallas. According to Clone Colony records three hundred eighty-nine exception-scatterings have been granted and preformed. It may interest historians that the base of a high sheer cliff a half mile east, at the base of a four hundred-twenty-seven foot high sheer cliff, is a large brass plate engraved with each name that had their ashes scattered by year.

  Informationalists always complain about being allowed at the reunion for only two hours. After that, they all have to leave, except a team of three from the U.N. that record the entire family gathering for all four planets. Before their first two hours start a short formal program and then endless interviews that will be replayed on Information Screens all year. Recordings of every interview are even beamed out into space to the three populated planets of Zee, Vee, and Dee.

  Chronicler Report Part two: Picnic

  As every Bakman-Iversen Family Picnic program begins, so does this one. A ten-year-old family member chosen by lot walks forward with a small disk quieting the crowd, slips it into an open tray, touches a spot on the screen, and watches it disappear. As the child walks back to his seat shrill ancient Morris Code dots and dashes charge out into the stillness followed by a gravely serious voice saying, "D, V, Z." Ten seconds of silence represent the first 197 years of flight time and more dots and dashes with another voice saying, "In orbit around Dee." Ten seconds more of silence to stand for fifteen orbit years before dots and dashes again and a new voice saying, "First 20 Deenese to shuttle down." In the next ten seconds that really took fifteen more years the crowd claps until more dots and dashes with a different voice reading, "Second 20 Deenesians to shuttle down." This continues until four flights of shuttles depart for the surface and a final “Base station descending to Dee.”

  Again, the silence fills with clapping representing 93 more years it really took with more dots and dashes going deeper into space and a new voice reading, "In orbit around Vee." Clapping again representing fifteen years, more dots and dashes before a voice informs the listeners, "First 20 Veenese to shuttle down." Clapping represents another fifteen years, dots and dashes, and a new voice explains, "Second 20 Veenesians to shuttle down." Again, this continues through four shuttles and a descending base station to the planet Vee below.

  Again dots and dashes going deeper into space with clapping representing the 108 more years of actual time before another voice, "In orbit around Zee." Clapping representing fifteen years before more dots and dashes, and a different voice speaking, "First 20 Zeenese to shuttle down." Clapping represents fifteen years before more dots and dashes and another new voice explains, "Second 20 Zeenesians to shuttle down." Again, through four shuttles and a base station descending to planet Zee with clapping intervals and this time clapping continues longer in a final round of appreciation over the successful OpDyke-Bakman project.

  Clapping ceases when a large screen flashes on filled with Bakman's smiling eighty-one-year-old face with Dee, Woll, Laureena and all of their combined families gathered around him at a family picnic. The legendary Bakman speaks only one word, "Welcome." It is his first and last word ever spoken on a recorder since his release from prison. The U.N. legal and prison authorities never seemed to notice that he may or may not have violated his agreement.

  The crowd cheers and then the screen fills with an eighty-four year-old man, Duncan Gulihur Duffy Bakman the 18th, handing over to the Secretary of the U.N. a tray of disks. His old weak voice explains, "It's a set made from the original recordings Bakman had made." When the Secretary accepts the set of disks, an audience scan shows the Bakman family in attendance at that ancient gathering cheering. And then, the screen goes blank and fills with a space telescope’s view of the three Centauri stars.

  Ninety-two-year-old Deerdae Zea Auteen, this gatherings oldest living member of the Bakman family in relative good health, stands, walks slowly to the front using her cane and stubbornly refuses to use an offered hover chair. Smiling Deerdae Auteen gives a short welcome to the family members that could attend this historic 333rd family picnic that was started nearly one thousand years ago. Mrs. Auteen gives a short talk about new information and the twenty foot tall split-screen behind her fills with three groups of humans standing and waving from the far away planets of Dee, Vee, and Zee.

  After cheering dies down Mrs. Auteen continues, "Scientists on all four worlds are still trying to figure out a way to travel back and forth. Now, they can time-delay talk and share informational recordings. At first it took a good part of a year to have short conversation. It took time to ask a question and get a reply, but do to advances and distant repeater satellite placement they have reduced that almost by a third. Someday they will learn how to travel to and visit each other’s world. Each of these four worlds has a "Deep Seed" planning program to scatter more humans to other new worlds. Each world’s program is modeled on the OpDyke-Bakman’s way of scattering human being to far planets in our galaxy. Someday maybe even to other galaxies.”

  “As I speak to you, we have had word of another successful first shuttling down operations on Cate since our last reunion, and these last ten years have seen at least two more ‘Deep Seed’ programs in the planning for lift-off stage. At present three spacecrafts are in flight. Someday our family hopes that the peopling of the planets will be complete and all inhabitable planets and moons in every galaxy will have human populations."

  As always that old closing brings everyone to stand, cheer, and clap. Following this outburst, Mrs. Deerdae Zea Auteen gives a short summary of recent achievements and expresses sadness over the reading a list of family members that passed away during the last three years.

  In conclusion Mrs. Auteen proudly mentions that in a governmental survey last year a picture of this place, the Mary and Harry OpDyke rock, was the most recognized, most often painted, and most often seen on walls. It appears on countless walls on four worlds. This brings a long last cheer as Mrs. Deerdae Zea Auteen declares the meeting over.

  The rest of her time over the next two hours was filled with endless interviews with groups of the 872 Informational Specialists working the crowd of 3,497 attending this year's Bakman-Iversen family picnic.

  Respectfully submitted

  Duncan Gilihur Duffy Bakman the 39th

  Chronicler

  (Completed from Bakman family resources March 17, 4232)