Chapter 56

Except for attending the funeral of his body guards, Harold recuperated at home for the next two weeks. The security detail kept him from his fans. Emily tried to console him, but it was no use. The attack in the TV studio, the clock shop, the McDonalds, and finally in the hospital were to much for him. There were substantial numbers of people and much of the government that was behind the project. The incredible thing was that the project was actually working. The planet of Venus was becoming inhabitable. There were lots of people who were very happy with what he had done. There were a small minority that viewed him as the modern day Christopher Columbus: an evil exploiter who had defiled the new world. Revisionist history would change again, but Harold knew ultimately why he had done it. Initially he thought there would be economic incentives, but none had materialized. George had been clearly driven by money. But Harold in reality had seen it merely as a challenge. It was an experiment, an experiment on a very grand scale, but simply an experiment. He saw the mountain, climbed it, and his only reason was because it was there. Now that he had done it, now that life had been extended to another planet, some were not satisfied. When he first spoke to George of his need to get away from it all, his plans were only in their infancy, but now with the passage of time, he knew what he must do. He would become a settler on the new improved planet Venus. Most early explorers died. Most early settlers died. He knew the risks. He knew what he had to do. He made the phone call.

"Senator Knophf's Office. May I help you?" The receptionist always picked it up on the first ring.

"This is Harold MacAnish, may I speak to the senator?" Harold was still recuperating at his home, and as such was casually dressed in shorts and a tee shirt.

"Dr. MacAnish, the senator is in conference right now. May I take a message for him and get back to you? I am sure the senator will be disappointed to have missed your call." She opened her little message book to take a message.

"Could you please tell the senator to call me at home. 415-555-8080. I will be available pretty much any time." Harold hung up and picked up his crutches and walked out to the pool.

"Emily. Oh, Emily" Harold said it with great apprehension. "Sweetie, I have a question for you." Harold walked into the living room and sat down in a big leather chair.

"Down in a minute darling." Emily was upstairs doing something. She bounded down the stairs. "What can I do for you?"

"Honey, I have come to a decision about what to do with our security problems."

"I didn't think we had a security problem." Emily shot back right away.

"Well you don't, but I fear I do. I can't take it anymore Emily. I have decided to be on the next rocket to Venus. I am going to be a space pioneer. I want you and the kids to come with me." Harold looked her directly in the face. His expression was completely serious.

"Harold, have you slipped a cog? Venus is not a place for children or normal people. Venus is a place for people who need more thrills and spills. I don't want to be a cross between Jane Jetson and Mrs. Bunyan. Are you worried about those little security problems? We'll get a new armored Suburban, a collection of Arnold Swartzeneger movies, and move to a more secure location. All will be well."

"Sweetie, we are virtual prisoners in our own house. If I go out the radical vegetarians want to make an example of me. Even the Sierra Club has a contract out on my life. The gang from hell is trying to kill me. I can't even go to a store without ten plus casualties."

"Harold, The police are behind you 100%. The FBI is going to figure out who those terrorists are and stop them. Linda Grange is so soft in the head she needs ear muffs to keep her head from sagging." Emily looked deeply into his eyes and could see the pain.

"Sweetie, the bullets come from the front. With the police in back they are quite safe. The FBI has been looking for Jimmy Hoffa for more than twenty years. Being soft in the head makes you more dangerous, not less. She could probably get a concealed weapon license in half the states. She can buy a semi-automatic weapon in almost all of them." Harold didn't look reassured.

"Harold, she doesn't need a semi-automatic to hurt you. You have been listening to those anti-gun advertisements. She can use a regular pistol. It is just more convenient to use an automatic. You are plenty safe here as long as you don't leave the house. I think you are over reacting." Emily was obviously not going to give up the California life style without a fight.

"Venus would be great. Look at the latest photos coming in. Here in this crack in the volcanic rock there is a fern. A fern growing on bare rock. Look, the soil is glistening in the morning sun. There is a shrub." Harold had several 8 by 10 glossy photos of the surface. The hills were a light coffee color as if you had put a bit more cream in your coffee than needed. There were several areas with purplish-green rock that made up a lava flow coming from the top of a ridge. The rocks on the surface looked rippled like the surface of a brownie pan where the skin had shrunk and crinkled. And true to his word, there was a little crack in the foreground. More of a recess in the solid pane of rock with a fern growing in it. The fern used the edge of the rock as a shelter from the wind. The little pocket had probably accumulated a bit of softer dirt and water which allowed the plant to germinate and grow.

"Harold you have one fern in that whole picture. Your major source of greenery is algae floating in the sky. That glistening is decomposing organic material melting into oil on the surface. Venus is a rock floating in space that needs a million years of improvements to make it tolerable. A morning sun!, Sweetie, morning last for three months. We won't have any neighbors and it is 50 million kilometers to the nearest Nordstroms. Why would I leave California for Venus? I wouldn't even move to New Jersey, why would I move to another planet?" Emily was now looking at Harold and wondering whether he really had slipped a cog, or more likely just slid back to his normal self. "Harold, I am not going to Venus. That is my last word on the subject." She walked out of the living room and ascended the stairs.

Harold walked into his study and starred at the pictures. There was one that was a panorama of the Devana Chasma Rift Valley. The rock was tan on either side of the valley with sharp jagged pinnacles. The base of the valley was a much redder soil with numerous cinder cones in the floor. Each cone had a tailing of lighter rocks that had been deposited down wind. In the distance there was a giant caldera by earth standards but on Venus, one of many of such size. The edges of the caldera were cracked and broken showing the force of an explosion. Towards the other side of the valley there was a layer of smaller gravel over the landscape. The soil had a pinkish color in the light. In the distance two other smooth topped cinder cones could be seen. It was raw volcanism at its best. Harold loved the look of it. He loved the idea of it. Total isolation, total seclusion. No one to bother him. Fifty million kilometers, at its shortest from his problems. Ah, paradise.

The phone range and Harold picked it up. "Hello?"

"Dr. MacAnish? This is Jane from Senator Knophf's office. You indicated that you would like to speak to him." Jane looked into the phone and wondered about this man. She had met him several times and he always seemed strange.

"Senator Knophf, yes, I was just thinking about something else. Yes, Please put him on." Harold sat up in his chair and shook his head a bit.

"Harold, Harold MacAnish! How are you feeling? You worried us a bit two weeks ago. How is Emily? And Robert? Great. What can I do for you?" The senator loved Harold. Harold and the Venusian BioAtmospherics Project had become the senator's main project. It symbolized what was great about America. It brought jobs to Americans, and specifically one thousand just to the senator's home state, and Harold was the center of it.

"Senator, since the most recent attack, I have been thinking a lot about my security and that of my family. I have become a virtual prisoner in my own home. I am a danger to others when I go out in public. I have decided to go to Venus. I am taking Emily and Robert. We can direct the project from there. I would like to be on the next rocket to Venus."

"Harold, have you been drinking or taking a lot of that pain medicine? No? Well maybe you should toss back a few. What does Emily think of the idea?" Knophf stared into the space in front of him. His eyebrows screwed up a bit. He tried to imagine himself on a barren rock floating in space. Not a chance. Not a chance.

"Senator. I have given this a lot of thought. It is the only solution. I have made my planet and now I am going to live on it." Harold like the sound of that. "I will present my plan to the Space Committee next week and I would like your support."

"Harold. You have done so much for the world, for mankind, and for me, that I will support your efforts. I worry for you safety and your sanity but I support you 100 percent. See you in a week. Good Bye" The senator hung up the phone and shook his head. What a nut?

Chapter 57

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