Chapter 8

The next morning Harold awoke next to Emily. They were naked and wrapped around each other skin to skin. Harold loved the feel of her warm body next to his. The glow of the evening was still with him. After a few minutes Emily awakened. She turned her head toward him and kissed him on the lips. They hugged. They smiled. Harold rolled over on top of her, kissed her gently. He then rolled over as Emily reached for the night table. She opened the top drawer, pulled out a condom, and placed it on him. He lifted his pelvis slightly and she reached down to put it inside herself. They began slowly and then as the morning brightened the smiles became wider and the pace quicker. Emily began to moan and to breathe more deeply. Harold began to kiss her breasts. She peaked but Harold continued. She smiled and began to build again. They rolled, laughed, kissed, and continued to build. The ecstasy came for both of them this time. The total warmth, the wave of emotion, the smiles were very wide.

They lay coupled for what seemed like eternity. Harold slept lightly until Emily rolled off of him. She lay smiling next to his warm body. They held hands for a few more minutes and then Emily led him to the shower. After a quick wash they dressed in robes and walked to the kitchen. Harold poured orange juice for both of them and they sat in the kitchen enjoying the morning light.

Emily was the first to speak. "You know Harold, I had always underestimated you. I thought of you as quite the scientific nerdy type."

"Thanks, you say the nicest things."

"No really, that was great fun. I feel, well, totally wonderful."

"I feel pretty phenomenal myself. I had a great time last night and this morning. Well, that always starts the day well."

"May I ask you a question?"

"You just did." He smirks, then smiles. "Sure, anything for you, my little one."

Emily. "What are you and George up to?"

Harold. "Up to?" He smiled, lifted his eyebrows. "Whatever do you mean?"

"You.." She poked him in the stomach with her finger.

He made a small ping sound. They both smiled, hugged, and then kissed. "Well, you forced me. That's what I'll tell George. He knows I can't keep a secret to save my life. We are in real estate development."

"You, you promised." She smiled at him.

"Well it is special real estate. Real estate that no one owns at present and that is inclement, to say the least. We are trying to make Venus habitable." He looked down and away and muffled his voice as he said it.

Emily just opened her eyes wide and looked directly at him in shock. "You're serious aren't you. You and George are actually going to make it habitable? Harold, the surface of Venus is at 750oC and the atmosphere is 99 % carbon dioxide. How in God's name are you going to make that habitable?"

"That's 735 degrees Kelvin which isn't quite as bad. And all that carbon dioxide is the cause of the temperature. Venus only gets about twice as much energy from the sun as Earth. The carbon dioxide just absorbs a lot more of the energy that would be radiated away. You know the old greenhouse effect. We plan to do what all the environmentalist want us to do - eliminate the green house effect." Harold stood erect as he said it.

"How are you going to get rid of the carbon dioxide?" Emily looked at him with great disbelief.

"There are actually two problems. The first is the carbon dioxide and the second is the amount. The surface pressure is 90 atmospheres. High enough to cause sinus problems in the best of us. The second is the actual gas. At first we thought of doing it the way it was done on earth - a large impact blew much of the atmosphere away. We couldn't find a large enough meteorite to steer into the planet to blast it away, so George wanted to detonate a large nuclear device on the surface and blow the atmosphere away, or at least ninety percent of it. I vetoed that immediately." Harold was quite proud of this point.

"I can see the environmental impact statement for that one right now. One million megaton nuclear explosion on the surface of Venus ripping away ninety percent of the atmosphere thought safe. No evidence suggests this will adversely effect life on the planet. That might not be well received by the world community." Emily smirked as she said it.

"Besides, all that gas is worth something and making it all radioactive would be ugly for real estate prices. I can see the posters now: Love Canal on the Love Planet - Invest in Venus. See the only glowing sunsets in the solar system." Harold began to gesture wildly.

"I worry about you Harold. Are you sure you don't have some fundamental neurologic problem you should have told me about last night before, you know?" Emily smiled and kissed his neck.

"Not that I know of. Well how could I know? You know what they say - sometimes you are the last to know. If you are smart enough to consider the concept that you might have Alzheimers, you probably don't. The present plan is much better." The serious side of Harold began to surface.

"I am all ears." She smiled.

"Definitely not." He smiled. "We plan to find an algae that can exist in 99% carbon dioxide and drop it in the atmosphere. The algae converts the carbon dioxide to oxygen and carbon in organic compounds and presto the temperature drops and the planet is much improved."

"How are the algae going to live at 735oC Kelvin? You will crisp them in seconds." She looked dubiously at him.

"That is the easy part. The temperature drops with elevation. At 55 kilometers the temperature is 300oK or 30oC and the pressure is one atmosphere. Surprisingly earth like." He was so proud of this part.

"How are you going to stay at that altitude?" She had all the right questions.

"Well, that was a tough one. At first we thought of a balloon. We could make a really great one in that atmosphere. We could probably make a steel blimp to float in 90 atmospheres of carbon dioxide. But since we want to stay at 55 kilometers we are going to build small solar powered ultralight airplanes that will just cruise at altitude. They will dump out the algae as they cruise along." Harold spilled the beans.

"You're nuts." Emily shook her head in disbelief.

"You say the nicest things." Harold smiled at the comment.

"So what are the sulfur dioxide ingesting bacteria for?" She nuzzled closer to Harold and began nibbling on his neck.

"Oh, part of the atmosphere is sulfur dioxide and sulfuric acid. We were going to use those bacteria to provide a hydrogen source to the algae." Harold tried to concentrate but his voice wavered.

"You are actually going to do it aren't you." She smiled and looked down with enthusiasm.

"Yep." Harold's smile got really big. The sort that can tear the cheeks if it continues.

Emily stood up and dropped her bathrobe on the floor. She walked over to Harold kissed him on the forehead. Harold buried his face in her breasts and kissed both of them. He stood up dropping his robe. He picked her up and carried her to the bedroom.

Chapter 9

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