"Why I'm just fine my dear, welcome to our home, Tris has told us so much about you."
The pair of them set off arm in arm for the rear garden, leaving Tris and Dorothy stunned and open-mouthed.
"Well," Dorothy said, after an extended pause, "it's easy to see who won that one!"
Tris laughed. "Isn't she something mom?"
"She certainly is son, yes, she certainly is."
Tris decided to leave his father and Hope alone, and helped his mom prepare the tea, not something he did very often. Dorothy was pleasantly surprised at the apparent change in him in the last few weeks.
"I will miss you mom," he said, out of the blue.
"And we'll miss you too son, though I can see you'll have good company on your travels."
She laughed again, this was a whole new experience for Dorothy, a mixture of joy and sorrow.
"It seems odd that we have not met before Hope, strange how you can live in a small place for so long and still not get to know everybody."
"Eden is somewhat work dominated," she answered him, "perhaps that's something that should change."
He nodded, agreeing with her, even though he knew he was mainly responsible for their not meeting.
"I think you are very wise my dear, and Tristran will do well to listen to you."
Now she knew she had made a new friend.
"Does Tris talk about his work much Mr. Eves?"
"Please call me Malcolm, and yes, he talks of little else, well he used to, until he met you!"
She blushed just a little.
"Yes, I've seen changes in him lately, he's becoming a man, and I need to acknowledge that fact."
Malcolm became quiet and looked thoughtful until...
"Tea's ready." The dulcet tones of a very happy Tris called out from inside the house. They rose and went inside to eat.
After sitting at the table, Malcolm asked if Hope would say grace.
"Certainly...Dear heavenly Father, I thank you for this family and the food you have provided this day, amen."
"Amen," Malcolm added, and began passing food around.
Tris just looked on in awe at how she was able to rise to any occasion, and win any heart; she had certainly won his.
When it was time to leave, Malcolm and Dorothy showed Hope to the door.
"Walk your young lady home son," he said, placing a hand on both their shoulders. "It's a lovely evening, enjoy yourselves." The youngsters left, holding hands, and Malcolm turned to Dorothy with a look of total surrender to the young beauty that had won his son's heart. They closed the door and Malcolm put his arm around Dorothy's shoulder as they walked back into the house.
"Let's leave the dishes and go for a walk," he said, "love is not just for the young you know."
Dorothy took his hand and led him out into the garden and away over the fields into the sunset.
❧
Tris was at work early next morning, he was feeling inspired, maybe today would be the day. His favourite corner awaited him, and he settled down with his notes. Roland came in a little later and was busily clattering about not knowing that Tris was there.
"Hi Roly," Tris called out.
"Oh, sorry Tris, didn't see you there, I'm starting work on the submarine today, must remember not to get phased, it's going to be a big job."
Tris smiled and became thoughtful.
"What...What did you just say?" Tris said, jumping up.
"It's going to be a big job."
"No, no, before that."
"Erm, ah yes, I mustn't get phased, was that it?"
"EUREKA!" Tris screamed, in delight, "That's it, Roly you've solved it!"
"Really, how's that then?"
Tris didn't wait to reply, he ran off towards the ship as fast as he could. Roland just scratched his head and got down to business.
Tris called Steve from the ship. He was still very excited and was having trouble speaking slow enough to be understood.
"Steve I've done it, well Roly triggered it actually, but it's solved-"
"Slow down Tris, you're garbling."
"Sorry Steve," Tris said, deliberately taking a deep breath and composing himself. "You were right, it was a little thing that I had missed. I'd been having trouble generating enough power in the Trion wave to achieve light speed, there seemed to be no way to do it. Then Roland said something that triggered a thought in my mind and I've solved the problem. We can use the same wave twice, all we have to do is split the Trion wave behind the ship and get them both in phase-"
"Ah, I see what you mean," Steve interrupted, "when two identical waves are mixed in phase, they double in power. That's brilliant Tris, you're a genius, wait till I tell Clare."
Steve was so excited he just hung up. Tris smiled, Steve was as excited about this as he was. "Now all we need is a way to split the wave and we're on our way." Tris was talking to himself, but who cared, he'd just cracked the greatest problem known to science; how to travel at the speed of light.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter 4.
Big Days
The news spread really quickly, and Tris became the hero of the science community.
"This ranks him with Einstein," Roland said, when talking about it later.
"I always knew he would be a great man," Steve said, "but this...And still so young."
Hope was beaming all day. She'd already had her hands on him in celebration of his discovery, but it wasn't enough, a party was called for, she had some organising to do.
❧
Monday morning arrived and Danny set off to work at the farm, he was fairly bouncing along he was so excited. The trip that had taken Sam and Kay over an hour, he did in ten minutes. Gareth was waiting for him in the farmyard.
"Welcome son, why don't you put your things inside the house and I'll take you on a tour of the farm on the tractor."
Danny did as he was asked and jumped up on the tractor next to Gareth.
"First things first young un." Gareth said. "For a start, you call me Seth. I know it's not my name, but it has more of a country sound to it than Gareth, OK?"
"OK, Seth," the lad answered.
"Right, let's be off then."
The tractor rolled out of the farmyard and along one of the rutted tracks.
"We'll do the crops first, and the animals after lunch."
The two got on well straight away and Danny loved it from day one.
The farm was huge and had been steadily growing over the years. Even on the tractor it was a long way to some of the areas Seth had cultivated. Along the way, Seth explained how things worked and why some things were done in different ways for different crops. Danny was a smart kid and learned fast. Seth took to him, he was right in every way, and he knew that one day he would leave everything in safe hands. Not that he had any intentions of doing so for a very long time, but the thought was a comfort to him.
After lunch they headed off to the grazing areas so Danny could see the animals.
"We only have cattle and sheep, Dan, so no bacon butties I'm afraid, but these animals give us all we need. You'll get to appreciate them more as time goes by."
Danny just nodded, he liked Seth, and he liked the farm. He had found his niche in Eden.
❧
"Well, Hun, we can set a date now, everything is ready for the trip. I've installed a small plant section in the cargo bay so we shouldn't run out of air. We also have a supply of berries and their plants just in case we need them. Can't think of anything else, unless you can find a road map..."
Steve chuckled. "I do have some charts," he said, "but they don't have petrol stations and service areas on them, at least, not yet. I've programmed all that we have into the navigation computer on the ship. There is one place to start with, it was discovered back in the 1990s, it has a sun with several planets in orbit around it, we'll head there first."
"Any idea how long it'll take?"
"Nope, not a clue, but a lot less time than it would have done at sub light speed."
Clare smiled, it really was an amazing discovery. "I wonder what it will feel like travelling so fast?"
"We'll find out soon enough Sweetie."
"Yap," Rufus had just entered dragging Jimmy behind him.
"He almost does the speed of light by himself," Jimmy said, having a well-earned sit down. Clare bent down and picked up the little rascal, "Won't be long now Ruffs, but there are no trees where we're going so you'd better get used to that bathroom."
The date was set. In exactly one week's time, the Foresters would set off on their journey to the stars. Everything that could be crammed in was loaded into the ship: spare Kerasite in case more fuel was needed, bicrylic solar panels, and a little something from Roland, Keracraft back packs. Single coil backpacks that could be used to travel over rough terrain. "Just something I knocked up," he said, when handing them over.
The days passed slowly for some, and all to quickly for others. Tris never got his party, there was just too much to do, even for Hope, who was a whiz at such things. The Foresters were invited out every evening of that week, meals and picnics were in abundance. Waistlines began to suffer, only Rufus seemed to be able to take it all in his stride.
The evening before their departure, Kay came to see Steve privately.
"Any advice for me before you go Steve?" she asked.
Steve was touched and thought for quite some time before giving his answer.
"Lead from your heart Kay," was all he said, but it was enough. She knew what he meant, and it was what she had expected from him. It was what he had done for all these years, even from the earliest days at Star Labs.
"Keep safe Steve, and trust in the Lord, He will guide you."
She got up to leave.
"You will come back to us?" She left without waiting for a reply.
"Farewell Kay," he said, after she was gone. Sadness hit him, but he fought it off, now was not the time to back off, the Lord's will was waiting for him, somewhere, out there.
❧
The great day arrived, and Hope went to see Tris' parents long before leaving time. Dorothy, who was obviously glad to see her, invited her in.
"Malcolm is in the garden dear, he'll be delighted to see you." Hope gave Dorothy a hug, not something she was used to, but she returned it warmly all the same. She then led Dorothy out into the garden.
"Why how lovely to see you my dear," Malcolm said, rising to greet her.
"Thank you Mr...Malcolm. I wanted to talk to you privately before everything breaks lose out there." She paused just a little. "I just wanted you to know that Tris and I both realise that we are still very young, and we have no intention of rushing into things before we are mature. I just wanted you to know that we are going to be sensible about this."
She paused again.
"Tris is your son, and I know you care for him deeply, I just wanted you to be reassured."
"Well, thank you Hope, I am, very reassured. I knew it from the first time I set eyes on you. Bless you." Malcolm said, through the tears, and Dorothy was not far behind him. The three of them hugged each other as though they had been friends for life.
"Thank you," Malcolm whispered into her ear, "you've shown me how to be free."
Hope turned to Dorothy, "Is there any advice you would like to give me before I go?"
Dorothy thought for a moment and said, "Yes dear, always try to make him feel wanted, they're happiest then."
Hope smiled and took her leave of them.