Fear and Aggression

Prologue

Oh, how beautiful, she thought to herself, as they rounded the bend and looked out over the lake with the sunset reflecting off of the water. Jenna’s husband, Chip, was be-bopping to the oldies music that had been playing on the satellite radio for the past couple of hours. She glanced at him and he gave her a quick glance and a smile.

That glance brought back her train of thought. Why was that? Oh, that’s right, it’s his silly beard, she thought to herself. He hadn’t sported a beard since they were dating over twenty-five years ago. He really couldn’t grow a beard, with his light blond hair, but he decided to give it a whirl again anyway.

Jenna had been thinking about her name, and how much she hated it. She still hated it after all of these years; and seeing his attempt at a beard brought it to the forefront of her thoughts. Jenna Jenners, it just sounds sick—it’s a sick name. Why did the man I love have to have that horrible last name of Jenners, she thought. She really didn’t hate the name Jenners—it was the combination that she hated. Jenna Jenners, that just sounds awful.

Chip had thought of plenty of ways to fix the problem. He was happy with her keeping her maiden name, Rickson. But Jenna was a traditionalist; she didn’t even want a hyphenated last name, nor did she think that it would help. Chip loved her sandy blond hair, and had called her, ‘Sandy,’ just for fun. Since you are changing your last name to Jenners, anyway, why don’t you just change your first name to Sandy? he suggested. She liked the name Sandy—she even liked him calling her Sandy—but she was Jenna. She had always been Jenna, and always would be Jenna. There was no way around it: she was going to be Jenna Jenners. It made her cry at the time. Now, she could smile about it, but she still hated—really hated—her name.

The setting sun brought a brilliance of color to both the sky and the lake. She felt happy inside. If the worst thing about Chip is his last name, then I’m a pretty lucky woman. She really did love him, and that was the only thing about him that she really didn’t like. Sandy Jenners was no longer her pet name. Sandy was actually her nineteen-year-old daughter, with long, sandy blond hair, just like hers. That worked out perfectly, she thought. Her younger, fifteen-year-old daughter had a lighter shade of blond, more like Chip’s hair.

The girls were both sitting in the back seat, with Sandy sitting directly behind her mother; Megan was sitting behind Chip, who was driving. The girls had not said a word in hours. They must both be playing on their phones, she thought. Her daughters never had much to say or do with each other. They could be together in the same room—or car—for hours and have no interaction. It had always been that way. She couldn’t think of a time when they had fought with each other. They didn’t act angry or frustrated; they just never had much to do with each other. It’s funny, I love them both so much, she thought, why don’t they get along better? It really had always been this way, ever since they were little children.

Jenna turned around to look at her daughters. Megan looked up with a classic fifteen-year-old, ‘what?’ expression. She had headphones on, and didn’t look like she wanted to remove them. Reluctantly she pressed pause and looked back at her mother.

Check out the sunset; it’s gorgeous! said Jenna. Megan looked up briefly, nodded quickly, and then dropped her eyes back to her phone. Tell Sandy, said her mother. Jenna didn’t want to have to lean over to get Sandy’s attention.

Megan reached over and gave Sandy a gentle slap with the back of her hand on Sandy’s thigh. Sandy turned her head and gave Megan a dirty look. Megan bobbed her head towards her mother with a similar expression, as if to say, I don’t want to talk with you, Mom made me do it.

Once Sandy began to look out her passenger side window towards the lake and the setting sun, she lost interest in her phone. The beauty captivated her, and she just looked out and gazed—something was clearly on her mind.

Such beautiful, wonderful girls, who couldn’t care less about each other, Jenna thought as she turned back around to admire the view herself. They were riding alongside the lake now. It was just a few feet away from Jenna on the passenger’s side. With her boys it was entirely different. Even though they were fourteen years apart in age, they had been inseparable since her youngest was born. They both absolutely adored each other, and would be happy to spend all of their time together. That is why they were not with them right now. They were home hanging out together,—probably having the time of their lives, she thought pleasantly. I think I’ll text them and let them know when we’ll be home.

Jenna turned around to borrow Megan’s phone rather than fiddle in her purse for her own. As she turned around, she shrieked, WATCH OUT! But there was nothing that Chip could do. A car racing at over seventy miles per hour, along a side road, slammed into them squarely on the driver’s side, crushing and killing Chip and Megan instantly. Sandy and Jenna blacked out as both cars flew over the embankment and into the lake.

Jenna partially regained consciousness as the vehicles made impact with the water. She was aware of her husband and daughter’s deaths—it was obvious—but wondered about Sandy. She wanted to call her name, but could not as she blacked out again. Both cars sank quickly into the lake. The next time that Jenna regained consciousness was when she felt the cold water on her thighs. Again, she thought of Sandy, and again, she blacked out.

She briefly regained consciousness when she inhaled cold water, instead of air. She sputtered momentarily, but could not stay awake. Jenna Jenners had taken her final breath.

Chapter 1

Einstein had been wrong. Not that he was far off; the universe did seem compelled to obey the rules according to the paradigm of relativity. And according to every experiment that was ever designed—beyond atomic physics—nature behaved just as relativity predicted. Space travel, to any great extent, appeared to be a practical impossibility because of the vast distance between heavenly bodies. The speed of light was the universal speed limit, and even if crafts were designed that could approach this speed in outer space, it would still take eons of time to move about from heavenly body to heavenly body (though it wouldn't seem to take so long to the space travelers themselves). Therefore, this was of no practical use to either governments, or corporations. And even if it were possible to design such crafts, the amount of energy required and the costs would be literally astronomical. So, governments played around with the moon, Mars, Venus, some comets, and asteroids, but nothing of much use or interest was gained by it.

It really was nothing more than a mathematical technicality, something very few people could comprehend to any degree, whatsoever, and fewer still could see the beauty in it. With human minds, and everything else in the universe, designed to experience reality in three dimensions, it is startling that it was ever discovered. Computers, however, had been employed to simply analyze logic and math itself; to take mathematic suppositions and see if anything intriguing would come up from it. It wasn’t that these machines were capable of free thought. They were just doing as they were commanded; throwing out or changing one rule or principal at a time and seeing what would happen. Very little had come from this and some of the brilliant yet skeptical minds wondered what could possibly be discovered by machines designed to work by a system of logic, questioning the system of logic itself. Nevertheless, the fruitless computations went on. The next step in the skeptic’s line of reasoning was that if something new, unusual, or intriguing was discovered in the calculations, how would the computers be able to assign it as such, flag it, and bring to the humans in charge an understanding of what was discovered? If the computers were using the logic they were designed to use, everything would simply make logical sense to them.

Contrary to the skeptics’ logically beautiful line of reasoning, computers, while logical, are not philosophical, nor do they see beauty in anything; they simply do as they are told, and that’s just what they did. The mathematics, of course, was unfathomable to comprehend by nearly everyone. Those who supposedly did understand the math relied heavily on the computers. But the bottom line was this: Anything traveling in the three dimensional universe, i.e. traveling in a straight line, is limited by not being able to exceed the velocity of light.

However, space was found not to be three dimensional at all. The fourth dimension had been discovered mathematically, as incomprehensible as this was. And, if traveling according to the mathematical paradigm of this fourth dimension, everything in the universe was exponentially closer together. The way that it was described to the average budding intellectual on the street was this: if you were able to look at the three dimensional universe from the perspective of the fourth dimension, the three-dimensional world would look like a sine wave with high peaks and valleys, but with extremely rapid frequency. So high was the frequency, that it was as though the three-dimensional universe was tightly folded up. Traveling in the three-dimensional world would be a-kin to having to climb up a steep mountain, traveling a much farther distance than the actual height because of the numerous and lengthy switchbacks. But, when traveling according to the fourth dimension, it would be like cutting straight across these switchbacks, and thus decreasing the length of the journey immensely. Of course, those in the know say that this analogy is not entirely correct, but for all practical purposes this is how everyone visualized it.

The actual length from the earth to the furthest reaches of the known universe was calculated to be approximately twenty light years, when traveling via this ‘fourth dimension.’ In theory, this made the entire universe accessible for space travel within an individual’s life time. Now, going back to Einstein, all of the great theorists wondered if the laws of relativity held up when traveling via the fourth dimension, as they did when traveling exclusively via the third dimension. Initial results of experiments were encouraging, but there were always discrepancies. Two camps ensued: those that held that relativity had failed relative to the fourth dimension, and those that held that the fourth dimension was incompletely understood, or slightly miscalculated.

Whether relativity was accurate or just a good estimate in speaking of the fourth dimension was a debate left up to the theorists, because in all practicality travel at velocities at or near the speed of light was still science fiction.

Speaking of practicalities, it may be wondered how traveling in this fourth dimension is possible at all. It may seem as though it would be one thing to prove the existence and form of a fourth dimension, but an entirely different thing to maneuver there-in. As it turns out, the engineers who went about tackling this problem didn’t find it to be much of a problem at all. Once the computers had a mathematical paradigm of it, all that had to be done was to let the computer direct the motion of a space craft according to the four-dimensional paths calculated. The fourth dimension had always been there, it was just so different from the third dimension that everyone was completely unaware of its existence. Traveling within it was simply a matter of knowing how it was shaped, and that was only possible by complex calculations.

The days and weeks prior to the launching of the first space craft designed to travel in four-dimensional space were quite a spectacle. While NASA maintained that what was going on was nothing more than a part of their routine space program, it was not a very well-kept secret. Experts from all over the world were sought after for assistance: mathematicians, engineers, astrophysicists, cosmologists, philosophers, et cetera. Too many of them lectured in too many halls to not have spilled too many beans for NASA’s liking. When the fourth dimension was nothing more than theory and complicated computer calculations, public interest was all but nonexistent. But when space ships, tax dollars, and journalists became involved, public interest became pandemonium.

One of the problems was that it was not a very well-leaked secret, either. What was known was that the rocket would release a spherical vessel once it had left the atmosphere. The spherical vessel would have rockets placed tangentially across its surface area, to enable the computers to move the ‘ball’ in any third dimensional direction possible, which would be, effectively, straight ahead in the fourth dimension. Where exactly straight ahead would be was not known for sure, but the best guesses were the moon, Mars, or Venus.

The skeptics were in full swing. They painted a picture in the minds of the average person of a very expensive ball being sent up to space that would simply gyrate all around; yet NASA thought that it would somehow arrive at its designed location faster than the speed of light. Some suggested that since the ball would be so close to the atmosphere, if the computers decided to rocket it in the direction of the earth, that it would reenter the atmosphere and potentially wreak havoc on the earth’s surface. Others wondered how much precious energy and resources would be wasted on all of these thousands of rockets firing off, seemingly randomly. They reasoned that by having so many rockets fire in so many directions, they would be fighting against one another, and probably, at best, cause the ball to spin uncontrollably.

It was possible that a very non-vocal minority may have been excited about the possibilities, but public opinion generally ranged from apathy to sarcasm to rage. By the time the big day arrived, it was widely considered likely to be the biggest, most expensive failure in NASA history. The President and members of Congress began to distance themselves from the event.

Until three days before the launch, it was still classified as top secret, though it was anything but that. With the mission so widely discussed, and pressure on NASA to make live satellite video of the event available for public viewing, the President made the decision to allow the event to be covered on live television. It was the first time in many decades that the public wanted to watch live anything that NASA had done; however, this time the public interest was in watching NASA fail.

The launch went off without a hitch; all the disengagements went perfectly. In a short period of time, the rocket, having left the atmosphere, released the ball. It was far less of a spectacle than what had been conjured up in the public’s imagination. Artists’ renditions of rumors are rarely very accurate. Far fewer rockets covered the surface of the ball than the general public though, and it seemed to be rather drab, via the satellite images that the viewers were witnessing.

The ball and the rocket distanced themselves from one another, but nothing else happened. It lasted two minutes and thirty-seven seconds, but most observers said it seemed much longer. From the angle that the satellite captured the event, one rocket could be seen igniting for a split-second, and then the ball was gone. Silence ensued across the planet. In the upper right-hand corner of the television was a view entitled ‘Moon Cam.’ It appeared to be a still shot of a section of the Moon’s surface. For seconds nothing appeared in either picture. Then, just as instantly as the ball had disappeared from the main camera angle, it reappeared in the Moon Cam as it slammed into the surface of the moon, exactly centered in the image. It had traveled at a velocity far in excess of the speed of light, or so it seemed based on the few seconds it took to reappear at the moon, and yet it barely scratched the moon’s surface. The ball was broken, to be sure; it looked like an egg that had been dropped on a hard floor. But that speed should have caused an impact that would have disintegrated the ball and caused an enormous crater to add to the moon’s copious collection.

But the ball had never reached a velocity worthy of being called a snail’s crawl. It hadn't traveled fast, just differently. The fourth dimensional distance between the spot that it began its journey and its final resting place was minute; considering how long it took, it had never reached much of a speed at all. Its crash was more akin to a fender bender than a serious collision.

So there it sat, while the unblinking eyes of the world stared at it in amazement. The world in unison had witnessed the impossible; forever the world would be different. But for anyone to conceptualize this new world, at that point, would be like Benjamin Franklin imagining Las Vegas at night just after he had flown his kite with the key in the rain storm.

Still, the thoughts and feelings of everyone in the world were one; perhaps unlike any other time in history. While most people had a very poor understanding of the physics of the three-dimensional world to begin with, still, everyone knew that things now were different—much different—and would never be the same again.

Chapter 2

It had been a splendid afternoon. The temperature reached maximum a little after noon, yet there had been a cool and refreshing breeze. As the sun began to fall and the temperature drop, the breeze had stopped. It was neither warm nor cool, but just perfect. The sun was behind the young man and his father as they walked slowly and methodically down the path towards their home, so they could not see the radiant orange and pink sunset behind them.

For the past twenty minutes nothing had been spoken between the companions. They had had a day of talking, learning, and experiencing together; nothing could be spoken that would have added anything to the moment. The young man, of a little over thirteen years of age, had an air of goodness, confidence, and self-assurance about him. But at the same time he held his father in such high respect and esteem that he walked with his head bent slightly down, looking, as it were, at the ground several yards ahead. The older man held a staff in his right hand and walked on his son’s right. A close look at this man’s features revealed his age of fifty-two, but to look at him from a distance of only several feet he appeared younger. He had striking—penetrating—black eyes, and a full set of thick dark hair with a slight wave. His skin had a naturally light complexion, but was darkened somewhat because of the time he spent outdoors. He walked erectly, his gaze parallel to the ground, and with smooth steady strides, less than half a pace in front of his son. On his face could be seen a trace of fatigue, and yet with his eyes he expressed the smile of a very pleased and contented father.

Caryell, I see your mother, spoke the father firmly and pleasantly. Though still a long way off, their home had come into view, and the wife and mother of the two travelers could be seen doing some chores in the comfortable early evening.

Caryell raised his eyes and gazed towards his home and his mother for a few moments while a pleasant smile slowly transformed his face. A few seconds later he looked up and over towards his father, as his father simultaneously looked down and over towards him. They both smiled warmly and brightly at each other and then continued to smile as they turned their gaze back to home. Father, I wonder what we shall be eating tonight, spoke Caryell resolutely though quietly.

I will be content with anything tonight, but I am sure that your mother has prepared something special, my son.

As they reached the clearing, Aspiria, having just noticed her husband and son, began to wave. Her gestures were mimicked by those approaching, and she felt perplexed momentarily as to whether she should walk in their direction to meet them, or to stay and watch as they approached. Aspiria was a beautiful woman of thirty-eight years of age. She was thin, but not frail. She was somewhat tall, with slightly broad shoulders. Though she was certainly strong and fit, she also had a delicate look about her. Her long, dark brown hair glistened in the sun.

Aspiria had spent the last couple of hours busy in the kitchen preparing a splendid feast. The fowl that was roasting was almost finished and a wonderful aroma filled her home. The table was set with vegetables, both steamed and raw, and fresh baked bread complimented the aroma of the fowl. She had a beautiful cake prepared and fruit juice to drink. The kitchen had become a little warm, and she had decided to enjoy a few minutes of the waning sunshine outdoors.

You look lovely this evening, my dear, said Roloff as he approached his wife and kissed her on the cheek. Aspiria smiled softly, and gazed at Roloff for a moment and then turned her attention to Caryell.

Are you tired, Caryell?

No, only a little bit, mother. I can smell the bird cooking. Is dinner almost ready?

He must be hungry, said Aspiria with a light chuckle.

He is, and so am I, said Roloff as the family walked into their home.

The Palador family lived in a fairly spacious one story home. As they entered the back door, the kitchen could be seen on the left; straight ahead was their living room. Aspiria had painted the walls a light yellow. The room was well lit with large bay windows on the side opposite of the door that they had entered, facing the front of the home. The windows were open, but the lacy-white curtains barely moved as there was no appreciable breeze.

Caryell entered the living room and sat on a large off-white couch that faced the stone mantel. He laid back a little and put his left leg on the couch while letting his shoe dangle off of the front. He closed his eyes for a moment, but then opened them and stared dreamily out in front of him.

Roloff disappeared for a little while in the direction of the master bedroom. When he returned he had changed cloths and cleaned up. Aspiria had just taken the roasted bird out of the oven when Roloff entered. He finished setting the table and then began to carve the bird while Aspiria completed some finishing touches.

Caryell, change and clean up; we shall eat in a few moments, called Aspiria as she undid her apron and began to walk towards the master bedroom herself. How did everything go today? she whispered, stopping short near her husband.

Roloff said nothing for a moment as he finished carving a piece. He is a fine young man in every way, he said slowly and methodically without looking up from the bird. A father could not be more pleased. Aspiria stood there for a moment, and looked at the bird, then walked to her bedroom.

Chapter 3

Not more than two or three days after the ball had struck the moon, UFO mania had reached a new height. At first the media treated it with contempt as it had always done; however, the public’s attention was fixated on the possibilities of space travel—away from, and towards the earth. It didn't take more than a week before even the ‘reputable’ news sources were interviewing those who had been ‘abducted by aliens!’ Elaborate theories as to who among celebrities were really aliens or half-aliens were the talk of the town, whatever town one may be in. Even those who were ‘level-headed’ had a more difficult time dispelling such ideas, for if intelligent life did exist on other planets, there was no longer any practical reason why they couldn't have traveled to earth.

This was the big question: did intelligent life, or life of any sort, for that matter, exist outside of earth? The first backlash against the UFO mania came from some of the main stream religions. If life existed outside of this planet, our holy books would have said so, went the argument. The accounts of the creation seemed to imply that the universe had been created with the earth as the place for life. Of course not all religions held such limited and ego-centric views of the universe, but they seemed to smile quietly, rather than join the chaos. However, most people were not paying much attention to religious authorities at this time anyway.

Science was in two camps, both of which operated under the assumption that life on earth is a chance event that underwent a long, arduous, yet successful evolutionary process. But, the uniqueness of this event is where the opinions differed greatly, and the camps separated. One, affirming that the odds associated with such an event are so minuscule that even if many other planets were provided with similar circumstances, they would not likely bring forth life. The other camp looked at it from a separate angle: with a universe so expansive and having existed for so many eons of time, the odds that only one little planet ever sprouted life seemed unfathomable. Perhaps, if life didn't exist here, it would be feasible that it existed nowhere. But the possibility of life was unquestionable; could it have only happened once?

While the media and general public fascinated themselves with UFO’s and aliens, and the scientists and philosophers pondered the meaning of life and the possibilities of extraterrestrial life, the capitalists had other things on their minds. Space travel no longer required vast amounts of energy because time and distance were no longer significant hurdles, so governments with enormous resources were no longer requisite for space exploration. Missions no longer had to be justified to the public in general. Only relatively small amounts of capital were now required to reach out into the universe. Within this universe there was undoubtedly a plethora of resources that were no longer out of grasp, and that would be very valuable. So while there was some public debate as to whether private companies or individuals could travel around the universe and do as they liked without government approval, it never became a real issue because it just happened. It became so pervasive and so successful that there was simply no stopping it.

Of course, while traveling around this vast universe became possible, finding valuable resources was like trying to find a needle in a hay-stack. But the initial investments were very profitable; all that had to be brought back was a rock from another solar system, or better yet, another galaxy, and it would be worth a fortune. Gold, silver, and gems such as diamonds, emeralds, and rubies were eventually discovered, brought back, and sold for enormous amounts; a ‘space diamond’ or ‘space gold’ at this time could be sold for one thousand times what the same quantity and weight of ‘earth gold’ or ‘earth diamonds’ could be sold for.

Those who undertook these ventures early on profited greatly. It became like the 1849 gold rush. Seemingly everyone wanted to strike it rich and became involved. In time supply met demand, and then quickly exceeded demand. ‘Space gold’ was available everywhere and the prices fell dramatically. While demand was floated to some degree by finding uses for common things now made of gold, overall gold’s value dropped exceedingly. At first ‘space gold’ and other raw materials were worth far more than ‘earth gold,’ but, soon these values reversed. Investors began to stock pile ‘earth gold,’ and while its value was far less than before the ‘space gold’ phenomenon, it still held some value. In particular, relics that had been crafted prior to ‘the ball’ remained quite valuable.

This quick shift in the availability of natural and precious resources won and lost fortunes for many individuals. The economics of the world were on a roller coaster ride during this time. Much worry, stress, and frustration resulted from this. Still, while the shifts in the economy were quite dramatic, overall things were going pretty well. Most people were employed, and doing just fine, but job and career changes were at an all-time high. Even though people had more stuff than ever before, lack of stability, greed, stress, and anxiety caused a general lack of happiness around the world. Often boundaries are considered obstacles to happiness. Yet, when those boundaries are dissolved, and people seek for happiness beyond those former boundaries, they find less happiness than they had had before. So, the universe was opened up to the world, but the people of the world were less satisfied than they had been before—in relative isolation.

Chapter 4

With the table set to perfection and the individuals of the family cleaned and nicely dressed, Roloff Palador offered the blessing on the food. With his heart full of gratitude, humility, and joy, he offered a short, yet eloquent prayer; then the family began to divvy up their feast.

Aspiria took her portions first, as Caryell, not quite patiently, waited. He, and then Roloff filled their plates, and the family ate. Caryell wanted to thank his mother for the feast, and express how good everything was, but was unable to, as at the moment as he was not capable of stopping himself from filling his mouth with bite after bite. Aspiria, who had had a more relaxing and quiet day, was quite ready for dinner conversation, but politely acquiesced for a few minutes, as she could see that any attempt would, at this point, be fraught with failure.

Her patience lasted only a few minutes, and then she asked Caryell, Are you enjoying the dinner?

Realizing his mild rudeness, and recognizing that his mouth was still full, he looked up at his mother with his bright beaming eyes. What a strange concept it is, that an anatomical entity, such as a mouth, could be used for two such differing functions: eating and speaking. Be that as it may, when his mouth was clear he said, Yes, Mother…it is wonderful, thank you very much. And with that, his eyes returned to his plate and he began to work on his unfinished business.

Aspiria smiled slightly and glanced over at Roloff, who, incidentally, had his mouth full at the moment, as well. He, being more experienced and clever as to the subtleties of unspoken communication, communications with the opposite sex in general, and more particularly with his wife, deduced that it was time for dinner conversation.

Taun Lake was teeming with fish this morning. Several flocks were catching their fill. If I'd gone to hunt, we would have brought a bounty of nice fowl like this. Aspiria, who had just taken a bite, nodded approvingly, and then cast her gaze towards Caryell. However, today was not a day for fishing or hunting, Roloff continued as he sat back a little, put his right arm around his son, and squeezed his shoulder. Caryell has begun his journey into manhood this day, and pausing briefly, so no more calling him your ‘lil’ papo.’ Aspiria gave a short sarcastic grin, while Caryell, looking down at his plate shook his head softly with a slight flush. Roloff smiled warmly and then chuckled lightly for a moment.

Indeed, the day that a boy begins his journey into manhood was a special time for the Paladors and their people. The feast that they were now enjoying was capping off a singular father and son experience. Traditionally, the father would spend the day with the young man teaching him of the world, elevating him physically, mentally, and spiritually into manhood, and Roloff believed strongly in tradition. In large measure, the father discussed the roles of man, and in particular, the relationships of men and women. Reproduction was described in detail; not simply the technicalities, but also as part of the pleasures and responsibilities of marriage. The emphasis was to be on the spiritual nature of love, family, and posterity, intermingled with work, responsibility, and patience. Roloff made a special point of explaining how women, especially one’s wife, should be treated with the upmost respect and admiration. Beyond this, much was spoken of civic duties, education, and the dangers and pitfalls of the world to avoid. Some was spoken of church and religion; much was shared about God, the purpose of and eternal nature of life—that birth and death, while important events, were neither the beginning nor ending of the soul and the family. All of this was brought full circle in describing the family as the basic unit of society, and as an essential element of the purpose and plan of life.

For Roloff and Caryell this was all accomplished with the backdrop of the beautiful woods and lakes surrounding their home. They talked as they walked, as they rested by the lake and skipped rocks, while they prepared and cooked meals, and as they explored in the woods. It was certainly not a lecture, and Roloff didn’t need to organize his presentation. It was all an intimate part of his being, and thus flowed naturally and conversationally. And conversation it was. All that was shared this day was not new to Caryell; the details of reproduction were very enlightening to the young man, but much of what was brought up had been talked about before in some sense or another. So Caryell shared his thoughts, asked many questions, and expressed his opinions in this detailed conversation. Still, never had so much, and in such great detail, been laid on this young man’s mind at one time. His silence at the dinner table was more than just the feeding of a famished body; his mind was overfilled, and subconsciously he was trying to put the pieces together.

We are so very pleased with the young man you have become, Caryell, Aspiria said smiling. It is a special day for you, and a special time in your life. In only a short while you will begin your higher education. Do you think that you are ready?

Thank you, Mother, I hope so. I do feel grown up. Father said that no one is ever ready, but that you do your best and it all works out.

"Your father knows what he is talking about. It is a credit to you that you listen