The Monkey and Squirrel fight for freedom. (35 page)

They all agreed, then said goodbye and went to their own ways, the Newp to bed most of the humans to their recreation area to talk about what they had seen on the tour.

Chapter 36

                 Freedom found              

After another half a days negotiation, the friends were looking forward to the picnic as something of a novelty, just to sit eat, drink and talk together until they were done.

The picnic was set out on a table in a glade in the woodland, with a small babbling brook running round one edge, it was a picture of perfection, like a dream of the perfect spot for a picnic. Only the low gravity would tell you it was an artificial environment. This is fantastic they enthused, it must of taken a lot of work to create this island of peace and tranquillity on a warship.

“The landscaping and planting is as diverse as possible, while remaining realistic. The streams have to be turned off and the water pumped into tanks, the ponds have fish so have sliding covers and oxygenation systems, all that has to be done before combat or docking.

Maintaining the recreational gardens and woodland is a very popular hobby amongst us, it helps create a calmness in the mind, quiets our fears and gives us focus. It has been a great boon to us since we created our first gardens, even the chickens scratching about we find soothing. We have chickens here and they can get stuck in the tree tops when we spin back up to normal. But as it is never more than zero point six of a gravity in here, they soon sort themselves out and flap to the ground it is mildly amusing to watch them.” said Tman via pad.

“Are you feeding all your visitors from your own produce?” asked Jimmy.

“Hydroponics and aquaculture, meat we have buy from the Chinese frozen pork, goat and mutton in bulk. Our cooks are having fun cooking up interesting menus with these strange ingredients, there are some novel to us, tastes and textures. But as we can only eat very small amounts of meat without getting upset stomachs, caution is the order of the day for us.” offered Chatty by pad.

“The meals have been extremely good, quality dinning at its best I'd say” ventured Jimmy

Every one showed they concurred, in their own way.

“Lets uncover our repast, the cooks have excelled themselves today for your pleasure! We have tea, water, fruit juice, wine and beer to drink, if we Newp have more than one glass of beer or wine we get silly and sleepy, waking up with a real killer hangover the next day. We only sip not quaff the grape and the grain, but feel free to indulge.” invited Tman.

So for a while they studded the feast before them, discussing the various dishes, flavours and presentation, it was all as good as it looked. Eventually the conversation began to turn towards the quest for freedom what they did know and what they wanted to know.

“Plumber knew that corrupt logistics manager had a Swiss bank account, so he tipped us off, one of the squirrels managed to get his personal e-coms unit unlocked. Using that we piggy backed into the banks computer when he accessed his account and found a back door to the system, there were a lot of inactive accounts. Tracing the owners was difficult but not impossible, in some cases the owners couldn't use their accounts as they were under tax or security surveillance.

Where there was no living owner, we just quietly took the accounts over directing the funds to our ends, a bit of modern tome robbing if you like. But it provided us with the essential resources for our escape, the essential first step on the road to freedom, without which all our plans would remain unfulfilled dreams. Explained Chatty.

“We know you used those funds to get the components for the ion engines shipped up to the stations, how did you manage to secretly install them and the re-enforcing to hold the station together under the noses of your supervision?” asked Knowledge.

“That was the easy bit, they only inspected the interior work, they couldn't be bothered to suit up, they knew we had no where else to go. All we had to do was keep those sections under vacuum, and we were free to work uninterrupted.” replied Tman worriedly, who had told Knowledge this before,

Sparks pushed a note to him, it had two words 'Alzheimers onset', what a pity Tman thought to himself, nodding to Sparks. 

Sparks spoke next,

“Those habitats your people built, how did they hide the prefabricated sections from the overseer visits?”

“It was easy, they never suspected the miners were capable of getting up to anything, so they never looked. They liked to keep their time in microgravity to a minimum, they inspected the officially active mines, processing equipment, mass drivers and the official habitat that was occupied just for the inspections.

While the miners unloaded spare parts and replacement equipment, this included new miners, then loaded the high value materials, that couldn't be trusted to the mass drivers. When that was done, the overseers left immediately.” offered Chatty.

Jimmy asked, “How did you settle on the final design of your habitats?”

“The basics of a spinning cylinder to simulate gravity with a large enough diameter to render the tangential component negligible has to be the starting point, that we and you built on. What to put inside and how big to build is less set in stone, but the aim is the same a self-sustaining closed cycle life support system that provides for all your needs. Our needs included it being as efficient as possible and self-propelled. Fortunately for us the miners when they converted a mined asteroid into a comfortable habitat for themselves, managed to solve all the major problems and most of the small ones. With a little help from us in Earth orbit when special equipment and/or materials had to be added to the replacement equipment shipment.

It took them seven years to finish, but they lived in it for five of those years as even incomplete it was a lot better than the official one and offered much greater radiation protection for their health. In the mean time we had decided to opt for the kilometre diameter two kilometre length, using nuclear power, as solar would be difficult to hide, safety first it would be isolated from the habitat environment and the reactors would be electable.” explained Tman.

“How did you set that up?” interrupted Jimmy.

“The reactor compartments are mounted on guide rails, the external connections severed by pneumatic shears that seal as they cut and three central hydraulic rams that drive it out. Any one of which could do the job independently, including snapping pipes and cables if required. We take the danger represented by radioactive materials very seriously.” answered Tman.

“I mounted mine on the rear end for ease of connection to the engine, environmentally isolated with explosive bolts so it could be cut free in a hurry.” said Jimmy.

“Not a bad design, but we couldn't afford to show any radiation hot spots, too easy to detect, that's why they sit in a lead lined compartment. We cut no corners on safety, cost was not even considered, we mined the raw materials, manufactured the equipment and assembled it to the highest possible safety specification, we were building our future existence on our terms.

All the designing and building was easy compared to getting the humans to leave the stations, the obedience system had only driven a few of us insane enough to take action against a human that could cause harm. The tasers and drugs could result in death occasionally, so we settled for tricking the majority to leave of their own volition, so very few required the taser and drug treatment to get them into the escape pods.

Since we modified our programming, we have had no insanity in the new born; we stopped the breeding program from day one, until after the modifications had been tested. A new care program for the volunteer mothers and the resulting children was created. None of the old mothers ever wanted to be pregnant again, the conditions they had to endure, no one expected them to. Don't look so worried we don't blame you! Most of the bad things were a result of the money cult trap, that humanity has managed to build around themselves, by forgetting money is a tool to be used, not an end in it's self.

When it is used properly as a tool, it builds a better society, when used as an end in it’s self it destroys society. Destroying things that may have taken generations to build, it poisons the mind, kills compassion, and anything else that gets in the way on getting more money. If we can't change the agenda humanity could be back in the dark ages within two hundred years.

Oops I seem to have gotten a little of topic, sorry about that.” padded Tman.

“We knew you were ambitious Lad, but saving the human race from it's self-destruction may be beyond your reach, worthy as that end is, many have tried and failed with many more followers than you have population.” said Elf.

“It's not just for humanity's sake we want to do this, think of the damage to the planet as a whole that would result from the collapse. It's our cousins that were used to construct us they could become extinct, along with entire ecosystems as humans are franticly doing anything they can just to survive another day. If we don't stop this there was no point in stopping Aimee237, there wouldn't be much to choose between the aftermath.” padded Chatty.

“That's struck a bum note, definitely spoiled the party; why don't you tell us how you came to make these lovely park-lands every where you could?” asked Penelope.

“We dreamed of trees and an open sky, even those of us who had never seen them, a hunger in our soul if you like. Some thing we all wanted, so naturally it was in the habitat plans from the start, in fact the miners have the oldest woods and gardens. They worked out a way to make soil from what they had and the little could be smuggled to them, it started off with crushed rock, composted hydroponic plants and organic waste, it took a long time but they did it.

The soil here started as a meter and a half of sand with five centimetres of soil enriched with micro flora, fauna and fungi, now in places it is over half a meter deep. Every one spends at least a little time in these areas every day they can, now we have the freedom to chose. The research for all aspects of the core gardens and woodlands had to be done secretly, the effort was well worthwhile. It gifts us such inner tranquillity, washing away our anxieties, restoring our sense of proportion. By the time we had finished planting all the habitat cores, we realised we were free in every way that mattered to us. The only remaining problem was human aggression and I think every one knows we can deal with that now, if we need too.” replied Tman.

“So you're not here for yourselves, this is part of changing the agenda?” asked Sparks.

“Guilty as charged, our deals with the Chinese were a start, as that government is using money as a tool to maintain and expand it's power and influence, money is a tool, is what we are promoting as a beginning.

The main draw back for us is a fair few Chinese in and out of government have the money cult disease, and that is generally incurable. We work to keep them out of positions of power and influence, promoting those still open to treating money as a tool and the furtherance of an inclusive society as important.

What we are demanding for ourselves once obtained from the nations of Earth, will make it very hard for those same nations to deny those rights their own citizens. Once those rights and obligations are in place, it should slow the decline in society, generating pressure for money to be used as a tool, changing the money culture is key to securing the future. It is how we are using our money, building things that need to be built, sponsoring research into vaccines and antibiotics. Undermining those having the money cult disease, reducing their power and influence, we hope to engage our friends in this mission. Our projects are employing people in the right places and providing opportunities to those shut out by the money culture.” confirmed Tman.

“I don't know about the rest of you but I'm totally gob-smacked, but count me in.” said Penelope.

“Are you sure madness is not contagious, but I'll join your crusade Lad.” said Elf.

They all joined up prepared to add their voices to the campaign against the love of money to the exclusion of all else. The picnic continued on a high note, optimism bubbling just under the surface, at the day's end every one went to bed happy, even though they would be going their separate ways in the morning.

The END?