Grace Alone: Rebirth of the Human Race: Book Four

By Conrad A. Fjetland

The Ellsworth community is growing on Earth. But have they really solved the problem that wiped out Earth’s population? Twenty years have passed since they returned from space. Nothing has been heard from Ararat. Will the colony finally respond when they know the problems found on Earth? And what happened to Nels and his little group? The distances involved between the planets make communications difficult. Messages are out-of-date by the time they arrive ten years later. Where does the future of mankind lie?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Covenant Books, Inc.
• Release date: Sep 8, 2021
• ISBN: 9781638140863

Book preview

Chapter 1

Elizabeth Malcolm closed her data board as her husband, Tom, emerged from their bedroom. Looks like you have been watching the video of your birth parents again, said Tom as he joined her at the breakfast table.

Yes, she answered. I’ve probably looked at it a hundred times since my mother died a few months ago. I keep trying to remember Kayane and Graysun, but I was too young when they abandoned me to the Leindeckers.

Did you get any new revelations this time? Tom asked.

No. At least my older brothers have some memories of them. Her oldest brother, Hanson, was twelve and Darmon was six when their parents left the Mayflower for Ararat. Darmon could only vaguely picture Kayane and didn’t really remember Graysun at all. Other than the video, the only real information she had was from Sarah Parker. Sarah and Kayane were close friends on the Mayflower and talked frequently before the Mayflower left Ararat to return to Earth.

Her thoughts were interrupted as Ryan came out of the bedroom prepared for school. Mom, he said. Why isn’t Janice ready yet?

I am, Janice shouted from the bathroom. I’m always on time, unlike someone I know.

Be nice to your older brother, said Elizabeth.

Why? He’s always picking on me, Janice answered.

Ryan, two years older than Janice, was mature enough to know when he had the upper hand. He remained silent.

All right. That’s enough. Tom, can you put things away after breakfast this morning? asked Elizabeth.

Sure, Tom said.

Thanks. I want to get over to the communications center early today.

What is so special about today? asked Tom.

"Today is October 24, 2127. According to my calculations, this should be the first day that we could receive a response to your father’s first message to Ararat. He sent it when the Mayflower arrived in orbit over twenty-one years ago. I know the colony has never sent anything, but I can’t believe they would ignore that message. If something comes in, I want to be there."

Assuming they are still alive, I suppose the ominous situation described in Dad’s message should generate a response. Didn’t your mother say Nels and his group were trying to develop an interstellar transmitter of their own?

She did, but Purple concluded Nels did not have enough power to transmit, only receive.

I hope you can find out what happened to your birth parents, Liz. Walter and I would like to know the fate of my mother too. But realistically, we may never know what has occurred on Ararat. Anyway, I’ll walk to the school with the kids on my way to the power plant control room. Walter says another windmill quit working yesterday. He thinks it is an electrical problem and wants me to look into it.

That doesn’t sound good, said Elizabeth. I hope it is fixable. We can’t afford to lose too many more windmills. At any rate, unless something important comes in I will be home early. Do you have any plans for tomorrow?

Depends on what I find at the power plant. Why?

Since tomorrow is Saturday, I was thinking about driving down to Morgan’s place. Want to go along? We could drop the kids off at Jessica and Joseph’s place on the way.

Yea, called Janice from the bathroom. I like visiting the farm.

Me too, said Ryan.

Then that sounds like the plan. But let’s wait until this evening to call them in case I need to work tomorrow, said Tom.

Okay, answered Elizabeth as she walked out the front door. It was an easy walk from her house to the Ellsworth communication center. It was a new building that had been constructed along the old highway through Ellsworth in front of the main housing area.

She and her family lived in one of the houses in Ellsworth built shortly before the Mayflower left Earth in 2072. One hundred and twenty homes were constructed to provide housing for employees at the closed system hydrogen power project. When Elizabeth and Tom were married on her twenty-first birthday, July 11, 2116, they chose one of the vacant houses as their first home and still lived there. As the Ellsworth population slowly grew and expanded outward about 75 percent of the houses were currently occupied. Several additional families were living in the older part of Ellsworth. Most of them were either retired or working on the community’s infrastructure.

Ever since she was given the video about her birth parents on her sixteenth birthday, she had been fascinated with what had happened to those who had stayed on Ararat. She started working at the communications center soon after that birthday and was still there. When she started Tom’s father, John Malcolm, was still in charge of communications. Nathan Montgomery was also there focusing on trying to develop better interstellar communications equipment. Ben Parker rejoined the team in the fall of 2117.

Soon after Ben returned to the comm center, they decided to abandon the interstellar project and focus on repairing communicators and designing a new one they could build from scratch. The Mayflower was still in orbit and the ship’s computer could transmit and receive any messages between Earth and Ararat. After all, John said one day, it’s not likely we are going to receive or send any messages from or to anywhere else. The rest of the team agreed that they should not waste any more time on trying to build better long-range equipment.

John developed some health problems in 2121 and turned over most of his responsibilities to Ben and Nathan. John only occasionally came by the comm center these days, and it was usually because he was bored with retirement and living alone, but he was there this morning. John, she said, we don’t often see you here anymore. I assume that you also figured out that this is the day we could receive a response from Ararat.

Right, he answered. It’s bothered me for years that the colony cut off all communications with us. I want to know how Rebecca is doing. It was a tough choice for her to leave me and the children, but I supported her decision to volunteer. Our parting was amicable. As far as I am concerned, if she is still alive, she is still my wife. I just want to know what has happened to her and the rest of them.

Me too, answered Elizabeth. The video my birth parents left for me raised more questions than it answered. Especially when I learned that she had left my father to join Nels and was also pregnant. I sure hope we get answers soon.

As she was speaking, Ben Parker came through the front door. He also usually walked to the comm center from his place two blocks north of Elizabeth’s home. He had moved there with his new family in 2117.

I thought I was early, he said, looking at John and Elizabeth. Let me guess. You are hoping we hear something from Ararat today.

You got that right, Elizabeth answered, but nothing has come in so far.

I’m not sure we will ever hear anything, responded Ben. My dad is pretty sure the colony was never going to communicate with us. Nels group, assuming they survived, does not have the capability to respond. Dad did say they probably could have received our message ten years ago and maybe things have changed. At any rate, I’m not going to sit around waiting for the receiver to light up. Nathan is bringing in three more communicators that have stopped working, and we need to see if we can fix them. With the growth of the population, we are just about out of extra communicators.

Tom and I are planning to drive down to Morgan’s tomorrow to get some eggs and chickens, Elizabeth said to Ben. We will drop the kids off at Jessica’s farm along the way. Do you want to tag along?

I can’t, Ben said. Ivana and I already have plans.

A few minutes later, Nathan arrived. He lived alone in an old farmhouse on the northern edge of Ellsworth. Any news? he asked as he approached Elizabeth and Ben.

Assuming you are referring to news from Ararat, the answer is ‘no,’ answered Ben. Did you bring in the inoperable communicators?

I did. Two were dropped in mud, and the other one looks like it needs a new recharger. I think we can fix all of them.

Great, said Ben. He and Nathan went back to the workbench while Elizabeth monitored community communications. Along with John, she also kept a close eye on the receiver that kept an open channel to the Mayflower.

By noon, John said he was tired and going back to his home in the old part of Ellsworth. He had one of the original two-seater hydrogen-powered cars built by Leonard Carston and Bob Workman, which he usually used because walking very far had become difficult for him. Let me know if the radio comes to life.

Elizabeth said she would, but no communication was received from Ararat that day. Before she left the comm center that evening, she asked Purple to alert her immediately if the interstellar receiver moved to a power-up mode. I don’t care if it’s two in the morning, she said. Wake me up if you have to.

I will be happy to do that, Purple responded. As you of course know, sleep is not necessary for me. I am on duty 24-7.

You are sounding more and more human all the time, quipped Elizabeth.

I learned that aspect of my programming in discussions with Nels years ago. However, as I told Nels at the time, I have no desire to think like a human. Humans make too many mistakes. I am not subject to the faults of human logic.

You are certainly more than just a computer, responded Elizabeth.

That is true, said Purple. I am not one to brag, but I am a supercomputer.

That you are, said Elizabeth as she closed the channel.

Tom was already home when she arrived. How did it go today? she asked Tom.

Pretty good. It turned out that one of the connectors came loose at the base of the windmill. I didn’t even have to climb the tower to fix this one. It’s back online now.

Great. Are you free tomorrow then?

Yes. Go ahead and set up a trip down to Story City. We haven’t been to Morgan’s for several months.

Elizabeth called Morgan to make sure he and Sarah were going to be home. Once that was confirmed, she contacted Jessica. Jessica said she would love to have Ryan and Janice visit. She said her son Tyrus would be working with his father on the harvest, but Amanda and Mary would be there and were looking forward to seeing them.

The next morning, Tom, Elizabeth, and their children set out in their four-seated hydrogen-powered car for Story City.

They went first to the Vanitto farm just northeast of Story City. Joseph and Jessica were married in 2110. Joseph was a farmer and had already been working a plot of ground not far from where Morgan and Sarah lived. By the time the Mayflower left Earth in 2072, there were very few farmers living on the land in Iowa. The few farmhouses that still existed were mostly old and in poor condition, and when the Mayflower returned in 2106, all of them had been vacant for at least thirty years. There were no habitable farmhouses in the area where Joseph was farming. The Ellsworth community had put together a construction team that used lumber and other building materials from as far away as Des Moines to build facilities where farms were being brought back into production. Another team focused on drilling wells for rural properties too far from Ellsworth to be hooked up to the community utilities.

Joseph and Jessica’s turn came in 2116. By then, they already had three small children. Their son Tyrus was born in 2111, Mary came along a year later, and Amanda was born in 2114. As soon as the house was ready, they moved from the Consortium housing to the farm.

Like Morgan’s place, in 2116, the farm was too far from Ellsworth to be connected to the community power system. The house was provided with a temporary power supply from a small windmill and was backed up by a generator. A stove provided heat in the winter. Unlike Morgan’s place, the Vanitto house was not protected by trees. When winter blizzards blew through, the stove was barely adequate to keep the house above freezing. The children were good sports about the occasional cold and nobody complained, at least not very loudly.

Power from Ellsworth finally reached the Vanitto farm and others in the area in 2122. Joseph kept the wood stove as backup, but like everyone else converted to electric heat as soon as he could. He kept the generator but gave the windmill to another farm that was being put into production east of the old town of Roland. That area was still not connected to the power grid.

Jessica was outside waiting with Mary and Amanda when Tom pulled into the yard. It was a nice sunny October morning with the temperature about fifty degrees. Hi, Jessica said as Tom pulled to a stop. We are so glad you decided to come this way. The girls are looking forward to spending time with Ryan and Janice.

We are too, shouted Janice from the back seat. She and Ryan quickly jumped out of the vehicle and ran off with the older girls. Mary was talking about her new horse as they disappeared around the corner.

It has been a while, said Elizabeth. We can only stay a few minutes. I told Morgan I would be there by noon.

I wish I could go with you, said Jessica, but I don’t want to leave the kids alone here. That horse Mary mentioned is only partially broke. I need to keep an eye on them to make sure they don’t do anything foolish.

When did you get it? asked Tom.

About three weeks ago. One of the wrangler pickers caught it down south someplace. He traded it to us for a year’s supply of vegetables for him and his family. He has a couple more if you want one. His place is a few miles north of here.

No thanks, said Elizabeth. We don’t have a place to keep it, and I don’t want to burden anyone else to take care of it. Did the wrangler have anything else you could use?

"He had a couple cows, and we also traded for one of them. It looks like the cow will drop a calf in the spring. That gives us three cows and a future calf. We could be producing some beef in a year or two assuming someone comes up with a bull, but I’m not sure that is the way we want to go. The community seems satisfied with chickens along with wild game on occasion. Plus, we aren’t really set up to start raising beef. We may trade them off for something else a little easier to manage.

As to a horse, don’t worry about where it would stay, offered Jessica. We have room in the barn and would be glad to keep it for you.

We’ll see, said Tom noncommittedly as he and Elizabeth climbed back into their car. We’ll be back by midafternoon.

Joseph and Tyrus should be here by then. Plan on staying for supper. I’ll make up a pot of chicken and dumplings, said Jessica.

That sounds great! shouted Elizabeth as they pulled out of the yard.

It only took twenty minutes to drive from the Vanitto farm to Morgan’s home by the Doolittle Prairie. Morgan and Sarah were sitting on the porch waiting for them when they arrived. You two are looking great! said Tom as he parked in the front yard.

We feel pretty good too, said Sarah. But age is starting to take its toll. It seems we spend more time each day on this porch and less time working on our restoration project.

Morgan built his home in 2109 adjacent to a small tract of native prairie. He had found the site while looking for a seed storage facility of Iowa State University. He and Sarah used part of the land that had been previously farmed to garden and raise chickens and worked on the rest to restore additional tracts of native tall grass prairie.

Well, I know it’s hard work, said Tom as he and Elizabeth joined Morgan and Sarah on the porch. You do most of it by hand. How much did you get done this year?

We still met our self-imposed quota of three acres a year restored, but only because of a lot of help from Jessica and her family, answered Morgan. They were down here almost every day this past spring and early summer clearing exotics from the new parcel and planting native species. They also did most of the weeding on those areas recently restored. Then later in the summer, the girls helped us collect seeds for the acres we will work on next year. I really appreciate all their help, but I know they have work to do at home as well. Sarah and I were just discussing whether we should cut back to two acres next year.

You certainly need to cut back, but I think the project is worthwhile. Look how many acres have you added to the original tract since you started. It’s close to fifty acres, isn’t it? I’ll ask Ryan and Janice if they want to help you next year. I’m pretty sure they will jump at the chance to spend time in the country.

Thanks for the offer, Tom. We would love to have them here for a couple months next spring. I’m glad you appreciate what we have been doing. We had a big surprise earlier this year that I would like to at least partially think is the result of our work on the restoration of the prairie and marshes. A young whooping crane spent about eight weeks this summer on the tract. I think it might have been a young bird from that pair one of the pickers saw nesting about seventy miles north of here. Perhaps it will be back next year. They don’t reach breeding age until three or four years old.

That’s amazing, said Elizabeth. You hadn’t mentioned that before. Tom and I saw a pair flying over last spring, but we didn’t know there were any staying in the area. Why did you decide to do this restoration project?

"Five years ago, when we were both sixty-five, we finally took a trip to the Nebraska Sandhills. I had seen them from the Gemini when we were on our way from Idaho to Iowa. It is a huge area of a mostly unplowed mixed prairie ecosystem. Sarah and I agreed at the time that we should see that area. It took us fifteen years to find the time to make the trip, but it was worth the wait. It’s hard sitting here to understand what this country looked like before farming turned Iowa from a tall grass prairie to a cross section of intensively farmed fields. The Doolittle Prairie at least can give us a glimpse of what this area once looked like. It will help us to be better stewards of the Earth than we have been in the past. I can’t help but remember what Albert Molinari said to us all those years ago. ‘(T)he human race has a second chance. Therefore, I must ask you to do what you were charged with when you left Earth. Try to get it right this time.’ We need to learn to live more in harmony with our world. This little project is our contribution to that effort."

Morgan paused as he thought of the amazing life of Albert Molinari. He was the only person that survived the near extinction of man on Earth more than fifty years ago. Morgan and his exploratory team had found him living alone in Idaho shortly after the Mayflower returned to Earth in 2106. He lived because of a unique medical procedure that removed his pancreas and replaced it with a machine he designed. After the rest of Earth’s population died off in 2073, he was able to determine the cause of the die-off and cautioned Morgan about repeating the mistakes of the past. Morgan wanted to make sure those now living on Earth heeded Molinari’s words. Albert finally died of what could only be explained as old age in 2125 at the age of one hundred and four.

Anyway, I am forgetting my manners. Would you like a cup of coffee? asked Morgan.

Sure, said Elizabeth. Tom nodded his agreement.

As Sarah went inside to get a couple cups and refills for Morgan and herself Tom asked, How are your coffee trees doing?

They’re still alive, but that’s about it, answered Morgan. After Judy Cibulski determined that the seeds she brought back from Norway were viable, she gave me a handful to try and start a greenhouse crop. I first started trees ten years ago, but I couldn’t keep them alive in the greenhouse through the harsh winter weather. I also planted a few of the seeds in pots and keep them in the house. They actually make pretty good house plants. They are supposed to start flowering in about four years and should be fully mature in seven years. My trees had their first flowers after seven years and didn’t have any berries until last fall—a total of eight berries. I crushed them up so at least I could savor the smell for a few minutes. I’m not sure I will live long enough to have my first real cup of coffee since we left Earth in 2072.

Didn’t somebody take most of the beans south in an attempt to start a coffee plantation? asked Elizabeth.

"Yes. His name is Cassius Compton. He should be about forty-six years old now. He studied agriculture on the Mayflower and worked in the hydroponics area during the return trip from Epsilon Eridani. When we landed, he and his family worked with Judy to get the first farm and garden area into production. Two years later, he took over one of the farms just north of Ellsworth. He was a good farmer, but he didn’t care for the cold winters here. He told Judy he would head south to Mexico to start a plantation if the beans were viable. When Judy confirmed they were, he and his family left in late 2117 along with about ten pounds of coffee beans. He had three children at the time. The council felt his mission was important enough that they gave him one of the four-seater, self-refueling vehicles put together by Leonard Carston and Bob Workman. He carried all the family’s belongings, along with some tools he might need in a trailer hooked up to his vehicle."

What happened to him? asked Tom as Sarah returned with four cups of coffee.

We heard from him when he crossed the Rio Grande a couple months later, and again when he said he was in the mountains of central Mexico and had found a place he thought he could start a plantation. Then a year later, his wife contacted Purple and said Cassius’s communicator had been damaged while he was clearing some of the land for the plantation and was no longer operable. The next year, she called me and said some of their seedling trees were growing. She also said they had found some old trees in the tangled jungle and were trying to clear them out. She calls in about once a year and gives us an update. Last year, she said they are getting a pretty good crop of beans. Who knows, maybe someday we will get a supply of coffee from them.

At least we have the quinoa coffee, said Tom. I like it.

You folks that weren’t adults when we left Earth don’t know what real coffee tastes and smells like, said Sarah. Morgan swore off quinoa for several years but finally decided the coffee Erica makes is a poor imitation, but it is certainly better than nothing.

Erica Vollbrecht had worked with Sarah on the Mayflower in making sure the crew’s nutritional needs were met from the quinoa-based diet they had. She had become quite proficient in creating special meals out of quinoa. Her Swedish meatball dinner about a year before the Mayflower arrived back at Earth was a particularly memorable one. She had contemplated opening a quinoa restaurant when back on Earth. Of course, those plans changed when they arrived and found all the billions of people were gone. As the farmers and gardeners began to produce a variety of foods for the Ellsworth community, the need for the quinoa hydroponics became less. In the fall of 2108, the Council decided quinoa production was no longer needed. Erica convinced the Council to keep a small portion of the hydroponic gardens in a heated building so that she and her assistants could continue to produce quinoa coffee. Erica did open a restaurant in Ellsworth, but instead of a quinoa menu, she offered a varied menu of locally grown foods. Quinoa coffee, however, was always available. People would bring in whatever was ripe at the time in exchange for a superbly prepared meal. Originally, she just produced enough coffee for her restaurant, but when it became obvious that it would be a long time, if ever, before they had real coffee, she expanded production and made it available for everyone in 2118.

Whenever I go into Ellsworth, which isn’t all that often any more, I take some eggs and vegetables for her and she gives me plenty of quinoa coffee, said Morgan. Tom, I understand that another windmill was out of commission yesterday. Was the problem serious?

Not this time. It was just a lose electrical connection in one of the wires transmitting power from the turbine to the main distribution panel. The windmill was back online yesterday afternoon.

How is the system looking overall? asked Morgan.

Tom paused before answering. Right now, we are fine. The system can provide more than three times the power we need to provide electricity and hydrogen. But it is getting older. There are five turbines that are out of service now. That is in addition to the two that were not functioning when we first arrived. I think two of them can be repaired with the parts we have found, and maybe a third one. But two more seem to be permanently out of commission.

Actually, I’m surprised the system is working that well, said Morgan. Those windmills were put up over fifty years ago.

That’s true. The plant originally went into operation in 2071. The windmill generators were designed with a life expectancy of seventy-five years with minimal maintenance. But after the staff died off in 2073, the system sat idle for over thirty years. I suspect we will see an increasing level of failure as time goes by. I know Walter has brought the concern up to the town council as an issue for long range planning. But as far as I know, there are no options being seriously considered yet.

We are looking at the same problems with our communicators, said Elizabeth. "Nathan brought three into the comm