CHAPTER 184: EXERCISING MY TEAM MANAGEMENT SKILLS

"It was only a matter of time before people started figuring out who we really are, I’m sure the CIA already knows and has the place under surveillance," I said to Mom and Dad.

Joe cut in "They have assigned a satellite to monitor this location, but it is having ’technical difficulties’ preventing it from seeing anything in the area, as are a number of its satellites with random sites around the country and globe. To them it looks like a centralized software issue. But it’s just me..."

"Yeah, but they’re not stupid, I’m sure they know."

"Yes, but they believe the operation takes place in some part from the house and are as yet unaware of the Super-Secret Planetary Leadership Treehouse Fortress. As yet, they have not discovered the locations of any other covert facilities like Blue Island. The lack of travel by any of our people or assets to and from these locations, the layers of separation of controlling companies and ownership, and my own interference in any research results that come close, keeps them well-hidden. They are aware, of course, of the public institutions like Food First and the others, including the operating budgets, but not the ultimate sources of income, other than the UEC in general. The UEC finances remain hidden by my active intervention in the networks, other than series of very fortunate cryptocurrency investments."

"Yeah, right, let’s stay on track, Joe," I said to keep us on topic. "The point is that we need to move the Super-Secret Planetary Leadership Treehouse Fortress to somewhere other than our family backyard or eventually it’s going to be found and open up a whole bunch of questions I’m not ready to answer."

"And make Cheshire, Massachusetts a target for nuclear-capable enemy nations..." Dad added.

I hadn’t thought of that, but it was probably true. "We can basically move it anywhere using Local Interdimensional Transport under Joe’s direct intervention. All we have to do is decide where."

"So maybe deep ocean?" Dad suggested.

I shook my head, "Um, problem. It’s a Super-Secret Planetary Leadership TREEHOUSE Fortress. I t has to be in a tree."

"Why, exactly?" Dad asked.

"Because it’s a TREEHOUSE, Dad. TREE HOUSE." I explained very patiently.

Now Dad shook his head, "OK, so just put a tree at the bottom of the ocean with it."

"Dad, I thought you were smarter than that," I said with exasperation, "there’s no light to keep a tree alive, and the pressure would crush it to toothpicks."

"Of course..." He finally agreed. "So where, then?"

I smiled. "Well, I’ve done some research on this, and I’m thinking three choices: One, an Angelim Vermelho tree in the Amazon," I could tell I lost Dad already, from the deer in the headlights look he got as soon as I mentioned my first choice, but I soldiered on anyway. "Two, a Giant Redwood in California. Three, a giant Banyan Tree in India."

Dad’s eyes focused then narrowed. "So, you’re picking the location of the strategic headquarters of the Entire Earth Solar System based on where the coolest trees are?"

"Yep."

Dad nodded, "Ok, just checking..."

Mom decided to weigh in, "You know Joe could just shield the tree from deep ocean pressure and use some kind of technology to keep it alive without light... Even a banyan tree."

"See, Dad, that the kind of thinking we need, bring solutions to the table, not problems." I instructed.

Dad just closed his eyes, I guess trying to process that.

"So, you think Banyan, Mom? I asked.

"They are pretty cool."

"I know, right. They can even move their location over time as new trunks form and older ones get destroyed or die off. Oh man, if we go with the banyan, it’s technically a walking treehouse! Very slow walking, but it still counts!"

"Well, I’m glad we’re thinking strategically about this," Dad said, finally getting on board.

"Me, too," I agreed to encourage him to participate more, "If we go with Mom’s idea of using alien tech to protect the tree, do you still like your idea of deep ocean?"

"The view from a redwood would be amazing," Mom commented.

Dad slapped his forehead, "You guys decide, I’ve said my piece." Apparently, we’d lost him for good, and he had nothing further to contribute. Mom on the other hand, had practical considerations she needed addressed.

"So would we still live here at the house, pretending to be ordinary people?"

"It could be either way, I mean Joe could use the androids to take our places here, living our regular boring lives like nothing changed, while we’re busy saving the world and living really cool lives out of our Super-Secret Planetary Leadership Undersea Treehouse Fortress, or wherever we decide to put it."

"My life was not totally boring..." Dad said, showing his totally unhelpful backward-looking focus again.

Mom looked at him pointedly and shrugged as if not entirely convinced, but willing to concede the point for the sake of team-building.

"Really?" He asked her.

She shrugged again.

"Anyway," I say proud of the way I’m using the consensus building techniques that I learned from Joe, "If we can laser-focus on the topic, Dad, another benefit of moving the Headquarters and living there, is that we can reconfigure it, add more space. We can make it big enough so you and Mom can even have your own rooms instead of having to share."

For some reason, Mom found that funny and let out a giggle, quickly covering her mouth to hide it.

Dad on the other hand stared at me like I sent him to his room without dessert. "That would be just swell," he said slowly, but his tone didn’t really match the words. What more did he want? I asked myself, trying to understand his goals to help us achieve a win-win with this.

"I understand your concerns, Dad, and they’re important, but perhaps we can table them for now, and focus on the team goals. We were discussing the selection of a new location for the Super-Secret Interplanetary Leadership Treehouse Fortress. Mom, I believe you shared an improvement on Dad’s original idea of placing deep under the ocean. Dad, is that something you can get on board with?" I looked him expectantly.

He narrowed his eyes and looked sidelong at Mom, then back at me. With a shake of his head, he began, "You can shove it..."

"Dad, boundaries...."

"Um, right down into Mariana’s Trench, I was going to say."

Mom raised her eyebrows, her eyes bulging as if he said something scandalous, but it seemed like a valid suggestion to me. Finally, Dad was showing that he could be a valuable contributor and a solid team player. I echoed his words to show how much I valued them.

"That’s a great suggestion, Dad. Thank you for your contribution to the discussion, "If we’re all agreed, we’ll shove the whole thing right down into Mariana’s Trench, one of the deepest holes in the ocean floor!" Mom snorted, then had a giggling fit. I looked at her baffled at her reaction. Then I looked back at Dad and saw his proud smile, he was clearly pleased with his contribution to the discussion, and I realized that Mom was just really happy to see him make such progress as a team player in such a short time.

I told Joe to move the entire Headquarters facility with a few modifications. First, we wouldn’t need the elevator to the ground in the Welcome Hall, since activating it might expose us to a sudden explosive pressure of the oceans depths, and second, we needed a garage. I don’t know if the place where you park submarines has a different name, but I was going to call it a garage for the three shielded undersea bubble cars.

The tiny submarines or bubble cars were just shielded clear bubbles with a comfortable adaptive seat. The vehicles moved through the ocean depths in accordance with the occupant’s will. In darkness or emitting visible light to allow a clear view of the ocean floor or any of the crazy weird deep-sea creatures. It was really cool to glide through the depths completely surrounded by the waters with exciting appearances by creatures I had never seen before.

Mom and Dad seemed to enjoy it, too. They would often go out together in a single submersible, though the adaptive chair was a bit snug for two grown adults, and glide through the depths for hours.

Overall the new location was really great, and I renamed the base as The Super-Secret Planetary Leadership Undersea Treehouse Fortress. Even the name was a little cooler than the old one. But outside the base, on dry ground, things were rapidly accelerating. So aside from an hour or two hear and there, I was too busy to fully enjoy the novelty of it. I will mention though that the former lookout tower, once my favorite place to sit and think while I looked over the countryside of Cheshire, was still my favorite place to hang out for few minutes of solitude when I needed time to work something out in my head. Now it rose from the ocean floor up into the dark waters of the deep ocean trench.