A few people let out some ohs and wows, but most people were quiet or happy; their choice was not eliminated yet.
Then Mrs. Smith said there were three choices left. “They are Ursa Minor, Imagine and Goddard. Shall we have more discussion, or are you all ready to vote again?”
Sally stood up. “I think we are ready to vote Mrs. Smith. Most of us know who we prefer after watching the presentation and the recent discussion. I think we should just go ahead and vote again.”
Mrs. Smith said, “Are we in agreement with Sally? If you agree with her and feel ready to vote again, please raise your hand.”
Almost everyone raised their hand.
Robert then asked me, “Do you want me to vote for Ursa Minor since that is your selection?”
I looked at my younger brother and put my hands on his shoulders. “Robert, no, I do not want you to vote for Ursa Minor because that was my team’s selection. If you’re going to vote for Imagine, which is a great name, you should do so.”
Robert nodded and said, “Thanks for being a good big brother.”
Then Mrs. Smith passed out papers again. Everyone voted for the second time.
We waited ten minutes while Mrs. Smith counted ballots again. She then stood up and said, “May I have your attention everyone. The next name that has been eliminated is… Goddard.”
When she announced the eliminated name, Jose sighed. He said, “I am a little bit disappointed, but all the selected names have a lot of merit for being the name of the ship, and I will have no problem with either Ursa Minor or Imagine.”
During the ten-minute break, other people were discussing who they would vote for, but no person put pressure on anyone to vote a particular way.
Finally, Mrs. Smith called everyone together for the last vote. “We are going to select our ship’s name with this vote. Whichever name wins, I will present it to Dr. Burns and the other officers. They will either decide to keep that name or perhaps the second-place name, depending on their own discussions and feelings. Please put either Ursa Minor or Imagine on your paper and put it in the basket.”
The final vote took only a few minutes. After counting the totals, Mrs. Smith told everyone that the election was reasonably leaning towards one name. “That name is… Imagine. Congratulations to Robert Burns who submitted this name.”
Everyone clapped for Robert.
Suddenly, Johnny England, one of the students, stood up in the back of the room and said, “I am not going to accept Imagine as the name for the ship. Do you people realize we just selected the name of a song that was written by a pot-smoking Beatle name John Lennon? We cannot name this ship for a drug addict who was up to no good. If that is the name of this ship, then I am not going to be going with you. I would rather stay on Earth.”
Johnny’s dad worked in the engine room, and his mom worked in the cafeteria.
After he had spoken, all the students were upset that he waited for the last minute to speak up and had made a threat. Many were rolling their eyes and shaking their heads at Johnny. They all wanted to go home, as it had been a long day for them. It was already past dinnertime.
Mrs. Smith said, “Calm down. First, we are not going to change the name now at this moment.”
Many students clapped when she said that.
“We had a democratic process in which everyone was allowed to participate and make their feelings known before the votes. Johnny, you should have spoken up earlier. I am sorry, but I cannot agree to your demand. John Lennon may have smoked pot, but he was a peace-loving man. I suggest you go home and discuss this with your parents. If they want, they can bring the matter to Dr. Burns who I am sure will listen to you and take into consideration your objection in making the final decision. Please try to work this out. We will surely miss you if you decide to stay here, but that is your choice.”
Mrs. Smith made her closing remarks. Please make sure you are here tomorrow again at 10:00 for more training. Everyone, please go home and have a nice dinner. I would like Johnny, Sam, Jose and Mark to stay so we can continue to resolve the situation at hand.”
Everyone else stood up and left. It was a fantastic day for bonding with the other students but seemingly ended in an unexpected way with Johnny’s complaint.
Mrs. Smith asked the four of us to join her at a conference table in her office. She handed out sodas to each of us and some potato chips. Mark, Jose and I were on one side of the table. Johnny was on the other side. You could see in his face that he was still upset or angry at the events that had just occurred. All four boys ate silently, waiting for Mrs. Smith to begin.
After a moment or two, Mrs. Smith said, “Thank you for staying here. I think we need to talk about what just happened and what we can do to ameliorate the situation. If we are going to be on a spaceship together for a very long duration, we need to explore ways to resolve our differences. There will be times when we cannot get what we want and we either have to compromise or agree to disagree with each other. We also have to follow the chain of command which starts with Dr. Burns for most situations. If you cannot agree with what I just said, then perhaps you need to give serious consideration to not journey on the spaceship, no matter what we call it. Do you all agree with that?”
Jose, Mark and I looked at each other and nodded in agreement. Johnny looked at the three boys and barely moved at all.
Mrs. Smith then looked directly at Johnny and said, “Johnny, do you agree with this ground rule? If you do not, then I will have to set up a meeting with your parents and Dr. Burns.”
Johnny looked at Mrs. Smith like he had no idea what to say. Finally, he was just about to speak when a group of trainees that included Robert and Sophie came running into the room, interrupting the meeting. Mrs. Smith and the four boys knew immediately something was wrong. Everyone seemed to be either out of breath or having a hard time breathing.
Sophie spoke up first. “We have a major problem. Several of the trainees have collapsed not far from here and appear to be in awful distress. There is a terrible smell in the air which seems to be overcoming all of us. I have no idea what the hell just happened, but we need to do something fast.”
Mrs. Smith immediately asked, “What direction is the smell coming from?”
Robert said, “It appears to be coming from the lake near the training facility.”
I jumped up and said, “I think I know what is happening. My dad told me that years ago this area was used by phosphate mining companies. These companies, in their attempt to obtain phosphate, dug deep into the earth and basically stripped the area of vegetation and wildlife. Part of this process used sulfuric acid. When combined with phosphorus, it produces phosphoric acid. I believe the smell that is out there is sulfuric acid, which can be very destructive to the environment. One would hardly be able to breathe, and your lungs would feel like they were on fire. We need to neutralize the chemicals and get paramedics here as soon as possible to assist everyone. Call 911, Mrs. Smith, and I will call my dad to immediately come and figure out how to neutralize this. Everyone else needs to come inside if they are able to and not leave this facility until further notice. If we have gas masks in this facility, please use them.”
Everyone including Mrs. Smith nodded. Mrs. Smith called 911. Most of us assisted those we could get inside the facility. We closed off the windows and doors to prevent the spreading of the chemicals inside the building as best as we could.