Day 31 Evening

We were sitting at the bar at Hanna’s place and I was buying for the whole Hydro Project crew.

“Ya’ll done good, all thats left now is to bring up the grid in a manner that won’t blow up those precious transformers. The ‘Mad Doctor’ done us right by those things, be a damn shame to blow them up cause we do something wrong.”

JoAnn looked at me with that classic Aussie stare, ”And exactly how are we to do that fearless leader. I am a Civil Engineer not a damn Electrical Engineer. I have never brought up a distribution grid and I am sure no one else has either!”

I was stunned, “John have you never done this?”

John took a long draw on his beer,”Nope Boss, I am a General Contractor. At this point I tell the Electrician to do his thing! How about Ash, has he ever done this?”

It was my turn to take a long drag on a stein of Stuarts Worst, “Damn, that means I have to be here tomorrow. The problem is, there is a valid security requirement on that shuttle flight tomorrow. I was supposed to take it and the best Young Gun to handle it is Sgt. Mike Reye.

“So, are you willing to grab this Candidate Reye? The Security screen I know you can handle, you are the best Young Gun at Security. But, if anything goes wrong you are the Strike Force Alchibah shooter on site. Can you handle that part Son?”

Mike sat stunned, I was not sure whether it was the job or the out of the Blue promotion. True to the legacy of the Young Guns he looked me right in the eyes and uttered one short sentence.

“Sir, Yes Sir!” At which point he was mobbed by about half of the females in the room.

Ah Damn, I almost wished he had refused. Raising my wrist comp; “L. Reye, A. Stuart: Secure and Private.”

Lester’s reply came quickly, “Col. Stuart, what could make you use a Government channel?”

“Sorry to disturb you Lester but it seems I cannot be on that shuttle tomorrow. It seems no one else on the planet has ever brought up a distribution grid and we just can not chance blowing those precious transformers.”

“But Andy, the security component is a quite necessary part of this mission.”

“Quite right Lester, that’s why I have assigned it to the best of the Young Guns at security evaluation. Officer Candidate Michael Reye.”

“My Son,” Lester gasped out.

“A legal adult and a volunteer member of the Alchibah Militia not to mention the best available member of said Militia for the mission at hand.”

“You have to forgive me if I am not ready for my Son to be a grown man.”

“Lester, show me a parent who ever is! Stuart Clear!”

I turned to the group, “Look out at the upper bridge and see those lights. Tomorrow we do that to Liberty, tomorrow evening Hanna can finally turn on all the lights in this place. Those windmills can be moved to outlying settlements till we can get distribution to them also. Already the surveillance that Ash secretly put on the port is working and tomorrow the Security Center will be up and running and we will be able to use it.

“Quite simply, tomorrow we turn this refuge camp into a damn Civilization. Now go get some sleep!”

I was having one last drink and bantering with Hanna when Mariana walked in.

“Stuarts Worst please Hanna. Andy you gonna get me power to the Community Center tomorrow? Hilde Garonde and Rachel LeGuin just passed their Physicians Assistant exams; the Primary Care Center is a go as soon as we have power.”

Day 32 Morning

First thing I had to do was make the call to Bartlett. “Damn Bart, I got one more thing to finish up here at the power plant and I’ve got to do it myself. Just can’t get away. I’m sending Officer Candidate Mike Reye along for the ride. He’s shaping up quite nicely considering the gene pool in his background, and a trip like you have in mind will do him a world of good. Wish I were going with you though. Stuart out.”

“Stuart to Group Alpha, everybody in telephone mode?” The replies poured in!

By the time Bart’s shuttle lifted off we had the Lab / Hospital, Community Center and Hanna’s Place on the grid. We were just starting work on the commercial buildings that were going up.

We had the street lights hooked up and the light sensors tested when the call came in from Ash.

“Andy, we just lost contact with the shuttle. I need the damn security center up NOW!”

“Alpha Group you heard the man. Let’s get it done.”

Day 29 Mid-Day

G. Travis: A. Andrews: Private.

“Good Day Doctor Andrews, what can I do for you?” was Travis’s almost immediate reply.

“I have a favor I wish to ask from you Sir and please hear me out. JoAnn and I need a wedding performed and neither of us is particularly religious. Don’t get us wrong — we are Agnostic, not atheistic. We would just not feel comfortable going through any specific religious ceremony.

“As Liberty does not yet have a functioning government, we can not yet have a secular ceremony. So my question is, Sir, would the Captain of the Mayflower be willing to officiate at a Military wedding?”

A pause and then a chuckle came over the wristpad and Travis said, “Why Ash, I’d be honored to join the two of you together in matrimony. I must tell you that this would be a first for me but I suspect I can find the proper protocols in one of the manuals here on the ship. A few questions come to mind. First, where and when? I suppose it should be on the Mayflower itself where I have the authority. The Lounge makes a nice spot and there’s space for dancing and celebrating, afterwards. Glenda and Monroe could cook up a fine spread of food.

“Secondly, would you two want to write any part of your ceremony or would you like it by the book, so to speak?”

I looked at JoAnn and she just shrugged, “Let me address your second point first. I have an electronic copy of the U. S. Joint Services Chaplin Manual and JoAnn has the Australian Forces equivalent, we would like to keep it by the book and as non-sectarian as possible. We will send you both via e-mail and throw ourselves on your mercy.

“As to your first point, we expect it to be at least a week. There are people who have to have uniforms made and we are going to have more guests than I expected. I may not be the most popular guy on Alchibah but, it seems JoAnn may well be. The Lounge would be perfect and we will supply the raw food if Glenda and Monroe would be so kind as to do the prep.

“We are at least going to have to wait until the shuttles are all on line and we have more pilots than Bart, Andy and I.

“I’m not too nervous but, I’d rather be in a dogfight facing three.”

Travis laughed and said, “Ah, come on, Ash, folks have been hitching themselves to each other since mankind crawled out of caves. You’ll be fine.”

“Yeah Right, anyway Ashcroft Out.”

“OK sweetheart quietly tell the Guns to see Judy Davis and get uniforms made. Andy has already given her a design for the new uniforms. Oh and tell them it’s on my tab.

“Now, all I gotta do is figure out how to tell Mariana without the whole damn city hearing her laughing.”

Compiled from original sources.

Shuttle landing. The view from Janies Point.

Painting by Travis

“Thanks ever so much Lar,” Janie said to Captain Monroe as we loaded the last of the items we were taking back with us into the shuttle and finished getting ready to undock and return to Liberty City. “I will even forgive you the final ‘graduation’ sim, as difficult as that one was. Three days worth of work and 70 simulated flight plans and I think I am almost beginning to be able to fly this thing.”

“My pleasure Janie.” Monroe responded, “We aim to please, and if you think you’ve had it hard, just wait till you hear what the next ‘ground pounders’ have to put up with. Seeing some of your, shall we say, ‘ingenious’, flight maneuvers, has given me ideas for about a ton’s worth of new modifications to the training program. I am going to take it as a personal challenged to make sure no other newbie makes it through the full course without crashing and burning at least once on every new lesson.”

Janie laughed and said, “At least don’t blame that on me, I only survived the first time on 20 of them. But do send the updates down to us. I volunteer to be your non-spacer guinea pig. How’s that for aiming to please?”

In a voice of doom imitation, or maybe it was an old time Boris Karloff, Larry replied, “You will come to regret that last statement.” And in a lighter tone, “You really need to take to heart the old prescription about never volunteering. I can say from experience it always comes back to haunt you and in this case Bart will be around as a witness.”

“You’ve stepped in it now girl,” Bartlett concurred, “I crashed so many times in Larry’s sims that I brought a first aid kit into the trainer with me.” And then speaking to Monroe, “Thanks from both of us to all of you Spacers, and especially for the larger mill blade, as soon as we get back down we’ll get it installed and start getting the timbers cutting for your downside building. After that I look forwards to seeing you all much more often.” He turned back to Janie and said, “You’ve got the controls Babe, I’m just a passenger in a hurry.”

Janie Cantarubias, completing her pre-planed descent stage, flew the new shuttle slowly upriver and set down at the Liberty City Spaceport 45 minutes later where a crowd gathered round to admire the first of the soon to be four colony run transports.

Janie’s Log:
When we landed the shuttle at Liberty Port for the first time, as soon as the pad was clear we had a mob waiting to get aboard her for a closer look. Jack and Michelle Seaworth’s daughter Laura headed the waiting line as I exited the port. “Go right in Laura, Bart’s staying aboard and giving tours. And don’t be afraid to ask any question at all, he’ll like that and he always likes talking to pretty young ladies.” Her somewhat somber look brightened as I she heard that and she went on in.

I walked over to Michelle, standing in back but not really with the group that was wanting to get inside for a better look. I felt guilty because I hadn’t found the time to talk to her after her husbands death, but there was just to much else happening.

“Morning,” I said breaking the ice, “it sure looks like Laura’s in love with the lander.”

“She’s always been crazy for anything to do with space travel. Jack and I had no doubt we would be losing her to the deep in one way or another. Now it’s the first interest she’s shown in anything since Jack died. It hit her even harder than it did me.” Michelle looked so sad and lonesome, beyond pain… somewhere else, where mere pain would be a welcome relief.

That’s when inspiration struck, at least it felt like inspiration at the time, “Michelle. I got to run this by Bart, but it looks like in a few days we are going to take the shuttle on a two day trip and shakedown cruise. I think Andy Stuart will be along too but there’s gonna be room for one more. Why not let Laura come with us? Even the anticipation will be bound to get her mind off it’s present course.
Watching Michelle’s expression change so abruptly, almost, set me to crying along with her.

Council Meeting:
“It has been decided then,” Les Reye said in his rolling oratorical fashion, “Bartlett, Stuart, and Cantarubias, will leave tomorrow in the new shuttle for a two day mapping mission . The purpose being to do first an orbital geological scan and then, depending on indications, a low level flight for verification. Data collected will be sent back to us here at Liberty and Elana Pierce will go over it from this end, and basing her determination and on the list of needed minerals, a one day landing and personal exploration will be made for the purpose of returning samples. The landing site will be no more than two hundred miles distant and if possible in close proximity to our river’s northern reach.”
Andy Stuart in addition to becoming current on the shuttle modifications will get a birds eye overview of the local terrain features and provide additional security at the landing area. Let it be so recorded.”

Burt Buchanan and Jack the Blade got together as soon as the Council session was adjourned.

Burt said to the Blade, “It’s time to do the bastard Stuart in. Give him any more time and even when we take him out of the picture his organization will be up and running and that is something neither of us want to deal with. It‘s a shame we gotta take out that simpleton Bartlett along with him but eggs and omelets and all.”

Jack replied, “So what’s it to be? A shuttle accident?”

“That would be perfect in more ways than one. But how do you arrange it? I know a small explosive device planted next to one of the hydrogen feed lines would do the trick quite nicely but fusing will be a bitch. We don’t know exactly when liftoff happens so a timer wont work, and with Sabbu monitoring all of the time the risk of him detecting the signal to a radio activated device is too great.”

“Just leave it to me,” Jack assured him, “An air bladder with contacts on opposite sides placed inside a vented tube and when she’s high enough the balloon’s expansion completes the circuit and no more Stuart!”

“Very nice Jack, you do have a way with these things. Any problem getting it completed and installed tonight?”

“Piece of cake Burt. By this time tomorrow Stuart and Bartlett are toast.”

Next Morning:
“Damn Bart,” That was what Andy Stuart said to me over the com net, “I got one more thing to finish up here at the power plant and I’ve got to do it myself. Just can’t get away. I’m sending Mike Reye along for the ride. He’s shaping up quite nicely considering the gene pool in his background, and a trip like you have in mind will do him a world of good. Wish I were going with you though. Stuart out.”

Day 23: Morning

Andrew Stuart

I was just finishing up breakfast and a most unusual conversation. The last person I had expected to have a long session with was JoAnn McKenzie; Lord fifteen years ago, I would have been howling on her trail. Now I was sitting here talking about my cousin, the current Hound Dog.

“This has been fun, JoAnn, but I have to get out to the dam; after the spin test we made a bunch of changes. The Bots and the kids — no I can’t call them that — the Bots and the Troops made so much progress on extending the constriction and increasing the pressure head, we may get the full 150 KVA outta that sucker. We had to change the intermediate gearing to adapt; damn those Troops don’t know the meaning of the word can’t.”

JoAnn McKenzie

I was just preparing to leave when Ash came in the Bar area. I actually felt good about the way his eyes lit up like beacons in the night. He went over to the bar and grabbed one of those cups of coffee that I had seen Hanna make for him and Andy, how could anyone take that much sugar. As he sat down I asked, “Not eating this morning?”

“Nah, as usual I was out working with the last guard shift. Hanna snuck me a sandwich or two at mid-shift. Sometimes I think she’s what holds this place together. But down to more mundane things, what’s put that quizzical look on your face?”

“Your Cousin.” I said, “How could anyone that nice and with that sense of humor have a call sign like “The Reaper”?”

Ash’s face went colder than I had bloody ever seen, “That’s simple Sweetheart, you have never meet The Reaper, he’s a personality, not a call sign. Andy, like many that ran in the SpecOps crowd, suffers from Multiple Personality Disorder. The key is he and Mariana have it under control; their alter-egos, Magic and The Reaper, only show up when they want them to. They were the most feared team in space or on the ground. There was only one combo more dangerous; that was when Angel and The Reaper teamed up two times. That was a sight to behold; if you can imagine somebody who made Andy look small, it was Angel.”

I sat stunned, “What would cause two blokes like that to team up?”

“Easy, these goblins involved abandoned children to mask their getaway. Magic and Wildcat went for the kids; Angel and The Reaper went for the assholes. Both teams succeeded in spades. Happiest I ever saw the four of them! Hell, on the second one the chief goblin tried to sneak out in a skimmer, Ghost nailed his butt with a heat seeker up the tailpipe.”

“Who’s these blokes named Wildcat and Ghost?” I asked.

Ash grinned, “Wildcat was Angel’s partner, and Ghost was Magic and The Reaper’s taxi driver. Another MPD asshole you do not want to meet. Say, want to do me a favor?”

“Maybe Mate, what do you need?” I grinned.

Ash laughed, “Now there’s an open question. Actually what I need is to borrow your Bot today and for you to hang around here and work with Hanna on our little joke. While you are doing that watch for Travis to land at the spaceport and let Andy and me know when he is here.”

“Well I think I can handle that; it’s at least an excuse to have a dozer day.” I keyed my wrist comp, sent R. Digger orders to team up with R. Nav for the day, and asked, “So what the bloody hell is the joke?”

“You and Hanna have to figure out how to make 195 proof Shine look and smell like real Bourbon. Hanna has instructions but she’s going to need a second pair of hands. OK?”

”Oh Dear Lord, are you going to try to get some bloody fool to drink that stuff?”

“Of course,” he replied. “Just call it a Redneck ritual! I gotta go, take care of yourself, Love!”

With that he took his empty cup to the bar and left. I just sat stunned by the last sentence. Still in kind of a daze, I went to the closet barstool and asked Hanna, “Do you have any idea what just went on here?”

Hanna gave me that knowing smile, “To steal a line from an old movie, ‘Hearts are breaking all over two worlds tonight, because unless you are a fool girl, he is off the market today.’ Did you happen to know that Ash’s call sign was Ghost?”

For once, I was totally stoned, “What the hell, why did he warn me off of the Ghost?”

“Take it from an old veteran, when they are trying to get you in bed all you see is their good side; when they are trying to get at your heart, you see it all.”

Day 23: Evening

“McKenzie to A. Andrews: copy to: A. Stuart: gentlemen Capt. Travis has entered the bar and is in conversation with Bartlett and Lady. Special Jug is prepared.”

Ash Andrews

I knew that from my location I could beat Andy to Hanna’s place. We had finished the trench to the homestead and had added our efforts to the main trench headed for town and were less than two hundred yards from the designated location for the sub-station. As usual I was wrong, Andy pulled up to the side door at the same time I did.

“What did you do speed all they way down here?” I asked.

“Nope, we finished early. I was almost here when I got the call, you ready?”

Andrew Stuart

I walked in the side door just as Bartlett was leaving the front door. “Well Travis, I think I owe you a pair of boots and Mariana is on her way over with them. Hanna says to get your meat out of her freezers and by the way, are you prepared to load 60 tons of ores?” I was quite pleased to see a dumbfounded look on Travis’s face.

“We figured if you were light on CU 29, you were probably light on TI 22. So we went and got you 40 tons of CU and 20 of TI. There has been a whole lot of digging going on down here.”

Just at that time, the other two members of Travis’s crew walked in and Ash came over from the bar.

“Can I buy ya’ll a drink?” He grinned with a bottle in his hand.
Travis looked at Ash, then at the bottle, then at me, and finally again at Ash. “I’m pilot on duty,” he said with a glint in his eye, “but I’m sure that Steven and Greg could use a couple swallows to wash the space dust out of their throats.” With that, he turned and headed towards the counter.

In the meantime, a few glasses were produced and Ash poured three fingers into each of them. Steven and Greg gratefully picked theirs up and with little fanfare proceeded to gulp their drinks down. What followed could have been a scene calling for an ambulance rescue squad – if it hadn’t been so funny!

There was a couple seconds delay and then both men gasped, their faces turning bright red as their eyes bugged out. There was the sound of both of them gagging and Steven fell to the ground, clutching his stomach.

Travis returned from the bar holding two glasses of water, giving one to each of the struggling men, saying, “I figured you might need this. . .”

Ash and I helped them back into their chairs while they gulped the water. JoAnn was coming over with a large container of additional water.

Ash was laughing so hard the tears were coming out of his eyes. “Sorry guys but we had to christen the still and since we could not find any damnyankees we had to settle for innocent spacers. Besides everybody on planet has been down wind from the still at one time or another they were not going to bite.

“Besides someone has been telling the story about ‘Never trust a redneck with a grin and a bottle with no label,’ to anyone that will listen.”

Travis grinned, “It was not me LTC Andrews; I have not been down here remember?”

I looked at Travis, “And where did you learn the ritual, Mars Colony or Seattle?”

Still looking like he wanted to laugh Travis replied, “Seattle, we had a good old boy from northern Georgia and he found an actual yankee to torment. He really was a good man to have around until Cafferty killed him in the belt.”

“Sounds like he was a fine upstanding Southern boy,” said Mariana as she entered. Handing Travis two boxes she said, “Bob threw in a pair of Chukkas to go with the Wellingtons and there ain’t a cockroach killer amongst them.”

Greg finally got enough voice back to croak, “You guys do this to your friends, dear God what do you do to your enemies?”

Ash looked at Travis, “Did you like that old Georgia boy?”

Travis looked puzzled, “Yes, he was a fine Pilot and a good friend!”

“Good Travis, because I put two MK 50’s right up Cafferty’s tail pipe after we chased him down. Does that answer your question Greg?”

Changing the tone quickly I told Travis, “My spies are telling me you unloaded my generators, now if I could just find me a Civil Engineer on this planet I could really get some stuff done.”

JoAnn was just coming back with a bottle labeled:

“Uh excuse me mate, what the bloody hell do you think I do for a living?”

Motioning to Steven and Greg I said, “This is the real stuff guys, it’s been cut down to 80 proof and ain’t half bad. Now Young Woman, what do you know about Hydro-Plants.”

Ash looked at Mariana, “I finally find a girlfriend I care about and he dominates her time.”

Mariana started laughing, “Come back and complain when she starts busting your tail up at the Hydro site!”

From where I was, seeing Ash’s face was worth the whole evening’s entertainment.

Day 28 From the Log Files of Hanna Parker

Jules and I were sitting down taking a short break from the Inn’s stage one completion when Bart and Janie ambled through the door and walked over to our table. We knew they had come back from the Mayflower yesterday and saw the shuttle’s touch down as they brought her in, but hadn‘t had a chance yet to speak with either of them. “Umm. Hi Hanna.” Bart said looking at me with an unusual expression on his face, “It’s good to see you but we came in to ask Jules a favor, kinda in private I guess, if you don’t mind?”

Jules, looking at me and offered, “Then how about sitting down, young man, and you too Janie…. Hanna could you keep yourself busy in the kitchen for a while? This sounds serious.”

While Bart sat himself on one side of Jules and Janie on the other, I said, “Certainly Dear. This does sound serious.” And with a grin and small chuckle I stood up in preparation for heading to the rear of the building.

Then Bart stopped me by saying, “No, don’t leave Hanna. It’s probably best if you hear this now anyway. It won’t be secrete for long.” I sat back down again and he continued speaking mostly to Jules, “I’ve noticed that you both seem uhh– contented – after how many years?”

Blushing slightly, I beamed as Jules replied, “44 years this coming… ,” he squinched a bit considering the Alchibah calendar and said, “Well soon.”

Then Bart just blurted out, “Maybe it’ll be same for me and Janie. Uhhh - sir, would you marry us?”

A smile splitting his face from ear to ear and placing his arm around Bart’s shoulder, Jules said, “Bart, I’d be honored” then he leaned over and kissed Janie’s cheek, saying “Congratulations, young lady! We wish you every happiness.”

Janie said, “It would mean so much to have a real wedding.” Then she laughed, “Not exactly like the one I’d dreamed of, but certainly a special occasion to remember and cherish.” I could tell they were deeply in love, and I hoped that would sustain them through life’s challenges here.

“Oh Janie that’s wonderful,” I said, giving each of them a hug. “Congratulations Again! Explain to us just exactly how you’d like to set it up and how soon? And another thing, Jules and I must host the party to celebrate.” I added.

Janie spoke first. “We want a small,” Bart broke in saying very small, “private ceremony and we will write our own vows.”

“Hadn’t even considered a party.” Bart muttered shaking his head and frankly looking a bit overwhelmed. “But in so far as when, the sooner the better.” He said with certainty.

Looking to Bart for agreement, Janie said, “Yes, as soon as we can make the arrangements, but shouldn’t we at least ask Joe, Eugene and the Stuarts to be there. I’d like Kara as my maid of honor.” And teasingly she said, “I know you’re your own ‘best man’ Bart, but unless you let Joe stand with you I can’t see you remaining in one piece after word gets out.” Then looking at me and Jules she said, “And yes, a reception would be fine, but please, keep it simple. Very simple!”

Bart was obviously uncomfortable but still smitten, and even as he could see the idea of a small private wedding unraveling nodded agreement.

“So, it’s settled then. A wedding there will be! And a party!”

At that moment, Arra and Aya, who had been playing on the porch outside, came careening towards us chasing a mechanical bouncing bunny, and overhearing our last few words they exclaimed in unison, “A wedding! A wedding! A Party! We want to come!”

Karyn, hearing the shouting, toddled over and said, “Flowers. I’ll bring pretty flowers.”

A couple days later, two hours after noon, with about a hundred and twenty of our closest friends gathered near and standing at the river’s edge in front of the First Inn; we would have had it at the church if it had been completed but it was still many weeks away, Jules presided over the ceremony. “We are gathered together here today to celebrate the union of William Prescott Bartlett and Veronica Jane Cantarubias in holy matrimony….”

It was a glorious spring day, actually early summer now, with a warm sun, gentle breeze, and wispy clouds in the sky. As they repeated their vows, I marveled at the young couple. They’ll be stronger as a couple, I though to myself, than if single. It had all worked out pretty well: Karyn picked a bouquet of wild flowers, Janie had a beautiful lavender silk sash draped over her shoulder, Jules read from my Bible.

To everyone’s surprise, as William finished saying his vows he slipped a simple gold band out from his pocket onto Janie’s finger. “My Mother would have wanted you to have this.” Then they tenderly kissed, and everyone clapped.

As we all walked back toward the Inn, the kids were gathered along the path, cheering, and throwing pod grass seeds at the wedding party; they were the closest thing to rice, though no one would want to eat them. Bart and Janie stopped at the door and greeted everyone coming inside.

A nice treat after dinner was a delicious cake that Emily and Linda had baked, artfully decorated by Liza. The best man, Joe Fortson, proposed a toast. Then my darling Jules stood, and clearing his throat said, “I usually keep my singing private in the shower or if public only at church. However, in celebration of Alchibah’s first newlyweds, I’d like to dedicate this song to them. And, looking more at me than at the happy couple, in his warm baritone Jules began singing the song he had written for me on our first day on the planet. The one that ended, “And I will never leave you love…no I will never leave you.”

00:023: Evening

Sitting under the roof of the nearly completed, (stage one), First Inn, Janie Cantarubias looked out of the south facing window, still unglazed, and watched the Galileo’s arrival as she wafted down into her berth at the spaceport on the far end of Liberty City. We had eaten dinner at the Inn, something we hadn’t been doing much lately, due both to lack of time and the desire to save up as much credit as we could for our own place on the point beyond the designated port area. And we were also saving for what would be needed to build the private lumber mill. Kara, through her position on the town council, had been keeping track of the labor hours being earned and traded back and forth and had authored several articles for the Alchibah Electronic News stressing the importance of keeping the ‘money’ in circulation.

Those articles made so much sense that we had started to preorder, making a down payment, or paying for in advance the total price of everything we could afford that we knew we would be needing for both projects. The payments had helped others in getting almost every business in town started, and those start-ups drove other spending and especially purchases of lumber. This market driven economy thing really appeared to work… though Les Reye, among others, was already arguing about taxing and other policies to as they said— “Adjust for the inherent inequalities and lack of humanity in pure capitalism.”

Anyway dinner was delicious, and, we had been able to firm up with J.J. the delivery schedules for the final couple loads which would complete this stage of the Inn’s interior and upper levels before Captain Travis made it from the port and entered the building. He stopped at the door, glanced around, and spotting us, gave a wave and a nod before heading in out direction. The dining area contained just eight tables but six were in use and the Captain paused for a word or two to with most everyone seated as he passed by.

Before he had even reached our table Hanna had bustled over, hands full, with a cup and a pot of steaming coffee. As he seated himself Travis took a deep breath, exhaled slowly, and then said, “It might be the ships life-support or maybe the water but even with the same beans nothing I make tastes as good or has the aroma of what you serve here Hanna.”

“Why thank you sir,” Hanna replied, “You can be sure I will quote you on that in the Electronic News tomorrow.”

As Hanna refilled my cup and Janie, putting up a hand, declined. Hanna then told the Captain, in no uncertain terms, that he must have the Fish and Chips Special. “What’s special about it?” he asked.

“What’s special,” Hanna laughed, “is it’s all we are serving tonight except for rations brought down from the ship and I need to use up all the fish brought in today because we just cant keep it fresh two days in a row. Bart here,” she added, “helped Jules make a couple of fish traps so we are serving it fresh a couple of times a week and have even started to smoke some. I’ll give you a sample of that too. It’s darn good tasting and will keep.” With that she headed back to the far side of the room where Jules was watching the stove and the kitchen equipment set up and visible without the dividing wall in place. Only a matter of a few more days for that I thought.

“It’s good to see you Captain,” Janie said. “I hope you brought good news.”

“And good to see you also,” Travis said with a rakish glance that I wasn’t sure I appreciated. “But just call me Glenn when I’m dirt side and not on official business. And yes I did bring a load of good news down with me along with the rest of the Galileo’s cargo. For Bart I’ve brought down most of the hardware for the private lumber mill and the smaller of the two blades; the larger is almost completed, all of us on the Mayflower are going a bit stir crazy and seeing the planet down below, and it looking back at us so invitingly, we can hardly wait to get our building down here started and usable. But more to the point I think, as far as you’re concerned Janie; the news is we’ve got one of the lifeboats finished and retrofitted as a shuttle. The others should be complete in a couple more weeks. So if you and Bart can spare the time to come up to the Mayflower with me when I return tomorrow morning, we can get Bart up to speed on the changes and start you running sims and getting trained on all of their operational considerations.” And with an evil grin. “Plan on three of the hardest most demanding days you‘ve ever spent”

Janie’s smile lit up like a nova, “Thank you ever so much, you can’t possibly imagine how I’ve been wanting to hear that!” I was basking in her radiance when she turned to me and said, “Drink up Bart, I hate to leave the good Captain so abruptly but we both have a lot of things to do tonight if we are going to be ready in the morning, and that’s one trip I am not going to miss out on.” With that, and after I had gulped down the rest of my coffee, Janie once more assured Captain Travis that we would be aboard at first light, we left the Inn.”

Captain Travis let me handle the Galileo’s docking into the Mayflower, and as I watched it near, I reflected on the four years I had spent on board her while most all of the other colonists slept the time away. I had never expected to feel like this, but in some fashion or another, it was almost like coming home and as the ship latched into place Janie piped up loudly, “So what are we waiting for? Let‘s get started!”

Connor

It’s been just over three (Earth) weeks since I met Kaiya, but it seems like we’ve known each other for months. Everything has been like that here; every day reaches its end in what seems like a blink of the eye, but a week ago feels like a month and waking up from cryo feels like another lifetime. Time is funny like that. Anyone that tells you that time is neat and orderly, that every second, hour or day is equally as long as every other second, hour or day, is either lying to you or hasn’t been paying attention.

We were having dinner, talking about nearly mundane things – how teaching was going for her, how helping Kiyoshi start to set up the blacksmith shop and getting my vet practice going was working for me, things like that. “How was your day, honey?” sort of stuff. It felt at the same time wonderful and horrible to again have someone in my life that I could talk to like that. A big part of me hates myself for even starting to think about anyone other than Luana that way, but I honestly don’t think I have a choice in the matter. You can’t make yourself like or dislike anyone; your heart does what it will, regardless of what you tell it.

She kissed me gently on the cheek as she got up to leave. I watched her go, my fingertips where her lips had just been. I hardly even realized what I was doing.

“You look like someone just hit you between the eyes,” a woman’s voice said off to my side. I glanced over, unconsciously rubbing my hand along my jaw and dropping it to the table. It was Elana Pierce.

“What?” I asked, playing dumb and failing miserably.

“Her. I get why you like her, and I certainly get why she’s interested in tall, dark and relatively-handsome here, but what I don’t get is why you act like a love struck teenager around her. Oh, and don’t worry, I’m not flirting with you. You’re not my type.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Inquisitive much? And the answer is I don’t rightly know either, not that it’s your concern.” She shrugged, sipping her drink. “Alright. As long as we’re asking questions here, how ‘bout you answer one?”

“Fair enough. Shoot,” she replied.

“How did it feel to break that world record?” She blinked in surprise, then sighed, twisting her mouth in annoyance. I laughed. “So it is you. I know you must have heard it a thousand times, but those swimming golds? In the Olympics, the one place the WG still let the Independent States go toe to toe with them? They meant so much, to so many people.”

“Yeah, I know.” She sighed again. “I was just hoping that I could leave that responsibility behind and just be…I dunno, a big sister, a citizen, a geologist. You won’t tell anyone, will you?”

“Your secret’s safe with me.” I grinned suddenly. “Oh man, if Gabe were here! My brother,” I explained, “he’s a big fan. Might have made the Olympics himself, if he hadn’t joined the Navy. Man, if he knew I was meeting the Divin’ Dolphin, in the flesh!” I laughed, she rolled her eyes. “All right, all right, I’ll cut it out. And besides, it’s not like we don’t have other things to talk about. Summer and Jai seem to becoming fast friends, for one…”

We ended up talking for hours. Certainly longer than we should have, given all that needed doing. It turns out we have a fair bit in common.

Day 22

Captain’s Journal:

Things change. They always do. We had originally planned to outfit one of the lifeboats cum shuttle craft as a long distance sentry, to stand guard near the exit of the wormhole and alert us as to when the Goonies arrived. Now, with the signal from the original sentinel craft having stopped, it was imperative that we find out what was happening out there. The shuttle craft were simply to slow for that and besides, it would be a waste of a relatively useful ship.

In conference with the others here on the Mayflower, it was decided that we would send out the Surprise, the small personal cruiser. It was built for two, and two robots it would hold. It was built for speed, and by ripping out the unnecessary life support systems, we were able to outfit it with greater fuel capacity. In addition, with only robots riding along, rapid acceleration was possible. The robots could care less about G-forces.

We had already installed one of the laser canon on it, and we filled it with other spare electronic parts and converted the bunk to a work table. The idea, and it was a good one from Hibbes, was that as our technology advanced here on the Mayflower, we could communicate those things to the robots on the Surprise who could then build it right there within the cruiser.

The Surprise was launched without fan fare.

Another decision reached was that the Lancer cruise ship was now superfluous. It was big, and while speedy, lacked maneuverability and was wasteful of fuel. We decided to cannibalize it for weapons, parts, electronics, fuel tanks, and even the engines and life support systems. It’s not that fuel was in short supply, anymore, since the NIFT had returned yesterday with another load of Helium3 from the fourth planet. Still, as fuel demands increased both on the colony and here in the rock, it made sense to find ways to economize it.

Day 23

I was heading towards the cargo bay where the first of the newly outfitted shuttle sat ready. As I left the tunnel and approached, I spotted Hibbes and Monroe standing under one of the wings making final inspections.

This had been the priority project for all of us, all nine of us plus our 25 robots, converting the Lancer’s lifeboats to more functional shuttle craft. Originally designed to hold 10-12 evacuees in not very much comfort, they were agile for travel in both space and through atmospheres.

The crews had ripped out some of the seating and long-term life support systems. The shuttle would now hold four people although a bench off one side could seat another couple in an emergency, had enough air and supplies for a month long jaunt, and the fuel capacity had been increased four-fold.

The shuttle craft would never be especially speedy but we did increase engine thrust a bit. In addition, one laser canon and one 100mm projectile gun, both taken from the Lancer, had been installed. The 100mm popped out of a hatch on top. The laser was mounted above the cab windows Beyond all of that, an extra layer of shielding had been installed and the inside consoles made ready for installation of, whenever Hibbes finished building and testing, the EMF electronics necessary to implement Dr. Ash Andrew’s shielding plans.

As I pulled up my golf cart I said to Hibbes, “Wasn’t this thing a dull beige? Yesterday?”

He chuckled and said, “Like the floor, Captain, yes. And tomorrow it might be a dull blue. We’ve applied a coat of nanoskin paint to the outside. I figured it would come in handy down planetside. If Andy and his forces park them in a sandy area, or a grassy area, or hide them in the woods, the skin color can change to camouflage the ship. Just thinking ahead in case the goonies are on the way.”

I nodded and said, “Good work, Doctor.”

“Even in space,” Monroe added, “the shuttle can be made non-reflective black. Very hard to spot visually although granted, there will always be some reflection and light leakage from the large zirconium windows in the bow.”

“How soon till the other three colonist’s shuttles are ready?” I asked.

Monroe said, “Four or five more days. Are you taking this one down, now?”

I shook my head and said, “Nope. I’ve got those three large generators to deliver, plus I’m picking up a load of copper ore. These shuttles simply don’t have much cargo space, despite their size. I’ll have to take the Galileo.”

“That sure is wasteful,” Hibbes said, “a huge ship like the Galileo being used for a paltry couple tons of ore.”

I said, “You’re right, Hibbes, could you cobble together some parts from the Lancer and put together a couple of simple cargo vans, as it were. Nothing fancy, about forty feet long with just a couple seats, low power engines. Figure they should haul about fifty tons and be very fuel efficient. One for the colonists to use planetside to transport rock, lumber, whatever, and one for us to use.”

“I’ll have them ready in two weeks, Captain, as soon as the shuttle retrofits are complete I’ll start on them.”

“What about the X-Fighters?” Monroe asked.

“We’ve got time enough for those,” I said, “since whatever it was that silenced the Sentinel, it’s still a light year and a half away from us.” But I worried just the same. What did happen out there? The Sentinel had been operating for three-and-a-half years before going silent. Did the battery simply give out? Was the small craft hit by some space debris? Or was it our nemesis, announcing their arrival on this side of the worm hole?

It was still on my mind as I touched-down the Galileo later that afternoon at the Space Port in Liberty City. I had several people to seek out. Andy, of course, and Bart and Janie were going to return to the Mayflower with me to get some training in the shuttle craft. First, though, I headed to Hanna’s tent for some of her fine coffee…

Day 21

Rocco, BJ, and I were strolling towards our land grants. Our robots followed behind, pulling makeshift carts laden with the precious lumber we had gotten when our allotment came due at the mill. For the present, there were only enough beams, posts, and boards for one small structure, not three separate ones. Since our grants were adjacent, it was decided that we would pool our resources and with our robots, build a simple cabin on my property where we would all live. Eventually, when more supplies were available — when our numbers came up again — BJ and Rocco’s residences would go up.

We had crossed the river by the lower bridge. Reye’s makeshift rope barrier had been cut and lay in the mud. As we headed North, it was noted with some amusement that — safety being not all that paramount after all — Les, Judith, and their robots were hard at work themselves on their own property, with a small cabin nearly complete and a crude corral fence erected nearby. Word on the street, if we had real roads, was that Les was going into the unicow raising business.

“My God, Histy,” Rocco said as we passed the Reyes, “seems Les was able to navigate the 12-foot wide bridge without the help of railing.”

I said, “Isn’t it amazing how the entrepreneurial spirit is able to overcome the ’safety first’ mentality?”

BJ said, “You mean greed?”

“Now, now, young fella’,” I replied, “No pain, no gain as the saying goes. All of us in this colony are going to be entrepreneurs of one sort or another. As soon as we get my camp built, and a proper chicken pen put up, I’ll be bringing my flock down. There might be competition for chicken meat, although I suspect that even with exotic new foods on this planet, nostalgia for our home world and it’s ways will insure that Buffalo Wings remains a popular item for years to come. Even old fogies like me have to earn a living!”

Rocco said, “You can take the maven out of the market but you can’t take the marketing out of the maven.”

“Hush, you brute!” I said, jokingly, “I’m a history teacher. Don’t forget that! Anyway, I have, apparently, an even bigger market to corner. It seems that all the critters on this planet, even the Devils, reproduce by live birth. I have the monopoly on good old-fashioned eggs. And nobody gets tired of eggs, scrambled, poached, or fried, for their morning meal.”

BJ said, “You had a leg-up on the others, being awake for the four years we slept.”

I said, “That’s four years you all didn’t age. I did and I was already elderly. I consider that a proper trade-off. And what do you, young Bradley, plan to offer the colony?”

“I’m a potter,” he said, “You can sell food, Hanna can cook it, but people will need a plate or saucer to eat it from, not to mention for their homes when they eventually get built. A foot-wheel and a kiln is easy to build. Plates and bowls are my specialty.”

“Don’t forget the mugs for brew,” Rocco added, his voice still a bit raspy from something that happened the other day.

We reached our properties. The spot was quite pretty, nestled around a finger of a large lake just off the river. We went to work…

I dragged myself towards Hanna’s place for breakfast. I was quite happy to see Ash leaving his tent alone, thank God. According to Mariana my worst fears about Ash were now constrained to the appearance of propriety, as His market presence was over. I would believe that when I saw it, I was the Hound Dog before he was. But damn if an ex-Aussie SBS operator could trip him, more power to them both!

Grabbing a plate of eggs and potatoes, I went to one of the outside tables. Ash drug up with a cup of coffee, “Not going to eat?” I asked.

“Nah, I grabbed a sandwich earlier. Karl asked me to check on the last guard mount. They are getting good at using the Bots’ sensors. They are getting to be a good tripwire warning system and fast; whether they are going to be able to shoot or not I ain’t so sure.”

“That’s all we can ask for Ash, they are essentially the Police; they are not Combat Troops.” I saw a face I recognized coming out of the kitchen area, “Hey Rocco, come on over.”

Rocco sat down his plate and coffee mug. “I wasn’t sure that I would be welcome over here after that first day on Mayflower.”

Ash laughed, “Rocco that was over with about the time Andy shucked the mag outta my XD. If I had meant you harm, it would have happened right there! Although, this might even the score!” That being said with a friendly grin, as Ash handed him a 2qt. canteen.

Rocco started to open the cap and froze as everyone for two tables deep around us who had a smoke lit started running. He extended his arms as far as they would go and twisted off the top; followed by his eyes watering, face flushing red and coughing as he screwed the cap back on.

Joe chimed in from a safe distance, “Rocco, if you need to peel paint off a bulkhead that stuff will do it,” he laughed as he went away with his plate and cup.

“Good Lord Andy, how do you drink this stuff?’ Rocco asked.

“Well first you talk to Hanna, ‘cause you need about two gallons of the distilled water she is putting out from that Sun still we built her. That will give you ten quarts of 80 proof raw moonshine. Also known in polite circles as Bourbon waiting to grow up; and it’s not too damn polite about it either.”

“Andy, I hope you are aging out some of this stuff; this could get old in a hurry!”

“No problem Rocco, only one third of each run stays raw. The rest is going into casks that Walt is making. This stuff is just to keep the Bar at Hanna’s going and of course Bribes.

“The key is Rocco don’t tell any spacer about this stuff. We have a good old country shenanigan ready for our friends.

“By the way how are you coming on the lights for the upper bridge?”

“I should be ready at the junction box by tomorrow afternoon, why?”

“Well, I have not let this out Rocco but we are going to test spin sometime tomorrow. We will put you a spur down to the bridge and set up a delivery transformer just below your junction box. Main power for the township is coming in on the grid Z-20, a-19 and b-18 line in behind that rock line. Wait just a second Rocco.”

“Cpl. Nug, Front and Center.” The robot moved smartly over and responded, “Sir, Yes Sir.”

“Cpl. Take Pvt. Mycroft with you and dig a trench from Mr. Rocco’s work location at the Upper Bridge to the main distribution node at the dam. It needs to be ready for LT. Benjamin’s wire team immediately after the test spin. Human lives are at risk without those lights, so get it done Cpl!”

After two in chorus, “Sir, Yes Sir’s” Rocco stared at me, “What are you doing Andy? I have already figured out you never do anything for one reason.”

I could only shake my head, was I that damn transparent? “Rocco I am trying to do my best Dr. Susan Calvin imitation!”

He looked dumbfounded, “Who the hell is that and why?”

“Well actually she was a fictional character in a series of books by a noted Sci-Fi writer named Issac Asimov. He predicted the use of intelligent robots and came up with the ideas that were actually used in programming our robots. Dr. Calvin was the shrink who always figured out why a robot did something no one expected. Her work and Asimov’s series revolved around the Three Laws of Robotics.

“1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

“What I am trying to do is build on that First Law basis, look at the secondary clause.”

Rocco thought for a long moment, “Through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. Damn, are you saying a robot can kill something and not blow a gasket?”

“Yes Rocco, if that robot has had responsibility hammered into its little positronic brain it would have no choice. I cannot think of any circumstance that I could make a robot harm a human being. But drop a rumbler to save a child. Hell Yes, they can.”

Rocco just stared, “What are you doing?”

“What I always said I would do, Defend this place!”