It totaled up to two hundred and fifty-eight mewu. Every time Anna went in for the traps, she saw more mewu skittering out of sight. She intended to trap each garden until it came to under twenty trapped and then move to the next garden. She felt sure the mewu would move right in behind her, running across the electrical field. The garden rooms happened to be prime real estate for the mewus. Hopefully, the gardens with first level barriers could be trapped down to a reasonable population because only the mewu from second level would be able to move in and repopulate the barricaded gardens.
With thirty minutes remaining, she jogged to Northwest 3. She went up to the second level and glued together some of the sixth barrier into small portions to carry across the rail and set up. After that, she went and shelled korftu till her time ran out. Anna dashed for her shower and made it home in time to avoid greal.
Des stood waiting for her. “You need to rest.”
“Des, I barely got hurt.”
“Tonight we conceive our firstborn, you need to rest.” He stated emphatically.
“I forgot that tonight was the night already.” Anna said as she crawled into bed. “Des, do Fienu and Sato come over here?”
“Of course, we need to be side-by-side to trance.”
“Whoa! Side-by-side as in the same bed, here?”
Des nodded.
“They leave after the trance, right? They don’t stay in the bed with us, do they?” Anna’s voice rose.
“Well, they can’t move until after they get some rest. Fienu will be very tired. And being in my body will disorient Sato.” Des shrugged.
“But you will be fine in his body?”
“Yes. I go to a body with more. He goes to a body with less. Even with the fact, that they are not sexually active unless fathering children, males become very attached to their biological makeup. I will just feel umm... I will want to father a child very, very badly.”
Anna chuckled and thought about it. “Des, if we drag a mattress in here and put it in the supply office could you do the mind thing there?”
Des nodded. “Yes. But why do you want us to?”
“Just because you are using Sato’s body, doesn’t mean I want him to witness the act. I want some privacy. Child conception should be between the parents.”
“They will be the child’s parents too.” Desvren said softly.
Anna nodded. The human part of her still needed to adjust to the fact of four parents instead of two. “I would like privacy on the conception night, you, me, and the child. The rest of its life, I agree to willingly share.”
Des looked at Anna sharply. “What about the retrieval?”
“I would rather have privacy. But if I understand correctly what you explained to me, it’s best for the child for us all to be together for that, right?”
“It helps if all the parents can mentally reassure the child. Retrieval turns into a traumatic experience if the child fights it. The more people sending emotional encouragement to the child, the more likely someone gets through and relaxes the child. I will talk to Fienu this cool and drag in a mattress. You really need to rest.”
“Is it going to be a long night, honey?” Anna teased.
“You have no idea.”
“Okay, explain.”
“Males don’t stop until child conception takes place.”
“What? But what if it takes more than one night? I mean you can’t guarantee that I will be fertile.”
“Golsidan males usually improve fertility. A hormone in their sperm makes you fertile, even if it’s not your normal time. I have never heard, in all of our recorded history, of conception taking longer than a night and a cool. But you need to rest, because it might take all night.”
Anna shook her head and curled up next to Des. “You have a way of withholding information, love.” She yawned. “Lucky for you, I don’t hold it against you. Is the alarm set? The cool shift plans to arrive early to help clean up yesterday’s harvest.”
“How early?”
“Eight. We should finish the tree barriers, this cool.”
Anna thought Desvren helped push her into sleep. He woke her up at ten of eight because he turned off the alarm and let her sleep in. Actually, Anna thought he made her sleep in. He used his healer’s tricks when he considered them to be necessary.
Anna ran to Northwest 3. She pressed the overripe greal, and stacked the pressings and trays. Tonight, she intended not to save any. Saving them every other night until they possessed a good supply stocked up sounded fine to her. The processing crew came early. They finished the gesar and once again witnessed for each other.
“Tonight, you guys don’t have to wait to process. Start on my korftu and switch to the other harvester’s produce when the first carts come in. I’m going to run this gesar to East 1 and set it to boil. I’ll return before nine.” Anna ran with the gesar and greal pressings. She managed to get everything into the proper boiling pots and to restrain the glue. She set the glue for the last re-boil and ran back to Northwest 3.
Anna greeted everyone. “The same as yesterday people. Did any of you check your numbers for yesterday?”
“We had better numbers than when you pack ran, not having to worry about takosund, having clear pathways, a cart right next to you, and saving ten percent all added up. Dasie and I showed an eighteen percent increase on our best previous second level numbers.” Brema said.
“Mapao and I got a twelve percent increase.” Kesti stated.
“My numbers increased thirty-one percent over my best, previous second level numbers. I always felt scared up there. But what you said about the first level barrier, lasting forty-five minutes and all of us checking it every run, it reassured me. I could concentrate on harvesting.” Tamsi said.
“Thank you for sharing that great news, Tamsi.” Anna smiled at the usually quiet woman. “We have been doing great harvesting. I want to make sure, that we keep it up safely. If you have any ideas or concerns, bring them to Sato or me. He deeply cares about your safety as much as I do.”
“Will the tree barriers really make the trees safe?” Kesti asked.
Anna nodded. “Sato and I designed them with no edges for the takosund to grab and rip on. The barrier width measures too wide for even the biggest takosund to get a full wrap on one, without sliding off. They can only push their bodies up so far, before their own weight pulls them back down. They need to wrap and grip, before they reach that fallback point. The barriers span three meters out from the tree at the bottom. The takosund needs to unwrap, hang out three meters, and then try to wrap the barrier which causes him to unwrap another fifteen to twenty meters. No takosund alive can grip a tree while hanging out eighteen meters. The takosund we got at the last hunt measured in at twelve point six, sixteen point three, and twenty-one point eight meters. The first two didn’t even have enough length to wrap the barrier. The big one wouldn’t be able to hold himself there. Four meters wrapped around a tree, trying to hold eighteen meters of unwrapped, un-gripping weight.”
Anna shook her head. “The big ones will slide off just as fast as the small ones with their weight dragging them down. The barriers will work. But we need to remember to always check everything, even the foolproof. Eventually in five or ten annuals, the tree trunk growth might crack those barriers open. We want to notice that when it happens. If we make it a habit to check every time, we’ll spot the damage when it appears.”
Kesti nodded.
“Okay, I should finish the tree barriers tonight. I’m going to cut off all the intersecting limbs with the other trees. Afterwards, I plan to do a couple of little things that should make the harvesting over the rail quicker. I’ll explain them to you after they get finished. Crew, you know your places. Keep chopping that denua back, make lots of paths to allow the carts to get where they help the most. Volunteers, thanks for coming again. Sign in everyone. Let’s go to work.”
Anna started right in setting up the sixth barrier. When she finished it, she started harvesting. S
he pushed in three cart loads and then she set up the seventh barrier. Four cartloads later she put up the eighth barrier. She chopped off all of the intersecting limbs. On the next cartload, she ordered the boards needed to make the rope tie. Two more cartloads and she glued the rope tie boards in place.
The second shift of volunteers arrived and Anna motioned them over to the post with the rope tie. “Okay, the area over there is secure now. I just finished the barricades and cut off the intersecting limbs. I need your help to measure some distances. Can you hold this tape against the post for me?” Three nods.
Anna measured the first rope distance and added three meters to it for securing the ends. She took in a cart full and ordered the rope. She measured the second rope and took in another cart full. The first rope lay coiled in the supply processor exit bin. She loaded it on and ordered the second rope.
The volunteers watched her every move curiously. Anna nodded and tied the rope to the post board. It took a lot of pulling and shaking to get the rope through the tree limbs to where she wanted it. She tied it as tight as possible. She harvested another cartload and then went back for the second rope.
By the time, she tied on the third rope, everyone kept glancing at her as she worked, obviously wondering about the ropes. Anna needed to net the denua fiber bag onto the cart to keep it from sliding off. Everyone stared at her as she hung it up.
“Volunteers your job just changed. Do you feel strong enough between all three of you to push a full cart?”
Doru spoke up. “We are strong enough to do that for our shift.”
“Does each of you know how to turn the field on and off, and the safety procedures?” They all nodded. “Good, I’m going to go over the rail and harvest. I snap my full nets onto these ropes. The nets slide down to here on second level. You unsnap the nets and fill the cart. Put nets on the bottom level and around the edges, empty the nets into the top boxes. When the cart gets full, push it to the processors, and unload it. Bring back another cart and ask one of the peeler volunteers to come back with you. Since you three are pushing the carts, I’ll give you eight percent of what you cart in to split between you. Sign in with Jatlo. The volunteer, who comes back with you just unsnaps and loads the cart. That volunteer gets two percent. Agreed?”
“We agree.” Doru said.
“When you come back, bring the nets out of the supply closet. All right, let’s see how well this works.” It worked like a charm. Anna discovered that greal clusters easily cut into four or five pieces and shoved into the nets. The cart filled real fast. She stuffed her pockets and pouches full of korftu. She sent over nets of korftu until the volunteers returned. They waved and went to work.
Anna didn’t try to keep track of how many cartloads went out. When she ran out of nets, she jumped rail and grabbed the empties that the volunteers collected for her. By the time, the fourth set of volunteers arrived; she only had three remaining nets which they kept reusing. She jumped rail.
“I’ll help push this cart in. I need to empty my pack and get some more nets from somewhere.” The volunteers sighed and nodded.
The processing room looked like a semi-load of fruit had crash landed in it, spilling its contents everywhere. The center station rounded up with a tipsy mountain of teetering boxes and nets. Every processor operator sat buried beneath a pile of produce, furiously stuffing fruit into the processors in a vain attempt to get free.
Jatlo spotted Anna, the minute she cleared the door. “What did you do?” He screamed from his imprisoned position.
“I’m using ropes to slide the harvest over the rails.” Anna shrugged and looked around. “It’s working real well, maybe too well.”
Jatlo glared at Anna. “We will never catch up.”
Anna went over to the communication panel and called healer central. “This is Phwolfe. Do you have any more invalid volunteers who want to work a processor?”
“Yes Phwolfe, we have invalids driving us crazy. They pulled lots to fill those thirty-four spots and the ones who didn’t get picked are very difficult to be around.”
“Good, I’ll take as many volunteers as I can get, right now. Spread the word, Wolfe needs processors at Northwest 3. Processing rooms 2 and 3 need to be manned, as quickly as possible. We set up a new way to harvest over the rail and we got swamped. Set up a shift rotation please, the length of time you recommend. Can you send any help?”
“I already signed three healers to spread the word. Four healthy-looking, invalids are marching out the door right now. Your help is on the way.”
“Thank you, thank you, and thank you. May your blood stay strong.” Anna rang off. “The healers are sending invalid volunteers to run the processors in rooms 2 and 3. Volunteers can you hold off on the denua and transfer some of this to rooms 2 and 3. My remaining harvest will get split between those rooms. If we fail to clean it all up tonight, I’ll ask healer central to arrange a volunteer brigade for tomorrow warm. I plan to stop harvesting at eleven. I failed to realize how much of a difference this style of harvesting would make. I intend to prepare better for tomorrow. Will you guys forgive me?”
Shalo laughed. “Only if you go harvest some more, I’ve never seen Jatlo yell at someone like that. And I want to see it again at the end of the shift. Go, Phwolfe, harvest.” Anna looked around and everyone nodded. Even Jatlo cracked a grin and motioned her to go.
Anna turned to the volunteer cart pushers. “Let’s drop this load in processing room 2 and grab the nets from there. Please, split the loads between processing room 2 and 3, as you cart them in. Bring me processing room 3’s nets when you drop produce off there. I’m going to run back up. I want to see how mad, I can make Jatlo.” Their laughter followed her out.
The harvest grew rich and thick. The nets filled fast. And the ropes slid it all in. Anna kept the un-snapper pretty busy which meant it needed to be a permanent job. The carters barely kept up. All of a sudden, another set of carters arrived. They grabbed another modified cart from somewhere. Anna wanted to keep them busy so she harvested fast.
Brema called twenty of eleven. Anna stuck to the greal for the last twenty minutes. The carters pushed it in at a trot. They looked awful healthy for invalids. Finally, the shift ended. She jumped back and helped push the last cart to the processing room.
Well rounded best described Processing room 3. Everywhere, countertops, processors, beside the processors mounds of greal lay dumped on the floor. All the processors hummed along at full speed with smiling Golsidans stuffing greal down them. Five volunteers worked at the central station, three shelled korftu, throwing the nuts into one box and the shells into another. One volunteer packaged and weighed korftu. Another delivered the boxes of shells to the processors and the nuts to the packer.
Processing room 2 looked the same with seven volunteers working on the korftu. Anna went to face Jatlo in processing room number 1. She walked in and the whole crew watched on, avidly waiting for the explosion. Anna turned to a stern-faced Jatlo. “Umm… Ahh…” She swallowed and shrugged, in for a penny in for a pound.
“Great harvest everyone. Anyone want to join me over the rail tomorrow?” She turned and ran for it because he came at her with a bunch of unripe greal.
“I know how much you dislike greal and I am going to stuff it down your throat. Do it again tomorrow with more people joining you?” Jatlo ranted as he chased her.
“But Jatlo, I need to. How else am I going to pay all of these volunteers? Over thirty of them in a shift with three half-hour shifts worth, Jatlo, they will beggar me.” Anna laughed as she ran. She felt no fear of him at all. No one stuffed unripe greal like Des and she had survived him.
Jatlo stopped in mid-stride. “Phwolfe, your trade chief already negotiated a payment with the invalids. Five pounds of unripe greal and five pounds of korftu for every half-hour shift worked. You will come out of it with plenty left over. How did you get all of this?”
“I put up three rope slides over the rail. Simply, stuff the net full; snap it
on the rope and it slides over the rail to the tie on post. The volunteer un-snapper gets two percent. He unsnaps and loads the carts. The carters get eight percent for pushing the carts in.”
“A greal bunch cuts up and stuffs into four or five nets. You work around the ropes. I never got out of the arms reach of one. Stuff a net, snap it on, stuff a net, and snap it on. Tomorrow, I’ll try to figure out a way to reach down under the limbs and pick the tienara.”
Anna looked around. Processing room 1 still overflowed with produce, burying the countertops and floors. But the processor had managed to free themselves down to about ankle level. “Trade chief Jatlo, will tender all Wolfe offers for help in clearing this up. At twelve, everyone calls it a night. Those who want to work more come tomorrow warm or before cool shift begins. Jatlo, where can I help the most?”
“Take processor number seven and stuff greal in it as quick as you can.” He turned to the crowd and started to negotiate. He knew his trading far better than Anna. She went to processor seven, logged on, and went to work.
CHAPTER 8
Children to Cherish
Anna took a long hot shower after work and arrived home at twelve thirteen. Des met her at the door. He pointed towards the bed and carried over a tray of food. “Sato and Fienu are in the supply room.” Des said.
“You should tell Sato that I finished putting up the tree barriers at Northwest 3. The rope slides too. The harvest was unreal, Jatlo...” Anna stopped talking when Desvren covered her mouth.
Des shook his head. “Sato cares not at all about the harvest at this point. His thoughts revolve around only one thing. Child, child, child, make child. It has become an irritating chant in his mind. Eat sweetheart, rest. Go to sleep. With Sato like this, it will take a while to get him to trance and mind transfer. Get some sleep while you can.” Des kissed Anna and left.
Phwolfe Song (Golsidan Revival Series Book 1) Page 24