by Robin Miller
Owsee, "they are not considered true citizens, thatthey are not of our bloodline. We let them live here, and even call some friends, but they can't serve in government or own property that is then sold to another off-worlder." I said, "well then what about Gripper, are you saying his land is not really his own?"
Owsee, "it's sort of in trust from the bank. He can't sell it to an off-worlder or none citizen, but his family can own it."
I said, "and what about me?"
Owsee, "your DNA is from the home world Earth, you are considered a citizen with all the rights, as are your children."
Kitty, "but not me?"
Owsee, "sorry."
Kitty, "while I have a mate I will never leave, so I don't need anything. It can all be in his name, as long as the children are taken care of, that's all that matters." We drank our wine and fell silent for awhile. A short meteor storm presented a few burning their way across the sky. I said I hoped none of them hurt the station. Then before anyone could comment I hit my communication badge, and called the station for a report.
The bridge said, "we got hit but none made it through the hull Sir. We are still checking for damage."
I said, "fine then, let me know if there is anything serious."
Owsee, "Plexons build good stations, it can take a few rocks."
I said, "it's not the size of the rocks, it's the speed that matters, if it's fast enough it can go through anything!"
The children overheard us and came out to look for more meteors. Prowler said the stations Battle armor was made out of a collapsed titanium with Crystal carbon fibers as hard as diamonds, and self sealing gel, then two more walls. Even our EMP guns could not cut through it. That made me feel a bit better, though our satellites no such protection. There were a few more meteors then the sky grew quiet, and it was the first time the Twins had seen a meteor shower. Kitten tried to guess what they were made of by the way they burned up. Soon the fun of it was over and they went back to their studies. Then the station called and said one of the satellites were damaged, and too far away for the cargo robots to retrieve. I said use my big ship Tubby, to get it. They said only I and commander Gripper are able to pass the ships security for use. They asked if they should call Commander Gripper.
I said, "no, I'll be up in a little while."
I turned to Owsee and said, "want to help me snag a satellite?"
He said, "why not?"
We downed what wine was in our glasses and went to my ship, which had just appeared on the front lawn. Once again it had read my mind and was ready to go. That's the thing about these living ships, they are always in your mind. Kitty yelled out, "don't do anything dangerous," as we got on board. Then we were off to the station. After boarding Tubby, Owsee got her ready for departure well I got the location of the satellite from the station, then we were off. Despite knowing where it should be, the satellite was black against the black of space, so my liven ship helped us find it. We pulled up to it with our back end so we could bring it into the cargo bay.
Owsee said, "well I guess one of us needs to get into a zero G. suit and the cargo robot to bring it in."
I said, "let me try something for us," and I took a few drinks of the spice-dew I always had on me, to enhance my telepathic powers. I could now see the satellite as if I were in the cargo bay. So I reached out to it with my telekinetic powers, and brought it in. Then I was pulled back to my body.
Owsee closed the doors and said, "I guess you didn’t need my help after all." I said, "I didn't know if I could do it, it sure tired me out."
Owsee, "you need to practice more to make it easy."
I said, "I guess I'm still afraid of it becoming too easy to do, I don't want to lose control one day."
We took the satellite back to the station, then went home. I called my radio station to tell them about the satellite, after all, it was news. We stayed up long enough to kill that third bottle of wine, then it was off to bed for each of us. But I just could not get to sleep, so I went out to my ship to try sleeping there. As I laid down I just seemed to melt into the ship, and was out in moments.
Day 89
My ship woke me at sunrise, from a very good sleep, and we went to the poets lounge to see Goo da wa. He was setting on a rock, outside the cave, enjoying the sunrise. I told him not to get up, I just wanted to make a private call on the transmitter. He said be my guest, and I went to my booth and tied in to the subspace transmitter. I gave our tall friend the information seller a call, on station E3.
He said, "I wondered how long it would be before you gave me a call." I said, "you once said you knew what the corporatemining company was building so many ships for. The techno-sages told me something was coming, is this it? Do you know?"
He said, "I'm not sure what the techno-sages may have warned you about, but it's not what the CM was worried about. That much I’ll give you for free, but if you want more it will cost you."
I said, "how much?"
He said, "for 5,000 credits I'll get you the who or what and when." I said, "that's not a problem. Call me when you have something."
I then left, saying to Goo da wa, "thank you, and have a good day." I went home, and as I went inside to get a cup of coffee I saw Kitty was on the sofa. “Just getting up,” she said, “have a good sleep on your ship?” I said, "yes, how did you know I was there?"
She stood up with a yawn and said, "when I got up last night you were not in the house, so I asked your ship if you were there. She said yes, you were sleeping. Don't worry I'm not jealous."
I said, "I just had a hard time getting to sleep last night, and did not want any more to drink."
I had the replicator make me a cup of coffee, and Iput some fire-powder in it for a kick.
Kitty came in the kitchen, gave me a kiss and said, "pancakes with berries sound good for breakfast?"
I said, "pancakes sound good, and sausages would be nice."
I then went out to the porch with my coffee and laptop. I worked on getting my log up to date. Owsee was soon up and join me on the porch.
He said, "so what does your day look like?"
I said, "see if we can do the refit to give these fighters more ammunition, work on story land Park, and you?"
Owsee, "show your contractor the building sites for the new radio stations, put my new crew of miners to work on land the bank has already given loans to, check to see how the work on my new ships is coming, put some time in on the space station and whatever else comes up."
I said, "a full day for sure."
Owsee, "have you talked to the station this morning about the satellite?"
said, "not yet."
Owsee, "I'm going to get myself some coffee," and he went inside. I kept working on my writing until Kitty called me to breakfast.
The twins said, "good morning father," as I sat down. I returned the greeting. After the food was on the table, and kitty had sat down, she said, "so what's new for story land Park today?"
I said, "I guess I need to order the earwood for the sign on the Main building. I'm not sure how far they got last night. I need to talk to the chief engineer on the station about the idea of more ammunition, for the fighters, and hope we can do that."
Owsee, "how much ear-wood do you think the sign will take?"
I said, "I'm making a rough guess at 500 ft.²."
Owsee, "that's a lot of earwood."
I said, "each letter will be 10 feet tall, and you will be able to see it from the spaceport or that side of town."
Owsee, "well now, that don't seem to be so much for such a big sign. Of course earwood is still 10 credits per square four, so that's 5,000 just for the earwood." I said, "yah well, I thought doing it in gold would be a bit much."
Owsee, "I would laugh, but knowing you that may have been on your mind, if only for a short time. Good pancakes by the way."
Kitty, "thank you, the berries are getting scarcer, I go farther away each day for them."
I said, "the sausage is good as
well, not too sweet, the way I like it." Kitty, "that's good, because they are the only links the store sells regularly." Owsee, "don't let that fool you, he makes them himself. If you want something with more spies in it he will make it up for you."
Kitty, "that's nice to know."
As we ate our breakfast Gripper stopped by to see if Owsee needed the use of his ship today.
Owsee said, "yes please, if it's not a problem."
Gripper, "not at all, I'll just leave it where it is and call for a shuttle." I said, "no need for that, I'm going up right after I’m done eating, have a cup of coffee."
He said, "thank you sir, I will."
And kitty got him the coffee, as I said, "did you see the meteor storm last night?" Gripper, "no, I missed that."
I said, "well, one of them hit a satellite, we brought it in for repairs last night, and we came up with an idea of how the fighters can carry five times the ammunition. We will refit all the fighters as soon as we can."
Gripper said, "thank you," as Kitty gave him a cup,then said, "we ordered enough ammunition for five turnarounds. If we can now carry that much we should get at least three times that."
I said, "yes at least that much, and check the stations ammunition, replace that as well."
By the time Gripper could drink his coffee I was done eating, and we were on our way. When we got to the station the four of us went to engineering. They were still trying to put the satellite back together, it had been badly damaged. The chief engineer said he looked over the plans for the extra ammunition boxes for the fighters, and came up with a cover that would be easy to make and give them back their stability. Other than that, the plans looked good and he would test the upgrade on a ship today.
I said, "if it works, refit all the fighters."
Gripper then went to make a water run, while the twins and I went to buy some earwood. But when we got near the area where I found it before, the fog was so thick I could only see the top's of the trees. But fortunately my ship could see through it, and landed us in the parking lot just out front. The twins thanked her for the ride, and we went inside the building to place our order. As we walked in the man said, "well hello there, need another 1,500 feet do we?"
I said, "not that much this time, just 500."
He said, "still 10 credits per foot."
I paid him and told him where to send it, then said, “could you handle an order for, let's say 30,000 ft.²?"
He said, "that would take about four weeks and it's all up front, also just so you know, you are not permitted to take it off world."
I said, "no worries there my friend, just thinking of building some more clubs." He said, "just between you and me, there is a lot more earwood than most know about. I just need time to cut and dry it. Plus I don’t have a lot of room to store it. So I never have more than 20,000 ft.² on hand at any time. You just tell me what you need and when, and I'll have it ready for you."
I said, "that's good to hear. I sort of want to finish story land Park before starting something new, but some things need to be bought ahead of time. I’ll have my banker call you with a verbal agreement and payment."
He said he would be waiting for his call, and we bid him a good day. We then went to the club to get some buckets of ash from the fire pit outback and mix them with water to paint the cuts of the trees at the park. Then we took a break for a stack before going to the park. We had cheese, nuts and sodas, mine was Ginger ale with some brandy in it, then we went tothe park. My four story high building was done, on the outside at least. No windows on this side, except for one round one in the center of the top floor where my office would be. That would be the center of the “O” in Story. There was a tunnel in the center of the first-floor, for people to walk through to enter the park, and a cashier window to take their credits. Someone could just walk around the building and not pay, but these were honest people, with no need for guards or tickets. And as to the ones that didn't pay, so what, it's not going to hurt me to give a few freebies. Inside the building they were still working on things like the power and water, windows that faced the park, tile on the floors, and even the steps to the upper levels. Half of the first-floor was the refrigeration and the freezer, there were two men working on that. One man said if the parts he ordered came soon he could have it running today. But not to order anything until he had a day to check it out. I said, “no hurry, better to get it done right.”
As the twins and I got further into the park, we saw the day workers raking over the ditches where the power and water ran. The leader of the crew said they only had a few hours of work left, so I told him they could paint the cuts on the trees, then call it a day and I would let them know if I needed them again. We now had some time to kill, so the twins and I went to the top of my hotel and hung around the pool until lunch. We did an early lunch of meat sandwiches, then took kitten to her music lesson. The teacher said that he could spare two hours, so I said we would be back then. Prowler and I went to the space station to see how things were going. The engineers were in the bay working on a ship. We went over to see the new parts, they were fitting well. We sent the ship out to test it, and there were no problems. So we started the work on the other ships. The engineers that were working on the satellite said that it was ready, so Prowler and I took it out, and put it back in orbit. By this time kitten would be done with her music lesson, so I went down and picked her up. Then took her to join her brother on the station to work on the fighters. I asked them if they needed a snack, but they said that they had nuts in their bags and would be fine. So I went on tour of the station to see how things were going, and to just let myself be seen. I covered everything from engineering to the bridge. Sick-bay had less people there than they once had. The doctor said, “now that more cities have the same equipment as we do people are going there.”
I said, “that was the goal.”
When I got to the ships store it was not very busy, less than 10 people shopping. I took a close look at what we had for the crew. Asmy tour took me towards the front of the store the man asked if he could help me find anything, and I said, "just looking. Have you had any problems getting anything?"
He said, "well, some people want hats just like the pilots wear, but I can't get them, other than that no problems."
I said, "yeah, those hats are just for the pilots, how are the books moving?" He said, "the shipment that we got in is almost gone already, they always go fast whenever there is a new book."
I said, "it is nice to know I'm well read by my crew."
He said, "I hear on the radio the news about story land Park, how soon until it opens?"
I said, "not long now. We are trying out some storytellers on the radio to find just the right ones, story time starts at six tonight, right after the news." He said he would be sure to tune in, and I left to go to my quarters. Once there I had a smoke and a brandy while sitting down to think about the new clubs and hotels I would build. I would have to start ordering some of the supplies now, so they would be ready in time. I could sign the acoustic ten as my house band and they could play five nights a week, once at each of my clubs each month with one day off a week. It works out that way because of the six-day week on Laureate. I should have a band once each week for each club, that's three more bands. I would need to hold tryouts, that's one more thing to do. I would have to get the land first, but Owsee said they would be glad to sell to me. Of course they would, a club or hotel next to their port would bring in more people if it were like my club, and only I would spend that kind of money on a club or hotel. That's because I'm not looking for a fast return on my credits. With over 300 million a day coming in from the stations crystal trade, I can't spend it fast enough. Maybe someone else could, but I can't. And everything I put my money into makes more for me. I guess that's because I haven't tried farming yet, now there’s a business you can lose at. I tuned in my view-screen to see what was going on down on the docks. The Twins had earned some respect from the engineering crew, from
the job they did on the communication room. They were now part of the crew, fitting in well, and with each hour seemed to grow closer to the other workers. I was sure that one day they would take their place as engineering teachers. No matter what else they may do, engineering was part of them.
I checked with the computer, but Owsee was not on board. I thought to myself, “I'll probably catch up with him at supper.”
After my smoke and a drink, I went to the new communications room to see what kind of local news there was for each area. Alongwith the prerecorded global news was a page or two for each of the 20 areas, and a chip recording in case one of the announcers could not read. I worked my way around the room looking at all the local news, it was all good, relevant and well written. Not bad for his first day at it. Global news is easy, but just try to find good local news day in and out, that's the challenge! I made myself a download of the global news, then went to the landing bay to see how things were going. By now it was starting to get dark on the planet below us, time for us to go. Prowler was doing some welding, I waited until he stopped to tell him we needed to go. I asked where his sister was and she propped up from inside the fighter and said, "here father." They told the other engineer, they were working with, what was left to do and we were on our way home. It was dark by the time we got there, and Owsee was on the porch. The Twins said hello, and after a hello back Owsee said, "we were starting to wonder where you were, almost gave you a call."
I said, "we were on the station, working right up to the last minute." Then we went inside with the children and I said, "hope we are not late for supper, I'm starving."
Kitty, "not late at all, about another half an hour I think. We are having a large baked duck with baked potatoes, parsnips and turnips."
I said, "sounds good to me," and I got myself a beer, saying, "how was your day?" Kitty, "a bit slow. Closed early to go shopping, and your day?"
I said, "slow as well, a little work for the park and some time on the station. It looks like the plans the children made, to give the fighters more ammunition, is going to work out. Did a test and it all looks good, now we just need to refit them all, a big job."