Back in the centre of town, another large tech-hut had been erected on the grass at the top of the amphitheatre, close to the central concourse. One end of the structure served as a basic medical centre. Dr Francis Leibman had sided with Wisecroft, so Jaz and Ben Miller were Seahaven’s only doctors. They had some basic field medical equipment and supplies, but anyone who required surgery would need to be flown to Settlement City, to utilise the robotic diagnostics and surgery on board Genesis. The other end of the tech-hut, which was already being called city hall, was the town planning and coordination centre.
Tomorrow’s job would be to erect the remaining large tech-hut on the far side of the three domes just beyond the western edge of the concourse. The plan was for it to be the workshop and engineering centre. Seahaven had taken its fair share of equipment from Genesis: lathes, drill presses, band saws, bench saws and a range of hand-held tools. A shuttle from the airfield had already been moved there, and its fusion drive was currently being cannibalised and modified to provide all the electrical power that the workshop would need.
In the late afternoon, the City Council, or what remained of them, met to evaluate the settlement’s progress. There were four fewer members of the council now, after Lars Christensen’s death and the loss of a further three to Wisecroft’s settlement: Leonidis, Leibman (medical) and Manchester (nuclear physics). The five remaining council members, - Zac, Prisha, Lance, Regina Boyle and Carla Zangetti - met at city hall, and as they began to list the essential things that needed to be done over the coming weeks and months, the enormity of the task became apparent. Lance, still wearing his 2001: A Space Odyssey cap, voiced concern about the lack of a clear priority list and community plan.
“This afternoon,” he said, “I overheard two men discussing plans to explore around the western shore of the lake, with the aim of building a log cabin there as a permanent home. But at this stage we can’t afford to have everyone doing their own thing. We all need to pull together if we are to survive.”
“I agree,” said Regina. “In these first 12 months, our highest priority has got to be establishing a plentiful, sustainable food supply. Permanent dwellings are further down the list. We need everyone working towards the same goals, in the same order.”
Prisha spoke up. “Yes, but that requires a clearly articulated plan, and that really hasn’t been communicated to the community yet.”
“Regina, I agree that food production is our first priority,” said Lance. “But we can’t let everything else slide in the meantime. We need to be developing a range of other improvements concurrently. Sanitation, health, communication, some exploration of other nearby resources, and the development of our engineering department, to name just a few. There are a lot of things to balance here.”
“We need more help,” said Zac.
“What do you mean?” asked Carla, the astronomer.
“I mean, coordinating our colony effectively needs more than just the five of us. We need a larger leadership team, with each person overseeing an area of the colony’s development. A larger team, briefly meeting at the start of each day, will enable us to coordinate our efforts more effectively, and also help us to be aware of any issues within the community before they become problematic.”
“Yes,” said Prisha. “I like that. A larger, more representative leadership team would give us a more balanced perspective.”
“How do we choose them?” asked Lance. “Some kind of election?”
“I don’t think so,” said Zac. “It’s too early in the colony’s history for any kind of democratic elections. You know, the first democracy, instituted by Cleisthenes in Athens in 508 BC, was not an elected democracy, but a consultative democracy. It involved the whole town, which at that point was still quite small, being invited to a regular forum to discuss plans and laws. The leaders were self-appointed as a result of their better education, but the citizens were happy with this as long as they were listened to. I think we can aim at this kind of consultative process as a first step towards eventual full democratic elections. But right now, we have an immediate need for experts in their chosen fields, and we are best placed to select them.”
The rest of the afternoon was spent identifying candidates for the leadership team and approaching them individually once the meeting ended. In the end, the new candidates almost chose themselves.
That evening, as the sun set in the west and camp cookers were lit for the evening meal of fish and potatoes, the howlers screamed out their nightly challenge. Melody shivered and covered her ears with her hands. “I hate those things, whatever they are!” she said to Jaz as they peeled potatoes together at the entrance to their zip-hut. Kit and Martinez, who were both cleaning weapons a short distance away, overheard Melody’s comment.
Martinez said, “I’d certainly like to know what those howlers are and whether they pose a threat to us.”
“They don’t exactly sound cute and cuddly,” said Kit, as she cleaned the barrel of her old-fashioned projectile pistol.
Martinez responded, “I’ll rest easier if we can establish that they’re harmless.”
But they weren’t harmless. Not by a long shot.
47
Nova Day 7
The next morning, the hoomie birds woke the community to another clear-sky morning. The world glistened in the aftermath of the overnight showers, and steam rose from every surface as the morning sun began to evaporate the moisture away. The settlement was bubbling with excitement because tonight was the wedding celebration, and there was much speculation as to which couples had decided to commit to each other. The ceremonies were scheduled for 1700 at the beach, and afterwards there was to be a feast back at the settlement, although “feast” was an extremely optimistic term, given the paucity of their provisions. Before then, however, there was much work to be done, and the fledgling settlement sprang into action after an early breakfast.
At 0900 the new leadership team gathered at city hall for their first meeting. They began by formalising the specific roles of each person on the team:
Lenny Montague – Head of Engineering
Gus Grizole (Grizzle) – Workshop and Construction Manager
Ben Miller – Chief Medical Officer
Regina Boyle – Biology and Agriculture
Carla Zangetti – Science and Technology
Prisha Naroo – Social Welfare
Natasha Martinez – Security and Hunting
Lance Catrell – Logistics
Keolakupaianaha Ka’aukai (Keo) – Fishing Coordinator
Zac Perryman – Coordinator
Seahaven City Council began its first morning briefing. Regina, as head of biology and agriculture, had arguably the most important area to oversee in trying to establish a long-term, plentiful food supply. She spoke first.
“Well, bear in mind I’m still on my “L” plates. But things are progressing pretty well. Today we are going to start turning over the first fields and planting crops. It’s early autumn, so it is the ideal time to be planting winter crops. The seeds we brought from Genesis are all in very good condition, and the regular evening rainfall we’re currently getting is ideal. Wally and Will are invaluable. They will be supervising the planting of the fields, but we could use some more people to help with the planting. Another 50 for about a week would be great.”
“OK,” said Zac. “Lance, can you put the word around? Let’s ask for 50 volunteers, starting from tomorrow. If we don’t get them, we’ll round up people who may be loafing around the camp.”
Carla, the 48-year-old, efficient, blonde-haired science and technology coordinator, was next. “I have several tasks on my list. Firstly, studying our orbit, to assess how bad winter might be as we move further from Icarus, our sun. Secondly, studying the periodicity and eccentricity of the orbits of our moons, Big Boy and Little Boy, to see how they are going to influence tides. I suspect there may be some king tides when both moons line up. Thirdly, we are investigating the existing alien structures here on
Nova. They appear to emit an extremely faint, ultra-high-frequency signal, only barely detectable to my instruments. So far, we haven’t been able to make even a scratch in the material they’re constructed of, but I haven’t given up the hope of gaining access to them at some stage in the future.”
“Anything you need at the moment?” asked Zac.
“No. I have a team of 22, mainly scientists who were based on Earth’s moon, plus a handful of very enthusiastic trainees from among the colonists. We also managed to gain our fair share of scientific equipment from Genesis. We’ve joined together about 20 zip-huts, which we’ve transformed into our science lab, and we’ve plugged this into the shuttle near engineering. So, at this stage, we have everything we need.”
Lenny Montague, chief of engineering, was up next. In his early 50s, Lenny had a shiny, bald head and round, rimless glasses. Unlike most in his era, he had refused laser eye surgery, preferring to grind his own lenses and make his own frames. He had a meticulous mind and had run the engineering department on the moon for 15 years.
“I’ve downloaded from Genesis all the blueprints and parts specifications for all our vehicles and machinery onto our engineering database. We will be able to do minor repairs on parts that break down, but the major challenge will be the need for raw materials for producing basic metals. There are currently eight of us in engineering, and our priority, for the foreseeable future, will be to investigate ways of producing metal.”
Ben Miller reported that the medical centre was set up as a first-aid station, and their supplies were adequate for the present. “The problem will arise when we have a major medical incident requiring surgery. Jaz and I can probably cope with minor surgery, but anything major will need to be flown to Genesis.”
“Do we anticipate any problem with that?” asked Regina.
“Always anticipate problems, if Wisecroft is involved,” said Zac. “We’ll just have to deal with that issue if and when it arises.”
Grizzle was next. He reported that he had a big team of workers in the workshop area; some were skilled tradesmen, but most were just enthusiastic handymen and women. “I’ll be very surprised if Dr Miller doesn’t get to sew at least a finger back on before the week’s out,” he stated with his usual grumpy pessimism.
“How are you off for tools and equipment?” asked Lance.
“Fair to middling,” he replied. “I’m using an old-fashioned workbook and pencil to log the job requests when they come in; I don’t trust computers, never have. Timber is the missing ingredient right now. We’re gonna need to start chopping trees down to mill them before we can do any serious construction.”
“I suspect that will have to wait until after we’ve planted our winter crops,” said Lance again.
“That’d be right,” mumbled Grizzle. “Expect me to build the Taj Mahal out of thin air and spit!”
Kit spoke up. “Maybe you won’t have to wait too long for your timber. There’s the problem of retrieving the caterpillar. It’s in dense bushland about 5 clicks south-west of here and hemmed in by some densely packed trees.”
“What do you propose?” asked Lance.
“I think we should make it a priority to retrieve the caterpillar, and that is going to need a team camped on site for at least a few days. The tractors will need to clear a path through the bushland to the base of the hill and, at the same time, a team of workers will need to fell quite a few of those trees. I think we should establish a camp on top of the hill for the tree clearers, so that we don’t have to ferry everyone out and back every day.”
“I agree,” said Lance. “I could get a team together today and get all the equipment and supplies sorted. We could shuttle everyone out at first light tomorrow.”
“Anyone have any objections?” asked Zac.
“As long as I still get my farm workers, I don’t mind,” said Regina.
“Anyone else?” asked Zac.
No one spoke up, and there were several shakes of heads.
“Cool. Operation Caterpillar gets a green light. Martinez, you’ll need to organise a couple of armed security personnel to be part of the team. We still don’t know if there are dangerous predators here.”
“I agree,” replied Martinez. “Those howlers worry me. They sound predatory, and they’re clearly nocturnal, because we’ve seen multiple sets of eye shine on the outskirts of the settlement over the last two nights. Several people have also found droppings from a fairly large animal not far from their zip-huts first thing in the morning, so I think we should advise people not to wander off alone at night or in the pre-dawn.”
Regina chipped in, “This morning I was at the ag-hut early, just as the sun was coming up, and I saw two animals disappearing into the bushes on the western edge of the field. They looked like lions, but with a completely black head, a black tail and a single black stripe running down the middle of their back. A few moments later, I heard those terrible screams coming from their direction. I think they must be the howlers.”
Martinez said, “I’d been going to suggest that we send two security personnel with quads and rifles to explore west of the fields to see if we can find any sign of them. That seems to be the direction they’re coming from. This expedition to retrieve the caterpillar gives us an opportunity to do that, although we won’t be taking quads.”
“OK, that all sounds good,” said Zac. “Let’s get the expedition organised today. Lance is coordinating the preparations. We’ll aim for 0900 lift-off tomorrow morning. The shuttle that transports the team can remain on the hilltop as part of the camp, providing additional shelter and power for recharging equipment.”
He turned to Keo and asked, “How’s the fishing coming along?”
“The Department of Aquatic Harvesting is going well, brother.”
Several people chuckled, and there were smiles all around.
Keo’s face beamed with joy. “This sea is teeming with fish, my friends!”
“Do you need anything?” asked Lance.
“We are eventually going to run out of fishing line, but not in the immediate future. However, I would like to build some boats as soon as possible. We have nets that Genesis supplied us with, and if we had boats, they would enable us to land much larger catches. Then we wouldn’t need to fish every day, and we could even freeze or dry the excess.”
Lance looked across the table. “Grizzle, could your team look at constructing some basic boats for the ... um ...”
“Department of Aquatic Harvesting,” prompted Keo.
“Yes, the Department of Aquatic Harvesting.” Lance finished, with a smile.
Grizzle shook his head and muttered, “And what would you like them built out of? Spit and wind?”
“Timber would be fine, my friend,” replied Keo, refusing to be daunted by Grizzle’s grumpiness. “In New Zealand, I grew up near the sea and I have built many canoes and simple boats. I will work with you, and together we will soon have a fleet of boats harvesting more fish than we can eat.”
Kit chimed in. “We should have timber arriving back here within a few days, Grizzle. Once the tractors have cleared a path to the caterpillar site, they can start transferring the felled timber directly to your workshop.”
Grizzle looked at Kit and said, “You bring me my timber, and I’ll see what I can do.”
A few minutes later, the first official morning briefing of the Seahaven City Council drew to a close. As they concluded, Keo reminded them of the festivities that were planned for that evening but refused to divulge any further details of what to expect. “You will just have to wait and see!” he said, with a mischievous glint in his eyes.
48
The wedding ceremonies were scheduled for 1700. The Nova day had a periodicity of exactly 24 hours, 50 minutes, and the scientific team had recalibrated most of the colonists’ digital watches, so by 1630 a constant stream of excited colonists had begun making their way toward the beach. The ceremonies were to be conducted on the headland at the southern end of the tow
n beach. The headland’s circular grassy knoll, 20 metres above sea level and 80 metres in diameter, provided a stunning view in all directions. To the north, the town beach gently curved into the distance, ending in a similar headland at least 10 kilometres away. To the south, there was a series of small beaches, rocky coves and headlands. Keo had been preparing all day, and as the colonists walked up the gently sloping headland onto the knoll, they were greeted by a floral arch that framed the magnificent view out to sea. The arch spanned 10 metres at the far end of the knoll and was constructed of saplings that Keo had dug into the ground at each side and bent across to tie together in the middle. Adorning the arch was a symphony of riotously coloured flowers, gathered by Keo and Melody throughout the day. When Keo had asked if he could borrow Melody for the day, Jaz had almost hugged him with gratitude, as Melody had been jumping out of her skin with excitement for the last two days and was driving everyone crazy.
As the time drew near for the start of the ceremony, Keo stood quietly under the arch, facing the large crowd with his back to the ocean. The colonists were abuzz with excitement and curiosity. Who was getting married? Apart from Zac and Jaz, the identities of the other couples had successfully been kept a complete secret.
As Keo’s digital watch clicked over to 1700, he stepped forward a few paces, spread his hands wide and waited while a hush fell over the crowd.
“Brothers and sisters, today is a day of new beginnings! We named this world ‘Nova’ for a reason. This is the beginning of a new life for us all. More than any other people in human history, we are separated from our past by a huge gulf of time and distance. Although we will never forget those who could not be here with us today, we must also recognise that they are trillions of kilometres and thousands of years in our past. We cannot let our memory of those we have lost, and our love for them, stop us from moving forward.” Keo paused and looked around at the sea of faces, many of them nodding in agreement.
The Stars That Beckon Page 24