L'Gem

by Sharon L Reddy

  Chapter Fifteen

  Vanson Taskell checked Bance's bio, then looked for who'd been in Horgen Field. He yelled for the research staff. In ten minutes, they learned the missing cases were no longer in their archives, either. Someone remembered an old conviction and one remembered a recent one. Both were gone. Another person remembered two, and found one. Eventually, they figured out 'the only way' it could have been done. They also knew it had just been done and no attempt had been made to hide the archives were missing. There were just holes, and they'd been made 'through' IS the night before.

  One of the researchers began to laugh. She said it wasn't difficult to take an article out, but it affected everything behind it. The ones who'd done it had "presented identification."

  They began looking for rebel convictions. IS had always been somewhat closed-mouth about specifically who, but they'd had quite a few. They found holes, not missing files, just missing info. Then one of the researchers found a note.

  "The heroes of Horgen Field and Fataner, who would not turn away from evil and sacrificed their freedom to stop it, and the heroes, literally, chained and forced to labor in the gov's addictive drug production process because they sought truth, can't be completely free, until they can give those who love them, and mourned their absence, a hug. The story will be told, but the people who love the heroes have been asked enough damn questions."

  Vanson landed in Teal Valley and caught a public transport into town. It was something he'd been doing once in a while, since he'd been Bance's age. The crew would find transport for the paraphernalia of the 'roadshow' and then him. It was hard to get the feel of a place with people showing you around, telling everyone who you were. The first conversation he heard was about preparations for a "path-rolling" party. He asked the two young women what it was.

  "Well, the farmers gave us the plas they use to line produce bins, to use for our curfew paths from house to house, when we connected neighborhoods. They asked us to please try to get it back in rolls for them."

  "It's the celebration that IS is gone-gone."

  "Gone-gone because the patrols left a couple days ago. Big success there. Those guys were starving, so the police took them meals. One came by to say they were leaving, thanks and he'd learned something."

  "They had to have terrible lives to get like that. Makes you really appreciate growing up here."

  "Anyway, it's a gone-gone celebration and a path rolling party. Lots of lights to celebrate there's nobody who doesn't like us watching."

  "The clubs aren't opening until tomorrow night. The people who work there and the owners all want to celebrate with their neighbors, and they've got paths to roll too."

  "The wildest party will be a condo complex 'unwrapping' on the east side."

  "They may put clothes on for it. It's been dress optional, since they wrapped it.

  "The West Side will be the biggest. They've got thirty-seven connected blocks, counting the Madden place."

  "A lot of people are calling them, begging them not to take down the 'neighborhood trail,' until they've been on it."

  "They set such an example of neighborhood and community spirit, the town is giving them a huge chunk of land for a park."

  "The Mayor said they'd have built it for them, but they figured it would be done before the town council meeting was over."

  "I'm going to warn you I'm a reporter. I ask everyone questions. I talked to a reporter from here today, Bance Neardon. He said you were really threatened by IS."

  "Everybody was so scared when IS did the news vehicle ban. They were way out, between towns."

  "It was deliberate. We all knew they were looking for an excuse, but if they'd grabbed Bance, Silky and Jace, they'd have started a war. If they'd hit us with missiles, gov center would've been a crater in an hour."

  "And there would have been forty or fifty thousand bombs left over, because everyone over age six would have built one."

  "Bance said IS was afraid of you."

  "Bullies are afraid of anyone who can't be bullied. Look what happened in the cities when the people decided they couldn't be."

  "They have a new problem. They don't know where to start."

  "Voter registration, political caucus, election."

  "And if anybody takes a bride, put them in jail."

  "That sounds simple, but it's a big world."

  "That's why I put caucus in there. A place like this you don't need one. Everybody knows who's got an issue they want debated, and why they think it's an issue."

  "Big places, the neighborhood gets together, talks over what they think are issues, sends someone to an area meeting, where they come up with a list of things most of them think are issues, and they send a rep to the next meeting, up to the caucus, where people who got really determined debate it all, work out a consensus draw up a platform and back a candidate."

  "The candidates will probably already be yelling they're running. With our current system, we don't need primaries to narrow a field of chief executive candidates to one from each party."

  "If one of the things that comes up in meetings in neighborhoods, and up, is always they want a change, somebody yells, 'constitutional congress,' and every area sends the best they've got to help assemble what they want into a document that protects their freedom, outlines who does what, leaves them room to breathe and can grow."

  "What happened to us was we were so dependent on a single industry that we made concessions that gave money more and more power, until it had so much, those who controlled it could pick who they wanted in the bureaucracy, for their profit. Since they controlled the vote count, it became simple to cheat."

  "Pretty soon, they just stuck in a number that said whatever they wanted passed and whoever they wanted was elected. Greed became the essential quality for top gov jobs and election to congress a payoff of people who assisted in getting more money. Since greed was the criteria, they kept the money in the family and we ended up with an oligarchy and, basically, ruled by about forty-five people, who were never elected, and about a fifth weren't in the gov."

  "Where did you learn all this?"

  "At home, on playgrounds, public transports…"

  "Kids ask questions. 'Mommy, why does my text say the gov is so great and everybody hates it?' 'Your granddad can explain it better. Let's go visit.' So, visit granddad, or aunt, or sit down with Mom and/or Dad, then tell other kids, who might not have somebody who could explain it as well, and every kid knows what happened."

  "The problem in the cities was nobody talked to each other, because they didn't know who would be listening, and somebody was always hanging around where kids played, so they could be arrested and beaten, several times, maybe to death, for telling them the truth."

  "We figured drug dealers got a discount on protection every time a kid OD'd."

  "Nobody touched dream dust here because every kid knew the object was to kill them."

  "Here, little girl, have some of this lovely poison apple. Keep eating because it hurts too bad to stop. You'll be dead soon and I'll get a pat on the back for killing you. I've got a good score and you'll add to the profit column until you're dead."

  "Our stop. See if you can get Bance to invite you to the West Side path rolling party."

  "Or to ride along while they cover everybody's, from Orelea to Croft Falls, so we can all watch all of us on the early news."

  Before he got from the 'courtesy small flyer parking,' with 'courtesy public transport,' to the middle of town, Vanson understood how Bance had known he'd never been there, and why he was sure Teal Valley had been targeted by IS. He got off the transport when he saw the crew chief standing by a stop.

  "The most amazing place I've ever been, Delse."

  "Us too. Right after you left, a couple teenage girls, in an LH, drove into the lot and offered a ride to wherever we were going with all the equipment. I said to rent transport for a day. Five minutes later, another kid loaned us o
ne he didn't need for two. We tried to pay for use and they all laughed. He didn't need it and we couldn't use enough fuel in a day to be noticed. The girls said they'd have taken us to a rental business, if there were any this time of year. It's cheaper for farmers to pool to rent twenty for forty days, to move specialty harvest crews place to place, than buy, maintain and store a dozen or so, and too many cars make it difficult to get equipment through."

  "Five-year-olds know how to structure a democracy, and build a bomb."

  "What?"

  "Farmers teach toddlers what not to mix together and bump in the shed. I wonder how many regions on this world paid taxes because closing the border would have been inconvenient. Bance Neardon?"

  "One of the people invited to a town council meeting, not as a reporter. We got a location rec from the station head editor."

  "The town's going to give 'The West Side' land for a big park. They're all watching to see how long it takes them to build it."

  Knight and Blade finished fixing the digger and went to work on the seeder. Case, Stats and Dawn were about done with the field rake. Ronnie yelled they had the last two loads sorted and all the trailers were ready. Kember, the power tech, yelled the matrix was ready and the lighting design inspected and approved. Day yelled the water and sewer connections were ready. Dawn moved to the seeder. It wasn't going to take long. It was just old and had worked hard.

  Knight looked up and whooped. Three people were pushing a big garden tractor off the trailer at the end of the line and there was a mower bar strapped on top. Case yelled, "Go!" and he ran for it. Someone had brought the last two items they had to have.

  "Thank you! We were about to go rent those two!"

  "We were planting blackwood seedlings and it took the neighbor a while to find us. She knew we had them in the shed."

  "We didn't really expect to get a perfect-size tractor. It's perfect-size for everyone."

  "We knew you wouldn't have one yet. This is the only one around that broke down after the auction, and nobody yelled they needed when we bought a new one. We've got the parts. You'd have had to run to Willaville for them and Brassell wants to close early to watch with his neighborhood. His donation."

  "The mower bar needs a new pin. The Toliver Fifty pin we brought needs point one two cens shaved off the end or it'll work loose. It's in here somewhere. Here."

  "Elise! Point one two cen shave to adapt."

  "Got it. Here's a tax deduction receipt."

  "Two, the parts came from the store owner."

  "My last. Bellin! Receipts!"

  "Hello, Howells! You have everyone's thanks. I'll do the receipts, Knight."

  "Thanks and thank you, again. We need this first, and you made it easy to get it ready."

  "We were pleased we had something to contribute. Bellin, I heard you're going to have a baby."

  "I'm not surprised. The fastest way to make sure everyone hears something is tell my husband. Under the circumstances, I told him anyway."

  The people of West Side had heard the mayor's joke, too. They had everything ready, as soon as the "If you have one we can fix you can donate, we need" list was done. They'd gotten many other contributions, as well. The tax receipts were important because they'd be deductions on local taxes, not total value, but a large percentage. It was the way other communities were contributing.

  They'd done many splits that afternoon, sometimes for contributions to a purchase by everyone in an office or neighborhood.

  Most of the time, people called to ask what was still needed, but sometimes they just brought something and it was incorporated in the plan. They'd gotten some wonderful, and often unique, things for their park that way. No one had brought anything they wanted to put in a dark corner.

  The gift that had awed them most was an aged, beautiful fountain. Even the contributor didn't know where it had come from, just that it had been covered in the corner of the barn, now in the fourth barn, on his family's farm, one of the oldest in the area. It hadn't been easy to get cleaned out, but the tiny pails many winged fairies held, now all poured water on the seedling tree, behind the backs of a boy and girl of about five, holding hands and carrying trowels in their other hands. More fairies were filling pails at the pool on one side. On the other side was a coil of rope with a board on top, notched to make a tree swing. It wasn't large and it wasn't a great work of art, but it was marble, beautiful from every side and the raised text around the base was, "When you work to make a wish come true."

  They were going to build a half-meter high rock base for it and put benches around it. It would be under the "warm, grassy place to run and play" dome in winter.

  They'd considered a swimming pool, but the town had a nice public pool, so they were building a large wading pool instead. In winter, it would be a small skating rink. Behind it, they were sculpting a sled hill. In summer, the much less steep walk-up side would be seating for concerts and plays on a stage just big enough for the secondary school band. There was enough room in front for risers, because they expected that to grow, but it wasn't too large for a group of children to put on their own plays. Their size consultant was a nine-year-old, currently in his backyard with four friends, "writing" a play, as they "rehearsed."

  They were building a running trail that would adapt to a cross-country ski trail in winter. Playground equipment would be in tot size and middle size. They were building four tennis courts, two ball fields, two soccer fields, four hoops courts and a putting green. There would be a bandstand and a dance floor, with grass all around it. There would be picnic tables, places just to sit in the sun or shade and places just to run and play.

  Pieces were being preassembled in garages all over West Side. The park couldn't be finished that evening, because grass had to grow, but that grass would be all that was left. It was a big piece of land and the west edge would be left woods, climbing to the cultivated mountainside.

  They had borrowed a few things from the city Public Works Department. They wouldn't need equipment to make parking lots for ballfields and concerts again.

  There would be picnic parking in one area and one road through, two-thirds the width west. That road would have parallel parking space along both sides and be near the individual picnic tables. Big-group was north end and ball fields and such mainly south, but the park was primarily designed to be walked to and through by the residents of West Side.

  Most of what they'd use most was near the front of the park, near the belt road. They had city permission to build two aerial walkways to it. They wouldn't be like the ones they built to cross between the neighborhood and the big house. They'd be high enough for haulers to go under, well lit, covered and more sturdily walled.

  The town had furnished the materials and a construction crane for those. They'd have provided the driver, but she lived two blocks from where the south walk was being built. The north walk was on the block south of 'Nev's' neighborhood.

  They'd decided they did have to fence the park along the belt road, to discourage dashing across by children, but they were using clear plex panels and posts. The only covered walks in the park would be from the southeast parking lot to the play dome. In winter, it would be enclosed and doored, and the south aerial walk would exit into it. But it was summer and the park would be truly ready for play when the fast-growing high-traffic grass was mowed, in about ten days. Everything with walks to it would be ready for use that night. Then they'd roll their paths.

  The goal was be ready to start that before twenty-three thirty. The hope was they'd have it done by then. However, that was rather dependent on the start time, and that depended on the town council. It worried Knight a bit. They needed to get lights up while they had light.

  "Why didn't you yell?"

  "I knew you'd get here before the cover plate put a permanent crease in my back, Blade. The rest about done?"

  "Case, Stats and Dawn will be done reassembling in a minut
e."

  "What's wrong?"

  "I've got a now-what feeling. I don't want to be Harim. I like what we do and how we live. I don't want the tech to change it. I'm glad it's done, but I don't even want to take down the paths. We accomplished the goal and I want to get invisible and run to the mine, and run in the house and build a job schedule."

  "Blade, I don't think any of us will let it change."

  "I've been trying to think of a way to stop it."

  "The shield isn't part of it and I don't think it should be."

  "How are you going to stay out of a physics lab? How are they? How can you get glazed and not have people gather to wait for the next miracle? I don't want to lose that piece of you, or doing math assignments, but the two pieces are about to split and that one take over. I feel like I'm saying farewell to the only part of my life that's been really good."

  "Is this about Nev?"

  "He may be worse than I am."

  "Go buy a car. Or I'll go buy one."

  "What?"

  "A car. Maybe we should each by one."

  "I love our car."

  "So do I, but it really doesn't need anything done to it. The LH just needs a colorbond, because it's our work truck. What else do we need for work? And play?"

  "If we leave now, we won't be here when it starts."

  "This is… done."

  "Fast job."

  "All the right parts and two were just getting-worn replacements. Worked hard, but well-maintained."

  "Elise is coming. Now Case, Stats and Dawn are, and Danny and Ronnie. You called a meeting?"

  "I thought you did. Done, Elise. You've got the only piece left."

  "And I got sidetracked. Marie's daughter is pregnant. Kendra and I are both losing roommates. When I get one, it won't be another woman and it'll be permanent. I'm not in a hurry. Kendra says she's not."

  "Doc Larry."

  "Hasn't realized he's had fun, still enjoys looking, but isn't that interested in doing something about it, anymore. Marie doesn't want to leave Teal Valley, really, but her daughter married a farm boy and got out of the city five years ago. A flyer won't get her to the southwest continent fast enough for her daughter to run to the store for diapers and so forth. Vilda has marriage plans, too. He's not going to leave Frostlea, so she's moving over the pass."

  "This sounds like it's happening now."

  "It is, Knight. I helped uninstall things in Marie's car. She's using it as a down payment on a flyer. Larry is coming in from Roundin Lake. He really always wanted to be here. Kendra invited him to bring everything and 'be a resident.' Basically, Marie's daughter said, 'Come home, Mommy,' and we all decided to figure out our after-emergency living arrangements, and are surprised to discover not many are changing. Vilda's packed to go to Posner's path rolling party, but we've got her job covered. You?"

  "Need to go buy a 'perfect' car that needs a lot of work."

  "Get it where Nev got the LH. It'll need a lot. The LH is his work truck?"

  "I have two who need reassurance."

  "I keep remembering that reporter saying, 'every physicist,' and wanting to go clean a carpet. They're working on what we are or they'd be moving faster."

  "They have a book to finish. Let's go."

  Blade found his "dream car." Seventeen years old, battered, barely running, shredded interior, it was the model he said he'd have someday. It had once been the dream car of many. The Mosslin Bolt had come from a Mountain City junkyard. The man who owned the half-junk-yard dealership in Teal Valley had been sure someone in his town would restore the most expensive sports car Mosslin had built.

  It was a three-seat car with "everything but a toilet" built around the third fully-reclining seat and into the console. None of the recessing panels on the keeper, warmer, brew-bar and sound controls in the console, worked without a shove and the broadcast power receiver and built-in mobile comm were accessories no one had used in a while. The top did recess without help and someone had left it open through a lot of unpleasant weather.

  Blade 'cleaned out' a nearby auto supply store while documents printed. The man had charged cost plus reasonable profit. Blade quite agreed it was. Knight said putting the plas back on the garage door was silly. Blade agreed and they put it back. They got it done just before the 'whole town' arrived.

  Kendra introduced Larry as her fiancé. He looked very surprised, then suddenly smiled widely. The West Side friends to whom she'd introduced him laughed and welcomed him. Marie collected many hugs, then said farewell. Vilda collected hugs of "Go get him." Kady and Reesa announced they had permanent jobs. Their harvest employer had recommended them, and their new employer had found him a pair of U students to finish the season. Their neighbors were delighted "Day's girls" wouldn't be leaving after harvest. Day was ecstatic.

  Jace was almost as happy as he was, when Day ran to tell him, as soon as he parked the mobile unit. The GGN crew arrived right after they did and set up quickly. The only ones not there were the official party. They were 'announced' by Nev and Tarn running across the belt road, then south to the portable podium set up front center of the park area.

  The townspeople who'd come to watch the presentation wouldn't stay. They had path rolling parties to attend and 'their' newscrew would assure they saw more than they could from across the belt road, and all knew getting in the way was not a good idea. The West Side residents were gathered around the podium, nearly a thousand of them. The mayor and town council arrived with a police escort. They too would run for it. The belt road was already blocked at both ends of the park area.

  The presentation was made, the crowd cheered, then everyone ran. Vanson and his cam ops kept up with Bance and Jace. They weren't doing team coverage, and wouldn't stay for the entire construction, but the local team knew where to watch from. Bance was also the best source of general info on what they were seeing.

  "Bance, this area didn't clear. It evacuated."

  "The people of West Side ran for equipment. The rest ran to get out of the way. We're about to see why. The field rake is coming out of the equipment lineup. All equipment was donated and all in need of repair, when delivered. It was a specification in the request for park maintenance equipment. The two riding the front of the rake are spotters. They watch for rocks too big for the rake to roll into the rock collection bin. The arrangement is standard for new field preparation in this area. The valley soil isn't rocky, but a lot of rocks were deposited with it and more tumble into it this close to the mountains. Some areas don't need to be raked. They're being graded or dug out. The field rake is park equipment. The other heavy equipment and single-use equipment, such as the trencher and loader, have been loaned for the construction. In general, construction is beginning from the north, but to our south, on this side of the road, the south aerial walk from the neighborhood to the park is beginning. The second will be begun just north of our location, before that's done. An often-heard description of joint projects in this area is 'choreographed.' On this one, that's near literal. People and equipment will pass in front, behind and between moving equipment constantly. Something that should be noted is the operators of all equipment, including that of the city, are West Side residents, most doing their usual job much closer to home than usual."

  "All of this had to be fixed before it could be used?"

  "Yes. The parts were also donated. Everything you'll see planted or used today was, often by groups of people who each got a receipt for the donation. Every small town in the area is giving credit against local taxes for those donations, their way of assisting. These people are the example of good neighbors the entire region points to with pride. We're currently running a live feed and what everyone is watching to see is about to begin. People are lining up with smaller equipment, tools and loads of materials on every street facing the park. The mower will start as soon as the rake completes the first pass. At that point, construction will beg
in back there. As soon as the raking is complete, which will take a very short time, construction will begin over the entire park area. Almost a thousand people will be working together, each with specific tasks and when to do them. There are two large parks in town and several quarter or half-block playground parks, including on the west side, but this park is needed for the growing number of young families here. It's also a promise by the town that the commercial encroachment is ended. Most of the park area had been zoned commercial. We hoped for a rezoning to residential to keep from being boxed in by warehouse-size businesses. The town chose to give us a precious gift instead, a place for all our families to play together."

  The park land wasn't flat and wasn't made so, except in areas where sports fields and courts and parking lots were being built. The road was graded, but it wound through, not cut across, the park. No mounds or hills were leveled for it. Long before the mower was done, plumbing was laid and lights began to be erected. Walks were cut and poured. As soon as parking lots and road were ready, people began moving loads of preassembled pieces for structures.

  The lights were all installed before dark and people cheered when they were turned on. Water lines were complete by then. The sprinkler systems, restrooms, faucets by picnic grounds, drinking fountains and the wading pool and fountain were all complete shortly after dark.

  The hill was sculpted with dirt from graded areas. It was seeded then matted to hold seed. The final place to be seeded was the putting green. By then, everyone knew the park was going to be complete far ahead of schedule.

  Playground equipment and picnic tables were placed. The play dome and walks were finished and the plex fence installed. The fountain was installed, the stages were finished and the bleachers and snack shack done and appliances moved in. The water was turned on and people cheered. They streamed across the aerial walkways.

  The lights around stages and sports fields dimmed and sprinklers were turned on at twenty-one twenty-nine, two hours and a minute before the deadline, and a half-hour earlier than even they had thought possible.

  Larry was a very happy man. He'd liked Roundin Lake, but he was a guest, not a resident. He'd done the integration of Teal Valley as example, and it had looked good, then he'd factored in GGN coverage of Kendra's prediction of "amazing display of community." When Kendra called again, he'd run to pack to be part of it. He'd told her he hadn't realized much of the excitement was being with her at the time, but now did.

  He'd been so sure he was 'Lone,' he hadn't known he didn't want to be, or that he was in love. Danny had 'processed his retirement' for the university and they had a record of his cash out, and of a donation that was two-point three credits more. He'd loved Teal Valley 'from a distance' and now he was home, with all the true friends he'd made in the neighborhood around him. Two minutes after they got home, he and Kendra were running again. Mike and Loren needed help getting food moved to Chal's. He loved it.

  Knight, Nev and Blade showered and changed fast. It was time to roll walks. Nev opened the kitchen door and yelled, "A Bolt!" Knight noted Blade had still recognized the car too. Blade began describing 'everything' in it and he burst into laughter.

  "It's his, obviously. Nev, we need the LH for work. A removable cover on it would be great, but the full custom we planned would just make it necessary to buy another LH for work, and you know how long it took Case and Stats to find one, even not running. We didn't really need another car, but we needed a garage project. When Blade saw that battered and tattered Bolt, his reaction was just like yours to the T. He didn't know whether to dance or cry."

  "I understand perfectly, Knight. We don't really know what to do, do we? I needed this and you knew it."

  "Blade knew he was nearly wishing we hadn't finished the big part of the task, and you were 'worse.' None of us want this part of our lives that includes our homes and work to change, but we don't want to keep what we built secret either. I want to play with applications up in the mine, not a university lab. I don't think the shield should be included in any new tech and the applications we've developed, so far, don't really have wide uses. Frankly, I want to yell you six put all the pieces together and changed the world and not tell anyone. I've been trying to figure out a way to do both, and I think I have."

  "You have?!"

  "We don't need to hide you did it, but we want to work without physicists trailing us around or tech manufacturers coating us with honey. There will be theory and applications enough for every physics lab on the planet to play with and we don't need money. We have a business and you're not going to run short of cash. Everyone in this region will quite understand we like what we do and our homes here. I think it's time we set an example of non-greed. We just send the math to every U physics department on the planet and let them develop useful tech. If we find something useful, we give it to the faery king to agent and put the money into a fund to build a university in this region. The many children who will soon be here won't really want to go away to school. There's no profit in trailing us around because we don't want it and our agent won't comm people with something we discovered while playing, if they're irritations."

  "You don't have to keep the identities separate, Nev. You're you and it's a change of name. You grew from Tarse to Nev. The spur was your attempted murder and great injustice, but it was the growth of the sapling into the tree, not a switch from a bush to a tree."

  "Think I should give the money to someone, Blade?"

  "If it bothers you, yes. We can support ourselves."

  "Comm, Danny."

  "You caught me about to run to do walk rolling, Nev."

  "Find out what everyone else needs or really wants, like down payments for houses, if needed. Rip all those greed-fee laws, like individuals can't sell used, out and make taxes equitable on things like rentals. We're buying a flyer and I think two others should. Knight says we keep the shield separate, but just send U's the math for the sword, and dump money we accidentally make, through an agent, into a college fund here. I don't need the magic purse and the fact I get rid of it should reduce the number people trying to tell us were profitable. The mine is our secret playroom and I won't say everyone should take their shields and message units to it, because only they know if they need to return to it for community and shelter, or just fresh veggies in winter. Only they know if that little flashing light makes them feel connected. Only they know if they want to be able to get in an invisible car and stop greedy bullies somewhere, should they arise. We'll be rolling toward you. Want your covered walk to Case and Stats garage replaced with permanent?"

  "Yes, please, and a flyer like your uncle Drand built. I think four of those and four usual. It will get cold and wet here and two or three days in a warm place would be… nice."

  "Danny?"

  "Comm your uncle. Tell him to get here now. He's going to help build flyers, find an agent and several others."

  "What did you just realize, Danny?"

  "How much older than you is your uncle, Nev?"

  "Twelve years."

  "You really think he's a confirmed bachelor, or perhaps the right girl just hadn't become a woman yet."

  "Comm out! Comm connect code, go big B boy."

  "Tarse!"

  "Actually, Nevin Curran, but I'm about to stop working to hide one became the other. Get in the flyer and get to Teal Valley now. We're going to do four flyers like yours fast and you're about to miss the best party on the planet. This is our home, the West Side."

  "It was you on the podium and driving the high-loader."

  "Uncle Drand, the party is starting. Land in the north parking lot of the park we just built."

  "Eighteen minutes! Comm out!"

  "Comm connect, Chief Dennon."

  "Hello, Nev. I thought you'd be path rolling."

  "About to, but I need a fast permission. We've got a special guest running for a flyer and he'll be here in fifteen to eighteen minutes.
I told him to land in the north parking lot of the park."

  "Very special."

  "We figure Dawn will assure he knows he's only going home to pack before we finish four flyers customized like his. Danny realized she's not meeting anyone really interesting because she already had. Chief, he's my uncle. We were physics students IS tried to kill to cover they had a secret weapon, except they didn't. The knight had scribbled the spell for the magic sword on a datpad that morning, but he didn't know he had it. We're not changing who we are now. We love our lives and we don't want or need money. The new is math going to every university, and if we accidentally discover something, profit goes to fund a U here for when our children are ready. We don't need to tell the world, but we don't need to hide it any longer. I've always been rich, but I don't need the magic purse any longer. We've got a successful little business, and no house payments. I'm going to spread it out among those whose lives were ripped from them a bit more, then find the right way to use the rest of the tool I got to help change the world. We emptied the political campaign bribe fund to finance the revolution. In a while, the IS auth code a little girl heard twelve years ago will vanish, never having the power to watch and confuse again, and you'll be able to sell your car to your neighbor. He'll just pay applicable sales tax to license it at a reasonable fee. You probably won't get a tax refund, but there's a lot of money sitting in fictitious gov employee accounts going back into the treasury, so taxes shouldn't go up, but that's up to elected representatives. Knight said non-greed is the final example that needs to be set."

  "Chief, we trust you enough we would have told you if it was needed, but we're thankful we never had to make you carry that burden."

  "Thank you, Blade. And thank you for trusting us to help keep the flies off you. Over five hundred people here?"

  "In every community in the area, and a handful are leaving to go home to loved ones. We do have a secret lab, and we're not sharing the 'cloak of invisibility.' It would make crime too easy to commit. It's not the same tech, so it's not going to be discovered in the math we send. That just punches a hole in something without punching through. It's the simplest application proving the physical laws are just rules in specific circumstances. We expect the physicists to be too busy discovering others to go back to the old stuff to look for something that was always possible, even though very difficult."

  "You were who they went after in Horgen Field."

  "They weren't going to put me in a drug lab with 'other rebels' and force me to use high-tech equipment, and they were too angry I didn't have what they wanted to just kill me. The six realized over two-thirds there were also gov prisoners before we did, but it began as a search for me."

  "They figured everything out right down to who would be watching his back. I was pretty surprised when they knew my name and what I'd actually done to get there. Only one other did, and he's been setting examples too. They call him 'hero for a demon' and he gets prettier all the time."

  "The whole plan was a fantasy novel we wrote with IS watching. Danny's finishing it now. There are no records of who the gov and IS sent to prison because they'd battled evil, or of who they enslaved in drug labs now, but I'll tell you Blade's deal with a demon was why selling dream dust to kids in Roper district was fatal for six years."

  "I always wondered who was responsible for that. I'll get your uncle…"

  "Drand Valens."

  "Cleared to land there. Where are you going to put four flyers?"

  "Probably nine or ten. We'll figure something out. Comm out. Comm connect Jaril Ressen."

  "Hello, Nev. I watched the exodus. An early exodus."

  "Couldn't start the party until it was done. Sell me the chunk of land north of the park for a private flyer field and parking lot, or develop it quick. Flyer licensing fee is going to plummet and I'm already asking permission for landing in the parking lot and looking for a place for eight. I said, 'I want,' and got a chorus."

  "That's a damn good use for that land. The asshole who built those warehouses cleared and leveled it. It's also something I can put there fast that will be useful to the whole town. I'll build you a fully serviced hangar for twelve at the south end of it. Purchase not lease. That should give you room to work and little car parking inside, for a while. I've got everything to get the south section of the lot done and one hangar that size up tomorrow, including labor, and I wouldn't have in three days. It won't be tall or yellow, cream colcore plastine. I can get that at a good enough price to stick with it. I've got dark green Lawker heat exchange panels for roof and opaqueing glasselle for skylights, to keep the utilities down, but I doubt I can get the matrix in tomorrow."

  "The fellow who's landing here in a few minutes built a wind power generator into his flyer to charge a posine floor for an exterior party room. I want a matrix to supplement, but I'm copying that thing."

  "Now that's an idea. I'll get it up to see it?"

  "It's a good offer considering the materials. I'll take it for my neighborhood. I'll pay it now and sign when you get specifics. I'm running behind on path-rolling."

  "So am I, but they're surprised I get there, not that I move slow."

  "You're not that old."

  "Shh, they'll expect me to be on time for things. This is going to serve the community and be profitable, a developers dream. If that system works well, we'll see that fellow gets some too."

  "He adapted a twelve hundred-year-old design. He's in my financial class, so he'll probably just share and let the people who build it charge less for it. I've got debited."

  "I've got credited. See you there about noon."

  "See you there. Comm out. It wasn't big enough for a golf course."

  "Which you do want."

  "Two public courses aren't enough, Knight, or the pro shop wouldn't have suggested I try Willaville both times I called for a tee time."

  "Who owns the land behind Brasserton Agra on the northwest curve?"

  "I don't know, Knight, but it's not Ressen. You're thinking golf course there?"

  "And maybe college campus later."

  "It doesn't make sense to put anything but an ag school here, but ag isn't all any of them teach."

  "And there's only one on this continent. Let's roll our way to Danny's and see where she is on the crud-stripping job I gave her."

  They didn't have much to roll, so it didn't take long. Danny was doing well on the "crud stripping." She was almost finished. She'd "just dumped one hundred fifty years of junk" and adjusted for reasonable growth and inflation. She was cleaning special interest concessions out of the tax structure and laws of the time. Keyword search was making cleaning out the rest a fast job. Her program to 'replace everywhere' didn't need her to watch it. She was ready to path roll by the time Nev found out how far the others had gotten. They were two blocks east.

  There weren't a lot out rolling yet. Many were preparing food and drink and many hadn't finished showering and changing yet, because they'd needed food before they started rolling. Once all were out, the rolling would go fast.