L'Gem

by Sharon L Reddy

  Chapter Thirty-six

  Eventually, they all made it to the shuttles, some to each. Bard asked Nev why shuttles and not flyers. Nev told him flyers were expected to land in flyer lots. Nev got permission from the surprised resort manager, then warned traffic control. A few moments later, the two shuttles landed on the wide lawn of the resort, and Bruce escorted his bride off Terpsichore, Cora, Nightwing Dancer's shuttle. Quinn's family followed from Flamenco, Flo, Castanetta's shuttle.

  People whooped and ran to meet them. Two of them were the only newscrew that had been allowed on resort grounds, Frederick Larch and his cam op, Andrew, of MPB.

  "The reason a number of people disappeared from this resort this afternoon is now known, but we don't know the identity of the man Francine Denton, youngest of Charles and Margaret Denton's three children, and only daughter, obviously married. Andrew, get a close-up of Stace Quinn. Our editor confirms Gen Quinn has a diamond stud, of the size and placement indicating membership in a vowed pair or group, a family of non-traditional form. Four others, three men and a woman also have diamond studs. A diamond indicates there are both men and women in the family. Placement on the right ear indicates a vow of fidelity is not part of the pledge of 'friendship forever' and statement of family membership. I'm receiving the identities of the other persons who have firmly and permanently removed themselves from who-will-marry-whom speculation. Bramton Ambrose, Christopher Strand, Lawrence Blackburn. Do we have the woman's identity? We do not. We now have the name of the man Francine, nee Denton married, Dr. Bruce Brewer, currently the chief physician at Lakeside Clinic, which serves this area. Who?! I'm sorry, but the identity of the woman in the pledged family was a distinct surprise. Louisa Sanders, known as that 'hidden heiress,' has appeared among those we term 'society' in a very unexpected fashion. We have just learned Fem Denton and Dr. Brewer were married in a ceremony in Teal Valley, with subsequent legal confirmation of that marriage by Mandolin Superior Court and registration here. Superior Court Judge Wallace Archer stated daytrip marriages may add significantly to the trade exchange, as couples choose the perfect setting for their wedding on any world. We have Judge Archer on comm. Judge Archer, you also stated this creates a new type of market for gown designers. Would you please explain."

  "Gen and Fem Brewer can easily afford the type of wedding attire we deem fantasy beautiful. For most young couples and their families, that type of attire is too expensive. Most people don't have the talent to design a perfect fantasy gown. However, if the designer creates one for them, they can carry its image in their minds, and a young woman can wear the beautiful gown designed just for her in her daytrip wedding. She could include the design sketches with the images of her wearing the gown in her wedding album, at a fraction of the cost of having such a gown made. There won't be fewer beautiful gowns made because most who can afford them will choose to do so, and most couples will choose to be married in their hometowns, but that still leaves a great many who can have their fantasy wedding at a fraction of the cost, and designers can sell many gown designs, not just one or two to companies that make bridal gowns."

  "Do you see daytrip costuming, in general, as increasing opportunity for designers?"

  "Yes, but not so much in sale to individuals as the expansion of creative expression, and subsequent sale of a far wider range, and number, of designs to clothing manufacturers. It takes seconds to program fabricators to produce a different design, but 'this year's style' limits the number of designs it's reasonable to produce. The images of the costumes those young people have created, because protective gear can't be used with the prevailing current styles, indicates a wider range is needed. The costumes our daytrippers are wearing on their trips indicate they're desired, at all ages, not just among the young. I've spoken to several people with far more expertise in market analysis and such to assure my semi-official opinion wasn't way off the mark. They agreed daytripping is going to be 'an injection of creativity in fashion,' as Dr. Mandara Smith, head of Helene University of Verdantine's famed talent research program, phrased it."

  "You didn't speak with just our experts."

  "My opinion is on interplanetary trade, travel and art, so I sought supporting opinion from interplanetary experts, as well as our own most astute businesspeople. The next court comm bill will be rather high."

  "Then this is an official semi-official opinion?"

  "Yes, it's subsidiary to, and in support of, the decision to recognize marriage of persons during day trips to other worlds. They are, in all ways but bodily, present on those worlds, and legal marriage on any world is recognized on all others, by the Human Rights Commission and the Interplanetary Supreme Court. I expect both to issue statements of concurrence with this decision quite soon. There will be some legal details to be worked out on worlds with tight marriage licensing procedures, but it shouldn't take long. It's a delightful way to add to income from daytrip tourism for places, such as resorts, which won't benefit with room rentals and such. Those might include honeymoon suite packages. Those suites are not reserved primarily for time spent sleeping."

  "Very true. Thank you, Judge Archer, for MPB, and for our interplanetary affiliate, Transspace News."

  "Congratulations to MPB on that affiliation. I'll be watching for Walt on the run and New Tech News."

  "Thank you, again, Judge Archer. With me now is Stace Quinn, pointing out the diamond stud signifying his pledge of family. Gen Quinn, that symbol, and the identities of your family members are, at least, surprising."

  "The symbol is polite notification we're fully emotionally committed. It doesn't mean we formed a family. It means we realized we are one, and made a pledge of lifelong love and sharing. Of course it's a surprise. No one knows anything about any of us. We're not asked our dreams, plans or what we're doing. Those would conflict with what people are told were doing, and they might begin to think of us as human."

  "You don't believe people think of you as human?"

  "They think of us as names attached to large amounts of money. If they thought of us as human, they'd ask themselves how they'd feel if someone used their names and images to sell prurience and viewer subscriptions. If they thought of us as human, they wouldn't laugh when a woman cries because she's being branded as a slut on a planetwide newscast, and she's never even been kissed. I have. That's unusual at my age. Average age for first kiss for 'society' men and women is twenty-five."

  "You're serious."

  "Yes, I've actually been kissed. The age? That should be obvious. Were going to be portrayed as emotionless sex machines anyway, but no one's going to volunteer by actually having a personal conversation with someone of the opposite sex. I admit I was visiting another world at the time, but if marriage during a visit counts, my kiss should, so I'm claiming it. My family are all costumed and I'm the teacher. Hopefully, with four of us watching, we can keep Bam from trying something that adds to his store of misadventurous stories. We all agreed cousin Frankie deserved to retire, and will be reminding Bam she found the right one and arranging further introductions to doctors is unnecessary. No, Bam! Learn the pad drag on the ground first! Bye!"

  "On the ground?!"

  "On the ground, Loopy! Brat! Watch them! They're two hours short on practice! And Bam and Loopy think it's supposed to include clinic visits!"

  "Not always."

  "Piano practice doesn't."

  "Bam's did."

  "It wouldn't have if the glue had held the shoes, Labs."

  "Glue and shoes?"

  "I decided to use the pedals too, Loopy. I tied long sticks to my ankles and glued my shoes to the ends. It worked well until one of the shoes came off and the stick got stuck. When I ducked under to try to wiggle it loose with my right hand, the stool shot out behind me, I hit the piano with my head, the key cover came down on my left hand, the stick went in farther, the other shoe got caught and I sort of hung between until help got there."

&nbs
p; "Broken finger, sprained ankle, lacerated leg, gashed head, five years old, yelled he was stuck, and said, 'I should have got the good glue.' We built him pedal stilt shoes."

  "Labs figured out how to get my socks out of the shoes I tried first too."

  "The glue worked on them and his toes. Frankie was babysitting and yelled for help."

  "I used quite a bit trying to get the sticks to stay."

  "The toes were so full, the glue was still wet two days later. By the time he was six, his parents just bought three of each style when he outgrew shoes, and we supplemented."

  "Shoes don't squash things like pockets do, and they make good scoops."

  "His parents increased our allowances for 'Bramton maintenance.' Our parents bought supplemental Ed programs and supplies."

  "Topper got a workshop for his thirteenth birthday, and Frankie got an em-tech training program for her twelfth. The clinic agreed it was a good idea."

  "A house in Heart Falls?"

  "Ricky Lake, Quinn. It's seventeen K downstream, eight K on horseback and forty-six K in a car. About twelve thousand full-time and five thousand part-time residents."

  "Very vacation community, Topper."

  "The town isn't dependent on them, but they make it extremely, not just comfortably, affluent. Chase River Valley, Loopy."

  "Thank you. I was hunting a town-crop-region bell ringing. I want to live there. Rich soil, pure water and eight hundred seventy square K of flowers."

  "It's an incredible view flying over the lake spring through summer, and the breeze from the southwest is intoxicatingly fragrant. From the north, it smells like manure in summer, but that's not too bad, and not real frequent."

  "How hard is winter?"

  "Generally mild, but it has weather. One year, midwinter day was too warm for a sweater and they got seventeen cens of snow overnight. Those floral growers want field projectors for one thing."

  "Hail."

  "That's the thing, Quinn. They'll use them for many other purposes, probably, but they can't cover those fields with anything else that makes money sense. If prediction is real bad, they'll spend a day and night covering, but they have to choose between fields sometimes."

  "Localized patterns. They can give exact time and amount of precipitation, but not exactly where hail will fall."

  Brat grinned and sat down by Frets. She was watching Bard teach Billie how to use her shoes to do her "kind of float scooter stunts." Brat said he was sure Quinn belonged in a bunch, but he hadn't been able to imagine the bunch, because he really couldn't imagine Loopy and Bam. She laughed and nodded.

  "I saw you 'watch' them for him."

  "I don't think they realized they all just bunched up and went with him. I'm not sure they'll notice they have their scooters when they get inside."

  "Ow?"

  "It's never going to happen for me."

  "Brat, you don't want that."

  "I know, but I want something. I'm not a group person, but I'm not a loner either. I'm sure you're sure I'll find it, but I don't know where to look, except not where I am, and I'm tired of just waiting."

  "Business?"

  "Doesn't bore me part of the time."

  "Charity work?"

  "Is always worth doing, and once in a while I can do something six other people didn't do."

  "Have you asked Marty or Al?"

  "They're as tired of waiting as I am. The same answer for all of us?"

  "You just decided it was. Bard! Brat, Marty and Al know there's a key to a door of opportunity, but they can't figure out what it is because they can't find the hall with the door."

  "Why do they keep looking on the ground floor?"

  "Marty! Al! We've got the wrong degrees!"

  "All he needed was to be reminded there was a lift."

  "Eighty percent have the wrong degrees."

  "The men got the only ones they'd have some chance of using. Most of the women got the same, with less probability of getting to use it. It's not really a double standard of conduct. It's that men are 'supposed' to be in business, so they're at least behaving properly in that way."

  "It's just as wrong, but they're a brief glimpse of a face and a bio that sounds just… Comm connect Nev and Blade. Why is it Liberty Gem? I keep hearing standard… Out. This should be fun. Nev was quoting poets. Comm connect Danny. You may be the only real redhead on this planet. Comm out."

  "I missed that completely."

  "Your hair is beautiful, rich blue-black. I don't think your chemistry is as good as ours. In general, business types are somewhat conservative."

  "Non-attention-attracting was also a very good idea."

  "It was the best choice, or Quinn wouldn't have been the best at it. I suspect Bam is still growing, and won't stop for a while."

  "You think he's going to get to your height?"

  "Close, maybe a bit taller, if 'non-attention-attracting' isn't a very good idea."

  "He has that… No, Topper, Labs, Loopy and Quinn have that control, with his agreement."

  "His decision. He's always been totally confident someone will 'patch' him. He really does think of it as 'Oops, I need patching.' He's not fearless, but he's completely sure he'd know if he was risking his life, and if it would, not could be fatal. Risking 'limb' is just, 'Ow, I'm glad the clinic is close.' Five and just yelled he was stuck."

  "He's the binding force of the family, but Quinn's its center."

  "He's the one Bam picked to follow. Loopy is going to help him make sure they all laugh a great deal. She's not 'Frankie.' She's 'two who think practice includes clinic visits.' They'll all make sure Quinn has 'misadventures' too. Or he wouldn't have had any."

  "Agreed. If he'd been in control, it would have been 'faultless.' Whimsical was dangerous for just him."

  "It was dangerous for everyone but Bam. Topper and Labs had him as an excuse not to be ordinary, and he worked very hard to be a good one. He is aware of it."

  "Definitely. Frankie is 'maternal.' That's the key she wanted to fit in a door of opportunity."

  "Like Cory, the 'expected' fit, except too much name and money to carry in this society."

  "At least she has two older brothers. She wants 'a dozen' children. Bruce just grinned."

  "Match them, Frets. Have Billie help. Get them all here, not just those who want to ride. If both of you are sure there's 'another,' it's not time, or something else, tell them. You know why psi talent is unusually high. They'll all see it's been concentrated and trust their feelings."

  "Extreme business success isn't just following the plan. You have to have hunches too."

  "Exactly. Get the couples who've been abused here too, and the successful women who no one mentions."

  "Basically, get everyone here for a makeover and a non-standard bio."

  "I was sure you'd get it. How many?"

  "Two thousand nine. That number was a surprise to me too."

  "It's exactly what we needed to know we're playing the correct hunch. I don't really want to train it, either."

  "I know, but our species needs it or wouldn't be strengthening and becoming common. Billie! The fleet admiral assigned us a duty, a big one!"

  "We're staff. That means all our duties are big."

  "We can do this one on our scooters, at least to start."

  "Don't worry. I know how staff gets big duty done quick, Frets. They tell people it's their duty too!"

  Danny had no difficulty getting where she wanted to go. She arranged 'guides' first. She also taught a number of people to use the device.

  She hadn't planned to teach most of them, but several of Nev's family gathered at his grandfather's house, then walked over to his, quite sure they were supposed to be there. Ronnie noted it was becoming a "rather wide secret" and Jason Andrev noted there weren't five hundred forty-eight of them. Tarse Braighton said it was about time they "got in on the fun." Milla said she'd remember she was supposed to hav
e things she bought shipped.

  Danny, Gant, Tarse Braighton, Corinne Holscott and Bram Terschell all knew they could learn to teleport without the device. All who Danny taught could 'go without comm connect.' Danny 'went to' Quinn. In a few moments, she taught his family and Frankie and Bruce. Quinn, Bam and Bruce could learn to 'go' without the device. Frets told her she couldn't, but Billie 'just would,' when she was ready.

  By then, a large amount of permanent hair color change treatment was being moved to a suite in the hotel, and more people were beginning to arrive at the resort. Many were bringing 'costumes,' but Case, Stats, Dawn and Drand were 'emptying' the wardrobe rooms in the mine.

  The resort was 'rented' for two days. All rooms and suites were just opened and arriving people chose one. Other guests and the hotel staff watched in anticipation. Something was definitely going on. Over the course of the evening, sixty-three people "just sure" they should be there arrived. After the first two were delightedly welcomed, the hotel reservation clerk said, "Welcome" when people said it. Twenty-six other guests were 'absorbed' by the assemblage of the wealthy old families.

  Frets and Billie finished their 'big duty' at nineteen twenty-six, when the last of the sixty-three just-sure arrived. At twenty eighteen, a courier brought a 'shipment' from a jewelry company on another continent.

  People began visiting a large suite in the hotel and the ballroom filled. Bruce got very busy. Frankie assisted. There were a very large number of people not following directions to watch over.

  At twenty forty-one, Nev and Blade finished building the nonstandard bio format and began distributing printouts. Two thousand nine people began choosing where and how they'd do their bios and 'studying' the printout that would help them prepare. Nev and Blade got so many pats on the back, both considered pads under their shirts. Bard gave them hugs.

  "It's incredible."

  "It actually came together fairly quickly once we had all the literature references assembled and indexed. I'd have never thought of it and it's the piece that will help each person individualize the general outline."

  "Thank you, Nev, but I'm going to disagree it's a 'general outline.' I sent it to Dr. Smith."

  "What?!"

  "I agree with Blade. It's an aid to self-presentation that they should have. There's nothing like it or you'd have found it. You combined the best character-building programs, resume building programs and literary quotes into a simple to use printout to tell people who you are, and learn a great deal about yourself in the process. Answer comm. Hello, Dr. Smith. We were just telling him it was. No, we didn't. Thank you. How many other worlds have problems you're waiting for someone to discover, Doctor? Which ones? Lucinda, an odd attitude toward only female homosexuality. What?! Get everything you've got on it to Larry. That's too odd. Something is pushing and it may have been the mining corps. Comm out. Braverly, don't have children by natural means, unless you fit pairing recommendations. If you meet all 'good family' criteria, purchase implantation of an 'appropriate' zygote."

  "Braverly has been settled one hundred eighty years. It was 'right after' our world."

  "Every other oddity is a cultural quirk that arose out of the settlement group and is non-damaging, Blade. This one wasn't non-damaging, but they expected it to topple because Mandolin is very business-oriented and it would hurt business. Lucinda's is traceable to have-lot-of-kids, but it's not going away as it should. They're a research program. They don't think of doing anything, but they've been waiting for the doers to ask for the research."

  "Our evaluations?"

  "Sent a few minutes ago. Since she thought the call was about them, we should… Damn!"

  "Bard, we obviously both agreed we should look at them or we wouldn't all three be on the ship."

  "I know, Nev, but I… don't give myself any warning."

  "He's worried he'll leave the shower for some place very public, Nev."

  "I'd worry, Blade."

  "I agree it's a less than desirable result, but I also think it's extremely unlikely he wishes it enough to do it."

  "He has a point, Bard. I don't want to look anymore."

  "You knew it, Nev."

  "I didn't have to admit it, Blade."

  "No, you could pretend you were 'just close enough to keep up' with us. This is an overall judgment we belong together, Nev. Our scores vary in talents, but yours is the will that freed a world. This is why Bard's learning guitar a little faster, but here's why my ear is better. Here's why you feel what the next chord should be. In total musical talent, there's barely a difference, but these modify it."

  "It's time to create our fragrances."

  "How, Bard?"

  "Where did you get that?"

  "I stole it, Nev."

  "You stole it?"

  "Well, I didn't ask permission to use it, Blade. There wasn't a price or a publisher to ask, so I just copied it. It hasn't been updated in one hundred seventy years."

  "There hasn't been a new world surveyed in one hundred seventy years."

  "I know, Nev. This is the current 'Complete Fragrance Analysis' for human space. Here's the basic chemical compound table. Here's the spicy to sweet, bold to shy and every other from-to listing the perfumers use. Now, it's up to you two."

  "Us?"

  "Yes, Blade. I'm just sure you and Nev, with others, should do this. I don't really want to read all of that evaluation either. I will because we decided we are the ones to 'fix' two more worlds, and I'll look at the truth behind the decision. I'll look for fun surprises and add things they tell us we'll enjoy to our playrooms. Right now, I'm going to get us a fantastic cold beer while you to talk about why you're worried about me."

  "We're worried about him."

  "We're both pleased this didn't come before we spent a day giggling over the 'test' results. You're worried about us too."

  "I know. I knew all he is and you had to be before I met you, Blade."

  "But you ignored who you are."

  "He's doing the same."

  "No, he's putting it in storage. He doesn't need it yet. He's the bard. He's all of who we are, the teacher of our past, which gives guidance in our present. You're the one who chooses the path to the future to which he guides them. I'm the one who aids them in understanding themselves, so they follow the guidance with vision, not blindly."

  "He says, 'this is what we know.' You say, 'this is who we are.' I say, 'we're going that way.' Danny sweeps the path clear. Ronnie keeps track of where we are. Drand and Dawn keep the equipment in good order. Case and Stats notice places the path needs blasting before sweeping and keep everyone moving forward."

  "You knew you were stuck with saying that-a-way, since you realized the knight needed a prince, and you were the only one for the job. That's what it says, Nev. There isn't another. In all of human space, only you could be all the prince the bard had to have to be the knight. Usually, you can ride beside on the path. Sometimes, another will say 'that one.' In battle, you follow the knight. You don't have to ride in front alone or make every decision, but we're worried about him and he isn't."

  "He only has to lead in battle and he's seen all he creates arises from… 'the lays and legends of the past.' It's new in existence, but it's built the way the bards built their new songs. You had to accept who you are long ago."

  "Oh, I like this evaluation much better than mine."

  They began to work on fragrances. They hadn't worked long when Nev called Bard and said he wanted a beer. Bard arrived wearing a pack and they both looked at him. He was smiling widely. He opened the pack and extracted three different beers. Nev and Blade compared labels, then checked his and whooped.

  "You did it!"

  "I wished myself to find the beers we each wanted, Nev. I thought I'd get to a liquor store with something we'd tasted. I arrived at three breweries on three worlds we haven't visited. All three are beers, not porters or ales. None of them are ric
e or wheat beers."

  "From Seneschel, white tuft beer."

  "Bali, Regina grass. This is beer for the gods."

  "Foresta, hoddum. Ooh, I'm sure I like this too much. I did bring more than one each."

  "Good. We have work to do and you're helping."

  "I'm sure it's you two and others, Blade."

  "It is. You're the first other."

  "Comm connect Quinn. Everyone who just ports around must have a fragrance they memorize so well, after they've worked out wearing it, they can carry it on a regular trip."

  "Understood, Nev. We're in the midst of changing our body chemistry."

  "Stalling won't work for you either. This part is also 'Who am I?' and everyone else will help."

  "We'll be… right here. Comm out. This is?"

  "The beer I wanted."

  "I see. Yum."

  "I have a selection of three. Are they the beers your family members want most?"

  "I'll find out. You used the device how?"

  "Powered and initiated a comm sequence to the shuttle. I went to three different breweries; outside, in a foyer, in front of the cooler in a sales outlet. All three were open."

  "If I have to steal it, it's not the one that's right."

  "My reason for not worrying about it. Be specific. Beer was a criteria. Bright orange-red curls?"

  "He's sure too, Quinn."

  "I concede, Bam. I'll put the nice red-brown back."

  "He had to really hide. It's a strong habit."

  "Yes, Bam, it is but he does know he built it. You?"

  "Goldilocks, more curl and a little lighter than yours. Labs and Topper thought they were going to skip it. They picked mine. Loopy picked hers and theirs. Quinn's was four hands reaching for the same package. Not a brunette or brown in the bunch."

  "I'm sure I'm honey blonde, and it's not kinky."

  "The auburn she picked for me is."

  "The package says the white she picked for me is blond."

  "It'll be great, Labs."

  "Loopy, if you like it… What is that?"

  "The reference Bard stole."

  "Stole?"

  "I'm sure it ought to be paid for, Labs, but there was nothing that says how much or to who. I said, 'thank you, whoever,' and copied it."

  "Where were you searching?"

  "Everywhere. I'm not sure anyone else knows this was somewhere. It's old, but I didn't think we needed all the hybrids developed in the last one hundred seventy years."

  "It won't fit in my pocket comp."

  "I'll put it on a datpad for you, Labs."

  "It will fit on a datpad?"

  "One of ours. You don't use them like we do. We stuff anything we won't be doing a great deal of manipulation on in ours, and our compression programs seem to be better."

  "Our pocket comps do more. Our portables more than those, and our desk computers much more. Our house computers are house computers. They have the speed and storage of yours, but they aren't used as mains. It wasn't simple to tap our comps because they're only connected to comm when we're using them for something which requires it. IS had to program the house comp to maintain the connection to the personal comp to tap it. A lot of house comp capacity is used to maintain separation of functions, then integrate them smoothly and instantly on demand. Connecting the six comps in our house is instant, but it's only a connection. It's separate from comm and a tap of the house comp would just find a program to connect them, not penetrate the connection. That would require reprogramming the house comp to add a comm connection to a specific comp. That's done easily, but from the desk comp. The house comp is still not part of it."

  "Your programming is different?"

  "Quite. It's not better, but much of it is more complex. The planetary government, all regular services, was maintained by a program written for one level of a game with twenty levels. Of course, World Builder Eleven is the most complex game there is. We've looked. No one else has anything comparable. No one else needed a program that taught every person, who could play it, exactly how a planetary economic system and government operated, what was wrong with theirs and how much and how money was embezzled."

  "Who could play it."

  "Exactly, Topper. Most people could get through about three levels. It looks like other games of the type with a few enhancements through those. However, those enhancements are the building blocks for a game you can't play without learning how education, business, politics and bureaucracy function and integrate to build an economically successful world. Level eight is called the 'lockstep' level. There are very few major game moves because there are very few ways a government, of the complexity it's reached by that point, can stimulate education and business growth without going into debt, and that's not allowed. A budget surplus over a certain amount isn't. You have to build your private sector to stimulate research and development. One of those few game moves is downsizing your military to create a budget surplus, which causes a complete recomputation of the gov budget, and a tax reduction and possibly refund, but you have to retire people and designate who's been retained. The program helps you name, 'educate' and employ all your people through the levels. It tells you if you've put people on gov assistance and who's out of work. If you can win World Builder Eleven, you can run a world. It made it very simple to find people who could reconstruct ours."

  "You won it."

  "All six of us had. It usually takes about four years. Most kids restart several times at level eight. You can't back up. You can only start over and do it a bit differently."

  "Kids?"

  "Yes. It's the game to get when you're in second or third term of middle school. That doesn't mean younger or older don't, but it's known to have the best programming, graphics, soundtrack, character generation. Pick any business on your world and be the CEO, chairman of the board, or stock clerk. Be a farmer, or engineer, or senator. The computer will tell you if who you are needs more education, or study, or money to do what you want. 'Sorry, your lab doesn't have the equipment to do that.' 'Sorry, you have the equipment, but you have to get someone from this list, currently working these places, or wait for someone from this list to graduate.' 'Sorry, your soil isn't right for that crop. 'Sorry, you didn't watch your forecast. 'Sorry, you didn't damn that stream to control flooding.' 'Sorry, your tourist industry didn't do enough advising.' You can't leave anything out, but you have a fantastic time talking crops and weather in the local tea shop, discussing the dam being built on the site, trading stock on the exchange. It's eight hundred sixty gigs of program, plus graphics and music files."

  "Uh… How long did it take to build it?"

  "Twenty-one years, over a one hundred two-year period, with six to ten of the best game programmers on the world working on each upgrade. The last upgrade took four years, and no one has suggested even a minor improvement in nine."

  "This is not an inexpensive game."

  "No, but the price goes down each year and more kids awe their friends, when they say they got to level nine."

  "If that's nine…"

  "Twelve is fund and settle a new world. The last four levels, you have to resolve all the social and economic issues that your burgeoning population causes. Your government gets bigger and slower, regulations begin to proliferate, all the problems worlds that had been settled four two eight hundred years have are probable. You can back up to the beginning of level nine, but if your world goes bankrupt, you have riots, and extreme high crime and violence, five or six times at level eleven, you might as well start over. You probably built the problem in at the beginning."

  "Bankrupt worlds don't fund settlement. And they didn't see what it taught?"

  "Yes, kids who won it made a great deal of taxable income when they grew up. If their kids won it, or even got to level eight, they learned too much about real 'world building,' and identified with too many farmers and business people to participate. Everyone born
in the gov enclave didn't stay there. Many left, but they couldn't do anything from the outside, either."

  "You knew many could change because many had."

  "We knew they weren't the brightest gene pool on the planet. The kids with real brains ran as soon as they got old enough to get out the gates."

  "Oh, working in here is going to be so much fun."

  "We'll build you a great playroom, Labs."

  "I've got most of what I want in it, Loopy, but I'm out of room and some things should have more safety control than mine. My parents offered to build what I wanted, but I was sure I was going to move out, eventually."

  "Most of what he didn't have was room for playmates."

  "Let's begin the makeover process before we start the fragrance construction. This is going to take time and you guys have a lot of area to cover."

  "Who gets to cover you, Loopy?"

  "Blade."

  "Loopy, I will not be able to keep my mind on the task."

  "Good."

  "I'm jealous."

  "So am I."

  "There will be four jealous."

  "That's why none of you. I chose my first lover almost five years ago. I'm not inexperienced. You all are. I intend to make love to all of you, but I'm not going to make a schedule and give lessons. If this was the right time, we'd all know it."

  "True. Let's change us."

  "If you do it too fast, you can get pretty sick."

  "Labs gave us all spot tests, Blade, and we took our orals, almost long enough ago, including Quinn."

  "All right, let's do your heads. We'll do the sections, just as recommended, after that."

  Quinn got back with an assortment of beers and a wine. He said he'd ended up in front of the same wine in two stores and realized Topper didn't really want a beer. Topper smiled widely and said he wanted a nice wine. Blade checked exact time they'd taken the oral treatments and put beer and wine away for a break.

  They began working on 'hair' and fragrances at twenty-two forty-three. Case and Stats arrived by car at twenty-three thirty-eight. At four oh nine, they finished hair. They didn't finish fragrances, but they were at a good place to stop. At nine seventeen they went back to work.

  Danny and Frets joined them and began the process. By then, they'd developed a method. It would take those Danny would aid to do it far less time. At noon, all but Danny went to the resort.

  The resort was a very busy place. Flyers were coming and going, some nearly operating as shuttles for people who had personal places that were right for their bio recordings. Cars came and went, as well, though those were actually fewer and were often headed for party room refreshments.

  Many people extended resort stays. Several of those used flyers to go bridal gown shopping. Several others took patterns to tailor shops. A large number visited thrift shops, attics and back bedroom closets to assemble outfits.

  There were no reporters at the resort. MPB had been promised an exclusive later. The three networks with society news scheduled the night before hadn't pulled them, but the five admirals had not been mentioned. Fem Wares called Nev that morning and told him two had said they'd be changing the segments. GNMB had only "backed off," when she'd asked them if they wanted to be charged with intent to incite war.

  Bruce's mother had done some investigating. The Association of Broadcasters had made the licensing regulations request-for-copy, instead of posted on the infonet, not quite thirty years before. Her copy was thirty-two years old. Law libraries had all received updates twenty-nine years previously, as had public libraries serving large areas. There had been no changes made to the regulations in fifty-four years. That change had been to make Section Four, Article Four, paragraph three, two paragraphs. No words had been changed.

  That was the place she'd found a copy with all ten sections, in the regulatory committee record of the change. She couldn't find who'd actually truncated the regulations, but a computer error wouldn't have sent updates to everywhere.

  Danny delivered a large number of float scooters of the non-pro type on a trailer. Case and Stats hooked it to the Wander and drove the last two K to the resort. The ones on the trailer were for sale. They weren't full price plus shipping, but a company had bought the patent and there was a license fee to pay. Seven minutes after Case and Stats began 'selling' the float scooters, a company on Mandolin had purchased a subsidiary license to manufacture both non-pro types.

  Pro models were going to be export-only items. Topper's grandfather agreed the added expense of shipping, though minor, would aid in making the less dangerous models the usual purchase, especially for young teens. He didn't waste time. One of the family company facilities began retooling to produce float scooters seventeen minutes after the deal was complete. A sports shoe company was already producing the pads, and awaiting a shoe designed specifically for the sport.

  A second trade news item was added to announcements to be made, when Frederick and Andrew were invited back that evening.

  Eighteen trip chairs were delivered at fourteen oh nine. They were all personal property and would go home with their owners, but they were temporarily installed at the resort. Wedding parties began going places at fourteen thirty-seven. A large number of people had small ruby, emerald or diamond studs. A large number were enrolling in universities 'elsewhere,' to get the education they really wanted. That afternoon, five who had diamonds in their ears flew to Ricky Lake. At sixteen forty-seven, Bard went to see what they'd bought.

  "How long has this place been unused?"

  "Forty-six years, but it wasn't for sale. We found out who owned it and would not sell it. Every person who inquired wanted to tear the big cabin down and build seven or eight or a hotel. The former owner lives right over there."

  "Straight across the lake."

  "Yes. Her family used to meet here every summer. Not quite sixty years ago, she met a young man who'd bought a piece of lakefront and was planning to build a home on it. She helped plan and build. Gradually, this big cabin stopped being used. It was old and they had a nice big house that wasn't. This is the third oldest cabin on the lake. She stopped maintaining the yard twenty-eight years ago. It reduced the large number of people who called with 'great investment ideas,' most of whom wanted her and her husband to finance them. From the lake, it looks undeveloped. From the road, it looks like there was once some reason for a drive. Only from the air you see this big, once beautiful, place."

  "Structure is in good shape. It was built and maintained well, and hasn't been completely neglected."

  "No, they watched for damage and vermin invasion. It looks worse than it actually is, Bard. I think she waited nearly a half-century for the right neighbors to ask for it. The sale price was seventy percent of the property taxes for forty-six years. She said that's more than most would pay for it, but they don't see the cabin as an asset."

  "You thought?"

  "Damn cheap for an eight-bedroom house on a gorgeous piece of lakefront."

  "You want eight?"

  "We want ten, but not in the house. We want to make the eight five bigger, then add five around a court that way, lab, workshop, flyer hanger, parking dome and shuttle pad that way, outdoor/indoor entertainment area that way, lots of lawn all around."

  "How big is the property?"

  "Over a half-K square."

  "The price wasn't low."

  "No, but it was still a bargain. It's where we want with the room we want, and the training we want is everything it needs to make it perfect for us."

  "You don't plan any children."

  "Yes, but not here."

  "Explanation, please."

  "We just all know we don't want to raise children, but we'll all have kids we love we'll spend a lot of time with. We also know we're going to have siblings. That 'all' does include Loopy. We're not in any rush, and we don't need to know who or how yet, but we know we will. Don't you?"

  "Yes, I do. A
re you going to do bios?"

  "Not until we're building our home. Creating it and learning our craft is the right setting for us."

  "We'll start tomorrow. I suspect it won't be early. There is a very large wedding reception for many being planned. You said there are modular units. Figure out what you can adapt for various uses and get them ordered. Nev's your aid on that. The more you figure out for yourselves, the more you'll learn about the creative part of this. You have to decide what you want where to know how much of your land to clear. You don't want to get rid of all these trees, but some must be moved or removed. Our house was a house. This really is a big lake cabin. It wasn't expected to be used as a home for a family. It was lodging for several for vacation. Find out what type of building permits, if any, you have to have to do things, and licenses required for things they say you can't. It may be the only thing you can do for a while is clear land."

  "It may be. Were having a hard time finding out anything. The only answer we've gotten so far is from the computer that verified our purchase of deed was registered, and it came with a bill for filing fees and a property tax due in thirty-seven days statement. We paid those and were given a menu of selections, when we requested comm connect to a person. They don't want us here. We're not the type of people they want in the community, and they definitely don't want us close to their children."

  "You're sure of that."

  "Yes."

  "Comm connect local, Mayor's office Ricky Lake, identify Liberty Gem Fleet Admiral Bard Loden, on emergency duty assignment to Mandolin at Mandolin Presidential request. No, it's not a good afternoon. I've got one hundred ninety-six virgins terrified to talk to the opposite sex, because nice people like you paid to listen to lies about them, and laughed when the emotional abuse made young women cry on planetary broadcast. I've got the highest psi people on this planet bringing couples together and twenty-three worlds helping them get married without cams focused on their genitals for the entertainment of upstanding citizens. I've got children talking about mommies and daddies afraid to leave the house or take them anywhere, because kids tell them their mommies are sluts and can't even remember who their daddies are. I've got over two thousand people you nice people pay to watch emotionally abused, and the people who buy the porn called, 'society news,' are making sure the victims know they're loyal patrons of the art of their emotional torture. One more fool who does 'we don't want your kind here' will put Ricky Lake on the list of examples of the rampant social disease caused by the casts. Commodore Quinn wouldn't do that, but I will. Comm out. Comm connect Billie. Hi, warn your granddad I had a temper tantrum and made Quinn a commodore. If he wants to keep him, he'd better come up with something before Alden hears about it and decides it's in our space corps. Thanks. Comm out."

  "Answer comm. Bronze. Thanks."

  "Bronze?"

  "What do I call this shirt color. It's pretty with my hair."

  "Billie decided you should have a space corps."

  "I wonder if the rest of the people of this world would feel more secure knowing a five-year-old was a presidential advisor."

  "The people of a town with a street named Joey would."

  "True."