Josette sighs when she's brought into the dining hall after dinner one night.

 

"I thought we might miss this this year with everything going on."

 

"Nope, somebody's got a birthday to celebrate." David smirks.

 

"Remind me I'm getting old, why don't you?" Josette sighs. She looks around the room. There's five Docs in various conversations. Two Clarinda's are talking quietly in the corner and look over at Josette.

 

"Be afraid, be very afraid." David says in a bad b monster movie voice. Both of his mothers roll their eyes.

 

Alice, Andrew, and Lady Morrigan are talking in a corner. Three Doctors are talking and Josette suspects at least one trip before the others leave.

 

"We've got two celebrations tonight. Not only is somebody turning 95 but you've been married 75 years."

 

Josette looks at the others and rolls her eyes as they start goofing around. "Sometimes I wonder why I bother." Everybody laughs and the party starts.

 

 

 

 

Josette looks over from filling a bag at the Harvest Festival to see Courtney and some of the others smelling the soaps and candles. She grins and rings them up as they start filling bags.

 

"Josette, do you need volunteers for harvesting, even somebody who doesn't know what they're doing?" Courtney had seen from the server that they'd be harvesting offworld soon.

 

"Always, and you'll have to know what to do when your crops start coming in." The others with her nod and Josette puts their names down on the list. "I'll team you guys up with experienced harvesters to show you the ropes."

 

Josette starts bringing out food when they return from harvesting a few days later. "Go get a hot shower and a few hours sleep at the dorms, a hot meal and do laundry." She tells everybody.

 

Rick whistles as he sees the food moving to the big building or being laid out on frames that had been brought out, either whole or being sliced. "This is a good bit of work."

 

"Yep, this is just as much work as harvesting. But once you've got a few harvests under your belt this will be old hat. And you guys won't be harvesting anywhere near this scale, this is meant to help feed an entire planet over the winter." Josette chuckles. "Though when everything starts ripening at once in the communal garden, you'll swear you're feeding an entire planet."

 

"How often do you do this?"

 

"Seventeen times with your two, three each for the other planets."

 

Rick shakes his head as he heads to the dorm. Josette chuckles. "They'll get used to it." David says, coming up to her.

 

"Yep, their first harvest will start coming in in a few weeks." Josette heads back to the dorm.

 

"Classes?"

 

"Finishing the last year for the electrical engineering, comic book, and buttonmaking degree." She shakes her head. "I'm a disgrace, only finishing four degrees this year." Cackling and rude noises from her loving family greet that statement.

 

"Are you heading to the other dimension after Thanksgiving even with them here?"

 

"Yeah, I'm picking up supplies that are being delivered to various warehouses, mostly books, magazines, DVDS, and other stuff like that. Plus checking up on the people they left behind for them."

 

"Eleventh planet labs?"

 

"Another year of bringing in supplies and they'll send people out for the next round of experiments."

 

"Seventeen classes again this semester?" Alan asks.

 

"Probably 23, I need two semesters to finish the second degree on the Flash. If I get one in this semester, I can finish the degree next spring along with the cooking and chemistry degrees."

 

"Still having trouble picking classes?" Anna asks.

 

"Yes, and it's disgusting the hell out of me." Again her loving family cackles and she flips them the bird with a smirk.

 

"More to life than taking classes." David says, Josette nods. Then shoves him out of the chair with one foot. "And no, that doesn't mean getting pregnant."

 

The others laugh again. Looking at the time they head to lunch. Josette's waved to the front table.

 

"Offworld harvest?"

 

"Food's been brought out and they're working on everything. The next one will be end of the week or early next week."

 

"Thank you Josette. Ninth planet?"

 

"Their first harvest is going to be ripening in a few weeks. I took a group of the kids on this harvest when they volunteered so they have an idea what to expect. I'll walk them through the first harvest and canning sessions, there was victory gardens during world war II but unless you lived on a farm you didn't can your own food after that. Mom and Ma have volunteered to come out to help a few days since our harvests won't be for a few months yet."

 

Principal Madison nods in satisfaction.

 

"So how many degrees does this make?"

 

"200 bachelors, 17 masters, and 13 doctorates with the degrees I'm finishing this year, not counting the medical school degree. Dr. Stark was tormenting me about it earlier. That doesn't count the ones from the other dimension either."

 

The others shake their heads and make tsk tsk sounds, Josette flipping them off mentally. "I'm sure once the others are settled they're going to be looking into classes."

 

The others nod.

 

A few weeks later Josette takes Atlantis to Archimedes, picking up the first delivery of extruded plastic for the ship and a batch of supplies for the eleventh planet. Delivering to the eleventh planet she slides into her seat at lunch. David looks at her.

 

"Supplies for the eleventh planet and our first load of extruded plastic for the ship. I left that on Atlantis until we have a place set up to build."

 

"We'll need a dock for it too." Susan says. Everybody nods.

 

A couple of weeks after that while Josette's still on the ninth planet she looks over and smiles as she sees two familiar women walking into the large kitchen.

 

"Everybody, this is Mom and Ma, also known as Alice Covington and Martha Kent." They roll up their sleeves and start walking everybody through the daunting process of canning their first garden crops.

 

"What are we doing with the corn?" Pieter asks.

 

"Take if off the stalks and put it in an empty container for now, we'll have a husking party later tonight. You can either cut it off the cobs and can it then or dry it, remove it from the cobs and bag it to either eat over the winter or make into grits or cornmeal." Ma says. "The cobs and stalks can be cut up and used for animal feed over the winter."

 

"Thank you for coming out to help, we've read plenty of books but. . ."

 

"There's a difference between reading something and actually doing it." Ma says briskly. Courtney nods. She's busy rinsing out jars with boiling water. "Once you've got this harvest finished you'll know what to do next time." Billy comes in with another basket of tomatoes.

 

"Rinsed?" Mom asks. Billy nods.

 

"cut an x lightly in the bottom of the tomatoes and put them in the water, that will help remove the skins." She orders Mary and her foster mother. They nod.

 

"How long?"

 

"Only a couple of seconds, we're just loosening the skins so we can peel and core them."

 

"Core them?" Nora asks.

 

"Take out the spot on top where the stem was." Mary nods. "Then we'll cut them up, remove the seeds for the future, and cook them."

 

"Are we cooking all the tomatoes?"

 

"No, you'll want to save some to eat fresh and I see Josette's got the drying tables up. If you've grown something like grape or cherry tomatoes you can slice them in half and save the seeds or dry them whole, larger tomatoes you can slice, seed, and put on the screens to dry."

 

"Peppers?"

 

"Run a string through the tops and hang them up to dry unless you have a stasis chamber to keep everything fresh."

 

 

 

A week later the harvest is in and every home has cases of food set aside for the winter. Mom, Ma, and Josette have showed them how to dry the seeds and put them away for later crops.

 

"Thank you Alice, Martha. Between you and Josette you saved us from making a lot of mistakes." Charles says. Josette comes over to the container they'd set up for bulk foods, bags of rice and wheat appearing on the pallets. They hug her and head back to Haven.

 

"Get them over the first terror of 'oh my god, what are we supposed to do with all of this?'" Pa asks when Martha comes back to the farm.

 

"Yes, they were beginning to relax once Alice and I showed them it wasn't all that hard. Josette found them a beautiful spot to settle."

 

"She's got a good eye for farm land and beautiful scenery to enjoy after working in the fields." Pa agrees. They stand on the porch watching the first sun go down before walking inside.

 

Josette slides into her seat at the testing center their second testing week.

 

"Did you get everybody walked through canning their first harvests?"

 

"Yep, and saving and drying heirloom seeds for future crops. They've learned the difference between heirloom and hybrid tomatoes and have good selections of hybrid seeds in their supplies, then the replicator when those are done. They survived their first pouring piss from a boot four day rains too. I think it was probably Larry who wanted to build the ark." Everybody sniggers. "We warn them."

 

"Yep, but until they live through their first one they think we're overreacting."

 

"Are they looking through the recipes on the servers?"

 

Josette nods. "And we've had more volunteers for the offworld harvests and processing the food on Haven. This way they're getting an idea of what else they can plant in the future and what they can make from it."

 

"Good. We don't want to overwhelm them this early in their settlement."

 

"Exactly, they were already a little freaked about all the different types of food beyond what they saw in their grocery stores. I suspect I'm going to see more than one of them at the cooking classes at Assyrian."

 

"Are these hybrid tomatoes?" Courtney asks a couple weeks later when she comes out with some others to help with processing the last harvest.

 

"Yes they are, they're not as flavorable as heirloom tomatoes, but the low seed count makes them perfect for sauces." Ma says, pulling another wire scoop of tomatoes out of the boiling water. Peeling them she cuts out the core, cuts them up and drops them in the large kettle on the back of the stove. "We can make a half-dozen varieties from the main sauce, so every garden plants them at least once a year. The communal gardens shared by the pizza parlors and communal kitchen grow them year-round."

 

"I can see why." Dr. Cross says. The pizza parlors had been doing brisk business during the Harvest Festival.

 

"There's another one in Albatross, opened a few years ago. They offer grinders too."

 

"Grinders?" Courtney asks, knowing she sounds like an idiot.

 

"Sub sandwiches." Her mom says.

 

Ma nods. "That's why we opened the sandwich place in town, they used to offer them at the communal kitchen but they needed more room."

 

"Do they make their own bread?"

 

"Yep, they make bread overnight three times a week, letting it raise and bake it the next day. Before the festivals they bake every night for a week straight."

 

"Festivals, plural?"

 

"Yes, we also have a Lights Festival that grew out of Christmas since our year was longer than Earth's and we might have Christmas twice a year." The others chuckle. "We put up trees and decorate our homes after Thanksgiving."

 

"You celebrate Thanksgiving then?"

 

"Yes, a couple of weeks after our last harvest is in and the school is closed for the rest of the year. Of course the students have work assigned to them over the break, the poor dears." Suspiciously twitching lips from the other adults. "When there's students graduating high school, like this year they'll have their graduation ceremony after Thanksgiving."

 

"Are the university students leaving the dorms?"

 

"Yes, they'll be taking their finals this week and leaving after Thanksgiving. If a floor's empty of students, their floor monitor moves to their permanent homes too and robots come in to clean the rooms. Once the dorms are empty, maintenance comes in during the spring to go over everything to see what needs to be done to the building."

 

"How long is the school going to be open?"

 

"21 years with the Amish children, the kids from the animal and sorting planet, and the kids six. The babies will be starting school next year at the home schooling area set up at the dorm so the education center can shut down in four more years. It's been open continuously since we moved to Haven.

 

"It's going to need a good cleaning at least." Courtney's mom says. The others nod. They'd all opened windows and given their homes a good cleaning when they moved before the rest of the renovations they needed started.

 

"You don't think of how long it's been."

 

"Exactly, they were able to clean the buildings and work on repairs while the school was shut down over the years but there was always classes going on at the education center except over school break."

 

"And you can't climb over buildings during the winter."

 

"Exactly. Even if you had more than five weeks to do the work. Each dorm room has the furniture taken out and gets a real good cleaning. That took a few months for each dorm after we lost Earth and students were moving to the other planets."

 

Nods from the others, cleaning carpets and walls in preparation for painting, washing windows, it all takes time. By the end of the week the crops are in and Josette delivers wheat and rice to the manufacturing satellite for flour and dropping off the corn to the grist mill to be made into cornmeal and grits.

 

"How is the ninth planet on rice and wheat?" Doc asks at the government meeting after finals.

 

"They'll have a few dozen bags by the time the second harvest is in. Since they brought plenty of supplies they're going to wait until their last harvest and I'll take the wheat in to be turned into flour. That way they don't have pallets of wheat and flour in the container."

 

"They're big but not that big." Doc says. The others nod. "Alexander is going to be working on shelving for another container when I take out their first offworld harvest. They're planning on putting up a building for bulk foods and the offworld harvests, the shipping containers will do this winter."

 

"Is it strange being in two different times and interacting with yourself?"

 

"Not really, no worse than when I was on Earth for the expos and I was already there." Josette shrugs.

 

"Delivery to the sorting planet?"

 

"Delivering them right now."

 

"Sorting planet orders?"

 

"I'll start delivering them next fall. I'm delivering the cotton for the towel factory while I'm there."

 

"Good, first planet tomatoes, herbs, and peppers? I know you were growing extra for the ninth planet."

 

"Harvested and sold to the other worlds." Josette says. "The rest is in stasis or drying."

 

A couple days later everybody is gathered on the beach including people from the ninth planet for the cookout.

 

"Dr. Cross, the red marked rock ring is the veggies pit. The other is the vat meat."

 

"Vat meat?" ninth planet Dr. Cross asks his counterpart.

 

"Meat created from soybeans made to look and taste like real meat. Much better than the vegetarian meat substitutes they had in the stores. I eat it." He raises his voice. "No real meat?"

 

"Not this year. We've got tons in stasis on the ships but I didn't bring any out."

 

"Is this the wood substitute GD created?" Ninth planet Dr. Stark asks, looking at the fire under a kettle.

 

"Yes, we limit the amount of trees that are cut down so the Amish use this for heating in their homes, one log keeps a five room house around sixty degrees for a week, but you have to keep the doors open so the heat can spread unless they have vents. During storms, they can add a second smaller log to bring the temperature up. They started using the wood in the houses on Haven a few years ago since like the dorms they only have the ceramic heaters for heat. They were intended to be temporary housing, being incorporated into houses when people left Town for their own land. They have stoves like you see on patios in their houses to supplement the heaters."

 

"No thermostats?"

 

"No, it would run down the batteries and there's no use keeping rooms you weren't going to be in most of the day at a constant temperature. A couple hours running the heater made the dorm rooms warm enough for sleeping and a lot of the mothers baked bread before bed, leaving the oven and kitchen doors open to let the heat help warm the house."

 

"No furnaces?"

 

"Only the buildings brought up from Earth or homes built here. Sue had a house built before she came up, she brought her belongings and stayed at the dorm the weekend we came up. We convinced Harvey to come up to wrangle us and the rest of the artists on the planets, he had a home built before he arrived. Agatha had her house come up to Town, as did Daniel and the others we brought up over the years. We had two people buy land and build their own houses, Alessandro who owns the other winery and Susanna Charles, she lives outside of town with her partner and their children. They live near enough to town to come for their jobs and whatnot, Alessandro domes his grounds after the last harvest and lives in an apartment over the winter with his son.

 

"Cooking?"

 

"In their stoves that both heat and can be cooked over. It's not really convenient for baking, they'd need multiple logs and the only way we've found to stop them burning is douse them in water. They have a communal kitchen like we have and take their bread, cakes, and whatnot there to be baked." Ninth planet Dr. Stark nods. "That's one of the reasons we put the project on the back burner."

 

"I have to say it's nice to see you pick everything and find something to make of it."

 

"Nothing goes to waste, I saw a program on Earth last time we were there where they said about 40 to 50 percent of a crop is just left in the field." Josette says. "With so many people going hungry that was just wasteful. If it's not perfect looking you can still make something delicious with it."

 

"Yes, that's something that won't happen anymore. Make enough for everybody but not so much you can't use it."

 

Everybody nods.

 

"This is a beautiful area." Dr. McNider says after they've eaten and the first sun is beginning to go down.

 

Josette nods. "We come here when stuff is getting hectic and recharge our batteries. We head to the island or on the first planet for the same reason." David starts sniggering and he's shoved into the water. "The fact we're usually pregnant when we come back is beyond the point." Chuckles from the others.

 

"The babies will be turning four in a few months." He chuckles.

 

"Yes, and the boys and I are going to be working on the sorting planet and Archimedes's apartment complexes for the next seven years, then the animal planet's after that. You've got two theses to work on in the next couple of years, Susan's going to presenting her thesis and finishing her Masters next year you should be finishing yours a few years after that. And your bachelors."

 

"When you're done with your masters, we'll be six semesters into ours and should start working on our theses." Alexander says, Michael nods. "We should be finishing ours the year all the apartment complexes are finished." Courtney's mom frowns and Josette leans towards her.

 

"Masters are four years in our dimension, not two."

 

"Really?"

 

"Yeah, every other dimension we've been to they've been two years. There's two years of classes geared towards your degree and two years of basic classes geared towards your papers that are the same for whatever degree you're going for. Everybody who's looked at our classes say they're more intense than their degrees, almost like their Ph.Ds. And the boys are only taking three classes first semester and three third semester."

 

"Even David for two degrees?"

 

"He's only taking three classes for each degree a year, plus finishing a semester for his bachelors."

 

"Taking two masters at a time is hard." David whines. Everybody sniggers.

 

After Thanksgiving the decorations for the lights festival start coming out and they decorate the dorm before heading off to various dimensions. On the ninth planet Josette looks up at the beep from Macchu Picchu as more containers begin to be delivered.

 

"Thankee." The others look at her. "We generally go dimension hopping after Thanksgiving, this is books, magazines, DVDS, and other stuff that been delivered since you left. I also checked on the others, the Justice League is doing well in the other dimension, they're settling in well, working on the growing area on the moon and Mars, making plans for the future. Queen Hippolyta was visiting with her daughter, she was glad that you are all settling in well and sent letters."

 

"Thank you Josette." the others smile as she sends them the file of what's where that she'd been sent.

 

Back on Haven Josette starts moving the rest of what they'd brought back from the other dimensions to various rooms or buildings and settles into the couch with a sigh.

 

"Are you done now?"

 

"Yeah." Josette looks out the window and yawns. "We're going to have snow by dinner, and it will stick." the others look at the darkening sky and nod. "How was the stock of candles at the candlemaking building?"

 

"Good, they're all set for this winter. One of the reasons they have two shifts going. That and they were able to get in a few batches of candles for the ninth planet for winter."

 

"This is beautiful." Mary's mother says when they come out to Haven for the Lights Festival.

 

"This is what Christmas was before all the commercialism took hold." Doc says, the others nod. They see Josette heading off to one of the warehouses, following her and looking around in disbelief as the shelves of fabric and whatnot as far as the eye can see. She chuckles and looks at her PADD, bringing out supplies for the fabric and yarn stores. "This is one of our tesseracted warehouses filled with supplies. Some of the others are like the factory warehouse." The others look at her and she smirks, motioning them to follow her, they walk into a warehouse that's empty except for doors on the outside wall and the opposite wall down the first of several hallways on the first of five floors. Doc begins to frown, those doors weren't on the outside of the building when they came up and Josette opens one, everybody blinking as they see an entire building inside.

 

"This is the one for the factories we've been bringing out over the last several years, this way we can make what we need but you don't see them. The toothpaste factory was the last one that we brought out that was its own building. We wanted to put up a multiple floor factory building but the floors wouldn't hold the equipment weight so we went this way instead. Each factory has at least one area for supplies." She nods at the doors across the hall.

 

"Do you have other buildings like this?" Dr. Cross asks when Josette locks the building back up.

 

"Oh yes, we have multi-floor warehouses with links to libraries, museums, malls, university libraries and bookstores, second hand stores, shipping centers for large chainstores, warehouses for various manufacturers before it's shipped to stores. . ." The others shake their heads. "After weeks of linking the buildings I was dreaming of opening a door and finding another warehouse instead of the exit." The others snicker.

 

"Thank you Josette." Sue says when Josette delivers the supplies to the stores.

 

"Easy enough for me to grab everything and bring it out than you guys trying to fit everything in a flyer. I know where everything is in there, you'd be backtracking constantly. Just like you know where everything is in your stockroom and I have to check the shelving numbers." The others nod. "Or you know where everything is in the libraries and we'd have to hunt for a particular book."

 

After the Lights Festival Josette starts working on the kits she'd got from the Albatross Nest, cutting out pieces for blocks as she looks at the snow falling outside.

 

"How are they coming on the ninth planet?"

 

"I'm taking the shelves and first offworld harvest over our second testing week. Their second harvest will be in by then."

 

"Need help?"

 

"I'll be good, I'm just delivering the shelves and harvest." Josette stretches and yawns.

 

"You'll be finished with the cooking and chemistry classes this semester anyway."

 

"Yeah, and I'm starting the next degree this fall so I'll be finished at the end of the year."

 

"Chemistry Masters?"

 

"Signing up for it this summer."

 

Josette grins when she sees Billy and Dr. Cross in one of the classroom/testing labs at Assyrian when she heads to her first class of the semester, waving at the teacher.

 

"Josette said she was taking classes here."

 

"Yes, she's been taking three classes a semester since the classes are all work." The teacher smiles. "She's taking her last three classes this semester and we're going to be talking about what degree she wants to sign up for next this summer. Now I understand you're both interested in vegetarian cooking?"

 

"I'm vegetarian by choice." Dr. Cross says.

 

"And while I wasn't vegetarian by choice, where I lived I couldn't keep meat long." Billy says. "And there's so much more in the way of fruits and vegetables than we're used to." She nods and they settle at tables to start the class.

 

The weeks pass and Josette slides into her seat at the testing center her first testing week.

 

"Finish the comic book degree you wanted to get in?"

 

Josette nods, covering her mouth and yawning.

 

"Are you bringing out any more factories?"

 

"No, we're good right now, we don't need to bring them out just to have them." Everybody nods. "The only one we might have brought out was for animal feed but we're doing good there. Maybe in a few years."

 

"Toothpaste?"

 

"The poll closed a couple weeks ago, we've accepted the offworld orders and are due to start operation in a couple months after the order from the plastic factory."

 

"Towels, light bulbs, and canning supplies?"

 

"They start work on them next month, I'll take the first delivery in this fall unless they need a pickup next semester." The three men nod.

 

"I understand the others are looking at classes?"

 

"Dr. Cross and Billy are taking vegetarian cooking classes at Assyrian, as Billy said there's so much more fruits and vegetables than they were used to on the shelves. They were relieved that we're still introducing new foods to the planets."

 

"Do you have a weather satellite in orbit?"

 

"Yeah, and at the tenth planet in case anybody ever settles there."

 

"That's the last planet that has seasons and you can grow crops outdoors."

 

"I did a little planet hopping with the legionnaires while I was on their world and found out how they handle life on ice planets." Josette says in an 'innocent' tone. Dr. Stark gives her a look as the other two men chuckle. "Hanover is looking over everything right now, I also got information on low moisture farming from desert planets and tropical growing." Josette smirks. "And samples of plants. We want to make sure they don't destroy the ecosystem before they're brought out."

 

"You are an evil, conniving brat." Dr. Stark says slowly.

 

"And?" Josette snorts. "You've known me how long?"

 

"You were talking about growing grapes for eating on the first planet?"

 

"Yeah, the constant conditions make it nearly perfect for growing grapes. We don't need more grapes for wine. . ." the three men nod.

 

"The u-pick farms?"

 

"Big enough even with the added business from the ninth planet since they started new fields last year. The berries and apples will take a few years for the new trees and bushes to produce but we've had extra."

 

"Animal planet commercial growing?"

 

"Starting this fall when the students finish university, they're setting up their homes or apartments this spring and summer."

 

"Apartment complex?"

 

"Going up next year, the renovations should be finished about the time we're finishing the sorting planet order." The three men nod in satisfaction.

 

"Josette, your sailing ship?"

 

"I'm picking up another batch of supplies the end of this semester when I come to pick up the supplies for the eleventh planet. David is looking for a good spot to moor the ship and build it with Lee and Harry. If I have to I can build it by the ships."

 

"How are the kids enjoying pre-school?" Dr. McNider asks.

 

"Good, this means they're big kids now." Josette chuckles. "They were kinda upset by not joining the others at the education center but they were doing something their brothers and sisters hadn't, they were taking their classes at home." Everybody chuckles.

 

After lunch Josette heads back to the dorm, absorbing her other selves that had been working, up in her workroom, or taking classes and walking to the dining hall for dinner. After dinner she goes back to her workroom, starting to sketch out ideas for quilts and jotting down a few notes.

 

"Here, look at these will you." She sends the file to Marilyn when she goes to Sue's store the next morning.

 

"Oh these are going to be beautiful Josette, how long have you been working on them?"

 

"I got the inspiration last night." Josette looks around as everybody arrives and starts bringing out the old clothes she'd been saving on the ships, people grabbing items and starting to remove buttons and zippers, sorting the clothes into boxes by color and fabric. Ma Hunkel smiles as she comes into the store, grabbing a shirt and being handed a seam ripper and containers for the buttons and zippers.

 

"Are you cutting them apart?"

 

"Not right now, that happens when the clothes are sold for patchwork quilts. Right now we're just removing everything that can be reused or recycled." Sue says. "Our worn out clothes took a hit year before last with the early winter. Josette had these saved from the other dimension on her ships, we'll sort the clothes out by fabric and color and the boxes will go upstairs."

 

"How do you sell them?"

 

"A bag for five dollars, that's usually enough for a good sized patchwork quilt with your leftovers." The others nod. "Not many people have workrooms in their homes or apartments so they keep everything here." Agatha waves a hand at the wall of shelves and totes.

 

After the boxes are filled Josette flips them upstairs and Sue takes the boxes of zippers and buttons to the counter to sort through as Josette starts walking the aisles, checking the fabric and making notes for her quilts before bringing them over and cutting the fabric. Bar codes are scanned and amounts punched in as Josette gets everything she needs for the projects and pays, flipping the bags to her workroom.

 

"New quilts?"

 

"Yeah, I got the idea last night. Yes, you can use them in kits." Agatha nods in approval as Josette sends her the sketches and plans from last night, plus the fabrics she'd decided on.

 

"Next year Harvest festival?"

 

"Probably, I'll have samples to look over this year.

 

Ma looks the question at Marilyn.

 

"Deadline to have projects for the next years kits is the Harvest Festival, that gives them four or five months to select the kits for the year and get ours together. We generally get together after Thanksgiving to talk about the upcoming years kits and get ours before they're on sale at the stores."

 

"Who do I talk to about socks, hats, gloves, and scarves? I know the factory makes them and there was orders being taken at the festival."

 

"That'd be me." Josette says. "I'd planned on bringing out a supply for the winter after the fourth harvest. The factory will start working on yours in a couple months. We're working on the animal planet order right now."

 

"Thank you. Does anybody make wool socks?"

 

"Almost all the knitters. We don't sell them because they have to be washed by hand. The woolease people can just throw them in the machine." All the knitters in the room nod.

 

Josette joins the others at the dining hall for lunch. David looks at her. "Spent the morning at Sue's. Brought out some of the worn out clothes I'd saved from the other dimension since our stock took a hit a couple years ago. I got the inspiration for some quilts last night so I was choosing fabrics for them, stopped at the hat & gloves factory to see how the animal planet order is coming along. When that's done I'm starting a batch for the ninth planet.

 

"I think I found a spot for the ship."

 

"We can look after lunch."

 

"Perfect, deep enough water to moor it, close enough to swim or paddle out. Room for a building for supplies. Close to the ships."

 

"That was one of my thoughts." David says as they head back to the dorm. The twins look at them. "Perfect spot, the second shipment of framework will be ready by the end of the semester, and I'll start building next year when I get the third shipment this fall.

 

"Eleventh planet?"

 

"Last shipment of supplies after Thanksgiving with people due to head out the first of next year."

 

"When are they growing on the animal planet?"

 

"When the next batch of students finish university this fall. The apartment complex is going out next year, partway through their summer and the work'll be done as we finish with the sorting planet order. That will be enough apartments for everybody from the other dimension with apartments left over to grow on."

 

"How are you on classes?"

 

"I'll be done with the cooking degree by the testing week and start on the chemistry classes. I finished the Flash degree and I'm picking up another semester for the chemical engineering degree. The projects will be on the computer like the electrical engineering ones, I don't think Eureka needs me blowing anything up."

 

"No, that's the scientists job." David snorts.

 

After dinner Josette heads upstairs and starts laying out the fabric for the first quilt, walking her way through planning out blocks, strips, and contrasting fabric for the top. The other quilts go through the same planning steps before Josette starts cutting out the pieces for her first block a couple weeks later.

 

"Get your cooking degree done?" Dr. Stark asks at the second testing week.

 

"Yeah, now I want to get in the chemistry degree." Josette yawns and stretches in her chair. A couple days later she heads to the ninth planet, delivering the shelving and the first offworld harvest outside the empty container. On the planet Josette shakes her head and starts putting together the shelves.

 

"Is this our offworld harvest?" Dr. McNider asks.

 

"Yeah, the first one. I'll bring out your second one before the fourth harvest." She puts the cases of food in the container. "And before you ask, no this isn't all of it. I delivered to Eureka and the others."

 

"Can these be moved?"

 

"Yep, Alexander designed these to be taken apart and moved. I'll tell him what you need when I get back home, if you outgrow these we can make more." Josette grins.

 

Back on Haven Josette heads to the ranch, checking on the livestock and working on the garden and crop plans the rest of the morning. She passes them along to David after lunch and they talk about everything when the others come home from work.

 

"Are you growing cotton this year?"

 

"No, we've got a good stock of it on hand yet. I'll grow corn, squash, and beans first and third harvest and potatoes the second." The others nod. "Next year I'll see what the stocks are before I decide whether to grow again or leave the field fallow for the year."

 

The next day Josette heads to the islands to check on the gardens.

 

"Ripening?"

 

"Give it a couple of weeks."

 

Everything's coming in on the islands by the third testing week and Josette looks at the list of food in stasis and the jars on the shelves in satisfaction before walking to the dining hall for lunch.

 

"Are the crops all in?"

 

"Yeah, everything's dried, canned, or in stasis. I updated the list on our server." Josette says, putting down her tray and sitting down.

 

"We should be able to open the windows for a few hours in a couple weeks." Abby says. The others nod. "Start spring cleaning by washing curtains and airing out the blankets before we put them away for the year."

 

"See what minor repairs need to be done around the dorm and ranch." Alexander says. The others nod again.

 

"We need to paint."

 

More nods. "It's been a few years and while it's not bad it's getting dingy."

 

"And the ships are working on duplicating the colors I showed you."

 

"Those were gorgeous pictures, even being underwater for so long you could see the color pop."

 

"Isn't there that technology that allows the paint to change colors?"

 

"Yeah."

 

"Josette, candy order?"

 

"I'll be picking it up after finals. The toothpaste order will be finished around the Harvest Festival."

 

After lunch Josette heads into town, stopping at the bakery for some doughnuts and then the chocolate store before heading to Agatha's and looking through her library for more patterns.

 

"How is everybody settling onto the ninth planet?"

 

"Good, they've got two harvests in under their belts and I delivered the first of two offworld harvests. A bunch of them are taking classes, they're getting their homes ready for their first winter and making plans on what else they want to bring out, including a tv station, library, and movie theater. Their movies are digital instead of tape. They'd been talking about the conversion when we lost Earth."

 

"They have their own tv station?"

 

"Yeah, two of the newcomers owned television and radio stations, and a third worked for one of them at one of the stations. Between them they had most of the major channels."

 

"I understand they're at war?"

 

"Yeah, the asshole in chief is a megalomaniac, the people who put him in office thought they could control him." Snorts of disgust from the others. "He's not satisfied with the US, he wants the world under his thumb. He's incensed that people are leaving the country and even the planet to get away from him."

 

"Just them?"

 

"No they had ten multi-country colonies planned and when he took over they kicked into high gear. And another group similar to theirs are establishing colonies on the Moon and Mars, and talking about terraforming planet moons." The others look at her. "Their Mars didn't lose their atmosphere, but only a ring in the center of the planet was fertile. There used to be natives, but they died from disease, there was only one survivor who was accidentally transported to Earth. Not even the asshole in Chief could claim Mars or the Moon for the the United states, NASA didn't have space flights anymore and the other countries mothballed theirs rather than let him get his claws on them. So they're safe. Another group live in a pocket dimension and they've cut ties with the outside world. He's declared everybody that left enemies of the state and ordered them arrested or shot when they return."

 

"Because of course they'll come back because he says they will."

 

Josette nods. "And they sheltered everything they'd brought with them when they left. He wanted to take it but the courts wouldn't let him and they boobytrapped it so that if he tried running roughshod over the courts like he tried the constitution, they'd be destroyed along with everything else in the area."

 

"How bad?"

 

"He's already shut down universities, forcing students into the military and jailing the teachers in concentration camps for 'actions against the state'."

 

"Shit, it's the Nazis and the Soviet gulags all over again." One of the women says. The others nod. "He took over the media and outlawed religion. He was sending out attack squads to kidnap whoever he wanted under his control, whether they were originally American or not or targeting people he wanted out of his way and the squads were taken out with extreme prejudice by the other countries. He complained about it and those members that weren't killed felt his wrath when they were returned to him. Prisons have been emptied, they went on the front line of the war. There's no unemployment, everybody's working shifts in the factories for the war effort. . .without pay." The others shake their heads. "He took over Mexico and took out the drug cartels, putting his own people in charge so he's got a steady stream of money coming in. He's allied himself with the countries that have been declared terrorists, we're sure once they're of no use to him he'll take them out too."

 

"And I'm sure their Russia is like ours, they don't want to be involved in the problems until they're attacked, then demand to know why he wasn't stopped." Somebody snorts. The others nod.

 

"Are the colony worlds like ours?"

 

"No, they were like the colony worlds in science fiction, starting out from scratch on worlds that had their own ecosystems. The ships did get delivered to their new planets though before the others moved permanently to their moonbase. I stopped to check on them after Thanksgiving for the others." Shudders from the others.

 

"I can't imagine coming to Haven without what we brought up with us or was already here." One of the women says. The others nod.

 

"Josette, are you growing cotton this year?"

 

"No, not until possibly next year, we've got a good stock of everything."

 

"Shearing on the ninth planet?"

 

"Yeah, they sheared once already and Balaclava says they should have two more before they need to keep their wool for warmth. They're selling to us and I'm using it for wool hats, gloves, scarves, and socks for their winter." The others look at her. "No, I'm not doing it alone, I was going to send out a message after the second shearing. With everybody living in their own homes, they can wash everything by hand and lay it out to dry." Nods from the others.

 

A couple weeks later windows start opening all over Haven to air out buildings that have been closed all winter. Out in the fields Josette fills the manure spreader and starts working the fields, a job that will take a couple of days. Looking over at the others with her telescopic vision, she sees Dad and Pa doing the same thing. The manure is tilled in a few days later and they've planted by the time Josette, Alexander, Michael, and Susan head to GD for the finals.

 

"Have you been working with the others about degrees?"

 

"Yes, except for those schools on Haven or the vampire planet the others will be taking their classes on the computer and taking the tests at their testing center." Dr. Stark says.

 

After her finals Josette heads back to the dorm, absorbing her duplicates before joining the others at the dining hall.

 

"Eleventh planet supplies?"

 

"I'm delivering later this week along with picking up the second batch of extruded wood for the ship and the candy order. Dr. Stark says they have a short list of people for the labs, they're going through all the information right now."

 

"Sorting planet order?"

 

"Going out the same time. Might as well do it all at once. And I'm picking up recycling. Including some of the empty containers from the ninth planet."

 

"Josette?" Courtney asks the next day when the recycling containers empty in front of her eyes.

 

Josette jerks a thumb up at the sky, shorthand for 'it's me again'. "I pick up the recycling on the other planets a couple times a year. Right now it's finals week for the first semester of Haven's schools. I'm off delivering supplies to the eleventh planet, picking up the recycling and. . ." Outside somebody squeaks. "It's me." Josette calls. "I'm picking up the containers that are empty and the recycling on the other planets as I deliver stuff."

 

"Thank you Josette, that's a little startling."

 

"Isn't there laws about crossing your timeline, knowing your future?" Doc asks. He'd been talking with the Doctors and his counterpart that's a Time Lord.

 

Josette makes a yes/no/maybe hand waggle. "I generally pick up recycling after my finals first and third semester, that keeps it from stacking up on the other planets. I knew I'd be delivering the sorting planet order and the supplies for the testing labs. Dr. Cross passed along the news that we needed a pickup of the containers, I figured since I was already here I could pick them up, that's why I put them together as they emptied."

 

"Thank you Josette, what's going to happen to them?"

 

"It's good quality steel, I'll recycle it and put in the supply crystals to be reused as needed. Or use the containers for storage or other uses."

 

"And the recycling?"

 

"Metal goes to the sorting planet, glass goes to the glassblowers on Haven or the glass factory, I smash it for them. Paper goes to the mill on Haven to be recycled into new paper. The rest goes in the recycling bin, being broke down to be reused while the garbage is disintegrated for energy. With the composting and recycling we don't have that much garbage." The others nod.

 

Picking up the candy order Josette starts delivering to the other planets, passing along the payments before landing on Haven and taking the order to the stores. A box goes on the shelf with the rest going in the basement. Back at the dorm she puts her portion of the order in stasis and slides into her seat at the dining hall for lunch.

 

"Get everything done?"

 

"Yeah, candy's at the stores and the other planet's orders were delivered with payments sent to our account. Eleventh planet supplies were dropped off along with the sorting planet order and the ninth planet containers are on the ship. I'll take care of them later." Josette sends the payments from the sorting planet to various places, getting thank yous before she puts her PADD back on her belt.

 

"Flour?"

 

"I dropped some off at the manufacturing satellite for pasta. We were beginning to run low." David nods.

 

"Crackers?"

 

"We'll get a new shipment when I pick up the flour."

 

After lunch Josette goes out to the ranch, standing outside with her eyes closed just enjoying the warmth of the sun. It's quiet on the ranch, just the sound of the animals. After a few minutes Josette checks on the livestock and heads back inside, heading to Assyrian to talk to the teachers about what cooking degree to go for next.

 

"Animal planet order?" David asks at dinner.

 

"Delivering it in a couple of weeks. Then we'll start working on the ninth planet order."

 

"Everybody else has good stocks of winter clothes ahead." The others nod.

 

After dinner Josette goes back to her workroom, laying out the strips for the first quilt top and starting to pin them together before she goes to the sewing machine.

 

"Are you taking classes over the break?" Alan asks at breakfast the next morning.

 

"Yeah, I'm planning on finishing the first year for the comics based on tv shows degree, it's the second of two degrees and finishing the second year of Nixon and Watergate from the history school." Josette snorts. "I'm sure there'll be plenty of books on the problems in the other dimension if they survive." She pushes the morbid thoughts out of her head.

 

After breakfast Josette, David, and Dad Sanders talk about the plans they have for the dorm. Dad and David shake their heads at a few things but when Josette explains her reasoning, they nod in agreement. They're sitting down in the living room when everything begins changing around them.

 

"Thank you." Josette and David call to the empty air.

 

"Welcome." a number of voices chuckle.

 

"Josette, did you sign up for your chemistry Masters?"

 

"Yeah, since it's a new Masters it's a full four years."

 

"Herbal medicine?"

 

"I gotta pick up a second bachelors, Johns Hopkins doesn't offer a Masters in it and the classes don't transfer."

 

"And you're devastated at having to take more classes." David snorts. Josette flips him off with a grin. "You know if we still had Earth somebody would be trying to push daylight savings time down our throat."

 

Mom snorts as she comes through the tesseract. "That was foolishness invented by some man to cause trouble. The nonsense that it gives farmers another hour of daylight in the fields is just that . . .nonsense."

 

Ma comes through behind her, nodding vigorously. "Real farmers don't work by the clock, they work sunup to sundown when the crops are ripening." Everybody nods. "How is the ninth planet handling time?"

 

"Morning hours, midday hours, afternoon hours, evening hours, and night hours. Since most of the planets have variations on the twelve hour clock, we haven't had to change it. Though GD is working on clocks. Adjusting the clockworks to the longer days and weeks will be the hardest part."

 

A twinkling in the corner of the living room is revealed to be a new grandfather clock. Josette's PADD starts beeping and she looks at the files being sent. "Thanks you Lord Hephaestus."

 

"Nice."

 

Josette grins and sends the files along to everybody who'd be interested, James looks at her and she sends it to him too.

 

"Thank you Josette."

 

"Is this the only clock?"

 

"No, there's fifteen more in the dorm."

 

"Electrical?

 

"Mixture, electrical and the ones that need to be wound."

 

James looks back at the list they'd been working on, marking off items and they start talking about what they'd planned on doing.

 

"Is this some of the stuff Headquarters has?"

 

"Yes, and we've been talking about adding them to the others." Josette's eyes grow dark a moment before she shoves herself away from the bad thoughts of what might be.

 

After lunch Josette heads upstairs to finish putting together the strips for the first quilt top, adding the strips of contrasting fabric and looking at her PADD.

 

"Good." She says when she sees Agatha and Sue talking behind the counter. She lays the top out on the table then brings out the back and binding she'd planned on using.

 

"Oh, that's beautiful." Agatha says. "But . . ."

 

"Yeah, it doesn't seem quite finished." Josette says. "I held it up when I had everything put together and it just felt wrong." They start bringing out contrasting fabrics, finally settling on a different back and binding.

 

"Not the first time this has happened." Agatha says as she's rung up.

 

"Won't be the last either and I can use the other for another project."

 

David looks at her when she slides into her seat at dinner.

 

"I was working on my quilt top and it didn't feel done. Sue and Agatha helped me select a new back and binding."

 

Frances nods on the front screen. "Had that happen many a times. And your other fabric won't go to waste."

 

This time it's Josette's turn to nod on the screen.

 

"How's your thesis coming along?" She asks Susan.

 

"Good, I'll be presenting it sometime this summer. Be nice to get the degree finished."

 

A few weeks later Josette and David are working in the fields, bringing in the early crops.

 

"When are you taking in the corn and wheat for the ninth planet?" David asks at breakfast they day after they've got everything in.

 

"After their third harvest, that way the flour and cornmeal is ready as it's beginning to turn cool."

 

"Grits?" Alan asks.

 

"Not this year, maybe that and oats next year."

 

"Are you growing chickpeas this harvest?"

 

"Yeah, we're running low on flour."

 

"Did you sign up for your Masters?"

 

"Yeah, I'm taking two classes in a couple of weeks."

 

"What's the latest on the sugar beets?"

 

"We might be growing them next year, Marilyn's been working with the manufacturing satellite and the flour factory on how to turn them into sugar."

 

"How many classes are you getting in this semester?"

 

"25 with the two Masters classes." Back at the dorm Josette continues working on the second quilt top. The yearly crops start coming in on the first planet and Haven and Josette is busy with everything, dropping into her chair at dinner one day.

 

"Is everything in now?"

 

"Yes, thank you Gods and Goddesses." She sighs, looking at the tray Anna sits in front of her.

 

"Yawm, yawm, yawm Atlantis, open your mouth for the puddlejumper." Abby sniggers. Josette rolls her eyes and takes the spoon.

 

"Do you have the wine and olive oil finished?"

 

"Yes for both planets, I'll start delivering tomorrow."

 

"Did the others get a lot at the commercial farms?"

 

"Oh yes, they've got the tables full of stuff drying and being put in stasis." Josette yawns. After dinner Josette heads upstairs to her workroom, working on putting together the layers of her second quilt and putting it in the box with the others, the binding on top before sorting out the fabric for the third.

 

The next morning Josette starts delivering the orders, coming back to find the first of the offworld harvests being offloaded by her other self. Checking on everything in town Josette heads back to the dorm.

 

"Get everything delivered?"

 

"Yeah, we'll have more of the oil available at the Harvest Festival." Josette stretches and yawns.

 

"Did you deliver the wheat and corn for the ninth planet to the manufacturing satellite and sorting planet?"

 

"Yeah, I'll pick it up when I drop off the socks and other stuff."

 

"Second offworld harvest for them?

 

"I'm delivering it after the Harvest Festival."

 

"Are they settled in for the winter?"

 

"They're getting there. Their homes are all set for the winter and all the buildings have solar panels. The alternate energy isn't big enough to handle all the buildings yet, but they can use it to recharge batteries."

 

"How many buildings besides their Eureka has alternate energy?"

 

"JSA Headquarters, Dr. Cross's home, and Headquarters. All three are heavy power usages like the dorm and have medical facilities. I'm sure more will be added when they bring out more stuff next year."

 

"Did you plant offworld harvests for them this year?"

 

"Not with the year so wonky, I'll start again next year." The others nod.

 

Josette's party comes a few days later, their visitors taking home bottles of wine, olive oil, and other food.

 

"Did you plant the grape vines for eating?" David asks when she slides into her seat after delivering the toothpaste order after the Harvest Festival.

 

"Yeah, we won't have a harvest until the year after next but. . ." the others nod.

 

"Did you get in classes over the break?"

 

"Yeah, I'm starting the second degree for the Green Lantern from the comic book school. The first one was the golden age comics, the second was the silver age, and the third will be the comics about other characters. I also started the second year for the villains as the main characters degree from the sosh school."

 

"Chemistry Masters?"

 

"I'll be four classes in next semester."

 

After the meeting Josette heads to the bakery, buying some doughnuts and then the sandwich building, moving the orders for the sorting planet to Aztec before heading to the dorm.

 

"Pick up everything?" David asks at lunch.

 

"Yeah, I'll deliver everything after lunch. I'll deliver the second offworld harvest for the ninth planet and pick up the flour, taking part of it to the pasta factory."

 

"Offworld harvests?" Abby asks.

 

"Picking up again tomorrow now that the festival's over."

 

After lunch Josette heads off, talking with Aztec as they fly to the sorting planet. Josette spends a few days delivering everything to the apartments after picking up the flour, delivering part of it to the pasta factory. Her next stop is the ninth planet, delivering the offworld harvest to various places and picking up more empty containers.

 

"Get everything taken care of?" David asks at dinner.

 

"Yep, the rest of the flour is at the store, the pasta and rice noodles should be finished around the Lights Festival. The payments are with Hank and the others."

 

"Sorting planet stuff?"

 

"Taking that up at finals. They'll be finished by Harvest Festival next year." Nods from the others.

 

"How are you on your quilts?"

 

"I've got two of them ready for quilting and I'll have the third top finished by our third testing week, I'd just been putting them aside after I had them basted."

 

The next day the new semester starts and Josette splits off duplicates before breakfast to start her classes and work in town. Back at the dorm she grabs the box with her two quilts and heads upstairs to the quilting machine in her studio, stopping to join the others at lunch.

 

"How are you coming along?"

 

"Okay," Josette looks at the screens of the other buildings and dining rooms. "The tables are getting empty again."

 

"Going to be even more empty when more students leave after Thanksgiving." Anna says. "Going to be just us again after the school closes, they might turn the extra rooms back into restaurants again." She pushes David out of his chair. "No, that's not an excuse to knock us up again."

 

Josette smirks. "They're talking about children on the ninth planet, they have their own gestation chambers and brought out genetic material from the other dimension." The others smile. "It probably won't be until next year at the earliest, they want to get settled in and they've been concentrating on getting their homes ready for winter."

 

"Are you still there?"

 

"Until the end of next week. First testing week I'm going to be taking out their flour and cornmeal and the socks, sweaters, hats, gloves, and scarves. Both from the factory and the ones the knitters in town have been working on from their fleeces. They'll just be beginning to turn cold them but they won't see snow for a while."

 

"What are you taking this semester?"

 

"Starting the second year for the chemical engineering degree, starting the second degree on the Flash, and starting the second cooking degree. That will put me 28 classes in this semester, I might pick up three classes from Oxford for the herbal medicine or art history degree."

 

"Don't you already have one of those?" Abby asks.

 

"Yes, and it was boring ass shit but Mom's been nagging." Sniggering from the others. "And Johns Hopkins doesn't have a Masters and doctorate in herbal medicine like Oxford medical school does."

 

David plays an imaginary violin. Abby shoves him out of his chair. "I was closer." She says at his fake hurt look. Josette cackles.

 

Upstairs after lunch Josette starts setting up the loom in her new new newly enlarged workroom.

 

"Tell me you don't do all your cloth by hand." A voice sighs behind her. Josette looks over her shoulder and grins at Ninth planet Dr. Cross and Billy. "No, I purchased the business of a Canadian supplier before we came up to Haven, that's one of the reasons I won the bid. . .I had plans for the future and the others were. . .I can sell this, and this, and this. He was divorcing his cheating wife and selling the business with the court's blessing so she didn't get a dime from it. He didn't have family to pass it along to, testicular cancer when he was younger and it had come back and spread." Dr. Cross sighs. "He made and painted his own fabric, the machines handle the fabric for Haven, I use the loom for special projects. I could use the machinery for this but I've got a project in mind and working with my hands relaxes me."

 

"Can I look at your medical unit?"

 

"Sure." They head upstairs, Dr. Cross nodding in satisfaction. "How many operating rooms do you have on Haven?"

 

"One here, one at Headquarters, two at the Empire State Buildings, one at Buckaroo's Institute. One at Clark's fortress. One in the vets building, and one in the medical unit in town. The ships all have complete medical facilities. Thankfully we haven't needed one for an emergency yet, all scheduled surgery is performed at GD."

 

Dr. Cross and Billy head back to the ninth planet after dinner and Josette finishes setting up her loom.

 

A few weeks later after Josette's first set of tests she heads to the growing area to harvest the cranberries, putting them in various brines before being dried, drying them on the racks, or putting them in stasis. The larger crop was likewise handled, most of it going for chutneys and sauces for the winter as well as being dried.

 

"I was wondering if anybody grew these." Dr. McNider says coming over.

 

"Yeah, this is our original bed, we've got a field of them outside of Town." Josette looks over her shoulder as she puts the cover down on the tray. "President Bartlett asked about them first, once we introduced them people realized there was more to cranberries than that 'glop' that comes in the cans at Thanksgiving. Part of the harvest is dried, some of it's flavored before it's dried for bags of snacks, some is made into sauces and chutneys, and the rest plopped into stasis for later use."

 

"Peanuts?"

 

"We only grow them in hydroponics right now, that way we can harvest when we want to." The botanist from GD on the ninth planet nods. "We've had the question on the server if anybody wanted a larger crop, but people don't stop to think of everything peanuts is used for besides eating and peanut butter."

 

"How many hydroponic units do you have?"

 

"Three, not counting the aquaponics units. One here, one at the school, and one in our home. That doesn't count the small test aquaponics unit." Josette stops at the bakery and gets a bagful of doughnuts before heading to the school, the botanist whimpering as she takes them upstairs.

 

"How often do you grow?" She looks at the units and the list of food they normally grow.

 

"Usually every fall, we start our crops after Thanksgiving, Town and the school have more people to feed so they plant their growing areas after the the last harvest so they have it sooner. Every few years we don't plant so the ground can recover, planting on the island, my ships, or the satellite instead. The last time I grew on the satellite, I grew some crops we normally don't, including other types of lettuce."

 

"Is the school's this big?"

 

"Now it is, ours was bigger originally but we were meant to be completely self-sufficient while the school's was meant to grow. If we want to enlarge we'd have to add new areas. That's not that hard, we've got all the machinery and the room. . ., we just don't need it right now." Dad nods as they come downstairs, he's talking with an engineer from GD about the additions to the dorm.

 

"Your tests?"

 

"I generally finish mine for the online classes within a day the first testing week. Susan, Alexander, and Michael should be coming back. . ." The alarm on the switching station beeps and they walk out. "Any time." She looks at the boys. "Are you going to be working on the orders this week?" Josette wasn't but that didn't mean anything.

 

"No, Hank told us to take the rest of the week off, we're still on schedule." Michael says. They head to their studio for a couple hours before dinner.

 

"David's taking all his classes on Teacher so he takes his tests here."

 

"How far is David in his degrees?" Dad asks.

 

"Six semesters into his two Masters this semester and seven for his bachelors."

 

"What's he going for?" Dr. McNider asks despite himself. He knows David's got a sense of mischief a mile wide.

 

"His bachelor's in comic books, number seven for him. I can't say anything I've already taken the degrees he has and more besides. His Masters are in literature--specializing in comic books and Mechanical Engineering. Susan's finishing her last semester for a Masters in office administration, specializing in politics, and the boys are going to be three semesters into their masters in comic books, other degrees than David is though it's the same school."

 

"Three different comic book Masters?" The botanist blinks.

 

"And Josette's already taken them and the doctorate that goes with them." James snorts. Josette laughs. "I have. The degrees can't all be serious and the history, sosh, and lit degrees work for my librarian job."

 

"How far are you in your chem masters?"

 

"Four classes this semester, Johns Hopkins I haven't taken a masters from yet so it's the full four years."

 

David comes out of his room and plays the world's smallest violin. "You done with your classes for the day?" David, who's busy stretching and yawning, nods. "Are we expecting rain? I've been yawning all afternoon."

 

"Not that I heard but not the first time we've had a storm come in from the other direction the probes haven't forecast yet. Course could just be laziness when it comes to you."

 

"Ha ha ha." David snorts as his father laughs. "So Droll." He heads outside to get in some fresh air and sunshine. He grabs a leash and whistles, one of the dogs coming up for a walk.

 

"Are you taking toilet paper, towels, canning supplies, and light bulbs to the sorting planet apartments finals?" Alexander asks, leaning around the door to the boys studio.

 

"Yeah, they'll be finished with their orders by Harvest Festival next year." Alexander nods and heads back into his studio.

 

"Are we still on track to bring out the apartments?"

 

"Yep, we'll be finished with all the work by the time you're finishing with the orders for the sorting planet apartments."

 

"And that with the other apartments will be enough housing for all the students plus room to grow."

 

After dinner Dr. McNider and the botanist head back to the ninth planet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Josette fills her plate with sandwiches, pizza slices, and other assorted food brought to the store by everybody, opening a bottle of pop as she settles in a spot on the floor as everybody talks about how things had went that year before the kits start to be handed out and talked about while they eat. Once everybody's had their fill the cookies that everybody had made to pass around as gifts are passed around along with the leftovers and Josette flips her stuff to the dorm as she helps clean dishes, pots, pans, and slowcookers in the kitchen that Agatha had had added to the Albatross Nest.

 

"Josette, how are you coming along on your quilts?" Josette waves a hand and they appear on the table.

 

"Oh Josette, they're gorgeous." Sue says. The others gather around the tables and nod. "They'll be perfect in the kits."

 

"I've got the pictures and patterns for these three." Josette sends that information to Agatha who nods thanks. "And I'll have the others ready by next Harvest Festival."

 

"I wouldn't have thought about this backing or binding." Lynda says at the first quilt.

 

"Neither did I, but when I assembled the top it didn't feel finished."

 

Agatha nods. "She brought it to Sue's and we felt the same way after looking at the backing and binding she'd selected."

 

"And I've already got a quilt half-way planned out for the others." Josette says. "That's how they come." Everybody in the room nods, they've all had runs like that. "Feast or Famine."

 

"How is everybody settling in for their first winter on the ninth planet?"

 

"Good, their furnaces were all inspected this year and any work that the buildings needed before winter was handled. They've got in stockpiles of the fake wood and stoves to keep warm during storms when their solar panels are covered and the batteries are dead. The high power usage buildings have the alternative energy source and they can charge their batteries there if there's an extended storm."

 

"Are they talking children?"

 

"Yes, now that they're settled in. They have gestation chambers and banks of genetic material from the other dimension."

 

"And if things get better over there."

 

"They're still staying. The various governments of their Earth have a lot to make up for, they threw a lot of people under the bus trying to placate a megalomaniac and it didn't work. Even they're not stupid enough to think that they'll come back if they say sorry. They might come back to help clean up the mess but they'd leave again, Earth has to sink or swim on their own."

 

"Cynic in me says serves them right, they made the mess now they can deal with it. Just like how the government ignored the 'friends' of humanity until the fucking rockets entered the atmosphere and people realized what they'd done." Somebody says. More than one person nods. Everybody starts heading to their homes, Josette joining the others at the dining hall for lunch.

 

"Good meeting?"

 

"Yeah, we talked about this year and next year's kits, everybody liked my quilts and I passed along the files for the three I had done to Agatha. We've got everything we need to head to the first planet after lunch for a few days."

 

"Are you planting there next year?"

 

"Yeah, and I want to spend some time in the fortress and on the satellite." After hugging the kids they head to Brigadoon, settling in the huts and changing their clothes. Walking down to the beach, they go for a swim in the warm water. Laying on the sand they start making love as the sun goes down.

 

 

 

"The grapes are looking good." Alan says, looking at the new vines when they head to the growing area a few days later.

 

"Are the beds large enough for the ninth planet too?" Alexander looks at the raised bed forms.

 

"Yeah, they don't look it but they're twice as big as they were."

 

"How was the first planet?" Pat asks when they come back an hour later.

 

"Better than here, we're going to have a storm and it's going to be a doozy." Josette says, her eyes growing dark a second. The others spring into action. David grabs his PADD as the boys head for the ranch and Susan heads to the basement. "How long?"

 

"Three weeks, we'll be socked in for two of them." David starts sending out messages. Meanwhile, Doc and Dr. Cross from the ninth planet are looking at everybody.

 

"Josette's got a touch of weather magic." Pat says chuckling. "It gives us a few hours notice when we get an unexpected storm coming in from the other direction. . .before the probes that way pick it up. How long?"

 

"Snow by morning, expect a good six feet by the time the storm blows through." Josette blinks, her eyes returning to normal.

 

"Well we've all got supplies in for the winter and the orders for the sorting planet are finished for the year." Anna sighs.

 

Doc looks at them. Pat chuckles. "The boys are off to the ranch to get the livestock in the barns, put out food for them and make sure the automatic feeders have enough food in them for the three weeks Josette said. The cleaners will take care of them. David sent the message to everybody as an emergency announcement letting them know of the storm. All non-essential businesses will start shutting down as people start getting in supplies and start charging batteries."

 

"This early in the winter everybody will have good supplies of food in, they'll be busy getting in candles and charging extra batteries. Susan just went downstairs to take out one of the charged batteries in the pack and put in an extra to charge."

 

"Thankfully all the students and floor monitors who were moving are settled in their new homes. And they know enough about bad winters to get in supplies before they moved."

 

"And we don't have to start the commercial farming on the animal planet right away."

 

"How do you handle storms like that?"

 

"Everybody at the school uses the tunnels to get around. We try to open the doors every few hours to keep them from being blocked but sometimes it can't be helped." Abby says. "We have a place upstairs for the dogs if they can't get out, every building has a place set up for that."

 

"Everything in Town but the school will be shut down by nightfall. Once the storm passes we'll start digging out. How are Clarinda and the others settling in on their world with the problems they had with the that world's government?"

 

"Good, they've been 'banned' from returning there but since everybody knows the truth of what happened that world is the laughing stock of the United Planets. Like any government caught in wrongdoing, blame the people who saved your asses instead of pulling on your big boy pants and take responsibility for your own actions." Ninth planet Doc and Dr. Cross nod. "There's sanctions against the planet and their demands the Legion be disbanded and face charges on their world was laughed out of the interplanetary courts. They're facing charges of terrorism and plotting attacks so they're frantically trying to shove the blame on anybody else they can and still stay in power."

 

"Did the Legionnaires own planets try to recall them?"

 

"Can't, once they took over their own world they became citizens of Legion World first and the other worlds second. That keeps worlds from recalling members of the Legion and trying to make the Legion accept others in their places."

 

"Has that happened?"

 

"Once. She came in all big man on campus and the others quickly put her in her place. He ended up returning and she stayed on to learn what being a hero really was, it wasn't powers it was who you were. The government who'd been sending people to the Legion got its ass kicked in the media when one of the youngsters died in battle because he was depending on technology that failed at the wrong moment. The young man the government had put in charge of the team for that battle gave the position back to the man it really belonged to and it made them stronger. The government official who'd tried to control the team lost her job, was arrested for trying to kill people, and was sentenced to the rest of her life in the same prison cell she'd stuck Brainy in because his time platform might undo everything she'd created, including the war she'd created to make herself the big hero."

 

Susan comes up from the basement as the boys come back from the ranch. Mom and Ma use the tesseract to get in extra supplies and Josette heads off with them to put everything in subspace. They come back a couple hours later and Josette delivers their orders back at the houses.

 

The computer starts beeping as they're getting ready for dinner and David checks it. "The probes are just beginning to pick up the leading edge of the storm."

 

After dinner it's beginning to get dark and Doc nods as he and Dr. Cross head off to the ninth planet.

 

"I'm glad they had a little warning, though I've never heard of weather magic."

 

"I have, it's rather rare." Dr. McNider says when they come into the JSA headquarters. "What's going on? You were expected back a few hours ago."

 

"Haven's got a storm coming in that looks to dump six feet of snow on them over the next two weeks. Josette knew the storm was coming in before the probes of the weather satellite alerted them to the storm. It was just after dinner but growing dark when we left."

 

Dr. McNider nods. "That's generally how weather magic works. It's not a really useful gift except on worlds like this where you're growing your own food or need a heads up on foul weather. The experts think that it was more common back in the days before industry became common and everybody grew their own food."

 

"I didn't know Josette was magical." Charles Savage frowns. "Are they going to be okay?"

 

"Yes, once Josette announced the storm they all jumped into action. David put the announcement on the server as an emergency announcement so everybody would be listening while the boys headed to the ranch to get the livestock in the barns, put down food and program the automatic feeders and cleaners to handle the next three weeks. Susan put a extra battery in the system to charge and non-essential businesses on Haven started shutting down. Once everybody had gotten supplies in the pizza parlors, sandwich place, bakery, and store were going to shut down."

 

"The barns in town?"

 

"The same system as the ranch, the animals inside and the automatic feeders handling everything until they can get out again. When they had shelter animals in the other buildings they did the same thing, but all the animals have been adopted over the years. Once the storm starts, the only thing open will be the school and they'll be using the tunnels until the storm is over."

 

"This early in their winter they have plenty of food."

 

Dr. Cross nods. "Martha and Alice came into town when we were there to stock up on last minute supplies."

 

"How do they handle supplies?"

 

"They've got root cellars for stuff like potatoes, onions, and other vegetables. More are up in the attic or an empty room dried on strings." Everybody nods, they'd done that as well. "They have bags of bulk foods open in barrels."

 

"Makes sense, unless you live right in town where you can get to the store regularly you'd need the bigger bags of supplies."

 

"They usually come to the dorm a couple times a month to get out of the house, talk to the kids. Depending on what Martha's working on she'll at least look at the pictures of the kits from the stores, she might buy one but more often she works on her own."

 

"Alice?"

 

"Never was one to sit down and do that kind of stuff, though she's a regular in Agatha's store. Both on Earth and Haven when Albatross came up. Her family gave her stuff that she gratefully passed along to Josette when she became interested in textiles, she was more than happy to get it out of the attic. She worked at the Albatross store when she needed extra money, even with the kids paying for their own schooling it was tight with only Andrew working full time on Earth. When the kids were in university or working they all got together to pay for the first of two or three additions to the farm before they left, including the solar panels, adding the septic unit, and getting them off propane before the move."

 

The next morning on Haven it's snowing heavily when Josette gets up and she checks the weather report before dressing and joining the others in the walk through the tunnels to the dining hall.

 

"Have they had their first snow on the ninth planet?"

 

"Yes, though not one that's stuck yet. I expect they'll have see snow that stays by the Lights Festival."

 

"Did they stock up on ornaments at the glass store?"

 

"Yes, and there's at least one tree in every building they either live in or spend any amount of time in. They haven't gone as far as decorating them with lights like we do but . . ."

 

"They're settling in."

 

"After the last few years on their Earth they're relaxing and looking towards the future. The crops are in, the houses are ready for winter, and they have the time to think about what they want to do next."

 

Everybody nods. After breakfast Josette heads upstairs and starts looking through the kits that she'd got at the store then starts working on her current quilt. The next couple of weeks pass quickly and one morning she looks outside to find the storm's over and shoves open the doors. After breakfast the boys start clearing the paths at the dorm and ranch, Josette cleaning solar panels on the other continent, the school, and in town before flying back to the dorm. She comes into the building to find the switching station operating.

 

"We thought the storm would be ending soon." Doc says. He looks out the sliding glass door, shaking his head at the snow partway up the glass.

 

"Yeah, it cleared up this morning, maintenance is busy clearing paths between the buildings, we're busy clearing paths to the barns for the livestock."

 

"Will this delay the Lights Festival?"

 

"Nope, not the first time we've dug out from a massive storm just in time for the festival. Crews of people in town are clearing the streets and areas set up for the festival."

 

"Solar panels?"

 

"Already being cleared." Susan comes down from brushing off the solar panels, hanging up her outside clothes in the front of the dorm. The push broom is put up until it's needed again.

 

"You use a broom on the panels?'

 

"Only to clean them of light snow after the heavy stuff was removed." Josette says, chuckling. She checks the solar panel readout on her PADD. "Batteries charging?" Susan asks, looking over her shoulder on the way to her room.

 

"Yeah. Need me to take your books upstairs?"

 

"Already did it."

 

"Books?"

 

"Once we finish a degree, we take the books upstairs." Josette leads the way upstairs. "This was the original school library, only three floors and the computers took up the third. When I started working in the library we started running out of room and built the computer building and new library, incorporating the old one into the dorm. First it was our high school texts, then as Dr. Blake 'talked' to us about additional degrees our university books. This way they're close if we need to look something up or use them as references in our papers but they're not in our rooms." Both men nod. "We've been adding to it over the years when we added onto the dorm."

 

"Oh good lord." Doc looks at the addition for Josette. She rolls her eyes. "Yes, I've got my books separated out by school, then area of interest, and finally degree."

 

"Your degrees are up here too?" Doc looks at Josette, there's not one diploma on the walls for her. She sighs and opens a door, the lights coming on.

 

"Oh good lord." Dr. McNider breathes. There's framed diplomas covering the walls. They walk into the building, it's certainly not a room.

 

"Like the books, separated by school and area. The second floor are the degrees from Clark's dimension."

 

"How many?"

 

"Over three hundred and fifty bachelors, about forty-five Masters, and not quite thirty doctorates. That's between the two dimensions. Not all the degrees are here, I've got six bachelors finished since our last graduation ceremony at GD. That was just before you arrived."

 

"Are you taking classes right now?"

 

"Not over the winter break, I stopped taking classes over every break nearly thirty years ago. I pick up classes over the other breaks though. The others don't take classes over the summer, I do, a leftover from the old school year where I was finishing years."

 

"Josette, did you get the last batch of plastic for the ship frame?" David asks when she comes downstairs.

 

"Yes, when I picked up the last batch of supplies for the eleventh planet labs. I'll start working on it in a bit."

 

"Ship frame?" Josette brings out the plans, sending them to their PADDS.

 

"This is magnificent. Extruded plastic made to look like wood?"

 

"Yep, that way the old growth forests stay old growth. And the plastic is stronger than wood in some cases."

 

"A solar impeller to move you to supplement the sails."

 

"Yep, that way if the wind fails us we're not stranded. Radio to keep in contact with Town in case we're needed home early."

 

Dr. McNider looks at the classroom they'd set up in the dorm. "Room for up to twenty students?"

 

"In this room, there's a second one for when we've got kids in two different grades." Josette sends him the plans for the room. "Thank you Josette, we'll have need of it in a few years."

 

"Awww. Which one?"

 

"Kara and Rick have agreed to become pregnant over the winter. Rick is, we're still waiting to see on Kara. And they'll have friends and family their age since there's at least five children in the gestation chambers."

 

"Does the school have a power generation building?"

 

"No, but we have one in the dorm, it's a copy of the one the school built out by the road on Earth when the power problems started on Earth. The second building in town is another copy we brought out."

 

"Is it self-contained?"

 

"No, it sent power to the grid, it had to be taken off propane for the furnace, hot water heaters, and the kitchen for the cafe/juice bar, and it had to have a septic unit for the showers and toilets." Josette finds the file on all the alterations they'd done bringing out the power production buildings and sends it to Dr. McNider before taking them to the building in the dorm.

 

"Thank you Josette." They look around. "We shouldn't need one of these for a couple of years." Josette nods. "Not with everybody having solar panels in their homes. We built the first one since not all the dorms and houses were going to have solar panels."

 

"What are your laundry facilities?" Dr. McNider asks, then moans at the two areas they're shown to. "David and I had been to'ing and fro'ing about this one for a while, we'd needed to enlarge our personal laundry facilities but if we did we'd have to enlarge the sewage unit, ours was the first one at the school and intended as a test. It hadn't been upgraded like the others." The other two men nod. "Clark's got this one at his Headquarters, they needed extra machines and David showed them this. It was originally a 'u drop off, we wash' place so it wasn't set up for keys or coins, that's something we had to work on when we brought out the other laundries."

 

"How is it handled now?"

 

"The laundries in town the machines are unlocked, you tell whoever's on duty how many machines you're using and the money's taken off your card. At the school they take the card directly."

 

"Did you upgrade your septic?"

 

"Added a second big mack Daddy top of the line unit. That will last us for centuries. Then we upgraded the original unit once it was offline." Doc nods.

 

"You won't be dug out today." Doc says, picking up a handful of snow.

 

"No, this is wet heavy stuff. Forget shovels, even the snowblowers will take a couple of days to get everything cleared, that's why we added another week of supplies to the feeders. Gives us a few days to dig out."

 

"That makes sense."

 

"Do you normally get this wet, heavy snow?"

 

"No, only in storms that come from the other direction. Usually it's light fluffy stuff that while heavy when it's on the ground can be handled in a couple hours with the shovels and snowblowers."

 

"Is the storm over on Haven?" Charles asks when they return to the ninth planet.

 

"Yes, and they're already clearing the solar panels and starting to dig out. It's wet heavy snow, even with the snowblowers it will be a couple days before they're all dug out. But they say the Lights Festival won't be affected."

 

Archimedes Dr. Stark nods. "They've had experience with storms coming in after Thanksgiving. This isn't the first year they've had a storm blow in after Thanksgiving, it's not even the first storm that blew in from that direction that's socked them in for a couple weeks."

 

Josette heads up to her workroom after lunch, working on the quilt top until dinner.

 

"How are you coming on your quilt?"

 

"I'm nearly done with the top, I should have it put together and quilted by the Lights Festival."

 

A couple days later Josette goes to the pizza parlor in the dorm, putting the pizzas in her stasis unit an hour later after eating several pieces.

 

"Get your quilt finished?" David asks as they walk the streets for the Lights Festival.

 

"All but the binding."

 

"Have we thought about flash freezing vegetables?" Alan asks as they come up to Ma and Mom.

 

"Like the canning factory, we don't grow large enough crops to need them." Overhearing the question, the two older women nod. "Canning we can put the food anywhere, we'd need a large scale freezer to store the frozen vegetables until they were delivered."

 

"So does this mean you have one in the dorm?" David smirks.

 

"Maybe."

 

Courtney takes a deep breath and smiles as she looks around.

 

"Nice and peaceful." Billy nods. "What Christmas was like before all the hustle and bustle . . ."

 

"And the damn ads for the latest hottest gotta have it electronic thing." Andrew snorts as he walks past. Everybody nods. "This is the ending of one year and the dawning on the next, a time to reflect on what happened and plan for the future, whether it's the crops you want to grow, buildings you want to put up or children."

 

"Really?" Josette says, coming up to them. Andrew reaches over and pulls up her hood.

 

"Yes, Alissa and Arissa are going to be teenagers in a couple of years and we're not getting any younger." Josette cackles.

 

"I expect David will be getting the call he's going to be a big brother again soon." Andrew nods. "Hannah's only a year younger than Alissa and Arissa."

 

Rick and Kara look down at their stomachs, just beginning to pooch out with the life growing in them. Josette hugs them, sending the file of herbal remedies safe for pregnancies, and heads off.

 

"Josette, maple syrup?" Andrew calls after her as the three doctors in the group look over the remedies.

 

"Yeah, I'm tapping this year, we're down to the replicated and stuff from stasis. And I'm growing sugar beets again."

 

"Animal planet apartments?"

 

"Going up finals, that gives them a little over a year to work on it both inside and out and it will be done next year around the same time we're finished with the sorting planet order."

 

"Supplies?"

 

"I'll start bringing them in in a few months. This year and next I'll grow cotton offplanet for Haven's towel factory order, two crops will be enough for that plus extra for towels that are wearing thin on the planets."

 

"What do you do with the worn out ones?"

 

"I shred the cotton and add it to my hand-made paper, the boys and I have shows in the other dimension we head to a couple times a year. The family insisted."

 

"Did you bring out one of their buildings?"

 

"Yes on the first planet, my fortress robots are handling everything." Josette grabs a bowl of paella that's being dished up.

 

"Cities?"

 

"They have megaskyscrapers, 200 floors that are basically self-contained cities. Hospitals, factories, shopping malls, hotels, whatever you need. They also have maglev trains that can go from Boston to say Chicago in twenty minutes and overseas in a couple hours." Andrew says. Everybody blinks or moans. "Their dimension lost about 85 to 95 percent of their population after WWII, their New York has one of the mega cities but they only have about 50,000 people living there. The others are very big in the government there."

 

"I can see that happening on one hand, if it's self-contained foul weather wouldn't keep anybody home." Andrew nods. "But you could also go days without being outside."

 

"Which is why everybody went outside as much as possible, with the trains there wasn't cars except for city vehicles and there were small markets set up every few blocks. Parks and other green areas were well taken care of and everybody went there when they had the time. The others had homes outside of the city to go to when they needed a break from the city."

 

"I can understand that." Dr. Cross sighs. Andrew smiles. "Sometimes you just have to get away from it all for a few hours. Even on Haven. And sometimes you just have to get out of the house and be around others."

 

Nods from the others.

 

"Even if most of Town did have the room to work on their quilts at home, everybody would gather around the stores to talk or expand their knowledge with classes." Josette says coming over. "No matter how long you've been knitting or quilting, you can always brush up on your technique or learn something new."

 

"That's what they do in Albatross and everybody has their own workrooms at home there." Andrew says. Josette nods.

 

"Josette are you growing on the first planet?"

 

"Yeah, I need to check the records to see what I'm running low on before I go out."

 

"Chipilotes." Principal Madison says, walking by them.

 

"Already on the list to grow and smoke. GD is experimenting with canning them in adobo sauce as well as just drying them like I am now. I'm going to be talking to Benton in a few months to see what cheese he wants to smoke while I got the smokehouse going."

 

"Chipilotes?"

 

"Dried, smoked jalapenos."

 

"Fish?"

 

"I was going to check the supplies before our meeting and bring that up."

 

"Chicken?"

 

"They're working on recipes in home kitchens, now that dining halls are closing I was going to bring up the possibility of letting them use a commercial kitchen to see if a chicken place would be possible beyond the replicator. If it is I don't see why they couldn't turn one of the dining halls into one." Principal Madison nods and walks off.

 

"Chicken place?" Nora asks.

 

"They've wanted one beyond KFC for several years, as long as we've had the pizza parlor in Albatross. The sticking point is some recipes take a helluva long time to make." All the cooks in the group nod vigorously. "Unless you had something like theme nights, walking in and ordering something wouldn't be possible. But if they have good recipes that can be replicated it would take care of that." Nods from the others.

 

A week later Josette slides into her seat at the government building the first day of the new semester. Doc hadn't been able to make this meeting but they hadn't expected anything major to come up.

 

"Everybody getting back to work on the sorting planet order or taking classes?" President Bartlett asks. Josette nods. "Alexander and Michael are going to be halfway through their Masters this year and plan on working on their theses this summer and again when they're finished with the order next year."

 

"And I'll be 1 1/2 semesters from my masters this year and finishing my bachelors." Like a tennis match everybody turns back to Josette. "I'm not finishing any degrees this year."

 

"Or starting new ones?"

 

"Nope, I'm concentrating on the degrees I already have started this year and next."

 

"Are the others settling in well on the ninth planet?"

 

"Yep, I expect that we'll be receiving birth announcements by the end of the semester." And Josette shoves David out of his chair.

 

"Awww!" He coos.

 

"Yes dammit." Josette sighs. "Lord Apollo confirmed it this morning. Just me. And it's triplets. I'll be delivering around the third testing period."

 

"Is there something we should know?" Lana asks with a smile when Josette returns to the dorm.

 

"Yes, I'm stuffed up. Yes, it's triplets. It's only me this time. I sent out messages before the meeting so . .." The switching station comes on and Mom Sanders comes out. "Should I hold my son while the four of you beat him?" She smirks.

 

"No, it's only me this time and I already shoved the annoying one out of his chair at the meeting."

 

"Delivering around the finals?"

 

"Third testing period since it's both triplets and we went to the first planet a couple weeks early."

 

"Is there anything that needs to be done?"

 

"No, Lady Athena made a second room for the kids since we'll have two grades in a few years. Everything's ready in the nursery and I'm heading to the yarn store after lunch. Oh, and yours and Mom's room has been redone."

 

Mom shakes her head. "I knew it had to be a possibility with the fun we had on the first planet after Thanksgiving." The computer beeps and various faces appear on the split screen.

 

"You two too huh?" Josette asks Bethany. She recognizes that look, it's probably all over her own face right now. The 'dammit, here we go again' look.

 

"Yes, at least me. Pat's looking a little green and Doc was dragging her off when I read your message." Bethany presses a button on the intercom. "Josette's pregnant. . .and it's triplets."

 

"Josette, really." Doc says as Josette and Bethany count off seconds on their fingers and his picture appears on the screen. Pat crowds into the picture next to him.

 

"Halfway expecting it after the fun we had on the first planet. It's only me this time."

 

"And me." Clarinda sighs from her screen.

 

"And Andrew and I are talking about using the gestation chamber again." Alice sighs. "How many are we expecting on the ninth planet?"

 

"Nora and her husband, Pat and his wife, Alan and Molly, Rex and Wendi, Ma, and Jay and Joan are using the gestation chambers. Rick and Kara are pregnant. So at least eight babies not counting anybody in Eureka that might become pregnant or use the chambers this year."

 

"Are they starting growing buildings this year?"

 

"Yes, I've got the request to bring out the supplies in a few months."

 

"Oh really" Marilyn laughs when Josette starts filling a cart at the yarn store.

 

"Yes, this time he caught me. I'm having triplets." The other woman shakes her head and laughs again. "Pat and Bethany are expecting too, so is Momma Clarinda." Agatha laughs in the doorway. "Andrew and Alice are talking about using the gestation chamber."

 

"Yep, Dad told me over the Lights Festival. And some of the others on the ninth planet are pregnant or having babies in the gestation chambers."'

 

"How are you coming on your quilts?"

 

"Finished the fourth one a couple days ago." Josette sends the file with all the information to Agatha who nods in thanks as she looks everything over. "Looking good Josette." Marilyn looks over her shoulder and nods.

 

"Oh, and you guys can tell the others. We talked about this at the meeting this morning and we're turning one of the empty dining halls over to you guys for the next step in seeing if you can have a chicken restaurant." Marilyn squeals like a girl finding a boy band in the mall. "There's a difference between cooking chicken at home and in a commercial kitchen, though I know you've been borrowing the kitchen at the church.

 

Agatha nods. "Talk to Principal Madison?"

 

"Yep, all the dining halls have food replicators so we you can see put the recipes in the databank and see if there's a difference between home cooked, commercial kitchen cooked, and replicator. And thank you for passing along the recipes, I'm been doing some cooking of my own."

 

"Oh really?" Abby purrs when she and Anna come home from work.

 

"Yep." Josette sighs. "Been a while since only one of us was pregnant."

 

"Yes, especially since our cycles have synced when we went off the birth control."

 

"The others on the ninth planet, Pat, Bethany . . ." Abby's voice trails off as she counts gift bags.

 

"Momma Clarinda, Mom, and Mom. Though the last one I'll hold back."

 

"Really?" Susan purrs.

 

"The girls are nearly teenagers." Josette says. "Dad said they were talking about it at the Lights Festival and I expect Mom and Dad to be looking at Hannah, the youngest Covington, our three, and getting empty arms." The others laugh.

 

"Is everything ready here?"

 

"Yep. The factory's making formula for the ninth planet. They've got good supplies of diapers and covers in storage, and we've alerted the diaper service so they can pick up and deliver when they arrive."

 

"They'll probably need a laundry."

 

Josette nods. "Doc and Dr. McNider were looking at ours when they were here after the storm. We're bringing one out as soon as the snow clears there and they have a spot selected for it."

 

"Oh good lord Josette." Doc sighs as he comes out of the switching chamber a few weeks later, finding Josette dressed in maternity clothes.

 

"Yep, our little vacation on the first planet after Thanksgiving turned into triplets. I knew after the last two pregnancies the others had being multiples and not getting caught when I did become pregnant it'd be multiples." Josette pulls her hair off her neck in a loose knot. "Just to prove it runs in the family, Momma Clarinda, Pat, and Bethany are also knocked up. So what can I do for you?"

 

"I wanted to talk about a growing area in Headquarters."

 

"On your floor or one of the others?" Josette grabs her PADD, sending him a file. "That's what Clark and Thomas settled on when they decided to add a growing area for the winter about ten years ago."

 

"This is exactly what I'd been thinking of. How long would it take?"

 

"Cleaning out the floor under you should take a couple weeks. The machinery's not that difficult, I can have it ready for you in a few months."

 

"Shouldn't you be resting?"

 

"I'd be miserable if I didn't have something to keep myself busy. The machinery's the same as what I'll be bringing out for the growing building, hydroponics, and greenhouse." Josette shrugs. "Dr. Cross is interested in a growing area at his house."

 

Josette sends out a message and CJ and Clark arrive a few minutes later.

 

"What's up?"

 

"Doc wants a growing area like yours at Headquarters. We'll have a few weeks clear after the crops go in to help clean out rooms." Clark nods and the three of them start talking as Josette starts working on the list of supplies they'll need for the growing areas.

 

"Did you talk to Josette?" Charles asks when Doc comes back to the ninth planet.

 

"Yes, Clark and Thomas had set up a growing area on the floor below Headquarters, they were able to give me a few good suggestions and they're coming out to help clear the rooms before Josette brings everything out. Oh and she's pregnant. . .with triplets."

 

The others stare at him. He sends a file to the screen, a picture of Josette in maternity clothes as he'd first seen her.

 

"One child is daunting enough," Rick says quietly, a hand on his rapidly growing stomach. "I can't imagine three at once." Then the baby in his womb kicks and he smiles.

 

"Josette sent a file on what you might want in the way of a growing area for your house." he sends the files to Pieter who thanks him and starts looking everything over. "I've also got the files for what the laundry will need when they bring one out and talked to the diaper service. They'll pick up and deliver ten batches of diapers a week once we deliver and the chambers open. Josette says the formula will arrive a couple weeks before then."

 

"They've got the facilities and experience to wash diapers." Dr. McNider says. Doc nods. "And Josette's bringing out stuff once we get the spot for the laundry selected. When I asked if she shouldn't be resting she said she'd be miserable if she wasn't keeping busy."

 

"How hard is it to get back in shape after the birth?" Kara asks when she and Rick come to Haven to talk to Josette a couple weeks later.

 

"Not that hard with the good food, clean air, sunshine, and walking everywhere. I generally start working out in the pool after I've stopped bleeding like a stuck pig, the water supports your weight and if you get tired you can float. You're not like those fool women who say 'oh, I'm pregnant, this means I can eat whatever I want' then expect the weight to magically fall off once you've delivered and are stunned when you're still 40 pounds overweight when you delivered a six pound baby." Rick snorts, rolling his eyes. "Yes, we already got the 'take it slow after you deliver, nobody expects you to lose every pound overnight' talk from the doctors. We're all gaining weight but we're in the best health we've ever been in for years in some cases."

 

"Yes," Dr. Cross who'd also come out says. "You're losing body fat and gaining muscle. And if you were on Earth I don't doubt some fool doctor would look at your BMI's and tell you to lose weight. I never took them into account during physicals."

 

"Nobody does on Haven or Archimedes anymore."

 

"Breastfeeding?"

 

Josette nods. "We all do, at least through the first six months. You should probably start lactating a week or so before you deliver and Pieter will tell you to pump and freeze it, it's chock full of stuff to help the baby's immune system. For about two weeks you'll be producing pre-milk, but it will start tapering off as you produce more milk." Pieter nods. "We supplement with bottles since there's usually more than one baby but we all pumped when we weren't breastfeeding. As the baby grows your milk will start tapering off, us girls started drying up when the babies were nearly nine months old. I know there's some women who breast feed longer and more power to them but I'm not going to be putting a two year old on my tit." Kara shudders. "I've seen those magazines."

 

"Those are the mommy gangs, you have to breast feed and you have to feed them as long as possible." Josette rolls her eyes. "There's no difference between children who were raised on formula and breast fed, that's just a way for them to make themselves better than everybody else in the universe."

 

"Now, how long do you generally stay in the house?" Pieter asks.

 

"I generally start attending meals at the dining hall about a week or so after I've delivered, the others bring back meals before then and Mom and Mom are usually here cooking too. When the girls all had twins, Pat and Bethany came out instead since Alissa and Arissa were nearly two and Hannah was one. Having people around who've been though all this and can help you through the day to day life of a new baby really helps." Pieter nods. "In the old days, a girls mother or other women in the village came out to help. Back then the woman went into seclusion until she delivered and up to a month or so afterwards."

 

"And the babies?"

 

"We bring them out when they're two weeks old and have had their first shots. Once we're bringing them to meals Mom and Mom usually head home." Josette gets up and they walk upstairs to the growing area.

 

"This is nicely laid out."

 

"Decades of practice." Josette says.

 

"Do you grow corn up here?"

 

"I have in the past, but I generally grow it at the ranch when I'm not growing cotton. When I do I grow beans and squash in the same field. When I grow corn up here it's blue corn and I only plant a couple rows."

 

"Blue corn?" Kara looks at her.

 

"It's generally used in Mexican cooking." Pieter says. Josette nods. "I either turn it into flour for tortillas or use the corn whole in tortillas."

 

"How often do you make tortillas?"

 

"Every few months, I generally make several different recipes and freeze them." Josette stops to think a minute. "I gotta check my stock of cactus paddles."

 

"Cactus?" Dr. Cross asks.

 

"Yes, we put together a growing area of numerous cacti, some endangered, when we started getting ready to leave Earth. I usually harvest paddles once a year. We have some on the food replicator too."

 

"After we deliver?"

 

"Think of it as the worse period of your life. It will be heavy since you're sloughing off the uterine lining as it contracts and it will be longer. Pads, a tampon would get lost in your body. Loose clothing, you're going to be sore. Soaking helps, there's a list of herbs that can go in the water and you can drink as a tea."

 

Pieter nods, he'd looked at the files Josette had given them. "Soups, soft food at least for the first few days."

 

"Like after first time anal sex."

 

"Exactly. I've got the vampire healing but the girls are usually recovered by their two month checkup, that's why there's so many women going in and finding out they're pregnant again."

 

Kara shakes her head. "More power to them but I couldn't imagine having a baby and being pregnant again. Yes, you can't go back on birth control while you're nursing but that's what they make condoms for."

 

"You don't try to lose all the weight at once, do you?"

 

"No, as long as we're comfortable we're okay. The girls usually lost about fifteen pounds by their two month checkup, but that's the only time we get weighed. As long as we're healthy it's all that matters. I'm usually back in my old clothes by then but I don't tend to gain much weight with my pregnancies. The most I gained was 40 pounds with the quintuplets."

 

Dr. Cross moans. "Quintuplets?"

 

"Yes, they're turning 24 next month and in their last year of internship at GD on Archimedes."

 

"Stretch marks?"

 

"Oil during the pregnancy helps, GD has a wonderful line of products for after the birth to help fade them."

 

"Josette, what's the latest on the u-pick farm?" David asks, coming out of his room.

 

"Not this year but next year they're planting more fields. This year we've got the first two harvests on the animal planet." David nods and starts typing on his PADD. "Dad wanted to know. He knew they were planning on expanding since we've got more students going to be leaving school over the next few years." Josette nods. "800 last year and 827 this year finishing their university classes and moving to permanent housing."

 

"And 1800 students finishing university year after next and 2100 students finishing high school this year. Plus the last 2400 graduating high school year after next."

 

"Yep, the last of the students will be leaving the dorms when Melissa and the others are finishing high school."

 

"Is Grammy Allie and a proctor coming out for your third testing week?"

 

"No, I finished all my online classes when I realized I was pregnant and don't have any tests in those until finals. The others I'm taking the finals along with the classes on teacher." David nods. "I figured I'd be a little busy that week." David sniggers. Josette gives him a look and Rick and Kara lean on each other, laughing. "They're coming out for my finals. Alexander and Michael heading to GD as usual."

 

A couple weeks later Josette swears and disappears with Lord Apollo, David sends the cleaning robot to take care of the wet spot from Josette's water breaking before he starts composing a message.

 

"Albertson, Samuel, and Anderson James Covington-Sanders." Josette says, reappearing a few seconds later. He sends out the message after taking pictures as the grandmothers take the babies to the nursery. "Anderson's the blond, Samuel's the redhead." David strokes a finger over the babies heads. "They're two days old, there's six bottles pumped." Lois nods and takes the bag, shooing Josette off. Mary's already drawing a hot bath and crumbles the herbs into the water in Josette's first floor room. She gratefully slides into the water.

 

"Congratulations Grandma, it's three boys." Chuck Taine says when he comes in with the message, and attached pictures.

 

"Oh, they're adorable." Clarinda looks at the pictures of the three babies in the nursery. She looks down at her own stomach. "You could make an appearance." Charles chuckles next to her.

 

"Three boys." Ham says, coming into the dining room where everybody's eating a late lunch. He sends the message to the others PADDs.

 

"Awww, they're adorable."

 

"We can visit tomorrow, I'm sure Josette's in the tub soaking or already asleep." Pat and Bethany nod.

 

"Josette delivered three boys." Billy says, looking at the message. The others look at him and he puts the message and pictures on the large screen in JSA headquarters.

 

"Good sized for approximately 38 weeks gestation and triplets." Dr. Cross says. Rick and Kara look down at their stomachs. "I'm sure the others on Haven are just as ready to deliver."

 

"I wouldn't have expected a redhead." Alan Scott blinks.

 

"Michael and Alexander are foundlings, since the orphanage was safe harbor under the laws nobody ever looked for family so there's no telling what their parents hair color was. They've had other redheads before." Dad says, sending off a message then putting his PADD away before they turn their attention back to the new buildings they'd planned on putting up.

 

Henry King, the former Brainwave comes into the room. After getting some food at the replicator he slides into a seat, yawning and rubbing his neck. The others look at him. "I've been looking through all the courses available at GD and fell asleep reading." He moves his head on his shoulders, his neck cracking loudly.

 

Dr. Cross looks at Billy. "Yes, I'm looking into degrees and talking with people at GD." He looks at Mary and Freddy next. They both nod.

 

A couple days later visitors start arriving at the dorm, finding Josette nursing Samuel as Lois changes Anderson.

 

"They're adorable."

 

Billy, Mary, Freddy, Courtney, Maxine, and Henry talk for a couple hours before they come back to the ninth planet. "Josette gave us a lot of good advice on degrees. She's had experience talking with young people uncertain about what they want to do with their future."

 

"You shouldn't have monopolized her time."

 

"She insisted, she recognized the 'oh my god, how do I choose? I've got my whole life ahead of me on a new planet' wide-eyed look." Henry says. "We sat in the living room and talked, the others were home and they added suggestions." Henry sends the list to the server, sorted by person, area of interest, what they'd need for the future, and finally degrees.

 

"I hadn't thought of a good half of these." Pieter says.

 

"They've had experience in leading young minds to future degrees." Dr. McNider and the older JSA members nod. "Now. . .the botanists say we should be able to plant by the end of the month."

 

Billy nods. "I'll go out and till up the gardens and fields. We've got good supplies of manure and compost from the other planets until we can start using ours."

 

Pa comes out after they've got their crops in and nods in satisfaction at the fields and communal garden. "Good work for your first solo planting."

 

"Were the others delayed planting with Josette's pregnancy?"

 

"No, they're old pros at planting with new babies." A yell has Pieter and Charles sprinting off as Hank picks up Rick and carries him to Pieter's house. He looks over at Kara as she flies in for a graceful landing even with the baby belly. "You?"

 

"No, I became pregnant a few weeks after Rick. And from what I've read first pregnancies take a while. They'll call the rest of us in when Rick's close to delivering." Pa nods and they walk and talk as the others start emerging from the JSA headquarters where Michael had been opening the gestation chambers.

 

"Introductions?"

 

"Meet our youngest son, James Arthur Bromfield." Nick says, looking down at the baby in his wife's arm, then at their older children. And he's quickly counted Freddy in that group. Ma Hunkel comes out next, a baby in hers and Maxine's arms. Kara squeals and carefully hugs them both. "Billy, Ma had twins."

 

"I'll go bring out another cradle from the supplies." Mary calls. "And I'll grab bags of supplies." Freddy says. Billy smiles and hugs Ma and Maxine before sending the message to the diaper service on Haven. A few minutes later the switching station opens and Alan comes out, waving a hand and diaper pails and stacks of diapers appear, being run to various homes by the others.

 

Alan and Molly come out, their daughter Alexis in her momma's arms.

 

"Thank you Alan."

 

"Easy enough for me or Josette to deliver everything." James comes out behind him with David and they smile at the babies and proud new parents before walking to the area where everybody had decided the laundry would be going.

 

"Oh wow." Billy blinks as the building shimmers into view a few minutes later. "Does that ever get used to?"

 

"No."

 

"How long until it's up and ready for operation?" Michael asks as Joan, Courtney's mom, and Rex come out carrying their new son and daughters.

 

"About six months Haven time, we've got to bring out the large septic unit, unlock all the machines, and get everything on the solar panels and alternative power. Do you want the building on it's own power source or piggyback off one of the others."

 

"It's own, when we bring out other stuff it can piggy back off that one." Michael looks around. "Charles and Pieter?"

 

"Rick's water broke."

 

"Ahhhh." Michael's eyes grow dark a second, thinking of his late wife Paula and the child she'd been carrying that they'd named Terry after the first Mr. Terrific when she'd come to him after his heart stopped.

 

"Do you have good supplies of detergents?"

 

"Yes, and more on the server to replicate though . . ."

 

David nods. "We've got the factory and we're starting operation this year."

 

"How's Josette?"

 

"Getting back to . .." David smirks as the switching station operates and Josette comes out. She brings out bags for the new parents, getting hugs and smiling at the babies.

 

"Nothing like holding your baby in your arms to make everything right with the world."

 

"Yep, and holding your older children in your arms helps too." Nick hugs Billy, Mary, and Freddy after they come back from setting up everything in Ma's home.

 

"Josette how are you feeling?" Dr. McNider asks when he comes out of Pieter's home to let the others know how Rick's doing.

 

"Getting back to normal. With spring here I can get outside a lot more and I'm working out in the pool."

 

"Josette." Charles Savage says, coming over. They hug. "You're looking good." he looks at her.

 

"Yeah, another couple of weeks and I'll be able to get rid of the stretchers in my pants." She blows David a mental raspberry at the cackling. He knows just as well as she does that she doesn't need the stretchers for her pants, she's already lost all the baby weight. But she wasn't going to tell the others that.

 

"How are the others?"

 

"Momma Clarinda had a girl, Pat and Bethany had boys." Josette shows off pictures to everybody, getting coos from the new parents.

 

"Dad asked me to come out and see how you were coming on the supplies for the growing area."

 

"I'm a little over halfway getting everything on Salem. It will be another couple of months, probably after the Harvest Festival. But Clark, CJ, and I are coming out in a few weeks to start clearing out the area and see if the rooms need any work before we start work." Charles nods. "Now, how did the supplies handle the winter?"

 

"Good. Michael's talking with James about a permanent building for the supplies." Jay says. Josette nods. "Josette, how hard would it be to add electricity to the containers?"

 

"Not that hard. Are you thinking of using them as something like workshops? I know they were talking about using them for living space on Earth, they'd be the perfect size for one person but there's the downside of you can't easily add plumbing." Jay and Rex nod.

 

"It would give us an extra place to can food if we combine two or three of them."

 

Josette nods. "When we've got the kitchen garden coming in, I've got all four kitchens going."

 

"Four kitchens?"

 

"The ranch, my first floor room, the twins room, and the basement kitchen."

 

"It would give us a place to quilt until we put up a building." Nora says. Courtney's mom and Ma Hunkel nod. They get together to start sketching out plans.

 

"Josette, hold up a second and settle an argument we've been having. Even though they're in the same brine, whole pickles cut up and . . ."

 

"And hamburger dill slices do not taste the same?" Kara nods. "Yes, they had a segment on one of the cooking shows about that. That's why I make different varieties of pickles in the barrels." Kara nods. "When we start growing more, that's what we'll have to do. There's so many different varieties of pickles." Josette nods. "Ma, Mom, Mom, and I all make different types beyond what goes in the barrels."

 

"Josette, this is probably a dumb question but pickled baloney?"

 

"We make it every few years along with sausages both real meat and vat raised meat. Ma's got the machine for sausages and we spend a few days mixing everything up, stuffing them, then putting them up to dry, smoke, or in stasis. We gotta make batches this year if anybody's interested in helping out and learning how to make their own."

 

More than one nod. "It's will be in a few weeks, we usually take over the big building so we got room to work and we'll be offworld harvesting in a few months." Josette heads off through the switching station, finding Ma in the back room with Mom and Mom.

 

"Some of the others from the ninth planet are going to be helping when we make sausage." the other three women nod.

 

"Are you making baloney too?"

 

"Yes, that's what got us talking about the sausage."

 

"I'll adjust the recipes so we have enough for everybody."

 

"Did you see David and James?"

 

"Yes, they were . .." they walk into the room. "Nearly finished bringing out the laundry."

 

"I'm going out in a couple of days to bring out the tv station and library."

 

"New babies?" Ma asks in a 'don't make me raise my voice' tone and Josette chuckles. "Pictures, names, and new parents." She sends over the files."

 

"They're adorable, is Ma going to be able to take care of twins?"

 

"Yes, the others are already pitching in. Mary was bringing out a second cradle and Freddy was getting out more supplies for her. Rick's water broke, I expect he'll be delivering in a couple days."

 

"First babies always take a good bit of time. Kara?"

 

"Not due for a couple more weeks, she got pregnant later."

 

"That will give Rick time to start recovering before Kara delivers."

 

After lunch Josette starts working on her last quilt for next year's kits the news that Rick gave birth to a seven pound, eight ounce little boy coming a couple days later.

 

Rick lays back in Billy's arms as the baby is weighed and examined as Charles delivers the afterbirth.

 

"Welcome to the world Richard Pieter James Tyler McNider Cross." Everybody kisses the baby's head before he and Rick get settled. Wendi cries over her son as Rex looks at the baby.

 

"Are we saving umbilical cord blood and stem cells?" Charles asks Pieter in the lab.

 

Pieter nods and they settle down to work. Rick is vainly trying to stay awake when they come into the room a few minutes later and they kiss him on the forehead. Rick sighs and goes to sleep. Charles and Pieter let him rest then check on the others.

 

Rick's getting up and slowly moving around when Kara squeaks one day. Three days later Alura Brigid McNider Zor-L Cross is born.

 

"You weren't kidding about being sore and the worse period we've ever had." Rick says when Josette comes out to check on the newest addition to the family.

 

"Nope, though the vampire enzyme helps. And so does your child in your arms." Both Rick and Kara nod.

 

"Now are you two alone here?"

 

Rick waves his hand in a yes, no, maybe gesture. "We convinced everybody we could be alone for a few hours. Dad's in GD looking over what needs to be done now that Tylerco was brought out, Billy and Alan are talking with James and Billy's boss about bringing out a tv station and tape library. Dr. Cross and McNider are down in the lab with Mr. Terrific."

 

Josette sends James a message on the PADD. "I hadn't thought of that, thank you Josette." Everybody looks at him. "Josette just reminded me that she can copy your tape libraries so you're not using the original tapes. She's copied everything for the stations on Haven and Archimedes." The three of them nod. They get in the flyer and mark locations for a tv station, radio station, a library, and a building where the babies can attend classes before coming back for a landing. They head to JSA headquarters and start working on the list of what each would need when they're brought out.

 

On the way out Alan and Billy stop at a 'gone but not forgotten wall'.

 

"You must think we're morbid."

 

"No more than the police, fire departments, and other agencies that had similar memorials to those they lost. Who were they?"

 

Billy points to the pictures one by one. "Sand, he was our first chairman when the Society reformed. He was one of the older members of the Society, his former mentor Sandman killing himself to stop a villain from finding out our secret identities is what got the Society reformed. He stayed in the other dimension, working with the League."

 

"This was Johnny Thunder, he was one of our members and had Alzheimers. He died in an attack by an old villain, the t-bolt he controlled going to a young man who died tragically a few months later when his home was attacked in a gang initiation. He threw himself in front of his aunt to save her from being shot. She was horrified when she found out her 'no-good' nephew was a hero and her precious children were common thugs."

 

"This was Black Canary, the original one. Her daughter was like Courtney, Rick, Dr. Mid-Nite, and Mr. Terrific, the younger generation taking on the heroic identity of a lost member of the JSA. She died of cancer caused by an incident that killed her husband shortly before Sand's partner killed himself, the JSA was caught in limbo at that time. The original Mr. Terrific was killed by an old enemy of his."

 

"Hawkman, Hawkgirl, Black Canary, and Atom Smasher chose to stay behind in the other dimension, Josette talked to them the last time she was over and at least Black Canary has plans to visit us. Hippolyta was a member of the JSA during World War II, taking over the duties of Wonder Woman when her daughter was badly injured fifty years later. She and her daughter took their people to the other dimension it inhabits, breaking off contact with Man's world as they call it when Luthor took power."

 

"This is Hector Hall and his wife Lyta. He was one of the incarnations of Dr. Fate, she was a super-heroine called Fury. They died during a case. The two young women worked with the same group Hector, Lyta, Hank, and my kids belonged to. They were killed by an supervillain along with other heroes. Sylvester was the leader of that group, he was killed by an old enemy of mine, he was Pat's former partner. Courtney found his gear in a box of Pat's belongings and became Stargirl to tick him off, then realized she liked being a heroine."

 

"This young man is Norda, he was part of the group Sylvester run and Hawkman's godson just as Hector was Hawkman's son. His father was human but his mother was from a race of bird people. He underwent an evolutionary change and became more bird than man. This was Alexander Montez, he and the young woman next to him died in the same fight."

 

"Hawkman was Hector's father? I'd have said the other way around. Though I shouldn't say that considering the kids all look younger than most of their children."

 

"Yes, Hector's white hair made him look older than he was. Hawkman and Hawkgirl were under a reincarnation curse, every time they died they'd return in a new life. The last life Hawkman and Hawkgirl had before they died was as Hector's parents. And to prove Fate has a sense of humor, Hector and Lyta were the parents of a grown son when they died."

 

"This was Al Pratt, we called him the Atom. He was a pint-size scrapper and Atom Smasher's godfather. We lost him in the same fight that we thought we lost Rex and Charles, I was more than happy to take their pictures down from this wall." Alan lays a hand against the wall, remembering another wall of lost heroes they weren't able to avenge. James puts a hand on his shoulder as they walk out the door.

 

"Did you get everything arranged?" Pieter asks as Josette and James check on the progress of work on the laundry before heading back to Haven.

 

"Yes, the sites for everything is set and we'll bring out the library first. Josette's going to be copying the tape libraries so we have duplicates. She did it for the others too." Everybody else nods. "Once we get the exterior work done we can work inside on everything over the winter."

 

"Do we have a place set up for visitors? I know the others want to see how we're settling in."

 

"Yes, when the fourth planet was being made ready for settlement they brought out a couple hotels for the workers building the communal kitchens and whatnot. They'd already done all the work to be self-sufficient so we just have to bring it out. We can put it up nearby so they can walk or during foul weather use a flyer."

 

"How did they handle food?"

 

"They had shifts in the restaurant kitchen cooking while the communal kitchen was going up. They can do that as well or use a food replicator."

 

"Do we need a communal kitchen?" Billy holds up a hand as everybody starts talking. "For harvests and canning if nothing else when everybody is busy in the fields or watching the babies." Everybody starts thinking and nods. "It would save everybody from having to make food for the next day in the slowcookers and leave it to cook over the next day. Or making food ahead of time and freezing it."

 

"Or everybody making a dish and getting together to eat."

 

"Anything else?"

 

"Plans to alter some of the cargo containers for workshops and a summer kitchen during canning."

 

"The only problem is fresh water unless you have somebody filling buckets."

 

"That we can do. Since it would only be in operation while we're canning we wouldn't need anything more permanent."

 

"And without plumbing it wouldn't freeze over the winter. The building for the canned goods and bulk supplies?"

 

"Josette's bringing the material out with the supplies for the growing buildings."

 

Back on Haven, Josette slides into her seat at the dining hall for lunch after filling her tray and kissing the babies.

 

"How's the progress on getting the laundry factory running?"

 

"Good, we'll work on powder and liquid detergent and dishwashing liquid this year, maybe next year we'll make a batch of the pods."

 

"And from the disgusted look Professor Druid is giving Principal Madison, there will be a baby Madison as well as a baby Covington by the end of the year." On the screen Principal Madison is looking smug while Professor Druid nods. The others look at the back screen, Josette points at the baby stroller then her parents and they laugh. Professor Fletcher looks at Dr. Hazlitt.

 

"Really?"

 

"Ayuh, I'm taking a year off from the health center here and in town to take care of him or her. The kids are excited at having a new baby brother or sister.

 

"You're not the only one." Frances says. Elaine nods. "We've got babies in the chamber too."

 

"Are you going to need a year off?"

 

"Our classes are at the stage where everybody who wanted to take the quilting, knitting, and sewing classes will have by the end of the year and the later classes will be small enough we'll be able to have the babies with us in the office while we're not covering classes." Frances looks at the back room screen and Josette nods, she'll help with the classes.

 

"And this is the time to tell you Johnny and I are going to be fathers again." Professor Parker sighs. The others laugh.

 

"Okay, with all the new children being born, are we going to be able handle early education with the education center shut down?"

 

"Yes, we've got time to teach the kids when we're not in class for the older students. By the time they'll really getting into their education, school will be in the last year or closed." Nods from the others.

 

"Josette, what classes are you taking?"

 

"This and that, like I said this year and next I want to get in semesters for degrees I've had started for a while but haven't been working on continuously like the others."

 

"How far are you on your naval academy degree?"

 

"Halfway through it with this semester."

 

A group of the others come out a couple days later and they start working in the big building on sausages and baloney, making different varieties over the next couple of weeks.

 

"That's not hard." Jay says when they're finished five weeks later and Josette is bringing in the first of the offworld harvests and they've finished a day of bringing in the crops and canning, drying, or storing everything.

 

"No just time intensive." Alan says, leaning back in the green energy chair he'd created.

 

"Do we have everything we need?"

 

"If we don't we can replicate it. And we've got the recipes on the server so we can make smaller batches at home." Pieter says, Richie laying on his chest. The others nod. "What's the status on everything?"

 

"Laundry is finished, James is bringing out a tv station and the library after the ground dries from the rain." Charles says. "Josette, Clark, and CJ are working on the floor under Clark's Headquarters for their growing center, then they're working on the one here, Pieter's home, and the buildings. We should have a radio station and the school by our fourth harvest, once they get the outside work done, we can work on everything over the winter."

 

"Hotel?"

 

"Going up with the tv station and library. It doesn't need the work the others do, we just need to make sure whoever comes out has the supplies they need." Nods from the others before they get up to head to their homes. Pieter kisses Richie's head before he's put down in the cradle next to Rick's bed. Rick's already asleep and Pieter kisses him on the head before going upstairs to his room. Charles wraps his arms around him before they go to sleep themselves.

 

Kara's looking out the walls of windows, watching the rain slide down them as she nurses Alura.

 

"On Earth this would be gloomy but here. . ."

 

"It's a symbol of rebirth, putting the new crops off to a good start when we plant."

 

 

On Haven Ma stops in to check on the babies.

 

"Ma, we're talking to GD about another baby."

 

"So are we." All three women hug.

 

"I guess it's time to say that Elena and I are pregnant." Maria says in the doorway with the babies laundry. All four women hug. "This is probably the last time we'll be able to have kids ourselves, we are nearly a hundred."

 

"It doesn't seem like it, does it?"

 

"No, it seems like yesterday that we got the call from GD that somebody needed nannies and we went in for our first interview."

 

"At least we're not the only ones to have babies this year."

 

"Nope."

 

The news is told at lunch and everybody's hugged.

 

"Josette, how are you coming along on your last quilt for next year's kits?" Abby asks.

 

"I'm putting the layers together after lunch, I should have it quilted and the binding on by next week."

 

"Offworld harvests?"

 

"One a week until the harvest Festival, then the rest afterwards."

 

"How is everything coming on the ninth planet?"

 

"Laundry's finished, all the new parents are seeing how much easier one big load of laundry is than four or five smaller ones, especially Ma Hunkel and Dr. Cross and McNider since they've got two babies. Clark, Doc, and I are working on a growing area in the empire state building, they're in the first day of the rains." Everybody chuckles. "Work inside while you can."

 

"Yep, when the rains end and the ground's dried up enough to bring stuff out we're bringing out a library and tv station for them, putting up their growing building, hydroponics, and greenhouse, and starting similar growing areas to Doc's at the JSA headquarters and Dr. Cross's home."

 

"Yearly crops?"

 

"Coming in, some of the students leaving after Thanksgiving when they finish university are getting in some money working in the fields, so are Billy, Courtney, Hank, Mary, and Maxine."

 

"This way they know what needs to be done when their tree crops start coming in." David says.

 

"Exactly."

 

Josette has Dr. Cross and Doc looking over her shoulder as she lays out everything in the smokehouse, lighting the fake wood and putting green wood on top.

 

"Do you use the same wood every time?"

 

"Nope, depends on what you're smoking and what flavors you want to add. Sometimes we just add the chips, like now it's a whole piece of wood soaked so it lasts several hours."

 

"This is probably a dumb question, but do you grow mushrooms."

 

"Yeah, that's the mushroom building over there." Doc and Dr. Cross look at everything in satisfaction. "We don't grow every year, half of the crop is put on the drying tables while the rest is in stasis for whatever recipes we're using. When we begin to get low, we grow again. in addition, some of us have those kits where you could grow your own. . ." The two men nod. "That way they have a crop coming in of whatever they want."

 

"How are you on spores?"

 

"Good, we've got enough for a thousand years." Josette brings out the kits along with small packets of spores and they nod thanks.

 

"What do you plant in?"

 

"In the building it's straw, sawdust, and coffee grounds. In the boxes it's coffee grounds and sawdust. Maybe one day we'll grow in wood but. . ." The two men nod.

 

 

 

After the crops are in and Josette's delivered orders to the other planets she joins Michael and Dr. Cross inspecting the tree crops on the ninth planet.

 

"We'll be harvesting this year."

 

"Yep." Josette looks over at Dad where he's supervising bringing out the new buildings. They talk about what they're going to need to store the tree crops.

 

"Olive oil?"

 

Josette sends a few different options to press the olives. "The first one is the one I have on Haven, it also takes care of limited runs of veggie oils beyond the manufacturing satellite. The second is one I use on the first planet. It's more rustic and is all muscle power, the olives are crushed between the two stones and put in the containers, then a weight presses out the oil. It's meant for smaller batches."

 

"Which we will be doing for a while. What do you do with the leftover olives?"

 

"Olive paste. I spread it on sandwiches, but then I eat olives by the handful. I put everything in a barrel, add brine and let it sit just like the olives, just bring out enough to eat in a few weeks." She sends them her recipes and they nod.

 

"We've got barrels and bottles among our supplies."

 

"Do you always make the same amount of oil?"

 

"Nope, it all depends on how much I have left. If I have a good supply on hand, I put more olives in the barrels. If I'm running low I press more olives. It all works out in the end."

 

Back on Haven Josette heads to the yarn store to pick up more supplies for baby bags. After dinner she's walked to the dining hall.

 

"Josette, really." Clarinda, James, and Mary sigh looking at their newest grandsons. David comes up behind her smirking and she aims an elbow at him. He dances away, laughing.

 

"Oh I know. After the others got pregnant twice without me, I knew I'd be the next one hit and it'd be multiples again. Hopefully," She turns to look at David. "this will be it for a while." He smirks again. Josette pulls a pair of hedge trimmers out of subspace, making snip snip motions that has everybody laughing.

 

After the hustle and bustle of the Harvest Festival everything begins to settle down.

 

"Getting all the new buildings up on the ninth planet?"

 

"Yeah, and they're expecting visitors from their dimension in a couple of days.

 

Josette's up on the roof of the new library installing solar panels when the visitors from the other dimension arrive. Billy looks that direction also and grins before helping Josette with the next panel.

 

"You bringing them out of subspace is very handy."

 

"Yep, no need for machinery to lift the panels, just pop them out, fasten them down and hook them together. Josette looks down as Todd comes out of the library, giving them the thumbs up. He'd gone inside to see if the batteries were accepting power from the panels.

 

"Josette?" The walkie-talkie on her belt asks.

 

"Yeah Dad?" Josette hits the hand free option as she keeps working on the electronics.

 

"How are you coming on the library?"

 

"We've got three of the eighteen solar panels installed and connected. Checking inside the batteries are accepting power. They're working on two more on the ground and we should have those installed after. . ."

 

"Lunch." Ma Hunkel calls from the ground. James chuckles on the other end, obviously having heard her. Josette laughs and ends the call. At the tv station James puts the walkie-talkie away. Alan looks at him.

 

"They've got three of the solar panels up and connected, the batteries are accepting power and they're working on two more they should have up after lunch. Which Ma had just announced while we were talking."

 

Josette walks to the edge of the roof and jumps down.

 

"You're going to break something doing that." Todd says, rolling his eyes.

 

"Nah."

 

"Let me rephrase that, Doc, your father, Dr. McNider, or Dr. Cross are going to bust your ass if they catch you doing that." Ma says firmly. Everybody in earshot laughs as they settle down to sandwiches, lemonade, and three different types of salads."

 

"Two more days?"

 

"Yes, we should have the two solar panels you're working on now installed in a couple of hours and. . ." Hank comes over with the last one. "The sixth one before we stop for the day. Thanks Hank."

 

"Welcome, be a couple days for the rest of them."

 

"No hurry, the library isn't a building that's going to need continuous power even as big as it is." The others nod. "Everybody's busy with the fields, gardens, other buildings, or getting your visitors settled."

 

Hank nods. "I don't expect we'll be using the library until this fall when the last crops are in."

 

"How long until we can start planting in the buildings?"

 

"The buildings will be finished in a couple months, I'd start partway through the fourth growing cycle. That way stuff is beginning to ripen after you have all the harvests in." The others nod.

 

"Josette, this is probably a dumb question but could you harvest offworld. . ."

 

"Twice for you in the time it takes you to finish a year? Nearly. We could have last year since the year was so wonky. You don't need it though."

 

"No we don't." Dr. Cross says as the visitors walk up for the tour. "Everything's looking good."

 

Josette nods. "We've got three of the solar panels up, the batteries are charging. By the time the rest are in it should handle all the needs for the building."

 

"Josette, how hard is it to add the alternate power source after the fact."

 

"Not that hard, just a few days work. Both to add the source itself or the machinery to tap into an existing power source. About the same when you were having the alternate energy sources added to the buildings in the first place."

 

 

That night is the first full moon and Josette garbs herself in her working robes as she greets the moon, chanting the prayers that are as timeless as magick itself. She feels the magick of the world welcoming her and smiles as she turns from the cliffside and flies down to Hidalgo for a few hours sleep.

 

"Do many of you work through the night?" Sand asks when he finds Mr. Terrific working in a lab at JSA headquarters.

 

"With the day being sixty hours you learn to adjust your schedules."

 

He shakes his head. "I thought I just had insomnia when I woke up and it was still dark out."

 

"No, you probably slept a good eight hours." Dr. McNider says as he walks into the lab. "It's easier when you're not looking at the time on your PADD and you can work at your own pace. That's why all our bedrooms have heavy privacy curtains so we can sleep in the middle of the day."

 

"Are all of the worlds days longer?"

 

"All of the ones that have people living on them full-time. The fourth planet is the most like Earth, the days are three hours longer, there's an extra day in the week, and two extra weeks in the year. Like Earth they only have one growing season. The fifth planet is nicknamed the animal planet since it was primarily labs for bringing back endangered animals. They've got 30 hour days, 8 day weeks, five week months, and thirteen months in a year. There's two growing seasons on the planet plus several extra weeks but nobody grew commercially until recently when students from the school started growing commercially on the other settled worlds. The sixth planet has 36 hour days, nine day weeks, five week months, and fourteen months in a year." Sand shudders. "The body adapts, they've been on their planet over fifty years. For them it's a normal day."

 

"The seventh planet is 44 hours while the eighth planet is 48 hours. Like us at the beginning they split their days into eight hours working, at least eight off, then eight hours working again and off for the rest of the day."

 

The door opens again and Dr. Cross comes in with Camilla, he takes her by the elbow into the infirmary. Dr. McNider snickers. "Camilla Marlowe. . ." Sand nods. He recognizes the name. "That's his friend that can't be outside during the day?"

 

"Xenoderma Pigmentosa, sunlight burns her. Sometimes even fluorescent lights can be too much for her. She generally wears a cloak even indoors, that way she can pull up the hood and pull on gloves. She's been ducking Pieter's 'hints' about a physical and he had enough." Sand sniggers. "After he gets done with her, he's going to track down Josette."

 

"Does Josette live here?"

 

"No, she lives on the sixth planet actually but she's here often enough helping out with everything as we get settled. We've told her to build herself a home, and she's got a room at my house, Pieter's, or Doc's headquarters."

 

A couple weeks later Josette heads to Archimedes for the first testing week, sliding into a seat at the pushed together tables after her tests.

 

"Catching up on degrees you've had on the back burner?"

 

"Yeah, this year and next."

 

"The others are settling in well on the ninth planet."

 

"Yep, last year was about getting in crops and preparing for their first winter, this year is about building their community."

 

"Get the library finished?"

 

"The outside work, they'll work on the inside over the next few months."

 

"TV station?"

 

"Same thing, and Dad's bringing out the radio station in a couple weeks."

 

"Growing buildings?"

 

"About the first testing period next year, I'll be glad to be out in the sun." The three men look at her, knowing her habit of heading off to the first planet or the satellite when she wants some sun. "And the others have been nagging me about setting up a home of my own there." They nod, that makes more sense.

 

The boys come out of the switching station the next day.

 

"Checked on the raised beds?" David asks, leaning out of his room.

 

"Yeah, I'm picking green peppers in a few weeks to dry and stick in stasis then letting the rest ripen.

 

"Has anybody on the ninth planet asked if we could harvest offplanet twice since their year is longer than ours?"

 

"Yes, Dr. Cross agrees with me that we don't need to with the growing areas they're adding to their homes and the buildings I put up. One year I might grow cover crops when they start running low in the supplies they've brought with them but . . ." Nods from the three boys. "Getting your classes in?"

 

"Yeah, I got in the last class for one masters and I'm halfway through the second class for my bachelors, I'll have the degree finished in the next couple weeks, then get in two classes for my other masters."

 

"You picking up another bachelors?"

 

"Maybe, taking more than three classes a semester for a masters is *hard*." The others laugh as they head different directions.

 

"Show?"

 

"We had one earlier, Josette's got one when we head out to visit. Got everything?"

 

"Yeah, I've been working upstairs on stuff for a while." Josette grins. "No idiot celebrities making fools of themselves in front of the cameras at those shows." The boys chuckle.

 

"Still on track to be finished by the Harvest Festival next year?"

 

"Yes, even with finishing early to help with the crops." Michael looks at Josette. "How are we on supplies?"

 

"Good, I'll start bringing more in in a couple years for the rest of Haven's and the animal planet's orders."

 

"Do you see an apartment complex going up on the ninth planet?"

 

"If they do it won't be for years." David nods.

 

After dinner Josette heads upstairs and starts sorting through supplies for the baby bags. Susan looks in the door of her workroom and her eyes glaze over. "You'll need more, the visitors from the other dimension on the ninth planet?" Josette nods. "Babies, at least two sets of twins. And at least one in the gestation chamber."

 

"Awww." Josette looks at the supplies and starts another list, replicating yarn and other materials before starting to work. "Twins in our gestation chambers?" Susan's eyes grow dark as she tries to see and nods. Josette doubles the supplies again. "If I make too many, there's always the next batch of babies."

 

Susan chuckles and heads downstairs.

 

The next few weeks pass quickly and Josette heads to the first planet, picking green peppers she pops in stasis and strings up on lines to dry. Looking at the grape vines she spends a few months in the fortress and on the satellite.

 

"Get the green peppers taken care of?"

 

"Yeah, they're either in stasis or on lines to dry, I'll take batches around to sell to the other planets in a couple weeks."

 

"Aquaponics?"

 

"I'm heading there tomorrow with some of the others from the ninth planet so they can see how we have everything in stages, that way they can plan the same thing for their growing areas and hydroponics."

 

Josette triggers the tesseract to the aquaponics the next morning, the others looking around.

 

"This is nice," the botanist says looking at the growing areas. The others start making notes on how everything's at different stages as they harvest stuff.

 

"Do you keep this running year-round?"

 

"Oh yes, we always have at least herbs growing, just switching out which ones depending on what we're running low on or want to introduce to the planets. With the drying tables or even just bundling them together and hanging them up to dry you can keep them for a while."

 

"How many students do you have graduating this year?"

 

"2100 from high school, another two years and all but our oldest kids still in school, the Amish kids who will be starting in two years, and the offworld kids who are at the education center with them will be finishing high school. 827 students are in their last semester of university and will be leaving the dorms after Thanksgiving for permanent housing, with their floors emptying the floor monitors will be moving too."

 

"Aren't the Amish children going to be older thanks to the year difference?" Dr. Cross asks.

 

"Yes but like the Little House books they don't start school until after the harvests are in so they'll be at the same class level when they start high school. And they'll be attending a special class about what happened to Earth and why we settled the planet. It will get them used to attending classes year-round."

 

"When are you starting the Haven order?"

 

"Year after next our time, the sorting planet factories finished their orders and I delivered the last of it before the Harvest Festival. I'll be delivering our planets orders after finals, the last of it will be delivered before the Harvest Festival."

 

"Did they bring out the animal planet apartments?"

 

"Yep, they got most of the outside work done before their winter, they're working inside right now and when spring comes they'll finish the outside stuff and have everything done by the Harvest Festival."

 

"Do you expect people to start moving into the apartments."

 

"By the time the first large group of students finish university yes. They've been growing commercially on the sorting planet for a while now. The fourth planet apartments are getting people moving into them as they finish their internships at Stark or Wayne."

 

"And with the longer days and switching stations people don't have to live on the planets they work on."

 

"Nope." Josette says as they start starting shelves of seeds.

 

Lee catches Josette when she returns to the dorm.

 

"Josette, did you have a chance to work on the ship with the new babies?"

 

"Yes, the frame is well underway." Josette sends him pictures and he nods in satisfaction. "I've got the first batch of timber for the interior and exterior, I figure it will be another two years before the ship is completely finished and then we'll start furnishing it, including the sails."

 

"Are you expecting another batch of timber?"

 

"Yeah, the end of the year."

 

Maria comes down the hall with the delivery from the diaper service for her and Elena's boys and Josette settles on the couch for a few minutes while David finishes his last lesson on teacher before lunch.

 

"How was ..." Josette disappears and David counts to five before she reappears. "Do I want to . . ." He disappears and comes back a few seconds later. "Oh-kay," he says slowly. "Yeah." Josette snorts. She heads off. "Be back in a few."

 

"We'll be there." David says. He gets the triplets in the stroller and heads to the dining hall.

 

"Josette head off again?" Anna asks.

 

"Yeah, can I just say that's weird."

 

"Which part of being yanked from our dimension to others is normal?" Abby snorts.

 

"Point."

 

"At least we weren't in class."

 

On the screen Principal Madison and Professor Druid squeak and disappear. David smirks and calmly counts off seconds on his fingers. Principal Madison looks at the others in the back room when they reappear. He points a finger at the group in the back room and David laughs.

 

"Is it always like that?" Professor Druid asks.

 

"Sometimes." Josette walks into the back room a few minutes later, kissing the babies on the forehead before filling her tray and sitting down.

 

"How's the aquaponics building looking?"

 

"Good, we planted new seed trays while we were there."

 

David nods in satisfaction.

 

After lunch Josette heads to the ranch to check on the crops and livestock, pumping water to irrigate them before sliding into her seat at dinner.

 

"Take care of everything?"

 

"Yeah, the gardens and fields are watered.

 

"Is the cistern going to hold out for the rest of the cycle?"

 

"No, but we can pump directly onto the fields and garden." The others nod. "Once the cistern is empty we need to clean it and the filters for the winter."

 

"Do that before everything's asshole to elbows with the crops coming in." Nods from the others.

 

"Is there anything else that needs to be done before the crops come in?"

 

The others stop to think a minute then shake their heads. "Not that I can think of. We inspected the automatic feeders in the barns this summer."

 

The next several weeks pass and Josette heads to the first planet to pick the raised beds, coming back after a week on the planet.

 

"Josette?" Vincent asks on two planets when she comes into the cafe. She waves a hand and baskets of tomatoes, peppers, and bundles of herbs settle on tables. He wipes his hands on a towel and comes around the counter.

 

"Ohhhhh, these are wonderful. You've got more in stasis and dried?" He says, picking up a pepper and tomato in either hand.

 

"Yeah." They start haggling on prices and Josette helps put everything in the back.

 

"Everything finished on the first planet?" David asks when she comes to dinner.

 

"Yep, the plants are in the compost bin and everything that wasn't sold is in stasis or drying."

 

"Crops are going to start coming in next week."

 

"Yep, and week after that Alexander, Michael, and I are heading to Eureka for our finals."

 

"How's CJ in his degree?"

 

"Finishes it next year and being 'talked' to by his Dads about going on for a Masters and eventual doctorate." David sniggers. "You've been talked about as what not to do." The others snicker as David preens.

 

Josette is busy bringing in the garden and crops the next couple of weeks, taking a break from canning to take her finals.

 

Dr. Cross chuckles as she slides into a seat at the pushed together tables. "How's everything coming in?"

 

"Good, the crops are in and I took the wheat to the sorting planet since there's too much to be handled at the manufacturing satellite. The factories and satellite took in a lot of the students finishing university classes this year." Dr. Stark nods. "And the ninth planet Eureka has been talking to the students finishing high school this year about internships."

 

"And the garden?"

 

"More stuff ripening every day." the others nod. "Everything should be in by the end of the week and I'll till the garden under for the winter."

 

The rest of the week flies by and Josette takes Haven's orders to the sorting planet, delivering everything and sending the payments to various places when she arrives back home.

 

After Thanksgiving Josette and the others head off to the other dimensions for Josette's show and to visit family and friends, coming back with the ships full of stuff.

 

The next day Josette joins the others at the Albatross Nest, grabbing sandwiches, slices of pizza, and other snacks as she settles down on the floor as everybody talks about their harvests and plans for the future as containers of cookies are passed around. The kits are talked about then and Josette sends everything back to her workroom before joining the others at lunch.

 

After lunch Josette looks through the records of everything that they'd brought out from the other dimension on their trips before going upstairs and starting to sort through the boxes and bags from the Albatross Nest, putting everything away. Since a third of the quilts are hers she's got less quilt kits than the others and she looks through them before turning to the quilt top she's got partly done and working on it until dinner. She'd taken pictures of her quilts to the show and they'd been oohed and ahhed over by the people who count to her, other artists.

 

The cookies are put in stasis to eat throughout the year before Josette joins the others at dinner.

 

"What's the word on the chicken place?"

 

"They're settling in well in the kitchen, the recipes are now on the food replicator and they hope to start offering specialty nights starting next year. If the demand is good they'll open it afternoons and evenings a few days a week."

 

"If they do, are they starting a garden?"

 

"Probably. Potatoes, corn, and wheat for flour if nothing else." The others nod. Josette nudges David. "We're going to be talking about expanding the soybean crop for vat meat if they do at the government meeting after the Lights Festival." David nods.

 

Over the next couple of days they start decorating the dorm for the Lights Festival and plant the growing areas for winter as the first snow of the season that will stick starts falling.

 

"Do they do this on the ninth planet?"

 

"Yeah, they're starting at the end of their year, they like the idea of celebrating during their winter letting go of one year and welcoming in the next."

 

"Are their friends staying long?" Josette chuckles.

 

"Oh really." David laughs.

 

"The woman they called Dinah, the woman called Soranik, she's a surgeon so she's been checking out the medical units on the planets and my ships, and Alan's daughter Jennie-Lynn. Dinah's pregnant by artificial insemination by Drs. Cross and McNider, she and Dr. Cross had dated in their dimension, Jade and Soranik are pregnant by Kyle." David waggles his eyebrows and Josette laughs.

 

Josette heads to the first planet, spending a few months in her fortress and on the satellite before coming back to Haven. The visitors look around at the decorated buildings during the Lights Festival.

 

"You'd think winter on an agrarian planet would be gloomy but . . ."

 

"They celebrate winter just as much as they celebrate the other seasons. Winter is a time to relax, plan for the next year's harvests, and work on machinery or other stuff you haven't had to work on during the rest of the year. Josette, how long will the education center be open?"

 

"Year after next, once it's shut down maintenance is going to be swarming over the building for at least a year cleaning everything and seeing what repairs need to be made. They were on top of the small stuff but being in operation almost constantly for over seventy years is going to leave some stuff that needs done."

 

"Did any more dorms close?"

 

"Yeah, maintenance is doing the same thing there, taking everything out of the rooms and giving it a good cleaning before they see what else needs to be done. We did the same thing to the dorms when they emptied after we lost Earth, we'll do the same to the school buildings after the school closes again."

 

"Yes, there's nothing like a good cleaning to make everything seem new." Wendi says. "Even just a coat of new paint and different curtains can make a room ten times better." Every other woman who've decorated nods.

 

Josette slides into her seat in the government building the first morning of the new semester.

 

"Growing buildings on the ninth planet?"

 

"I'm going out first testing period to help get everything set up. And deliver the flour, grits, and cornmeal they had made."

 

"Are they having pasta made?"

 

"Yes, I'm delivering some of the flour to the pasta factory. Right now they're using what they brought out and are either making it by hand or using the homemade pasta machines"

 

"Are we having pasta made?"

 

"Not for a few months, I figured by the time the flour is ready the end of the semester we'd be running low on stuff." President Bartlett checks the supplies and nods. "Pick up before the Harvest Festival when you deliver the last of Haven's orders for the sorting planet apartments?" Josette nods and he makes a note of that on the schedule.

 

"Supplies for Archimedes' apartments?"

 

"I got in extras since I knew we'd be starting this next batch of orders when this one was finished. This year and next I'll be planting cotton offworld for their towel factory order, that will let them start working the second and third year along with the light bulb and glass factory." Nods from the others. "The other supplies I'll start getting in second year, that will give the wood two years to start drying for the animal planet order and any other furniture they need to make in the future."

 

"How is the ninth planet coming on the new buildings they wanted to put up?"

 

"Good, the library and TV station are up and the exteriors finished, the radio station was going up after Thanksgiving. They're debating this year or next for the school building, they want to be able to offer classes for the adults as well as the kids."

 

At the dorm after lunch Josette holds up the finished quilt top she'd been working on and starts putting together the layers, going into her studio and starting to quilt it. She's finished later that week and takes it to Sue's store to show off.

 

"Oh yes, this works much better with this back and binding." Agatha says when she, Marilyn, and Sue look it over. "Now, are you helping out in classes?" All the babies in the gestation chambers had been born by the Lights Festival and were being doted on by their loving parents. In addition to Professor Parker's twin daughters, Frances had twin sons when the chambers were opened. Everybody had flocked to help the new parents get settled.

 

"Yep, I already told Frances and Elaine I'd help out, all the students who've wanted to take the classes have and it's the advanced students left." Agatha nods as the bell over the door opens and a group from the ninth planet arrive for their classes.

 

Josette grins and heads back to the dorm, putting the quilt away with the others before heading to the textiles building to talk to Sue and Frances about the classes this year and next, plus their plans for the future.

 

After Josette comes back from Eureka for her third testing week she heads to the ninth planet, throwing off her cloak and taking a deep breath of the fall air. The offworld harvests are moved to the building and Mary, Courtney, and Freddy start stocking the shelves, putting the cases aside to put the jars in after they've been washed for reuse as Josette walks to the growing buildings where Dr. Cross, Mr. Terrific, and Billy are waiting for her.

 

"Will we be able to use the greenhouse over the winter?" Rick asks as he starts setting out supplies.

 

"Oh yes, with the alternate energy you'll have plenty of light and heat. It's just like how you grow inside. You can even put up a temporary building around them this winter."

 

"With staggering crops, we're going to have something going all winter."

 

Josette nods as she starts putting together the shelves for the seed trays as Michael starts working on the lights. "That's how they do them in Town and Albatross. We do it to a lesser extent in the dorm but ours is mostly everything coming in at once."

 

"Is this going to drain the batteries, solar panels, or alternate power source?" Billy asks as he puts the cover on the last tray of seeds two days later.

 

"Oh no, the alternate power source can handle ten thousand times this amount of draw. They're used in spaceships and are continually making energy."

 

Dr. McNider comes out of the JSA headquarters, walking over to the group and clapping Michael on the shoulder.

 

"Congratulations Daddy, you've got a baby in the chamber." Michael smiles. "If it's a girl she'll be Paula after her mother, if it's a boy Jacob Alexander."

 

"Better think of two names just in case." Michael nods.

 

Dr. McNider looks at the buildings in satisfaction. "Is everything done?"

 

"Yes, we've got the first set of seeds in the trays, A week or so they should be ready to transplant in the greenhouse. The hydroponics unit will start operation in a few months, that way we have something growing at all times."

 

"Get everything finished?" David asks when Josette slides into her seat.

 

"Yeah, the growing areas at Headquarters, Dr. Cross's home, and the buildings are all started. And Michael has a baby in the gestation chamber thanks to DNA from his late wife. If it's a girl he's naming her Paula after her mother." Everybody nods. "I delivered their offworld harvests while I was there too."

 

"Our crops?"

 

"I should be able to spread manure next week and start planting the week after that." Everybody nods before they start going over plans for the babies first birthday party in a couple days. The babies are more interested in the cake than the party, conking out in the playpen Josette brings out as the adults talk about the new babies and plans for the year. Some of the party food is from the 'chicken place' and everybody congratulates them. Josette helps clean everything up after the decorations are taken down, heading back to the dorm and getting ready for bed.

 

The next day Josette starts spreading manure out on the fields and garden, letting it sit for a week before she tills it under and plants.

 

"Everything in?" David asks when Josette slides into her seat at dinner.

 

"Yeah, everything's planted. I gotta check the septic units."

 

"Already taken care of, I moved it to the ranch before we came to dinner after David cleaned them."

 

"Anything else that needs to be taken care of beyond normal 'open the windows, wash the curtains, blankets and windows, clean up around the dorm, and put everything away for the spring'?" Susan asks.

 

"Nope, just basic stuff though . .. " Josette nudges David. "We need to have Dad or somebody come in and look over the mechanicals. It's been a few years." He nods and makes a note on his PADD.

 

"I think we'll probably get the call to bring out a laundry to the vampire planet next year."

 

Josette nods. "People are moving into the apartments and next fall the first big group of students will be leaving for internships or jobs. Two of the apartment complexes will be completely furnished and we'll have a year in for Archimedes." The others nod.

 

The next week Josette and the boys head to Eureka for their finals. Meanwhile James brings pictures of the new Sanders son along with a team of engineers to start going over the dorm's mechanicals, then when that was done start on the other buildings at the school since it had been a while since those were inspected also.

 

"Getting everything ready for spring?" Dr. McNider asks when she slides into a seat at the tables.

 

"Yep, the dorm's aired out after the winter, we've been washing windows, blankets, and curtains and Dad brought out a team of engineers to check the mechanicals at the dorm and school since it's been a few years." Dr. Stark sighs and nods. "We've had to do the same thing in Eureka this year and last."

 

"You don't stop to think how long it's been unless something goes wrong." Dr. McNider says.

 

"Yep, we want to catch problems early before we get caught in a winter storm and the furnace goes out or the hot water heater starts leaking, the toilets back up, faucets break and water goes up instead of down, doors fall off their hinges when you touch them, the roof falls in. . ." Dr. McNider's sniggering as Josette's list of problems gets more and more elaborate.

 

"No accidentally being launched into space?"

 

"No, Headquarters could survive that, the dorm can't. At least not yet."

 

"You know, I can actually believe that."

 

"Oxygen scrubbers, the windows all have airtight covers that would block them off in case of a violent event such as an earthquake. Force shields coming up to keep the building intact. . . They've been expanding Headquarters since we arrived on Haven just like I have the dorm."

 

"I'm surprised they're not linked like you linked the dorm and ranch or Clark linked Headquarters and the Empire State Building."

 

"Doc's planning on that within the next couple years. I fully expect to be able to walk down a hall one day, open a door, and be in any building on the planet, just like the planets that are nothing more than huge hallways that take you anywhere."

 

Dr. Stark chuckles.

 

Back at the dorm David chuckles as his Dad looks at the new room off Josette's first floor room.

 

"They're hooked to the dorm's system?"

 

"Yes, though you can also use the wood. There's a switch that allows you to select what source you want to run it off of, there's another down in the basement off that kitchen, one at the ranch, and one in the huts."

 

"The lords and ladies?"

 

"Yeah, I keep wanting to make Pern jokes. Josette uses it when she's going to be gone all day, it's dead handy for soups, stews, and putting stuff on to soak overnight."

 

"You've enlarged the kitchens."

 

"Yep, in one of the Lords and Ladies renovations when the garden got so big and we needed the room in all the kitchens when we're canning."

 

"Drying screens?"

 

"We bring them out a couple days before they're needed, then they're folded up and put away until needed again like the others." Dad Sanders nods as he and an engineer start going through everything. That takes two weeks of work and everything gets a clean bill of health before they start on the school.

 

"That's good to know."

 

"Yes, not that we expected otherwise, we keep ahead of problems."

 

"Yes, but something can always happen. A pipe can burst and flood a room."

 

"Or a shower head can fall off and crack the pipe."

 

"Flooding can ruin the floor and the ceiling underneath."

 

"Are we going to need to work on the kitchens?"

 

"Not unless we want to do something cosmetic. All the appliances are still good and it's foolishness to get rid of something that works perfectly fine because it's old. No matter how many people did it on Earth." Nods from the others.

 

"What are you working on on break?"

 

"Chemical engineering and a comic book degree. I figure on finishing five to seven degrees next couple years after I get in my main degrees next year."

 

The first crops start coming in shortly and Josette's busy bringing in the garden and crops, spreading compost on the fields and tilling it under before the second crops are planted after the rains. Alexander and Michael come home from Hank's shop early one day.

 

"Done?" David asks. They nod. "Josette's moving the last of the orders to the ship. We'll relax tonight and start working on stuff for our show. We've been working nights and weekends, now we can concentrate on it full-time." David nods as Josette comes in from the ranch.

 

"How's everything coming along?"

 

"Good, I moved the chicken coops to the new areas." She looks at the boys. "Done?"

 

"Yep, that way we'll be able to help with the harvesting."

 

"Theses?"

 

"Been working on them off and on, we'll work on them nights and weekends. Unlike some people," Alexander looks at Josette and smirks. "We'll present our theses the semester before our last three classes." Josette sniggers. "Yeah, I gotta talk to GD and maybe Rex since he's a chemist about a project for my masters."

 

"Hello Josette," Rex says when she walks into the room where Ma Hunkel, Rex, Wendi, Charles, Drs. Cross and McNider, Michael, and Doc are talking. "Let me give you some privacy."

 

"Actually, you're one of the people I wanted to talk to." Rex looks at her, his eyebrow raised. "I'm going for a Masters in chemistry."

 

"How far are you?"

 

"Starting my second year, Masters are four years here, two years of classes for the area you're studying and two years of classes identical for all the degrees for that school for your thesis."

 

"And you're getting at the stage you're going to need a project as well as your thesis." Michael says.

 

"Yep, I got a list of areas I could work on from GD but. . ." She sends that to main screen in the room.

 

"It's like quilting or any other crafting project, if you don't get one that clicks it will fight you every step of the way." Ma Hunkel says, a needlepoint hoop in her lap.

 

"Exactly." Wendi nods. She's been a designer in her younger years and knows what the two women are talking about. Josette nods.

 

"Have you worked in these areas?"

 

"Yes, either during my bachelors or projects for my Masters." Josette sends the list of her projects, reports, and grades to the screen next.

 

"How's David coming along on his Masters?"

 

"He'll be one semester from them both this fall, he's working on this project and theses this this summer and plans on presenting one next year and the other the year after that."

 

"Michael and Alexander?"

 

"Be three semesters from their masters this fall and working on their papers along with stuff for their show in the other dimension now that they're finished with the sorting planet orders."

 

"Did David start another bachelors?" Dr. Cross chuckles.

 

"Of course he did, if he didn't he'd have to take more than three classes a semester for his Masters." Josette sniggers.

 

"CJ?"

 

"Finishing his second Oxford bachelors this fall, Clark and Thomas are talking to him about going on for his Masters and eventually a doctorate."

 

"Are you two still taking classes on the other dimension's teacher?"

 

Josette nods. "So are Clark and Thomas."

 

Josette slides into her seat at dinner.

 

"Get some ideas about your project and thesis?"

 

"Yeah," Josette rubs a hand over her head and yawns. "We'll have a thunderstorm by bedtime."

 

"The gardens can use the rain, that way we don't have to water tomorrow." David says. Josette nods. "We're going to have to fill the cistern this weekend."

 

"Thought we'd be getting low."

 

"Watering would have drained it."

 

"Offworld cotton?"

 

"Growing this year and next so the towel factory can start Archimedes order year after next. I'm going to be bringing in supplies of wood then too, scrub paper for tp and wood for furniture." She looks at Alexander. "Are the others ordering furniture?"

 

"Ohhh yeah, they've got good supplies of furniture in their homes and in the containers yet and can bring out more like we can but they're making plans for the future."

 

"Children?"

 

"Dinah, Lantern Soranik, and Jade are pregnant while Michael's got a baby in the gestation chamber. I took out the bags and everybody thanked me. Did the engineers finish their inspections?"

 

"Yes the school passed with flying colors since maintenance is so good about keeping ahead of problems."

 

The next morning Josette puts on galoshes before she walks outside, checking the fields and garden to see if they need more water before letting the animals out and pumping water into troughs.

 

"Everything okay on the ranch?" David asks as they knock on the door of the studio to let the boys know it's time for lunch.

 

"Yeah, I gotta look in on the yearly crops after lunch."

 

Josette slides into her seat at the back dining room a few weeks later.

 

"Finished with the yearly crops on the first planet?"

 

"Yep, the olives are pressed and bottled, I left some to ripen to black. The wine is bottled, I put out the information on the server and deliver tomorrow. The cacao and coffee are in bags until they're needed, the grapes, oranges, mangoes, papayas, and coconuts are in stasis."

 

The next day Josette splits off duplicates to deliver the orders. The yearly crops on Haven start coming in and once that's done Josette delivers the last of the orders for the sorting planet. Back on Haven Josette sends the last payments to the others before sliding into her seat at the dining hall. The back room's full with their guests from the other dimensions talking to the others.

 

"Josette, the offworld cotton harvest?"

 

"On Hidalgo, I'll take it to the towel factory next year after that harvest is in." David nods, that makes sense.

 

"Charmin brand?

 

"Third offworld harvest, that will give the other planets a good supply of tp and we'll need napkins and paper towels again."

 

David nods. "We should start running low on supplies by that time. Furnishing all the apartment buildings kicked our usual plans right in the teeth."

 

"Is the animal planet apartments done?"

 

"Yep, they finished a couple days ago."

 

"9th planet buildings?"

 

"Finished and they should start transmitting in a few weeks." 9th planet Dr. Cross nods. "We're getting in a mixture of people who were working in Eureka and here on Haven along with former students who don't know anything about the business but are willing to learn."

 

Nods from the others. David looks at Josette. "Yes, I'll look into the other tape libraries on the ships." She looks at Dr. Cross again. "Movie theater?"

 

"Yes, we're talking about putting one up next summer. If you want you can put one up on Haven or Archimedes since ours are digital and your movies are still on tape."

 

"And if you want a copy of ours you can have it." Josette says. David nods.

 

The next several days has the visitors touring the other planets after the Harvest Festival.

 

"I don't think I could live on so quiet a planet." the visitor Dr. Cross says from his spot on the beach where they're cooking out.

 

"Neither could we, but it's so peaceful." Mary says, then sniggers as David's shoved into the water. "Some of the time." She looks over to where Clarinda's talking with Josette, Michael, and Alexander about the boys upcoming show. He follows her gaze, once again looking at this other version of his beloved daughter.

 

He returns to his dimension with the others, hard drives filled with information that he plugs into his system. He sends out a signal, getting a flying figure appearing that gives him a look, the man with him gives him a longer look.

 

"Look over this information." He tells the two men. They start reading, shaking their heads as they see footage. Batman blinks at one figure and moans quietly at another.

 

"Things could have easily turned out that way here. Not the meteorite hitting the moon, but Luthor taking over the country and not stopping there."

 

"We have just as many fanatic fringe groups that would have set off the rockets in the atmosphere if they could have. Are they settling in well?"

 

"The dimension where Luthor took over is in their second winter on their new planet, they've been bringing out buildings and have plans on working on a library, a radio station, and a TV station over the winter. They've added growing buildings both outside and areas in their homes for fresh fruit and vegetables over the winter beyond what they canned over their harvests and what was grown offworld for them. They're in constant contact with others from their original dimension but have no plans to return."

 

"I wouldn't, not until Luthor was permanently dealt with along with all his cronies because I can see somebody attacking once they thought everything was done." The other two men nod.

 

"So how many degrees are you finishing next year?" David asks when their guests have all headed back home and the dorm is quiet.

 

"At least four, the three I'm taking on the school computer though I'll probably finish the one I'm taking three classes a semester in second semester and the first of the musical instruments hands-on degrees from Edinborough. Oh they plan on enlarging again so I'll take a year off classes from there to give them time to finish everything they want to do. I've only got one other degree going there, sunpainting and it's all books."

 

"Sunpainting?"

 

"It's where you put fabric in the sun or under a heat lamp, put objects on it, then add dye or paint and then remove them when they're dry, showing the outlines. One of the new degrees they added over the years. I'm going to experiment with it for a top of a quilt. . .eventually."

 

"The opposite of woodblocking."

 

"Basically, two sides of the same coin of adding designs to fabric." Josette heads upstairs to work on her loom for a few hours. The next couple of weeks pass quickly and Josette, Alexander, and Michael head to Eureka for their first testing week.

 

"What are your plans for the winter?"

 

"Doc wants us to upgrade our growing facilities so I'm going to be planting on the satellite again."

 

"It has been a few decades." Dr. Stark says dryly. Josette sniggers at his bland tone. "Exactly, that will give me more time on the satellite, I want to see if I can find a library on there this time."

 

Josette looks up at the knock on the doorframe that weekend when she's up in her growing area at the dorm.

 

"Oh my god. . ." Dr. Cross says, looking around. Doc is doing the same.

 

"Offworld plants, to clean the air and water on ships, used in medicine, used on planets that have had natural disasters to help them recover, or just plants from worlds that naturally have harsh climates."

 

"Is this the only area?" Doc asks after Josette takes them on a tour of the five floor, fifteen rooms per floor area.

 

"Oh no, we have several offworld growing areas that were started before we started arriving on the planets, Dr. Kane on the fourth planet has a growing area in his Sanctuary, Doc's got one, GD has one, I just have the largest since I go offdimension so often and I've talked a lot to farmers and other agricultural specialists on other planets from my visits to Momma Clarinda's dimension."

 

"Josette, did everything get straightened out over there?" Susan asks.

 

"Yes, the leaders of the planet who wanted the Legion to face charges have been removed from office and they're looking at multiple life sentences as the charges rack up. The authorities figure it will be years before all the charges are in, they keep finding records of nasty, evil, or just stupid shit they did." Susan sniggers. "Sounds like most governments."

 

"Can we get samples?"

 

"Sure if you got a place to put them separate from your food growing areas."

 

Dr. Cross nods. Josette brings out clippers and sample envelopes and they start to work.

 

"What's this?"

 

"Samples of Alien plants Josette has in a growing area of the dorm, she sent along information on each one." Dr. Cross says as he and Dr. McNider get to work putting in grow liquid. Meanwhile at headquarters Doc and Charles are doing the same.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Josette's on the ninth planet when Dinah cries out and a wet spot appears under her. She lifts her into her arms and carries her to Dr. Cross's home.

 

"Josette?" Dr. McNider jumps to his feet on the couch. He lifts Dinah into his arms as Dr. Cross leads them to the basement.

 

"Where's Charles and Pieter?" Alan says, coming to the door as Josette gets ready to leave.

 

"Basement. Dinah's water broke a few minutes ago."

 

Alan sighs, ducking his head. "Jennie-Lynn just did the same thing."

 

"Call Eureka, if your Dr. Blake isn't used to delivering babies, ours is from being there for all our kids. Because once they've delivered and are recovering Soranik should if Koragur physiology is similar to humans."

 

He sighs in relief. "I hadn't thought of that." and heads off. Josette chuckles as Dr. McNider comes up, the computer alerting him to the new arrival. He looks at the door then Josette. "Alan just arrived quietly freaking out since Jennie-Lynn's water broke too. I told him to call Eureka, if your Dr. Blake can't deliver the babies, ours can. She's had years of experience with ours." Charles laughs and heads back to the basement as Josette heads back to Haven.

 

"Josette says Alan was freaking out because Jade's water broke too. She told him to call GD, if Allison can't deliver the babies Archimedes Allison can since she delivered theirs." He says coming back in the exam room where Pieter's checking Dinah.

 

Josette grins at the news of Dinah having a boy and girl while Jennie-Lynn had two girls a few days later.

 

"Three girls and a boy, and two yet to go." She announces at dinner. The others smile, then Susan shoves David out of his chair since she's closest.

 

"No, we don't need babies right away. It's eight years before Josette's as old as how many children we have." She says calmly. The others snigger. "Let's get the twins graduated high school at least."

 

After Thanksgiving and the visits to the other dimensions, Josette settles in her usual spot in the Albatross Nest for the meeting about the kits.

 

"Josette, does the ninth planet have growing buildings?" Marilyn asks.

 

"Yes about half again the size of Haven's and Doc and Dr. Cross both have growing areas in their homes."

 

"They're in their late winter?"

 

"Yep, in a few weeks they'll be planting their first harvest. This year they're planning individual gardens as well as the communal garden." Everybody nods in satisfaction.

 

After the meeting Josette takes everything back to the dorm and heads to Hidalgo, returning a little under a year later for her. She drops into her usual seat at dinner and sends Clark a message that has him appearing a few minutes later.

 

"I found a library on the satellite. . .and an AI."

 

"Really?" Clark asks, dropping into a seat.

 

"Yep." She sends him a file.

 

//"I don't suppose you have a library?" She says one day and squeals when a series of arrows lights up and she starts following them.

 

"Thank you." She pats the wall and takes a picture of the room to show Clark, Thomas, and CJ.

 

"You're welcome." A quiet voice says and Josette throws her arms around the nearest wall. "Thank you for talking to me."

 

"It's been years since I talked to anybody, but you always made an effort to thank me and talk to me when you're here, and seeing how you interact with the others proves you're not bothered by AIs." Hidalgo's AI appears next to Josette and laughs.//

 

"So the ships, yours, and mine are all talking."

 

"What did you plant?" Josette sends them the list. "Everything's in stasis right now, I figured we'd work on it the next few days after we decorate the dorm."

 

"The visitors on the ninth planet?"

 

"Heading after the Lights Festival. Everybody's itching to get outside with winter nearly over. It's not just planting crops, it's being able to open windows, air out buildings that have been shut up for months for more than five minutes without the furnace coming on and be outside for more than a few minutes at a time moving from one building to another." Everybody nods, knowing that feeling well from winters blocked in by storms.

 

"Awwww, congratulations." Josette coos when she gets a message.

 

"They open the gestation chamber?"

 

"Yep, Michael's the stunned but proud daddy of a little girl named Paula after her mother."

 

"Is that it on the babies?"

 

"They're talking about letting Courtney and Billy become pregnant later this year. They're going to be busy with bringing out the movie theater and building classrooms."

 

Camilla looks around the lights a few weeks later at the Lights Festival on the other planet. Nobody's looking at her sideways for being bundled up, everybody else is. Even if Josette's hood keeps getting pulled up around her face for her by the others. They stop at the dorm to pick up the babies that are sleeping in cribs, getting diapers changed, or being given a bottle then head back to the 9th planet, hugging their friends and getting pictures of the babies before they head back to the other dimension. No matter how long they'd stayed there, they'd be arriving back minutes if not seconds after they'd left.

 

Kyle hands over a box. "Genetic samples from the others for the database."

 

Batman nods in satisfaction as the new genetic samples are placed in the banks. Then looks at the babies in Dinah's arms as Soranik and Kyle check in with the guardians, their son in his green bassinet behind them.

 

"At you okay?"

 

"Sore, the twins weighed nearly six pounds each thanks to the clean air, good food, and plenty of exercise." Dinah's eyes grow dark as she remembers some of that 'exercise'.

 

Meanwhile on the link to OA the guardians look at the baby in the bassinet. "A male infant?"

 

"Yes, Jade had a set of twin girls, they are with her in the other dimension."

 

"Have you set up times to visit the others?"

 

"Yes, Black Canary had a boy and girl, we want the children to know their siblings."

 

The Guardian nods as they form a ship around themselves and fly through the watchtower into space. Dinah puts the babies down in floating cradles and lowers herself into a chair.

 

"How long has it been since you delivered?"

 

"Six weeks their time. I had my two month examination before I left."

 

"Their names for the records?" Batman asks.

 

"Lawrence Pieter Charles McNider Cross Lance and Dinah Alexandra Cross Lance McNider. They have an older brother and sister on the other planet."

 

"How are they handling the last names."

 

"A variation on how the twins are named, all three parents last names in varying order. They were DNA tested at birth, they do it on all the planets to determine paternity, the other planets want to make sure children are taken care of and in case of donated sperm or genetic material the kids don't get together." Nods from the others, they're doing the same. Lawrence makes a mewling sound in his bassinet and Dinah picks him up, throwing a blanket over her shoulder as she nurses.

 

"How many children do they have?"

 

"Fifteen with our three though the doctors were talking about letting Stargirl and Captain Marvel become pregnant later their year when we were getting ready to leave. Mr. Terrific had a weeks old baby girl from the gestation chamber. There were seventeen children under the age of two on the sixth planet. Hippolyta, in my bag is letters from the others. There's also video of how they're settling in. Their planet has much longer days and years, they get in four harvests before winter."

 

The video is played, the others talking about what they see.

 

"Their garden is well set up, but so large? Unless its. . ."

 

"A communal garden for everybody?" Black Canary nods as she puts Lawrence down and picks up her baby girl to nurse. "Yes. Josette started the original garden before they arrived, in a year or so they plan on having their own gardens as they branch out into other foods. They'd put up growing buildings for fresh fruit and vegetables over the winter beyond what they can from their harvests and grow offworld. Clark Savage and the drs. Mid-Nite had similar growing areas in their homes."

 

"Grow offworld?"

 

"There's a number of offworld growing areas for the six occupied planets, think large gardens on a gigantic scale. They're off six months harvesting all the food but are only gone an hour thanks to the time difference. That food is canned, dried, or otherwise stored and passed out for the winter. They only have two offworld areas while the other planets that have larger populations have three."

 

"Growth?"

 

"They have a small population growth, they don't want to overwhelm the planets and most people are staying in the areas they've settled in rather than spreading out to farm their own land. There's also the problem that a lot of people are sterile thanks to radiation from the solar flares that ultimately wiped out their Earth's population."

 

"How much?"

 

"Almost the total population of two of the worlds, they're former students from Josette's school. 90 to 95 percent of a third, depending on when they came up. Their new world and most of the inhabitants of the other two worlds can have children, depending on their age and if they came up after the radiation. Those who are too old or are in same-sex relationships use the gestation chambers too. The other worlds have had children over the years in the chambers but only about fifty over thirty years. With the gestation chambers and bodies adapting to the longer years, they're waiting to have children."

 

"Industry?"

 

"Fourth planet has Stark International, yes from the Iron Man movies, and Wayne Industries." Dinah's getting her daughter settled in the bassinet and adjusting herself in her shirt so she doesn't see Batman's look. "Or I should say both Wayne Industries since they brought out the second after their Earth was lost, they've been integrating stuff for years. Fifth planet is mostly scientific, their nickname is the animal planet since they started out as a way to save endangered wildlife. Though they started growing commercially there within the last couple of years. Sixth planet is primarily agricultural but has limited small factories, the seventh planet has more small factories, some open year round while others are opened when they're needed then shut down. They've started growing there commercially a few years ago, before then it was just the factories and recycling. The eighth planet is their GD, between them, the two Wayne Industries, and Stark they hire a good percentage of the recent graduates when they finish their university degrees."

 

"What's the populations?"

 

"I'm not sure about the fourth planet, a lot of is small farms but the fifth planet is around seventeen thousand inhabitants, the sixth planet is under eight thousand and will fall to under four thousand when the last of the students finish their university classes and leave the school. The seventh planet is over 23,000 people while the eighth has maybe fifteen thousand among GD, the other two towns they brought up over the years, and the independent groups that have settled there."

 

"So around eighty thousand people on six planets?"

 

Dinah nods. "I know on Earth that might not be a sustainable population but it works for them."

 

"They've learned from Earth's mistakes. We've got less, so do the colonies. You said they've been settled about fifty years?"

 

Dinah nods as a familiar noise makes her get up and reach for the diaper bag. Hippolyta takes one of the babies and they change them, cleaning them, and putting them in clean clothes before settling them back in the bassinets.

 

"About twenty-five thousand students, support staff from the orphanages, and others came out to the sixth planet in two groups about twenty-three, twenty-four years ago for them otherwise the population would be smaller."

 

"That's a bit of people to take in."

 

"Not as bad as the 40,000 students that were in school when they lost Earth. Some of them might have come back to the planets, but not all of them."

 

The others nod. "That would have been a large number of people to integrate into their society, for all that they'd already been there."

 

Dinah nods. "They were in temporary barracks like housing for several years until they brought up apartment buildings. Being in temporary housing for so long though allowed them to pay down their scholarship loans and put money away for permanent housing. It took I think two or three multi-building apartment complexes on each of the planets before all the students were out of temporary housing."

 

"How did they assign housing?"

 

"Lottery, everybody knew they'd have places eventually so if they didn't get in this time they had another chance. With the new students from the second dimension they learned from their mistakes and started putting up the apartment complexes early so once the students left the school dorms after they finished their university degrees, they could move right into their new homes." everybody nods in satisfaction.

 

"Why didn't they leave the students in the dorms after they lost Earth?" Somebody asks.

 

"At the time they felt that being at the school might be a reminder of what they'd lost on Earth. Getting away and starting new." The others nod. "In the orphans case, they'd already been treated as second class citizens since they didn't have families but they'd made their own among the others and the orphanage personnel were their parents. The school closed four years after they lost Earth, opening and closing periodically as student were old enough to attend classes. They'll have been open twenty-one years when the last of the students leave in five years. The last four years will be less than fifty students from the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh planets. The last of the dorms will be closing as the youngest orphans move to permanent housing."

 

"Will they reopen?

 

"Maybe in the future, right now schooling is changing on the sixth planet. The building that was the day care and taught students through the eighth grade has been in operation since before they left Earth, they're closing it this year their time for a good cleaning and to see if any repairs needed to be made. Josette and the others are teaching their younger children at home. Their next youngest was going to be starting second grade in a week when we left, their oldest after that was starting eighth grade, they were going to be the sixth planet students attending high school before it closed. Their oldest four still living at home were going to be finishing their last year of university classes this year."

 

"And their youngest?"

 

"Triplets turning two in three months."

 

"Are we seeing many changes as people adapt to their new planets? Besides people living longer?"

 

Dinah nods. "I haven't seen it personally but pregnancies started getting shorter as people adapted to the longer days, months, and years. Pregnancies are about twenty weeks on the sixth planet now, fourteen on the eighth planet. The others told them it would be happening, it takes about ten years for their bodies to adapt. With the good food, fresh air, clean water, and plenty of exercise everybody's in their best health ever. They've gained weight, but it's all muscles."

 

"How are they adapting to the much longer days on their new planet?"

 

"They're handling it, like the eighth planet they work for a while, are off for several hours, get some sleep, then go back to what they'd been doing. The only time everybody's working non-stop is when the crops are coming in, then it's picking, canning, drying, or storing everything until dark or everything's put away." Superman nods, remembering life on the farm when the harvest comes in.

 

"What are their plans for the third year?"

 

"Bringing out at least a movie theater and a building they can use for classes. They've been slowly going through all their supplies they sent out before they arrived but there's still containers they have to go through and they plan on bringing other buildings out of 'limbo' as Josette refers to it."

 

"Anything new to bring up?" President Bartlett says at the government meeting the first day of the new semester.

 

"Possibility of a second TV and radio station? We've gone through the library even with limited broadcast hours." Josette says. "Ninth planet is bringing out their own movie theater later this year along with a building for classes."

 

"Maybe in a few years we can bring out an existing one, with ninth planet broadcasts, we've got new channels." Josette nods. Josette nods and makes a note for the records. "No more a hundred channels and nothing to watch."

 

"Thank you god." President Bartlett sighs. "What's the possibility of original programming?"

 

"Good." Josette sends the tentative list to the screen, everybody nodding. "Anything else?"

 

"Expanding the store or moving clothing into it's own building?"

 

Back at the dorm Josette heads upstairs and plays eeny meeny miney mo with her quilt kits to start a new one. Opening the bag she pulls everything out and starts copying the pattern onto plastic and starts a new envelope for the pattern, copying it and putting the original away, she'll add the plastic pieces to the envelope when she's finished with the quilt. Looking over all the fabric she reads the pattern before David calls her down for lunch.

 

"Going to be finishing your school computer degrees this year?"

 

"Yeah, I'm finishing the third year for the shipwrecks degree this semester, I'll pick up extra classes next semester and the break to finish second break."

 

"Cooking?"

 

"Halfway through it this semester."

 

"Herbal medicine degree from Oxford?"

 

"Next year, that the second degree for the shipwrecks, and probably a lit degree since I'm finishing all three this year. I might even pick up a second three class a semester degree next year."

 

"Old home week at Hank's?" David asks when Josette's absorbed her other selves before dinner.

 

"Yep." Michael leans back in his chair. "Everybody's settling into starting the new orders for Archimedes's apartments. Going to seem weird not heading there the first of the year when we're finished with the last two complexes."

 

"Like when the school closes and Josette and the girls aren't heading to work."

 

"Exactly, you've become used to it over the last several years."

 

"What's the status on the chicken place?" Susan asks as they walk to the dining hall.

 

"Good, they're going to be announcing special nights pretty soon."

 

"Helping with classes?"

 

"Nope, Frances and Elaine only have a handful of students they're working with so they're offering one on one time instead of regular classes. They're not looking at regular classes again until year after next when the kids are in tenth grade."

 

"What's the latest on the other dimension?"

 

"Luthor's scrabbling to keep his head above water, his 'allies' dead and gone when they attacked the wrong countries and got taken out with extreme prejudice. He's trying to bluff it out but the war's turning against him but it's going to be worse before it gets better. The rough estimate is millions of people dead and the death toll is just going to keep going up."

 

"Josette, how's the ship coming along?"

 

"I'm working on it again the next couple of weeks. End of the year I'll have the frame put together."

 

"First planet?"

 

"I gotta see what we're running low on in a couple months." David nods as they walk inside the back room, getting the babies settled in their booster seats.

 

"Now, do the others have enough formula?"

 

"Yes, they're going to be in operation for another year just to make sure, anything left over can go in stasis."

 

Nods from the others.

 

"Recycling?"

 

"End of the semester, I picked up everything last fall."

 

"Empty containers?"

 

"They've been putting some together on the 9th planet for workrooms and summer kitchens for canning. Like they were talking about on Earth when they were talking about using them for housing, you can't easily add plumbing but buckets of water from an outside faucet handles all the needs since they're not going to be in use all the time." Everybody nods.

 

"Workshops?"

 

"For quilting. Not everybody has workrooms in their homes. . .though that probably will be in the next round of renovations, but they can sit out there, sew blocks, put together the layers together, and bring them to the stores to be quilted. I 'tweaked' everything while I was there so they got heat and electricity." The others chuckle. "And I took some of them for a permanent house for me on land I found." She sends them pictures of the building and surrounding area, getting nods of approval.

 

Josette sends pictures to Lee and Harry of the progress of the ship when she heads to Eureka for the first round of tests a few weeks later. Josette slides into her usual seat at the tables.

 

"Is CJ starting his Masters?"

 

"Yep."

 

"The boys?"

 

"Michael and Alexander are going to be three years into their Masters and working on their theses, David is going to be three classes from his end of the year and uploading his Mechanical engineering thesis to the server this summer. He's pouting he's going to have to present the comic book one in person." The others make fake sounds of sympathy. "He's more upset because Dr. Blake will probably be arriving at the dorm after Thanksgiving and dropping 'hints' about a doctorate for him and other degrees for the others." Suspiciously twitching lips from David's godfather and uncles.

 

"Josette, are you growing on the first planet this year?"

 

"Yeah, I was going to check the supplies in a couple months. The biologists need me to plant something for them?"

 

"Please." Dr. Stark sends her the information. "Same terms as last time?"

 

"Yep, you get most of the produce both green and ripe, dried and fresh and they get the rest and the plants. They don't have the room to store everything you do."

 

"I'll have to set up another raised bed, I use both since the 9th planet was settled." Dr. Stark nods. He sends Josette the information and she nods. "Do they mind if some of these get sold?"

 

"Don't mind at all. Do you still have seeds from the other pepper?"

 

"Yep, I was going to start a batch in a couple years."

 

"What's Doc doing to your growing center?"

 

"No idea, it's already three times as big as it was and he says he's not done, he's talking to Dad about that part of the dorm. We might be growing offworld again this fall." Dr. Cross snickers at her hangdog look. The boys come over when the buzzer sounds for lunch.

 

"How are you on your papers?"

 

"Good, we made a lot of progress on them over the break and when we weren't working on stuff for our show last year."

 

"What's the plans for the education center when it closes this fall?"

 

"Taking everything out of each room, giving it a good scrubbing and making a list of anything that needs to be worked on. Next spring we'll do the same to the outside of the building and check the others in town."

 

The others nod. "No use looking over one building without checking the others. You're just asking for trouble."

 

This time Josette nods.

 

Josette heads to the first planet later that week, talking to the satellite's AI as Aztec makes the parts for a third raised bed she sets out and fills with dirt and a couple scoops of the compost before heading back to Haven.

 

 

 

The next few weeks pass and Josette slides into her seat at the pushed together the second testing week, nodding at the bag Dr. Cross hands her. Looking inside she nods and puts it on the floor next to her as they talk about plans for the spring planting, washing blankets and windows and the need to bring new sheets out of storage.

 

"What about the school's sheets?"

 

"I've been getting bags of wore out sheets and towels as the students leave and their floors are cleaned. We've got tons of sheets from the other dimension, both separates and made up in sets and of course there's the replicator." The three men nod. "Do you see a factory for sheets and blankets?"

 

"Not for a while. Eventually yeah, I even have them picked out."

 

"Toothpaste?"

 

"Should be running low this year, I'll check the supplies when we get home and put up a poll sometime this year if we are. With all the work for the apartments, the usual orders kinda get forgotten." Dr. Stark chuckles and nods. "Same for the tp, paper towels, and napkins. Stuff you don't think about until you run out."

 

"How are the others coming along on their plans for a chicken restaurant?"

 

"Good, they plan on offering specialty nights later this year. Last year was putting all the recipes on the food replicator and seeing what the difference is between cooking at home, the church kitchen, and a commercial kitchen." The others nod.

 

Josette fills the manure spreader and takes care of the garden and fields. The others were busy washing windows and putting away blankets and quilts now that the last of the snow had melted. Every window in a room where somebody lived was open, along with the doors as fresh air replaced the funk of 'lived in' for the last few months.

 

"Everything done?" Josette asks at lunch.

 

"Yep, the dorms airing out and we cleaned up after the poochies."

 

"Anybody else need new sheets?"

 

"Yep, I ripped a hole in my bottom sheet this morning even with switching the thin spot to the head of the bed." Susan says. "I replicated a new one and I was going to head up to the storage area this afternoon." She looks at Josette. "The dorms sheets and towels?"

 

"Been brought to my workroom as the floors empty." Everybody nods. Being open nearly twenty five years meant a lot of them were getting thin even with being new when they'd come out."

 

After lunch Josette grabs a bag of towels from the workroom and starts cutting them up for a batch of handmade paper, shredding some of the recyclable paper from the other dimensions and starting to to soak before heading to the storage area of the dorm and getting some new sets of sheets.

 

"How are we on sheets?" David asks at dinner.

 

"Good, we've got tons of separates and put together as sets and I've got more on the ships from taking the ships to the other dimensions. I have a factory for sheets and blankets selected that I plan on bringing out in a decade or so. And there's always the replicators."

 

"What have we been doing with the wore out blankets?"

 

"Replicator as raw material for new ones or used as batting for quilts if they're large enough. A lot of flannel quilts use blankets as batting since they're already heavy." Frances nods as she comes into the back room. "Josette, we're having a special meeting at the textiles building an hour after dinner."

 

"I'll be there."

 

Josette grins at Agatha, Sue, Joan, Suzie, Moira, and a handful of others as she comes into the room. They talk for a couple hours and nod at the tentative plans before Josette heads back to the dorm.

 

"Plans for what we're going to do after the school closes, holding classes here as well as in town, Albatross, Assyrian, and Edinborough. And talking about the sunpainting degree I started."

 

"Weaver halls." David sniggers. "Basically yeah. Talking about maybe Hank making looms when he's finished with the orders for the apartment complexes, tables and cabinets for sewing machines, what I have still on the ships or what we can make. I have a factory for sewing machines and I can bring one out for knitting machines, from the small ones kids get you crank by hands up to the big mack daddy ones like I have in my studio and from the supplier."

 

"More cloth beyond your building?"

 

"I'll bring out a larger factory." David nods and they talk about what needs to be done that spring.

 

"Somebody needs to go check the roofs." David nods. "I can do that in a couple months when I'm not taking classes."

 

"Thesis?"

 

"I'm uploading it to the server with the project specs after my last class this semester."

 

Josette's planted the first crops on the first planet and Haven when their finals arrive and she slides into her seat at the pushed together tables.

 

"Get everything planted?"

 

"Yeah, and I'm bringing the first batch of orders up later this week and pick up the recycling at the same time." Dr. Stark nods, making a note on his PADD. "Other supplies?"

 

"Starting next year, I've got good supplies of everything for these apartments, I'll start getting in more for the animal planet and to have on hand afterwards.

 

"Clark get everything he wanted done to your growing area yet?"

 

"No, he says he'll be finished by our first harvest. I'm going to be busy keeping an eye on the new plants so it doesn't bother me. David's planning on looking over the roofs on the other continent, it's been a few years and the sooner we catch any problems the easier it is to fix." All three men nod.

 

A few days later Josette slides into her seat at dinner.

 

"Get everything taken care of?"

 

"Yep, the furniture and other stuff is in the apartments and the payments sent to everybody. The recycling is all picked up and I need to break up the glass tomorrow." The others nod.

 

"What are you taking over break?"

 

"Four classes for the naval academy degree and finishing the third year for the pulp fiction villains degree. I'll get five more classes in next semester and finish it second break."

 

"How are Dr. Cross and Billy coming on their cooking degree?"

 

"Good, they're taking four classes a semester and plan on picking up a second degree. The others are looking over the cookbooks from the classes and the ones they brought from their dimension and plan on expanding their own cooking abilities in the future."

 

"They're planting their own gardens this year?"

 

"Yep, one of the reasons they want to take cooking classes. Introducing new foods to them and new styles of cooking."

 

"If you don't learn something new, you might as well be dead."

 

"Yep."

 

The next day Josette signs in at Agatha's and starts doing inventory of what's in the stockroom. Agatha looks through the door and sighs. "Yeah, I was going to start that soon. Are you growing cotton?"

 

Josette nods. "I noticed the stores were getting a little low. With all the apartment complexes going up, regular stuff takes a back seat." Agatha nods. "But once everything's done I can't see the need for new housing for a while."

 

"Stuff like underwear and bras?"

 

"The factory's starting up next year. A mixture of old employees and some of the kids finishing university classes this fall. We've still got supplies from before the other dimension was lost." Agatha nods.

 

"Is everybody settling in well on the 9th planet?"

 

"Yeah, they're planting their own gardens as well as the communal garden."

 

"Always a good sign." Agatha nods. "I heard rumors of a movie theater?"

 

"Yeah, they're planning on bringing it out, they were trying to decide where they'd put it so everybody could come when I reminded them of the link between the stores."

 

Agatha nods. "That way it doesn't matter where it is, set up the links and you can easily travel there."

 

"It won't be opening this year, they'll have the same work that ours did. And they're putting up a building for classrooms, both for the babies and the adults when they're taking university classes." Agatha nods. "Our movies?"

 

"Theirs is digital, ours is still tapes."

 

Agatha nods. "I remember them talking about that, foolishness to make people spend money to change everything that worked just fine."

 

Josette nods. "But they can always bring out a copy of ours and we can always bring out a copy of theirs." Everybody in earshot nods. "From the lists of what I brought out both before they arrived and afterwards, they have a good selection of movies both on tape and DVD, plus whatever they had at the theater and new digital movies. And I pick up new stuff when I go over."

 

The first crops start coming in and Josette's busy for a couple of weeks bringing everything in and canning, drying, or storing food. The new crops go in and Josette heads off with a group for the offworld harvest before sliding into her seat at the dining room.

 

"Is everything in?"

 

"Yeah, I gotta start working on cleaning the cotton tomorrow." Josette stretches backward in the chair.

 

"How soon until the offworld harvests start coming in while it's still winter?"

 

"I say year after next, maybe the year after that. Won't know for sure until the year before it happens." Everybody nods.

 

"First planet?"

 

"Taking the plants and a portion of the crop to GD after lunch. I'm stopping to Vincent's while I'm there. I already sold some of the peppers to Dr. Kane."

 

Vincent smiles as Josette comes in. It's a lull and she waves a hand to bring out stuff. Vincent moans.

 

"I understand you were planting again for GD?"

 

"Yeah, here's some of the green and ripe. Careful, a little goes a long way."

 

"From the others I can understand." He sniffs one of the peppers and turns his head. "Yeah." They sit down to haggle and Josette gets a plate of food placed in front of her after they take everything in back.

 

"I know you probably just ate but with the harvests coming in you're doing fifteen different things at once."

 

Vincent on the 9th planet looks over at the knock on the door. He recognizes Josette and opens the door.

 

"First planet?"

 

"Yep, herbs, peppers, tomatoes, and a new pepper that GD asked me to plant." They sit down to haggle over everything and Josette helps move everything into the back before heading back to Haven.

 

"Get everything sold?" Susan asks when Josette slides into her seat.

 

"Yep, the rest is in stasis or drying."

 

The next morning Josette splits a duplicate off that goes the supplier's complex in the dorm to start cleaning the cotton. It's a couple days later when Josette delivers a batch of yarn and plain cotton for spinning to the yarn store.

 

"Thank you Josette, with all the attention on the apartment complexes the little things get overlooked. Are you growing offworld?" The woman behind the counter says after the payment is transferred and she puts everything in back.

 

"Yes, this harvest and what I grew last year that's on the ship will be enough for Archimedes towel factory order. I gotta plant again next year for Charmin brand tp and take scrub trees out there for that, paper towels, and napkins."

 

"Toothpaste?"

 

"I was going to put up the poll end of the year."

 

"Are we expanding the ranch house?" Alan asks after dinner. They had when the school first closed and again a while later.

 

"I'd been thinking of it." Josette says, sending a file to the screen. She starts pointing things out, getting nods and suggestions that she updates the file with.

 

"We need a second kitchen when the garden is coming in." Anna says.

 

Nods from the others. "Maybe a summer kitchen? Bringing in water like they do on the 9th planet."

 

Josette brings up another file. "I'd been working on this. Primarily designed for canning." They nod at the large room with tables, multiple cooking surfaces and multiple prep areas.

 

"Not bad. Similar to the big building but more. . .us."

 

"The big building is meant for multiple uses with everything being moved when it's no longer needed.

 

"I've also been working on another area to store everything." Josette brings up another file, getting a nod. Everything starts twinkling and Josette hears a familiar chuckling.

 

"Thank you Lady Hestia."

 

"You've needed the work for a while, like the houses in town the ranch was meant as a starting point, children." All of them nod.

 

Josette drops into the couch three months later.

 

"Is everything in now?" Susan asks.

 

"Yep." Josette opens one eye to see the visitors moving around the living room talking to each other. "Next year will be easier with everybody but the kids out of high school so we have more people to harvest or whatnot." David nods. "First planet?"

 

"Everything's in and I planted the raised beds."

 

"Orders?"

 

"Delivered the second batch and dropped off the cotton at the towel factory."

 

"You added onto the . . .well, I can't really call it a ranch anymore." Dr. Cross asks.

 

"Yeah, we've had plans for a while to add onto it when the school closes again and we needed another kitchen for when the garden comes in. The others are meant for general cooking, this one was designed with taking care of the harvests in mind. More cooking surfaces with burners farther apart for larger pots, more prep areas, and plenty of tables for the food to be moved to after it's been canned. We also enlarged the pantries, including a new area to use for the harvests since we were running out of room."

 

"This is nice work boys, do you sell beyond the orders for the other planets?" James asks, looking at some of the cabinets and furniture the boys have been working on, both for the apartment complexes and their own use.

 

"Yes, we made special order furniture in the other dimension before it was lost, now we're doing it in the other other dimension. Josette, Michael, and I have at least one show a year and we routinely take over furniture when we go over after Thanksgiving since we're not working at Hank's all day. David?"

 

"Yeah."

 

"You hear about your Mechanical engineering thesis?"

 

"Yeah, the project and thesis got a wave from GD, I gotta present the lit one in person though." David's lips start to twitch.

 

"So do we."

 

"Yeah, on comic books." Josette snorts.

 

"So speaks the woman who's taken all three of the Masters we're going for. Hey, did they bring out the movie theater on the 9th planet?"

 

"Yeah, they're working on the exterior work and attaching storage by . . ." Josette opens her eyes and looks at David, who starts typing. "Yeah, we'll bring that up at the next meeting." Everybody looks at them. "Our first meeting of the year, Josette brought up the point that even with limited hours we've gone through the TV and radio station libraries. The radio station that's not a problem since you can switch up the music but. . ."

 

"New radio and TV station?"

 

"We tabled it for a few years since the 9th planet ones opened. The main problem was the stations didn't have the room for another tape library. . ."

 

"But if you link a building by a tessaract or even just expand a room. . ." Josette nods. "Right now we hope to have original programming up and running by next year."

 

"Josette, you working on your chem project?"

 

"Yeah, I try to get in a few hours a week in in a lab at GD."

 

"So are you thinking of settling out here like the others?" Dr. Cross looks over at Clarinda in the living room a few hours later after the kids have headed to bed. How things are different in the various dimensions, at least three where Clarinda gave birth to Josette, two where Josette never existed because Charles didn't, one where Charles gave birth to Josette, and his where he gave birth to Josette. His eyes grow dark a second as he thinks of another difference in the dimensions, it's only this one where Josette lived.

 

"We've been thinking of it, we couldn't live on another planet like the others have even if a copy of the city's on the first planet." The others nod. "But the others have said that they could bring out a copy of our rooms and attach it to a building on the other continent. Along with our other homes."

 

"Rooms?"

 

"We're rather high in the government, we live in New York on the 198th floor of a highrise, you need a pass to get on our floor, we have the entire floor and there's no windows for our security."

 

"Nothing above you either?"

 

James nods. "Again our security. But even with only 50,000 people New York gets a little overwhelming and we head to our homes for a few days, the kids brought an old ship to go out on the ocean for the same reason."

 

"Josette, is the Legion's Eureka still on Earth?" Susan asks at breakfast the next morning.

 

"No, like ours they moved lock, stock, and barrel to another world when the government started getting heavy handed, telling them what they had to do. Like the Legion they're totally autonomous and the government who forced their move got their hands slapped. They're a good sized research facility now with links to major universities and shaking their ass at Earthgov who's looking like big bullies now trying to tell an independent company what to do. All the other companies they work with are up in arms and threatening lawsuits and canceling contracts." Josette smirks.

 

"Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of assholes." David smirks. "Always have to be one power-hungry fool who has nothing better to do than try to push his weight around."

 

"Then blubber that they should have done what he wanted when his house of cards falls down around his ears." Susan snorts. Josette nods. "I'm going to be taking care of the cotton and fleeces. With the offworld harvests coming in earlier, the building was in use last shearing."

 

The others nod. David grabs his PADD and makes a note to bring up the possibility of another building for taking care of the cotton and fleeces. Josette nods. "We've probably had the need for a while. Especially now that we have the ninth planet animals too."

 

"Are you making socks and whatnot?"

 

"No, they've got a good size stockpile from their last harvests. We'll make cloth when the last of the fleeces are finished." Everybody nods. "Once it's all been turned into thread, I'll get a list of colors from the 9th planet and dye it after the cloth is made."

 

 

 

 

"This is magnificent." Dr. Cross says, looking around. Josette had suggested an outing for everybody who hadn't gone offplanet yet, stopping at the first planet to check on the raised beds while they were there.

 

Josette smiles and nods as she looks around. "Yes, that's one of the reasons we come out here after Thanksgiving for a few days. It gives us time to relax and unwind after the last harvest is in."

 

He'd seen the city the others had been talking about, shaking his head when he hears about how they're nearly self-contained.

 

"Oh I know." Clarinda chuckles. "That's why everybody is outside as often as possible, there's small markets on nearly every street like the Harvest Festival and with the trains there's nearly no traffic. Parks and nearby green land is well occupied during people's off time. But as we said, even with only 50,000 people sometimes it's a little overwhelming."

 

"Depends on what you're used to," Josette says. "The Harvest and Lights Festivals can get overwhelming with everybody milling around. The dorms can see like a madhouse when the students are moving their belongings to their permanent homes over the summer before they start their last semester of university, that way they don't have that much to move when they leave."

 

"Exactly."

 

Everybody sighs as they watch the sun go down on the beach.

 

"How long is the day here?"

 

"Only twelve hours. The perpetual summer offsets the shorter days." They look in on the other planets on the way back to Haven.

 

"Are those the satellites Earth used to save everything they could?"

 

"Yeah, the satellite that people actually escaped the solar flare on is in orbit around the fourth planet, used as a space laboratory by GD, Wayne Industries and Stark International. One was all the banking information and mints, one is filled with servers filled with university books and classes since so many of them were closing thanks to the epidemics. A couple are filled with manufacturing machinery, machines to make cloth, yarn, and whatnot, and the last is filled with everything they figured they'd need after the ice age ended." Josette sighs and Dr. Cross touches her shoulder.

 

 

 

 

"Josette, what about the machinery on the satellites?" Principal Madison asks at the government meeting.

 

"I'm going to head up after Thanksgiving. Unlike the manufacturing satellite, these weren't meant for permanent living and working on without a lot of work. Tesseracts will help with the space problem but there's not docking spaces and so unless I bring everything up or down. . ."

 

"No way to easily bring down the products made there. Yes." President Bartlett says.

 

"And while there's no lack of planets we can put the machinery on. . ."

 

"You'd still need buildings to hold it. Yes." Doc says this time. "Can the satellites be expanded by tesseract to include living areas?"

 

"Yes, but unless we somehow merged it with the manufacturing satellite, there's still the problem of easily being able to bring out products. Now I bring out the flour made on the satellite but that's because it's easier for me to move the pallets of wheat, rice, and flour where they need to be."

 

"How do they get on and off the satellite now?" David asks.

 

"Switching station, just like. . ." Josette facepalms. "A setup like the other planets do now when they bring out food for the flea market building. Send somebody through to get a flyer and wagon, then fill the station with boxes for the person to put on the wagon on the other side."

 

"Unlike the manufacturing satellite, it wouldn't be in operation all the time, just as it was needed."

 

Josette nods. "They don't even need to live on the satellite, work there a shift then go home. I could even pick up the orders when I'm offplanet if they're too large to go through the switching station."

 

The others nod. "Now, you had other business."

 

"Yes, a workaround for the problem of the TV station's tape library. Either expanding the room by tesseract so they have room for more tapes or putting up a link to another building with the tapes." The others think a moment. "The only problem is the building needs to be climate controlled." Josette nods. "It's a thought. What brought that on?"

 

"The 9th planet brought out their movie theater and they're going to need storage for the movies. . ."

 

"Beyond what was at the theater when they copied it." Principal Madison nods, making a note of that. "Now there was talk about maybe bringing theirs out here?"

 

"If we do I thought we might put it up in Albatross. That way we have new movies for us but it's not right by ours. There's talk about bringing ours to Eureka on the ninth planet once they get everything up and running." Nods from the others.

 

"Anything else?"

 

"A second big building just for washing the fleeces and cotton, Josette did double batches during the Harvest Festival because it was in use for the offworld harvests when the first shearing happened."

 

President Bartlett nods. "And they've requested more cooking areas in the big building."

 

This time Josette nods. "We just added another kitchen to the ranch among other things. The other kitchens were meant for normal cooking, this one was meant just for working on the harvest. We added more storage space too."

 

"Table that until we can talk to the people at the communal kitchen and get their input on what they'd need. Perhaps the communal gardens shared by the businesses would like to use it when they harvest?"

 

Josette holds up a hand and runs to the communal kitchen, grabbing one of the heads who's giving orders to the others. She's also one of the heads of the people who handle the offworld harvests.

 

"It should only be a few minutes, we're talking about the request for more cooking areas in the big building." She nods and takes off her apron before following Josette to the government building where they talk about what would be needed.

 

"Would you use this for your communal gardens?"

 

"Definitely, depending on when the offworld harvests are coming it it would give us one or two harvests we don't have to work on in our buildings after work."

 

"Is the building big enough? Would more room help."

 

"Definitely more room would help.

 

"Double the space or half again as much?'

 

"Double the space would be perfect."

 

"We can have the new building up by first snow with the rest of the work happening over the winter." David sends a message off to his Dad. "Permanent cooking stations and whatnot on the first floor with storage for the drying tables on the second along with the cooking utensils plus whatever else is needed?"

 

They nod in satisfaction.

 

"What about the school's gardens?"

 

"We use the empty kitchens and prep in the dining rooms."

 

"Did you get your degree finished over the break?" Anna asks when she slides into her seat at lunch.

 

"Yeah, that way I'm only taking eight classes on the school computer this semester." Everybody snorts. "How many classes are you taking all together?"

 

"Figured on 31, that will give me four degrees finished this year, all but one of them is multiple degree curriculum. I'm two semesters from finishing five degrees, two more I'm three semesters from finishing, with another I'm one semester from completing."

 

David blinks. "That's a good chunk of degrees with the ones you finished this year."

 

Josette nods. "That's why I've been concentrating on knocking down degrees the last two years. Now I lied about not starting any degrees the last couple years, I'm a year into the sunpainting degree." The others snigger. Josette blows them the raspberry. "Did you contact Dad?"

 

"Yeah, he's coming out tomorrow to go over the details for the new building with the heads of the restaurants, communal kitchen, and the sub place plus anybody they bring out?" The twins look at them. "We're starting a second building for the offworld harvests. Twice as big with larger cooking surfaces and more prep areas. We'll have the building up quickly since it's all modular, then work on the rest over the winter. Josette is the other building going to need any work for the cotton and fleeces?"

 

"I'll talk to the others and get back to you and Dad about what we need."

 

After lunch Josette slides onto a stool at the Albatross nest, sticks her fingers in her mouth and whistles. Everybody looks at her. "We are putting up a second, larger building for the offworld harvests, leaving the other for cleaning cotton and fleeces plus whatever else it's used for during the year. Make a list of what we want to do to the building now we don't have to share it with the offworld harvests. Nothing that can't be moved upstairs when the building is used for fruits and veggies during the winter."

 

"Are they putting in permanent fixtures in the other building?" Marilyn asks.

 

"Yes, including both more and larger cooking surfaces for the large pots. More prep areas and more room to put everything once it's canned to cool and the seal to set. It's asshole to elbow in there now when they're working. And the restaurants, communal kitchen, and sandwich place plan on using it for their gardens, depending on when the harvests come in. Right now they're working in their kitchens after they close."

 

Everybody nods in satisfaction. "With the permanent fixtures you could use the building for making sausage and pickled bologna."

 

Josette nods. "If it's not in use at the time or use the original building. Last time we made it we had to do it early thanks to the offworld harvests."

 

"Would we be keeping the current fixtures?"

 

"I can't see why not with permanent going in the other building." Everybody nods.

 

"Are you going to be expanding the original?"

 

"If we do it will be by tesseract. We could have before but . .."

 

"It wouldn't have taken care of the need for more cooking surfaces." Agatha says. She's sending off a message.

 

"'xactly. We added a second kitchen to the ranch in the latest round of renovations and additions since most kitchens are made for cooking, not bringing in giant harvests." The others look at her and she brings out the original plan and then the pictures, passing around her PADD. Everybody nods in satisfaction as she puts it back on her belt.

 

The first testing week Josette slides into her usual seat, talking to the others about the plans for the new offworld harvests building, getting nods of satisfaction. "I don't know how everybody managed to work in the old building."

 

"Not the first time we outgrew something. With so many offworld harvests coming in bing bang boom . . ." Dr. Cross nods. "When you were doing two a year before we lost Earth it was different. But with all the planets having offworld harvests, you need more space."

 

Josette nods. "That's the same reason we added the second kitchen at the ranch." Josette shakes her head.

 

"Are you growing for the 9th planet this year?"

 

"Yes, and next year I'll plant a cover crop of rye and barley." They nod in satisfaction.

 

"How is everybody handling the education center closing?"

 

"They're looking forward to it. It's not for the same reason the school closed after we lost Earth." Dr. Stark nods. "Education has been changing over the last few decades."

 

"'xactly. Oh, they might reopen in a decade or so as the students who have formed attachments start having children. You might see parents switching off babysitting too as they work separate shifts." Dr. McNider nods. "I can't see too many parents being able to educate children in different grades." Josette nods this time.

 

The talk turns to the satellites and the engineers who'd be coming out to help her with the inspections and what they'd be making sometime in the future.

 

David sniffs the next morning when he smells something coming from Josette's first floor room.

 

"Baked beans?"

 

"Yep, they'll cook for hours in the kettle." Josette stirs everything one last time and puts the lid on before they head to the dining hall for breakfast. After breakfast Josette heads into town to check on the progress for the new offworld harvest building then heading to the ninth planet, looking at the progress they're making on the movie theater and the school building as she looks at the bags of beans, rice, and wheat in the food building.

 

"Need me to take wheat in when I pick up recycling?" She leans in the slightly open door of the meeting room in JSA headquarters after knocking on it.

 

"Thank you Josette, that would be perfect. What are you building in Town?" Jay says, turning to look at her. Ma had told them something new was going in when she'd returned from Haven yesterday.

 

"A building just for the offworld harvests, we finally had to admit we outgrew the old one. Twice as big with larger cooking surfaces for bigger pots. . ." Ma, Joan, and Nora nod in satisfaction. "More cooking areas, more prep areas and more areas to put the food as they're waiting for the seals to take. More room." The three women nod in satisfaction again. "The old building?"

 

"Still going to be used for fleeces, cotton, shelling peas and beans once they're dry, whatever building is empty at the time we'll use for the sausages and pickled bologna and we'll use it over the winter for the offworld food."

 

"Josette, does anybody make rice flour?" Dr. Cross asks.

 

"Oh yeah, I take in nearly as much rice for flour as I do the wheat. We use part of it for rice noodles and the rest for cooking. We've made chickpea flour too, but that's a special order at the mill when I plant it."

 

"Chickpea flour?"

 

"On Earth it was used a lot in gluten free baking."

 

Josette nods. "We've found that getting away from all the chemicals used to preserve food back on Earth really helps with food problems. Oh it doesn't cure everything, I still belch and fart for days when I eat chickpeas and edamame raw in salads, Anna still snores when she eats chili." Mary's giggling in the corner of the room and her mother's lips are twitching suspiciously. "And food problems are not the same as food allergies. Something we've seem to moved away from thank you gods and goddesses."

 

"As you said, the lack of chemicals seems to help with allergies."

 

"Even environmental ones like pollen, fresh cut grass, or dander seem to ease. Or at least nobody complains about them."

 

"Would it be a problem to take in rice as well as the wheat?"

 

"Not a problem, the flour factory and the manufacturing satellite are used to making both types of flour. Want a batch of rice noodles and pasta?"

 

"Please, we'll check the list of what they can make and decide which ones we want. How do you handle it?"

 

"Like the first planet raised beds, what you're running low on at that time and something new...in this case to replace something that might not be selling as well as the rest. The communal kitchen makes a lot of their own noodles and there's the home pasta machines."

 

Josette blinks when she comes out of the barn and sees the new exterior of the . . .as Dr. Cross had said you can't call it a ranch house anymore just as they can't really call the dorm a dorm but they still do anyway. It's been turned into an antebellum mansion like something you'd see in a southern movie but larger and Josette snickers and brushes off her boots before walking inside, putting them in a box in the entryway and walking into the dorm. She stirs the beans one last time and flips the switch to shut off the heat before joining the others walking to the dining hall.

 

"Josette, what happened to the ranch?" David asks the next day at lunch.

 

"Lord Strife happened."

 

"Ahh."

 

"Really Josette, an antebellum southern mansion?" Doc asks, coming into the back room. The twins blink. "Lord Strife."

 

"Ahhhh, I didn't think you were the type to dress in your finest, say 'ah do declare' and sip mint juleps on the veranda. I'm going to be linking Headquarters and the dorm over the next couple of days. Things might be a little . . .wonky."

 

"Whoa." Alexander says as he comes through the pocket doors.

 

"Doc's linking the dorm and Headquarters. He said it might be a little wonky." David says from his room. "Josette was up on the third floor seeing if she could surf the floor in her socks as it moved." Michael chuckles.

 

"How long?"

 

"Next couple of days."

 

After dinner Josette starts sorting through her dressers, tossing threadbare socks and underwear in a bag and bringing more of the supplies from the various dimensions. She 'tosses' the bag upstairs to shred and use in making paper.

 

The crops start coming in a couple months later and Josette is busy canning, drying, and storing everything for two weeks, taking her finals in Eureka and drops into a seat when everything is in and stored for winter.

 

"I want to talk to everybody about a few crop ideas I've had." The others look at her from various spots in the living room.

 

"Growing more than one plot of potatoes, different kinds."

 

"Could."

 

"Harvesting some of them as baby potatoes."

 

Nods.

 

"Leeks. Now the only problem with that is it's a yearly crop. But I think we could sell part of it."

 

"That's the ones that grow in sandy soil and you cut them apart and rinse them?" Alexander asks, Josette nods.

 

"Planting more tomatoes to pick green for various stuff?"

 

"Could, we've been thinking about that one ourselves."

 

Josette leans in the doorway of the kitchen part of the communal kitchen the next morning, catching the head's eye.

 

"Problem Josette?"

 

"No, just wanted to ask a question. If we grew leeks next year, would you be interested in buying some."

 

"Definitely. That's on the list of foods I'd love see in the future."

 

"Put a list together and I'll bring it up at the government meeting first month. That gives you time to talk to the others." She nods and heads back into the kitchen as Josette walks into the bakery, buying some donuts before going back to the dorm.

 

"Are we ready for winter?"

 

"Yeah, we'll have to start closing the windows for good in a couple of weeks. When that happens we'll clean the outside before it snows." Josette nods. "Did you get everything taken care of?"

 

"Yeah, I picked up the recycling on the other planets and took wheat and rice to the sorting planet and manufacturing satellite, both for us and the 9th planet."

 

Josette looks over the new growing areas after lunch, making plans. David looks over her shoulder and nods. "Do you have enough canning supplies?"

 

"I replicated extra." He nods as they walk downstairs, joining the others for dinner.

 

"Is the cistern empty?"

 

"Yeah, it needs to be cleaned before winter though."

 

"Alexander and I can do that tomorrow."

 

Josette settles in her usual spot in the Albatross nest a couple weeks later, her plate on her knees and a bottle of pop next to her.

 

"Josette, how's the work going on the new harvest building?"

 

"Good, the exterior is all finished and they're working on the interior over the winter, it's piggybacking the building to the kitchen's backup power supply."

 

"How is everybody handling the last of the big classes ending this year?"

 

"Things are getting back to normal, the large sizes we had won't happen again for centuries. . .if ever." The others nod. "We don't need to have that many children again." Nods from the others again as they hand out the kits and the Christmas cookies. They talk about their plans for the next year, everybody in Albatross grinning at the possibility of a movie theater there. Josette talks about what she plans on growing next year, getting nods from the others.

 

"I've got a ton of recipes for green tomatoes." a few minutes later Josette nods at the file appearing on her PADD. "Thanks." Josette puts up a picture of what the 'ranch' looks like now and the others shake their head and laugh.

 

"Doc told me he didn't think I was one of those southern belles who say 'ah do declare', dress in their finest, and sip mint juleps on the veranda."

 

"You'd look like one of your daughters playing dress up." Agatha snorts.

 

"Exactly, except the shoes wouldn't be too big on me." Everybody cackles.

 

 

Josette puts everything up before she joins the others walking to the dining hall.

 

"Snow will start sticking soon."

 

"Yep."

 

"They working on the dorms and education center?"

 

"Yep, one room at a time. Taking everything out and cleaning it thoroughly before seeing if any repairs need to be done besides painting and new carpet." The others nod.

 

After lunch Josette looks through the recipes she'd got from the others, making mental notes about which ones she wants to try first before heading upstairs to the workroom, looking through the kits and sorting them into the other she'll probably make them in then taking the books for her finished degrees upstairs to the library.

 

The next day a handful of engineers from both GDs, three Docs, Michael, and the two Dr. Starks get on Brigadoon and they fly up to the satellites, David opening tesseracts so they can start exploring everything after they put on lightweight suits.

 

"These are much easier to move in than spacesuits."

 

"From the Legion's dimension, they use them a lot."

 

"Does the satellite have oxygen generators like the manufacturing satellite?"

 

"Yeah, but they were never turned on without anybody here full-time."

 

"How long is the oxygen supply?"

 

"Ten hours, it's a rebreather system."

 

"Do they have traditional space suits?"

 

"Yeah, they wear those in open space, these are meant as backup in situations like this or on ships in case of decompression. They're able to be pressed into a small bag." The others nod. The plans for the satellite are sent to all their PADDs and they start inspecting everything."

 

"Josette, is this all good?"

 

"Yes, unlike the Mars Colony everything was new and inspected before it came up. They knew this would be needed to rebuild after the ice age."

 

"There was no way of knowing what they'd be able to salvage."

 

"Exactly. It wouldn't be the first time a civilization lost technology."

 

It's several days later when they return to Haven, the other heading to their planets with their notes as Josette and Doc drop into seats in the living room.

 

"Josette, do you think we'll have anybody on the other satellites?"

 

"If we do, it will be a few years."

 

Upstairs Josette looks out the window of her second floor room as she shakes out a couple quilts that she spreads on the bed. It's been snowing for a couple hours and this time it looks to stay.

 

"Everybody ready for winter?"

 

"Yeah, we had to expect it." Susan says. The others nod. Bundling up, they walk to the dining hall for dinner, Josette checking on the growing areas before bed.

 

The next couple of days Josette's cooking in her kitchen, David looking in on her.

 

"Experimenting with making flavored chicken breasts and strips like we used to have on Earth."

 

David nods. "No preservatives and other chemicals."

 

"Yep. And you can make them as hot as you want."

 

"We've still got some in stasis?"

 

"Yeah, and we can replicate them but . . ."

 

"Josette, dumb question but chili flakes?"

 

"We save part of the seeds for that and the rest to plant. A little goes a long way and people removed the seeds anyway to cut down the heat."

 

"We still have them in storage?"

 

"Yeah, it's one of those things where a little goes a long way."

 

"Poppers?"

 

"Yeah, I'm working on that too."

 

"Ummm guys. . ." Susan says. Josette comes out of her room with David to see Susan standing at a doorway. She waves a hand and Josette grins.

 

"A present from the others. It's a variation of the old roman baths, a place to soak in hot water after you've washed in the shower there. The water comes up to about my neck when we sit on the benches along the sides, the up arrow is the heater control. The water shuts off automatically once it reaches a certain level."

 

"How do you drain it?"

 

"The switch here, it opens drains in the bottom. Though the water circulates through the cleaner there so you shouldn't have to drain it often."

 

"I take it you've used it before?"

 

"Yeah, I like to lay in there to soak. The soaking tubs are wonderful but you can't float in them."

 

"The pool?"

 

"Can't get it hot enough."

 

David nods. "That much water it wouldn't be. And the pool heaters only go to just under body temperature. Unlike you who thinks just under supernova is cool." Josette sniggers and walks away.

 

The Lights Festival comes and Josette smiles as she sees the others from the other dimension there with the babies.

 

"Are you staying?" She asks Dinah.

 

"Probably or at least staying a few months and looking into bringing out homes. Earth is on a downward spiral at the coalition of countries that got together to stop Luthor is fighting among themselves..."

 

Josette snorts. "That sounds like most governments."

 

Sand nods. "Deaths are mounting and like with most wars, the birth rate is falling."

 

Dinah nods. "How did you lose so many people in a war that lasted less than two years?"

 

"China's attack devastated Japan, South Korea lost a lot of people when North Korea attacked them. The government thought they'd got rid of China's military but they attacked Russia and India. Pakistan attacked India after that since they were nothing but bottom feeders and got their ass handed to them. When China's military was devastated, they started conscripting civilians to continue the fight."

 

And with the one child per family laws. . ." Dinah sighs, thinking of her babies asleep in the nursery at the dorm.

 

"Yep, there was only maybe a couple hundred thousand people left out of a billion when what was left of the Chinese government and North Korea surrendered. And they were mostly old men and women who lived in small rural villages too old for China to send out to fight."

 

"They wouldn't have been able to rebuild."

 

"No more than Japan did. Those that didn't die in the initial attack died of their injuries, illness, or exposure since winter was coming. Then North Korea was lost to their nuclear winter and the deaths just started escalating."

 

"What happened?"

 

"We don't know if the young kid who took over from daddy dearest wanted to prove himself to the old guard or they just didn't like living under the sanctions they'd been slapped with, which meant no military. We think somebody found out what was going to happen and sabotaged them so the missiles exploded as they were being launched."

 

"Shit." Sand murmurs.

 

Josette nods. "Those who didn't immediately die from the radiation or fires from the explosions died in the nuclear winter that caused. All we could do was block off the country under a field to keep the radiation from spreading. South Korea was devastated of course, there were still people there who had family in North Korea that they hadn't been able to talk to for decades thanks to the wars." Both the former heroes nod. "The soviets refused all help from the other countries, we think that the bombs might have hit their nuclear facilities."

 

"And of course they wouldn't admit they had them." Dinah snorts.

 

"Exactly. That was the tip of the iceberg for deaths. Did you have the Japanese earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear plant?"

 

Sand nods. "It didn't happen in Clark's dimension, reason I asked. A similar earthquake and Tsunami wiped out Haiti and the Dominican Republic."

 

"Shit, they wouldn't have had the early warning system that Japan did." Dinah sighs. Dr. McNider pats her on the shoulder. "They had deaths in Japan but so many were saved by getting to higher ground."

 

"Exactly. The world's climate was changing thanks to all the shit in the atmosphere. Cuba was wiped out the same way, they put up a temporary protective dome over Miami since they feared the Tsunami would hit there but it fizzled out before it made landfall. We lost Mexico to a stupid fucker in their government who set off chemical weapons, they killed 90 percent of the population immediately. Iran and Iraq bombed each other with the nuclear weapons they claimed for years they didn't have, the fallout took out Afghanistan. . . The Soviets took themselves out like North Korea when their nuclear weapons exploded as they tried to launch them . We lost Colombia to epidemics, the government came in, razed all the drug farms, and let the land go back to wilderness. Africa was devastated thanks to the famines and wars, people came in with manure and compost to try to help the land recover, what did went back to jungle. In time they hoped the continent would have recovered. The last probe readings indicate they were right."

 

"Is there any information on this?"

 

"Oh yes, I know GD has information on it aside from the books written over the years. The council on the fourth planet has information on it. There's degrees from various schools; Montague, Cambridge, and Oxford. I haven't taken Oxford's but I have the other two. There was another degree out there but it was the psychotic ramblings of a hate church who preached anybody who's not us deserves to die. They claimed freedom of speech but were taken out by the government with other hate churches. Basically all this was our punishment because we allowed gays, blacks, and mutants. . .again anybody they didn't like to live. Cambridge also has a degree on the climate changes Earth went through separate from the degree on the loss of earth. The meteorologists from GD should have information on the climate changes Earth went through, it'd be more technical than the degree from Cambridge."

 

A couple days later after they've left Earth, they get a massive data dump. Batman reads the note. "More information on the changes to the first dimension's Earth climate thanks the rockets, the war, and the loss of Earth itself from a couple of degrees and information from their council and GD." He sends it to the servers and various people start dl'ing the information.

 

"Josette, you're planning on more fields this year?" Principal Madison says at the government meeting the first of the new semester.

 

"Yeah." Josette tells them what she has planned, getting nods from the others. "I talked to the communal kitchen," she puts up the list of what they would like to see introduced. "Now we can't do this all at once, but open a field and plant one one cycle and another next. . ." Nods from the other. "That way if something doesn't work out we pop it in stasis and don't grow it again. Josette, the new 9th planet buildings?"

 

"Coming along well, they're working on the interiors now. They looked at the education center and Headquarters to see what they'll need to teach the babies. They've got tons more experience than we have at it." Doc smiles and nods.

 

"How is the education center coming along?"

 

"Good, we've got maintenance working on it and the empty dorms, I expect to have everything done by the end of this year, unless we find major problems." Josette nods, covering her mouth her her arm as she stretches and yawns.

 

"New harvest building?"

 

"Coming along well, they should have everything finished by the end of the semester."

 

"Anything we need to worry about at the meeting?" Anna asks at lunch.

 

"No, everything's coming along well, no major problems found so far at the dorms or education center. Knock on wood." David raps the table with his knuckles. "How's everybody getting used to the small class sizes again?"

 

"Good, this will be 21 years the school's been open after Missy and the others graduate, they can see the light at the end of the tunnel." Everybody nods. "Our kids are wonderful, we've never had any of the problems you'd have seen on earth but so many students is daunting." The others nod.

 

/Yeah, on Earth parents wanted to be their kids besties and not parents./ Josette snorts. /Some tough love by making the monsters take responsibility for their own actions did a world of wonder. So did making the little bastards work ten to twelve hours a day doing hard back-breaking work./ The others nod.

 

/Some cases it didn't fall far from the tree. They couldn't believe their precious children were doing something wrong, they said they hadn't./

 

/Yeah, people like that need a good swift kick./ In the other dimension they'd created a pocket dimension where low-risk prisoners, teens who needed some tough love, or people with large fines were sent after their punishments had been purchased by big businesses. There they'd work until their fines were paid off, most of their money going to pay back the businesses with the rest going for shelter and supplies in the desert like area. Time moved differently in the pocket dimension, they spent hours, weeks, months, years, or even decades there but returned to Earth only minutes later, living in small rooms in large buildings and working jobs on the outside to serve the rest of their sentence. Josette had laughed when she heard that defense attorneys were being given the same sentences as their clients if they made jackasses of themselves and the others nodded in satisfaction.

 

Bullies were also given harsh sentences, including cyber bullies and other predators. No longer allowed to hide in the internet, they were publicly shamed before being sentenced to hard time with other medium risk prisoners. Those that hadn't caused their victims to kill themselves, that is. Those like other high risk prisoners were sentenced to another pocket dimension where they spent the rest of their lives working.

 

"Kits?"

 

"I'm working on a new quilt and checking on the growing areas after lunch."

 

"Classes?"

 

"I'm planning on 37, finishing one degree this semester and hopefully two over the break."

 

"Are you taking hands-on classes?"

 

"Only the cooking classes."

 

"Dr Cross and Billy are finishing their cooking degree this year, aren't they?"

 

"Yeah, they're taking four classes a semester. I'll be nine classes from finishing mine the end of the year. And speaking of finishing degrees." She smirks at David.

 

"Yes, yes, as Grammy Allie will tell me. . .Finally." The others snigger.

 

"You're going to have to decide which doctorate you're going for first."

 

David smirks. "Ayuh."

 

 

 

A few weeks later Josette calls the others into her first floor room.

 

"Try this out, it's one of the recipes I got for green tomatoes from Sabrina."

 

"What's the sauce?"

 

"Mostly feta cheese with the juices from the tomatoes after I salted them. This one could be made in the oven or over a grill."

 

"Handy." They grab spoons and start dishing it up. "Twice baked?"

 

"Once for tomatoes, then again to warm the sauce to bubbling. Sauce takes just a couple minutes with a food processor."

 

"Preserves?"

 

"Yeah, I'm going to start a batch in a couple of days. Unlike when the tomatoes are ripe, I've got the time to work on everything." The others laugh but nod.

 

Josette looks at shelves filled with various green tomato recipes a few weeks later before she joins Alexander and Michael heading to Eureka for their second week of tests.

 

"Boys, your thesis?"

 

"We're presenting them this summer along with David."

 

"Josette?"

 

"I'm two years into my degree this semester and plan on working on that and the project the rest of this year and next. Getting in three classes a semester now since it's all basic stuff, I can finish it year after next." The three men nod.

 

"Anything else happening this year?"

 

"I'm adding a couple new fields at the farm and growing a few new crops. Don't know if they'll last beyond the first harvest but. . ." Nods from the others. "I grew some extra stuff in the dorm and been making a bunch of green tomato recipes over the last few weeks. Vincent grins at her and a beep signals an incoming file. She looks at the file of recipes.

 

"Thank you Vincent."

 

"You're welcome. Now Leeks?"

 

"Yes, that's going to be a yearly crop though we don't know if we'll grow it every year." He nods. "Rhubarb the same thing. I expect there will be a lot of people checking the servers when we announce the new foods." Everybody nods.

 

"When are you going to the ninth planet?"

 

"End of the semester as usual to pick up recycling and drop off the first batch of orders this year."

 

Meanwhile on the 9th planet Hank tries to duck the doctors hands, getting a look from the two men and he subsides, letting them check him for a fever. Their faces grow hard and he's bundled into the medical unit, stripped to his underwear and put in a bed. He tries to get up again but a light sedative in the iv after a full examination sends him to sleep.

 

They stand over the bed as he sleeps.

 

"Stubborn."

 

"You or him?" Michael says as he comes into JSA headquarters, Paula sleeping in a baby carrier on his chest. "I think everybody has to have a healthy dose of stubbornness to set out to a new world or stand up to a psycho who brought his way into the office. The two men nod.

 

"How's everything coming along?"

 

"Good, I'm going to call Josette in a few days to talk about what we'll need as storage for the movies." The two men nod, brushing a light hand over Paula's head before he heads off.

 

"I'd say possible appendicitis but . . ." Charles nods. They'd both seen the appendectomy scar during previous physicals. They talk about Hank's symptoms as he sleeps in the bed between them.

 

Josette shivers slightly as she comes out of the switching station.

 

"Yeah, it's turning colder. We're looking at a below zero cold snap for the next several days." David says.

 

"Cold we can handle as long as it doesn't come with major storms." Josette walks into her first floor room and pulls on a sweater." She settles in her recliner and gets on the server, checking the stores of clothes.

 

"When does the toothpaste factory open?"

 

"Next week, the orders should be finished by the Harvest Festival."

 

"How are you coming along on your classes?" David asks as she comes out of her room after going up and heading a couple extra quilts to the bed.

 

"Good, I finished my degree on comic books based on tv shows. That's the 2nd of 3 degrees."

 

"Are you still going to get in two over the break?"

 

"No, I'm finishing Zorro but the only other degree I'm a semester from completing is the chemical engineering one."

 

"And you have labs."

 

"Yeah. So I'll get in a semester for another degree and finish that and the chemical engineering degree this summer, get in the first semester for another degree and finish it this fall."

 

"Still knocking them out."

 

"Exactly."

 

The boys come home the next day, shivering as they walk to their room to put on warmer clothing. Coming back from Eureka where it's late fall and being reminded that yes, it's still winter for another month is quite a jolt even if they never actually go outside.

 

"Did you hear from Dad?"

 

"Yes, we're putting up a laundry on the fourth planet by the apartments in a couple months."

 

"I was expecting it."

 

David nods.

 

The next couple months pass slowly and Josette heads off to the other planets to pick up recycling and the 9th planet's flour and pasta and deliver the furniture and other orders to Eureka. Brigadoon settles in the water of the 9th planet and Josette delivers the pallets, then heads to the new movie theater to talk to the others about what would be needed to attach a building for the movies.

 

"Get some sleep." Doc says as Josette straightens up from the work they'd been doing on the movie theater.

 

"I will. . .eventually." She grins and heads off. Settling on the couch after a shower and getting something to eat she pulls the curtains on the large window that takes up a good portion of one wall.

 

"Oh my . . ." Dr. McNider's voice has Josette looking around from her spot watching the second sun set over the water. "I was going to talk to you about something larger but. . ."

 

Josette chuckles. "Tesseracts are marvelous things."

 

"How big?"

 

"Five floors above us, eight below. That's not counting the enclosed roof garden, gymnasium floors, growing areas, five floor tall library, or medical unit." Josette waves the lights up higher and he looks around the large living room in satisfaction.

 

"Two staircases?"

 

"That one," Josette jerks her thumb at the circular one. "Goes to my bedroom on the next floor and only there, the other handles all the floors. He looks at her and she nods and he walks up the stairs. The first thing he sees is a large four poster bed with bed curtains. A sitting area is nearby and . . .

 

"Is your bathroom actually in your bedroom?" He ducks his head under the floor to look at her.

 

"Yes, I saw a hotel room like that on a Globetrekker episode and thought I'd try it out. The toilet's behind the low wall. There's hotels in the states where the sink was in the room." He nods. In addition to a large shower stall that can easily hold five people with numerous shower heads there's a bench inside and outside the enclosure and a large clawfoot soaking tub. "If I get tired of having it in the room, I can put up a wall to separate them. There's a large roman bath through the doorway and down the hall, I float in there to relax."

 

Dr. McNider shakes his head as he turns on the landing and comes back downstairs. He looks back around the open floorplan, a large sunken area is one of several sitting areas. He looks up and sees a few large screens that look like they lower down.

 

"That way I can get tv stations and watch dvds without spoiling the view."

 

Dr. McNider stares up at the ceiling. He'd almost swear he can see through it but instead of the floor upstairs, he's seeing the sky.

 

"It's a setting so I can see the moons rise." Dr. McNider nods, he's seen her sitting outside and she's not the only one.

 

"Watching the suns set and the moons rise is a the end of one day and the promise of the next." he says quietly. Josette nods. A knock on the door brings Charles, Doc, and Dr. Cross into the room, stopping and staring.

 

"I was wondering how long it would take the rest of you to come."

 

"How large is this?"

 

"Each floor is around ten to fifteen thousand square feet. The other areas I talked about earlier are usually about fifteen to thirty thousand square feet per floor on multiple floors."

 

"Does your bedroom and the sunken bath take up the whole next floor?"

 

"No, I have a good sized workroom up there too."

 

"Next floor?"

 

"Five floors above us and eight below, not counting the other assorted areas." The others look at them. Josette waves a hand to the circular staircase. "That only goes to my bedroom on the next floor, the other staircase goes everywhere." Josette is watching the second moon rise when the others come into the room again.

 

Josette heads back to Haven the next day, sending the payments to various buildings before sliding into her seat at the dining hall for lunch.

 

"Get everything done?"

 

Josette nods, her mouth full.

 

"Are we making paper?" She nods again. /Yes, we've got rooms of rolls of paper in the ships, plus tons of stuff like construction paper. One day we might end up bringing out a larger setup for paper but. . ./

 

"If we do, it won't be for a long while." David says. Josette nods again, swallowing the mouthful of her thick sandwich.

 

"Wood?"

 

"Going out this summer to pick it up for Hank and the tp factory. This year and next will be enough wood for the animal planet orders with leftover for other orders when they come in." The others nod. "How are we on wood?"

 

"We should start stocking up again next year." Alexander says. "I gotta check the supplies this weekend." Michael nods. "With working on orders constantly for . . ."

 

"the last nine years now, the small stuff gets overlooked. Even with working on furniture and other stuff at home." Nods from the others. "David, we've got to check the supplies upstairs too." David nods. "I'll take inventory this year."

 

A couple weeks later the second semester starts and Josette settles down to her new semester of classes. The crops start coming in and Josette is busy for the next three months, dropping into a seat.

 

"It helping out, having all but the youngest students finished with high school?"

 

"Oh yes."

 

"The new building working out?"

 

"People nearly dropped to their knees in prayer at seeing all the new room they had." Josette chuckles.

 

"Who's working in the old building?"

 

"People making sauerkraut and kimchee, they were happy not to have to schedule time around the offworld harvests. Ma Hunkel was helping out and learning what to do when they start growing larger amounts." Nods from the others. The visitors join them in the dining room at dinner after having spent the day looking over everything. The boys come in a few minutes late.

 

"Well?"

 

"Done, done, and done. We've got nine classes left, David's got two and one for his Mechanical Engineering degree." Everybody smiles. "Josette, your Masters?"

 

"Working on the thesis and project on and off, I'll have them both done next year and finish the degree the year after that."

 

"Get your two degrees finished this semester?"

 

"First thing I did since I knew this summer would be asshole to elbow with the offworld harvests coming in earlier."

 

"Did you get the wood and cotton delivered?"

 

"Yep, this time next year I'll be delivering the tp and the last of the sorting planet orders to Archimedes."

 

"Toothpaste orders?"

 

"Delivering them after the Festival."

 

There's some snickering when more than one person shows up with a fire extinguisher when the candles are lighted, Josette rolls her eyes as her loving family torments her on officially hitting the century mark.

 

"Boys, did Ma and the others talk to you about their order?"

 

Josette, Michael, and Alexander nod. "We've been working on the furniture for the quilting workshop since last year. Josette's delivering it in a few days. Our show in the other dimension, presenting our theses, and putting together a special party for Josette's hundredth birthday slowed us down a bit but not by much."

 

 

Ma squeals like a little girl as she looks around the transformed workroom for the quilters and knitters. cubbyholes on one wall are waiting to be filled with yarn, shelves are full of old clothing, corrugated wallboard with hooks for supplies are waiting to be filled. . . She throws her arms around Josette. The wood stove in the corner will keep them warm when they work in there over the winter.

 

"Does anybody make fat quarters?"

 

"Yes, we usually get together every few years after the crops are in to sit down and make them with the fabric we have in storage, what hasn't been selling well the last few years, or what we've made ourselves. Yes, we could replicate them or bring them in from other dimensions but it's a matter of 'hey, we made this'." Ma and the other quilters nod vigorously.

 

Josette heads back to Haven, sliding into the her seat at the dining hall.

 

"Get everything set up?"

 

"Yep, and delivered both years of offworld harvests. They're getting everything ready for their winter."

 

"Did they continue their own gardens?"

 

"Oh yes, there's nothing like being able to plant and make what you want. Think the communal gardens and the individual plots." The others nod.

 

"Did the rhubarb and leeks sell well?"

 

"Oh yes, and the others took stuff home with them." Nods and grins from the others.

 

"Get your classes in over the break?"

 

"Yeah, I'll have six degrees finished this year."

 

The others shake their heads.

 

"What happens when I concentrated on knocking down semesters for two years."

 

"How many billion classes are you getting in this semester?"

 

"Actually I'm cutting back after taking so many earlier this year. Only 32."

 

"Only 32." Principal Madison sighs. Professor Druid pats his shoulder. "Do we want to know how many classes you got in this year?"

 

"Nope." Josette says. "Next year will be quieter, the offworld harvests will start coming in before we plant, I finished six degrees this year. Next year I'm only looking at finishing the cooking degree."

 

"How is Edinborough coming along on their renovations?"

 

"Good, they've got all the exterior work done and plan on having the interior work done by next spring."

 

"The laundry on the fourth planet?"

 

"Be finished with all the renovations by the end of the semester."

 

"Two years in to our third apartment complex. Be a year into the last when the school closes again."

 

"Seems like yesterday the school was opening again."

 

The others sigh and nod. "Does everybody have jobs lined up for after the school closes?"

 

"Yes, nobody needs to work full-time anymore." Nods from the others. "Between shifts at the factories as they open, harvests, and their own crops. . ." More nods.

 

"Store?"

 

"With the laundry on the vampire planet finished Dad's talking to the others about what needs to be done there."

 

Nods from the front table. "The work has needed to be done for a while."

 

This time Josette nods. "We've been talking for a few years about moving the clothes to their own building."

 

"The store was well designed, but like a lot of things we've outgrown it."

 

The first testing week finds David finishing his Mechanical engineering degree. The boys and Josette head to Eureka.

 

"Did David finish anything?"

 

"Yeah, he finished his Mechanical engineering Masters last week, he was working on his Lit Masters when we left, he got a late start when he and Dad were inspecting the store and going over what they wanted done."

 

"Good, you outgrew that a while ago."

 

"Doubling the size of the buildings and building one just for clothing."

 

"You'll need the room when more students leave the dorm next year."

 

Josette nods. "And a couple years after that when the school closes. Everybody will be in permanent housing and cooking their own meals."

 

"How are you coming on the ship?"

 

"Picking up another batch of timbers the end of the semester and hope to have the exterior framed up by the end of the year. With trying to finish so many degrees this year, I was a little busy." the three men snigger.

 

"Has anybody checked the solar panels at the school?"

 

"Yeah, maintenance checked them all this year as part of cleaning the dorms and education center."

 

"How is the other dimension?"

 

"Pretty bad, the governments that got together to fight Luthor are fighting each other and he's using that to his advantage. The last report was the use of chemical weapons that were supposed to have been destroyed."

 

"Just like Iran and Iraq weren't supposed to have nuclear weapons."

 

"There's no telling how many have died, Luthor isn't reporting anything. There's rumors that up to half a billion people have died but. . ."

 

The three men nod.

 

Back at the dorm after lunch Josette checks on some things before joining the others in the dining hall.

 

"How are the cisterns coming?"

 

"I need to pump them full this weekend."

 

"Is the 9th planet movie theater in operation?"

 

"Yep, they've been running it over their winter to work out the bugs and since that's when they'd have the time to sit down and watch movies." The others laugh and nod.

 

That weekend everybody goes out to the ranch to pump the cistern full, splitting off to check and see if the Kent and Covington cisterns need filling too.

 

"Thank you girls but. . ." Ma says coming out when she sees Anna and Abby working.

 

"We had to fill ours, only a few seconds to see yours needed it too."

 

"Get it done while the weather's good, they're already predicting early snow and the domes up before we harvest."

 

Ma shakes her head and nods. "We've got to expect bad winters every once in a while. The last few have been so nice except for that one bad storm." Abby nods.

 

"I need to fill the cistern after lunch Martha." Jonathon says, coming up from the basement.

 

"Abby and Anna are already out there doing it. They said theirs was empty and it took them a second to see ours needed it too. Girls, come in to lunch."

 

"No thanks Ma, we ate lunch before we came out. Only Josette could sit down, eat four meals, then eat again two hours later." Anna calls.

 

Jonathon laughs because he's seen Josette do just that. Martha giggles. "You can take a break anyway girls, I don't like the idea of us eating while you're out there working." The girls know there's no arguing with Ma so they come inside, wash up and sit at the table.

 

"How are things at the school with the class size getting back to what it used to be."

 

"Good. You can see the light at the end of the tunnel, you know in three years the school will be shutting down. Everybody's making plans. Nobody's going to be working full-time anymore unless they have their own land or a business like the winery but everybody's going to have at last one job along with the offworld harvests and bringing in our crops."

 

"I saw James in town a few weeks ago?"

 

"Yeah, we're going to be expanding the store, putting in a separate building for clothing."

 

"It's been needed."

 

"They've been talking about it but plans get derailed." The others nod as Anna feeds Erica so the others can eat.

 

"Are you growing the new crops again next year?"

 

"Yes, the rhubarb and leeks sold well, Josette's talking about maybe the communal kitchen growing fennel and celery root in a couple years."

 

"They'd be the ones to use it more than home cooks." Martha nods. "We weren't too sure about the baby potatoes, we didn't see much of them outside of frozen entrees." Jonathon laughs. "I had the same thought until Martha told me how many meals they can be added to, seemed like the baby carrots nonsense." Abby nods vigorously, not daring to speak since she'd be cackling like Anna.

 

"Josette told us the same thing. And I wasn't too sure about green tomatoes until she started picking them."

 

"Those are from the days when an early frost wiped out gardens just as they were ripening." Ma says. "They canned everything they could save, whether it was ripe or not. Green tomatoes got fashionable after the movie." Pa nods this time. After they eat lunch Pa walks outside with them and a few more minutes work has the cistern filled and they head back to the dorm. David raises an eyebrow when they come through the tesseract.

 

"Ma insisted we come inside for lunch, even if Josette's the only person who can eat four meals then eat again a couple hours later, they didn't like the idea of eating with us outside working." David chuckles.

 

"Still on track with the Archimedes orders?"

 

"A little ahead actually, years of practice." The others chuckle.

 

 

 

"Josette, will this new building handle all the offworld harvest needs?" Doc asks at the next government meeting.

 

"It'd better, the next step would be bringing out a canning factory but mason jars wouldn't fit the lines without quite a bit of work." Principal Madison sighs. "And you'd to have the clean the machinery after each batch."

 

Josette nods. "Easier to take the pots to the sinks to scrub and with the extra cooking spaces we can have three or four different types of food going at once." The others nod. "Personally I don't want to get that big that we need a canning factory beyond the satellite." the others nod.

 

"Now, other satellites?"

 

"We have a good list of what we have on them, I'm going up after Thanksgiving to see how expanding them by tesseract has worked and start growing areas to help with the oxygen. The last step would be installing the switching station and connecting it one here. Unlike the manufacturing satellite, it wouldn't be in operation all the time. But it would give people the chance to get in some extra money, either over the winter when the harvests are done or when we need something."

 

Nods from the others.

 

"Is there gravity on the satellites?"

 

"No, they weren't meant to be lived and worked on like the manufacturing satellite. That's another thing that will keep the shifts short."

 

Doc nods. "The limited weightlessness shouldn't affect people's health like long-term weightlessness did."

 

"And it will help with moving large loads."

 

Josette nods. "Too large to get into the switching station I'd have to pick up but we shouldn't have too many beyond the rolls of fabric."

 

"Would there be enough room for GD, Stark, and Wayne to use the satellite for projects?"

 

"Oh yes, I'm going to be seeing if Marilyn wants to help me set up the growing center on the satellite. I know they've all got projects on the back burner since there's no room on the fourth planet satellite."

 

"Without the need for living spaces, there should be plenty of room." The others nod.

 

"What are the plans for the 9th planet?"

 

"Getting together teaching plans for the kids, Dinah's talking with the women who run the greenhouse here, they're overjoyed to hear she's a florist. She's brought out her shop and apartment above it to the 9th planet and plans on bringing one out here. She might not get a big business in bouquets, but she can help with plants in apartments."

 

The others nod.

 

"Anything else?"

 

"Does anybody make mirrors?"

 

"Hank and Gwen from the glassworkers were talking about that when they're done with the orders for the apartment complexes. They'd be getting the glass from the glass factory, putting the silver on it to make it a mirror, then custom cutting and grinding." President Bartlett starts to talk. "Yes, they'd need more machinery that we've already got in the supplies we have.' He nods in satisfaction. "They'll need a building for the work though, with good ventilation. Since it won't be for at least six years, they're going to be talking to Dad and GD."

 

"How is the glass supply lasting?"

 

"We might be making more next year, they were talking about checking the supplies after they finish the orders for the year.. With all the new buildings, it took a hit. If they don't start next year, it will be the year after that and they'll be doing colored glass too since the stained glass workers need more room. Dad's enlarging their building by tesseract over the winter and Hank's talking with everybody about what they'll need in new workspaces." The others nod in satisfaction. "We've got a good sized order from the 9th planet, they were looking at the windows and whatnot in Town, Albatross, and Eureka and decided they wanted to spiff up their buildings too." Doc chuckles.

 

"I noticed the supply of lead was falling."

 

"Yes, I'll have to mine offplanet and I've been copying stuff from the other dimensions. Everything's copied into the replicator database, I've been sorting it into various sections over the years."

 

The rest of the semester flies by and it's snowed by the time the crops are harvested.

 

"Does this happen often?" Dr. Cross asks when she comes out after the semester to pick up the wheat and recycling.

 

"Every once in a while, the domes come up automatically and it's usually nice after the storm so we can harvest. It just goes to show that no matter the plans of mice or men, mother nature says 'gotcha' every once in a while. Sometimes it's snow, once it was rain that delayed harvesting since it took the ground a few days to dry, thankfully it didn't damage the crops. I'm sure everybody remembers hearing stories on Earth where storms damaged crops." Everybody in earshot nods. "We're luckier in that we have three harvests."

 

"Have you ever ran out of canned fruit and vegetables?"

 

"Once, we had a storm come in that dumped feet of snow when we would normally have been planting. Since we got such a late start we knew we'd be harvesting the last time in the middle of winter and only planted twice. It was only a few weeks before the crops in the growing buildings started coming in and nobody went hungry with the food replicators but everybody in town who thought of the gardens as extra food realized why we told them to plant the entire garden."

 

A couple days after the semester ends Josette and the others start heading off to the other dimensions to visit family and friends, coming back loaded down with supplies. The others head back to the dorm before the Josette and Aztec that had been visiting the other dimension for the others comes back. She heads to the switching station and arrives on the 9th planet, finding the 'leaders' of the planet, Dr. Cross, Dr. Stark, Doc, and Dr. McNider in a room at GD.

 

"I just came back from the other dimension."

 

"How is it?"

 

Josette just shakes her head. "Yeah, that's what we'd been talking about." They talk for nearly an hour about the changes to Earth Josette has seen. A couple hours later after eating four plates at Vincent's Josette heads back to Haven.

 

A couple days later Josette and David help Marilyn and Professor Druid on with the skinsuits before opening the tesseract to the satellite. They start working, setting up the growing area and turning on the oxygen system.

 

"Is this going to be okay by itself?"

 

"Yeah, I've got monitors set up so we can keep an eye on it. And once the switching station is up, we're going to have people up here to perform experiments."

 

Marilyn nods. "The list is already three pages long on the server."

 

Josette shakes her head as she brings out the 14 containers of books for the six degrees she finished this year, putting them on shelves in the library and taking the containers back downstairs.

 

"My god, you do have a wall in your closet." David says in mock-disbelief as he touches the now bare area revealed when Josette had moved containers. Josette laughs. "Yeah, I was just thinking maybe I went a little overboard when I realized I had so many containers of books to take upstairs from classes I'd finished this year, until I saw how many containers I still had down here." Josette puts the containers in the closet and they walk to the dining hall for lunch.

 

"Are you finishing anything next year?"

 

"Beyond the 2nd cooking degree? Doubtful."

 

"Are you going for a Masters in your electrical or chemical engineering degrees?"

 

"I've been thinking about it." Josette says. "I might start one when I finish the Chem doctorate and the herbal medicine full course." The others nod.

 

"Are you two working on the stuff for the stained glass workers?" David asks Michael and Alexander.

 

"Yes, and special orders for the 9th planet. I can't believe we're already halfway though Eureka's orders."

 

Josette nods. "The sorting planet orders will be finished by the Harvest Festival next year."

 

"And we'll have a good chunk of time to work on special orders after we're finished Eureka's order the year after that." Michael sighs. "I can't believe we've been working on everything for ten years already, there's a difference between yeah, we'll be finished a year before the school closes and this is going to be the second year of student class sizes back to normal."

 

"And 2100 more students leaving the school for their permanent homes."

 

"Are you going up to the satellites again?"

 

"Yep, tomorrow with a group of people including Marilyn from GD to go over the growing area and oxygen tanks and scrubbers. Once everything's set up, the work on the switching station is starting. It's going to have the same safety features that the switching station on the manufacturing satellite has." The others nod. "Once we get one done we'll start working on the other one."

 

"The banking and education satellite."

 

"Won't have public access, they need to be absolutely clean for the servers. The skinsuits from the Legion's dimension works just as well as the clean suits that were used before in the server buildings." The others nod. "If something needs to be done, David and I can go up in one of the ships and he'll send me over in a skinsuit."

 

The next few weeks pass and while it's clear for the Lights Festival they're socked in again by the beginning of the new year.

 

"I can't believe the babies are starting pre-school already, it seems like yesterday I was shoving David out of his chair." Doc sighs and nods. "Is everybody ready to start home-schooling the children?"

 

"Yes, with the smaller class size and just the one year, that allows the parents at the school the time to start setting up plans and trade off babysitting." The others nod. "I can't believe it's only three more years."

 

"Was there any problems found at the dorms or education center?"

 

"Nothing that a good scrubbing, new paint, and carpeting can't fix." David says, sending the file Dad had sent to him to the screen. Everybody looks at it and nods. "We can work on that and the rest over the next few years since more will be closing this year and the rest in two years." Principal Madison sighs.

 

"Did any of the others start classes since Billy and Dr. Cross finished last year?"

 

"Yes Ma Hunkel, Nora, and Courtney's mom are all starting one degree while Billy and Dr. Cross plan on starting a second in a couple years."

 

"Did we plan on another field of soybeans?"

 

"Yes, they're planting them later this year and the communal kitchen and restaurants are starting new fields next year."

 

"Are Frances and Elaine teaching this year?"

 

"Yes, and with only a couple classes each they have time to help with the class Sue and Agatha are planning on strip quilts."

 

"Strip quilts?"

 

Josette brings up a picture she puts on the screen. "It's going to be selecting the fabrics that go together, that will take the longest because I can absolutely love fabrics but they don't go together, cutting the fabric into strips, then working with the strips. We don't expect many students in the first class, strips are a little daunting."

 

"But once they take the initial leap, you should get more."

 

Josette nods. "Especially if we have rolls of strips already put together, enough for a good sized quilt. The fat quarters sell well, especially those that been put together with a quilt in mind." She rolls her eyes as David sniggers. "Yes, even me."

 

"Okay, how are the others on supplies for the rest of the orders?"

 

"I'm heading off again this summer to get more wood, that will be enough for the animal planet orders plus extra. I'm harvesting ores this year too." Doc nods. "That should keep us in supples for several years."

 

After lunch Josette heads to the textiles building for the first class on strip quilts. The next couple weeks pass and Josette and the others are at Sue's selecting the fabrics for their quilts. Bolts are passed around the tables like playing cards and Josette splits off a duplicate for the class when she heads to Eureka for her first testing week.

 

"Everybody getting ready for the new babies and the school to close in three years?"

 

"Yeah, it's tough thinking that it's been open that long. Or that the babies are that big." Josette sighs. "You don't stop to think how long it's been until something like that makes you stop to think."

 

"How many million degrees do you plan on finishing this year?"

 

"Only the cooking degree." The three men pretend stunned horror. "I took fourteen containers of books up to the library after Thanksgiving and thought I went a little overboard until I saw how many containers of books I still have in my closet."

 

"You know Josette, there's a fix to that. Only take one degree at a time." Dr. McNider chuckles.

 

"Eww, that's just wrongidy, wrongidy, wrong." Josette shudders in mock-horror and the three men laugh.

 

"One more semester."

 

"Be weird not taking classes and working on orders." Alexander chuckles.

 

"Did David start his Mechanical Engineering Doctorate?"

 

"Yep, he's getting in three classes for his bachelors on the Shadow and two classes for his doctorates a semester."

 

"Is CJ starting on his thesis?"

 

"He'd planned on it."

 

"Are you ever going for a Masters in electrical engineering?"

 

"I've been toying with a project. I want to get a few more degrees finished first though."

 

"Your chem thesis?"

 

"Working on it and the project, I was going to have a few people look it over later this year and present it next summer."

 

 

 

 

Josette leans against the door of Headquarters library a few days later, causing Doc and Clark to look up at her.

 

"Ya know that dream I had that sent me sorting furniture at Headquarters?"

 

"You really did get kidnapped to Hogwarts?" CJ grins as the others blink at her.

 

"I dunno why a few floors on Hanover would look like the Harry Potter world at Universal Studios Resort in Orlando exploded in them otherwise." CJ cackles as Josette rolls her eyes. "I was on Hanover checking the supplies and found everything."

 

"So you snatch a house elf or two?"

 

Josette's look makes him laugh harder. Long Tom is chuckling in the corner. Josette sends him a file, "Some ideas on a project for a electrical engineering Masters." Doc and Clark look at her and she sends the file to them too. All three men start looking everything over as Josette heads to Monk's lab to talk to him about her project and thesis.

 

"Has anybody thought about plans for wind turbines?" She asks at lunch. Clark and CJ have stayed over at Doc's insistence and they look at each other.

 

"I know Bruce and Thomas were talking about the possibility."

 

"We don't need it or a solar panel farm right away but. . ."

 

"We might need them in the future. Hydroelectric power?"

 

"We'd need reservoirs, and right now that's a low priority. Unless we went the waterwheel route." The others nod.

 

The next several weeks fly by and Josette is busy spreading manure in the fields and garden for planting in a couple of weeks. The crops are in before Josette, Alexander, and Michael head to Eureka for their finals.

 

"Three more classes boys."

 

"Going to seem weird not to be taking classes and working on the orders."

 

"Going to seem weird when we finish the animal planet orders, we've been working on them for sixteen years when we're done."

 

"What are your plans for when you're done?" Dr. McNider asks.

 

"Concentrating on shows and orders for custom furniture from the other dimensions. We picked up new supplies while we were there among the other stuff. It might be a wait but. . ."

 

"People will wait for good custom made furniture. Because that is what lasts generations."

 

"Instead of cheap shit you replace within a decade."

 

"Meant to be used, abused, and eventually thrown away. Good furniture you take care of." Dr. McNider says. The others nod. "Which is true for everything."

 

Josette nods. "Which is why maintenance checks the buildings ever few years."

 

Josette slides into her seat at the government building a few days later after delivering the first batch of the orders to Archimedes. She'll deliver the rest of the sorting planet's orders after the Harvest Festival when she delivers the next batch.

 

"Anything new?"

 

"Something Josette was talking about. Reservoirs?"

 

Principal Madison, David, and President Bartlett look at Josette. "I was talking about future power needs. If we go hydroelectric, we'd need some sort of reservoir like Hoover Dam." The others nod. "We're good on water needs right now, we can fill a couple cisterns for human needs if we look like we're going to have a drought. We keep an eye on the water table and the winters replenish it."

 

"We don't grow more than we need so the rains handle a lot of our growing needs, even with the three harvests. I'd rather see water wheels than something like Hoover."

 

Josette nods. "That was my thought as well. Either a few set up just to produce electricity or as part of saw, grist, or woolen mills. Again, that wouldn't be for decades. The mills handle everything we need right now."

 

"Are you starting another musical instrument degree next year?"

 

Josette nods. "Edinborough will be finishing the last of their interior work next year. The expanded building for the stained glass workers is finished and the work's starting on the additions for the store and the new building for clothes."

 

"The offworld harvests?"

 

"Coming along well. I'll be delivering the 9th planet orders after the Harvest Festival when their fall is starting. Their individual gardens are coming along well and they're making more stuff to put up." The others nod.

 

"Sausages and baloney?"

 

"In a couple years. I'll start checking our supplies next year."

 

"Fish?"

 

"Again, I'll start checking our supplies next year."

 

On the 9th planet Charles and Pieter smile at Courtney and Billy. "Are you two ready to become pregnant in a few months?"

 

They throw their arms around their husbands. "We need to get the last two harvests in." they nod. "If we try to become pregnant after the last crops are in, we'll just be starting to gain weight when the crops ripen and we can help get everything in."

 

"I have some other news. Some of the others from back home will be coming out during the fourth cycle to see how we're settling in. At least Hippolyta."

 

On Haven Josette gets in the semesters she'd wanted to during the break, the crops beginning to come in during the second semester. The second crops go in and Josette starts checking the yearly crops on the first planet as the yearly crops on Haven are handled by the students who will be leaving the dorms the end of the year when they're not moving their belongings to their new homes. Several long weeks later Josette drops into a seat in the living room, nodding at the others who are settled around the room talking.

 

"Everything in from the first planet?"

 

"Yes, I delivered the wine and oil orders and there's more for sale at the Festival in a few days. Anything that doesn't sell there will get popped in stasis." The others nod.

 

"Is farming on Haven much different than farming on Earth would have been?" Professor Druid's mother asks her.

 

"Cheaper, no chemicals for the fields but good old fashioned manure or compost, no gas bills. . .it was outrageous before we left Earth." her brother nods. "We try to introduce something new at least once every couple years, a couple years ago it was rhubarb and leeks that Josette grew, next year the communal kitchens plan on growing celery root and fennel."

 

Nods from the others. "People tend to only eat what they know and there's so much out there. . ."

 

Professor Druid nods this time. "That's why we introduced theme nights at the school, to introduce the students to new cuisine over the years. Our TV station started offering original programming about cooking, weaving, knitting, sewing, and quilting."

 

"How do you handle milk?"

 

"A lot of what we drink is soy, when the cows are producing we make cheeses and a lot of fresh milk goes in stasis so we have it longer. The goat and sheep milk all goes to cheese. In the future we might drink it but while people will eat goat cheese drinking goat milk is a little daunting." Nods from the others.

 

"How's it going on the 9th planet?" David asks at dinner.

 

"Good, they're talking about who's going to be teaching the kids in a couple years. The others are letting Courtney and Billy become pregnant. Rick's working up plans for a lab building with living quarters for the times you just have to get away from each other. Billy's got his building for the same reason, Kara's got her apartment and Courtney's looking into her own place. The kids are moving into the nursery with Dinah's twins spending a few hours with their older brother and sister when she's busy." The others nod in satisfaction.

 

"Is she working with the women at the flower and shrub greenhouse?" Principal Madison asks on the front screen. Josette nods. "A lot of people are getting house plants to help brighten up their apartments over the winter or just to add color." Principal Madison nods. Every school building had at least one plant. "Now that they've settled in and got one year of their own gardens under their belts, they're talking about plantings around their homes."

 

"What's the latest on the store additions?" Professor Eppes asks in the front room.

 

"The buildings will be finished by Thanksgiving, they're working on the interiors over the winter." Principal Madison repeats what Josette says and he nods. "I've got to check the stock of clothes before the Lights Festival."

 

"How did your class on strip quilts go?"

 

"Good, we're going to be making fat quarters and strips for quilts after Thanksgiving." Josette sends off a message to Ma Hunkel to see if she's interested and puts up her PADD.

 

"Oh this is beautiful." Hippolyta turns around to see everything as the green bubble dissolved and Kyle, Soranik, and their son head immediately for Jade and the babies in hers and Todd's arms. They trade babies and Alexander looks up at Jade.

 

"Hello little guy."

 

Hippolyta looks around her as they travel to the sixth planet a day later.

 

"They do this every year?"

 

"Yes, they've brought in their yearly crops and the second harvest and planted the third. The school is on break between semesters. They sell surplus food and other goods." Dr. Cross says. Hippolyta blinks at various versions of people, including some of the people with her.

 

"There's people from three dimensions including our own that live here permanently, there's another dimension that has a place that they shift people around so they can relax here, like us they're superheroes in their dimension. Josette's got visitors from more dimensions who come out for her 'birthday' party and to attend the festival."

 

"What are those buildings?"

 

"Temporary housing based on college dorms." Kyle says, taking their bags to one and putting them in rooms. "That way we can sleep a few hours here instead of heading back home. Most of the offworld people do the same, heading home after the Festival ends the third day."

 

"Three days?"

 

"Three days and there's something different on the tables every day. In addition Josette will be working on fleeces and cotton in the big building the second day."

 

"Big building?"

 

"It's a large building they use for numerous things. They built a second over the winter year before last since they were both running out of room and needed more cooking surfaces. They can, dry, or otherwise preserve offworld harvests for themselves and the other planets. It's food to supplement what we've canned, dried, or stored ourselves for the winter. Beyond what we grow over the winter in the greenhouses, growing building, and hydroponics."

 

"Are we going to have an aquaponics like Josette's?" Rick asks.

 

"If so it won't be for many years."

 

"A qua pon ics?" Hippolyta says the unfamiliar word slowly.

 

"It's a combination of hydroponics, where food is grown in the water, and a fish farm. The water from the fish pools is pumped into the growing tanks. The plants clean the water and add nutrients, it's sent back to the fish and the cycle starts again. Josette?" Dr. Cross calls. Josette looks over from a table. "Yeah?"

 

"Can we come out after the festival and go over the aquaponics section with Hippolyta?"

 

"Sure, I gotta go out, harvest, and transplant anyway."

 

"First planet stuff?"

 

"In a couple months. I planted them while I was harvesting the rest."

 

"Josette, candy factory?" Dr. Watson asks as he walks past.

 

"Poll is going up in a couple days and closing the lights festival, the factory will be opening a couple months after that."

 

"Sausage and baloney?"

 

"Probably year after next. We're checking our supplies the end of the year." Ma Hunkel nods.

 

"Josette, how do you handle drying food when. . ."

 

"It's still winter when the offworld harvests start coming in like they did this year? I take the drying tables to the first planet until it's warm enough for the food to dry and not freeze outside. It only happens once every decade or so, next year the offworld havests will start coming in after the Harvest Festival."

 

"That makes sense."

 

"Otherwise we'd have had to put everything in stasis until we could put out the tables. When the harvests are coming in bing bang boom on top of each other I leave one on the ship while the other is being worked on so they don't get mixed up."

 

"Sorting planet orders are done?"

 

"Yep, I'll deliver them when I deliver the rest of the orders from Town. I'm picking up our toilet paper too." President Bartlett nods in satisfaction. "Cotton for the towels?"

 

"One next year and one the year after that for the animal planet orders. Once those are done everybody will be checking their supplies to see how we're getting along on towels, washcloths, and whatnot. We'll have the times to check our supplies once all the orders are in for the apartments."

 

"You'll have another batch of wornout stuff from the dorms later this year." Principal Madison says.

 

"After nearly twenty years I'd expect it. The temporary housing dorms linens are older but didn't have the same continuous use that the student dorms did." He nods.

 

"What do you do with them?"

 

"Sheets I paint and use in my art shows. The towels and washcloths I shred and let soak for a few weeks, then add to recycled paper for handmade paper. . .also for the shows. I've got tons of recyclable paper on the ships from the other dimensions."

 

The others nod and start wandering the tables.

 

"That was nice." Hippolyta says when they return to their planet a few days later. They'd stayed after the festival so she could look at the aquaponics building. "I can see they've settled in well over the years."

 

"Josette, when do you plan on starting the sun painting hands-on degree?"

 

"Not until the school closes, Frances wants to be involved in the projects along with some of the others." Nods from everybody in the government building.

 

"Did you deliver everything?"

 

"Yes, the sorting planet orders are finished. We'll be finished with our orders by the next Harvest Festival. I've got one batch of offworld cotton ready for the towels and plan on growing for the next three years, that will cover the animal planet's orders and give them a good supply for the rest of us." The others nod again. "Once all the major work of furnishing the apartments are done, people's lives will get back to normal and we'll realize we're running low on stuff."

 

"The shoe factory?"

 

"Opening up next spring, making work boots, winter boots, and sneakers." The others nod. "The sizes most people wear, if there's an off-size needed there's the replicator."

 

"How many classes are you getting in this semester?"

 

"32, that will put me a semester from two degrees and a year from two others, not counting the cooking degree I'm finishing this semester or the chem degree I'm finishing next year." The others nod. "Anything new?"

 

"Yeah, once the school is closed I want to experiment with various wild rices. Wild rice is aquatic, so I'd need to set up a growing area in a lake or river, either here or on the first planet. There's actually two types of wild rice, the black you saw on the shelves is a hybrid." The others nod.

 

"Do you see a need to ever parboil the rice?"

 

"Not for decades, everybody has the time to set it out to soak for a few minutes or can add baking soda while it's cooking."

 

"Josette, what is parching?"

 

"It's something the Native Americans did when they harvested the rice by hand, putting it in drums over open fires and roasting it like coffee. The problem is the rice burst during cooking since it was unevenly heated."

 

The next couple of weeks pass quickly, Josette checking out sites to grow wild rice on the continent and talking to the botanists at GD when she heads to Eureka for her first testing week. Heading to the first planet a few weeks after that to harvest the raised beds has her talking with Aztec and selecting a few nice growing areas.

 

"Did you enjoy yourself mother?" Diana asks when she returns a few weeks later their time.

 

"I did, they are settling in well on their world, getting in their last harvest and preparing for their winter in a couple of their months. The babies are beautiful and getting so big. They plan to start their schooling in another year."

 

"How many children do they have?"

 

"Fifteen with your friend Kyle's son with his coworker. Your friend Dinah has decided to stay on their planet with her twins." Diana nods. "Billy and Courtney are going to try to become pregnant over the winter."

 

"Six babies under four years old." Diana shakes her head. "Even with two of them living with Dinah part-time that's a lot of young children."

 

"Yes, I would not have thought of it but they seem to be handling it well. Josette and her mates have had experience with numerous babies the same age and are helping out. Including teaching them at home since the education center where the younger children were taught until they entered. . .'high school'?" Hippolyta says the unfamiliar words slowly. Diana nods. "The last four years of their primary education. They are usually in their early teens when they start."

 

"Closed a couple years ago and Josette, her mates, and their helpers was teaching two sets of their children at home. Their high school would be closing in two of their years when the children attending classes there graduated."

 

"They didn't have students in all four years?"

 

"No, they said it had been one group of children for all four years for a while, a few times it had been two groups of students in different grades. Twenty years ago they had brought out orphans, their support staff, and others from another dimension and the school had gone back to students in nearly every grade. The last of them had graduated two years ago."

 

"Were they returning to their dimension?"

 

"No, it was 'supposed' to be the first step in colonizing new worlds, seeing how people could settle in a colony that was already settled but many felt that since they were orphans, nobody would care if they left." Diana sighs and nods. "I have seen that. Billy told me a little about his life after his parents died and he was left to fend for himself living on the streets."

 

"Did you find some areas for the wild rice?" Vincent asks when Josette brings out the tomatoes, peppers, and herbs.

 

"I did." They talk about the crops and Josette's plans for wild rice, Vincent nodding at the problems parching caused in some cooking. "And we don't have the machinery to parboil rice."

 

"Not that we need it when we can soak it just like beans and oats."

 

Josette slides into her seat at the dining hall.

 

"Get everything taken care of?"

 

"Yeah, I found a couple likely places to grow on the first planet and plan on growing a batch in the hydroponics section on one of the ships as an experiment." On the screen in the front room Professor Druid nods. "If that turns out well, we can try a batch in the aquaponics building." Josette nods.

 

"Are you two going for a doctorate when you finish your Masters this semester?" Principal Madison asks in the front room.

 

"If we do, it won't be for a couple years." Michael says. Alexander nods.

 

"How's CJ coming on his Masters?"

 

"Good, next year he'll be finished with the specialty classes and he'll keep working on his thesis."

 

After dinner Josette heads upstairs to her workroom and looks through the kits of projects, picking one and copying the pattern pieces onto plastic before copying the pattern itself to work with. The original goes in a manila envelope and Josette spreads out the fabric and starts cutting out pieces after setting up the sewing machine.

 

Josette leans against the door of the glass blowers the next day, Hank's belt in her hand. He's giving her amused looks. "How hard would it be for the two of you to make crystal chandeliers?" She asks. Hank and the head of the glassblowers look at each other then grin. Josette chuckles and walks away. With that little tidbit, she expects that they'll have plenty to work on once the animal planet apartment complex is finished.

 

"New crops?" David asks at lunch.

 

"The communal kitchen has plans for fennel and celery root next year, I'm planting small crops of kohlrabi, orzo, and I'm planting chickpeas again." Everybody nods.

 

The rest of the semester flies by, Josette taking the furniture and other orders to Archimedes after the crops are in and their finals. The boys are congratulated on finishing their degrees and the dining halls are emptying again as more students finish their university degrees and move to their permanent homes.

 

"Graduation ceremony at GD year after next." Alexander says at dinner after they've returned from GD.

 

"I was expecting it. You two, whatever degrees Josette currently had finished, my comic book degree and my Masters. Next year will be the graduation ceremony for the students who just left the dorm, ours during the summer and the kids after they finish school the year after that, then the graduation ceremony for the last of the students leaving the dorm the year after that."

 

"Two years and the school will be closing down again. Five years and we'll have all the apartments furnished."

 

David sighs. "And five years it will be nearly fifty years since we lost Earth." The others nod. Then he smirks. "And in five years Josette's going to be as old as how many children we have again. And we can't have that." He says in a sing-song voice, then gets shoved out of his chair by Susan's foot.

 

"We've already got two sets of children taking classes in the dorm." She sighs, rolling here eyes. "We don't need three even if the twins will be unemployed in a couple years."

 

"They used to have multiple grades in the one room school houses." David sniggers. "Get the two older groups working on their classes in one room and the younger kids in the other since it's set up for early education right now."

 

"They'd all be working at their own pace." Josette says. The others nod. "Hell, they don't even have to be working on the same subject. Especially with teacher."

 

David nods. "I've seen the kids in class, the others give them assignments and turn them loose. They're there if they need help, though they tend to help each other out first." Josette nods. "Like the school they have projects they have to work on together."

 

The next morning the others start hopping dimensions, sliding into their seats at lunch.

 

"Do you have a list of what we have?"

 

"Yes, and I brought back letters and stuff for the others, I'll head off after lunch and deliver. Oh and speaking of delivering, Billy and Courtney are pregnant."

 

"Awwww."

 

"Do you have enough yarn?"

 

"Yep, I'll start working on baby booties and other stuff over the break."

 

"How is it there?" Dr. Cross asks when Josette's finished delivering letters and supplies.

 

"Getting bad, I expect they'll be two billion people down by this time next year. The war's heating up again and ye olde presidente for life Luthor is swooping into other countries and conscripting civilians and their military. He's going to end up ruling the world, but there might not be anybody left for him to rule. The chemical weapons used is causing deaths, the birthrate has been down the toilet for the last decade since everybody's either fighting or working long hours in the factories."

 

"Shit."

 

"And everybody is still seeing some grand gesture that will knock humanity on its ass for decades." Nods from the others.

 

A couple days later Josette slides into a seat at Edinborough to talk about the plans for new yarn and thread blends they're working on with Assyrian.

 

"Is everybody out of the dorms now?"

 

"No, they'll be leaving in two years when the kids graduate and the school shuts down. Hard to think it's been over 20 years since we brought out the kids from the other dimension."

 

"How are the apartments coming?"

 

"Finishing the Archimedes apartment complex next year, we'll start the animal planet apartments the year after that. That will give us room for everybody plus room to grow."

 

"It's been nearly fifty years since we lost Earth, are we seeing any of the first batch of students retiring?"

 

"Not really, with the time difference everybody's staying young longer than they would have on Earth and we're not really seeing the problems with aging they had on Earth, dementia, arthritis, and all that." Nods from the others. "As people start aging though, I think we'll probably have some people checking on them at least once a day like meals on wheels back on Earth." More nods.

 

"How. . .how long do. . ."

 

"We expect people to live? Easily into their hundreds. Yes, people lived shorter lives before industrialization on Earth but they also didn't have the medicines we have now." The others nod. "We talk about the good old days but they weren't all that good. If you didn't die of farm accidents, you died of illnesses caused by the bad water or poor sewage, just like they used to in the third world countries."

 

After the meeting Josette heads back to the dorm, looking over the list of what they've brought back from the other dimensions or she'd copied while they were off. Sliding into her seat at the dining hall.

 

"Checking over everything we're bringing back?"

 

"Yeah, or going through the lists anyway." Josette covers her mouth with her arm and yawns, then looks out the window. "We'll have snow by bed and it'll stick." The others nod.

 

The first day of the new semester has Josette sliding into her seat at the government building.

 

"Candy factory?"

 

"Starting operation this week."

 

"Has the bread factory been changing the orders?"

 

"Yep, since the students started leaving the dorms." Principal Madison says. "The orders should go somewhat back to normal when the school closes and it's just the core group that's left at the school. Peter's going to be heading back to Archimedes at the end of the year, but he'll be here for the students graduation ceremonies."

 

"This is probably a dumb question, but how are we handling something like blood?"

 

"Similar to Archimedes and the 9th planet, everybody's blood type is on file and we've got samples of blood and blood products in the replicators. If more is needed we can transfuse from volunteers." Josette says. Doc nods. "We won't need a blood bank for a while. . .if ever."

 

"Fish?"

 

"I was going to check the supply in a few weeks. If not this year then next. We've got to check the supply of chipilotes anyway." Principal Madison nods. "Plus we'll use the smokehouse for the sausages, something else I need to check the supply." She makes a note to do that on her PADD before she puts it away.

 

"Josette, you're growing new crops this year along with the communal kitchen?"

 

"Yes, they're growing fennel and celery root. . .at least once. I'm growing kohlrabi and orzo at least once too. Plus chickpeas." The others nod. "If the demand is good you can grow again, either third crops or next year."

 

"Apartments?"

 

"Due to be finished by the Harvest Festival, we'll start working on the animal planet apartments this time next year. That will give everybody permanent housing plus have extras for future children. With most of the students opting for apartments and jobs, we're not seeing the large families that we would have in a purely agrarian world where they would have been needed for the family farms. Yes, they might have shifts in the fields but there's others to help."

 

"And you can't really raise a passel of kids in an apartment for all that there were families that did it on Earth."

 

"And there's other jobs and professions for the students."

 

"How's the other Earth?"

 

"Pretty bad, the asshole in chief is conscripting militaries and civilians from the countries he's taking over, by the end of the year I expect the death toll from the war to have hit two billion. That's not taking into consideration accident, disease from the chemical weapons, or other diseases." The others sigh and nod. "And with everybody at war or working shifts in the factories for the war effort the birth rate is down."

 

"And there's no end to the war in sight."

 

"And everybody's still expecting a grand gesture that knocks humanity on its ass. Beyond the war itself." Josette sighs. "Just when you think humanity's crawled out of the ooze. .."

 

"There will always be men who want to control others. Either benevolently by just laws or by force." President Bartlett sighs. "Now, I know we've tabled this before but a factory for stuff like parboiling rice, couscous, steaming foods so they just need to be heated?"

 

"Something to think of." Josette says, bringing up the file. Principal Madison looks at her. "Couscous is already cooked, you just add boiling water and let it steam. We'd need machinery to make it."

 

"What about stuff like soup mixes?"

 

"Most people make their own but that's something to think about for those people who live alone and don't have the time to start a big pot of soup in a slow cooker. Yes, we've all got the communal kitchens but they're not open all the time." The others nod. "The cooks at the school can look into it now that more of the dining rooms are shut down." The others nod and Principal Madison makes a note of it on his PADD. "How is the chicken place coming along?"

 

"Good, we've had theme nights over the last year and they opened it permanently after the Lights Festival. They're planning a theme night at least twice a month and we expect brisk business from the offworld customers, especially during the festivals or when we have new movies." Nods from the others.

 

"Speaking of new movies?"

 

"A copy of the 9th planet theater is going up in Albatross later this year." Josette checks her PADD. "The Albatross council has decided where it's going and Dad's checking the land this spring." The others nod. "Dad's also looking into putting up a climate controlled building for TV libraries and possibly movies. Because I have tons of movies and TV shows on the ships." The others nod. "With a central location we can bring out new shows beyond what we currently have. Is there more demand for the original shows?"

 

"Yes, and we're all planning more projects to be taped. Including a show on making quilts from strips. We've got a good selection of rolls ready at the stores and everybody who took the class plans on doing another in the future."

 

"Now, births?"

 

"Ten to fifteen children at a time per planet every five to ten years seems to be a good number. That gives them jobs in the future and we'll still have a slight population increase since we expect people to live well into their hundreds without the vampire enzyme."

 

"Jobs?"

 

"Some we'll be interning young people under older, veterinary medicine comes to mind immediately." Nods from the others. "Some family jobs will stay in the family if possible, like Alessandro's winery and the dairy."

 

"We'll need to think of people who will check in on elderly who don't have families." Josette says. President Bartlett nods. "Now, are the stores finished?"

 

"Yes, they're all ready for business and this summer we're going to have artists and students coming out to paint murals on the walls." Nods from the others.

 

"Degrees?" Doc asks David and Josette.

 

"I'll be five semesters into my bachelors and eight classes into my doctorate."

 

"I'm finishing at least two degrees this semester, the chemistry Masters and the sosh degree on villains as the main character this semester. I'm one semester from the Nixon and Watergate history degree and two semesters from two comic book degrees."

 

"Cooking?"

 

"Not this year, I've started a degree on dyeing from Assyrian and a second degree on musical instruments from Edinborough. We're starting the hands-on degree from Edinborough on sun painting when the school's closed year after next, I'll finish the hands-on degree before then. If I don't. . ." Josette shrugs. "Not the first time I've started something bassackwards. Assyrian's talking to Frances, Elaine, and Edinborough on a degree on basket weaving, not to sound all summer campish but. . ." The others nod.

 

"Wicker baskets, furniture. . ." David says. "That's in the future."

 

"Did you talk to the others about the yarn and cloth you wanted."

 

"Yeah, we're experimenting with adding hemp and bamboo to yarn blends and cloth." Doc and President Bartlett blink then nod.

 

After the meeting Josette heads upstairs to her workroom, going eeny, meany, miney, mo to select a kit. Opening it she copies the pattern to plastic then copies the pattern. Setting up her sewing machine she makes a mental note to look at the others in the warehouses or one of the stores and starts cutting out pieces for blocks. After lunch Josette heads into town to the warehouses after checking the supplies at the dorm.

 

She's looking through the sewing machines when a hand claps her shoulder. She looks behind her at Sue.

 

"Thinking of what you want, what you need, or realizing how old your machine is?"

 

"A little bit of all three. I've got a showroom of sewing machines and more information in limbo we're going to have to go through before we bring out the factory."

 

Sue nods. "Our machines are well taken care of but they're going to need replacing eventually. Plus we'll need the machinery to make various needles, pins, and other notions beyond the replicator."

 

"Just like we might need nails and screws beyond the replicator." Agatha says coming over with a cart filled with fabric and other supplies.

 

Josette nods. "Hank and the other woodworkers use wooden pegs a lot but. . ." The three women nod as they check the list and Josette grabs a couple machines. "The boys can make me tables when they're finished with the Archimedes order after the Harvest Festival. Or I'll make them myself." Scanning them with her PADD she updates the inventory and joins them gathering the supplies they need, sighing as she makes a note of what she'll have to make this year. Sue and Frances nod as she helps pack the wagon and unload everything at the stores. Back at the dorm she puts the boxes in the corner of the room and joins the others walking to the dining hall.

 

"Two more years. Doesn't seem possible. Seems like yesterday the students were coming up from the other dimension, not 21 years ago." Nods from the others. They talk about classes, how the boys are working on stuff for shows now that they're not taking classes, how long it will be before they start taking classes, shows later that year, the new plans Assyrian, Edinborough, Josette, Frances, and Elaine have planned for after the school closes and how the wild rice is coming along on the ship and first planet.

 

"New sewing machines?" David asks, looking at the boxes in the corner when he comes up to Josette's workroom a couple nights later.

 

"You realize my sewing machine is over 75 years old, right?" Josette looks at him. "We take care of our machines but. . ."

 

"Eventually they're going to go up." He sighs and nods. "We don't stop to think about things like that until it happens. Do you have plans?"

 

"Yes, I've got a factory in limbo I've been meaning to bring out, along with one for needles, pins, and other notions. And one for screws, nails, and other hardware needs." David nods. "We'll need them eventually."

 

"I've also got a showroom in limbo, we'll look everything over and make plans for what we'll want to make." David nods and heads back downstairs. He suddenly snaps his fingers and turns around, sticking his head back in the room.

 

"Knives and scissors."

 

"Shit, yes we'll need those eventually." Josette makes the note on her PADD. "And the plastic factory will have to make the handles if the factories themelves don't have the machinery. Thankee."

 

"Thread?"

 

"I'm going to be making some possibly this summer. We're running low. I've got to check the warehouses." David nods and heads back downstairs.

 

/Stands for the machines?/ he asks downstairs.

 

/If Michael and Alexander don't after the orders for Archimedes are done, I will./

 

/Additions to the dorm?/

 

/Not until the school closes./

 

The next couple of weeks pass quickly and Josette heads to Eureka for her first testing week.

 

"Is that plans for a treadle sewing machine?" David looks over Josette's shoulder at the engineering program she's got open after dinner that night.

 

"Yes, you know me. I'm convinced the world is going to go to hell and we'll need to be able to do these things without electricity." Josette shrugs. "We've already got looms to make fabric without electricity."

 

"You're sick, you know that right?" David sighs.

 

"Oh most definitely since I'm trying to figure out a way to operate long arm and knitting machines without electricity. Hell, it will make an interesting thesis or diss for a mechanical engineering degree if I go that route." David nods. "Same reasoning for the smokehouse as an alternate way to preserve the fish beyond stasis. And that's used for other things." David nods and looks out the window at the approaching storm. "Going to be a big blow."

 

"Yep." the others had gotten the animals in with food for a couple of weeks while everybody else was getting in supplies for themselves for the same two weeks.

 

"What were you talking to Long Tom and Dad about?"

 

"Adding more power strips to my workroom. Working up the plans for my Electrical engineering thesis if I ever get off my ass and start the classes." David sniggers. "Lazy scut." Josette idly blows him a raspberry.

 

"Uploaded your chem thesis yet?"

 

"I'm doing it finals. I know it's just a formality and I can start the doctorate next year."

 

"Did Rex finally wear Rick down into going for a chem degree?"

 

"Yeah. The 9th planet is a mixture of people who were exposed to chronal energy, taking vampire enzyme, are vampires or equally long-lived so everybody's making plans for the future."

 

"Their bodies should be adapting to the longer years."

 

Josette nods. "GD is keeping an eye on it since they know what to expect."

 

"Classes?"

 

"The babies are in pre-school now, learning shapes, colors. . ." David nods. The same thing the triplets had been learning over the last couple of years.

 

"Josette, dumb question but does anybody raise shrimp, prawns, anchovies, sardines. . ." Alexander comes out of the woodworking building and drops into a chair in the living room.

 

"GD on the 9th planet is planning a fish farm/aquaponics and plan on raising them since we don't here." Alexander nods in satisfaction. "They're also looking into a pizza parlor like ours. They're working on plans for enlarging GD either by tesseract, bringing up new buildings, or building new buildings either around Eureka, where the others have settled, or elsewhere on the planet." The others nod. "They're talking to GD, Wayne, Wayne, and Stark to make sure they're not duplicating research. They've got a whole server of stuff they wanted to work on that the DoD has been telling them no on because of other government concerns. They're also in contact with Dayton and Wayne back in the other dimension since they left Earth with the others."

 

"How is it there?"

 

"Pretty bad, as I told the others at the government meeting the asshole in chief is sweeping in to take control of other countries where they can, conscripting both their militaries and civilians to the war effort. He might end up controlling the entire world but with the deaths from the war, deaths from the chemical weapons, and just plain deaths from people working too many hours for the war effort or to keep a roof over their head and food in their stomachs there might not be anybody left to rule over. They're no closer to ending the war in the second decade then they were the first. Of course he's hiding behind armed guards because he knows the war would be over if somebody just takes him out." The others nod. "If the other countries that are taking a back seat to the conflict get involved we can expect more deaths. As it is, the death toll is set to top two billion by the end of the year."

 

"Shit." Michael sighs. "It hasn't been verified since Luthor's got the US media under his control but that's what they're reporting in the other countries. I know it's somewhat the truth, the ships have been keeping an eye on the population count every time we go over and it's falling by leaps and bounds."

 

"Shit, it's just like Earth."

 

"Yes, but if they get rid of that asshole Luthor they should be able to recover. Not even he can kill an entire world's population, he need yes men and people to bow down, kiss his ass, and tell him what a great man he is."

 

"Not unless the chemical weapons ended up sterilizing populations, I know there were governments who wanted to do that to the insurgents and civilian populations to keep them under control but they realized if they were sterilized, they wouldn't have populations." David snorts.

 

"No but if they kill everybody within the reproducing age and they don't have gestation chambers. . ." Josette sighs. "Though even if lose most of their population they should recover unless something like a nuclear holocaust or EMP happens and they lose all their technology. Hell, what would happen if the stores suddenly disappeared."

 

"Rioting in the streets." The others nod. "The dark ages all over again because most nobody has family farms anymore to produce all their food. Even back in the days of Little House they had to buy flour at mills, cloth, and shoes. Same thing here and we'd be a lot better off than Earth if the stores disappeared. Commercial farms might be able to feed people, but only if they can get the food to them."

 

Josette nods. "God forbid at least the US not have everything they want in stores, they tightened their belts and cut back on stuff during WWII to help the troops win the war. They wouldn't do it now."

 

"Hell no, they howled when they couldn't get the newest apple shit, think how they'd react to rations and shortages." Everybody nods and shudders.

 

"Victory gardens?"

 

"Food rations."

 

"Gas shortages."

 

Alexander's lips start twitching suggestively. "They might not be able to buy new cars when they want if the automakers stop producing for civilians like they did during WWII." Everybody looks at each other.

 

"Nah."

 

"Oh my god, we can't have that."

 

Everybody heads to bed a couple hours later. The rest of the semester flies by and Dr. Stark stands by Josette as she brings out the orders from Haven and delivers it at the apartments.

 

"Four more months."

 

Josette nods. "I'll probably deliver the rest before the Harvest Festival if the other complexes were any indication." Dr. Stark nods. "Are the boys working on stuff for their show?"

 

"Yes and Mom and Dad are dropping 'gentle' hints about the possibility of shows in their dimension." His mouth twitches and he pats her on the shoulder in a 'there, there' gesture'.

 

"How are they settling in well in the other dimension."

 

"Good, they've been slowly setting up growing areas on the Moon. Though even if Luthor was taken out today they'd stay on the Moon and Mars thanks to how the other governments treated them in the early days when they were trying to placate Luthor. Those scientists and industrialists that have settled on the other planets are still making advances in science, medicine, and technology and Earth is falling further and further behind since the best and brightest left."

 

Dr. Stark's lips twitch. "The evil little imp on my shoulder says serves them right, they made their bed with their actions and now they have to lie in it." Josette smirks as the last of the furniture and other stuff is put away. "The angel on my other shoulder says they've no doubt learned their lessons and deserve the help. As children of god it is their duty to help their fellow man. Turn the other cheek and you should be the bigger man."

 

"And the evil imp is winning the argument?"

 

"Yeah, the angel just shrugged and said not even 'he' believed that load of bullshit but he had to toe the company line."

 

"Get everything taken care of?" David asks at the meeting the next day on Haven.

 

"Yep, everything was delivered, the payments sent out and the last of the orders should be delivered before the Harvest Festival. Yes, the boys aren't taking weeks off for their tests but they're using those same weeks to work on stuff for shows." David and the others nod.

 

"Okay, other news. Did James get a chance to check the site for the Albatross movie theater?"

 

"Next week. He's busy working with GD on the 9th planet right now going over plans for their new labs and buildings."

 

"It's not that big of a hurry, once we get the building up we can work on the other stuff and the other building can wait until next year if need be. We've waited this long." Nods from the others.

 

"It won't be that long, right now it's just 'okay, this is how many buildings we 'should' need. No, you'll need 'this' many buildings. They've done it on Archimedes over the years so they know he knows what he's talking about. They don't plan on starting them for a while."

 

"Josette, you said you're looking into factories?"

 

Josette nods around the sandwich she'd just bitten into from the replicator. "The factory to parboil stuff we were talking about earlier and the sewing machine and notions factories you were talking about?" She nods again.

 

"Chew. we'll wait." Doc says with a chuckle. She chews and swallows. "I realized after our first meeting this year that my sewing machine is over 75 years old. Yes, we take care of our machinery but it's going to go up sooner or later. Agatha and Sue were in the warehouse stocking up on supplies when I went there to look at them that afternoon. Yes we've got the distribution centers and warehouses but. . ."

 

"We're going to have to make our own eventually. Notions?"

 

"Pins, needles, stuff like that. Possibly one for nails, screws, and other hardware stuff." Principal Madison thinks a second and nods. "Talked to Hank?"

 

"And Dad. The woodworkers use a lot of wooden pegs in stuff and we can replicate but. . ." The others nod. "Knives and scissors beyond what the blacksmith makes. Farm equipment. Though we have it on the replicator."

 

President Bartlett sighs and nods. "We take good care of it when it's not in use but we're going to have to have new eventually. And that means replicating it as you said or building it at a factory."

 

"But if we build it we've got to change the factories so they run on alternate energy from the start, if we replicate them they already do." Nods from the others. "What about the factories from the other dimension, they would have been intended to work on alternate energy from the start."

 

Josette nods. "I'll have to look into it." She makes a note to check that out on her PADD.

 

"First planet building factories." David nudges her.

 

"A thought, they're also on alternative energy."

 

"What degrees are you taking over the break?"

 

"Finishing one of the comic book degrees and the Nixon and Watergate degree. That will put me four degrees finished this year with the chem Masters."

 

"Upload the thesis?"

 

"Yeah, a couple days ago. Dr. Stark already told me I'm good to apply to grad school. Of course he's reserving the right to yank my approval if I totally bomb my thesis." The others snort. "Yeah, even he couldn't keep a straight face at that. Oh he's 'talking' Sheriff Carter into another degree." David cackles, having a good idea how his godfather is 'talking' the other man into another degree. "Yeah." Josette drawls with a smirk. She makes a note to talk to GD about the new machinery.

 

"Do we have the tutorials for the machinery?"

 

"Yes, what we didn't get from our world we got from the other when they thought we might be able to supply them."

 

"PADDS?"

 

Josette nods. "We're going to have to start thinking of making them too eventually, kitting out everybody who came from the other dimensions knocked our supply down."

 

"If it looks like we're going to have a large jump in population when the students start pairing off and starting families."

 

"Or even bringing out a factory to make the parts and replicating them. Scissor handles?"

 

"I was going to see if we had the molds at the plastics factory next time I'm on the sorting planet. There's so many different kinds of scissors." The others nod, from surgical scissors to the plastic ones that don't really cut that you give kids. Josette makes a note on her PADD as they break up the meeting and head different directions. Josette gets on the server when she gets back to the dorm after lunch and starts looking through the information on the various types of scissors, the factories available, and the tutorials on the scissors and farm machinery.

 

"Look through everything?"

 

"For the scissors and farm machinery, I'll work on the others the rest of this week and next and we'll talk over everything at the next meeting."

 

"Detergent PODS?"

 

"Planning on starting operations next year." Everybody nods in satisfaction. Josette makes a mental note to check the warehouses and distribution centers again as they walk to the dining hall for dinner. Detouring to the front room, she talks to Frances and Elaine, writing down what they say.

 

"Are you talking to the others?"

 

"Tomorrow, I'm also talking to GD on Archimedes and the 9th planet for their needs."

 

"Pat's spa."

 

Josette nods, marking that down on her list.

 

"The factories?"

 

"They generally use forms to cut out the pieces, not scissors but they have them for the thread at the machines." She makes a note to check the supplier distribution warehouses and supply centers again and puts her PADD back on her belt as they talk to the kids about their days.

 

The break passes quickly, Josette splitting off duplicates to talk to everybody she needs to on the planets as well as crawling around warehouses.

 

"Look at these files." She tells Sue, Agatha, somebody from Assyrian and Edinborough, Frances, Elaine, and Pat. She sends them files. "Would the manufacturer/supplier for thread be overkill?" She asks when they put the PADDS away.

 

"My first thought is yes but then . .." Pat says. The others nod and bring up everything that Josette had been thinking about.

 

"The complex is huge."

 

"Yes, we'd bring it out in it's own buildings instead of adding it to a warehouse."

 

"But it also has the machines and supplies for all the threads we'd be wanting to make, factories tended to specialize."

 

Josette nods. "We should be able to get people from the other suppliers to come over and take over the business. The suppliers had been slowly expanding over the years along with the universities and Pat's spa. The others nod. "And we'd be supplying all six planets, not just Haven."

 

"The satellite?"

 

"The first batch of people are due to go up next year and work six hours five days a week for six months. As we need stuff we'll send people up." Pat nods. "The wild rice?"

 

"I'm harvesting now. The demand will let me know if I want to harvest again." The others nods. "The black wild rice or the. . ."

 

"Both the real wild rice and the black hybrid." Josette nods. "I've got one area on the ship as a test and another area set up on the first planet."

 

"Okay, I've already talked with Pat, Sue, Agatha, Frances, Elaine, and people from Edinborough and Assyrian about all this. They had the same thoughts I did." Josette says the next morning as she sends the others the files at the government meeting. After they read everything they talk over the pros and cons for each thing, moving to the other factories after they've hammered out an agreement to bring out the threads manufacturing complex later that year.

 

"Did Dad agree to the spot where Albatross wanted the movie theater?"

 

"Yes, they're planning on bringing it out in a couple weeks. I'm currently looking at areas for the building for the tape libraries and the thread manufacturer. The complex will need at least ten acres and we might want to expand it in the future so it will need plenty of room." Nods from the others. Josette makes a mental note to add it to the dorm and puts up the map on the screen. They start talking about possible areas and table the discussion until the next meeting.

 

"Does anybody make wagons that have wheels?" President Bartlett asks.

 

"They do on the fourth planet, the blacksmith and Hank have been working with the Amish to produce new ones as needed. They've got the 'we need a backup in case we lose technology' push that I do." Josette says. The others nod. "Right now they're using the wagons at the commercial farm to bring the bushels to the building where you check out. The blacksmith is also working with them on the plows."

 

Nods from the others. After lunch Josette takes to the air to look over the possibilities for the new buildings for a couple hours, making notes once she's back on the ground. Back at the dorm she looks everything over and decides where to add the complex before they head to the dining hall.

 

"Are you finishing any degrees this semester?"

 

"No, I'll finish one over the break and the chem masters next semester." Josette yawns and looks out the window. "We'll have rain by bed."

 

"Good, we'll put out the plants when we get back to the dorm, they can use a good rain soaking." Susan says. The others nod.

 

Josette is looking up files on the server when they get home, looking at the lightning flickering in the sky though the sliding glass door.

 

"Whatcha doing?"

 

"Seeing if we had any files for dollhouses on the server. The big wooden ones that are miniature mansions, not the plastic dollhouses."

 

"Ooohhhh, miniature furniture." Susan says. Josette nods as she starts sketching out ideas. "Talk to Hank."

 

"Planned on it for after the Harvest Festival when he's got the time to stop and think about it." Alexander nods. "Wood?"

 

"I'm picking up some more this summer, that will give us enough for the animal planet apartments and whatever we need for the future plus our needs here." The others nod as they bring in the plants that had been rained on for an hour and head to bed.

 

The next couple of weeks pass by quickly, Josette finding perfect spots for the thread manufacturers complex and the building for the tape libraries and going over everything with Dad while he starts bringing out the movie theater and complex, then goes over the plans for the building with her. The crops start coming in and Josette's busy over the next couple of months, bringing in the crops, planting the second harvest, and bringing in the yearly crops. Then the second crops start coming in and Josette's not surprised to see Professor Druid's family helping out in the school garden, they'd been talking about coming out for the harvests. Josette drops onto the couch in the dorm, getting a lapful of cats.

 

"Is everything in?"

 

"Yes, until the offworld harvests start coming in. We just finished the baloney and sausages." Josette accepts the mug of coffee Dr. Cross hands her, sighing but sitting still as he scans her with his powers. Outside David's hosing mud and muck off her work boots before they're put up until the offworld harvests start coming in.

 

"Is that everything?" Principal Madison asks.

 

"Yes, the Archimedes apartments are finished, I just sent off the last payments and Hank and his partners are busy going though the wood delivery, the order I just dropped off will handle the animal planet orders along with whatever furniture we need in the future. Or it should. I've got our wood on the ship, I'll bring it out tomorrow. I've got one offworld cotton harvest on the ship, three more years will be enough for the animal planet and by the time they're done we'll need new towels and stuff. I dropped off scrub trees for tp for animal planet and our orders to the paper factory. The shipment from the candy factory was picked up and delivered to the store and the other planets." Dr. Cross shakes his head but everybody from Haven sniggers. "Dad says the building for the tape libraries will be finished by Thanksgiving with the interior work going on over winter, same with the movie theater and thread complex. He's talking to the engineers at GD to see what factory we'll need for the electronics and farm machinery. The orders at the PODS factory is starting after the Festival and the order should be finished by the end of the year. We've looked over the factory specs and selected what factories we'll need for sewing machines, notions, nails, screws, and whatnot that can start being linked to the warehouse next year. And. . ." She looks down at the cats in her lap. "Lemme up, I gotta use the human litter box." The cats give her disgusted looks but let her up. They move to their dishes and look up at David.

 

"I fed you not an hour ago, you've got plenty of dry food in your dishes." The cats make a acking sound that has everybody laughing. Josette comes out of the powder room and they head to the dining hall for dinner.

 

"This place is going to be empty when the last of the students leave next year." James says. Josette nods. "No, that is not an invitation for more children." She tells David calmly. "The dining rooms but ours and the chicken restaurant will be closed."

 

"Chicken restaurant?"

 

"Some of the women from Albatross have been wanting chicken beyond KFC for a while, but some of the recipes take hours to prepare so unless you had theme nights that wouldn't be practical for a restaurant. So they started with good recipes for the food replicator, then cooking in the church kitchen. That morphed into taking over one of the empty dining rooms when the students left the school, seeing if they could handle working in a commercial kitchen. Last year they had theme nights and they opened for business full-time at the Lights Festival last year. "

 

"Does the other movie theater have restaurants?"

 

"No but they'll have the pizza parlor. Pizza and a movie."

 

"Sounds good."

 

The next couple of weeks pass, the others shaking their heads at the thread complex but nodding at their reasonings. The Harvest Festival comes and goes and after everybody's headed off Josette slumps into her seat at the government building. She'd gotten the approval for her thesis and had signed up for her doctorate.

 

"Billy had a girl they named Marilyn for his mother and Courtney had a boy they named Patrick after Pat Dugan." The others congratulate the new parents. "They had got a databurst while I was there. The others are bringing out buildings to Mars, the moon, and terraforming moons for growing areas and industry." The others nod.

 

"The war's already been going on a decade, there's no reason to suspect it won't continue longer."

 

"And even if it did end tomorrow, they wouldn't go back. The other governments know they fucked up when they threw their superheroes under the bus trying to placate the asshole in chief. They done fucked up and have to put their big boy pants on."

 

"Classes?"

 

"I started two new degrees over break and I'm finishing a bachelors and my chem masters next semester. That leaves five degrees finished this year." The others shake their heads but laugh.

 

"When is your next graduation?"

 

"Next summer. Then the kids graduate high school before Thanksgiving and the year after that will be the ceremony for the last of the students finishing their university degrees." David says absently. "We'll all have at least one degree to stand up for even if most of us haven't been taking classes for a couple years."

 

"Now, are you lot harvesting clams and oysters this fall?"

 

"Yes, and we'd been talking about farming them." They talk about that for a few minutes and the plans for the 9th planet fish farm and aquaponics before they turn to the list of factories coming out next year.

 

"Can we make stuff like hinges and handles?"

 

"We should, I'll look at the supplies of molds. It will probably be like the button factory and have a couple extra buildings for supplies." Nods from the others. "The glassmakers, Hank, and his partners are talking about stuff like lined glass for cabinets, crystal knobs and chandeliers, and whatnot." Nods from the others. "Sometimes just changing out the hardware does wonders."

 

"Do we have home improvement stores in limbo?"

 

Josette nods. "Tons. They weren't something we needed right away so they weren't brought out or linked to buildings."

 

After the meeting Josette heads back the the dorm, heading to the woodworking building where the boys are working on tables for her new sewing machines. Bringing up the plans she'd been working on Josette starts working on a special project. The boys look at the files on the PADD and grin before going back to what they'd been working on.

 

"Do you have stuff on miniatures?"

 

"Yes, both on the server and books from various sources. I'm going to ask the opinions of the others, I'd like to be able to wire it so there's lights in the windows at the touch of a button."

 

"Do it as your electrical engineering project and thesis?" Michael looks under his arm at her. She blinks then grins. "Oh yes, that would go over extremely well at GD."

 

"Are you finishing more degrees this semester?"

 

"Yeah, my chem masters and the second degree on the Flash. That will give me five more degrees worth of containers out of my closet."

 

"So did you start that second boring ass shit art history from Oxford?"

 

"Yeah, I got in the first semester over the break and started a degree on humor comic books. Like the others it's a multiple degree curriculum course." Josette yawns. "Intentional humor, parody, or stuff that's supposed to be serious but is so fucking stupid you're going to die laughing?"

 

"Probably all three. Plus funny animals and kids."

 

"Offworld harvests?"

 

"Brought in one during the meeting, they're working on it right now. Once a week during the semester and they'll all be in by my finals. Next year they should start coming in before the harvest festival."

 

"Are you growing for the 9th planet this year?"

 

"No, they're harvesting their first crops and don't need the extra food until next year."

 

The next few weeks fly by and Josette's stretching and yawning as she slides into a seat at the testing center. It's a pouring piss from a boot rain outside and the three doctors chuckle at her.

 

"How are the offworld harvests coming in?"

 

"Good, I've been averaging one a week. It's turning out to be a cool fall so people expecting that we'll need our portion of the harvests this winter."

 

"How was demand for the wild rice?"

 

"Good, the cooks at the school were dry roasting it in pans before they cooked it, that seemed to help with the grains bursting. The orzo and kohlrabi didn't get as much interest as we'd hoped so they're both in stasis."

 

"You win one and you lose one." Dr. Cross says. Josette nods. "I've got enough chickpeas for a couple years, the 9th planet is talking about bringing out a copy of the grist mill for small batches of stuff. . ."

 

"How is the work coming on the new buildings?""

 

"Good, it won't be until year after next that the threads complex is finished . . .and whenever I say that I think of Pern." Chuckles from the others. "But we won't need it until then anyway. The work on the theater is going well, that should be finished sometimes next year. Once the building for the tape libraries is up we'll enlarge it by tesseract and start adding shelves and racks."

 

"And year after next maintenance will be going through the remaining dorms once the students are gone and the school buildings, cleaning them and making any repairs that need to be done." Josette nods. "They've also got a brisk business in Town as handymen and two of the students are following in their footsteps. They've also taught some of the others on the other planets."

 

Dr. Cross nods. "You've got to be able to perform maintenance on your homes."

 

The rest of the semester flies by and Josette heads off to the other dimensions with the others, returning from the other Earth and sliding into a seat at a conference room at GD on the 9th planet.

 

"Bad?"

 

"They've hit the two billion mark for deaths, Luthor is currently focusing his attention on China for fresh troops and military. The others are spreading out though," Josette sends them video of the new buildings going up on Mars and construction on large enough moons under domes.

 

"If he succeeds in taking over China, I'm expecting escalating retaliation from Russia." General Harris says, looking at the map that had been updated weekly with information from the databursts after Josette's headed off. "And nuclear involvement sooner or later since we already have chemical weapons being deployed." The others nod and say prayers to whoever they pray to for Earth to survive before the meeting breaks up.

 

"Bad?" Sheriff Carter asks when Dr. Stark walks into the office.

 

"Luthor is trying to take over China for weapons and military. General Harris is expecting Russia to retaliate if that happens since Luthor's already tried taking out their president and he doesn't have the support of the former Soviet Union to draw troops from."

 

"And they're not above doing it with nuclear weapons, which would have Luthor sending out his in retaliation and all the end of the world thanks to nukes movies coming true."

 

"And with the prolonged war, they wouldn't be able to deal with the fallout like they would if it was peacetime and an accident." Carter sighs.

 

Josette fills her plate at the Albatross Nest and sips a bottle of pop as everybody talks around her about the movie theater. the threads complex, the school closing next year, how cold this fall had been, and the fact that furnaces are already coming on in the mornings.'

 

"Yeah, we had to shut the windows before the harvest because the furnace was running. And wear extra socks, pull on sweatshirts, and add extra blankets to the bed." Josette says. "Probably be a warm winter since it was a cold fall." Nods from the others around her.

 

"Josette, did you finally get your new machines set up?"

 

"Yeah, the guys started working on tables for me when they finished Archimedes order before the Harvest Festival."

 

"New machines?"

 

"I realized just how old my sewing machine is earlier this year. Yes, we all take good care of our machines but they're going to go up eventually." Nods from the others. "Dad's bringing out a sewing machine factory, one that makes notions like pins and needles, one that makes pins, screws, nails, and other hardware, and a factory for pre-cooking food over the next couple of years."

 

"Pre-cooking food, not that godawful instant oatmeal I hope."

 

"No, not when it's so easy to make good oatmeal just by soaking it overnight. But stuff like couscous, it's already cooked and you're adding boiling water and letting it steam. Cooking veggies that just steam in the microwave. . .once we have a place to keep them frozen." Nods from the others. "Earth parboiled rice but it's just as easy to soak it for about ten minutes before you cook it." Nods from the others. "Earth was a consumer planet and they had to have it now now now."

 

The cookies tins and kits are handed out.

 

"Josette, how is it on the other Earth?"

 

"Pretty bad, they're in their second decade of the war and the asshole in chief it trying to take over China's military. He's already targeted Russia and they're expecting an attack from them if he succeeds in taking over China. With the possibility of it being nuclear."

 

"And if Russia attacked, he'd retaliate. Which would escalate into a full nuclear war."

 

Josette nods. "They're already two billion people down from the war itself, not counting other deaths that happen. Chemical weapons are being used and as with any war the birth rate is down since people are busy fighting, not fucking." Sniggers and twitching lips from the others.

 

Coming back from Eureka a couple days later Josette drops off David's books and supplies outside his door and opens the boxes, dl'ing the books and putting the twelve containers of books for her finished degrees in subspace before going up to the library. Shelving everything she puts the containers in a nearby room and joins the others heading to lunch.

 

"So did that empty your closet completely?"

 

"No, I have containers of books and other 'stuff' for six more degrees, not counting the two I started earlier this year. As it is, I took twelve containers up there. Yes, I know, the way to not have a closet full of textbooks is to only take one degree at a time."

 

At the Lights Festival Josette chuckles as she sees visitors from the other dimension with the others from the 9th planet as they put the babies down in the cribs or get them settled in the playroom. Maybe in a couple of years they'll join them in walking the streets and looking at the lights.

 

"Ohhh my." Harvey says when she shows him pictures of the four story dollhouse they'd all been working on at the Lights Festival. "You are showing this at your show?"

 

"Yep, whichever one comes first."

 

"You'll have a lot of orders." He flips through the files of furnishings. "You'll need a lot of help to make sure you're getting a good price for this. Let me look everything over and give you an idea. I'm sure the others will do the same thing." Josette nods. "I sent the same files to Assyrian, Edinborough, and the other dimension to our agent there."

 

"Josette, is there any chance of a wind farm?" 9th planet Dr. Cross asks as he comes up.

 

"We've been toying with the idea for years, that, solar panel farms, and hydroelectric but we won't need it for centuries."

 

"Not with the current power needs."

 

"No. We'd need a reservoir for hydroelectric, if it looks like we're going to have a drought we can fill some of the cisterns for human water use. Most of us remember the droughts in Texas and California." Nods from everybody in earshot. "And the dams caused problems downstream." More nods. "Now something like a mill where a water wheel was producing electricity as well as running machinery. . . " Still more nods from everybody in earshot.

 

"And the windmills could also be used to move water as well as produce electricity."

 

Josette nods. "I've been toying with the idea of putting one up on the first planet for exactly that. With a twelve hour day solar panels would need the extra help. If somebody lived there long enough to drain the solar panels."

 

"There you go," Michael smirks, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "Projects and the basis for your thesis and dissertation if you go on for your electrical engineering degree."

 

"Yes, that makes more sense than wiring the dollhouse as a project for my masters." The first of the year comes and Josette slides into her seat at the government building the first day of the new semester and the first day the boys are starting work on the animal planet apartment complexes.

 

"We've been expecting this. . ." President Bartlett starts to say.

 

"But it doesn't seem quite real until you shake the hands of the last student and realize there's no more waiting in the wings to graduate." Principal Madison sighs. "Anything new?"

 

"Dad's coming out in a few weeks to start bringing out the first factories. I figured two this year, two next, and we'll see from there."

 

"How is the threads complex. . ." Principal Madison sighs and shakes his head. "Pern flashbacks?"

 

"Yes dammit." he shakes his head again and opens his eyes.

 

"Due to open next year. The PODS factory order finished, the first group of people working on the satellite started today, I expect the first batches of yarn to be starting to appear by the end of the month. They should be finished with work on the satellite by the time the first harvest is coming in." Nods from the others.

 

"Am I nuts or did they not take needles, thread, buttons, zippers, and other . . .stuff into consideration when they filled the satellite with machinery?" President Bartlett asks, checking the files for the satellites.

 

"You're not nuts, either they figured they'd have those, we'd have those, or they'd have to figure something out when they brought the stuff down. They made needles of bone and wood before industrialization. I'd say they might have had a stockpile of them but they'd have had to have a way to make more after those wore out, were broken, or were lost." The others nod.

 

"It's not seeing the forest for the trees." David says.

 

"Exactly. Ahhhh crap." Josette makes a note on her PADD. The others look at her. "Knitting needles, metal, plastic, other. . ." Nods from the others. "I'll check the stores, the distribution centers, and the replicators and see what factory would make them."

 

"The tape library building?"

 

"The shelves are ready and I'll start copying everything and bringing it out later this year. The Albatross movie theater will be finished later this year, it should be in operation by the Lights Festival once we get the tape libraries ready." Nods from the others.

 

"Did Albatross pay off the last buildings?"'

 

"They're two years from paying them off." Josette says, looking at the notes. After the meeting she heads to Sue's store, checking the knitting needles on the shelves and in back before checking the other stores and the shelves in the warehouses. The others look at her when she comes back in after lunch.

 

"Knitting needles."

 

"Yeah, that's something we're going to have to think of in the future." Agatha sighs. "We can make wooden ones. We can replicate them. We might even be able to make metal ones. At least the double pointed and straight needles."

 

"I was checking the supply and they have to have made them somehow." Josette's busy looking through the factory information over the next couple of days, working on projects for her hands-on degrees, and heading over to the fourth planet and talking to the yarn manufacturer.

 

After her first testing day at Eureka Josette, David, and Dad are looking over the files for the first two factories coming out this year.

 

"Did you get all the information on the knitting needles you were looking at?"

 

"Yeah, I looked through the distribution centers, warehouses, what we had on the shelves and talked to the yarn manufacturer on the fourth planet. They were able to tell me what I'd need to make the needles and for the knitting machines from hand looms to the big machines. I've got a list of the factories we'll need in the future and they're all ones that will need extra storage areas." She sends them the list of what they'd be needing and factories.

 

"Two for knives?"

 

"One for cooking knives, one for weapons. Though I'm not sure how the quality of those will be beside something the blacksmith can make."

 

"Or what can be replicated. Same with the 'good' cooking knives."

 

Josette nods as they walk through the factory complex and make plans. "Three years?"

 

"Yeah, we won't bring out more than two a year to give us time to work on everything. They won't be needed right away."

 

"They will in the future so we might as well have them ready for when they are." Dad says. David and Josette nod as they walk to the communal kitchen and dish up food.

 

"What does Hank have planned for after the animal planet apartments are finished?"

 

"Besides loudly thanking god that's over like the rest of us?" Josette sniggers. "He and the glassblowers are working on plans for crystal chandeliers, mirrors, and whatever furniture orders come their way. The candlemakers will go back to their normal hours, same with the glassblowers." Josette looks at her PADD. "The glass factory's going to be starting on the new batch next year, clear and colored. That will take a couple years."

 

"Are the stained glass people getting any orders?"

 

"Yes, with being able to put them over an existing window inside the buildings we're getting some 'hey, this would look nice and I can bring it down when I want' interest." Josette moans, grabs her PADD and starts sketching out an idea, making notes before putting it away. "Okay, where was I before the muse slam dunked my cerebellum?"

 

"Everybody was going back to normal hours." James says. "Is there any need to start bringing out the home centers?"

 

"Maybe in a couple years, we've got a good sized stockpile of stuff for minor home repairs yet in storage." David says. "How about something like a plumbing supply warehouse?"

 

"We have them in limbo." Josette says checking her files.

 

"Wouldn't the glass for cabinets have to be made at the glass factory?"

 

"Yeah, but they have to figure out what is going to needed first, which is what the glassblowers will be doing. Once they figure everything out, it will go to the glass factory as a special order." James nods.

 

The factories go in by the second testing week and after the third testing week Josette spreads manure on the fields and garden, tilling it under a week later and planting before she heads to Eureka for her finals. Later that week she delivers the first batch of orders to the animal planet, spending a couple weeks there delivering everything and sending out the payments when she returns an hour later Haven time.

 

"Did you take care of the recycling too?" David asks at lunch.

 

"Yeah, no use making two trips while I was already there." Josette says.

 

"How is the tape library building coming?"

 

"The ships are copying everything and I'll start bringing everything out in a couple weeks."

 

"The movie theater?"

 

"Due to start operation as soon as I get them copies of the tapes library and they learn the machinery. They'll be learning from the people who run the movie theaters here and on the 9th planet."

 

"Any possibility of a copy of our theater going up on the 9th planet?"

 

"Possibility, their Eureka wants a pizza parlor like ours, right now they're focused on expanding GD." The others nod. The other industries had done the same over the years.

 

"So what are you working on over the break?"

 

"I wanna finish the books degree for the sunpainting. Next year we'll start working on the hands-on stuff."

 

"Aren't you already working on a dyeing degree?"

 

"Yeah, I'll be two years in for that and the musical instruments degree then. But my dyeing teacher is also going to be working on the sunpainting so . . ." Chuckles from the others. "So I'll be finishing the dyeing degree after the sunpainting degree."

 

"And I'm going to pick up another comic book semester."

 

"How many classes are you looking at this summer?"

 

"21, though I might pick up another semester, the four I'm taking on the school computer and finishing the first year for the art history degree from Oxford. We've got graduation this year, I'll be working on the tapes library, and the offworld harvests are coming in before the harvest festival."

 

"And this year you'll have the 9th planet harvests." David says. Josette nods.

 

"Josette, toothbrushes?" We've had toothpaste orders but. . ."

 

"We plan on starting operations next year. The announcement will go out after the Festival so the other planets can get their orders in."

 

Anna nods in satisfaction.

 

The next couple of months fly by, Josette finishing her sunpainting degree and finishing the first year for the art history degree from Oxford, heading off with the others for her show where the doll house gets a lot of attention and they pick up more supplies before coming back for the graduation ceremony.

 

"Gimme a second, the zipper's stuck." Josette yells at the 'I'm waiting' look Dr. Stark gives her. Anna's lips twitch as she comes from the audience and helps Josette change before she comes in front of Dr. Stark again.

 

"Well that's over for a few more years and only David and I will have to face the walk of shame." Josette says later that night when they're all settled in her first floor room. The others laugh at her. "Unless Dr. Blake talks the rest of us into going for more degrees once the school closes." Anna snorts. "And Alexander and Michael will be going for the comic book doctorate once they're finished with the animal planet apartments, Susan will probably start taking other degrees, so will Alan since he's not busy all the time. Clark and Thomas want CJ to continue with his education, they're making plans to take classes for other degrees, Bruce and Bethany should be taking classes soon. . . We'll all be taking the walk of shame, you're just the only one who has more than Dr. Stark waiting on her at the front of the auditorium."

 

"So when are you starting another cooking degree?"

 

"Probably year after next, depending on how much work the other two hands-on degrees are and who else is taking cooking degrees from the 9th planet."

 

The yearly crops start coming in and Josette's busy the next few weeks, looking over from the couch she's dropped onto when the others come over for the Harvest Festival. Mary's lips twitch as she passes her a hard drive.

 

"Requests for the doll houses?"

 

"Yep."

 

"What sort of agreement do you have with Josette and the others. . ." Both Dads put their heads together and start talking.

 

"I had no idea how much work is put into an offworld harvest." Bronwen says as she comes in with Katrina from touring the big building. "I can understand how you're harvesting for six months out of time just seeing how much food they still have to prepare."

 

"And that's not counting the food that's just stored or popped into stasis." Josette says, opening an eye and taking the bottle of Haven Dew that David hands her. "Unless it's our harvests, I keep that on the ships until I deliver."

 

"That makes sense. I can see why you have your own factory making canning jars though."

 

"Yeah, once they're finished with the animal planet order they'll be starting next year they'll be going back to making jars, wine bottles, and occasionally orders of canning supplies as the planet needs them."

 

"So they're ordered as part of the apartment orders?"

 

"Yep, unless it's us, Archimedes Eureka, or ninth planet Eureka you don't have a store you can run and buy food from. As soon as people start moving into the apartments, the communal garden will be planted."

 

"Josette, do you have the second cotton harvest for the towel factory?"

 

"Yeah, I'll deliver it when I take wheat and rice to the manufacturing satellite for flour and the scrub trees to the paper factory after the festival when I deliver the second part of the order."

 

"How often do you deliver?"

 

"Three times a year either after my finals first and third semester and either after the Harvest Festival or when the last of the orders are finished." Josette says. "Everybody is running out of room by then. After third semester comes Thanksgiving and everybody stops working on the orders until the second week of the new year, that gives them time to relax, enjoy the holidays, and get caught up on other stuff."

 

The next few days pass quickly and Josette takes the orders to the animal planet and drops off stuff on the sorting planet for the animal planet orders. Josette slides into her seat at the dining hall for lunch after sending the payments to the others.

 

"Get everything done?"

 

"Yeah, the payments went out to the others and I stopped at the first planet to plant the raised beds."

 

"How are you on your three classes a semester degrees?"

 

"Finishing the third year this semester and I'll finish them by second break next year." The others nod.

 

"Four degree classes?"

 

"Finishing them this semester, the herbal medicine I already signed up for the Masters this summer and got a 'you're in' from the teachers there. The other is the last degree in a multi-degree curriculum so that's she wrote for that. I'll switch to another comic book degree I'm two in to get that one finished as well."

 

"That's gotta feel good when you have a big one down." Anna says. "I know I felt damn good when I finished my doctorates in business and education." Everybody nods. "Probably as good as it feels when you finish an apartment complex."

 

"Oh yeah." Alexander sighs. "Did you get a chance to look over the file on the doll house requests?"

 

"Yeah. They gave me a few good ideas for styles I was going to talk to you two about after dinner when we had a couple hours."

 

Back at the dorm the boys head to their studio to work on stuff for their upcoming show and furniture orders as Josette heads up to her studio to sew her latest quilt. After dinner Josette sends the files on what Mom and Dad had brought out to the boys and they talk about everything for a couple hours.

 

David looks over her shoulder and whistles. "Some of those ideas are going to be magnificent. Did Dad bring out supplies?"

 

"Yep, everything's in the woodworking building, we just need to start working." Alexander says. "Though we probably should set you up with an area of your own so we're not having to wait on the machines when we'll all working in there. Unless you already did." He snorts. Josette cackles. "Do I want to know if we have the manufacturers complexes?" Josette just laughs again.

 

"Did they finish the work on the factories and storage areas?"

 

"Yeah, just before the Harvest Festival."

 

"What went in?"

 

"The sewing machines and the notions factory, the notions factory might end up making stuff like bobbins and presser feet, I gotta check the list of forms. Next will be nails, screws, and other hardware stuff, the scissors factory, and the factory that makes knitting needles. Year after next will be the knives factories, one for weapons and one for cooking."

 

After her first testing week, the boys take Josette up to her new woodworking building, looking at everything in satisfaction before they start kissing.

 

 

A couple weeks later Josette heads to the first planet to pick green peppers, taking part of the harvests to the cafes, drying some and putting the rest in stasis before joining the others at the dorm.

 

"Get the green peppers taken care of?"

 

"Yeah, I'll be harvesting the rest after my finals." Josette yawns and looks out the window at the darkening sky. "Thunderstorm coming in."

 

David nods. "They sent out an announcement while you were gone. We should expect scattered showers for the next couple of days."

 

"Means I won't have to water for the crops and it should help fill the cistern. Somebody was going to have to pump otherwise." Josette looks at the others who laugh and nod.

 

"Have you thought about what we're planting upstairs?"

 

"Yeah," Josette sends a tentative list to the others and they talk until dinner. After dinner Josette heads to her woodworking building to work on more dollhouses, putting everything down when inspiration hits for birdhouses that she sketches out before getting back to work. The next several weeks pass and the crops start coming in before Josette heads off to her finals.

 

"Two more degrees down." Dr. Stark says at lunch.

 

"Yep, three bachelors for the walk of shame." The others laugh at her hangdog look.

 

"Do you have everything in now?"

 

"Yes. Vincent, I'll be over in a couple of days with the tomatoes, peppers, and herbs. No use making multiple trips when I have orders for the animal planet to drop off and recycling to pick up." He nods and puts a plate in front of her.

 

"The school shuts down the end of the week?"

 

"Yep, next week will be the graduation and the dorms emptying as the students take their finals and head to their permanent homes after Thanksgiving. Doesn't seem like it's been 23 years since they started coming out, 21 years the school's been open non-stop. But we're turning a new page in how children are going to be taught on Haven."

 

"Are the triplets going to be moved to the same room as the older kids?"

 

"Probably after the first of the year. It's not like any of them are in classes all day." Nods from the three men.

 

A few days later Josette slumps into her seat at the dining hall.

 

"Get everything taken care of?" Susan asks.

 

"Yep, the orders delivered and payments sent to the stores. Recycling taken care of. . .I'll have to break up the glass tomorrow. The tomatoes, peppers, and herbs sold, what didn't sell either in stasis or drying on lines. I took part of the flours to the pasta factory, the rest are in the basement of the store and I think I need to start a load of pulp for paper."

 

"Did you deliver the offworld harvests?"

 

"Yeah, and the 9th planet wheat and rice to the flour factory. I'll be delivering it when they're getting ready for their winter. And delivering more yarn, cloth, hats, gloves, and scarves."

 

The graduation ceremony is bittersweet for the teachers and others at the school, with this last group of students gone the school would be closing. The next day they start heading off to the other dimensions, Josette shaking her head and sliding into a seat when she comes into a board room at GD on the 9th planet.

 

"You'll get the news in the next databurst, he's taken over China. Russia attacked like they threatened and he retaliated. He's using it as propaganda to declare the war is just and to sway the other countries to his side." Snorts of derision from the others. "Africa is down to half their population, Luthor took out both sides in the civil wars by conscripting them as foot soldiers to take out Russia and China."

 

"Shit." General Harris says. "The death rates are going to be skyrocketing with Luthor taking over China's military. And I can't see him stopping there."

 

"No, he's already after Russia and they can't call on the militaries of the old Soviet Bloc countries, he already controls them. He swooped in at took out the Russians who'd been trying to steal the Ukraine from the government so he's got their support, they hate Russia anyway. They were glad to see Luthor give the old bear a good spanking."

 

"Are you . . .okay with the school closing?" Dr. Cross asks.

 

"We've done it before, this is just the first time we didn't have enough students in the wings to open the school again in a couple years. I mean yes, the twins and triplets are starting seventh grade next year but. . ."

 

"It wouldn't be worthwhile to open the school for seven students."

 

"Which is why we closed the education center as soon as the kids finished eighth grade. That and it needed a good going over since it had been in operation for nearly 80 years. And you can't do everything in the five weeks the school was on break let alone inspect the outsides of the buildings."

 

The others nod. "You'd have been able to do necessary work on the high school while they were closed but with children at the education center. .."

 

"Exactly, and it's not like homeschooling is a radical new concept, the outlying farms, Clark and Thomas, and Doc have been doing it for years. Hell Doc sending the kids who were the same ages as their 'cousins' to our school didn't happen until after we lost Earth."

 

"Do you see the school opening again when the babies are in high school."

 

"I can't see it, not with being homeschooled for so long. They're not in classes all day, that would be something to get used to just like the Amish kids." Nods from the others as Josette sends them files of what she has from the other dimension, including pictures.

 

Josette settles her plate on her lap as she sits against the wall at the Albatross Nest in Albatross the next day as they pass out kits and cookies. They talk about the new strip quilts possibly being added to the kits, but only four a year to start out. Josette flips everything to the dorm before joining the others at the dining hall.

 

Josette shakes her head at the black screens that were the other dining rooms.

 

"Yeah, it's a difference." Anna shakes her head. "Professor Fletcher, Dr. Hazlitt, and the kids are heading to Cabot Cove for a few months after the Lights Festival."

 

"And Professor Parker headed back to Archimedes after the graduation."

 

"The school's turning into something like Assyrian and Edinborough, Montague and Balaclava turning away from educating and more into research and working on our own projects." In the front room Principal Madison and Professor Druid nod vigorously before repeating what Josette had said, getting more nods from the other teachers.

 

That weekend they head to the first planet, cooking out on the beach, making love in the sand, and swimming in the ocean. They return a few weeks later for them, sliding into seats at the dining hall.

 

Frances comes into the back room.

 

"Josette, meeting this afternoon in the textiles building with Assyrian and Edinborough about our plans for the next couple years. Meeting tomorrow with Sue and Agatha about using the buildings for classes.'

 

Josette nods. "Yeah, they said they'd be out sometime this week to talk to the two of you."

 

"Please Josette, you might as well be the third person in charge of the textiles building." Frances snorts. On the screen Principal Madison's cackling. The next couple of days pass as they talk about classes offered at the school, the possibility of offering time in the rooms for both townspeople and former students to work on quilts, the sunpainting degree they'd be working on next spring when the snow melted and the ground was dry, and the factories that Josette and James had brought and and planned on bringing out.

 

"I hadn't thought of knitting needles."

 

"Yeah, we were talking about stuff Earth was saving stuff for the future to the satellites but while they had looms for thread and the machine for yarn, they didn't have needles, pins, buttons, zippers. . ." Everybody sighs and nods. "That led me to checking the supplies of knitting needles at the stores. And while we could make wooden or metal straight or double pointed needles. . ."

 

"You wouldn't be able to make circular needles beyond the replicator." Suzie sighs, facepalming.

 

"Yep, so next year will be scissors, screws, nails, pins, and other hardware stuff, and the knitting needles. The year after that will be two knives factories, one for cooking and one for other uses." The others nod and they turn their attention to the stockpile of fabric and other supplies. They shake their heads as Josette talks about the tons of old clothes that she has on the ships from the other dimension.

 

"Earth was and still is a consumer planet. Yes, they recycle but people don't want to get their hands dirty doing the actual work, it's easier to just 'well, we recycle why won't they do their part?'. I made thousands of dollars over the years taking care of the metal, plastic, and glass to get it ready for recycling. Yes, it's only a penny or two a piece but it adds up. And I'm not counting the deposit cans and bottles. The charities were whining to the recycling centers for donations but when they were told to come to the drop off sites and work as much as they wanted. . ."

 

"They were too good to do that? But not to good not to hold out their hands for money they didn't have to work for?" Moira says, rolling her eyes.

 

"Yep, and the requests for money got more and more every time they sent out the letters. The only place that had empty drop-off sites was Las Vegas. .."

 

"And everybody used that money for gambling." Frances sniggers.

 

"Basically yeah." Josette looks over at Sue. "How's the supply of old clothes for quilts? We filled the containers but that was years ago."

 

"You'll probably have to bring some out next year." Sue thinks a second. "I'll check when I get back to the store but I haven't gotten any 'hey, we're out of xyz' upstairs complaints."

 

"Or any 'we're running low on this stuff, you need to keep an eye on it' comments either." Josette says. Sue nods. The next couple of weeks pass as everybody gets used to the empty school and the dorms are cleaned and locked down until they're possibly needed again. The Lights Festival comes and the first government meeting for what would have been the first day of the new school year is bittersweet.

 

"Does the commercial farm plan on planting larger crops now that everybody's out of the dorm?"

 

"They started last year because the students leaving the school would be moving into their permanent housing and buying their own food. Communal gardens should be getting bigger if they aren't already at full size this year." Nods from the others.

 

"Did you start your Herbal Medicine Masters?"

 

"Yeah, I only have the two years of classes since I took the others but it's also less time I'll have to work on my thesis." Josette's lips tremble in a poor poor pitiful me gesture that has the others laughing and playing imaginary violins. "Yeah I know, sucks to be me. I gotta talk to my advisor about the thesis and dissertation later this year."

 

"The factories?"

 

"Toothbrushes and glass factory are both open for business, the scissors, knitting needles, and hardware stuff factories are coming out in a couple of months."

 

"Animal planet orders?"

 

"The sorting planet factories are starting operation for their orders, everybody else is on track to be finished by before the Harvest festival in three more years with this one. God it seems like yesterday that we were standing around talking about how many years of work we had ahead of us."

 

"Yes, there's a difference between 'oh yes, this is going to happen someday' and 'oh my god, this is it!'." President Bartlett says. "That's one of the reasons we're keeping such good records."

 

Josette nods. "But we don't have to worry about candles taking out paper records or records moldering away and we've lost the knowledge of what we had over the millennia."

 

"Are the orders getting done quicker with the boys not taking classes?" Doc asks.

 

"No, the boys are using this time to work more on their furniture orders and stuff for their shows."

 

"Your dollhouses?"

 

"Coming along, and we'll be starting the basketweaving and wicker stuff next year probably. This year we'll be concentrating on the sunpainting stuff when spring comes around and the ground dries enough." Nods from the others.

 

"Anything else?"

 

"I'm bringing out some more old clothes from the ships but I think we have everything handled."

 

Principal Madison nods. "Maintenance is working on the dorms and school buildings, the insides at least. They'll go over all the outsides come spring. They'll start checking the other buildings in Town and Albatross that want to be looked over."

 

Doc nods. "The computer system at Headquarters keeps an eye on everything but still something can happen." Josette nods. "Like shower heads coming off and the pipe in the wall splitting or roofs needing repair before the ceiling fell in. The pipe nobody could have seen happening but the roof. . ." Everybody nods. "Especially with solar panels supplying the bulk of our power."

 

"Checking that they're not losing heat around leaky windows or doors."

 

Josette sighs and grabs her PADD. "Flooring, either hardwood, vinyl, tile, laminate, or carpeting."

 

The others nod. "It's going to wear out eventually."

 

"Now, you were thinking of starting oyster, clam, and mussel farming?"

 

"Thinking of it, we've been talking with the commercial farmers in the other dimensions to see what we'd need to do and how we can improve the fish farms and aquaponics, we've been passing that along for 9th planet GD for their plans."

 

After the meeting Josette sets up a time to bring out the clothes and heads back to the dorm with David. They check in on the kids who are busy starting their new classes and head different directions. Josette settles in her workroom with one of the knitting kits and starts casting on, her feet propped up on an ottoman as she checks over her mental list of what all she has to do.

 

"How many classes are you taking?" David asks, peeking around the corner.

 

"Only ten on the school computer, four a semester to finish another of the multiple degree curriculum courses on comic books. I'll be picking up more classes for the three classes a semester degrees from the naval academy so I'm finished with those over the second break. I have two other ones that I'm at least a year into for the last degree that I want to get finished in the next few years."

 

"Do you think any of the other businesses from the other dimension will come out to the 9th planet?"

 

"Bringing out the buildings if not moving there permanently, that way they've got more than one set of eyes working on projects."

 

"How's CJ coming along on his thesis?"

 

"Good, he wants to present it year after next when he's six classes from graduating."

 

David heads back to his room to get in a couple lessons before lunch as Josette adds the first of the new colors to the sweater and keeps on knitting, starting a new knitting bag to put everything in before heading downstairs to lunch.

 

"How great is the need for knitting needles?" Anna asks. Ma, who'd come out to visit the stores, looks over at her.

 

"Ma can tell you you never have too many knitting needles because the minute you want to start a project, you won't have the size you need." Ma nods, rolling her eyes. "No matter how many projects you finish, you've got ten billion UFOs running around."

 

"UFOs?" Principal Madison asks Elaine, his lips twitching.

 

"Un Finished Objects." Frances drawls. "Quilts are a lot bigger so you concentrate on them but sometimes you just want to throw whatever you're working on across the room since all it's doing is pissing you off. That's when you put it aside and start something else. Any serious knitter has UFOs stashed everywhere."

 

"Quilts can be just as temperamental." Elaine snorts.

 

"Yeah, but you don't pack up your sewing machine in the container you shove your project in."

 

"Needles?" Ma asks.

 

"We're bringing a factory out to make them this year, along with scissors, and nails, screws, pins, other hardware stuff. Last year it was sewing machines when I realized that mine's nearly 80 years old."

 

"And mine's even older. We take good care of them but. . ."

 

"Sooner or later something will go up. The other factory we brought out was for notions, needles, pins, etc. We were going over the list of stuff that Earth had saved on the satellites and realized that while the big stuff was there. . ."

 

"You couldn't see the forest for the trees and they'd forgotten the small stuff." Ma sighs. "Been there, done that many a times. They probably expected to have stockpiles of the stuff already on hand or they'd been making them."

 

"And while we can . . .or rather the boys could make single and double pointed knitting needles from metal or wood once they knew what we needed."

 

"You can't make circular needles beyond the replicator."

 

"So I got talking with the suppliers and manufacturers to see what they'd recommend in the way of factories. Because there's a helluva lot of difference between brands of needles."

 

Ma, Frances, and Elaine nod vigorously. "Quality and sizing, that's why you keep a gauge with you to check them. And there's the European vs. American sizing too."

 

After lunch Josette heads to the paper mill to check the pulp for the new paper and grabs a handful of doughnuts at the bakery before heading back to the dorm and picking up the knitting again.

 

"Sweater?" Abby asks, looking over at Josette when she comes out into the living room.

 

"Yeah, fair isle."

 

"Are you starting a cooking class?"

 

"Year after next, this one's with an emphasis on baking."

 

"Gonna be able to make your own doughnuts." David snickers as they walk to the dining hall.

 

Josette moans and grabs Principal Madison plus one of the women from the kitchen. They talk quietly for several minutes, nodding vigorously.

 

The others look at her. "Turning one of the empty dining halls into a bakery?"

 

"Possibly, with the students out of school and no bakeries on the fourth, fifth, seventh, and ninth planets."

 

"Selling them offplanet or to Albatross. Possibly delivering instead of picking up like we do at the bakery."

 

"Or taking batches of doughnuts to various places." They talk with the head of the bakery over the next few days, talking about what they'd need and looking over the kitchens.

 

"So using the dining halls or bringing out a commercial bakery?" Josette asks at the government meeting after she heads to Eureka for her tests.

 

"There's pros and cons for both idea." Principal Madison looks at his notes. "Packaging if we put them in the store, shelves if we open up a dining hall for them. There's also the problem of the kitchens aren't set up for primarily commercial baking, they're meant for all sorts of cooking."

 

"And if we bring out a commercial bakery, unless it's got an attached retail section. . ." Josette says. Everybody nods. "But if we do have a commercial bakery, they'd have the setup to package everything so it could be delivered."

 

"Do we have commercial bakeries that fit that criteria?" President Bartlett asks.

 

"Several." Josette looks at the files on the server. "From bakeries like ours to larger ones that produced for national brands and in between. These are the ones I was thinking of since we don't need something that big, we'd rattle around in it like beans in a maraca." Doc chuckles as Josette brings the files up one at a time and they talk everything over, then table the discussion until they can bring in some of the bakers to talk to them. Josette makes a mental note to bring out one of them to the dorm to work with and they turn their attention to other things.

 

"Your sunpainting degree?"

 

"Going to be working on it in a couple months and we've got an indoor area set up to see what the difference is between heat lamps and the sun." Principal Madison nods. "Like your work for your zero-gee hydroponics."

 

"Exactly."

 

Josette heads upstairs to her studio after the meeting, checking the computer to see if she has any heat lamps or sunpainting equipment upstairs before settling in a chair in her workroom and picking up her knitting again.

 

"Do you think there would be any interest in turning one of the kitchens into a pizzeria, not for people to sit and eat, we've got two already in Town and the one in Albatross but for people to place orders for delivery?" She asks Principal Madison at lunch.

 

"Hmmm, I know the others have said that there's a lot of business, especially after the students left the dorms." President Bartlett says nearby. "I was going to bring the possibility up at another meeting after we've looked everything over."

 

"Something to think about anyway, I know the parlors do a good business from people coming in to pick up pizzas they've ordered." Professor Eppes says. "I've walked past and seen people coming in and out with pizzas. Especially if we deliver offplanet."

 

One of the other teachers nods. "The pizza parlors have hired more people to deliver over the last few years as the dorms emptied."

 

"We'll talk about it at the next meeting and you can ask the heads of the pizza parlors if there's enough need for it."

 

"Ms. Takahawa, can I help you?" The woman in charge of the kitchen says as one of the planet's leaders leans in the back door.

 

"I'll just be a second. I know you're busy. Would there be enough interest if we opened one of the school's dining halls as a pizzeria, not to sit and eat but for deliveries? Maybe even to the other planets?"

 

"Hell yes." She says fervently. "We've got lines of people coming in to pick up pizzas and we've hired more delivery people the last few years as the dorms emptied."

 

"I know it's a bit of work, but figure out what we'd need to do. We'll talk about it at the next government meeting."

 

"This will be work I won't mind doing, I can get the others to help." She says as Josette heads off. Back at the dorm Josette checks the files and brings out the bakery she'd decided on, looking through everything before joining the others heading to dinner.

 

"The woman I talked to said there'd be enough interest, she's working up what we'd need for the next meeting." She tells Principal Madison and President Bartlett.

 

"Thank you Josette, let Doc know?"

 

"I already sent him a message about it."

 

"Burger place?" One of other teachers asks. "Not fast food but the burgers you'd get at a bar or good restaurant."

 

"Toppings dripping from it held together with a toothpick with a pickle spear and french fries or onion rings on the side." Somebody else says.

 

"Something else to think of in the future." Principal Madison makes a note on his PADD. After dinner Josette heads to the textiles building for one of the classes that had taken over the buildings, now that there's room teachers from Assyrian and Edinborough are offering classes. And the fine arts teachers were also in talks to offer classes in jewelry making and other stuff.

 

A few days later Josette is talking with Principal Madison and Dad about the factories being brought out and finding a location to bring out for the bakery.

 

The next couple of months pass and Josette heads to Assyrian while she's putting manure on the fields and garden.

 

"Animal planet order?"

 

"Taking that over after the finals, picking up recycling after the finals, and delivering stuff to the 9th planet before their winter."

 

They start talking about the plans for the sunpainting class, repeating the projects the next year inside and the plans for the future.

 

"Josette, cooking class?" One of the teachers asks.

 

"Yeah, I'd planned on it year after next when I finish the musical instruments degree, I thought about taking a baking degree." They talk about plans for planting new foods in the future, the degrees Josette would be taking, classes being held at the school, the babies education, the classes currently being held at the school, one on hand-sewing quilts that Josette had already taken and a class on making flannel quilts, heavier than normal quilts and using old worn out blankets for the batting.

 

After her finals she heads to the sorting planet, picking up the orders from the factories there then picking up recycling on the 8th and 9th planets, dropping off the yarn, cloth, hats, gloves, sweaters, and scarves before heading to the vampire and animal planets for recycling. Delivering the orders on the animal planet she sends the payments to various places before heading back to the school, filling a tray at the dining hall.

 

"Get everything done?"

 

"Yeah." Josette says. "Dad get back to you about the thread complex and a location for the bakery?"

 

"Yeah, the threads complex is on track to be finished by the Harvest Festival. We've got a couple good locations in mind for the bakery, and we've got a meeting after lunch about the plans for the pizzeria and hamburger place." Josette nods since her mouth is full. An hour and a half later she slides into her seat at the government building.

 

"Sorry I'm late, delivering everything here."

 

"Paper?"

 

"I'm starting a batch this summer."

 

"The toothbrush factory?"

 

"Be finished by the Harvest Festival, I'll deliver the orders when I head off to deliver the second batch of furniture for the animal planet." President Bartlett nods in satisfaction. "Do you have a show this year?"

 

"No, it's the boys turn but I'll be delivering dollhouses when I'm there."

 

"Thread complex?"

 

"Due to be finished by the Harvest Factory, we're looking over the tutorials right now and seeing what we have in the way of supplies and finished stock. The manufacturers and suppliers have a list of people to take it over after the first of the year."

 

"The bakery?"

 

"We've decided on a place and plan on bringing it out after the Harvest Festival, that will give us time to finish the renovations to the new factories."

 

"Pizzeria?"

 

They talk about what would be needed for both a pizzeria and hamburger place for a couple of hours, everybody heading back to the school for dinner.

 

"How is Albatross coming along on their loan for the growing center, pizza parlor, and power generation building?" President Bartlett asks on the walk back to the school.

 

"They plan on paying it off at the end of the year. Yes, it's low interest but they've got the new movie theater to pay off now. What's the news on 9th planet GD?"

 

"They're talking about buildings, locations, and whether it's going to be buildings brought out or new construction."

 

"Bringing out buildings and expanding by tesseracts would be the best bet." Josette says. David nods. "Yeah, there's no way we'd be able to build something as large as they have planned without a lot of raw materials. And more machinery than we have now."

 

Dad nods. "They'd need a lot of special features. That's why most of the medical stuff was built new on Earth then brought up." Nods from the others as they walk into the dining hall and head into the front and back rooms.

 

"What classes are you getting in over the break?"

 

"Four classes for my two naval academy degrees, get in three next semester and finish the degrees over the second break."

 

"Meeting with your advisor?"

 

"In a couple of weeks, CJ's heading over the same day to talk to his advisor. We'll probably be gone a couple days with the time change, staying at one of the guest houses they have." The others nod.

 

The crops start coming in several weeks later and Josette is kept busy for a couple weeks, heading to the vampire planet with CJ after the second crops are in to talk to their advisors, starting to bring in the yearly crops and the offworld harvests. Then the second harvests start coming in and Josette drops into a seat in the living room."

 

"Is everything in now? Until after the Festival for the last of the offworld harvests?"

 

"Yeah." Anna says as she drops onto a couch face first. Their assorted guests that include Charles and Clark who'd been touring the school and town chuckle. "Shoot me now." Josette 'shoots' her with a finger and she looks over at her. "Are the factories and thread complex done?"

 

"Yeah. Dad sent me the heads up this morning." David says. "He sent the same message to the manufacturers and supplies so the people who are going to take it over can start going over the tutorials and start looking over the supplies."

 

"Thread complex?" his mother asks calmly. The whole story comes out and she shakes her head. "I'd probably think you went overboard but I have no idea how many different types of thread there are out there."

 

"Oh I know, I waffled on it for days. I had a dozen reasons for why we needed it and just as many for why we didn't. I talked to people from Assyrian, Edinborough, Sue, Agatha, Pat, Frances, and Elaine. They had the same reasons for why we needed it and why it would have been overkill. Then I brought it up at the meeting."

 

"Factories?"

 

"We brought out factories for scissors, knitting needles, and a hardware stuff like nails, screws, pins, hinges, and other stuff this year. We had people working in the toothbrush factory this year, I'll deliver the orders to the other planets." Josette grabs her PADD and makes a note. David looks over at her. "Finding out which factory makes the different presser feet for the sewing machines, we'll be running out eventually depending on what the supply is at the factory. Each foot does something different." Bronwen nods. "We can always put examples in the replicator database too as a stopgap measure."

 

"Glass?"

 

"They started working this year, with the clear glass and the colored glass it will be a couple years before they're finished. When the apartment complex order is finished, they're going to experiment with specialty glass, including crystal for chandeliers. . ."Josette shakes her head and makes another note on her PADD about crystal goblets. "They'll be working with Hank and the others on those and mirrors."

 

"How do you handle the electrical needs?" God Clark asks later that night after dinner when they're touring the dorm.

 

"Every building in the school has backup generators powered by the alternate energy set to start up when the solar panels aren't sending electricity and the batteries are at less than ten percent power left or set to take over automatically if we've got a large energy need that would be draining the panels. That way we don't have the four or eight seconds it takes for the generator to kick on. The heavy use buildings in Town have them, so does our ranch, both Empire State Buildings, Headquarters, and both Wayne Manors along with solar panels. Just under half of the remaining buildings have solar panels that power everything and charge battery packs. The remaining buildings don't have solar panels, they charge the batteries at the two power generation buildings in town. The batteries handle everything but lights after dark, so we use candles. Even in the homes that have lights, people often use candles to save energy. Each home or apartment has at least one extra battery, we have a rack of them. That way when we have advance warning of a storm we can take out a full battery and pop one in to charge. Every home also has an exercise bike to charge the batteries during storms."

 

 

"Heat?"

 

"Fake wood and small ceramic heaters. You only have furnaces if you brought up your home from Earth," David waves a hand around them, "live in the apartment complexes, or you built on Haven. And then you have to make sure you don't drain the batteries during a storm. A lot of people in the apartments use candles anyway since with so many apartments that's a massive drain on the solar panels."

 

"No other forms of heat such as oil, propane, or natural gas?"

 

"No, we wanted to move away from those, especially after the accidents caused by moving the product from the refineries back on Earth. That, they were energy hogs, and they produced too much pollution. All the homes are super tight and energy efficient so they can keep most of them warm during the winter. During storms everybody adds a smaller piece of wood to the stoves for extra heat."

 

"Can they be cooked over?"

 

"Not the stoves in homes, they're like the outside chimney pots you'd see on patios." Nods from the others. "The Amish cook with them in their stoves, but the downpoint of that is you'd have to douse the burning wood when it's not needed."

 

"Not really efficient."

 

"And you'd need multiple logs to make it hot enough to bake, that's why they have a communal kitchen for baking. Each of them making enough for a few days and taking it in to be baked."

 

"Do the apartments have battery packs?"

 

"Yeah, and the people who live there take them in to be charged at the power buildings if the batteries aren't charging them. During storms each apartment charges it's own batteries, most charge them to keep the ceramic heaters running for several hours or crawl in bed."

 

"Septic?"

 

"Sewage units, each building on the school grounds has one, there's one for every five temporary houses. Each apartment building has their own, many commercial buildings share one while the permanent homes either brought up or built on Haven or the other planets have their own. Everything goes through the stages and is broken down to clean water and compost that we use on the gardens. The apartment buildings and the dorms units are emptied more often than ours."

 

"Do the students go all day? Or did go all day?" Charles asks when he looks over the 'school' in the dorm.

 

"Not the ones we're home schooling, but the ones who went through the education center and high school did. Even kindergarten which would have had some people up in arms on Earth claiming we're traumatizing the poor darlings, making them go all day and making the kids ride the big kid bus."

 

"Which was stupid, the school districts bleated about how they much of a budget deficit they had yet spent all that money for the kindergarten bus but the kids had to ride the big kid bus the next year and go all day. They weren't doing them any favors there." Josette snorts walking past. Nods from various people in the room.

 

"The high school?"

 

"Classes were two hour blocks like universities, that, living in dorms, and buying their own books got kids ready for university classes. They didn't have the same problems as students away from home for the first time who decided without Mommy and Daddy there, they could get drunk and stupid, cut classes, and end up on academic probation."

 

"Day classes only?"

 

"Night and some weekend classes too, as the class sizes grew we needed to schedule more classes. Mostly two hour classes, some electives were four hours. Freshman had the same classes all year at the same time selected by the school before they arrived, at the start of the sophomore year they were allowed to select what times they wanted to attend classes and take electives if their grades were good enough. Amanda's mythology in the media class was well attended, along with the spinoff classes on various characters and subjects." Josette hops up on a table as the cleaning robot moves under her.

 

"You have them on a programmed route?"

 

"Yes, we added them when the dorm started getting so big. We all keep our rooms tidy and vacuum regularly, they're set to come out monthly to handle the big stuff." Nods from the others.

 

The next day Clark and Charles shake their heads at the linked factory warehouse.

 

"That is convenient."

 

"Yeah, we didn't want to start growing too rapidly but we realized we needed some things. Our first thought was a multi-story building for the factories but the floors wouldn't hold the weight. We'd already been doing this for other buildings we copied. . ." They look at him. "University libraries and bookstores, second hand stores, malls, warehouses, distribution centers for large chain stores, distribution centers for large manufacturers." They nod and join him on a tour of the other factories and warehouses in before heading to the seventh planet.

 

"Most of these are making orders for the animal planet apartment complex, those that need it are running second shifts to handle routine orders like the glass factory that makes bottles and canning jars. The bread factory runs two shifts year-round, the other factories are open as needed.

 

"The other glass?"

 

"The factory will be running for a couple years, once the clear glass is finished they'll start a load of colored and other glass for the stained glass workers. We generally make enough to last ten to fifteen years.

 

"Where's Josette?"

 

"Moving the orders for the animal planet to the ship to deliver after the festival.'

 

 

"That's convenient," the others say blinking as Dad brings out the bakery after the Harvest Festival.

 

"Very, that way we can bring out larger concerns instead of building new. The buildings need work, we'll be piggybacking this to the mall and movie theater's alternate power source." Nods from the others. "As well as adding solar panels, We've got to link the waste water to the big mack daddy septic unit they share." Chuckles from the others who've obviously recognized Josette's phrasing. "Install the water unit."

 

"I'd wondered how everybody got water when I didn't see signs of wells except for the hand pumps." Professor Druid's father says. They look over the files along with Godly Clark then nod in satisfaction. Not only does it bring up the water, it filters and cleans it. Which would have been necessary back on Earth.

 

"Hand pumps?" He can see similar filters on them.

 

"To fill the troughs here in town for the animals and at the barns, when there's a storm the automatic feeders take over that job. The cisterns to fill them when they're empty and to water the larger crops, and they have one on the first planet for when they're there. Though Josette's been toying about bringing out a windmill to help raise the water for irrigating the crops she grows there."

 

Josette comes back from delivering the orders to the other planets and delivering the furniture and other stuff to the animal planet. Nodding in satisfaction she sighs and grabs her PADD, making another note before putting it back. Dad looks at her. "Mattresses." He sighs and nods. "They're going to be wearing out, even with everybody taking care of them."

 

"Having everything from the other dimension helped but. . ."

 

"We'll eventually run out, especially after having to replace the mattresses in the school dorms."

 

"Part of the supplies they sent out at the beginning, new mattresses for them and for after they left school and supplying their new homes." Dad sighs. "Please we're talking big business who either wanted to sell the government outrageous amounts of product or had no clue. I mean a tube of toothpaste per person per week for twenty-five years, a pack of toilet paper per person per week for the same 25 years?" Sighing and rolling eyes from the others. "Yeah I can see men not knowing about that time of the month and saying 'yeah, a package of whatever they use per month sounds right, right?' or 'Sheets and towels wear out, a half-dozen of each a month isn't too much is it?'. Again both for 25 years since that's how long they were supplying the students, that would get them through school, university classes, and settled in their own homes."

 

"They didn't stop to think that people could wash them to reuse them?" Professor Druid's mother sighs.

 

"Obviously not. And don't get me started on the diapers brouhaha." Josette rolls her eyes. Principal Madison, who'd been walking by to check on the bakery, sighs and nods.

 

"What happened?"

 

"'Figure out how many times a baby needs a new diaper a day, times that by how many babies we're sending out, multiply that by five years and send it along with that many plastic covers, diaper creme, and wipes. No make it ten years, no triple that and make it the same twenty-five years since they'll be having children. Oh my god, they're going to use cloth diapers? We can't have that.' The disposables were up in arms at the thought of not being able to sell their products. Finally the government compromised and sent both, twenty-five years worth of each size diaper they made. . . for each company that makes disposables because they all wanted a piece of the pie. And of course they had to have just as much diaper cremes and wipes for each set of diapers. We've got tons in storage."

 

"They didn't think cloth diapers were washed either?" Lady Simone sighs. She'd seen the diaper service building that was closed up until it was needed again.

 

"Please, this is the same mentality that had every car manufacturer sending us information on their latest models then going away pouting when the council said we weren't buying. Then turning around and suing because 'of course they have to be buying from somebody, why not us? until Vinnie's documentary aired and they figured out 'oh, they really don't have cars'. Then there was the people who wanted a subway."

 

"You can walk from one end of Town to the other in twenty minutes." Professor Druid's father says.

 

"Yeah, it was five minutes back when we first settled and they wanted to sell us a subway." Principal Madison snorts. "And let's not forget everybody who thought they were somebody on Earth who had to have this, this, this, and that on Haven before 'they' came up. What do you mean I'm not going to go up, don't you know who I am'? Whenever they got told no they sued again because if they keep badgering, they're going to have to change their mind, right' Then there was the big industrialists who were stunned that we would even be considering agriculture and kept suing to have our charter overturned so they had another planet to ruin because the council was making them clean their shit up on Earth. Some tried shutting down their plants, figuring that they'll have to change their minds or put all our employees out of work. They were stunned when the council threw their asses in jail and turned control of the company over to their second in commands. If they go to another planet why should they have to clean up their shit on Earth?"

 

"Then there were the morons who didn't want to pay a decent price for our recycling and ores when we sold to Earth."

 

"Ores?"

 

"Before we came out we hired out mining the asteroid field to people in one man ships. It took about ten years to pay off the cost of the ships and start making a profit. We call the seventh planet the sorting planet because that's where all the recycling went to be sorted and bundled up for sale to Earth or be used by the manufacturing satellite. They also delivered the ores there for the first step in refining them before they could be used by Earth or the manufacturing satellite."

 

"Well yah," David snorts coming over to them. "If they paid a good price for goods and services, they wouldn't be able to make a big enough profit. That's why they tried banning food imports until the president got told a few facts of life by the chief justice, that they couldn't grow enough food to feed everybody and that he'd be lynched by parents for taking food from their children's mouths. He bleated that his butt buddies couldn't compete, he was told they could compete, they just wouldn't be making a big enough profit to suit them if they did. They tried going through the court to ban food imports and got their asses handed to them by the court and the media."

 

"They tried suing to stop us from harvesting three times a year because they couldn't compete even though we weren't selling part of the offworld harvests to them anymore."

 

"They wanted you to stop growing your own food three times a year because they couldn't compete?" Professor Druid's father sighs, rolling his eyes up at the sky.

 

"Yeah, the judge wasn't happy when he got the court case because the information on record said something else entirely. He'd have thrown it out as meritless before it even came to trial if he'd known the real case. He wasn't happy and was going to find out why the records didn't match."

 

"Not the first time big business tried pulling a fast one."

 

"Not just big business, let me tell you. . ." The story about the kids having to take a semester off from their schooling, the absolute stupidity of the Department of Education in not showing up for the first day of the trial after being told 'oh yes they can when it's willful misconduct and just clueless stupidity' at the 'you can't sue us, we're the federal government' lawsuits have people either cackling or rolling their eyes. The news that the person they'd put up as a representative had been sent away for the crime of doing her job and didn't have any idea she was supposed to have been in court got more sighs. The 'well, we're the federal government and you can't sue us' argument after losing had them sighing and shaking their heads at the stupidity of the government and more laughter when they'd been slapped in cuffs for refusing to make the first payment due on the court case."

 

"Why did you start putting classes on the server? And how do you handle anything before second grade?" One of Principal Madison's brothers asks.

 

The story of the 'everybody at a school should have an education degree or they're tainting the students' has the others openly swearing. "Josette's contract with the school was coming up for renewal but we couldn't give her a new one because while she had fifteen bachelors and a Masters, none of them was in education." Principal Madison says dryly. "We thought the nonsense would be over in a year because General Harris was investigating and gave Josette a year's extension on her contract. He got a court hearing a couple months before the extension was up and the moron on the other side couldn't explain how it was non-teaching staff that was losing their jobs but it was still a good idea. The judge ruled that those people who had lost their jobs could sue and ordered the harassing letters to stop, both to the schools telling them to fire people because they said so and to the people who'd lost their jobs telling them 'well, you should have got education degrees like we said you useless . . ." The others swear again.

 

"Yeah, like you're going to get an education degree in two fricking weeks to answer phones, feed the kids, or change the light bulbs and toilet paper rolls. The judge ruled against the Department of Education and of course they couldn't have that. They went to the Supreme Court and bleated about how everybody was being mean to them and some moron who couldn't be bothered to read the decision or even the case notes because he was 'busy' overruled the lower court."

 

"That must have put a cat among the pigeons."

 

"Yep, schools were beginning to close and more schools closed at that news. One of the Justices' granddaughter's school closed and his daughter lost her job. People were picketing the building and they finally read the decision, called the lower court judge, and realized they done fucked up big time." His brothers all snigger at their father's favorite expression. "They decided they'd hear the case . .. in two more years. Supposedly to allow both sides to gather their arguments but we think they just hoped everything would go away." Nods from the others. "So Josette went on unpaid leave and every school that was still open was at or over capacity. The asshole who'd started all this was all 'look what I did and tried slipping it into the paperwork that everybody needed Masters now." More swearing.

 

"Yeah, that was caught and he got his ass handed to him for his stupidity because the dumbasses of education was already the laughing stock of the government and they didn't need the bad publicity. Of course he also lost his job at a private school in DC because surprise surprise, he didn't have an education degree."

 

"Lemme guess, blubbering and carrying on and saying but he didn't mean for it to affect him?" One of Principal Madison's sisters asks with an evil grin.

 

"Exactly. The next couple of years passed and soon we got hints that the Supreme Court wasn't going to hear the case. When that news became common knowledge the schools that were open started closing, either at Christmas break or at the end of the school year. The dumbasses of education were getting more bad publicity when some moron who didn't like the idea of his younger daughter being accepted to the school when his older daughter hadn't been. It had to be a mistake. When he learned it wasn't a mistake he was all up in arms. He'd already been calling the school demanding to know if we had a real librarian or just teachers covering the desk. He wasn't impressed when I told him that we had a librarian but she was currently without a contract thanks to the department's stupidty. He kept calling wanting to know if we'd hired a real librarian and I told him that if I was going to hire a librarian, it would be the one that we already had but I couldn't offer her a contract because she doesn't have an education degree."

 

"He wasn't impressed at that logic, I take it?" Principal Madison's father asks dryly. Like his son he runs a private school and has had to deal with idiots who think they should have whatever they wanted for their darling son or daughter.

 

"Exactly, he couldn't get no satisfaction on the phone so he showed up a the school because of course we wouldn't dare turn him down in person. He didn't get any satisfaction there, Josette, Frances, Elaine, Pat, and Bethany had already left the school for a big expo in Washington DC. Well he was furious and went on record that anybody who had lost their job should go back to work without pay and how dare anybody leave their school before the end of the school semester even if they had their work all done, no matter if it was a Tuesday that they'd left and the semester ended that Friday. No matter that the students left the second their grades were posted."

 

"Idiot."

 

"Yeah, the civil rights groups were up in arms about how people weren't slaves, how dare he decide that people should work without pay. He'd been expecting Josette to fall on her knees begging him for her job back and she'd have kicked his ass six ways to Sunday." Sniggers from the others. "And the idea that teachers couldn't leave when they had their work all in for the semester got nearly as many complaints. Of course if I'd said they were there for their jobs that would have been different. Not that it wasn't nearly the truth, especially since a group of people from Assyrian attended the same expo and Pat and Josette booked a suite and offered them rooms to save the money the school gave them for their rooms, because even with the special room rate for the expo it was cheaper to get the suite. Josette borrowed several trucks from a GD affiliate and they filled them every day, Josette moving everything after the expo closed for the night to rooms they'd set up for their purchases here or at Assyrian, Headquarters, or the second floor of the dorm. He got his ass handed to him by both the media and the department, he ended up being sent to Alaska for a year. His wife bluntly told him fuck you they weren't moving to Alaska with him, the younger girl was going to go to our school, the older girl was staying in public school, she only kept her grades up enough to be a cheerleader and our school didn't have sports anyway. His younger daughter told him she'd already been e-mailing the girl we'd decided she'd room with, like her she was a genius who'd skipped grades and Josette was going to be mentoring them since she knew what it was like to be a genius. She didn't want to room with her sister anyway, she was a slob. The older girl didn't get chosen for the cheerleading squad and was heartbroken, didn't keep up her grades like her mother had told her to and ended up dropping out." The educators in the family sigh but chuckle.

 

"Yeah, she wrote pouting to her sister because their mother was making her work. Her sister wrote back it was her own damn fault, she should have kept her grades up like she was told. What did she think she was going to do the rest of her life, cheerlead? They don't make the money the professional athletes make and are old at thirty. That's why they all had other jobs." Nods from all the educators in the family.

 

"What happened to the other guy?"

 

"Tried sending in a group to shut down the school under false pretenses. He was incensed that we weren't firing people he told us to fire because he's with the Department of Education and everybody should bow down and kiss his ass." Josette snorts. "With so many schools closed we started putting the classes on the server and opening classes to online students grades two through eight. I got the job of copying workbooks, textbooks, and study guides on the server and when GD took over the school and made it a section of GD I got my job back. Of course the Department of Education howled about that, they'd already been trying to discredit as many of the claims as possible, figuring if they could try to claim they were fired for other reasons it would get the case thrown out. Idiots didn't succeed and were furious that people were working, not at the jobs they used to have, any old job."

 

"Hello, they had bills to pay and mouths to feed." One of Professor Druid's brothers says, waving a hand.

 

"Yeah, that's what the court told them when they slapped them upside the head with the clue by four for being too stupid to live."

 

"What happened with the Supreme Court?"

 

"Oh they were too busy to hear the case, but couldn't explain why there was big areas in the online calendar that didn't have cases listed. No, they couldn't add the case to the calendar if there was room, didn't you know they were busy?" Josette says in a fake whiny tone. "They could hear it. . .in a few more years." Sighs and rolling eyes. “By that time we had a million students taking the online 2-8 classes and I was uploading the books for the high school classes that weren't hands-on stuff, by the time those went live on the server we'd moved to Haven."

 

"We ended up hiring all the teachers from the school in the next town to work eight hour shifts at the education center grading schoolwork and tests and the DoD was hiring more teachers to do it online. A lot of students went into grades lower than the ones they had been in but the parents didn't care because they were getting an education."

 

"Did the Supreme Court ever hear the case?"

 

"Oh yes, they finally figured out they couldn't put it off any longer and overturned the mandate. The Department of Education was begging schools to reopen so they could keep their cushy jobs and being told screw you in droves by the districts. They would have had to hire all new staffs, pass millages to pay for everything, the states would have had to find money in their budgets to support the schools, in some cases they had to pass millages for new buildings since they'd needed so many repairs they'd been torn down in the waves of urban renewal the cities and states had been doing. Add in the fact that a lot of the students were working in power generation buildings or growing centers with part of their pay going towards their education and couldn't shift their hours to attend a normal school."

 

"Why the second grade?"

 

"We didn't think parents would pay money to take pre-school or kindergarten classes online." Nods from the others. "And parents or day care should have been teaching the kids their colors, letters, numbers, and how to read and write. Now that the education center is closed, toddlers who aren't being homeschooled have educational videos to watch, that tests them on what they've been learning and they have tests to take when they start the online classes." Nods from the others.

 

"You said you had people mining the asteroids?"

 

"Yes, most of them retired after we lost Earth because we didn't need the steady supply of ores and they'd been working nearly thirty years. They had made good money and put up their ships, building homes on the sorting planet. One of the ships was brought by a settler, he and Josette mine what ores we need when we're going to need them. Lately that's been for the factories and the apartment complexes. We cut down on the mining when the auto industry shot themselves in the foot." Josette's cackling so the others suspect it's a good story. They all look at her.

 

"The auto industry decided they didn't need to buy from us. It was no skin off our noses, it just meant cutting back on what we mined and using more of the recycling. They'd done this before, trying to be the big man on campus with us until the consumers and other big business knocked them on the ass and they started buying again. We'd finally had enough though and decided we weren't going to cave and sell again."

 

"Since that was what they'd be expecting." Professor Druid's father says. "Exactly,we used more of what we recycled and if they needed something special, a ship made a special trip out to mine it. It was over a year on Earth before they went from begging us to sell to suing to force us to sell for them and losing the cases, then suing again. We were delivering empty containers to Earth and selling custom furniture, the wine, olive oil, cutting boards, slabs of stone for countertops and other stuff. Well they jumped on the containers and were stunned to find they were empty. We didn't need them on Haven and they were going to be sent off to be filled again. They were positive we were selling to somebody, just not them. When they found out we weren't mining ores anymore, just reusing what we already had. . ."

 

"How could you do that to them?" One of Professor Druid's sisters says, pretending to faint at the horror.

 

"Exactly. They were losing their cases to make us sell to them, then they started suing to force us to mine for them."

 

"And got no sympathy there either."

 

"No, not when they'd been told to make the metal last but they had to make tens of thousands of cars that sit on auto lots. They tried to sue to make people buy new cars and were laughed out of court."

 

"Wouldn't any trade-ins belong to the dealers, not them?" Lady Simone rolls her eyes.

 

"Exactly, other industry had plenty of metal, they didn't make tons of stuff that just sat around and they used recycled metal, even some from cars." The others cackle. "Then they went to Congress wanting their own colony so they'd own the metal. But they'd learned their lesson from the Mars Colony and needed a world with an atmosphere so their employees didn't die while they were getting them metal. When they were asked how they'd mine and refine it they were like 'we can't just pick it up off the ground?'"

 

"I'd laugh but I know big business is that stupid." Professor Druid's father sighs.

 

After the cookout on the beach the others head back home, making plans to finally come out for the Lights Festival.

 

"Get your degrees finished?"

 

"Yeah, and finished the first year for the boy fiction lit degree from Cambridge. I'm figuring on getting 19 classes in this next semester, and probably not having to go to Eureka for my third testing week since I'm only taking four classes on the computer, that will give me time to start on my thesis."

 

"Projects?"

 

"Yep, we're working on those too, next year will all be inside under heat lamps so we can compare and contrast.

 

"Chem dissertation?"

 

"Yeah, I gotta work some more on that too, but I can to that while I'm under time dilation, probably when I head over to the other dimension to see what the asshole in chief is doing, last year he had taken over China's military and civilians. Russia didn't like that and tried attacking, getting it turned back on them and the asshole in chief using the attack as propaganda for the war." Rolling eyes. "We're expecting deaths to pick up when he uses China's military and civilians to try to take over other countries. And everybody's still expecting the grand 'I may have lost, but I'm taking the rest of you bastards with me' gesture. Be it nuclear or something else like a massive EMP. Which would probably destroy the rest of humanity, because guns and knives still work without electricity. Especially if the death rate continues dropping and the war drags on."

 

Nods from the others. "Earth knew they were dying, so did the other dimension. There might have been wailing and moaning but there wasn't the fighting that something like that would bring about. They might survive a nuclear winter if they have shelter somewhere away from the radiation and a supply of food."

 

"And I can see idiots rioting and stealing like they did during the blackouts then realizing 'oh shit, this stuff is useless." Sniggers from the others. "And people aren't used to growing their own food, they'd be a run on anything that doesn't need cooking at the stores. Unless they banded together to grow food in empty lots. . ."

 

"And god forbid if it happened during the middle of winter."

 

"The others who are still there have access to computer programs and precogs. Like the council, they've got everybody linked so if they're on a countdown to the shit hitting the fan they can bring them to safety on Mars."

 

"Emergency triggers?"

 

"Yeah. Same ones we had in case they had to leave early. They've got them set to Mars now that they've settled there."

 

'And if we figure out it's going to go bad, I'll head off and copy as much as I can before the shit hits the fan.' Josette thinks.

 

The next couple of weeks pass and Josette heads to Eureka for her first testing week.

 

"Only nineteen classes, four on the school computer?" Dr. Stark's lips twitch. "You're falling down on the job."

 

Josette calls him an annoying asshole in ancient and the others laugh.

 

"How is the work on the bakery coming along?"

 

"Good, the crew will have the exterior work finished by first snow, then work on the interior over the winter. I've been checking the supplies and what we'll have to bring out in the future."

 

"Thread complex?"

 

"The work was finished and the workers who are on the list to take it over and I'm going over everything to see what we have in the way of supplies and what we'll need."

 

"Can I ask what brought this on?" Vincent asks.

 

"Sure, we've been going through the list of what Earth saved on the satellites and found gaps, some big and some small. There's looms for cloth but no way to make thread, there's the machinery to make yarn, but no needles. . .knitting or sewing. There's no pins, buttons, zippers. . ."

 

Vincent sighs and rolls his eyes. "We think they figured they'd either have the way to make them or have a stockpile of them. But if they had a stockpile they'd have to have a way of making them when they wore out or broke." Josette shrugs. "They were trying to save the big stuff, once they had a moment they'd have realized they were missing the small stuff. You don't think of things until they're needed. That's why I've been making a list of factories we're going to need in the future."

 

"How are you coming along on your comic book degrees? I know you've got about three you're in your last degree of multiple curricula." Dr. Stark asks.

 

"I'm going to be halfway through one this semester, I'm three semesters into the second and I'll be a year into a third. That's the one I'm taking classes for on the school computer this semester. once I get those done I'll be good."

 

"Shipwrecks from the naval academy?"

 

"Two down, three to go."

 

Back on Haven she checks on the status of the new bakery and gets some doughnuts for the walk back to the school, pausing to make notes on her PADD as something hits her. Looking on the server for Pat's spa, Assyrian, Edinborough, the other schools, then finally GD before making another note, putting up the doughnuts, and heading to the dining hall with the others.

 

After dinner Josette heads upstairs to check something in her studio, then checking the factories and distribution warehouses before bed. Over the next few weeks she checks thing and brings in the last of the offworld harvests before sliding into her seat at the testing center her second testing week.

 

"Does anybody at GD make sugar scrubs and other spa stuff?"

 

Dr. Stark nods. "Yes, for our spa and Pat's. The GD on the 9th planet has plans for theirs also. We've never sold to the public because there's not really a need, though the doctors can recommend they be used for skin conditions."

 

"And without preservatives unless you keep it in stasis. . ." Nods from the three men.

 

"Need to go back for the third testing week?" David asks at dinner.

 

"Nope, I'm done until the finals for my four classes."

 

"Offworld harvests?"

 

"Done and handed out."

 

"9th planet?"

 

"Harvesting next year for them and in a couple more years I'll plant rye and barley for them again." Nods from the others.

 

"Bakery?"

 

"On track to have the exterior work done by first snow and be ready to have people working there by spring planting."

 

"The pizzeria and hamburger places in the dining halls?"

 

"Working on them. We hope to have them up and running in the next couple years."

 

"Fabric?"

 

"We're looking at everything on the satellite with the plans on perhaps starting operations there in a couple of years. The next step would be a manufacturer, like the one in New York Pat used for her clothes or a larger one. Which we shouldn't need for years." The others nod.

 

"When are you starting your cooking degree?"

 

"This semester next fall, that way I'll be finishing it at the end of a year and I'll be nearly finished with the musical instrument degree."

 

"Socks? Beyond what we make with the machines? I know we had thought of using the machines to make other types of socks before we lost Earth but . . ."

 

Josette facepalms and makes a note of that on her PADD. "I'll look into it tomorrow. It's not something we've thought about since we had so much in stock." Principal Madison sighs and nods in the front room. "With making underwear it's something we should have thought about."

 

"What was it you said about missing the forest for the trees?" David smirks. Josette sighs and waves him off. "We've settled in and have the time to think of things.

 

The next morning has Josette checking the sock patterns for a test pattern and putting a hank of plain white cotton yarn in the machine. A few days later she slides into her seat at the government building, putting the socks on the table.

 

"Cotton socks, a test using a pattern in the machines. I can make the various types of cotton socks on them but we'd have to harvest offworld a couple of years or we can bring out a factory that would handle mens, womens, boys, and girls socks in various sizes, styles, and colors."

 

"Wouldn't we have to grow the cotton anyway?"

 

"Depends on what machinery they had. It's something I'll look into over the next couple of weeks. The towel factory does everything from the raw cotton but that was just how they were set up."

 

"Can we make the cotton thin enough for socks?"

 

"On the machines I have in the supplier's buildings, yes. So unless the factories have the machinery for that, we'd be using it or bringing out a second."

 

"What about the machinery on the satellite?'

 

"I've got to check but I don't think they have the small enough heads to make it that thin. The thread complex might be able to, I'll have to talk to the others." She makes a note of that on her PADD.

 

"Yes, the machines that make the floss for cross stitching and embroidery should be able to make cotton for socks." One of the people looking over the new complex says. The others think a minute and nod. "If it can't your machinery should. Experimenting won't hurt, if it doesn't work we can use the replicators to turn it into raw cotton again. That's what it's set to do with stuff like underwear and socks that we can't use in quilts."

 

"If mine's that bad I do that too, if it's just wore out I shred it and mix it in pulp for my paper, same with the towels and washcloths."

 

The next couple of months pass and Josette, the twins, and David are busy bringing in crops and the garden. Josette heads off to Eureka for her finals one day, leaving multiple duplicates working with the others and helping Mom and Ma. After her finals she takes the orders to the animal planet and picks up the recycling.

 

"The kids are old enough to come to the Lights Festival for a few hours." She says at dinner the end of the week after all the crops are in and everything tilled under.

 

"For a few hours, we'll have to have somebody in the dorm watching the other kids. Marilyn and little Pat aren't old enough to be out in the weather or enjoy it, their brothers and sisters would, so would the other kids for a few hours."

 

"And we'd have the others coming out this year for the first time."

 

"Josette, are you looking at the sewing machines and other stuff while you're in the other dimensions?" Frances looks at the screen to the back room.

 

"Yes, I've got invitations to several expos, trade warehouses, and other places."

 

After Thanksgiving they head off, returning months later for everybody. She returns from the other dimension, detouring to the 9th planet.

 

"Bad?"

 

"Yeah, the old Russian bear must be brain dead or believes his shit doesn't stink. He's still attacking Luthor and getting his ass handed to him. The other countries are nibbling away at Russia and. . ."

 

"I might be losing but I'm going to take you with me, you bastards?" General Harris sighs.

 

"Yeah. We're expecting chemical and nuclear weapons, the moron's got everybody working overtime to create them. The death toll is going higher with Russia's dose of stupidity, he's trying to get support from North Korea and was told 'fuck you, you're on your own' since they know they're next on the chopping block."

 

"Death toll?"

 

"Skyrocketing thanks to Luthor taking civilians and throwing them on the front lines. More deaths from people working sixteen to twenty hours a day in the factories then a second job to keep a roof over their heads and food in their bellies. He doesn't care, he can pull people from other countries to do the same work and keep them in camps. We expect the world population to be under three billion by the end of the second decade if something doesn't stop the war sooner."

 

"Russia?"

 

"We don't expect them to last another five years. Luthor's well on his way to being King of the world, but he won't have much of a peasant population."

 

"Gestation chambers?"

 

"Somebody . . .and I think it was probably one of your big guns, moved all of them offworld to safety and there's tons of genetic information in the banks. You might be able to rebuild once they get the assholes out of office. But that would mean putting aside differences and working together."

 

"Whoops, that lets out most of Earth's governments." Dr. Stark snorts. Josette nods. "Depending on how many people are left in various countries they might even have to settle in a common area for a few generations before spreading out."

 

"And they'd have to deal with injuries and the problems soldiers have after the war, especially one like this." Nods from the others. "Growing enough food to feed everybody in one area. People living in big cities aren't used to growing their own food, but farmers are."

 

"And since they don't generally live in large population areas, they should survive the conflict." Dr. Cross says. The others nod.

 

Back on Haven Josette passes along information from the expos and other places she went to the others. The next morning has her filling her plate at the Albatross Nest and opening a bottle of Haven Dew after settling against the wall. They talk about the projects for the sunpainting degree, the new factories, the plans to duplicate them inside next year, the plans for four strip quilt kits, what Josette had brought back from the other dimensions, and the other kits. The bags and Christmas cookies are passed out plus any leftovers and Josette helps wash and put away everything in the back room before sending her stuff to various places in her rooms and sliding into a seat.

 

"Are you talking about what you brought out?"

 

"Yeah tomorrow afternoon in the textiles building."

 

"Josette, strip quilts?" Frances asks in the front room.

 

"The plans are four next year. If the demand is good we'll go up to seven a year." She nods. "It should be, we're going to be starting a class on them at the textiles building next year."

 

The next afternoon everybody's gathered around in Frances and Elaine's office with their kids spending a few hours with theirs at the dorm.

 

"There's not really that big of advancements in sewing machines." Josette says. The others nod. "Even commercially."

 

"Nope the only difference between our factory, the clothing factory on the sorting planet, and a big factory is size and specializing. We might specialize on one type of garment but they'd do just one step and send it further down the line."

 

"We don't need to be that big. Embroidery machines?"

 

"More patterns, I picked up a half-dozen hard drives for us to look over. Same with the large knitting and quilting machines." Nods from the others. They talk for a couple hours about this and that before breaking.

 

"Did you take care of the recycling again there?" Pat asks as they walk to the dining hall for dinner.

 

"Yes, between all the drop-off sites, the deposit cans, and tearing apart the appliances that have gone up for recycling I can make a couple thousand dollars easily. The others don't tear apart appliances but they still make good money . . . and of course the girls and I generally head to Vegas while we're there." Pat chuckles and they head inside. "So were you still there while they left for the Lights Festival?"

 

"Yep, we left after they came back."

 

The next couple of weeks pass quickly and the others arrive for the Lights Festival, walking the streets and staring at the decorations with a smile as they eat roasted chestnuts, paella, and drink hot mulled cider for the adults. The kids are playing in the snow and looking at the decorations before they're taken back to the dorm to shake the snow out of their clothes and warm up.

 

"We still want the pizza parlor and a copy of your movie theater." 9th planet Dr. Stark says when they gather in the back room after dinner to talk, the kids heading back to the dorm.

 

"We figured you would, have you finally figured out what you want for the other labs?"

 

"Yes, we're bringing out some of the others buildings, including Wayne International, Dayton Industries, STAR labs, and other specialty buildings as they're needed. They're already set up for what we need and building new would take too many resources. There was a new chemistry lab that had been built before we left that had been destroyed by a sinkhole. . ."

 

Josette grabs her PADD and checks files. "I swear I copied that. I remember the sinkhole happening and the arguing about whether it was an act of god or the digging of a subway tunnel that had caused the sinkhole. The insurance was bleating act of God even louder when the new hospital nearby got sucked down during the ribbon cutting ceremony. It went all the way to the Supreme Court since everybody was pointing fingers at everybody else. The contractors came out clean, the city and insurance company ended up eating the costs." Josette looks through the files. "Yes I have that and the hospital." She sends the files to the others who all nod.

 

Josette slides into her seat at the government building the first day of the first semester for her and David.

 

"The boys starting work?"

 

"Yep, they're on track to be finished with everything before the Harvest Festival next year, so are the others. The factories on the sorting planet will be done by the Harvest Festival this year."

 

"Bakery?"

 

"They're working on the interior and we should have people starting work after the Harvest Festival."

 

"Factories?"

 

"Going in in a couple months. These should be the last two for a few more years except for possibly the sock factory I'm been looking at." The others nod in satisfaction. "Now, the 9th planet stuff?"

 

"They're scouting locations and hope to bring out three buildings before the end of the year, not counting the movie theater and pizza parlor?"

 

"Speaking of which?"

 

"The pizzeria will be open in a few months, the burger place by the Harvest Festival. If the demand is good we might open the pizzeria to walk in customers in the future, we've already got the salad and sandwich bars we could use for pizzas." Nods from the others. "We don't want to take business away from the other places, I'm not worried about the chicken or burgers since nobody else offers them all the time."

 

"I don't think that's something we need to worry about from the amount of business they have."

 

"Have it open for people to eat at the Lights Festival since there's people here seeing how we've changed up the decorations?" Josette sends off that message to the school, getting a 'we can do that' message back by the end of the meeting.

 

"Thanks for taking care of the kitchen so they'd be open earlier Josette." One of the cooks says at lunch.

 

"Glad I could help since the pizzeria was my idea initially. Now, does the tables in the other buildings need any work?"

 

"Yes, we've got a list of what needs to be done but we were waiting for the boys to be finished with the animal planet orders." Principal Madison says. "Most of which maintenance can handle since it's just sanding down the finish, restaining, and resealing. But there's some that need Alexander's touch.

 

"More than can be handled after Thanksgiving when everybody's on break?"

 

"No, a couple week's work would have everything taken care of. They just need to be stripped and sanded first."

 

"That will take a few months with so many." The others nod. "One room at a time, one room at a time."

 

"How many classes are you taking?"

 

"Only 21, I'm finishing the second year for two degrees and starting the second semester for my Masters and doctorate. I'm taking seven classes on the school computer, the second year for that one comic book multiple degree curriculum and starting a new degree on U-Boats during WWII."

 

"U-Boats?"

 

"German submarines, they sank a lot of ships during the war."

 

"You're finishing your degree on the Shadow?"

 

"Yes, and I'm going to be 20 classes into my doctorate. I'm going to be working on my dissertation this year. The boys are safe for another year and they plan on starting their doctorate when they finish the order next year but I say Grammy Allie should start *talking* to the others this year."

 

"CJ?"

 

"Seven semesters into his Masters this year, he's working on his thesis and plans on presenting it next year."

 

"Are you planting on the first planet?"

 

"Yeah. I'll go out in a couple months. I've been working on plans for a windmill watering system to keep from having to heft buckets to fill the water containers for the beds." The others make poor baby noises and she flips them off with a grin.

 

"The only problem is there might not be enough wind."

 

"Yep, that's why it's just in the planning stages."

 

"Show this year?"

 

"Mine."

 

Josette's looking the different glass formulas over the next few weeks, making a few samples after her first testing week.

 

"You were saying something about socks at the last meeting?"

 

"Yeah, I've been looking over the factories and the one I'm thinking of just got a big delivery of supplies before the fit hit the shan in the other dimension." Chuckles from the others. "They didn't spin their own yarn, they brought the cones from a manufacturer. Once we bring it out I can duplicate the yarn in the replicator."

 

"How soon?"

 

"Maybe next year." Josette makes a mental note to add that, the underwear, and the two glass factories to the dorm. "Anything else?"

 

"How is it in the other dimension?"

 

"Bad, the old Russian bear keeps attacking the asshole in chief in a game of mas machos and is getting his ass kicked. He's looking for allies in North Korea but they know once Luthor's done with Russia they're next. Each side is stockpiling weapons and we expect within five years it's going to come to a head in a 'I'm losing, but I'm taking you out with me' grand gesture."

 

"I know Jack Harkness keeps saying that the 21st century is a time of change but. . ."

 

"Yeah," Josette sighs. "They figure they have enough time to get everybody to Mars with the emergency triggers. They're expanding the growing areas around the watchtower and terraforming moons for more food for the people they're expecting. I've been delivering stuff to them as I copy it for us and pick up the 9th planet stuff."

 

Nods from the others.

 

"Death rate?"

 

"Climbing, best guesstimates has world population under three billion if the war hits the second decade mark, if we have the grand gesture? More deaths. Since it's going to be biochemical weapons of mass destruction, an EMP, or nuclear. And knives, guns, and clubs still work without electricity."

 

"And he won't stop."

 

"Not until he takes over the world, even if he has to destroy it doing so." Josette says. She shakes her head to get rid of the dark thoughts. "Anything new?"

 

"We're planting a second garden for the pizzeria and burger place. They've ordered supplies, you should be picking them up at the paper factory after your finals."

 

"We should have our own order coming in by then too." Josette says, looking at her PADD. "Yeah, it's been a year since I picked up an order for the pizza parlors here and in Albatross. The apartment orders make us forget our normal orders until we run out of stuff."

 

"Josette, is there a chance to grow portobello mushrooms?"

 

"For burgers like you used to see on the cooking shows? Yeah, we have a good supply of the spores and we can change out what we're growing easily enough." Josette looks over her records. "I can start them growing in the spring and they'd be ready by the time the burger place opened."

 

Principal Madison nods and Josette makes a note on her PADD. "Is the small grow at home boxes used?"

 

"Yes, by the others on the 9th planet. I think they intend to put up a mushroom building of their own in the future. I know GD on Archimedes has one, Vincent is there weekly for mushrooms for his meals. The cooks use them but most everybody else on Haven thinks of mushrooms as what you find on pizzas." Sniggering but nods from the others.

 

"Musical instrument degree?"

 

"Finishing this year, I'm starting the baking degree this fall, and we're currently repeating the projects for the sunpainting degree inside to see if they're different. Then I'm going to finish the last two years of my dyeing degree then come back to that. It's the same teacher so she doesn't mind."

 

"Josette, this is a dumb question but dress shoes?"

 

"Something we won't need for decades unless it was someplace like going to church. Most people wear boots out in the fields or sneakers. As long as it's clean, nobody cares how you dress . . .though you can tell when it's laundry day." Snickers from the others. "If there comes a need, we can replicate them like we do the off-sizes." The others nod. "Factories?"

 

"Going up next month."

 

"9th planet?"

 

"Still talking about spaces for the new labs, the place for the movie theater and pizza parlor have been decided though, Dad was going out this week to make sure they'd work before they start bringing them out."

 

"Plumbing warehouses and whatnot?"

 

"I've got a lot of places in limbo yet, including builders of the septic units."

 

David smirks. "Shitty job. Yes, I know ours needs to be inspected this spring. It's been a few years."

 

The others sigh and nod. "Ours as well, the dorms were checked, emptied and cleaned after the students left."

 

"What are you working on now?" Frances asks as Josette slides into a seat at the textiles building and starts drawing on her PADD.

 

"Plans for area rugs. We have the time to work on them now."

 

Frances sighs. "I hadn't thought about that but we do."

 

"Slippers, beyond what we knit." Elaine says. Josette facepalms and saves what she'd been working on, making a note. "Gods yes, my feet are always freezing when we're expecting a storm. Two pair of socks and slippers. There's just something like sliding your feet in fuzzy slippers."

 

"Until the sides rip out since the hard bottom isn't big enough to cover your whole foot."

 

"And the ones that do are the ones you slide your foot into and out of every step you take." Agatha snorts as she comes into the room. The others nod.

 

The others start arriving for the class and they start talking. Back at the dorm Josette heads up to her studio, checking the supply of rug yarn and bringing out skeins to start setting up her loom. Making a mental note to see if they have rug yarn in the distribution warehouses or see if they can make it on the satellite she joins the others walking to dinner. Detouring to the front room, she looks at President Bartlett and Principal Madison.

 

"We might be bringing out another factory to make yarn, I had the thought of those handwoven rugs since we have the time now to work on them."

 

"We'll bring it up at the next meeting." President Bartlett says, nodding. "Anything else."

 

"Slippers, beyond what we knit, brought up in supplies, or can replicate."

 

"That would be more jobs. Something else we'll bring up at the next meeting."

 

"Change the bottoms?" Amanda asks.

 

"Definitely, they wear out or separate along the bottom too quickly if you are one of those people who walk on one side more than the other." The others look at them. "I forget the technical term, it's how something or other makes your foot go more to the outside. There's another term for how your foot goes more to the inside."

 

"That's why there's always a worn spot in one area on some people's shoes." Principal Madison says.

 

"Exactly." Josette heads back in the back room, telling David about the possibility for the two new factories as she sends a note about that to Doc.

 

"Josette, movie theater?" Susan asks.

 

"A home one or something like the movie theater movie theater?"

 

"We don't need one that big. A home system where we can sit down and watch movies."

 

"I already added one, I had one in my home in that other dimension where I was a starlet. I'll show it to you guys when we get back to the dorm.

 

"DVD changer?" David asks at a row of consoles that looks a lot like dishwashers.

 

"300 disks, the largest that you could buy at one time. Five for TV shows and three for movies. Expensive as hell but I brought a lot of movies at dollar stores and they just had cardboard sleeves." The others nod, they'd seen them for older movies. Josette waves at a closet and they find the cases. A second closet is more DVDs still in their cases and a third has other supplies.

 

The rest of the month passes quickly, Dad starting to bring out the remaining factories they'd planned on after her second testing week.

 

"Did Eureka pick good spots for the pizza parlor and the movie theater?"

 

"They did, I'm going to be bringing them out around the Lights Festival, that gives us time to get the exterior work done before winter. That will give me time to get everything done for these factories and give them time to figure out where they want the other buildings."

 

At the next government meeting they spend time talking about the need for the new factories and the progress of the bakery, pizzeria, and burger place.

 

"Josette, mushrooms?"

 

"I'll start growing them in a couple months."

 

The next month flies by and Josette starts spreading manure on the fields and garden, tilling it under a couple weeks later then planting. After that's done she heads off to Eureka for her finals."

 

"David's going to be finished with his bachelors."

 

"Yep, he's probably going through the list of other bachelors he wants to take next. I know he was looking through the multiple degree curriculums I've been taking."

 

After Vincent's excellent cooking she heads back to Haven, delivering orders to the animal planet and picking up recycling a few days later.

 

"Is everything taken care of until the Harvest Festival?"

 

"Yep, recycling was dropped off and I'm going to be looking over the factories for the socks, the slippers, and the rug yarn. . both making it and making the rugs over the next couple of months." The others nod. "Work on my thesis, dissertation, and projects."

 

"Are you doing to be adding anything to the dorm this year?"

 

"Not this year. Maybe in a bit, I know we wanted to do a little more expansion after the school closed but we haven't made any plans yet."

 

"I want to add a few things over the next couple years." David and Josette nod. "And if possible link the dorm to the other buildings on the school ground." He looks over at Josette who's thunking her head on the the table. "Damn it, I knew I was going to walk down a hallway and be able to go anywhere, just like one those worlds that are one big hallway and you can go wherever you want just by walking down a branch."

 

"Not quite that bad." He chuckles. "Have you checked the alternate power supply lately?"

 

"Yes it's growing, slowly but it's growing. Dad checked it last year when he was out."

 

"Classes over the break?"

 

"Getting in a semester for my boy's lit degree from Cambridge. I'll be starting the second year. Working on my papers. I'm at the stage I'm halfway through starting new ones, or haven't started degrees.'

 

"CJ?"

 

"Seven semesters into his masters this year and planning on presenting his thesis next year." Josette looks at Doc. "You and the other great nudge should start talking to him, Thomas, and Bruce about more degrees." He smiles and nods. "Bethany also."

 

"Bethany was already planning on starting a new degree next year. She's been in talks with Susan since they both have masters in office administration, but specializing in different areas."

 

"Really?"

 

"We figured that Grammy Allie would start talking to the others this fall. The boys got a pass since they have one more year of orders for the apartments and plan on going for their doctorates right after that."

 

"Your dissertation?" Principal Madison asks David.

 

"Working on it. I've got time between checking on the factories and the crops coming in. With the twins at home to help with harvesting the garden."

 

"Okay I have something." President Bartlett says. "A fancy restaurant?"

 

"Linen tablecloths and napkins, real menus, food made as you wait beyond fast food?"

 

"For special occasions, anniversaries and stuff like that."

 

"Something to think about, we don't have a need right now."

 

"No we don't, right now if it's a special occasion couples make the dinners at home. Or go to the Cafe Diem." Nods from the others.

 

"I can't believe it's been nearly fifteen years since we started the apartment complex orders."

 

"Only one semester this break?" David chuckles as they walk back to the dorm.

 

"Like I said, I'm at the stage where I'm partway through degrees or just starting them and I don't have a lot to choose semesters from over the breaks. That gives me time to work on the papers since I'll be finishing my doctorate next year already."

 

"And your masters the year after that since you've only got two years."

 

"Yep, and then I'll have to start on a dissertation for that doctorate. Then that boring ass shit art history masters and doctorate from Oxford. So a lot of paper writing the next few years. Then I can go back to the fun degrees." She shoves him lightly when he starts grinning. "Yes, I know unless you and the others knock us up again."

 

Doc, Renny, and Long Tom come over a few days later, finding two Josettes in her first floor room on the computers, one taking a class while the other works on her papers. Kissing her heads he starts going over the dorm, finding another Josette up in her workroom working on a quilt while another works at the loom.

 

"Only four of you?"

 

"No, one's in the studio working on the rug loom, one's at the textiles building talking to Frances and Elaine about rugs now that they have the time to weave them, one's in my workroom there working on sheets, and one's going over factories for rug yarn and slippers."

 

"You got a show this year?"

 

"Yeah and the family from the other dimension is 'hinting' about the same sort of setup we have for the furniture and shows. They're just waiting until the boys are finished with the orders next year."

 

"Suffer." Doc chuckles. "Rug?"

 

Josette brings up a drawing of what she has planned. "That's going to be marvelous. And needed in the rooms that have vinyl or wood flooring."

 

"Even in rooms that have carpeting." Renny says. Josette nods. "Anything that's going to be interfering with machinery?"

 

"No, otherwise I'd have told the other two to head to the library to work on the computers. Papers?"

 

"Herbal medicine thesis in two years and the chem dissertation next year, though I worked on that quite a bit while I was on the ships. Then it will be the herbal medicine diss, then the art history thesis and diss. As I told David, I'm going to be writing a lot of papers the next few years."

 

"David's dissertation?" Long Tom asks.

 

"He plans on working on it this summer, next year he'll be two years in for his." The others nod.

 

The next few weeks pass and Josette is busy bringing in the offworld harvests, the second crops, and the yearly crops both on Haven and the first planet. Slumping into a seat she smiles as she sees the visitors.

 

"Are the sorting planet orders done?" Principal Madison asks.

 

"Yes and on the ship with our orders. I delivered the second load of cotton to the towel factory for future orders. I delivered the orders for the pizzeria, the burger place, and the others. The pizzeria's ready to start operation right after the Harvest Festival, the announcement already ready out, not that it was really needed since everybody talks." Everybody chuckles.

 

"Factories?"

 

"Finished, Dad's bringing the pizza parlor and movie theater to 9th planet Eureka after the Festival."

 

"The others?"

 

"They've decided on the locations and he's bringing them out in their spring so they don't get damaged over the winter. And the others are still talking about a grist mill. They're looking for a good sized location and making sure any water wouldn't freeze over the winter."

 

"Any water deep and fast enough for the wheel shouldn't freeze." Josette says slowly.

 

"They're going to be checking over the next couple of years. The major problem with using a water wheel. . ."

 

"Is location, location, location as they say in business school." Alexander says. Michael laughs.

 

"Exactly, it's got to be somewhat close to them. That's how communities were settled in the old days, they grew up around a central location. If they choose solar panels they can put closer." Nods from the others.

 

"Either way, when it's not in use for grinding they can use it to charge batteries." Nods from everybody.

 

"Is the new bakery open?"

 

"Yes, it's opening for the Harvest Festival, they've been working with the other one to be ready, just like the pizzeria here at the school's been working with the parlors to prepare to open afterwards."

 

"Burger place?"

 

"Opening for the Lights Festival." Josette says as she's pulled to her feet by David. "Come on lazy bones, go to bed early tonight instead of working on your papers after dinner."

 

"Chem dissertation is finished. I'll upload it to GD next spring. I should be finished with the thesis next summer." The others look at her and David chuckles. "Two separate degrees, two different schools. The thesis is for her herbal medicine degree from Oxford.

 

"I'll be finished with my doctorate next year, and the masters the year after that since I've only got two years of specialty classes thanks to taking the others."

 

"Is this some of the projects from the sunpainting degree?" Bronwen asks a couple days later.

 

"Yes, these . . ." Josette points to one table, "we did last year outside. These are the 'control' projects done inside under the heat lamp." Bronwen laughs as she looks everything over.

 

"Josette, this is probably a dumb question but rugs and rug yarn?" Ma Hunkel asks at the Harvest Festival a couple days later.

 

"I have a factory in mind for the commercial ones, including braided circular rugs. We've started weaving rugs this year since we have the time now, and I'm going to be bringing out a manufacturer of rug yarn." Ma nods in satisfaction.

 

"Socks? Beyond what you make on the machines or knit? We have a good stock left. . ." Billy asks.

 

"So do we and I've got a factory selected that we might be bringing out next year if Dad can pull himself away from your work for about a year."

 

David snorts as he comes over. "It's not like you haven't done it yourself."

 

"Yeah, but if you get your way I'll be out to here with more kids." Everybody in earshot cackles.

 

"Building for looms?"

 

"I'll ask the others when they pass out the kits, one of the reasons we haven't brought them out is we'd have to take them apart and put them upstairs when the building is used for other stuff." David nods.

 

"Who do I see if I have ideas for quilts?"

 

"Marilyn, Sue, or Agatha for any of the kits. I generally get hit upside the head by the muse. . ." everybody sniggers but nods. "After I get a good idea of what I want to make I take the ideas to them , buy the materials and take pictures of the construction for the pattern and the finished product for the kit. If you're not comfortable with making up the pattern one of the others will help. We generally have a pool of about three years worth of ideas to draw on and have been bringing out older ones that people might not be familiar with." The others around them nod in satisfaction.

 

"Strip quilts?"

 

"We're planning four for next year, if the kits do well going up to seven a year." Josette sighs and grabs her head, looking around and nabbing Marilyn. "Grab bags of quilt? No idea what you're getting until you open it and lay out the pattern and fabric." Bronwen and Ma moan.

 

"Hmmm, interesting idea. Not just quilts."

 

"No, knitting definitely. Hats, scarves, gloves, socks. . .just specify size."

 

"Something to think about."

 

"And that was being hit upside the head by the muse." Ma Hunkel says with a grin to the others.

 

"Josette, how many more offworld harvests?" President Bartlett asks as he comes over.

 

"Seven, it should be about four next year with all of them in by the Festival the year after that."

 

"The offworld harvests come in at different times?" Professor Druid's mother asks.

 

"Yes, since our year is so different than theirs. They start getting earlier every year."

 

"That would mean some of them coming in during the winter?"

 

"Yeah, those times I load the drying tables on the ships and put them out on the first planet until they can come out here and dry instead of freezing."

 

"That would mean some years you could harvest twice."

 

Josette nods. "Those years we plant cover crops of rye and barley after the first harvest. The offworld harvests start coming in after the Harvest Festival the next year."

 

"What did you take over the break?"

 

"Finished the third year for the Flash comic book degree, that leaves me two semesters and I'll have another one down. I'm two years into the second and will be two years Thanksgiving for the one I'm taking on the school computer."

 

"Cambridge degree?"

 

"Three semesters in, I'm halfway through the Oxford art history one."

 

"Cooking?"

 

"Started it today, this way I can end on a full year."

 

"Second musical instruments?"

 

"Finishing it this semester."

 

Josette brings back the books and other supplies from Assyrian the next day for her cooking degree, putting them in her first floor kitchen for now.

 

"That's a lot of stuff." David says, leaning against the door.

 

"A year's worth of stuff, I'll get more every year."

 

The next couple of months pass and Josette slides into her seat at the government building after her second testing week.

 

"All the offworld harvests in?"

 

"And delivered, I also delivered pasta and rice noodles to the 9th planet since I was there."

 

"One more year."

 

"Doesn't seem possible, it seems yesterday that I was getting everybody together to talk about the vampire planet order and watching everybody freak out at the size of the orders."

 

"Factories?"

 

"Socks, rug yarn, a factory to make area rugs including the circular braided ones, and slippers. Maybe not next year, but over the next couple years."

 

"Thread?"

 

"They should be in operation by this time next year."

 

"Rug yarn?"

 

"I'm still waffling whether we need a distribution warehouse and put everything in the replicator, a supplier, or a manufacturer. I've talked to the suppliers and the manufacturer on the vampire planet, that was more of a specialty thing but I can copy one the next time we head over to the other dimension. I know they have them for carpeting and area rugs."

 

"Flooring?"

 

"I'm narrowing down the list of each kind, then I'll start going through everything again. We shouldn't need it for a while since we used good quality products when we built the houses or renovated them. Sanders should start getting requests once the work on the new buildings is completed."

 

"We've got a good supply yet but it will eventually run out." President Bartlett says, checking the records.

 

"Yes considering some of the school buildings are going to need new flooring."

 

"And the other buildings brought up from Earth."

 

"Home center where they could select what they wanted?"

 

"Possible, right now we've got the programs that let us see what the rooms will look like. . .Paint."

 

Josette sighs and makes a note on her PADD. "Interior and exterior because sometimes you just need a change. Wood stains. Sealers. Because the marble and granite need periodic maintenance." Nods from the others.

 

"Anything else?"

 

"Josette, how overkill would having that hospital you were talking about with the others be?"

 

"Like using a gigaton nuke to swat a fly." The others look at her. "Last year at the Lights Festival we stayed in the dining hall after dinner to talk to 9th planet Dr. Stark and Dad about bringing out buildings. They were talking about a chem lab that had just been built while they were leaving that was swallowed by a sinkhole. The insurance was crying act of god or that nearby digging of a subway tunnel to connect that area to the main line because of course they didn't want to pay, they yelled even louder when a nearby brand spanking new hospital got took out during the ribbon cutting ceremony by another sinkhole. They pointed fingers at the city, the city pointed right back at them saying all the geological surveys proved there was no danger and they hadn't reached that area yet. Then they blamed the contractors claiming they cut corners, the contractors were cleared then sued the insurance company for slander, libel, and lost business. They're the only ones who came out making money, the judge agreed with them and gave them a hefty settlement. The insurance company whined about the hand slapping and it went all the way to the Supreme Court who upheld the fine against them and both the city and the insurance company ended up eating the cost."

 

Principal Madison and President Bartlett shake their heads. Josette finds the file on her PADD and passes it to Doc.

 

"Definitely overkill." he hands it back. "Especially with how healthy most of the population is and our low birthrate."

 

Josette nods. "That's something I'm keeping in mind for the future though. Right now the medical centers can handle all the current needs."

 

"What's the demand for the pizzeria?"

 

"Good, they have ten full-time employees on each shift, six of them who deliver offplanet. Not this year but next year we might open it for eating there. We don't want to take business away from the pizza parlors in town."

 

Josette snorts. "Trust me, you're not. They were going to come talk to you about opening it to sit down eating after a few months depending on what the demand is when the burger place opens. Yes, I'm growing portobellos." The others nod.

 

"Does everybody have specialty pizzas?"

 

Josette nods. "That way they don't seem to be chain places. Just like the chicken place and soon, the burger place."

 

"What do they need for sit down eating?"

 

"I've got the list, I was going to head out there after the meeting to talk to them."

 

"Ms. Takahawa, is there a problem?"

 

"Not really, the others would like you to open for sit-down orders depending on what the demand is after the burger place opens. We were talking about it but didn't want to take away business from the pizza parlors, they were going to talk to us about you opening for full service."

 

"We'd have to talk to them about what we'd need."

 

Josette nods. "I have the list and I can take in more scrub trees for another load of paper products. We can either turn the salad bar into a pizza bar or use it for salads and make another." Josette hands it over then starts pacing the room.

 

"Shakers for cheese and hot pepper flakes." Josette nods, sighs, and makes a note on her PADD. "Using them in cheese?"

 

"Yes. Now booths or tables? These or smaller tables?" Josette waves a hand and changes the room. The woman pokes something and smiles as her finger sinks into it. "Just seeing how it looks, that way you can make what changes you want."

 

"The tables and chairs?"

 

"Took this room's to our woodworking building to be sanded, stained, and resealed. That way you can use the back room for breaks and talking to employees."

 

"I like the idea of a salad and pizza bar." They talk a couple hours and Josette makes more notes, then brings in maintenance.

 

"Thank you Josette, you moving furniture will allow us to give the dining halls the good cleaning they needed that we couldn't do before."

 

Josette nods. "You can't carry the tables and chairs out into a hallway and they don't fit through the doors."

 

"Let me know when you need the others. I'd probably start with the new burger place floor." He nods and makes a note before looking at the walls and carpeting.

 

"I'd have liked to start with yours since it's the oldest but . . ."

 

"It's also still in use. We could move to one room to give you a chance to work on the other."

 

"That would help. We can get the burger place rooms finished before winter."

 

"Can't exactly leave the windows open to help the carpeting dry during the winter."

 

"Not right away." Josette says at lunch, leaning over Principal Madison's shoulder and looking at everybody in the front room. "Maintenance is going to come out and clean the front and back room. Since ours is in use I told them we could move to one room while the other is being worked on." The others nod. "They're going to start on the burger place floor, get it ready to open by the Lights Festival, they might be able to get that entire building finished before winter.

 

"Tables and chairs?"

 

"I've got a batch in the woodworking building to sand, stain, and reseal. Alexander can look them over to see if they need his special touch beyond that. He and Michael can join me after the orders are done for the year. Though. . . "/Michael./

 

/Yeah/ he says in Hank's building. "Josette." He says at their looks. /Watcha need?/ He says mentally and out loud. She passes on that plan to open the pizzeria to sit down dining and them wanting a separate area for the pizza bar. /Gotcha, Hank and I will look it over and see what they need./ "Parlors want the pizzeria to open to sit down dining next year, they want a separate area for the pizza bar, they're keeping the salad bar." Josette passes on the rest of the information. "They're going to start cleaning the dining halls, starting with the one that's opening for the burger place, Josette's got a dining room of tables and chairs in the woodworking building to sand, stain, and seal."

 

"I'll look them over to see if they need any work before she does. Are they going to change out the dining rooms for the pizzeria?"

 

"Beyond painting and either cleaning or replacing the carpeting I don't know. Most pizzerias have booths. . .and smaller tables."

 

"You can't clean the carpeting around booths."

 

"Not that some places cleaned it anyway, you could tell."

 

"No, they just did spot work. Our places all clean after hours every few days. Either the robots or by hand."

 

Alexander walks into the woodworking building and sees the tables lined up and the chairs sitting in rows stacked on top of each other.

 

"I looked and I can't see any major work that needs done beyond sanding, staining, and sealing. This is from the first room of the pizzeria, that way maintenance can clean and paint nights if it needs it after they close. Once they're done with that room, they're starting on the burger place to have it ready before it opens." He nods and starts checking everything, nodding in agreement.

 

"I concur with your diagnosis, Dr. Takahawa." He says, his lips twitching.

 

"Ahhhh. . ." Josette rolls her eyes. "Stripping or sanding?"

 

"Stripping, then sand anything left over and to expose the grain." He grabs containers and brushes, flipping on the air filtration system as they start painting the tables, using the edges of the foam brushes to get it into tight areas."

 

"How long?"

 

"At least two hours, once it bubbles up and turns colors we can start scraping. We should be able to get at least this row of tables and part of the next ready for stripping by bed."

 

"Will it bother anything if it's left overnight?"

 

"Nope, once it's bubbled up and turned it's harmless. This is used in stripping good furniture, not the cheap shit that can dissolve stuff if it's left on too long, Hank and the people who make or refinish quality furniture use it. They also use it when restoring antiques."

 

Josette delivers everything back to the front room of the pizzeria, picking up the furniture from the burger joint so it can be worked on next. Once that's done Josette's busy bringing in the crops and taking her finals.

 

"Did we get the burger place finished?"

 

"Yes."

 

"Other rooms?"

 

"I picked up the stuff for the second floor yesterday while I was delivering the animal planet order and picking up the recycling. They're definitely going to have the second floor cleaned and painted by the end of the year but probably not anything else since they're going to be removing flooring that needs replacing over the winter. These are the stores I chose for the flooring. . ." Josette sends them the files and they nod. "Now, do we want a showcase type building, where we can come and look over stuff before we order it or go to the individual stores?"

 

"Hmmm, I'd say individual stores since we don't really have a reason for that type of building." President Bartlett says, the others nod.

 

"That's what we thought too, but I had to bring it up." Josette says. "Mostly when people redecorate they look stuff up on the server then order it." They nod.

 

"Anything else?"

 

"Alexander's going to be working on the tables and chairs that need work, though we won't be working on the others until maintenance is working on those rooms. Alexander has some special orders to start, including highboys, wardrobes, and other cabinets since nobody on Earth ever has enough closet space."

 

David snorts. "And three of those aren't going to be for you for quilts. Either the kits or the finished ones?"

 

Josette sighs and nods. The others laugh. "And I'm on my third file cabinet for quilt patterns.

 

After Thanksgiving they head to the other dimensions, sighing as they're dressed in formal clothes and inducted into both pantheons. Then they sit down with agents and start hammering out details for shows and custom furniture before Josette starts working on the recycling and heading to Vegas with Susan and the twins.

 

"Humanity is stupid." Josette sighs as she slides into her seat at the 9th planet 'government' room.

 

"Amen, but we already knew that. What happened?" Dr. Stark asks.

 

"You'll get the details in the next databurst but the Russian President tried invading the United States to take out the factories because the asshole in chief would have to stop the war then and his troops got their asses kicked six ways to Sunday. Not by the military, but by civilians. So he's got egg on his face but trying to bluster on because 'he's' the Russian President and whatever he says is the truth has to be the truth. Because he said so. Of course he has no idea what his people were doing in the US."

 

"Idiot, between that and the attacks on Luthor he's proving that he's on his way out." General Harris sighs.

 

"Yep, his former supporters have shunned him, he's under indictment from the world court. . .who are stunned that they're not charging Luthor for war crimes, and Luthor is using it for more propaganda."

 

"He's using the world court for his own agenda."

 

Nods from the others. "Once he no longer needs them, he'll take them out with any other courts, making him the only authority. If the world survives."

 

"Yes, because the old Russian bear will not go quietly. He wanted to go back to the good old days of the glory of the Soviet Union and the rest of the world under his thumb, not the American president's. He's already pouting because his former countries told him screw you and kicked his people out of office, wanting their independence and when he tried taking one back by force he got sanctions from the other world governments and his ass kicked when Luthor helped kick his troops out. And he lost the troops and what 'supporters' he had in the country."

 

"Death toll?"

 

"Rising, Africa is a mess, they're down under half their population from before the war. The wars are over but terrorist groups are popping up and there's still famine." Josette hugs Dad when she walks through Eureka, looking at the movie theater and pizza parlor.

 

"Let me know when you need me to start copying the tapes." He nods. "And they'll be contacting you next year about supplies from the paper factory. Soooooo, did they talk you into shows and special order furniture there?" She gives him a sour look and he laughs.

 

 

 

Josette fills her plate at the Albatross nest and opens a bottle of pop.

 

"Anything beyond Josette's brainstorm about grab bags of supplies and patterns, you don't see what you get until you open it at home?" Agatha asks.

 

"Yeah, David brought something up earlier this year. I said I'd ask when he reminded me at the Harvest Festival." Everybody looks her direction and Sue waves for her to come to the front of the room. "A building just for looms? We'd have to take them apart when the big building was needed for other stuff. While we can spin anywhere, the looms need head room, especially the larger ones."

 

"Do we have any?"

 

"Edinborough has several, Assyrian has them, I have some, and so does the school itself. We also have several in the supplies yet and I'd thought of seeing if Hank and the others could make more after they finish the last apartment orders next year."

 

"Weaving and spinning?" Josette nods. "I figured I'd ask Edinborough and Assyrian what we'd need for a building dedicated to it instead of just putting them in a room."

 

"Weavercrafthall to use a Pernism." Sue chuckles.

 

"Is there a demand for wedding dresses?" Somebody else asks.

 

"I don't think so but if so it's something that can be made special order." Agatha says slowly. "Josette, do you have bridal shops copied?"

 

"Probably, if they're not in malls we have linked I have them in limbo. But I can't see the fancy lavish weddings people paid thousands of dollars for."

 

"Me either. Thank god." Agatha says. "Soooo," She looks over at Josette. "Did the others get their way about shows and special orders in their dimension?" She laughs at Josette's expression.

 

"Are you looking at any factories?"

 

"A few. Rug yarn. . .though that's probably going to be another complex. A factory to make area rugs, including the braided ones, slippers. ..though with better bottoms since the damn things wore out at the side too soon if you walked on one side or the other. . ." Nods from everybody in the room. "Socks beyond what we knit or on the machines since the stores we have are going to run out soon, I've got a list of factories to make flooring, and paint. The rug yarn, socks, and slippers might come out in a couple years, with the others coming out as needed."

 

"Amen and thank you on fixing the bottoms of slippers. I could never find a decent pair in the store.

 

"If they weren't too small on the bottom, they didn't have elastic around your ankle and you were walking on the back of them."

 

"Or they were the ones you just stuck your foot in and walked out of more than you walked in them." Everybody nods and laughs. "And don't even get me started on the shoes like that. I was shopping somewhere and someone came up to exchange shoes, asking the woman to take the tag off so her daughter could wear them out. Her feet were cold. Well yeah, most of your foot was bare in those damn things and it was winter."

 

"B. . .bu . . .but if I wear boots I won't be cool." Somebody blubbers across the room. Everybody sniggers.

 

"Ballerina slippers."

 

"Didn't cover your whole foot so your ankles were cold unless you wore socks."

 

"Which defeats the purpose of slippers keeping your feet warm." After the meeting Josette flips everything back to various places in the dorm and helps wash everything up in the back room, everything being claimed or put away in the back room before Josette heads back to the school, filling her tray and sliding into a seat.

 

"So what are you plans after lunch?"

 

"We've got to plant upstairs, do we want to do that before we head to the first planet or after? If we wait until after we head, I'm making tortillas."

 

"Are you out?"

 

"No, I just wanted to get a few batches ahead. Or. . ." Josette grins. "Since the kids are with their grandparents and the others are gone for a few weeks we could head to the island or the first planet for a bit then plant when we come back in an hour."

 

"Or you and the boys can actually look at the information about shows and custom furniture the others gave you."

 

Josette makes a rude sound that has the others laughing.

 

"Did you two get finished with the 2nd floor furniture?"

 

"No, we will be in a couple days."

 

"2nd floor furniture?"

 

"Maintenance has started cleaning the empty dining rooms. We took care of the tables and chairs at the burger place so it'd be all nice when they open."

 

"Pizzeria?"

 

"They've got the front room done and we'll start on the others before they open after the Harvest Festival. Right now the boys are busy making pizza bars since they're keeping the salad bars. That means growing more lettuce for salads, cherry tomatoes, and other toppings. Including dressings." The others nod as Josette heads to their salad bar to fill a plate.

 

"They'll need more employees?"

 

"Yep, waitresses and dishwashers for each shift. They're looking into the first floor and possibly the second for sit down eating, the other floors for delivery."

 

The others shake their heads. "The dining halls won't be sitting empty this time."

 

"Nope, the pizzeria, the burger place, the chicken place. People taking classes here."

 

After lunch everybody heads upstairs to start planting in the hydroponics and greenhouse, heading to the first planet the next day and returning six weeks later for them.

 

"Island?" Principal Madison chuckles seeing the suspiciously darker skin even with sunscreen.

 

"I'd say the first planet. Josette's still thinking about that windmill to help water the crops there. They were talking about staying a while to see if there'd be enough breeze."

 

"And it could help augment the solar panels, though I can't see them being drained on the first planet."

 

"Not with 12 hour days." The astronomy teacher says. "What kind of setup do they have there?"

 

"Small huts for sleeping and a larger one with the kitchen, a bathing area, and the septic unit. That's the one that takes the largest amount of power."

 

"Stasis unit for food?"

 

"A small one for leftovers and what they bring out. They bring back anything that will go bad." Doc, Renny, and Long Tom come into the back room and talk to them for a few minutes getting nods. Principal Madison looks at Josette when they leave. "The work Clark wanted to do on the dorm?"

 

"Yeah, they're starting something tomorrow and it will be a few days. We'll head to the ranch to give them free access after lunch."

 

"Is that a real fire?" Susan asks, looking into Josette's bathroom and the new circular depression surrounded by a fence in the middle of the room.

 

"No, the slider bar next to you turns it up or down, all the marble makes this room cold." Josette says. "I got the inspiration from a fanfic." Susan chuckles as Josette continues checking her linen closet.

 

They're back at the dorm by the time the kids come back from visiting both sets of their grandparents.

 

"Did you talk to Drs. Stark and Blake about internships?"

 

"Yeah, we're heading to Wayne Industries in two more years." Josette grins. "The twins will probably be going to GD while the others take over Stark. The babies can have 9th planet GD when they finish their degrees." The boys snigger since they can see them doing just that. "They *are* my kids." Josette says with a grin.

 

"Hank, you busy?" Josette asks a few days later.

 

"Another idea to make me whimper for after the orders are finished next year?" He smirks at her.

 

"Possibly, looms?"

 

"I'd need schematics." His PADD beeps the incoming file announcement and he opens it. "I'll look at everything and get back to you."

 

"No big hurry, we're talking about putting up a building just for the looms and spinning."

 

"Do you have some in storage?"

 

"Yes, if we have to we can duplicate them, but we don't have all the looms that were available."

 

"The schools?"

 

Josette nods. "We've all got some, there's a list of looms with the ones we have marked and another list of the most common that we'd probably have set up once we have a building just for weaving with plenty of headroom. We'd have had to break them apart when the big building was needed for something else and the ceiling was too low on the second floor, even if there'd been the room for them."

 

"Spinning too?"

 

"Yeah, but we can do that anywhere there's an empty corner."

 

"How long do I have?"

 

"Not for a couple years, we're still at the planning stage. Which includes finding a central place in town to put the building. Once we have it designed."

 

"The Harperhall doesn't want a Weavercrafthall on the school grounds?" He asks, his lips twitching.

 

"We've already got one in the textiles buildings." She snorts. "David made the same joke."

 

"Let me look over everything and I'll get back to you."

 

"No hurry, like I said we've got to design the building and figure out where to put it first."

 

"How is the glass factory coming along?"

 

"They'll be finished with the clear glass stock around the end of next year, they're making extra for the planned mirrors, then start working on the colored glass supplies. Then they'll going to start working on the formulas for crystal."

 

"The mirrors?"

 

"They're starting the building this spring, the exterior should be finished by next Thanksgiving, that will allow them to furnish it over the winter."

 

"9th planet stuff?"

 

"Going to be done with the exteriors by the end of the year. Come their next spring I'll start bringing out the other buildings. Most of your building is pre-fab, the sticking point is going to be the ventilation for when you're silvering the mirrors. And the room to cut and grind them." Hank nods. "Just like our new building is going to be designed with large windows for natural light but won't fade the fabric we're working on." Josette sighs and makes a note on her PADD. Hank looks at her. "Dyeing the yarn to be weaved." He chuckles and Josette walks off, heading to the yarn store. Some of the people from the manufacturer on the vampire planet are there and she grins at Elaine, hopping on the counter since the store's empty. "Do we need a building just for dyeing or keep using the big building or my place for it?" Everybody blinks then moans, face palming.

 

"'Xactly, I got hit by that just now while I was talking with Hank about making more looms when the animal planet orders are finished."

 

"Do you have a place in limbo?"

 

"Probably, I'll check after the Lights Festival since we won't be needing the building for a while." 'and I gotta check on the supplies of dyes.' she thinks as she stops to the bakery for some doughnuts before heading back to the dorm, finding the boys putting up the outside lights.