Josette blinks and looks at David who smirks when she finds everybody in the audience for the graduation. Back at the dorm there's food put out to celebrate their graduation. Michael and Alexander's diplomas are put on the wall since somebody had already made their frames.

"Josette, are you going to go for the mechanical engineering degree?" Doc asks.

"I probably should since I got the chemical and electrical degree, maybe in a few years. Right now I'm concentrating on finishing multiple degrees I had started."

The crops start coming in and everybody is busy over the next couple weeks, The news of Thomas's world getting all those orphans makes everybody happy that his world will survive but sad at the life they must have led.

"Did you give them a power supply?"

"Yes, and the boxes and plans for both for the future. This way the power grid can start to be replaced."

Calvin and Principal Madison come in after walking through the school grounds and making plans for the future. They've got a good list of stuff and Josette knows there's just a big a list for the dorm.

"So what's the latest on the moron?" Josette asks Bronwen.

"He pouted about it but he went to the work dimension to pay off what he owed them. He whined that they should use the money they got from the sale to pay for everything but the courts said he wasn't getting off that*easy." The others snort and nod. "Yeah, so he's off making money for that, to get a place to live, and extra money beyond what he makes on his job for bills. He's whining about the supplier being paid twice but the court told him it was his own damn fault for being an asswipe."

"Which he also whined about?" Pat snorts.

"Exactly. The supplier will be reopening next year. Both of us have invitations to the special event. And yes, we can bring guests so we'll let you know when to come out." she tells Pat. "The closer we come to the date, I'll put out the announcement."

Frances comes up to Josette at dinner. "Sooo, you buy that supplier's stock that moron on the databurst was whining about?"

"Yes, but it's going to stay on the ship for now since we just got that order in." Frances nods. "We've got invites to the special grand re-opening, I'll put the date up on the server the closer it gets." Frances nods again and heads back to the front room. "Josette got the supplier's stock."

Elaine gives her a 'yeah and?' look that has everybody around them sniggering. "It staying on the ship since we just got that large order in and are expecting our usual orders when we get in the school supplies?"

"Yes, and she's got an invite to the grand re-opening, the closer we get to the date she'll put the announcement up."

The offworld harvests start coming in and Josette's busy going offworld two to three times a week. The others come out when she goes out to the first planet to pick the ripe peppers, herbs, and tomatoes, walking through the building after taking the dome down.

Josette walks into the cafe on the 9th planet, kissing Clarinda and Grandpa Charles on their hair where they're talking at a table before heading to where Vincent is waiting. The pair look at her then Dr. Cross.

"Josette grows tomatoes, peppers, and herbs on the first planet and sells them to the other planets." True to his word Josette waves a hand and bushels appear on the tables, Vincent and Josette haggling over everything before it goes in the back. He waves her to the table where Ma Clarinda and Charles are pointedly looking at a seat. Settling in the chair she looks at the beep of an incoming message on her PADD, blinking as she reads it and guffaws, passing it along to Dr. Stark.

Vincent looks at them, Dr. Stark is sighing as he passes it along to Ma.

"It seems some nitwit on Calvin's Earth is trying to outlaw anybody buying fabric." He says dryly.

"The socialites and those women who need a new wardrobe every year will be up in arms over that." Ma Clarinda says dryly.

"Probably somebody trying to keep his wife or daughters from spending so much on clothes." Charles snorts.

"Hell, just socks, underwear, and bras add up. Last time I went underwear shopping it was nearly a hundred dollars. And that was just six packs of underwear, eight or ten packs of socks, and a few bras, not the fancy shit."

"Yes, I'm sure cooler heads will knock some sense into his." Vincent sighs as he puts the plate down in front of Josette.

Another beeping has her looking at her PADD. "Oh. . .it's him. Figures."

Dr. Stark sighs. "The man is a menace."

"Amen. He was demanding that the supplier turn over the information on who brought his inventory so he could demand it back as well as the money from the sale."

"Leaving the person who brought it with nothing? Figures."

"Yes, he was stunned when the court refused the case and the media laughed at him. They'll treat him like the moron he is until he slinks away or somebody else does something stupid to make the news."

"Which happens all too frequently." Billy says walking into the cafe. "Because there's got to be somebody being drunk and stupid who wants to have their face in front of a camera."

"Yep, as that celebritwat proved on Earth." The others look at her and she tells the whole story, getting shaking heads and laughter. "Which just proves some parents should have had their parents stopped from breeding. Because as the Kardashians proved, they'll marry egos as big as theirs are."

"And of course they have to have their reality shows." Ma says.

Josette snorts. "Reality isn't." The others look at her. "Yes, some fool woman wanted Alexander and I to star in our own reality show, sued to have us declared incompetent and put in her care but since she didn't know our real names, addresses, or anything else the judge talked to Harvey, who called us and told her to go away. Yeah, tv needed to see us walking the dogs, cleaning the litter boxes, or Alexander pulling his underwear out of his asscrack when he wears a certain pair of pants. Of course she was stunned we didn't want to drop everything and move to Hollyweird. Because we wouldn't have been the stars of the show, she would have been. Just like the boys first agent wanted to be the star of the show."

"Those type of people become agents since they can't make it as stars on their own." Billy snorts. Josette nods and starts the second plate Vincent puts in front of her.

"Did you go out to Doc's dimension?"

"Yeah, I got some stuff there, went to Vegas to start an education fund. Did a few other things." Josette shrugs.

She slumps onto the couch a few weeks later.

"Is that it for the offworld harvests?"

"Yes, this last one today is ours so once it's done it's over until everything is delivered." Josette looks at the clock and closes her eyes for a twenty minute power nap, the others chuckling.

The next day Sue opens her store to find Josette assdeep in fabric.

"More quilts?"

"Eight notebooks last year. And yes, I've already got book ideas." Sue sniggers and starts measuring the bolts Josette had put in the remnants bin. Josette continues scanning tags as she cuts fabric and puts everything in bags, marking off items on her lists as she goes.

Sue looks at the bolts to replace and smiles when she sees Josette already has them on the checkout counter. The empty bolts go in the back to either be refilled, replaced, or recycled.

"What's the schedule for the school?"

"Seventeen years with this one. Once everybody's gone we're doing massive cleaning and possibly updating of the buildings. I know Principal Madison and Granda have a list started. Granda's also busy starting other projects on Earth."

"Supplies?"

"Massive shipments every other month until the school closes so we have stuff on hand. Granda and the others put up a building for an industrial freezer and then enlarged it." Sue sniggers but nods. "No matter how much room you think you have you always run out."

"Did they ever decide on a spot for the superstore in Albatross?"

"Yep and they're bringing it out next year. So you might be getting larger shipments than you thought. Especially since Bronwen and Hannah were looking at the stores and sighing." Josette sniggers and runs her card, wincing at the price even with the employee discount.

"Going to have to sell more books."

Josette sighs. "That's something I talked with them about when we went out for Christmas." Sue chuckles at the hangdog look. "I've got a whole new fandom raving about the first book and I'm going on another book tour when we go out after Thanksgiving." Sue bites her lip to keep from cackling, Josette can see her doing it.

"Go ahead and laugh, the others sure as hell did." Josette says, rolling her eyes. "So anyway, beyond my bitching, whining, pissing, and moaning is there anything we need? From the warehouses or the containers?"

"No, we brought out enough from the containers that we can get inside. We've all made lists of what we had to bring in before it starts snowing." Josette nods and heads off to Agatha's.

"How many quilts do you have done?"

"Four more from the old notebooks and I'll have three more done before the party, these are for the new ones. She checks her list and starts bringing out bolts of material and bags, marking off the last item as the others finish bringing out new bolts to replace what Josette nearly emptied. The ones who'd gone off to help Sue snigger as they return. "Josette had already brought out replacement bolts."

"Is this for all the quilts?"

Josette counts the bags in subspace and shakes her head. "Not even a quarter of them."

Josette sniggers a few days later, ducking her head into the Albatross Nest. "Granda's putting up a designer shop on the school grounds for the old biddies who want a new wardrobe every season."

"Did somebody finally shoot that old fool who kept causing trouble there? Or plant their foot up his ass sideways?"

"No, he's ducking and keeping quiet. He 'claims' he doesn't know why he does this stuff."

"He's an idiot?" Marilyn says dryly. Sniggers from everybody in earshot.

"He's trying for the 'victim of my illness' defense to try to get back to his now ex and cushy position since having to work for a living is hard." Somebody else snorts. Josette nods. "So anyway they're talking about on the school grounds by the new spa buildings. Of course somebody is complaining about them making plans for the future and got told to sit in a corner."

"What he wanted them to weep, wail, gnash their teeth, and beat themselves with hairshirts?" Suzie snorts.

"But the public schools can't do that." Josette mock-wails.

"Yeah, the public schools have to toe the state line. Private schools are businesses and can tell whiners to go away."

"Oh please god don't get me started on the idiots who wanted to change how the school ran, be it the government or private individuals. I'm sure Granda has just as many horror stories."

"Just like we have horror stories of so-called 'efficiency' experts and customers trying to tell us how to run the businesses." Agatha says. Josette nods. "People who don't have a clue but figure they know better than people actually doing the damn job."

"So, any chance of one opening at the school here?" Sue asks with a smirk.

"Principal Madison just gave me that look when we got the message and reminded me that we have both the stores and Pat to special order clothes. We don't need a designer."

"And any of us would knock the teeth in of one of those fool women you hear about in the news, ordering garments and walking off because they're special."

"I see where one of them got her ass handed to her by the court and she was barred from some of the designers showrooms. So she's got to buy off the rack." The others make pooor baby and oh god the horror sounds before laughing.

After her finals and picking up the recycling Josette looks out the window. "This is going to stick."

"Yep, we're looking for a long, cold winter."

"One of the reasons we replaced the furnace this summer, it probably would have gone up at the worst time."

"Did everybody get extra wood?"

"Yep. Thankfully we have that and plenty of quilts to stay warm."

"How is it on Haven?" Doc asks when Josette joins the others at the manor. "I know the weather satellite was forecasting a cold winter."

"Yep, it's already snowed and sticking. Going to be a long one."

"Did you finish your Princeton degree?"

"Yes, and I'm visiting the school while we're out."

"How long is your tour?"

"Only nine days, Joanne's going to talk to me tomorrow about possibly a second one if this one goes okay."

"Did James ever write his book?"

"Yes, I'm taking him in tomorrow to talk to a non-fiction agent along with copies of the books about Haven."

Madison introduces Principal Madison to the non-fiction/biography agent as Josette is pulled away by Joanne. A bag is pushed on her. Looking inside she puts it in subspace. "Sales are good, your other books are getting more interest as Jessica and Madison will tell you in a minute." Jessica laughs as she comes in. "Yes they are, we're looking at reprinting some of them."

The contracts are read over and signed before they talk about the book tour and Josette returns to the manor ten days later. She flops onto the couch and waves a hand, boxes and bags appearing on the floor. "That one. . ." she points at one. "Is the empty pens." David laughs and puts them in the replicator to refill. "The damn shorter ones are worse than the longer ones since you usually have a day when you're traveling to relax."

"One city?"

"Three, a couple places in each one, an hour away by the train." The others nod. "I lived out of my bag. And there's stuff in there that needs washing."

Anna waves her off and starts unpacking it, taking the bags of clothes to the washers, adding detergent pods, and starting them before coming back to the living room. Josette's already asleep on the couch, one arm trailing off the side and the other over her eyes. The Josette that had been with them chuckles as she puts stuff away.

An hour later they merge and Josette belches after the pizzas are ordered and picked up and they've eaten. "I miss anything?"

"Morons whining about how we have to give them our land so they can tear everything down for condos, malls, and whatever else they wanted." David rolls his eyes. "Well they'd give us a few thousand . . .out of the kindness of their hearts." Josette says something rude in Russian. "Basically. . .yeah. The judge told them to go the hell away and there's plenty of land for sale. Then there was the moron who wanted to turn the land into a resort, she got told no when she sued demanding we sell to her."

"Don't we know who she is?" Josette snorts. "Yeah, thankfully those types of morons are falling by the wayside. Granda's plans for the land look good."

"Yep, they're all trying to do the same thing he is and failing miserably." Alan snorts.

A couple weeks later their time David opens the tesseract to Haven, the students heading to the auditorium to have their bags checked while employees head to their rooms. Josette starts bringing out supplies as the others head to the dorm.

Back at the dorm she accepts the letter a house elf holds out. Reading it, she slides down the door, holding her ribs as she cackles. David looks at her then at the letter as she waves it. He reads, blinks, reads again and sniggers.

"Everybody, Becka is expecting again."

"Wasn't Daniel starting university?" Susan asks with a smirk.

"Yup. Alexander and George had always planned on more children, so did their friends Strongfort and Kelly. There must have been something in the water, Benton is having triplets. . .so is Kelly and Becka. Idina, Danita, George, and Alexander are having twins. They're planning on taking the next year off."

"Aren't Rebecca and Arthur starting high school next year too?"

"Yep, they had a special shopping trip earlier since they figured they were all pregnant and would be too close to delivering next summer. Eliza will be a senior. And the babies will be starting first grade."

"Ten bucks says there's more kids in the future."

"Sucker bet."

Josette settles in her usual spot at the Albatross Nest for the party, balancing a couple plates on her legs and opens a bottle of pop.

"Josette, when are the towels going to be delivered?"

"Early next year. I checked on them when I took out the cotton and trees for the charmin type tp and they were just over halfway done with the orders."

"Quilts." Agatha orders after everybody's eaten and washed their hands. Josette waves a hand and the table is covered.

"Books?"

"Yes, I'm working on them slowly."

"How many?" Somebody asks.

"Thirty-six, eight books from this last batch of books since I could make three or even four books out of some of them."

"You're going to have the most quilting books of any person on any world." Suzie says.

"Tell me about it." Josette moans. "I keep dreaming I'm walking into a library of congress type building but they're all my books." The others snigger and Josette puts the quilts in subspace before the cookies and kits are passed out. The leftovers are packed up after everything is washed and pushed on Josette. Heading back to the dorm she puts everything away.

"The others are coming out on the 9th planet." Alan says after the first of the year.

Josette nods. "We're going out to put the ship together next week."

"How long were you gone?" David asks when they return from Becka's dimension.

"Six weeks, that was with taking the empty shipping containers back to America to be reused. They had multiple areas set up since we were talking a couple million. And that's with taking apart the ones that were too bad to be reused." Doc had come up behind them and nods. She sends him a large file. "All the footage from putting the ship together."

"How's Becka?"

"Silas said they're at the counting the days, trying to find something to do stage."

"Yep, once you finally finish everything you've been putting off you're trying to find something to do. . .especially with winter when you're pretty much stuck in the house."

"Do you have an idea of when they're going to be lifting off?"

"Silas says they plan on getting in supplies the rest of the year with the ship lifting off next year."

Josette sends the footage to President Bartlett and Principal Madison at the meeting they'd put off a couple days because Josette was in the other dimension.

"A good bit of work."

"And a lot of containers."

"Silas was talking that if they build another one it will be in North America where they can get the supplies to the site as they're needed. Because we did a good bit of hunting for stuff."

"Instead of having the last things needed arriving first and back to the first thing you needed being the last thing offloaded?" President Bartlett drawls. "Because doing it that way would make sense."

"Yep. Of course this was also part of the plan to resettle Europe. If some asshats hadn't played mas machos they'd have had a few thousand people living in Europe for the twenty years it took to build everything and beyond that."

"We all know morons who have to push their weight around and then come off looking like idiots at best or bullies."

"Have you checked the building lately?" Principal Madison asks.

"Yeah, before we went out. The furnaces are running and it's settling in well. I'll give it another year protected before I take down the dome."

"And you'll let the others know?"

"Trust me, you'll hear the screams when I do." The two men snigger and nod.

"First batch of teachers and employees are heading home."

"Yes, I brought out some supplies when we returned after Thanksgiving and I'll bring out more midterms. More next year and again a couple years after that when the cooking teachers start packing up their belongings."

"What's going to become of the buildings?"

"Assyrian are taking them and the flocks over." President Bartlett nods in satisfaction. "That year we should start seeing the drop in class sizes."

"Books?"

Josette sighs and says something mildly rude, getting chortles from her loving 'father' and 'grandfather'. "The second book in the series is coming out sometime this year, the date hasn't been settled yet. They're looking at another book tour to announce it's release date. We'll talk later."

"Quilting books?"

"I got four finished with more just needing one or two more quilts. If I have to I'll head to the ships and work on them. We'll probably start printing in a couple years."

Josette returns to the dorm, finding the living room full of stuff.

"Crystals?"

"Yes please." Doc's voice says from somewhere. Josette grabs the gun and starts shooting. "I'm going to make a special trip out to the first planet to grow ghost peppers. You want some?"

"Yes, have you told the others yet?"

"Not yet, I was going to send out the announcement before lunch, Depending on how many people respond I'll plant more than one raised bed."

The message goes out before they walk to lunch and by the end of the hour she's got over three dozen responses. And they're still coming in.

"Yep, I'd plant all three beds." David says, looking over her shoulder.

"I'll start seedlings this afternoon." Josette says. On Ulonda she starts seedlings and checks on a few things before flying back to the dorm. A few minutes she comes out of her first floor room muttering and shoots her old microwave.

"We knew it was going to go up eventually, either frying or having the bottom fall out of it." David says as Josette brings a new one from the room where they'd put appliances and stuff.

"Yep." Josette puts it in the kitchen and heads upstairs, finding the others taking care of the socks and other knitting or bringing in new pallets of yarn.

"Are we expecting more snow?" Susan looks out the window at the dark sky.

"Yes, another six inches by tomorrow night. Thankfully the snow blowers don't run on gas anymore, we'd be filling them every other day."

"Not quite that often." Doc says dryly as he comes up from the basement. "Every third day." Josette laughs at the teasing tone. "I dunno Doc, I think the people shoveling paths wouldn't agree with you. They're out nearly every day."

"Josette, is this ready to pick?" Susan asks from the plant room. Josette walks in. "Yep." She looks at Susan who picks the 'hamburger'. They cut it in half, in half again and so on until everybody has some.

"Needs toppings." David says. Josette nods. The food replicator and storerooms get hit by everybody before Doc heads to Headquarters and they head to the dining hall for dinner.

Josette leans between Principal Madison and Professor Druid. "The plants I planted after I brought yours out are beginning to produce."

"Thank you Josette, I'll check them after dinner."

"Warning, the hamburger isn't bland bland, but you'll want toppings."

Principal Madison chuckles. "Does Doc know?"

"He was there when Susan asked if it was ready to pick. I sent off messages to the others before we left the dorm."

CJ looks at the computer's beep. "Dad, we need to check the plants. Josette says she picked a burger from hers. Oh. . ..and while it's not bland bland. You'll want to add toppings."

"We've become accustomed to spices in our food."

They find a burger ready to pick and cut it into thirds. After a few bites they nod and go into the kitchen, adding their choice of toppings.

A week later Josette heads to the first planet, planting the peppers in the ground a few days after that. Between her fortress, the satellite, and the building several months pass and Josette brings literally tons of peppers to Ulonda and brings out bushels of peppers at each stop. As well as strings of already dried peppers.

"Thank you Josette." Adam Kane says as she stops at his sanctuary. "It's been a miserable year and everybody had colds. That complaint is mirrored by Dr. Magnus at the other Sanctuary.

Josette slumps on the couch back at the dorm.

"How many did you harvest?"

"Tons. . .literally. And I dried nearly half of it on the first planet before I left. I've still got some strings of dried peppers and some fresh on the ship."

Midterms Josette brings out containers of socks, hats, mittens, scarves, and gloves she and Maria start counting everything and putting it away.

"Thank you Josette, the stock took a hit the last couple of weeks." Calvin says from the doorway.

"I filled the containers back in the office yesterday, it's bitter ass cold and snowing nearly every day. I think everybody has at least eight sets of everything, they just grab a new set since everything's still wet." Jane nods from her desk.

Josette ducks into Joanne's office, grabbing a magazine since she's still on the phone.

"Sorry, whiny fools who don't like the idea of smut. And there's other groups who got their asses handed to them by the court and the media whining about fairy tales being corrupted. These are same nitwits who whine about Disney.

"They never read the original Grimm's fairy tales then. Or Anne Rice." Josette says.

"Nope, they'd have been horrified. Some old fool was whining about how royalty never have affairs. . .I pointed to Prince Charles and his uncle and they walked off wailing at the collapse of their world." They go over the sales and the plan for a new longer book tour, Joanne nodding at Josette's comments about the shorter book tours and not being able to relax between cities.

"You're not the only one who's had that problem."

Josette stops to a number of chain stores and waves her hand back on Haven, containers and bags appearing in the middle of her first floor room as she hears somebody in her bathroom. David opens the door and nods at her.

"Josette, was there any shipping containers for us?"

"Yes, about twenty-eight, I'm delivering them now."

In the office Joyce nods in satisfaction as the inventory downloads to her PADD and she can see containers appearing in the area set aside for them. Maintenance must have been waiting since they're already opening the first one.

"Get everything delivered?" David asks at dinner.

"Yep, I detoured to the sorting planet before I came home. They were already swarming over everything as I was delivering them, same thing here." The others nod.

"When do you expect to start taking back belongings?"

"Probably finals this semester with teachers and students heading back this year, most definitely by summer midterms." Josette stretches in her chair and yawns.

"How are we on supplies for the returning students and employees?"

"Good, we've got in one shipment and I'll bring in more finals. A double batch next year, then a double batch two years after that since we'll have the cooking school teachers."

"Sixteen years?"

"With this one. More or less. Depending on if we get parents not wanting to send their children away to boarding school or more parents pushing their children away." The others sigh but nod.

Supplies are moved over the next few days and the now empty containers put back on the ship as it starts to finally warm up and the snow melts. Manure is spread on the fields and garden, being tilled under and crops planted as windows start opening in various buildings as rooms are aired out after being shut up so long.

Josette ducks into the office after the students have walked off the ship, looking out the window at all the construction going on. Jane looks up from filling folders for the new students coming in that fall and waves a hand at Calvin's office. "He's just doing paperwork and ignoring whining fools in the government who aren't getting their own way."

Josette snorts and walks in Calvin's office, getting a sigh and paperwork shoved aside.

"How is Haven?"

"Airing out buildings after the long, cold winter. We've still got some snow on the grounds, it will be a couple more weeks until everything's melted. Same as usual."

Calvin nods as they walk outside, inspecting the new additions to the school then driving to the new construction sites. Josette hits various recycling drop-off sites and goes to Vegas before everybody heads back to Haven, the students walking into the auditorium to have their bags checked as she starts delivering stuff.

"We need to clean carpets." Alan calls as she walks into the dorm.

"We can stay at the ranch for the couple of days that would take. We probably need to replace it but that would be a bitch and a half."

"Yep. Probably have to move to the ranch for a year to replace all of them. Not to mention the flooring in the other rooms."

"Yeah, I probably gotta replace the floors in my workroom and paint the walls. Unfortunately that means bringing everything out of my room." Her loving family sniggers and she flips them the bird with a grin.

Alexander sighs. "Maintenance will have to inspect that dining room tables and chairs."

"Wave them for now and take everything out, strip, stain, and seal them after the school closes." The others nod. "They can clean the carpeting and paint while they're doing that."

"All the buildings are going to be worked on for a couple years after the school closes."

Josette looks up a couple days later when Calvin walks into the dorm. "Superstore?"

"Superstore." They fly to Albatross in the flyer, bringing it out. Josette brings out the containers that had been set aside for the store as people begin walking in the building.

The next couple months pass quickly and Josette arrives at the school and waves a hand, piles of boxes and totes appearing various places.

"Returning employees to be picked up. Returning employees to be shipped. Graduating students to be picked up, graduating students to be shipped, and those that have to be sent to embassies." She sends Maria the files.

"Thank you Josette. Christmas plans?"

"First week of the third semester so we'll come out the day before the semester starts." Calvin nods from the doorway. "That's around the same time as the grand reopening so I'll have two ships out, one for that and anywhere else we want to attend and the one for Christmas."

"Your show?"

"Next week, we'll all going to be out for a couple weeks to do some stuff."

"Book tour."

Josette sighs. "I'm finalizing the details tomorrow. It starts a couple days after my show."

"How long?"

"Nine weeks, yes I've got another ship out since the others don't want to stay that long. Even with visiting Vegas." Calvin sniggers as Josette heads off.

Ten weeks later the Josette who'd been on the book tour wobbles into the manor, waving a hand and bringing stuff out of subspace before falling facefirst on the couch for a power nap. Waking up she orders pizzas and wobbles off to start laundry. The empty pens go in the replicator and she heads off to pick up the food, eating as she watches tv.

"How was the tour?" David asks when she comes home and joins with the Josette who'd been with them and the one who'd been on Haven.

"Good, I was able to do a lot of sightseeing and with the longer tour I was able to relax between cities." Josette waves a hand and stuff comes out. I was able to hit comicon and comic book conventions as well as buying stuff at the stores I was visiting." She sighs. "I gotta hit Vegas again to pay for everything." The others snigger. Pat looks at her. "I thought you had gone to Vegas with the others."

"Yes, and I'd already got a lot of money there." More sniggering. "But I was able to buy a few large collections since people were going out of business. Both their private collections and the store stock."

Everything goes in her library for now as she joins the others walking to the dining hall. She detours to the front table and hands Principal Madison a bag she brings out of subspace. "Copies of yours and President Bartlett's books. Joanne passed them along when I came back from the tour to a whiny twit demanding to know why she hadn't gotten a tour like that."

"Because you're an author that sells books, she's a whiny brat?" Professor Druid says with a snort.

"Amen." Amanda snorts. "Lemme guess, one of the reality show people who think they're all that?"

"Basically yeah. She walked off pouting when told her sales weren't good enough for a book tour. She claimed she was going to self-publish her books and sell them to her fans, they're not advertising her."

"Oooh la la." Frances snorts. "Those type of people give me a rash." Josette sniggers because she knows what Frances really meant and heads to the back room.

"Quilting books?"

"I'm been working on them on and off when I finish a quilt. I've got four more books nearly finished."

The second crops and yearly crops start coming in, everybody busy picking gardens, fields, or the u-pick farms. Back on Earth to take in more belongings for the returning employees and students. Everybody's busy with their finals so Josette just drops off piles, sends them the files, fills the containers and drops the total on Jane's desk, getting a nod of thanks before she heads off.

"How was Earth?"

"Busy dealing with their finals and getting in grades. I picked up the supplies, dropped off orders, belongings, and knitted stuff before heading back home." Checking on the building she finds fabric ready to pick that goes on the table before she heads back to the dorm.

"What are you doing?" Clarinda asks, coming out to find Josette putting the lid down on a drying table.

"Drying garlic. Once it's dry we'll grind it into powder. Last year we dried onion the same way." Josette looks up at the sky. "I gotta check the spices, I think we gotta do paprika pretty soon."

"Are you the only one who does this?"

"Oh no, pretty much everybody who has the room to dry large batches will grind them into spices. Even if you don't have to room to grind large batches, there's braiding tops into strings or wreaths and using a coffee grinder."

"Many people use them for spices." Calvin says. "Is your root cellar partially full until the rest of the crops ripen?"

"And the offworld harvests start coming in. I brought out pallets of flour from the sorting planet when I delivered orders. We've also got pallets of rice and barley."

Hannah nods at the room full of large jars of spices with smaller containers ready to be filled as needed. "Did you make pasta?"

"Yeah, we just got done putting it all away. But that will last us for a few years."

"Josette." Principal Madison comes into the dorm. "Have you talked about the dining halls?"

"Yeah, we'll handwave everything this year or next if it needs it, then when the school is shut down we can bring out the tables and chairs, strip, stain, and seal them while the rooms get a good cleaning."

Both Principal Madison and his father nod. "They'll probably need painting by that time and it will take at least a year to get in stocks of everything from the factory. Because all the buildings will need worked on." Both men nod again. They both look at the dorm. "Yes, probably just like the apartments and houses. They all get lived in after a while." Nods from everybody in earshot proving that yes, they had been listening to the conversation.

"We can put out an announcement for the other planets when we're ready to open the factory."

A couple days later Doc calmly plucks the PADD from Josette's hand before she inhales it in a yawn. "Go to bed." he says calmly. "Even if it does turn into one of the instantly wide awake the second you to to bed nights." He looks at what Josette had been working on as she gets up. "Pueblos?"

"Yeah, I was wondering how one of them would stock up to a Haven winter. It would be okay since we have the two suns to add more heat to the walls during the day but I'd say it would do better on the second planet where while it gets cold, they don't have real winters." Taking the PADD she saves everything and sends it to Clark before heading to her room.

Josette heads to Vegas a couple days after they arrive back on Calvin's world for Christmas, flying back and forth since there were no hotel rooms to be had.

"Enjoy yourself?" Doc's lips twitch when she returns to the manor.

"I hit a few big jackpots but other than that. . .meh. The shows were hyped far beyond actual experience and the tickets were through the roof the bigger the name." Snickering from the others. "But I managed to replace everything I spent on my book tour."

"And then some?" Alan says dryly as he walks through.

Josette makes a 'weellllll' noise that has everybody sniggering. "A couple more trips and I'll have the money I spent on the stock repaid." Josette sighs. "Of course I'll probably have more to repay with the sales now." The others snigger and pat her on the shoulder in there, there gestures. She flips them off with a smirk.

After Christmas the half-off sales are hit and David opens the tesseracts for students and employees to head home.

"Is that all the returning students and employees belongings?"

"Should." Josette holds her hand up, waggling it in a yes, no, maybe gesture. "There's always got to be one person to wait until the last possible second." The others snigger and nod. "The floor monitors are pretty good at making sure their students have sent everything home they don't need. . .and even the stuff they think they desperately need." The others snigger, remembering all the stuff students used to have in their rooms before the loss of Earth. "And I'm sure students in every other boarding school in America had just as much shit if the schools didn't put their foot down. And they don't have them sending stuff home their last year."

"Unless they're in a magical school and have a bottomless trunk they can just put everything in before they go." David sniggers.

"Unless they could think about what they wanted that would be a bitch to try to find something." Alan rolls his eyes.

"Everything in trays so you can just flip through them?" Anna snorts. "Go all the way and clothes tossed in them are cleaned, folded, and put away."

"Offworld harvests?"

"Tomorrow."

"Going to need a couple more years of bonuses to pay for your next batch of quilts." David chortles. Josette sighs and nods. "Find out how much money you spent?"

"Yeeesssss. I barely broke even. I'll still need to make a couple trips out to keep a healthy balance in that acount." The others snigger as Josette looks at the clock.

"Is this the last year for the first clocks degree?"

"Yeah, I'm already signed up for the second degree starting next year. And speaking of degrees, how long do you two expect to be able to goof off?" She smirks at Alexander and Michael, the others are sniggering.

"Calvin brought out teachers for us, sat us down, and talked us through degrees. Since Alan and the twins had finished their degrees." Michael moans. Josette sniggers as they walk to the dining hall for lunch.

Josette's not surprised as the kids and most of the women from the Albatross Nest and Sue's store are among the people walking through the tesseract onto the ships. The kids had been looking at land in a couple areas and everybody had to pay for their purchases, put money away for a few major purchases they wanted, or were looking at just having a little extra money in their pockets. Josette makes a mental note to bring out a mall or a superstore for the sorting planet for extra jobs once the bread factory stops running a second shift and lifts off.

David opens the tesseract an hour later, everybody walking through and heading to the library, the communal kitchen, or the temporary housing building as Josette starts bringing out the food. The semester flies by and Josette sighs as she settles in her usual spot at the pushed together tables.

"Quiet."

"We're expecting the first storm of the season later tonight, everybody's getting in last minutes supplies before it starts. Now, are you going back to Doc's dimension?"

"Yes, I'm hitting Vegas again to finish getting money for the university they want me to attend and have money for stuff while I'm out there." Josette blinks at the incoming message beep on her computer.

"Awww." She looks at Dr. Stark. "The city-ship lifted off Becka's Earth today." He gives her a look and she sends the massive file to him, then sending it to the others on the 9th planet, asking them to pass it along to the other dimension.

Josette leans between President and Mrs Bartlett at dinner. "Becka sent a massive e-mail while I was at the testing center with video footage of the cityship lifting off from various positions, including the city-ship itself. I just uploaded it to the server." She sends them the link and password.

"Thank you Josette, we'll look everything over." Professor Druid says. "Did you pass that along to Calvin?"

"First thing I did when I got back, this will give them a hint of what they can expect when the ship is finished. And I had the 9th planet send it to everybody who came out to put the ship together, I'm sure they're happy to see it lift off."

"Do you see them starting a new one?"

"I do, but not for at least the five years that they're going to be on the moon. They're planning two more segments for their satellite, then they're going to be holding off on that for a few years too."

"See how people stand being on a ship that long. . .didn't you say the shifts are shorter on the satellite and moonbase?"

"Yes, I can see the ship either going to investigate the planets Becka's grandfathers found or investigating the other planets in the system." The others nod. It was only after the loss of Earth and Josette being out of time that they had thoroughly investigated the other planets in Earth's solar system.

"That close, they can come back to Earth if they run low on supplies."

Everybody nods. "They'll have to use the first five years as a test and see how much longer they can stay on the city-ship.

Calvin looks over at the incoming e-mail beep and looks at the massive attachments Josette had sent. Clicking on the e-mail he begins to read and nods. "The city-ship on Becka's Earth lifted into space today." He tells Simone and Jane.

"Video?"

"From five different sources Josette says, cameras on Earth. . .the satellite sections. . .they delivered pods of supplies to them on the trip to the moon, the moonbase. . .they delivered supplies there too, Becka's family's ships, and the city-ship itself."

"This should shut up the nay-sayers in the government."

"Doubt it, they're miserable bastards who find fault with everything." Jane snorts. "People like that need to be taken out before they infect the rest of humanity."

Calvin smiles as the tesseract opens and students and employees come out, being met by family and friends. Josette arrives a few minutes later, counting everything as she fills containers with Jane.

"Thank you for the files Josette, I passed them along to people in the know and I'm getting a lot of thanks. . .and whining from the morons in the government who didn't want the city-ship and now that another Earth has one in space no matter how loud they bitch they won't get their way now."

"Those type of people need a big dose of reality upside the head." Josette snorts. "Applied as often as necessary with a clue-by-four."

"Amen." Maria mutters. "The more stupid people need run over by the clue bus. . .fatally if need be."

Doc shakes his head when Josette heads out for a couple days in Vegas.

"They're holding a special sale at a nearby supplier and she's gonna attend something in Vegas. The thing in Vegas is for charity." Doc nods at that. Josette arrives back at the manor a couple days later.

"Charity?"

Josette hands over the information and he nods. "I've attended other benefits for this group."

"Get anything at the supplier?"

"Yes, and I already moved it to the ship. I gotta talk to Madison and the others tomorrow. The cooking story went on the publisher's website today."

"So expect an announcement for the first book in that series coming out soon." David says as he walks through. He looks at Josette. "We got requested to take back some animals from a couple pounds that are closing."

"Yep, I already moved them to the ship."

The animals wake up in their new home, looking around and rubbing against the people filling food and water dishes. Once everything is unloaded Josette and the others head off to the other dimensions, walking in the dorm a couple hours later. Principal Madison looks at them from his spot on the couch.

"Mom Clarinda's dimension and the Tower dimension, I spent a couple weeks in Vegas but I made enough money for that university. Enough for a dual bachelors, masters, and Ph.Ds. . .plus donate to the school for future scholarships and whatnot." Principal Madison shakes his head.

"And a dozen other schools." David says dryly.

"I'm off tomorrow to Momma Clarinda's, they asked me to come out and harvest the sargasso sea of old ships caught in an asteroid belt."

Josette returns the next day.

"How long were you gone?"

"About twenty years? My time. Fifteen of that on the ship harvesting everything. I left a good chunk of the materials with the Legion for their use." She stretches before going upstairs.

Josette settles in her usual spot at the Albatross Nest.

"How are they handling no children on Earth. I know it's normal for them but. . ."

"They're adapting well. Some people are effing morons and bleating that it's not happening until elementary schools start closing. Of course they'll petition the courts not to let them close." Rolled eyes and muttered comments about lack of common sense.

"Quilts?" Sue asks after everybody's eaten and washed their hands and faces.

Josette waves a hand, bringing them out. "I'm close to finishing some books so I'm going to be concentrating on them next year." The others nod.

"Did the kids buy land yet?"

"No, they're still looking and saving money for it, supplies, seeds, and putting up a house a couple years after they've been harvesting."

"And buildings for their seed, machinery, and supplies."

"Yep, that's going to have to happen first."

The quilts are put away and the kits and cookies are passed out, the leftovers packed up and Josette helps clean dishes before she heads to the building, smiling as she pats a wall and picks fabric, yarn, and other supplies. She's already set up her own work area and can see Pat's touch in another area.

Back at the dorm she puts everything away and heads to the dining hall with the others. When they come back they find the others arriving. Bronwen looks at the plans pinned to the corkboard in Josette's workroom, looking around and nodding.

"Have you thought of a building just for your quilts?"

Josette chuckles and crooks her finger at Bronwen.

/Guys, I'm going to show Bronwen the building./

/Frances and Elaine are walking nearby, grab them./ David says.

Josette chuckles and waves for them to follow her. "Okay, today we'll take the flyer. . ."

"Oh my fucking GOD!" Frances yells when Josette picks a blossom from a fabric plant and it grows in her arms. "How?" She, Elaine, and Bronwen examine the fabric once Josette puts it in a rack.

"Nearly a decade ago now I was tapped to harvest a solar system that was going to be lost to a supernova. .." the story is told as the three of them walk through the building. "So anyway I'm leaving it domed another year until it's well settled, even with the furnaces."

"Who else. . .?"

Josette lists who is growing plants in their homes and who is going to be told about the building, getting nods from the others. "Sooo, what do you think of a second building like this one for my quilts?"

"I don't think you need it just yet." Bronwen rolls her eyes as Frances and Elaine look back at the building as they walk to the flyer. "You realize you're going to have to let the others know now."

"Yeah, I'll call everybody and ask them to come out tomorrow."

Principal Madison jumps in his office the next day, he and President Bartlett laughing.

"Josette did say we'd probably hear them scream." President Bartlett says.

In the building Josette waggles a finger in her ear to restore her hearing. Pat, Frances, and Elaine chuckle.

Agatha claps her hands together. "We can't go willy-nilly over this, prices for this fabric is the same as at our stores, the only ones who don't pay are Josette and Pat since this is theirs and they agreed to let us play in their backyard." Nods from the others. "Josette, you says the dome is coming down next spring?"

"Yeah, I wanted to get it settled in before it has to deal with a haven winter, and even then I'm thinking I'll set it to come up for a bad storm." The others nod.

"Is there more fabric?" Suzie asks.

"Tons, I found a building that homecrafters used, they dropped off what they didn't like and got what they did from the shelves." Nods from the others. "Just like we'd trade veggies over the back fence."

"How big did these buildings get?"

"As big as they wanted because they could join them together." Josette finds a picture on her PADD and hands it around, everybody whistling. "That's about eight buildings put together. That was for their priests though, the historians, teachers, scientists who pretty much were the governments of the planets. Much like the five of us run Haven." The others nod.

"How many empty bolts do you have at the universities and stores?" Marilyn asks.

"Yeah, it will be easier to cut fabric off bolts instead of the rolls. Josette, have you used this in anything?"

Josette waves a hand. "Made completely from fabric from the plants, the batting is what they used in blankets, it's similar to wool."

"Just what you'd do for a cold-weather quilt." Josette puts it back in the dorm as everybody looks around one last time and they head off. Josette pulls up her PADD again, sending everybody a tesseract link. "For everybody who can't walk to the building."

The Lights Festival comes and goes, Josette and the others packing up the decorations as something surges in the dorm. Josette looks up. "My workroom, Bronwen asked me if it wasn't time I had a building for my quilts."

"And you do now?" David smirks.

"Probably." Anna says as she fills a container, snaps the lid closed, and puts it on the cart.

"Just like you needed a building just to store your quilts."

"Which you also probably have now." Alexander smirks. "Now we just need to turn your library into a series of buildings linked by hallways."

"One just for comics and pulp magazines." Alan snorts as he puts the cart's containers in subspace, looking to the storage room and putting the containers away.

Meanwhile upstairs Mara is shaking her head at the boxes and containers stacked in various rooms.

"Okay, any idea what happened now?"

"Josette said she brought out a couple comic book store's stocks and personal collections when they went out of business." Bronwen says as she comes into the room and shakes her head. "She generally stops at at least one comic book store during book tours, she'll split off a duplicate if they're not holding a signing at that store. And she adores comicons, everybody gets her a ticket for the big ones even if she's not signing there."

"I've been at one of those, I don't think anybody sleeps until it's over." Mara chuckles.

"And the hotel management lets out a big sigh of relief. Until they realize they've got to prepare for the same thing next year." Susan says as she pokes her head into the room. "And I guarantee. . ." she makes the word three syllables getting a laugh, "That Josette has just as much if not more on the ships from all the worlds she's had to harvest." She brings in the cart of supplies and fills various closets.

The first day of the new semester starts and Josette slides into a seat.

"I understand the others were excited at the building." Principal Madison's lips twitch.

"I told you you'd probably hear the screams." Josette snorts. "Yes, and Agatha already laid down ground rules. No going hog wild with the fabric, it's the same price they'd pay at the store." President Bartlett nods. "We're going to be putting some of the fabric on bolts, it's easier to measure and cut that way."

"The dome's coming down this spring?"

"Yep, but I'm going to leave it so it comes back up during bad storms." Both men nod. "Now, Alexander and Michael are starting classes?"

"Yes, Granda talked with them since the twins and Alan finished a degree last year." Josette smirks as the two men laugh.

"The others?"

"Susan, CJ, and I are starting the fifth semester for our degrees. The others are taking a year off before they decide what degree they want to go for next."

"How many quilting books do you have out?"

"With the two this year eight out of the last eighteen. I'm concentrating on finishing more books this year and hope to have the printers going again year after next."

"Okay, anything else?"

"We're going to have a team from Sanders going through the building with maintenance figuring out how much paint and other supplies we'll need after the school closes."

David nods. "We're going to have to do the same thing in a few years. We forget how long it's been and while we keep up on repairs and spring cleaning, we have to sit down and make a list of everything that needs a good scrubbing and whether it needs replacing or not."

"It's not something anybody thinks of until times like this."

"Fifteen years." Principal Madison looks distant for a minute.

"We survived this once, we'll do it again."

"Yep."

"Textbook expo?"

"Not for a few years, with the announcement of the zero-population period, plans for new textbooks were put on hold."

"The city-ship in Calvin's dimension."

"Dad said they were starting construction this year. The news should be in the next databurst."

Josette slips into the office the week of her midterms, filling containers and dropping totals on Jane's desk since the room is empty. Calvin's office door is closed and she heads to the library. Monica smiles as she hands her journals and she settles down to make notes. Monica smirks and passes along a website address, Josette looking at her before getting online. "Ohhh yeah, Josette want." She purrs. "I'll have to see if it's on the system."

"It's going on the latest update, Calvin was going to tell you before he got sidetracked with some VIP. . .in their minds anyway, who are trying to get their kids in the school."

Josette spends a couple extra days at the school and comes back to Haven, leaning in the open doorway of Principal Madison's office. "There's a huge download for the teaching units and the server. Huge. I'm talking at least three more replicators and more servers. Not blades. . .servers. I've got them on the ship, Granda's coming out in a couple days to install everything."

Principal Madison sighs. "Why?"

"Part of it is lower education classes going online for when they start having kids again if there's no younger teachers graduating from university, some of it is new schools, and some of it is one new school that is comic books. As in mint condition copies of every comic book ever published on the replicator, down to the cardboard and plastic sleeve. In boxes. But they're marked with the school name on the cover so collectors can't be fooled. With more degrees to be added in the future for pulp novels, television, movies, radio. . ."

"And of course you signed up for it." President Bartlett chuckles.

"Yep." Josette hands them copies of the school catalog and the two men chuckle. "Anyway, I'm delivering everything and stopped by the first planet to pick peppers and tomatoes green for the others."

"Deliver everything to the other planets already?"

"Yeah, so I'm going to the dorm to try and figure out what size building I'll need for all those comics." her eyes glaze over.

"Storm?"

"Big one. . .heavy wet snow for a couple weeks and a couple weeks after that to dig out." She grabs her PADD and sends off that message.

"When?"

"Tomorrow night."

President Bartlett and Principal Madison send out their own messages. Everybody at the dorm looks up at the double beeps, pausing what they're doing and grabbing their PADDs. Alan heads downstairs to switch out empty batteries to charge. In town the commercial replicator is turned on, extra wood starting to be produced for people to come in and grab as they get the message. At the school Josette is busy emptying containers for maintenance, moving everything to where it needs to go and putting the now empty containers back on the ship.

Calvin comes out a couple days later, shaking his head when he sees the lights on and the dark of snow falling outside. "Is this one of your bad storms?"

"Yep, Josette 'saw' it coming in after she came back. It's just starting, we've got two weeks of this and another two weeks of digging out. Everybody's used to it though, the commercial building that had pets had somebody bring them home to wait out the storm .. .probably permanently. Everything but what absolutely needs to be open is shut down, here it's the school. In Town it's the medical unit and the communal kitchen after the storm blows through so they can feed everybody who's out clearing out."

"Animals?"

"Barns and the pet buildings all have automatic feeders and cleaners for stuff like this. Pet parents have a place in their homes set up for them to do their business. When the news went out everybody started getting in extra supplies, including switching out batteries to charge so they have extra, buying extra candles, getting in extra food, and somebody turned on the commercial replicator to make extra wood, people running in and buying an armful while they were getting everything else." Calvin nods in satisfaction.

"How long will your batteries last?"

"Probably another day, once they dip too low the alternate power takes over automatically."

"Are we still going to be able to update everything?"

"Yeah, I can bring everything out easy enough." Josette says. "It'll keep me from wondering how big a building I'll need for all the comics and other stuff once I start taking the classes." Calvin laughs at her hangdog look as they walk to the dining hall through the tunnels. They're a little cool but a lot better than being outside.

Calvin shakes his head as he comes back a few days later. "They don't exaggerate the storms, one had just started when I arrived and you literally couldn't see out the window for the dark skies and snow.

"Did you get everything set up?" Jane asks as she sits in her usual chair. "Requests for information is picking up, I had to place another order with the printers."

"We have to expect it in a zero-population period." He looks at his high priestess. "Now. . .orders?"

"The food is coming in tomorrow. The linens are due next week. I've bagged the old sheets, towels, and blankets up for Josette. New textbooks arrived last week, the boxes are in the bookstore basement until needed, and we've got a good selection of uniforms. Monica just placed the orders for both libraries, those will be a while." Calvin nods as Jane checks her list.

They finally dig out after the storm, Josette shaking her head as she looks at all the snow. "All I will say is this helps the water table." The others nod as Josette turns from the window and sits at the table. "Okay, has anybody else looked through all the new degrees."

"You mean has anybody else signed up for all of them or just me?" David snorts. "I'm looking towards some of them myself, the television arts school looks interesting but I don't want to have to pore over television shows finding that one moment they ask about. . .was her blouse green with a purple bow or purple with a white bow?" President Bartlett chuckles.

"Or like that website that gave you points for tv shows you'd watched if you could answer questions. Like that DVD set of Dragnet with quizzes."

"Exactly."

"They do have sample classes on the server children." Principal Madison chuckles. "Josette, the first planet?"

"I'm going out next week to harvest. Soak up some warmth in these old bones." Everybody laughs at her. "I am. If you add in all the years I've spent outside time I'm older than Methos from Highlander."

"And as sarcastic." Doc says dryly.

"As long as I'm not broody like McLeod. Or Angel. Because I'd stake myself."

Back at the dorm they check out the sample classes and sign up for more degrees before starting another class in their degrees.

Josette lays on the sand for a few days after everything has been picked, soaking up heat and energy before she flies to the other planets.

"Sell a lot?"

"Yeah, the rest is in stasis." Josette stretches and yawns before she looks outside.

"It's melting. Slow but it's melting."

A message in the databurst has her swearing and heading off to Calvin's dimension.

"No, I have no need for another agent, I'm very happy with Madison, Jessica, and Joanne. I sure as hell don't need no damn trumped up little brat just out of school who doesn't like how my books are being handled and is demanding everything be turned over to her."

"But your quilting books. . .?" She bleats. How can some little nothing author be telling her no. Don't they know who she is?

"Sell quite well at my shows. What kind of publicity could you give me for them better than that?"

"Welll . .. But don't you want us selling them?"

"No. That's why I never offered them to you."

"How many are you selling? Five, ten. . .? I can double your quilting book sales." She sneers.

"Over eight thousand of the two new ones at my last show. . .each. And nearly as many of the old ones brought in for me to sign."

"Oh!" She deflates as Josette walks off with Joanne, Jessica, and Madison snickering. "But handling her books would make me rich. Make them hand her over to me." She can be heard wailing as the door closes behind her.

"Damn fool twit. Okay Josette, while we've got you here lets talk over your sales, upcoming books, and another book sighing tour. There's a university . .."

Josette says a name, getting nods. "Granda already told me about the school. I'm trying to figure out how big a building I'm going to need for all those comics. Let alone the tv building." Joanne sniggers.

"Sorry about that, she thinks she's special and . . ."

"Deserves to have everybody else's clients given to her? Yeah, I went through that once before with my art when a little twit who went through all the clients at the company seeing if they had all the contracts and sending cease and desist letters if they hadn't. I got one because I was selling my sheets and socks on the school's website. He'd have shut the site down but he saw the company's coding on the website. If he could show that they were lying down on the job of course their clients would be turned over to him. The little bastard had been reprimanded because of similar bullshit multiple times but since he was one of the partner's sons. .."

"He got away with what anybody else would have been fired for. Figures. That's her problem."

"Always going to be one who thinks they can get whatever they want by riding in on Daddy's coattails. Back on Earth I kept getting 'investment opportunities' given to me by the vice-president of the bank, the president's son was sure that if the people with the most money in the bank took his investment advice he could write his ticket to any of the big houses."

"Little twit didn't realize that most people already had their own investment plans, that's why they were rich?" Joanne snorts.

"Yeah after the second time I handed them back and told them I already had an investment plan, that shit would tie up my money too long, not give me the rate of return I was already getting, or both. And that if that little twit kept shoving his ideas on me I was going to close my accounts at the bank. The bank president yanked the wind from the little twit's sails when he got back and he was keeping very silent since I'd been getting letters from brokerage houses for the last week . . .with his name as the referring party."

"Damn twit, people are successful at that because of hard work. And part of that is starting at the bottom and working their way up." Jessica snorts. "Now. . .when is your next show?"

"Three weeks as a matter of fact. Me Mom Clarinda's dimension, the boys have a show here in a couple months." Joanne marks that date so they don't interfere with the plans for the tour.

Principal Madison is waiting in the dorm when she comes back. "Some damn fool twit just out of school thinking that she could swoop in and become my agent because the publishing house didn't deal with my quilting books. Once I told her not just no but hell no Joanne, Jessica, and I talked about the comic book school as part of a book tour." He rolls his eyes, kisses her on the hair, and heads off. He'd been in a meeting when he felt Josette head off off-schedule without one of the ships and had come to investigate. Doc had as well and he returns to Headquarters.

"Sorry about that." he says when he returns to the board room. "Josette went off off-schedule. Doc felt the same thing and we were both waiting on her when she returned."

"Anything wrong?"

"Some little twit just out of school trying to take over as Josette's agent because the house didn't handle her quilting books."

President Bartlett rolls his eyes. "So instead of thinking there had to be a reason for that she figured of course the others didn't know what they were doing?"

"Yeah, Josette said when they were finished telling her hell no they talked about a book tour."

"Who's out there this year?"

"The boys, Josette's show is in three weeks on Mom Clarinda's dimension, the boys have one just before midterms, Josette will be taking out returning students and employees belongings then. Joyce, did Josette bring out some supplies when she went out midterms?"

"Yes, she'll bring out the rest when we go out for the students. Jane's last message says to expect more supplies for the new servers and replicators."

Calvin looks out the door of the office as the familiar twinkle of David's tesseract starts to appear in the parking lot, students and employees walking through to be greeted by family and friends.

Josette joins the others at the manor after she's moved containers here and there, checking in on the progress on the city-ship before she comes in for a landing.

"Josette, you said you have the money for a degree from Doc's . . ." Simone says. Josette laughs. "I wondered when somebody would say something. I go out next week Haven time to actually start the degrees." She mentally flips a howling David the bird.

Josette shakes her head and sighs after Doc and the others have headed back to the Tower after delivering her to Hamberg university. The incoming class arrives a couple weeks before the returning students to allow them time to talk to advisors and find everything at the school. Josette has already dl'ed the books for her classes and has a part-time job in the sewing building.

She looks around the outer room, she's one of the handful of new students who have a room to themselves with the new dorm opening. Grabbing a light jacket she heads off to check out the campus.

The next couple weeks pass quickly and Josette settles into life at university. Midterms come and the school is quiet as everybody studies for their tests. Josette is the only one not worried and inwardly sniggers as some of the 'I'm sooo special I don't need to bother with my grades' girls are called to the President's office. Looking at the time she heads to work.

Ten years later Earth time she heads back to Haven, putting containers of books and other stuff in various rooms.

"How was university?"

"Nice but I missed you guys."

"Did you have a part-time job? Even with the others giving you a weekly allowance?"

"Yep, the entire time I was at school. And my 'university fund' account got surprising deposits after I paid for tuition, books, and supplies." The others snigger. They'd told the others to get around Josette paying for her own schooling was just to replace the money in her account.

"Check your computer, we've got our letters back from the schools." Josette gets on the computer and nods. "I'm in for all the degrees I wanted."

"All of them." Alexander says with a fake cough. Josette rolls her eyes. "So did you get in a dual bachelors?"

"Yeah and I had enough classes that I was able to pick up a third one after I graduated even with going for a dual masters." Principal Madison sighs as he looks up at the ceiling. "Oh like you expected anything less from Josette." David snorts. "How long were you gone?"

"Ten years, I spent the last year at the tower doing research."

"Are you going out to Thomas's dimension this fall?"

"Yes, but not to harvest since we'll be in the same time period." Everybody nods. "Josette, did you get anything for the dorm in this last delivery?"

"Did we. Granda said just to park the containers upstairs until they have time to come out and go over everything. Yes, Headquarters got some too and the others are also getting deliveries over the next few years." She stops to think a second. "I gotta talk to ten Doc and see if his Earth is going to build a ship too."

"Did you bring down the dome on the building?"

"Yes, everybody is out there filling bolts. I'm out there lifting and hefting." The others snigger.

"Did you take pictures?"

"Yes, I had nearly a full shipping container of photos, albums, and whatnot." Abby sniggers at her hangdog look. Over the next few days she starts putting everything away.

Josette sniggers a few days later as she reads a letter. Alexander looks her direction. "Becka sighing, she just did the math and realized she'd be 63 when the babies head off to university."

"And she's going to have to start thinking of retiring. It's not like us where 'ehhh, Josette's a vampire. . .of course she doesn't age'."

"There's a difference between 'ehhh, that's far in the future' and it hitting you in the face because 'okay, I'm going to be that old in seventeen years'."

After lunch she heads to the office and replicates books and other supplies for her first semester of the comic book classes, shaking her head as she brings out book after book after book before she even gets to the comics. She finally gets everything and put it in subspace, David moaning as it goes in the library for now.

"Yeah, you're definitely going to need your own building for this."

"Josette, did you take everything to the ship for the show?"

"Yeah, except for any last minute item you'll have finished by tomorrow."

The next morning they head off to Clarinda's dimension, everybody sniggering when they hear Josette had attended a university for four years in on-campus housing with kids.

"How is everybody dealing with the school closing?"

"Not the first time and this time it's not because of losing Earth. Granda's plans are going full steam, the tv station is going to be open next year. . .our time. They're planning on five different channels."

"Not PBS?"

"Besides PBS." The others shake their heads. "Something like that batch of local channels David was watching last time we were out." Josette talks to M'Lynn and Dexter after the show, getting information on the book sales and the two of them sighing but nodding at the dumb little girl who thought she could walk into a cushy job.

Back on Haven several weeks later their time they find Calvin and the others in the dorm.

"Show?"

"Yeah." Josette starts bringing out boxes of supplies to various rooms before she settles on the couch and closes her eyes for a power nap. The Josette who'd been on Haven just chuckles and continues moving stuff.

"University?" Simone asks.

"A dual bachelors while I was at the school and I had enough classes for a third bachelors online while I was going for a dual masters. And a doctorate. I spent an extra year at the Tower doing research after I got out of school." Calvin nods in satisfaction. "Have you heard about your new degrees?"

Everybody cackles. "Upstairs in the library."

"Good lord. . ." He moans as he sees everything.

"Yep. I was . . .'How much stuff do I need for this degree if this is just the first semester?' when I saw the notice on the replicator for how much stuff I was downloading."

"Forget a single building, I'd say two or three."

"At least since this is only a few years of comics. I haven't even got into the major stuff yet." They shake their heads and head to the containers Josette had put aside.

Bronwen holds back. "Josette, have you opened the building yet?"

"Yep, the others have been busy filling bolts from the rolls since it's easier to cut that way. Agatha set down ground rules the first day, fabric and whatnot there is the same price as it would be at the store, the only people who don't have to pay are me and Pat since this is our backyard, we're just letting them play." She snickers and goes to join the others. Josette heads back to her room to get in another couple of classes before whistling for lunch. She joins with the Josette who'd woken up and gone upstairs to help empty containers and they walk to the dining hall.

Over the next couple of days she's busy emptying containers at Headquarters and outside for Principal Madison's home, moving the now empty containers to the ship along with the others. A trip out to pick up the summer midterm supplies and drop off belongings has her returning with nearly as many containers.

"But that's not fair. . .look at all these books being signed. This could have been my money." A voice whines and Josette looks around a second as she talks with the person in front of her, finding that fool woman who'd wanted to be her agent and bring the quilting books under the publishing house's control whining.

"Could you have sold even a fraction of these books for us?" a man who's obviously her father asks. "Let alone doubled her sales?"

"Nooooo, I thought she was funning when she says she sells this many at the shows." She whines as she sees boxes of books being opened and put out for sale.

"Did you hear the whining from that fool girl last night?" Joanne asks the next morning.

"Yes, she was shrill enough to break glass. .. good thing that wasn't my show last night, I'd have lost something. 'I thought she was funning when she said she sells that many books at the shows'." Josette whines, getting laughs from the others.

"Yes, the management was sure they could talk you into letting them publish your quilting books until they saw the line up out the door to have them signed."

"It's the glitz and glamour of being at the show, they'd never sell that well otherwise." The others nod again. "Ellis has good sales. . .but nothing like that."

"And his is because he's got all that fabric and stuff and they're buying it while they're there." Marcus says. Again, the Greek chorus of nods.

"Okay, your signing tour. . ." Joanne starts off and between the three of them they have all the stops listed and tickets and hotel reservations handed over. Josette heads off to pick up the second case of pens as David tosses the empties in the replicator to be refilled. A week later she heads off for the tour as the others head off on the other ship a week after she's left.

"How long was the tour?" Alan asks as Josette comes back from Haven around the same time they do and joins with her other self that had been with them.

"Twelve weeks with the stop at the university." Josette says absently. "Class sizes are small since while the cost of the tuition isn't bad, all the supplies needed means a lot of people are working a second job to pay for everything before they start the classes. There's no way in hell you could put all that in a standard dorm room." Everybody nods.

"Did you bring back anything?"

"Yeah, I left it on the ship for now." Josette stretches and drops off for a power nap. The others laugh and head off to do things.

"Show?" Richard asks, coming in a few minutes later finding Josette asleep.

"And a book signing tour." Calvin chuckles.

"That's enough to make anybody exhausted."

The crops start coming in and everybody's busy the next few days. Josette heads off to Calvin's world to pick up the second batch of teachers and employees when everybody is out for Christmas, laughing as she finds a lot of familiar faces in the group.

"Yes, we couldn't stay away. This will give us a good nestegg to retire on when we feel like it, like an old country song we'd rather go out with our boots on. We're also going to be among the last batch of employees when the school closes."

David opens the tesseract once the last student and employee has arrived, smirking as he sees Professor Druid giggling and Principal Madison looking up at the sky as if asking for patience. Josette starts delivering the school supplies once they land on Haven as employees and students walk off then flies to the fabric building, finding Agatha and Sue trying to lift a roll. Splitting off a duplicate she holds it on the ends as they cut off a length of fabric and make more bolts, nodding in satisfaction as they look at the fabric.

"Thank you Josette, that was the last of the bolts we wanted to make up." Josette gets some fabric herself and heads off to the dorm as they walk into town.

The next day is the first of the offworld harvests and Josette slumps onto the couch the day before the Harvest Festival.

"Is that it for a while?"

"Yeah, which means more double days after the festival bringing in students and bringing in the harvest. But since the alternative is no new students in about nine years I'll deal with it."

Josette is up on the roof a couple days after the Harvest Festival checking on the loose wire error message she'd gotten from the solar panels when Principal Madison calls up to her. Josette looks over her shoulder and flies down. He just looks at her. "Loose wire message on the readouts, I was up there looking everything over and be damned if I can see it." She sends a message off to Clark who arrives a few minutes later and does the same inspection. He shakes his head.

"Damn it, I hate having to take every solar panel offline one at a time to see if that's the problem." Josette sighs and mentally pulls her big girl pants on. Alan comes out and looks at her. "Loose wire?"

"Not that I can see but we're not getting full power." She sighs. "I'm going to go up and take them offline one by one, stay by the readout and tell me if I hit it?"

"You don't think it's a loose wire."

"I was just up there and didn't see one. Clark was just up there and he didn't see one either."

Three long hours later Josette moans as she sees how many more solar panels yet to go.

"Come down and get something to eat, we'll start it again in the morning." Alan yells. Josette nods and flies down. "If we can't find something obvious we'll call in a crew from GD."

"Are we on alternate power totally?" David asks.

"Yes, I switched us when I got the error message."

A couple days later a crew from GD comes out and starts inspecting everything. A man who'd been sneering about being called out for nothing soon loses his superior look as test after test fail to find the fault.

They take the control unit offline and tear it apart over the next few days, finally finding the fault.

"Did you get in any classes in your new degree?" Jane asks when she comes to the school to drop off the last of student and returning employees belongings.

"Yes, nearly a full year this summer and fall, when we're not trying to figure out what the blazes is causing the error messages in the solar panels."

"Did you?"

"GD sent a crew out and once they realized yes, we'd already did that and that and were still getting the error message they lost the 'why did you call us out for this' attitude."

"Are you staying out long?"

"At least six weeks since I need to talk to Joanne, Jessica, and Madison, visit a couple schools. . .Yes including the comic book school, Hah-vahd, and Princeton, and go to a supplier in Great Britain to place an order."

"Going to have to go to Vegas again." Maria chortles.

"Probably." Josette sighs. "How is everything here?"

"Good, construction is booming during the summer as buildings go up on our land. The spa and designer already have customers."

Josette flies home to Haven seven weeks later her time.

"Get everything done you wanted?"

"Yeah though god can people blather on at Harvard and never get to the damn point. Seems they're back in the bad news again since the graduating class is smaller than usual thanks to all the 'special' students they took in failing their first year."

"While the students they didn't accept got on with their lives, went to other schools, graduated or are ready to graduate and are making names for themselves?"

"Yep, they were stunned when they couldn't use me for good publicity. A 'student turned away from Harvard graduates with honors and two bachelors' human interest story."

"Figures, wouldn't a Masters or doctorate be a better story for them?" Alan snorts. "One nitwit didn't want to give me my honors without the publicity and he got his ass kicked up around his shoulders by his bosses, he walked off pouting."

Josette sends them video of the city-ship under construction.

"What a difference. . ."

"About the same as a house where they're bringing out the frame already cut and ready to assemble and a house where they're cutting the lumber on-site. One the house can be up in a week, one it would take weeks just to have the first floor framed."

The other nod.

Josette leans between President and Mrs. Bartlett at dinner since Principal Madison is talking with a student.

"Latest video footage from the city-ship being built. They've got webcameras on the construction site and live footage available online. It gets a lot of hits."

"Tell me there's no social media account like people do their damn dogs." One of the 'new' teachers snorts.

"I hope not." Josette shudders. "For all I know some construction companies have webcam footage of homes they're working on for customers." Nods from the others.

"How are you coming on the Naval Academy degree?"

"I'm three years into the last degree for the the shipwrecks, next year I'll get four classes a semester in to finish it."

"Comic book school?"

"I got nine classes in and went to visit the school while I was out there, I can start getting classes in again next week."

"Did you have to get more supplies?"

"Yep since I'd only originally planned on getting in six classes. Christ, they must have to have a grocery store cart to pick up supplies at the bookstore. . .and a van to carry it all home in."

"And a second house to put everything in?" Amanda chuckles. She'd heard her complaints about not having room for everything. . .then she'd seen everything for the classes.

"I thought you were going to visit Harvard." Professor Fletcher says.

"Yeah, they wanted some good publicity because graduating classes were small with the 'special' students they'd accepted getting kicked out their freshman years." President Bartlett sighs and nods. "A student they hadn't wanted* in the first place getting two bachelors from them."

"And only the fact you're a rich, successful author made them accept you this time." Professor Eppes snorts. "While students they turned away as not what we want have graduated with excellent grades or are ready to graduate and are making names for themselves."

"Yeah, there was a story on the morning news about other schools doing that. . .accepting the big name students and rejecting others. Or having them videotape themselves as part of their application. They're claiming students who do this have a slightly better GPA but graduating classes will tell the truth as to whether they made the right decision or not."

"Jesus, what happened to students getting into good schools because of their grades?" One of the returning teachers asks.

"That went the way of the Dodo I'm afraid." Josette sighs. "Anyway, he walked off pouting when he realized he couldn't use me for good publicity. Calmer heads talked to me about a masters and doctorate, same with Princeton.”

Josette moans at the notice on the replicator the next day when she's signed up for the rest of the first year and part of the second. Opening the door she starts putting the boxes out in the hallway.

"Josette?"

"Yeah Joyce?"

"Are these all for your classes?" She'd heard the others talking but she thought it was just talk.

"Yeeessssss." She drawls with a sigh. "And I only signed up for six classes. Three to finish the first year and three in the third semester. I can see them needing a couple days for all this when they sign up for classes."

"Yes, it's not like here where you can get in line and have bags handed to you when you're ready to check out." Joyce says. Josette sighs as she reaches the end and puts everything in subspace. "Do you have room for all that?"

"Yes, the others put up additional buildings when they came out this year. I don't have room for this in my room so I put everything in the library, moving them to the buildings when I'm done. I do like the fact that they haven't lost these books, magazines, and whatnot. There was so many episodes of Dr. Who lost when they threw the tapes away."

"Shortsightedness at its best." Joyce agrees as she heads back to the office.

Josette brings out the boxes and books in the library and heads to the room of containers, filling various rooms with toilet paper. Opening a multi-pack she puts some in all of her bathrooms and joins the others downstairs.

"Get everything for your new classes?"

"Did she!" Susan says. "I looked in the library. How many classes is that?"

"Only six. Finishing the second semester and three for the third. I can see why they say to give them three days for the supplies when they sign up for classes at the school."

"Are they going to enlarge the new buildings?"

"They were talking about it when they put them up. They'd have to see how much room I needed."

"Your other comics?"

"In their own building, some in glass cases."

The next two months pass quickly and after her finals Josette is busy moving recycling various places. After Thanksgiving the tesseract opens on Earth and everybody greets family and friends as they walk out, the graduating students heading to the auditorium for their graduating ceremony or heading home with family if theirs is a later one.

Madison is on the phone so Josette lobs a thumb drive onto her desk, the other woman nodding at her. Josette does the same with Joanne who's in a meeting with a higher-up and heads to the mansion.

"Who was that?"

"Josette Takahawa, the author of the fairy tales universe. She had said she had a new book for me." She puts it in her pocket and goes back to what they'd been talking about.

"That was quick." David looks at her.

"Madison was on the phone and Joanne was in a meeting. I just tossed the thumb drives on their desks. Since they saw me in the door they'll get to them when they're done."

Several weeks later they return to Haven, the tesseract opening and students walking to the auditorium to have their bags checked.

"Do you have new contracts?" Josette is bringing out boxes from subspace.

"Yeah, for second printings from some of the books, turning them into audio books, e-books, or translating them into other languages. Some 'church' groups tried stuff and got their asses handed to them by the courts, they walked off wailing about how it wasn't fair nobody was doing what they wanted."

"Miserable old bitches. Is that the group that hates anything new?"

"Yep, they should be used to being told no." Josette rolls her eyes.

"How are you on comic book classes?"

"I've got three of them done and I'll work on the rest after the first of the year."

"TV shows?"

"I'm signing up for them then."

"First planet olives?"

"I gotta make more oil next year. We're not low low but we're getting there. I'm gonna leave some to ripen to black olives too."

Josette looks around the oh so quiet dorm later that night when the kids have headed to their new homes. David wraps his arms around her.

"How many quilts did you get in this year with all the kerfuffle with the solar panels?"

"Three, not as many as I'd hoped to get in but I was concentrating more on finishing the books anyway."

"How you doing honey?" Agatha asks as everybody has finished eating in the Albatross Nest.

"There's a difference between the babies are leaving home and 'they're gone'. . ."

"Now what do we do?" Nods from most of the others.

"I swear I remember life before I was a parent." More nods from the others.

"I see the others have been here a lot lately?"

"Yeah, we've been adding onto the dorm. And cleaning old rooms beyond typical spring cleaning. The nursery and kids rooms are put away until we need them again."

"Quilts?"

"I've only got three done this year, I've been concentrating on finishing the books." She brings them out. Everybody looks them over and Josette puts them back in subspace.

"How many books does this make?"

"Ten?" Josette counts off the books. "No twelve with three more started. They're being edited and we plan on starting printing year after next."

"What was the problem at your dorm?"

"One day I got a loose wire message from the solar panels. Switching to the alternate power I went up to 'look' everything over and found nothing. Then I took all the solar panels offline one by one. . ."

"And found nothing." Suzie snorts.

"Yep. After that we put in a call to GD and had a crew come out to look everything over. Once the McKay wannabe realized we'd already done everything he said and still was getting the error message they started tearing everything apart. It took them nearly a week to find the problem." Snorts from the others in the room.

"Because it's never the simple fixes." Everybody sighs and nods.

"Everything's okay then?"

"Yeah, the solar panels are back to charging the batteries." The kits and cookies are passed around, crockpots and other dishes washed up and given back to people after the leftovers boxed up and pushed on Josette. Back at the dorm she puts everything away and looks around her first floor room, opening up the laptop and bringing up the program to see what the room would look like with different carpeting and paint.

Josette and the others head back to Calvin's world unexpectedly after the Lights Festival, settling in chairs across from a trumped up little twit who's gulping as he realizes he might have bit off more than he can chew as the the first file is opened and the audit begins.

"Fucking asshole." Josette snaps as he's dragged out of the room after his case that they have to be cheating us somehow is disproven.

"Oh you know that type . .. no rich person can possibly be paying their share of taxes. . .it all has to be on the back of the little people." Calvin sighs. "The school was audited nearly every year until higher ups went over the cases and told them to leave us the hell alone. All they were doing was proving them fools for whining over deductions that were perfectly legal." He gets them a vehicle and they eat at a restaurant before heading to the mansion for a night's sleep.

They arrive back at the dorm, Principal Madison and Doc waiting on them. They'd felt them go off-schedule without the ship and came running.

"Some asswipe in the IRS calling us in for an audit because of course we have to be cheating the government. No rich person willingly pays taxes. They couldn't find any offshore accounts to say 'See, I told you they were cheating us so they had to quibble over every damn deduction for *hours* then whining because they were all legal."

"Dad told us the school would be routinely audited until higher-ups told them to knock it off." Principal Madison sighs. "I guess with no children being born the IRS is looking at losing a lot of their influence as older taxpayers die."

"And some assholes are just assholes who are looking for power." David snorts. "Josette, I need you to come pick up my school supplies this afternoon."

"What degree are you signed up for so I don't duplicate them then. At least not right away."

"Is there going to be room in the library?" Susan asks, her lips twitching.

"Dad enlarged it when they were out for the Lights Festival when he saw everything Josette had on the tables. Though he said rent a u-haul to pick up everything instead of a van."

Josette smirks. "Then you'd have to empty everything and take the truck back."

Principal Madison goes back to his house. "Some idiot in the IRS audited the kids because of 'course' no rich person pays their fair share of taxes."

"Moron." Professor Druid snorts as she looks over the school's lesson plans.

"Well you know that type, they don't like it when people have money and want to tear them down. Because for every Bernie Madoff there's a dozen Bill Gates but the Madoffs get the publicity."

David moans as he sees the notice for his supplies, Josette putting everything out in the hallway as it appears.

Josette gets the supplies for her first semester and puts everything in a separate subspace bubble, bringing both of them out into the library. David sniggers when he recognizes a familiar name. "They're going to scream."

"Yep." Josette smirks as they walk downstairs.

"How is the building on the first planet?" President Bartlett asks at the first meeting of the year.

"Good, we were out for a few weeks after Thanksgiving. Enjoying the fresh air and sunshine. Then we headed off to the other dimensions."

"A little weird being there knowing you were across the country in school?"

"No more than when I was crossing my own timeline on Earth." Josette shrugged. "We made sure I was back at school when we arrived."

"Do you see them coming out?"

"Sometime in the future, same with Mom Clarinda and the others." Josette covers her mouth with her elbow and belches. Then frowns. "What the hell did I eat that tasted that bad?" The others laugh.

"Okay, it's quiet on Haven. What about the other planets?"

"The 9th planet found the land for their grapes and plans on planting this year though it will be a while before they can harvest them and even longer before they have wine for sale or trade. The 8th and 9th planets are looking at their tropics for eventual planting but the 10th planet. . .?" David looks at Josette.

"The climate changes caused by the volcanoes created a tropical area in Antarctica. Doc domed it and brought it up with his fortress before it could be destroyed. They plant there." David nods in satisfaction. "They also said the governments are looking at the plans for a city-ship but right now they're concentrating on Earth."

"Okay, worlds to colonize in Dad's world?"

"They're looking at the ship taking a ten year trip out to find planets. Not right away, I'd say after one or two five year stints on Mars."

"Moonbase?"

"They're planning on enlarging it again in the future. They liked the fact that the city-ship on Becka's world took supplies to their satellite and moonbase and hope to have it taking out shipments too large for rockets."

"They can only carry so many pods." President Bartlett nods.

After the meeting Josette stops to the bakery for a bag of snacks and walks to the dorm with David and Doc, taking off her outer clothes and putting everything up in the front of the dorm.

"Are you sure about going for two degrees at the same time? It will be hard taking more than three classes a semester." Josette purrs as she leans over David's shoulder.

He sighs. "Grammy Allie asked you to bug me, didn't she?"

"Mom actually." He moans as Doc laughs and walks into Headquarters. Pat looks up from the front desk where she's drawing something out. "Josette was tormenting David about taking more than three classes a semester with two degrees."

"Allison?" She'd been sighing at him only taking six classes a year when he had been taking a year's worth of classes in a semester.

"Mary."

"Isn't he finishing the one degree this year?" Bethany asks, clumping on the crutches as she hops into the room. She'd fallen and hurt her ankle a couple weeks ago.

"Next year."

"Not if Allison gets her way." Pat says dryly. The others laugh.

Bethany continues hopping to the door, leaning against the frame. "Josette, are you making cheese anytime soon?"

"Yeah, next weekend. If you got a request put it on the list. It will be at least two weeks to make everything."

"Are you making candy?" Alan asks from the doorway.

"This weekend. Like the cheese it will be at least two weeks to make everything" They head separate directions, Josette up to her workroom to work on blocks for a quilt as David signs into his first class of the semester. He's not surprised to find Josette already up the library at her teaching computer.

"How many classes do you think you'll get in this semester?" he asks when she looks at him.

"I'm figuring at least twenty between the school computer and teacher, four for the shipwrecks since I'm finishing it this year, four for the submarines, a semester for characters DC comics took over. . .I'm a year from finishing that one but it's the first of four degrees, and a semester on jungle adventures--comic books."

"Tarzan?"

"And his son and the 'mysterious' woman a jungle explorer comes across and ends up popping her cherry when she falls madly in love with him at first sight... at least in some stories. Because god forbid she's never seen a man before." David sniggers as he settles into a class. Josette curses roundly and makes a note on her PADD before turning back to the computer.

That weekend Josette turns on the machines in the candy making area of the dorm, opening bags and dumping them in big mixing containers. Over the next two weeks she makes large batches of several different candies, handing some out to the others and putting the rest in stasis. The cheese is handled much the same way but put up to age for a couple years instead of being handed out.

"Josette, are we getting in a double batch of supplies next year for the students and cooking teachers?"

"Yeah, I'll take the first batch over there since we've got extra left over from the last couple of years." Principal Madison nods in satisfaction. "If it looks like we'll need extra I can tell the others and we'll get in another batch before the end of the year."

"Not that we should need it, Calvin's good at figuring out what we'll need." President Bartlett says. "Now, I hear you're heading over to the other dimension?"

"Yeah, I'm visiting a book fair that's having a comic book convention in it. I'll have to hit Vegas afterward to make back all the money I'll be spending." The others in earshot snigger.

"Now, are you in the same time period as Thomas's world?"

"Yes, we went out after Thanksgiving. The cities had been doing urban renewal over the years and they're really cleaning up. The schools have been closed for years and the worst off torn down but some have reopened and students are working half-days in necessary jobs and learning the other half-day. Though their 'jobs' is mostly training right now." The others nod in satisfaction.

Josette heads off to the other dimension the next day and returns three weeks later for her. Boxes of books and other stuff is moved to various rooms.

"How long were you gone?"

"Three weeks, I visited the supplier in Great Britain after the book fair then went to Vegas." Josette brings out a hard drive of pictures and the others shake their heads. "I'm going out in a couple weeks to visit another comicon." The others snigger. Josette holds up a hand. "The university is going to be there talking about their degrees. And the comics."

"Do you see them eventually offering the comics as mail order?"

"Maybe years in the future as they offer classes on the computer to more than the select few on the teaching systems now."

"Dr. Goodwyn, I'm Josette Takahawa."

"Oh good Ms. Takahawa, I'd heard that you might be attending the con and hoped we'd have a chance to meet. Not only as the president of your school but as a fan of your books. Would you consider signing some for me?"

"Of course." They talk for several minutes as Josette signs the books somebody had hurriedly run out and brought for him.

"How are you enjoying the classes? Unfortunately I was gone on business the times you were at the school."

"I love them, though I keep joking with my family about how much stuff the classes take." He guffaws. "Oh I know, that's why you have to wait three days for your supplies after you get the classes."

"I said you needed a van to carry them home, my family said a u-haul. I said then you'd have to empty it and return the truck. And of course you don't have boarding students, there's no way you'd get all this in a normal dorm room." A woman next to them cackles and nods. "I went to a boarding school as a teenager."

"I attended the boarding school I work for as a teen. At least ours you didn't have to run down the hall to shower or use the toilet."

The woman shudders. "I could not live in a dorm like that."

"Me neither, I attended a private university. . .the dorm rooms were more like fancy hotel suites. Each room was two bedrooms and a shared sitting room."

The other woman moans.

Josette returns to the dorm, waving a hand and bringing out more containers to various rooms.

"Did you get to see the booth for your school?"

"Yep, and met the school president. Who was a fan of my books." The others snigger. "We joked about needing a u-haul to bring everything back."

"Get any more comics?"

"Yup. It seems that I'm getting a reputation for buying collections once they've been vetted and a fair price has been agreed on. . .that keeps away people who are looking to make a quick buck on substandard stuff. They're being shunned and edged out by the other dealers to protect customers." The others nod in satisfaction.

Josette looks at the boxes in various rooms, the comics are the easiest to take care of. . .putting the boxes on the shelves by publishers and then comic.

"Josette, am I nuts or are these duplicates?" Susan looks at the boxes on the walls in the other room.

"Yes they are, one is a mint copy and the other is meant to be read. Because once you open the package it's not mint."

"Just like a car depreciated once you drove it off the lot."

Josette nods. "So the ones I read for class go on this side and the still mint copies go over there. I don't mind but I'm sure there's people who will be able to crow about having mint copies of a book. They don't read comics, they just collect them."

Susan snickers but nods. "For the prestige no doubt, probably the same reason you sell so many books at the shows."

"Exactly."

Midterms comes and Josette heads out to the other dimension, finding Jane and Maria busy on the phones so she checks the containers, bringing out stuff and filling them. The totals go on the desks and Jane holds up a hand scribbling something on the notepad. Josette nods. "I'll pick up the supplies and come back tomorrow." She nods and returns to the conversation.

"Sorry about yesterday, when we're not dealing with new students we're dealing with the construction." Calvin sighs as Josette comes into his office. "How's everything on Haven?"

"Quiet, the students are waiting to get their grades back from their midterms."

"Classes?"

"Us? Good. David signed up for a tv degree and I had to torment him that taking more than three classes a semester would be hard." Calvin's lips twitch as Jane can be heard cackling in the next room. "I attended a book fair and comicon this semester, the second one the president of the school was attending and we talked."

Josette delivers everything back at the school, sending the inventory of the containers before she flies back to the dorm. She finds Anna in the hallway, mumbling as she's obviously just woke up from a nap. Goosing her she walks past, getting a half-awake glare at the back of her head.

"Are you awake?"

"Unfortunately." She yawns. "I hate these low pressure systems, unless you got something you need to do all you want to do is sleep."

"And then you can't sleep at night."

"And unlike you the rest of us can't find a dozen things to keep us occupied so we just toss and turn all night."

"And are tired the next day but you know you've just got to keep moving."

After lunch she heads to the replicator again, getting the supplies to finish the third semester of the comic book degree.

"I thought your side of the library was getting a little empty." David says the next morning. "Just finishing a semester?"

"Yeah, this will be another nine classes when I'm done." Josette plugs in the earphones and starts a class as David does the same.

Windows start being opened to air out rooms as the snow starts melting and it warms up, Josette spreading manure on the fields as the boys bag chicken manure and put it up to use later. Compost piles are started outside and crops are planted. Josette takes care of the recycling on the other other planets and picks up the last from the school to take back to Earth before the students and employees walk onto the ship.

Three weeks later their time David opens the tesseract and the students walk to the auditorium to have their bags checked as Josette delivers supplies various places and flies to the dorm. Her own bags are brought out of subspace and she puts everything away in various rooms. She'd sorted out her underwear and bras before she'd left and she shakes her head as she fills bags with more worn out clothing, even with all she brought her dressers are only half full. Hitting the various stores with the others they fill closets and dressers. Pat nods when she finds Josette putting the last of them away.

"I was going to say that you needed to sort out clothes, some of yours were getting thin."

Josette looks at the bags and nods. "Yep."

"Shows?"

"Me Granda, the boys Mom. I got out last, the boys have a show in a couple weeks."

"Sooo, did my fool son get more than three classes in this semester for his first degree." Mary drawls from the doorway.

"Yep, he got in four classes thank you very much." Mary and Pat cackle. "He's also sighing but getting in four this summer and four this fall to finish the degree. Dr. Blake talked to him about it before we left." They laugh again at her evil kitty smirk.

"How many classes did you get in?"

Josette starts counting. "Eight on the school computer, twelve on teacher, and thirteen on Granda's system? Yeah, a semester for the tv and nine classes for the comics to get me three semesters in."

The two older women both shake their heads. "I'm eight classes from finishing the five degree set on shipwrecks, I'll get in four this summer and four this fall. I'll be two years into the first degree on submarines in the war, also from the naval academy. And they're talking about the civil war and the cold war, including that Russian sub that got in trouble and all the lives were lost."

"Are there any degrees on plane crashes?"

"Unfortunately yes." Josette sighs. "A five degree set from the Naval Academy and a three degree set from the history school. I'm sure there were other 'degrees' that were nothing more than hate filled rants from 'churches' but those were discarded as the garbage they were." Both women nod.

Pat and Mary moan as they see Josette's books from the comic book degree. "Yeah, there's no way in hell they'd fit on the shelves in my first floor room. David and I use the library for those classes, moving them in here or the other building when we're done." Mary is looking back and forth at the shelves. "Yes, there's two copies of everything. One to read for the classes and the other so you have mint copies of everything when you're done. The tuition isn't half-bad, it's the supplies that are the killer for the degree. Maybe in the future you can get copies of the comics without being a student but right now only students can get copies and they're all marked with the school name to keep them from being sold to collectors."

"I can see why the school doesn't have dorms. You wouldn't be able to put this in a regular room."

"Yeah, when I went out for a comicon earlier this year I was talking with the president of the school and an instructor about that, whether you'd need a u-haul or just a van to bring everything back since you have to wait a couple days after you sign up for the classes for the supplies unless like us you have your own replicator, and how many other jobs you'd have to take to pay for everything. . .including a second house to hold all this." Pat sighs as Mary snickers but they both nod.

"Books?"

"I'll be debuting nine and ten of the last eighteen this year, I have twelve new ones being edited right now, printing of those start next year. I have three more started. There might be a couple years between these twelve and the others, we're not sure yet."

"I understand that that fool woman who wanted to take over as your agent and bring the quilting books under the publishing company's control was at the boys show."

"Yes, and she was whining about how she thought I was funning when I told her how many books I sold at the shows. Because she could have doubled how many quilting books I sell. . .it can't be more than five or ten. That could have been her money." Both women snort, they'd seen footage of the line out the door to have books signed. "Yeah, so she's having to start at the bottom and work her way up instead of landing a cushy spot right off the bat."

Josette and David pick up their supplies and books a couple days later, putting them in the library. He's pouting about taking classes in the summer, and the others just snigger.

Clarinda smiles as she comes in and finds the kids stretched out in various spots in the rooms, David and Josette playing Chess while the others nap or read. "Long meeting?"

"Yes," James sighs as he and the others come in.

The next day is the show and Josette is busy signing books most of the night. Josette slips her shoes back on after the last of the books are signed and people have left the gallery, the others snickering.

Dexter arrives the next morning with the totals, talking with the boys and Josette about a special order then sending off confirmation. The book totals are talked over and M'Lynn arrives to talk to Josette about her other books.

Several weeks later for them them arrive back on Haven, Josette moving boxes to various places before she flies back to the dorm.

"Good show?" Principal Madison asks at lunch.

"Myeah." Josette waggles a hand. "We got a huge special order after the show, we're going to have to have about six orders of wood to get everything done." The others whistle knowing just how much wood they can bring back in an order. "But they're only asking for a few things at a time so it's good. Sales of the books were good, sales of my other books were good. They claim they have a good screenplay for a movie. . ."

"You'll believe it when you see it." Professor Fletcher snorts. She's got her own history with books being turned into movies. A bad history.

"Yep."

"Did David get in more than three classes first semester for his other degree?"

"Yes, he got in four." Josette says in mock-excitement, getting chortles from the others. "Dr. Blake is making him get in four this semester and four to finish it this fall. For pissing her off by being a brat. She expects better of him for all she's known him how long?"

"How are you coming on your classes?"

"I signed up for another semester to get me halfway through the degree, I'll probably pick up three more classes before the end of the semester."

"And your other classes?"

"Like David I'm going to be finishing a degree by getting in four classes this summer and fall, that's to finish the five degree set from the naval academy on shipwrecks. I'm also finishing a degree on characters DC took over, it the first of four degrees. It sounds like it's a duplicate of another multiple degree set I got from the school but it's not."

"And your other classes?"

"If there's enough time I'll pick up more classes in the tv degree." Everybody sniggers and Josette rolls her eyes before going in the back room.

The first crops start coming in several weeks later and everybody's busy for a couple weeks harvesting, canning, drying, or planting the second crops. Josette slumps on the couch a few weeks later.

"How are you on classes?" David asks, sitting down next to her. While it's not the piss pouring out of a boot rains they'd got earlier it is raining and nobody has any ambition.

"Finished the degree from the comic book school. Finished the four classes for the shipwrecks, I'm partway through the other classes." She yawns and David shoves her lightly. "Don't start that shit, I just stopped yawning." She sniggers. "Did you finish the four classes for your degree?"

"Three of them, I'm switching them out with the tv degree. The yearly crops should be coming in pretty soon."

"Yeah, next couple of weeks."

"Offworld harvests?"

"Start tomorrow."

"Christmas?"

"Next week. I gotta go talk to the others while we're out."

"Your order from Great Britain."

"Has started arriving. I'll pick it up when we go out for Christmas."

"Are we going out for finals?"

"I am to pick up stuff and drop off any belongings that don't go home with the students at Christmas. Because we'll be just leaving as we came back otherwise. Principal Madison had the teachers and floor monitors remind students to get everything they wanted then There were a few orders going out when the announcement went out to make sure they had enough until Thanksgiving."

David opens the tesseract, students and employees walking out to be greeted by family and friends.

James nods in satisfaction as he tours the new buildings on the school grounds before he joins his father for a drink in his office.

"Everything's looking good."

"Yes, we're still one of the best schools in the world. Oh we're getting complaints and foolish people trying to sue to stop us because their schools can't compete and when the new children are old enough to attend school we'll steal them from them." James snorts. "Yes, the courts are cracking down on foolish lawsuits. Much to the dismay of the realtors who were hoping the courts would side with them and force people to sell them their land for pittances."

"As Josette would say, people are stupid."

"Yes, they're scrambling to keep their heads above water as they circle the drain for the third time."

A familiar cackling heralds the appearance of a note in Josette's handwriting on the desk. The two men read it and identical evil smirks that so often graces Josette's face appear on theirs.

"They'd whine like the babies they are. All that land and nobody to buy it because there's no way to get there or ready customers."

A few weeks later the tesseract opens on Haven with students loaded down with boxes and bags walking to the auditorium to have everything looked over. Josette disappears and reappears a few second later, flying off to Jamestown and cackling when she returns.

"Do I want to know?" Ulonda asks dryly.

"Nope." Josette says with a grin. "But I turned the wizarding world on its ear."

"That tells me I really don't want to know. . .but hit me." Atlantis says dryly on the screen.

"I introduced a new teacher to the Hogwarts staff, officially she's a muggle-born who's teaching healing classes. Unofficially she's the school's dominatrix and was flogging Snape within a couple days, Dumbledore and Fudge just took longer. And she was teaching the students. . .you never should underestimate the quiet ones." Josette sniggers as she remembers finding Malfoy tied to the rack with a cock ring on while some of the girls in training pleasured themselves on his cock.

Or Hermione in a black bustier and nothing else leading Ron by a leash. He's only wearing a collar and a cock ring with a butt plug in his ass ready for his mistress to order him to perform. For boys and girls.

When Harry's class had graduated, a good half of the girls had been pregnant. Hermione was carrying Harry's twins, most of the girls who had 'played' with Malfoy were pregnant. . .much to the horror of his father. He'd been ranting and raving on the floo until a scream had alerted Minerva to the arrival of his wife who wasn't pleased with his bad behavior.

Most of the Slytherin girls were pregnant, having passed Ron around as a toy when Hermione had pimped him out. Molly was over the moon at the thought of so many grandchildren and haranguing the older boys about giving her more while Arthur was worried about how his son was going to be able to support all those children. Or the fact his daughter was pregnant and wasn't sure who the father was because she'd been with so many boys.

Atlantis shakes her head on the screen as Josette finishes her story. "At least this will mean a larger class size in twelve years though I hope some of the pureblood families added some first-generation blood to their families or those children won't be attending Hogwarts."

Quetzatlan laughs. "I thought the Dark Lord Ron Jeremy and all his kids was going to be hell on Hogwarts." Josette sniggers and flies back to the dorm.

The others blink and howl with laughter when she tells them what had happened. And what had happened to Voldemort.

The yearly and second crops start coming in and Josette is busy in two or even three places at once until it's over. The others start coming in and find Josette and the others reading a book. The same book. And laughing hysterically. They're put aside so they can talk.

"Are you done with the offworld harvests?"

"No, we have five after the Harvest Festival. I'll be double tripping for three of those days since I'll also be off picking up the new students."

"Josette?" Clarinda asks in a calm to her voice as she finds Josette bringing out piles of stuff in the library. Since Josette's snickering she knows it's not that calm.

"Supplies for a degree in comic books and a degree in tv from a school in Calvin's world. And it's not just mine, that pile's David's since he's going for a different tv degree from the same school."

"Is this why they were adding the buildings last year?"

"Yes. . .and I'm not so sure they might not need to be enlarged." Josette grumbles.

"Are these duplicates?" Charles asks, looking at the boxes. He looks at the books and then at Josette. "Yes, as part of the degree you are given two copies of everything since at the end of the degree you're going to have mint copies of all these comics but they're marked with the school name so people don't try to pass them off to unsuspecting collectors. So one set is for reading, and one is for collecting."

"How many . . ."

"Six classes. You get your supplies a few days after you sign up for classes since they need the time to replicate all this. David and I have the replicator so we don't have to wait but it's still nearly the whole afternoon to get everything. The school doesn't have dorms, you wouldn't be able to get all this in a normal dorm room, not even Hamberg's rooms. You need a van to bring everything home, though the others have joked a u-haul. . .and you need a part-time job to pay for all this."

"I can see people signing up for the degree just so they can say they have complete collections in mint condition."

"Even if they don't read comic books." Josette nods. "I'm three classes into my second year and I haven't scratched the surface of comics yet. Not the horror comics, not the brouhaha over the violence in comics that nearly destroyed the industry, not the whole super-heroes explosion. . ."

Josette smiles at the woman who's looking around. "Josette, this is Sophia Vecchio, Ray's mother and everybody else's grandmother and Melissa Danvelers. She's a designer." She waves at a man and woman talking with Ray. "Strongfort Stearne and his wife Kelly came out too."

"Pat, Pat, and Pat are all out so if she wants to talk to other designers . .." Melissa looks interested.

"More books?" Becka asks impishly. Josette moans. "Grandma wanted to see your workroom." David coos at the babies in strollers and Josette shoves him away. "The babies just moved into their own homes, I want to see what this mythical empty nest is like before we have more babies."

"How old are they?" Sophia asks.

"Turning twenty-three next year, they just started their internships this year and moved into their own homes last year. Even with taking their belongings out over their last year of classes it still takes a while to get settled into your home." Both women sigh and nod.

"Two sets of triplets and two sets of quadruplets." Becka tells Sophia, who moans. "Not the first set of multiples we've had and probably not the last."

"Josette and the others passed along a lot of information to help us out when we realized how many we were having."

"For the lord's sake. . why?"

"You've already seen the 'new planet, we need to have more children' thing." Josette grins at the babies and Becka sighs and nods. "And the Covingtons have a genetic quirk that makes multiples pop up often in the family. With getting pregnant so often we get hit more often than normal."

Sophia moans as she looks around the room while Becka grins at a stack of familiar sketchbooks.

"Josette gets hit by quilt ideas like I get hit by clothing ideas. So how many new books?"

"Twenty-eight new books with eight more that from the last quilts. I've got twelve of them ready to print over the next two years and I'm working on three more. And yes, I've got hit with more quilt ideas. These. . ." She waves a hand at the bags on the shelves. "Are only a quarter of the quilts in that stack of books."

"And these?" Sophia asks. She looks at boxes on the bottom shelf.

"Kits put out by the Albatross Nest, we have sewing, knitting, and quilt kits every month. A bunch of us get our kits a couple weeks before the year starts since we're involved in them one way or the other. Otherwise the kits are released the first of the month and you just buy the one you want."

"That is nice, no having to buy all of them if you only want one. Are the older ones available."

"Yep, a year after they've been released. So this years kits will be available year after next."

Josette puts the books from her first degree on characters took over from other publishers up in her area. The books for the last shipwrecks degree goes in the Naval Academy area and she looks over her shoulder as Doc chuckles.

"Does this mean your closet is empty of books?"

"Noooo, I've still got ten degrees started." Doc's lips twitch as David cackles, she can hear him in the other room where he's putting his own books away. Mentally flipping him off again they shut the door to her area.

"One day we will find out you don't have an actual wall in your closet, the books hold everything up."

"Wouldn't surprise me in the least." Josette says as she puts the containers in the room down the hall, David putting his in after her.

Sophia looks around the streets during the Lights Festival. "This reminds me of Christmases when I was a bambino in the old country. Not all the lights, we had candles but the people being out and enjoying themselves."

"Christmas is so commercial nowadays, though I can't complain since it's one of my best times of the year." Melissa says. "Either fool women needing a new dress for every party, a woman needing a whole new wardrobe for the season, or a man buying a new wardrobe for his wife because he's stepped out on her.” Pat, Pat, Pat, and Paddy all nod in unison. "Becka can tell you it's Christmas and Valentines are her busiest holidays for jewelry."

Becka had been looking over from talking to one of the quilters. "Huh?"

"Christmas is the busiest holiday for you for jewelry."

"Yep, though if I lived in an area with a large Spanish population that sixteenth birthday for girls would mean a lot of sales. Same if there was a large Indian population, they start buying jewelry nearly from birth."

Josette nods. "Oh yes, when Pat and I went to India years ago everybody was buying jewelry."

"I do like the idea of grab bags, it's both a surprise since you don't know what you're getting, a way to save money, and it gets rid of old kits if you have them laying around." Sophia tells Agatha as they talk by the store in Town. There's a table of bags in front of it and people are stopping and picking some up, Josette had already picked up several as she'd walked the streets.

Josette slides into her usual seat in the government building the first day the new semester opens.

"Josette, I understand you have a book tour?"

"Yep, I'm heading off tomorrow and I'll be gone about sixteen weeks with stops in the US and Canada. I'm visiting two comicons on this trip."

"Are the entire order from Great Britain in?"

"No, just under half." Josette says, looking at her PADD.

The next day Josette comes back from her trip, waving a hand to bring everything out of subspace and dropping facefirst into a couch. David chuckles as he moves her head to keep her from suffocating as they start sorting everything out.