Josette slides into her seat at the government building the first day of the new semester.

 

"Doc's not going to make the meeting, he's doing something with Doc, Charles, and Dr. Cross at the dorm."

 

"Are you at the ranch?"

 

"No, we're just hearing strange sounds coming from various places when the doors are open. The cats are giving us disgusted looks because somebody. . ." Josette gives David a look. "Keeps cackling like a mad scientist."

 

"Yeah, you." he snorts. Principal Madison and President Bartlett chuckle at the mock-argument.

 

"Noooo, I'm the one cussing like a sailor because you just set the damn bunny on me. You're the one cackling as you walk away."

 

"Bunny?"

 

"A variation on the prince and princess fairy tale but she's a kick-ass martial artist, he's a dreamer who wants to be an artist, her 'lady-in-waiting' is a healer and the bad guy is a scientist who's creating a new society away from the people who complain 'that's not how it's done'. It's one of those stories that won't sell. . .mostly for the sex. Let's just say the 'hero' ends up the filling in a girl loving sandwich. And the 'bad guy' wins."

 

"Yep, people would be up in arms over one or the other." Principal Madison says.

 

"Okay, back to business. Josette, orders?" President Bartlett asks.

 

"Coming along well."

 

"Supplies for the returning students, employees, cooking school teachers, and reality show people?"

 

"I'm bringing out another double batch of supplies midterms that will be going to the cooking school for them." Nods of satisfaction from the two older men. "Anything left over will be brought to the school for next year's students and employees. That should be enough for next year's students and employees, though we'll have to do an inventory after everybody comes back." Principal Madison nods and makes a note of that on his PADD.

 

"Colony?"

 

"According to the reports in their second winter, they'll be bringing out supplies another couple of years yet. This year or next people are going to be coming out to their homesteads and finding a spot for their homes and starting to put them up."

 

"Are there any single people going out?"

 

"Yeah, and the houses are designed that one person can move the logs into position with a pulley system. I'd hate to try to live out there by myself though. Especially over the winter. Bad enough during the summer when they'd be busy on the farm, going to be hell over the winter."

 

"Even in Little House when they moved to town for the winter they had to go out to the farm to take care of the animals."

 

"Put the logs up, chink the inside?"

 

Josette nods. "They're all marked with the doors and window, plus hole for the stovepipe or fireplace already cut. Put in the door and windows, some might put in the panels in the inside to further insulate the house, find water and dig the well, put up the outhouse and barn and get in enough supplies for their first year if they didn't arrive in time to plant their garden."

 

"They're going to have to bring in wagons of supplies."

 

"Yep. At least fifteen for the house, outhouse, and barn supplies, two or more for furniture, and three to eight for supplies for the winter."

 

"And some of that they'd need to have something up for the supplies." David says, looking at the list.

 

"The food at least."

 

"They'll need at least a year to get in animal feed."

 

"A hay crop for winter."

 

"We were lucky in that Josette was able to harvest hay for us before we came up and we had a year to get in more before winter. And let the animals graze. . .and we had supplies of animal food on hand and the feeders."

 

"They'll figure it out, I'm sure a farm by town will be going up first to iron out the details." Nods from the others. "Okay, anything else?"

 

"Students?"

 

"Ebbing again."

 

"Not a bad thing."

 

"Not at all. Especially with two years of new employees getting used to the school."

 

"Okay, new textbooks?"

 

"Nope, Granda says it's been quiet. Nothing new talked about, no new editions of existing books."

 

"Going on for a masters?"

 

"Probably, I'll be talking to Granda and people at Harvard when we go out either Christmas or finals."

 

"Degrees?"

 

"The boys are two years in, Susan and I are defending or uploading our dissertations this summer, CJ's going to be finished with his this fall."

 

"And I'm sure they're more than ready to have theirs finished." President Bartlett's lips twitch.

 

"Ohhhh yes."

 

"Shows?"

 

"Me Granda, the boys Mom's. I go first and I'm debuting two books again this year. That will leave four old books next year when the last of the new books are finished."

 

"What next?"

 

"Either the fiction or reprinting the older books, I was seeing how many I have after Thanksgiving."

 

Stopping at the bakery Josette returns to the dorm after David, taking off her outside clothes and putting them up before heading inside.

 

"Boys?" She asks Susan who's in the living room.

 

"On the island checking the crops. The twins went out to the ranch to check on the livestock."

 

"Dissertation?"

 

"Uploading mine this summer. David's got an appointment while we're out for your show for his."

 

"And the boys got three more years before they can defend theirs."

 

"Then another year for the damn thing to finally be over." Josette says, sniggering along with Susan.

 

"Yu-huh." Alexander snorts as he comes into the living room, dropping onto the couch and petting the cat next to him. "And if anybody talks me into another one, I'm going . . .going to . . .do something very, very bad." More sniggers from the two girls.

 

"Classes this semester?"

 

"A semester on Jungle adventures--comics, a semester on comic book characters DC took over, and the four classes for the Italians during WWII. I'm concentrating on the finishing the two degrees from Harvard since none of the degrees here except the Italians is anywhere near completion."

 

"And this way you can pick up classes from other schools."

 

"Yep, they're all sending me letters and other enticements to sign up for degrees." Josette settles in a chair and checks the inventory of what she's got in stasis.

 

"Need to make anything?"

 

"No, I'm good until at least our first testing week, probably a couple weeks after that."

 

"Green tomatoes?"

 

"I've got a room of them on the ship."

 

At Wayne Manor Bruce is looking outside the window at the lightly falling snow outside.

 

"You only need the cape fluttering in the breeze behind you." A voice snorts behind him. Bruce grabs Jason in a headlock and rubs his knuckles on his head. "Boys." Thomas says as he walks around them to his desk. Bruce drubs Jason's head a couple more minutes then settles at his desk.

 

"Shouldn't you be in class?"

 

"Heading that way in a few minutes. I was just remembering. . .how much things have changed. I'm going to be hitting the big 50 pretty soon but . . ." He looks down at his body that still looks to be in his late teens.

 

"Our bodies have changed since we arrived on Haven and we've adapted to the longer years." Thomas says, not saying what has really happened to Jason and the others. He's at Clark's Fortress as often as Clark is, both of them planning a lab to go on the twelfth planet.

 

After lunch Josette flies to Brigadoon, checking on the plants she'd harvested, the tomatoes, and picking some fresh lemons and limes. Dropping off some to the others she heads back to the dorm, putting some beans on to soak overnight before joining with her other selves that had been taking classes or working on other stuff at the dorm all day.

 

"University in space?" David asks as they walk to the dining hall.

 

"Second book is being released while we're out after Thanksgiving."

 

"Movie?"

 

"The ticket sales for the university in space was good, so was the DVD. The second movie is due to be released around the same time the gym in space movie, they wanted to make sure the special effects were up to snuff. We all remember movies that bombed thanks to bad special effects."

 

"Rather than movies that bombed because they were bad remakes of good shows or were umpity ump ump ump sequels?" Susan snorts.

 

"Exactly." Josette says as they shake the snow off their coats and jackets, kicking their feet together to get rid of that snow before walking into the back room.

 

"Josette, are you going to check the probes on Earth?"

 

"Yeah, I'm going out in a couple weeks, they're reaching the end of their storage capacity."

 

"Josette, what are you working on?" Alan asks after dinner.

 

"Taking the information from the covered wagons in the colony dimension and seeing how they'd hold up to bad weather."

 

"They had to have had oiled the canvas to keep everything from being ruined by rain but still. . ."

 

"Wouldn't stand up to our rains."

 

"Yeah, and they could tighten the canvas at the front and back but. . ."

 

"Covered wagons like you saw in the gypsy movies and circuses?"

 

"Might be able to be lived in over the winter, but they couldn't hold the supplies the other wagons could."

 

"No, but if I remember the movies they had supply wagons too. And mess hall tents so they didn't cook in their wagons."

 

"And the circus performers didn't live in them over the winter. They took their circuses to warmer climates after the last show."

 

"They'll have to be making multiple trips anyway, they can take off the canvas to use as a tent to live in while they're bringing in supplies."

 

Josette heads to the other dimension the next day after breakfast for the mail. Everybody's on the phones or working on the computer so Josette just brings out the mail, making a second pile of what needs extra postage and opening the closet for the mail.

 

"Need anything before midterms?" Jane asks, getting off the phone.

 

"Shouldn't, Joyce will tell me if we're running low on anything."

 

"No Josette, we're good on supplies until midterms." Joyce says when Josette delivers the mail. "Is the school there busy?"

 

"Yes, some fool woman tried suing to have the school shut down because the land should be turned into a resort. They need another spa, the land and buildings are too good for kids." Principal Madison rolls his eyes as he leans out of his office. "Yeah, the judge handed her her ass and now the school's getting a lot of publicity."

 

"People are stupid." Joyce says.

 

"Amen. But some of them come by it honestly." Josette mutters as she straightens up. "You're to come with me for the mail in three days, dressed to impress. We're talking a hush-hush, top secret super-duper student meeting."

 

"Fifth day?"

 

"Yeah, it'd be an hour after breakfast. Expect to be at the meeting a good three hours. And yes, I've got to attend the meeting too." Joyce sniggers as Principal Madison smirks.

 

"Our last batch of top secret students are settling in well."

 

"Yep."

 

Josette brings out their mail, the others sorting it out before lunch. Junk mail goes in the recycling bin on the table.

 

"I gotta shred paper after lunch."

 

"Books?"

 

"Yeah, I'll take the two I'm debuting out when I take out furniture and stuff for the show. The printers should be done with number seven and eight around midterms."

 

"Orders?"

 

"I'll start moving stuff next month, they should be running low on room then."

 

"When are the people coming out for Wayne, Dayton, and Drake?"

 

"Fifth month, that way the weather's nice, the crops are in, and we got a few weeks to concentrate on what they're going to be working on."

 

"Offworld harvests?"

 

"Yeah, we'll be starting those.

 

"Second harvest year?"

 

"Next year."

 

"Second Christmas?"

 

"Next year too, so it will be asshole to elbow. But the second Christmas will be when we go out after Thanksgiving."

 

"So it's not a special trip. You're going to be offworld often enough as it is."

 

"Josette, what are you working on?" Doc finds her in Headquarters after dinner with engineering and history texts on the table around her.

 

"The frigging bunny is driving me insane with how much materials they'd need to bring out for a home in the colony dimension. Even with those two wagon wagons you see on tv. . ." Doc nods. "It would still be a lot of trips. Even a loaded wagon and flyer would need multiple trips."

 

"They'd have to only be one or two days travel away from town at the beginning. Any longer and it would take too long to get in supplies."

 

"I'd say less than a week by travel by fast horse to have enough land. Two weeks by wagon, an empty wagon would travel faster than a full one."

 

"I'd almost say they'd have to go out for a couple summers first to scope out the land and figure out where they'd want to put the house and barn."

 

"Yeah, living rough in a wagon and cooking on the ground wouldn't be that big of a hardship in good weather."

 

"We had it easy, we either had our houses brought up with us or in the case of the settlers it was waiting on them when they came up."

 

"And those houses that were built on Haven were close enough they could live in temporary housing while they were taking out supplies. "

 

"And you lived on the ship when you brought out the plastic for the houses and outbuildings here and on the other planets."

 

"They'll figure it out."

 

"Yes, and the lessons they learn on the colony will be used when they go into space and have to build."

 

A couple days later Josette joins Principal Madison at the meeting. They spend a couple days on Earth since they brought Ulonda with them, checking on the progress of the colony dimension and the moonbase before returning back to Haven.

 

"Long meeting?" Professor Druid asks.

 

"Multiple meetings, and a whiner at most of them." Josette says, rolling her eyes. "Living proof that some people don't grow out of the I'm 'spe-shul, who are you to tell me no' mindset."

 

"And most of them end up in politics." Professor Ziegler snorts down the table. President Bartlett nods since he's got a mouthful of food.

 

"That good?"

 

"After we got done with the meetings about special students and other important stuff we had to deal with the rest." Josette rolls her eyes as she fills her trays in the back room.

 

"But you've got to change your classes, having your students not take them like the other schools gives them an advantage, we don't want that do we?"

 

"Yeah, this is why they're one of the best prep schools in the world?" Professor Druid rolls her eyes.

 

"But our school can't compete. You don't use the same books we do and you offer more classes, it's not right." Professor Eppes says in a mock-whining tone.

 

"Exactly. the government official who'd ordered the meeting was getting some dirty looks from his boss. The reasons he gave for the meeting didn't have a damn thing to do with what they were really talking about. So he's going to get a 'talking' to when they get back."

 

"But if I'd told you what the meeting was really about, you wouldn't have let me schedule it." Amanda mock-whines this time.

 

"Exactly."

 

"Any other complaints?"

 

"They don't like the idea that Dad's school offers boarding and day options. . ."

 

"They can't compete?" President Bartlett smirks.

 

"Noooooo. They don't like the idea that both our schools go year-round even though year-round schools are growing in popularity with the studies saying students tend to lose what they've learned over the long summer. But families can't go on vacation if you go year-round."

 

"They're seeing the wave of the future and they're not on the cusp. Instead of trying to make sure they're not left behind they're trying to force it to be the way they want." Josette says in the back room. Amanda and the other sosh teachers nod. "We had to adapt rapidly to all the shit that happened on Earth before we came out. . ."

 

"And there's always been somebody complaining about how new-fangled this or that is causing problems and how things were different in the old day. It didn't matter what, the car taking over from the horse and buggy, cell phones taking over from the ones on the wall, e-mail taking away from when people actually wrote letters that might take months to get to the other person, computers and televisions taking away family time. . ."

 

"Anything we need to worry about beyond the important stuff?"

 

"No, Josette met with Madison and Jessica about her books while we were out there. We checked on the colony dimension and moonbase while we were there."

 

"What size land parcels are they buying?"

 

"40 acres with the option to buy more in the future. They've got to get settled in first and show they can settle the land before they can think of buying more land."

 

"They'll probably need it for future children." One of the teachers from Balaclava that had been eating at the school so she could go over the garden and field plans with Professor Druid says. In the back room Josette nods. "In the beginning, there's not going to be a lot of jobs. We were lucky in that we were able to bring out factories and had jobs from the beginning."

 

"Something they'll have to be thinking about when they make future colony plans. Do they have something like a land office?"

 

"Yeah, with maps showing who has brought where."

 

"Do we have a land office?"

 

"Government building. They've got a map of the local areas, the commercial growing areas, and the outlying farms."

 

"How are things coming along on the 9th planet? They said something about planting new crops?"

 

"Yeah, they've been looking at growing more crops. They're looking at land for grapes."

 

"Plenty of varieties we don't currently grow."

 

 

 

 

A couple weeks later.

 

Thomas shivers in Quetzatlan as he looks through the window at the scenery around them. "It's hard to believe that man ever lived on the planet."

 

"How cold is it?"

 

"A balmy 20 degrees below zero."

 

"Balmy?"

 

"Compared to normal arctic temperature, oh yeah." Josette checks on the temperate areas.

 

"We had air sweeping machines on Krypton."

 

"Yes, I've been thinking of them if the . . .stuff in the atmosphere doesn't clear up but we also have all the pollution to think of. . .not to mention the ice age."

 

"Even without the debris in the atmosphere it took centuries for the last ice age on earth to end."

 

"And it is clearing up." Quetzatlan says. "The clear areas are getting larger and. . .yes, the density of debris in the worse areas is lessening." She puts up the graphs.

 

"Yes." Josette says. "Okay, now what?"

 

"It's still going to be centuries for it to clear completely. . .but it's a start." Josette sighs. "And we still need to deal with the pollution and hole in the ozone problems."

 

"Even Krypton had those from what I found when I went back. And massive radiation from the weapons."

 

"Which is why they needed the air sweeping machines."

 

Clark nods. "You might talk to the 9th planet about them if their Justice League doesn't have them."

 

Josette nods. "We're draining the radiation but there's still all that shit in the atmosphere. And even getting rid of that won't fix all the problems from global warming."

 

Thomas nods. "The California droughts because the snow pack there and in Alaska were a tenth of what they should be. . ."

 

"While some places like Boston got slammed during the 'warmest' winter on record. Which since I lived near Boston and we repeatedly got below freezing storms. . .." Josette says, nodding. "Jet stream was moving the weather away from where it normally went and was needed and hit places that weren't prepared for it. Which they really should have been since they knew the winters were getting worse."

 

"Oh, you're just talking. . .nobody really believes that stuff." Clark says, rolling his eyes.

 

"Exactly. Until it was too late. California just got the most attention but there was a lot of places that had a rain deficit. Just like there was morons who didn't want to believe the talk about the upcoming ice age, we were just saying that to make them stop using oil and gas."

 

Thomas sighs. "People refused to believe the truth about the mass sterilization on Earth too, you can give people the facts but you can't make them see the truth until they want to."

 

 

 

 

Josette comes out the second testing week with Aztec and starts moving supplies to the ship after dropping off the recycling. Dropping off socks at the school she sighs at the look on Calvin's face. He snickers slightly and waves her into his office.

 

 

 

Josette shoves David's shoulder lightly as she sits her tray down at the table. "Remember the twits from the department that handled school lunches on Earth? Granda had to deal with them while I was out there. They haven't changed a damn bit." Everybody cackles. Ma, Thomas, and Alex had joined them for the meal and they look at them.

 

"You spend too much money offering fresh fruit and vegetables, you should be using more canned." Alan says pompously. He pokes a fresh grape tomato with his fork on his salad and pops it into his mouth with a smirk.

 

"Didn't the government want schools to offer more fresh fruit and veggies at meals?" Thomas asks dryly.

 

"They were morons and the agency had the problem of the left hand didn't know what the right hand was doing. They didn't like the idea of students being able to serve themselves multiple times."

 

"They'd have had hysterics at how much food Josette puts away." Alex says. Josette sniggers and nods. "You'd think the food budget was coming out of their own pockets, they were nearly counting every bite we took. They wanted to limit students to one tray and limited seconds. . .with the cooks serving the students to control portions." Thomas rolls his eyes while Principal Madison is doing the same in the front room. The older teachers are telling the story to the younger ones. "They had to be shown medical studies that prove mutants new to their gifts burn through calories and can lose weight without knowing it."

 

"And of course we had those students like Josette with hyperactive metabolisms."

 

"They hated the idea of offering three meals and two snacks, they wanted to cut out the snacks entirely and only offer one meal."

 

"You're a boarding school." Alex says dryly. Thomas is shaking his head while Ma is sighing about fools who can't see what's in front of their faces.

 

"Yeah. Then they wanted us to shut down the other dining halls which were only one floor back then, you don't 'need' all those. . . just use one building. They had to be shown we had over 5000 students, there's no way the two rooms would be able to handle everybody, that's why we built the other dining halls. They walked off pouting because they couldn't force us to do what they wanted and we continued on the way we were, adding some things that made sense while ignoring the stupid stuff."

 

"Stuff that made sense?"

 

"Offering juice with the pulp because it's better for you. Josette drinks it when she's out of the other, she complains about having to pick the pulp out of her teeth all morning." Josette sighs. "They'd be horrified to find out we offer real ethnic food nights and there's restaurants on the school ground."

 

Josette snorts. "They were horrified that we had school gardens before they became popular so students knew where their food came from. Besides a shelf in a grocery store."

 

"Anything new at Calvin's?"

 

"They're planning to refurb a drive-in theater that just went up for sale. Of course the local town is complaining but since they don't have a movie theater. . ."

 

"Sour grapes."

 

"We didn't want to put one up but we didn't mean for you to do it." Professor Eppes says snidely from the front room. The others nod.

 

"There's also the fact that they brought land surrounding it with plans of putting up a mall like we did." The others snigger.

 

"How are you coming on your Harvard classes?"

 

"Good, I'll be nine classes into each by finals. Get in classes this summer, and finish the two degrees this fall along with the Italians degree."

 

"How long were you over there?"

 

"I was just leaving as we were arriving. I spoke to a few representatives from various schools, including my advisor at Harvard. Listened to that stupid bitch who was suing to have the colony dimension and moonbase stopped since it was against her religion complain because nobody was taking her side. Don't they know she's the ultimate authority and they should bow down and kiss her ass for breathing? The judge told her to grow the hell up, being too stupid to live wasn't a crime but she was taking it to extremes and he'd make an exception in her case if she kept pissing him off." Sniggers from various people. "Living proof they need prisons for people who are too fucking stupid to live. That way they can preach to each other and leave the rest of us alone."

 

"Anything else?"

 

"Usual, did a little looking around. I'm hitting Vegas when we go out for Christmas since they'll be having special stuff going on."

 

"You get the books from the printers?"

 

"Yeah, yesterday when I brought out more paper."

 

"Good," Josette says, finding Dad Sanders in the dorm when they return from lunch. She pulls up a file she sends to his PADD. "Look that over, would you?"

 

"What is it?"

 

"Small oven of clay or metal that can be put in, over, or next to a wood or dung fire in a fireplace for baking. Smaller would mean less heat needed."

 

"Dutch ovens that they could put in the coals and cover like they did in the cowboy movies?" Susan asks, walking past them to her room.

 

"I've been experimenting with them too. Something like baking in the firepits when we're cooking out would be perfect since it would be surrounded by heat but there's the problem of not being able to check on it."

 

"There were countries on Earth that heated with peat or animal dung. .." Dad says.

 

"Yes, but they really don't do a lot of baking like you found in the other countries." Everybody nods.

 

"Get everything delivered?"

 

"Yeah, I dropped off at the sorting planet first."

 

"Josette, did you see the message from Edinborough?" Doc asks, coming to the door of Headquarters.

 

"Yeah, I was reading the messages while I was delivering everything." The others look at them. "They want to start a degree on clockmaking. Similar to the musical instruments classes, first a history of them then actually working on the various types." The others nod. "That's something that's going to be handmade for a few years."

 

Josette's eyes glaze over a second.

 

"Bad storm?" David asks, reaching for his PADD as Alexander and Alan look towards the ranch and Susan looks towards the basement.

 

"Just bitter ass cold and snowy."

 

"Knew that, that's why they told everybody to order extra wood."

 

Josette and the others head to the islands the next day after breakfast, harvesting for a few hours before they take the full bags back to the dorm. As Josette had said, it had started turning colder after dinner the previous night.

 

"Anything on the space colony plans?" David asks after breakfast, joining President Bartlett, Principal Madison, Doc, and Josette in the administration building for an impromptu meeting. "They ever decide building ships in space versus on the planet?"

 

"They're doing both, starting on a ship that will lift off the planet in the desert once they have lists of supplies needed, both for the ship and feeding and housing the workers on site unless they house them in various nearby towns and cities. And they've got plans to start building a large satellite to house workers building ships in space and those crews who are coming up with supplies."

 

"They'd almost have to house them on site. . ." President Bartlett says slowly. "Security will have to be tight to keep both the looky-lous away and to keep somebody from trying to sabotage it."

 

"How are they handling building the ship itself?"

 

"Farming out the pieces to various corporations and assembling them on site once they make sure everything is to specifications. Very strict quality assurances with government oversight and hefty fines for cutting corners. They're looking at years of steady work on the parts before they can start assembling everything, but that will give them time to get everything ready to put it together."

 

"They won't be able to keep it quiet."

 

"No, but they'll be able to set up containment areas. If they could put the ship together in one of the other dimensions it would take care of the security needs but. . ."

 

"Yeah, that's not possible."

 

"It's all years in the future, they're still waiting to see how the colony dimension settles once more people start moving out and find habitable planets."

 

"Which you're going to be doing when it gets closer to completion?"

 

"Yeah, because once they have the ship and a planet, they'll still need the colonists."

 

"That'll be the big sticking point, not too many people are going to want to pick up and move to another planet."

 

"They might be surprised, we were when we opened Haven to colonists. . .of course 99% of them were rejected."

 

"Yeah, they'd really need to make sure they'd be able to handle life on another planet just like they did the colony dimension."

 

"And have firm laws and rules of conduct."

 

"Thomas's dimension?"

 

"About seven years our time and we'll be nearing the time we left. Hopefully we won't be harvesting for a while. They're under three billion. . .which would *eem like a good population."

 

"But not when nobody's younger than their . . .what forties?"

 

"Somewhere around there." Josette sighs and rubs the back of her head.

 

"Doc's world?"

 

"Taking it one day at a time."

 

"Just like everybody else."

 

Josette nods.

 

"I had a request for spices from the cooks?"

 

"Yeah, we've got a batch growing in the building, everybody's growing different ones on the various planets so they've got both a large variety and a good supply of them." Nods from the others. "I'm growing a good variety on the ship along with the green tomatoes."

 

"The islands?"

 

"We went out yesterday, it will be a few days before we pick again." Josette looks at the time on her PADD and sniggers. "Granda was telling me various governments were bitching again about us not having a 'proper' government. . ."

 

"Bertha better than yous." President Bartlett rumbles. "Yeah, now they're whining because we don't have state dinners."

 

"Those were an excuse for people to lord it over their friends and neighbors. . .'oh look, I've been invited to the White House'." President Bartlett says in a sing-song voice.

 

"'I'm having dinner with the President and you're not'." Josette says in the same tone of voice. "Same thing with 'my child went to Oxford while yours was in high school."

 

"Anything else?"

 

"No, the world government told them to grow up and stop their bitching. Our government has been working for decades without their 'help' and it will keep on going just fine."

 

"Anything else before we go out for Christmas?" The others shake their heads and the meeting breaks up. Josette goes up to her workroom after they get back to the dorm, looking through her bags and boxes to select a project to work on.

 

A couple weeks later David opens the tesseract on Earth, everybody trailing off the ship. Josette joins the others at the mansion a couple hours later.

 

"Josette, are you planning on making pepper jack cheese? You've been mumbling about needing to."

 

"Yeah, I've got the pickled jalapenos on the ship."

 

Josette splits off a couple duplicates that start working on that over the next few days, making logs and wheels of cheese that's put up on the ship to age. She joins Principal Madison, Doc, and Calvin in a government office one day.

 

"Get tapped to find habitable worlds?"

 

"Yeah, and we talked about what we might be able to make for the ships." The others chuckle and sigh.

 

"City?"

 

"They're planning on ships first, then a city. They were poo-pooing it at first until they saw footage of the one on the moon in 9th planet. 'Oh my god, you really can have a city in space'." Josette says in an airhead voice. The others snigger.

 

"Before they do anything they'll have to have a steady source of energy, preferably non-polluting and wireless."

 

"Yeah, the energy companies are pouting since the government is cracking down on all the fees they're charging the customers. Any more the fees are more than the damn power."

 

"Well if the government hadn't passed them in the first place. . ." Alexander snorts.

 

"Yeah, can't have it both ways."

 

A few weeks later they settle back on Haven, David opening the tesseract as the students and employees start carrying their bags off. Josette starts delivering stuff to the dorm before flying back to the school.

 

"Get the cheese made?"

 

"Yeah, it's aging on the shelves with three other varieties." Josette leans back against the couch, looking out the window at the snow falling outside. "Islands?"

 

"Tomorrow." The others nod.

 

"Am I mean in wanting the morons who don't eat animal by products being stuck in the colony dimension and having to eat that way or starve?" Susan asks. A fool woman had been picketing the school because they didn't serve only vegan meals until the police had arrested her. She'd already tried suing and gotten the case laughed out of court by the judge.

 

"Nope, not when they shove their opinion down your throat." Josette smirks.

 

"What other peppers do you have pickled?"

 

"A good variety beside the jalapenos. I like them in sandwiches. Speaking of which, I gotta make bread this weekend." The others nod. Looking at the time they call for the kids and head to lunch.

 

"What is that?" David asks at the strange sandwich Josette's eating in her room.

 

"Muffuletta, it's an Italian sandwich. Layers of olive salad, meat, cheese, pickled peppers, basically whatever you want to add in round loaves with most of the bread scooped from it, then pressed down. They're on the food replicator." Josette says after swallowing. "I don't make them because you make the olive salad the day before, make the sandwich the day after that, then let it sit at least overnight with something heavy on it to flatten it. They got their own version on cook's country but it's not the same."

 

David shakes his head as Josette finishes the list of bread she needs to make that weekend. "Workroom?"

 

"Should be getting a little crowded by the time we're going out for finals. I'll take them out then then whatever extra we have before my show, then again when we take the students, employees, cooking school teachers, and reality show people back home after Thanksgiving."

 

"Are you going to be having stuff to take back?"

 

"Probably, everybody's going to be opening windows as the weather gets nice, looking around their rooms, and realizing oh shit I gotta do something with this . . .stuff." David sniggers. "Depending on how much it is I might wait since they'll start picking up later in the year." David nods as he walks off, dialing up a sandwich of his own on the replicator. Slicing off a section, he moans at the taste, the others taking portions. "Muffuletta, there's about ten different kinds in the replicator."

 

"Vat meat?" Anna asks after dinner.

 

"Yeah, we've got to see what we've still got in stasis and make more. Especially the lunch meats."

 

"I'll check the supply after dinner. We've got plenty of the real meat." The shipment had come in while they were off for Christmas.

 

"What's the latest on the colony?"

 

"They're getting ready to go out to look at their land and find good spots to put up the house, barn, and outhouse in a few months."

 

"Any timeline on colonizing space?"

 

"Not for twenty years, our time. It's going to take a few years to set up a location to build the ship, start getting in supplies and set up housing for the workers. . ." Nods from the others.

 

"And it will take at least that long to build the ship?" David say dryly.

 

"Yeah, but it would be steady work."

 

"Have to investigate the workers to make sure they wouldn't be sabotaging the work."

 

"Same with the companies building the parts."

 

"They're looking at strict quality control." Josette says.

 

"They'd have to for a spaceship."

 

"They need better quality control everywhere thanks to all the damn recalls." Susan mutters. The others nod.

 

The next morning the tesseract opens before lunch and everybody troops into the basement kitchen with bags of stuff from the gardens. Looking at the time they head to lunch before starting to can, dry, or otherwise store everything. That takes a couple of days and Josette looks at her supply of sliced meats for sandwiches before bringing out the large commercial slicer.

 

"Guys, I'm going to be slicing deli meat first day, anybody wants anything let me know. I'm running out."

 

"Yeah, we're getting low too. We'll start a list."

 

Josette and the others head up to the bakery after breakfast eighth day, making large batches of bread dough that are laid out to rise while they go to lunch. Principal Madison looks at them. "Making bread." David says. He nods. "Garbage."

 

"Yeah, planned on doing it tomorrow." Josette says absently. "And moving the recycling to the ship."

 

"Thank you Josette."

 

"How are you on your classes?"

 

"Good, I don't need to head to Archimedes for our third testing week since I have everything but the finals done." Nods from the others. After lunch they check the bread and start the batches of special loaves, laying them out to rise. The first batch is ready to pop in the ovens and Josette starts them going as the others start another batch of dough for more specialty bread. Another large batch of basic bread would be next and keep them supplied for a couple months.

 

The next morning Josette starts putting the now cool loaves of bread in stasis and grabs the disintegrating gun and crystals from the replicator. Getting all the garbage takes an hour and she heads to the dorm before lunch to empty them.

 

"Done?" Alan asks, looking over from the couch as she comes in.

 

"Just over half, the crystals are full." Josette puts them in the slots and grabs them after lunch, getting the rest of the garbage and putting the recycling in subspace, moving it to the ship.

 

"Thank you Josette, for getting the garbage and moving the recycling." Principal Madison says at dinner.

 

The next morning Josette checks the list and starts bringing out the big chunks of turkey, ham, and other meat, checking to see who wants what and filling containers. The rest goes in the basement kitchen stasis unit.

 

"Get it taken care of?"

 

"Yeah, we still got plenty in the general stasis unit and the rest of the lunchmeat after your special requests is in the basement. No use having a partial one going." Nods from the others. "The vat is making more stuff."

 

"Mail?"

 

"I'm heading out tomorrow."

 

It's snowing hard when Josette heads off, dropping off the carts of mail at the office and bringing out their mail at the dorm.

 

"Josette, cherries?"

 

"They're ripening on the ship, I should be picking in a couple weeks."

 

Josette contacts Wayne Manor after lunch.

 

"Miss Josette?"

 

"I'm going to be picking the cherries on the ship in a couple weeks, do you want any?"

 

"Our own trees are producing right now."

 

"Ahhh, and it's like bringing coals to Newcastle. Gotcha." Josette chuckles.

 

"Indeed."

 

Alfred looks over as Alex comes in with more cherries he starts cleaning, pitting, and slicing for chutneys and other sauces. The drying tables are full of cherries as are the stasis units and they've taken more out to Ma Kent. . .both of them. "This is the last of them." He chuckles at the sigh of relief Alfred can't quite hide.

 

After lunch Josette checks on her plant, watering it with the last of the fish water in the can and going to fill it again. Susan and the boys head to Archimedes for their third testing week as Josette and David make plans for the first garden and crops.

 

The cherries start coming in and Josette is busy for several days picking them and either making wine, drying, dumping them in stasis or making stuff with the others. That's stuck in stasis too as windows start being opened to air out rooms. Josette spreads manure on the fields and garden, checking to see the others doing the same. A few days later it's tilled under and the first crops planted.

 

Josette slides into her usual seat at the testing center.

 

"How is everything on Haven?"

 

"We're opening windows and airing everything out, it wasn't a hard winter but it felt like it dragged on forever since it was cold and snowy." The others nod, knowing that feeling. More than one person is climbing the walls by the time spring arrives.

 

"Recycling?" David asks from the door of her room when she returns from Archimedes.

 

"I'll put the school's on the ship right before we leave, I'm getting the other planets tomorrow." He nods in satisfaction.

 

"Bringing back recycling?"

 

"Yeah, it should be picking back up now that the supplies for the colony dimension is slowing down, then slowing down again once they start working on the ship." David nods. "Oh, the glassblowers called."

 

"Yeah, I was going to see if they needed the glass broken up. They have to have been running low."

 

The next evening Josette slides into her usual spot in the dining hall. "Recycling picked up on the other planets, last of the orders on the ships to be delivered, the glass broken up for the glassblowers, and I moved all the special orders we had finished. I just need to pick up the school's recycling before we leave." On the front screen Principal Madison nods in satisfaction.

 

The end of the week finds David opening the tesseract to allow the returning students and employees off the ship. The others trail off as Josette starts delivering stuff, joining them at the mansion a couple hours later to find food on the table.

 

"Get everything delivered or picked up?"

 

"Yes, including the stuff we'd ordered before and the school's supplies. Ten bucks says not only do we find the recycling drop-off centers just as full as when we were here before, I take a good chunk of it back with me."

 

"Sucker bet. Paper ends?"

 

"Yep, I'm taking them back with me."

 

"Colony?"

 

"From the last databurst before we came out, they're going to start going out to check their land in a few weeks. They're getting in supplies since it will be a good two or three weeks out there walking their land, finding a good spot for the house, the barn, corrals and grazing areas, and making sure the well and outhouse aren't near each other." Nods from the others. "Talking to Madison?"

 

"Yeah, I gotta go out one day while we're here. Go over all the details before the 2nd book is released and the movies come out."

 

The next couple of weeks pass quickly and Josette picks up the last of the shipments that have arrived while they were there before they lift off and head back to Haven. The students start heading to the auditorium with their bags as Josette splits off duplicates to start delivering everything.

 

"Seventh planet?"

 

"I'll deliver them tomorrow." Josette stretches and yawns, opening the stasis unit and bringing out stuff for a sandwich. Bacon and something else is put on the grill. David looks at her. "Tempe. Soy bacon, it was available back on earth. I made it flavored with spices or smoked just like the bacon." He nods and hands her the mustard after she cuts two slices of bread off a loaf. He leans against the counter as she makes a sandwich and eats it with an orange.

 

"Any idea what Doc and the others did?"

 

"They'll tell us when they're ready. Like you said, I had to have gotten it somewhere." David sniggers. "Offworld harvests?"

 

"Couple of weeks yet. Going to be asshole to elbow for a while."

 

"You don't have to do four years of classes in one you know." David says in a good impression of Doc's chiding tone. Josette blows him a mental raspberry since her mouth is full. "Get them done and out of my hair. Be worse for the people working in the big building, they'll have them coming bing, bang, boom." David nods as Josette wipes her face and hands.

 

"What kind of land are they looking at for the ship?"

 

"It will have to be pretty big, that much empty land I can think of right offhand is the Sahara desert, it's both empty and in the middle of nowhere. Or one of the African deserts." The others nod. "The only problem with that is housing and water."

 

"Like on MASH, they'd have to truck everything in and you'd be going through a lot of water in a desert climate."

 

"And tents would be the best bet for housing unles. . ." Josette's voice trails off and she grabs her PADD, sending off a message to Calvin. The others look at her. "The temporary housing units."

 

"Would be their best bet for housing. Better than tents. During the night anyway when the temperature drops."

 

"And they don't have to worry about winter. They'd have to have some tents. . ."

 

"Mess hall, a px or some type of store with supplies, a library or something else to pass the time when they're offwork."

 

"Mail deliveries."

 

"Not our problem, thank you goddess." Josette sighs as she looks at the clock. "The kids still at Wayne?"

 

"Yeah, they said they'd be there most of the day." David says, looking at the time. "Are they signed up for the offworld harvests?"

 

"Yeah, this way they have money to put towards their permanent homes before they move out."

 

David snorts. "They still have five years."

 

"Yes but they're like the rest of us, plan ahead." Alexander suddenly starts sniggering. "Wha?" Josette asks, sighing. She knows that look.

 

"Area 51, they really would be working on UFOs."

 

"Don't you mean IFOs?" Susan chuckles. David laughs as Josette sends that along to Calvin. The databurst won't be going out for a few hours and she can imagine his sigh when he gets that message.

 

It's mirrored on Principal Madison's face when Josette tells him what they'd been talking about at lunch, while Professor Druid is cackling.

 

"Oh god, that's perfect." President Bartlett is chuckling and Professor Ziegler is laughing nearly as hard as Professor Druid.

 

After lunch everybody starts going over the list of what they'd brought back, seeing if there's anything that needs to be brought out right away.

 

"Did we take the compost up?"

 

"Yeah, they're in the piles on the islands and I tilled the plants under." Alan says absently. The others nod in satisfaction. "Cacao?"

 

"Should be harvesting them this year. Along with the coffee and other stuff."

 

"Do you have orange trees started?"

 

"Yeah, I got everything started on the ships. I've been planning on going to the first planet and planting some more stuff, including cherries."

 

"Watering system?"

 

"We designed it for a thousand times the usage we have right now, I just need to run the new lines." They look over as the kids start trooping in. Looking at the time they whistle.

 

"Wash up for dinner." Nods and they head various directions.

 

"Have you talked to anybody about your plans for housing?"

 

"Yes, we've talked to the bank. We know how much it is to furnish a standard apartment and looked at the list of specialty furniture you or Hank's crew makes."

 

"Buying land and building would be even more money." David says. They nod almost as one. "That's our plan for the future once we're all working. Maybe buying the land first, getting in a few crops, and putting that money aside for houses."

 

"Because sometimes you just have to get away from everybody." Susan says. Everybody nods. "Now, what kind of degrees are you going for?"

 

"That's something we're going to be talking about this summer when reps from Dayton, Drake, and Wayne come out, along with the others from Stark, Eureka, and the 9th planet."

 

"Add Stark and possibly Dr. Richards from Granda's dimension to that number." The others look at Josette. "It's still in the planning stages but they're talking a second colony dimension for scientific endeavors and whatnot, the Avengers and Fantastic Four are number one on the list to move thanks to the stupidity of the NYC government, or kicking everybody off Manhattan and declaring it their own property. And expanding that to the rest of the state if they keep pissing them off."

 

"That's going to cause an uproar."

 

"Yep." Josette sighs. "I can see the fallout now, people suing to make them to stay, people suing to make them leave, the businesses in the Fantastic four and Avengers buildings having to find other places if they take the buildings. The economy will take a hit."

 

"People wailing about the smart people taking off and leaving humanity to die in their own waste as buildings crumble around their ears." David snorts.

 

"There's a cure for that."

 

"2x4 upside the head, repeated as necessary?" Alexander smirks.

 

"Tempting, it's called getting a degree or learning a skill so you can take care of your own needs."

 

"Never going to happen. The celebutantes would complain that it was work."

 

"They'd hate getting their hands dirty in the garden."

 

"Oh god, imagine the howls having to use an outhouse."

 

In the front room Principal Madison is sighing. "Is this why you and Dad were talking?"

 

"Yes, I went to meet with the Avengers and Dr. Richards to tell them about what they'd need to do to move their buildings to another dimension. Including getting in supplies, harvesting ores, and seeing what kind of power they'd need."

 

"They almost have to be on some sort of alternate power already." David says. The others nod.

 

The next couple of weeks pass quickly and Josette takes off for the first offworld harvest. An hour later Haven time David opens the tesseract and Josette starts moving out the food, the workers grabbing it as the pickers trail off the ship.

 

Josette is waved to the front table at lunch. "Are you only taking the four classes for the degree online?"

 

"That's what I'd planned on, since I'm trying to get in as many of the Harvard classes I can this summer. I might have to just get in a semester for each degree and get in the rest this fall when I'm not offplanet so much."

 

"Good." Principal Madison says. "The boxes are piling up at the office."

 

"Yeah, I'd planned on picking them up after lunch since I got a call from the cooking school too." President Bartlett nods in satisfaction since Principal Madison is answering a question from a student.

 

"When is your show?"

 

"Three weeks. I'm taking a batch of belongings out then. We'll be out at least a couple weeks with David defending his dissertation, visiting suppliers besides Ellis, hitting Vegas, and doing some shopping."

 

Josette heads up to the growing area after lunch, shaking her head at the long corridor that's part of it now as well as the tree crops planted. Walking into the aquaponics section she starts picking the ripe tomatoes, moving plants to various tanks and putting the no longer producing, gone to seed ones ones out to dry before they go in the compost bin.

 

"We need to take care of the seeds." She says, coming down.

 

"Yeah, I was looking at the plants a couple weeks ago." Alan says as her other selves that had been off all day come into the dorm and they merge with her.

 

A couple days finds them in the growing area, laying out plants and removing seeds from the plants, separating the chaff that came with them and bagging them. The plants go in the compost bin and they update the list of seeds they have, checking the others lists to see if they have anything they need or they have something they need.

 

"What the hell is that?" David asks, looking over Josette's shoulder at her PADD.

 

"A walk in refrigerator like Vincent has at the cafe."

 

"We don't need one that big."

 

Josette snorts. "Doc and the others added two, one in the basement, the other in my first floor room. We got matching freezers in case we ever start freezing stuff. And yes, Doc has them at Headquarters too."

 

"We don't have the factory and we don't grow big enough crops."

 

"They're shut off until they're needed, we need them just turn on the controls by the door."

 

"Enlarging the stasis chambers."

 

"Did that, they're walk-ins now too." The others snigger despite themselves. "No more having to take everything out to get to something in the back."

 

"Room for root vegetables?"

 

"Enlarged too, now each veggie has it's own area if not room."

 

"Hmmmm, there's tons of different root crops we don't currently grow."

 

"Yeah, that was their thought. Doc's planning on adding a couple more crops over the next few years."

 

"Something we should think about?"

 

"It's an idea, I can grow on the satellite to see if it's something we'd eat before we plant a large crop." Nods from the others as they start making a list of what they can grow.

 

Susan squeaks as a house elf appears in the living room.

 

"Missy Takahawa, Missy Wright sends you a letter."

 

"Thank you." The elf hands over the thick envelope and disappears.

 

"Missy Wright?"

 

"Becka from the road trip." Josette says absently, reading the letter. "Okay, seems it's been several years for her too. Seems her grandparents are involved in the government one way or the other and. . okay. . ." Josette looks up at the others. "Have spaceships that are somewhat similar to TARDISES, so does her 'Uncle Ray'." The others blink at her. "The government contracted with them to find worlds for them to colonize. Their Mars either never had a cataclysm like ours did or was terraformed, the family has decided that they're taking it over. She wanted information on the larger replicators and how we moved and copied everything."

 

"How is their world?"

 

"Okay, but having problems with their power grid since it's old and wasn't intended to be in use for so long." Everybody nods, including Doc and Pat who'd come out of Headquarters when they got the alert that 'something' had arrived at the kids dorm. "They've got a power plant down that supplies DC and parts of the surrounding states. They're trying to claim it's not them, it has to be the substations. But nobody believes over a hundred substations went out at the same time. Becka's town is recovering from their own power outage when some fool punk drove through the substation so their town had been without power for over a year. The town council was dragging their feet about building a new one, mostly because it was the son of one of them that destroyed the old one."

 

"And they're being mean to his stupidness?" Abby drawls.

 

"Yep, they don't need a new substation, there's this mythical switch somebody flipped to make his baby boy look bad. They could have the power on in an hour. . .they just don't want to. Damn fool kept his little puke from being punished, the asshole had taken out a fire hydrant by the designer Becka worked at summers while she was in school, the water destroyed a lot of stuff. . .Including the generator. To punish the designer for daring to try to make his baby boy take responsibility for his own actions, the little bastard and his buttbuddies passed a law under the table outlawing generators being installed, even if you were replacing one you already had."

 

"Oh jeez, and then the power outage." Alexander facepalms.

 

"Yep, fast forward several years to the power outage and the government came in with low interest loans for solar panels and generators so at least some houses could have limited power and one of the major contractors in the town 'innocently' announced that they couldn't install the new generators thanks to that law."

 

"And that put a cat among the pigeons?" David snorts.

 

"'But I didn't mean for it to apply to everybody, just this horrible person.'" Alan drawls.

 

"Yep. Because Padraig had dared sue to get his damages paid because the insurance companies were pointing fingers at each other and the damages were still piling up. But he got his revenge. The same asshole wouldn't let him expand his business so he brought land outside the city limits and put up new buildings, each with a generator and solar panels." The others snigger. "The city howled about losing their tax base since Becka had brought a lot of old warehouses in a tax sale and had renovated them and two businesses from the city had moved into empty buildings since they had more room. They turned on him and he was blubbering about how nobody buys fabric, nobody buys pottery, Padraig just makes clothes. . .why should he need more room?" Nods from the others as Pat snorts. "They had his records investigated and it turns out he'd been taking bribes, if you were one of his butt buddies you got a building permit. If not. . .too bad, so sad, piss off. Of course they wouldn't remove him from the council or charge him. . ."

 

"Because he knows their dirt." Michael snorts.

 

"Yep. Well the government came in and arrested him for his nonsense and the law was thrown out, now the city council has to get approval from the judges before they can pass laws."

 

"Awwwww, poooo' babies." Susan coos.

 

"Yeah, anyway the little punk is finally being held responsible for his actions and the government was bringing in supplies to town. But it was a bad winter and without lights, heat, or water people basically lived in one room."

 

"How was Becka?"

 

"She says her mansion wasn't bothered, she'd added an alternate power similar to ours and Josette's bus when the natural gas provider went out of business. Because they didn't want to pay to replace fifty year old pipes that were in danger of failing and had already got their hands slapped when they passed that cost along to their customers." Sighs and nods from everybody. "Between that and her solar panels it was life as usual. . and her light bills went from nearly five hundred a month to less than fifty when she installed the alternate energy." The others nod again. "Anyway, the council sued twice to keep the old substation from being torn down. . .not that there was much left after the kid was done." Josette finds a packet of photos and looks through them before passing them around. Doc makes his trilling sound at the wreckage of the substation. "Ours getting struck by lightning all the fucking time was bad enough."

 

"Why didn't they bypass it?" Pat asks.

 

"That's in here, Becka says the substation was the major one that handled the area, there weren't any nearby though they're talking about a second one to handle the corporation where she works. . .sounds like it's similar to Wayne and Dayton. . . and handle a private school that had build a campus near the town. When the old one was built they'd never planned on that much demand. Anyway, the father tried laying down in front of the bulldozers, still bleating about how they could have the power back on in an hour, they just need to flip the mythical switch they'd pulled to make his baby boy looks bad. He was drug off by his ear by a government official."

 

"I'd have ran him over." Pat snorts.

 

"Becka says her grandmother said the same thing. . .and that if they could have the electricity back on so easily, they would have already. The power had went out in late March, this was October and they were looking at a bad winter." Nods from the others.

 

"They started building the new substation the following year, it's now three times larger than the old one. They were testing the power after Labor Day and they found a lot of appliances and other machinery had seized up without maintenance for so long, including furnaces."

 

"Oh grief." Alexander says. "It's not something you think about until it goes up." Michael and Doc nod. "And while furnace repairmen have spare parts, they don't have it on the massive scale that was needed to fix everybody's furnaces. . .or have a couple dozen new furnaces they can bring out."

 

"Not to mention the furnaces that large buildings need would need to be special ordered."

 

"Yeah. Becka says people who'd spent the previous winter in a single room that could be kept somewhat warm with a kerosene heater and had moved back into the rest of the apartment or house come spring moved back into the single room. Furnaces were worked on as the parts came in but they had to be careful about frozen pipes."

 

"With the power out for so long the previous year, they'd have been empty. With the power back on, they'd be using them."

 

Over the next couple of weeks when Josette's not busy with the offworld harvests she and the others are busy getting together a box of hard drives filled with information for them. A note is put on the top and it goes off with the house elf.

 

"Good morning Josette, are these your new books?" One of Ellis's employees asks.

 

"And the older books. My show is in a couple days."

 

"That will give us time to set everything up." Ellis says as he comes out of his office.

 

Meanwhile Josette is also dropping off the stuff for the show, books, and special orders with Marcus.

 

"Dissertation?" Calvin asks when he arrives at the mansion later that night.

 

"Tomorrow."

 

 

 

The first crops come in and everybody's busy canning, drying, or storing everything. Josette drops off the wheat at the mill to be ground along with corn before dropping into her seat.

 

"Get the classes you wanted in?" David asks when the last of the offworld and yearly harvests have been picked. They look at the shelves in the stasis unit in satisfaction before walking out.

 

"Nearly, I'm a semester into each of the Harvard degrees and hope to get in three more before the end of the semester. If not, Meh."

 

"Four classes for the Italians degree this fall to finish the degree?"

 

"Yeah, and I'll probably pick up a semester in the jungle adventures--movies degree, that will put me a year in each of them."

 

"Any other degrees?"

 

"I'm a year into a four degree set on characters DC took over."

 

"Get everything done you wanted?" Alexander asks in the dining hall after they've finished getting the third crops planted.

 

"I got two classes in for one degree and one from the other, I'll finish them this fall along with the Italians degree and the semester for the jungle movies."

 

"And next year Susan and I will be done with these damn doctorates."

 

"And Dr. Blake will start nagging you about another degree to keep you out of trouble." Abby snorts. The others snigger.

 

"The others come over from Thomas's world?"

 

"Yeah, they're getting settled in temporary housing now and eating dinner at the communal kitchen. After touring the town tomorrow, they'll get down to brass tacks."

 

"Mr. Stark and Professor Richards from Granda's?"

 

"Yes, they're out here too."

 

Susan has a funny look on her face. "Wha?" the others ask. She'd been quiet all day.

 

"Remember when we were taking Aaron home after he finished university and we were teasing each other about being old since we'd graduated high school eleven years ago."

 

"God, 28 seems so young." David says.

 

"Speak for yourself, I was 30." Alan snorts. "And Josette hadn't turned 27 yet."

 

"We only had the oldest nine children. Josette hadn't started playing hopscotch across dimensions. We'd never heard of Atlantis and the other ships."

 

"The rockets hadn't been set off, though we'd had a couple bad winters. We were making plans for leaving Earth, but still were hoping we wouldn't have to."

 

The others nod. "Earth wasn't much, but it was home."

 

David suddenly starts sniggering. "Wha?" The others know that look.

 

"Can you imagine what high school would have been like if Josette had been a goddess back then? Let alone anything else she picked up playing dimensional hopscotch." Josette smirks evilly as Principal Madison moans in the front room. Professor Druid pats him on the shoulder in a there, there gesture as she desperately tries not to cackle. President Bartlett looks at them. "David just said can you imagine the school if Josette had her other gifts when she was in high school?"

 

"The school would not have survived, she'd have beaten Kennedy's ass like a rug." Professor Ziegler says dryly. Professor Fletcher nods. "She had no tolerance for spoiled brats who thought Daddy's money made them better than everybody else even back then."

 

"I did beat Kennedy's ass like a rug, thank you very much." Josette says with a grin from the back room. Then she sniggers. "Remember how we were old when we'd delivered the triplets, Janelle, and Jessica?"

 

"What a difference over a hundred years makes. If you'd have told me back then . . ."

 

"You'd have been in Doc's special room."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Wayne Industries?" Lucius Fox looks at Thomas and Bruce. He's representing both Wayne and Drake while another man is representing both Daytons at the meetings. More people are wandering the streets of Town and talking to others.

 

"From this dimension's Earth. There. . .Bruce was left an orphan that night. A lot of our work is similar but a lot of it is different. There's also Stark International . . .yes, as in the comic books on the fourth planet. Their Tony Stark lives on the fourth planet, we have another visiting with his friends as well as Reed Richards, their dimension has ways to access other dimensions, they've used a number of them as low, medium, and high security centers, with the time difference they can serve out their entire sentence within a day with businesses bidding for their services to pay their fines. The high-security dimension time runs normally for the prisoners. .. those are the type that would spend years on death row. They have a dimension where people can go to work, and they recently opened another dimension to colonization as a first step to colonizing other planets. They're planning a second colony dimension for research."

 

"So there's two other corporations?"

 

"Four all total, there's Global Dynamics on the eighth planet and another on the 9th planet. They also have more corporations there, but like ours they don't have people living out there permanently."

 

Lucius gives his 'boss' a look. "As in the tv show Eureka?"

 

Thomas chuckles. "Yes, the one from this dimension is on the eighth planet, while a second from another dimension is on the 9th. In addition there's a number of independent researchers on the planets, including another version of me." Lucius looks at him. "It's proof of how one event can change in different dimensions. He lost Bruce and Martha that night, Bruce lost his parents, while we lost Martha."

 

"And where is . . ." Lucius's question is answered by another Bruce coming into the room, dragging what looks like a young girl behind him. At least until you see the white streaks in her hair and realize, like Thomas she's older than she looks.

 

"And why am I here?" Josette asks, straightening her clothes and settling in a chair.

 

"You're still technically the heir to Wayne Industries. And you worked with Dad and Clark just as much as I do."

 

"How many dimensions. . .?"

 

"People from five dimensions live out here permanently on the seven permanently settled worlds. Another dimension has a compound here where they revolve people in and out, some people are out more permanently. There's people from three more dimensions that will be arriving in a couple of days, they come out twice a year for the Harvest Festival that will be happening in a few days and a Lights Festival at the end of our year that grew out of Christmas."

 

The door opens again and Thomas comes in. They settle around the table and start to talk.

 

"Josette, did you debut more of your books?" Clark's Thomas asks when they break for lunch and walk to the communal kitchen.

 

"Yes, I have two older ones yet to go, plus the new books. Those will be finished the end of next year."

 

"Are the new teachers and employees here yet?"

 

"Yep, last of them is at 'orientation' and meeting with their roomies before they head home after Thanksgiving. Then next year the process starts all over again."

 

"All over again?"

 

"Employees and teachers have five year contracts here at the school, they arrive before the Harvest Festival so they can be settled in and learn their jobs. New students will start arriving after the Harvest Festival. The school employees who are finishing their contracts at the end of the third semester are packing their belongings and I'm taking them back to Granda's school so they usually only have a couple bags when they walk on the ship with the graduating students. Every ten years, we have the cooking school teachers returning home as well. This year is nuts in that we have graduating students, returning school employees, people who came out a couple years ago to take footage for 'reality' shows, and the cooking school teachers all heading home. I've been taking tons of belongings back to the school."

 

"Cooking school?"

 

"God, has it been over 20 years already?" Bruce says.

 

"26." Josette says absently. "With staggering the incoming teachers so they arrive two years before the others leave, this is the third group going home. The school's been open nearly 30 years. Granda opened a cooking school that offers classes in various styles of cooking to anybody, you don't have to be a professional. The classes are always well attended."

 

"Just your planet?"

 

"No, everybody's welcome. The teachers try to schedule classes for the other planets during their winters when they're not in the fields." Lucius nods in satisfaction.

 

The next few days are busy for the visitors, touring various buildings and talking to everybody. Lucius shakes his head as he walks through a building that he's only seen on tv.

 

A young looking man runs past them, a child under one arm like a football and she's squealing with laughter as he holds her over the fountain to get a drink.

 

"Alex, your sister isn't a football." A male voice chuckles from a door.

 

"Josette, you busy?" Alex Wayne asks as he comes into the dorm.

 

"Nah, I was just about to go into the library." She pats her throat.

 

"That's what I was going to say. We need to start going through everything. Including the others."

 

"How soon are you going to have to harvest Earth again?"

 

"Not for a decade I hope. About seven years and we'll be in the same time again."

 

"Do you have any idea how many more there are?"

 

"Nope. Your Dad might but then again, some of the ones we brought out were a surprise to him too." Alex nods as Josette holds out the key and a door appears in the middle of the room. They walk through it and it disappears behind them.

 

"So how are you coming on your dual degrees from Harvard?" Alex asks inside the library.

 

"Good, I'll be finished with them by our midterms. I'm finishing a degree on Italians during World War II. You heard all about the Japanese and the internment camps but you didn't really hear anything about the Italians." Alex nods. "I'm getting in a semester on Jungle Adventures--movies and if there's enough time I figure on getting on a semester on comic book characters DC took over."

 

"So are shows as mindnumbingly boring as charity dinners or parties?"

 

"Yep, because you're the star attraction and can't duck away to be in a corner. If it's not our show, we're usually checking out the other exhibits."

 

"Yeah, Dad's usually front and center during the charity dinners. I'm not as well known so I can duck out of sight. How are book tours?"

 

"Fun. Madison and Jessica know to add specialty bookstores to my schedule and expos and other things."

 

"Comicon?"

 

"Yep, I've visited a few, since I tend to write sci-fi fantasy I can get my inner geek on." Alex snickers.

 

"Writer conferences?"

 

"Those too."

 

"You have a book coming out?"

 

"When I go out after Thanksgiving. Probably have a book tour next year."

 

"Movies?"

 

"When I'm over to bring the students out. Two movie premieres, happy happy joy joy." Alex chuckles.

 

They come out several hours later for them, only a few minutes having passed out in the living room.

 

Lucius, the other visitors, and the new employees look at the tables that line the main street of Town and the people calmly walking up and down the streets.

 

"Do they do this every year?" Dr. Richards from Granda's dimension asks.

 

"Yep, almost from the beginning. They grow commercially on the fifth, seventh, and eighth planets now but before that Haven was the agricultural planet. They have this celebration after the yearly crops and second harvest are in."

 

"This isn't just people from Haven."

 

"Nope, people from the other planets come out. With the time differences some of them stay in the temporary housing dorm so they don't miss something. The others will come out to walk the tables, usually once a day since there's something new all three days."

 

"Three days?"

 

"They have a Lights Festival that grew out of Christmas that is two days at the end of the year, ringing out one year and welcoming in the new."

 

Josette looks at the plant in her room and picks one of the fabric rolls since the blossom color had turned. It starts growing in her arms until it reaches the size of a roll of fabric and she puts it in her workshop before she joins the others at dinner.

 

"Show?" President Bartlett asks in the front room.

 

"We're leaving tomorrow."

 

"How was defending your dissertation?" Mary asks David the next day.

 

"Tedious. I got stuck with the one guy on the board Josette always complains about, the one who makes trouble for everybody. All the defenses were delayed because he nitpicked everything trying to cause problems. They finally kicked him off the board after there were enough complaints and threats of lawsuits."

 

Professor Xavier sighs.

 

"There's always somebody."

 

"So anyway I just need to finish the last semester to officially have the degree."

 

"Susan, your dissertation?"

 

"I just had to upload it since the school didn't come out. I won't hear officially until I get the last class finished but I'm not expecting any problems. Like David, I just gotta finish the last semester next year."

 

"You boys?"

 

"We're two years into our doctorates this fall and will talk to our advisor next year. Year after that we'll be defending our dissertations."

 

"And how are you coming with your dual degree from Harvard?"

 

"Good, I'm nearly done with one of them and plan on having them both done by midterms. I'll have the Italians during WWII degree done by then too."

 

"Are you picking up any more classes?"

 

"I just finished my second class in a degree on jungle adventures-movies, another four classes puts me a year into it. If there's enough time I want to pick up a semester on characters DC took over. I'm a year into that degree but it's a four degree set. If not. . ." Josette shrugs.

 

"What's the latest on the clockmaking degree from Edinborough?" David asks.

 

"It's supposed to start running year after next, the degree on the basics first, then the handwork degree."

 

"Books?"

 

"I'll have six more to print at the end of the year, then the printers will shut down until we need to print more books."

 

"They've been going nonstop for years."

 

"Yep. The machines can use a good cleaning."

 

Not quite six weeks later for them they return to Haven, moving boxes of stuff to various rooms to take care of later.

 

One day Josette takes two ships out, heading to the mansion. Madison and Jessica arrive a few days later. The movie premieres go off well and after a little shopping Josette returns to Haven.

 

Josette takes her usual seat for the last students are at the school meal in the pizza parlor, President Bartlett, Professor Parker, and Amanda.

 

"Are we full up?"

 

"Until the graduating students leave in a few months."

 

"Get your classes from Harvard done?" Dr. McNider asks when she slides into her seat at the testing center midterms.

 

"Yep, finished them last week. The books are going up when I take up the books for the Italians during World War II degree before the Lights Festival."

 

"Have you signed up for degrees from the other schools?"

 

"The second I finished those degrees." Josette sighs, brings a notebook and pencil out of subspace and starts working on more quilt projects until the buzzer for lunch sounds, merely splitting off a duplicate and creates a dozen notebooks and more pencils to keep working.

 

Vincent chuckles as he puts a plate in front of her.

 

"I'd wondered when I'd be hit with more quilt designs."

 

"Good thing you have all those offworld harvests to pay for everything." Susan chuckles. "And you're going to have to start working on books again."

 

"Not for a while thankfully." Josette sighs. "Let the printers be shut down for a while unless the others have books."

 

"Your fiction?"

 

"We've been talking about it, we're thinking the same number of books we had for the 100th anniversary for the fiction, printing a three book set at first."

 

"That way we can gauge the demand."

 

"Yep. We don't need the same size order as my quilting books since we're only selling them here."

 

Josette settles on a couch back at the dorm, sorting through her mail and chucking the junk into the recycling bin on the coffee table.

 

"What's the latest on the colony plans?"

 

"They're putting together the first section of a planned satellite for making ships and starting construction in the desert in five years. The satellite will be zero-gravity while they'll have artificial gravity on the city ship, that's going to be put on either Mars or the moon as a second semi-permanent base." The others nod as they look over the papers Josette hands over, Doc and Renny coming out to read them as well.

 

Josette hands the thick envelope to President Bartlett at dinner. "Information on the planned satellite and ship."

 

"We'll look it over after dinner Josette, thank you."

 

"I hope they have good air cleansers, if they have animals on the ships they'd have to deal with manure."

 

"They'd have to have some sort of unit to compress it into bricks to use in a growing section."

 

"And water and air scrubbers."

 

"Especially for colony trips."

 

"What's the latest on the colony dimension?"

 

"They've gone out and found the locations for their homes, taking out building supplies and starting their homes. They'll have enough supplies for a few months then head either to town for the winter or back to Earth then come out again in the spring. They figure two or three years before they move out to their land permanently and start growing crops."

 

The next day Josette and Aztec head to the other dimension, dropping off the recycling before she arrives at the school. "Graduating students," She brings out one pile of boxes, "Graduating students who need to have their stuff sent to embassies," A second pile. "Employees," A third pile. "Cooking school teachers." Another pile. "And finally the reality show people." The file with number of boxes and who it's going to is sent to the computer. The cooking school and reality show people were supposed to have originally been delivered to another place but they'd had to be delivered to the school because of an emergency.

 

"Thank you Josette." Jane says. "Socks?" A pile of containers is brought out and they start counting them and putting them in the boxes in the office. Calvin comes to the door of his office as Maria starts making calls. A truck will be coming to pick up the belongings of the cooking school teachers and the reality show people in a couple days.

 

"Josette, are the orders slowing down as Doc's world recovers?"

 

"A little, but we're still supplying them with a lot because so many factories have closed and were torn down. Add in those factories lost in the flooding or to the volcanic activity . . ." Josette shrugs. "People aren't complaining though, after this they've realized they don't need so much stuff. Food, clothing, shelter . ..yes. Flat screen tvs, new cars every year, the latest Apple shit . . .No. Now we don't see the need for candles decreasing until they fix the power grid. And that will be decades." Nods from the others.

 

"It takes something like that to realize what you really need."

 

"There's still a lot of stuff in warehouses, because until all the shit started happening, Earth was a consumer planet and multiple factories were making as much stuff as they could."

 

"If an EMP took out everything tomorrow, there'd be enough stuff for a hundred years. Though people would complain about wearing last year's fashions." Jane snorts.

 

Josette sends the file to Joyce at the office when she is done delivering containers to the school, she'll deliver to the other places later.

 

"Josette, have you heard anything about new textbooks?" Professor Eppes asks at dinner.

 

"No, but I expect them to start coming out of the woodwork in a few years with the first satellite going up and the ship being built, not to mention the colony dimension amping up and a second one opening for scientific stuff." Amanda nods. "The sociologists must be having field days."

 

"And the lawyers rubbing their hands together as they take the cases of people who want something or other stopped because they don't like it." Professor Ziegler snorts.

 

David looks at her when she comes in the back room. "Professor Eppes asking me if I'd heard anything about new textbooks."

 

"Hear back from your other schools yet?"

 

"Not yet, it's only been a week. I'll probably start classes first of the year." The others nod.

 

The crops start coming in and everybody's busy bringing everything in. One day Josette, Susan, Michael, and Alexander head off to Archimedes for their finals.

 

"How are the crops coming?"

 

"We should have everything in by the end of the week. I'll have the recycling picked up then too."

 

"What's the latest on the others building on the 9th planet?"

 

"They're planning on bringing up their homes in a couple weeks, it's going to be early spring there so they can plant. They're not planning on coming up permanently, but it's been nearly 40 years their world and . . ."

 

"They're letting younger people take over."

 

"Yep, this way they can come back and forth like Doc and Buckaroo on the 10th planet."

 

A couple weeks later the parking lot of the school is full of cars as a tesseract opens and students begin walking out, those graduating either heading to cars or to the auditorium for their graduation ceremony as Josette delivers containers with their orders various places. The recycling is next and she joins the others at the mansion a few hours later.

 

"Get everything delivered?"

 

"Yep, and our supplies brought out to the ship."

 

"Thomas and Doc?"

 

"Doc and I are on a ship delivering his orders and picking up supplies. We went a couple weeks ago to Thomas's dimension, things are slowing down as the population starts falling again."

 

They return to Haven a few weeks later, Josette delivering the supplies while the others head to the dorm and the students have their bags examined in the auditorium before they go to their rooms. The next day they head off to the other dimension.

 

"How is everything on Haven?" Professor Xavier asks as the kids come in from dropping off boxes of books and special orders with Dexter and his employees.

 

"Quiet. The students are settling in after their finals and heading back to Earth to visit family and friends and get in supplies. We got everything from Calvin's dimension delivered and the others from Grandpa Charles' dimension are due to start moving buildings out to the 9th planet next week."

 

"What's the latest on the ship?"

 

"They're planning on starting building a city ship in the desert in five years, that's going either on the moon or Mars as the next step in space exploration. They're going to be putting up a satellite to build more ships, but that will be years in the future."

 

"And the colony dimension?"

 

"People are going out to look over their land, find the spot for their buildings, and start construction. There's plans for a second scientific dimension."

 

"Did they put up the building for the radio?"

 

"Yes, depending on how much electricity the solar panels can produce they might bring out a server."

 

"Do you see anybody adding solar panels?"

 

"After a few years probably because I can't see people giving electricity up entirely since they haven't had the power problems on their Earth. But solar panels are expensive and they'd have to save the money for them and figure out what they'd be able to run on them. Because it took a good grid of solar panels to take a home completely off the grid."

 

"And battery towers to run everything at night, during the winter when the sun doesn't charge them as quickly, and during storms."

 

"With two white suns we can produce as much energy as most of us need." David says. The others nod.

 

Several weeks later for them they return to Haven, bringing out boxes of stuff that go in various rooms.

 

"Josette, how are we on sheets, towels, and covers?" Susan asks, coming into the large storage room and finding Josette coming out of the container she was heading for.

 

"We'll have to order in a few years." Susan brings out stuff and Josette delivers it to her room for her after they shut up the container. She brings out her own from subspace in her room and makes a mental note to check the information she saved from the supernova and see if there was a plant that produced towels and bedding.

 

She leans between President and Mrs. Bartlett since Principal Madison is talking with a student. "How is the school on sheets and towels? I know we had tons but it's been a few years."

 

"I'll have maintenance check the supplies in case we need to order more." President Bartlett says. Principal Madison catches her eye and nods while talking to the student. "It will take at least a year to get in the size order we need so we should talk to Calvin about it while we've still got a surplus."

 

"And start going through the sheets and towels to weed out the ones that are getting worn out." Professor Druid says. "Thank you Josette, we hadn't thought of that yet. I take it yours is getting thin?"

 

"Yes, we're going to have to put in an order in a few years."

 

"Okay, we need to check the sheets and towels in the guest area upstairs." Abby says when Josette comes into the room.

 

"Already did, when I had to replace a good chunk of my sheets and towels." Michael says. "When are we ordering?"

 

"In a few years, we've still got a good supply yet. And we need to start combining containers next year." The others nod.

 

Josette heads off to the satellite on the first planet a couple days later, spending a year outside time growing their winter crops. She returns to the dorm an hour later, the others starting to fill drying tables that go in a room. Containers are filled with more food that go in the basement and the kitchens are full of pots and canning jars.

 

The next week sees the new houses and buildings out on the 9th planet and snow falling and sticking on Haven. Snow blowers that had been put away that spring are brought out, looked over, and gotten ready for when they'd be needed as shovels replace rakes on the hooks. Winter boots are brought out of closets in the dorm and other winter clothes are hung up in the front of the dorm.

 

The next morning Josette arrives at the Albatross Nest in Albatross, finding the others coming in with containers of food. After they eat their fills they start exchanging the cookies.

 

"Josette, is there anything on the colony dimension?"

 

"Yeah, people are going out to their land to start putting up houses. It's going to be a couple years before they can stay out there full-time, they've got to put up houses, barns, dig a well and for an outhouse." Sighs and nods. "Chink the inside walls of the cabins to keep the wind from blowing through. Some might put up the panels to help block the wind with the idea of adding solar panels in the future. Once they figure out how many they'd need and how much you can run on them." Nods from the others. "You saw the guests this summer?" Nods from the others. "They're talking opening a second dimension for scientific research. In five years they're going to start building the first section of a space satellite for building ships in space as well as one of the cities, that's going up on the moon or mars as a second step in space exploration."

 

"Can you see people starting to quilt in the other dimension?"

 

"After the first winter of nothing more than a cookstove for heat? Betcha ass. Even as small as those houses are, they'll want the extra warmth as they sleep."

 

"The old ways are usually the best."

 

The kits are passed out and Josette puts everything in subspace before rolling up her sleeves and filling the sink with hot soapy water, washing everything. It's all handed back to the others or put away on the shelves in the kitchen before the leftovers are pushed on Josette. Flying back to the dorm she puts everything away before joining the others walking to the dining hall.

 

The others start arriving for the Lights Festival, going out to the 9th planet for a couple days to check on how the new buildings are settling in. They'd already added the solar panels and alternate power sources on Earth so they don't need any work once they've arrived. Of course, this doesn't mean they won't be adding onto the buildings now that they have the room.

 

A couple days into the new year Agatha opens the door of the Albatross Nest to find Josette at the table cutting fabric. All the tables are covered with piles of fabrics and the remnants bin is full with more on the floor.

 

"I was wondering when you'd break down and start getting in supplies." She looks at the piles. "I got jumped by the damn muse a couple months ago."

 

"Another notebook?"

 

"Five notebooks and part of a sixth."

 

"Damn. I'm your first stop?"

 

"Figured you wanted to talk about the book party. I put a thousand copies of each book in the back room, that should be enough for the party plus leave you with extras." Agatha nods and starts grabbing the remnants, measuring them and calling off numbers to Josette since she has the label maker. Josette finally finishes and brings out new bolts of fabric from the back room, then scans the card she'd been putting everything on, paying the total that appears on the register. The receipt is ten pages and she heads to Sue's store next.

 

"Awww." she laughs when Josette comes into the building and starts grabbing bolts of fabric, looking at a list. "I'm your second stop?" She'd seen her walking from Agatha's.

 

"Talking about the book party." Sue nods. "How are we on old clothes for patchwork quilts?"

 

"Going to need more."

 

"I'll bring some out in a few days then." Between Josette, Sue, and a couple other women they get all the fabric measured, cut, put in the bags, and the remnants put in the container. Josette brings out the new bolts of fabric and scans the card they'd been using, paying the total and stopping at the bakery before heading back to the dorm. David nods as he sees bags filling the shelves in Josette's workroom. "I'd wondered where you were."

 

"Took in the books for the party too. I gotta take in old clothes to Sue's later this week." In her first floor room she updates her money program before joining the others walking to the dining hall for lunch.

 

A few days later everybody gathers at Sue's as Josette brings out containers of clothes, they start sorting everything and taking out seams and buttons, filling containers that she sends upstairs. Pizzas and sandwiches are ordered for their lunch break and Josette slides into her seat at dinner.

 

"Get all the containers filled for the patchwork quilts?"

 

"Yep, so we're good there for a few more years. Most people have enough quilts on hand even with as damn cold as it's been been." The school is good on fabric, she brought out more over the break when it came up with the other school supplies when they'd gone out after Thanksgiving.

 

The next morning she slides into her usual spot in the government building. Warming the room for the others with her heat vision she smiles as the others sigh. "Is it colder than normal?"

 

"No, it just feels like it because we've got snow every day on top of it, wet heavy shit that chills you right to the bone. We knew it was going to be a cold one, that's why we had everybody order extra wood."

 

"Okay, new business. Supplies for the graduating students and returning employees this year."

 

"We had the leftovers from the two double shipments of supplies but Joyce is doing an inventory this week."

 

"Celebration this year?"

 

"Carly's age group are turning a hundred, it's hard to believe that it's been that long since the first babies were born on Haven."

 

"And Earth tried to take over since we were having children." David says.

 

"Okay, how are the others settling on the 9th planet?"

 

"Good, they've got a link setup for information. They can go back and forth for supplies."

 

"The colony dimension?"

 

"From what I hear, they've got their homes started and moved back to town or Earth for the winter. They're hoping to install a server in the radio building next year for books, music, and other stuff."

 

"A school?"

 

"They'll be getting in books but I can't see a school going up for a few decades. The town's still small and the farms are too far away for students to come to town. There's also the problem of most teachers tend to specialize, I can't see many people being able to teach in a one room schoolhouse with students different ages. Even on the 9th planet they brought out classes from here, Eureka, or Earth for their children."

 

The others nod. "Now. . .a teacher like the Amish . . ."

 

"Yes, they're used to teaching a number of children different ages in all their classes. They'd have to do like you are, teaching your children at home until they have enough students to need to build a school."

 

"By then there wouldn't be any lack of people who could teach them. Now, changing the subject. Shows?"

 

"The boys Granda, Me Mom. I go first this year too. We're debuting two more books. That leaves the new books."

 

"Still due to be done this year?"

 

"Yeah, and the printers shut down so they can clean and check the machinery. My book party is in a couple weeks."

 

"Susan and David are due to finish their doctorates this year."

 

"And the boys are talking with their advisors this year and defending their dissertations next year. Alan and the twins will be halfway through their bachelors."

 

"You?"

 

"Starting a degree from Princeton. I'm finishing another musical instruments degree this year, I'm only two or three semesters into the other degrees." The others nod.

 

"Anything else?" Professor Druid asks at one of the teacher meeting a couple days later.

 

"Something Josette was talking about when I we asked how the colony dimension was coming along. How many of us could handle teaching students different ages in a one-room schoolhouse?" the teachers look at each other.

 

"None of us could." Jessica says, Charlie and Toby nodding vigorously. "For all the kids do it when they have more than one set of kids in the classrooms at the dorm. And for all that, while there's two different groups. . ."

 

"They're all the same age." Peter Parker says. "I can't see many people being able to take over a one-room schoolhouse. It's just not how we teach anymore." The others nod. "Not that it won't be years before they'd need a schoolhouse."

 

"That's what Josette was saying, the farms are too far away for kids to walk so they'd be taught at home anyway. It wouldn't be until the town had grown enough to need a school that you wouldn't see more than Mom and Dad teaching the kids after dinner or more likely during the winter when the crops are in and they're not working in the fields all day."

 

The next day Josette arrives at the Albatross Nest, helping put out the party food while nodding at the tables of books with boxes underneath. They open the door and the link to Albatross and people start streaming in.

 

Josette looks up from doing an inventory in her workroom a few days later, shaking her head. She'll have to go to the threads complex.

 

She ducks into Headquarters. "I gotta hit the threads complex, how are you on supplies?"

 

Pat sighs. "I'd better do inventory myself. It's not something you think of until you need a spool and there's none on the shelf or in the other room."

 

"I'm heading into town to talk to the others."

 

Josette ducks into Sue's store. "Pat and I are heading to the threads complex tomorrow, anybody need anything?"

 

"No, we got in orders last year, us, the Albatross Nests, Assyrian, and Edinborough."

 

The next morning after breakfast they hop in a flyer with a wagon attached. Doc looks over as they come back hours later.

 

"We stopped at Ellis's buildings while we were shopping." Josette nods and waves a hand, bringing out Pat's purchases in a couple rooms.

 

"Are you going out to Ellis's?"

 

"Before my show for the books and making a special trip to do some shopping."

 

"I'm coming along."

 

In her room Josette picks another roll of fabric, putting it her workroom after it grows to full size and plants a couple seedlings that will eventually grow into plants that produce food and drink before she heads to bed.

 

"Where were you yesterday?" David asks at breakfast.

 

"Had to go to the thread complex with Pat, we were both running out of stuff. Then we visited Ellis's place here on Haven. We're going to go make a special trip out to visit Ellis and a few other places."

 

"You visit the suppliers and manufacturers here, don't you?"

 

"At least once a year. Like light bulbs thread is something you don't think of until you need it."

 

After breakfast Josette heads to the Albatross Nest. "Yo everybody, we're making a special trip out to Ellis's and probably a few other places. Anybody who wants to come along is welcome, so pass it along." PADDs come out and messages sent out."

 

"Josette, do you have superstores copied?"

 

"Several dozen, why?"

 

"Calvin was talking to the town council about bringing one for Albatross."

 

"Hmmm, something to think about."

 

"The government talked about it before we came up, building one and supplying it with stuff from Earth since we didn't have a store but nothing ever came of it."

 

"Not many companies would build one and not see any profits from it."

 

"And we'd need a fund to pay wages."

 

"And for supplies."

 

"Something to think about." Josette says as she heads back to the school. At lunch she leans between Frances and Elaine.

 

"One day we're going to make a special trip out to Ellis's and maybe a few other places."

 

"Let us know when you've decided Josette."

 

Josette checks on the seedling to make sure it's settling in well after lunch, then heading to her workroom to start opening containers and start filling shelves.

 

"Get everything taken care of?" Pat asks a couple days later.

 

"Finally." Josette rolls her eyes. "Until you reach for something and it's not there, you don't realize how low on something you are."

 

"Happens when you make a half-dozen quilts a year and don't get in supplies on a regular basis."

 

Josette nods. "The school gets in regular batches of thread as part of their supplies."

 

"Offworld harvests?"

 

"In about another month."

 

"Did you plant on the first planet?"

 

"Yeah, I should be green picking the peppers before the offworld harvests start."

 

"Ancho peppers?"

 

"I'm drying them while I'm out there."

 

Josette takes a deep breath of warm air on the first planet, the cold winter is even beginning to get to her. Turning to the raised beds she starts thinning out the plants.

 

She comes into the Cafe Diem on the 9th planet, Vincent coming out from behind the counter. "Oh good Josette, I was hoping you were picking green on the first planet."

 

"Tomatoes and green picked peppers."

 

"Are you drying anything this year?"

 

"Yes, Ancho peppers. Next year we should be opening the smokehouse for the chipilotes, fish, cheeses, butters, and herbs."

 

Josette slides into her seat at the government building a couple days later.

 

"Get the green picked stuff sold?"

 

"Yep, what's left is in stasis."

 

"Did you grow on the satellite?"

 

"Last year before the others came out to the 9th planet."

 

"Visit to Ellis's?"

 

"Next week."

 

Ellis's second in command smiles when the tesseract opens and women start trooping through. "Anything special you need to look at Josette?" She asks, walking up to her as employees walk off with the others.

 

"Yeah, I need to order more machines, I want to keep them on hand in case ours go up. After that anything goes."

 

A week later for them they troop back off on Haven, Josette delivering their purchases to their homes or businesses.

 

"Thank you Josette." Agatha and Sue hug her before they head off.

 

"What was Granda talking to you about?"

 

"Earth had wanted to build a superstore in Albatross before they moved since they didn't have one but it fell through because no company wanted to build a store, furnish it. . ."

 

"And not see any profits." David nods. "And Granda is talking to Albatross about it."

 

"Yeah, but the problem is coming up with a fund to pay wages and buy supplies."

 

"Decide how long they want to keep it open, add solar panels or skylights."

 

"Where to put it and which alternate power to piggyback it off of."

 

Back at the dorm Josette starts bringing out her purchases.

 

"Is this everything?"

 

"No, some stuff is on order and I'll pick it up when I go out for the show. Mostly the big machines I'm getting as backups for the ones I have."

 

"Book tour?"

 

"Jessica and Madison already talked to me about one." David laughs at her hangdog look. She walks to the dining hall with the others, everybody disappearing between one breath and the next. Josette reappears, sighs, and flies off to Atlantis. They reappear an hour later, walking into the dining hall.

 

"Offworld harvests?"

 

"Next one is tomorrow."

 

The next morning David opens the tesseract for everybody gathering outside the big building, scanning PADDS as they walk through. An hour later David opens the tesseract again and they trail off, their PADDS being scanned again as they walk off the ship. Josette starts bringing out boxes of food that head to the big building.

 

"Alex, Tara, Thomas, want to come out with me to the first planet?" they look at Josette where she's leaning against the door frame after lunch. "Drying tables?" Alex asks, remembering what the others had said.

 

"Yeah." Thomas and Tara look at her. "The only downside harvesting this early. . .well beyond storing everything until it's needed for the planets is it's going to be at least three more harvests before anything set outside on the tables dries instead of freezes. So I take it out to the first planet to dry and the raised beds and garden are about ready to harvest. I already green picked a lot but there's all the rest and I need to set up the drying tables there for the ancho peppers."

 

"Ancho peppers?"

 

"Dried poblanos. We do the chipilotes here because they need smoked, the poblanos and mirasols just need to be dried."

 

"Just as easy to dry them where you're growing them." Alex says. Josette nods. "Not everything comes in at the same time on the same plant, so I have several days worth of peppers on the drying tables at one time. Fill a bag with clothes, we'll be gone a while."

 

Tara sighs as she walks on the ground of the first planet.

 

"Yeah, we enjoy our time here." Josette brings out the drying tables and they set them in the sun.

 

"How long are the days here?"

 

"Twelve hours, the eternal tropics climate offsets the limited sunlight." At the house she brings out the drying tables as Thomas and Tara inspect the raised beds and watering system.

 

"I designed it with growth in mind, I can add more lines as I add more crops." The others nod as they start clipping peppers that go on the tables. More go in the containers and several weeks later for them they return to Haven.

 

"Get everything dried?"

 

"And the raised beds picked on the first planet. I'll start selling it tomorrow."

 

"How many more harvests before we can dry on Haven?"

 

"At least three, this has been a long, cold winter." Nods from everybody in earshot.

 

"Next offworld harvest?"

 

"End of the week, we've been averaging about two a week."

 

The next day Josette waves a hand in the Cafe Diem on the 8th planet, bushels and bags appearing. She and Vincent haggle and he dishes up a meal for her after they put everything away. She slides into a seat at the dining hall later that night.

 

"Sell a good chunk?"

 

"Yep, and everything else is in stasis."

 

"Mushrooms?"

 

"I'll go out in a couple weeks."

 

The weather finally begins to cooperate and they can set the tables outside. A week after her finals on Archimedes the last offworld harvest occurs and Josette slumps in her seat at the dining hall for lunch.

 

"Is that the last of them?"

 

"Yep, and our crops are all planted."

 

"Do we want to know how many classes you got in?"

 

"Twelve on teacher, four on the school computer, and four from Princeton. Two more classes and you're done."

 

"Yes, thank you gods." Susan sighs. David nods. "How are you two coming?"

 

"Talking to our advisors this summer and defending them next year with finishing the last classes after that. We can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel." Alexander says theatrically. Josette sniggers as Anna puts a tray down in front of her.

 

"Everything came in at once."

 

"Yep, the crops, the offworld harvests, the students getting in supplies after their finals. . ."

 

"Did we need more supplies for the graduating students and employees?"

 

"No, we're good. We've got a little more than we normally would." Principal Madison nods on the screen in the front room. "Your show?"

 

"Three weeks. My book tour is a week after that. Nine weeks. I'll take two ships out."

 

"How is the drive-in coming along?"

 

"Good, they had a grand re-opening while I was there and the mayor, governor, and a few state representatives were there to talk about how they were glad this marvelous old gem of a drive-in had been saved. The town was seeing red about all the good publicity."

 

"And not a dime of tax revenue coming their way." President Bartlett snorts from the front room. Josette nods.

 

"The mall?"

 

"On progress to start construction next year, they've got the drawings and a good half of the spaces already spoken for. Something else the town is whining about. The locals are happy, this means they don't have to go so far for major shopping."

 

"Aww."

 

Josette flies to Brigadoon the next day.

 

"Okay, we've planted the smaller stuff. . ."

 

"You're thinking a building?"

 

"Yes. It would have to be planted in early spring so that it was well established by winter. It took about three years for the buildings to be large enough for people to live and work in them. We'd have to dome it until it was large enough for heat, water, and sewage."

 

"Our storms."

 

"Yes, we'll have to run simulations. We might have to dome it until it's big enough."

 

"Or put it on the first planet?"

 

"Grow two, one on Haven. One on the first planet."

 

"Grow the heat pellets too."

 

"And toilet paper and soap plants."

 

"It won't be for a while." Josette nods.

 

"We should let the others know."

 

Professor Druid looks at the large planter that Josette brings out into her personal growing area.

 

"Okay, three four years ago I was brought out to harvest a solar system that was going to be destroyed. They had plants that did everything, grew food, drink, furniture, buildings, fabric, toilet paper, soap, shampoo. . ." Josette looks over her shoulder at Principal Madison. "Sex toys."

 

"We don't need that, thank you very much." Professor Druid says firmly as her husband laughs. "Now, I've had a plant that grew fabric in my room for a couple years now, seeing if they could grow in normal soil." Professor Druid nods. "How do you water them?"

 

"Grey water, rain water, or in my case fish water. Whatever I filled the watering cans with that time."

 

"These aren't normal plants."

 

"No, the solar system was colonized and the plants bio-engineered by the settlers. The knowledge was lost over time with only the priests who were the scientists, teachers, and historians knowing the truth. The others thought they were gifts from their gods. I've got thousands of years of records Brigadoon is going through."

 

"I can see why you'd have gone to save them." Principal Madison says. "Now this will give you food similar to hamburgers, I planted another one and a plant for soft drinks in my room earlier this year. I already had a plant that grows fabric, they might look small but they grow once they've been picked. Once the blossoms turn color they can be picked and if you don't get to it in a few days they won't go bad." Principal Madison nods. "The plants will grow dormant if they haven't been picked for a while but once they're being harvested again they come right back to life."

 

"How long can you harvest them?"

 

"Forever, they don't stop producing."

 

Principal Madison whistles despite himself. "Each building. . . and yes, the buildings are plants themselves, had several food and drink plants plus specialty plants depending on what it was used for. Each room had a small cubicle with a shower, toilet, and sink. The building took the waste for energy and future growth so they had special soaps, shampoos, and toilet paper."

 

"Like the shower, sink, and toilet combinations you saw in campers."

 

"Exactly. They had larger rooms for communal bathing in each building but they also had those."

 

"If they don't go to seed. . ."

 

"See these white spots on the stem?" Professor Druid and Principal Madison nod. "They're seed pods, they'll grow bigger and when they turn color you can pick them. You can dry them in the pod and either store them like that or remove the pod and put the seeds in a container." Josette shows them a picture of a dozen shelves that seem to go on forever filled with glass containers half-full of seeds.

 

"Yarn, sewing machines, thread, knitting machines, needles. Pizza, calzones, chocolate, cocoa. . ." Principal Madison reads the labels and shakes his head. "Again, I see why you were called out to save everything. Do you have any of these growing?"

 

"Yeah, I have plants in various stages on Brigadoon. I won't need yarn or fabric for a while, they had communal buildings where knitters and seamstresses put the fabric and yarn they didn't like and got stuff they did like. I emptied those as I was harvesting everything."

 

"We should put something like that up when we have more plants going." Josette nods. "Okay, now I'm off to start seedlings for Thomas, Thomas, Clark, and Doc." Principal Madison nods. Similar talks are told to the others.

 

"These would be vital for spaceflight." Clark says.

 

Josette nods. "I haven't gone through all the records but there are hints that they had plants that became spaceships."

 

Josette tells the others later that night when she returns home and they shake their heads but nod.

 

"How long does it . . ." They look at the plants Josette had put in a room.

 

"About a year before it's big enough to start producing. They didn't have all that big selection of foods the plants made but . . ."

 

"They were gifts from their gods so they made do." Nods from the others. "We wouldn't want to live on them permanently."

 

"No, more as a snack or something to eat in a hurry."

 

"So what are these?"

 

"Bread, something similar to a sub sandwich, soft drinks, and something similar to coffee. The drink containers can be composted so there's no waste." Nods from the others.

 

"Pizza plant?"

 

Josette sighs. "I've been really wanting an excuse to grow that plant, just to see what they have in the way of flavor. I've never tried vegan chocolate though we drink soy milk and eat soy cheese most of the time." Nods from the others. Susan looks at her. "Yes, they had a chocolate plant. Seems the men were very scared of that time of the month." The four girls cackle.

 

A couple weeks later Josette and the others head to Mom Clarinda's dimension, dropping off special orders and the new books. They visit a couple museums and other places before heading off to the rooms, finding Black Jack talking with somebody.

 

"Hello kids, get everything dropped off?"

 

"Yeah, Dexter wasn't there but he left a message he'd get hold of us in a couple days. Once we've talked with him and Josette's had her show, we'll know what we need to order in the way of supplies."

 

"Josette, your fiction?"

 

"I'll talk to M'Lynn tomorrow."

 

"Fuck.You!" Josette says the next morning, glaring at some nitwit who thinks he can tell her what to do.

 

"Ms. Takahawa." He bleats.

 

"Read my fucking contract moron, I and only I get to choose who I deal with. Not you. Not some moron in corporate."

 

"But your contract?" He bleats.

 

"Was for the old books, not any new ones. And were only for those printings, the books revert to me. You don't have a fucking leg to stand on. I control my books, I control movie rights, audio rights, and everything else."

 

"But don't you want us to make a movie from your book?"

 

"Not this hack job, I know why there's no name attached--nobody wants to be associated with this piece of shit. I don't think they even read my book." She turns around and walks out.

 

"Why you little . . ." Josette turns and cococks the bastard that had thrown himself at her. She walks over the little prick and out of the office to applause from everybody in earshot.

 

"Oh get up you damn fool." A man snaps as he walks into the room. "And somebody tell me why you assholes had to alienate our best author with this shit?" He waves a copy of the script. "I agree, whoever wrote this garbage never even read the book. They're just looking to make a name for themselves." The man on the floor whines. "Ahhhh you. My office now. We're going to have a little talk."

 

M'Lynn chuckles as she talks to a barely moving Josette a couple days later. Dexter is talking to the boys and they're making a list of what they have to buy in the way of supplies. Reaching out one arm she snags the PADD and adds a few items. "I'd probably triple the order."

 

"Buy double now and if we run low order them again when we come back?" The others nod.

 

"As I was saying, the bigwig had read that script and agreed, it was a piece of shit written by somebody who had never read the books. The moron who tried attacking you went off whining, it had been his project and he felt everybody should bow, scrape, and kiss his ass for existing.

 

"Instead of thinking, hey this is her work, I'd better do my best work on this. That's why so many movies made from books are absolute crap." Everybody in earshot nods.

 

They return to Haven several weeks later for them, bringing out boxes of supplies and other stuff before checking on the crops and heading to the dining hall.

 

"How many books do you have left?" Frances asks, waving Josette to the front room.

 

"The ones that we just printed."

 

Elaine shakes her head. "I remember when you were looking at a couple dozen years to get them all debuted over there."

 

"Yep. Putting out two at a time really knocked them down."

 

"Any more coming out?"

 

"Not for a while. I got hit with over five notebooks of quilts earlier this year." The two women whistle. "Yeah, let me work on them for a while before I start working on more books."

 

"How many you sign?"

 

"Not quite 8900 of the two new ones, plus any people brought out. I was signing for hours after the show."

 

Josette waters the new plants in the dorm the next morning before breakfast.

 

"What are the plans for the day?" Susan asks as the others come out of their rooms.

 

"Check the crops, see if the cistern needs filling, getting the mail, and checking the mushrooms on the first planet."

 

"I can handle the crops." Alan says.

 

"And we'll check the cistern." The twins say.

 

"Which leaves the mail and mushrooms for me." Josette says.

 

She leans between President Bartlett and Professor Ziegler at lunch since Principal Madison is talking with a student.

 

"Granda is having me visit a textbook expo in a couple months, the city ship location has been finalized and they're setting up housing and other stuff. They're due to start construction in not quite four years. The first section of the satellite is due to go up around the same time and the second dimension for scientific stuff is a go, they're due to head out the end of next year. . .our time."

 

President Bartlett nods. Principal Madison nods too as he finishes talking with the student.

 

"How long do they think it will take to build the city?" Mrs. Bartlett asks.

 

"At least ten years steady work. They figure on ten years shifts for the city. And the moonbase is expanding again. The city will be bringing up supplies for themselves and the moonbase once it's in operation." The teachers around them nod.

 

Josette heads to the other planets the next morning, bringing out the mushrooms at the cafes and haggling cheerfully with Vincent at the cafes. Selling to the communal kitchen and restaurants takes the rest of the day and she puts what's left in stasis after dinner.

 

The first crops start coming in and everybody's busy canning,drying, or otherwise preserving the harvest. The mill is busy for a few weeks taking care of the grain and corn and Josette is up on the roof one day inspecting it and the solar panels.

 

"How is it?"

 

"Good." she floats down to the ground. "Alternate power?"

 

"Growing slow but steady."

 

"Septic unit?"

 

"Emptied and cleaned."

 

"Your order from Ellis's?"

 

"He sent an e-mail, I'll pick it up while I'm there for the book tour."

 

"Has the school sent out their orders?"

 

"Yep."

 

"Book tour?"

 

"I leave tomorrow."

 

Josette walks through the dorm and drops onto a couch, getting a couple cats on her back. Waving a hand she brings stuff out of subspace. Looking towards the back of the couch a second, she waves a hand and boxes appear in the administration building. Joyce just chuckles as Principal Madison comes to the door of his office.

 

"Stop at the mansion?"

 

"Yep, ate, slept, did my laundry, dumped all the empty pens in the replicator. Went to the textbook expo with Granda, visited Vegas and got some gambling in, picked up Ellis's order, looked over the area where they're going to be building the city ship and toured the moonbase." She looks over at David. "Pictures. Red dot hard drive." He holds one up and Josette nods. "Pictures of the colony dimension too." She falls asleep, David moving her head so she doesn't suffocate herself in the pillow.

Okay now what

 

No sooner than she thought she'd fallen asleep Josette's nudged awake. "Lunch." Stretching and yawning she walks to the dining hall. She's waved to the front table.

 

"Josette, thank you for the texts. Do you have copies?"

 

"Yeah, I don't know if the others took care of them or not."

 

"Yes, while you slept. And put all your other stuff in your downstairs room." David says dryly in the back room. Josette makes a 'ooh la la' gesture that has Professor Druid sniggering. "I also have pictures of the moonbase . . .from the inside and the colony dimension, I'll upload them later." Nods of thanks from various teachers.

 

"Did you bring everything out?" David asks when she comes into the back room.

 

"Hellllll No, a lot of stuff is still on Hidalgo. I had a half-dozen other selves running around while I was on the trip visiting various suppliers beyond Ellis. Visiting various recycling drop-off sites, picking up paper ends."

 

"Are you going to be there when we bring out the students and the show?"

 

"No, I'll have just left."

 

Over the next couple of weeks Josette brings everything out, moving it to where it goes while bringing in the mail from the other dimension and the yearly crops. The second harvest starts coming in and everybody's busy for a couple weeks. When those are in and the third crops are planted.

 

They head to the other dimension, students and employees trailing off while Josette delivers the returning students and employees belongings to the office.

 

"How many classes did you get in this summer?" Anna asks one morning at breakfast.

 

"Fourteen, one semester in the jungle adventures--books degree, four for the degree on the Green Hornet I started this year on the school computer, and four from Princeton. I'm not quite a year into that degree."

 

The twins are upstairs in the aquaponics section when Principal Madison's voice comes over the intercom.

 

"Anybody home?"

 

"Up in the growing area." Anna says, hitting the button on her PADD to relay her words to the intercom.

 

"You've got visitors."

 

Abby toggles a switch upstairs to see the first floor. Downstairs the others can see them. "Hi guys."

 

"Girls?" Principal Madison asks.

 

"Harvesting the mussels, oysters, clams, and goeducks."

 

"Your fish?"

 

"Next year. At the earliest." Josette says coming in with a couple watering cans she fills with the fish water then puts in her room. Going to another vat she starts sizing clams and putting them in a pail.

 

Principal Madison nods. "We've still got plenty dried or in stasis. The seaweed?"

 

"Harvested. Part of it's dried with the rest in stasis."

 

"Are they upstairs?" Richard asks.

 

"Yes. The boys?"

 

"David and Alan are on the ranch with the kids, Michael and Alexander are in the woodworking building working on special orders. Leave your bags, we'll get you settled in after lunch." Anna lets out a telepathic whistle and calls 'lunch'.

 

/We've got the rooms set up, right?/

 

/Yep, did that a few days after we got back./

 

The boys come down from their woodworking building and a group of young men and women come from another building with David and Alan. They're introduced as their youngest boys and girls, seniors in high school.

 

"The kids ranch on the other continent." Principal Madison says at their look. "They linked it to the dorm when the school shut down the first time to make it easier to go back and forth. Somebody is out there at least once a day to check on the livestock, more often during the growing seasons."

 

"Growing seasons?"

 

"Our year is so long, we have separate spring, summer, and fall harvests. We just planted the fall crops." Josette says as she comes downstairs. "The eighth planet has four growing seasons while the tenth has five, but their year is over two of ours."

 

"Closer to three." A familiar voice says from an open door. "Josette . . ."

 

"Not it. I find the evil little mastermind that keeps yanking me from one dimension to another we're going to have a serious talk."

 

"How long is your year?"

 

"630 36 hour days. Our weeks are nine days, there's five weeks in a month and fourteen months in a year."

 

"How many students?" Professor Xavier asks, seeing them walking between buildings.

 

"A little over two hundred twenty five thousand in grades five through twelve. A good half of the older students signed up for dual enrollment, taking high school and university classes. Most attending Cambridge or Oxford on the fourth planet, the others taking their classes on the computer since all our degrees are accepted at the schools. At our fullest, we can handle over 315,000 students. We're graduating over ten thousand students this fall." Principal Madison says.

 

"How many teachers?"

 

"A little over seven hundred, not counting the teachers who came up from Earth with the school in the beginning and those teachers that came out with the orphans from the other dimension."

 

"Other personnel?"

 

"Just over a thousand, school employees from Dad's dimension work five year shifts, we have two years when employees come out, they room with the employees going home that year to learn their jobs before they head home. We have employees who will be heading home after our fall semester of classes along with the graduating students." Everybody nods as they walk into the back room. Principal Madison detours to the front room where a red-headed woman is shaking her head as she laughs.

 

"Professor Druid, Principal Madison's wife and second in command at the school."

 

"Along with Josette."

 

"She handles everything to do with the students and classes, including the growing buildings and gardens. I handle everything else."

 

"Professor Druid's mutation involves plants." David says at the others looks.

 

"Ahhhh."

 

After lunch they return to the dorm, grabbing their bags and heading upstairs to the third floor, finding hallways of rooms.

 

"The others should be arriving in a couple of days, our Harvest Festival is this weekend."

 

"Others?"

 

"Two dimensions have semi-permanent settlements on Haven and the 9th planet," Josette cocks her head to one side. "The ones on the 9th planet were out earlier bringing out supplies and putting up buildings before they bring out their homes but they'll be here for the festival. The Legion always has at least one group of people rotating in and out. . ." Josette pretends not to see Doc and James stiffen. "Momma and Charles are out here through the end of the year, they want the kids to be older before they head back."

 

"Kids?"

 

"Twin boy and girl, they're not quite three?" The others nod. "Mom from the second dimension. . .you saw the building when you came past the first planet?" Nods from everybody. "That's from their dimension. They're big in the government out there otherwise they'd probably settle out here semi-permanently too. Doc and the Doctor from another dimension though they tend to stay in their TARDISES. Ma from the dimension that's settling on the 9th planet since they're old friends. Granda and the others from his dimension."

 

The others shake their heads.

 

"We had another group but they've moved semi-permanently to the 10th planet. They'll be out, either staying in the dorm or the temporary housing dorms in Town."

 

"How . . . How many . . ."

 

"Let's see, there's four of Clarinda. . .and they'll probably bring out Charles and Dr. Cross to talk once they find . . ."

 

"Josette did it again. There's another you and me Clarinda." A familiar voice says. "I take it they're the spaceship?" Charles asks from the stairwell.

 

"Yep." He laughs and sends out a message to the Legion compound.

 

"Ahhh, this time we won't have to drag Charles out of the lab." Momma Clarinda chuckles as she comes up behind him. They begin teasing Josette.

 

"As Josette was going to say," David says as the 'what's going on' looks. "In their dimensions, Charles on the 9th planet and Dr. Cross from Granda's dimension gave birth to Josette." Every woman looks at her mate and laughs. "Yeah." Josette says. "And there will be seven? Docs either living on the planets or visiting?"

 

"Eight. Dad and James came out this morning to talk to the Eurekas about what they're working on." Charles says absently.

 

"Eight?"

 

"Doc, Doc from my first dimension, Clark from my second dimension who lives out here permanently, Time Lord Doc, Doc from the 9th planet, Doc from the 10th planet, Doc from Granda's dimension, and now you."

 

"James?" the newcomer Charles asks his counterpart, looking at David's Dad.

 

"My brother James Carstairs Savage. You might know him better as Sheriff Carter." Moans from everybody from Eureka. "The family had been looking for him for over six years when Dad got a call from Eureka about an experiment with one of his discoveries that had gone haywire and the town sheriff that had shut it down. He immediately went out to talk to him but the sheriff had been ducking him. Finally they met and it turned out to be James, who had supposed to been in the witness protection program but he'd been suspicious and done some digging."

 

"Probably not the first Sheriff Carter that's hidden his intelligence for one reason or another." Doc says.

 

Nods from various people. Josette laughs. "We met two on the road trip that were doing just that, one was a nearly five thousand year old Highlander style Immortal while the other was nearly three thousand years old. They said both of their Dr. Starks were a little irked when they found out what Carter had been hiding for years."

 

David chuckles. "Didn't Jonathon say that he was one of the scientists that Stark had been trying to hire for a couple years?"

 

"Ahhh, he was able to raise hell with the DoD over their employment packages and screwing around with Carter's tuition reimbursement, then he was able to raise hell at the school and GD since employees got their children spots that could have gone to more deserving students and the teachers steered the townspeople children away from others."

 

After dinner that night the others head into Headquarters.

 

"Are you part of the dorm?"

 

"No, we linked Headquarters to the dorm much like the kids linked their ranch to the dorm, but while theirs is open ours can be reached only by that door. We're actually on the other continent also."

 

"How big is your building?"

 

"With the assorted tesseracts, adding the headquarters on Earth when we lost it, and adding to it over the years we're about the size of New York and Massachusetts?"

 

"New York, Massachusetts, and if we're still going that geographic area, Maryland and Rhode Island." Bethany says absently as she walks through. "I just finished checking the mechanicals."

 

"Thank you Bethany but it didn't have to be done right now."

 

"This way it's done for another year. . .maybe even longer. And now I can treat myself to a hot bath with bath salts and a hot fudge sundae afterwards." Pat chuckles. "Have you seen Josette?"

 

"She saw what I was doing and said they might as well do theirs."

 

They walk back into the dorm, down the stairs to the basement.

 

"What is your power source?"

 

"Most buildings are on the planet are handled by solar panels, but a handful have alternate energy beyond that. In the dorm and every other building at the school, it's set to come on when the batteries fall below a certain percentage, when the solar panels aren't producing power, or when whatever is running is going to drain the batteries below that level. That way we have uninterrupted power. We also have boxes that pick up electricity from a turbine we run during winter storms or harvests when we need uninterrupted power. Most of the homes on the other continent have them and those buildings in town that need the power." Doc says.

 

"Do all your buildings have solar panels?"

 

"Just over half. The batteries handle everything but lights after dark in the other buildings. Even those homes that have solar panels usually light candles after dark, especially during storms when the panels might not be delivering power for a few days. Every building or apartment has an exercise bike they can use to charge the batteries during storms. We usually get a little advance notice so they can take extra batteries in to the power buildings to be recharged or like we do put them in the rack to charge." Josette says.

 

"Septic?"

 

"Units like the ones that replaced failed tanks or in places that have a high water table. We have two here in the dorm, the original one we added back on Earth and a big mack-daddy unit we added several years ago because we couldn't upgrade the other unit. Each major building has one, houses and other buildings share one. Once everything's broken down it goes on the gardens."

 

"Heat?"

 

"Those buildings that came up from Earth or were built on Haven have furnaces, but they have to be careful they don't run down the batteries or solar panels. Otherwise it's small ceramic heaters or the fake wood GD created." Moans and sighs from the others. "A good sized stick in a chimney pot like you'd see on patios will keep a four or five room house or apartment in the sixties if you keep the doors open if you don't have vents. During storms they generally add a smaller stick or ride the bike a couple hours to run the ceramic heater, before we introduced the wood it was ride the bike a few hours to run the heater enough to keep the house warm for a while, crawl in bed, and try to stay warm."

 

"Can they be cooked over?"

 

"Yes, the Amish on the fourth planet use it in their cook stoves. You can't bake with it though, you'd need too many sticks of wood to bring the heat up and while you can take them out of the stove and quench them in water. . ."

 

"It's not something you want to do multiple times a day, too easy an accident."

 

"This is an older generator." Doc says, looking at what Josette had been inspecting.

 

"Yeah, the school didn't have backup generators in every building when we were attending, just the buildings that had been recently renovated--the health center and dining hall. The new dorms had generators as part of the plans, we added this one our first semester of university and Principal Madison talked to Dr. Blake about adding generators to the other buildings. At first they were the gas powered ones but as each building was renovated over the years bigger ones were added. It was converted from propane to the alternate power source when the school went off propane in preparations for moving to Haven."

 

"They got plenty of use." Susan snorts coming through with a laundry cart full of recycling.

 

"Oh god yes, the school would have had to have closed down our first major power outage if we didn't have them. Let alone the second or third." Josette mutters.

 

"First major power outage?"

 

"We used to get some horrible storms, being so close to the coast. One time some idiot at the power company said they weren't going to fix the lines. . .or rather they couldn't fix the lines, people using generators kept them from working on them."

 

Snorts of disbelief and disgust.

 

"Yeah, the other companies said they had no problems with their customers using generators. It was their own stupidity that kept them from fixing the lines. Well, they didn't like that and sued for slander and libel, only for the courts to tell them the truth was always a defense." Sniggering from the others. "The governor was fining the company for every day they didn't fix the lines, the electric company went bleating to the courts whining that he couldn't fine them, only to be told oh yes he could. Around and around and around they went, meanwhile every school around us ran out of snow days and had to start going over. Finally the governor called in the National Guard and had him arrested for creating a hazard to health and property by refusing to fix the lines. Crews from other companies worked around the clock to get the lines fixed but still some places were out of power over a month."

 

Susan nods. "We were on the list to get our power back first since we're a boarding school but some schools were closed six weeks. After that the government put the smackdown on power companies, they had to pay to fix their own lines if they had a hardship they could come to the government for extra money but they had to make an effort first instead of holding their hand out to uncle sam every time a storm took out their lines." She snorts. "Of course they couldn't put their lines underground. . ."

 

"B. . .bu . . .but what if there's a problem with the line?" Josette mock-bleats. "It's easier to see a line down if they're above ground. They already had the instruments they needed to see if there was a problem with a line but they didn't want to use them."

 

"Second major power outage?"

 

"It was several years later, after the rockets kicked up all the debris in the atmosphere. We'd been having power outages all winter because of the weather, we'd just got our power back after one that had lasted a week and it went out again less than a day later. This time though it was from a power surge that took out machinery at our power plant. They said it would be about six weeks to have the machinery and install it."

 

"Emphasis on said?" Clarinda snorts.

 

"Yeah, the power went out in early January, about five weeks later we were looking at getting the power back on when we found out that the guy in charge hadn't even ordered the parts, they didn't have the money and were hoping to fix it in-house. We were looking to get our power back by June or July now." Moans and facepalms from the others. "Yeah, so the schools around us that were closed from the power outage had to start the year over again because they'd still be making up days when the new year started." Nods from everybody.

 

"We were lucky."

 

"Yeah, several states lost their power later that year and it was going on two years without power for them when the third power outage happened."

 

Moans from the others.

 

"Everything around us was closed but we were able to go to New York and get in supplies. Which we couldn't do the third power outage."

 

"What happened?"

 

"Some flaming 'religious' group decided electricity was the root of all evil, life was soooo much better back in the Little House days, and in a coordinated attack took out power plants all over the country. They banked on the idea that the overload of so many plants going out would take out all the others."

 

"Didn't happen?"

 

"No, thank god but cities all over the country were without power. Including everything around us ... again."

 

"Shouldn't there have been security at the plants to keep that from happening?" Kent asks dryly.

 

"I don't know about the other plants but this was the same nimrods who kept swearing up, down, and sideways our local substation had been shielded after the first time it got hit by lightning."

 

"And it wasn't?" James drawls.

 

"Second time--oh yes, we shielded it. Third time--oh yes, it's shielded. Fourth time, fifth time. No you 'din't', if you had shielded it the damn thing wouldn't keep getting hit by lightning."

 

"How long were you without power?"

 

"Second time was about seven months? Because when they finally got the machinery they found more damage. They 'claim' they had no way of knowing about it but everybody says they could have hooked a generator up to the machinery and make sure everything was running while they were waiting for the parts." Nods from the others. "Of course when we got power back, it kept going out."

 

"I think the generator went through a dozen cases of oil by the time the power went back on for good."

 

"And the third time?"

 

"A year, even with factories working 24/7 since so many power plants needed to replace equipment. By then though everybody who could eek a little power out of solar panels or with batteries *were*. That was the year we were moving to Haven though so we weren't as badly affected as everybody else."

 

"Of course by then we were the only school open in the state." Alan says, coming through. "Principal Madison snagged me, he wants somebody to take care of the dumpsters tomorrow."

 

"Yeah, I'd already planned on it." David says. "Josette, recycling?"

 

"Planned on moving it tomorrow too."

 

"Only school in the state?"

 

David sighs. "The schools closing out west because they didn't have power was the start of it. Some absolute idiot in the Department of Education had to show something for his work, so he passed a mandate everybody had to have an education degree. Josette was due for a new five year contract at the school. . .but Principal Madison couldn't give her a new one because while she had a masters in Library science. . ."

 

"She didn't have an education degree." Doc sighs.

 

"Yep, schools kept getting letters from the moron demanding they fire people they had listed. . .so they did. But not one person fired was a teacher. . ."

 

"Lemme guess, janitors, secretaries, cooks, librarians." Pat sighs.

 

"Oh yes, schools were stunned when they realized they fired their entire support staff and had to close. Meanwhile schools that hadn't jumped the gun still got the letters telling them to fire their employees while employees were getting letters saying they were tainting the students by not having education degrees."

 

"And they couldn't rehire them because they didn't have education degrees." Richard sighs.

 

"Yep, I was under a year extension on my contract because we thought all that nonsense would be dealt with by then."

 

"And it wasn't."

 

"The judge the case went before told the Department of Education they couldn't make school employees have education degrees, they already passed that for the church schools. The Department of Education couldn't explain why employees other than teachers were being fired. He was told to stop sending the letters, asked if he'd just got a list of employees and sent out letters to everybody who didn't have an education degree despite their job, even then they couldn't get a degree in two frigging weeks. The mandate was overturned but asswipe went whining to the Supreme Court and some idiot who was in a hurry didn't read the case and decision and overruled the lower court because 'they were being mean to me'." Sighs from everybody. "Then they started getting picketed and they actually had to read the decision and realized, 'oh shit, we done fucked up'. One of the justice's granddaughter's school closed and his daughter or daughter in law was fired because she didn't have an education degree. They couldn't just overturn the decision and instead chose to hear the case. . .in two more years."

 

"Christ." More than one moan.

 

"Yeah, we figure they were passing the buck and hoping this would just go away. More schools closed and those that were left open were at or over capacity. Josette went on unpaid leave since the school couldn't give her a new contract and we were in danger of losing our health center since their contracts were coming due in a couple years. The only halfway good thing is dumbass lost his cushy job at a private school because surprise, surprise *he didn't have an education degree."

 

"Lemme guess, I never meant for it to affect me." Clarinda says in a mock whining voice.

 

"Yep. He thought he was such hot shit and tried changing the mandate so now everybody had to have an education masters. He didn't realize people would see it had been changed and go after him. It was quickly changed back and his bosses told him to knock it the fuck off, they were already the laughing stock of the government thanks to his stupidity."

 

"Did the court hear it in two years?"

 

"Nope, everybody was looking at the online docket of the Supreme Court but at the end the first year it wasn't on the records. No, we're not hearing it. We're busy. Welll noooo, we can't explain why there's large chunks of open space on the docket where we could hear it. Don't you know we're busy. We can hear it. . .in another five years."

 

"Definitely sticking their heads in the sand and hoping this all goes away."

 

"Those schools that were still open closed at Christmas break or at the end of the school year. The Supreme Court was bleating that they didn't know this would cause so many problems . . ." Snorts of disbelief. "Yeah. The school started putting their classes on the server, Josette had the job of scanning books, worksheets, and other information for programmers to integrate into classes. Meanwhile the school was being 'sold" to GD for one dollar so as part of GD they didn't fall under the Department of Education anymore. Josette got a new contract again, students all over the country took the online tests to start taking their classes on the computer."

 

"Did the Supreme Court ever hear the case?"

 

"Oh yes, after we left Earth. They had to, they couldn't stand the bad publicity anymore. The mandate was overruled but schools didn't reopen. The Department of Education was begging them to reopen by that time but states had to find new sources of funding for the schools, cities and towns had to pass millages. . .hire new employees, get in books and other supplies, in many cases put up new buildings because like the school in Killingmesoftly they'd been torn down since they were going to fall down anyway."

 

"Many students were working at power production or growing buildings and couldn't change their hours to attend a normal school." David sniggers. "That one guy who kept calling demanding to know if the school had a librarian."

 

"He was trying to do what he thought best for his girls, he was just going about it all wrong." Josette sighs. The others look at them. "This was during the Department of Education kerfuffle, a Department of Education employee called the school. He had two daughters, one was a genius who had skipped a couple grades so she was in the same grade as her older sister, they'd both applied but only the younger one had been accepted. There had to be a mistake. Nope. He tried wheedling a spot for the older girl, he'd wanted them to room together. Nope. The younger girl had already been in e-mail contact with her new roomie, she was also younger than the average student and I was going to be mentoring them." The others nod. "Daddy dumbass tried telling his daughter she couldn't go to our school if her sister wasn't and got his ass handed to him by his wife, the younger girl would be going to our school."

 

"Well, I'm not going to pay." Kent says in a huffy tone.

 

"Yep, that's when his wife reminded him he wasn't paying, the girl had a trust fund from her side of the family. He bleated it wasn't fair to the older girl. His wife told him the older girl had been repeatedly told to concentrate on her schoolwork but she was lazy. He whined he wanted them to room together and the younger girl said hell no, her sister was a slob and she needed to clean her room, something stunk in there. Their mother told the older girl she knew the house rules and she slunk off to clean her room, she reminded her if she had schoolwork, she'd better get on it. She had talked with her guidance counselor. Meanwhile he kept calling the school demanding to know if we had a real librarian or just a teacher covering the desk. He kept calling demanding we hire a librarian until Principal Madison said if they were going to hire a librarian it would be the one they had but they couldn't because they couldn't give her a contract because Josette didn't have an education degree. Since he couldn't get what he wanted on the phone he magnanimously chose to come to the school."

 

"Because they'd have to do what he wanted if he lowered himself to come to the school?" Pat snorts.

 

"Yeah, he expected to have Josette beg for her job back but Josette, Frances, Elaine, Pat, and Bethany had already left to attend a major expo in Washington DC. Well he had a fit and fell in it. Demanded that nobody leave school before it closed even if they had their grades in and it was only three days before the end of the semester and those people who had lost their jobs to the Department of Education's bullshit go back to work immediately without pay."

 

"And he got his ass handed to him by the media?"

 

"Yeah, the department already was getting bad publicity thanks to dumbfuck, they didn't need him telling everybody they were should work without pay, slavery had been abolished. He got sent to the office in Alaska, his wife flatly told him hell no they weren't moving to Alaska, he could be out there for a year. That's when the whole story about why he was trying to get both girls in school came out. The older girl went to a normal high school, she only did enough work to keep her grades up for cheerleading and our school didn't have sports. Then she wasn't chosen for the squad and was heartbroken her mother would tell her too fucking bad, so sad, get your ass in gear and concentrate on your schoolwork. She ended up flunking out of school, then went whining to her sister because her mother was making her work and get a GED. Her sister told her it was her own damn fault, Mom had told her to keep her grades up."

 

"Always going to be somebody who thinks they're special and is forced to grow up when life doesn't go their way. If they have any sense they look back on their lives and wonder what the hell they were thinking." Nods from the others.

 

"Do you filter the water?"

 

"Yes. There's filtration units on every well, the hand pumps have filters on them, and we have filters on the cisterns that we either fill with pumps like the handcarts in railroad movies or gutters divert rainwater into."

 

"How often do you clean and empty the septic units?"

 

"At least once a year for units on places like the dorms and apartment buildings. Other places we check them every year but we might not empty it for two years."

 

"Anybody home?" A familiar voice calls.

 

"Down here Dad." David calls up the stairs.

 

James sighs as he looks at the familiar figures in front of him. "Josette did it again." He yells over his shoulder. "There's another you here Clarinda. Another me and Mary. And a Charles. And two Professor Xaviers." The others laugh as Josette looks up at the ceiling and sighs.

 

"Josette?" President Bartlett's voice calls from upstairs. "I believe you have more visitors."

 

Josette shakes a finger at the ceiling and swears this time before she comes upstairs. The others are laughing behind her.

 

"Becka?" She grins and hugs the other woman. "And family and friends. Awww, Tony is from your dimension."

 

"Yep, we realized it a few years ago. How long has it been since you sent out the information?"

 

"A little over a year and a half, I take it it's been longer for you?"

 

"Yes, we're coming up on two years Earth time since we moved to Mars." Josette can feel the others adding onto the third floor. "It's . . .been bad on Earth, the coup Tony saw morphed into some asshole's pet scientists inventing something to cause a massive EMP that took out an entire continent, frying machinery, power lines, basically anything that was in contact with electricity at that time. Power plants fried, power lines fried, the wires in buildings fried, appliances, planes, trains, automobiles, ships . . . "

 

"Ohhh. . .Christ." Josette moans. "Why?"

 

"He wanted to be the only company able to rebuild Europe. He'd be even richer. He tried doing it worldwide, but it wasn't powerful enough to fry everything, it just shut off power worldwide. Even things with batteries and generators. Not even the flashlights that you wound or shook worked."

 

"Christ. . ." Doc says quietly, coming up behind them.

 

"Yeah, the emergency triggers brought everybody to Mars or the other dimension. The power was out about 90 minutes that time. Millions of people died that day. More died in Europe over the first winter. We suspected this wasn't just a coincidence and shielded our homes and buildings, he pulled it again in Australia. And shut off power to the entire world to try to blackmail the world's governments into doing what he wanted, he ended up being arrested and tossed in a federal prison."

 

"Lemme guess, the machinery was dangerous so of course they had to examine it?" James rolls his eyes, the others aren't even pretending they're not listening.

 

"Because of course the government wanted to use it on somebody else." Doc sighs.

 

"That's what we think, he escaped and was on the run nearly three weeks before we found out. And that was only a few minutes before the power went out again. It was only off for a few minutes that time. . .it was off nearly three days the second time. The government was blubbering about how they'd tried him in absentia after he escaped. . .wasn't that enough?" Becka bats her eyelashes and snorts.

 

"Noooo, making sure the little asshole didn't escape in the first place is what you probably wanted." Mary sighs.

 

"Yeah, so it's the fourth of July on Earth and Warner and Paddy's are shut down for the day. These are my grandparents Albert and Marilyn Charles, Nancy and Silas Wright, my women Danita Milford and Idina Forrester, our children Daniel Wright, Eliza Forrester, Arthur Milford, and Rebecca Wright, my uncles Alexander and George Charles, Dr. Ray Vecchio, Benton Fraser, Tony Stark, Buckaroo Banzai, Warrick Warner, Andrew Hellstrom, Dante Wilson, and Padraig O'Donohue. The Banzai Institute, Stark International . ..or at least the building and Tony's friends, Paddy, Warrick, Andrew, and Dante all moved to another dimension and like us on Mars 'commute' to work."

 

"Padraig? As in the designer you work for?"

 

"Yep. I figured he'd enjoy talking to your grandmother, visiting the stores and manufacturers, and visiting the universities."

 

"You're in luck, our Harvest Festival is the end of this week. Ohhh Alex Wayne moved to Haven, he'll be glad to see you two again." Josette remembers seeing the three of them settled around a table talking more than once.

 

"What happened?" Tony sighs.

 

"Religious pundits set off chemical bombs to sterilize everybody else on Earth, if they were the only ones breeding they could take over and spread their hate further. Everybody on Earth was sterilized, they're down to around three billion people. . .not a bad world population until you realize there's nobody under the age of 40 on the planet. They came out to Haven fourteen years ago. And that was after visiting for a few years."

 

"Christ." Silas moans. "The only good thing is there was about a hundred people offworld on the Watchtower, they are having babies but it's going to be a long, long, long time before they have more than one small settlement on Earth unless they bring out people various ages from the other dimensions."

 

They head upstairs, the others blinking a moment at a new hallway but the others are used to it.

 

"Awwww, is that the door to your legendary library?" Becka points at a door at the end of the hall.

 

"Yep, everything but the schoolbooks." Becka crooks a finger at her grandparents and walks that way, the others following them as Josette and her mates grin.

 

"Oh my god. . ."

 

"Currently up to 28 floors, there's between fifteen and twenty-five rooms down each spoke, and they're all just as big. And yes, each floor has it's own set of spokes and more rooms."

 

"And Josette will run out of room in a few years."

 

Josette makes a shorthand gesture that has the others sniggering.

 

Doc looks at his mother who just smiles.

 

Josette facepalms and heads down the stairs.

 

"Wanna know?" David asks her back.

 

"Please tell me I ordered more plastic for patterns from Ellis's? I can't remember if I'm running low or not."

 

"Twenty pallets." Alexander says. Josette turns on the stairs and looks at him. "I added it to your list since I figured you'd be running low and we always are running out of something before we think about ordering more. It's with the machines upstairs."

 

"Plastic?" Becka asks. "You mean the sheets that you see in stores you can use for patterns?"

 

Paddy, Pat, and Pat nod. "We go through tons of it for commonly used pattern pieces, it holds up much better than regular paper or posterboard. And you have the original pattern still if you need to make a different size. I don't know about Mr. O'Donohue, but we had files of pattern sizes for our regular customers. . ." Paddy nods. "That way they just had to say what they wanted and we started work."

 

Pat nods. "They come in much bigger sheets than you see in the stores, Josette has file cabinets full of quilt patterns."

 

Becka sighs. "I'm going to have to think about doing that with my patterns."

 

"I'll give you the address where I order when we get home."

 

"Do you have large suppliers that allow you to wander the buildings?"

 

"I don't. . .think so. . ." Paddy says. Pat blinks but shakes her head also.

 

"Then you are in for a treat. After the Harvest Festival?"

 

"Yeah, we can make a trip out. And we'll visit the ones out here."

 

"We. . ."

 

Josette waves a hand. "Relax, we have a fund for other dimensional travelers."

 

A familiar sound has the others heading downstairs.

 

"Good Lord Josette. . .again?" Time Lord Doc sighs as the Doctor's lips twitch.

 

"This is Becka from the road trip and her family and friends. And you three need to talk to them, from what Becka wrote in her letter they have ships similar to TARDISES." Silas and Ray are staring at the rooms behind them as they shut the door.

 

 

A meeting room is taken over by the Doctors, Time Lord Doc, Ray, and Becka's grandfathers later that night after the others have gone to bed or settled in another room to talk.

 

After breakfast the next morning they go on a tour of Town. The soap, candles, and toiletries buildings get a good number of sales.

 

"Everybody recycles?" Richard asks, seeing people bringing in containers to a building.

 

"Yep, between that and composting we have very little waste. I pick up the recycling from the other planets twice a year so it doesn't pile up and we reuse it. The school's recycling goes back to Granda's earth, they have recycling dropoff centers similar to yours." Josette says. "We generally disintegrate the non-recyclable school waste three or four times a year."

 

"Do you use cans?"

 

"Only in limited runs on the manufacturing satellite because we don't grow big enough crops to need them, they're single use, and we'd need to clean the machinery every time we made something new. We use canning jars for everything. You've found the setting that cleans the lids?"

 

"Yes, but we don't use them back to back."

 

"Neither we do, generally maybe every fourth or fifth harvest. Because even then they wear out eventually."

 

"But the replicators can turn them into their raw materials and make more."

 

"And we have tons in storage yet. The cycle also makes the rings new again."

 

"You can never find them in the stores except with the jars or in big packages with lids."

 

"Glass?"

 

"Goes to the blowers or the glass factories on the sorting planet. Paper goes to the mill to be recycled, metal and plastic generally go in crystals until they're needed again."

 

"Glass factories?"

 

"One makes bottles and canning jars, the other makes flat planes of glass. . .both for windows and the specialty stuff used by the stained glass workers and others."

 

"Sorting planet?"

 

"The seventh planet, when we first came out we had a number of ships harvesting the asteroids, ore was taken there from the ships, sorted, and underwent the first step in being used before it was sold to Earth or used in the manufacturing satellite. Our recyclables were sold to Earth too." Josette cackles.

 

"There's a story there." Mara says dryly.

 

"Yeah, some moron in the auto industry didn't want to buy from us because they couldn't make as big a profit. Those places that grew food for Earth sold to the government so they were already paid."

 

"They were hoping for hick farmers who had to sell to have money to buy more supplies." Becka says, rolling her eyes. "We had somebody come to try to take advantage of the farm on my property until they realized how many farms they were, how big they were, and how much money they made." Warrick sighs and nods.

 

"And Josette loved driving a hard bargain." Anna says with a smirk. "The representatives sued to get somebody else to bargain with. The judge said that they could easily be replaced and others bargain to buy the food, recyclables, and ore." Everybody sniggers. "Hoist on their own petard."

 

"Yep so we were just like 'we don't need to sell to you so meh'. After a few months they'd come begging for us to sell to them again. This happened a couple times and the third time we held firm. They started whining, they started begging, they tried suing, the courts said we didn't have to sell to them. 'But what do they do with all that ore? They don't harvest asteroids until they need the raw materials.'"

 

"How can they do that to us?" Mary says in a warbling tone, then snorts.

 

"Exactly. They sued to force us to sell to them. They sued to force us to harvest ore for them. No luck on either case so they sued again." Rolling eyes. "I was bringing back empty containers, they jumped on them then whined when they found them empty since I was delivering the stone, furniture, wine, olive oil, and cacao somewhere else. 'But they've got to be selling to somebody, why not us?'"

 

"Because the other industries we sold the metal to didn't run through it, they'd been told they needed to make this last then when they didn't went whining like a kid in a candy store?" President Bartlett snorts as he comes through. "They even used recycled metals. .. some from cars." The others cackle.

 

"So they decided they wanted a colony of their own, they'd learned from the Mars fiasco and they'd have to have a world that had atmosphere so their employees didn't die. When Congress asked how they planned to mine and refine the ore they were 'Mine it? Refine it? Can't we just pick it up off the ground?'"

 

"I'd laugh but I know there are people that dumb out there." James snorts as Doc sighs. "These are the same morons who didn't think we worked on Haven, we just froliced in the fields and when we hungered we lifted a hand to pick a fruit."

 

"Mars?" Doc asks quietly.

 

"Becka's Mars is only the second one that we've found that could sustain life. A group of industrialists decided they wanted to colonize Mars, we had to be hiding something when we said Mars didn't have anything worth colonizing. So I was hired by Earth to bring up supplies and move the first set of colonists. They were putting up a dome when a meteorite the size of a dime pierced a hole in their capsule." Sighs and prayers from the others. "Earth had lost contact with Mars a couple days ago so I was asked to check on them, I found the colony lost and told Earth. They asked me to bring the bodies home and clear up the site on Mars. The industrialists were charged with manslaughter because they knew there was over a 90 percent chance they'd be lost since there was evidence of meteorite strikes there."

 

"But they just had to have it there?" Alice sighs.

 

"Yes, and they'd changed the beneficiaries of the men from their families to them the second they left Earth."

 

"Christ."

 

"Yes, they whined that they deserved that money, not the families. They'd stolen it fair and square."

 

"What was big business going to do on Mars?" Doc asks. Richard and James nod. "I can see a scientific base more easily."

 

"Yeah, we were joking that the colony would last two years, and that was with putting up the dome. Because sooner or later they'd demand they start making them money."

 

"On Mars?" Mary snorts.

 

"Yeah, other industrialists had been arrested for trying to take over Haven when it was found out we were expecting the first children on Haven. If they could get the girls off Haven before they delivered. . ."

 

"They could claim it for Earth."

 

"Yes, they were quickly arrested and tried." Josette finds a file on her PADD, passing it to Doc. "We think they just transferred their plans for Haven to Mars."

 

"Yes, with this type of equipment I'd say so. You said you brought everything back with you?" He passes the PADD around for the others to read. It finally makes it's way back to Josette and goes back on her belt.

 

"Yes, a lot of the equipment was on its last legs so I tore it apart on Atlantis and returned it to Earth as scrap or just sold it back to Earth. The containers themselves were on their last legs, we all know how salt rusts stuff."

 

"Out of sight, out of mind. It would cost us money to get rid of these." Albert says.

 

"Yep, send it to Mars, they'll have to fix them to keep working. Dumbasses couldn't get their heads around there was nothing on Mars to make them money."

 

"People do not want to hear they are wrong, everything must change to suit them." Silas says.

 

"Oh gods yes, I can't tell you how many lawsuits we had when we announced Haven was open for colonists. We had set rules on what type of skills they'd need but we had thousands of people applying, then suing when we turned them down. They'd lose the case and apply again. On and on and on until the judges told them to knock it off, either come up with a skill that we could use or be fined the next time they sued again."

 

"Not that it stopped them." David snorts. "We also had industry suing to overturn Haven's charter from agriculture so they had another planet to destroy. Repeatedly. We had celebritwits suing to bring up what they wanted before they lowered themselves to join us on Haven and being stunned when they were told no. What? We don't have malls, nightclubs, paparazzi? You don't have hair salons? Who's supposed to do my makeup? You eat real food? Where's the lobster, the caviar? No blowdryers? How do you dry your hair?"

 

"People have been using them for years before blowdryers. It's called a towel." Alice says dryly. Marilyn sniggers, nodding.

 

"You open a window when you want cool air?" David mock-shrieks in a falsetto.

 

"Cars." Professor Druid says as she walks by. "Josette, the glass?"

 

"I was going to break it up for the glassblowers tomorrow. I figured it had to be piling up."

 

"Cars?"

 

"They kept shoving information on us, they were sure we'd give them a big sale then sued when we said we weren't buying cars. One of the people in Eureka is a videographer and made a movie to show people what Haven was like, mostly for the settlers coming up and people saw we really didn't have cars. Cell phone providers kept shoving information on us, they were positive we'd want cell phones on Haven. Then they said they wouldn't sell to us and we'd come begging to them to buy phones." Sighs and nods. "Then sued when you said you weren't going to have cell phones?"

 

"Yep. We didn't want a post office on Haven even before they said they'd need this, this, this, that, that, that. . ."

 

"Subway."

 

"Oh god yes, some morons wanted the prestige of putting in the first subway on Haven. They walked away pouting when they were told no because it took five minutes to walk from one side of town to the other back then. It only takes ten to twenty minutes now. . .and that's in winter."

 

"I doubt that was the only lawsuits." Buckaroo says.

 

"No, we had people sue to keep people from working sunup to sundown in the fields or gardens when the crops were coming in. Even their own gardens. We had somebody sue for no taxation without representation. She pouted because we didn't have taxes and brought out a whole list of stuff to protest about. The pigs were in it with the man! The promise of no taxes was being used to lure people to haven where we'd have them. She was tossed out on her ear. We had somebody protest because we didn't have black people on Haven." Josette smirks at Rosabelle and Josh. Who roll their eyes.

 

"When we calmly pointed out Principal Madison was black it turned into 'they're going to force blacks to toil in the fields all day or otherwise service their massahs'. Professor Druid just looked at her husband and snorted 'yeah, right'." Everybody laughs.

 

"Clothes."

 

"Oh god yes, we had somebody sue to outlaw clothes on Haven. Clothes forces you to conform to a false identity created by designers." Snorts of disgust. "Clothes are meant for protection."

 

"And even if they weren't killed in accidents or froze over the winter they'd kill each other because it wouldn't be supermodels walking around naked." Becka says, rolling her eyes.

 

"Exactly."

 

"Does everybody quilt on Haven?" Paddy asks as they walk into Sue's store, seeing the tables and machines all occupied.

 

"Yes, after the first winter they stop poo-pooing the old ways. There's the whole 'I did this' mentality. Everybody has a number of quilts ready to put on their beds come the first snow and make more over the summer when we know it's going to be a bad winter." Josette heads upstairs and comes down with a couple bags of fabric that she buys at the register. The others look at her. "Worn out clothes for patchwork quilts, a group of us will work on the clothes, removing buttons and zippers and sorting them by color to go into barrels upstairs. You can buy a bag for five dollars, that's usually enough for a patchwork quilt along with fabric you have left over from the quilts you've already been working on."

 

"Is this all your fabric?"

 

"No, we only keep a few bolts of each fabric in the back, most of our fabric is kept in warehouses and we bring out more as needed."

 

They walk past a building that looks to be a gym.

 

"Power production building, it's a copy of a gym we put up by the road on Earth. They're charging batteries as they work out. on Earth the power either went to the grid or like here, charged batteries for homes and buildings." Josette says at Doc's look. She sniggers. "It did good business, those people who wouldn't lower themselves to work paid through the nose."

 

"And were doing the same thing they could have been paid for." Pat snorts. "Oh yes, the gym at my spa did good business with wives of the movers and shakers in the community huffing and puffing to sweat off that last box of bonbons. The women who were movers and shakers in the community had . . ."

 

"A little something something called common sense as well as two brain cells to rub together?" Becka snorts. Pat laughs and nods.

 

Josette ducks into another building, coming back out with a bag. "This is the building we use for dyeing and weaving. I needed to get a couple different dyes I don't normally use."

 

"You said Albatross is here?" Alice asks.

 

Josette leads them towards the Albatross Nest, greatly expanded but the core of the store is the same as the one they remember. Paddy and Pat start looking around in satisfaction.

 

"Not again Josette." Suzie sighs from the register where she's ringing somebody up.

 

"Yep. Agatha in Albatross?"

 

"Yes, they're going over the list of kits we're going to be putting out next year."

 

"Whoa." More than one person says when they walk from one store to another just walking through a door. Josette waves at Agatha, Marilyn, and Sue. Paddy and Pat immediately start looking at the fabric and gravitate towards the poster on the wall announcing the kits.

 

"The two stores are linked just like the dorm and Headquarters on the other continent are linked, that way people can easily travel between the two towns. If somebody's going to be late, they'll just tell whoever's in the store and somebody will be here to let them out."

 

"Not that I haven't found a certain somebody in the store before it opens getting together supplies for her quilts." Sue says. laughing.

 

"Well yah, I buy everything for anywhere from twenty to fifty quilts at a time. That way you can work with somebody else and by the time the others start arriving everything's been put back to normal. Oh, we hafta bring out supplies this winter? Everybody, this is Sue Dixon, she owns the other fabric store." Josette grabs a handful of grab bags as kits are made up for Paddy, Pat, and Becka. Josette puts everything in subspace after they're rung up.

 

"Probably it's been a few years. We'll do inventory after the Harvest Festival."

 

"Are these the only fabric stores on the planets?"

 

"No, Sue's store has been expanded over the years since we came up from Earth. Her niece took over running the shop on Earth and when she came up we moved the original shop to Eureka on Archimedes. In addition, we have a yarn store in town and suppliers we brought up from Earth on the fourth planet, here, and Archimedes."

 

"Archimedes?"

 

"The eighth planet where Eureka settled when they came up. We commuted from Earth to Eureka for our tests for a semester and Josette teased Dr. Stark that they'd have to come up with a name for the planet. By the time we came back up a month later. . .they'd named it." Alexander says.

 

"You have television?" Richard asks, seeing it on the wall.

 

"And radio. The fourth planet, ours, Eureka on the eighth planet, and Eureka on the 9th planet all have stations. None of them run all day but there's usually one station broadcasting. Most of the buildings people congregate in have them, but only the power station keeps it on. . .while you can listen to the radio and work you can't watch tv and work unless it's something like walking on a treadmill or riding an exercise bike in the power building." Nods from the others.

 

Andrew and Alice walk outside, recognizing buildings from their old hometown. "What's the new buildings?"

 

"That one is the growing building for Albatross, built when the old factory had to be torn down. It came up with the town from Earth. A copy of the movie theater brought out by the others on the 9th planet, ours is tape while that one made the conversion to digital. They have one on the 9th planet too. A pizza parlor that offers grinders. The new library and a new historical society building with room for exhibits."

 

"They've needed a new library for a while."

 

"And they were finally able to get everything out of people's attics."

 

"I wonder if they ever wrote the books . .."

 

"Five of them at last count." Josette says absently. "Two of the on the history of Albatross, one on the moving from Earth to Haven, and two on how they're settling and expanding the town. Next they're talking about family histories." Andrew and Alice nod. "We have a printing operation in Town so they were finally able to print them at a decent price."

 

"Is the farm here?"

 

"Yes and no, when we moved to Haven the farm was copied and came up to the other continent. . .it's been added onto over the years. When Albatross came up the original farm came up, Aaron lives there while Adam has an apartment on the 8th planet."

 

 

"Ohhhh," Alice says a few hours later in a flyer as they descend over a familiar house. She can see her dreams in the additions and the door opens, she sees herself lean out and shake her head then laugh. Josette lands the flyer as she comes out.

 

"Yep, I went dimension hopping again."

 

"Did you do all this work on Haven?" Alice asks after a tour of all the new areas.

 

"No, some we did on Earth. James inspected the roof because it was leaking and found that it needed to be replaced and the kids all chipped in to pay for the work. Then there was the work that was needed to take the house off the grid before we moved to Haven, adding the solar panels, putting the waste unit in the basement, taking the house off propane. . ."

 

Josette perks up and pulls Mrs. Bartlett and the other jewelry making teacher into the back room at dinner.

 

"Becka makes jewelry too." They smile and fill trays before sitting down to talk.

 

"Did you two teach Josette jewelry making? We did a bit together on her ship during the road trip."

 

"We did, Josette took several textiles and fine arts classes at the school. Any time any of us come up with a new class, we automatically add Josette to the class list as an auditing student." Mrs. Bartlett chuckles. Frances and Elaine are pulled in the back room next and they start talking with Pat and Paddy. The soapmaking and candlemaking teachers are brought out next to talk to the twins as Josette's head tips to one side and she looks at the screen for the front room. "The others just arrived."

 

"9th planet?"

 

"Both came out this morning." Josette's fingers fly over her PADD. "There, this way they can figure out when to get together to compare notes.

 

A few minutes later a couple groups of people descend on the back room after greeting Principal Madison and Professor Druid. It's obvious that the heads of the groups are related to both of them, from the resemblance Mara would say parents though it's obvious while the man is James's father, his wife just as obviously didn't give birth to him. They also see that all four of them consider Josette their grandchild.

 

"Again Josette?" A dark haired man introduced as Pieter Cross asks, looking down at Josette with suspiciously twitching lips.

 

"Of course, the evil . . .whatever it is that keeps dragging me out of my dimension isn't done yet it seems." She sighs. Behind them a chair falls over.

 

"Dad?" Josh's voice says, choked.

 

"Joshua? Rosabel?" Calvin and Simone blink then scream as they welcome back another lost child to the fold.

 

"Damn it, I knew you reminded me of somebody." Josette complains.

 

"Both came out to the 9th planet?" Doc asks as Simone and Calvin settle with Josh and Rosabel at their table.

 

"The others from their dimension, their Earth was lost to nuclear war thanks to a villain who brought the US presidency as the first step in taking over the world and from another dimension that is similar to theirs with a lot of their family and friends. They're the ones who are bringing out homes and buildings to the 9th planet as the first step in moving out there semi-permanently. Like a lot of us, they're not aging all that fast and are making plans for the future."

 

"Are you going out to see how if the radiation is going down?"

 

"Yes, though it will be decades before they can live on Earth again aside from a city-ship."

 

"The remaining governments are planning on building one on our planet." Becka says. "It's going up on the moon once it's finished as their first step in colonizing planets."

 

"We're planning one on our planet also." Silas and Albert head over and soon are talking with Calvin.

 

"City-ship?" Josette sends the information to the others and they shake their heads as they look at everything. "That's going to be a lot of work."

 

"They figure twenty years working two shifts to have it completed and supplied." Becka says. "Whether those people stay in Europe with the other who'd been building the power complex to start rebuilding Europe. . ." The story about what happened to Europe and Australia is told and people shake their heads.

 

"They've got one on Mars and one on the Moon in the 9th planet's original dimension, seeing that is what convinced the others on Granda's world to build theirs. Theirs is going up on either the moon or Mars. . . Oh Granda, their Mars is either terraformed or never had a natural disaster and they've moved there." Calvin blinks and the conversation turns to another topic. "And they're talking about one for a colony ship. They're also planning ships to stay in orbit but the other ships could settle on the planet, there's more room for supplies without the need for shuttles, and they have a place to stay while they're settling on the planet."

 

"We were lucky that with the technology to copy and move everything we went to bed on Earth and woke up on Mars."

 

"Do you have other dimensions you're colonizing?"

 

"One scientific, we brought out Stark International, Paddy and Dante's home, Warrick and Andrew's home, and the Banzai Institute and the government has started one for agriculture."

 

"Remind me to send you copies of the information on a colony dimension we started where they're building their own homes and setting up a small town. They're going to have limited electricity in the form of solar panels. How are you handling schooling?"

 

"Becka's family is the only one with kids young enough for school, they go down to Earth daily when their parents go to work. We also have a good selection of homeschooling information and the school has online classes as well as on campus."

 

"Which doesn't work when that fucking machine comes on, hence the homeschooling books and supplies." Becka sighs. Calvin looks at her and they tell the newcomers about the machine, the others shaking their heads.

 

Back at the dorm Josette grins as Alex walks in from Wayne Manor, waving at where Tony and Becka are sitting in the living room.

 

"Alex." Tony smiles as the younger man walks over to them. A couple hours later Bruce comes looking for his brother and is drawn into the conversation, a couple hours after that Thomas arrives and is drawn into the conversation. Silas has joined them by then along with Alexander and George.

 

A cough has Thomas looking over and finding Alfred with his arms crossed over his chest and his foot tapping.

 

"Uht oh, somebody's in trouble." Becka sing-songs, then yawns. "I dunno about you guys, but I need some sleep before we start this up again." The others nod and grab notebooks, pens, pencils, and assorted loose paper before they make arrangements to come to the compound in the morning after breakfast. "There's always a higher authority to keep people in line."

 

"Yep, for us it's Alfred and for you guys it's them." Alex says, pointing to where Nancy and Marilyn are standing and giving the group looks. Albert is behind them, his mouth covered so they can't see him grinning.

 

 

 

 

 

Meanwhile four women and two men had settled in a room to talk about Josette. In another room eight Doc's are also talking.

 

"Are we the only extraterrestrials?" Doc asks Time Lord Doc.

 

"Of the eight of us, though Doc's dimension is a thousand years ahead of the others."

 

"And the three of us didn't have Josette for a granddaughter in our dimensions." Clark says, pointing at Time Lord Doc and 10th planet Doc. The story of how he'd been lost for forty years is told and Doc shakes his head, that explains why they treat him as a much loved younger brother.

 

 

The next morning after breakfast Josette heads off to the basement with Alan to do their laundry. Clarinda and Pat immediately start looking over Josette's room, finding the room the boys had told Pat about.

 

Clarinda shakes her head as she looks around Josette's room. "Why hasn't she . . ."

 

Josette's Pat chuckles behind her and points at the wall. "That door goes up to Josette's bedroom on the second floor. She stopped sleeping down here years ago."

 

"Ahhh, I'd . ..ohhh yes." Pat and Clarinda say when they walk up the stairs. A large queen sized bed is next to a door with nightstands on either side. Across from the bed is a wall of windows. Across from them is three doors and a couple dressers. One leads to a bathroom, one to a walk in closet, and the third is a linen closet. They look at a circular staircase in the corner of the room.

 

"It goes up to Josette's library." Josette's Pat says at their questioning looks. "Dates back from when it was a single room with a powder room on one side."

 

"Josette, when's the last time you replaced your sheets and towels?" Josette's Pat asks when she comes up behind them. She can see the shelves are full.

 

"Last year, it had been a while." She walks out the door by the bed into the second floor and walks down the hall to another room.

 

"Ohhh my . . ."

 

"I'd thought you had to have outgrown even a closet for your quilts." Pat says dryly as she walks into a large room filled with shelves and wardrobes that are filled with quilts.

 

"And we're going to have to enlarge this again, I got hit with five notebooks of quilt ideas earlier this year." Hannah laughs behind her. "I noticed the shelves of your workroom were full again."

 

"Have to write more books." Josette's Pat smirks. Josette rolls her eyes.

 

"More books?"

 

Josette leads them down the hall to where she keeps her books, pointing at a shelf of books. "All but the last two quilting books I've written. Those are currently being printed. Each room of boxes is a single book. Once they're done with the last two books we might start a second printing of the oldest book."

 

"You tour with these?" Pat asks.

 

"No, I tour with those. . ." Josette points at shelves across the room. "These I sell at mine and the boys shows. I'm signing for hours. Those are printed in Granda's dimension, if we don't start printing the oldest quilting book we'll start on these out here."

 

"What are these?" A case of books and DVDS is apart from the others.

 

"Books we wrote for our hundredth anniversary of moving to Haven."

 

"Shelves?"

 

Josette leads them up the hall to her workroom, Pat looking around then at her.

 

"It used to be a normal ten by eight dorm room with a bathroom leading to another room, I used the other room for storing fabric and large stuff. When I started quilting the frame went in another room down the hall. I soon was wanting to buy larger equipment and inherited a studio from a crafter in Eureka, then we started enlarging this room, over the years we added the other areas."

 

"You said you keep your schoolbooks elsewhere, does this include diplomas?" Pat asks. The others start gathering and David leads them down the hall to a room.

 

"Everybody has their own section."

 

"Josette doesn't have any diplomas in here?" Pat asks, not finding any for her.

 

David sniggers and leads them to a door hidden on the back wall. They walk into a gallery. . .a gallery of diplomas.

 

"This floor is from our dimension, the second floor is from Clark's dimension, the third floor is from Granda's dimension. It's only one room so far. . ." Josette comes through and blows him a raspberry.

 

"Josette, what's the most classes you've taken in a semester?" Becka asks, looking at her grandparents.

 

"Fifty."

 

"Three different times before we left Earth and our semesters were fourteen weeks." Alan says dryly as Marilyn moans. "I take it your grandparents were talking to you about taking too many classes?" They learned she and her uncles were taking classes the other night.

 

"Nineteen in one semester, it didn't seem like that many as I was taking them but every time I turned around . . ."

 

"I was finishing another class? Been there, done that. My mutation makes it easier for me though. And . . ." Josette looks at Becka. "You ever stop to think that your. . ."

 

"Dreaming stuff until I invent it is a mutation? I have actually. Especially after we figured out Tony and I were from the same dimension."

 

"We got four Professor Xavier's on Haven, we can easily do the bloodwork."

 

Pat wanders the hallways, looking at all the diplomas.

 

"Each hallway is a school, each room is an area."

 

"Are these the same degree?" She sees some diplomas have the same degree name on them.

 

"Some degrees are part of multiple degree curricula, while others cover the same material but focus on different areas or come at it from different angles. Those are usually from different schools though."

 

"Textbooks?"

 

They go down the hall to another room.

 

"This is a library?"

 

"Yes, we added the original school's library to the dorm when the new one was built. We use it for our textbooks and the boys art books. Josette's got an area just as big attached to her workroom for her quilting and knitting books and magazines."

 

"I take it Josette has her own building here also?" Richard asks. David chuckles and leads them to another doorway down the hall.

 

Doc sighs when confronted by the hallways of books. "Again, first floor our dimension, second Clark's, and third Granda's. Each hallway is a different school. Each room is a group of degrees, the red bookcases are Master level books, usually the classes for that degree since the two years of basic classes are the same for every degree. If they have doctorates, they're the gold cases. Some of the degrees are part of multiple degree sets. The cooking books have their own area. We're working on a separate area for those degrees that had box sets of DVDS."

 

"Masters are four years?"

 

"Two years of classes for the degree like the masters in every other dimension we've visited and two years of basic classes geared to actually writing the damn papers. Because I know some people have a helluva time writing them. The classes for writing papers and reports at GD are always packed, and they ain't voluntary." Sniggers and nods from the others.

 

"Studio?" Pat looks at Josette. She sighs and heads down the hall, the others staring around the large room.

 

"I inherited this from Jessica Anderson in Eureka, Dr. Stark thought it was five floors tall when he found it. Since nobody else was a crafter of her scale in Eureka. . .it came to me because we had the room for it and I was running out of room in my workroom." Grabbing her PADD, she finds pictures of the original two rooms and puts them on the screen. Pat nods. "A good room but. . ."

 

"Yeah, that was before we started working on them, we enlarged the room by tesseract and added new flooring. Anyway, once I was finished with my classes for the semester I started exploring and realized it was actually fifteen floors. A while later I got tapped by Dr. Blake to make the winter socks for Eureka because the old provider had went out of business." Mary nods. "At that time I was asking if there was a way to enlarge this by tesseract to add an elevator, the others couldn't understand why there wasn't already one. . .some of the machines had to have come up by elevator. Dr. Blake went looking for the controls and found out the track covering them was stuck and when it was lubed found out that I'd only found a small section of the studio. It's actually 75 floors, each floor larger than I thought . . .and I'm still not sure I found everything." Bronwen chuckles. "Yes, especially after you were done."

 

"Socks?"

 

They follow Josette down the hall. "The machines on my right are the ones for the school, the ones on the left are Eureka's. It started with one sock machine and maybe five boxes of yarn when the school asked me to make socks for the emergency supplies."

 

"The big skeins?"

 

"Yep, two pounds each, five in a package and thirty skeins in a box. I could get four pair of tube socks for the school's emergency supply from one skein with some left over. Splicing four partial skeins into hanks got two more pair. Then the school asked for socks to sell at the flea market in town. I brought other colors of yarn and every time I turned around I was buying more sock machines, doubling the yarn order, or both." Pat and Paddy snigger, knowing all too well that feeling.

 

"One semester we couldn't take classes thanks to the dumbasses of education screwing our schedule over by making us start the semester two weeks later than the other students. They swore that nobody would be inconvenienced by this but they lied because by the time we'd taken our finals. . .it was too late for the schools to accept our grades."

 

Sighs from everybody.

 

"Yeah, the dumbasses were throwing their hands up in the air blaming everybody else for what happened because they couldn't possibly be at fault while GD scrambled to keep students from being expelled for 'failing' all our classes. David had just started his MBA, Alan med school, and Susan law school so they really didn't need that. Finally they hammered out a solution nobody liked. . .the schools would accept our grades. . .but not for that fall semester, the winter one. Which meant only Alan and Susan could take classes since they were working at GD in legal and the infirmary. Which we were happy for, no use all of us taking a hit in our schooling. While this delayed me finishing my history degree from Montague and two degrees from Assyrian, I was already working at the library, the twins had their education degrees but hadn't signed up for graduation yet since they were going for business degrees at the same time so they could start their student teacher class hours." Nods from the others. "Michael and Alexander still had their art and David's still sitting on his ass." A rude sound from David who's busy cutting off the plastic from a new pallet of yarn. Mary chortles despite herself.

 

"And the teachers were giving Josette projects to keep her occupied since she wasn't taking classes and Joyce said they might be interested in different socks. After Josette stopped banging her head on the wall she called Agatha for an advanced sock machine and enough skeins of yarn to make samples of two color socks. Principal Madison was interested in all nine and we brought five more advanced sock machines with the idea of buying more when they went for sale at the flea market and the website for my art went live. By that time we were buying five hundred boxes of yarn at a time, that went to 750 boxes on a four month schedule, then three hundred boxes of white and natural yarn when I started tie-dyeing them. That went to five hundred boxes every four months, then five hundred boxes of another yarn woolease was putting out two months after the other yarn. The main order went to 750 boxes every two months, then a thousand boxes every two months thanks to the demand for new socks."

 

"And this isn't a drop in the bucket compared to the other socks." David says as Alan brings out more pallets of yarn.

 

"Other socks?" Doc asks.

 

"The government contacted the school with the idea of us making socks for foster care. . .both the kids and adults, old age homes, prison canteens. . . We ended up buying 750 sock machines and 2200 pallets of yarn delivered every six months."

 

The others moan. "We turned it into a work-study position, twelve students working five hour shifts twenty hours a week from 8 am to 5 pm six days a week either emptying the machines, filling boxes, or putting them on pallets." Nods of satisfaction from the others. "We put the machines on the fifth floor temporarily until we could build a permanent place for them. . ."

 

"Those two buildings on the grounds?"

 

"Yes, one of them was for the socks, the other was for the university representatives. . .by that time we were getting over 300 coming out the entire month of November to talk to the students."

 

"University representatives?"

 

"It's something the DoD does for Tesla, once a year they come out to Eureka and talk to the sophomores about their universities."

 

David nods. "Grammy Allie brought out nine people to talk to us about schools after UM-B had their problems. They brought enough supplies to talk to us and the students and it continued every year, going from one week at the school and talking to the students in the auditorium to their booths filling the gym with the overflow going on the fourth floor of the library until they could put up the building and talking to students from the towns around us." Nods of satisfaction. "A year later we got a call asking if the school could double their orders. . .we ended up order another two thousand pallets of yarn, doubling the number of students working, and doubling the number of sock machines." The others shake their heads. "A couple years after we moved to Haven the government asked for more socks because of the problems Earth was having, that brought it up to 2250 machines and since the demand was still good for the school's socks we doubled the number of sock machines I had."

 

"Was that the last of the government orders?"

 

"Oh hell no, we had 3000 sock machines in the building here on the school grounds and put up a second building in town with more sock machines, this time opening the jobs to settlers as they started arriving. The government wanted more and more socks until calmer heads prevailed, otherwise I could see every factory making yarn just for Haven."

 

Sighs but nods from the others. "We figured we'd be able to use the machines for other socks in the future and now we've got the orders from the 10th planet and Granda's Earth."

 

"And these socks?"

 

"Are for the schools, I drop off containers at both schools. They're counted and held for the students. New students get a couple pair in their supplies and buy more over the years. We live in ours over the winter."

 

"Eureka's?"

 

"A couple years later I was on paid leave from the school because an agency in the government had pushed their weight around and ordered the school to get me away from the library, supposedly they had junior agents that had been tortured by Japanese spies and were being reintegrated into society after recovering, my Japanese last name might cause a relapse since they were fragile."

 

"If they were fragile they didn't need to be at a high school." Mary snorts.

 

"Exactly, the story got spread around and people started realizing this was bullshit because SHIELD claimed they didn't have junior agents. Anyway, the company that had been making the winter socks for Eureka went out and Grandma Allie contacted Josette about taking it over. The machines were brought out and a link set up between my studio and a building in Eureka where they'd deliver the yarn and other supplies, I'd put the socks, empty pallets, and recycling out there. When Eureka left Earth the supplies for that and the 3D models I was making came here and I delivered everything to Archimedes."

 

"Do you only make socks for Eureka?"

 

"No, every few years we will use the machines in the buildings to make a good sockpile for the other planets." Josette looks at David who grabs his PADD. "We're still good, but we'll need to start making for the planets again in a couple years."

 

"Do the planets put in orders?"

 

Josette nods. "When we see we're getting low on supplies, we'll put up a poll either after the Harvest or Lights Festival and leave it running for a few months so people can get in their requests. That's for stuff like toothpaste where everybody has their own favorite brand." Nods from the others. "Stuff like clothes we'll announce it and the planets will buy the most common sizes, while shoes and boots people might get in special orders if they have an off-size. Otherwise they can replicate them."

 

"And the toothpaste?"

 

"Once we've decided on a brand the planets will get in orders. If the toothpaste you like isn't selected there's usually some in stasis from the planets we've visited or you can replicate it. Earth was. . .and still is a consumer planet." Nods from the others. "And while our Earth was ramping down on production since they knew the end was coming, some of the planets I've harvested were going at full speed."

 

 

Meanwhile Becka and Tony are looking down different hallways at the compound. Alex chuckles as Thomas leads them to the library and they continue the conversation that had been interrupted the night before, notebooks, pencils, pens, and loose paper covering the tables.

 

 

 

 

Ray, Benton, Becka, Danita, and Idina are looking at the textbooks for the school. Professor Druid chuckles. "You have children?"

 

"Danielle is starting her senior year, the triplets are starting eighth grade, our youngest is just over a year old."

 

"Our oldest is starting the seventh grade, our second oldest is starting the fifth grade, while the babies are starting second grade. And get the hell away from me with those looks, go knock each other up." Becka mock-scowls at her women who just smirk. Professor Druid chuckles. "Yes, we're all familiar with that look from either our mates or the kids." They talk classes and schools for a couple of hours.

 

"Ohhhh," Marilyn sighs as she walks the streets for the Harvest Festival. "You say this lasts for three days?"

 

"Yes, and there will be something new each day. We have a two days Light Festival at the end of our year that grew out of Christmas. . . "

 

"Because of the year difference you can have two in one year. Yes, that will probably happen to us sooner or later. Right now our second Christmas on Mars will take place early next Mars year."

 

 

 

Silas sighs and nods when he comes across the room of shipping containers. Susan looks up from the clipboard she's got in her hands. "We're putting together some of them to make room for more supplies we'll be getting in in a couple years. This way when we head back to Calvin's Earth to take in returning student's belongings Josette can drop off the empty shipping containers."

 

"Does it all stay in the containers?"

 

"No we have several rooms set up for some of this, the others have been looking in them to see if we can empty some of these containers before we start putting them together."

 

"Do you recycle the empty containers?"

 

"Some. Those are the ones from the lost worlds or are so bad we tear them apart and drop off the raw materials to be used again. It's easier for the ships to take them apart then it would with saws or torches on Earth." Silas nods. "I know some people have talked about turning them into housing but there's the problem of adding plumbing."

 

"I've seen a hostel type camp that has rooms made from shipping containers, but like you said there's no plumbing in them. Showers and toilets are in another building."

 

"Which would be a miserable walk in the middle of the night." Alexander says as he comes in. Checking his PADD he walks to a shipping container and starts piling boxes on a flatbed cart.

 

"What are you moving?"

 

"Towels, the room is nearly empty. We'll be able to empty this container easily between the dorm and the ranch."

 

"Which container is that?"

 

"7E."

 

Susan nods as she makes a note on her PADD. "That's five shipping containers empty before we start putting them together." Michael comes in and grabs another cart. "Add the sheets to that."

 

"Which container?"

 

"Looks like at least 17B, I think I can get 18D empty as well." He says looking at that container. Susan marks both down, putting a question mark behind the second one.

 

"We're going to have to order sheets, towels, and blankets." David says, coming up behind Silas.

 

"The school is ordering next summer, I figured on getting in our order then too. This way the kids have linens when they move to their own homes after they finish university and by then we'll have to look over everything in the brownstones. And probably the first planet too." Josette says, walking past. Mary looks in the room and moans. "We'll have half of these out of here in a couple weeks."

 

"More than half." Susan says absently.

 

"I'd wondered if you were working on these." Hannah says. Mary follows her into the room, not at all surprised to find it stretched out in all directions.

 

"It's been a few years since we made room." Alexander says as he tosses one last box on the top of a stack over his head. "There. . .7E is empty." Josette rolls her eyes at the ceiling and waves a hand, the boxes disappearing from the cart. "Tell me where they go before you try taking that through the halls and kill yourself when you trip on one of the cats."

 

Mary sniggers, she'd seen the cats almost seem to be placing bets on who they could trip. Interestingly enough they never seem to try tripping Josette. Alexander looks at her, they're obviously communicating mentally, and Josette waves her hand again. "There, boxes are moved."

 

"We can empty them later."

 

"Yeah, we won't be taking in the recycling before we take in the containers."

 

"How often do you take in your recycling?"

 

"At least once a semester, it adds it."

 

Silas nods. "Becka fills her van four or five times when she brings down our recycling."

 

"You get the whiners too. . .'why do we have to recycle. It's hard, we have to clean everything, remove labels, flatten cans'. . .not that many can be flattened thanks to the damn round bottoms." Silas nods. "All you have to do is fill a pail with water and soak the labels off if you don't cut them off cans. Same with the bottles and jugs."

 

Mary sighs and nods. "And some communities even pick up recycling with the garbage, all you have to do is take it to the curb. . .but for some people that's too much work. Then they get caught not recycling and have to work at the recycling center as part of their community service with everybody pointing and laughing."

 

Silas nods. "I've heard other communities do that. Becka worked at a drop-off center as her volunteer hours for her scholarship. Padraig's, Warner, the law office Danita runs, and a couple other businesses in town have weekends where they'll clean out the recycling center in Intothewind when it's piling up."

 

Calvin had come up and he nods. "Ours pile up too, the kids generally go out at least once while they're on Earth and clean them out. It's good money even if some of the so-called important people don't like people working there."

 

"Human nature." Susan snorts. "There's always going to be some people who don't want to do something, no matter how many people it helps."

 

"Josette, shipping containers for your socks?"

 

"I usually end up emptying them one by one. I'll take them in when we take in the graduating students. Those I don't fill again anyway."

 

"Is this all your supplies?"

 

"Except for what's been moved to various rooms, yes. It's easier to keep everything in one place and come here when the rooms are empty."

 

 

Silas looks around him as he walks out of the building on the 9th planet.

 

"Are those shipping containers?"

 

"Yes, they reused several of them for a workroom for the quilters and a summer kitchen they use when the crops come in." She looks at him. "You've had at least one harvest on Mars?"

 

"Yes, we're seeing how long we have to offset a second crop before we can harvest before winter. We have Becka's large kitchen but I can see the need for a larger area to work in. Water?"

 

"They draw buckets from an outside tap since it's only in use for several days at a time."

 

"Did you add insulation?" He looks around the workshop, seeing a stove in the corner.

 

"Yes, otherwise the metal would just radiate cold." Silas nods. "Power?"

 

"Solar panels and the boxes that allow them to tap into the alternate energy in the other buildings."

 

"What's that building?" He can see one set apart from the others.

 

"My home on the 9th planet." They walk over and she opens the door, the lights coming up.

 

"This is magnificent."

 

A couple weeks later the last of the now empty containers is moved to one of the ships. Josette looks around the big room and shakes her head.

 

"I know, we emptied over twenty containers before we started putting them together and it doesn't look like touched them. I didn't realize just how much stuff we had in here."

 

"Visits to suppliers and picking up stuff. We've been adding containers to the room." David says. The others nod.

 

"How is the dorm on raw materials?"

 

"I brought some out a couple days ago, the crystals on the replicator are all full and I have extra in the next room." David nods in satisfaction.

 

"Supplies?"

 

"I brought out from Granda's dimension when I brought out the new students and dropped off containers for the returning students and employees. I'm off in Mom's dimension right now. And putting in more orders to be ready by the time we go back after Thanksgiving." Nods of satisfaction from the others.

 

"That just leaves us the school supplies you get every other month and whatever we bring out after Thanksgiving."

 

"Sock yarn?"

 

"I brought more out with the students and the last of it for next year will come out after Thanksgiving."

 

"For our socks?"

 

"Yep, both buildings will be full by the end of the year and I'll bring out pallets to the buildings as needed and move the socks to the ship."

 

"Are you going to tell the others?" David asks that night when he finds Josette tending the plants in the downstairs room.

 

"Yes, I've got an appointment tomorrow on the 9th planet to talk to the others."

 

The next morning Josette comes out of the switching station at Headquarters, Doc and Thomas behind her and brings out a container she puts on the floor. Pulling her PADD off her belt, she sends a file to the large screen across from them.

 

The others stare at Josette as she finishes telling them about the plants, then look at Doc and Thomas.

 

"Yes, we're growing the plants. Josette is the only one that has any at stages where they are producing."

 

"Josette, the planets . . .did they have metals, glass, or plastics?" 9th planet Dr. Cross asks.

 

"Not as we know it, the plants produced something similar to glass for windows as they grew while they had something similar to metal for stuff like machines and decorations as well as assorted dishes. Brigadoon is looking into how they handled recycling. Since it's all vegetable based they could be composted, whether they had a specific plant that handled that . . ."

 

"Did they have winters?"

 

"Yes, the buildings had furnaces that used pellets that lasted nearly a week. As the buildings got bigger, a second or even third furnace was grown for heat." The others shake their heads.

 

"Power."

 

"Brigadoon and the other ships are looking into that, they'd have to have had a way to produce energy for the machines, the lights, water. . . Let alone the plants that became vehicles."

 

"Vehicles?"

 

"There's rumors in the records of plants that became spaceships, possibly submarines and other ships. The ships are going through everything but there's tons of records." The others shake their heads.

 

"Are you planting a building?"

 

"We're looking at locations right now. One on the first planet, one on Haven near the ranch since it will need to be domed until it's large enough to handle a winter on it's own. Once they're growing, we'll see about planting on the other planets."

 

"How long. . .?"

 

"About three years before it's big enough to be lived or worked in and can heat itself over the winter."

 

"If they're continuously growing. . ."

 

"You'd need them close enough to a building for people to get there easily but far enough away that they don't encroach."

 

Back on Haven Josette pots a couple more seedlings and looks out the window.

 

"We're going to have snow before night." She says as David comes into the room.

 

"Thankfully it's too early to stick. What's the weather forecast?"

 

"Cold and snow, going to be another bad winter."

 

David sighs but nods. "We've got to expect it. Everybody stocked up on wood this fall?" Josette nods. "And they have extra food and blankets."

 

By Thanksgiving it's snowed twice and the graduating students and returning employees and cooking school teachers walk off the ship to either greet family waiting for them or heading into a building. Josette starts delivering the last of the orders and picking up supplies, joining the others at the mansion a few hours later.

 

Over the next few weeks she visits various malls and moves containers to the ship, the returning students walking through the tesseract and heading to the auditorium to have their bags checked before they go to their dorms.

 

Josette joins with her other selves that had been to the other dimensions. Doc had gone out with her and they'd seen the work going on in his dimension including plans for a base on the moon and Mars.

 

The totes of lights and other decorations start coming out over the next few days as they start decorating.

 

"Are the others decorating?"

 

"Yeah, they've decided on a few days to celebrate . .. whatever and decorate then." The others nod.

 

"How is Thomas's world?"

 

"Leveling out, we were there for a few more years before we're in the same time. Mars and the moonbase are doing well."

 

"Location on the first planet for a building?" Doc asks a few days later as he attaches another string of lights for Josette to put up.

 

"I was thinking near my fortress so that if I need to I can move it as the building grows." Doc nods. "The robots can keep an eye on it if I don't stay out there until it's well established. I need to spend some time at the fortress anyway."

 

"And here?"

 

"Either near the ranch or Headquarters, maybe partway between them so either of us can check on it." She's flying upside down as she attaches the light strand and looks over at Doc. He slowly nods. "We'll look at locations, maybe a little closer to Headquarters?"

 

Josette nods as she nearly stands on her head to attach the strand to the clips then starts flying back up, this time sideways. "You're out there all the time and the rest of us can easily fly out when we find a spot."

 

"Thinking of planting year after next?"

 

"Yeah, that will give us a year to find a spot and I can plant on the first planet next year when I'm out to plant."

 

The others come out for the Lights Festival, looking at the decorations on the buildings. The lights start coming on and video is taken.

 

"I can't believe the difference. . .and it's not like Earth where. . ."

 

"You'd have Christmas specials and buy this commercials." Pat sighs as she takes a cup of mulled wine that is being heated on one of the fires. A cone of roasted chestnuts is shared by everybody as a large pan is put on the fire. Supplies are brought out and start going in the pan.

 

"Is that paella?"

 

"Yep, they make it every year." David says as he walks past. "Josette, Sue and Agatha are looking for you." She nods and heads to the stores.

 

"Supplies?" He asks when she comes back over to them.

 

"And bring out old clothes for patchwork quilts. I'll do it after the festival."

 

"Supplies?"

 

"We keep the major supplies in a tesseracted warehouse and bring them out as needed, usually once a year Sue and Agatha will do inventory and grab a flyer to bring out supplies or they'll ask Josette to get everything. Are you making fat quarters?"

 

"Yeah, after we remove the zippers and buttons from the old clothing and put it upstairs."

 

Doc looks at her. "A bag of clothing is five dollars and with scraps from leftover quilts can be used for patchwork quilts. They don't have to be pretty as long as they keep you warm."

 

"Do you only use it for that?"

 

"Nope, we make braided rugs and if it's too bad for either use it goes in the replicator as raw materials for new fabric. I try to sort out clothing that bad before then though."

 

"Did you send the last of the books off to Becka and Paddy?"

 

"Yep. Got a nice thank you from them."

 

Doc shakes his head as he sees the long string of lights being taken down, each one wrapped around plastic when they're taken off and put back in their boxes in containers that Josette or Alan put in subspace once they're full. The others have said they have a basement storage room for the decorations and he sees a door open in the basement, the girls coming out of the elevator with a cart of containers that go in the room. Their placement would seem odd until he sees other containers going into the open spots. He looks at the containers, yes. . .each one has a number and letter on it.

 

"Have you always decorated the dorm?" He asks, grabbing Josette as she scrambles down the wall.

 

"Yep, the school had a Christmas tree in the front of the dorm they'd decorate early in December, putting presents under it for the students who'd be staying at the school over Christmas Christmas Eve. When the girls moved to the first of the new dorms we looked over the decorations and Christmas tree left behind, buying a new tree since the old one was on it's last legs. We started buying new decorations and put up a second tree in front of the sliding glass door several years later when the rest of the school started decorating. A lot of our decorations came from the glassblowers." Doc chuckles, the others had made a number of purchases at the store.

 

"What's going on at the office?" He can see students going in with empty bags and coming out with them full.

 

"The students in dual enrollment are getting their first books and any special supplies needed for their new classes, David will get ours the day before the semester starts. Unlike the students, we get our books for an entire semester at once, they can only sign up for one class at a time and get the books when they sign up."

 

"How?"

 

"Replicator in a room that's hooked up to a server. The server is updated the same time our computers are. Before the replicator, the students had to make do with e-books for their university classes."

 

"Can they replicate books for reference?"

 

"Yeah."

 

Josette looks over as Principal Madison comes over. "Josette, I don't have my PADD handy, what's the supply on hats, gloves, and scarves?"

 

"I was looking at it the other day. We've got enough for next winter but we'll need to open the factory up either this year or next. I was going to say something at the meeting." He nods and continues walking with Calvin as they make plans for the next school year.

 

"Factory?"

 

"A cottage industry type building that we use for sweaters, scarves, hats, mittens. We open it up every several years or so, making a good batch for each planet then shut it back down, it was one of the first factories we brought out back when we were selling to Earth."

 

"Blends?"

 

"Yes, so we can just toss them in the washing machine. Everybody who knits usually has a hat, gloves, scarf, or sweater going on their needles that's wool for those people who have the room to wash them by hand and lay them out flat to dry."

 

"Does the school buy them?"

 

"No, Calvin sends out supplies for the students. . .which gets a hit during the third semester when the weather starts turning cooler. Everything is on the third floor of the south bookstore." They walk that way and Doc looks at a building that's getting a few students walking in.

 

"An alterations shop for the uniforms, they buy them large to wear for a couple of years and need to have hems taken down as they grow. They used to take them back to Earth to do it but there's no lack of people who can do it here. We also have a factory to make the uniforms for the school and other places since the factory that had made them stopped because they wanted to move into the big leagues. They weren't satisfied being a big fish in a small pond."

 

"And realized breaking into the big leagues wasn't as easy as they'd thought?" Pat snorts.

 

"Nope, of course they had taken over the business from their parents and had plans, not realizing their parents business had been successful because of hard work." Both of them nod. "There's two boxes in the office for outgrown or worn out uniforms. If they're good, they can be used as emergency uniforms by other students until they can get back to buy new ones, if they're worn out they're either used in quilts or turned into raw materials." Pat nods in satisfaction.

 

"Good selection of books." Pat says, looking at the shelves.

 

"Granda and I went to a textbook expo last year, there was quite a few new texts thanks to the colony dimension and plans for the satellite and ship. At least in their world I didn't have to order the books, in our dimension the dumbasses of education passed rules that made me sort the books by company and teacher instead of making one large order from each company." The older Professor Xavier sighs and nods. "Punishing private schools because they could use whatever book they wanted and public schools were limited to the books the government wanted them to use."

 

"Exactly, while I was off Principal Madison said that one of the employees went whining to his boss about how we were doing that and he complained until he found out it was their own rules that made us do it that way."

 

"Lemme guess, I didn't mean for it to affect me." Clarinda snorts. She remembers all the headaches setting up a lesson plan for Josette in her chamber.

 

"Yep, not the first time their stupidity came back to bite them in the ass." They go up to the third floor to find Rahne opening boxes of winter clothes to put on shelves. She'd let her hair grow over the years until it now reached her still trim waist . ..or what would be a trim waist if she wasn't starting to show her latest pregnancy. She'd given birth to eight children over the years, not quite as many as Danielle but she also didn't have the 'urges' that the other woman had during the times when Brightwind was servicing the Valkryie's mares along with the other stallions.

 

"The school suggests students get in a supply of winter clothes before they come to Haven but you don't know how cold you're going to be until the weather starts turning. Now those of us that came up from Earth were used to cold winters thanks to all that shit in the air but even we needed warmer clothes since we were used to going from a building to a vehicle and another building. When you're walking everywhere in town there's a difference." Nods from everybody.

 

"This isn't just the students." Doc looks at the coats on racks. A good portion of them are adult sized.

 

"Nope, the school employees hit this floor too the first time it turns colder. And that includes the cooking school employees and the people who were out for two years getting raw footage of Haven for 'reality' shows. We got double and even triple orders of winter gear for a few years so we had it on hand."

 

"And sometimes we need to replace winter clothes. Either they've worn out or been outgrown."

 

Josette heads to the sweater factory, Doc and Pat looking over her shoulder and nodding in satisfaction. Pulling out her PADD she looks over the supplies of everything else. They'll have to open the clothing factory too.

 

"They're dead Jim." Josette says, looking over David's shoulder as she walks into the dorm.

 

He's looking at his workboots. "Yep. I'd hoped to get another year out of them."

 

"Didn't you say that last year?" Alan asks as he comes through. He's got his own boots in his hands and examines them before grabbing the jar.

 

Doc looks at them. "We have waterproofing wax we put on our boots a few times a year, usually the beginning of the season and the end. It makes them last longer but eventually the uppers wear out and fall apart. After they've been resoled at least twice."

 

David puts them in the replicator, bringing out new boots that he starts coating with the waterproofing.

 

Doc shakes his head as he follows Josette into the warehouse, seeing shelving units stretching out as far as the eye can see. Checking the lists Josette begins popping stuff in subspace.

 

"Are all your warehouses like this?"

 

"No." Josette smirks and after she's done grabbing everything she leads him to the museums warehouse, Doc blinking as he sees doors in the outside wall. They hadn't been there when they walked up to the warehouse and she opens one.

 

"Museums, malls, libraries, opera houses, everything that we saved for the future. We first started this kind of warehouse for the factories that we needed. This way we can add them as needed but not become as cluttered as Earth was." He nods as he takes pictures, the others won't believe this.

 

"Sue, I'll bring the old clothes out third day." Josette says as she delivers the supplies.

 

"I'll let the others know." Marilyn starts calling off items as she puts them away in the back, Sue checking them off on her list. The rest of the supplies go to the Albatross Nests and the yarn store before they walk back to the dorm. Doc hands James the camera and he whistles softly.

 

David looks at Josette.

 

"The museum warehouse."

 

"Are all the doors links to buildings?"

 

"Yep, each warehouse is for a different thing. We have museums, malls, resale stores, libraries, university libraries, university bookstores, opera houses. . .though we haven't gotten into those yet, and factories. The factories was the first building we put up for stuff we needed in that type of building." James looks at her and she rattles the names of the factories off.

 

"Get the stores stocked up?" Abby asks as she walks through, her laundry floating behind her and going down the laundry chute.

 

"Yeah, I'm taking the old clothes out third day."

 

Pat follows Josette into the store a few days later, finding a group of people there who start grabbing the clothes Josette brings out of subspace, grabbing from the pile of seam rippers on the tables, and start dropping zippers and buttons in containers on the table.

 

"What do you do with them?"

 

"If they're good, they're put up to be used again, if not. . .they go in the replicator to be used as raw material."

 

"Do you cut them apart?" She can't see scissors on the table.

 

"Not until they're sold, we sort them by fabric and color and they go upstairs in the boxes. Since most people don't have dedicated workrooms they'll run upstairs and buy a bag once they've selected a quilt to work on and cut everything apart then. Now Ma, Alex, Josette, and somebody like Becka back in her world have containers of their own of old clothes." Nods from the three people there. "Becka says the house elves routinely empty the old clothes drop-off sites."

 

"You'll never run out of old clothes on Earth." Pat sighs.

 

"Nope."

 

Pat looks at Josette. "Didn't you go upstairs when we came out earlier?"

 

"Yes, I needed a couple colors I didn't have in my stock at the dorm and didn't feel like bringing out more from the ships when I can just buy a couple bags here."

 

The others head back to Earth after Pat returns from the store and Josette slumps onto the couch.

 

"Get everything stocked up for the next couple of years?"

 

"Yep, the boxes are full of old clothes, the stockrooms are full in the stores so are the shelves, everything is full here, and . . ." Josette looks at the clock. 'Lunch' she calls mentally.

 

"When do the classes on the clocks start?"

 

"They started this week. The first degree is on the forms clocks have taken over the years, the next degree will be hands-on. Right now we've got a full classroom with people from all the planets." The others nod.

 

"Anything else new?""

 

"Not really, I'm partway through the third semester for Princeton from Granda's dimension, otherwise it's picking up semesters here and there, I finished another degree from Edinborough on musical instruments but that was the only one anywhere near being close to finished. Did either of you start new degrees?" She looks at David and Susan.

 

"Yeeessssss." David pouts. The others do the world's smallest violin and he laughs. "And I expect somebody will be sliding on the floor and thanking all the gods this fall when they finish their art history degrees from Oxford." Michael and Alexander frantically nod their heads.

 

"And we're two years into our new bachelors." Abby says. Anna and Alan nod.

 

"CJ? It's about time Thomas and Clark started dropping hints about a degree."

 

"He started one to Cambridge." Josette smirks. "A lit degree since they can't all be serious. Or even Sirius since it's Harry Potter." The groans make her grin. CJ had made the same joke when he told his parents about the new degree and got 'the' look until he admitted he was going for two degrees.

 

"How many classes are you taking?"

 

"I'm looking at 25, I might pick up another semester depending on how fast I get these done. I'm taking two classes on the school computer. starting the last degree for the shipwrecks from the naval academy and I'm a year into another degree on the Green Hornet. That's another multiple degree curriculum I'll be finishing."

 

After lunch Josette sighs and looks at the shelves of her workroom, David sniggering in the doorway as she goes eeny meeny miney mo to select a quilt to work on.

 

"Own damn fault for buying so many at once."

 

"Bite me."

 

"Started the books for these yet?"

 

She slaps her ass lightly and he chuckles as he walks off. Tormenting Josette is always fun. She always gives as good as she gets. In her room she looks over her notes and starts writing up a pattern before cutting out pattern pieces.

 

"Is there any factories opening this year?" Susan asks at dinner.

 

"No, we'll be opening the sweater factory next year and maybe the clothing factory the year after that. . .it all depends on how the supply lasts."

 

"Books?"

 

"Printers are shut down for the year. There's not enough of a need to reprint the old books, there's no new cookbooks, and there's no new books from the others yet."

 

"And you don't have any new quilting books. . .yet." David smirks.

 

Josette mentally flips him off.

 

"Start a new quilt?"

 

"Yeah, I walked in on her going eeny meeny miney mo to pick one." He chuckles.

 

"Okay, appliances. The school's kitchens are inspected yearly and we've brought new stuff out but. . ."

 

"The others have had to get new stuff over the years. I gotta inventory the supplies this summer and we might need to bring more from the ships." Principal Madison nods in the front room, Professor Druid repeating what they're saying for President Bartlett since he nods a few seconds later.

 

"Do we see a need for a second gristmill? I know the others were looking over ours while they were here." Alan says.

 

"Not for a while." David says slowly while on the screen Professor Druid is repeating the conversation. "I know the others were happy to see we had the flour factory on the sorting planet for major crops." Both older men nod on the screen.

 

"If we did I'd rather we found a good sized river that didn't freeze solid in the winter for a water wheel and was central enough for everybody to use it. Yes, the flyers take care of that argument. . ." More nods in the front room.

 

"It could be used as an extra source of powering batteries." President Bartlett says. This time Josette nods on the screen.

 

"Saying it could be used to power batteries?" Susan asks. Josette nods again. "Something to think about for the future.

 

"Speaking of the future. Paper? Towels, toilet, and writing?" President Bartlett asks.

 

"I'm checking the supply next week, I thought we'd be running low on everything pretty soon. If there's enough I'll grow cotton this year for towels and next year for toilet paper and harvest scrub trees both years. If we're running low we can bring more off the ships." Both men nod in the front room.

 

"We're putting in the order for the school's linens in a few months."

 

"We'll have ours ready then. By the time they arrive more stuff should be wearing out."

 

"Books?" Professor Druid asks.

 

"First two of the new eighteen."

 

"Shows?"

 

"Me Mom's dimension, the boys Granda. I go first again this year. I'll be taking out two ships since I've got a book tour this year a few days later to talk about a new book that will be debuting just before Christmas."

 

"Movies?"

 

"Out on DVD in Granda's dimension. Getting a good screenplay delayed it in Mom's dimension but they're talking about a new one. I'm not holding my breath."

 

Doc, Clark, Dr. Stark, and Josette go out to the first planet a few weeks later, finally deciding on a place for the new building and planting the seedling Josette had started on the ship.

 

"Will it still be three years. . .?"

 

"Even with the perpetual growing season on the first planet? That's something the robots are going to be keeping an eye on." Josette says.

 

"Is this some of the information?" Doc sees obviously handwritten pages on a screen.

 

"Yes, all the ships have copies of the records. It's not difficult to translate everything, just time consuming. Each ship is working on a different section. While most of the seed containers were labeled, not all of them were."

 

"Probably knew what they were since they were so common or were protecting them from others." Dr. Stark says. The others nod. "Did they find out what all the seeds were from the underground grotto?"

 

"Yes and no, they've grown samples of everything but some of them . . ."

 

"Might have only been grown there or were lost on the outer world."

 

Josette nods, yawns, and interlaces her fingers to bend at the waist before stretching in all directions.

 

Josette slides into her seat in the dining hall an hour later to Haven but six months on the first planet, the others joining her in the back room.

 

"Is it planted?"

 

"Yep, and domed until it's well established. We were out there six months, not counting the time on the satellite and my fortress." Nods from the others.

 

"How are the classes for the clocks?"

 

"Good, you don't realize how much information was available about the history of clocks. Well, you've seen the books for these four classes." Everybody nods. "They're talking about adding a second degree on the history of clocks to go with the hands-on degrees."

 

"Do you see one for the first planet?"

 

"Part of the enjoyment of the first planet is being able to ignore clocks." Alan snorts. The others laugh and nod.

 

"How are they going to handle the 27 hours on the vampire planet?"

 

"A thirteen and a half time face with the extra hour between the time changes, so you'd have thirteen pm, midtime, then 1 AM. They'll work on a similar 11 and a half hour time face for the third planet."

 

A couple weeks later Josette slides into her usual seat at the testing center.

 

"Been a while since you had a shipwrecks degree." Dr. Stark says after she finishes her quizzes.

 

"Last degree in the multiple degree curricula."

 

The three men at the pushed together tables nod. "You letting Sheriff Carter off the hook for a year?" He'd recently finished a Masters and should have been starting a doctorate.

 

"He didn't fight fair." Dr. Stark mock-pouts, Drs. Cross and McNider hiding grins behind their coffee mugs. "I'll make him start it next year."

 

Josette looks over her shoulder a couple days later, finding Clark standing behind her as she tends the coffee plants on Brigadoon.

 

"Do you have any of the special plants producing on Brigadoon?"

 

"Yes, I transplanted at least one mature specimen of each that I could save in their native soil. The plants go dormant if they're not harvested for a while, they're producing again. Some were already in pots in the buildings so I just moved them to the ships." They walk to the rooms she set aside for them and he looks everything over.

 

She leads him to another room. "These are the plants from the underground grotto." Clark nods as he recognizes some Josette hadn't known, that information being sent along to Doc on the other dimension if he hadn't known them either. A few he hadn't recognized she was able to tell him about and he nods.

 

"Do you have any stockpiles of . . ."

 

"Stuff the plants produced? Yes, especially stuff like fabric and yarn, they had buildings where they could put the stuff they didn't like and get something one of the others hadn't liked. I'd thought about offering some of the seedlings to the others at the stores, not everybody but people like Agatha, Sue, Marilyn, people from Assyrian and Edinborough. . ." Clark nods. "But the problem is that not everybody has the room for rolls of fabric and big skeins of yarn so I was thinking of putting up a couple buildings, one for the plants and one for the fabric and yarn."

 

"Either way it would be far in the future."

 

Josette nods. "It takes about three years for the plants to start providing, even with multiple plants producing a separate building wouldn't be needed for a while."

 

"Not all the plants produce at the same rate."

 

"No, the plants that produce food grow faster and produce more, so do the plants that that grow the soap, toilet paper, and pellets for the furnace."

 

"Did they have different types of buildings?"

 

Josette nods. "They did, open buildings with shelving like the textiles were in, workbuildings, and buildings that people lived in." Josette brings up the translated information and Clark looks everything over, nodding. "They could also combine the buildings, something like Parliament on Earth would be anywhere from five to eight buildings. That was their center of history on the planet."

 

"Did you copy any of them?"

 

"Oh yes. What I couldn't harvest I copied. I'm thinking of finding a planet or other dimension to bring some out in the future." Clark nods in satisfaction.

 

"Are there any plans for the other continents?"

 

"Not for the future, we're not spreading out as quickly as the colony had planned for in the beginning. Now, I can't say I haven't scanned them from the ships. . ."

 

"Or been there yourself." He chuckles.

 

"Yeah, I spent a few weeks here and there over the years."

 

"I found it." Brigadoon says.

 

"Information on the spaceship?"

 

"And other vehicles, sending the information to your PADDs." Josette starts looking at everything and sends it to the others, beeping on various computers getting the attention of the others.

 

"Brigadoon found the information on the ships." Clark says as he returns to Headquarters. Thomas looks at him and then to the computer, he'd been in the middle of working on something and had tuned it out. They settle down to read.

 

"Good sized vehicles."

 

"After twenty years growth, I'd say so. But everybody did wonder about the power source. With that long a growth, the plants are started much later than they normally would."

 

"Some of these plants. . ."

 

"Yes, plants that produce oxygen beyond photosynthesis, produce water, clean water, clean air, clean and replenish the soil . . .all of which would be needed on a long space voyage."

 

Josette returns to the dorm after days looking all the information Brigadoon had found and checking on the plants as the others come back from the island where they'd been checking on the crops.

 

"We'll be picking the cacao and coffee in a couple weeks." David says.

 

"We'll be glad to be outside for a few hours by then." The others nod as they take the tunnels to the dining hall.

 

"Fish?"

 

"We'll check the supply this summer."

 

"Cheese?"

 

"We'll need to make more this summer and start it aging. I've got some of the soy cheese aging on the ship."

 

"Oh my goddddd. . .you eat real food." Anna says in a whiny voice.

 

"And it tastes real good." David says with a purr. Then laughs. "The so-called experts on Earth changed their minds every damn five seconds. Fats are bad for you, no some fats are good for you. Cholesterol is bad for you, no you need some cholesterol so eggs are good for you again. They wouldn't have been happy until you had a pill you took once a day."

 

"Don't get me started on the so-called 'experts' and the fucking food nazis." Josete rolls her eyes. "Each one shoving their opinion down your throat about how you should be living." On the screen to the front room and in the kitchen everybody is nodding.

 

"And the damn diets. Eat less and move more people, it's not that damn hard. Before the wars when families lived on farms, they needed a lot of calories to handle all the hard work they did."

 

"And parents were parents and not trying to be their kids best friends or ignoring them because they were a fucking trophy." Susan rolls her eyes as she fills her tray again, one of the kitchen workers laughing and putting more food on it for her. Susan pats one of the girls on the shoulder as she walks past. "Get the information for your paper?"

 

"Yep, thanks Mom."

 

"Bachelors, Masters, or doctorate?" David asks dryly. All the kids have either seen or heard about Josette working ahead on papers for classes. Sometimes before she's even started the degree.

 

"Bachelors, it's part of the classes I'm taking this fall but with all the offworld harvests coming in late I wanted it started early." All the adults in the back room and the teachers in the front room nod in satisfaction.

 

"How are you on your homes?"

 

"Good, we've all been saving money and we've got apartments purchased and working on furnishing them. We're also saving money for a land and a house outside town to grow crops. We can't be out there all the time but with working different shifts one of us will be out there at least once a week." Nods from the others again. "We'll start out slow and add more crops and more land over the years."

 

"Are Wayne, Dayton, and DI putting in a communal garden?"

 

"Yeah, they're going to be starting it in a couple of years, they're starting a hydroponics and growing section at the same time. People start working there in three years, that gives them a year to get settled before we start doing our internships."

 

/Josette, Thomas's world?/ David asks.

 

/By the time the kids leave home we'll be within a year of being in the same time. We're. . .this last visit will probably be at the end. But when we do go out we'll be rebuilding Earth. We're stockpiling supplies on Earth, the moon, and Mars for that./

 

David nods mentally.

 

Thomas arrives at the dorm a few days later, Josette splitting off a duplicate to go to the 9th planet to talk with the others about the information Brigadoon had found. They end up making plans for the future, waiting to see how the buildings on the first planet and Haven turn out before doing anything else.

 

"Do you know these plants?"

 

"Brigadoon is looking through the seeds, hopefully with this new information she can identify the remaining seeds. If not we'll have to start them under lab conditions." Nods from the others.

 

"Are we the only ones who's going to be . . ."

 

"I'm bringing Buckaroo in in a while, once everybody's got plants going. And Lee and Harry when the sub is at a stage of growth they can crawl all over it." Nods of satisfaction from everybody. "And I'm bringing in some of the others. . .Agatha, Sue, Marilyn, and people from Assyrian and Edinborough for the textiles plants. I was talking to Clark about this when Brigadoon found the information on the ships. Either putting up a building where everybody can drop off yarn or fabric that's not to their liking and getting some the others didn't like or putting up two buildings, one for the plants and one for the excess since not everybody can handle a roll of fabric." Nods from the others.

 

Josette returns to Haven, finding Alan and Susan coming from the island. With the wave of an arm bags of food appear on the table in Josette's downstairs room.

 

"We've got the cacao and coffee drying on the tables, somebody can go out over the next few days to turn everything."

 

"Then I'll polish and bag them." Josette says with a nod as they start sorting out the food and putting it in various rooms. The dirt that had been in the bags is gathered up to take back to the islands and Josette looks at the clock and mentally whistles.

 

"Midterms."

 

"Yep, I'm heading off with the boys tomorrow. We should be back before dinner." Alexander and Michael nod.

 

"How are you coming on your Princeton classes?"

 

"Finished the third semester and I'm partway into the fourth. I've got ten classes in on teacher, and I'm going to be done with the online classes in a couple weeks."

 

"Getting the major classes in this spring and summer?"

 

"Yeah, fall's going to be asshole to elbow with the harvests coming in weekly."

 

Dr. Stark nods the next day when Josette repeats her reasoning for getting in so many classes so early in the year.

 

"Have you been on the island?"

 

"Alan and Susan went yesterday and brought back early stuff from the gardens along with picking the cacao and coffee. We're drying it right now."

 

"Coffee?" Vincent asks.

 

"I have a new variety started on Brigadoon and we enlarged the offworld growing area a few years ago. When I pick the crop up this year it will be double what we had been growing."

 

"And your crops?"

 

"I planted more crops on the first planet last year. It will be at least next year before we see the enlarged harvest."

 

"We've been looking at a growing area for coffee, the sticking point is. . ."

 

"Having it close enough to check on often, that's why the commercial growing area have their own apartments." Dr. Cross nods. "Are you harvesting fish this year?"

 

"We were going to look at it later this summer. And make cheese."

 

"Is the one in Town harvesting?"

 

"They're planning on next year. And enlarging the facility." Vincent nods in satisfaction as the buzzer sounds. He starts bringing out plates as the boys come back from using the bathroom.

 

"Are you two done?"

 

"Yeah, just before the buzzer sounded." Alexander stretches and yawns.

 

"Only two more classes this fall and you're done."

 

"Until everybody starts nagging for another degree." Michael says sourly.

 

Dr. McNider chuckles. "Shows?"

 

"Me Mom, the boys Granda's. I'm going first. I'm taking two ships out since I've got a book tour a few days later."

 

"And bringing more stuff back to fill the big room again." Alexander snorts.

 

"Cleaning?"

 

"Yeah, we emptied over twenty containers and put together about fifty more and it doesn't look like we did anything. And we're getting in more supplies, beyond the sheets, towels, and blankets we're ordering this year."

 

"When is the school putting in the order?"

 

"Before the Harvest Festival. The order should be arriving the end of the year when I take the graduating students home if the last order is any indication."

 

"With the job of opening the boxes and making up the sets opening after the first of the year?"

 

"Yeah, it's only a temporary job but will last at least the first semester, once everything's in the floor stockrooms or the basement storerooms students will be told to start putting wore out sheets and towels in bags."

 

"Will they be turning everything into sets?"

 

"No, we'll leave some of them still in the boxes until they're needed. Probably just under half will be made up into sets if we go by last time."

 

The next morning Josette heads off on Hidalgo to the other dimension, picking up the school's supplies and walking into the office. Jane and Maria are on the phone so she drops off the list of what Joyce needs on the desk then brings out containers of socks before heading to the library.

 

"Josette?" the school librarian asks as she walks in.

 

"Jane and Maria are on the phones and Joyce had a list of stuff she needs a mile long and half a mile wide." A man in the room snickers softly. "Rather than sit on my ass in the office I'd see what's new."

 

"Here's the trade journals, here's the list of what we're ordering for both schools, All the stores in the mall are spoken for and we have a waiting list. They're talking about putting up a movie theater by the mall for the winter, and we've got no less than three warehouse stores wanting to talk to us about building stores for them. The school is already buying more land."

 

Josette whistles. "And I'm sure people in town are pouting."

 

"Oh yes, rather than try to bring in business themselves they whine about others getting what they wanted. There's tons of land outside the towns that's up for sale that can be used for commercial purposes."

 

Josette settles in an upholstered chair with the magazines and some papers. A notebook is brought out of subspace as she starts making a list of what she wants to purchase for herself.

 

"Is that a student?"

 

"Librarian of the other school. She comes over twice a week picking up and dropping off the school's mail and every other month for the large batches of supplies. Josette, did you drop off socks?"

 

"Five containers, I figured you'd be running low."

 

"Thank you."

 

A couple of hours later Josette looks up at Calvin when he pats her on the shoulder. "I thought I'd find you in here."

 

"Monica told me about the new land and stores."

 

"Yes, if it's not dealing with the school it's dealing with that." They walk to the cafeteria for lunch and Josette gathers up everything that Maria had brought out, grabbing the mail and heading back to the ship.

 

Dropping everything off in the outer office she leans into Principal Madison's office, finding President Bartlett in there. "They're buying more land around the school, the mall's stores are all spoke for, they've got three warehouse stores talking about putting up buildings, and they're talking about a theater."

 

President Bartlett chuckles. "It must be nuts there." Principal Madison sighs. "I dropped off the socks, dropped off the list of everything on Maria's desk since they were both on the phone, and went to the library a few hours. Joyce's.. ." She turns her head to see the woman in question coming in and nodding in satisfaction at the piles of supplies. "Order is out here along with the mail."

 

"Thank you Josette, we were running low on everything." Joyce says, rolling her eyes. "But this should hold us until the new students start arriving with their supplies."

 

"Granda is already planning on doubling the supplies when they come out. He looked at everything we needed, sighed, and told Jane to do it. Seems she'd been talking about the need." President Bartlett chuckles as he stands up. He'd been tasked with writing his memoirs and had been talking over an outline with Principal Madison, who was also getting a look and tapping foot from his father about a book of his own.

 

Josette brings out the mail at the dorm and Headquarters, the recycling bin on the coffee table getting mail tossed in it. . .sometimes unopened.

 

"How long were you there?"

 

"Most of the day, Jane and Maria were on the phones when I arrived and Joyce had a huge list of what she needed. I headed to the library for a few hours, then had lunch with Granda." She tells them about the school's plans. David whistles. "Recycling drop-off center."

 

"Yep." The others call off items and Josette makes a list of what can go up around the school. They all know it will probably happen over the next several years.

 

"Do we have any supplies?"

 

"Yeah, there was about five shipping containers marked for us. I've. . ." Josette pulls up a file and sends it to the others. "More for the library, I'll look everything over and start getting it ready to go in the system over the next couple of weeks."

 

Professor Fletcher looks over the lists of material over the next couple of days, Josette bringing out pallets of boxes and putting them in a room to work on.

 

"Do we have supplies?"

 

"Yeah. I filled the closet and put more in the basement. If we run out there's more in the shipping containers."

 

Ninth day Josette splits off a dozen duplicates that head to the library, moving boxes from the pallets and bringing out the supplies. When Professor Eppes arrives the next morning he finds Josette working in her office and piles of books on the counter behind the checkout desk.

 

"They're all ready, they just need to go into the system." She says, looking up at him. He grins and puts an armful in front of him. By the end of his shift he's got two piles done and is started on a third, Professor Druid taking his place after he finishes a book and the student employee signing in starting to shelve them.

 

"Is this everything?"

 

"No, I've got at least one more major working next 9th day then whatever is left over can be worked on during the week. Because when I'm done here I'm working in the library at town and then my stuff." Professor Druid sniggers, she knows Josette's stuff is probably at least twice what the two libraries got.

 

The snow finally begins melting and they open windows for more than a couple minutes to start airing out the dorm. Manure is spread on the garden and fields, being tilled under a few days later.

 

"Two down, two to go." Alexander says as he slides into a seat at the pushed together tables when they go out for their finals. A few minutes later Michael sighs and looks over everything before holding up his hand. Josette looks up from the notebook she's drawing in.

 

"More quilts?"

 

"Tapestries." She looks over and puts up a shield around the table. It's still a few minutes before the buzzer sounds to end the morning session and Vincent's dishing up plates.

 

"Granda says they're expecting a zero population growth period. The end of next year at the latest. . .our time. And it's going to be a long one."

 

"That's why we've had so many students and they're moving beyond the school." Michael says. Josette nods and brings down the shield.

 

Later that night Josette looks up as Professor Druid, Principal Madison, and President Bartlett come to the dorm.

 

"Okay, everybody's here." Josette starts pacing the floor. "I already told Michael and Alexander this at the testing center when I told Drs. Stark, McNider, and Cross. Granda says they're entering a zero-population growth period, by the end of next year at the latest . . .our time. And it's going to be a long one."

 

Principal Madison sighs. "We were expecting something because of all the students we were getting." He slumps into one of the couches, getting a cat in his lap and being handed a cup of decaffinated coffee. "That's why he's expanding into other things."

 

Josette nods. "We're expecting large years for a while. Then the class sizes will start dropping off. In about thirteen years expect no new students to be coming out, after the last students have graduated figure on a good twenty to twenty-five years without students until schools start regular classes again. I figure longer than that before parents start sending their kids to boarding schools, even Granda's."

 

"That will give us time to clean and inspect the buildings." Professor Druid says. "But. . .some schools might not reopen on Earth."

 

"Probably not, the older teachers will have retired and it will be sink or swim for the new teachers."

 

"Is this going to affect the city-ship and satellite?"

 

"Shouldn't, there will be a good pool of workers over the years. And they're not going to be colonizing planets for couple of decades, by that time they'll be having children again."

 

"What about the colony dimension?"

 

"We're hoping that they're not affected but there's going to be an influx of new settlers over the next couple of decades as it gets settled."

 

"I can't see many married couples moving out there at first." President Bartlett says.

 

"No, mostly single young men and maybe some women. And we all know that the first several years establishing a colony and getting settled means babies take a backseat. Even here and on Archimedes where we brought our homes with us and it was business as usual. . . .just you know on another planet." Everybody sniggers.

 

"So. . . ."

 

"We're looking at maybe fourteen years before we start getting no new students. That will see the last of the children born this year and next in high school."

 

"So sixteen to eighteen years to have the last of the students graduated?"

 

"And at least that long before we get new students."

 

"School employees?"

 

"Granda plans on paying the employees through the end of their contract here and will probably keep most of his employees on in some function or another. The school might be a spa for a few years like that fool woman wanted." The others snigger.

 

The next day Josette picks up the recycling from the other planets and the school, the students walking through the tesseract onto Ulonda as Josette settles on Hidalgo and both go to Earth. Principal Madison and Professor Druid had come out and plan on talking to Calvin about what would be happening over the next couple decades.

 

"This last batch of sheets and towels . . ."

 

"Should be it until the school closes. Now. . .we might put in another order and pop them into stasis until they're needed."

 

"Mattresses?"

 

"We're getting orders of them over the next few years, some of them are getting to the stage they need replacing. We don't stop to think that the school's been open for over 30 years already."

 

They talk about their plans for the future, Calvin nodding at Josette's suggestion for a drop-off center by the school. "All the new businesses would put too much of a strain on the one in town. And we're putting up a substation."

 

Ellis smiles as Josette brings out boxes of books. "My show is tomorrow night so you can put these out after that."

 

"Thank you Josette, and thank you for these." He looks at the signed copies of Josette's books as they walk into his office. They talk about the school's order and plans for the others to come out after the Harvest Festival.

 

Josette is busy after the Harvest Festival, hopping the trains to other suppliers to go over what they have and placing orders. When she's not doing that she's picking up orders, shopping at various malls, or working at various recycling drop-off centers.

 

A couple weeks after the others have headed off Josette comes into the manor, dropping her bags on various flat surfaces and dropping onto a couch for a nap. A few hours later she orders food from the local pizza parlor and starts sorting out stuff, empty pens going in the replicator as the first batch of laundry starts running.

 

"Rest after you got back?"

 

"Yep, I put everything down, slept for four hours, ordered some food, and started working on stuff."

 

"Buy too much stuff?"

 

"Yes, in addition to the books I visited a couple conferences and cons." The others laugh at Josette. "Okay, we need to start going through everything here?"

 

"Yep, and get an idea of what we need to replace. Pots, pans, dishes. . ."

 

Nods from the others as they select rooms and start looking through everything over the next couple of days. Pat sighs when she finds out what they're doing, Doc nodding that they need to do the same.

 

The crops start coming in a few weeks later and everybody is busy canning, drying, or storing the food and planting the new crops. They finalize the list of stuff they're going to need to replace and Josette splits off other selves who start going through the supplies on the ships to get some of it. The larger stuff is ordered when the school's order goes out and Josette is busy filling various rooms.

 

"Was the cotton planted?" President Bartlett asks at their next 'government' meeting.

 

"Yep, this year and next. The towel factory is getting ready and the orders are coming in. They'll start operating after the Harvest Festival along with the paper factory. The paper factory will be operating through the end of year after next with all the orders, the towel factory should be shutting down the end of next year." Josette looks at her PADD and nods.

 

"Glass?"

 

"We're good on bottles and canning jars. I need to check the supply of the other glass, we might need to run it for a couple years for the specialty stuff." The others nod. "Now, school supplies?"

 

"We're getting in shipments of silverware, dishes, and cookware for the kitchens with the new students, double what we'd normally get since we're expecting a mass influx of students. We ordered furniture along with the mattresses, box springs, and textiles for the dorms, they'll be held back until needed. We check the empty rooms when students graduate but . . ."

 

"It's different than going through each room when an entire dorm is empty."

 

"We'll be able to do that for all the buildings soon enough." President Bartlett sighs. "Gods, you're getting old when you think sixteen to eighteen years is nothing."

 

"I swear I remember when 29 was sooooooo old." Josette sighs. The three older men snicker and pat her on the shoulder.

 

"Okay, we're looking at eighteen years for the school with this one, looking at the contracts. . ."

 

"We should be closing the school with a year left on the second year employees contract. Depending on the class size Granda figures on giving the first year employees a year extension and having everybody go home at once."

 

Josette vanishes and reappears a few seconds later.

 

"Fucking idiots." Josette scowls.

 

"Another lost world?"

 

"Another lost world. Magical war, the fucking magical morons from Harry Potter kept oblivating non-magicals, a war escalated. Somebody had the brilliant idea to remove their magic. . .that way the war would be magically over and they could round them up and 're-educate' them into society."

 

"And there's magic in everybody, though most people can't really tap it." Doc sighs. Josette sends off the messages and the others start arriving. David opens tesseracts to the ships and Clark and one of the Josette's split off to get the other ships. They arrive back on Haven five hundred years their time.

 

President Bartlett pats her on the shoulder. "All of humanity gone for the problems of a few old men. The rest of the world didn't know about or didn't care about the 'threat' because they don't isolate themselves like the Europeans did in the books."

 

"Always going to be hateful bigots who think nothing of destroying humanity. I'm sure they're currently rotting in whatever version of hell they feared instead of basking in heaven like they thought was their right."

 

Meanwhile Dr. Stark is talking with Principal Madison, getting in a flyer. President Bartlett looks over then at Josette.

 

"Dr. Stark had a few ideas since you're enlarging the fish farm next year."

 

Josette starts looking through the inventory of what's on the ships over the next few days when she's not checking on the crops, working on a last few special orders with Alexander and Michael, or getting in classes.

 

Josette slumps into a seat in the office since Jane had made a 'hold up' gesture then pointed at Calvin's closed door. Bringing out a textbook she settles in to read, looking up at Calvin's chuckle.

 

"Are the others getting used to the idea of the loss of students?" He asks after bringing her into his office, closing the door, and putting up the shields.

 

"We're holding off on the announcement to the teachers and employees until it's confirmed, right now it's making plans for the future, being able to clean every building."

 

"You're getting the first shipment of the mattresses, furniture, bedding, and towels. Both you and the school. Along with your usual supplies."

 

Josette looks over the file Calvin sends her and nods. "Now. . .as for the last students?"

 

"We were talking about it a couple weeks ago, we figured since it was so close to the second batch of employees leaving you'd have the first set stay over an extra year and have everybody go home at the same time."

 

Calvin nods. "That had been my thought. Are you staying a while?"

 

"At least a couple weeks, I'm looking into making hats, gloves, and scarves for the school?" She looks at Calvin who nods. "Okay, I was asked if I wanted a shipment that had been in the warehouse when a business went out, I'll purchase a couple of extra knitting machines from Ellis and if they take off I'll order more."

 

"Mittens too?" Maria asks from the door.

 

"Yes, they keep your hands warmer than gloves. . .or at least that's what the experts say. I haven't felt any difference but . . ." Josette shrugs.

 

"Have you opened the sweater factory?"

 

"Next year, the announcement will go out after the Harvest Festival with all the orders due in by the Lights Festival."

 

A couple weeks later Josette returns to Haven and starts bringing out pallets of yarn and the cases with the new knitting machines. Creating a couple tables she sets them up and starts them running.

 

"Josette?" David asks in a calm . ..to him anyway voice from the doorway. Josette sniggers so it obviously wasn't as calm as he thought.

 

"Hats, gloves, mittens, and scarves. I got asked if I'd take an order that's been sitting the warehouse thanks to a business having a fire. So I brought a few machines."

 

"Did you talk to Calvin about the returning employees?"

 

"Yeah, he was thinking the same thing, having the first employees stay an extra year and have everybody go home at once since it's so close to the last of the students leaving."

 

"Orders?"

 

"We've got the first part of our orders, I expect two or three more batches coming up before we get everything." David nods as Josette selects everything and starts them running.

 

"Second crops."

 

"Should be coming in hot and heavy in a couple days, same with the yearly crops. Then the offworld harvests are going to start coming in." David sighs and nods. "Going to be like that the next couple of years."

 

 

 

Josette brings in a couple containers that she puts on the floor next to the desk. Joyce looks at her. "Hats, gloves, scarves, and mittens. I was asked if I wanted an order that had been in the warehouse for a while when a few businesses went under. I'd been thinking about making these so I brought a few machines to see if there was any interest. Calvin already said he'd be interested."

 

Joyce opens the containers. "Oh yes, this is excellent. Both gloves and mittens?"

 

"Mittens keep your hands warmer since your fingers are together." Principal Madison says from the door of his office. "But gloves are easier to work in. Unless they're the ones that you call pull back to expose your fingers."

 

"Which pretty much throws keeping them warm out the window." Professor Druid snorts as she and Professor Fletcher come out of the office and start looking through everything. "Where do you have these set up?"

 

"In the front room of my studio for right now, I'm going to need more tables though if the demand is as good as the socks. And basically doubling the yarn order."

 

"You said Dad is interested?"

 

"Yep, I asked him before I brought the machines. Otherwise I'd have used the yarn for something else. Lord knows we'll always have a need for more socks." Joyce chuckles. "Do you have the room for more machines?"

 

"I can open another room down the hall."

 

Principal Madison sighs. "Double the yarn order and buy. . .twenty-five of the machines. Do you have more yarn?"

 

"Yeah, this is just part of one pallet, the order was huge. Five thousand boxes."

 

Joyce whistles despite herself as she empties the last container, laying everything out on the table. "That's pretty much a warehouse by itself."

 

"Yeah, They brought in bulk once a year or so and had a fire. They're arguing with the insurance about rebuilding. You know big business. . .hurry up and wait." The others sigh and nod.

 

"Especially if it's money going out and not coming in."

 

"And they have a clause in their insurance for lost income, the insurance company is wailing like an opera diva."

 

Back at the dorm she sends off the orders and heads to the first planet to pick the yearly crops. A couple months later for her she comes back with everything, sending pictures of how the building is coming on the first planet to the others before she joins the others walking to dinner.

 

"Get everything?"

 

"Yeah, I stayed long enough to let the black olives ripen. Planted more coffee on the first planet besides what I'm growing on Brigadoon. Expanded the espresso and coffee offworld harvests. Yes, I already took some to Vincent and Dr. Stark. Dropped the cotton harvest off at the towel factory. Dropped off the wheat at the flour factory, potatoes are at the store and the manufacturing satellite."

 

A long three weeks later Josette sighs as the last of the crops is canned, dried, or stored. The fish had been harvested and were in stasis or dried until needed. The new crops had been planted and the others were settling in upstairs.

 

"Is this a late offworld harvest year?" Bronwen asks on the way to dinner.

 

"Yessss." Josette sighs. "They'll start coming in hot and heavy after our first testing week."

 

"Offworld harvests?"

 

"Planet sized gardens that are meant to be a good chunk of our winter food. There's three each for the fourth through eighth planet, the 9th planet has two, while the 10th planet has one. Every year they come in earlier and earlier thanks to the difference in years, eventually coming early early enough that it's still winter when we're harvesting. Those years we can harvest twice and plant cover crops of rye and barley. The robots that handle the larger offworld single crops handle them."

 

"And the other offworld harvests?"

 

"Two hundred people. With the time dilation we're only gone an hour but we've been picking and putting the food in stasis for six months. It's a lot of work so they get a bonus as well as being paid for the work. The downside is that for several weeks I'm going to be offworld twice a week."

 

"What happens to the food?"

 

"If it's for us it will all be brought out and either canned, dried, or stored. The other planets, I'll bring out what needs to be dried or canned, then it will go back to the ship until I deliver it."

 

"Do the ones picking ...?"

 

"No, they head to the laundry, the temporary dorm for a nap and shower, or to the communal kitchen for a meal before heading home depending on if they're from Haven or another planet. The big building will be asshole to elbow people. . .especially with two harvests coming in."

 

"How much . . .?"

 

Josette pulls up files, putting them on the screen. "This is the pantry in the manor after our third harvest, this is the pantry after our share of the offworld harvests have been delivered." The shelves are full with boxes on the floor. "And that's not all of it, we have food in the basement here and our kitchens."

 

"Do you have a root cellar?"

 

"Yes, and that's just as full." More pictures.

 

"What are the barrels?"

 

"Green olives from the first planet. I either pop them in brine to eat or press them for oil. Every few years. . .this year one of them I leave some on the trees to ripen and slice them up, bringing out a container at a time for pizzas or sandwiches. I also use the paste from pressing the olives on sandwiches. And the skins and stems from the grapes when we make wine goes back to the vineyard for the new growth." Doc nods in satisfaction.

 

"How much garbage do you generate?"

 

"Ourselves, maybe a bag every other week. The dorms and dining halls generate the most waste because there's still so much food packaging that can't be recycled or composted."

 

"Dorms?"

 

"Thousands of teenage girls. . .that time of the month?"

 

"Ahhh yes." The others chuckle.

 

"We have containers next to the recycling bins in the girls dorms for their makeup containers when they're done, otherwise it would be even more. Clean them with the replicators and they can be used as raw material."

 

"We shoot the garbage at least once a term, more during warmer weather when it starts to stink."

 

"Shoot?"

 

Josette brings out the hand unit for the replicator. "It takes at least two crystals to empty a dumpster, more often filling two and partially filling a third. When we go out we take dozens of the crystals, filling them and bringing them back to the dorm where they go in the replicator for energy. Even then most of the time we fill them before all the dumpsters are empty. So we empty the crystals into the replicator, eat lunch, and get the rest afterwards. There's larger units that don't have the crystals, they go directly to the unit that were used with larger objects, Earth used them in emptying garbage dumps. The ships just skip the middleman. Turn to another setting on the replicator and it turns what it was used on into raw materials, Becka uses them when they take care of paper ends since they don't have a replicator large enough to handle them. The roll goes into one crystal, the paper goes into another. Same thing when I take care of them on the ships."

 

"Storms?"

 

"Yeah, back on Earth we'd get storms that would dump on us for a couple weeks. Before the replicator we'd put the garbage in an empty room until we could take it out to the dumpster. The larger dorms piled it outside in the tunnel, either for maintenance to deal with before the replicator or for one of us to get afterwards. They still do it during a bad storm now."

 

"How bad a storm. . .?"

 

Josette gets on the servers and brings out a few pictures, one showing snow partway up the sliding glass door. "And that was in May." The others moan. "That wasn't a bad storm, just a lot of it dumping on us all winter. Professor Eppes joked on our senior trip that it wouldn't melt until July, by June we didn't think it was a joke anymore. And that was before the winters really started getting bad. A few years after we left there was snow on the ground year-round in most areas, not just the mountains."

 

"Was that the year the flea market was shut down?" Bruce asks walking through. "You wanted one of us?"

 

"Yeah, look this over." Josette sends him a file. "I have to be making a mistake somewhere but be damned if I can see it. And yes, that's the first year. The old flea market building had been taken over by the town since the owner was arrested for arson and insurance fraud. They'd been using the grounds to put snow, when they were moving it one of the columns was hit and it collapsed, bringing down the roof." The others all look at her. "Dry rot. . .somebody was supposed to have had the building inspected but Killingmesoftly hadn't bothered when they took it over, instead using the inspection reports the old owners had submitted. Which were fake, when they went after the guy who supposedly inspected it he had never been there and had been in Jamaica with his family on vacation when the inspection supposedly took place. The city council had to pull their big boy pants on and rebuild it, the new one is the building in town."

 

"First year?"

 

"The town council tried desperately to find a place to put the flea market, first asking the principal in town to use his school, then coming out to our school. We had to help them, we had tables at the flea market so of course we'd have a reason to let them use a building. Then they found out we went year-round, how many classes, we offered, how many students we had. . .we had 500 students a year back then, the school in town didn't have 500 students in all fourteen years if you include pre-school and kindergarten. They finally realized they didn't have a choice and started paying back the fees the vendors had paid for the year."

 

"The second year?"

 

"The year that the power was out for nearly six months." A house elf appears with a note and Josette thanks her before she disappears. Reading it she begins cackling.

 

"Becka's pregnant, so's Idina. She realized she was gonna be turning 40 and was feeling old."

 

"Awww." Susan purrs. "Wait until she's our age."

 

"And the twins."

 

The visitors blink. "Hermaphroditic males, a good ten percent of their population is hermaphrodites. Idina and Danita are hermaphroditic females."

 

"Are their bodies going to adapt?"

 

"I don't see it, while their year is nearly twice that of Earth the day's only 40 minutes longer. And most of them have already started aging slower thanks to the others." The doctors in the group nod as they start walking to the dining hall.

 

"Do you go in and clear out a crop?"

 

"No, we pick what's ripe and that takes several days. We have picking groups of two or three people who fill containers per crop while more people come in with flyers and wagons, picking up the full containers and dropping off empties before taking them back to the ship. Usually once in the morning and after lunch unless they get a call they need a pickup or more supplies. There's groups on the ship putting everything away in rooms or cooking and some people have the day off and are in the movie theaters, libraries, or in the waterpark. They'll shift positions in the afternoon."

 

"What happens after an area has been picked?"

 

"Either compost is spread by the robots and tilled under later or the plants plowed under. And the robots rotate the crops yearly." The others nod in satisfaction.

 

"Could the robots harvest everything?"

 

"Yes, but we want everybody to be self-sufficient."

 

"I'm getting the same results Josette, so are Doc and Long Tom." Bruce says when they return to the dorm after dinner. "It looks like you've created a power source similar to the ones the others were talking about."

 

"Then I won't go to the ships to run the simulation." Josette says. "We don't need it for a while but if we ever need a larger source it's good to know we have it."

 

"No more buildings piggybacking off those with alternate power sources?" David asks.

 

"Yeah, one large power unit with the boxes that get power from the turbine. If we go that way though we'll have to set up a power company."

 

"May I?" Doc, Charles, and Richard look it over. "We use something similar."

 

"Josette, the machines in your studio?" Hannah asks.

 

"I'd been thinking of adding hats, gloves, mittens, and scarves to the school supplies and got asked if I wanted a rather large shipment that was sitting in a warehouse since the business it was going to had a fire and. . ."

 

Bronwen says a name and Josette nods. "Yes, the insurance is dragging its heels, they're about to get their asses handed to them by the court for their stupidity."

 

"Anyway I asked Granda if he'd be interested and brought four machines to start making stuff. I showed what I'd made from a partial pallet to Joyce, Principal Madison, and Professor Druid and they told me to order more machines and double the order of yarn. The boys are making tables for me and I'll open a room down the hall from the socks for them."

 

"And if they hadn't been interested?"

 

"I'd have found a use for them. Socks if nothing else."

 

"Plain hats, gloves, and scarves?"

 

"Yes, not those damn infinity scarves, you can't wrap them around your neck for warmth for all that you can pull them up over your head." The others nod. "Hats keep your head warm."

 

"If you wear them, that's why we keep pulling your hood up all the time." Principal Madison says dryly as he comes in with Calvin and Professor Druid. "Josette, do you have more completed?"

 

"Yeah upstairs, I gotta bring yarn out for all three rooms." She heads upstairs, the hats, gloves, mittens, and scarves being looked at as she brings out pallets for each room. The others start grabbing boxes and filling containers with yarn.

 

"Oh yes, these will be good. I can see them being brought after the first cold snap."

 

The next morning Doc blinks at all the supplies being brought out.

 

"Washing windows, we try to do it every month during the spring, summer, and fall." They all start adding extension wands to the sprayers and turn them on, coating the windows. Scrubbers come out with soap and the windows are scrubbed then rinsed clean.

 

 

After the Harvest Festival the new students start coming in, being sent to the office to sign in and get the folder with the school information then to the auditorium as Josette delivers their belongings to the dorms. This lasts nearly three weeks and she slumps into a seat at the pizza parlor, getting plates put in front of her and a bottle of caffeine free Haven Dew in her hand as the seats are taken around her by Frances, Amanda, and Professor Parker.

 

"Is this the last students?"

 

"For this year, yeah."

 

"We're on an upswing of students."

 

"Yeah Granda says to expect it for a few years."

 

"Did you get in more supplies?"

 

"Yeah, the last of the bedding, towels, and furniture is coming out when we take the graduating students back. I brought out the last of the school supplies so if you were still looking for something, maintenance will be delivering it over the next few days."

 

"How are you coming on the hats, gloves, mittens, and scarves?"

 

"Good, I'll have a good supply in the office before it starts turning cool."

 

"Did Doc and the others stay out?"

 

"Yes, they planned on it, this allows them to spend some time talking with the others on the other planets, investigating the first and second planets, and they wanted to see an offworld harvest. We were telling them about them but. . ."

 

"They think you were exaggerating them? Just like everybody thinks we're exaggerating the pouring piss from a boot rains until they've lived through them?"

 

"Yep."

 

"Did Charles and Clarinda head off?"

 

"Yes, they wanted to stay out here until the twins were about three and can start taking simple classes on Legion World. It's not like we're not in each other's back pockets even in other dimensions." The others nod.

 

"Josette, are you going out to Ellis's?"

 

"Yes, I'd planned on putting the announcement on the server next week, going out after midterms when I'm taking in the last of the students belongings back, picking up the supplies for the school, and dropping off the recycling. I ordered 25 knitting machines for the hats, gloves, scarves, and mittens and doubled the yarn orders, but those won't be coming in until the end of the year. Not that I don't have a shitload and a half of yarn yet."

 

"Started new books for your quilts yet?" Professor Parker asks with a smirk.

 

"Don't give the evil imp in my head any ideas."

 

"Your other books?"

 

"I have one coming out midterms."

 

"Are you going to start printing them here?"

 

"I was planning on putting sample chapters of the books on the server, if there was any interest I'd start a run."

 

"If there's any interest she says." Frances rolls her eyes.

 

"When are you going to start a book. . .hmmm?"

 

"Half past never." She says firmly, the other two laughing.

 

Professor Parker looks at Josette, of the three of them he's the one who had her as a student in high school so he's got a little more influence over her. "There's a reason why we've been getting so many students." he says quietly.

 

"Yes," Josette says as quietly. "But it's not my place to say. Dad's going to be making the announcement soon."

 

"Who knows?"

 

"Me, Mom, Dad, President Bartlett, and the others. On the eighth planet Drs. Stark, McNider, and Cross. Nobody else."

 

"Are we going to be getting. . ."

 

"As many students every year? No, it will start leveling out in a few years."

 

"Is there anything new coming out at Ellis's?" Frances asks.

 

"Yes, which is why I'm going." Amanda sniggers. "That week is going to be asshole to elbow with the offworld harvests and Christmas. I'll make a special day trip out there." The others nod. "If there's any other places you or the others want to visit we'll decide then."

 

Back at the dorm she joins with her other selves that had been taking classes or delivering the last of the supplies, looking over as the switching station buzzes and Doc, Charles, and Mara walk out.

 

"Is this it for the incoming students?"

 

"Yeah, it's a bitch going back and forth every day but this keeps the incoming student number down so the school isn't completely overwhelmed. It's a holdover from Earth."

 

"The new students start classes after the first of the year?"

 

"Yes, this allows them to get settled in the school, learn where everything is here and in town, talk to their advisors. . .especially if they're dual enrolled, read through their books, and work ahead on some stuff. The older kids take the younger ones under their wings and they already have study groups set up before the first day of classes." Mara nods in satisfaction.

 

"Josette, was there anything from Ellis and the other suppliers?" Pat asks, looking around the door from Headquarters.

 

"At least a hundred shipping containers, I'm bringing it out tomorrow since it's for us, the school, the stores, Edinborough, and Assyrian." Pat nods in satisfaction. "And midterms we're making a special trip out to Ellis's since he's going to be getting in new stuff, I was going to put up the announcement next week. It's going to be asshole to elbow that week with midterms, Christmas, and two offworld harvests. If there's anyplace else we want to visit, we can talk about it before we go." Pat nods in satisfaction. "Get your knitting machines?"

 

"Yes, but they're staying in a container until the boys finish the tables."

 

"They're done, we've just got the sealant drying right now."

 

"I'll bring everything out next week after our tests then."

 

A couple weeks later Doc, Richard, and Mara stand beside Josette's chamber as the ship approaches a planet. Probes go down and pictures of plants fill the screens. The ship settles on water and a map of the planet starts going up on a screen as the lid hisses open and Josette sits up.

 

"It will take a few hours for the map to be complete."

 

"Are you starting harvesting today?"

 

"Tomorrow, that gives everybody time to get supplies out and set up."

 

"Do you only have one area being picked?"

 

"No, we have at least two areas being worked on with three groups per area. Each room has a list of food that will go in it so people know where to put it."

 

An hour later on Haven David opens the tesseract, people having their PADDS scanned as they walk out, heading different directions. Doc, Mara, and Richard look around as Josette brings out the containers, they're grabbed by the people waiting on them and moved different directions.

 

Drying tables are being set up up and down the street and are being filled, the screens being put down almost as soon as they're lifted.

 

"What happens when the offworld harvests. ..?"

 

"Come in early that it's still winter? Josette takes the drying tables to the first planet until anything set outside dries instead of freezes. It usually takes about three harvests."

 

"Do the kids always volunteer?"

 

"Usually when they're in high school or taking university classes, this way they can put the money away towards their future homes or apartments. The kids are planning on buying apartments in town for work but also planning on land where they can grow crops. It will be a few years before they can start growing crops. By then they plan on having a house up on the land since at least one of them will be out there weekly. . .if not daily."

 

"Have any of the others done that?"

 

"Yes, usually after they've been working for a while and are 'retiring'." Susan does the finger quotes. "The kids are starting out differently in that they're not going to either the fourth, eighth, or 9th planets for internships at Stark, Wayne, or either Eureka. Once Thomas planned on bringing out the businesses, they planned on doing their internships here and started saving money for their apartments instead of living in intern housing for three years."

 

"Do your banks have . . ."

 

"monthly payments? No, as long as anything is paid towards the loan it's good. When people were first starting out they split their pay three or four ways, part going into a savings, part going to pay down the cost of their homes and coming to Haven, some going towards future land and supplies, and some going to pay down the items they purchased at the stores on credit. You can either pay cash or credit at the stores, the accounts were all set up that way from when the new settlers started coming up and hadn't started working yet. Every dollar they put away now is less money they'll be repaying when they buy the land and start building the house. I know they hope to have one good sized harvest to sell before they start construction."

 

"What's the interest rate?"

 

"Five percent, but it's offset by no interest being paid on charges at the stores. And the interest goes in a fund for the planet. And that's a one time event, not every month like you would a regular mortgage on Earth" The three nod as everything is delivered and Josette comes through the tesseract.

 

"Was it everything Josette and the others said?"

 

"Oh yes." Mara chuckles, sending a huge file to the others. "Probe data that was used as a map to every growing area, pictures of the growing areas. . ." A whistle from Matthew when he sees them. "Pictures of the rooms being filled with containers, a total of how much food was in each room, and pictures of everything being brought out and moved to either the drying tables or the big buildings so it could be canned.

 

"Is that the kids?"

 

"Yes, Susan says they usually volunteer while taking high school or university classes to save money for apartments. The kids would normally be heading to Stark, Wayne, or GD for internships after they graduate and live in intern housing for three years before getting permanent housing. When Thomas announced he was bringing out Wayne, Dayton, and DI they decided they'd get their internships in there. There's not any intern housing there so they're putting part of the money they get for the harvests towards apartments and plan on buying land to plant crops sometime in the future."

 

"Not the first ones, some of the older kids have 'retired' from their jobs and brought land." Pat says from the door of Headquarters. "Good. Josette, I need you to bring some stuff out for me."

 

"I figured you'd be running low on stuff." She follows her into Headquarters to her workrooms and starts bringing out rolls of fabric and other supplies from the shipping containers. Looking at her workrooms she brings out stuff from her own containers, replacing stuff that's nearly empty. Measuring the leftovers she tags them and puts them with the remnants and other fabric before walking downstairs.

 

"Get your supplies taken care of?"

 

"Yeah, I knew I was running low on some stuff." Josette puts the large rolls on the ship. Richard is looking for her. "A lot of the stuff I was running low on comes on huge cardboard rolls, I just moved them to the ships."

 

"No sliding them down the stairs?" David asks as he walks through.

 

"Not this time."

 

The others look at them. "The first time Josette had to replace a roll she slid it down the stairs and propped it up against the wall by the recycling containers."

 

"I didn't have the ships back then to move the recycling to. I hadn't gone offdimension yet or even started picking stuff up."

 

"You still drop the cardboard down the laundry chute though."

 

Doc sighs as Pat chortles. "The recycling bins would get full every other week on the second floor and I wasn't going to carry them down two flights of stairs."

 

"Even after being able to put stuff in subspace and we had an elevator?"

 

"Still had to go down to the basement anyway." Josette shrugs. "And manage to find space for everything in the container. As it was a few times we had to call maintenance and have it emptied before the break." Josette looks at her family. "Who did I inherit the winning things from?"

 

Everybody sniggers and looks at Charles. "You too?"

 

"It started when we went out to Vegas one day, I played a couple machines and hit. I realized I could 'feel' which machines were going to hit. . ."

 

"They almost screamed at you?" Mara asks with a chuckle.

 

"Yes, and once the casino figured out I wasn't cheating we went out multiple times over the years. But the winning thing didn't get bad until I went to my first expo."

 

Pat sighs. "The door prizes?"

 

"Yes, and for every damn new expo I attended I won the doorprize. And a few times the ones I'd been attending for a few years." Josette checks the server and finds a couple pictures of everything in the second floor hallway she puts on the screen. "If Alan wasn't home from his residency I took both the laundry carts to the office and we bucket brigaded everything down the stairs, then we had to carry them up the stairs. Once I figured out how to do it it was just find the flag in my mailbox, go to the office, get the pile pointed at, and pop everything in subspace."

 

Alan chuckles. "I still remember the look on Joyce's face when I came in and got the boxes that one day. Of course that was a Monday and she still had the boxes from Saturday in her office too."

 

"About as bad when Buckaroo sent stuff to us, when you got birthday presents from everybody who hadn't made the party, or when we were pregnant and everybody in Albatross sent stuff."

 

"Agatha and her packages." Josette says. The others nod.

 

"Breaks when we were gone and had totes full of mail."

 

"Or when we had a storm and didn't have mail delivery for a week."

 

The others look at them. "We got our mail directly from a sorting center, when a storm was coming in they'd hold the mail for us until we could start digging out."

 

"One year we had five totes when we came back, but that was with nearly three weeks worth of papers. . .including all the 'buy this' Christmas crap." Josette snorts.

 

"And you'd won the doorprizes so the room in the basement was full of packages for you. The second floor hallway was just as full when you went to expos." David chortles suddenly. "The Boston expo."

 

"Oh god, that and the Vegas expo." The others look at her. "Vegas we had some absolute twit who didn't like the idea of sharing an elevator with the expo attendees one year and demanded that we be removed from the hotel. Since we weren't doing anything and the expo made a shitload of money for the hotel they were told no. They went to the police and were told the same thing . . .no! We weren't doing anything illegal."

 

"And I take it they didn't wike that?" Amber rolls her eyes.

 

"Ohhhhh no. The next day the police were back conducting raids on various rooms because they'd dropped a dime saying that the vendors weren't really selling yarn." Charles chortles as the others either laugh or roll their eyes. "The night before I'd been contacted by the police along with the person running the expo. The police asked if I owned a store and I said no I was a librarian in Boston and knit for pleasure but Boston was shut down thanks to the morons at the electric company who refused to come out and start working on the lines. . .using generators kept them from working on the lines." Stares of disbelief and rolling eyes.

 

"Their own stupidity kept them from working on the lines." David snorts. "None of the other companies had problems with their customers using generators. The governor finally had the head of the company arrested for causing a hazard to people's health and safety. That was after a couple weeks of not having power?" The others nod. "Power was out nearly a month, the schools around us went over nearly two weeks. Since the flu was going around the same time they used that time to thoroughly clean the schools."

 

"Anyway, years later we figured that one of the whiners must have complained about the expo not being open to the public but since I'm not a vendor and there were one day passes they could buy. . ."

 

"Whining about how they weren't getting their own way."

 

Josette nods. "After the police found nothing but yarn and other crafting supplies in the rooms they were asked to leave the hotel because they were causing trouble."

 

"And they didn't go quietly." Richard sighs.

 

"Yup. I'd left the hotel after the expo to go to the one we usually stay at in Vegas to play with the ten dollars of my own money I allow myself to gamble with these trips."

 

"The rest of your gambling money is comps the casino had given you." Susan says dryly.

 

"And eat my body weight at the buffets .. .twice." Everybody laughs. "Anyway back at the hotel I found everybody milling around outside. . . one of them had called in a bomb threat but didn't realize the entire hotel would be evacuated."

 

"Only the wrong sort of people would be asked to leave so they'd have it to themselves?" Alice snorts, rolling her eyes.

 

"Exactly."

 

"So what were they doing?" Andrew asks. "I've seen everybody at the Albatross Nest in the middle of something, they'd ignore a fire unless it was going to burn what they were working on. Then they'd slap the fire out, open the door a crack to air it out, and go back to work."

 

"I said it was Elvis, Godzilla, and the president doing the macarena in the elevator. Anyway it turned out they were high-priced call girls, they were afraid somebody might see all the people on the elevators coming to their rooms and recognize them."

 

"Isn't prostitution legal in Nevada?" Matthew sighs.

 

"Only in certain areas, not the hotels. That's why all the brothels are outside Vegas." Pat says, rolling her eyes. "Were you able to get back in?"

 

"No, so I spent the rest of the night sleeping in the truck. The next morning since we were going to lose a day of the expo it was canceled. Non-vendors were able to go to their rooms with a hotel escort and pack up, I got in line, had the GD affiliate pick up the truck and headed home. Meanwhile some twit with the hotel was trying to give the expo organizers hell for inciting the other people."

 

"How? by existing?" Pat asks dryly.

 

"Yeah, the organizers opened up on the moron with both barrels and said they were guaranteed those floors and the concourse without any interference. By the time they were done talking about how had a contract and penalty clauses that they could enforce with having to cancel the expo early he was whimpering and saying they'd sue the other people. The hotel management thanked them for not hurting the moron." Rolled eyes.

 

"Was that the same guy who caused problems later by yanking that week from the expo?"

 

"No, but he must have gone to the same school of what not to do in hospitality management." Josette snorts.

 

"And Boston?"

 

Josette sniggers. "One year somebody heard people at the expo talk about hemp, put two and two together and got seventeen and a half." James laughs despite himself. "But the expo ended before they could do anything. The next year they saw they were back and called in a tip. Police cars started rushing in and we were all escorted into a meeting room. I called David to say something had happened at the knitting expo and I wouldn't be home that night, somebody with a clue realized what was going on. While we might have had hemp our drug of choice was yarn." Mary rolls her eyes and counts to ten trying not to laugh. "I asked Sue if I could borrow her couch for a few hours because I'm too cheap to spend a couple hundred dollars on a room I'd only get a few hours use even though I'd just spent that much money a couple weeks ago for supplies for a quilt for my last class from Assyrian. A couple days later it was all in the paper--my picture with Drug bust turns out to be a real bust as the headline."

 

"And if Sue hadn't been there?" Doc asks dryly.

 

"Slept in the truck again. One thing about being short I can fit in seats better than the others. . .though even my back was hurting after the senior trips. I'd been heading to the truck to drive home when the police arrived, by the time everybody was allowed out of the meeting room it was nearly three in the morning."

 

"What not to do school of hospitality management?"

 

"The hotel in Vegas had recently been renovated, the expo had to take a week in June and nobody was happy. We didn't have the concourse, we weren't able to get the rooms all in one area, not everybody was able to make it then, and the hotel had to drastically slash their rates to get the expo to take that week." Pat sighs and nods. "Then some nitwit yanked the regular week out from under the expo, he'd been contacted by a tv show that wanted to do a live week of shows then and he figured they didn't need to be bothered by knitters."

 

"Get his ass kicked?"

 

"Yep, the expo sued and since the hotel had breached the contract they had to pay. That week arrives and surprise, surprise . . .the hotel that is usually packed is empty." Charles sniggers. "And to top it off, the tv show bailed. .. the week of live shows canceled. His boss asked him about the contract . . ."

 

"Which he hadn't bothered to get?" Richard asks dryly. Josette nods as the others laugh or sigh.

 

"Yep. He yelped that the expo had canceled, they could pay a penalty only to be told that they had a valid contract, the hotel had breached the contract by giving their week away, and they had to pay the expo money. And the hotel had lost it's most profitable week, the hotel made nearly a half-million in profits thanks to the expo. He was . . .'but they can still take June.' Reminded that this is how this had all started and they didn't want June, he whined that 'are you sure they won't take June'? The expo started looking for another venue, dumbass sued to force them to stay at the hotel and take the week in June. He got his ass kicked up around her ears for that stunt." The others roll their eyes.

 

"Did you keep the hotel?"

 

"No, and we got a few members coming back once we moved because they'd had problems with the old hotel. The first year they'd just renovated so management was scurrying around fixing stuff. . ."

 

"That should have already been fixed? Before they reopened if somebody had done their job." Amber snorts.

 

"Yes, the first room I had didn't have any water, the second didn't have any electricity. . .the manager put me up in a suite for all the problems and I gave the extra beds to others who didn't have rooms. Which helped out since I had to pay for my own hotel room there instead of staying in the room GD kept there." The others make ooh la la gestures and Pat chuckles.

 

Josette waves a hand the next day, containers of mail appearing in the living room. "Granda's talking about putting up a tv or radio station at the school. Or rather the government is talking about the school putting up a tv or radio station at the school."

 

David just looks at her. "That's the same look Principal Madison had at that news."

 

"Universities have tv and radio stations, usually manned by the students in those programs."

 

"And are generally PBS."

 

"They're going to talk about it over the next couple of years."

 

"Why?"

 

"Somebody in the government has a wild hair up their ass. They drooped when they found out our school doesn't actually run either station but that was only a momentary setback. Somebody with a brain will figure out what they're doing and tell them to knock it off." Sighs and nods from the others.

 

"They do need a tv station out there for PBS." Alexander says slowly. "The nearest satellite station that carries those channels is a good fifty miles away."

 

"I think that's one of the reasons they're talking about a station. Though the cynic in me is also thinking somebody's thinking a cushy job with money coming rolling in from pledge breaks then whining when they realize they're just passing the programs on and the money doesn't go to them." Signs but nods.

 

"I can see regular tv or radio stations the school owns going in myself." The others nod. Josette adds that to the list of possible things to go in around the school and sends it off to Calvin.

 

"He's going to have a talk when you go in a couple days to get the mail."

 

"Probably."

 

Jane snickers as Josette comes into the office. Maria starts humming taps as they both point at the closed door. "Myeh." Josette waves a hand and brings out containers. "More hats, scarves, mittens, and gloves, I figured you'd need them."

 

"Thank you Josette, it's beginning to turn cool and our supplies took a hit even with the students making a trip to Burlington's coat factory." The door to Calvin's office opens and he gives her the not amused look as he waves her in. Unfortunately she's not the least bit bothered by the look.

 

"We all talked about what could go up around the school a few months ago when I found out you were buying more land. And you can't tell me somebody didn't think about pledges when they wanted a tv station at the school."

 

"No, I thought of it myself." he says as she settles in midair. "Are the others still on Haven?"

 

"Yep, they had their first taste of an offworld harvest a couple days ago and figure on staying until the Lights Festival. Next year we'll start going out here and there."

 

"Books?"

 

"I got a meeting with Madison and Jessica later today, I'm here for a couple weeks since they got me passes at a couple book fairs. A couple expos, and visit some stores."

 

"Last of the students belongings?" Jane asks from the door.

 

"Already announced that since midterms and Christmas break are so close they'll be bringing it back themselves. And to tell whoever is picking them up so they have the room. Those who are staying with friends or host families I'll drop it off in the office when we arrive."

 

"Thank you Josette."

 

Josette returns to Haven nearly three weeks later her personal time. Boxes are sent to various rooms as she looks at the time and dials herself a meal from the replicator.

 

"Josette, we're going to have to make barbecue next year." Alan says, coming out of a room.

 

"Yeah, I was checking the stock last night and planned on saying something at lunch. We can start the vat meat growing this weekend. And the spices."

 

Alan nods. "We need to take care of the herbs anyway."

 

"Yeah, they're gone to seed."

 

Richard follows them into a room. "This is the fishtank."

 

"Yep, this was our first aquaponics unit, this and the fishtank in the administration building. They're both used for herbs." Richard looks at the clipboard by the door that has a list of herbs they usually grow in rotation. A different sheet is brought out and they start seed trays.

 

"Does everybody grow herbs?" Mary asks as she comes in with David.

 

"Oh yes, every kitchen has at least one pot of herbs on the windowsill. More if you have the room. One of the greenhouses in town is just for herbs."

 

"The farms outside town?"

 

"Have herb gardens. And either dry the herbs on tables or put them up in bunches and dry them that way." Mary nods, remembering kitchens with bundles of herbs drying. Josette looks at David. "Remind me next year to put out a message about herbs when we have the smokehouse going? I know some people have the small smokers in their homes." David nods and writes that down on his PADD. "Are the offworld strawberries coming in yet?"

 

"The very early ones. Probably two more weeks." Richard looks at them. "A couple years ago they planted another variety of strawberries on the seventh planet. With the different growing seasons on the planets something fresh is coming in all the time."

 

"We need to expand the u-pick farms again." David counts back how long it's been, sighs, and nods. "They all have the room to plant more crops. We made sure of it when we laid them out."

 

"Growing commercially on the other planets delayed having to expand them." David nods. "As well as giving us fresh fruit and vegetables when we're not producing. Beyond the growing buildings."

 

"Josette, did you take in the cotton and pulp trees?" Mary looks from Principal Madison in the doorway to Josette and back.

 

"Yes, the last of the orders for the towels are due by the Lights Festival. The paper factory is busy producing toilet paper, paper towels, napkins, and cardboard boxes for the pizza parlors. If they run low before they're done they can replicate or I'll break into the stores on the ships."

 

"Josette grew cotton offworld this summer for the towel factory and harvested scrub trees for the paper factory, we've got several planetoids covered with woods and for every tree harvested we plant another. Next year she'll be repeating this step when the charmin style toilet paper is made." Alan tells Mary.

 

"Do you have many supplies on the ships?"

 

"Tons, there's buildings full of the little boxes full of stuff. And that's after turning a lot of it into energy or raw materials. Do I need to bring out more paper?"

 

"Yes, I was going to ask you about that after we get back from Christmas."

 

Mary looks at Alan again. "We take the students back at the end of the semester to pick up supplies and spend time with their family. . .or host family. We also bring them back for Christmas, with the time difference we can be in Granda's world four to six weeks and be back an hour later on Haven. This year it's going to be after the school's midterms. Last year with the time difference we took them in twice, thankfully the second time was close enough to when the graduating students and returning employees went home that we didn't have to make a second trip. Josette, the student's belongings?"

 

"Already made the announcement that they're to bring them back themselves for Christmas after letting their family know they're bringing them back. Those students visiting friends or host families I'll take their containers to the office."

 

Alan chuckles. "During the first semester their senior year students start packing up their belongings, starting with old books and seasonal clothes. Once they got their names and an address to send them to Josette takes them to the other school where their family, friends, or others are contacted to come get them or they're stored until the students graduate. Their floor monitors will talk to them about it over the year, *they'll* be doing the same thing when their contracts are up. Midterms the third semester is the absolute last trip Josette makes out with belongings, anything left over they'll have to take it back on the ship with them. Most students only have a couple bags on the trip back, one of clothes and one with textbooks from their last semester."

 

"That is decent, I can imagine trying to get everything back otherwise."

 

"Oh yes, and Dad doesn't allow dorm refrigerators, tvs, microwaves, or pets like our school did back on Earth."

 

The next day after returning to Haven and moving food via subspace Josette checks the list of supplies that she needs to bring out, popping boxes in subspace before flying back to Town. Looking at the mill she finds people shredding paper to start soaking and heads to the glassblowers, the recycled glass had been piling up again.

 

"Thank you Josette." One of the workers calls through the slightly open door as he hears the glass shattering. "We were going to tell you after midterms that the glass needed to be handled."

 

"I figured it had to be piling up."

 

Back at the dorm David fills the last container with the glass, taking it up to Josette's glassblowing area in the studio and putting it in the container. The recyclable paper had already gone up to her papermaking area and the rest of the recycling had been put in crystals.

 

"That everything for a while?" James asks as Susan cleans the recycling containers.

 

"Until next year. We usually do this batch at the end of the year but things were piling up early."

 

"How often do you fill the containers?"

 

"Usually three times a year, we did it more last year when we were emptying containers. And the room will be just as full again thanks to getting in supplies. Let alone Josette's books."

 

"Glass." David says at lunch, pointing his fork at Josette.

 

"I took care of the pile in town and I'll work on mine over the next couple days since you moved it for me. They were shredding paper at the mill when I looked earlier, the pulp should be ready to after the first of the year. I'm bringing more of the new paper and any other supplies we're picking up in Granda's world after midterms."

 

/How are we handling mail after the schools close?/ Anna asks.

 

/The office will still be open to handle everything they have around them, I can run in every week to pick up mail./ Josette says. She swears, holds her head, grabs her PADD, and starts typing for several minutes before putting it back on her belt.

 

"Get jumped by a bunny?"

 

"Yes, and it's looking to be a multiple book series again." Her loving family sniggers at her hangdog expression.

 

A couple of weeks later Doc blinks as he finds Josette sitting on the couch typing on a laptop. He knows she and the others just left to go to Calvin's dimension for Christmas. Josette looks up and grins. "Energy duplicate, I generally have a dozen of them out and about every day, more when we're in the middle of harvest."

 

"I'd wondered how you managed to be in so many places at the same time." He says dryly.

 

"I kept saying I needed to be in three places at the same time. One day I was." She shrugs and finishes typing something, saving it and closing the screen. "There, outline for the books I got ideas for a couple weeks ago. I'll clean them up and send them off to Madison to be cussed at about when we go out to take back students"

 

"Why is Calvin making plans for businesses other than the schools?"

 

Josette sighs. "This is common knowledge in their dimension and Dad plans on making an announcement before Thanksgiving. For whatever reason it is they have periods of time where there are no pregnancies. It's like somebody sees they have enough people and flips a switch. Most often it lasts twenty years, sometimes 25 years, and a handful of times it's been 29 years. They had one in the 1900s, in the late 80s."

 

"And they're in a period right now?" He asks quietly.

 

"They're on the very edge of one, by the end of next year there definitely won't be any more births. They've already started to slow down. They're already predicting this will be a long one."

 

"No longer than 29 years?"

 

"The children born recently and next year would be too old to have children if it were any longer." He nods. "Granda figures eighteen years to get all the children through school with no new students after thirteen or fourteen. And about twenty years after that we'll be shut down since we're a middle and high school and nobody sees the large class sizes we had been getting for a couple decades. He's expecting a lot of public schools not to reopen with some teachers retiring and a lack of new teachers. Like our school, he'll keep his teachers employed until they can reopen. This gives him plenty of time to work on curriculums and go over the buildings with a fine tooth comb. We'll be doing the same here."

 

"How long has the school been open?"

 

"Thirty one years this year. So not quite 50 when we close it up again. Not a bad run."

 

"The employees?"

 

"Going back with the last of the students, we figure one group would have been leaving the year before, Granda plans on giving them a year extension since that would leave the other teachers shorthanded without new teachers revolving in. And the students are already familiar with them from the last five years." She grabs her PADD. "Gotta find out about the cooking school. And check the schedule for replacing a lot of the mechanicals over the next couple years. Even with regular maintenance it still wears out."

 

"Usually at the worse time possible."

 

A string of mental invective has Josette sniggering. Doc looks at her. "The me upstairs just got latched on by the quilting books bunny. Since she's working on a quilt right now."

 

The others come back to find James, Josette, and Doc talking over the list of everything that needs to be replaced the next year. Josette waves a hand, boxes being put in various rooms. "Everything quiet?"

 

"Once the me upstairs stopped cussing about being hit by more quilting book ideas."

 

She comes down the stairs. "Another 28 books not counting the ones that were left over from the other books, that brings it up to 36. . .and eight more notebooks of quilts." The others snigger as they're flipped off in triplicate. They share a look and nod, that Josette flying off to the ships to bring out some of the fabric from the planet. They'd found the thicker fabric that was used for blankets they'd use for batting. She'd plant a couple more while she was there.

 

A couple days later David opens the tesseract for everybody who had wanted to go to Ellis's and the other suppliers.

 

"Spend too much money?" Alan sniggers as David opens the tesseract an hour later.

 

"Yep, good thing I have all the bonuses from the offworld harvests to pay for everything. Including the massive yarn, fabric, batting, and supplies order I put in while I was out there apart from everything I purchased. Let alone the new quilts."

 

"Awww, going to have to write more books." Susan purrs. Josette slaps her ass in a 'bite me' gesture that has everybody sniggering. "And yes, the others ordered just as much. Good thing the offworld harvests are only half over, I'm going to see a bunch of them doing it to pay for everything. And to put money in the fund."

 

"The factories will be opening next year, that will help."

 

"Yep, there's a difference between working at the store extra shifts to help pay for your latest quilt and 'oh shit, we emptied the fund again?" Michael sniggers this time. He hands over a list. "Raw materials we need."

 

"Second floor, rooms 2018, 2019, and 2020. I knew we'd be running low on a lot of this stuff by now." She brings up the file of what's in which room and which box and he nods. "Mechanicals?"

 

"We've got the list of what needs replacing and we'll bring each out as it's needed or in some cases we've got replacements for something else that might be affected by it."

 

"Has anybody else got the talk about coming out for a while and attending university beyond the classes we took?" Susan asks.

 

"Oh yeah, I got hints about the school Becka went to in their dimension. We go out I'll go on a tour."

 

"You're the only one who looks young enough to be a university student." David chortles. Josette rolls her eyes. Pat had overheard them and chuckles. "What do you need replaced?"

 

"Pretty much most of the mechanicals, they've been maintained over the years but everything came up from Earth. They were inspected and worked on then but it's still old and going to fail. Earlier this year we went through every room and made a list of what needed to be replaced and brought out stuff we hadn't thought about until then, pots pans dishes, lamps pillows. . .stuff like that." Amber nods as she comes through with Susan.

 

"Hot water heaters? Plural?"

 

"We've got about fifteen of the industrial heaters in various parts of the dorm?" Alan says.

 

"Twenty-five. They're checked yearly but eventually the liners will crack and they're going to rust out. We've got leads on them so if they start leaking we can check them and shut them off if necessary."

 

"On demand hot water heaters?"

 

"We've looked into them but hated the low flow since it's heating the water as it runs. The ones we have are meant for heavy duty like hospitals, hotels, and laundries." David says absently.

 

"High hot water use." Matthew says.

 

"Yes, even though you can't really get hot water at a hotel." Amber sniggers but nods.

 

"Did we stock up on more Christmas lights?"

 

"Yes, the order was in. We have eighteen pallets of them, the school has nearly fifty. Both the LED lights and the regular ones."

 

"You order them?"

 

"We can get a discount buying in bulk and get a better selection than the ones in the stores." Nods from the others as they come into the living room. "Same with Christmas decorations."

 

"Most of the ones in the stores are gaudy." Pat sighs. Everybody nods. "We purchased a lot from the glassblowers and whenever we go to a planet we look into glassblowers and other artisans since they're usually nicer."

 

"And it's nice to support small business." Pat says. Everybody nods.

 

"Josette, are you making more fudge?"

 

"Yeah, I planned on it next weekend. I know the supply is getting low. The bakery in town was talking about doing it tonight since this isn't a night they're making bread to raise."

 

"You mean like the big logs we saw them making in the stores when we went to that island for the conference." Amber says. Josette nods. "I have a setup upstairs where I make several hundred pounds three or four times a year."

 

"Speaking of bread."

 

"Planned on it next week too, that and tortillas."

 

"Crackers?"

 

"I'll do a few batches at the end of the year, start the list." The others look at them. "We have a bakery upstairs, we can't make the commercial batches of crackers like a factory that specializes in them, but we can use it for smaller batches. The bread factory handles larger batches, but they only make a couple flavors." Nods from the others.

 

/Oh shit, the bread factory. They'll lose a shift when the school closes./ David sighs.

 

/It's still eighteen years and it's not their only source of income. They'll handle it./

 

Charles looks around the fudge making room as Josette brings out supplies.

 

"Do you have a list of what all is in the dorm?" Josette puts it on the screen next to him as she checks the recipes.

 

"Why?"

 

"It's either stuff we brought out that I wanted to make sure would run without problems before it was needed, stuff that we wanted, or stuff that was added to the dorm back on Earth."

 

"What's this . . .supplier?"

 

"A few years before we moved to Haven a supplier in Canada was selling his business with the court's blessing to keep his money-grubbing whore soon to be ex-wife from getting her hands on it. He had testicular cancer when he was younger so no kids to pass it along to and the cancer had come back." Charles shakes his head and sighs. "It was by bid, ten thousand dollar deposit as earnest money, a credit check, and why you wanted it. I think I got it because I talked about how it could be used on Haven, most of the others were like 'I can sell this, this, this, that, that, that. . ." Pat sighs but nods since she'd come in the room behind Charles. "His wife was left without a dime, own damn fault for cheating on him and went on to the next sugar-daddy, or tried anyway but she was getting old and her looks were failing. He had about five buildings that I got lock, stock, and barrel. Including machinery to make fabric since he made and painted his own. It's not big enough for major batches but it's good for small uses."

 

A couple months later the last crops start coming in and Josette delivers the last of the canning jars to the kitchens. Doc and Richard join Josette, Alexander, and Michael in the switching station to head to Archimedes.

 

"Wait for it." Dr. Stark says with a smirk as Josette pauses her typing, lifting her head to look at the boys. Doc and Richard stare at the two of them, then the boys as Alexander holds up his hand.

 

"Done?"

 

"Yes." Alexander gets up. . .walking a few steps towards the table and suddenly dropping to his knees, sliding on the floor with his arms going over his head in a victory sign as he laughs maniacally.

 

"Yes. . .It is over."

 

A few seconds later Michael hands his PADD over to the proctor and joins Alexander on the floor, laying on his back and moving around in a circle. Sniggering Josette goes back to her tests.

 

"Alexander and Michael have been going for a doctorate in Art History from Oxford, only taking four classes a year it took nine years." Dr. Cross says at their 'what is going on and you'd better tell me now' looks.

 

"And they just finished their last tests." Richard chuckles. No wonder Josette had smirked when she suggested the pair come with them to Archimedes for their tests.

 

"You realize this means Granda's going to be talking to you about starting another degree. Or Dr. Blake?" Josette smirks as she finishes her last test. Holding up her hand she hands over her PADD as the boys moan. Dr. Stark smirks behind his mug of coffee.

 

"Josette, how many degrees do you have finished?"

 

"Only nine since the last graduation, are you holding one next year?"

 

"Yes, since the boys finished their degrees." She walks over their theatrics on the way to the bathroom. On the way back she walks on them, but anybody who looks carefully would see she's actually hovering a quarter inch over the boys.

 

"Are you finishing up any multiple degree curriculum?" Dr. Cross asks as she settles in her usual seat.

 

"Two, the shipwrecks degree from the Naval Academy and the degree on the Green Hornet from Montague. I'm two years into the Green Hornet and nine classes into the shipwrecks."

 

"Is that all the multiple degree sets, not counting the mega ones."

 

"No, I got two more three degree sets from Montague I got two of them in, I can start them when I'm done with the others."

 

"How are you at Princeton?"

 

"Just finished my second year."

 

Dr. Cross clicks his tongue. "Laying down on the job aren't you? You finished two degrees from Harvard in two years."

 

"They pissed me off and I had to show them what a real student looks like." Doc and Richard look at her while the boys snigger. "Granda talked me into applying to the ivy league schools. I was accepted to all of them but Harvard, yet a few months later I had somebody come to one of my book tour stops trying to get me to make a donation to them. Of course I was all 'I'm good enough to give you money but not good enough to go to your school?'. People started investigating and found out that deserving students were being turned away because they either needed financial assistance or didn't have the 'right' name to get the school noticed while less deserving students whose parents could grease palms got in. And usually flunked out their freshman year, even with being on academic probation."

 

"And if you'd mentioned you were my granddaughter you'd have been right in." Doc sighs.

 

"Yup, the bad publicity meant a lot of people lost their cushy positions. A couple years ago somebody went looking for my grades and realized I'd never been accepted to the school, they thought I'd been welcomed in with open arms."

 

"More likely were looking for a way to say 'see, I told you she wasn't the type of student we wanted'." Richard sighs. "Art history from Oxford?"

 

"The others said it would be a good draw for the shows and they can get the degrees recognized in their dimensions. We all had art history degrees from Assyrian or our original school but it didn't have oomph that Oxford had. We tried telling everybody we didn't have the brains for Oxford." Alexander says.

 

Snorts in unison from the three doctors and looks from Richard and Doc. "Yeah, that was pretty much everybody else's reaction to that bs." Josette says. "My gift gives me an edge, that's all. Just like your gift gives you an edge in the art department." Nods from everybody in earshot. "You guys all kept up with me in making the presidents list more than once on Earth."

 

"Oh god those luncheons were awful." Michael moans. "The school president giving the 'you're the best and brightest of the school' speech, the same speech he'd give the sports teams the night before. . .because they were the real stars of the school. The servers wondering why anybody would want to get perfect grades in all their classes. . .wasn't that like hard?" Richard sniggers despite himself. It had taken years and talking to people before he could at least attempt to start showing emotions again. As it was, he only shows emotions around the others and the kids. "Assyrian was the only school that served decent food, not artfully decorated plates as Josette complained more than once. Even if that would be a normal meal anywhere else."

 

"And after the meal at Assyrian we took the gift certificates they gave us at the award lunch and went to the bookstore to stock up on stuff since it was marked down to get in new merchandise."

 

Josette pulls up a couple of files on her PADD she sends to the boys. "Here some degrees you guys will enjoy more than those damn boring ass art history degrees. Yes, they're from still from Oxford. But they're lit degrees. Amanda and Professor Fletcher have been talking about them and I'm signing up for them when I finish a degree."

 

Josette leans around Professor Druid at dinner when they come back from Archimedes.

 

"Got a letter from Becka, she and Idina had little girls, Alexander and George had boys."

 

"Oh really," she purrs and laughs. "What happened to 'get away from me with those looks, go knock each other up'?"

 

"She realized she was turning 40 the next year and was feeling old. She's turning 42, the kids are turning two. They've had a couple more power outages on earth as dumbasses try to get their own way on everything." Principal Madison and President Bartlett sigh and nod. "They're looking at homeschooling the younger ones, in addition to Ray's son there's a boy a year older from the other people on Mars. Becka says Danita's grumbling, Ray finally talked her into getting a masters and she was two classes from finishing it when the power went out this last time."

 

"Damn it not now. I was so fucking close to finishing the damn thing?" Professor Eppes asks with a smirk.

 

"Exactly. Ray was not happy since he was that close to getting Danita and Gabrielle finished with their masters. He made a joke about them doing it deliberately but Danita said if she'd done that, she'd have done it before she started the damn thing." Nods and laughter from everybody around them.

 

"Did the boys celebrate finishing the doctorate?" President Bartlett asks. Josette smirks and he chuckles. "I reminded them that this meant they were fair game for Granda and Dr. Blake. And passed along the degrees Amanda and Professor Fletcher are looking at."

 

"Meeting tomorrow night after dinner."

 

"Thank you everybody for coming, I know some of you had to delay your classes so I'll make this brief." Principal Madison looks at everybody in the auditorium. "Earth is entering a zero-population period, the end of next year at the latest. And it's going to be a long one. The experts are projecting another 29 years."

 

"Shit." Everybody that came up from with the school or the orphans looks at the others. "Earth periodically enters times where there are no pregnancies, nobody knows why it happens it just does. They last at least twenty years, some twenty-five, and a handful of times twenty-nine years. It happened last in the 1900s, in the late 80s. Josette likens it to somebody saying 'okay, we got enough people' and flipping a cosmic switch."

 

"Others have said the same thing." Somebody says from the seats. "Nobody knows why it happens despite all the scientists spouting theories."

 

"And the crackpots." Somebody else snorts. "How long?"

 

"We're expecting no new students in thirteen to fourteen years with the school closing a few years after that. With the school closed for at least twenty years after that."

 

"Staffing?"

 

"Dad's keeping everybody employed though they'll be switching to other areas. We're also seeing some public schools not reopening with older teachers retiring, especially if there's no young teachers coming out of university to replace them." The teachers nod.

 

"Is all the unemployment going to affect the economy?" President Bartlett asks.

 

"No, we've experienced this before and as schools close teachers will find other employment. Was yours affected?"

 

"Yes, there was a good bit of unemployment when the American schools closed. Not as bad as the great depression or even the recessions but for a while it was rough as people were competing for jobs. With teachers leaving as their grade empties it should be easier."

 

"What about the colony dimension and city-ship?"

 

"They don't think no births on Earth will affect the colony dimension, but it's going to be a few years before people are settled enough to start having children." Nods from everybody. "It was a few years on Haven before we started having children and we basically moved everything overnight. As for the city-ship there's still going to be workers to build it, by the time they find a world and start making colony plans Earth will be having children again."

 

"They'd need a good influx of supplies. . .and that means money. And a way to make more of what they need. That was the problem with our Mars colony, even if big business hadn't fucked around and put it in a spot they knew had a very good chance of getting hit by space debris, there was nothing there that would make money for the colony or big business. Even if they didn't want to believe it."

 

"I can see the city-ship mining asteroids first."

 

"There's a good number of mining colonies in science fiction."

 

"We did a good bit of asteroid mining in the beginning on the seventh planet and selling it to Earth."

 

The next morning Josette, Doc, Charles, and Matthew head off to the other planets to pick up their recycling. Some of it is moved to other planets and Doc looks at her.

 

"Plastic for the buildings. There's files on the server for kit homes if you don't want to design your own." They look everything over on the way back.

 

"Reminds me of the kit homes you saw in the old sears-roebuck catalogs." Pat says, looking at the files when they return. Josette is putting the rest of the school's recycling on the ship while David is taking care of the garbage.

 

"There's builders that still specialize in them." Anna says, walking through with a flatbed cart of boxes. "We got their drawings and plans as part of the supplies when we first moved to Haven. We've added to them over the years, especially with homes coming up from Earth being added onto."

 

"Are the finals done?" Amber helps her start putting food away in the first floor kitchens.

 

"Yes, the teachers will be busy the rest of the week putting grades in the system while the graduating students are doing laundry and packing up the last of their belongings. Eighth day is Thanksgiving and ninth day we'll be heading back to Earth."

 

"Did Josette e-mail Madison the book outlines?" Alexander asks, coming through with another cart.

 

"This morning before everybody headed off."

 

"Is this from yesterday?"

 

"Yep, once it was cooled we started moving everything so we have room for everything we're canning today to cool."

 

"How long will you be canning?"

 

"Should be three more days, this is the last of the late harvest. Next week we'll till the plants under for the winter."

 

"Are the cisterns empty?"

 

"Yes, we started them draining last week. We'll clean them next week and cover them for the winter. Start seedlings upstairs, start working on the Lights Festival decorations, and put away the offworld harvests when Josette brings them out. But after next week it will be quiet until spring planting."

 

"You are evil!" Madison says a few days after Thanksgiving Earth time. Josette smirks as she settles in the chair in her office. "Sales on your new book." She slides over papers. Josette flips her a thumb drive. "Sample chapters, I did a lot of writing nights after the harvests."

 

"Quilting books?" She asks as she copies the files.

 

"Second set of two of the new eighteen next year my year, and I got jumped with more." Madison laughs at her hangdog expression. She tosses her another thumbdrive as she gets that one back. "A couple of short stories. . .be warned. One is very. . .weird and the other. . .is for adults only. I know your friend was complaining about not having any good smut for her line."

 

Madison calls her friend and e-mails her a copy of the file, she's busy reading it and blushing bright red. Later that night she gets very happy with her toys, looking up when her friend walks into the bedroom, plucking the dildo from her vagina and replacing it with her dick.

 

"I'm going to make you scream." she says as they kiss.

 

"About damn time you two got together." Jessica says the next morning when Madison and Joanne walk into the office. Looking around Joanne kisses her full on the lips. "You're in the middle tonight."

 

"I'm still sore from last night." Madison whines.

 

"We'll be gentle." they smirk. "Talk to your client and see if she has any other stories for me." She walks off swaggering and Madison moans. She's going to be soooo fucked tonight.

 

"Yep." Jessica smirks, goosing the other woman before she walks off.

 

Madison winces as she sits down, even with soaking she is sore from last night and if she's not pregnant she will be tonight. Turning on her computer she sends Josette an e-mail, getting a sniggering one back a couple hours later and a massive attachment. Reading she moans and sends it to Joanne.

 

A couple days later Josette chuckles and waves Madison to a overstuffed seat, Joanne and Jessica taking seats on the couch. "Been there, felt that."

 

"Yes, with the eight of you I'm sure you have. Joanne Parker, this is Josette Takahawa. Do you have any more in the fucking fairy tales universe? You left that story rather wide open."

 

"Three books in the need to be beta'd stage, one I'm currently writing, and outlines for a set of tie-ins about the 'evil' scientist. How and why he's doing this. A couple prequels. . .one with the two girls and one with the boy. Possible books about some of the others in the new kingdom." All three women nod in satisfaction. "I can see the interest in that and I'll add a section after the story saying there's more books coming out." Joanne makes a note on the notepad in front of her as they talk.

 

David opens the tesseracts and the students and employees walk through, students heading to the auditorium to have their bags checked as Josette starts delivering containers and joins the others in the dorm a couple hours later.

 

"Everything for Haven delivered?"

 

"Yep, I'll drop off the rest when I take out the offworld harvests. Decorations?"

 

"Brought out and moved to various rooms so we can start putting them up."

 

The lights and decorations go up over the next few days, the others seeing the buildings at the school and in town being similarly decorated. It's beginning to turn colder and they see wagons being loaded up with the fake wood to be delivered to various buildings.

 

"They're getting ready for winter."

 

"The furnace was running this morning when I got up and they had to close the windows a couple days ago."

 

Back at the dorm Josette brings out a roll of the thick fabric, bring out complimentary colors for the top, back, and binding and cutting it out before it goes on racks.

 

"Is that going in the books?" Alexander asks from the door.

 

"No, the fabrics can't be replicated commercially."

 

"Nice and thick." He touches the fabric.

 

"It was used in blankets, I'm using it as batting." He nods as the fabric is put on the table before they walk downstairs.

 

The next couple of weeks fly by and the others come out for the Lights Festival. Hannah bites her hand to keep from laughing when she hears about the new quilts and Bronwen cackles. Josette gives them the hairy eyeball, making them laugh harder.

 

"Madison says the new book is selling well. Joanne says the fairy tale short story is going in the next short story collection that's going to the printer in a couple weeks. There's going to be a small blurb in the authors section so they're expecting some more interest in your other books." Josette sighs and looks up at the ceiling, the others chuckling.

 

"Did you finally get everything unpacked?"

 

"Yes and the totes are in their usual room."

 

"Order from Ellis's?"

 

"Everything should be in when I go in for midterms. If not when we take in the students." The door to Headquarters opens and Josette's waved inside.

 

"Josette, do you have any of the full-grown buildings copied?"

 

"Yes and the ships all say that being in 'limbo' won't bother them. I'd been thinking of bringing one out next year instead of planting one, we'd need to dome it for a couple years even with the furnaces but we know transplanted crops need a little extra protection." Doc nods. "Now, coffee and oranges?"

 

"Planted last year, they should be producing next year but won't be enough to pick until year after next." He nods in satisfaction and Josette heads off. The others look at her. "Talking about bringing out a building next year and the new oranges and coffee I planted on the first planet and offworld."

 

"Didn't I hear something about Doc planting on the 10th planet?"

 

"Yes, they've been talking about it. Either doming the orchard or planting in the tropics."

 

"We could do the same thing here." David snorts.

 

"I've been thinking about it, The reason why we didn't start planting them on Haven was because we didn't have anybody in that area even though it's not that hard to fly out every few days for an hour or so."

 

Nods from the others. "If we have to grow more we can talk about planting in the tropics. Maybe even on more than one planet so we got fresh coming in all the time." More nods.

 

"We're going to have snow by dark." David says as they walk to the dining hall.

 

"Yep, it will pass through in a couple days just in time for the Lights Festival. Give the festival the 'ahmbeeance' the nitwits on Earth are always drawling about." The others snigger and nod.

 

Pictures are taken of the snowfall over the next couple of days and after the Lights Festival the dorm empties out.

 

"The others aren't going to be making the meeting." Josette says as she slides into her seat in the government building the first day of the new semester. "They're going over the list of what needs to be worked on over the next couple of years."

 

"Anything new?"

 

"Something Doc, David, and I have been been talking about over the last couple weeks. Planting in the tropics."

 

President Bartlett nods. "You did just enlarge several of your crops either on the first planet or offworld."

 

"Yep, if we plant in the tropics here, the sorting or animal planets, Archimedes, and maybe the 9th or 10th planets we'd have them all coming in at different times so it would be fresh instead of popping everything in stasis."

 

"Something to think about in the future. We didn't plant there in the beginning because we didn't have anybody out there but it's not that hard to fly out a couple times a week." Josette nods.

 

"Do we have more planets for offworld harvests."

 

"Yes, I was thinking of one for citrus fruits. . .eventually."

 

"Juices." Principal Madison says. Josette nods.

 

"I understand from Dad you have another agent?"

 

"Yeah, that fairy tale fic I was telling you about a couple years ago, one of Madison's friends was complaining she wasn't getting any good smut for her line so I passed it along. She loved it and asked if I had any more. . .I sent Madison more of my adult writing and she asked if I had any more in the fairy tale universe. She's already brought the first three."

 

"Printers?"

 

"I got jumped with more quilting book ideas last fall while everybody went to Earth for Christmas, twenty-eight new books plus another eight from the others. They should be ready to start printing in a few years."

 

"Get hit by more quilts?" President Bartlett asks.

 

"Eight more notebooks." She says sourly. Her loving family sniggers.

 

"Are you planting on the first planet this year?"

 

"Yes, I'm going out later this week."

 

Doc looks over when Josette comes in, putting the bag of doughnuts in her first floor room. "How was the meeting?" She was gone longer than he expected.

 

"Quiet, the only thing new is the possibility of planting in the tropics in the future and possibly adding an offworld harvest of citrus trees." Doc nods as Josette settles on the couch. "The closer we come to the school closing the more plans we'll make for the future."

 

"Shipments?"

 

"While not supplying the school, we'll still get stuff like books, music, DVDS, we'll still have the government orders."

 

"Did you get the shipment of the new yarn?"

 

"Yeah, I brought it back when we came back, I gotta bring out yarn here this afternoon, I brought out yarn in town after the meeting." Doc nods in satisfaction. "The stores?"

 

"Probably will need supplies this fall. I usually bring out two years worth of the major stuff, if they run out of something before then they'll grab a flyer and pick up what they need."

 

"Josette, is that thick fabric . . ."

 

"From the plants? Yes, they used it for blankets. . .I'm using it for batting in a quilt. They use a slightly different version for outdoor clothes. Just as warm but not as bulky. More like fleece or those insulated fabrics. We don't need anything like that yet, we have plenty of outerwear."

 

"The winters on Earth made sure scientists created light-weight clothing that still kept you warm when you had to be out." Alexander says dryly as he comes through the pocket doors with a package of toilet paper. "We need more kitty litter, the room is getting empty."

 

Josette's eyes glaze over a second and ten pallets appear in the hallway, being emptied and put away. "Do we need to think about making it?"

 

"Something to think about in the future." David says, making a note. "Same with animal food." A cat jumps from the floor to his leg to his shoulder and then Josette. "You couldn't walk six more steps and jump directly on her?" he asks with a smirk. Josette sniggers and pets her.

 

"Classes?"

 

"I'm gonna try to finish Princeton this year, I'm halfway through the last degree on the Green Hornet, those are the only two I'm close to completing."

 

"The rest of you?"

 

"The twins and Alan are going to be three years into their degrees, Susan, CJ, and I just started new ones last year. And the boys are pissing off everybody by taking a year off to relax after their doctorates." Alexander snorts and pets the meowing monster at his feet. Food is scooped into bowls and animals emerge from everywhere to eat. Looking at the time they head to the dining hall for lunch.

 

After bringing out the yarn Josette settles in her workroom, looking up as Doc walks in the door. He looks at the fabric on the table, feeling it when Josette nods. "This would be good for blankets. Have you found a plant that grows boots?"

 

"No, but they have to have had a way to make foot coverings." She sends off a message to the ships. Then eeps when she disappears. Reappearing she sighs and pulls Doc along with her. They return to Haven an hour later. "I guess that answers the question about boots."

 

"You went back?" David asks.

 

"Before I arrived the first time. I found a lot more stuff than the first time around. And we rescued a drifting colony ship. The colonists were gone, but we were able to rescue all their supplies. Ulonda is accessing the computer system for their history and a list of what they were carrying."

 

"How much more?"

 

"Oh *tons. . .literally." Josette pulls on a sweater from her first floor room before her eyes begin to glaze over. "We're going to have a humdinger of a storm blowing in by third day."

 

"How long?"

 

"Two weeks of heavy-ass snow, three weeks to dig out."

 

"Fuck, by third day?"

 

"Yeah, it will start in the morning." David starts sending off the message as Alexander and Michael head downstairs to start charging extra batteries.

 

"We'll get the animals in tomorrow night and dial up six weeks of food." Susan says. The others nod. Elsewhere others are making plans as the notice goes out. A couple days later the sky starts getting dark early and more than one person silently thanks Josette's weather sense that gives them a heads up as they settle in for a long storm.

 

"How is it on Haven?" Dr. Cross asks at the testing center.

 

"We're slowly digging out, the animals are enjoying the fresh air even if we haven't got everything dug out yet. We've nearly got everything shoveled out. . . and I got more seeds."

 

"From there?" Dr. Stark asks, looking at her.

 

"Yeah, Doc was asking me if I'd found any boots. I said not yet but they had to have had foot coverings when I disappeared. When I came back I took Doc with me, seems we'd been there before I arrived the first time."

 

"Anything new?"

 

"A lot." Josette shivers and looks towards the door.

 

"Yes, we're expecting a dump on us for four days rain tomorrow. Our second of the year but it will put the plants off to a good start. Have you gone to the first planet yet?"

 

"Yeah, I went the next day since we'd be blown in for a while. The building's looking good." She sends them a file and they nod as the buzzer sounds and Sheriff Carter comes over after using the bathroom.

 

Josette settles on a couch a couple hours later, looking out the sliding glass door to see the maintenance working outside. Pushing herself to her feet she checks the time and heads upstairs, going to check on the power source she had created last year. It's running well and she heads back to her workroom to start cutting out pieces for blocks.

 

The next month passes quickly, Josette heading off to the first planet to green pick some of the peppers and tomatoes, selling them to the cafes and commercial kitchen before putting the rest in stasis.

 

The last of the containers are placed on Brigadoon as Josette, Ellis, and representatives from the other suppliers go over the orders. A couple hours later Josette walks into the Albatross Nest in Albatross, calmly settling in mid-air.

 

"The orders are in, is there anything that you wanted me to bring out right away?" She knows the others would have brought out what they needed right away or wanted with them.

 

Marilyn pulls up the order and looks it over, handing the PADD over her shoulder to Agatha when she's done. "Not that I can see Josette."

 

"Neither can I, so wait until spring and bring out the containers then. Now, did you get hit with more books?" Josette's moan makes everybody in the building snicker. "Yes, 28 new books and another eight from the other eighteen. And yes, I got hit with more quilts too." More laughter. "And I've sold more books to an erotica line."

 

"Does that include the princess story?" Suzie asks.

 

"Yes, that's going in a short story collection to be printed in a few months. And it's going to be a series. The others are expecting more sales with that release."

 

"Quilting books?"

 

"Three and four of the last eighteen being debuted this year."

 

Josette leans between Frances and Elaine at dinner. "The orders were in, is there anything you wanted right away? Otherwise I'll bring them out this spring with the others."

 

"We're good Josette, we brought everything we needed right away. Your purchases?"

 

"I'll be moving stuff for weeks." The others snigger at her. "Yeah, I know. Own damn fault. Poor me, poor me, poor poor pitiful me."

 

"Classes?" President Bartlett asks.

 

"I'm concentrating on the Princeton classes, trying to get it done this year. That and a degree on the Green Hornet from Montague are the only ones I'm anywhere close to finishing."

 

"Clocks?"

 

"There was so much information that it's been split into two basic degrees, then the hands-on classes." Josette looks at Principal Madison. "Do you see the cooking school staying open much longer?"

 

"No, Dad already said not to expect any new teachers in a couple years. We've got tons of classes on the servers." Everybody nods. "I'd say the classes here will be helpful for the colony but they'd have to have a way to cook beyond over a stove." Josette nods. "Most recipes have evolved beyond that. No fix it and forget it there."

 

"Ooohhhh, weightless cooking." Amanda smirks. She grins at everybody's moan. "I'm sure somebody would try it if they had a way to recreate weightlessness."

 

Josette facepalms, looks up at the ceiling, and grabs her PADD to make a couple notes before going in the back room.

 

Calvin gives the e-mail from Haven that look when it arrives. Jane chuckles. "Who did what now?"

 

"Josette was wondering if the cooking school was going to stay open and James told her that they weren't going to be getting any new teachers in a couple years. The other teachers nodded that they had tons of classes on the servers, there's not really that much more they could learn." Nods from Jane and Simone. "That devolved into whether the classes could be of use in the colony dimension but most recipes have evolved past a wooden cook stove."

 

"Which is what they'll be using for both heat and cooking for years. That and fireplaces. They need to learn how to cook with those."

 

"Yes, then Amanda mentioned weightless cooking."

 

Simone blinks and counts to ten as Jane cackles. "If they could replicate weightlessness, I'm sure somebody would. But how would you keep the food in the pot? The first time you took off the lid to stir it would start floating away."

 

"Probably one of those 'reality' cooking shows." Maria snorts from the door. "Jane, that order is here."

 

"I'll be right out."

 

Josette can be heard cursing from the vicinity of her second floor room the next morning.

 

"Get hit by a bunny?"

 

"Too late for that. The damn hot water heater went out, I relit it and warmed the water with a fireball so I could get a shower."

 

"At least you can do that now."

 

"And the entire dorm isn't without hot water because one went out."

 

Josette tosses Bethany a thumb drive that afternoon. "Something Amanda said a couple days ago bunnied me. I ended up writing all night." She looks at Doc. "And yes, I slept too."

 

Bethany is cackling as she reads, the others getting the file off the server.

 

"And what brought that on?"

 

"I asked Dad a couple days ago if he saw the cooking school staying open much longer. We've basically learned every cooking style there is out there." Pat nods. "We have tons of classes and recipes on the servers and can replicate any of the books."

 

Josette nods. "Dad said there's not going to be any new teachers in two years. I made a comment about how the classes could be used for the colony but they don't have the appliances we have. Can't fix it and forget it there."

 

"They'd have to have classes in fireplace and cook stove cooking. I know there's some out there but it's not everyday cooking."

 

"Exactly. Then Amanda made a comment about weightless cooking. That" Josette points at the computer screen in front of them. "Was the result."

 

"I heard some unpleasant language this morning young lady." Doc looks at Josette.

 

"No hot water. I had to relight it and used a fireball to warm the water so I could get a hot shower. And I'm very glad we can do that and one hot water heater going out doesn't affect the entire dorm anymore." Pat nods vigorously.

 

"So how long do you think it will be until your books are available in the others dimension?" Bethany smirks. Josette sighs. "I give it another couple of years, I noticed the files of the older books had been accessed." Doc smiles, he'd have done the same. "I don't know if they know a tame agent like Bronwen did. That's why I had a couple years before they set me up with an agent in Mom Clarinda's dimension."

 

"Did the orders come in?"

 

"Yes, yours and mine are the only ones I'm bringing out since we have the room inside for the containers. The others I'll bring out this spring." Pat nods.

 

"How is the building on the first planet?"

 

"Growing by leaps and bounds." She brings out pictures taken from when she was on the first planet. Doc nods in satisfaction. "I figured on undoming it at the end of the year. By then it should be well settled."

 

"We'll have to see."

 

"Speaking of buildings. . ." Josette brings up pictures that has Pat moaning. "One of their major sewing buildings. I was planning on bringing it out later this year. We'd have to dome it for a couple of years, even with the furnaces until it got settled. But the question is. . .where? Outside of town? Albatross? In between? Or somewhere else? We can add a tesseract link for people who can't walk to it."

 

"How big is it?"

 

"Big. A good two hundred fifty thousand square feet. . .per floor. And it's ten floors."

 

"We'll figure out a place to put it."

 

Josette brings up another file and they nod. "I'll bring it out after we plant."

 

"What's going to happen to the cooking school?"

 

"The universities are taking over the buildings for classes and stuff." Doc nods in satisfaction.

 

Eighth day Josette flies back to Brigadoon and starts delivering the containers to the dorm and Headquarters, Pat telling her where to put everything.

 

"Get everything delivered?" David asks at dinner.

 

"Yep. Now I just gotta start bringing everything out. That's going to take the longest." Alan sniggers.

 

Josette sighs as she settles in the steaming tub, idly warming the water further with a fireball.

 

/Are we looking at a storm?/

 

/Yes, I was just looking because you're not the only one cold./ Anna scowls. /Not as bad a the other one but it's accompanied by bitter ass cold that's not going away by as far as the weather satellite can forecast./

 

/Wonderful, at least we've got good cold-weather gear for when we have to go out. All the farmers know to dress for foul weather./

 

The next morning Josette heads out to the ranch with David, the animals being let out as they empty the waste containers onto where the manure pile started last year is under the snow. The containers are put back as the animals walk outside.

 

"Enjoy it while you can guys, we're getting snow and bitter ass cold." The horses neigh and the cows and goats seem to sigh. Alexander chuckles as they head back to the dorm.

 

"Get the animals out?"

 

"Yep, and emptied the waste containers. The chicken manure is aging well, we'll be able to bag it up this summer."

 

"What's going to happen to the cooking school stock?" The school had flocks of chickens, geese, ducks, and a few cows for milk and cheese.

 

"They're going to Assyrian since they're so close." The others nod.

 

The next couple months pass slowly since the damn cold snap doesn't seem to want to go away but finally it starts getting warmer and Josette spreads manure on the fields, plowing it under a few days before they plant.

 

"How many classes did you get in?" Calvin asks when Josette comes out to bring back students to get supplies. She's also visiting local chain stores with the others for this and that.

 

"Nineteen, not counting the nine I took from Princeton. I wanna get another nine in this summer and finish the degree this fall."

 

Josette puts the bags of DVDS she'd picked up at the dollar stores and the clearance bins at Walmart on her table when they return to Haven.

 

"You talk to Madison and the others?"

 

"Yeah, the book with the fairy tale is due out by the time I go out again for summer midterms to take back student belongings with the first book due out a few months after that. Madison, Joanne, and Jessica are just back from maternity leave. Madison had identical twin boys, the other two had fraternal girls. . .each."

 

The others chuckle. "Did you send out pressies for a baby shower?"

 

"Yep."

 

"Is multiples. . ."

 

"This close to the zero-population period normal? Yep." Josette brings out three bags and a couple boxes. "Books on what happens, Granda already weeded out the self-published psycho rants. I copied them on the ship and sent them to the others." Doc looks into the room and nods at the familiar boxes and bags on the table. "Who all got them?"

 

"You, Clark, Thomas, Dad, Dr. Stark on the 8th and 9th planets, Doc on the 9th planet, and Doc on the 10th period. President Bartlett will probably read Dad's copies after he's done."

 

"What's the population?"

 

"Hovering around five and a half billion, they figure under three at the end. That's just from old age deaths, not counting accidents, illness, and people moving to the colony dimension."

 

Josette starts putting away the DVDS she'd purchased as well as the new clothes she'd picked up on sale.

 

"Supplies?"

 

"Being delivered right now, including the containers from our super duper uper schmuper orders last year." David sniggers. "The other planet stuff is going out later this week."

 

"Did you bring out that building you were talking about?"

 

"This morning, Doc probably just got back from there."

 

"I did when I found the books, is this everything?"

 

"After Granda weeded out the self-published psycho bullshit. That probably would have tripled the books. They're bleating about wanting their own colony, the government's about ready to punt their asses to one and make them sink or swim on their own."

 

"They'll pout." Susan snorts. "Because while that's what they said they wanted, when they get it it's a different matter."

 

"Yep. Because having to start a new settlement is hard. Hell, most people can't stand being without electricity for a few hours, how would they handle not having any power at all unless they had solar panels and even then it would take a few to run a regular house."

 

"No running water, flush toilets, and heat coming on automatically when it turns cold."

 

"Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of whiners."

 

Doc shakes his head as he counts the number of containers in the room Pat had set aside for them, He knows that if he opens one he'll find them all full*. . .so full that Josette will have to start bringing stuff out. And that Josette has at least twice as many containers.

 

"How many containers did Josette bring out for the others?"

 

"Just as many. Josette's going to have to bring stuff out before we can get into the containers."

 

"Because what you're looking for will be in the back." Doc chuckles. Pat sighs but nods. "Did you bring the building out?"

 

"We just came back. Pictures didn't do it justice. Even for me. And I'm not a crafter."

 

Frances and Elaine moan as they open the containers. Josette walks behind them. "If you want something right away tell me and I'll find it in the inventory, otherwise I'll start bringing stuff out until you can get in the containers."

 

"Thank you Josette, is this everything? For us anyway?"

 

"Yes, not counting the regular orders this summer."

 

"How long do you see the massive student numbers?"

 

"The year after the cooking school teachers head off, with class sizes starting to drop after that. Whether it's quick as parents pull their children closer to them or they stay nearly the same because there's parents out there who should have stuck with their damn purse dogs." President Bartlett chuckles as he walks to them, Mrs. Bartlett nodding frantically. "Either way we're not seeing any new students in ten years since there won't be younger kids. And when they do start having children it will be at least a decade after they start having larger class sizes, I'd say even longer than that."

 

"Which isn't a bad thing, this gives teachers more time to help each student."

 

The first day of the summer semester Josette leans back in her chair to take a break as David leans against her door frame. She disappears and reappears behind David a few seconds later, splitting off a dozen duplicates and sending off messages.

 

"Another planet lost?" David asks. She sighs and nods. The others arrive and they head off.

 

"A blue dwarf?" Thomas asks as the ships arrive.

 

"Yes, Atlantis says their sun shifted to the ultraviolet range and everybody and everything died from the increased radiation."

 

"Wasn't this . . ." Fargo begins to say.

 

"An old outer limits episode? Yes, I was thinking the same thing. But Earth didn't have a friendly planet that had gone through the same thing and sent music to help them change so exposure to the sun didn't kill them within hours." Josette sends off probes from the ships to start digging huge mass burial pits as more probes start bringing out bodies.

 

"Outer limits?"

 

"It's on the server, we found it on the trip back because I remembered the episode."

 

"Christmas is a horrible time to die." Doc says as more probes start shutting off electronics and emptying buildings.

 

"Is there a good time to die?" Dr. Stark says quietly. "For all that new years is all about one year dying as the next is born."

 

"Home in your bed surrounded by family and friends after a real long and happy life?" Josette asks. The others finally nod.

 

"Okay." Josette looks at the others on the trip back to Haven and the other planets. "Does anybody want one of the power facilities brought out right away?"

 

The others think a moment and slowly shake their heads. "Thomas, Dr. Stark, what about the other dimension?"

 

"It won't be needed for decades, if not centuries." Thomas says. "And we have other sources of power if needed." Dr. Stark nods.

 

"Doc? Your Earth?"

 

"They're working on other forms of energy, bringing that out might cause them to backslide." The others nod. "Our Earth would have been the same."

 

"What are you thinking Josette?" Everybody recognizes that look.

 

"This is very similar to what Becka was talking about building in Europe, I was going to go out in a while and see if she wanted one as a backup. They've got stuff in limbo, it would just be a matter of adding it to her files." The others nod slowly.

 

Josette drops off the other supplies on the trip to the other planets, settling the ships on Haven as she starts an inventory of everything.

 

"When do you plan on going out?"

 

"Probably tomorrow."

 

Everybody that Josette had asked to come to the dorm is waiting on her when she returns from Becka's dimension. They walk into the library at Headquarters.

 

"Okay, a whiny asshole trying to get his own way talked his butt buddy the lord high muckety-muck on the Supreme Court to pass an illegal injunction barring Becka from employing anybody to put up the power facility they'd been planning and turned on the machine that shut off the power to make sure he got what he wanted. So I offered Becka the power facility we harvested since the injunction only kept people from building it. . ."

 

Evil smirks that Josette knows is identical to the one on her own face greets that news. "Sooooooo whiner didn't get what he wanted after all." Dr. Stark purrs.

 

"Nope." Josette leans back in the chair, her stocking feet going up on the table until Doc pushes them off. "We brought out the boxes and people were lining up to get them once they saw people starting to get electricity back. In trade I took all the supplies that would have been used for the power facility if it was built." Josette sends the inventory of supplies to the others. "Is there anything that is needed right away? We don't need it for a power facility, I can bring out one and the boxes when we want to go that route, the others wanted to make sure I wasn't shorting our planets offering them that one, I told them that once something is in 'limbo' I can bring out multiple copies of it." Nods from the others as they start scrolling through the list of shipping containers. "Also. . ." she looks at the others from the 9th planet. "I offered to bring out a group of people to build the ship on their planet since the government took over the job of building it with the settlement in Europe gone bye-bye with the power facility not being built."

 

"And we aaaalllll know how well the government can screw something up." Charles sighs. The others nod. "I'll let the others know they might be asked to come out and do that. Is the machinery still on?"

 

"Yes, so supplies are slow being delivered with only spring operated trucks on the roads."

 

Josette comes out of Headquarters and takes a deep breath, a cat winding around her ankles until she sits down, picks him up, and starts petting him.

 

"Nothing like a child or animal to get your over your gloomy thoughts." 9th planet Dr. Stark says as he comes out.

 

"Shouldn't that be a child, a pet, or a mate to get you over your gloomy thoughts?" Charles smirks.

 

Josette snorts in unison with both Dr. Starks. "They bring their own problems." David cackles behind them. "What?"

 

"We need more animal food."

 

"Cat or dog?"

 

"Both." She 'looks' to the containers and waves her hand, eighteen pallets appearing in the hallway. The large bags are put in a room along with the cases of cans. The now-empty pallets are put on the pile to be returned in a couple months when Josette goes out to bring back school supplies and take out students belongings.

 

"Do we have another barrel of the additive? This one's running low." Alan calls down the hall.

 

"I replicated a half-dozen last week, they're in the other room."

 

"When does your yarn come in?"

 

"Midterms. I gotta hit a few expos while I'm out there." Josette checks her calendar and nods. "Four."

 

"Shows?"

 

"Me next week in Momma Clarinda's dimension, the boys when the students are coming out after the Harvest Festival."

 

Dexter looks at the books. "Do you have any other books?"

 

Josette grumbles as the others snigger. "I'm writing them now."

 

"How many?"

 

"Too damn many. Thirty-six, eight of them quilts from this set since I could make three or even four books from some of them." Dexter shakes his head as they head off. After shopping for a few hours and eating at a restaurant they head to the rooms. The others are waiting on them. "Josette, M'Lynn wants to speak to you in a couple days. Do you have anything new?" The others snigger.

 

"Okayyyyy." Josette looks at M'Lynn. "I do have a new universe ready for print but I don't know about it selling here. It's got smut scenes." M'Lynn holds out a hand and she hands her the thumb drive and waves her off since she knows Josette has to get ready for her show.

 

M'Lynn arrives the next morning to find Josette blinking over a cup of coffee, Clarinda putting a bowl of oatmeal in front of her after she's drained it. David sniggers as he refills the cup and puts it in front of her again.

 

"How long were you signing books?"

 

"Hours." Josette sighs. "Dexter should be out tomorrow with the totals." She looks at her. "The universe?"

 

"Definitely smut. . .the higher ups are moaning and having trouble sitting if they're in relationships." The others snigger. "I got another agent out of that series and Madison, Jessica, and Joanne ended up pregnant with twins . . .each." The others blink and laugh. M'Lynn hands her the thumb drive and she puts it in her pocket, pulling out another one.

 

"I've got another series but I'm still working on the books." She hands over the other thumb drive and M'Lynn looks at the outline and sample chapters. "Are you planning more books in that universe?"

 

"Yes, I'm writing a fourth book in the series, I've got tie-ins outlined, a few about the 'villain' and why he's creating the new kingdom, some one shots about characters in the kingdom, and a couple prequels, one for the two girls and one for the boy."

 

"Do you have anything else?"

 

"Yes, but it's in the outline/sample chapters stage." Josette brings out another thumb drive as she takes the other one back, M'Lynn opening the files and looking everything over as she heads to shower and dress for the day. She comes out to everybody cackling. "Oh tell me you didn't pass along that damn weightless cooking story."

 

"Can you expand this into a book?" M'Lynn asks. Josette moan makes her smile. "Already have?"

 

"Yes, with five more stories in the outline phase because the fucking bunny howled last night when I laid down."

 

"I thought your room was a little too quiet last night." Clarinda says dryly.

 

"Everybody had already stayed up late to be with me when I was signing books, you needed some sleep."

 

"So did you." Black Jack says dryly.

 

"If I don't write it down I either forget it or the damn bunny keeps me up anyway." She sighs. Grabbing her PADD she starts making notes and puts it up.

 

Several weeks later for them Josette and the others return to Haven.

 

"How was it?" Doc asks from the doorway.

 

"Sold everything at the show, got tons of requests. Signed books for hours after the show. . ."

 

"Got tapped for books in the fairy tale universe, got tapped for books in the weightless cooking universe. . ." David chortles. Josette flips him off. "The new series got some interest too."

 

"Are you harvesting asteroids?"

 

"Yes, I noticed we were running low on raw materials and figured I'd do it when I went out to harvest the cotton and scrub trees. Just before the Harvest Festival." Doc nods as he makes a note on his PADD. The others will start getting in requests and Josette will make an announcement for any last minute special items before she goes.

 

Several weeks later Josette heads off to Calvin's Earth, picking up the school supplies before she arrives at the school. Waving a hand four piles of boxes and totes appear. Since both Jane and Maria are on the phone she drops the list of supplies Joyce needs and sends them the file for that dropoff, mouthing a number for each pile. Jane nods as she finishes the phone call and waves her to Calvin's office.

 

"That's an evil fic young lady."

 

Josette snorts. "I got jumped with making that into a full book and several more on top of it."

 

"How long are you here for?"

 

"About three weeks?" Josette looks at her PADD. "I got about four expos to attend, I'm putting in a bid for a supplier going out of business sale, and I gotta talk to Joanne about the fairy tales books since the short story is coming out this week."

 

"Another supplier?" Calvin asks.

 

"Some asshole is suing to have the business shut down. . .so he can have it. So they're selling everything."

 

Josette tosses Jessica a thumb drive the next day. "I can't stay, I gotta head to an expo. But you look like you could use a cheer me up. The babies keeping you up?"

 

"Yes, thank you god for Nannies."

 

Josette blinks as the buzzer for the gate sounds less than an hour after she got back from the expo. Turning on the camera she rolls her eyes up at the ceiling as she sees Jessica, Joanne, and Madison in a car.

 

"Were you waiting on me?" She asks, opening the door.

 

"Yes, we knew when you came home. That story is evil."

 

"It's being turned into a full book. . .series."

 

"Is the book going to be different?"

 

"Somewhat."

 

"Then we can publish the short story online as a preview of the book."

 

Josette slumps onto the couch when she returns to Haven.

 

"How long were you gone?"

 

"Nearly five weeks, I stayed longer to talk to the people over the sale of the supplier and visited Vegas. I'm on the short list since I'm not 'I can sell this, this, that', I've got plans for the future." The others nod. "The announcement that they're entering a zero-population period is going to be in the next databurst." She tells Principal Madison since he came in the room. He sighs. "That's going to be rough on the students."

 

"There's been hints over the last couple of years. I think they've been halfway expecting it." Principal Madison sighs and nods.

 

"So did you break Vegas?"

 

"Not for a lack of trying." Josette chuckles. She brings up a file that she sends to Principal Madison. "The latest on the planned construction around the school. The mall is going to be open by the time we bring the students back in a couple months."

 

"I'm sure that will have them all excited. Now, are you going out to Doc's dimension?"

 

"Yes, in a couple months and again after Thanksgiving. Vegas, Vegas, Vegas. . . money, money, money. To pay for the university the others want me to attend if nothing else." Principal Madison sniggers at her hangdog look. "How are you coming on your classes?"

 

"Good, I'm five out of the nine classes I wanted to get in to Princeton this summer, this leaves a semester this fall when it will be asshole to elbows with the offworld harvests."

 

"Anything new happening?"

 

"I handed Jessica the cooking story because it looked like she needed cheering up with the babies keeping them up, all three of them were at my door an hour after I got back from the expo. They're going to be putting the short story on the website before the first book comes out. There was a good bit of talk about the fairy tale story when that short story collection came out, Madison says the author section for me got a few hits."

 

Josette blinks as stuff appears in subspace and is moved. "More stuff being replaced?"

 

"Yeah, the furnaces. Easier to move it in subspace rather than try to bring it out." One of Josette's other selves says as the parts are shot with the recycling gun to fill crystals with raw materials.

 

"Did you get anything?"

 

"Tons, I'm delivering it right now upstairs. And . . ." Josette sends Pat, Principal Madison, and the others lists. "I'm going to be ordering monthly or every other month from the places the schools do, let me know if you want something special beyond the usual."

 

"Did you take out the empty containers and pallets?" Principal Madison asks, looking the lists over.

 

"Yep, though we're going to be getting this or even larger shipments every other month until the school closes so we have lots of stuff on hand. Granda said something about making a stasis chamber like we have the containers in to store stuff."

 

"We need a larger freezer." Anna complains.

 

"I brought a commercial one out a couple years ago." Josette says. She looks at her and she tells her where it is. "Okay, that will last us a while."

 

"Why?"

 

"We were outgrowing the chest freezers and stasis chambers. This way we've got the room to get in supplies when we're not getting in shipments after the school closes. And Granda said he and the others are putting up a building on the school grounds for a freezer, they want to add onto ours too. And see if Headquarters needs more room." Principal Madison and Doc sigh but nod.

 

"Are you still looking into duplicating recipes for the frozen stuff?"

 

"Yes, I've been talking to the teachers about it on and off. I've got a good list of recipes on the server. The problem is they make this stuff in huge batches and while I got the factory upstairs, we don't need it yet." She makes a get the hell away from me fingers gesture.

 

"Bunny wanting you to start writing cookbooks?" Abby snorts.

 

"Yes dammit." The others chuckle.

 

"Canning factory too?" David asks with a smirk.

 

"Yes dammit."

 

"How much frozen stuff do you have on the ships?"

 

"Tons from the lost planets, there's entire buildings that are deep freezers full of frozen food that I bring out a little at a time. There's also buildings that are full of boxes full of stuff. And I swear the buildings are getting bigger whenever I go out."

 

"Quite possible, they'd be bursting at the seams otherwise." Doc says.

 

Josette looks in the basement a couple weeks later. "Huh?"

 

"Second furnace system to help with bad winters, one of us can throw a fireball in it to add more heat." Josette nods as she checks the list of what has been replaced. She shakes her head. "Yeah but this was one of the major things. The other stuff should go quicker."

 

Josette flies out to the new building, the door opening as she approaches the building. She looks through everything for an hour before patting the wall and flying off. She knows the others have been out since the building was brought out.

 

She checks the outside of the windows back at the dorm, seeing if any need replacing rather than just periodic caulking. The roof and solar panels are checked next and she heads back inside.

 

"Windows and roof?" David had seen her outside.

 

"Good and good." He nods and makes a note of that. "That saves a crew from GD opening the windows and poking their heads outside to inspect everything. With so many rooms and so many buildings that would take days."

 

"Or putting up scaffolding. I know window washers did it but that'd be a good bit of work just to inspect the windows. Something we're going to have to do when the dorms empty. Remind me to ask Dad if he wants me to inspect the school's windows when everybody's gone for Christmas." David nods.

 

"Josette, message for you in the databurst. You got it." Alan calls from the basement door. "They want a call as soon as possible to handle the arrangements."

 

"I'll head off tomorrow."

 

Three weeks later on Earth she lifts off on Ulonda, she'd gone to Vegas again to replace some of the money she'd spent on everything. Doc had sighed but Charles and Dr. Cross had chuckled at her reasoning.

 

"How much did you get?"

 

"Tons, I've got an inventory on the PADD. Some asshole playing mas machos about not getting what he wants, why should the guy who's been doing this for years have all the customers? He should own the business. . .his wife spends enough there, they deserve that money back'. Though his wife has her own money because she's a self-made billionaire and he's never spent a dime on anything there."

 

"Ahhh, he getting his ass handed to him.

 

"Probably, he'd made a grand appearance at the business and was stunned to find it shuttered with the stock gone and employees hired somewhere else. . .at one of the guys other businesses. He was sure he could just walk right in and take over. . .how dare they sell everything on him?'"

 

"Don't they know who he is?" Pat snorts from the door.

 

"Exactly, I'm sure the shit will be hitting the fan in the next databurst. He'll bluster, demand, whine, pout, finally walk away in defeat after having to pay the other guy damages, the supplier will open back up and everything will go back to normal."

 

"Always going to be somebody who wants what everybody else has but is 'above' working for it." Doc says from the doorway.

 

"Yep, look at the assholes who tried taking over Haven and Becka says there were people demanding they be given Mars once they found people have moved there. They walked off pouting when they were told if they wanted their own planet to put together money for the ship, supplies, and find colonists. They didn't want to live on another planet, they just wanted another planet so they could sell off 'honorium' plots, spaces nobody could even stand on but they could say they owned land on another planet. . .they'd be wich."

 

Pat says something uncomplimentary.

 

"Yeah, from what Becka was grumbling about the industrialists wanted their own dimension and she found one that can't grow food. They'd have to bring in everything and put up housing and food production buildings for their employees. They're pouting."

 

"Isn't that what they'd have to do for a colony?" Alan snorts as he comes through. "We've got to take care of seeds next week."

 

"Yeah, the ones that we left for seed must be dry by now. Alex said they'd been taking care of the stuff they left for seed a couple weeks ago."

 

"How did Thomas handle that in his growing area?"

 

"Alex said he and Tim's father owned stock in a horse farm outside Gotham, they got a couple loads of manure in September, adding it to the outside garden and shoveling it down an opening where the kids were waiting with wheelbarrows, then spreading it on his raised beds. A week later it was tilled under and they planted.

 

"Have you checked the building recently?"

 

"Yesterday." Doc nods in satisfaction as Josette disappears. She reappears and sighs, walking to the screen. "Thomas, come over here with Clark. I think I just found a way to save Earth. No, correction. I know I just found a way to save Earth. . .and why the population was staying steady." She, Doc, Thomas, and Clark Kent head off to Atlantis when they arrive, arriving home an hour later.

 

"Did you save Thomas's Earth?" Pat asks.

 

"375,000 people. Orphans from all races and countries on their planet twenty-one and under and their support personnel including schools, pets, and supplies. They were going to be sent away because it was an 'us vs. them, we're soooo much better because we have families'." Pat snorts. "And it only takes an accident to turn them into orphans?"

 

"Oh that would never happen." Josette drawls. "Morons. We already knew that humanity is basically stupid." The others nod and sigh. "I can't say it was all us vs. them, there were several hundred families that came with them to get away from the stupidity of their government. Many of whom were orphans themselves."

 

"Made families."

 

"Yep. Something the morons in the community didn't want to think about. Because if they had made their own families, they weren't better than they were."

 

The yearly and second crops start coming in and Josette heads off to harvest asteroids and meteors, delivering everything to the manufacturing satellite or the sorting planet before returning to Haven.

 

"You were right about the whining, the idiot tried suing demanding the money from the sale. No dice. Demanding that the business reopen. . .no dice. Oh it will reopen, after he pays for all new supplies . . .because the courts found what he did was illegal. Now he's pouting."

 

"Because everybody knows he's a manipulative asshole. What everybody already knew but now it's confirmed." Josette snorts.

 

"Yep, he's moaning about how his good name has been ruined." everybody in earshot snorts. "His wife kicked him out of her house, has filed for divorce, and he lost his cushy positions in her businesses so he's got to not only got to pay for everything he did, he's got to stay longer to make money to live on while he's working minimum wage flipping burgers."

 

"Do you have anything else coming in you need to be offplanet for?"

 

"No, this is it until the offworld harvests start coming in."

 

"Are you planting on the first planet?"

 

"I planted before we went to harvest stuff." She sends out new pictures of the building on the first planet, getting nods from everybody. "It's settling in well."

 

"Yep, I'll take the dome down when I harvest the ripe peppers, herbs, and tomatoes. How are we on seeds?"

 

"Pretty good, we've got full or nearly full jars of everything." Pat says. David nods.

 

"Good, then I don't need to bring out any."

 

"No, and we're beginning to harvest from the plants."

 

"So are we, I've got seed pods drying in the rooms. Once they're dry I'll pop them in the containers I've started." Josette brings out a set of knitting needles. "From the plant."

 

"Flexible."

 

"But tough, I bent one nearly in two working on something and it just popped back."

 

"No breaking one sitting on it when you're working on something and you lose a needle." Pat has seen more than one person bitching about having to buy a whole new set of needles on Earth.

 

"Part of that is not putting it in a bag when you stop working. Real crafters take care of their projects unless you have a room set up just for that." Pat nods. "Easier to pick one up off the floor if it's rolled away instead of dropping it on the couch and whining when it's damaged. If it's not more than a tote next to your seat you can drop it in for the night and pop the lid on."

 

"Students?"

 

"Another good size year. To start falling down after the cooking school teachers head home and no new students after the employees coming out in a couple years head home. Granda is getting supplies to redo the dorms here and there when they're empty and he brought some apartment complexes when the management company went belly-up, he's finishing them off and renting them out." Doc nods.

 

"Are they opening the school up for a spa when the last of the students go?"

 

"Yeah, they're going to be putting up a couple buildings for spa treatments. He's sure some of the old biddies will bitch, whine, and moan about sleeping in a twin bed and sharing a bathroom if they book the entire package but since those people wouldn't lower themselves to go anyway it's no skin off his ass."

 

Pat sniggers, remembering those type of people from the spa.

 

"Graduation?"

 

"Next weekend."

 

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.